National Volunteers

The National Volunteers was the name taken by the majority of the Irish Volunteers that sided with Irish Parliamentary Party leader John Redmond after the movement split over the question of the Volunteers' role in World War I.
Origins.
The National Volunteers were the product of the Irish political crisis over the implementation of Home Rule in 1912–14. The Third Home Rule Bill had been proposed in 1912 (and was subsequently passed in 1914) under the British Liberal government, after a campaign by John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party. However, its implementation was delayed in the face of mass resistance by Irish Unionists. This had begun with the introduction of the bill into Parliament, when thousands of unionists signed the "Ulster Covenant", pledging to resist Home Rule. In 1913 they formed the Ulster Volunteers (UVF), an armed wing of Ulster Unionism and organised locally by the Orange Order; the Ulster Volunteers stated that they would resist Home Rule by force.
In response, Nationalists formed their own paramilitary group, the Irish Volunteers, at a meeting held in Dublin on 25 November 1913; the purpose of this new organisation was to safeguard the granting and implementation of Home Rule. It looked for several months in 1914 as if civil war was imminent between the two armed factions, with the British Army known to be reluctant to intervene against Ulster armed opposition to Home Rule's coming into operation. While Redmond took no role in the creation of the Irish Volunteers, when he saw how influential they had become he realised an independent body of such magnitude was a threat to his authority as leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and therefore sought control of the organisation.
Eoin MacNeill, along with Sir Roger Casement and other leaders of the Irish Volunteers, had indeed sought Redmond's approval of and input in the organisation, but did not want to hand control over to him. In June 1914, the Volunteer leadership reluctantly agreed, in the interest of harmony, to permit Redmond to nominate half of the membership of the Volunteer Executive; as some of the standing members were already Redmondites, this would make his supporters a majority of the Volunteers' leadership. The motion was bitterly opposed by the radical members of the committee (mostly members of the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood), notably Patrick Pearse, Seán Mac Diarmada, and Éamonn Ceannt, but was carried nevertheless to prevent a split. With the support of the Irish Party the Volunteer organisation grew dramatically.
Great War split.
Following the outbreak of World War I in August, and the successful placement of the Home Rule Act on the statute books (albeit with its implementation formally postponed), Redmond made a speech in Woodenbridge, County Wicklow on 20 September, in which he called for members of the Volunteers to enlist in an intended Irish Army Corps of Kitchener's New British Army. He pledged his support to the Allied cause, saying in his address:
"The interests of Ireland — of the whole of Ireland — are at stake in this war. This war is undertaken in the defence of the highest principles of religion and morality and right, and it would be a disgrace for ever to our country and a reproach to her manhood and a denial of the lessons of her history if young Ireland confined their efforts to remaining at home to defend the shores of Ireland from an unlikely invasion, and to shrinking from the duty of proving on the field of battle that gallantry and courage which has distinguished our race all through its history. I say to you, therefore, your duty is twofold. I am glad to see such magnificent material for soldiers around me, and I say to you: "Go on drilling and make yourself efficient for the Work, and then account yourselves as men, not only for Ireland itself, but wherever the fighting line extends, in defence of right, of freedom, and religion in this war"".
Redmond's motives were twofold. Firstly, he felt it was in the future interest of an All-Ireland Home Rule settlement to support the British war cause, joining together with the Ulster Volunteers who offered immediate support by enlisting in the 36th (Ulster) Division. Secondly, he hoped that the Volunteers, with arms and training from the British, would become the nucleus of an Irish Army after Home Rule was implemented. He reminded the Irish Volunteers that when they returned after an expected short war at the end of 1915, they would be an army capable of confronting any attempt to exclude Ulster from the operation of the Government of Ireland Act.
Militant nationalists reacted angrily against Redmond's support for the war, and nearly all of the original leaders of the Volunteers grouped together to dismiss his appointees. However, the great majority of the Volunteers supported Redmond, and became known as the National Volunteers.
Recruitment for World War I.
The vast majority of the Volunteer membership remained loyal to Redmond, bringing some 142,000 members to the National Volunteers, leaving the Irish Volunteers with just a rump, estimated at 9,700 members. Many other Irish nationalists and parliamentary leaders, such as William O'Brien MP, Thomas O'Donnell MP, Joseph Devlin MP, and The O'Mahony, sided with Redmond's decision and recruited to support the British and Allied war effort. Five other MPs, J. L. Esmonde, Stephen Gwynn, Willie Redmond, William Redmond, and D. D. Sheehan, as well as former MP Tom Kettle, joined Kitchener's New Service Army during the war.
Many Irishmen enlisted voluntarily in Irish regiments of the New British Army, forming part of the 10th (Irish) and 16th (Irish) Divisions. Out of a National Volunteer membership of about 150,000, roughly 24,000 (about 24 battalions) were to join those Divisions for the duration of the war. Another 7,500 joined reserve battalions in Ireland. The National Volunteers were therefore a minority among the 206,000 Irishmen who served as volunteers for the British Army in the war, and so failed to constitute a nascent Irish Army as Redmond had hoped. Recruiting for the war among the National Volunteers, after an initial burst of enthusiasm, proved rather sluggish. According to historian Fergus Campbell, "most of the members of the National Volunteers were farmers' sons, and members of this social group were reluctant to join the colours". A police report of late 1914 commented: "Though the large majority of the nominal National Volunteers approve of Mr. Redmond's pronouncement, only very few will enlist". A contemporary writer felt that, "at the back of it was a vague feeling that to fight for the British Empire was a form of disloyalty to Ireland.
Moreover, Redmond's hopes for an Irish Army Corps were also to end in disappointment for him. Instead, a New Army 16th (Irish) Division was created. The Division was largely officered by Englishmen (an exception was William Hickie, an Irish born general), which was not a popular decision in nationalist Ireland. This outcome was in part due to the lack of trained Irish officers; the few trained officers had been sent to the 10th Division, and those still available had been included into Sir Edward Carson's 36th (Ulster) Division. In addition, Redmond's earlier statement, that the Irish New Army units would return armed and capable of enforcing Home Rule, aroused War Office suspicions.
The National Volunteers after 1914.
The war's popularity in Ireland and the popularity of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party were badly dented by the severe losses subsequently suffered by the Irish divisions. In addition, the postponement of the implementation of Home Rule damaged both the IPP and the National Volunteers.
The majority of the National Volunteers (over 120,000 or 80%) did not enlist in the British Army. John Redmond had intended that they would form an official home defence force for Ireland during the War, but the British War Office baulked at arming and training the Irish nationalist movement. Military historian Timothy Bowman has described the situation as follows: "While Kitchener saw the UVF as an efficient military force and was prepared to offer concessions to secure the services of UVF personnel in the British army his view of the INV was very different. The INV were, even in comparison to the UVF, an inefficient military force in 1914, lacked trained officers, finances and equipment. Kitchener was certainly not inclined to, as he saw it, waste valuable officers and equipment on a force which, at best, would relieve Territorial units from garrison duties and, at worst, would provide Irish Nationalists with the ability to enforce Home Rule on their own terms.
In fact, the National Volunteers fell into decline as the war went on. Their strength fell to around 100,000 by February 1916, and moreover their companies tended to fall into inactivity. In many cases, this was put down to a fear of conscription being introduced into Ireland should they drill too openly. For this reason, British sources reported by early 1916 that the National Volunteers as a movement were "practically dead" or "non-existent".
The National Volunteers' other problem was a lack of leadership, as many of its most committed and militarily experienced members had enlisted in Irish Regiments for the war. As a result, the RIC (police) report on them concluded: "It is a strong force on paper, but without officers and untrained, it is little better than a large mob". They staged a very large rally, of over 20,000 men, on Easter Sunday 1915 in Dublin's Phoenix Park, but their Inspector General, Maurice Moore, saw no military future for the organisation: "They cannot be trained, disciplined or armed, moreover, the enthusiasm has gone and they cannot be kept going... it will be of no practical use against any army, Orange or German."
By contrast, the smaller but more militant Irish Volunteers increased in both numbers and activity as the War went on. The numerical increase was modest, from 9,700 in 1914 to 12,215 by February 1916, but they trained regularly and had kept most of the Volunteer weaponry. By March 1916, the RIC was reporting that the Irish Volunteers, "are foremost among [nationalist] political societies, not by reason of their numerical strength but on account of their greater activity". In April 1916, a faction within the Irish Volunteers launched the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection centred in Dublin aimed at the ending of British rule in Ireland. During the Rising, one unit of the National Volunteers (in Craughwell, County Galway), offered its services to the local RIC to help suppress the rebellion in that area.
The rebellion was put down within a week by the British Army (including Irish units such as the Royal Dublin Fusiliers). In its aftermath, and especially after the Conscription Crisis of 1918 in which the British Cabinet had planned to impose conscription in Ireland, the National Volunteers were eclipsed by the Irish Volunteers, whose membership shot up to over 100,000 by the end of 1918. John Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party was similarly overtaken by the separatist Sinn Féin party in the general elections in December 1918.
After the Armistice in November 1918, around 100,000 Irishmen, including the surviving members of the National Volunteers who had enlisted, were demobilised from the British Army.
Irish Republicanism had now displaced constitutional nationalism as represented by the Irish Parliamentary Party, leading to the Irish Declaration of Independence and the outbreak of armed conflict against the British (1919). The Third Home Rule Bill was never implemented, and was repealed by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (the Fourth Home Rule Bill), which partitioned Ireland (1921).
Great War memorials.
Volunteers who died in the Great War are commemorated at the:


Barbara Line

During the Italian Campaign of World War II, the Barbara Line was a series of German military fortifications in Italy, some south of the Gustav Line, from Colli al Volturno to the Adriatic Coast in San Salvo and a similar distance north of the Volturno Line. Near the eastern coast, it ran along the line of the Trigno river. The line mostly consisted of fortified hilltop positions. The line was broken by the allied army in November 1943 following which the Axis forces withdrew to the defensible positions of the Winter Line.
Western breakthrough (U.S. Fifth Army front).
"Generalfeldmarschall" (Field marshall) Albert Kesselring—German commander-in-chief Italy- ordered his forces to retreat to the Barbara Line on 12 October 1943 after the U.S. Fifth Army crossed the Volturno River, breaching the Volturno defensive line.
By early November the Barbara Line on the Tyrrhenian Sea side of the Apennine Mountains had been breached by the U.S. Fifth Army, and the German Forces fell back to the Bernhardt Line.
Eastern breakthrough (British Eighth Army front).
The Allied Armies in Italy under General Sir Harold Alexander were fighting their way northward in Italy against determined German opposition skillfully directed by Albert Kesselring whose forces had prepared a succession of defensive lines. On the Adriatic front east of the Apennine Mountain spine was the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery. In October Eighth Army had crossed the Bifurno river and the British Eighth Army had broken the Viktor/Volturno Line defences on 6 October. However, they had had to pause at the Trigno to re-group and reorganise their logistics along the poor roads stretching back to Bari and Taranto and respectively to the rear of the front. Delayed by these logistical problems, the Allies were not able to attack the next line of defences (the Barbara Line) behind the Trigno river immediately. It therefore was not until the early hours of 2 November that the V Corps on the right of the front on the coast and XIII Corps on their left attacked across the Trigno river.
On the V Corps front, British 78th Infantry Division attacked along the coastal road while 8th Indian Infantry Division attacked some inland. Fighting was fierce, but on 3 November, British 78th Division reached San Salvo, some three miles beyond the Trigno, at which point "Generalmajor" Rudolf Sieckenius—commanding 16th "Panzer" Division—decided to make a fighting withdrawal to the Sangro river and the formidable Gustav defensive positions overlooking the river from the ridge tops on the far side. Forward elements of Eighth Army moved to make contact with the forward defenses of the German Winter Line on the high ground north of the Sangro River. The Allies were able to move forward without opposition and the Allied advance reached the Sangro on 9 November.


National Guard Defence Battalions

The National Guard Defence Battalions or TEA () were a paramilitary internal security organization active in Greece (especially Northern Greece) between 1948 and 1982, under the control of the Defence Ministry.
The TEA were formed in September 1948, in the midst of the Greek Civil War, by decision of the Hellenic Army General Staff. They were staffed by men of proven "anticommunist" credentials; this, however, meant that many former Nazi collaborators, fascists, and even criminals and thugs were admitted to the organization.
They were abolished in 1982 by the socialist government of Andreas Papandreou, and replaced by the National Guard.


Hominid dispersals in Europe

Hominid dispersals in Europe refers to the colonisation of the European continent by various species of hominid, including hominins and archaic and modern humans.
Short and repetitive migrations of archaic humans before 1 million years ago suggest that their residence in Europe was not permanent at the time. Colonisation of Europe in prehistory was not achieved in one immigrating wave, but instead through multiple dispersal events. Most of these instances in Eurasia were limited to 40th parallel north. Besides the findings from East Anglia, the first constant presence of humans in Europe begins 500,000–600,000 years ago. However, this presence was limited to western Europe, not reaching places like the Russian plains, until 200,000–300,000 years ago. The exception to this was discovered in East Anglia, England, where hominids briefly inhabited 700,000 years ago. Prior to arriving in Europe, the source of hominids appeared to be East Africa, where stone tools and hominid fossils are the most abundant and recorded. Arising in Europe at least 400,000 years ago, the Neanderthals would become more stable residents of the continent, until they were displaced by a more recent migration of African hominids, in their new home are referred to as European early modern humans (historically called Cro-Magnon Man), leading to the extinction of Neanderthals about 40,000 years ago.
Pre-human hominids.
In the early Miocene, Europe had a subtropical climate and was intermittently connected to Africa by land bridges. At the same time, Africa was becoming more arid, prompting the dispersal of its tropical fauna—including primates—north into Europe. Apes first appear in the European fossil record 17 million years ago with "Griphopithecus." The closely related "Kenyapithecus" is also known from fossils in Germany, Slovakia and Turkey. Both "Griphopithecus" and "Kenyapithecus" are considered likely to be ancestral to the great apes. From 13 million to 9 million years ago, hominids flourished in Europe and underwent an adaptive radiation as they diversified in response to a gradually cooling climate. Middle Miocene European hominids include "Pierolapithecus", "Anoiapithecus", "Dryopithecus", "Hispanopithecus", and "Rudapithecus". The diversity and early appearance of great apes in Europe has led some scientists to theorise that hominids in fact evolved there, before dispersing "back to Africa" in the Middle Miocene.
Around 9 million years ago most of Europe's hominid species fell victim to the Vallesian crisis, an extinction event caused by the disappearance of the continent's forests. Some hominid species survived the event: "Orepithecus", which became isolated in forest refugia; and "Ouranopithecus", which adapted to the open environments of the late Miocene. However, both were extinct by 7 million years ago.
In 2017, a reanalysis of "Graecopithecus" fossils from Greece and Bulgaria, previously associated with "Ouranopithecus", concluded that the species was in fact a hominin dating to just after the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees (about 7.2 million years ago). The authors suggested that the origins of the human lineage were therefore in the Mediterranean, not Africa. Others are sceptical of their claims.
Although subtropical conditions returned to Europe in the Pliocene (5.33–2.58 million years ago), there are no known fossil hominids from this period.
Archaic humans.
"Homo erectus" populations lived in southeastern Europe by 1.8 million years ago.
The most archaic human fossils from the Middle Pleistocene (780,000–125,000 years ago) have been found in Europe. Remains of "Homo heidelbergensis" have been found as far north as the Atapuerca Mountains in Gran Dolina, Spain, and the oldest specimens can be dated from 850,000 to 200,000 years ago.
Neanderthals evolved from a branch of "Homo heidelbergensis" that migrated to Europe during the Middle Pleistocene. Neanderthal populations date back at least as far as 400,000 years ago in the Atapuerca Mountains, Spain. While lacking the robustness attributed to west European Neanderthal morphology, other populations did inhabit parts of eastern Europe and western Asia. Between 45,000–35,000 years ago, modern humans ("Homo sapiens") replaced all Neanderthal populations in Europe anatomically and genetically. This is evident in the transfer and combination of technology and culture.
Anatomically modern humans.
The recent expansion of anatomically modern humans reached Europe around 40,000 years ago, from Central Asia and the Middle East, as a result of cultural adaption to big game hunting of sub-glacial steppe fauna.
Neanderthals were present both in the Middle East and in Europe, and the arriving populations of anatomically modern humans (also known as "Cro-Magnon" or European early modern humans) have interbred with Neanderthal populations to a limited degree.
Modern human remains dating to 43–45,000 years ago have been discovered in Italy and Britain, with the remains found of those that reached the European Russian Arctic 40,000 years ago.
The composition of European populations was later altered by further migrations, notably the Neolithic expansion from the Middle East, and still later the Chalcolithic population movements associated with Indo-European expansion.
The modern indigenous population of Europe is composed of three major foundational populations,
dubbed "Western Hunter-Gatherers" (WHG), "Early European Farmers" (EEF) and "Ancient North Eurasian" (ANE).
WHG represents the remnant of the original Cro-Magnon population after they re-peopled Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum.
EEF represents the introgression of Near Eastern populations during the Neolithic Revolution, and ANE is associated both with the Mesolithic Uralic expansion to Northern Europe and the Indo-European expansion to Europe in the Chalcolithic.
Pressures favoring migration.
"Homo ergaster" specimens indicate a change toward a diet more reliant on animal products, evident by greater encephalization with higher energy requirements. This transition to becoming more carnivorous affected the way of life unlike primates before. Archaeological evidence of cut bones from large mammals and broken stone tools increasing in frequency support this increasing trend. To meet increasing demand of calories, the range of hominids would have expanded, making the necessary hunting versus prior scavenging possible. It is believed that the adjustments required to meet these new demands would expand the home range size eight to ten times. Range could also increase or decrease in size due to environmental changes. A more recent example is absence of humans in Britain during the last glacial maximum which ended in the Late Pleistocene, 10,000 years ago. At this time, Russia had an influx of people following the major prey species shifting to this region. It has been argued that Neanderthals', and previous hominids', expansion northward were limited by lacking proper thermoregulation. Behavioural adaptations such as clothes-making to overcome the cold is evident in archaeological finds. The potential to expand also grew with the Neanderthal reaching the status of top carnivores. These humans could fear less during expansion, without the worry of other predators. The desire to push into these northern areas was influenced by this requirement to eat a lot of meat to satisfy the human brain which uses 20% of the body's energy. Larger game for hunting is available the closer you are to the poles.


P (Nazi symbol)

The "P" symbol or "P" badge was introduced on 8 March 1940 by the Nazi Germany General Government with relation to the requirement that Polish workers ("Zivilarbeiter") used during World War II as forced laborers in Germany (following the German invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939) display a visible symbol marking their ethnic origin. The symbol was introduced with the intent to be used as a cloth patch, which indeed was the most common form, but also reproduced on documents (through stamps) and posters. The badge was humiliating, and like the similar Jewish symbol, can be seen as a badge of shame.
Design and usage.
The design was introduced in the Polish decrees (laws concerning Polish workers in Germany) of 8 March 1940. The symbol was a diamond with sides of five centimeters. The border (about half a centimetre wide) and the letter P (two and a half centimetres tall) were violet, while the inside of the symbol was yellow. The letter "P" badge was to be worn on the right breast of every garment worn. Those who did not obey the rules were subject to a fine of up to 150 Reichsmarks and arrested with a possible penalty of six weeks' detention.
The choice of color and shape might have been chosen to avoid any association with national symbols of Poland. It was the first official, public badge-like mark intended for identification of individuals based on their racial or ethnic origin (or other social characteristics) introduced in the Third Reich, preceding the better-known "Jewish yellow star" badge introduced a year later, in September 1941.
In January 1945 the Central Office for Reich Security proposed a new design for a Polish badge, a yellow ear of corn on a red and white label, but it was never implemented.


List of Roman governors of Hispania Tarraconensis

List of governors of Hispania Tarraconensis, also known as Hispania Citerior. This imperial province was created from Hispania Ulterior in 27 BC, and existed until AD 293 when Diocletian divided it into 3 smaller provinces.


Arno Suurorg

Arno Suurorg (18 July 1903 – 3 January 1960) was an Estonian stage, film and radio actor and producer whose career spanned nearly forty years.
Early life.
Born Arnold Friedrich Grossthal in Piirsalu, he was the eldest of two children born to Jüri Grossthal and Maria Hansen; his younger sister Helmi was born in 1908. The family would later change their surname to the more Estonian Suurorg when the children were young. His mother Maria was the younger sister of writer Anton Hansen Tammsaare, whose pentalogy "Truth and Justice" is considered one of the major works of 20th-century Estonian literature.
Career.
Beginning in 1922, Suurorg would spend nearly forty years performing at the Estonian Drama Theatre and would also produce a number of plays at the theatre. He would also appear in a number of radio plays.
Aside from theatre and radio, Suurorg appeared in a number of films. He made his film debut in the 1955 Estonian drama "Jahid merel" (English: "Yachts at Sea"); followed by the Herbert Rappaport directed "Andruse õnn" the same year. His most prominent film role was that of the charchter Lindkvist in the 1959 drama "Veealused karid", based on the Aadu Hint-penned play "Kuhu lähed, seltsimees direktor?".
Death.
Arno Suurorg died on 3 January 1960 in Tallinn at age 56.
Acknowledgements.
In 1946, Arno Suurorg was awarded the Merited Artist of the Estonian SSR.


Lady Charles Bentinck

Lady Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (born Anne Wellesley; 29 February 1788 – 19 March 1875), known between 1806 and 1816 as Lady Abdy, was a British aristocrat and a great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.
Background.
She was a daughter of Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, and his mistress, Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Roland, an actress at the Palais Royal. Her paternal grandparents were Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, and Anne Hill, daughter of Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon.
Her paternal uncles included Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, and Henry Wellesley, 1st Baron Cowley. Her parents were married six years after her birth, on 29 March 1794, at which point she was legitimised.
Marriages and children.
On 3 July 1806, she married her first husband, Sir William Abdy, 7th Baronet. Their marriage lasted nine years, but remained childless.
Abdy had introduced her to his friend Lord Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, a younger son of former British Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. At some point during her first marriage, Anne and Lord Charles became lovers. They eloped on 5 September 1815, following which Abdy brought a suit for criminal conversation ("crim. con.", in Regency parlance) for 30,000 pounds, but won only 7,000 pounds in damages. During the discussion of the divorce bill, the customary provision against remarriage was struck out in the House of Lords. Sir William Abdy was granted a divorce by royal consent to a special Act of Parliament on 25 June 1816.
Anne and Lord Charles were married on 23 July 1816, enabling their first child (which she was expecting) to be born legitimate three weeks later. They had four children:


Panos Koronaios

Panos Koronaios () was a Greek Army officer who reached the rank of lieutenant general, and a prominent military leader in the overthrow of King Otto of Greece in 1862 and in the Cretan Revolt of 1866–1869.
He was born in Constantinople in 1809, to a family of that hailed from Kythira and the Mani Peninsula. Following the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, his family left the Ottoman capital and settled in Corfu. At the age of 17, Koronaios left Corfu and joined the small regular army of the Greek rebels. Under the command of Colonel Rodios, he fought in the failed Chios expedition of 1827–28.
When the Hellenic Army Academy was established in 1828, he entered as one of the first students, and was commissioned the first Greek artillery officer with the rank of adjutant.
Due to his opposition to the authoritarian rule of King Otto, he was sent away from Athens to serve in Nafplion. There he was one of the chief leaders of the unsuccessful Nauplian Revolution in February 1862, and later one of the chief drivers of Otto's ouster in October 1862. He was a representative during the , and during the subsequent Interregnum period, he emerged as one of the leading military figures, particularly due to his influence on the artillery. During the bloody clashes of June 1863 between the "Mountain" and "Plain" factions, Koronaios, who had sided with the former, was named head of the Athens National Guard and Minister of Military Affairs, and led his forces to victory after three days of fighting.
When the Cretan Revolt of 1866–1869 broke out, he left Greece and joined the Cretan rebels, remaining on the island for about two years. After his return, he entered politics, being successively elected as a Member of Parliament for Attica in 1869, and Kythira in 1877 (replacing the deceased MP D. Raptakis), 1879, and 1887. In 1880, during the near-war with the Ottoman Empire, he was promoted to lieutenant general, and then retired from active duty. He died at Athens in 1899.


Royal Dublin Fusiliers

The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was an Irish infantry Regiment of the British Army created in 1881, one of eight Irish regiments raised and garrisoned in Ireland, with its home depot in Naas. The Regiment was created by the amalgamation of two British Army regiments in India, the Royal Bombay Fusiliers and Royal Madras Fusiliers, with Dublin and Kildare militia units as part of the Childers Reforms that created larger regiments and linked them with "Regimental Districts". Both regular battalions of the Regiment fought in the Second Boer War. In the First World War, a further six battalions were raised and the regiment saw action on the Western Front, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. In the course of the war three Victoria Cross were awarded.
Following the establishment of the independent Irish Free State in 1922, the five regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new state were disbanded.
History.
Early history.
The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as a result of Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) and the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers). Both the fusilier regiments had originated as "European" regiments of the East India Company and transferred to the British Army in 1861 when the British Crown took control of the company's private army after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Under the reforms five infantry battalions were given Irish territorial titles and the 102nd and 103rd Regiments of Foot became the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
It was one of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, and served the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Carlow, with its garrison depot located at Naas. Militarily, the whole of Ireland was administered as a separate command within the United Kingdom with Command Headquarters at Parkgate (Phoenix Park) Dublin, directly under the War Office in London. Many of those killed while on service with the regiment and some of their relatives are buried in the Grangegorman Military Cemetery.
The 102nd was based in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) when it became the 1st Battalion. It moved back to the UK in 1886, being based in England, before moving to the Curragh in Ireland. It returned to England in 1893, remaining there until the Second Boer War began in South Africa in 1899: it arrived in South Africa in November 1899.
When the 103rd became the 2nd Battalion, it was based in England before moving to sunnier climes in 1884, when it was posted to Gibraltar. The following year it arrived in Egypt and then moved to India in 1889, being located in a variety of places there. In 1897 the 2nd Dublins was based in Natal Colony, where it would still be when the Boer War began in 1899.
Second Boer War.
The Boers declared war on 12 October and invaded Natal and the Cape Colony. On 20 October the 2nd Dublins took part in the first major battle of the war, the Battle of Talana Hill near Dundee. The Boers had appeared on Talana Hill in the early morning and after they launched a few shells at Dundee, the garrison responded and attacked the hill. The 2nd Dublins took part in the attack and, after some fierce fighting, removed the Boers. They suffered heavy casualties in the process, losing, amongst others, Captain George Anderson Weldon, the first officer of the Dublins to be killed in the war. The British had to abandon Dundee soon afterwards, withdrawing to Ladysmith. The Boers besieged the town in late October. On 30 October the garrison's commander, Sir George Stuart White VC, ordered an attack on Lombard's Kop which the Dublin Fusiliers took part in.
On 15 November 1899, a detachment of Dubliners and the Durban Light Infantry were garrisoning an armoured train operating from Estcourt with the objective of monitoring Boer movements. The Boers ambushed them on their return and a section of the train was de-railed in the chaos. Among the passengers was Winston Churchill, then a war correspondent accompanying the detachment, who helped load the train engine with wounded before it made an escape attempt, pushing through the de-railed section that blocked its path and making it through safely. The remaining troops put up a stout defence until they were eventually compelled to surrender, including Churchill who had returned to the remaining defenders. Churchill later made a successful escape attempt from his prison in Pretoria. He wrote glowingly of the gallantry displayed by the Dublin Fusiliers and the other troops that were present during the ambush. The Dublins lost three men during the ambush.
The Dublin Fusiliers actively took part in the efforts to lift the Siege of Ladysmith, which lasted from 30 October 1899 to 28 February 1900. On 15 December the 2nd Dublins took part in the Battle of Colenso. The Dublins were part of the 5th Brigade (known as the Irish Brigade) who crossed the wrong part of the Tugela River and suffered heavy casualties in the process. The battle was a defeat for the British forces and became part of a notorious period for the British in the war, known as "Black Week". The defeat, however, did not discourage further attempts being made. The Dublins did not participate in any more attempts until January 1900 when they took part in the Tugela campaign, collectively known as the Battle of the Tugela Heights. February saw the Dublins take part in heavy fighting before, on 27 February, they supported the Royal Irish Fusiliers in their final charge on Pieters Hill, suffering heavy casualties though taking the position. This victory led to the siege of Ladysmith being lifted the following day by cavalry, with the main force of infantry arriving on 3 March. On 10 March 1900 Queen Victoria decreed that a sprig of shamrock be adorned on the headdress of Irish units on Saint Patrick's Day to commemorate their actions in South Africa. This tradition remains in existence with Irish units of the British Army.
In May, the British began their advance towards the Transvaal, one of the Boer republics, and early the following month the Dublins took part in the effort against Laing's Nek during the attempt to achieve an entry into the Transvaal. This was successfully achieved and the capital, Pretoria, was captured on 5 June. The war, however, did not end and the Boers began a guerrilla campaign against the British. During this phase of the war, many blockhouses were constructed to help restrict the movement of the Boer guerrillas and men of the Dublin Fusiliers helped to garrison them. This phase of the war also saw the mounted infantry companies, among which were Dublin Fusiliers MI, in their element, hunting the (now small) groups of Boers. The Dublin Fusiliers also took part in the hunt for Christiaan de Wet, a prominent Boer officer.
The last of the Boers surrendered in May 1902, the Treaty of Vereeniging formally ending the conflict. During the war, volunteers from the three militia battalions of the Dublins had been used to provide reinforcements for the two regular battalions fighting in South Africa. The 2nd Dublins had left South Africa in January 1902. The Dublins suffered nearly 700 casualties (killed, wounded, missing) during the conflict, many of whom died of disease, indeed the vast majority of British Army casualties were from disease.
The 4th (Militia) battalion, formed from the Royal Dublin City Militia in 1881, was one of the reserve battalions. It was embodied in May 1900, disembodied in December the same year, and later re-embodied for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War. About 540 officers and men returned to Southampton on the SS "Cestrian" in early October 1902, when the battalion was disembodied at Dublin.
A music hall song commemorating the bravery of the fusiliers was entitled: "What Do You Think of the Irish Now?" by Albert Hall and Harry Castling. One of the verses said: "You used to call us traitors/ Because of agitators/ But you can't call us traitors now."
After the end of the Boer War the 1st Battalion transferred to Malta on the SS "Dominion" in November 1902, and was also partly based at Crete, both in the Mediterranean. It was posted to Egypt in 1906, where it later received its Colours at Alexandria by the Regiment's Colonel-in-Chief, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. The 1st Dublins later joined the British garrison in India, the then overseas 'home' of the British Army, remaining there until the outbreak of war in 1914.
Upon the conclusion of the war, the 2nd Battalion returned to the UK, being based in Buttevant, Cork, Ireland. It left for Aldershot, England in 1910, where it received its new Colours from the Regiment's Colonel-in-Chief the following year. It remained in England until war began in 1914.
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve; the regiment now had three Reserve but no Territorial battalions.
First World War.
The First World War began in August 1914, and the British Empire declared war on Germany after it invaded Belgium. The Regiment raised 6 battalions during the war (11 in total), serving on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Middle East and Salonika. The Dublin Fusiliers received 3 Victoria Crosses (VC), the highest award for bravery in the face of the enemy, and was also awarded 48 Battle Honours and 5 Theatre Honours. The Regiment lost just over 4,777 during the war.
Western Front.
The 2nd Dublins arrived in France in the month war was declared as part of the 10th Brigade in the 4th Division. The Division was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), the professionals of the old regular army, known as the 'Old Contemptibles' after a comment made by the German Kaiser. The 2nd Dublins took part in the retreat following the Battle of Mons, taking part in their first engagement on 26 August 1914 at Le Cateau that helped delay the German advance towards Paris, inflicting such heavy casualties that the Germans thought they faced more machine-guns than they actually did. The BEF then resumed their retreat, but many men, including from the Dublin Fusiliers, were stranded behind German lines, and many were taken prisoner by the Germans. The Battalion, badly depleted, later took part in the Battle of the Marne (5–9 September) that finally halted the German advance just on the outskirts of Paris, forcing the Germans to retreat to the Aisne. There, the 2nd Dublins took part in the Battle of the Aisne and later took part in their last major engagement of the war, at the Battle of Messines, which began on 12 October and ended on 2 November.
The 2nd Dublins took part in all but one of the subsidiary battles during Second Ypres that took place between 22 April – 24 May 1915. The Battalion suffered heavily at the Battle of St Julien, the second subsidiary battle, incurring hundreds of casualties. They had no respite, taking part in the next two subsidiary battles at Frezenberg and Bellewaarde. On 24 May the Battalion was subject to a German poison gas attack near Saint-Julien and effectively disintegrated as a fighting unit. The British at that time had no defences against gas attack; indeed the large-scale use of gas by the Germans on the Western Front had begun at Second Ypres. The 2nd Dublins' commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Loveband of Naas, died the following day. The Battalion did not take part in any more major battles for the rest of the year.
The 8th and 9th Dublins, who had arrived in France in December 1915 as part of the 48th Brigade in the 16th (Irish) Division, were also subject to a German gas attack at the Battle of Hulluch, near Loos, on 27 April 1916, suffering heavy casualties. There had been trouble at home that month in Dublin when the Easter Rising had taken place though, in spite of this, the Dublin Fusiliers still performed with dedication to their duty. The British launched the Somme offensive on 1 July and the 1st and 2nd Dublins took part in the First day on the Somme that saw the British forces sustain horrific casualties, some 60,000, about 20,000 of which were killed. The 8th and 9th Dublins took part in their first major battle during the Somme Offensive, taking part in the capture of Ginchy on 9 September, in which Lieutenant Tom Kettle fell in action. The Dublins also took part in the last major battle of the offensive, at the Ancre that took place between 13–18 November. The Dublins, once again, had suffered large numbers of casualties during the Somme offensive.
In March 1917 the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line which was a formidable series of defences that the Germans had constructed. In April the British launched the Arras Offensive and the Dublin Fusiliers took part in the two battles of the Scarpe that took place in April. The 10th Dublins took part in the Battle of Arleux (28–29 April) that saw the Dublins last involvement in a major battle of the Arras offensive. Half of the French Army, exhausted and angry at the enormous losses it had sustained, mutinied, refusing to fight unless it was to defend against German attacks. This compelled the British Army to take the leading role, and this would see the Dublin Fusiliers take part in further offensives before the year ended. In June, the Dublins took part in the capture of Wytschaete during the Battle of Messines. The Regiment's battalions subsequently took part in the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July –10 November), being involved in several of its subsidiary battles, including at Langemarck. As during Second Ypres, the Regiment suffered heavily, indeed the 9th Dublins had sustained such losses that they effectively ceased to be a fighting unit, and were amalgamated with the 8th Dublins in October, forming the 8th/9th Dublins. The Regiment's last major action of 1917 was a diversionary attack during the Battle of Cambrai (28 November – 3 December).
In February 1918, due to the heavy losses that had been sustained, the 8th/9th and 10th Dublins were disbanded and its men were transferred to the 1st and 2nd Dublins. On 21 March the Regiment was on the defensive during the Battle of St. Quentin when the Germans began an immense bombardment as part of their last-gasp major offensive known as Operation Michael against British and Empire forces in the Picardy area. The 1st and 2nd Dublins suffered heavily from the intense bombardment (which included poison gas) and when the Germans attacked shortly afterwards, the Germans broke through the shattered remnants. The Germans made significant gains but their offensive gradually lost momentum and the Germans were pushed back by April. During that month, on 14 April, the 1st and 2nd Dublins had to briefly amalgamate due to the losses it had sustained during the German offensive, forming the 1st/2nd Dublins. The 1st Battalion was reconstituted a few days later with drafts from the 2nd Battalion, which was reduced to cadre strength. On 26 April the 1st Dublins left the 16th (Irish) and rejoined the 86th Brigade, 29th Division. In June the 2nd Dublins transferred to the 31st Division and was reconstituted. It was transferred to the Lines of Communication (LoC) before moving to 50th Division in July. In August the Allies launched their counter-offensive against the Germans and eventually reached the Hindenburg Line. The Allies launched their offensive against the Line in September, and the 1st, 2nd, and 7th Dublins, took part in the battles of the St Quentin Canal, Cambrai and Beaurevoir, and the Hindenburg Line was successfully breached by the Allies. The Dublins took part in the last offensives of the war, taking part in, among others, the Fourth Battle of Ypres, Battle of Courtrai and the Battle of the Selle during September and October. The 1st Dublins lost their commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Athelstan Moore, on 14 October. The Regiment's last major battle was in the Battle of the Sambre on 4 November. The war ended on the Western Front with the Armistice on 11 November 1918.
Gallipoli, Salonika and the Middle East.
The 1st, 6th and 7th Dublins all took part in the Allied Gallipoli Campaign in the Dardanelles after Turkey joined the Central Powers in November 1914. It was an effort to support Russia by keeping the Dardanelles Strait open. The 1st Dublins, as part of 86th Brigade of the 29th Division, landed at V Beach, Cape Helles on 25 April. The 1st Dublins were the first to land, landing via boats that were either towed or rowed, and suffered heavy casualties from a withering hail of machine-gun fire from the Turkish defenders, most not even getting out of their boats, while others drowned in the attempt, most due to the equipment they carried. The 1st Royal Munsters, two companies of the 2nd Royal Hampshires and a company of the 1st Dublins, landed from the SS "River Clyde" soon afterwards and were also decimated by machine-gun fire. In spite of the severe casualties, the British forces managed to land large numbers of troops by nightfall. On the morning of 26 April the British force, including the Dublins, took the fortress, led by Lieutenant Colonel Doughty-Wylie, before moving onto the village of Sedd el Bahr. Lieutenant-Colonel Doughty-Wylie and Captain Walford (who helped organise the attack) both died at the moment of victory. The 1st Battalion sustained just over 600 casualties within the first two days, out of a total of just over 1000 men that had landed. Nearly all of their officers, including Lieutenant Colonel Richard Alexander Rooth, had been killed on the day of the landings. The Battalion and the 1st Munsters had suffered so heavily that they had to form a composite battalion known as the 'Dubsters' on 30 April. Both battalions regained their identity the following month after they received a sufficient amount of replacements. During their time at Helles, the 1st Dublins took part in the numerous attempts to capture Krithia; the first attempt took place on 28 April.
The 6th and 7th Dublins joined the 30th Brigade of the 10th (Irish) Division upon their creation in August 1914. The division left Ireland for Basingstoke, England in May 1915. On 7 June the division left the UK under the command of Irish General Bryan Mahon, arriving in Lemnos by late July in preparation for the landings at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. The Dublins landed at Suvla on 7 August; a day after the first landings there had taken place. Unlike at V Beach at Helles, Suvla was barely defended but incompetence at the higher echelons of command led to the British troops not exploiting their early advantage, ensuring that the Suvla landings became static and allowing the Turks to reinforce their defences. The Dublins took part in the effort to capture a position known as Chocolate Hill (7–8 August), which was successfully taken, though at a heavy cost. On 9 August the Dublins took part in the attempt to recapture Scimitar Hill, and managed to gain some ground but experienced ferocious resistance from the Turks that eventually forced the British to withdraw. The 1st Dublins and the rest of the 29th Division were moved to Suvla to reinforce the British force there. On 21 August the Dublins took part in another attempt to take Scimitar Hill and after the battle, the Suvla front-line became static, with no more major attacks being attempted. In September, the 6th and 7th Dublins and the rest of their division left Suvla, arriving in Mudros on Lemnos later that month.
On 1 January 1916, the 1st Dublins left Gallipoli for Egypt with the rest of the 29th Division and the last remaining British troops left Gallipoli on 9 January. The ironic thing was that the evacuation of Gallipoli by the Allies was, arguably, the most successful part of the campaign. The Dublins had suffered heavily, nearly all of the just over 1000 men of the 1st Dublins who had landed at Helles in April had been killed, wounded, experienced disease or were missing, but further carnage was to await them in France. The Dublin Fusiliers battalions that had seen service in Gallipoli had had a diverse composition, indeed D Company, 7th Dublins (known as the 'Dublin Pals' in much the same way as the Pals battalions) had a number of professional rugby players and most of the company had attended Trinity College, including Professor of Law Lieutenant Earnest Julian who was mortally wounded at Chocolate Hill and died on board a hospital ship, gaining the company the nickname 'The Toffs' which was in reference to the 2nd Dublins nickname, 'The Old Toughs'.
Meanwhile, the 6th and 7th Dublins had landed in Salonika in October 1915 as part of a British-French force requested by the Prime Minister of Greece, with the intention of assisting Serbia who had been invaded by Bulgaria, one of Germany's allies during the Macedonian campaign. By the time the British-French force had arrived, Serbia had been defeated but the Allies remained. The Dublins took part in the Battle of Kosturino (7–8 December) and in the British withdrawal from Serbia. After Kosturino, things were mostly quiet, though the British still suffered casualties from disease, such as dysentery and malaria, and also suffered from frostbite. In October 1916 the Dublins took part in the capture of the village of Yenikoi where they suffered heavy casualties, including friendly fire from their own artillery. In August 1917 the 6th and 7th, along with the rest of the 10th (Irish), were ordered to concentrate in Salonika in preparation for moving from the Balkans. The following month the division arrived in Egypt and then commenced their participation in the Palestine campaign. The campaign was a much more successful one than the previous two campaigns that the Regiment had experienced and the Dublins took part in the Third Battle of Gaza (27 October – 7 November). The Dublins also took part in the capture of Jerusalem and in its subsequent defence from Ottoman counter-attack. The 7th Dublins left the division, moving to France in April 1918 and was attached to the 16th (Irish) on 10 June. It was, however, absorbed by 11th Royal Irish Fusiliers only 8 days later. The 6th Dublins followed the 7th the following month, also heading for France. It joined the 66th Division in July.
1916 Easter Rising.
Three Battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers attacked rebels in the Easter Rising of 1916 in Dublin. 11 of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were killed and 35 more wounded. John Dillon an Irish MP who was in Dublin during the Easter Rising told the House of Commons "I asked Sir John Maxwell himself, "Have you any cause of complaint of the Dublins who had to go down and fight their own people in the streets of Dublin? Did a single man turn back and betray the uniform he wears?” He told me, "Not a man." At the court martial of Seán Heuston two Royal Dublin Fusiliers officers, Captain A W MacDermot and Lieutenant W P Connolly give evidence against Heuston that resulted in him being executed by firing squad on 8 May 1916.
Guinness brewery killings.
On the night of 29 April 1916, a picket of the 5th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers stationed within the Guinness Brewery arrested and then shot dead William John Rice and Algernon Lucas. The same night, in a separate incident, Cecil Dockeray, and Basil Worsley-Warswick were shot. 2nd Lt Lucas and 2nd Lt Worsley-Warswick were officers in the King Edward's Horse, Rice and Dockeray were employees at the brewery. The four men were killed while carrying out routine inspections of the premises. Company quartermaster sergeant Robert Flood, commander of the picket and who ordered the executions was court-martialled, charged with the murders of Rice and Lucas but was acquitted, claiming in his defence that he believed the four to be members of Sinn Féin and that his picket was too small to guard the four prisoners. In the court martial, it was made clear that neither Rice nor Dockeray were connected to or sympathetic to Sinn Féin or the rising.
Disbandment.
All the war-raised battalions were disbanded either during the war, or shortly afterwards. The 1st Dublins crossed the German border in early December. The Battalion eventually reached Cologne where the British Army of Occupation in Germany was based. The Battalion returned to the UK a short while afterwards, based in Bordon. The 2nd Dublins left war-ravaged Europe to join the Allied Army of Occupation in Constantinople, Turkey and in late 1920 moved to Multan, India, before returning to the UK in 1922.
Due to substantial defence cuts, and the establishment of the Irish Free State (the predecessor of the Republic of Ireland) in 1922, it was agreed that the six former Southern Ireland regiments would be disbanded, including the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. On 12 June, five regimental Colours were laid up in a ceremony at St George's Hall, Windsor Castle in the presence of HM King George V. (The South Irish Horse sent a Regimental engraving because the regiment chose to have its standard remain in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin). The Dublin Fusiliers detachment included the commanding officers of the 1st Dublins and 2nd Dublins, lieutenant-colonels C. N. Perreau and G. S. Higgingson, who had been captured in France during the first year of World War I, and the regiment's Colonel-in-Chief, the Duke of Connaught. The Colours remain there as of 2005. The six regiments were all disbanded on 31 July 1922. With the outbreak of the Irish Civil War conflict some thousands of their ex-servicemen and officers chose to enlist in the Free State government's newly formed National Army. The British Army veterans brought considerable combat experience with them and by May 1923 comprised 50% of its 53,000 soldiers and 20% of its officers.
On 27 April 2001, the Irish government officially acknowledged the role of the soldiers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who fought in the First World War by hosting a State Reception at Dublin Castle for the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association.
Battalions.
Battalions of the regiment throughout its existence were:
Formation
First World War
Battle honours.
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:
1. Awarded in error. The Regiment was not present.
Regimental Colonels.
Colonels of the regiment were:


Casa della Vittoria

The Casa della Vittoria (also known as the Casa del Carrera or Casa dei Draghi or the Palazzo della Vittoria) is a building northwest of the city center of Turin, Piedmont, Italy, considered one of the most interesting examples of residential architecture in a Medieval-revival style in the Piedmontese capital. Located in the district Cit Turin, the Casa della Vittoria is at the center of an area of great architectural interest that contains a high density of Art Nouveau and Gothic Revival buildings, including also the nearby church of San Donato.
Background.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the residential area of Cit Turin was the epicenter of an intense amount of building activity predominantly characterized by the Liberty Style (Italian Art Nouveau). Parallel to the naturalism of this style was the development of the Gothic Revival, which infiltrated the district by its use in several important buildings. In addition to the church of Gesù Nazareno, the examples of its presence in the neighborhood are the home of the cavalier Carrera di Magnano (Biella) and the Casa della Vittoria. Commissioned in 1918 by Giovanni Battista Carrera from the engineer Gottardo Gussoni to celebrate the Italian victory in the First World War, it was completed in 1920, representing a sign of recovery of the post-war construction sector, a statement confirmed on the plaque placed on the facade. The building is located not far away on the Corso Francia from the famed houses known as the Casa Fenoglio-Lafleur and Villino Raby.
Description.
The building as developed rises six stories from the street and fronts the Corso Francia, the major boulevard running through the neighborhood of Cit Turin. Its eclectic medievalist style is marked by the incursions of the French strain of Gothic Revival, which can be found in the structural details such as the portal and the entrance hall, the balustrades of the balconies and internal staircases and the pronounced angular oriel characterized by its mullioned windows and round three-light windows that culminate in a crenellated turret.
Of great importance is the complex decorative apparatus of the main façades characterized by the extensive use of elements in cement, allegorical and zoomorphic decorations, including the pair of large dragons flanking the large wooden entrance portal; it is precisely the presence of these decorative elements that, over the years, has earned it the name of "House of Dragons" ("Casa dei Draghi"). The decoration begins at the base of the main façades, simulating a stone ashlar with horizontal bands extending up to the main floor. At this level the windows are enriched by a frame which at the base bears coats of arms depicting allegorical figures that mark the façade, alternating with the pairs of dragons, symbolic representations of power and prestige that support the balustrades of the balconies on the upper floor. The remaining arched windows show simpler frames, while the two large central bay windows have round mullioned windows and also culminate with a terrace.
The building has a beveled corner containing and a niche at the angle of the Corso Francia with the street intersecting it: the niche seems to have been conceived to house a statue which, however, has never been placed there.
In Popular Culture.
The Casa della Vittoria has been featured in at least four films set in Turin. They include:
Transportation Access.
The Casa della Vittoria can be reached from the M1 line (Fermi - Lingotto) of Metropolitana at the station Principi d'Acaja.


Holzmaden

Holzmaden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany that lies between Stuttgart and Ulm.
Holzmaden is 4 km south-east from Kirchheim unter Teck and 19 km south-east of Esslingen am Neckar. The A 8 runs south from Holzmaden. The town and surrounding area are well known as the source of exceptionally well-preserved fossils from the Jurassic period.
Demographics.
1=census results
Infrastructure and facilities.
The community is located north of the Bundesautobahn 8, halfway between Ulm and Stuttgart; the next junction is Aichelberg.
The railway Kirchheim (Teck) Süd-Weilheim (Teck) connected Holzmaden to the railway network. Passenger traffic was discontinued in 1982 and freight in 1995.
Holzmaden also has a primary school, two kindergartens, a community hall with integrally joined forming gym and a sports and leisure facility.
Associations and Organizations.
The association's work is an essential factor in the social life in Holzmaden.
Fossils.
The ground in and around the city contains rich layers of well-preserved fossils (or Lagerstätten) of the Jurassic period. The fossils are found in the 180-million-year-old "Posidonia Shale" and displayed in the local Museum Hauff as well as museums around the world. This locale is important for its frequent preservation of soft tissue, a rarity in fossils.
Examples from this site include:


Third Hellenic Republic

The Third Hellenic Republic () is the period in modern Greek history that stretches from 1974, with the fall of Greek military junta and the final abolition of the Greek monarchy, to the present day.
It is considered the third period of republican rule in Greece, following the First Republic during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832) and the Second Republic during the temporary abolition of the monarchy in 1924–1935.
The term "Metapolitefsi" (Μεταπολίτευση, 'polity change') is commonly used for the entire period, but this term is properly restricted to the early part of the period, beginning with the fall of the junta and culminating in the democratic transformation of the country. While the First and Second Hellenic Republics are not in common use except in a historiographic context, the term Third Hellenic Republic is used frequently.
The Third Hellenic Republic has been characterised by the development of social freedoms, the European orientation of Greece and the political dominance of the parties ND and PASOK. On the negative side the period has included high corruption, deterioration of certain economic indexes such as the public debt, and nepotism, mostly in the political scene and the state offices.
Events.
This period has been marked by many significant changes in the country. In 1981 Greece joined the EU. Simultaneously, the centre-left party PASOK won the election and changed the Greek political scenery. The decade of the 1990s saw the standard of living among Greeks steadily increase, a trend which reached its zenith around the time of the Olympic Games of 2004. On 1 January 2001, Greece voted to adopt the Euro, and the currency was introduced in the country one year later on 1 January 2002. In the last months of 2009, the Greek debt crisis broke out, an event that brought about great changes on both a social and political level.
Political parties in Third Hellenic Republic.
1974–1989.
This period began with the centrists and centre-right being dominant, though the former lost support in the late 1970s with the rise of PASOK. Also the Communist Party of Greece was allowed to take part in elections for first time after the end of the Greek Civil War. The table below shows the results of elections during this period.
1990–2007.
This period began with the fall of communist regimes in eastern Europe. It is characterized by the reinforcement of bipartisanship with the two main parties (New Democracy and PASOK) regularly polling over 80% of the vote between them, even reaching 86%.
2009–2019.
This period corresponds to Greek government-debt crisis, that changed dramatically the political stage. Early in the period, PASOK were able to capitalise on a loss of support for ND. However, by the early 2010s, PASOK were also attracting blame for their handling of the crisis, and the radical party SYRIZA became the largest party on the left. The position of the far-right was also strengthened in this period.
SYRIZA has since overtaken PASOK as the main party of the centre-left. Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to victory in the general election held on 25 January 2015, falling short of an outright majority in Parliament by just two seats. The following morning, Tsipras reached an agreement with Independent Greeks party to form a coalition, and he was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece.Tsipras called snap elections in August 2015, resigning from his post, which led to a month-long caretaker administration headed by judge Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou, Greece's first female prime minister. In the September 2015 general election, Alexis Tsipras led SYRIZA to another victory, winning 145 out of 300 seats and re-forming the coalition with the Independent Greeks. However, he was defeated in the July 2019 general election by Kyriakos Mitsotakis who leads New Democracy. On 7 July 2019, Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece. He formed a centre-right government after the landslide victory of his New Democracy party.
2020s.
In March 2020, Greece’s parliament elected a non-partisan candidate, Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou, as the first female President of Greece.


Paul Kuusberg

Paul Kuusberg (30 April 1916 – 21 January 2003) was an Estonian writer. Novellas by him include “"Roostetanud kastekann"” (1971) and “"Võõras või õige mees"” (1978), which won an award in Estonia.
Biography.
Kuusberg was born in Reval (present-day Tallinn), and during the period of Estonia's independence worked as a construction worker. He supported the 1940 Soviet occupation of Estonia and joined the Communist Party. He participated in the German-Soviet war, first in a Soviet Destruction battalion, later in the Red Army's 8th Estonian Rifle Corps. Kuusberg served as a politruk and journalist at the front.
After the war, he worked for the newspaper "Rahva Hääl" and was later the editor-in-chief of "Looming". Kuusberg graduated from the Higher Party School in Moscow.
From 1976 to 1983 he was the secretary of the board of the Writers Union of the Estonian SSR. Although his first works of fiction ("The Walls" (1957)) closely follow the guidelines of socialist realism, he soon adopted a more multifaceted, undogmatic approach. He treated careerism in Soviet society ("The Case of Andres Lapateus"), the fate of the Estonian soldiers mobilized to the Red Army ("Enn Kalmu kaks mina" (1960–61)). Both of the novels were also adapted for film. Paul Kuusberg was a communist, but as a literary functionary, he tried to protect Estonian literature and literati from ideological suppression.
Paul Kuusberg died in 2003.


Tor di Nona

The Tor di Nona is a neighborhood in Rome's "rione" "Ponte". It lies in the heart of the city's historic center, between the "Via dei Coronari" and the Tiber River. Its name commemorates the Torre dell'Annona, a mediaeval tower which once stood there and was later converted into one of the city's most important theatres, the Teatro Tordinona, later called the Teatro Apollo.
History.
Early history.
The Torre dell'Annona was a medieval stronghold of the Orsini family and from the early 15th century acted as a pontifical prison. Prisoners included Benevenuto Cellini who experienced the dungeon's lightless cells, one of which was known as "the pit", Beatrice Cenci, and Giordano Bruno who was imprisoned here before being burned alive in Campo de' Fiori.
Theatre.
When the New Prison ("Le Carceri Nuove") was built in "Via Giulia", Tor di Nona was rebuilt in 1667 as a theatre patronized by Queen Christina of Sweden and the best Roman company. In January 1671 Rome's first public theatre opened in the former jail.
The Teatro Tordinona was inaugurated in January 1671 with the opera "Scipione Affricano" by Francesco Cavalli, with Antonia Coresi as Scipione and Medea, and Angelica Quadrelli as Sofonisba and Isifile.
For the opening "Scipione affricano" by Francesco Cavalli was performed; also operas by Antonio Sartorio, Giovanni Antonio Boretto and Giovanni Maria Pagliardi. Filippo Acciaiuoli was the first director. The new pope Clement X worried about the influence of theatre on public morals. When Innocent XI became pope, things turned even worse; he made Christina's theatre into a storeroom for grain, although he had been a frequent guest in her royal box with the other cardinals. He forbade women to perform with song or acting, and the wearing of decolleté dresses. Christina considered this sheer nonsense, and let women perform in her palace.
There are many perhaps unexecuted drawings for it by Carlo Fontana, bound in an album which passed into the hands of Scottish architect Robert Adam, now at Sir John Soane's Museum, London ("Concise Catalogue"). The theater suffered the fires and rebuildings that theaters are prone to, and was finally swept away when the embankments of the Tiber ("lungoteveri") were built in 1888; this section was named "Lungotevere Tor di Nona".
A free-standing white marble fountain (1925) memorializes the theater in its late-18th century transformation as the Teatro Apollo, with suitable theatrical masks, and a small trickle of water into a massive sarcophagus, in the somewhat theatrical classical style of Vittorio Emmanuele III and Benito Mussolini. As the Teatro Apollo, the largest lyric theater of Rome, the site witnessed the world premieres of two operas of Giuseppe Verdi, "Il Trovatore" and "Un Ballo in Maschera".
Now nothing is left of the original tower nor of the theatre but their name, although in the early 1930s a smaller theatre bearing the name Teatro Tordinona was built on the "Via degli Acquasparta", near the original site. It remains a going concern, presenting works by Luigi Pirandello and contemporary theater.
Later history.
At the end of the 19th century, the neighborhood was partially destroyed because of the construction of the Lungotevere, the alleys bordering the river. The whole north side of the street was pulled down, including buildings like the Teatro Apollo and the palazzo del Cardinale di Parma. Another blow came in the 1910s with the construction of via Zanardelli, which cut the thousand-year link with Via di Monte Brianzo. This accelerated the decay of the quarter, which in the 1940s became part of a development plan as part of the fascist demolition strategy in Rome. As in Borgo and Via Giulia, this work was halted by World War II. During the last years of World War II, the Roman "mercato nero" (black market) was located in the Tor di Nona quarter. In the postwar years, although the population had already left the quarter, a strong press campaign led by journalists like Antonio Cederna and intellectuals like Italo Insolera and Giulio Carlo Argan saved Tor di Nona from destruction. From that time until the present, the centre of Rome has been protected against further destruction.