title: Terror

paragraphs: Terror is a state of fear, an overwhelming sense of imminent danger.


title: Reign of Terror

paragraphs: The Reign of Terror or simply The Terror was a period of about 11 months during the French Revolution. During this time, French people who did not support the revolution were executed at the guillotine.

paragraphs: The Reign of Terror was started on 5 September, 1793. The violence happened more and more often in June and July of 1794, a period called "la Grande Terreur" (The Great Terror). On 17 July 1794, sixteen nuns attracted much attention by singing a religious song as they were being executed for treason. The Terror ended ten days later, when several important leaders of the Reign of Terror were executed, including Saint-Just and Robespierre. The Terror took the lives of between 18,500 to 40,000 people.

paragraphs: Robespierre died due to the Thermidorian Reaction against the Jacobins. This was a revolt against the revolution otherwise called a counter-revolution. Robespierre was one of the last to be guillotined.

paragraphs: Eventually, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to be the emperor of France.


Faction


title: Political faction

paragraphs: A political faction is a grouping of individuals, especially within a political organization, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose.

paragraphs: It may also be called a power bloc, or a voting bloc.

paragraphs: The individuals within a faction are united in a common goal for the organization they are a part of. They stick together to achieve this goal and improve their position within the organization.

paragraphs: A political faction could be described as a “party within a party”. But political factions are not limited to political parties; they can form within any group that has some sort of political aim or purpose.


title: French Constitution of 1791

paragraphs: The French Constitution of 1791 was the second written Constitution of France. The new French Government started using it after the French Revolution. It had the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen for its introduction.

paragraphs: This Constitution said that France was going to have a constitutional monarchy. The biggest disagreement was over how much power the King of France should have in such a system. After very long negotiations, the first Constitution was brought in September of 1791.

paragraphs: It created a constitutional monarchy. But the king ran away anyways, because he was scared of the Jacobins, who didn't like kings.

paragraphs: The idea of Separation of powers was the basis for the Constitution: The National Convention was the legislative body, the King and the Ministers made up the executive branch, and the judicial branch was independent from the other two. However, the French Revolution still continued after this document was signed.

paragraphs: The constitution tried to create a liberal bourgeois constitutional monarchy, but this did not work out. On 10 August 1792 the monarchy of France ended.


title: Knights of the Round Table

paragraphs: The Knights of the Round Table were characters in the legends about King Arthur. They were the best knights in King Arthur's kingdom, and lived in King Arthur's castle, Camelot. They were called the Knights of the "Round Table" because of a special table that was in Camelot, that was round instead of rectangular. This meant that everyone who sat around it was seen as trustworthy and equal.

paragraphs: In order to become a Knight of the Round Table, a knight had to prove he was chivalrous (polite) enough. In the legend, the knights swore a Code of Chivalry, which is much like an oath is today. This meant that they promised to uphold the rules given to them once they became a Knight of the Round Table.

paragraphs: Sir Thomas Malory wrote a book based on the legend of King Arthur. It was called "Le Morte d'Arthur". In it, he wrote his version of the Code of Chivalry:

paragraphs: In different stories, there are different numbers of knights, ranging from 12 to more than 150. The Winchester Round Table shows 25 Knights. The most commonly mentioned in literature include:

paragraphs: This is a list of other knights mentioned as being Knights of the Round Table.

paragraphs: In the 2014 movie, "", each of the Kingsman agents is named after one of the knights of the Round Table. Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, the main character, has the code name 'Galahad'. This is also the code name of Harry Hart, Eggsy's mentor. Roxy Morton, the only female Kingsman, has the codename 'Lancelot'. 'Arthur' is the codename for the leader of Kingsman, while 'Merlin' is the codename for their trainer and tech coordinator.

paragraphs: One of the fictional "Fate" media franchise's most well known characters, "Saber" aka Artoria Pendragon, is a female character based on King Arthur. In the mobile game "Fate/Grand Order", she alongside various other Knights of the Round Table (Lancelot, Gawain, Bedivere, Tristan), as well as Mordred, can be summoned as usable characters. Additionally, in "Fate/Grand Order", Sir Galahad is the Heroic Spirit that was summoned into the body of another character in the game, Mash Kyrielight, and therefore is the one to bestow her his powers.


title: Executive (government)

paragraphs: The executive is the branch of government that is responsible for the day-to-day management of the state.

paragraphs: Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the executive is not supposed to make laws (role of the legislature), nor to interpret them (role of the judiciary). The executive is supposed to put the laws into action.

paragraphs: The executive is led by the head of Government. The Head of Government is assisted by a number of ministers, who usually have responsibilities for particular areas (e.g. health, education, foreign affairs), and by many government employees or civil servants.

paragraphs: In a presidential system, this person (the President) may also be the head of State, but in a parliamentary system, he or she is usually the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is most commonly termed the Prime Minister (Taoiseach in the Republic of Ireland, (Federal) Chancellor in Germany and Austria). In France, executive power is shared between the President and the Prime Minister and this system has been reproduced in a number of former French colonies. Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina have similar systems.


paragraphs: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a group of scientists chosen by governments and other large groups from around the world who study the way that humans are making the Earth heat up unnaturally. The group was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), two organizations of the United Nations.

paragraphs: The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President of the United States Al Gore who won for working on the same problems.

paragraphs: A lot of IPCC work is publishing reports about the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international agreement that human inventions and chemistry may make the Earth too hot to live on. The UNFCCC was the beginning of the Kyoto Protocol. Members of the IPCC read, write, and calculate as much as they can. Only member states of the WMO and UNEP may be members of IPCC.

paragraphs: A lot of professors trust the IPCC work.

paragraphs: The first IPCC report was published in 1990. More was added to that report in 1992. The second report was published in 1995, the third was published in 2001, and a fourth in 2007. Each report is in three books called Working Groups 1, 2 and 3. Most times "the IPCC report" means the Working Group I report, which is about basic climate change.

paragraphs: The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) was completed in early 2007. Like earlier IPCC reports, it contains four reports, three of them from its working groups.

paragraphs: Working Group 1 was about the "Physical Science Basis of Climate Change."

paragraphs: The Working Group 1 report was published on February 2 2007 and revised on February 2007. There was also a February 2 2007 press release. The full Working Group 1 report was published in March. The main report says:

paragraphs: The Summary for Policymakers for the Working Group 2 (IPCC wg2) report was published on April 6, 2007.

paragraphs: The Summary for Policymakers for the Working Group 3 report was published on May 4, 2007.

paragraphs: The Third Assessment Report (TAR) contains four reports, three of them from its working groups:

paragraphs: The "headlines" from the Summary for Policymakers in "The Scientific Basis" were:

paragraphs: The estimate for the climate sensitivity was 1.5 to 4.5 °C; and the average temperature was predicted to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 Celsius degrees between 1990 and 2100, and the sea level was predicted to rise between 0.1 and 0.9 meters. The range of predictions is based on different levels of human carbon dioxide production. Each perdiction has different possible outcomes.

paragraphs: MIT professor Richard Lindzen, who works for the IPCC Working Group 1, claims some of the IPCC reports are wrong. He told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that he was unhappy about the Executive Summary based on his work in May 2001. He said that he told the IPCC they were making mistakes and the Working Group 1 report said that meant they were "making improvements".

paragraphs: The summary does not reflect the full document... For example, I worked on Chapter 7, Physical Processes. This chapter dealt with the nature of the basic processes which determine the response of climate, and found numerous problems with model treatments – including those of clouds and water vapor. The chapter was summarized with the following sentence: 'Understanding of climate processes and their incorporation in climate models have improved, including water vapor, sea-ice dynamics, and ocean heat transport.'

paragraphs: "Climate Change 1995", the IPCC Second Assessment Report (SAR), was finished in 1996. It was made in four parts:

paragraphs: Each of the working groups was made by its own working group, and each has a Summary for Policymakers (SPM) that is a list of agreements by governments. The Summary for Policy Makers of the Working Group 1 report says:

paragraphs: Three scientists involved in climate research believe that the IPCC reports do not accurately summarize the state of knowledge.

paragraphs: On December 20, 1995, Reuters news agency claimed a British scientist Keith Shine, one of IPCC's most important authors, talking about the Policymakers' Summary, said: "We produce a draft, and then the policymakers go through it line by line and change the way it is presented... It's peculiar that they have the final say in what goes into a scientists' report". Keith Shine did not say what differences the changes make.

paragraphs: Frederick Seitz, a physicist of Rockefeller University, said the IPCC report was not good, writing "I have never witnessed a more disturbing corruption of the peer-review process than the events that led to this IPCC report". He opposed it in the Leipzig Declaration of S. Fred Singer's Science and Environmental Policy Project.

paragraphs: Professor Seitzs comments were opposed by the presidents of the American Meteorological Society and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, who wrote about an effort by some people make it seem that humans had not changed the climate. Special insert.

paragraphs: Benjamin D. Santer, Lead Author of Chapter 8 of 1995 IPCC Working Group 1 report, said :

paragraphs: The Second Assessment Report was the only one with a chapter on the economic effect of climate change. This part of the report was thought to be unfair because the value of life in poorer countries was less.

paragraphs: The 1992 supplementary report was an update of the 1990 report, requested for the Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Earth Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

paragraphs: It did not make any important changes to the 1990 report. It claimed the prediction methods in the First Assessment Report, were now improved, but did not include aerosol or ozone changes.

paragraphs: The IPCC first assessment report was completed in 1990, and used to make the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

paragraphs: The Chairperson of the IPCC is Rajendra K. Pachauri, elected in May 2002; before that Robert Watson headed the IPCC. The chairperson is helped by an elected Bureau including vice-chairpersons, Working Group co-chairpersons and a Secretariat (see below).

paragraphs: The IPCC Panel is made of people from governments and other groups. Scientific experts are preferred. Meetings of the IPCC and IPCC Working Groups are held by members of governments. Non-Governmental and Intergovernmenta Organizations may be allowed to attend as observers. Meetings of the IPCC Bureau, workshops, experts and lead authors are by invitation only. 350 government officials and climate change experts visited the 2003 meeting. The meeting report says there were 322 persons in attendance at meetings with about seven-eighths of visitors being from governments.

paragraphs: The IPCC receives funding from UNEP, WMO, and its own Trust Fund which gets money from governments.

paragraphs: People from over 130 countries contributed to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report over 6 years. These people included more than 2500 scientific expert reviewers, more than 800 contributing authors, and more than 450 lead authors.

paragraphs: The Working Group 1 report of 2007 (including the summary for policy makers) included contributions by 600 authors from 40 countries, over 620 expert reviewers, a large number of government reviewers, and representatives from 113 governments.

paragraphs: The IPCC activities are controlled by the WMO Executive Council and UNEP Governing Council to support the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

paragraphs: In April 2006, the IPCC released the "IPCC Fourth Assessment Report" or AR4. Reports of the workshops held so far are available at the IPCC website.

paragraphs: The AR4 Synthesis Report (SYR) was finalized in November 2007. Documentation on the meetings for the AR4 are available , the outlines for the Working Group 1 report and a provisional author list .

paragraphs: The IPCC also supports other activities, such as the Data Distribution Centre Welcome to the IPCC Data Distribution Centre and the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme IPCC - Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. This involves estimating greenhouse gas based on the levels of fuel used, industrial production and so on.

paragraphs: The IPCC also answers questions from the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).

paragraphs: The IPCC reports are a collection of peer reviewed and published science. Each IPCC report explains improvements to the previous report and also explains where more research is needed.

paragraphs: There are usually three stages in the review :

paragraphs: Review comments are open to the public for at least five years.

paragraphs: There are several ways to agree what goes into the reports:

paragraphs: The Panel controls what the IPCC agrees on to meet standards. The Panel's "approval" process has been criticized for changing what the experts put in the Reports.

paragraphs: Each chapter has a lot of authors who are responsible for writing and editing the material. A chapter usually has two "Coordinating" Lead Authors who control what words go in their chapter, ten to fifteen Lead Authors, and a larger number of Contributing Authors. The Lead Authors put together the work of the other authors and report to the Working Group chairs. Lead Authors write sections of chapters. Contributing Authors prepare text, graphs and data.

paragraphs: Authors are chosen from a list of researchers prepared by governments, other important groups, the Working Group/Task Force Bureaux, and other experts (, 4.2.1,2). The group of Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors for a section or chapter of a Report is expected to have many different views and to have people from different parts of the world.

paragraphs: In December 2007, the IPCC was awarded The Nobel Peace Prize 2007 "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." The award is shared with Former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore for his work on climate change and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth".

paragraphs: In January 2005 Christopher Landsea resigned from work on the IPCC AR4, saying that it was "both being motivated by pre-conceived agendas and being scientifically unsound" because of Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research's idea that global warming was contributing to recent hurricane activity. Roger A. Pielke who published Landsea's letter writes: "How anyone can deny that political factors were everpresent in the negotiations isn't paying attention", but says that "Despite the pressures, on tropical cyclones they figured out a way to maintain consistency with the actual balance of opinion(s) in the community of relevant experts." He continues "So there might be a human contribution (and presumably this is just to the observed upwards trends observed in some basins, and not to downward trends observed in others, but this is unclear) but the human contribution itself has not been quantitatively assessed, yet the experts, using their judgment, expect it to be there. In plain English this is what is called a 'hypothesis' and not a 'conclusion.' And it is a fair representation of the issue."

paragraphs: The IPCC Third Assessment Report showed a graph labeled "Millennial Northern Hemisphere temperature reconstruction" from a paper by Mann, Bradley and Hughes (MBH98) often called the "Hockey Stick Graph". This graph was different to the IPCC First assessment report which showed global temperature for the past 1000 years, and higher temperatures during the Medieval Warm Period. The graph was thought to show that temperatures between 1000 and 1900 were very different. This was criticized in an article by Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick. In a 2006 letter to "Nature", Bradley, Hughes and Mann claimed the original article had said that they could not be exact.

paragraphs: Some critics say the IPCC reports underestimate dangers, understate risks, and report only the lowest risks.

paragraphs: On February 1, 2007, the night before publication of IPCCs report on climate, a study was published saying that temperatures and sea levels have been rising at or above the speed the IPCC reported in 2001. The study compared IPCC 2001 predictions of temperature and sea level change with what actually happened. Over the six years, the actual temperature rise was near the top end of the range given by IPCC's 2001 prediction and the actual rise was more than the top of the range the IPCC predicted.

paragraphs: An example of scientific research which has indicated that predictions by the IPCC have uderstated risks is a study on rises in sea levels.

paragraphs: Political influence on the IPCC has been shown by the release of a memo by ExxonMobil to the Bush administration, and its effects on the IPCCs leadership. The Bush administration, at the request of ExxonMobil, wanted rid of Robert Watson, a climate scientist and IPCC chairperson, and to have him replaced by Pachauri, who was seen at the time as more friendly to industry.

paragraphs: In 2005, the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs produced a report on the economics of climate change. It commented on the IPCC process:

paragraphs: "We have some concerns about the objectivity of the IPCC process, with some of its emissions scenarios and summary documentation apparently influenced by political considerations. There are significant doubts about some aspects of the IPCCs emissions scenario exercise, in particular, the high emissions scenarios. The Government should press the IPCC to change their approach. There are some positive aspects to global warming and these appear to have been played down in the IPCC reports; the Government should press the IPCC to reflect in a more balanced way the costs and benefits of climate change. The Government should press the IPCC for better estimates of the monetary costs of global warming damage and for explicit monetary comparisons between the costs of measures to control warming and their benefits. Since warming will continue, regardless of action now, due to the lengthy time lags.


title: Zimmermann Telegram

paragraphs: The Zimmermann Telegram (also called the Zimmermann Note) was a telegram sent to Mexico from Germany on January 16, 1917. It was what made America enter World War I. It is named for the German man who sent it, Arthur Zimmermann. Zimmermann was the German Foreign Secretary (took care of things with other countries). Zimmermann sent it to the German ambassador in the United States, Johann von Bernstorff. Bernstorff then sent it to the German ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt.

paragraphs: The telegram told the ambassador to ask the Mexicans to join the war on the German side by attacking America. Germany promised to help Mexico take back land the United States had taken from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. These places were Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Germany wanted Mexico to enter the war so America would be too busy to help the enemies of Germany. Mexico was already busy with the Mexican Revolution and did not like the idea.

paragraphs: The British secretly got the telegram. They were able to decode the telegram. They held on to the telegram until February 24, 1917. They gave it to President Woodrow Wilson of the United States of America. President Wilson published the telegram so the people would know about it. The telegram made the American people angry. Wilson asked the United States Congress for a Declaration of war against Germany. Congress accepted the request on April 2, 1917. The United States of America announced war on Germany on April 6, 1917. Americans were already angry over German submarines sinking ships, but this telegram is what made America come into the war.


title: Battle of Stalingrad

paragraphs: The Battle of Stalingrad was fought during the Second World War between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. They were fighting for control of the city of Stalingrad. The battle was fought between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943. It was one of the most important battles of the war because it marked the end of Germany's advances. Hitler even blamed his defeat partly on Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad has often been recorded as an example of how brutal a war can be. It is reported that, due to limited supplies, soldiers and civilians had to resort to eating rats, mice, and even cannibalism.

paragraphs: Stalingrad, now Volgograd, was a city on the Volga River. It was an important industrial city, and the Volga was an important transport route. Hitler also wanted to capture Stalingrad because it was named after Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, thus it would embarrass him.

paragraphs: In June 1942, Adolf Hitler launched an attack in southern Russia. By the end of July the German army had reached Stalingrad. With bombs and fire the German Luftwaffe turned the city into ruins. However, the rubble made hiding places from which Russian snipers could attack the Germans. Hitler and Stalin sent in large numbers of soldiers. They both ordered that anyone who retreated would be shot on the spot for treason.

paragraphs: On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched an attack which surrounded the Stalingrad area. Hitler ordered the army to stay there. The German air force tried to supply them by air. By February 1943, the German forces in Stalingrad had no ammunition and food. Rather than freeze, they surrendered, knowing the Soviets were usually cruel to their prisoners.

paragraphs: The battle lasted five months, one week, and three days. 1.6 million people dead or wounded in battle were reported. There were more Russian deaths than German, but it was a victory for the Russians. They had killed so many Germans that Hitler's overall plan to conquer the Soviet Union, started with Operation Barbarossa, was seriously weakened. Also, the Germans failed to get control of Russian oil fields.

paragraphs: About one quarter of the German Sixth Army's soldiers were Russian volunteers called HIWIs. The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest and deadliest battle in the history of warfare.

paragraphs: By the spring of 1942, the German Operation Barbarossa did not defeat the Soviet Union. The war was still going well for the Germans: the U-boat offensive in the Atlantic had been very successful and Rommel had just captured Tobruk.

paragraphs: In the east, they had captured land including Leningrad in the north and Rostov in the south. There were a number of places where Soviet attacks had pushed the Germans back (to the northwest of Moscow and south of Kharkov) but this did not threaten the Germans. Hitler was confident that he could beat the Red Army after the winter of 1941. Even though Army Group Centre had heavy losses near Moscow the previous winter, 65% of its infantry had not fought and had been rested and given new equipment. Army Groups North and South had also not had a hard time over the winter. Stalin was expecting German summer attacks to again be directed against Moscow.

paragraphs: The Germans decided that their summer campaign in 1942 would be directed at the southern parts of the Soviet Union. The Germans wanted to destroy Stalingrad's industries. The Germans also wanted to block the Volga River. The river was a route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia. Capturing the river would make it hard for the Soviets to use the river to transport goods.

paragraphs: The German operations were initially very successful. On July 23, 1942, Hitler changed the goals for the 1942 attack. He made occupying Stalingrad one of the goals. The city was important, because it was named after Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. The Germans thought that if they captured Stalingrad, it would help the northern and western parts of the German armies to attack Baku. The Germans wanted to capture Baku because it had a lot of oil.

paragraphs: The Soviets were aware of the German plan to attack. The Soviets ordered that anyone strong enough to hold a rifle be sent to fight.

paragraphs: On the 23 of August the 6th Army reached the edge of Stalingrad. They were following the 62nd and 64th Armies, which had gone back into the city. Kleist later said after the war:

paragraphs: The Soviets had enough warning of the German attack to move all the city's grain, cattle, and railway cars across the Volga. But most civilian residents stayed in the city. The city lacked food even before the German attack. The "Luftwaffe" air attacks made the Soviets unable to use the River Volga to bring supplies into the city. Between 25 and 31 July, 32 Soviet ships were sunk in the River Volga.

paragraphs: The battle began with the heavy bombing of the city by "Luftflotte 4". A 1,000 tons of bombs were dropped. Much of the city turned to rubble. Some factories continued to produce goods.

paragraphs: Stalin moved troops to the east bank of the Volga. All the regular ferries were destroyed by the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe also attacked troop barges. Many civilians were moved out of the city across the Volga. Stalin prevented most civilians from leaving the city because he thought that this would make the Soviet armies fight harder. Civilians, including women and children, were told to dig trenches. Massive German bombing on 23 August caused a firestorm. It killed thousands and turned Stalingrad into rubble and ruins. Between 23 and 26 August, 955 people were killed and another 1,181 wounded from the bombing.

paragraphs: The Soviet Air Force, the "Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily" (VVS), was destroyed by the Luftwaffe. The Soviets lost 201 aircraft between 23 and 31 August. They brought in another 100 aircraft in August. The Soviets continued to bring new planes into Stalingrad in late September, but they were destroyed by the Germans.

paragraphs: The city was briefly defended by the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, an all-women's regiment that was actually able to halt an entire German division due to their massive firepower. The Germans eventually swarmed and killed them, but were shocked to discover that this whole time they were being held back by young women that seemed fresh out of high school. In the battle, the NKVD organized "Workers' militias" who were often sent into battle without rifles.

paragraphs: By the end of August, Army Group South (B) had reached the Volga. By 1 September, the Soviets could only supply their forces in Stalingrad by crossing the Volga under constant bombing by artillery and aircraft.

paragraphs: On 5 September, the Soviet 24th and 66th Armies organized an attack against XIV Panzer Corps. The "Luftwaffe" helped stop the attack by attacking Soviet artillery and soldiers. The Soviets had to pull back. Of the 120 tanks the Soviets had sent into battle, 30 were lost to air attack.

paragraphs: The Soviets were always being attacked by the "Luftwaffe". On 18 September, the Soviet 1st Guards and 24th Army attacked VIII Army Corps . "VIII. Fliegerkorps" sent Stuka dive-bombers to prevent the Soviets from advancing. The Soviet attack was stopped. The Stukas destroyed 41 of the 106 Soviet tanks that were destroyed that morning. German Bf 109s destroyed 77 Soviet aircraft.

paragraphs: In the wrecked city, the Soviet 62nd and 64th Armies, which included the Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division, used houses and factories to hide in.

paragraphs: Fighting in city was very violent. Stalin's Order No. 227 of 27 July 1942 decreed that all commanders who retreated without being told to do so would have to go to a military tribunal. "Not a step back!" was the slogan. The Germans attacking Stalingrad had many dead and wounded.

paragraphs: After three months of slow advance, the Wermacht finally reached the river banks. The Germans captured 90% of the ruined city and split the Soviet forces into two parts. Ice on the Volga river made it impossible for the Soviets to bring in supplies by boat.

paragraphs: German troops were not ready for fighting during the winter of 1942. The Stavka did a number of attacks between November 19, 1942 and February 2, 1943. These operations started the Winter Campaign of 1942-1943 (19 November 1942 – 3 March 1943), which involved 15 armies.

paragraphs: In autumn, the Soviet generals Georgy Zhukov and Aleksandr Vasilevsky gathered their soldiers in the north and south of the city. The northern side was defended by Hungarian, and Romanian troops. The Don river had never been defended well by the German side. The Soviet plan was to attack and surround the German forces in the Stalingrad region.

paragraphs: The operation was code-named "Uran". It started with Operation Mars, aimed at Army Group Center.

paragraphs: On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus. The attacking Soviet units under the command of Gen. Nikolay Vatutin consisted of three armies. This included a total of 18 infantry divisions, eight tank brigades, two motorized brigades, six cavalry divisions and one anti-tank brigade. The Soviets pushed past the Romanian Third Army. The response by the "Wehrmacht" was disorganized. Bad weather prevented air attacks against the Soviets.

paragraphs: On 20 November, a second Soviet offensive (two armies) was launched to the south of Stalingrad against the Romanian 4th Army Corps. The Romanians were overrun by large numbers of tanks. The Soviet forces moved west and made a ring around Stalingrad.

paragraphs: About 265,000 German, Romanian, Italian soldiers, the 369th (Croatian) Reinforced Infantry Regiment, and other troops including 40,000 Soviet volunteers fighting for the Germans. were surrounded. There were 210,000 Germans on 19 November 1942. There were also around 10,000 Soviet civilians and several thousand Soviet soldiers the Germans had taken captive during the battle. Not all of the 6th Army was trapped; 50,000 were not surrounded. Of the 210,000 Germans surrounded, 10,000 remained to fight, 105,000 surrendered, 35,000 left by air and the remaining 60,000 died.

paragraphs: The Red Army formed two defensive groups. Field Marshal Erich von Manstein told Hitler not to order the 6th Army to break out. Manstein thought that he could break through the Soviet troops and free the 6th Army. After 1945, Manstein says he told Hitler that the 6th Army must break out. The American historian Gerhard Weinberg said that Manstein lied.

paragraphs: Manstein was told to attack Stalingrad in Operation Winter Storm ("Unternehmen Wintergewitter"). He thought that this attack could work if the 6th Army was supplied through the air.

paragraphs: Adolf Hitler had said on 30 September 1942 that the German army would never leave the city. At a meeting shortly after the Soviets formed a ring around the Germans, the German army chiefs wanted to try to escape to the west of the Don. Hitler thought that the Luftwaffe could supply the 6th Army with an "air bridge". This would allow the Germans in the city to fight while a new force was assembled. A similar plan had been used a year earlier at the Demyansk Pocket.

paragraphs: The director of "Luftflotte" 4, Wolfram von Richthofen, tried to get this decision stopped. The forces under 6th Army were almost twice as large as a regular German army unit, plus there was also a corps of the 4th Panzer Army trapped in the city. The maximum they could deliver a day was far less than the minimum needed.

paragraphs: To add to the limited number of Junkers Ju 52 planes the Germans used other planes like the Heinkel He 177 . General Richthofen told Manstein on 27 November that the Luftwaffe could not supply 300 tons a day by air. Manstein now saw the problems of a supply by air. The next day he made a report which said that the supply by air would be impossible. He said the Sixth Army should try to escape. He said that giving up Stalingrad would be a difficult loss, but that it would keep the Sixth Army intact. Hitler said that the Sixth Army would have to stay at Stalingrad and that the air force would supply it until the Germans could attack the Soviets.

paragraphs: The "Luftwaffe" was able to deliver an average of of supplies per day. The most successful day, 19 December, delivered of supplies in 154 flights. In the early parts of the operation, more fuel was shipped than food and ammunition because the Germans thought they could escape from the city. Transport airplanes also flew out sick or wounded men from the city. The German attack did not reach the 6th Army. The air supply operation continued. The 6th Army slowly starved. 160 German transport aircraft were destroyed and 328 were heavily damaged. Some 266 Junkers Ju 52s were destroyed.

paragraphs: Soviet forces grouped together around Stalingrad. Violent fighting to attack the Germans began. Operation Winter Storm ("Operation Wintergewitter"), the German attempt to rescue the trapped army from the south, was at first successful. By 19 December, the German Army had pushed to within 48 km (30 mi) of Sixth Army's positions. Some German officers asked Paulus go against Hitler's orders and try to escape out of the Stalingrad. Paulus refused. On 23 December, Manstein's forces had to defend themselves from new Soviet attacks.

paragraphs: On 16 December, the Soviets launched Operation Little Saturn. It attempted to make a hole through the Axis army (mainly Italians) on the Don and capture Rostov. The Germans set up a defence of small units. 15 Soviet divisions—supported by at least 100 tanks—attacked the Italian Cosseria and Ravenna Divisions. The Soviets never got close to Rostov because of the Italian defence.

paragraphs: The German attempt to break through to Stalingrad was stopped and Army Group A was told to come back from the Caucasus.

paragraphs: The 6th Army could no longer hope to escape. The 6th Army did not have enough fuel. As well, the German soldiers have found it very hard to break through the Soviet lines on foot in the cold winter conditions.

paragraphs: The Germans retreated from the suburbs of Stalingrad to the city itself. The loss of the two airfields, at Pitomnik on 16 January 1943 and Gumrak on the night of 21/22 January, meant an end to air supplies and to the flying out the wounded. The third and last runway was at the Stalingradskaja flight school, which had the last landings and takeoffs on the night of 22–23 January. After that, there were no landings except for air drops of ammunition and food.

paragraphs: The Germans were now not only starving, but running out of ammunition. They continued to fight because they thought the Soviets would execute any Germans who surrendered. A Soviet group (Major Aleksandr Smyslov, Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko and a trumpeter) carried an offer to Paulus: if he surrendered within 24 hours, he would receive a guarantee of safety for all prisoners, medical care for the sick and wounded, prisoners allowed to keep their personal belongings, food rations, and be sent to any country they wanted after the war. Paulus was ordered not to surrender by Hitler, so he did not respond.

paragraphs: On 30 January 1943, the 10th anniversary of Hitler coming to power, Goebbels said "The heroic struggle of our soldiers on the Volga should be a warning for everybody..." Also on that day Hitler promoted Paulus to "Generalfeldmarschall". Since no German Field Marshal had ever been taken prisoner, Hitler assumed that Paulus would fight on or kill himself.

paragraphs: The next day, the southern group in Stalingrad was defeated by the Soviets. Soviet forces reached the entrance to the German headquarters. General Schmidt surrendered the headquarters. Paulus said he had not surrendered and refused to order the remaining German forces to surrender.

paragraphs: Four Soviet armies attacked the remaining northern group. On 2 February, General Strecker surrendered. Around 91,000 tired, ill, wounded, and starving prisoners were taken, including 3,000 Romanians (the survivors of the 20th Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division and "Col. Voicu" Detachment). The prisoners included 22 generals. Hitler was angry and said that Paulus should have killed himself, but instead "he prefers to go to Moscow." Paulus was Roman Catholic and therefore did not.

paragraphs: The German public was not officially told of the loss until the end of January 1943, though positive media reports had stopped in the weeks before the announcement. Stalingrad marked the first time that the Nazi government publicly admitted a failure in its war effort. It was a major defeat where German losses were almost equal to those of the Soviets. Prior losses of the Soviet Union were generally three times as high as the German ones. On 31 January, German state radio played the Adagio movement from Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, followed by the announcement of the defeat at Stalingrad.

paragraphs: On 18 February, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels gave the "Sportpalast" speech in Berlin, encouraging the Germans to accept a total war.

paragraphs: Out of the nearly 110,000 German prisoners captured in Stalingrad, only about 6,000 ever returned. They were sent to prisoner camps and later to labour camps all over the Soviet Union. Some 35,000 were eventually sent on transports, of which 17,000 did not survive. Some were kept in the city to help rebuild.

paragraphs: Some senior officers were taken to Moscow and used for propaganda purposes. Some of them joined the National Committee for a Free Germany. Some, including Paulus, signed anti-Hitler statements that were broadcast to German troops. Paulus testified for the prosecution during the Nuremberg Trials. He remained in the Soviet Union until 1952, then moved to Dresden in East Germany. General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach offered to raise an anti-Hitler army from the Stalingrad survivors, but the Soviets did not accept. It was not until 1955 that the last of the 5-6,000 survivors were repatriated (to West Germany).

paragraphs: During the defence of Stalingrad, the Red Army used six armies (8th, 28th, 51st, 57th, 62nd and 64th Armies) in and around the city. An additional nine armies in the final attack on the Germans. The nine armies used for the final attack were the 24th Army, 65th Army, 66th Army and 16th Air Army from the north as part of the Don Front offensive and 1st Guards Army, 5th Tank, 21st Army, 2nd Air Army and 17th Air Army from the south as part of the Soviet Southwestern Front.

paragraphs: Counting how many people were killed and wounded in the battle of Stalingrad is hard. One way is to only count the fighting within the city and suburbs. Another way of counting is to count all the fighting on the southern part of the Soviet-German front from the spring of 1942 to the winter of 1943. Different scholars have made different estimates depending on how widely you consider the battle.

paragraphs: The Axis had from 500,000 to 850,000 casualties (killed, wounded, captured) among all branches of the German armed forces and its allies and only 5-6,000 returned to Germany by 1955. The remainder of the POWs died in Soviet captivity.

paragraphs: On 2 February 1943, the fighting of Axis troops in Stalingrad stopped. Out of the 91,000 prisoners taken by the Soviets, 3,000 were Romanian.

paragraphs: The Red Army had a total of 1,129,619 total casualties; 478,741 men killed or missing and 650,878 wounded. These numbers are for the whole Don region; in the city itself 750,000 were killed, captured, or wounded.

paragraphs: Anywhere from 25,000 to 40,000 Soviet civilians died in Stalingrad and its suburbs during a single week of aerial bombing by "Luftflotte" 4 as the German 4th Panzer and 6th Armies got close to the city; the total number of civilians killed in the regions outside the city is unknown.

paragraphs: In all, the battle resulted in an estimated total of 1.7-2 million Axis and Soviet casualties, making it possibly the bloodiest battle in all of human history.

paragraphs: In the original 1942 plan, the occupation of Stalingrad had not been a goal. Based on the military successes of the Germans in the first month of the attacks, Hitler decided to expand the military goals. Hitler thought that the Soviet forces across the Don river were weak. The new goals included Stalingrad and even capturing the Volga.

paragraphs: Once the Armies began to fight in the for the city, both sides began to feel that it was very important to win. The Germans sent a lot of troops into the city. This meant that their side did not control the Don river and the Soviet bridges. The German side made steady progress in the fighting and eventually held about 90% of the city.

paragraphs: The German focus on the city made them not think of the weakness of their defenses along the Don and the massive buildup of Soviet forces on their sides. After the Soviet breakthrough, the Germans were very disorganized. The 6th Army was eventually reorganized in time for the Battle of Kursk, but was made up mostly of new soldiers and was never as strong as it had once been.

paragraphs: Germany failed at Stalingrad because they expanded the goals in the second half of July. After one month of success, the Germans started believing they could win the battle. Hitler ordered too many goals and he did not think Soviet reserves were as strong as they were. To the south of Stalingrad, Army Group A was trying to capture the oilfields. Then its goals were expanded to include the whole of the Black Sea coast.

paragraphs: Stalingrad was a turning point in the war. It also showed the discipline and determination of both the German "Wehrmacht" and the Soviet Red Army. The Soviets first defended Stalingrad against a strong German attack. Newly arrived Soviet soldiers often died in less than a day. Soviet officers often died in three days.

paragraphs: Historians have talked about how much terror there was in the Red Army. Beevor noted the bravery of the Soviet soldiers. Richard Overy says that some people think that in the "summer of 1942 the Soviet army fought because it was forced to fight,” but he says this is not true A historian talked to Soviet veterans about terror on the Eastern Front. Many soldiers said they were relieved at the order not to retreat. Infantryman Lev Lvovich’s said he felt better.

paragraphs: For the heroism of the Soviet defenders of Stalingrad, the city was awarded the title Hero City in 1945. Twenty-four years after the battle, in October 1967, a monument, The Motherland Calls, was built on Mamayev Kurgan, the hill overlooking the city. The hill actually used to be much larger, but had been flattened due to constant artillery fire. The statue forms part of a war memorial that includes ruined walls from the battle. The Grain Silo, as well as Pavlov's House can still be visited.

paragraphs: Many women fought on the Soviet side, or were under fire. At the beginning of the battle there were 75,000 women and girls from the Stalingrad area who had finished military or medical training, and all of whom were to serve in the battle. Women staffed a great many of the anti-aircraft batteries that fought not only the Luftwaffe but German tanks. Soviet nurses not only treated wounded men under fire but brought wounded soldiers back to the hospitals under enemy fire. Many of the Soviet wireless and telephone operators were women who often suffered heavy injuries and deaths. Though women were not usually trained as infantry, many Soviet women fought as machine gunners, mortar operators, and scouts. Women were also snipers at Stalingrad. Three air regiments at Stalingrad were entirely female. At least three women won the title Hero of the Soviet Union while driving tanks at Stalingrad.

paragraphs: The German Army showed a lot of discipline after being surrounded. Many German soldiers starved or froze to death. Yet, discipline was continued until the very end. General Friedrich Paulus obeyed Hitler's orders and did not attempt to escape out of the city. German ammunition, supplies, and food became scarce. Generals from both sides suffered from massive stress because of the battle and also because of the fact that they had to report to the most brutal leader in their nation's history. Many generals suffered health problems because of their stress.

paragraphs: Paulus followed his orders and fought to the very end. He asked for permission to surrender, but it was denied. Hitler promoted him to the rank of "Generalfeldmarschall". No German field marshal had ever surrendered, and the implication was clear. Hitler believed that Paulus would either fight to the last man or commit suicide. Paulus was taken prisoner.

paragraphs: After his capture, Paulus told the Soviets that he had not surrendered. He refused to issue an order for the Germans to surrender.

paragraphs: The events of the battle for Stalingrad have been shown in several movies of German, Russian, British and American origin.

paragraphs: In the novel "The Book Thief", one character was presumed to have died or been captured in The Battle of Stalingrad.

paragraphs: In the 2011 video game , the game shows famous locations of the battle, such as Pavlov's House, the Red October Factory and Mamayev Kurgan, among others.

paragraphs: The 2013 game, Company of Heroes 2, showed the battle in certain missions. It was criticized by Russian players for being untrue and on August 7 sales in Russia were stopped.


title: World War I reparations

paragraphs: World War I reparations means the payments and transfers of property and equipment that Germany was forced to make after its defeat during World War I.

paragraphs: Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the 'war guilt' clause) declared Germany and its allies responsible for all 'loss and damage' of the Allies during the war and set up the basis for reparations.

paragraphs: In January 1921, the total sum due was decided by an Inter-Allied Reparations Commission and was set at 132 billion gold marks, about £6.6 billion or $33 billion (roughly $393.6 billion US dollars as of 2005). This was a sum that many economists believed to be too much. Later that year, the amount was reduced to 132 billion marks, which still seemed too much for most German observers, both because of the amount itself as well as the terms.

paragraphs: Germany stopped paying the reparations after Hitler's Nazi Party took power in 1933, with about one-eighth of the reparations having been paid by then. The final payments were made on the day exactly 20 years after German reunification.

paragraphs: There was large debate about the justice and likely impact of the reparations decided. John Maynard Keynes resigned form the British Treasury in 1919 to protest this high sum of money demanded.

paragraphs: The 1924 Dawes Plan changed Germany's reparation payments. In May 1929, the Young Plan reduced further payments to 112 billion gold marks ($28.35 billion over a period of 59 years, which was 1988). In addition, the Young Plan divided the yearly payment, set at two billion gold marks (US$473 million), into two parts: one part equal to one third of the sum and could not be postponed and a postponable part for the remaining two-thirds.

paragraphs: Because of the Great Depression there was an attempt to delay further payments. It failed, but

paragraphs: in the Lausanne Conference of 1932, it was decided to cancel reparations. By this time Germany had paid one eighth of the sum required under the Treaty of Versailles. But Germany refused to continue paying upon Hitler's rise to power.

paragraphs: Only a few German people accepted that they lost the war. The German High Command blamed many civilian parts in the society, especially socialists, communists and Jews. The idea was known as "Dolchstoßlegende" (stab-in-the-back myth). The Germans were unhappy with the sum of reparations, which seems terrible, partly because German leaders could not represent in the decision.

paragraphs: The economic problems from the payments was said to be an important factor that led to the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. John Maynard Keynes, a British economist, said this would weaken German economy as well as German politics. However, many historians disagreed with him. Margaret MacMillan, a Canadian historian, showed her idea that Germany could have paid all the payments if they wanted to. She said that the problem was Germany would not like to pay.

paragraphs: Sally Marks, an American historian, also thought that Germany could pay the reparations. She said the Germans paid the reparations in full and on time as long as the French occupied Düsseldorf in 1921, but stopped after the French were no longer stationed there in 1922. Later that year, the problem became more serious as French and Belgian representatives urged an occupation of the Ruhr Area to force Germany to pay, while the British wanted to lower the reparations. Occupation of the Ruhr began in January 1923. The Allies was quite sure that the German government intended to refuse paying to test if the Allies willed to enforce reparations.

paragraphs: As a "quiet fight" in the Ruhr, the German government began the hyperinflation that destroyed the German economy in 1923. In 2008, a British historain Richard J. Evans said that the German government was responsible for the hyperinflation as they preferred this to paying reparations. The Germans won the world's pity, and after that, the French were forced to agree to the Dawes Plan of April 1924, which lowered the reparations. Under this new plan, Germany paid 1 billion marks in 1924 and reached the total of 2.25 billion by 1927. After that year, Germany was able to pay 2.5 billion marks per year. However, the Germans still stop paying the reparations. To deal with this, the Allies met in a conference in London in July-August 1924, and was the first time that Germany challenged the Versailles Treaty.

paragraphs: The Germans complained that payments under the Dawes Plan were still too high, so the Young Plan of 1928 was set up and the Germans were not required to pay higher than 2.5 billion until 1988. Gustav Stresemann demanded that Rhineland must returned to Germany in order that Germany accept the plan. Under strong pressure, the French left Rhineland in June 1930.

paragraphs: The British historain A. J. P. Taylor wrote that the reparations was harsh enough to be seen as a punishment, but not enough to stop Germany from regaining its great power status, and can be blamed for the rise of Adolf Hitler.


title: Richard III (play)

paragraphs: Richard III is a history play written by William Shakespeare. It is one of Shakespeare's most famous and popular plays. Shakespeare probably wrote "Richard III" around the year 1593. The play was first printed in a book in 1597.

paragraphs: Like other history plays written by Shakespeare, "Richard III" is about people and events from earlier in English history. The real Richard III was king of England from 1483 to 1485. Shakespeare used the history books of his own time to create his play, though many modern experts do not think those early histories, or Shakespeare's play, are accurate and free of bias.

paragraphs: "Richard III" is different from many plays, because its leading character is a villain, not a hero. In his play, Shakespeare shows the king as a cruel tyrant who does many evil acts, before he is defeated in battle and killed by Henry Tudor. Tudor then becomes Henry VII of England, the next English king and the first of the Tudor dynasty. The play contains black comedy, especially because Richard III keeps telling people he is a good man despite behaving like a villain.

paragraphs: Shakespeare lived and wrote before modern ideas of freedom of speech and freedom of the press had become accepted. The English government of Shakespeare's day practiced censorship of books and plays. Elizabeth I of England, who was queen from 1558 to 1603, was the granddaughter of Henry VII and the last Tudor ruler. Her government saw Richard III as a villain and the man who replaced him, Henry VII, as a hero, and censored any other point of view. If Shakespeare had wanted to write a play with Richard III as a hero, he would not have been allowed to do so.

paragraphs: A famous movie version of "Richard III" was made in 1955. Laurence Olivier directed the movie and played the leading role. Other movie and television versions, and many modern stage productions, have also been done.


title: Lojban

paragraphs: Lojban is a constructed language that some people speak. It is an unusual language because it is based on predicate logic, and because it is made to have no syntactic ambiguity. These qualities make many people call Lojban a "logical language."

paragraphs: People from all countries can learn and speak Lojban. A person who speaks Lojban is sometimes called a "lojbanist".

paragraphs: Lojban was made between 1987 and 1997 by an organization called the "Logical Language Group". The rules (grammar) of Lojban are written in a book called "The Complete Lojban Language. "This book was published in 1997, and written by John Woldemar Cowen. Lojban grammar terms are ordered in a structure:

paragraphs: Lojban is based on an earlier language called Loglan. Loglan was the first "logical language". It was created by a man named James Cooke Brown, who wanted to test a hypothesis called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis says that languages affect and limit how their speakers think.

paragraphs: As with Loglan, one of Lojban's goals is to test the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Lojban is meant to change how people think. This is because it is unlike any natural language, and because it forces its speakers to focus on the logic of what they say.

paragraphs: Another goal of Lojban is to be simple and easy to learn, so Lojban only has 1300 main words. Anyone can combine these "root words" to make more complex words.

paragraphs: If you speak Lojban correctly, it is unlikely for someone else to be confused by what you are saying. This is because one goal of Lojban was to eliminate syntactic ambiguity from language.

paragraphs: One of the problems with natural languages like English is that they have very much ambiguity. This means that not everything a person might say has one clear meaning in these languages. For instance, consider the English phrase "pretty little girls school." This phrase could mean a school for pretty little girls. It could also mean a school whose architecture is pretty, and whose students are little girls. "Pretty little girls school" could mean many different things, because the linguistic relationships between the girls, the school, prettiness, and littleness is not clear. There is not enough syntactic information in the phrase to know which meaning it represents.

paragraphs: Linguistic relationships are always very clear in Lojban, so such ambiguity cannot exist in the language.

paragraphs: Here are some examples of words and sentences in Lojban:

paragraphs: "mi'e" is used when you are telling somebody your name. There is no country where everyone speaks Lojban, so nobody is born with a name in Lojban. But, some Lojbanists make up lojban names for themselves that they use. Because they know most other people do not speak lojban, they usually keep their real name as well, and only use their lojban name when speaking to other lojbanists. If someone is telling you their real name, they usually say "mi'e la'oi" (sounds like "miheh lahoy") followed by the name.

paragraphs: "go'i" means "yes, I agree with you". Sometimes in English, the word 'yes' is used to mean other things. For example, you might say "Yes" (or "OK" or "uh-huh") to tell someone that you heard what they are saying. In Lojban you do not say "go'i" for this; instead you say "je'e" (sounds like "zhehheh"). This is part of the idea of lojban: to make words easier to understand by making sure that one word can only mean one thing.


title: Annulment

paragraphs: Annulment is a method in the Roman Catholic Church of undoing a marriage, similar to divorce. However, the difference is that an annulment says that the marriage never really happened.


title: Osroene

paragraphs: Osroene (also spelled Osrohene, Osrhoene, from the Greek ; '), also known by the name of its capital city, Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey), was a historic kingdom located on the present-day border of Syria and Turkey. The kingdom was Assyrian and enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BCE to 244 AD.

paragraphs: It was a Syriac speaking kingdom, and according to an ancient legend King Abgar V of Edessa was converted to Christianity by Thaddeus of Edessa, or Saint Addai, one of the Seventy-two Disciples. By 201 AD or earlier, under King Abgar the Great, Osroene became the first Christian state.


title: BRIT Awards

paragraphs: The BRIT Awards (often called just the Brits), are awards given yearly by the British Phonographic Industry (an association of British people who are professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding work in music.

paragraphs: There have been many musicians that have won more than one award. The table below shows those that have won more than four awards.


title: Sound of the Underground

paragraphs: Sound of the Underground was a 2003 album by Girls Aloud. It was their first album. It was released in May 2003.

paragraphs: The album was released again in December 2003. It had other songs too.


title: What Will the Neighbours Say?

paragraphs: What Will The Neighbours Say? was a 2004 album by Girls Aloud. It was their second album. Five singles were released from it. After the album was released Girls Aloud did their first tour, What Will the Neighbours Say? Live.


title: Chemistry (album)

paragraphs: Chemistry was a 2005 album by Girls Aloud. It was their third album.


title: The Sound of Girls Aloud

paragraphs: The Sound of Girls Aloud was a 2006 album by Girls Aloud that featured all of their most popular songs so far. It was their fourth album.


title: Tangled Up

paragraphs: Tangled Up was a 2007 album by Girls Aloud. It was their fifth album.


title: Oil paint

paragraphs: Oil paint is a traditional method used for artists' painting. In oil paint, "pigments" (colours) are held together by the medium of oil. The most usual type of oil that is used in paint is linseed oil.

paragraphs: A picture that is painted using oil paint is called an "oil painting". Oil paint takes a long time to dry. Artists find this useful because they can keep working on the painting for a long time. People say that Leonardo da Vinci worked on his painting of the Mona Lisa for four years, even though it is not a very large picture. Oils paints, and oil paintings are often just called "oils" for short. If someone talks about "painting in oils" they mean that the painting is done in oil paints.

paragraphs: No-one knows when oil paint was first used. Caves in Afghanistan are decorated with ancient paintings in paint mixed with oils.

paragraphs: It is believed that this type of paint was used in other countries of Asia as well.

paragraphs: It is believed that oil paint was used in Europe in the Middle Ages at first for decorating shields, because oil paint lasted better than the traditional paint of tempera when it was in the weather, or if it was roughly treated.

paragraphs: The Renaissance art historian, Giorgio Vasari, said that the art of oil painting came from northern Europe and the person who invented it was the famous Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. Artists from the areas of modern Belgium and the Netherlands were the first artists to make oil painting their usual method of painting. This trend spread to other parts of Northern Europe. A famous painting called the "Portinari Altarpiece" by Hugo van der Goes arrived in Florence in the 1470s at a time when Leonardo da Vinci was young. Oil paintings at this date were usually done on wooden panels, in the way that tempera pictures were.

paragraphs: Another influence on oil painting in Italy was an artist from Sicily called Antonello da Messina, who had learnt to paint in oils. He travelled the length of Italy, from Sicily to Venice and did many small paintings including portraits and pictures of the Madonna and Child and Jesus. He influenced many artists, particularly in Venice. Giovanni Bellini, who was one of a family of well-known painters, was one of the first painters in Italy to paint very large pictures in oil paint. Artists from other parts of Italy visited Venice and soon the new method of painting spread.

paragraphs: By 1540, there were very few painters who still worked in tempera, the previous method for painting on panels. In Italy, many artists continued to decorate walls and ceiling with frescos. However, it was discovered that oil paint, unlike tempera was flexible (it could bend). This meant that it could be used on flexible surfaces like cloth without breaking away and falling off. Once painting on canvas (heavy linen cloth) became usual, artists were able to do enormous pictures. If the painting was too big to fit through a doorway, the artist could just roll it up.

paragraphs: Since the 1500s, oil painting has remained the favourite technique for artists who want to paint a picture that will last for a long time. The gallery below shows works by some of the most famous artists who have worked in oil paint. The famous artists of the 20th century are not shown here, because many of their works are copyright. Famous modernist artists who have painted in oils include Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Chagall, Kandinsky, Malevich, Salvador Dali, Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, and Jackson Pollock.

paragraphs: Up to about 1960 oils and water paints were overwhelmingly the leading materials chosen by painters. In the years since then acrylic paints and water-mixable oil paints have been more and more used.

paragraphs: Linseed oil, which is the main type of oil used for oil painting, comes from the flax seed. Flax has been an important crop for thousands of years, because linen cloth is made from it. This means that the oil for painting and the cloth for painting on both come from the same plant. To get different effects, artists would use mixtures of different oils. These include pine resin, frankincense, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, and in more modern times safflower oil.

paragraphs: Artists use turpentine or mineral spirits to thin the paint if they wanted to make a fast-drying sketch that they can then paint over in more detail. The oil paint on the artist's brushes is cleaned out with turpentine after use. Modern chemists have made oil paints that can be used with water. This makes the clean-up job at the end of painting much easier and less smelly. Oil paint is usually dry to the touch in a day to two weeks, depending on how much oil and turpentine is in it. An oil painting is generally varnished when it is finished, which gives a slight shine to the surface and protects it. A painting should dry for several months before it is varnished. An oil painting is not completely dry until it is 60 to 80 years old. Varnishing used to be considered an important part of finishing a painting. Many modern artists do not varnish their pictures at all.

paragraphs: Linen canvas is the traditional surface for an oil painting. Cotton canvas can also be used, and is cheaper. The canvas must be stretched tightly over a frame called a "stretcher" and fixed into place with little tacks or staples. Then it must be treated with a sort of glue called "size". This is often made from boiled rabbit skins. Some artists like to paint on board rather than canvas.

paragraphs: Before an artist can paint on a board or canvas, they must prepare it with a "ground" or "undercoat" of plain white paint. Then the artist can sketch a picture onto the surface using charcoal, or paint that is made thin and quick-drying with turpentine or mineral spirits. The artist often works in a brownish or bluish colour, to suggest where the "tone" (light and dark) will be in the finished painting. Then the colours and details are put on in layers.

paragraphs: The good thing about oil paint is that it can be used in all sorts of ways that most other types of paint cannot be used.

paragraphs: Because oil paint can be used in so many different ways, it is better than any other type of paint for painting different textures.

paragraphs: The first European artists to use oils liked to make the surface very smooth. By the middle of the 1500s, some artists like Tintoretto were painting in a much streakier way. Rembrandt, in the 1600s, used the oil paint in all sorts of ways to get different effects. He used every technique that is described in the list above. After Rembrandt, there were always some artists who liked to work in a smooth way, and others who used many different ways of putting on the paint. This has continued through to Modern times.


title: John Law

paragraphs: John Law ("baptized" 21 April 1671 - 21 March 1729) was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not have wealth in itself, and that national wealth depended on trade. He is said to be the father of finance, responsible for the adoption or use of paper money or bills in the world today.


title: Edicts of Ashoka

paragraphs: The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of 33 inscriptions on the "Pillars of Ashoka", as well as on large stones and cave walls, made by the Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty during his reign from 272 to 231 BCE. The edicts describe in detail the first wide expansion of Buddhism. According to the edicts, the extent of Buddhist proselytism during this period reached as far as the Mediterranean, and many Buddhist monuments were created.

paragraphs: Ashoka did not completely forbid the killing of animals; he wanted to control the number of

paragraphs: animals that had to be killed for human consumption or sacrificing, protected some of them, and in general criticized violent acts against animals, such as castration.

paragraphs: He wrote these edicts on rock and pillar.

paragraphs: Edicts are royal orders or proclamations.These edicts were set up in different part of Ashoka's empire and spread the message of Ashoka's Dhamma.There are about 14 rock edicts and 7 pillar edicts currently found.

paragraphs: Edicts were written in local language. Most of the Ashoka's edicts are written in Brahmi Script and were discovered by James Prinsep, a British official in 1837. After this major breakthrough, historians and scholars were able to obtain information about Ashoka and his reign.


title: Proselytism

paragraphs: Proselytism is the practice of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion.

paragraphs: The word "proselytism" comes from the Greek language prefix 'pros' (towards) and the verb 'erchomai' (I come). Historically in the New Testament, the word proselyte meant a person who had converted to the Jewish religion. Though the word proselytism was originally used in Christianity, it is also used to refer to other religions' attempts to convert people to their beliefs or even any attempt to convert people to another point of view, religious or not. Today, the connotations of the word proselytism are often negative.


title: Ken Hitchcock

paragraphs: Ken Hitchcock (born December 17, 1951 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian NHL ice hockey coach. He coaches the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has also coached the Dallas Stars and the Philadelphia Flyers in the past. Ken has won one Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in the 1998-99 NHL season.


title: Armistice

paragraphs: An armistice is the effective end of a war, when the parties agree to stop fighting. The word comes from the Latin "arma", meaning weapons and "statium", meaning a stopping.

paragraphs: A truce or ceasefire usually refers to a "temporary" stop of hostilities for an agreed limited time or within a limited area. A truce may be needed in order to negotiate an armistice.

paragraphs: An armistice is not the same as a peace treaty, which may take months or even years to agree on. The 1953 Korean War armistice is a major example of an armistice which has not yet been followed by a peace treaty.

paragraphs: The United Nations Security Council often demands cease-fire of parties in modern conflicts. Armistices are always negotiated between the parties themselves and are thus generally seen as more binding than UN cease-fire resolutions in modern international law.

paragraphs: The most famous armistice is the Armistice with Germany at the end of World War I, on 11 November, 1918, signed near Compiègne, France, and effective at the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month."


title: Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)

paragraphs: The armistice treaty between the Allies, who fought Germany during World War I, and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918, and marked the end of the First World War on the Western Front. Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Commander-in-chief, and Matthias Erzberger, Germany's representative were the most important persons who signed it.

paragraphs: The Armistice was agreed at 5 AM on 11 November, to come into effect at 11 AM Paris time.

paragraphs: Acting German commander Paul von Hindenburg had requested arrangements for a meeting from Ferdinand Foch via telegram on 7 November. He was under pressure of imminent revolution in Berlin, Munich and elsewhere across Germany.

paragraphs: For the Allies, the personnel involved were entirely military:

paragraphs: General Weygand and General von Gruennel are not mentioned in the (French) document.

paragraphs: The peace between the Allies and Germany that followed this armistice was the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.


title: WWE SmackDown

paragraphs: WWE SmackDown is a professional wrestling television program for WWE. Currently it is the only television broadcast for the SmackDown! brand. From its launch in 1999, "SmackDown!" was shown on Thursday nights, but as of September 9 2005, the show moved to Friday nights. To reflect this change, the show is now known to as "Friday Night SmackDown!". The "SmackDown!" brand is currently one of WWE's two brands, the other being "Raw".

paragraphs: Its currently shown in the United States on MyNetworkTV, in Canada on The Score Network and on E! Montreal, in Turkey on Fox TV, in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan on Ten Sports, in Germany on DSF, in the UK and Republic of Ireland on Sky Sports 3, Italy on Sky Italia, in Finland on "Urheilukanava", in Portugal on TVI, in the Dominican Republic on "Antena Latina" Channel 7, in Puerto Rico on WAPA and on The CW, in Ecuador on Teleamazonas, in Chile on Chilevisión, in Malaysia on TV3, in Mexico on 52MX, in Australia on FOX8, in New Zealand on The BOX,in Bulgaria on GTV, in the Philippines on Jack TV and ABC, in Peru on ATV, in Spain on Cuatro, in Romania on TV Sport, in Serbia on FOX Televizija, in Saudi Arabia and Middle East on Showtime Arabia and ShowSports 4, in France on RTL9, in Japan on J Sports, on e.tv in South Africa, on AFN Xtra, on the Super Channel (Channel 10) in Fiji Islands, on VTV in El Salvador, on Canal 9 in Argentina, on Canal 4 RP in Panama and on SBT in Brazil.

paragraphs: "SmackDown!" was first seen on April 29, 1999 as a single television special on UPN. On August 26, 1999, "SmackDown!" officially started on UPN, in Kansas City, Missouri. Like "WCW Thunder", "SmackDown!" was recorded on Tuesdays and then broadcast on Thursdays. The new WWF show was so popular that WCW moved "Thunder" to Wednesdays in the hope of holding on to fans rather than losing them to WWF. "SmackDown!", like "Thunder", made heavy use of the color blue, earning it the nickname "The Blue Show" amongst wrestling fans.

paragraphs: The first "SmackDown!" set was different as it had an oval-shaped TitanTron (which was dubbed the "OvalTron"), entrance and stage which made it stand out from the "RAW" set and its rectangular TitanTrons. An added feature to the first set was the ability for the OvalTron to be moved to either the left or right of the stage. Throughout the show's early existence, top WWF superstar The Rock routinely called "SmackDown!" "his" show, in reference to the fact that the name was derived from one of his catchphrases, "Laying the smackdown." In August 2001, as part of celebrating "SmackDown!"'s second anniversary, the show got a new logo and set. The last "SmackDown!" to use the previous television set saw Alliance member Rhyno Gore WWF member Chris Jericho through the center screen, destroying part of the set.

paragraphs: In early to mid-2002, WWE had a process they called the "Brand Extension". WWE divided itself into two "de facto" wrestling promotions with separate rosters, storylines and authority figures. RAW and SmackDown! would host each division, give its name to the division and essentially compete against each other. The split was a result of WWF purchasing their two biggest competitors, WCW and ECW. The brand extension was publicly announced during a telecast of "WWF RAW" on March 25, 2002, and became official the next day.

paragraphs: Wrestlers now would become show-exclusive, wrestling for their specific show only. At the time this excluded the WWE Undisputed Championship and WWE Women's Championship, as those WWE titles would be defended on both shows. In August 2002, WWE Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title on RAW, in effect causing his title to become exclusive to SmackDown! The following week on "RAW", General Manager Eric Bischoff awarded a newly instated World Heavyweight Championship to RAW's designated #1 contender, Triple H. Due to the fact that since the WWE Undisputed Championship was now SmackDown! exclusive it was no longer seen as "Undisputed". Following this, the WWE Women's Championship soon became RAW-exclusive as well. As a result of the Brand Extension, an annual "draft lottery" was instituted to exchange members of each roster and generally refresh the lineups.

paragraphs: On June 6, 2005, WWE Champion John Cena switched brands from SmackDown! to RAW as part of the month-long Draft Lottery. This effectively left SmackDown! without a World Title. During this time, United States Champion Orlando Jordan was billed as the top champion on the show. On June 23, 2005, in Tucson, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced a six-man elimination match between John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Booker T, Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, Christian (replacing The Big Show, who was picked by RAW in the lottery), and Muhammad Hassan to crown the first SmackDown! Champion. On the June 30 episode of "SmackDown!", JBL won the match. Long appeared afterward and stated that even though JBL had won the match, SmackDown! did not need a Championship anymore. Batista, the World Heavyweight Champion, entered the ring as SmackDown!'s final draft lottery pick. Long also showed that JBL was the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

paragraphs: It was possible that WWE's "lame duck" status with Viacom on Spike TV is what prompted its moving "SmackDown!" to the Friday night death slot for the Fall 2005 season. However, it worked out for both parties involved, as the show did better in the ratings than it had on Thursdays, while UPN got much better ratings on Fridays than it did before, with its movie night. Also, UPN had been able to hold on to the ratings from Thursday nights, most notably with comedian Chris Rock's "Wonder Years"-like sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris". In January 2006, prior to the announcement of the CW Network, it was announced that UPN had renewed "SmackDown!" for two more years.

paragraphs: Following the cancellation of "", "SmackDown!" was renamed "Friday Night SmackDown!" and moved into "Enterprise"'s old timeslot in the United States. WWE promoted this move with the tagline "TV that's changing Friday nights." "Friday Night SmackDown!" made its start on September 9 2005. The program still aired on Thursdays in Canada on the Score. In the United Kingdom and Australia, their stations Sky Sports and FOX8 air "SmackDown!" on Fridays before the United States due to the time difference. This is the first time a major weekly WWE show airs internationally before it hits screens in the U.S.

paragraphs: The events of Hurricane Katrina affected the first version of "Friday Night SmackDown!" in the U.S. due to a special fundraising concert (see ) that was shown on UPN at the same time that the first version would have been shown, resulting in only the second hour of the show being shown on UPN. The first hour was instead streamed from WWE's website. Other countries, including Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and the Philippines received the full two-hour show. WWOR-TV (My 9, New York, New York) also aired both hours of the show on tape delay on Saturday, due to a previous commitment to broadcast the New York Yankees on Friday nights.

paragraphs: At the "SmackDown!" taping on January 10 2006, Batista had to forfeit the World Heavyweight Championship because of a triceps injury. Theodore Long made a Battle Royal for the vacant title. The winner was at the time RAW superstar Kurt Angle, who later switched to the SmackDown! brand. In a break from their traditional role of acting as if "SmackDown!" is not pre-recorded, WWE.com had a photograph of Angle holding his new title on the main page. WWE also did this when Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the World Heavyweight Championship from The Undertaker and when The Great Khali won a battle royal after Edge's injury.

paragraphs: On the April 7 2006 version of "SmackDown!", general manager Theodore Long said that the King of the Ring tournament would return after a four year hiatus as a "SmackDown!"-exclusive tournament. The tournament ended at Judgment Day 2006 with Booker T as the winner, defeating Bobby Lashley in the final.

paragraphs: On June 9 2006, Tazz left the SmackDown! brand to join the new ECW brand, leaving the color commentator position on SmackDown! vacant. However, on June 11 at One Night Stand 2006, JBL revealed that he would be the new color commentator for SmackDown! He stayed in that position until December 2007 when he left SmackDown! to become an in-ring competitor on RAW. Jonathan Coachman replaced him afterwards.

paragraphs: On September 22 2006, "Friday Night SmackDown!" was started on The CW Television Network, a joint venture between CBS Corporation, owner of UPN, and Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of Time Warner, majority owner of The WB.

paragraphs: For four weeks before the official start (and in preparation for the impending removal of UPN in several markets by the start of MyNetworkTV on September 5 2006) of "Friday Night SmackDown!" on the CW on September 22 2006, Tribune Broadcasting television stations in six major markets (including WPIX in New York City and KTLA in Los Angeles) aired WWE's "Friday Night SmackDown!" early in September 2006. Two other future affiliates of The CW, WCWJ in Jacksonville, Florida and WIWB in Green Bay, Wisconsin, also aired "SmackDown!" in early September as well.

paragraphs: The transition to the CW caused an interruption in the broadcast of "SmackDown!" in the state of Utah beginning in June when KPNZ in Salt Lake City stopped airing all UPN programs early. The show is now seen on KUCW. In Hawaii, "SmackDown!" returned in late 2006, airing on a CW digital subchannel of Honolulu's FOX affiliate KHON (Channel 2), which has received statewide carriage over Oceanic Time Warner Cable. Since the move to the CW Network, "Friday Night SmackDown!" has shown a major increase in ratings now averaging a 3.0 national rating. In addition, "SmackDown!" has become the second highest watched program on The CW.

paragraphs: On April 20 2007, "SmackDown!" celebrated its 400th episode. Ratings success soon followed. On June 8 2007, "Friday Night SmackDown!" made CW history by making a three-way tie with CBS and ABC in the key ad demographic, adults 18-49 by drawing a 1.5 rating each. On June 22 2007, "Friday Night SmackDown!" again made CW history by tying the network for first place in the key ad demographic, adults 18-49, and being the second most watched network program at 9 p.m. for the night. The CW had not performed as well at any time slot since America's Next Top Model in March 2007. The next week on June 29 2007, "Friday Night SmackDown!" helped The CW claim the top spot in the key demographic, Adults 18-49 for Friday. CBS got the overall lead but The CW got top spot for the Adults 18-49 by registering a 1.4 rating followed by CBS and NBC at 1.3, ABC at 1.2, and FOX at 0.9. Then on Friday, July 13 2007, "Friday Night SmackDown!" made network history by placing first in the 18-49 demographic and becoming the most watched show at the 9 p.m. hour on network television. This is the first time anything has placed this well on The CW. "SmackDown!" became a hit show on Friday nights winning the demographics for young males, and ranking second on the demographics (18-49) for Friday nights.

paragraphs: On October 16 2007 it was said that the SmackDown! and ECW brands would begin a "talent exchange", allowing their respective talent to appear and compete on either brand.

paragraphs: On February 8 2008 it was reported that World Wrestling Entertainment and The CW had ended agreements to keep "Friday Night SmackDown!" on the network. WWE stated that agreements with other networks has begun and that "Friday Night SmackDown!" would continue to air on The CW through the end of the 2007-2008 broadcast season. On February 26 WWE issued a press release saying "Friday Night SmackDown!"<nowiki>'s</nowiki> move to MyNetworkTV.

paragraphs: On July 10 2007, Merriam-Webster announced it would induct the word "smackdown" into "Webster's Dictionary". According to Merriam Webster, a "smackdown" is:

paragraphs: "SmackDown" is usually taped on Tuesday evening and shown Friday evening on MyNetworkTV the same week. Lately though, they have taped two episodes at a time and as a result are taped every two weeks. Sometimes, it is taped on Monday nights before or after "RAW" in what is called a "Supershow". "SmackDown" has also been shown live sometimes.

paragraphs: On October 26, 2012, "WWE SmackDown" began using "Born 2 Run" by 7Lions as its theme song. before this, "SmackDown" used "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day. "Hangman" by Rev Theory was used as the secondary theme song.

paragraphs: The previous theme song, "Let it Roll" by Divide the Day was replaced when SmackDown began being broadcast on Syfy.

paragraphs: "Friday Night SmackDown!" began broadcasting in HD beginning with the January 25 2008 edition of "SmackDown!", where a new set started that is shared among all three WWE brands.


title: Nationwide Arena

paragraphs: Nationwide Arena is a sports arena in Columbus, Ohio. The arena opened in 2000, and right now the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League (AFL) play there. The arena was built at the location of the old Ohio Penitentiary, a prison that was destroyed in 1998.