title: Carrier-based aircraft

text: STOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier, combining elements of both STOVL and CATOBAR. Aircraft launch under their own power using a ski-jump to assist take-off (rather than using a catapult). These are conventional aircraft however and require arresting wires to land on the ship. The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers of the Russian Navy and People's Liberation Army Navy operate the Su-33 (Russia) and J-15 (China) as STOBAR aircraft. Others include the Indian and ; both will operate MiG-29Ks.


title: Carrier-based aircraft

text: Prior to World War II, the weight of most aircraft allowed them to be launched from aircraft carriers under their own power, but required assistance in stopping. Catapults were installed but were used only when the ship was stationary or adequate wind over the deck could not be arranged by sailing into the wind. Even aircraft as large as the North American B-25 Mitchell were launched in this manner. This was possible because the ship's speed with even the lightest prevailing winds, combined with a low take-off speed allowed early aircraft to gain flying speed in a very short distance. The most extreme version of this was the battleship platforms used during the 1920s when small, World War I-era biplane fighters such as the Sopwith Camel were launched from only a few dozen feet long mounted atop of a battleship's forward gun turret.


title: Carrier-based aircraft

text: Conventional aircraft, such as the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Supermarine Spitfire, and Hawker Hurricane, were often delivered to overseas air bases by aircraft carrier. They would be loaded onto an aircraft carrier in port by cranes, flown off the carrier at sea near their destination under their own power, and land on a friendly airfield ashore. These were not usually combat missions but in some cases the launched aircraft provided air cover for the ship, and the aircraft could not be recovered by the carrier.


title: Carrier-based aircraft

text: Some STOL aircraft, such as the North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, have been operated from aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships in this manner more recently, but this is not common practice.


title: Carrier-based aircraft

text: Even very large aircraft such as the Lockheed C-130 Hercules have been successfully landed and launched from large aircraft carriers, but was done with no cargo and little fuel on board the aircraft.


title: I Drove All Night

text: "I Drove All Night" is a song written and composed by American songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and originally intended for Roy Orbison. Orbison recorded the song in 1987, the year before his death, but his version was not released until 1992. Cyndi Lauper recorded the song and released it as a single for her "A Night to Remember" album. Her version became a top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1989. Lauper still regularly performs the song in her live concerts. The song has also been covered by Canadian singer Celine Dion, whose version topped the Canadian Singles Chart and reached number 7 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 2003.


title: I Drove All Night

text: "I Drove All Night" was recorded by American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper for her third solo album, "A Night to Remember" (1989). Lauper said she wanted to do it because she liked the idea "of a woman driving, of a woman in control." The song was a top 10 pop hit in the United States—and was her last US top 40 single to date, peaking at number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and also a hit in other countries. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The music video for "I Drove All Night", directed by Scott Kalvert and Cyndi Lauper, features the opening lines from the song "Kindred Spirit", shots of an antique car, Lauper's characteristically manic dancing, and movie film projected onto Lauper's naked body.


title: I Drove All Night

text: "Billboard" reviewer described the music of this work as "yearning crystalline pop/rock" and found Lauper's vocal mature. Jerry Smith, reviewer of British music newspaper "Music Week", called Lauper "American with good ear", priced her work for "assured and dramatic display" and expressed an assurance that this "passionate ballad" is "destined to return her to the charts once more".


title: I Drove All Night

text: Jeff Lynne sampled Roy Orbison's 1987 recordings for the 1992 posthumous album "King of Hearts," on which "I Drove All Night" was one of the tracks. However, Orbison's version of the song first appeared on the 1991 "Super Mario World"-themed compilation album "". Released as a single in June 1992, the song was a significant hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, matching the peak position of Lauper's version three years earlier. "King of Hearts" and "I Drove All Night" were generally well received in the United States, returning Orbison to the "Billboard" charts and receiving a Grammy Award. A music video featuring Jason Priestley and Jennifer Connelly was also made for the single, mixed with archive footage of Orbison and featuring multiple background references to the "Mario" series. The song is featured in the film "Paperback Hero" starring Hugh Jackman.


title: I Drove All Night

text: "I Drove All Night" was recorded by Celine Dion for her eighth English-language studio album, "One Heart" (2003), and released as the lead single on January 21, 2003. The song was featured in a promotional ad for Chrysler. The "I Drove All Night" music video was directed by Peter Arnell and released in February 2003. It was included on the United Kingdom enhanced double A-side single "One Heart/I Drove All Night". The song was commercially successful, reaching number 1 for five weeks in Canada, while also topping the charts in Belgium (Flanders) and Sweden.


title: I Drove All Night

text: In 2003, Chrysler signed Dion to a $14 million deal to endorse their cars. They were looking for a song to use in the campaign and release as a single. Billy Steinberg knew Dion and had written "Falling into You," which was the title track of her 1996 album. He sent a copy of Roy Orbison's version of "I Drove All Night" to her record company, who loved it and had Dion record it with Swedish producer Peer Astrom. She used the song in her Las Vegas show and it became the centerpiece of the Chrysler campaign. The commercials were great exposure for the song and helped sell many albums, but they did not sell enough cars. Chrysler pulled out of the deal after many of their dealers complained and it became clear the ads were not working.


title: I Drove All Night

text: In Dion's version, "I Drove All Night" is dance-pop. It was also considered "a little bit dance-club, a little bit rock & roll." In the second verse, Dion duplicates a line as it is heard in Orbison's original recording. Instead of singing, "no matter where I go I hear the beating of our heart," Dion sings, "our "one" heart," which is where the title of the album the song is featured on gets its name. Like the original, the chorus is sung again twice, which ends the single.


title: I Drove All Night

text: Dion's version of "I Drove All Night" is set in the key of G minor. It features a moderately fast tempo of 135 beats per minute, and her vocals span from F to E.


title: I Drove All Night

text: The song received positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine noticed that the song was "a tongue-in-cheek, neo-house cover" and picked it as one of the best tracks on the album, alongside the title track and "Have You Ever Been in Love." Rebecca Wallwork wrote a positive review for Amazon, calling it "the car-commercial-driven tempo," while Jam!'s Darryl Sterdan named it "a Cher-style eurodisco." "Slant Magazine"s Sal Cinquemani echoed the same thought, saying that "she gets the Cher treatment on the blazing cover." "People"s Chuck Arnold wrote that in the song, Dion "shows surprising restraint for a diva who just had a coliseum custom-built for her."


title: I Drove All Night

text: "The Guardian"s Betty Clarke wrote a negative review, saying: "Her cover of Roy Orbison's "I Drove All Night" is full of reverberating notes and sultry asides, but reveals a fundamental lack of sincerity that renders her threatening when she is trying for tender." David Browne of EW gave this cover C+, calling her delivery 'frigid' without over-singing it. He called the arrangement "blandly competent."


title: I Drove All Night

text: In Canada, the song debuted straight at number one on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and spent 5 consecutive weeks at the top. "I Drove All Night" was Dion's third airplay-only single that charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at number 45. The commercial single was released five months later reaching number 26 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales. Because of several club remixes created mainly by Hex Hector, the song peaked at number 2 on the Hot Dance Club Play.


title: I Drove All Night

text: In Australia, the song debuted and peaked at number 22 on the ARIA Charts, on March 16, 2003. The following week, the song dropped to number 35 and it kept fluctuating on the chart for the next two weeks, until it climbed from number 44 to number 43. Later, the song fell to number 49, but it climbed to number 38, the following week. It spent 10 weeks on the chart and it was certified gold. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 48 on the RIANZ chart, on March 2, 2003. The following week, the song climbed to number 46, while in its third week, it jumped to number 30. After falling to number 32, in its fourth week, the song remained at number 31, for two consecutive weeks. Finally, on April 20, 2003, the song rose and peaked at number 24. The song spent 9 weeks on the chart.


title: I Drove All Night

text: The song was even more successful on the Belgian Flanders Singles Chart, where it debuted at number 14, on March 8, 2004. The following week, the song jumped to number 4, while in its third week, the song topped the charts. It remained at the top ten for ten consecutive weeks and fifteen overall weeks on the chart. It was certified platinum, for selling 50,000 copies. The song was also a big success in Sweden, debuting at the top of the Swedish Singles Chart, on March 20, 2003. However, the following week, the song fell to number 12 and in its third week, it fell to number 13. In its fourth week, the song jumped to number 7, but it kept fluctuating on the chart for the next three weeks, until it climbed from number 22 to number 16. It spent 17 weeks on the chart. On the Danish Singles Chart, the song debuted at number 2, where it remained for three consecutive weeks. Later, it fell to number 5, while on the following week, it fell to number 6, where it remained for another week.


title: I Drove All Night

text: In France, even not reaching the top twenty, the song proved to be strong on the SNEP chart. It debuted at number 89, however, it fell to number 94 in its second week and to number 97 in its third week. Despite falling for two consecutive weeks and leaving the charts, the song re-entered at number 22, its peak position, on April 26, 2003. It spent 11 non-consecutive weeks on the chart.


title: I Drove All Night

text: The music video shot in Las Vegas, USA on February 2, 2003, was directed by advertising executive Peter Arnell, cinematographed by Rolf Kestermann and edited by Bee Ottinger. An arty little black and white number, it features Dion, some arm stretches and back bends whilst a couple somewhere else seem to be merrily getting their groove on. It was included in the UK Enhanced CD Single of "One Heart". The music video was nominated for the MuchMoreMusic Award in 2003.


title: I Drove All Night

text: Dion appeared in four commercial spots—all scored with tracks from "One Heart" including "I Drove All Night"—for Chrysler, also directed by Arnell and edited by Ottinger, while Darius Khondji acted as director of photography on the ads.


title: I Drove All Night

text: Dion performed "I Drove All Night" during "A New Day..." show and included it on the "A New Day... Live in Las Vegas" CD in 2004 and "Live in Las Vegas - A New Day..." DVD in 2007. The "A New Day... Live in Las Vegas" bonus DVD, called "One Year...One Heart" contained the recording of the song and fragments from making the video.


title: I Drove All Night

text: The song became also an opening track for the 2008-09 Taking Chances World Tour, preceded by an introduction video using the remix of "I Drove All Night" as well. The audio and footage of this performance was included in the "" CD/DVD. In October 2008, "I Drove All Night" was included on "" greatest hits. The song was also performed in Dion's 2017 European tour.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The atmosphere of Venus is the layer of gases surrounding Venus. It is composed primarily of supercritical carbon dioxide and is much denser and hotter than that of Earth. The temperature at the surface is 740 K (467 °C, 872 °F), and the pressure is , roughly the pressure found underwater on Earth. The Venusian atmosphere supports opaque clouds of sulfuric acid, making optical Earth-based and orbital observation of the surface impossible. Information about the topography has been obtained exclusively by radar imaging. Aside from carbon dioxide, the other main component is nitrogen. Other chemical compounds are present only in trace amounts.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Aside from the very surface layers, the atmosphere is in a state of vigorous circulation. The upper layer of troposphere exhibits a phenomenon of super-rotation, in which the atmosphere circles the planet in just four Earth days, much faster than the planet's sidereal day of 243 days. The winds supporting super-rotation blow at a speed of 100 m/s (≈360 km/h or 220 mph) or more. Winds move at up to 60 times the speed of the planet's rotation, while Earth's fastest winds are only 10% to 20% rotation speed. On the other hand, the wind speed becomes increasingly slower as the elevation from the surface decreases, with the breeze barely reaching the speed of 2.8 m/s (≈10 km/h or 6.2 mph) on the surface. Near the poles are anticyclonic structures called polar vortices. Each vortex is double-eyed and shows a characteristic S-shaped pattern of clouds. Above there is an intermediate layer of mesosphere which separates the troposphere from the thermosphere. The thermosphere is also characterized by strong circulation, but very different in its nature—the gases heated and partially ionized by sunlight in the sunlit hemisphere migrate to the dark hemisphere where they recombine and downwell.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Unlike Earth, Venus lacks a magnetic field. Its ionosphere separates the atmosphere from outer space and the solar wind. This ionized layer excludes the solar magnetic field, giving Venus a distinct magnetic environment. This is considered Venus's "induced magnetosphere". Lighter gases, including water vapour, are continuously blown away by the solar wind through the induced magnetotail. It is speculated that the atmosphere of Venus up to around 4 billion years ago was more like that of the Earth with liquid water on the surface. A runaway greenhouse effect may have been caused by the evaporation of the surface water and subsequent rise of the levels of other greenhouse gases.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Despite the harsh conditions on the surface, the atmospheric pressure and temperature at about 50 km to 65 km above the surface of the planet is nearly the same as that of the Earth, making its upper atmosphere the most Earth-like area in the Solar System, even more so than the surface of Mars. Due to the similarity in pressure and temperature and the fact that breathable air (21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen) is a lifting gas on Venus in the same way that helium is a lifting gas on Earth, the upper atmosphere has been proposed as a location for both exploration and colonization.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Christiaan Huygens was the first to hypothesize the existence of an atmosphere on Venus. In the Book II of Cosmotheoros, published in 1698, he writes:


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Decisive evidence for the atmosphere of Venus was provided by Mikhail Lomonosov, based on his observation of the transit of Venus of 1761 in a small observatory near his house in Saint Petersburg, Russia.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The atmosphere of Venus is composed of 96.5% carbon dioxide, 3.5% nitrogen, and traces of other gases, most notably sulfur dioxide. The amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere is relatively small compared to the amount of carbon dioxide, but because the atmosphere is so much thicker than that on Earth, its total nitrogen content is roughly four times higher than Earth's, even though on Earth nitrogen makes up about 78% of the atmosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The atmosphere contains a range of compounds in small quantities, including some based on hydrogen, such as hydrogen chloride (HCl) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). There is carbon monoxide, water vapour and atomic oxygen as well. Hydrogen is in relatively short supply in the Venusian atmosphere. A large amount of the planet's hydrogen is theorised to have been lost to space, with the remainder being mostly bound up in water vapour and sulfuric acid (HSO). The loss of significant amounts of hydrogen is proven by a very high D–H ratio measured in the Venusian atmosphere. The ratio is about 0.015–0.025, which is 100–150 times higher than the terrestrial value of 1.6. According to some measurements, in the upper atmosphere of Venus D/H ratio is 1.5 higher than in the bulk atmosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: In 2020 there was considerable discussion regarding whether phosphine (PH) might be present in trace amounts Venus' atmosphere. This would be noteworthy as phosphine is a potential biomarker indicating the presence of life. This was prompted by an announcement in September 2020, that this species had been detected in trace amounts. No known abiotic source present on Venus could produce phosphine in the quantities detected. On review, an interpolation error was discovered that resulted in multiple spurious spectroscopic lines, including the spectral feature of phosphine. Re-analysis of data with the fixed algorithm either do not result in the detection of the phosphine or detected it with much lower concentration of 1 ppb.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The announcement promoted re-analysis of Pioneer Venus data which found part of chlorine and all of hydrogen sulfide spectral features are instead phosphine-related, meaning lower than thought concentration of chlorine and non-detection of hydrogen sulfide. Another re-analysis of archived infrared spectral measurements by the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in 2015 did not reveal any phosphine in Venusian atmosphere, placing an upper limit for phosphine concentration at 5 ppb—a quarter of the spectroscopic value reported in September.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: In 2022, no phosphine detection with upper limit of concentration 0.8ppb was announced for Venusian altitudes 75-110 km.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The ammonia in the atmosphere of Venus was tentatively detected by two atmospheric probes - Venera 8 and Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, although the detection was rejected that time due to poorly characterized sensors behavior in Venusian environment and ammonia believed to be chemically unstable in the stongly oxidizing atmosphere of Venus.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The atmosphere is divided into a number of sections depending on altitude. The densest part of the atmosphere, the troposphere, begins at the surface and extends upwards to 65 km. At the furnace-like surface the winds are slow, but at the top of the troposphere the temperature and pressure reaches Earth-like levels and clouds pick up speed to 100 m/s (360 km/h).


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The atmospheric pressure at the surface of Venus is about 92 times that of the Earth, similar to the pressure found below the surface of the ocean. The atmosphere has a mass of 4.8 kg, about 93 times the mass of the Earth's total atmosphere. The density of the air at the surface is 65 kg/m, which is 6.5% that of liquid water on Earth. The pressure found on Venus's surface is high enough that the carbon dioxide is technically no longer a gas, but a supercritical fluid. This supercritical carbon dioxide forms a kind of sea that covers the entire surface of Venus. This sea of supercritical carbon dioxide transfers heat very efficiently, buffering the temperature changes between night and day (which last 56 terrestrial days).


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The large amount of CO in the atmosphere together with water vapour and sulfur dioxide create a strong greenhouse effect, trapping solar energy and raising the surface temperature to around 740 K (467 °C), hotter than any other planet in the Solar System, even that of Mercury despite being located farther out from the Sun and receiving only 25% of the solar energy (per unit area) Mercury does. The average temperature on the surface is above the melting points of lead (600 K, 327 °C), tin (505 K, 232 °C), and zinc (693 K, 420 °C). The thick troposphere also makes the difference in temperature between the day and night side small, even though the slow retrograde rotation of the planet causes a single solar day to last 116.5 Earth days. The surface of Venus spends 58.3 days in darkness before the sun rises again behind the clouds.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The troposphere on Venus contains 99% of the atmosphere by mass. 90% of the atmosphere of Venus is within 28 km (17.5 mi) of the surface; by comparison, 90% of the atmosphere of Earth is within 16 km (10 mi) of the surface. At a height of 50 km (31 mi) the atmospheric pressure is approximately equal to that at the surface of Earth. On the night side of Venus clouds can still be found at 80 km (50 mi) above the surface.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The altitude of the troposphere most similar to Earth is near the tropopause—the boundary between troposphere and mesosphere. It is located slightly above 50 km. According to measurements by the "Magellan" and "Venus Express" probes, the altitude from 52.5 to 54 km has a temperature between 293 K (20 °C) and 310 K (37 °C), and the altitude at 49.5 km above the surface is where the pressure becomes the same as Earth at sea level. As manned ships sent to Venus would be able to compensate for differences in temperature to a certain extent, anywhere from about 50 to 54 km or so above the surface would be the easiest altitude in which to base an exploration or colony, where the temperature would be in the crucial "liquid water" range of 273 K (0 °C) to 323 K (50 °C) and the air pressure the same as habitable regions of Earth. As CO is heavier than air, the colony's air (nitrogen and oxygen) could keep the structure floating at that altitude like a dirigible.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The circulation in Venus's troposphere follows the so-called cyclostrophic flow. Its windspeeds are roughly determined by the balance of the pressure gradient and centrifugal forces in almost purely zonal flow. In contrast, the circulation in the Earth's atmosphere is governed by the geostrophic balance. Venus's windspeeds can be directly measured only in the upper troposphere (tropopause), between 60 and 70 km, altitude, which corresponds to the upper cloud deck. The cloud motion is usually observed in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, where the contrast between clouds is the highest. The linear wind speeds at this level are about 100 ± 10 m/s at lower than 50° latitude. They are retrograde in the sense that they blow in the direction of the retrograde rotation of the planet. The winds quickly decrease towards the higher latitudes, eventually reaching zero at the poles. Such strong cloud-top winds cause a phenomenon known as the super-rotation of the atmosphere. In other words, these high-speed winds circle the whole planet faster than the planet itself rotates. The super-rotation on Venus is differential, which means that the equatorial troposphere super-rotates more slowly than the troposphere at the midlatitudes. The winds also have a strong vertical gradient. They decline deep in the troposphere with the rate of 3 m/s per km. The winds near the surface of Venus are much slower than that on Earth. They actually move at only a few kilometres per hour (generally less than 2 m/s and with an average of 0.3 to 1.0 m/s), but due to the high density of the atmosphere at the surface, this is still enough to transport dust and small stones across the surface, much like a slow-moving current of water.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: All winds on Venus are ultimately driven by convection. Hot air rises in the equatorial zone, where solar heating is concentrated and flows to the poles. Such an almost-planetwide overturning of the troposphere is called Hadley circulation. However, the meridional air motions are much slower than zonal winds. The poleward limit of the planet-wide Hadley cell on Venus is near ±60° latitudes. Here air starts to descend and returns to the equator below the clouds. This interpretation is supported by the distribution of the carbon monoxide, which is also concentrated in the vicinity of ±60° latitudes. Poleward of the Hadley cell a different pattern of circulation is observed. In the latitude range 60°–70° cold polar collars exist. They are characterized by temperatures about 30–40 K lower than in the upper troposphere at nearby latitudes. The lower temperature is probably caused by the upwelling of the air in them and by the resulting adiabatic cooling. Such an interpretation is supported by the denser and higher clouds in the collars. The clouds lie at 70–72 km altitude in the collars—about 5 km higher than at the poles and low latitudes. A connection may exist between the cold collars and high-speed midlatitude jets in which winds blow as fast as 140 m/s. Such jets are a natural consequence of the Hadley-type circulation and should exist on Venus between 55 and 60° latitude.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Odd structures known as polar vortices lie within the cold polar collars. They are giant hurricane-like storms four times larger than their terrestrial analogs. Each vortex has two "eyes"—the centres of rotation, which are connected by distinct S-shaped cloud structures. Such double eyed structures are also called polar dipoles. Vortices rotate with the period of about 3 days in the direction of general super-rotation of the atmosphere. The linear wind speeds are 35–50 m/s near their outer edges and zero at the poles. The temperature at the cloud-tops in each polar vortex is much higher than in the nearby polar collars, reaching 250 K (−23 °C). The conventional interpretation of the polar vortices is that they are anticyclones with downwelling in the centre and upwelling in the cold polar collars. This type of circulation resembles a winter polar anticyclonic vortex on Earth, especially the one found over Antarctica. The observations in the various infrared atmospheric windows indicate that the anticyclonic circulation observed near the poles penetrates as deep as to 50 km altitude, i.e. to the base of the clouds. The polar upper troposphere and mesosphere are extremely dynamic; large bright clouds may appear and disappear over the space of a few hours. One such event was observed by "Venus Express" between 9 and 13 January 2007, when the south polar region became brighter by 30%. This event was probably caused by an injection of sulfur dioxide into the mesosphere, which then condensed, forming a bright haze. The two eyes in the vortices have yet to be explained.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The first vortex on Venus was discovered at the north pole by the Pioneer Venus mission in 1978. A discovery of the second large "double-eyed" vortex at the south pole of Venus was made in the summer of 2006 by "Venus Express", which came with no surprise.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Images from the "Akatsuki" orbiter revealed something similar to jet stream winds in the low and middle cloud region, which extends from 45 to 60 km in altitude. The wind speed maximized near the equator. In September 2017, JAXA scientists named this phenomenon "Venusian equatorial jet".


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The mesosphere of Venus extends from 65 km to 120 km in height, and the thermosphere begins at approximately 120 km, eventually reaching the upper limit of the atmosphere (exosphere) at about 220 to 350 km. The exosphere begins when the atmosphere becomes so thin that the average number of collisions per air molecule is less than one.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The mesosphere of Venus can be divided into two layers: the lower one between 62 and 73 km and the upper one between 73 and 95 km. In the first layer the temperature is nearly constant at 230 K (−43 °C). This layer coincides with the upper cloud deck. In the second layer, the temperature starts to decrease again, reaching about 165 K (−108 °C) at the altitude of 95 km, where mesopause begins. It is the coldest part of the Venusian dayside atmosphere. In the dayside mesopause, which serves as a boundary between the mesosphere and thermosphere and is located between 95 and 120 km, temperature increases to a constant—about 300–400 K (27–127 °C)—value prevalent in the thermosphere. In contrast, the nightside Venusian thermosphere is the coldest place on Venus with temperature as low as 100 K (−173 °C). It is even called a cryosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The circulation patterns in the upper mesosphere and thermosphere of Venus are completely different from those in the lower atmosphere. At altitudes 90–150 km the Venusian air moves from the dayside to nightside of the planet, with upwelling over sunlit hemisphere and downwelling over dark hemisphere. The downwelling over the nightside causes adiabatic heating of the air, which forms a warm layer in the nightside mesosphere at the altitudes 90–120 km. The temperature of this layer—230 K (−43 °C)—is far higher than the typical temperature found in the nightside thermosphere—100 K (−173 °C). The air circulated from the dayside also carries oxygen atoms, which after recombination form excited molecules of oxygen in the long-lived singlet state (Δ), which then relax and emit infrared radiation at the wavelength 1.27 μm. This radiation from the altitude range 90–100 km is often observed from the ground and spacecraft. The nightside upper mesosphere and thermosphere of Venus is also the source of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium emissions of CO and nitric oxide molecules, which are responsible for the low temperature of the nightside thermosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The "Venus Express" probe has shown through stellar occultation that the atmospheric haze extends much further up on the night side than the day side. On the day side the cloud deck has a thickness of 20 km and extends up to about 65 km, whereas on the night side the cloud deck in the form of a thick haze reaches up to 90 km in altitude—well into mesosphere, continuing even further to 105 km as a more transparent haze. In 2011, the spacecraft discovered that Venus has a thin ozone layer at an altitude of 100 km.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Venus has an extended ionosphere located at altitudes 120–300 km. The ionosphere almost coincides with the thermosphere. The high levels of the ionization are maintained only over the dayside of the planet. Over the nightside the concentration of the electrons is almost zero. The ionosphere of Venus consists of three layers: v1 between 120 and 130 km, v2 between 140 and 160 km and v3 between 200 and 250 km. There may be an additional layer near 180 km. The maximum electron volume density (number of electrons in a unit of volume) of 3 m is reached in the v2 layer near the subsolar point. The upper boundary of the ionosphere (the ionopause) is located at altitudes 220–375 km and separates the plasma of the planetary origin from that of the induced magnetosphere. The main ionic species in the v1 and v2 layers is O ion, whereas the v3 layer consists of O ions. The ionospheric plasma is observed to be in motion; solar photoionization on the dayside and ion recombination on the nightside are the processes mainly responsible for accelerating the plasma to the observed velocities. The plasma flow appears to be sufficient to maintain the nightside ionosphere at or near the observed median level of ion densities.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Venus is known not to have a magnetic field. The reason for its absence is not at all clear, but it may be related to a reduced intensity of convection in the Venusian mantle. Venus only has an induced magnetosphere formed by the Sun's magnetic field carried by the solar wind. This process can be understood as the field lines wrapping around an obstacle—Venus in this case. The induced magnetosphere of Venus has a bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause and magnetotail with the current sheet.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: At the subsolar point the bow shock stands 1900 km (0.3 R, where R is the radius of Venus) above the surface of Venus. This distance was measured in 2007 near the solar activity minimum. Near the solar activity maximum it can be several times further from the planet. The magnetopause is located at the altitude of 300 km. The upper boundary of the ionosphere (ionopause) is near 250 km. Between the magnetopause and ionopause there exists a magnetic barrier—a local enhancement of the magnetic field, which prevents the solar plasma from penetrating deeper into the Venusian atmosphere, at least near solar activity minimum. The magnetic field in the barrier reaches up to 40 nT. The magnetotail continues up to ten radii from the planet. It is the most active part of the Venusian magnetosphere. There are reconnection events and particle acceleration in the tail. The energies of electrons and ions in the magnetotail are around 100 eV and 1000 eV respectively.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Due to the lack of the intrinsic magnetic field on Venus, the solar wind penetrates relatively deep into the planetary exosphere and causes substantial atmosphere loss. The loss happens mainly via the magnetotail. Currently the main ion types being lost are O, H and He. The ratio of hydrogen to oxygen losses is around 2 (i.e. almost stoichiometric for water) indicating the ongoing loss of water.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Venusian clouds are thick and are composed mainly (75–96%) of sulfuric acid droplets. These clouds obscure the surface of Venus from optical imaging, and reflect about 75% of the sunlight that falls on them. The geometric albedo, a common measure of reflectivity, is the highest of any planet in the Solar System. This high reflectivity potentially enables any probe exploring the cloud tops sufficient solar energy such that solar cells can be fitted anywhere on the craft. The density of the clouds is highly variable with the densest layer at about 48.5 km, reaching 0.1 g/m similar to the lower range of cumulonimbus storm clouds on Earth.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The cloud cover is such that typical surface light levels are similar to a partly cloudy day on Earth, around 5000–10000 lux. The equivalent visibility is about three kilometers, but this will likely vary with the wind conditions. Little to no solar energy could conceivably be collected by solar panels on a surface probe. In fact, due to the thick, highly reflective cloud cover, the total solar energy received by the surface of the planet is less than that of the Earth, despite its proximity to the Sun.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Sulfuric acid is produced in the upper atmosphere by the Sun's photochemical action on carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and water vapour. Ultraviolet photons of wavelengths less than 169 nm can photodissociate carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and monatomic oxygen. Monatomic oxygen is highly reactive; when it reacts with sulfur dioxide, a trace component of the Venusian atmosphere, the result is sulfur trioxide, which can combine with water vapour, another trace component of Venus's atmosphere, to yield sulfuric acid.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Surface level humidity is less than 0.1%. Venus's sulfuric acid rain never reaches the ground, but is evaporated by the heat before reaching the surface in a phenomenon known as virga. It is theorized that early volcanic activity released sulfur into the atmosphere and the high temperatures prevented it from being trapped into solid compounds on the surface as it was on the Earth. Besides sulfuric acid, cloud droplets can contain a wide array of sulfate salts, raising pH of droplet to 1.0 in one of scenarios explaining the sulfur dioxide measurements.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: In 2009, a prominent bright spot in the atmosphere was noted by an amateur astronomer and photographed by "Venus Express". Its cause is currently unknown, with surface volcanism advanced as a possible explanation.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The clouds of Venus may be capable of producing lightning, but the debate is ongoing, with volcanic lightning and sprites also under discussion. The Soviet Venera 9 and 10 orbiters obtained ambiguous optical and electromagnetic evidence of lightning. There have been attempts to observe lightning from the Venera 11, 12, 13, and 14 landers, however no lightning activity was recorded, but very low frequency (VLF) waves were detected during descent. The European Space Agency's "Venus Express" in 2007 detected whistler waves which could be attributed to lightning. Their intermittent appearance indicates a pattern associated with weather activity. According to the whistler observations, the lightning rate is at least half of that on Earth and may possibly be similar, but this is incompatible with data from the JAXA Akatsuki spacecraft which indicate a very low flash rate.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) was equipped with an electric field detector specifically to detect lightning. There were other missions that were equipped with instruments to search for lightning including the Venera 9 which had the visible spectrometer; Pioneer which had the star sensor; and VEGA which had a photometer.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The mechanism generating lightning on Venus, if present, remains unknown. Whilst the sulfuric acid cloud droplets can become charged, the atmosphere may be too electrically conductive for the charge to be sustained, preventing lightning.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Lightning could potentially contribute to atmospheric chemistry, through heating which could break apart molecules that contain carbon, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and hydrogen molecules (carbon dioxide, nitrogen gas, sulfuric acid, and water), that will recombine to form new molecules ("carbon oxides", "suboxides", "sulfur oxides", "oxygen", "elemental sulfur", "nitrogen oxides", "sulfuric acid clusters", "polysulfur oxides", "carbon soot", etc.). Lightning could contribute to the production of carbon monoxide and oxygen gas by converting sulfur and sulfur dioxide into sulfuric acid, and water and sulfuric dioxide to sulfur to sustain clouds. Regardless of how frequent lightning on Venus is, it is important to study as it can be a potential hazard for spacecraft.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Throughout the 1980s, it was thought that the cause of the night-side glow ("ashen light") on Venus was lightning however, there may be the possibility that Venus lightning would be too weak to cause it.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Due to the harsh conditions on the surface, little of the planet has been explored; in addition to the fact that life as currently understood may not necessarily be the same in other parts of the universe, the extent of the tenacity of life on Earth itself has not yet been shown. Creatures known as extremophiles exist on Earth, preferring extreme habitats. Thermophiles and hyperthermophiles thrive at temperatures reaching above the boiling point of water, acidophiles thrive at a pH level of 3 or below, polyextremophiles can survive a varied number of extreme conditions, and many other types of extremophiles exist on Earth.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The surface temperature of Venus (over 450 °C) is far beyond the extremophile range, which extends only tens of degrees beyond 100 °C. However, the lower temperature of the cloud tops means that life could plausibly exist there, the same way that bacteria have been found living and reproducing in clouds on Earth. Any such bacteria living in the cloud tops, however, would have to be hyper-acidophilic, due to the concentrated sulfuric acid environment. Microbes in the thick, cloudy atmosphere could be protected from solar radiation by the sulfur compounds in the air.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The Venusian atmosphere has been found to be sufficiently out of equilibrium as to require further investigation. Analysis of data from the Venera, Pioneer, and Magellan missions has found hydrogen sulfide (later disputed) and sulfur dioxide (SO) together in the upper atmosphere, as well as carbonyl sulfide (OCS). The first two gases react with each other, implying that something must produce them. Carbonyl sulfide is difficult to produce inorganically, but it is present in the Venusian atmosphere. However, the planet's volcanism could explain the presence of carbonyl sulfide. In addition, one of the early Venera probes detected large amounts of toxic chlorine just below the Venusian cloud deck.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: It has been proposed that microbes at this level could be soaking up ultraviolet light from the Sun as a source of energy, which could be a possible explanation for the "unknown UV absorber" seen as dark patches on UV images of the planet. The existence of this "unknown UV absorber" prompted Carl Sagan to publish an article in 1963 proposing the hypothesis of microorganisms in the upper atmosphere as the agent absorbing the UV light. In 2012, the abundance and vertical distribution of these unknown ultraviolet absorbers in the Venusian atmosphere have been investigated from analysis of Venus Monitoring Camera images, but their composition is still unknown. In 2016, disulfur dioxide was identified as a possible candidate for causing the so far unknown UV absorption of the Venusian atmosphere. The dark patches of "unknown UV absorbers" are prominent enough to influence the weather on Venus. In 2021, it was suggested the color of "unknown UV absorber" match that of "red oil" - a known substance comprising a mixed organic carbon compounds dissolved in concentrated sulfuric acid.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: In September 2020, research studies led by Cardiff University using the James Clerk Maxwell and ALMA radio telescopes noted the detection of phosphine in Venus's atmosphere that was not linked to any known abiotic method of production present, or possible under Venusian conditions. It is extremely hard to make, and the chemistry in the Venusian clouds should destroy the molecules before they could accumulate to the observed amounts. The phosphine was detected at heights of at least 48 km above the surface of Venus, and was detected primarily at mid-latitudes with none detected at the poles of Venus. Scientists note that the detection itself could be further verified beyond the use of multiple telescopes detecting the same signal, as the phosphine fingerprint described in the study could theoretically be a false signal introduced by the telescopes or by data processing. The detection was later suggested to be a false positive or true signal with much over-estimated amplitude, compatible with 1 ppb concentration of phosphine. The re-analysis of ALMA dataset in April 2021 have recovered the 20 ppb phosphine signal, with signal-to-noise ratio of 5.4, and by August 2021 it was confirmed the suspected contamination by sulfur dioxide was contributing only 10% to the tentative signal in phosphine spectral line band.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Through studies of the present cloud structure and geology of the surface, combined with the fact that the luminosity of the Sun has increased by 25% since around 3.8 billion years ago, it is thought that the early environment of Venus was more like that of Earth with liquid water on the surface. At some point in the evolution of Venus, a runaway greenhouse effect occurred, leading to the current greenhouse-dominated atmosphere. The timing of this transition away from Earthlike is not known, but is estimated to have occurred around 4 billion years ago. The runaway greenhouse effect may have been caused by the evaporation of the surface water and the rise of the levels of greenhouse gases that followed. Venus's atmosphere has therefore received a great deal of attention from those studying climate change on Earth.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: There are no geologic forms on the planet to suggest the presence of water over the past billion years. However, there is no reason to suppose that Venus was an exception to the processes that formed Earth and gave it its water during its early history, possibly from the original rocks that formed the planet or later on from comets. The common view among research scientists is that water would have existed for about 600 million years on the surface before evaporating, though some such as David Grinspoon believe that up to 2 billion years could also be plausible. This longer timescale for the persistence of oceans is also supported by General Circulation Model simulations incorporating the thermal effects of clouds on an evolving Venusian hydrosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The early Earth during the Hadean eon is believed by most scientists to have had a Venus-like atmosphere, with roughly 100 bar of CO and a surface temperature of 230 °C, and possibly even sulfuric acid clouds, until about 4.0 billion years ago, by which time plate tectonics were in full force and together with the early water oceans, removed the CO and sulfur from the atmosphere. Early Venus would thus most likely have had water oceans like the Earth, but any plate tectonics would have ended when Venus lost its oceans. Its surface is estimated to be about 500 million years old, so it would not be expected to show evidence of plate tectonics.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: In 1761, Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov observed an arc of light surrounding the part of Venus off the Sun's disc at the beginning of the egress phase of the transit and concluded that Venus has an atmosphere. In 1940, Rupert Wildt calculated that the amount of CO in the Venusian atmosphere would raise surface temperature above the boiling point for water. This was confirmed when Mariner 2 made radiometer measurements of the temperature in 1962. In 1967, Venera 4 confirmed that the atmosphere consisted primarily of carbon dioxide.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The upper atmosphere of Venus can be measured from Earth when the planet crosses the sun in a rare event known as a solar transit. The last solar transit of Venus occurred in 2012. Using quantitative astronomical spectroscopy, scientists were able to analyze sunlight that passed through the planet's atmosphere to reveal chemicals within it. As the technique to analyse light to discover information about a planet's atmosphere only first showed results in 2001, this was the first opportunity to gain conclusive results in this way on the atmosphere of Venus since observation of solar transits began. This solar transit was a rare opportunity considering the lack of information on the atmosphere between 65 and 85 km. The solar transit in 2004 enabled astronomers to gather a large amount of data useful not only in determining the composition of the upper atmosphere of Venus, but also in refining techniques used in searching for extrasolar planets. The atmosphere of mostly CO, absorbs near-infrared radiation, making it easy to observe. During the 2004 transit, the absorption in the atmosphere as a function of wavelength revealed the properties of the gases at that altitude. The Doppler shift of the gases also enabled wind patterns to be measured.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: A solar transit of Venus is an extremely rare event, and the last solar transit of the planet before 2004 was in 1882. The most recent solar transit was in 2012; the next one will not occur until 2117.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The "Venus Express" spacecraft formerly in orbit around the planet probed deeper into the atmosphere using infrared imaging spectroscopy in the 1–5 μm spectral range.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The JAXA probe Akatsuki (Venus Climate Orbiter), launched in May 2010, is studying the planet for a period of two years, including the structure and activity of the atmosphere, but it failed to enter Venus orbit in December 2010. A second attempt to achieve orbit succeeded 7 December 2015. Designed specifically to study the planet's climate, Akatsuki is the first meteorology satellite to orbit Venus (the first for a planet other than Earth). One of its five cameras known as the "IR2" will be able to probe the atmosphere of the planet underneath its thick clouds, in addition to its movement and distribution of trace components. With a highly eccentric orbit (periapsis altitude of 400 km and apoapsis of 310,000 km), it will be able to take close-up photographs of the planet, and should also confirm the presence of both active volcanoes as well as lightning.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The Venus In-Situ Explorer, proposed by NASA's New Frontiers program is a proposed probe which would aid in understanding the processes on the planet that led to climate change, as well as paving the way towards a later sample return mission.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: A craft called the Venus Mobile Explorer has been proposed by the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) to study the composition and isotopic measurements of the surface and the atmosphere, for about 90 days. The mission has not been selected for launch.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: After missions discovered the reality of the harsh nature of the planet's surface, attention shifted towards other targets such as Mars. There have been a number of proposed missions afterward, however, and many of these involve the little-known upper atmosphere. The Soviet Vega program in 1985 dropped two balloons into the atmosphere, but these were battery-powered and lasted for only about two Earth days each before running out of power. Since then, there has been no exploration of the upper atmosphere. In 2002, the NASA contractor Global Aerospace proposed a balloon that would be capable of staying in the upper atmosphere for hundreds of Earth days as opposed to two.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: A solar flyer has also been proposed by Geoffrey A. Landis in place of a balloon, and the idea has been featured from time to time since the early 2000s. Venus has a high albedo, and reflects most of the sunlight that shines on it making the surface quite dark, the upper atmosphere at 60 km has an upward solar intensity of 90%, meaning that solar panels on both the top and the bottom of a craft could be used with nearly equal efficiency. In addition to this, the slightly lower gravity, high air pressure and slow rotation allowing for perpetual solar power make this part of the planet ideal for exploration. The proposed flyer would operate best at an altitude where sunlight, air pressure, and wind speed would enable it to remain in the air perpetually, with slight dips down to lower altitudes for a few hours at a time before returning to higher altitudes. As sulfuric acid in the clouds at this height is not a threat for a properly shielded craft, this so-called "solar flyer" would be able to measure the area in between 45 km and 60 km indefinitely, for however long it takes for mechanical error or unforeseen problems to cause it to fail. Landis also proposed that rovers similar to Spirit and Opportunity could possibly explore the surface, with the difference being that Venus surface rovers would be "dumb" rovers controlled by radio signals from computers located in the flyer above, only requiring parts such as motors and transistors to withstand the surface conditions, but not weaker parts involved in microelectronics that could not be made resistant to the heat, pressure and acidic conditions.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: Russian space science plans include the launch of the Venera-D (Venus-D) probe in 2029. The main scientific goals of the Venera-D mission are investigation of the structure and chemical composition of the atmosphere and investigation of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere, electrical activity, magnetosphere, and escape rate. It has been proposed to fly together with Venera-D an inflatable aircraft designed by Northrop Grumman, called Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP).


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: The High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) is a NASA concept for a crewed exploration of Venus. Rather than traditional landings, it would send crews into the upper atmosphere, using dirigibles. Other proposals from the late 2010s include VERITAS, Venus Origins Explorer, VISAGE, and VICI. In June 2018, NASA also awarded a contract to Black Swift Technologies for a concept study of a Venus glider that would exploit wind shear for lift and speed.


title: Atmosphere of Venus

text: In June 2021, NASA selected the DAVINCI+ mission to send an atmospheric probe to Venus in the late 2020s. DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of Venus' atmosphere to understand how it formed and evolved, as well as determine whether the planet ever had an ocean. The mission consists of a descent sphere that will plunge through the planet's thick atmosphere, making measurements of noble gases and other elements to understand Venus' climate change. This will be the first U.S.-led mission to Venus' atmosphere since 1978.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (; born Corneliu Codreanu, according to his birth certificate; 13 September 1899 – 30 November 1938) was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or "The Legion of the Archangel Michael" (also known as the "Legionary Movement"), an ultranationalist and violently antisemitic organization active throughout most of the interwar period. Generally seen as the main variety of local fascism, and noted for its mystical and Romanian Orthodox-inspired revolutionary message, it gained prominence on the Romanian political stage, coming into conflict with the political establishment and the democratic forces, and often resorting to terrorism. The Legionnaires traditionally referred to Codreanu as "Căpitanul" ("The Captain"), and he held absolute authority over the organization until his death.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu, who began his career in the wake of World War I as an anticommunist and antisemitic agitator associated with A. C. Cuza and Constantin Pancu, was a co-founder of the National-Christian Defense League and assassin of the Iași Police prefect Constantin Manciu. Codreanu left Cuza to found a succession of movements on the far right, rallying around him a growing segment of the country's intelligentsia and peasant population, and inciting pogroms in various parts of Greater Romania. Several times outlawed by successive Romanian cabinets, his Legion assumed different names and survived in the underground, during which time Codreanu formally delegated leadership to Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul. Following Codreanu's instructions, the Legion carried out assassinations of politicians it viewed as corrupt, including Premier Ion G. Duca and his former associate Mihai Stelescu. Simultaneously, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu advocated Romania's adherence to a military and political alliance with Nazi Germany.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: During the 1937 suffrage, his party registered its strongest showing, placing third and winning 15.8% of the vote. It was blocked out of power by King Carol II, who invited the rival fascists and fourth-place finishers of the National Christian Party to form a short-lived government, succeeded by the National Renaissance Front royal dictatorship. The rivalry between Codreanu and, on the other side, Carol and moderate politicians like Nicolae Iorga ended with Codreanu's imprisonment at Jilava and eventual assassination at the hands of the Gendarmerie. He was succeeded as leader by Horia Sima. In 1940, under the National Legionary State proclaimed by the Iron Guard, his killing served as the basis for violent retribution.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's views influenced the modern far-right. Groups claiming him as a forerunner include Noua Dreaptă and other Romanian successors of the Iron Guard, the International Third Position, and various neofascist organizations in Italy and other parts of Europe.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Corneliu Codreanu was born in Huși to Ion Zelea Codreanu and Elizabeth (née Brunner) on 13 September 1899. His father, a German teacher and himself a declared "Romanian nationalist", would later become a political figure within his son's movement. A native of Bukovina in Austria-Hungary, Ion had originally been known as "Zelinski"; his wife was of partial German heritage. Statements according to which Ion Zelea Codreanu was originally a Slav of Ukrainian or Polish origin contrast with the Romanian chauvinism he embraced for the rest of his life; Codreanu the elder associated with antisemitic figures such as University of Iași professor A. C. Cuza. Just prior to Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's 1938 trial, his ethnic origins were the subject of an anti-Legionary propagandistic campaign organized by the authorities, who distributed copies of a variant of his genealogy which alleged that he was of mixed ancestry, being the descendant of not just Ukrainians, Germans, and Romanians, but also Czechs and Russians, and that several of their ancestors were delinquents. Historian Ilarion Țiu describes this as an attempt to offend and libel Codreanu.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Too young for conscription in 1916, when Romania entered World War I on the Entente side, Codreanu nonetheless tried his best to enlist and fight in the subsequent campaign. His education at the military school in Bacău (where he was a colleague of Petre Pandrea, the future left-wing activist) ended in the same year as Romania's direct implication in the war. In 1919, after moving to Iași, Codreanu found communism as his new enemy, after he had witnessed the impact of Bolshevik agitation in Moldavia, and especially after Romania lost her main ally in the October Revolution, forcing her to sign the 1918 Treaty of Bucharest; also, the newly founded Comintern was violently opposed to Romania's interwar borders ("see Greater Romania").


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: While the Bolshevik presence decreased overall following the repression of Socialist Party riots in Bucharest (December 1918), it remained or was perceived as relatively strong in Iași and other Moldavian cities and towns. In this context, the easternmost region of Bessarabia, which united with Romania in 1918, was believed by Codreanu and others to be especially prone to Bolshevik influence. Codreanu learned antisemitism from his father, but connected it with anticommunism, in the belief that Jews were, among other things, the primordial agents of the Soviet Union ("see Jewish Bolshevism").


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu's hero from his childhood until the end of his life was Stephen the Great. A vast legend was created around the womanizing Stephen's sexual powers, who had demonstrated his greatness as a man and ruler by fathering hundreds, if not thousands of children by women from all social ranks, an aspect of Stephen's life which the Romanian historian Maria Bucur observed "was never held against him, but rather used anecdotally as evidence of his greatness". Despite his vehement insistence in public of the importance of upholding traditional Eastern Orthodox values, the charismatic Codreanu, who was considered to be very attractive by many women, often followed his role model Stephen the Great with regard to them. One awestruck female follower wrote: "The Captain [Codreanu] came from a world of Good, a Prince of the Lights ... a medieval knight, a martyr and a hero." Codreanu's female followers consistently praised him as an intensely romantic, noble "white knight" figure who had come to save Romania.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu studied law in Iași, where he began his political career. Like his father, he became close to A. C. Cuza. Codreanu's fear of Bolshevik insurrection led to his efforts to address industrial workers himself. At the time, Cuza was preaching that the Jewish population was a manifest threat to Romanians, claimed that Jews were threatening the purity of Romanian young women, and began campaigning in favour of racial segregation.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Historian Adrian Cioroianu defined the early Codreanu as a "quasi-demagogue agitator". According to Cioroianu, Codreanu loved Romania with "fanaticism", which implied that he saw the country as "idyllicized [and] different from the real one of his times". British scholar Christopher Catherwood also referred to Codreanu as "an obsessive anti-Semite and religious fanatic". Historian Zeev Barbu proposed that "Cuza was Codreanu's mentor [...], but nothing that Codreanu learned from him was strikingly new. Cuza served mainly as a catalyst for his nationalism and antisemitism." As he himself later acknowledged, the young activist was also deeply influenced by the physiologist and antisemitic ideologue Nicolae Paulescu, who was involved with Cuza's movement.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: In late 1919, Codreanu joined the short-lived (GCN, "Guard of National Conscience"), a group formed by the electrician Constantin Pancu. Pancu had an enormous influence on Codreanu.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Pancu's movement, whose original membership did not exceed 40, attempted to revive loyalism within the proletariat (while offering an alternative to communism by advocating increased labor rights). As much as other reactionary groups, it won the tacit support of General Alexandru Averescu and his increasingly popular People's Party (of which Cuza became an affiliate); Averescu's ascension to power in 1920 engendered a new period of social troubles in the larger urban areas ("see Labor movement in Romania").


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The GCN, in which Codreanu thought he could see the nucleus of nationalist trade unions, became active in crushing strike actions. Their activities did not fail in attracting attention, especially after students who obeyed Codreanu, grouped in the Association of Christian Students, started demanding a Jewish quota for higher education — this gathered popularity for the GCN, and it led to a drastic increase in the frequency and intensity of assaults on all its opponents. In response, Codreanu was expelled from the University of Iași. Although allowed to return when Cuza and others intervened for him (refusing to respect the decision of the University Senate), he was never presented with a diploma after his graduation.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: While studying in Berlin and Jena in 1922, Codreanu took a critical attitude towards the Weimar Republic, and began praising the March on Rome and Italian fascism as major achievements; he decided to cut his stay short after learning of the large Romanian student protests in December, prompted by the intention of the government to grant the complete emancipation of Jews ("see History of the Jews in Romania").


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: When protests organized by Codreanu were met with lack of interest from the new National Liberal government, he and Cuza founded (4 March 1923) a Christian nationalist organization called the National-Christian Defense League. They were joined in 1925 by Ion Moța, translator of the antisemitic hoax known as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and future ideologue of the Legion. Codreanu was subsequently tasked with organizing the League at a national level, and became especially preoccupied with its youth ventures.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: With the granting of full rights of citizenship to persons of Jewish descent under the Constitution of 1923, the League raided the Iași ghetto, led a group which petitioned the government in Bucharest (being received with indifference), and ultimately decided to assassinate Premier Ion I. C. Brătianu and other members of government. Codreanu also drafted the first of his several death lists, which contained the names of politicians who, he believed, had betrayed Romania. It included Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu, who held several offices in Brătianu's executive, and who promoted the emancipation of Jews. In October 1923, Codreanu was betrayed by one of his associates, arrested, and put on trial. He and the other plotters were soon acquitted, as Romanian legislation did not allow for prosecution of conspiracies that had not been assigned a definite date. Before the jury ended deliberation, Ion Moța shot the traitor and was given a prison sentence himself.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu clashed with Cuza over the League's structure: he demanded that it develop a paramilitary and revolutionary character, while Cuza was hostile to the idea. In November, while in Văcărești prison in Bucharest, Codreanu had planned for the creation of a youth organization within the League, which he aimed to call "The Legion of the Archangel Michael". This was said to be in honour of an Orthodox icon that adorned the walls of the prison church, or, more specifically, linked to Codreanu's reported claim of having been visited by the Archangel himself. A more personal problem also divided Codreanu and Cuza, namely that Cuza's son had an affair with Codreanu's sister that left her pregnant. The couple had broken up with the younger Cuza refused his girlfriend's demand that he marry her now that she was bearing his child. Though the scandal was hushed up, the fact that his sister was having an illegitimate child was deeply humiliating for Codreanu as he liked to present his family as model members of the Orthodox church and he sought unsuccessfully to have Cuza pressure his son to marry his sister.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Back in Iași, Codreanu created his own system of allegiance within the League, starting with the "Frăția de Cruce" ("Brotherhood of the Cross", named after a variant of blood brotherhood which requires sermon with a cross). It gathered on 6 May 1924, in the countryside around Iași, starting work on the building of a student centre. This meeting was violently broken up by the authorities on orders from Romanian Police prefect Constantin Manciu. Codreanu and several others were allegedly beaten and tormented for several days, until Cuza's intervention on their behalf proved effective.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: After an interval of retreating from any political activity, Codreanu took revenge on Manciu, assassinating him and severely wounding some other policemen on 24 October, in the Iași Tribunal building (where Manciu had been called to answer accusations, after one of Codreanu's comrades had filed a complaint). Forensics showed that Manciu was not facing his killer at the moment of his death, which prompted Codreanu to indicate that he considered himself to be acting in self-defence based solely on Manciu's earlier actions. Codreanu gave himself up immediately after firing his gun, and awaited trial in custody. The police force of Iași was unpopular with the public due to widespread corruption, and many locals saw the murder of Manciu as a heroic act by Codreanu. In the meantime, the issue was brought up in the Parliament of Romania by the Peasant Party's Paul Bujor, who first made a proposal to review legislation dealing with political violence and sedition; it won the approval of the governing National Liberal Party, which, on December 19, passed the "Mârzescu Law" (named after its proponent, Mârzescu, who had been appointed Minister of Justice). Its most notable, if indirect, effect was the banning of the Communist Party. In October and November debates between members of Parliament became heated, and Cuza's group was singled out as morally responsible for the murder: Petre Andrei stated that "Mr. Cuza aimed and Codreanu fired", to which Cuza replied by claiming his innocence, while theorizing that Manciu's brutality was a justifiable cause for violent retaliation.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Although Codreanu was purposely tried as far away from Iași as Turnu Severin, the authorities were unable to find a neutral jury. On the day he was acquitted, members of the jury, who deliberated for five minutes in all, showed up wearing badges with League symbols and swastikas (the symbol in use by Cuza's League). After a triumphal return and an ostentatious wedding to Elena Ilinoiu, Codreanu clashed with Cuza for a second time and decided to defuse tensions by taking leave in France.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu's wedding to Elena Ilinoiu in June 1925 in Focșani was the major social event in Romania that year; it was celebrated in lavish, pseudo-royal style and attended by thousands, attracting enormous media attention. After the wedding, Codreanu and his bride were followed by 3,000 ox-carts in a four-mile long procession of "ecstatically happy" peasants. One of Codreanu's followers wrote at the time that Romanians loved royal spectacles, especially royal weddings, but since Crown Prince Carol had eloped first to marry a commoner in 1918 in a private wedding followed by a royal wedding in Greece, Codreanu's wedding was the best substitute for the royal wedding that the Romanian people wanted to see. Codreanu's wedding was meant to change his image from the romantic, restless, Byronic hero image he had held until then to a more "settled" image of a married man, and thus allay concerns held by more conservative Romanians about his social radicalism. Before leaving Romania for Grenoble, Codreanu was the victim of an assassination attempt — Moța, just returned from prison, was given another short sentence after he led the reprisals.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu returned from Grenoble to take part in the 1926 elections, and ran as a candidate for the town of Focșani. He lost, and, although it had had a considerable success, the League disbanded in the same year. Codreanu gathered former members of the League who had spent time in prison, and put into practice his dream of forming the Legion (November 1927, just days after the fall of a new Averescu cabinet, which had continued to support now-rival Cuza). Codreanu claimed to have had a vision of the Archangel Michael who told him he had been chosen by God to be Romania's saviour. From the beginning, a commitment to the values of the Eastern Orthodox Church was core to the message of the Legion, and Codreanu's alleged vision was a centrepiece of his message.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Based on the "Frăția de Cruce", Codreanu designed the Legion as a selective and autarkic group, paying allegiance to him and no other, and soon expanded it into a replicating network of political cells called "nests" ("cuiburi"). "Frăția" endured as the Legion's most secretive and highest body, which requested from its members that they undergo a rite of passage, during which they swore allegiance to the "Captain", as Codreanu was now known.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: According to American historian Barbara Jelavich, the movement "at first supported no set ideology, but instead emphasized the moral regeneration of the individual", while expressing a commitment to the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Legion introduced Orthodox rituals as part of its political rallies, while Codreanu made his public appearances dressed in folk costume — a traditionalist pose adopted at the time only by him and the National Peasant Party's Ion Mihalache. Throughout its existence, the Legion maintained strong links with members of the Romanian Orthodox clergy, and its members fused politics with an original interpretation of Romanian Orthodox messages — including claims that the Romanian kin was expecting its national salvation, in a religious sense.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Such a mystical focus, Jelavich noted, was in tandem with a marked preoccupation for violence and self-sacrifice, "but only if the [acts of terror] were committed for the good of the cause and subsequently expiated." Legionnaires engaged in violent or murderous acts often turned themselves in to be arrested, and it became common that violence was seen as a necessary step in a world that expected a Second Coming of Christ. With time, the Legion developed a doctrine around a cult of the fallen, going so far as to imply that the dead continued to form an integral part of a perpetual national community. As a consequence of its mysticism, the movement made a point of not adopting or advertising any particular platform, and Codreanu explained early on: "The country is dying for lack of men and not for lack of political programs." Elsewhere, he pointed out that the Legion was interested in the creation of a "new man" ("omul nou").


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Despite its apparent lack of political messages, the movement was immediately noted for its antisemitism, for arguing that Romania was faced with a "Jewish Question" and for proclaiming that a Jewish presence thrived on uncouthness and pornography. The Legionary leader wrote: "The historical mission of our generation is the resolution of the kike problem. All of our battles of the past 15 years have had this purpose, all of our life's efforts from now on will have this purpose." He accused the Jews in general of attempting to destroy what he claimed was a direct link between Romania and God, and the Legion campaigned in favour of the notion that there was no actual connection between the Old Testament Hebrews and the modern Jews. In one instance, making a reference to the origin of the Romanians, Codreanu stated that Jews were corrupting the "Roman-Dacian structure of our people." The Israeli historian Jean Ancel wrote that, from the mid-19th century onward, the Romanian "intelligentsia" had a "schizophrenic attitude towards the West and its values". Romania been a strongly Francophile country starting in the 19th century, and most of the Romanian "intelligentsia" professed themselves believers in French ideas about the universal appeal of democracy, freedom, and human rights while at the same time holding antisemitic views about Romania's Jewish minority. Ancel wrote that Codreanu was the first significant Romanian to reject not only the prevailing Francophilia of the "intelligentsia", but also the entire framework of universal democratic values, which Codreanu claimed were "Jewish inventions" designed to destroy Romania.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: He began openly calling for the destruction of Jews, and, as early as 1927, the new movement organized the sacking and burning of a synagogue in the city of Oradea. It thus profited from an exceptional popularity of antisemitism in Romanian society: according to one analysis, Romania was, with the exception of Poland, the most antisemitic country in Eastern Europe.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu's message was among the most radical forms of Romanian antisemitism, and contrasted with the generally more moderate antisemitic views of Cuza's former associate, the prominent historian Nicolae Iorga. The model favoured by the Legion was a form of racial antisemitism, and formed part of Codreanu's theory that the Romanians were biologically distinct and superior to neighbouring or co-inhabiting ethnicities (including the Hungarian community). Codreanu also voiced his thoughts on the issue of Romanian expansionism, which show that he was pondering the incorporation of Soviet lands over the Dniester (in the region later annexed under the name of Transnistria) and planning a Romanian-led transnational federation centred on the Carpathians and the Danube.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: I will under underline this once again: we are not up against a few pathetic individuals who have landed here by chance and who now seek protection and shelter. We are up against a fully-fledged Jewish state, an entire army which has come here with its sights set on conquest. The movement of the Jewish population and its penetration into Romania are being carried out in accordance with precise plans. In all probability, the 'Great Jewish Council' is planning the creation of a new Palestine on a strip of land, starting out on the Baltic Sea, embraces a part of Poland and Czechoslovakia and half of Romania right across to the Black Sea...The worse thing that Jews and politicians have done to us, the greatest danger that they have exposed our people to, is not the way they are seizing the riches and possessions of our country, destroying the Romanian middle class, the way they swamp our schools and liberal professions, or the pernicious influence they are having on our whole political life, although these already constitute mortal dangers for a people. The greatest danger they pose to the people is rather that they are undermining us racially, that they are destroying the racial, Romano-Dacian structure of our people and call into being a type of human being that is nothing, but a racial wreck."


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: From early on, the movement registered significant gains among the middle-class and educated youth. However, according to various commentators, Codreanu won his most significant following in the rural environment, which in part reflected the fact that he and most other Legionary leaders were first-generation urban dwellers. American historian of fascism Stanley G. Payne, who noted that the Legion benefited from the 400% increase in university enrolment ("proportionately more than anywhere else in Europe"), has described the Captain and his network of disciples as "a revolutionary alliance of students and poor peasants", which centred on the "new underemployed intelligentsia prone to radical nationalism". Thus, a characteristic trait of the newly-founded movement was the young age of its leaders; later records show that the average age of the Legionary elite was 27.4.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: By then also an anticapitalist, Codreanu identified in Jewry the common source of economic liberalism and communism, both seen as internationalist forces manipulated by a Judaic conspiracy. As an opponent of modernization and materialism, he only vaguely indicated that his movement's economic goals implied a non-Marxian form of Collectivist anarchism, and presided over his followers' initiatives to set up various cooperatives.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: After more than two years of stagnation, Codreanu felt it necessary to amend the purpose of the movement: he and the leadership of the movement started touring rural regions, addressing the churchgoing illiterate population with the rhetoric of sermons, dressing up in long white mantles and instigating Christian prejudice against Judaism (this intense campaign was also prompted by the fact that the Legion was immediately sidelined by Cuza's League in the traditionally-receptive Moldavian and Bukovinian centers). Between 1928 and 1930, the Alexandru Vaida-Voevod National Peasants' Party cabinet gave tacit assistance to the Guard, but Iuliu Maniu (representing the same party) clamped down on the Legion after July 1930. This came after the latter had tried to provoke a wave of pogroms in Maramureș and Bessarabia. In one notable incident of 1930, Legionnaires encouraged the peasant population of Borșa to attack the town's 4,000 Jews.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The Legion also attempted to assassinate government officials and journalists, including Constantin Angelescu, undersecretary of Internal Affairs. Codreanu was briefly arrested together with the would-be assassin Gheorghe Beza: both were tried and acquitted. Nevertheless, the wave of violence and a planned march into Bessarabia signalled the outlawing of the party by Premier Gheorghe Mironescu and Minister of the Interior Ion Mihalache (January 1931); again arrested, Codreanu was acquitted in late February.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Having been boosted by the Great Depression in Romania and the malcontent it engendered, in 1931, the Legion also profited from the disagreement between King Carol II and the National Peasants' Party, which brought a cabinet formed around Nicolae Iorga. Codreanu was consequently elected to the Chamber of Deputies on the lists of the "Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Grouping" (the provisional name for the Guard), together with other prominent members of his original movement — including Ion Zelea, his father, and Mihai Stelescu, a young activist who ultimately came into conflict with the Legion; it is likely that the new Vaida-Voevod cabinet gave tacit support to the Grouping in subsequent partial elections. The Legion had won five seats in all, signalling its first important electoral gain.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu quickly became noted for exposing corruption of ministers and other politicians on a case-by-case basis (although several of his political adversaries at the time described him as "bland and incompetent").


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The authorities became increasingly concerned with the revolutionary potential of the Legion, and minor clashes in 1932 between the two introduced what became, from 1933, almost a decade of major political violence. The situation degenerated after Codreanu expressed his full support for Adolf Hitler and Nazism (even to the detriment of Italian fascism, and probably an added source for the conflict between the Captain and Stelescu). Romania was traditionally one of the most Francophile countries in Europe and had been allied to its "Latin sister" France since 1926, so Codreanu's call for an alliance with Germany was very novel for the time. A new National Liberal cabinet, formed by Ion G. Duca, moved against such initiatives, stating that the Legion was acting as a puppet of the German Nazi Party, and ordering that a huge number of Legionnaires be arrested just prior to the new elections in 1933 (which the Liberals won). Some of the Legionnaires held in custody were killed by authorities. In retaliation, Duca was assassinated by the Iron Guard's "Nicadori" death squad on 30 December 1933. Another result was the very first crackdown on non-affiliated sympathizers of the Iron Guard, after Nae Ionescu and allies protested against its repression.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Due to Duca's killing, Codreanu was forced into hiding, awaiting calm and delegating leadership to General Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul, who later assumed partial guilt for the assassination. Legionnaire Mihai Stelescu, who would become Codreanu's adversary as head of the splinter group "Crusade of Romanianism", alleged that Codreanu had been given refuge by a cousin of Magda Lupescu, Carol's mistress, implying that the Guard was becoming corrupt. Despite Codreanu's attacks on the elite, at his trial in 1934 a number of respected politicians like Gheorghe I. Brătianu, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod and Constantin Argetoianu testified for Codreanu as character witnesses. Codreanu was again acquitted.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: As Duca had alleged, the Iron Guard did have some links to the Nazi Party's foreign office under Alfred Rosenberg, but in 1933–34 the main local beneficiary of financial support from Rosenberg was Codreanu's rival Octavian Goga, who lacked Codreanu's mass following and thus was more biddable. A further issue for the Nazis was concern over Codreanu's statements that Romania had too many minorities for its own good, which led to fears that Codreanu might persecute the "volksdeutsch" minority if he came to power. Though limited, the connections between the NSDAP and the Iron Guard added to the Legion's appeal as the Iron Guard was associated in the public mind with the apparently dynamic and successful society of Nazi Germany.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Some time after the start of Gheorghe Tătărescu's premiership and Ion Inculeț's leadership of the Internal Affairs Ministry, repression of the Legion ceased, a measure which reflected Carol's hope to ensure a new period of stability. In 1936, during a youth congress in Târgu Mureș, Codreanu agreed to the formation of a permanent "Death Squad", which immediately showed its goals with the killing of dissident Mihai Stelescu by a group called the "Decemviri" (led by Ion Caratănase), neutralizing the "Crusade of Romanianism"'s anti-Legion campaign, and silencing Stelescu's claims that Codreanu was politically corrupt, uncultured, a plagiarist, and hypocritical in his public display of asceticism.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: 1937 was marked by the deaths and ostentatious funerals of Ion Moța (by then, the movement's vice president) and Vasile Marin, who had volunteered on Francisco Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War and had been killed in the battle at Majadahonda. Codreanu also published his autobiographical and ideological essay "Pentru legionari" ("For the Legionnaires" or "For My Legionnaires").


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: It was during this period that the Guard came to be financed by Nicolae Malaxa (otherwise known as a prominent collaborator of Carol), and became interested in reforming itself to reach an even wider audience: Codreanu created a meritocratic inner structure of ranks, established a wide range of philanthropic ventures, again voiced themes which appealed to the industrial workers, and created "Corpul Muncitoresc Legionar", a Legion branch which grouped members of the working class. King Carol met difficulties in preserving his rule after being faced with a decline in the appeal of the more traditional parties, and, as Tătărescu's term approached its end, Carol made an offer to Codreanu, demanding leadership of the Legion in exchange for a Legionary cabinet; this offer was promptly refused.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: After the consequent ban on paramilitary groups, the Legion was restyled into a political party, running in elections as Totul Pentru Țară ("Everything for the Country", acronym TPȚ). Shortly afterwards, Codreanu went on record stating his contempt for Romania's alliances in Eastern Europe, in particular the Little Entente and the Balkan Pact, and indicating that, 48 hours after his movement came into power, the country would be aligned with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Reportedly, such trust and confidence was reciprocated by both German officials and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, the latter of whom viewed Goga's cabinet as a transition to the Iron Guard's rule.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: In the elections of 1937, when it signed an electoral pact with the National Peasants' Party with the goal of preventing the government from making use of electoral fraud, TPȚ received 15.5% of the vote (occasionally rounded up to 16%). Despite failure to win the majority bonus, Codreanu's movement was, at the time, the third most popular party in Romania, the only one whose popularity grew in 1937–1938, and by far the most popular fascist group.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The Legion was excluded from political coalitions by nominally fascist King Carol, who preferred newly-formed subservient movements and the revived National-Christian Defense League. Cuza created his antisemitic government together with poet Octavian Goga and his National Agrarian Party. Codreanu and the two leaders did not get along, and the Legion started competing with the authorities by adopting corporatism. In parallel, he urged his followers to set up private businesses, claiming to follow the advice of Nicolae Iorga, after the latter claimed that a Romanian-run commerce could prove a solution to what he deemed the "Jewish Question".


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The new government alliance, unified as the National Christian Party, gave itself a blue-shirted paramilitary corps that borrowed heavily from the Legion — the "Lăncieri" — and initiated an official campaign of persecution of Jews, attempting to win back the interest the public had in the Iron Guard. After much violence, Codreanu was approached by Goga and agreed to have his party withdraw from campaigning in the scheduled elections of 1938, believing that, in any event, the regime had no viable solution and would wear itself out — while attempting to profit from the king's authoritarianism by showing his willingness to integrate any possible one-party system.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu's designs were overturned by Carol, who deposed Goga, introducing his own dictatorship after his attempts to form a national government. The system relied instead on the new Constitution of 1938, the financial backing received from large business, and the winning over of several more or less traditional politicians, such as Nicolae Iorga and the Internal Affairs Minister Armand Călinescu ("see National Renaissance Front"). The ban on the Guard was again tightly enforced, with Călinescu ordering all public places known to have harboured Legion meetings to be closed down (including several restaurants in Bucharest). Members of the movement were placed under close surveillance or arrested in cases where they did not abide by the new legislation, while civil servants risked arrest if they were caught spreading Iron Guard propaganda.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The official and semi-official press began attacking Codreanu. He was thus virulently criticized by the magazine "Neamul Românesc", which was edited by Iorga. When Carol felt he had sufficient control of the situation, he ordered a brutal suppression of the Iron Guard and had Codreanu arrested on the charge of slander, based on a letter Codreanu sent to Iorga on 26 March 1938, in which he had attacked him for collaborating with Carol, calling Iorga "morally dishonest". Codreanu referred to the historian's charge that Legionary commerce was financing rebellion, and argued that this strategy had originated from Iorga's own arguments. Nicolae Iorga replied by filing a complaint with the Military Tribunal and by writing Codreanu a letter which advised him to "descend in [his] conscience to find remorse" for "the amount of blood spilled over him".


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Upon being informed of the indictment, Codreanu urged his followers not to take any action if he was going to be sentenced to less than six months in prison, stressing that he wanted to give an example of dignity; however, he also ordered a group of Legionnaires to defend him in case of an attack by the authorities. He was arrested together with 44 other prominent members of the movement, including Ion Zelea Codreanu, Gheorghe Clime, Alexandru Cristian Tell, Radu Gyr, Nae Ionescu, Șerban Milcoveanu and Mihail Polihroniade, on the evening of April 16. The crackdown coincided with the Orthodox celebration of Palm Sunday (when those targeted were known to be in their homes). After a short stay in the Romanian Police Prefecture, Codreanu was dispatched to Jilava prison, while the other prisoners were sent to Tismana Monastery (and later to concentration camps such as the one in Miercurea Ciuc).


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu was tried for slander and sentenced to six months in jail, before the authorities indicted him for sedition, and for the crimes of politically organizing underage students, issuing orders inciting to violence, maintaining links with foreign organizations, and organizing fire practices. Of the people to give evidence in his favour at the trial, the best-known was General Ion Antonescu, who would later become "Conducător" and Premier of Romania.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The two trials were marked by irregularities, and Codreanu accused the judges and prosecutors of conducting it in a "Bolshevik" manner, because he had not been allowed to speak in his own defence. He sought the counsel of the prominent lawyers Istrate Micescu and Grigore Iunian, but was refused by both, and, as a consequence, his defence team comprised Legionary activists with little experience. They were several times prevented by the authorities from preparing their pleas. The conditions of his imprisonment were initially harsh: his cell was damp and cold, which caused him health problems.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu was eventually sentenced to ten years of hard labour. According to historian Ilarion Țiu, the trial and verdict were received with general apathy, and the only political faction believed to have organized a public rally in connection with it was the outlawed Romanian Communist Party, some of whose members gathered in front of the tribunal to express support for the conviction. The Legionary Movement itself grew disorganized, and provincial bodies of the Legion came to exercise control over the centre, which had been weakened by the arrests. As the political establishment's main branches welcomed the news of Codreanu's sentencing, the Iron Guard organized a retaliation attack targeting the National Peasant Party's Virgil Madgearu, who had become known for expressing his opposition to the movement's extremism (Madgearu managed to escape the violence unharmed).


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: Codreanu was moved from Jilava to Doftana prison, where, despite the sentence, he was not required to perform any form of physical work. The conditions of his detention improved, and he was allowed to regularly communicate with his family and subordinates. At the time, he rejected all possibility of an escape, and ordered the Legion to refrain from violent acts. A provisional leadership team was also organized, consisting of Ion Antoniu, Ion Belgae, Radu Mironovici, Iordache Nicoară, and Horia Sima. However, the provisional leadership, against Codreanu's wishes, announced that he was faring badly in prison and threatened further retaliation, to the point where the prison staff increased security as a means to prevent a potential break-in.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: In the autumn, following the successful Nazi German expansion into Central Europe which seemed to provide momentum for the Guard, and even moreso the international context provided by the Munich Agreement and the First Vienna Award, its clandestine leadership grew confident and published manifestos threatening King Carol. Those members of the Iron Guard who escaped persecution or were omitted in the first place started a violent campaign throughout Romania, meant to coincide with Carol's visit to Hitler at the Berghof, as a way to prevent the tentative approach between Romania and Nazi Germany; confident that Hitler was not determined on supporting the Legion, and irritated by the incidents, Carol ordered the decapitation of the movement.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: On 30 November, it was announced that Codreanu, the "Nicadori" and the "Decemviri" had been shot after trying to flee custody the previous night. The actual details were revealed much later: the fourteen persons had been transported from their prison and executed (strangled or garroted and shot) by the Gendarmerie around Tâncăbești (near Bucharest), and their bodies had been buried in the courtyard of the Jilava prison. Their bodies were dissolved in acid, and placed under seven tons of concrete.


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: According to Adrian Cioroianu, Codreanu was "the most successful political and at the same time anti-political model of interwar Romania". The Legion was described by British researcher Norman Davies as "one of Europe's more violent fascist movements." Stanley G. Payne argued that the Iron Guard was "probably the most unusual mass movement of interwar Europe", and noted that part of this was owed to Codreanu being "a sort of religious mystic"; British historian James Mayall saw the Legion as "the most singular of the lesser fascist movements".


title: Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

text: The charismatic leadership represented by Codreanu has drawn comparisons with models favoured by other leaders of far-right and fascist movements, including Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Payne and German historian Ernst Nolte proposed that, among European far-rightists, Codreanu was most like Hitler in what concerns fanaticism. In Payne's view, however, he was virtually unparalleled in demanding "self-destructiveness" from his followers. Mayall, who states the Legion "was inspired in large measure by National Socialism and fascism", argues that Corneliu Zelea Codreanu's vision of ""omul nou"", although akin to the "new man" of Nazi and Italian doctrines, is characterized by an unparalleled focus on mysticism. Historian Renzo De Felice, who dismisses the notion that Nazism and fascism are connected, also argues that, due to Legionary attack on "bourgeois values and institutions", which the fascist ideology wanted instead to "purify and perfect", Codreanu "was not, strictly speaking, a fascist." Spanish historian Francisco Veiga argued that "fascization" was a process experienced by the Guard, accumulating traits over a more generic nationalist fibre.