The Ulvila homicide (Finnish: Ulvilan surma) occurred in Ulvila, Finland, on December 1, 2006. The victim was fifty-one-year-old Jukka S. Lahti, a social psychologist and father of four. Initially, the police were looking for an outside perpetrator, but in September 2009, the victim's widow Anneli Auer was arrested and charged with the murder. She was twice convicted in the district court, but both times the appeals court reversed the verdict, and finally in December 2015, the acquittal became permanent, when the Supreme Court of Finland denied the prosecution's appeal.

Murder night and initial investigation
The victim's wife, Anneli Auer (born 1965), called the emergency number at 2:43 AM on December 1, 2006. According to Auer, a masked assailant had attacked her husband and her in the family home. Lahti had been stabbed multiple times and hit in the head with a blunt object, and Auer had also been wounded.

The police detained or arrested several people, among them an actor whom Auer had identified as the assailant, but who was later cleared. According to one hypothesis of the police, the murder was revenge for Lahti's actions as HR director in a company that had laid off many people. In the spring of 2008, the police tested the DNA of hundreds of the company's employees.

Auer arrested
In August 2008, the case received a new chief investigator, and the police started to focus on the phone call that Auer had made to the emergency services. According to the police, the tape had no evidence of an outside killer. The tape had also been analyzed by the FBI.

An undercover officer befriended Auer and they dated for 7–8 months. The police also bugged Auer's phone and even her home for three days. According to a police representative, the undercover operation yielded neither inculpatory nor exculpatory evidence. In May 2011, the Supreme Court of Finland ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to hand over information about the operation to Auer, except for the names of officers and some other details.

On 28 September 2009, Anneli Auer was arrested. The theory was that she had killed Lahti during the phone call and staged the crime scene.

Auer was tried before a three-judge panel in the Satakunta District Court. In November 2010, she was found guilty. One of the judges had voted to acquit her. Auer appealed the verdict to the Vaasa Court of Appeal, which in July 2011 acquitted her of all charges. The verdict was unanimous.

Second set of trials

In October 2012, the Supreme Court of Finland decided to send the case back to Satakunta District Court, because of the new evidence the prosecutors presented after Auer's appeal.

In the summer of 2013 it was reported that the DNA sample that was taken from the crime scene had in fact been contaminated and the unknown male DNA belonged to a crime laboratory examiner.

In December 2013, the Satakunta District Court again convicted Auer in a 2–1 ruling, and sentenced her to life imprisonment.

Auer appealed against her second conviction to Vaasa Court of Appeal. The appeal hearings began in September 2014 and ended in October. In February 2015, the Vaasa Court of Appeal overturned her conviction for the second time. The verdict was 2–1, with one of the judges ruling to uphold the District Court's verdict. According to the verdict, it had not been proven that Auer had staged the crime scene, and the presence of an outside perpetrator could not be ruled out based on the evidence. The court did not accept the prosecution's claim that the phone call to the emergency services contained parts that Auer had pre-recorded. The judge who voted to convict Auer was of the opinion that she was the killer and had staged the crime scene.

The prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court and provided the court with new evidence. An analysis done on behalf of the prosecution claimed to prove that the phone call had been pre-recorded by Auer. By pre-recording the sounds of the killing before the phone call, Auer would have had more time to stage the crime scene. The analysis also concluded that Auer had yelled "Die" (kuole) instead of "Don't die" (älä kuole), as she claimed. The defense team rebutted the claim with their own expert statement, which stated that the tape had no evidence of tampering, and that an outside person can be heard on it. In December 2015, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the Court of Appeal verdict which had found Auer not guilty of the murder of her husband.

Auer had spent more than 600 days in prison for the murder, and in 2016 she was awarded a compensation of about 500,000 euros. At 800 euros per day it was the highest compensation given to a falsely imprisoned person in Finland.

In 2016 over 50 police officers were charged for trying to access Auer's information in the police database. Most of them received a fine.

See also
List of unsolved murders

References

External links

2006 murders in Finland
Unsolved murders in Finland

2006 Ulvila homicide case


Henry Meadows, usually known simply as Meadows, of Wolverhampton, England were major suppliers of engines and transmissions to the smaller companies in the British motor industry.  Founded in 1920 in Park Lane, Wolverhampton, as a car gearbox maker, they expanded into petrol engines in 1922 and in the 1930s built a large factory in Fallings Park, Wolverhampton.

Products

Petrol engines

Early production was connected with the move from W.H. Dorman & Co of the Dorman works manager (W.H. Dorman's son, John E. Dorman) in August 1921, and a design engineer Mr R.S. Crump. Dorman had been producing engines from 1903. The early Meadows engines and gearboxes were produced with Meadows-Dorman on the castings. This resulted in a court case between Dorman and Meadows, claiming that this was a misuse of the Dorman name and reputation. Dorman won the case

One of the most popular petrol engines was the 1½-litre four-cylinder Type 4ED engine (following their less powerful 4EB and 4EC engines, used by several makers in the pre 1931 period), widely used by Frazer Nash and Lea-Francis during the 1920s and 30s, and in the H.R.G. light car from 1936 to 1939 which was sold with a guaranteed top speed of 90 mph. Another successful product, the 4½-litre 6-cylinder engine is best remembered as the power unit for Invicta and Lagonda cars.

Meadows also produced marine engines after a visit from Hubert Scott-Paine in 1931 who was looking for some better engines for his prototype seaplane tender (RAF200) which was fitted at that time with Brooks engines. After some modification to allow the engines to be angled at 17 degrees, the British Power Boat Company selected Meadows 6-cylinder petrol engines for the high-speed seaplane tenders, each having two engines rated at 100 bhp, and being capable of 29 knots.

In the 1930s Meadows developed a flat-12 type-MAT/1 engine of 8858cc for military applications including the Tetrarch Light Tank. Later they built a 16litre 300 bhp flat-12 type-DAV petrol engine used in the Covenanter tank This engine was also used in the prototype A20 tank, although this weighed more than twice the Covenanter and so was considered underpowered. The later, and widely used, A22 Churchill tank was a development of the A20. Partly to provide more power, and also to improve production time, this was instead powered by a Vauxhall flat-12 engine termed the "Twin-Six", as it was based on two pre-existing Bedford six-cylinder lorry engines. This engine was slightly more powerful, but only to a rated 350 bhp. The Guy Armoured Car, made in 1939–1940, used the Meadows 4-cylinder 4-ELA petrol engine.

Meadows also made the 600 bhp Rolls-Royce Meteor V-12 petrol tank engine from 1944. This came about because Rolls-Royce Merlin engines came under the Ministry of Aircraft Production, but tank engines came under the Ministry of Supply, and the huge demand for the Merlin engine was causing Meteor production to falter and this was in turn affecting Cromwell tank production. Meadows was already involved with the Ministry of Supply, so they were brought in from 1944 to manufacture Meteor engines to cover the shortfall. The Rover Company also produced Meteor engines in this period.

Diesel engines
Meadows started developing diesel engines in the 1930s, and a 5-litre 4-cylinder diesel developing 75 bhp at 2000rpm was launched at the 1935 Olympia Motor Transport Show. They introduced a 6-cylinder 100 bhp version in 1938. Both of these engines used a Lanova combustion chamber design, CAV injector pumps, and they were listed both for road transport and marine use. In 1938 they supplied diesel engines for the New Zealand Railways Standard class railcars.

After World War II they resumed making diesel engines, but with a completely new design this time with direct injection and toroidal cavity pistons. The 6.9 litre 4-cylinder unit gave 85 bhp at 1800rpm, and the 10.35 litre 6-cylinder unit developed 150 bhp at 1800rpm. These were aimed at both vehicle, marine, and stationary markets, and there was a horizontal version of the 6-cylinder unit for flat underfloor mounting. The same two engines were rated at 60 and 90 bhp for continuous marine use at 1600rpm, and a larger engine of similar design rated at 130 bhp and of 15.5 litres capacity was also listed. One of the unusual features of these engines is the ability to swap the utilities from side to side and from end to end, which also allows for making handed-engines for twin-engined marine craft. For marine use helical reduction gears of different ratios, and epicyclic reversing gears were also available. Many engines were supplied to their neighbour in Fallings Park, Guy Motors for use in their buses and trucks.  A small number of diesel engines was supplied for British Rail Railbuses in 1958. They also powered the Fowler Challenger crawler tractors, the 6DC-630 in the Mk III, and the 6DJ-970 in the Mk IV. Meadows adverts show they were also used in plant like rock-crushers, ditch diggers, compressors and other equipment used in road building. They were also used to power military FV2502 27.5kVA generator sets.

Engine Models (list incomplete), the letter after the 'D' varies according to application (e.g. M = marine) :
 Pre-War four cylinder. Bore 105mm, Stroke 150mm.
 Pre-War six cylinder. Bore 105mm, Stroke 130mm.
 4DC-330 Four cylinder diesel. Bore 120mm, Stroke 120mm, 331 cu. in. - 5.43 litres capacity
 6DC-630 Six cylinder diesel. Bore 130mm, Stroke 130mm, 630 cu in - 10.35 litres capacity
 6HDC-500 Six cylinder horizontal diesel. 500 cu.in. - 8.14 litres capacity
 6DJ-970 Six cylinder diesel. 970 cu.in. - 15.5 litres

Gearboxes
Meadows had started by making gearboxes in 1920, initially for lorries made by the Vulcan Motor & Engineering Co and then Coventry Climax Ltd. After engines were introduced in 1922 they sold complete engine, clutch, and gearbox packages, initially with either 3 or 4 speed gearboxes, and later with 4 or 5 speed gearboxes. During the early 1950s, Meadows supplied gearboxes for the Jowett Javelin car.

Cars
They were also responsible for making the Meadows Frisky microcar between 1957 and 1961.

Merger and closure
In 1965, Henry Meadows was purchased by Jaguar.

References

External links
 Information from Wolverhampton Local History

Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Diesel engine manufacturers
Motor vehicle engine manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Wolverhampton
Manufacturing companies established in 1920
Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
1920 establishments in England

Henry Meadows


The Cossack raid on Istanbul in 1620 was a naval operation by Zaporozhian Cossacks, headed by hetman Yakov Wart-Neroda, on the capital of the Ottoman empire.

Raid

In 1620 relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were rapidly deteriorating due to frequent raids from Cossacks. The Ottomans stated that they would break their peace agreement and declare war against Poland if they did not stop the Cossack raids.

The Ottomans promised to abandon these plans if, within four months, the Commonwealth destroyed the Cossacks. Although the Polish ambassador in Istanbul agreed, negotiations soured as the Ottoman ambassador was treated with disrespect. Thus, the Ottomans decided to end the Cossack raids themselves and proceeded to build a string of fortresses in southern Ukraine as preparation. However, the Cossacks had already decided to attack Turkey. Having learned about this, the Polish ambassador immediately escaped from Istanbul. The result of the raid was a Cossack victory.

The Cossacks then raided Varna on the Bulgarian coast, which was under the control of the Ottomans. The city was completely looted.

Consequences

The raid formed the pretext for the Battle of Cecora (1620).

See also
 Cossack raid on Istanbul (1615)
 Cossack raids on Istanbul (1624)

Sources
1.  М. Грушевський. Історія України-Руси. Том VII. Розділ VII. Стор. 7.
2. Cepandant les Cosaques aves les 150 barques ravagent toute la mer Noire — l. c. c. 412.
3. Les Cosaques sont á toute heure pros d'ici sur la mer Noire, ou ils font des prises incroiables veu leur faiblesse et sont en telle reputation, qu' il faut des coups de baston pour faire resoudre les soldats turcs à aller à la guerre contre eux sur quelques galères qne le Grand-Seigr y enovoie avec lagrande peine- Депеші д-Сезі с. 412.

Conflicts in 1620
17th century in Istanbul
17th century in the Zaporozhian Host
1620 in the Ottoman Empire
Military history of Turkey
Military history of Ukraine
Cossack raids on the Ottoman Empire

Cossack raid on Istanbul (1620)


Yarudora Series Vol. 2: Kisetsu o Dakishimete (Embracing the Season) is the second installment in the Yarudora series of FMV adventure games developed between Sony's Sugar & Rocket and famed animation studio, Production I.G. The story follows a young man and his childhood friend who discover a young girl laying unconscious underneath a cherry blossom cherry one day. When the girl awakens she doesn't remember who she is but the protagonist does, she was a girl that he had a crush on in high school but who died tragically in a car accident years ago. Somehow she is alive again, looking the same as she did in high school. The title released in Japan on July 23, 1998 for the PlayStation and was later ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2005.

Gameplay
In Yarudora Series Vol.2 Kisetsu O Dakishimete the protagonist and his friend Tomoko are walking under cherry trees filled with blossoms when they find a young girl who appears to be sleeping. The unconscious girl happens to be Asayo, who the protagonist had a major crush on in high school. When she wakes up, her memory has been wiped clean and it's up to the player and Tomoko to help her remember the events leading up to her cherry tree sojourn.

Development
The game was originally released in 1998, the Yarudora (a conjunction of Yaru Dorama which translates to "Drama that You Do") series of games all followed a central theme where a girl with amnesia enters the player's life. With the appearance of the girl, an interactive adventure follows where the story plays out in animated motion with choices to select along the way which affect the ultimate outcome. Features in the game include a graphics gallery, a replay function, and the ability to view various endings once they are achieved during a normal game.

Description
Manufacturer's description:

2nd go step-by-step story become a hero, that are configured with only animated series "Dora do." Achievement rate will be displayed scene number and clear ending, enjoy as many times as you want. Hero has just been admitted to the university and meet her first love-just like the Mayu, the mind goes wavering between girlfriend Tomoko from the prep school.

 Features:

 First person perspective.
 2D graphics
 Cartoon graphics
 Mystery, dating & Anime themes.

PlayStation games
PlayStation Portable games
1998 video games
2005 video games

Yarudora Series Vol. 2: Kisetsu O Dakishimete


Peter Robert Brain (born 2 April 1947) is a retired bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia. He was Bishop of Armidale from 2000 until April 2012.

Brain was educated at North Sydney Technical High School.

Brain studied at Moore Theological College and was formerly rector of the Wanneroo parish in Western Australia. There he gained a reputation for encouraging his fellow clergy. He was also parish priest of St Luke's Maddington in Western Australia for many years.

The Armidale diocese has the reputation of having the highest proportion of Evangelical clergy of any Anglican diocese in the world (even higher, proportionally, than the Sydney diocese, which may be the largest Evangelical diocese in terms of total population).

Brain obtained a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary.  His doctoral work led him to write Going the Distance: How to Stay Fit for A Lifetime of Ministry, which achieved a "highly commended" in the 2004 Australian Christian Book of the Year awards.

Brain is married to Christine Brain with four children, including Matt Brain the current Bishop of Bendigo.

References

1947 births
Anglican bishops of Armidale
Living people
Fuller Theological Seminary alumni
Moore Theological College alumni

Peter Brain


The following lists events that happened during 1849 in South Africa.

Events
 Diocesan College (Bishops) founded in Rondebosch, Cape Town by Robert Gray (bishop of Cape Town).
 The British propose to ship convicts to the Cape Colony, but the Cape population strongly object and it is squashed with the help of British MP Charles Bowyer Adderley
 The street Heerengracht in Cape Town is changed to Adderley Street in honour of Adderley who help stop the shipping of convicts
 The first Jewish Congregation is founded in Cape Town
 The Byrne Settlers start arriving in Natal

References
See Years in South Africa for list of References

South Africa
Years in South Africa

1849 in South Africa


The Dalecarlian rebellions () were a series of Swedish rebellions which took place in Dalarna in Sweden: the First Dalecarlian Rebellion in 1524-1525, the Second Dalecarlian Rebellion in 1527–1528, and the Third Dalecarlian Rebellion (also known as the Bell Rebellion) in 1531–1533. The rebellions were conducted by the peasantry of Dalarna against the Swedish monarch, King Gustav Vasa. Mutual reasons for all three rebellions were loss of support of Gustav I among the Dalecarlian peasantry because of the economic crisis, the increased royal power, and the unpopular Swedish Reformation.

First Dalecarlian Rebellion
Economic crisis occurred after the Swedish war of liberation because of the trade monopoly the king had granted the Hanseatic Lübeck in exchange for their support in recapturing the capital during the war. The discontent was used by two Catholic priests, former Bishop Peder Jakobsson of Västerås, a follower of Sten Sture the Younger, and Knut Mickelsson, who opposed the inclinations of Lutheranism which the king had displayed as early as 1524, who stirred up the emotions against the king and for the Sture family in the province.
In the spring of 1525, the Dalecarlians held a meeting and wrote a letter in which they complained of the foreign bailiffs and the imprisonment of Sten Sture's widow Christina Gyllenstierna, and stated that they would renounce their fealty unless their demands were met. They reportedly contacted Søren Norby, who offered Christina marriage. The king managed to subdue the discontent by promising to meet their demands in May 1525, and the leaders fled to Norway. They were extradited in 1526, and executed through breaking wheel in February 1527.

Second Dalecarlian Rebellion
In 1527, the continuing discontent over the economic crisis, a new tax on Lübeck, and the Swedish Reformation, which was launched that year, unleashed the second rebellion in Dalarna, centered around the so-called Daljunkern (The Youngster from Dalarna), who had come from Norway claiming to be Nils Stensson Sture, son of Sten Sture the Younger and Christina Gyllenstierna. This resulted in a feud between the Dalecarlian parishes, which were divided between their loyalties toward the king and the Sture family. The king called representatives of the rebels to negotiations in Uppsala in May 1527, and kept ongoing contacts with them. The Daljunkern left for Norway, but continued to support the rebels from there. In February 1528, the king led an expedition to the Tuna parish, summoned the peasantry at the church, and declared them rebels and outlaws with no right to decide whom to be monarch, and gave them the choice to present all taking part of the rebellion, or else all in the parish were to be executed. This resulted in the rebels being brought forth and executed on the spot, until the king decided for the end of the bloodbath and accepted to show mercy to the remaining rebels. In April, one of the leaders, Peder Grym, was publicly executed in the capital.

Third Dalecarlian Rebellion
In 1531, the Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden of the ongoing Swedish Reformation and a new tax, where every parish were obliged to contribute with one of their church bells, resulted in a rebellion where rebels from several of the parishes killed and abused the kings bell collectors. In May, they offered to pay the worth of the bells in money, which the king accepted. At that point, Christian II of Denmark was attempting to regain his throne, and the king was occupied elsewhere. In January 1533, he was free to deal with the rebellion. He summoned the Dalecarlians to a meeting, where he met them with an army, threatened them, fined them, extradited the bell tax with force, and arrested several of the leaders, Måns Nilsson, Anders Persson, and Ingel Hansson, and took them to the capital, where they were executed in early 1534.

See also
 Dalecarlian Rebellion (1743)
 Westrogothian rebellion

Sources
 Daluppror i Nordisk familjebok (andra upplagan, 1906)

Popular revolt in late-medieval Europe
Peasant revolts
Rebellions in Sweden
Conflicts in 1524
1524 in Sweden
Conflicts in 1525
1525 in Sweden
Conflicts in 1527
1527 in Sweden
Conflicts in 1528
1528 in Sweden
1531 in Sweden
Conflicts in 1531
1532 in Sweden
Conflicts in 1532
1533 in Sweden
Conflicts in 1533
Counter-Reformation
16th-century rebellions
Swedish Reformation
Catholic rebellions
Gustav I of Sweden

Dalecarlian rebellions


Oklahoma Christian University (OC) is a private Christian university in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was founded in 1950 by members of the Churches of Christ.

History
Oklahoma Christian University, originally named Central Christian College, was founded in 1950 by members of the Churches of Christ. It opened as a two-year college with 97 students in Bartlesville on the  former estate of Henry Vernon Foster, a prominent oil businessman. L.R. Wilson, who founded Florida Christian College four years before, was the college's first president. Harold Fletcher, who became an OC emeritus professor of music, was the first faculty member hired for the new college. James O. Baird became the school's second president in 1954.

Soon after, plans were made to move the campus to Oklahoma City. Groundbreaking occurred on  the far north edge of Oklahoma City in 1957 and the university was relocated in 1958. It was renamed Oklahoma Christian College in 1959 and began offering bachelor's degrees, with its first senior class graduating in 1962. Full accreditation was obtained from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1965.

In the 1990s, the school restructured its academic departments into separate colleges and the name of the institution was changed initially to Oklahoma Christian University of Science and Arts in 1990, before being truncated to Oklahoma Christian University in 1996. In 1981, OC became the sponsor of The Christian Chronicle. In 2014, OC began their Ethos spiritual development program which encourages students to attend any of 26 small chapels.

Technology
In August 2001, OC provided campus-wide wireless Internet service and a personal laptop computer to every full-time student. In 2008, Oklahoma Christian University began providing Apple's MacBook to all full-time students and faculty, alongside the choice of an iPhone or an iPod Touch. Beginning with the fall 2010 semester, students also had the option of choosing an iPad for an additional charge. OC now provides information technology support for a "Bring Your Own Device" model. In 2013, OC's mobile computing program was honored as an Apple Distinguished Program.

Academics
All bachelor's degrees at OC require the completion of at least 126 semester hours. Not less than 30 hours must be earned in courses numbered 3000 or above, including at least 10 hours in the major field. Bachelor's degrees require completion of a core curriculum of 60 semester hours consisting of "basic skills" (14 hours), Bible (16 hours), "basic perspectives" (27 hours) and a 3-hour senior philosophy seminar

The university also offers an honors program; participants are selected by interview.

Through its Office of International Studies, OC offers semester-long study programs in Europe, based in the university's Das Millicanhaus in Vienna, Austria. OC also has shorter study abroad options in Asia and Honduras, plus additional options through the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

Faculty
OC employs 94 full-time faculty members, more than 70 percent of whom hold a terminal degree in their respective fields. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 13-to-1. 83 percent of classes contain fewer than 30 students.

Presidents
 L. R. Wilson – 1950–1954
 James O. Baird – 1954–1974
 J. Terry Johnson – 1974–1996
 Kevin Jacobs – 1996–2001
 Alfred Branch – 2001–2002
 Mike O'Neal – 2002–2012
 John deSteiguer – 2012–2023
 Ken Jones: 2023 – present

Athletics

The Oklahoma Christian athletic teams are called the Eagles and Lady Eagles. The university is a member of the NCAA Division II ranks, primarily competing in the Lone Star Conference (LSC) since the 2019–20 academic year. They were also a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), primarily competing as an independent in the Central Region of the Division I level from 2012–13 to 2018–19. The Eagles and Lady Eagles previously competed in the D-II Heartland Conference from 2012–13 to 2018–19; and in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1978–79 to 2011–12; and in the Texoma Athletic Conference from 1973–74 to 1977–78.

OC competes in 15 intercollegiate varsity sports: men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, track & field and volleyball. Club sports include men's and women's bowling, cheerleading, men's and women's disc golf, dance, esports and ultimate frisbee.

Campus

Oklahoma Christian University is situated approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) west of U.S. Interstate 35, just south of the north Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond. The campus spans 240 acres (97 ha) and is bordered by East Memorial Road to the south, Smiling Hills Boulevard to the north, S. Boulevard/N. Eastern Avenue to the west, and Benson Road and N. Bryant Road to the east. The campus features over 30 major buildings, primarily designed in an International and Mid-Century modern architectural style, showcasing red brick and light-colored stone ornamentations.

The main entrance leads to the center of the campus, where the Williams-Branch Center for Biblical Studies (1987) is located, housing Scott Chapel. Adjacent to Scott Chapel is the Mabee Learning Center (1966), which houses the Tom & Ada Beam Library. The Thelma Gaylord Forum (1987), an amphitheatre, is situated between the Williams-Branch Center and the library's front entrance.

To the east of the Mabee Learning Center are OC's earliest buildings, dating from 1959, including Benson Hall (the main administrative building), Cogswell-Alexander Hall (housing the registrar's office and information technology offices), Gaylord Hall (site of the admissions and financial aid offices), and Vose Hall (containing science laboratories and classrooms). These buildings are centered around the university's original quadrangle.

North of the original quadrangle is the Davisson American Heritage (DAH) Building (1970), followed by the Noble Science Wing (2011), Herold Science Hall (housing OC's student undergraduate research program), and the Prince Engineering Center (1988).

Moving eastward from the main entrance, one finds the Baugh Auditorium, which serves as the primary campus venue for performances and convocations. The McIntosh Conservatory, an open meeting and performance space, connects Baugh Auditorium with the Garvey Center (1978), consisting of Mabee Hall and Kresge Hall. The Garvey Center also houses Judd Theatre for thrust or proscenium theatre productions and Adams Recital Hall. Further east is the Harvey Business Center (1980).

The west side of the campus is primarily dedicated to student residences and recreation. The Gaylord University Center (1976/1997) houses the cafeteria, a snack bar, bookstore, health center, recreation areas, and the Student Life and Student Government Association offices. Adjacent to this center is the Payne Athletic Center (1970), which includes a campus fitness facility, Olympic-size swimming pool, and the Eagles' Nest gymnasium, recognized as one of the top-100 athletic venues in state history by The Oklahoman in 2007.

Recent additions to the campus are situated between these buildings and the dormitories on the west. Lawson Commons features McGraw Pavilion, a covered outdoor event space, and the Freede Centennial Tower, a 100-foot-tall (30 m) clock tower commemorating the 2007 Oklahoma state centennial. Additionally, in 2009, the campus received a gift of more than 1,300 trees from a partnership between the Tree Bank Foundation and the Apache Foundation, resulting in a green and vibrant landscape.

In 2013, OC introduced the Boker-Wedel Eagle Trail, a 5 km path encircling the campus. This trail, composed of side-by-side asphalt and crushed granite running paths, spans a distance of 3.1 miles and is equipped with lighting, landscaping, and security phones. It also connects with the Edmond running trails system.

In April 2016, the university unveiled Hartman Place, a scripture garden and waterfall. Hartman Place contains a space designated for students to write, using chalk on slate, remembrances of loved ones they have lost.

OC provides almost 1,800 on-campus living spaces in 11 residence halls and nine apartment complexes. Dormitories are located on the western end of the campus. Apartment complexes, available to upper-class and married students, are located across Benson Road on the east end of campus.

The northernmost portions of the campus contain outdoor venues for soccer, softball (Tom Heath Field at Lawson Plaza), track and field (Vaughn Track), baseball (Dobson Field) and intramural sports.

OC policies
OC maintains a commitment to traditional biblical principles as "derived from the Bible".

Attendance at OC is open to all students, regardless of religious affiliation, who agree to abide by OC's ideals. Full-time faculty and staff are required to be active members of a Church of Christ. Attendance at daily chapel services is mandatory for all full-time students. OC has an exemption from Title IX regulations prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Cascade College
OC operated Cascade College, a branch campus in Portland, Oregon, from 1994 until it closed in May 2009. Like OC, Cascade's full-time faculty and the majority of its students were members of Churches of Christ. In 1992, the Oklahoma Christian University Board of Trustees assumed the operation of the former Columbia Christian College after it suffered serious financial difficulties and lost accreditation. A year after Columbia closed, the new branch campus opened in 1994 as Cascade College. The North Central Association agreed that the accreditation of Oklahoma Christian, Oklahoma City, could extend to Cascade if close ties and supervision were maintained. In October 2008, the OC Board of Trustees announced that Cascade College would close after the spring 2009 semester. Bill Goad was the last president of Cascade and is now OC's executive vice president.

Notable alumni

Cliff Aldridge – former Republican member of the Oklahoma State Senate
 Jim Beaver – film and television actor, co-star of Deadwood and Supernatural
 Andrew K. Benton – seventh president of Pepperdine University
 Dan Branch (1980) – former member of the Texas House of Representatives from the Dallas area
 Sherri Coale (1987) – head coach, University of Oklahoma women's basketball
 Patrice Douglas (1983) – former member of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission
 Joe Clifford Faust (1980) – science fiction author and freelance writer
 Allison Garrett (1984), VP for academic affairs (2007–2012); president at Emporia State University (2016-2021), current chancellor Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (2021-present)
 Rhein Gibson – professional golfer and Guinness World Record holder
 Roderick Green (2002) – paralympic athlete
 Molefi Kete Asante (under his birth name, Arthur Lee Smith, Jr.; 1964) – scholar of African studies and African American studies at Temple University; founder of the first Ph.D. program in African-American studies
 Greg Lee – actor, host of PBS series Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and voice of Mayor/Principal Bob White on Doug.
 Patti Neuhold-Ravikumar (1995) - 21st president and first female president at the University of Central Oklahoma (2019-2023)
 Roy Ratcliff (1970) – Christian minister, ministered to Jeffrey Dahmer
 Tess Teague (2012) – former Oklahoma State Representative
 Sam Winterbotham (1999) – head coach, University of Tennessee men's tennis

References

External links

 Official athletics website

Universities and colleges in Oklahoma City
Universities and colleges affiliated with the Churches of Christ
Private universities and colleges in Oklahoma
Universities and colleges established in 1950
1950 establishments in Oklahoma
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

Oklahoma Christian University


Sunrise is a city in central-western Broward County, Florida, United States, and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 97,335.

Sunrise was incorporated in 1961 and founded by Norman Johnson, a developer whose Upside-Down House attracted buyers to what was then a remote area.

History

Early history

In 1960, Iowa-born developer Norman Johnson paid $9 million for 2,650 acres of land in southwestern Broward County. By 1961, this community of 1.75 square miles—which Johnson named Sunrise Golf Village—had fewer than 350 residents.

It has been reported that the community was to be named Sunset Village—but this did not occur because of objections from residents who felt that "sunset" was too final. (Originally called "Sunset," the name did not sit well with the retirees whom developers wanted to attract, so a change was made to "Sunrise.")

Johnson and F. E. Dykstra developed and built an "upside-down house" to lure prospective property buyers. The home was completely furnished, and the carport featured an upside-down automobile. Public interest was aroused through numerous news stories—including a feature in Life magazine. The structure became a national attraction that drew thousands to the Village. People came to stand on the ceiling—and many stayed to make their home in the community.

In 1961, Norman Johnson was appointed by Governor C. Farris Bryant as the first Mayor of Sunrise Golf Village.

According to "City of Sunrise Golf Village," a booklet produced by the City in 1969: "On January 10, 1967, (a date called for by City Charter) Sunrise Golf Village emerged from a developer's operation into a free city under complete control of its residents. Also, on this auspicious date, the City elected a Mayor and seven Councilmen to four-year terms of office. The City of Sunrise Golf Village which comprises 3 1/2 square miles, has no air pollution or drainage problems, all paved streets, and street lighting throughout the entire City."

That first elected mayor was John Lomelo Jr., a former Miami nightclub owner who was drawn to Sunrise Golf Village by the Upside-Down House.

Growth

Originally known as Sunrise Golf Village, the City had a population of 4,300 and comprised just 1.75 square miles by 1967. Then, during the 1970s—as Broward County began to push west—the City experienced its first real growth.

In 1971, the City, by referendum, changed its name to the City of Sunrise. Through annexation, Sunrise eventually expanded to its current boundaries—encompassing more than 18 square miles, reaching the Everglades and dropping south of I-595/State Road 84. The City is situated approximately six miles west of Fort Lauderdale, and is adjoined by the communities of Weston, Davie, Tamarac, Lauderhill, and Plantation.

By October 1984, the City had reached an estimated population of 50,000. In the mid-1980s, growth gave way to challenges, as the City was faced with financial difficulties, limited economic opportunities and a lack of adequate civic amenities. In the early 1990s, Sunrise worked to put its financial house in order, rebuild its infrastructure and establish itself as a center for business headquarters. It is the site of Sawgrass International Corporate Park—at 612 acres, the largest corporate park in South Florida.

In 1990, the first phase of Sawgrass Mills opened in Sunrise. Due to its continued popularity and expansion, the shopping and entertainment center has grown to almost 2.3 million square feet. It features 350 outlet and value retailers; food courts and full-service restaurants; movie theater and family entertainment venues.

The National Car Rental Center—now the Amerant Bank Arena—opened its doors in 1998. The arena is the home of the National Hockey League's Florida Panthers, and hosts top entertainers and events.

Thanks in large part to these shopping and entertainment destinations, Sunrise has become one of Florida's top tourist draws. Its location at the center of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties—in close proximity to the Florida Turnpike and I-95, and bordered by the Sawgrass Expressway, I-75 and I-595—makes Sunrise accessible to area residents and visitors alike.

Sunrise operates its own utility services (water, wastewater, and natural gas), as well as municipal fire-rescue and police departments. The City also maintains its own system of parks, as well as a soccer club, golf course, tennis club, playgrounds and swimming pools. The Sunrise Civic Center includes a 300-seat theater, an art gallery, an athletic club, and banquet facilities. Sunrise is also home to eleven public schools.

Google Maps loss incident

In September 2010, Sunrise was "lost" by Google Maps. Individuals attempting to get driving directions or locate a business in Sunrise were redirected to Sarasota, Florida. This was the third time this occurred in Sunrise's history.

Recent history

On February 2, 2021, a shootout occurred between a gunman and several FBI agents at an apartment complex in Sunrise. At the time, the agents were serving a federal warrant related to a child exploitation case. Two FBI agents were fatally shot and three others were injured. The gunman, who was the subject of the warrant, was later found dead after barricading himself inside the apartment. The shootout was the most violent incident in the FBI's history since the 1986 shootout that left two agents dead and five others injured, and it was also the first time an agent was fatally shot in the line of duty since 2008.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 97,335 people, 34,356 households, and 21,852 families residing in the city.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 84,439 people, 31,906 households, and 20,586 families residing in the city.

2000 census
As of 2000, 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.6% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% were non-families. 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.12.

In 2000, in the city, the population was spread out, with 24.9% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $40,998, and the median income for a family was $47,908. Males had a median income of $35,706 versus $28,147 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,713. About 7.3% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.3% of those under age 18 and 12.5% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2000, speakers of English as a first language accounted for 71.92%, while Spanish was 16.75%, French Creole was at 2.53%, Yiddish at 1.14%, Portuguese at 1.01%, Italian at 0.84%, French at 0.83%, Hebrew at 0.61%, and Chinese at 0.59% of the population.

As of 2000, Sunrise had the 107th highest percentage of Cuban residents in the US, at 2.29% of the city's population, and the sixtieth highest percentage of Colombian residents in the US, at 2.44% of the city's population (tied with Weehawken, New Jersey.) It also had the fourteenth most Jamaican-populated area in the US, with 7.6% of all residents, and the fifty-third highest concentration of Haitians (tied with Lake Alfred and Miami Gardens' Bunche Park neighborhood) at 2.8% of the population.

Economy

Sunrise's tax base includes Amerant Bank Arena, Sawgrass Mills, Sawgrass International Corporate Park, IKEA and other commercial developments. Quality job creation through corporate attraction has long been a priority in the City.

Air France's United States reservations call center is located in the Sawgrass Technology Park in Sunrise.

CIGNA Healthcare has a large service and operations center in Sunrise.

Emerson Electric Company announced on July 26, 2011 that it would locate its Latin America headquarters at Sawgrass International Corporate Park.

The City of Sunrise announced a New Homebuyer Incentive Program on January 20, 2012. Under this innovative new program, The City of Sunrise will reimburse homebuyers up to $2,000 for select improvements to a newly purchased single-family foreclosure or short sale home. The new program is an effort to attract new residents to Sunrise - and benefit existing residents by helping to improve the appearance and property values in Sunrise neighborhoods.

Arts and culture

Sunrise hosts events throughout the year in celebration of holidays, seasons and other occasions. Highlights include:

Earth Day Festival: This celebration of green living sponsored by the city's Utilities Department. The Earth Day Festival features live music; children's rides and activities; a farmer's market; unique, handcrafted goods, ethnic and traditional foods, and eco-conscious organizations. Giveaways include BPA-free water bottles that can be filled throughout the day at the City's complimentary water station.

Cultural Festival: Designed to celebrate, highlight and unify the diverse cultures represented in the City, the festival showcases multi-ethnic foods, music, art, and dance. This event is held each November in City Park.

Harvest Festival: Held each October, this festival includes costume contests, horse-drawn hayrides and an old fashioned pumpkin patch.

Fourth of July Parade & Fireworks: This regional celebration begins with a patriotic parade, followed by a family-friendly party with free food, rides and live entertainment. The evening's events – made possible by a public/private partnership with the former Bank Atlantic Center, now BB&T Center – include fireworks and live music.

Woodstock: This annual event features hand-made crafts from local artists. Held the first weekend in December, it is a popular event and also features local musical talents, among other entertainment.

Sports
Sunrise's Amerant Bank Arena is the home of the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League. The arena also hosts concerts, circuses, ice shows and other events. The venue's 2011 first-quarter, non-hockey attendance numbers ranked No. 4 in the United States and No. 17 in the world based on calculations by entertainment trade publication Pollstar.

In 2015, the local girls youth soccer club Sunrise l9veSC recorded 3 state championships out of 6 age groups (U14, U15, and U17). In 2016, the U15 and U17 teams qualified for the US Youth Soccer National League with the U15 finishing second and the U17 finishing third.

In 2010, Sunrise finished the complete renovation and rebranding of its executive course, Seven Bridges at Springtree Golf Club. The 67-acre facility first opened in 1972. It now features a 7,000-square-foot clubhouse with a pro shop, locker rooms and a 120-seat dining area available for breakfast, lunch and catered events.

The City also operates the 15-court Sunrise Tennis Club, three pools, and more than 250 acres of park land.

The Sunrise Suns Wheelchair Basketball Team originally began as a recreational team under the umbrella of Spinal Cord Injury Support Group, Broward chapter. Dr Lauren Lerner, Fran Wade and Sue Krinsky all of HealthSouth Sunrise Rehabilitation Hospital as well as members of the board of directors for the Spinal Cord Injury Support Group saw a need to develop a wheelchair basketball program for the disabled.

Government

The City of Sunrise operates under a commission/manager form of government, led by a mayor and four city commissioners who are elected to four-year terms on a non-partisan basis. The deputy mayor and assistant deputy mayor are selected on a rotating basis in March of each year.

It is the commission's responsibility to set policy, establish laws and adopt the city's budget. The commission-appointed city manager oversees the day-to-day operations of Sunrise.

Commission meetings are typically conducted on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month in City Hall. Live and archived video of public meetings is available on www.sunrisefl.gov. Meetings are also rebroadcast on local Comcast Cable Channel 78.

Sunrise is a full-service city with a comprehensive array of departments, including: Finance and Administrative Services, City Attorney, City Clerk, City Manager, Community Development, Leisure Services, Information Technology, Human Resources, and Utilities.

Education
Sunrise is home to 11 public schools – eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school – operated by Broward County Public Schools. Higher education is offered by nearby public and private institutions, including Broward College, Barry University and Nova Southeastern University.

Elementary schools

 Banyan Elementary School (It opened c. 1981. In 2012, a $1.3 million media center was installed.)
 Discovery Elementary School
 Horizon Elementary School
 Nob Hill Elementary School
 Sandpiper Elementary School
 Sawgrass Elementary School
 Village Elementary School
 Welleby Elementary School

Middle schools
 Bair Middle School
 Westpine Middle School
 Schools outside of the Sunrise city limits: Indian Ridge Middle in Davie, Plantation Middle in Plantation, and Tequesta Trace Middle in Weston.

High schools
 Piper High School
 Schools outside of the Sunrise city limits: Plantation High School in Plantation and Western High School in Davie.

Infrastructure
The Sunrise Utilities Department operates a water and wastewater system that spans approximately 70 miles and serves more than 200,000 residential and commercial customers. The system consists of over 500 miles of water distribution mains; over 600 miles of sewer piping and mains; 200 wastewater and pump stations; three water treatment facilities; four water re-pump facilities and three wastewater treatment plans.

The Utilities Department also oversees the sixth largest municipal gas system in Florida, serving nearly 10,000 homes and businesses.

References

External links
City of Sunrise official site

Cities in Broward County, Florida
Cities in Florida
Populated places established in 1961
1961 establishments in Florida

Sunrise, Florida


Marco Coltellini (24 May 1724, in Montepulciano – November 1777, in Saint Petersburg) was an Italian opera tenor, librettist and printer.

Biography
Coltellini embarked on a career in the Church, but had to leave after fathering four daughters. He set up a printing shop in Livorno to publish the works of Enlightenment figures such as Francesco Algarotti and Cesare Beccaria. Coltellini was very interested in opera and made the acquaintance of Metastasio (the leading librettist of opera seria) as well as Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ranieri de' Calzabigi and Giacomo Durazzo, who were involved in the reform of Italian opera.

In 1763, Coltellini succeeded Metastasio as the Imperial Poet at the Court of Vienna. He provided libretti for Gluck, Hasse (Piramo e Tisbe) and Salieri, as well as revising Carlo Goldoni's La finta semplice so it could be set by Mozart. His collaboration with Traetta, Ifigenia in Aulide (1763), developed the operatic innovations of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.
In 1768, he wrote the libretto for Giuseppe Scarlatti's opera Dove è amore è gelosia, which was premiered at the newly refurbished theatre in Český Krumlov Castle for the wedding celebration of the eldest son of Prince Joseph Adam I of Schwarzenberg, in which he sang the role of Patrizio, one of the characters of the opera.

Coltellini was dismissed from the post in 1772 after one of his satires angered the Empress Maria Theresia, and he accepted the job of official librettist for the Imperial Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Here he provided texts for Giovanni Paisiello and Traetta (Antigona). He again fell into disgrace and his sudden death was rumoured to be the result of poisoning.

References

Sources
Booklet notes to Christophe Rousset's recording of Traetta's opera Antigona (Decca, 2000)

1724 births
1777 deaths
Italian opera librettists
Italian male writers
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's librettists
People from Livorno
18th-century composers
18th-century male musicians
18th-century musicians

Marco Coltellini


Zuleika Angel Jones (June 5, 1921 – April 14, 1976), better known as Zuzu Angel, was a Brazilian-American fashion designer. She became famous because she opposed the Brazilian military dictatorship after the forced disappearance of her son, Stuart. She was also the mother of journalist Hildegard Angel.

This dictatorship was backed by the CIA and the US government, at least for some time.

The National Truth Commission was created in 2014, to gather and review information about crimes committed during this dictatorship. A former agent of the dictatorship, called  Cláudio Antônio Guerra confirmed that agents of the dictatorship were involved in the death of Angel.

Life and career
Zuzu Angel was born on June 5, 1921, in Curvelo, Brazil. As a child, she moved to Belo Horizonte, later she lived in Bahia. Bahian culture and colors significantly influenced the style of Angel's creations. In 1947, she went to live in Rio de Janeiro, which was Brazil's capital city at the time.

In the 1950s, Angel began to work as a seamstress. She usually made  clothing for close relatives. At the start of the 1970s, she opened  a store in Ipanema. At that time, she also started to show her clothes on American catwalks. In her fashion expositions, she always used the joy and richness of the colours of Brazilian culture. This made her well known in the fashion world of her time.

Angel married an American salesman, Norman Angel Jones, and on January 11, 1946, they had a son, Stuart.

Forced disappearance of Stuart Angel
Stuart Angel was an undergraduate student at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's School of Economics when he joined the left-wing urban guerrilla group Revolutionary Movement 8th October (Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro – MR-8). His  fellow guerrillas gave him the codenames "Paulo" and "Henrique". He married fellow militant Sônia Maria Morais Angel Jones. His wife  died in the custody of the military dictatorship's political police.

Officers of the Air Force Information Center (Centro de Informações da Aeronáutica – CISA arrested  Stuart in the neighborhood of Grajaú, Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1971. He was then taken under custody to CISA headquarters, where he was reportedly tortured. According to political prisoner Alex Polari, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, Stuart was then tied to the back of a jeep with his mouth glued to the vehicle's exhaust pipe and dragged through the courtyard of the Air Force base. This caused him to die from rasphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning. His body was never found.

Aftermath
Alex Polari wrote a letter to Zuzu Angel explaining the circumstances of her son's death. Based on Polari's letter and other evidence, Angel reported the murder to Ted Kennedy, who revealed the case during a speech at the United States Senate. Angel also handed a letter to  Henry Kissinger, who was  Secretary of State of the United States at the time. This letter was a translation of Polari's letter. She also gave Kissinger a copy of the twentieth volume of the book History of the Brazilian Republic by Hélio Silva, in which Stuart's death is discussed. According to Silva, among the reactions of the regime to the protests of the American-Brazilian community were the removal and subsequent retirement of Brigadier João Paulo Burnier, who Polari accused of being responsible for Stuart's death. The  Minister of the Air Force, Márcio de Sousa Melo was also dismissed.

Death
Zuzu Angel was killed in a car crash on April 14, 1976. The suddenness of her death raised suspicions of government involvement; the case was investigated by the Comissão de Mortos e Desaparecidos Políticos (Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances), under process number 237/96. This commission found many reasons to doubt the official version of events.

In 2014, the involvement of agents of the military repression regime in Brazil in her death was confirmed. A former agent named
Cláudio Antônio Guerra, wrote the book Memories of a Dirty War. In this boo  he details several crimes in which he took part and he also revealed details about historical events of that time, among them the Riocentro May Day Attack, the death of Zuzu Angel and others.

Cláudio Antônio Guerra was the  director of the Department of Political and Social Order, known as DOPS at the time. This department was well-known, because it was often involved in torture, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearance. Guerra said that  army Colonel Freddie Perdigão had been present at the scene when the accident happened. Perdigau was a known torturer. In a photo taken at the scene of the accident that killed the stylist, Freddie Perdigão is seen standing close to the car. The photo had been taken on April 14, 1976 and was published on the day of disaster but Perdigão had not been identified in the photo until Guerra identified him to the members of the commission.

Homages and cultural references
Stuart Angel is the patron of Juventude Revolucionária 8 de Outubro, MR-8's youth branch. MR-8 is now a faction of the Brazilian Democratic Movement.

The lyrics of the song "Cálice", written by Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil make reference tp Stuart's probable death by asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning. In homage to Zuzu Angel, and other mothers who were unable to bury their children, Buarque wrote the song "Angélica" in 1977.

In 2006, the events surrounding Stuart's death were dramatised in the movie Zuzu Angel, directed by Sérgio Rezende. The movie, in which Daniel de Oliveira plays Stuart, is about Zuzu's struggle to find out the truth of her son's death.

The Tunnel Dois Irmãos, which connects Gávea to São Conrado, the same place where Zuzu's car crashed, was renamed after her.

In 2015, Angel was commemorated on her 94th birthday with a Google Doodle featuring a motif adapted from the prints she used in her designs.

References

Other websites
 Zuzu o Anjo  at Bolsa Demulher
 Zuzu Angel Institute

1976 deaths
1921 births
Fashion designers
Brazilian people

Zuzu Angel


The Decembrist Revolt () took place in Russia on , following the sudden death of Emperor Alexander I.

Alexander's heir-presumptive,  Konstantin, had privately declined the succession, unknown to the court, and his younger brother Nicholas ascended the throne as Emperor Nicholas I. While some of the army had sworn loyalty to Nicholas, a force of about 3,000 troops tried to mount a military coup in favour of Konstantin. The rebels, although weakened by dissension between their leaders, confronted the loyalists outside the Senate building in the presence of a large crowd. In the confusion, the Emperor's envoy, Mikhail Miloradovich, was assassinated. Eventually, the loyalists opened fire with heavy artillery, which scattered the rebels. Many were sentenced to hanging, prison, or exile to Siberia. The conspirators became known as the Decembrists ().

Union of Salvation and Union of Prosperity
At first, many officers were encouraged by Tsar Alexander I's early liberal reformation of Russian society and politics. Liberalism was encouraged on an official level, creating high expectations during the period of rapprochement between Napoleon and Alexander. The major advocate for reform in Alexander's regime was Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky. During his early years in the regime, Speransky helped inspire the organization of the Ministry of the Interior, the reform of ecclesiastic education, and strengthening the government's role in the country's economic development. Speransky's role increased greatly in 1808. From then until 1812, when they feared him as a liberal similar to Napoleon and his invasion, Speransky developed plans for the reorganization of Russia's government. Because of increasing hostility, he was forced to flee into exile.

Returning from exile in 1819, Speransky was appointed as the governor of Siberia, with the task of reforming local government. In 1818, the tsar asked Count Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev to draw up a constitution. The abolition of serfdom in the Baltic provinces was instituted between 1816 and 1819. However, internal and external unrest, which the tsar believed stemmed from political liberalization, led to a series of repressions and a return to a former government of restraint and conservatism.

Meanwhile, the experiences of the Napoleonic Wars and realization of the suffering of peasant soldiers resulted in Decembrist officers and sympathizers being attracted to reform changes in society. They displayed their contempt of court by rejecting the court lifestyle, wearing their cavalry swords at balls (to indicate their unwillingness to dance), and committing themselves to academic study. These new practices captured the spirit of the times as a willingness by the Decembrists to embrace both the peasant (i.e., the fundamental Russian people) and ongoing reform movements from intellectuals abroad.

Pavel Pestel identified reasons for reform:

Historians have noted that the United States Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution may also have influenced Decembrists, as they did other nations. The constitution written by Nikita Muravyov was highly similar to the United States Constitution. But the Decembrists were against slavery in the United States. They worked to free any slaves and serfs from all countries in Russia immediately. Pestel and his followers opposed the United States' federal model in peaceful times as threatening to the would-be Russian/United Slavic federation; they only approved the US revolutionary model. While agreeing with Pestel that the American revolutionary model could be the best form for Russia, the Polish patriotic society would not agree to participate in establishing a federation. They wanted a United States-style republic or other state, with Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine to be included in a unitary Poland (i.e., more or less the territory of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), without any Russian involvement in the affairs of these territories.

In 1816, several officers of the Imperial Russian Guard founded a society known as the Union of Salvation, or of the Faithful and True Sons of the Fatherland. The society acquired a revolutionary cast after it was joined by the idealistic Pavel Pestel. The charter was similar to charters of the organizations of carbonari. Pestel was supported by Yakushkin when there were rumors that the emperor had intended to transfer the capital from Saint Petersburg to Warsaw, and to liberate all peasants without the consent of Russian landlords. They would not be able to influence a government based in Warsaw. Yakushkin intended to kill the emperor even before the revolution. When the society consisting of Russian landlords had refused to kill the emperor based on such rumors,  Yakushkin left the society. The more liberal Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky created a new charter similar to that of Tugendbund. It did not have revolutionary plans and the society was called the Union of Prosperity. It was still considered illegal and similar to masonic lodges. (The small Order of Russian knights, excepting its prominent member Alexander von Benckendorff, also joined the Union of Prosperity, together with the members of the Union of Salvation.)

After a mutiny in the Semenovsky Regiment in 1820, the society decided to suspend activity in 1821. Two groups, however, continued to function secretly: a Southern Society, based at Tulchin, a small garrison town in Ukraine, in which Pestel was the outstanding figure, and a Northern Society, based at Saint Petersburg, led by guard officers Nikita Muraviev, Prince S. P. Trubetskoy and Prince Eugene Obolensky. The political aims of the more moderate Northern Society were a British-style constitutional monarchy with a limited franchise. They envisioned that it could be replaced with a republic in the future but only according to the will of the people. They also believed there should be a legislative assembly and did not call for the execution of the imperial family. They supported the abolition of serfdom, according to the interests of Russian landlords, i.e. with land to be retained by landlords, in a style similar to the abolition of serfdom in Baltic provinces. They also supported equality before the law. The Southern Society, under Pestel's influence, was more radical and wanted to abolish the monarchy, establish a republic, similar to the Union of Salvation, and contrary to the Union of Salvation plans, to redistribute land, taking half into state ownership and dividing the rest among the peasants. The Society of United Slavs (also known as the Slavic Union – Pan-Slavism) was established in Novohrad-Volynsky (now Zviahel) in Ukraine in 1823. Its never-written program was similar to that of the Southern Society but the main emphasis was on the equal federation of Russia (including Ukraine), Poland, Moldavia (including Bessarabia) with the attachment of Wallachia, Transylvania, Hungary (including Slovakia, Slovenia, Vojvodina, the Carpatho-Ukraine aka Zakarpattia), Croatia, Serbia, Dalmatia, the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia, i.e. all Slavic & Vlach countries with the exception of Bulgaria and Macedonia, in the future. This society joined the Southern Society and adopted its program in exchange for the recognition of the Slavic federation zeal by the Southern society in September 1825.

At Senate Square

When Emperor Alexander I died on , the royal guards swore allegiance to the presumed successor, Alexander's brother Konstantin. When Konstantin made his renunciation public, and Nicholas stepped forward to assume the throne, the Northern Society acted. With the capital in temporary confusion, and one oath to Konstantin having already been sworn, the society scrambled in secret meetings to convince regimental leaders not to swear allegiance to Nicholas. These efforts culminated in the Decembrist Revolt. The leaders of the society elected Prince Sergei Trubetskoy as interim ruler.

On the morning of , a group of officers commanding about 3,000 men (elements of Life-Guards Moscow Regiment, Grenadier Life Guards Regiment, and Naval Equipage of the Guard) assembled in Senate Square, where they refused to swear allegiance to the new tsar, Nicholas I, proclaiming instead their loyalty to Konstantin. They expected to be joined by the rest of the troops stationed in Saint Petersburg, but they were disappointed. The revolt was hampered when it was deserted by its supposed leader Prince Trubetskoy. His second-in-command, Colonel Bulatov, also vanished from the scene. After a hurried consultation, the rebels appointed Prince Eugene Obolensky as a replacement leader.

For hours, there was a stand-off between the 3,000 rebels and the 9,000 loyal troops stationed outside the Senate building, with some desultory shooting from the rebel side. A vast crowd of civilian on-lookers began fraternizing with the rebels but did not join the action. Eventually, Nicholas (the new tsar) appeared in person at the square and sent Count Mikhail Miloradovich to parley with the rebels. Miloradovich was fatally shot in the back by Pyotr Kakhovsky while delivering a public address, then stabbed by Yevgeny Obolensky. At the same time, a rebelling squad of grenadiers, led by Lieutenant Nikolay Panov, entered the Winter Palace but failed to seize it and retreated.

After spending most of the day in fruitless attempts to parley with the rebel force, Nicholas ordered a cavalry charge by Her Sovereign Majesty Empress Maria Theodorovna's Chevalier Guard Regiment that slipped on the icy cobbles and retired in disorder. Eventually, at the end of the day, Nicholas ordered three artillery pieces to open fire with grapeshot ammunition to devastating effect. To avoid the slaughter, the rebels broke and ran. Some attempted to regroup on the frozen surface of the river Neva to the north. However, they were targeted by the artillery and suffered many casualties. As the ice was broken by the cannon fire, many sank. The revolt in the north came to an end. There was a rumor that during the nighttime, police and loyal army units were detached to clean the city and the Neva river, as many of the dead, dying, and wounded had been cast into it.

Arrests and trial

While the Northern Society scrambled in the days leading up to the revolt, the Southern Society (based in Tulchin) took a serious blow. The day before (), acting on reports of treason, the police arrested Pavel Pestel. It took two weeks for the Southern Society to learn of the events in the capital. Meanwhile, other members of the leadership were arrested. The Southern Society, and a nationalistic group called the United Slavs, discussed revolt. When learning of the location of some of the arrested men, the United Slavs freed them by force. One of the freed men, Sergey Muravyov-Apostol, assumed leadership of the revolt. After converting the soldiers of Vasilkov to the cause, Muraviev-Apostol easily captured the city. The rebelling army was confronted by superior forces that were heavily armed with artillery loaded with grapeshot.

On , the rebels met defeat, and the surviving leaders were sent to Saint Petersburg to stand trial with the northern leaders. The Decembrists were taken to the Winter Palace to be interrogated, tried, and convicted. Kakhovsky was executed by hanging, together with four other leading Decembrists: Pavel Pestel; the poet Kondraty Ryleyev; Sergey Muravyov-Apostol; and Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin. A further 31 Decembrists facing the death penalty were instead imprisoned. Other Decembrists were exiled to Siberia, Kazakhstan, and the Far East.

Suspicion also fell on several eminent persons who were on friendly terms with the Decembrist leaders and could have been aware of their clandestine organizations, notably Alexander Pushkin, Aleksander Griboyedov, and Aleksey Yermolov.

Decembrists in Siberia
On , the first party of Decembrist convicts began its exodus to Siberia. Among this group were Prince Trubetskoi, Prince Obolensky, Peter and Andrei Borisov, Prince Volkonsky, and Artamon Muraviev, all of them bound for the mines at Nerchinsk. The journey eastward was fraught with hardship, yet for some it offered refreshing changes in scenery and peoples following imprisonment. Decembrist Nikolay Vasil'yevich Basargin was unwell when he set out from Saint Petersburg, but he recovered his strength on the move; his memoirs depict the journey to Siberia in a cheerful light, full of praise for the "common people" and commanding landscapes.

Not all Decembrists could identify with Basargin's positive experience. Because of their lower social standing, "soldier-Decembrists" experienced the emperor's vengeance in full. Sentenced by court-martial, many of these "commoners" received thousands of lashes. Those that survived went to Siberia on foot, chained alongside common criminals.

Fifteen out of 124 Decembrists were convicted of "state-crimes" by the Supreme Criminal Court, and sentenced to "exile-to-settlement". These men were sent directly to isolated locales, such as Berezov, Narym, Surgut, Pelym, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, and Vilyuysk, among others. Few Russians inhabited these places: The populations consisted mainly of Siberian aborigines, such as Tunguses, Yakuts, Tatars, Ostyaks, Mongols, and Buryats.

Of all those exiled, the largest group of prisoners was sent to Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai, transferred three years later to Petrovsky Zavod, near Nerchinsk. This group, sentenced to hard labor, included principal leaders of the Decembrist movement as well as the members of the United Slavs. Siberian Governor-General Lavinsky argued that it was easiest to control a large, concentrated group of convicts, and Emperor Nicholas I pursued this policy in order to maximize surveillance and to limit revolutionaries' contact with local populations. Concentration facilitated the guarding of prisoners, but it also allowed the Decembrists to continue to exist as a community. This was especially true at Chita. The move to Petrovsky Zavod, however, forced Decembrists to divide into smaller groups; the new location was compartmentalized with an oppressive sense of order. Convicts could no longer congregate casually. Although nothing could destroy the Decembrists' conception of fraternity, Petrovsky Zavod forced them to live more private lives. Owing to a number of imperial sentence reductions, exiles started to complete their labor terms years ahead of schedule. The labor was of minimal travail; Stanislav Leparsky, commandant of Petrovsky Zavod, failed to enforce Decembrists' original labor sentences, and criminal convicts carried out much of the work in place of the revolutionaries. Most Decembrists left Petrovsky Zavod between 1835 and 1837, settling in or near Irkutsk, Minusinsk, Kurgan, Tobol'sk, Turinsk, and Yalutorovsk. Those Decembrists who had already lived in or visited Siberia, such as Dimitri Zavalishin, prospered upon leaving Petrovsky Zavod's confines, but most found it physically arduous and more psychologically unnerving than prison life.

The Siberian population met the Decembrists with great hospitality. Natives played central roles in keeping lines of communication open among Decembrists, friends, and relatives. Most merchants and state employees were also sympathetic. To the masses, the Decembrist exiles were "generals who had refused to take the oath to Nicholas I." They were great figures that had suffered political persecution for their loyalty to the people. On the whole, indigenous Siberian populations greatly respected the Decembrists and were extremely hospitable in their reception of them.

Upon arrival at places of settlement, exiles had to comply with extensive regulations under a strict governmental regime. Local police watched, regulated, and notated every move that Decembrists attempted to make. Dimitri Zavalishin was thrown into prison for failing to remove his hat before a lieutenant. Not only were political and social activities carefully monitored and prevented, there was interference regarding religious convictions. Local clergy accused Prince Shakhovskoi of "heresy", due to his interest in natural sciences. Authorities investigated and restrained other Decembrists for not attending church. The regime thoroughly censored all correspondences, especially communication with relatives. Messages were scrupulously reviewed by both officials in Siberia and the Third Division of the political intelligence service at Saint Petersburg. This screening process necessitated dry, careful wording on the part of Decembrists. In the words of Bestuzhev, correspondence bore a "lifeless ... imprint of officiality." Under the settlement regime, allowances were extremely meager. Certain Decembrists, including the Volkonskys, the Murav'yovs, and the Trubetskoys, were rich, but the majority of exiles had no money, and were forced to live off a mere 15 desyatins (about 16 hectares) of land, the allotment granted to each settler. Decembrists, with little to no knowledge of the land, attempted to eke out a living on wretched soil with next to no equipment. Financial aid from relatives and wealthier comrades saved many; others perished.

Despite extensive restrictions, limitations, and hardships, Decembrists believed that they could improve their situation through personal initiative. A constant stream of petitions came out of Petrovsky Zavod addressed to General Leparskii and Emperor Nicholas I. Most of the petitions were written by Decembrists' wives who had cast aside social privileges and comfort to follow their husbands into exile. These wives joined under the leadership of Princess Mariia Volkonskaia, and by 1832, through relentless petitions, managed to secure for their men formal cancellation of labor requirements, and several privileges, including the right of husbands to live with their wives in privacy. Decembrists managed to gain transfers and allowances through persuasive petitions as well as through the intervention of family members. This process of petitioning, and the resultant concessions made by the tsar and officials, was and would continue to be a standard practice of political exiles in Siberia. The chain of bureaucratic procedures and orders linking Saint Petersburg to Siberian administration was often circumvented or ignored. These breaks in bureaucracy afforded exiles a small capacity for betterment and activism.

Wives of many Decembrists followed their husbands into exile. The expression Decembrist wife is a Russian symbol of the devotion of a wife to her husband. Maria Volkonskaya, the wife of the Decembrist leader Sergei Volkonsky, notably followed her husband to his exile in Irkutsk. Despite the spartan conditions of this banishment, Sergei Volkonsky and his wife Maria took opportunities to celebrate the liberalising mode of their exile. Sergei took to wearing an untrimmed beard (rejecting Peter the Great's reforms and salon fashion), wearing peasant dress and socialising with many of his peasant associates with whom he worked the land at his farm in Urik. Maria, equally, established schools, a foundling hospital and a theater for the local population. Sergei returned after 30 years of his exile had elapsed, though his titles and land remained under royal possession. Other exiles preferred to remain in Siberia after their sentences were served, preferring its relative freedom to the stifling intrigues of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and after years of exile there was not much for them to return to. Many Decembrists thrived in exile, in time becoming landowners and farmers. In later years, they became idols of the populist movement of the 1860s and the 1870s as the Decembrists' advocacy of reform (including the abolition of serfdom) won them many admirers, including the writer Leo Tolstoy.

During their time in exile, the Decembrists fundamentally influenced Siberian life. Their presence was most definitely felt culturally and economically, political activity being so far removed from the "pulse of national life" so as to be negligible. While in Petrovsky Zavod, Decembrists taught each other foreign languages, arts and crafts, and musical instruments. They established "academies" made up of libraries, schools, and symposia. In their settlements, Decembrists were fierce advocates of education, and founded many schools for natives, the first of which opened at Nerchinsk. Schools were also founded for women, and soon exceeded capacity. Decembrists contributed greatly to the field of agriculture, introducing previously unknown crops such as vegetables, tobacco, rye, buckwheat, and barley, and advanced agricultural methods such as hothouse cultivation. Trained doctors among the political exiles promoted and organized medical aid. The homes of prominent exiles like Prince Sergei Volkonsky and Prince Sergei Trubetskoi became social centers of their locales. All throughout Siberia, the Decembrists sparked an intellectual awakening: literary writings, propaganda, newspapers, and books from European Russia began to circulate the eastern provinces, the local population developing a capacity for critical political observation. The Decembrists even held a certain influence within Siberian administration; Dimitry Zavalishin played a critical role in developing and advocating Russian Far East policy. Although the Decembrists lived in isolation, their scholarly activities encompassed Siberia at large, including its culture, economy, administration, population, geography, botany, and ecology. Despite restricted circumstances, the Decembrists accomplished an extraordinary amount, and their work was deeply appreciated by Siberians.

On 26 August 1856, with the ascent of Alexander II to the throne, the Decembrists received amnesty, and their rights, privileges were restored. Their children obtained rights, privileges and even titles of their fathers (such as princes) even if their fathers' titles were not restored. However, not all chose to return to the West. Some were financially inhibited, others had no family, and many were weak with old age. To many, Siberia had become home. Those that did return to European Russia did so with enthusiasm for the enforcement of the Emancipation Reforms of 1861. The exile of the Decembrists led to the permanent implantation of an intelligentsia in Siberia. For the first time, a cultural, intellectual, and political elite came to Siberian society as permanent residents; they integrated with the country and participated alongside natives in its development.

Assessment
With the failure of the Decembrists, Russia's autocracy would continue for almost a century, although serfdom would be officially abolished in 1861 and the parliaments  in Russia and Finland would be established in 1905. Finland had a parliament since Alexander I, but the number of electors was limited. The Russian Constitution of 1905 was called "The basic laws" as the Decembrists had called it.  Though defeated, the Decembrists did effect some change on the regime.  Their dissatisfaction forced Nicholas I to turn his attention inward to address the issues of the empire. He included many Decembrists who had joined his forces on the Senate Square and did not ultimately support the revolt in spite of their participation in Decembrist meetings into his government (such as Benkendorf, appointed to supervise the human rights, Muraviev-Vilensky and others). In 1826, Speransky was appointed by Nicholas I to head the Second Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, a committee formed to codify Russian law. Under his leadership, the committee produced a publication of the complete collection of laws of the Russian Empire, containing 35,993 enactments.  This codification called the "Full Collection of Laws" (Polnoye Sobraniye Zakonov) was presented to Nicholas I, and formed the basis for the "Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire" (Svod Zakonov Rossiskoy Imperii), the positive law valid for the Russian Empire. Speransky's liberal ideas were subsequently scrutinized and elaborated by Konstantin Kavelin and Boris Chicherin.
Although the revolt was a proscribed topic during Nicholas' reign, Alexander Herzen placed the profiles of executed Decembrists on the cover of his radical periodical Polar Star. Alexander Pushkin addressed poems to his Decembrist friends; Nikolai Nekrasov, whose father served together with Decembrists in Ukraine, wrote a long poem about the Decembrist wives; and Leo Tolstoy started writing a novel on that liberal movement, which would later evolve into War and Peace. In the Soviet era Yuri Shaporin produced an opera entitled Dekabristi (The Decembrists), about the revolt, with the libretto written by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy. It premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre on 23 June 1953.

To some extent, the Decembrists were in the tradition of a long line of palace revolutionaries of 1725–1825 who wanted to place their candidate on the throne, but many Decembrists also wanted to implement either classical liberalism or a moderate conservatism contrary to the more Jacobin, centralizing program of Pavel Pestel or the pan-Slavic confederation-advocating revolutionaries of the "Society of United Slavs". The majority of Decembrists were not members of illegal organizations similar to the participants of palace revolutions. Some were members of the Union of Prosperity only, sympathetic to an official, pro-governmental fairly conservative program. But their revolt, unlike previous Romanov palace revolutions, has been considered the beginning of a revolutionary movement. The uprising was the first open breach between the government and reformist elements of the Russian nobility, which would subsequently widen.

References

Sources

 Gabayev, G. S. (1932, in Russian). Soldaty – uchastniki zagovora i vosstaniya dekabristov (Солдаты – участники заговора и восстания декабристов), in: Dekabristy i ih vremya (Декабристы и их время), vol. 4. Moscow: VOPSP.
 Mazour, Anatole (1937). The first Russian revolution, 1825: the Decembrist movement, its origins, development, and significance. Stanford University Press. Reissue: , .
 Nechkina, Militsa (1984, in Russian). Dekabristy (Декабристы). Moscow: Nauka.
 Seton-Watson, Hugh (1988). The Russian empire, 1801–1917. Oxford University Press. , .
 Notes of Prince S.P. Trubetskoy (Saint Petersburg, 1906)

Further reading

 Crankshaw, E. (1976) The Shadow of the Winter Palace: Russia's Drift to Revolution, 1825–1917, New York, Viking Press.
 Eidelman, Natan (1985) Conspiracy against the tsar, Moscow, Progress Publishers, 294 p. (Translation from the Russian by Cynthia Carlile.)
 Figes, Orlando (2002) Natasha's Dance: a Cultural History of Russia, London, .
 Grey, Ian. (1973) "The Decembrists: Russia's First Revolutionaries, 1825" History Today (Sept 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 9, pp 656–663 online.
 Mazour, A.G. (1937) The First Russian Revolution, 1825: The Decembrist movement, its origins, development, and significance, Stanford University Press.

 Sherman, Russell & Pearce, Robert (2002) Russia 1815–81, Hodder & Stoughton.
 Trigos, Ludmilla. (2009) The Decembrist myth in Russian culture (Springer)
 Ulam, Adam B. (1981) Russia's Failed Revolutions: From the Decembrists to the Dissidents ch 1.
 Whittock, Michael. "Russia's December Revolution, 1825" History Today (Aug 1957) 7#8 pp530–537.

See also
 Union of Salvation (film)

External links

 Decembrist exile in Irkutsk
 Decembrist exile in Siberia
 Online Museum of the Decembrist movement

Conflicts in 1825
19th-century rebellions

Politics of the Russian Empire
1825 in the Russian Empire
Rebellions against the Russian Empire
Conspiracies
December 1825 events
Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Europe
Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Asia
Nicholas I of Russia
Revolutions during the 1820s

Decembrist revolt


Flora is the goddess of flowers and spring in Roman mythology.

The name Flōra descends from Proto-Italic *flōsā ('goddess of flowers'), itself a derivation from Proto-Italic *flōs ('flower'; cf. Latin flōs, flōris 'blossom, flower'). It is cognate with the Oscan goddess of flowers Fluusa, demonstrating that the cult was known more widely among Italic peoples. The name ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃ōs ('blossoming').

Her festival, the Floralia, was held between April 28 and May 3 and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, drinking, and flowers. The festival was first instituted in 240 B.C.E, and on the advice of the Sibylline books, she was also given a temple in 238 B.C.E. At the festival, with the men decked in flowers, and the women wearing normally forbidden gay costumes, five days of farces and mimes were enacted – ithyphallic, and including nudity when called for – followed by a sixth day of the hunting of goats and hares. On May 23 another (rose) festival was held in her honor.

Flora's Greek equivalent is Chloris, who was a nymph. Flora is married to Favonius, the wind god also known as Zephyr, and her companion was Hercules.

Flora achieved more prominence in the neo-pagan revival of Antiquity among Renaissance humanists than she had ever enjoyed in ancient Rome.

Roman gods and goddesses

Flora (mythology)