History of Ukraine

Prehistoric Ukraine, as part of the Pontic steppe, has played an important role in Eurasian cultural contacts, including the spread of the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, Indo-European expansion and the domestication of the horse.
Part of Scythia in antiquity and settled by Getae, in the migration period, Ukraine is also the site of early Slavic expansion, and enters history proper with the establishment of the medieval state of Kievan Rus, which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages but disintegrated in the 12th century. After the middle of the 14th century, present-day Ukrainian territories came under the rule of three external powers:
After a 1648 rebellion of the Cossacks against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky agreed to the Treaty of Pereyaslav in January 1654. The exact nature of the relationship established by this treaty between Cossack Hetmanate and Russia remains a matter of scholarly controversy. The agreement precipitated the Russo-Polish War (1654–67) also called The War for Ukraine. In consequence, by the Eternal Peace Treaty, signed in 1686, the eastern portion of Ukraine (east of the Dnieper River) were to come under Russian rule, 146,000 rubles were to be paid to Poland as compensation for the loss of the Right Bank of Ukraine and the parties agreed not to sign a separate treaty with the Ottoman Empire. The treaty was strongly opposed in Poland and was not ratified by the Sejm (parliament of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) until 1710. The legal legitimacy of its ratification has been disputed. According to Jacek Staszewski, the treaty was not confirmed by a resolution of the Sejm until the Convocation Sejm (1764).
After the Partitions of Poland (1772–1795) and the Russian conquest of the Crimean Khanate, the Russian Empire and Habsburg Austria were in control of all the territories that constitute present day Ukraine for a hundred years.
A chaotic period of warfare ensued after the Russian Revolutions of 1917. The internationally recognised Ukrainian People's Republic emerged from its own civil war of 1917–1921. The Ukrainian–Soviet War (1917–1921) followed, in which the bolshevik Red Army established control in late 1919. The Ukrainian Bolsheviks, who had defeated the national government in Kiev, established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which on 30 December 1922 became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. Initial Soviet policy on Ukrainian language and Ukrainian culture made Ukrainian the official language of administration and schools. Policy in the 1930s turned to russification. In 1932 and 1933, millions of people, mostly peasants, in Ukraine starved to death in a devastating famine, known as Holodomor. It is estimated by Encyclopædia Britannica that 6 to 8 million people died from hunger in the Soviet Union during this period, of whom 4 to 5 million were Ukrainians. Nikita Khrushchev was appointed the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party in 1938.
After Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in September 1939, the Ukrainian SSR's territory expanded westward. Axis armies occupied Ukraine from 1941 to 1944. During World War II the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought for Ukrainian independence against both Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1945 the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations. After the death of Stalin (1953), Khrushchev as head of the Communist Party of Soviet Union enabled a Ukrainian revival. Nevertheless, political repressions against poets, historians and other intellectuals continued, as in all other parts of the USSR. In 1954 the republic expanded to the south with the transfer of the Crimea.
Ukraine became independent again when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. This started a period of transition to a market economy, in which Ukraine suffered an eight-year recession. Subsequently, however, the economy experienced a high increase in GDP growth. Ukraine was caught up in the worldwide economic crisis in 2008 and the economy plunged. GDP fell 20% from spring 2008 to spring 2009, then leveled off.
The prolonged Ukrainian crisis began on 21 November 2013, when then-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended preparations for the implementation of an association agreement with the European Union. This decision resulted in mass protests by pro-Europeans – events which became known as the "Euromaidan" or the "Revolution of dignity". After months of such protests, the protesters ousted Yanukovych on 22 February 2014. Following his ousting, unrest enveloped the largely Russophone eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, from where Yanukovych had drawn most of his support. An invasion by Russia of the Ukrainian autonomous region of Crimea resulted in the annexation of Crimea by Russia on 18 March 2014. Subsequently, unrest in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine evolved into a war between the Ukrainians and Russians with pro-Russian Ukrainians. The Ukrainian crisis also very negatively influenced the Ukrainian economy.
Prehistory.
Settlement in Ukraine by members of the genus "Homo" has been documented into distant prehistory. The Neanderthals are associated with the Molodova archaeological sites (43,000–45,000 BC) which include a mammoth bone dwelling. Gravettian settlements dating to 32,000 BC have been unearthed and studied in the Buran-Kaya cave site of the Crimean Mountains.
Around 10,000 years ago the world's longest river emptied glacier melted water through the Don and the Black Sea. From springs in Gobi it flowed along the Yenisei, which was then dammed by northern glaciers. Through the West Siberian Glacial Lake flowed about 10,000 km; It was longer than any river known today.
The late Neolithic times the Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture flourished from about 4500–3000 BC. The Copper Age people of the Cucuteni-Trypillian Culture resided in the western part, and the Sredny Stog Culture further east, succeeded by the early Bronze Age Yamna ("Kurgan") culture of the steppes, and by the Catacomb culture in the 3rd millennium BC.
History.
During the Iron Age, these were followed by the Dacians as well as nomadic peoples like the Cimmerians (archaeological Novocherkassk culture), Scythians and Sarmatians. The Scythian Kingdom existed here from 750 to 250 BC. Along with ancient Greek colonies founded in the 6th century BC on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, the colonies of Tyras, Olbia, Hermonassa, continued as Roman and Byzantine cities until the 6th century.
In the 3rd century AD, the Goths arrived in the lands of Ukraine around 250–375 AD, which they called Oium, corresponding to the archaeological Chernyakhov culture. The Ostrogoths stayed in the area but came under the sway of the Huns from the 370s. North of the Ostrogothic kingdom was the Kiev culture, flourishing from the 2nd–5th centuries, when it was overrun by the Huns. After they helped defeat the Huns at the battle of Nedao in 454, the Ostrogoths were allowed by Romans to settle in Pannonia.
With the power vacuum created with the end of Hunnic and Gothic rule, Slavic tribes, possibly emerging from the remnants of the Kiev culture, began to expand over much of the territory that is now Ukraine during the 5th century, and beyond to the Balkans from the 6th century.
In the 7th century, the territory of modern Ukraine was the core of the state of the Bulgars (often referred to as Old Great Bulgaria) with its capital city of Phanagoria. At the end of the 7th century, most Bulgar tribes migrated in several directions and the remains of their state were absorbed by the Khazars, a semi-nomadic people from Central Asia.
The Khazars founded the Khazar kingdom in the southeastern part of today's Europe, near the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. The kingdom included western Kazakhstan, and parts of eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, southern Russia, and Crimea. Around 800 AD, the kingdom converted to Judaism.
Antes people.
In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Antes Union was located in the territory of what is now Ukraine. The Antes were the ancestors of Ukrainians: White Croats, Severians, Polans, Drevlyans, Dulebes, Ulichians, and Tiverians. Migrations from Ukraine throughout the Balkans established many Southern Slavic nations. Northern migrations, reaching almost to the Lake Ilmen, led to the emergence of the Ilmen Slavs, Krivichs, and Radimichs, the groups ancestral to the Russians. After an Avar raid in 602 and the collapse of the Antes Union, most of these peoples survived as separate tribes until the beginning of the second millennium.
Middle Ages.
Kievan Rus.
As Hrushevsky states, the city of Kyiv was established during the time when area around the mid- and low-Dnipro was the part of the Khazar state. He derived that information from local legends because no written chronicles from that period are left.
In 882, Kyiv was conquered from the Khazars by the Varangian noble Oleh (Oleg) who started the long period of rule of the Rurikid princes. During this time, several Slavic tribes were native to Ukraine, including the Polans, the Drevlyans, the Severians, the Ulichs, the Tiverians, the White Croats and the Dulebes. Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kyiv among the Polanians quickly prospered as the center of the powerful Slavic state of Kievan Rus.
In 941 AD, the prince of Kiev invaded the Byzantine Empire but was defeated in the Rus'–Byzantine War (941).
In the 11th century, Kievan Rus was, geographically, the largest state in Europe, becoming known in the rest of Europe as Ruthenia (the Latin name for Rus'), especially for western principalities of Rus' after the Mongol invasion. The name "Ukraine", meaning "in-land" or "native-land", usually interpreted as "border-land", first appears in historical documents of the 12th century and then on history maps of the 16th century period.
This term seems to have been synonymous with the land of Rus' propria—the principalities of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Pereiaslav. The term, "Greater Rus'" was used to apply to all the lands of entire Kievan Rus, including those that were not just Slavic, but also Uralic in the north-east portions of the state. Local regional subdivisions of Rus' appeared in the Slavic heartland, including, "Belarus'" (White Russia), "Chorna Rus'" (Black Russia) and "Cherven' Rus'" (Red Russia) in northwestern and western Ukraine.
Christianity.
While Christianity had made headway into the territory of Ukraine before the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea (325) (particularly along the Black Sea coast) and, in western Ukraine during the time of empire of Great Moravia, the formal governmental acceptance of Christianity in Rus' occurred in 988. The major promoter of the Christianization of Kievan Rus' was the Grand-Duke, Vladimir the Great ("Volodymyr"). His Christian interest was midwifed by his grandmother, Princess Olga. Later, an enduring part of the East-Slavic legal tradition was set down by the Kievan ruler, Yaroslav I, who promulgated the Russkaya Pravda (Truth of Rus') which endured through the Lithuanian period of Rus'.
Conflict among the various principalities of Rus', in spite of the efforts of Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh, led to decline, beginning in the 12th century. In Rus' propria, the Kyiv region, the nascent Rus' principalities of Halych and Volynia extended their rule. In the north, the name of Moscow appeared in the historical record in the principality of Suzdal, which gave rise to the nation of Russia. In the north-west, the principality of Polotsk increasingly asserted the autonomy of Belarus. Kyiv was sacked by Vladimir principality (1169) in the power struggle between princes and later by Cumans and Mongol raiders in the 12th and 13th centuries, respectively. Subsequently, all principalities of present-day Ukraine acknowledged dependence upon the Mongols (1239–1240). In 1240, the Mongols sacked Kyiv, and many people fled to other countries.
Five years after the fall of Kyiv, Papal envoy Giovanni da Pian del Carpine wrote:
Galicia-Volhynia.
A successor state to the Kievan Rus on part of the territory of today's Ukraine was the principality of Galicia-Volhynia.
Previously, Vladimir the Great had established the cities of Halych and Ladomir (later Volodimer) as regional capitals. This state was based upon the Dulebe, Tiverian and White Croat tribes.
The state was ruled by the descendants of Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh. For a brief period, the country was ruled by a Hungarian nobleman. Battles with the neighbouring states of Poland and Lithuania also occurred, as well as internecine warfare with the independent Ruthenian principality of Chernihiv to the east. At its greatest extension the territory of Galicia-Volhynia included later Wallachia/Bessarabia, thus reaching the shores of the Black Sea.
During this period (around 1200–1400), each principality was independent of the other for a period. The state of Halych-Volynia eventually became a vassal to the Mongolian Empire, but efforts to gain European support for opposition to the Mongols continued. This period marked the first "King of Rus'"; previously, the rulers of Rus' were termed, "Grand Dukes" or "Princes."
14th century.
During the 14th century, Poland and Lithuania fought wars against the Mongol invaders, and eventually most of Ukraine passed to the rule of Poland and Lithuania. More particularly, the lands of Volynia in the north and north-west passed to the rule of Lithuanian princes, while the south-west passed to the control of Poland (Galicia). Also the Genoese founded some colonies in Crimean coasts until the Ottoman conquest in the 1470s.
Most of Ukraine bordered parts of Lithuania, and some say that the name, "Ukraine" comes from the local word for "border," although the name "Ukraine" was also used centuries earlier. Lithuania took control of the state of Volynia in northern and northwestern Ukraine, including the region around Kyiv (Rus), and the rulers of Lithuania then adopted the title of ruler of Rus'. Poland took control of the southeastern region. Following the union between Poland and Lithuania, Poles, Germans, Lithuanians and Jews migrated to the region
Lithuania took control of the state of Volynia in northern and northwestern Ukraine, including the region around Kyiv (Rus), and the rulers of Lithuania then adopted the title of ruler of Rus'. Despite this, many Ukrainians (Then known as Ruthenians) were in high positions of power in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, comprising local rulers, gentry, and even the Lithuanian crown itself (See: Algirdas and Dmytro Dedko). During this time, Ukraine and Ukrainians saw relative prosperity and autonomy, with the Duchy functioning more like a joint Lithuanian-Ukrainian state, with freedom to practice Orthodox Christianity, speak Ukrainian (Especially demonstrated by the significantly low linguistic overlap between the Ukrainian and Lithuanian languages), and continue to engage in Ukrainian culture practices, remaining unabated.
Eventually, Poland took control of the southeastern region. Following the union between Poland and Lithuania, Poles, Germans, Lithuanians and Jews migrated to the region, forcing Ukrainians out of positions of power they shared with Lithuanians, with more Ukrainians being forced into Central Ukraine as a result of Polish migration, polonization, and other forms of oppression against Ukraine and Ukrainians, all of which started to fully take form.
In 1490, due to increased oppression of Ukrainians at the hands of the Polish, a series of successful rebellions was led by Ukrainian hero Petro Mukha, joined by other Ukrainians, such as early Cossacks and Hutsuls, in addition to Moldavians (Romanians). Known as Mukha's Rebellion, this series of battles was supported by the Moldavian prince Stephen the Great, and it is one of the earliest known uprisings of Ukrainians against Polish oppression. These rebellions saw the capture of several cities of Pokuttya, and reached as far west as Lviv, but without capturing the latter.
The 15th-century decline of the Golden Horde enabled the foundation of the Crimean Khanate, which occupied present-day Black Sea shores and southern steppes of Ukraine. Until the late 18th century, the Crimean Khanate maintained a massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East, exporting about 2 million slaves from Russia and Ukraine over the period 1500–1700. It remained a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire until 1774, when it was finally dissolved by the Russian Empire in 1783.
Early modern period.
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
After the Union of Lublin in 1569 and the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Ukraine fell under Polish administration, becoming part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The period immediately following the creation of the Commonwealth saw a huge revitalisation in colonisation efforts. Many new cities and villages were founded. Links between different Ukrainian regions, such as Galicia and Volyn were greatly extended.
New schools spread the ideas of the Renaissance; Polish peasants arrived in great numbers and quickly became mixed with the local population; during this time, most of Ukrainian nobles became polonised and converted to Catholicism, and while most Ruthenian-speaking peasants remained within the Eastern Orthodox Church, social tension rose.
Ruthenian peasants who fled efforts to force them into serfdom came to be known as Cossacks and earned a reputation for their fierce martial spirit. Some Cossacks were enlisted by the Commonwealth as soldiers to protect the southeastern borders of Commonwealth from Tatars or took part in campaigns abroad (like Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny in the battle of Khotyn 1621). Cossack units were also active in wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Tsardom of Russia. Despite the Cossack's military usefulness, the Commonwealth, dominated by its nobility, refused to grant them any significant autonomy, instead attempting to turn most of the Cossack population into serfs. This led to an increasing number of Cossack rebellions aimed at the Commonwealth.
Cossack era.
The 1648 Ukrainian Cossack ("Kozak") rebellion or Khmelnytsky Uprising, which started an era known as the Ruin (in Polish history as The Deluge), undermined the foundations and stability of the Commonwealth. The nascent Cossack state, the Cossack Hetmanate, usually viewed as precursor of Ukraine, found itself in a three-sided military and diplomatic rivalry with the Ottoman Turks, who controlled the Tatars to the south, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, and the Tsardom of Muscovy to the East.
The Zaporizhian Host, in order to leave the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, sought a treaty of protection with Russia in 1654. This agreement was known as the Treaty of Pereyaslav. Commonwealth authorities then sought compromise with the Ukrainian Cossack state by signing the Treaty of Hadiach in 1658, but—after thirteen years of incessant warfare—the agreement was later superseded by 1667 Polish–Russian Treaty of Andrusovo, which divided Ukrainian territory between the Commonwealth and Russia. Under Russia, the Cossacks initially retained official autonomy in the Hetmanate. For a time, they also maintained a semi-independent republic in Zaporozhia, and a colony on the Russian frontier in Sloboda Ukraine.
Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary.
During subsequent decades, Tsarist rule over central Ukraine gradually replaced 'protection'. Sporadic Cossack uprisings were now aimed at the Russian authorities, but eventually petered out by the late 18th century, following the destruction of entire Cossack hosts. After the Partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795, the extreme west of Ukraine fell under the control of the Austrians, with the rest becoming a part of the Russian Empire. As a result of Russo-Turkish Wars the Ottoman Empire's control receded from south-central Ukraine, while the rule of Hungary over the Transcarpathian region continued. Ukrainian writers and intellectuals were inspired by the nationalistic spirit stirring other European peoples existing under other imperial governments and became determined to revive the Ukrainian linguistic and cultural traditions and re-establish a Ukrainian nation-state, a movement that became known as Ukrainophilism.
Russia, fearing separatism, imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate the Ukrainian language and culture, even banning its use and study. The Russophile policies of Russification and Panslavism led to an exodus of a number of Ukrainian intellectuals into Western Ukraine. However, many Ukrainians accepted their fate in the Russian Empire and some were able to achieve a great success there.
The fate of the Ukrainians was far different under the Austrian Empire where they found themselves in the pawn position of the Russian-Austrian power struggle for the Central and Southern Europe. Unlike in Russia, most of the elite that ruled Galicia were of Austrian or Polish descent, with the Ruthenians being almost exclusively kept in peasantry. During the 19th century, Russophilia was a common occurrence among the Slavic population, but the mass exodus of Ukrainian intellectuals escaping from Russian repression in Eastern Ukraine, as well as the intervention of Austrian authorities, caused the movement to be replaced by Ukrainophilia, which would then cross-over into the Russian Empire. With the start of World War I, all those supporting Russia were rounded up by Austrian forces and held in a concentration camp at Talerhof where many died.
Modern history.
17th and 18th-century Ukraine.
Ukraine emerges as the concept of a nation, and the Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival in the mid-18th century, in the wake of the peasant revolt of 1768/69 and the eventual partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Galicia fell to the Austrian Empire, and the rest of Ukraine to the Russian Empire.
While right-bank Ukraine belonged to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until late 1793, left-bank Ukraine had been incorporated into Tsardom of Russia in 1667 (under the Treaty of Andrusovo). In 1672, Podolia was occupied by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, while Kyiv and Braclav came under the control of Hetman Petro Doroshenko until 1681, when they were also captured by the Turks but in 1699 the Treaty of Karlowitz returned those lands to the Commonwealth.
Most of Ukraine fell to the Russian Empire under the reign of Catherine the Great; in 1793 right-bank Ukraine was annexed by Russia in the Second Partition of Poland.
Ukrainian writers and intellectuals were inspired by the nationalistic spirit stirring other European peoples existing under other imperial governments. Russia, fearing separatism, imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate the Ukrainian language and culture, even banning its use and study. The Russophile policies of Russification and Panslavism led to an exodus of a number some Ukrainian intellectuals into Western Ukraine, while others embraced a Pan-Slavic or Russian identity.
Ukraine and the world wars.
Ukraine, which included Crimea, the Kuban, and portions of Don Cossack lands with large Ukrainian populations (along with ethnic Russians, and Jews), tried to break free from Russia after the February 1917 revolution in St. Petersburg. Historian Paul Kubicek states:
Canadian scholar Orest Subtelny provides a context from the long span of European history:
The Ukrainian War of Independence of 1917 to 1921 produced the Free Territory of Ukraine, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (in 1919 merged from the Ukrainian People's Republic and West Ukrainian People's Republic) which was quickly subsumed in the Soviet Union. Galicia, South Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and Carpathian Ruthenia were added as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 and the Soviet victory over Germany in the Second World War, 1939–45.
The Soviet famine of 1932–33, now known as the Holodomor, left millions dead in the Soviet Union, the majority of them Ukrainians not only in Ukraine but also in Kuban and former Don Cossack lands.
The Second World War began in September 1939, when Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland, the Soviet Union taking most of Western Ukraine. Nazi Germany with its allies invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Some Ukrainians initially regarded the Wehrmacht soldiers as liberators from Soviet rule, while others formed a partisan movement. Some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground formed a Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought both Soviet forces and the Nazi. Others collaborated with the Germans. Some 1.5 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during their occupation. In Volhynia, Ukrainian fighters committed a [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia|massacre]] against up to 100,000 Polish civilians. Residual small groups of the UPA-partizans acted near the Polish and Soviet border as long as to the 1950s.
After World War II some amendments to the Constitution of the [[Ukrainian SSR]] were accepted, which allowed it to act as a separate subject of [[international law]] in some cases and to a certain extent, remaining a part of the Soviet Union at the same time. In particular, these amendments allowed the Ukrainian SSR to become one of founding members of the [[United Nations]] (UN) together with the Soviet Union and the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]]. This was part of a deal with the [[United States]] to ensure a degree of balance in the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]], which, the USSR opined, was unbalanced in favor of the Western Bloc. In its capacity as a member of the UN, the Ukrainian SSR was [[List of members of the United Nations Security Council|an elected member]] of the [[United Nations Security Council]] in 1948–1949 and 1984–1985.
The [[Crimean Oblast]] [[1954 transfer of Crimea|was transferred]] from the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]] to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954.
Independence.
[[File:RIAN archive 848095 Signing the Agreement to eliminate the USSR and establish the Commonwealth of Independent States.jpg|thumb|Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and [[President of the Russian Federation]] [[Boris Yeltsin]] signed the [[Belavezha Accords]], [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolving the Soviet Union]], 8 December 1991]]
[[File:Lesser Coat of Arms of Ukraine.svg|thumb|100px|left|The [[coat of arms of Ukraine]], adopted 19 February 1992, show the "tryzub" or "trident", a design proposed in 1917 by [[Mykhailo Hrushevskyi]] for the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]], ultimately based on a symbol stamped on Kievan coins by [[Vladimir the Great]].]]
[[File:Flag of Ukraine.svg|thumb|100px|left|The blue-and-yellow [[Flag of Ukraine]] was introduced on 28 January 1992, based on a flag used in the [[Ukrainian War of Independence]] in 1917/18.]]
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became an independent state, formalised with a [[1991 Ukrainian independence referendum|referendum in December 1991]].
On 21 January 1990, over 300,000 Ukrainians organized a [[human chain (politics)|human chain]] for Ukrainian independence between [[Kyiv]] and [[Lviv]]. Ukraine officially [[Declaration of Independence of Ukraine|declared itself an independent country on 24 August 1991]], when the communist Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine would no longer follow the laws of USSR and only the laws of the Ukrainian SSR, de facto declaring Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union. On 1 December, voters approved a [[1991 Ukrainian independence referendum|referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union]]. Over 90% of Ukrainian citizens voted for independence, with majorities in every region, including 56% in [[Crimea]]. The Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on 26 December, when the presidents of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (the founding members of the USSR) met in [[Białowieża Forest]] to [[Belavezha Accords|formally dissolve]] the Union in accordance with the Soviet Constitution. With this Ukraine's independence was formalized de jure and recognized by the international community.
(Also) on 1 December 1991 Ukrainian voters [[1991 Ukrainian presidential election|first presidential election]] elected [[Leonid Kravchuk]]. During his presidency the [[Ukrainian economy]] [[Economy of Ukraine#Economic growth by years|shrank by more than 10% per year (in 1994 by more than 20%)]].
The presidency (1994–2005) of the 2nd President of Ukraine [[Leonid Kuchma]] was surrounded by numerous corruption scandals and the lessening of media freedoms; including the [[Cassette Scandal]]. During Kuchma's presidency, the economy recovered, with [[GDP]] growth at around 10% a year in his last years in office.
In 2004, Kuchma announced that he would not run for re-election. Two major candidates emerged in the [[2004 Ukrainian presidential election|2004 presidential election]]. [[Viktor Yanukovych]], the incumbent Prime Minister, supported by both Kuchma and by the Russian Federation, wanted closer ties with Russia. The main opposition candidate, [[Viktor Yushchenko]], called for Ukraine to turn its attention westward and aim to eventually join the EU.
In the runoff election, Yanukovych officially won by a narrow margin, but Yushchenko and his supporters alleged that vote rigging and intimidation cost him many votes, especially in eastern Ukraine. A political crisis erupted after the opposition started massive street [[Orange Revolution|protests in Kyiv and other cities]] ("Orange Revolution"), and the [[Supreme Court of Ukraine]] ordered the election results null and void. A second runoff found [[Viktor Yushchenko]] the winner. Five days later, Yanukovych resigned from office and his cabinet was dismissed on 5 January 2005.
During the Yushchenko term, [[Russia–Ukraine relations|relations between Russia and Ukraine]] often appeared strained as Yushchenko looked towards improved [[EU–Ukraine relations|relations with the]] [[European Union]] and less toward Russia. In 2005, a highly publicized [[Russia-Ukraine gas dispute|dispute over natural gas prices]] with Russia caused shortages in many European countries that were reliant on Ukraine as a transit country. A compromise was reached in January 2006.
By the time of the [[2010 Ukrainian presidential election|presidential election of 2010]], Yushchenko and [[Yulia Tymoshenko]] — allies during the Orange Revolution — had become bitter enemies. Tymoshenko ran for president against both Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych, creating a three-way race. Yushchenko, whose popularity had plummeted, persisted in running, and many pro-Orange voters stayed home. In the second round of the election Yanukovych won the run-off ballot with 48% to Tymoshenko's 45%.
During his presidency (2010–2014) Yanukovych and his [[Party of Regions]] were accused of trying to create a "controlled democracy" in Ukraine and of trying to destroy the main opposition party [[Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko]], but both have denied these charges. One frequently cited example of Yankukovych's attempts to centralise power was [[Tymoshenko v. Ukraine|the 2011 sentencing of Yulia Tymoshenko]], which has been condemned by Western governments as potentially being politically motivated.
[[File:Euromaidan Kyiv 1-12-13 by Gnatoush 009.jpg|thumbnail|2014 [[Euromaidan]] protests in [[Kyiv]]]]
In November 2013, President Yanukovych did not sign the [[Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement]] and instead pursued closer ties with Russia. This move sparked [[Euromaidan|protests on the streets of Kyiv]] and, ultimately, the [[2014 Ukrainian revolution]]. Protesters set up camps in [[Kyiv]]'s [[Maidan Nezalezhnosti]] (Independence Square), and in December 2013 and January 2014 protesters started [[2014 Ukrainian Regional State Administration occupations|taking over various government buildings]], first in Kyiv and, later, in [[Western Ukraine]]. [[February 2014 Euromaidan riots|Battles between protesters and police]] resulted in about 80 deaths in February 2014.
Following the violence the Ukrainian parliament on 22 February voted to remove Yanukovych from power (on the grounds that his whereabouts were unknown and he thus could not fulfil his duties), and to free Yulia Tymoshenko from prison. The same day Yanukovych supporter [[Volodymyr Vasylyovych Rybak|Volodymyr Rybak]] resigned as speaker of the Parliament, and was replaced by Tymoshenko loyalist [[Oleksandr Turchynov]], who was subsequently installed as interim President. Yanukovych had fled Kyiv, and subsequently gave a press conference in the Russian city of [[Rostov-on-Don]].
In March 2014, the [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]] occurred. Though official results of a [[2014 Crimean status referendum|referendum]] on reunification with Russia were reported as showing a large majority in favor of the proposition, the vote was organized under Russian military occupation and was denounced by the European Union and the [[United States]] as illegal.
[[File:2014-07-31. Батальон «Донбасс» под Первомайском 29.jpg|thumbnail| [[War in Donbass]], [[Pervomaisk, Luhansk Oblast|Pervomaisk]] City, July 2014]]
The Crimean crisis was followed by [[2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine|pro-Russian unrest]] in [[east Ukraine]] and [[south Ukraine]]. In April 2014 Ukrainian separatists [[self-proclaimed]] the [[Donetsk People's Republic]] and [[Lugansk People's Republic]] and held [[2014 Donbass status referendums|referendums]] on 11 May 2014; the separatists claimed nearly 90% voted in favor of independence. Later in April 2014, fighting between the [[Ukrainian army]] and [[Territorial defense battalion (Ukraine)|pro-Ukrainian volunteer battalions]] on one side, and forces supporting the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics on the other side, escalated into the [[War in Donbass]]. By December 2014 more than 6,400 people had died in this conflict and according to [[United Nations]] figures it led to over half a million people becoming [[internally displaced]] within Ukraine and two hundred thousand refugees to flee to (mostly) [[Russia]] and other neighboring countries. During the same period, political (including adoption of [[Lustration in Ukraine|the law on lustration]] and [[Decommunization in Ukraine|the law on decommunization]]) and economic reforms started. On 25 May 2014, [[Petro Poroshenko]] was elected president in the first round of the presidential election.
By the second half of 2015 independent observers noted that reforms in Ukraine had considerably slowed down, [[corruption in Ukraine|corruption]] did not subside, and the [[economy of Ukraine]] was still in a deep crisis.
By December 2015, more than 9,100 people had died (largely civilians) in the War in Donbass, according to United Nations figures.
On 21 April 2019, [[Volodymyr Zelensky]] was elected president in the second round of the presidential election.
National historiography.
The scholarly study of Ukraine's history emerged from romantic impulses in the late 19th century. The outstanding leaders were [[Volodymyr Antonovych]] (1834–1908), based in Kyiv, and his student [[Mykhailo Hrushevsky]] (1866–1934). For the first time full-scale scholarly studies based on archival sources, modern research techniques, and modern historical theories became possible. However, the demands of government officials—Tsarist, to a lesser degree Austro-Hungarian and Polish, and later Soviet—made it difficult to disseminate ideas that ran counter to the central government. Therefore, exile schools of historians emerged in central Europe and Canada after 1920.
Strikingly different interpretations of the medieval state of Kyivan Rus appear in the four schools of historiography within Ukraine: [[Russophilia|Russophile]], Sovietophile, Eastern Slavic, and [[Ukrainophilia|Ukrainophile]]. The Russophile and Sovietophile schools have become marginalized in independent Ukraine, with the Ukrainophile school being dominant in the early 21st century. The Ukrainophile school promotes an identity that is mutually exclusive of Russia. It has come to dominate the nation's educational system, security forces, and national symbols and monuments, although it has been dismissed as nationalist by Western historians. The East Slavic school, an eclectic compromise between Ukrainophiles and Russophilism, has a weaker ideological and symbolic base, although it is preferred by Ukraine's centrist former elites.
Many historians in recent years have sought alternatives to national histories, and Ukrainian history invited approaches that looked beyond a national paradigm. Multiethnic history recognises the numerous peoples in Ukraine; [[transnational history]] portrays Ukraine as a border zone for various empires; and [[area studies]] categorises Ukraine as part of East-Central Europe or, less often, as part of Eurasia. [[Serhii Plokhy]] argues that looking beyond the country's national history has made possible a richer understanding of Ukraine, its people, and the surrounding regions.
After 1991, historical memory was a powerful tool in the political mobilization and legitimation of the post-Soviet Ukrainian state, as well as the division of selectively used memory along the lines of the political division of Ukrainian society. Ukraine did not experience the restorationist paradigm typical of some other post-Soviet nations, including the [[Baltic states]], although the multifaceted history of independence, the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church|Orthodox Church]] in Ukraine, Soviet-era repressions, [[Holodomor|mass famine]], and World War II collaboration were used to provide a different constitutive frame for developing Ukrainian nationhood. The [[Identity politics|politics of identity]] (which includes the production of history textbooks and the authorization of commemorative practices) has remained fragmented and tailored to reflect the ideological anxieties and concerns of individual regions of Ukraine.
Canadian historiography on Ukraine.
In Soviet Ukraine, twentieth-century historians were strictly limited in the range of models and topics they could cover, with Moscow insisting on an official [[Marxism|Marxist]] approach. However émigré [[Ukrainians in Canada]] developed an independent scholarship that ignored Marxism, and shared the Western tendencies in historiography. [[George W. Simpson]] and [[Orest Subtelny]] were leaders promoting Ukrainian studies in Canadian academe. The lack of independence in Ukraine meant that traditional historiographical emphases on diplomacy and politics were handicapped. The flourishing of social history after 1960 opened many new approaches for researchers in Canada; Subtelny used the [[Modernization theory|modernization]] model. Later historiographical trends were quickly adapted to the Ukrainian evidence, with special focus on Ukrainian nationalism. The new [[Cultural history of the buttocks|cultural history]], [[Postcolonialism|post-colonial studies]], and the "[[linguistic turn]]" augmenting, if not replacing [[social history]], allowed for multiple angles of approach. By 1991, historians in Canada had freely explored a wide range of approaches regarding the emergence of a [[national identity]]. After independence, a high priority in Canada was assisting in the freeing of Ukrainian scholarship from Soviet-Marxist orthodoxy—which downplayed Ukrainian nationalism and insisted that true Ukrainians were always trying to reunite with Russia. Independence from Moscow meant freedom from an orthodoxy that was never well suited to Ukrainian developments. Scholars in Ukraine welcomed the "national paradigm" that Canadian historians had helped develop. Since 1991, the study of Ukrainian [[nation-building]] became an increasingly global and collaborative enterprise, with scholars from Ukraine studying and working in Canada, and with conferences on related topics attracting scholars from around the world.
External links.
[[Category:History of Ukraine| ]]
[[Category:Ukrainian studies]]
[[Category:History of Austria-Hungary|Ukraine]]


Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens

Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens was a consul of the Roman Republic, a "novus homo" ("new man") who was the first consul to come from his plebeian "gens". Volumnius served as consul twice, in 307 BC and 296 BC, both times in partnership with the patrician Appius Claudius Caecus. He took an active role in leading Roman forces during the Third Samnite War.
Background.
According to Roman tradition, membership of the Roman Senate, the city's magistracies, the offices of consul and various religious positions were restricted to patricians. Volumnius was a beneficiary of the Conflict of the Orders, when, during a 200-year struggle, plebeians gradually gained political equality and the right to hold all such offices. The Lex Licinia Sextia of 367 BC had restored the consulship and sought to reserve one of the two consular offices for a plebeian, but in practice this failed to happen until the first election of Volumnius in 307. The Conflict of the Orders was finally resolved in 287 BC, when plebeians gained political equality.
Career.
A new man, Volumnius was the first member of his family to become a consul. John Briscoe says of him "The first plebeian consul known to have presided was L. Volumnius Flamma Violens in 296 ." However, Mario Torelli says "...the famous P Volumnius Flamma Violens, cos. 307 and 296 BC, could be among the (plebeian) descendants of P. Volumnius Amintinus Gallus, cos. 461."
Volumnius served as consul twice, in 307 BC and 296 BC, both times in partnership with the patrician Appius Claudius Caecus.
The Third Samnite War broke out in 298 BC. By the end of its second campaign, the Samnites, led by Gellius Egnatius, seemed defeated, but the next year Egnatius formed an alliance against Rome with Etruria. This had the effect of withdrawing Roman troops from Samnium, which according to Livy's Ab Urbe condita had been assigned to Volumnius as his sphere of action. In 296, a combined Etruscan and Samnite army invaded Campania, but was defeated by the combined armies of Volumnius and Claudius, in a battle near the River Volturnus.
Wife.
Volumnius married Verginia, the daughter of Aulus Verginius, a patrician. She is one of the one hundred and six subjects of Giovanni Boccaccio’s "On Famous Women" ("De mulieribus claris", 1362 AD). In about 295 BC, the patrician "matronae" insulted Verginia by forbidding her access to the ceremony at the shrine of Pudicitia Patricia honouring the female virtue of "pudicitia" (modesty, or sexual virtue), on account of her having married a plebeian. As a result, she erected an altar in her own house to "Plebeia Pudicitia". Boccaccio says: "Beginning at that time, and for long thereafter, the temple of Plebeia Pudicitia was equal in sanctity to the altar of the patricians, since no one could offer a sacrifice in it unless she were of singular chastity and had had only one husband..."


Israeli Bangkok Embassy hostage crisis

The Israeli Bangkok embassy hostage crisis occurred on 28 December 1972. It was a raid by a squad of four Palestinian militants, belonging to the Black September organization, on the Israeli embassy building in Bangkok in which the militants held six Israeli embassy staff hostage. After 19 hours of negotiations, the hijackers agreed to abandon the embassy in exchange for being flown to Egypt.
Attack.
The attack began when two Black September operatives infiltrated a party being held at the embassy. Once these two were inside, two others climbed over the wall with automatic weapons and together the four took over the embassy. They allowed all the Thais to leave but kept six Israelis hostage. Rehavam Amir, the Israeli ambassador, and his wife Avital were attending a ceremony at the royal palace, thus they were not among the hostages and could therefore participate in the negotiations with the militants.
The militants moved their hostages to the second floor of the three storey building and made their demands. The militants demanded that 36 prisoners be released from Israeli prisons, including Kōzō Okamoto and the survivors of the Sabena Flight 571 incident. They threatened to blow up the embassy if these demands were not met by 08:00 on 29 December.
After 19 hours of negotiation, an agreement, subsequently dubbed the "Bangkok solution", was worked out and no-one was injured.
Feeling that the Thai nation's celebration of the investiture of Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn should not be marred by a dispute that did not concern them, the Thai government guaranteed the terrorists safe travel to Cairo while leaving the hostages in the care of the Thais.
The Black September leadership was reportedly upset with the behavior of its operatives in settling the incident.


Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms)

The Later Liang (; 386-403) was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty (265-420) in China. It was founded by the Lü family of the Di ethnicity.
All rulers of the Later Liang proclaimed themselves "Heavenly Prince" ("Tian Wang").


American Sovereignty Restoration Act

The American Sovereignty Restoration Act is a bill that has been introduced by various members of Congress, proposing withdrawal from the United Nations. The most recent iteration is H.R.204, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2019, introduced by Rep. Mike D. Rogers.
History.
The 2007 bill () was authored by U.S. Representative Ron Paul, Republican of the 14th district of Texas, to effect U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations. It would repeal various laws pertaining to the UN, terminate authorization for funds to be spent on the UN, terminate UN presence on U.S. property, and withdraw diplomatic immunity for UN employees. It would provide up to two years for the U.S. to withdraw. The "Yale Law Journal" cited the Act as proof that "the United States’s complaints against the United Nations have intensified."
The bill was reintroduced in 2009 as .
In a letter to Majority Leader Tom DeLay of April 16, 2003, and in a speech to Congress on April 29, Paul requested the repeatedly-bottlenecked issue be voted on, because "Americans deserve to know how their representatives stand on the critical issue of American sovereignty." Though he did not foresee passage in the near future, Paul believed a vote would be good for "those who don't want to get out of the United Nations but want to tone down" support; cosponsor Roscoe Bartlett's spokeswoman similarly said Bartlett "would welcome any action that would begin the debate".
It had 54 supporters in the House in its first year. It was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Discussion.
"National Review" cited the ASRA as an example of grassroots effort "to educate the American people about the efforts of foreign tyrants to disarm them".
On its front page, the Victoria, Texas, "Advocate", a newspaper in Paul's district, expressed pride for the Act in the face of what it called several undeclared "United Nations wars".
Tim Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, finds the bill contrary to United States interests: "This piece of legislation has been brought by Ron Paul every year over the last 20 years and it never goes anywhere."
A policy review of U.S.-Canada relations describes the Act as reflective of "extreme views" held by a minority, but connected support for the bill among congressional Republicans as part of a broader push among Republicans for President George W. Bush "to be even tougher on immigration policy, border issues, regime change and a host of other issues connected with global governance."
Related activity.
The 2002 Republican Party of Texas platform explicitly urged passage of the ASRA; withdrawal from the UN had been on the platform at least since 1998.
Both houses of the Arizona legislature introduced legislation petitioning Congress to pass the ASRA (HCM 2009 in 2004, SCM 1002 in 2006); in 2007 similar legislation passed the Arizona Senate (SCM 1002 in 2007), but with the focus changed from the ASRA to Virgil Goode's Congressional resolution not to engage in a NAFTA Superhighway or a North American Union (, now ).
Advocacy.
In 2000, Tom DeWeese's American Policy Center said it delivered to Congress more than 300,000 signatures from petitions in support of the Act.
An organization calling itself the Liberty Committee also organized a nationwide petition drive asking Majority Leader Tom DeLay to schedule the bill for a vote.


African Group

The Group of African States, or African Group, is one of the five United Nations regional groups and is composed of 54 Member States from the African continent. The African Group is the largest regional group, and compose 28% of all United Nations members
The Group, as with all the regional groups, is a non-binding dialogue group where subjects concerning regional and international matters are discussed. Additionally, the Group works to help allocates seats on United Nations bodies by nominating candidates from the region.
Role.
The Group, as with all the regional groups, plays a major role in promoting the region's interests. It provides a forum for Member States to exchange opinions on international issues, carry out follow-up on the topics that are being discussed in international organisations, build common positions on complex issues and prepare statements reflecting the joint position of the Group.
However, most importantly, the Group allows for the discussion and coordination of support for candidates for different United Nations organisations from the region.
Member States.
The following are the Member States of the African Group:
Representation.
Security Council.
The African Group currently holds three seats on the Security Council, all non-permanent. The current members of the Security Council from the Group are:
Economic and Social Council.
The African Group currently holds 14 seats on the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The current members of the Economic and Social Council from the Group are:
Human Rights Council.
The African Group currently holds 13 seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council. The current members of the Economic and Social Council from the Group are:
Presidency of the General Assembly.
Every five years in the years ending in 4 and 9, the African Group is eligible to elect a president to the General Assembly.
The following is a list of presidents from the Group since its official creation in 1963:


2006 Srinagar bombings

11 July 2006 Srinagar bombings consisted of five grenade attacks by militants, killing 8 people and injuring 43 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
Attacks.
The attack took place within an hour of the departure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's conclusion of a two-day round table conference. The first attack occurred at 11:40 am when a grenade was thrown into a minibus carrying tourists from Bengal. Five people, died and another 10 were injured. The dead included a mother, her son and her daughter-in-law. At 12:40 pm, another grenade was lobbed at a car with a Haryana registration number. Three bystanders were injured. At 1:10 pm, another grenade was thrown at a van carrying tourists in Lal Chowk. One person died and several were injured. A small boy named Hardik lost his leg in the explosion. The last grenade was thrown at a taxi stand at 3:00 pm .
Aftermath.
Mohammad Afzal of the Baramulla district, who allegedly threw the grenade, was caught by onlookers and handed over to the police. He confessed to be a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba These bombings happened on the same day as 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings and were overshadowed by them.
Reaction.
UN secretary general Kofi Annan condemned both the attacks saying "Such Acts Cannot Possibly Be Excused by any Grievance"


Electoral history of Dan Coats

Dan Coats is a politician from the state of Indiana and a member of the Republican Party. He served four terms in the United States House of Representatives, representing Indiana's 4th congressional district from 1981 to 1989. In 1989, he was appointed to the United States Senate by Indiana Gov. Robert D. Orr following U.S. Sen. Dan Quayle's resignation from the Senate due to Quayle's election as Vice President of the United States. Coats served in the Senate from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2011 to 2017. Coats served as the 5th Director of National Intelligence from March 2017-August 2019.
Background.
Coats's political history in Indiana is closely tied to Quayle and former Senator Evan Bayh. Coats immediately succeeded Quayle both in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1981 (following Quayle upset victory over incumbent Sen. Birch Bayh in 1980) and in the U.S. Senate (following Quayle election as Vice President in 1988). Afters Coats decided to not seek re-election in 1998, he was succeeded by Evan Bayh, who reclaimed his father's old Senate seat. Following Bayh's retirement in 2010, Coats was re-elected to his old seat. He did not seek reelection in 2016.


Belturbet bombing

The Belturbet bombing occurred on 28 December 1972 when a car bomb planted by Loyalist paramilitaries exploded in the main street in the border town of Belturbet in County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. The bomb killed two teenagers Geraldine O'Reilly (15) and Patrick Stanley (16). Nobody claimed responsibility for the bombing but security services believe the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out the attack. The attack happened just a few weeks after two people were killed and 127 injured when two car bombs exploded in the centre of Dublin, Republic of Ireland on 1 December 1972.
On the same day as the Belturbet bombing, two other bombs exploded in border counties, the first in Clones, County Monaghan which injured two people and the second in Pettigo in County Donegal which caused no deaths or injuries. The three bombs all exploded within 49 minutes of each other.
Background.
The Troubles broke out in August 1969 after the Battle of the Bogside and the 1969 Northern Ireland riots. Republican paramilitaries such as the Provisional IRA and Official IRA waged military campaigns against the Northern Ireland state and British state forces and Loyalist paramilitaries such as the UVF and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) waged a campaign against the Irish nationalist community and IRA members. From early on in the conflict, violence spilled over into the Republic of Ireland with the UVF planting bombs to sabotage services. The first bomb attack by the UVF in the Republic of Ireland happened at Radio Telefis Éireann (RTÉ) headquarters in Donnybrook on 5 August 1969. On 19 October 1969, a loyalist bomb intended for the hydroelectric power station near Ballyshannon, County Donegal, exploded prematurely, injuring 45-year old UVF member Thomas McDowell, who died two days later. In December 1969 the UVF exploded another bomb outside the Garda central detective bureau in Dublin. The nearby telephone exchange headquarters was suspected to have been the bombers' target. In February 1971 the Wolfe Tone statue at St. Stephen’s Green was destroyed by a Loyalist bomb.
Bombing.
On the night of Thursday 28 December at around 10.30 pm the second in a series of three co-ordinated bombs exploded in a red Ford Escort car at Butler Street, Belturbet, County Cavan; the bomb exploded outside the post office in the main street. Two teenagers, Geraldine O'Reilly who was a local girl, aged 15 and Paddy Stanley, aged 16 from Clara, County Offaly, were killed in the bombing. Eight others were seriously injured in the bomb attack. The bomb was estimated to have contained 100 lb of explosives. The cost of the damage from the bombing was estimated at £200,000; twenty-three houses and fourteen cars in Butler Street were damaged by the force of the blast. Pieces of the bomb car were recovered from a 100-yard radius of the bomb site. Patrick Stanley had been making a phone call in a nearby kiosk when the bomb went off. Geraldine O'Reilly, who was on her Christmas holidays from school, was across the road in Slowey's chip shop waiting to be served when the bomb exploded, where she suffered massive head injuries from flying shrapnel and died instantly.
Geraldine's brother, Anthony, had been waiting for her outside in his car when the bomb went off; he was seriously injured in the blast. His car was parked just 10 feet from the site of the car bomb.
Earlier that night a bomb exploded in a blue Morris 1100 car on Fermanagh Street, Clones, County Monaghan at 10.01 pm seriously injuring two men. A third bomb exploded outside the licensed premises of Hugh Britton at Mullnagoad, in Pettigo, County Donegal. No one was injured but the pub was extensively damaged from the bombing.
The cars used in the attacks had been stolen earlier on that same day in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh and all three bombs were in a radius of 20 miles from Enniskillen.
The car used in the Belturbet bombing had been driven across the border through the unapproved Aghalane crossing at around 9.00 pm to avoid possibly being confronted by Irish security services.
Aftermath.
Loyalist paramilitary attacks in the Republic of Ireland continued throughout much of the 1970s.
Just three weeks later on 20 January 1973 a UVF car bomb exploded in Dublin city, killing one man and injuring fifteen other people. This was the fourth bomb attack in the Republic and third in Dublin within the space of two months.
On 17 May 1974, three car bombs exploded in Dublin and a fourth outside a pub in Monaghan in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. 34 people all of whom were civilians were killed in the attacks and around 300 people injured making it the most deadly day of the conflict.
On 29 November 1975 two bombs exploded at Dublin airport, killing one person and injuring ten others.
On 19 December 1975 a Loyalist car bomb exploded in the border town of Dundalk in County Louth killing two people and injuring 20. Later that same day another Loyalist gang killed three more people in a gun and bomb attack in an Armagh pub.
Nobody was convicted for any of the Loyalist bombings in the Republic of Ireland.
An award-winning documentary on the atrocity, "The Forgotten bomb", was made by Fran McNulty; it featured interviews with the families and locals who remembered the bombing. The programme was broadcast on Shannonside Northern Sound Radio. The journalist won the best regional journalist award in the ESB media awards in 2004 for the programme. Both parents of Patrick Stanley featured in the documentary. The brother of Geraldine O'Reilly, Anthony, who was seriously injured in the attack, also featured. A specially sculptured monument was erected in early 2007 on the site of the bomb, dedicated to these two victims.
Cavan County Council have erected a monument to commemorate their deaths at the site of the bombing. Several memorial services have been held at the monument. The 30th anniversary of the tragedy heard the father of Patrick Stanley, Joe, make a speech at the site, weeks after the death of Patrick's mother.
Interim Report into Dublin Bombings of 1972 and 1973.
A 2004 report into three Dublin bombings & several other bombings in the Republic of Ireland in the 1970's in regards to the Belturbet bombing concluded that:
"The Inquiry is satisfied that Robert Bridges was involved in the bombing of Belturbet and that his group had also been involved in the bombing of Clones and Pettigo on the same date. The basis for this view is the absence of any intelligence pointing to other groups or individuals and the effective cessation of cross-Border attacks in the area following Bridges' imprisonment. ...
Loyalist groups such as the UDA, UVF and UFF had been active in 1972 in Northern Ireland. Even if bombing Dublin might have been assumed to be outside their area of operation, the three bombings on 28 December 1972 at Clones, Belturbet and Pettigo should have brought the possibility to mind. And although rhetoric is a long way from being evidence of an actual intention, it is worth noting that the UDA had recently raised the prospect of an attack on Dublin. In a statement on 14 November 1972, a spokesman at UDA Headquarters claimed responsibility for a number of explosions on the southern side of the border, before continuing:
While on this subject we would like to reiterate our firm intention to strike again across the border not only as reprisals for the IRA campaign here, but also because Jack Lynch is not doing his stuff in dealing with the IRA and is persisting in his claim of sovereignty over all Ireland…
We are prepared to hit Dublin and other cities. So don’t be misled by our activities which so far have been confined to border fringe areas.
At 10.01 p.m. on 28 December 1972 a car bomb exploded in Fermanagh Street, Clones, Co. Monaghan. Two men were seriously injured. At 10.28 p.m. another car bomb exploded on Main Street, Belturbet, Co. Cavan. Two people were killed; eight more were severely injured. Finally, at 10.50 p.m. a bomb exploded outside the licensed premises of Hugh Britton at Mullnagoad, a village near Pettigo, Co. Donegal. No one was injured, although a number of persons had passed the place where the bomb had been set up a few minutes before the explosion occurred.
The victims who died in Belturbet were Patrick Stanley,16 years, of Clara,Co. Offaly, and Geraldine O’Reilly, 15 years, of Drumacon, Belturbet, Co. Cavan.
Patrick Stanley was employed as a helper on a Calor Gas delivery lorry. On this particular evening, there had been a problem with the lorry; he and the driver decided to stay in Belturbet overnight. When the bomb exploded, Patrick Stanley was in the public phone kiosk on Main Street, trying to telephone his parents to tell them he would not be home. He received massive head injuries from flying shrapnel and was killed instantly.
Geraldine O’Reilly had come into town in her brother’s car to get some chips for her family. The bomb car was parked directly opposite the chip shop. The explosion occurred while she was in the shop, waiting to be served. She too sustained massive head injuries and died instantly."


Southern Cameroons Defence Forces

The Southern Cameroons Defence Forces (commonly referred to as SOCADEF) is the armed wing of the African People's Liberation Movement, an Ambazonian separatist movement. It is led by Ebenezer Akwanga, who is based in the United States, and its ground forces were commanded by General Andrew Ngoe. Together with the Ambazonia Defence Forces, it is one of the most prominent militias fighting in the Anglophone Crisis.
SOCADEF has not joined the Ambazonia Self-Defence Council, an umbrella organization created by the Interim Government. However, its political wing, the African People's Liberation Movement (APLM), took part in forming the Southern Cameroons Liberation Council in March 2019, effectively uniting with the Interim Government under an umbrella organization.
On January 24, 2019, General Andrew Ngoe was killed in Matoh, Mbonge.
On March 26, 2020, SOCADEF declared a two-week ceasefire to give people time to get tested for coronavirus.


Rhodes University Library

The Rhodes University Library is committed to the pursuit of knowledge by connecting people to resources that contribute to the intellectual development of future responsible citizens. The overarching goal of Rhodes University Library is to develop and maintain efficient, reliable and responsive library and scholarly communication services that promote, support and enhance the research, teaching and learning endeavours of Rhodes University.
Early historical development.
"Background and research acknowledgement: the following historic detail is largely based on the historic account drafted by Sue van der Riet in November 2010. At the stage of drafting the history, Sue was working as a librarian at Rhodes University Library."
Within a couple of years after the founding of Rhodes University in 1904, a library collection was begun. The bulk of the initial library collection consisted of a gift, in 1907, from H.M. Stationery Office of “some hundreds of massive quarto volumes of The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, et hoe genus omne – the famous ‘Rolls Series”. This was followed by a substantial donation from Gill College, in Somerset East, of the material it had collected to prepare students for the examinations of the old University of the Cape of Good Hope.
Initially housed in the Drostdy, in 1917 the library moved to a rudimentary building vacated by the Department of Botany. Although the environment was not considered a conducive area to house a library, the library continued to occupy the premises for the next 20 years.
The end of the Great Depression enabled the university to build the centre portion of the main block, whose upper floor (under the clock tower) was allocated to the library, into which it moved in 1937. The foundation-stone was laid by Jan Hofmeyer, then Minister of Education, and it dutifully records in elegant Latin that once more the Rhodes Trust had contributed generously to the cost of the building”.
By 1955, the library again found itself facing a critical shortage of space. Not only was the book collection growing at the rate of over 4,000 volumes per year, but “"accommodation for readers was also proving insufficient and the student enrolment seemed set for a steady increase"".
The University Council afforded this predicament high priority, and due to the sound stewardship of its incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Dr Thomas Alty, the university's excellent financial status enabled it to call for tenders for an entirely new library building "on a plan designed to meet the most exacting requirements". This decision was almost certainly influenced by the prospect of the valuable space the library would release once it moved out of the main building as there was a "great shortage of classroom and study accommodation throughout the university".
By the end of March 1958, a site had been identified and purchased. Situated in the heart of the campus, surrounded by residences and academic buildings, it had been "formerly occupied by the Grahamstown Tennis Club, a site agreed by all concerned in planning and building the library as being the ideal one for its new purpose".
Able to accommodate its existing collection of 100,000 books, but with shelving capable of taking double that number, the building would, if filled to capacity, be able to house "perhaps over half a million books". There was seating for 360 readers, with sufficient room to increase this to 500. Declared officially opened on the afternoon of Saturday 8 April 1961 by Lady Schonland, wife of the Chancellor of the University, it was considered one of the finest of its kind in Africa. Together with furniture and equipment, it cost over R200,000.
Affiliated research libraries.
The National English Literary Museum.
Rhodes University Library housed the Thomas Pringle Collection, which later formed the National English Literary Museum, colloquially known as NELM. Launched in 1972 at the instigation of Professor Guy Butler, Karin de Jager recalls that the ""fledgling Thomas Pringle Collection was housed in the only available open space in the Rhodes Library – for unknown reasons dubbed The Priest’s Hole. This was a tiny room, always locked, safeguarding the sorry little Rhodes collection of “banned books". "All too rapidly" wrote Malcolm Hacksley, "the Collection had outgrown its first home and ... it moved from Rhodes University into its present premises in the “Priest’s House” in Beaufort Street." So, in April 1980, rather charmingly, NELM, went from the Priest's Hole to the Priest's House, but retained its links to Rhodes University by becoming an Associated Research Institute of the University.
The Cory Library for Historical Research.
Sir George Cory, in 1931, donated an extensive personal library to the Rhodes University Council, opening the collection for use by the Rhodes community. This collection was, at that time, considered to be the most valuable collection of Africana materials relating to the Eastern Cape. Additional donations received, coupled with physical building challenges, led to Council approving a decision to house the Cory collections in the Eden Grove complex as a separate research facility. The move was completed in 2000.
Post-2000 Developments.
Various developments in the 1990s led to the realisation that the current library building was insufficient to address the needs of the campus community and the ever-increasing collections. After two-and-a-half years of research, consultation and planning, the Rhodes University Council approved plans the expand the library building. Estimated to cost R90 million, Rhodes University was able to allocate R50 million of an R80-million re-capitalisation grant made to the University by the Department of Education.
The development team was tasked with raising the remaining R40 million and a major fundraising programme was initiated. On 22 September 2008, the ceremony marking the turning of the first sod took place and building was underway. On Thursday 4 November 2010, the new and expanded Rhodes University Library was officially opened by the Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande.
Branches libraries and partnerships.
Branch libraries include:
Associated research libraries:
Academic Library Consortia Membership.
Rhodes University Library is part of the SEALS Library Consortium. The members of the consortium are: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Library, Walter Sisulu University Library, Fort Hare University Library, and Rhodes University Library. The South East Academic Library System (at times erroneously referred to as the South East Alliance of Library Systems), better known as SEALS, was conceptualized in 1996 as a regional library cooperative, and fully constituted in 1999 as a regional consortium, under the auspices of the Eastern Cape Higher Education Association (ECHEA) The purpose of SEALS is encapsulated in its vision statement: "The vision of SEALS is to create a virtual library for the Eastern Cape to promote and enhance information literacy, education, research, and economic development for all who need it.""
University librarians.
Prior to the establishment of a formal position of University Librarian or Director: Library Services, a number of individuals acted as honorary university librarians, including:
The role of official librarian was only established after 1937:


Giuseppe Torri

Giuseppe Torri, also known as "Pippo Torri", is a Lombard far-left politician.
Member of the Regional Council of Lombardy for Proletarian Democracy since 1985, he worked at university level and for the Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions. In 1995, he received the nomination for the presidency of the Region by the Communist Refoundation Party. He lost gaining only 8% of the votes.


Later Jin (Five Dynasties)

The Later Jìn (, 936–947), also called Shi Jin (石晉), was one of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in China. It was founded by Shi Jingtang and became a vassal of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty, its protector. After Jin's second ruler, Shi Chonggui, fell out with the Liao, the Liao invaded in 946 and 947, destroying and annexing the Later Jin.
Founding the Later Jin.
The first sinicized Shatuo state,<ref name="http://books.google.se/books?id=SQWW7QgUH4gC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Imperial+China:+900%E2%80%931800&source=bl&ots=j7zwpy_kAh&sig=S4nTOx01EZ7y3AcabOgF68Ivbh0&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=uJ18VMLSI8bIyAOHloDQCQ&ved=0CHYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Imperial%20China%3A%20900%E2%80%931800&f=false"></ref> Later Tang, was founded in 923 by Li Cunxu, son of the Shatuo chieftain Li Keyong. It extended Shatuo domains from their base in Shanxi to most of North China, and into Sichuan.
After Li Cunxu’s death, his adopted son, Li Siyuan became emperor. However, the Shatuo relationship with the Khitans, which was vital to their rise to power, had soured. Shi Jingtang, the son-in-law of Li Cunxu, rebelled against him, and with the help of the Khitan, declared himself emperor of the Later Jin in 936.
The Later Jin founder Shi Jingtang claimed patrilineal Han Chinese ancestry. Noting that Shi 石 is a typical Chinese surname borne by Sogdians, Barenghi (2014) traces Shi Jingtang's origin to the Anqing Shi (安慶石). Anqing was one of the three Shatuo tribes, besides Chuyue (處月) and formerly Türgesh-associated Suoge (娑葛).
In the Later Jin, there were Dukedoms for the offspring of the royal families of the Zhou dynasty, Sui dynasty, and Tang dynasty. This practice was referred to as the two crownings and the three respects (二王三恪).
The Tang Imperial Longxi Li lineage (隴西李氏) also included sub-lineages like the Guzang Li (姑臧李). Li Zhuanmei (李專美) descended from the Guzang Li and served the Later Jin.
Territory.
The Later Jin held essentially the same territories as the Later Tang, except for Sichuan, which had been lost by the Later Tang in its waning years and had become independent as Later Shu.
The other major exception was a region known as the Sixteen Prefectures. By this time in history, the Khitan had formed the Liao dynasty out of their steppe base. They had also become a major power broker in North China. They forced the Later Jin to cede the strategic Sixteen Prefectures to the Liao. Consisting of a region about 70 to 100 miles wide and including modern-day Beijing and points westward, it was considered a highly strategic region, and gave the Liao even more influence in North China.
Relations with the Khitan.
The Later Jin had often been described as a puppet of the emerging Liao dynasty. The help of their powerful northern neighbors was vital in the formation of the Later Jin. The cession of the Sixteen Prefectures led to their derision as being the servants of the Khitan.
After the death of the founder of the dynasty, Shi Jingtang, his nephew, adopted son and successor Shi Chonggui defied the Liao, resulting in the latter invading in 946 and 947, resulting in the destruction of the Later Jin.
After the Liao conquest of the Later Jin, the Liao took the dynastic element Water, which follows from the Later Jin's dynastic element Metal, according to the theory of Five Elements (wuxing).


Karl Radek

Karl Berngardovich Radek (; 31 October 1885 – 19 May 1939) was a Marxist active in the Polish and German social democratic movements before World War I and an international Communist leader in the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution.
Early life.
Radek was born in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (now Lviv in Ukraine), as Karol Sobelsohn, to a Jewish Litvak family; his father, Bernhard, worked in the post office and died whilst Karl was young. He took the name "Radek" from a favourite character, "Andrzej Radek", in "Syzyfowe prace" ('The Labors of Sisyphus', 1897) by Stefan Żeromski.
Radek joined the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) in 1904 and participated in the 1905 Revolution in Warsaw, where he had responsibility for the party's newspaper "Czerwony Sztandar".
Germany and "the Radek Affair".
In 1907, after his arrest in Poland and his escape from custody, Radek moved to Leipzig in Germany and joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), working on the Party's "Leipziger Volkszeitung". He re-located to Bremen, where he worked for "Bremer Bürgerzeitung", in 1911, and was one of several who attacked Karl Kautsky's analysis of imperialism in "Die Neue Zeit" in May 1912.
In September 1910, Radek was accused by members of the Polish Socialist Party of stealing books, clothes and money from party comrades, as part of an anti-semitic campaign against the SDKPiL. On this occasion, he was vigorously defended by the SDKPiL leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Leo Jogiches. The following year, however, the SDKPiL changed its course, partly because of a personality clash between Jogiches and Vladimir Lenin, during which younger members of the party, led by Yakov Hanecki, and including Radek, had sided with Lenin. Wanting to make an example of Radek, Jogiches revived the charges of theft, and convened a party commission in December 1911 to investigate. He dissolved the commission in July 1912, after it had failed to come to any conclusion, and in August pushed a decision through the party court expelling Radek. In their written finding, they broke his alias, making it — he claimed — dangerous for him to stay in Russian occupied Poland.
In 1912 August Thalheimer invited Radek to go to Göppingen (near Stuttgart) to temporarily replace him in control of the local SPD party newspaper "Freie Volkszeitung", which had financial difficulties. Radek accused the local party leadership in Württemberg of assisting revisionists to strangle the newspaper due to the paper's hostility to them. The 1913 SPD Congress noted Radek's expulsion and then went on to decide in principle that no-one who had been expelled from a sister-party could join another party within the Second International and retrospectively applied this rule to Radek. Within the SPD Anton Pannekoek and Karl Liebknecht opposed this move, as did others in the International such as Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin, some of whom participated in the "Paris Commission" set up by the International.
World War I and the Russian Revolution.
After the outbreak of World War I Radek moved to Switzerland where he worked as a liaison between Lenin and the Bremen Left, with whom he had close links from his time in Germany, introducing him to Paul Levi at this time. He took part in the Zimmerwald Conference in 1915, siding with the left.
During World War I, Radek engaged in polemics with Vladimir Lenin over the subject of the Irish Easter Rising of 1916; while Lenin was strongly enthusiastic about the Rising, seeing it as a blow to English imperialism, Radek disagreed. Basing his view on Theodore Rothstein (a Jewish emigre from the Russian Empire, living in London), he claimed that, what he called the "Sinn Féin movement" was petit-bourgeois and that the backbone of earlier rebellions in Ireland, the peasant farmer, had been placated at the start of the century by England. In his article "The End of a Song", Radek claimed efforts to restore the Irish language to official status were flawed because it was "medieval". Leon Trotsky held a view halfway between Radek and Lenin.
In 1917 Radek was one of the passengers on the sealed train that carried Lenin and other Russian revolutionaries through Germany after the February Revolution in Russia. However, he was refused entry to Russia and went on to Stockholm, where he produced German-language versions of Bolshevik documents and other information translated from Russian, which he published in the journals "Russische Korrespondenz-Pravda" and "Bote der Russischen Revolution".
After the October Revolution and the onset of the Russian Civil War, Radek arrived in Petrograd and became Vice-Commissar for Foreign Affairs, taking part in the Brest-Litovsk treaty negotiations, as well as being responsible for distribution of Bolshevik propaganda amongst German troops and prisoners of war. During the discussions around signing the treaty, Radek was one of the advocates of a revolutionary war.
Comintern and the German Revolution.
After being refused recognition as an official representative of the Bolshevik regime, Radek and other delegates — Adolph Joffe, Nikolai Bukharin, Christian Rakovsky and Ignatov — traveled to the German Congress of Soviets. After they were turned back at the border, Radek alone crossed the German border illegally in December 1918, arriving in Berlin on 19 or 20 December, where he participated in discussions and conferences leading to foundation of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Radek was arrested after the Spartacist uprising on 12 February 1919 and held in Moabit Prison until his release in January 1920. While he was in Moabit, attitude of the German authorities towards the Bolsheviks changed. The idea of creating an alliance of nations that had suffered from the Versailles treaty — principally Germany, Russia and Turkey — gained currency in Berlin, as a result of which Radek was allowed to receive a stream of visitors in his prison cell, including Walter Rathenau, Arthur Holitscher, Enver Pasha, and Ruth Fischer.
On his return to Russia Radek became the Secretary of the Comintern, taking the main responsibility for German issues. He was removed from this position after he supported the KPD in opposing inviting representatives of the Communist Workers' Party of Germany to attend the 2nd Congress of the Comintern, pitting him against the Comintern's executive and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was Radek who took up the slogan of Stuttgart communists of fighting for a united front with other working-class organisations, that later formed the basis for the strategy developed by the Comintern.
In mid-1923, Radek made his controversial speech 'Leo Schlageter: The Wanderer into the Void' at an open session of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI). In the speech he praised the actions of the German Freikorps officer Leo Schlageter who had been shot whilst engaging in sabotage against French troops occupying the Ruhr area; in doing so Radek sought to explain the reasons why men like Schlageter were drawn towards the far right, and attempted to channel national grievances away from chauvinism and towards support of the working movement and the Communists.
Although Radek was not at Chemnitz when the decision to cancel the uprising in November 1923 took place at the KPD Zentrale, he subsequently approved the decision and defended it.
At subsequent congresses of the Russian Communist Party and meetings of the ECCI, Radek and Brandler were made the scapegoats for the defeat of the revolution by Zinoviev, with Radek being removed from the ECCI at the Fifth Congress of the Comintern.
Into the Left Opposition.
Radek was part of the Left Opposition from 1923, writing his article 'Leon Trotsky: Organizer of Victory' shortly after Lenin's stroke in January of that year. Later in the year at the Thirteenth Party Congress Radek was removed from the Central Committee.
In the summer of 1925, Radek was appointed Provost of the newly established Sun Yat-Sen University in Moscow, where he collected information for the opposition from students about the situation in China and cautiously began to challenge the official Comintern policy. However, the terminal illness of Radek's lover, Larisa Reisner, saw Radek lose his inhibitions and he began publicly criticising Stalin, in particular debating Stalin's doctrine of Socialism in One Country at the Communist Academy. Radek was sacked from his post at Sun Yat-Sen University in May 1927.
Radek was expelled from the Party in 1927 after helping to organise an independent demonstration on the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution with Grigory Zinoviev in Leningrad.In early 1928, when prominent oppositionists were deported to various remote locations within the Soviet Union, Radek was sent to Tobolsk and a few months later moved on to Tomsk.
After the Opposition and Show Trials.
On 10 July 1929, Radek, alongside other oppositionists Ivar Smilga and Yevgeni Preobrazhensky, signed a document capitulating to Stalin, with Radek being held in particular disdain by oppositionist circles for his betrayal of Yakov Blumkin, who had been carrying a secret letter from Trotsky, in exile in Turkey, to Radek. However, he was re-admitted in 1930 and was one of the few former oppositionists to retain a prominent place within the party, heading the International Information Bureau of the Russian Communist Party Central Committee as well as giving the address on foreign literature at the First Conference of the Union of Soviet Writers in 1934. In that speech, he denounced Marcel Proust and James Joyce. He said that "in the pages of Proust, the old world, like a mangy dog no longer capable of any action whatever, lies basking in the sun and endlessly licks its sores" and compared Joyce's "Ulysses" to "a heap of dung, crawling with worms, photographed by a cinema apparatus through a microscope." Later in his life he adopted a position that the soviet government should be close to Germany. In 1934 he was interviewed by a German politician, at which both of them deplored the hostile drift of their respective governments, and Radek made a controversial remark: "“There are some fine lads in the SA and SS."” In 1936 he congratulated General Ernst Köstring on the day Germany occupied the Rhineland, along with Mikhail Tukhachevsky. He helped to write the 1936 Soviet Constitution but, during the Great Purge of the 1930s, he was accused of treason and confessed, after two and a half months of interrogation, at the Trial of the Seventeen in 1937, the so-called Second Moscow Trial. He was sentenced to 10 years of penal labor.
He was reportedly killed in a labor camp in a fight with another inmate on Stalin’s orders. Radek has been credited with originating a number of political jokes about Joseph Stalin. He was exonerated by the Soviet government in 1988.


Killing of Sergeant Almog Shiloni

Sergeant Almog Shiloni of the Israeli Defense Force was killed on 10 November 2014 after he was stabbed multiple times at Tel Aviv HaHagana Railway Station. He died in hospital from his wounds. Shiloni was off-duty, but in uniform and armed at the time.
The attack was one of a spate of attacks on Israelis during 2014 often cited as a series, and sometimes regarded as an incipient intifada.
Attack.
Shiloni, aged 20, from Modi'in, was stabbed at the Haganah Railway Station in southern Tel Aviv, after a struggle with a Palestinian who attempted to grab his rifle. Passerby Gilad Goldman intervened, attacking the assailant and stopping him from grabbing the rifle. Shiloni was on the phone with his girlfriend when he was attacked and stabbed in the stomach and chest several times. Shiloni sustained massive blood loss and succumbed to his wounds at the Tel HaShomer Medical Center in Ramat Gan. A bystander punched the attacker. The attacker was chased and eventually taken into custody by Israeli police.
Nur al-Din Abu Khashiyeh was indicted on charges of entering Israel illegally on 9 November, the day before the attack, and of having intended to kill Shiloni, take his gun, and use the weapon to kill more Jews. Some days after the attack, the suspect walked with police investigators along the route he took on the day of the attack, showing them where he purchased a knife in a flea market, and the route to the site of the murder. The attack was referenced in news reports as part of a series of attacks on Israelis, that, following years of relative calm, included the murder of Shelly Dadon in May, the June kidnapping and murder of 3 teenage boys, a vehicular attack in August, another vehicle attack in October and a third in November, the attempted assassination of an Israeli political activist, a combined ramming/stabbing attack that took place on the same day as Shilonis' murder, and a massacre in a synagogue November 18 in Jerusalem.
Victim.
Shiloni was serving in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion; he was a graduate of the Battalion's first Platoon Commanders' Course, and served in the Battalion's Negev Defenders' section. He was a member of a Nahal Haredi נחל החרדי unit.
Shiloni had a twin brother, Sahar. Over 1,000 people attended Almog Shiloni's funeral at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery.
Suspected perpetrator.
The perpetrator, was 18-year-old Nur al-Din Abu Khashiyeh, a resident of Askar refugee camp in the West Bank and an illegal immigrant to Israel from the Palestinian territories. Described by a witness as a "big man," Khashiyeh had been working "for months" on a Tel Aviv construction project near the scene of the killing. He was captured after bystanders directed police to a nearby apartment building where he was hiding; he was transferred to the Shin Bet security services for interrogation.
According to the text of the indictment, the attacker entered Israel intending to kill a soldier so that he could "become a martyr."
He was sentenced to life in prison.
Reaction.
Husam Badran, a senior Hamas leader based in Doha, Qatar, lauded the attack saying "(It) is part of a welcome plan that reflects the tenacity of our people to resist the occupation and move against the crimes (committed) in al-Aqsa and in Jerusalem." Islamic Jihad also lauded the attack.
According to CNN, the attack came "amid simmering tensions... between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas". According to "The New York Times", the attack, which followed a series of Palestinian riots and attacks, "shook Israelis’ sense of security and heightened concern about a new Palestinian intifada".
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately convened the Security Cabinet, ordering some troops to switch from training maneuvers to active duty protecting roads from rioters and "terrorists". In it, he accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting Palestinian and Israeli Arabs by spreading lies.
The stabbing prompted calls to crack down on illegal immigration from the Palestinian Authority to Israel. MK Moti Yogev called on the government to prevent illegal Arab migrants from receiving work permits, and to pass a bill monitoring employers and punishing them if they hire illegal immigrant workers.
The United States condemned the stabbing.


History of canals in China

The history of canals in China connecting its major rivers and centers of agriculture and population extends from the legendary exploits of Yu the Great in his attempts control the flooding of the Yellow River to the present infrastructure projects of the People's Republic of China. From the Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th centuriesBCE) onward, the canals of China were used for army transportation and supply, as well as colonization of new territories. From the Qin (3rd century BCE) to the Qing (17th–20th centuriesCE), China's canal network was also essential to imperial taxation-in-kind. Control of shipbuilding and internal tariffs were also administered along the canals.
History.
Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
In 647BCE, the State of Jin suffered major crop failure. Duke Mu of Qin despatched a large fleet of ships manned by Corvée labour from his capital at Yong (雍) in modern-day Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province. The ships carried several thousands of tons of cereal and proceeded along the Wei, Yellow and Fen Rivers before arriving at the Jin capital Jiang (绛) (south east of modern-day Yicheng County, Shanxi Province).
Later, in 486BCE, King Fuchai of Wu linked the Yangtze and Huai Rivers by excavating the Han Ravine (邗沟) so that water flowed from the Yangtze through the Lakes Fanliang (樊梁湖), Bozhi (博芝湖) and Sheyang (射阳湖) into the Wei at Huai'an. This waterway was subsequently used to transport provisions for the army. Three years afterwards King Fuchai further extended the Han Ravine via the Heshui Canal (荷水运河) to connect with the Si River in Shandong Province.
Qin dynasty.
In 214BCE the first Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered the construction of a canal connecting the Xiang River and the Lijiang in order to supply his troops for an attack on the Xiongnu nomads. Designed by Shi Lu (史祿), the resulting Lingqu Canal is the oldest contour canal in the world. This canal along with the Zhengguo Canal in Shaanxi Province and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System in Sichuan Province are known as “The three great hydraulic engineering projects of the Qin dynasty”.
Han dynasty.
During the Chu–Han Contention (206–202BCE), General Xiao He used the Wei River to transport provisions for his army, thereby creating an effective logistics supply network. In 129BCE, the sixth year of Emperor Wu, a canal was cut through the northern foothills of the Qin Mountains running parallel to the Wei River linking Tong Pass with Chang’an and greatly reducing the amount of time needed to transport goods between the two cities.
Sui and Tang dynasties.
Although the Sui dynasty lasted only 37 years from 581 until 618, its rulers made a major contribution to improving the canal system. The Grand Canal became a major factor in economic growth and political unity by connecting north and south, allowing transport of tax grain and control of the sale of salt. The Hai, Yellow, Huai, Yangtze and Qiantang Rivers were all interlinked through the construction of canals thus laying the groundwork for further development during later dynasties. These were the Guangtong Canal (廣通渠), Tongji Canal (通濟渠), Shanyang Channel (山陽瀆) and Yongji Canal (永濟渠) which formed the basis of a large scale canal based transport network. <br>
At the time of Emperor Jingzong of Tang (r. 824–827) the canal system had become too shallow. This restricted the movement of salt and iron which were important government monopolies so to solve the problem seven rivers were diverted to the east.
Song dynasty.
During the Song dynasty the capital Daliang (大梁), modern day Kaifeng, used the Bian Yellow, Huimin (惠民河) and Guangji (广济河) Rivers as part of the canal network. In 976 CE during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song more than 55 million bushels of grain were moved along the Bian River to the capital. By the time of Emperor Renzong of Song (r. 1022–763) the amount had increased to 80 million bushels.
Yuan dynasty.
The Yuan Dynasty saw the establishment of a government body in the form of a ""Si" (司) near the capital to oversee the canal system. Known as the Huai & Yangtze Rivers Grain Transport Office, (江淮都漕运司) this was an offshoot of the Three Departments and Six Ministries of the administrative third grade or "San Pin"" (三品). This office was responsible for arranging grain transportation to the Luan River (滦河) then onwards to the capital at Dadu (modern day Beijing) using more than 3,000 boats. Sea-based transportation within the grain taxation system was also important with canals playing a subsidiary role.
Ming dynasty.
In 1368, the first year of the reign of the Ming Hongwu Emperor, the Capital Grain Transport Office (京畿都漕运司) was established under the auspices of a fourth grade (四品) commissioner. At the same time, the canal system's governor-general's office was set up in the prefectural capital of Huai'an, Jiangsu Province. Its responsibilities were to manage the canal network and ensure that annual grain shipments remained at around 40 million tons. Boatyards were also established in Anqing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiujiang, Zhangshu and Raozhou (饶州) (modern day Poyang County). At Huai'an, a boatyard northwest of the Yangtze River ran for a distance of 23 Chinese miles (c. . Overall responsibility for all these locations lay with a department of the Ministry of Works.
Every year, regulations fixed the total amount of tax payable by the entire country in grain via the canal system at 29.5 million bushels. Of this, 12 million bushels were allocated to local governments, 8 million bushels supported the army on the northern border, 1.2 million bushels went to the capital in Nanjing whilst 8.2 million bushels were used to supply Beijing.
From 1415 onwards, imperial regulations stated that the grain taxation system should use only the country's canal network; thereafter all seaborne transportation stopped. This situation remained virtually unchanged until the beginning of the 19th century and as a result, during both the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the volume of the grain tax transported via the Grand Canal far exceeded that of the preceding Yuan Dynasty.
During the Ming dynasty the usage pattern of the canal system went through three successive phases. At first the ""zhiyun" (支运) variant evolved as grain tax transportation switched from the sea to the country's canal and river network. At Huai’an, Xuzhou, Linqing and other locations, warehouses were established to store taxes paid in grain and delivered by the local population. This was then shipped north to provision the army once every quarter. Storage became unnecessary with the advent of the "duiyun"" (兑运) form where taxes paid by the common people were partly used to directly pay the transportation fees for army supplies on the journey north. During the third stage known as ""changyun" (长运) or "gaidui"" (改兌), the army took responsibility for the movement of grain from south of the Yangtze River.
According to Ming dynasty scholar Qiu Jun (邱濬): “Use of the river and canal network saved 30–40% of costs compared to road transportation whereas the savings achieved using sea-borne transport were 70%–80%.”
Qing dynasty.
Although the Qing dynasty continued to use the existing canal system it had numerous disadvantages and caused the government many headaches. In 1825 during the reign of the Daoguang Emperor a maritime shipping office was established in Shanghai with a grain tax receiving station at Tianjin. Qishan and other senior ministers thereafter managed the first grain shipments by sea. Operations in Tianjin quickly grew to outstrip those based in Linqing, Shandong Province. Before the First Opium War of 1839–42 and the Second Opium War (1856–60), yearly grain-tax maritime shipments reached around 4 million bushels of grain per annum.
A series of events towards the end of the Qing dynasty led to the ultimate decline of the canal system:
People's Republic.
During the Great Leap Forward, the Red Flag Canal was built entirely by hand as an irrigation canal diverting water from the Zhang River to fields in Linzhou in northern Henan. Completed in 1965, the main channel is long, winding around the side of a cliff and through 42 tunnels. It was celebrated within China and was the subject of several movies, including a section of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1972 documentary "Chung Kuo".
The South–North Water Transfer Project is still ongoing, with the central route completed in 2014.