Technique.

The technique relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend the color spots into a fuller range of tones. It is related to Divisionism, a more technical variant of the method. Divisionism is concerned with color theory, whereas pointillism is more focused on the specific style of brushwork used to apply the paint. It is a technique with few serious practitioners today and is notably seen in the works of Seurat, Signac and Cross. However, see also Andy Warhol's early works and Pop Art.  From 1905 to 1907, Robert Delaunay and Jean Metzinger painted in a Divisionist style with large squares or 'cubes' of color: the size and direction of each gave a sense of rhythm to the painting, yet color varied independently of size and placement. This form of Divisionism was a significant step beyond the preoccupations of Signac and Cross. In 1906, the art critic Louis Chassevent recognized the difference and, as art historian Daniel Robbins pointed out, used the word "cube" which would later be taken up by Louis Vauxcelles to baptize Cubism. Chassevent writes:

Practice.

The practice of Pointillism is in sharp contrast to the traditional methods of blending pigments on a palette. Pointillism is analogous to the four-color CMYK printing process used by some color printers and large presses that place dots of cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). Televisions and computer monitors use a similar technique to represent image colors using Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) colors.  If red, blue, and green light (the additive primaries) are mixed, the result is something close to white light (see Prism (optics)). Painting is inherently subtractive, but Pointillist colors often seem brighter than typical mixed subtractive colors. This may be partly because subtractive mixing of the pigments is avoided, and because some of the white canvas may be showing between the applied dots.  The painting technique used for Pointillist color mixing is at the expense of the traditional brushwork used to delineate texture.  The majority of Pointillism is done in oil paint. Anything may be used in its place, but oils are preferred for their thickness and tendency not to run or bleed.

Common uses of Pointillism.

Pointillé is commonly used for intricate binding of hand-made book covers in the seventeenth century, the decoration of metallic arms and armor, and for the decoration of hand-finished firearms.

Music.

Pointillism also refers to a style of 20th-century music composition. Different musical notes are made in seclusion, rather than in a linear sequence, giving a sound texture similar to the painting version of Pointillism. This type of music is also known as punctualism or klangfarbenmelodie.

Pointillism () is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.


Biography.

Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. He followed a course of training in architecture before, at the age of 18, deciding to pursue a career as a painter, after attending an exhibit of Monet's work. He sailed on the Mediterranean Sea, visiting the coasts of Europe and painting the landscapes he encountered. In later years, he also painted a series of watercolors of French harbor cities.  In 1884 he met Claude Monet and Georges Seurat. He was struck by the systematic working methods of Seurat and by his theory of colors and he became Seurat's faithful supporter, friend, and heir with his description of Neo-Impressionism and Divisionism method. Under Seurat's influence he abandoned the short brushstrokes of Impressionism to experiment with scientifically-juxtaposed small dots of pure color, intended to combine and blend not on the canvas, but in the viewer's eye, the defining feature of Pointillism.  Many of Signac's paintings are of the French coast. He loved to paint the water. He left the capital each summer, to stay in the south of France in the village of Collioure or at St. Tropez, where he bought a house and invited his friends.  Paul Signac, Albert Dubois-Pillet, Odilon Redon, and Georges Seurat were among the founders of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. The association began in Paris 29 July 1884 with the organization of massive exhibitions, embracing as their motto, "Neither jury nor awards" ("Sans jury ni récompense"). "The purpose of Société des Artistes Indépendants—based on the principle of abolishing admission jury—is to allow the artists to present their works to public judgement with complete freedom". For the following three decades their annual exhibitions flourished and set the trends in art of the early twentieth century.  In 1886 Signac met Vincent van Gogh in Paris. During 1887 the two artists regularly went to Asnières-sur-Seine together, where they painted such subjects as river landscapes and cafés. Initially, van Gogh chiefly admired Signac's loose painting technique. In March 1889, Signac visited van Gogh at Arles. The next year he made a short trip to Italy, seeing Genoa, Florence, and Naples.  In 1888, Signac discovered anarchist ideas by reading Elisee Reclus, Kropotkin, and Jean Grave, who all developed the ideas of anarchist communism. With his friends Angrand Cross, Maximilien Luce, and Camille Pissarro he contributed to Jean Grave's paper, "Les Temps Nouveaux" (New Times). Signac loved sailing and began to travel in 1892, sailing a small boat to almost all the ports of France, to the Netherlands, and on the Mediterranean Sea as far as Constantinople, basing his boat at St. Tropez, which he later would make popular to other artists. From his various ports of call, Signac brought back vibrant, colorful watercolors, sketched rapidly from nature. From these sketches, he painted large studio canvases that are carefully composed of small, mosaic-like squares of color quite different from the tiny, variegated dots introduced and used by Seurat. Signac experimented with various media. As well as oil paintings and watercolors he made etchings, lithographs, and many pen-and-ink sketches composed of small, laborious dots.  The Neo-Impressionists influenced the next generation: Signac inspired Henri Matisse and André Derain in particular, thus playing a decisive role in the evolution of Fauvism.  Having prospered well, his financial support of the arts was considerable. As donations, he sent regular cheques and made a gift of his works for five lotteries between 1895 and 1912. Signac's 1893 painting, "In the Time of Harmony" originally was entitled, "In the Time of Anarchy", but political repression targeting the anarchists in France at this time forced him to change the title before the work could be accepted by a gallery. At the 1905 Salon des Indépendants, Henri Matisse exhibited the proto-Fauve painting "Luxe, Calme et Volupté". The brightly colored composition was painted in 1904 after a summer spent working in St. Tropez on the French Riviera alongside the neo-Impressionist painters Henri-Edmond Cross and Paul Signac. The painting is Matisse's most important work in which he used the Divisionist technique advocated by Signac, which Matisse had adopted in 1898 after reading Signac's essay, "d'Eugène Delacroix au Néo-Impressionnisme". Signac purchased the work after the 1905 Salon des Indépendants. In 1908 Signac was elected president of the Twenty-fourth Salon des Indépendants.  As president of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, from 1908 until his death, Signac encouraged younger artists by exhibiting the controversial works of the Fauves and the Cubists. He was the first patron to buy a painting by Matisse.  Signac served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal in awarding the "Prix Blumenthal", a grant given between 1919 and 1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.

Personal life.

On 7 November 1892, Signac married Berthe Roblès at the town hall of the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The witnesses at the wedding were Alexandre Lemonier, Maximilien Luce, Camille Pissarro, and Georges Lecomte.  In November 1897, the Signacs moved to a new apartment in the "Castel Béranger", which was built by Hector Guimard. A little later, in December of the same year, they acquired a house in Saint-Tropez named, "La Hune", where the painter had a vast studio constructed that he inaugurated on 16 August 1898.  In September 1913, Signac rented a house at Antibes, where he took up residence with Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange. She gave birth to their daughter, Ginette, on 2 October 1913. Meanwhile, Signac left "La Hune" and the "Castel Beranger" apartment to Berthe and they remained friends for the rest of his life. On 6 April 1927, Signac formally adopted Ginette. His granddaughter, Françoise Cachin, was an art historian.  Paul Signac died from sepsis in Paris on 15 August 1935 at the age of 71. His body was cremated and was interred three days later, on 18 August, at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.  Some of Paul Signac's his well-known paintings are: "In the Time of Harmony", "Femmes au puits", "Port St. Tropez", "The Papal Palace", and "The Demolisher".  In 2010, a previously unknown painting by Signac was discovered at a hotel that was preparing an exhibition of its many paintings. The in Volendam possesses approximately 1,400 works of art. Apparently, Signac used this painting to pay for his stay there in 1894. Valued now at €100,000, the untitled harbour scene "used to hang off a rusty nail in the lobby".

Author.

Signac wrote several important works on the theory of art, among them, "From Eugène Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism", published in 1899. It is a monograph devoted to Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819–1891), and was published in 1927. He also authored several introductions to the catalogues of art exhibitions and many other writings yet to be published.  Politically, he was an anarchist, as were many of his friends, including Félix Fénéon and Camille Pissarro.

Paul Victor Jules Signac (,, ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style.


Life.

Jobst was presumably born in 1354 in the Moravian residence of Brno, the eldest son of Margrave John Henry, younger brother of Emperor Charles IV, first cousin of King Charles V of France and cousin-in-law of both King Richard II of England and King Louis I of Hungary.  Designated heir upon his father's death in 1375, he ruled the Margraviate of Moravia, often quarreling with his younger brother Prokop and the Bishops of Olomouc. In 1388 Jobst received the Duchy of Luxembourg, given in pawn by his cousin King Wenceslaus, son of late Emperor Charles IV. The same year, Jobst also became Prince-elector of Brandenburg, pawned by Wenceslaus' younger brother Sigismund, who focused on his rule over the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1394 Jobst joined a rebellion of Bohemian nobles around Boček II of Poděbrady against Wenceslaus, whom he had arrested at Prague Castle and later taken into custody by the Austrian Starhemberg dynasty at Wildberg. Peace was made at the instigation of Wenceslaus' brothers Sigismund and John of Görlitz; however, once released, the king had Jobst expelled from Prague. Sigismund and Jobst signed a mutual inheritance treaty in 1401, but later again fell out with each other.  After the death of King Rupert of Germany in 1410, Jobst was elected successor by four of the seven prince-electors on 1 October, opposing his cousin Sigismund who had already been elected by three electors on 10 September. The deciding vote came from his cousin Wenceslaus in his capacity as King of Bohemia, however, though Jobst had the greater support among the electors he died on 18 January 1411–possibly poisoned–, clearing the way for Sigismund's election as King of the Romans and his later coronation as Holy Roman Emperor.

Marriage and issue.

Jobst married twice, without issue:

Titles.

King of the Romans, Margrave of Moravia, Lusatia and Brandenburg, Elector of Brandenburg, Duke of Luxembourg,Vicarius of Italy, Vicarius of the Holy Roman Empire.

Jobst of Moravia ( or "Jošt Lucemburský"; or "Jodokus von Mähren"; c. 1354 – 18 January 1411), a member of the House of Luxembourg, was Margrave of Moravia from 1375, Duke of Luxembourg and Elector of Brandenburg from 1388 as well as elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1410 until his death. Jobst was an ambitious and versatile ruler, who in the early 15th century dominated the ongoing struggles within the Luxembourg dynasty and around the German throne.


Family.

She was the daughter of the Ramnulfid duke William V of Aquitaine (d. 1030) and Agnes of Burgundy. She thereby was the sister of Duke William VI of Aquitaine, Duke Odo of Gascony, Duke William VII, and Duke William VIII of Aquitaine. Her maternal grandparents were Count Otto-William of Burgundy and Ermentrude of Rheims, daughter of Renaud of Roucy.

Marriage and children.

Agnes married King Henry III of Germany in November 1043 at the Imperial Palace Ingelheim. She was his second wife after Gunhilda of Denmark, who had died, possibly from malaria, in 1038. This marriage helped to solidify the Empire's relationships with the princely houses in the west. King Henry was able to improve his position versus the French royal dynasty and to exert his influence in the Duchy of Burgundy. Agnes, like her husband, was of profound piety, her family had founded Cluny Abbey and Abbot Hugh the Great was godfather of her son Henry IV.  Their children were:

Role as regent.

After her husband's death on 5 October 1056, Agnes served as regent on behalf of her young son, Henry IV. Henry III had secured the election of his son as King of the Romans on his deathbed. Agnes, aided by Hugh of Cluny and Pope Victor II, also Bishop of Eichstätt, tried to continue her husband's politics and to reinforce the rule of the Salian dynasty. However, despite being related to kings of Italy and Burgundy, she was a controversial leader.  In order to forge alliances, she would give away three German duchies: already on Christmas 1056, the Ezzonid scion Conrad III, a nephew of Count palatine Ezzo of Lotharingia, received the princeless Duchy of Carinthia.  The next year she enfeoffed Rudolf of Rheinfelden with Swabia, appointed him administrator of Burgundy and offered him the hand of her daughter Matilda. According to the medieval chronicler Frutolf of Michelsberg, Rudolf had possibly abducted her and extorted the betrothment. However, the late Henry III had promised the Swabian duchy to Berthold of Zähringen, who in turn had to be compensated with Carinthia upon Conrad's death in 1061.  At the same time, while German forces interfered in the fratricidal struggle of King Andrew I and Béla I of Hungary, Agnes ceded the Duchy of Bavaria to Count Otto of Nordheim. He reached a settlement with Hungary by enforcing the coronation of Andrew's son Solomon but later became a bitter rival of her son Henry IV.  Though initially a follower of the Cluniac Reforms, Agnes opposed the contemporary papal reform movement, and took the side of Italian dissidents who did as well. Things had worsened after the death of Pope Victor II in 1057: his successor Stephen IX, who was unable to take actual possession of Rome due to the Roman aristocracy's election of an antipope, Benedict X, sent Hildebrand of Sovana and Anselm of Lucca (respectively, the future Popes Gregory VII and Alexander II) to Germany to obtain recognition from dowager empress Agnes in her role as regent.  Though Stephen died before being able to return to Rome, Agnes' help was instrumental in letting Hildebrand depose the Antipope and with Agnes' support replace him by the Bishop of Florence, Nicholas II. However, on Easter 1059 Nicholas issued the papal bull "In nomine Domini" establishing the cardinals as the sole electors of the pope, detrimental to the interests of the emperor and the temporal empire.  When Pope Alexander II was elected on 30 September 1061, Agnes refused to acknowledge him and had Antipope Honorius II elected; a schism that did not end until Pentecost 1064. The empress' candidate could not prevail against the Roman Curia; in consequence, Agnes retired from politics, leaving the regency to her confidant Bishop Henry II of Augsburg.  Bishop Henry did not receive wide acceptance due to his awkward and haughty manners, not least with a view to rumours about his relationship with the Empress as rendered by the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld. Moreover, the fact that the heir to the throne was raised by common "ministeriales" led to anger with the princes. In 1062, young Henry IV was abducted by a group of men, including Archbishop Anno II of Cologne and Otto of Nordheim, in a conspiracy to remove Agnes from the throne, referred to as the Coup of Kaiserswerth. Henry was brought to Cologne, and despite jumping overboard from a board to escape, he was recaptured. Agnes resigned as regent, as ransom, and Anno together with the archbishops Siegfried of Mainz and Adalbert of Bremen took her place. According to Frutolf of Michelsberg she retired to Fruttuaria Abbey after the dethroning. When Henry IV reached the age of majority, Agnes moved to Rome where her arrival in 1065 is documented by Peter Damian. Agnes went on to act as a mediator and peacemaker between her son and the papacy. She died in Rome on 14 December 1077 and is buried at St. Peter's Basilica.

Legacy.

Agnes is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece "The Dinner Party", being represented as one of the 999 names on the "Heritage Floor."

Agnes of Poitou, also called Agnes of Aquitaine or Empress Agnes ( – 14 December 1077), a member of the House of Poitiers, was German queen from 1043 and Holy Roman Empress from 1046 until 1056. From 1056 to 1061 she acted as Regent of the Holy Roman Empire during the minority of her son Henry IV.


Uses.

Damiana is an ingredient in a traditional Mexican liqueur, which is sometimes used in lieu of triple sec in margaritas. Mexican folklore claims that it was used in the "original" margarita. The damiana margarita is popular in the Los Cabos region of Mexico.  Damiana was included in several 19th-century patent medicines, such as Pemberton's French Wine Coca. The leaves were omitted from that product's non-alcoholic counterpart, Coca-Cola.

Phytochemistry.

Damiana contains damianin; tetraphyllin B; gonzalitosin I; arbutin; tricosan-2-one; acacetin; p-cymene; β-sitosterol; 1,8-cineole; apigenin; α-pinene; β-carotene; β-pinene; tannins; thymol; and hexacosanol. In total, 22 flavonoids, maltol glucoside, phenolics, seven cyanogenic glycosides, monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, triterpenoids, the polyterpene ficaprenol-11, fatty acids, and caffeine have been found in the genus "Turnera".  As of 2006, damiana's constituents have not been identified for their effects attributed to the whole herb. Damiana's anxiolytic properties might be due to apigenin.  The extract from damiana has been found to suppress aromatase activity, including the isolated compounds pinocembrin and acacetin.

Ecology.

"T. diffusa" is a host plant for the Mexican Fritillary ("Euptoieta hegesia").

Misidentification in commerce.

Viable plant and seed material sold as "T. diffusa" from both private and commercial sources largely turns out to be misidentified "Turnera ulmifolia" (a.k.a. "False Damiana"), a closely related species. This widespread issue has been noted by the scientific community, and has created much confusion among both amateur and professional horticulturists alike. While "T. ulmifolia" is similar in appearance, its chemical constituents and ethnobotanical uses are distinctly different. Mature stems of "T. diffusa" are woody, with small, grayed green leaves 13 to 16 mm long, 4.5 to 5.5 mm wide, obtuse at the apex, and strongly aromatic when crushed. "T. ulmifolia" is differentiated by herbaceous stems, larger blue-green leaves that are strongly dentate with a pointed apex, and only weakly aromatic.  One scientific study however, demonstrated this confusion being mostly associated with horticultural commerce, and does not extend appreciably to commercial herbal products, most of which exhibit constituents that can be definitively traced to "T. diffusa".

Turnera diffusa, known as damiana, is a shrub native to southern Texas in the United States, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean. It belongs to the family Passifloraceae.


Ore smelting.

In nature, iron, copper, lead, nickel and other metals are found in impure states called ores, often oxidized and mixed in with silicates of other metals. During smelting, when the ore is exposed to high temperatures, these impurities are separated from the molten metal and can be removed. Slag is the collection of compounds that are removed. In many smelting processes, oxides are introduced to control the slag chemistry, assisting in the removal of impurities and protecting the furnace refractory lining from excessive wear. In this case, the slag is termed "synthetic". A good example is steelmaking slag: quicklime and magnesite are introduced for refractory protection, neutralising the alumina and silica separated from the metal, and assist in the removal of sulfur and phosphorus from the steel. Ferrous and non-ferrous smelting processes produce different slags. The smelting of copper, lead and bauxite in non-ferrous smelting, for instance, is designed to remove the iron and silica that often occurs with those ores, and separates them as iron-silicate-based slags. Slag from steel mills in ferrous smelting, on the other hand, is designed to minimize iron loss and so mainly contains oxides of calcium, silicon, magnesium, and aluminium. Any sandy component or quartz component of the original ore automatically carries through the smelting process as silicon dioxide.  As the slag is channeled out of the furnace, water is poured over it. This rapid cooling, often from a temperature of around, is the start of the granulating process. This process causes several chemical reactions to take place within the slag, and gives the material its cementitious properties.  The water carries the slag in its slurry format to a large agitation tank, from where it is pumped along a piping system into a number of gravel based filter beds. The filter beds then retain the slag granules, while the water drains away and is returned to the system.  When the filtering process is complete, the remaining slag granules, which now give the appearance of coarse beach sand, can be scooped out of the filter bed and transferred to the grinding facility where they are ground into particles that are finer than Portland cement.

Ancient uses.

During the Bronze Age of the Mediterranean there were a vast number of differential metallurgical processes in use. A slag by-product of such workings was a colorful, glassy, vitreous material found on the surfaces of slag from ancient copper foundries. It was primarily blue or green and was formerly chipped away and melted down to make glassware products and jewelry. It was also ground into powder to add to glazes for use in ceramics. Some of the earliest such uses for the by-products of slag have been found in ancient Egypt.  Historically, the re-smelting of iron ore slag was common practice, as improved smelting techniques permitted greater iron yields—in some cases exceeding that which was originally achieved. During the early 20th century, iron ore slag was also ground to a powder and used to make agate glass, also known as slag glass.

Modern uses.

Ground granulated slag is often used in concrete in combination with Portland cement as part of a blended cement. Ground granulated slag reacts with a calcium byproduct created during the reaction of Portland cement to produce cementitious properties. Concrete containing ground granulated slag develops strength over a longer period, leading to reduced permeability and better durability. Since the unit volume of Portland cement is reduced, this concrete is less vulnerable to alkali-silica and sulfate attack.  This previously unwanted recycled product is used in the manufacture of high-performance concretes, especially those used in the construction of bridges and coastal features, where its low permeability and greater resistance to chlorides and sulfates can help to reduce corrosive action and deterioration of the structure. The slag can also be used to create fibers used as an insulation material called "slag wool".

Basic slag.

Basic slag is a co-product of steelmaking, and is typically produced either through the blast furnace - oxygen converter route or the electric arc furnace - ladle furnace route. To flux the silica produced during steelmaking, limestone and/or dolomite are added, as well as other types of slag conditioners such as calcium aluminate or fluorspar. The major components of these slags therefore include the oxides of calcium, magnesium, silicon, iron, and aluminum, with lesser amounts of manganese, phosphorus, and others depending on the specifics of the raw materials used.  Because of the slowly released phosphate content in phosphorus-containing slag, and because of its liming effect, it is valued as fertilizer in gardens and farms in steel making areas. However, the most important application is construction.

Slag is the glass-like by-product left over after a desired metal has been separated (i.e., smelted) from its raw ore. Slag is usually a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and elemental metals. While slags are generally used to remove waste in metal smelting, they can also serve other purposes, such as assisting in the temperature control of the smelting, and minimizing any re-oxidation of the final liquid metal product before the molten metal is removed from the furnace and used to make solid metal. In some smelting processes, such as ilmenite smelting to produce titanium dioxide, the slag is the valuable product instead of the metal.


Early life and education.

Barnier was born at La Tronche in the French Alps, into a Gaullist family in 1951. His father was a leather and textiles craftsman. In his youth, Barnier was a scout and choirboy. Barnier graduated from the ESCP business school in 1972.

Political career.

National politics.

Barnier served on the staff of various Gaullist ministers in the 1970s, before being elected in 1978, aged 27, to the French National Assembly as deputy for the Department of Savoie representing the neo-Gaullists, Rally for the Republic (RPR), serving until 1993.  Together with Jean-Claude Killy he organised the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville as co-president of the COJO ("Comité d'Organisation des Jeux Olympiques").  Barnier first joined the French Cabinet as Minister of the Environment following the Right's landslide victory in the 1993 legislative election. In 1995, Jacques Chirac appointed him secretary of state for European affairs, serving as such until the defeat of the presidential majority in the 1997 legislative election. Barnier then served as a European Commissioner for Regional Policy in the Prodi Commission from 1999 until 31 March 2004. Then he served as Foreign Minister of France in Jean-Pierre Raffarin's government until 5 June 2005 when Dominique de Villepin replaced him with Philippe Douste-Blazy. He considered he was unjustly sanctioned for the victory of the "No" in the French referendum over the European Constitution.  In March 2006, Barnier was elected vice president of the European People's Party (EPP) for a three-year term. Under Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency, upon the reshuffle of the French cabinet, caused by the resignation of Alain Juppé after the 2007 French legislative election, he re-joined the French Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture.  In 2016, the French investigating judge Sabine Kheris requested that the case of Michel Barnier, Dominique de Villepin and Michèle Alliot-Marie be referred to the Court of Justice of the Republic. These former ministers were suspected of having allowed the exfiltration of the mercenaries responsible for the attack on the Bouaké camp in 2004, killing nine French soldiers. The operation was allegedly intended to justify a response operation against the Laurent Gbagbo government in the context of the 2004 crisis in Ivory Coast.

European politics.

Barnier worked in 2006 as a special adviser to José Manuel Barroso, the then President of the European Commission, and presented a report to the Council of Ministers proposing the creation of a European civil-protection force. In 2006–2007, he served as member of the Amato Group, a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as the Treaty of Lisbon following its rejection by French and Dutch voters.  Barnier led the UMP list in Ile-de-France for the 2009 European Parliament election. In February 2010 he was confirmed as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. In charge of European banking system reform, he argued for a "coherent single market with intelligent rules that apply everywhere".  He was twice appointed Acting Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship in Antonio Tajani's stead, from 19 April 2014 to 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the 2014 elections to the European Parliament and from 1 July 2014 to 16 July 2014 after he took up his seat.  As European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Barnier handled many important issues, such as the reform of the financial sector (40 pieces of legislation between 2010 and 2014), the banking union (starting with the Single Supervisory Mechanism) and the digital single market.  From 2015, Barnier served as unpaid special adviser on European defence policy to President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

Brexit negotiator.

On 27 July 2016, he was announced as the European Commission's chief negotiator with the United Kingdom over leaving the European Union, under of the Treaty on European Union. Commenting on the appointment, Juncker said: "I wanted an experienced politician for this difficult job."  For the 2020 Trade deal negotiation between the UK and EU, Barnier is the main negotiator, who received his negotiating mandate from the European Council on 25 February 2020.

Timeline.

European Commission  European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services 2010–2014  European Commissioner for Regional Policy 1999–2004  French Government  Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries 2007–2009  Minister of Foreign Affairs 2004–2005  Minister of European Affairs 1995–1997  Minister of the Environment 1993–1995  Electoral mandates  European Parliament  Member of European Parliament 2009–2010 (resignation)  National Assembly of France  Member of the National Assembly of France for Savoie 1978–1993 (became minister in 1993). Elected in 1978, reelected in 1981, 1986, 1988, 1993.  Senate of France  Senator of Savoie. Elected in 1995, but remains minister 1997–1999 (resignation; became European commissioner in 1999).  General Council  President of the General Council of Savoie 1982–1999 (resignation; became European commissioner in 1999). Reelected in 1985, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998.  General councillor of Savoie 1973–1999 (resignation, became European commissioner in 1999). Reelected in 1979, 1985, 1992, 1998.

Michel Bernard Barnier (born 9 January 1951) is a French politician serving as the European Commission's Head of Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom (UK Task Force/UKTF) since November 2019. He previously served as Chief Negotiator - Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU (Task Force 50/TF50) from October 2016 to November 2019.


Design and development.

The first, the Super Guppy, or "SG", was built directly from the fuselage of a C-97J Turbo Stratocruiser, the military version of the 1950s Boeing 377 Stratocruiser passenger plane. The fuselage was lengthened to, and ballooned out to a maximum inside diameter of, the length of the cargo compartment being. The floor of the cargo compartment was still only wide, as necessitated by the use of the Stratocruiser fuselage. In addition to the fuselage modifications, the Super Guppy used Pratt & Whitney T-34-P-7WA turboprop engines for increased power and range, and modified wing and tail surfaces. It could carry a load of and cruise at. The second version was officially known as the Super Guppy Turbine (SGT), although it used turboprop engines like the first Super Guppy. This variant used Allison 501-D22C turboprops. Unlike the previous Guppy, the main portion of its fuselage was constructed from scratch. By building from scratch, Aero Spacelines was able to widen the floor of the cargo compartment to. The overall cargo-compartment length was increased to, and the improved fuselage and engines allowed for a maximum load of. These design improvements, combined with a pressurized crew cabin that allowed for higher-altitude cruising, allowed the SGT to transport more cargo than its predecessors. The SGT retained only the cockpit, wings, tail, and main landing gear of the 377. The nose gear was taken from a Boeing 707 and rotated 180 degrees. This dropped the front of the aircraft slightly, leveling the cargo-bay floor and simplifying loading operations.  In the early 1970s, the two Super Guppy Turbines were used by Airbus to transport aeroplane parts from decentralised production facilities to the final assembly plant in Toulouse. In 1982 and 1983, two additional Super Guppy Turbines were built by Union de Transports Aériens Industries in France after Airbus bought the right to produce the aircraft. The four Super Guppies have since been replaced by the Airbus Beluga, capable of carrying twice as much cargo by weight.

Aircraft.

All Super Guppies remain either in service or on display.

The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft that is used for hauling outsize cargo components. It was the successor to the Pregnant Guppy, the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines. Five were built in two variants, both of which were colloquially referred to as the "Super Guppy".


Life.

Albinus was born in Hadrumetum, Africa Province (Sousse, Tunisia) to an aristocratic Roman family of the Ceionia gens. His father, Ceionius, said his son received the name of Albinus because of the extraordinary whiteness of his complexion. Showing a disposition for military life, he entered the army when very young and served with distinction, especially in 175 during the rebellion of Avidius Cassius against Emperor Marcus Aurelius. His merit was acknowledged by the Emperor in two letters in which he calls Albinus an African, who resembled his countrymen but little, and who was praiseworthy for his military experience and the gravity of his character. The Emperor likewise declared that without Albinus the legions (in Bithynia) would have gone over to Avidius Cassius, and that he intended to have him chosen consul.  The Emperor Commodus gave Albinus a command in Gallia Belgica and afterwards in Britain. A false rumor having been spread that Commodus had died, Albinus denounced the man before his soldiers in Britain, calling Commodus a tyrant, and maintaining that it would be useful to the Roman Empire to restore to the senate its ancient dignity and power. The Senate was very pleased with these sentiments, but not so the Emperor, who sent Junius Severus to relieve Albinus of his command. Despite this, Albinus kept his command until after the murders of Commodus and his successor Pertinax in 193.

Septimius Severus and Albinus.

After Pertinax was assassinated, the praetorian prefect Aemilius Laetus and his men, who had arranged the murder, "sold" the imperial throne to wealthy senator Didius Julianus, effectively crowning him emperor, but a string of mutinies by the troops in the provinces and the sudden assassination of Julianus meant the next Emperor was far from decided. Immediately afterwards, Pescennius Niger was proclaimed Emperor by the legions in Syria; Septimius Severus by the troops in Illyricum and Pannonia; and Albinus by the armies in Britain and Gaul.  In the civil war that followed, Albinus was initially allied with Septimius Severus, who had captured Rome. Albinus added the name Septimius to his own, and accepted the title of Caesar from him; the two shared a consulship in 194. Albinus remained effective ruler of much of the western part of the Empire, with support from three British legions and one Spanish. When Didius Julianus was put to death by order of the Senate, who dreaded the power of Septimius Severus, the latter turned his arms against Pescennius Niger. After the defeat and death of Niger in 194, and the complete discomfiture of his adherents, especially after the fall of Byzantium in 196, Severus resolved to make himself the absolute master of the Roman Empire. Albinus, seeing the danger of his position, prepared for resistance. He narrowly escaped being assassinated by a messenger of Severus, after which he put himself at the head of his army, which is said to have consisted of 150,000 men.

Albinus declares himself emperor.

In autumn 196, Albinus received word that Severus had appointed his elder son Caracalla as his successor with the title of Caesar and convinced the Senate to declare Albinus himself an official enemy of Rome. Now with nothing to lose, Albinus mobilized his legions in Britannia, proclaimed himself Emperor ("Imperator Caesar Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Augustus") and crossed from Britain to Gaul, bringing a large part of the British garrison with him. He defeated Severus' legate Virius Lupus, and was able to lay claim to the military resources of Gaul, but although he made Lugdunum the headquarters of his forces, he was unable to win the allegiance of the Rhine legions.  On 19 February 197 Albinus met Severus' army at the Battle of Lugdunum. After a hard-fought battle, with 150,000 troops on each side according to Dio Cassius, Albinus was defeated and killed himself, or was captured and executed on the orders of Severus. Severus had his naked body laid out on the ground before him, so that he could ride his horse over it, in a final act of humiliation. Albinus' wife and sons were initially pardoned by Severus, he appeared to change his mind almost immediately afterwards, for as the dead Albinus was beheaded, so were they. Albinus' headless body was thrown into the Rhône, together with the corpses of his murdered family. Severus sent his head to Rome as a warning to his supporters; with it he sent an insolent letter, in which he mocked the senate for their loyalty to Albinus. The town of Lugdunum was plundered, and the adherents of Albinus were cruelly persecuted by Severus.  He had one son, or perhaps two, who were executed with their mother by order of Severus. It is said that he wrote a treatise on agriculture and a collection of Milesian tales.

Clodius Albinus ("Decimus Clodius Ceionius Septimius Albinus Augustus"; c. 150 – 19 February 197) was a Roman general, senator and usurper who claimed the imperial title several times between 193 and 197. He was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) after the murder of Pertinax in 193 (known as the "Year of the Five Emperors"), and who proclaimed himself emperor again in 196, before his final defeat the following year.


Function.

All organisms studied contain many RNases of two different classes, showing that RNA degradation is a very ancient and important process. As well as cleaning of cellular RNA that is no longer required, RNases play key roles in the maturation of all RNA molecules, both messenger RNAs that carry genetic material for making proteins, and non-coding RNAs that function in varied cellular processes. In addition, active RNA degradation systems are a first defense against RNA viruses, and provide the underlying machinery for more advanced cellular immune strategies such as RNAi.  Some cells also secrete copious quantities of non-specific RNases such as A and T1. RNases are, therefore, extremely common, resulting in very short lifespans for any RNA that is not in a protected environment. It is worth noting that all intracellular RNAs are protected from RNase activity by a number of strategies including 5' end capping, 3' end polyadenylation, and folding within an RNA protein complex (ribonucleoprotein particle or RNP).  Another mechanism of protection is ribonuclease inhibitor (RI), which comprises a relatively large fraction of cellular protein (~0.1%) in some cell types, and which binds to certain ribonucleases with the highest affinity of any protein-protein interaction; the dissociation constant for the RI-RNase A complex is ~20 fM under physiological conditions. RI is used in most laboratories that study RNA to protect their samples against degradation from environmental RNases.  Similar to restriction enzymes, which cleave highly specific sequences of double-stranded DNA, a variety of endoribonucleases that recognize and cleave specific sequences of single-stranded RNA have been recently classified.  RNases play a critical role in many biological processes, including angiogenesis and self-incompatibility in flowering plants (angiosperms). Many stress-response toxins of prokaryotic toxin-antitoxin systems have been shown to have RNase activity and homology.

RNase specificity.

The active site looks like a rift valley where all the active site residues create the wall and bottom of the valley. the rift is very thin and the small substrate fits perfectly in the middle of the active site, which allows for perfect interaction with the residues. It actually has a little curvature to the site which the substrate also has. Although, usually most of exo- and endoribonucleases are not sequenced specific, recently CRISPR/Cas system natively recognizing and cutting DNA was engineered to cleave ssRNA in a sequence-specific manner.

RNase contamination during RNA extraction.

The extraction of RNA in molecular biology experiments is greatly complicated by the presence of ubiquitous and hardy ribonucleases that degrade RNA samples. Certain RNases can be extremely hardy and inactivating them is difficult compared to neutralizing DNases. In addition to the cellular RNases that are released, there are several RNases that are present in the environment. RNases have evolved to have many extracellular functions in various organisms. For example, RNase 7, a member of the RNase A superfamily, is secreted by human skin and serves as a potent antipathogen defence. In these secreted RNases, the enzymatic RNase activity may not even be necessary for its new, exapted function. For example, immune RNases act by destabilizing the cell membranes of bacteria.

Ribonuclease (commonly abbreviated RNase) is a type of nuclease that catalyzes the degradation of RNA into smaller components. Ribonucleases can be divided into endoribonucleases and exoribonucleases, and comprise several sub-classes within the EC 2.7 (for the phosphorolytic enzymes) and 3.1 (for the hydrolytic enzymes) classes of enzymes.


Early life.

Emil Hácha was born on 12 July 1872 in the South Bohemian town of Trhové Sviny.

Judicial career.

He graduated from a secondary school in Budweis and then applied for the law faculty at the University of Prague. After finishing his studies in 1896 (JUDr.) he worked for the Country Committee of the Kingdom of Bohemia in Prague (a self-government body with quite limited power). Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, he became a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court in Vienna (the court was responsible for Cisleithania). He met there.  After the Treaty of Versailles, Pantůček became President of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Republic of Czechoslovakia in Prague, and Hácha became a judge (1918) and Deputy President (1919) of the court.  After Pantůček's death in 1925 he was chosen by T. G. Masaryk as his successor, becoming first President of the Supreme Administration Court.  He became one of the most notable lawyers in Czechoslovakia, a specialist in English common law and international law. He was also a translator of English literature (most notably "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome), collector of art and a poet. His book "Omyly a přeludy" ("Errors and Delusions") was published in 1939 anonymously, then later under his own name in 2001. He also became a member of the Legislative Council.

President of Czechoslovakia.

Second Czechoslovak Republic.

Following the Munich Agreement, Hácha was nominated as successor to Edvard Beneš on 30 November 1938 as President of Czechoslovakia. He was nominated because of his Catholicism, conservatism and lack of involvement in any of the governments that had led to the partition of the country.  The short era of his presidency before the German occupation is known as the Second Czechoslovak Republic and was marked by the shift from democracy to authoritarian state with the Enabling act giving previously unusual powers to the president and government and restricting the powers of the parliament.  After the secession of Slovakia and Ruthenia, British Ambassador to Czechoslovakia Basil Newton advised President Hácha to meet with Hitler. When Hácha first arrived in Berlin, he first met with the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop prior to meeting with Hitler. Von Ribbentrop testified at the Nuremberg trials that during this meeting Hácha had told him that "he wanted to place the fate of the Czech State in the Führer's hands."  In the evening of 14 March 1939, Hitler summoned President Hácha to the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Hitler deliberately kept him waiting for hours, while Hitler watched a film. Wilhelm Keitel in his memoirs recalled that when Hácha arrived Hitler said that "he was going to let the old gentleman rest and recover for two hours" which was incomprehensible to Keitel. Finally, at 1:30 a.m., on 15 March 1939, Hitler saw the President. He told Hácha that as they were speaking, the German army was about to invade Czechoslovakia.  Hitler then gave the Czech President two options: cooperate with Germany, in which case the "entry of German troops would take place in a tolerable manner" and "permit Czechoslovakia a generous life of her own, autonomy and a degree of national freedom..." or face a scenario in which "resistance would be broken by force of arms, using all means." Minutes of the conversation noted that for Hácha this was the most difficult decision of his life, but believed that in only a few years this decision would be comprehensible and in 50 years would probably be regarded as a blessing. According to Joachim Fest, Hácha suffered a heart attack induced by Göring's threat to bomb the capital and by four o'clock he contacted Prague, effectively "signing Czechoslovakia away" to Germany. Göring acknowledged making the threat to the British ambassador to Germany, Neville Henderson, but said that the threat came as a warning because the Czech government, after already agreeing to German occupation, couldn't guarantee that the Czech army would not fire on the advancing Germans. Göring however doesn't mention that Hácha had a heart attack because of his threat.  The French Ambassador Robert Coulondre reported that according to an unnamed, considered a reliable source by Coulondre, by half past four, Hácha was "in a state of total collapse, and kept going only by means of injections." Coulondre described the scene at the Reich Chancellory:"The German ministers [Göring and Ribbentrop] were pitiless. They literally hunted Dr. Hácha and M. Chvalkovsky round the table on which the documents were lying, thrusting them continually before them, pushing pens into their hands, incessantly repeating that if they continued in their refusal, half of Prague would lie in ruins from bombing within two hours, and that this would be only the beginning. Hundreds of bombers were waiting the order to take off, and they would receive that order at six in the morning if the signatures were not forthcoming". However, Hitler's interpreter Paul Schmidt, who was present during the meeting, in his memoirs denied such turbulent scenes ever taking place with the Czechoslovak President. Historian Jean Ancel noted that Schmidt's memoirs are not a reliable source of information as he consistently downplayed and ignored the criminal policies of the Nazi regime as well his own role in them.

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

After the occupation of the remnants of Czechoslovakia on 16 March, Hácha retained his office as President, but was forced to swear an oath to Hitler, who appointed Konstantin von Neurath as "Protector of Bohemia and Moravia". During his time as President of the Protectorate, Hácha also signed into law legislation modeled after the Nazi Nuremberg Laws that discriminated against Czech Jews. He dissolved the parliament, replacing it with the National Partnership.  Hácha's situation changed on 29 September 1941 when Reinhard Heydrich was appointed Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, as Neurath had been considered not harsh enough by Hitler. Hácha lost all remaining influence over the matters in his country and became a puppet. Many of his colleagues and friends were arrested (including the Prime Minister Alois Eliáš) and shot or sent to concentration camps.  After the death of Heydrich, the new Deputy Protector was Kurt Daluege. Hitler had originally planned to execute 10,000 Czechs in reprisal for the murder of Heydrich and warned Hácha that if another such incident occurred, "we should have to consider deporting the whole Czech population". This threat was made at Heydrich's funeral.  On 9 May 1945, Prague was liberated by the Red Army during the Prague Offensive. Emil Hácha was arrested on 13 May and transferred immediately to Pankrác Prison. He died in prison on 27 June under mysterious circumstances, with many historians entertaining the possibility of assassination, a suspicion shared by the Hácha family. After his death, he was buried at first in an unmarked grave at the Vinohrady Cemetery, but now there is a marker on his grave.

Personal.

In 1902, Hácha married Marie Háchová, née Klaus (born 17 April 1873 in Prague, died 6 February 1938 in Prague). They had a daughter, Milada. Marie died ten months before Hácha became president.

Emil Dominik Josef Hácha (12 July 1872 – 27 June 1945) was a Czech lawyer, the third President of Czechoslovakia from 1938 to 1939. From March 1939, his country was under the control of the Germans and was known as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.


Life and career.

Kim Ki-duk was born on December 20, 1960 in Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. He studied fine arts in Paris from 1990 to 1993. After returning to South Korea, Kim began his career as a screenwriter and won the first prize in a scenario contest held by Korean Film Council in 1995. In the following year, Kim made his debut as a director with a low budget movie titled "Crocodile" (1996). The film received sensational reviews from movie critics in South Korea. Kim has said that his international breakthrough occurred with The Isle at the Toronto International Film Festival. His 2000 film "Real Fiction" was entered into the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival.  In 2004, he received Best Director awards at two different film festivals, for two different films. At the Berlin International Film Festival, he was awarded for "Samaritan Girl" (2004), and at the Venice Film Festival he won for "3-Iron" (also 2004). In 2011, his documentary film "Arirang" received an award for best film in the Un Certain Regard category from the Cannes Film Festival. In 2012, his film "Pieta" received the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, the first Korean film to receive a "best film" honor at one of the top three international film festivals - Venice, Berlin and Cannes.

Controversy.

The British Board of Film Classification delayed the release of Kim Ki-duk's "The Isle" (2000) in the United Kingdom because of instances of animal cruelty in the film. Concerning scenes in which a frog is skinned after being beaten to death and fish are mutilated, the director stated, "We cooked all the fish we used in the film and ate them, expressing our appreciation. I've done a lot of cruelty on animals in my films. And I will have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life."  To a U.S. interviewer who suggested that scenes such as these are "very disturbing and [seem] to place an obstacle to the films reception, or... distribution, to other countries", Kim said, "Yes, I did worry about that fact. But the way I see it, the food that we eat today is no different. In America you eat beef, pork, and kill all these animals. And the people who eat these animals are not concerned with their slaughter. Animals are part of this cycle of consumption. It looks more cruel onscreen, but I don't see the difference. And yes, there's a cultural difference, and maybe Americans will have a problem with it - but if they can just be more sensitive to what is acceptable in different countries I'd hope they wouldn't have too many issues with what's shown on-screen."  Another controversy surrounds the director’s alleged misogyny as represented in his films, decried by feminists in his home country as being “dangerous penis fascism.”

Sexual assault allegations.

In 2017, an anonymous actress came forward with allegations that she had been assaulted by Kim on the set of his film "Moebius". She claimed that he had hit her several times before pressuring her to participate in a sex scene she had not previously agreed to. In 2018, at least three women accused Kim of sexual assault. Kim filed false accusations and defamation suits against the accusers.  In January 2019, the court ordered Kim to pay a $4,450 (KRW 5 million) fine for the assault, but dismissed the sexual assault charge for lack of evidence. Kim subsequently sued the actress for false accusation. The following month, Kim filed a lawsuit against a women’s rights group over “damages” caused by the group against him.

Kim Ki-duk ( ; born December 20, 1960) is a South Korean filmmaker noted for his idiosyncratic art-house cinematic works. His films have received many distinctions in the festival circuit, making him one of the most important contemporary Asian film directors. Major festival awards include Golden Lion at 69th Venice International Film Festival for "Pietà", Silver Lion for Best Director at 61st Venice International Film Festival for "3-Iron", Silver bear for Best Director at 54th Berlin International Film Festival for "Samaria" and Un Certain Regard prize at 2011 Cannes Film Festival for "Arirang". His most widely known feature is "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring" (2003), included in film critic Roger Ebert's Great Movies. Two of his films served as official submissions for Academy award for best foreign language film as South Korean entries. He has given scripts to several of his former assistant directors including Juhn Jai-hong ("Beautiful" and "Poongsan") and Jang Hoon ("Rough Cut").


Early life.

Berthier was born on 20 November 1753 at Versailles to Lieutenant-colonel Jean-Baptiste Berthier (1721–1804), an officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and his first wife (married in 1746) Marie Françoise L'Huillier de La Serre. He was the eldest of five children, with the three brothers also serving in the French Army, two becoming generals during the Napoleonic Wars.

Military career.

As a boy, Berthier was instructed in the military art by his father, an officer of the "Corps de genie" (Engineer Corps). At the age of seventeen, he entered the army, serving successively in the staff, the engineers, and the Prince of Lambesq's dragoons. In 1780, Berthier went to North America with General Rochambeau, and on his return, having attained the rank of colonel, he was employed in various staff posts and in a military mission to Prussia. During the French Revolution, as chief of staff of the Versailles National Guard, he protected the aunts of Louis XVI from popular violence, and aided their escape in 1791.  In 1792, Berthier was at once made chief of staff to Marshal Lückner, and he bore a distinguished part in the Argonne campaign of Generals Dumouriez and Kellermann. He served with great credit in the Vendéan War of 1793–1795, and the next year was made a general of division and chief of staff ("major-général") to the Army of Italy, which Bonaparte had recently been appointed to command. He played an important role in the Battle of Rivoli, relieving General Joubert when the latter was attacked by the Austrian general Jozsef Alvinczi. His power of work, accuracy and quick comprehension, combined with his long and varied experience and his complete mastery of detail, made Berthier the ideal chief of staff. In this capacity, Berthier was Napoleon's most valued assistant for the rest of his career.  Berthier accompanied Napoleon throughout the campaign of 1796, and was left in charge of the army after the Treaty of Campo Formio. He was in this post in 1798 when he entered Italy, invaded the Vatican, organized the Roman Republic, and took the pope Pius VI as prisoner back to Valence where, after a torturous journey under Berthier's supervision, the pope died, dealing a major blow to the Vatican's political power which, however, did not prove as ephemeral as that of the First French Empire.  After this, Berthier joined his chief in Egypt, serving there until Napoleon's return. He assisted in the Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), afterwards becoming Minister of War for a time. During the Battle of Marengo, Berthier was the nominal head of the Army of Reserve, but the first consul accompanied the army and he acted in reality, as always, as chief of staff to Napoleon.  Lest one think that this was a relatively safe job,a contemporary subordinate staff officer, Brossier, reports that at the Battle of Marengo: At the close of the campaign, he was employed in civil and diplomatic business. This included a mission to Spain in August 1800, which resulted in the retrocession of Louisiana to France by the Treaty of San Ildefonso on 1 October 1800, and led to the Louisiana Purchase.  When Napoleon deposed King Frederick William III of Prussia from the principality of Neuchâtel, Berthier was appointed its ruler. This lasted until 1814 and also brought him the title of sovereign prince in 1806.  When Napoleon became emperor, Berthier was at once made a Marshal of the Empire. He took part in the campaigns of Austerlitz, Jena, and Friedland. He was made Duke of Valangin in 1806 and Sovereign Prince of Neuchâtel that same year, and Vice-Constable of the Empire in 1807.  In 1808, he served in the Peninsular War, and in 1809, served in the Austrian theatre during the War of the Fifth Coalition, after which he was given the title of Prince of Wagram. He was with Napoleon in Russia in 1812, and took part in the extremely unusual council of war on whether to proceed, being one of several who advised against an advance on Moscow which Napoleon (encouraged by Joachim Murat also blamed by many for the horse-killing pace of the march into Russia) decided on. Berthier is said to have burst into tears at the decision. He served in Germany in 1813, and France in 1814, fulfilling, until the fall of the French Empire, the functions of "major-général" of the "Grande Armée".  Following Napoleon's first abdication, Berthier retired to his 600-acre (2.4 km2) estate, and resumed his hobbies of falconry and sculpture. He made peace with Louis XVIII in 1814 and accompanied the king on his solemn entry into Paris. During Napoleon's short exile on Elba, he informed Berthier of his projects. Berthier was much perplexed as to his future course and, being unwilling to commit to Napoleon, fell under the suspicion both of his old leader and of Louis XVIII.  On Napoleon's return to France, Berthier withdrew to Bamberg, where he died a few weeks later on 1 June 1815 in a fall from an upstairs window. The manner of his death is uncertain. According to some accounts, he was assassinated by members of a secret society, while others say that, maddened by the sight of Russian troops marching to invade France, he threw himself from his window and was killed.  The loss of Berthier's skills at Waterloo was keenly felt by Napoleon, as he later stated succinctly:

Character assessment.

Berthier was an immensely skilled chief of staff, but he was not a great field commander. When he was in temporary command in 1809, the French army in Bavaria underwent a series of reverses. Despite the fact that his merit as a general was completely overshadowed by the genius of Napoleon, Berthier was nevertheless renowned for his excellent organising skills and being able to understand and carry out the emperor's directions to the minutest detail. General Paul Thiébault said of him in 1796:  No one could have better suited General Bonaparte, who wanted a man capable of relieving him of all detailed work, to understand him instantly and to foresee what he would need.

Marriage and family.

In 1796, Berthier fell in love with the Marquise Visconti, who was to be his mistress for the duration of the First French Empire, despite the emperor's disapproval. And even when Napoleon forced him to marry a Bavarian princess, the Duchess Maria Elisabeth, in 1808, Berthier made it so that his mistress and wife could get on and live under the same roof, to the emperor's fury.  On 9 March 1808, Berthier married Elisabeth who was the only daughter of Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria and Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Rappolstein, the sister of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, and a relative of the Russian emperor through the Wittelsbach line on the Bavarian side and Prussian (Mecklenburg) side of her lineage.  They had one son and two daughters :

In literature.

Berthier is mentioned and/or appears in several of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard stories, including "How the Brigadier Was Tempted by the Devil" (1895) and in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace".

Louis-Alexandre Berthier (20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815), 1st Prince of Wagram, Sovereign Prince of Neuchâtel, was a Marshal of the Empire doubling as Minister of War and chief of staff to Napoleon. Born into a military family, he served in the French Army and survived suspicion of monarchism during the Reign Of Terror, before a rapid rise in the ranks during the French Revolutionary Wars. Although a key supporter of the coup against the Directory that gave Napoleon supreme power, and present for his greatest victories, Berthier strongly opposed the progressive stretching of lines of communication during the Russian campaign. Allowed to retire by the restored Bourbon regime, he died of unnatural causes shortly before the Battle of Waterloo. Berthier's reputation as a superb operational organiser remains strong among current historians.


Biography.

On the general outbreak of hostilities in Germany, Gallas, as colonel of an infantry regiment, distinguished himself, especially at the battle of Stadtlohn (1623). In 1630 he was serving as "General-Feldwachtmeister" under Count Collalto in Italy, and was mainly instrumental in the capture of Mantua in the War of Mantuan Succession. Made count of the Empire for this service, he returned to Germany for the campaign against Gustavus Adolphus. In command of a corps of Wallenstein's army, he covered Bohemia against the Swedes in 1631-1632, and served at the Alte Veste near Nuremberg, and at Lützen. Further good service against Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar commended General Gallas to the notice of the emperor, who made him lieutenant-general in his own army.  Upon being approached by Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal at the Emperor Ferdinand's behest, he became one of the chief conspirators against Wallenstein, and after the tragedy of Eger was appointed to the command of the army which Wallenstein had formed and led. At the great battle of Nördlingen (23 August 1634) in which the army of Sweden was almost annihilated, Gallas commanded the victorious Imperial forces. His next command was in Lorraine, but even the Moselle valley had suffered so much from the ravages of war that his army perished of want.  On 17 July 1635, Gallas tried in vain to conquer the Palatine town of Deux-Ponts, being defended by Reinhold von Rosen. A further try in October of the same year succeeded in contrast. This time the village was defended by French troops. By reason of a confirmation of free retreat the French disposed the town to the Imperial-Catholic troops to looting.  Still more was this the case in northern Germany, where Gallas commanded against the Swedish general Banér in 1637 and 1638. At first driving the Swedes before him, in the end he made a complete failure of the campaign, lost his command, and was subject to much ridicule.  It was, however, rather the indiscipline of his men (the baneful legacy of Wallenstein's methods) than his own faults which brought about his disastrous retreat across North Germany, and at a moment of crisis he was recalled to endeavour to stop Torstensson's victorious advance, only to be shut up in Magdeburg, whence he escaped with the barest remnant of his forces. Once more relieved of his command, he was again recalled to make head against the Swedes in 1645 (after their victory at Jankow). Before long, old and warworn, he resigned his command, and died in 1647 at Vienna.

Assessment.

Gallas's "ineffectiveness severely damaged the Habsburg cause in the latter stages of the Thirty Years’ War". His army had earned for itself the reputation of being the most cruel and rapacious force even in the Thirty Years' War, and his "Merode Bruder" have survived in the word "marauder". Like many other generals of that period, he had acquired much wealth and great territorial possessions (the latter mostly his share of Wallenstein's estates). Although Gallas was victorious in the first of the battles of Nördlingen (1634), carelessness and drunkenness thereafter marred his conduct of the war. He later became known as the “destroyer of armies,” especially after his disastrous campaigns of 1637, 1638, and 1644, each of which resulted in the annihilation of his troops.

Family.

Gallas was the founder of the Austrian family of Clam-Gallas, which furnished many distinguished soldiers to the Imperial army.

Matthias Gallas, Graf von Campo und Herzog von Lucera (Count of Campo, Duke of Lucera) (Matteo Gallasso; 1584 in Trento – 1647 in Vienna), was an Austrian soldier, who first saw service in Flanders, then in Savoy with the Spaniards, and subsequently joined the forces of the Catholic League as captain during the Thirty Years' War.


Overview.

Over 6,700 locomotives of DRB Class 52 type were built across Europe for use on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Thus it was one of the most numerous steam locomotives in the world. To achieve such numbers, the German locomotive manufacturers were merged into the "Gemeinschaft Grossdeutscher Lokomotivhersteller" (GGL), which was a subdivision of the "Hauptausschuss Schienenfahrzeuge" (HAS) founded in 1942. Key HAS figures were the Reichsminister for munition and armament, Albert Speer and the Reich transport minister, Julius Dorpmüller.  The GGL included the following locomotive manufacturers (including an approximate number of Class 52s produced):

Engine design.

The class 52 was a simplified version of the prewar Reichsbahn class 50 locomotive (produced 1938-1942). The simplified design of the class 52 was intended to reduce the man-hours and skills needed to manufacture it and to adapt to wartime shortages of strategic materials. Additional design changes gave the locomotives and their crew better protection against the cold. Between 1942 and the end of the war in May 1945 over 6,300 class 52 locomotives were built. Additional locomotives were built post-war, giving a class total of probably 6719 units, delivered by seventeen manufacturers. The Class 42 was a larger version of the Class 52, but was produced in small numbers.  In the early postwar years class 52s were used by many European countries, the largest user being the Soviet Union, which had more than 2,100 of them, designated class TE (, from "Trophy, equivalent to E-class"). Poland had more than a thousand and East Germany had about 800. The type was also widespread among other eastern European nations. Western European countries replaced them with more modern locomotives as soon as possible, with the exception of Austria where they were used until 1976. The simplicity and effectiveness, plus the large production total, meant that many eastern European countries were slow to withdraw these "Kriegslokomotiven." Poland used them into the early 1990s; Turkey and Bosnia were also late users of the type.  Wagner had wanted locomotives which were long-lasting and easy to maintain, and unlike British engineers did not consider a high power-to-weight ratio a priority. The resulting "Kriegslokomotive" had a low axleload of 15 tons and could haul 40 percent more freight than the old Prussian locomotives they replaced. The class 52 could haul 1,200 tons at 65 km/h (40 mph) without significant strain.

Countries using the engine.

Following the invasion of Poland in September 1939 Nazi Germany disbanded the Polish State Railways (PKP). Polish rail officials were either executed in mass shootings or imprisoned, and some 8,000 managerial positions were staffed with German officials. Former Polish companies began producing German engines BR44, BR50 and BR86 as early as 1940, some using forced labor. By 1944, the factories in Poznań and Chrzanów were producing the redesigned "Kriegslok" BR52 locomotives for the Eastern Front. These locomotives were made almost entirely of steel; the use of more expensive, non-ferrous metals was dropped in view of the engines' expected lifespan. After the war, some 1,200 class 52s remained in reconstituted Poland. Another 200 were acquired from the Soviet Union in 1962-64. The class 52, designated Ty2, began to be phased out in the 1980s; its last regular use was in 1999.  Some 100 were built for Romanian State Railways, becoming class 150.1000 engines. Over 150 were in use by the Bulgarian State Railways as class 15. Turkish Republic Railways built 10 for forming the TCDD 56501 Class. Turkish Railways acquired 43 additional loc's at the end of the war, these had previously been on hire.  The Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) in East Germany had 200 machines reconstructed to the new DR Class 52.80.  74 locomotives were sent to occupied Norway during World War II and were confiscated following the war. The Norwegian classification was class 63, and was nicknamed "Stortysker" ("big German"). One engine, restored by the Norwegian Railway Club, is preserved at the Norwegian Railway Museum in Hamar.  The ČSD Czechoslovak state railways used hundreds of 52s post-war, some left behind by the Germans after 1945, some being rebuilt by the Škoda Works in Plzeň. They bore designation class ČSD 555; several dozen were subsequently adapted, as the 555.3, to burn mazut fuel oil, a large surplus of which was generated in synthetic fuel plants in occupied Czechoslovakia from brown coal. The 555.3 differed visibly by having a lid on the smokestack to slow down cooling of the lining of the flue passage, to prevent cracking.  The Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) acquired 100 type 52s from the Soviet Union in 1963. They were designated class 520 and used into the 1980s. Others were used by Yugoslavia before that country's dissolution in the 1990s.  A few were still in industrial service in Bosnia in late 2017.

Gallery.

Several Class 52s have been preserved in operating condition. One is at the Nene Valley Railway in Peterborough, England. Another one is in service with the Franconian Museum Railway in Bavaria, Germany.

The Deutsche Reichsbahn's Class 52 is a German steam locomotive built in large numbers during the Second World War. It was the most produced type of the so-called "Kriegslokomotiven" or "Kriegsloks" (war locomotives). The Class 52 was a wartime development of the pre-war DRG Class 50, using fewer parts and less expensive materials to speed production. They were designed by Richard Wagner who was Chief Engineer of the Central Design Office at the Locomotive Standards Bureau of the DRG. About a dozen classes of locomotive were referred to as "Kriegslokomotiven"; however, the three main classes were the Class 52, 50 and 42.


Distribution.

The natural distribution range of the genus "Yucca" (49 species and 24 subspecies) covers a vast area of the Americas. The genus is represented throughout Mexico and extends into Guatemala ("Yucca guatemalensis"). It also extends to the north through Baja California in the west, northwards into the southwestern United States, through the drier central states as far north as southern Alberta in Canada ("Yucca glauca" ssp. "albertana").  Yucca is also native to some of the Caribbean Islands, northward to the coastal lowlands and dry beach scrub of the coastal areas of the southeastern United States, along the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic States from coastal Texas to Maryland.  Yuccas have adapted to an equally vast range of climatic and ecological conditions. They are to be found in rocky deserts and badlands, in prairies and grassland, in mountainous regions, in light woodland, in coastal sands ("Yucca filamentosa"), and even in subtropical and semitemperate zones, although these are generally arid to semi-arid.

Ecology.

Yuccas have a very specialized, mutualistic pollination system, being pollinated by yucca moths (family Prodoxidae); the insect transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigma of another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then feeds on some of the developing seeds, always leaving enough seed to perpetuate the species. Certain species of the yucca moth have evolved antagonistic features against the plant and do not assist in the plants pollination efforts while continuing to lay their eggs in the plant for protection.  Yucca species are the host plants for the caterpillars of the yucca giant-skipper ("Megathymus yuccae"), ursine giant-skipper ("Megathymus ursus"), and Strecker's giant-skipper ("Megathymus streckeri").

Adaptations.

Species of yucca have adapted to a wide variety of climates in mountains, coastal sand, grasslands and prairies as well as rocky badlands and deserts. Most species of yucca have thick, waxy skins to prevent loss of water through evaporation. They frequently store water in thick roots. Some yuccas store water in thick, fleshy leaves. Some desert plants have an oily coating on their leaves or pads that traps moisture, thereby reducing water loss. Some species drop their leaves during drought to prevent the loss of water through transpiration. Dead leaves of yucca collecting against the trunk of the trees help protect it from the sun. The channeled leaves of a yucca direct dew and rainfall water to their roots. Yuccas are said to be "fire adapted"; that is, they grow and spread vigorously after wildfires.

Uses.

Yuccas are widely grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Many species also bear edible parts, including fruits, seeds, flowers, flowering stems, and more rarely roots. References to yucca root as food often arise from confusion with the similarly pronounced, but botanically unrelated, yuca, also called cassava or manioc ("Manihot esculenta"). Roots of soaptree yucca ("Yucca elata") are high in saponins and are used as a shampoo in Native American rituals. Dried yucca leaves and trunk fibers have a low ignition temperature, making the plant desirable for use in starting fires via friction. The stem (when dried) that sports the flowers is often used in collaboration with a sturdy piece of cedar for making primitive fire. In rural Appalachian areas, species such as "Yucca filamentosa" are referred to as "meat hangers". The tough, fibrous leaves with their sharp-spined tips were used to puncture meat and knotted to form a loop with which to hang meat for salt curing or in smoke houses. The fibers can be used to make cordage be it sewing thread or rope.

Gastronomy.

The flower petals are eaten. The petals are blanched for just 5 minutes, and then cooked "a la mexicana" (with tomato, onion, chile) or in "tortitas con salsa" (egg-battered patties with green or red sauce). Reproductive organs are removed before blanching because they are too bitter.

Cultivation.

Yuccas are widely grown as architectural plants providing a dramatic accent to landscape design. They tolerate a range of conditions, but are best grown in full sun in subtropical or mild temperate areas. In gardening centres and horticultural catalogues they are usually grouped with other architectural plants such as cordylines and phormiums.  Joshua trees ("Yucca brevifolia") are protected by law in some states. A permit is needed for wild collection. As a landscape plant, they can be killed by excessive water during their summer dormant phase, so are avoided by landscape contractors.  Several species of yucca can be grown outdoors in temperate climates, including:-

Symbolism.

The yucca flower is the state flower of New Mexico. No species name is given in the citation.

Species.

, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognizes 49 species of "Yucca" and a number of hybrids: A number of other species previously classified in "Yucca" are now classified in the genera "Dasylirion", "Furcraea", "Hesperaloe", "Hesperoyucca", and "Nolina".

Cultivars.

In the years from 1897 to 1907, Carl Ludwig Sprenger created and named 122 "Yucca" hybrids.

Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry (arid) parts of the Americas and the Caribbean.


History.

The first written record of coffee made from roasted coffee beans (botanical seeds) comes from Arab scholars, who wrote that it was useful in prolonging their working hours. The Arab innovation in Yemen of making a brew from roasted beans, spread first among the Egyptians and Turks, and later on found its way around the world. Other scholars believe that the coffee plant was introduced from Yemen, based on a Yemeni tradition that slips of both coffee and "qat" were planted at 'Udein' ('the two twigs') in Yemen in pre-Islamic times.

Biology.

Wild plants grow between tall, and have an open branching system; the leaves are opposite, simple elliptic-ovate to oblong, long and broad, glossy dark green. The flowers are white, 10–15 mm in diameter and grow in axillary clusters. The seeds are contained in a drupe (commonly called a "cherry") 10–15 mm in diameter, maturing bright red to purple and typically contains two seeds, often called coffee beans.  "Coffea arabica" is the only polyploid species of the genus "Coffea," as it carries 4 copies of the 11 chromosomes (44 total) instead of the 2 copies of diploid species. Specifically, "Coffea arabica" is itself the result of a hybridization between the diploids "Coffea canephora" and "Coffea eugenioides," thus making it an allotetraploid, with "two" copies of two different genomes.

Distribution and habitat.

Arabica coffee production in Indonesia began in 1699 through the spread of Yemen's trade. Indonesian coffees, such as Sumatran and Java, are known for heavy body and low acidity. This makes them ideal for blending with the higher acidity coffees from Central America and East Africa. Endemic to the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia. "Coffea arabica" is now rare in Ethiopia, while many populations appear to be of mixed native and planted trees. It is commonly used as an understorey shrub. It has also been recovered from the Boma Plateau in South Sudan. "Coffea arabica" is also found on Mount Marsabit in northern Kenya, but it is unclear whether this is a truly native or naturalised occurrence. The species is widely naturalised in areas outside its native land, in many parts of Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, China, and assorted islands in the Caribbean and in the Pacific.  The conservation of the genetic variation of "C. arabica" relies on conserving healthy populations of wild coffee in the Afromontane rainforests of Yemen. Genetic research has shown coffee cultivation is threatening the genetic integrity of wild coffee because it exposes wild genotypes to cultivars. Nearly all of the coffee that has been cultivated over the past few centuries originated with just a handful of wild plants from Yemen, and today the coffee growing on plantations around the world contains less than 1% of the diversity contained in the wild in Yemen alone.

Cultivation and use.

"Coffea arabica" accounts for 60% of the world's coffee production.  "C. arabica" takes approximately seven years to mature fully, and it does best with 1.0–1.5 meters (about 40–59 inches) of rain, evenly distributed throughout the year. It is usually cultivated between 1,300 and 1,500 m altitude, but there are plantations that grow it as low as sea level and as high as 2,800 m.  The plant can tolerate low temperatures, but not frost, and it does best with an average temperature between. Commercial cultivars mostly only grow to about 5 m, and are frequently trimmed as low as 2 m to facilitate harvesting. Unlike "Coffea canephora," "C. arabica" prefers to be grown in light shade.  Two to four years after planting, "C. arabica" produces small, white, highly fragrant flowers. The sweet fragrance resembles the sweet smell of jasmine flowers. Flowers opening on sunny days result in the greatest numbers of berries. This can be problematic and deleterious, however, as coffee plants tend to produce too many berries; this can lead to an inferior harvest and even damage yield in the following years, as the plant will favor the ripening of berries to the detriment of its own health.  On well-kept plantations, overflowering is prevented by pruning the tree. The flowers only last a few days, leaving behind only the thick, dark-green leaves. The berries then begin to appear. These are as dark green as the foliage, until they begin to ripen, at first to yellow and then light red and finally darkening to a glossy, deep red. At this point, they are called "cherries", which fruit they then resemble, and are ready for picking.  The berries are oblong and about 1 cm long. Inferior coffee results from picking them too early or too late, so many are picked by hand to be able to better select them, as they do not all ripen at the same time. They are sometimes shaken off the tree onto mats, which means ripe and unripe berries are collected together.  The trees are difficult to cultivate and each tree can produce from 0.5 to 5.0 kg of dried beans, depending on the tree's individual character and the climate that season. The most valuable part of this cash crop are the beans inside. Each berry holds two locules containing the beans. The coffee beans are actually two seeds within the fruit; sometimes, a third seed or one seed, a peaberry, grows in the fruit at tips of the branches. These seeds are covered in two membranes; the outer one is called the "parchment coat" and the inner one is called the "silver skin".  On Java, trees are planted at all times of the year and are harvested year round. In parts of Brazil, however, the trees have a season and are harvested only in winter. The plants are vulnerable to damage in such poor growing conditions as cold or low pH soil, and they are also more vulnerable to pests than the "C. robusta" plant.  The coffee tree was first brought to Hawaii in 1813, and it began to be extensively grown by about 1850. It was formerly more widely grown than at present, especially in Kona, and it persists after cultivation in many areas. In some valleys, it is a highly invasive weed. In the Udawattakele and Gannoruwa Forest Reserves near Kandy, Sri Lanka, coffee shrubs are also a problematic invasive species.  It is expected that a medium-term depletion of indigenous populations of "C. arabica" may occur, due to projected global warming, based on IPCC modelling. Climate change—rising temperatures, longer droughts, and excessive rainfall—appears to threaten the sustainability of arabica coffee production, leading to attempts to breed new cultivars for the changing conditions.  Gourmet coffees are almost exclusively high-quality mild varieties of arabica coffee, and among the best known arabica coffee beans in the world are those from Jamaican Blue Mountain, Colombian Supremo, Tarrazú, Costa Rica, Guatemalan Antigua, and Ethiopian Sidamo. Espresso typically is made from a blend of "arabica" and "robusta" beans.

Taxonomy.

"Coffea arabica" was first described scientifically by Antoine de Jussieu, who named it "Jasminum arabicum" after studying a specimen from the Botanic Gardens of Amsterdam. Linnaeus placed it in its own genus "Coffea" in 1737.

Strains.

One strain of "Coffea arabica" naturally contains very little caffeine. While beans of normal "C. arabica" plants contain 12 mg of caffeine per gram of dry mass, these mutants contain only 0.76 mg of caffeine per gram, but with taste similar to normal coffee.

Coffea arabica (), also known as the Arabian coffee, "coffee shrub of Arabia", "mountain coffee" or "arabica coffee", is a species of "Coffea". It is believed to be the first species of coffee to be cultivated, and is the dominant cultivar, representing about 60% of global production. Coffee produced from the (less acidic, more bitter, and more highly caffeinated) robusta bean ("C. canephora") makes up most of the remaining coffee production. Arabica coffee was first found in Yemen and documented by the 12th century. Coffea arabica is called "būna" in Arabic.


Biography.

Moses (Moshe) Hess was born in Bonn, which was under French rule at the time. In his French-language birth certificate, his name is given as "Moïse"; he was named after his maternal grandfather. His father was an ordained rabbi, but never practiced this profession. Hess received a Jewish religious education from his grandfather, and later studied philosophy at the University of Bonn, but never graduated.  He married a poor Catholic seamstress, Sibylle Pesch, "in order to redress the injustice perpetrated by society". Although they remained happily married until Hess' death, Sibylle may have had an affair with Friedrich Engels while he was smuggling her from Belgium to France to be reunited with her husband. The incident may have precipitated Hess' split from the Communist movement.  Hess was an early proponent of socialism, and a precursor to what would later be called Zionism. As correspondent for the, a radical newspaper founded by liberal Rhenish businessmen, he lived in Paris. He was a friend and collaborator of Karl Marx (who also worked on the ) and Friedrich Engels. Hess introduced Engels, the future famous communist, to the communism of the early 1840s.  But Marx and Engels would become known for their fickle and pugnacious approach to fellow socialists who showed insufficient agreement with their own form of socialism. By the late 1840s, they had fallen out with Hess. They mocked him, first behind his back and later openly. The work of Hess was also criticized in part of "The German Ideology" by Marx and Engels.  Hess fled to Belgium and Switzerland temporarily following the suppression of the 1848 commune. He would also go abroad during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71.  Hess died in Paris in 1875. As he requested, he was buried in the Jewish cemetery of Cologne. In 1961, he was re-interred in the Kinneret Cemetery in Israel along with other Socialist-Zionists such as Nachman Syrkin, Ber Borochov, and Berl Katznelson.  Moshav Kfar Hess was named in his honour.

Views and opinions.

Hess became reluctant to base all history on economic causes and class struggle (as Marx and Engels did), and he came to see the struggle of races, or nationalities, as the prime factor of history.  According to George Litcheim, Hess, who differed from Marx on a number of issues, still testified in a letter to Alexander Herzen that what he and Herzen were writing about "resembles a neat sketch drawn on paper, whereas Marx's judgment upon these events [European upheavals] is as it were engraved with iron force in the rock of time" (Paraphrased by George Lichtheim, "A Short History of Socialism", 1971 p. 80).  From 1861 to 1863, he lived in Germany, where he became acquainted with the rising tide of German antisemitism. It was then that he reverted to his Jewish name Moses (after apparently going by Moritz Hess) in protest against Jewish assimilation. He published "" in 1862. Hess interprets history as a circle of race and national struggles. He contemplated the rise of Italian nationalism and the German reaction to it, and from this he arrived at the idea of Jewish national revival, and at his prescient understanding that the Germans would not be tolerant of the national aspirations of others and would be particularly intolerant of the Jews. His book calls for the establishment of a Jewish socialist commonwealth in Palestine, in line with the emerging national movements in Europe and as the only way to respond to antisemitism and assert Jewish identity in the modern world.

Scholarly work.

Hess's "Rome and Jerusalem: The Last National Question" went unnoticed in his time, as most German Jews preferred cultural assimilation. His work did not stimulate political activity or discussion. When Theodor Herzl first read "Rome and Jerusalem" he wrote that "since Spinoza Jewry had no bigger thinker than this forgotten Moses Hess." He said he might not have written ("The Jewish State") if he had known "Rome and Jerusalem" beforehand. Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky honored Hess in "The Jewish Legion in the World War" as one of the people that made the Balfour declaration possible, along with Herzl, Walter Rothschild and Leon Pinsker.

Moses (Moshe) Hess (January or June 21, 1812 – April 6, 1875) was a French-Jewish philosopher and a founder of Labor Zionism. His socialist theories, predicated on racial struggle, led to conflict with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A devoted Spinozist, Hess was profoundly influenced by Spinoza's life and philosophy.


Early life.

Manuel's mother was the granddaughter of King John I of Portugal, whereas his father was the second surviving son of King Edward of Portugal and the younger brother of King Afonso V of Portugal.  In 1495, Manuel succeeded his first cousin, King John II of Portugal, who was also his brother-in-law, as husband to Manuel's sister, Eleanor of Viseu.  Manuel grew up amidst conspiracies of the Portuguese upper nobility against King John II. He was aware of many people being killed and exiled. His older brother Diogo, Duke of Viseu, was stabbed to death in 1484 by the king himself.  Manuel thus would have had every reason to worry when he received a royal order in 1493 to present himself to the king, but his fears were groundless: John II wanted to name him heir to the throne after the death of his son Prince Afonso and the failed attempts to legitimise Jorge, Duke of Coimbra, his illegitimate son. As a result of this stroke of luck, Manuel was nicknamed "the Fortunate", and succeeded on John's death in 1495.

Reign.

Imperial expansion.

Manuel would prove a worthy successor to his cousin John II for his support of Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic Ocean and development of Portuguese commerce. During his reign, the following achievements were realized:  1498 – The discovery of a maritime route to India by Vasco da Gama.
 1500 – The discovery of Brazil by Pedro Álvares Cabral.
 1501 – The discovery of Labrador by Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real.
 1505 – The appointment of Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of India.
 1503–1515 – The establishment of monopolies on maritime trade routes ("mare clausum") to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf by Afonso de Albuquerque.  The capture of Malacca in modern-day Malaysia in 1511 was the result of a plan by Manuel I to thwart the Muslim trade in the Indian Ocean by capturing Aden, blocking trade through Alexandria, capturing Ormuz to block trade through the Persian Gulf and Beirut, and capturing Malacca to control trade with China.  All these events made Portugal wealthy from foreign trade as it formally established a vast overseas empire. Manuel used the wealth to build a number of royal buildings (in the "Manueline" style) and to attract scientists and artists to his court.  Commercial treaties and diplomatic alliances were forged with Ming dynasty of China and the Persian Safavid dynasty. Pope Leo X received a monumental embassy from Portugal during his reign designed to draw attention to Portugal's newly acquired riches to all of Europe.

Judicial reform.

In Manuel's reign, royal absolutism was the method of government. The Portuguese Cortes (the assembly of the kingdom) met only three times during his reign, always in Lisbon, the king's seat.  He reformed the courts of justice and the municipal charters with the crown, modernizing taxes and the concepts of tributes and rights. During his reign, the laws in force in the kingdom of Portugal were recodified with the publication of the Manueline Ordinations.

Portuguese Inquisition.

Manuel was a very religious man and invested a large amount of Portuguese income to send missionaries to the new colonies, among them Francisco Álvares, and sponsor the construction of religious buildings, such as the Monastery of Jerónimos. Manuel also endeavoured to promote another crusade against the Turks.  His relationship with the Portuguese Jews started out well. At the outset of his reign, he released all the Jews who had been made captive during the reign of John II. Unfortunately for the Jews, he decided that he wanted to marry Infanta Isabella of Aragon, then heiress of the future united crown of Spain (and widow of his nephew Prince Afonso). Her parents Ferdinand and Isabella had expelled the Jews in 1492 and would never marry their daughter to the king of a country that still tolerated their presence. In the marriage contract, Manuel I agreed to persecute the Jews of Portugal.  In December 1496, it was decreed that all Jews either convert to Christianity or leave the country without their children. However, those expelled could only leave the country in ships specified by the king. When those who chose expulsion arrived at the port in Lisbon, they were met by clerics and soldiers who tried to use coercion and promises in order to baptize them and prevent them from leaving the country.  This period of time technically ended the presence of Jews in Portugal. Afterwards, all converted Jews and their descendants would be referred to as "New Christians", and they were given a grace period of thirty years in which no inquiries into their faith would be allowed; this was later extended to end in 1534.  During the course of the Lisbon massacre of 1506, people invaded the Jewish Quarter and murdered thousands of accused Jews; the leaders of the riot were executed by Manuel.

Later life.

Isabella died in childbirth in 1498, thus putting a damper on Portuguese ambitions to rule in Spain, which various rulers had harbored since the reign of King Ferdinand I (1367–1383). Manuel and Isabella's young son, Miguel da Paz, was named Prince of Asturias, Prince of Portugal, and Prince of Girona, making him heir apparent of Castile, Portugal, and Aragon until his death in 1500, at the age of two years, ended the ambitions of the Catholic Monarchs and Manuel.  Manuel's next wife, Maria of Aragon, was his first wife's younger sister. Two of their sons later became kings of Portugal. Maria died in 1517 but the two sisters were survived by an older sister, Joanna of Castile, who was born in 1479 and had married the Archduke Philip (Maximilian I's son) and had a son, Charles V who would eventually inherit Spain and the Habsburg possessions.  Manuel I was awarded the Golden Rose by Pope Julius II in 1506 and by Pope Leo X in 1514. Manuel I became the first individual to receive more than one Golden Rose after Emperor Sigismund von Luxembourg.

Death.

In December 1521, while Lisbon was dealing with an outbreak of the Black Plague, Manuel and his court were quarantined inside Ribeira Palace. Beginning on the 4th of December, Manuel began displaying symptoms of an intense fever, which incapacitated Manuel by the 11th. He died two days later, on 13 December 1521, at the age of 52, being succeeded by his son, John III of Portugal, as king.  The day after his death, on 14 December, his body transported to the Belém district of Lisbon, in a black velvet-draped coffin, followed by masses of mourners. He was provisionally buried at Restelo Church, while the royal pantheon of the House of Aviz was funished inside Jerónimos Monastery. His coffin was buried by four of the most prominent nobles of the kingdom, the Duke of Braganza, the Duke of Coimbra, and the, in a private ceremony attended only by the royal family and the Portuguese nobility. His remains were transferred to Jerónimos Monastery only in 1551, along with his second wife Maria of Aragon.

Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate (), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, as monarch. Manuel ruled over a period of intensive expansion of the Portuguese Empire owing to the numerous Portuguese discoveries made during his reign. His sponsorship of Vasco da Gama led to the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India in 1498, resulting in the creation of the Portuguese India Armadas, which guaranteed Portugal's monopoly on the spice trade. Manuel began the Portuguese colonization of the Americas and Portuguese India, and oversaw the establishment of a vast trade empire across Africa and Asia.