title: Artistic gymnastics

text: In the "all-around" finals (abbreviated AA), gymnasts compete individually on all four or six events, and their totals determine the all-around medals. Only two gymnasts per country may advance to the all-around finals from the qualification round.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: In the "event finals" (abbreviated EF) or "apparatus finals", the top eight gymnasts on each event (as determined by scores in the qualification round) compete for medals. Only two gymnasts per country may advance to each event final.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Competitions other than the Olympics and World Championships may use other formats. For instance, the 2007 Pan American Games had only one day of team competition with a 6–5–4 format, and three athletes per country were allowed to advance to the all-around. In other meets, such as those on the World Cup circuit, the team event is not contested at all.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Since 1989, competitions have used the "new life" rule, under which scores from one session do not carry over to the next. In other words, a gymnast's performance in team finals does not affect his or her scores in the all-around finals or event finals, and marks from the team qualifying round do not count toward the team finals.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Before this rule was introduced, the scores from the team competition carried over into the all-around and event finals. Final results and medal placement were determined by combining the following scores:


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Until 1997, the team competition consisted of two sessions, with every gymnast performing standardized "compulsory routines" in the preliminaries and individualized "optional routines" on the second day. Team medals were determined based on the combined scores of both days, as were the qualifiers to the all-around and event finals. However, the all-around and event finals did not include compulsory routines.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: In meets where team titles were not contested, such as the American Cup, there were two days of all-around competition: one for compulsories and another for optionals.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: While optional routines were developed by each gymnast and her coach in accordance with the Code of Points and the gymnast's personal strengths, compulsory routines were developed and choreographed by the FIG Technical Committee. The dance and tumbling skills were generally less difficult than those in optional routines, but perfect technique, form, and execution were heavily emphasized. Scoring was exacting, with judges taking deductions for even slight deviations from the required choreography. For this reason, many gymnasts and coaches considered compulsories more challenging than optionals.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Compulsories were eliminated at the end of 1996. The move was highly controversial, with many successful gymnastics federations—including the United States', Russia's, and China's—arguing that the compulsory exercises helped maintain a high standard of form, technique, and execution among gymnasts. Opponents of compulsories believed that they harmed emerging gymnastics programs.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Some members of the gymnastics community still argue that compulsories should be reinstated, and many gymnastics federations have maintained compulsories in their national programs. Oftentimes, gymnasts competing at the lower levels of the sport—for instance, Levels 4–6 in USA Gymnastics, Grade 2 in South Africa, and Levels 3–6 in Australia—only perform compulsory routines.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Artistic gymnasts compete only with other gymnasts at their level. Each athlete starts at the lowest level and advances to higher levels by learning more difficult skills and achieving qualifying scores at competitions.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: In the United States, whose program is governed by USA Gymnastics, levels range from 1 to 10, followed by elite. Levels 1 to 2 are usually considered recreational, or beginner; 3 to 6 intermediate; and 7 to elite advanced. Competitions begin at Level 3 or, in some gyms, Level 2. A gymnast must be able to perform specific skills on each event to advance to the next level, and once a gymnast has competed in a sectional meet at a given level, they may not drop back to a lower level in the same competitive season. Gymnasts in Levels 1–2 perform basic skills such as handstands and cartwheels. Levels 3–5 consist of compulsory routines; 6 is an in-between level with strict requirements but some leeway for gymnasts to show their own creativity; and Levels 7–10 consist of optional routines. Only elite gymnasts compete in accordance with the FIG's Code of Points; lower levels have a modified code.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The elite program is divided into two categories: junior for gymnasts younger than 16, and senior for gymnasts 16 and older. (Gymnasts are allowed to compete at the senior level at the beginning of the calendar year in which they will turn 16.) Olympic teams are chosen from the senior elite program.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The British Gymnastics level system goes from 5 (lowest) to 2, and there are separate tracks for elite- and club-level competition.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: There are several competitive streams in Canadian gymnastics: recreational, developmental, pre-competitive, provincial, national, and high-performance. Provincial levels range from 5 (lowest) to 1; national levels are pre-novice, novice, open, and high performance; and high-performance levels are novice, junior, and senior.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: In Germany, there are different competitive systems for recreational and high-performance gymnasts. Recreational gymnasts have a system of compulsory exercises from 1 to 9 and optional exercises from 4 to 1, with modified Code of Points requirements. For high-performance and junior athletes, there are compulsory and optional requirements defined by age, from ages 6 to 18.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The FIG imposes a minimum age requirement on gymnasts competing in certain international meets, but it does not impose a maximum age limit. The term "senior" refers to world-class or elite gymnasts who are age-eligible under FIG rules: Female gymnasts must be at least 16 or turning 16 within the calendar year, and the minimum age for men is 18. The term "junior" refers to any gymnast who competes at a world-class or elite level but is too young to be classified as a senior.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Juniors are judged under the same Code of Points as seniors and often exhibit the same level of difficulty in their routines, but they are not allowed to compete at the Olympics, World Championships, or World Cups. Many meets, such as the European Championships, have separate divisions for juniors. But some competitions, such as the Goodwill Games, the Pan American Games, the Pacific Rim Championships, and the All-Africa Games, permit seniors and juniors to compete together.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The age requirement is contentious and is frequently debated by coaches, gymnasts, and other members of the gymnastics community. Those in favor of the age limits argue that they promote the participation of older athletes and spare younger gymnasts from the stress of competition and high-level training. Opponents point out that junior gymnasts are scored under the same Code of Points as the seniors (with some restrictions) and train mostly the same skills. They also argue that younger gymnasts need the experience of competing in major events to improve as athletes.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Since stricter age requirements were adopted in the early 1980s, there have been several well-documented and many more suspected cases of juniors with falsified documents competing as seniors. The FIG has only taken disciplinary action in three cases: those of Kim Gwang-Suk of North Korea, who competed at the 1989 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships when she may have been as young as 11; Hong Su-jong of North Korea, who competed under three different birth dates in the 2000s; and China's Dong Fangxiao, who competed at the 2000 Olympics when she was 14.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: While the minimum age requirement applies to both women and men, it is more contentious in the women's program because, while most top male gymnasts are in their late teens or early twenties, female gymnasts are typically ready to compete at the international level by their mid-teens. The difference is largely due to the fact that men's skills tend to emphasize strength more than women's skills.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Under the current system—established in 2006—two panels judge each routine, evaluating different aspects of the performance. The "D score" covers skill requirements, difficulty value, and connection value (for skills performed back to back with no pause in between); the "E score" covers execution and artistry; and the two are added together to produce final scores. The maximum E score is 10, but there is no cap on the D score. Theoretically, this means scores could be infinite. However, average marks for routines in major competitions have generally been in the low to mid teens.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: This system, with its open-ended difficulty score, is very different from the one used for most of the sport's history. Before 2006, the highest possible score was a "perfect 10". Every routine was assigned a start value (SV) based on difficulty. A routine that included all required elements received a base SV—9.4 in 1996, 9.0 in 1997, 8.8 in 2001—and gymnasts could increase their SV to a maximum of 10 by performing harder skills and combinations. Then, to score a gymnast's routine, judges deducted from the SV for errors in execution.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Some gymnasts and coaches—including Olympic gold medalists Lilia Podkopayeva, Svetlana Boginskaya, Shannon Miller, and Vitaly Scherbo, and Romanian team coach Nicolae Forminte — publicly opposed the new Code of Points when it was first announced. In addition, a 2006 report from the FIG Athletes' Commission cited major concerns about scoring, judging, and other subjects. Aspects of the code were revised in 2007, but there are no plans to return to the "perfect 10" format.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Most countries hold a major competition (National Championships, or "Nationals") every year that determines the best-performing all-around gymnasts and event specialists. Gymnasts may qualify to their country's national team or be selected for international meets based on their scores at Nationals.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Before the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Soviet gymnasts dominated both men's and women's gymnastics, starting with the introduction of the full women's program into the Olympics and the overall increased standardization of the Olympic gymnastics competition format, which happened in 1952. The Soviet Union's success might be explained by the government's heavy investment in sports to support its political agenda on an international stage.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Soviet Union had many male stars, such as Olympic all-around champions Viktor Chukarin and Vitaly Scherbo, and female stars, such as Olympic all-around champions Larisa Latynina and Svetlana Boginskaya. From 1952 to 1992 inclusive, the Soviet women's squad won almost every team title in World Championship and Olympic competition, with only four exceptions: the 1984 Olympics, which the country boycotted, and the 1966, 1979, and 1987 World Championships. Most of the top Soviet gymnasts were from the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Byelorussian SSR.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, its gymnasts performed together for the last time at the 1992 Summer Olympics as the Unified Team, winning both the men's and women's team competitions.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Russia has continued the Soviet tradition, medaling at every World and Olympic competition in both MAG and WAG disciplines, except at the 2008 Olympics. Ukraine maintained a strong team for more than a decade—Ukrainian Lilia Podkopayeva was the all-around champion at the 1996 Olympics—but it has declined in recent years. Belarus has maintained a strong men's team. Other former republics have been less successful.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Romanian team first achieved wide-scale success at the 1976 Summer Olympics with the performance of Nadia Comăneci, who was the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 in Olympic competition. After that, using the centralized training system pioneered by Béla Károlyi, they remained a dominant force in women's team and individual events for nearly four decades.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Romania was one of only two teams ever to defeat the Soviets in head-to-head World or Olympic competition, winning at the 1979 and 1987 World Championships. (The other was the Czechoslovakian women's team at the 1966 World Championships.) The Romanian women also won team medals at every Olympics from 1976 to 2012 inclusive, including gold medals in 1984, 2000, and 2004. At the 16 World Championships from 1978 to 2007 inclusive, they failed to medal only twice (in 1981 and 2006) and won the team title seven times, including five victories in a row (1994–2001). From 1976 to 2000, they placed gymnasts—such as Daniela Silivaș, Lavinia Miloșovici, and Simona Amânar—on the all-around podium at every Olympics, and usually did the same at the World Championships through 2015, including producing World all-around champions Aurelia Dobre (1987) and Maria Olaru (1999).


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The decline of Romanian gymnastics began after the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the 2006 World Championships, they failed to medal in the team competition, and only Sandra Izbașa won any individual medals. They won bronze medals at the 2007 World Championships, 2008 Summer Olympics, and 2012 Summer Olympics but failed to medal at the 2010, 2011, or 2014 World Championships.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Things took a drastic turn at the 2015 World Championships, where Romania did not even qualify for the team final. In 2016, it failed to qualify a full team to the 2016 Summer Olympics, placing seventh at the 2016 Gymnastics Olympic Test Event. It earned one Olympic spot, which was filled by 3-time Olympic champion Cătălina Ponor.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: At the 2018 World Championships, Romania placed 13th in qualifications and did not make the team final. At the 2019 World Championships, it finished 22nd out of 24 teams—beating only the Czech Republic and Egypt—and again failed to qualify a team to the 2020 Summer Olympics, with only Maria Holbură earning an individual spot. After the Olympics were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a second Romanian gymnast, Larisa Iordache, earned an individual spot through the 2021 European Championships.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Romanian men's program, while less successful than the women's, has produced individual medalists such as Marian Drăgulescu and Marius Urzică at World and Olympic competitions.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: While isolated American gymnasts, including Kurt Thomas and Cathy Rigby, won medals at World Championship competitions in the 1970s, the United States team was largely considered a "second power" until the late 1980s, when American gymnasts began medaling consistently in major, fully attended competitions.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: At the 1984 Olympics, which the Soviet bloc boycotted, the American men won the gold with a team composed of Bart Conner, Tim Daggett, Mitch Gaylord, Jim Hartung, Scott Johnson, and Peter Vidmar. The women's team—composed of Pam Bileck, Michelle Dusserre, Kathy Johnson, Julianne McNamara, Mary Lou Retton, and Tracee Talavera—won a silver medal, and Retton became the first American Olympic all-around champion.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: In 1991, Kim Zmeskal became the first American all-around winner at the World Championships. At the 1992 Olympics, the American women won their first team medal (bronze) at a fully attended Games, as well as their highest all-around ranking, a silver medal for Shannon Miller. In men's gymnastics, Trent Dimas won the horizontal bar final.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The U.S. women's team has become increasingly successful in the modern era, with the 1996 Olympic team victory of the Magnificent Seven, the 2003 Worlds team victory, and multiple medals in both WAG and MAG at the 2004 Olympics. At the 2012 Olympics and 2016 Olympics, the U.S. women won the team gold. The United States has produced the last five women's Olympic all-around champions—Carly Patterson (2004), Nastia Liukin (2008), Gabby Douglas (2012), Simone Biles (2016) and Sunisa Lee (2021)—as well as individual gymnasts such as World all-around champions Zmeskal (1991), Shannon Miller (1993, 1994), Chellsie Memmel (2005), Shawn Johnson (2007), Bridget Sloan (2009), Jordyn Wieber (2011), Biles (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019), and Morgan Hurd (2017). At the 2005 World Championships, American women won the gold and silver in the all-around and in every event final except vault (where Alicia Sacramone placed third). They continue to be one of the most dominant forces in the sport.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The men's team made the medal podium at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, as well as the 2003 and 2011 World Championships. Paul Hamm, the most successful U.S. male gymnast, became the first American man to win a World all-around title in 2003. He followed this up by winning the all-around at the 2004 Olympics. Jonathan Horton won a silver medal on the horizontal bar at the 2008 Olympics and a bronze in the all-around at the 2010 World Championships, and Danell Leyva won the all-around bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics and two silver medals (parallel bars and horizontal bar) at the 2016 Olympics.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: China has had successful men's and women's programs over the past 25 years. The Chinese men won team gold at the 2000 and 2008 Olympics, and every World Championship team title from 1994 to 2014 (except 2001, when they placed fifth). They have produced individual gymnasts like Olympic all-around champions Li Xiaoshuang (1996) and Yang Wei (2008).


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Chinese women's team won gold at the 2006 World Championships and 2008 Olympics, and has produced individual gymnasts like Mo Huilan, Kui Yuanyuan, Yang Bo, Cheng Fei, Sui Lu, Huang Huidan, Yao Jinnan, and Fan Yilin. Chinese women who have won individual Olympic gold medals are Ma Yanhong, Lu Li, Liu Xuan, He Kexin, Deng Linlin, and Guan Chenchen.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Though for many years considered a two-event team (uneven bars and balance beam), China has developed successful all-arounders like Olympic bronze medalists Liu Xuan (2000), Zhang Nan (2004), and Yang Yilin (2008). Like the Soviet Union, they have been accused of grueling and sometimes cruel training methods, as well as age falsification.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Japanese men's team was dominant during the 1960s and 1970s, winning every Olympic team title from 1960 through 1976 thanks to individual gymnasts such as Olympic all-around champions Sawao Katō and Yukio Endō. Several innovations pioneered by Japanese gymnasts during this era have remained in the sport, including the Tsukahara vault.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: More recently, Japanese men have re-emerged as top contenders since winning a team gold at the 2004 Olympics. Six-time World champion and two-time Olympic all-around gold medalist Kōhei Uchimura is widely considered to be the best all-around gymnast ever, and Hiroyuki Tomita won 10 World and Olympic medals from 2003 to 2008.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The women have been less successful, but there have been individual standouts such as Olympic and World medalist Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda, who competed in the 1950s and 1960s, and more recently Koko Tsurumi, Rie Tanaka, Natsumi Sasada, Yuko Shintake, Asuka Teramoto, Sae Miyakawa, Hitomi Hatakeda, Aiko Sugihara, and Mai Murakami. Tsurumi won a bronze medal in the all-around and silver on bars at the 2009 World Championships, and Murakami won gold on floor in 2017, the first Japanese woman to win a World gold medal since Tanaka-Ikeda.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, had a very successful gymnastics program before the reunification of Germany. Its MAG and WAG teams frequently won silver or bronze medals at the World Championships and Olympics, led by male gymnasts such as Andreas Wecker and Roland Brückner, and female gymnasts such as Maxi Gnauck, Karin Janz, and Erika Zuchold.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, had international stars like Eberhard Gienger, Willi Jaschek, and Helmut Bantz.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Since its reunification, Germany has produced a number of medal-winning gymnasts, including Fabian Hambüchen, Philipp Boy, and Marcel Nguyen among the men and Pauline Schäfer, Elizabeth Seitz, Sophie Scheder, and Tabea Alt among the women. The former Soviet/Uzbek gymnast Oksana Chusovitina also competed for Germany from 2006 to 2012, winning two World medals and an Olympic silver on vault.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Czechoslovakian women's team was the main threat to the dominance of the Soviet women's team for decades. They won team medals at every World Championships and Olympics from 1934 to 1970, with the exceptions of the 1950 Worlds and 1956 Olympics. Among their leaders were Vlasta Děkanová, the first women's World all-around champion, and Věra Čáslavská, who won all five European, World and Olympic all-around titles during the 1964–68 Olympic cycle—a feat never matched by any other gymnast, male or female. Čáslavská also led Czechoslovakia to the world team title in 1966, making the country one of only two (Romania being the other) ever to defeat the Soviet women's team at a major competition.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Czechoslovakian men's success at the World Championships was the greatest of any country prior to World War II: They were first in the medal table more than any other nation and won the most team titles during the pre-WWII period.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Together, Czechoslovakia and its precursor, the Austro-Hungarian constituent Bohemia, produced four men's World all-around champions: Josef Čada in 1907, Ferdinand Steiner in 1911, František Pecháček in 1922, and Jan Gajdoš in 1938. Their most decorated athlete was Ladislav Vácha, who won 10 individual World and Olympic medals.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Led by individuals such as 10-time Olympic medalist (with five golds) Ágnes Keleti, the Hungarian women's team medaled at the first four Olympics that included women's artistic gymnastics competitions (1936–1956), as well as at the 1954 World Championships. After a long decline, World and Olympic vault champion Henrietta Ónodi put them back on the map in the late 1980s and early 1990s.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The Hungarian men never had the same level of success as the women, although Zoltán Magyar dominated the pommel horse in the 1970s, winning eight of a possible nine European, World and Olympic titles from 1973 to 1980. Szilveszter Csollány, a World and Olympic champion on rings, also won medals at major competitions for a decade starting in the early 1990s. In more recent years, Krisztián Berki has won World and Olympic titles on the pommel horse.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Several other nations have been strong competitors in both WAG and MAG. Part of the rise of various countries' programs in recent years is attributable to the large exodus of coaching talent from the USSR and other former Eastern Bloc countries.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: In the past two decades, Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and South Korea have produced World and Olympic medalists and have started winning team medals at continental, World and Olympic competitions. Individual gymnasts from Croatia, Greece, North Korea, Slovenia, and Spain have also been successful in major competitions.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Gymnastics sits on many lists of the world's most dangerous sports. Artistic gymnastics carries an inherently high risk of spinal and other injuries, and in extremely rare cases, gymnasts have sustained fatal injuries. Julissa Gomez, an American gymnast, died in 1991 after breaking her neck while vaulting three years earlier. Several other gymnasts have been paralyzed from accidents in training or competition, including Elena Mukhina of the Soviet Union and Sang Lan of China.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: The pressure of the sport can make it even more dangerous to athletes. During the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, gymnast Simone Biles took a step back from competition to assess her mental health and ensure she was not putting herself at a greater risk of physical injury. Other athletes have expressed their support and called for a greater emphasis on mental health in gymnastics.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Eating disorders are also common, especially in women's gymnastics, in which gymnasts are motivated and sometimes pushed by coaches to maintain a below-normal body weight. The problem gained public attention in the 1990s after the death of Christy Henrich, a U.S. national team member who suffered from anorexia and bulimia.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Abusive coaching and training practices in gymnastics gained widespread attention after the publication of Joan Ryan's book "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" in 1995. USA Gymnastics began investigating several coaches in their program for abuses of all kind. In the late 2010s, many individual gymnasts—including former elite competitors from Australia, Britain, and the United States—began to speak out about the abuse they had experienced. This followed several years of allegations of sexual abuse by gymnastics coaches and other authority figures, including the former U.S. team doctor Larry Nassar. In April 2020, Maggie Haney, former coach of Olympian Laurie Hernandez, was suspended for eight years following her allegations of verbal and emotional abuse toward her gymnasts.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: During the 1996 Olympics, Kerri Strug had injured her foot after her first vault. However, her vault was what was standing in between Team USA and a gold medal. Strug performed her second vault, landing on one foot and was carried off by her coach crying in pain. Strug's teammate, Dominique Moceanu also opened up about the abuse she experienced. She said that she competed in the Olympics with a tibial stress fracture. Additionally, she fell on her head during her beam routine, and talked about how none of these injuries were treated properly. After being the coordinators for Team USA for nearly three decades in 2016, Bela and Marta Karolyi retired. After allegations that gymnasts were experiencing sexual abuse while training at the Karolyi ranch, it was officially closed in 2018.


title: Artistic gymnastics

text: Upon investigations of those working closely with Larry Nassar, John Geddert, head coach of the 2012 Women's Olympic Team, was suspended by USA Gymnastics for sexual assault, physical abuse, and human trafficking, and committed suicide shortly after being charged in February 2021. The Federal Bureau of Investigation had heard allegations from gymnasts regarding their sexual abuse as early as 2015, but did not address them until years later when Nassar was sentenced to prison in 2017. At the time of Nassar's court hearing, more than 160 women had spoken up about the abuse they endured. In a Senate hearing from September 2021, the victims and their representatives claimed that Nassar had abused 120 more women from the time the FBI knew about his allegations until the time they took action against him.


title: Overcooked

text: Overcooked (stylised as Overcooked!) is a 2016 cooking simulation video game developed by Ghost Town Games and published by Team17. In a local cooperative experience, players control a number of chefs in kitchens filled with various obstacles and hazards to rapidly prepare meals to specific orders under a time limit. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in August 2016. A Nintendo Switch version was released in July 2017.


title: Overcooked

text: "Overcooked" received many positive reviews upon release, and was nominated for four awards at the 13th British Academy Games Awards, eventually winning two for Best British Game and Best Family Game. A sequel, "Overcooked 2", was released in August 2018. A remastered version bundled with the sequel subtitled All You Can Eat released as a launch title for both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 in November 2020, and on Google Stadia in May 2022.


title: Overcooked

text: Players in "Overcooked" take on the role of chefs in a kitchen, preparing meals via preparation of ingredients, cooking, serving, and cleaning up all while under a time limit to complete as many dishes as possible. During a round, the players are presented with an order which must be completed within a short time window. The chefs work together to complete that meal in time. Most often, multiple orders of different types or varieties of meals will be presented in a queue, thus requiring the chefs to work together to effectively complete the orders. Completing each order correctly earns coins, with bonuses for speed, while orders that are improperly served do not earn any points but only waste time. The goal is to collect as many coins as possible within the time limit. The players are ranked on a 3-star system based on how many coins they got.


title: Overcooked

text: The cooking aspect is made difficult by the layouts of the kitchen, which change each level. Stations for ingredients, preparation areas, stoves and ovens, serving windows, and dishes are generally all separated across the kitchen, requiring time to move between them. There also may be other obstacles or challenges, such as a kitchen separated by a pedestrian crosswalk, with the pedestrians potentially getting in the chef's way. Another kitchen is set on the back of two trucks traveling at different paces down a road, making switching from one half of the kitchen to the other not always possible. Yet another kitchen is set upon an iceberg, requiring players to make more careful movements lest they fall off, or a level where kitchens move around. There are about 28 different kitchens in the game's campaign along with a final boss level.


title: Overcooked

text: "Overcooked" was designed as a local cooperative experience for up to four players. There is also a competitive multiplayer option, requiring the chefs to score the most points in a limited time. The game also has a single player mode where the player can control two chefs, switching between them at any time, or by selecting a specific control scheme, can attempt to control them both at the same time. There are no present plans for online multiplayer for the game.


title: Overcooked

text: "Overcooked" was the first video game developed by the Cambridge-based company Ghost Town Games. The company was founded by Phil Duncan and Oli De-Vine, who had previously worked at Frontier Developments for around eight years, before leaving to start their own company. From the beginning, the two knew they wanted to make a cooperative game, and noted how most games only added cooperative elements as an afterthought to the single-player experience. As such, they wanted to develop a game where the cooperative nature was the focal point.


title: Overcooked

text: The kitchen setting was based on Duncan's past experience in restaurants. According to Duncan: "kitchens have always struck me as a perfect analogy for a cooperative game: an occupation where teamwork, time management, spatial awareness and shouting are all vitally important." The initial level designs were created to emphasise the need to work together. For example, creating a barrier in a kitchen that a player would have to walk around, but transferring an ingredient across to another player would take much less time. They found playtesters quickly caught onto how to manage their characters efficiently in these kitchens, often falling into rote but effective patterns, and then proceeded to add other elements based on this feedback. They included kitchen actions that would take time to complete on their own as make players find other tasks to occupy their chef's time to improve efficiency. A kitchen level would include more tasks than chefs available so that players could not stay at a single station for an entire round. A further addition was disruptions in the kitchen's layout, which they found required players to be in close communications to remain effective, part of the design goals they wanted for the game. To keep the game simple, they eliminated a life-based system in favour of a scoring-based one so that players did not feel pressured by making small mistakes, and a simple icon-based system to show steps to be done or that have been completed to avoid having the complexities of recalling what had already been done by another player to a minimum. Final level designs were optimized to find an appropriate balance between challenge and fun based on playtesting results.


title: Overcooked

text: As only a two person team developing a game with up to four players, Ghost Town spent much of their time taking the game to gaming festivals and conventions for demonstration as to get feedback from players there, often fixing bugs on the fly at these events. The feedback led to a major shift from focusing the game on the various recipes to more interesting level designs, as they found players would be more vested in performing well in complex and dynamic levels.


title: Overcooked

text: Team17 announced that they would help publish the game in May 2016. Team17 flew the pair to attend the E3 2016 and show off the game; as they had been situated next to the "Yooka-Laylee" booth, "Overcooked" gained a lot of attention at the event.


title: Overcooked

text: Following release, plans were made to produce a retail package of the game, and Duncan and De-vine spent much of their time through 2016 developing downloadable content that would be included in the retail version. The Nintendo Switch version includes the current expansions as well as support for the Switch's HD rumble feature. DLC pack released for the game includes "The Lost Morsel" and "Festive Seasoning".


title: Overcooked

text: "Overcooked" has received generally positive reviews on release including appreciation for the dynamics during co-operative play, "Overcooked is terrific "because" of its commitment to uproarious, hilarious and challenging co-operation". Reviews of the Switch edition complained about the framerate which frequently dipped below 30 frames per second.


title: Overcooked

text: A sequel entitled "Overcooked 2" was announced on 12 June 2018, and was released on 7 August 2018 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. In addition to local multiplayer, the sequel allows for both wireless and online multiplayer.


title: Overcooked

text: "Overcooked: All You Can Eat", a compilation game that includes both "Overcooked" and "Overcooked 2", was released on 12 November 2020 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The compilation came to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows the following year on 23 March 2021. It was ported to Google Stadia on May 5, 2022. Content from "Overcooked" was remastered using the "Overcooked 2" engine, and online multiplayer was enabled.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Southeast Asia has a tradition of protective tattoos known as "sak yant" or yantra tattoos that incorporate Buddhist symbols and images, as well as protective mantras or sutra verses in antique Khmer script. These tattoos are sometimes applied by Buddhist monks or practitioners of indigenous spiritual traditions. Traditionally, tattoos that included images of the Buddha or other religious figures were only applied to certain parts of the body, and sometimes required commitment on the part of the recipient to observe the Five Precepts or other traditional customs. Incorporation of images of the Buddha into tattoos that do not comply with traditional norms for respectful display have been a cause of controversy in a number of traditional Buddhist countries, where the display of images of this type by Westerners may be regarded as appropriation and has resulted in barred entry or deportation of individuals displaying tattoos of this type.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Some Christians take issue with tattooing, upholding the Hebrew prohibition (see below). The Hebrew prohibition is based on interpreting Leviticus 19:28—"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you"—so as to prohibit tattoos, and perhaps even makeup.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Interpretations of the passage vary, however. Some believe that it refers specifically to, and exclusively prohibits, an ancient form of self-mutilation during mourning (as discussed in the Judaism section). Under this interpretation, tattooing is permitted to Jews and Christians. Another interpretation is that it refers only to the tattooing of ink with ashes of deceased family.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Others hold that the prohibition of Leviticus 19:28, regardless of its interpretation, is not binding upon Christians—just as prohibitions like "nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff" (Lev. 19:19) are not binding—because it is part of the Jewish ceremonial law, binding only upon the Jewish people (see ).


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: In the Catholic Church during the Crusades, it was ruled in the Council of Northumberland that religious tattoos were permissible, and even "praiseworthy". At the time, many Catholic knights and pilgrims made use of tattoos, especially at the completion of a pilgrimage to the Catholic shrines in the Holy Land. Some Catholic military orders, such as the Knights of St. John of Malta, sported tattoos to show their allegiance. However in some regions, a decline often occurred in other cultures following European efforts to convert aboriginal and indigenous people to Western religious and cultural practices that held tribal tattooing to be a "pagan" or "heathen" activity. Within some traditional indigenous cultures, tattooing takes place within the context of a rite of passage between adolescence and adulthood (without any explicit religious subtext).


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Catholic Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina utilised tattooing of crosses for perceived protection against forced conversion to Islam and enslavement during the Ottoman occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (see Christian tattooing in Bosnia and Herzegovina). This form of tattooing continued long past its original motivation. Tattooing was performed during springtime or during special religious celebrations such as the Feast of St. Joseph, and consisted mostly of Christian crosses on hands, fingers, forearms, and below the neck and on the chest.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Orthodox Coptic Christians who live in Egypt commonly tattoo themselves with the symbols of Coptic crosses on their right wrists for similar historical reasons. From there, the tradition spread throughout Eastern Christian communities such as the Ethiopian, Armenian, Syriac and Maronite Churches. Commemorative tattoos are also traditionally done on pilgrims who complete a visit to Jerusalem.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Tattoos are allowed culturally and religiously; contemporary tattoos are common among traditional Hindus. Historical roots date back to the practice of Mehndi using Henna.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Scholars who claim that tattooing is a sin support their view by pointing to hadiths such as one in Sahih al-Bukhari narrated by Abu Juhayfah that declares "The Prophet cursed the one who does tattoos and the one who has a tattoo done." These scholars generally do not hold the view that non-permanent tattoos such as henna are sinful; nor do they claim that converts to Islam who had tattoos prior to conversion need to get those tattoos removed. Turkish professor of religious studies Remzi Kuscular states that tattoos are sinful but that they do not violate a Muslim's "wuḍūʾ". Canadian Islamic scholar Sheikh Ahmad Kutty states that tattooing prohibitions exist in Islam to protect Muslims from HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and other diseases that can be transferred to people through tattoos. There is no direct mention of ""al-washm"" or "tattooing" in the Qur'an.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Göran Larsson, a Swedish professor in religious studies, states that there are "both historical and contemporary examples indicating that, at different times and in different places, [tattooing] was practiced by certain Islamic groups." Al-Tabari mentions in "History of the Prophets and Kings" that the hands of Asma bint Umais were tattooed. Muslims in Africa, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and West Pakistan have used tattoos for beautification, prophylaxis, and the prevention of diseases.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Edward William Lane described the tattooing customs of Egyptian Muslim women in his 1836 book, "An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians". In a 1909 trip to Persia, Percy Sykes observed Shia Muslim women had "birds, owers, or gazelles tattooed, but occasionally verses from the Qur'an" and that victorious male wrestlers and gymnasts were honored with the tattooing of a lion on the arm. In a 1965 article published in the journal "Man: A Record of Anthropological Science", author John Carswell documented that Sunni and Shia Muslims in Lebanon would get tattoos of the swords of Abu Bakr and Ali, respectively, to distinguish themselves from one another.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: According to historians Shoshana-Rose Marzel and Guy Stiebel, face tattoos were common among Muslim women until the 1950s but have since fallen out of fashion. Traditional Tunisian tattoos include eagles, the sun, the moon, and stars. Tattoos were also used in the Ottoman Empire due to the influx of Algerian sailors in the 17th century. Bedouin and Kurdish women have a long tradition of tattooed bodies.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Margo DeMello, a cultural anthropologist and professor at Canisius College, notes that tattoos are still common in some parts of the Muslim world such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt. Underground tattoos have also been gaining popularity among Iranian youth. Some Turkish youth get tattoos as a form of resistance, fashion, or as part of a counterculture. Tattoos are also gaining popularity among young Muslims in the West.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: The majority of Sunni Muslims believe tattooing is a sin, because it involves changing the natural creation of God, inflicting unnecessary pain in the process. Tattoos are classified as dirty things, which is prohibited in Islam. They believe that a dirty body will directly lead to a dirty mind and will destroy their wudhu, ritual ablution. Some Shafi'i scholars such as Amjad Rasheed argue that tattooing causes impurity and that tattoos were prohibited by the Prophet Muhammad. They also claim that those who are decorated with tattoos are contaminated with "najas", due to potential mixture of blood and coloured pigment that remains upon the surface of the skin. Blood is viewed as an impure substance, so a person with a tattoo cannot engage in several religious practices. However, in the present day, it is possible to get a tattoo without mixing dye with blood after it exits onto the outer surface of the body, leaving a possibility for a Muslim to wear a tattoo and perform a valid prayer. Scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi states that tattoos are sinful because they are an expression of vanity and they alter the physical creation of God. According to the online South African Deobandi "fatwa" service called "Ask-the-Imam", Muslims should remove any tattoos they have if possible or cover them in some way.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Shia Ayatollahs Ali al-Sistani and Ali Khamenei believe there are no authoritative Islamic prohibitions on tattoos. The Quran does not mention tattoos or tattooing at all.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Grand Ayatollah Sadiq Hussaini Shirazi ruled: "Tattoos are considered "makruh" (reprehensible but not forbidden). However, it is not permissible to have Quranic verses, names of Ahlulbayt (a.s), drawings of Imams (a.s), Hadiths, unislamic and inappropriate images or the likes tattooed onto the body. And if the ink was the type that remains above the skin, then it would be considered prohibited. However, if it was of the type to go beneath the skin, it would be considered permissible but "makruh"."


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Tattoos are generally forbidden in Judaism based on the Torah (Leviticus 19:28): "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord." The prohibition is explained by contemporary rabbis as part of a general prohibition on body modification (with the exception of circumcision) that does not serve a medical purpose (such as to correct a deformity). Maimonides, a leading 12th-century scholar of Jewish law and thought, explains that one of the reasons for the prohibition against tattoos is a Jewish response to pagan mourning practices.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Scholars such as John Huehnergard and Harold Liebowitz suggest that the prohibition against tattooing was less in response to the pagan mourning practices as mentioned in the preceding verse of Leviticus, as death rituals in ancient Mesopotamia, Syria, Israel, and Egypt make no references to marking the skin as a sign of mourning. However tattooing was used a sign of enslavement and servitude in ancient Egypt, where captives were tattooed or branded with the names of priests and pharaohs to mark them as belonging to a specific person or god. Huehnergard and Liebowitz therefore suggest that tattooing was forbidden in the Torah because it was a symbol of servitude and the primacy of escaping Egyptian bondage in ancient Jewish theological law. They also point out the verse Isaiah 44:5 in which the children of Jacob committing themselves to God: “One shall say, ‘I am the LORD’s’... Another shall mark his arm ‘of the LORD.’”


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Orthodox Jews, in application of Halakha (Jewish Law), reveal Leviticus 19:28 prohibits getting tattoos: "Do not make gashes in your skin for the dead. Do not make any marks on your skin. I am God." One reading of Leviticus is to apply it only to the specific ancient practice of rubbing the ashes of the dead into wounds; but modern tattooing is included in other religious interpretations. Orthodox Jews also point to a passage from the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 180:1, that elucidates the biblical passage above as a prohibition against markings beyond the ancient practice, including tattoos. Maimonides concluded that regardless of intent, the act of tattooing is prohibited (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry 12:11).


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Conservative Jews point to the next verse of the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De'ah 180:2): "If it [the tattoo] was done in the flesh of another, the one to whom it was done is blameless" – this is used by them to say that tattooing yourself is different from obtaining a tattoo, and that the latter may be acceptable. Orthodox Jews disagree, and read the text as referring to forced tattooing—as was done during the Holocaust—which is not considered a violation of Jewish Law on the part of the victim. In another vein, cutting into the skin to perform surgery and temporary tattooing used for surgical purposes (e.g.: to mark the lines of an incision) are permitted in the Shulhan Arukh 180:3.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: In most sectors of the religious Jewish community, having a tattoo does not prohibit participation, and one may be buried in a Jewish cemetery and participate fully in all synagogue ritual.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: In modern times, the association of tattoos with Nazi concentration camps and the Holocaust has added another level of revulsion to the practice of tattooing, even among many otherwise fairly secular Jews. It is a common misconception that anyone bearing a tattoo is not permitted to be buried in a Jewish cemetery. In modern Israel, secular Jews may choose to get tattoos despite the religious and Holocaust-related taboos.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Among Mormons, getting a tattoo is not considered sinful, but it is discouraged as it is altering the creation of God.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Christianity-related tattoos are highly common among military veterans and Protestant Evangelicals. The United States Military announced in 2014 that it was easing restrictions on religious tattoos.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Many Christians with tattoos will have a Psalm or verse from the Bible tattooed on their body although some people will still have tattoos from the Bible despite not being Christian. Popular verses include , Philippians 4:13, and Psalm 23.


title: Religious perspectives on tattooing

text: Neopagans can use the process and the outcome of tattooing as an expression or representation of their beliefs. Many tattooists' websites offer pagan images as examples of the kinds of provided artwork. At least one Wiccan Tradition uses a tattoo as a mark of Initiation, although it is an entitlement, not a requirement.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Eric M. Bieniemy Jr. (born August 15, 1969) is an American football coach and former running back who is the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. He played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes and was recognized as a consensus All-American. He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the second round, 39th overall, of the 1991 NFL Draft. He also played for the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: After his playing career ended, Bieniemy returned to Colorado, where he served as their running backs coach. He served as the offensive coordinator at Colorado before becoming the running backs coach of the Chiefs. As a running backs coach in the NFL, he coached Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles, who made a combined seven pro bowls in eight seasons, as their running backs coach.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Bieniemy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He lettered in football and track and field at Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, California, earning second-team All-America honors in football as a senior when he rushed for 2,002 yards and 30 touchdowns.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Bieniemy was heavily recruited out of high school and chose to attend the University of Colorado Boulder. He was the nation's second leading rusher with the Buffaloes in 1990 with 1,628 yards, along with 17 touchdowns, and finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting behind BYU's Ty Detmer (the winner) and Notre Dame's Raghib Ismail. Bieniemy is Colorado's all-time leader in rushing (3,940 yards), all-purpose yards (4,351), and touchdowns (42).


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Nicknamed "Scooter" and wearing No. 1, Bieniemy earned consensus All-America honors in 1990 as part of Colorado's national championship team. He was a two-time first-team all Big-Eight performer, in 1988 and 1990, earning the conference's offensive Player of the Year honor as a senior. As a junior, he was named to CU's prestigious 25-member "All-Century Football Team," the only active player at the time to be selected to the group honoring the first 100 years of Colorado Buffalo football.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Bieniemy played from 1991 through 1999, and finished his career with 1,589 yards rushing, 1,223 yards receiving, 276 yards returning punts, 1,621 yards on kickoff returns, and 12 touchdowns (11 rushing and one kickoff return) while playing for the San Diego Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles. ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman gave him the nickname "Eric 'sleeping with' Bieniemy", in reference to the 1991 film "Sleeping with the Enemy".


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Bieniemy returned to Colorado to complete his degree and was the running backs coach for the Buffaloes from 2001 to 2002 and was UCLA running back coach from 2003 to 2005, as well as the team's recruiting coordinator in 2005.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Following UCLA's 2005 Sun Bowl victory, Bieniemy accepted a position as running backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL. During his time as the Vikings running back coach, his leading rusher Adrian Peterson, led the NFC in rushing with 1,341 yards in 2007 and also in 2008 with 1,760 yards, which was also top in the NFL. On July 26, 2010, Bieniemy was also named the Vikings' assistant head coach for the offense.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: On December 2, 2010, Bieniemy returned to Colorado as offensive coordinator under new head coach Jon Embree. In 2020, Bieniemy was offered the head coach position at Colorado but declined.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: In 2013, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid hired Bieniemy to be the running backs coach. Reid was familiar with Bieniemy as Reid had coached him on the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2018, Reid promoted Bieniemy to offensive coordinator to succeed Matt Nagy who had been hired as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. In Bieniemy's first season as the Chiefs offensive coordinator, the Chiefs were first in the NFL in yards per game and points scored. The Chiefs scored the third-most points in a season in NFL history with 565. Additionally, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes became the second quarterback in NFL history, along with Peyton Manning, to throw for 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in a season. The Chiefs reached the 2018 AFC Championship Game where they lost to the New England Patriots. In 2019, Bieniemy won his first Super Bowl when the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31–20 in Super Bowl LIV.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: As a player at Colorado, Bieniemy was arrested along with teammate Kanavis McGhee following a February 1988 bar fight. McGhee said the dispute arose after Bieniemy alleged that he had been called a "little n*gger" by a bar patron. He pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct and fighting in public, and was sentenced to community service. He also received discipline from head coach Bill McCartney.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: In 1989, Bieniemy was ticketed in Westminster, Colorado for driving a defective vehicle, and in Aurora, Colorado for speeding. In October 1990, Bieniemy's license was suspended for a year after another traffic violation. On March 21, 1991, Bieniemy was caught speeding and driving with suspended license on I-70 near Rifle, Colorado, going 92 mph in a 65 mph zone. On April 17, 1991, Bieniemy failed to appear in court on charges relating to the March 21 incident. A bench warrant was issued in Colorado for his arrest on April 23, 1991, two days after he was drafted in the 1991 NFL Draft.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: On July 4, 1990, Bieniemy pleaded no contest to interfering with a firefighter who had been performing his duties to extinguish a fire in Bieniemy's mother's garage. Bieniemy received an eight-month suspended sentence and was suspended for one game. Bieniemy was instructed to do 40 hours of community service and attend an eight-hour firefighting training session. An assistant city attorney said Bieniemy failed to attend the firefighting training session as stipulated in the plea agreement, but Bieniemy asserted the session was optional.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: On September 27, 1993, Bieniemy was arrested in Boulder, Colorado, for allegedly harassing a female parking attendant. According to the police report, while with his friends, Bieniemy put his hand on the attendant's neck, startling her. She told police ," that Bieniemy and his friends took off their pants and began urinating nearby. Bieniemy was also named in an outstanding warrant on a charge of driving with a suspended license. As a result of this incident, Bieniemy was banned from the University of Colorado Boulder campus for one year.


title: Eric Bieniemy

text: Bieniemy and his wife, Mia, have two sons, Eric III and Elijah. His nephew, Jamal, plays basketball at UTEP. He also is a member of Omega Psi Phi.


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the official wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church). In 1842, when the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formed as a women's service organization, she was elected by its members as the organization's first president.


title: Emma Smith

text: After the killing of Joseph Smith Emma remained in Nauvoo rather than following Brigham Young and the mormon pioneers to the Utah Territory. Emma was supportive of Smith's teachings throughout her life with the exception of plural marriage and remained loyal to her son Joseph Smith III in his leadership of the RLDS church.


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma Hale was born on July 10, 1804, in Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, the seventh child of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis Hale. She was descended of primarily English ancestors, including seven passengers on the "Mayflower". Beginning at age eight, she was involved in the local Methodist Episcopal Church in Harmony, reading the Bible and singing hymns. Emma first met her future husband, Joseph Smith, in 1825. Joseph lived near Palmyra, New York, but boarded with the Hales in Harmony while he was employed in a company of men hired by Josiah Stowell to unearth a "Dream Mine". Although the company was unsuccessful in finding the suspected mine, Joseph and Emma secretly met several times at a friend's house. When Joseph asked for Emma’s hand in marriage, Isaac and Elizabeth Hale refused to allow the marriage because they disapproved of Joseph's employment in treasure digging. On January 17, 1827, Joseph and Emma left the Stowell house and traveled to the house of Zachariah Tarbill in South Bainbridge, New York, where they were married the following day. The couple moved to the home of Smith's parents on the edge of Manchester Township, near Palmyra.


title: Emma Smith

text: On September 22, 1827, Joseph and Emma took a horse and carriage belonging to Joseph Knight, Sr., and went to a hill, now known as Hill Cumorah, where Joseph said he received a set of golden plates. Hiding the plates in his coat, he descended down the hill after many hours, and instead of taking them home, Joseph hid the plates. Shortly after the couple rode away from the hiding place, a small mob came over and searched the wagon for the golden plates. This was considered one of the miracles the couple experienced together. The announcement of Joseph having the plates created a great deal of excitement in the area. In December 1827, with financial support from Martin Harris, the couple decided to move to Harmony, where they reconciled—to some extent—with Emma's parents. The Hales helped Emma and Joseph obtain a house and a small farm. Once they settled in, Joseph began work on the Book of Mormon, with Emma acting as a scribe. She became a physical witness of the plates, reporting that she felt them through a cloth, traced the pages through the cloth with her fingers, heard the metallic sound they made as she moved them, and felt their weight. She later wrote in an interview with her son, Joseph Smith III: "In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour after hour with nothing between us." In Harmony on June 15, 1828, Emma gave birth to her first child—a son named Alvin—who lived only a few hours.


title: Emma Smith

text: In May 1829, Emma and Joseph left Harmony and went to live with David Whitmer in Fayette, New York. While travelling there, they saw an elderly man walking alongside the road. After offering him a ride, the man declined, saying that he was headed to Cumorah, and then disappeared suddenly. Joseph identified the man as the angel Moroni.


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma was baptized by Oliver Cowdery on June 28, 1830, in Colesville, New York, where an early branch of the church was established. During the next weeks, Joseph was arrested, tried, and exonerated in South Bainbridge for "glass looking" based on the state's vagrancy law. In July 1830, Joseph received a revelation, now known as Doctrine and Covenants section 25, that highlighted Emma Smith as "an elect lady". The revelation also says that Emma would "be ordained under [Joseph's] hand to expound scriptures, and to exhort the church", and authorizes Emma to "make a selection of sacred Hymns" for the church.


title: Emma Smith

text: Joseph and Emma returned to Harmony for a time, but relations with Emma's parents broke down, and the couple went back to staying in the homes of members of the growing church. They lived first with the Whitmers in Fayette, then with Newel K. Whitney and his family in Kirtland, Ohio, and then in a cabin on a farm owned by Isaac Morley. It was here on April 30, 1831, that Emma gave birth to premature twins, Thaddeus and Louisa; both babies died hours later. That same day, Julia Clapp Murdock died giving birth to twins, Joseph and Julia. When the twins were nine days old, their father, John, gave the infants to the Smiths to raise as their own. On September 2, 1831, the Smiths moved into John Johnson's home in Hiram, Ohio. The infant Joseph died of exposure or pneumonia in late March 1832, after a door was left open during a mob attack on Smith.


title: Emma Smith

text: On November 6, 1832, Emma gave birth to Joseph Smith III in the upper room of Whitney's store in Kirtland. Young Joseph (as he became known) was the first of her natural children to live to adulthood. A second son, Frederick Granger Williams Smith (named after Frederick G. Williams, a counselor in the church's First Presidency), followed on June 29, 1836. As the Kirtland Temple was being constructed, Emma spearheaded an effort to house and clothe the construction workers.


title: Emma Smith

text: While in Kirtland, Emma's feelings about temperance and the use of tobacco reportedly influenced her husband's decision to pray about dietary questions. These prayers resulted in the "Word of Wisdom". Also in Kirtland, Emma's first selection of hymns was published as a hymnal for the church's use. During the Panic of 1837, the Kirtland Safety Society, the banking venture that Joseph and other church leaders had set up to provide financing for the growing membership, collapsed, as did many financial institutions in the United States at that time. Emma herself held stock in the Society. The bank's demise led to serious problems for the church and the Smith family. Joseph received revelation from God to leave Kirtland for the safety of his family, and on January 12, 1838, Joseph left for Missouri. Many faithful saints soon followed.


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma and her family followed and made a new home on the frontier in the Latter Day Saint settlement of Far West, Missouri, where Emma gave birth on June 2, 1838, to Alexander Hale Smith. Events of the 1838 Mormon War soon escalated, resulting in Joseph's surrender and imprisonment by Missouri officials. Emma and her family were forced to leave the state, along with most other church members. She crossed the Mississippi River, which had frozen over in February 1839. Of these times, she later wrote:


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma and her family lived with friendly non-Mormons John and Sarah Cleveland in Quincy, Illinois, until Joseph escaped custody in Missouri. The family moved to a new Latter Day Saint settlement in Illinois which Joseph named "Nauvoo". On May 10, 1839, they moved into a two-story log house in Nauvoo that they called the "Homestead". On June 13, 1840, Emma gave birth to a son, Don Carlos, named after his uncle Don Carlos Smith, Joseph's brother. Both Don Carlos Smiths would die the next year. The Smiths lived in the homestead until 1843, when a much larger house, known as the "Mansion House" was built across the street. A wing (no longer extant) was added to this house, which Emma operated as a hotel. She often took in young girls in need of work, giving them jobs as maids.


title: Emma Smith

text: On March 17, 1842, the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formally organized as the women's auxiliary to the church. Emma became its founding president, with Sarah M. Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Whitney as her counselors. She had persuaded John Taylor and Joseph Smith to call the organization the "Relief Society" instead of the "Benevolent Society". The "Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia" records that Emma Smith "filled [the position] with marked distinction as long as the society continued to hold meetings in that city [Nauvoo]". She saw upholding morality as the primary purpose of the Relief Society. As "protecting the morals of the community" became her mission, Smith supported the public confession of sins; on this subject, Smith called the women of Nauvoo to repentance with "all the frankness of a Methodist exhorter." She served as president of the Relief Society until 1844. According to the minutes of the founding meeting, the organization was formed to "provoke the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor, [search] after objects of charity [and] to assist by correcting the virtues of the female community". Shortly before this, Joseph had initiated the Anointed Quorum—a prayer circle of important church members that included Emma. As she had in Kirtland, Emma Smith lead "the work of boarding and clothing the men engaged in building [the Nauvoo temple]". She also traveled with a committee to Quincy, Illinois, to present Illinois governor Thomas Carlin "a memorial ... in behalf of her people" after the Latter Day Saints had experienced persecution in the state.


title: Emma Smith

text: Rumors concerning polygamy and other practices surfaced by 1842. Emma publicly condemned polygamy and denied any involvement by her husband. Emma authorized and was the main signatory of a petition in summer 1842 with a thousand female signatures, denying Joseph Smith was connected with polygamy. As president of the Ladies' Relief Society, she authorized the publishing of a certificate in October 1842 denouncing polygamy and denying her husband as its creator or participant. In March 1844, Emma published:


title: Emma Smith

text: In June 1844, the press of the "Nauvoo Expositor," a newspaper published by disaffected former church members, was destroyed by the town marshal on orders from the town council (of which Joseph was a member). This set into motion the events that ultimately led to Joseph's arrest and incarceration in the jail in Carthage, Illinois. A mob of about 200 armed men stormed the jail in the late afternoon of June 27, 1844, and both Joseph and his brother Hyrum were killed.


title: Emma Smith

text: Upon Joseph's death, Emma was left a pregnant widow. On November 17, 1844, she gave birth to David Hyrum Smith, the last child that she and Joseph had together. In addition to being church president, Joseph had been trustee-in-trust for the church. As a result, his estate was entirely wrapped up with the finances of the church. Joseph had also been in debt when he died, leaving the responsibility to pay it on Emma Smith's shoulders. Untangling the church's debts and property from Emma's personal debts and property proved to be a long and complicated process for Emma and her family.


title: Emma Smith

text: Debates about who should be Joseph's successor as the leader of the church also involved Emma. Emma wanted William Marks, president of the church's central stake, to assume the church presidency, but Marks favored Sidney Rigdon for the role. After a meeting on August 8, a congregation of the church voted that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles should lead the church. Brigham Young, president of the quorum, then became the de facto president of the church in Nauvoo.


title: Emma Smith

text: Relations between Young and Emma steadily deteriorated. Some of Emma's friends, as well as many members of the Smith family, alienated themselves from Young's followers. Conflicts between church members and neighbors also continued to escalate, and eventually Young made the decision to relocate the church to the Salt Lake Valley. When he and the majority of the Latter Day Saints of Nauvoo abandoned the city in early 1846, Emma and her children remained behind in the emptied town.


title: Emma Smith

text: Nearly two years later, a close friend and non-Mormon, Major Lewis C. Bidamon, proposed marriage and became Emma's second husband on December 23, 1847. A Methodist minister performed the ceremony. Bidamon moved into the Mansion House and became stepfather to Emma's children. She and Bidamon had no children of their own. Emma and Bidamon attempted to operate a store and to continue using their large house as a hotel, but Nauvoo had too few residents and visitors to make either venture very profitable. Emma and her family remained rich in real estate but poor in capital.


title: Emma Smith

text: Unlike other members of the Smith family who had at times favored the claims of James J. Strang or William Smith, Emma and her children continued to live in Nauvoo as unaffiliated Latter Day Saints. Many Latter Day Saints believed that her eldest son, Joseph Smith III, would one day be called to hold the same position that his father had held. When he reported receiving a calling from God to take his father's place as head of a "New Organization" of the Latter Day Saint church, she supported his decision. Both she and Joseph III traveled to a conference at Amboy, Illinois. On April 6, 1860, Joseph was sustained as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which prefaced "Reorganized" to its name in 1872 and in 2001 became known as the Community of Christ. Emma became a member of the RLDS Church without rebaptism, as her original 1830 baptism was still considered valid.


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma and Joseph III returned to Nauvoo after the conference and he led the church from there until moving to Plano, Illinois, in 1866. Joseph III called upon his mother to help prepare a hymnal for the reorganization, just as she had for the early church.


title: Emma Smith

text: Smith and Bidamon bought and renovated a portion of the unfinished Nauvoo House in 1869. A few visitors from Brigham Young's faction of the Latter-day Saints came from Utah Territory to visit Smith at this house. Emma died peacefully in the Nauvoo House on April 30, 1879, at the age of 74. Her funeral was held May 2, 1879, in Nauvoo with RLDS Church minister Mark Hill Forscutt preaching the sermon.


title: Emma Smith

text: Alongside W. W. Phelps, Emma Smith compiled a Latter Day Saint hymnal, published in 1835. It was titled "A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints" and contained 90 hymn texts but no music. Forty-eight were written by Latter Day Saints, and the remaining forty-two were not. The texts borrowed from Protestant groups were often changed slightly to reinforce the theology of the early church. For example, Hymn 15 changed Isaac Watts's Joy to the World from a song about Christmas to a song about the return of Christ (see Joy to the World (Phelps)). Many of these changes and a large number of the original songs included in the hymnal are attributed to W. W. Phelps.


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma also compiled a second hymnal by the same title, which was published in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841. This contained 304 hymn texts.


title: Emma Smith

text: When her son Joseph III became president of the RLDS Church, she was again asked to compile a hymnal. "Latter Day Saints' Selection of Hymns" was published in 1861.


title: Emma Smith

text: In their biography "," Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery report that Emma witnessed several marriages of Joseph Smith to plural wives. However, throughout her lifetime Emma publicly denied her husband's involvement in the practice of polygamy and denied on her deathbed that the practice had ever occurred. Emma stated,


title: Emma Smith

text: Emma Smith stated that the first time she became aware of a polygamy revelation being attributed to Joseph Smith was when she read about it in 1853 in Orson Pratt's booklet "The Seer". Many of the Latter Day Saints who joined the RLDS Church in the midwestern United States had broken with Brigham Young and/or James Strang because of opposition to polygamy. Emma's continuing public denial of the practice seemed to lend strength to their cause, and opposition to polygamy became a tenet of the RLDS Church. Over the years, many RLDS Church historians have continued to state that the practice had originated with Brigham Young.


title: Emma Smith

text: ! colspan="3" style="border-top: 5px solid #FABE60;" |Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints titles


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia () was an unrecognized geopolitical entity and quasi-state in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was proclaimed on 18 November 1991 under the name Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia () as a "political, cultural, economic and territorial whole" in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and abolished on 14 August 1996.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina, proclaimed in northern Bosnia on 12 November 1991, was joined with Herzeg-Bosnia in October 1992. In its proclaimed borders, Herzeg-Bosnia encompassed about 30% of the country, but did not have effective control over the entire territory as parts of it were lost to the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) at the beginning of the Bosnian War. The armed forces of Herzeg-Bosnia, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), were formed on 8 April 1992 and initially fought in an alliance with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their relations deteriorated throughout late 1992, which led to the Croat–Bosniak War.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared Herzeg-Bosnia unconstitutional on 14 September 1992. Herzeg-Bosnia formally recognized the Government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and functioned as a state within a state, while some in its leadership advocated the secession of the entity and its unification with Croatia.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 28 August 1993, Herzeg-Bosnia was declared a republic following the proposal of the Owen-Stoltenberg Plan, envisioning Bosnia and Herzegovina as a union of three republics. Its capital city was Mostar, which was then a war zone, and the effective control center was in Grude. In March 1994, the Washington Agreement was signed that ended the conflict between Croats and Bosniaks. Under the agreement, Herzeg-Bosnia was to be joined into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it continued to exist until it was formally abolished in 1996.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The term "Herzeg-Bosnia" () appeared in the late 19th century and was used as a synonym for Bosnia and Herzegovina without political connotations. It was often found in folk poems as a more poetic name for Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the earliest mentions of the term was by Croatian writer Ivan Zovko in his 1899 book "Croatianhood in the Tradition and Customs of Herzeg-Bosnia". Croatian historian Ferdo Šišić used the term in his 1908 book "Herzeg-Bosnia on the Occasion of Annexation". In the first half of the 20th century the name Herzeg-Bosnia was used by historians such as Hamdija Kreševljaković and Dominik Mandić and Croatian politicians Vladko Maček and Mladen Lorković. Its usage decreased in the second half of the 20th century until 1991 and the proclamation of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia. Since the 1990s, it has been used as a name for a Croat territorial unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: After the Washington Agreement was signed in March 1994 and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was created, one of its cantons was named the Herzeg-Bosnia Canton. In 1997, that name was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and officially renamed Canton 10.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: In early 1991, following the 14th Extraordinary Congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, the leaders of the six Yugoslav republics began a series of meetings to solve the crisis in Yugoslavia. The Serbian leadership favored a federal solution, whereas the Croatian and Slovenian leadership favored an alliance of sovereign states. Alija Izetbegović proposed an asymmetrical federation on 22 February, where Slovenia and Croatia would maintain loose ties with the 4 remaining republics. Shortly after that, he changed his position and opted for a sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina as a prerequisite for such a federation. On 25 March 1991, Croatian president Franjo Tuđman met with Serbian president Slobodan Milošević in Karađorđevo, allegedly to discuss the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 6 June, Izetbegović and Macedonian president Kiro Gligorov proposed a weak confederation between Croatia, Slovenia and a federation of the other four republics, which was rejected by Milošević.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 13 July, the government of Netherlands, then the presiding EC country, suggested to other EC countries that the possibility of agreed changes to Yugoslav Republics borders could be explored, but the proposal was rejected by other members. In July 1991, Radovan Karadžić, president of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska, and Muhamed Filipović, vice president of the Muslim Bosniak Organisation (MBO), drafted an agreement between the Serbs and Bosniaks which would leave Bosnia in a state union with SR Serbia and SR Montenegro. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP BiH) denounced the agreement, calling it an anti-Croat pact and a betrayal. Although initially welcoming the initiative, Izetbegović also dismissed the agreement.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: From July 1991 to January 1992, during the Croatian War of Independence, the JNA and Serb paramilitaries used Bosnian territory to wage attacks on Croatia. The Croatian government helped arm the Croats and Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, expecting the war to spread there. By late 1991 about 20,000 Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly from the Herzegovina region, enlisted in the Croatian National Guard. During the war in Croatia, Bosnian president Alija Izetbegović gave a televised proclamation of neutrality, stating that "this is not our war", and the Sarajevo government was not taking defensive measures against a probable attack by the Bosnian Serbs and the JNA. Izetbegović agreed to disarm the existing Territorial Defense (TO) forces on the demand of the JNA. This was defied by Bosnian Croats and Bosniak organizations that gained control of many facilities and weapons of the TO.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: In October 1991 the Croat village of Ravno in Herzegovina was attacked and destroyed by Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) forces before turning south towards the besieged Dubrovnik. These were the first Croat casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Izetbegović did not react to the attack on Ravno. The leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina initially showed willingness to remain in a rump Yugoslavia, but later advocated for a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 12 November 1991, on a meeting chaired by Dario Kordić and Mate Boban, local party leaders of the HDZ BiH reached an agreement to undertake a policy of achieving an "age-old dream, a common Croatian State" and decided that the proclamation of a Croatian banovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be the "initial phase leading towards the final solution of the Croatian question and the creation of a sovereign Croatia within its ethnic and historical [...] borders." On the same day, the Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina was proclaimed in municipalities of northwest Bosnia in Bosanski Brod.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 18 November, the autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia (HZ-HB) was established, it claimed it had no secession goal and that it would serve a "legal basis for local self-administration". The decision on its establishment stated that the Community will "respect the democratically elected government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for as long as exists the state independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to the former, or any other, Yugoslavia". Boban was established as its president. One of Boban's advisers stated that Herzeg-Bosnia was only a temporary measure and that the entire area will in the end be an integral part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From its inception the leadership of Herzeg-Bosnia and HVO held close relations to the Croatian government and the Croatian Army (HV). At a session of the Supreme State Council of Croatia, Tuđman said that the establishment of Herzeg-Bosnia was not a decision to separate from Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 23 November, the Bosnian government declared Herzeg-Bosnia unlawful.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 27 December 1991, the leadership of the HDZ of Croatia and of HDZ BiH held a meeting in Zagreb chaired by Tuđman. They discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina's future, their differences in opinion on it, and the creation of a Croatian political strategy. Stjepan Kljuić favored that Croats stay within Bosnia and Herzegovina while Boban said that, in the event of Bosnia and Herzegovina's disintegration, Herzeg-Bosnia should be proclaimed an independent Croatian territory "which will accede to the State of Croatia but only at such time as the Croatian leadership [...] should decide." Kordić, the vice president of Herzeg-Bosnia, claimed that the spirit of Croats in Herzeg-Bosnia had grown stronger since its declaration and that Croats in the Travnik region were prepared to become a part of the Croatian State "at all costs [...] any other option would be considered treason, save the clear demarcation of Croatian soil in the territory of Herzeg-Bosnia." On the same meeting, Tuđman said that "from the perspective of sovereignty, Bosnia-Herzegovina has no prospects" and recommended that Croatian policy should be one of "support for the sovereignty [of Bosnia and Herzegovina] until such time as it no longer suits Croatia." He based this on the belief that the Serbs did not accept Bosnia and Herzegovina and that Bosnian representatives did not believe in it and wished to remain in Yugoslavia, and thought that such a policy would avoid a war. Tuđman declared "it is time that we take the opportunity to gather the Croatian people inside the widest possible borders".


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: Between 29 February and 1 March 1992 an independence referendum was held in SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. The referendum question was: "Are you in favor of a sovereign and independent Bosnia-Herzegovina, a state of equal citizens and nations of Muslims, Serbs, Croats and others who live in it?" Independence was strongly favoured by Bosniak and Bosnian Croat voters, but the referendum was largely boycotted by Bosnian Serbs. The total turnout of voters was 63.6%, of which 99.7% voted for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 8 April 1992 the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) was formed and was the official military of Herzeg-Bosnia. A sizable number of Bosniaks also joined the HVO, constituting between 20 and 30 percent of the army. The legal rationale for the formation of HVO was seen in the laws of Yugoslavia that allowed citizens to organize their own self-defense when their government was unable or unwilling to defend them. Boban said that the HVO was formed because "thirteen Croatian villages in the municipality of Trebinje – including Ravno – were destroyed and the Bosnian government did nothing thereafter".


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: At the beginning of the war a Croat-Bosniak alliance was formed, but over time there were notable breakdowns of it due to rising tensions and the lack of mutual trust, with each of the two sides holding separate discussions with the Serbs, and soon there were complaints from both sides against the other. The designated capital of Herzeg-Bosnia, Mostar, was besieged by the JNA and later the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) from April 1992. In late May, the HVO launched a counter-offensive and, after more than a month of fighting, managed to suppress the VRS forces from Mostar and the surrounding area.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Croatian and Herzeg-Bosnia leadership offered Izetbegović a confederation of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but Izetbegović rejected it. On 3 July 1992, the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia was formally declared, in an amendment to the original decision from November 1991. It adopted the Croatian dinar as its currency and Croatian as the official language. It had its own school curriculum and a local government system. In the preamble it was attested:


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 21 July 1992, the Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia was signed by Alija Izetbegović and Franjo Tuđman, establishing a military cooperation between Bosnian and Croatian forces. Although it was often not harmonious, it resulted in the gradual stabilisation of the defence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Weapons for the Bosnian army were sent through Croatia despite the arms embargo. At a session held on 6 August, the Bosnian Presidency accepted HVO as an integral part of the Bosnian armed forces.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 14 September 1992, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the proclamation of Herzeg-Bosnia unconstitutional. The Croatian Community of Bosnian Posavina was formally joined into Herzeg-Bosnia in October 1992. Throughout late 1992, tensions between Croats and Bosniaks increased and in early 1993 the Croat–Bosniak War escalated. Clashes spread in central Bosnia, particularly in the Lašva Valley. Within two months most of central Bosnia was under ARBiH control.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: In late July 1993 the Owen-Stoltenberg Plan was proposed by U.N. mediators Thorvald Stoltenberg and David Owen that would organize Bosnia and Herzegovina into a union of three ethnic republics. Serbs would receive 53 percent of territory, Bosniaks would receive 30 percent, and Croats 17 percent. The Croats accepted the proposal, although they had some objections regarding the proposed borders. The Serbs also accepted the proposal, while the Bosniak side rejected the plan, demanding territories in eastern and western Bosnia from the Serbs and access to the Adriatic Sea from the Croats. On 28 August, in accordance with the Owen-Stoltenberg peace proposal, the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia was proclaimed in Grude as a "republic of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina". However, it was not recognised by the Bosnian government.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: On 26 February 1994 talks began in Washington, D.C. between the Bosnian government leaders and Mate Granić, Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss the possibilities of a permanent ceasefire and a confederation of Bosniak and Croat regions. By this time the amount of territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina controlled by the HVO had dropped from 20 percent to 10 percent. Boban and HVO hardliners were removed from power while "criminal elements" were dismissed from the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH). Under strong American pressure, a provisional agreement on a Croat-Bosniak Federation was reached in Washington on 1 March. On 18 March, at a ceremony hosted by US President Bill Clinton, Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdžić, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granić and President of Herzeg-Bosnia Krešimir Zubak signed the ceasefire agreement. The agreement was also signed by Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović and Croatian President Franjo Tuđman. Under this agreement, the combined territory held by the Croat and Bosnian government forces was divided into ten autonomous cantons. It effectively ended the Croat-Bosniak War.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: In November 1995 the Dayton Agreement was signed by presidents of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia that ended the Bosnian war. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) was defined as one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and comprised 51% of the territory. The Republika Srpska (RS) comprised the other 49%. However, there were problems with its implementation due to different interpretations of the agreement. An Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was to be created by merging units from the ARBiH and the HVO, though this process was largely ineffective. The Federation was divided into 10 cantons. Croats were a majority in three of them and Bosniaks in five. Two cantons were ethnically mixed, and in municipalities that were divided during the war parallel local administrations remained. The return of refugees was to begin in those cantons. The agreement stipulated that Herzeg-Bosnia be abolished within two weeks.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Federation acted only on paper and failed to function as a working government, despite the pressure from Washington and with presidents Tuđman and Izetbegović assuring that Croat and Bosniak politicians would join together in the new government. On 14 August 1996 it was agreed that Herzeg-Bosnia will be formally abolished by the end of that month. On 24 May 1997, the "Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia" association was founded in Neum as the main institution of Croats in the country.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: According to a 1999 report by the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Herzeg-Bosnia structures continued to function and a parallel government acted to expand the independence of its financial institutions. HDZ leaders claimed that "the Herzeg-Bosnia side could not accept a common financial system, because such a system did not allow the Bosnian Croats to finance their own army and to follow up on their own social obligations in the long term." Parallel Herzeg-Bosnia budgetary systems collect revenue from Croat-controlled cantons. The Herzeg-Bosnia payments bureau controls Croat economic activity and there are separate Croat public utilities, social services, social insurance funds, and forestry administrations. A segregated education system with a Herzeg-Bosnia curriculum and textbooks from Croatia is maintained. According to the ESI report, Herzeg-Bosnia continued receiving financial support from Croatia, particularly the Ministry of Defence. The pension and education systems and the salaries of Croat politicians and military officers are subsidized by the Croatian government. An Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) report two years after the end of the war concluded that Herzeg-Bosnia became "in every respect, from military and security matters to business ties, part of Croatia."


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Croatian Communities of Bosnian Posavina and Herzeg-Bosnia within its proclaimed borders in November 1991 extended at about 30% of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 1991 census, in that territory there were 1,238,512 people with ethnicities as follows.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: During the initial negotiations organized by the international community, the Croatian side advocated for a Croat national unit at some 30% of Bosnia and Herzegovina – slightly altered borders of the Croatian Communities, but with Croat enclaves around Žepče, Banja Luka and Prijedor included.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: This maximalist approach was done for a better position during negotiations, which would inevitably reduce the excessive demands to an optimal envision of a Croat unit. Based on later statements of Herzeg-Bosnia leading officials, the optimal range of a Croat territorial unit was within the borders of the 1939 Banovina of Croatia, thus excluding Bosniak and Serb majority areas on the outskirts of Herzeg-Bosnia. Those borders would include around 26% of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ethnic composition of this area in 1991 was:


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: In the beginning of the war JNA and VRS forces gained control of Serb majority areas that were proclaimed part of Herzeg-Bosnia. By late 1992 Herzeg-Bosnia lost Kupres, most of Bosnian Posavina, and Jajce to VRS. The territory under the authority of Herzeg-Bosnia became limited to Croat ethnic areas in around 16% of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The arrival of Bosniak refugees from areas captured by the VRS to HVO-controlled parts of central Bosnia and Mostar altered the ethnic structure and reduced the share of Croats.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the poorest republic of the SFR Yugoslavia, along with Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Infrastructure and industry were poorly developed. The economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina totally faded during the Bosnian War. Many companies, which were successful before the war, were robbed and destroyed just at the beginning of the war. There was no economic activity due to the Yugoslav wars. Agricultural output was diminished, the traffic infrastructure was in collapse, construction was almost non-existent, and unemployment was very high. As a result of the wars, between 1992 and 1995, industrial production declined by 80% and an already poor infrastructure declined further. Croats left the war the most prosperous. Former Yugoslav companies were left without headquarters which were located on the territory of Herzeg-Bosnia. All banks were based in Sarajevo.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: Herzeg-Bosnia did not have a central bank. Credits were obtained from local commercial banks, meaning that the deficit was financed by the real sector and the households sector. Foreign banking branches had to legally close their operations and reregister as new banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina after it declared independence. The most important bank in Herzeg-Bosnia was Hrvatska banka d.d. Mostar. The second largest bank was Hrvatska poštanska banka. The official currency in the territory of Herzeg-Bosnia was the Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar, but two parallel currencies were also in use: the Deutsche Mark and the Croatian dinar (later the Croatian kuna).


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: Reconstruction in most of Herzeg-Bosnia resumed shortly after the Washington Agreement was signed. Civilian employment in Herzeg-Bosnia in 1994 was around 20% of its pre-war level. In 1995, industrial production growth rate in Croat-majority areas was 25%, average wages grew by 35%, and employment growth was 69%. The highest growth was recorded in the production of concrete. The average monthly wage was 250 DEM and each employee received a monthly food supplement of 50 DEM. Unemployment was estimated at 50% of the total labor force in mid-1995. GDP growth in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was estimated at 28% in 1995, fueled by the renewal of the Croat-Bosniak alliance, while GDP in Republika Srpska declined by 23%.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Croatian Defence Council (, "HVO") was formed on 8 April 1992 and was the official military of Herzeg-Bosnia, although the organization and arming of Bosnian Croat military forces began in late 1991. Each district of Herzeg-Bosnia was responsible for its own defence until the formation of four Operative Zones with headquarters in Mostar, Tomislavgrad, Vitez and Orašje. However, there were always problems in coordinating the Operative Zones. On 15 May 1992 the HVO Department of Defense was established. By that time the HVO Main Staff, Main Logistics Base, Military Police, and Personnel Administration were also formed. The backbone of the HVO were its brigades formed in late 1992 and early 1993. Their organization and military equipment was relatively good, but could only conduct limited and local offensive action. The brigades usually had three or four subordinate infantry battalions with light artillery, mortars, antitank and support platoons. A brigade numbered between a few hundred to several thousand men, but most had 2–3,000. In early 1993 the HVO Home Guard was formed in order to provide support for the brigades. The HVO forces became better organized as time passed by, but they started creating guards brigades, mobile units of professional soldiers, only in early 1994. The European Community Monitoring Mission (ECMM) estimated the strength of the HVO in the beginning of 1993 at 45,000–55,000. In July 1993, CIA estimated the HVO forces at 40,000 to 50,000 men.


title: Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

text: The Government of Herzeg-Bosnia founded the National Theatre in 1993 in Mostar. From 1994 it had the title of Croatian National Theatre in Mostar and was the first one with the prefix Croatian. The first play performed in this theatre was "A Christmas Fable" ("Božićna bajka") by Mate Matišić. Foundations of a new building were laid in January 1996.