title: Manmarziyaan

text: "Manmarziyaan" was well received at the box office. It collected 4 crore on opening day. The film saw a further jump of 5.70 crore in collections on Sunday. The worldwide gross of the movie was 40.39 crore.


title: Manmarziyaan

text: "Manmarziyaan" received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for its contemporary take on a love story and the overall strong performances from its cast. Additionally, it also received high praise for seamlessly weaving its soundtrack into the story. As a love-triangle with a running length of 155 minutes, the subject matter was a venture into conventional Bollywood territory for director Anurag Kashyap.


title: Manmarziyaan

text: Critic Anupama Chopra noted "director Anurag Kashyap, Hindi cinema's high-priest of darkness, turns his ferocious gaze on relationships. Obviously then, this is not the routine Bollywood meet-cute. Director Kashyap and writer Kanika Dhillon have created a fully realized world that is fueled by Amit Trivedi’s pulsating soundtrack" "Times Of India"'s critic Rachit Gupta said "The maturity with which Anurag Kashyap’s "Manmarziyaan" talks about love and relationships is refreshing. The seemingly conventional story of a love triangle, gets original with its treatment and portrayal of love. With characters constantly oscillating between confusion and complex emotions, "Manmarziyaan" presents a new and updated look at romance and relationships."


title: Manmarziyaan

text: Raja Sen, writing for "Hindustan Times", critiqued the film saying "There is authenticity to the texture, but this film could have held more. It is ultimately a disappointment not because of its craft, but because of predictability, self-indulgent pace and its irritating attempt to be both a light crowd-pleaser with a cutesy ending as well as an impassioned, volatile romance." "Filmfare" critic Debesh Sharma adds "Shot well by Sylvester Fonseca and edited well by Aarti Bajaj, the film scores on technical fronts as well."


title: Manmarziyaan

text: The movie received a limited international release with the title "Husband Material" including a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018.


title: Manmarziyaan

text: The soundtrack of the film was composed by Amit Trivedi while the lyrics were written by Shellee except where noted.


title: Manmarziyaan

text: The first song, "F for Fyaar", was released on 10 August 2018. The second song, "Daryaa", was released on 11 August 2018. The third song "Grey Walaa Shade" was released on 12 August 2018. The fourth song, "Dhyaanchand", was released on 13 August 2018. The fifth song, "Chonch Ladhiyaan", was released on 14 August 2018. The sixth song, "Hallaa", was released on 15 August 2018. The seventh song, "Sacchi Mohabbat", was released on 16 August 2018. The eighth song, "Jaisi Teri Marzi", was released on 17 August 2018. The ninth song, "Bijlee Giregi", was released on 18 August 2018. The tenth song, "Kundali", was released on 23 August 2018.


title: Manmarziyaan

text: Vipin Nair of "The Hindu" gave the soundtrack 4/5 stating that though the "repetitiveness gets in the way on more than one occasion, the composer still manages to deliver a supremely engaging soundtrack, with ample help from Shellee and a bunch of incredible musicians." "The Times of India" based Debarati Sen, in her review, said the lyricist-composer combo ensures that the album "finds a way to your playlist."


title: Kh-35

text: The Zvezda Kh-35 (, AS-20 'Kayak') is a Soviet turbojet subsonic cruise anti-ship missile. The missile can be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defence batteries with the help of a rocket booster, in which case it is known as Uran ('Uranus', SS-N-25 'Switchblade', GRAU 3M24) or Bal (SSC-6 'Sennight', GRAU 3K60). It is designed to attack vessels up to 5,000 tonnes.


title: Kh-35

text: The previous anti-ship missiles made in USSR were highly capable, but they also were large and expensive. Therefore, the Soviet Navy found that a similar, small and very low flying missile would be useful. This new system was planned as small, cheap, and easy to install missile for a variety of platforms. This new system, called 3M24 Uran (in western nomenclature, SS-N-25) was originally meant for small surface combatants such as frigates, like the Krivak, Gepard and Neustrashimy. It was the answer to western missiles like the US Harpoon. Informally, it was also known as 'Harpoonski', as it was broadly comparable, especially in appearance, with the American missile.


title: Kh-35

text: The initial development started in Zvezda-Strela State Scientific-Industrial Center (GNPTs) group in 1972 or 1977, depending on the sources. Zvezda received the official go ahead to begin work on the Kh-35 in 1983-1984 by a decree of the USSR Council of Ministers and the USSR CPSU Central Committee to arm ships of medium tonnage.


title: Kh-35

text: Test launches began in 1985, but there were several problems and failures with the miniaturized active radar system. It was first displayed in 1992 and listed as only being intended for export, when it was, in fact, not yet for production. In 1994 India ordered Uran missiles (the Kh-35E export variant). This led to the full development, and deliveries started to the Indian Navy in 1996. Russia adopted it only in 2003 (for ships), and 2004 (Bal, coastal system). The air-launched variant (originally made for Indian Il-38SD patrol aircraft) was completed in 2005 and later deployed on Russian Federation aircraft.


title: Kh-35

text: The KH-35 can be considered the successor to the SS-N-2 Styx missile, albeit much smaller and more modern. It boasts greater range than legacy missile systems, and is much cheaper than other contemporary anti-ship missiles like Kalibr or Oniks, costing an estimated $500,000 USD per missile.


title: Kh-35

text: The Kh-35 missile is a subsonic weapon featuring a normal aerodynamic configuration with cruciform wings and fins and a semisubmerged air duct intake. The propulsion unit is a turbofan engine. The missile is guided to its target at the final leg of the trajectory by commands fed from the active radar homing head and the radio altimeter.


title: Kh-35

text: Target designation data can be introduced into the missile from the launch aircraft or ship or external sources. Flight mission data is inserted into the missile control system after input of target coordinates. An inertial system controls the missile in flight, stabilizes it at an assigned altitude and brings it to a target location area. At a certain target range, the homing head is switched on to search for, lock on and track the target. The inertial control system then turns the missile toward the target and changes its flight altitude to an extremely low one. At this altitude, the missile continues the process of homing by the data fed from the homing head and the inertial control system until a hit is obtained.


title: Kh-35

text: The Kh-35 can be employed in fair and adverse weather conditions at sea states up to 5–6, by day and night, under enemy fire and electronic countermeasures. Its aerodynamic configuration is optimized for high subsonic-speed sea-skimming flight to ensure stealthy characteristics of the missile. The missile has low signatures thanks to its small dimensions, sea-skimming capability and a special guidance algorithm ensuring highly secure operational modes of the active radar seeker.


title: Kh-35

text: Its ARGS-35E active radar seeker operates in both single and multiple missile launch modes, acquiring and locking on targets at a maximum range of up to 20 km. A new radar seeker, Gran-KE has been developed by SPE Radar MMS and will be replacing the existing ARGS-35E X band seeker.


title: Kh-35

text: The Kh-35 missile entered service with Russian Navy only in 2003. In July 2003, the system created by the "Tactical Missiles Corporation" passed the state tests and began to come into service of ships of the Russian Navy. Today it is generally accepted that in the criterion of "cost-effectiveness", "Uran-E" is one of the best systems in the world. It has also been acquired by India. The Bal coastal missile system showed excellent results in state tests in the fall of 2004, and entered service in 2008. The tests of the upgraded Kh-35UE missile were completed as of June 2021.


title: Kh-35

text: A Bal system has four self-propelled launcher vehicles each carrying eight missiles for a total of 32 missiles in a salvo, plus reloads for another wave. The launchers can be up to 10 km from the coast and hit targets at ranges up to . Currently, the Bal system is equipped with an upgraded version of the Kh-35E increasing the range to . At IMDS 2019, a new version of the Russian Bal-E coastal defence system was presented for the first time. The four-tube Rubezh-ME, dedicated to the export market, is based on a Kamaz 63501 8x8 chassis which is more compact than the MZKT-7930 of the original Bal-E. As reported on October 19, 2021 by the TASS news agency, a new missile of the Bal coastal missile complex developed and manufactured by Tactical Missile Armament Corporation (KTRV) will allow hitting targets at a distance of over 500 km. The new capabilities of the complex made it comparable in range and the possibility of firing on the ground with the Bastion missile system using the Onyx supersonic missile, a source in the defense industry said.


The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) (; ), known as the 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" (, ) prior to 1944, was a World War II German military formation made up predominantly of military volunteers with a Ukrainian ethnic background from the area of Galicia, later also with some Slovaks. Formed in 1943, it was largely destroyed in the battle of Brody, reformed, and saw action in Slovakia, Yugoslavia, and Austria before being renamed the first division of the Ukrainian National Army and surrendering to the Western Allies by 10 May 1945.


title: 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician)

text: After World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the territory of Eastern Galicia (Halychyna), populated by a Ukrainian majority but with a large Polish minority, was incorporated into Poland following the Polish–Ukrainian War. Between the wars, the political allegiances of Ukrainians in eastern Galicia were divided between moderate national democrats and the more radical Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The latter group itself splintered into two factions, the more moderate OUN-M led by Andriy Melnyk with close ties to German intelligence (Abwehr), and the more radical OUN-B led by Stepan Bandera. When Poland was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1939, the territory of eastern Galicia was annexed to Soviet Ukraine. In 1941 it was occupied by Germany.


text: Ukrainian leaders of various political persuasions recognised the need for a trained armed force. The Germans had earlier considered the formation of an armed force made up of Slavic people, but they decided this to be unacceptable as they regarded Slavs as sub-humans ("untermenschen") compared to the Germanic Übermenschen master race. At the beginning of 1943, growing losses inclined Nazi leaders to alter their initial opinions.


text: The idea to organize a division of volunteers from Galicia was proposed by the German Governor of District Galicia, Dr. Otto von Wächter. He suggested creation of a Waffen-SS division composed of Galician volunteers and designed for regular combat on the Eastern Front. The creation of 14th Voluntary Division SS "Galizien" was announced in April 1943 at ceremonies throughout Galicia. At least 50 documents including contemporary newspaper clippings, radio broadcasts and speeches etc. record the date of 28 April. By June 1943 the first phase of recruitment had taken place. Initially Wächter's proposal (which he was certain would be supported by Ukrainian circles) was rejected. In Berlin Wächter was able to get support from Heinrich Himmler who made the stipulation that the division would only made up of Galicians, who Himmler considered "more Aryan-like". The terms "Ukrainian", "Ukraine", could not be used when addressing the division, stressing the Imperial Austro-Hungarian heritage of the term "Galizien". David Marples suggests that the division was titled "Galicia" to avoid using the politically contentious term "Ukrainian," while historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. claims the term was chosen at the insistence of Hitler, which irritated many of the Slavic recruits."


text: Wächter approached the Ukrainian Central Committee, a nonpolitical social welfare organization headed by Volodymyr Kubiyovych which supported the idea of the formation of the division. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church demanded the presence of its chaplains in the division, which was usually not permitted by the SS. Thus the Ukrainian division along with the Bosnian one became notable exceptions.


text: Germans made three political concessions: It was stipulated that the division shall not be used to fight Western Allies, and would be used exclusively to "fight Bolsheviks". The other concession was in that its oath of allegiance to Hitler was conditional on the fight against Bolshevism and in the fact that Christian (mostly Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church) chaplains were integrated into the units and allowed to function (in the Waffen-SS, only the Bosnian division and Sturmbrigade Wallonien had a clerical presence). The latter condition was instituted at the insistence of the division's organizers in order to minimize the risk of Nazi demoralization amongst the soldiers. Indeed, Nazi indoctrination was absent within the division.


text: The creation of foreign SS units had been carried out previously in the name of fighting against communism; with French, Flemish, Walloon, Dutch, Latvian, Estonian, Croatian, and Belarusian units, among others, had been created. The creation of a Ukrainian SS division was perceived by many in Ukraine as a step towards the attainment of Ukrainian independence and attracted many volunteers.


text: The division enjoyed support from multiple political and religious groups within the western Ukrainian community. The division's prime organizer and highest ranking Ukrainian officer, Dmytro Paliiv, who although he was a SS-Freiw. Haupsturmfuhrer was actually higher in rank than Yevhen Pobihushchyi, the division's commander, who held a higher rank of SS-Freiw. Sturmbannführer had been the leader of a small legal political party in the Second Polish Republic. Many of his colleagues had been members of the pre-war moderate, left-leaning democratic UNDO movement that before the war had also been opposed to the authoritarian OUN. The division also obtained moral support from officers of the exiled Polish-allied Ukrainian People's Republic such as General Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko. The division was also strongly supported by Andriy Melnyk's moderate faction of the OUN, who saw it as a counterweight to the extremist Banderite-dominated UPA.


text: The Bandera faction of the OUN-B opposed the idea of creating the division, in part because it was an organization outside its control, and had claimed in its propaganda that the division was to be used by the Germans as cannon fodder. Nevertheless, it did not interfere in its formation and once the division was formed it sent some of its members, a number of whom would obtain prominent positions, into the division in order for them to gain military training and to prevent it from completely getting out of their hands. Despite this infiltration, Bandera's OUN failed to gain control over the division. It also had the support of both the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Among its members was a son of Mstyslav Skrypnyk, the Orthodox Bishop of Kyiv.


text: The Division SS "Galizien" was commanded by German, Austrian and Ukrainian officers. Training for the recruits began within the SS-Special Purpose Training Battalion ("SS-Ausbildungs-Battalion" z.b.V), commanded by "SS Sturmbannführer" Bernard Bartlet while the man appointed to oversee the forming of the division was General Walter Schimana (until October 1943). Schimana never commanded the actual division, as up until the point of his departure it was still a training battalion, staffed mostly by temporary training personnel. According to his SS officer file from 20 October 1944 and NOT From 20 November 1943 it was led by SS-Brigadier General Fritz Freitag. Captain Wolf Dietrich Heike (temporarily seconded from the Wehrmacht) was the chief of staff from January 1944. Among the staff of the division Yevhen Pobihushchyi, a Ukrainian Wehrmacht officer who had been arrested following the dissolution of Schutzmannschaft Battalion 201 and previously commanded both Schutzmannschaft Battalion 201 and the Roland Battalion.


text: In total an estimated c. 53,000 men enlisted for service in the division. Of these, 42,000 were called up during the first 'recruitment phase' which took place in May and June 1943 from which only 27,000 were deemed fit for military service and 13,000 were enlisted. To boost the recruitment figures the height minimum requirement was lowered from 1.65m to 1.61m.


text: In mid-February 1944, the division received an order to form a battle group known as SS Kampfgruppe Beyersdorff for action against Soviet and Polish partisans. It operated in the Zamość area together with elements of the 5th Regiment, while elements of the 4th Regiment were sent to the Brody area. The SS Kampfgruppe performed its duty well enough that it earned the rare praise of German Field Marshal Walter Model.


text: In July the division was sent to the area of Brody, where heavy combat was under way, and was attached to the 13th Army Corps. Together with six under-strength German infantry divisions, the Galicia Division was responsible for holding a frontage of approximately . On 8 July, the 13th Corps was transferred to the 1st Panzer Army. The Galician Division was placed in reserve. Deployed at Brody were the division's 29th, 30th, 31st regiments, a fusilier and engineering battalion, and its artillery regiment. The 14th SS Field Replacement Battalion was deployed behind the other units.


text: On 13 July, Soviet forces under the command of Marshal Ivan Konev launched their attack. By the next day, they routed a German division to the north of the 13th Corps and swept back an attempted German counterattack. On 15 July, the 1st and 8th Panzer Divisions along with a single regiment from the Galicia Division (WGR 30) were deployed in a counterattack against the Soviet penetration in the Koltiv area by the Soviet Second Air Army, who in only a five-hour period flew 3,288 aircraft sorties and dropped 102 tons of bombs on them as they attempted a counterattack. On 18 July, the division's Field Replacement Battalion largely escaped the encirclement so that 11 officers 54 NCOs and 954 were reported by the battalion commander as having escaped on 21 July 1944 and fled west, whilst the remainder of 13th Corps, consisting of over 30,000 German and Ukrainian soldiers, was surrounded by the Soviets within the Brody pocket.


text: Within the pocket, the Galician troops were tasked with defending the eastern perimeter near the castle and town of Pidhirtsy and Olesko. The Soviets sought to collapse the Brody pocket by focusing their attack of what they perceived to be its weakest point, this was not the relatively inexperienced Galician Division, it was in fact the 349 Infantry division which its own War Diary and the War Diary of 4 Panzer Army reveal unequivocally suffered devastating losses in the initial Soviet offensive which is why the 14 Galician Division was committed piece-meal to reinforce the 349 I.D's sector of the front. The 29th and 30th regiments of the division, supported by the division's artillery regiment, put up unexpectedly fierce resistance. Pidhirtsy changed hands several times before the Galicians were finally overwhelmed by the late afternoon, and at Olesko a major Soviet attack using T-34 tanks was repulsed by the division's Fusilier and Engineer battalions.


text: On 20 July, the German divisions within the pocket attempted a breakout which failed partly because the rain in the previous day had made the roads impassable for the armour of III Panzer Corps which was striking north to relieve the entrapped forces despite early successes. By this point the Division's 30 and 31st regiments were destroyed in fighting. A second German breakout attempt that began at 1:00 am on 21 July ended in failure. to the west of the pocket, however, a German Panzergrenadier regiment actually called the '8 Panzer Division' broke through Soviet lines and briefly established contact with the Brody pocket, resulting in a message sent at 19.07 hrs on 21 July from XXXXVIII.Pz.Kps to 1 Panzer Army reporting "5,000 men from XIII.AK. having been rescued" – followed by a second message sent on 23 July reporting 8–10,000 men and finally on 26 July 8. Panzer Division reported it had "picked up approximately 15,000 soldiers", including approximately 400 Galicians, before being repulsed. By the end of that day, in the face of overwhelming Soviet attacks, the 14th Division as a whole disintegrated. Late on 19 July its German commander, Fritz Freitag, resigned his command and was called in for service with XIII.A.K. staff. Command of the division was then given to General Lindemann the commander of the 361.Inf.div. Freitag remained with the Corps staff and did not form a battle group and head south Some Ukrainian assault groups remained intact, others joined German units, and others fled or melted away. The Ukrainian 14th SS Fusilier battalion, which at this point had also largely disintegrated, came to form the rearguard of what was left of the entire 13th Corps. Holding the town of Bilyi Kamin, it enabled units or stragglers to escape to the south and was able to withstand several Soviet attempts to overwhelm it. By the evening of 21 July, it remained the only intact unit north of the Bug River even though several of its former members for example Mykola Fylypovych recorded that 'by 19 July there was chaos in the fusilier battalion no command, no orders, no ammunition'.


text: In the early morning of 22 July, the 14th Fusilier battalion abandoned Bilye Kamin. The Brody pocket was now only long and wide. The German and Galician soldiers were instructed to attack with everything they had by moving forward until they broke through or were destroyed. Fighting was fierce and desperate. The German and Ukrainian soldiers surging south were able to overwhelm the Soviet and its infantry support, and to escape by the thousands. The remaining pocket collapsed by the evening of 22 July.


text: Despite the severity of the fighting, the division disintegrated having sustained enormous losses and having lost one regimental commander killed (Paul Herms Kdr WGR 31) and one wounded (Friedrich Dern kdr WHR 29) on 19 July causing Freitag to resign his command. Of the approximately 11,000 Galician soldiers deployed at Brody, about 3,000 were able to almost immediately re-enter the division. Approx 7,400 were posted as "Missing in combat".


text: It has been mistakenly suggested that the losses for the 14th SS Division in Brody, which ran at 73%, were higher than the rest of the Corps. The other battle-hardened German units which had formed XIII.A.K. produced similar casualty reports. About 5,000 men of Korpsabteilung 'C' which formed the spearhead of the breakout forces escaped the encirclement with sidearms but without vehicles, horses, and other weapons, supplies, and equipment. A total of 73 officers and 4,059 NCOs and men were listed as killed or missing. By comparison, the 361st Infantry Division which deployed fewer troops at the beginning of the battle than the Galician Division and together with it formed the rearguard, suffered equal losses. Between 16 and 22 July, it sustained almost as many casualties with total losses amounting to 6,310 officers and men (dead, missing or wounded). The necessary manpower required to rebuild this and the other German formations was not available and they were subsequently disbanded and the survivors incorporated into other divisions. Although 73% of its personnel did not return to the division, the most recent research suggests that upward of 2,000 Ukrainian men survived but chose to join the Ukrainian partisans. Others deserted and returned to civilian whilst a relatively small number joined other units and remained with them until the end of the war. Some were also taken prisoner. On this basis the number of Ukrainians who were neither killed nor taken prisoner was in actuality closer to 6,000 men – meaning its actual loss ratio was not as high as any of the German units involved whose personnel were either killed, or captured.


text: As for XIII.A.K., the final report of the Corps's liquidation commission (applicable to its regular army units only) recorded 21,766 killed or missing in action, which together with the 7,000 killed or missing men from the Galician Division brings to the total lost to about 29,000. This figure corresponds with General Lange's own estimate of a total of 25–30,000 killed in the encirclement. On the other hand, the recently declassified secret Soviet General Staff report states that during the course of the battle their forces destroyed more than 30,000 soldiers and officers, 85 tanks and self-propelled guns, over 500 guns of various calibres, 476 mortars, 705 machine guns, 12,000 rifles and submachine guns, 5,843 vehicles, 183 tractors and trailers and 2,430 motorcycles and bicycles. It also claims that over 17,000 soldiers and officers were taken prisoner, 28 tanks and self-propelled guns were captured, as were over 500 guns of various calibres, more than 600 mortars, 483 machine guns, 11,000 rifles and sub-machine guns, over 1,500 vehicles, 98 tractors and trailers, 376 motorcycles and bicycles, in excess of 3,000 horses and 28 warehouses full of military goods. Such reports often included grossly inaccurate estimations and were even regarded by Soviet leaders as suspect. An estimated total number of survivors of all XIII.A.K. units has been given by the adjutant of the 349th Infantry Division as 15,000 officers and men, while a slightly lower figure of 12,000 was subsequently given by Oberst Wilck.


text: The Germans rebuilt the division over two months using primarily forced conscripts. From the end of September 1944, the division was used against the Slovak National Uprising.


text: Units of the 14th SS Division Galizien were sent to help quash the Slovakian rebellion. Various divisional battle groups (Kampfgruppen) were formed to actively search out and destroy Slovak partisans.


text: In the German Federal Archives in Koblenz, there are numerous police and SS intelligence reports which consistently reported serious problems between the Ukrainian SS men and the local Slovak population. According to one such report of December 1944, “In general much is currently being said amongst the Slovak population about the Ukrainian soldiers now stationed in Slovakia. It can be taken from these discussions that these soldiers in general are not much liked. In Slovak circles, hostile to Germany, they are considered mercenaries, who are not fighting for the ideals of a new Europe, rather simply for personal enrichment through robbery and plunder. Even circles friendly to Germany complain passionately about this formation”.


text: Another Germans Sicherheitdienst report said, “The Slovaks in general complain about the Ukrainians, that they are a bunch of crooks who are responsible for numerous misdeeds. According to reports from many Slovaks we have learned that the Ukrainians complain about the Bolsheviks and always say that they are much more trouble than the Germans. Some of the Ukrainians, according to the Slovak statements, are particularly unreliable and it's said that they are even doing deals with the Partisans. Slovak circles, particularly amongst farmers have reacted with great relief to the news that all of the Ukrainian military forces will be withdrawn from Slovakia and replaced with Hungarian soldiers. The population in the countryside would be very pleased, as they say that the Hungarians are much more reasonable, that is more humane, than the Ukrainians.”


text: There is plenty of evidence of considerable problems with the divisions ill discipline and misconduct from other sources. The divisional commander even requested powers to shoot Ukrainian SS members without trial because he considered their conduct to be so bad in particular they had a tendency to desert and actively assist the Slovak partisans.


text: Dr Jan Korcek, the Slovak Military Historical Institute in Bratislava's special authority on Nazi forces active during the Slovak National Uprising, details nine separate incidents where Slovak researchers held the 14th SS Division Galizien responsible for crimes against the Slovak population.


text: The Slovak State Archives in Bratislava also have lots of useful background material that prove the war crimes of the SS Galicia in Slovakia. The Museum of the Slovak National Uprising in Banska Bystrica contains further proof of these events.


text: Members of the Ukrainian SS division, particularly those of the Kampfgruppe Wittenmayer of the Galician Division, were certainly involved in killings and reprisals against the civilian population. The Wittenmayer unit was involved in an attack on the village of Smrecany, burning down the village as a reprisal for allegedly helping the partisans.


text: There was an attack by the same unit on the village of Nizna Boca, where the Ukrainian SS men stormed into the pub, interrogated the men folk and then executed 5 villagers as alleged partisans. One of them, Cyril Zahradnik, was just 15 years old and died calling out for his mummy. He was arrested for having a Russian coin in his pocket and shot in the spot. Of course no one was allowed to be a partisan until they reached the age of 18. The men responsible were SS troops along with Hlinka Guardists that is to say Slovaks wo served with the Germans although the report does not identify anyone by name even though some of the Hlinka Guards were local men. The Kampfgruppe Wittenmayer was an SS unit of the 14th SS Division and wore SS uniform.


text: More evidence for the Wittenmayer unit's involvement in the massacre at Nizna Boca is contained in documents now held in the Czech State Archives in Prague. There are extremely detailed German military situation intelligence reports sent daily from Bratislava to the German military command in Prague during the course of the Slovak uprising and its aftermath. These daily reports give exceptional accuracy as to the precise movements of the Wittenmayer unit throughout their anti- partisan campaign and are unequivocal.


text: The only Nazi unit in Nizna Boca on the day of the massacre was the Wittenmayer unit. On the very day the civilians were massacred the report stated, “Kampfgruppe Wittenmayer in process of occupying Nizna Boca (10 km S of Krl. Lehota). Road between Rosenberg and Poprad therefore now free of the enemy. The Ukrainian volunteers of the 14 Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS used in the operation fought excellently.”


text: There is unequivocal evidence that some units of the Galician Division in Slovakia did commit war crimes during their service for the Nazis and that there were serious problems with their discipline and conduct during their suppression of the Slovak National Uprising. Some of the Galician units were involved in terrible atrocities throughout their existence, in Brody district, in Poland and in Slovakia. This is why neither the post war Ukrainian, Polish or Slovak governments all of which were controlled directly by the Soviets ever filed a formal accusation of war crimes against the division or any or its personnel.


text: Many of the personnel volunteered to serve in Slovakia, hoping to find friends and relatives among a large group of refugees from Galicia that had been admitted to Slovakia shortly before the uprising. The first unit, a battlegroup formed from one battalion of the 29th regiment with auxiliary units, arrived 28 September 1944. Eventually all divisional units were transferred to Slovakia. From 15 October 1944 they formed two Kampfgruppe, Wittenmayer and Wildner. (Both of approx reinforced battalion strength)The division operated in coordination with a kampfgruppe from the SS Division Horst Wessel, whilst on paper the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger was subordinated directly to it but its commander ignored all instructions he received and continued to act independently, the Vlasov detachment and other SS and SD formations until 5 February 1945. According to Slovak historian K. Fremal, the division's "members were helping in anti-partisan, repressive, and terrorist actions and committed murders and other excesses"


text: The overall degree of criminality was less than that of Einsatzgruppe H or the Slovak collaborationist Hlinka Guard Emergency Divisions. About 200 soldiers deserted from the division while it was in Slovakia; many joined the Slovak partisans who clearly hated them as they had just spent months terrorising them and committing wanton crimes against the local civilians but remarkably still allowed them to join their ranks.


text: In the end of January 1945, it was moved to Slovenia, where from the end of February until the end of March 1945, it together with other Army, SS and Polizei formations fought Yugoslav Partisans in the Styria and Carinthia (province) areas near the Austrian-Slovenian border. During this time, the division absorbed the 31 SD Schutzmannschafts Battalion, also known as the Ukrainian Self Defense legion. When on 31 March Soviet forces commenced an attack from Hungary into Austria that ruptured the German front, the division was ordered to advance northward to Gleichenberg in a desperate attempt to halt the Soviet advance.


text: From 1 April until the end of the war, with a strength of 14,000 combat troops and 8,000 soldiers in a Training and Replacement Regiment, the division fought against the Red Army in the region of Graz in Austria


text: where in early April it seized the castle and village of Gleichenberg from Soviet forces (including elite Soviet airborne troops from the 3rd Guards Airborne Division) during a counterattack and on 15 April repulsed a Soviet counterattack. The division at this time maintained a 13-km front. During one critical situation, Freitag became so alarmed by the developments at the front, that in the presence of the commander of the 1st Cavalry Corps General der Kavallerie Harteneck, he reacted instinctively and announced his abdication as Divisional commander and responsibility for its performance in action – as he had done at Brody. General Harteneck refused Freitag's resignation and ordered him to remain at his post. Due to his performance during the battles surrounding Gleichenberg, Waffen-Obersturmführer Ostap Czuczkewycz was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class. The division suffered casualties while in Austria, with an estimated 1,600 killed or wounded.


text: On 17 March 1945, Ukrainian émigrés established the Ukrainian National Committee to represent the interests of Ukrainians to the Third Reich. Simultaneously, the Ukrainian National Army, commanded by general Pavlo Shandruk, was created. The Galician Division nominally became the 1st Division of the Ukrainian National Army, although the German Army's High command continued to list it as the Ukrainian 14th SS Grenadier Division in its order of battle. The division surrendered to British and US forces by 10 May 1945.


text: Most of the Ukrainian soldiers were interned in Rimini, Italy, in the area controlled by the II Polish Corps. The UNA commander Pavlo Shandruk requested a meeting with Polish general Władysław Anders a prewar Polish Army colleague, asking him to protect the army against the deportation to Soviet Union. There is credible evidence that despite Soviet pressure, Anders managed to protect the Ukrainian troops, as former citizens of the Second Republic of Poland. This, together with the intervention of the Vatican prevented its members from being deported to the USSR. Bishop Buchko of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church had appealed to Pope Pius XII to intervene on behalf of the division, whom he described as "good Catholics and fervent anti-Communists". Due to Vatican intervention, the British authorities changed the status of the division members from POW to surrendered enemy personnel. 176 soldiers of the division, mainly prewar Polish Army officers followed their commander in joining Władysław Anders's Polish army.


text: Former soldiers of SS "Galizien" were allowed to immigrate to Canada and the United Kingdom in 1947. The names of about 8,000 men from the division who were admitted to the UK have been stored in the so-called "Rimini List". Despite several requests of various lobby groups, the details of the list have never been publicly released, however the list is available on line and the original


text: List is available for public inspection at the Schevchenko Archive in Linden Gardens London. In 2003 the anti-terrorist branch of Scotland Yard launched an investigation into people from the list by cross-referencing NHS patient, social security and pensions records; however, the order to release confidential medical records was met with outcry from civil liberties groups.


text: Although the Waffen-SS as a whole was declared to be a criminal organization at the Nuremberg Trials, the Galizien Division has not specifically been found guilty of any war crimes by any war tribunal or commission. However, numerous accusations of impropriety have been leveled at the division, and at particular members of the division, from a variety of sources. It is difficult to determine the extent of war criminality among members of the division. If prior service in Nazi police units is a measure of criminality, only a small number were recruited from established police detachments. Among those who had transferred from police detachments, some had been members of a coastal defence unit that had been stationed in France, while others came from two police battalions that had been formed in the spring of 1943, too late to have participated in the murder of Ukraine's Jews. According to Howard Margolian, there is no evidence that these units participated in anti-partisan operations or reprisals prior to their inclusion into the division. However, before their service within the police battalions, a number of recruits are alleged to have been in Ukrainian irregular formations that are alleged to have committed atrocities against Jews and Communists. Nevertheless, in their investigations of the division, both the Canadian government and the Canadian Jewish Congress failed to find hard evidence to support the notion that it was rife with criminal elements.


text: The division did destroy several Polish communities in western Ukraine during the winter and spring of 1944. Specifically, the 4th and 5th SS Police Regiments have been accused of murdering Polish civilians in the course of anti-guerilla activity. At the time of their actions, those units were not yet under Divisional command, but were under German police command. Yale historian Timothy Snyder noted that the division's role in the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia was limited, because the murders were primarily carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.


text: In June 2013, Associated Press published an article stating that an American, Michael Karkoc, who was alleged to be a former "deputy company commander" in the division, was implicated in war crimes committed before he joined the division in 1945. According to Associated Press, before joining the Division Karkoc had served as a "lieutenant" of the 2nd Company of the German SS Police-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion (USDL). The USDL was a paramilitary police organization in the Schutzmannschaft. Karkoc was found living in Lauderdale, Minnesota. He had arrived in the United States in 1949 and became a naturalized citizen in 1959.


text: The Polish historian Grzegorz Motyka has stated that the Germans formed several SS police regiments (numbered from 4 to 8) which included "Galizien" in their name. Those police regiments joined the division in Spring 1944. On 23 February 1944, before being incorporated into the division, the 4th and 5th police regiments had participated in anti-guerrilla action at Huta Pieniacka, against Soviet and Polish Armia Krajowa partisans in the village of Huta Pieniacka, which had also served as a shelter for Jews and as a fortified centre for Polish and Soviet guerrillas. Huta Pieniacka was a Polish self-defence outpost, organized by inhabitants of the village and sheltering civilian refugees from Volhynia. On 23 February 1944, two members of a detachment of the division were shot by the self-defense forces. Five days later, a mixed force of Ukrainian police and German soldiers shelled the village before entering it and ordering all the civilians to gather together. In the ensuing massacre, the village of Huta Pienacka was destroyed, and between 500 and 1,000 of the inhabitants were killed. According to Polish accounts, civilians were locked in barns that were set on fire, while those attempting to flee were killed.


text: Polish witness accounts state that the soldiers were accompanied by Ukrainian nationalists (paramilitary unit under Włodzimierz Czerniawski's command), which included members of the UPA, as well as inhabitants of nearby villages who took property from households.


text: The NASU Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine concluded that the 4th and 5th SS Galizien Police regiments did kill the civilians within the village, but added that the grisly reports by eyewitnesses in the Polish accounts were "hard to come up with" and that the likelihood was "difficult to believe". The institute also noted that, at the time of the massacre, the police regiments were not under 14th division command, but rather under German police command (specifically, under German Sicherheitsdienst and SS command of the General Government). The Polish Institute of National Remembrance stated: "According to the witness' testimonies, and in the light of the collected documentation, there is no doubt that the 4th battalion 'Galizien' of the 14th division of SS committed the crime"


text: The village of Pidkamin was the site of a monastery where Poles sought shelter from the encroaching front. On 11 March 1944, around 2,000 people, the majority of whom were women and children, were seeking refuge there when the monastery was attacked by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (unit under Maksym Skorupsky command), allegedly cooperating with an SS-Galizien unit. The next day, 12 March, the monastery was captured and civilians were murdered (at night part of the population managed to escape). From 12 to 16 March, other civilians were also killed in the town of Pidkamin.


text: Estimates of victims range from 150, by Polish historian Grzegorz Motyka, to 250, according to the researchers of the Institute of History of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.


text: Members of another SS-Galizien sub-unit also participated in the execution of Polish civilians in Palykorovy, located in the Lwów area (Lviv oblast) near Pidkamin (former Tarnopol Voivodeship). It is estimated that 365 ethnic Poles were murdered, including women and children.


text: The Canadian "Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes" of October 1986, by the Honourable Justice Jules Deschênes concluded that in relation to membership in the Galicia Division:


text: The commission considered the International Military Tribunal's verdict at the Nuremberg Trials, at which the entire Waffen-SS organisation was declared a "criminal organization" guilty of war crimes. Also, in its conclusion, the Deschênes Commission only referred to the division as "14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Galizische Nr.1)" but rejected such a principle.


text: The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) is today honored by many Ukrainian nationalists. Since 2010 every year on 28 April a march is held to celebrate the foundation of the division. In addition streets were named after the division in Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukrains`koi Dyvizii Street) and Ternopil (Soldiers Division "Galicia" Street).


text: The granite memorial "Pam”iatnyk Slavy UPA" (English: "Monument to the Glory of the UPA") was inaugurated on 26 May 1988 in St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery in the Canadian city of Oakville. The emblem of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) was added to the memorial soon after. On 22 June 2020 the monument was vandalized when someone painted "Nazi war monument" on it.


text: On 17 July of that year, it was announced by the Halton Regional Police that this was being investigated as a hate crime before being walked back soon after.There is also a monument to the division in St. Michael's Cemetery in Edmonton. In 2021 it was vandalized with "nazi monument" painted on one side and "14th Waffen SS" on the other.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Solo is a 2017 Indian experimental anthology film co-written, co-produced and directed by Bejoy Nambiar with Dulquer Salmaan in the lead role. Shot simultaneously in Malayalam and Tamil, production began during November 2016. Solo tells the story of four people, each story revolving around four elements: Earth, Fire, Wind and Water, each with the facets of Lord Shiva. The film was released on 5 October 2017 in both Tamil and Malayalam worldwide. The film was dubbed in Telugu as "Athade", which released on 22 June 2018. It's also dubbed into Hindi as "Tatva".


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: The film consists of four independent stories, all of which star Dulquer Salmaan as the protagonist: Shekhar, Trilok, Siva and Rudra.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: World of Shekhar is based on the Element of Water. It is a love story of a stammering, daring but loving young man named Shekhar and Radhika who is a blind, talented dancer, with an open mind. Their story starts in college, 4 years ago. There is a lot of fuss over whom Radhika loves, whether it is Shekhar's friend Nelson or a guy named Sanju. Finally, Radhika confesses her love for Shekhar in front of everyone and the poetic love story begins. When their families find out about their relationship, they do not approve. But when Radhika reveals she is pregnant with his child, they agree to the wedding. After celebrating the happiest days of their lives during the wedding, Radhika goes into labour and passes away while delivering their baby. Shekhar, not being able to accept the truth goes out on his bike, only to meet with an accident. However, the story ends with Shekhar playing with their daughter on a beach, thereby, fulfilling a promise made to Radhika to take their daughter to a beach and spends time with her; just as Radhika's father did for her just before she lost her eyesight.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: The story begins with Aisha whose cycle collides with a car being driven by Thomas Zachariah. Zachariah's son-in-law Justin decides to save her, but Zachariah declines. Justin puts her in the car anyway and rushes to the hospital, but Aisha dies on the way. Instead of taking the body to the hospital, Zachariah disposes it on the road.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Four years later, Justin and his wife Harnnie are saddened by the demise of Zachariah. After returning from a business deal, Justin discovers that his car brakes are not working. The car crashes leaving Justin wounded, but he is saved by Dr Trilok Menon, a veterinary surgeon. As Trilok rushes to the hospital with Justin, Justin notices a photo of Aisha in Trilok's car and realizes she was his wife.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: After recovering, Justin tells everything to Harnnie and decides to tell the truth to Trilok. Justin narrates the whole incident. Trilok reveals that it was really him who killed Zachariah, that the accident was orchestrated by him too, and he also injected a drug in Justin's drip a few minutes ago which would make him brain dead. He says he was tracking them all these years and had heard everything that Zachariah and Justin said during the incident through Aisha's BlueTooth earbuds, revealing to him that she was pregnant and was still alive even after they disposed of her. Trilok then exits the room leaving Justin to die.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Shiva's mother leaves him, his father, and his brother Siddhu. Years later, Shiva is now a gangster working under his mentor Bhadran, a crime boss. Shiva protects his brother and is harsh on his wife Rukku. Siddhu is invited to join the gang by Bhadran, when he is released from prison for almost killing someone in the middle of the college.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Shiva's life changes when his father is found shot in a bar. From the bar's CCTV records, it is revealed that his father was killed by Vishnu, a crime boss in Mumbai and Shiva decides to take revenge. Shiva along with two of his gang members Nandha and Prabha goes to Mumbai. On the bus to Mumbai, Siddhu is found by Nandha and Shiva attempts to throw him out but Nandha allows him to stay. On reaching Mumbai, Shiva joins hands with a gangster to eliminate Vishnu.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: The next night Shiva and gang reach Vishnu and start a shootout in a ritual place, which gets Prabha and many others are killed. Shiva eliminates almost every member of Vishnu's gang and Siddhu escapes, and rushing to Shiva only to see him get killed by Vishnu. Siddhu and Nandha manage to escape and reach their hideout. The next morning, revenge and fury filled Siddhu takes Nandha's gun and goes to Vishnu's house, only to be shocked by seeing his mother there who is now Vishnu's wife. It is revealed that this was why Vishnu killed Shiva and his father. As Vishnu enters the room, Siddhu shoots him in the chest and kills him and his mother begs him to escape. The story ends with a grieving Siddhu running through the streets of Mumbai.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Rudra Ramachandran is an army trainee, madly in love with his girlfriend Akshara. He constantly ruins Akshara's marriage proposals by creating a scene in her house.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Rudra is the son of Brig. Ramachandran and Vidya who always scold him for his aggressive behavior, but his father always considered him a friend. Akshara's father Sundararajan decides to file a case against him in order to expel him from the army as revenge for his aggressive actions, but Rudra's father and mother request him not to. Later, Akshara tells Rudra that she got admission for a degree in Australia and has to leave soon. She promises that she will always be his.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Four years later, Rudra is an army officer narrating the story to his senior officer Col. Raunaq Sachdeva and team. He tells them that Akshara has not contacted him since and when he went to Australia, she refused to see him. He informs them that her marriage has been fixed, but he yearns to know why she became a stranger to him. Raunaq says that his team must never accept defeat and that Rudra must go to her marriage. Rudra along with others go to Akshara's house on the eve of her marriage. Rudra sees her but she refuses to talk to him. That night, Rudra barges in and demands Alok, Akshara's fiancé to fight with him. Alok, a boxing champion, beats up Rudra, but Raunaq motivates him to fight back. Rudra brutally beats up Alok but is hindered by Akshara who tells him that it was really his father who asked her not to be with him. A shocked Rudra leaves the gathering. Later, his mother tells him that his father had an affair with another woman when Rudra was 2 years old and that his parents were on the verge of divorce. Although he ended the affair for the sake of living for Rudra, the woman was pregnant. The woman is revealed to be Akshara's mother which makes Akshara Rudra's half-sister. The film ends with Rudra asking for forgiveness from Alok on the day of his marriage with Akshara.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: In September 2016, Bejoy Nambiar revealed that he was preparing a script for a Malayalam film starring Dulquer Salmaan in the lead role. Nambiar stated that he would also produce the venture under his home studio, Getaway Films, in association with Abaam Movies. The following month, the film was titled as "Solo" and Nambiar revealed that it would be simultaneously shot and released in Tamil.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: The film began production on 14 November 2016 in Kochi, with Chennai-based model Arthi Venkatesh making her debut as a leading actress in the film. The first schedule was completed within ten days, with the team shooting for up to twelve hours a day. Anson Paul and actress Ann Augustine were added to the film to play a couple. Following a production break, the second shooting schedule began in March 2017 in Kochi and then moved to Mumbai, following the completion of Dulquer's filming work for "Comrade in America" (2017). Actress Sruthi Hariharan joined the project during the second schedule, as did actresses Sai Tamhankar and Asha Jayaram for two further leading female roles. Actors Manoj K. Jayan, Prakash Belawadi and filmmaker Qaushiq Mukherjee also joined the cast during the second schedule, while Govind Menon and Siddharth Menon were signed as the film's music composers along with other composers and also agreed to play musicians in the film. R. Parthiepan also revealed that he had signed to work on the film in a supporting role.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: The third schedule for film was started in Kochi during April 2017, with several more additions to the cast. Actress Dhansika was signed to play a leading role of a visually-challenged dancer, while actors Sathish, John Vijay, Sheelu Abraham and Soubin Shahir also joined the team. The team moved to film another segment of the anthology in Lonavala during May 2017 with actors Dino Morea, Neha Sharma and Deepti Sati playing important roles. Nassar and Suhasini also joined the team during the schedule to portray parents of Dulquer's character in the segment.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: The animated sequences for the film were created by Plexus, a Mumbai-based motion design and visual effects studio.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Times Of India reviewer Deepa Soman rated it 3.5/5 and stated:' An experimental romantic thriller, Solo is the story of four men, their love, rage and afterlife. Through four elements – water, air, fire and earth, they also represent different facets of Lord Siva.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: In other websites, the film was criticised for the World Of Shekhar and World Of Rudra being reminiscent of many previous Tamil films. The World Of Trilok and The World Of Shiva was praised, although the critics said that a crime drama like The World Of Shiva should have been made in a different film with more depth.


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "Primarily, the film is another casualty of making a bilingual. The supporting cast looks off. The tone is all over the place. And the stories look like they belong neither here nor there. "


title: Solo (2017 film)

text: Dulquer Salmaan was praised for his versatility as a stammering college student, a revenge-seeking restrained doctor, an emotionally affected criminal, and a heart-broken lover.


title: Techno Viking

text: Techno Viking is an internet phenomenon or meme based on a video from the 2000 Fuckparade in Berlin, Germany.


title: Techno Viking

text: The four-minute video shot by experimental video artist Matthias Fritsch at the Fuckparade on 8 July 2000 begins with the title "Kneecam No. 1". The camera is on a group of dancing people with a blue-haired woman in front. A man stumbles into the scene grabbing the woman. A bare-chested man (known colloquially as the Techno Viking) wearing a Mjölnir pendant enters the scene while turning to that man. He grabs him by the arms and the camera follows, showing the confrontation. The bare-chested man pushes the guy back in the direction he came. He looks at him sternly and then points his finger at him, ensuring he behaves. Then the camera follows the bare-chested man as the techno parade continues. Another observer comes from the back of the scene offering an inverted bottle of water to him. As the situation calms down, the bare-chested man starts to dance down Rosenthaler Straße () to techno music.


title: Techno Viking

text: Fritsch uploaded the video to the internet in 2001. Fritsch intended to raise questions of whether the action was real or staged. In 2006 an unknown user re-published it to YouTube, and it went viral in 2007. According to Fritsch, its popularity began on a Central American pornography site. After being posted on Break.com, it peaked on 28 September at more than 1 million views per day and was watched by over 10 million people over 6 months. More than 700 responses and edited versions were posted. It was the #1 clip on "Rude Tube"'s series-three episode "Drink and Drugs". Mathew Cullen and Weezer wanted to include Techno Viking in their compilation of Internet memes for the "Pork and Beans" music video but were unable to. Techno Viking was also rendered in oils as part of a series on internet memes. By mid-2010, the video had generated over 20 million hits on YouTube alone; , the original version had more than 16 million views.


title: Techno Viking

text: Fritsch mounted an installation and the online Techno Viking Archive "to research the strategies of participatory practice in digital social networks" and presented lectures on the reception of the video. His "Music from the Masses" project was suggested by the Techno Viking experience: it explores web collaboration by providing silent films for artists to provide soundtracks. In response to legal action by the man featured in the video, access to the Techno Viking video itself has been restricted and annotations on YouTube blocked since late 2009.


title: Techno Viking

text: Fritsch did not know the man's name at the time of filming. A man who appeared in the 2009 "Bodybuilding" broadcast of the German television show segment "Raab in Gefahr" was taken to be Techno Viking in a YouTube upload. In 2008, fans claimed MMA fighter Keith Jardine was Techno Viking. The lawyer of the Techno Viking asserts that his client had never been a public figure and that he did not want to become one.


title: Techno Viking

text: The unnamed man's court case against Fritsch concerning infringement of personality rights opened in Berlin on 17 January 2013. In June, a decision was reached for the plaintiff and Fritsch was ordered to pay the man €13,000 in damages, almost all he had made from YouTube ads and sales of Techno Viking merchandise, plus €10,000 in court costs, and to cease publication of his image.


title: Techno Viking

text: Fritsch raised money with a crowdfunding campaign to make a documentary film about the case, "The Story of Technoviking", which was released in 2015.


title: Techno Viking

text: Several sources on the Internet make the false claim that one Gunther Ackerman is the original Techno Viking, who was featured in a spoof interview by the Irish Satirical News Site Waterford Whispers News.


title: Tony Curran

text: Tony Curran is a Scottish actor who has appeared in "", "Doctor Who", "Roots", and the Netflix historical epic "Outlaw King". He appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "" (2013) as Bor and the second season of "Daredevil" (2016) as Finn Cooley.


title: Tony Curran

text: Curran appeared in the BBC television series "This Life". Since then, he has appeared in a number of major film and television roles, including Rodney Skinner (The Invisible Man), an original character in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". To portray the Invisible Man, he donned a special suit that turned him into a walking bluescreen. (According to his commentary on the DVD, he looked like a "smurf on acid".) He also played vampire roles in Guillermo del Toro's "Blade II" as Priest and "" as Markus. In 2006 he appeared in the unrated film "Red Road".


title: Tony Curran

text: Curran participates in marathons to raise money for charity. He is a frequent and popular participant in the annual Dressed to Kilt event in New York City, run by Friends of Scotland in celebration of Tartan Week. He is also a keen fan of Celtic F.C. Curran played the role of Datak Tarr on the Syfy series "Defiance" and in 2014, he costarred with Diana Vickers in the thriller film "Awaiting". In 2016 Curran signed to play 'Callum' in the new E4/Netflix original series "Crazyhead".


title: Tony Curran

text: Curran portrayed Vincent van Gogh in the science fiction television series "Doctor Who". The episode, written by Richard Curtis, was rated by Screen Rant as the best of Matt Smith's time as the Doctor. A scene where Curran plays van Gogh, taken into the future to see his work in a modern museum, has been described as one of the most emotional in the entire series. Curran also made a cameo appearance in the "Doctor Who" episode "The Pandorica Opens".


title: Tony Curran

text: Curran played Sgt. Pete Twamley in the ITV series "Ultimate Force", which was broadcast in over 100 countries.


title: Tony Curran

text: Curran later worked in season 8 of "The Flash" where he portrayed Despero in his human form and voiced him in his true alien form starting in the five-part episode "Armageddon".


title: Powder coating

text: Powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing, dry powder. Unlike conventional liquid paint which is delivered via an evaporating solvent, powder coating is typically applied electrostatically and then cured under heat or with ultraviolet light. The powder may be a thermoplastic or a thermoset polymer. It is usually used to create a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint. Powder coating is mainly used for coating of metals, such as household appliances, aluminium extrusions, drum hardware, automobiles, and bicycle frames. Advancements in powder coating technology like UV curable powder coatings allow for other materials such as plastics, composites, carbon fiber, and MDF (medium-density fibreboard) to be powder coated due to the minimum heat and oven dwell time required to process these components.


title: Powder coating

text: The powder coating process was invented around 1945 by Daniel Gustin and received US Patent 2538562 in 1945. This process puts a coating on an item electrostatically, which is then cured by heat. The finish is harder and tougher than conventional paint. The process is useful for coatings on metal used in many household appliances, aluminum products and automotive parts.


title: Powder coating

text: Because powder coating does not have a liquid carrier, it can produce thicker coatings than conventional liquid coatings without running or sagging, and powder coating produces minimal appearance differences between horizontally coated surfaces and vertically coated surfaces. Because no carrier fluid evaporates away, the coating process emits few volatile organic compounds (VOC). Finally, several powder colors can be applied before curing them all together, allowing color blending and bleed special effects in a single layer.


title: Powder coating

text: While it is relatively easy to apply thick coatings that cure to smooth, texture-free coating, it is not as easy to apply smooth thin films. As the film thickness is reduced, the film becomes more and more orange peeled in texture due to the particle size and glass transition temperature (Tg) of the powder.


title: Powder coating

text: Most powder coatings have a particle size in the range of 2 to 50 μm, a softening temperature Tg around 80 °C, a melting temperature around 150 °C, and are cured at around 200 °C for a minimum of 10 minutes to 15 minutes (exact temperatures and times may depend on the thickness of the item being coated). For such powder coatings, film build-ups of greater than 50 μm may be required to obtain an acceptably smooth film. The surface texture which is considered desirable or acceptable depends on the end product. Many manufacturers prefer to have a certain degree of orange peel since it helps to hide metal defects that have occurred during manufacture, and the resulting coating is less prone to showing fingerprints.


title: Powder coating

text: There are very specialized operations where powder coatings of less than 30 µm or with a Tg below 40 °C are used in order to produce smooth thin films. One variation of the dry powder coating process, the "Powder Slurry" process, combines the advantages of powder coatings and liquid coatings by dispersing very fine powders of 1–5 µm sized particles into water, which then allows very smooth, low film thickness coatings to be produced.


title: Powder coating

text: For garage-scale jobs, small "rattle can" spray paint is less expensive and complex than powder coating. At the professional scale, the capital expense and time required for a powder coat gun, booth and oven are similar to a spray gun system. Powder coatings have a major advantage in that the overspray can be recycled. However, if multiple colors are being sprayed in a single spray booth, this may limit the ability to recycle the overspray.


title: Powder coating

text: There are three main categories of powder coatings: thermosets, thermoplastics, and UV curable powder coatings. Thermoset powder coatings incorporates a cross-linker into the formulation.


title: Powder coating

text: Most common cross-linkers are solid epoxy resins in so-called hybrid powders in mixing ratios of 50/50, 60/40 and 70/30 (polyester resin/ epoxy resin) for indoor applications and triglycidyl isocyanurate (TGIC) in a ratio of 93/7 and β-hydroxy alkylamide (HAA) hardener in 95/5 ratio for outdoor applications. When the powder is baked, it reacts with other chemical groups in the powder to polymerize, improving the performance properties. The chemical cross-linking for hybrids and TGIC powders—representing the major part of the global powder coating market—is based on the reaction of organic acid groups with an epoxy functionality; this carboxy–epoxy reaction is thoroughly investigated and well understood, by addition of catalysts the conversion can be accelerated and curing schedule can be triggered in time and/or temperature. In the powder coating industry it is common to use catalyst masterbatches where 10–15% of the active ingredient is introduced into a polyester carrier resin as matrix. This approach provides the best possible even dispersion of a small amount of a catalyst over the bulk of the powder.


title: Powder coating

text: Concerning the cross-linking of the TGIC-free alternative based on HAA hardeners there is no known catalyst available.


title: Powder coating

text: For special applications like coil coatings or clear coats it is common to use glycidylesters as hardener component, their cross-linking is based on the carboxy–epoxy chemistry too. A different chemical reaction is used in so-called polyurethane powders, where the binder resin carries hydroxyl functional groups that react with isocyanate groups of the hardener component. The isocyanate group is usually introduced into the powder in blocked form where the isocyanate functionality is pre-reacted with ε-caprolactame as blocking agent or in form of uretdiones, at elevated temperatures (deblocking temperature) the free isocyanate groups are released and available for the cross-linking reaction with hydroxyl functionality.


title: Powder coating

text: In general all thermosetting powder formulations contain next to the binder resin and cross-linker additives to support flow out and levelling and for degassing. Common is the use of flow promoter where the active ingredient—a polyacrylate—is absorbed on silica as carrier or as masterbatch dispersed in a polyester resin as matrix. Vast majority of powders contain benzoin as degassing agent to avoid pinholes in final powder coating film.


title: Powder coating

text: The thermoplastic variety does not undergo any additional actions during the baking process as it flows to form the final coating. UV-curable powder coatings are photopolymerisable materials containing a chemical photoinitiator that instantly responds to UV light energy by initiating the reaction that leads to crosslinking or cure. The differentiating factor of this process from others is the separation of the melt stage before the cure stage. UV-cured powder will melt in 60 to 120 seconds when reaching a temperature 110 °C and 130 °C. Once the melted coating is in this temperature window, it is instantly cured when exposed to UV light.


title: Powder coating

text: The most common polymers used are: polyester, polyurethane, polyester-epoxy (known as hybrid), straight epoxy (fusion bonded epoxy) and acrylics.


title: Powder coating

text: The powder coating process involves three basic steps: part preparation or the pre-treatment, the powder application, and curing.


title: Powder coating

text: Removal of oil, dirt, lubrication greases, metal oxides, welding scale etc. is essential prior to the powder coating process. It can be done by a variety of chemical and mechanical methods. The selection of the method depends on the size and the material of the part to be powder coated, the type of impurities to be removed and the performance requirement of the finished product. Some heat-sensitive plastics and composites have low surface tensions and plasma treating can be necessary to improve powder adhesion.


title: Powder coating

text: Chemical pre-treatments involve the use of phosphates or chromates in submersion or spray application. These often occur in multiple stages and consist of degreasing, etching, de-smutting, various rinses and the final phosphating or chromating of the substrate and new nanotechnology chemical bonding. The pre-treatment process both cleans and improves bonding of the powder to the metal. Recent additional processes have been developed that avoid the use of chromates, as these can be toxic to the environment. Titanium zirconium and silanes offer similar performance against corrosion and adhesion of the powder.


title: Powder coating

text: In many high end applications, the part is electrocoated following the pretreatment process, and subsequent to the powder coating application. This has been particularly useful in automotive and other applications requiring high end performance characteristics.


title: Powder coating

text: Another method of preparing the surface prior to coating is known as abrasive blasting or sandblasting and shot blasting. Blast media and blasting abrasives are used to provide surface texturing and preparation, etching, finishing, and degreasing for products made of wood, plastic, or glass. The most important properties to consider are chemical composition and density; particle shape and size; and impact resistance.


title: Powder coating

text: Silicon carbide grit blast medium is brittle, sharp, and suitable for grinding metals and low-tensile strength, non-metallic materials. Plastic media blast equipment uses plastic abrasives that are sensitive to substrates such as aluminum, but still suitable for de-coating and surface finishing. Sand blast medium uses high-purity crystals that have low-metal content. Glass bead blast medium contains glass beads of various sizes.


title: Powder coating

text: Cast steel shot or steel grit is used to clean and prepare the surface before coating. Shot blasting recycles the media and is environmentally friendly. This method of preparation is highly efficient on steel parts such as I-beams, angles, pipes, tubes and large fabricated pieces.


title: Powder coating

text: Different powder coating applications can require alternative methods of preparation such as abrasive blasting prior to coating. The online consumer market typically offers media blasting services coupled with their coating services at additional costs.


title: Powder coating

text: A recent development for the powder coating industry is the use of plasma pretreatment for heat-sensitive plastics and composites. These materials typically have low-energy surfaces, are hydrophobic, and have a low degree of wetability which all negatively impact coating adhesion. Plasma treatment physically cleans, etches, and provides chemically active bonding sites for coatings to anchor to. The result is a hydrophilic, wettable surface that is amenable to coating flow and adhesion.


title: Powder coating

text: The most common way of applying the powder coating to metal objects is to spray the powder using an electrostatic gun, or "corona" gun. The gun imparts a negative charge to the powder, which is then sprayed towards the grounded object by mechanical or compressed air spraying and then accelerated toward the workpiece by the powerful electrostatic charge. There is a wide variety of spray nozzles available for use in electrostatic coating. The type of nozzle used will depend on the shape of the workpiece to be painted and the consistency of the paint. The object is then heated, and the powder melts into a uniform film, and is then cooled to form a hard coating. It is also common to heat the metal first and then spray the powder onto the hot substrate. Preheating can help to achieve a more uniform finish but can also create other problems, such as runs caused by excess powder.


title: Powder coating

text: Another type of gun is called a "tribo" gun, which charges the powder by (triboelectric) friction. In this case, the powder picks up a positive charge while rubbing along the wall of a Teflon tube inside the barrel of the gun. These charged powder particles then adhere to the grounded substrate. Using a tribo gun requires a different formulation of powder than the more common corona guns. Tribo guns are not subject to some of the problems associated with corona guns, however, such as back-ionization and the Faraday cage effect.


title: Powder coating

text: Another method of applying powder coating, named as the fluidized bed method, is by heating the substrate and then dipping it into an aerated, powder-filled bed. The powder sticks and melts to the hot object. Further heating is usually required to finish curing the coating. This method is generally used when the desired thickness of coating is to exceed 300 micrometres. This is how most dishwasher racks are coated.


title: Powder coating

text: Electrostatic fluidized bed application uses the same fluidizing technique as the conventional fluidized bed dip process but with much more powder depth in the bed. An electrostatic charging medium is placed inside the bed so that the powder material becomes charged as the fluidizing air lifts it up. Charged particles of powder move upward and form a cloud of charged powder above the fluid bed. When a grounded part is passed through the charged cloud the particles will be attracted to its surface. The parts are not preheated as they are for the conventional fluidized bed dip process.


title: Powder coating

text: A coating method for flat materials that applies powder with a roller, enabling relatively high speeds and accurate layer thickness between 5 and 100 micrometres. The base for this process is conventional copier technology. It is currently in use in some coating applications and looks promising for commercial powder coating on flat substrates (steel, aluminium, MDF, paper, board) as well as in sheet to sheet and/or roll to roll processes. This process can potentially be integrated in an existing coating line.


title: Powder coating

text: When a thermosetting powder is exposed to elevated temperature, it begins to melt, flows out, and then chemically reacts to form a higher molecular weight polymer in a network-like structure. This cure process, called crosslinking, requires a certain temperature for a certain length of time in order to reach full cure and establish the full film properties for which the material was designed.


title: Powder coating

text: The architecture of the polyester resin and type of curing agent have a major impact on crosslinking.


title: Powder coating

text: Common powders cure at 200 °C (390 °F) object temperature for 10 minutes. In European and Asian markets, a curing schedule of 180 °C (356 °F) for 10 minutes has been the industrial standard for decades, but is nowadays shifting towards a temperature level of 160 °C (320 °F) at the same curing time. Advanced hybrid systems for indoor applications are established to cure at a temperature level of 125–130 °C (257–266 °F) preferably for applications on medium density fiberboards (MDF); outdoor durable powders with triglycidyl isocyanurate (TGIC) as hardener can operate at a similar temperature level, whereas TGIC-free systems with β-hydroxy alkylamides as curing agents are limited to approx. 160 °C (320 °F).


title: Powder coating

text: The low bake approach results in energy savings especially in cases where coating of massive parts are task of the coating operation. The total oven residence time needs to be only 18–19 min to completely cure the reactive powder at 180 °C (356 °F).


title: Powder coating

text: A major challenge for all low bake systems is to optimize simultaneously reactivity, flow out (aspect of the powder film) and storage stability. Low temperature cure powders tend to have less color stability than their standard bake counterparts because they contain catalysts to augment accelerated cure. HAA polyesters tend to overbake yellow more so than TGIC polyesters.


title: Powder coating

text: The curing schedule could vary according to the manufacturer's specifications. The application of energy to the product to be cured can be accomplished by convection cure ovens, infrared cure ovens, or by laser curing process. The latter demonstrates significant reduction of curing time.


title: Powder coating

text: Ultraviolet (UV)-cured powder coatings have been in commercial use since the 1990s and were initially developed to finish heat-sensitive medium density fiberboard (MDF) furniture components. This coating technology requires less heat energy and cures significantly faster than thermally-cured powder coatings. Typical oven dwell times for UV curable powder coatings are 1–2 minutes with temperatures of the coating reaching 110–130 °C. The use of UV LED curing systems, which are highly energy efficient and do not generate IR energy from the lamp head, make UV-cured powder coating even more desirable for finishing a variety of heat-sensitive materials and assemblies. An additional benefit for UV-cured powder coatings is that the total process cycle, application to cure, is faster than other coating methods.


title: Powder coating

text: Methylene chloride and acetone are generally effective at removing powder coating. Most other organic solvents (thinners, etc.) are completely ineffective. Recently, the suspected human carcinogen methylene chloride is being replaced by benzyl alcohol with great success. Powder coating can also be removed with abrasive blasting. 98% sulfuric acid commercial grade also removes powder coating film. Certain low grade powder coats can be removed with steel wool, though this might be a more labor-intensive process than desired.


title: Powder coating

text: Powder coating can also be removed by a burning off process, in which parts are put into a large high-temperature oven with temperatures typically reaching an air temperature of 300–450 °C. The process takes about four hours and requires the parts to be cleaned completely and re-powder coated. Parts made with a thinner-gauge material need to be burned off at a lower temperature to prevent the material from warping.


title: Powder coating

text: According to a market report prepared in August 2016 by Grand View Research, Inc., the powder coating industry includes Teflon, anodizing and electro-plating. The global powder coatings market is expected to reach USD 16.55 billion by 2024. Increasing use of powder coatings for aluminum extrusion used in windows, door frames, building facades, kitchen, bathroom and electrical fixtures will fuel industry expansion. Rising construction spending in various countries including China, the U.S., Mexico, Qatar, UAE, India, Vietnam, and Singapore will fuel growth over the forecast period. Increasing government support for eco-friendly and economical products will stimulate demand over the forecast period. General industries were the prominent application segment and accounted for 20.7% of the global volume in 2015. The global market is predicted to be 20 billion dollars by 2027.


title: Powder coating

text: Increasing demand for tractors in the U.S., Brazil, Japan, India, and China is expected to augment the use of powder coatings on account of its corrosion protection, excellent outdoor durability, and high-temperature performance. Moreover, growing usage in agricultural equipment, exercise equipment, file drawers, computer cabinets, laptop computers, cell phones, and electronic components will propel industry expansion.


title: Bitly

text: Bitly is a URL shortening service and a link management platform. The company Bitly, Inc. was established in 2008. It is privately held and based in New York City. Bitly shortens 600 million links per month, for use in social networking, SMS, and email. Bitly makes money by charging for access to aggregate data created as a result of many people using the shortened URLs.


title: Bitly

text: The Bitly URL shortening service became popular on Twitter after it became the default URL shortening service on the website on May 6, 2009. It was subsequently replaced by Twitter's own t.co service.


title: Bitly

text: The company behind Bitly launched a similar service, but for online videos, to determine what videos are the most popular on the web.


title: Bitly

text: The company offers a paid solution called Bitly Enterprise that provides advanced branding features, audience intel, omnichannel campaign tracking and more. Companies can use their own custom domains to generate shortened links; for example, "The New York Times" uses codice_1, and Pepsi uses codice_2, Google uses codice_3. This allows the company to push brand awareness on services such as Twitter but use the Bitly engine to generate the shortened URLs and track marketing metrics. Bitly Enterprise also has advanced analytics features and uses Bitly data to provide advanced social insight tools for companies and brands.


title: Bitly

text: The company uses HTTP 301 redirects for its links. The shortcuts are intended to be permanent and cannot be changed once they are created. URLs that are shortened with the bitly service use the codice_4 domain or any other generic domain that the service offers.


title: Bitly

text: Starting October 12, 2010, users could automatically generate QR codes that, when scanned with a mobile QR code reader, automatically directed users to shortened links.


title: Bitly

text: On May 29, 2012, Bitly announced "Bitmarks", a new search feature, with enhanced public profiles and an iPhone app.


title: Bitly

text: To see a short URL's information, that is to reveal or preview any Bitly URL codice_5 just append a plus sign "codice_6", as in codice_7, for example codice_8 should be copy and pasted into the browser address bar as codice_9.


title: Bitly

text: codice_10 is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Libya. In 2011, the bit.ly address was set to redirect to bitly.com.


title: Bitly

text: The .ly TLD is controlled by the Libyan government, which has previously removed one domain deemed incompatible with Muslim law.


title: Bitly

text: Bitly users on paid plans can use a custom domain registered separately by the user and redirected to Bitly's servers via the DNS record.


title: Bitly

text: Bitly used to offer additional domains: bitly.com and j.mp (using the top-level domain of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States). This functionality is no longer available.


title: Musician

text: A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who write both music and lyrics for songs, conductors who direct a musical performance, or performers who perform for an audience. A music performer is generally either a singer who provides vocals or an instrumentalist who plays a musical instrument. Musicians may perform on their own or as part of a group, band or orchestra. Musicians specialize in a musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles depending on cultures and background. A musician who records and releases music can be known as a recording artist.


title: Musician

text: A composer is a musician who creates musical compositions. The title is principally used for those who write classical music or film music. Those who write the music for popular songs may be called songwriters. Those who mainly write the words for songs may be referred to as lyricists.


title: Musician

text: A conductor directs a musical performance; conducting has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The conductor stands on a raised podium and communicates with the musicians through hand gestures or eye contact.


title: Musician

text: Examples of performers include, but are not limited to, instrumentalists and singers who perform for an audience. A musician can perform as a solo artist or as a part of an ensemble (e.g. an orchestra, a choir or a pop group).


title: Mongkut

text: Mongkut (; 18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was "Phra Bat Somdet Phra Menthora Ramathibodi Sri Sinthara Mahamakut Phra Mongkut Phra Siam Deva Mahamakut Wittaya Maharaj" (พระบาทสมเด็จพระปรเมนทรรามาธิบดีศรีสินทรมหามงกุฎ พระจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว พระสยามเทวมหามกุฏวิทยมหาราช).


title: Mongkut

text: Outside Thailand, Mongkut is best known as the king in the 1951 musical and 1956 film "The King and I", based on the 1946 film "Anna and the King of Siam"in turn based on a 1944 novel by an American author about Anna Leonowens' years at his court, from 1862 to 1867, drawn from Leonowens’ memoir.


title: Mongkut

text: Siam first felt the pressure of Western expansionism during Mongkut's reign. Mongkut embraced Western innovations and initiated the modernization of his country, both in technology and culture—earning him the nickname "The Father of Science and Technology" in Siam.


title: Mongkut

text: Mongkut was also known for appointing his younger brother, Prince Chutamani, as Second King, crowned in 1851 as King Pinklao. Mongkut told the country that Pinklao should be respected with equal honor to himself (as King Naresuan had done with his brother Ekathotsarot in 1583). During Mongkut's reign, the power of the House of Bunnag reached its zenith: It became the most powerful noble family of Siam.


title: Mongkut

text: Mongkut (, literal meaning: "crown") was the second son of Prince Isarasundhorn, son of Phutthayotfa Chulalok, the first Chakri king of Siam (King Rama I) and Princess Bunreod. Mongkut was born in the Old (Thonburi) Palace in 1804, where the first son had died shortly after birth in 1801. He was followed by Prince Chutamani () in 1808. In 1809, Prince Isarasundhorn was crowned as Buddha Loetla Nabhalai (later styled King Rama II.) The royal family then moved to the Grand Palace. Thenceforth, until their own accessions as kings, the brothers ( ) were called Chao Fa Yai () and Chao Fa Noi ().


title: Mongkut

text: In 1824, Mongkut became a Buddhist monk (ordination name "Vajirayan"; Pali "Vajirañāṇo"), following a Siamese tradition that men aged 20 should become monks for a time. The same year, his father died. By tradition, Mongkut should have been crowned the next king, but the nobility instead chose the older, more influential and experienced Prince Jessadabodindra (Nangklao), son of a royal concubine rather than a queen. Perceiving the throne was irredeemable and to avoid political intrigues, Mongkut retained his monastic status.


title: Mongkut

text: Vajirayan became one of the members of the royal family who devoted his life to religion. He travelled around the country as a monk and saw the relaxation of the rules of the Pali Canon among the Siamese monks he met, which he considered inappropriate. In 1829, at Phetchaburi, he met a monk named Buddhawangso, who strictly followed the monastic rules of discipline, the vinaya. Vajirayan admired Buddhawangso for his obedience to the vinaya, and was inspired to pursue religious reforms.


title: Mongkut

text: In 1835 he began a reform movement reinforcing the vinaya law that evolved into the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, or Dhammayut sect. A strong theme in Mongkut's movement was that, "…true Buddhism was supposed to refrain from worldly matters and confine itself to spiritual and moral affairs." Mongkut eventually came to power in 1851, as did his colleagues who had the same progressive mission. From that point on, Siam more quickly embraced modernization. Vajirayan initiated two major revolutionary changes. Firstly, he embraced modern geography, among other sciences considered "Western." Secondly he sought reform in Buddhism and, as a result, a new sect was created in Siamese Theravada Buddhism. Both revolutions challenged the purity and validity of the Buddhist order as it was practiced in Siam at the time.


title: Mongkut

text: In 1836, Vajirayan arrived at Wat Bowonniwet in what is now Bangkok's central district, but was then the city proper, and became the wat's first abbot (). During this time, he pursued a Western education, studying Latin, English, and astronomy with missionaries and sailors. Vicar Pallegoix of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bangkok lived nearby; the two became close friends, and Vajirayan invited Pallegoix to preach Christian sermons in the wat. Vajirayan admired Christian morals and achievements as presented by the vicar, but could make nothing of Christian doctrine. It was then he made the comment later attributed to him as king: "What you teach people to do is admirable, but what you teach them to believe is foolish."


title: Mongkut

text: King Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English, although it is said that his younger brother, Viceroy Pinklao, could speak it even better. Mongkut's first son and heir, Chulalongkorn, granted the Thammayut sect royal recognition in 1902 through the Ecclesiastical Polity Act; it became one of the two major Buddhist denominations in modern Thailand.


title: Mongkut

text: Chulalongkorn also persuaded his father's 47th child, Vajirañana, to enter the order and he rose to become the 10th Supreme Patriarch of Thailand from 1910 to 1921.


title: Mongkut

text: Accounts vary about Nangklao's intentions regarding the succession. It is recorded that Nangklao verbally dismissed the royal princes from succession for various reasons; Prince Mongkut was dismissed for encouraging monks to dress in the Mon style.


title: Mongkut

text: Prince Mongkut was supported by the pro-British Dis Bunnak who was the "Samuha Kalahom", or Armed Force Department's president, and the most powerful noble during the reign of Rama III. He also had the support of British merchants who feared the growing anti-Western sentiment of the previous monarch and saw the 'prince monk' Mongkut as the 'champion' of European influence among the royal elite.


title: Mongkut

text: Bunnak, with the supporting promise of British agents, sent his men to the leaving-from-monk-status ceremony for Prince Mongkut even before Nangklao's death. With the support of powerful nobility and Britain, Mongkut's ascension to the throne was ensured.


title: Mongkut

text: After his twenty-seven years of monastic life, King Mongkut voluntarily defrocked and ascended the throne in 1851, aged 47. He took the name "Phra Chom Klao", although foreigners continued to call him King Mongkut. The king was well known among the foreigners, particularly some British officers, as pro-British. Sir James Brooke, a British delegate, even praised him as "our own king", and showed his support of him as a new king of Siam. Having been celibate for 27 years, he now set about building the biggest royal family of the Chakri dynasty. Inside the Palace there was a large number of women—reports say three thousand or more. They were mostly servants, guards, officials, maids and so on, but Mongkut acquired 32 wives, and by the time he died, aged 64, he had 82 children.


title: Mongkut

text: His awareness of possibility of an outbreak of war with the European powers led him to institute many innovative activities. He ordered the nobility to wear shirts while attending his court; this was to show that Siam was a "modern" nation from the Western point of view.


title: Mongkut

text: However, Mongkut's own astrological calculations pointed out that his brother, Prince Isaret, was as well-favored as himself to be the monarch. So, Mongkut then crowned his brother as King Pinklao, the second king. As a prince, Pinklao was known for his abilities in foreign languages and relations. Mongkut also raised his supporter Dis Bunnak to "Somdet Chao Phraya" Borom Maha Prayurawongse ("Somdet Chao Phraya" was the highest rank of nobility on a par with royalty) and made him his regent kingdom-wide. Mongkut also appointed Dis Bunnak's brother, Tat Bunnak, as "Somdet Chao Phraya" Borom Maha Pichaiyat, as his regent in Bangkok. As a result, the administrative power of Siam rested largely in the hands of the two Bunnaks, Dis and Tat.


title: Mongkut

text: Upon his coronation, Mongkut married his first wife, Queen Somanat. However, Queen Somanat died in the same year. He then married his half-grandniece, "Mom Chao" Rampoei Siriwongse, later Queen Debsirindra.


title: Mongkut

text: In 1849, there were upheavals in the Shan State of Kengtung and Chiang Hung kingdom in response to weakened Burmese influence. However, the two states then fought each other and Chiang Hung sought Siamese support. Nangklao saw this as an opportunity to gain control over Shan states but he died in 1851 before this plan was realized. In 1852, Chiang Hung submitted the request again. Mongkut sent Siamese troops northwards but the armies were turned aside by the mountainous highlands. In 1855 the Siamese marched again and reached Kengtungthough with even greater difficulty. They laid siege on Kengtung for 21 days. However, the resources of the Siamese army ran out and the army had to retreat.


title: Mongkut

text: Accompanying the influx of Western visitors to Siam was the notion of a round earth. By many Siamese, this was difficult to accept, particularly by religious standards, because Buddhist scripture described the earth as being flat. The "Traiphum", which was a geo-astrological map created before the arrival of Westerners, described "…a path between two mountain ranges through which the stars, planets, moon and sun pass." Religious scholars usually concluded that Buddhist scriptures "…were meant to be taken literally only when it came to matters of spiritual truth; details of natural science are revealed figuratively and allegorically."


title: Mongkut

text: Mongkut claimed to have abandoned the Traiphum cosmology before 1836. He claimed that he already knew of the round state of earth 15 years before the arrival of American missionaries, but the debate about Earth's shape remained an issue for Siamese intellectuals throughout the 1800s.


title: Mongkut

text: During his reign, Mongkut urged his royal relatives to have "a European-style education." The missionaries, as teachers, taught modern geography and astronomy, among other subjects. Six years after Mongkut's death, the first Thai-language geography book was published in 1874, called "Phumanithet" by J.W. Van Dyke. However, geography was only taught in select schools, mainly those that were run by American missionaries with English programs for upper secondary students. Thongchai Winichakul argues that Mongkut's efforts to popularize Western geography helped bring reform to education in Siam.


title: Mongkut

text: 1852 saw an influx of English and American missionaries into Siam as Mongkut hired them to teach the English language to the princes. He also hired Western mercenaries to train Siamese troops in Western style. In Bangkok, American Dan Beach Bradley had already reformed the printing system and then resumed the publishing of Siam's first newspaper, the "Bangkok Recorder". However, the missionaries were not as successful when it came to making religious conversions.


title: Mongkut

text: In 1852, he ordered the nobles of the court to wear upper garments. Previously, Siamese nobles were forbidden to wear any shirts to prevent them from hiding any weapons in it and met the king bare-chested. The practice was criticized by Westerners and so Mongkut ended it.


title: Mongkut

text: However, Mongkut did not abandon the traditional culture of Siam. For Buddhism, Mongkut pioneered the rehabilitation of various temples. He also began the "Magha Puja" (มาฆบูชา) festival in the full moon of the third lunar month, to celebrate Buddha's announcement of his main principles. He instigated the recompilation of Tripitaka in Siam according to Theravada traditions. He also formally established the Thammayut sect as a rightful branch of Theravada.


title: Mongkut

text: Mongkut also improved women's rights in Siam. He released a large number of royal concubines to find their own husbands, in contrast to how his story has been dramatized. He banned forced marriages of all kinds and the selling of one's wife to pay off a debt.


title: Mongkut

text: In contrast to the previous king, Nangklao, Mongkut didn't see the importance of sending envoys to the Qing dynasty court, as the mission symbolised Siam's subjection to the Qing emperors and because the Qing dynasty was then not so powerful as it had once been, as it was itself threatened by Western powers.