Battle of Alalia

The naval Battle of Alalia took place between 540 BCE and 535 BCE off the coast of Corsica between Greeks and the allied Etruscans and Carthaginians. A Greek force of 60 Phocaean ships defeated a Punic-Etruscan fleet of 120 ships while emigrating to the western Mediterranean and the nearby colony of Alalia (now Aléria).
Background.
The Phoenicians had planted trading posts in Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and Iberia during the 9th and 8th centuries BC while creating their trading monopoly. The Phoenicians were among the first peoples, if not the first, to begin trading around the Mediterranean on a wide scale after the period of economic decline that had accompanied the end of the Mediterranean Bronze Age. The Etruscans emerged as a local power in the 8th century BC, spreading their trade to Corsica, Sardinia and Iberia and creating a powerful navy to guard their interests. The Phoenicians and Etruscans became trading partners and rivals, exchanging goods with and engaging in opportunistic raids against each other. The situation changed with the beginning and growth of Greek activity in the western Mediterranean from around 750 BC onward.
Greater Greece outside Greece.
The second (quite possibly the third) wave of Greek colonization efforts in this area started with the planting of Cumae in Italy by 750 BC and Naxos in Sicily by 735 BC. Within the next 100 years, several Greek cities had planted colonies along the coast of southern Italy and most of Sicily, creating a position to control trade routes around these areas and dominating the Strait of Messina. Etruscans clashed with the Greeks, but were unable to stop the process. Although the colonization process was not done according to any master plan, with several Greek cities acting simultaneously, it probably seemed to the Phoenicians and Etruscans that a flood of Greeks were drowning the Tyrrhenian seacoast.
The Greek-colonized zone encompassing Sicily and Southern Italy came to be known as Magna Graecia. The Greeks living in this area behaved in a similar way to the mainland Greeks, expanding their political and commercial domain at the expense of their neighbors while keeping the Ionian–Dorian feud alive. The colonization offered greater opportunities for increased trade, piracy and other conflicts among the Etruscans, Phoenicians and Greeks competing for control of seaborne trade of the area.
Carthaginian hegemony.
Carthage created her hegemony in part to resist Greek encroachments in the Phoenician sphere of influence. Phoenicians initially (750–650 BC) did not resist the Greeks, but after the Greeks had returned to Iberia sometime after 638 BC, being virtually absent for at least two centuries, Carthage emerged as the leader of the Phoenician resistance. During the 6th century BC, mostly under the leadership of the Magonid dynasty, Carthage established an empire which would commercially dominate the Western Mediterranean. The Phoenician cities of Motya, Panormus and Solus in Sicily and the Elymians had teamed up to defeat the Greeks of Selinus and Rhodes near Lilybaeum in 580 BC, the first such recorded incident in Sicily. These cities remained independent until becoming part of the Carthaginian hegemony after 540 BC.
Prelude: Phocaeans.
The Phocaean Greeks from Asia Minor (modern Turkey) had founded the colony of Massalia around 600 BCE, which the Carthaginians had tried and failed to prevent. Massalia became a thriving trading center and a major rival of Carthage for the Spanish markets and the tin trade through Gaul. The Phocaeans also planted a colony in Alalia on Corsica around 562 BCE. When the city of Phocaea itself fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia in 546 BCE, most Phoceans moved to Alalia, partly because they were on good terms with the Greek colonies along the Strait of Messina and had even been granted toll-free passage.
Later, after the battle, in 540 BCE, they founded Elea in southern Italy (Magna Grecia).
The Phocaeans had managed to establish their base at a time when Carthage was engaged in defending Punic colonies in Sicily (Greeks had started to encroach on Punic cities in 580 BCE) and conquering territory in Sardinia,
 Tyre was facing Persian domination and the Etruscans were engaged in expansion across Italy, starting with the formation of the Etruscan League. The Greeks started to prey on Carthaginian and Etruscan trade from Corsica, which continued unchecked for five years. However, fearing that the Greeks would threaten their colonies in North Italy and Sardinia next, the Etruscans and Carthaginians joined forces to oppose the Greeks around 540 BCE. It is not known if the Carthaginians had allied with the Etruscan League or with individual Etruscan cities.
The battle.
It is assumed that the Phocaean Greeks had 60 pentekonters (ships with 48 oars and two rudders for steering), not the trireme that would become famous at the Battle of Salamis, and the allied fleet was twice as large, also composed of pentekonters. Details of the battle are sketchy, but it is known that although the Greeks had driven the allied fleet off, they had lost almost two-thirds of their own fleet in doing so: a Pyrrhic victory, according to Herodotus. The rams of the surviving ships had been severely damaged. Realizing that they could not withstand another attack, the Greeks evacuated Corsica, and initially sought refuge in Rhegion in Italy. Carthaginian and Etruscan battle losses are not known. A legend describes how Greek prisoners were stoned to death at Caere by the Etruscans, while the Carthaginians sold their prisoners into slavery. This battle is also known as "The Battle of Sardinia Sea".
Aftermath.
Corsica passed into Etruscan hands, while Carthage retained Sardinia. Carthage would fight two more major naval battles with Massalia, losing both, but still managing to close the Strait of Gibraltar to Greek shipping and thus containing the Greek expansion in Spain by 480 BC. Attempts by Etruscans to conquer Greek areas in Southern Italy would be opposed by the Greek city of Cumae. They would defeat an Etruscan invasion in 524 BC. Carthage would defeat the attempt of Spartan prince Dorieus to colonize North Africa (c. 513 BC) and Western Sicily (c. 510 BC). While Carthage was busy in Sardinia after 509 BC dealing with a native uprising, the Greek city of Syracuse under Gelon, allied with the Greek city of Agrigentum under Theron to challenge the Carthaginians in Sicily.
That set the stage for the Sicilian Wars (480–307 BC) between Carthage and the Greeks. According to Herodotus, it was only after the battle that Phocaeans moved to Italy where they founded Elea.
Some authors consider that the Greek defeat and consequent lack of Greek traders in the Gibraltar Strait led to the collapse of the Tartessian civilization in Southern Spain, while the Punic presence remained undisturbed. The uncontested, and more lucrative, river trade with the interior of Gaul became the focal point of the Greek cities of modern southern France, such as Massalia (modern Marseille).


County of Holzappel

The County of Holzappel (German: "Grafschaft Holzappel") was an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
It was centered on the town of Holzappel. It was founded in 1643 by Peter Melander, an imperial field marshal during the Thirty Years' War. In 1806, the county lost its imperial immediacy and was mediatised to the Duchy of Nassau. It was dissolved in 1918.
History.
The County of Holzappel emerged from the small lordship of Esterau consisting of 12 villages centered on the town of Esten.
Peter Melander.
In 1643, the Lordship of Esterau along with the bailiwick of Isselbach was purchased by Peter Melander from John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar, who was in considerable financial difficulty. Peter Meleander was an imperial field marshal who had become rich due to his position in the Thirty Years' War and had been appointed Count of Holzappel in 1641. Emperor Ferdinand III subsequently raised the small Lordship to the Imperial County of Holzappel as a reward for the services Melander had performed while in the imperial army. The Count of Holzappel became a member of the Wetterau Association of Imperial Counts in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 17th century, the county consisted of:
Melander died on 17 May 1648 in Augsburg, as a result of the wounds he had received in Battle of Zusmarshausen. He was buried in the princely crypt (the "Melandergruft") in the Lutheran St. John church in Esten. The County of Holzappel was inherited by his only child, Elisabeth Charlotte in spite of a suit by Melander's nephews.
Elisabeth Charlotte of Nassau-Schaumburg.
Peter Melander left a fortune that allowed his widow Agnes to purchase the Castle and Lordship of Schaumburg near Balduinstein in 1656. Eventually, it was also inherited by her daughter, Elisabeth Charlotte, and merged with Holzappel, thus forming the County of Holzappel-Schaumburg.
Elisabeth Charlotte married Prince Adolph of Nassau-Dillenburg in 1658 and became Princess Elisabeth Charlotte of Nassau-Schaumburg.
In 1685, Elisabeth Charlotte changed the name of the county seat from "Esten" into "Holzappel". She allowed refugee Huguenots and Waldensians to settle in the county, and in 1699 founded the Waldensian settlement Charlottenberg near Holzappel which was named after her.
House of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym.
By a contract of 1 September 1690 with Victor Amadeus, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, Elisabeth Charlotte left Holzappel to the youngest of her three daughters, Charlotte of Nassau-Schaumburg, who married Victor Amadeus' younger son Lebrecht of Anhalt-Dernburg in 1692. Thus, the county was inherited by a cadet line of the princely house of Anhalt-Bernburg, the Princes of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym.
In 1806, the county lost its imperial immediacy and was mediatised to the Duchy of Nassau.
House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
In 1812, with the death of Victor II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, the line of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym became extinct in the male line. The County of Holzappel was inherited by his eldest daughter, Hermine who was married to Archduke Joseph of Austria and subsequently to her son Archduke Stephen of Austria.
House of Oldenburg.
In 1867, after the childless death of Archduke Stephen, it passed to his first cousin once removed, Duke George Louis of Oldenburg.
House of Waldeck.
However, George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont challenged his inheritance, and in 1887, the courts ruled in his favour.
The county was dissolved in 1918.


Metlika Castle

Metlika Castle (; or "Metliški Grad") is a 15th-century castle located above the old part of the town of Metlika in southeastern Slovenia, very near the Croatian border.
History.
The castle was first mentioned in written sources in 1456. During the Ottoman incursions in the 15th and 16th century, it was owned by the Counts of Alap, and it played a key role in defense against the Turks. Later, the castle was owned by the house of Frankopan, and later yet by the chapterhouse of the bishopric of Zagreb.
During the 18th century, the castle was damaged by fire twice (in 1705 and 1790); after repairs it was bought by Jožef Savinšek in 1792. It survived World War II intact and was afterward nationalized without compensation and converted into the headquarters of the Museum of White Carniola (), established in 1951, and became home to some of its permanent collections. Exhibits include a cultural history of White Carniola, collections of Roman and medieval stone markers and memorials, and an ethnological collection on the historical way of life in White Carniola. The former castle stables and other outbuildings house the Metlika Slovene Firefighting Museum. In addition, the second floor contains a wedding hall, and the basement a wine cellar. Metlika Castle also features the Gangl Gallery for temporary exhibitions, which is part of Museum of White Carniola.
Architecture.
The three-story building encloses a central courtyard, surrounded on two sides by an arcaded
corridor. Entrance to the courtyard is via a gate in a three-story tower. The castle has a pentagonal layout, punctuated with two defensive towers, and is built atop a rocky promontory above Obrh Creek.


Harald von Loudon

Harald Georg Gideon Freiherr von Loudon (30 April 1876–1 January 1959) was a Baltic German ornithologist.
Life and work.
Baron Harald von Loudon was born in the Governorate of Livonia. He belonged to the Baltic Noble family and studied zoology in Saint Petersburg at the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He began his ornithological research in the 1890s, making observations near his home in the vicinity of Valmiera and Cēsis in present-day Latvia. At this time he started his personal collection of bird eggs. At least from 1894, this collection grew in both size and scope, encompassing not only eggs but also whole birds, skeletons and skulls. His first publication appeared in 1895 in the journal of the Riga Association of Natural Scientists "(Der Naturforscherverein zu Riga)", predecessor of the Natural History Museum of Latvia. He kept making systematic research of the bird-life of Latvia until at least 1917. In the spring of 1896, he went on a scientific journey to the southern part of the Russian Empire, during which he made the acquaintance of Gustav Radde and Nikolai Zarudny. The latter became a friend of von Loudon and they kept regular contact. von Loudon came to make an additional five such ornithological expeditions, to the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, Crimea and Central Asia. In 1904, he hosted Henry Eeles Dresser at his estate in Latvia, and one year later he himself travelled to London to participate in an international conference on ornithology,; he was one of only five Russian citizens to participate.
Von Loudon accumulated a vast collection of birds, bird eggs and other scientific material, as well as a vast ornithological library. During World War I, von Loudon was forced to flee the country and settled in Germany. Here he gradually moved away from ornithology in favor of politics, participating in the activities of the Society of Baltic Germans. In 1922 his property including manor with lands (513 hectares) was confiscated by Latvian state for his help to the German troops during the war. His collection suffered from mistreatment during World War I, but parts of it were rescued and eventually ended up in the University of Latvia; the main part of the collection was however evacuated to present-day Kaliningrad in 1939 and probably destroyed there during World War II. The ornithological library ended up in the National Library of Latvia.


Krakus

Krakus, Krak or Grakch was a legendary Polish prince, king and founder of Kraków, the ruler of the Lechitic tribe of Vistulans. Krakus is also credited with building Wawel Castle and slaying the Wawel Dragon by feeding him a dead sheep full of sulfur. The latter is how Krak the cobbler became Krakus the prince, and later king. The first recorded mention of Krakus, then spelled "Grakch", is in the Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae from 1190.
Historian J. Banaszkiewicz attributes Krak's name to a pre-Slavic word "krakula", meaning judge's staff. The same word-root is believed to have been used in Czech and Russian naming conventions. However, historians Cetwiński and Derwich suggest a different etymology, which seems more probable to some, with Krak, meaning simply an oak, a sacred tree, most often associated with the concept of genealogy.
Krakus Mound, which exists to this day, was previously believed to contain Krakus' remains. It has been the subject of thorough archeological research from 1934–38, however, no grave has ever been found in it. The mound has a diameter of over 50 meters. According to research, it was erected between the 8th and 10th centuries as a central element of an ancient grave site, which does not exist today.
The Krak and Princess Wanda legend appeared in the early Polish history written by Wincenty Kadlubek; a similar legend, that of Krok and Libussa, appeared in the early Czech history by Cosmas of Prague.


Yugoslav torpedo boat T4

T4 was a seagoing torpedo boat operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1932, after spending World War I in Austro-Hungarian Navy service. Originally 79 T, she was a 250t-class torpedo boat, and was laid down on 1 December 1913, launched on 30 April 1914 and completed on 30 September of that year. She saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, patrol, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. Following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918, "79 T" was allocated to the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later became the Royal Yugoslav Navy, and was renamed "T4". At the time, she and the seven other 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels of the fledgling maritime force. During the interwar period, "T4" and the rest of the navy were involved in training exercises and cruises to friendly ports, but activity was limited by reduced naval budgets. In 1932, she ran aground on the Dalmatian coast and became a total loss.
Background.
In 1910, the Austria-Hungary Naval Technical Committee initiated the design and development of a coastal torpedo boat, specifying that it should be capable of sustaining for 10 hours. This specification was based an expectation that the Strait of Otranto, where the Adriatic Sea meets the Ionian Sea, would be blockaded by hostile forces during a future conflict. In such circumstances, there would be a need for a torpedo boat that could sail from the Austro-Hungarian Navy (, ) base at the Bay of Kotor () to the Strait during darkness, locate and attack blockading ships and return to port before morning. Steam turbine power was selected for propulsion, as diesels with the necessary power were not available, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy did not have the practical experience to run turbo-electric boats. (STT) of Trieste was selected for the contract to build eight vessels, ahead of one other tenderer. The T-group designation signified that they were built at Trieste. "79 T" was the sixth of its class to be completed.
Description and construction.
The 250t-class T-group boats had a waterline length of , a beam of , and a normal draught of . While their designed displacement was , they displaced about fully loaded. The crew consisted of 39 officers and enlisted men. The boats were powered by two Parsons steam turbines driving two propellers, using steam generated by two Yarrow water-tube boilers, one of which burned fuel oil and the other coal. The turbines were rated at with a maximum output of and designed to propel the boats to a top speed of . They carried of coal and of fuel oil, which gave them a range of at . The T-group had one funnel rather than the two funnels of the later groups of the class. Due to inadequate funding of her class, "79 T" and the rest of the 250t class were essentially coastal vessels, despite the original intention that they would be used for "high seas" operations. The 250t-class T-group were the first small Austro-Hungarian Navy boats to use turbines, and this contributed to ongoing problems with them.
The boats were originally to be armed with three Škoda L/30 guns, and three torpedo tubes, but this was changed to two guns and four torpedo tubes before the first boat was completed, in order to standardise the armament with the following F-group. They could also carry 10–12 naval mines.
She was laid down on 1 December 1913, launched on 30 April 1914 and completed on 30 September 1914. In 1914, one machine gun was added.
Career.
World War I.
During World War I, "79 T" was used for convoy, patrol, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations, and shore bombardment missions. On 24 May 1915, "79 T" and seven other 250t-class boats participated in the Bombardment of Ancona, which involved shelling of various Italian shore-based targets, with "79 T" involved in the shelling of Porto Corsini near Ravenna. During that action, an Italian shore battery returned fire, hitting the light cruiser and damaging one of the other 250t-class boats. In late November 1915, the Austro-Hungarian fleet deployed a force from its main fleet base at Pola to Cattaro in the southern Adriatic; this force included six of the eight T-group torpedo boats, so it is possible that one of these was "79 T". This force was tasked to maintain a permanent patrol of the Albanian coastline and interdict any troop transports crossing from Italy.
On the night of 31 May/1 June 1916, the s and , accompanied by "79 T" and two other 250t-class boats, raided the Otranto Barrage, an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto. "Orjen" sank one drifter, but once the alarm had been raised, the Austro-Hungarian force withdrew.
In 1917, one of "79 T"'s 66 mm guns was placed on an anti-aircraft mount. On 28 November, a number of 250t-class boats were involved in two shore bombardment missions. In the first mission, "79 T" and two other 250t-class boats supported the bombardment of Senigallia by three destroyers, before they were joined by five more 250t-class boats and another three destroyers for the bombardment of Porto Corsini, Marotta and Cesenatico. On 10 June 1918, "79 T" and another five 250t-class boats were part of the escort force that failed to protect the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought from the Italian MAS boats that sank her.
Interwar period.
She survived the war intact. In 1920, under the terms of the previous year's Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye by which rump Austria officially ended World War I, she was allocated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (KSCS, later Yugoslavia). Along with three other 250t-class T-group boats, "76 T," "77 T" and "78 T", and four 250t-class F-group boats, she served with the Royal Yugoslav Navy (, KJRM; ). Taken over in March 1921, in KJRM service, "79 T" was renamed "T4". At the outset, she and the other seven 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels in the KJRM. In 1925, exercises were conducted off the Dalmatian coast, involving the majority of the navy. In May and June 1929, six of the eight 250t-class torpedo boats accompanied the light cruiser "Dalmacija", the submarine tender "Hvar" and the submarines and , on a cruise to Malta, the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea, and Bizerte in the French protectorate of Tunisia. It is not clear if "T4" was one of the torpedo boats involved. The ships and their crews made a very good impression on the British while visiting Malta. In 1932, the British naval attaché reported that Yugoslav ships engaged in few exercises, manoeuvres or gunnery training due to reduced budgets. In the same year, "T4" ran aground on the Dalmatian coast and became a total loss.


Astale

Astale () was a Roman town of ancient Crete. According to the "Stadiasmus Maris Magni", it was located on the north coast of Crete, 30 stadia from an unknown location "Amphimatrion" (Άμφιματρίον), probably meaning Amphimalion, and 300 stadia from Herakleion. It was the harbour of Axus; excavations have taken place at the site.
The site of Astale is located near modern Bali.


Edmond Schreiber

Sir Edmund Charles Acton Schreiber, (30 April 1890 – 8 October 1972) was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First World War and the Second World War. In the latter he commanded the 45th Infantry Division, V Corps and the British First Army.
Military career.
Born in London, England, on 30 April 1890, the son of Brigadier-General Acton Lemuel Schreiber, Edmond Charles Acton Schreiber was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Army's Royal Field Artillery on 23 December 1909. He was promoted to lieutenant on 23 December 1912. He served in the First World War with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, earning the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in December 1914, for his "Very gallant conduct on 14th September in saving horses which had become entangled in blocked road, and man-handling guns away from a position which had become untenable from a very heavy shell fire, continuing to work, although wounded". He was several times mentioned in dispatches and ended the war as a brevet major, having been promoted to that rank on 1 January 1918.
In the 1930s, during the interwar period, he served at the Staff College, Camberley, the War Office and the Senior Officers' School, Sheerness and was Brigadier Royal Artillery in Southern Command.
During the Second World War Schreiber served with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France between 1939 and 1940. Promoted to acting Major-General on 26 April 1940, he became General Officer Commanding (GOC) 61st Infantry Division on the same date, before being made GOC 45th Infantry Division later in 1940. In May 1941 he was promoted to acting Lieutenant-General to take command of V Corps later that year. In 1942 he was appointed to command the British First Army (in reality an Anglo-American formation) which was to be the parent organisation for Allied forces in French North Africa after Operation Torch in November; however, he developed a kidney problem and became unfit for active service.
Restricted to non-field roles, he became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Western Command in 1942 and of South Eastern Command in 1944. Between 1944 and 1946, Schreiber was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta. He retired from the British Army after the war in 1947.
Retirement.
He was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Devon in 1948 and National President of the Old Contemptibles Association in 1960.
Family.
Edmond Schreiber married Phyllis Barchard in 1916; there were two daughters.


Blackhammer Chambered Cairn

Blackhammer Chambered Cairn is a Neolithic cairn on Rousay, in Orkney, Scotland. It is a scheduled monument in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.
It is thought to date from around 3000 BC. The structure is a typical stalled cairn, with an interior divided into seven compartments by pairs of upright stone slabs. The cairn has a modern roof, as the cairn originally was only a few feet high. Access is by a hatchway and ladder in the roof, as the original entrance was sealed. There have been finds of bones and pottery in the cairn.


Battle of Menina

The Battle of Menina () was conducted by the Greek resistance group EDES against the German garrison of the village Menina, Thesprotia, during the German occupation of Greece. They were successful and captured a large quantity of supplies.
Background.
Guerilla units of the EDES resistance undertook several sabotage missions against the Wehrmacht as soon as the later began its withdrawal from Greece. The 10th Division of EDES was active in the wider region of Preveza and managed in various clashed to block the movement of the Germans from Preveza to the regional capital of Epirus, Ioannina. Nazi German and Cham Albanian collaborator units were stationed in various positions in the sectors of Filiates, Igoumenitsa and Filiates. Meanwhile, the Allied High Command in Middle East ordered the advance of the EDES units in strategic positions in the west coast of Epirus. The defense of Menina was of vital importance for the German army since it a main transportation hub in Epirus. As such the Germans as well as their collaborators have turned Menina into a major stronghold.
Offensive.
The main thrust of the offensive in Menina was undertaken by EDES' Sacred Band which belonged to its 3/40 Regiment. After a 2-day battle the German-Cham units were dispersed and the area was secured.
Result.
Among the Greek resistance there were 25 dead, while the Axis counted 87. After the victorious battle the Muslim Cham population under the state of panic and in fear of reprisals fled north to Albania. Moreover, EDES captured 109 Axis soldiers in addition to military material.


Avonmouth explosion

On 3 December 2020, at about 11:20 GMT, a silo containing biosolids exploded in Avonmouth, Bristol, UK, killing three men and a 16-year old apprentice, and injuring another person. Avon and Somerset Police declared a major incident, and a doctor and specialist paramedic in critical care from the nearby Great Western Air Ambulance headquarters attended the incident by both their rapid response car and emergency helicopter.
The sewage treatment and food waste site is operated by GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water. Its products include biomethane produced by anaerobic digestion, which is supplied to bus operators, among them Bristol Community Transport who operate one of the MetroBus routes.


John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane

John Campbell, 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, (26 October 1796 – 8 November 1862), styled Lord Glenorchy until 1831 and as Earl of Ormelie from 1831 to 1834, was a Scottish nobleman and Liberal politician.
Background and education.
Born at Dundee, Angus, Breadalbane was the son of Lieutenant-General John Campbell, 1st Marquess of Breadalbane, and Mary, daughter of David Gavin. He was educated at Eton.
Political career.
Breadalbane sat as Member of Parliament for Okehampton from 1820 to 1826 and for Perthshire from 1832 to 1834. The latter year he succeeded his father as second Marquess of Breadalbane and entered the House of Lords. In 1848 he was sworn of the Privy Council and appointed Lord Chamberlain of the Household by Lord John Russell, a post he held until the government fell in 1852. He held the same office under Lord Aberdeen between 1853 and 1855 and under Lord Palmerston between 1855 and 1858.
Other public appointments.
A freemason, Breadalbane was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland between 1824 and 1826. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1834 and made a Knight of the Thistle in 1838. The following year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire, a post he held until his death. In 1842 he entertained Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort at Taymouth Castle. He was a supporter of the Free Church of Scotland during the Disruption of 1843.
According to the "Legacies of British Slave-Ownership" at the University College London, Breadalbane was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £ in ) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Breadalbane was associated with "T71/865 St Andrew claim no. 114", he owned 379 slaves in Jamaica and received a £6,630 payment at the time (worth £ in ).
Breadalbane was also Rector of the University of Glasgow between 1840 and 1842 and of Marischal College, Aberdeen, between 1843 and 1845, President of the Society of Antiquaries between 1844 and 1862 and Governor of the Bank of Scotland between 1861 and 1862. In 1861 he was sent on a special diplomatic mission to Berlin for the investiture of King William I in the Order of the Garter. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia at the same time.
Personal life.
Lord Breadalbane married Lady Elizabeth ("Eliza"), daughter of George Baillie and sister of George Baillie-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Haddington, in 1821. They had no children. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria. She died in Mayfair, London, on 28 August 1861, aged 58. Lord Breadalbane survived her by just over a year and died at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 8 November 1862, aged 66. On his death the barony of Breadalbane, earldom of Ormelie and marquessate of Breadalbane became extinct. He was succeeded in the lordship of Glenorchy, viscountcy of Tay and Paintland and earldom of Breadalbane and Holland by his distant relative and namesake, John Campbell. The marquessate was revived in favour of the latter's son in 1885.
The University College London, Legacies of British Slave-ownership, two projects based at UCL tracing the impact of slave-ownership on the formation of modern Britain: (the ESRC-funded Legacies of British Slave-ownership project, now complete, and the ESRC and AHRC-funded Structure and significance of British Caribbean slave-ownership 1763–1833, running from 2013–15), highlight that, John Campbell, 2nd Marquis of Breadalbane, benefited from the compensation paid out following the abolition of slavery in 1833. According to the record, he benefited from a payment of £6,630,5s,6d, an approximate £562,000 in 2015, made by the government of the United Kingdom as recorded by the Slave Compensation Commission and the records held at the National Archives in London. The record containing the facts discovered can be found at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/19525, and the National Archive and the records of the Slave Compensation Commission.


Cornell Borchers

Gerlind Cornell Borchers (16 March 1925 – 12 May 2014) was a German actress and singer, active in the late 1940s and 1950s. She is best remembered for her roles opposite Montgomery Clift in "The Big Lift" (1950) and Errol Flynn and Nat King Cole in "Istanbul" (1957). She was said to resemble Ingrid Bergman in mid-1950s reviews.
Biography.
Borchers was born in Šilutė (German: Heydekrug), Klaipėda Region (German: Memelland), Lithuania in a German either Prussian Lithuanian or Memellander family. She appeared on the cover of East German magazine "Neue Film Welt" of 1949, Volume 3, Issue 4. She won a BAFTA Film Award in the category of Best Foreign Actress in 1955 for the movie "The Divided Heart" (1954). She retired from acting to raise her child.
She was married twice, first to Bruce Cunningham and then to Dr. Anton Schelkopf, a psychologist, physician and film producer, whom she first met when she starred in his films "School for Marriage" (1954) and "Rot ist die Liebe" (1957), by whom she had one daughter, Julia Schelkopf, born in Munich, on 15 September 1962. The couple divorced later. She afterwards lived in Bavaria, Germany and died there in 2014.


Giovanni dalle Carceri

Giovanni dalle Carceri (died 1358) was a Lord of Euboea.
He married Florence Sanudo, who became the seventh Duchess of the Archipelago in 1362, daughter and successor of John I, Duke of the Archipelago. Their son was Nicholas III dalle Carceri, who inherited both the Duchy and the Lordship.


Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation

The Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation (; ) or IDRO was a Bulgarian nationalist and revolutionary organisation active in Romanian Dobruja from 1923 to 1940. It was labeled a terrorist organization by the Romanian government, though in Bulgaria it was regarded as a liberation movement.
The organisation was founded in 1923 under the leadership of Docho Mihaylov and on the basis of the Great Convention of Dobruja (Велик добруджански събор), a Bulgarian political organisation established in 1919 to fight against Romanian rule in Southern Dobruja. The IDRO detachments fought against the widespread brigandage in the region, as well as the Romanian administration in the region. Like the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation in Macedonia and the Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation in Thrace, IDRO demanded political autonomy of Dobruja under the mandate of the League of Nations raising the slogan for the establishment of an "autonomous Dobruja" under the supervision of the League of Nations and "Dobruja for the Dobrujans".
In 1925, a left-wing organisation named the Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation (Добруджанска революционна организация) seceded from the organisation under the influence of the Bulgarian Communist Party. This wing militated for a Soviet Republic of Dobruja, which would either be part of a "Balkan Communist Federation" or to become a Republic of the Soviet Union. The division of IDRO significantly hampered the work of the organisation, although it continued its activity under different forms until 1940 when Southern Dobruja was restored to Bulgaria under the terms of the Treaty of Craiova.


Isle of Wight Rural District

The Isle of Wight Rural District was a rural district on the Isle of Wight from 1894 to 1974 covering most of the island, apart from urban areas. In 1933, the district was reduced by the creation of the Sandown-Shanklin and Ventnor urban districts.
In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, it was merged with these two urban districts to form the new non-metropolitan South Wight district.


Peter Birt

Peter Birt ( – June 1791) was a businessman from Airmyn, Yorkshire, England, who made his fortune from the Aire and Calder Navigation and used part of his wealth to build the mansion named Wenvoe Castle.
He became High Sheriff of Glamorgan.
Businessman.
Peter Birt was born around 1723 in Yorkshire.
One source says his family was well-off yeomen from Berkshire, but others said he had been "bred a tailor".
He became a merchant in the trade with Russia.
Birt became involved with Sir Henry Ibbetson in a coal-mining venture.
In 1758 Birt and Ibbetson acquired a 14-year lease on the tolls of the Aire and Calder Navigation for £6,000.
This privately-managed waterway in the West Riding of Yorkshire was one of the first river navigation schemes in Britain.
It provides a water route from the North Sea inland to the Pennine waterways by way of the Humber estuary and the River Ouse.
The partners agreed with the request of the proprietors of the Navigation to give up trading so they could not be accused of giving their goods preferential treatment.
Birt was described as unpopular but efficient.
In 1771 Birt asked John Smeaton for advice on improving the navigation to head off the threat of a proposal to build a trans-Pennine canal that would bypass the navigation.
Smeaton issued a report on 28 December 1771 that recommended construction of new locks and canal cuts, large-scale dredging to ensure that even in a dry season the water was at least deep, and a bypass canal cut below Haddlesey.
The planned cut was extended in 1772 to almost between the River Aire at Haddlesey and the Ouse at Selby.
In 1772 Peter Birt became the sole lessee of the Navigation, with a 21-year lease for which he paid £8,500.
This in effect gave him a monopoly of transport on the Navigation, which he exploited ruthlessly.
Birt soon owned many boats on the waterway and several important collieries in the region.
The local industrialists and woollen merchants resented Birt's control, said the Navigation was poorly maintained and demanded reform.
Birt agreed to give up his lease in return for a share of the Navigation Company.
In May 1774 Birt was given a 10% share of the Aire and Calder Navigation estates and profits by Act of Parliament.
The planned works on the Navigation were undertaken in 1775–79 and cost £40,000.
The new Selby Canal was inaugurated on 29 April 1778.
The Navigation Company was immensely profitable for the next fifty years or so, with Birt and his heirs receiving 10% of the income.
Birt decided to move away from his residence at Airmyn Hall and find a place to spend his retirement where he was less well-known.
Wenvoe castle.
The owner of the estate of Wenvoe, near Cardiff, died suddenly in October 1767 leaving many debts.
The estate was put up for sale in September 1769, and was bought by Birt in September 1774 for £41,000.
The legalities were completed in May 1775.
Birt had the old castle completely demolished, although some material was reused in the new Wenvoe Castle that replaced it.
The new building was based on designs by Robert Adam dated 1776, with Birt's friend Thomas Roberts as executant architect.
Most of the new building was of locally-quarried "blue stone", but Bath stone was brought via the port of Cardiff, probably for the quoins and corner stones.
The foundations were almost complete by 29 April 1776, and the roof was on before the end of that year.
The building was massive, with a large central rectangular block from which low wings extended from each side.
The main front was three stories high and long including the two wings.
The whole length was topped with battlements.
A contemporary writer said the house and grounds, "exhibits a charming effort of bad taste and bourgeoisity."
Birt was High Sheriff of Glamorgan for 1780.
He died in June 1791 and was buried at Wenvoe.
He was predeceased by his wife (1787), his son Peter (1788) and his daughter Mary, wife of John Richards of Cardiff (1790).
Legacy.
Peter Birt had three surviving daughters at the time of his death, Ann, Jane and Judy.
Ann Birt married Robert Jenner (1743–1810) of Chislehurst, Kent.
Their son Robert Jenner (1776–1824) inherited Wenvoe Castle.
The castle was passed in turn to his son Robert Francis Jenner (1802–1860) and grandson Robert Francis Lascelles Jenner (1826–83).
The second son of Ann Birt and Robert Jenner was Herbert, who later took the name Herbert Jenner-Fust (1778–1852), and became an English judge.
Herbert's son, Dr. Henry Lascelles Jenner (1820–98), was the first Bishop of Dunedin.
The Bishop's son Henry Jenner (1848–1934) was an authority on the Cornish language.
Jane Birt married John Price of Llandaff.
Judy Birt married Sir John Nicholl of Merthyr Mawr on 8 September 1787.
Their marriage took place at Wenvoe.
They had one surviving son and three daughters.
The main block of Wenvoe Castle was badly damaged by fire in 1910, and later the whole building was torn down apart from a pavilion.
The estate is now a golf course.


Hannoversche Waggonfabrik

Hannoversche Waggonfabrik AG was a German aircraft manufacturer of the World War I era. It was known as a railway rolling stock constructor until required by the German government in 1916 to start the construction of aeroplanes. The aircraft branch of the company was established at Hannover-Linden where other types were first manufactured under licence until 1916 when the Hannover type itself came on stream.
History.
The Hannoversche Waggonfabrik AG (Hawa) was founded in 1898 to build passenger and freight cars for Germany's railways. When the First World War began, Hannover built rolling stock for the German military, before gradually becoming more and more involved in the production of aircraft, starting with the manufacture of propellers in 1915 before moving on to repair work, and the license manufacture of aircraft by the end of the year. An important reason why Hannover, along with other railway manufacturers, was encouraged to move into aircraft work was that, not only did it have an extensive, well trained workforce, but also possessed large stocks of seasoned wood.
Hannover hired Hermann Dorner, formerly of DFW as chief designer in September 1917, with his first design being a two-seat fighter, the Hannover CL.II. This proved a great success, and was followed into production by the improved Hannover CL.III.
The further improved Hannover CL.V was in production at the end of the war, but while Hannover attempted to move into civil aircraft manufacture, the Treaty of Versailles suspended all aircraft manufacture and Hannover returned to its original business of railway stock manufacture.
Aircraft.
Production figures from


Tabone

Tabone is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:


History of Styria

The history of Styria concerns the region roughly corresponding to the modern Austrian state of Styria and the Slovene region of Styria ("Štajerska") from its settlement by Germans and Slavs in the Dark Ages until the present. This mountainous and scenic region, which became a centre for mountaineering in the 19th century, is often called the "Green March", because half of the area is covered with forests and one quarter with meadows, grasslands, vineyards and orchards. Styria is also rich in minerals, soft coal and iron, which has been mined at Erzberg since the time of the Romans. The Slovene Hills (, ) is a famous wine-producing district, stretching between Slovenia and Austria. Styria was for long the most densely populated and productive mountain region in Europe.
Styria's population before World War I was 68% German-speaking, 32% Slovene, bordered on (clockwise) Lower Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Carniola, Carinthia, Salzburg, and Upper Austria. In 1918 after World War I the southern, Slovene-speaking third south of the river Mur was incorporated into Slovenia in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The remaining two-thirds became the Austrian federal state of Styria, while the Slovene-speaking third (Lower Styria) formed the informal region of Štajerska in Slovenia, now divided up into the statistical EU regions of Podravska, Savinjska and the major part of Slovenian Carinthia. The capital both of the duchy and the Austrian state has always been Graz, which is now also the residence of the governor and the seat of the administration of the land.
Political history.
Prehistory to Charlemagne.
The Roman history of Styria is as part of Noricum and Pannonia, with the romanized Celtic population of the Taurisci. During the great migrations, various Germanic tribes settled and/or traversed the region using the river valleys and low passes, but about 600 CE the Slavs took possession of the area and settled assimilating the remaining autochthonous romanized population.
When Styria came under the hegemony of Charlemagne as a part of Carantania (Carinthia), erected as a border territory against the Avars and Slavs, there was a large influx of Bavarii and other Christianized Germanic peoples, whom the bishops of Salzburg and the patriarchs of Aquileia kept faithful to Rome. Bishop Vergilius of Salzburg (745-84), was largely instrumental in establishing a church hierarchy in the Duchy and gained for himself the name of "Apostle of Carantania." In 811 Charlemagne made the Drave river the boundary between the Dioceses of Salzburg and Aquileia.
Middle Ages.
The March of Styria was created in the Duchy of Carinthia in the late 10th century as a defence against the Magyars. Long called the Carantanian or Carinthian March it was soon ruled by a margravial dynasty called the Otakars that originated from Steyr in Upper Austria thus giving the land its name: "Steiermark". This march was raised to become a duchy by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1180 after the fall of Henry the Lion of Bavaria.
With the death of Ottokar the first line of rulers of Styria became extinct; the region fell successively to the Babenberg family, rulers of Austria, as stipulated in the Georgenberg Pact; after their extinction to the control of Hungary (1254–60); to King Ottokar of Bohemia; in 1276 to the Habsburgs, who provided it with Habsburgs for Styrian dukes during the years 1379-1439 and 1564–1619.
At the time of the Ottoman invasions in the 16th and 17th centuries the land suffered severely and was depopulated. The Turks made incursions into Styria nearly twenty times; churches, monasteries, cities, and villages were destroyed and plundered, while the population was either killed or carried away into slavery.
Modern era.
The Semmering Railway, completed in 1854, was a triumph of engineering in its time, the oldest of the great European mountain railways. It was remarkable for its numerous and long tunnels and viaducts spanning mountain valleys, running from Gloggnitz in Lower Austria to Mürzzuschlag in Styria, and passing through the area's scenery. The railway brought tourists to alpine lake resorts and mineral springs at Rohitsch (today's Rogaška Slatina) and Bad Gleichenberg, the brine springs of Bad Aussee, and the thermal springs of Tuffer (today's Laško), Neuhaus am Klausenbach and Tobelbad.
Following World War I, Styria was divided by the Treaty of Saint Germain. Lower Styria with the cities of Celje and Maribor became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, while the rest remained with Austria as the State of Styria. Other than in Carinthia, no fighting resulted from this, in spite of a German minority in Slovenia (the larger cities of Lower Styria were largely German-speaking).
Lower Styria was reattached to the Reichsgau Steiermark from 1942 to 1945, whence it was returned to Germany. After World War II, Styria became part of the British occupation zone Austria. The lower third was granted to Yugoslavia and today, it makes up about the eastern third of Slovenia.
Religious history.
The Protestant Reformation made its way into the country about 1530. Duke Karl (ruling 1564-90), whose wife was the Catholic Duchess Maria of Bavaria, introduced the Counter-Reformation into the country; in 1573 he invited the Jesuits into Styria and in 1586 he founded the Catholic University of Graz. In 1598 his son and successor Ferdinand suppressed all Protestant schools and expelled the teachers and preachers: Protestant doctrines were maintained only in a few isolated mountain valleys, as in the valley of the Inn and the valley of the Mur. On a narrow reading of the Peace of Augsburg, 1555, with its principle of "cuius regio, eius religio", only the nobility were not forced to return to the Roman Church; each could have Protestant services privately in his own house.
After Ferdinand had become Holy Roman Emperor in 1619 and had defeated his Protestant opponents in the Battle of White Mountain near Prague in 1620, he forbade all Protestant church services whatsoever (1625). In 1628 he commanded the nobility also to return to the Catholic faith. A large number of noble families, consequently, emigrated from the country. But most of them either returned, or their descendants did so, becoming Catholics and recovering their possessions.
In the second half of the 17th century renewed action against the Protestants in the isolated mountain valleys resulted in the expulsion of Protestant ministers with the peasants who would not give up Protestantism; about 30,000 chose compulsory emigration to Transylvania over conversion. Only an Edict of Toleration issued by Emperor Joseph II as late as 1781 put an end to religious repression. The Protestants then received the right to found parish communities and to exercise their religion in those enclaves undisturbed.
In 1848, all the provinces of the Habsburg Monarchy received complete liberty of religion and of conscience, parity of religions, and the right to the public exercise of religion.
Ecclesiastically the province was historically divided into two Catholic prince-bishoprics, Seckau and Lavant. From the time of their foundation both were suffragans of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. The Prince-Bishopric of Seckau was established in 1218; since 1786 the see of the prince-bishop has been Graz. The Prince-Bishopric of Lavant with its bishop's seat at Sankt Andrä in the Carinthian Lavant valley was founded as a bishopric in 1228 and raised to a prince-bishopric in 1446. In 1847 the bishop's seat was transferred from St. Andrä to "Marburg an der Drau" (Maribor), and after World War I the see's boundaries were adapted to the new political frontiers. A short-lived third Salzburg suffragan diocese of Leoben comprising 157 parishes in the districts of Leoben and Bruck an der Mur existed on Styrian soil from 1786 but was incorporated into the diocese of Graz-Seckau in 1856 Today the see of the bishop of Graz-Seckau is identical in territory with the Austrian State of Styria.


North Longford Flying Column

The North Longford Flying Column was a unit of the Old IRA in the Irish War of Independence, drawing its membership from 3 North Longford Battalions of the Irish Volunteers and was led by Sean Mac Eoin.
Membership.
Membership was local to the Parishes of Clonbroney, Drumlish, Killoe, Colmcille, Granard, Mullinaghta and Abbeylara. Later some men from the South Cavan area joined its ranks.
Members of the North Longford Flying Column were: Tom Brady, James Joseph Brady, Patrick Callaghan, Séamus Conway, Patrick Cooke, Frank Davis, Séan Duffy, Thomas Earley, Séamus Farrelly, Patrick Finnegan, Larry Geraghty, Michael Gormley, Hugh Hourican, Jack Hughes, Michael Kenny, Patrick Lynch, John McDowell, Sean Mac Eoin (O/C), James MacEoin, Frank Martin, John Moore, Michael Mulligan, Michael F. Reynolds, Séan Sexton, Jim Sheeran, Michael Treacy, Joseph Kelly and Ned Tynan.
Engagements.
Its most famous engagement was the Clonfin ambush. Also further engagements at Ballinalee, Terlicken, Ballybrein and Fyhora. Ballinalee was mentioned by Santa Clara City Councilwoman Kathy Watanabe during her second inaugural address during a special city council on December 8, 2020 where the winners of the 2020 city council elections were sworn in. There she revealed that she is the granddaughter of Michael Francis Reynolds who was a commander at one of the outposts during the November 3rd 1920 engagement at Ballinalee. The battle took place at 4 outposts that were guarding the town from the British Black and Tan forces resulting in victory for the Flying Column with no casualties with the town being successfully guarded from British forces.


First Punic War

The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years, in the longest continuous conflict and greatest naval war of antiquity, the two powers struggled for supremacy. The war was fought primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa. After immense material and human losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were defeated.
The war began in 264 BC with the Romans gaining a foothold on Sicily at Messana (modern Messina). The Romans then pressed Syracuse, the only significant independent power on the island, into allying with them and laid siege to Carthage's main base at Akragas. A large Carthaginian army attempted to lift the siege in 262 BC, but was heavily defeated at the Battle of Akragas. The Romans then built a navy to challenge the Carthaginians', and using novel tactics inflicted several defeats. A Carthaginian base on Corsica was seized, but an attack on Sardinia was repulsed; the base on Corsica was then lost. Taking advantage of their naval victories the Romans launched an invasion of North Africa, which the Carthaginians intercepted. At the Battle of Cape Ecnomus the Carthaginians were again beaten; this was possibly the largest naval battle in history by the number of combatants involved. The invasion initially went well and in 255 BC the Carthaginians sued for peace; the proposed terms were so harsh they fought on, defeating the invaders. The Romans sent a fleet to evacuate their survivors and the Carthaginians opposed it at the Battle of Cape Hermaeum off Africa; the Carthaginians were heavily defeated. The Roman fleet, in turn, was devastated by a storm while returning to Italy, losing most of its ships and over 100,000 men.
The war continued, with neither side able to gain a decisive advantage. The Carthaginians attacked and recaptured Akragas in 255 BC, but not believing they could hold the city, they razed and abandoned it. The Romans rapidly rebuilt their fleet, adding 220 new ships, and captured Panormus (modern Palermo) in 254 BC. The next year they lost 150 ships to a storm. In 251 BC the Carthaginians attempted to recapture Panormus, but were defeated in a battle outside the walls. Slowly the Romans had occupied most of Sicily; in 249 BC they besieged the last two Carthaginian strongholdsin the extreme west. They also launched a surprise attack on the Carthaginian fleet, but were defeated at the Battle of Drepana. The Carthaginians followed up their victory and most of the remaining Roman warships were lost at the Battle of Phintias. After several years of stalemate, the Romans rebuilt their fleet again in 243 BC and effectively blockaded the Carthaginian garrisons. Carthage assembled a fleet which attempted to relieve them, but it was destroyed at the Battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC, forcing the cut-off Carthaginian troops on Sicily to negotiate for peace.
A treaty was agreed. By its terms Carthage paid large reparations and Sicily was annexed as a Roman province. Henceforth Rome was the leading military power in the western Mediterranean, and increasingly the Mediterranean region as a whole. The immense effort of building 1,000 galleys during the war laid the foundation for Rome's maritime dominance for 600 years. The end of the war sparked a major but unsuccessful revolt within the Carthaginian Empire. The unresolved strategic competition between Rome and Carthage led to the eruption of the Second Punic War in 218 BC.
Primary sources.
The term "Punic" comes from the Latin word (or ), meaning "Carthaginian", and is a reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry. The main source for almost every aspect of the First Punic War is the historian Polybius (– BC), a Greek sent to Rome in 167 BC as a hostage. His works include a now-lost manual on military tactics, but he is known today for "The Histories", written sometime after 146 BC, or about a century after the end of the war. Polybius's work is considered broadly objective and largely neutral as between Carthaginian and Roman points of view.
Carthaginian written records were destroyed along with their capital, Carthage, in 146 BC and so Polybius's account of the First Punic War is based on several, now-lost, Greek and Latin sources. Polybius was an analytical historian and wherever possible personally interviewed participants in the events he wrote about. Only the first book of the 40 comprising "The Histories" deals with the First Punic War. The accuracy of Polybius's account has been much debated over the past 150 years, but the modern consensus is to accept it largely at face value, and the details of the war in modern sources are almost entirely based on interpretations of Polybius's account. The modern historian Andrew Curry considers that "Polybius turns out to [be] fairly reliable"; while Dexter Hoyos describes him as "a remarkably well-informed, industrious, and insightful historian". Other, later, histories of the war exist, but in fragmentary or summary form. Modern historians usually take into account the fragmentary writings of various Roman annalists, especially Livy (who relied on Polybius); the Sicilian Greek Diodorus Siculus; and the later Greek writers Appian and Dio Cassius. The classicist Adrian Goldsworthy states that "Polybius' account is usually to be preferred when it differs with any of our other accounts". Other sources include inscriptions, terrestrial archaeological evidence, and empirical evidence from reconstructions such as the trireme "Olympias".
Since 2010, 19 bronze warship rams have been found by archaeologists in the sea off the west coast of Sicily, a mix of Roman and Carthaginian. Ten bronze helmets and hundreds of amphorae have also been found. The rams, seven of the helmets, and six intact amphorae, along with a large number of fragments, have since been recovered. It is believed the rams were each attached to a sunken warship when they were deposited on the seabed. The archaeologists involved stated that the location of artefacts so far discovered supports Polybius's account of where the Battle of the Aegates took place. Based on the dimensions of the recovered rams, the archaeologists who have studied them believe they all came from triremes, contrary to Polybius's account of all of the warships involved being quinqueremes. However, they believe that the many amphorae identified confirm the accuracy of other aspects of Polybius's account of this battle: "It is the sought-after convergence of the archaeological and historical records."
Background.
The Roman Republic had been aggressively expanding in the southern Italian mainland for a century before the First Punic War. It had conquered peninsular Italy south of the River Arno by 272 BC, when the Greek cities of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) submitted at the conclusion of the Pyrrhic War. During this period Carthage, with its capital in what is now Tunisia, had come to dominate southern Spain, much of the coastal regions of North Africa, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, and the western half of Sicily, in a military and commercial empire. Beginning in 480 BC, Carthage had fought a series of inconclusive wars against the Greek city states of Sicily, led by Syracuse. By 264 BC Carthage and Rome were the preeminent powers in the western Mediterranean. The two states had several times asserted their mutual friendship via formal alliances: in 509 BC, 348 BC and around 279 BC. Relationships were good, with strong commercial links. During the Pyrrhic War of 280–275 BC, against a king of Epirus who alternately fought Rome in Italy and Carthage on Sicily, Carthage provided materiel to the Romans and on at least one occasion used its navy to ferry a Roman force.
In 289 BC a group of Italian mercenaries known as Mamertines, previously hired by Syracuse, occupied the city of Messana (modern Messina) on the north-eastern tip of Sicily. Hard-pressed by Syracuse, the Mamertines appealed to both Rome and Carthage for assistance in 265 BC. The Carthaginians acted first, pressing Hiero II, king of Syracuse, into taking no further action and convincing the Mamertines to accept a Carthaginian garrison. According to Polybius, a considerable debate then took place in Rome as to whether to accept the Mamertines' appeal for assistance. As the Carthaginians had already garrisoned Messana acceptance could easily lead to war with Carthage. The Romans had not previously displayed any interest in Sicily and did not wish to come to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen a city from its rightful possessors. However, many of them saw strategic and monetary advantages in gaining a foothold in Sicily. The deadlocked Roman Senate, possibly at the instigation of Appius Claudius Caudex, put the matter before the popular assembly in 264 BC. Caudex encouraged a vote for action and held out the prospect of plentiful booty; the popular assembly decided to accept the Mamertines' request. Caudex was appointed commander of a military expedition with orders to cross to Sicily and place a Roman garrison in Messana.
The war began with the Romans landing on Sicily in 264 BC. Despite the Carthaginian naval advantage, the Roman crossing of the Strait of Messina was ineffectively opposed. Two legions commanded by Caudex marched to Messana, where the Mamertines had expelled the Carthaginian garrison commanded by Hanno (no relation to Hanno the Great) and were besieged by both the Carthaginians and the Syracusans. The sources are unclear as to why, but first the Syracusans, and then the Carthaginians withdrew from the siege. The Romans marched south and in turn besieged Syracuse, but they had neither a strong enough force nor the secure supply lines to prosecute a successful siege, and soon withdrew. The Carthaginians' experience over the previous two centuries of warfare on Sicily was that decisive action was impossible; military efforts petered out after heavy losses and huge expense. The Carthaginian leaders expected that this war would run a similar course. Meanwhile, their overwhelming maritime superiority would allow the war to be kept at a distance, and even for them to continue to prosper. This would allow them to recruit and pay an army that would operate in the open against the Romans, while their strongly fortified cities could be supplied by sea and provide a defensive base from which to operate.
Armies.
Adult male Roman citizens were eligible for military service; most would serve as infantry with the wealthier minority providing a cavalry component. Traditionally the Romans would raise two legions, each of 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. A small number of the infantry served as javelin-armed skirmishers. The balance were equipped as heavy infantry, with body armour, a large shield, and short thrusting swords. They were divided into three ranks, of which the front rank also carried two javelins, while the second and third ranks had a thrusting spear instead. Both legionary sub-units and individual legionaries fought in relatively open order. An army was usually formed by combining a Roman legion with a similarly sized and equipped legion provided by their Latin allies.
Carthaginian citizens only served in their army if there was a direct threat to the city. In most circumstances Carthage recruited foreigners to make up its army. Many would be from North Africa which provided several types of fighters including: close-order infantry equipped with large shields, helmets, short swords and long thrusting spears; javelin-armed light infantry skirmishers; close-order shock cavalry (also known as "heavy cavalry") carrying spears; and light cavalry skirmishers who threw javelins from a distance and avoided close combat. Both Spain and Gaul provided experienced infantry; unarmoured troops who would charge ferociously, but had a reputation for breaking off if a combat was protracted. Most of the Carthaginian infantry would fight in a tightly packed formation known as a phalanx, usually forming two or three lines. Specialist slingers were recruited from the Balearic Islands. The Carthaginians also employed war elephants; North Africa had indigenous African forest elephants at the time. The sources are not clear as to whether they carried towers containing fighting men.
Navies.
Quinqueremes, meaning "five-oared", provided the workhorse of the Roman and Carthaginian fleets throughout the Punic Wars. So ubiquitous was the type that Polybius uses it as a shorthand for "warship" in general. A quinquereme carried a crew of 300: 280 oarsmen and 20 deck crew and officers. It would also normally carry a complement of 40 marinesusually soldiers assigned to the shipif battle was thought to be imminent this would be increased to as many as 120.
Getting the oarsmen to row as a unit, let alone to execute more complex battle manoeuvres, required long and arduous training. At least half of the oarsmen would need to have had some experience if the ship was to be handled effectively. As a result, the Romans were initially at a disadvantage against the more experienced Carthaginians. To counter this, the Romans introduced the "corvus", a bridge wide and long, with a heavy spike on the underside, which was designed to pierce and anchor into an enemy ship's deck. This allowed Roman legionaries acting as marines to board enemy ships and capture them, rather than employing the previously traditional tactic of ramming.
All warships were equipped with rams, a triple set of bronze blades weighing up to positioned at the waterline. In the century prior to the Punic Wars, boarding had become increasingly common and ramming had declined, as the larger and heavier vessels adopted in this period lacked the speed and manoeuvrability necessary to ram, while their sturdier construction reduced the ram's effect even in case of a successful attack. The Roman adaptation of the was a continuation of this trend and compensated for their initial disadvantage in ship-manoeuvring skills. The added weight in the prow compromised both the ship's manoeuvrability and its seaworthiness, and in rough sea conditions the became useless.
Sicily 264–256 BC.
Much of the war was to be fought on, or in the waters near, Sicily. Away from the coasts, its hilly and rugged terrain made manoeuvring large forces difficult and favoured defence over offence. Land operations were largely confined to raids, sieges, and interdiction; in 23 years of war on Sicily there were only two full-scale pitched battlesAkragas in 262 BC and Panormus in 250 BC. Garrison duty and land blockades were the most common operations for both armies.
It was the long-standing Roman procedure to appoint two men each year, known as consuls, to each lead an army. In 263 BC both were sent to Sicily with a force of 40,000. Syracuse was again besieged, and with no Carthaginian assistance anticipated, Syracuse rapidly made peace with the Romans: it became a Roman ally, paid an indemnity of 100 talents of silver and, perhaps most importantly, agreed to help supply the Roman army in Sicily. Following the defection of Syracuse, several small Carthaginian dependencies switched to the Romans. Akragas (Latin: Agrigentum; modern Agrigento), a port city halfway along the south coast of Sicily, was chosen by the Carthaginians as their strategic centre. The Romans marched on it in 262 BC and besieged it. The Romans had an inadequate supply system, partly because the Carthaginian naval supremacy prevented them from shipping supplies by sea, and they were not in any case accustomed to feeding an army as large as 40,000 men. At harvest time most of the army was dispersed over a wide area to harvest the crops and to forage. The Carthaginians, commanded by Hannibal Gisco, sortied in force, taking the Romans by surprise and penetrating their camp; the Romans rallied and routed the Carthaginians; after this experience both sides were more guarded.
Meanwhile, Carthage had recruited an army, which assembled in Africa and was shipped to Sicily. It was composed of 50,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and 60 elephants, and was commanded by Hanno, son of Hannibal; it was partly made up of Ligurians, Celts and Iberians. Five months after the siege began, Hanno marched to Akragas's relief. When he arrived, he merely camped on high ground, engaged in desultory skirmishing and trained his army. Two months later, in spring 261 BC, he attacked. The Carthaginians were defeated with heavy losses at the Battle of Akragas. The Romans, under both consulsLucius Postumius Megellus and Quintus Mamilius Vitulus pursued, capturing the Carthaginians' elephants and baggage train. That night the Carthaginian garrison escaped while the Romans were distracted. The next day the Romans seized the city and its inhabitants, selling 25,000 of them into slavery.
After this success for the Romans, the war became fragmented for several years, with minor successes for each side, but no clear focus. In part this was because the Romans diverted many of their resources to an ultimately fruitless campaign against Corsica and Sardinia, and then into the equally fruitless expedition to Africa. After taking Akragas the Romans advanced westward to besiege Mytistraton for seven months, without success. In 259 BC they advanced toward Thermae on the north coast. After a quarrel, the Roman troops and their allies set up separate camps. Hamilcar took advantage of this to launch a counter-attack, taking one of the contingents by surprise as it was breaking camp and killing 4,000–6,000. Hamilcar went on to seize Enna, in central Sicily, and Camarina, in the south east, dangerously close to Syracuse. Hamilcar seemed close to overrunning the whole of Sicily. The following year the Romans retook Enna and finally captured Mytistraton. They then moved on Panormus (modern Palermo), but had to withdraw, although they did capture Hippana. In 258 BC they recaptured Camarina after a lengthy siege. For the next few years petty raiding, skirmishing and the occasional defection of a smaller town from one side to the other continued on Sicily.
Rome builds a fleet.
The war in Sicily reached a stalemate, as the Carthaginians focused on defending their well-fortified towns and cities; these were mostly on the coast and so could be supplied and reinforced without the Romans being able to use their superior army to interdict. The focus of the war shifted to the sea, where the Romans had little experience; on the few occasions they had previously felt the need for a naval presence they had usually relied on small squadrons provided by their Latin or Greek allies. In 260 BC Romans set out to construct a fleet and used a shipwrecked Carthaginian quinquereme as a blueprint for their own. As novice shipwrights, the Romans built copies that were heavier than the Carthaginian vessels, and so slower and less manoeuvrable.
The Romans built 120 warships and despatched them to Sicily in 260 BC for their crews to carry out basic training. One of the consuls for the year, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, sailed with the first 17 ships to arrive to the Lipari Islands, a little way off the north-east coast of Sicily, in an attempt to seize the islands' main port, Lipara. The Carthaginian fleet was commanded by Hannibal Gisco, the general who had commanded the garrison of Akragas, and was based at Panormus, some from Lipara. When Hannibal heard of the Romans' move he despatched 20 ships under Boodes to the town. The Carthaginians arrived at night and trapped the Romans in the harbour. Boodes' ships attacked and Scipio's inexperienced men offered little resistance. Some Romans panicked and fled inland and the consul himself was taken prisoner. All of the Roman ships were captured, most with little damage. A little later, Hannibal was scouting with 50 Carthaginian ships when he encountered the full Roman fleet. He escaped, but lost most of his ships. It was after this skirmish that the Romans installed the on their ships.
Scipio's fellow consul, Gaius Duilius, placed the Roman army units under subordinates and took command of the fleet. He promptly sailed, seeking battle. The two fleets met off the coast of Mylae in the Battle of Mylae. Hannibal had 130 ships, and the historian John Lazenby calculates that Duilius had approximately the same number. The Carthaginians anticipated victory, due to the superior experience of their crews, and their faster and more manoeuvrable galleys, and broke formation to close rapidly with the Romans. The first 30 Carthaginian ships were grappled by the and successfully boarded by the Romans, including Hannibal's ship – he escaped in a skiff. Seeing this, the remaining Carthaginians swung wide, attempting to take the Romans in the sides or rear. The Romans successfully countered and captured a further 20 Carthaginian vessels. The surviving Carthaginians broke off the action, and being faster than the Romans were able to escape. Duilius sailed to relieve the Roman-held city of Segesta, which had been under siege.
From early 262 BC Carthaginian ships had been raiding the Italian coast from bases on Sardinia and Corsica. The year after Mylae, 259 BC, the consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio led part of the fleet against Aléria in Corsica and captured it. He then attacked Ulbia on Sardinia, but was repulsed, and also lost Aléria. In 258 BC a stronger Roman fleet engaged a smaller Carthaginian fleet at the Battle of Sulci off the city of Sulci, in western Sardinia, and inflicted a heavy defeat. The Carthaginian commander Hannibal Gisco, who abandoned his men and fled to Sulci, was later captured by his soldiers and crucified. Despite this victory, the Romanswho were attempting to support simultaneous offensives against both Sardinia and Sicilywere unable to exploit it, and the attack on Carthaginian-held Sardinia petered out.
In 257 BC the Roman fleet happened to be anchored off Tyndaris in north-east Sicily when the Carthaginian fleet, unaware of its presence, sailed past in loose formation. The Roman commander, Gaius Atilius Regulus, ordered an immediate attack, initiating the Battle of Tyndaris. This led to the Roman fleet in turn putting to sea in a disordered manner. The Carthaginians responded rapidly; ramming and sinking nine of the leading ten Roman ships. As the main Roman force came into action they sank eight Carthaginian ships and captured ten. The Carthaginians withdrew, again being faster than the Romans and so able to make off without further loss. The Romans then raided both the Liparis and Malta.
Invasion of Africa.
Their naval victories at Mylae and Sulci, and their frustration at the stalemate in Sicily, led the Romans to adopt a sea-based strategy and to develop a plan to invade the Carthaginian heartland in North Africa and threaten Carthage (close to Tunis). Both sides were determined to establish naval supremacy and invested large amounts of money and manpower in maintaining and increasing the size of their navies. The Roman fleet of 330 warships and an unknown number of transports sailed from Ostia, the port of Rome, in early 256 BC, commanded by the consuls for the year, Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus. The Romans embarked approximately 26,000 legionaries from the Roman forces on Sicily shortly before the battle. They planned to cross to Africa and invade what is now Tunisia.
The Carthaginians knew of the Romans' intentions and mustered all their 350 warships under Hanno the Great and Hamilcar, off the south coast of Sicily to intercept them. With a combined total of about 680 warships carrying up to 290,000 crew and marines, the ensuing Battle of Cape Ecnomus was possibly the largest naval battle in history by the number of combatants involved. At the start of the battle the Carthaginians took the initiative, hoping their superior ship handling skills would tell. After a day of prolonged and confused fighting the Carthaginians were defeated, losing 30 ships sunk and 64 captured to Roman losses of 24 ships sunk.
After the victory the Roman army, commanded by Regulus, landed in Africa near Aspis (modern Kelibia) on the Cape Bon Peninsula and began ravaging the Carthaginian countryside. After a brief siege, Aspis was captured. Most of the Roman ships returned to Sicily, leaving Regulus with 15,000 infantry and 500 cavalry to continue the war in Africa; Regulus laid siege to the city of Adys. The Carthaginians had recalled Hamilcar from Sicily with 5,000 infantry and 500 cavalry. Hamilcar, Hasdrubal and a third general called Bostar were placed in joint command of an army which was strong in cavalry and elephants and was approximately the same size as the Roman force. The Carthaginians established a camp on a hill near Adys. The Romans carried out a night march and launched a surprise dawn attack on the camp from two directions. After confused fighting the Carthaginians broke and fled. Their losses are unknown, although their elephants and cavalry escaped with few casualties.
The Romans followed up and captured Tunis, only from Carthage. From Tunis the Romans raided and devastated the immediate area around Carthage. In despair, the Carthaginians sued for peace but Regulus offered such harsh terms that the Carthaginians decided to fight on. Charge of the training of their army was given to the Spartan mercenary commander Xanthippus. In 255 BC Xanthippus led an army of 12,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 100 elephants against the Romans and defeated them at the Battle of Tunis. Approximately 2,000 Romans retreated to Aspis; 500, including Regulus, were captured; the rest were killed. Xanthippus, fearful of the envy of the Carthaginian generals he had outdone, took his pay and returned to Greece. The Romans sent a fleet to evacuate their survivors. It was intercepted by a Carthaginian fleet off Cape Bon (in the north east of modern Tunisia) and in the Battle of Cape Hermaeum the Carthaginians were heavily defeated, losing 114 ships captured. The Roman fleet was devastated by a storm while returning to Italy, with 384 ships sunk from their total of 464 and 100,000 men lost, the majority non-Roman Latin allies. It is possible that the presence of the made the Roman ships unusually unseaworthy; there is no record of them being used after this disaster.
Sicily 255–248 BC.
Having lost most of their fleet in the storm of 255 BC, the Romans rapidly rebuilt it, adding 220 new ships. In 254 BC the Carthaginians attacked and captured Akragas, but not believing they could hold the city, they burned it, razed its walls and left. Meanwhile, the Romans launched a determined offensive in Sicily. Their entire fleet, under both consuls, attacked Panormus early in the year. The city was surrounded and blockaded, and siege engines set up. These made a breach in the walls which the Romans stormed, capturing the outer town and giving no quarter. The inner town promptly surrendered. The 14,000 inhabitants who could afford it ransomed themselves and the remaining 13,000 were sold into slavery. Much of western inland Sicily now went over to the Romans: Ietas, Solous, Petra, and Tyndaris all came to terms.
In 253 BC the Romans changed their focus to Africa again and carried out several raids. They lost another 150 ships, from a fleet of 220, to a storm while returning from raiding the North African coast east of Carthage. They rebuilt again. The next year the Romans shifted their attention to north-west Sicily. They sent a naval expedition toward Lilybaeum. En route, the Romans seized and burned the Carthaginian hold-out cities of Selinous and Heraclea Minoa, but they failed to take Lilybaeum. In 252 BC they captured Thermae and Lipara, which had been isolated by the fall of Panormus. Otherwise they avoided battle in 252 and 251 BC, according to Polybius because they feared the war elephants which the Carthaginians had shipped to Sicily.
In late summer 251 BC the Carthaginian commander, Hasdrubalwho had faced Regulus in Africahearing that one consul had left Sicily for the winter with half of the Roman army, advanced on Panormus and devastated the countryside. The Roman army, which had been dispersed to gather the harvest, withdrew into Panormus. Hasdrubal boldly advanced most of his army, including the elephants, towards the city walls. The Roman commander, Lucius Caecilius Metellus sent out skirmishers to harass the Carthaginians, keeping them constantly supplied with javelins from the stocks within the city. The ground was covered with earthworks constructed during the Roman siege, making it difficult for the elephants to advance. Peppered with missiles and unable to retaliate, the elephants fled through the Carthaginian infantry behind them. Metallus had opportunistically moved a large force to the Carthaginian's left flank, and they charged into their disordered opponents. The Carthaginians fled; Metellus captured ten elephants but did not permit a pursuit. Contemporary accounts do not report either side's losses, and modern historians consider later claims of 20,000–30,000 Carthaginian casualties improbable.
Encouraged by their victory at Panormus, the Romans moved against the main Carthaginian base on Sicily, Lilybaeum, in 249 BC. A large army commanded by the year's consuls Publius Claudius Pulcher and Lucius Junius Pullus besieged the city. They had rebuilt their fleet, and 200 ships blockaded the harbour. Early in the blockade, 50 Carthaginian quinqueremes gathered off the Aegates Islands, which lie to the west of Sicily. Once there was a strong west wind, they sailed into Lilybaeum before the Romans could react and unloaded reinforcements and a large quantity of supplies. They evaded the Romans by leaving at night, evacuating the Carthaginian cavalry. The Romans sealed off the landward approach to Lilybaeum with earth and timber camps and walls. They made repeated attempts to block the harbour entrance with a heavy timber boom, but due to the prevailing sea conditions they were unsuccessful. The Carthaginian garrison was kept supplied by blockade runners, light and manoeuvrable quinqueremes with highly trained crews and experienced pilots.
Pulcher decided to attack the Carthaginian fleet, which was in the harbour of the nearby city of Drepana (modern Trapani). The Roman fleet sailed by night to carry out a surprise attack, but became scattered in the dark. The Carthaginian commander Adherbal was able to lead his fleet out to sea before they were trapped and counter-attacked in the Battle of Drepana. The Romans were pinned against the shore and after a hard day's fighting were heavily defeated by the more manoeuvrable Carthaginian ships with their better-trained crews. It was Carthage's greatest naval victory of the war. Carthage turned to the maritime offensive, inflicting another heavy naval defeat at the Battle of Phintias and all but swept the Romans from the sea. It was to be seven years before Rome again attempted to field a substantial fleet, while Carthage put most of its ships into reserve to save money and free up manpower.
Conclusion.
By 248 BC the Carthaginians held only two cities on Sicily: Lilybaeum and Drepana; these were well-fortified and situated on the west coast, where they could be supplied and reinforced without the Romans being able to use their superior army to interfere. When Hamilcar Barca took command of the Carthaginians on Sicily in 247 BC he was only given a small army and the Carthaginian fleet was gradually withdrawn. Hostilities between Roman and Carthaginian forces declined to small-scale land operations, which suited the Carthaginian strategy. Hamilcar employed combined arms tactics in a Fabian strategy from his base at Eryx, north of Drepana. This guerrilla warfare kept the Roman legions pinned down and preserved Carthage's foothold in Sicily.
After more than 20 years of war, both states were financially and demographically exhausted. Evidence of Carthage's financial situation includes their request for a 2,000 talent loan from Ptolemaic Egypt, which was refused. Rome was also close to bankruptcy and the number of adult male citizens, who provided the manpower for the navy and the legions, had declined by 17 percent since the start of the war. Goldsworthy describes Roman manpower losses as "appalling".
In late 243 BC, realizing they would not capture Drepana and Lilybaeum unless they could extend their blockade to the sea, the Senate decided to build a new fleet. With the state's coffers exhausted, the Senate approached Rome's wealthiest citizens for loans to finance the construction of one ship each, repayable from the reparations to be imposed on Carthage once the war was won. The result was a fleet of approximately 200 quinqueremes, built, equipped, and crewed without government expense. The Romans modelled the ships of their new fleet on a captured blockade runner with especially good qualities. By now, the Romans were experienced at shipbuilding, and with a proven vessel as a model produced high-quality quinqueremes. Importantly, the was abandoned, which improved the ships' speed and handling but forced a change in tactics on the Romans; they would need to be superior sailors, rather than superior soldiers, to beat the Carthaginians.
The Carthaginians raised a larger fleet which they intended to use to run supplies into Sicily. It would then embark much of the Carthaginian army stationed there to use as marines. It was intercepted by the Roman fleet under Gaius Lutatius Catulus and Quintus Valerius Falto, and in the hard-fought Battle of the Aegates Islands the better-trained Romans defeated the undermanned and ill-trained Carthaginian fleet. After achieving this decisive victory, the Romans continued their land operations in Sicily against Lilybaeum and Drepana. The Carthaginian Senate was reluctant to allocate the resources necessary to have another fleet built and manned. Instead, it ordered Hamilcar to negotiate a peace treaty with the Romans, which he left up to his subordinate Gisco. The Treaty of Lutatius was signed and brought the First Punic War to its end: Carthage evacuated Sicily, handed over all prisoners taken during the war, and paid an indemnity of 3,200 talents over ten years.
Aftermath.
The war lasted 23 years, the longest war in Romano-Greek history and the greatest naval war of the ancient world. In its aftermath Carthage attempted to avoid paying in full the foreign troops who had fought its war. Eventually they rebelled and were joined by many disgruntled local groups. They were put down with great difficulty and considerable savagery. In 237 BC Carthage prepared an expedition to recover the island of Sardinia, which had been lost to the rebels. Cynically, the Romans stated they considered this an act of war. Their peace terms were the ceding of Sardinia and Corsica and the payment of an additional 1,200-talent indemnity. Weakened by 30 years of war, Carthage agreed rather than enter into a conflict with Rome again; the additional payment and the renunciation of Sardinia and Corsica were added to the treaty as a codicil. These actions by Rome fuelled resentment in Carthage, which was not reconciled to Rome's perception of its situation, and are considered contributory factors in the outbreak of the Second Punic War.
The leading role of Hamilcar Barca in the defeat of the mutinous foreign troops and African rebels greatly enhanced the prestige and power of the Barcid family. In 237 BC Hamilcar led many of his veterans on an expedition to expand Carthaginian holdings in southern Iberia (modern Spain). Over the following 20 years this was to become a semi-autonomous Barcid fiefdom and the source of much of the silver used to pay the large indemnity owed to Rome.
For Rome, the end of the First Punic War marked the start of its expansion beyond the Italian Peninsula. Sicily became the first Roman province as Sicilia, governed by a former praetor. Sicily would become important to Rome as a source of grain. Sardinia and Corsica, combined, also became a Roman province and a source of grain, under a praetor, although a strong military presence was required for at least the next seven years, as the Romans struggled to suppress the local inhabitants. Syracuse was granted nominal independence and ally status for the lifetime of Hiero II. Henceforth Rome was the leading military power in the western Mediterranean, and increasingly the Mediterranean region as a whole. The Romans had built more than 1,000 galleys during the war, and this experience of building, manning, training, supplying and maintaining such numbers of ships laid the foundation for Rome's maritime dominance for 600 years. The question of which state was to control the western Mediterranean remained open, and when Carthage besieged the Roman-protected town of Saguntum in eastern Iberia in 218 BC, it ignited the Second Punic War with Rome.


Yarmouth railway station (Isle of Wight)

Yarmouth railway station, was an intermediate station of the Freshwater, Yarmouth and Newport Railway, incorporated in 1860, opened over a ten-month period between 1889 and 1889 and closed 65 years later. Situated on the outskirts of the town ) it was one of the more economically viable stations on a generally unprofitable line. Until the 1920s there was a lengthy passing loop and second (staggered) platform. The former station building was for a period used as a Youth Club, and is now (as of 2014) a restaurant. It is still very recognisable as a FYNR station.


The Cologne Post

The Cologne Post was a daily paper published for the British Armed Forces from 31 March 1919 to 17 January 1926. It then continued as "The Cologne Post and Wiesbaden Times" from 28 January 1926 - 3 November 1929. There was also an Upper Silesian edition published from 17 June to 6 August 1921 in Oppeln for the British Forces in Upper Silesia. William Edward Rolston was the founder and managing editor of "The Cologne Post". Rolston was a Captain serving in the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) The newspaper was printed in Cologne by Kölnische Volkszeitung.
On 1 August 1923 in a written reply to a question to the Under-Secretary of State for War, Lieut.-Colonel Guinness stated that "... "The Cologne Post" ... is an independent organisation not financed from Army funds"
Army Post Office S40 was established in Cologne, Germany in 1919 to provide postal support of the first British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) and was closed in 1929 when the force was finally withdrawn from Germany.


Fondaco dei Turchi

The Fondaco dei Turchi (Venetian: "Fontego dei Turchi", ) is a Veneto-Gothic style palazzo, later on named as the Turks' Inn, on the Grand Canal of Venice, northeast Italy.
It was described by Augustus Hare in the 19th century as "a Byzantine palace of the 9th century, and one of the earliest buildings, not ecclesiastical, in Venice. ... A few years ago it was one of the most unique and curious buildings in Europe, and the most important specimen of Italo-Byzantine architecture, but it was modernised and almost rebuilt by the ... government in 1869".
Early history.
The palace was constructed in the first half of the 13th century by Giacomo Palmier, an exile from Pesaro. The Venetian Republic purchased it in 1381 for Niccolò II d'Este, the Marquess of Ferrara. During its early history, the palazzo also served as a residence to many visiting dignitaries.
Turkish ghetto.
From the early 17th century through to 1838, the fondaco served as a one-building-ghetto for Venice's Ottoman Turkish population (thus "dei Turchi"). The "fondaco" (from Arab: "fonduk") then served as a combination home, warehouse, and market for the Turkish traders, as the "Fondaco dei Tedeschi" served as headquarters and restricted living quarters for German foreigners.
A number of restrictions were placed on the fondaco and its residents, including certain times one was able to enter and leave the ghetto, as well as on trading. Among other things, Venetian Turks imported wax, crude oil, and wool to the city. After the Venetian Republic was conquered and abolished by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797, the Turkish traders continued to live in the palazzo until 1838. The building was in a very bad state by the mid-19th century, and was completely restored between 1860 and 1880. Some innovations have been added to the original Veneto-Byzantine design: for example, there were originally no towers on either side.
Today.
From 1890 to 1923, the area was home to the Museo Correr collection, which was moved to the Procuratie Nuove and Ala Napoleonica museums, at the Piazza San Marco, after 1923. Today, the area houses the Natural History Museum of Venice, with historical collections of flora and fauna, fossils, and an aquarium.


Duchy of Troppau

The Principality of Opava () () or Duchy of Troppau () was a historic territory split off from the Margraviate of Moravia before 1269 by King Ottokar II of Bohemia to provide for his natural son, Nicholas I. The Opava territory thus had not been part of the original Polish Duchy of Silesia in 1138, and was first ruled by an illegitimate offshoot of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty, not by the Silesian Piasts like many of the neighbouring Silesian duchies. Its capital was Opava ("Troppau") in the modern day Czech Republic.
From 1337 onwards, the Přemyslid dukes also ruled the adjacent former Piast Duchy of Racibórz, whereupon Opava became united with the Upper Silesian lands. When the Opava branch became extinct in 1464, it fell back to the Bohemian Crown, from 1526 part of the Habsburg Monarchy. In the final three centuries of its existence, the duchy was ruled by the House of Liechtenstein. It was dissolved with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, but the title of "Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf" still exists, belonging to a present-day monarch, Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein.
History.
Opava was initially established as a Moravian province under the rule of King Ottokar's son Nicholas I, who first appeared as a "Lord of Opava" in 1269 and became the progenitor of the Opava branch of the Přemyslid dynasty. After Ottokar was killed in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld, Nicholas had to ward off against claims raised by his stepmother Kunigunda of Halych and her lover Zavis of Falkenstein residing at Hradec Castle near Opava. Nevertheless, he reached his confirmation by both the Habsburg king Rudolf I of Germany and his stepbrother King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and retained his territory even after the murder of the last Přemyslid king Wenceslaus III of Bohemia in 1306.
Upon the extinction of the royal branch of the Přemyslid dynasty and the subsequent turmoil around the Bohemian throne, Henry of Carinthia gave Opava in pawn to the Silesian duke Bolesław III the Generous. When finally in 1310 the mighty House of Luxembourg ascended to the throne, it was redeemed by King John of Bohemia in 1311. Opava was officially raised to a duchy in 1318 and was confirmed as a fief for Nicholas' son Duke Nicholas II by King John, who soon had to fend off the Hungarian troops of King Casimir III of Poland. The conjunction with Silesia was accomplished when Duke Nicholas II married Anna of Racibórz, sister of the Piast Duke Leszek of Racibórz, also a Bohemian vassal since 1327. When Leszek died without heirs in 1336, King John vested his brother-in-law Nicholas II with the Silesian Duchy of Racibórz (Ratibor, Ratiboř), whereafter he ruled both duchies in personal union until his death in 1365, when his eldest son John I succeeded him.
In 1377, Duke John I again separated Opava from the duchies of Racibórz and Krnov (Jägerndorf, Krnów) and granted it to his younger brothers Nicholas III (†1394), Wenceslaus I (†1381) and Przemko (†1433). Afterward, Opava ownership changed several times, mainly due to purchase and partitions. Przemko's sons sold their shares to the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady by 1462; their Přemyslid cousins however retained Racibórz and Krnov. In 1465 King George gave Opava to his second son Victor, who also became Duke of Münsterberg in 1462. Victor in turn had to cede it to the Bohemian anti-king Matthias Corvinus in 1485, who installed his illegitimate son John as duke.
In 1506 King Vladislas II Jagiellon of Bohemia granted Opava to Duke Casimir II of Cieszyn (Teschen), who had married a daughter of Victor and held the duchy until his death in 1528, after which it was again seized by Bohemia. Meanwhile, in 1521, with the death of Duke Valentin of Racibórz, the Opava line of the Přemyslids had finally become extinct and all their possessions had fallen back to the Bohemian Crown, which in 1526 passed to the Habsburg Monarchy. Prince Karl I of Liechtenstein was invested with the Duchy of Troppau in 1614 by Emperor Matthias of Habsburg. After the 1620 Battle of White Mountain Prince Karl also acquired the Duchy of Krnov, and ever since the heads of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein bear the title "Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf".
In 1742, in the course of the First Silesian War and the Treaty of Breslau, the Duchy was divided once more, with the part north of the Opava River including Głubczyce (Leobschütz, Hlubčice) and Hlučín (Hultschin) becoming part of Prussia. The southern part with Krnov, Bruntál (Freudenthal), Fulnek and Opava itself remained part of Austrian Silesia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire from 1804.
The Austrian Duchy of Troppau ceased to exist when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved in 1918 and the area ("Troppauer Land") including the city became part of Czechoslovakia. The Prussian share remained a part of the Silesian province until 1945, when it fell to Poland in accord with the Potsdam Agreement.