Aarushhh/wikipedia-simple-splitted huggingface dataset:
Career 

In 1978, he became assistant conductor at the Kirov Opera, now the Mariinsky Opera. His first conducting appearance was with Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace. He was chief conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1981 until 1985 - the year he made his first appearance in the United Kingdom, together with pianist Evgeny Kissin, and violinists Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin, at The Lichfield Festival.

In 1991 Gergiev conducted the Bavarian State Opera in a performance of Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in Munich. In the same year he made his American début, performing War and Peace with the San Francisco Opera. Since then he has conducted operas and concerts all over the world. Gergiev performs at many music festivals, including the White Nights festival in Saint Petersburg. 

He became the chief conductor and artistic director of the Mariinsky in 1988, and overall director of the company, appointed by the Russian government, in 1996.
From 1995 to 2008 he was conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1997, Gergiev became principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

In 2003, he conducted at the Mariinsky Theatre the first complete cycle of Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung to be performed in Russia for over 90 years. He also conducted this production in Cardiff in 2006 at the Wales Millennium Centre, and in Costa Mesa, California in October 2006 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. This production was presented at the Lincoln Center in New York City in July 2007 where it was an enormous success.

In 2005 he became conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Gergiev is well known for conducting without a baton, but a toothpick.
Political activities 
 
Gergiev has worked hard in England to bring music to a wide audience including children. He has often supported peace in the Caucasus during times of conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia. After the 2004 Beslan school massacre, Gergiev made an appeal on television for calm and against any revenge. He conducted concerts in tribute to the victims of the massacre.

In August 2008 Gergiev conducted the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre in a concert given in the ruined headquarters of the South Ossetia separatist government. There had been a short war between Georgia and Russia because South Ossetia, which had been part of Georgia, wanted to be independent. The Georgian government tried to force them not to break away, but the Russian government did not want Georgia to do this. The concert, which was broadcast live on Russian television, was in support of the Russian action. Some people in the West did not agree that Gergiev should have supported Russia in this way.

Family life
Family life 

In 1999, Gergiev married the musician Natalya Debisova and they have three children.

1953 births
Living people
Russian conductors
Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer and screenwriter. He was born in Andrews, South Carolina and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. He is known for his jokes about racial stereotypes; he talks a lot about differences that are common between black people and white people in the United States. Rock has been in many television shows, such as Everybody Hates Chris and movies, such as Dogma.

At the 94th Academy Awards in March 2022, actor Will Smith slapped Rock after he made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith's, bald head.

Filmography

References

Other websites
Other websites 

1965 births
Living people
Actors from New York City
Actors from South Carolina
African American actors
African American comedians
African American movie directors
African American movie producers
African American writers
American movie actors
American screenwriters
American stand-up comedians
American television actors
American television directors
American television producers
American television writers
American voice actors
Comedians from New York City
Comedians from South Carolina
Movie directors from New York (state)
Writers from New York City
Writers from South Carolina
Bari was a province in the region of Apulia in Italy.

Bari
The province of L'Aquila () is a province in the Abruzzo region of Southern Italy. Its capital is the city of L'Aquila.

It is the largest province of the region but the one with fewest people living in it; it is a landlocked province, that is, surrounded by other provinces by all sides.

Geography

L'Aquila is the largest province in the Abruzzo region. It is almost half of the area of the region: it has area of . The province is bordered on the north by Tuscany, to the northeast by the province of Teramo, to the east by the Pescara and Province of Chieti provinces, to the south and southeast with the Molise region (province of Isernia), and to the west and southwest by the Lazio region (province of Frosinone, Rome and province of Rieti).

The main river in the province is the Aterno-Pescara river, known here as Aterno; it starts in the Monti della Laga and flows through the province.
L'Aquila is the province of the Abruzzo region with more mountains; there are three mountain ranges that go from the northwest to the southeast, and that are parallels to the coastline: Monti della Gaga, Gran Sasso and Majella massif. The highest mountain in the province is Monte Amaro,() in the Majella massif, Apennines; it is  high and is the highest mountain of three provinces: Chieti, L'Aquila and Pescara of the Abruzzo.

Population
There are 301,910 persons living in the province (January 2017), for a population density of  inhabitants/km².
This population has been more or less stable for a long time.

The largest comune is L'Aquila, with  and the smallest is Villa Sant'Angelo, with . The comune with fewest people living in it is Carapelle Calvisio with 88 inhabitants.

Main comuni
The following table shows the 10 comuni with more inhabitants with their population, and their area and altitude.

Gallery

Related pages
 List of comuni of the Province of L'Aquila

References

Other websites
Other websites

 Province of L'Aquila official website 

L'Aquila
The province of Chieti () is a province in the Abruzzo region of Southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Chieti, and the province borders the Adriatic Sea.

Geography

Chieti is the most eastern province in Abruzzo and has an area of , the second largest province in the region after the province of L'Aquila. The province is bordered to the north and east by the Adriatic Sea, to the northwest by the province of Pescara, to the southwest by the province of L'Aquila and to south and southeast with Molise (to the south with the province of Isernia and to the southeast with the province of Campobasso).

The main rivers in the province areː
 Aterno-Pescara, that forms the border with the province of Pescara.
 Trigno, that forms the border with the province of Campobasso (Molise).
 Sente, that forms the border with the province of Isernia (Molise).
The highest mountain in the province is Monte Amaro,() in the Majella massif, Apennines; it is  high and is the highest mountain of three provinces: Chieti, L'Aquila and Pescara of the Abruzzo.

Population
There are 389,169 persons living in the province (January 2017), for a population density of  inhabitants/km².

Evolution of the population

Municipalities 
There are 104 municipalities (or comuni) in the province; they are:
Altino
 Archi
 Ari
 Arielli
 Atessa
 Bomba
 Borrello
 Bucchianico
 Canosa Sannita
 Carpineto Sinello
 Carunchio
 Casacanditella
 Casalanguida
 Casalbordino
 Casalincontrada
 Casoli
 Castel Frentano
 Castelguidone
 Castiglione Messer Marino
 Celenza sul Trigno
 Chieti
 Civitaluparella
 Civitella Messer Raimondo
 Colledimacine
 Colledimezzo
 Crecchio
 Cupello
 Dogliola
 Fallo
 Fara Filiorum Petri
 Fara San Martino
 Filetto
 Fossacesia
 Fraine
 Francavilla al Mare	
 Fresagrandinaria
 Frisa
 Furci
 Gamberale
 Gessopalena
 Gissi
 Giuliano Teatino
 Guardiagrele
 Guilmi
 Lama dei Peligni
 Lanciano
 Lentella
 Lettopalena
 Liscia
 Miglianico
 Montazzoli
 Montebello sul Sangro
 Monteferrante
 Montelapiano
 Montenerodomo
 Monteodorisio
 Mozzagrogna
 Orsogna
 Ortona
 Paglieta
 Palena
 Palmoli
 Palombaro
 Pennadomo
 Pennapiedimonte
 Perano
 Pietraferrazzana
 Pizzoferrato
 Poggiofiorito
 Pollutri	
 Pretoro
 Quadri
 Rapino
 Ripa Teatina
 Rocca San Giovanni
 Roccamontepiano
 Roccascalegna
 Roccaspinalveti
 Roio del Sangro
Roio del Sangro
 Rosello
 San Buono
 San Giovanni Lipioni
 San Giovanni Teatino
 San Martino sulla Marrucina
 San # Salvo
 San Vito Chietino
 Sant'Eusanio del Sangro
 Santa Maria Imbaro
 Scerni
 Schiavi di Abruzzo
 Taranta Peligna
 Tollo
 Torino di Sangro
 Tornareccio
 Torrebruna
 Torrevecchia Teatina
 Torricella Peligna
 Treglio
 Tufillo
 Vacri
 Vasto
 Villa Santa Maria
 Villalfonsina
 Villamagna
The largest comune is Atessa, with  and the smallest is Pietraferrazzana, with . Two comuni have less than 100 inhabitantsː Montebello sul Sangro with 92 inhabitants, and Montelapiano with 83 inhabitants.

Main comuni
The following table shows the 10 comuni with more inhabitants with their population, and their area and altitude.

Gallery

Related pages
 List of comuni of the Province of Chieti

References

Other websites

 Province of Chieti official website 

Chieti
The province of Teramo () is a province in the Abruzzo region of Central Italy. Its capital is the city of Teramo, and the province borders the Adriatic Sea.

Geography

Teramo is in the northeast of Abruzzo and has an area of , the third largest province in the region after the provinces of L'Aquila and Chieti. The province is bordered to the east by the Adriatic Sea, to the north by the province of Ascoli Piceno (Marche region), to the northwest by the province of Rieti (Lazio region), to the southwest by the province of L'Aquila and to the south by the province of Pescara.

The main river in the province is the Vomano,  long, that flows into the Adriatic Sea.

The highest mountain in the province (and in the Abruzzo region) is Corno Grande (), with an altitude of .

Population
There are 309,859 persons living in the province (January 2017), for a population density of  inhabitants/km².

Evolution of the population

Municipalities 
There are 47 municipalities (or comuni) in the province; they are:
Alba Adriatica
 Ancarano
 Arsita
 Atri
 Basciano
 Bellante
 Bisenti
 Campli
 Canzano
 Castel Castagna
 Castellalto
 Castelli
 Castiglione Messer Raimondo
 Castilenti
 Cellino Attanasio
 Cermignano
 Civitella del Tronto
 Colledara
 Colonnella
 Controguerra
 Corropoli
 Cortino
 Crognaleto
 Fano Adriano
 Giulianova
 Isola del Gran Sasso d'Italia
 Martinsicuro
 Montefino
 Montorio al Vomano
 Morro d'Oro
 Mosciano Sant'Angelo
 Nereto
 Notaresco
 Penna Sant'Andrea
 Pietracamela
 Pineto
 Rocca Santa Maria
 Roseto degli Abruzzi
 Sant'Egidio alla Vibrata
 Sant'Omero
 Silvi
 Teramo
 Torano Nuovo
 Torricella Sicura
 Tortoreto
 Tossicia
 Valle Castellana

The largest comune is Teramo, with  and the smallest is Nereto, with . Two comuni have less than 300 inhabitantsː Fano Adriano with 288 inhabitants, and Pietracamela with 263 inhabitants.

Main comuni
The following table shows the 10 comuni with more inhabitants with their population, and their area and altitude.
From north to south, the province of Teramo has seven blue flag beaches on the Adriatric Seacoast, called the Seven Sisters; they are:
Martinsicuro
Alba Adriatica
Tortoreto
Giulianova
Roseto degli Abruzzi
Pineto
Silvi

Gallery

Related pages
 List of comuni of the Province of Teramo

References

Other websites

 Province of Teramo official website
The province of Pescara () is a province in the Abruzzo region of Southern Italy, along the Adriatic Sea. Its capital is the city of Pescara.

Geography

Pescara is the smallest province in Abruzzo with an area of . The province is bordered to the northeast by the Adriatic Sea, to the north by the province of Teramo, to the east by the province of Chieti, and to the south and west by the province of L'Aquila.

The final part of the Aterno-Pescara river flows through this province; other rivers are smaller and most of them are tributaries of the Aterno-Pescara river. The city of Pescara, the capital of the province, is at the mouth of this river.

The highest mountain in the province is Monte Amaro,() in the Majella massif, Apennines; it is  high and is the highest mountain of three provinces: Chieti, L'Aquila and Pescara of the Abruzzo.

Population
There are 321,309 persons living in the province (January 2017), for a population density of  inhabitants/km².

Evolution of the population
Municipalities 
There are 46 municipalities (or comuni) in the province; they are:

 Abbateggio
 Alanno
 Bolognano
 Brittoli
 Bussi sul Tirino
 Cappelle sul Tavo
 Caramanico Terme
 Carpineto della Nora
 Castiglione a Casauria
 Catignano
 Cepagatti
 Città Sant'Angelo
 Civitaquana
 Civitella Casanova
 Collecorvino
 Corvara	
 Cugnoli
 Elice
 Farindola
 Lettomanoppello
 Loreto Aprutino
 Manoppello
 Montebello di Bertona
 Montesilvano
 Moscufo
 Nocciano
 Penne
 Pescara
 Pescosansonesco
 Pianella
 Picciano
 Pietranico	
 Popoli
 Roccamorice
 Rosciano
 Salle
 San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore
 Sant'Eufemia a Maiella
 Scafa
 Serramonacesca
 Spoltore
 Tocco da Casauria
 Torre de' Passeri
 Turrivalignani
 Vicoli
 Villa Celiera

The largest comune is Penne, with  and the smallest is Cappelle sul Tavo, with . The comune with fewest people living in it is Corvara with 247 inhabitants.

Main comuni
The following table shows the 10 comuni with more inhabitants with their population, and their area and altitude.

Gallery
Gallery

Related pages
 List of comuni of the Province of Pescara

References

Other websites

 Province of Pescara official website 

Pescara
The province of Perugia () is a province in the Umbria region of Central Italy. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The city of Perugia is also the capital of Umbria.

History
The province of Perugia was created in 1860 as Province of the Umbria. At that time, the province was larger than now because the present Province of Terni was included.

In 1927, the old province of the Umbria was divided in two provinces, Perugia and Terni.

Geography
The province of Perugia, with an area of , is the larger of the two province in Umbria.

The province is bordered to the north and east by the Marche (Pesaro and Urbino, Ancona, Macerata and Ascoli Piceno provinces), to the south with Lazio (province of Rieti) and with the province of Terni, and to the west with Tuscany (Siena and Arezzo provinces).

The main river in the region is the Tiber. The largest lake of the province, and of Umbria, is the Trasimeno, one of the largest lake of Italy.
The highest mountain in the province is Cima del Redentore, in the same group of mountains of the Monte Vettore, with an altitude of .

There are four regional natural parks in the province of Perugia: Parco di Colfiorito, Parco del Lago Trasimeno, Parco del Monte Cucco and Parco del Monte Subasio. The Monti Sibillini National Park ()  is mainly in the Manche region but part of it is in Umbria.

Population
, there are 662,110 persons living in the province, for a population density of  inhabitants/km².

Administration

The province has 59 comuni. The comuni with more people living in them areː

The largest comune is Gubbio, with  and the smallest is Paciano, with . The comune with fewest inhabitants is Poggiodomo with 117 inhabitants.

Related pages
List of comuni of the Province of Perugia

Gallery

References

Other websites

 Official Site
The Province of Terni () is a province in the Umbria region of Central Italy. Its capital is the city of Terni.

History
The province of Terni was created in 1927 when the old Province of the Umbria, created in 1860, was divided in two provinces, the Perugia and Terni provinces.

Geography
The province of Terni has an area of , one-third of both the area and population of the Umbria region.

The province is bordered to the north with the province of Perugia, to the east, south and west with the Lazio (the Rieti and Viterbo provinces) and to north-west with the Tuscany (province of Siena).

The province is in the southwest of the Umbria region, in the last part of the Nera river valley near the confluence with the Velino river, and the eastern part of the valley of the Tiber river.

The highest mountain in the province is Monte Aspra (), in the eastern part of the province, with an altitude of .
There are two fluvial parks, to protect two rivers and their areas around them, in the province of Terni: Parco fluviale del Tevere ("Fluvial park of the Tiber") and  Parco fluviale del Nera ("Fluvial park of the Nera").

Population
, there are 229,071 persons living in the province, for a population density of  inhabitants/km².

Administration

The province of Terni has 33 comuni. There are only four comuni with more than 10,000 people living in them; they areː

The largest comune is Orvieto, with  and the three smallest are Attigliano (), Montefranco () and Penna in Teverina (). Only two comuni have less than 1,000 inhabitantsː Parrano with 534 inhabitants, and Polino with 233 inhabitants

Related pages
List of communes of the Province of Terni

Gallery

References

Other websites

 Official Site  

Terni
Spurgeon's (it used to be called Spurgeon's Child Care) is a charity based in England. It has international projects in Mexico, Africa and Eastern Europe. Spurgeon's was founded in 1867 by Charles Spurgeon. He started it to care for fatherless boys. The first girls were accepted in 1879.

History 

Spurgeon's originally started as an orphanage. It was called Stockwell Orphanage, and was started by Spurgeon in 1867. It was located in what is now Stockwell Park Estate, in Stockwell, London. It opened on 9 September 1869, and was originally for boys only. The orphanage had places for 250 children to live. These children were fed, clothed and taught at the orphanage. This all cost about £5,000 each year. The money to pay for this mainly came from donations.
The orphanage was a home for boys without fathers between the ages of six and ten. Even though the orphanage was created by Baptists, boys of any religion were accepted there. In 1879, other buildings for children to live in were added to the orphanage. This allowed the orphanage to begin letting girls live there also.

Stockwell Orphanage was open until London was bombed in the Second World War. It later turned into Spurgeon's Child Care (and then into Spurgeon's). It is now mainly in England, but has international projects in Mexico, Africa and Eastern Europe.

References

Other websites 
Official Spurgeon's website
History of the Stockwell Orphanage 
Christian organizations
Charles Spurgeon
Charities of the United Kingdom
Mastodons or Mastodonts are elephants of the extinct genus Mammut and the family Mammutidae. Mastodons became extinct about 11,000 years ago. 

Mastodons, with mammoths, modern elephants and various older families, are members of the order Proboscidea. As adults they stood between 2.5 and 3 meters (8-10 feet) at the shoulder and weighed between 3500 and 5400 kilograms (4-6 tons). 

Mastodons were browsers on leaves and branches, as shown by their molar teeth.

Two species 
M. americanum was the American mastodon, and M. pacificus was the Pacific mastodon. They are the youngest and best-known species of the genus. Mastodons disappeared from North America as part of a mass extinction of most of the Pleistocene megafauna.

Recent discovery 
Stone tools and bones from a butchered mastodon were found at the bottom of a river in Florida. After a four-year investigation, researchers decided that humans lived there and made a meal of a mastodon 14,550 years ago.

References 

Extinct elephants
Megafauna
Lost Boys (1992) is the first horror novel written by Orson Scott Card.

Related pages
 About the book Lost Boys from Card's website

1992 books
Horror novels
Books by Orson Scott Card
Isleham is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Cambridgeshire.

Other websites 
2001 Census 
Isleham Village Website 
The Rising Sun Isleham Website 
Isleham FC Website 

Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire
Villages in Cambridgeshire
The River Lark is a river in England. It flows into the River Great Ouse.

Rivers of England
Suffolk
Cambridgeshire
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996) is the first science fiction book in the Pastwatch series, and is written by Orson Scott Card. The book's story about the explorer named Christopher Columbus. Most of the book is about scientists who traveled back to the 1400s to change European meetings with the Americas.

Translations 
  ("The Redemption Of Christopher Columbus"), 1998
  ("The Redemption Of Christopher Columbus"), 1997

Other websites
 About the book The Redemption of Christopher Columbus from Card's website

1996 books
Books by Orson Scott Card
The New Park Street Chapel was a Reformed Baptist church in Southwark, London. It was built in 1833. The Metropolitan Tabernacle at Elephant and Castle still worships there.

Pastors both past & present 
William Rider, c1653-c1665 (12 yrs)
Benjamin Keach, 1668-1704 (36 yrs)
Benjamin Stinton, 1704-1718 (14 yrs)
Dr. John Gill, 1720-1771 (51 yrs)
Dr. John Rippon, 1773-1836 (63 years)
Joseph Angus, 1837-1839 (2 yrs)
James Smith, 1841-1850 (8 ½ yrs)
William Walters, 1851-1853 (2 yrs)
Charles Spurgeon, 1854-1892 (38 yrs)
Arthur Tappan Pierson 1891-1893
Thomas Spurgeon, 1893-1908 (15 yrs)
Archibald G Brown, 1908-1911 (3 yrs)
Dr. Amzi Clarence Dixon, 1911-1919 (8 years)
Harry Tydeman Chilvers, 1919-1935 (15 ½ yrs)
Dr. W Graham Scroggie, 1938-1943 (5 yrs)
W G Channon, 1944-1949 (5 yrs)
Gerald B Griffiths, 1951-1954 (3yrs)
Eric W Hayden, 1956-1962 (6 yrs)
Dennis Pascoe 1963-1969 (6 yrs)
Dr. Peter Masters, 1970-present

Other websites 
Metropolitan Tabernacle official site
History page on official site
Baptist churches
Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Southwark
Charles Spurgeon
Exeter Hall was a hall on the north side of The Strand, London, England. It was built between 1829 and 1831. The hall could hold about 3,000 people. It was used for religious and philanthropic meetings.

Other websites 
 About the history and "passing of Exeter Hall" 

Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster
William Jewell College is a private, four-year Christian liberal arts college. It has around 1,274 undergraduate students. It is in Liberty, Missouri, United States

Other websites 
William Jewell College website

Christian colleges and universities in the United States
Colleges and universities in Missouri
1849 establishments in the United States
1840s establishments in Missouri
Liberty is a city in Clay County, Missouri. It is suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. At the 2000 census the city population was 26,232. It is the county seat of Clay County. Liberty is also home to William Jewell College.

References

Other websites 
City of Liberty Web Site

Cities in Missouri
County seats in Missouri
History
On June 10, 2002, McMahon became the kayfabe sole owner of World Wrestling Entertainment when he beat Ric Flair in a No-Holds-Barred match. The following month, he named general managers (Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon) to lead each brand. Since then, there have been five further drafts:
In March 2004, with the theme/tagline of WrestleMania XX being "Where it all begins again," Mr. McMahon announced a draft lottery, stating "it's time to shake things up again." Each general manager received six picks.
In June 2005,  Mr. McMahon announced a second draft lottery which would take place throughout the entire month of June. Both general managers received five random picks. 
In May 2006, WWE added a third brand; the revived version of Extreme Championship Wrestling.  "ECW Representative" Paul Heyman was allowed one pick from RAW and one pick from SmackDown!.
On May 28, 2007, Shane McMahon announced a new draft which featured all three brands. The Draft took place on June 11, 2007, on a special three-hour episode of RAW.
On May 26, 2008, Vince McMahon announced a new draft, which would feature all three WWE brands. The draft took place on June 23, 2008. 
On February 11, 2009, WWE announced via WWE.com that the 2009 WWE Draft would take place "8 Days after WrestleMania" which was April 13, 2009, on Raw.
The draft was confirmed for April 26, 2010, by the website for the place where the event will be held, the Richmond Coliseum.
Draft lotteries

Impact on championships
Whether a champion keeps their championship after being drafted is unpredictable. During the 2005 Draft, John Cena, the WWE Champion, was drafted from SmackDown! to RAW and kept his championship. General Manager Theodore Long announced that a new SmackDown! World Championship was to be created but the idea was abandoned when Batista, the World Heavyweight Champion, was drafted to SmackDown! from RAW, bringing the title with him. During the 2007 Draft, however, the ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley was stripped of the title after being drafted to RAW.
In 2009, WWE Champion Triple H was drafted back to Raw with the championship. Also Intercontinental Champion, Rey Mysterio was drafted to SmackDown and United States Champion, MVP was drafted to Raw. Divas Champion, Maryse was drafted to Raw and Women's Champion, Melina was drafted to SmackDown. At Backlash, Edge beat John Cena in a Last Man Standing match (with help from Big Show) to bring the World Heavyweight Championship back to SmackDown and to have the championships evenly divided.

In 2011, United States Champion, Sheamus was drafted to SmackDown. At Extreme Rules, Kofi Kingston defeated him in a tables match to bring the title back to Raw.

Related pages
WWE Brand Extension

References

Other websites
History of the WWE Draft Lottery

WWE Drafts
{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Battle of Iwo Jima
|partof=World War II, Pacific War
|image= 37mm Gun fires against cave positions at Iwo Jima.jpg
|caption=A U.S.  gun fires against Japanese cave positions in the north face of Mount Suribachi
|date=February 19 – March 26, 1945
|place=Iwo Jima, Japan
|result= United States victory
|combatant1=
|combatant2=
|commander1=Holland SmithMarc Mitscher
|commander2=Tadamichi Kuribayashi
|strength1=70,000
|strength2=18,061–18,591
|casualties1=12,822 killed/missing<ref name="morison">{{cite book|last=Morison|first= Samuel Eliot|author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison|orig-year=1960|year=2002|title=Victory in the Pacific, 1945|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana, IL|isbn=0-252-07065-8|oclc=49784806| series=Volume 14 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II}}</ref>19,217 wounded
|casualties2=17,845–18,375 killed/missing216 captured}}
The Battle of Iwo Jima was the American capture of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The USA needed to capture Iwo Jima to be able to defeat Japan. Many films were made about it, for example Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, that were both directed by Clint Eastwood.
It lasted from 19 February – 26 March 1945. It was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire.

The Americans wanted to capture the island, including its three airfields, and use this area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle had violent fighting.

After suffering such heavy losses, people questioned why the US went into the battle. The island was not useful for the Navy or Air Force.

The Imperial Japanese Army had thick defenses and underground tunnels for cover. The Americans had ships that could fire on the island and total control of the air. 
This invasion was the first American attack on Japanese home territory.

The Japanese general, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, and his soldiers refused to surrender. He and his officers said they would fight until they died.

There were 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, and only 216 were taken prisoner at the end.
About 3,000 Japanese soldiers kept fighting for weeks.John Toland, Rising Sun - The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936-1945, page 669

With no retreat and no possibility of reinforcements, the Japanese had dug in and prepared to fight until they died. This meant that winning the battle, meant the Americans would have to destroy the entire Japanese force stationed on the island.

The battle was made famous by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the  Mount Suribachi.

This photo became an important image of this battle, of the war in the Pacific, and of the Marine Corps.

Background

After the Americans captured the Marshall Islands in January 1944, the Japanese military leaders thought about their situation.

It looked like the Americans would go toward the Mariana Islands and the Carolines. The Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy (I.J.N.) set up a line of defences.
In March 1945, the Japanese 31st Army, commanded by General Hideyoshi Obata, was ordered to defend this line.

The commander of the Japanese group on Chichi Jima was placed in command of Army and Navy units in the Volcano Islands. The Americans had started bombing Japan every day after they captured the Marianas. The Japanese were using Iwo Jima to transmit radio reports of American bomber activity.

After the U.S. captured bases in the Marshalls in February 1944, Japanese Army and Navy troops were sent to Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima had more than 5,000 men.

The loss of the Marianas during the summer of 1944 made the Japanese worried about the Volcano Islands. They knew that the Americans could launch air attacks on Japan if these islands were captured. However, it was hard for Japan to defend the Volcano Islands because the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost almost all of its ships.
Japan could not build new airplanes until March or April 1945. Even then, these planes could not fly to Iwo Jima from Japan. Japan did not have enough pilots and other aircrew.

Iwo Jima was important for two reasons: it was an air base for Japanese fighter planes, and it was a safe place for Japanese ships. In addition, it was used by the Japanese to do air attacks on the Mariana Islands.

Capturing Iwo Jima would deny the air base from the Japanese and provide a place from which to launch the invasion of Japan.

When the US decided to invade Iwo Jima, experts thought it would be captured in one week, but hundreds of tons of Allied bombs had not harmed the entrenched Japanese defenders.

Planning and preparation

Japanese preparations
By June 1944, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was ordered to defend Iwo Jima. He knew that Japan could not win the battle, but hoped to inflict enough casualties to dissuade the Allies from invading Japan.
Kuribayashi created strong defences with heavy weapons such as heavy machine guns and artillery. Extensive tunnels were dug, and Land mines were placed all over the island.

 The amphibious landing 

Starting on 15 June 1944, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Air Forces began to attack the island. Naval artillery shellings and air bombings were done for nine months. Each heavy warship fired for approximately six hours.

These efforts failed to achieve desired effects due to the Japanese defenses. The American bombings continued until 19 February 1945: the day the Marines landed on the island.

About 450 American ships were near Iwo Jima. The battle involved about 60,000 U.S. Marines.

At 08:59, 30,000 Marines began landing on the island. The Japanese held their fire for some time while men and material began to fill the beaches. Then the Japanese opened fire, and many in the first group of Marines were killed by the machine guns.
Japanese heavy artillery was protected by steel doors that closed to protect the guns between shots. This made it difficult for American units to destroy Japanese artillery. The Japanese soldiers hid in the tunnel system.

With tanks, naval artillery, and air bombing on Mount Suribachi, the Marines were able to get past the beaches. About 40,000 more Marines landed later.

The fighting on Iwo Jima was very violent. The Marines’ advance was stopped by defensive positions and artillery. The Marines used flamethrowers and grenades to kill Japanese troops in the tunnels.

Eight Sherman M4A3R3 medium tanks with a flamethrower destroyed Japanese defences. The Japanese ran out of water, food, and supplies. The Japanese made more nighttime attacks. Most Japanese soldiers fought to the death.

Raising the flag
Raising the flag

"Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima" is a photograph taken on 23 February 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. It shows five Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States on Mount Suribachi. The photograph was popular. It won a Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

The Japanese troops stayed in the tunnels . They were all killed.

Northern Iwo Jima

The Japanese still held positions on the north end. Kuribayashi had eight infantry battalions, a tank regiment, two artillery battalions, and three heavy mortar battalions. He also had about 5,000 gunners and naval infantry.

The Marines' tanks were destroyed by Japanese fire and mines. Many Americans were killed or wounded.

The Marines attacked in the darkness with no bombing before the attack. Many Japanese soldiers were killed while still sleeping.

On the evening of 8 March, Captain Samaji Inouye and his 1,000 men attacked the Americans causing 347 casualties (90 deaths). The Marines counted 784 dead Japanese soldiers the next day.
There was also a kamikaze air attack on the ships anchored at sea on 21 February. This sunk the escort carrier  and severely damaged the . There was minor damage to the escort carrier , an LST, and a transport.

On 16 March, Kuribayashi's soldiers were still alive on the northwestern end of the island. On 21 March, the Marines blew up the Japanese with four tons of explosives. On 24 March, Marines sealed up the caves.

A 300-man Japanese force attacked Airfield No. 2. There was a 90-minute fight and it suffered heavy casualties (53 killed, 120 wounded). The island was finally captured at 09:00 on 26 March.

 Weapons 
In the Pacific the United States used the M2 flamethrower.  These flamethrowers were used to kill Japanese in caves.  Marines also had flamethrowers on tanks which were used during battle.  They were less useful because of Iwo Jima's rough land. Many other infantry weapons were utilized, including the infamous M1 Garand.

Aftermath
Aftermath

Of the 22,060 Japanese soldiers on the island, 18,844 died from fighting or by suicide. Only 216 were captured during the battle.  After Iwo Jima, 3,000 hid in the tunnels.

The 36-day battle for Iwo Jima resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. By comparison, the 82-day battle for Okinawa resulted in casualties of over 62,000, of whom over 12,000 were killed or missing. Iwo Jima was also the only U.S. Marine battle where the Americans suffered more casualties than the Japanese.

Because they had all been removed, there were no civilian casualties at Iwo Jima, unlike at Saipan and Okinawa.

Strategic importance

Given the number of casualties, the importance of the island's capture is controversial.

Iwo Jima was not used by the US Army Air Corp to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. Tinian was the Island both bombers left to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were 12 hours out and back.
The argument for capturing Iwo Jima was that it provided a landing and refueling airfield for fighter escorts. Yet, only ten missions were ever flown from Iwo Jima.

Japanese fighter aircraft based on Iwo Jima sometimes attacked the US forces. Only 11 B-29s were lost.

The Japanese on Iwo Jima had radar and could notify Japanese forces at home of B-29 Superfortresses flying from the Mariana Islands.

However, the capture of Iwo Jima did not affect the Japanese radar system.

Legacy
The United States Navy has several ships of the name .

On 19 February 1985, the 40th anniversary of the landings, an event called the Reunion of Honor was held. The veterans of both sides who fought in the battle of Iwo Jima attended the event. A memorial was built. Representatives of both countries shook hands.

The importance of the battle to Marines today can be seen. Marines go to the island and to the summit of Suribachi.
The Japanese government continues to search for the bodies of Japanese military troops who were killed during the battle.

Medal of Honor awards

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is given to a member of the United States armed forces who show bravery and risks his life in a battle. The medal is often awarded after death. It has been given only 3,464 times.

During this one-month-long battle, 27 U.S. military personnel were given the Medal of Honor for their actions, 14 of them after death.
Movies and documentaries To the Shores of Iwo Jima, a 1945 American documentary produced by the United States Navy, Marine Corps and the Coast Guard.Glamour Gal, a 1945 film about Marine artillery.Sands of Iwo Jima, a 1949 American film starring John Wayne.The Outsider, a 1961 film starring Tony Curtis as the conflicted flag raiser Ira Hayes.Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are two 2006 films directed by Clint Eastwood. Flags of Our Fathers is filmed from the American perspective and is based on the book by James Bradley and Ron Powers (Flags of Our Fathers). Letters from Iwo Jima (originally titled Red Sun, Black Sand) is filmed from the Japanese perspective.
 Part 8 of the 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, includes part of the battle of Iwo Jima from the point of view of a Marine who died there. 
 Episode 23 from the 1973 Thames Television Documentary The World at War.
Battle Rats: Iwo Jima (2009) (TV).
Notes

 References 

 Burrell, Robert S. "Breaking the Cycle of Iwo Jima Mythology: A Strategic Study of Operation Detachment," Journal of Military History Volume 68, Number 4, October 2004, pp. 1143–1186 and rebuttal in Project MUSE 

 Linenthal, Edward T. "Shaping a Heroic Presence: Iwo Jima in American Memory," Reviews in American History'' Vol. 21, No. 1 (March 1993), pp. 8–12 in JSTOR

Kindersley, Dorling; World War II: The Definitive Visual History; DK publishing; 2009

Online 

 – Site contains 250 photographs.
 – 3-D Stereo Photograph of Iwo Jima Flag-raising.
 – A tone-mapped High Dynamic Range Image of Iwo Jima.

Other websites

1945 in Japan
Iwo Jima
John 3:16 (chapter 3, verse 16 of the Gospel of John) is a verse from the Christian Bible. It has been called the "Gospel in a nutshell." It is also thought to be one of the most important doctrines of Christianity.

References 

Gospels
Le Châtelier's principle is a principle used in Chemistry and Physics to describe how a system at equilibrium reacts to external changes.

Overview 
It is used to show how the point of equilibrium of a system will move to oppose a change in the conditions of the system, following Newton's third law. This is most commonly seen in reversible reactions in chemistry, where a chemical reaction has reached a point where the formation of products happens at the same rate the products decay back into reactants. This principle can then be used to increase the amount of desired products made by moving equilibrium towards that side in chemical industries.

Concentration 
If the concentration of reactants in a reaction increases, the point of equilibrium moves towards the products as this gets rid of the excess reactants and cancels the change. Similarly, if the concentration of products increases, the equilibrium moves towards the reactants.
Pressure 
If the pressure of a system increases, the point of equilibrium will shift to the side with less moles, as that side will occupy less volume and therefore will reduce the pressure.

Temperature 
If the temperature of a system is increased, the point of equilibrium moves towards whichever side is more endothermic as this will take in the excess energy as part of the products and so cancels the change of increased temperature.

Electromagnetism 
This principle is also shown by Lenz's law, which states that a changing magnetic flux will produce an opposing magnetic flux (and therefore a magnetic and electric field) in any nearby metals. This will then produce a second current in the nearby metal in the opposite direction to the original current.

Other websites 
 Le Chatelier's principle
 Lenz's law
Chemistry
Physics
The continental United States is the area of the United States of America that is located in the continent of North America. It includes 49 of the 50 states (48 of which are located south of Canada and north of Mexico, known as the "lower 48 states", the other being Alaska) and the District of Columbia, which contains the federal capital, Washington, D.C. The only state which is not part of this is Hawaii (as it is islands in the Pacific Ocean and is not part of North America).

"On May 14, 1959, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names issued the following definitions based partially on the reference in the Alaska Omnibus Bill, which defined the Continental United States as "the 49 States on the North American Continent and the District of Columbia..." The Board reaffirmed these definitions on May 13, 1999."
Some sources incorrectly mix up the continental United States with the contiguous United States (which consists simply of the lower 48 states and the District of Columbia). The contiguous United States (also known as the United States Mainland) does not include Alaska, Hawaii, or any other territories under the control of the United States.

Alaska is unique among the US states as it is part of the North American continent, meaning it is attached via Canada, and so is part of the "Continental United States". However, Alaska is not part of the "Contiguous United States", because it is not attached directly to the lower 48 states.

Citations 

Regions of the United States
The Bible Belt is term for a part of the United States in which many people believe in conservative Evangelical Protestantism. This makes it a dominant part of the culture. The Bible Belt is mainly located in the Southern United States.

References

Christianity in the United States
Regions of the United States
Britons, British people, or the British are people from Britain – either from the United Kingdom or the island of Great Britain. In history, the people of the British Empire, and later the British Commonwealth, were also named British or Britons.

The first people to be named Britons were the people of ancient Britain, the ancient Britons. The ancient Romans named the people of Britain in . People from Roman Britain called themselves in . Bede used the spelling in , the spelling of which was possibly learned from the Old English word of the same meaning.

Originally, the word Briton in the English language meant a person from one of the Brythonic languages-speaking peoples in Great Britain and northern France: mostly the people of Strathclyde, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. This meaning of the word was used in Middle English from the 13th century and after. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Briton could also be a name for Welsh people.
Citizenship
To become a British citizen, there are many different thing that must be considered. Unlike some countries, a person is not a citizen of Britain just because they were born there. When they were born and the citizenship status of thieir parents can affect if the can be a citizen. Other things that may affect being a citizen of England include being married to a British citizen, having indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and then living in the UK for 12 months or if the person had "settled status".

Other things that may let a person apply for citizenship include having a British parent, being a citizen of another British country, not being a citizen of any country or having been a citizen in the past but giving up that citizenship. A person may also be able to apply if their parents came to the UK before 1973 and that person was also born in the UK or moved to it before they were 18. They must also have not moved away from the UK for more than two years.

References
The scissor-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus forficatus), also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and swallow-tailed flycatcher, is a type of bird that lives in North America, in the United States and Mexico. It eats insects.  It is grey on top and light grey underneath with pink on the sides.  The wings are dark and it has a long black tail.  It is named "scissor-tailed" because its tail looks like a pair of scissors.  The tail is shorter when it is young, and the bird is not as colorful.
The scissor-tailed flycatcher is closely related to the kingbirds. It is also the state bird of Oklahoma. The common name is derived from its former Latin name-Muscivoria forficata, meaning "flying"-"scissors" and "to devour."  In Oklahoma, scissortails can be found on open prairies, along tree-lined roads, and along roadsides perched on fences, limbs and in isolated trees.  They consume a great number of grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, and other ground-dwelling insects  making them economically important and popular with farmers and ranchers.
Soon after the birds arrive in the state, the males begin their famous "sky dance," a popular site along roadsides during spring and early summer. After climbing about 100 feet in the air, the male makes a series of V-shaped flights, then plunges down in an erratic zigzag course often somersaulting  while uttering a rolling, cackling call.  The performance has been described as "an aerial ballet of incomparable grace." Nesting usually takes place in an isolated tree 7–30 feet  above ground. Often two broods of 4-6 each are raised during the summer.
Scissor-tailed flycatchers are easily identified by their long scissor-like tail, which may reach nine inches in length.  During flight the bird opens its tail like a pair of scissors and folds or closes the "scissors" when perching. The nape of its neck and its back are pearl gray, and the breast is white. Wings are sooty black with a touch of scarlet at the shoulders. The principal threat to scissortails is poaching.  A great number of birds have been killed by poachers who wanted only the bird's tail.

Birds of North America
Tyranni
Symbols of Oklahoma
Cercis canadensis L. (also known as the eastern redbud) is a large shrub or small tree native to eastern North America from southern Ontario, Canada south to northern Florida, United States. The tree is also the state tree of Oklahoma.

References

Fabaceae
Symbols of Oklahoma
Black Mesa is a mountain in Oklahoma. It is the highest point in the state.

Mountains of Oklahoma
EXIT or exit (lat. exit "he/she leaves", pl. exeunt) may mean:

Exit, denoting a way out of a building, city, or place
 Emergency exit, or fire exit, used in case of an emergency
 Exit ramp, or slip road, used to leave an expressway or motorway
 Exit procedure, or exit interview, related to the termination of an employee
 Exit plan, commonly used to describe a plan for business owners to divest themselves of their business, or the planning for the termination of an operation
 Exit sign, indicating a point of egress

Computing
 Exit (operating system), a system call to terminate a running program, process, task, or thread
 Exit (command), a termination command in UNIX, DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows
 User exit, a predefined replaceable procedure in a software package
Popular music
 EXIT (festival), a music festival in Serbia
 "Exit" (song), a song from U2's album The Joshua Tree
 Exit (Tangerine Dream album), a 1981 album from the German band, Tangerine Dream
 Exit (k-os album), a 2002 album from Canadian musician k-os
 Exit Records, a record label

Arts and entertainment
 Exit, a theatrical term instructing an actor to leave the scene
 EXIT (performance art group), a performance art group in the 1970s
 Exit (comic), a French comic by Bernard Werber and Alain Mounier
 Exit (video game), a video game for the PSP, Xbox Live Arcade and Nintendo DS

Politics
 Exit (group), three European organisations helping young people to leave the neo-Nazi scene
 EXIT (Australia), a pro-euthanasia group in Australia and other countries
 EXIT (Scotland), a pro-euthanasia group based in Scotland

Related pages
 Quit (disambiguation)