A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy.
A siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by a coup de main and refuses to surrender. Sieges involve surrounding the target and blocking the reinforcement or escape of troops or provision of supplies (a tactic known as "investment"), typically coupled with attempts to reduce the fortifications by means of siege engines, artillery bombardment, mining (also known as sapping), or the use of deception or treachery to bypass defences. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst or disease, which can afflict either the attacker or defender.
Sieges probably predate the development of cities as large population centres. Ancient cities in the Middle East show archaeological evidence of having had fortified city walls. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is both textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world. During the Renaissance and the Early Modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork.
The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets.
City walls and fortifications were essential for the defence of the first cities in the ancient Near East. The walls were built of mud bricks, stone, wood or a combination of these materials depending on local availability. They may also have served the dual purpose of showing presumptive enemies the might of the kingdom. The great walls surrounding the Sumerian city of Uruk gained a widespread reputation. The walls were 9.5 km (5.9 mi) in length, and up to 12 m (39 ft) in height.
Later, the walls of Babylon, reinforced by towers, moats and ditches, gained a similar reputation. In Anatolia, the Hittites built massive stone walls around their cities, taking advantage of the hillsides. In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 m (66 ft) in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards (1,900 m) squared. The ancient Chinese capital for the State of Zhao, Handan, founded in 386 BC, also had walls that were 20 m (66 ft) wide at the base; they were 15 m (49 ft) tall, with two separate sides of its rectangular enclosure at a length of 1,530 yd (1,400 m).
The cities of the Indus Valley Civilization showed less effort in constructing defences, as did the Minoan civilization on Crete. These civilizations probably relied more on the defence of their outer borders or sea shores. Unlike the ancient Minoan civilization, the Mycenaean Greeks emphasized the need for fortifications alongside natural defences of mountainous terrain, such as the massive Cyclopean walls built at Mycenae during the last half of the 2nd millennium BC.
The late 9th-century BC siege system surrounding Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel, consists of a 2.5 km long siege trench, towers and other elements, and is the earliest evidence of a circumvallation system known in the world. It was apparently built by Hazael of Aram Damascus, as part of his siege and conquest of Philistine Gath in the late 9th century BC (mentioned in II Kings 12:18).
In ancient China, sieges of city walls (along with naval battles) were portrayed on bronze 'hu' vessels, like those found in Chengdu, Sichuan in 1965 which have been dated to the Warring States period (5th to 3rd centuries BC).
The most common practice of siege warfare was to lay siege and just wait for the surrender of the enemies inside, or quite commonly, to coerce someone inside to betray the fortification. During a siege a surrounding army would build earthworks (a line of circumvallation) to completely encircle their target, preventing food, water, and other supplies from reaching the besieged city. If sufficiently desperate as the siege progressed, defenders and civilians might have been reduced to eating anything vaguely edible - horses, family pets, the leather from shoes, and even each other.
The Egyptian siege of Megiddo in the 15th century BC lasted for 7 months before its inhabitants surrendered. The Hittite siege of a rebellious Anatolian vassal in the 14th century BC ended when the queen mother came out of the city and begged for mercy on behalf of her people. The Hittite campaign against the kingdom of Mitanni in the 14th century BC bypassed the fortified city of Carchemish. If the main objective of a campaign was not the conquest of a particular city, it could simply be passed by. When the main objective of the campaign had been fulfilled, the Hittite army returned to Carchemish and the city fell after an eight-day siege.
The well-known Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem in the 8th century BC came to an end when the Israelites bought them off with gifts and tribute, according to the Assyrian account, or when the Assyrian camp was struck by mass death, according to the Biblical account. Due to logistics, long-lasting sieges involving a minor force could seldom be maintained. A besieging army, encamped in possibly squalid field conditions and dependant on the countryside and its own supply lines for food, could very well be threatened with the disease and starvation intended for the besieged.
To end a siege more rapidly various methods were developed in ancient and medieval times to counter fortifications, and a large variety of siege engines were developed for use by besieging armies. Ladders could be used to escalade over the defences. Battering rams and siege hooks could also be used to force through gates or walls, while catapults, ballistae, trebuchets, mangonels, and onagers could be used to launch projectiles in order to break down a city's fortifications and kill its defenders. A siege tower, a substantial structure built to equal or greater height than the fortification's walls, could allow the attackers to fire down upon the defenders and also advance troops to the wall with less danger than using ladders.
Disease was another effective siege weapon, although the attackers were often as vulnerable as the defenders. In some instances, catapults or similar weapons were used to fling diseased animals over city walls in an early example of biological warfare. If all else failed, a besieger could claim the booty of his conquest undamaged, and retain his men and equipment intact, for the price of a well-placed bribe to a disgruntled gate-keeper.
The philosophically-pacifist Mohists (followers of the philosopher Mozi) of the 5th century BC believed in aiding the defensive warfare of smaller Chinese states against the hostile offensive warfare of larger domineering states. The Mohists were renowned in the smaller states (and the enemies of the larger states) for the inventions of siege machinery to scale or destroy walls. These included traction trebuchet catapults, eight-foot-high ballistas, a wheeled siege ramp with grappling hooks known as the Cloud Bridge (the protractable, folded ramp slinging forward by means of a counterweight with rope and pulley), and wheeled 'hook-carts' used to latch large iron hooks onto the tops of walls to pull them down.
Advances in the prosecution of sieges in ancient and medieval times naturally encouraged the development of a variety of defensive counter-measures. In particular, medieval fortifications became progressively stronger—for example, the advent of the concentric castle from the period of the Crusades—and more dangerous to attackers—witness the increasing use of machicolations and murder-holes, as well the preparation of hot or incendiary substances. Arrow slits (also called arrow loops or loopholes), sally ports (airlock-like doors) for sallies, and deep water wells were also integral means of resisting siege at this time. Particular attention would be paid to defending entrances, with gates protected by drawbridges, portcullises and barbicans. Moats and other water defences, whether natural or augmented, were also vital to defenders.
In the European Middle Ages, virtually all large cities had city walls—Dubrovnik in Dalmatia is an impressive and well-preserved example—and more important cities had citadels, forts or castles. Great effort was expended to ensure a good water supply inside the city in case of siege. In some cases, long tunnels were constructed to carry water into the city. Complex systems of underground tunnels were used for storage and communications in medieval cities like Tábor in Bohemia, similar to those used much later in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Alexander the Great's Macedonian army successfully besieged many powerful cities during his astounding conquests. Two of his most impressive achievements in siegecraft took place in the Siege of Tyre and the Siege of the Sogdian Rock. His engineers built a causeway that was originally 60 m (200 ft) wide and reached the range of his torsion-powered artillery, while his soldiers pushed siege towers housing stone throwers and light catapults to bombard the city walls.
Most conquerors before him had found Tyre, a Phoenician island-city about 1 km from the mainland, impregnable. The Macedonians built a mole, a raised spit of earth across the water, by piling stones up on a natural land bridge that extended underwater to the island, and although the Tyrians rallied by sending a fire-ship to destroy the towers, and captured the mole in a swarming frenzy, the city eventually fell to the Macedonians after a seven-month siege. In complete contrast to Tyre, Sogdian Rock was captured by stealthy attack. Alexander used commando-like tactics to scale the cliffs and capture the high ground, and the demoralized defenders surrendered.
In his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic War), Caesar describes how at the Battle of Alesia the Roman legions created two huge fortified walls around the city. The inner circumvallation, 10 miles (16 km), held in Vercingetorix's forces, while the outer contravallation kept relief from reaching them. The Romans held the ground in between the two walls. The besieged Gauls, facing starvation, eventually surrendered after their relief force met defeat against Caesar's auxiliary cavalry.
The Sicarii Zealots who defended Masada in AD 73 were defeated by the Roman legions who built a ramp 100 m high up to the fortress's west wall.
"By concentrating on the field armies, the strongholds had to wait. Of course, smaller fortresses, or ones easily surprised, were taken as they came along. This had two effects. First, it cut off the principal city from communicating with other cities where they might expect aid. Secondly, refugees from these smaller cities would flee to the last stronghold. The reports from these cities and the streaming hordes of refugees not only reduced the morale of the inhabitants and garrison of the principal city, it also strained their resources. Food and water reserves were taxed by the sudden influx of refugees. Soon, what was once a formidable undertaking became easy. The Mongols were then free to lay siege without interference of the field army as it had been destroyed... At the siege of Aleppo, Hulagu used twenty catapults against the Bab al-Iraq (Gate of Iraq) alone. In Jûzjânî, there are several episodes in which the Mongols constructed hundreds of siege machines in order to surpass the number which the defending city possessed. While Jûzjânî surely exaggerated, the improbably high numbers which he used for both the Mongols and the defenders do give one a sense of the large numbers of machines used at a single siege."
Another Mongol tactic was to use catapults to launch corpses of plague victims into besieged cities. The disease-carrying fleas from the bodies would then infest the city, and the plague would spread allowing the city to be easily captured, although this transmission mechanism was not known at the time. In 1346 the bodies of Mongol warriors of the Golden Horde who had died of plague were thrown over the walls of the besieged Crimean city of Kaffa (now Feodosiya). It has been speculated that this operation may have been responsible for the advent of the Black Death in Europe. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% – 60% of Europe's population.
However, the Chinese were not completely defenceless, and from AD 1234 until 1279 the Southern Song Chinese held out against the enormous barrage of Mongol attacks. Much of this success in defense lay in the world's first use of gunpowder (i.e. with early flamethrowers, grenades, firearms, cannons, and land mines) to fight back against the Khitans, the Tanguts, the Jurchens, and then the Mongols.
During the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368–1644), the Chinese were very concerned with city planning in regards to gunpowder warfare. The site for constructing the walls and the thickness of the walls in Beijing's Forbidden City were favoured by the Chinese Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424), because they were in pristine position to resist cannon volley and were built thick enough to withstand attacks from cannon fire.
The introduction of gunpowder and the use of cannons brought about a new age in siege warfare. Cannons were first used in Song Dynasty China during the early 13th century, but did not become significant weapons for another 150 years or so. By the 16th century, they were an essential and regularized part of any campaigning army, or castle's defences.
The greatest advantage of cannons over other siege weapons was the ability to fire a heavier projectile, further, faster and more often than previous weapons. They could also fire projectiles in a straight line, so that they could destroy the bases of high walls. Thus, 'old fashioned' walls - that is high and, relatively, thin - were excellent targets and, over time, easily demolished. In 1453, the great walls of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, were broken through in just six weeks by the 62 cannons of Mehmet II's army.
Once siege guns were developed the techniques for assaulting a town or a fortress became well known and ritualized. The attacking army would surround a town. Then the town would be asked to surrender. If they did not comply the besieging army would surround the town with temporary fortifications to stop sallies from the stronghold or relief getting in. The attackers would then build a length of trenches parallel to the defences (these are known as the "First parallel") and just out of range of the defending artillery. They would then dig a trench (known as a Forward) towards the town in a zigzag pattern so that it could not be enfiladed by defending fire. Once within artillery range another parallel (the Second Parallel) trench would be dug with gun emplacements. This technique is commonly called Entrenchment.
The most effective way to protect walls against cannon fire proved to be depth (increasing the width of the defences) and angles (ensuring that attackers could only fire on walls at an oblique angle, not square on). Initially walls were lowered and backed, in front and behind, with earth. Towers were reformed into triangular bastions. This design matured into the trace italienne. Star-shaped fortresses surrounding towns and even cities with outlying defences proved very difficult to capture, even for a well equipped army. Fortresses built in this style throughout the 16th century did not become fully obsolete until the 19th century, and were still in use throughout World War I (though modified for 20th-century warfare). During World War II trace italienne fortresses could still present a formidable challenge, for example in the last days of World War II, during the Battle in Berlin that saw some of the heaviest urban fighting of the war, the Soviets did not attempt to storm the Spandau Citadel (built between 1559 and 1594) but chose to invest it and negotiate its surrender.
In the 1530s and 1540s, the new style of fortification began to spread out of Italy into the rest of Europe, particularly to France, the Netherlands, and Spain. Italian engineers were in enormous demand throughout Europe, especially in war-torn areas such as the Netherlands, which became dotted by towns encircled in modern fortifications. The densely populated areas of Northern Italy and the United Provinces (the Netherlands) were infamous for their high degree of fortification of cities. It made campaigns in these areas very hard to successfully conduct, considering even minor cities had to be captured by siege within the span of the campaigning season. In the Dutch case, the possibility of flooding large parts of the land provided an additional obstacle to besiegers, for example at the Siege of Leiden. For many years, defensive and offensive tactics were well balanced leading to protracted and costly wars such as Europe had never known, involving more and more planning and government involvement. The new fortresses ensured that war rarely extended beyond a series of sieges. Because the new fortresses could easily hold 10,000 men, an attacking army could not ignore a powerfully fortified position without serious risk of counterattack. As a result, virtually all towns had to be taken, and that was usually a long, drawn-out affair, potentially lasting from several months to years, while the members of the town were starved to death. Most battles in this period were between besieging armies and relief columns sent to rescue the besieged.
At the end of the 17th century, two influential military engineers, the French Marshal Vauban and the Dutch military engineer Menno van Coehoorn, developed modern fortification to its pinnacle, refining siege warfare without fundamentally altering it: ditches would be dug; walls would be protected by glacis; and bastions would enfilade an attacker. Both engineers developed their ideas independently but came to similar general rules regarding defensive construction and offensive action against fortifications. Both were skilled in conducting sieges and defences themselves. Before Vauban and Van Coehoorn, sieges had been somewhat slapdash operations. Vauban and Van Coehoorn refined besieging to a science with a methodical process that, if uninterrupted, would break even the strongest fortifications. Examples of their styles of fortifications are Arras (Vauban) and the no-longer existent fortress of Bergen op Zoom (Van Coehoorn). The main differences between the two lay in the difference in terrain on which Vauban and Van Coehoorn constructed their defences: Vauban in the sometimes more hilly and mountainous terrain of France, Van Coehoorn in the flat and floodable lowlands of the Netherlands.
This would be the first construction effort of a besieging army, built soon after a fortress or city had been invested. A line of circumvallation would also be constructed, facing in towards the besieged area, to protect against sorties by the defenders and to prevent the besieged from escaping. The next line, which Vauban usually placed at about 600 meters from the target, would contain the main batteries of heavy cannons so that they could hit the target without being vulnerable themselves. Once this line was established, work crews would move forward creating another line at 250 meters. This line contained smaller guns. The final line would be constructed only 30 to 60 meters from the fortress. This line would contain the mortars and would act as a staging area for attack parties once the walls were breached. Van Coehoorn developed a small and easily movable mortar named the coehorn, variations of which were used in sieges until the 19th century. It would also be from this line that miners working to undermine the fortress would operate.
Another element of a fortress was the citadel. Usually a citadel was a "mini fortress" within the larger fortress, sometimes designed as a reduit, but more often as a means of protecting the garrison from potential revolt in the city. The citadel was used in wartime and peacetime to keep the residents of the city in line.
An important element of strategy for the besieging army was whether or not to allow the encamped city to surrender. Usually it was preferable to graciously allow a surrender, both to save on casualties, and to set an example for future defending cities. A city that was allowed to surrender with minimal loss of life was much better off than a city that held out for a long time and was brutally butchered at the end. Moreover, if an attacking army had a reputation of killing and pillaging regardless of a surrender, then other cities' defensive efforts would be redoubled. Usually a city would surrender (with no honour lost) when its inner lines of defence were reached by the attacker. In case of refusal however, the inner lines would have to be stormed by the attacker and the attacking troops would be seen to be justified in sacking the city.
Siege warfare dominated in Western Europe for most of the 17th and 18th centuries. An entire campaign, or longer, could be used in a single siege (for example, Ostend in 1601–04; La Rochelle in 1627–28). This resulted in extremely prolonged conflicts. The balance was that while siege warfare was extremely expensive and very slow, it was very successful—or, at least, more so than encounters in the field. Battles arose through clashes between besiegers and relieving armies, but the principle was a slow grinding victory by the greater economic power. The relatively rare attempts at forcing pitched battles (Gustavus Adolphus in 1630; the French against the Dutch in 1672 or 1688) were almost always expensive failures.
The exception to this rule were the English. During the English Civil War anything which tended to prolong the struggle, or seemed like want of energy and avoidance of a decision, was bitterly resented by the men of both sides. In France and Germany, the prolongation of a war meant continued employment for the soldiers, but in England both sides were looking to end the war quickly. Even when in the end the New Model Army—a regular professional army—developed the original decision-compelling spirit permeated the whole organisation as was seen when pitched against regular professional continental troops the Battle of the Dunes during the Interregnum.
Experienced commanders on both sides in the English Civil War recommended the abandonment of garrisoned fortifications for two primary reasons. The first, as for example proposed by the Royalist Sir Richard Willis to King Charles, was that by abandoning the garrisoning of all but the most strategic locations in ones own territory, far more troops would be available for the field armies and it was the field armies which would decide the conflict. The other argument was that by slighting potential strong points in ones own territory, an enemy expeditionary force, or local enemy rising, would find it more difficult to consolidate territorial gains against an inevitable counterattack. Sir John Meldrum put forward just such an argument to the Parliamentary Committee of Both Kingdoms, to justify his slighting of Gainsborough in Lincolnshire.
Sixty years later during the War of the Spanish Succession the Duke of Marlborough preferred to engage the enemy in pitched battles rather than engage in siege warfare, although he was very proficient in both types of warfare.
On 15 April 1746, the day before the Battle of Culloden, at Dunrobin Castle, a party of the William Sutherland, 17th Earl of Sutherland's militia conducted the last siege fought on the mainland of Great Britain against Jacobin members of clan MacLeod.
Advances in artillery made previously impregnable defences useless. For example, the walls of Vienna that had held off the Turks in the mid-17th century were no obstacle to Napoleon in the late 18th.
During the Franco-Prussian War, the battlefield front-lines moved rapidly through France. However, the Prussian and other German armies were delayed for months at the Siege of Metz and the Siege of Paris, due to the greatly increased firepower of the defending infantry, and the principle of detached or semi-detached forts with heavy-caliber artillery. This resulted in the later construction of fortress works across Europe such as the massive fortifications at Verdun. It also led to the introduction of tactics which sought to induce surrender by bombarding the civilian population within a fortress rather than the defending works themselves.
The Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) during the Crimean War and the Siege of Petersburg (1864–1865) during the American Civil War showed that modern citadels, when improved by improvised defences, could still resist an enemy for many months. The Siege of Plevna during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) proved that hastily-constructed field defences could resist attacks prepared without proper resources, and were a portent of the trench warfare of World War I.
Advances in firearms technology without the necessary advances in battlefield communications gradually led to the defence again gaining the ascendancy. An example of siege during this time, prolonged during 337 days due to the isolation of the surrounded troops, was the Siege of Baler, in which a reduced group of Spanish soldiers, was besieged in a small church by the Philippine rebels, in the course of the Philippine Revolution and the Spanish–American War, until months after the Treaty of Paris, the end of the conflict.
This sepoy POW shows the conditions of the garrison at Kut at the end of the siege in the First World War.
More traditional sieges of fortifications took place in addition to trench sieges. The Siege of Tsingtao was one of the first major sieges of the war, but the inability for significant resupply of the German garrison made it a relatively one-sided battle. The Germans and the crew of an Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser put up a hopeless defence and after holding out for more than a week surrendered to the Japanese, forcing the German East Asia Squadron to steam towards South America for a new coal source.
The other major siege outside Europe during the First World War was in Mesopotamia, at the Siege of Kut. After a failed attempt to move on Baghdad, stopped by the Ottomans at the bloody Battle of Ctesiphon, the British and their large contingent of Indian sepoy soldiers were forced to retreat to Kut, where the Ottomans under German General Baron Colmar von der Goltz laid siege. The British attempts to resupply the force via the Tigris river failed, and rationing was complicated by the refusal of many Indian troops to eat cattle products. By the time the garrison fell on 29 April 1916, starvation was rampant. Conditions did not improve greatly under Turkish imprisonment. Along with the Battle of Tanga, the Battle of Sandfontein, the Battle of Gallipoli and the Battle of Namakura, it would be one of Britain's numerous embarrassing colonial defeats of the war.
The largest sieges of the war, however, took place in Europe. The initial German advance into Belgium produced four major sieges, the Battle of Liege, the Battle of Namur, the Siege of Maubeuge and the Siege of Antwerp. All three would prove crushing German victories, at Liege and Namur against the Belgians, at Maubeuge against the French and at Antwerp against a combined Anglo-Belgian force. The weapon that made these victories possible were the German Big Berthas and the Skoda 305 mm Model 1911 siege mortars, one of the best siege mortars of the war, on loan from Austria-Hungary. These huge guns were the decisive weapon of siege warfare in the 20th century, taking part at Przemyśl, the Belgian sieges, on the Italian Front and Serbian Front, and even being reused in World War II.
At the second Siege of Przemyśl, the Austro-Hungarian garrison showed an excellent knowledge of siege warfare, not only waiting for relief, but sending sorties into Russian lines and employing an active defence that resulted in the capture of the Russian General Lavr Kornilov. Despite its excellent performance, the garrison's food supply had been requisitioned for earlier offensives, a relief expedition was stalled by the weather, ethnic rivalries flared up between the defending soldiers and a breakout attempt failed. When the commander of the garrison Hermann Kusmanek finally surrendered, his troops were eating their horses and the first attempt of large-scale air supply had failed. It was one of the few great victories obtained by either side during the war; 110,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners were marched back to Russia. Use of aircraft for siege running, bringing supplies to areas under siege, would nevertheless prove useful in many sieges to come.
The largest siege of the war, and the arguably the roughest, most gruesome battle in history, was the Battle of Verdun. Whether the battle can be considered true siege warfare is debatable. Under the theories of Erich von Falkenhayn it is more distinguishable as purely attrition with a coincidental presence of fortifications on the battlefield. When considering the plans of Crown Prince Wilhelm, purely concerned with taking the citadel and not with French casualty figures, it can be considered a true siege. The main fortifications were Fort Douaumont, Fort Vaux and the fortified city of Verdun itself. The Germans, through the use of huge artillery bombardments, flamethrowers and infiltration tactics were able to capture both Vaux and Douaumont, but were never able to take the city, and eventually lost most of their gains. It was a battle that, despite the French ability to fend off the Germans, neither side won. The German losses were not worth the potential capture of the city and the French casualties were not worth holding the symbol of her defence.
The Blitzkrieg of the Second World War truly showed that fixed fortifications are easily defeated by manoeuvre instead of frontal assault or long sieges. The great Maginot Line was bypassed and battles that would have taken weeks of siege could now be avoided with the careful application of air power (such as the German paratrooper capture of Fort Eben-Emael, Belgium, early in World War II).
Map showing Axis encirclement of Leningrad (1942-43).
The most important siege was the Siege of Leningrad, that lasted over 29 months, about half of the duration of the entire Second World War. Along with the Battle of Stalingrad, the Siege of Leningrad on the Eastern Front was the deadliest siege of a city in history. In the west, apart from the Battle of the Atlantic the sieges were not on the same scale as those on the European Eastern front; however, there were several notable or critical sieges: the island of Malta, for which the population won the George Cross, Tobruk. In the South-East Asian Theatre there was the siege of Singapore and in the Burma Campaign sieges of Myitkyina, the Admin Box, Imphal and Kohima which was the high-water mark for the Japanese advance into India.
The airbridge methods which were developed and used extensively in the Burma Campaign for supplying the Chindits and other units, including those in sieges such as Imphal, as well as flying the Hump into China, allowed the western powers to develop air lift expertise which would prove vital during the Cold War Berlin Blockade. Air supply failed to prevent the fall of Dien Bien Phu to the Vietnamese in 1954 but proved crucial in maintaining the American base at Khe Sanh in 1968.
During the Vietnam War the battles of Dien Bien Phu (1954) and Khe Sanh (1968) possessed siege-like characteristics. In both cases, the Viet Minh and NLF were able to cut off the opposing army by capturing the surrounding rugged terrain. At Dien Bien Phu, the French were unable to use air power to overcome the siege and were defeated. However, at Khe Sanh a mere 14 years later, advances in air power - and a reduction in Vietnamese anti-aircraft capability - allowed the United States to withstand the siege. The resistance of US forces was assisted by the PAVN and PLAF forces' decision to use the Khe Sanh siege as a strategic distraction to allow their mobile warfare offensive, the first Tet Offensive, to unfold securely.
The Siege of Khe Sanh displays typical features of modern sieges, as the defender has greater capacity to withstand the siege, the attacker's main aim is to bottle operational forces or create a strategic distraction, rather than take the siege to a conclusion. In neighbouring Cambodia, at that time known as the Khmer Republic, the Khmer Rouge used siege tactics to cut off supplies from Phnom Penh to other government-held enclaves in an attempt to break the will of the government to continue fighting.
In 1972 the Easter offensive, the Siege of An Lộc Vietnam occurred. ARVN troops and U.S. advisers and air power successfully defeated communist forces. The Battle of An Lộc pitted some 6,350 ARVN men against a force three times that size. During the peak of the battle, ARVN had access to only one 105 mm howitzer to provide close support while the enemy attack was backed by an entire artillery division. ARVN had no tanks, the NVA communist forces had two armoured regiments. ARVN prevailed after over two months of continuous fighting. As General Paul Vanuxem, a French veteran of the Indochina War, wrote in 1972 after visiting the liberated city of An Lộc: "An Lộc was the Verdun of Vietnam, where Vietnam received as in baptism the supreme consecration of her will."
Siege tactics continue to be employed in police conflicts. This has been due to a number of factors, primarily risk to life, whether that of the police, the besieged, bystanders or hostages. Police make use of trained negotiators, psychologists and, if necessary, force, generally being able to rely on the support of their nation's armed forces if required.
The 1993 police siege on the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas, lasted 51 days, an atypically long police siege. Unlike traditional military sieges, police sieges tend to last for hours or days rather than weeks, months or years.
In Britain, if the siege involves perpetrators who are considered by the British Government to be terrorists, and if an assault is to take place, the civilian authorities hand command and control over to the military. The threat of such an action ended the Balcombe Street Siege in 1975 but the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980 ended in a military assault and the deaths of all but one of the hostage takers.
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Morocco, John (1984). Thunder from Above: Air War, 1941-1968. Boston: Boston Publishing Company.
Reynolds, Francis Joseph; Churchill, Allen Leon; Miller, Francis Trevelyan (1916). The story of the great war: history of the European War from official sources; complete historical records of events to date. P.F. Collier & Son. p. 406. http://books.google.com/?id=X6RCAAAAYAAJ&q=Skoda+gun+is+reputed+to+be+the+best&dq=Skoda+gun+is+reputed+to+be+the+best.
Roland, Alex (1992). "Secrecy, Technology, and War: Greek Fire and the Defense of Byzantium, Technology and Culture". pp. 655–679. Digital object identifier:10.2307/3106585. ISBN ????.
Symonds, Richard (1859). Long, Charles Edward. ed. Diary of the marches of the royal army during the great civil war. Works of the Camden Society. 74. The Camden Society page=270.
Townshend, Charles (2000). The Oxford History of Modern War. Oxford University Press. pp. 211,212. ISBN 0-19-285373-2.
Turnbull, Stephen R. (2002). Siege Weapons of the Far East. Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN ????.
Wheelis, M. (2002). "Biological warfare at the 1346 siege of Caffa". Center for Disease Control. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol8no9/01-0536.htm.
Lynn, John A. (1999). The Wars of Louis XIV. Pearson. http://www.amazon.com/Wars-Louis-XIV-1667-1714/dp/0582056292/.
May, Timothy. (27 June 2004). "Mongol Arms". Explorations in Empire, Pre-Modern Imperialism Tutorial: the Mongols. University of Wisconsin-Madison. http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/empsub2.html.
Ostwald, Jamel (2007). Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession. History of Warfare. 41 (illustrated ed.). BRILL. http://books.google.com/books?id=-rZX8-tgjrUC&lpg=PP1&pg=PR7#v=onepage&q&f=false.


text:
An Atmospheric Pressure
Nicole Breit
for Gordy
Picture the girl. See her pull the black cardigan closed in a tight fist as she shoves the heavy door open with her shoulder. The warm evening air hits her like a slap in the face. As she steps out onto the sidewalk and sees the sunset bleeding orange and pink, broad streaks of red and purple, she thinks That's it. Childhood is over.
Imagine the boy. He's crossing the field that leads up to the school, hands in his pockets, an unhurried stride. Sunlight refracts against the clouds in a blaring whiteness. He's gazing past the goal posts toward the ravine, shutting out the glare with a slight frown. Note the way his lip curls in a grin that betrays some imagined, not unpleasant possibility colliding with what he assumes is unlikely. An awareness when he sees her; an unexpected surprise.
Know that what you are seeing and what is actually happening are two separate realities. While she stands perfectly still at his side she is kicking down doors, breaking glass, circling in a vicious monologue. Feel the tears stream down her chin, the damp spot at the trim of her neckline. "I'm sorry, we have to close now," the funeral director touches her arm. The tears turn cold at her throat; the words orbiting her brain are frantic.
It's hard to know who sees who first on this muggy May afternoon. But there she is, passing through the mouth of the ravine under boughs of alder trees, their branches nearly touching forty feet above her head. Hear the click of a latch falling into place, the moment of recognition between them.
Watch as she takes in his expression, the slight frown that first struck her last spring on an overcast day. She hopes this isn't a face that registered any pain—that he is just in the midst of a good dream, keening toward something lovely he didn't foresee. In addition to the body in the coffin she can feel his presence in the room, sometimes here, sometimes there, as receptive to her as he ever was. At the same time he's high above the roof, heading over treetops to a place so warm, so bright, he has to squint a little to find his way.
Wind back the clock. They're thirteen. Feel the prickly sensation on her neck; he's staring at her across the row. When she glances over he looks up at the ceiling, assumes an innocent smile. A moment later he appears. "Give me your watch! I'll synchronize it with mine." Then he whispers "We'll be the only ones who know exactly when the bell rings!" Back at his desk he focuses his gaze until she looks over. Smiles as he silently mouths the countdown 10-9-8-7! Hear the abrupt slam of books timed precisely with the bell's ring, the rattle as he leaps out of his desk and scoots past her. He is always grinning, always the first one out the door.
See her stand, unmoving, in this frigid room with him. She can easily bring to mind the moment he approached her in the hallway last week. A rosy heat climbed her neck; he still had that bewildering effect on her. He laughs when she says, "Hey! Sorry for throwing raisins at you today." He, of course, was the one who started it—and she isn't really sorry. Feel the mutual relief, the resolution, with this small but meaningful exchange. They are OK finally; both free. Watch him glide toward the door that leads out to the street, exiting the school for the last time.
Observe how the spring lengthens, the creek recedes, the edges of the ravine advance with each passing day. The girl is living in a snake's body, swelling against the edges, ready to crack; she keeps her eyes low. Hear the call of crickets rubbing their legs together as she strides toward him in jeans that cling to her skin in the ceaseless humidity. See her cross her arms as she nears him, a question forming in her mind.
Watch the transformation. The muscles in her face turn stone hard as she approaches. Her jaw locks, she can't open her mouth; she can hardly swallow. Her eyes jump from feature to feature, unable to take in the entire scene at once. It is undeniably him in that mahogany casket, head resting on a white pillow, hands folded together. But at the same time it isn't him at all. This is a wax figure made up for Madame Tussauds Museum of Lost Loves.
Sense the affirmation all around her. Their paths form a large X as they meet in the middle of the field, smile and pass; the joggers racing around the track circle them in a huge O. The rush of the creek, the scent of lilies coiling around the fence, the cloying pollen at the back of her throat all say, yes. There is yes in the way he looks at her, too. His smile is devastatingly open, eyes full of light. Mischief and shyness in equal measure, competing for position.
"Please don't touch the body," the funeral director says. She has never, ever touched the body. He was shy; she was attuned to his shyness. Not once did she hug him; not once did he reach for her hand. She wishes she could wash the cuts on his skin, say Everything's OK. That she could revisit last summer and ask him to meet her at the edge of the ravine. At the time she was terrified. What if she'd misread him, misread all of nature? If she asked and he said no she would have died.
Imagine the girl, a week from her sixteenth birthday, her heart bursting wide open now every time she sees him. It's an explosion that includes fragments of sky, thin twirling clouds, the flat fanning fingers of cedar branches. The rising bitter scent of dandelions in the moist heat doesn't bother her; like the sour skunk cabbage warmed in the ravine's languid closet, every aspect of nature—the unpleasant and the sweet—only reinforce her feelings for him. It's all part of the same colossal revelation.
Observe that in spite of the architecture and other details—high ceilings, soft lighting, and a proliferation of white flowers—this place is still too cold; it still feels a bit like a cellar. She notices through the chapel door that he, himself, is wearing a jacket. It's the windbreaker he was wearing the last time she saw him. When she thinks of him now he will always be wearing it. A cool sunset shade of pink; a distressed tiger pattern.
Watch the boy open the door for the girl. They fall into stride, walk down the hall to her locker. When she rattles the lock, unable to remember her combination, note his expression—eyes wide, an innocent amusement borne of disbelief. See the colour rise in her cheeks as she turns the dial back to zero. When she finally bangs the door open he points to the picture taped inside. "Hey, I know that band. My sister likes them!" See her go slack with gratitude. No matter how foolish she is, he won't let her feel that way; he'll point somewhere else. Like his eyes and his voice, everything about him is warm. Like summer, like a fever, like the surface of her skin when she thinks about him.
See the girl lying in bed. The light is on, her body turned away from the window that faces the ravine. Her head feels like it could detonate; the constant pressure against the inside of her skull has nowhere to go. She must have slept but she doesn't remember. She can't remember anything except this: he appeared early one morning before the sun rose. He was happy, radiating light. "I didn't die," he told her and then she opened her eyes.
Feel the sun's heat trapped behind thick clouds as they walk away from the school, back to their houses, on the last Friday of June. The thinning band of air hums as the cloud ceiling further descends, invoking a migraine tension. It feels like a sickness to be in this heat. The only thing that might help would be to cool off in the shade or a basement, to find a place to lie down.
There she is at the foot of the stairs, staring up at his closed bedroom door. She would like to open it, sit on the edge of his bed, run a hand over his things. She wants to see what he brought home from Bellingham on the day he died—new clothes with the tags still on, the CDs he chose for the trip. She would like to know if he left his bed messy or if it was neatly made up before he drove to the border. She wants to turn down the sheets—she always imagined them sky blue—climb in, close her eyes and cry until her head and heart are hollow. To sleep there, undisturbed, until the day of the funeral.
Imagine the boy sitting on the kitchen stool, kicking his foot against the cupboard, watching his cat bat a small toy with its paws. "No one has ever asked me so many questions before," he teases, thinking she must know by now that he doesn't mind; he likes talking to her. He tells her about his trip to Holland a few summers ago. "It was so weird. I'd never been there before but when I walked through my aunt's house, every time I turned a corner everything was exactly the way I thought it would be." She sees the old beams and rafters, the blue and white tablecloth, oranges piled in a round wooden bowl. She likes that they, too, keep turning into rooms they've never been in. And sometimes, a second before, she knows exactly what will be there.
Picture the girl standing on the threshold, the first and only time she'll set foot in his house. From the entranceway she can picture him sitting in the kitchen, holding the phone to his ear, stroking the cat in his lap. Hear the strange high-pitched sound that turns her attention to the top of the stairs. "His cat's been crying outside his door," his sister tells her. The phone rings. His mom picks up the receiver, listens, gently sets it back in its cradle. It happens two, three more times. "The phone keeps ringing but no one's there," his sister explains. "We think he's playing tricks on us. He probably wants to talk to you."
See the girl press the phone to her ear as she stretches out on her bed, listening, twirling the white cord in her fingers. She turns the pages of the yearbook with her free hand, traces a heart around his picture then flips to the back page. She can still see him sitting on the bench in the hallway on the last day of school; his left ankle resting on his right knee, her yearbook leaned against his thigh. He misspelled her name, but she was watching him. It must have made him nervous. And who among the students and teachers milling down the hallway didn't feel the pressure, too. Her reverberating sadness as he wrote I won't see you in the fall, but if I'm ever at your school I'll look for you.
Watch her step down off the bus that pulls up beside the school. The coral sky—high visibility, zero chance of precipitation—is astonishing. She is enraged to witness it, wishes she could storm out of the theatre and get her money back. Give her a grey horizon all week, the air thick and heavy as incense. An atmosphere so dense, so hard to breathe, it could suffocate the birds that won't stop singing.
Note the time. It's 7 p.m. sharp when the phone rings. He promised he'd call—"What's your number? I'll call you on Tuesday. I'll give you a hundred dollars if I don't!" She only half-expected him to; wondered if this was his way of drawing a line, then gently receding. She picks up and he says her name; his breath is right in her ear. Her own breath is suspended when he tells her "I transferred schools! We'll be together in the fall."
This is how she finds out.
It's a Sunday morning. The sun is bright, a cloudless sky. Her dad turns down Leclair Drive, puts the car into park, and she ascends the marble steps to her friend's front door. He pokes his head out and says, "Can you come in? I've got some bad news." The hair rises on her arms as she senses a sudden drop in temperature. "Pick up the phone," he says and points to the receiver resting on its side. But she doesn't want to. She can hear a hysterical girl crying all the way across the room.
Feel her insides go soft. She is falling and falling. Her legs bow like they're made of clay. Her mind turns hectic with speed. It can't be him, she thinks. Other boys at school have the same name. She will fight knowing, but when the initial shock wears off she'll realize that somehow, deep inside her, she knew. Three weeks earlier she dreamed she was standing at his grave, weeping. Now as her heart begins to careen and spin out she thinks But I loved him. I never stopped. I still do.
Hold onto this scene a moment longer. It's important.
The moment she learns he is dead is the moment everything changes: her brain, her heart, the future. Time itself. April 1, 1990 at 11 a.m.—the day they turned the clocks forward—is the moment she begins looking backward and never stops.
Nicole Breit,
An Atmospheric Pressure,
This Body's Map,
Best American Essays
Nicole Breit is a poet, essayist and creative writing instructor who lives in Gibsons, BC, the traditional territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people. Her work has appeared in carte blanche, Hippocampus, Event, and other print and online publications. In 2016 Nicole's lyric essay, "Spectrum", won the carte blanche/CNFC contest —the same year she won Room magazine's CNF award for her mixed time-lapse essay, "An Atmospheric Pressure". Her winning piece for Room was selected as a Notable Essay by the editors of Best American Essays 2017.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The St. Patrick's Day Collection
St. Patrick's Country
Ireland in Spring
The St. Patrick's Day Collection
Hail Glorious Saint Patrick
A meticulous record of the Patrician Year 1961, a year of religious celebration loosely marking 1,500 years of devotion to St. Patrick in Ireland. The film features the visit of Papal Legate Cardinal Gregorio Pietro Agagianian to Ireland where he is greeted by President Éamon de Valera, Taoiseach Seán Lemass and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid. […]
Songs of the Emerald Isle
This short film presents five much-loved Irish airs and ballads against a backdrop of the Irish landscape. Bing Crosby sings How Can you Buy Killarney? (from his St Patrick's Day Parade album), John Feeney sings The Connemara Shore and Connie Foley sings Lovely Leitrim. These songs of yearning and nostalgia are illustrated with images of Irish Travellers, fishermen, foresters and farmers, ancient monuments, rich […]
The story of the Irish patron Saint, Patrick is explored through footage of his adopted homeland in picturesque Northern Ireland. This 1935 film from the Pathe Pictorial cinemagazine series depicts the village of Raholp, Co. Down, where St. Patrick grew up. The narrator tells how very little has changed in the sleepy village since the […]
The Irish Independence Films
Ireland's Holy Mount
This footage captures a pilgrimage to Ireland's Holy Mount, Croagh Patrick, from 1921 where thousands of people toil over bog and boulders to reach the summit and pray for peace. Croagh Patrick is a 764 metre-high mountain and an important site of pilgrimage in County Mayo, Ireland. It is the third highest mountain in County […]
St Patrick's Day – Irish Colleens
This short newsreel (location unknown, 1914-1918) shows two Irish girls pinning sprigs of shamrock on the caps and coats of soldiers. There are Irish soldiers from various regiments including Connaught Rangers, Royal Artillery to Fusiliers. Some of the men are wearing bandages and appear to be wounded while others casually stand by having a cigarette.
Saint Patrick's Day – 1917
This newsreel set in London shows the Lord Mayor of London arriving at Saint Patrick's Church. It is the celebration for Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and Irish women are seen selling flags in the street to passersby. These women were most likely collecting for charitable organisations, like the London Irish Benevolent Society, […]
This newsreel was filmed on St Patrick's Day 1916. Mrs. Tredennick presents shamrock pins to the officers of the 18th Battalion London Regiment (London Irish Rifles) at the Duke of York's Headquarters in Chelsea. The London Irish Rifles (LIR) was a volunteer rifle regiment of the British army. From 1908 to 1920, the London Irish […]
Discovering Ireland
This tourism promotional film was produced in 1982 by Bord Fáilte (now known as Fáilte Ireland) and presents Ireland and its rich history as an attractive holiday destination. From the bustling streets of Dublin during the St Patrick's Day Parade, to the serene calm of the River Shannon, this film, directed by Louis Marcus, shows […]
Ireland is beautiful all-year-round but spring is when it really blossoms. Produced by Colm O' Laoghaire (director of the Amharc Éireann newsreels for Gael-Linn) this film is a celebration of all things Irish and a delightful window on 1950s Eire. The film focuses on An Tóstal (Irish for "The Pageant") which was a series of […]


What can you make from slate? Not just roofing!!
All Slates, the roofing reclaim experts have been key in the housing regeneration scheme in Klondyke, Bootle. All Slates used specialist machinery in Klondyke in order to ensure the safe salvage of Welsh slate.
A Mill being re-roofed by a sheeting company provided All Slates with the chance to reclaim some exceptional Yorkshire Greys. For more information call David on 01829 262 600.
'Goin Loco' down in, er, well Horwich actually…..


text:
#if !defined(BOOST_FUSION_NVIEW_ITERATOR_SEP_23_2009_0948PM)
#define BOOST_FUSION_NVIEW_ITERATOR_SEP_23_2009_0948PM

#include <boost/fusion/support/config.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/support/iterator_base.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/support/category_of.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/sequence/intrinsic/begin.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/sequence/intrinsic/end.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/adapted/mpl/mpl_iterator.hpp>

#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/size_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/begin_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/end_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/deref_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/value_of_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/next_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/prior_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/at_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/value_at_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/advance_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/distance_impl.hpp>
#include <boost/fusion/view/nview/detail/equal_to_impl.hpp>

namespace boost { namespace fusion
{
    struct nview_iterator_tag;
    struct random_access_traversal_tag;

    template<typename Sequence, typename Pos>
    struct nview_iterator
      : iterator_base<nview_iterator<Sequence, Pos> >
    {
        typedef nview_iterator_tag fusion_tag;
        typedef random_access_traversal_tag category;

        typedef Sequence sequence_type;
        typedef mpl_iterator<Pos> first_type;

        BOOST_FUSION_GPU_ENABLED explicit nview_iterator(Sequence& in_seq)
          : seq(in_seq) {}

        Sequence& seq;

    private:
        // silence MSVC warning C4512: assignment operator could not be generated
        nview_iterator& operator= (nview_iterator const&);
    };

}}

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I thought I would do a quick update on the progress of the house. We move out of our rental house on Monday. We have arranged to stay in some temporary corporate housing. It is a small apartment that is fully furnished and has very flexible rental terms. It will be a tight fit, but it will be fine.
The drywall is just about finished and the next step on the interior is to install the cabinets and the interior trim around the windows. They will also start installing the interior doors, priming the walls, and putting in the closets. Most of the cabinets are finished and are sitting in the garage. Here are a couple of pictures.
They also did the trim around one window so that Stephanie and I could see it and give our approval. All of the trim will be painted.
Finally, they have also done some additional work on the exterior. Most of the hardi-board siding has been installed, and they are now installing the finish boards that will give the siding a grid pattern. I really like the effect. All of the siding will then be painted.


text:
Emotion overriding your sense of decorum, Keyamo tells Nwabueze on Atiku's appeal
Festus Keyamo
Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour, has faulted comments by Ben Nwabueze on the supreme court's dismissal of Atiku Abubakar's appeal.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, had approached the apex court to challenge the election of Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nwabueze, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the decision to dismiss the appeal, described as lacking merit, was not taken at the sitting of the supreme court on October 30, implying it was predetermined.
But reacting in a statement on Wednesday, Keyamo said Nwabueze has allowed his emotion override his sense of decorum and professional etiquette.
"Unfortunately, in the said press statement last week, Prof. Nwabueze took his political conviction too far by seeking to destroy the reputation and integrity of the Supreme Court on the altar of politics.
"He let his emotions override his sense of decorum and professional etiquette – something totally unexpected of such revered figure in the legal profession.
"In the said press statement, Prof. Nwabueze, delved into the practice and procedure of the apex court in hearing and determining time- bound appeals and the propriety or otherwise of same when viewed in the light of the provisions of Section 36(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
"Prof. Nwabueze's submissions contain deliberate misinformation (given his pedigree) which become magnified when viewed vis-à-vis the provisions of the law, the settled decisions of courts and the precedents already long established by the Apex court."
The supreme court had said it would give reasons for its decision to dismiss the appeal at a later date, and Keyamo, citing other cases, argued that it was not the first time the apex court will be doing that.
"Prof. Nwabueze's assertion that the Supreme Court went on a recess on the 30th of October, 2019 during the hearing of the Presidential Election Petition appeal whereupon they reconstituted the panel is, simply put, not correct," he further said.
"The purpose of that recess was, as widely reported, to enable the counsel to the Appellant decide on consolidating the seven interlocutory appeals with the main appeal pursuant to an application by the Appellants' lead counsel who asked the court to allow all counsel to adopt their briefs, both in the main appeal and in seven other interlocutory appeals.
"Finally, rather than crucifying my lords at the apex court for hearing the appeal on the 30th of October, 2019 and deciding same on the same date, my lords ought to be commended for coming to court prepared and hearing and dismissing the Appeal with dispatch."
Atiku Abubakar
Prof. Ben Nwabueze
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text:
Shop We Are Abyssmal, on a women's t-shirt
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text:
Greater Greenville Sanitation to charge for recycling
Amanda Coyne
The Greenville News
Greater Greenville Sanitation will require customers to pay a one-time registration fee of $25 to continue using its recycling services in a set of changes to the program.
Customers recently received a notification of the change in the mail. The fee will only be required once per residence to continue recycling service and will accommodate changes in expenses associated with the recycling program, according to spokesman Chuck LaGrange. The registration will let the utility service know you still want to recycle, and the fee will cover half the cost of a new recycling roll cart.
"We've shielded our customers for the most part from the expense and we are shielding our customers who don't recycle from having to pay for something they don't do," LaGrange said.
The changes include a switch from bins to roll carts, which can hold more items; no longer accepting glass to be recycled; and changing the collection schedule from weekly to biweekly, according to the notification received by customers.
The roll carts will have RFID chips that will allow Greater Greenville Sanitation to track how often customers recycle, and ensure those who are putting their roll carts out less than 75 percent of the time still want to be included on the routes.
Multiple trends in recycling and recyclable materials have indicated that recent cost increases will become a permanent part of the business, LaGrange said.
"Paper and cardboard get the most money and the most rebates, but we are living in a world where people are using less and less paper ... There are also a lot of companies that are using less packaging. Big companies like Walmart are asking their vendors to be better stewards for the environment and use more environmentally friendly packaging, which means less cardboard. We are caught up in a massive sea change," LaGrange said. "Most of our recyclable material used to go to China, but they're in a significant downturn so the'yre not taking it anymore. It's not just kind of a blip on the radar stream, it will be a structural change in the industry."
Greater Greenville Sanitation is also incurring more cost from the recent shutdown of Sonoco Recycling's materials recycling facility on White Horse Road, which has forced them to use Pratt Industries' Duncan facility, which is further away.
It is also more expensive to include glass in recycling -- sometimes as much as double the cost -- which is why Greater Greenville Sanitation will no longer recycle glass as of July 1, according to the notice sent to customers.
The changes could cause recycling rates among Greater Greenville Sanitation customers to decrease, but could increase regular participation among those who register to continue recycling. LaGrange said that customers who had used the roll carts previously doubled their participation, on average, according to a study conducted by Greater Greenville Sanitation.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed," LaGrange said. "Industry averages say we will see a decrease in participation, but we hope to make up for it in volume."


text:
Stanley Park Stadium (New Anfield) – stadion Liverpoolu, który planowano wybudować w miejskim parku Stanley Park. Pierwsze plany budowy pojawiły się w 2003, a do użytku miano oddać go w sierpniu 2012. Władze klubu zadecydowały, że nie dojdzie do żadnych prac, póki nie poprawi się sytuacja ekonomiczna na świecie. Ostatecznie zrezygnowano z budowy Stanley Park, w zamian zarząd klubu podjął decyzję o rozbudowie stadionu Anfield.

Historia
Początkowo planowano zakończyć budowę w 2006, a pojemność obiektu miała wynosić 55 000 miejsc siedzących, lecz później powiększono liczbę do 60 000 z możliwością dodania kolejnych 11 000.

Podstawą stadionu będzie oddzielona trybuna Kop (18 500 miejsc). Dzięki konstrukcji trybuny, kibice będą mieli lepszą widoczność na boisko. Stadion tradycyjnie ma być ułożony w cztery kondygnacje, mające przybliżyć kibiców do murawy. Ponadto na terenie obiektu mają znajdować się klubowy sklep i muzeum, centrum konferencyjno-bankietowe, parking dla 970 aut oraz centrum handlowe Anfield Plaza.

Pojawiały się informacje, jakoby ze względu na wysokie koszty budowa miała być dofinansowana przez Everton, czego skutkiem miałby być podział stadionu przez oba kluby, jednak jeden z prezesów Liverpoolu, Tom Hicks, zdementował te doniesienia.

19 czerwca 2008 wydano pozwolenie na budowę, a drobne prace zaczęto 24 czerwca. 15 maja 2009 sponsor klubu, Carlsberg zaproponował nazwę stadionu, Carlsberg Anfield. Jednak ani przedsiębiorstwo ani klub nie opracowały w szczegółach, czy nazwa zostanie zaakceptowana.

Wykonawca
Stadion zaprojektowała firma HKS, a odpowiedzialnymi za budowę mają być Kajima Construction, Ramboll oraz Laing O'Rourke.

Zastrzeżenia

26 sierpnia 2008 poinformowano, że budowa zostanie "na krótki czas wstrzymana", jednak zapewniono, że opóźnienie nie wpłynie na zmianę w projekcie stadionu.

Pomimo problemów finansowych, dyrektor wykonawczy klubu Rick Parry ogłosił, że stadion zostanie wybudowany. Wstępne przygotowania zaczęto w 2008 po aprobacie rady miasta, a obiekt miałby być skończony w 2011. Nie została jednak podana żadna data wznowienia lub ukończenia prac.

W maju 2010 roku pojawiła się propozycja nieznanej grupy architektów, inżynierów i konsultantów - Mersey Stadia-Connex, którzy po 8 miesiącach pracy przedstawili wizję nowych stadionów dla obu klubów w miejscu, gdzie ma powstać Stanley Park Stadium. Nowy obiekt Liverpoolu miałby mieścić 60 000 osób, a Evertonu 50 000. Dzieliłby je jedynie budynek hotelu, do którego oba byłyby przyrośnięte. Ze względu na wyjątkową bliskość projekt nazwano "stadionami syjamskimi", jednak władze obu klubów oraz instytucje regionalne bardzo sceptycznie podeszły do tej wizji.<ref
name="stadiony.net"></ref>

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne
 Projekt stadionu na oficjalnej stronie kubu
 Opis i ilustracje
 Projekt na stadiony.net

Liverpool F.C.
Stadiony piłkarskie w Anglii

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Dakar Rally is over for Carlos Sainz and co-driver Michel P�rin: the Volkswagen crew fell off the edge of a cliff and tumbled several metres, breaking P�rin's shoulder blade as their Touareg settled on its roof.
indicate the danger in their opinion, and the situation brought about furious comments from the VW duo � who were leading the rally with a half-hour's lead when the incident occurred.
"There was a hidden waypoint with a wadi indicated as 'danger,' but it should have been indicated as 'extremely dangerous,'" stated P�rin. "By the way, the car behind us, Nani Roma's car, would have fallen in the same hole as we did if we had not been there already."
Sainz prevented further accidents and possible injuries by climbing up the slope and warning off other competitors who were approaching the cliff just as he had. Nani Roma's Mitsubishi and Leonid Novitskiy's BMW both stopped just in time.
The fact that Sainz will not win his first Dakar Rally has sunk in; for the Spaniard it is a sad day, especially with the growing rumours concerning the cessation of Volkswagen's rally-raid programme.
The German constructor is apparently looking into the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, with the objective of aiming for a mid-season entry to test the waters before announcing its intentions for the 2010 IRC championship.
Volkswagen had three race Touaregs in the top three positions; with Sainz out of the picture, two drivers remain to clinch a maiden Dakar victory for VW. Giniel de Villiers and Mark Miller are practically neck-to-neck in the overall standings at the conclusion of today's 12th stage, which brought the participants from Fiambala to La Rioja across a total of 518 kilometres.
Two stages remain, and team boss Kriss Nissen might have to issue orders if he wants to avoid a race within the race. Volkswagen needs to take the win, and taking the inaugural South American Dakar Rally would be a valuable result for the manufacturer team, especially since Mitsubishi and BMW are far behind.
Stage winner Giniel de Villiers learned of Sainz's accident once he concluded Thursday's stage, arriving ahead of teammate Mark Miller. The South African is now leading the rally, only 2'35" ahead of the American.
"It was really a tough stage. In places we would go around in circles for 15 minutes to find the right trail. It was very dangerous and the sand was really soft," de Villiers said. "Dirk (Von Zitzewitz) had to get out of the car to find a way out. It was really a tough day."
Miller, who at one point actually led ahead of de Villiers today, agreed with his VW teammate: "I can tell you that this was a very demanding stage."
"It was not just difficult, navigation was almost impossible. It was a long series of horror situations from start to finish. These were the longest 200 kilometres in my life." he added. "The sun and the sand were so bright that I could not see anything. I think it was the toughest stage I ever drove in my life."
Miller also had words regarding Sainz's retirement: "It's not good news to know that Carlos had to withdraw. He has an important place in the team."
Of note: from stage finish to stage end, the Volkswagen team saw three drivers take the rally lead on Thursday as it switched from Sainz, to Miller, to de Villiers.


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Kudos to the North Carolina Theatre's Rendition of Murder for Two, a Refreshing New Musical, Wonderfully Entertaining and Great Fun
If you were to let two incredibly talented actor/pianist/dancer/comedian/improvisers loose with the concept of a murder plot, with one a wanna-be detective and the other playing all 13 suspects, you might be lucky enough to see a show such as we saw last night. The North Carolina Theatre's production of Murder for Two in the… Read More ›
NC Theatre's Mamma Mia! Is Incredibly Entertaining … and So Much More
It's hard to believe that the 1999 jukebox musical, Mamma Mia!, based on and including many of ABBA's hit songs, is turning 20. In fact, it's the same age as young Sophie (Mary Mattison), one of the central characters on which this show, onstage now through NC Theatre at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium and directed… Read More ›
NCT's Mamma Mia! Had the Audience Dancing in the Aisles on Tuesday Night
Last night, the North Carolina Theatre's production of Mamma Mia! brought the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium audience to its feet for multiple standing ovations. In fact, it had folks dancing in the aisles at Memorial Auditorium, where it runs through Sunday, Feb. 17th. Written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the music of the popular… Read More ›
The Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons' Origin Musical, Jersey Boys, at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium Is About Love, Loss, and Loyalty
The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts and the North Carolina Theatre's joint presentation of Jersey Boys, playing now through Sunday, Nov. 18th, in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, tells the story of the rise of four young men from urban northern New Jersey, who became The Four Seasons, one of the most successful singing groups… Read More ›
NCT's Joyfully Staged In the Heights Features Soaring Vocals and Intricate Choreography
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the master of Broadway rap-battles, would probably appreciate the irony of two of his shows dueling it out in the Triangle theater arena. But luckily for those who were not fortunate enough to win the lottery for tickets to the wildly popular Hamilton, playing Nov. 6-Dec. 2 at the Durham Performing Arts Center,… Read More ›


It's hardly news to anybody that exercise is good for you; doctors, trainers and gym owners have been hip to this for a long time. I'm pretty sure there's a cave wall somewhere filled with drawings of fellow cave folk "doing things." So why is it that people young and old have a hard time getting out of their own way? Why is the rut of the sedentary everyday so much more appealing than exercise?
Maybe the answer is in the reasoning. If being fit isn't reason enough, perhaps other reasons need to be explored. Here's a few reasons to train that might surprise you if getting out there and "doing things" doesn't sound like fun.
1) A better lifestyle. What is lifestyle? It's breakfast, the pile of laundry we have to fold, the job we perform, our extra curricular activities, what we do with our family, iPad-ing, movie watching, jogging. Anything that passes as a regular day from sunup to sundown and you would call your life. For far too many, this lifestyle often excludes significant physical movement that engages our bodies in the ways it needs to be to maintain a healthy body and mind.
If you can drum up the drive and motivation to maintain a healthy lifestyle without being a part of a fitness program, then you probably have little use for this message. And great for you! It's that kind of natural enthusiasm that gives hope to those who are maybe nervous or lack the confidence to get going and make that change.
For those of you who are struggling, here's where your new lifestyle can begin: by joining a martial arts school or gym with a healthy culture and the "enhanced" lifestyle that comes along with it. You will progress with other folks who share similar interests and values, excitement for eating healthy. You will receive enthusiasm and encouragement to keep up the positive changes in your life which come with membership. It's never a cakewalk (poor choice of words…), so the support system when things aren't going so good is just as important. In short, the other members WANT you to succeed. That's a pretty good reason!
2) Your new best friend could be right around the corner. For real. It's been an amazing 20 years of being involved in martial arts & fitness for me, and the aspect of it that I'm always grateful for is the deep and genuine friendships that I've cultivated through training.
I'm not sure if it's the sweating, growing, or overcoming obstacles together that makes the friendships so sincere and long lasting, but the togetherness seems to be just as important to me now as the training is. It almost circles back to lifestyle; the people you meet end up enhancing your life for the better. It might be corny, but man, I gotta tell you, it's true!
3) You will learn something new everyday. I can only speak for myself here but I'm sure some of you can agree; that feeling like things will never change, never get better or being stuck in a rut is not a great feeling… at all.
Early on I was told by my father and one of my best friend's dad, that learning something new everyday was the best way to keep boredom away. It's the kind of advice that makes you roll your eyes when you're 7 years old, but you start to appreciate in adulthood. With the martial arts, the physical and mental training, the decision to learn is being made every time you step onto the mats. Whether it's hitting that new yoga pose, nailing a jujitsu armlock or finding out how many pushups in a row you can do, the learning never stops.
I've been a karate black belt for 12 years and have learned more about punching and kicking in that time than in all the years leading up to the black belt. Learning is awesome, feels great and is mine to cherish and appreciate. And it feels way better than the rut, let me tell you!
Folks often find dozens of reasons NOT to do something when the opposite should be tried with just as much ferocity. Find reasons TO do something new; it could be the best decision you ever make!
Jon Boone is the head instructor and owner at JitsuFit, a Jiu Jitsu, Karate and Mixed Martial Arts school in Pasadena, CA.


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Stormwater Drainage and Lake Level Project
Stormwater Drainage and Lake Level Study
Stormwater Drainage and Lake Level Study (2019-2020)
The City of Burnsville, along with project consultants AE2S, completed a Stormwater System Modeling and Analysis Study. This study helped determine areas within Burnsville's storm sewer/drainage system that may need updating and helped identify potential problem areas.
Throughout the process, the City asked for public engagement and feedback to try to understand as many significant drainage issues as possible. However, staff is unable to directly respond to all issues.
With questions, email City Engineer Jen Desrude or call 952-895-4544.
The study consisted of three phases and was completed in mid-2020, leading to the planning of a proposed improvement to be constructed in 2021.
Twin Lakes Proposed Improvements
Storm Sewer System Model
Comprehensive digital models of storm sewer systems help identify potential problem areas, and areas that are more prone to flooding. The City reviewed its previous models and made necessary updates.
High Flood Risk Review
Using the updated models, the City identified areas where flooding is likely to occur, and analyzed what risks are associated if no improvements are made to those areas. For the highest risk areas, the City will work to develop potential solutions and identify the costs for any future improvements.
Lake Level Review
Using the updated models, the City studied the drainage system (map of lake flow at right) and all lake levels from Keller Lake north to the Minnesota River. Once the review was completed, the City determined there is an improvement that the city is planning on undertaking in 2021.
Learn more about the proposed improvement.


The last few weeks have most definitely taken a turn weather-wise (and thats before I even start with our weekend in Stockholm - so cold) and for the first time I've actually had a proper "wardrobe switch" from summer to winter. I packed up my tops and tees and was left looking as a pile of grey, navy and rust. As much as I love all that, it wasn't the most inspiring set of clothing so I set about searching on ASOS for something with a little bit more "oomph." And I found this.
It's from a Korean brand called Stylenanda which is pretty new to the UK market (I think ASOS are the only ones to stock them) and having done some investigations they're a pretty big deal (2.4 million followers on Instagram). I was a bit worried that the sizing wouldn't work for me as Far Eastern brands often come up incredibly small but this is a small and fits me really well (I'm a standard size 10, with arms and thighs I wish were a tad smaller).
I'm all for adding in a bit of colour and patterns to my otherwise thrivingly-neutral (read: boring) wardrobe and have since spied a few more bits. I'm not prepared to spend a fortune on prints, with the exception of an Equipment shirt I have tracked down to a boutique in Berlin and paying an extortionate amount of money to own... It arrives this weekend. So, with double the reason to by frugal this month I've found this pink top from ASOS and this green kimono dress. I haven't bought them yet but fully intend to this weekend (pay daaaaayyyyyyyy).
The jeans, as pretty much always, are from Paige. You just can't beat them. If someone told me I'd be an advocate for a £200+ pair of denims a few years ago I'd have laughed out loud. However, having worn these beauts for a while now I can honestly say the difference is outstanding. They keep their shape, they actually fit and they're so soft they often fall through my hands when I'm putting them on... Find the majority of their collection at Selfridges here, or as a tip try hunting down a pair on sites like The Outnet here or Paige's own sale page here.
You may have noticed my hair, and thank you to all of you who commented on it over on Instagram, really meant a lot. It's not like I got my head shaved off or anything but cutting my hair really does take a couple of vodkas for me. When I was ill last year it thinned a lot, more out of stress than anything else. So it means I now have lots of new hair coming through thats an awkward 7/8 inches long. Cutting my hair shorter makes it far less noticeable as it blends in with the layers... When I got it done at Sassoon I really thought it would be a short term solution but I think I might stay like this for a while!
Whatever you're doing this week, I hope you have a good one! Nearly payday, Halloween and Bonfire Weekend, etc. Enjoy!
I love your sunnies - where are they from?


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It is to be applied daily to previous outbreak sites to help ease the cycle of recurrence.
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This dual modality approach expands and supports the action of the homeopathics thereby delivering two actions in one.
H-Balm Daily is a proprietary formula and the only one of its kind.
It is manufactured by Forces of Nature and delivers a healing effect time after time.
The naturally occurring medicines in H-Balm Daily include Thuja Occidentalis, Natrum Muriaticum, and Calendula Officinalis.
The US Homeopathic Pharmacopeia Materia Medica notes these as effective remedies for skin eruptions such as oral herpes.
They contain naturally occurring compounds such as thujone, camphene, d-sabinene, terpinen-4-ol and bornyl acetate.
The healing essential oils in H-Balm Daily are rich in terpene oxides, linalool, and phenolic compounds.
These are wonderfully soothing and cleansing.
They also help promote healthy skin.
This formula is lipophilic which absorbs deep into skin tissue, where it works on a cellular level to effectively suppress symptoms of herpes cold sores and helps sooth damaged skin.
For strong emergency care to fight an outbreak switch to high intensity formula H-Balm.


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Features News
As we entered 2022, many of us anticipated a difference from what transpired over the last two years. Whilst it has been different in many great ways, there have also been tragic events that have left the world in a state of mourning. But beyond the tragedies and celebratory moments, this year has surprised us in many ways.
As we head into 2023, let's explore some of the major events that sum up this year.
Recovering From COVID
It's been three years since the outbreak of the coronavirus, and after over 6 million deaths worldwide, this year witnessed a huge recovery phase. Whilst cases are still being recorded to this very day, the World Health Organization (WHO) declares that the end is "in sight". In fact, according to a report by The Guardian, the World Health Organization has revealed that weekly deaths from the virus around the world were at the lowest level since March 2020. According to a report by WHO, the Director-General of the World Health Organization mentioned, "We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic."
Image Credit: De an Sun (Unsplash)
We Travel Once Again
In 2021, many of us were yearning to board a plane and hear the seatbelt sign once again. Fast forward to December 2022, and we can confidently say that travel this year has been groundbreaking. With busy airports, jam-packed resorts and many tourist destinations at full capacity, travel has returned with a bang! With many countries dropping their much disliked COVID entry requirements, tourists were able to once again travel as they did before the pandemic. We just hope things stay that way!
On the 24th of February, Russia invaded Ukraine which led to a shortage of energy and food on a global level. Millions of people were seen seeking refuge in countries around the world, with many others dying. The war in Ukraine was described by NY Times as the biggest military mobilisation in Europe since World War II as they compare it to scenes from the Cold War. The UK and US have responded with sanctions but they will not be sending any more troops to Ukraine for obvious reasons.
The Shock of Heatwaves
The country was shocked as temperatures reached a whopping 40.3C this summer in the UK. Recorded as the warmest year on record for the UK, the Met Office issued its first-ever red warning for extreme heat in July. In fact, 2022 was recorded as the warmest year on record in the 364-year Central England temperature series from 1659. Another surprise has been that this year has been warm consistently throughout every month, except December. Now the UK population is eager to see what will happen in the summer of 2023.
Pakistan Floods Displace Millions
For almost 5 months, Pakistan experienced what can only be described as the worst floods the country has ever faced. With many villages under water, millions of children were instantly in need of lifesaving support. As the world witnessed the gravity of the floods, people came together to support the country in as many ways as possible. Homes have been damaged, schools destroyed and many have lost access to nearby drinking water solutions. With the monsoon season already producing rainfall, this year was beyond anything anyone expected.
Image Credit: Foreign Policy
Queen Elizabeth II Passes Away
The world's longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully on Thursday in her Scottish home in Balmoral. Living till the age of 96, the Queen reigned for 70 years and therefore influenced generations of people from around the world. Ruling for longer than any other monarch in British history, the Queen recently celebrated her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. Born Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21 1926, it was not so obvious that she'd soon become queen of Great Britain. There's a good reason why Queen Elizabeth II stuck around for so long. To be crowned at such a young age and uphold this position, truly represents to the world that Queen Elizabeth II did more than just modernise the monarchy and bring about stability.
Argentina Wins The World Cup
The 2022 FIFA World Cup that took place in Qatar was spectacular in many respects, none the least the celebration of Messi with his team as he grasped the one trophy he had ever won. The finals itself was one of the tensest games witnessed by the world. With plenty of extra time and Mbappe's hat trick, fans were on the edge of their seats as the finals reached the penalty shootout stage. With Messi donning the Bisht and embracing a new culture, many like him were seen immersing themselves in a culture unlike ever before.
Morocco First African Team To Play Semi-Finals
There's no leaving 2022 without remembering the Atlas Lions, who repeatedly performed outstandingly, defeating some of the best teams in the world. After a few games, the world was taken back by the successive wins of Morocco. What's more, by reaching the semi-finals, Morocco left behind the likes of teams such as Belgium, Spain and Portugal. By going this far, Morocco became the first African and Muslim team to reach the last four – an achievement which no one was ready for, not even the team themselves. This alone created a lot of noise and caught the attention of many Muslims from around the world.
Main Image Credit: Choong Deng Xiang (Unsplash)
Tags: argentina, british muslim, british muslim magazine, heatwaves, morocco, pakistan, pakistan floods, queen, queen elizabeth, Russia, travel, ukraine, world cup
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Ofgem said on Thursday that companies applying for a licence will need to demonstrate that they can adequately fund their operations for their first year, outline how they expect to comply with regulatory obligations, and show their intentions to provide a proper level of customer service.
This, Ofgem added, will help drive up standards for customers and reduce the risk of supplier failure.
Directors and major shareholders of companies applying for a licence, as well as senior managers, will also have to show they are "fit and proper" to hold a licence.
The list of failed suppliers has grown rapidly over the past six months.
Brilliant Energy, Our Power, Economy Energy, Spark Energy, Extra Energy, Future Energy, National Gas and Power, Iresa Energy, Gen4U, One Select and Usio Energy have all gone bust.
Ofgem will consult on new proposals in the summer with the aim of raising standards of existing suppliers.
This will include considering new reporting requirements for suppliers who are already active in the market and rules around how suppliers manage customer credit balances.
Mary Starks, executive director of consumers and markets at Ofgem, said: "In an ever-evolving market, Ofgem's objective is to protect consumers while also ensuring they enjoy the benefits of increased competition and innovation that successful new firms entering the market bring.
"Applying new requirements on suppliers entering and operating in the market will aid us to weed out those that are under-prepared, under-resourced and unfit. This will help minimise the risk of supplier failure and help drive up standards for consumers.
Stephen Forbes, chief commercial officer and co-head of SSE Energy Services, said: "It's welcome that Ofgem is introducing tougher, new entry tests for companies and directors looking to join the energy market.
"These changes are urgently needed to protect customers from poor customer service and unsustainable pricing.
"We would like to see Ofgem go further and now introduce regular checks for suppliers already in the market, ensuring they remain fit for purpose, similar to those used by the FCA for financial institutions.


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Magazine : Spring 2021 : in review
Conservation Blind Spots
Beloved Beasts raises questions that get to the heart of the conservation movement's shortcomings.
Austin Price
Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction
W.W. Norton, 2021, 352 pages
The conservation movement has a familiar history: John Muir fights for Yosemite. Teddy Roosevelt protects millions of acres of untrammeled wilderness. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act kicks off a century of progressive environmental policy. Aldo Leopold sees a green fire extinguished. Rachel Carson takes on DDT.
Each of these moments anchors a narrative shift in environmental ethics, from seeing ourselves as conquerors of the natural world to "plain member and citizen" of it, as Leopold wrote in "The Land Ethic." Even in 1871, Charles Darwin noted in The Descent of Man that over time, human sympathy had become "more tender and widely diffused" from our fellow man to "the lower animals." This simplified history of conservation is a history of human sympathy, a centuries-long awakening to our responsibility to protect nonhuman life.
The history of wildlife conservation is a history of human sympathy — and our extension of ethics to species like the American bison. In Beloved Beasts , Nijhuis explores the successes of this movement, while also questioning its persistent faults. Photo by Mattia Panciroli.
At first glance, Michelle Nijhuis's Beloved Beasts might seem a rehash of this tired history. The book is set up chronologically, focusing on the people that mark the conservation movement's turning points: father of taxonomy Carl Linnaeus, conservationist William Temple Hornaday, bird advocate Rosalie Edge, internationalist Julian Huxley, and others.
But Nijhuis, a science journalist with an inspiring career dissecting the complexities of the human-nature relationship, digs further. Beloved Beasts is a much-needed critical history of conservation, and it reminds us that our journey to the ideal of Leopold's land ethic is anything but linear. In fits and starts, the conservation movement has fumbled with racism, with eugenics, with "blinkered views of their fellow humans," writes Nijhuis. "The story of modern species conservation is full of people who did the wrong things for the right reasons, and the right things for the wrong reasons" — people who, each generation, "revived old arguments and repeated mistakes."
Hornaday, for instance, made his mark as a taxidermist for the United States National Museum (known today as the Smithsonian). In the 1880s, he traveled to the Montana Territory to collect specimens of American bison, a species that had rapidly declined as White settlers moved west. When Hornaday met the bison, the giant ungulate had a profound effect on him. He sought to protect the beast, and stymied the bison's untimely extinction.
But, according to Nijhuis, there's a central irony in Hornaday's story that can't be ignored. Hornaday's conservation was largely motivated by racial anxieties — a misplaced distrust of bison-dependent subsistence hunters mixed with concerns that the extinction of the American bison would mark the end of a distinctly American frontier. Teddy Roosevelt shared his anxieties. "For Hornaday and his allies, the rescue of the bison had nothing to do with the people who had depended on the species," writes Nijhuis, "and a great deal to do with their own illusions about themselves."
It's comfortable to excuse Hornaday's racism, his "othering" of Indigenous people, and his self-serving symbolism as products of his time. A bit more discomforting: These instincts persist throughout conservation history.
They persist in the parks and game preserves that dispossess people from lands they've inhabited for generations. Julian Huxley, founder of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, saw African independence as a threat to the colonial project of charismatic megafauna conservation. These instincts can also persist when today's conservationists deal in absolutes, when emphasis is given to dooming metaphors like the "population bomb" — rather than the complexities of human choice and consumption — and "the tragedy of the commons," despite countless cases that prove it wrong.
A common critique of the conservation movement is that it's anti-human, often using top-down methods that pit the needs of biodiversity above those of human beings. But Nijhuis explains that "the problem isn't inattention to human needs, but inattention to human complexity." In Beloved Beasts , she prompts questions that get to the heart of the movement's blind spots: Whom does the conservation movement serve? And who carries its burdens?
With these questions, Nijhuis doesn't intend to malign the movement as a whole. Rather, she aims to emphasize its successes and contextualize its shortcomings to make conservation better work for all life. Therein lies a challenge: to recognize that humanity is as complex as the ecosystems we aim to protect — and to see that within that complexity lies our role as "plain member and citizen" of a land-community. "And for that," Nijhuis writes, "there are no panaceas."
Austin Price is an environmental journalist and a contributing editor at Earth Island Journal.