Military history of the United Arab Emirates

The military history of the United Arab Emirates describes the military history of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. Prior to the union of the emirates, different tribal confederations formed the de facto military force which was dominant in the area now known as the United Arab Emirates. The Bani Yas and Al Qawasim were the most significant of those tribal confederations. The official formation of the military began with the formation of the Truical Oman Levies by the British Empire on 11 May 1951 as the area was under a British protectorate.
The Trucial Oman Levies, later renamed the Trucial Oman Scouts, were for a long time the symbol of public order in eastern Arabia and was commanded by British officers. The force was turned over to the United Arab Emirates as its defense forces when the British residency in the Persian gulf ended and the United Arab Emirates formed in 1971. Prior to the unification of the armed forces, each emirate of the United Arab Emirates was responsible for its own defence. Three major defence forces were formed: the Abu Dhabi Defence Force, Dubai Defence Force, and Ras Al Khaimah Mobile Force. The three later united to form the Federal Defence Force on 6 May 1976 and hence, the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces.
The UAE's armed forces have engaged in numerous conflicts and war zones since their inception. The UAE Armed Forces were deployed in the Gulf War, Kosovo War, United Nations Operation in Somalia II, War in Afghanistan, enforcing UNSC Resolution 1973 in the 2011 Libyan Civil War, 2014 military intervention against ISIS in Syria, and the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen.
Bani Yas and Qawasim.
Prior to the union of the emirates, different tribal confederations formed the de facto military force which was dominant in the area now known as the United Arab Emirates. The Bani Yas and Al Qawasim were the most significant of those tribal confederations. The Al Qawasim were a major maritime force in the region, which prompted the British Royal Navy to organize several campaigns, such as Persian Gulf campaign of 1809 and Persian Gulf campaign of 1819 and the deployment of ground forces in Ras Al Khaimah to control the trade routes the Al Qawasim dominated. With the signing of the 1820 General Maritime Treaty between the British and the tribal sheikhs and the commencement of the British Residency of the Persian Gulf, the British Empire with the assistance of Sheikh Khalid III bin Muhammad al-Qasimi endeavored to form a unified paramilitary force based in Sharjah to suppress the slave trade and prevent tribal conflicts. The paramilitary force was named the Trucial Oman Levies.
Trucial Oman Scouts.
The current United Arab Emirates military was formed from the historical Trucial Oman Levies which was established on 11 May 1951. The Trucial Oman Levies, which were renamed the Trucial Oman Scouts in 1956, were a locally raised, British commanded force long considered a symbol of public order in Eastern Arabia.
The duties of the TOL as of 1951 were to (1) maintain peace and good order on the Trucial States; (2) prevent or suppress any traffic of slaves (but not slavery itself as this was considered an 'internal affair' by the British); and (3) provide an escort for any British political representative traveling in the Trucial States. Their duties were later expanded to include helping maintain law and order and preventing internal tribal conflicts from interfering with the work of oil companies seeking to explore for oil under concessions agreed with the Rulers. The Rulers of the Trucial States were not consulted regarding the formation or establishment of the force and only the Ruler of Sharjah, who rented out the base to be used by the Levies on a 10-year lease, was informed of their establishment.
The Trucial Oman Scouts were turned over to the United Arab Emirates as the nucleus of its defense forces in 1971 with the formation of the UAE and were absorbed into the newly formed united military called the Union Defence Force (UDF). The Union Defence Force was established officially as the military of the United Arab Emirates on 27 December 1971 from a directive issued by the UAE's founding father and first president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Union Defence Force and unification.
As the Union Defence Force, every emirate was responsible for the equipment and training of its own defence forces. In the event of an attack on any one of the seven emirates, the Union Defence Force would be mobilized from every emirate to defend the attacked emirate. In 1974 the name was changed to the Federal Armed Forces. On 6 May 1976, the Federal Armed Forces were unified as a single body. This was considered a historic event and a large milestone in the military of the United Arab Emirates. May 6 is celebrated annually as the Military Union Day. As a result of the union of forces, the number of personnel formed a brigade and was referred to as the Yarmouk Brigade.
After the union of the armed forces in 1976, the Yarmouk Brigade was officially renamed the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. The three largest emirates defence forces which originally formed the Federal Armed Forces, Abu Dhabi Defence Force, Dubai Defence Force, and Ras Al Khaimah Mobile Force, were converted into three major military bases/zones for the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. In 1976 the official UAE Armed Forces insignia, uniform, military academies, army, air force, and naval force were established and the military General Headquarters (GHQ) was formed in the capital Abu Dhabi.
Although initially small in number, the UAE armed forces have grown significantly over the years and are presently equipped with some of the most modern weapon systems, purchased from a variety of outside countries, mainly France, the US and the UK. Most officers are graduates of the United Kingdom's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, with others having attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and St Cyr, the military academy of France.
Commemoration day.
The date of the first death in the line of duty of an Emirati soldier was on 30 November 1971 during the Seizure of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs as is celebrated annually as the Commemoration Day. The highest loss of life in the history of the UAE military occurred on Friday 4 September 2015, in which 52 soldiers were killed in Marib area of central Yemen by a Tochka missile which targeted a weapons cache and caused a large explosion. All the names of Emirati soldiers who died in the line of duty are inscribed in the UAE Armed Forces memorial, the Oasis of Dignity, in the capital Abu Dhabi.
Deployments.
The United Arab Emirates Armed Forces participated in multiple conflicts, mostly in the Middle East. From 1977–1979 the UAE Army contributed 750 men to the Arab Deterrent Force peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. During 1990–1991, the Armed Forces participated in the first Gulf War. 10 Emirati soldiers lost their lives in liberating Kuwait. The UAE Armed Forces were also deployed in Eastern Europe and joined NATO's Kosovo Force peacekeeping mission undertaking aid missions to thousands of fleeing refugees on the Albanian border. This was the first time Emirati troops uniform was switched to the woodland camouflage compared to their regular home desert camouflage. The UAE Armed Forces also participated in the peacekeeping mission in Somalia from 1993–94. The UAE Armed Forces is also the only Arab country to commit troops to maintain security and participate in humanitarian aid missions to Afghanistan. The Emirati special Forces, the Presidential Guards, were deployed to maintain security in War in Afghanistan against the Taliban. In March 2011, the UAE joined the enforcement of the no-fly-zone over Libya by sending six F-16 and six Mirage 2000 multi-role fighter aircraft and in 2015 the UAE joined the Saudi-led coalition intervention in Yemen by sending 30 UAEAF F16 Desert Falcons to Yemen. The intervention was followed by Emirati ground troops deployment in Southern Yemen mainly focusing on targeting terrorist cells such as the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State.
Conscription.
The UAE introduced a mandatory military conscription for adult males in 2014. The national service duration is for 16 months and is intended to bolster the United Arab Emirates military reserve force.


Operation Shepherd Venture

Operation Shepherd Venture was an operation carried out by United States armed forces in Dakar, Senegal. The operation lasted from June 10, 1998 until June 17 of that year.
The onset of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War in June 1998 led to the evacuation of more than 3,000 foreign nationals. A forward operating task force of about 130 personal was deployed from the United States European Command. The decision was made to withdraw US nationals and embassy personal by commercial shipping and vessels chartered by the US State Department.
Following this decision the personnel (about 130) from Dakar were redeployed to their home bases.
Forces committed included members of the 10th Special Forces Group, EODMU EIGHT, MC-130 Combat Talon aircraft from the 352nd Special Operations Group, and KC-135 Stratotanker crews from United States Air Forces Europe. The operation was under the command of U. S. Navy Captain Robert A. Schoultz.


Camp Quedlinburg

Camp Quedlinburg was a prisoner-of-war camp located 2 kilometers north of Quedlinburg, Germany, during the First World War. It was built in September 1914. From 1914 to 1922, the camp housed 12,000 to 18,000 prisoners of war on average. Around 27,000 people lived in the neighbouring city of Quedlinburg at that time. There were three official branch offices in Staßfurt, and Aschersleben as well as other unofficial offices in Egeln, Halberstadt, Schönebeck, Groß Rodensleben, Schadeleben and Hedersleben.
Camp.
The camp was built on 104 hectares with 48 barracks for the prisoners. Barbed wire fences were erected to prevent escape attempts. In eight double rows there were three barracks on each side of the gable. To the northeast there were eight barracks for the guards and on the western side of Ditfurter Weg a number of large administrative buildings. Northwest of the camp were three isolated sick shelters. Guard towers with machine guns stood in the middle of each long side and at strategically important points. The wooden barracks were about 52 meters long and 12 to 15 meters wide. The interior of the barracks was sparsely furnished. Each prisoner slept in an approximately 80 cm wide 2 metre long wooden bed on straw sacks covered with woollen blankets. The barracks were divided into halves by transverse walls, each heated by an oven in the middle. At the southwest end of a block of six barracks was a kitchen building.
During the war mainly Russian, French, Belgian and English, since 1917 also Italian soldiers were interned. From the beginning they were used to build up the camp and later as workers in labour detachments, especially in agriculture.
On 9 December 1918 Theodor Cizeck Zeilau (1884-1970), a Captain in the Danish Army, made an inspection visit of the camp at Quedlinburg.
Even after the war it was used as a transit camp. It was not until 1921 that the last Russian prisoners left the camp, whereupon it was burned down. 703 prisoners of war were buried on a special part of the Quedlinburg central cemetery.


Lafayette Square (Buffalo)

Lafayette Square (formerly Court House Park or Courthouse Square) is a park in the center of downtown Buffalo, Erie County, New York, United States that hosts a Civil War monument. The block, which was once square, is lined by many of the city's tallest buildings. The square was named for General Lafayette, who visited Buffalo in 1825.
The square was part of the original urban plan for the city as laid out by Joseph Ellicott in 1804. Its eastern edge has long been defined by important civic structures; first, the Erie County Courthouse, followed by the original Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Presidential history was made in Lafayette Square when former United States President Martin Van Buren received the Free Soil Party nomination for the 1848 election. President-elect Abraham Lincoln also spoke at the square.
Today, the square offers a clear view of Buffalo City Hall, an Art Deco building three blocks to the west. A granite Civil War monument, titled "Soldiers and Sailors," gives a strong vertical and ceremonial definition to the space. Conceived by Mrs. Horatio Seymour, the monument's dedication ceremony was attended by Grover Cleveland and other prominent figures. Until 2011, Lafayette Square hosted the annual Thursday at the Square summer concert series and is occasionally the site of rallies and demonstrations.
Location.
Lafayette Square is one of three squares laid out in Joseph Ellicott's city plan. The square is located three blocks east of Niagara Square and is the second most important space in downtown Buffalo. The block is surrounded by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's Metro Rail light rail rapid transit to the west, which runs above-ground along Main Street in what is called the Free Fare Zone, Washington Street to the east, Lafayette Square to the north (a one-way westbound continuation of Broadway) and Lafayette Square to the south (a one-way eastbound connection to Clinton Street).
Buildings flanking the square include the Liberty Building, the Main Court Building, 10 Lafayette Square, the Rand Building (14 Lafayette Square), and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (One Lafayette Square). The south side of the square hosts two historic buildings: the 300-room Lafayette Hotel, designed by Louise Blanchard Bethune in 1904; and the Brisbane building, designed by Milton Earl Beebe and erected by James Mooney and James Brisbane in 1894–5. The corner north of the current library and northeast of the square once hosted the Buffalo Savings Bank building that was demolished in 1922.
Lafayette Square is served by several Metro Bus routes and the Lafayette Square rapid transit rail station of Buffalo's Metro Rail system. In 2003, Lafayette Square became the site of the first free municipal wifi hotspot in the city.
Design.
Square.
The square once was surrounded by an iron fence that was no longer present by 1905. By the 1860s, the square was a heavily wooded park. In 1876-7, trees that lined the square along main street were removed.
Lafayette Square was the last park in the heart of the city, but the commercialization of the downtown area caused vehicular space demands. The original parklike square was originally viewed by urban planners as an impediment to crosstown traffic. In 1912, the Buffalo Common Council authorized the extension of Broadway to Main Street through Lafayette Square, which reduced the size of the square "to devote to street purposes all that part of the Square except for a small circle around the Soldiers and Sailors Monument." The square has since been redeveloped a few times and is now more of a thoroughfare than a park. In 1920, the square circumscribed a vehicular circle with the monument in the center surrounded by sidewalks and grass.
Monument.
The monument's shaft supports a female figure, and four bronze statues, representing the infantry, artillery, cavalry and navy, sculpted by Caspar Buberl, which face the four cardinal points. Bronze bas-reliefs encircle the column above the statues. The female figure is an allegorical figure representing the Union. By the time of the 1979 report for the Mayor's Committee on the Arts and Cultural Affairs, two plaques were missing from the monument.
The dedication on the west (Main Street) side honors those who laid down their lives "in the war to maintain the union for the cause of their country and of mankind." Half of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address graces the east side of the monument. Several bas-relief panels feature scenes of Lincoln's original cabinet: Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase, Secretary of State William H. Seward, Attorney General Edward Bates, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, Secretary of the Interior, Caleb Smith, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, Major General Winfield Scott, and Secretary of War Simon Cameron.
History.
At one time, a rivulet flowed from Lafayette Square down Court Street where it eventually met a stream at Niagara and Mohawk Streets. The square hosted the Niagara County Courthouse from 1810 until it was destroyed by the British Army during the Burning of Buffalo during the War of 1812 on December 30, 1813. In 1831, the Holland Land Company gave the deed of the public park to the city.
The original Erie County court house was built facing the square park in 1818. Buffalo was the county seat of Niagara County until 1821, when Erie County was created. In 1833 an adjacent county jailhouse was added. The jail, which was crude, and a debtors' prison were located in the back of the courthouse. In 1853, the city fenced in the square and installed a US$30,000 ($ today) fountain. Erie County Sheriff Grover Cleveland once personally hanged a criminal in the square when it was still named Court House Square, after his subordinates refused to do so. President-elect Abraham Lincoln spoke at the square on February 16, 1861. The courthouse was used as the place for the determination of justice for the American side of the Niagara River until it was abandoned on March 11, 1876.
A Cyrus Eidlitz Buffalo Public Library building was first erected on the Court House's location and dedicated on February 7, 1887. The current Buffalo & Erie County Public Library building that replaced Eidlitz's building was constructed between 1961 and 1963. Eidlitz had won an architectural competition against the likes of Henry Richardson, who was regarded as the nation’s top architect at the time. The gargoyles of the Romanesque Eidlitz building were widely respected and admired. However, they were not saved due to prohibitive expense at the time of the early 1960s demolition.
In 1825 American Revolutionary War veteran and French General Lafayette visited this square during his historic tour of the United States and gave a speech in the square. He spoke on a platform in front of the Eagle Tavern, a highly regarded hotel in its day, on June 4 as part of ceremonies to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the war. That same year, Buffalo carried out its last official public hanging when brothers Israel, Isaac and Nelson Thayer were hanged for murdering John Love, which some accounts say occurred in the square, while others say it was at Niagara Square. The square hosted many public meetings and early Erie County Fairs, such as the October 1841 fair that was held in the square and behind the courthouse.
In 1848, the Free Soil Party, which was absorbed into the Republican Party in 1854, held its national nominating convention in Buffalo. At the convention, the party selected former New York Governor and former United States President Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams as their nominees for United States President and United States Vice President for the 1848 election. Forty thousand people witnessed the event at the square. The square has hosted several notable speakers such as Henry Clay in 1842 and Daniel Webster in 1833.
The first meeting regarding the erection of a Civil War monument was held on April 14, 1866. Efforts stalled until Mrs. Horatio Seymour organized the Ladies Union Monument Association on July 2, 1874, which raised $12,000 ($) and approved a design by George Keller. Following this proactive effort, the city of Buffalo approved an additional $45,000 ($) for the project. Support for the monument effort coalesced when public interest in and support for an arch by Henry Hobson Richardson at Niagara Square in front of Buffalo City Hall faded. In 1879, the name of the square was changed from Court House Park to Lafayette Square.
Then-Mayor of Buffalo Grover Cleveland laid the cornerstone of Keller's granite-shaft "Soldiers and Sailors" monument in the center of the square on July 4, 1882 and returned as New York Governor to dedicate the monument July 4, 1884. When the cornerstone was laid with military pomp and Masonic ritual, Cleveland spoke, and a time capsule was sealed away. In addition, Brigadier General Stewart Woodford made remarks at the first ceremony. Woodford was among several notable people who attended the dedication, including Pennsylvania Governor John Hartranft and Brigadier General William Findlay Rogers. Columns of Union Army veterans marched down Main Street to celebrate the day.
The monument has survived two significant threats. First, in 1889, the foundation was found to have settled unevenly, causing a dangerous tilt similar to that of the Tower of Pisa. The square was cracking and crumbling due to an inadequate core of rubble and mortar to support the granite shaft and statuary. In addition the copper box time capsule was found to be three feet below its intended chamber and cracked with its contents destroyed. The monument was dismantled and rebuilt with an expanded base. On February 12, 1973, a motorist drove his vehicle into the monument, prompting calls for its demolition by 1982 by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. Instead, the monument was repaired through fundraising efforts by the Buffalo Civil War Round Table involving a successful public awareness campaign.
Today.
Every summer from 1986 to 2011, Buffalo Place, Inc. hosted a free concert series, called Thursday at the Square on Thursday evenings in Lafayette Square, starting in May and running until September. A typical schedule includes a wide variety of musical acts. As of 2012 the concert series has been move to the Buffalo inner harbor and renamed Thursday at Canalside.
Because of its central, symbolic location, Lafayette Square is often chosen for various rallies. After the Buffalo Bills were defeated in Super Bowl XXV, Buffalo Bills fans held a rally at the square to show their continuing support of the team. On January 16, 1981, there were a set of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at Lafayette Square, Niagara Square and nearby areas by the Neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of America and opposing groups.


Bani Qahtan Castle

Bani Qahtan castle () is found in the Syrian Coastal Mountains, about 40 km from Latakia city.
History.
The castle which was known as Bikisrail, was controlled by Byzantine doux of Antioch, Niketas of Mistheia, in 1032. It was later captured by Crusaders led by Tancred in 1111. The castle was later mentioned as being a stronghold in the hands of Nizari Ismaili in 1131, who surrendered it to Saladin in 1188.
Structure.
The castle is totally damaged and not much remained from it, as its ruins are dated back to the 12th century. It is reached by car road through Baniyas-Jableh road from west. External walls are well preserved, which contain the whole massive of the castle. The castle is situated on a high mountain, accessible only from the south through a narrow piece of land.


Monthly recruiting figures for the British Army in the First World War

This is a table of the number of recruits for the British Army during the First World War, 1914–1918.
All recruits were volunteers until January 1916, when men were recruited under the Derby Scheme and as conscripts following the Military Service Act 1916. From July 1917, all recruits were counted as Conscripts.
Sources.
UK Parliamentary Papers, 1921 [Cmd. 1193] "General Annual Reports on the British Army (including the Territorial Force) for the Period from 1st October, 1913, to 30th September, 1919".


Battle of Bielsa pocket

The Battle of Bielsa pocket took place between 14 April and 15 June 1938, during the Spanish Civil War. After the fall of the Aragon front, a Republican division, in April 1938, was surrounded by the Nationalists in the Cinca River Valley. The division, despite being heavily outnumbered, managed to hold until 6 July and then crossed the French frontier.
Background.
After the Battle of Teruel, the Nationalists led by the general Fidel Dávila, launched an offensive in the Aragon front on March 1938. The Nationalists broke the Republican lines, pursued them and by April, the Nationalists reached the Mediterranean sea at Vinaròs and the River Segre, occupying Aragon. One republican division was isolated by the Nationalist advance in the valley of the Alto Cinca river, near the French Frontier. By the end of March, the 43rd division of the Republican Army, led by Antonio Beltran, nicknamed "El Esquinazado" (The Dodger), was surrounded by the Nationalist troops in the Cinca River Valley.
The Bielsa pocket.
The 43rd division had around 7,000 men with four guns and no air cover. In this front the Nationalists concentrated a force of 14,000 men with 30 guns and overwhelming air power. Virtually isolated, without ammunition reserves, and outnumbered, the Republican troops managed to halt the Nationalist attacks due to the difficult terrain, the bad weather, and the dogged resistance of the troops, but by the end of May it became clear that further resistance was impossible. The Republican troops evacuated 4,000 civilians to France and then retreated slowly across the French frontier. On 6 June the town of Bielsa fell and on the night of 15-16 June all the Republican troops crossed into France.
Aftermath.
This battle had no military importance, but the resistance of the Esquinazau division, after the disaster of the Aragon retreat, was a morale boost for the Republicans. Furthermore, the French government allowed the Republican soldiers to choose between returning to the Republican held territory or the Nationalist held territory. 411 soldiers and five nurses chose the Nationalist held territory, more than 6,000 the Republican held territory.


Battle of Sievershausen

The Battle of Sievershausen occurred on 9 July 1553 near the village of Sievershausen (today part of Lehrte in present-day Germany), where the forces of the Hohenzollern margrave Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach fought against the united troops of Elector Maurice of Saxony and Duke Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. With 4,000 men killed, including the Saxon elector and two of Henry's sons, it was one of the bloodiest battles on Lower Saxon territory. Margrave Albert was defeated.
Prelude.
Albert of Brandenburg-Kulmbach had sparked the Second Margrave War against the Franconian Prince-bishoprics in 1552, cutting a path of destruction with his plundering mercenary army on its way to Northern Germany. Arriving in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, he campaigned against Henry V of Wolfenbüttel, who gained support from Elector Maurice as well as from his Lüneburg cousins. The Saxon elector had just signed the Peace of Passau with Emperor Charles V as a leader of insurgent Protestant princes, and the turmoil caused by his former ally turned up at the wrong time.
The two sides first encountered on the Leine river near Sarstedt, though no action was taken. Margrave Albert headed for the city of Brunswick, when the enemy forces blocked his passage on the Fuhse creek near Sievershausen.
Battle.
The battle took place in an open field ("Feldmark") between the villages of Sievershausen and Arpke. The Saxon-Brunswick troops attacked with about 15,500 men (8,000 infantry and 7,500 cavalry), the margrave had 18,000 mercenaries (12,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry) at his command. Initially Albert managed to repel the attacking forces, however, the Saxon army turned around and positioned itself behind the defending forces. After four hours of bitter fighting, the margrave fled from the battlefield. His retreat was covered by General Joachim von Röbel, who became famous as a result and ended his days as a field-marshal.
Among the many casualties were Saxon and Brunswick nobles and knights, including the two elder sons of Duke Henry V, Philip Magnus and Charles Victor, resulting in the succession of the throne of their younger brother Julius. Elector Maurice allegedly was killed by friendly fire, when a shot by one of his own men struck the abdomen and caused major injuries he two days later succumbed to. His mortal remains were transferred to Saxony; his armor kept in Freiberg Cathedral shows the bullet hole at waist level. Many rumours were circulating in connection with his death; he most likely died due to wound infection.
Aftermath.
With Albert's defeat, public peace was secured and could be perpetuated in the Augsburg Settlement two years later. On the 300th anniversary of the battle in 1853, a memorial stone was erected to commemorate the death of Elector Maurice.
Since 1967, the local parish church has been a meeting place of several German peace movement groups. An anti-war museum in Sievershausen opened in 1979.


Kirovograd offensive

The Kirovograd offensive () was an offensive by the Red Army's 2nd Ukrainian Front against the German 8th Army in the area of Kirovograd in central Ukraine between 5 and 16 January 1944. It took place on the Eastern Front of World War II and was part of the wider Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, a Soviet attack against Army Group South that aimed to retake the rest of Ukraine that fell to Germany in 1941.
Background.
After crossing the Dnieper in September 1943, Army General Ivan Konev's 2nd Ukrainian Front pushed back German troops in fierce fighting, advancing between 30 and 100 kilometers on the right bank of the river while capturing Cherkassy, Znamianka, and Aleksandriya by mid-December.
Prelude.
On 20 December, Konev reported to Stavka that, as a result of the preceding fighting, Soviet troops had cleared the right bank of the Dnieper in his front's sector. He requested approval for his decision to temporarily switch the front's center and left flank to the defensive in order to receive reinforcements and replenish equipment pending an attack towards Krivoi Rog between 5 and 10 January 1944. Stavka approved his plan, setting the date of the offensive between 5 and 7 January. The front was reinforced by the 4th Ukrainian Front's 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, which arrived around the end of December, as well as 300 tanks and 100 self-propelled guns.
In accordance with Stavka instructions, Konev and his staff developed a plan for the offensive. The front command proposed an attack towards Kazanka and Bereznegovatoye in the rear of the German troops around Nikopol. The 2nd Ukrainian Front was then to defeat the German troops around Nikopol in conjunction with the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts. Due to the advances of the 1st Ukrainian Front in the Zhitomir–Berdichev offensive, Stavka decided to change the plan. On 29 December, it issued a new directive, which ordered the front to resume the offensive by attacking towards Kirovograd with at least four armies (one of which was to be a tank army) no later than 5 January. The attack was to destroy the German troops around Kirovograd and capture the city from the north and south. The front was to then capture Novoukrainka and Pomoshnaya, advancing to Pervomaisk on the Southern Bug, where it was to capture a bridgehead. Simultaneously, the front was to mount a secondary attack with two armies towards Shpola and Khristinovka.
The attack towards Kirovograd and Pervomaisk was intended to split the German troops in Right-bank Ukraine in half, thereby assisting the 1st and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. The secondary attack was meant to help the 1st Ukrainian Front encircle and defeat German troops in the area of Kanev and Zvenigorodka. In accordance with the directive, Konev modified the plan for the offensive. Lieutenant General Konstantin Koroteyev's 52nd Army was to attack towards Balakleya, Shpola, and then Khristinovka, turning its troops towards Korsun-Shevchenkovsky. Lieutenant General Ivan Galanin's 53rd Army, supported by Major General Boris Skvortsov's 5th Guards Mechanized Corps, was to attack towards Mala Vyska.
For the main attack towards Kirovograd, the front utilized two shock groups. The northern shock group, including Lieutenant General Aleksey Semenovich Zhadov's 5th Guards Army and Major General Fyodor Katkov's 7th Mechanized Corps, was to attack the city from the northwest. The southern shock group, with Colonel General Mikhail Shumilov's 7th Guards Army and Colonel General Pavel Rotmistrov's 5th Guards Tank Army, was to attack from the southwest, tasked with encircling and destroying the German troops in the Kirovograd area, then develop the offensive towards Novoukrainka and Pomoshnaya.
Comparison of forces.
By the beginning of January, the 2nd Ukrainian Front included the 4th, 5th, and 7th Guards Armies, the 37th, 52nd, 53rd, and 57th Armies, the 5th Guards Tank Army, the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps, 20th Tank Corps, and 1st, 7th, and 8th Mechanized Corps. Air support was provided by the 5th Air Army. The front fielded a total of 59 rifle divisions, three cavalry divisions, and three tank and four mechanized corps. Before the operation, the 7th Mechanized Corps was transferred to the 5th Guards Army, and the 8th Mechanized Corps to the 5th Guards Tank Army. By 1 January, the front numbered 550,000 men, 265 tanks, 127 self-propelled guns, 7,136 guns and mortars, 777 anti-aircraft guns, and 500 combat aircraft.


Battle of Mared

Battle of Mared ("Slaget vid Mared") was a battle during the Nordic Seven Years' War between the Swedish and Danish forces on 9 November 1563. The battle was held on the site of present-day locality Oskarström in Sweden.
After the outbreak of the war, a Swedish army under the command of King Eric XIV marched into Halland. The goal was to besiege Halmstad, but it failed because of the lack of artillery. Since King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway was on his way with reinforcements, the Swedes pulled back. But they were caught up in Mared on the border between Halland and Småland, where they were defeated.
The Danes were victorious, but there was no decisive victory, as the Swedes managed to pull back.


Operation Mountain Resolve

Operation Mountain Resolve was launched by a coalition led by the United States on 7 November 2003 in the Nuristan province and Kunar province in Afghanistan. It involved an airdrop into the Hindu Kush mountains by the U.S. 10th Mountain Division and resulted in the killing of Hezbi commander Ghulam Sakhee, a few clashes, and the finding of some minor weapon caches.
Background.
Elements of the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment (2–22 IN), 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), were relocated to Bagram Airfield (BAF) from Kandahar in early November, 2003. Their mission was to conduct combat operations in conjunction with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF). After spending a week in the planning process, Alpha, Bravo and 2nd Platoon of Charlie Company, 2–22 IN, were inserted into the Nuristan region of Afghanistan, to conduct a "hammer and anvil" operation. The "hammer" would consist of the elements from 2–22 IN, with the "anvil" being three different elements of various CJSOTF operating in three northern sectors. 2–22 IN was tasked with pushing up the Waygal River Valley in an effort to push suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces further north, into the net established by CJSOTF.
On the night of 6 November 2003, two full companies and one platoon of 2–22 IN (A Co, B Co and C Co's 2nd Platoon) inserted by CH-47 Chinook helicopter into farm fields on the outskirts of Namgalam Village in the eastern Afghan province of Nuristan. 1st and 3rd Platoon of C Co. 2–22 IN were held in reserve as a quick reaction force at BAF. B Co. 2–22 IN was the lead element, with A Co. 2–22 IN screening along B Co's flank on the eastern ridgeline that formed the Waygal River Valley. Approximately 1 kilometer to the front of B Co. was a Scout/ Sniper team providing route reconnaissance and early warning. 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment (10th MTN DIV), established a fire base in the vicinity of the insertion landing zone (LZ), which would provide 105mm howitzer and 120mm mortar support as well as secure lines of communication and resupply. Due to the restrictive terrain, it became near impossible to conduct a tactical movement using formations other than single file. The first half of the operation occurred over the course of five days, ending with the establishment of resupply LZ's, with B Co. 2 kilometers north of the village of Tazagul Kala, and A Co. approximately 3 kilometers to the southeast near the village of Moladis. In the early evening of 10 November, B Co was ordered to cross the Waygal River and scale the mountain to the east, designated Objective Winchester, to confirm or deny the presence of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. The Scout/ Sniper team was already moving across elevated terrain to the objective but had been delayed by an injury to a soldier who required aerial medical evacuation. Upon reaching Objective Winchester, several detainees were taken for questioning but evidence suggested that the majority of Anti-Coalition militants had fled to the north 1–2 days prior. B Co. remained on OBJ Winchester throughout the night. A Navy SEAL command and control team co-located on the resupply LZ at the base of the mountain directed AC 130 Specter Gunship fires onto enemy positions observed by the aircraft, but no battle damage assessment was able to be conducted from the ground due to the restrictive terrain. The next morning all 2–22 IN elements were extracted and returned to BAF.
Follow Up.
One week later, 2–22 IN elements, again from A Co, B Co and C co. 2nd Platoon were sent back into the Waygal River Valley based on intelligence received indicating the possible presence of a High Value Target (HVT) in the vicinity of the village of Aranas, located approximately 8–10 kilometers northeast of the extraction LZ from the previous week. 1st and 2nd Platoons from B Co. inserted into blocking positions on the terraced farm fields surrounding Aranas. 3rd Platoon B Co. moved from a blocking position and began searching the village. A Co. was inserted into almost hip deep snow, to establish an outer cordon 4–5 kilometers to the northeast. The search yielded similar results as Objective Winchester, signs of ACM presence, but the militants having pushed to the northeast 1–2 days prior. Due to the severely restrictive terrain, in order to be extracted, the companies had to move to their prior extraction LZ, making the 15 kilometer movement in less than 3 hours to make the extraction time. All companies extracted on time and returned to BAF via CH-47 Chinook. All told, the planning and conduct of Operation Mountain Resolve encompassed nearly one month. The actions of the CJSOTF operating to the north are currently classified so the final results of the operation are unknown.
Problems Encountered.
Tactical Movement was difficult, and near impossible in any formation other than a file. In this region which bordered Pakistan, the large signature created by the massive Air Assault gave ACMs the opportunity to flee across the border. Individual Soldier Loads were cumbersome but necessary due to the extended nature of the operation. At one point, local pack mules were procured and used to haul equipment into higher elevations.
Sources.
Department of the Army, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (LI), Kandahar, Afghanistan, APO AE 09355, 20 November 2003, Memorandum for Record
Defend America, "10th Mtn. Div. Shows its Mettle in Operation Mountain Resolve: Part 1," <https://web.archive.org/web/20070215035639/http://defendamerica.mil/articles/nov2003/a111703e.html> [3 February 2007]
Defend America, "10th Mtn. Div. Shows its Mettle in Operation Mountain Resolve: Part 2," <https://web.archive.org/web/20060724185705/http://defendamerica.mil/articles/nov2003/a111703f.html> [3 February 2007]
Defend America, "DOD Afghanistan Update," <https://web.archive.org/web/20070928145641/http://www.defendamerica.gov/afghanistan/update/nov2003/au112103.html> [3 February 2007]
Fort Drum, New York, "Blizzard," 26 November 2003


Battle of Waren-Nossentin

The Battle of Waren-Nossentin on 1 November 1806 saw soldiers of the Kingdom of Prussia led by August Wilhelm von Pletz and Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg fight a rear guard action against troops of the First French Empire commanded by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. Though forced to give ground, the Prussians successfully kept the French from inflicting serious loss or cutting off any units in this War of the Fourth Coalition action. Waren lies on the northern end of Lake Müritz, about southeast of Rostock. Nossentin is a small village on the Fleesen See (Fleesen Lake) about due west of Waren.
After the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt on 14 October 1806, Emperor Napoleon launched an all-out pursuit of the defeated Prussians. At the end of October, the Franch cut off and captured large numbers of Prussian soldiers near Prenzlau and Stettin. Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's corps evaded capture by turning back to the west. Near Waren, Blücher linked up with another Prussian corps and the combined force withdrew to the west.
As the Prussian rear guard pulled out of Waren, the first French cavalry attacked. This action started an all-day battle between Pletz and Yorck's troops and the French. Though Bernadotte attacked vigorously, the Prussians got away intact after several clashes. In contrast to their dismal performance to date, the Prussians acquitted themselves well in this fight.
Background.
The Battle of Prenzlau on 28 October 1806 ended with the capitulation of General of Infantry Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen with his surviving 10,000 Prussian troops to Marshal Joachim Murat. This disaster was followed by the Capitulation of Pasewalk on 29 October and the Capitulation of Stettin on 30 October. In the next few days, the French mopped up the Prussian forces in the area in a series of surrenders at Boldekow on 30 October, Anklam and Küstrin on 1 November, and Wolgast on 2 and 3 November.
Since 24 October, General-Leutnant Blücher had served as Prince Hohenlohe's rear guard commander. The commander of the I Corps, Marshal Bernadotte picked up news of Hohenlohe on the 25th when he was at Brandenburg an der Havel and determined to follow the Prussians. From Nauen, the I Corps moved northeast on the 26th, to reach Oranienburg on the 27th. Moving north, the French arrived at Furstenberg on the 28th before turning northeast to reach Boitzenburg on the 29th. On 30 October, Bernadotte received reports that Blücher turned back to Neustrelitz.
Bernadotte sent Colonel Étienne Maurice Gérard with his 2nd Hussar Regiment to harass the Prussian retreat and turned his corps northwest on the 30th. Besides capturing 400 soldiers and a number of wagons, Gérard secured the information that Blücher was headed for Waren. That evening, Bernadotte's troops made it to Burg Stargard, southeast of Neubrandenburg. At this time Marshal Nicolas Soult's IV Corps was at Wusterhausen, just north of Neustadt an der Dosse.
On 31 October, Blücher joined the column under General-Leutnant Johann Friedrich von Winning near Waren. Winning's force, originally led by General Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, missed the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt on 14 October and had been trailing Blücher ever since. Winning wanted to reach Rostock to the north, and, to this end, he ordered General-Major Karl Georg Friedrich von Wobeser to move ahead and prepare the port for evacuation. However, Blücher called off the Rostock operation in favor of his own idea, which was to cross to the west bank of the Elbe at Boizenburg. He hoped to join with General Karl Ludwig von Lecoq in the former Electorate of Hanover or with General-Leutnant Franz Kasimir von Kleist at Magdeburg. To that end he sent officers to collect boats and supplies in the area. Blücher organized his army into two corps. He gave Winning command of the 11,000-man I Corps, while retaining control of the 10,000-strong II Corps. The Prussians had a particularly powerful cavalry contingent, with 80 squadrons total. Each corps was subdivided into two heavy and one light divisions.
Altogether, 47,252 French troops were hunting for Blücher. Bernadotte had 15,450, Soult led 24,375, General of Division Louis Michel Antoine Sahuc's 4th Dragoon Division numbered 2,550 troopers, General of Division Emmanuel Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon Division had 2,432 horsemen, General of Brigade Antoine Lasalle counted 785 hussars, and General of Division Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul's 2nd Cuirassier Division included 1,660 cavalrymen. Bernadotte dropped off his least fit men at Neubrandenburg and pressed on with 12,000. Meanwhile, Murat and his cavalry were sweeping west through Western Pomerania.
Battle.
On the morning of 1 November, the Prussians left Waren. Blücher moved to the northeast via Hohen Wangelin, covered by a rear guard under General-Major Friedrich Gottlieb von Oswald. Winning marched east along the north shore of several lakes, covered by Oberst von Pletz's rear guard. That morning in Waren, Colonel Claude-Étienne Guyot with the 400-strong 22nd Chasseurs à Cheval from Soult's corps surrounded and captured Major Schmude and 170 dragoons. However, when Guyot tried to advance from the town, Pletz counterattacked with 850 horsemen of the "Köhler" Hussar Regiment # 7. For a loss of only one killed, 15 wounded, and 10 missing, the Prussian hussars threw Guyot's cavalry back into Waren and freed Schmude and his men. The French lost six officers killed or wounded, over 40 men captured, and an unknown number killed or wounded in this minor Prussian victory.
After Guyot's discomfiture, Bernadotte's cavalry arrived in Waren to give the French six regiments in the area. General of Brigade Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly led the I Corps cavalry, consisting of the 2nd and 4th Hussar Regiments and 5th Chasseur à Cheval Regiment. General of Brigade Pierre Margaron commanded the IV Corps cavalry, including the 8th Hussar Regiment, and 11th, 16th, and 22nd Chasseur à Cheval Regiments. On the outskirts of Waren, the French light cavalry began a series of skirmishes with the Prussian horsemen that lasted from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Meanwhile, the Prussian rear guard under Yorck took a defensive position between two lakes at the village of Jabel. The lakes near Jabel are the Jabelscher See to the south and the Loppiner See to the north.
While historian Francis Loraine Petre notes that Pletz was the rear guard commander, he credits Yorck with the tactical control of the battle. Under Yorck's direction were three fusilier battalions, six jäger companies, and 20 squadrons of hussars. General of Division Anne Jean Marie René Savary arrived with a task force consisting of the 1st Hussar and 7th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments, giving the French a total of eight cavalry regiments. Savary detected Oswald's rear guard at Sommerstorf northwest of Waren and prepared to attack, but Bernadotte recalled him to Jabel. The two sides exchanged artillery fire at Jabel for an hour before Yorck pulled back into the woods toward Nossentin. Spearheaded by the 9th Light Infantry Regiment of General of Division Pierre Dupont de l'Etang's division, the French pressed ahead into the woods to be met by vigorous resistance from the Prussian jägers and fusiliers.
At length, Bernadotte's force passed the western edge of the wood to find Yorck's men drawn up awaiting them. The Prussian right flank rested on the Fleesen Lake, the center on Nossentin village, and the left flank on marshy ground. Yorck deployed his infantry in the front line with his horsemen in the rear. After a French hussar regiment was repulsed from Nossentin, Bernadotte committed General of Division Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon's division to the attack. Drouet's seven-battalion division included of the 27th Light Infantry, and the 94th and 95th Line Infantry Regiments.
At the same time the marshal tried to turn the Prussian left flank with his cavalry. The cavalry attack failed amid marshes and water-filled ditches, but Drouet drove Yorck's men out of the village after a hard fight. During the ineffectual cavalry maneuvers, Bernadotte was thrown from his horse and ridden over by the 5th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment. Yorck retreated to Alt Schwerin, reaching there at 10:00 PM that evening.
Result.
Later, Bernadotte claimed to have fought 12,000 or more Prussians, while Soult estimated there were between 5,000 and 6,000 enemies. Petre, who gives no casualty figures, suggested that the Prussians had only about 2,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry available, in addition to a half battery of horse artillery, plus regimental guns. Since a Prussian horse battery comprised six 6-pound guns and two 7-pound howitzers, Yorck's half-battery must have had four guns. Gunther E. Rothenberg states that the fusilier battalions did not use regimental guns in 1806.
When Murat heard about the fighting at Waren and Nossentin, he abandoned his march on Rostock and decided to march to the I Corps' assistance. He later found that Bernadotte and Soult joined hands and realized that they did not need his help. Petre credits the Prussian success to Yorck's tactical competence and the fact that his troops missed the Jena-Auerstedt disaster. Yorck sensed when each of his positions became untenable and issued orders to fall back just in time. In his after battle report, Bernadotte admitted that his enemies fought well, but tried to minimize the action. Savary criticized Bernadotte for not supporting his cavalry with infantry attacks. The French pursuit continued until Blücher was crushed at the Battle of Lübeck on 6 November.


Fort Kom

Fort Kom (Montenegrin: "Tvrđava Kom"/Тврђава Ком, German: "Ostfort Crkvice") is a former fortification of the Austro-Hungarian Empire located to the east of the village and former military base of Crkvice in southwestern Montenegro. Built in 1882 and 1883, after the Second Krivošije Uprising, the primary purpose of the fort was defence against the bordering Ottoman Empire, by controlling the Crkvice area and the roads leading
to the plateau from the north and east. Fort Kom was built according to general design by colonel Karl Wahlberg.


Battle of Alfambra

The Battle of Alfambra took place near Alfambra between 5 and the 8 February 1938, during the Spanish Civil War. This battle was a part of the Battle of Teruel. After, the conquest of Teruel by the Republican army, the Nationalists started a counteroffensive in order to reocuppy Teruel. On 5 February a huge nationalist force broke the republican lines in the north of the Teruel towards the Alfambra river, taking 7,000 republican prisoners and threatening the Republican forces in Teruel.
Background..
After the conquest of Teruel by the Republican army on 7 January, the Nationalists started an offensive in order to conquest the high ground around Teruel on 17 January and occupied the heights of "La Muela", nevertheless the Republican troops led by Hernandez Saravia and backed by the International Brigades, stopped the Nationalist offensive on 27 January. Then, the Nationalists concentrated an army of 100,000 men and 500 guns in the Sierra de Palomera in the north of Teruel, led by the general Juan Vigon, with three Army Corps (Aranda’s Galicia corps, Yagüe's Morocco corps and the Garcia Valiño’s Navarre Corp), the Italian CTV and Monasterio’s cavalry division. On the other hand, the republican defenses in this part of the front were weak, since most of the republican troops were concentrated in the city of Teruel and the republican troops in this part of the front had never seen action. The Republican army had one Army corps, the 13th Army Corps here, with the 29th and the 42nd division.
Battle.
On 5 February, launched a major offensive towards the Alfambra river, along a front of 30 kilometres. The attack started with a massive cavalry charge of the Monasterio’s division, the last great mounted charge in the western Europe. The three nationalists army corps broke the Republican lines and advanced swiftly towards the Alfambra river. The Republican forces were surrounded by the nationalists or fled in disorder. By 7 February the Nationalists had conquered and huge amounts of material (munitions, weapons and ambulances), and aircraft (twelve on 7 February alone). The Republicans had suffered 20,000-22,000 casualties, among them 7,000 prisoners.
Aftermath.
By the 20 February the Republican communications to Valencia from Teruel were threatened by the Nationalists and Hernandez Saravia gave orders for withdrawal from the city, although the Republicans managed to form a defense line along the right bank of the Alfambra on 25 February.


Battle of Fort Washington

The Battle of Fort Washington was fought in New York on November 16, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain. It was a British victory that gained the surrender of the remnant of the garrison of Fort Washington near the north end of Manhattan Island. It was one of the worst Patriot defeats of the war.
After defeating the Continental Army under Commander-in-Chief General George Washington at the Battle of White Plains, the British Army forces under the command of Lieutenant General William Howe planned to capture Fort Washington, the last American stronghold on Manhattan. General Washington issued a discretionary order to General Nathanael Greene to abandon the fort and remove its garrison – then numbering 1,200 men but which later to grow to 3,000 – to New Jersey. Colonel Robert Magaw, commanding the fort, declined to abandon it as he believed it could be defended from the British. Howe's forces attacked the fort before Washington reached it to assess the situation.
Howe launched his attack on November 16. He led an assault from three sides: the north, east and south. Tides in the Harlem River prevented some troops from landing and delayed the attack. When the British moved against the defenses, the southern and western American defenses fell quickly. Patriot forces on the north side offered stiff resistance to the Hessian attack, but they too were eventually overwhelmed. With the fort surrounded by land and sea, Colonel Magaw chose to surrender. A total of 59 Americans were killed in action and 2,837 were taken as prisoners of war.
After this defeat, most of Washington's army was chased across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania, and the British consolidated their control of New York and eastern New Jersey.
Background.
Construction and defenses.
During the American Revolutionary War, Fort Washington was located at the highest point of the island of Manhattan, along a large outcropping of Manhattan schist near its northernmost tip. Along with Fort Lee, located just across the Hudson River atop the New Jersey Palisades, the twin forts were intended to protect the lower Hudson from British warships.

Grete Pedersen

Grete Pedersen is a Norwegian choral conductor and former footballer.
Career in music.
She is noted for her work with Det Norske Solistkor which she has conducted since 1990. She often features Scandinavian repertoire, but her recordings include a critically acclaimed version of the Bach motets.
She has also worked as a guest conductor abroad, for example with the BBC Singers (the BBC's professional chamber choir).
She is on the staff of the Norwegian Academy of Music


Tina Huang

Tina Huang is an American stage and television actress of Taiwanese descent known for her recurring roles in "Rizzoli & Isles" and "General Hospital".
Life and career.
Early life.
Huang's parents immigrated to New York City where her two older brothers were born. Then the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she was born and lived with her mother, brothers and grandfather. Her father went back to New York because he couldn't find work in Dallas at the time. When she turned five, the family moved back to New York. For her, it was a cultural shock moving from the countryside to NYC, and she "felt like I was really intellectually challenged. How lucky was I that I got to go to the Guggenheim or the Metropolitan Museum of Art whenever I wanted?" Huang was raised in Chinatown and in the Lower East Side in New York City.
Being a first generation Taiwanese-American, she is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and used her language skills to host an episode of the YouTube travel show "Resident in Shanghai", although she hesitated to return to her "motherland" after being born and raised in America: "It dawned on me that in Shanghai, I was a foreigner. Maybe that's part of the fear I had coming to Shanghai, to realize I wasn't Chinese".
Education and theatre.
Huang studied theatre at LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, She then completed Meisner technique training at The Baron Brown Studios in Santa Monica, California, where she moved in 2003. Huang's practical experiences include travelling for a 14-day cultural exchange with students at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, studying for a semester in Florence, Italy, and performing in an off-Broadway musical called "Kaspar Hauser", which was created and directed by Liz Swados. Her stage credits include the award-winning production of Amy Tan's "Immortal Heart" that toured in the USA and in France in 2010, and the 2012 production of "Fairy Tale Theatre: 18 & Over".
"Fairy Tale Theatre: 18 & Over" garnered positive reviews. The sketch comedy show was created by J. Michael Feldman, based on a collection of "original fairy tales with morals and lessons for adults, such as 'The Tale of the Bipolar Bear' and the "'Co-dependent Eskimo'". The six members of the cast alternate between two shows with a different set of tales. They use hand puppets, camp costumes and a few colourful props, and the fairy tales are told with a "mix of live actors in animal costumes and puppets". The show was played for the past five years at theatres in the Los Angeles area, and was presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2015.
Huang is a founding member of the Ammunition Theater Company in Los Angeles, and she is its present co-artistic director.
Television and film.
Tina Huang first appeared in the television series "The Young and the Restless" in 2007, and thenafter in numerous television series and films, among them "General Hospital" (2007-2014), "Hollywood Heights" (53 episodes), "Switched at Birth", "" and "Days of Our Lives" in recurring roles. She also appeared in "Brothers & Sisters", "Castle", "Criminal Minds", "House M.D." and "The Office", and in the 2011 comedy film "Larry Crowne". Huang's further film credits include "Maximum Ride" and "My Dead Boyfriend" in 2016.
Her probably best known role was the recurring character Susie Chang, the senior criminalist of the Boston Police Department's crime laboratory and the assistant of Dr. Maura Isles, in the US crime-series "Rizzoli & Isles" from 2011 to July 2015. Her 2015 film and television projects included the short film "Guiltless", the comedy "My Dead Boyfriend" alongside Heather Graham, and NBC's serial "Night Shift". Besides her theatrical career, in 2016 Huang appeared in the US television series "Shameless", "Powerhouse" and "I Own You", as well as "Catching the Break", "Scandal" and "The Bold and the Beautiful" (6 episodes) in 2017.
Personal life.
Tina Huang's mother was diagnosed with early onset atypical Parkinson's disease. Searching for advice and information, she got in contact with the National Parkinson's Foundation and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. She also supports the Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York, (LESGC) which provides community-based holistic programs and services for girls and young women. As co-director of the Ammunition Theatre Company, Huang supports the company's "mission to reflect the diverse and evolving identity of America and to engage with the community around us."


Anne Bonny

Anne Bonny (8 March 1697 – unknown; possibly 29 December 1733) was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of a few female pirates in recorded history. The little that is known of her life comes largely from Captain Charles Johnson's (it is probable that this work was actually written by Daniel Defoe) "A General History of the Pyrates".
Bonny was born in Ireland around 1700 and moved to London and then to the Province of Carolina when she was about 10 years old. She then married around 1715 and moved to Nassau in the Bahamas, a sanctuary for pirates. It was there that she met Calico Jack Rackham and became his pirate partner and lover. She was captured alongside Rackham and Mary Read in October 1720. All three were sentenced to death, but Bonny and Read had their executions stayed because both of them were pregnant. Read died of a fever in jail in April 1721 (likely due to complications from the pregnancy), but Bonny's fate is unknown.
Early life of Bonny.
Bonny's birthdate is speculated to be around 1700. She was said to be born in Old Head of Kinsale, in County Cork, Ireland. She was the daughter of servant woman Mary Brennan and Brennan's employer, lawyer William Cormac. Official records and contemporary letters dealing with her life are scarce, and most modern knowledge stems from Charles Johnson's "A General History of the Pyrates" (a collection of pirate biographies, the first edition partly accurate, the second much embellished).
Bonny's father William Cormac first moved to London to get away from his wife's family, and he began dressing his daughter as a boy and calling her "Andy". When Cormac's wife discovered William had taken in the illegitimate daughter and was bringing the child up to be a lawyer's clerk and dressing her as a boy, she stopped giving him an allowance. Cormac then moved to the Province of Carolina, taking along his former serving girl, the mother of Bonny. Bonny's father abandoned the original "Mc" prefix of their family name to blend more easily into the Charles Town citizenry. At first, the family had a rough start in their new home, but Cormac's knowledge of law and ability to buy and sell goods soon financed a townhouse and eventually a plantation just out of town. Bonny's mother died when she was 12. Her father attempted to establish himself as an attorney but did not do well. Eventually, he joined the more profitable merchant business and accumulated a substantial fortune.
It is recorded that Bonny had red hair and was considered a "good catch" but may have had a fiery temper; at age 13, she supposedly stabbed a servant girl with a knife. She married a poor sailor and small-time pirate named James Bonny. James hoped to win possession of his father-in-law's estate, but Bonny was disowned by her father. Anne's father did not approve of James Bonny as a husband for his daughter, and he kicked Anne out of their house.
There is a story that Bonny set fire to her father's plantation in retaliation, but no evidence exists in support. However, it is known that sometime between 1714 and 1718, she and James Bonny moved to Nassau, on New Providence Island, known as a sanctuary for English pirates called the Republic of Pirates. Many inhabitants received a King's Pardon or otherwise evaded the law. It is also recorded that, after the arrival of Governor Woodes Rogers in the summer of 1718, James Bonny became an informant for the governor. James Bonny would report to Governor Rogers about the pirates in the area, which resulted in a multitude of these pirates being arrested. Anne disliked the work her husband did for Governor Rogers.
Rackham's partner.
While in the Bahamas, Bonny began mingling with pirates in the taverns. She met John "Calico Jack" Rackham, and he became her lover. He offered money to her husband James Bonny if he would divorce her, but her husband refused and apparently threatened to beat John. She and Rackham escaped the island together, and she became a member of Rackham's crew. She disguised herself as a man on the ship, and only Rackham and Mary Read were aware that she was a woman until it became clear that she was pregnant. Rackham then landed her at Cuba where she gave birth to a son. She then rejoined Rackham and continued the pirate life, having divorced her husband and married Rackham while at sea. Bonny, Rackham, and Read stole the ship "William", then at anchor in Nassau harbor, and put out to sea. Rackham and the two women recruited a new crew. Their crew spent years in Jamaica and the surrounding area. Bonny took part in combat alongside the men, and Governor Rogers named her in a "Wanted Pirates" circular published in "The Boston News-Letter".
Capture and imprisonment.
In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet under a commission from Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates put up little resistance, as many of them were too drunk to fight. They were taken to Jamaica where they were convicted and sentenced by Governor Lawes to be hanged. According to Johnson, Bonny's last words to Rackham were: "Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hang'd like a dog".
Read and Bonny both "pleaded their bellies", asking for mercy because they were pregnant, and the court granted them a stay of execution until they gave birth. Read died in prison, most likely from a fever from childbirth. A ledger from a church in Jamaica lists her burial on 28 April 1721, "Mary Read, pirate".
Death.
There is no record of Bonny's release, and this has fed speculation as to her fate. A ledger lists the burial of an "Ann Bonny" on 29 December 1733, in the same town in Jamaica where she was tried. Charles Johnson writes in "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates", published in 1724: "She was continued in Prison, to the Time of her lying in, and afterwards reprieved from Time to Time; but what is become of her since, we cannot tell; only this we know, that she was not executed".
Statue.
In 2020, a statue of Bonny and Read was unveiled at Execution Dock in Wapping, London. It is planned to eventually bring the statue to Burgh Island in south Devon.
References.
Websites
Books
Games


Weyni Mengesha

Weyni Mengesha is a theatre director, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is known as the director of the plays "da kink in my hair", and "Kim's Convenience".
Mengesha married American actor Eion Bailey in 2011. The couple have two children.
In 2018 she was hired as the artistic director of the Soulpepper Theatre. Observers applauded her appointment, and that of her colleague Executive director Emma Stenning, as it meant the two senior posts at the theatre would be filled by women, after the previous male director Albert Schultz resigned after actors accused him of preying on female subordinates.
Mengesha's parents were immigrants from Ethiopia. While she was born in Vancouver, Mengesha grew up in Scarborough, Ontario. She graduated from Soulpepper Academy.
Mengesha has been nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Award five times, winning the award in 2014.
Mengesha co-signed a letter of support to the Black Lives Matter movement, in June 2020, following several high profile incidents where Police killed black civilians, in both the United States and Canada. The "Toronto Star"s theatre critic, Carly Maga, followed up by interviewing Mengesha over her personal experience with racism.


Marjorie Margolies

Marjorie Margolies (; formerly Margolies-Mezvinsky; born June 21, 1942) is a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government, an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, and a women's rights activist. She is a former journalist and a Democratic politician. From 1993 to 1995, she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district.
She is best remembered for casting the deciding vote in favor of President Bill Clinton’s 1993 budget proposal.
Early life, education, and journalism career.
Margolies was born in Philadelphia. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. She was a broadcast journalist for over twenty-four years, winning five Emmy Awards for her work. She worked as a television journalist at WCAU-TV from 1967 to 1969, was a CBS News Foundation Fellow, Columbia University from 1969 to 1970, and then worked for WRC-TV from 1975 until 1990. She was also a correspondent for the "Today Show".
U.S. House of Representatives.
Elections.
In 1992 she ran for an open seat in Congress for Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district, a largely suburban district outside Philadelphia which Republicans had held since 1916. She defeated Bernard Tomkin in the Democratic primary, 79%-21%. In the general election, she defeated Republican State Representative Jon D. Fox by a margin of 0.5%, or a difference of 1,373 votes.
In 1994, she lost re-election to Fox in a rematch, 49%-45%, a difference of 8,181 votes. She was one of 54 Democratic incumbents who were defeated in the Republican Revolution.
Tenure.
She was on the bipartisan Deficit Reduction Task Force. In 1994, she completed "A Woman's Place", a book with the other women in the class of 1992.
Many of her votes cost her re-election bid in 1994. One vote was for President Bill Clinton's controversial 1993 budget, for which she was the deciding vote. She had opposed the bill, until the President called her. House Democrats cheered as the House Republicans jeered, "Goodbye Marjorie!" In a 2009 interview with "The Daily Beast", she recalled U.S. Congressman Robert Walker (R-Pennsylvania) in particular joining in the Republican jeers. She also recalled the ire of her constituents resulting from her vote, saying "when I went to town-hall meetings, I had to be escorted by the police...I was just surprised at the level of divisiveness and immaturity."
After a health care reform bill passed the House in November 2009, the conservative Americans for Tax Reform featured her 1994 defeat as an example of what could occur in the 2010 midterm elections because of one particular vote to those Democrats in swing districts who voted in favor of that health care reform bill. Margolies, however, wrote in the "Washington Post" that she was glad that she had cast her vote as she had, and urged vulnerable Democrats in Congress to vote for the healthcare bill in March 2010.
Political activism.
After her term in Congress, she was the Chair of the National Women’s Business Council, and the Director and Deputy Chair of the United States delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.
She currently serves as the founder and chair of Women’s Campaign International (WCI), a group that provides advocacy training for women throughout the world. She is also an adjunct professor at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she sits on the Board of Directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Political campaigns.
1998 gubernatorial election.
In 1998, she ran for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. She won the Democratic primary election with 53% of the vote, defeating two other candidates. She became the running mate for State Representative Ivan Itkin. The ticket lost to Republicans Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker, 57%-31%.
2000 congressional election and bankruptcy.
In 2000, she decided to run, but ultimately withdrew from the Democratic Senate primary with five other candidates, for the seat of Rick Santorum, after disappointing fundraising, mother's illness, and legal trouble of her husband, Edward Mezvinsky, which ended in several convictions for fraud. Shortly thereafter, she filed for bankruptcy, but failed to receive a discharge from her debts, based on 11 U.S.C. §727(a)(5). The court found Mezvinsky had failed to satisfactorily explain a significant loss of assets in the four years prior to her bankruptcy filing. The bankruptcy judge stated, in her published opinion, "I find that the Debtor has failed to satisfactorily explain the loss of approximately $775,000 worth of assets (the difference between the $810,000 represented in May 1996 and the $35,000 now claimed in her Amended Schedule B)." Sonders v. Mezvinsky (in re Mezvinsky), 265 B.R. 681, 694 (Bankr. E.D. Pa. 2001).
2014 congressional election.
Margolies filed the necessary paperwork on May 31, 2013, to run in the Democratic Party primary for a return to Congress from her old district in the 2014 elections. She ran to replace Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Penn.), who was running for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014. The other Democrats in the race were state Rep. Brendan Boyle of Northeast Philadelphia; state Senator Daylin Leach of Montgomery County; and Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. State Rep. Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia and former City Controller Jonathan Saidel filed to run, but later withdrew.
On May 17, 2014, Hillary Clinton held her first fundraiser of the year for Margolies's congressional campaign.
On May 20, 2014, Margolies lost the primary election to Boyle.
Personal life.
She was married to former U.S. Congressman Edward Mezvinsky, of Iowa, in 1975; they divorced in 2007. During their marriage, she was known as Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. They had 11 children altogether; four from his first marriage, two she had adopted on her own, two sons they had together, and three children adopted together. In 1970, Margolies adopted a daughter from Korea, reportedly the first time an unmarried American woman had adopted a foreign child. The story of the foreign adoption of the girl from Korea as well as her adoption of a girl from Vietnam were detailed in her book, "They Came to Stay". From their 11 children, the Mezvinskys have 18 grandchildren as of 2014.
One of their sons, Marc Mezvinsky, married Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The wedding took place on July 31, 2010, in Rhinebeck, New York.


Lynette Woodard

Lynette Woodard (born August 12, 1959) is a retired American basketball Hall of Fame player and former head women's basketball coach at Winthrop University. Woodard made history by becoming the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters and who, at age 38, began playing as one of the oldest members in the newly formed American women's professional basketball league, the WNBA.
While at Wichita North High School, Woodard won two state basketball titles.
Woodard went on to play college basketball with the University of Kansas (KU) in 1978, playing there until 1981. She was a four-time All-American at KU, and she averaged 26 points per game and scored 3,649 points in total during her four years there, and was the first KU woman to be honored by having her jersey retired. She is major college basketball's career women's scoring leader.
In 1981, she was signed by an Italian team, UFO Schio (Vicenza), to participate in their league.
In 1984, she was a member of the United States' women's basketball team that won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
In 1985, Woodard became the first woman ever to play with the Globetrotters. Incidentally, Woodard's cousin, Hubert "Geese" Ausbie, also played for the Globetrotters from 1961 to 1985.
In 1989, she was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame. In 1990, she was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and was signed by a Japanese women's team to play in their country. She played there until 1993.
In 1997, she was signed by the Cleveland Rockers of the newly founded Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The following year, she was selected in an expansion draft by the Detroit Shock. During the WNBA's off-season, she began working as a stockbroker in New York City.
She retired from playing in 1999 and returned to KU serving as Assistant Coach of the women's basketball team. In late January 2004, she was named Interim Head Coach filling for the regular coach Marian Washington, who had retired due to medical reasons. She also served as Athletics Director for the Kansas City, Missouri School District from 1992 to 1994.
In September 2004, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. In June 2005, she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Woodard also received the 2015 WBCBL Women's Professional Basketball "Trailblazer" Award on August 2, 2015 along with 9 other female basketball Icons including Cynthia Cooper, Nancy Lieberman, Sarah Campbell, E.C. Hill, Dr. Geri Kay Hart, Robelyn Garcia, Kandi Conda, Lisa Leslie and Tamika Catchings. The award recognizes some of the most influential people in professional women's basketball, specifically those who helped blaze the trail, shape the overall landscape and pave the way for women's professional basketball.
Woodard became a financial consultant for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., in Wichita.
In 2017, she was named the head coach of the Winthrop Eagles women's basketball team.
USA Basketball.
Woodard was named to the team representing the US at the 1979 World University Games, held in Mexico City, Mexico. The USA team won all seven games to take the gold medal. The USA team played and beat Cuba twice, the team that had defeated them at the Pan Am games. Woodard averaged 14.1 points per game.
Woodard was selected to be a member of the team representing the US at the 1980 Olympics, but the team did not go, due to the 1980 Olympic boycott. The team did go 6–1 in Olympic Qualifying games, with Woodard scoring 4.5 points per game.
Woodard was selected to be a member of the team representing the US at the 1983 Pan American Games held in Caracas, Venezuela. The team won all five games to earn the gold medal for the event. Woodard averaged 19.0 points per game and 4.0 rebounds per game, both second best on the team.
Woodard played for the USA National team in the 1983 World Championships, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The team won six games, but lost two against the Soviet Union. In an opening round game, the USA team had a nine-point lead at halftime, but the Soviets came back to take the lead, and a final shot by the USA failed to drop, leaving the USSR team with a one-point victory 85–84. The USA team won their next four games, setting up the gold medal game against USSR. This game was also close, and was tied at 82 points each with six seconds to go in the game. The Soviets Elena Chausova received the inbounds pass and hit the game winning shot in the final seconds, giving the USSR team the gold medal with a score of 84–82. The USA team earned the silver medal. Woodard averaged 15.8 points per game, second highest on the team, and recorded 33 steals to lead the team.
Woodard was a member of the USA National team at the 1990 World Championships, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The team won their opening round games fairly easily, with the closest of the first three games a 27-point victory over Czechoslovakia. Then they faced Cuba, a team that had beaten the US in exhibition matches only a few weeks earlier. The USA team was losing at halftime, but came back to win 87–78. The USA team found itself behind at halftime to Canada in their next game, but came back to win easily 95–70. After an easy match against Bulgaria, the USA team faced Czechoslovakia again, and achieved an almost identical result, winning 87–59. In the title match, the USA team won the gold medal with a score of 88–78. Woodard averaged 6.3 points per game.
In 1984, the USA sent its National team to the 1984 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan, for pre-Olympic practice. The team easily beat each of the eight teams they played, winning by an average of just under 50 points per game. Woodard averaged 11.6 points per game.
Woodard played with the USA team at the 1991 Pan American Games. The team finished with a record of 4–2, but managed to win the bronze medal. The USA team lost a three-point game to Brazil, then responded with wins over Argentina and Cuba, earning a spot in the medal round. The next game was a rematch against Cuba, and this time the team from Cuba won a five-point game. The USA beat Canada easily to win the bronze. Woodard averaged 2.3 points per game.


Elisabeth Christine Berling

Elisabeth Christine Berling (1744-1801) was a Danish businessperson.
She was the daughter of the printer Andreas Hartvig Godiche and the printer Anna Magdalena Godiche and married the printer and brewer Georg Christopher Berling in 1772.
In 1778, she took ower the printing business of her late spouse. It had the royal privilege and monopoly to print political documents, and publish official announcements of the crown in its newspaper "Berlingske Tidende". She personally launched the cultural magazine "Laerde Erfterretninger", which was the leading literary magazine in Denmark of its time. In addition to the Berling printing press, she also inherited the printing business of her mother in 1781. Elisabeth Christine Berling was a major figure within the Danish media world of her time.
In addition to the two printing firms, she also managed the brewery of her late husband, which was one of the biggest and most lucrative breweries in Copenhagen of its time. Of the many female brewers in Copenhagen in her time, only Berling and Marie Martine Bonfils were counted among the truly rich.


Libby Schaaf

Elizabeth Beckman "Libby" Schaaf (born November 12, 1965) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party. She is the mayor of Oakland, California and a former member of the Oakland City Council. Schaaf won the November 4, 2014 Oakland mayoral election in the 14th round in ranked choice voting with 62.79% of the vote. Schaaf won re-election in 2018 with a 27% margin.
Early life and education.
Schaaf was born in Oakland, California, on November 12, 1965. Her mother was a flight attendant. Growing up in Oakland's District 4, Schaaf attended Head-Royce School and Skyline High School, both in Oakland. She holds a B.A. in political science from Rollins College and a J.D. from Loyola Law School.
Career before politics.
Before starting her political career, Schaaf was an attorney in Oakland at the law firm of Reed Smith LLP. She then became the program director for the Marcus A. Foster Educational Institute in 1995, creating and running a new volunteer program for the Oakland Unified School District.
Schaaf's first roles in local government were as legislative aide to Oakland City Council president Ignacio De La Fuente and special assistant to Oakland mayor Jerry Brown.
In 2006, Schaaf joined the Port of Oakland as the Director of Public Affairs, helping to secure state and federal funding for the city of Oakland, as well as directing all strategic communications for the port. In 2009, Schaaf graduated from Emerge California, a training program for women who aspire to elected office.
Before joining the Oakland City Council in 2010, Schaaf served as the Economic Policy Advisor for the council for a year.
Oakland City Council.
In 2010, Schaaf was elected to represent her home district, District 4, on the Oakland City Council.
During her tenure on the city council, Schaaf fought to raise the minimum wage, voicing her support for Measure FF, also known as Lift Up Oakland, a $12.25 minimum wage ballot initiative which passed in a landslide on November 4, 2014. Schaaf also strove to increase government transparency and efficiency, build a safer city, and strengthen Oakland neighborhoods in her time on city council. She worked extensively on Oakland Police Department reform, hiring more civilian staff and pushing through a plan to coordinate the Oakland Police Department with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, to increase the number of officers patrolling Oakland.
Mayor of Oakland.
In the race for Oakland mayor, Schaaf was endorsed by Governor of California Jerry Brown and US Senator Barbara Boxer.
Department of Transportation.
In June 2015, Mayor Schaaf announced the formation of Oakland's first Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation assumed some responsibilities formerly held by Oakland Public Works, such as road design, resurfacing and maintenance. In her announcement, Mayor Schaaf said that the focus will be on, "sustainable strategies that can bring needed change quickly to city streets."
The Department of Transportation consists of 300 employees, previously working in the Department of Public Works and Oakland Police Department's Parking Enforcement operations.
Funding for the Department of Transportation came from many public resources, including Measure BB, a sales tax approved in November 2014 to fund transportation projects in Alameda County. Schaaf hired Matt Nichols as her Policy Director for Transportation and Infrastructure in March 2015. Jeff Tumlin was named Interim Director of the department in June 2016.
Controversy over freedom of assembly.
In May 2015, Mayor Schaaf instituted a ban on un-permitted nighttime marches on public roadways in Oakland, citing existing city policies. The first enforcement of this ban was on May 21, during a #SayHerName march, a nationwide coordinated march focused on ending state violence against black women and girls in the US. Demonstrators met at Frank Ogawa Plaza before sunset for a rally. After the rally, demonstrators began to march onto the street. Police officers told them to keep to the sidewalks, and cited California Vehicle Code Section 2800, making it an arrestable offense not to comply with the police order.
Enactment of this policy brought harsh criticism and allegations of illegality from some constitutional lawyers, including civil rights attorney and one of the co-authors of Oakland Police Department's Crowd Control and Crowd Management Policy, Rachel Lederman: "My general impression is the police took an unduly aggressive approach that not only violated their own crowd control policy, but also the First Amendment... This was an unreasonable interference with the demonstration given that there had been no serious crimes committed." Other legal experts pointed to similar policies in cities like New York, which have been ruled constitutional.
ICE alert.
Schaaf alerted city residents to imminent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in February 2018, earning criticism from some federal authorities. She responded, "I was sharing information in a way that was legal and was not obstructing justice, and it was an opportunity to ensure that people were aware of their rights." ICE’s acting director Thomas Homan stated that ICE failed to arrest around 800 people because of the alert.
Guaranteed income for minority residents.
In March 2021, Schaaf announced that non-white, low-income residents of Oakland would receive $500 per month "guaranteed income" for 18 months. According to the project's website, the income is funded by private philanthropic donations.
Personal life.
Schaaf is Jewish. She lives in Oakland with her husband Salvatore Fahey. They have two children, Dominic and Lena.
Charitable work.
Schaaf co-founded the nonprofit Oakland Cares, which organized and implemented hundreds of volunteer community improvement projects across the city. She also built and ran the first centralized volunteer program for Oakland public schools at the Marcus Foster Institute. She serves on the Leadership Council at Kiva, a non-profit organization that allows people to lend money via the Internet to low-income entrepreneurs and students in over 80 countries.
Electoral history.
Since 2010, Oakland elections have utilized ranked choice voting.
Mayoral.


Mary Katharine Goddard

Mary Katharine Goddard (June 16, 1738 – August 12, 1816) was an early American publisher, and the postmaster of the Baltimore Post Office from 1775 to 1789. She was the second printer to print the Declaration of Independence. Her copy, the Goddard Broadside, was commissioned by Congress in 1777, and was the first to include the names of the signatories.
In 1998, Goddard was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.
Early life.
Mary Katharine Goddard was born in Southern New England in 1738. She was the daughter of Dr. Giles Goddard and Sarah Updike Goddard. Her father was the postmaster of New London, Connecticut. Her brother, William Goddard (1740–1817), was a few years younger and had served an apprenticeship in the printing trade.
Printing career.
The Goddard family (Mrs. Goddard, William Goddard and Mary Goddard) had set up a printing press, and were the first to publish a newspaper in Providence, RI, called the "Providence Gazette". However, William left Rhode Island to start a newspaper in Philadelphia. William also had been the publisher and printer of a revolutionary publication, the "Maryland Journal". Mary Goddard took control of the journal in 1774 while her brother was traveling to promote his "Constitutional Post"; she continued to publish it throughout the American Revolutionary War until 1784, when her brother forced her to give up the newspaper amid an acrimonious quarrel.
In 1775, Mary Katharine Goddard became postmaster of the Baltimore post office. She also ran a book store and published an almanac in offices located around 250 Market Street (now East Baltimore Street, near South Street). During the American Revolution, Goddard opposed the Stamp Act vehemently, recognizing it would increase the cost of printing.
When on January 18, 1777, the Second Continental Congress moved that the Declaration of Independence be widely distributed, Goddard was one of the first to offer the use of her press. This was in spite of the risks of being associated with what was considered a treasonable document by the British. Her copy, the Goddard Broadside, was the second printed, and the first to contain the typeset names of the signatories, including John Hancock.
Postmaster.
Goddard was a successful postmaster for 14 years, from 1775 to 1789. In 1789, however, she was removed from the position by Postmaster General Samuel Osgood despite general protest from the Baltimore community. Osgood asserted that the position required "more traveling ... than a woman could undertake" and appointed a political ally of his to replace her.
Goddard generally did not take part in public controversies, preferring to maintain editorial objectivity; therefore, few articles contain her personal opinions, and her defense was not mounted publicly. On November 12, 1789, over 230 citizens of Baltimore, including more than 200 leading businessmen, presented a petition demanding her reinstatement, which was unsuccessful.
Later life.
Goddard remained in Baltimore after her dismissal as Postmaster. She continued to run, until 1809 or 1810, a bookshop that had previously been an adjunct to her printing business, and sold books, stationery, and dry goods. Goddard died August 12, 1816, still beloved by her community, and was buried in the graveyard of the St. Paul’s Parish.
The portrait in this article that for many years was said to be Mary Katharine Goddard has been identified as actress Anne Brunton Merry (1769-1808) whose picture was for some reason glued into a book published by Goddard.


Rita Rae, Lady Rae

Rita Rae, Lady Rae (born 20 June 1950) is a Scottish lawyer, judge and a former Senator of the College of Justice.
Career.
She became a solicitor in 1974. She joined the Faculty of Advocates from 1982 and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1992. From 2003 to 2006 she was a member of the Sentencing Commission for Scotland.
Rae served as a temporary sheriff from 1987–1997. She was appointed a sheriff at Glasgow in 1997. She became temporary judge at the Court of Session in 2004. From 2001–2007 she was a member (and vice-chair from 2005) of the Parole Board for Scotland.
Rae was appointed as a permanent judge (a Lord Ordinary) of the Court of Session and a Judge of the Supreme Courts in January 2014.
In 2015, Lady Rae presided over the trial of Alexander Pacteau after he pled guilty to the murder of Karen Buckley in Glasgow. She retired in June 2020.
On 21 April 2021, Rae was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow, succeeding Aamer Anwar.


Cynthia Levin

Cynthia Levin is an American stage director and theatre producer. She is the producing artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Early life.
Levin was born and raised in Washington, D.C. She attended Park University in Parkville, Missouri, where she majored in theatre and graduated magna cum laude in 1977.
Career.
After college, Levin briefly worked for the Missouri Repertory Theatre (now the Kansas City Repertory Theatre), as well as various summer stock theatre and local Kansas-City-based theatres. In 1979, she was hired by the Theatre Workshop in Kansas City, which became the Unicorn Theatre in the early 1980s. During her early years at the Unicorn, Levin acted, directed, stage managed, and designed for numerous productions. She became the artistic director of the Unicorn in 1982 and has guided the theatre in its mission to produce new and bold contemporary plays, particularly those which have not yet received Kansas City premieres. Levin has served as a director, actor, or designer for over 260 Unicorn productions, and has directed plays for UMKC Theatre and the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City. She has also directed multiple world-premiere readings at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Levin is a founding board member of the National New Play Network.
Honors and awards.
In 1995, Levin was named one of Kansas City's “Local Heroes” by "Ingram’s". In 2000, the Unicorn Theatre received the Missouri Arts Council’s Arts Award. Levin was awarded an honorary doctorate from Park University in 2002. She has also been the recipient of the Pinnacle of Excellence in the Arts Award from the Johnson County Library Foundation, the Human Rights Campaign Award, and the GLAAD Leadership Award.


Wendy C. Goldberg

Wendy C. Goldberg (born 1973) is an American theatre director and the current Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Under Goldberg's tenure, The O'Neill was awarded the 2010 Regional Theatre Tony Award, the first play development and education organization to receive this honor. Goldberg is the first woman to run the Playwrights Conference and was named Artistic Director when she was just 31 years old.
Life and career.
Goldberg was born in Michigan and her mother was a middle-school English teacher. She spent her youth training to be a professional tennis player, but her athletic career was cut short when she contracted lyme disease in 1989, the summer before her junior year in high school. Though Goldberg still managed to win the state championship that year, she decided to skip tennis camp the following summer, and went instead to an acting conservatory. The experience of the program changed her career focus, and when she went off to the University of Michigan after graduation, she chose to study theatre and comparative literature. After earning a BA, with honors, Goldberg continued her theatre education at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television where she completed an MFA in Directing in 1998.
After receiving her degree, Goldberg served for five seasons as Artistic Associate at Arena Stage in Washington, D. C., where her directing credits include "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?", "Proof", "Book of Days", and "On the Jump". She led "Downstairs in the Old Vat Room," Arena's artistic initiative dedicated to the development of new American plays, since its inception. Other than the theater's founder, Zelda Fichandler, she is the youngest associate to have directed for the company in its 50-year history, making her main stage debut at the age of 26 with the company's revival of K2 in celebration of the company's 50th anniversary.
Goldberg has also directed in various new play development programs across the country, including work with New York Stage and Film, New Dramatists, The Women's Project, Arielle Tepper Productions, Hartford Stage, The Mark Taper Forum, Portland Center Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and over 30 readings and workshops for Arena Stage.
At The O'Neill, Goldberg has developed more than forty projects for the stage and many have gone on to great acclaim in New York and around the country. Included in that group is the 2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Winner (Julia Cho's "The Language Archive"), two American Theatre Critics Association Citation Award Winning Plays (Lee Blessing's "Great Falls" and Deborah Zoe Laufer's "End Days") and 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama (Lynn Nottage's "Ruined"), written in part during Lynn's residency at the O'Neill in the summer of 2006. In the 2007-2008 season, nine projects developed during Goldberg's tenure saw their world premieres at theaters across the country. Other critically acclaimed work developed at the O'Neill during Goldberg's tenure includes Adam Bock's "The Receptionist", Rebecca Gilman's "The Crown You're in With", Jason Grote's 1001 and Julia Cho's "Durango".
Goldberg is also the Creative Advisor for the Tony nominated "Rock of Ages" on Broadway.
Her recent directing credits include Rebecca Gilman's "Dollhouse" (Guthrie Theater), "The Crown You're in With" (Goodman Theatre), the world premiere of "Deathbed" (McGinn/Cazale-NYC), "Master Class" (Paper Mill Playhouse), "Durango" (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), DOUBT (co-production with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Actors Theater of Louisville), "Third", "The Sweetest Swing in Baseball", "The Clean House", "Living Out" (Denver Center), the world premiere of "False Creeds" (Alliance Theater), "The Chosen" (Actors Theater of Louisville), and the world premiere of "A Marriage Minuet" (Florida Stage).
"American Theatre Magazine" hailed Wendy as "one of the country's most promising theater artists working today."
Goldberg sits on the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.