title: South African Army

text: During the 1980s, the legal requirements for national service were to register for service at age sixteen and to report for duty when called up, which usually occurred at some time after a man's eighteenth birthday or on leaving school. National service obligations could be fulfilled by active-duty military service for two years and by serving in the reserves, generally for ten or twelve years. Reservists generally underwent fifty days per year of active duty or training, after their initial period of service. The system was for the most part that the National Service requirement was for 720 days (two years) and subsequent reserve duty was a further 720 days. The reserve duty was broken up depending on the needs of the units and of the individual concerned. This generally worked out as a ninety-day "operational" commitment one year, followed the next year by a thirty-day commitment in addition to any courses, parades or admin evenings that might be required. Members of the Reserve were able to volunteer for further duty in addition to that mandated. This additional, voluntary, service was recognised with the award of the Emblem for Voluntary Service (EVS) (now the Badge for Reserve Voluntary Service (BRVS)) for five years of voluntary service over and above the mandated commitment. The requirements for national service changed several times during the 1980s and the early 1990s in response to national security needs, and they were suspended in 1993.


title: South African Army

text: From the early 1990s (after 1992) to 1 April 1997, the SA Army maintained three 'small' divisions, the 7th (HQ Johannesburg), 8th (HQ Durban) and 9th (HQ Cape Town). They consisted of a reconnaissance battalion, two anti-aircraft defence battalions (AA guns), two battalions of artillery (G-5s and G-6s), a battalion of 127 mm MRLs, an engineer battalion, two battalions of Olifant MBTs, two battalions mounted in Ratel ICVs, and finally two battalions mounted in Buffel APCs. They were all amalgamated into the 7th South African Division on 1 April 1997, and became the 73rd, 74th and 75th Brigades respectively.


title: South African Army

text: On 1 April 1997 Regiment Louw Wepener (Bethlehem), Regiment De Wet (Kroonstad) and Regiment Dan Pienaar (Bloemfontein) were absorbed into Regiment Bloemspruit.


title: South African Army

text: 7th Division was disbanded on 1 April 1999 and all army battalions were assigned to 'type' formations, in accordance with the recommendations of the South African Defence Review 1998. The 'type' formation force structure was implemented in accordance with the recommendations of auditing firm Deloitte and Touche, who were contracted to draw up a plan to make the SA Army more economically efficient. The Deloitte and Touche plan had the army separate its combat forces into 'silo' style formations for armour, infantry, artillery, and engineers. Deane-Peter Baker of the South African Institute for Security Studies said that the D&T plan, while alleviating, to an extent, the mistrust of the new South African leadership of the remaining apartheid-era South African Defence Force personnel in middle management positions, reduced the combat effectiveness of the Army, and was seen by 2011 as a mistake. Another mistaken decision was the decision to limit the force design of the SANDF to rely on short logistic lines for highly mechanised mobile forces in defence of national territory, as it causes many supply issues during modern foreign deployments. This is one of the major problems of the army and various solutions are being considered by the government to better equip forces deployed in out-of-area force projection operations.


title: South African Army

text: Though non-white personnel did serve as unarmed labourers with the army in both World Wars, a number of non-whites were employed in segregated units during the Border War, and a number of units were completely desegregated, it was not until 1994 – when South Africa achieved full democracy – that the army as a whole was made open to all races. Today the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has racial quotas to make sure that White, Black, Coloured, and Indian South Africans are proportionately represented in the armed forces.


title: South African Army

text: During 2006 the Army released its ARMY VISION 2020 guidelines document, in a fresh attempt to reassess the 1998 structures which had proved wanting. The army planned a return to a division based structure, from the previous structure where units are simply provided as needed to the two active brigades. In many respects the plan was an attempt to undo the effects of the Deloitte and Touche-inspired force design that came into effect in 2001. The new plan was to create two divisions and a special operations brigade to conduct mountain, jungle, airborne and amphibious operations. Specialised training would have had to be carried out, as and when funds become available. A works regiment was also to have been created, to help with the maintenance of army and Defence Force buildings and infrastructure. However the plan was not implemented, and appeared to stall until the issue of the 2014 South African Defence Review. With the release of that review in mid-2014 it appears possible that the 2006 planning may be reinvigorated.


title: South African Army

text: Concerns have been raised as to the operational capabilities of the army given the high proportion of the army's budget spent on salaries (around 80%) and low amounts budgeted for capital (5%) and operational (15%) capacity. In addition to the large ratio of officers to soldiers, critical skills shortages, high average age of service personnel (48 years), and low proportion that are medically fit enough to be readily deployable (about 10% of personnel).


title: South African Army

text: The post-1994 South African Army has been extensively involved in peacekeeping operations under United Nations and African Union command in other African countries such as the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) and the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), and is doing well with these challenges, despite some pitfalls and budget cuts.


title: South African Army

text: Other operations that the Army was tasked with by government include: Operation Boleas (Lesotho), Operation Fibre (Burundi), Operation Triton (five times in the Comoros), Operation Amphibian (Rwanda), Operation Montego (Liberia), Operation Espresso (Ethiopia)


title: South African Army

text: , Operation Cordite (Sudan), Operation Teutonic and Operation Bulisa (both in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Operation Pristine (Ivory Coast), Operation Vimbezela (Central African Republic) and Operation Bongane (Uganda).


title: South African Army

text: The most notable UN deployments since 1994 have been Operation Vimbezela (Central African Republic) and Operation Mistral, the South African contribution to the United Nations mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African deployment developed rapidly into a combat mission and led to the loss of 15 soldiers from 1 Parachute Battalion in Bangui. The contribution to Ops Mistral, while starting in 2009, became a completely different tasking with the contingent sent in 2013 to the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade, a ~3000-strong intervention brigade that was authorised by the United Nations Security Council on 28 March 2013 through United Nations Security Council Resolution 2098. It is the first United Nations peacekeeping unit that has been specifically tasked to carry out offensive operations against armed rebel groups operating in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, specifically those that threaten the State authority and civilian security. They can also carry out their mandate without the help of the Congolese Army. The brigade is made up of troops from Tanzania, South Africa and Malawi and has had several successes against rebel groups such as M23 militia.


title: South African Army

text: All Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries, including South Africa, are working on establishing the SADC Standby Brigade as an element of the African Standby Force. Working towards the creation and strengthening of these regional brigades should contribute to the peace and security of the region. The major challenges that the Army face today is to readdress its current force design, to balance its budget, to integrate new equipment to replace several ageing systems, and to prepare forces for the African Standby Force and African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises.


title: South African Army

text: Since the Defence Act of 1912, the South African Army has been comprised, in general terms, of three groupings. The first is the standing army, also known since the 1970s as the Permanent Force. A military reserve force was also established by the terms of the 1912 Act and initially designated the Active Citizen Force. The force was established on 1 July 1913. Other designations through the years have included Active Reserve Force, Citizen Force, Conventional Reserve and Territorial Reserve. The Deloitte and Touche plan, as well as various policies over the years have referred to a 'One Force Concept' where reservists and reserve units are supposed to be treated on an equal footing with the permanent force counterparts. This is often not the case.


title: South African Army

text: Due to the restructuring of the Reserves, the exact number of reserves is difficult to ascertain. However the 2011/12 planning target was 12,400 reserves.


title: South African Army

text: The third grouping was initially the Defence Rifle Associations, which later became the Commandos, a rural self-defence force. There were several thousand other members in the Commandos. Each Commando was responsible for the safeguarding and protection of a specific community (both rural or urban). However, this system was phased out between 2003 and 2008 "because of the role it played in the apartheid era", according to the Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula. The last commando unit, that at Harrismith in the Free State, was disbanded in March 2008.


title: South African Army

text: South African military ranks are derived from that of the British Armed Forces, with Army ranks derived from the British Army.


title: South African Army

text: The two standing army brigades are Headquarters 43 South African Brigade and Headquarters 46 South African Brigade. Each of these two headquarters are organised to provide four headquarters groups. Two of these units should be available for deployment at any one time whilst the other two are on leave and in training.


title: South African Army

text: In accordance with the Deloitte and Touche structure plan, the army was reorganised into single-branch 'formations':


title: South African Army

text: Existing and former administrative corps and branches of the South African Army can be seen at South African Army corps and branches.


title: South African Army

text: Many Army units are routinely placed under the nine joint operational-tactical headquarters that the SANDF Chief of Joint Operations supervises directly through Joint Operations Division (IISS 2013). Brigadier-General McGill Alexander took over as General Officer Commanding RJTF South in 2002, but in 2003 he was tasked to close down all the RJTFs.


title: South African Army

text: The South African Army is changing structure into "4 Modern Brigades". The first of which - The Mechanized brigade has already been established at Lohatlha in the Northern Cape.


title: South African Army

text: The South African Army maintains large bases in all 9 provinces of the country, mostly in or around major cities and towns:


title: South African Army

text: The main South African Army Headquarters are located in Salvokop, Pretoria in the Dequar Road Complex along with 102 Field Workshop SAOSC, 17 Maintenance Unit and the South African Military Health Service Military Health Department.


title: South African Army

text: A budget of approximately Rand 9.98 billion was allocated for fiscal year 2010/2011. In December 2010, it was reported that funding shortages were causing severe problems.


title: South African Army

text: The vast majority of army equipment is nearing the end of its service life, with some items (like the Olifant Main Battle Tank) dating from decades ago.


title: South African Army

text: The South African National Defence Force has however started to remedy the situation with the procurement of 238 Patria AMV infantry fighting vehicles under the "Hoefyster" programme. Other procurements are planned and should follow in line with the guideline document – "Army Vision 2020". The SANDF has launched a project called "African Warrior" which is aimed in modernising the equipment and weapons of the SANDF. The project has been very successful in recent years and the South African Army has now put in service a 21st-century R4 assault rifle.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of .


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Opened as Ibrox Park in 1899, it suffered a disaster in 1902 when a wooden terrace collapsed. Vast earthen terraces were built in its place, and a main stand, now a listed building, in 1928. A British record crowd of 118,567 gathered in January 1939 for a league match with Celtic. After the Ibrox disaster of 1971, the stadium was largely rebuilt. The vast bowl-shaped terracing was removed and replaced by three rectangular, all-seated stands by 1981. After renovations were completed in 1997, the ground was renamed Ibrox Stadium.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Ibrox hosted the Scotland national football team when Hampden Park was redeveloped in the 1990s, and three Scottish cup finals in the same period, and has also been a concert venue.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Rangers played its first match in May 1872, on Glasgow Green. The club then played home matches on public pitches across Glasgow, first moving to a regular home ground at Burnbank in 1875. A year later, Rangers played at the Clydesdale cricket ground in Kinning Park. This ground was improved to give a capacity of 7,000, but it was not owned by Rangers. After hints by the landlords that they wished to develop the site, Rangers left in February 1887. The club shared Cathkin Park with Third Lanark for the remainder of the 1886–87 season.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Rangers first moved to the Ibrox area later in 1887, playing on a site immediately to the east of the current stadium. The first match at this stadium was an 8–1 defeat to English side Preston North End on 20 August 1887, watched by a capacity crowd of over 15,000. This inaugural match had to be abandoned after 70 minutes due to a pitch invasion. The first Ibrox Park was a success in the short term, as three Scotland international matches and the 1890 Scottish Cup Final were played at the ground. Celtic Park, built in 1892, was more advanced, however. Rangers opted to construct a new stadium, raising funds by forming a limited company. The last match at the old ground was played on 9 December 1899. The new Ibrox Park was formally opened with a 3–1 victory over Hearts on 30 December.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Ibrox Park, as it was known between 1899 and 1997, is almost completely different from the Ibrox Stadium of today. It followed the model of most Scottish stadiums of the time, comprising an oval track around the pitch, with a pavilion and one stand along one side. The ground had a capacity of 40,000. Celtic Park, Ibrox and Hampden Park all competed with each other to host Scottish Cup Finals and Scotland matches, one of which could generate up to £1,000 in revenue for the host club. To aid their chances of gaining that revenue, Rangers constructed a large terracing, holding 36,000 people, behind the western goalmouth. The terracing, designed by Archibald Leitch, was formed by wooden planks bolted onto a framework made of iron. A similar wooden terracing was constructed at the eastern end, giving a total capacity of 75,000.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The structure was passed by the Govan Burgh Surveyor in March 1902, but there were newspaper reports that it was unstable. A crowd of 68,114 assembled for a Scotland v England match on 5 April 1902, but shortly after the kick-off one section of the terracing "collapsed like a trap door". A gap of 20 square yards appeared, causing about 125 people to fall to the ground 50 feet below the terracing. Most survived due to the fact they fell on top of other bodies, but 25 people were killed. 517 people were injured, some due to being crushed in the panic caused by the collapse.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Most people in the stadium were unaware that the (first) Ibrox disaster had happened. People even re-occupied the damaged area, despite the danger of further collapse. A definite reason for the disaster was not agreed upon, partly because there was no public inquiry held. Some experts blamed the quality of wood and the supplier was tried for culpable homicide, but was acquitted. The design was also cited as a possible cause. Generally, wooden structures of that size were not trusted. Rangers removed the wooden terraces, reducing capacity to 25,000. The criticism of the design did not deter Rangers from hiring Leitch in the future. He designed an expansion of Ibrox to a 63,000 capacity by 1910, using slopes made of earth. By this point, the city of Glasgow had the three largest purpose-built football grounds in the world.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The next major redevelopment occurred in 1928, after Rangers had won their first double. A new Main Stand, to the south side of the ground, was opened on 1 January 1929. The Main Stand, which has the familiar Leitch style criss-cross balcony and a red-brick facade, seated 10,000 people and provided standing accommodation in an enclosure. Simon Inglis, a writer on football stadia, commented in 2005 that the Main Stand is Leitch's "greatest work" and is "still resplendent today in its red brick glory under a modern mantle of glass and steel". The architectural significance of the Main Stand was reflected when it became a Category B listed building in 1987. Original seats in the Main Stand were made of cast iron and oak. One was auctioned in 2011 for £1,080.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The banking of the terracing continued to increase in the 1930s. On 2 January 1939, the Old Firm game against Celtic attracted a crowd of 118,567, the record attendance for any league match played in Britain. At this point, Ibrox was the second-largest stadium in Britain.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Floodlights were first used at Ibrox in December 1953, for a friendly match against Arsenal. The first floodlit Scottish league match was played at Ibrox, in March 1956. Covers were built over the north and east terracing during the 1960s. No structural changes were made to Ibrox, but capacity was cut to approximately 80,000 by safety legislation.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Ibrox Park had the worst fan safety record in Britain before its complete redesign and renaming in 1997. Two fans died in September 1961 when a barrier collapsed on Stairway 13, resulting in a crush. Stairway 13 was a popular exit from the East Terracing due to its proximity to Copland Road subway station and parking areas for the Rangers supporters' coaches, but it was often overcrowded and very steep. After this incident, Rangers installed safety measures, but further injuries were sustained in crushes on Stairway 13 in both 1967 and 1969. On 23 October 1968, the main stand at Ibrox was hit by fire. Just seven months later there was another fire, which destroyed more than 200 seats behind the directors box. The worst disaster to date to affect football in Britain happened after the Old Firm game on 2 January 1971, when 66 people died of asphyxiation due to another crush on Stairway 13. The game itself ended in a 1–1 draw, with Colin Stein scoring a late equalising goal for Rangers. This led to a widespread belief that the crush had been caused by fans who had left the game early, but had turned back when they heard the roar that greeted the Rangers goal. A public inquiry discounted this initial story. It established that the crowd had been travelling in the same direction when the crush happened, with it perhaps being precipitated by some bending over to pick up items that had been discarded during the goal celebrations. The downward force of the crowd leaving the stadium meant that when people started to fall there was no means of preventing a crush.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The inquiry and subsequent compensation cases found that Rangers had been inept in their administration and complacent after the incidents in the 1960s. The disaster also highlighted, however, the fact that there were no established safety standards that should be adhered to, let alone any means of enforcing such standards. This had been first recommended nearly 50 years earlier, after the 1923 FA Cup Final. The Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds was published in 1973, and legislation was enacted with the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975. This law cut the capacity of Ibrox to 65,000. In the short term, Rangers took the stopgap measure of installing benches in the North Stand, which was renamed the Centenary Stand.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The 1971 Ibrox disaster led to the club developing a modern, safe stadium. Willie Waddell visited modern grounds in West Germany during the 1974 World Cup and believed that steep terracing and exits, such as Stairway 13, had to be replaced. The cut in capacity and boardroom changes led to radical plans by architects Miller Partnership, which were published in November 1977. The plans were modelled on the Westfalenstadion, home ground of Borussia Dortmund. They involved a radical reshaping of the stadium, with the old bowl-shaped terracing to be replaced by three new all-seated structures. Only the old Main Stand would remain, with its enclosure providing the only standing room in the ground.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Although later events, such as the Hillsborough disaster and the subsequent Taylor Report, vindicated this plan, Rangers were taking a significant risk. The whole plan was estimated to cost £6 million, which no other club could have afforded in a short period of time. The development was funded by the Rangers football pools operation, which was the largest club-based scheme in Britain. The first phase of the plan, which began in 1978, was the removal of the east terracing and its replacement with the Copland Road stand. The same process was repeated on the west side of the ground a year later, with the two identical stands each holding 7,500 seats. The redevelopment was completed in 1981 with the replacement of the Centenary Stand by the 10,300 capacity Govan Stand.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The new Ibrox had a capacity of 44,000 and was opened with an Old Firm game played on 19 September 1981. By this time, however, the development cost had risen to £10 million, which depleted the club financially. This resulted in a difficult period in the history of Rangers, as the average attendance fell to 17,500 in the 1981–82 season, including a crowd of only 4,500 for a game against St Mirren. The redeveloped stadium was partly blamed for this, as some fans felt that the new ground lacked atmosphere due to the spaces between the stands. This was during a period of low attendances in Scottish football in general. Despite the relatively low attendance at Ibrox, Rangers had the highest average home attendances in the Premier Division in both 1983–84 and 1984–85.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: This all changed when a new regime, chaired by David Holmes, took control of Rangers in 1986. Graeme Souness was appointed player–manager, while several English stars, including Terry Butcher and Chris Woods, were signed. Season ticket sales rose from 7,000 in 1986 to over 30,000 in the 1990s, while commercial income increased from £239,000 in 1986 to over £2 million in 1989. The introduction of computerised ticketing, zonal public address systems and closed-circuit television for monitoring turnstile areas meant that Ibrox was at the forefront of stadium management. Rangers also adopted the American technique of analysing the types of fans in each area of the stadium and adjusted their food stalls accordingly. Greater success on the pitch meant that Ibrox demonstrated that seated stadiums would be welcomed by most fans, if designed and fitted well.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: David Murray acquired control of Rangers in November 1988. Argyle House, a £4 million extension behind the Govan Stand, was opened in 1990. This added executive boxes, office space and hospitality suites. A further series of developments was started in the early 1990s to increase capacity to over 50,000. Murray commissioned architect Gareth Hutchison to find a way of adding a third tier to the Main Stand. This was a highly complex process, as the Main Stand facade had become a listed building and Murray wanted the existing structure to remain open during construction. The contractors removed the original roof and added a temporary cover while the work carried on above. The Club Deck, which cost approximately £20 million, was opened with a league match against Dundee United in December 1991. The redevelopment of the Main Stand was partially financed by a Football Trust grant of £2 million and a debenture issue that raised £8.5 million. Ordinary fans bought debentures for between £1,000 and £1,650 each, which guaranteed the right to buy season tickets for at least 30 years, along with some other minor benefits.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Four columns were built through the existing Main Stand to support the Club Deck, which resulted in approximately 1,000 seats having a restricted view. After opening the Club Deck, Ibrox had a capacity of 44,500. When a new playing surface was installed in 1992, Rangers were able to add a further 1,300 seats to the front of three stands by lowering the pitch slightly. The only standing area of the ground, the enclosure of the Main Stand, was seated in 1994 to comply with the Taylor Report and UEFA regulations. The multi-coloured seats were replaced in 1995 with uniform blue seats. A further 1,200 seats were added in this process by reconfiguring passageways, giving a total capacity of 47,998.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The two spaces between the Govan, Copland and Broomloan Stands were filled in with seats and Jumbotron screens. The ground was officially renamed Ibrox Stadium after renovations were completed in 1997, when Ibrox had a capacity of just over 50,000.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Three rows of seating were added to the front of the Govan Stand upper tier in 2006, linked to a new 'Bar 72' area, increasing the capacity to its present figure of . The Main Stand was renamed the Bill Struth Main Stand in September 2006, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death. The Jumbotron screens were replaced in 2011 with modern LED screens.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Rangers became insolvent in February 2012 and was unable to reach a company voluntary arrangement with its creditors, principally HM Revenue and Customs. Ibrox Stadium, along with the business and other assets of Rangers, was sold in June 2012 to a new company run by Charles Green. The new company obtained the SFA membership of the old Rangers FC company and gained entry to the Scottish Football League Third Division.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: On 9 April 2013 it was announced that the Jumbotron screens were to be replaced; the previous screens were inferior and had become pixelated. On 16 July 2014 the club paid a lasting tribute to Sandy Jardine by renaming the Govan Stand in his honour.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: In 2016, the club added large banners to the stadium exterior (covering the separate Edmiston House office building, then the Copland Stand/Sandy Jardine Stand corner) depicting images of past players, entitled 'Icons Of Ibrox'. The following year, some supporters were displeased when further banners were added over the glass block-walled staircase towers on either side of the main stand leading up to the Club Deck; the banners were removed within a few months, with the club stating it was a marketing exercise to highlight the potential of the staircases as advertising space.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The Ibrox pitch is surrounded by four covered all-seater stands, officially known as the Bill Struth Main (south), Broomloan Road (west), Sandy Jardine (north) and Copland Road (east) Stands. Each stand has two tiers, with the exception of the Bill Struth Main Stand, which has had three tiers since the Club Deck was added in 1991. The two corner areas, known as the West and East areas of the Sandy Jardine Stand, have one tier of seating below a JumboTron screen.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The Bill Struth Main Stand, formerly known as the Main Stand, faces onto Edmiston Drive (A8 road). The red-brick facade, designed by Archibald Leitch, is a Category B listed building. Simon Inglis, writing in 1996, described it as an "imposing red-brick facade, with its mock neo-classical arched, square and pedimented windows, exudes prestige and power." On each end wall the club crest is depicted in a blue and gold mosaic. Stairtowers leading to the Club Deck (third tier) stand at each end of the Main Stand. These towers are also framed in red-brick, but deliberately contrast with the main body of the stand. The two stairtowers also support a long and truss, claimed to be the longest and heaviest clear span girder in the world.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Through the main doors of the Main Stand is a wood-panelled hallway. A marble staircase leads to the boardroom and trophy room. Inglis compared Ibrox to Highbury, in that it combined corporate power with a sense of tradition and solidity. It was originally constructed as a 10,000-seat stand above a standing enclosure. It was redeveloped in the early 1990s with the addition of the Club Deck and seating in the enclosure. It is now a three-tier all-seated structure, accommodating approximately 21,000 spectators. The front wall of the middle tier is one of the last surviving examples of the Leitch style of criss-cross detailing. The middle tier is split into front and rear sections, while the enclosure is split into east and west sections, either side of the retractable tunnel cover.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Opposite the Bill Struth Main Stand is the Sandy Jardine Stand formerly known as the Govan Stand. It is a two-tier stand, similar in style to the two end stands, which was completed in 1981. To the rear of the Govan Stand is the Argyle House extension, completed in 1990, which provides executive boxes, hospitality areas and office space. The Bar 72 area was added to the rear section of the Govan Stand in 2006. The Copland Road Stand, at the east end of the stadium, was completed in 1979 and now accommodates just over 8,000 fans. It is traditionally the 'Rangers end' of the ground and the team normally chooses to attack that end in the second half of matches. The western Broomloan Road Stand, which was completed in 1980, is identical to the opposite end. Although constructed as separate structures, the three stands have been linked since the mid-1990s, when two additional areas of seating were added to the corner areas. All of the stands are designed using the 'goalpost' structure, in which a large portal frame supports perpendicular beams on which roof cladding is secured. "The Rangers Store" is located in the corner between the Copland Road and Govan Stands.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Away fans are normally accommodated in the corner of the ground between the Broomloan and Govan Stands. Ibrox is seen as being an intimidating ground for visiting supporters. Rangers banned Celtic fans in 1994 from attending games at Ibrox, citing the damage caused to the Broomloan Stand by the visitors in previous derbies. The ban was lifted after one game, as the Scottish Football League passed a resolution preventing clubs from taking that action. Before the corners were filled in, away fans were accommodated in the lower tier of the Broomloan Stand. Rangers had to take action in 1996 to prevent their fans in the upper deck from throwing items at visitors. Celtic fans were normally given the whole of the Broomloan Stand for Old Firm derbies until 2018, when Rangers opted to restrict their allocation to the much smaller corner section.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Since the redevelopments to Celtic Park and Hampden Park were completed in the late 1990s, Ibrox has had the smallest capacity of the three major stadiums in Glasgow. Rangers have since explored options to increase capacity. After opening the Bar 72 area in 2006, chief executive Martin Bain said that the scheme could be replicated in the Copland Stand. A report in the "Daily Record" in April 2007 claimed that Rangers were planning to increase capacity to 57,000, principally by removing the JumboTron screens and lowering the pitch to accommodate more seating. These plans were said to be dependent for finance upon improved performance by the team. In January 2008, Rangers announced that they were investigating three options to further develop Ibrox. One of the proposals would have resulted in a capacity of 70,000, by replacing three of the stands with a bowl-type structure. These plans were shelved by October 2008, however, due to the late-2000s financial crisis.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Alongside changes to the stadium itself, Rangers have also sought to develop land around Ibrox. In partnership with the Las Vegas Sands corporation, the club received outline planning permission from Glasgow City Council for the development of land adjoining Ibrox as the home of a super casino. The casino was planned to be accompanied by a Rangers-themed leisure complex. Britain's Casino Advisory Panel reviewed bids from eight short-listed cities, including Glasgow, and in 2007 awarded the first licence to Manchester. There is no immediate prospect of the Ibrox proposal being resurrected, as Gordon Brown dropped the plans for super casinos soon after becoming Prime Minister. Rangers were given approval by Glasgow City Council in October 2008 to purchase land around Ibrox and redevelop the area with hotel and retail outlets. This scheme stalled, however, as regulations constrained what could be built in the area.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Ibrox has been a home venue for the Scotland national football team 18 times, the third most of any ground. The first Ibrox Park (1887–99) hosted three internationals, giving an overall Ibrox total of 21. The ground most recently hosted a Scotland game in October 2014 (a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against Georgia, won 1–0) when Hampden Park was unavailable due to its temporary conversion to hold athletics in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Ibrox hosted several internationals during the 1990s, particularly during two phases of redevelopment works at Hampden. Ibrox hosted four Scotland games in the first phase, starting with a 1994 World Cup qualifier against Portugal in October 1992. It was not a happy interlude for Scotland fans, however, as the team failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1970. Although the attendances at Ibrox were higher than at Hampden, some fans resented the fact that they were helping the finances of Rangers. and there were complaints about high ticket prices. During the second phase of work at Hampden, Scotland won an important 1998 World Cup qualifier against Sweden at Ibrox.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: During these periods of redevelopment to Hampden, Ibrox also hosted the 1997 Scottish Cup Final, and the 1994 and 1997 Scottish League Cup Finals. Ibrox was on the approved UEFA list to host major European finals in the 1990s, but it lost out in a bid to host the 1996 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final because a convention threatened a shortage of hotel rooms in Glasgow. Ibrox continued to hold the top UEFA rating, but the Scottish Football Association instead proposed Hampden as a venue for European finals during the 2000s.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: King George V & Queen Mary visited Ibrox Park on 17 September 1917, to thank Glasgow and Clydeside for its efforts in the First World War. In the first ever public investiture in Scotland, and in front of 100,000, the King awarded medals to servicemen including three Victoria Crosses, 46 Military Medals and 33 Military Crosses. Four-fifths of the gathering were women - munitions workers, nurses and other war workers.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: For the 1938 Empire Exhibition being held in Bellahouston Park and which attracted over 13 million visitors, his son King George VI suggested the official opening ceremony be held in Ibrox Park, allowing 146,000 spectators to see the opening. His speech was broadcast live to the nation and throughout the Empire on the morning of 3 May 1938. This was used as source material by Colin Firth for his performance in "The King's Speech" movie.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: Ibrox has been used for athletics competitions, Empire Games, and concerts, including performances by Simple Minds (1986), Frank Sinatra (1990), Rod Stewart (1995), Elton John (1998), Billy Joel (also 1998), Bon Jovi (1996, 2003 & 2007) and Harry Styles (2022).


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: In 1980, Ibrox hosted a world championship boxing match between Jim Watt and Howard Davis. Ibrox hosted the rugby sevens event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, won by South Africa. There was a total attendance of 171,000 for the four sessions of play, which set a new record for a rugby sevens tournament.


title: Ibrox Stadium

text: The main railway stations in Glasgow, Central and Queen Street, are both approximately two miles from Ibrox. The Ibrox and Cessnock stations on the Glasgow Subway both serve Ibrox. It is also served by First Glasgow buses on Paisley Road West. Ibrox sits near to the M8 motorway, with junction 23 being the closest exit, but the roads around Ibrox become congested on matchdays. There was an Ibrox railway station, on the main line linking Glasgow and Paisley, which was closed in 1967 under the Beeching Plan.


title: Varun Grover (writer)

text: Varun Grover (born 26 January 1980) is an Indian writer, stand-up comedian and poet. He won the award for Best Lyricist at the 63rd National Film Awards in 2015. He is also the co-creator of Aisi Taisi Democracy.


title: Varun Grover (writer)

text: Grover was born in Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh, to a school-teacher mother and army engineer father. His family is Punjabi. He spent his initial years in Sundernagar and Dehradun, Uttarakhand, before moving to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh for his adolescent years. He studied civil engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi, graduating in 2003.


title: Varun Grover (writer)

text: In 2017 Varun Grover released Beete Dino Ke Geet – a song in collaboration with US-based producer Krishna Chetan.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays home matches at the stadium.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: It is the world‘s largest rugby union stadium, the second largest in the United Kingdom, behind Wembley Stadium, and the fourth largest in Europe.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: The Middlesex Sevens, Premiership Rugby fixtures, Anglo-Welsh Cup matches, the Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge universities and European Rugby Champions Cup games have been played at Twickenham Stadium. It has also been used as the venue for rugby league Challenge Cup finals and American football, as part of the NFL London Games in 2016 and 2017.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Twickenham Stadium has hosted concerts by Rihanna, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Genesis, U2, Beyoncé, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Eagles, R.E.M., Eminem, Lady Gaga, and Metallica.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Twickenham is often referred to as "the Home of England Rugby". The stadium, owned and operated by the RFU, hosts rugby union fixtures year round. It is the home of the English rugby union team, who play nearly all their home games at the stadium. Twickenham hosts England's home Six Nations matches, as well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, usually annually in November.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Apart from its relationship with the national team, Twickenham is the venue for a number of other domestic and international rugby union matches. It hosts the annual London leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Cup (championship) final and third-place match of the annual London leg of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, and the domestic Middlesex Sevens competition. It is also the venue for the Premiership Rugby final as well as Harlequins' Big Game at Christmas time and an additional annual fixture hosted by Harlequins in late spring. Anglo-Welsh Cup, Heineken Cup and Champions Cup finals have also been held here in the past. The stadium is also host to The Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge, the English schools' Daily Mail Cup Final and the Army Navy Match which forms the culmination of the annual Inter-Services Competition.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Sold out Tests against New Zealand and South Africa at Crystal Palace saw the RFU realise the benefit of owning their own ground. Committee member William Williams and treasurer William Cail led the way to purchasing a 10.25 acre (4 hectare) market garden in Twickenham in 1907 for £5,500 12s 6d. The first stands were constructed the following year. Before the ground was purchased, it was used to grow cabbages, and so Twickenham Stadium is affectionately known as the Cabbage Patch. After further expenditure on roads, the first game, between Harlequins v. Richmond, was played on 2 October 1909, and the first international, England v. Wales, on 15 January 1910. At the time of the English-Welsh game, the stadium had a maximum capacity of 20,000 spectators. During World War I the ground was used for cattle, horse and sheep grazing. King George V unveiled a war memorial in 1921.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: In 1926, the first Middlesex Sevens took place at the ground. In 1927 the first Varsity Match took place at Twickenham for the first time. On 19 March 1938, BBC Television broadcast the EnglandScotland (Calcutta Cup) match from Twickenham, the first time that a rugby match was shown live on television. In 1959, to mark 50 years of the ground, a combined side of England and Wales beat Ireland and Scotland by 26 points to 17.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Coming into the last match of the 1988 season England had lost 15 of their previous 23 matches in the Five Nations Championship. The Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years, and at half-time, they were 0–3 down against the Irish. During the second half, a remarkable transformation took place and England started playing an expansive game many had doubted they were capable of producing. A 0–3 deficit was turned into a 35–3 win, with England scoring six tries. This day also saw the origins of the adoption of the traditional spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as a terrace song. In the 35–3 win against Ireland, three of England's tries were scored by Chris Oti, a black player who had made a reputation for himself that season as a speedster on the left wing. A group of boys from the Benedictine school Douai, following a tradition at their school games, sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" whenever a try was scored. When Oti scored his second try, amused spectators standing close to the boys joined in, and when Oti scored his hat-trick the song was heard around the ground. Since then "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" has been a song to sing at England home games, in the same way that "Fields of Athenry" is sung in Dublin and "Cwm Rhondda" is sung in Cardiff.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: The United Kingdom, Ireland and France shared the hosting of the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Twickenham was used during pool A England matches. Twickenham was also host of the 1991 Rugby World Cup Final in which Australia beat England 12–6. For this game, England changed their style of play, opting for the sort of running game that had brought them victory against Ireland in the March 1988 game referred to above. During this match, with the English facing a 12–3 deficit, David Campese reached one-handed for a ball thrown to England winger, Rory Underwood. He dropped it and the ball rolled forward, gifting England a penalty that proved to be the last score of the game. Some have claimed that Campese's action should have been interpreted as a deliberate professional foul, with possible disciplinary action against the Australian player. However, on the same ground in November 1988, Campese had intercepted a similar pass and run the length of the field to score a try.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Some of the Welsh-hosted 1999 Rugby World Cup games were taken to Twickenham. These included three of England's pool B matches, the second round playoff when England defeated Fiji 45 points to 24, and both semi-finals, none of which England were involved in, having made their exit in the quarter-finals at the hands of South Africa. Under the reign of Clive Woodward, the stadium became known as 'Fortress Twickenham', as England enjoyed a run of 19 unbeaten home matches from October 1999, ending with defeat against Ireland in 2004. The IRB Rugby Aid Match was played on 5 March 2005 under the auspices of the International Rugby Board (IRB) to raise money for the United Nations World Food Programme to support its work aiding victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Representative sides of the Northern and Southern hemispheres played at Twickenham. The final score was Northern Hemisphere 19 – Southern Hemisphere 54.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Since the ground was bought by the RFU in 1907, it has gone through a number of redevelopments. In 1921 a stand was built above the northern terrace, with workshops placed underneath. In 1927, there was an extension to the East Stand, bringing the capacity to 12,000. The south terrace was also extended to allow 20,000 spectators. In 1932 a new West Stand was completed, providing offices for the RFU, who made the ground their home. In 1937, Middlesex County Council approved a scheme submitted by Twickenham Borough Council to widen Rugby Road due to it being inadequate for traffic.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: In 1965, the South Terrace was closed due to structural failings. It was found to be cheaper to build a new stand as opposed to repairing the existing one; however, planning permission was refused, due to objection from local residents. Permission was granted in 1978. A period of extensive rebuilding took place during the early 1980s which continued through to the mid-1990s. In 1981 the South Terrace was rebuilt as the South Stand. After being taken down in 1989, an extended North Stand was opened in 1990. After the 1992 Five Nations, the stadium saw the development of the new East Stand and following that the West Stand. In 1995, the stadium was completed to accommodate 75,000 people in an all-seater environment. The North, East and West stands were all built by Mowlem.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Planning permission was sought in 2002 and received in December 2004 for a new South Stand to raise capacity to 82,000, together with a hotel and conference centre, with redevelopment commencing in June 2005. The RFU's revised application to build the new south stand at £80 million was unanimously approved by Richmond Council's planning committee on 2 December. As well as increasing the stadium's capacity to 82,000, the redevelopment introduced a four-star Marriott hotel with 156 rooms and six VIP suites with views over the field, a performing arts complex, a health and leisure club, a new rugby shop and a general increase in function space. On Sunday 10 July 2005 the old south stand was demolished to make way for the new development. The festivities that were planned for the implosion of this end of the stadium were cancelled in the wake of the 7 July terror attacks in the centre of London. The new seating, which had been started by Mowlem, was completed by Carillion on 5 November 2006 in time for the England vs New Zealand game of the 2006 Autumn internationals series, in which England lost in a near-record defeat.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: The rugby stadium continued to be developed into 2018 with the upgrading of the east stand. Not only does the new stand offer game day hospitality, but it also has six floors of event spacing. The east stand was over budget due to additional safety measures put in place to make the redeveloped structure capable of withstanding a bomb attack, and to make it fire proof with work done on the cladding in response to the Grenfell Tower fire. With the upgrade the roof is now finally complete.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Twickenham Stadium has hosted Rugby World Cup Matches in 1991, 1999 and 2015 with England as hosts in 1991 and 2015 therefore holding the Final. The Stadium also hosted semi finals in 1999 including France's 43–31 victory New Zealand.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Though Twickenham usually only hosts rugby union fixtures, it has in the past been the venue for a number of other events. In 2000, the ground hosted its first game of rugby league, in which Australia defeated England in the opening game of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final has also been played at Twickenham twice, in 2001 and 2006, and was won by St. Helens on both occasions.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Due to the construction delays of Wembley, a number of scheduled events at Wembley were moved to Twickenham. The Challenge Cup and the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour concerts were taken to Twickenham. The Stones also played two shows at Twickenham in August and September 2003, the first of which was used as their stadium concert disc for the 2003 DVD Four Flicks. During 2007 Genesis played at Twickenham during their . The Police played at the stadium in September 2007 and Rod Stewart in June. The usual capacity for concerts is anything up to 80,000, as opposed to the 82,000 for rugby.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: R.E.M. performed at Twickenham in August 2008, while New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi played two gigs at the stadium in June 2008 as part of their Lost Highway Tour, and Iron Maiden played there as part of their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour on 5 July 2008, along with a full supporting bill which included Avenged Sevenfold, Within Temptation and Lauren Harris.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Lady Gaga performed two sold-out shows at the stadium during her Born This Way Ball Tour on the 8th and 9 September 2012 with 101,250 people attending for both shows. The first date broke a record for The Fastest Selling-out Stadium Show in UK history when the 50,625 tickets for the first show sold out in 50 seconds.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Rihanna performed two shows at the stadium during her Diamonds World Tour on 15 and 16 June 2013 for 95,971 people for both nights.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: Since the mid-1950s it has also hosted the Jehovah's Witnesses annual convention for the London area. Usually up to 25,000 attend to hear Bible talks.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: The TV motoring show "Top Gear" used the pitch for a match of rugby, played using Kia cars. This was played prior to resurfacing.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: It was announced on 3 November 2015 that the RFU and America's National Football League had agreed a three-year deal to host at least three NFL London Games. The deal began in October 2016 and gave the opportunity to host an additional two games over the three-year period of the deal.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: On 23 October 2016, the Los Angeles Rams hosted the New York Giants at Twickenham Stadium. This was the second of three London Games in 2016, with the others being played at Wembley. The game was televised live in the UK on BBC Two.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: The final two games of the agreement were played in 2017, with matchups announced on 13 December 2016.


title: Twickenham Stadium

text: The World Rugby Museum is a museum located in Twickenham Stadium. The museum covers the whole of the global game, not just English rugby union. It tells the history of the sport, including William Webb Ellis and Richard Lindon, using interactive display techniques. The museum has a rolling programme of special exhibitions which cover topical issues and offer an opportunity to display some of the obscurer items in the collection. Some unique displays include an English rugby union jersey from the first ever rugby union international in 1871 between England and Scotland, and (until 2005) the William Webb Ellis Cup which was obtained by England at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Twickenham Stadium Tours are also available through the Museum and run four times per day (Tuesday to Saturday) and twice on Sundays. It is usually open every day of the week except for Mondays. Except match days when, for ticket holders only, a special price entry to the museum is available.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 29 September 2016, India announced that it conducted surgical strikes against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and inflicted "significant casualties". Pakistan rejected India's claim, and instead claimed that Indian troops did not cross the Line of Control and had only skirmished with Pakistani troops at the border.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Indian media reported the casualty figures variously from 35 to 70. Pakistan accepted the deaths of two Pakistani soldiers and nine wounded. Pakistani sources reported that at least eight Indian soldiers were killed in the exchange, and one was captured. India confirmed that one of its soldiers was in Pakistani custody, but denied that it was linked to the incident or that any of its soldiers had been killed. Pakistan said India was hiding its casualties.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Media outlets noted that the details regarding the "attack" were still unclear. Earlier that month, four militants had attacked the Indian army at Uri on 18th September 2016 in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and killed 19 soldiers. India's announcement of the claimed raid on 29 September marked the first time that the government had publicly acknowledged its forces crossing the Line of Control, amidst skepticism and disputing accounts. In the succeeding days and months, India and Pakistan continued to exchange fires along the border in Kashmir, resulting in dozens of military and civilian casualties on both the sides.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 18 September 2016, a "fedayeen" attack was made by four armed militants on an army base near the town of Uri. Nineteen Indian Army soldiers were killed. India accused Jaish-e-Muhammad, a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation. Having come after similar "fidayeen" attacks in Gurdaspur and Pathankot, the Uri attack gave rise to high degree of concern in India. The following day, the Indian army said that it had displayed considerable restraint in the wake of the attacks, but it reserved the right to respond "at the time and place of our own choosing".


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: "The Guardian" said that Indian patience had run out due to Pakistan's inaction in curbing the activities of terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. On 21 September, India summoned the Pakistan High Commission Abdul Bassit and gave a protest letter detailing the involvement of a terrorist group based in Pakistan. Pakistan later said that India had provided no evidence that the Uri attack was launched from Pakistan. Pakistan's defence minister suggested that India had carried out the Uri attack to deflect attention from the popular protests in Jammu and Kashmir. The "Hindustan Times" reported that the minister's comments made up an "inflection point", after which India decided to respond militarily.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Indian officials said that the cross-border infiltration across the Line of Control had surged since the unrest began in Kashmir. The persons crossing the border showed evidence of military training. According to a government source close to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security was held on 24 September, at which "broad details of targeting terrorists" were discussed.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 29 September, eleven days after the Uri attack, the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes against suspected militants in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, Indian Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), said that it had received "very credible and specific information" about "terrorist teams" who were preparing to "carry out infiltration and conduct terrorist strikes inside Jammu and Kashmir and in various metros in other states". The Indian action was meant to pre-empt their infiltration. India presented its operation as preemptive self-defence against terrorism, striking against terrorist infrastructure along with "those who are trying to support them." Columnist Ankit Panda thought the latter included Pakistani soldiers or the elements of Pakistani state. On 30 September, Indian minister for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that there had been no aerial strikes and that the operation had been conducted "on the ground".


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Ranbir Singh said that his Pakistani counterpart had been informed. The Pakistani military said the DGMO communications discussed only the cross-border firing, which was part of the existing rules of engagement.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Pakistan denied that such surgical strikes occurred. The Inter-Services Public Relations said that there had been only "cross border firing". Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the "unprovoked and naked aggression of Indian forces", and said that Pakistani military was capable of thwarting any attacks by India.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that the UN Observer Group in Pakistani Kashmir did not directly observe any "firing across the Line of Control" relating to the incident. The Indian envoy at UN Syed Akbaruddin dismissed this statement, saying "facts on the ground do not change whether somebody acknowledges or not."


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Analyst Sandeep Singh, writing in "The Diplomat," said that the operation is better characterised as a cross-border raid because "surgical strikes" involve striking deep into the enemy territory and typically using air power. Shaun Snow writing in "The Diplomat" questioned whether India had the capacity to conduct a "surgical strike", noting that Pakistan has a very comprehensive and modern air defence system. A cross border raid, if it occurred 1 km into Pakistani administered territory, is routine on either side with over a dozen incidents having occurred both ways, and does not qualify as a "surgical strike" which by definition requires deep striking and air power as Sandeep Singh, cited earlier, attests to.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Indian officials said the strike targeted areas close to the Line of Control (LoC), where it believes militants congregate for their final briefings before sneaking across the LoC. An Indian security source said the operation began with Indian forces firing artillery across the frontier to provide cover for three to four teams of 70–80 soldiers from the 4th and 9th battalions of the Para Special Forces to cross the LoC at several separate points shortly after midnight IST on 29 September (18:30 hours UTC, 28 Sep). Teams from 4 Para crossed the LoC in the Nowgam sector of Kupwara district, while teams from 9 Para simultaneously crossed the LoC in Poonch district. By 2 a.m. IST, according to army sources, the special forces teams had travelled 1–3 km on foot, and had begun destroying terrorist bases with hand-held grenades and 84 mm rocket launchers. The teams then swiftly returned to the Indian side of the Line of Control, suffering only one injury, a soldier wounded after tripping a land mine.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: The Indian Army said the strike was a pre-emptive attack on militant bases, claiming that it had received intelligence that the militants were planning "terrorist strikes" against India. India said that, in destroying "terrorist infrastructure" it also attacked "those who are trying to support them", indicating it attacked Pakistani soldiers too. India later briefed opposition parties and foreign envoys, but did not disclose operational details.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Some Indian media claimed that the Indian army infiltrated 2–3 km into Pakistani territory, but the Indian Army did not say whether its troops crossed the border or had simply fired across it. India said that none of its soldiers were killed though two soldiers were injured. It also stated that one of its soldiers, from 37 Rashtriya Rifles, was captured by Pakistan after he "inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side", though not during the "surgical strikes."


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Initially, Indian media claimed that the army used helicopters during the skirmish. On 30 September, an Indian minister denied that there were any helicopters used, stating the operation was conducted "on the ground".


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Pakistan rejected claims that any surgical strikes occurred. Pakistan's Foreign Office said the claim as "baseless" and said India was "deliberately" escalating conflict. The Pakistan Army claimed that there had only been "cross border firing". Pakistan warned that it would respond militarily should any surgical strike actually occur. The two soldiers killed were identified as Naik Imtiaz and Havildar Jumma Khan.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Pakistani sources claimed that hours after the strike, up to fourteen Indian soldiers were killed in retaliatory firing across the LOC and one was captured, Chandu Babulal Chavan. It further stated that India was concealing its casualty figures from the cross-border firing. It was later reported that the captured India soldier had wandered across the border in a different sector of the Line of control, where no conflict was reported. He was later returned to India.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Defence analysts in Pakistan said it was not possible for Indian forces to breach the heavily armed and fenced LoC border undetected, perform operations at multiple sites over several hours, and return without casualties and military resistance. According to one source, the Indian narrative matched a "fantastic movie script" created for public consumption. Ejaz Awan dismissed Indian claims of paratrooper involvement, stating: "For pulling out these troops, you need helicopters on the ground."


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Lieutenant general Ranbir Singh, the Indian Army DGMO, only stated during his press conference on 29 September that the number of casualties inflicted had been "significant." Most accounts in the Indian media varied as to the number of militants killed, with most publications giving estimates of 35 to 50 killed. On 9 October, the Indian army said that it had intercepted radio messages of the Pakistan army and claimed that "around 20" Lashkar-e-Taiba militants had been killed, including at least 10 during the surgical strikes and nine killed at Balnoi (opposite of Poonch).


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 1 October, the Pakistani army gave international media outlets including BBC, CNN, VOA, Reuters, AP, AFP and Newsweek a tour of the sites which India claimed to have hit on 29 September. The Pakistan army claimed that had there been a "surgical strike", there would have been more damage. The journalists confirmed that the "area seemed intact", but added that they only saw what the Pakistani army showed them. "The Economist" remarked that they were taken to the border "under strict supervision, naturally".


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 5 October, "The Indian Express" stated it had managed to conduct covert interviews with eyewitnesses living across the Line of Control (LoC). The Express claimed that eyewitnesses corroborated the Indian account by describing fire engagements with militants and the destruction of some makeshift buildings that housed militants; but that there was little damage to infrastructure. However, the Express said that according to eyewitness accounts, and classified documents, the number of militants killed was lower than the 38–50 number reported by Indian officials; there were reports that "five, perhaps six" bodies had been trucked out the morning after the raids from Dudhnial (4 km from the LoC), while three or four militants were killed near Khairati Bagh. The Express said that the militants, many of whom belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba, were caught by surprise. Other accounts reported "fire and explosions" from the east bank of the Neelum River in Athmuqam.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 5 October, India's CNN-News18 claimed that it conducted a "sting operation" where their news correspondent posing as an Inspector General of Police made a phone call to a Superintendent of Police (SP) Ghulam Akbar in Mirpur. In an audio conversation aired on the news channel, a voice claiming to be Akbar reveals details about the military action of 29 September including the places of strikes and the number of Pakistani casualties, quoted as 12 people including 5 military personnel. The voice says that the bodies were said to have been carried away in coffins and buried in the villages, and that an unknown number of militants ("jihadis") had also died. On 6 October, Pakistan's Foreign Office said that the voice in the audio conversation did not belong to Ghulam Akbar, and that Akbar had denied the alleged phone conversation. The ministry called the story a fabrication, and hoped that CNN International would take action against its Indian affiliate.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 23 October, a BBC News article by M. Ilyas Khan quoted unnamed police officials and locals stating the Indians appeared to have crossed the LoC, in some cases by more than a kilometer, to attack Pakistani border posts. The article said the Indian Army had conducted a ground assault in the Pooch sector, destroying a Pakistani post and killing a soldier; setup their guns on a ridge in Leepa valley, hitting three posts and killing four Pakistani soldiers; and advanced in the Dudhnial sector injuring a Pakistani soldier, but were beaten back after their movements were detected. The report also took statements from villagers at Madarpur (Poonch District) and Leepa Valley (Bagh District) and Dudhnial (Neelam District) who confided that Indian troops directed heavy fire at several Pakistani border posts. The BBC News could not verify if any militants were hit. Villagers in Dudhnial said that they saw one or two damaged structures close to a Pakistani border post. The villagers in Leepa Valley said that, following the attack, there was an increased influx of militants to the valley.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: "The Economist" wrote that by interviewing eyewitnesses and anonymous officials, journalists in both Pakistan and India have pieced together an account of what happened:


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Indian intelligence sources claimed that, immediately after the raid, the Pakistan military had buried the corpses of the slain terrorists to erase any evidence and to maintain Pakistan's version of a "skirmish" along the Line of Control. However, Pakistan rejected that any such casualties occurred, questioning: "Where did all the dead bodies go?" Pakistan's military also pointed to the lack of damage or losses in the site, and welcomed UN observers and journalists to conduct an independent inquiry. Increased firing along the Line of Control was reported the following day.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: A senior Indian Home Ministry official subsequently claimed that in the wake of the raid, at least 12 training camps belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad had been swiftly moved from their locations at Pir Chanasi, Aksha Maskar and Tabuk near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Based on satellite images, inputs from foreign intelligence agencies and unnamed "sources in Pakistan," according to the official, the training camps had been relocated "near crowded towns deep inside Pakistan," in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, to "minimise casualties to their assets." According to the Indian official, the camps had housed around 500 militants, 300 of whom belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba alone.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: An Indian newspaper, Indian Express, alleged that they had covertly interviewed five people across the LoC. One of the five eyewitness reported that on 30 September, a day after the surgical strikes, several members of Lashkar-e-Taiba had met for Friday prayers at a Lashkar-affiliated mosque in Chalhana. "The Lashkar men gathered there were blaming the Pak Army for failing to defend the border", he said, "and [were] saying they would soon give India an answer it would never forget." Several days after the raids, a leading Indian security official who had been closely involved in their planning said that Pakistan's continued denial that any surgical strikes took place was a "stance that suits us." He further stated – "The surprise element in such an operation is key to its success and there will be no predictable repetition. If provoked yet again, we will amend our operational tactics."


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Both Indian Defence Minister Parrikar and National Security Advisor Doval were shown original, unedited footage from the military raids on 1 October. After viewing it, Parrikar informed Prime Minister Modi that he was satisfied with what he had seen, and that there was no need to publicly release any footage. In response to calls from members of opposition parties to release the footage, a senior government official stated, "The Opposition should understand the difference between a covert and overt strike. And it is not incumbent on the Indian Army to release video footage every time they do their duty." On 5 October, two senior ministers in the Indian government said the Indian Army had submitted the footage to the government, but that the government, with the concurrence of the army, felt there was no need to release it to the public.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: After India's operation, India and Pakistan increased their exchanges of small arms and mortar fire across the Line of Control, resulting in frequent reports of Indian and Pakistani casualties.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: In 2017 the Indian government conferred gallantry awards to nineteen soldiers who had participated in the strikes. Among those who received awards include Major Rohit Suri, the leader of the operation who was honored with the Kirti Chakra, the second highest peacetime gallantry award.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: On 27 June 2018, an alleged footage of the strikes was released by the Indian government to the Indian media as proof to the strike. Pakistan's foreign office spokesman, however, rejected the alleged video and termed Indian claims as farcical. The Indian government released additional videos on 27 September 2018.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Across India, the military raid was widely praised. The opposition initially raised doubts that the surgical strike actually took place, but later the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi lauded Prime Minister Modi commenting- "for the first time in his tenure, he has taken an action that is worthy of the status of a Prime Minister."


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Following the military raid, in anticipation of cross-border shelling from Pakistan, Indian authorities evacuated 10,000 residents of villages located within ten kilometres of the border, in the states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Military surveillance was also stepped up along the Line of Control.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Pakistan rejected the claim of a surgical strike, stating that Indian troops had only engaged in firing upon Pakistani soldiers, killing two Pakistani soldiers and wounding nine. The spokesperson for the Pakistani Army asked: "Where is the damage?”, referring to the lack of any evidence of surgical strikes. ISPR spokesman Asim Bajwa termed the "surgical strike" claim an "illusion being deliberately generated by India to create false effects" and a "fabrication of the truth".


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convened an all-parties conference and an emergency cabinet meeting. He stated Pakistan would take any steps necessary to safeguard its territorial integrity. "We will defend our homeland against any aggression. The entire nation is standing shoulder to shoulder with our armed forces."


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif termed the Indian claim a "drama", adding that "If Pakistan were to conduct a surgical strike, it would become a chapter in Indian textbooks."


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs was confirmed to be attending the 7th Heart of Asia Conference, the first visit by a high-level Pakistani official since December 2015. This was seen as a move to help de-escalate tensions by the Indian media. The situation de-escalated after 23 November, with no incident being reported except the injury of a BSF personnel in Pakistani firing on 2 December. Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit also offered hosting bilateral dialogue at Heart of Asia Conference.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: But the conference ended without any peace talks and the delegates returned to their countries. Media said that there was a short conversation between Aziz and Indian leaders as soon as he landed. But it was denied this was not billed a de-escalation of border tensions.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: "Special Operations: India 'Surgical Strikes"' (2018) is a TV documentary which premièred on 22 January 2018 on History TV18 Channel. It was directed and produced by Prabhu Asgaonkar and Manika Berry Asgaonkar.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: "" (2019) is an Indian Hindi-language film based on the attack and was released on 11 January 2019, starring Vicky Kaushal and Yami Gautam as lead roles.


title: 2016 Indian Line of Control strike

text: "Avrodh the Siege Within" (2020) is an Indian web series, nine episodes long, based on the 2016 Uri attack and the following surgical strikes. It is based on a chapter of the book India's Most Fearless.


title: Emmy Göring

text: Emma Johanna Henny "Emmy" Göring (; 24 March 1893 – 8 June 1973) was a German actress and the second wife of "Luftwaffe" Commander-in-Chief Hermann Göring. She served as Adolf Hitler's hostess at many state functions and thereby staked a claim to the title of "First Lady of the Third Reich".


title: Emmy Göring

text: She was born Emma Sonnemann in Hamburg, Germany on 24 March 1893 to a wealthy salesman. After schooling, she became an actress at the National Theatre in Weimar.


title: Emmy Göring

text: On 13 January 1916, Sonnemann married actor Karl Köstlin in Trieste, Austria-Hungary. Thereafter, she was known as Emmy Köstlin. In her autobiography, Göring said that she and Köstlin soon realized that they were more suited as friends and soon separated. They eventually divorced in 1926.


title: Emmy Göring

text: On 10 April 1935, she married the prominent Nazi and "Luftwaffe" chief Hermann Göring, becoming Emmy Göring. It was also Göring's second marriage; his first wife, Carin, had died in October 1931. She was given an unsolicited membership to the Nazi Party during Christmas 1938.


title: Emmy Göring

text: Their daughter, Edda, was born on 2 June 1938. Edda was reported as being named after Countess Edda Ciano, eldest child of Benito Mussolini. "Time" reported: "Herr and Frau Göring became her fast friends." However, in her autobiography, Göring said her daughter was named after one of her friends.


title: Emmy Göring

text: Hermann Göring named his country house "Carinhall" after his first wife, while referring to his hunting lodge at Rominten (now Krasnolesye)the "Reichsjägerhof"as "Emmyhall".


title: Emmy Göring

text: Emmy Göring served as Hitler's hostess at many state functions prior to the Second World War. This and her claim to be the "First Lady of the Third Reich" created much animosity between herself and Hitler's future wife, Eva Braun, whom she snubbed and openly despised. Hitler consequently issued angry instructions to Hermann Göring demanding that Emmy treat Eva with more respect; one of the outcomes of Emmy's condescending attitude toward Eva was that she was no longer invited to Hitler's Bavarian retreat, the "Berghof". As for Eva Braun, she allegedly never forgave Emmy for having assumed the role of "First Lady of the Reich".


title: Emmy Göring

text: As wife of one of the richest and most powerful men in Europe, she received much public attention, was constantly photographed, and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle well into the Second World War. Her husband owned mansions, estates and castles in Austria, Germany and Poland and was a major beneficiary of the Nazis' confiscation of art and wealth from Jews and others deemed enemies by the Nazi regime. Her husband celebrated their daughter's birth by ordering 500 planes to fly over Berlin (he stated he would have flown 1,000 planes as a salute for a son).


title: Emmy Göring

text: After the end of the war, a German denazification court convicted her of being a Nazi and sentenced her to one year in jail. When she was released, 30 percent of her property was confiscated, and she was banned from the stage for five years.


title: Emmy Göring

text: Some years after her release from jail, Emmy Göring secured a very small flat in a building in the city of Munich and remained there for the rest of her life. In her final years, she suffered from sciatica. She wrote an autobiography, "An der Seite meines Mannes" (1967), published in English as "My Life with Goering" in 1972.


title: Toledo War

text: The Toledo War (1835–36), also known as the Michigan–Ohio War or the Ohio–Michigan War, was an almost bloodless boundary dispute between the U.S. state of Ohio and the adjoining territory of Michigan over what is now known as the Toledo Strip. Control of the mouth of the Maumee River and the inland shipping opportunities it represented, and the good farmland to the west were seen by both parties as valuable economic assets.


title: Toledo War

text: Poor geographical understanding of the Great Lakes helped produce conflicting state and federal legislation between 1787 and 1805, and varying interpretations of the laws led the governments of Ohio and Michigan to both claim jurisdiction over a region along their border. The situation came to a head when Michigan petitioned for statehood in 1835 and sought to include the disputed territory within its boundaries. Both sides passed legislation attempting to force the other side's capitulation, and Ohio's Governor Robert Lucas and Michigan's 24-year-old "Boy Governor" Stevens T. Mason helped institute criminal penalties for residents submitting to the other's authority. Both states deployed militias on opposite sides of the Maumee River near Toledo, but besides mutual taunting, there was little interaction between the two forces. The single military confrontation of the "war" ended with a report of shots being fired into the air, incurring no casualties. The only blood spilled was the non-fatal stabbing of a law enforcement officer.


title: Toledo War

text: During the summer of 1836, the United States Congress proposed a compromise whereby Michigan gave up its claim to the strip in exchange for its statehood and the remaining three-quarters of the Upper Peninsula. The northern region's mineral wealth later became an economic asset to Michigan, but at the time the compromise was considered a poor deal for the new state, and voters in a statehood convention in September soundly rejected it. But in December, facing a dire financial crisis and pressure from Congress and President Andrew Jackson, the Michigan government called another convention (called the "Frostbitten Convention"), which accepted the compromise, resolving the Toledo War.


title: Toledo War

text: In 1787, the Congress of the Confederation enacted the Northwest Ordinance, which created the Northwest Territory in what is now the upper Midwestern United States. The Ordinance specified that the territory was eventually to be divided into "not less than three nor more than five" future states. One of the boundaries between them was to be "an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan". When Congress passed the Enabling Act of 1802, which authorized Ohio to begin the process of becoming a U.S. state, the language defining Ohio's northern boundary elaborated on that, but was fundamentally the same: "an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east ... until it shall intersect Lake Erie or the territorial line [with British North America, now Canada], and thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line aforesaid".


title: Toledo War

text: The most highly regarded map of the time, the "Mitchell Map", showed the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan at a latitude north of the mouth of the Detroit River, suggesting that an east–west line would not intersect with Lake Erie at all, until well across the international border. The framers of the 1802 Ohio Constitution therefore believed it was the intent of Congress that Ohio's northern boundary should certainly be north of the mouth of the Maumee River, and possibly even of the Detroit River. Ohio would thus be granted access to most or all of the Lake Erie shoreline west of Pennsylvania, and any other new states carved out of the Northwest Territory would have access to only Lakes Michigan, Huron, or Superior.


title: Toledo War

text: However, the delegates allegedly received reports from a fur trapper that Lake Michigan extended significantly farther south than had previously been believed (or mapped). Thus, it was possible that an east–west line extending east from Lake Michigan's southern tip might intersect Lake Erie somewhere southeast of Maumee Bay, or worse, might not intersect the lake at all; the farther south that Lake Michigan actually extended, the more land Ohio would lose, conceivably even the entire Lake Erie shoreline west of Pennsylvania.


title: Toledo War

text: Addressing this contingency, the Ohio delegates included a provision in the draft Ohio constitution that if this report about Lake Michigan's position was correct, the state boundary line would be angled slightly northeast so as to intersect Lake Erie at the "most northerly cape of the Miami [Maumee] Bay". This provision would guarantee that most of the Maumee River watershed and the southern shore of Lake Erie west of Pennsylvania would fall in Ohio. The draft constitution with this proviso was accepted by the United States Congress, but before Ohio's admission to the Union in February 1803, the proposed constitution was referred to a Congressional committee. The committee's report stated that the clause defining the northern boundary depended on "a fact not yet ascertained" (the latitude of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan), and the members "thought it unnecessary to take it [the provision], at the time, into consideration."


title: Toledo War

text: When Congress created the Michigan Territory in 1805, it used the Northwest Ordinance's language to define the territory's southern boundary, disregarding that provision in Ohio's state constitution. This difference, and its potential ramifications, apparently went unnoticed at the time, but it established the legal basis for the conflict that would erupt 30 years later.


title: Toledo War

text: The location of the border was contested throughout the early 19th century. Residents of the Port of Miami—which would later become Toledo—urged the Ohio government to resolve the border issue. The Ohio legislature, in turn, passed repeated resolutions and requests asking Congress to take up the matter. In 1812, Congress approved a request for an official survey of the line. Delayed because of the War of 1812, it was only after Indiana's admission to the Union in 1816 that work on the survey commenced. At that time, the border between Michigan and Indiana was altered from the Northwest Ordinance boundary – over the protests of the Michigan Territory – moving it northward to give the new state substantial frontage on Lake Michigan.


title: Toledo War

text: U.S. Surveyor General Edward Tiffin, who was in charge of the survey, was a former Ohio governor, and employed William Harris to survey not the Ordinance Line, but the line described in the Ohio Constitution of 1802. When completed, the "Harris Line" placed the mouth of the Maumee River completely in Ohio, as intended by the drafters of the state constitution. When the results of the survey were made public, Michigan territorial governor Lewis Cass objected, writing in a letter to Tiffin that the survey was biased to favor Ohio and "is only adding strength to the strong, and making the weak still weaker."


title: Toledo War

text: In response, Michigan commissioned a second survey that was carried out by John A. Fulton. The Fulton survey was based upon the original 1787 Ordinance Line, and after measuring the line eastward from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, it found the Ohio boundary to lie just southeast of the mouth of the Maumee River. The region between the Harris and Fulton survey lines formed what is now known as the "Toledo Strip". This ribbon of land between northern Ohio and southern Michigan spanned a region wide, over which both jurisdictions claimed sovereignty. While Ohio refused to cede its claim, Michigan quietly occupied it for the next several years, setting up local governments, building roads, and collecting taxes throughout the area.


title: Toledo War

text: The Toledo Strip was and still is a commercially important area. Prior to the rise of the railroad industry, rivers and canals were the major "highways of commerce" in the American Midwest. A small but important part of the Strip—the area around present-day Toledo and Maumee Bay—fell within the Great Black Swamp, and this area was nearly impossible to navigate by road, especially after spring and summer rains. Draining into Lake Erie, the Maumee River was not necessarily well-suited for large ships, but it did provide an easy connection to Indiana's Fort Wayne. At the time, there were plans to connect the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes through a series of canals. One such canal system approved by the Ohio legislature in 1825 was the Miami and Erie Canal that included a connection to the Ohio River and an outflow into Lake Erie via the Maumee River.


title: Toledo War

text: During the conflict over the Toledo Strip, the Erie Canal was built, linking New York City and the Eastern seaboard to the Great Lakes at Buffalo. The canal finished in 1825, and immediately became a major route for trade and migration. Corn and other farm products (from the Midwest) could be shipped to eastern markets for much less expense than the older route along the Mississippi River. In addition, the migration of settlers to the Midwest increased sharply after the canal was finished, turning Buffalo and other port cities into boomtowns.


title: Toledo War

text: The success of the Erie Canal inspired many other canal projects. Because the western end of Lake Erie offered the shortest overland route to the frontiers of Indiana and Illinois, Maumee Harbor was seen as a site of immediate importance and great value. Detroit was up the Detroit River from Lake Erie, and faced the difficult barrier of the Great Black Swamp to the south. Because of this, Detroit was less suited to new transportation projects such as canals, and later railroads, than was Toledo. From this perspective on the rapidly developing Midwest of the 1820s and 1830s, both states had much to gain by controlling the land in the Toledo Strip.


title: Toledo War

text: In addition, the Strip west of the Toledo area is good for agriculture, because of its well-drained, fertile loam soil. The area had for many years produced large amounts of corn and wheat per acre. Michigan and Ohio both wanted what seemed strategically and economically destined to become an important port and prosperous farmland.


title: Toledo War

text: In 1820–21, the federal land surveys had reached the disputed area from two directions, progressing southward from a baseline in Michigan and northward from one in Ohio. For unknown reasons, Surveyor General Tiffin ordered the two surveys to close on the Northwest Ordinance (Fulton) line, rather than Harris' line, perhaps lending implicit support to Michigan's claims over Ohio's. Thus, townships that were established north of the line assumed they were part of the Michigan Territory. By the early 1820s, the growing Michigan Territory reached the minimum population threshold of 60,000 to qualify for statehood. When it sought to hold a state constitutional convention in 1833, Congress rejected the request because of the still-disputed Toledo Strip.


title: Toledo War

text: Ohio asserted that the boundary was firmly established in its constitution and thus Michigan's citizens were simply intruders; the state government refused to negotiate the issue with them. The Ohio Congressional delegation was active in blocking Michigan from attaining statehood, lobbying other states to vote against it. In January 1835, frustrated by the political stalemate, Michigan's territorial governor Stevens T. Mason called for a constitutional convention to be held in May of that year, despite Congress' refusal to approve an enabling act authorizing one.


title: Toledo War

text: In February 1835, Ohio passed legislation that set up county governments in the Strip. The county in which Toledo sat would, later in 1835, be named after incumbent Governor Robert Lucas, a move that further exacerbated the growing tensions with Michigan. Also, during this period, Ohio attempted to use its power in Congress to revive a previously rejected boundary bill that would formally set the state border to be the Harris Line.


title: Toledo War

text: Michigan, led by the young and hot-headed Mason, responded with the passage of the Pains and Penalties Act just six days after Lucas County was formed; the act made it a criminal offense for Ohioans to carry out governmental actions in the Strip, under penalty of a fine up to $1,000 (), up to five years imprisonment at hard labor, or both. Acting as commander-in-chief of the territory, Mason appointed Brigadier General Joseph W. Brown of the Third U.S. Brigade to head the state militia, with the instructions to be ready to act against Ohio trespassers. Lucas obtained legislative approval for a militia of his own, and he soon sent forces to the Strip area. The Toledo War had begun.


title: Toledo War

text: Former United States President John Quincy Adams, who at the time represented Massachusetts in Congress, backed Michigan's claim. In 1833, when Congress rejected Michigan's request for a convention, Adams summed up his opinion on the dispute: "Never in the course of my life have I known a controversy of which all the right was so clearly on one side and all the power so overwhelmingly on the other."


title: Toledo War

text: Acting as commander-in-chief of Ohio's militia, Governor Lucas—along with General John Bell and about 600 other fully armed militiamen—arrived in Perrysburg, Ohio, southwest of Toledo, on March 31, 1835. Shortly thereafter, Governor Mason and General Brown arrived to occupy the city of Toledo proper with around 1,000 armed men, intending to prevent Ohio advances into the Toledo area as well as stopping further border marking from taking place.


title: Toledo War

text: In a desperate attempt to prevent armed battle and to avert the resulting political crisis, U.S. President Andrew Jackson consulted his Attorney General, Benjamin Butler, for his legal opinion on the border dispute. At the time, Ohio was a growing political power in the Union, with 19 U.S. representatives and two senators. In contrast, Michigan, still a territory, had only a single non-voting delegate. Ohio was a crucial swing state in presidential elections, and it would have been devastating to the fledgling Democratic Party to lose its electoral votes. Jackson calculated that his party's best interest would be served by keeping the Toledo Strip as part of Ohio. However, Butler held that until Congress dictated otherwise, the land rightfully belonged to Michigan. This presented a political dilemma for Jackson that spurred him to take action that would greatly influence the outcome.


title: Toledo War

text: On April 3, 1835, Jackson sent two representatives from Washington, D.C. – Richard Rush of Pennsylvania and Benjamin Chew Howard of Maryland – to Toledo to arbitrate the conflict and present a compromise to both governments. The proposal, presented on April 7, recommended that a re-survey to mark the Harris Line commence without further interruption by Michigan, and that the residents of the affected region be allowed to choose their own state or territorial governments until Congress could definitively settle the matter.


title: Toledo War

text: Lucas reluctantly agreed to the proposal and began to disband his militia, believing the debate to be settled. Three days later, elections in the region were held under Ohio law. Mason refused the deal and continued to prepare for possible armed conflict.


title: Toledo War

text: During the elections, Ohio officials were harassed by Michigan authorities, and the area residents were threatened with arrest if they submitted to Ohio's authority. On April 8, 1835, the Monroe County, Michigan sheriff arrived at the home of Major Benjamin F. Stickney, an Ohio partisan. In the first contact between Michigan partisans and the Stickney family, the sheriff arrested two Ohioans under the Pains and Penalties Act on the basis that the men had voted in the Ohio elections.


title: Toledo War

text: After the election, Lucas believed that the commissioners' actions had alleviated the situation and once again sent out surveyors to mark the Harris Line. The project proceeded without serious incident until April 26, 1835, when the surveying group was attacked by 50 to 60 members of General Brown's militia in the Battle of Phillips Corners. As the only site of armed conflict, the battle's name is sometimes used as a synonym for the entire Toledo War.


title: Toledo War

text: Surveyors wrote to Lucas afterward that while observing "the blessings of the Sabbath", Michigan militia forces advised them to retreat. In the ensuing chase, "nine of our men, who did not leave the ground in time after being fired upon by the enemy, from thirty to fifty shots, were taken prisoners and carried away into Tecumseh, Michigan." While the details of the attack are disputed—Michigan claimed it fired no shots, only discharging a few musket rounds in the air as the Ohio group retreated—the battle further infuriated both Ohioans and Michiganders and brought the two sides to the brink of all-out war.


title: Toledo War

text: In response to allegations that Michigan's militia fired upon Ohioans, Lucas called a special session of Ohio's legislature on June 8 to pass several more controversial acts, including the establishment of Toledo as the county seat of Lucas County, the establishment of a Court of Common Pleas in the city, a law to prevent the forcible abduction of Ohio citizens from the area, and a budget of $300,000 ($ in ) to implement the legislation. Michigan's territorial legislature responded with a budget appropriation of $315,000 to fund "its" militia.


title: Toledo War

text: In May and June, Michigan drafted a state constitution, with provisions for a bicameral legislature, a supreme court, and other components of a functional state government. Congress was still not willing to allow Michigan's entry into the Union, and Jackson vowed to reject Michigan's statehood until the border issue and "war" were resolved.


title: Toledo War

text: Lucas ordered his adjutant general, Samuel C. Andrews, to conduct a count of the militia, and was told that 10,000 volunteers were ready to fight. That news became exaggerated as it traveled north, and soon thereafter the Michigan territorial press dared the Ohio "million" to enter the Strip as they "welcomed them to hospitable graves".


title: Toledo War

text: In June 1835, Lucas dispatched a delegation consisting of U.S. Attorney Noah Haynes Swayne, former Congressman William Allen, and David T. Disney to Washington D.C. to confer with Jackson. The delegation presented Ohio's case and urged Jackson to address the situation swiftly.