title: Revenge-class battleship

text: All three ships were present for the action of 19 August 1916, but the British and German fleets both withdrew before engaging each other directly, the British having lost a pair of light cruisers to German U-boats and the Germans having had one battleship damaged by a British submarine. By the end of the year, "Resolution" had joined the fleet, which was by that time reduced to patrolling the northern North Sea as both sides turned to positional warfare since the threat of underwater weapons was too great to risk another major fleet action like Jutland. "Ramillies" did not enter service until late 1917, as she had been badly damaged during her launching ceremony, which slowed her completion significantly. But during the lengthy period of repairs and fitting-out, the navy decided to experiment with the installation of anti-torpedo bulges to improve her ability to resist underwater damage. The bulges proved to be a success, not only increasing her defensive characteristics but also improving stability, while not having a significant negative impact on her speed; as a result, they were later added to the other members of the class during refits after the war.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: After German forces began raiding British convoys to Norway in late 1917, the Grand Fleet began sending a battle squadron to cover them, prompting the Germans to attempt to ambush and destroy the isolated squadron in April 1918. German radio silence prevented the British from learning of the operation in advance, as they had at Jutland, though faulty German intelligence did not provide the correct date of the convoy. By the time the British realized the Germans were at sea, the High Seas Fleet had withdrawn far enough south so that the Grand Fleet could not catch them. On 21 November, following the Armistice, the entire Grand Fleet left port to escort the surrendered German fleet into internment at Scapa Flow.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: Through the 1920s and 1930s, the "Revenge"-class battleships operated as a unit, alternating between the Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet, typically trading places with the five "Queen Elizabeth"-class ships. While serving in the Mediterranean Fleet in the early 1920s, the ships were involved in the Greco-Turkish War and the Russian Civil War. Four of the ships (all but "Resolution") landed Royal Marines to take part in the occupation of Constantinople in March 1920. Throughout June and July, the ships participated in the fighting in the collapsing Ottoman Empire; "Ramillies" and "Revenge" shelled Turkish troops around Ismid in June and both ships, joined by "Royal Sovereign", assisted with Greek landings elsewhere in Turkey. Also in July, "Royal Sovereign" assisted in the escape of White émigrés fleeing from the Soviet Red Army. During this period, "Resolution" primarily operated in the Black Sea, including a period at Batumi in southern Russia.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: As the "Revenge"s were refitted during the 1920s, their forecastle-deck six-inch guns were removed and they exchanged their pair of three-inch AA guns for QF four-inch (102 mm) Mk V guns, another pair of Mk V guns was added later. Each ship received an anti-aircraft control position with a rangefinder on its foremast, except for "Revenge" which was fitted with an anti-aircraft director HACS Mk I system instead. In addition the torpedo-control arrangements were improved and equipped with 12-foot rangefinders.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: After a stint in the Atlantic Fleet in 1921, the ships briefly returned to the Mediterranean in September 1922 during a crisis in Smyrna that culminated in the Great fire of Smyrna as the Greco-Turkish War came to its conclusion. The ships returned to the Atlantic Fleet in November. In 1924, "Resolution" accidentally rammed and sank the submarine during training exercises, killing all aboard. "Royal Oak" was involved in the so-called "Royal Oak Mutiny", between her commander, Captain Kenneth Dewar and Commander Henry Daniel, also an officer aboard the ship and Rear-Admiral Bernard Collard, the commander of the 1st Battle Squadron. The situation was ultimately resolved by Admiral Sir Roger Keyes removing all three from their posts.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: The ships remained in the Atlantic until 1927, when they once again transferred to the Mediterranean. The "Revenge"s and "Queen Elizabeth"s again traded places in 1935, and the five "Revenge"-class ships were present for the Coronation Review for George VI on 20 May 1937. Throughout this period, the ships underwent repeated refits as anti-aircraft suites were upgraded so that each ship had a pair of HACS Mk III systems in lieu of their anti-aircraft control positions, except for "Ramillies" which received Mk I directors, and QF four-inch Mk XVI AA guns in twin mounts replaced the single Mk V guns. They also received light AA guns for the first time in the form of two octuple two-pounder () Mk VIII "pom-pom" mounts, each with their own directors, and a pair of quadruple Vickers AA machinegun mounts. The submerged torpedo tubes were removed as was all of the torpedo-control equipment. "Royal Oak" was the exception as she had her submerged tubes replaced by above-water tubes. She was also the only ship to receive additional armour when 4-inch plates were added to the deck over her magazines and over her engine rooms. This armour increased her displacement by . The "Royal Sovereign"s did not, however, receive the same extensive reconstructions that some of the "Queen Elizabeth"-class ships underwent, as the modernization program was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The war also forced the cancellation of a plan to add the same armour to "Royal Sovereign" and "Ramillies".


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: With the start of war in August 1939, "Revenge" and "Resolution" were assigned to the Channel Force, based in Portland, while "Royal Sovereign" served with the Home Fleet. "Ramillies" was by this time at Alexandria, Egypt, where she remained until early October, when she was sent to search for the German heavy cruiser in the Indian Ocean. At the same time, "Resolution" and "Revenge" were sent to the South Atlantic Command to participate in the hunt for "Admiral Graf Spee", but before they arrived they were sent to the North Atlantic Escort Force to cover convoys from Canada to Britain. They carried gold bullion to Canada to safeguard it during the war during this period. "Royal Oak" remained in Scapa Flow during this period, and on 14 October, the U-boat broke through the harbour defences and torpedoed "Royal Oak", sinking her at her mooring and killing 833. "Ramillies" covered troop convoys from Australia to Egypt, including those that carried the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force and the Second Australian Imperial Force in late 1939 and early 1940.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: "Resolution" took part in the Norwegian Campaign, seeing action at the Battles of Narvik in April 1940. The following month she was struck by a German bomb, but was not seriously damaged. Also in May, "Ramillies" was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet in anticipation of Italy's entry into the war. The following month, "Resolution" had joined Force H, and on 3 July she participated in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Following the Italian declaration of war, "Ramillies" bombarded Italian positions in Italian Libya in mid-August. In September, "Resolution" steamed south to Dakar with Force H to neutralise French warships there, but during the Battle of Dakar, she was torpedoed and badly damaged by a French submarine. In October, "Revenge" bombarded the port of Cherbourg in occupied France to destroy German supplies being assembled for the planned invasion of Britain, Operation Sealion. "Ramillies" was present with the convoy that was attacked by Italian warships during the Battle of Cape Spartivento in late November but she was not involved in the battle.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: Wartime changes to the battleships were generally limited to augmenting their deck armour, their anti-aircraft suites and the addition of radars. Each ship received a pair of quadruple two-pounder mounts and anywhere from 10 ("Revenge" and "Resolution") to 42 ("Royal Sovereign") Oerlikon guns. Radars were added beginning in 1941, including early-warning, search and fire-control systems. Armour plates thick were added over the magazines on "Resolution", "Royal Sovereign" and, partially, in "Ramillies" in 1941–1942. To increase the accommodations available for the greatly-enlarged wartime crew, the four forward six-inch guns were removed from each ship in 1943, except for "Resolution", which only lost two guns.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: In late 1940, "Revenge" and "Royal Sovereign" returned to convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic, and "Ramillies" joined them in January 1941 after completing a refit. During this period, "Ramillies" discouraged the two German s from attacking a convoy she escorted. "Revenge" and "Ramillies" were at sea during Operation Rheinübung, the sortie of the German battleship in May and they joined the hunt for the ship, but did not locate her. "Resolution" spent much of 1941 under repair, first in Freetown, South Africa and then the United States. Late in the year, the Admiralty decided to deploy the four "Revenge"-class ships to the Far East as the 3rd Battle Squadron in anticipation of war with Japan. They arrived in early 1942, by which time the Japanese had already declared war and inflicted a string of defeats on the Allied countries in the region. The ships fled in advance of the Japanese Indian Ocean raid, as they were no match for the aircraft carriers of the powerful 1st Air Fleet. The battleships thereafter primarily operated off the coast of Africa, escorting troop convoys. "Ramillies" was present during the Battle of Madagascar in May, where she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. She was repaired first in Durban, South Africa, and then Devonport.


title: Revenge-class battleship

text: In late 1943, "Revenge" and "Resolution" were recalled to Britain, owing to their poor condition; the former carried Prime Minister Winston Churchill part of the way to the Tehran Conference in November and December while the latter underwent a refit. Both ships were then decommissioned and assigned to the Portsmouth Command; "Resolution" joined the training establishment , while "Revenge" remained out of service. In January 1944, "Royal Sovereign" and "Ramillies" were also recalled; "Ramillies" was refitted and assigned to the fire support force for the invasion of Normandy; "Revenge" and "Resolution" were disarmed to provide spare barrels for this work. "Royal Sovereign" was transferred to the Soviet Navy as "Arkhangelsk" to reinforce the fleet covering convoys to the Soviet Union in the Arctic Ocean. "Revenge" and "Resolution" were sold for scrap in 1948 and were dismantled at Inverkeithing and Faslane, respectively. "Ramillies" went to the breakers' yard at Cairnryan, also in 1948. "Royal Sovereign" was returned to Britain in 1949 in poor condition as a result of being poorly maintained in Soviet service; her turrets were jammed and much of her equipment was unusable. The last surviving member of the class, she was sold for scrap that year and broken up at Inverkeithing.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II () is Italy's oldest active shopping gallery and a major landmark of Milan in Italy. Housed within a four-story double arcade in the centre of town, the "Galleria" is named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of the Kingdom of Italy. It was designed in 1861 and built by architect Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: The structure consists of two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an octagon covering the street connecting Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala. The street is covered by an arching glass and cast iron roof, a popular design for 19th-century arcades, such as the Burlington Arcade in London, which was the prototype for larger glazed shopping arcades, beginning with the Saint-Hubert Gallery in Brussels (opened in 1847), the Passazh in St Petersburg (opened in 1848), the Galleria Umberto I in Naples (opened in 1890), and the Budapest Galleria.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: The central octagonal space is topped with a glass dome. The Milanese "Galleria" was larger in scale than its predecessors and was an important step in the evolution of the modern glazed and enclosed shopping mall, of which it was the direct progenitor. It has inspired the use of the term "galleria" for many other shopping arcades and malls.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: On the ground of the central octagonal, there are four mosaics portraying the coat of arms of the three capitals of the Kingdom of Italy (Turin, Florence and Rome) plus Milan's. Tradition says that if a person spins around three times with a heel on the testicles of the bull from Turin coat of arms this will bring good luck. This practice causes damage to the mosaic: a hole developed on the place of the bull's genitals.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: The Galleria connects two of Milan's most famous landmarks: The Duomo and the Teatro Alla Scala, but the Galleria is a landmark in its own right.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: The Milan gallery and its roof have been acknowledged as an important reference on 19th-century iron-and-glass architecture by Pevsner and Hitchcock. As one can still observe today, the roof consists of four barrel vaults (approximately 14.5 m in width and 8.5 m in height) that are crowned with a huge dome (around 37.5 m as internal diameter and 17.10 m in height). Jorini pointed out the accomplishments of this dome with special regard to the large dimensions. Each of the roof parts is topped with a lantern.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: According to Geist, the Milan gallery and the roof were unprecedented in dimensions by previously built shopping arcades. Another difference with already existing passages, was the monumental character of the roof at Milan. Jodice, for example, appreciated the monumental spatial effect of the dome. In comparison to earlier emblematic arcades, such as Galerie d'Orléans (1828-1829) and Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (1845-1847), the Milan arcade was also special because of the large spans of the vaults and the ethereal effect of the entire glass canopy. The construction of the whole Gallery was the result of international collaboration. This especially concerned the roof: the ironwork was produced, transported and installed by the French Atelier Henry Joret. The glass plates were made of flat ribbed glass by Saint-Gobain. The construction technology of the roof employs primary wrought-iron arches in order to support the glazing. By contrast, arcades that were built earlier were smaller and had simpler roofs: the same components were used for both load bearing and glazing purposes. In addition, the roof at Milan was equipped with invisible reinforcements in the supporting walls. This complicated roof is discussed as the unity of four systems that were skillfully combined through characteristic construction details. This construction technology was creative for avoiding visible tie-rods in the spans of the vaults and the dome, for a special effect of the glass plates and for the glazing bars.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: The historical roof was heavily damaged during World War II. Before that the roof had undergone multiple maintenance interventions. Serious problems in the roof were reported in the 1970s, and some of them were solved in the 1980s. The roof that we see today has gone through different historic modifications and represents complicated conservation issues. In 2015, in preparation for Expo Milano 2015, the facades, statues, and mosaics underwent detailed cleaning and repair, using a giant moving crane scaffolding system.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: The Galleria is often nicknamed "" (Milan's drawing room), due to its numerous shops and importance as a common Milanese meeting and dining place.


title: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

text: As of 2013, the arcade principally contains luxury retailers selling haute couture, jewelry, books and paintings, as well as restaurants, cafés, bars, and a hotel, the Town House Galleria. The Galleria is famous for being home to some of the oldest shops and restaurants in Milan, such as Biffi Caffè (founded in 1867 by Paolo Biffi, pastry chef to the monarch), the Savini restaurant, Borsalino hat-shop (1883) and the Art Nouveau classic Camparino.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, ) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Prussian Army had its roots in the core mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War of 1618–1648. Elector Frederick William developed it into a viable standing army, while King Frederick William I of Prussia dramatically increased its size and improved its doctrines. King Frederick the Great, a formidable battle commander, led the disciplined Prussian troops to victory during the 18th-century Silesian Wars and greatly increased the prestige of the Kingdom of Prussia.


title: Prussian Army

text: The army had become outdated by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, and France defeated Prussia in the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806. However, under the leadership of Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian reformers began modernizing the Prussian Army, which contributed greatly to the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte during the War of the Sixth Coalition. Conservatives halted some of the reforms, however, and the Prussian Army subsequently became a bulwark of the conservative Prussian government.


title: Prussian Army

text: In the 19th century, the Prussian Army fought successful wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, allowing Prussia to unify Germany, aside from Austria, establishing the German Empire in 1871. The Prussian Army formed the core of the Imperial German Army, which was replaced by the "Reichswehr" after World War I.


title: Prussian Army

text: The army of Prussia grew out of the united armed forces created during the reign of Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1640–1688). Hohenzollern Brandenburg-Prussia had primarily relied upon "Landsknecht" mercenaries during the Thirty Years' War, in which Brandenburg was devastated. Swedish and Imperial forces occupied the country. In the spring of 1644, Frederick William started building a standing army through conscription to better defend his state.


title: Prussian Army

text: By 1643–44, the developing army numbered only 5,500 troops, including 500 musketeers in Frederick William's bodyguard. The elector's confidant Johann von Norprath recruited forces in the Duchy of Cleves and organized an army of 3,000 Dutch and German soldiers in the Rhineland by 1646. Garrisons were also slowly augmented in Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia. Frederick William sought assistance from France, the traditional rival of Habsburg Austria, and began receiving French subsidies. He based his reforms on those of Louvois, the War Minister of King Louis XIV of France. The growth of his army allowed Frederick William to achieve considerable territorial acquisitions in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, despite Brandenburg's relative lack of success during the war.


title: Prussian Army

text: The provincial estates desired a reduction in the army's size during peacetime, but the elector avoided their demands through political concessions, evasion and economy. In the 1653 Brandenburg Recess between Frederick William and the estates of Brandenburg, the nobility provided the sovereign with 530,000 thalers in return for affirmation of their privileges. The "Junkers" thus cemented their political power at the expense of the peasantry. Once the elector and his army were strong enough, Frederick William was able to suppress the estates of Cleves, Mark and Prussia.


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick William attempted to professionalize his soldiers during a time when mercenaries were the norm. In addition to individually creating regiments and appointing colonels, the elector imposed harsh punishments for transgressions, such as punishing by hanging for looting, and running the gauntlet for desertion. Acts of violence by officers against civilians resulted in decommission for a year. He developed a cadet institution for the nobility; although the upper class was resistant to the idea in the short term, the integration of the nobility into the officer corps allied them with the Hohenzollern monarchy in the long term. Field Marshals of Brandenburg-Prussia included Derfflinger, John George II, Spaen and Sparr. The elector's troops traditionally were organized into disconnected provincial forces. In 1655, Frederick William began the unification of the various detachments by placing them under Sparr's overall command. Unification also increased through the appointment of "Generalkriegskommissar" Platen as head of supplies. These measures decreased the authority of the primarily mercenary colonels who had been so prominent during the Thirty Years' War.


title: Prussian Army

text: Brandenburg-Prussia's new army survived its trial by fire through victory in the 1656 Battle of Warsaw, during the Northern Wars. Observers were impressed with the discipline of the Brandenburger troops, as well as their treatment of civilians, which was considered more humane than that of their allies, the Swedish Army. Hohenzollern success enabled Frederick William to assume sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia in the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau, by which Brandenburg-Prussia allied itself with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Despite having expelled Swedish forces from the territory, the elector did not acquire Vorpommern in the 1660 Treaty of Oliva, as the balance of power had been restored.


title: Prussian Army

text: In the early 1670s, Frederick William supported Imperial attempts to reclaim Alsace and counter the expansion of Louis XIV of France. Swedish troops invaded Brandenburg in 1674 while the bulk of the elector's forces were in Franconia's winter quarters. In 1675 Frederick William marched his troops northward and surrounded Wrangel's troops. The elector achieved his greatest victory in the Battle of Fehrbellin; although a minor battle, it brought fame to the Brandenburg-Prussian Army and gave Frederick William the nickname "the Great Elector". After Sweden invaded Prussia in late 1678, Frederick William's forces expelled the Swedish invaders during the "Great Sleigh Drive" of 1678–79; Thomas Carlyle compared the wintertime Swedish retreat to that of Napoleon from Moscow.


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick William built the Hohenzollern army up to a peacetime size of 7,000 and a wartime size of 15,000–30,000. Its success in battle against Sweden and Poland increased Brandenburg-Prussia's prestige, while also allowing the Great Elector to pursue absolutist policies against estates and towns. In his political testament of 1667, the elector wrote, "Alliances, to be sure, are good, but forces of one's own still better. Upon them one can rely with more security, and a lord is of no consideration if he does not have means and troops of his own".


title: Prussian Army

text: The growing power of the Hohenzollerns in Berlin led Frederick William's son and successor, Elector Frederick III (1688–1713), to proclaim the Kingdom of Prussia with himself as King Frederick I in 1701. Although he emphasized Baroque opulence and the arts in imitation of Versailles, the new king recognized that the importance of the army and continued its expansion to 40,000 men.


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick I was succeeded by his son, Frederick William I (1713–1740), the "Soldier-King" obsessed with the army and achieving self-sufficiency for his country. The new king dismissed most of the artisans from his father's court and granted military officers precedence over court officials. Ambitious and intelligent young men began to enter the military instead of law and administration. Conscription among the peasantry was more firmly enforced, based on the Swedish model. Frederick William I wore his simple blue military uniform at court, a style henceforth imitated by the rest of the Prussian court and his royal successors. In Prussia, pigtails replaced the full-bottomed wigs common at most German courts.


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick William I had begun his military innovations in his "Kronprinz" regiment during the War of the Spanish Succession. His friend, Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, served as the royal drill sergeant for the Prussian Army. Leopold introduced the iron ramrod, increasing Prussian firepower, and the slow march, or goose-step. He also vastly increased the role of music in the Army, dedicating a large number of musician-troops, especially drummers and fifers, to use music for increasing morale in battle. The usefulness of music in battles was first recognized in the Thirty Years' War by the Brandenburger and Swedish armies. The new king trained and drilled the army relentlessly, focusing on their flintlock muskets' firing speed and formation maneuverability. The changes gave the army flexibility, precision, and a rate of fire that was mostly unequalled for that period. Through drilling and the iron ramrod, each soldier was expected to fire six times a minute, three times as fast as most armies.


title: Prussian Army

text: Punishments were draconian in nature, such as running the gauntlet, and despite the threat of hanging, many peasant conscripts deserted when they could. Uniforms and weaponry were standardized. Pigtails and, in those regiments which wore it, facial hair were to be of uniform length within a regiment; soldiers who could not adequately grow beards or moustaches were expected to paint an outline on their faces.


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick William I reduced the size of Frederick I's gaudy royal guard to a single regiment, a troop of taller-than-average soldiers known as the Potsdam Giants or more commonly the "Lange Kerls" (long fellows), which he privately funded. The cavalry was reorganized into 55 squadrons of 150 horses; the infantry was turned into 50 battalions (25 regiments); and the artillery consisted of two battalions. These changes allowed him to increase the army from 39,000 to 45,000 troops; by the end of Frederick William I's reign, the army had doubled in size. The General War Commissary, responsible for the army and revenue, was removed from interference by the estates and placed strictly under the control of officials appointed by the king.


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick William I restricted enrollment in the officer corps to Germans of noble descent and compelled the "Junkers", the Prussian landed aristocracy, to serve in the army, Although initially reluctant about the army, the nobles eventually saw the officer corps as its natural profession. Until 1730 the common soldiers consisted largely of serfs recruited or impressed from Brandenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia, leading many to flee to neighboring countries. In order to halt this trend, Frederick William I divided Prussia into regimental cantons. Every youth was required to serve as a soldier in these recruitment districts for three months each year; this met agrarian needs and added troops to bolster the regular ranks.


title: Prussian Army

text: The General Directory which developed during Frederick William I's reign continued the absolutist tendencies of his grandfather and collected the increased taxes necessary for the expanded military. The middle class of the towns was required to quarter soldiers and enroll in the bureaucracy. Because the excise tax was only applied in towns, the king was reluctant to engage in war, as deployment of his expensive army in foreign lands would have deprived him of taxes from the town-based military.


title: Prussian Army

text: By the end of Frederick William I's reign, Prussia had the fourth-largest army (80,000 soldiers) in Europe but was twelfth in population size (2.5 million). This was maintained with a budget of five million thalers (out of a total state budget of seven million thalers).


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick William I was succeeded by his son, Frederick II (1740–86). Frederick immediately disbanded the expensive Potsdam Giants and used their funding to create seven new regiments and 10,000 troops. The new king also added sixteen battalions, five squadrons of hussars, and a squadron of life guards.


title: Prussian Army

text: Disregarding the Pragmatic Sanction, Frederick began the Silesian Wars shortly after taking the throne. Although the inexperienced king retreated from the battle, the Prussian Army achieved victory over Austria in the Battle of Mollwitz (1741) under the leadership of Field Marshal Schwerin. The Prussian cavalry under Schulenburg had performed poorly at Mollwitz; the cuirassiers, originally trained on heavy horses, were subsequently retrained on more maneuverable, lighter horses. The hussars and dragoons of General Zieten were also expanded. These changes led to a Prussian victory at Chotusitz (1742) in Bohemia, and Austria conceded Silesia to Frederick with the Peace of Breslau.


title: Prussian Army

text: In September 1743, Frederick held the first fall maneuver ("Herbstübung"). The different branches of the Army tested new formations and tactics; the fall maneuvers become annual traditions of the Prussian Army. Austria tried to reclaim Silesia in the Second Silesian War. Although successful in outmaneuvering Frederick in 1744, the Austrians were crushed by the king himself in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg and the Battle of Soor (1745). The Prussian cavalry excelled during the battle, especially the " Zieten" Hussars. For his great services at Hohenfriedberg Hans Karl von Winterfeldt, a good friend of King Frederick, rose to prominence.


title: Prussian Army

text: Austria allied with its traditional rival, France, in the Diplomatic Revolution (1756); Austria, France, and Russia were all aligned against Prussia. Frederick preemptively attacked his enemies with an army of 150,000, beginning the Seven Years' War. The Austrian Army had been reformed by Kaunitz, and the improvements showed in their success over Prussia at Kolin. Frederick achieved one of his greatest victories, however, at Rossbach, where the Prussian cavalry of Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz smashed a larger Franco-Imperial army with minimal casualties, despite being outnumbered two to one. Frederick then rushed eastward to Silesia, where Austria had defeated the Prussian army under the Duke of Bevern. After a series of complicated formations and deployments hidden from the Austrians, the Prussians successfully struck their enemy's flank at Leuthen, with Friedrich once again directing the battle; the Austrian position in the province collapsed, resulting in a Prussian victory even more impressive than the one at Rossbach.


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick's maneuvers were unsuccessful against the Russians in the bloody Battle of Zorndorf, however, and Prussian forces were crushed at Kunersdorf (1759). Like the results after the Battle of Hochkirch, though, in which the Prussians had to withdraw, the Austrian and Russian Allies did not follow up on their victory. Within the week, the Russian force began a withdrawal eastward; Austrians retreated southward.


title: Prussian Army

text: Prussia was ill-suited for lengthy wars, and a Prussian collapse seemed imminent on account of casualties and lack of resources, but after two more years of campaigning, Frederick was saved by the "Miracle of the House of Brandenburg" — the Russian exit from the war after the sudden death of Empress Elizabeth in 1762. Prussian control of Silesia was confirmed in the Treaty of Hubertusburg (1763). Severe casualties had led the king to admit middle class officers during the war, but this trend was reversed afterwards.


title: Prussian Army

text: The offensive-minded Frederick advocated the oblique order of battle, which required considerable discipline and mobility. This tactic failed at Kunersdorf primarily because of the terrain, which could not be used to an advantage. The Russians had arrived early and fortified themselves on the high ground. Frederick used oblique order to great success at Hohenfriedberg and later Leuthen. After a few initial volley fire, the infantry was to advance quickly for a bayonet charge. The Prussian cavalry was to attack as a large formation with swords before the opposing cavalry could attack.


title: Prussian Army

text: The first garrison began construction in Berlin in 1764. While Frederick William I wanted to have a mostly native-born army, Frederick II wanted to have a mostly foreign-born army, preferring to have native Prussians be taxpayers and producers. The Prussian Army consisted of 187,000 soldiers in 1776, 90,000 of whom were Prussian subjects in central and eastern Prussia. The remainder were foreign (both German and non-German) volunteers or conscripts. Frederick established the "Gardes du Corps" as the royal guard. Many troops were disloyal, such as mercenaries or those acquired through impressment, while troops recruited from the canton system displayed strong regional, and nascent national pride. During the Seven Years' War, the elite regiments of the army were almost entirely composed of native Prussians. By the end of Frederick's reign, the army had become an integral part of Prussian society. It numbered 200,000 soldiers, making it the third-largest in Europe after the armies of Russia and Austria. The social classes were all expected to serve the state and its military — the nobility led the army, the middle class supplied the army, and the peasants composed the army. Minister Friedrich von Schrötter remarked that, "Prussia was not a country with an army, but an army with a country".


title: Prussian Army

text: Frederick the Great's successor, his nephew Frederick William II (1786–97), relaxed conditions in Prussia and had little interest in war. He delegated responsibility to the aged Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, and the army began to degrade in quality. Led by veterans of the Silesian Wars, the Prussian Army was ill-equipped to deal with Revolutionary France. The officers retained the same training, tactics and weaponry used by Frederick the Great some forty years earlier. In comparison, the revolutionary army of France, especially under Napoleon Bonaparte, was developing new methods of organization, supply, mobility, and command.


title: Prussian Army

text: Prussia withdrew from the First Coalition in the Peace of Basel (1795), ceding the Rhenish territories to France. Upon Frederick William II's death in 1797, the state was bankrupt and the army outdated. He was succeeded by his son, Frederick William III (1797–1840), who involved Prussia in the disastrous Fourth Coalition. The Prussian Army was decisively defeated in the battles of Saalfeld, Jena and Auerstedt in 1806 and Napoleon occupied Berlin. The Prussians' famed discipline collapsed and led to widescale surrendering among infantry, cavalry and garrisons. While some Prussian commanders acquitted themselves well, such as L'Estocq at Eylau, Gneisenau at Kolberg, and Blücher at Lübeck, they were not enough to reverse the defeats of Jena-Auerstedt. Prussia submitted to major territorial losses, a standing army of only 42,000 men, and an alliance with France in the Treaty of Tilsit (1807).


title: Prussian Army

text: The defeat of the disorganized army shocked the Prussian establishment, which had largely felt invincible after the Frederician victories. While Baron vom Stein and Prime Minister Karl August von Hardenberg began modernizing the Prussian state, General Gerhard von Scharnhorst began to reform the military. He led a Military Reorganization Committee, which included Generals August von Gneisenau, Karl von Grolman, and Hermann von Boyen as well as the civilian vom Steinen. Prussian military officer, Carl von Clausewitz assisted with the reorganization as well. Dismayed by the populace's indifferent reaction to the 1806 defeats, the reformers wanted to cultivate patriotism within the country. Stein's reforms abolished serfdom in 1807 and initiated local city government in 1808.


title: Prussian Army

text: The generals of the army were completely overhauled — of the 143 Prussian generals in 1806, only Blücher and Tauentzien remained by the Sixth Coalition; many were allowed to redeem their reputations in the war of 1813. The officer corps was reopened to the middle class in 1808, while advancement into the higher ranks became based on education. King Frederick William III created the War Ministry in 1809, and Scharnhorst founded an officers training school, the later Prussian War Academy, in Berlin in 1810.


title: Prussian Army

text: Scharnhorst advocated adopting the "levée en masse", the universal military conscription used by France. He created the "Krümpersystem", by which companies replaced 3–5 men monthly, allowing up to 60 extra men to be trained annually per company. This system granted the army a larger reserve of 30,000–150,000 extra troops. The "Krümpersystem" was also the beginning of short-term (3 years') compulsory service in Prussia, as opposed to the long-term (5 to 10 years') conscription previously used since the 1650s. Because the occupying French prohibited the Prussians from forming divisions, the Prussian Army was divided into six brigades, each consisting of seven to eight infantry battalions and twelve squadrons of cavalry. The combined brigades were supplemented with three brigades of artillery.


title: Prussian Army

text: Corporal punishment was by and large abolished, while soldiers were trained in the field and in "tirailleur" tactics. Scharnhorst promoted the integration of the infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers (sappers) through combined arms, as opposed to their previous independent states. Equipment and tactics were updated in respect to the Napoleonic campaigns. The field manual issued by Yorck in 1812 emphasized combined arms and faster marching speeds. In 1813, Scharnhorst succeeded in attaching a chief of staff trained at the academy to each field commander.


title: Prussian Army

text: Some reforms were opposed by Frederician traditionalists, such as Yorck, who felt that middle class officers would erode the privileges of the aristocratic officer corps and promote the ideas of the French Revolution. The army reform movement was cut short by Scharnhorst's death in 1813. The shift to a more democratic and middle-class military began to lose momentum in the face of the reactionary government.


title: Prussian Army

text: The reformers and much of the public called for Frederick William III to ally with the Austrian Empire in its 1809 campaign against France. When the cautious king refused to support a new Prussian war, however, Schill led his hussar regiment against the occupying French, expecting to provoke a national uprising. The king considered Schill a mutineer, and the major's rebellion was crushed at Stralsund by French allies. The Franco-Prussian treaty of 1812 forced Prussia to provide 20,000 troops to Napoleon's "Grande Armée", first under the leadership of Grawert and then under Yorck. The French occupation of Prussia was reaffirmed, and 300 demoralized Prussian officers resigned in protest.


title: Prussian Army

text: During Napoleon's retreat from Russia in 1812, Yorck independently signed the Convention of Tauroggen with Russia, breaking the Franco-Prussian alliance. Stein arrived in East Prussia and led the raising of a "Landwehr", or militia to defend the province. With Prussia's joining of the Sixth Coalition out of his hands, Frederick William III quickly began to mobilize the army, and the East Prussian "Landwehr" was duplicated in the rest of the country. In comparison to 1806, the Prussian populace, especially the middle class, was supportive of the war, and thousands of volunteers joined the army. Prussian troops under the leadership of Blücher and Gneisenau proved vital at the Battles of Leipzig (1813) and Waterloo (1815). Later staff officers were impressed with the simultaneous operations of separate groups of the Prussian Army.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Iron Cross was introduced as a military decoration by King Frederick William III in 1813. After the publication of his book "On War", Clausewitz became a widely studied philosopher of war.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Prussian General Staff, which developed out of meetings of the Great Elector with his senior officers and the informal meeting of the Napoleonic Era reformers, was formally created in 1814. In the same year Boyen and Grolman drafted a law for universal conscription, by which men would successively serve in the standing army, the "Landwehr" and the local "Landsturm" until the age of 39. Troops of the 156,000-strong standing army served for three years and were in the reserves for two, while militiamen of the 163,000-strong "Landwehr" served a few weeks annually for seven years. Boyen and Blücher strongly supported the civilian army of the "Landwehr", which was to unite military and civilian society, as an equal to the standing army.


title: Prussian Army

text: During a constitutional crisis in 1819, Frederick William III recognized Prussia's adherence to the anti-revolutionary Carlsbad Decrees. Conservative forces within Prussia, such as Wittgenstein, remained opposed to conscription and the more democratic "Landwehr". Frederick William III reduced the militia's size and placed it under the control of the regular army in 1819, leading to the resignations of Boyen and Grolman and the ending of the reform movement. Boyen's ideal of an enlightened citizen soldier was replaced with the idea of a professional military separate or alienated from civilian society.


title: Prussian Army

text: By the middle of the 19th century, Prussia was seen by many German liberals as the country best-suited to unify the many German states, but the conservative government used the army to repress liberal and democratic tendencies during the 1830s and 1840s. Liberals resented the usage of the army in essentially police actions. King Frederick William IV (1840–61) initially appeared to be a liberal ruler, but he was opposed to issuing the written constitution called for by reformers. When barricades were raised in Berlin during the 1848 revolution, the king reluctantly agreed to the creation of a civilian defense force ("Bürgerwehr") in his capital. A national assembly to write a constitution was convened for the first time, but its slowness allowed the reactionary forces to regroup. General Friedrich Graf von Wrangel led the reconquest of Berlin, which was supported by a middle class weary of a people's revolution. Prussian troops were subsequently used to suppress the revolution in many other German cities.


title: Prussian Army

text: At the end of 1848, Frederick William finally issued the Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia. The liberal opposition secured the creation of a parliament, but the constitution was largely a conservative document reaffirming the monarchy's predominance. The army was a praetorian guard outside of the constitution, subject only to the king. The Prussian Minister of War was the only soldier required to swear an oath defending the constitution, leading ministers such as Strotha, Bonin and Waldersee to be criticized by either the king or the parliament, depending on their political views. The army's budget had to be approved by the Lower House of Parliament. Novels and memoirs glorifying the army, especially its involvement in the Napoleonic Wars, began to be published to sway public opinion. The defeat at Olmütz of the liberals' plan to unite Germany through Prussia encouraged reactionary forces. In 1856 during peacetime Prussian Army consisted of 86,436 infantrymen, 152 cavalry squadrons and 9 artillery regiments.


title: Prussian Army

text: After Frederick William IV suffered a stroke, his brother William I became regent (1857) and king (1861–88). He desired to reform the army, which conservatives such as Roon considered to have degraded since 1820 because of liberalism. The king wanted to expand the army—while the populace had risen from 10 million to 18 million since 1820, the annual army recruits had remained 40,000. Although Bonin opposed Roon's desired weakening of the "Landwehr", William I was alarmed by the nationalistic Second Italian War of Independence. Bonin resigned as Minister of War and was replaced with Roon.


title: Prussian Army

text: The government submitted Roon's army reform bill in February 1860. Parliament opposed many of its provisions, especially the weakening of the "Landwehr", and proposed a revised bill that did away with many of the government's desired reforms. The Finance Minister, Patow, abruptly withdrew the bill on 5 May and instead simply requested a provisional budgetary increase of 9 million thalers, which was granted. William had already begun creating 'combined regiments' to replace the "Landwehr", a process which increased after Patow acquired the additional funds. Although parliament was opposed to these actions, William maintained the new regiments with the guidance of Manteuffel. The liberal and middle-class "Landwehr" was thus subordinated in favor of the regular army, which was composed mostly of peasantry loyal to the Hohenzollern monarchy and conservative "Junkers".


title: Prussian Army

text: Moltke the Elder, Chief of the General Staff from 1857–88, modernized the Prussian Army during his tenure. He expanded the General Staff, creating peacetime subdivisions such as the Mobilization, Geographical-Statistical and Military History Sections. In 1869, he issued a handbook for warfare on the operational level, "Instructions for Large Unit Commanders", writing, "The modern conduct of war is marked by the striving for a great and rapid decision". Moltke was a strong proponent of war game training for officers and introduced the breech-loading needle gun to troops, which allowed them to fire significantly faster than their adversaries. Moltke took advantage of the railroad, guiding the construction of rail lines within Prussia to likely places of deployment. Because modern armies had become too large and unwieldy for a single commander to control, Moltke supported multiple and independent smaller armies in concentric operations. Once one army encountered the enemy and pinned it down, a second army would arrive and attack the enemy's flank or rear. He advocated a "Kesselschlacht", or battle of encirclement.


title: Prussian Army

text: It was in Moltke's "Instructions for Large Unit Commanders" and his concept of separated armies that we begin to see the emergence of modern German doctrine. The system of moving units separately and concentrating as an army before a battle resulted in more efficient supply and lower vulnerability to modern firepower. To enable a successful flanking attack, he asserted that concentration could only take place after the commencement of a battle. This was a development of the Scharnhorst concept of "March Divided, Fight United."


title: Prussian Army

text: A major consequence of this innovation was the commander's loss of overall control of his forces due to his available means of communication which, at that time were visual (line-of-sight) or couriers, either mounted or on foot. The traditional concept of the elimination of uncertainty by means of "total obedience" was now obsolete and operational initiative, direction and control had to be assigned to a point further down the chain of command. In this new concept, commanders of distant detachments were required to exercise initiative in their decision making and von Moltke emphasised the benefits of developing officers who could do this within the limits of the senior commander’s intention.


title: Prussian Army

text: At the same time Moltke had worked out the conditions of the march and supply of an army. Only one army corps could be moved along one road in the same day; to put two or three corps on the same road meant that the rear corps could not be made use of in a battle at the front. Several corps stationed close together in a small area could not be fed for more than a day or two. Accordingly, he inferred that the essence of strategy lay in arrangements for the separation of the corps for marching and their concentration in time for battle. In order to make a large army manageable, it must be broken up into separate armies or groups of corps, each group under a commander authorized to regulate its movements and action subject to the instructions of the commander-in-chief as regards the direction and purpose of its operations.


title: Prussian Army

text: Moltke's main thesis was that military strategy had to be understood as a system of options since only the beginning of a military operation was plannable. As a result, he considered the main task of military leaders to consist in the extensive preparation of all possible outcomes. His thesis can be summed up by two statements, one famous and one less so, translated into English as "No plan of operations extends with certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy's main strength" (no plan survives contact with the enemy). and "Strategy is a system of expedients".


title: Prussian Army

text: However, as can be seen from the descriptions of his planning for the war with Austria and the war with France, his planning for war was very detailed and took into account thousands of variables. It is a mistake to think that Moltke thought war plans were of no use (which a simple reading of "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" would seem to indicate). He accomplished this by means of directives stating his intentions, rather than detailed orders, and he was willing to accept deviations from a directive provided that it was within the general framework of the mission. Moltke held this view firmly and it later became a fundamental of all German military theory.


title: Prussian Army

text: Moltke originated the use of the colors blue for friendly forces and red for hostile forces in strategy or wargaming. Hence the term blue on blue fire in friendly fire situations.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Prussian Army crushed Danish forces in the Battle of Dybbøl during the Second Schleswig War (1864), allowing Prussia and Austria to claim Schleswig and Holstein, respectively. Disputes orchestrated by the Prussian Minister President, Otto von Bismarck, led to the Austro-Prussian War (1866). The needle guns of the Prussian infantry were highly successful against the Austrians, who were defeated at Königgrätz. Under the leadership of Moltke, the Prussian Army then proved victorious over France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870). Unlike the Austrians, the French had the powerful Chassepot rifle, which outclassed the Prussian needle gun. However, the Prussian artillery was effective against the French, who were frequently flanked or surrounded by the mobile Prussians. Patriotism in Prussia from the victories began to undermine liberal resistance to absolutism.


title: Prussian Army

text: The battlefield successes of Prussia allowed the unification of Germany, aside from Austria, in 1871 and the crowning of King William I of Prussia as William I, German Emperor. The Prussian Army formed the main component of the "Reichsheer", the army of the German Empire.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Imperial German Army inherited much of the traditions and concepts of the Prussian Army, which was its largest component army. According to article 61 of the Imperial constitution, the Prussian military code was to be introduced throughout the German Reich. The Bavarian, Saxon, and Württemberg kingdoms continued to use their military codes. The conservative leaders of the army took an ever-increasing role in both domestic and foreign policies.


title: Prussian Army

text: By the end of the 19th century, most Prussian officers could be divided into two groups: those who argued for boldness and self-sacrifice, and those who advocated technology and maneuver in order to minimize casualties. First encountered during the Franco-Prussian War, new technological military innovations such as the machine gun increased the power of defensive units. For the Prussians, who advocated offensive operations, infantry attacks would risk becoming sacrificial assaults.


title: Prussian Army

text: With regard to a possible future two-front war, Alfred von Schlieffen, the Chief of the General Staff from 1891–1906, had suggested a deployment scheme that became known as the Schlieffen Plan. Modified by Moltke the Younger, its intention of quickly defeating France proved impossible to achieve. In the actual event of the First World War, on the Western Front the German advance stalled into trench warfare after the First Battle of the Marne. On the Eastern Front, however, the Prussian operations succeeded in encircling and smashing the Russians at Tannenberg. Though developing infiltration tactics as a way of re-introducing maneuver to modern warfare, they were unable to achieve a decisive breakthrough in their German spring offensive on the Western Front in the last year of the war, and the Germans lost the war of attrition.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Imperial German Army was replaced after World War I with the volunteer "Reichswehr" of the Weimar Republic. Although the Treaty of Versailles attempted to disarm Germany, the "Reichswehr" discreetly maintained many of the traditions of the Prussian Army. The General Staff was camouflaged as a non-descript "Truppenamt" (troop office), while the War Academy was replaced with decentralized divisional schools. Hans von Seeckt, the head of the "Reichswehr", designated the new military's battalions as successors of the traditions of Prussian regiments.


title: Prussian Army

text: During the interwar era, German officers contemplated how to apply maneuver warfare after the experiences of the Great War. Innovations in armor and airpower were adopted to infiltration tactics, resulting in the doctrine known as "Blitzkrieg".


title: Prussian Army

text: From the 17th century, the army of Brandenburg-Prussia was characterized by its initiative, maneuverability, and aggressive command at the operational level of war. The Hohenzollern state often had fewer resources and manpower than its rivals, and thus the Prussians focused on quickly achieving decisive victories to avoid wars of attrition. The Prussians practiced what became known as "Bewegungskrieg", or war of movement, in an attempt to strike at the flanks or rear of the enemy. The Prussian emphasis on decisive battles instead of on wars of attrition led to inexperience in siege warfare, at which the Prussians have been considered incompetent.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Great Elector practiced many of the concepts applied to the Prussian Army in later centuries, including flank attacks at Warsaw and, at Fehrbellin, the willingness to attack when outnumbered. The elector advocated "short and lively" campaigns.


title: Prussian Army

text: During the 1740s, Frederick the Great issued a series of new regulations and documents regarding his army's experiences during the first two Silesian wars and how they would relate to future wars. The doctrines he espoused focused on speed and offense. Lighter and faster cavalry were preferred over heavy cavalry; while Frederick William I had treated hussars as luxury troops, his son made them an integral part of the army. The artillery was to use light three-pound guns which made up for their lack of power with versatility. After being outmaneuvered by the Austrians in the Second Silesian War, Frederick began emphasizing an overwhelming attack instead of a war of attrition. Rather than frontal attacks, the Prussian king tried to apply the oblique order, by which his army's strongest wing focused against the enemy's weakest wing or flank, while restraining his own weaker wing. Frederick the Great summed up the Prussian style of war at Leuthen, advocating an attack on the enemy "even if he should be on top of the Zobtenberg".


title: Prussian Army

text: The Prussian emphasis on attack was well-ingrained in its officer corps. In 1866 Flies unsuccessfully went on the offensive in the Battle of Langensalza, despite being outnumbered by the Hanoverians and having Falckenstein's troops nearby. Similarly, in 1870 Kirchbach was willing to endure excessive casualties at Wörth without waiting for reinforcements. Moltke wanted a quick campaign in Bohemia against Austria so that Russia or France would not become involved in the Austro-Prussian war. Although Moltke considered Prince Frederick Charles' march through Bohemia to be too slow, Hans Delbrück found the "Red Prince's" eventual attack at Königgrätz to have been in the Prussian tradition, "which, by daring to lose a battle, wins it".


title: Prussian Army

text: The Prussian-style war of movement and quick strikes was well-suited for campaigns using the developed infrastructure of Western and Central Europe, such as in the wars of unification, but failed when the German Army applied it to the Soviet Union or in North Africa. The Prussian (and later, German) systems were regarded as weak in intelligence, counterintelligence, and logistics, but during the First World War the German Army was often able to lay its hands on British and French battleplans. If the enemy successfully endured the initial operational attacks, the Prussian system had great difficulty in "Stellungskrieg", or war of position, though during the First World War such initial attacks were not as pronounced.


title: Prussian Army

text: The Prussian Army is often considered to have used the flexible command of "Auftragstaktik" (mission tactics), by which subordinate officers led using personal initiative. This developed out of the relationship between the "Junker" aristocracy (who made up most of the officer corps) and the monarchy. In return for political support from the nobles, the monarchs granted them greater privileges on their estates and greater initiative on the battlefield. According to the theory of "Auftragstaktik", the commander would issue a mission to his subordinate officers, who were to pursue the directive as they saw fit. Gneisenau was an early proponent of "Auftragstaktik", and Moltke interpreted the theory as "the higher the authority, the shorter and more general" the orders; considerable leeway was granted to subordinates in order to pursue the goal. 19th-century historians saw Leuthen as one of the best examples of "Auftragstaktik" and an early example of combined arms.


title: Prussian Army

text: Often stereotypically associated with the Prussian Army was the "Pickelhaube", or spiked helmet, in use in the 19th and early-20th centuries. Victorious battles were celebrated with military marches, such as the "Hohenfriedberger Marsch", allegedly written by Frederick the Great after Hohenfriedberg, and the "Königgrätzer Marsch", by the march-composer Piefke. The Prussian "Großer Zapfenstreich" military tattoo is still in use by the modern "Bundeswehr". The Iron Cross, adopted by the German Empire and its successor states, is also still used as a symbol of the "Bundeswehr".


title: Fred Ottman

text: Fred Alex Ottman (born August 10, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler. He worked for the World Wrestling Federation from 1989 to 1993 under the ring names Tugboat and Typhoon. As the former, he played a key babyface ally of Hulk Hogan. As the latter, he turned heel to form The Natural Disasters with Earthquake and held the WWF Tag Team Championship.


title: Fred Ottman

text: In 1993, he debuted as The Shockmaster in World Championship Wrestling and immediately fell over, losing his mask on live television while his teammates broke character and laughed. This botch hurt his career, and is now generally regarded as the worst debut in wrestling history, but he was able to capitalize on its notoriety after his in-ring retirement.


title: Fred Ottman

text: Ottman was trained by Boris Malenko and got his start as Sigfried the Giant in February 1985, for Championship Wrestling from Georgia. He later wrestled for Texas All-Star Wrestling and the Continental Wrestling Association as Big Bubba.


title: Fred Ottman

text: In September 1988, Ottman wrestled on the Gordon Solie-hosted TV shows of Championship Wrestling from Florida as a heel called Big Steel Man, managed by Diamond Dallas Page. He feuded with Dusty Rhodes, among others. He defeated Rhodes for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship on May 13, 1989.


title: Fred Ottman

text: Ottman made his first appearance in the WWF in June 1989 in a dark match under the ring name Big Steel Man with Slick as his manager. He wrestled three more dark matches that summer, defeating Paul Roma and Boris Zukhov, and losing to Mr. Perfect. That September, his name was changed to Tugboat Tyler, then Tugboat Thomas, as he portrayed a fan favorite on house shows, defeating the likes of Barry Horowitz, The Brooklyn Brawler and Boris Zhukov. He debuted on WWF television on the January 27, 1990 episode of "Superstars" under the Tugboat Thomas moniker and defeated Iron Mike Sharpe. His ring name was soon after shortened to Tugboat. His costume consisted of a red striped shirt, white pants, and a sailor's hat. Part of his gimmick included miming pulling the cord of an airhorn and making a "Toot-toot" noise, like a horn of a ship. On the May 20 episode of Wrestling Challenge, Hulk Hogan made a promo explaining that he personally trained Tugboat and brought him to the WWF. Following Tugboat's win on that very same show Hogan came out into the ring and raised his arm, showing his full support. Tugboat railed for fans to send encouraging letters to Hogan after Hogan was brutally attacked by Earthquake. Tugboat aided Hulk Hogan in his feud with Earthquake and "Canada's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo. This coincided with a substantial push that saw Tugboat emerging victorious on television against numerous opponents. He made his pay-per-view debut at that November's "Survivor Series", where he teamed with Hogan, The Big Boss Man and Hacksaw Jim Duggan to face the team of Earthquake, Dino Bravo, Haku and The Barbarian. Tugboat was eliminated when he and Earthquake fought to a double count-out, and Hogan went on to be the sole survivor. Tugboat was the first true test of The Undertaker, who defeated him in numerous matches between December 1990 and March 1991. Tugboat received a shot at Mr. Perfect's Intercontinental Championship on the May 5, 1991 episode of "Wrestling Challenge", but was unsuccessful.


title: Fred Ottman

text: In May 1991, Ottman teased a heel turn by eliminating Hulk Hogan in a battle royal on NBC's "Saturday Night's Main Event XXIX". Ottman completed the turn on the June 15 episode of "WWF Superstars". Tugboat and The Bushwhackers were facing The Nasty Boys and Earthquake in a six-man tag team match when Tugboat attacked his teammates, allowing Earthquake to hit the Earthquake Splash on Bushwhacker Luke and pin him. On the June 17 episode of "Prime Time Wrestling", Earthquake's manager, Jimmy Hart, reintroduced Ottman as Typhoon, and he and Earthquake became known as The Natural Disasters. As part of the character change, Ottman began wearing a red, white and black singlet with a tidal wave on the front and "Typhoon" in black letters under it (to match the design on Earthquake's wrestling gear, seismograph lines and "Earthquake" in red letters across the middle).


title: Fred Ottman

text: The Natural Disasters dumped Hart and turned into fan favorites in early 1992, feuding with Hart's new top team, Money Inc. ("Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster). On April 17 they won the SWS Tag Team Championship defeating George Takano and Shunji Takano in Yokohama, Japan when WWF had a partnership with Super World of Sports. In July the Natural Disasters defeated Money Inc. to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Money Inc. three months later. After Earthquake took a leave of absence from the WWF early in 1993, Ottman wrestled in singles matches before leaving the company in early summer. He worked house shows against Terry Taylor in the spring. He also put over a returning Bam Bam Bigelow in a series of house shows, and twice on televised Raw shows. He wrestled two televised matches against Yokozuna, losing one by pinfall and winning the other by disqualification. His final match saw him defeat The Predator in a house show match in Tampa, FL on July 18.


title: Fred Ottman

text: After departing from the WWF, Ottman found himself at the center of one of the most infamous moments in wrestling history as The Shockmaster. He had signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and was to make his debut in a match alongside the fan favorite team of Sting, Dustin Rhodes and Davey Boy Smith in the upcoming eight-man War Games match against the heel team composed of Sid Vicious, Big Van Vader, Kane and Kole at Fall Brawl.


title: Fred Ottman

text: On "A Flair for the Gold", an interview segment hosted by Ric Flair, in front of a live audience at "Clash of the Champions XXIV", Sting and Smith were confronted by Sid and Harlem Heat, demanding to know the identity of their new partner. Sting exclaimed, "All I have to say is, our partner is going to shock the world, because he is none other than the Shockmaster!" The camera then zoomed in on a section of the set where two torches set off a small pyrotechnics explosion in front of a sheetrock wall. With a new costume consisting of a "Star Wars" Stormtrooper helmet painted purple and covered in silver glitter, a pair of jeans and a large, black, puffy vest, Ottman attempted to make a dramatic entrance by crashing through the wall.


title: Fred Ottman

text: While making his entrance, Ottman tripped over a piece of lumber that was framing the set, causing him to fall forward through the wall with his helmet falling off and sliding across the floor. His face accidentally exposed, he scrambled to put the helmet back on as Vicious, restraining laughter, exclaimed "Oh, God!", while Flair could also be heard saying "Oh no" under his breath. Ottman donned the helmet and got back on his feet, shifting his weight and dusting his hands off in an attempt to shrug off the gaffe while Harlem Heat's Kole asked, "Who is this motherfucker?" and Smith exclaimed "He fell flat on his arse! He fell flat on his fucking arse!". Both of these comments were audible to the live audience and television viewers, but were bleeped in future showings of the footage by WWE. Ottman then began gesturing toward his would-be opponents several seconds before a menacing gravelly off-screen voice (provided by Ole Anderson, who could be heard laughing before speaking) started to threaten Sid and Vader. Sid Vicious, remaining in character, reacted in rage to Shockmaster, and the broadcast focused on Vicious for the duration of the voiceover. The announcers said nothing as the segment ended.


title: Fred Ottman

text: Dusty Rhodes later claimed, on an episode of WWE 24/7's "Legends of Wrestling" show, the piece of lumber previously wasn't there during a successful practice run and it was later put there by David Crockett without informing Ottman. WWE, on its official website, wrote, "There is a case to be made that The Shockmaster's debut at WCW "Clash of the Champions XXIV" is the greatest of all time – albeit for all the wrong reasons." The organization has also described the incident as "one of the most unintentionally funny moments in sports entertainment history," and "a debacle many still consider one of the worst gaffes in the history of sports-entertainment." While Ottman was initially displeased with the turn of events, he now finds humor in the incident.


title: Fred Ottman

text: Despite generating no crowd reaction, WCW tried to continue with the angle, repackaging The Shockmaster character as a klutz in a series of pre-recorded promos (featuring Ottman in different attire, without a mask and using his own voice). It was this version of the character that went on to appear as planned in the main event of Fall Brawl, teaming with Sting, Dustin Rhodes and Davey Boy Smith in the War Games match. His ring attire for his match was a plain white shirt, jeans and a white construction worker's helmet, very different to the character in its infamous debut. He entered last into the match and actually gained the victory for his team by forcing Kole to submit to a bear hug.


title: Fred Ottman

text: This version of the character remained reasonably popular with live crowds and continued to appear at the final three pay-per-view events of the year. At Halloween Havoc he teamed up with Ice Train and Charlie Norris in a six man tag match against Harlem Heat (Kole and Kane) and The Equalizer. The Shockmaster again scored the victory for his team by pinning Kole. Next at Battlebowl he took part in the Lethal Lottery tournament and was drawn to team with Paul Orndorff to face the team of bitter rivals Ricky Steamboat and Lord Steven Regal. Steamboat and Regal imploded and Shockmaster was able to pick up the win for his team after Steamboat hit Regal. In the Battlebowl Final battle royal Shockmaster was eliminated around the half way point by the Nasty Boys. In the final pay-per-view of the year Starrcade he faced Awesome Kong (accompanied by King Kong). After both attacked the Shockmaster at the start of the match, bizarrely King Kong actually wrestled instead of his partner and the Shockmaster picked up a quick victory over him. This would be his final major appearance for the company and he departed in January 1994. He was also known as Uncle Fred. However, he did make a brief appearance on the March 12, 1994 episode of "WCW Saturday Night", when Mean Gene Okerlund visited the set of Hulk Hogan's tv series Thunder in Paradise.


title: Fred Ottman

text: In 2009, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Dusty Rhodes appeared on a segment of "WWE Raw" to discuss the DVD release of "The Rise and Fall of WCW" when Triple H brought up the subject of the Shockmaster's debut. During that segment, the WWE recreated the Shockmaster's stumbling through the wall, with Santino Marella portraying the character and Arn Anderson providing the voice.


title: Fred Ottman

text: On February 22, 2016, Ottman returned as The Shockmaster for an episode of the WWE Network show, "The Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness". On the show, The Shockmaster was given the opportunity to redeem the famous debut incident by walking through the show's banner.


title: Fred Ottman

text: Ottman returned to the WWF as Typhoon in May 1994, taking the place of his former partner Earthquake in house show matches against Yokozuna after Earthquake left the WWF. Typhoon made his return to television on the June 25 episode of "Superstars" (taped May 25), defeating Quebecer Pierre. He then primarily lost matches to Yokozuna on television and at house shows before departing in August.


title: Fred Ottman

text: After leaving the WWF in August 1994, Ottman, still using the Typhoon name, began wrestling on the independent circuit in the East Coast. In December 1995, he went to Japan to compete in a one-night tag team tournament, held by WAR. He teamed up with Shinja and advanced to the semi-finals, before losing to Genichiro Tenryu and Ultimo Dragon. In March 1996, he wrestled a tour of Malaysia for the National Wrestling Alliance feuding with King Kong Bundy.


title: Fred Ottman

text: By the late 1990s, he was wrestling primarily in Florida, where he competed for FOW and WXO. In WXO, he was given a gimmick where he was too big to get out of his own car. He lost to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dan Severn on November 7, 1997 in Gainesville, Florida. On May 27, 2000 as Typhoon he defeated One Man Gang and Ron Harris in a 3 way match for Wrestling In Ashwaubenon independent show in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin.


title: Fred Ottman

text: Ottman was one of the participants in the 20-man Gimmick Battle Royal match at WrestleMania X-Seven as Tugboat, and was eliminated by his former partner, Earthquake. He retired soon thereafter.


title: Fred Ottman

text: On September 5, 2009, Ottman returned to the ring as Tugboat losing to Martin Nolte at DWA 10 years event in Uelzen, Germany. He return to North America on November 21 as Tugboat defeating Jason Static at ECPW in New York City. He once again retired.


title: Fred Ottman

text: In 1992, he appeared as Typhoon (along with Earthquake) in the SNES version of the video game "WWF Super WrestleMania". The Disasters were absent from the Sega version. On February 23, 2016, he appeared as downloadable content for "WWE 2K16". He appears along with Earthquake in "WWE 2K17 and WWE 2K18" as well. In 2K18, the Shockmaster helmet (slightly modified as to avoid any copyright disputes with the Star Wars license) and the Typhoon singlet are available in the game's attire creation suite, and can be worn by any character in the game.


title: Fred Ottman

text: On a two-part episode of the 1994 TV series "Thunder in Paradise", Ottman played a palace guard named Yussef. He is also parodied in the 2014 RPG as Shocklord.


title: Fred Ottman

text: On a two-part episode of the 1998 TV series "", Ottman played Z'dak, in the second episode his name was featured solely in the credits though.


title: Fred Ottman

text: Ottman retired from wrestling after WXO folded in 2001. In 2007 he lived in Lakeland, Florida and worked as a safety manager for Gaffin Industrial Services, a building cleaning service. He also coached the little league team of his two sons, Berkley and Beau, and daughter, Bailey. Berkley currently serves as the timekeeper for the WWE. He is the brother-in-law of pro wrestler Dusty Rhodes. He is one of the two uncles of Cody Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes, the other being Jerry Sags.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: Al Maktoum International Airport , also known as Dubai World Central, is an international airport in Jebel Ali, southwest of Dubai, United Arab Emirates that opened on 27 June 2010. It is the main part of Dubai South, a planned residential, commercial and logistics complex.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: When fully completed (originally expected 2027), the airport will contain transport modes, logistics, and value-added services, including manufacturing and assembly, in a single free economic zone. It will cover an area of . The airport has a projected annual capacity of of freight and between 160 million and 260 million passengers. , only a handful of airlines operated passenger services out of Al Maktoum International Airport with a focus on freight activity. A completion of the project is yet to be confirmed.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: The runway was completed in 600 days and subsequently underwent tests over the following six to eight months in order to fulfil its CAT III-C requirements. Construction of the airport's cargo terminal, the Al Maktoum Airport Cargo Gateway, which cost around US$75 million, was 50% complete by the end of 2008.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: During the first phase of the project, the airport is planned to handle around of cargo per year, with the possibility of increasing to . The passenger terminal at this phase is designed to have a capacity of 5 million passengers per year. It was planned to be the largest airport in the world in terms of freight handled, moving up to per year in 2013.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: The project was originally expected to be fully operational by 2017, although the 2007–2012 global financial crisis subsequently postponed the completion of the complex to 2027. Previous working names for the airport complex have included "Jebel Ali International Airport", "Jebel Ali Airport City", and "Dubai World Central International Airport". It has been named after the late Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the former ruler of Dubai. The total cost of the airport has been estimated by the Dubai government to be $82 billion. The Dubai Central airport in Dubai has also been called a white elephant.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: Al Maktoum International Airport opened on 27 June 2010 with one runway and only cargo flights. The first flight into the airport occurred on 20 June 2010, when an Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777F landed after a flight from Hong Kong. The flight served as a test for various functions such as air traffic control, movement of aircraft on the ground, and security. According to Emirates, the flight was an "unmitigated success".


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: On 24 February 2011, the airport was certified to handle passenger aircraft with up to 60 passengers. The first passenger aircraft touched down on 28 February 2011, an Airbus A319CJ. The airport officially opened for passenger flights on 26 October 2013 with Nas Air and Wizz Air as the two carriers to operate from the airport.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: In the first quarter of 2014, 102,000 passengers went through the airport. At the time of its opening, three cargo service airlines served Al Maktoum International Airport, including RUS Aviation, Skyline Air and Aerospace Consortium. Fifteen additional airlines have signed a contract to operate flights to the airport.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: Passenger numbers in the first half of 2016 totalled 410,278, up from 209,989 in the first half of 2015.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: The airport is supposed to complement Dubai International Airport, some away. The airport is planned to be the largest component of Dubai World Central, with a surface area of more than . If completed as planned, the airport will have an annual cargo capacity of , and a passenger capacity of 160 to 260 million people per year. It is supposed to become the largest airport in the world in both physical size and passenger volume. It will be surrounded by a logistics hub, a luxurious golf resort, a trade and exhibition facility with 3 million square metres of exhibition space, a commercial district, and a residential and hotel area.


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: Al Maktoum International Airport intends to handle all types of aircraft. Up to four aircraft will be able to land simultaneously. The airport was initially planned to have six runways, but this number was reduced to five parallel runways in April 2009, with a large passenger complex in the middle. Furthermore, each runway would have extended asphalted pathways on either side which would allow aircraft to by-pass other runways and taxiways without disturbing aircraft movements of these runways and taxiways. Dubai expects an exponential rise in passenger traffic over its skies, with the presumption that it will become the primary air hub for travellers in transit from the Asia–Pacific Region, South Asia, Greater Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Australia (for the Kangaroo route: Australia to Britain and back).


title: Al Maktoum International Airport

text: Several large warehouses and hangars line the westernmost part of the airport. These interlinked hangars will stretch from end-to-end of the westernmost runway. Each of these is capable of housing A380 aircraft. Al Maktoum International Airport is also planned to have a total of 100,000 parking slots for automobile vehicles for its employees, Dubai residents, tourists, and other users. Al Maktoum International Airport is supposed be linked to the existing Dubai International Airport by a proposed hyperloop system and a high-speed rail system, as well as being served by the Dubai Metro and a dedicated Dubai World Central light railway. It will also be linked to the District 2020 neighbourhood by road.


title: Gor

text: Gor () is the fictional setting for a series of sword and planet novels written by philosophy professor John Lange, writing as John Norman. The setting was first described in the 1966 novel "Tarnsman of Gor". The series is inspired by science fantasy pulp fiction works by Edgar Rice Burroughs, such as the "Barsoom" series. It also includes erotica and philosophy content. The Gor series repeatedly depicts men abducting and physically and sexually brutalizing women, who grow to enjoy their submissive state. According to "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", Norman's "sexual philosophy" is "widely detested", but the books have inspired a Gorean subculture.


title: Gor

text: The series has been variously referred to by publishers with several names, including "The Chronicles of Counter-Earth" (Ballantine Books), "The Saga of Tarl Cabot" (DAW Books), "Gorean Cycle" (Tandem Books), "Gorean Chronicles" (Masquerade Books), "Gorean Saga" (Open Road Media) and "The Counter-Earth Saga" (DAW Books, for novels with a protagonist other than Tarl Cabot).


title: Gor

text: In an interview with the speculative fiction anthology "Polygraff", John Norman spoke at length about the creation of the Gor universe and his influences.


title: Gor

text: "The Counter-Earth, or "Antichthon," is from Greek cosmology. Speculation on such a world, you see, is ancient. One of the premises of the Gorean series is that a race of aliens, whom we might speak of as the Priest-Kings, have a technology at their disposal compared to which ours would be something like that in the Bronze Age."


title: Gor

text: "I think, pretty clearly, the three major influences on my work are Homer, Freud, and Nietzsche. Interestingly, however obvious this influence might be, few, if any, critics, commentators, or such, have called attention to it."In the same interview, he said "one of the pleasures of writing science fiction is the development of, and characterization of, alien life forms".


title: Gor

text: Gor is described as a habitable planet in the Solar System that shares the same orbit as Earth, but it is linearly opposed to Earth and consequently always hidden by the Sun, making direct observation of it from Earth impossible. The flora, fauna and customs of Gor are intricately detailed. Norman populates his planet with the equivalents of Roman, Greek, Native American, Viking, Inuit and other cultures. In the novels, these various population groups are transplants from Earth brought there by spacecraft through the behind-the-scenes rulers of Gor, the Priest-Kings, an extraterrestrial species of insectoid appearance. The Gorean humans are permitted advanced architectural, agricultural and medical skills (including life extension), but are forced to remain primitive in the fields of transportation, communication and weaponry (at approximately the level of Classical Mediterranean civilization) due to restrictions on technology imposed by the Priest-Kings. The most advanced form of transportation is the riding of large predatory birds called "tarns" by masterful men known as "tarnsmen". The limitation of technology is imposed to ensure the safety of both the Priest-Kings and the other indigenous and transplanted beings on Gor, who would otherwise possibly come to harm due to the humans' belligerent tendencies.


title: Gor

text: The planet Gor has lower gravity than the Earth (which allows for the existence of large flying creatures and tall towers connected by aerial bridges in the cities) and would have an even lower gravity if not for the technology of the Priest-Kings. The known geography of Gor consists mainly of the western seaboard of a continent that runs from the Arctic in the north to south of the equator, with the Thassa ocean to the west, and the Voltai mountain range forming an eastern boundary at many latitudes. There are also offshore islands in the ocean and some relatively sparsely settled plains to the east of the Voltai. The word "Gor" itself means "home stone" in the Gorean language, the native language of the "northern civilized cities of known Gor" (which resemble ancient Greco-Roman city-states in many respects), and a widely spoken "lingua franca" in many other areas.


title: Gor

text: Most of the novels in the series are action and sexual adventures, with many of the military engagements borrowing liberally from historic ones, such as the trireme battles of ancient Greece and the castle sieges of medieval Europe. Ar, the largest city in known Gor, has resemblances to the ancient city of Rome, and its land empire is opposed by the sea-power of the island of Cos.


title: Gor

text: The series is an overlapping of planetary romance and sword and planet. The first book, "Tarnsman of Gor", opens with scenes reminiscent of scenes in the first book of the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs; both feature the protagonist narrating his adventures after being transported to another world. These parallels end after the first few books, when the stories of the books begin to be structured along a loose story arc involving the struggles of the city-state of Ar and the island of Cos to control the Vosk river area, as well as the struggles at a higher level between the non-human Priest-Kings and the Kurii (another alien race) to control Gor and Earth.


title: Gor

text: Most of the books are narrated by transplanted British professor Tarl Cabot, master swordsman, as he engages in adventures involving Priest-Kings, Kurii, and humans. Books 7, 11, 19, 22, 26, 27, 31, 34 and parts of 32 are narrated by abducted Earth women who are made into slaves. Books 14, 15, and 16 are narrated by male abductee Jason Marshall. Book 28 is narrated by an unknown Kur, but features Tarl Cabot. Book 30 and parts of 32 are narrated by three Gorean men: a mariner, a scribe and a merchant/slaver.


title: Gor

text: The series features several sentient alien races. The most important to the books are the insectoid Priest-Kings and the huge, sharp-clawed, predatory Kurii, both spacefarers from foreign star systems. The Priest-Kings rule Gor as disinterested custodians, leaving humans to their own affairs as long as they abide by certain restrictions on technology. The Kurii are an aggressive, invasive race with advanced technology (but less so than that of the Priest-Kings) who wish to colonize both Gor and Earth. The power of the Priest-Kings is diminished after the "Nest War" described in the third book and the Priest-Kings and Kurii struggle against each other via their respective human agents and spies.


title: Gor

text: Early entries in the series were plot-driven space opera adventures, but later entries grew more philosophical and sexual. Many subplots run the course of several books and tie back to the main plot in later books. Some of these plots begin in the first book, but most are underway in the first 10 books.


title: Gor

text: DAW Books, which published the Gor series from the 8th volume ("Hunters of Gor") through the 25th volume ("Magicians of Gor"), subsequently decided to cease publication of the books, citing low sales; Norman attributes the decision to feminist influences, saying in 1996:


title: Gor

text: "Tarnsman of Gor" was published in late 1966. It has been reprinted 22 times...I have recently signed contracts for fresh French and German sales, and have recently been published for the first time in Czechoslovakia. There have been recent Spanish and Italian sales. There's no evidence that my books no longer sell...After DAW refused to buy any more Gor books, I sold a three-part Telnarian series to Brian Thomsen of Warner Books. The first book, "The Chieftain", had a 67 percent sell-through. The second, "The Captain", had a 91 percent sell-through, which is the sort of thing that would make Stephen King rush over to shake your hand...Brian Thomsen, my Warner editor for the Telnarian series...was replaced by an editor from one of the blacklisting presses, one that "explicitly" informed my agent they would not consider anything by John Norman. That new editor canceled the series despite its success and without waiting to see how the third book, "The King", would do. That way things are made nicely clear...


title: Gor

text: "Unfortunately for me, only about seven or eight publishing houses maintain a mass-market paperback line in science fiction and fantasy; this small, knit group effectively controls the market. With such a group, a blacklist need not be an explicit, formal written or oral agreement subscribed to by a gathered cabal pledged to secrecy. It is an understanding that a certain individual is to be ostracized, excluded, methodologically overlooked or such."


title: Gor

text: Starting in 2001, John Norman's books were published by E-Reads as ebooks and print copies. According to their website, "they are among E-Reads’ biggest sellers". Open Road Integrated Media acquired E-Reads in 2014.


title: Gor

text: While not officially connected to John Norman's work, "Fencer of Minerva" is a Japanese animated series containing many of the elements and ideas discussed in Gorean philosophy.


title: Gor

text: During the mid-1990s, an attempt was made to publish an authorized graphic novel adaptation of the Gor series under Vision Entertainment. The project collapsed under a combination of financial issues and the nature of the imagery, which violated Canadian law, where the printer was located.


title: Gor

text: A Gor sim was established on "Second Life" in July 2012. In it, characters interact in standard Middle Age scenarios, combat, and sexual situations. The Tavern at the City of Thentis is a popular attraction.


title: Gor

text: In John Norman's "Gor" novels, a kajira is a female slave or slave girl. The phrase ""la kajira"" is said to mean "I am a slave girl" in the Gorean language, the most widely spoken "lingua franca" in the known regions of the planet Gor (this is one of the few complete Gorean-language sentences given in the Gor novels). The word is usually seen in the feminine form "kajira" (pl. "kajirae"), as most slaves in the Gorean lifestyle are female; the masculine forms are "kajirus" and "kajiri" (with endings taken from the nominative forms of Latin first and second declension nouns, as also seen in words such as "alumna"/"alumnus", etc.). The construction "kajiras" is incorrect, but is occasionally seen in third-party writing.


title: Gor

text: There exist various techniques in Gorean culture to teach Gorean slaves' corresponding conduct. Slave tasks may include not only sexual slavery, but also the ability to maintain a household, possess artistic skills, wear an appealing outfit and address the master in a certain manner.


title: Gor

text: To indicate a slave as a particular owner's property, a collar with the owner's name is placed upon the slave (male and female slaves are both collared).


title: Gor

text: Gorean slave women are usually branded, which means they are marked with certain signs burned into the flesh on being enslaved. The most common is the kef brand: "about an inch and a half in height, and a half inch in width. A rather simple, delicate, graceful, almost floral mark, in cursive script. Appearing slender, more vertical, more like a stem with floral, cursive curled loops. A rather severe, straight line staff, with two, upturned, frondlike curls, adjacent to it, joined where they touch the staff on its right. It bears a distant, remote resemblance to the printed letter K."


title: Gor

text: Kajirae have a plethora of types of varying prestige depending on various characteristics, including the following:


title: Gor

text: Kajiri (male slaves or slave boys) also exist on the planet Gor, but they are far fewer than kajirae, since Gorean men can only rarely be effectively "tamed", so that most male slaves are considered inherently slightly dangerous, and have little value other than as unskilled hard labor in work gangs which must often be kept under continual armed guard. Men conquered in war who are not left free are more often than not killed than enslaved, while women in the same situation are almost always enslaved (since kajirae are a readily-negotiable commodity, among other reasons).


title: Gor

text: A male slave kept by a woman owner for bedroom duties is a "silk slave" (while most male slaves on Gor are used for unskilled hard labor in work gangs). When a free woman makes use of a kajirus sexually, he is often chained so that he is unable to hold her in his arms — since allowing this would be considered to add a note of male domination to the lovemaking. Some free women carefully avoid kissing a kajirus when making sexual use of him, since they would consider it degrading to soil their lips by touching them to the body of a mere slave. Note that only a small minority of rich free women on Gor own silk slaves and (in contrast to the usual situation with free men and kajirae) it is often not very easy or convenient for a free woman to obtain the sexual use of a kajirus whom she does not personally own (in the city of Ar, the largest city of known Gor, it is strictly forbidden by law).


title: Gor

text: The phrase "lo kajirus" is said to mean "I am a slave boy." Silk slaves are generally despised by free men on Gor and their type of slavery is often considered to be rather unnatural. Kajiri do not usually wear locked collars; rather, they wear a band of iron.


title: Gor

text: The "Gor" novels have been criticized for their focus on relationships between dominant men and submissive women, the latter often in positions of slavery. "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" has stated that the first several books are "passable exercises" of Edgar Rice Burroughs-style fiction while "later volumes degenerate into extremely sexist, sadomasochistic pornography involving the ritual humiliation of women, and as a result have caused widespread offence". Science fiction/fantasy author Michael Moorcock has suggested that the "Gor" novels should be placed on the top shelves of bookstores, saying, "I’m not for censorship but I am for strategies which marginalize stuff that works to objectify women and suggests women enjoy being beaten."


title: Potawatomi

text: The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquin family. The Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word "Anishinaabe". The Potawatomi are part of a long-term alliance, called the Council of Three Fires, with the Ojibway and Odawa (Ottawa). In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi are considered the "youngest brother" and are referred to in this context as Bodwéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and refers to the council fire of three peoples.


title: Potawatomi

text: In the 18th century, they were pushed to the west by European/American encroachment and eventually removed from their lands in the Great Lakes region to reservations in Oklahoma. Under Indian Removal, they eventually ceded many of their lands, and most of the Potawatomi relocated to Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory. Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes. In Canada, over 600 First Nation governments or bands are recognized. In the US, 574 tribes or bands are federally recognized.


title: Potawatomi

text: The English "Potawatomi" is derived from the Ojibwe (syncoped in the Ottawa as ). The Potawatomi name for themselves (autonym) is (without syncope: ; plural: ), a cognate of the Ojibwe form. Their name means "those who tend the hearth-fire," which refers to the hearth of the Council of Three Fires. The word comes from "to tend the hearth-fire", which is (without syncope: ) in the Potawatomi language; the Ojibwe and Ottawa forms are and , respectively.


title: Potawatomi

text: Alternatively, the Potawatomi call themselves (without syncope: ; plural: ), a cognate of Ojibwe , meaning "original people".


title: Potawatomi

text: The Potawatomi teach their children about the "Seven Grandfather Teachings" of wisdom, respect, love, honesty, humility, bravery, and truth toward each other and all creation, each one of which teaches them the equality and importance of their fellow tribesmen and respect for all of nature’s creations. The story itself teaches the importance of patience and listening, as it follows the Water Spider's journey to retrieve fire for the other animals to survive the cold. As the other animals step forth one after another to proclaim that they shall be the ones to retrieve the fire, the Water Spider sits and waits while listening to her fellow animals. As they finish and wrestle with their fears, she steps forward and announces that she will be the one to bring it back. As they laugh and doubt her, she weaves a bowl out of her own web that sails her across the water to retrieve the fire. She brings back a hot coal out of which they make fire, and they celebrate her honor and bravery.


title: Potawatomi

text: The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records, which suggests that in the early 17th century, they lived in what is now southwestern Michigan. During the Beaver Wars, they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by both the Iroquois and the Neutral Nation, who were seeking expanded hunting grounds. In 1658, the Potawatomi were estimated to number around 3,000.


title: Potawatomi

text: As an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy, Potawatomi warriors took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War. Their alliances switched repeatedly between Great Britain and the United States, as power relations shifted between the nations, and they calculated effects on their trade and land interests.


title: Potawatomi

text: At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomi inhabited the area near Fort Dearborn, where Chicago developed. Led by the chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), a force of about 500 warriors attacked the United States evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn; they killed most of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force and wounded many others. George Ronan, the first graduate of West Point to be killed in combat, died in this ambush. The incident is referred to as the "Fort Dearborn Massacre". A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (, Black Pheasant), counseled his fellow warriors against the attack. Later he saved some of the civilian captives who were being ransomed by the Potawatomi.