title: Gaziantep

text: According to Ümit Kurt, born in modern-day Gaziantep and an academic at Harvard's Center for Middle East Studies, "The famous battle of Aintab against the French … seems to have been as much the organized struggle of a group of genocide profiteers seeking to hold onto their loot as it was a fight against an occupying force. The resistance … sought to make it impossible for the Armenian repatriates to remain in their native towns, terrorizing them [again] to make them flee. In short, not only did the local … landowners, industrialists, and civil-military bureaucratic elites lead to the resistance movement, but they also financed it to cleanse Aintab of Armenians." The same Turkish families who made their wealth through the expropriation of Armenians in 1915 and 1921/1922 continued to dominate the city's politics through the one-party period of the Republic of Turkey.


title: Gaziantep

text: In 2013, Turkey, a member state of NATO, requested deployment of MIM-104 Patriot missiles to Gaziantep to be able to respond faster in a case of military operation against Turkish soil in the Syrian Civil War, which was accepted.


title: Gaziantep

text: The current Mayor of Gaziantep is Fatma Şahin, who had previously served as the Minister of Family and Social Policies in the third cabinet of Erdoğan.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep is famous for its regional specialities: Copperware and "Yemeni" sandals, specific to the region, are two examples. The city is an economic center for Southeastern and Eastern Turkey. The number of large industrial businesses established in Gaziantep comprise four percent of Turkish industry in general, while small industries comprise six percent. Also, Gaziantep has the largest organized industrial area in Turkey and holds first position in exports and imports. The city is centre of the Green olive oil-based Nizip Soap industry.


title: Gaziantep

text: Traditionally, commerce in Gaziantep was centre in covered markets known as 'Bedesten' or 'Hans', the best known of which are the Zincirli Bedesten, Hüseyin Pasha Bedesten and Kemikli Bedesten.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep also has a developing tourist industry. Development around the base of the castle upgrades the beauty and accessibility to the castle and to the surrounding copper workshops. New restaurants and tourist-friendly businesses are moving into the area. In comparison with some other regions of Turkey, tourists are still a novelty in Gaziantep and the locals make them very welcome. Many students studying the English language are willing to be guides for tourists.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep is one of the leading producers of machined carpets in the world. It exported approximately US$700 million of machine-made carpets in 2006. There are over 100 carpet facilities in the Gaziantep Organized Industrial Zone.


title: Gaziantep

text: With its extensive olive groves, vineyards, and pistachio orchards, Gaziantep is one of the important agricultural and industrial centres of Turkey.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep is the center of pistachio cultivation in Turkey, producing in 2007, and lends its name to the Turkish word for pistachio, "Antep fıstığı", meaning "Antep nut".


title: Gaziantep

text: In 2009, the largest enclosed shopping center in the city and region, Sanko Park, opened, and began drawing a significant number of shoppers from Syria.


title: Gaziantep

text: Ties between Turkey and Syria have severely deteriorated since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.


title: Gaziantep

text: In the 1787 version of his "Erdbeschreibung", Anton Friedrich Büsching wrote that most Christians of the region were Armenian and the region of Aintab was inhabited by Turkoman tribes, citing Carsten Niebuhr's earlier visit in the region in 1766.


title: Gaziantep

text: Pierre Martin Rémi Aucher-Éloy visited Aintab on May 27 1834, noting a population of 12 thousand people composed of Turks and Armenians. According to James Lewis Farley, who visited the town in 1862, there were 18 thousand Turks, forming the wealthy portion of the Muslims and the nearby rural population, 8.5 thousand Armenians, and 500 Jews in Aintab, most of whom were involved in trading and manufacturing. August Ferdinand Mehren and Élisée Reclus mentioned that Aintab was chiefly inhabited by Turkomans in 1874 and 1895 respectively.


title: Gaziantep

text: When an American missionary hospital, Azariah Smith Memorial Hospital, was formed in the city, the ethnic background of the patients, who were mostly from the city but also from nearby villages and towns like Urfa, were recorded. During the years 1898 - 1900, 1908, and 1911 - 1914, a total of 629 Turks, 1049 Armenians, 152 Kurds, 46 Greeks, 43 Jews, 6 Turkmens, 6 Assyrians, 22 Arabs, 10 Circassians, 2 Germans, 1 Maltese, 1 Italian, 3 Alawites, 2 Iranians, and 4 Americans were treated, all of which indicates the Turkish-Armenian-dominated but still cosmopolitan background of the city. However, the outskirts of the city were largely Muslim and Turkish, since Shepard Riggs, one of the doctors in the hospital, had reported that 2000 villages were served between 1882 and 1888, most of which were Muslim and Turkish.


title: Gaziantep

text: In Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition from 1911 and also in newer editions, the Muslim inhabitants of the town were noted to be mainly of Turkoman origin. Maurice Abadie, the French commander in the Siege of Aintab, reported that the vast majority of the inhabitants of Aintab Sanjak were Turkish, and the rest was made up of Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Circassians, and Jews. According to the Union of the Armenians of Aintab, in 1914, the city had a population of 80 thousand people, which included 30 thousand Armenians, 2 thousand Kurds, several hundreds of Circassians, while the remainder consisted of Turks, who formed the majority. After the eradication of the Armenian community, the city became overwhelmingly Turkish.


title: Gaziantep

text: Although the Armenian population in the city increased under the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and early stages of the Ottoman rule, Armenians existed in the region by at least early 10th century with 300 Armenian villages around Aintab. A portion of this population gradually got Islamized and Turkified.


title: Gaziantep

text: The bulk of the Turkish population comes from tribal origins that became urbanized in the last millennium. The presence of Bayat, Afshar, and Begdili tribes around Aleppo and Aintab have been attested in sources from the 14th century. The region became Turkmen-dominated by the 16th century. The region continued to receive Turkmen migration in later centuries with the arrival of Elbegli and Barak tribes. Turkmen tribes continued dwelling in the region through 19th century.


title: Gaziantep

text: Before the Syrian refugee crisis, the Arab community of Aintab was a small minority group, of urban trader families of Aleppine origin and migrant families from Urfa, Siirt, and Mardin, although Arabs were dominant in the region before Turkic migration. Currently, most Arabs residing in Gaziantep are from a Syrian refugee background. There were 463,387 registered Syrian refugees in the province on May 26, 2022, the vast majority of which lives in the city. Despite a significant non-Arab Syrian refugee minority of Turkmens and Kurds, the majority of these refugees are ethnic Arabs.


title: Gaziantep

text: Unlike most Southeastern Anatolian cities, the city of Gaziantep didn't have a significant Kurdish minority until the 20th century, when it saw an increase in its Kurdish population through economically-motivated migration from Turkish Kurdistan. Up until the late 2010s, the Kurdish population increased to a quarter of the city and the province with 400 thousand to 450 thousand Kurds.


title: Gaziantep

text: The Armenians of Aintab were linguistically Turkified as early as the 16th century. Richard Pococke observed that the Armenians of Aintab were Turcophones like most villagers between Aleppo and Aintab in his visit by 1745. In his work "Erdbeschreibung" from 1768, Anton Friedrich Büsching states that almost in every town and village between Aintab and Aleppo, Turkish is spoken, while Armenians of Aintab also spoke Turkish. During his travels in the late 18th century, Jean-François de La Harpe mentioned the prevalence of the Turkish language in the town. In 1822, Conrad Malte-Brun noted that Turkish was the only language spoken. James Lewis Farley observed that Turkish was the universal language in the city during his visit in 1862. The use of Armenian in Aintab increased after 1850.


title: Gaziantep

text: The Gaziantep Museum of Archaeology has collections of ceramic pieces from the Neolithic Age; various objects, figures and seals from the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages; stone and bronze objects, jewellery, ceramics, coins, glass objects, mosaics and statues from the Hittite, Urartu, Greek Persian, Roman, Commagene, and Byzantine periods.


title: Gaziantep

text: The Zeugma Mosaic Museum houses mosaics from Zeugma and other mosaics, a total of . It opened to the public on 9 September 2011.


title: Gaziantep

text: The Hasan Süzer Ethnography Museum, a restored late-Ottoman stone building, has the old life style decoration and collections of various weapons, documents, instruments used in the defense of the city as well as the photographs of local resistance heroes. It was originally built in 1906 as the home of Garouj Karamanoukian.


title: Gaziantep

text: Some of the other historical remains are the Zeugma (also called "Belkıs" in Turkish), and Kargamış ruins by the town of Nizip and slightly more to the north, Rumkale.


title: Gaziantep

text: Yesemek Quarry and Sculpture Workshop is an open-air museum located in the village known by the same name, south of the town of Islahiye. It is the largest open-air sculpture workshop in the Near East and the ruins in the area date back to the Hittites.


title: Gaziantep

text: The Gaziantep Defence Museum: Before you enter the Panorama Museum located within the Gaziantep Castle, you encounter the statues of three local heroes Molla Mehmet Karayılan, Şehit Mehmet Kâmil and Şahin Bey at the entrance. As you enter the museum, you hear the echoes: "I am from Antep. I am a hawk (Şahin)." The Gaziantep War Museum, in a historic Antep house (also known as the "Nakıpoğlu House") is dedicated to the memory of the 6,317 who died defending the city, becoming symbols of Turkey's national unity and resolve for maintaining independence. The story of how the Battle of Antep is narrated with audio devices and chronological panels.


title: Gaziantep

text: The dervish lodge is part of the mosque's külliye (Islamic-Ottoman social complex centered around a mosque). It was built in the 17th century. The Mevlevi Lodge Monastery is entered via a courtyard which opens off the courtyard of the mosque.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep is known for its cuisine and food culture. A historical stone house built in 1904 has been restored and turned into the Emine Göğüş Cuisine Museum. The museum opened as part of the celebrations for the 87th anniversary of Gaziantep's liberation from French occupation.


title: Gaziantep

text: Zeugma is an ancient city which was established at the shallowest passable part of the river Euphrates, within the boundaries of the present-day Belkıs village in Gaziantep Province. Due to the strategic character of the region in terms of military and commerce since antiquity (Zeugma was the headquarters of an important Roman legion, the "Legio IV Scythica", near the border with Parthia) the city has maintained its importance for centuries, also during the Byzantine period.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep Castle, also known as the Kale, located in the centre of the city displays the historic past and architectural style of the city. Although the history of castle is incomplete, as a result of the excavations conducted there, Bronze Age settlement layers are thought to exist under the section existing on the surface of the soil.


title: Gaziantep

text: Liberation Mosque, the former Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God (Surp Asdvadzadzin), was converted into a mosque after the liberation of the city from the occupying French forces following the Franco-Turkish War (1918–1921). The French forces which occupied the city between 1918 and 1921 included the French Armenian Legion.


title: Gaziantep

text: Boyacı Mosque, a historic mosque in the Şahinbey district, was built by Kadı Kemalettin in 1211 and completed in 1357. It has one of the world's oldest wooden minbars which is elaborately adorned with Koranic verses, stars and geometric patterns. Its minaret is considered one of the symbols of the city.


title: Gaziantep

text: Şirvani Mosque (Şirvani Mehmet Efendi Mosque), also called "İki Şerefeli Cami", is one of the oldest mosques of Gaziantep, located in the Seferpaşa district. It was built by Şirvani Mehmet Efendi.


title: Gaziantep

text: Ömeriye Mosque, a mosque in the Düğmeci district. Tradition states that it was first built during the period of the Islamic Caliphate under the second Caliph, Omar (hence its name), which would make it the oldest known mosque in Gaziantep. The modern mosque was restored at the site in 1850. It is known for its black and red marble mihrab.


title: Gaziantep

text: Şeyh Fethullah Mosque, a historic mosque built in 1563 and located in Kepenek. It has adjoining Turkish baths and a medrese.


title: Gaziantep

text: Nuri Mehmet Pasha Mosque, a mosque in Çukur built in 1786 by nobleman Nuri Mehmet Pasha. Between 1958 and 1968, it was changed into museum but was reinstated as a mosque after an extensive restoration.


title: Gaziantep

text: Ahmet Çelebi Mosque, a mosque in Ulucanlar that was built by Hacı Osman, in 1672. It is noted for its elaborate wooden interior.


title: Gaziantep

text: Tahtani Mosque, a wooden mosque located in Şahinbey, that was built in 1557. The mosque has a unique red marble mihrab.


title: Gaziantep

text: Alaüddevle Mosque (Ali Dola Mosque), built by Dulkadir bey Alaüddevle Bozkurt. Its construction started in 1479 and was completed in 1515. It has been restored recently with the addition of a new entrance.


title: Gaziantep

text: Ali Nacar Mosque, a mosque in Yaprak, Şehitkamil, is one of the biggest mosques in Gaziantep, originally built by Ali Nacar. It was enlarged in 1816.


title: Gaziantep

text: Eyüpoğlu Mosque, a mosque built by the local Islamic saint Eyüboğlu Ahmet during the 14th century. There has been a major restoration, so much so that the present structure hardly resembles the original building.


title: Gaziantep

text: Kendirli Church, a church that was built in 1860 by means of the assistance of French missionaries and Napoleon III. It is a Catholic Armenian church. It has a rectangular plan and was built through white cut stones on a foundation of black cut stone within a large garden.


title: Gaziantep

text: Pişirici Kastel, a "kastel" (fountain) which used to be a part of a bigger group of buildings, is thought to have been built in 1282. "Kastels" are water fountains built below ground, and they are structures peculiar to Gaziantep. They are places for ablution, prayer, washing and relaxation.


title: Gaziantep

text: Old houses of Gaziantep, the traditional houses that are located in the old city: Eyüboğlu, Türktepe, Tepebaşı, Bostancı, Kozluca, Şehreküstü and Kale. They are made of locally found keymik rock and have an inner courtyard called the "hayat", which is the focal point of the house.


title: Gaziantep

text: Tahmis Coffee House, a coffee house that was built by Mustafa Ağa Bin Yusuf, a Turkmen ağa and flag officer, in 1635–1638, in order to provide an income for the dervish lodge. The building suffered two big fires in 1901 and 1903.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep Zoo is one of the largest zoos in Turkey. Especially interesting are the bird pavilion and the aquarium. Gaziantep Zoo offers a large variety of animals, attractive picnic grounds, and a cafeteria. The facility is established on field. There are 264 species and 6,814 animals.


title: Gaziantep

text: Zincirli Bedesten is the Ottoman-era covered bazaar of Gaziantep and was built in 1781 by Hüseyin Pasha of Darende. From records, it is known that there was formerly an epigraph on the south gate written by Kusuri; however, this inscription is not in place today. This bazaar was used as a wholesale market hall for meat, fruit and vegetables.


title: Gaziantep

text: Bakırcılar çarşısi is the coppersmith bazaar of Gaziantep. This trade has existed in the region for over 500 years. The bazaar is part of the official culture route designed to help visitors discover traditions and culture of the city.


title: Gaziantep

text: The exact date of the inn's (caravanserai) construction is unknown, but it is estimated to have been built in the early 19th century. It is a two-storey building with two courtyards. It is said to have been built by Muhsinzade Hadji Mehmet Bey in 1892. The inn was repaired in 1985 and parts of the top floor were rebuilt.


title: Gaziantep

text: The original building was constructed by Mustafa Ağa in 1640 to provide an income for the dervish lodge, but was completely destroyed in a fire. The exact construction date of the present building is unknown; however the architectural style suggests the 19th century.


title: Gaziantep

text: The building is built on rectangular plan and contains many motifs of classical Ottoman inn architecture. It was built with evenly cut stones and the pitched roof is covered by tiles.


title: Gaziantep

text: This inn has no epigraph showing the dates of construction or renovation, but according to historical data, the estimated date of construction is the late 17th century. Ownership was passed to Hüseyin Ağa, son of Nur Ali Ağa, in the early 19th century.


title: Gaziantep

text: The construction date of this inn is unknown. The epigraph on the main gate of the inn is dated 1800, but the building apparently had been built earlier and was repaired at this date. The first owners of the inn were Asiye, the daughter of Battal Bey and Emine Hatun, the daughter of Hadji Osman Bey.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep is largely regarded as the city with the richest cuisine in Turkey. It was the first city in Turkey to be designated as a City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in 2015. In 2013, Gaziantep baklava became the first Turkish product with a European protected designation of origin and geographical indication.


title: Gaziantep

text: The local Turkish dialect of Gaziantep is classified as a part of the Western Turkish dialects based on phonetic and grammatical similarities. The dialect carries influences mainly from Armenian and Arabic. The local Turkish dialect of Gaziantep is an integral part of the native identity of the city and is being preserved through often humorous plays by theatrical troupes, such as "Çeled Uşaglar" ( naughty children).


title: Gaziantep

text: The city is served by Oğuzeli Airport, which has commercial flights to domestic and regional international destinations. The city is served by Turkish State Railways which operates the Gaziantep Railway Station in the City Center.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep has a three line light rail system called the Gaziantep Tram. The Gaziantep Tram consists of three lines, is 35 km long and carries 75,000 daily passengers. The system opened in 2011 and was extended in 2012 and 2014.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: "Csa", Trewartha: "Cs"), with hot, dry summers and cool, wet and often snowy winters.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep Anatolian High School (founded in 1976) is a public school focusing on English language education.


title: Gaziantep

text: Gaziantep Science High School is a public boarding high school in Gaziantep, Turkey with a curriculum concentrating on natural sciences and mathematics, and with teaching in Turkish.


title: Gaziantep

text: There are also variety of high schools consisting of both private and public schools, including Gaziantep Fen Lisesi. Gaziantep College Foundation is one of the oldest colleges in Gaziantep. Gaziantep College Foundation's (abbv. GKV) science high school is the most successful high school in Gaziantep.


title: Gaziantep

text: Sanko College is younger but also successful school in Gaziantep. Its facility is one of the most qualified school facilities in Turkey. Sanko's newest science and technology high school is also a very good school.


title: Gaziantep

text: The main campus of Gaziantep University is located away from the city center. The institution acquired state university status in 1987, but had already offered higher education since 1973 as an extension campus of the Middle East Technical University. It is one of the largest universities in Turkey, boasting 27,000 students.


title: Gaziantep

text: Hasan Kalyoncu University (Hasan Kalyoncu Üniversitesi) is a private university established in 2008. Currently, the university has five faculties, three institutes and three vocational schools.


title: Gaziantep

text: Zirve University (Zirve Üniversitesi) was a private university established in 2009. As of 2016, the university had five faculties. The university was closed by the government in 2016 and its facilities transferred to Gaziantep University.


title: Gaziantep

text: The youngest university in Gaziantep is Sanko University (Sanko Üniversitesi). Established in 2013, Sanko University is the first "thematic university" in Turkey.


title: Gaziantep

text: Beslenspor has played in the Turkish Basketball League between 1986 and 1992 and presented Gaziantep at basketball once.


title: Jean-Philippe Susilovic

text: Jean-Philippe Susilovic (born November 26 1975), often referred to simply as Jean-Philippe or JP, is a Belgian television personality and restaurant director. He is best known for his appearances as the "maître d'hôtel" on the American version of Gordon Ramsay's cooking reality show "Hell's Kitchen", which he appeared on the show's first seven seasons, later on season 11 and 12, and was also the "maître d'hôtel" for the first series of the original British version of the show.


title: Jean-Philippe Susilovic

text: Susilovic met Ramsay when he was 17 and Ramsay was 25. He has been described by one executive chef as the ideal person to be the "maître d'hôtel" for "Hell's Kitchen". He is said to be and represent the "quintessential" "maître d'hôtel".


title: Jean-Philippe Susilovic

text: Susilovic joined Ramsay in 1995, working in Ramsay's restaurant Aubergine. His experience in Michelin-starred restaurants broadened when he moved to the United States to work in restaurants such as New York's La Panetiere, Danube, and Daniel. In October 2001, he moved to the Middle East to work with Ramsay as the manager of Verre at the Hilton Dubai Creek. In 2010, he returned to serve as the "maître d'hôtel" at Ramsay's re-opened Pétrus. He was the "maître d'hôtel" for five years at Pétrus in the Berkeley, and moved over with the restaurant to the new location.


title: Jean-Philippe Susilovic

text: Susilovic left the American "Hell's Kitchen" show following the seventh season due to his commitment as restaurant director at Ramsay's London restaurant Pétrus. Susilovic returned to the show for seasons 11 and 12 but again left before filming began on season 13. He is a recurrent and popular part of the cast.


title: Jean-Philippe Susilovic

text: Currently Susilovic owns and runs a restaurant in Ostend, Belgium called Kiss The Chef, with his wife Daorung Kaenphutsa (a.k.a. Chef Juen).


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: The Hungarian Parliament Building ( , which translates to "House of the Country" or "House of the Nation"), also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable landmark of Hungary, and a popular tourist destination in Budapest. It is situated on Kossuth Square in the Pest side of the city, on the eastern bank of the Danube. It was designed by Hungarian architect Imre Steindl in neo-Gothic style and opened in 1902. It has been the largest building in Hungary since its completion.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: Budapest was united from three cities in 1873, namely Buda, Óbuda, and Pest. Seven years later the Diet resolved to establish a new, representative parliament building, expressing the sovereignty of the nation. The building was planned to face the Danube River. An international competition was held, and Imre Steindl emerged as the victor; the plans of two other competitors were later also realized in the form of the Ethnographic Museum and the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, both facing the Parliament Building. Construction from the winning plan was started in 1885, and the building was inaugurated on the presumed 1,000th anniversary of the country in 1896. The keys to the building being handed over in 1902, however, It was not fully completed until 1904. The architect of the building first went blind and then later, died before its completion.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: About 100,000 people were involved in its construction, during which 40 million bricks, half a million precious stones and of gold were used.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: Since World War II the legislature became unicameral, and today the government uses only a small portion of the building. During the People's Republic of Hungary a red star perched on the top of the dome, but it was removed in 1990 after the fall of communism. Mátyás Szűrös declared the Hungarian Republic from the balcony facing Kossuth Lajos Square on 23 October 1989.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: The Parliament Building is built in the Gothic Revival style; it has a symmetrical façade and a central dome. The dome is Renaissance Revival architecture. The parliament is also largely symmetrical from the inside, with two identical parliament halls on the opposing sides of the building. One of the two halls is still in use today for sessions of the Hungarian National Assembly, the other for ceremonies, conferences, and guided tours. It is long and wide. Its interior includes 10 courtyards, 13 passenger and freight elevators, 27 gates, 29 staircases and 691 rooms (which includes more than 200 offices). With its height of , it used to be one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest, along with Saint Stephen's Basilica, until the MOL Campus topped out in 2021. The number 96 refers to the nation's millennium, 1896, and the conquest of the later Kingdom of Hungary in 896. It is free to enter before 8 am.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: The main façade overlooks the River Danube, but the official main entrance is from the square on the east side of the building. Inside and outside, there are altogether 242 sculptures on the walls. The façade displays statues of Hungarian rulers, Transylvanian leaders, and famous military figures. The coats of arms of kings and dukes are depicted over the windows. The eastern staircase is flanked by two lions. When entering the Parliament, visitors can walk up great ornamental stairs, see frescoes on the ceiling, and pass by the bust of the architect, Imre Steindl, in a wall niche. Other statues include those of Árpád, Stephen I and John Hunyadi. The building features stained glass and glass mosaics by Miksa Róth.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: One of the famous parts of the building is the hexadecagonal (sixteen-sided) central hall, with huge chambers adjoining it: the Lower House and the Upper House. The modern National Assembly is unicameral and meets in the Lower House, while the Upper House is used as a conference and meeting room. The Holy Crown of Hungary, which is also depicted in the coat of arms of Hungary, has been displayed in the central hall since 2000. Due to its extensive surface and detailed handiwork, the building is almost always under renovation.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: The Parliament is accessible with Line 2 of the Budapest Metro and with tram line 2, from the Kossuth Lajos Square station.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: At the east front of the building is a memorial to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, as well as the imposing Kossuth Memorial and the equestrian statue of Francis II Rákóczi. A seated statue of Attila József as described in his poem "By the Danube" occupies a site on the south lawn. Martyrs' Square "(Vértanúk tere)" is immediately adjacent to Kossuth Square, with a statue of Imre Nagy.


title: Hungarian Parliament Building

text: The building features on more than 50 postage stamps issued by Hungary during 1917–1921. Some of them are: In 1917, 1919, 15 April 1920, and 1921.


title: Kin (Irish TV series)

text: Kin is an Irish television crime drama series, co-created by Peter McKenna and Ciaran Donnelly, that first broadcast on 9 September 2021, on RTÉ. The series, which revolves around a fictional Dublin family embroiled in gangland war, stars Aiden Gillen and Ciarán Hinds as rival gang leaders, Frank Kinsella and Eamonn Cunningham.


title: Kin (Irish TV series)

text: The series was first announced in November 2020, with co-creator Peter McKenna set as showrunner and Diarmuid Goggins as director of the first four episodes. Tessa Hoffe was later announced as director of episodes five to eight. In February 2022, the series premiered in the United States and Canada on AMC+, with Sundance Now premiering the series in the UK. A second series was announced on 10 February 2022, with production having begun in July.


title: Kin (Irish TV series)

text: "Kin" is McKenna's third project for RTE, following the success of "Red Rock" (2015―2019) and "Hidden Assets" (2021).


title: Kin (Irish TV series)

text: Prior to the series premiere', several news outlets stated the series was inspired by the Kinahan gang and the Hutch–Kinahan feud, and noted similarities to former RTE staple "Love/Hate". A show "insider" stated that "This is not the Kinahans' story, but people can draw their own conclusions. Viewers will be able to make up their own mind about it."


title: Kin (Irish TV series)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.0/10, based on 9 critic reviews.


title: Kin (Irish TV series)

text: Alex McLevy of "The A.V. Club" gave the series a B- and wrote: "It's simply an opportunity to watch some gifted actors do what they do, very well, with a story that glides along in entertaining but unoriginal manner."


title: Paul Gross

text: Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, director, writer, producer, and musician born in Calgary, Alberta.


title: Paul Gross

text: Gross is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the popular Canadian television series "Due South" as well as for his 2008 war film "Passchendaele", which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. Gross acted as executive producer on "Due South" in addition to starring, wrote seven episodes including the two-part series finale, and wrote and sang songs for the soundtrack of the series. He later found success with another Canadian television series, "Slings & Arrows" and "Republic of Doyle".


title: Paul Gross

text: Gross was born in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Renie Gross (née Dunne), a writer and art historian, and Robert "Bob" Gross, a career soldier, colonel, and tank commander. His family moved to Arlington, Virginia in his adolescence, where Gross attended Yorktown High School. He credits drama teacher Timothy Jecko as his inspiration for becoming an actor: "I'm not sure where I would have ended up otherwise."


title: Paul Gross

text: Gross studied acting at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, but he left during the third year of his study. He went back later to complete the half-credit needed to receive his fine arts degree. He appeared in several stage productions, such as "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet". Other productions in which he appeared include "Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme" and "As You Like It". His student work "The Deer and the Antelope Play" was co-produced by the university’s department of drama and Theatre Network, and won both the Clifford E. Lee National Playwriting Award and the Alberta Culture Playwriting Award.


title: Paul Gross

text: He wrote and directed the curling movie "Men with Brooms". Gross starred in the television series "Slings & Arrows" from 2003 to 2006 alongside his wife Martha Burns, which "The A.V. Club" called "one of TV's greatest shows".


title: Paul Gross

text: In 2008, he attracted widespread attention in Canada when he wrote, co-produced, directed, and starred in the Genie Award-winning film "Passchendaele", inspired by stories he heard from his grandfather, a First World War soldier. The film had its premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival on September 4, 2008, when it also had the honour of opening the festival. The film received a mixed reception upon release. Despite this, it won several awards; namely five awards the 29th Genie Awards, including Best Picture, and the Golden Reel Award for Canada's top-grossing film of 2008. On March 2, 2009, Paul Gross was honoured for his film "Passchendaele", winning that year's National Arts Centre Award for achievement over the past performance year.


title: Paul Gross

text: From September 16, 2011, he appeared in a production of Noël Coward's "Private Lives" in Toronto co-starring Kim Cattrall (the production ended October 30, 2011); the production moved to Broadway where it opened November 6, and closed on December 31, 2011. That year, he also produced a feature film with Akshay Kumar called "Breakaway" starring Camilla Belle and Vinay Virmani.


title: Paul Gross

text: More recently, Gross completed work on the contemporary war drama "Hyena Road", released on October 9, 2015.


title: Paul Gross

text: His role as upright Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Benton Fraser in the "Due South" television series (1994–1999) brought him increased recognition. Like fellow actor David Marciano, he didn't want to do the show at first, and creator Paul Haggis didn't even know if he wanted Gross for the role, but following a meeting, he was cast as Constable Benton Fraser.


title: Paul Gross

text: When "Due South" was revived for the third season, Gross returned in the role of Benton Fraser. He also took on duties as executive producer and writer. He earned an estimated salary of $2–3 million per season, and at the time was the highest-paid performer in Canadian television history. He wrote several episodes of the last season of the series. His favourite episodes include "Gift of the Wheelman" and "All the Queen's Horses" and his episodes "Mountie on the Bounty" and "Call of the Wild" are of a similar style.


title: Paul Gross

text: In September 1988, Gross married Canadian actress Martha Burns. The couple have two children, Hannah Gross, who is also an actress, and Jack Gross.


title: Transgressive art

text: Transgressive art is art that aims to outrage or violate basic morals and sensibilities. The term "transgressive" was first used in this sense by American filmmaker Nick Zedd and his Cinema of Transgression in 1985. Zedd used it to describe his legacy with underground film-makers like Paul Morrissey, John Waters, and Kenneth Anger, and the relationship they shared with Zedd and his New York City peers in the early 1980s.


title: Transgressive art

text: From an academic perspective, many traces of transgression can be found in any art which is considered offensive because of its shock value; from the French Salon des Refusés artists to Dada and Surrealism. Philosophers Mikhail Bakhtin and Georges Bataille have published works on the nature of transgression.


title: Transgressive art

text: Transgressional works share some themes with art that deals with psychological dislocation and mental illness. Examples of this relationship, between social transgression and the exploration of mental states relating to illness, include many of the activities and works of the Dadaists, Surrealists, and Fluxus-related artists, such as Carolee Schneemann – and, in literature, Albert Camus's "L'Etranger" or J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye".


title: Transgressive art

text: Since the late 1990s, a new group of transgressive artists has emerged, such as the Canadian artist Rick Gibson who made a pair of earrings out of human fetuses and ate a piece of human testicle. In China several artists have produced transgressive art, including Zhu Yu, who published images of himself eating what appeared to be a human fetus; and Yang Zhichao for extreme body art.


title: Transgressive art

text: Transgressive artist Richard Kern began making films in New York City with actors Nick Zedd and Lung Leg in the early 1980s. Some were videos for musical artists, including the Butthole Surfers and Sonic Youth.


title: Transgressive art

text: During the 1980s, artists such as Dread Scott created art that was so controversial it ended up in the supreme court. In the case of Scott, United States v. Eichman, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the government to prohibit an artwork that desecrates the American Flag. Another artist, Robert Mapplethorpe caused the Director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati to be put on trial for obscenity in 1990. Both cases were ruled in favor of the artists.


title: Transgressive art

text: Subsequent transgressive artists of the 1990s overlapped the boundaries of literature, art, and music, including GG Allin, Lisa Crystal Carver, Shane Bugbee, and Costes. With these artists came a greater emphasis on life itself (or death) as art, rather than just depicting a certain mindset in film or music. They were instrumental in creating a new type of visionary art and music, and influenced artists including Alec Empire, Cock E.S.P., Crash Worship, Usama Alshaibi, Liz Armstrong, Lennie Lee, Weasel Walter, Andy Ortmann, and the later work featured in Peter Bagge's comic "Hate".


title: Transgressive art

text: However, the term can also be applied to transgressive literature as well. Examples include "Trainspotting" by Irvine Welsh, "Blood and Guts in High School" by Kathy Acker, "American Psycho" by Bret Easton Ellis, "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk, "Behead All Satans" by MNM-DR, and J. G. Ballard's short story "The Enormous Space". These works deal with issues that were considered to be outside the social norms. Their characters abuse drugs, engage in violent behaviour or could be considered sexual deviants.


title: Transgressive art

text: Among the most notorious works of transgressive art among the general public have been sculpture, collages, and installation art which offended Christian religious sensibilities. These include Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ", featuring a crucifix in a beaker of urine, and Chris Ofili's "The Holy Virgin Mary", a multi-media painting which is partially made of elephant dung.


title: Transgressive art

text: Jeffrey Weiss of Artforum considers some of the work of Cy Twombly to be transgressive, citing "drawing as a form of scrawl".


title: Transgressive art

text: Rock and roll music has inspired controversy and been transgressive from its inception. As certain other musical genres grew in popularity, some transgressive artists used controversy to make a statement, gain attention, or make a profit (or a combination of these). Among certain musical genres and movements, offending modern sensibilities was an integral part of the music. Musical genres that utilize transgressive themes or music include genres such as shock rock, punk rock; horrorcore and its parent genres of hardcore hip hop and gangsta rap, all of which often promote transgressive lyrics and themes in various ways; grindcore, black metal, death metal; and various bands within the avant-garde rock or experimental rock genre. Musicians such as Alice Cooper, Slayer, Kiss, N.W.A, Iggy Pop, Misfits, W.A.S.P., GWAR, GG Allin, The Plasmatics, Cannibal Corpse, Tyler, the Creator, Throbbing Gristle, Marilyn Manson, Die Antwoord, Costes, The Mentors, Anal Cunt, The Sex Pistols, Death Grips, The Meatmen, Eminem, Brotha Lynch Hung and the Dead Kennedys used anti-Christian, anti-establishment, satirical lyrics that were generally considered to be evil by those who did not understand them. Some bands used the controversy to increase their popularity. The idea was, if people complained about their music enough and truly hated them, then the band's name and knowledge of their existence would reach the ears of people who would appreciate their music.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: The second season of the American superhero television series "The Boys", the first series in the franchise based on the comic book series of the same name written by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, was developed for television by American writer and television producer Eric Kripke. The season was produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kripke Enterprises, Kickstart Entertainment and KFL Nightsky Productions.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: The show's second season stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie and Aya Cash. The story continues the conflict between the two groups with the eponymous Boys, now with the aid of Starlight continuing their efforts to defeat Vought despite being wanted by the government. The conflict is worsened when Butcher learns that Becca is still alive and is being held captive by Vought with a superpowered son fathered by Homelander. While Butcher attempts to rescue his wife, Stormfront, a new superhero with a secret past, joins the Seven and subtly promotes her message throughout the world, with the hopes of convincing an unwitting Homelander to lead Supes to world domination.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Unlike the previous season, the season released its episodes on the streaming service Amazon Prime Video on a weekly basis with the first three episodes premiering on September 4, 2020, and the rest running until October 9, 2020. The season received record viewership for Amazon Prime and critical acclaim, with high praise towards the humor, themes, screenplay, storyline, and performances, especially Urban, Starr, and Cash. It also became the best reviewed superhero show of the year. On July 23, 2020, the series was renewed for a third season and several spin-offs, forming a franchise.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Chris Hansen, Maria Menounos, Greg Grunberg, Nancy O'Dell, Katie Couric, and Christopher Lennertz made cameo appearances for the show in the episodes "The Big Ride", "Nothing Like It in the World", "We Gotta Go Now", and "The Bloody Doors Off" respectively. Greg Zajac, Anthony Lake, and Dylan Moscovitch also make cameo appearances for the fictional film within the series as pornographic impersonators of Homelander, Jack from Jupiter, and the Deep for the episode "Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker", while Kym Wyatt McKenzie and Birgitte Solem appear as impersonation of Butcher and Stillwell in a reenactment for the latter's death for the episode "The Big Ride".


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: On July 19, 2019, just a week before the first season's release at the San Diego Comic-Con@Home it was announced that Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season. Kripke alongside other writers had already begun to work in the scripts, just two days before the confirmation of the renewal. Kripke admitted feeling stressed while writing the second season feeling that it took a lot of tiptoeing around expectations for the hit's sophomore outing. The scripts were completed in November 2019. New Zealand actor Karl Urban confirmed through a post on his Instagram account that production has wrapped and revealed that the second season would premiere on mid-2020.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: In an interview Kripke revealed that for the second season, the eponymous team of the show would be wanted criminals that are being hunted and that Homelander will be now free from the control of Stillwell. He teased that for the season it was expected to feature issues like white nationalism, white supremacy, systemic racism, xenophobia, and how the people trying to convey these hateful ideologies would be using the new forms of communication like social media to pass these ideas: "I will admit that I’m pretty angry about the way things are, and one advantage that I don’t take for granted is I have a show that I can put some of my feelings into. I would say that there might be even a little more of the topical issues this season because the writers are a little angrier as well." The scripts were written during the period of the election season in 2018, where the president shared his fears of the immigrants jeopardizing the American life, a major theme that would be explored in the show. The season introduces Stormfront, a character whom Kripke was already planning to introduce for the second season even though before the show was renewed, but Kripke revealed that the character would be gender swapped for the show. He explained that the character "has a very hateful ideology, but they were really interested in modernizing it and how it's sort of often expressed today." It was confirmed that the show would consist of eight episodes like the previous season.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Kripke teased that the first season cliffhanger ending would set up for something bigger for the season: "Once you end up on that season 1 cliffhanger, you know that’s going to be a big part of season 2, you know that Stillwell’s death is going to be a big part of season 2, and superheroes being in the military." Unlike the comics where Becca is killed when she gives birth, in the series she eventually survives and is being held captive by Vought with his son. He revealed that Becca was not killed due to not wanting to use the overused convention of killing off female characters to motivate the heroes and it was also used as an opportunity to surprise readers of the comics by changing the story Becca. Another major change is Becca's child, who in the comics he was killed by Billy when the infant attacked him with his laser eyes. Kripke revealed that he changed this for the following reason: "You have this kid who’s half human and half monster; half the person Butcher loves most in the world and half the person Butcher hates most in the world. That’s just too perfect a character to not keep alive." In the series the child is named Ryan and grows with his mother under the captivity of Vought, who has the potential of developing the same powers of Homelander.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: A major theme that is portrayed in the show is the white supremacy and how it affects the life of several people, with Kripke discussing how the strong character are the priority number one with "The Boys", though the team tries to include commentary pertaining to the real world: "We're going after white nationalism in Season 2. We're going after systemic racism in Season 2. And all of those things really fucking suck." In an interview Kripke explains the portrayal of the xenophobia and white supremacy in the show and how major corporations are in part responsible of this: "[Between season 1 and season 2], we got deeper and deeper into the administration, and I think we as the writers got angrier and angrier. I think there were things like the travel ban happened when we were starting to break season 2, and a lot of the fear of caravans coming over the border to destroy you, and putting children in cages. That made us really want to talk about how white nationalism, and using xenophobia to further their own interests. Corporations are just letting it happen." Another theme that the show portrays is the feminism, as Stormfront is portrayed as a feminist who sticks up for the harangued women of "The Seven" even though she is also portrayed as a racist and xenophobic superhero. It is considered that the show portrays the feminism and succeeds where the MCU fails, as it illustrated the importance of women to the superhero genre as the female characters become stronger as the show progresses.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: The season also makes the introduction of Stormfront, the newest member of "The Seven." However unlike the comics where the character is male, it was revealed that in the series would be portrayed as a female with the intention of creating "Homelander’s worst nightmare that would be a strong woman who wasn’t afraid of him and proceeded to steal his spotlight." For the introduction of the character, Kripke decided to introduce the character initially as a calm and likable character with the intention of hiding her true colors until the third episode, with the intention of reflecting of how people are not always what they seem in the social media or the public. He revealed that the reason of why decided to introduce the character for the season, was to explain the nationalism and xenophobia to reflect it of how this concepts affect a lot of people in the real life. The character has been described as a very evil racist character who use racial slurs that is willing to kill people of color if she can get away with it, including innocent people.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Karl Urban, Erin Moriarty, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Dominique McElligot, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara, and Nathan Mitchell reprised their roles from the first season as Billy Butcher, Starlight, Hughie Campbell, Homelander, Queen Maeve, A-Train, Mother's Milk, The Deep, Frenchie, The Female, and Black Noir respectively. In July 2019, Aya Cash closed a deal with Amazon to join the show as Stormfront, though it was not until March 2020, when it was confirmed that Cash would be forming part of the second season showing the first look of her character. Shantel VanSanten also reprises her role as Becca Butcher in a more expanded role than the previous season. She revealed that season two explores how she manages to reunite with Billy, but then being pulled apart as she is killed at the end of the season ton conclude her storyline for good: "I trust their storytelling and I know that there's so much of wherever it goes, especially for Ryan, that Becca will always be a part of it, and a part of Butcher and a part of Ryan and they'll go on to honor that, just as though we do for people that we've lost."


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Elisabeth Shue returned as a guest star on the fourth episode titled "Nothing Like It in the World", as a doppelgänger of Madelyn Stillwell. On September 5, 2019, Goran Višnjić and Claudia Doumit were cast in recurring roles for the second season. A month later, Patton Oswalt was announced to be part of the show for an unspecified role. Giancarlo Esposito was confirmed to reprise his role as Stan Edgar, with Kripke revealing that he would have an expanded role for the season. Esposito explained that his character was not afraid of Homelander: "I don't believe Stan Edgar has any fear of Homelander at all. And when I was doing the scene, I thought, 'Just think in regards to being very calm, and dealing with a child, but with respect.' But also, you can't forget the vision of how Homelander could take you out. So in the back of my mind, I've got Compound V in my blood, so I'm not worried at all." On August 10, 2020, it was reported that Shawn Ashmore joined the cast as Lamplighter for the second season. In September 2020, it was confirmed that John Noble would be making a guest appearance in the seventh episode of the season as Billy's father Sam Butcher.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Like the previous season, it was confirmed that despite the show taking place in New York City, the filming for the second season would be taking place in Toronto, Canada. The filming for the second season officially started on July 17, 2019, with the intention of getting a 2020 release. On November 1, 2019, Kripke confirmed that the production of the show has officially wrapped, with the release of a short film through Twitter of Homelander killing his adoptive mother when he was a kid. During the filming, it was revealed that a planned scene involving a rogue superhero attacking an assembled crowd was slated to be filmed at Mel Lastman Square. However the were forced to relocate by the Toronto City Council, due to the planned filming location being close of the place where the Toronto van attack occurred on April 23, 2018, in order to avoid hurting the sentiments of the citizens of Toronto.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: The crew filmed at the Roy Thomson Hall and then it was CGI edited to bring the exterior of the tower of Vought corporation. The interior was also used to film the rooms of the fictional tower. For Translucent's funeral ceremony, the crew filmed at the Meridian Arts Centre which is located at the North York district in Toronto, Ontario, though the centre exterior took place at the North York Civic Centre. The crew filmed at the Wet 'n' Wild Toronto Waterpark for the scene where the Deep is arrested, with few CGI modifications in order to recreate the series fictional park the Splash Zone Sandusky. For the scenes of the church of the Collective, where filmed at the Scottish Rite Club in Hamilton, Ontario. To create the Sage Grove psychiatric hospital, the crew filmed at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care complex, which is located in St. Thomas, Ontario. The scenes of the store basement where The Boys hid from the authorities is actually a store found at the Weston Road, near Lawrence. The upstairs room of the Sneaky Dee's bar was used for the scene where Billi Butcher in a self-destructive mood picks up a fight, after Becca refused to leave with him.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: The visual effects for "The Boys" were created by ILM, Rising Sun Pictures, Rocket Science VFX, Rodeo FX, Ollin VFX, Soho VFX, Rhythm & Hues, Method Studios, and Studio 8. Stephan Fleet returned as the VFX supervisor. The scene where "The Boys" are chased on a speed boat, revealed that the set for the scene was built while the whale was entirely made of CGI. Fleet revealed that they only used one blue screen while filming the scene: "It's with The Deep when the whale crests out of the water and you see his body on there. We knew it couldn't be a digi-double if he gets too close to the camera." A real boat was created was built on a special slide to achieve the sequence where the boat goes into the whale. Over 150 of gallons of practical blood was used to spatter on the actors with the VFX being integral for adding water splashes and making both the inside and outside of Lucy generally look wetter and therefore more alive.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: For the Sage Grove mental institution, the array of prisoners in cells were shot back and forth between two cells for about 12 hours with a GoPro to proceed with the visual effects to alter the shots taken to get the scares and the pain of the prisoners. To create the fake vomit of the Acid Man, the team crafted it out out of a vegan jell so they have to ran a tube up to the actor's mouth and then shoot the fake vomit on the fake sandwich. The team proceeded to add the deadly CG enhanced acid effect once they got it done. For the Squeezer scene, the team created a special effect called "blood lollipop" by splattering fake blood at 360 degrees that they photographed. They proceeded to scan a stunt guy and proceeded to add the effect to ensure the realistic effect. Another one was called the "Love Sausage", which was used for the scene where a 15-foot tentacle-like penis that nearly strangles Mother's Milk, they stuck a tube in his pants with some CG enhancement to get convert it into a real penis: "It's inanimate and we needed to create this thing that was aggressive. We needed to have details of male anatomy and it was gross, monstrous. Skin is one of the most uncanny valley situations, and we needed a lot of camera shakes to help sell the gag. It was definitely the most difficult piece to do. It's a giant dick monster, but, while shooting it, you have to treat it like an actual monster. As far as I know, it's something that has never been done in visual effects."


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Christopher Lennertz returned to compose the score of the second season, after composing the score of the previous season. It was released digitally through Madison Gate Records on October 9, 2020, alongside the release of the season's eighth and final episode. The soundtrack also features two original songs for the show. "Never Truly Vanish" was performed by Erin Moriarty for the season's premiere episode at Translucent's funeral with its music video being released on June 3, 2021. Jessie T. Usher also performed an original song "Faster" which featured the collaboration Aimee Proal, with a music video being released at September 1, 2021.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: The teaser trailer of the show was released on December 6, 2019, at the Comic Con Experience in São Paulo, Brazil. On June 26, 2020, the teaser poster for the show was released which resembles the cover of "The Boys" issue #65. The same two clips for the show were released with one being Stromfront's introduction and the other one showing the first three minutes of the season. On July 9, 2020, another teaser trailer for the show was released, with a new poster detailing wanted posters for the members of the eponymous team being released two days later.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: A day before the release of the fourth episode, on September 10, 2020, a short film set between the first and second season titled "Butcher" was released with Karl Urban reprising his role as Billy Butcher and David S. Lee making a guest appearance as Butcher's old friend Jock. The short film explains how the titular character rejoined the main characters, after Homelander revealed to him that Becky was alive. On September 17, 2020, "Death Battle" released two episodes on YouTube featuring the characters of "The Boys," sponsored by Amazon Prime Video.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: The second season of "The Boys," premiered on Amazon Prime Video its first three episodes on September 4, 2020. The rest of the episodes would be now released on a weekly basis until October 9, instead of only dropping an entire season in a day like the previous season.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 97% based on 103 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""The Boys" comes out swinging in a superb second season that digs deeper into its complicated characters and ups the action ante without pulling any of its socially critical punches." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Eric Deggans of "NPR" described the second season as "a wonderfully subversive, cynically entertaining piece of work". Brian Tallerico of "Vulture" commented: "The season premiere introduces new cast members without losing focus of what worked about the first year, and just about all of it bodes well for where the next seven episodes could be going. Strap in." Roxana Hadadi from "The A.V. Club" wrote: "All of those elements feel most in line with The Boys as author Garth Ennis imagined the series: A portrait of shared capitalist and nationalist corruption, entwined together to create a morass of exploitation and abuse." Ben Travers from "IndieWire" gave the series a "B" grade rating and commented: ""The Boys" is still an imperfect beast, but it gets so many parts right - I haven't even talked about the skilled stunt work or expertly staged action scenes - that you're likely to get caught up in its gorging satire." Lorraine Ali from "Los Angeles Times" wrote: "Pulling dark humor out of that caustic cauldron is not just a skill, it's a warped superpower. Even the most super-skeptic of viewers can agree about that." Sonia Saraiya from "Vanity Fair" commented: "Even in the midst of stunning brutality, the show has a sardonic sense of humor that keeps the story crackling." Dan Jolin from "Empire" praised the series for its dark humor and Antony Starr's performance and wrote: "Appropriately enough, Starr remains the, er, star of the show, the very embodiment of its black-hole-dark comedy concept: with great power comes a complete disregard for any form of responsibility, accountability or morality." Liz Shannon Miller of "Collider" wrote: "Perhaps the most important thing that Season 2 does is push the show's scope beyond the realm of capes and tights; its messages aren't subtle, but then again, neither is putting on a costume and fighting crime."


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: David Griffin from "IGN" considered the second season to be more profound than the previous one: "The Boys Season 2 continues its excellent form of balancing its comedy, over-the-top violence, and character development into a cohesive force of awesomeness. While a few lackluster storylines that never get resolved, there are plenty of meaningful moments sprinkled throughout." Daniel Fienberg from "The Hollywood Reporter" gave a positive review to the show: "TV's oddball superhero team-up genre is one that often coheres better in second seasons. "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" made a huge qualitative leap. Netflix's "Umbrella Academy" remained frustratingly uneven, but still tightened up its storytelling. "The Boys", definitely better than either of those shows in its first season, didn't make that leap for me. It's still fun, quick-witted and, to its detriment, glib. But it's explodier than ever and you can take that to the bank." Nick Allen from "RogerEbert.com" was positive of how the show makes references that have been normalized in the American culture: "This is the season that helped me 'get' the appeal of "The Boys", especially as it's more fun to spend time with these characters well-past their try-hard introductions. There's a totally indulgent nature to the series, the way that it offers such depictions of evil or extreme violence caused by pop culture icons, like an energy drink version of 'Watchmen.' And the world of Supes colliding with humans, based on the corruption of absolute power, can be a fascinating backdrop. But season two also proves that if the series is going to be so bloated and only sporadically punchy, it's never going to be as powerful as it thinks it is."


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: Kshitij Rawat from "The Indian Express" considered that the second season was crazier and bigger than the previous one and lauded the season finale calling it one the best that he have seen in years: "If you like everything about The Boys' Season 1 — including the cynicism, brutality and the swearing — you simply can't go wrong with the second season. It turns everything several notches up. Due to a bigger budget, there is more action, bigger scale and more complex visual effects. It is not Marvel Cinematic Universe yet, and it certainly will never be, but it gets the job done. The social commentary is also bolder, and I daresay, The Boys is as brave as Watchmen in this regard." Jack Kleinman from "Inverse" praised Starr's performance and the action sequences by commenting: ""The Boys" is less about the action and more about what happens in between. If you ever wondered what Iron Man would actually do after having one too many drinks or what hanging out with Han Solo at the cantina was really like, "The Boys" has the answers. It's not pretty, but even after two brutal seasons, we still can't look away."


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: On Amazon, season 2 of the series saw initial audience review bombing with 49% of 1400 reviews left by September 6, 2020, providing a one-star rating, most of which praised the available episodes but criticized Amazon's weekly release schedule.


title: The Boys (season 2)

text: In October 2020, it was revealed that the show audience increased 89% compared to the first season. Nielsen ratings revealed that 891 million minutes of the show has been watched placing number 3 on the Nielsen list, just behind "Cobra Kai" (2.17 billion minutes) and Lucifer (1.42 billion minutes). It became the first Non-Netflix show to appear on the Nielsen Top 10 Streaming Shows.


title: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round

text: The AFC second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, which also served as the second round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification, was played from 5 September 2019 to 15 June 2021.


text: A total of forty teams were drawn into eight groups of five to play home-and-away round-robin matches. They included the 34 teams (teams ranked 1–34 in the AFC entrant list) which received byes to this round, and the six winners from the first round.


text: Seven group winners (excluded Qatar, who had already qualified to the World Cup as tournament host) and the five best runners-up advanced to the third round.


text: Matches in this round were also part of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifying campaign. The twelve teams which advanced to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualification and Qatar, as group winner, automatically qualified for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. Twenty-four teams (22 which advanced directly and two which will advance from an additional play-off round) will play in the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualification to decide the remaining eleven teams. In total, the 2023 AFC Asian Cup features 24 teams.


text: The draw for the second round was held on 17 July 2019 at 17:00 MST (), at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


text: On 5 March 2020, FIFA announced that it would be monitoring the health situation in the region for possible rescheduling of matchdays 7 through 10 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later on 9 March, FIFA and AFC jointly announced that the matches on matchdays 7–10 due to take place in March and June 2020 were postponed, with the new dates to be confirmed. However, subject to approval by FIFA and AFC, and agreement of both member associations, the matches may be played as scheduled provided that the safety of all individuals involved meets the required standards. On 5 June, AFC confirmed that matchdays 7 and 8 were scheduled to take place on 8 and 13 October respectively while matchdays 9 and 10 were scheduled to kick off on 12 and 17 November. On 12 August, FIFA announced that the matches scheduled for October and November 2020 would be rescheduled to 2021.


text: On 11 November 2020, the AFC Competitions Committee agreed at its third meeting that all remaining second round matches should be completed by 15 June 2021 with matchdays 7 and 8 in March and matchdays 9 and 10 in June. On the same day, however, FIFA, along with the Bangladeshi and Qatari associations, gave approval to the only second round match originally scheduled for 2020, Qatar versus Bangladesh, which was played on 4 December.


text: Note: The group spots of Qatar and Bangladesh were swapped due to Qatar's planned participation in the 2020 Copa América, which was later deferred (becoming the 2021 Copa América). Qatar eventually withdrew.


text: On 12 March 2021, AFC confirmed the hosts for the group stage scheduled to take place from 31 May to 15 June.


text: In general these hosts were the seeded (Pot 1) teams from each group. The exceptions were Group A (where United Arab Emirates took over hosting duties after China could not host due to COVID-19 restrictions), Group B (where Pot 4 team Kuwait hosted rather than Australia) and Group C (where Pot 3 team Bahrain were chosen rather than Iran).


text: The group spots of Qatar and Bangladesh were swapped due to Qatar's planned participation in the 2020 Copa América. The tournament was later deferred (becoming the 2021 Copa América), and eventually Qatar withdrew from it.


text: North Korea withdrew due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore the results of their matches were excluded from the group standings.


text: Group H contained only four teams compared to five teams in all other groups after North Korea withdrew. Therefore, the results against the fifth-placed team were not counted when determining the ranking of the runner-up teams.


title: Guantanamera

text: "Guantanamera" (; Spanish: (the woman) from Guantánamo) is perhaps the best-known Cuban song and that country's most-noted patriotic song, especially when using a poem by the Cuban poet José Martí for the lyrics. The official writing credits have been given to Joseíto Fernández, who first popularized the song on radio as early as 1929 (although it is unclear when the first release as a record occurred). In 1966, a version by American vocal group the Sandpipers, based on an arrangement by the Weavers from their May 1963 Carnegie Hall Reunion concert, became an international hit.


title: Guantanamera

text: The better known "official" lyrics are based on selections from the poetry collection "Versos Sencillos" ("Simple Verses") by Cuban poet and independence hero José Martí, as adapted by Julián Orbón. The four verses of the song were adapted from four stanzas of "Versos Sencillos", each from a different poem. They are presented here in the original Spanish (poem:stanza).


title: Guantanamera

text: Given the song's musical structure, which fits A–B–A–B (sometimes A–B–B–A) octosyllabic verses, "Guantanamera" lent itself from the beginning to impromptu verses, improvised on the spot, similar to what happens with the Mexican folk song "La Bamba". Joseíto Fernández first used the tune to comment on daily events on his radio program by adapting the lyrics to the song's melody, and then using the song to conclude his show. Through this use, "Guantanamera" became a popular vehicle for romantic, patriotic, humorous, or social commentary in Cuba and elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world.


title: Guantanamera

text: The lyrics often sung by Fernández are about a peasant woman or country girl from Guantánamo (" Guantanamera"), with whom he once had a romantic relationship, and who eventually left him. Fernández provided several explanations during his lifetime, including that she did not have a romantic interest in him, but merely a platonic one.


title: Guantanamera

text: Various other versions have combined lyrics based on the José Martí poem. Additional verses commonly sung are:


title: Guantanamera

text: The music for the song is sometimes also attributed to Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates (consensus puts 1929 as its year of origin), and who used it regularly in one of his radio programs. Some claim that the song's structure actually came from Herminio "El Diablo" García Wilson, who could be credited as a co-composer. García's heirs took the matter to court decades later, but lost the case; the People's Supreme Court of Cuba credited Fernández as the sole composer of the music in 1993. Regardless of either claim, Fernández can safely be claimed as being the first to promote the song widely through his radio programs.


title: Guantanamera

text: Shortly after the Weavers’ Carnegie Hall reunion concert recording in May 1963, Pete Seeger included the song on his album "We Shall Overcome", which was also performed live at Carnegie Hall. Seeger's recording is described by Stewart Mason at Allmusic as the "definitive version" of the song.


title: Guantanamera

text: The version of the song created by Martí and Orbón was used by Seeger as the basis of his reworked version, which he based on a performance of the song by Héctor Angulo. Seeger combined Martí's verse with the tune, with the intention that it be used by the peace movement at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He urged that people sing the song as a symbol of unity between the American and Cuban peoples, and called for it to be sung in Spanish to "hasten the day [that] the USA... is some sort of bilingual country."


title: Guantanamera

text: The most commercially successful version of "Guantanamera" in the English-speaking world was recorded by the easy listening vocal group, The Sandpipers, in 1966. Their recording was based on the Weavers' 1963 Carnegie Hall reunion concert rendition and was arranged by Mort Garson and produced by Tommy LiPuma. In addition to the group's vocals, the version includes Robie Lester on background vocals and narration by producer LiPuma. It reached No. 9 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Guantanamera

text: "Guantanamera" is one of the songs most commonly identified with Cuban singer Celia Cruz (1925–2003). It appears on at least 241 different records or compilations of hers, her earliest commercial recording of it being on the Mexican label Tico Records in 1968. She mentions her special memories of singing "Guantanamera" nine times in her posthumous 2004 autobiography.


title: Guantanamera

text: It has been recorded by many other solo artists, notably by Demis Roussos, Willy Chirino, Julio Iglesias, Joan Baez, Albita, Jimmy Buffett, Celia Cruz, Bobby Darin, Raul Malo, Joe Dassin, Muslim Magomayev, José Feliciano, Tony Mottola, Biser Kirov, Wyclef Jean, Puerto Plata, Trini Lopez, La Lupe, Nana Mouskouri, Tito Puente, Raulín Rodríguez, Andy Russell, Gloria Estefan, Pete Seeger, Robert Wyatt (under the title "Caimanera"), and by such groups as The Mavericks, Buena Vista Social Club, Los Lobos, Pozo-Seco Singers, Todos Tus Muertos, The Spinners and the Gipsy Kings.


title: Sam Huntington

text: Sam Huntington (born April 1, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Josh Levison, a werewolf in the Syfy series "Being Human", and for his role as Jimmy Olsen in the superhero film "Superman Returns". For its two seasons from September 2015 to April 2017, Huntington had a recurring role on the Fox series "Rosewood". He also played Mimi-Siku Cromwell in the Disney movie "Jungle 2 Jungle". He played Ox in "Not Another Teen Movie". He also had a cameo in the December 2017 USA Network TV-film "".


title: Sam Huntington

text: Huntington was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He was raised in Hancock, New Hampshire. His mother, Christine Stabile, owned and operated the Black Box Theatre, where Huntington started his career. Huntington's great-uncle was actor Ralph Bellamy.


title: Sam Huntington

text: Huntington's first role was in the 1996 television movie "Harvest of Fire", which starred Lolita Davidovich. He then appeared opposite Tim Allen in Disney's "Jungle 2 Jungle" the following year. He has appeared in films: "Detroit Rock City", "Not Another Teen Movie", "Sleepover", "Rolling Kansas", "Freshman Orientation", "In Enemy Hands" and "River's End". He has guest starred in "", "", "Law & Order", and "Veronica Mars". He was also in the History Channel's documentary "The States", when it covered New Hampshire.


title: Sam Huntington

text: Huntington appeared in Bryan Singer's 2006 film "Superman Returns" as Jimmy Olsen. He starred in the 2009 comedy film "Fanboys", and again co-starred with "Superman" actor Brandon Routh in the live action film adaptation of "".


title: Sam Huntington

text: In 2011, he was cast in the Syfy television series "Being Human" as Josh Levison, a werewolf. The series lasted four 13-episode seasons (a total of 52 episodes), and its final episode aired in April 2014. He also served as a guest on the second season of the reality television game show "Face Off".


title: Sam Huntington

text: From autumn 2015 through spring 2017, Huntington appeared as the "special guest star" in his recurring role of quirky coroner Mitchie Mendelson on the Fox series "Rosewood". The series was cancelled in May 2017 after two seasons.


title: Sam Huntington

text: On December 7, 2017, Huntington appeared briefly in the role of (detective) Sammy in USA Network's telefilm "".


title: South African Army

text: The South African Army is the principal land warfare force of South Africa, a part of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), along with the South African Air Force, South African Navy and South African Military Health Service. The Army is commanded by the Chief of the Army, who is subordinate to the Chief of the SANDF.


title: South African Army

text: Formed in 1912, as the Union Defence Force in the Union of South Africa, through the amalgamation of the South African colonial forces following the unification of South Africa. It evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by Boer Commando (militia) forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies. Following the ascension to power of the National Party, the Army's long-standing Commonwealth ties were afterwards cut.


title: South African Army

text: The South African Army was fundamentally changed by the end of Apartheid and its preceding upheavals, as the South African Defence Force became the SANDF. This process also led to the rank and age balance of the army deteriorated desperately, though this has greatly improved.


title: South African Army

text: During its history, the South African Army has fought in a number of major wars, including the First and Second World Wars, Rhodesian Bush War, and the long and bitter Border War. The South African Army has also been involved in many peacekeeping operations such as in the Lesotho intervention, Central African Republic Civil War, and multiple counter-insurgencies in Africa; often under the auspices of the United Nations, or as part of wider African Union operations in Southern Africa. It also played a key role in controlling sectarian political violence inside South Africa during the late 1980s and early 1990s.


title: South African Army

text: After the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, General Jan Smuts, the Union's first Minister of Defence, placed a high priority on creating a unified military out of the separate armies of the union's four provinces (the British Cape Colonial Forces, and the forces of the Natal Colony, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony). The Defence Act (No. 13) of 1912 established a Union Defence Force (UDF) that included a Permanent Force (or standing army) of career soldiers, an Active Citizen Force of temporary conscripts and volunteers as well as a Cadet organisation. The 1912 law also obligated all white males between seventeen and sixty years of age to serve in the military, but this was not strictly enforced as there were a large number of volunteers. Instead, half of the white males aged from 17 to 25 were drafted by lots into the ACF. For training purposes, the Union was divided into 15 military districts.


title: South African Army

text: Initially, the Permanent Force consisted of five regiments of the South African Mounted Riflemen (SAMR), each with a battery of artillery attached. Dorning says that '..the SAMR was in reality a military constabulary similar to the Cape Mounted Riflemen, tasked primarily with police work in their respective geographical areas.' In 1913 and 1914, the new 23,400-member Citizen Force was called on to suppress several industrial strikes on the Witwatersrand.


title: South African Army

text: In accordance with the 1912 Defence Act, the Active Citizen Force was established under Brig. Gen. C.F. Beyers on 1 July 1913. The authorised strength of the ACF and Coast Garrison Force was 25,155 and by 31 December actual strength stood at 23,462.


title: South African Army

text: Following the British declaration of war against Germany on 4 August 1914, South Africa was an extension of the British war effort due to her status as a Dominion within the Empire. Although self-governing, South Africa, along with other Dominions such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, were only semi-independent from Britain.


title: South African Army

text: General Louis Botha, the then prime minister, faced widespread Afrikaner opposition to fighting alongside Great Britain so soon after the Second Boer War, and had to quell a militarily rebellion by some of the more extremist elements before he could send an expeditionary force of some 67,000 troops to invade German South West Africa (now Namibia). The German troops stationed there eventually surrendered to the South African forces in July 1915. In 1920 South Africa received a League of Nations mandate to govern the former German colony and to prepare it for independence within a few year, however South African occupation continued, illegally, until 1990.


title: South African Army

text: Later, the South African Infantry Brigade, and various other supporting units such as the South African Native Labour Corps, were deployed to France in order to fight on the Western Front as the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force under British command. The 1st South African Brigade consisted of four infantry battalion sized regiments, representing men from all four provinces of the Union of South Africa, as well as Rhodesia. The 1st Regiment was from the Cape Province, the 2nd Regiment was from Natal and the Orange Free State and the 3rd Regiment was from Transvaal and Rhodesia. The 4th Regiment was called the "South African Scottish" and was raised from members of the Transvaal Scottish and the Cape Town Highlanders; they wore the Atholl Murray tartan. Supporting units included five batteries of heavy artillery, a field ambulance unit, a Royal Engineers signals company and a military hospital.


title: South African Army

text: The most costly action that the South African forces on the Western Front fought in was the Battle of Delville Wood in 1916 – of the 3,000 men from the brigade who entered the wood, only 768 emerged unscathed. Another tragic loss of life for the South African forces during the war was the Mendi sinking on 21 February 1917, when the troopship Mendi – while transporting 607 members of the South African Native Labour Corps from Britain to France – was struck and cut almost in half by another ship.


title: South African Army

text: In addition, the war against the German and Askari forces in German East Africa also involved more than 20,000 South African troops; they fought under General Jan Smuts's command when he directed the British campaign against there in 1915. (During the war, the army was led by General Smuts, who had re-joined the army from his position as Minister of Defence on the outbreak of the war.)


title: South African Army

text: With a population of roughly 6 million, between 1914 - 1918, over 250,000 South Africans of all races voluntarily served their country. Thousands more served in the British Army directly, with over 3,000 joining the British Royal Flying Corps and over 100 volunteering for the Royal Navy. More than 146,000 whites, 83,000 black Africans and 2,500 Coloureds and Asians also served in either German South-West Africa, East Africa, the Middle East, or on the Western Front in Europe. Suffering roughly 19,000 casualties, over 7,000 South Africans were killed, and nearly 12,000 were wounded during the course of the war. won the Victoria Cross for gallantry, the Empire’s highest and prestigious military medal. The Battle of Delville Wood and the sinking of the SS "Mendi" being the greatest single incidents of loss of life.


title: South African Army

text: Wartime casualties and post-war demobilisation weakened the UDF. New legislation in 1922 re-established conscription for white males over the age of 21 for four years of military training and service and re-constituted the Permanent Force. UDF troops assumed internal security tasks in South Africa and quelled several revolts against South African domination in South-West Africa. South Africans suffered high casualties, especially in 1922, when an independent group of Khoikhoi – known as the Bondelswarts-Herero for the black bands that they wore into battle – led one of numerous revolts; in 1925, when a mixed-race population – the Basters – demanded cultural autonomy and political independence; and in 1932, when the Ovambo (Ambo) population along the border with Angola demanded an end to South African domination. During the Rand strike of 1922, 14,000 members of the ACF and certain A class reservists were called up.


title: South African Army

text: Expenditure cuts saw the UDF as a whole reduced. The last remaining regiment of the South Africa Mounted Riflemen was disbanded on 31 March 1926 and the number of military districts was reduced from 16 to six on 1 April 1926. The Brigade HQ of the SA Field Artillery was also disbanded. In 1933 the six military districts were redesignated Commands. As a result of its conscription policies, the UDF increased its active-duty forces to 56,000 by the late 1930s; 100,000 men also belonged to the National Riflemen's Reserve, which provided weapons training and practice.


title: South African Army

text: During World War II, the South African Army fought in the East African, North African and Italian campaigns. In 1939, the army at home in South Africa was divided between a number of regional commands. These included Cape Command (with its headquarters at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town), Orange Free State Command, Natal Command, Witwatersrand Command (5th and 9th Brigades plus the Transvaal Horse Artillery), Robert's Heights and Transvaal Command (HQ Robert's Heights) and Eastern Province Command at East London.


title: South African Army

text: With the declaration of war in September 1939, the South African Army numbered only 5,353 regulars, with an additional 14,631 men of the Active Citizen Force (ACF) which gave peace time training to volunteers and in time of war would form the main body of the army. Pre-war plans did not anticipate that the army would fight outside southern Africa and it was trained and equipped only for bush warfare.


title: South African Army

text: One of the problems to continuously face South Africa during the war was the shortage of available men. Due to its racial policies it would only consider arming men of European descent which limited the available pool of men aged between 20 and 40 to around 320,000. In addition the declaration of war on Germany had the support of only a narrow majority in the South African parliament and was far from universally popular. Indeed, there was a significant minority actively opposed to the war and under these conditions conscription was never an option. The expansion of the army and its deployment overseas depended entirely on volunteers.


title: South African Army

text: The 1st South African Infantry Division took part in several actions in East Africa in 1940, North Africa in 1941 and 1942, including the Second Battle of El Alamein, before being withdrawn to South Africa.


title: South African Army

text: The 2nd South African Infantry Division also took part in a number of actions in North Africa during 1942, but on 21 June 1942 two complete infantry brigades of the division as well as most of the supporting units were captured at the fall of Tobruk.


title: South African Army

text: The 3rd South African Infantry Division never took an active part in any battles but instead organised and trained the South African home defence forces, performed garrison duties and supplied replacements for the South African 1st Infantry Division and the South African 2nd Infantry Division. However, one of this division's constituent brigades – 7th South African Infantry Battalion in Phalaborwa – did take part in the invasion of Madagascar in 1942.


title: South African Army

text: Of the 334,000 men volunteered for full time service in the South African Army during the war (including some 211,000 whites, 77,000 blacks and 46,000 Cape Coloureds and Asians), about 9,000 were killed in action, though the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has records of 11,023 known South African war dead during World War II.


title: South African Army

text: Wartime expansion was again followed by rapid demobilisation after World War II. By then, a century of Anglo-Boer clashes followed by decades of growing British influence in South Africa had fuelled Afrikaner resentment. Resurgent Afrikaner nationalism was an important factor in the growth of the National Party (NP) as the 1948 elections approached.


title: South African Army

text: After the narrow election victory by the NP in 1948, the government began the steady Afrikanerisation of the military; it expanded military service obligations and enforced conscription laws more strictly. Most UDF conscripts underwent three months of Citizen Force training in their first year of service, and an additional three weeks of training each year for four years after that.


title: South African Army

text: In 1948, the new Minister of Defence, Frans Erasmus, aimed ' to level the playing-fields' within the Union Defence Force, which was strongly British-oriented in usages, structures, uniforms and nomenclature. This developed from an attempt at affirmative action into a 'politically tinged purge'.


title: South African Army

text: The various Commando units, previously 'Skietverenigings', were later classified as Type A, B or C independent Commandos and continued as single-battalion or small independent units. As part of the post-war reorganisation, the Defence Rifle Associations were disbanded in 1948 and replaced by a new Commando organisation with a strength of 90,000 men. At the same time, the Afrikaans-oriented single-battalion regiments founded in 1934 underwent at least one change of name and sometimes more. An early victim was the renowned Middellandse Regiment, which became Regiment Gideon Scheepers in 1954.


title: South African Army

text: It was also decided to establish and maintain two complete army divisions in the UDF: namely 1 SA Infantry Division and 6 SA Armoured Division, consisting of 1, 2, 3, 12, and 13 (CF) Infantry Brigades and the (PF) 11th Armoured Brigade. The divisions were formally established with effect from 1 July 1948, but with the exception of 11 Brigade they were disbanded on 1 November 1949, mainly as a result of difficulties in obtaining volunteer recruits to man the Citizen Force brigades. The 11th Armoured Brigade was itself disbanded on 1 October 1953. In the early 1950s the Union undertook, however, to provide one armoured division for active service in the Middle East in the event of war in the region. To this end some 200 Centurion tanks were ordered, and the first were delivered in July 1952. During Exercise Oranje, conducted in 1956, the Army trialled its Centurions for the first time in a simulated nuclear war situation.


title: South African Army

text: The Defence Act (No. 44) of 1957 renamed the UDF the South African Defence Force (SADF) and established within it some quick-reaction units, or Commandos, to respond to localised threats. The SADF, numbering about 20,000 in 1958, would grow to almost 80,000 in the next two decades.


title: South African Army

text: In 1960 there was another wave of regimental name-changing. Regiment Gideon Scheepers became Regiment Groot Karoo, and three regiments named after famous Boer generals Regiment De La Rey (given its 13 World War 2 battle honours, the most celebrated of the 1934 battalions), Regiment Louw Wepener and Regiment De Wet were inexplicably renamed Regiment Wes-Transvaal, Regiment Oos-Vrystaat and Regiment Noord-Vrystaat. After strenuous efforts, Regiment Wes-Transvaal, Regiment Oos-Vrystaat and Regiment Noord-Vrystaat regained their honoured names.


title: South African Army

text: Following the declaration of the Republic of South Africa in 1961, the "Royal" title was dropped from the names of army regiments like the Natal Carbineers and the Durban Light Infantry, and the Crown removed from regimental badges.


title: South African Army

text: In the early 1960s, the military threat by the South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) and its Communist backers in South West Africa prompted the South African government to increase military service obligations and to extend periods of active duty. The Defence Act (No. 12) of 1961 authorised the minister of defence to deploy Citizen Force troops and Commandos for "riot" control, often to quell anti-apartheid demonstrations, especially when it deteriorated into mob riots with loss of life. The Defence Act (No. 85) of 1967 also expanded military obligations, requiring white male citizens to perform national service, including an initial period of training, a period of active duty, and several years in reserve status, subject to immediate call-up.


title: South African Army

text: From 1966 to 1989 the SADF, with its South West African Territorial Force auxiliary, fought the counter-insurgency South African Border War against SWAPO rebels in South-West Africa (Namibia). These operations included the raising of special units such as the South African 32 Battalion. They also carried out operations in support of UNITA rebels in Angola and against the Cuban troops that supported the Angolan government.


title: South African Army

text: As far as conventional formations were concerned, 7 SA Division and 17, 18 and 19 Brigades were established on 1 April 1965. Difficulties with manning levels saw the disestablishment of 7 SA Division on 1 November 1967 and its replacement by the Army Task Force (HQ) and 16 Brigade.


title: South African Army

text: Also during the 1970s, the SADF began accepting "non-whites" and women into the military as career soldiers, not only as temporary volunteers or reservists; however, the former served mostly, if not exclusively, in segregated units while the latter were not assigned to combat roles. By the end of the 1970s, the South African military was increasingly called upon to confront external threats and internal unrest which started escalating to armed confrontation between the South African state and the liberation forces. Principal among these armed groups was that of the ANC's (Spear of the Nation), the AZAPO's Azanian People's Liberation Army and the PAC's Poqo.


title: South African Army

text: In 1973 two new infantry units were established: 7 South African Infantry Battalion (Bourke's Luck) and 8 SA Infantry Battalion (Upington), as well as 11 Commando (Kimberley), which to a great extent took over the functions of the Danie Theron Combat School's training wing. In 1973 the SADF also took over responsibility for the defence of South West Africa (today Namibia) from the South African Police. During the succeeding months the Army became involved in combat operations for the first time since the Second World War, clashing with groups of SWAPO infiltrating into South West Africa.


title: South African Army

text: From 1 September 1972 Army Task Force Headquarters was redesignated HQ 7 South African Infantry Division. Two years later, it was decided to organise the Army's conventional force into two divisions under a corps headquarters. Both were primarily reserve (Citizen Force) formations, though the division and brigade HQs were Permanent Force. The headquarters of the two divisions were established on 1 August 1974, and 8th Armoured Division was active at its headquarters at Lord's Grounds, Durban, until at least 27 September 1992. 1 SA Corps itself was established in August 1974 and was active until 30 January 1977. It appears from Colonel Lionel Crook's book on 71 Brigade that four of the six brigades were redesignations of 16, 17, 18, and 19 Brigades. 71 Motorised Brigade was the former 17 Brigade, 72 Brigade was the former 18 Brigade, 73 Brigade was a new formation, 81 Brigade was the former 16 Brigade, 82 Brigade was the former 19 Brigade, and 84 Brigade was new.


title: South African Army

text: In the early 1980s, the Army was restructured in order to counter all forms of insurgency while at the same time maintaining a credible conventional force. To meet these requirements, the Army was subdivided into conventional and counterinsurgency forces. The counterinsurgency forces were further divided into nine territorial commands, each of which was responsible to the Chief of the Army. This force consisted of members of the Permanent Force, Commandos, and a few selected Citizen Force units. The Citizen Force, through the 7 and 8 Divisions, provided the conventional defence force. By July 1987 the number of territorial commands was expanded to ten, and the Walvis Bay military area was often counted as an eleventh. The commands were the Western Province Command (HQ Cape Town, 1959-1998); Eastern Province Command (HQ Port Elizabeth, 1959-1998); Northern Cape Command (HQ Kimberley); Orange Free State Command (HQ Bloemfontein, 1959-1998); Northern Transvaal Command (HQ Pretoria); Witwatersrand Command (HQ Johannesburg, subject of a bombing in 1987); Northwestern Command (HQ Potchefstroom); Eastern Transvaal Command (HQ Nelspruit); Natal Command (Durban), and Far North Command (HQ Pietersburg, which in late 1993 and early 1994 included Regiment Hillcrest which was then part of 73 Motorised Brigade, and 73 Brigade itself). The part-time force also operated in the military area of Walvis Bay.


title: South African Army

text: During this same period, the Engineers and Signals were grouped into the first of the 'type' formations, the South African Army Engineer Formation (in 1982) and the South African Army Signals Formation (in 1984). Both these formations were made directly responsible to Chief of Army.


title: South African Army

text: In 1984 Northern Transvaal Command was subdivided and Eastern Transvaal Command (Nelspruit) and Far North Command (Pietersburg) formed. The two new Commands were regarded as theatres and as such also had responsibility for conventional operations (and units) within their areas. For example, Far North Command had 73 Motorised Brigade within its area. Southern Cape Command may have been disbanded, and Northern Cape Command established, in 1986. In 1989 the RLI became the conventional reserve for Far North Command. The area of responsibility of each commands followed the boundaries of the Economic Development Regions. Before the dissolution of the territorial commands General Derrick Mgwebi is also reported to have headed Mpumalanga Command.