title: Narita International Airport

text: The Narita Rapid Railway opened on July 17, 2010, and shaved 20 minutes off the travel time. The line's new Skyliner express trains with a maximum speed of are scheduled between Tokyo's Nippori Station and Narita Airport Terminal 2·3 Station in 36 minutes, which compares favourably with other major airports worldwide. A new expressway, the North Chiba Road, is also under construction along the Narita Rapid Railway corridor. Improvements such as the Wangan Expressway also shaved off travel time to Kanagawa Prefecture by bypassing Tokyo.


title: Narita International Airport

text: The Japanese government has also invested in several local infrastructure projects in order to address the demands of airport neighbors. The largest of these is the Shibayama Railway, a short railway connection between the Keisei Main Line and the area immediately east of Narita Airport. This line opened in 2002 with government and NAA support after extensive demands from Shibayama residents, and provides a direct rail link from Shibayama to Narita City, Chiba City and central Tokyo. Another such project is the Museum of Aeronautical Sciences in Shibayama Town, which draws tourists and student groups to the area.


title: Narita International Airport

text: A further extension of the Runway B to has been under official consideration since 2014. Permitting for the extension was approved in January 2020. The final plan calls for the runway to be extended to the northwest, and requires a 430-meter section of the Higashi-Kanto Expressway to be replaced with a tunnel beneath the runway; construction is scheduled to be complete in fiscal year 2028.


title: Narita International Airport

text: The airport's original master plan also included a planned third "C" runway, which would be a crossing runway south of the passenger terminals. Although the majority of the land and equipment required in order to build the runway are under NAA's ownership, small portions of land needed to be accessed in order to build the runway are still blocked by airport protesters, and areas south of the South Wing of the terminal are being used as aircraft parking and storage. Noise abatement would also be an issue, especially since there are major towns such as Yachimata on the planned departure/arrival routes. Noise abatement negotiations would have to be worked through in order to use the runway, otherwise a Kai-Tak style approach would be necessary, which is less than favourable. For these following reasons, building work on the third "C" runway was finally aborted.


title: Narita International Airport

text: In March 2018, NAA released a new masterplan for expansion, which included a third "Runway C" on the east side of the airport to be completed by 2028. The new runway will increase the airport's annual slot capacity from 300,000 to 460,000. The runway project will enable the airport to extend the airport's operating hours to cover the period between 12:30 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Local authorities agreed to the expansion plan after an 18-month process due to the need for further local revitalization. The final plan, approved in January 2020 and published in December 2021, calls for a 3,500 meter runway on the east side of the airport, built over two underground road tunnels, with completion by fiscal year 2028.


title: Narita International Airport

text: In September 2022, NAA announced a conceptual plan to consolidate the three existing terminals into a single facility called "One Terminal." Plans had previously called for a fourth terminal building to be added in conjunction with the construction of Runway C, but due to the aging of the older terminals, NAA opted to plan for the replacement of the older terminals with new structures. The plans also call for a new cargo facility and upgraded transit links to central Tokyo.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Narita was among the first airports in the world to align its terminals around the three major international airline alliances. Since 2006, the airport has arranged for SkyTeam carriers to use the North Wing of Terminal 1, Star Alliance carriers to use the South Wing of Terminal 1, and Oneworld carriers to use Terminal 2.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Terminal 1 uses a satellite terminal design divided into a , , and a . Two circular satellites, Satellites 1 (gates 11–18) and 2 (gates 21–24), are connected to the North Wing. Satellites 3 and 4 (gates 26–38 and gates 41–47) compose a linear concourse connected to the Central Building. Satellite 5 (gates 51–58) is connected to the South Wing. The terminal building has a floorspace of and equipped with 40 gates.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Check-in is processed on the fourth floor, and departures and immigration control are on the third floor. Arriving passengers clear immigration on the second floor, then claim their baggage and clear customs on the first floor. Most shops and restaurants are located on the fourth floor of the Central Building. The South Wing includes a duty-free mall called "Narita Nakamise", one of the largest airport duty-free brand boutique mall in Japan.


title: Narita International Airport

text: The North Wing has served as an alliance hub for SkyTeam since 2007, when Delta Air Lines and Aeroflot joined Air France, KLM, Aeromexico, Korean Air, Northwest Airlines and other SkyTeam carriers already operating there. As of 2016, Aircalin, Hawaiian Airlines, Jin Air, and Etihad Airways are the only scheduled non-aligned carriers operating from the North Wing.


title: Narita International Airport

text: The South Wing and Satellite 5 opened in June 2006 as a terminal for Star Alliance carriers. The construction of the South Wing took nearly a decade and more than doubled the floor area of Terminal 1. Today, almost all Star Alliance members, including Japan's All Nippon Airways, use this wing, along with non-members Air Busan, MIAT, Uzbekistan Airways.


title: Narita International Airport

text: The now-defunct Continental Airlines used the North Wing until 2009 when they were a SkyTeam member, and the South Wing until 2012 when they were a Star Alliance member.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Zipair Tokyo will use the North Wing; which had been used mainly by Delta (Northwest before the October 2008—January 2010 merger) until it stopped flying to Narita in March 2020.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Peach Aviation moved its operations from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 on 25 October 2020. Peach domestic flights will use the North Wing, while international flights uses the South Wing.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Terminal 2, which opened in 1992, is divided into a and , both of which are designed around linear concourses. The two were connected by the Terminal 2 Shuttle System, which was designed by Japan Otis Elevator and was the first cable-driven people mover in Japan. A new walkway between the main and satellite buildings began operation on September 27, 2013, and the shuttle system was discontinued. Terminal 2 can handle large aircraft like the A380 (operated by Emirates) and Boeing 747-8. Terminal 2 has an area of and 32 boarding gates.


title: Narita International Airport

text: For domestic flights, three gates (65, 66, and 67) in the main building are connected to both the main departures concourse and to a separate domestic check-in facility. Passengers connecting between domestic and international flights must exit the gate area, walk to the other check-in area, and then check in for their connecting flight.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Japan Airlines is currently the main operator in T2. The terminal has served as a hub for all oneworld alliance carriers at NRT since 2010, when British Airways moved from Terminal 1. Several other airlines also use the terminal, including SkyTeam carriers China Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, as well as Star Alliance carrier Air India, Oneworld connect partner Fiji Airways, and non-affiliated carriers Air Macau, Air Niugini, Eastar Jet, Emirates, Pakistan International Airlines, Philippine Airlines and Scoot.


title: Narita International Airport

text: All Nippon Airways and several other Star Alliance carriers used Terminal 2 prior to the expansion of the Terminal 1 South Wing in 2006.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Terminal 3, a terminal for low-cost carriers, opened on April 8, 2015. It is located north of Terminal 2, where a cargo building used to sit, and has a capacity of 50,000 flights per year. The new terminal incorporates several cost-cutting measures, including using decals instead of lighted directional signs and using outdoor gates and airstairs instead of jet bridges, which are intended to reduce facility costs for airlines and their passengers by around 40% on international flights and 15% on domestic flights. Taisei Corporation was awarded a ¥11.2 billion contract to build the terminal in January 2013. The airport also constructed a new LCC apron to the north of the terminal, with five additional parking slots for Airbus A320 and similarly sized aircraft.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Jetstar Japan, Spring Japan, and a few other budget airlines use the terminal 3. The terminal also includes a 24-hour food court, which is the largest airport food court in Japan, and a multi faith prayer room. It was built at a cost of 15 billion yen and covers of floor space.


title: Narita International Airport

text: There are three air traffic control towers at Narita. The main control tower and one of the ramp control towers stand on the geographical center the airport, and another ramp tower is directly above Terminal 2. The main tower is used by Japan Civil Aviation Bureau's ATC, while the ramp towers are used by the NAA officers. The ramp control will be transferred to the brand new tower in 2020.


title: Narita International Airport

text: The airport is connected by a pipeline to the port of Chiba City and to a fuel terminal in Yotsukaido. The pipeline opened in 1983, and had pumped 130 billion liters of fuel to Narita Airport by its thirtieth anniversary of operations in 2013.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) has its headquarters on the grounds of Narita Airport, in the . Previously NCA had its headquarters on the fourth floor of the ).


title: Narita International Airport

text: Japan Airlines operates the at Narita Airport. The subsidiary airline JALways once had its headquarters in the building. All Nippon Airways also has a dedicated "Sky Center" operations building adjacent to Terminal 1, which serves as the headquarters of ANA Air Service Tokyo, a ground handling provider that is a joint venture between ANA and the airport authority.


title: Narita International Airport

text: NRT has one on-site hotel, the Airport Rest House adjacent to Terminal 1. The hotel is operated by TFK, a company that also provides in-flight catering services from an adjacent flight kitchen facility. A capsule hotel opened adjacent to Terminal 2 in July 2014 in order to serve both transit passengers and passengers on early-morning low-cost carrier flights.


title: Narita International Airport

text: The Museum of Aeronautical Science is located on the south side of Narita Airport and has a number of aircraft on exhibit, including a NAMC YS-11 and a number of small piston aircraft.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Narita Airport has two rail connections, with airport express trains as well as commuter trains running on various routes to Tokyo and beyond. Two operators serve the airport: East Japan Railway Company (JR East), and Keisei Electric Railway. Trains to and from the airport stop at Narita Airport Terminal 1 Station in Terminal 1 and Narita Airport Terminal 2·3 Station in Terminal 2.


title: Narita International Airport

text: "Narita Express" runs from the airport via the Narita and Sōbu lines to Tokyo Station. The trainsets divide at Tokyo, with one set looping clockwise around central Tokyo to the Shōnan–Shinjuku Line, stopping at Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Ōmiya and/or Takao, while the other set proceeds south to Shinagawa, Yokohama and Ōfuna through the Yokosuka Line. Trains normally run non-stop between Narita Airport and Tokyo, but during rush hours they also stop at Narita, Sakura, Yotsukaidō and Chiba to accommodate commuters.


title: Narita International Airport

text: A rapid service train is the suburban JR service to the airport. It follows the same route to Tokyo Station but makes 15 intermediate stops en route, taking 80 min as opposed to the non-stop 55-min Narita Express. From Tokyo Station, most trains continue through the Yokosuka Line to Ōfuna, Zushi, Yokosuka and Kurihama in Kanagawa Prefecture. A single trip to Tokyo Station on this route costs ¥1,320.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Keisei operates two lines between Narita Airport and central Tokyo. The newer Keisei Narita Airport Line follows an almost straight path across northern Chiba Prefecture, while the older Keisei Main Line passes through the cities of Narita, Sakura and Funabashi. The lines converge at Keisei-Takasago Station in northeast Tokyo and then follow a common right-of-way to Nippori Station and Keisei Ueno Station, both located on the northeast side of the Yamanote Line that loops around central Tokyo.


title: Narita International Airport

text: "Skyliner" is the fastest train between the airport and the Yamanote Line. Travel time is 36 min to Nippori and 41 min to Keisei Ueno. Tokyo Station can be reached in 50 min with a transfer to the Yamanote Line. A single trip from the airport to Nippori Station costs ¥2,470, making the "Skyliner" one of the cheapest limited express train options between the airport and Tokyo.


title: Narita International Airport

text: "Morningliner" and "Eveningliner" trains respectively operate toward Tokyo in the morning and away from Tokyo in the evening, and make intermediate stops at , , , and to accommodate commuters. A single trip to Nippori Station on this route costs ¥1,440.


title: Narita International Airport

text: "Access Express" suburban trains run through the Narita Sky Access Line but with intermediate stops en route. A single trip from the airport to Nihombashi Station (on the Toei Asakusa Line) costs ¥1,330. Most "Access Express" trains run to Haneda Airport via the Toei Asakusa Line and Keikyu Main Line before 5pm, while after that most services run to Nippori and Keisei Ueno.


title: Narita International Airport

text: "Limited Express" suburban trains run through the Keisei Main Line. These are the cheapest and slowest trains between Narita and central Tokyo, reaching Nippori in 70-75 min and Keisei Ueno in 75-80 min. A single trip to Nippori Station on this route costs ¥1,030.


title: Narita International Airport

text: All seats are reserved on the express "Liner" services, while the suburban "Express" services use open seating.


title: Narita International Airport

text: There are regular bus (limousine) services to the Tokyo City Air Terminal in 55 minutes, and major hotels and railway stations in the greater Tokyo area in 35–120 minutes. These are often slower than the trains because of traffic jams. The chief operator of these services is Airport Transport Service under the "Friendly Airport Limousine" brand. Other operators include Keisei Bus, Chiba Kotsu and Narita Airport Transport.


title: Narita International Airport

text: There is also an overnight bus service to Kyoto and Osaka. Buses also travel to nearby US military bases, including Yokosuka Navy Base and Yokota Air Base.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Fixed rate taxi service to Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka, and Miura is available for 14,000 - 40,300 yen (expressway tolls, which cost 2,250 – 2,850 yen, are not included in the fixed fare, and need to be paid as a surcharge). Operated by Narita International Airport Taxi Council Members.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Mori Building City Air Service offered a helicopter charter service between Narita and the Ark Hills complex in Roppongi, taking 35 minute and costing 280,000 yen each way for up to five passengers; however, the service was discontinued on December 1, 2015.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Haneda Airport is approximately 1.5–2 hours from Narita Airport by rail or bus. By rail, the Keisei Electric Railway runs direct trains between Narita and Haneda in 101 minutes for ¥1740 as of May 2012. The Tokyo Monorail runs from Haneda to Hamamatsuchō Station in 15–20 minutes. A short transfer to Japan Railway train to Tōkyō Station is required to connect to the Narita Express train to Narita airport. There are also direct buses between the airports operated by Airport Limousine Bus. The journey takes 65–85 minutes or longer depending on traffic.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Complaints over slots and landing fees have plagued the busy airport. Because so many airlines want to use it, the Japanese aviation authorities extend use time for Narita International Airport until midnight, and cut cost by denationalization. In 2004, New Tokyo International Airport Authority (NAA) was privatized and turned into Narita International Airport Corporation (NIAC). Narita's landing fees were once more than double of those of Incheon International Airport (¥195,000 in November 2012), Singapore Changi Airport, and Shanghai Pudong Airport (¥170,000 in November 2012). In 2014, the policy of Open skies was implemented. Airlines can increase or decrease the number of its flights freely, and Narita's landing fees were cut by up to 50%.


title: Narita International Airport

text: In October 2010, Narita announced plans to build a new terminal for low-cost carriers (LCCs) and to offer reduced landing fees for new airline service, in an attempt to maintain its competitiveness against Haneda Airport.


title: Narita International Airport

text: In July 2011, ANA and AirAsia announced that they would form a low-cost carrier subsidiary, AirAsia Japan, based at Narita. Later in 2011, JAL and Jetstar Asia announced a similar low-cost joint venture, Jetstar Japan, to be based at Narita. Skymark Airlines opened a domestic base at Narita in November 2011, and by February 2012 was operating 70 departures per week from NRT. Skymark cited the lower fees at NRT as a key reason for this move. Spring Airlines Japan, an LCC partly owned by Spring Airlines, plans to begin service in 2014 with NRT as its primary base.


title: Narita International Airport

text: Narita's restricted hours, congestion and landing fees have caused difficulties for LCCs operating at the airport. On Jetstar Japan's first day of operations in July 2012, a departing flight was delayed on the tarmac for one hour, forcing a cancellation. Less than two weeks later, a departing Jetstar Japan flight from Narita to New Chitose Airport was significantly delayed such that the return flight to Narita using the same aircraft could not arrive before the 11 PM curfew, forcing another cancellation. LCCs at Narita currently use the corner of Terminal 2, which is farthest from Runway A, often requiring a long taxi time.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark (; 22 June 1911 – 16 November 1937) was by birth a Greek and Danish princess who became the titular Hereditary Grand Duchess consort of Hesse and by Rhine through her marriage to Prince Georg Donatus, pretender to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. She was also the third-eldest sister to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (later Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh) and the paternal aunt of Charles III.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The third of five children of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Cecilie spent a happy childhood. In her early years, however, she witnessed the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), followed by the First World War (1914–1918) and the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). For the young princess and her relatives, these conflicts had dramatic consequences and led to their exile in Switzerland (between 1917 and 1920), and then in France (from 1922 to 1936). During their exile, Cecilie and her family depended on the generosity of their foreign relatives, in particular Marie Bonaparte (who offered them accommodation in Saint-Cloud) and Lady Edwina Mountbatten (who supported them financially).


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The year 1929 was a turning point in Cecilie's life. She formed a relationship with her maternal cousin, Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse. Around the same time, her mother was struck by a mental health crisis which led to her confinement in a Swiss psychiatric hospital until 1933. After marrying Georg Donatus in 1931, Cecilie moved to Darmstadt. There she gave birth to their three children, Ludwig (1931–1937), Alexander (1933–1937) and Johanna (1936–1939), before becoming pregnant with her fourth child in 1937. Initially distant from the Nazi movement, she joined the Nazi Party at the same time as her husband in May 1937.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Soon after, the princess and her family embarked on a trip to the United Kingdom, where they were to attend the wedding of her brother-in-law Louis, Prince of Hesse and by Rhine to Margaret Campbell Geddes. However, the aircraft in which they were travelling crashed in flames near Ostend, instantly killing all the passengers. Repatriated to Darmstadt, their remains were buried in the Grand Ducal mausoleum of Rosenhöhe on 23 November 1937.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The third daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Cecilie was born at Tatoi Palace, near Athens, on 22 June 1911. Baptized on 10 July, her godparents were King George V of the United Kingdom, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna of Russia.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Cecilie spent a happy childhood within a united household that was already made up of two daughters, Margarita (1905–1981) and Theodora (1906–1969), and was further expanded with the arrival of Sophie (1914–2001). The favorite child of her father, she grew up in Athens, Tatoi and Corfu, where her father inherited Mon Repos after King George I's assassination in 1913. Coming from a cosmopolitan dynasty, Cecilie and her sisters communicated in English with their mother, but they also used French, German, and Greek with their relatives and their governesses. The girls also traveled abroad with their family at a very young age. In 1911 and 1913, Cecilie thus went to the United Kingdom and Germany, where she was introduced to her mother's relatives.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Cecilie's early years were marked by the instability that the Kingdom of Greece experienced at the start of the twentieth century. Between 1912 and 1913, Greece engaged in the Balkan Wars, during which Prince Andrew served under Crown Prince Constantine while Princess Alice worked as a nurse for wounded soldiers. They were, however, especially affected by the First World War, which created division between different branches of their family as Greece set aside its neutrality due to the Triple Entente. Cecilie and her sisters were in the royal palace of Athens when it was bombarded by the French Navy during the battle in the capital on 1 December 1916.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: In June 1917, King Constantine I was finally deposed and driven out of Greece by the Allies, who replaced him on the throne by his second son, the young Alexander. Fifteen days later, Cecilie's family was in turn forced into exile in order to remove the possibility of the new monarch being influenced by those close to him. Forced to reside in German-speaking Switzerland, the small group first stayed in a hotel in St. Moritz, before settling in Lucerne, where they lived with uncertainty about their future.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Exile was not the only source of concern for the family, however. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, some of Cecilie's Romanov relatives were murdered in Russia. Shortly after these events, the Grand Ducal family of Hesse, to which Cecilie was closely related through her mother, was overthrown along with all the other German dynasties during the winter of 1918–1919. Finally, the family went through some health problems, with Cecilie contracting the flu and scarlet fever in 1920.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: At the beginning of 1919, Cecilie reunited with her paternal grandmother, the Dowager Queen Olga, spared by the Bolsheviks thanks to the diplomatic intervention of the Danes. In the months that followed, Cecilie attended a family reunion with her maternal grandparents, and met her aunt Louise and uncle Louis Mountbatten. For Cecilie, who now formed a duo with her younger sister Sophie, exile was not only synonymous with sadness; it was also an opportunity for long family reunions and walks in the mountains.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: On 2 October 1920, King Alexander, cousin of Cecilie, was bitten by a domestic monkey during a walk in Tatoi. Poorly cared for, he contracted sepsis, which prevailed on 25 October, without any member of his family being allowed to come to his bedside. The death of the sovereign caused a violent institutional crisis in Greece. Already stuck, since 1919, in a new war against Turkey, Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos lost the 1920 Greek legislative election. Humiliated, he retired abroad while a referendum reinstalled Constantine I on the throne.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Prince Andrew was received triumphantly in Athens on 23 November 1920, and his wife and four daughters joined him a few days later. Cecilie then returned to live in Corfu with her family. At the same time, Princess Alice found out that she was pregnant again. On 10 June 1921, the family welcomed Philip (1921–2021), later the Duke of Edinburgh. The joy that surrounded this birth, however, was obscured by the absence of Prince Andrew, who joined the Greek forces in Asia Minor during the Occupation of Smyrna. Despite worries about the war, Cecilie and her siblings enjoyed life at Mon Repos, where they received a visit from their maternal grandmother and their aunt Louise in the spring of 1922. In the park near the palace, built on an ancient cemetery, the princesses devoted themselves to archeology and discovered some pottery, bronze pieces and bones.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: During this period, Cecilie and her sisters also participated, for the first time, in a number of great social events. In March 1921, the princesses attended in Athens the wedding of their cousin Helen to Crown Prince Carol of Romania. In July 1922, they went to the United Kingdom to be bridesmaids at the wedding of their uncle Louis Mountbatten to the wealthy heiress Edwina Ashley, whose beauty fascinated Cecilie.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: However, the military defeat of Greece against Turkey and the political unrest that it caused disrupted the life of Cecilie and her family. In September 1922, Constantine I abdicated in favor of his eldest son, George II. A month later, Prince Andrew was arrested before being tried by a military tribunal, which declared him responsible for the defeat of the Sakarya. Saved from execution by the intervention of foreign chancelleries, the prince was condemned to banishment and cashiering. The prince and his relatives hurriedly left Greece aboard HMS "Calypso" in early December 1922.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: After a journey of several weeks, which led them successively to Italy, France and the United Kingdom, Cecilie, her parents and her siblings settled in Saint-Cloud in 1923. Settled in a house adjoining that of Princess Marie Bonaparte, the family depended for seven years on her generosity, and two other aunts of Cecilie: first Princess Anastasia and then Lady Edwina Mountbatten. Marie Bonaparte financed the studies of her nieces and nephew, while Lady Mountbatten got into the habit of offering her nieces her "used" clothes. In fact, Cecilie's parents had little income and the children were the regular witnesses to their money problems and their difficulty in maintaining a household.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Deprived of their Greek nationality after the proclamation of the Second Hellenic Republic in March 1924, Cecilie and her family received Danish passports from their cousin King Christian X. In Saint-Cloud, the small group spent a relatively simple life. Cecilie and her siblings continued their studies in private institutions, and, during their free time, their father took them regularly to Paris or to the Bois de Boulogne. He also spent long hours playing tennis with them. Every Sunday, the family was received for lunch by Princess Marie Bonaparte and Prince George of Greece and Denmark. Cecilie and her family also regularly met Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and his wife Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, who had also chosen France to spend their time in exile with their daughters. Finally, they often saw their cousin Princess Margaret of Denmark, who settled in the Paris region after her marriage to Prince René of Bourbon-Parma.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Cecilie and her relatives made frequent stays abroad, and in particular in the United Kingdom. In 1923, the princess was invited to London to be a bridesmaid at the wedding of her aunt Louise Mountbatten to the future Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden. She returned to England in 1925 for the funeral of her great-aunt, Queen Alexandra. In 1926, she went to Italy for the funeral of her paternal grandmother, Queen Olga. A few weeks later, she returned to spend the summer in Great Britain, with her maternal grandmother, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Considered by her maternal grandmother, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, as the prettiest of the four daughters of Andrew and Alice, Cecilie made her debut in the United Kingdom, during the summer of 1928. Aged 17, she took part in her first ball at the Earl and Countess of Ellesmere's Bridgewater House, before attending the Cowes Week and then being invited by King George V to stay a few days in Balmoral, Scotland.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Although her two elder sisters were still single, and the relative poverty of her parents was not unrelated to this situation, Cecilie's family did not give up on finding a good match for her. Now Princess of Sweden, her aunt Louise was planning to betroth her to Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, but the plan did not succeed. It was finally from Germany that a suitor for the young girl arrived. Since her childhood, Cecilie had in fact been in contact with her cousins, Princes Georg Donatus and Louis of Hesse, whom she first met in 1919, while she was living in exile in Switzerland. The relationship between the princess and Georg Donatus turned into a romance during the year 1929 and the two were unofficially engaged in early 1930. At that time, Cecilie was just 18 years old and Georg Donatus, the pretender to the throne of Hesse, was 23.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The happiness of the princess was however clouded by the situation of her mother, whose mental health deteriorated sharply after the celebration of her silver wedding anniversary with Prince Andrew, in 1928. Struck by a mental health crisis, the princess convinced herself that she possessed healing powers and that she was receiving divine messages about potential husbands for her daughters. She then took herself for a saint and soon declared herself the bride of Jesus. Distraught by the situation, Prince Andrew finally made the decision to place his wife in a sanatorium. He took advantage of his family's stay in Darmstadt, on the occasion of the celebration for Cecilie's official engagement in April 1930, to send Alice to a psychiatric hospital located in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: With her sister Sophie having become engaged almost at the same time as her to another member of the House of Hesse, Prince Christoph of Hesse, Cecilie made the preparations for her wedding in the company of her younger sister, aged 16. The two princesses thus went to London, in the spring of 1930, in order to obtain new clothes. Shortly after, they returned to Paris to put together their trousseau and buy their wedding dresses.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The nuptials of Sophie and Christoph were celebrated at Schlosshotel Kronberg in Kronberg im Taunus on 15 December 1930. The wedding of Cecilie and Georg Donatus took place at the "Neue Palais" in Darmstadt on 2 February 1931. To the surprise of the foreign guests, who expected a much colder welcome from a population that had dethroned Grand Duke Ernest Louis in 1918, the wedding aroused the enthusiasm of the people, who gathered in droves to attend the event and cheer their former princely family.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The couple were married in a double religious ceremony, both Orthodox and Lutheran. The ceremony brought together some fifty guests from all over Europe, but took place in the absence of the bride's mother Princess Alice, who was still hospitalized in Switzerland.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: After their marriage, Cecilie and Georg Donatus moved to Schloß Wolfsgarten, the main residence of Grand Duke Ernest Louis and his wife Grand Duchess Eleonore, since their deposition. In Hesse, the young couple led a relatively simple life, punctuated by frequent stays abroad. Cecilie was involved in several charitable organizations and became the head of Alice Frauen Verein, an association dedicated to women. She also quickly gave birth to three children: Prince Ludwig (born 25 October 1931), Prince Alexander (born 14 April 1933) and Princess Johanna of Hesse (born 20 September 1936).


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Very close to her family, Cecilie was concerned about the situation of her mother, who remained institutionalized until the beginning of 1933. During this period, the relationship between Alice and her children became complicated. Cecilie maintained correspondence with her mother, and visited her once in Kreuzlingen. However, Alice was angry with those close to her for having her intitiutionalized and her anger manifested itself in fits of rage, which pushed her, for example, to tear up the photograph that Cecilie sent her after the birth of her first child.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Once released from the hospital, Alice made known her desire to stay away from her family and four years passed before she put an end to her voluntary exile. During this period, Cecilie continued, despite everything, to write to her and to send her photos of the family. In December 1936, Alice finally made the decision to reconnect with her family, and it was Cecilie that she got closer to first. The mother and daughter reunited in Bonn in the spring of 1937. From this date, their relationship became normal and the two met again in Salem, in July 1937.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Prince Christoph of Hesse, Cecilie's brother-in-law, joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and the SS in 1932.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: For their part, the princes of Hesse kept their distance from the far-right party for a long time because the Grand Duke Ernest Louis had no sympathy for the "Führer"s ideas. However, things changed in May 1937. On that date, Georg Donatus and Louis, the two sons of the former sovereign, joined the Nazi Party. Following the example of her husband and her brother-in-law, Cecilie joined the party at the same time.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: While in Germany the establishment of the Nazi regime prevented any plans to restore the monarchy, in Greece the republic collapsed after the putsch of General Georgios Kondylis in November 1935. Reinstalled on the throne by a referendum, George II then lifted the banishment sentence issued against Cecilie's father in 1922. In November 1936, the King of the Hellenes also organized the return of the remains and ashes of members of the Greek royal family who died in exile. This event was the opportunity for Cecilie and her family to return, for the first time, to Greece after fourteen years of banishment.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: In 1937, Cecilie became pregnant again. At the same time, the health of her father-in-law, Grand Duke Ernest Louis, deteriorated sharply. Suffering from lung cancer, the former ruler hoped to live long enough to attend the wedding of his second son, Louis, to Hon. Margaret Campbell Geddes, scheduled to take place in London on 23 October 1937.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: However, the Grand Duke died a few days before the ceremony, on 9 October, making Georg Donatus the new head of House of Hesse-Darmstadt. Under these circumstances, the marriage of Prince Louis was postponed to 20 November, in order to give his family time to organize the funeral of Ernest Louis, which took place on 12 October.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: With Prince Louis' wedding approaching, Cecilie and her family went to Frankfurt on 16 November 1937 to get on board a plane of the Belgian company Sabena which was to take them to London, via a stopover in Ostend where it was planned to pick up two other passengers. The small group, which consisted of Cecilie (eight months pregnant), Georg Donatus, their two sons Ludwig (aged 6) and Alexander (aged 4) and the Dowager Grand Duchess Eleonore, was accompanied by Baron Joachim von Riedesel, chosen by Louis to be his witness, and Alice Hahn. According to Philip Eade, Cecilie hated taking the plane and she always dressed in black when she made a trip like this.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The journey started under normal weather conditions, but a thick fog developed as the plane approached the North Sea. Despite the poor visibility, the pilot followed the flight plan and attempted to land at Ostend-Steene airport. However, during the maneuver, the aircraft struck the chimney of a factory, causing the destruction of a wing and an engine of the aircraft. It then crashed against the roof of a building, before being thrown several metres away and catching fire. The accident caused the immediate death of all passengers including a newborn baby whom Cecilie seemed to have given birth to in the middle of the flight.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: Despite the death of his family, Prince Louis married Margaret Campbell Geddes, in London, the day after the plane crash. After the wedding, which took place in a climate of extreme gloom, the couple went to Belgium to collect the remains of Cecilie and her family, kept until then at the civil hospital in Ostend. Once back in Darmstadt, Louis and his wife adopted their niece Johanna, the only child of Cecilie and Georg Donatus not to have taken part in the plane trip due to her very young age. Johanna, however, died of meningitis two years later, on 14 June 1939.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The funeral of Cecilie and her relatives took place in Darmstadt on 23 November 1937. The event gave rise to a mass gathering but also served as a pretext for a large deployment of soldiers in Nazi uniform. It was also an opportunity for Cecilie's parents to meet for the first time since 1931. Reconciled by tragedy, Andrew and Alice nevertheless continued separate lives after the funeral. The trauma of her daughter's death healed Alice, whose mental state returned to a completely normal level once the funeral was over.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: After the ceremony, the remains of Cecilie and her family were buried in a family vault at the Grand Ducal mausoleum of Rosenhöhe, not far from the graves of Grand Duke Ernest Louis and his daughter Elisabeth.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: On 16 November 2017 in Darmstadt, the Hessian State Archives, in collaboration with the Foundation of the House of Hesse ("Hessische Hausstiftung"), held a commemorative ceremony in honor of the victims of the accident in Ostend. On this occasion, wreaths were placed on the vault of Cecilie and her family, in Rosenhöhe.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The plane crash that caused the death of Princess Cecilie and her family was recounted in the sixth episode of the documentary series "Mémoires d'exil" (1999) by Frédéric Mitterrand.


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The death of Cecilie and her family is also mentioned by the character of Prince Philip, in the third episode ("Windsor") of the first season of the series "The Crown" (2016), and by a journalist, in the second episode ("A Company of Men") of the second season (2017). It is also depicted in the ninth episode of season 2 ("Paterfamilias"), during a flashback to Philip's early years. In this episode, Princess Cecilie is portrayed by German actress Leonie Benesch. However, this fictionalised version wrongly implied that Philip was to blame for Cecilie taking the flight, whereas in reality "her decision to travel to London had nothing to do with Philip".


title: Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark

text: The death of Cecilie and her family is also recounted in the novel "A Matter of Honor" by Jeffrey Archer (1986). In this fictionalized version, the accident in Ostend is caused by the KGB, which wants to recover the jewels of Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna, bequeathed to the House of Hesse-Darmstadt after the Russian Revolution.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The 2020 NFL season was the 101st season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season started with the NFL Kickoff Game on September 10, in which defending Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City defeated Houston. The playoffs were expanded from 12 to 14 teams, adding a third wild card spot per conference. The season concluded with Tampa Bay defeating Kansas City in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on February 7, 2021.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The Oakland Raiders relocated to Las Vegas for the 2020 season, and are now playing at Allegiant Stadium as the Las Vegas Raiders. After a decades-long controversy, the Washington Redskins retired the use of their name and logo and adopted the name Washington Football Team.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The season was impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; the most prominent changes were the cancellation of all preseason games and the 2021 Pro Bowl, the suspension of international games for the year, an allowance for players to opt out of playing the season without violating their contracts (66 players opted out), the playing of games with either a greatly reduced audience or no fans at all, and the postponement and/or rescheduling of multiple games due to numerous positive COVID-19 tests among players and staff. The season took place before COVID-19 vaccinations were widely available. Despite these changes, all 256 regular season games were played within the original 17-week span with no cancellations. The last time NFL regular season games were interrupted was the September 11, 2001 attacks.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: This was also the final season played under the 16-game schedule, as the schedule was expanded to 17 games in 2021.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The 2020 NFL league year and trading period began on March 18. On March 16, teams were allowed to exercise options for 2020 on players with option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents, and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2019 contracts and fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit. Teams were required to be under the salary cap using the "top 51" definition (in which the 51 highest-paid players on the team's payroll must have a combined salary cap). On March 16, clubs were allowed to contact and begin contract negotiations with the agents of players who were set to become unrestricted free agents.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The Draft took place on April 23–25, via videoconferencing; it was originally scheduled to take place in Paradise, Nevada, but was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 5, the NFL announced that the draft would be held virtually with coaches and GMs conducting it via phone and internet from home due to team facilities also being closed. Goodell unveiled the first-round picks from his home in Bronxville, New York. Cincinnati, by virtue of having the worst record in 2019, held the first overall selection and selected QB Joe Burrow out of LSU.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The NFL and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) agreed on July 24 to allow players to opt out of playing the season; 66 players opted out by the August 6 deadline. Players who opted out were not paid for the 2020 season, but received a salary advance of $150,000 taken from their salary. Players who opted out due to medical conditions received a $350,000 stipend which was not taken from their 2021 salary. The following is a list of all players who opted out:


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Referee Walt Anderson was promoted to NFL senior vice president in charge of the officiating training and development program, a newly created position that works independently from the league's head of officiating, Alberto Riveron. Land Clark was promoted to referee to replace Anderson. Clark previously served as a referee in the Pac-12 Conference before joining the NFL in 2018 as a field judge.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Former coach Perry Fewell was named NFL senior vice president of officiating administration. This position oversees the day-to-day operations of the officiating department and is the primary contact for coaches' and general managers' officiating questions, among other duties.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The NFL and the NFL Referees Association agreed on August 9 to allow officials to opt out of working the 2020 season. Officials who opted out received a $30,000 stipend and guaranteed job protection for 2021. Five on-field officials line judge Jeff Bergman, back judge Steve Freeman, field judge Greg Gautreaux, field judge Joe Larrew, and back judge Tony Steratore opted out for the season by the August 13 deadline.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The following temporary rule changes were made on September 9 and were only in place for 2020: The rule changes involving injured reserve and practice squad transactions remained in place for .


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Training camps were held from late July through August. By league order, all training camps were held at teams' regular practice facilities.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game was scheduled for August 6 between Dallas and Pittsburgh, but was canceled on June 25 due to the pandemic. On July 3, the NFLPA voted to cancel the preseason, which was agreed to by the league later that month.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The NFL released its regular-season schedule on May 7. The season was played over a 17-week schedule beginning on September 10. Each of the league's 32 teams played 16 games, with one bye week for each team. The regular season concluded with a full slate of 16 games on January 3, 2021, all of which were intra-division matchups, as it had been since .


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The NFL suspended its international games for the season due to travel restrictions imposed because of the pandemic; the league had previously announced that Jacksonville would host two games at Wembley Stadium in London, Atlanta and Miami would each host a game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, and Arizona would host a game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. These games were moved back to the teams' respective home stadiums.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Using contingencies similar to those built into the 2011 schedule in the event that season's lockout lasted into September, the 2020 schedule allowed for the possibility that the season could be delayed and shortened in the event that conditions were unsafe to begin play as scheduled. Every game in Week 2 featured teams that share the same bye week later in the season, which would have allowed these games to be made up on the teams' original byes. Weeks 3 and 4 were set up so that there were no divisional games and that every team at home in Week 3 was away in Week 4 and vice versa. This would have allowed the NFL to cancel these two weeks without eliminating any divisional games and keeping each team's home and away games balanced. These scheduling changes, along with eliminating the week off before the Super Bowl and moving the Super Bowl back three weeks, would have allowed the NFL to play a 14-game schedule beginning October 29 while still playing the Super Bowl in February.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Under the NFL scheduling formula, each team played the other three teams in its own division twice. In addition, a team played against all four teams in one division from each conference. The remaining two games on a team's schedule were against the two remaining teams in the same conference that finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season (e.g., the team that finished fourth in its division will play all three other teams in the conference that also finished fourth). The division pairings for 2020 are as follows:


title: 2020 NFL season

text: With the final round of the 2020 Masters Tournament (whose rights are held by CBS) rescheduled from its normal April date to November 15, CBS was not given any 1:00 p.m. ET games that day, which fell during Week 10. CBS was given three games in the 4:05 p.m. ET slot, while Fox was given eight Sunday games, including three AFC-away games which generally air on CBS.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: When the entire season schedule was released on May 7, the league announced that in Weeks 15 and 16, two or three of five designated games would be moved to Saturday. A total of four games were broadcast by the NFL Network and one was broadcast by Amazon Prime Video.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The 2020 playoffs began on the weekend of January 9–10, 2021 with the wild-card round. Under the new NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the playoffs expanded to 14 teams. There were three Wild Card teams per conference and only the top seed in each conference received a first-round bye. Three games were played each day.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: In the Divisional Round on January 16–17, the top seed in the conference hosted the worst remaining seed, and the other two remaining teams played each other, with the better seed hosting. The winners of those games advanced to the Conference Championships on for January 24. Super Bowl LV was held February 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: If a COVID-19 outbreak were to force the postponement of playoff games, contingency plans were in place to remove the bye week after the Conference Championships and/or move the Super Bowl back as far as February 28.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The 2021 Pro Bowl was originally scheduled for January 31 at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. However, on October 14, the game was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Pro Bowl rosters for the 2020 season were released on December 21, and the league held a virtual event to honor the players chosen. Players selected were used in a broadcast playthrough in the video game "Madden NFL 21" instead. This marked the first time since the season in which a Pro Bowl is not held.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: In March 2020, the NFL and the NFLPA agreed to a new CBA that will run through 2030. The previous CBA, signed in , would have expired after this season.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: On July 1, following renewed attention to racial justice in wake of the George Floyd protests, a letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors was sent to sponsors of the then-Washington Redskins and NFL including Nike, FedEx, and Pepsi urging them to cut ties unless the team name was changed. Around the same time, several retail companies began to remove Redskins merchandise from their stores. In response, the team underwent a review of its name and logo. On July 23, the team announced that it would retire its name and logo. The team began playing as the "Washington Football Team" pending a permanent name being chosen.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: In response to the shooting of Jacob Blake, Detroit canceled its scheduled practice on August 25. Nine other teams canceled their scheduled practices on August 27. Several teams that did not cancel practice issued statements about unity. The Jacksonville Jaguars canceled their scheduled afternoon activities.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The 10th Annual NFL Honors, honoring the best players and plays from the 2020 season, was held on February 6, 2021, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The NFL allowed teams to admit spectators to games if allowed under local health orders. A total of 19 teams admitted spectators at a reduced capacity for at least one regular season home game. Two additional teams which did not admit spectators during the regular season admitted spectators for postseason games. Six teams allowed spectators for all home games. The majority of teams played without spectators through September and into October while admitting spectators later in the season. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league's competition committee assessed that having spectators did not create a competitive advantage despite some coaches and executives disagreeing.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: If spectators were admitted, they had to wear face masks and, in some stadiums, were required to sign a liability waiver. On-field entertainment was prohibited, including cheerleaders, mascots, marching bands, flag wavers, and end zone-to-end zone American flag displays. To reduce the proximity of spectators to the field, the league required the first six to eight rows of seats to be blocked with tarps. Halftime shows could be held, but only off-site, or as done on Thanksgiving, pre-recorded before the game.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: On May 13, California officials indicated that they might not allow the Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams or San Francisco 49ers to play at their home stadiums. Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium and Arizona's State Farm Stadium were listed as possible relocation sites for these teams. All three teams were ultimately allowed to begin the season at their home stadiums without spectators; however, the 49ers were forced to move their final three home games to State Farm Stadium after Santa Clara County, where the 49ers' home stadium is located, banned all contact sports in response to a local rise of COVID-19 cases.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The NFL initially mandated the use of artificial crowd noise inside all stadiums with attendance below 10,000, consisting of non-dynamic ambience played at 70 decibels. The audio was monitored by the league and teams were subject to sanctions if they were found to have manipulated it (such as by changing its volume). On September 25, these rules were adjusted, allowing the ambiance to be played at up to 80 decibels. The volume must be determined before the game and remain consistent through the entire game. The minimum attendance required to turn off the crowd noise was reduced to 2,500. As part of Microsoft's sponsorship of the NFL, a "Fan Mosaic" feature powered by Microsoft Teams was featured on stadium video boards during select games.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: This was the seventh year under the current broadcast contracts with CBS, ESPN/ABC, Fox, and NBC. This includes "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season, regardless of the conference of the visiting team. NBC continues to air "Sunday Night Football" and the Kickoff Game. ESPN continued to air "Monday Night Football" and a Wild Card Game, with 3 MNF and the Wild Card games being simulcast on ABC. ESPN and ABC were also scheduled to air the 2021 Pro Bowl, but the game was canceled. Fox continues to air "Thursday Night Football" alongside NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch. CBS and NBC acquired rights to the two new Wild Card Round games, with each paying around $70 million for the additional game.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: CBS televised Super Bowl LV. NBC was originally scheduled to broadcast the game under the current rotation. However, NBC traded the game to CBS in exchange for Super Bowl LVI, which will fall during the 2022 Winter Olympics, the first to be scheduled during an ongoing Olympic Games (NBC also holds the U.S. broadcast rights to the Olympics).


title: 2020 NFL season

text: To coincide with the 50th anniversary of "Monday Night Football", ESPN simulcast the Week 2 New Orleans–Las Vegas game as an ESPN Megacast on ABC, marking ABC's first regular season broadcast since . ESPN2 aired an alternate broadcast with various guests joining throughout the game. Two more "MNF" games were simulcast on ABC on December 7 and 28.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: As of the 2019 season, local stations in markets with NFL teams have been allowed on to air another NFL game opposite the game involving that city's home team on a limited basis. Cities were initially limited to two such games per season. This was expanded to four in 2020.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Prior to this season, the league had the option to cancel DirecTV's exclusive contract to air NFL Sunday Ticket, the league's out-of-market sports package. However, the NFL did not opt out.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports renewed its broadcast rights to the NFL under a five-year deal, marking its 25th season of coverage. It also announced that it would devote its multiplex channel Sky Sports Action exclusively to NFL programming and coverage during the season, temporarily rebranding it as Sky Sports NFL. It marks the first time that the NFL has partnered on a league-oriented channel in an international market. ViacomCBS-owned free-to-air channel Channel 5 also acquired rights to air "Monday Night Football", marking the league's return to the network for the first time since 2009, with a Los Angeles-based studio show featuring Maurice Jones-Drew, and a weekly magazine show, "NFL End Zone", hosted by Cori Yarckin.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: On April 29, Amazon renewed its digital rights to "Thursday Night Football" through the 2022 season, maintaining the existing arrangement to simulcast the 11 games aired by Fox on Amazon Prime Video and for free on Twitch, and offer alternative broadcasts of the games on the two services. It also added exclusive worldwide rights to one late-season game per-season, which was produced by CBS and simulcast on over-the-air stations in the two teams' home markets. Amazon also acquired rights to simulcast one NFC Wild Card game assigned to CBS.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: This season, the "TNF" games included a new "Scout's Feed" broadcast featuring extended play analysis by Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah, and a new ""NFL Next" Live" feed on Twitch hosted by Cari Champion and Andrew Hawkins which featured viewer interactivity. The British English broadcasts were dropped this season. For supplemental content, Amazon is expanding its Tuesday-night studio program "NFL Next", and introducing two new interactive programs on Twitch – the Hawkins and Kyle Long-hosted "NFL Comment Box", and the Chad Johnson and Kyle Long-hosted "The NFL Machine", which features presentations of content from the NFL Films archives.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Tony Romo, CBS' lead color commentator, renewed his contract in a long-term, $17 million per-year deal, the most lucrative contract for a commentator in NFL history.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: CBS parted ways with #2 commentator Dan Fouts and replaced him with Fox's #2 commentator Charles Davis. Fox utilized Daryl Johnston in this spot.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: To reduce his workload and travel, "NBC Sunday Night Football" lead commentator Al Michaels took several games off in favor of Mike Tirico.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: ESPN replaced its former "Monday Night Football" commentator team of Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland with Steve Levy, Brian Griese, and Louis Riddick. Levy and Griese had been a broadcast team for ESPN's college football coverage prior to their "Monday Night Football" assignment, Levy also served as ESPN's lead XFL play-by-play voice. Fellow college football announcing duo Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit called the first game of the Week 1 "MNF" doubleheader. Herbstreit also worked the ESPN2 "Monday Night Megacast" broadcast with Rece Davis during the Week 2 MNF game.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: After using a homophobic slur during a Cincinnati Reds game, Thom Brennaman was removed from Fox's NFL broadcasts for 2020. Brennaman, who also worked for the Reds, was suspended from doing games "until further notice". He later resigned from that role. Kevin Kugler replaced Brennaman.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: This was the final season for Chris Spielman at Fox. Before Week 14, he left Fox to take a front office position with the Detroit Lions, effective immediately. #6 Brock Huard, who was a new addition to Fox's Sunday commentator roster, would move up to the #5 slot with Kevin Kugler to replace Spielman.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: This was also the final season for long-time announcer Dick Stockton, who announced his retirement on March 25, 2021. Stockton, whose broadcasting resume spanned over five decades, called NFL games for CBS and Fox during his career.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Broadcasters were limited to 46 staff members at each game. Sideline reporters were not allowed on the field. CBS, Fox, and NBC had commentators on-site, but some production was conducted remotely from the networks' headquarters. The NFL required personnel returning from outside of the United States to quarantine for 14 days before returning to work.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The league provided an enhanced artificial crowd noise track to be used by its broadcasters, separate from the crowd noise that is used at stadiums below 2,500 in attendance. The soundtrack uses crowd audio collected by NFL Films from past games involving the home team, including general ambience, team-specific chants, and contextual reactions. It is mixed by a local sound engineer at the stadium in synchronization with the game. Fox had explored the possibility of masking empty stands with CGI crowds. Fox introduced such a system on-air for its Major League Baseball broadcasts, and later announced that it would use the technology for selected NFL games. NBC ruled out virtual fans, citing the large number of camera angles that would have to be configured. NBC added a 180-degree 8K resolution camera to the Skycam unit for "intimate" overhead views, supplanting wide-angle shots that would expose stands with little to no spectators. At games played with no spectators, CBS allowed its Skycam to be in positions over the stands that are not generally allowed in order to provide new angles.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: The pandemic also affected pre-game shows: ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" and NFL Network's "NFL GameDay" were broadcast from their respective networks' studios, rather than traveling to game sites. "Fox NFL Sunday" panelist Jimmy Johnson contributed from his home in Florida, rather than join the rest of the panel at the Fox studio in Los Angeles. As a precautionary measure, the normal panelists for "Fox NFL Kickoff" and "Fox NFL Sunday" did not appear in-studio for Week 11, with Chris Myers, Reggie Bush, and Charles Woodson replacing them, and the regular personnel appearing remotely.


title: 2020 NFL season

text: Two commentators were unable to pass their network's COVID-19 protocols and each had to miss one game: Al Michaels for NBC in Week 15 and Tony Romo for CBS in Week 17.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 123 years. The partitions were conducted by the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire, which divided up the Commonwealth lands among themselves progressively in the process of territorial seizures and annexations.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The First Partition was decided on August 5, 1772 after the Bar Confederation lost the war with Russia. The Second Partition occurred in the aftermath of the Polish–Russian War of 1792 and the Targowica Confederation of 1792 when Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth and the partition treaty was signed during the Grodno Sejm on January 23, 1793 (without Austria). The Third Partition took place on October 24, 1795, in reaction to the unsuccessful Polish Kościuszko Uprising the previous year. With this partition, the Commonwealth ceased to exist.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: In English, the term "Partitions of Poland" is sometimes used geographically as toponymy, to mean the three parts that the partitioning powers divided the Commonwealth into, namely: the Austrian Partition, the Prussian Partition and the Russian Partition. In Polish, there are two separate words for the two meanings. The consecutive acts of dividing and annexation of Poland are referred to as ' (plural: '), while the term ' (plural: ') refers to parts of the Commonwealth that were annexed in 1772–95 and which became part of Imperial Russia, Prussia, or Austria. Following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the borders of the three partitioned sectors were redrawn; the Austrians established Galicia in the Austrian partition, whereas the Russians gained Warsaw from Prussia and formed an autonomous polity of Congress Poland in the Russian partition.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: In Polish historiography, the term "Fourth Partition of Poland" has also been used, in reference to any subsequent annexation of Polish lands by foreign invaders. Depending on source and historical period, this could mean the events of 1815, or 1832 and 1846, or 1939. The term "Fourth Partition" in a temporal sense can also mean the diaspora communities that played an important political role in re-establishing the Polish sovereign state after 1918.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: During the reign of Władysław IV (1632–1648), the was developed, a policy of parliamentary procedure based on the assumption of the political equality of every "gentleman/Polish nobleman", with the corollary that unanimous consent was needed for all measures. A single member of parliament's belief that a measure was injurious to his own constituency (usually simply his own estate), even after the act had been approved, became enough to strike the act. Thus it became increasingly difficult to undertake action. The also provided openings for foreign diplomats to get their ways, through bribing nobles to exercise it. Thus, one could characterise Poland–Lithuania in its final period (mid-18th century) before the partitions as already in a state of disorder and not a completely sovereign state, and almost as a vassal state, with Russian tsars effectively choosing Polish kings. This applies particularly to the last Commonwealth King Stanisław August Poniatowski, who for some time had been a lover of Russian Empress Catherine the Great.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: In 1730 the neighbors of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (), namely Prussia, Austria and Russia, signed a secret agreement to maintain the : specifically, to ensure that the Commonwealth laws would not change. Their alliance later became known in Poland as the "Alliance of the Three Black Eagles" (or "'s Treaty"), because all three states used a black eagle as a state symbol (in contrast to the white eagle, a symbol of Poland). The Commonwealth had been forced to rely on Russia for protection against the rising Kingdom of Prussia, which demanded a slice of the northwest in order to unite its Western and Eastern portions; this would leave the Commonwealth with a Baltic coast only in Latvia and Lithuania. Catherine had to use diplomacy to win Austria to her side.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The Commonwealth had remained neutral in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), yet it sympathized with the alliance of France, Austria, and Russia, and allowed Russian troops access to its western lands as bases against Prussia. Frederick II retaliated by ordering enough Polish currency counterfeited to severely affect the Polish economy. Through the Polish nobles whom Russia controlled and the Russian Minister to Warsaw, ambassador and Prince Nicholas Repnin, Empress Catherine the Great forced a constitution on the Commonwealth at the so-called Repnin Sejm of 1767, named after ambassador Repnin, who effectively dictated the terms of that Sejm (and ordered the capture and exile to Kaluga of some vocal opponents of his policies, including bishop Józef Andrzej Załuski and others). This new constitution undid the reforms made in 1764 under Stanisław II. The and all the old abuses of the last one and a half centuries were guaranteed as unalterable parts of this new constitution (in the so-called "Cardinal Laws"). Repnin also demanded the Russian protection of the rights of peasants in private estates of Polish and Lithuanian noblemen, religious freedom for the Protestant and Orthodox Christians and the political freedoms for Protestants, Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics (Uniates), including their right to occupy all state positions, including a royal one. The next king could be a member of the Russian ruling dynasty now. The Sejm approved this. Resulting reaction among some of Poland's Roman Catholics, as well as the deep resentment of Russian intervention in the Commonwealth's domestic affairs including the exile to Russia of the top Roman Catholic bishops, the members of the Polish Senate, led to the War of the Confederation of Bar of 1768–1772, formed in Bar, where the Poles tried to expel Russian forces from Commonwealth territory. The irregular and poorly commanded Polish forces had little chance in the face of the regular Russian army and suffered a major defeat. Adding to the chaos was a Ukrainian Cossack and peasant rebellion in the east (Koliyivshchyna), which erupted in 1768 and resulted in massacres of Polish noblemen (), Jews, Uniates, ethnic minorities and Catholic priests, before it was put down by Russian and governmental Polish troops. This uprising led to the intervention of the Ottoman Empire, supported by Roman Catholic France and Austria. Bar confederation and France promised Podolia and Volhynia and the protectorate over the Commonwealth to the Ottoman Empire for armed support.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: In 1769 the Habsburg monarchy annexed a small territory of Spisz and in 1770 it annexed Nowy Sącz and Nowy Targ. These territories had been a bone of contention between Poland and Hungary, which was a part of the Monarchy. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire, the Bar confederation and its French and European volunteers were defeated by Russian forces and Polish governmental ones with the aid of Great Britain. As Russia moved into the Crimea and the Danubian Principalities (which the Habsburg monarchy long coveted), King Frederick II of Prussia and Maria Theresa were worried that the defeat of the Ottoman Empire would severely upset the balance of power in Eastern Europe. Frederick II began to construct the partition to rebalance the power in Eastern Europe.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: In February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna. Early in August, Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. Nevertheless, several battles and sieges took place, as Bar confederation troops and French volunteers refused to lay down their arms (most notably, in Tyniec, Częstochowa and Kraków). On 5 August 1772, the occupation manifesto was issued, much to the consternation of a country too exhausted by the endeavors of the Confederation of Bar to offer successful resistance;


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The partition treaty was ratified by its signatories on September 22, 1772. Frederick II of Prussia was elated with his success; Prussia took most of Royal Prussia (without Danzig) that stood between its possessions in the Kingdom of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, as well as Ermland (Warmia), northern areas of Greater Poland along the Noteć River (the Netze District), and parts of Kuyavia (but not the city of Toruń). Despite token criticism of the partition from Empress Maria Theresa, Austrian statesman Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, was proud of wresting as large a share as he did, with the rich salt mines of Bochnia and Wieliczka. To Austria fell Zator and Auschwitz (Oświęcim), part of Lesser Poland embracing parts of the counties of Kraków and Sandomir and the whole of Galicia, less the city of Kraków. Empress Catherine II of Russia was also satisfied in spite of the loss of Galicia to the Habsburg monarchy. By this "diplomatic document" Russia came into possession of that section of Livonia that had remained in Commonwealth control, and of eastern Belarus embracing the counties of Vitebsk, Polotsk and Mstislavl.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: By this partition, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory and half of its population (four million people), of which a large portion had not been ethnically Polish. By seizing northwestern Poland, Prussia instantly gained control over 80% of the Commonwealth's total foreign trade. Through levying enormous customs duties, Prussia accelerated the collapse of the Commonwealth.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: After having occupied their respective territories, the three partitioning powers demanded that King Stanisław and the Sejm approve their action. When no help was forthcoming and the armies of the combined nations occupied Warsaw to compel by force of arms the calling of the assembly, no alternative could be chosen to save passive submission to their will. The so-called Partition Sejm, with Russian military forces threatening the opposition, on September 18, 1773, signed the treaty of cession, renouncing all claims of the Commonwealth to the occupied territories.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: In 1772, Rousseau was invited to present recommendations for a new constitution for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the "Considerations on the Government of Poland" (1782), which was to be his last major political work.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: By 1790 the First Polish Republic had been weakened to such a degree that it was forced into an unnatural and terminal alliance with its enemy, Prussia. The Polish–Prussian Pact of 1790 was signed. The conditions of the Pact contributed to the subsequent final two partitions of Poland–Lithuania.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The May Constitution of 1791 enfranchised the bourgeoisie, established the separation of the three branches of government, and eliminated the abuses of the Repnin Sejm. Those reforms prompted aggressive actions on the part of its neighbours, wary of the potential renaissance of the Commonwealth. Arguing that Poland had fallen prey to the radical Jacobinism then at high tide in France, Russian forces invaded the Commonwealth in 1792.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: In the War in Defense of the Constitution, pro-Russian conservative Polish magnates, the Confederation of Targowica, fought against Polish forces supporting the constitution, believing that Russians would help them restore the Golden Liberty. Abandoned by their Prussian allies, Polish pro-constitution forces, faced with Targowica units and the regular Russian army, were defeated. Prussia signed a treaty with Russia, agreeing that Polish reforms would be revoked, and both countries would receive chunks of Commonwealth territory. In 1793, deputies to the Grodno Sejm, last Sejm of the Commonwealth, in the presence of the Russian forces, agreed to Russian territorial demands. In the Second Partition, Russia and Prussia helped themselves to enough land so that only one-third of the 1772 population remained in Poland. Prussia named its newly gained province South Prussia, with Poznań (and later Warsaw) as the capital of the new province.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: Targowica confederates, who did not expect another partition, and the king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, who joined them near the end, both lost much prestige and support. The reformers, on the other hand, were attracting increasing support, and in 1794 the Kościuszko Uprising began.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: Kosciuszko's ragtag insurgent armies won some initial successes, but they eventually fell before the superior forces of the Russian Empire. The partitioning powers, seeing the increasing unrest in the remaining Commonwealth, decided to solve the problem by erasing any independent Polish state from the map. On 24 October 1795, their representatives signed a treaty, dividing the remaining territories of the Commonwealth between their three countries. One of Russia's chief foreign policy authors, Alexander Bezborodko, advised Catherine II on the Second and Third Partitions of Poland.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The Russian part included and 1.2 million people with Vilnius, the Prussian part (new provinces of New East Prussia and New Silesia) and 1 million people with Warsaw, and the Austrian with 1.2 million and Lublin and Kraków.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The King of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, under Russian military escort left for Grodno where he abdicated on November 25, 1795; next he left for Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he would spend his remaining days. This act ensured that Russia would be seen as the most important of the partitioning powers.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: With regard to population, in the First Partition, Poland lost over four to five million citizens (about a third of its population of 14 million before the partitions). Only about 4 million people remained in Poland after the Second Partition which makes for a loss of another third of its original population, about a half of the remaining population. By the Third Partition, Prussia ended up with about 23% of the Commonwealth's population, Austria with 32%, and Russia with 45%.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: (Wandycz also offers slightly different total annexed territory estimates, with 18% for Austria, 20% for Prussia and 62% for Russia.)During the Napoleonic Wars and in their immediate aftermath the borders between partitioning powers shifted several times, changing the numbers seen in the preceding table. Ultimately, Russia ended up with most of the Polish core at the expense of Prussia and Austria. Following the Congress of Vienna, Russia controlled 82% of the pre-1772 Commonwealth's territory (this includes its puppet state of Congress Poland), Austria 11%, and Prussia 7%.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: As a result of the Partitions, Poles were forced to seek a change of status quo in Europe. Polish poets, politicians, noblemen, writers, artists, many of whom were forced to emigrate (thus the term Great Emigration), became the revolutionaries of the 19th century, as desire for freedom became one of the defining parts of Polish romanticism. Polish revolutionaries participated in uprisings in Prussia, the Austrian Empire and Imperial Russia. Polish legions fought alongside Napoleon and, under the slogan of "For our freedom and yours", participated widely in the Spring of Nations (particularly the Hungarian Revolution of 1848).


title: Partitions of Poland

text: Poland would be briefly resurrected—if in a smaller frame—in 1807, when Napoleon set up the Duchy of Warsaw. After his defeat and the implementation of the Congress of Vienna treaty in 1815, the Russian-dominated Congress Kingdom of Poland was created in its place. After the Congress, Russia gained a larger share of Poland (with Warsaw) and, after crushing an insurrection in 1831, the Congress Kingdom's autonomy was abolished and Poles faced confiscation of property, deportation, forced military service, and the closure of their own universities. After the uprising of 1863, Russification of Polish secondary schools was imposed and the literacy rate dropped dramatically. In the Austrian sector which now was called Galicia, Poles fared better and were allowed to have representation in Parliament and to form their own universities, and Kraków with Lemberg (Lwów/Lviv) became centers of Polish culture and education. Meanwhile, Prussia Germanized the entire school system of its Polish subjects, and had no more respect for Polish culture and institutions than the Russian Empire. In 1915 a client state of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary was proposed and accepted by the Central Powers of World War I: the Regency Kingdom of Poland. After the end of World War I, the Central Powers' surrender to the Western Allies, the chaos of the Russian Revolution and the Treaty of Versailles finally allowed and helped the restoration of Poland's full independence after 123 years.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The term "Fourth Partition of Poland" may refer to any subsequent division of Polish lands, including:


title: Partitions of Poland

text: If one accepts more than one of those events as partitions, fifth, sixth, and even seventh partitions can be counted, but these terms are very rare. (For example, Norman Davies in "God's Playground" refers to the 1807 creation of the Duchy of Warsaw as the fourth partition, the 1815 Treaty of Vienna as the fifth, the 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as the sixth, and the 1939 division of Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR as the seventh.)


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The term "Fourth Partition" was also used in the 19th and 20th centuries to refer to diaspora communities who maintained a close interest in the project of regaining Polish independence. Sometimes termed Polonia, these expatriate communities often contributed funding and military support to the project of regaining the Polish nation-state. Diaspora politics were deeply affected by developments in and around the homeland, and vice versa, for many decades.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: More recent studies claim that partitions happened when the Commonwealth had been showing the beginning signs of a slow recovery and see the last two partitions as an answer to strengthening reforms in the Commonwealth and the potential threat they represented to its power-hungry neighbours.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: As historian Norman Davies stated, because the balance of power equilibrium was observed, many contemporary observers accepted explanations of the "enlightened apologists" of the partitioning state. 19th-century historians from countries that carried out the partitions, such as 19th-century Russian scholar Sergey Solovyov, and their 20th century followers, argued that partitions were justified, as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had degenerated to the point of being partitioned because the counterproductive principle of "" made decision-making on divisive issues, such as a wide-scale social reform, virtually impossible. Solovyov specified the cultural, language and religious break between the supreme and lowest layers of the society in the east regions of the Commonwealth, where the Belarusian and Ukrainian serf peasantry was Orthodox. Russian authors emphasized the historical connections between Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, as former parts of the medieval old Russian state where dynasty of Rurikids reigned (Kievan Rus'). Thus, Nikolay Karamzin wrote: "Let the foreigners denounce the partition of Poland: we took what was ours." Russian historians often stressed that Russia annexed primarily Ukrainian and Belorussian provinces with Eastern Slavic inhabitants, although many Ruthenians were no more enthusiastic about Russia than about Poland, and ignoring ethnically Polish and Lithuanian territories also being annexed later. A new justification for partitions arose with the Russian Enlightenment, as Russian writers such as Gavrila Derzhavin, Denis Fonvizin, and Alexander Pushkin stressed degeneration of Catholic Poland and the need to "civilize" it by its neighbors.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: Nonetheless, other 19th century contemporaries were much more skeptical; for example, British jurist Sir Robert Phillimore discussed the partition as a violation of international law; German jurist Heinrich Bernhard Oppenheim presented similar views. Other older historians who challenged such justifications for the Partitions included French historian Jules Michelet, British historian and politician Thomas Babington Macaulay, and Edmund Burke, who criticized the immorality of the partitions. Nonetheless, most governments accepted the event as a fait acompli. The Ottoman Empire was one of only two countries in the world that refused to accept the partitions, (the other being the Persian Empire), and reserved a place in its diplomatic corps for an Ambassador of Lehistan (Poland).


title: Partitions of Poland

text: Several scholars focused on the economic motivations of the partitioning powers. Hajo Holborn noted that Prussia aimed to take control of the lucrative Baltic grain trade through Danzig (Gdańsk). In the 18th century the Russian peasants were escaping from Russia to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (where the once dire conditions have improved, unlike in Russia) in significant enough numbers to become a major concern for the Russian Government sufficient to play a role in its decision to partition the Commonwealth (one of the reasons Catherine II gave for the partition of Poland was the fact that thousands of peasants escaped from Russia to Poland to seek a better fate"). Increasingly in the 18th century until the partitions solved this problem, Russian armies raided territories of the Commonwealth, officially to recover the escapees, but in fact kidnapping many locals. Piotr Kimla noted that the Russian government spread international propaganda, mainly in France, which falsy exaggerated serfdom conditions in Poland, while ignoring worse conditions in Russia, as one of the justification for the partitions.


title: Partitions of Poland

text: The ongoing partitions of Poland were a major topic of discourse in "The Federalist Papers", where the structure of the government of Poland, and of foreign influence over it, is used in several papers (Federalist No. 14, Federalist No. 19, Federalist No. 22, Federalist No. 39 for examples) as a cautionary tale for the writers of the U.S. Constitution.


title: Kony 2012

text: Kony 2012 is a 2012 American short documentary film produced by "Invisible Children" creators Invisible Children, Inc. The film's purpose was to make Ugandan cult leader, war criminal, and ICC fugitive Joseph Kony globally known so as to have him arrested by the end of 2012. The film was released on March 5, 2012, and spread virally, and the campaign was initially supported by various celebrities.


title: Kony 2012

text: , the film has received over 103 million views and 1.3 million likes on the video-sharing website YouTube, and over 18.7 million views and over 21.8 thousand likes on Vimeo, with other views on a central Kony 2012 website operated by Invisible Children. At the time, the video was the most liked on the whole of YouTube, and is the first video ever to reach 1 million likes. The intense exposure of the video caused the Kony 2012 website to crash shortly after it began gaining widespread popularity. A poll suggested that more than half of young adult Americans heard about "Kony 2012" in the days following the video's release. It was included among the top international events of 2012 by PBS and called the most viral video ever by "TIME" in 2013.


title: Kony 2012

text: The campaign resulted in a resolution by the United States Senate and contributed to the decision to send troops by the African Union. The film also called for an April 20 worldwide canvassing campaign, called "Cover the Night". On April 5, 2012, Invisible Children released a follow-up video, titled "Kony 2012: Part II – Beyond Famous", which failed to repeat the success of the original.


title: Kony 2012

text: The film documents the Invisible Children's plans and efforts to capture Joseph Kony. It describes Kony's actions with his rebel militia group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), including forced recruitment of child soldiers, and the regions (northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan) in which they have been active.


title: Kony 2012

text: It is introduced with the song "02 Ghosts I" by Nine Inch Nails, and the text "“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Nothing is more powerful than an idea is now.”" on the screen. Then, a view of the sun shining at the earth is shown, and Jason Russell speaks the phrase "“Right now, there are more people on Facebook than there were on the planet 200 years ago. Humanity's greatest desire is to belong and connect, and now, we see each other. We hear each other. We share what we love. And this connection is changing the way the world works.”". The first scene after introduction shows the birth of Jason Russell's son Gavin. The film contains rich sound design and 3D animations of pictures mapped over an earth globe, as well as of a crowd of people from bird's-eye view.


title: Kony 2012

text: One of the main people feature in the film is a young Ugandan named Jacob Avaye, whose brother was killed by the LRA. In response, director and founder of Invisible Children, Jason Russell, promises Jacob that he will help "stop Kony".


title: Kony 2012

text: The film advocates the restoration of social order and curtailing compelled and coerced youth military service. The video also has clips of Jason Russell's young son reacting to the information about Kony. Near the end of the film, a 2011 announcement from U.S. President Barack Obama is shown authorizing the deployment of 100 Special Forces military advisers to provide "information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces" of Central African countries to "remove Joseph Kony from the battlefield". The video concludes by urging viewers to join its publicity campaign by putting up posters and helping out in their communities.


title: Kony 2012

text: In a later scene in the film, an action scene shows people sticking "Kony 2012" posters in various places in a town, with the music "I Can't Stop" by Flux Pavilion.


title: Kony 2012

text: In the last minute of the film, the countdown that was first shown near the beginning, when the narrator said "the next 27 minutes are an experiment", finishes, which is an analepsis. At the end, text slides call to action.


title: Kony 2012

text: The Invisible Children charity has focused on obtaining the support of a select group of individuals in order to "help bring awareness to the abuse and killing of children in the East and Central African countries at the hands of Kony and his leadership." This list included 20 "celebrity culture makers", such as George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey (who significantly helped to spread the video), Taylor Swift, and Ryan Seacrest. The list also featured 12 "policy makers" that have "the power to keep U.S. government officials in Africa" in order to work toward the capture of Kony. This list includes former US President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former US Secretary of State John Kerry.


title: Kony 2012

text: A number of celebrities endorsed the awareness campaign against Kony, including Justin Bieber, Bill Gates, Christina Milian, Nicki Minaj, Kim Kardashian, Pete Wentz, Rihanna, and Elliot Page.


title: Kony 2012

text: As part of the campaign, US supporters were asked to put up posters in their hometowns in an action named "Cover the Night", which took place on April 20, 2012. Invisible Children offered posters and t-shirts in an attempt to gain wider recognition. They also created action kits to help spread awareness that included campaign buttons, posters, bracelets, and stickers. The announcement video to "Cover the night" was aired on April 4, 2012.


title: Kony 2012

text: The "Cover the Night" event took place worldwide on April 20, 2012, and was to be conducted by supporters who were encouraged to perform some sort of charity work that morning in their local community. Then, that evening, they were to post flyers and posters throughout their city for the Kony 2012 campaign. The turnout for the event worldwide was much smaller than initially expected, with no organized spots officially announced and many fewer people attending than had pledged to attend. A tweet from Invisible Children stated, "There is no official meet-up as we are asking people to act locally with friends+family in their neighborhoods." Despite over 50,000 people signing up and buying kits, very few people actually participated. One gathering in Vancouver had only 17 people; another in Brisbane had fewer than 50 attendees. In Kelowna, British Columbia, several signs and posters were put up, including two large banners that were "placed on both sides of the pedestrian overpass". In Canberra, several Facebook groups resulted in a few gatherings of two or three people each. In Phoenix, 200 posters were put up by "college students and other people in their teens and 20s", along with a number of chalk and stencil messages.


title: Kony 2012

text: The film sparked a heated controversy regarding its merits, with very differing opinions being expressed by various NGO workers, government and international officials, journalists, and other groups and individuals.


title: Kony 2012

text: Luis Moreno Ocampo, who was featured in the film and was, at the time, the chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), voiced his support of the film and the campaign that had "mobilised the world", and said that the criticism was "stupid". The Special Representative and head of the newly created United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), Abou Moussa, said that international interest in Kony was "useful, very important". The White House released a statement of support through Press Secretary Jay Carney, who stated in a news conference, "We congratulate the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have mobilized to this unique crisis of conscience" and said that the raised awareness from the video is "consistent with the bipartisan legislation passed by our congress in 2010." Cameron Hudson, policy director at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and former Africa director in the National Security Council, also praised Invisible Children for reaching "tens of millions of people who probably never previously heard of Joseph Kony." Anthony Lake, the executive director of UNICEF, was cited as saying that a similar viral video would have made a difference during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, also suggesting that "this kind of public attention would also have helped save more lives in Darfur and in Congo's warring east."


title: Kony 2012

text: Human Rights Watch (HRW)'s Africa division senior researcher Anneke Van Woudenberg wrote in a statement: "We've spent years investigating the horrors perpetrated by the LRA in central Africa—Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan. We gathered evidence at massacre sites—wooden clubs covered in dried blood, rubber strips from bicycle tires used to tie up the victims, and freshly dug graves—and spoke to hundreds of boys and girls forced to fight for his army or held captive as sex slaves. And we're elated that #stopKony is a trending topic on Twitter—if anyone deserves global notoriety it's Kony." She added: "Arresting Kony and other senior LRA leaders would reaffirm that those who commit mass atrocities will face justice. It will also help end the scourge of one of the most brutal rebel groups in Africa." HRW's LRA researcher Ida Sawyer reaffirmed, "we definitely support the message of the film and we think it's great that they're bringing so much attention to the film with Kony's crimes and the phenomena of the LRA." Amnesty International, which had documented what it described as the LRA's "horrific impact on the lives of thousands of civilians in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Uganda" and for years had been calling for the LRA leaders to be arrested, welcomed the massive public response to the Kony 2012 campaign. Erwin van der Borght, the organization's Africa director, wrote in a statement: "Joseph Kony and other LRA leaders have evaded arrest for far too long and this campaign is a salient reminder of the continuing crimes by LRA members and the need to arrest and surrender their leaders to the ICC so they can face trial," but added: "Anyone joining the Kony 2012 campaign should insist that efforts to arrest Joseph Kony must respect human rights", especially because "many of LRA members were themselves victims of human rights violations including forcible recruitment", and ensure the protection of civilians.