Pietro II Orseolo

Pietro II Orseolo (961 − 1009) was the Doge of Venice from 991 to 1009.
He began the period of eastern expansion of Venice that lasted for the better part of 500 years. He secured his influence in the Dalmatian Romanized settlements from the Croats and Narentines, freed Venetia from a 50-year-old taxation to the latter, and started Venetia's expansions by conquering the islands of Lastovo ("Lagosta") and Korčula ("Curzola") and acquiring Dubrovnik ("Ragusa").
Reign.
Relations with Byzantium.
In 992 Pietro II Orseolo concluded a treaty with the Byzantine emperor Basil II to transport Byzantine troops in exchange for commercial privileges in Constantinople. His dogaressa was Maria Candiano.
Following repeated complaints by the Dalmatian city-states in 997, the Venetian fleet under Orseolo attacked the Neretvian pirates of Neretva on Ascension Day in 998. Pietro then took the title of "Dux Dalmatianorum" (Duke of the Dalmatians), associating it with his son Giovanni Orseolo.
Scorched earth policy.
On 9 May 1000 Doge Pietro II decided to finally pacify the Croatians and the Narentines during the last Croatian-Bulgarian wars, protecting Venetian trade colonies and the interests of Romanized Dalmatians. Without difficulties, his fleet of six ships scorched the entire eastern half of the Adriatic coast, with only the Neretvians offering resistance. After the Neretvians stole goods and captured forty traders from Zadar, the Doge dispatched ten ships that caught the Neretvians near the island of Kača. He captured them all and brought them triumphantly to Split. There, Neretvian emissaries requested the release of the prisoners. Pietro II agreed provided that the Neretvian Archont himself agreed to bow before him. Moreover, the Neretvians would also have to renounce the old tax that Venetia had to pay since 948, and guarantee safe passage to Venetian ships in the Adriatic.
Pietro II released all prisoners except for six Narentines, whom he kept as hostages. The mainland Narentines were thus pacified; the citizens of Korčula decided to wage war against Orseolo, but were eventually conquered. Lastovo however, continued to resist Venetian incursions. The island was infamous for being a pirate haven. In the effort to decisively quell further opposition, Pietro II ordered the evacuation of the island city. Despite continuing opposition, he eventually razed Lastovo to the ground.
At the same time that Pietro II subjugated Lastovo, the former Croatian king Svetoslav Suronja fled to Venice after being deposed by his two brothers. To bolster his weakened position, King Stephen I of Croatia married Pietro II Orseolo's daughter, Joscella (Hicela) Orseolo. Their son Peter Krešimir IV became king in Croatia in 1059.
Pietro II Orseolo was married to Maria Candiano, the daughter of Vitale Candiano and niece of Doge Pietro IV Candiano. Ottone Orseolo succeeded his father, Pietro II, as the doge of Venice until 1026, while his grandson Peter reigned as King of Hungary. His younger son Domenico Orseolo's children settled in Ravenna and became the stem of the Orsini family.
Legacy.
The date of his victory became that of the "Festa della Sensa", the Ascension Festival, the oldest festival in Venice. It was commemorated by the Doge and the bishop of Olivolo going past the Lido and blessing the waters, invoking good fortune for the Venetian navy.


2009 World Fencing Championships

2009 World Fencing Championships was held at the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya, Turkey. The event took place from September 30 to October 8, 2009.
Results overview.
Men.
Foil individual.
3 October - Final
Épée individual.
4 October - Final
Sabre individual.
5 October - Final
Foil team.
6 October - Final
Epée team.
7 October - Final
Sabre team.
8 October - Final
Women.
Sabre individual.
3 October - Final
Foil individual.
4 October - Final
Epée individual.
5 October - Final
Sabre team.
6 October - Final
Foil team.
7 October - Final
Épée team.
8 October - Final


Dubai Tour

The Dubai Tour is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Dubai, which began in 2014 as part of the UCI Asia Tour.
History.
The race was classified as a 2.1. in 2014. The race is organized by the Dubai Sports Council in partnership with RCS Sport, and was held for the first time between 5 and 8 February 2014. The race is a men's competition consisting of four stages. The race contains mainly flat stages, with some hillier parts. In 2015, the second edition of the race has been upgraded to 2.HC, meaning that more UCI World Tour teams can compete in the event.
During the race, the leader of the general classification wears a blue jersey, the leader of points classification is denoted by a red jersey and best young rider by white. The race does not award a mountains jersey.
In 2019, the Dubai Tour was merged with the nearby Abu Dhabi Tour to become the UAE Tour.


Ralph Simpson Kuykendall

Ralph Simpson Kuykendall (April 12, 1885 – May 9, 1963) was an American historian who served as the trustee and secretary of the Hawaiian Historical Society from 1922 to 1932. Kuykendall also served as professor of history at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is most noted as a historian of the Hawaiian Islands, South Pacific, and Pacific Northwest.
Early life.
Kuykendall was born in Linden, California. His parents Reverend John Wesley Kuykendall and Marilla Persis Pierce were both Methodist missionaries and descendants of Dutch settlers from New York. In 1919 Kuykendall married Edith Clare Kelly from Hollister, California. They had two sons, John Richard Kuykendall and Delman Leur Kuykendall.
Kuykendall attended California’s College of the Pacific where he was active in campus life as a debater, editor of the college newspaper, and student body president. He graduated in 1910 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Following his graduation from 1911 to 1912, Kuykendall taught at College Park Academy and started his graduate studies in history at Stanford University.
After a year of study, Kuykendall took a break and moved to Florida to work with his brother at a newspaper. In 1916 Kuykendall returned to California to work as a field research agent for the California Historical Survey Commission. He apparently succeeded at collecting and assessing the material he obtained in the field and compiling his results into cohesive works.
Kuykendall had resumed his post-graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1919 Kuykendall completed his M.A. thesis entitled "History of Early California Journalism." He had intended to complete his doctorate when he was again awarded the Native Sons of the Golden West fellowship to do research in the Archives of Seville, Spain. While in Spain, Kuykendall was tapped to be the executive secretary of the newly established Hawaiian Historical Commission. He left Spain in 1922.
Professional life.
Ralph Kuykendall arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 19, 1922. As executive secretary of the Hawaiian Historical Commission, Kuykendall was expected to research and complete three historical works. The first was a school textbook on Hawaiian history. The second was a history on Hawaii’s role in World War I. And the third was a comprehensive and authoritative history of the Hawaiian people. Kuykendall mostly relied upon the historical collections at the Territorial Archives, the Library of Hawaii and other museums. Earlier histories were written from the perspectives of the missionaries, or the missionaries, or traders and foreign governments. Kuykendall wanted to incorporate all of these perspectives
Kuykendall's first book, "A History of Hawaii", was approved by the Hawaii State Legislature in 1925. It co-authored with the help of Dr. Herbert E. Gregory who served as the Director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. A History of Hawaii documents the early beginnings of the Hawaiian kingdom to United States territory. The year 1926 marked its first use in Hawaii classrooms.
The second book, titled "Hawaii in the World War", was co-authored with Lorin Tarr Gill. Published in 1928, Hawaii in the World War details the territory's military and domestic involvement in the war.
The final, third book, an accurate history of the Hawaiian people, was by far the most difficult to complete. The work was to be a narrative history divided into three sections; 1) ancient history prior to 1778, 2) Hawaiian monarchy from 1778 through the overthrow of 1893, 3) the transition from provisional government to republic to territory. Kuykendall drew largely from the archives of Washington D.C., the Oregon Historical Society, British Columbia, Harvard College Library, Washington State archives, the Mormon archives in Salt Lake City, Bancroft Library, and the California State Library. He also acquired new collections of documents, newspapers, periodicals, books, and manuscripts.
In 1923 Kuykendall accepted a position as history professor at the University of Hawaii in Manoa. Kuykendall continued to serve as the executive secretary of the Hawaiian Historical Commission until its dissolution in 1932. He published a few more books, including the trilogy "The Hawaiian Kingdom". "Volume 1: Foundation and Transformation, 1778-1854", published 1938 is about the formation of the Hawaiian Islands under a single kingdom and the development of the Hawaiian nation. The book spans the first half of the Kamehameha Dynasty; Kamehameha I, Kamehameha II, Kamehameha III. "Volume 2: Twenty Critical Years, 1854-1874", published 1953, is about the “middle period” after the establishment of the Kingdom. It is about international relations, immigration, changing economics and society. Kuykendall described this period as “neglected” by academics. The book spans the last half of the Kamehameha Dynasty; Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, and Lunalilo and his brief dynasty. "Volume 3: The Kalakaua Dynastism, 1874-1893", published 1967, is about the decline of the Kingdom, Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, and eventual overthrow. The book spans the Kalākaua Dynasty; Kalākaua, Liliʻuokalani. Volume 3 was one of Kuykendall′s posthumous publications. Also, in 1948, Ralph Kuykendall and A. Grove Day published "Hawaii: A History From Polynesian Kingdom to American Statehood."
Kuykendall was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1960s and he moved to Tucson, Arizona to live with his son. Kuykendall continued to work up until his death in 1963; he left several unfinished manuscripts. The University of Hawaii at Manoa named the building in which the English Department resides after Kuykendall.
Bibliography for Ralph S. Kuykendall.
1919 History of Early California Journalism. (M.A. Thesis, University of California.)
1919 "A California State Rights Editor", The Grizzly Bear, XXIV, No. 3, Whole No. 141. (January, 1919)
1919 "Genesis of the Alta California", The Grizzly Bear, XXIV, Whole No. 143 and 144. (March and April, 1919).
1919 "Early History of Yosemite Valley", The Grizzly Bear, XXV, No. 2, Whole No. 146. (June, 1919). Reprinted in pamphlet form as a Bulletin of the National Park Service. (Washington, D.C.., 1919, 12 p.)
1921 "History of the Yosemite Region", Handbook of Yosemite National Park, compiled by Ansel F. Hall (New York, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1921.) pp. 3-47
1922 "An American Ship-Builder for Spanish California", Hispanic American Historical Review, V:90-92 (February 1922)
1923 Report of the Historical Commission for the period ending Dec. 31. 1992. Honolulu, 1923. 19p. (Publications of the Historical Commission of the Territory of Hawaii, Vol. I, No. 1
1923 "A Northwest Trader at the Hawaiian Islands", Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XXIV:111-131. (June, 1923)
1923 "New Light on relations between Kaumualii…and Kamehameha…", Paradise of the Pacific (August 1923)
1924 "James Colnett and the Princess Royal", Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XXV:26-53 (March, 1924)
1924 "An Hawaiian in Mexico in 1789-1790", Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society, pp. 37–50. (Honolulu 1924)
1925 "Report of the Historical Commission for the two years ending Dec. 31, 1924". Honolulu, 1925. 49 p. (Publications of the Historical Commission of the Territory of Hawaii, Vol. I, No. 2.) (Documents included: "An American Diplomat in Hawaii"; "The Policy of Great Britain toward the Hawaiian Islands, 1824-1854")
1926 "How an American Official Proposed to Save Hawaii from the French in 1851", Honolulu Advertiser, May 16, 1926.
1926 "Story of Mormon Settlement on Lanai", Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1926
1926 Hawaiian Diplomatic Correspondence in the … Archives of the Department of State, Washington, D.C. (Publications of the Historical Commission of the Territory of Hawaii, Vol. I, No. 3, 1926. 56p.)
1926 A History of Hawaii. New York, the Macmillan Company, 1926. x, 375 p. (Three introductory chapters by H.E. Gregory) Reprinted in 1933.
1927 "Report of the Historical Commission for the two years ending Dec. 31, 1926". Honolulu, 1927. 57 p. (Publications of the Historical Commission of the Territory of Hawaii, Vol. I, No. 4.) (Documents included: "Secret Instructions to Lord Byron, Sept. 14, 1824"; "Politics in Hawaii in 1853"; "British Influence in Hawaii during the Reigns of Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V")
1928 Hawaii in World War I. Honolulu, 1928. xix, 474 p. (Publications of the Historical Commission … Vol. II. In collaboration with Lorin Tarr Gill; Kuykendall wrote independently somewhat more than half the book and planned and edited the whole.)
1928 Articles in Dictionary of American Biography on Henry E. Cooper, Sanford B. Dole, Gerrit P. Judd, Jonah K. Kalanianaole, William Richards, and Lorrin A Thurston.
1929 Report of the Historical Commission for the two years ending Dec. 31, 1928. Honolulu, 1929. 57 p. (Publications of the Historical Commission … Vol. I, No. 5) (Documents included: "Hawaii in 1844"; "The Reign of Lunalilo and the Election of Kalakaua.")
1929 "Some Early Commercial Adventures of Hawaii", Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society, pp. 15–33. (Honolulu, 1929)
1930 The Hawaiian Islands … Papers read during the Captain Cook sesquicentennial celebration, Honolulu, August 17, 1928. Ed. By A.P. Taylor, and R.S. Kuykendall. Honolulu, 1930 93 p.
1931 "American Interests and American Influence in Hawaii in 1842", Thirty-Ninth Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society, pp. 48–67, (Honolulu, 1931)
1931 "Albert Pierce Taylor, December 18, 1872 – January 12, 1931" (obituary) Thirty–Ninth Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society, pp. 14 (Honolulu 1931)
1931 "Who was Builder of the Kings’s Highway?", Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 20, 1931
1931 "Education in the Hawaiian Islands prior to the Founding of Lahainaluna High School", Ka Lama Hawaii (Centennial Year Book of Lahainaluna High School), 1931, pp 53–58; The Friend, July 1931; and Hawaii Educational Review, XX: 60-63, 67 (November 1931)
1931 "Two Neglected Graves", The Friend, July 1931.
1932 "Historical Notes", Fortieth Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society, pp. 34–42. (Honolulu, 1932)
1932 Report to Governor Lawrence M. Judd. Cited in full: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 7, 1932 ("Study of Kuykendall on Morals of Hawaiians is Added to Judd’s Report") and Honolulu Advertiser, March 6, 1932 ("Hawaiians Law Abiding Americans, Governor’s Answer to Naval Chief".)
1938 "The Hawaiian Kingdom: 1778-1854: foundation and transformation". Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1938. 310 p.
1940 Constitutions of the Hawaiian Kingdom: A Brief History and Analysis (Papers of the Hawaiian Historical Society, No. 21.) Honolulu, 1940. 60 p.
1941 "Charles R. Bishop, ‘An Inside View of the Reign of Lunalilo.’", ed. By Ralph S. Kuykendall. Forty-Ninth Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society, pp. 12–28. (Honolulu, 1941)
1943 "Negotiations of the Hawaiian Annexation Treaty of 1893." edited by R.S. Kuykendall Fifty-First Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society, pp. 5–64, (Honolulu, 1943)
1943 "Review of Harold Bradley’s The American Frontier in Hawaii, (Stanford University Press, 1942). Pacific Historical Review, (March 1943)
1946 "Introduction of the Episcopal Church into the Hawaiian Islands", Pacific Historical Review, XV: 133-146. (June, 1946)
1948 "Racial Aloha" in Hawaii, by R.S. Kuykendall and A.G. Day, The Nation, 167: 185-186, August 14, 1948.
1949 "Hawaii’s Racial Rainbow", by R.S. Kuykendall and A.G. Day. Paradise of the Pacific, v. 61, No. 2:15-16, 32, February 1949
1950 Review of Osgood Hardy and Glenn S. Dumke’s A History of the Pacific in Modern Times (Houghton Mifflin, 1949). Pacific Historical Review, XIX: 193-195, May 1950.
1951 "Destined to be an American" Yankee Imperialism Absorbs the Legendary Isles. American Heritage, Vol. 2 No. 3, Spring 1951. (Also guest editor of Hawaiian Section, same issue)
1952 Review of Eugene Burns’ The Last King of Paradise. (Pellegrini and Cudahy, 1952). Pacific Historical Review, XXI: 297-298 (August 1952)
1953 "The Hawaiian Kingdom: 1854-1874: Twenty Critical Years". Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1953. 310 p.
1954 Review of Hilary Conroy’s The Japanese Frontier in Hawaii, 1868–1898, (University of California Press, 1953). Pacific Historical Review, XXIII: 75-76. (February 1954)
1955 "Local History Work in the Territory of Hawaii", History News, X: 38, 40. (August 1955)
1961 "Hawaii: A History, From Polynesian Kingdom to American State". Revised Edition. By R.S. Kuykendall and A.G. Day. New York, Prentice Hall, 1961. x, 331 p.
1967 "The Hawaiian Kingdom: 1874-1893: the Kalakaua Dynasty", Honolulu, University of Hawaii, 1967. viii, 764 p. (Completed by Dr. Charles Hunter.)
Letters to the Editor
1926 "Further Comment on Portraits of Kamehameha I" Honolulu Advertiser, Oct. 5, 1926, Editorial Page.
1940 "How Much do You Know About Hawaiian History" Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 20, 1940 pp. 9.
1943 "Work Progresses on Hawaii War Records" Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Oct. 9, 1943, Editorial Page.


Sinake Giregire

Sir Sinake Giregire ( 1937 - 4 January 2012) was a Papua New Guinean businessman and politician.
Giregire was born at Gimisaveh village in the Asaro Valley. He began his education at the Asaroka Lutheran School before moving to Finschhafen in Morobe Province in 1946 to train as a teacher at Heldsbach Lutheran School. He returned to the Asaro Valley in the mid-1950s, worked as a mechanic and an agricultural assistant and set up a sawmill. He then purchased land and began planting coffee, eventually coming to hold three coffee plantations and a coffee factory and owning what was believed to be the largest coffee plantation then owned by a Papua New Guinean at a time when farming was dominated by white expatriates. He was the first secretary of the local Farmers' Association in 1956. He was then elected to the first Asaro Watabung Local Level Government Council with the introduction of local government and became its first president, although sources differ on the year that occurred.
He was elected to the colonial House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea at the 1964 election, the first election to be held in Papua New Guinea. He was assistant administrator for services in the first parliament, and in 1966, he initiated a bill which successfully banned playing cards in Papua New Guinea, the first successful legislation by a black member. In 1967, he co-founded the conservative Compass Party, the forerunner of the United Party. He was re-elected in 1968, becoming ministerial member for agriculture, stock and fisheries, later being shifted to post and telegraphs until 1972. He was re-elected for the final time in 1972.
In the leadup to independence, Giregire was the only member on all three constitutional development and planning committees between 1964 and 1975. He supported the Australian colonial role in Papua New Guinea and was a strong opponent of independence. He formed the PNG Country Party in 1974, but was defeated by Gai Duwabane at the first post-independence election in 1977. He had nominated to become the first Governor-General of Papua New Guinea in 1975, but had been defeated 53-38 by John Guise.
After his political defeat, he became president of the Highlands Farmers and Settlers Association in 1984, having become the first Papua New Guinean member of the formerly all-white organisation in 1958. His early coffee processing business ran into difficulties, but he continued to own a coffee plantation and factory and held various other business interests up until his death. He revived the Country Party after a long period of inactivity in 2001 and contested the 2002 election, but was narrowly defeated in his bid to re-enter parliament.
He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2000. He was knighted in 2006.
He died in January 2012 and was buried at his first plantation the following month.


Ein Qiniyye

Ein Qiniyye or 'Ayn Qunya (; ) is a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied southern foothills of Mount Hermon, 750 meters above sea level. It was granted local council status in 1982. Its inhabitants are mostly Syrian citizens with permanent residency status in Israel (for more about the status and position of the Golan Heights Druze community see here). In it had a population of .
History.
Ein Qiniyye is one of the four remaining Druze-Syrian communities on the Israeli-occupied side of Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights, together with Majdal Shams, Mas'ade and Buq'ata. Geographically a distinction is made between the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon, the boundary being marked by the Sa'ar Stream; however, administratively usually they are lumped together. Ein Qiniyye and Majdal Shams are on the Hermon side of the boundary, thus sitting on limestone, while Buq'ata and Mas'ade are on the Golan side, characterised by black volcanic rock (basalt).
Since the adoption of the 1981 Golan Heights Law, Ein Qiniyye is under Israeli civil law, and incorporated into the Israeli system of local councils. Some of the young people of the village used to study at Syrian universities, but at the end of 2012 a Druze cleric advised them against applying until the Syrian Civil War was over.


Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah

Abu Muhammad Ubayd Allah ibn al-Husayn (873 – 4 March 934), better known by his regnal name Abu Muhammad Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah (), was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi'a caliphate in Islamic history, and the eleventh imam of the Isma'ili faith.
Background.
Shi'ism in the late 9th century.
Ever since the martyrdom of Ali, fourth caliph among the Khulafa Rashidun and the son-in-law of Muhammad, in 661, which led to the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate, a small part of the Muslim community rejected the Umayyads as usurpers and called for the establishment of a regime led by a member of the Ahl al-Bayt, the Family of Muhammad. The Abbasids, who claimed descent from Muhammad's paternal uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, profited from this during their rise to power against the Umayyads; but their claim too was rejected by the Shi'a, who insisted on the exclusive right of the descendants of al-Husayn and Hasan, Ali's sons by Muhammad's daughter Fatimah. A line of imams emerged from the offspring of Husayn, who did not openly lay claim to the caliphate, but were considered by their followers as the true representatives of God on earth.
The sixth imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, had appointed ("naṣṣ") his son Isma'il ibn Ja'far as his successor, but Isma'il died before his father, and when al-Sadiq himself died in 765, the succession was left open. One faction of Shi'a held that al-Sadiq had designated another son, Musa al-Kazim, as his heir. Others followed other sons, Muhammad and Abdallah al-Aftah—shortly after his death, they went over to Musa's camp—or even refused to believe that al-Sadiq had died, and expected his return as a messiah. Musa's adherents, who constituted the majority of al-Sadiq's followers, followed his line down to the twelfth imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, who vanished in 874. Another branch believed that Ja'far was followed by a seventh imam, who also had gone into hiding; hence this party is known as the Seveners. The exact identity of that seventh imam was disputed, but by the late 9th century had commonly been identified with Muhammad, son of Isma'il and grandson of al-Sadiq. From Muhammad's father, Isma'il, the sect receives its name of "Isma'ili". Neither Isma'il's nor Muhammad's lives are well known, and after Muhammad's death during the reign of Harun al-Rashid (), the history of the early Isma'ili movement becomes obscure.
Both the Twelvers and the Seveners held that their final imams were not dead, but had simply gone into hiding ("occultation"), and that they would soon return as a messiah, a "mahdī" ("the Rightly Guided One") or "qāʾīm" ("He Who Arises"), to usher in the end times. The "mahdī" would rapidly overthrow the usurping Abbasids and destroy their capital Baghdad, restore the unity of the Muslims, conquer Constantinople, ensure the final triumph of Islam and establish a reign of peace and justice. The Isma'ilis in particular believed that the "mahdī" would reveal the true, "inner" ("bāṭin") meaning of religion, which was until then reserved for a few selected initiates. The "mahdī" would dissolve the outer forms and strictures of Islam, since henceforth the true religion, the religion of Adam, would be manifested without the need for symbols and other mediating devices.
Secret leadership of the Isma'ili "daʿwa" at Salamiya.
While the "mahdī" Muhammad ibn Isma'il remained hidden, however, he would need to be represented by agents, who would gather the faithful, spread the word ("daʿwa", "invitation, calling"), and prepare his return. The head of this secret network was the living proof of the imam's existence, or "seal" ("ḥujja"). The first known "ḥujja" was a certain Abdallah al-Akbar ("Abdallah the Elder"), a wealthy merchant from Askar Mukram, in what is now southwestern Iran. Apart from improbable stories circulated by later anti-Isma'ili polemicists, his exact origin is unknown. His teachings led to his being forced to flee his native city to escape persecution by the Abbasid authorities, and seek refuge in Basra, where he claimed to belong to the Aqil branch of the Banu Hashim, the clan of Muhammad. Once again, his teachings attracted the attention of the authorities and he moved on to the small town of Salamiya on the western edge of the Syrian Desert. There he settled as a merchant from Basra, and had two sons, Ahmad and Ibrahim. When Abdallah died , Ahmad succeeded his father as the head of the Isma'ili movement, and was in turn succeeded by his younger son, Muhammad, known as Abu'l-Shalaghlagh.
During the late 9th century, millenialist expectations increased in the Muslim world, coinciding with a deep crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate during the decade-long Anarchy at Samarra, the rise of breakaway and autonomous regimes in the provinces, and the large-scale Zanj Rebellion, whose leader claimed Alid descent and proclaimed himself as the "mahdī". In this chaotic atmosphere, where the Abbasids were preoccupied with suppressing the uprising, the Isma'ili "daʿwa" spread rapidly, aided by dissatisfaction among Twelver adherents with the political quietism of their leadership and the recent disappearance of the twelfth imam. Missionaries ("dā'ī"s) like Hamdan Qarmat and his brother-in-law Abu Muhammad Abdan spread the network of agents to the area round Kufa in the late 870s, and from there to Yemen (Ibn Hawshab, 882) and thence India (884), Bahrayn (Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi, 899), Persia, and the Maghreb (Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, 893). The real leadership remained hidden at Salamiya, and only the chief "dā'ī"s of each region, such as Hamdan Qarmat, knew and corresponded with it. The true head of the movement remained hidden even from the senior missionaries, however, and a certain Fayruz functioned as chief missionary ("dā'ī al-duʿāt") and "gateway" ("bāb") to the hidden leader.
Early life.
The future caliph al-Mahdi Billah was born as Sa'id, the son of Ahmad's elder son, al-Husayn, who died around 880. The official biography gives the date of birth as 31 July 874, although a different tradition gives a date exactly one year earlier. After his father's death, he was fostered by his uncle Abu'l-Shalaghlagh, who was without an heir of his own—his son and grandchild were reportedly captured and imprisoned by the Abbasids. Sa'id was thus designated as his successor, and given his uncle's daughter in marriage. Most of the information about Sa'id's early life comes from the memoirs of the eunuch chamberlain Ja'far, who was a few months older than Sa'id and came with him to the household at Salamiya. The two were reared by the same wet-nurse, and Ja'far became a close confidant of Sa'id until his death.
Sa'id's only child, Abd al-Rahman, the future al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, was born in March or April 893. While ostensibly merely the stewards for the absent imam, Ja'far reports that Abu'l-Shalaghlagh—perhaps encouraged by the rapid progress of the "daʿwa", now establishing armed strongholds—secretly declared himself to senior members of the "daʿwa" not as the "ḥujja" for Muhammad ibn Isma'il, but the actual imam; and that he claimed for his nephew the title of "mahdī", and the latter's infant son the title of "qāʾīm". Various genealogies were later put forth by the Fatimids to justify this claim (see below). In the most common, Abdallah the Elder was proclaimed to be the son of Muhammad ibn Isma'il, but even in pro-Isma'ili sources, the succession and names of imams who supposedly preceded Ahmad is not the same; for example, Sa'id himself in a letter claimed descent not from Muhammad ibn Isma'il, but from the latter's older brother Abdallah. Anti-Isma'ili Sunni and Twelver sources of course reject any Fatimid descent from the Alids altogether and consider them impostors. The situation is further complicated by the use of the title "qāʾīm", normally a synonym for the "mahdī", for Sa'id's son. This has led to suggestions (first by Bernard Lewis) of two parallel lines of imams, one public (and of non-Alid descent), serving as trustees of the hidden, real one. In this interpretation, Sa'id was the last representative of the former line, and his "son" was the genuine imam.
Leadership of the "daʿwa".
When Abu'l-Shalaghlagh died around 899, Sa'id became the new head of the movement. Soon after, the letters from Salamiya revealed changes in the official doctrine of the "daʿwa". This worried Hamdan Qarmat, who sent his brother-in-law to Salamiya to investigate the matter. It was there that Abdan learned that Sa'id claimed that the imam was not Muhammad ibn Isma'il, but Sa'id's father al-Husayn, and now Sa'id himself. This caused a major rift in the movement: Hamdan denounced the leadership in Salamiya, gathered the Iraqi "dā'ī"s and ordered them to cease the missionary effort. Shortly after he disappeared from his headquarters.
It was Al-Shi'i's success which was the signal to Al Mahdi to set off from Salamyah disguised as a merchant. In 905 he started proselytising. However, he was captured by the Aghlabid ruler Yasah ibn Midrar due to his Ismaili beliefs and thrown into a dungeon in Sijilmasa. In early 909 Al-Shi'i sent a large expedition force to rescue Al Mahdi, conquering the Khariji state of Tahert on its way there. After gaining his freedom, Al Mahdi became the leader of the growing state and assumed the position of imam and caliph. Al Mahdi then led the Kutama Berbers who captured the cities of Qairawan and Raqqada. By March 909, the Aghlabid Dynasty had been overthrown and replaced with the Fatimids. As a result, the last stronghold of Sunni Islam in North Africa was removed from the region.
Reign.
Al Mahdi fled from the Middle East to preach his doctrine, and one of his companions spotted a place far from sunni rule in modern-day Algeria known as Kabylia. Al Mahdi went to Kabylia to teach his doctrine and had great success, after successfully converting the majority of the Kutamas (who were major in establishing the caliphate) to Isma'ilism Islam. He assembled an army to march onto Ifriqiya to drive the Aghlabids out of Ifriqiya. After the successful campaign in defeating the Aghlabids Al-Mahdi established himself at the former Aghlabid residence at Raqqada, Al-Qayrawan (in what is now Tunisia). After that his power grew. At the time of his death he had extended his reign over the Maghreb, but campaigns into Egypt (in 914–915 and 919–921) faltered against the resistance of the Abbasids, with heavy casualties.
The historian Heinz Halm has described the early Fatimid regime as being little more than a "hegemony of the Kutama". The position of these semi-civilized tribesmen as the chosen warriors of the imam-caliph was greatly resented, not only by the other Berber tribes, but chiefly by the inhabitants of the cities, where the Arabic culture predominated. As Halm writes, the situation was similar to a scenario where, "in the early eighteenth-century North America, the Iroquois, converted to Catholicism by Jesuit missionaries, had overrun the Puritan provinces of New England, installed their chieftains as governors in Boston, Providence and Hartford, and proclaimed a European with dubious credentials as King of England". The first years of Fatimid rule in Ifriqiya, Sicily, and Tripolitania were marked by revolts by the local inhabitants against the arrogance and exactions of the Kutama.
Al-Mahdi founded the capital of his empire, al-Mahdiyyah, on the Tunisian coast sixteen miles south-east of Al-Qayrawan, which he named after himself. The city was located on a peninsula on an artificial platform "reclaimed from the sea", as mentioned by the Andalusian geographer Al-Bakri. The Great mosque of Mahdia was built in 916 on the southern side of the peninsula.
Al-Mahdi took up residence there in 920.
In 922 the Bulgarian emperor Simeon I sent envoys to al-Mahdi to propose a joint attack on the Byzantine capital Constantinople with the Bulgarians providing a large land army, and the Arabs a navy. It was proposed that all spoils would be divided equally, with the Bulgarians keeping Constantinople and the Fatimids gaining the Byzantine territories in Sicily and South Italy. As a result of the Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 913–927, by 922 the Bulgarians controlled almost the whole Balkan peninsula but Simeon I's main objective to capture Constantinople remained out of his reach because he lacked a navy. Although the Byzantines and the Fatimids had concluded a peace treaty in 914, since 918 the Fatimids had renewed their attacks on the Italian coast.
Al-Mahdi accepted the proposal and sent back his own emissaries to conclude the agreement. On the way home the ship was captured by the Byzantines near the Calabrian coast and the envoys of both countries were sent to Constantinople. When the Byzantine emperor Romanos I learned about the secret negotiations, the Bulgarians were imprisoned, while the Arab envoys were allowed to return to Al-Mahdiyyah with rich gifts for the caliph. The Byzantines then sent their own embassy to North Africa to outbid Simeon I and eventually the Fatimids agreed not to aid Bulgaria.
After his death, Al-Mahdi was succeeded by his son, Abu Al-Qasim Muhammad Al-Qaim, who continued his expansionist policy.
Genealogy of the Fatimids.
According to ʿAbd Allāh al-Mahdi Billah.
In a letter sent to the Ismāʿīlī community in Yemen by Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah, which was reproduced by Ja'far bin Mansūr al-Yemen, ʿAbd Allāh al-Aftah ibn Jaʿfar al-Sadiq was referred to as "Sāhib al-Haqq" or the legitimate successor of Imām Jaʿfar al-Sadiq. According to ʿAbd Allāh al-Mahdi bi'l-Lāh, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ja'far had called himself Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar for the sake of taqiyya, and each of his successors had assumed the name Muhammad. ʿAbd Allāh al-Mahdi Billah explains the genealogy of the Fatimid caliphs and he claims Fatimid ancestry by declaring himself to be ʿAli ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbadullāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar al-Sadiq. But the Imamah (Ismaili doctrine) had later been formulated in a different manner since ʿAbd Allāh's explanation of his ancestry was not accepted by his successors.

According to Bernard Lewis, Hamdani, de Blois and the letter of ʿAbd Allāh al-Mahdi Billah.
According to Bernard Lewis there were two lines of Mustawda‘ – Qaddāḥid Trustee Imāms and Mustaqarr – Alid Imāms; Hamdani and de Blois constructed two parallel lines of descendants of Jāʿfar al-Sādiq. Maymūn Al-Qaddāḥ was the chief da'i and the guardian of Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘il and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maymūn Al-Qaddāḥ who succeeded his father as the chief da'i in trust and bequeathed it to his own descendants and to ʿUbayd Allāh al-Mahdi bi'l-Lāh. These were Mustawda‘ or Qaddāḥid Trustee Imāms. There was a second line of Hidden or Mustaqarr Alid Imāms starting with Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘il and ending with the second Fatimid caliph Al-Qa'im Bi-Amrillah.


USS Preble (DD-345)

The fourth USS "Preble" (DD-345/DM-20/AG-99) was a "Clemson"-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I, and saw combat in World War II as a minelayer. She was named for Commodore Edward Preble.
History.
"Preble" was laid down by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, 12 April 1919; launched 8 March 1920; sponsored by Miss Sallie MacIntosh Tucker; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard 19 March 1920, Cmdr. H. A. Baldridge in command.
After shakedown in Cuban waters, "Preble" was assigned special duty in Mexican waters, arriving Vera Cruz 13 June. During the following weeks she made three voyages to Galveston, Texas, to obtain medical supplies including serum to fight bubonic plague which had developed during the rebellion of the Sonora triumvirate. In August she returned north to join the Atlantic Fleet in East Coast and Caribbean exercises. In January 1921 the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets joined off the Panama Canal Zone and cruised to the west coast of South America. Separating on 23 February, the Atlantic Fleet steamed back to the Caribbean.
"Preble" departed Newport, Rhode Island, 20 June en route to the Asiatic Station, via Suez, with units of Squadron 15. She arrived at Chefoo, China, 26 August 1922, and for the next 7 years cruised off the coast of Asia from Manchuria to Burma, in Japanese waters, and amongst the Philippines, East Indies, and Marianas Islands. In September 1923 she assisted victims of violent earthquakes which shook Japan. From 12 June to 2 July 1924 she was at Rangoon, Burma, and Calcutta, India, delivering gas and oil for a round-the-world flight of Army planes. In 1927 "Preble" was assigned patrol duty in strife-torn China, taking aboard American and foreign refugees and escorting merchant vessels in the Yangtze and Huangpu Rivers. On several occasions Chinese factions fired on "Preble" from shore, but there were no casualties.
"Preble" departed Tsingtao, China, 12 July 1929 and returned to San Diego, California, 17 August 1929. For several years she was based at San Diego, cruising along the western seaboard of the United States, with operations in waters of Mexico and the Caribbean. During her stay at San Diego, "Preble" was used for on-board location shooting of a 1931 RKO-Pathé Pictures film about World War I destroyers, "Suicide Fleet", one of the three primary ships used for the filming of the movie. She was assigned to Rotating Reserve Destroyer Squadron 20 at the Mare Island Navy Yard 24 September 1932. In May 1934 "Preble" engaged in Fleet Problem 15 off the Panama Canal and in Cuban waters, before returning to the Pacific. She participated in Fleet Problems 16 and 18 in the Hawaiian area in May–June 1935 and April–May 1937.
On 19 May 1937 "Preble" was transferred from Destroyers, Battle Force, to duty with Minecraft, Battle Force. Converted to a light minelayer, she was reclassified DM-20, effective 30 June 1937. She departed Pearl Harbor 20 September 1937 for mine training operations on the West Coast and returned to Hawaii in December. She remained in the Hawaiian area until the outbreak of World War II, engaging in scheduled mining exercises and fleet maneuvers.
World War II.
On 7 December 1941 when the Japanese forces launched their attack, "Preble" was being overhauled at Pearl Harbor and was unable to get underway. As necessary guns and ammunition were not aboard, a large number of "Preble's" crew handled ammunition, fought fires, and cared for the wounded aboard "Pennsylvania" (BB-38). On 30 January 1942 "Preble" completed her yard overhaul and joined the patrol operating just off the Pearl Harbor entrance. On 1 April she departed Pearl Harbor with units of Mine Division 1 to lay a large minefield at French Frigate Shoals, 500 miles northwest of Oahu. In July she assisted in laying a defensive minefield around the base at Kodiak, Alaska, returning to Pearl Harbor via Seattle, Washington, for overhaul and patrol operations. On 6 December she departed Pearl Harbor for the Fiji Islands and Noumea, New Caledonia, serving on escort duty in the New Hebrides during January 1943.
On the night of 31 January "Tracy" (DM-19), "Montgomery" (DM-17), and "Preble" laid mines in the mouth of the Tenambo River, Guadalcanal, to prevent the evacuation of enemy troops. During the next two months "Preble" performed escort duties to the New Hebrides and Russell Islands.
On the night of 6 May "Preble" with minelayers "Gamble" (DM-15) and "Breese" (DM-18) in company with "Radford" (DD-446) laid mines in Ferguson Passage between Gizo and Wanawana Islands in the Solomons. On the night of 7–8 May these mines sank a Japanese destroyer and damaged two others which were sunk the next day by torpedo bombers from Guadalcanal.
On 24 May "Preble" rescued 85 survivors from torpedoed SS "Stanvac Manila". On the night of 28 June "Breese", "Gamble", and "Preble" mined the waters near Shortland Island to prevent units of the Japanese fleet based there from interfering with landing operations on Rendova Island in the New Georgia Group, which were to be carried out at dawn. During July and August "Preble" again served as an escort vessel. On 9 September she departed Nouméa for San Francisco.
After overhaul and convoy escort duty to Pearl Harbor, "Preble" reached Majuro, Marshall Islands, 3 February 1944 where she served as antisubmarine screen and mine layer before returning to Pearl Harbor. She then made three escort voyages from Pearl Harbor to Marshall Islands ports. After minesweeping training, "Preble" departed Purvis Bay, Florida Island, 6 September, with minesweeping units of Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's TG 32.5. Arriving off Peleliu in the early morning of 12 September, while fire support ships opened bombardment, "Preble" separated to investigate the shoals between Anguar and Peleliu Islands where the enemy had been suspected of planting acoustic mines. The next day she helped rescue survivors of "Perry" (DMS-17) which had struck a mine. She continued to perform various screening and minesweeping duties.
"Preble" arrived at Manus, Admiralty Islands on 1 October, where she joined mine sweeping Task Group 77.5 which arrived off the entrance to Leyte Gulf 17 October where she remained laying buoys and acting as mine destruction vessel for 6 days before returning to Manus. After training at Manus, she returned to San Pedro Bay 1 January 1945, but steamed a month later for Pearl Harbor and much needed repairs in the States, arriving San Francisco 8 March.
Returning to Pearl Harbor 8 May, "Preble" was redesignated a miscellaneous auxiliary vessel (AG-99) 5 June. She was assigned to duty escorting aircraft carriers engaged in training, acting as anti-submarine patrol vessel and plane guard during flight operations. She reached Guam with "Vella Gulf" (CVE-111) 20 July, subsequently escorting "Vella Gulf" to Okinawa. After returning to Guam, she escorted "Sitkoh Bay" (CVE-86) to Samar, Philippines, arriving 20 September.
Fate.
"Preble" steamed for the United States 9 October, arriving Norfolk 20 November. She decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard 7 December 1945. Her name was struck from the Navy List 3 January 1946 and she was sold for scrap to Luria Brothers of Philadelphia 26 October 1946.
Honors and awards.
"Preble" earned 8 battle stars for World War II service.
Postscript.
In the episode "Long Live the King" from the first season (1964–1965) of the television show "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", the long-since-scrapped USS "Preble" (DD-345) is plainly visible in stock footage used in the final quarter of the episode, and the Captain Lee Crane character played by David Hedison indicates that the footage is showing the advanced units of the United States Seventh Fleet during the 1970s, the time period in which the first season is set.
In the 1931 film "Suicide Fleet" the Preble is seen as one of several ships assisting in rescuing survivors of sinking ship. The scene is in the first of hour of the movie. The film stars William Boyd, Robert Armstrong, James Gleason, and Ginger Rogers. Later shipboard scenes are also shot aboard the Preble; giving a good look at the ship as she looked in 1931. There is one particularly interesting scene where a close in shot of the Preble making a close-in pass (with-in 50 ft.) of a sailing ship.
Even though not named but clearly marked 345, the USS Preble appeared in the 1942 movie, "The Navy Came Through" starring Desi Arnez and Jackie Cooper. The Clemson class destroyer is easily identified by its tell-tale four smoke stacks, also known as a 'Four Stacker'.
See USS "Preble" for other ships of this name.
References.
The U.S.S. Preble was featured in the movies Charlie Chan at the Olympics.


Trust Territory of Nauru


Holy Mother of God Church, Yeghvard

Holy Mother of God Church (Armenian: Սուրբ Աստվածածին եկեղեցի), sometimes known as Yeghvard Church, is a medieval Armenian church located at the center of Yeghvard in the Kotayk Province of Armenia. It was completed in 1301 during the rule of the Zakarid dynasty. It was built and completed as an alternative church of the nearby ruined Katoghike Church, a large three-nave basilica dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries.
Architecture.
The Holy Mother of God Church is a small cruciform central-plan interior with a rectangular but almost square plan exterior and a second floor. Centered above is a single cylindrical drum and a conical umbrella type dome. The drum is made up of twelve columns with arches that support the weight of the dome.
The second floor has a semi-cruciform layout with single small windows to the left and rear façades, while on the right is a larger window with a single column that stands in the middle. A small inset portal sits in the middle of the front façade, with the remnants of exterior stone steps that once led to the second floor.
The first floor has a single large portal at the front façade with a semi-circular lintel and decorative columns, while the left, right, and rear façades each have a small window. The left and right are surrounded by a large intricately carved cross in high-relief.
Exceptionally rich decorations cover a large portion of the church. There are beautiful motifs on each side at the second floor level and geometric patterns around the cornices, eaves, and other parts of the walls. Notable is the large cross carved in high relief on the front flanked by the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus and another saint. Below and just above the portal to the second floor are the motifs of a bull and lion. Above the larger window on the right façade is a motif of a large bird with a geometric rosette on its chest holding a hooved animal in its talons. On the left façade is a mountain goat, and on the rear is a large cat pouncing upon a goat.
Adjacent to the church are the remains of a chapel foundation. Khachkars and graves are nearby.


Thomas Allen (captain)

Thomas Allen (–1885) was a sea captain based in Port Adelaide.
Allen was known for having been the captain of the last ship to carry convicts from South Australia to the prison colony in Van Diemen's Land.
A previous ship carrying convicts, the "Lady Denison" had not arrived at its destination. Allen took extra precautions to ensure the safety of his ship, the brig "Punch", carrying prisoners, police and paying passengers. One of the paying passengers was the wife of one of the prisoners.
The ship departed Port Adelaide on 13 June 1850, and arrived in good order at Hobart Town on 25 June. It had on board nine male and three female prisoners, escorted by four Adelaide police, and eleven passengers (including five children).
Descriptions of exactly what happened on the voyage vary in details. By either account, the convicts had planned an escape and mutiny, using tools and equipment shipped on board in a locked chest.
Allen was a Cork Irishman who had arrived in South Australia as ship's mate on the brig "Elizabeth Buckham" in 1843. At age 32, he married 21-year-old Sarah Ann Galway of Port Adelaide in 1850 at Holy Trinity Church, Adelaide. She accompanied him on voyages around Australia and South East Asia on the brigs "Punch" and "Empress" and schooner "Swallow" until he retired from sailing in 1875. He was also later part-owner of the "Schah Jehan".
Their children were born on board, or at ports where they called, and travelled with them.
Allen died at his home in Queenstown near Port Adelaide in 1885 and was buried at the Woodville Cemetery.


Al-Muttaqi

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Ibn al-Muqtadir, better known by his regnal title al-Muttaqi (908 – July 968, ) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 940 to 944. His reign marked the start of the 'later Abbasid period' (940-1258). His Predecessor Ar-Radi was the last "Caliph" of the early Abbasid period.
Biography.
Of such little importance the Caliphate had become by now that when the previous Caliph ar-Radi died, Bajkam, "amir al-umara" (Amir of Amirs), contented himself with despatching to Baghdad his secretary, who assembled the chief men to elect a successor. The choice fell on the deceased Caliph's brother al-Muttaqi, who assumed the office after it had been some days vacant; and whose first act was to send a banner and dress of honor to Bajkam, a needless confirmation of his rank.
Bajkam, before returning to Wasit, where he now held his court, went out on a hunting party, and met his death at the hands of a band of marauding Kurds. The Capital again became the scene of renewed anarchy. Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, Caliph's "amīr al-umarāʾ", persuaded the Caliph to flee with him to Mosul.
Al-Muttaqi was welcomed there by the Hamdanid dynasty, who organized a campaign to restore him to the capital. However, their ends were purely selfish; they assassinated Ibn Ra'iq, and having added his Syrian government to their own, turned their ambition towards Baghdad. The Hamdanid chief, with the title of Nasir al-Dawla, advanced on Baghdad with the Caliph.
But, however powerful the Hamdanid chiefs were at home amongst their Arab brethren, and splendid their victories over the Greeks, they found it a different thing to rule at Baghdad, due to foreign mercenaries and the well-organised Turkish forces in the city.
And so in less than a year, the Hamdanid chieftains had to return to Mosul; for a Turkish general called Tuzun entered Baghdad in triumph, and was saluted as "amir al-umara". However, fresh proceedings against his enemy obliged Tuzun to quit the capital; and during his absence a conspiracy broke out which placed the Caliph in danger, and obliged him again to appeal to the Hamdanid prince for help. Troops sent in response enabled him to escape; he fled to Mosul and after that to Nusaybin.
Shortly after, peace being restored between Tuzun and the Hamdanid chiefs, al-Muttaqi took up his residence at Raqqa — a fugitive in the city which had so often been the proud court of his illustrious ancestors.
Rivalry between officials.
With vizier Abu Abdallah al-Baridi gone, on 3 July Kurankij was appointed as "amir al-umara" by the powerless caliph al-Muttaqi. On the same night, the Turk Takinak was arrested and drowned. Kurankij chose Abu'l-Faraj ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Isfahani as his secretary ("katib"), and called on Ali ibn Isa ibn al-Jarrah and his brother Abd al-Rahman to become heads of the administration, but without the title of vizier. This arrangement did not last long, however: within a few days, the Banu'l-Jarrah brothers were dismissed, and Abu Ishaq Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Qarariti appointed vizier. As al-Baridi had gathered new forces and come up from his base in Basra to Wasit, Kurankij sent his own troops under another Daylamite commander, Ispahan, to confront them. On the news of their approach, the Baridis abandoned Wasit and retreated to Basra.
In the meantime, a previous "amir al-umara", Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, who had fled to Syria, was strengthened by an influx of Turkic commanders leaving Baghdad, and received a letter from al-Muttaqi inviting his return to the Abbasid capital. When Kurankij received news of Ibn Ra'iq's march on Baghdad, he recalled Ispahan from Wasit, which almost immediately was captured by the Baridis. On 22 August, he also dismissed the vizier al-Qarariti and replaced him with Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Qasim al-Karkhi.
As Ibn Ra'iq approached Baghdad, Kurankij exited the city and made for Ukbara. The two armies fought for several days, but Ibn Ra'iq was unable to secure victory. Nevertheless, on 23 August a detachment of Ibn Ra'iq's army under Ibn Muqatil entered Baghdad, followed two days later by the bulk of Ibn Ra'iq's army, with Kurankij following behind a day later. Kurankij and his men were reportedly contemptuous of their opponent, and Ibn Ra'iq himself is said to have contemplated returning to Syria. But in a fight that broke out in the city itself, some of Ibn Ra'iq's men managed to attack the Daylamites from behind. The Daylamites panicked and were routed, as they were also being attacked by the populace. Kurankij went into hiding, and Ibn Ra'iq's ascendancy was secured. On 22 September, Ibn Ra'iq had the surviving Daylamites executed, and on the next day, he was raised to "amir al-umara". Kurankij was discovered and imprisoned in the palace.
Downfall and Succession.
Later, al-Muttaqi threw himself into the hands of Tuzun, who swore with the most sacred oaths that he would render true and faithful service. But he soon after deposed him from the Caliphate, and had his sight destroyed.
The same day, Tuzun installed the blinded Caliph's cousin as his successor, with the title of al-Mustakfi, "For whom the Lord suffices".


Executive Council of Fiji

The colonial Governors of Fiji relied on the Executive Council for advice on proposals for legislation which, after being discussed in the Executive Council meetings, came before the Legislative Council in the form of bills. In this way, the Executive Council was the chief policy-making body and performed cabinet-like functions, but being advisory, was not yet a cabinet in function. This role changed in 1964 with the introduction of the membership system.
The first Executive Council.
Immediately after Fiji was ceded to the United Kingdom, on 10 October 1874, the first Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, established an Executive Council with himself as President and comprising six other Europeans.
Inclusion of Legislative Council members.
Changes to the Constitution in 1916 provided for an Executive Council consisting of the Governor, Colonial Secretary, Attorney General, and such other persons as the Governor in pursuance of Royal instructions received through the Secretary of State for the Colonies, may from time to time appoint. From 1912, the Executive Council also included two unofficial (representatives of the community and not directly employed by the Government), who were European elected members of the Legislative Council. The first two European members were J. B. Turner and Henry Scott.
Inclusion of ethnic Fijians and Fiji Indians.
Ever since its inception in Fiji, Executive Council members were all Europeans, until Ratu Sukuna, an ethnic Fijian, was appointed in 1943. In the late 1930s, when the Colonial Office urged for an Indian appointment, the then Governor, Sir Arthur Richards, said;
A man maybe highly representative of the petty trader, the petty shopkeeper or the petty farmer but if he also has the limitations of the petty trader he would be useless as an advisor.
but an Indian, K. B. Singh was finally appointed to the Executive Council in 1946.
Selection from Legislative Council.
A committee formed in 1948 proposed that the five unofficial representatives of each racial group be empowered to select one of their own numbers to be a member of the Executive Council. The selection of an Indian into the Executive Council caused a rift between Indian members of the Legislative Council. A. D. Patel managed to outmaneuver Vishnu Deo for this position which made bitter enemies of these former political allies. Vishnu Deo's political machine ensured that Patel did not get elected for the next thirteen years.
Membership System.
On 1 July 1964, a membership system of Government was installed with the composition of the Executive Council modified to allocate a majority of the seats to unofficial members. A Fijian, an Indian and a European were granted portfolios. John Falvey was appointed Member for Communications and Works, Ratu Kamisese Mara was appointed Member for Natural Resources and A.D. Patel was appointed member for Social Services.


Qutb al-Din Muhammad

Qutb al-Din Muhammad (died 1346) was the Mihrabanid malik of Sistan from 1330 until his death. He was the son of Rukn al-Din Mahmud.
Biography.
Qutb al-Din was appointed malik in December 1330 by the notables of Sistan following the death of his uncle, Nusrat al-Din Muhammad. A deeply religious man, he patronized the religious figures of Sistan and fed travelers and the poor. He also distributed the fortresses of the province to members of his family. During Qutb al-Din's reign the central Ilkhanid government in Soltaniyeh collapsed; Sistan's distance from the Ilkhanid center allowed it to mostly avoid the wars that plagued Persia during this time. Under Qutb al-Din Sistan did face one foreign invasion, by the Kartid malik Mu'izz al-Din Husayn, in 1333 or 1334 after he was invited by the Mihrabanid's opponents. Mu'izz al-Din decided to end the campaign after heeding the counsel of a Sufi adherent.
In 1346, Qutb al-Din was killed by a plague, possibly the Black Plague. He was succeeded by his son Taj al-Din.


Khosrov of Andzev

Khosrov of Andzev (died 964) was the father of Gregory of Narek, a tenth century poet. His two sons, Grigor and Hovhannes, studied at Narek monastery under abbot Anania Narekasti. He mainly wrote on topics such as the Armenian Apostolic Church and its ceremonies.


Palau District


Hayim Tadmor

Hayim Tadmor (born Frumstein) (November 18, 1923, Harbin, China–December 11, 2005, Jerusalem) was a leading Israeli Assyriologist. As a student of Benno Landsberger and Sidney Smith, his knowledge was grounded in immediate knowledge and experience that went back to the earliest years of Assyriology.
Early life and education.
Hayim Tadmor was born in Harbin, Manchuria, as Hayim Frumstein. His father, David, a fur trader, relocated to Manchuria once the trans-Siberian railway had been extended, having also travelled to Canada. In 1935, after his father’s death, Hayim emigrated with his mother to Mandatory Palestine, and completed his schooling in Jerusalem while also providing for his mother, working as a tutor in Mathematics and Hebrew Grammar. In 1943 he started his studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem specialising in Classics, Jewish History of the First and Second Temple periods, and Biblical History, which he studied with Benjamin Mazar. At the same time, he served in the Haganah.
Early career.
In 1950 he completed his MA. In 1951-1952 he obtained a British Council Scholarship to study Akkadian with Sidney Smith at the Department of Assyriology at SOAS. His doctoral dissertation submitted in 1954 elucidated biblical chronology in the light of Assyrian sources. In 1954 he travelled once more, further to specialise in Akkadian at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, studying with Benno Landsberger. He returned to Israel and took up a post at the Hebrew University, from 1958 teaching Bible and Ancient Near Eastern History. In 1965 he established the department of Assyriology at the Hebrew University, which he chaired, and which became an international centre.
Research.
Combined specialisation in biblical history and Ancient Near Eastern History became the hallmark of Tadmor’s work. He published 57 articles mainly in Hebrew and English. His main book dealt with the Assyrian royal inscriptions of king Tiglath-pileser III, known as particularly difficult to decipher, since after their excavation in Nimrud in 1845 by A.H. Layard they were much vandalised. As early as 1963, whilst spending a sabbatical year in London, Tadmor was given access to Layard’s folio drawings at the British Museum and started reconstructing the texts. His book on the inscriptions was published in 1994. He also edited the Biblical Encyclopaedia vols. 6-8, and with Mordechai Cogan published a new translation and scholarly interpretation of the Second Book of Kings.
Later career.
He was appointed as a professor in 1971 and was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1985. He was known for his excellent relationships with his students and numerous international collaborations, for example with students from Japan and Korea. He held visiting professorships at the universities of Yale, City University of New York, Ann Arbor, Pennsylvania, and Berkeley. Having retired in 1994, he was elected Vice-President of the Israel Academy in 1996, serving until 2004. In USA he was elected honorary member of the American Oriental Society and a Fellow of the Academy for Jewish Research. In 2000 he was awarded the Rothschild Prize for his life’s work. He received an honour from the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences in Harbin. Two Festschriften appeared, one in his honour and another a joint tribute for him and his wife. Another volume was published in his memory by the Israel Academy. In 2010 his and his wife’s library was acquired by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World of New York University, where it is available for readers. His papers are held at the Hebrew University Archive.
Personal life.
In 1953 Tadmor married Miriam Yehieli, née Skura, a fellow student and archaeologist. The couple had two children: Naomi, and David.


Raymond-Roupen

Raymond-Roupen (also Raymond-Rupen and Ruben-Raymond; 1198 – 1219 or 1221/1222) was a member of the House of Poitiers who claimed the thrones of the Principality of Antioch and Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. His succession in Antioch was prevented by his paternal uncle Bohemond IV, but his maternal granduncle Leo I of Cilicia recognized him as heir presumptive to Cilicia and pressed his claim to Antioch. In 1211 Raymond-Roupen was crowned junior king of Cilicia, and was finally installed as Prince of Antioch in 1216. The War of the Antiochene Succession ended with Leo's death in 1219, shortly before Raymond-Roupen was ousted from Antioch. He then pursued his claim to Cilicia, which Leo had unexpectedly willed to his daughter Isabella on his deathbed, but was defeated and imprisoned until death.
Succession uncertainty.
The marriage of Raymond-Roupen's parents, Raymond of Antioch and Alice of Armenia, was arranged in 1195 to end the hostilities between the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and the Latin Principality of Antioch and to eventually unite them under one ruler. The idea failed when Raymond died in early 1197, leaving Alice pregnant. She gave birth to a posthumous son, Raymond-Roupen. The infant was heir apparent to his grandfather Bohemond III of Antioch by primogeniture, but this principle was not upheld in the Latin East. Instead, the fiefs passed by the proximity of blood, which favored Bohemond III's surviving children. Raymond-Roupen's grandfather was elderly and unlikely to live until Raymond-Roupen reached the age of majority, making an undesirable Armenian-dominated regency likely if Raymond-Roupen were to succeed him.
Bohemond sent his widowed daughter-in-law back to Cilicia along with his newborn grandson, either to ensure their safety or to remove the grandson from succession in favor of a son by his latest marriage. The two arrived just in time for the coronation of Alice's uncle, Leo I, as the first king of Cilicia. The ceremony was combined with Raymond-Roupen's baptism, and both were performed by the papal legate Conrad of Wittelsbach. Leo, who had no sons, recognized Raymond-Roupen as his heir presumptive, and made it his principal mission to secure his grandnephew's succession to Antioch as well.
Conrad of Wittelsbach traveled from Sis to Antioch, where he compelled Bohemond III to summon his vassals and have Raymond-Roupen recognized as his heir apparent. Bohemond III's eldest surviving son, Bohemond, who was already ruling the County of Tripoli, immediately denounced the oaths of allegiance given to Raymond-Roupen. Having secured the support of the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Genoese and Pisan merchants, and the Commune of Antioch, Bohemond suddenly appeared in Antioch in late 1198, ejected his father and had the commune swear allegiance to himself as the future prince. The Antiochene clergy too abandoned Raymond-Roupen's cause after Leo fell out with Peter of Angoulême, Latin Patriarch of Antioch.
War of the Antiochene Succession.
When Bohemond III died in April 1201, Bohemond IV had no difficulty establishing himself as Prince of Antioch. Many noblemen who had favored Raymond-Roupen fled to Sis. Leo laid siege to the city of Antioch, starting the War of the Antiochene Succession. Amalric, King of Jerusalem and Cyprus, favored Raymond-Roupen but declined to intervene. Leo arranged for Raymond-Roupen to marry Helvis, Amalric's daughter and sister of King Hugh I of Cyprus, in 1210. On 15 August 1211, Raymond-Roupen was crowned as junior king of Cilicia, with a crown sent by Emperor Otto IV. The following year, when he was about to reach the age of majority, Raymond-Roupen was sent by Leo to plunder Antioch.
Raymond-Roupen found new allies in the Hospitallers and Antiochene noblemen, including the leader of the commune, by promising grants of land. In this too he was supported by Leo. In early 1216, Antioch was finally occupied. Raymond-Roupen and Leo entered the city on 14 February, while Bohemond was absent. Raymond-Roupen was consecrated as Prince of Antioch by the Latin Patriarch, Peter of Ivrea, and received the submission of the nobility and the commune. The Seljuk Turks promptly attacked Cilicia, and Raymond-Roupen may have been asked to assist his granduncle. Their relationship, however, deteriorated and Raymond-Roupen intended to capture Leo. The latter was warned by the Templars and escaped to Cilicia. Without Leo's backing, Raymond-Roupen could not hold Antioch. He helped the Hospitallers occupy Jableh in 1218 but found himself lacking resources, as the principality had been devastated by the war. An increase of taxation made him unpopular among his subjects.
In 1219, the burghers and noblemen of Antioch rose up and persuaded Bohemond to return. On his uncle's arrival, Raymond-Roupen sought refuge in the citadel but then fled to Cilicia. He left the citadel in the hands of the Hospitallers, earning their friendship.
Cilician claim.
Once ousted from Antioch, Raymond-Roupen sought shelter with Leo in Cilicia. His granduncle was on his deathbed, however, and decided to disinherit Raymond-Roupen in favor of his infant daughter Isabella. Prince Bohemond IV's restoration, followed by King Leo I's death in May 1219, thus ended Raymond-Roupen's prospects of ruling Antioch. Raymond-Roupen instead rose to claim Cilicia, as did John of Brienne, husband of Leo's elder daughter, Stephanie. Pope Honorius III ruled that Stephanie or her son by John should succeed King Leo, but both mother and child died soon after. Honorius then ruled in favor of Raymond-Roupen.
Raymond-Roupen's chances of winning the Cilician throne seemed good: he had the support of his mother, Alice; of some Cilician nobles; of the Hospitallers; of the papacy and of the papal legate Pelagius of Albano, who was leading the Fifth Crusade in Egypt. Raymond-Roupen traveled to Damietta in the summer of 1220 to consult with Pelagius in person, after which he invaded Cilicia with his mother. They established themselves in Tarsus, where they waited for help from the Hospitallers. Constantine of Baberon, regent for Queen Isabella, quickly marched to their stronghold. After a three-month siege, Tarsus was captured together with Raymond-Roupen and Alice.
Aftermath.
Raymond-Roupen died in a Cilician prison in 1221 or 1222. He was in his mid-twenties. Isabella and Bohemond were left to reign uncontested in Cilicia and Antioch respectively, and shortly thereafter Bohemond's son Philip became king by marrying Isabella, but met a similar fate. Honorius and Pelagius decided not to put forward the claims of Raymond-Roupen's young daughters, Maria and Eschiva, who were taken by their mother to Cyprus.
Family tree.

Sources.


Matskhvarishi church of the Savior

The Matskhvarishi church of the Savior (), also known as the church of Matskhvar (Svan: მაცხვარ), is a medieval Georgian Orthodox church in the highland northwestern Georgian province of Upper Svaneti, now part of the Mestia Municipality, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region. It is a simple hall church which was extensively frescoed by Mikael Maglakeli in 1140. The church is inscribed on the list of the Immovable Cultural Monuments of National Significance of Georgia.
Location.
The church of the Savior stands on a hilltop above the settlement of Matskhvarishi at the west end of Latali community in what is now Mestia Municipality, at 1360 m above sea level. This part of Svaneti was known as Free Svaneti in the 19th century. The church housed a collection of Byzantine and Georgian church items which were catalogued by the scholar Ekvtime Taqaishvili during his expedition to Svaneti in 1910.
Layout.
Matskhvar is a hall church, with an ambulatory annexed to the south façade. It is built of regular lines of well-hewn limestone block. Inside the church, a spacious bay is divided by a pair of two-step longitudinal wall pilasters from which springs a single arch, supporting the vault. The church is lit by four windows, one each in the sanctuary and west wall and two in the south wall. These latter two are arranged in an unusual manner: the western window is cut above the wall arch and the southern one below it. The church has three entrances—one each on the east, south, and north—rectangular in shape and topped by an arched tympanum internally. Arched niches flank the window in the sanctuary. The ambulatory was added to the southern end of the church at a later date. Of this structure only a sanctuary and arcade are original; it was remodeled in 1986. The outer walls are plain and were once plastered; the south façade bears traces of old frescoes. The south door is a 10th–11th-century decorative woodwork which is attributed by an accompanying inscription to Kvirike Agiduliani.
Frescoes.
The interior of the church is entirely frescoed, but the paintings are now damaged. They are dated by an inscription to 1140 and credited to Mikael Maghlakeli. The sanctuary is traditionally adorned with the Deesis. Below it is a group of the Apostles, while the walls of the nave and conch contain a Christological cycle arranged in three registers and a series of haloed horseman, a recurrent image in the medieval Svan mural art. In the western arch of the north wall there is a scene of coronation in which King Demetre I of Georgia () is shown being simultaneously blessed by Christ, crowned by the archangel Gabriel, and girded with a sword by two dignitaries, local "eristavi". As the art historian Antony Eastmond has shown the depiction of Demetre's coronation celebrates the creation of royal power, while emphasizing the role of the local aristocracy.


Fasih Khwafi

Fasih Ahmad ibn Jalal al-Din Muhammad Khwafi (died 1442) was a Persian bureaucrat and historian of the Timurid court. His major work was "Mujmal i-Fasihi".
His lineage is obscure; his father's family was from Bakharz, and claimed descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad; his mother was a native of Khwaf in the Khorasan region of eastern Iran. She was the granddaughter of the warlord Khvaja Majd, who ruled in Khwaf in the early 14th-century. Moreoever, her family also claimed descent from the Ghaznavid vizier Abu Nasr Mushkan. It was seemingly because of her illustrious descent that Fasih assumed the nisba of Khwafi (meaning "from Khwaf"). Despite his nisba, however, Fasih was from his father's birthplace of Bakharz, as reported by Uqayli. He was related to the bureaucrat Khvaja Qivam al-Din Nizam al-Mulk Khvafi.


Rebecca S. Halstead

Rebecca Stevens "Becky" Halstead (born 1959) is a former United States Army officer and the first female graduate of West Point to become a general officer. She was the 34th Chief of Ordnance and Commandant of the United States Army Ordnance Center and Schools at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
Early life.
Halstead was born in Willseyville, New York in 1959, and is a 1977 graduate of Candor High School. She graduated from the United States Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science in 1981 and was a member of the second academy class that included women.
Early career.
When she was assigned to the Ordnance Corps, her early positions included: platoon leader, operations officer and executive officer with the 69th Ordnance Company, 559th Artillery Group in Vicenza, Italy; commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 80th Ordnance Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington; commander, 63rd Ordnance company, 80th Ordnance Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington; and Materiel Officer, 80th Ordnance Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington.
Her later assignments included: assignment officer, Ordnance Branch, Total Army Personnel Command, Alexandria, Virginia; aide-de-camp to the commander, Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee, Fort Lee, Virginia; support operations officer and battalion executive officer, 526th Forward Support Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky; logistics staff officer, and assistant executive officer to the U.S. Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics; commander, 325th Forward Support Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; commander, 10th Mountain Division Support Command (DISCOM), Fort Drum, New York, including duty as logistics staff officer (C-4) for Coalition Task Force Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom; and executive officer to the combatant commander, United States Southern Command, Miami, Florida.
Later career.
In September 2003 Halstead was assigned as Deputy Commander of the 21st Theater Support Command in Germany. In September 2004 she was assigned as commander, 3rd Corps Support Command (COSCOM), including deployment to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. In January 2005, she was promoted to brigadier general, the first female graduate of West Point to attain general officer rank.
In 2006 Halstead was assigned as the Army's Chief of Ordnance and commander, U.S. Army Ordnance Center and Schools at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. During her tenure, she took part in the planning for the Army's effort to streamline its Ordnance, Transportation and Supply career fields by creating a single Combined Logistics branch. As part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative, this streamlining included the closing of the ordinance center in Abderdeen Proving Ground and its relocation to Fort Lee, Virginia. She retired from the military in June 2008.
Education.
Halstead is a graduate of the Army's Ordnance Officer Basic Course and Ordnance Officer Advanced Course. She obtained a Master of Military Art and Science degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1993, and in 2000 she received a Master of Science degree in national resource strategy from the National War College, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.
Awards and qualification badges.
Halstead's military decorations include: the Distinguished Service Medal; the Defense Superior Service Medal; two awards of the Legion of Merit; the Bronze Star Medal; five awards of the Meritorious Service Medal; two awards of the Army Commendation Medal; and the Army Achievement Medal. She also earned the Air Assault Badge and the Army Staff Identification Badge.
Post-military career.
After her retirement Halstead was elected President of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Association, and joined the Praevius Group, a Virginia-based consulting firm, as Executive Director for Leader Development. She later founded her own consulting firm, Steadfast Leadership. In addition, she is a spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress.
Other honors.
In 2007 Halstead received the National Women’s History Project award for "Generations of Women Moving History Forward." In 2011 she became the first woman to have a room named after her at West Point’s Thayer Hotel. She is also a 2011 inductee of the Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame. In 2013 she was inducted into the New Jersey Women's Hall of Fame. In 2021, Halstead was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.


USS Phoenix (CL-46)

USS "Phoenix" (CL-46), was a light cruiser of the family. She was the third "Phoenix" of the United States Navy. After World War II the ship was transferred to Argentina in 1951 and was ultimately renamed in 1956. "General Belgrano" was sunk during the Falklands War in 1982 by the British nuclear-powered submarine , the only ship to have been sunk in combat by a nuclear-powered submarine during wartime.
She was laid down on 15 April 1935 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey; launched on 13 March 1938; sponsored by Mrs. Dorothea Kays Moonan; and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 3 October 1938, Captain John W. Rankin in command. Her name was in honor of the capital city of the state of Arizona.
Service history.
Shakedown took her to Port of Spain, Trinidad. She continued to Santos, Brazil, then to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Montevideo, Uruguay, and finally to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The new cruiser returned to Philadelphia in January 1939. In March 1939 she transited the Panama Canal for new home port of San Pedro, California. From June 1939 until April 1940, she toured the west coast with port of call in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, California, Portland, Oregon, and points in between. During March 1940 she was en route to Lahaina Roads, Maui and then on to new home port of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
World War II.
Pearl Harbor and convoy operations.
"Phoenix" then operated off the West Coast and was later based at Pearl Harbor. On 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor she was anchored north east of Ford Island near . Observers on board "Phoenix" sighted the rising sun of Japan on planes coming in low over Ford Island and a few seconds later the ship's guns took them under fire. "Phoenix" escaped the disaster unharmed and shortly after noon was underway to join the cruisers and and several destroyers in an impromptu task force searching, unsuccessfully, for the enemy aircraft carriers.
"Phoenix" next escorted the first convoy to the United States from Pearl Harbor after the attack and returned at once with another convoy.
On 12 January 1942 "Phoenix" with two destroyers departed San Francisco escorting the "Australian — Suva" convoy composed of the troopships , for Melbourne and (destined for Suva) in the first large convoy to Australia after Pearl Harbor. Of particular significance this convoy were the troops, fifty crated P-40 fighter aircraft intended for the Philippines and Java, munitions, supplies and the officers selected by the War Department to form the core of what was to become MacArthur's headquarters in the Southwest Pacific Area Command being formed in Australia as United States Army Forces in Australia (USAFIA), known as the "Remember Pearl Harbor" Group. For some time the cruiser operated in Australian waters escorting troop ships, once steaming as far north as Java.
"Phoenix" escorted the United States Army Transport and the Australian transports and , which had been substituted for the withdrawn "Mariposa", as convoy MS.5 leaving Melbourne 12 February for Fremantle and ultimately bound for Colombo, Ceylon with troops and supplies destined for India. At Fremantle the aircraft carrier and merchant vessel joined the convoy with a 22 February departure for Colombo. Of particular note in the cargo of the convoy and specifically that of "Langley" and "Sea Witch" were P-40 aircraft, originally intended for the Philippines, that had been delivered to Australia earlier by "Mariposa" and "President Coolidge" in the convoy escorted by "Phoenix" from San Francisco. The plan had been that on relief of "Phoenix" by a British cruiser in the vicinity of Cocos Island she would escort "Langley" and "Sea Witch" to Java. Instead "Langley" and "Sea Witch" were destined to break with the convoy for Tjilatjap, Java under orders from Admiral Helfrich received the day after departure from Fremantle and proceed independently to deliver their aircraft. "Langley" was attacked and sunk on 27 February. "Sea Witch" successfully made delivery on 28 February just as the results of the Battle of the Java Sea had sealed the fate of the islands. The crated planes delivered were destroyed before assembly to deny them to the enemy. "Phoenix" turned over escort of the Colombo bound ships about 300 miles west of Cocos Island to on 28 February and returned to Fremantle on 5 March 1942.
During the following months, "Phoenix" patrolled in the Indian Ocean, escorted a convoy to Bombay, and was present at the evacuation of Java.
Under the command of Captain Joseph R. Redman, "Phoenix" was a part of Task Force 44 in late 1942. With her accompanying destroyers , and , she participated in Operation Lilliput, alternating with the Australian light cruiser and her accompanying destroyers to cover the convoys south of New Guinea.
"Phoenix" departed Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, for overhaul in the Philadelphia Navy Yard in July 1943 before carrying Secretary of State Cordell Hull to Casablanca. She was then assigned to the 7th Fleet and sailed for the South Pacific.
South Pacific operations.
On 26 December, in company with the cruiser , she bombarded the Cape Gloucester area of New Britain, smashing shore installations in a four-hour shelling. "Phoenix" covered landing forces as they went ashore and furnished support fire against enemy strong points which had not been demolished. On the night of 25–26 January 1944, the ship took part in a night raid on Madang and Alexishafen, New Guinea, shelling shore installations.
"Phoenix" then moved to the Admiralty Islands to support the 1st Cavalry Division in a reconnaissance-in-force on Los Negros Island on 29 February. When the troops went ashore after the prelanding bombardment, enemy resistance was so weak that a withdrawal was not necessary and the island was occupied. General Douglas MacArthur was on board during the course of the operations.
On 4 and 7 March, "Phoenix", "Nashville", and bombarded Hauwei Island (just west of Los Negros Island) of the Admiralty Group. Enemy guns on this island had threatened Allied positions in the Admiralties, particularly on Manus Island; and, although return fire from the beach was heavy, enemy batteries ceased firing when shells from the cruisers burst in their vicinity.
In the Battle of Hollandia, the start of the Western New Guinea campaign, Hollandia was next to fall to the mounting amphibious offensive. This largest assault till then undertaken by American forces, was launched by 200 ships. "Phoenix" shelled the shore in the Humboldt Bay-Hollandia area as the troops went ashore on 22 April, and supported them as they consolidated their gains and prepared for further attacks along the northwest coast of the big island. "Phoenix" shelled the Wakde and Sawar Airfields on the night of 29–30 April to neutralize the danger of air attack on newly-won Allied positions on New Guinea.
General Douglas MacArthur's troops next landed at Arare on 17 May to secure airfields to support further operations in the Netherlands New Guinea area. This beachhead was later extended to include Wakde Island by a shore to shore movement of troops. "Phoenix" bombarded the Toem area and escorted the troops to the landing beach.
The amphibious Battle of Biak followed. There, MacArthur planned to establish a forward base for heavy bombers. With "Nashville" and , "Phoenix" sortied from Humboldt Bay on 25 May and two days later supported the landing. While the task force fired on shore installations, two of the escorting destroyers were hit by shells from shore batteries. "Phoenix" wiped out the gun emplacement with two salvos from her /25 cal batteries.
On 4 June, off the northwest coast of New Guinea, eight Japanese fighter bombers attacked "Phoenix"'s task force. Two confined their attention to "Phoenix". Although the ship's gunfire did not hit the planes, it diverted their bomb runs. Both planes dropped bombs, one of which burst in the water close to "Phoenix", killing one man and wounding four others with fragments. The ship also suffered some underwater leakage and damage to her propellers. The following night, aircraft again attacked "Phoenix". This time, low-flying torpedo bombers struck as she proceeded through Yapen Strait, between Biak and Yapen islands, but her gunfire and evasive tactics prevented damage.
"Phoenix" and her task force frustrated an enemy attempt to reinforce their garrisons on the night of 8–9 June. When they contacted the American ships, the Japanese destroyers turned and fled at such high speed that only one US destroyer division was able to get within firing range. After a running fight of three hours at long range, "Phoenix" and her sisters broke off action.
With "Boise" and ten destroyers, "Phoenix" sortied from Seeadler Harbor in the Admiralties and bombarded shore defenses before American forces landed on Noemfoor Island on 2 July. After the battle, many dead Japanese and wrecked planes were found in the target area assigned to "Phoenix".
"Boise", "Nashville", "Shropshire", "Phoenix" and joined for the occupation of Morotai in the Molucca Islands on 15 September. The cruisers shelled nearby Halmahera Island to cover the landing and protect the assault forces as they went ashore against continuing light opposition.
Philippines campaign.
The long-awaited re-conquest of the Philippines began with the landing on Leyte. "Phoenix", attached to the Close Covering Group, heavily bombarded the beaches before the highly successful landing on 20 October. Her batteries silenced an enemy strong point holding up the advance of a battalion of the 19th Infantry Regiment and continued to furnish effective callfire.
In the battle of Leyte Gulf, "Phoenix" was a unit of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's group which annihilated the Japanese Southern Force in the battle of Surigao Strait. "Phoenix" fired four spotting salvoes, and when the fourth hit, opened up with all of her 6-inch (152 mm) batteries. The target later proved to be , which sank after 27 minutes of concentrated fire from the American fleet. The Japanese also lost and three destroyers in the battle, and American planes sank the next day.
"Phoenix" then patrolled the mouth of Leyte Gulf to protect Allied positions on shore. On the morning of 1 November 1944, ten enemy torpedo-bombers attacked her and accompanying ships. At 0945, "Phoenix" opened fire and five minutes later, was hit by a "kamikaze". Almost at the same instant, hits from "Phoenix"s guns set another plane afire but could not prevent it from diving into the starboard bow of . At 0957, a plane making a torpedo run on "Phoenix" was shot down by the ship's machine-gun fire, but in a few minutes a bomber hit .
After a lull of two and a half hours, more "kamikazes" arrived and, at 1340, scored a hit on the destroyer . Japanese aircraft attacked the other destroyers as they stood by the sinking ship, but "Phoenix" shot down one of the raiders.
"Phoenix" was attacked again by enemy planes on 5 December and was credited with assisting in the destruction of two attackers. Five days later, a "kamikaze" attempted to crash into the ship but was brought down by 40 mm fire when only away. It was at this time "Phoenix" suffered her only wartime fatality.
While proceeding to the assault area off Mindoro on 13 December, the ship was constantly under air attack by single "kamikazes". That day, a lone "kamikaze" hit "Nashville". On 15 December, a 5-inch (127 mm) shell from "Phoenix" brought down a circling plane at . The ship then furnished her usual fire support and covered the landing forces. This gave the Allies a base from which to strike at Japan's shipping lanes through the South China Sea and to soften up Luzon for forthcoming landings.
En route to Lingayen Gulf for the invasion of Luzon, lookouts on board "Phoenix" sighted the conning tower of a diving submarine in the Mindanao Sea off Siquijor. The submarine submerged and fired two torpedoes which "Phoenix" dodged. blew the midget sub to the surface and rammed her.
End of the war.
"Phoenix" covered minesweeping operations at Balikpapan, Borneo, from 29 June to 7 July. Resistance from coastal guns was unusually heavy. Mines and shellfire sank or damaged 11 minesweepers. "Phoenix" furnished supporting fire and the assault waves landed. Next came Bataan and Corregidor, taken from 13–28 February 1945.
"Phoenix" was en route to Pearl Harbor for overhaul when Japan capitulated. She headed home and, upon reaching the Panama Canal on 6 September, joined the Atlantic Fleet. Her status was reduced to in commission, in reserve, at Philadelphia on 28 February 1946.
Argentine service.
She was decommissioned on 3 July 1946, and remained at Philadelphia until sold to Argentina on 9 April 1951. She was commissioned in the Argentine Navy as "Diecisiete de Octubre" (C-4) on 17 October 1951, renamed in 1956, and upgraded in 1967–68 with new Dutch radars and British Sea Cat anti-aircraft missiles. "Belgrano" was sunk during the Falklands War on 2 May 1982 by the British attack submarine , with the loss of 323 lives.


Bergmann Offensive

The Bergmann Offensive (; in Turkish literature , "Battles of Köprüköy and Azap" ; in Russian literature , "Köprüköy operation") was the first engagement of the Caucasus Campaign during World War I. General , commander of I Caucasian Army Corps, took the initiative against the Ottoman Empire.
When war was started, Russian has 25 battalions at Sarikamish, 8 battalions at Oltu, 5 battalions at Kağızman and 5 battalions at Kars. Russian also has 20 cavalry companies. On the other hand, Turks has XI Corps' 2 divisions (18 Battalions) at Hasankale, IX Corps' 28th and 29th Divisions at Erzurum, IX Corps's 17th Division at İspir, XI Corps' 33rd Division at Tutak, 37th Division (6 battalions) at Muş, X Corps' 30th Division at Sivas, 32nd Division at Samsun, 31st Division at Amasya. X Corps didn't participate Bergmann Offensive due to distance. 29th, 33rd and 37th Divisions caught up battle on 11 November and 17th Division on 17 November. Turks initially has 33% infantry advantage (Russian Caucasian Army consist of 45,000 infantry and Turks 60,000) and Russian separated their army carelessly but Turks couldn't use this advantage due to precaution. Russians equalized numbers by starting to bring Turkistan Army Corps on 16 November. Turks obtained 50% infantry advantage by bringing 10th Corps (40,000 infantry) at the beginning of December. This superiority of number encouraged Turks to perform Sarikamish Offensive.
At the outbreak of war, the Russians decided to occupy the Eleşkirt valley as a defensive measure to prevent the incursion of Kurdish Hamidiye units. The Russians considered the Turkish forces to be too weak to mount any offensive before winter weather would make any such offensive impossible, and no other offensive moves were intended by the Russian high command of the Caucasian army – their strategy envisaged an active defense against a locally superior force. However, local Russian commanders had the authority to authorize limited advances.
On 2 November, Bergmann's troops crossed the border in the general direction of Köprüköy. The primary aim was to secure the Eleșkirt valley. On the right flank, 20th Infantry Division under Istomin moved from Oltu in the direction of İd. On the left flank a Cossack division under Baratov moved into the Eleșkirt valley towards Yuzveran, after it crossed the Aras River.
By 5 November Bergmann had completed the objectives expected of him. However, he expanded his mission by ordering further advances into Ottoman territory. By 6 November contact was made between the opposing armies, and heavy fighting continued into the 7th, with temporary Russian successes. Further Russian advances were held in check as a result of heavy fighting between 7 and 10 November. On 11 November Ottoman forces counterattacked and the Russian flanks quickly became at risk, forcing a Russian retreat. By the 12th they had retreated back to the lines they occupied on the 4th, and still at risk of being outflanked, further retreats followed. Only the arrival of Russian reinforcements headed by General Przevalski checked the situation and halted the Russian retreat. On 16–17 November Przevalski crossed the Aras river and at dawn attacked part of the Turkish XI Corps, halting their advance. After two more days the fighting finally petered out.
Russian losses were 1,000 killed and 4,000 wounded, 1,000 men died of exposure(with the Bakinski regiment suffering 40% losses), while Turkish sources claimed that Russian losses were 40,000 killed and wounded, while the Ottomans lost 1,983 men killed, 6,170 wounded, 3,070 were taken prisoner, and 2,800 deserted. Yudenich and his staff were disappointed by the unsuccessful attack. Turkish forces then crossed the border and, advancing into the lower Choruh valley, destroyed on 15 November a Russian column sent to protect the copper mines at Borçka, forcing the Russians to evacuate Borçka, Artvin and Ardanuç. Turkish success during these first engagements encouraged Enver Pasha in his plan to attack at Sarıkamıș.
Muratoff and Allen describe Bergman as "an officer who liked to imitate in appearance and manner the type of the old Caucasian hero-leaders", but who had "none of the qualities which are necessary as a commander; he had no experience of field operations, and was merely blindly obstinate when he thought to show strength of character".
From Turkish Side.
On 1 November, Russian crossed the border and started the move Erzurum. Turks' frontier guards couldn't detect power of Russian forces because they killed, routed or captured abruptly by Russians. 3rd Army commander Hasan İzzet Pasha assumed that Russian offensive with superior forces was started. He ordered XI Corps to retreat Erzurum without learning magnitude of Russian army. XI Corps retreated hastily to Erzurum in two days. Hasan İzzet Pasha sent 2nd Cavalry Division (1300 swords) to exploration. On 4 November, Cavalry Division's commander lieutenant colonel fought against Russian troops successfully in the Köprüköy village. On the same day, Enver Pasha recommended Hasan İzzet to attack and annihilate separately moving Russian troops. For this reason, Hasan İzzet Pasha underestimated Russians and sent back XI Corps in a same hurry. On 6 November, Cavalry Division battled again Russian troops in the Köprüköy and retreated. It detected Russians as 8 infantry battalions and one cavalry regiment.
Hasan izzet planned to rout this vanguard forces and retreat again to Erzurum fortifications. 7 November is rainy and foggy day. Two divisions of XI Corps moved from Hasankale to Russians supposed to be in east of Köprüköy but Russians came to village 10 kilometers northwest of Köprüköy. One regiment of XI Corps fell into Russian heavy rifle and artillery fire. This regiment start to escape irregularly and panic passed other Turk troops. All XI Corps run off to Hasankale. Turk officers regularized XI Corps before long and sent back them to Russians but in this day, Turks couldn't make any progress. Second day Turks forced to retreat Russians from forward trenches. After the victory of 8 November, Hasan İzzet's German chief of staff lieutenant colonel Guse said Hasan İzzet "Best retreat is retreat after gaining success. We have been successful... If Russian attacks us with superior forces, it will be hard to hold in this trenches and retreat to Erzurum". Hasan İzzet accepted Guse's proposal and ordered to write retreat decree. XI Corps commander Galip Pasha said "I will resign if this decree applies. There is no reason for retreat. This decision demoralizes our soldiers". This decree was cancelled and tomorrow more position is captured. Battles continued until 21 November. In the following days, Turks tried to encircle Russians from north with 29th Division and 33rd Division from south. On 17 November, 33rd Division was just 3,000 soldier and defeated by Przevalski's superior forces. 29th Division coincided inconvenient terrain; accordingly, they stopped easily by Russians. Also 29th Division didn't move away much from its main army. In fact, Hasan İzzet make encirclement on paper for convincing Enver.
Willingly Retreat.
On 21 November, Turks regained 30 kilometers but Hasan İzzet decide to retreat 15 kilometers because he take some exaggerated information about Russian troops at side of Narman. He withdrew all armies on the night of 21 November. A terrible blizzard showed up. Hundreds of soldiers die from hypothermia and presence of Turks troops decreased by 50%. Russian couldn't estimate Turks will retreat because Turks have successfully fought for 2 weeks. says "If Russian would make use of this retreat, they could capture all our army by just one cavalry division". IX Corps commander Ahmet Fevzi Pasha criticized Hasan İzzet for this unnecessary retreat. Hasan İzzet Pasha want to approval from Enver Pasha for dismissing of Ahmet Fevzi Pasha by making excuse that "Although he is commanding one of the most privileged Corps of 3rd Army, he is pessimistic about result of the war". Enver Pasha gave the approval and Ahmet Fevzi Pasha was both dismissed and retired. 34th Division commander appointed IX Corps commander by Hasan İzzet Pasha. This retreat caused to intrigue against Hasan İzzet Pasha. Enver Pasha wanted to see the situation on the scene council of ministers suggested that you should stay Istanbul and send a proxy in place of you because you are minister of war and vice-generalissimo. Enver Pasha sent second chief of staff Hafiz Hakki Pasha instead of himself but a few days later he also went to Turkish 3rd Army. This arrivals led to Sarikamish outflanking manoeuvre and pitched battle.