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Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins of King' s College were personal friends, which influenced subsequent scientific events as much as the close friendship between Crick and James Watson. Crick and Wilkins first met at King' s College and not, as erroneously recorded by two authors, at the Admiralty during World War II. Personal life. Crick married twice, fathered three children and was the grandfather of six grandchildren; his brother Anthony( born in 1918) predeceased him in 1966. Spouses: Children: GrandchildrenCrick died of colon cancer on the morning of 28 July 2004 at the University of California, San Diego( UCSD) Thornton Hospital in La Jolla; he was cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. A public memorial was held on 27 September 2004 at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, near San Diego, California; guest speakers included James Watson, Sydney Brenner, Alex Rich, Seymour Benzer, Aaron Klug, Christof Koch, Pat Churchland, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Tomaso Poggio, Leslie Orgel, Terry Sejnowski, his son Michael Crick, and his youngest daughter Jacqueline Nichols. A private memorial for family and colleagues was held on 3 August 2004. Research. Crick was interested in two fundamental unsolved problems of biology: how molecules make the transition from the non- living to the living, and how the brain makes a conscious mind. He realised that his background made him more qualified for research on the first topic and the field of biophysics. It was at this time of Crick' s transition from physics to biology that he was influenced by both Linus Pauling and Erwin Schrödinger. It was clear in theory that covalent bonds in biological molecules could provide the structural stability needed to hold genetic information in cells. It only remained as an exercise of experimental biology to discover exactly which molecule was the genetic molecule. In Crick' s view, Charles Darwin' s theory of evolution by natural selection, Gregor Mendel' s genetics and knowledge of the molecular basis of genetics, when combined, revealed the secret of life. Crick had the very optimistic view that life would very soon be created in a test tube. However, some people( such as fellow researcher and colleague Esther Lederberg) thought that Crick was unduly optimisticIt was clear that some macromolecule such as a protein was likely to be the genetic molecule. However, it was well known that proteins are structural and functional macromolecules, some of which carry out enzymatic reactions of cells.Inthe1940s, some evidence had been found pointing to another macromolecule, DNA, the other major component of chromosomes, as a candidate genetic molecule. In the 1944 Avery- MacLeod- McCarty experiment, Oswald Avery and his collaborators showed that a heritable phenotypic difference could be caused in bacteria by providing them with a particular DNA molecule. However, other evidence was interpreted as suggesting that DNA was structurally uninteresting and possibly just a molecular scaffold for the apparently more interesting protein molecules. Crick was in the right place, in the right frame of mind, at the right time( 1949), to join Max Perutz' s project at the University of Cambridge, and he began to work
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on the X- ray crystallography
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of proteins. X- ray crystallography theoretically offered the opportunity to reveal the molecular structure of large molecules like proteins and DNA, but there were serious technical problems then preventing X- ray crystallography from being applicable to such large molecules. 1949– 1950. Crick taught himself the mathematical theory of X- ray crystallography. During the period of Crick' s study of X- ray diffraction, researchers in the Cambridge lab were attempting to determine the most stable helical conformation of amino acid chains in proteins( the alpha helix). Linus Pauling was the first to identify the 3. 6 amino acids per helix turn ratio of the alpha helix. Crick was witness to the kinds of errors that his co- workers made in their failed attempts to make a correct molecular model of the alpha helix; these turned out to be important lessons that could be applied, in the future, to the helical structure of DNA. For example, he learned the importance of the structural rigidity that double bonds confer on molecular structures which is relevant both to peptide bonds in proteins and the structure of nucleotides in DNA. 1951– 1953: DNA structure. In 1951 and 1952, together with William Cochran and Vladimir Vand, Crick assisted in the development of a mathematical theory of X- ray diffraction by a helical molecule. This theoretical result matched well with X- ray data for proteins that contain sequences of amino acids in the alpha helix conformation. Helical diffraction theory turned out to also be useful for understanding the structure of DNA. Late in 1951, Crick started working with James Watson at Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, England. Using" Photo 51"( the X- ray diffraction results of Rosalind Franklin and her graduate student Raymond Gosling of King' s College London, given to them by Gosling and Franklin' s colleague Wilkins), Watson and Crick together developed a model for a helical structure of DNA, which they published in 1953. For this and subsequent work they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 with Wilkins. When Watson came to Cambridge, Crick was a 35- year- old graduate student( due to his work during WWII) and Watson was only 23, but had already obtained a PhD. They shared an interest in the fundamental problem of learning how genetic information might be stored in molecular form. Watson and Crick talked endlessly about DNA and the idea that it might be possible to guess a good molecular model of its structure. A key piece of experimentally- derived information came from X- ray diffraction images that had been obtained by Wilkins, Franklin, and Gosling. In November 1951, Wilkins came to Cambridge and shared his data with Watson and Crick. Alexander Stokes( another expert in helical diffraction theory) and Wilkins( both at King' s College) had reached the conclusion that X- ray diffraction data for DNA indicated that the molecule had a helical structure— but Franklin vehemently disputed this conclusion. Stimulated by their discussions with Wilkins and what Watson learned by attending a talk given by Franklin about her work
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on DNA, Crick and Watson
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produced and showed off an erroneous first model of DNA. Their hurry to produce a model of DNA structure was driven in part by the knowledge that they were competing against Linus Pauling. Given Pauling' s recent success in discovering the Alpha helix, they feared that Pauling might also be the first to determine the structure of DNA. Many have speculated about what might have happened had Pauling been able to travel to Britain as planned in May 1952. As it was, his political activities caused his travel to be restricted by the United States government and he did not visit the UK until later, at which point he met none of the DNA researchers in England. At any rate he was preoccupied with proteins at the time, not DNA. Watson and Crick were not officially working on DNA. Crick was writing his PhD thesis; Watson also had other work such as trying to obtain crystals of myoglobin for X- ray diffraction experiments. In 1952, Watson performed X- ray diffraction on tobacco mosaic virus and found results indicating that it had helical structure. Having failed once, Watson and Crick were now somewhat reluctant to try again and for a while they were forbidden to make further efforts to find a molecular model of DNA. Of great importance to the model building effort of Watson and Crick was Rosalind Franklin' s understanding of basic chemistry, which indicated that the hydrophilic phosphate- containing backbones of the nucleotide chains of DNA should be positioned so as to interact with water molecules on the outside of the molecule while the hydrophobic bases should be packed into the core. Franklin shared this chemical knowledge with Watson and Crick when she pointed out to them that their first model( from 1951, with the phosphates inside) was obviously wrong. Crick described what he saw as the failure of Wilkins and Franklin to cooperate and work towards finding a molecular model of DNA as a major reason why he and Watson eventually made a second attempt to do so. They asked for, and received, permission to do so from both William Lawrence Bragg and Wilkins. To construct their model of DNA, Watson and Crick made use of information from unpublished X- ray diffraction images of Franklin' s( shown at meetings and freely shared by Wilkins), including preliminary accounts of Franklin' s results/ photographs of the X- ray images that were included in a written progress report for the King' s College laboratory of Sir John Randall from late 1952. It is a matter of debate whether Watson and Crick should have had access to Franklin' s results without her knowledge or permission, and before she had a chance to formally publish the results of her detailed analysis of her X- ray diffraction data which were included in the progress report. However, Watson and Crick found fault in her steadfast assertion that, according to her data, a helical structure was not the only possible shape for DNA— so they had a dilemma. In an effort to clarify this issue, Max Ferdinand
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Perutz later published what had
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been in the progress report, and suggested that nothing was in the report that Franklin herself had not said in her talk( attended by Watson) in late 1951. Further, Perutz explained that the report was to a Medical Research Council( MRC) committee that had been created to" establish contact between the different groups of people working for the Council". Randall' s and Perutz' s laboratories were both funded by the MRC. It is also not clear how important Franklin' s unpublished results from the progress report actually were for the model- building done by Watson and Crick. After the first crude X-raydiffractionimagesofDNAwerecollectedinthe1930s, William Astbury had talked about stacks of nucleotides spaced at 3. 4 angström( 0. 34 nanometre) intervals in DNA. A citation to Astbury' s earlier X- ray diffraction work was one of only eight references in Franklin' s first paper on DNA. Analysis of Astbury' s published DNA results and the better X- ray diffraction images collected by Wilkins and Franklin revealed the helical nature of DNA. It was possible to predict the number of bases stacked within a single turn of the DNA helix( 10 per turn; a full turn of the helix is 27 angströms[ 2. 7 nm] in the compact A form, 34 angströms[ 3. 4 nm] in the wetter B form). Wilkins shared this information about the B form of DNA with Crick and Watson. Crick did not see Franklin' s B form X- ray images( Photo 51) until after the DNA double helix model was published. One of the few references cited by Watson and Crick when they published their model of DNA was to a published article that included Sven Furberg' s DNA model that had the bases on the inside. Thus, the Watson and Crick model was not the first" bases in" model to be proposed. Furberg' s results had also provided the correct orientation of the DNA sugars with respect to the bases. During their model building, Crick and Watson learned that an antiparallel orientation of the two nucleotide chain backbones worked best to orient the base pairs in the centre of a double helix. Crick' s access to Franklin' s progress report of late 1952 is what made Crick confident that DNA was a double helix with antiparallel chains, but there were other chains of reasoning and sources of information that also led to these conclusions. As a result of leaving King' s College for Birkbeck College, Franklin was asked by John Randall to give up her work on DNA. When it became clear to Wilkins and the supervisors of Watson and Crick that Franklin was going to the new job, and that Linus Pauling was working on the structure of DNA, they were willing to share Franklin' s data with Watson and Crick, in the hope that they could find a good model of DNA before Pauling was able. Franklin' s X- ray diffraction data for DNA and her systematic analysis of DNA' s structural features were useful to Watson and Crick in guiding them towards a correct molecular model.
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The key problem for Watson
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and Crick, which could not be resolved by the data from King' s College, was to guess how the nucleotide bases pack into the core of the DNA double helix. Another key to finding the correct structure of DNA was the so- called Chargaff ratios, experimentally determined ratios of the nucleotide subunits of DNA: the amount of guanine is equal to cytosine and the amount of adenine is equal to thymine. A visit by Erwin Chargaff to England, in 1952, reinforced the salience of this important fact for Watson and Crick. The significance of these ratios for the structure of DNA were not recognised until Watson, persisting in building structural models, realised that A: T and C: G pairs are structurally similar. In particular, the length of each base pair is the same. Chargaff had also pointed out to Watson that, in the aqueous, saline environment of the cell, the predominant tautomers of the pyrimidine( C and T) bases would be the amine and keto configurations of cytosine and thymine, rather than the imino and enol forms that Crick and Watson had assumed. They consulted Jerry Donohue who confirmed the most likely structures of the nucleotide bases. The base pairs are held together by hydrogen bonds, the same non- covalent interaction that stabilise the protein α- helix. The correct structures were essential for the positioning of the hydrogen bonds. These insights led Watson to deduce the true biological relationships of the A: T and C: G pairs. After the discovery of the hydrogen bonded A: T and C: G pairs, Watson and Crick soon had their anti- parallel, double helical model of DNA, with the hydrogen bonds at the core of the helix providing a way to" unzip" the two complementary strands for easy replication: the last key requirement for a likely model of the genetic molecule. As important as Crick' s contributions to the discovery of the double helical DNA model were, he stated that without the chance to collaborate with Watson, he would not have found the structure by himself. Crick did tentatively attempt to perform some experiments on nucleotide base pairing, but he was more of a theoretical biologist than an experimental biologist. There was another near- discovery of the base pairing rules in early 1952. Crick had started to think about interactions between the bases. He asked John Griffith to try to calculate attractive interactions between the DNA bases from chemical principles and quantum mechanics. Griffith' s best guess was that A: T and G: C were attractive pairs. At that time, Crick was not aware of Chargaff' s rules and he made little of Griffith' s calculations, although it did start him thinking about complementary replication. Identification of the correct base- pairing rules( A- T, G- C) was achieved by Watson" playing" with cardboard cut- out models of the nucleotide bases, much in the manner that Linus Pauling had discovered the protein alpha helix a few years earlier. The Watson and Crick discovery of the DNA double helix structure was made possible by their willingness to combine
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theory, modelling and experimental results(
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albeit mostly done by others) to achieve their goal. The DNA double helix structure proposed by Watson and Crick was based upon" Watson- Crick" bonds between the four bases most frequently found in DNA( A, C, T, G) and RNA( A, C, U, G). However, later research showed that triple- stranded, quadruple- stranded and other more complex DNA molecular structures required Hoogsteen base pairing. The entire field of synthetic biology began with work by researchers such as Erik T. Kool, in which bases other than A, C, T and G are used in a synthetic DNA. In addition to synthetic DNA there are also attempts to construct synthetic codons, synthetic endonucleases, synthetic proteins and synthetic zinc fingers. Using synthetic DNA, instead of there being 43 codons,iftherearennewbasestherecouldbeasmanyasn3 codons. Research is currently being done to see if codons can be expanded to more than 3 bases. These new codons can code for new amino acids. These synthetic molecules can be used not only in medicine, but in creation of new materials. The discovery was made on 28 February 1953; the first Watson/ Crick paper appeared in" Nature" on 25 April 1953. Sir Lawrence Bragg, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory, where Watson and Crick worked, gave a talk at Guy' s Hospital Medical School in London on Thursday 14 May 1953 which resulted in an article by Ritchie Calder in the" News Chronicle" of London, on Friday 15 May 1953, entitled" Why You Are You. Nearer Secret of Life." The news reached readers of" The New York Times" the next day; Victor K. McElheny, in researching his biography," Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution", found a clipping of a six- paragraph New York Times article written from London and dated 16 May 1953 with the headline" Form of' Life Unit' in Cell Is Scanned." The article ran in an early edition and was then pulled to make space for news deemed more important.(" The New York Times" subsequently ran a longer article on 12 June 1953). The university' s undergraduate newspaper" Varsity" also ran its own short article on the discovery on Saturday 30 May 1953. Bragg' s original announcement of the discovery at a Solvay conference on proteins in Belgium on 8 April 1953 went unreported by the British press. In a seven- page, handwritten letter to his son at a British boarding school on 19 March 1953 Crick explained his discovery, beginning the letter" My Dear Michael, Jim Watson and I have probably made a most important discovery...". The letter was put up for auction at Christie' s New York on 10 April 2013 with an estimate of$ 1 to$ 2 million, eventually selling for$ 6, 059, 750, the largest amount ever paid for a letter at auction. Sydney Brenner, Jack Dunitz, Dorothy Hodgkin, Leslie Orgel, and Beryl M. Oughton, were some of the first people in April 1953 to see the model of the structure of DNA, constructed by Crick and Watson; at the time they were working at Oxford University' s Chemistry Department. All were impressed by the new
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DNA model, especially Brenner who
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subsequently worked with Crick at Cambridge in the Cavendish Laboratory and the new Laboratory of Molecular Biology. According to the late Dr. Beryl Oughton, later Rimmer, they all travelled together in two cars once Dorothy Hodgkin announced to them that they were off to Cambridge to see the model of the structure of DNA. Orgel also later worked with Crick at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Soon after Crick' s death, there have been allegations about him having used LSD when he came to the idea of the helix structure of the DNA. While he almost certainly did use LSD, it is unlikely that he did so as early as 1953. Molecular biology. In 1954, at the age of 37, Crick completed his PhD thesis:" X- Ray Diffraction: Polypeptides and Proteins" and received his degree. Crick then worked in the laboratory of David Harker at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, where he continued to develop his skills in the analysis of X- ray diffraction data for proteins, working primarily on ribonuclease and the mechanisms of protein synthesis. David Harker, the American X- ray crystallographer, was described as" the John Wayne of crystallography" by Vittorio Luzzati, a crystallographer at the Centre for Molecular Genetics in Gif- sur- Yvette near Paris, who had worked with Rosalind Franklin. After the discovery of the double helix model of DNA, Crick' s interests quickly turned to the biological implications of the structure. In 1953, Watson and Crick published another article in" Nature" which stated:" it therefore seems likely that the precise sequence of the bases is the code that carries the genetical information". In 1956, Crick and Watson speculated on the structure of small viruses. They suggested that spherical viruses such as Tomato bushy stunt virus had icosahedral symmetry and were made from 60 identical subunits. After his short time in New York, Crick returned to Cambridge where he worked until 1976, at which time he moved to California. Crick engaged in several X- ray diffraction collaborations such as one with Alexander Rich on the structure of collagen. However, Crick was quickly drifting away from continued work related to his expertise in the interpretation of X- ray diffraction patterns of proteins. George Gamow established a group of scientists interested in the role of RNA as an intermediary between DNA as the genetic storage molecule in the nucleus of cells and the synthesis of proteins in the cytoplasm( the RNA Tie Club). It was clear to Crick that there had to be a code by which a short sequence of nucleotides would specify a particular amino acid in a newly synthesised protein. In 1956, Crick wrote an informal paper about the genetic coding problem for the small group of scientists in Gamow' s RNA group. In this article, Crick reviewed the evidence supporting the idea that there was a common set of about 20 amino acids used to synthesize proteins. Crick proposed that there was a corresponding set of small" adaptor molecules" that would hydrogen bond to short sequences of a nucleic acid, and also link to one of
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the amino acids. He also
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explored the many theoretical possibilities by which short nucleic acid sequences might code for the 20 amino acids. During the mid- to-late1950s Crick was very much intellectually engaged in sorting out the mystery of how proteins are synthesised. By 1958, Crick' s thinking had matured and he could list in an orderly way all of the key features of the protein synthesis process: The adaptor molecules were eventually shown to be tRNAs and the catalytic" ribonucleic- protein complexes" became known as ribosomes. An important step was later realisation( in 1960) that the messenger RNA was not the same as the ribosomal RNA. None of this, however, answered the fundamental theoretical question of the exact nature of the genetic code. In his 1958 article, Crick speculated, as had others, that a triplet of nucleotides could code for an amino acid. Such a code might be" degenerate", with 4× 4× 4= 64 possible triplets of the four nucleotide subunits while there were only 20 amino acids. Some amino acids might have multiple triplet codes. Crick also explored other codes in which, for various reasons, only some of the triplets were used," magically" producing just the 20 needed combinations. Experimental results were needed; theory alone could not decide the nature of the code. Crick also used the term" central dogma" to summarise an idea that implies that genetic information flow between macromolecules would be essentially one- way: Some critics thought that by using the word" dogma", Crick was implying that this was a rule that could not be questioned, but all he really meant was that it was a compelling idea without much solid evidence to support it. In his thinking about the biological processes linking DNA genes to proteins, Crick made explicit the distinction between the materials involved, the energy required, and the information flow. Crick was focused on this third component( information) and it became the organising principle of what became known as molecular biology. Crick had by this time become a highly influential theoretical molecular biologist. Proof that the genetic code is a degenerate triplet code finally came from genetics experiments, some of which were performed by Crick. The details of the code came mostly from work by Marshall Nirenberg and others who synthesised synthetic RNA molecules and used them as templates for" in vitro" protein synthesis. Nirenberg first announced his results to a small audience in Moscow at a 1961 conference. Crick' s reaction was to invite Nirenberg to deliver his talk to a larger audience. Controversy. Use of other researchers' data. An enduring controversy has been generated by Watson and Crick' s use of DNA X- ray diffraction data collected by Franklin and Wilkins. The controversy arose from the fact that some of Franklin' s unpublished data were used without her knowledge or consent by Watson and Crick in their construction of the double helix model of DNA. Of the four DNA researchers, only Franklin had a degree in chemistry; Wilkins and Crick had backgrounds in physics, Watson in biology. Prior to publication of the double helix structure, Watson and
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Crick had little direct interaction
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with Franklin herself. They were, however, aware of her work, more aware than she herself realised. Watson was present at a lecture, given in November 1951, where Franklin presented the two forms of the molecule, type A and type B, and discussed the position of the phosphate units on the external part of the molecule. She also specified the amount of water to be found in the molecule in accordance with other parts of it, data that have considerable importance in terms of the stability of the molecule. She was the first to discover and formulate these facts, which in fact constituted the basis for all later attempts to build a model of the molecule. Before this, both Linus Pauling and Watson and Crick had generated erroneous models with the chains inside and the bases pointing outwards. Her identification of the space group for DNA crystals revealed to Crick that the two DNA strands were antiparallel. In January 1953, Watson was shown an X- ray photograph of B- DNA( called photograph 51), by Wilkins. Wilkins had been given photograph 51 by Rosalind Franklin' s PhD student Raymond Gosling. Wilkins and Gosling had worked together in the Medical Research Council' s( MRC) Biophysics Unit before director John Randall appointed Franklin to take over both DNA diffraction work and guidance of Gosling' s thesis. It appears that Randall did not communicate effectively with them about Franklin' s appointment, contributing to confusion and friction between Wilkins and Franklin. In the middle of February 1953, Crick' s thesis advisor, Max Perutz, gave Crick a copy of a report written for a Medical Research Council biophysics committee visit to King' s in December 1952, containing data from the King' s group, including some of Franklin' s crystallographic calculations. Franklin was unaware that photograph 51 and other information had been shared with Crick and Watson. She wrote a series of three draft manuscripts, two of which included a double helical DNA backbone. Her two A form manuscripts reached Acta Crystallographica in Copenhagen on 6 March 1953, one day before Crick and Watson had completed their model. The X- ray diffraction images collected by Gosling and Franklin provided the best evidence for the helical nature of DNA. Franklin' s experimental work thus proved crucial in Watson and Crick' s discovery. Her experimental results provided estimates of the water content of DNA crystals, and these results were most consistent with the three sugar- phosphate backbones being on the outside of the molecule. Franklin' s X- Ray photograph showed that the backbones had to be on the outside. Although she at first insisted vehemently that her data did not force one to conclude that DNA has a helical structure, in the drafts she submitted in 1953 she argues for a double helical DNA backbone. Her identification of the space group for DNA crystals revealed to Crick that the DNA strands were antiparallel, which helped Watson and Crick decide to look for DNA models with two antiparallel polynucleotide strands. In summary, Watson and Crick had three sources for Franklin' s unpublished data:
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1) her 1951 seminar, attended
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by Watson, 2) discussions with Wilkins, who worked in the same laboratory with Franklin, 3) a research progress report that was intended to promote coordination of Medical Research Council- supported laboratories. Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Franklin all worked in MRC laboratories. Crick and Watson felt that they had benefited from collaborating with Wilkins. They offered him a co- authorship on the article that first described the double helix structure of DNA. Wilkins turned down the offer, a fact that may have led to the terse character of the acknowledgement of experimental work done at King' s College in the eventual published paper. Rather than make any of the DNA researchers at King' s College co- authors on the Watson and Crick double helix article, the solution that was arrived at was to publish two additional papers from King' s College along with the helix paper. Brenda Maddox suggests that because of the importance of her experimental results in Watson and Crick' s model building and theoretical analysis, Franklin should have had her name on the original Watson and Crick paper in" Nature". Franklin and Gosling submitted their own joint' second' paper to" Nature" at the same time as Wilkins, Stokes, and Wilson submitted theirs( i. e. the' third' paper on DNA). Watson' s portrayal of Franklin in" The Double Helix" was negative and gave the appearance that she was Wilkins' assistant and was unable to interpret her own DNA data. The X- ray diffraction images collected by Franklin provided the best evidence for the helical nature of DNA. While Franklin' s experimental work proved important to Crick and Watson' s development of a correct model, she herself could not realise it at the time. When she left King' s College, Director Sir John Randall insisted that all DNA work belonged exclusively to King' s and ordered Franklin to not even think about it. Franklin subsequently did superb work in J. D. Bernal' s Lab at Birkbeck College with the tobacco mosaic virus extending ideas on helical construction. Crick was often described as very talkative, with Watson– in" The Double Helix"– implying lack of modesty. His personality combined with his scientific accomplishments produced many opportunities for Crick to stimulate reactions from others, both inside and outside the scientific world, which was the centre of his intellectual and professional life. Crick spoke rapidly, and rather loudly, and had an infectious and reverberating laugh, and a lively sense of humour. One colleague from the Salk Institute described him as" a brainstorming intellectual powerhouse with a mischievous smile... Francis was never mean- spirited, just incisive. He detected microscopic flaws in logic. In a room full of smart scientists, Francis continually reearned his position as the heavyweight champ." Eugenics. Crick occasionally expressed his views on eugenics, usually in private letters. For example, Crick advocated a form of positive eugenics in which wealthy parents would be encouraged to have more children. He once remarked," In the long run, it is unavoidable that society will begin to worry about the character of the next generation... It is not a
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subject at the moment which
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we can tackle easily because people have so many religious beliefs and until we have a more uniform view of ourselves I think it would be risky to try and do anything in the way of eugenics... I would be astonished if, in the next 100 or 200 years, society did not come round to the view that they would have to try to improve the next generation in some extent or one way or another." Sexual harassment.BiologistNancyHopkinssayswhenshewasanundergraduateinthe1960s, Crick put his hands on her breasts during a lab visit. She described the incident:" Before I could rise and shake hands, he had zoomed across the room, stood behind me, put his hands on my breasts and said,' What are you working on?'" Views on religion. Crick referred to himself as a humanist, which he defined as the belief" that human problems can and must be faced in terms of human moral and intellectual resources without invoking supernatural authority." He publicly called for humanism to replace religion as a guiding force for humanity, writing: The human dilemma is hardly new. We find ourselves through no wish of our own on this slowly revolving planet in an obscure corner of a vast universe. Our questioning intelligence will not let us live in cow- like content with our lot. We have a deep need to know why we are here. What is the world made of? More important, what are we made of? In the past religion answered these questions, often in considerable detail. Now we know that almost all these answers are highly likely to be nonsense, having sprung from man' s ignorance and his enormous capacity for self- deception... The simple fables of the religions of the world have come to seem like tales told to children. Even understood symbolically they are often perverse, if not rather unpleasant... Humanists, then, live in a mysterious, exciting and intellectually expanding world, which, once glimpsed, makes the old worlds of the religions seem fake- cosy and stale... Crick was especially critical of Christianity: I do not respect Christian beliefs. I think they are ridiculous. If we could get rid of them we could more easily get down to the serious problem of trying to find out what the world is all about. Crick once joked," Christianity may be OK between consenting adults in private but should not be taught to young children." In his book" Of Molecules and Men", Crick expressed his views on the relationship between science and religion. After suggesting that it would become possible for a computer to be programmed so as to have a soul, he wondered: at what point during biological evolution did the first organism have a soul? At what moment does a baby get a soul? Crick stated his view that the idea of a non- material soul that could enter a body and then persist after death is just that, an imagined idea. For Crick, the mind is a product of physical brain activity and the brain had evolved by natural means over millions of years. He felt
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that it was important that
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evolution by natural selection be taught in schools and that it was regrettable that English schools had compulsory religious instruction. He also considered that a new scientific world view was rapidly being established, and predicted that once the detailed workings of the brain were eventually revealed, erroneous Christian concepts about the nature of humans and the world would no longer be tenable; traditional conceptions of the" soul" would be replaced by a new understanding of the physical basis of mind. He was sceptical of organised religion, referring to himself as a sceptic and an agnostic with" a strong inclination towards atheism". In 1960, Crick accepted an honorary fellowship at Churchill College, Cambridge, one factor being that the new college did not have a chapel. Some time later a large donation was made to establish a chapel and the College Council decided to accept it. Crick resigned his fellowship in protest. In October 1969,Crickparticipatedinacelebrationofthe100th year of the journal" Nature" in which he attempted to make some predictions about what the next 30 years would hold for molecular biology. His speculations were later published in" Nature". Near the end of the article, Crick briefly mentioned the search for life on other planets, but he held little hope that extraterrestrial life would be found by the year 2000. He also discussed what he described as a possible new direction for research, what he called" biochemical theology". Crick wrote" so many people pray that one finds it hard to believe that they do not get some satisfaction from it". Crick suggested that it might be possible to find chemical changes in the brain that were molecular correlates of the act of prayer. He speculated that there might be a detectable change in the level of some neurotransmitter or neurohormone when people pray. He might have been imagining substances such as dopamine that are released by the brain under certain conditions and produce rewarding sensations. Crick' s suggestion that there might someday be a new science of" biochemical theology" seems to have been realised under an alternative name: there is now the new field of neurotheology. Crick' s view of the relationship between science and religion continued to play a role in his work as he made the transition from molecular biology research into theoretical neuroscience. Crick asked in 1998" and if some of the Bible is manifestly wrong, why should any of the rest of it be accepted automatically?... And what would be more important than to find our true place in the universe by removing one by one these unfortunate vestiges of earlier beliefs?" In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel laureates who signed the" Humanist Manifesto". Creationism. Crick was a firm critic of Young Earth creationism. In the 1987 United States Supreme Court case" Edwards v. Aguillard", Crick joined a group of other Nobel laureates who advised,"' Creation- science' simply has no place in the public- school science classroom." Crick was also an advocate for the establishment of Darwin Day as a British national holiday. Directed panspermia. During the1960s, Crick became concerned with
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the origins of the genetic
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code. In 1966, Crick took the place of Leslie Orgel at a meeting where Orgel was to talk about the origin of life. Crick speculated about possible stages by which an initially simple code with a few amino acid types might have evolved into the more complex code used by existing organisms. At that time, proteins were thought to be the only kind of enzyme, and ribozymes had not yet been identified. Many molecular biologists were puzzled by the problem of the origin of a protein replicating system that is as complex as that which exists in organisms currently inhabiting Earth.Intheearly1970s, Crick and Orgel further speculated about the possibility that the production of living systems from molecules may have been a very rare event in the universe, but once it had developed it could be spread by intelligent life forms using space travel technology, a process they called" directed panspermia". In a retrospective article, Crick and Orgel noted that they had been unduly pessimistic about the chances of abiogenesis on Earth when they had assumed that some kind of self- replicating protein system was the molecular origin of life. In 1976, Crick addressed the origin of protein synthesis in a paper with Sydney Brenner, Aaron Klug, and George Pieczenik. In this paper, they speculate that code constraints on nucleotide sequences allow protein synthesis without the need for a ribosome. It, however, requires a five base binding between the mRNA and tRNA with a flip of the anti- codon creating a triplet coding, even though it is a five- base physical interaction. Thomas H. Jukes pointed out that the code constraints on the mRNA sequence required for this translation mechanism is still preserved. Neuroscience and other interests. Crick' s period at Cambridge was the pinnacle of his long scientific career, but he left Cambridge in 1977 after 30 years, having been offered( and having refused) the Mastership of Gonville and Caius. James WatsonclaimedataCambridgeconferencemarkingthe50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA in 2003: Now perhaps it' s a pretty well kept secret that one of the most uninspiring acts of the University of Cambridge over this past century was to turn down Francis Crick when he applied to be the Professor of Genetics, in 1958. Now there may have been a series of arguments, which led them to reject Francis. It was really saying, don' t push us to the frontier. The apparently" pretty well kept secret" had already been recorded in Soraya De Chadarevian' s" Designs For Life: Molecular Biology After World War II", published by Cambridge University Press in 2002. His major contribution to molecular biology in Cambridge is well documented in" The History of the University of Cambridge: Volume 4( 1870 to 1990)", which was published by CUP in 1992. According to the University of Cambridge' s genetics department official website, the electors of the professorship could not reach consensus, prompting the intervention of then University Vice- Chancellor Lord Adrian. Lord Adrian first offered the professorship to a compromise candidate, Guido Pontecorvo, who refused, and is said to have
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offered it then to Crick,
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who also refused. In 1976, Crick took a sabbatical year at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Crick had been a nonresident fellow of the Institute since 1960. Crick wrote," I felt at home in Southern California." After the sabbatical, Crick left Cambridge to continue working at the Salk Institute. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Diego. He taught himself neuroanatomy and studied many other areas of neuroscience research. It took him several years to disengage from molecular biology because exciting discoveries continued to be made, including the discovery of alternative splicing and the discovery of restriction enzymes, which helped make possible genetic engineering. Eventually,inthe1980s, Crick was able to devote his full attention to his other interest, consciousness. His autobiographical book,"", includes a description of why he left molecular biology and switched to neuroscience. Upon taking up work in theoretical neuroscience, Crick was struck by several things: Crick hoped he might aid progress in neuroscience by promoting constructive interactions between specialists from the many different subdisciplines concerned with consciousness. He even collaborated with neurophilosophers such as Patricia Churchland. In 1983, as a result of their studies of computer models of neural networks, Crick and Mitchison proposed that the function of REM sleep and dreaming is to remove certain modes of interactions in networks of cells in the mammalian cerebral cortex; they called this hypothetical process' reverse learning' or' unlearning'. In the final phase of his career, Crick established a collaboration with Christof Koch that led to publication of a series of articles on consciousness during the period spanning from 1990 to 2005. Crick made the strategic decision to focus his theoretical investigation of consciousness on how the brain generates visual awareness within a few hundred milliseconds of viewing a scene. Crick and Koch proposed that consciousness seems so mysterious because it involves very short- term memory processes that are as yet poorly understood. Crick also published a book describing how neurobiology had reached a mature enough stage so that consciousness could be the subject of a unified effort to study it at the molecular, cellular and behavioural levels. Crick' s book" The Astonishing Hypothesis" made the argument that neuroscience now had the tools required to begin a scientific study of how brains produce conscious experiences. Crick was sceptical about the value of computational models of mental function that are not based on details about brain structure and function. Awards and honours. In addition to his third share of the 1962 Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine, he received many awards and honours, including the Royal and Copley medals of the Royal Society( 1972 and 1975), and also the Order of Merit( on 27 November 1991); he refused an offer of a CBE in 1963, but was often referred to in error as' Sir Francis Crick' and even on occasions as' Lord Crick'. He was elected an EMBO Member in 1964. The award of Nobel prizes to John Kendrew and Max Perutz, and to Crick, Watson, and Wilkins was satirised in a short
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sketch in the BBC TV
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programme" That Was The Week That Was" with the Nobel Prizes being referred to as' The Alfred Nobel Peace Pools'. Francis Crick Medal and Lecture. The Francis Crick Medal and Lecture was established in 2003 following an endowment by his former colleague, Sydney Brenner, joint winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. The lecture is delivered annually in any field of biological sciences, with preference given to the areas in which Francis Crick himself worked. Importantly, the lectureship is aimed at younger scientists, ideally under 40, or whose career progression corresponds to this age., Crick lectures have been delivered by Julie Ahringer, Dario Alessi, Ewan Birney, Simon Boulton, Jason Chin, Simon Fisher, Matthew Hurles, Gilean McVean, Duncan Odom, Geraint Rees, Sarah Teichmann, M. Madan Babu and Daniel Wolpert. Francis Crick Institute. The Francis Crick Institute is a£ 660 million biomedical research centre located in north London, United Kingdom. The Francis Crick Institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Imperial College London, King' s College London, the Medical Research Council, University College London( UCL) and the Wellcome Trust. Completed in 2016, it is the largest centre for biomedical research and innovation in Europe. Francis Crick Graduate Lectures. The University of Cambridge Graduate School of Biological, Medical and Veterinary Sciences hosts The Francis Crick Graduate Lectures. The first two lectures were by John Gurdon and Tim Hunt. Baron Francis van Aarssens or Baron François van Aerssen( 27 September 1572- 27 December 1641), from 1611 on lord of Sommelsdijk, was a diplomat and statesman of the United Provinces. Biography. He was born in Brussels, the son of Cornelis van Aarsens, also a statesman. His talents commended him to the notice of Advocate Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, who sent him, at the age of 26 years, as a diplomatic agent of the states- general to the court of France. He took a considerable part in the negotiations of the Twelve Years' Truce in 1609. His conduct of affairs having displeased the French king, he was recalled from his post by Oldenbarneveldt in 1614, after the French ambassador Benjamin Aubery du Maurier had demanded Aarsens recall. Such was the hatred he henceforth conceived against his former benefactor, that he did his very utmost to effect Oldebarneveldt' s ruin. However, he was not a member of the court that convicted Oldenbarnevelt in the Trial of Oldenbarnevelt, Grotius and Hogerbeets as Chisholm mistakenly reports. He afterwards became the confidential counselor of Maurice, Prince of Orange, and afterwards of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, in their conduct of the foreign affairs of the republic. He was sent on special embassies to Venice, Germany and England, and displayed so much diplomatic skill and finesse that Cardinal Richelieu ranked him among the three greatest politicians of his time. He died, aged 69, in The Hague. A frigate() is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied greatly. Inthe17th century, a frigate was any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being" frigate- built". These could be
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warships carrying their principal batteries
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of carriage- mounted guns on a single deck or on two decks( with further smaller carriage- mounted guns usually carried on the forecastle and quarterdeck of the vessel). The term was generally used for ships too small to stand in the line of battle, although early line- of- battle ships were frequently referred to as frigates when they were built for speed.Inthe18th century, frigates were full- rigged ships, that is square- rigged on all three masts, they were built for speed and handiness, had a lighter armament than a ship of the line, and were used for patrolling and escort. In the definition adopted by the British Admiralty, they were rated ships of at least 28 guns, carrying their principal armaments upon a single continuous deck– the upper deck– while ships of the line possessed two or more continuous decks bearing batteries of guns.Inthelate19th century( beginning about 1858 with the construction of prototypes by the British and French navies), the armoured frigate was a type of ironclad warship that for a time was the most powerful type of vessel afloat. These were still described as" frigates" because such ships still mounted their principal armaments on a single continuous upper deck, in the manner of older sailing frigates. However,bytheendofthe19th century, developments in ironclad warships had made this type of ship obsolete and the term" frigate" became obsolete. During the Second World War the name' frigate' was reintroduced to describe a seagoing escort ship intermediate in size between a corvette and a destroyer. After World War II, a wide variety of ships have been classified as frigates. Often there has been little consistency in usage. While some navies have regarded frigates as principally large ocean- going anti- submarine warfare( ASW) combatants, others have used the term to describe ships that are otherwise recognisable as corvettes, destroyers, and even nuclear- powered guided missile cruisers. Some European navies use the term" frigate" for both their destroyers and frigates. The rank" frigate captain" derives from the name of this type of ship. Age of sail. Origins. The term" frigate"( Italian:" fregata"; Dutch:" fregat"; Spanish/ Catalan/ Portuguese/ Sicilian:" fragata"; French:" frégate") originatedintheMediterraneaninthelate15th century, referring to a lighter galley- type warship with oars, sails and a light armament, built for speed and maneuverability. The etymology of the word remains uncertain, although it may have originated as a corruption of"", a Latin word for an open vessel with no lower deck." Aphractus", in turn, derived from the Ancient Greek phrase ἄφρακτος ναῦς(" aphraktos naus")–" undefended ship". In 1583, during the Eighty Years' War of 1568– 1648, Habsburg Spain recovered the southern Netherlands from the Protestant rebels. This soon resulted in the use of the occupied ports as bases for privateers, the" Dunkirkers", to attack the shipping of the Dutch and their allies. To achieve this the Dunkirkers developed small, maneuverable, sailing vessels that came to be referred to as frigates. The success of these Dunkirker vessels influenced the ship design of other navies contending with them, but because most regular navies required ships of greater endurance than the Dunkirker frigates
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could provide, the term soon
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came to apply less exclusively to any relatively fast and elegant sail- only warship. In French, the term" frigate" gave rise to a verb–" frégater", meaning' to build long and low', and to an adjective, adding more confusion. Even the huge English could be described as" a delicate frigate" by a contemporary after her upper decks were reduced in 1651. The navy of the Dutch Republic became the first navy to build the larger ocean- going frigates. The Dutch navy had three principal tasks in the struggle against Spain: to protect Dutch merchant ships at sea, to blockade the ports of Spanish- held Flanders to damage trade and halt enemy privateering, and to fight the Spanish fleet and prevent troop landings. The first two tasks required speed, shallowness of draft for the shallow waters around the Netherlands, and the ability to carry sufficient supplies to maintain a blockade. The third task required heavy armament, sufficient to stand up to the Spanish fleet. The first of the larger battle- capable frigates were built around 1600 at Hoorn in Holland. By the later stages of the Eighty Years' War the Dutch had switched entirely from the heavier ships still used by the English and Spanish to the lighter frigates, carrying around 40 guns and weighing around 300 tons. The effectiveness of the Dutch frigates became most evident in the Battle of the Downs in 1639, encouraging most other navies, especially the English, to adopt similar designs.ThefleetsbuiltbytheCommonwealthofEnglandinthe1650s generally consisted of ships described as" frigates", the largest of which were two- decker" great frigates" of the third rate. Carrying 60 guns, these vessels were as big and capable as" great ships" of the time; however, most other frigates at the time were used as" cruisers": independent fast ships. The term" frigate" implied a long hull- design, which relates directly to speed( see hull speed) and which also, in turn, helped the development of the broadside tactic in naval warfare. At this time, a further design evolved, reintroducing oars and resulting in galley frigates such as of 1676, which was rated as a 32- gun fifth- rate but also had a bank of 40 oars set below the upper deck which could propel the ship in the absence of a favourable wind. In Danish, the word" fregat" often applies to warships carrying as few as 16 guns, such as, which the British classified as a sloop. Under the rating system of the Royal Navy,bythemiddleofthe18th century, the term" frigate" was technically restricted to single- decked ships of the fifth rate, though small 28- gun frigates classed as sixth rate. Classic design. The classic sailing frigate, well- known today for its role in the Napoleonic wars, can be traced back to French developments in the secondquarterofthe18th century. The French- built of 1740 is often regarded as the first example of this type. These ships were square- rigged and carried all their main guns on a single continuous upper deck. The lower deck, known as the" gun deck", now carried no armament, and functioned as a" berth deck" where the
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crew lived, and was in
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fact placed below the waterline of the new frigates. The typical earlier cruiser had a partially armed lower deck, from which it was known as a' half- battery' or" demi- batterie" ship. Removing the guns from this deck allowed the height of the hull upperworks to be lowered, giving the resulting' true- frigate' much improved sailing qualities. The unarmed deck meant that the frigate' s guns were carried comparatively high above the waterline; as a result, when seas were too rough for two- deckers to open their lower deck gun- ports, frigates were still able to fight with all their guns( see the action of 13 January 1797, for an example when this was decisive). The Royal Navy captured a number of the new French frigates, including" Médée", during the War of the Austrian Succession( 1740– 1748) and were impressed by them, particularly for their inshore handling capabilities. They soon built copies( ordered in 1747), based on a French privateer named" Tygre", and started to adapt the type to their own needs, setting the standard for other frigates as the leading naval power. The first British frigates carried 28 guns including an upper deck battery of twenty- four 9- pounder guns( the remaining four smaller guns were carried on the quarter deck) but soon developed into fifth- rate ships of 32 or 36 guns including an upper deck battery of twenty- six 12- pounder guns, with the remaining six or ten smaller guns carried on the quarter deck and forecastle. Technically,' rated ships' with fewer than 28 guns could not be classed as frigates but as" post ships"; however, in common parlance most post ships were often described as" frigates", the same casual misuse of the term being extended to smaller two- decked ships that were too small to stand in the line of battle. A total of fifty- nine French sailing frigates were built between 1777 and 1790, with a standard design averaging a hull length of and an average draught of. The new frigates recorded sailing speeds of up to, significantly faster than their predecessor vessels. Heavy frigate. In 1778, the British Admiralty introduced a larger" heavy" frigate, with a main battery of twenty- six or twenty- eight 18- pounder guns( with smaller guns carried on the quarter deck and forecastle). This move may reflect the naval conditions at the time, with both France and Spain as enemies the usual British preponderance in ship numbers was no longer the case and there was pressure on the British to produce cruisers of individually greater force. In reply, the first French 18- pounder frigates were laid down in 1781. The 18- pounder frigate eventually became the standard frigate of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The British produced larger, 38- gun, and slightly smaller, 36- gun, versions and also a 32- gun design that can be considered an' economy version'. The 32- gun frigates also had the advantage that they could be built by the many smaller, less- specialised shipbuilders. Frigates could( and usually did) additionally carry smaller carriage- mounted guns on
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their quarter decks and forecastles(
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the superstructures above the upper deck). In 1778 the Carron Iron Company of Scotland produced a naval gun which would revolutionise the armament of smaller naval vessels, including the frigate. The carronade was a large calibre, short- barrelled naval cannon which was light, quick to reload and needed a smaller crew than a conventional long gun. Due to its lightness it could be mounted on the forecastle and quarter deck of frigates. It greatly increased the firepower, measured in weight of metal( the combined weight of all projectiles fired in one broadside), of these vessels. The disadvantages of the carronade were that it had a much shorter range and was less accurate than a long gun. The British quickly saw the advantages of the new weapon and soon employed it on a wide scale. The US Navy also copied the design soon after its appearance. The French and other nations eventually adopted variations of the weapon in succeeding decades. The typical heavy frigate had a main armament of 18- pounder long guns, plus 32- pounder carronades mounted on its upper decks. Super- heavy frigates. The first' super- heavy frigates', armed with 24- pounder long guns, were built by the naval architect F H Chapman for the Swedish navy in 1782. Because of a shortage of ships- of- the- line, the Swedes wanted these frigates, the" Bellona" class, to be able to stand in the battle line in an emergency.Inthe1790s the French built a small number of large 24- pounder frigates, such as and" Egyptienne", they also cut- down( reduced the height of the hull to give only one continuous gun deck) a number of older ships- of- the- line( including) to produce super- heavy frigates, the resulting ship was known as a" rasée". It is not known whether the French were seeking to produce very potent cruisers or merely to address stability problems in old ships. The British, alarmed by the prospect of these powerful heavy frigates, responded by rasée- ing three of the smaller 64- gun battleships, including, which went on to have a very successful career as a frigate. At this time the British also built a few 24- pounder- armed large frigates, the most successful of which was( 1, 277 tons). In 1797, three of the United States Navy' s first six major ships were rated as 44- gun frigates, which operationally carried fifty- six to sixty 24- pounder long guns and 32- pounder or 42- pounder carronades on two decks; they were exceptionally powerful. These ships were so large, at around 1, 500 tons, and well- armed that they were often regarded as equal to ships of the line, and after a series of losses at the outbreak of the War of 1812, Royal Navy fighting instructions ordered British frigates( usually of 38 guns or less) to never engage the large American frigates at any less than a 2: 1 advantage., preserved as a museum ship by the US Navy, is the oldest commissioned warship afloat, and is a surviving example of a frigate from the Age of
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Sail." Constitution" and her sister
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ships and were created in a response to deal with the Barbary Coast pirates and in conjunction with the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys proposed that only live oak, a tree that grew only in America, should be used to build these ships. The British, wounded by repeated defeats in single- ship actions,respondedtothesuccessoftheAmerican44s in three ways. They built a class of conventional 40- gun, 24- pounder armed frigates on the lines of" Endymion". They cut down three old 74- gun Ships- of- the- Line into" rasées", producing frigates with a 32- pounder main armament, supplemented by 42- pounder carronades. These had an armament that far exceeded the power of the American ships. Finally, and, 1, 500- ton spar- decked frigates( with an enclosed waist, giving a continuous line of guns from bow to stern at the level of the quarter deck/ forecastle), were built, which were an almost exact match in size and firepower to the American 44- gun frigates. Role. Frigates were perhaps the hardest- worked of warship types during the Age of Sail. While smaller than a ship- of- the- line, they were formidable opponents for the large numbers of sloops and gunboats, not to mention privateers or merchantmen. Able to carry six months' stores, they had very long range; and vessels larger than frigates were considered too valuable to operate independently. Frigates scouted for the fleet, went on commerce- raiding missions and patrols, and conveyed messages and dignitaries. Usually, frigates would fight in small numbers or singly against other frigates. They would avoid contact with ships- of- the- line; even in the midst of a fleet engagement it was bad etiquette for a ship of the line to fire on an enemy frigate which had not fired first. Frigates were involved in fleet battles, often as" repeating frigates". In the smoke and confusion of battle, signals made by the fleet commander, whose flagship might be in the thick of the fighting, might be missed by the other ships of the fleet. Frigates were therefore stationed to windward or leeward of the main line of battle, and had to maintain a clear line of sight to the commander' s flagship. Signals from the flagship were then repeated by the frigates, which themselves standing out of the line and clear from the smoke and disorder of battle, could be more easily seen by the other ships of the fleet. If damage or loss of masts prevented the flagship from making clear conventional signals, the repeating frigates could interpret them and hoist their own in the correct manner, passing on the commander' s instructions clearly. For officers in the Royal Navy, a frigate was a desirable posting. Frigates often saw action, which meant a greater chance of glory, promotion, and prize money. Unlike larger ships that were placed in ordinary, frigates were kept in service in peacetime as a cost- saving measure and to provide experience to frigate captains and officers which would be useful in wartime. Frigates could also carry marines for boarding enemy ships or for operations on shore;
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in 1832, the frigate landed
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a party of 282 sailors and Marines ashore in the US Navy' s first Sumatran expedition. Frigates remained a crucial element of navies until the mid-19th century. The first ironclads were classified as" frigates" because of the number of guns they carried. However, terminology changed as iron and steam became the norm, and the role of the frigate was assumed first by the protected cruiser and then by the light cruiser. Frigates are often the vessel of choice in historical naval novels due to their relative freedom compared to ships- of- the- line( kept for fleet actions) and smaller vessels( generally assigned to a home port and less widely ranging). For example, the Patrick O' Brian Aubrey– Maturin series, C. S. Forester' s Horatio Hornblower series and Alexander Kent' s Richard Bolitho series. The motion picture"" features a reconstructed historic frigate, HMS" Rose", to depict Aubrey' s frigate HMS" Surprise". Age of steam. Vessels classedasfrigatescontinuedtoplayagreatroleinnavieswiththeadoptionofsteampowerinthe19th century.Inthe1830s, navies experimented with large paddle steamers equipped with large guns mounted on one deck, which were termed" paddle frigates". From the mid-1840s on, frigates which more closely resembled the traditional sailing frigate were built with steam engines and screw propellers. These" screw frigates", built first of wood and later of iron,continuedtoperformthetraditionalroleofthefrigateuntillateinthe19th century. Armoured frigate. From 1859, armour was added to ships based on existing frigate and ship of the line designs. The additional weight of the armour on these first ironclad warships meant that they could have only one gun deck, and they were technically frigates, even though they were more powerful than existing ships- of- the- line and occupied the same strategic role. The phrase" armoured frigate" remained in use for some time to denote a sail- equipped, broadside- firing type of ironclad.Duringthe1880s, as warship design shifted from iron to steel and cruising warships without sails started to appear, the term" frigate" fell out of use. Vessels with armoured sides were designated as" battleships" or" armoured cruisers", while" protected cruisers" only possessed an armoured deck, and unarmoured vessels, including frigates and sloops, were classified as" unprotected cruisers". Modern Era. World War II. Modern frigates are related to earlier frigates only by name. The term" frigate" was readopted during the Second World War by the British Royal Navy to describe an anti- submarine escort vessel that was larger than a corvette, while smaller than a destroyer. Equal in size and capability to the American destroyer escort, frigates are usually less expensive to build and maintain. Anti- submarine escorts had previously been classified as sloops by the Royal Navy, and the s of 1939– 1945 were as large as the new types of frigate, and more heavily armed. Twenty- two of these were reclassified as frigates after the war, as were the remaining 24 smaller s. The frigate was introduced to remedy some of the shortcomings inherent in the corvette design: limited armament, a hull form not suited to open- ocean work, a single shaft which limited speed and manoeuvrability, and a lack of range. The frigate was designed and built to the same mercantile construction standards(
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scantlings) as the corvette, allowing
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manufacture by yards unused to warship construction. The first frigates of the( 1941) were essentially two sets of corvette machinery in one larger hull, armed with the latest Hedgehog anti- submarine weapon. The frigate possessed less offensive firepower and speed than a destroyer, but such qualities were not required for anti- submarine warfare. Submarines were slow while submerged, and ASDIC sets did not operate effectively at speeds of over. Rather, the frigate was an austere and weatherly vessel suitable for mass- construction and fitted with the latest innovations in anti- submarine warfare. As the frigate was intended purely for convoy duties, and not to deploy with the fleet, it had limited range and speed. It was not until the Royal Navy' s of 1944 that a British design classified as a" frigate" was produced for fleet use, although it still suffered from limited speed. These anti- aircraft frigates, built on incomplete hulls, were similar to the United States Navy' s destroyer escorts( DE), although the latter had greater speed and offensive armament to better suit them to fleet deployments. The destroyer escort concept came from design studies by the General Board of the United States Navy in 1940, as modified by requirements established by a British commission in 1941 prior to the American entry into the war, for deep- water escorts. The American- built destroyer escorts serving in the British Royal Navy were rated as Captain- class frigates. The U. S. Navy' s two Canadian- built and 96 British- influenced, American- built frigates that followed originally were classified as" patrol gunboats"( PG) in the U. S. Navy but on 15 April 1943 were all reclassified as patrol frigates( PF). Modern frigate. Guided- missile role. The introduction of the surface- to- air missile after World War II made relatively small ships effective for anti- aircraft warfare: the" guided missile frigate". In the USN, these vessels were called" ocean escorts" and designated" DE" or" DEG" until 1975– a holdover from the World War II destroyer escort or" DE". The Royal Canadian Navy and British Royal Navy maintained the use of the term" frigate"; likewise, the French Navy refers to missile- equipped ship, up to cruiser- sized ships(,, and es), by the name of" frégate", while smaller units are named" aviso". The Soviet Navy used the term" guard- ship"(" сторожевой корабль").Fromthe1950stothe1970s, the United States Navy commissioned ships classed as guided missile frigates( hull classification symbol DLG or DLGN, literally meaning guided missile destroyer leaders), which were actually anti- aircraft warfare cruisers built on destroyer- style hulls. These had one or two twin launchers per ship for the RIM- 2 Terrier missile, upgraded to the RIM- 67 StandardERmissileinthe1980s. This type of ship was intended primarily to defend aircraft carriers against anti- ship cruise missiles, augmenting and eventually replacing converted World War II cruisers( CAG/ CLG/ CG) in this role. The guided missile frigates also had an anti- submarine capability that most of the World War II cruiser conversions lacked. Some of these ships– and along with the and es– were nuclear- powered( DLGN). These" frigates" were
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roughly mid- way in size
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between cruisers and destroyers. This was similar to the use of the term" frigate" during the age of sail during which it referred to a medium- sized warship, but it was inconsistent with conventions used by other contemporary navies which regarded frigates as being smaller than destroyers. During the 1975 ship reclassification, the large American frigates were redesignated as guided missile cruisers or destroyers( CG/ CGN/ DDG), while ocean escorts( the American classification for ships smaller than destroyers, with hull symbol DE/ DEG( destroyer escort)) were reclassified as frigates( FF/ FFG), sometimes called" fast frigates".Inthelate1970s the US Navy introduced the 51- ship guided missile frigates( FFG), the last of which was decommissioned in 2015, although some serve in other navies. By 1995 the older guided missile cruisers and destroyers were replaced by the s and s. One of the most successful post- 1945 designs was the British, which was used by several navies. Laid down in 1959, the" Leander" class was based on the previous Type 12 anti- submarine frigate but equipped for anti- aircraft use as well.TheywereusedbytheUKintothe1990s, at which point some were sold onto other navies. The" Leander" design, or improved versions of it, were licence- built for other navies as well. Nearly all modern frigates are equipped with some form of offensive or defensive missiles, and as such are rated as guided- missile frigates( FFG). Improvements in surface- to- air missiles( e. g., the Eurosam Aster 15) allow modern guided- missile frigates to form the core of many modern navies and to be used as a fleet defence platform, without the need for specialised anti- air warfare frigates. Other uses. The Royal Navy Type 61" Salisbury" class were" air direction" frigates equipped to track aircraft. To this end they had reduced armament compared to the Type 41" Leopard"- class air- defence frigates built on the same hull. Multi- role frigates like the MEKO 200, and es are designed for navies needing warships deployed in a variety of situations that a general frigate class would not be able to fulfill and not requiring the need for deploying destroyers. Anti- submarine role. At the opposite end of the spectrum, some frigates are specialised for anti- submarine warfare. Increasing submarine speeds towards the end of World War II( see German Type XXI submarine) greatly reduced the margin of speed superiority of frigate over submarine. The frigate could no longer be slow and powered by mercantile machinery and consequently postwar frigates, such as the, were faster. Such ships carry improved sonar equipment, such as the variable depth sonar or towed array, and specialised weapons such as torpedoes, forward- throwing weapons such as Limbo and missile- carried anti- submarine torpedoes such as ASROC or Ikara. The Royal Navy' s original Type 22 frigate is an example of a specialised anti- submarine warfare frigate, also it also has Sea Wolf surface- to- air missiles for point defense plus Exocet surface- to- surface missiles for limited offensive capability. Especially for anti- submarine warfare, most modern frigates have a landing deck and hangar aft to operate helicopters, eliminating
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the need for the frigate
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to close with unknown sub- surface threats, and using fast helicopters to attack nuclear submarines which may be faster than surface warships. For this task the helicopter is equipped with sensors such as sonobuoys, wire- mounted dipping sonar and magnetic anomaly detectors to identify possible threats, and torpedoes or depth- charges to attack them. With their onboard radar helicopters can also be used to reconnoitre over- the- horizon targets and, if equipped with anti- ship missiles such as Penguin or Sea Skua, to attack them. The helicopter is also invaluable for search and rescue operation and has largely replaced the use of small boats or the jackstay rig for such duties as transferring personnel, mail and cargo between ships or to shore. With helicopters these tasks can be accomplished faster and less dangerously, and without the need for the frigate to slow down or change course. Air defence role.Frigatesdesignedinthe1960sand1970s, such as the US Navy' s, West Germany' s, and Royal Navy' s Type 22 frigate were equipped with a small number of short- ranged surface- to- air missiles( Sea Sparrow or Sea Wolf) for point defense only. By contrast newer frigates starting with the are specialised for" zone- defense" air defence, because of the major developments in fighter jets and ballistic missiles. Recent examples include the air defence and command frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy. These ships are armed with VL Standard Missile 2 Block IIIA, one or two Goalkeeper CIWS systems,( has two Goalkeepers, the rest of the ships have the capacity for another one.) VL Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles, a special SMART- L radar and a Thales Active Phased Array Radar( APAR), all of which are for air defence. Another example is the of the Royal Danish Navy. Further developments. Stealth technology has been introduced in modern frigate design by the French design. Frigate shapes are designed to offer a minimal radar cross section, which also lends them good air penetration; the maneuverability of these frigates has been compared to that of sailing ships. Examples are the Italian and French with the Aster 15 and Aster 30 missile for anti- missile capabilities, the German and s, the Turkish type frigates with the MK- 41 VLS, the Indian, and classes with the Brahmos missile system and the Malaysian with the Naval Strike Missile. The modern French Navy applies the term first- class frigate and second- class frigate to both destroyers and frigates in service. Pennant numbers remain divided between F- series numbers for those ships internationally recognised as frigates and D- series pennant numbers for those more traditionally recognised as destroyers. This can result in some confusion as certain classes are referred to as frigates in French service while similar ships in other navies are referred to as destroyers. This also results in some recent classes of French ships such as the being among the largest in the world to carry the rating of frigate. The" Frégates de Taille Intermédiaire"( FTI), which means frigates of intermediate size, is a French military program to design and create a planned class of
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frigates to be used by
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the French Navy. At the moment, the program consists of five ships, with commissioning planned from 2023 onwards. In the German Navy, frigates were used to replace aging destroyers; however in size and role the new German frigates exceed the former class of destroyers. The future German s will be the largest class of frigates worldwide with a displacement of more than 7, 200 tons. The same was done in the Spanish Navy, which went ahead with the deployment of the first Aegis frigates, the s. The Myanmar Navy is producing modern frigates with a reduced radar cross section known as the. Before the Kyan Sittha class, the Myanmar Navy also produced an. Although the size of the Myanmar Navy is quite small, it is producing modern guided- missile frigates with the help of Russia, China, and India. However, the fleets of the Myanmar Navy are still expanding with several on- going shipbuilding programmes, including one, 4, 000- tonne frigate with the vertical missile launch systems. Littoral combat ship( LCS). Some new classes of ships similar to corvettes are optimized for high- speed deployment and combat with small craft rather than combat between equal opponents; an example is the U. S. littoral combat ship( LCS). As of 2015, all s in the United States Navy have been decommissioned, and their role partially being assumed by the new LCS. While the LCS class ships are smaller than the frigate class they will replace, they offer a similar degree of weaponry while requiring less than half the crew complement and offering a top speed of over. A major advantage for the LCS ships is that they are designed around specific mission modules allowing them to fulfill a variety of roles. The modular system also allows for most upgrades to be performed ashore and installed later into the ship, keeping the ships available for deployment for the maximum time. The latest U. S. deactivation plans means that this is the first time that the U. S. Navy has been without a frigate class of ships since 1943( technically is rated as a frigate and is still in commission, but does not count towards Navy force levels). The remaining 20 LCSs to be acquired from 2019 and onwards that will be enhanced will be designated as frigates, and existing ships given modifications may also have their classification changed to" FF" as well. Frigates in preservation. A few frigates have survived as museum ships. They are: Operators. Disputed classes. These ships are classified by their respective nations as frigates, but are considered destroyers internationally due to size, armament, and role. Francisco Franco Bahamonde(; 4 December 1892– 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 1939 to 1975 as a dictator, assuming the title" Caudillo". This period in Spanish history, from the Nationalist victory to Franco' s death, is commonly known as Francoist Spain or the Francoist dictatorship. Born in Ferrol, Galicia, into an upper- class military
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family, Franco served in the
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Spanish Army as a cadet in the Toledo Infantry Academy from 1907 to 1910. While serving in Morocco, he rose through the ranks to become brigadier general in 1926, aged 33, becoming the youngest general in Spain. Two years later, Franco became the director of the General Military Academy in Zaragoza. As a conservative and monarchist, Franco regretted the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Second Republic in 1931. He was devastated by the closing of his Academy; but nevertheless, he continued his service in the Republican Army. His career redoubled after the right- wing CEDA and PRR won the 1933 election, empowering him to lead the suppression of the 1934 uprising in Asturias. Franco was briefly elevated to Chief of Army Staff before the 1936 election moved the leftist Popular Front into power, relegating him to the Canary Islands. After initial reluctance, he joined the July 1936 military coup, which, after failing to take Spain, sparked the Spanish Civil War. During the war, he commanded Spain' s African colonial army. Later after the death of much of the rebel leadership, he became his faction' s only leader, appointed Generalissimo and Head of State in 1936. He consolidated all nationalist parties into the FET y de las JONS( creating a one- party state). Three years later the Nationalists declared victory, which extended Franco' s dictatorship over Spain through a period of repression of political opponents. His dictatorship' s use of forced labor, concentration camps and executions led to between 30, 000 and 50, 000 deaths. Combined with wartime killings, this brings the death toll of the White Terror to between 100, 000 and 200, 000. In post- civil war Spain, Franco ruled with more power than any Spanish leader before or since. Franco developed a cult of personality around his rule by founding the" Movimiento Nacional". During World War II he maintained Spanish neutrality but supported the Axis— whose members Italy and Germany had supported him during the Civil War— in various ways, damaging the country' s international reputation. During the start of the Cold War, Franco lifted Spain out of its mid-20th century economic depression through technocratic and economically liberal policies, presiding over a period of rampant growth known as the" Spanish miracle". At the same time, his regime transitioned from being totalitarian to authoritarian with limited pluralism. The party became a leader in the anti- Communist movement, garnering support from the West, particularly the United States. The dictatorship softened and Luis Carrero Blanco became Franco' s" éminence grise". Carrero Blanco' s role expanded after Franco started struggling with Parkinson'sdiseaseinthe1960s. In 1973, Franco resigned as prime minister— separated from the head of state office since 1967— due to advanced age and illness. Nevertheless, he remained in power as the latter and as commander- in- chief. Franco died in 1975, aged 82 and was entombed in the Valle de los Caídos. He restored the monarchy in his final years, being succeeded by Juan Carlos as King of Spain, who led the Spanish transition to democracy. The legacy of Franco
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in Spanish history remains controversial,
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as the nature of his dictatorship changed over time. His reign was marked by both brutal repression, with tens of thousands killed, and economic prosperity, which greatly improved the quality of life in Spain. His dictatorial style proved highly adaptable, which enabled wide- sweeping social and economic reform, while consistent pursuits during his reign centered on highly centralised government, authoritarianism, nationalism, national Catholicism, anti- freemasonry and anti- Communism. Early life. Francisco Franco Bahamonde was born on 4 December 1892 in the Calle Frutos Saavedra in El Ferrol, Galicia. He was baptised thirteen days later at the military church of San Francisco, with the baptismal name Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo; Francisco for his paternal grandfather, Paulino for his godfather, Hermenegildo for his maternal grandmother and godmother, and Teódulo for the saint day of his birth. Franco was born into a seafaring family of Andalusian ancestry. After relocating to Galicia, the family was involved in the Spanish Navy, and over the span of two centuries produced naval officers for six uninterrupted generations( including several admirals), down to Franco' s father( 22 November 1855– 22 February 1942). His mother, María del Pilar Bahamonde y Pardo de Andrade( 15 October 1865– 28 February 1934), was from an upper- middle- class Roman Catholic family. Her father, Ladislao Bahamonde Ortega, was the commissar of naval equipment at the Port of El Ferrol. Franco' s parents married in 1890 in the Church of San Francisco in El Ferrol. The young Franco spent much of his childhood with his two brothers, Nicolás and Ramón, and his two sisters, María del Pilar and María de la Paz. His brother Nicolás was naval officer and diplomat who married María Isabel Pascual del Pobil y Ravello. Ramón was an internationally known aviator, a Freemason originally with leftist political leanings. He was also the second sibling to die, killed in an air accident on a military mission in 1938. Franco' s father was a naval officer who reached the rank of vice admiral(" intendente general"). When Franco was fourteen, his father moved away to Madrid following a reassignment and ultimately abandoned his family, marrying another woman. While Franco did not suffer any great abuse at his father' s hand, he would never overcome his antipathy for his father and largely ignored him for the rest of his life; years after becoming dictator, Franco wrote a brief novel" Raza" under the pseudonym Jaime de Andrade, whose protagonist is believed by Stanley Payne to represent the idealised man Franco wished his father had been. Conversely, Franco strongly identified with his mother( who always wore widow' s black once she realised her husband had abandoned her) and learned from her moderation, austerity, self- control, family solidarity and respect for Catholicism, though he would also inherit his father' s harshness, coldness and implacability. Military career. Rif War and advancement through the ranks. Francisco was to follow his father into the Navy, but as a result of the Spanish– American War the country lost much of its navy as well as most of its colonies. Not needing any more
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officers, the Naval Academy admitted
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no new entrants from 1906 to 1913. To his father' s chagrin, Francisco decided to try the Spanish Army. In 1907, he entered the Infantry Academy in Toledo. At the age of fourteen, Franco was one of the youngest members of his class, with most boys being between sixteen and eighteen. He was short and was bullied for his small size. His grades were average; though his good memory meant he seldom struggled in mental tests, his small stature was a hindrance in physical tests. He would graduate in July 1910 as second lieutenant, coming in at position 251 out of 312, though this may have been less to do with his grades than his small size, young age and reduced physical presence; Stanley Payne observes that by the time Civil War began, Franco had already become a major general and would soon be a generalissimo, while none of his higher- ranking fellow cadets had managed to get beyond the rank of lieutenant- colonel. At 19, Franco was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in June 1912. Two years later, he obtained a commission to Morocco. Spanish efforts to occupy their new African protectorate provoked the Second Melillan campaign in 1909 with native Moroccans, the first of a period of Riffian rebellions. Their tactics resulted in heavy losses among Spanish military officers, and also provided an opportunity to earn promotion through merit. It was said that officers would receive either" la caja o la faja"( a coffin or a general' s sash). Franco quickly gained a reputation as a good officer. In 1913, Franco transferred into the newly formed regulares: Moroccan colonial troops with Spanish officers, who acted as shock troops. This transfer into a perilous role may have been decided because Franco failed to win the hand of his first love, Sofía Subirán. The letters between the two were found and she was questioned by journalists. In 1916, aged 23 as a captain, he was shot by enemy machine gun fire. He was badly wounded in the abdomen, specifically the liver, in a skirmish at" El Biutz". The physicians of the battle later concluded that his intestines were spared because he inhaled the moment he was shot. In 2008, it was alleged by historian José María Zavala that this injury had left Franco with only one testicle. Zavala cites Ana Puigvert, whose father Antonio Puigvert, was Franco' s physician. His recovery was seen by native troops in Africa as a spiritual event– they believed Franco to be blessed with" baraka," or protected by God. He was recommended for promotion to major and to receive Spain' s highest honour for gallantry, the coveted" Cruz Laureada de San Fernando". Both proposals were denied citing the 23- year- old Franco' s young age as the reason for denial. Instead Franco received the" Cross of Maria Cristina, First Class". With that he was promoted to major at the end of February 1917 at age 24. This made him the youngest major in the Spanish army. From 1917 to 1920, he served in Spain. In
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1920, Lieutenant Colonel José Millán
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Astray, a histrionic but charismatic officer, founded the Spanish Foreign Legion, on similar lines as the French Foreign Legion. Franco became the Legion' s second- in- command and returned to Africa. In the Rif War, on 24 July 1921, the poorly commanded and overextended Spanish Army suffered a crushing defeat at Annual from the Republic of the Rif led by the Abd el- Krim brothers. The Legion and supporting units relieved the Spanish city of Melilla after a three- day forced march led by Franco. In 1923, by now a lieutenant colonel, he was made commander of the Legion. On 22 October 1923, Franco married María del Carmen Polo y Martínez- Valdès( 11 June 1900– 6 February 1988). Following his honeymoon Franco was summoned to Madrid to be presented to King Alfonso XIII. This and other occasions of royal attention would mark him during the Republic as a monarchical officer. Disappointed with the plans for a strategic retreat from the interior to the African coastline by Primo de Rivera, Franco wrote in April 1924 for" Revista de Tropas Coloniales" that he would disobey orders of retreat from a superior. He also held a tense meeting with Primo de Rivera in July 1924. According to fellow" africanista", Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, Franco visited him on 21 September 1924 to propose him to lead a coup d' état against Primo. Yet, at the end, Franco orderly complied, taking part in the in late 1924, and thus he earned a promotion to Colonel. Franco led the first wave of troops ashore at Al Hoceima( Spanish:" Alhucemas") in 1925. This landing in the heartland of Abd el- Krim' s tribe, combined with the French invasion from the south, spelled the beginning of the end for the short- lived Republic of the Rif. Franco' s recognition eventually caught up with him, and he was promoted to brigadier general on 3 February 1926. This made him the youngest general in Spain, and perhaps, along with Joe Sweeney and Michał Karaszewicz- Tokarzewski, one of the youngest generals in Europe. On 14 September 1926, Franco and Polo had a daughter, María del Carmen. Franco would have a close relationship with his daughter and was a proud parent, though his traditionalist attitudes and increasing responsibilities meant he left much of the child- rearing to his wife. In 1928 Franco was appointed director of the newly created General Military Academy of Zaragoza, a new college for all army cadets, replacing the former separate institutions for young men seeking to become officers in infantry, cavalry, artillery, and other branches of the army. Franco was removed as Director of the Zaragoza Military Academy in 1931; about 95% of his former Zaragoza cadets later came to side with him in the Civil War. During the Second Spanish Republic. The municipal elections of 12 April 1931 were largely seen as plebiscite on the monarchy. The Republican- Socialist alliance failed to win the majority of the municipality cities in Spain, but had a landslide victory in all large cities and in almost all provincial capitals. The monarchists
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and the army deserted Alfonso
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XIII and the King decided to leave the country into exile, giving way to the Second Spanish Republic. Although Franco believed that the majority of the Spanish people still supported the crown, and although he regretted the end of the monarchy, he did not object, nor did he challenge the legitimacy of the republic. But the closing of the Academy in June by the provisional War Minister Manuel Azaña was a major setback for Franco and provoked his first clash with the Spanish Republic. Azaña found Franco' s farewell speech to the cadets insulting. In his speech Franco stressed the Republic' s need for discipline and respect. Azaña entered an official reprimand into Franco' s personnel file and for six months Franco was without a post and under surveillance. In December 1931, a new reformist, liberal, and democratic constitution was declared. It included strong provisions enforcing a broad secularisation of the Catholic country, which included the abolishing of Catholic schools and charities, which many moderate committed Catholics opposed. At this point once the constituent assembly had fulfilled its mandate of approving a new constitution, it should have arranged for regular parliamentary elections and adjourned. Fearing the increasing popular opposition, the Radical and Socialist majority postponed the regular elections, therefore prolonging their way in power for two more years. This way the republican government of Manuel Azaña initiated numerous reforms to what in their view would" modernize" the country. Franco was a subscriber to the journal of Acción Española, a monarchist organisation, and a firm believer in a supposed Jewish- Masonic- Bolshevik conspiracy, or" contubernio"( filthy cohabitation). The conspiracy suggested that Jews, Freemasons, Communists, and other leftists alike sought the destruction of Christian Europe, with Spain the principal target. On 5 February 1932, Franco was given a command in A Coruña. Franco avoided involvement in José Sanjurjo' s attempted coup that year, and even wrote a hostile letter to Sanjurjo expressing his anger over the attempt. As a result of Azaña' s military reform,inJanuary1933Francowasrelegatedfromfirstto24th in the list of brigadiers. The same year, on 17 February he was given the military command of the Balearic Islands. The post was above his rank, but Franco was still angered that he was purposely stuck in positions he disliked. It was quite common for conservative officers to be moved or demoted. In 1932 the Jesuits, who were in charge of many schools throughout the country, were banned and had all their property confiscated. The army was further reduced and landowners were expropriated. Home rule was granted to Catalonia, with a local parliament and a president of its own. In June 1933 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Dilectissima Nobis," On Oppression of the Church of Spain", in which he criticized the anti- clericalism of the Republican government. The elections held in October 1933 resulted in a centre- right majority. The political party with the most votes was the Confederación Español de Derechas Autónomas(" CEDA"), but president Alcalá- Zamora declined to invite the leader of the CEDA, Gil Robles, to form a government. Instead he invited the Radical
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Republican Party' s Alejandro Lerroux
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to do so. Despite receiving the most votes, CEDA was denied cabinet positions for nearly a year. After a year of intense pressure, CEDA, the largest party in the congress, was finally successful in forcing the acceptance of three ministries. The entrance of CEDA in the government, despite being normal in a parliamentary democracy, was not well accepted by the left. The Socialists triggered an insurrection that they had been preparing for nine months. A general strike was called by the UGT and the PSOE in the name of the" Alianza Obrera". The issue was that the Left Republicans identified the Republic not with democracy or constitutional law but a specific set of left- wing policies and politicians. Any deviation, even if democratic, was seen as treasonous. A Catalan state was proclaimed by Catalan nationalist leader Lluis Companys, but it lasted just ten hours. Despite an attempt at a general stoppage in Madrid, other strikes did not endure. This left Asturian strikers to fight alone. In several mining towns in Asturias, local unions gathered small arms and were determined to see the strike through. It began on the evening of 4 October, with the miners occupying several towns, attacking and seizing local Civil and Assault Guard barracks. Thirty four priests, six young seminarists with ages between 18 and 21, and several businessmen and civil guards were summarily executed by the revolutionaries in Mieres and Sama, 58 religious buildings including churches, convents and part of the university at Oviedo were burned and destroyed. Franco, already General of Division and aide to the war minister, Diego Hidalgo, was put in command of the operations directed to suppress the violent insurgency. Troops of the Spanish Army of Africa carried this out, with General Eduardo López Ochoa as commander in the field. After two weeks of heavy fighting( and a death toll estimated between 1, 200 and 2, 000), the rebellion was suppressed. The insurgency in Asturias sparked a new era of violent anti- Christian persecutions, initiated the practice of atrocities against the clergy, and sharpened the antagonism between Left and Right. Franco and López Ochoa( who, prior to the campaign in Asturias, had been seen as a left- leaning officer) emerged as officers prepared to use" troops against Spanish civilians as if they were a foreign enemy". Franco described the rebellion to a journalist in Oviedo as," a frontier war and its fronts are socialism, communism and whatever attacks civilisation to replace it with barbarism." Though the colonial units sent to the north by the government at Franco' s recommendation consisted of the Spanish Foreign Legion and the Moroccan Regulares Indigenas, the right- wing press portrayed the Asturian rebels as lackeys of a foreign Jewish- Bolshevik conspiracy. With this rebellion against established political legitimate authority, the Socialists showed identical repudiation of representative institutional system that anarchists had practiced. The Spanish historian Salvador de Madariaga, an Azaña supporter, and an exiled vocal opponent of Francisco Franco is the author of a sharp critical reflection against the participation of the left in the revolt:“ The uprising of
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1934 is unforgivable. The argument
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that Mr Gil Robles tried to destroy the Constitution to establish fascism was, at once, hypocritical and false. With the rebellion of 1934, the Spanish left lost even the shadow of moral authority to condemn the rebellion of 1936.” At the start of the Civil War, López Ochoa was assassinated. Some time after these events, Franco was briefly commander- in- chief of the Army of Africa( from 15 February onwards), and from 19 May 1935, on, Chief of the General Staff. 1936 general election. In the end of 1935 President Alcalá- Zamora manipulated a petty- corruption issue into a major scandal in parliament, and eliminated Alejandro Lerroux, the head of the Radical Republican Party, from premiership. Subsequently, Alcalá- Zamora vetoed the logical replacement, a majority center- right coalition, led by the CEDA, which would reflect the composition of the parliament. He then arbitrarily appointed an interim prime minister and after a short period announced the dissolution of parliament and new elections. Two wide coalitions formed: the Popular Front on the left, ranging from Republican Union to Communists, and the Frente Nacional on the right, ranging from the centre radicals to the conservative Carlists. On 16 February 1936 the elections ended in a virtual draw, but in the evening leftist mobs started to interfere in the balloting and in the registration of votes distorting the results. Stanley G. Payne claims that the process was a major electoral fraud, with widespread violation of the laws and the constitution. In line with Payne' s point of view, in 2017 two Spanish scholars, Manuel Álvarez Tardío and Roberto Villa García published the result of a major research work where they concluded that the 1936 elections were rigged. On 19 February the cabinet presided by Portela Valladares resigned, with a new cabinet being quickly set up, composed chiefly of members of the Republican Left and the Republican Union and presided by Manuel Azaña. José Calvo Sotelo, who acquired anti- communism as the axis of his parliamentary speeches, became the speaker of violent propaganda— advocating for a military coup d' état; formulating a catastrophist discourse of a dichotomous choice between" communism" or a markedly totalitarian" National" State, setting the mood of the masses for a military rebellion. The diffusion of the myth about an alleged Communist coup d' état as well a pretended state of" social chaos" became pretexts for a coup. Franco himself along with General Emilio Mola had stirred an anti- Communist campaign in Morocco. At the same time PSOE' s left- wing socialists became more radical. Julio Álvarez del Vayo talked about" Spain' s being converted into a socialist Republic in association with the Soviet Union". Francisco Largo Caballero declared that" the organized proletariat will carry everything before it and destroy everything until we reach our goal". The country rapidly descended into anarchy. Even the staunch socialist Indalecio Prieto, at a party rally in Cuenca in May 1936, complained:" we have never seen so tragic a panorama or so great a collapse as in Spain at this moment. Abroad Spain is classified as insolvent. This
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is not the road to
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socialism or communism but to desperate anarchism without even the advantage of liberty". On 23 February Franco was sent to the Canary Islands to serve as the islands' military commander, an appointment perceived by him as a" destierro"( banishment). Meanwhile, a conspiracy led by General Mola was taking shape. Interested in the parliamentary immunity granted by a seat at the Cortes, Franco intended to stand as candidate of the Right Bloc alongside José Antonio Primo de Rivera for the by- election in the province of Cuenca programmed for 3 May 1936, after the results of the February 1936 election were annulled in the constituency. But Primo de Rivera refused to run alongside a military officer( and Franco in particular) and Franco himself ultimately desisted on 26 April, one day before the decision of the election authority. By that time, PSOE politician Indalecio Prieto already deemed Franco as" possible caudillo for a military uprising". The disenchantment with Azaña' s ruling continued to grow and was dramatically voiced by Miguel de Unamuno, a republican and one of Spain' s most respected intellectuals, who in June 1936 told a reporter who published his statement in El Adelanto that President Manuel Azaña should" commit suicide as a patriotic act". In June 1936, Franco was contacted and a secret meeting was held within La Esperanza forest on Tenerife to discuss starting a military coup. An obelisk commemorating this historic meeting was erected at the site in a clearing at Las Raíces in Tenerife( which has subsequently been removed). Outwardly, Franco maintained an ambiguous attitude until nearly July. On 23 June 1936, he wrote to the head of the government, Casares Quiroga, offering to quell the discontent in the Spanish Republican Army, but received no reply. The other rebels were determined to go ahead" con Paquito o sin Paquito"( with" Paquito" or without" Paquito";" Paquito" being a diminutive of" Paco", which in turn is short for" Francisco"), as it was put by José Sanjurjo, the honorary leader of the military uprising. After various postponements, 18 July was fixed as the date of the uprising. The situation reached a point of no return and, as presented to Franco by Mola, the coup was unavoidable and he had to choose a side. He decided to join the rebels and was given the task of commanding the Army of Africa. A privately owned DH 89 De Havilland Dragon Rapide, flown by two British pilots, Cecil Bebb and Hugh Pollard, was chartered in England on 11 July to take Franco to Africa. The coup underway was precipitated by the assassination of the right- wing opposition leader Calvo Sotelo in retaliation for the murder of assault guard José Castillo, which had been committed by a group headed by a civil guard and composed of assault guards and members of the socialist militias. On 17 July, one day earlier than planned, the Army of Africa rebelled, detaining their commanders. On 18 July, Franco published a manifesto and left for Africa, where he arrived the next day to take command. A week later the rebels,
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who soon called themselves the"
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Nationalists", controlled a third of Spain; most naval units remained under control of the Republican loyalist forces, which left Franco isolated. The coup had failed in the attempt to bring a swift victory, but the Spanish Civil War had begun. The revolt was remarkably devoid of any particular ideology. The major goal was to put an end to anarchical disorder. Franco himself certainly detested communism, but had no commitment to any ideology: his stand was motivated not by foreign fascism but by Spanish tradition and patriotism. From the Spanish Civil War to World War II. The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 and officially ended with Franco' s victory in April 1939, leaving 190, 000 to 500, 000 dead. Despite the Non- Intervention Agreement of August 1936, the war was marked by foreign intervention on behalf of both sides, leading to international repercussions. The nationalist side was supported by Fascist Italy, which sent the" Corpo Truppe Volontarie", and later by Nazi Germany, which assisted with the Condor Legion. They were opposed by the Soviet Union and communists, socialists, and anarchists within Spain. The United Kingdom and France strictly adhered to the arms embargo, provoking dissensions within the French Popular Front coalition, which was led by Léon Blum, but the Republican side was nonetheless supported by the Soviet Union and volunteers who fought in the International Brigades( see for example Ken Loach' s" Land and Freedom"). Some historians, such as Ernst Nolte, have considered that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin used the Spanish Civil war as a testing ground for modern warfare, being quickly set up and that the Spanish Civil War, along with World War II, to be part of a European Civil War which lasted from 1936 to 1945 and was mainly characterised as a left/ right ideological conflict. This interpretation has not been accepted by most historians. A. J. P. Taylor calculated that the Spanish conflict had no" significant effect" on the great powers. P. M. H. Bell the author of The Origins of the Second World War in Europe concluded that the Spanish civil war was simply" much ado about nothing" as far as broader events were concerned. Stanley Payne thinks that the Spanish Civil war had more characteristics of a post– World War I revolutionary crisis than of a domestic crisis of the era of World War II. The first months. Following 18 July 1936" pronunciamiento", Franco assumed the leadership of the 30, 000 soldiers of the Spanish Army of Africa. The first days of the insurgency were marked by a serious need to secure control over the Spanish Moroccan Protectorate. On one side, Franco had to win the support of the natives and their( nominal) authorities, and, on the other, had to ensure his control over the army. His method was the summary execution of some 200 senior officers loyal to the Republic( one of them his own cousin). His loyal bodyguard was shot by Manuel Blanco. Franco' s first problem was how to move his troops to the Iberian Peninsula, since most units of the
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Navy had remained in control
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of the Republic and were blocking the Strait of Gibraltar. He requested help from Benito Mussolini, who responded with an unconditional offer of arms and planes; in Germany Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the" Abwehr" military intelligence, persuaded Hitler to support the Nationalists. From 20 July onward Franco was able, with a small group of 22 mainly German Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, to initiate an air bridge to Seville, where his troops helped to ensure the rebel control of the city. Through representatives, he started to negotiate with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy for more military support, and above all for more aircraft. Negotiations were successful with the last two on 25 July and aircraft began to arrive in Tetouan on 2 August. On 5 August Franco was able to break the blockade with the newly arrived air support, successfully deploying a ship convoy with some 2, 000 soldiers. On the Republican side, in 26 July, just eight days after the revolt had started, an international communist conference was held at Prague to arrange plans to help the Republican Government. It decide to raise an international brigade of 5, 000 men and a fund of 1 billion francs to be administered by a commission where Largo Caballero and Dolores Ibárruri had prominent roles. At the same time communist parties throughout the world quickly launched a full scale propaganda campaign in support of the Popular Front. The Communist International immediately reinforced its activity, sending to Spain its leader Georgi Dimitrov, and Palmiro Togliatti the chief of the Communist Party of Italy. From August onward, aid from the Soviet Union began; over one ship per day arrived at Spain' s Mediterranean ports carrying munitions, rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, artillery, trucks. With the cargo came Soviet agents, technicians, instructors and propagandists. The Communist International immediately started to organize the International Brigades with great care to conceal or minimize the communist character of the enterprise and to make it appear as a campaign on behalf of progressive democracy. Attractive misleading names were deliberately chosen, such as" Garibaldi" in Italy or" Abraham Lincoln" in the United States. In early August, the situation in western Andalusia was stable enough to allow Franco to organise a column( some 15, 000 men at its height), under the command of then Lieutenant- Colonel Juan Yagüe, which would march through Extremadura towards Madrid. On 11 August Mérida was taken, and on 15 August Badajoz, thus joining both nationalist- controlled areas. Additionally, Mussolini ordered a voluntary army, the" Corpo Truppe Volontarie"( CTV) of fully motorised units( some 12, 000 Italians), to Seville, and Hitler added to them a professional squadron from the Luftwaffe(2JG/ 88) with about 24 planes. All these planes had the Nationalist Spanish insignia painted on them, but were flown by Italian and German nationals. The backbone of Franco' s aviation in those days was the Italian SM. 79 and SM. 81 bombers, the biplane Fiat CR. 32 fighter and the German Junkers Ju 52 cargo- bomber and the Heinkel He 51 biplane fighter. On 21 September, with the
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head of the column at
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the town of Maqueda( some 80 km away from Madrid), Franco ordered a detour to free the besieged garrison at the Alcázar of Toledo, which was achieved on 27 September. This controversial decision gave the Popular Front time to strengthen its defenses in Madrid and hold the city that year, but with Soviet support. Kennan alleges that, once Stalin had decided to assist the Spanish Republicans, the operation was put in place with remarkable speed and energy. The first load of arms and tanks arrived as early as 26 September and was secretly unloaded at night. Advisers accompanied the armaments. Soviet officers were in effective charge of military operations on the Madrid front. Kennan believes that this operation was originally conducted in good faith with no other purpose than saving the Republic. Effort was made to encourage the Spanish Communist Party to seize power, but the holding of Alcázar was an important morale and propaganda success for the Nationalists, because it is clear that Hitler' s primary aim was not a Franco victory but to prolong the war by the active intervention of the Soviet Government as well as that of Italy, Britain, and France in the Civil War. Hitler' s policy for Spain was shrewd and pragmatic. His instructions were clear:" A hundred per cent Franco' s victory was not desirable from a German Point of view; rather were we interested in a continuance of the war and in the keeping up of the tension in the Mediterranean." Hitler wanted to help Franco just enough to gain his gratitude and to prevent the side supported by the Soviet Union from winning, but not large enough to give the Caudillo a quick victory. By February 1937 the Soviet Union' s military help started to taper off, to be replaced by limited economic aid. A more likely motive was Stalin' s instinct for self- preservation; the Spanish Civil War had aroused a spirit of heroism in support of freedom more in line with Trotskyism, and such ideas might be exported to the Soviet Union. Further proof of this is that Modin stated that Stalin decided to attack the extreme Left, particularly Trotskyites and militants of the POUM before liquidating Franco. Those who had served in Spain were tainted in Stalin' s view and were singled out for harshness in the purges and were virtually all eliminated. The defector Orlov, who worked for the NKVD in Spain, confirms that he was told by a Soviet general, whom Orlov did not want to name, that when the general returned to Moscow to seek further instructions, he was told that the Politburo had adopted a new line towards Spain. Until then, the policy of the Politburo was to assist Republican Spain by supplying armaments, Soviet pilots, and tanks to bring about a speedy victory over Franco, but now the Politburo had revised its strategy. Stalin had come to the conclusion that" it would be more advantageous to the Soviet Union if neither of the warring camps gained proponderant strength, and if the war in Spain dragged
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on as long as possible
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and thus tied up Hitler for a long time." The general who informed Orlov of this was shocked by the Machiavellian calculation of the Politburo which, in its desire to obtain time, wanted the Spanish people to bleed as long as possible. Rise to power. The designated leader of the uprising, General José Sanjurjo, died on 20 July 1936, in a plane crash. In the nationalist zone," political life ceased." Initially, only military command mattered: this was divided into regional commands( Emilio Mola in the North, Gonzalo Queipo de Llano in Seville commanding Andalusia, Franco with an independent command, and Miguel Cabanellas in Zaragoza commanding Aragon). The Spanish Army of Morocco was itself split into two columns, one commanded by General Juan Yagüe and the other commanded by Colonel José Varela. From 24 July a coordinating" junta" was established, based at Burgos. Nominally led by Cabanellas, as the most senior general, it initially included Mola, three other generals, and two colonels; Franco was later added in early August. On 21 September it was decided that Franco was to be commander- in- chief( this unified command was opposed only by Cabanellas), and, after some discussion, with no more than a lukewarm agreement from Queipo de Llano and from Mola, also head of government. He was, doubtlessly, helped to this primacy by the fact that, in late July, Hitler had decided that all of Germany' s aid to the nationalists would go to Franco. Mola had been somewhat discredited as the main planner of the attempted coup that had now degenerated into a civil war, and was strongly identified with the Carlist monarchists and not at all with the Falange, a party with Fascist leanings and connections(" phalanx", a far- right Spanish political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera), nor did he have good relations with Germany. Queipo de Llano and Cabanellas had both previously rebelled against the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera and were therefore discredited in some nationalist circles, and Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera was in prison in Alicante( he would be executed a few months later). The desire to keep a place open for him prevented any other Falangist leader from emerging as a possible head of state. Franco' s previous aloofness from politics meant that he had few active enemies in any of the factions that needed to be placated, and he had also cooperated in recent months with both Germany and Italy. On 1 October 1936, in Burgos, Franco was publicly proclaimed as" Generalísimo" of the National army and" Jefe del Estado"( Head of State). When Mola was killed in another air accident a year later on 2 June 1937( which some believe was an assassination), no military leader was left from those who organized the conspiracy against the Republic between 1933 and 1935. Military command. Franco personally guided military operations from this time until the end of the war. Franco himself was not a strategic genius, but he was very effective at organisation, administration, logistics and diplomacy. After the failed assault
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on Madrid in November 1936,
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Franco settled on a piecemeal approach to winning the war, rather than bold maneuvering. As with his decision to relieve the garrison at Toledo, this approach has been subject of some debate: some of his decisions, such as in June 1938 when he preferred to head for Valencia instead of Catalonia, remain particularly controversial from a military viewpoint. Valencia, Castellon and Alicante saw the last Republican troops defeated by Franco. Although both Germany and Italy provided military support to Franco, the degree of influence of both powers on his direction of the war seems to have been very limited. Nevertheless, the Italian troops, despite not always being effective, were present in most of the large operations in large numbers, while the German aircraft helped the Nationalist air force dominate the skies for most of the war. Franco' s direction of the German and Italian forces was limited, particularly in the direction of the Condor Legion, but he was by default their supreme commander, and they rarely made decisions on their own. For reasons of prestige it was decided to continue assisting Franco until the end of the war, and Italian and German troops paraded on the day of the final victory in Madrid. The Nationalist victory could be accounted for by various factors: Political command. The Nazis were disappointed with Franco' s resistance to installing fascism. Historian James S. Corum states: Robert H. Whealey provides more detail: From 1937 to 1948 the Franco regime was a hybrid as Franco fused the ideologically incompatible national- syndicalist Falange(" Phalanx", a fascist Spanish political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera) and the Carlist monarchist parties into one party under his rule, dubbed" Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional- Sindicalista"( FET y de las JONS), which became the only legal party in 1939. Unlike some other fascist movements, the Falangists had developed an official program in 1934, the" Twenty- Seven Points". In 1937, Franco assumed as the tentative doctrine of his regime 26 out of the original 27 points. Franco made himself" jefe nacional"( National Chief) of the new FET(" Falange Española Tradicionalista"; Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx) with a secretary, Political Junta and National Council to be named subsequently by himself. Five days later( 24 April) the raised- arm salute of the Falange was made the official salute of the Nationalist regime. In 1939 the personalist style heavily predominated, with ritualistic invocations of" Franco, Franco, Franco." The Falangists' hymn," Cara al Sol", became the semi- national anthem of Franco' s not- yet- established regime. This new political formation appeased the pro- German Falangists while tempering them with the anti- German Carlists. Franco' s brother- in- law Ramón Serrano Súñer, who was his main political advisor, was able to turn the various parties under Franco against each other to absorb a series of political confrontations against Franco himself. Franco expelled the original leading members of both the Carlists( Manuel Fal Condé) and the Falangists( Manuel Hedilla) to secure his political future. Franco also appeased the Carlists by exploiting the Republicans' anti- clericalism
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in his propaganda, in particular
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concerning the" Martyrs of the war". While the Republican forces presented the war as a struggle to defend the Republic against fascism, Franco depicted himself as the defender of" Catholic Spain" against" atheist communism". The end of the Civil War. By early 1939 only Madrid( see History of Madrid) and a few other areas remained under control of the government forces. On 27 February Chamberlain' s Britain and Daladier' s France officially recognised the Franco regime. On 28 March 1939, with the help of pro- Franco forces inside the city( the" fifth column" General Mola had mentioned in propaganda broadcasts in 1936), Madrid fell to the Nationalists. The next day, Valencia, which had held out under the guns of the Nationalists for close to two years, also surrendered. Victory was proclaimed on 1 April 1939, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered. On the same day, Franco placed his sword upon the altar of a church and vowed to never take it up again unless Spain itself was threatened with invasion. Although Germany had recognised the Franco Government, Franco' s policy towards Germany was extremely cautious until spectacular German victories at the beginning of the Second World War. An early indication that Franco was going to keep his distance from Germany soon proved true. A rumoured state visit by Franco to Germany did not take place and a further rumour of a visit by Goering to Spain, after he had enjoyed a cruise in the Western Mediterranean, again did not materialise. Instead Goering had to return to Berlin. This proved how right Eden was when he said" Whatever the final outcome of the strife... the Spanish people will continue to display that proud independence, that arrogant individualism which is a characteristic of the race. There are twenty- four million reasons why Spain will never for long be dominated by the forces or controlled by the advice of any foreign power." During the Civil War and in the aftermath, a period known as the White Terror took place. This saw mass executions of Republican and other Nationalist enemies, standing in contrast to the war- time Red Terror. Historical analysis and investigations estimate the number of executions by the Franco regime during this time to be between 100, 000 and 200, 000 dead. Stanley G. Payne approximates 50, 000 executions by the Republicans and at least 70, 000 executions by the Nationalists during the civil war, with the victory being followed by a further 30, 000 executions by the Nationalists. Recent searches conducted with parallel excavations of mass graves in Spain( in particular by the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, ARMH) estimate the total of people executed after the civil war between 15, 000 and 35, 000. Julián Casanova Ruiz, nominated in 2008 among the experts in the first judicial investigation( conducted by judge Baltasar Garzón) against the Francoist crimes, as well as historians Josep Fontana and Hugh Thomas, estimate the deaths in the White Terror to be around 150, 000 in total. According to Paul Preston, 150, 000 wartime civilian
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executions took place in the
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Francoist area, as well as 50, 000 in the Republican area, in addition to 20, 000 civilians executed by the Franco regime after the end of the war. According to Helen Graham, the Spanish working classes became to the Francoist project what the Jews were to the German Volksgemeinschaft. According to Gabriel Jackson and Antony Beevor, the number of victims of the" White Terror"( executions and hunger or illness in prisons) only between 1939 and 1943 was 200, 000. Beevor" reckons Franco' s ensuing' white terror' claimed 200, 000 lives. The' red terror' had already killed 38, 000." Julius Ruiz concludes that" although the figures remain disputed, a minimum of 37, 843 executions were carried out in the Republican zone with a maximum of 150, 000 executions( including 50, 000 after the war) in Nationalist Spain." Despite the end of the war, guerrilla resistance to Franco, known as" the" Maquis"", occurred in the Pyrenees, carrying out sabotage and robberies against the Francoist regime. Several exiled Republicans also fought in the French resistance against the German occupation in Vichy France during World War II. In 1944, a group of republican veterans from the French resistance invaded the Val d' Aran in northwest Catalonia, but were quickly defeated.TheactivitiesoftheMaquiscontinuedwellintothe1950s. The end of the war led to hundreds of thousands of exiles, mostly to France, but also to Mexico, Chile, Cuba, and the United States. On the other side of the Pyrenees, refugees were confined in internment camps in France, such as Camp Gurs or Camp Vernet, where 12, 000 Republicans were housed in squalid conditions( mostly soldiers from the Durruti Division). The 17, 000 refugees housed in Gurs were divided into four categories: Brigadists, pilots," Gudaris" and ordinary" Spaniards". The" Gudaris"( Basques) and the pilots easily found local backers and jobs, and were allowed to quit the camp, but the farmers and ordinary people, who could not find relations in France, were encouraged by the French government, in agreement with the Francoist government, to return to Spain. The great majority did so and were turned over to the Francoist authorities in Irún. From there they were transferred to the Miranda de Ebro camp for" purification" according to the Law of Political Responsibilities. After the proclamation by Marshal Philippe Pétain of the Vichy France regime, the refugees became political prisoners, and the French police attempted to round up those who had been liberated from the camp. Along with other" undesirables", they were sent to the Drancy internment camp before being deported to Nazi Germany. 5, 000 Spaniards thus died in Mauthausen concentration camp. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who had been named by the Chilean President Pedro Aguirre Cerda special consul for immigration in Paris, was given responsibility for what he called" the noblest mission I have ever undertaken": shipping more than 2, 000 Spanish refugees, who had been housed by the French in squalid camps, to Chile on an old cargo ship, the" Winnipeg". World War II. In September 1939 World War II began. On 23 October 1940, Hitler and Franco met in Hendaye in
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France to discuss the possibility
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of Spain' s entry on the side of the Axis. Franco' s demands, including supplies of food and fuel, as well as Spanish control of Gibraltar and French North Africa, proved too much for Hitler. At the time Hitler did not want to risk damaging his relations with the new Vichy French government.( An oft- cited remark attributed to Hitler is that the German leader said that he would rather have some of his own teeth extracted than to have to personally deal further with Franco.) Franco had received important support from Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during the Spanish Civil War, and he had signed the Anti- Comintern Pact. He described Spain as part of the Axis in official documents, while offering various kinds of support to Italy and Germany. He allowed Spanish soldiers to volunteer to fight in the German Army against the Soviet Union( the Blue Division), but forbade Spaniards to fight in the West against the democracies. Franco' s common ground with Hitler was particularly weakened by Hitler' s propagation of Nazi mysticism and his attempts to manipulate Christianity, which went against Franco' s fervent commitment to defending Catholicism. Contributing to the disagreement was an ongoing dispute over German mining rights in Spain. Some historians argue that Franco made demands he knew Hitler would not accede to, in order to stay out of the war. Other historians argue that Franco, as the leader of a destroyed and bankrupt country in chaos following a brutal three- year civil war, simply had little to offer the Axis and that the Spanish armed forces were not ready for a major war. It has also been suggested that Franco decided not to join the war after the resources he requested from Hitler in October 1940 were not forthcoming. According to some scholars, after the Fall of France in June 1940, Spain did adopt a pro- Axis stance( for example, German and Italian ships and U- boats were allowed to use Spanish naval facilities) before returning to a more neutral position in late 1943 when the tide of the war had turned decisively against the Axis Powers, and Italy had changed sides. Franco was initially keen to join the war before the UK could be defeated. In the winter of 1940– 41 Franco toyed with the idea of a" Latin Bloc" formed by Spain, Portugal, Vichy France, the Vatican and Italy, without much consequence. Franco had cautiously decided to enter the war on the Axis side in June 1940, and to prepare his people for war, an anti- British and anti- French campaign was launched in the Spanish media that demanded French Morocco, Cameroon and Gibraltar. On 19 June 1940, Franco pressed along a message to Hitler saying he wanted to enter the war, but Hitler was annoyed at Franco' s demand for the French colony of Cameroon, which had been German before World War I, and which Hitler was planning on taking back for Plan Z. Franco seriously considered blocking allied access to the Mediterranean Sea by invading British- held Gibraltar, but
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he abandoned the idea after
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learning that the plan would have likely failed due to Gibraltar being too heavily defended. In addition, declaring war on the UK and its allies would no doubt give them an opportunity to capture both the Canary Islands and Spanish Morocco, as well as possibly launch an invasion of mainland Spain itself. Franco was aware that his air force would be defeated if going into action against the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Navy would be able to blockade Spain to prevent imports of crucial materials such as oil. Spain depended on oil imports from the United States, which were almost certain to be cut off if Spain formally joined the Axis. Franco and Serrano Suñer held a meeting with Mussolini and Ciano in Bordighera, Italy on 12 February 1941. Mussolini affected not to be interested in Franco' s help due to the defeats his forces had suffered in North Africa and the Balkans, and he even told Franco that he wished he could find any way to leave the war. When the invasion of the Soviet Union began on 22 June 1941, Franco' s foreign minister Ramón Serrano Suñer immediately suggested the formation of a unit of military volunteers to join the invasion. Volunteer Spanish troops( the" División Azul", or" Blue Division") fought on the Eastern Front under German command from 1941 to 1944. Some historians have argued that not all of the Blue Division were true volunteers and that Franco expended relatively small but significant resources to aid the Axis powers' battle against the Soviet Union. Franco was initially disliked by Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, who, during World War II, suggested a joint U. S.- Latin American declaration of war on Spain to overthrow Franco' s regime. Hitler may not have really wanted Spain to join the war, as he needed neutral harbors to import materials from countries in Latin America and elsewhere. In addition Hitler felt Spain would be a burden as it would be dependent on Germany for help. By 1941 Vichy French forces were proving their effectiveness in North Africa, reducing the need for Spanish help, and Hitler was wary about opening up a new front on the western coast of Europe as he struggled to reinforce the Italians in Greece and Yugoslavia. Franco signed a revised Anti- Comintern Pact on 25 November 1941. Spain continued to import war materials and trade wolfram with Germany until August 1944 when the Germans withdrew from the Spanish frontier. Spanish neutrality during World War II was appreciated and publicly acknowledged by leading Allied statesmen. In November 1942 President Roosevelt wrote to General Franco:"... your nation and mine are friends in the best sense of the word." In May 1944 Winston Churchill stated in the House of Commons:" in the dark days of the war the attitude of the Spanish Government in not giving our enemies passage through Spain was extremelly helpful to us... I must say that I shall always consider that a service was rendered... by Spain, not only to the United Kingdom and to the British Empire
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and Commonwealth, but to the
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cause of the United Nations." Similar gratitude was also expressed by the Provisional French Government. Franco interposed no obstacle to Britain' s construction of a big air base extending out of Gibraltar into Spanish territorial waters, and welcomed the Anglo- American landings in North Africa. Moreover, Spain did not intern any of the 1, 200 American airmen who were forced to land in the country, but gave them shelter and helped them to leave. After the war, the Spanish government tried to destroy all evidence of its cooperation with the Axis. In 2010 documents were discovered showing that on 13 May 1941, Franco ordered his provincial governors to compile a list of Jews while he negotiated an alliance with the Axis powers. Franco supplied Reichsführer- SS Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Nazis' Final Solution, with a list of 6, 000 Jews in Spain. On 14 June 1940, Spanish forces in Morocco occupied Tangier( a city under international control) and did not leave until the war' s end in 1945. After the war, Franco allowed many former Nazis, such as Otto Skorzeny and Léon Degrelle, and other former fascists, to flee to Spain. Treatment of Jews. Franco had a controversial association with Jews during the WWII period. He made anti- Semitic remarks in a speech in May 1939, and made similar remarks on at least six occasions during World War II. In 2010, documents were discovered showing that on 13 May 1941, Franco ordered his provincial governors to compile a list of Jews while he negotiated an alliance with the Axis powers. Franco supplied Reichsführer- SS Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Nazis' Final Solution, with a list of 6, 000 Jews in Spain. Contrarily, according to" Anti- Semitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution"( 2005): Spain provided visas for thousands of French Jews to transit Spain en route to Portugal to escape the Nazis. Spanish diplomats protected about 4, 000 Jews living in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. At least some 20, 000 to 30, 000 Jews were allowed to pass through Spain in the first half of the War. Jews who were not allowed to enter Spain, however, were sent to the Miranda de Ebro concentration camp or deported to France. In January 1943, after the German embassy in Spain told the Spanish government that it had two months to remove its Jewish citizens from Western Europe, Spain severely limited visas, and only 800 Jews were allowed to enter the country. After the war, Franco exaggerated his contribution to helping to save Jews to end Spain' s isolation, to improve Spain' s image in the world. After the war, Franco did not recognize Israeli statehood, maintained strong relations with the Arab world and Israel expressed disinterest in establishing relations, although there were some informal economic ties between the countries in the later years of Franco' s governance of Spain. In the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967, Franco' s Spain were able to utilise their positive relationship with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Arab world( due
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to not having recognised the
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Israeli state) to allow 800 Egyptian Jews; many of Sephardic ancestry; safe passage out of Egypt on Spanish passports. This was undertaken through Francoist Spain' s Ambassador to Egypt, Angel Sagaz, on the understanding that they would not immediately emigrate to Israel and that the emigrant Jews would not publicly use the case as political propaganda against Nasser' s Egypt. On 16 December 1968, the Spanish government formally revoked the 1492 Edict of Expulsion against Spain' s Jewish population. Franco personally and many in the government openly stated that they believed there was an international conspiracy of Freemasons, and Communists against Spain, sometimes including Jews or" Judeo- Masonry" as part of this. While under the leadership of Francisco Franco, the Spanish government explicitly endorsed the Catholic Church as the religion of the nation state and did not endorse liberal ideas such as religious pluralism or separation of Church and State found in the Republican Constitution of 1931. Following the Second World War, the government enacted the" Spanish Bill of Rights"(" Fuero de los Españoles"), which extended the right to private worship of non- Catholic religions, including Judaism, though did not permit the erection of religious buildings for this practice and did not allow non- Catholic public ceremonies. With the pivot of Spain' s foreign policy towards the United States during the Cold War, the situation changed with the 1967 Law on Religious Freedom, which granted full public religious rights to non- Catholics. The overthrow of Catholicism as the explicit state religion of Spain and the establishment of state- sponsored religious pluralism would be completely established in Spain in 1978, with the new Constitution of Spain, three years after Franco' s death. Spain under Franco. Franco was recognized as the Spanish head of state by the United Kingdom, France and Argentina in February 1939. Already proclaimed" Generalísimo" of the Nationalists and" Jefe del Estado"( Head of State) in October 1936, he thereafter assumed the official title of" Su Excelencia el Jefe de Estado"(" His Excellency the Head of State"). He was also referred to in state and official documents as" Caudillo de España"(" the Leader of Spain"), and sometimes called" el Caudillo de la Última Cruzada y de la Hispanidad"(" the Leader of the Last Crusade and of the Hispanic heritage") and" el Caudillo de la Guerra de Liberación contra el Comunismo y sus Cómplices"(" the Leader of the War of Liberation Against Communism and Its Accomplices"). On paper, Franco had more power than any Spanish leader before or since. For the first four years after taking Madrid, he ruled almost exclusively by decree. The" Law of the Head of State," passed in August 1939," permanently confided" all governing power to Franco; he was not required to even consult the cabinet for most legislation or decrees. According to Payne, Franco possessed far more day- to- day power than Hitler or Stalin possessed at the respective heights of their power. He noted that while Hitler and Stalin maintained rubber- stamp parliaments, this was not the case in Spain in the early years after the
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war– a situation that nominally
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made Franco' s regime" the most purely arbitrary in the world". This changed in 1942, when Franco convened a parliament known as the Cortes Españolas. It was elected in accordance with corporatist principles, and had little real power. Notably, it had no control over government spending, and the government was not responsible to it; ministers were appointed and dismissed by Franco alone. On 26 July 1947 Franco proclaimed Spain a monarchy, but did not designate a monarch. This gesture was largely done to appease the monarchists in the" Movimiento Nacional"( Carlists and Alfonsists). Franco left the throne vacant, proclaiming himself as a" de facto" regent for life. At the same time, Franco appropriated many of the privileges of a king. He wore the uniform of a Captain General( a rank traditionally reserved for the King) and resided in El Pardo Palace. In addition he began walking under a canopy, and his portrait appeared on most Spanish coins and postage stamps. He also added" by the grace of God", a phrase usually part of the styles of monarchs, to his style. Franco initially sought support from various groups. His administration marginalised fascist ideologues in favor of technocrats, many of whom were linked with Opus Dei, who promoted economic modernisation. Franco adopted Fascist trappings, although Stanley Payne argued that very few scholars consider him to be a" core fascist". Regarding the regime, the" Oxford Living Dictionary" uses Franco' s regime as an example of fascism, and it has also been variously presented as a" fascistized dictatorship", or a" semi- fascist regime". Francisco Cobo Romero writes that, besides neutering left- wing advances by using an essentially antiliberal brand of ultranationalism," in its attempt to emulate Fascism, Francoism resorted to the sacralization and mystification of the motherland, raising it into an object of cult, and coating it with a liturgic divinization of its leader". All in all, some authors have pointed at a purported artificialness and failure of FET JONS in order to de- emphasize the Fascist weight within the regime whereas others have embedded those perceived features of" weak party" within the frame of a particular model of" Spanish Fascism". However, new research material has been argued to underpin the" Fascist subject", both on the basis of the existence of a pervasive and fully differentiated Fascist falangist political culture, and on the importance of the Civil War for falangism, which served as an area of experience, of violence, of memory, as well as for the generation of a culture of victory. Under the perspective of a comparative of European fascisms, Javier Rodrigo considers the Francoist regime to be paradigmatic for three reasons: for being the only authoritarian European regime with totalitarian aspirations, for being the regime that deployed the most political violence in times of rhetorical peace, and for being the regime deploying the most effective" memoricidal" apparatus. With the end of World War II, Spain suffered from the consequences of its isolation from the international economy. Spain was excluded from the Marshall Plan, unlike other neutral countries in Europe. This situation ended in part
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when, in the light of
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Cold War tensions and of Spain' s strategic location, the United States of America entered into a trade and military alliance with Franco. This historic alliance commenced with the visit of US President Dwight Eisenhower to Spain in 1953, which resulted in the Pact of Madrid. Spain was then admitted to the United Nations in 1955. American military facilities in Spain built since then include Naval Station Rota, Morón Air Base, and Torrejón Air Base. Political repression. The first decade of Franco' s rule following the end of the Civil War in 1939 saw continued repression and the killing of an undetermined number of political opponents. Estimation is difficult and controversial, but the total number of people who were killed during this period probably lies somewhere between 15, 000 and 50, 000.Bythestartofthe1950s Franco' s state had become less violent, but during his entire rule, non- government trade unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum, from communist and anarchist organisations to liberal democrats and Catalan or Basque separatists, were either suppressed or tightly controlled with all means, up to and including violent police repression. The" Confederación Nacional del Trabajo"( CNT) and the" Unión General de Trabajadores"( UGT) trade unions were outlawed, and replaced in 1940 by the corporatist" Sindicato Vertical". The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the" Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya"( ERC) were banned in 1939, while the Communist Party of Spain( PCE) went underground. The Basque Nationalist Party( PNV) went into exile, and in 1959 the ETA armed group was created to wage a low- intensity war against Franco. Franco' s Spanish nationalism promoted a unitary national identity by repressing Spain' s cultural diversity. Bullfighting and flamenco were promoted as national traditions while those traditions not considered" Spanish" were suppressed. Franco' s view of Spanish tradition was somewhat artificial and arbitrary: while some regional traditions were suppressed, flamenco, an Andalusian tradition, was considered part of a larger, national identity. All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many, such as the Sardana, the national dance of Catalonia, were plainly forbidden( often in an erratic manner). This cultural policy was relaxed over time,mostnotablyduringthelate1960sandearly1970s. Franco also used language politics in an attempt to establish national homogeneity. He promoted the use of Castilian Spanish and suppressed other languages such as Catalan, Galician, and Basque. The legal usage of languages other than Castilian was forbidden. All government, notarial, legal and commercial documents were to be drawn up exclusively in Castilian and any documents written in other languages were deemed null and void. The usage of any other language was forbidden in schools, in advertising, and on road and shop signs. For unofficial use, citizens continued to speak these languages. This was the situationthroughoutthe1940s and to a lesser extentduringthe1950s, but after 1960 the non- Castilian Spanish languages were freely spoken and written, and they reached bookshops and stages, although they never received official status. The Catholic Church was upheld as the established church of the Spanish State, and it regained many of the traditional privileges which it had lost under the Republic. Civil servants had
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to be Catholic, and some
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official jobs even required a" good behavior" statement by a priest. Civil marriages which had taken place in Republican Spain were declared null and void unless they had been confirmed by the Catholic Church. Divorce was forbidden, along with contraceptives, and abortion. Most country towns and rural areas were patrolled by pairs of" Guardia Civil", a military police force for civilians, which functioned as Franco' s chief means of social control. Larger cities and capitals were mostly under the jurisdiction of the Policia Armada, or the" grises"(" greys", due to the colour of their uniforms) as they were called.Studentrevoltsatuniversitiesinthelate1960sandearly1970s were violently repressed by the heavily armed" Policía Armada"( Armed Police). Plain- clothed secret police worked inside Spanish universities. The enforcement by public authorities of traditional Catholic values was a stated intent of the regime, mainly by using a law( the" Ley de Vagos y Maleantes", Vagrancy Act) enacted by Azaña. The remaining nomads of Spain( Gitanos and Mercheros like El Lute) were especially affected. Through this law, homosexuality and prostitution were made criminal offenses in 1954. Women in Francoist Spain. Francoism professed a devotion to the traditional role of a woman in society; that is, being a loving daughter and sister to her parents and brothers, being a faithful wife to her husband, and residing with her family. Official propaganda confined the role of women to family care and motherhood. Immediately after the civil war most progressive laws passed by the Republic aimed at equality between the sexes were nullified. Women could not become judges or testify in a trial. They could not become university professors. Their affairs and economic lives had to be managed by their fathers and husbands.Untilthe1970s, women could not open a bank account without having it co- signed by her father or husband.Inthe1960sand1970s these restrictions were somewhat relaxed. The Spanish colonies and decolonisation. Spain attempted to retain control of its colonies throughout Franco' s rule. During the Algerian War( 1954– 62), Madrid became the base of the" Organisation armée secrète"( OAS), a right- wing French Army group which sought to preserve French Algeria. Despite this, Franco was forced to make some concessions. When French Morocco became independent in 1956, he surrendered Spanish Morocco to Morocco, retaining only a few cities( the" Plazas de soberanía"). The year after, Mohammed V invaded Spanish Sahara during the Ifni War( known as the" Forgotten War" in Spain). Only in 1975, with the Green March, did Morocco take control of all of the former Spanish territories in the Sahara. In 1968, under pressure from the United Nations, Spain granted Equatorial Guinea its independence, and the following year it ceded Ifni to Morocco. Under Franco, Spain also pursued a campaign to force a negotiation on the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, and closed its border with that territory in 1969. The border would not be fully reopened until 1985. Economic policy. The Civil War ravaged the Spanish economy. Infrastructure had been damaged, workers killed, and daily business severely hampered. For more than a decade after Franco' s victory, the devastated economy recovered very slowly.
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Franco initially pursued a policy
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of autarky, cutting off almost all international trade. The policy had devastating effects, and the economy stagnated. Only black marketeers could enjoy an evident affluence. On the brink of bankruptcy, a combination of pressure from the United States and the IMF managed to convince the regime to adopt a free market economy. Many of the old guard in charge of the economy were replaced by" technocrata", despite some initial opposition from Franco. From the mid-1950s there was modest acceleration in economic activity after some minor reforms and a relaxation of controls. But the growth proved too much for the economy,withshortagesandinflationbreakingouttowardstheendofthe1950s. When Franco replaced his ideological ministers with the apolitical technocrats, the regime implemented several development policies that included deep economic reforms. After a recession, growth took off from 1959, creating an economic boom that lasted until 1974, and became known as the" Spanish miracle". Concurrent with the absence of social reforms, and the economic power shift, a tide of mass emigration commenced to other European countries, and to a lesser extent, to South America. Emigration helped the regime in two ways. The country got rid of populations it would not have been able to keep in employment, and the emigrants supplied the country with much needed monetary remittances.Duringthe1960s, the wealthy classes of Francoist Spain experienced further increases in wealth, particularly those who remained politically faithful, while a burgeoning middle class became visible as the" economic miracle" progressed. International firms established factories in Spain where salaries were low, company taxes very low, strikes forbidden and workers' health or state protections almost unheard of. State- owned firms like the car manufacturer SEAT, truck builder Pegaso, and oil refiner INH, massively expanded production. Furthermore, Spain was virtually a new mass market. Spain became the second- fastest growing economy in the world between 1959 and 1973, just behind Japan. By the time of Franco' s death in 1975, Spain still lagged behind most of Western Europe but the gap between its per capita GDP and that of the leading Western European countries had narrowed greatly, and the country had developed a large industrialised economy. Succession. Franco decided to name a monarch to succeed his regency, but the simmering tensions between the Carlists and the Alfonsoists continued. In 1969 Franco nominated as his heir- apparent Prince Juan Carlos de Borbón, who had been educated by him in Spain, with the new title of Prince of Spain. This designation came as a surprise to the Carlist pretender to the throne, as well as to Juan Carlos' s father, Don Juan, the Count of Barcelona, who had a superior claim to the throne, but whom Franco feared to be too liberal. However, when Juan Carlos asked Franco if he could sit in on cabinet meetings, Franco would not permit him saying that" you would do things differently." Due to the spread of democracy, excluding the Eastern Bloc, in Europe since World War II, Juan Carlos could or would not have been a dictator in the way Franco had been. By 1973 Franco had surrendered the function of prime minister("
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Presidente del Gobierno"), remaining only
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as head of state and commander in chief of the military. As his final years progressed, tensions within the various factions of the" Movimiento" would consume Spanish political life, as varying groups jockeyed for position in an effort to win control of the country' s future. The assassination of prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco in the 20 December 1973 bombing by ETA eventually gave an edge to the liberalizing faction. Death and funeral. On 19 July 1974, the aged Franco fell ill from various health problems, and Juan Carlos took over as acting head of state. Franco recovered and on 2 September he resumed his duties as head of state. A year later he fell ill again, afflicted with further health problems, including a long battle with Parkinson' s disease. Franco' s last public appearance was on 1 October 1975 when, despite his gaunt and frail appearance, he gave a speech to crowds from the balcony at the Royal Palace of El Pardo in Madrid. On 30 October 1975 he fell into a coma and was put on life support. Franco' s family agreed to disconnect the life- support machines. Officially, he died a few minutes after midnight on 20 November 1975 from heart failure, at the age of 82– on the same date as the death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the Falange, in 1936. Historian Ricardo de la Cierva claimed that he had been told around 6 pm on 19 November that Franco had already died. Juan Carlos was proclaimed King two days later. Franco' s body was interred at Valle de los Caídos, a colossal memorial built by the forced labour of political prisoners to honour the casualties of both sides of the Spanish Civil War. The site was designated by the interim government, assured by Prince Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro, as the burial place for Franco. According to his family, Franco did not want to be buried in the Valley, but in the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. Nonetheless, the family agreed to the interim government' s request to bury him in the Valley, and has stood by the decision. This made Franco the only person interred in the Valley who did not die during the civil war. No Western European countries sent their leaders to attend Franco' s funeral due to his tenure as dictator. The following guests took part in his funeral: Both Pinochet and Banzer revered Franco and modelled their leadership style on the Spanish leader. Former US President Richard Nixon called Franco" a loyal friend and ally of the United States." Exhumation. On 11 May 2017, the Congress of Deputies approved, by 198– 1 with 140 abstentions, a motion driven by the Socialist Workers' Party ordering the Government to exhume Franco' s remains. On 24 August 2018, the Government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez approved legal amendments to the Historical Memory Law stating that only those who died during the Civil War would be buried at the Valle de los Caídos, resulting in plans to exhume Franco'
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s remains for reburial elsewhere.
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Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo Poyato stated that having Franco buried at the monument" shows a lack of respect... for the victims buried there". The government gave Franco' s family a 15- day deadline to decide Franco' s final resting place, or else a" dignified place" would be chosen by the government. On 13 September 2018, the Congress of Deputies voted 176– 2, with 165 abstentions, to approve the government' s plan to remove Franco' s body from the monument. Franco' s family opposed the exhumation, and attempted to prevent it by making appeals to the Ombudsman' s Office. The family expressed its wish that Franco' s remains be reinterred with full military honors at the Almudena Cathedral in the centre of Madrid, the burial place he had requested before his death. The demand was rejected by the Spanish Government, which issued another 15- day deadline to choose another site. Because the family refused to choose another location, the Spanish Government ultimately chose to rebury Franco at the Mingorrubio Cemetery in El Pardo, where his wife Carmen Polo and a number of Francoist officials, most notably prime ministers Luis Carrero Blanco and Carlos Arias Navarro, are buried. His body was to be exhumed from the Valle de los Caídos on 10 June 2019, but the Supreme Court of Spain ruled that the exhumation would be delayed until the family had exhausted all possible appeals. On 24 September 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the exhumation could proceed, and the Sánchez government announced that it would move Franco' s remains to the Mingorrubio cemetery as soon as possible. On 24 October 2019 his remains were moved to his wife' s mausoleum which is located in the Mingorrubio Cemetery, and buried in a private ceremony. Though barred by the Spanish government from being draped in the Spanish flag, Francisco Franco' s grandson, also named Francisco Franco, draped his coffin in the nationalist flag. According to a poll by the Spanish newspaper," El Mundo", 43% of Spanish people approved of the exhumation while 32. 5% opposed it. The exhumation also seems to have been an opinion divided by party line with the Socialist party strongly in favor of its removal as well as the removal of his statue there. There seems to be no consensus on whether the statue should simply be moved or completely destroyed. Legacy. In Spain and abroad, the legacy of Franco remains controversial. The longevity of Franco' s rule, his suppression of opposition, and the effective propaganda sustained through the years have made a detached evaluation difficult. For almost 40 years, Spaniards, and particularly children at school, were told that Divine Providence had sent Franco to save Spain from chaos, atheism, and poverty. Historian Stanley Payne described Franco as being the most significant figure to dominate Spain since Philip II, while Michael Seidman argued that Franco was the most successful counterrevolutionaryleaderofthe20th century. A highly controversial figure within Spain, Franco is seen as a divisive leader. Supporters credit him for keeping Spain neutral and uninvaded in World War II. They emphasize his
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strong anti- communist and nationalist
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views, economic policies, and opposition to socialism as major factors in Spain' s post- war economic success and later international integration. Abroad he had support from Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle, Konrad Adenauer and many American Catholics, but was strongly opposed by the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Conversely, critics on the left have denounced him as a tyrant responsible for thousands of deaths in years- long political repression, and have called him complicit in atrocities committed by Axis forces during World War II due to his support of Axis governments. When he died in 1975, the major parties of the left and the right agreed to follow the Pact of Forgetting. To secure the transition to democracy, they agreed not to have investigations or prosecutions dealing with the civil war or Franco. The agreement effectively lapsed after 2000, the year the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory was founded and the public debate started. In 2006, a poll indicated that almost two- thirds of Spaniards favored a" fresh investigation into the war". Franco served as a role model for several anti- communist dictators in South America. Augusto Pinochet is known to have admired Franco. Similarly, as recently as 2006, Franco supporters in Spain have honored Pinochet. In 2006, the BBC reported that Maciej Giertych, an MEP of the clerical- nationalist League of Polish Families, had expressed admiration for Franco, stating that the Spanish leader" guaranteed the maintenance of traditional values in Europe". Spaniards who suffered under Franco' s rule have sought to remove memorials of his regime. Most government buildings and streets that were named after Franco during his rule have been reverted to their original names. Owing to Franco' s human- rights record, the Spanish government in 2007 banned all official public references to the Franco regime and began the removal of all statues, street names and memorials associated with the regime, with the last statue reportedly being removed in 2008 in the city of Santander. Churches that retain plaques commemorating Franco and the victims of his Republican opponents may lose state aid. Since 1978, the national anthem of Spain, the" Marcha Real", does not include lyrics introduced by Franco. Attempts to give the national anthem new lyrics have failed due to lack of consensus. In March 2006, the Permanent Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe unanimously adopted a resolution" firmly" condemning the" multiple and serious violations" of human rights committed in Spain under the Francoist regime from 1939 to 1975. The resolution was at the initiative of Leo Brincat and of the historian Luis María de Puig, and was the first international official condemnation of the repression enacted by Franco' s regime. The resolution also urged that historians( professional and amateur) be given access to the various archives of the Francoist regime, including those of the private Francisco Franco National Foundation( FNFF) which, along with other Francoist archives, remain inaccessible to the public as of 2006. The FNFF received various archives from the El Pardo Palace, and is alleged to have sold some of them
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to private individuals. Furthermore, the
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resolution urged the Spanish authorities to set up an underground exhibit in the Valle de los Caidos monument to explain the" terrible" conditions in which it was built. Finally, it proposed the construction of monuments to commemorate Franco' s victims in Madrid and other important cities. In Spain, a commission to" repair the dignity" and" restore the memory" of the" victims of Francoism"(" Comisión para reparar la dignidad y restituir la memoria de las víctimas del franquismo") was approved in 2004, and is directed by the social- democratic deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega. Recently the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory( ARHM) initiated a systematic search for mass graves of people executed during Franco' s regime, which has been supported since the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party' s( PSOE) victory during the 2004 elections by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero' s government. A" Ley de la memoria histórica de España"( Law on the Historical Memory of Spain) was approved on 28 July 2006, by the Council of Ministers, but it took until 31 October 2007, for the Congress of Deputies to approve an amended version as" The Bill to recognise and extend rights and to establish measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the Civil War and the Dictatorship"( in common parlance still known as Law of Historical Memory). The Senate approved the bill on 10 December 2007. Official endeavors to preserve the historical memory of the Franco regime include exhibitions like the one the Museu d' Història de Catalunya( Museum of Catalan History) organised around the prison experience. The accumulated wealth of Franco' s family( including much real estate inherited from Franco, such as the" Pazo de Meirás", the" Canto del Pico" in Torrelodones and the"" in A Coruña), and its provenance, have also become matters of public discussion. Estimates of the family' s wealth have ranged from 350 million to 600 million euros. While Franco was dying, the Francoist Cortes voted a large public pension for his wife Carmen Polo, which the later democratic governments kept paying. At the time of her death in 1988, Carmen Polo was receiving as a pension more than 12. 5 million pesetas( four million more than the salary of Felipe González, then head of the government)." Flash Crowd" is a 1973 English- language novella by science fiction author Larry Niven, one of a series about the social consequence of inventing an instant, practically free displacement booth. One consequence not foreseen by the builders of the system was that with the almost immediate reporting of newsworthy events, tens of thousands of people worldwide— along with criminals— would teleport to the scene of anything interesting, thus creating disorder and confusion. The plot centers around a television journalist who, after being fired for his inadvertent role in inciting a post- robbery riot in Los Angeles, seeks to independently investigate the teleportation system for the flaws in its design allowing for such spontaneous riots to occur. His investigation takes him to destinations and people around the world within the matter of
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less than 12 hours before
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he gets his chance to plead his case on television, and he encounters the wide- ranging effects of displacements upon aspects of human behavior such as settlement, crime, natural resources, agriculture, waste management and tourism. Use in other works. In various other books, for example" Ringworld", Niven suggests that easy transportation might be disruptive to traditional behavior and open the way for new forms of parties, spontaneous congregations, or shopping trips around the world. The central character in" Ringworld", celebrating his birthday, teleports across time- zones to" lengthen" his birthday multiple times( particularly notable since the first edition had the error of the character heading the wrong direction, increasing that edition' s value). Niven' s essay" Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation" was published in the collection" All the Myriad Ways" In it he discusses the ideas that underlie his teleportation stories. Similar references. On the World Wide Web, a similar phenomenon can occur, when a web site catches the attention of a large number of people, and gets an unexpected and overloading surge of traffic. This usage was first coined by John Pettitt of Beyond. com in 1996. Multiple other terms for the phenomenon exist, often coming from the name of a particular prominent, high- traffic site whose normal base of viewers can constitute a flash crowd when directed to a less famous website. Notorious examples include the" Slashdot effect", the" Instalanche"( when a smaller site gets links by the popular blog Instapundit), or a website being" Farked" or Drudged( where the target site is crashed due to the large number of hits in a short time). Friedrich August Kekulé, later Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz(,; 7 September 1829– 13 July 1896), was a German organic chemist.Fromthe1850s until his death, Kekulé was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially in theoretical chemistry. He was the principal founder of the theory of chemical structure and in particular the Kekulé structure of benzene. Name. Kekulé never used his first given name; he was known throughout his life as August Kekulé. After he was ennobled by the Kaiser in 1895, he adopted the name August Kekule von Stradonitz, without the French acute accent over the second" e". The French accent had apparently been added to the name by Kekulé' s father during the Napoleonic occupation of Hesse by France, to ensure that French- speaking people pronounced the third syllable. Early years. The son of a civil servant, Kekulé was born in Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. After graduating from secondary school( the Grand Ducal Gymnasium in Darmstadt), in the fall of 1847 he entered the University of Giessen, with the intention of studying architecture. After hearing the lectures of Justus von Liebig in his first semester, he decided to study chemistry. Following four years of study in Giessen and a brief compulsory military service, he took temporary assistantships in Paris( 1851– 52), in Chur, Switzerland( 1852– 53), and in London( 1853– 55), where he was decisively influenced by Alexander Williamson. His Giessen doctoral degree was
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awarded in the summer of
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1852. Theory of chemical structure. In 1856, Kekulé became Privatdozent at the University of Heidelberg. In 1858, he was hired as full professor at the University of Ghent, then in 1867 he was called to Bonn, where he remained for the rest of his career. Basing his ideas on those of predecessors such as Williamson, Charles Gerhardt, Edward Frankland, William Odling, Auguste Laurent, Charles- Adolphe Wurtz and others, Kekulé was the principal formulator of the theory of chemical structure( 1857– 58). This theory proceeds from the idea of atomic valence, especially the tetravalence of carbon( which Kekulé announced late in 1857) and the ability of carbon atoms to link to each other( announced in a paper published in May 1858), to the determination of the bonding order of all of the atoms in a molecule. Archibald Scott Couper independently arrived at the idea of self- linking of carbon atoms( his paper appeared in June 1858), and provided the first molecular formulas where lines symbolize bonds connecting the atoms. For organic chemists, the theory of structure provided dramatic new clarity of understanding, and a reliable guide to both analytic and especially synthetic work. As a consequence, the field of organic chemistry developed explosively from this point. Among those who were most active in pursuing early structural investigations were, in addition to Kekulé and Couper, Frankland, Wurtz, Alexander Crum Brown, Emil Erlenmeyer, and Alexander Butlerov. Kekulé' s idea of assigning certain atoms to certain positions within the molecule, and schematically connecting them using what he called their" Verwandtschaftseinheiten"(" affinity units", now called" valences" or" bonds"), was based largely on evidence from chemical reactions, rather than on instrumental methods that could peer directly into the molecule, such as X- ray crystallography. Such physical methods of structural determination had not yet been developed, so chemists of Kekulé' s day had to rely almost entirely on so- called" wet" chemistry. Some chemists, notably Hermann Kolbe, heavily criticized the use of structural formulas that were offered, as he thought, without proof. However, most chemists followed Kekulé' s lead in pursuing and developing what some have called" classical" structure theory, which was modified after the discovery of electrons( 1897) and the development of quantum mechanics(inthe1920s). The idea that the number of valences of a given element was invariant was a key component of Kekulé' s version of structural chemistry. This generalization suffered from many exceptions, and was subsequently replaced by the suggestion that valences were fixed at certain oxidation states. For example, periodic acid according to Kekuléan structure theory could be represented by the chain structure I- O- O- O- O- H. By contrast, the modern structure of( meta) periodic acid has all four oxygen atoms surrounding the iodine in a tetrahedral geometry. Benzene. Kekulé' s most famous work was on the structure of benzene. In 1865 Kekulé published a paper in French( for he was then still in Belgium) suggesting that the structure contained a six- membered ring of carbon atoms with alternating single and double bonds. The following year he published a much longer paper in German
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on the same subject. The
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empirical formula for benzene had been long known, but its highly unsaturated structure was a challenge to determine. Archibald Scott Couper in 1858 and Joseph Loschmidt in 1861 suggested possible structures that contained multiple double bonds or multiple rings, but the study of aromatic compounds was in its earliest years, and too little evidence was then available to help chemists decide on any particular structure. More evidence was available by 1865, especially regarding the relationships of aromatic isomers. Kekulé argued for his proposed structure by considering the number of isomers observed for derivatives of benzene. For every monoderivative of benzene(C6H5X, where X= Cl, OH,CH3,NH2, etc.) only one isomer was ever found, implying that all six carbons are equivalent, so that substitution on any carbon gives only a single possible product. For diderivatives such as the toluidines,C6H4(NH2)(CH3), three isomers were observed, for which Kekulé proposed structures with the two substituted carbon atoms separated by one, two and three carbon- carbon bonds, later named ortho, meta, and para isomers respectively. The counting of possible isomers for diderivatives was, however, criticized by Albert Ladenburg, a former student of Kekulé, who argued that Kekulé' s 1865 structure implied two distinct" ortho" structures, depending on whether the substituted carbons are separated by a single or a double bond. Since ortho derivatives of benzene were never actually found in more than one isomeric form, Kekulé modified his proposal in 1872 and suggested that the benzene molecule oscillates between two equivalent structures, in such a way that the single and double bonds continually interchange positions. This implies that all six carbon- carbon bonds are equivalent, as each is single half the time and double half the time. A firmer theoretical basis for a similar idea was later proposed in 1928 by Linus Pauling, who replaced Kekulé' s oscillation by the concept of resonance between quantum- mechanical structures. Kekulé' s dream. The new understanding of benzene, and hence of all aromatic compounds, proved to be so important for both pure and applied chemistry after 1865 that in 1890 the German Chemical Society organized an elaborate appreciation in Kekulé' s honor, celebrating the twenty- fifth anniversary of his first benzene paper. Here Kekulé spoke of the creation of the theory. He said that he had discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule after having a reverie or day- dream of a snake seizing its own tail( this is an ancient symbol known as the ouroboros). This is likely an example of the exercise of a particular imaginative state, involving homospatial and janusian processes, followed by stepwise logical thinking. A similar humorous depiction of benzene had appeared in 1886 in the" Berichte der Durstigen Chemischen Gesellschaft"( Journal of the Thirsty Chemical Society), a parody of the" Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft", only the parody had six monkeys seizing each other in a circle, rather than a single snake as in Kekulé' s anecdote. Some historians have suggested that the parody was a lampoon of the snake anecdote, possibly already well- known through oral transmission even if it had not yet appeared
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in print. Others have speculated
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that Kekulé' s story in 1890 was a re- parody of the monkey spoof, and was a mere invention rather than a recollection of an event in his life. Kekulé' s 1890 speech, in which these anecdotes appeared, has been translated into English. If one takes the anecdote as reflecting an accurate memory of a real event, circumstances mentioned in the story suggest that it must have happened early in 1862. He told another autobiographical anecdote in the same 1890 speech, of an earlier vision of dancing atoms and molecules that led to his theory of structure, published in May 1858. This happened, he claimed, while he was riding on the upper deck of a horse- drawn omnibus in London. Once again, if one takes the anecdote as reflecting an accurate memory of a real event, circumstances related in the anecdote suggest that it must have occurred in the late summer of 1855. Honors. In 1895, Kekulé was ennobled by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, giving him the right to add" von Stradonitz" to his name, referring to a possession of his patrilineal ancestors in Stradonice, Bohemia. His name thus became Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz, without the French accent on the last" e" of his name, and this is the form of the name that some libraries use. This title was inherited by his son, genealogist Stephan Kekule von Stradonitz. Of the first five Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Kekulé' s former students won three: van' t Hoff in 1901, Fischer in 1902 and Baeyer in 1905. A larger- than- life monument of Kekulé, unveiled in 1903, is situated in front of the former Chemical Institute( completed 1868) at the University of Bonn. His statue is often humorously decorated by students, e. g. for Valentine' s Day or Halloween. Frederick III( 21 September 1415– 19 August 1493) was Holy Roman emperor from 1452 until his death. He was the fourth king and first emperor of the House of Habsburg. He was the penultimate emperor to be crowned by the pope, and the last to be crowned in Rome. Prior to his imperial coronation, he was duke of the Inner Austrian lands of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1424, and also acted as regent over the Duchy of Austria from 1439. He was elected and crowned King of Germany in 1440. He was and is the longest- reigning Holy Roman Emperor and German monarch in history until when in 1493, after ruling his domains for more than 53 years, he was succeeded by his son Maximilian I. During his reign, Frederick concentrated on re- uniting the Habsburg" hereditary lands" of Austria and took a lesser interest in Imperial affairs. Nevertheless, by his dynastic entitlement to Hungary as well as by the Burgundian inheritance, he laid the foundations for the later Habsburg Empire. Mocked as" Arch- Sleepyhead of the Holy Roman Empire"() during his lifetime, he is today increasingly seen as an effective ruler. Historian Thomas A. Brady Jr. credited Frederick with leaving a credible claim on the imperial title and a secure grip
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on the Austrian lands, now
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organized as a single state, for his son. This imperial revival( as well as the rise of the territorial state) began under the reign of Frederick. Early life. Born at the Tyrolean residence of Innsbruck in 1415, Frederick was the eldest son of the Inner Austrian duke Ernest the Iron, a member of the Leopoldian line of the Habsburg dynasty, and his second wife Cymburgis of Masovia. According to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, the Leopoldinian branch ruled over the duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, or what was referred to as Inner Austria. Only three of Frederick' s eight siblings survived childhood: his younger brother Albert( later to be Albert VI, archduke of Austria), and his sisters Margaret( later the electress of Saxony) and Catherine. In 1424, nine- year- old Frederick' s father died, making Frederick the duke of Inner Austria, as Frederick V, with his uncle, Duke Frederick IV of Tyrol, acting as regent. From 1431, Frederick tried to obtain majority( to be declared" of age", and thus allowed to rule) but for several years was denied by his relatives. Finally, in 1435, Albert V, duke of Austria( later Albert II, the king of Germany), awarded him the rule over his Inner Austrian heritage. Almost from the beginning, Frederick' s younger brother Albert asserted his rights as a co- ruler, as the beginning of a long rivalry. Already in these years, Frederick had begun to use the symbolic A. E. I. O. U. signature as a kind of motto with various meanings. In 1436 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, accompanied by numerous nobles knighted by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which earned him great reputation. Upon the death of his uncle Duke Frederick IV in 1439, Frederick took over the regency of Tyrol and Further Austria for the duke' s heir Sigismund. Again he had to ward off the claims raised by his brother Albert VI; he prevailed by the support of the Tyrolean aristocracy. Likewise he acted as regent for his nephew Ladislaus the Posthumous, son of late King Albert II and his consort Elizabeth of Luxembourg, in the duchy of Austria( Further Austria).( Ladislaus would die before coming of age). Frederick was now the undisputed head of the Habsburg dynasty, though his regency in the lands of the Albertinian Line( Further Austria) was still viewed with suspicion. As a cousin of late King Albert II, Frederick became a candidate for the imperial election. On 2 February 1440, the prince- electors convened at Frankfurt and unanimously elected him King of the Romans as Frederick IV; his rule was still based on his hereditary lands of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, or Inner Austria. In 1442, Frederick allied himself with Rudolf Stüssi, burgomaster of Zurich, against the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Old Zurich War( Alter Zürichkrieg) but lost. In 1448, he entered into the Concordat of Vienna with the Holy See, which remained in force until 1806 and regulated the relationship between the Habsburgs and the Holy See. In 1452, at the age of 37, Frederick
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III travelled to Italy to
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receive his bride and to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. His fiancée, the 18- year- old" infanta" Eleanor, daughter of King Edward of Portugal, landed at Livorno( Leghorn) after a 104- day trip. Her dowry would help Frederick alleviate his debts and cement his power. The couple met at Siena on 24 February and proceeded together to Rome. As per tradition, they spent a night outside the walls of Rome before entering the city on 9 March, where Frederick and Pope Nicholas V exchanged friendly greetings. Because the emperor had been unable to retrieve the Iron Crown of Lombardy from the cathedral of Monza where it was kept, nor be crowned King of Italy by the archbishop of Milan( on account of Frederick' s dispute with Francesco Sforza, lord of Milan), he convinced the pope to crown him as such with the German crown, which had been brought for the purpose. This coronation took place on the morning of 16 March, in spite of the protests of the Milanese ambassadors, and in the afternoon Frederick and Eleanor were married by the pope. Finally, on 19 March, Frederick and Eleanor were anointed in St Peter' s Basilica by the Vice- Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Francesco Condulmer, and Frederick was then crowned with the Imperial Crown by the pope. Frederick was the last Emperor to be crowned in Rome; his great- grandson Charles V was the last emperor to be crowned, but this was done in Bologna. Personality. Frederick' s style of rulership was marked by hesitation and a sluggish pace of decision making. The Italian humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, who at one time worked at Frederick' s court, described the Emperor as a person who wanted to conquer the world while remaining seated. Although this was regarded as a character flaw in older academic research, his delaying tactics are now viewed as a means of coping with political challenges in far- flung territorial possessions. Frederick is credited with having the ability to sit out difficult political situations patiently. According to contemporary accounts, Frederick had difficulties developing emotional closeness to other persons, including his children and wife Eleanor. In general, Frederick kept himself away from women, the reasons for which are not known. As Frederick was rather distant to his family, Eleanor had a great influence on the raising and education of Frederick' s children, and she therefore played an important role in the House of Habsburg' s rise to prominence. Despite the fact that their marriage had been unhappy, when Eleanor died the Emperor was affected by her loss and remained widowed for the rest of his long life. Emperor. Frederick' s political initiatives were hardly bold, but they were still successful. Frederick III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1452, following the death of his father. His ascension to the role of emperor came with the stipulation that should the previous queen give birth to a male heir, Frederick would become his guardian. When the queen gave birth to Ladislaus the Posthumous, as according to
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the stipulations, Frederick took on
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his guardianship. This led to conflicts between Frederick and other members of the royal family and nobility. His first major opponent was his brother Albert VI, who challenged his rule. He did not manage to win a single conflict on the battlefield against him, and thus resorted to more subtle means. He held his second cousin once removed Ladislaus the Posthumous, the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia,( born in 1440) as a prisoner and attempted to extend his guardianship over him in perpetuity to maintain his control over Lower Austria. Ladislaus was freed in 1452 by the Lower Austrian estates. He acted similarly towards his first cousin Sigismund of the Tyrolian line of the Habsburg family. Ultimately, Frederick prevailed in all those conflicts by outliving his opponents and sometimes inheriting their lands, as was the case with Ladislaus, from whom he gained Lower Austria in 1457, and with his brother Albert VI, whom he succeeded in Upper Austria. In 1462, his brother Albert raised an insurrection against him in Vienna and the emperor was besieged in his residence by rebellious subjects. In this war between the brothers, Frederick received support from the King of Bohemia, George of Poděbrady. These conflicts forced him into an anachronistic itinerant existence, as he had to move his court between various places through the years, residing in Graz, Linz and. owes him its castle and the" New Monastery". In 1469 Friedrich founded the Order of St. George, which still exists today, whereby the first investiture in the Lateran Basilica in Rome was carried out by him and Pope Paul II. Mary soon made her choice among the many suitors for her hand by selecting Archduke Maximilian of Austria, the future Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who became her co- ruler. With the inheritance of Burgundy, the House of Habsburg began to rise to predominance in Europe. This gave rise to the saying" Let others wage wars, but you, happy Austria, shall marry", which became a motto of the dynasty. Frederick secured in 1486 the succession of the son in his own lifetime. On 16 February 1486 Maximilian was unanimously elected Roman- German king at the Frankfurt Reichstag by the six electors present. The Elector of Bohemia was not invited because the Bohemian spa law might have been claimed by the Hungarian King Corvinus. The choice of Maximilian violated the rules of the Golden Bull. Protests against the irregular election remained in the kingdom but out. Fearing that the Electors would take advantage of his son' s political inexperience, Friedrich Maximilian did not equip him with government powers. On the occasion of the election of Maximilian, a ten- year land peace was decided. In order to safeguard the peace of the land and against the expansive territorial policy of the Wittelsbachs, numerous affected empire- related states of Swabia joined in 1488 on Frederick' s initiative for the Swabian League. After the royal election Frederick accompanied his son to Aachen, where Maximilian was crowned on 9 April 1486. The marriage of his daughter Kunigunde to
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Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria,
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was another result of intrigues and deception, but must be counted as a defeat for Frederick. Albert illegally took control of some imperial fiefs and then asked to marry Kunigunde( who lived in Innsbruck, far from her father), offering to give her the fiefs as a dower. Frederick agreed at first, but after Albert took over yet another fief, Regensburg, Frederick withdrew his consent. On 2 January 1487, however, before Frederick' s change of heart could be communicated to his daughter, Kunigunde married Albert. A war was prevented only through the mediation of the Emperor' s son, Maximilian. In some smaller matters, Frederick was quite successful: in 1469 he managed to establish bishoprics in Vienna and, a step that no previous Duke of Austria had been able to achieve. Frederick failed to gain control over Hungary and Bohemia in the Bohemian– Hungarian War( 1468– 78). Frederick proclaimed himself King of Hungary on 27 February 1459, but this dis not intimidate Mathias Corvinus. Frederick decided to invade, but his army never got far, as he was no general. From Mantua, Pius II( who was also Frederick' s former secretary) urged the Emperor to leave Mathias alone. Hungary, he proclaimed," is the shield of all Christendom under cover of which we have hitherto been safe.[...] If the road is thus opened to the barbarians, destruction will break in over all and the consequences of such a disaster will be imputed by God to its authors." Frederick was even defeated in the Austrian– Hungarian War( 1477– 88) by Matthias Corvinus in 1485, who managed to maintain residence in Vienna until his death five years later in the Siege of Vienna. Emperor Frederick failed to procure help from the Prince- electors and the Imperial States. In 1483 he had to leave his Hofburg residence in Vienna and fled to Wiener Neustadt, where he also was besieged by Matthias' troops for 18 months until the fortress was captured in 1487. Humiliated, Frederick fled to Graz, and later to Linz in Upper Austria. Frederick' s personal motto was the mysterious string A. E. I. O. U., which he imprinted on all his belongings. He never explained its meaning, leading to many different interpretations being presented, although it has been claimed that shortly before his death he said it stands for' or'(" All the world is subject to Austria"). It may well symbolise his own understanding of the historical importance and meaning of his rule and of the early gaining of the Imperial title. Frederick had been very careful regarding the reform movement in the empire. For most of his reign, he considered reform as a threat to his imperial prerogatives. He avoided direct confontation, which might lead to humiliation if the princes refused to give way. After 1440, the reform of the Empire and Church was sustained and led by local and regional powers, particularly the territorial princes. In his last years, however, there was more on pressure on taking action from a higher level. Berthold von Henneberg, the Archbishop of Mainz, who spoke on behalf of reform-
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minded princes( who wanted to
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reform the Empire without strengthening the imperial hand), capitalized on Frederick' s desire to secure the imperial eletion for Maximilian. Thus in his last years, he presided over the initial phase of Imperial Reform, which would mainly unfold under his son Maximilian. Maximilian himself was more open to reform, although naturally he also wanted to preserve and enhance imperial prerogatives. After Frederick retired to Linz in 1488, as a compromise, Maximilian acted as mediator between the princes and his father. When he attained sole rule after Frederick' s death, he would continued this policy of brokerage, acting as the impartial judge between options suggested by the princes. Patronage of the arts. Frederick was an important and powerful patron of music, with a" preference for important for importing Western talent". This, combined with the efforts by non- coủtly institutions like the Cathedral at Trent, would contribute to the flourishing of music under Maximilian I. The 110 books he collected form the core collection of the later" Bibliotheca Regia", that was the predecessor of the later Imperial Librrary and the current Austrian National Library(" Österreichische Nationalbibliothek"). Marriage and children. Frederick had five children from his marriage with Eleanor of Portugal: For the last 10 years of Frederick' s life, he and Maximilian ruled jointly. Death. In his last years Friedrich remained in the region on the Danube, in Vienna and in Linz. In 1492 he was elected Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Since February 1493, Frederick' s health deteriorated increasingly. In the Lent of 1493, Friedrich' s personal physicians diagnosed Kaiser in the left leg as a symptom, usually referred to as age- burning, in the research literature, which according to current medical terminology is considered to be the result of arteriosclerosis. On 8 June 1493 he was amputated under the direction of the surgeon Hans Seyff in the Linz castle of the affected area of the leg. This leg amputation is considered one of the most famous and best- documented surgical procedures of the entire Middle Ages. Although Frederick initially survived the procedure well, he died on 19 August 1493 in Linz at the age of 77. The contemporaries cited as the cause of death the consequences of leg amputation, senility or rapid diarrhea caused by melon consumption. His bowels were probably buried separately on 24 August 1493 in the Linz parish church. The arrival of Turks in Carinthia and the Krain delayed the arrival of Maximilian and with it the funeral service. On 6 and 7 December 1493, the funeral took place in St. Stephen' s Cathedral. His grave, built by Nikolaus Gerhaert von Leyden, in St. Stephen' s Cathedral, Vienna, is one of the most important works of sculptural art of the late Middle Ages.( His amputated leg was buried with him.) The heavily adorned tomb was not completed until 1513, two decades after Frederick' s death, and has survived in its original condition. Fuerteventura() is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the North Africa region, and politically part of Spain. It is
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located 97 km from the
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northwest African coast. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2009. Fuerteventura belongs to Province of Las Palmas, one of the two provinces that form the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. The island' s capital is Puerto del Rosario, where the Insule Council is found, the government of the island. Fuerteventura has 119, 732 inhabitants(), the fourth largest population of the Canary Islands and the third of the Province. At, it is the second largest of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife. From a geological point of view, Fuerteventura is the oldest island in the archipelago. Toponymy. The island' s name is a compound word formed by the Spanish words for" strong"( fuerte) and" fortune"( ventura). Traditionally, Fuerteventura' s name has been regarded as a reference to the strong winds around the island and the resulting danger to nautical adventurers. However, it might have referred instead( or also) to wealth, luck or destiny. In 1339 the Mallorcan navigator Angelino Dulcert, in the" Planisferio de Angelino Dulcert", referred to the island as" Forte Ventura". Another theory is that the island' s name derives from" Fortunatae Insulae"( Fortunate Islands), the name by which the Romans knew the Canary Islands. The indigenous name of the island,beforeitsconquestinthe15th century, was Erbania, divided into two regions( Jandía and Maxorata), from which the name majorero( originally majo or maxo) derives. However, it has been suggested that, at some point, Maxorata( which meant" the children of the country") was the aboriginal toponym of the entire island. History. Precolonial history. The first settlers of Fuerteventura are believed to have come from North Africa. The word" Mahorero"(" Majorero") or" Maho" is still used today to describe the people of Fuerteventura and is derived from the ancient word' mahos', a type of goatskin shoe worn by these original inhabitants. They lived in caves and semi- subterranean dwellings, some of which have been excavated, revealing remnants of early tools and pottery. In antiquity, the island was known o. a. as" Planaria", in reference to the flatness of most of its terrain. Phoenician settlers landed in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the islands were organized around 1340, followed by Moors and European slave traders. At the end of the Iberian conquest, the island was divided into two Guanches kingdoms, one adhering to King Guize and the other to King Ayoze. The territories of these kingdoms were called Maxorata( in the North) and Jandía( in the South) respectively. They were separated by a wall, which traversed the La Pared isthmus. Some remains have been preserved. The ancient name for the island, Erbania, is derived from this wall' s name. The conquest. The island' s conquest began in earnest in 1402, commanded by French knights and crusaders Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle. They arrived with only 63 sailors out of the original 283, as many had deserted along the way. After arriving and settling in Lanzarote, the invaders made some first excursions to the neighboring islands. In 1404, Bethencourt and Gadifer founded Betancuria, on the West coast,
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the first settlement on the
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island. After numerous difficulties, Gadifer took charge of the invasion, while Bethencourt returned to Spain to seek the recognition and support of the Castilian king. In 1405, de Béthencourt completed his conquest of the island, establishing its capital in Betancuria( Puerto Rosario took over the mantle as island capital in 1835). In 1424 Pope Martin V, through the Betancuria Brief, edicted the establishment of the Bishopric of Fuerteventura, which encompassed all the Canary Islands save for the island of Lanzarote. The origin of this bishopric is directly related to the events that occurred after the Great Schism( 1378– 1417), in that the bishop of San Marcial del Rubicón of Lanzarote( at the time, the only diocese in the Canary Islands) did not recognize the papacy of Martin V, and instead adhered to anti- Pope Benedict XIII. The" Bishopric of Fuerteventura" was based in the" Parish of Santa María de Betancuria", bestowing upon the latter the status of Grant Cathedral. After the reabsorbtion of the" Diocese of San Marcial del Rubicón" by the papacy of Pope Martin V, the Bishopric of Fuerteventura was abolished in 1431, only seven years after it was created. The first census recorded a population of some 1, 200 inhabitants. The population increased gradually thereafter. In 1476 the territory became the" Señorío Territorial de Fuerteventura", subjected to the Catholic Monarchs. In later years, the island was invaded by the Spanish, French and the English.2nd conquest of Fuerteventura. Over time, the island endured numerous raids. A Berber- led expedition invaded in 1593, sweeping as far inland as the capital. Various castles were built along the coastline, to protect against these type of attacks. The population was moved inland as a second protective measure. Because of the raids, a first" Captain General" was dispatched to Fuerteventura, accompanied by a number of" Sergeant Majors", to defend the island in the name of the Crown. At that time Betancuria became the religious capital of the island. Two major attacks took place in 1740, within a month of each other. Two separate bands of English privateers attempted to loot the town of Tuineje. These attacks were however successfully averted by the local population and the island' s militia. This successful repelling of the invaders is celebrated at a re- enactment that takes place in Gran Tarajal every year in October. The island' s garrison was officially instated in 1708. Its colonel assumed the title of" Governor at Arms", a hereditary, lifelong appointment which has remained in the Sánchez- Dumpiérrez family. In time, this family increasingly garnered power over the other islands through alliances with the family of Arias de Saavedra and the Lady of Fuerteventura. During the same year the" Assistant Parish of La Oliva and Pájara" was created, to become operational in 1711. On 17 December 1790 the" Assistant Parish of Tuineje" was created, which became a new parish division on 23 June 1792 under the bishop Tavira, with lands including part of the Jandía peninsular, and with a population of 1, 670 inhabitants. 1780 saw the start of a barrilla plantation industry.
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To the present. In 1852,
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a free trade zone was extended by Isabella II to the Canary Islands. Military island rule, which began in 1708, was finally dissolved in 1859, and Puerto de Cabras( now Puerto del Rosario) became the new capital. The Canary Islands obtained self- governance in 1912. In 1927, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote became part of the province of Gran Canaria. The seat of the island' s government(" cabildo insular") is located in Puerto del Rosario. A total of 118, 574 people lived on the island in 2018.Bythe1940s the island had an airport( just west of Puerto del Rosario on the road to Tindaya, still visible today). Mass tourism began to arrive in the mid-1960s, facilitated by the construction of Fuerteventura Airport at El Matorral and the first tourist hotels. The island' s proximity( a mere 100 km) to the West African coast and the fact that it is part of the Schengen territory make it a prime target destination for undocumented immigrants. However, many have perished while attempting the crossing. Flag of Fuerteventura. The flag of Fuerteventura is in proportions 1: 2, divided vertically, green to the hoist and white to the fly end, with the coat of arms of the island in the centre. Coat of Arms. The coat of arms of Fuerteventura was prescribed by a Decree adopted on 15 October 1998 by the Government of the Canary Islands and published on 11 November 1998 in the official gazette of the Canary Islands, No. 142, pp. 13, 432– 13, 433. It was adopted on 24 April 1998 by the Island Council and validated on 18 September 1998 by the Heraldry Commission of the Canary Islands. The heraldic description is" per pale and per fess. First, gules, a castle or, masoned sable, its gate and windows azure. Second, argent, lion gules, crowned, armed and langued or. Third, silver, three fesses chequy gules and or, in four rows, each one charged with a fess or. Bordure gules, with eight saltires or. Ensigned with a royal crown, open." According to José Manuel Erbez( Banderas y escudos de Canarias, 2007), the coat of arms is based on the arms of the island' s provincial militia. The upper quarters represent Castile( symbolized by a castle) and León( symbolized by a lion). The lower quarter alludes to the Saavedra family; various members of this family were lords of Fuerteventura. Geography. Environment. The elongated island has an area of. The island is long and wide. It is part of the province of Las Palmas. It is divided into six municipalities: 100 individual settlements are distributed through these municipalities. A nearby islet, Islote de Lobos, is part of the municipality of La Oliva. Located just off the coast of North Africa, it is the second biggest of the islands, after Tenerife, and has the longest white sand beaches in the archipelago. The island is a destination for sun, beach and watersports enthusiasts. It lies at the same latitude as Florida and Mexico and temperatures rarely fall below or rise above. It counts 152 separate beaches along its seaboard— of white
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sand and of black volcanic
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shingle. The highest point in Fuerteventura is Pico de la Zarza( 807 m) in the southwestern part of the island. Geographical features include Istmo de la Pared which is wide and is the narrowest part of Fuerteventura. The island is divided into two parts, the northern portion which is Maxorata and the southwestern part called the Jandía peninsula. Climate. The climate on Fuerteventura is pleasant throughout the year. The island is hence referred to as" the island of eternal spring". The sea regulates air temperature, diverting hot Sahara winds away from the island. The island' s name in English translates as" strong fortune" or" strong wind", the Spanish word for wind being" viento". During the winter months, temperatures average a high of and a low of around, whereas during the summer a mean high of and a low of can be expected. Precipitation is about per year, most of which falls in autumn and winter. December is the month with highest rainfall. A sandstorm known as the Calima( similar to the Sirocco wind, which blows to the North of the Sahara, to Europe) may blow from the Sahara Desert to the Northwest, and can cause high temperatures, low visibility and drying air. Temperatures during this phenomenon rise temporarily by approximately 10 degrees Celsius. The wind brings in fine red dust, The fine white sand is not blown in from Sahara, It is made up of dead coral reef and local seabed upheaval. visibility can drop to between or even lower, and together with very warm temperatures, it can even bring African locusts to the island. Hydrology. In the winter months, up to 80% of the rainwater flows unused into the ocean, as there is no vegetation to capture the water( also due to overgrazing by free- ranging goats near the coast). The mountain forests,whichwerestillpresentinthe19th century, were all chopped down. Instead, there are many desalination plants( running on electricity) which produce the required amount of freshwater on the island. The tourists on the island use about double the amount of water as the native inhabitants of Fuerteventura. Causes are the filling of swimming pools, watering hotel gardens and washing towels,... Geology. Fuerteventura is the oldest island in the Canary Islands dating back 20 million years to a volcanic eruption from the Canary hotspot. The majority of the island was created about 5 million years ago and since then has been eroded by wind and precipitation. On the seabed off the West coast of the island rests an enormous slab of bedrock long and wide, which appears to have slid off the island largely intact at some point in prehistory, similar to the predicted future collapse of Cumbre Vieja, a geological fault on another Canary Island, La Palma. The last volcanic activity in Fuerteventura occurred between 4, 000 and 5, 000 years ago. Beaches. Fuerteventura was chosen among 500 European destinations by the Quality Coast International Certification Program of the European Coastal and Marine Union as one of the most attractive tourist destinations for visitors interested in cultural heritage, environment and sustainability. The best
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beaches to visit are Playas
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de Corralejo, Playa de Ajuy, Playa de Cofete and Playas de El Cotillo. Wildlife. The island is home to one of the two surviving populations of the threatened Canarian Egyptian vulture. It is also inhabited by many wild dogs and cats. On the barren, rocky land there are Barbary ground squirrels and geckos. Fuerteventura also hosts several migratory and nesting birds. The island has significant populations of the collared dove, common swifts and several finch species especially in the vicinity of holiday developments. Despite its arid climate, the island is also home to a surprisingly large insect fauna. Butterflies which commonly occur on the island include the clouded yellow(" Colias hyale") and the bath white(" Pontia daplidice") which feeds on xerophytic cruciferae. The island is also home to the monarch butterfly(" Danaus plexippus") and its close African relative" Danaus chrysippus". Around holiday developments such as Caleta de Fuste, water is relatively abundant, and dragonfly species including the blue emperor(" Anax imperator") and the scarlet darter(" Crocothemis erythraea") can be found. The island' s sand dunes and shoreline are home to a number of bee and wasp species including the large eumenid caterpillar hunting wasp," Delta dimidiatipenne" and the blue banded bee(" Amegilla canifrons"). Hawkmoths also occur on the island. One of the more notable species is" Hyles tithymali" which feeds on endemic spurges such as" Euphorbia regis- jubae"." Acherontia atropos", the deaths- head hawkmoth also occurs on the island presumably feeding on members of the Solanaceae, for example," Datura innoxia" and" Nicotiana glauca" which are common weeds in the vicinity of human habitation. Natural symbols. The official natural symbols associated with Fuerteventura are" Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae"( hubara or houbara) and" Euphorbia handiensis"( Cardón de Jandía). Demographics. Population. The island has a population of 116, 886. Throughout its long history, Fuerteventura has suffered from a population decline due to the economic situation and the climate, which have made it into a desert island. However,thedevelopmentoftourismduringthe1980s has caused the population to grow year on year since then, doubling it in a little less than a decade. In 2005, with 86, 642 registered inhabitants, the Fuerteventura population was formed by the following: Comparing this data with the 2001 census shows that the number of permanent residents born on the island has increased by just 3, 000. The number who have moved in from abroad has increased by 22, 910, making this the biggest contributor to population growth in recent years. Education. The island has 116 schools, with a total of 14, 337 pupils. Of these, 45 are primary schools, ten are secondary schools, six are for Baccalaureate students and four are vocational colleges. Fuerteventura also has a centre linked with the National University of Distance Education, offering courses in many subjects including economics, business studies, law, history and tourism. State administration. Fuerteventura is governed by the Island Department of the Government of Spain, which holds the rank of a Government Subdepartment. The government building is located in the centre of the capital city. This institution is charged with representing the Government of Spain on the island,
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and managing all the functions
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that are not under control of the Canarian Government. This includes the following public services: Since 30 June 2007, the island' s governor has been Eustaquio Juan Santana Gil. Island Council of Fuerteventura( Cabildo). The councils, formed as part of the Councils Act of 1912, administer the Canary Islands and have two principal functions. On one hand, they perform services for the Autonomous Community, and on the other, they are the local government centre for the island. In the 2003 elections, Mario Cabrera González was elected as president representing the Canarian Coalition, with 31. 02% of the votes, followed by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party with 27. 53%, represented by the Vice President Domingo Fuentes Curbelo. Municipalities. The island is divided into six municipalities with their respective city councils which form part of the FECAM( Federation of Canarian Municipalities). They are governed by the basic legislation of the local regime and their respective organic rules. The populations of the municipalities are as follows: In turn, these municipalities are organised into two associations: the" Mancomunidad de Municipios del Centro- Norte de Fuerteventura" formed from La Oliva and Puerto del Rosario, and the remaining municipalities make up the" Mancomunidad de Municipios del Centro- Sur de Fuerteventura". Economy. Both Fuerteventura and Lanzarote would be themainexportersofwheatandcerealstothecentralislandsofthearchipelagoduringthe16th,17thand18th centuries; Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Although this trade almost never reversed in the inhabitants of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote( due to the fact that the landowners of these islands profited from this activity), producing periods of famine, so the population of these islands He had to travel to Tenerife and Gran Canaria to try to improve his luck. Being the island of Tenerife as the main focus of attraction for the inhabitants of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, hence the feeling of union that has always existed in the popular sphere with Tenerife. The economy of Fuerteventura is mainly based on tourism. Primary tourist areas are located around the existing towns of Corralejo in the north and Morro Jable in Jandia, plus the purely tourist development of Caleta de Fuste, south of Puerto del Rosario. Other main industries are fishing and agriculture( cereals and vegetables). The famous Majorero cheese is locally made from the milk of the indigenous majorera goat. In 2009, Fuerteventura recordedthehighestEUregionalunemploymentrateataNUTS3 level, at 29. 2 percent. Tourism. The first tourist hotel was built in 1965 followed by the construction of Fuerteventura Airport at El Matorral, heralding the dawn of a new era for the island. Fuerteventura, with its 3, 000 sunshine hours a year, was placed firmly on the world stage as a major European holiday destination. While having fully developed tourist facilities, the island has not experienced the overdevelopment found on some other islands. Nonetheless, it remains a destination for predominantly but not exclusively European tourists. The summer Trade Winds and winter swells of the Atlantic make this a year- round surfers' paradise, with more exposed areas on the north and west shores such as Corralejo and El Cotillo proving most popular. Wind surfing takes places at locations around the island. Sailors, scuba divers and big- game fishermen are
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all drawn to these clear
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blue Atlantic waters where whales, dolphins, marlin and turtles are all common sights. With many hills present throughout the Island, hikers are also attracted to this Island. Excellent sandy beaches are found in many locations. Western beaches, such as those around El Cotillo, can experience strong surf. The beaches adjoining the extensive sand dunes east of Corralejo are popular, as are the more protected extensive sandy shores of the Playa de Sotavento de Jandia on the southeastern coast between Costa Calma and the Morro Jable. Naked sun bathing and swimming are the norm almost on all beaches. Much of the interior, with its large plains, lavascapes and volcanic mountains, consists of protected areas, although there are organised tours and vehicular access across them. Art and culture. Traditional holidays. Like the rest of the Canaries, Carnival is traditionally one of the biggest festivals celebrated on the island. It is celebrated in different ways in all the towns during February and March. These festivities have a different theme each year. They include activities such as parades and galas to choose the carnival king. Concerts and festivals. There are many concerts and festivals held in the auditoriums, such as the Festival of Canarian Music. They are also held in smaller venues across the island, featuring bands such as Estopa, Van Gogh' s Ear, and King Afrhica. Festival Internacional de Cometas/ International Kite Festival is held on the second week of November each year centering on the Corralejo Beaches. It attracts kitefliers and kite surfers from all over Europe. It is popular because the winds are warm and constant and the beaches become filled with hundreds of colourful kites of all shapes and sizes. Auditoriums. Fuerteventura has three auditoriums. These are used for all types of performing art. They are also used for non- artistic purposes, such as conferences, charity galas and political meetings. Central library. The Central Library of the Island is located in Antigua' s city centre, in the public university. In addition to providing the traditional library services, it has a 180- seat multipurpose room, air conditioning, a wifi zone, and a multimedia room used for seminars, presentations, film festivals etc. Museums and exhibition spaces. The island has several museums with different themes and plenty of exhibition spaces, both public and private. These include: Sculpture park. In addition to the museums, the capital Puerto del Rosario has an open- air sculpture park consisting of around 100 sculptures by different artists scattered across the city. Most of them were created for the International Symposium of Sculpture celebrated annually since 2001. During the festival, artists come from all over the world to erect their sculptures in the open air, in full view of passers by. Main sights. Sites of interest include Corralejo and El Jable to the north which are made up of fine sand dunes whilst the south is filled with long beaches and remote bays. The constant winds blowing onto the beaches provide a paradise for windsurfing. Surfing is common on the west and north coasts where there are large waves. Windsurfing is
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common around Corralejo and Playas
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de Sotavento and wave sailing( windsurfing on the waves) on the coast along the northern half of the island. El Cotillo is a small fishing village in the north- west of the Island famous for a very long beach to the south of the village and few very calm beaches to the north. The northern beaches frequented by snorkeling enthusiasts and sun worshippers alike are referred to as lakes by the locals. At Cofete on the western side of Jandía a remote and imposing house– Villa Winter– looks out to sea across wide beaches. It was reputedly built by a Mr Winter on land given by Generalisimo Franco. For a time, the beaches were home to a popular accidental attraction. On 18 January 1994 the United States Lines ocean liner SS" American Star"( former" America", USS" West Point"," Australis") was beached in Playa de Garcey during a severe storm. Within a year, she broke in two and later lost her stern. By 2007 the rest of the severely deteriorated ship had collapsed onto her port side, gradually keeling over further and almost completely submerged. By 2008– 2012, most of the remains finally slipped below the surface. Food. The cuisine is fairly basic due to the customs and climate conditions. They share this simplicity with the other Canary islands, and similarly to them, they use a large quantity of fish. They also use whatever they can grow in the near- barren land. This includes papas arrugadas, a dish of wrinkled potatoes usually served with mojo, which is a hot pepper sauce or with puchero canario, a meat stew. Seafood is prepared in many ways traditionally, such as pejines( salted fish), jareas, or sancocho( a type of stew) made from fish, generally the grouper, corvina or sama, boiled after salting, and served with mojo, potatoes, or gofio( a type of grain). People are also very keen on the mussels and limpets collected on the island' s coasts. They also use meat such as beef and pork to make different dishes or simply to for braising, but their main meat is goat, both from the kids and from the older animals. They eat the goat roasted or stewed. Goats are not only useful for their meat– the Fuerteventurans also use the milk to make the cheese majorero, which has won many prizes. The majorero is mostly made of goats milk, and occasionally it is up to 15% ewes milk. It is cured in pimento oil or gofio meal. Majorero and palmero cheese are the only two Canarian cheeses with protected denomination of origin. Sport. Many sports are commonly played in Fuerteventura, both in the open air and in sports centres across the island. Native sports. These are the Canarian sports found on the island: Canarian wrestling. The wrestling takes place in a ring of sand called the" terrero". Inside it, the two contestants try to knock each other over. Fuerteventura has 14 terreros distributed through all the towns except Betancuria. The island also has a school wrestling league organized by the council and a programme
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to promote this sport in
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clubs. Twelve wrestling schools participate in this, based in Antigua, Costa Calma, El Matorral, La Lajita, Lajares, Las Playitas, Morro Jable, Puerto del Rosario, Tefía, Tetir, Unión Sur and Villaverde. Juego del Palo. Juego del Palo is a Canarian martial art which literally translates as" game of the stick". It is played by two players both armed with sticks. They aim to defeat each other without making contact with their opponent' s body. The origin of this game is unclear. All we know is that it is based on a method of combat used by the precolonial Canarian people. Fuerteventura has the following Palo clubs: Canarian boules. This is a similar game to the French Pétanque which is actually played very little on the island, although there are a few teams and courts. Basically the game consists of scoring points by throwing a ball to get it as near as possible to an object called a" mingue" or" boliche". It is played on a rectangular sand or earth pitch which is long and wide. Simple Petanque Rules- Watersports. The sea and climate conditions make the island the perfect place for a huge variety of watersports. Surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing. Many types of surfing are popular on the island, including traditional surfing, windsurfing( where the board is propelled by a sail) and most recently kitesurfing. The island has many schools and courses dedicated to teaching these sports. The sports where Fuerteventura has the most impact internationally are windsurfing and kitesurfing, mainly due to the International Windsurfing and Kiteboarding Championship. This has run since 1985 and is held at Playas de Sotavento in Pájara municipality. Many important wind and kitesurfing figures compete in this championship, such as the several- times world windsurfing champion Björn Dunkerbeck and Gisela Pulido, the very young kiteboarding champion from Tarifa. Many Canarian windsurfers are on the Canarian Waveriders circuit, which has been based in Corralejo since 2005. Diving. Diving schools are just as frequent as surfing ones, all around the coast of Fuerteventura. Unlike the other islands of the archipelago, Fuerteventura has a shelf which at some points goes up to, making it an ideal place to practice this sport. Two of the most useful points for diving are the coast off Playa del Matorral in the South, and the zone between Lobos Island and Corralejo in the north. It is here in Corralejo that the International Sea and Submarine Photography Festival takes places, known as Fimarsub Corralejo– Lobos. During the festival there are beginners' lessons, professional dives, lessons in underwater photography, screenings and other events related to the sport. Swimming. There are many swimming pools on the island but the most obvious place to swim is in the open sea. There is an annual swim from Lobos Island to Fuerteventura, held every year since 1999. The event attracts amateur swimmers from all over the Canaries and Spain, and also swimming professionals such as David Meca and Maarten van der Weijden, the paralympist Jesús Collado Alarcón who won gold medals for100m backstroke and butterfly in Athens 2004, and Xavi
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Torres Ramis, the paralympic champion
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in Barcelona 1992, Sydney and Atlanta. Sailing. The island holds competitions involving different types of boat, such as the lateen and the Optimist. An interesting event is the Tour of Fuerteventura by Kayak, which is organised as a series of stages rather than a competition, and is an easy way to explore the island. Fishing. The most notable competition here is the Gran Tarajal Fishing Open. Other sports. Since 2004 the Marcha Ciclotourista has been held in La Oliva and the Criterium Ciclista has been held in Corralejo( also part of the La Oliva municipality) since 2005. Participants include, T- Mobile and a team from Orbea. These competitions have contributed to local interest in the sport and the first professional local team, the Fuerteventura- Canarias, was formed, initially run by Óscar Guerrero, director of Kaiku, although they have not competed for the past few seasons. There are various motocross circuits on the island, including" Los Alares" in Antigua and" Isla de Fuerteventura" in Puerto del Rosario municipality. They hold regular trials, some of which form part of the Canarian Regional Motocross Championship. Throughout the year there are gravel rally races. Two are part of the Canarian Dirt Rally Championship. These are the Antiguan Rally and the La Oliva Rally. The island' s main football clubs are CD Union Puerto and CD Cotillo, who play in Group XII of the Spanish Tercera División. The resort Playitas on the south coast is since around 2008 equipped with a swimming pool and has become a destination for triathlon training camps for Europeans. An annual race called Challenge Fuerteventura is held there on the half ironman distance. Fairmount is a town in Fairmount Township, Grant County in the east central part of the U. S. state of Indiana. The population was 2, 954 at the 2010 census. It is 55 miles( 88 km) northeast of Indianapolis. Largely a bedroom community for nearby Marion, Fairmount is best known as the boyhood home of actor James Dean, who is buried there. Geography. Fairmount is located at( 40. 417702,− 85. 648942). According to the 2010 census, Fairmount has a total area of, all land. Demographics. 2010 census. As of the census of 2010, there were 2, 954 people, 1, 241 households, and 837 families living in the town. The population density was. There were 1, 350 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the town was 98. 6% White, 0. 1% African American, 0. 2% Native American, 0. 2% Asian, 0. 2% from other races, and 0. 7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 9% of the population. There were 1, 241 households, of which 31. 2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48. 6% were married couples living together, 14. 1% had a female householder with no husband present, 4. 8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 32. 6% were non- families. 28. 0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12% had someone living alone who was
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65 years of age or
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older. The average household size was 2. 38 and the average family size was 2. 85. The median age in the town was 40. 3 years. 23. 9% of residents were under the age of 18; 8. 4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23. 2% were from 25 to 44; 28% were from 45 to 64; and 16. 5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 48. 5% male and 51. 5% female. 2000 census. As of the census of 2000, there were 2, 992 people, 1, 226 households, and 859 families living in the town. The population density was 2, 033. 0 people per square mile( 785. 9/ km). There were 1, 325 housing units at an average density of 900. 3 per square mile( 348. 0/ km). The racial makeup of the town was 98. 30% White, 0. 17% Black or African American, 0. 70% Native American, 0. 20% Asian, 0. 07% from other races, and 0. 57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 43% of the population. There were 1, 226 households, out of which 31. 2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55. 5% were married couples living together, 11. 0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29. 9% were non- families. 26. 5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12. 5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2. 44 and the average family size was 2. 91. In the town, the population was spread out, with 25. 2% under the age of 18, 8. 2% from 18 to 24, 28. 2% from 25 to 44, 24. 3% from 45 to 64, and 14. 1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 90. 5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90. 0 males. The median income for a household in the town was$ 33, 843, and the median income for a family was$ 44, 033. Males had a median income of$ 31, 136 versus$ 23, 041 for females. The per capita income for the town was$ 18, 029. About 7. 4% of families and 9. 1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11. 8% of those under age 18 and 7. 8% of those age 65 or over. History. The Fairmount areawassettledinthe1830s mostly by Quakers from North Carolina. The town was laid out in 1850 and named for Fairmount Park in Philadelphia; it was formally incorporated in 1870. After a large deposit of natural gas was found in 1887, Fairmount became part of the Indiana Gas Boom and a center of the glass industry for the restofthe19th century. Shortly after the depletion of the gas in 1900 the automobile industry set up factories in the nearby large cities, and Fairmount became a bedroom community, restoring some of its lost
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prosperity. In the1940s, James Dean
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lived with an aunt and uncle, Ortense and Marcus Winslow, on a farm north of Fairmount. He attended Fairmount High School, graduating in 1949. After his death in 1955, Dean was buried in Park Cemetery. In 1996, a small Memorial Park north of the town' s business district was dedicated in his memory with a bronze bust by Hollywood artist Kenneth Kendall.Duringtheprosperityofthe1960s, Fairmount enjoyed a time of building with a new town hall, water works, post office and elementary school. At the end of the decade the local school district merged with a neighboring one, forming the Madison- Grant united school district. A new high school was built for this district, and Fairmount High School became a middle school. When a new junior high school was opened in 1986, the Fairmount High School building was permanently closed. Fairmount was hit hard by the recession of 1980– 1982, which brought the permanent loss of factory jobs and the failure of many farms, but rebounded later in the decade. Fairmount is still relatively prosperous despite the ill fortunes of nearby industrial cities and a steady loss of population. In September 1988, The James Dean Gallery opened in a former funeral home, Nodler' s Funeral Home, on North Main Street. Over the years the Museum Exhibit has been toured by nearly 200, 000 visitors who come from around the world to visit the hometown of James Dean. Also in 1988, English musician Morrissey filmed the music video for his single" Suedehead", a song inspired by his lifelong admiration of Dean, in the town. The annual James Dean Festival takes place during the last full weekend in September and includes a Custom& amp; Hot Rod Car Show, The Grand Parade, Street Fair, Carnival Rides, Live Entertainment,a1950s Dance Contest and the James Dean lookalike Contest. On September 30 of each year there is a Memorial Service for James Dean at The Back Creek Friends Church, south of The Winslow Farm. The Baldwin Addition Historic District, Fairmount Commercial Historic District, and J. W. Patterson House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Education. Madison- Grant United School Corporation operates public schools Fairmount is assigned to. Schools serving Fairmount: The town has a lending library, the Fairmount Public Library. There are two Epistles to the Thessalonians in the Bible: Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French" vers libre" form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Definition. Free verse does not" proceed by a strict set of rules… is not a literary type, and does not conform to a formal structure." It is not considered to be completely free. In 1948, Charles Allen wrote," The only freedom cadenced verse obtains is a limited freedom from the tight demands of the metered line." Free verse contains some elements of form, including the poetic line, which may vary freely; rhythm; strophes or strophic rhythms; stanzaic patterns and rhythmic units or cadences. It is said
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that verse is free" when
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it is not primarily obtained by the metered line." Donald Hall goes as far as to say that" the" form" of free verse is as binding and as liberating as the" form" of a rondeau," and T. S. Eliot wrote," No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job." Kenneth Allott, the poet and critic, said the adoption by some poets of" vers libre" arose from" mere desire for novelty, the imitation of Whitman, the study of Jacobean dramatic blank verse, and the awareness of what French poets had already done to the alexandrine in France." The American critic John Livingston Lowes in 1916 observed" Free verse may be written as very beautiful prose; prose may be written as very beautiful free verse. Which is which?" Some poets have considered free verse restrictive in its own way. In 1922, Robert Bridges voiced his reservations in the essay" Humdrum and Harum- Scarum". Robert Frost, in a comment regarding Carl Sandburg, later remarked that writing free verse was like" playing tennis without a net." Sandburg responded saying, in part,“ There have been poets who could and did play more than one game of tennis with unseen rackets, volleying airy and fantastic balls over an insubstantial net, on a frail moonlight fabric of a court.” William Carlos Williams said," Being an art form, a verse cannot be free in the sense of having no limitations or guiding principles." Yvor Winters, the poet and critic, said,"… the greatest fluidity of statement is possible where the greatest clarity of form prevails.… The free verse that is really verse— the best that is, of W. C. Williams, H. D., Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, and Ezra Pound— is, in its peculiar fashion, the antithesis of free." In Welsh poetry, however, the term has a completely different meaning. According to Jan Morris," When Welsh poets speak of Free Verse, they mean forms like the sonnet or the ode, which obey the same rules as English poesy. Strict Metres verse still honours the immensely complex rules laid down for correct poetic composition 600 years ago." Vers libre. Vers libre is a free- verse poetic form of flexibility, complexity, andnaturalnesscreatedinthelate19th century in France, in 1886. It was largely through the activities of" La Vogue", a weekly journal founded by Gustave Kahn, as well as the appearance of a band of poets unequaled at any one time in the history of French poetry. Their style of poetry was dubbed‘ Counter- Romanticism’ and it was led by Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Laforgue and Corbière. It was concerned with synaethesis( the harmony or equilibrium of sensation) and later described as" the moment when French poetry began to take consciousness of itself as poetry." Gustave Kahn was commonly supposed to have invented the term vers libre and according to F. S. Flint, he" was undoubtedly the first theorist of the technique( s)." Later in 1912, Robert de Souza published his conclusion on the genre, voicing that" A vers libre was possible which would keep all the essential characteristics of" vers Classique", but
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would free it from the
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encumbrances which usage had made appear indispensable." Thus the practice of verse libre was not the abandoning of pattern, but the creation of an original and complicated metrical form for each poem. The formal stimuli for vers libre were" vers libéré"(Frenchverseofthelate19th century that liberated itself from classical rules of versification whilst observing the principle of isosyllabism and regular patterned rhyme) and" vers libre Classique"(aminorFrenchgenreofthe17thand18th century which conformed to classic concepts, but in which lines of different length were irregularly and unpredictably combined) and" vers Populaire"( versification derived from oral aspects of popular song). Remy de Gourmont' s" Livre des Masques" gave definition to the whole vers libre movement; he notes that there should arise, at regular intervals, a full and complete line, which reassures the ear and guides the rhythm. Form and structure. The unit of vers libre is not the foot, the number of the syllables, the quantity, or the line. The unit is the strophe, which may be the whole poem or only a part. Each strophe is a complete circle. Vers libre is" verse- formal based upon cadence that allows the lines to flow as they will when read aloud by an intelligent reader." Unrhymed cadence in vers libre is built upon" organic rhythm" or the rhythm of the speaking voice with its necessity for breathing, rather than upon a strict metrical system. For vers libre addresses the ear, not the eye. Vers libre is liberated from traditional rules concerning meter, caesura, and line end stopping. Every syllable pronounced is of nearly equal value but is less strongly accented than in English; being less intense requires less discipline to mold the accents into the poem' s rhythm. This new technique, as defined by Kahn, consists of the denial of a regular number of syllables as the basis for verification; the length of the line is long and short, oscillating with images used by the poet following the contours of his or her thoughts and is free rather than regular. Although free verse requires no meter, rhyme, or other traditional poetic techniques, a poet can still use them to create some sense of structure. A clear example of this can be found in Walt Whitman' s poems, where he repeats certain phrases and uses commas to create both a rhythm and structure. Pattern and discipline are to be found in good free verse: the internal pattern of sounds, the choice of exact words, and the effect of associations give free verse its beauty. With the Imagists free verse became a discipline and acquired status as a legitimate poetic form. Herbert Read, however, noted that" the Imagist Ezra Pound gave free verse its musical structure to an extent that paradoxically it was no longer free." Unrestrained by traditional boundaries, the poet possesses more license to express and has more control over the development of the poem. This can allow for a more spontaneous and individualized poetic art product. Technically, free verse has been described as spaced prose, a mosaic of verse and prose experience. Legacy. Vers libre, until 1912, had hardly
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been heard of outside France
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until T. E. Hulme and F. S. Flint shared their knowledge in 1909 with the Poets Club in London. This later became the heart of the Imagist movement through Flint' s advocacy of the genre. Thus, vers libre influenced Imagism in the discovery of new forms and rhythms. Imagism, in the wake of French Symbolism( i. e. vers libre of French Symbolist poets) was the wellspring out of which the main current of Modernism in English flowed. T. S. Eliot later identified this as" the point de repere usually taken as the starting point of modern poetry," as hundreds of poets were led to adopt vers libre as their medium. Antecedents. As the French- language term" vers libre" suggests, this technique of using moreirregularcadencesisoftensaidtohaveitsorigininthepracticesof19th- century French poets such as Gustave Kahn and Jules Laforgue, in his" Derniers vers" of 1890. Taupin, the US- based French poet and critic, concluded that free verse and" vers libre" are not synonymous, since" the French language tends to give equal weight to each spoken syllable, whereas English syllables vary in quantity according to whether stressed or unstressed." The sort of cadencing that we now recognize in free verse can be traced back at least as far as the Biblical Hebrew psalmist poetry of the Bible. By referring to the, it is possible toarguethatfreeverseinEnglishfirstappearedinthe1380s in the John Wycliffe translation of the Psalms and was repeated in different form in most biblical translations ever since. Walt Whitman, who based his long lines in his poetry collection" Leaves of Grass" on the phrasing of the King James Bible, influenced later American free verse composers, notably Allen Ginsberg. One form of free verse was employed by Christopher Smart in his long poem" Jubilate Agno"( Latin:" Rejoice in the Lamb"), written some time between 1759 and 1763 but not published until 1939. Many poets of the Victorian era experimented with free verse. Christina Rossetti, Coventry Patmore, and T. E. Brown all wrote examples of rhymed but unmetered verse, poems such as W. E. Henley' s" Discharged"( from his" In Hospital" sequence). Free verse in English was persuasively advocated by critic T. E. Hulme in his" A Lecture on Modern Poetry"( 1908). Later in the preface to" Some Imagist Poets" 1916, he comments," Only the name is new, you will find something much like" vers libre" in Dryden' s" Threnodia Augustalis"; a great deal of Milton' s" Samson Agonistes", and the oldest in Chaucer' s" House of Fame"." In France, a few pieces in Arthur Rimbaud' s prose poem collection" Illuminations" were arranged in manuscript in lines, rather than prose, and in the Netherlands, tachtiger( i. e., amemberofthe1880s generation of innovative poets) Frederik van Eeden employed the form at least once in his poem" Waterlelie"(" Water Lily"). Goethe in some early poems, such as" Prometheus" and also Hölderlin used free verse occasionally, due in part to a misinterpretation of the meter used in Pindar' s poetry. Hölderlin also continued to write unmetered poems after discovering this error. The German poet Heinrich Heine made an important contribution to the development of free verse
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with 22 poems, written in
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two- poem cycles, called" Die Nordsee"(" The North Sea")( written 1825– 1826). These were first published in" Buch der Lieder"(" Book of Songs")in182Frederik Willem de Klerk(,, 18 March 1936– 11 November 2021) was a South African politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996. As South Africa' s last head of state from the era of white- minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Ideologically a conservative and an economic liberal, he led the National Party( NP) from 1989 to 1997. Born in Johannesburg to an influential Afrikaner family, de Klerk studied at Potchefstroom University before pursuing a career in law. Joining the NP, to which he had family ties, he was elected to parliament and sat in the white- minority government of P. W. Botha, holding a succession of ministerial posts. As a minister, he supported and enforced apartheid, a system of racial segregation that privileged white South Africans. After Botha resigned in 1989, de Klerk replaced him, first as leader of the NP and then as State President. Although observers expected him to continue Botha' s defence of apartheid, de Klerk decided to end the policy. He was aware that growing ethnic animosity and violence was leading South Africa into a racial civil war. Amid this violence, the state security forces committed widespread human rights abuses and encouraged violence between the Xhosa and Zulu people, although de Klerk later denied sanctioning such actions. He permitted anti- apartheid marches to take place, legalised a range of previously banned anti- apartheid political parties, and freed imprisoned anti- apartheid activists such as Nelson Mandela. He also dismantled South Africa' s nuclear weapons program. De Klerk negotiated with Mandela to fully dismantle apartheid and establish a transition to universal suffrage. In 1993, he publicly apologized for apartheid' s harmful effects. He oversaw the 1994 non- racial election in which Mandela led the African National Congress( ANC) to victory; de Klerk' s NP took second place. De Klerk then became Deputy President in Mandela' s ANC- led coalition, the Government of National Unity. In this position, he supported the government' s continued liberal economic policies but opposed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up to investigate past human rights abuses because he wanted total amnesty for political crimes. His working relationship with Mandela was strained, although he later spoke fondly of him. In May 1996, after the NP objected to the new constitution, de Klerk withdrew it from the coalition government; the party disbanded the following year and reformed as the New National Party. In 1997, he retired from active politics and thereafter lectured internationally. De Klerk was a controversial figure among many sections of South African society, all for different reasons. He received many awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize for dismantling apartheid and bringing universal suffrage to South Africa. Conversely, he received criticism from anti- apartheid activists for offering only a qualified apology for apartheid, and for ignoring
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the human rights abuses by
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state security forces. He was also condemned by South Africa' s Afrikaner nationalists, who contended that by abandoning apartheid, he betrayed the interests of the country' s Afrikaner minority. Early life and education. Childhood: 1936– 1954. F. W. de Klerk was born on 18 March 1936 in Mayfair, a suburb of Johannesburg. His parents were Johannes" Jan" de Klerk and Hendrina Cornelia Coetzer–" her forefather was a Kutzer who stems from Austria." He was his parents' second son, having a brother, Willem de Klerk, who was eight years his senior. De Klerk' s first language was Afrikaans andtheearliestofhisdistantancestorstoarriveinwhatisnowSouthAfricadidsointhelate1680s. De Klerk had a secure and comfortable upbringing, and his family had played a leading role in Afrikaner society; they had longstanding affiliations with South Africa' s National Party. His paternal great- grandfather, Jan van Rooy, had been a Senator, while his paternal grandfather, Willem, had been a clergyman who fought in the Second Boer War and stood twice, unsuccessfully, as a National Party candidate. His paternal aunt' s husband was J. G. Strijdom, a former Prime Minister. His own father, Jan de Klerk, was also a senator, served as the secretary of the National Party in Transvaal, president of the senate for seven years, acting state president, and as a member of the country' s cabinet for fifteen years under three prime ministers. In this environment, de Klerk was exposed to politics from childhood. He and family members would be encouraged to hold family debates; his more conservative opinions would be challenged by his brother Willem, who was sympathetic to the more liberal," enlightened" faction of the National Party. Willem became a political analyst and later split from the National Party to found the liberal Democratic Party. The name" de Klerk" is derived from Le Clerc, Le Clercq and De Clercq, and is of French Huguenot origin( meaning" clergyman" or" literate" in old French). De Klerk noted that he was also of Dutch descent, with an Indian ancestor from the late-1690sorearly1700s. He was also said to have been descended from the Khoi interpreter known as Krotoa or Eva. When de Klerk was twelve years old, the apartheid system was officially institutionalised by the South African government; his father had been one of its originators. He therefore was, according to his brother," one of a generation that grew up with the concept of apartheid". He was inculturated in the norms and values of Afrikaner society, including festivals like Kruger Day, loyalty to the Afrikaner nation, and stories of the" age of injustice" that the Afrikaner faced under the British. He was brought up in the Gereformeerde Kerk, the smallest and most socially conservative of South Africa' s three Dutch Reformed Churches. The de Klerk family moved around South Africa during his childhood, and he changed schools seven times over seven years. He eventually became a boarder at the Monument High School in Krugersdorp, where he graduated with a first- class pass in 1953. He was nevertheless disappointed not to get the four distinctions he was hoping for. University and legal career. Between 1954 and
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1958, de Klerk studied at
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Potchefstroom University, graduating with both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law. He later noted that during this legal training, he" became accustomed to thinking in terms of legal principles". While studying there, he became editor of the student newspaper, vice- chair of the student council, and a member of the Afrikaanse Studentebond' s( a large South African youth movement) national executive council. At university, he was initiated into the Broederbond, a secret society for the Afrikaner social elite. As a student, he played both tennis and hockey and was known as" something of a ladies' man". At the university, he began a relationship with Marike Willemse, the daughter of a professor at the University of Pretoria. The couple married in 1959, when de Klerk was 23 and his wife 22. After university, de Klerk pursued a legal career, becoming an articled clerk with the firm Pelser in Klerksdorp. Relocating to Pretoria, he became an articled clerk for another law firm, Mac- Robert. In 1962, he set up his own law partnership in Vereeniging, Transvaal, which he built into a successful business over ten years. During this period, he involved himself in a range of other activities. He was the national chair of the Junior Rapportryers for two years, and chair of the Law Society of Vaal Triangle. He was also on the council of the local technikon, on the council of his church, and on a local school board. Early political career. In 1972, his alma mater offered him a chair in its law faculty, which he accepted. Within a matter of days he was also approached by members of the National Party, who requested that he stand for the party at Vereeniging. De Klerk' s candidature was successful and in November he was elected to the House of Assembly. There, he established a reputation as a formidable debater. He took on a number of roles in the party and government. He became the information officer of the Transvaal National Party, responsible for its propaganda output, and helped to establish a new National Party youth movement. He joined various party parliamentary study groups, including those on the Bantustans, labour, justice, and home affairs. As a member of various parliamentary groups, de Klerk went on several foreign visits, to Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom, and United States. It was in the latter in 1976 that he observed what he later described as the pervasive racism of US society, later noting that he" saw more racial incidents in one month there than in South Africa in a year". In South Africa, de Klerk also played a senior role in two select committees, one formulating a policy on opening hotels to non- Whites and the other formulating a new censorship law that was less strict than the one that had preceded it. In 1975, Prime Minister John Vorster predicted that de Klerk would one day become leader of South Africa. Vorster planned to promote de Klerk to the position of a deputy minister in January 1976, but instead the job went to
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Andries Treurnicht. In April 1978,
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de Klerk was promoted to the position of Minister of Social Welfare and Pensions. In this role, he restored full autonomy to sporting control bodies which had for a time been under the jurisdiction of the government. As minister of Post and Telecommunications, he finalized contracts that oversaw the electrification of that sector. As Minister of Mining, he formalized a policy on coal exports and the structuring of Eskom and the Atomic Energy Corporation. He then became Minister of the Interior, he oversaw the repeal of the Mixed Marriages Act. In 1981, de Klerk was awarded the Decoration for Meritorious Service for his work in the government. As education minister between 1984 and 1989, he upheld the apartheid system in South Africa' s schools, and extended the department to cover all racial groups. For most of his career, de Klerk had a very conservative reputation, and was seen as someone who would obstruct change in South Africa. He had been a forceful proponent of apartheid' s system of racial segregation and was perceived as an advocate of the white minority' s interests. While serving under P. W. Botha' s government, de Klerk was never part of Botha' s inner circle. State presidency. P. W. Botha resigned as leader of the National Party after an apparent stroke, and de Klerk defeated Botha' s preferred successor, finance minister Barend du Plessis, in the race to succeed him. On 2 February 1989, he was elected leader of the National Party. He defeated main rival Barend du Plessis to the position by a majority of eight votes, 69– 61. Soon after, he called for the introduction of a new South African constitution, hinting that it would need to provide greater concession to non- white racial groups. After becoming party leader, de Klerk extended his foreign contacts. He travelled to London, where he met with British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Although she opposed the anti- apartheid movement' s calls for economic sanctions against South Africa, at the meeting she urged de Klerk to release the imprisoned anti- apartheid activist Nelson Mandela. He also expressed a desire to meet with representatives of the US government in Washington D. C., although American secretary of state James Baker informed him that the US government considered it inopportune to have de Klerk meet with President George H. W. Bush. Becoming state president. Botha resigned on 14 August 1989, and de Klerk was named acting state president until 20 September, when he was elected to a full five- year term as state president. After he became acting president, ANC leaders spoke out against him, believing that he would be no different from his predecessors; he was widely regarded as a staunch supporter of apartheid. The prominent anti- apartheid activist Desmond Tutu shared this assessment, stating:" I don' t think we' ve got to even begin to pretend that there is any reason for thinking that we are entering a new phase. It' s just musical chairs". Tutu and Allan Boesak had been planning a protest march in Cape Town, which the security
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chiefs wanted to prevent. De
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Klerk nevertheless turned down their proposal to ban it, agreeing to let the march proceed and stating that" the door to a new South Africa is open, it is not necessary to batter it down". The march took place and was attended by approximately 30, 000 people. Further protest marches followed in Grahamstown, Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban. De Klerk later noted that his security forces could not have prevented the marchers from gathering:" The choice, therefore, was between breaking up an illegal march with all of the attendant risks of violence and negative publicity, or of allowing the march to continue, subject to conditions that could help to avoid violence and ensure good public order." This decision marked a clear departure from the Botha era. As President, he authorised the continuation of secret talks in Geneva between his National Intelligence Service and two exiled ANC leaders, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. In October, he personally agreed to meet with Tutu, Boesak, and Frank Chikane in a private meeting in Pretoria. That month, he also released a number of elderly anti- apartheid activists then imprisoned, including Walter Sisulu. He also ordered the closure of the National Security Management System. In December he visited Mandela in prison, speaking with him for three hours about the idea of transitioning away from white- minority rule. The collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the dissolution of the Soviet Union meant that he no longer feared that Marxists would manipulate the ANC. As he later related, the collapse of" the Marxist economic system in Eastern Europe... serves as a warning to those who insist on persisting with it in Africa. Those who seek to force this failure of a system on South Africa should engage in a total revision of their point of view. It should be clear to all that it is not the answer here either." On 2 February 1990, in an address to the country' s parliament, he introduced plans for sweeping reforms of the political system. A number of banned political parties, including the ANC and Communist Party of South Africa, would be legalized, although he emphasized that this did not constitute an endorsement of their socialist economic policies nor of violent actions carried out by their members. All of those who were imprisoned solely for belonging to a banned organization would be freed, including Nelson Mandela; the latter was released a week later. He also announced the lifting of the Separate Amenities Act of 1953, which governed the segregation of public facilities. The vision set forth in de Klerk' s address was for South Africa to become a Western- style liberal democracy; with a market- oriented economy which valued private enterprise and restricted the government' s role in economics. De Klerk later related that" that speech was mainly aimed at breaking our stalemate in Africa and the West. Internationally we were teetering on the edge of the abyss." Throughout South Africa and across the world, there was astonishment at de Klerk' s move. Foreign press coverage was largely positive and de Klerk received
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messages of support from other
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governments. Tutu said that" It' s incredible... Give him credit. Give him credit, I do." Some black radicals regarded it as a gimmick and that it would prove to be without substance. It was also received negatively by some on the white right- wing, including in the Conservative Party, who believed that de Klerk was betraying the white population. De Klerk believed that the sudden growth of the Conservatives and other white right- wing groups was a passing phase reflecting anxiety and insecurity. These white right- wing groups were aware that they would not get what they wanted through the forthcoming negotiations, and so increasingly tried to derail the negotiations using revolutionary violence. The white- dominated liberal Democratic Party, meanwhile, found itself in limbo, as de Klerk embraced much of the platform it had espoused, leaving it without a clear purpose. Further reforms followed; membership of the National Party was opened up to non- whites. In June, parliament approved new legislation that repealed the Natives Land Act, 1913 and Native Trust and Land Act, 1936. The Population Registration Act, which established the racial classificatory guidelines for South Africa, was rescinded. In 1990, de Klerk gave orders to end South Africa' s nuclear weapons programme; the process of nuclear disarmament was essentially completed in 1991. The existence of the nuclear programme was not officially acknowledged before 1993. Negotiations toward universal suffrage. His presidency was dominated by the negotiation process, mainly between his NP government and the ANC, which led to the democratization of South Africa. On 17 March 1992, de Klerk held a whites- only referendum on ending apartheid, with the result being an overwhelming" yes" vote to continue negotiations to end apartheid. Nelson Mandela was distrustful of the role played by de Klerk in the negotiations, particularly as he believed that de Klerk was knowledgeable about' third force' attempts to foment violence in the country and destabilize the negotiations. De Klerk' s possible role in the' third force' came to the attention of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but was ultimately never clarified. De Klerk was accused by writer Anthony Sampson of complicity in the violence among the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and elements of the security forces. He also accused de Klerk of permitting his ministers to build their own criminal empires. On 17 July 1992, the Boipatong massacre by the Inkatha Freedom Party occurred, killing 45 people. The massacre caused a resurgence of international pressure against South Africa over claims of police collusion, leading to a weaker position at the negotiation tables for the National Party. The Goldstone Commission concluded there was no evidence of police collusion in the massacre. On 30 April 1993, de Klerk issued an apology for the actions of the apartheid government, stating that:" It was not our intention to deprive people of their rights and to cause misery, but eventually apartheid led to just that. Insofar as to what occurred we deeply regret it... Yes we are sorry". Tutu urged people to accept the apology, stating that" saying sorry is not an easy thing
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to do... We should be
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magnanimous and accept it as a magnanimous act", although Tutu was privately frustrated that de Klerk' s apology had been qualified and had not gone so far as to call apartheid an intrinsically evil policy. De Klerk authorized the raid on Mthatha against suspected Azanian People' s Liberation Army( APLA) fighters on 8 October 1993 that killed three teenagers and two twelve year olds. The Minister of Defence said the raid had been undertaken to pre- empt attacks by the APLA on civilians and that one of the victims had brandished a weapon. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded the raid was a" gross violation of human rights" On 10 December 1993, de Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for their work in ending apartheid. South Africa held its first universal elections in 1994 from 26 to 29 April. The ANC won the election with 62 percent, while the National Party received 20 percent. De Klerk became deputy president in the national unity government under Nelson Mandela. Deputy presidency. De Klerk had been unhappy that changes had been made to the inauguration ceremony, rendering it multi- religious rather than reflecting the newly elected leader' s particular denomination. When he was being sworn in, and the chief justice said" So help me God", de Klerk did not repeat this, instead stating, in Afrikaans:" So help me the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Mandela reappointed de Klerk' s finance minister, Derek Keys, and retained Chris Stals, a former member of the Broederbond, as the head of the Central Bank. De Klerk supported the coalition' s economic policies, stating that it" accepted a broad framework of responsible economic policies". De Klerk' s working relationship with Mandela was often strained, with the former finding it difficult adjusting to the fact that he was no longer president. De Klerk also felt that Mandela deliberately humiliated him, while Mandela found de Klerk to be needlessly provocative in cabinet. One dispute occurred in September 1995, after Mandela gave a Johannesburg speech criticizing the National Party. Angered, de Klerk avoided Mandela until the latter requested they meet. The two ran into each other, and they publicly argued in the streets. Mandela later expressed regret for their disagreement but did not apologize for his original comments. De Klerk was also having problems from within his own party, some of whose members claimed that he was neglecting the party while in the government. Many in the National Party— including many members of its executive committee— were unhappy with the other parties' agreed upon new constitution in May 1996. The party had wanted the constitution to guarantee that it would be represented in the government until 2004, although it did not do so. On 9 May, de Klerk withdrew the National Party from the coalition government. The decision shocked several of his six fellow Afrikaner cabinet colleagues; Pik Botha, for example, was left without a job as a result. Roelf Meyer felt betrayed by de Klerk' s act, while Leon Wessels thought that de Klerk
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had not tried hard enough
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to make the coalition work. De Klerk declared that he would lead the National Party in vigorous opposition to Mandela' s government to ensure" a proper multi- party democracy, without which there may be a danger of South Africa lapsing into the African pattern of one- party states". Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In de Klerk' s view, his greatest defeat in the negotiations with Mandela had been his inability to secure a blanket amnesty for all those working for the government or state during the apartheid period. De Klerk was unhappy with the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission( TRC). He had hoped that the TRC would be made up of an equal number of individuals from both the old and new governments, as there had been in the Chilean human rights commission. Instead, the TRC was designed to broadly reflect the wider diversity of South African society, and contained only two members who had explicitly supported apartheid, one a member of a right- wing group that had opposed de Klerk' s National Party. De Klerk did not object to Tutu being selected as the TRC' s chair for he regarded him as politically independent of Mandela' s government, but he was upset that the white Progressive Party MP Alex Boraine had been selected as its deputy chair, later saying of Boraine:" beneath an urbane and deceptively affable exterior beat the heart of a zealot and an inquisitor." De Klerk appeared before the TRC hearing to testify for Vlakplaas commanders who were accused of having committed human rights abuses during the apartheid era. He acknowledged that security forces had resorted to" unconventional strategies" in dealing with anti- apartheid revolutionaries, but that" within my knowledge and experience, they never included the authorization of assassination, murder, torture, rape, assault or the like". After further evidence of said abuses was produced by the commission, de Klerk stated that he found the revelations to be" as shocking and as abhorrent as anybody else" but insisted that he and other senior party members were not willing to accept responsibility for the" criminal actions of a handful of operatives", stating that their behavior was" not authorized[ and] not intended" by his government. Given the widespread and systemic nature of the abuses that had taken place, as well as statements by security officers that their actions had been sanctioned by higher ranking figures, Tutu questioned how de Klerk and other government figures could not have been aware of them. Tutu had hoped that de Klerk or another senior white political figure from the apartheid era would openly accept responsibility for the human rights abuses, thereby allowing South Africa to move on; this was something that de Klerk would not do. The TRC found de Klerk guilty of being an accessory to gross violations of human rights on the basis that as State President he had been told that P. W. Botha had authorized the bombing of Khotso House but had not revealed this information to the Committee. De Klerk challenged the TRC on this point, and it backed
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down. When the final TRC
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report was released in 2002, it made a more limited accusation: that de Klerk had failed to give full disclosure about events that took place during his presidency and that in view of his knowledge about the Khotso House bombing, his statement that none of his colleagues had authorized gross human rights abuses was" indefensible". In his later autobiography, de Klerk acknowledged that the TRC did significant damage to his public image. Later life. In 1997, de Klerk was offered the Harper Fellowship at Yale Law School. He declined, citing protests at the university. De Klerk did, however, speak at Central Connecticut State University the day before his fellowship would have begun. In 1999, de Klerk and his wife of 38 years, Marike de Klerk, were divorced following the discovery of his affair with Elita Georgiades, then the wife of Tony Georgiades, a Greek shipping tycoon who had allegedly given de Klerk and the NP financial support. Soon after his divorce, de Klerk and Georgiades were married. His divorce and remarriage scandalised conservative South African opinion, especially among the Calvinist Afrikaners. In 2000, his autobiography," The Last Trek– A New Beginning", was published. In 2002, following the murder of his former wife, the manuscript of her own autobiography," A Place Where the Sun Shines Again", was submitted to de Klerk, who urged the publishers to suppress a chapter dealing with his infidelity. In 2000, de Klerk established the pro- peace FW de Klerk Foundation of which he was the chairman. De Klerk was also chairman of the Global Leadership Foundation, headquartered in London, which he set up in 2004, an organisation which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today' s national leaders. It is a not- for- profit organisation composed of former heads of government and senior governmental and international organisation officials who work closely with heads of government on governance- related issues of concern to them. On 3 December 2001, Marike de Klerk was found stabbed and strangled to death in her Cape Town flat. De Klerk, who was on a brief visit to Stockholm, Sweden, to celebrate the 100- year anniversary of the Nobel Prize foundation, immediately returned to mourn his dead ex- wife. The atrocity was reportedly condemned strongly by South African president Thabo Mbeki and Winnie Mandela, among others, who openly spoke in favour of Marike de Klerk. On 6 December 21- year- old security guard Luyanda Mboniswa was arrested for the murder. On 15 May 2003, he received two life sentences for murder, as well as three years for breaking into Marike de Klerk' s apartment. In 2005, de Klerk quit the New National Party and sought a new political home after the NNP merged with the ruling ANC. That same year, while giving an interview to US journalist Richard Stengel, de Klerk was asked whether South
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Africa had turned out the
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way he envisioned it back in 1990. His response was: There are a number of imperfections in the new South Africa where I would have hoped that things would be better, but on balance I think we have basically achieved what we set out to achieve. And if I were to draw balance sheets on where South Africa stands now, I would say that the positive outweighs the negative by far. There is a tendency by commentators across the world to focus on the few negatives which are quite negative, like how are we handling AIDS, like our role vis- à- vis Zimbabwe. But the positives– the stability in South Africa, the adherence to well- balanced economic policies, fighting inflation, doing all the right things in order to lay the basis and the foundation for sustained economic growth– are in place. In 2008, he repeated in a speech that" despite all the negatives facing South Africa, he was very positive about the country". In 2006, he underwent surgery for a malignant tumor in his colon. His condition deteriorated sharply, and he underwent a tracheotomy after developing respiratory problems. He recovered and on 11 September 2006 gave a speech at Kent State University Stark Campus. In January 2007, de Klerk was a speaker promoting peace and democracy in the world at the" Towards a Global Forum on New Democracies" event in Taipei, Taiwan, along with other dignitaries including Poland' s Lech Wałęsa and Taiwan' s then president Chen Shui- Bian. De Klerk was an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, and Honorary Chairman of the Prague Society for International Cooperation. He also received the Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse from the College Historical Society of Trinity College, Dublin, for his contribution to ending apartheid. De Klerk was also a Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Panel Foundation based in Berlin, Copenhagen, New York, Prague, Sydney and Toronto– founded by the Dutch entrepreneur Bas Spuybroek in 1988, with the support of Dutch billionaire Frans Lurvink and former Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek. The Global Panel Foundation is known for its behind- the- scenes work in public policy and the annual presentation of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award with the Prague Society for International Cooperation. De Klerk was a Member of the Advisory Board of the WORLD. MINDS Foundation, based in Switzerland. WORLD. MINDS is known for establishing close personal ties between leaders in government, science and business. After the inauguration of Jacob Zuma as South Africa' s president in May 2009, de Klerk said he was optimistic that Zuma and his government can" confound the prophets of doom". In a BBC interview broadcast in April 2012, he said he lived in an all- white neighborhood. He had five servants, three coloured and two black:" We are one great big family together; we have the best of relationships." About Nelson Mandela, he said," When Mandela goes it will be a moment when all South Africans put away their political differences, will take
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hands, and will together honour
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maybe the biggest known South African that has ever lived." Upon hearing of the death of Mandela, de Klerk said:" He was a great unifier and a very, very special man in this regard beyond everything else he did. This emphasis on reconciliation was his biggest legacy." He attended the memorial service for him on 10 December 2013. In 2015, de Klerk wrote to" The Times" newspaper in the UK criticizing a campaign to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College, Oxford. He was subsequently criticized by some activists who described it as" ironic" that the last apartheid president should be defending a statue of a man labelled by critics as the" architect of apartheid". South Africa' s far- left Economic Freedom Fighters called for him to be stripped of his Nobel Peace Prize. In 2020, de Klerk told an interviewer that the description of apartheid as a" crime against humanity"" was and remains an agitprop project initiated by the Soviets and their ANC/ SACP allies to stigmatize white South Africans by associating them with genuine crimes against humanity." This generated controversy in South Africa, and further calls for the removal of his Nobel Prize. De Klerk' s Foundation retracted his statement several days later. Illness and death. On 19 March 2021, it was announced that de Klerk had been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Just under eight months later, on 11 November, he died from complications of the disease in his sleep at his home in Cape Town, at the age of 85. He was the last surviving State President of South Africa. After his death, a video message from de Klerk was released from the FW de Klerk Foundation, apologizing" without qualification" for the harm caused from apartheid and pleads that the government and all South Africans would embrace the constitution in a balanced manner while also promoting economic growth, guard independence and the court' s impartiality, as well as addressing non- racialism and non- discrimination in South Africa. On 16 November 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a four- day mourning period for de Klerk and ordered for all of the national South African flags to fly at half- mast from 17 November to 21 November" as a mark of respect." Though the de Klerk family determined that he would have a private cremation and funeral, the South African government agreed to hold a state memorial service for de Klerk" in which government leaders, leaders of political parties and representatives of civil society will participate" at a later date. Political positions. De Klerk was widely regarded as a politically conservative figure in South Africa. At the same time, he was flexible rather than dogmatic in his approach to political issues. He often hedged his bets and sought to accommodate divergent perspectives, favouring compromise over confrontation. Within the National Party, he continually strove for unity, coming to be regarded— according to his brother— as" a party man, a veritable Mr National Party". To stem defections from the right- wing end of the National Party, he made" ultra- conservative noises". This general
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approach led to the perception
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that he was" trying to be all things to all men". De Klerk stated that within the party, he" never formed part of a political school of thought, and I deliberately kept out of the cliques and foments of the enlightened and conservative factions in the party. If the policy I propounded was ultra- conservative, then that was the policy; it was not necessarily I who was ultra- conservative. I saw my role in the party as that of an interpreter of the party' s real median policy at any stage." De Klerk stated that" The silver thread throughout my career was my advocacy of National Party policy in all its various formulations. I refrained from adjusting that policy or adapting it to my own liking or convictions. I analyzed it as it was formulated, to the letter." For much of his career, de Klerk believed in apartheid and its system of racial segregation. According to his brother, de Klerk underwent a" political conversion" that took him from supporting apartheid to facilitating its demolition. This change was not" a dramatic event" however, but" was built... on pragmatism– it evolved as a process." He did not believe that South Africa would become a" non- racial society", but rather sought to build a" non- racist society" in which ethnic divisions remained; in his view" I do not believe in the existence of anything like a non- racial society in the literal sense of the word", citing the example of the United States and United Kingdom where there was no legal racial segregation but that distinct racial groups continued to exist. De Klerk accepted the principle of freedom of religion, although still believed that the state should promote Christianity. De Klerk wrote in opposition to gender- based violence, arguing that" holding perpetrators accountable, irrespective of how long ago the crime was committed, is essential to stamping out impunity and preventing future atrocities". Personality and personal life. Glad and Blanton stated that de Klerk' s" political choices were undergirded by self- confidence and commitment to the common good." His brother Willem stated that de Klerk' s demeanour was marked by" soberness, humility and calm", that he was an honest, intelligent, and open minded individual, and that he had a" natural cordiality" and a" solid sense of courtesy and good manners". He felt that de Klerk' s" charisma" came not from an" exceptionally strong individualism" but from" his rationality, logic and balance". He was, according to de Klerk," a man of compromise rather than a political innovator or entrepreneur". Willem stated that" he keeps an ear to the ground and is sensitive to the slightest tremors", and that it was this which made him" a superb politician". Willem also stated that his brother was" a team- man who consults others, takes them into his confidence, honestly shares information with his colleagues, and has a knack of making people feel importance and at peace". His former wife Marike described de Klerk as being" extremely sensitive to beautiful things", exhibiting something akin to an artistic temperament. Willem also noted
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that" in the most profound
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sense", de Klerk was driven by his concern for Afrikanerdom and" the survival of his own people in their fatherland". De Klerk was deeply upset that many Afrikaners did not realise that his reforms to dismantle apartheid were carried out with the intention of preserving a future for the Afrikaner people in South Africa. With Marike, de Klerk had three children: Susan, who became a teacher, Jan, who became a farmer in Western Transvaal, and Willem, who went into public relations. Willem stated that de Klerk had a close relationship with his children, and that he was" a loving man who hugs and cuddles". De Klerk was a heavy smoker but gave up smoking towards the end of 2005. He also enjoyed a glass of whisky or wine while relaxing. He enjoyed playing golf and hunting, as well as going for brisk walks. Reception and legacy. Glad and Blanton stated that de Klerk, along with Mandela," accomplished the rare feat of bringing about systemic revolution through peaceful means." His brother noted that de Klerk' s role in South African history was" to dismantle more than three centuries of white supremacy", and that in doing so his was" not a role of white surrender, but a role of white conversion to a new role" in society. In September 1990, Potchefstroom University awarded de Klerk an honorary doctorate. South Africa' s Conservative Party came to regard him as its most hated adversary. A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now almost obsolete, except in horse racing, where in many countries it is the standard measurement of race lengths. In the United States, some states use older definitions for surveying purposes, leading to variations in the length of the furlong of two parts per million, or about 0. 4 millimetre( inch). This variation is too small to have practical consequences in most applications. Using the international definition of the yard as exactly 0. 9144 metres, one furlong is 201. 168 metres and five furlongs are about 1 kilometre( exactly). History. The name" furlong" derives from the Old English words'( furrow) and'( long). Dating back at least to early Anglo- Saxon times, it originally referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of a ploughed open field( a medieval communal field which was divided into strips). The furlong( meaning furrow length) was the distance a team of oxen could plough without resting. This was standardised to be exactly 40 rods or 10 chains. The system of long furrows arose because turning a team of oxen pulling a heavy plough was difficult. This offset the drainage advantages of short furrows and meant furrows were made as long as possible. An acre is an area that is one furlong long and one chain( 66 feet or 22 yards) wide. For this reason, the furlong was once also called an acre' s length, though in modern
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usage an area of one
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acre can be of any shape. The term furlong, or shot, was also used to describe a grouping of adjacent strips within an open field. Among the early Anglo- Saxons, the rod was the fundamental unit of land measurement. A furlong was 40 rods; an acre 4 by 40 rods, or 4 rods by 1 furlong, and thus 160 square rods; there are 10 acres in a square furlong. At the time, the Saxons used the North German foot, which was about 10 percent longer than the foot of the international 1959 agreement.WhenEnglandchangedtoashorterfootinthelate13th century, rods and furlongs remained unchanged, since property boundaries were already defined in rods and furlongs. The only thing that changed was the number of feet and yards in a rod or a furlong, and the number of square feet and square yards in an acre. The definition of the rod went from 15 old feet to new feet, or from 5 old yards to new yards. The furlong went from 600 old feet to 660 new feet, or from 200 old yards to 220 new yards. The acre went from 36, 000 old square feet to 43, 560 new square feet, or from 4, 000 old square yards to 4, 840 new square yards. The furlong was historically viewed as being equivalent to the Roman stade(" stadium"), which in turn derived from the Greek system. For example, the King James Bible uses the term" furlong" in place of the Greek" stadion", although more recent translations often use miles or kilometres in the main text and give the original numbers in footnotes. In the Roman system, there were 625 feet to the" stadium", eight" stadia" to the mile, and three miles to the league. A league was considered to be the distance a man could walk in one hour, and the mile( from" mille", meaning" thousand") consisted of 1, 000" passus"( paces, five feet, or double- step). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, medieval Europe continued with the Roman system, which the people proceeded to diversify, leading to serious complications in trade, taxation, etc. Around the year 1300, by royal decree England standardized a long list of measures. Among the important units of distance and length at the time were the foot, yard, rod( or pole), furlong, and the mile. The rod was defined as yards or feet, and the mile was eight furlongs, so the definition of the furlong became 40 rods and that of the mile became 5, 280 feet( eight furlongs/ mile times 40 rods/ furlong times feet/ rod). A description from 1675 states," Dimensurator or Measuring Instrument whereof the mosts usual has been the Chain, and the common length for English Measures four Poles, as answering indifferently to the Englishs Mile and Acre, 10 such Chains in length making a Furlong, and 10 single square Chains an Acre, so that a square Mile contains 640 square Acres."— John Ogilby, Britannia,1675The official use of the furlong was abolished in the United Kingdom under the Weights and Measures Act 1985, an act that also abolished
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the official use of many
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other traditional units of measurement. Use. In Myanmar, furlongs are currently used in conjunction with miles to indicate distances on highway signs. Mileposts on the Yangon– Mandalay Expressway use miles and furlongs. In the rest of the world, the furlong has very limited use, with the notable exception of horse racing in most English- speaking countries, including Canada and the United States. The distances for horse racing in Australia were converted to metric in 1972, but in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and the United States, races are still given in miles and furlongs. Also distances along the canals in English navigated by narrowboats are commonly expressed in miles and furlongs. The city of Chicago' s street numbering system allots a measure of 800 address units to each mile, in keeping with the city' s system of eight blocks per mile. This means that every block in a typical Chicago neighborhood( in either north– south or east– west direction but rarely both) is approximately one furlong in length. Salt Lake City' s blocks are also each a square furlong in the downtown area. The blocks become less regular in shape farther from the center, but the numbering system( 800 units to each mile) remains the same everywhere in Salt Lake County. Blocks in central Logan, Utah, and in large sections of Phoenix, Arizona, are similarly a square furlong in extent( eight to a mile, which explains the series of freeway exits:19th Ave,27th,35th,43rd,51st,59th...). City blocks in the Hoddle Grid of Melbourne are also one furlong in length. Much of Ontario, Canada, was originally surveyed on a ten- furlong grid, with major roads being laid out along the grid lines. Now that distances are shown on road signs in kilometres, these major roads are almost exactly two kilometres apart. The exits on highways running through Toronto, for example, are generally at intervals of two kilometres. The furlong is also a base unit of the humorous FFF system of units. Definition of length. The exact length of the furlong varies slightly among English- speaking countries. In Canada and the United Kingdom, which define the furlong in terms of the international yard of exactly 0. 9144 metres, a furlong is 201. 168 m. Australia does not formally define the furlong, but it does define the chain and link in terms of the international yard. In the United States, which defines the furlong, chain, rod, and link in terms of the U. S. survey foot of exactly metre, a furlong is approximately 201. 1684 m long. The United States does not formally define a" survey yard". The difference of approximately two parts per million between the U. S. value and the" international" value is insignificant for most practical measurements. In October 2019, U. S. National Geodetic Survey and National Institute of Standards and Technology announced their joint intent to retire the U. S. survey foot, with effect from the end of 2022. The furlong in U. S. Customary units is thereafter defined based on the International 1959 foot, giving the length of the furlong as exact 201.
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168 meters in the United
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States as well. File or filing may refer to: The fundamental frequency, often referred to simply as the fundamental, is defined as the lowest frequency of a periodic waveform. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. In terms of a superposition of sinusoids, the fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency sinusoidal in the sum of harmonically related frequencies, or the frequency of the difference between adjacent frequencies. In some contexts, the fundamental is usually abbreviated as 0, indicating the lowest frequency counting from zero. In other contexts, it is more common to abbreviate it as 1, the first harmonic.( The second harmonic is then 2= 2⋅ 1, etc. In this context, the zeroth harmonic would be 0 Hz.) According to Benward' s and Saker' s" Music: In Theory and Practice": Explanation. All sinusoidal and many non- sinusoidal waveforms repeat exactly over time– they are periodic. The period of a waveform is the smallest value of for which the following equation is true: Where() is the value of the waveform at. This means that this equation and a definition of the waveform' s values over any interval of length is all that is required to describe the waveform completely. Waveforms can be represented by Fourier series. Every waveform may be described using any multiple of this period. There exists a smallest period over which the function may be described completely and this period is the fundamental period. The fundamental frequency is defined as its reciprocal: Since the period is measured in units of time, then the units for frequency are 1/ time. When the time units are seconds, the frequency is in− 1, also known as Hertz. For a tube of length with one end closed and the other end open the wavelength of the fundamental harmonic is 4, as indicated by the first two animations. Hence, Therefore, using the relationwhere is the speed of the wave, the fundamental frequency can be found in terms of the speed of the wave and the length of the tube: If the ends of the same tube are now both closed or both opened as in the last two animations, the wavelength of the fundamental harmonic becomes 2. By the same method as above, the fundamental frequency is found to beAt 20° C( 68° F) the speed of sound in air is 343 m/ s( 1129 ft/ s). This speed is temperature dependent and increases at a rate of 0. 6 m/ s for each degree Celsius increase in temperature( 1. 1 ft/ s for every increase of 1° F). The velocity of a sound wave at different temperatures: In music. In music, the fundamental is the musical pitch of a note that is perceived as the lowest partial present. The fundamental may be created by vibration over the full length of a string or air column, or a higher harmonic chosen by the player. The fundamental is one of the harmonics. A harmonic is any member of the harmonic series, an ideal set
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of frequencies that are positive
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integer multiples of a common fundamental frequency. The reason a fundamental is also considered a harmonic is because it is 1 times itself. The fundamental is the frequency at which the entire wave vibrates. Overtones are other sinusoidal components present at frequencies above the fundamental. All of the frequency components that make up the total waveform, including the fundamental and the overtones, are called partials. Together they form the harmonic series. Overtones which are perfect integer multiples of the fundamental are called harmonics. When an overtone is near to being harmonic, but not exact, it is sometimes called a harmonic partial, although they are often referred to simply as harmonics. Sometimes overtones are created that are not anywhere near a harmonic, and are just called partials or inharmonic overtones. The fundamental frequency is considered the" first harmonic" and the" first partial". The numbering of the partials and harmonics is then usually the same; the second partial is the second harmonic, etc. But if there are inharmonic partials, the numbering no longer coincides. Overtones are numbered as they appear the fundamental. So strictly speaking, the" first" overtone is the" second" partial( and usually the" second" harmonic). As this can result in confusion, only harmonics are usually referred to by their numbers, and overtones and partials are described by their relationships to those harmonics. Mechanical systems. Consider a spring, fixed at one end and having a mass attached to the other; this would be a single degree of freedom( SDoF) oscillator. Once set into motion, it will oscillate at its natural frequency. For a single degree of freedom oscillator, a system in which the motion can be described by a single coordinate, the natural frequency depends on two system properties: mass and stiffness;( providing the system is undamped). The natural frequency, or fundamental frequency, 0, can be found using the following equation: where: To determine the natural frequency, the omega value is divided by 2. Or: where: While doing a modal analysis,thefrequencyofthe1st mode is the fundamental frequency. Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson( a" moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying. A fable differs from a parable in that the latter" excludes" animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind. Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the King James Version of the New Testament,"(" mythos"") was rendered by the translators as" fable" in the First Epistle to Timothy, the Second Epistle to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus and the First Epistle of Peter. A person who writes fables is a fabulist. History. The fable is one of the most enduring forms of folk literature, spread abroad, modern researchers agree, less by literary anthologies than by oral transmission. Fables can be found in the literature of almost every country. Aesopic or Aesop'
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s fable. The varying corpus
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denoted" Aesopica" or" Aesop' s Fables" includes most of the best- known western fables, which are attributed to the legendary Aesop, supposed to have been a slave in ancient Greece around 550 BCE. When Babrius set down fables from the" Aesopica" in verse for a Hellenistic Prince" Alexander," he expressly stated at the head of Book II that this type of" myth" that Aesop had introduced to the" sons of the Hellenes" had been an invention of" Syrians" from the time of" Ninos"( personifying Nineveh to Greeks) and Belos(" ruler"). Epicharmus of Kos and Phormis are reported as having been among the first to invent comic fables. Many familiar fables of Aesop include" The Crow and the Pitcher"," The Tortoise and the Hare" and" The Lion and the Mouse". In ancient Greek and Roman education, the fable was the first of the" progymnasmata"— training exercises in prose composition and public speaking— wherein students would be asked to learn fables, expand upon them, invent their own, and finally use them as persuasive examples in longer forensic or deliberative speeches. The need of instructors to teach, and students to learn, a wide range of fables as material for their declamations resulted in their being gathered together in collections, like those of Aesop. Africa. African oral culture has a rich story- telling tradition. As they have for thousands of years, people of all ages in Africa continue to interact with nature, including plants, animals and earthly structures such as rivers, plains, and mountains. Grandparents enjoy enormous respect in African societies and fill the new role of story- telling during retirement years. Children and, to some extent, adults are mesmerized by good story- tellers when they become animated in their quest to tell a good fable. Joel Chandler Harris wrote African- American fables in the Southern context of slavery under the name of Uncle Remus. His stories of the animal characters Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear are modern examples of African- American story- telling, this though should not transcend critiques and controversies as to whether or not Uncle Remus was a racist or apologist for slavery. The Disney movie" Song of the South" introduced many of the stories to the public and others not familiar with the role that storytelling played in the life of cultures and groups without training in speaking, reading, writing, or the cultures to which they had been relocated to from world practices of capturing Africans and other indigenous populations to provide slave labor to colonized countries. India. India has a rich tradition of fables, many derived from traditional stories and related to local natural elements. Indian fables often teach a particular moral. In some storiesm the gods have animal aspects, while in others the characters are archetypal talking animals similar to those found in other cultures. Hundreds of fables were composed in ancient India during the first millennium BCE, often as stories within frame stories. Indian fables have a mixed cast of humans and animals. The dialogues are often longer than in fables of Aesop and often comical as
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the animals try to outwit
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one another by trickery and deceit. In Indian fables, humanity is not presented as superior to the animals. Prime examples of the fable in India are the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales. These included Vishnu Sarma' s" Panchatantra", the" Hitopadesha"," Vikram and The Vampire", and Syntipas'" Seven Wise Masters", which were collections of fables that were later influential throughout the Old World. Ben E. Perry( compiler of the" Perry Index" of Aesop' s fables) has argued controversially that some of the Buddhist" Jataka tales" and some of the fables in the" Panchatantra" may have been influenced by similar Greek and Near Eastern ones. Earlier Indian epics such as Vyasa' s" Mahabharata" and Valmiki' s" Ramayana" also contained fables within the main story, often as side stories or back- story. The most famous folk stories from the Near East were the" One Thousand and One Nights", also known as the" Arabian Nights". The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian assortment of fables. The earliest recorded work, ascribed to Vishnu Sharma, dates to around 300 BCE. The tales are likely much older than the compilation, having been passed down orally prior to the book' s compilation. The word“ Panchatantra” is a blend of the words" pancha"( which means" five" in Sanskrit) and" tantra"( which means" weave"). It implies weaving together multiple threads of narrative and moral lessons together to form a book. Europe. Fables had a further long tradition through the Middle Ages, and became part of European high literature.Duringthe17th century, the French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine( 1621– 1695) saw the soul of the fable in the moral— a rule of behavior. Starting with the Aesopian pattern, La Fontaine set out to satirize the court, the church, the rising bourgeoisie, indeed the entire human scene of his time. La Fontaine' s model was subsequently emulated by England' s John Gay( 1685– 1732); Poland' s Ignacy Krasicki( 1735– 1801); Italy' s Lorenzo Pignotti( 1739– 1812) and Giovanni Gherardo de Rossi( 1754– 1827); Serbia' s Dositej Obradović( 1739– 1811); Spain' s Félix María de Samaniego( 1745– 1801) and Tomás de Iriarte y Oropesa( 1750– 1791); France' s Jean- Pierre Claris de Florian( 1755– 94); and Russia' s Ivan Krylov( 1769– 1844). Modern era. In modern times, while the fable has been trivialized in children' s books, it has also been fully adapted to modern adult literature. Felix Salten' s" Bambi"( 1923) is a" Bildungsroman"— a story of a protagonist' s coming- of- age— cast in the form of a fable. James Thurber used the ancient fable style in his books" Fables for Our Time"( 1940) and" Further Fables for Our Time"( 1956), and in his stories" The Princess and the Tin Box" in" The Beast in Me and Other Animals"( 1948) and" The Last Clock: A Fable for the Time, Such As It Is, of Man" in" Lanterns and Lances"( 1961). Władysław Reymont' s" The Revolt"( 1922), a metaphor for the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, described a revolt by animals that take over their farm in order to introduce" equality." George Orwell' s" Animal Farm"( 1945)
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similarly satirized Stalinist Communism in
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particular, and totalitarianism in general, in the guise of animal fable.Inthe21st century, the Neapolitan writer Sabatino Scia is the author of more than two hundred fables that he describes as“ western protest fables.” The characters are not only animals, but also things, beings, and elements from nature. Scia' s aim is the same as in the traditional fable, playing the role of revealer of human society. In Latin America, the brothers Juan and Victor Ataucuri Garcia have contributed to the resurgence of the fable. But they do so with a novel idea: use the fable as a means of dissemination of traditional literature of that place. In the book"" Fábulas Peruanas" published in 2003, they have collected myths, legends, beliefs of Andean and Amazonian Peru, to write as fables. The result has been an extraordinary work rich in regional nuances. Here we discover the relationship between man and his origin, with nature, with its history, its customs and beliefs then become norms and values. Fabulists. Ken Crenshaw,” Guidos Fables”, Amazon books. Modern. Ken Crenshaw( 1944), American author. Guidos Fables( Amazon), 5 star reviews, controversial, And enlightening… A handful of mind- bending, short stories that, will inspire children, And adults, frustrated by anxiety, and misled by vanity… The foot( plural: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws or nails. Etymology. The word" foot", in the sense of meaning the" terminal part of the leg of a vertebrate animal" comes from" Old English fot" foot," from Proto- Germanic* fot( source also of Old Frisian fot, Old Saxon fot, Old Norse fotr, Danish fod, Swedish fot, Dutch voet, Old High German fuoz, German Fuß, Gothic fotus" foot"), from PIE root* ped-" foot." The" plural form feet is an instance of i- mutation." Structure. The human foot is a strong and complex mechanical structure containing 26 bones, 33 joints( 20 of which are actively articulated), and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The joints of the foot are the ankle and subtalar joint and the interphalangeal articulations of the foot. An anthropometric study of 1197 North American adult Caucasian males( mean age 35. 5 years) found that a man' s foot length was 26. 3 cm with a standard deviation of 1. 2 cm. The foot can be subdivided into the hindfoot, the midfoot, and the forefoot: The" hindfoot" is composed of the talus( or ankle bone) and the calcaneus( or heel bone). The two long bones of the lower leg, the tibia and fibula, are connected to the top of the talus to form the ankle. Connected to the talus at the subtalar joint, the calcaneus, the largest bone of the foot, is cushioned underneath by a layer of fat. The five irregular bones of the" midfoot", the cuboid, navicular, and three cuneiform bones, form the arches
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of the foot which serves
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as a shock absorber. The midfoot is connected to the hind- and fore- foot by muscles and the plantar fascia. The" forefoot" is composed of five toes and the corresponding five proximal long bones forming the metatarsus. Similar to the fingers of the hand, the bones of the toes are called phalanges and the big toe has two phalanges while the other four toes have three phalanges each. The joints between the phalanges are called interphalangeal and those between the metatarsus and phalanges are called metatarsophalangeal( MTP). Both the midfoot and forefoot constitute the" dorsum"( the area facing upwards while standing) and the" planum"( the area facing downwards while standing). The" instep" is the arched part of the top of the foot between the toes and the ankle. Bones. There can be many sesamoid bones near the metatarsophalangeal joints, although they are only regularly present in the distal portion of the first metatarsal bone. Arches. The human foot has two longitudinal arches and a transverse arch maintained by the interlocking shapes of the foot bones, strong ligaments, and pulling muscles during activity. The slight mobility of these arches when weight is applied to and removed from the foot makes walking and running more economical in terms of energy. As can be examined in a footprint, the medial longitudinal arch curves above the ground. This arch stretches from the heel bone over the" keystone" ankle bone to the three medial metatarsals. In contrast, the lateral longitudinal arch is very low. With the cuboid serving as its keystone, it redistributes part of the weight to the calcaneus and the distal end of the fifth metatarsal. The two longitudinal arches serve as pillars for the transverse arch which run obliquely across the tarsometatarsal joints. Excessive strain on the tendons and ligaments of the feet can result in fallen arches or flat feet. Muscles. The muscles acting on the foot can be classified into extrinsic muscles, those originating on the anterior or posterior aspect of the lower leg, and intrinsic muscles, originating on the dorsal( top) or plantar( base) aspects of the foot. Extrinsic. All muscles originating on the lower leg except the popliteus muscle are attached to the bones of the foot. The tibia and fibula and the interosseous membrane separate these muscles into anterior and posterior groups, in their turn subdivided into subgroups and layers." Anterior group"." Extensor group": the tibialis anterior originates on the proximal half of the tibia and the interosseous membrane and is inserted near the tarsometatarsal joint of the first digit. In the non- weight- bearing leg, the tibialis anterior dorsiflexes the foot and lift its medial edge( supination). In the weight- bearing leg, it brings the leg towards the back of the foot, like in rapid walking. The extensor digitorum longus arises on the lateral tibial condyle and along the fibula, and is inserted on the second to fifth digits and proximally on the fifth metatarsal. The extensor digitorum longus acts similar to the tibialis anterior except that it also dorsiflexes the digits. Extensor hallucis longus originates medially on
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the fibula and is inserted
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on the first digit. It dorsiflexes the big toe and also acts on the ankle in the unstressed leg. In the weight- bearing, leg it acts similar to the tibialis anterior." Peroneal group": the peroneus longus arises on the proximal aspect of the fibula and peroneus brevis below it. Together, their tendons pass behind the lateral malleolus. Distally, the peroneus longus crosses the plantar side of the foot to reach its insertion on the first tarsometatarsal joint, while the peroneus brevis reaches the proximal part of the fifth metatarsal. These two muscles are the strongest pronators and aid in plantar flexion. The peroneus longus also acts like a bowstring that braces the transverse arch of the foot." Posterior group". The" superficial layer" of posterior leg muscles is formed by the triceps surae and the plantaris. The triceps surae consists of the soleus and the two heads of the gastrocnemius. The heads of gastrocnemius arise on the femur, proximal to the condyles, and the soleus arises on the proximal dorsal parts of the tibia and fibula. The tendons of these muscles merge to be inserted onto the calcaneus as the Achilles tendon. The plantaris originates on the femur proximal to the lateral head of the gastrocnemius and its long tendon is embedded medially into the Achilles tendon. The triceps surae is the primary plantar flexor. Its strength becomes most obvious during ballet dancing. It is fully activated only with the knee extended, because the gastrocnemius is shortened during flexion of the knee. During walking it not only lifts the heel, but also flexes the knee, assisted by the plantaris. In the" deep layer" of posterior muscles, the tibialis posterior arises proximally on the back of the interosseous membrane and adjoining bones, and divides into two parts in the sole of the foot to attach to the tarsus. In the non- weight- bearing leg, it produces plantar flexion and supination, and, in the weight- bearing leg, it proximates the heel to the calf. The flexor hallucis longus arises on the back of the fibula on the lateral side, and its relatively thick muscle belly extends distally down to the flexor retinaculum where it passes over to the medial side to stretch across the sole to the distal phalanx of the first digit. The popliteus is also part of this group, but, with its oblique course across the back of the knee, does not act on the foot. Intrinsic. On the top of the foot, the tendons of extensor digitorum brevis and extensor hallucis brevis lie deep in the system of long extrinsic extensor tendons. They both arise on the calcaneus and extend into the dorsal aponeurosis of digits one to four, just beyond the penultimate joints. They act to dorsiflex the digits. Similar to the intrinsic muscles of the hand, there are three groups of muscles in the" sole of foot", those of the first and last digits, and a central group:" Muscles of the big toe": the abductor hallucis stretches medially along the border of the sole, from the calcaneus to the first
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digit. Below its tendon, the
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tendons of the long flexors pass through the tarsal canal. The abductor hallucis is an abductor and a weak flexor, and also helps maintain the arch of the foot. The flexor hallucis brevis arises on the medial cuneiform bone and related ligaments and tendons. An important plantar flexor, it is crucial to ballet dancing. Both these muscles are inserted with two heads proximally and distally to the first metatarsophalangeal joint. The adductor hallucis is part of this group, though it originally formed a separate system( see contrahens). It has two heads, the oblique head originating obliquely across the central part of the midfoot, and the transverse head originating near the metatarsophalangeal joints of digits five to three. Both heads are inserted into the lateral sesamoid bone of the first digit. The adductor hallucis acts as a tensor of the plantar arches and also adducts the big toe and might plantar flex the proximal phalanx." Muscles of the little toe": Stretching laterally from the calcaneus to the proximal phalanx of the fifth digit, the abductor digiti minimi form the lateral margin of the foot and are the largest of the muscles of the fifth digit. Arising from the base of the fifth metatarsal, the flexor digiti minimi is inserted together with abductor on the first phalanx. Often absent, the opponens digiti minimi originates near the cuboid bone and is inserted on the fifth metatarsal bone. These three muscles act to support the arch of the foot and to plantar flex the fifth digit." Central muscle group": The four lumbricals arise on the medial side of the tendons of flexor digitorum longus and are inserted on the medial margins of the proximal phalanges. The quadratus plantae originates with two slips from the lateral and medial margins of the calcaneus and inserts into the lateral margin of the flexor digitorum tendon. It is also known as the flexor accessorius. The flexor digitorum brevis arises inferiorly on the calcaneus and its three tendons are inserted into the middle phalanges of digits two to four( sometimes also the fifth digit). These tendons divide before their insertions and the tendons of flexor digitorum longus pass through these divisions. Flexor digitorum brevis flexes the middle phalanges. It is occasionally absent. Between the toes, the dorsal and plantar interossei stretch from the metatarsals to the proximal phalanges of digits two to five. The plantar interossei adduct and the dorsal interossei abduct these digits, and are also plantar flexors at the metatarsophalangeal joints. Clinical significance. Due to their position and function, feet are exposed to a variety of potential infections and injuries, including athlete' s foot, bunions, ingrown toenails, Morton' s neuroma, plantar fasciitis, plantar warts and stress fractures. In addition, there are several genetic disorders that can affect the shape and function of the feet, including a club foot or flat feet. This leaves humans more vulnerable to medical problems that are caused by poor leg and foot alignments. Also, the wearing of shoes, sneakers and boots can impede proper alignment and movement within the ankle and foot. For example,
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High- heeled footwear are known
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to throw off the natural weight balance( this can also affect the lower back). For the sake of posture, flat soles with no heels are advised. A doctor who specializes in the treatment of the feet practices podiatry and is called a podiatrist. A pedorthist specializes in the use and modification of footwear to treat problems related to the lower limbs. Fractures of the foot include: Foot sweat is the major cause of foot odor. Sweat itself is odorless, but it creates a beneficial environment for certain bacteria to grow and produce bad- smelling substances. Pronation. In anatomy, pronation is a rotational movement of the forearm( at the radioulnar joint) or foot( at the subtalar and talocalcaneonavicular joints). Pronation of the foot refers to how the body distributes weight as it cycles through the gait. During the gait cycle the foot can pronate in many different ways based on rearfoot and forefoot function. Types of pronation include neutral pronation, underpronation( supination), and overpronation. An individual who neutrally pronates initially strikes the ground on the lateral side of the heel. As the individual transfers weight from the heel to the metatarsus, the foot will roll in a medial direction, such that the weight is distributed evenly across the metatarsus. In this stage of the gait, the knee will generally, but not always, track directly over the hallux. This rolling inwards motion as the foot progresses from heel to toe is the way that the body naturally absorbs shock. Neutral pronation is the most ideal, efficient type of gait when using a heel strike gait; in a forefoot strike, the body absorbs shock instead via flexation of the foot. As with a neutral pronator, an individual who overpronates initially strikes the ground on the lateral side of the heel. As the individual transfers weight from the heel to the metatarsus, however, the foot will roll too far in a medial direction, such that the weight is distributed unevenly across the metatarsus, with excessive weight borne on the hallux. In this stage of the gait, the knee will generally, but not always, track inwards. An overpronator does not absorb shock efficiently. Imagine someone jumping onto a diving board, but the board is so flimsy that when it is struck, it bends and allows the person to plunge straight down into the water instead of back into the air. Similarly, an overpronator' s arches will collapse, or the ankles will roll inwards( or a combination of the two) as they cycle through the gait. An individual whose bone structure involves external rotation at the hip, knee, or ankle will be more likely to overpronate than one whose bone structure has internal rotation or central alignment. An individual who overpronates tends to wear down their running shoes on the medial( inside) side of the shoe towards the toe area. When choosing a running or walking shoe, a person with overpronation can choose shoes that have good inside support— usually by strong material at the inside sole and arch of the shoe. It is usually visible. The inside
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support area is marked by
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