Life.

Princess of Portugal.

Born Maria Madalena Josefa Teresa Bárbara, Barbara was the eldest child of King John V of Portugal and Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, a daughter of Emperor Leopold I. She was baptised "Maria Madalena Bárbara Xavier Leonor Teresa Antónia Josefa", her names honouring a number of saints and relatives. She was usually referred to as "Bárbara" or "Maria Bárbara", a name never before used among Portuguese royalty but given in honour of Saint Barbara, the saint of her birthday. She was a first cousin of the future Empress Maria Theresa as well as Maria Josepha of Austria. Although her parents were married in 1708, they remained childless for nearly three years. The King then made a promise to God that if an heir to the throne was born, a great convent would be built as a sign of gratitude. On 4 December 1711 Barbara was born, and, as promised, the King had the Convent of Mafra built.  Barbara was born heir-presumptive to the Portuguese throne, and styled Princess of Brazil. Her status as heir-presumptive came to an end two years later when her mother gave birth to a son, Pedro. Though Pedro died at the age of two, the queen had already had another boy, Joseph, and hence Barbara never became heir-presumptive again. As a girl her family intended that she be married to Louis XV of France. Barbara had a fine education and loved music. A prodigiously talented keyboard player, she was the sole pupil of Domenico Scarlatti, the great harpsichordist and composer, from age 9 or 10 until 1757, when Scarlatti died, a year before her own death.  In 1725, Barbara was among the seventeen princesses seriously considered for marriage to king Louis XV of France, when the list of the original 99 had been reduced. However, there were concerns about the perceived weak physical and mental health of her family as well as her young age, and in the end she was removed from the list.

Princess of Asturias.

In 1729 at the age 18, Barbara married the future Ferdinand VI of Spain, two years her junior. Her brother Joseph married Ferdinand's half-sister, the Spanish Infanta Mariana Victoria, who had been rejected as a bride for Louis XV. The double marriage was meant to repair the Portuguese-Spanish alliance. Scarlatti followed Barbara to Madrid after her marriage and remained with her, composing hundreds of harpsichord sonatas for her.  During their time as Prince and Princess of the Asturias, Ferdinand and Barbara became the target of the opposition known as the Spanish party, in parallel with Spain's deteriorating relations with Portugal. From 1733 until 1737 they were kept more or less under house arrest in their apartments, prevented from appearing in public and watched by the spies of Queen Elizabeth. This gave Barbara the time to deepen her relationship with Ferdinand, a timid person who suffered also from ill health.  Barbara was not considered beautiful by her contemporaries, and her homely looks were thought by observers to have caused her future husband a visible shock when he was first presented to her. However, 'Ferdinand the Learned' (as he was later known) became deeply attached to her, sharing her passion for music and soon becoming dependent on her for advice and support. When he ascended the Spanish throne as Ferdinand VI, the French ambassador noted "it is rather Barbara who succeeds Elizabeth [Ferdinand's step-mother] than Ferdinand succeeding Philippe." Barbara was well-educated, and in addition to her musical talents was adept at languages and was an avid reader on many varied subjects.

Queen of Spain.

Upon their succession, Barbara was exposed to attempts to drive a political wedge between her and Ferdinand, engineered by, among others, supporters of the Queen Dowager, and she formed an alliance with three members of the Spanish party, who had been in opposition during the previous regime, Ensenada, Huescar and Carvajal. She thus secured the Spanish party as her supporters and obtained the dismissal of all power holders of the previous regime who threatened her influence over Ferdinand. Encouraged by Barbara, Ferdinand fired the minister Villarias, who was replaced by Carvajal, and in July 1747 the Queen Dowager was banished from court.  During her husband's reign, Barbara was to preside over magnificent parties and concerts at her favorite retreat, the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. However, in contrast to her predecessor as queen, Barbara did not like to flaunt her influence over her spouse and the government policy, and she made a moderately positive impression upon the public. She was not as self-assured, nor did she have as much political ambition as Elisabeth Farnese, and her policy focused mainly upon a friendly relationship between Spain and Portugal in cooperation with her father and the Portuguese ambassador Belmonte. Queen Barbara participated regularly in the affairs of state: the ministers, who respected her, presented to her all documents of state before they were given to the king, because: "only she knows what ought either be said or hidden from the king": she was the channel through which the ministers worked with the king, as it was she who advised them how to achieve the desired result from the king, and the ministers relied upon her for their work as, the British ambassador Benjamin Keene reported: "She can sway him as she pleases, with as much power, but much less difficulty, than ever the Dowager did with the late King, his father." In 1754, she was behind the fall of her previous ally Ensenada. Keene and Huascar presented the Queen with a paper implying that minister Ensenada was making puppets of the royal couple. They succeeded in convincing her to act against Ensenada, and in cooperation with Richard Wall and Huascar, Barbara convinced Ferdinand to exile Ensenada.  The couple produced no children who survived, with Barbara having a stillborn son in 1733. Barbara suffered from severe asthma for most of her life and in later years became overweight. She died at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, on the outskirts of Madrid on 27 August 1758. Her death was said to have broken her husband's heart.

Barbara of Portugal (Maria Madalena Bárbara Xavier Leonor Teresa Antónia Josefa; 4 December 1711 – 27 August 1758) was an Infanta of Portugal, and a Queen of Spain by marriage to Ferdinand VI of Spain.


Youth.

She was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV, and Henrietta of England, the youngest daughter of Charles I of England. Her mother died at the "Château de Saint-Cloud" ten months after Anne Marie's birth. A year later, her father married 19-year-old Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, who became very close to her stepdaughters. Her half-brother Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the future regent of France, was born of her father's second marriage.  Her stepmother later described her as "one of the most amiable and virtuous of women".

Marriage.

To maintain French influence in the Italian states, her uncle King Louis XIV arranged her marriage, at the age of fourteen, to her third cousin Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, then Duke of Savoy, later King of Sicily and then of Sardinia. Louis XIV was an ally of her future mother-in-law, Marie Jeanne, and supported Marie Jeanne when she extended her regency even after her actual mandate as regent had come to an end in 1680: Marie Jeanne did, in fact, not surrender her position as regent until shortly before her son's wedding.  The proxy marriage of Anne Marie and Víctor Amadeus took place at Versailles on 10 April 1684, the day after the signature of the marriage contract. Her husband-to-be was represented by her cousin, Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine. Louis XIV gave her a dowry of 900,000 "livres".  The Duke of Orléans accompanied his daughter as far as Juvisy-sur-Orge (18 kilometers south of Paris), and the comtesse de Lillebonne accompanied her all the way to Savoy. She met her husband Victor at Chambéry on 6 May, the nuptials being performed at the castle by the Archbishop of Grenoble. Two days later, the newlyweds made their "Joyous Entry" into Turin.  Anne Marie bore nine children, beginning with Marie-Adélaïde just a few months after Anne Marie's 16th birthday. The birth nearly cost Anne Marie her life, prompting administration of the viaticum. Marie-Adélaïde married Louis, Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV in 1697, and was the mother of Louis XV.  This marriage was arranged with the assistance of the maréchal de Tessé and of Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, comtesse de Verrué, who was Victor's mistress from 1689 till 1700.  Her husband had two children with Jeanne. Nonetheless, when he fell ill with smallpox, Anne Marie nursed him until his recovery.

Duchess and Queen.

After her arrival in Savoy, Anne Marie came under the influence of her pro-French mother-in-law, who maintained a powerful position as a French ally at the court of Savoy. She was described as a dutiful and humble daughter-in-law, who loyally adhered to Marie Jeanne's wishes. Her close relationship with her mother-in-law was not viewed favorably by her spouse, who regarded it as a political threat, as he had long been opposed to his mother's influence in politics.  The personal relationship between Anne Marie and Victor Amadeus was reportedly somewhat cool during the first years of their marriage, partly due to the adultery on his part and his disappointment that she did not give birth to a son for several years. Anne Marie served as regent for the first time during the trip of Victor Amadeus in 1686, and was said to have handled the task well despite her young age.  When Victor Amadeus severed his ties with France in 1690, Anne Marie and her children accompanied her mother-in-law when they demonstratively left the capital in protest.  Despite his marriage ties to France, Victor Amadeus joined the anti-French side in the War of the Spanish Succession. Anne Marie was appointed by him to serve as regent of Savoy during his absence in the war, a task she handled with maturity and judgement. In 1706, Turin was besieged by French forces under the command of Anne Marie's half-brother Philippe d'Orléans, and Spanish forces of her cousin and son-in-law Philip V. She and her sons Victor Amadeus and Carlo Emanuele were forced to flee to Genoa.  When the war was ended in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht, Victor Amadeus received the Kingdom of Sicily, formerly a Spanish possession. Anne Marie's stepmother wrote: "I shall neither gain nor lose by the peace, but one thing I shall enjoy is to see our Duchess of Savoy become a queen, because I love her as though she were my own child..." When Victor Amadeus left for his coronation in Sicily, he had originally planned to leave Anne Marie behind to function as regent in his absence, but as he feared that she would let herself be directed by his mother because of her loyalty to her, he changed his mind and took her along with him instead. Anne Marie was crowned with him in Sicily.  At the death of her eldest son in 1715, both she and Victor Amadeus fell into severe depression and left the capital to mourn, leaving Marie Jeanne to handle their official duties. Victor Amadeus was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important domain of Sardinia in 1720, but retained the title of King.  As the Savoyard consort, Anne-Marie had the use of the Royal Palace of Turin, the vast Palazzina di caccia di Stupinigi outside the capital, and the Vigna di Madama Reale.  Queen Anne Marie died of heart failure at her villa on 26 August 1728, the day before her 59th birthday. She is buried at the Basilica of Superga in Turin, where all her children, except Marie-Adélaïde and Maria Luisa, are also buried.

Jacobite succession.

From 1714 to 1720, Anne Marie d'Orléans was the heiress presumptive to the Jacobite claim to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. These claims were held at the time by James Francis Edward Stuart ("the Old Pretender", son of James II). Anne Marie became heiress presumptive with the death of James' daughter Queen Anne in 1714. She was displaced as heir by the birth of the Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"), on 31 December 1720. Charles Edward and his brother Henry, Cardinal Stuart, both died without legitimate issue, so the descendants of Anne Marie d'Orléans inherited the Jacobite claim, i.e. they would have inherited the British crown had it not been for the Act of Settlement, which excluded the claims of the Catholic Stuarts and d'Orléans' and settled the throne on the nearest Protestant relatives, the Hanoverians.

Issue.

During her marriage, Anne Marie gave birth to nine children, of whom only three survived to adulthood and one outlived her:

Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) was the first Queen consort of Sardinia by marriage to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during the War of the Spanish Succession. She is also an important figure in British history (see Jacobite Succession below).


Biography.

Early life.

Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky was the eighth of ten children born to Mikhail Yurovsky, a glazier, and his wife Ester Moiseevna (1848–1919), a seamstress. He was born on in the Siberian city of Tomsk, Russia. The Yurovsky family were Jewish. The historian Helen Rappaport writes that the young Yurovsky studied the Talmud in his early youth, while the family seems to have later attempted to distance themselves from their Jewish roots; this may have been prompted by the prejudice toward Jews frequently exhibited in Russia at the time. Shortly before fully devoting himself to the cause of revolution, in the early twentieth century Yurovsky converted to Lutheranism.  A watchmaker by trade, he lived for a short time in the German Empire in 1904.  After returning to Russia during the Russian Revolution of 1905, he joined the Bolsheviks. He received the party ticket no.1500 in Krasnopresnenskaya organization. Arrested several times over the years, he became a devoted Marxist.  He was a Chekist for a short period of time in 1917.

Execution of the imperial family.

On the night of 16/17 July 1918, a squad of Bolshevik secret police (Cheka), led by Yurovsky, executed Russia's last emperor, Nicholas II, along with his wife Alexandra, their four daughters–Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia–and son Alexei. Along with the family, four members of the imperial household (court physician Eugene Botkin, chambermaid Anna Demidova, cook Ivan Kharitonov and footman Alexei Trupp) were also killed. All were shot in a half-cellar room (measured to be 25 feet x 21 feet) of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains region, where they were being held prisoner. The firing squad comprised three local Bolsheviks and seven soldiers. It has been documented that the order to assassinate the imperial family came from Yakov Sverdlov in Moscow and had been initiated by Lenin himself. It is also well documented that Yurovsky had visited the Bolshevik leadership in Moscow, and notably Sverdlov, only a few weeks before the killing took place.  To prevent the development of a personality cult of the former imperial family, the corpses were stripped and dismembered; then taken to the countryside, where they were initially thrown into an abandoned mineshaft. The following morning, when rumours spread in Yekaterinburg regarding the disposal site, Yurovsky removed the bodies. When the vehicle carrying the bodies broke down on the way to the next chosen site, he made new arrangements and threw the bodies into a pit on Koptyaki Road, a since-abandoned cart track 12 miles north of Yekaterinburg, and doused the dismembered remains with sulfuric acid then burned them with gasoline before finally sealing the pit with concrete.

Post-Civil War.

During and after the Russian Civil War, Yurovsky worked as a head of local Cheka in Moscow, then member of Vyatka Cheka, head of Yekaterinburg Cheka (1919). In 1921, he worked in the Rabkrin and became Chief of the Gold Department of the Soviet State Treasury. Yurovsky achieved a solid reputation by combating corruption and theft. He also worked in management at the Polytechnical Museum starting in 1928 and became its director in 1930. He died in 1938 of a peptic ulcer.  Yurovsky was survived by a wife, two sons, and a daughter.  In 1920, a British officer who met Yurovsky alleged he was remorseful over his role in the execution of the Romanovs.

In popular culture.

The character of Yakov Yurovsky appeared in several historical films dealing with the execution of the Russian imperial family.  In the 1971 British epic "Nicholas and Alexandra", Yurovsky was depicted much older than 40 (his real age in 1918), as he was played by 65-year-old Alan Webb.  In the 1991 Russian film "Tsareubiytsa", Yurovsky was portrayed by Malcolm McDowell.  In the 2019 American docudrama "The Last Czars", Yurovski was portrayed by Duncan Pow.

Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (; – 2 August 1938) was a Russian Old Bolshevik and a Soviet Revolutionary. He was best known as the chief executioner of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his family, and four retainers on the night of 17 July 1918.


Family and upbringing.

She was born at the "Palacio Real" in Madrid, the sixth of her parents' nine children, none of whom died in infancy but only four of whom would live to the age of 20. Her mother's elder sister, Queen Isabella II, and brother-in-law, King Francis, served as Mercedes' godparents at her christening, when she was given the names: "María de las Mercedes Isabel Francisca de Asís Antonia Luisa Fernanda Felipa Amalia Cristina Francisca de Paula Ramona Rita Cayetana Manuela Juana Josefa Joaquina Ana Rafaela Filomena Teresa Santísima Trinidad Gaspara Melchora Baltasara et omni sancti".  Although Mercedes was patrilineally a French princess, she was also a Spanish infanta and spent the first eight years of her life in Spain. Her childhood was spent at the palace of San Telmo in Andalusia, her father's rumoured aspirations to obtain his sister-in-law's crown periodically rendering him unwelcome at the royal court in Madrid.

Marriage.

When Queen Isabella II was deposed in 1868, Mercedes' family left Spain for exile. It was reportedly during that banishment, in 1872, that she met her first cousin, Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, also living in exile.  Upon restoration, King Alfonso married María de las Mercedes at the church of Atocha, in Madrid on 23 January 1878, following a huge ball in December 1877. Allegedly the king's choice dashed the hopes of his still-exiled mother, Queen Isabella, for Alfonso's marriage to Blanca de Borbón, daughter of his Carlist rival, Carlos, Duke of Madrid.

Death.

Shortly after their honeymoon, it became evident that Queen Mercedes suffered from typhoid fever. The marriage would last only six months, during which she had a miscarriage. She succumbed to the illness in Madrid two days after her 18th birthday, on 26 June 1878, having been unconscious for several days.

Legacy.

Queen Mercedes co-initiated the building of the Cathedral of la Almudena in Madrid, opposite the royal palace, construction beginning in 1883. In May 2004 Felipe, Prince of Asturias was wed there to Letizia Ortiz. Queen Mercedes' remains were re-interred there on 8 November 2000, in accordance with the wishes of her widower.  A town in the province of Isabela, located in the Philippines, was named Reina Mercedes in her honor during the Spanish colonial period.  When the king's minister Cánovas del Castillo suggested that he take a new wife, Alfonso acquiesced, choosing his Mercedes' sister, Maria Cristina. But she, too, contracted tuberculosis, and died during the engagement period. In late 1879 he married Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria-Teschen; the eldest of their children, the Princess of Asturias, was named in honour of Queen Mercedes.

Maria de las Mercedes of Orléans (24 June 1860 – 26 June 1878) was Queen of Spain as the first wife of King Alfonso XII. She was born in Madrid, the daughter of Antoine of Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, and of Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain.


Development.

Adapted from the design for the light cruisers, this class of ship resulted from the interest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in naval air power. With war looming, the former Assistant Secretary of the Navy noted no new fleet aircraft carriers were expected to be completed before 1944. He proposed to convert some of the many cruisers then under construction to carriers. Studies of cruiser-size aircraft carriers had shown the type had serious limitations, and on 13 October 1941, the General Board of the United States Navy replied that such a conversion showed too many compromises to be effective.  Undeterred, President Roosevelt ordered another study. On 25 October 1941, the Navy's Bureau of Ships reported that aircraft carriers converted from cruiser hulls would be of lesser capability, but available much sooner. After the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the need for more carriers became urgent. The Navy accelerated construction of the 34,000-ton s, but these large ships could not be finished quickly. The "Cleveland"-class light cruisers then under construction were adopted for this purpose.  Plans developed for this conversion showed much more promise than expected. Nine light cruisers were reordered as carriers in the first half of 1942. The "Independence"-class design had a relatively short and narrow flight deck and hangar, with a small island superstructure. The hangar, flight deck, and island represented a significant increase in the ship's topside weight. To compensate for this, blisters were added to the original cruiser hull, which increased the original beam by. Ships of this class carried a small air group – only about 30 aircraft. This was originally set to consist of nine fighters, nine scout bombers, and nine torpedo bombers, but later revised to about two dozen fighters and nine torpedo bombers.  These were limited-capability ships, whose principal virtue was near-term availability. Their limited size made for seakeeping difficulties in the many typhoons of the Pacific, and their small flight decks led to a high aircraft accident rate. However, being based on a light cruiser, they were fast ships, much faster than the s. The cruiser hull and engineering allowed them the speed necessary to operate with the main fleet carrier task groups. Their names followed the US Navy's policy of naming aircraft carriers after historic navy ships ("Independence") or historic battles ("Cowpens").

Service.

Completed in the course of 1943, and coming into service with the first eight of the "Essex"-class carriers, the nine "Independence"-class ships made up a vital component of the Fast Carrier Task Force, which carried the Navy's offensive through the central and western Pacific from November 1943 through August 1945. Eight of these carriers participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, which effectively ended Japan's carrier air power. The light carriers provided 40 percent of the Fast Carrier Task Force's fighters and 36 percent of the torpedo bombers. The protection on these carriers was modest, and munitions often had to be stowed at the hangar level, a factor that contributed greatly to the loss of "Princeton" in October 1944.

Ships in class.

The nine ships of the "Independence" class were all converted from "Cleveland"-class light cruisers building at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey. Initially classified as "aircraft carriers" (CV), all were re-designated "small aircraft carriers" (CVL) on 15 July 1943 while four ships were still under construction.

Disposal.

There was little margin for growth, as the ships' post-war careers showed. "Independence" was expended as an atomic bomb target, and the rest were laid up in 1947. Five returned to service in 1948–53, two with the French Navy. Two were used as training carriers, while "Bataan" saw Korean War combat duty with Marine Corps air groups. She and "Cabot" received anti-submarine warfare modernizations in the early 1950s, emerging with two funnels instead of the original four. All but the French ships were decommissioned in 1954–56 and were reclassified as aircraft transports in 1959. "Cabot" got a new lease on life in 1967, when she became the Spanish Navy's carrier "Dédalo", serving until 1989 (in Spanish service, she was the first carrier to regularly deploy the Harrier jump jet). Despite efforts to preserve her, "Cabot" was scrapped at Brownsville in 1999–2003. Preservation efforts continued until the hull was half scrapped.

The "Independence"-class aircraft carriers were a class of light carriers built for the United States Navy that served during World War II.


Career.

Pishchalnikova rose through the ranks as a young athlete, winning the silver medal in the discus at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Athletics, then repeating that feat at the World Junior Championships in 2004. She established herself as one of the top women's throwers at the 2006 European Athletics Championships, taking the gold medal with a throw of 65.55 metres, which remains her personal best.  She set a personal best throw of 65.78 metres when she won the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, but that throw was to be subsequently discredited. She was selected to represent Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but on 31 July, she was suspended from competition due to doping test irregularities, along with several other high-profile Russian female athletes. On 20 October 2008, it was announced that Pishchalnikova was one of seven Russian athletes receiving a two-year doping ban for manipulating drug samples.  She returned to competition in 2011 and finished eleventh at the World Championships in Daegu that year. She took second place at the 2012 European Cup Winter Throwing, then had a personal best throw of 67.00 m in Adler in May. At the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting she was runner-up to Sandra Perković. She won the Russian Championships with a throw of 70.69 m – the best performance in the event since 1992.  Pishchalnikova participated in the 2012 Olympics and was awarded a silver medal. However, she tested positive for the anabolic steroid oxandrolone in the samples taken in May 2012. On April, 2013 she was banned by the Russian Athletics Federation for ten years, and her results from May 2012 were annulled, meaning she was set on track to lose her Olympic medal. According to the New York Times, she was a whistleblower who sent the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) a December 2012 email detailing state-run doping programs in which Russian athletes had to participate; her ban by the Russian Athletics Federation was likely in retaliation.

Darya Vitalyevna Pishchalnikova (, born 19 July 1985 in Astrakhan) is a female discus thrower from Russia. Pishchalnikova is the sister of Bogdan Pishchalnikov and Kirill Pishchalnikov.


Nomenclature, orthography and etymology.

This section details the origins and meaning of the title Chögyal and the name Namkhai Norbu (Tibetan: "Chos-rGyal Nam-mkha’i Nor-bu").  Chögyal is a title most commonly associated with the monarchy of Sikkim, now a state in far-northern India. However, Chögyal (or Chos-rGyal) is also a title conferred upon a special class of temporal and spiritual rulers of the Kingdom of Bhutan, who were recognized mindstream emanations of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the 17th Century Tibetan-born founder of Bhutan. Namkhai Norbu, recognized at the age of five as an emanation of Ngawang Namgyel, holds the title of Chögyal in this context.  "Namkhai" (Tibetan) holds the semantic field of "sky", "space" and "aether," and has the possessive case ending, thus it may be rendered into English as "...of the sky". "Norbu" (Tibetan) holds the semantic field of "jewel", "crystal", "gem", "cintamani". Therefore, Namkhai Norbu may be rendered in English as "Jewel of the Sky", "Gem of the Aether" or "Crystal of Space".

Biography.

Recognition as a Tulku.

Namkhai Norbu was a recognized tulku (also trulku), a reincarnate master. At birth two of Namkhai Norbu's uncles, the Dzogchen masters Palyul Karma Yangsid and Shechen Rabjam believed him to be the reincarnation of their master, Adzom Drugpa Rinpoche (1841–1934). When Namkhai Norbu was two years old, this was confirmed by a senior tulku of the Nyingma school.  Then when he was five years old, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and the Situ Rinpoche together recognized Namkhai Norbu as the mind emanation of the mindstream of another well known teacher, who was in turn the emanation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the 17th Century Tibetan-born founder of Bhutan.  At a very young age, these recognitions conferred upon Namkhai Norbu a great deal of attention and prestige, as he himself remarks: "As I grew up, I was thus given quite a few names and titles, many of which are very long and grand sounding. But I have never used them, because I have always preferred the name my parents gave me at birth."

Early life.

In his early years Namkhai Norbu studied at the Derge Gonchen monastery. At the age of nine he entered a Sakya College where he studied Buddhist philosophy for many years with Khyenrab Chökyi Odzer. He also received numerous tantric and Dzogchen transmissions and teachings from many masters, including his paternal uncle Togden Ugyen Tendzin (who achieved the rainbow body), maternal uncle Khyentse Rinpoche Chökyi Wangchug, Drubwang Rinpoche Kunga Palden, Negyab Rinpoche, Drugse Gyurmed Dorje, Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and Bo Gongkar Rinpoche. In 1951, he also received Chöd teachings from Ayu Khandro Dorje Paldrön (1838–1953), a woman who spent over fifty years in dark retreat and was a disciple of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.  Namkhai Norbu was invited to China in 1953 as a representative of the Tibetan monasteries. After visiting Chengdu and Chungching, he accepted the invitation to teach Tibetan language in Menyag. During this time he met Kangkar Rinpoche, from whom he received instructions on the Six Yogas of Naropa and other teachings.  Namkhai Norbu met his root teacher Rigdzin Changchub Dorje in 1955 and stayed at his residence in Khamdogar for six months. From Changchub Dorje he received the authentic transmission of Dzogchen and realized the essence of the dharma (subsuming both Wylie: 'chos' & 'bon') as one state of knowledge beyond all limitations. This realization has remained a characteristic feature of his way of teaching throughout his life.  In the late 1950s, Namkhai Norbu made a pilgrimage to Tibet, India, and Nepal. Because of the turmoil and aftermath of the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion, he could not return to Tibet from Sikkim, so he stayed in the erstwhile kingdom while working as an author and editor for the Chogyal government.

Professorship.

Already recognized as extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of Tibetan culture at the age of 22, he was invited to Italy by Professor Giuseppe Tucci to work at the ISMEO Institute in Rome for two years. In 1962, he took up a post in Naples at the Istituto Universitario Orientale, where he taught Tibetan language and literature until 1992. From the time of his residence in Italy, Namkhai Norbu focused his research mainly on the ancient history of Tibet, investigating thoroughly the native Bön tradition. His books include works on history, Tibetan medicine, astrology, Bön and folk traditions such as namkha. They have been highly appreciated by Tibetans as well as scholars throughout the world.

Teaching Dzogchen in the West.

Trul Khor: Yantra Yoga.

In 1971, Namkhai Norbu began to teach Yantra Yoga, an ancient form of Tibetan Yoga combining movement, breathing and visualization. A few years later, he started to give Dzogchen teachings to a small group of Italian students, with whom he founded the 'Dzogchen Community' (Wylie: rdzogs chen 'dus sde). At that time, Dzogchen was relatively unknown in the West.

International Dzogchen Community.

As interest in his teachings grew, Rinpoche dedicated himself to spreading Dzogchen and establishing 'gars' (Tibetan), seats of the International Dzogchen Community, throughout the world. Today there are gars in Italy, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Australia, Romania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and China. Apart from his spiritual activity, he founded the International Shang-Shung Institute to preserve the cultural traditions of Tibet, and ASIA, a nonprofit organization in Tibet mainly dedicated to serving the educational and medical needs of the Tibetan people.

Bibliography.

CDs and DVDs

Namkhai Norbu () was a Tibetan Dzogchen master. When he was two years old, Namkhai Norbu was recognized as the'mindstream emanation', a tulku, of the Dzogchen teacher Adzom Drugpa (1842–1924). At five, he was also recognized as a mindstream emanation of an emanation of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594–1651). From an early age, Namkhai Norbu undertook an accelerated course of study, attending monastic college, taking retreats, and studying with renowned teachers, including some of the most important Tibetan masters of his time. Under the tutelage of these teachers, he completed the training required by the Buddhist tradition in both Sutrayana and Tantrayana. At the age of sixteen, he met master Rigdzin Changchub Dorje (1826–1961/1978), who became his principal Dzogchen teacher.


Career.

Club career.

Born in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France, Tavares began his career at US Créteil, and moved in 2000 to Portuguese club FC Alverca. After two years, he returned to France and signed a contract with SC Abbeville, for whom he scored 9 goals in 26 games in the 2002–03 season, following which he moved to FC Nantes, where he played in the reserve team. In 2005, he joined FC Tours, who were promoted a year later to the Ligue 2.  In July 2007, he was on trial at Slavia Prague, and signed a contract with the club after one week in the Czech Republic. He signed a two-year contract in Prague with the option of one more, before moving to Hamburger SV on 30 January 2009. He made his debut on 22 February 2009 against Bayer Leverkusen.  On 24 January 2010, Tavares was loaned to 1. FC Nürnberg until the end of the season. In August 2010, Tavares was assigned to train with Hamburg's second team and told he has no future in the first team. On 27 August 2010, Tavares joined Football League Championship club Middlesbrough on loan until July 2011. However,despite playing under Gordon Strachan, Tony Mowbray did not appear to rate Tavares. This limited him to just 13 appearances, his last coming in the 90th minute against Sheffield United, 4 months after his penultimate appearance.  In September 2012 he was close to sign with Bulgarian side Chernomorets Burgas.  On 5 October 2012, Tavares signed on a free transfer for Fulham. He was given the number 25 shirt, previously worn by Bobby Zamora. On 4 January 2013, Martin Jol confirmed that Tavares was not offered a new contract and had left the club. He made no appearances for Fulham.  On 25 August 2013, it was announced that Tavares would sign an amateur contract with Dutch side RKC Waalwijk. After releasing for free from Waalvijk he signed a new deal with Czech first league club FK Mladá Boleslav. In January 2015 he left Mladá Boleslav and signed with Australian club Sydney FC.  On 18 April 2016, Tavares was released by Sydney FC and shortly after signed with the Central Coast Mariners, where he would reunite with cousin Jacques Faty for the 2016–17 A-League season.

International career.

He received a call-up from Cape Verde in May 2008 against Luxembourg in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, but Tavares did not play in the match. He now plays for Senegal National Team, receiving his first cap in 2009.

Personal life.

Tavares is the son of Tony Tavares nicknamed "Zagallo", a Senegalese international from ASC Diaraf and ASF Police, and also the cousin of Jacques Faty and Ricardo Faty. Tavares has a wife and a three-year-old daughter, Ciara. Tavares can speak Portuguese, having picked up the language during his time playing in Portugal with F.C. Alverca.

Mickaël Zidro Tavares (born 25 October 1982) is a Senegalese footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for French lower-league side Sénart-Moissy. He has 25 caps for the Senegalese national team.


Club career.

Early career.

Born in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo, Luiz Gustavo started his professional career at Corinthians Alagoano. In August 2007, he was loaned to German club 1899 Hoffenheim, then of the 2. Bundesliga. On 1 April 2008, Hoffenheim signed Luiz Gustavo on a permanent contract. He went on to play two and a half Bundesliga seasons for the club.

Bayern Munich.

On 3 January 2011, Luiz Gustavo was signed by Bayern Munich. The amount of the transfer fee varies from €15–20 million, depending on different sources. Twelve days later, he made his debut for the Bavarian club, coming on as a second-half substitute in the 1–1 away draw with VfL Wolfsburg. He scored his first goal for the club on 26 February, the equaliser in the 1–3 home loss against Borussia Dortmund, by volleying in Franck Ribéry's cross.  In his first full season at Bayern, he played 46 matches in total, with Bayern finishing runner-up in all three competitions which they contested. His only goal came on 13 August, an added-time strike which won a league match away to VfL Wolfsburg. On 12 May 2012, Luiz Gustavo was selected to start in the centre of midfield in the DFB-Pokal Final, but he was substituted at half-time for Thomas Müller as Bayern were beaten 5–2 by Dortmund. He missed their defeat a week later in the Champions League final, as he was booked in the second leg of their semi-final victory over Real Madrid.  Luiz Gustavo began the 2012–13 season by featuring in Bayern's 2–1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the DFL-Supercup on 12 August. He scored four times in 22 matches as they won the league title. On 25 May 2013, Luiz Gustavo appeared as an added-time substitute for Franck Ribéry as Bayern defeated Borussia Dortmund 2–1 in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium.

VfL Wolfsburg.

On 16 August 2013, it was reported that Luiz Gustavo had signed for VfL Wolfsburg for an unspecified amount, on a contract that would tie him to the club till 2018. He made his debut the following day, starting in a 4–0 win over Schalke 04 at the Volkswagen Arena. One week later, in his next appearance, he was sent off for two bookings as his team lost 0–2 at Mainz 05, and he was also dismissed on his return on 14 September in a 1–3 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen. He scored 4 goals in 29 matches as Wolfsburg came fifth to qualify automatically for the group stage of the next season's UEFA Europa League, receiving a third red card on 19 April 2014 in a 3–1 win at rivals Hamburger SV.  Luiz Gustavo scored four times in five matches as Wolfsburg won the DFB-Pokal in his second season, starting with a brace in a 4–1 win over 1. FC Heidenheim in the second round on 29 October 2014, and continuing with a goal in their 4–0 victory at Arminia Bielefeld in the semi-final on 29 April 2015. On 30 May, he scored from a rebounded shot by compatriot Naldo to equalise in the final against Borussia Dortmund, with Wolfsburg eventually winning 3–1 for their first cup honour.  On 29 April 2017 Luiz Gustavo was sent off for the eighth time in his career in a 6–0 defeat to his former club Bayern Munich, in doing so becoming tied with Jens Nowotny for the most red cards in Bundesliga history. Referee Felix Zwayer sent Gustavo off in the 78 minute after he picking up a second yellow card for fouling Renato Sanches. Gustavo had to be restrained by his teammates as he sarcastically applauded the referee and refused to leave the field.

Olympique de Marseille.

On 4 July 2017, Luiz Gustavo ended his decade-long spell in German football, signing for France's Olympique de Marseille for a fee of €8 million. He agreed a four-year deal with a club record monthly salary of €750,000. He made his debut 23 days later in a 4–2 home win over Belgium's KV Oostende in the third round of Europa League qualification.  He made his Ligue 1 debut on 6 August, starting in a 3–0 home win over Dijon in the first game of the new season, contributing to the first goal from Clinton N'Jie. On 1 October, he scored his first goal to conclude a 4–2 win at Nice, but was later sent off for a shin-high-challenge on Pierre Lees-Melou. On his return three weeks later, he scored again from 30 yards to open the scoring in a 2–2 draw with rivals Paris Saint-Germain in "Le Classique", again at the Stade Vélodrome.  Luiz Gustavo was an ever-present in the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, playing all of Marseille's 19 matches as they reached the final, losing 3–0 to Atlético Madrid in Lyon. He made 56 official appearances in his first season in France, making him the most selected player by manager Rudi Garcia that year. He was named in the Ligue 1 team of the year at the Trophées UNFP du football.

Fenerbahçe.

On 2 September 2019, Luiz Gustavo signed a four-year deal with Turkish club Fenerbahçe.

International career.

Luiz Gustavo made his debut for Brazil on 10 August 2011, coming on as a second-half substitute in a friendly match against Germany.  He was a member of Luiz Felipe Scolari's 23-man squad for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup on home soil, and played the full 90 minutes as Brazil defeated world champions Spain 3–0 in the final at the Estádio do Maracanã on 30 June. He scored his first goal for Brazil in a friendly match against Australia on 7 September, later that year.  During the 2014 FIFA World Cup on home soil, and having played every minute up to that point, he was suspended for the quarter-final match against Colombia due to accumulation of yellow cards. He returned to the starting eleven for the next two games as the team finished fourth.  Luiz Gustavo was initially called into Dunga's squad for the 2015 Copa América in Chile, but withdrew with a knee injury which required surgery, and was replaced by Fred.

Personal life.

Luiz Gustavo is a devout Catholic, commenting that he "read[s] the Bible a lot and pray[s] twice a day". He became engaged to his girlfriend Milene on 25 December 2010, while on holiday in Brazil. He cites his mother as a big source of inspiration for him because of her dream that he would one day succeed as a player, before her death when he was just 16 years old.

Honours.

Club.

Bayern Munich  VfL Wolfsburg  Marseille

International.

Brazil

Luiz Gustavo Dias (born 23 July 1987) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. He began his career as a left back, but has played mostly as a defensive midfielder, and also as a centre back.


Usage.

There are published studies on the clinical treatments and effects of these medications and numerous cocktails of combined chemical compounds on the body have been reported in Europe and South America for several years. There is no conclusive research proof that these chemical compounds work to target adipose (fat cells) specifically. Cell lysis, resulting from the detergent action of deoxycholic, may account for any clinical effect.  In 2012, a French laboratory invented a way to insert a treatment of Mesotherapy into a liquid podlet. This podlet is then plugged into a facial steamer which applies the treatment to the user's facial pores via steam. This was the first invention of its kind to enable Mesotherapy treatments directly to consumers within their own home.  Substances used include these:

History.

Michel Pistor (1924–2003) performed clinical research and founded the field of mesotherapy. Multi-national research in intradermal therapy culminated with Pistor's work from 1948 to 1952 in human mesotherapy treatments. The French press coined the term Mesotherapy in 1958. The French Académie Nationale de Médecine recognized Mesotherapy as a Specialty of Medicine in 1987. The French society of Mesotherapy recognizes its use as treatment for various conditions but makes no mention of its use in plastic surgery. Popular throughout European countries and South America, mesotherapy is practiced by approximately 18,000 physicians worldwide.

Criticism.

Mesotherapy treatments have been performed throughout Europe, South America, and more recently the United States for over fifty years. However physicians have expressed concern over the efficacy of mesotherapy, arguing that the treatment hasn't been studied enough to make a determination. The primary issue is that mesotherapy for the treatment of cosmetic conditions hasn't been the subject of gold standard clinical trials; however the procedure has been studied for the pain relief of other ailments, such as tendonitis, tendon calcification, dental procedures, cancer, cervicobrachialgia, arthritis, lymphedema, and venous stasis. Further, there have been case series and numerous medical papers on the mesotherapy as a cosmetic treatment, as well as studies that employ the ingredients used in mesotherapy.  The other side of the debate is expressed by Rod Rohrich, M.D., Chairman, Dept. of Plastic Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas: "There is simply no data, no science and no information, to my knowledge, that mesotherapy works." The American Society of Plastic Surgeons issued a position statement not endorsing mesotherapy, but this non-endorsement is the subject of some controversy. Since mesotherapy isn't a surgical treatment but, rather, a non-invasive alternative to plastic surgery, the treatment competes with plastic surgery for the same patients.  The FDA cannot control the use of practitioners injecting various mixtures into patient's bodies because this practice falls under the jurisdiction of state medical boards. This is the case because the mesotherapy is considered a "procedure" by state medical boards. The FDA, on the other hand, is mandated to approve foods, dietary supplements, drugs, vaccines, biological medical products, blood products, medical devices, radiation-emitting devices, veterinary products and cosmetics.  Robin Ashinoff, speaking for the American Academy of Dermatology, says "A simple injection is giving people false hope. Everybody's looking for a quick fix. But there is no quick fix for fat or fat deposits or for cellulite." The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery informed its members in February 2005 that "further study is warranted before this technique can be endorsed."  Many dermatologists and plastic surgeons are alarmed about the growing profile of mesotherapy. "No one says exactly what they put into the (syringe)," says Naomi Lawrence, a derma-surgeon at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. "One drug they often use, phosphatidylcholine, is unpredictable and causes extreme inflammation and swelling where injected. It is not a benign drug."  It is currently banned in a number of South American countries. Even Brazil, which is less strict than the USA in drug approvals, has banned the drug for these purposes.  In Australia, an alternative therapy salon is being investigated by the Health Department after several clients developed skin abscesses on the calves, buttocks, thighs, abdomen, shoulders, face and neck from the treatment, with one patient also developing a mycobacterial infection.  Following undesirable effects observed on several patients of a French practitioner, an official ratification was published in France in April 2011 to ban Mesotherapy as a method for removing fat deposits. This ban has been canceled in June 2011 by the French Council of State because the investigation proved that these undesirable effects weren’t due to the Mesotherapy itself, but to the fact it had been practiced in bad conditions and without respecting the hygiene principles.

Clinical studies.

In a prospective study, 10 patients underwent four sessions of facial mesotherapy using multivitamins at monthly intervals. This study found that there was no clinically relevant benefit.  Deoxycholic acid received FDA approval as an injectable to dissolve submental fat June 2015. This was based on a Phase III randomized trial of 2600 patients. 68.2% showed a response by measurement of the fat deposit. 81% had mild adverse reactions of bruising, swelling, pain, numbness, erythema, and firmness around the treated area.

Mesotherapy (from Greek "mesos", "middle", and therapy from Greek "therapeia") is a non-surgical technique that uses micro-injections of pharmaceutical and homeopathic preparations, plant extracts, vitamins, and other ingredients into subcutaneous fat. Mesotherapy injections allegedly target adipose fat cells, apparently by inducing lipolysis, rupture and cell death among adipocytes.


Life and influence of his works.

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (pseudonym Jovino) was born at Gijón in Asturias, Spain. Selecting law as his profession, he studied at Oviedo, Ávila, and the University of Alcalá, before becoming a criminal judge at Seville in 1767.  His integrity and ability were rewarded in 1778 by a judgeship in Madrid, and in 1780 by appointment to the council of military orders. In the capital Jovellanos was a respected member of the literary and scientific societies; he was commissioned by the Society of Friends of the Country (Madrid's economic society) in 1787 to write his most well-known and influential work, "Informe en el expediente de ley agraria" ("A report on the dossier of the Agrarian Law"), a project which he completed in 1794, and published in 1795.  In his work on agrarian law, he called on the crown to eliminate the concentration of land ownership in the entailment of landed estates, ownership of land by the Catholic Church, and the existence of common lands unavailable to private ownership. In his view, Spain's wealth lay in its agricultural productivity which would allow its population to grow and prosper. In the eighteenth-century regime of land tenure, productivity was stifled by the latifundia (large landed estates) of the political elites and the Catholic Church as an institution, and common lands where there was no incentive for individuals to invest in its productivity. Jovellanos was influenced by Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" (1776), which saw self-interest as the motivating force for economic activity. Jovellanos's recommendations were not implemented in Spain, but did influence thinking about agrarian land reform in the viceroyalty of New Spain by Bishop Manuel Abad y Queipo in the early nineteenth century before its independence in 1821. In turn, his writings influenced Alexander von Humboldt's thinking and writing on land issues in Mexico. Jovellanos also influenced thinking about agrarian land reform in Mexico in the late period of President Porfirio Díaz's regime by Andrés Molina Enríquez, who was the intellectual father of the article that empowered the State to expropriate land and other resources following the Mexican Revolution Constitution of 1917  Involved in the disgrace of his friend, Francisco de Cabarrús, Jovellanos spent the years 1790 to 1797 in what amounted to exile at Gijón, engaged in literary work and in founding the Asturian institution for agricultural, industrial, social and educational reform throughout his native province.  He was summoned again to public life in 1797 when, turning down the post of ambassador to Russia, he accepted that of minister of grace and justice, under "the prince of peace", Godoy, whose attention had been directed to him by Cabarrus, then one of his favorites. Displeased with Godoy's policy and conduct, Melchor de Jovellanos combined with his colleague Saavedra to procure his dismissal. Godoy returned to power in 1798 and Jovellanos was again sent away to Gijón.  Together with Asturian intellectual colleagues such as González Posada, Caveda y Solares and his sister Xosefa Xovellanos, Jovellanos then focused on the study of Asturias. He intended to start several projects in the study of his native Asturian language, including an Academy of Asturian Language and an Asturian dictionary, but in 1801 he was imprisoned in Bellver Castle (Majorca) and was forced to put all his cultural projects on hold.  The Peninsular War, and the advance of the French into Spain, set him once more at liberty. Joseph Bonaparte, having gained the Spanish throne, made Jovellanos the most brilliant offers, but the latter rejected them all and joined the patriotic opposition. He became a member of the Supreme Central Junta and contributed to reorganize the Cortes Generales. This accomplished, the Junta at once fell under suspicion, and Jovellanos was involved in its fall. In 1811 he was enthusiastically welcomed to Gijon; but the approach of the French forced him to leave once more. The vessel in which he sailed was compelled by bad weather to put in at Vega de Navia (now known as Puerto de Vega) in Asturias, and there he died on November 27, 1811.  Pedro de Silva, the second President of the Principality of Asturias, is a direct descendant of Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos through his mother, María Jesús Cienfuegos-Jovellanos Vigil-Escalera.

Works.

Jovellanos's prose works, especially those on political and legislative economy, constitute his real claim to literary fame. In them, depth of thought and clear-sighted sagacity are couched in a certain Ciceronian elegance and classical purity of style. Besides the "Ley agraria", he wrote "Elogios", and a most interesting set of diaries or travel journals (1790–1801, first published in 1915) reflecting his trips across Northern Spain. He also published several other political and social essays.  His poetical works comprises a tragedy, "Pelayo", the comedy "El delincuente honrado", satires, and miscellaneous pieces, including a translation of the first book of "Paradise Lost".

See also.

Enlightenment in Spain

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Spain.


Subspecies.

Subspecies within this species:

Distribution.

The species is native to East Africa, but it has been widely introduced to other parts of the world through the pet trade, as a food resource, and by accidental introduction.  This species has been found in China since 1931 and its initial point of distribution in China was Xiamen. The snail has also been established in the Pratas Islands, of Taiwan, throughout India, the Pacific, Indian Ocean islands, Southeast Asia and the West Indies. The species was established in the United States in 1936. They were brought to the U.S. through imports. They were intended to be used for educational uses and to be pets. Some were also introduced because they were accidentally shipped with other cargo. Eradication is currently underway in Florida.  The species has recently been observed in Bhutan (Gyelposhing, Mongar), where it is an invasive species. It has begun to attack agricultural fields and flower gardens. It is believed there that dogs have died as a result of consuming the snail and being infected by the rat lungworm," Angiostrongylus cantonensis".  Starting in 2010, individuals of the species have been found in the humid, subtropical Argentine Mesopotamia. The National Agricultural Health Service has established an ongoing project to detect, study, and prevent the expansion of this pest.

Description.

The adult snail is around in height and or more in length.  The shell has a conical shape, being about twice as high as it is broad. Either clockwise (dextral) or counter-clockwise (sinistral) directions can be observed in the coiling of the shell, although the dextral cone is the more common. Shell colouration is highly variable, and dependent on diet. Typically, brown is the predominant colour and the shell is banded. The shell is particularly tough and has the highest heavy metal content of any snail species.

Ecology.

Habitat.

The giant African snail is native to East Africa, and can be traced back to Kenya and Tanzania. It is a highly invasive species, and colonies can be formed from a single gravid individual. In many places, release into the wild is illegal. Nonetheless, the species has established itself in some temperate climates and its habitat now includes most regions of the humid tropics, including many Pacific islands, southern and eastern Asia, and the Caribbean. The giant snail can now be found in agricultural areas, coastland, natural forest, planted forests, riparian zones, scrub and shrublands, urban areas, and wetlands.

Feeding.

The giant African snail is a macrophytophagous herbivore; it eats a wide range of plant material, fruit, and vegetables, paper, and cardboard. It sometimes eats sand, very small stones, bones from carcasses, and even concrete as calcium sources for its shell. In rare instances, the snails consume each other.  In captivity, this species can be fed on a wide range of fruit and vegetables, plain unseasoned mince, or boiled egg. They can also occasionally be fed cuttlefish bone, which is commonly used as a calcium source for healthy shell growth. They require about 18.28% of crude protein in their diet for optimal growth.

Lifecycle.

This species is a simultaneous hermaphrodite; each individual has both testes and ovaries and is capable of producing both sperm and ova. Instances of self-fertilization are rare, occurring only in small populations. Although both snails in a mating pair can simultaneously transfer gametes to each other (bilateral mating), this is dependent on the size difference between the partners. Snails of similar size can reproduce in this way. Two snails of differing sizes mate unilaterally (one way), with the larger individual acting as a female, due to the comparative resource investment associated with the different genders.  Like other land snails, these have intriguing mating behaviour, including petting their heads and front parts against each other. Courtship can last up to half an hour, and the actual transfer of gametes can last for two hours. Transferred sperm can be stored within the body up to two years. The number of eggs per clutch averages around 200. A snail may lay five to six clutches per year with a hatching viability around 90%.  Adult size is reached in about six months, after which growth slows, but does not cease until death. Life expectancy is commonly five to six years in captivity, but the snails can live for up to 10 years. They are active at night and spend the day buried underground. The giant African snail is capable of aestivating up to three years in times of extreme drought, sealing itself into its shell by secretion of a calcareous compound that dries on contact with the air.

Parasites.

Parasites of "Achatina fulica" include:

As an invasive species.

In many places, this snail is a pest of agriculture and households, with the ability to transmit both human and plant pathogens. Suggested preventive measures include strict quarantine to prevent introduction and further spread. This snail has been given top national quarantine significance in the United States. In the past, quarantine officials have been able to successfully intercept and eradicate incipient invasions on the mainland USA.  They are also known to damage buildings by eating stucco and similar materials for the calcium.  In the wild, this species often harbors the parasitic nematode "Angiostrongylus cantonensis", which can cause a very serious meningitis in humans. Human cases of this meningitis usually result from a person having eaten the raw or undercooked snail, but even handling live wild snails of this species can infect a person with the nematode, thus causing a life-threatening infection.  In some regions, an effort has been made to promote use of the giant African snail as a food resource to reduce its populations. However, promoting a pest in this way is a controversial measure, because it may encourage the further deliberate spread of the snails.  One particularly catastrophic attempt to biologically control this species occurred on South Pacific Islands. Colonies of "A. fulica" were introduced as a food reserve for the American military during World War II and they escaped. A carnivorous species (Florida rosy wolfsnail, "Euglandina rosea") was later introduced by the United States government, in an attempt to control "A. fulica", but the rosy wolf snail instead heavily preyed upon the native "Partula" snails, causing the extinction of most "Partula" species within a decade.

Human use.

These snails are used by some practitioners of Candomblé for religious purposes in Brazil as an offering to the deity Oxalá. The snails substitute for a closely related species, the African giant snail ("Archachatina marginata") normally offered in Nigeria. The two species share a common name ("Ìgbín", also known as "ibi" or "boi-de-oxalá" in Brazil), and are similar enough in appearance to satisfy religious authorities. They are also edible if cooked properly. In Taiwan, this species is used in the dish of 炒螺肉 (hot frying snails), which is a delicacy among the traditional drinking snacks. "L. fulica" also constitutes the predominant land snail found in Chinese markets, and larger African species have potential as small, efficient livestock.  The snails have also become increasingly popular as pets in countries including France and the UK, where various companies have sold the animal both as a pet and an education aide. "L. fulica" is one of the most common snails being sold in the pet trade.  The heparinoid acharan sulfate is isolated from this species.

References.

This article incorporates CC BY-2.0 text from the reference.

Achatina fulica is a species of large land snail that belongs in the family Achatinidae. It is also known as the Giant African land snail. It shares the common name "giant African snail" with other species of snails such as "Achatina achatina" and "Archachatina marginata".


Career.

Špotáková was an All-American during her one season at the University of Minnesota in 2001-02 and won the silver medal at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg.  Špotáková improved the Czech national record (previously 66.21 m held by herself since 2006) twice in the final of the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. She took an early lead for 66.40 m in the first attempt and secured the gold medal in the third attempt (67.07 m) before German Christina Obergföll (66.46 m). Špotáková became the seventh woman in the world to reach the 67 m mark. More importantly, she became the Olympic winner in 2008 with her last throw, 71.42 m, which then was the new European record.  At the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final on 13 September 2008, Špotáková broke the world record in the first round to win the competition with a throw of 72.28 m.  Špotáková was a heptathlete in her early career, finishing fourth at the 2000 World Junior Championships. Špotáková also won the International Combined Events Meeting in Hexham in 2000 before she went on to study in the USA and specialise in Javelin throwing. She is currently a member of the elite ASO ("Armádní sportovní oddíl", Army Sport Group) of Dukla Prague. Until the end of the 2010 season she was coached by Rudolf Černý, who led her from a national elite level heptathlete to the World Record in the Women's Javelin. Prior to the 2011 season it was announced that Jan Železný would take over as her coach. At the end of 2010 she won the Czech federation's annual poll for "Athlete of the year" for the fourth year in a row. Then she won it again in 2011, making it five years in a row. Barbora Špotáková is consecutive winner of 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.  Špotáková gave birth to a son Janek in May 2013 and did not compete at the world championships in Moscow later that year.  In 2014, Špotáková finally captured the one major title to have eluded her, winning the European Championships in Zürich, Switzerland with a throw of 64.41 m.  Špotáková reunited with her former coach Rudolf Černý in 2015 to train for The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, where she won the bronze medal with a throw of 64.80m.

Miscellaneous.

Špotáková is a fan of Czech rock band "Tři Sestry" (Three Sisters). Before the Olympic Games in 2008, their leader Lou Fanánek Hagen announced that if she wins the gold medal, the band will record a song in her honor. After she had indeed won the Olympics, Tři Sestry recorded a song called "Čtvrtá sestra" (The fourth sister) celebrating her triumph.

Barbora Špotáková (; born 30 June 1981) is a Czech track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She is a two-time Olympic Champion and three-time World Champion, as well as the current world record holder with a throw of 72.28 m.


Composition.

Prior to the publication of the "Slavonic Dances", Op. 46, Dvořák was a relatively unknown composer and was of modest means. Consequently, he had applied for the Austrian State Prize fellowship (German "Stipendium") in order to fund his composing work. After he won the prize three times in four years (1874, 1876 and 1877), Johannes Brahms, as one of the members of the committee responsible for awarding the stipend, referred Dvořák to his own publisher, Fritz Simrock. The first of Dvořák's music to be published by Simrock was the "Moravian Duets", which attained widespread success; encouraged, Simrock asked the composer to write something with a dance-like character.  Unsure how to begin, Dvořák used Brahms's "Hungarian Dances" as a model—but only as a model; there are a number of important differences between the two works. For example, whereas Brahms made use of actual Hungarian folk melodies, Dvořák only made use of the characteristic rhythms of Slavic folk music: the melodies are entirely his own. Simrock was immediately impressed by the music Dvořák produced (originally for piano four hands), and asked the composer for an orchestral version as well. Both versions were published within the year, and quickly established Dvořák's international reputation. The enormous success of the Op. 46 dances led Simrock to request another set of "Slavonic Dances" in 1886; Dvořák's subsequent Op. 72 dances met with a similar reception.

Orchestration.

The orchestration for the "Slavonic Dances", with minor variations for each number, is as follows:

The music.

The types of dances upon which Dvořák based his music include the furiant, the dumka, the polka, the sousedská, the skočná, the mazurka, the odzemek, the špacírka, the kolo and the polonaise. A full performance of each opus typically takes approximately 35-40 minutes.

Opus 72.

The dances of this opus are sometimes numbered separately from the first and sometimes as numbers 9–16. Most editions give both numbers.

The Slavonic Dances () are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as Op. 46 and Op. 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, the "Slavonic Dances" were inspired by Johannes Brahms's own "Hungarian Dances" and were orchestrated at the request of Dvořák's publisher soon after composition. The pieces, lively and full of national character, were well received at the time and today are considered among the composer's most memorable works, occasionally making appearances in popular culture. “Contrary to what the title might suggest, the dances are not so much inspired by Slavic folk music generally, but specifically by styles and forms from Bohemia. In these pieces, Dvořák never actually quotes folk melodies, but evokes their style and spirit by using traditional rhythmic patterns and structures in keeping with traditional folk dances.”


History.

Lotharingia.

Lorraine's predecessor, Lotharingia, was an independent Carolingian kingdom under the rule of King Lothair II (855–869). Its territory had originally been a part of Middle Francia, created in 843 by the Treaty of Verdun, when the Carolingian empire was divided between the three sons of Louis the Pious. Middle Francia was allotted to Emperor Lothair I, therefore called "Lotharii Regnum". On his death in 855, it was further divided into three parts, of which his son Lothair II took the northern one. His realm then comprised a larger territory stretching from the County of Burgundy in the south to the North Sea. In French, this area became known as "Lorraine", while in German, it was eventually known as "Lothringen". In the Alemannic language once spoken in Lorraine, the -ingen suffix signified a property; thus, in a figurative sense, "Lotharingen" can be translated as "Land belonging to Lothair", or more simplified *Lothairs realm*.  As Lothair II had died without heirs, his territory was divided by the 870 Treaty of Meerssen between East and West Francia and finally came under East Frankish rule as a whole by the 880 Treaty of Ribemont. After the East Frankish Carolingians became extinct with the death of Louis the Child in 911, Lotharingia once again attached itself to West Francia, but was conquered by the German king Henry the Fowler in 925. Stuck in the conflict with his rival Hugh the Great, in 942 King Louis IV of France renounced all claims to Lotharingia.

Duchy of Upper Lorraine.

In 953, the German king Otto I had appointed his brother Bruno the Great Duke of Lotharingia. In 959, Bruno divided the duchy into Upper and Lower Lorraine; this division became permanent following his death in 965. The Upper Duchy was further "up" the river system, that is, it was inland and to the south. Upper Lorraine was first denominated as the Duchy of the Moselle, both in charters and narrative sources, and its duke was the "dux Mosellanorum". The usage of "Lotharingia Superioris" and "Lorraine" in official documents begins later, around the fifteenth century. The first duke and deputy of Bruno was Frederick I of Bar, son-in-law of Bruno's sister Hedwig of Saxony.  Lower Lorraine disintegrated into several smaller territories and only the title of a "Duke of Lothier" remained, held by Brabant. After the duchy of the Moselle came into the possession of René of Anjou, the name "Duchy of Lorraine" was adopted again, only retrospectively called "Upper Lorraine". At that time, several territories had already split off, such as the County of Luxembourg, the Electorate of Trier, the County of Bar and the "Three Bishoprics" of Verdun, Metz and Toul.  The border between the Empire and the Kingdom of France remained relatively stable throughout the Middle Ages. In 1301, Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the western part of his lands ("Barrois mouvant") as a fief by King Philip IV of France. In 1475, the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold campaigned for the Duchy of Lorraine, but was finally defeated and killed at the 1477 Battle of Nancy. In the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, a number of insurgent Protestant Imperial princes around Elector Maurice of Saxony ceded the Three Bishoprics to King Henry II of France in turn for his support.  Due to the weakening of Imperial authority during the 1618-1648 Thirty Years' War, France was able to occupy the duchy in 1634 and retained it until 1661 when Charles IV was restored. In 1670, the French invaded again, forcing Charles into exile; his nephew and heir Charles V (1643-1690) spent his life in the service of the Imperial House of Habsburg. France returned the Duchy in the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick ending the Nine Years' War and Charles' son Leopold (1679-1729), became duke and was known as 'Leopold the Good;' in the 1701-1714 War of the Spanish Succession, parts of Lorraine, including the capital Nancy, were again occupied by France, but Leopold continued to reign at the Château de Lunéville.  In 1737, after the War of the Polish Succession, an agreement between France, the Habsburgs and the Lorraine House of Vaudémont assigned the Duchy to Stanisław Leszczyński, former king of Poland. He was also father-in-law to King Louis XV of France, who lost out to a candidate backed by Russia and Austria in the War of the Polish Succession. The Lorraine duke Francis Stephen, betrothed to the Emperor's daughter Archduchess Maria Theresa, was compensated with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where the last Medici ruler had recently died without issue. France also promised to support Maria Theresa as heir to the Habsburg possessions under the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. Leszczyński received Lorraine with the understanding that it would fall to the French crown on his death. The "title" of Duke of Lorraine was of course given to Stanisław, but also retained by Francis Stephen, and it figures prominently in the titles of his successors (as a non-claimant family name), the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. When Stanisław died on 23 February 1766, Lorraine was annexed by France and reorganized as a province by the French government.

Culture.

Two regional languages survive in the region.  Lorraine Franconian, known as'or'in French, is a West Central German dialect spoken by a minority in the northern part of the region. This is distinct from the neighbouring Alsatian language, although the two are often confused. Neither has any form of official recognition.  Lorrain is a Romance dialect spoken by a minority in the southern part of the region.  The duchy produced a number of important painters, including Claude Lorrain, Georges de La Tour and Jean LeClerc.  Like most of France's regional languages (such as Breton, Franco-Provençal, Occitan, Alsatian, Catalan, Basque and Flemish), Lorrain and Lorraine Franconian were largely replaced by French with the advent of mandatory public schooling in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Duchy of Lorraine ( ; ), originally Upper Lorraine, was a duchy now included in the larger present-day region of Lorraine in northeastern France. Its capital was Nancy.


Life.

Catherine was born in Ratzeburg to Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and Catherine, daughter of Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Her marriage to Gustav I of Sweden was arranged for political reasons. Gustav wished to marry shortly after having taken the Swedish throne. He had failed in his negotiations to marry Dorothea of Denmark (also proposed to by Philip of Hesse who was considered more advantageous); Sophia of Mecklenburg; Anna of Pomerania (parents considered his rule too unstable); and Hedwig of Poland (parents discontinued negotiations because of Swedish Reformation), and was finally advised to consider the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg.  Though the duchy was small and poor, it had many advantages: its dynasty was related to many of the most powerful dynasties of Europe, which would give valuable connections with the German princes; it was Protestant, which was important for the ongoing Swedish Reformation, but could also give Imperial connections through Catherine's mother; it would give a valuable link to Denmark, as Catherine's older sister Dorothea was married to Christian, the Crown Prince of Denmark; and finally, the duchy at that point was known as a center for mercenaries, which was important for Gustav as a newly established ruler. The negotiations started in 1528, but were delayed several years as the bride's father doubted the stability of the Swedish throne, doubt partially confirmed by events such as the Dalecarlian rebellions. Finally, with mediation from Lübeck, they were completed after almost three years, and Catherine was granted the counties of Korsholm, Kalmar and Öland as a dower.  In September 1531, Catherine was escorted to Sweden on a fleet by the "highest lords and ladies of the realm" headed by her future sister-in-law Margaret with her spouse Count John of Hoya, and met her future husband for the first time. Their wedding was celebrated in Stockholm on her 18th birthday 24 September 1531. Shortly after the royal wedding, in events hosted by King Gustav and Queen Catherine, Brita Leijonhufvud, the daughter of the king's second cousin Ebba Eriksdotter Vasa, was married to the king's courtier and favorite Gustav Olsson Stenbock (they were to be the parents of the king's third wife Catherine Stenbock) and the king's niece Brita Joakimsdotter Brahe was engaged to "riksråd" Birger Nilsson Grip. These were the first events Catherine hosted as queen of Sweden.  Very little is known about queen Catherine as a person and her tenure as queen. There is no information on her courtiers, though she is assumed to have brought ladies-in-waiting from Germany in addition to her Swedish ones, among whom Margaret Leijonhufvud (the king's future second queen) is likely to have been one. Traditional history describes Catherine as capricious, cold, melancholic and discontent, and the marriage has been described as a stormy and unhappy one. There is, however, no contemporary information on that. On 13 December 1533, she fulfilled her most important task as queen consort by giving birth to an heir to the throne: the future King Eric XIV.  In September 1535, during a ball given in honor of her brother-in-law, King Christian III of Denmark, who was visiting the Swedish royal court, Queen Catherine fell while pregnant during a dance with Christian III. The fall confined her to bed and led to complications, and she died on 23 September with her unborn child.  At the time of her death, king Gustav was involved in the Count's Feud, and his opponents in this conflict, Lübeck and Rostock, spread the rumor that he had murdered his queen by beating her on the head with a silver cane after a report from a spy that she had slandered him to Christian while dancing. The exhumation of Catherine's skeleton done in the 1940s showed no sign of any such injury, and no accusations were ever made by her family. Furthermore, Christian III himself confirmed the serious fall of Queen Catherine in his private letters, even though he was no friend of Gustav Vasa's.  In traditional history writings, queen Catherine was given a bad reputation and often presented as a bad example, by contrast to the second queen of Gustav I, Queen Margaret, who was made out to be a stereotypically and perfectly ideal queen.

Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg ("Katarina" in Swedish) (24 September 1513 – 23 September 1535) was the first wife of Gustav I of Sweden and thus Queen of Sweden from 1531 until her death in 1535.


Prelude.

The immediate cause of the two-day Battle of Znaim was the decision of the Austrian commander in chief, Archduke Charles, to stage a rearguard action near the town of Znaim, about 80 kilometers north of Vienna, in order to give his army time to withdraw its baggage train in safety toward Moravia. Marmont’s two combined French and Bavarian corps were the first of Napoleon’s troops to arrive on the field following the course of the river Thaya. Believing that he faced only a rear guard, Marmont ordered his Bavarian troops to take the village of Tesswitz south of Znaim, while the rest of his troops attacked the village of Zuckerhandl.

Battle.

The Bavarians succeeded in storming Tesswitz but were then thrown out by Austrian reinforcements. Marmont renewed the Bavarian attack, and Tesswitz was retaken, only to be lost soon after. The village changed hands a number of times during the day, this contest constituting the heaviest fighting the Bavarians saw in the whole campaign. Marmont had hoped to swing his cavalry in behind the Austrian rear guard, but on reaching high ground above Tesswitz, they were faced with five enemy corps. The French cavalry was forced to withdraw in the face of a large body of Austrian cuirassiers.  Marmont was now engaged by 40,000 Austrian troops and was heavily outnumbered. His men nevertheless managed to hold on to both Tesswitz and Zuckerhandl overnight. Archduke Charles withdrew his forces into a strong defensive position situated so as to hold the north bank of the Thaya and Znaim. Napoleon arrived at Tesswitz at 10:00 A.M., and despite the fact that he had brought with him reinforcements of cavalry and artillery, he believed that his force was too weak to launch a full-scale attack. His plan therefore was to employ Masséna’s corps to pin the Austrians throughout the day and to await the corps of marshals Louis-Nicolas Davout and Nicolas Oudinot, which would be able to arrive early on the twelfth. Masséna launched his attack on the extreme right of the Austrian position during midmorning and quickly seized the main bridge across the Thaya south of Znaim. His troops took two small villages and then advanced directly on Znaim. Charles meanwhile reinforced the Austrian position with two grenadier brigades, which advanced during a thunderstorm and initially threw the French back.  The situation was stabilized by a body of French cavalry at approximately 7:00 P.M., when French and Austrian staff officers rode along the opposing lines announcing a cease-fire, which led to the signature of an armistice on the twelfth. Znaim was to prove the last action of the 1809 campaign. The two sides signed a treaty of peace at the Schönbrunn Palace on 14 October.

The Armistice of Znaim was a ceasefire agreed between Archduke Charles and Napoleon I on 12 July 1809 following the Battle of Znaim, effectively ending hostilities between Austria and France in the War of the Fifth Coalition.


Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo

Biography.

He was born at Granada, and educated at the university there.  He won popularity with a series of epigrams on local celebrities published under the title of "El Cementerio de momo". During the struggle against Napoleon he took the patriotic side, was elected deputy, and at Cadiz produced his first play, "Lo que puede un empleo", a prose comedy in the manner of the younger Leandro Fernández de Moratín. "La Viuda de Padilia" (1814), a tragedy modelled upon Alfieri, was less acceptable to the Spanish public.  Meanwhile, the author became more and more engulfed in politics, and in 1814 was banished to Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera on the Barbary Coast, where he remained until 1820, when he was suddenly recalled and appointed prime minister. During the next three years he was the most unpopular man in Spain; denounced as a revolutionist by the Conservatives and as a reactionary by the Liberals, he alienated the sympathies of all parties, and his rhetoric earned for him the contemptuous nickname of Rosita la Pastelera (Rosie the compromiser/cake maker).  Exiled in 1823, he took refuge in Paris, where he issued his "Obras literarias" (1827), including his "Arte poética", in which he exaggerated the literary theories already promulgated by Luzan.  Returning to Spain in 1831, he became prime minister on the death of Ferdinand VII, but proved incapable of coping with the insurrectionary movement and resigned in 1834. It is worth noting that, before retiring, Martinez de la Rosa, as President of the Cabinet, approved the royal decree that finally abolished the Spanish Inquisition.  He was ambassador at Paris in 1839-1840 and at Rome in 1842–1843, joined the Conservative party, held many important offices, and was president of congress and director of the Spanish academy at the time of his death, which took place at Madrid on the 7th of February 1862.  As a statesman, Martinez de la Rosa never rose above mediocrity. It was his misfortune to be in place without real power, to struggle against a turbulent pseudo-democratic movement promoted by unscrupulous soldiers, and to contend with the intrigues of the king, the court camarilla and the clergy. But circumstances which hampered him in politics favoured his career in literature. He was not a great natural force; his early plays and poems are influenced by Leandro Moratín or by Juan Meléndez Valdés; his "Espíritu del siglo" (1835) is a summary of all the commonplaces concerning the philosophy of history; his "Doña Isabel de Solís" (1837–1846) is an imitation of Walter Scott's historical novels.  Through the accident of his exile at Paris he was thrown into relations with the leaders of the French Romantic Movement, and was so far impressed with the innovations of the new school as to write in French a romantic piece entitled "Abén Humeya" (1830), which was played at the Porte Saint-Martin. On his return to Madrid Martinez de la Rosa produced "La Conjuracíon de Venecia" (April 23, 1834), which entitles him to be called the pioneer of the romantic drama in Spain.

References.

Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Cornejo (March 10, 1787 – February 7, 1862) was a Spanish statesman and dramatist and the first prime minister of Spain to receive the title of "President of the Council of Ministers".


Life.

Peter Arshinov was born in Yekaterinoslav. In 1904 he become involved with the revolutionary movement. In 1905 he worked as a locksmith in the railway workshops of "Kizyl-Arvat" (now Serdar in Turkmenistan), where he joined the Bolshevik section of the Russian Social Democratic Party. From here he led the organization of the "RSDLP" and was the editor of the illegal Bolshevik newspaper "Molot". Hiding from the police, he soon returned to Ukraine where he joined the workers at a factory in Ekaterinoslav. In December 1906, after the autumn defeat, he united the militant anarchist survivors of Ekaterinoslav into a terrorist group and organized a series of attacks - including the assassination of a ruthless railroad boss and the bombing of a village police station on 23 December 1906, in which a number of Cossack and police officers were killed.  On the 9th March 1907 he was arrested and condemned to death by hanging by a military tribunal. In 22nd April 1907 he escaped from prison. Arshinov then found refuge in France, venturing to Russia two years later. In the autumn of 1909 he was arrested for spreading anarchist propaganda. He would escape before sentencing and would go onto to participate in underground propaganda work. In May-July 1910 he performed a robbery with fellow anarchists on a wine depot in the village of Filopovo. This would soon lead to his arrest in Austria and subsequent trial in Russia. In October 1911 he was again imprisoned for a 20-year sentence in Moscow's Butyrka prison. There he met fellow convict and anarchist leader Nestor Makhno. They were released seven years later, in 1917, during the February Revolution. While Makhno returned to Ukraine, Arshinov joined the Moscow Federation of Anarchist Groups. Arshinov returned to Ukraine to participate in Makhno's 1919 Makhnovist insurrection, which lasted until 1921.  Arshinov emigrated to Germany in 1922, later moving to France and the United States. In 1923 he published his "History of the Makhnovist Movement", which was used as evidence for defence in the court proceedings against Nestor Makhno in Paris, and helped obtain his exoneration.. Arshinov got in contact with Communist leader Ordzhonidze who promised to help Arshinov if he formally broke all ties with anarchism. Arshinov produced two anti-anarchist pamphlets, Anarchism and the dictatorship of the proletariat in 1931 and Anarchism in our age, in 1933, which both gained him notoriety in anarchist circles with Camillo Berneri remarking that he "had not left the movement quietly and with dignity, but had slammed the door behind him like a drunk". After breaking up with anarchism Arshinov returned to the USSR in 1934 with permission of the Soviet authorities. He was arrested in 1937, accused of creation of anarchist underground network, and was summarily executed.

Peter Andreyevich Arshinov (), also P. Marin () (1886–1937), was a Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and intellectual who chronicled Nestor Makhno's 1919–1921 uprising.


Ethnic cleansing of Zamojszczyzna by Nazi Germany

Genesis.

Wartime fate of the Polish children from Zamojszczyzna was closely related to the German plans for the expansion of their own so-called "living space in the East", part of a broader Nazi policy called the "Generalplan Ost". The plans for "ethnically cleansing the land" of its inhabitants were created in the fall of 1941 in Berlin and were closely connected with the idea of the new great consolidation of German nationhood. Country-wide actions dubbed "Heim ins Reich" ("Home to the Reich") were conducted across all of Central and Eastern Europe (see Action Saybusch in Polish Silesia). Their main purpose was to transplant colonists of the German origin from Russia, Romania, and other countries, to occupied Poland. At the beginning of war, the programme was mainly realised in western parts of Poland, including Wielkopolska, Eastern Silesia and Danzig-Westpreußen already controlled by Nazi Germany; but after Operation Barbarossa, it was continued throughout the General Government.  In order to prepare the land for the new German settlers, both German military and all "branches of police" including "Sonderdienst", aided by the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police battalions, conducted mass deportations of native Polish inhabitants using Holocaust trains as well as lorries and even horse-drawn wagons. Zamojszczyzna was recognized as one of the core German settlement areas in "Distrikt Galizien", and according to the order of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler became the first intervention target in the region. Ukrainians were transferred to villages on the perimeter of German colonies to provide a buffer zone protecting the German settlers from Polish partisans.

The forcible depopulation of Zamojszczyzna.

The German Wehrmacht attacked the Soviet forces in eastern Poland on June 22, 1941, and in the euphoric atmosphere surrounding their initial victories, the "Aktion Zamosc" was first outlined by Himmler together with Governor Hans Frank who initially requested that the programme be delayed until complete victory, but was convinced otherwise. In accordance with the General Plan East, the first forcible removal of the 2,000 inhabitants from selected villages was conducted between 6th and 25 of November 1941, while the general deportation programme began a year later on the night of 27–28 November 1942 in Skierbieszów and its vicinity. By then, the murderous Operation Reinhard was already in full swing.  The expulsions encompassed the districts of Hrubieszów, Tomaszów Lubelski, Zamość and Biłgoraj, and were completed in March 1943. In total 297 Polish villages were depopulated. A concentration camp was created in Zamość around the streets of Piłsudskiego and Okrzei. Initially, it was a transit camp for Soviet POWs, rebuilt and expanded with 15 new barracks added for the imprisonment of rounded up families. "SS-Unterscharführer" Artur Schütz was appointed the camp's commandant. From there, transports of children no older than 14 years of age – whose names have already been Germanized – were sent elsewhere. Historians estimate that 116,000 people in total were forcibly removed from Zamojszczyzna, among them 30,000 children.

Deportations to concentration camps.

The camp in Zamość, located on S. Okrzei street, served as the transit point for selections and further deportations. In the first month of Action Zamość the camp processed 7,055 Polish inhabitants of 62 villages. People were divided into four main categories with the following code letters: "WE" (re-Germanization), "AA" (transport to the Reich), "RD" (farm-work for the settlers), "KI" ("Kindertransport"), "AG" (work in the General Government); and finally, "KL" (concentration camp). Those expelled from Zamojszczyzna to perform slave labour in Germany were loaded onto trains departing for temporary displacement camps governed by main resettlement HQ in Łodź. People from the last group were sent to the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Majdanek.  The camp in Zamość processed 31,536 Poles according to Germany's own records, or 41,000 based on postwar estimates. Dispossessed Polish families were sent to other transit camps as well including Zwierzyniec in the Zamość County, which processed 20,000-24,000 Poles (12,000 between July and August 1943). Transit camps existed in Budzyń, Frampol, Lublin (on Krochmalna street), Stary Majdan, Biłgoraj County, Tarnogród, Wola Derezieńska, Old Wedan, Biłgoraj and also in Puszcza Solska. Race selections based on forcible abduction of children from their parents were conducted in all of them. The term "Children of Zamojszczyzna" originates from the multitude of those locations.  Children suffered the most in those camps. The average stay lasted several months. Starvation, cold, disease were fatal for them a lot more often than for adults. Separated from their parents, children were transported in cattle wagons (100 up to 150 children in one wagon) to other destinations. Many of them were sent to the concentration camp for children run side-by-side with the Łódź Ghetto. Kinder KZ processed up to 13,000 children. News about enormous drama of children from Zamojszczyzna quickly spread through entire country. Polish railwayman were forwarding messages about transports to inhabitants of the cities where transports were stopping by. There were several stations where ordinary people took a chance and risked rescuing the children, like in Sobolew, Żelechów, Siedlce, Garwolin, Pilawa and Warsaw. Another deportation action, called Operation Werwolf, was conducted during the summer of 1944 ahead of the Soviet advance. Many of the inhabitants were forced to evacuate after being previously transferred into these areas by Germany as early as 1939. Entire families ended up in concentration camps at Majdanek (up to 15,000 prisoners of Action Zamość) and Oświęcim, before deportation to forced labour in the Reich. At Majdanek, due to severe overcrowding, entire train-loads were kept in open fields numbered from III to V.

Germanization.

There was also a portion of children designated for germanisation. Those, in which German anthropologists confirmed the presence of desirable racial traits, were supposed to go through transition by being placed in German families or German orphanages. Out of several thousand of children taken to Germany only 800 were successfully reclaimed. After the World War II this atrocity was investigated in Nuremberg. From Polish side statements came from Zygmunt Klukowski – a doctor from Szczebrzeszyn, who knew well conditions of camps in Zwierzyniec and Biłgoraj, and from three of the returned children.

The ethnic cleansing of Zamojszczyzna by Nazi Germany (, also: "Operation Himmlerstadt") during World War II was carried out as part of a greater plan of forcible removal of the entire Polish populations from targeted regions of occupied Poland in preparation for the state-sponsored settlement of the ethnic German "Volksdeutsche". The operation of mass expulsions from Zamojszczyzna region around the city of Zamość (now in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland) was carried out between November 1942 and March 1943 on direct order from Heinrich Himmler. It was preplanned by both, Globocnik from Action Reinhard and Himmler, as the first stage of the eventual murderous ethnic cleansing ahead of projected Germanization of the entire General Government territory.


Early life and education.

Kimberley was born in 1826 in Wymondham, Norfolk, the eldest son of the Hon. Henry Wodehouse (1799–1834) and grandson of John Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Wodehouse. His mother was Anne Gurdon (d. 1880), daughter of Theophilus Thornhagh Gurdon. In 1846 he succeeded his grandfather as third Baron Wodehouse. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took a first-class degree in classics in 1847.

Early career (1852–1874).

He was by inheritance a Liberal in politics, and in 1852–1856 and 1859–1861 he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Lord Aberdeen's and Lord Palmerston's ministries. In the interval (1856–1858) he had been envoy-extraordinary to Russia; and in 1863 he was sent on a special mission to Copenhagen in the hope of finding a solution to the Schleswig-Holstein question. However, the mission was a failure.  In 1864 Kimberley became Under-Secretary of State for India, but towards the end of the year was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In that capacity, he had to grapple with the first manifestations of Fenianism, and in recognition of his services, he was created Earl of Kimberley in 1866. In July 1866 he vacated his office with the fall of Lord Russell's ministry, but in 1868 he became Lord Privy Seal in Gladstone's cabinet, and in July 1870 was transferred from that post to be Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was the moment of the great diamond discoveries in southern Africa, and the town of Kimberley in the Cape Colony was named after him. Lord Kimberley has been credited with the change in British policy towards the independent Malay states that led to the signing of the Pangkor Treaty of 1874, after which British political agents known as Residents were placed in the Malay states as advisors to the rulers.

Later career (1875–1902).

After an interval in opposition from 1874 to 1880, Lord Kimberley returned to the Colonial Office in Gladstone's next ministry. He was in that office when responsible government was granted to Cape Colony, British Columbia was added to the Dominion of Canada and during the First Boer War. At the end of 1882 he exchanged this office first for that of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and then for the secretaryship of state for India, a post he retained during the remainder of Gladstone's tenure of power (1882–1885, 1886, 1892–1894), though in 1892–1894 he combined with it that of the lord presidency of the council.  In Lord Rosebery's cabinet (1894–1895) he was Foreign Secretary. During this time he signed the landmark Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation. Sir Edward Grey who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary under Kimberley at the Foreign Office portrays him unfavourably as prolix and prone to irrelevant digressions in conversation although "concise, definite and clear" on paper. However, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, "As leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords he acted with undeviating dignity, and in opposition, he was a courteous antagonist and a critic of weight and experience".

Other public positions.

On 5 April 1850, he joined the Canterbury Association, formed to establish a colony (in the later Canterbury region) on the South Island of New Zealand.  Lord Kimberley took interest in education, and after being for many years a member of the senate of the University of London, he became its chancellor in 1899.

Family.

Lord Kimberley married Lady Florence FitzGibbon (d. 1895), daughter of Richard FitzGibbon, 3rd Earl of Clare, on 16 August 1847. He died at 35 Lowndes Square in London (now the High Commission of Pakistan) on 8 April 1902, aged 76, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, John. His second son, the Hon. Armine Wodehouse, was also a Liberal politician but died at an early age. His more distant relations include the writer P. G. Wodehouse.

Memorials.

The following places were named after the 1st Earl of Kimberley:  Attribution:

John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, (7 January 18268 April 1902), known as The 3rd Baron Wodehouse from 1846 to 1866, was a British Liberal politician. He held office in every Liberal administration from 1852 to 1895, notably as Secretary of State for the Colonies and as Foreign Secretary.