Sigfried Giedion (also spelled Siegfried Giedion; 14 April 1888, Prague – 10 April 1968, Zürich) was a Bohemian-born Swiss historian and critic of architecture. His ideas and books, Space, Time and Architecture, and Mechanization Takes Command, had an important conceptual influence on the members of the Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in the 1950s. Giedion was a pupil of Heinrich Wölfflin. He was the first secretary-general of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne, and taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and the ETH-Zurich.

In Space, Time & Architecture (1941), Giedion wrote an influential standard history of modern architecture, while Mechanization Takes Command established a new kind of historiography.

Biography
Sigfried Giedion was the son of a textile manufacturer from Zugersee. He graduated from the University of Vienna in 1913 with a degree in engineering. Not wanting to enter the family business, he wrote poems and plays, one of which was staged by Max Reinhardt. He then studied art history in Munich with Heinrich Wölfflin, graduating in 1922 with a thesis on Romanesque and late Baroque Classicism. This work aroused the interest of A.E. Brinckmann, a well-known art historian, who invited him to Cologne, an offer that Giedion refused because he was not interested in an academic career. Instead, in 1923 he attended the Bauhaus, where he met Walter Gropius. From that meeting he got closer and closer to the Bauhaus and its protagonists, becoming himself a precursor of the modern movement.

In 1928, he founded, together with Le Corbusier and Helène de Mandrot, the CIAM, of which he was also general secretary. In the same year, he took part in the collective initiative Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl, one of the first residential centers in the style of the modern movement, remaining on the steering committee until 1939. He was also the builder of the Doldertalhäuser in Switzerland, which he saw as a manifesto of the new architectural movement, as well as the founder of Wohnbedarf AG, a construction company close to the modern movement. Through countless interventions in international trade journals, he expressed his support for Le Corbusier's League of Nations project in Geneva, won in 1927 but disqualified because the submission was in the wrong medium.

In 1938–39, he taught at Harvard University at the instigation of Gropius, where he gave the Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectures. These helped form the basis for his work, Space, Time and Architecture, the history of the modern movement published in 1941. In 1946 he became a professor at the ETH-Zürich (Federal Polytechnic School), a post he held until the 1960s, and which he alternated with another at MIT in the United States of America. During this time he wrote busily, both as a CIAM editor and as an independent author, about his research on modernity, most notably Mechanization Takes Command, a critical history of mechanization seen in its historical and sociological aspects.

Personal life and family
In 1919, Giedion married Carola Giedion-Welcker, whom he met while they were both students of Wölfflin in Munich. She created a circle of avant-garde artists in Switzerland, which included Hans Arp and Aldo van Eyck. Their daughter Verena married the architect Paffard Keatinge-Clay.

In 1968, Giedion suffered a heart attack when walking home from the cinema. He died in Zurich on the 10th of April 1968.

Works
 Spätbarocker und romantischer Klassizismus, 1922
 Befreites Wohnen, 1929, published in English as Liberated Dwelling, Lars Müller Publishers, 2019
 Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, 1941. Harvard University Press, 5th edition, 2003,
 Nine Points on Monumentality, 1943
 Mechanization Takes Command: A Contribution to Anonymous History, Oxford University Press 1948
 Walter Gropius, work and teamwork, Reinhold Pub. Co. 1954
 Architecture, You and Me: The Diary of a Development, Harvard UP 1958
 The Eternal Present: The Beginnings of Art and The Beginnings of Architecture, 1964 [1957]
 Architecture and the Phenomenona of Transition. The Three Space Conceptions in Architecture, 1971
 Building in France, Building in Iron, Building in Ferroconcrete, Getty Research Institute, 1995, originally published in German as Bauen in Frankreich, Bauen in Eisen, Bauen in Eisenbeton (Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1928)

Notes

References
 Sokratis Georgiadis (1993). Sigfried Giedion: An Intellectual Biography, Edinburgh University Press
 Reto Geiser. Giedion and America. Repositioning the History of Modern Architecture. gta Verlag, Zurich 2018, .
 Almut Grunewald. The Giedion World: Sigfried Giedion and Carola Giedion-Welcker in Dialogue. Translated by Bronwen Saunders. Zurich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2019. ISBN 978-3858818195.

External links
Photograph of Sigfried Giedion (broken link)
 Sigfried Giedion, Man in Equipoise (1948)
  Review of Mechanization Takes Command at ediblegeography
 Sigfried Giedion (1888–1968), gta Archives, ETH Zurich.

1888 births
1968 deaths
Architects from Prague
Swiss art historians
Swiss art critics
Swiss architectural historians
Harvard Graduate School of Design faculty
Academic staff of ETH Zurich
Modernist architects
Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne members
Swiss architecture writers
Philosophers of technology

Sigfried Giedion


Father of the Pride is an American animated television series. The series is based on Siegfried & Roy's performances.

The animation was produced by Imagi Animation Studios.

The family was conceived by Katzenberg when he visited Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden in Las Vegas in 2002.

Premise

Characters
The show revolves around the adventures of a family of white lions, consisting of father Larry, the bumbling yet well-intentioned star of Siegfried & Roy's show; Kate, a pretty, stay-at-home mother who is a member of a special women's group; Sierra, their teenage daughter who is constantly annoyed by her family; Hunter, their awkward young son, who is a huge fan of Lord of the Rings; Sarmoti, Kate's father and Sierra and Hunter's grandfather who has an annoyance for Larry; and Snack, Larry's mischievous gopher friend.

Recurring characters appear alongside the lion family; these include Larry's friends Roger, Chutney, Vincent, and Nelson; Larry's rival Blake and his wife Victoria; Sarmoti's friends Bernie, Duke, Chaz, and the Snout Brothers; Hi Larious; Kate's friends Foo-Lin, Lily, and Brittany; two lesbian gophers Chimmi & Changa; and Sierra's boyfriend Justin.

Setting

The primary setting of Father of the Pride is Las Vegas, Nevada.

Development

It took more than 200 animators 2 years to make Father of the Pride. Computer animation was produced at Imagi Animation Studios in Hong Kong.

The series employed a small group of seasoned directors, which included Mark Risley, Bret Haaland, Steve Hickner, John Holmquist, John Stevenson, and Mark Baldo. Felix Ip served as creative director for Imagi. For the first season, DreamWorks created 30 principal sets, 500 special props, and about 100 characters. In fact, a typical episode unfolds across all 30 principal sets and features two or three unique locations as well. The lion habitat is inspired by the real Secret Garden in Las Vegas, where the actual Siegfried & Roy lions reside. In Father of the Pride, the Secret Garden encompasses residences for the main characters and their families and public areas ranging from the community bar to a school classroom.

Since Larry and his family drive the story lines for most of the episodes, their residence is the most detailed, comprising separate, contiguous sets for the living room, the kitchen, and the children's bedrooms. Meanwhile, the assets are stored in individual files in order to be loaded into separate layers and assembled modularly.

Voice cast
 John Goodman as Larry
 Cheryl Hines as Kate
 Danielle Harris as Sierra
 Daryl Sabara as Hunter
 Carl Reiner as Sarmoti
 Orlando Jones as Snack
 Julian Holloway as Siegfried Fischbacher
 David Herman as Roy Horn
 John O'Hurley as Blake
 Wendie Malick as Victoria

References

Other websites
 Official website

American animated television series
English-language television programs
NBC network shows

Father of the Pride


Miguel Arias Cañete (born 24 February 1950) is a Spanish politician who served as European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action in the Juncker Commission from 2014 and 2019.

A member of the Spanish People's Party, Arias served as Minister for Agriculture, Food and Environment in the Government of Spain from 2011 until 2014, before being selected to head his Party List in the European Parliamentary elections.

Early life and education
Arias Cañete was born to Judge don Alfonso Arias de la Cuesta, and educated in Madrid, first at the Jesuit School at Chamartín before reading Law at the Universidad Complutense.

Career

After graduating in 1974, he joined the Spanish Civil Service joining the State Lawyers Corps. His first position was in the Spanish Tax Agency at Jerez de la Frontera, before transferring to the Cadiz office. In 1978 he resigned as a civil servant to become a Professor of Law at the University of Cádiz, where he remained until 1982.

Arias entered politics with the People's Alliance (AP) in 1982, serving as a member of the Parliament of Andalusia from 1982 to 1986, representing Cádiz. Arias Cañete joined the AP's national executive board during the presidency of Antonio Hernández Mancha. Once Spain joined the European Economic Community on 1 January 1986, he became a member of the European Parliament as delegate appointed by the Cortes Generales, and later, when the first election to the European Parliament took place in Spain in 1987, he was elected MEP. He served until 1999, chairing the Agricultural and Regional Politics Committees. From 1993 until 2000 he served the Spanish Senate, then was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Fishing by Prime Minister José María Aznar.

Arias Cañete unsuccessfully bid for the Mayorship of Jerez de la Frontera vis-à-vis the 1995 and 1999 local elections, serving as municipal councillor in the opposition from 1995 to 2000. He was then elected Senator representing Cádiz in the Spanish Senate (2000–2004), and from 2004 to 2008 Deputy for Cadiz in the Spanish Congress.
During the same period, he ascended inside the People's Party to "Economic Secretary" and president of its Electoral Committee.
In 2008, he was elected Representative for Madrid in the Spanish Congress and Member of the European Parliament for Electoral District Madrid, which he represented until 2014.

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment, 2011–2014
In 2011 Mariano Rajoy appointed Arias as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment in the Spanish Government. He had already served as agriculture minister from 200–2004, but the environment was a new brief for him as it was previously dealt with by a separate ministry.

During his time in office, Arias managed to get parliamentary approval of a 2013 law allowing some construction to take place closer to the coast than previously allowed, raising alarm among ecologists and opposition parties, who argued the change could further blight the Mediterranean shoreline.

European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, 2014–2019

In 2014, Arias was picked by Rajoy to lead the People's Party's list in the 2014 European elections. Following the elections, Spain nominated him for the Juncker Commission in August 2014. By early September, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker assigned Arias to the office of European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, where he became the first single supervisor of those two policy areas. He took office on 1November 2014. In this capacity, he works under the guidance of Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission Vice President for Energy Union.

He represented the European Union at international climate negotiations starting at the  2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, followed by COP21 in Paris for the signature of the Paris Agreement. Following the agreement, much of his mandate was spent updating EU climate and energy policy to bring it in line with meeting the EU's commitments under the agreement. Cañete also oversaw the introduction of a number of new climate policies during his mandate, including the Effort Sharing Regulation covering non-ETS emissions, a number of transport initiatives, and a regulation on greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). The LULUCF regulation marked the first time the commitment on LULUCF was enshrined in EU law (although Member States had undertaken the commitment previously). On climate policy, Arias Cañete has been responsible for the plan to introduce an overhaul of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme, the world's biggest cap-and-trade program.

In summer 2015, Arias Cañete launched a plan to turn the Mediterranean region into "a major gas marketplace" as part of European Union efforts to reduce dependency on dominant oil and gas supplier Russia. Shortly after, he brokered an agreement between France, Spain and Portugal on the MidCat gas pipeline intended to increase exports of Algerian gas into the European energy mix.

Later career
In June 2019, Arias Cañete announced his will to put an end to his political career once his mandate as commissioner expired on 1 November 2019, vowing to retire to his home in Jerez de la Frontera and to take care of his grandchildren.

Other activities include:
 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, Member of the Jury
 Balam Agriculture, Independent Member of the Board of Directors (since 2021)
 Beka Finance, member of the Board since 2021

Controversies
Arias has faced accusations of conflicts of interests regarding his business interests and his political posts. While serving as a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, he allegedly held interests in several agricultural businesses, leading the Spanish newspaper El País to describe him in 2014 as always being on the edge of a conflict of interest. In 2014, the environmental group Friends of the Earth and anticorruption group Corporate Europe Observatory criticised his nomination to the Climate Action and Energy portfolio due to his family's involvement in the oil industry.

Furthermore, Arias was called to give evidence before the Provincial Court of Barcelona over a friend's alleged laundering of 2 billion pesetas.

Arias was accused of sexism after Arias and his Socialist rival Elena Valenciano were featured in Spanish television's first live debate between the country's leading candidates for a European Parliament election in May 2014, Valenciano was widely perceived to have beaten him in the debate. Asked to explain his poor performance in the debate, he pointed to the fact that he was facing a woman: "If you abuse your intellectual superiority, you come across like a macho who is pushing a defenceless woman into a corner".

In September 2014, Arias sold two large shareholdings in oil companies Petrolífera Ducar and Petrologis Canarias to appease parliamentarians threatening to reject his confirmation as European Commissioner because of conflicts of interest. Also, his son resigned from their boards. As of October 2014 more than half a million people signed an Avaaz petition calling for Aria's rejection.

The Panama papers in 2016 revealed that his wife's world-renowned  bull operations, managed by their two sons, Pablo and Juan Pedro, and co-owned by her siblings, received well over $1 million in farm subsidies and her other farm, forestry and winery businesses also received EU subsidies.

Panamanian Rinconada Investments Group SA was an offshore investment company registered in 2005, listed as inactive in January 2010, which Deutsche Bank Geneva, Swiss-based financial services company Gestrust SA and Mossack Fonseca helped to create. Arias' wife and the Domecq family are politically exposed persons and were empowered to approve transactions.

Personal life
Arias, from a Spanish gentry family, is married to Micaela Domecq y Solís-Beaumont by whom he has four children. His wife's aristocratic family has long been established in the Jerez de la Frontera region of Andalusia, where they own large farming and livestock estates including the breeding of fighting bulls and have given their name to a world-famous brand of fortified wines.

Recognition
  Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III (2004)
  Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit (2011)
  Chevalier, Ordre du Mérite agricole
  Knight, Sovereign Military Order of Malta

References

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1950 births
Agriculture ministers of Spain
Complutense University of Madrid alumni
Knights of Malta
Knights of the Order of Agricultural Merit
Living people
Members of the 8th Congress of Deputies (Spain)
Members of the 9th Congress of Deputies (Spain)
Members of the 1st Parliament of Andalusia
Members of the Senate of Spain
MEPs for Spain 1986–1987
MEPs for Spain 1987–1989
MEPs for Spain 1989–1994
MEPs for Spain 2014–2019
People's Party (Spain) MEPs
Politicians from Madrid
Spanish European Commissioners
Academic staff of the University of Cádiz
Members of the State Lawyers Corps
European Commissioners 2014–2019

Miguel Arias Cañete


Eugene Kohn (January 26, 1887 – April 1, 1977) was an American Reconstructionist rabbi, writer and editor.

Born in Newark, New Jersey he attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and in 1912 received ordination. It was here that he met Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan who taught him homiletics. Between 1912 and 1939 he served as a congregational rabbi in Conservative synagogues in the U.S. states of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin and Ohio. He also served as the president of the Rabbinical assembly 1936–1937.

He played a central role in the Reconstructionist movement. He edited its journal The Reconstructionist and, alongside Kaplan and Ira Eisenstein, edited  The New Haggadah  (1941), The Sabbath Prayer Book (1945) and The Reconstructionist Prayer Book (1948). Alongside Jack Cohen, Eisenstein and Milton Steinberg he was one of Kaplan's main disciples.

Works
 Manual for Teaching Biblical History  (1917)
 The Future of Judaism in America  (1934)
 The Future of Judaism in America  (1934)
 Religion and Humanity  (1953)
 Religious Humanism: A Jewish Interpretation  (1953)
 Good to be a Jew  (1959)
 Shir Hadash (1939) (edited)
 New Haggadah (1941) (edited)
 The Sabbath Prayer Book (1945) (edited)
 The Reconstructionist Prayer Book (1948) (edited)
 Mordecai M. Kaplan: An Evaluation (1952) (edited)

References

External links

American Reconstructionist rabbis
American Conservative rabbis
American Jewish theologians
1887 births
1977 deaths
New York University alumni
Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients
Clergy from Newark, New Jersey
Religious naturalists
American Zionists
Jewish American writers
Writers from New Jersey
20th-century American rabbis
Reconstructionist Zionist rabbis

Eugene Kohn


Operation Rainfall, commonly known as oprainfall, was a video game-oriented fan campaign founded to promote the release of games not available in North America. Initially aimed at promoting the North American release of three games on the aging Wii home video game console only released in Japan and Europe, it later transitioned into a community blog dedicated to niche Japanese games and further fan campaigns aimed at the localization of Japan-exclusive games. From inception, its stated intention was to show publisher Nintendo the demand for the three chosen games.

Beginning in 2011, it was designed as a push for the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower, three games released late in the lifespan of the Wii. The campaign was acknowledged by Nintendo, and though they initially announced that they had no plans, all three games were eventually released in North America. Reception of the campaign has been favorable overall, and its perceived success when compared to similar earlier campaigns was also noted.

History

Origins
The campaign focused on three role-playing games created for Nintendo's Wii home video game console during the last years of its life: Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower. Xenoblade Chronicles, developed by Monolith Soft, was an entry in the Xeno series, initially announced as an original project dubbed Monado: Beginning of the World. The game was announced under this title at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but its title was changed to honor earlier Xeno games created by the game's writer Tetsuya Takahashi. The Last Story was developed by Mistwalker, a company created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and intended to be a game that ran contrary to typical elements of the genre based on feedback from the company's previous games Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Pandora's Tower was developed by Ganbarion, who had previously worked primarily on licensed games and pitched the concept to Nintendo after favorably impressing them with their work on Jump Ultimate Stars. Despite hopes from fans and journalists that the games would be released in North America, Nintendo gave no comment on the matter. The only explanation for the lack of localization was related to The Last Story: Nintendo stated that due to their work on Kirby's Epic Yarn and games for the new Nintendo 3DS, The Last Story was too much effort. Nintendo of Europe did want to feature Xenoblade Chronicles at E3 2011, but Nintendo's American branch prevented it without explanation. In response to this and continued silence on both The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, Operation Rainfall was born.

Concept and later development
Following the announcements concerning the three games, Operation Rainfall came into existence in an effort to persuade Nintendo to bring the games to North America. Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story were chosen for their genealogy, while Pandora's Tower was selected due to its unique mechanics and the fact that it was also published by Nintendo for the Wii. The team also decided on the games as they were already confirmed for an English release in Europe and had received critical acclaim in Japan, so they avoided trying to push for the release of critically and commercially unsuccessful games such as Earth Seeker. The campaign's name stemmed from the group's wish to reach out to Nintendo of America with requests. Beginning in June 2011 on the message boards of gaming site IGN, it was met with support from the gaming community. Its campaign was spread across letters and emails to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé, in addition to campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. Both physical and digital media were chosen for the campaign to make them more obvious and less able to be deleted, as a purely digital campaign would have been. To this end, letters and objects inspired by the games were sent to Nintendo of America.

Operation Rainfall gave itself an eighteen-month deadline, with the conclusion of their campaign planned to coincide with the release of Nintendo's new Wii U home console in November 2012. The first phase of the campaign focused on Xenoblade Chronicles, with a part of their campaign resulting in large numbers of pre-orders being placed for the game on Amazon.com under its placeholder name: the game reached #1 in the site's pre-order list, beating both The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and the PlayStation 3 bundle for Call of Duty: Black Ops. The second phase of the campaign coincided with the European release of Xenoblade Chronicles, with the aim being for fans to make Wii purchases on its release date of August 19, 2011, in addition to further letters to Nintendo of America. Following the announcement of the game's North American release, the group refocused their efforts on The Last Story. For Pandora's Tower, the campaign expanded to pitching to recognized publishers of niche Japanese games, including Atlus, Xseed Games, Aksys Games, and NIS America. To fund the campaign, they asked for donations, offering a special wallpaper in return, and for larger contributions a special slip case for all three games.

While Xenoblade Chronicles was published in North America by Nintendo, The Last Story was taken up by Xseed Games. With the announcement of the North American release of The Last Story, the fan community launched their own site. Dubbed "Oprainfall", it continued news coverage of the original three games, in addition to extending to other similar niche games and hosting fan petitions. Pandora's Tower was also eventually released in North America, once again by Xseed Games. As of 2015, the site has transitioned from a fan campaign hub to a blog and news site focusing on Japanese games considered niche in the West, in addition to continuing support for similar fan campaigns.

Public reaction
When it first appeared and gained popular support, Operation Rainfall drew considerable media attention, being covered by Kotaku, IGN, Eurogamer, GamesRadar, Joystiq, Game Informer, Destructoid, and Japanese gaming sites Inside Games and ITMedia. In addition to popular and press support, it received favorable responses from Soraya Saga, the writer for Xenogears and Xenosaga, and Mistwalker.

More extensive coverage has been given by some sites. VentureBeat noted that, while comparable with other similar campaigns, Operation Rainfall was notable for maintaining an identity during its efforts. Zach Kaplan of Nintendo Life said that the campaign needed to make a clear mark, showing that the success of the then-announced Xenoblade Chronicles was not a fluke. In a later feature for the same website, Thomas Whitehead said that the otherwise niche and slightly unremarkable Pandora's Tower had been granted a level of mystery and anticipation among fans through its inclusion in the Operation Rainfall campaign. In an interview feature conducted after the announcement of a North American release for Pandora's Tower, PC World noted that Operation Rainfall was going against the trend with its complete success in pushing to bring all three games to North America. In particular, it compared them to the unsuccessful efforts by fans to bring Japan-exclusive installments of the Mother series to the West.

The campaign was also noted by the game's publishers. Nintendo acknowledged the campaign and its effort in the same month it began, but said that there were no plans to release the three games in North America. Three months into the campaign, several Nintendo employees were asking the group to stop their campaign. In 2013, speaking about Xenoblade Chronicles, Fils-Aimé said that while the campaign had not been a decisive factor in their ultimate decision to release the game in North America, they did take it into consideration. In an interview concerning their role in localizing The Last Story, Xseed stated that Nintendo had long been open to partnering with another company for a North American release, and that Operation Rainfall had not influenced Nintendo. Later, in their press announcement concerning Pandora's Tower, they acknowledged that it was a game with a "vocal" fan base, but did not mention Operation Rainfall by name. They also stated that it was the positive sales and fan efforts for The Last Story that prompted them to release the game in North America.

References

External links

Video game news websites
Video game culture
Video game fansites
Nintendo
Video game organizations
Video game journalism
Video game fandom
Xenoblade Chronicles

Operation Rainfall


The German Confederation (, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806.

The Confederation had only one organ, the Federal Convention (also Federal Assembly or Confederate Diet). The Convention consisted of the representatives of the member states. The most important issues had to be decided on unanimously. The Convention was presided over by the representative of Austria. This was a formality, however, as the Confederation did not have a head of state, since it was not a state.

The Confederation, on the one hand, was a strong alliance between its member states because federal law was superior to state law (the decisions of the Federal Convention were binding for the member states). Additionally, the Confederation had been established for eternity and was impossible to dissolve (legally), with no member states being able to leave it and no new member being able join without universal consent in the Federal Convention. On the other hand, the Confederation was weakened by its very structure and member states, partly because most important decisions in the Federal Convention required unanimity and the purpose of the Confederation was limited to only security matters. On top of that, the functioning of the Confederation depended on the cooperation of the two most populous member states, Austria and Prussia which in reality were often in opposition.

The German revolutions of 1848–1849, motivated by liberal, democratic, socialist, and nationalist sentiments, attempted to transform the Confederation into a unified German federal state with a liberal constitution (usually called the Frankfurt Constitution in English). The Federal Convention was dissolved on 12 July 1848, but was re-established in 1850 after the revolution was crushed by Austria, Prussia, and other states.

The Confederation was finally dissolved after the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia in the Seven Weeks' War over the Austrian Empire in 1866. The dispute over which had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favour of Prussia, leading to the creation of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership in 1867, to which the eastern portions of the Kingdom of Prussia were added. A number of South German states remained independent until they joined the North German Confederation, which was renamed and proclaimed as the "German Empire" in 1871, as the unified Germany (aside from Austria) with the Prussian king as emperor (Kaiser) after the victory over French Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

Most historians have judged the Confederation to have been weak and ineffective, as well as an obstacle to the creation of a German nation-state. This weakness was part of its design, as the European Great Powers, including Prussia and especially Austria, did not want it to become a nation-state. However, the Confederation was not a 'loose' tie between the German states, as it was impossible to leave the Confederation, and as Confederation law stood above the law of the aligned states. The constitutional weakness of the Confederation lay in the principle of unanimity in the Diet and the limits of the Confederation's scope: it was essentially a military alliance to defend Germany against external attacks and internal riots. Ironically, the War of 1866 proved its ineffectiveness, as it was unable to combine the federal troops in order to fight the Prussian secession.

History

Background

The War of the Third Coalition lasted from about 1803 to 1806. Following defeat at the Battle of  by the French under Napoleon in December 1805, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated, and the Empire was dissolved on 6 August 1806.  The resulting Treaty of  established the Confederation of the Rhine in July 1806, joining sixteen of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and ).  After the Battle of  of October 1806 in the War of the Fourth Coalition, various other German states, including Saxony and Westphalia, also joined the Confederation.  Only Austria, Prussia, Danish , Swedish Pomerania, and the French-occupied Principality of Erfurt stayed outside the Confederation of the Rhine.  The War of the Sixth Coalition from 1812 to winter 1814 saw the defeat of Napoleon and the liberation of Germany. In June 1814, the famous German patriot Heinrich vom Stein created the Central Managing Authority for Germany (Zentralverwaltungsbehörde) in Frankfurt to replace the defunct Confederation of the Rhine. However, plenipotentiaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna were determined to create a weaker union of German states than envisaged by Stein.

Establishment
The German Confederation was created by the 9th Act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris, ending the War of the Sixth Coalition.

The Confederation was formally created by a second treaty, the Final Act of the Ministerial Conference to Complete and Consolidate the Organization of the German Confederation. This treaty was not concluded and signed by the parties until 15 May 1820. States joined the German Confederation by becoming parties to the second treaty. The states designated for inclusion in the Confederation were:

In 1839, as compensation for the loss of part of the province of  to Belgium, the Duchy of Limburg was created and became a member of the German Confederation (held by the Netherlands jointly with Luxembourg) until the dissolution of 1866. In 1867 the duchy was declared to be an "integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands". The cities of Maastricht and Venlo were not included in the Confederation.

The Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia were the largest and by far the most powerful members of the Confederation. Large parts of both countries were not included in the Confederation, because they had not been part of the former Holy Roman Empire, nor were the greater parts of their armed forces been incorporated in the federal army. Austria and Prussia each had one vote in the Federal Assembly.

Six other major states had one vote each in the Federal Assembly: the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Kingdom of Saxony, the Kingdom of , the Electorate of Hesse, the Grand Duchy of Baden, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse.

Three foreign monarchs ruled member states: the King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg; the King of the Netherlands as Grand Duke of Luxembourg and (from 1839) Duke of Limburg; and the King of the United Kingdom (until 1837) as King of Hanover were members of the German Confederation. Each of them had a vote in the Federal Assembly. At its foundation in 1815, four member states were ruled by foreign monarchs, as the King of Denmark was Duke of both Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg.

The four free cities of , , , and  shared one vote in the Federal Assembly.

The 23 remaining states (at its formation in 1815) shared five votes in the Federal Assembly:

 Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Saxe-Hildburghausen (5 states)
 Brunswick and Nassau (2 states)
 Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz (2 states)
 Oldenburg, Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (6 states)
 Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Liechtenstein, Reuss (Elder Branch), Reuss (Younger Branch), Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe and Waldeck (8 states)

There were therefore 17 votes in the Federal Assembly.

Military

Activities
The rules of the Confederation provided for three different types of military interventions:
 the federal war (Bundeskrieg) against an external enemy who attacks federal territory,
 the federal execution (Bundesexekution) against the government of a member state that violates federal law,
 the federal intervention (Bundesintervention) supporting a government that is under pressure of a popular uprising.
Other military conflicts were foreign to the confederation (bundesfremd). An example is Austria's oppression of the uprising in Northern Italy in 1848 and 1849, as these Austrian territories lay outside of the confederation's borders.

During the existence of the Confederation, there was only one federal war: the war against Denmark beginning with the Schleswig-Holstein uprising in 1848 (the First Schleswig War). The conflict became a federal war when the Bundestag demanded from Denmark to withdraw its troops from Schleswig (April 12) and recognized the revolutionary of Schleswig-Holstein (April 22). The confederation was transformed into the German Empire of 1848. Prussia was de facto the most important member state conducting the war for Germany.

There are several examples for federal executions and especially federal interventions. In 1863, the Confederation ordered a federal execution against the duke of Holstein (the Danish king). Federal troops occupied Holstein which was a member state. After this, Austria and Prussia declared war on Denmark, the Second Schleswig War (or Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg in German). As Schleswig and Denmark were no member states, this war was foreign to the Confederation. The Confederation took no part in this war.

A federal intervention confronted for example the raid of the revolutionaries in Baden in April 1848.

In June 1866, the Federal Convention decided to takes measures against Prussia. This decision was technically not a federal execution for a lack of time to observe the actual procedure. Prussia had violated, according to the majority of the convention, federal law by sending its troops to Holstein. The decision led to the war in summer 1866 that ended with the dissolution of the confederation (known as Seven Weeks War or by other names).

Armed forces
The German Federal Army (Deutsches Bundesheer) was supposed to collectively defend the German Confederation from external enemies, primarily France. Successive laws passed by the Confederate Diet set the form and function of the army, as well as contribution limits of the member states. The Diet had the power to declare war and was responsible for appointing a supreme commander of the army and commanders of the individual army corps. This made mobilization extremely slow and added a political dimension to the army. In addition, the Diet oversaw the construction and maintenance of several German Federal Fortresses and collected funds annually from the member states for this purpose.

Projections of army strength were published in 1835, but the work of forming the Army Corps did not commence until 1840 as a consequence of the Rhine Crisis. Money for the fortresses were determined by an act of the Confederate Diet in that year. By 1846, Luxemburg still had not formed its own contingent, and Prussia was rebuffed for offering to supply 1,450 men to garrison the Luxemburg fortress that should have been supplied by Waldeck and the two Lippes. In that same year, it was decided that a common symbol for the Federal Army should be the old Imperial two-headed eagle, but without crown, scepter, or sword, as any of those devices encroached on the individual sovereignty of the states. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was among those who derided the "disarmed imperial eagle" as a national symbol.

The German Federal Army was divided into ten Army Corps (later expanded to include a Reserve Corps). However, the Army Corps were not exclusive to the German Confederation but composed from the national armies of the member states, and did not include all of the armed forces of a state. For example, Prussia's army consisted of nine Army Corps but contributed only three to the German Federal Army.

The strength of the mobilized German Federal Army was projected to total 303,484 men in 1835 and 391,634 men in 1860, with the individual states providing the following figures:

 Notes

Situation in history
Between 1806 and 1815, Napoleon organized the German states, aside from Prussia and Austria, into the Confederation of the Rhine, but this collapsed after his defeats in 1812 to 1815.  The German Confederation had roughly the same boundaries as the Empire at the time of the French Revolution (less what is now Belgium).  It also kept intact most of Confederation's reconstituted member states and their boundaries.  The member states, drastically reduced to 39 from more than 300 (see ) under the Holy Roman Empire, were recognized as fully sovereign.  The members pledged themselves to mutual defense, and joint maintenance of the fortresses at Mainz, the city of Luxembourg, , , and .

The only organ of the Confederation was the Federal Assembly (officially , often called ), which consisted of the delegates of the states' governments. There was no head of state, but the Austrian delegate presided over the Assembly (according to the Bundesakte). Austria did not have extra powers, but consequently the Austrian delegate was called  and Austria the  (presiding power). The Assembly met in Frankfurt.

The Confederation was enabled to accept and deploy ambassadors. It allowed ambassadors of the European powers to the Assembly, but rarely deployed ambassadors itself.

During the revolution of 1848/49 the Federal Assembly was inactive. It transferred its powers to the , the revolutionary German Central Government of the Frankfurt National Assembly. After crushing the revolution and illegally disbanding the National Assembly, the Prussian King failed to create a German nation state by himself. The Federal Assembly was revived in 1850 on Austrian initiative, but only fully reinstalled in the Summer of 1851.

Rivalry between Prussia and Austria grew more and more, especially after 1859. The Confederation was dissolved in 1866 after the Austro-Prussian War, and was succeeded in 1866 by the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation. Unlike the German Confederation, the North German Confederation was in fact a true state. Its territory comprised the parts of the German Confederation north of the river Main, plus Prussia's eastern territories and the Duchy of , but excluded Austria and the other southern German states.

Prussia's influence was widened by the Franco-Prussian War resulting in the proclamation of the German Empire at  on 18 January 1871, which united the North German Federation with the southern German states. All the constituent states of the former German Confederation became part of the  in 1871, except Austria, Luxembourg, the Duchy of Limburg, and Liechtenstein.

Impact of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic invasions

The late 18th century was a period of political, economic, intellectual, and cultural reforms, the Enlightenment (represented by figures such as Locke, , , and Adam Smith), but also involving early Romanticism, and climaxing with the French Revolution, where freedom of the individual and nation was asserted against privilege and custom.  Representing a great variety of types and theories, they were largely a response to the disintegration of previous cultural patterns, coupled with new patterns of production, specifically the rise of industrial capitalism.

However, the defeat of Napoleon enabled conservative and reactionary regimes such as those of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and Tsarist Russia to survive, laying the groundwork for the Congress of Vienna and the alliance that strove to oppose radical demands for change ushered in by the French Revolution. With Austria's position on the continent now intact and ostensibly secure under its reactionary premier , the Habsburg empire would serve as a barrier to contain the emergence of Italian and German nation-states as well, in addition to containing France.  But this reactionary balance of power, aimed at blocking German and Italian nationalism on the continent, was precarious.

After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, the surviving member states of the defunct Holy Roman Empire joined to form the German Confederation ()a rather loose organization, especially because the two great rivals, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, each feared domination by the other.

In Prussia the  rulers forged a centralized state.  By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia, grounded in the virtues of its established military aristocracy (the ) and stratified by rigid hierarchical lines, had been surpassed militarily and economically by France.  After 1807, Prussia's defeats by Napoleonic France highlighted the need for administrative, economic, and social reforms to improve the efficiency of the bureaucracy and encourage practical merit-based education.  Inspired by the Napoleonic organization of German and Italian principalities, the Prussian Reform Movement led by  and Count  was conservative, enacted to preserve aristocratic privilege while modernizing institutions.

Outside Prussia, industrialization progressed slowly, and was held back because of political disunity, conflicts of interest between the nobility and merchants, and the continued existence of the guild system, which discouraged competition and innovation. While this kept the middle class at bay, affording the old order a measure of stability not seen in France, Prussia's vulnerability to Napoleon's military proved to many among the old order that a fragile, divided, and traditionalist Germany would be easy prey for its cohesive and industrializing neighbor.

The reforms laid the foundation for Prussia's future military might by professionalizing the military and decreeing universal military conscription. In order to industrialize Prussia, working within the framework provided by the old aristocratic institutions, land reforms were enacted to break the monopoly of the s on land ownership, thereby also abolishing, among other things, the feudal practice of serfdom.

Romanticism, nationalism, and liberalism in the  era
Although the forces unleashed by the French Revolution were seemingly under control after the Vienna Congress, the conflict between conservative forces and liberal nationalists was only deferred at best.  The era until the failed 1848 revolution, in which these tensions built up, is commonly referred to as  ("pre-March"), in reference to the outbreak of riots in March 1848.

This conflict pitted the forces of the old order against those inspired by the French Revolution and the Rights of Man.  The breakdown of the competition was, roughly, the emerging capitalist bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeoisie (engaged mostly in commerce, trade, and industry), and the growing (and increasingly radicalized) industrial working class; and the other side associated with landowning aristocracy or military aristocracy (the s) in Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy in Austria, and the conservative notables of the small princely states and city-states in Germany.

Meanwhile, demands for change from below had been fomenting due to the influence of the French Revolution.  Throughout the German Confederation, Austrian influence was paramount, drawing the ire of the nationalist movements.   considered nationalism, especially the nationalist youth movement, the most pressing danger: German nationalism might not only repudiate Austrian dominance of the Confederation, but also stimulate nationalist sentiment within the Austrian Empire itself.  In a multi-national polyglot state in which Slavs and Magyars outnumbered the Germans, the prospects of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Serb, or Croatian sentiment along with middle class liberalism was certainly horrifying to the monarchist landed aristocracy.

Figures like , , , , , , and  rose in the  era. Father 's gymnastic associations exposed middle class German youth to nationalist and democratic ideas, which took the form of the nationalistic and liberal democratic college fraternities known as the .  The Wartburg Festival in 1817 celebrated Martin Luther as a proto-German nationalist, linking Lutheranism to German nationalism, and helping arouse religious sentiments for the cause of German nationhood.  The festival culminated in the burning of several books and other items that symbolized reactionary attitudes.  One item was a book by .  In 1819,  was accused of spying for Russia, and then murdered by a theological student, , who was executed for the crime.  Sand belonged to a militant nationalist faction of the .   used the murder as a pretext to issue the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, which dissolved the , cracked down on the liberal press, and seriously restricted academic freedom.

High culture

German artists and intellectuals, heavily influenced by the French Revolution, turned to Romanticism.  At the universities, high-powered professors developed international reputations, especially in the humanities led by history and philology, which brought a new historical perspective to the study of political history, theology, philosophy, language, and literature.  With  (1770–1831) in philosophy,  (1768–1834) in theology and  (1795–1886) in history, the University of Berlin, founded in 1810, became the world's leading university.  , for example, professionalized history and set the world standard for historiography.  By the 1830s, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology had emerged with world class science, led by  (1769–1859) in natural science and  (1777–1855) in mathematics.  Young intellectuals often turned to politics, but their support for the failed Revolution of 1848 forced many into exile.

Population

Demographic transition
The population of the German Confederation (excluding Austria) grew 60% from 1815 to 1865, from 21,000,000 to 34,000,000. The era saw the demographic transition take place in Germany. It was a transition from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth and death rates as the country developed from a pre-industrial to a modernized agriculture and supported a fast-growing industrialized urban economic system. In previous centuries, the shortage of land meant that not everyone could marry, and marriages took place after age 25. The high birthrate was offset by a very high rate of infant mortality, plus periodic epidemics and harvest failures. After 1815, increased agricultural productivity meant a larger food supply, and a decline in famines, epidemics, and malnutrition. This allowed couples to marry earlier, and have more children. Arranged marriages became uncommon as young people were now allowed to choose their own marriage partners, subject to a veto by the parents. The upper and middle classes began to practice birth control, and a little later so too did the peasants. The population in 1800 was heavily rural, with only 8% of the people living in communities of 5,000 to 100,000 and another 2% living in cities of more than 100,000.

Nobility
In a heavily agrarian society, land ownership played a central role. Germany's nobles, especially those in the East called , dominated not only the localities, but also the Prussian court, and especially the Prussian army.  Increasingly after 1815, a centralized Prussian government based in Berlin took over the powers of the nobles, which in terms of control over the peasantry had been almost absolute.  They retained control of the judicial system on their estates until 1848, as well as control of hunting and game laws.  They paid no land tax until 1861 and kept their police authority until 1872, and controlled church affairs into the early 20th century.  To help the nobility avoid indebtedness, Berlin set up a credit institution to provide capital loans in 1809, and extended the loan network to peasants in 1849.  When the German Empire was established in 1871, the nobility controlled the army and the Navy, the bureaucracy, and the royal court; they generally set governmental policies.

Peasantry
Peasants continued to center their lives in the village, where they were members of a corporate body and helped manage community resources and monitor community life. In the East, they were serfs who were bound prominently to parcels of land. In most of Germany, farming was handled by tenant farmers who paid rents and obligatory services to the landlord, who was typically a nobleman. Peasant leaders supervised the fields and ditches and grazing rights, maintained public order and morals, and supported a village court which handled minor offenses. Inside the family, the patriarch made all the decisions and tried to arrange advantageous marriages for his children. Much of the villages' communal life centered around church services and holy days. In Prussia, the peasants drew lots to choose conscripts required by the army. The noblemen handled external relationships and politics for the villages under their control, and were not typically involved in daily activities or decisions.

Rapidly growing cities
After 1815, the urban population grew rapidly, due primarily to the influx of young people from the rural areas. Berlin grew from 172,000 people in 1800 to 826,000 in 1870; Hamburg grew from 130,000 to 290,000; Munich from 40,000 to 269,000;  (now ) from 60,000 to 208,000; Dresden from 60,000 to 177,000;  (now Kaliningrad) from 55,000 to 112,000.  Offsetting this growth, there was extensive emigration, especially to the United States.  Emigration totaled 480,000 in the 1840s, 1,200,000 in the 1850s, and 780,000 in the 1860s.

Ethnic minorities
Despite its name and intention, the German Confederation was not entirely populated by Germans; many people of other ethnic groups lived within its borders:
 French-speaking Walloons lived in western Luxembourg prior to its division in 1839;
 the Duchy of Limburg (a member between 1839 and 1866) had an entirely Dutch population;
 Italians and Slovenians lived in south and southeast Austria;
 Bohemia and Moravia, of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were inhabited by a majority of Czechs;
 Silesia had also a Polish and Czech inhabitants, while Sorbs were present in the parts of Saxony and the Prussian province of Brandenburg known as Lusatia
 Prussian part of the partitions of Poland was inhabited by a majority of Poles.

: economic integration

Further efforts to improve the confederation began in 1834 with the establishment of a customs union, the .  In 1834, the Prussian regime sought to stimulate wider trade advantages and industrialism by decreea logical continuation of the program of  and  less than two decades earlier.  Historians have seen three Prussian goals: as a political tool to eliminate Austrian influence in Germany; as a way to improve the economies; and to strengthen Germany against potential French aggression while reducing the economic independence of smaller states.

Inadvertently, these reforms sparked the unification movement and augmented a middle class demanding further political rights, but at the time backwardness and Prussia's fears of its stronger neighbors were greater concerns.  The customs union opened up a common market, ended tariffs between states, and standardized weights, measures, and currencies within member states (excluding Austria), forming the basis of a proto-national economy.

By 1842 the  included most German states.  Within the next twenty years, the output of German furnaces increased fourfold.  Coal production grew rapidly as well.  In turn, German industry (especially the works established by the  family) introduced the steel gun, cast-steel axle, and a breech-loading rifle, exemplifying Germany's successful application of technology to weaponry.  Germany's security was greatly enhanced, leaving the Prussian state and the landowning aristocracy secure from outside threat. German manufacturers also produced heavily for the civilian sector.  No longer would Britain supply half of Germany's needs for manufactured goods, as it did beforehand. However, by developing a strong industrial base, the Prussian state strengthened the middle class and thus the nationalist movement. Economic integration, especially increased national consciousness among the German states, made political unity a far likelier scenario.  Germany finally began exhibiting all the features of a proto-nation.

The crucial factor enabling Prussia's conservative regime to survive the  era was a rough coalition between leading sectors of the landed upper class and the emerging commercial and manufacturing interests. Even if the commercial and industrial element is weak, it must be strong enough (or soon become strong enough) to become worthy of co-optation, and the French Revolution terrified enough perceptive elements of Prussia's s for the state to be sufficiently accommodating.

While relative stability was maintained until 1848, with enough bourgeois elements still content to exchange the "right to rule for the right to make money", the landed upper class found its economic base sinking. While the  brought economic progress and helped to keep the bourgeoisie at bay for a while, it increased the ranks of the middle class swiftlythe very social base for the nationalism and liberalism that the Prussian state sought to stem.

The  was a move toward economic integration, modern industrial capitalism, and the victory of centralism over localism, quickly bringing to an end the era of guilds in the small German princely states. This led to the 1844 revolt of the Silesian Weavers, who saw their livelihood destroyed by the flood of new manufactures.

The  also weakened Austrian domination of the Confederation as economic unity increased the desire for political unity and nationalism.

Revolutions of 1848

News of the 1848 Revolution in Paris quickly reached discontented bourgeois liberals, republicans and more radical working-men.  The first revolutionary uprisings in Germany began in the state of  in March 1848.  Within a few days, there were revolutionary uprisings in other states including Austria, and finally in Prussia.  On 15 March 1848, the subjects of  of Prussia vented their long-repressed political aspirations in violent rioting in Berlin, while barricades were erected in the streets of Paris.  King  of France fled to Great Britain.   gave in to the popular fury, and promised a constitution, a parliament, and support for German unification, safeguarding his own rule and regime.

On 18 May, the Frankfurt Parliament (Frankfurt Assembly) opened its first session, with delegates from various German states.  It was immediately divided between those favoring a  (small German) or  (greater German) solution.  The former favored offering the imperial crown to Prussia.  The latter favored the Habsburg crown in Vienna, which would integrate Austria proper and Bohemia (but not Hungary) into the new Germany.

In May to August, the Assembly installed a provisional German Central Government, while conservatives swiftly moved against the reformers.  As in Austria and Russia, this middle-class assertion increased authoritarian and reactionary sentiments among the landed upper class, whose economic position was declining. They turned to political levers to preserve their rule. As the Prussian army proved loyal, and the peasants were uninterested,  regained his confidence.  The Assembly belatedly issued its Declaration of the Rights of the German People; a constitution was drawn up (excluding Austria, which openly rejected the Assembly), and the leadership of the  was offered to , who refused to "pick up a crown from the gutter".  As the monarchist forces marched their armies to crush rebellions in cities and towns throughout Austria and Germany the Frankfurt Assembly was forced to flee, first to Stuttgart and then to Württemberg, where, reduced to so few deputies that it could no longer form a quorum, its final meeting was forcibly dispersed on 18 June 1849 by the Württemberg army.  With the complete triumph of monarchist reaction rampaging across all of Europe, thousands of German middle class liberals and "red" Forty-eighters were forced to flee into exile (primarily to the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia).

In 1849,  proposed his own constitution.  His document concentrated real power in the hands of the King and the upper classes, and called for a confederation of North German statesthe Erfurt Union.  Austria and Russia, fearing a strong, Prussian-dominated Germany, responded by pressuring Saxony and Hanover to withdraw, and forced Prussia to abandon the scheme in a treaty dubbed the "humiliation of ".

Dissolution of the Confederation

Rise of Bismarck
A new generation of statesmen responded to popular demands for national unity for their own ends, continuing Prussia's tradition of autocracy and reform from above.  Germany found an able leader to accomplish the seemingly paradoxical task of conservative modernization. In 1851, Bismarck was appointed by King Wilhelm I of Prussia (the future Kaiser Wilhelm I) to circumvent the liberals in the Landtag of Prussia, who resisted Wilhelm's autocratic militarism. Bismarck told the Diet, "The great questions of the day are not decided by speeches and majority votes ... but by blood and iron" –  that is, by warfare and industrial might. Prussia already had a great army; it was now augmented by rapid growth of economic power.

Gradually, Bismarck subdued the more restive elements of the middle class with a combination of threats and reforms, reacting to the revolutionary sentiments expressed in 1848 by providing them with the economic opportunities for which the urban middle sectors had been fighting.

Seven Weeks' War
The German Confederation ended as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 between the Austrian Empire and its allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia and its allies on the other. The Confederation had 33 members immediately before its dissolution. In the Prague peace treaty, on 23 August 1866, Austria had to accept that the Confederation was dissolved. The following day, the remaining member states confirmed the dissolution. The treaty allowed Prussia to create a new  (a new kind of federation) in the North of Germany. The South German states were allowed to create a South German Confederation but this did not come into existence.

North German Confederation
Prussia created the North German Confederation in 1867, a federal state combining all German states north of the river Main and also the Hohenzollern territories in Swabia. Besides Austria, the South German states Bavaria, , , and Hesse- remained separate from the rest of Germany. However, due to the successful prosecution of the Franco-Prussian War, the four southern states joined the North German Confederation by treaties in November 1870.

German Empire
As the Franco-Prussian War drew to a close, King Ludwig II of Bavaria was persuaded to ask King Wilhelm to assume the crown of the new German Empire. On 1 January 1871, the Empire was declared by the presiding princes and generals in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, near Paris. The Diet of the North German Confederation moved to rename the North German Confederation as the German Empire and gave the title of German Emperor to the King of Prussia. The new constitution of the state, the Constitution of the German Confederation, effectively transformed the Diet of the Confederation into the German Parliament (Reichstag).

Legacy

The modern German nation state known as the Federal Republic is the continuation of the North German Confederation of 1867. This North German Confederation, a federal state, was a totally new creation: the law of the German Confederation ended, and new law came into existence. The German Confederation was, according to historian Kotulla, an association of states (Staatenbund) with some elements of a federal state (Bundesstaat), and the North German Confederation was a federal state with some elements of an association of states.

Still, the discussions and ideas of the period 1815–66 had a huge influence on the constitution of the North German Confederation. Most notably may be the Federal Council, the organ representing the member states. It is a certain copy of the 1815 Federal Convention of the German Confederation. The successor of that Federal Council of 1867 is the modern Bundesrat of the Federal Republic.

The German Confederation does not play a very prominent role in German historiography and national culture. It is mainly seen negatively as an instrument to oppress the liberal, democratic and national movements of the period. On the contrary, the March revolution (1849/49) with its events and institutions attract much more attention and partially devotion. The most important memorial sites are the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, which is now a cultural hall of national importance, and the Rastatt castle with the Erinnerungsstätte für die Freiheitsbewegungen in der deutschen Geschichte (a museum and memorial site for the freedom movements in the German history, not only the March revolution).

The remnants of the federal fortifications are certain tourists attractions at least regionally or for people interested in military history.

Territorial legacy

The current countries whose territory were partly or entirely located inside the boundaries of the German Confederation 1815–1866 are:
 Germany (all states except Southern  in the north of )
 Austria (all states except )
 Luxembourg (entire territory)
 Liechtenstein (entire territory)
 Netherlands (Duchy of Limburg, was a member of the Confederation from 1839 until 1866)
 Czech Republic (entire territory)
 Slovenia (except for  and the municipalities of ,  and )
 Poland (West Pomeranian Voivodship,  Voivodship, Lower Silesian Voivodship,  Voivodship, part of Silesia –  overwhelmingly German speaking at the time; East Prussia, West Prussia, and much of the Grand Duchy of Posen were admitted into the Confederation on 11 April 1848, but the terms of the restored Confederate Diet removed these territories on 30 May 1851)
 Belgium (nine of the eleven cantons of Eupen-Malmedy, Liège Province); the larger province of Luxembourg had left the Confederation at its accession to Belgium in 1839
 Italy (autonomous region of /, the Province of Trieste, most of the Province of Gorizia except the  enclave, and the municipalities of , , , , , and  in the Province of Udine)
 Croatia (the  territory in Istria county and the coastal strip between  and  in the Liburnia region)

Denmark proper has never been a member state, but its king was at the same time the duke of the member states Holstein and Lauenburg. The Duchy of Schleswig (which nowadays partially belongs to Denmark) was never a part of the Confederation although it was mentioned in the 1849 Frankfurt Constitution and governed briefly by a government installed by the German Central Government. However, Holstein, Lauenburg and Schleswig were combined under an Austrian-Prussian condominium in 1864–1866.

See also

 States of the German Confederation
 History of Germany
 German Empire
 North German Confederation
 Former countries in Europe after 1815
 Federal Convention
 Frankfurt Parliament

Notes

References

  (in German, detailed maps)

Further reading

History of Prussia
Modern history of Austria
Modern history of Germany
Pan-Germanism
19th century in Germany
19th century in Prussia
States and territories established in 1815
States and territories disestablished in 1848
States and territories established in 1850
States and territories disestablished in 1866
1815 establishments in Europe
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.
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1866 disestablishments in Europe
.
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German Confederation


Tawa is a heritage-listed cottage at 9 Boulton Street, Toowoomba City, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built circa 1860s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 October 1994.

History
Erected reputedly during the mid 1850s, this single storey brick cottage survives as one of the earliest dwellings in Toowoomba.

In April 1849, Surveyor JC Burnett laid out 12 allotments on the left bank of the West Swamp. The allotments ranged in size from 27-40 acres, and were known as the Drayton Swamp Agricultural Reserve. Six of these "Swamp allotments" were offered at auction in November 1849. As there were no bidders for these allotments, they were resubmitted to auction in October 1850, at which time William Horton, a publican of Drayton, acquired allotments five and six. Allotments one to four and the remaining six allotments were auctioned in March 1851; allotments seven to nine were acquired by Horton and allotments 10–12 were purchased by Sydney businessmen Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and Alexander Campbell Brown, and their Toowoomba partner Thomas Ayerst. The remaining allotments one to four were sold in July 1857.

Tawa is located on part of allotment 11 acquired by Mort, Brown and Ayerst. By 1855, Mort had acquired the three allotments in his own name; this area of Toowoomba came to be known as the Mort Estate.

Mort had arrived in Sydney in 1838, and during the early 1840s, proceeded to establish his reputation as an auctioneer, and was particularly involved in wool sales. From 1850–51, Mort, who by this time was considered the premier auctioneer in Sydney, entered into a business partnership with Brown, as Mort and Brown. Mort's wealth multiplied during the 1850s as a result of successful speculation in pastoral properties. Mort's later business ventures were undertaken through Mort and Co, established in 1855, and which included Mort's brother, Henry.

In December 1862, Martin Boulton of Toowoomba acquired subdivisions 21-24 of allotment 11. Prior to moving to Toowoomba, Boulton had operated a General Store in Leyburn. Boulton, a brother-in-law of prominent Toowoomba businessmen Thomas Alford, Joseph King and James Taylor, was actively involved in the granting of municipality status to Toowoomba (1860) and was elected as a member of the first Toowoomba Town Council.

Boulton had commenced subdividing the land by 1864, and established a row of terrace cottages on the Mort Estate which came to be known as Boulton Terrace. Boulton took out a mortgage on the land in 1866, increasing his borrowing the following year. Boulton was declared insolvent later in 1867, and the property taken over by the Bank of New South Wales.

An application for the land to be bought under the Real Property system in 1881, mentioned Boulton, Alfred Smith, George Weale and Stephen H Wichello as tenants of the land. A lease was issued to Wichello, a Toowoomba tanner, from July 1882.

The property was progressively subdivided from November 1891 and changed hands a number of times. By 1970 the front of Tawa had been enclosed with fibro. Tawa was renovated in 1971, at which time the fibro was removed, and wallpaper replaced with paper to match the original wallpaper. Norman and Elizabeth Oliver, owners of Tawa from 1971 to 1974, opened Tawa to the public.

Tawa was acquired by the present owners in 1979. A two-storeyed extension to the rear of Tawa was completed in 1983, and constructed of brick recycled from the old Toowoomba General Hospital.

Description
Tawa, a small single-storeyed brick residence with a steeply pitched hipped corrugated iron roof, is located fronting Boulton Street to the east.

The building has a verandah to the east with a concave corrugated iron awning supported by cast iron columns, stamped BUBB & SON, and a timber floor. The central entry has a panelled timber door with fanlight, and is flanked by a French door to either side. There are two rendered chimney stacks on the southern side, and the building has timber sash windows with arched headers. The northern and southern elevations are face brick, the eastern is rendered, and the western is partly rendered showing evidence of earlier additions which have been removed. A timber passage with a corrugated iron gable roof connects to a recent free standing structure to the west.

Internally, the plan consists of four rooms with a central rear foyer. Walls are rendered brick with wallpaper (with some evidence of earlier wallpaper), ceilings are hardboard with timber cover strips below early plaster and lathe, and cedar joinery includes panelled doors, architraves and skirtings. The two fireplaces have timber surrounds, and the floors consist of pitsawn boards with carpet over.

A narrow driveway is located on the northern side of the house, accessing the rear of the property, and an iron fence consisting of security grilles from the Baillie Henderson Hospital in Toowoomba is a recent addition to the eastern boundary.

Heritage listing
Tawa was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 October 1994 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.

Tawa survives as one of the earliest dwellings in Toowoomba, and is important in demonstrating the pattern of development of Toowoomba as a residential location from the 1850s.

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

The building, located in one of Toowoomba's earliest residential subdivisions, is important in demonstrating 1860s methods of design and construction and makes a strong aesthetic contribution to the Boulton Street streetscape.

The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

The building, located in one of Toowoomba's earliest residential subdivisions, is important in demonstrating 1860s methods of design and construction and makes a strong aesthetic contribution to the Boulton Street streetscape.

The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

Located in Boulton Street, Tawa maintains an association with Martin Boulton, a prominent Toowoomba businessman. Tawa is also associated with Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, one of the land speculators in Toowoomba during the 1850s.

References

Attribution

External links

Queensland Heritage Register
Buildings and structures in Toowoomba
Houses in Queensland
Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register
Toowoomba City, Queensland

Tawa, Toowoomba


Man Alive is a Canadian television program about faith and spirituality. It took its name from a poem by St. Irenaeus, a 2nd-century Bishop of Lyon who wrote: The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God. The program debuted in 1967 on CBC Television, and was hosted by Roy Bonisteel for more than two decades. After several seasons of co-productions with Vision TV and the Life Network, the last episode aired on CBC Television on December 17, 2000.

Bonisteel retired in 1989, and was replaced by Peter Downie who left in 1993. Arthur Kent succeeded Downie for one season, and then R. H. Thomson hosted until the program was cancelled.

Man Alive took a diverse non-denominational approach to religious and spiritual matters. The program covered a wide range of topics: nuclear war, UFOs, Holocaust survivors, sexual abuse, Third World development, family relationships, people with disabilities, the Vatican Bank scandal and profiles of religious figures such as Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama.

References

External links
 Queen's University Directory of CBC Television Series (Man Alive archived listing link via archive.org)
 Museum of Broadcast Communications: Man Alive
  Man Alive segment; last updated 7 April 2005.
 CBC Digital Archives – Man Alive

Canadian religious television series
Religious mass media in Canada
CBC Television original programming
1967 Canadian television series debuts
2000 Canadian television series endings
1960s Canadian documentary television series
1970s Canadian documentary television series
1980s Canadian documentary television series
1990s Canadian documentary television series
2000s Canadian documentary television series

Man Alive (Canadian TV program)


Variations on "America" is a composition for organ by the American composer Charles Ives.

Composition
Composed in 1891 when Ives was seventeen, it is an arrangement of a traditional tune, known as "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" (words by Samuel Francis Smith), and was at the time the de facto anthem of the United States. The tune is also widely recognised in Thomas Arne's orchestration as the British National Anthem, "God Save the King", and in the former anthems of Russia ("The Prayer of Russians", from 1816 to 1833), Switzerland ("Rufst du, mein Vaterland", until 1961), and Germany ("Heil dir im Siegerkranz", from 1871 to 1918), as well as being the current national anthem of Liechtenstein ("Oben am jungen Rhein") and the royal anthem of Norway, "Kongesangen".

Ives prepared it for a Fourth of July celebration in 1892 at the Methodist church where he was organist in Brewster, New York. He performed it for the first time on February 17, 1892, and made revisions to the work until 1894. Although the piece is considered challenging even by modern concert organists, he spoke of playing the pedal work in the final variation as being "almost as much fun as playing baseball".

It went unpublished until 1949, when the organist E. Power Biggs rediscovered it, and prepared an edition for publication. He incorporated it into his repertoire, and it became a regularly performed piece by American organists. In 1962 it was orchestrated by William Schuman, and premiered in this version by the New York Philharmonic under Andre Kostelanetz in 1964. The Schuman orchestration formed the basis of a wind band version by William E. Rhoads, published in 1968.

Structure
Introduction and Theme
Variation I
Variation II
Interlude I
Variation III
Variation IV
Interlude II
Variation V
Coda

The interludes are Ives's first notated use of bitonality: the first combines F major for the right hand and D-flat major for the left hand and pedals, whilst the second combines A-flat major and F major.

Ives' biographer Jan Swafford notes that whilst it might be tempting to hear Variations on "America" as a satire, the probability is that Ives meant the work as a sincere exercise in variations for organ. He adds that whilst Ives was capable of musical jokes, they are usually considerably broader than here. Ives was not deaf to its comic potential however: he later noted that his father "didn't let me do it much, as it made the boys laugh" in church.

Recordings
Recordings of Ives' original piece have been made by several organists, including E. Power Biggs (CBS) and Simon Preston (Argo). Recordings of Schuman's orchestration have included performances conducted by Eugene Ormandy, (CBS/Sony), Morton Gould (RCA), Arthur Fiedler (Decca) and José Serebrier (Naxos).

References

External links

1891 compositions
Compositions by Charles Ives
Compositions for organ
Compositions in F major
Polytonality
America

Variations on "America"


Música en Compostela (Music in Compostela) is an annual summer course in music performance and composition held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It was founded by the Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia and the diplomat José Miguel Ruiz Morales in 1958. The goal of the founders was to foster the appreciation of Spanish classical music and give students from both Spain and abroad the opportunity to study under some of the country's most prominent musicians and composers. Segovia's masterclasses at Compostela, like those at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, were considered "a virtual necessity for aspiring guitar virtuosos." Over the years, composers Óscar Esplá, Federico Mompou, Xavier Montsalvatge, and Joaquín Rodrigo, pianist Alicia de Larrocha, and singers Victoria de los Angeles, Montserrat Caballé and Conchita Badía have also taught courses there.

References

Sources
Debén, Carmen, El Hostal de los Reyes Católicos en la historia de Santiago, Editorial Everest, 1968
Estévez, José Luis, "50 años de 'Música en Compostela'", El País, 9 August 2007
Henahan, Donal, "Segovia, master guitarist, dies ", North Carolina Times-News (via New York Times News Service), 4 June 1987
La Voz de Galicia, "Los cursos Música en Compostela celebran sus bodas de oro con 125 alumnos en la capilla del Hostal", 5 August 2007

Viz, Adriana, "Enrique Jiménez: "Tenemos la intención de que Música en Compostela dure una semana más"", El Correo Gallego, 16 August 2009

External links
Official website

Classical music in Spain
1958 establishments in Spain

Música en Compostela


Major-General (Norman) Hamish Rollo CBE (21 May 1955 – 26 March 2009) was a British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding, Theatre Troops.

Military career
Educated at Radley College and the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham, Rollo was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1973. He served in the Gulf War in 1990 before becoming commanding officer of 22 Engineer Regiment in January 1995 in which role he was deployed to Bosnia with IFOR. He went on to be Chief of Staff at Headquarters 3rd Mechanised Division in January 1997 and returned to Bosnia before being deployed to Kosovo. He became commander of 19th Mechanized Brigade in April 2000, commander of the Multi-National Brigade (Centre) in Kosovo in 2001 and Assistant Chief of Staff Crisis and Deliberate Planning at Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood in December 2001. He went on to be Assistant Commandant (Land) at the Joint Services Command and Staff College in November 2003 and General Officer Commanding, Theatre Troops in November 2006. In 2006 he was given the colonelcy of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

He died of natural causes on 26 March 2009 and was buried at Tidworth Military Cemetery.

References

British Army major generals
People educated at Radley College
Royal Engineers officers
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
1955 births
2009 deaths

Hamish Rollo


Wrexham and District Electric Tramways was a company that operated an electric tramway service in Wrexham, Wales between 1903 and 1914 when it was renamed Wrexham and District Transport Company Limited. Trams continued to operate until 1927.

History
Tramways in Wrexham started in October 1876 with trams hauled by horses when a single line operated between New Inn, Johnstown to the toll bar on the outskirts of Wrexham. On 1 November 1876 this toll bar was removed and the line was extended to the city centre.

The company was acquired in 1900 by Wrexham and District Electric Tramways, a company set up by the British Electric Traction group. They converted the line to 3'6" gauge and electrified it. The work was carried out by Dick, Kerr & Co. Following an inspection by Lt Col. Sir Horatio Arthur Yorke, from the Board of Trade, services started on 4 April 1903.

A new depot was provided at Johnstown, at the corner of Offa Street and Maelor Road, constructed by Jenkins & Jones of Johnstown of Ruabon brick. The depot survived long after the closure of the tramway, one subsequent use being a bus garage for the Crosville Company. It was finally demolished sometime between 2005 and 2010.

Electricity at 550V was obtained from the Wrexham Corporation power station in Willow Road. A 21-year agreement was put in place at the opening of the tramway for the rates at which the company would be charged for its use of power. Drivers were encouraged to operate economic driving practices to minimise the expense to the company. When this agreement expired, the company was forced into an annual contract with the prospect of yearly increases in the unit charge.

The service was extended on 26 May 1903 past Wrexham GWR railway station to the Turf Hotel. From Johnstown the line was taken into the new development at the west of the Wrexham-Ruabon road, reaching Duke Street, Rhosllannerchrugog by the end of 1904. An extension to Ruabon had been authorised, but was never built.

In 1912 the company started experimenting with bus operation and soon realised that this was where most of the profits were going to be made. In recognition of this in 1914 the company changed its name to Wrexham and District Transport Company Limited. However, any plans for expansion of bus services were put on hold with the outbreak of the First World War in the same year and the motor buses that the company had acquired were requisitioned by the armed forces.

After the war, the company suffered from competition as the military authorities disposed of much surplus equipment including motor buses and Wrexham Council issued hackney licences freely to anyone requesting them.

Fleet
There were 10 tramcars built by Brush Electrical Engineering Company of Loughborough. The livery was red and cream. The vehicles could seat 26 on the upper deck and 20 inside on the lower deck.

Two of the tram bodies were rescued, having been used as garden sheds since closure and remain in storage at Wrexham Council's storage site at Bersham Colliery,

Closure
The system closed on 31 March 1927.

References

Tram transport in Wales
1903 establishments in Wales
Wrexham County Borough
3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Wales

Wrexham and District Electric Tramways


John Daniel "Dan" Hicks (born June 2 1962 in Tucson, Arizona) is a sportscaster with NBC.

He currently calls golf tournaments for NBC. He also is a fill-in for Notre Dame Football on NBC when Tom Hammond is not there. Hicks called swimming and figure skating in the Olympics. He called NFL games for NBC, as well as NBA games. Hicks called the 2012 Pro Bowl with analysts Mike Mayock and Doug Flutie and sideline reporters Alex Flanagan and Randy Moss. In the 2012 preseason game between the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers, Hicks called an NFL game for the first time since 1997. Hicks filled in for Al Michaels because Michaels took a break after anchoring the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

Hicks is married to ESPN sportscaster Hannah Storm.

References

Living people
1962 births
College football broadcasters
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Football League broadcasters

Dan Hicks


Neolitsea australiensis, also known as the green bolly gum, is an Australian rainforest tree, in the laurel family. The specific epithet is derived from "Australia", and the Latin "ensis"; meaning "native of Australia".

Description
Usually seen from 6–15 m tall with a stem diameter of 25 cm. However, at Murray Scrub, it is 40 m tall with a trunk diameter of 50 cm. Bark is smooth and dark brown on a cylindrical trunk.

Leaves
Leaves are pointed; ovate to elliptic in shape, 6 to 13 cm long, 2 to 6 cm wide. Glossy above and pale grey below. The leaf stem is green, between 12 and 20 mm long. Leaf veins are prominent, with three to five lateral veins. The basal pair of veins starts around 5 mm from the leaf base. And travels for about half the leaf length in a curve. Twigs are smooth, either brown or green.

Flowers and fruit
Scented cream flowers form in stalk-less clusters from March to September. The fruit are larger than those of Neolitsea dealbata, 20 mm long and 14 mm wide, the seed is pointed, around 10 mm long. The fruit is eaten by a variety of birds, including green catbird, regent bowerbird, satin bowerbird, topknot pigeon and white-headed pigeon. Removal of the black aril is advised for propagation by seed.

Distribution
The species is an under-storey tree found in rainforests in New South Wales and Queensland, north from Ourimbah to near Maryborough, Queensland. Often found on the better more fertile alluvial or volcanic soils. In the field it may be difficult to distinguish between the similar Cryptocarya rigida and Neolitsea dealbata.

References

Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Laurales of Australia
australiensis
Trees of Australia

Neolitsea australiensis


88 Minutes is a 2007 American thriller film directed by Jon Avnet and starring Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, William Forsythe, Deborah Kara Unger, Amy Brenneman, Neal McDonough and Benjamin McKenzie. In the film, famed forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jack Gramm (Pacino) is one of the most sought-after profilers in the world. His expert testimony resulted in the conviction of serial killer Jon Forster (McDonough). However, on the eve of Forster's execution, one of Gramm's students is murdered in a vicious copycat crime, and Gramm himself receives an ominous message informing him that he has 88 minutes to live. Filming began in the Vancouver area on October 8, 2005, and wrapped up in December 2005. In 2007 the film was released in various European countries.

In May 2007, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group paid $6 million to acquire North American and select international distribution rights of 88 Minutes. The group released the film in the United States theatrically on April 18, 2008, through TriStar Pictures.

Plot
In 1997, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jack Gramm testifies at the trial of suspected serial killer Jon Forster, dubbed "The Seattle Slayer" by police. Gramm's testimony and expert psychiatric opinion are crucial in the conviction of Forster for the attempted killing of Janie Cates and the murder of her sister Joanie, who was drugged, hanged upside down and killed after the killer invaded the sisters' apartment. Upon receiving a guilty verdict from the jury, Forster taunts Gramm, saying "Tick-tock, Doc."

Nine years later, as Forster's execution date approaches, several similar torture murders occur. Gramm, now teaching at the University of Washington, is questioned by a lawyer from the Attorney General's office as well as FBI Special Agent Frank Parks. The latest victim, Dale Morris, is revealed to be a former psychology student of Gramm's; they attended the same party the night before. On the way to his class, Gramm receives a phone call from someone using a voice changer, informing him that he has 88 minutes to live. He reports the call to his lesbian secretary, Shelly, asking for a risk assessment profile of suspects.

Gramm receives another phone threat while teaching and becomes suspicious of his students, particularly Mike Stempt. The dean of students, Carol Johnson, interrupts the class to report a bomb threat. Evacuating, Gramm finds threats written both on the classroom's overhead projector and on his car, which has been vandalized in the parking garage. Gramm is then met by his teaching assistant, Kim Cummings, who offers to help find the perpetrator. In the stairwell, Gramm encounters one of his students, Lauren Douglas, attacked by an unknown assailant and reports the assault to campus security.

Gramm and Kim go to his condo, where a package has been delivered. The package contains an audio tape of his kid sister, Kate, crying for help before being murdered. Gramm concludes that someone accessed his secure files to obtain the tape. Kim's ex-husband, Guy LaForge, appears with a gun at the apartment door, but is shot and killed from behind by an assailant masked by a motorcycle helmet. A fire alarm is triggered by the sudden onset of smoke and the shooter flees through the crowd outside. Shortly after, Gramm's car explodes, having been rigged with a bomb.

Renting a cab, Gramm explains to Kim that his sister was killed decades earlier, when he left her alone in his apartment; the crime took exactly 88 minutes. Next, Gramm and Kim visit Sara Pollard, a woman Gramm slept with the night before, but find her murdered in her apartment with evidence incriminating Gramm. Carol calls Gramm and makes comments suggesting that she is the killer, demanding that Gramm meet her at his office. Shelly arrives at Sara's apartment and advises Gramm that she suspects Lauren was the one who stole the audio tape of Kate's death. Kim disappears from the apartment and later calls Gramm with a threat similar to Carol's, also demanding he meet her at the office.

Through prison visitation records, Gramm deduces that Forster's appeals attorney "Lydia Doherty" is a pseudonym for Lauren, surmising that she set up the frame on orders from Forster. Kim calls again, instructing Gramm to come to another nearby location on campus, where he finds Carol hanging over a seventh floor balcony; Kim is tied up and gagged nearby, held at gun point by Lauren. Lauren forces Gramm to "confess" on tape that he gave false testimony at Forster's trial. Special Agent Parks arrives and shoots Lauren, causing both Carol and Lauren to partially fall from the balcony. Gramm saves Carol from completing the fall, but Lauren comes loose and plummets to her death. When Forster calls asking to speak with Lauren, Gramm informs him of Lauren's death. He quips "Tick-tock, tick-tock, you got 12 hours to live," before throwing the phone into the void. Gramm flashes back to interactions with Kate and Janie Cates, then pockets the device that recorded his "confession". He shares knowing glances with Parks and Kim before walking away.

Cast
 Al Pacino as Dr. Jack Gramm
 Alicia Witt as Kim Cummings
 Leelee Sobieski as Lauren Douglas / Lydia Doherty
 Amy Brenneman as Shelly Barnes
 William Forsythe as FBI Special Agent Frank Parks
 Deborah Kara Unger as Carol Johnson
 Benjamin McKenzie as Mike Stempt
 Neal McDonough as Jon Forster
 Leah Cairns as Sara Pollard
 Stephen Moyer as Guy LaForge
 Christopher Redman as Jeremy Guber
 Brendan Fletcher as Johnny D'Franco
 Michael Eklund as J.T. Rycker
 Trilby Glover as Defense Attorney Bennett
 Carrie Genzel as Stephanie Parkman
 Kristina Copeland as Dale Morris
 Tammy Hui as Janie Cates
 Vicky Huang as Joanie Cates
 Victoria Tennant II as Kate
 Michal Yannai as Leeza Pearson
 Paul Campbell as Albert Jackson

Reception

Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $7 million in 2,168 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking fourth at the box office and averaging $3,209 per theater. In its second weekend, the film grossed $3.6 million and fell to number eight at the box office. The film grossed $17.2 million at the US and Canadian box office and $15.4 million internationally, for a worldwide gross of $32.6 million.

Critical response
Upon its release, 88 Minutes was universally panned by critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 5% of the critics gave the film positive reviews based on 124 reviews, averaging out at a 2.9/10 rating. The critical consensus states: "88 Minutes is a shockingly inept psychological thriller that expertly squanders the talent at hand." The film also has a score of 17 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 27 critics indicating "Overwhelming dislike".

The film was nominated for two Razzie Awards, Worst Actor for Al Pacino (and for Righteous Kill, also directed by Jon Avnet) and Worst Supporting Actress for Leelee Sobieski (and for In the Name of the King), but lost to Mike Myers for The Love Guru and Paris Hilton for Repo! The Genetic Opera respectively.

Home media
88 Minutes was released on DVD on September 16, 2008, and sold 220,965 in the opening weekend. As of the seventh week, it has sold about 574,041 units which gathered revenue of $11,150,056 or more than one-third of the budget.

Remake
In May 2013, Original Entertainment confirmed to have sealed a five-picture deal with Millennium Films to produce Bollywood remakes of Rambo, The Expendables, 16 Blocks, 88 Minutes, and Brooklyn's Finest, with the productions for Rambo and The Expendables expected to start at the end of that year.

References

External links

2007 films
2007 LGBT-related films
2007 psychological thriller films
2000s American films
2000s Canadian films
2000s English-language films
2000s German films
2000s serial killer films
American LGBT-related films
American psychological thriller films
American serial killer films
Canadian psychological thriller films
Canadian serial killer films
Canadian LGBT-related films
English-language Canadian films
English-language German films
German LGBT-related films
German psychological thriller films
German serial killer films
Lesbian-related films
Films about capital punishment
Films directed by Jon Avnet
Films scored by Edward Shearmur
Films set in 1997
Films set in 2006
Films set in Seattle
Films shot in Vancouver
Films with screenplays by Gary Scott Thompson
Nu Image films
TriStar Pictures films

88 Minutes


The Annunciation - an altar painting painted around 1426 by Fra Angelico for the monastery of Santo Domenico in Fiesole, near Florence. The work was made in the tempera technique with the use of gold. The altar is kept in the Prado Museum. The Annunciation scene takes place under a portico with a light structure made of thin columns. On the left, in the depths of the garden, you can see the scene of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise. The predella shows scenes from the life of Mary: the birth of Mary, the wedding with St. Joseph, visitation of St. Elizabeth, the birth of Christ, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Assumption of Mary. Fra Angelico painted exclusively religious pictures, conceiving art as a form of glorifying the Creator. He very precisely reflected the nature and features of the presented characters. In his style, he combined late Italian Gothic with a new - Renaissance - formula of art. An example of this is the spaciousness of architecture in his works.

15th-century paintings

Zwiastowanie (obraz Fra Angelica)


The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996), edited by Ed Kramer and Neil Gaiman, is an anthology of short stories based on The Sandman comic book series.

Contents

Preface by Frank McConnell
 Masquerade and High Water by Colin Greenland
 Chain Home, Low by John M. Ford
 Stronger Than Desire by Lisa Goldstein
 Each Damp Thing by Barbara Hambly
 The Birth Day by B.W. Clough
 Splatter by Will Shetterly
 Seven Nights in Slumberland by George Alec Effinger (this features Little Nemo)
 Escape Artist by Caitlín R. Kiernan
 An Extra Smidgeon of Eternity by Robert Rodi
 The Writer's Child by Tad Williams
 Endless Sestina by Lawrence Schimel
 The Gate of Gold by Mark Kreighbaum
 A Bone Dry Place by Karen Haber
 The Witch's Heart by Delia Sherman
 The Mender of Broken Dreams by Nancy A. Collins
 Ain't You 'Most Done? by Gene Wolfe
 Valóság and Élet by Steven Brust
 Stopp't-Clock Yard by Susanna Clarke
 Afterword: Death by Tori Amos

Art
 Cover by Dave McKean
 Frontispiece by Clive Barker

1996 anthologies
American anthologies
Fantasy anthologies
Book of Dreams
HarperCollins books
Gothic comics

The Sandman: Book of Dreams