title: Recoil

text: The nature of the recoil process is determined by the force of the expanding gases in the barrel upon the gun (recoil force), which is equal and opposite to the force upon the ejecta. It is also determined by the counter-recoil force applied to the gun (e.g. an operator's hand or shoulder, or a mount). The recoil force only acts during the time that the ejecta are still in the barrel of the gun. The counter-recoil force is generally applied over a longer time period and adds forward momentum to the gun equal to the backward momentum supplied by the recoil force, in order to bring the gun to a halt. There are two special cases of counter recoil force: Free-recoil, in which the time duration of the counter-recoil force is very much larger than the duration of the recoil force, and zero-recoil, in which the counter-recoil force matches the recoil force in magnitude and duration. Except for the case of zero-recoil, the counter-recoil force is smaller than the recoil force but lasts for a longer time. Since the recoil force and the counter-recoil force are not matched, the gun will move rearward, slowing down until it comes to rest. In the zero-recoil case, the two forces are matched and the gun will not move when fired. In most cases, a gun is very close to a free-recoil condition, since the recoil process generally lasts much longer than the time needed to move the ejecta down the barrel. An example of near zero-recoil would be a gun securely clamped to a massive or well-anchored table, or supported from behind by a massive wall. However, employing zero-recoil systems is often neither practical nor safe for the structure of the gun, as the recoil momentum must be absorbed directly through the very small distance of elastic deformation of the materials the gun and mount are made from, perhaps exceeding their strength limits. For example, placing the butt of a large caliber gun directly against a wall and pulling the trigger risks cracking both the gun stock and the surface of the wall.


title: Recoil

text: The recoil of a firearm, whether large or small, is a result of the law of conservation of momentum. Assuming that the firearm and projectile are both at rest before firing, then their total momentum is zero. Assuming a near free-recoil condition, and neglecting the gases ejected from the barrel, (an acceptable first estimate), then immediately after firing, conservation of momentum requires that the total momentum of the firearm and projectile is the same as before, namely zero. Stating this mathematically:


title: Recoil

text: where formula_2 is the momentum of the firearm and formula_3 is the momentum of the projectile. In other words, immediately after firing, the momentum of the firearm is equal and opposite to the momentum of the projectile.


title: Recoil

text: Since momentum of a body is defined as its mass multiplied by its velocity, we can rewrite the above equation as:


title: Recoil

text: A force integrated over the time period during which it acts will yield the momentum supplied by that force. The counter-recoil force must supply enough momentum to the firearm to bring it to a halt. This means that:


title: Recoil

text: Assuming the forces are somewhat evenly spread out over their respective durations, the condition for free-recoil is formula_15, while for zero-recoil, formula_16.


title: Recoil

text: For a gun firing under free-recoil conditions, the force on the gun may not only force the gun backwards, but may also cause it to rotate about its center of mass or recoil mount. This is particularly true of older firearms, such as the classic Kentucky rifle, where the butt stock angles down significantly lower than the barrel, providing a pivot point about which the muzzle may rise during recoil. Modern firearms, such as the M16 rifle, employ stock designs that are in direct line with the barrel, in order to minimize any rotational effects. If there is an angle for the recoil parts to rotate about, the torque (formula_17) on the gun is given by:


title: Recoil

text: where formula_19 is the perpendicular distance of the center of mass of the gun below the barrel axis, formula_20 is the force on the gun due to the expanding gases, equal and opposite to the force on the bullet, formula_21 is the moment of inertia of the gun about its center of mass, or its pivot point, and formula_22 is the angle of rotation of the barrel axis "up" from its orientation at ignition (aim angle). The angular momentum of the gun is found by integrating this equation to obtain:


title: Recoil

text: where the equality of the momenta of the gun and bullet have been used. The angular rotation of the gun as the bullet exits the barrel is then found by integrating again:


title: Recoil

text: where formula_25 is the angle above the aim angle at which the bullet leaves the barrel, formula_26 is the time of travel of the bullet in the barrel (because of the acceleration formula_27 the time is longer than formula_28 : formula_29) and "L" is the distance the bullet travels from its rest position to the tip of the barrel. The angle at which the bullet leaves the barrel above the aim angle is then given by:


title: Recoil

text: Before the projectile leaves the gun barrel, it obturates the bore and "plugs up" the expanding gas generated by the propellant combustion behind it. This means the gas is essentially contained within a closed system and acts as a neutral element in the overall momentum of the system's physics. However, when the projectile exits the barrel, this functional seal is removed and the highly energetic bore gas is suddenly free to exit the muzzle and expand in the form of a supersonic shockwave (which can be often fast enough to momentarily overtake the projectile and affect its flight dynamics), creating a phenomenon known as the muzzle blast. The forward vector of this blast creates a jet propulsion effect that exerts back upon the barrel, and creates an additional momentum on top of the backward momentum generated by the projectile before it exits the gun.


title: Recoil

text: The overall recoil applied to the firearm is equal and opposite to the total forward momentum of not only the projectile, but also the ejected gas. Likewise, the recoil energy given to the firearm is affected by the ejected gas. By conservation of mass, the mass of the ejected gas will be equal to the original mass of the propellant (assuming complete burning). As a rough approximation, the ejected gas can be considered to have an effective exit velocity of formula_31 where formula_32 is the muzzle velocity of the projectile and formula_33 is approximately constant. The total momentum formula_34 of the propellant and projectile will then be:


title: Recoil

text: This expression should be substituted into the expression for projectile momentum in order to obtain a more accurate description of the recoil process. The effective velocity may be used in the energy equation as well, but since the value of α used is generally specified for the momentum equation, the energy values obtained may be less accurate. The value of the constant α is generally taken to lie between 1.25 and 1.75. It is mostly dependent upon the type of propellant used, but may depend slightly on other things such as the ratio of the length of the barrel to its radius.


title: Recoil

text: Muzzle devices can reduce the recoil impulse by altering the pattern of gas expansion. For instance, muzzle brakes primarily works by diverting some of the gas ejecta towards the sides, increasing the lateral blast intensity (hence louder to the sides) but reducing the thrust from the forward-projection (thus less recoil). Similarly, recoil compensators divert the gas ejecta mostly upwards to counteract the muzzle rise. However, suppressors work on a different principle, not by vectoring the gas expansion laterally but instead by modulating the forward speed of the gas expansion. By using internal baffles, the gas is made to travel through a convoluted path before eventually released outside at the front of the suppressor, thus dissipating its energy over a larger area and a longer time. This reduces both the intensity of the blast (thus lower loudness) and the recoil generated (as for the same impulse, force is inversely proportional to time).


title: Recoil

text: For small arms, the way in which the shooter perceives the recoil, or "kick", can have a significant impact on the shooter's experience and performance. For example, a gun that is said to "kick like a mule" is going to be approached with trepidation, and the shooter may anticipate the recoil and flinch in anticipation as the shot is released. This leads to the shooter jerking the trigger, rather than pulling it smoothly, and the jerking motion is almost certain to disturb the alignment of the gun and may result in a miss. The shooter may also be physically injured by firing a weapon generating recoil in excess of what the body can safely absorb or restrain; perhaps getting hit in the eye by the rifle scope, hit in the forehead by a handgun as the elbow bends under the force, or soft tissue damage to the shoulder, wrist and hand; and these results vary for individuals. In addition, as pictured on the right, excessive recoil can create serious range safety concerns, if the shooter cannot adequately restrain the firearm in a down-range direction.


title: Recoil

text: Perception of recoil is related to the deceleration the body provides against a recoiling gun, deceleration being a force that slows the velocity of the recoiling mass. Force applied over a distance is energy. The force that the body feels, therefore, is dissipating the kinetic energy of the recoiling gun mass. A heavier gun, that is a gun with more mass, will manifest lower recoil kinetic energy, and, generally, result in a lessened perception of recoil. Therefore, although determining the recoiling energy that must be dissipated through a counter-recoiling force is arrived at by conservation of momentum, kinetic energy of recoil is what is actually being restrained and dissipated. The ballistics analyst discovers this recoil kinetic energy through analysis of projectile momentum.


title: Recoil

text: One of the common ways of describing the felt recoil of a particular gun-cartridge combination is as "soft" or "sharp" recoiling; soft recoil is recoil spread over a longer period of time, that is at a lower deceleration, and sharp recoil is spread over a shorter period of time, that is with a higher deceleration. Like pushing softer or harder on the brakes of a car, the driver feels less or more deceleration force being applied, over a longer or shorter distance to bring the car to a stop. However, for the human body to mechanically adjust recoil time, and hence length, to lessen felt recoil force is perhaps an impossible task. Other than employing less safe and less accurate practices, such as shooting from the hip, shoulder padding is a safe and effective mechanism that allows sharp recoiling to be lengthened into soft recoiling, as lower decelerating force is transmitted into the body over a slightly greater distance and time, and spread out over a slightly larger surface.


title: Recoil

text: Keeping the above in mind, you can generally base the relative recoil of firearms by factoring in a small number of parameters: bullet momentum (weight times velocity), (note that momentum and impulse are interchangeable terms), and the weight of the firearm. Lowering momentum lowers recoil, all else being the same. Increasing the firearm weight also lowers recoil, again all else being the same. The following are base examples calculated through the Handloads.com free online calculator, and bullet and firearm data from respective reloading manuals (of medium/common loads) and manufacturer specs:


title: Recoil

text: In addition to the overall mass of the gun, reciprocating parts of the gun will affect how the shooter perceives recoil. While these parts are not part of the ejecta, and do not alter the overall momentum of the system, they do involve moving masses during the operation of firing. For example, gas-operated shotguns are widely held to have a "softer" recoil than fixed breech or recoil-operated guns. (Although many semi-automatic recoil and gas-operated guns incorporate recoil buffer systems into the stock that effectively spread out peak felt recoil forces.) In a gas-operated gun, the bolt is accelerated rearwards by propellant gases during firing, which results in a forward force on the body of the gun. This is countered by a rearward force as the bolt reaches the limit of travel and moves forwards, resulting in a zero sum, but to the shooter, the recoil has been spread out over a longer period of time, resulting in the "softer" feel.


title: Recoil

text: A recoil system absorbs recoil energy, reducing the peak force that is conveyed to whatever the gun is mounted on. Old-fashioned cannons without a recoil system roll several meters backwards when fired. The usual recoil system in modern quick-firing guns is the hydro-pneumatic recoil system, first developed by Wladimir Baranovsky in 1872–5 and adopted by the Russian army, then later in France, in the 75mm field gun of 1897. In this system, the barrel is mounted on rails on which it can recoil to the rear, and the recoil is taken up by a cylinder which is similar in operation to an automotive gas-charged shock absorber, and is commonly visible as a cylinder mounted parallel to the barrel of the gun, but shorter and smaller than it. The cylinder contains a charge of compressed air, as well as hydraulic oil; in operation, the barrel's energy is taken up in compressing the air as the barrel recoils backward, then is dissipated via hydraulic damping as the barrel returns forward to the firing position. The recoil impulse is thus spread out over the time in which the barrel is compressing the air, rather than over the much narrower interval of time when the projectile is being fired. This greatly reduces the peak force conveyed to the mount (or to the ground on which the gun has been placed).


title: Recoil

text: In a "soft-recoil system", the spring (or air cylinder) that returns the barrel to the forward position starts out in a nearly fully compressed position, then the gun's barrel is released free to fly forward in the moment before firing; the charge is then ignited just as the barrel reaches the fully forward position. Since the barrel is still moving forward when the charge is ignited, about half of the recoil impulse is applied to stopping the forward motion of the barrel, while the other half is, as in the usual system, taken up in recompressing the spring. A latch then catches the barrel and holds it in the starting position. This roughly halves the energy that the spring needs to absorb, and also roughly halves the peak force conveyed to the mount, as compared to the usual system. However, the need to reliably achieve ignition at a single precise instant is a major practical difficulty with this system; and unlike the usual hydro-pneumatic system, soft-recoil systems do not easily deal with hangfires or misfires. One of the early guns to use this system was the French 65 mm mle.1906; it was also used by the World War II British PIAT man-portable anti-tank weapon.


title: Recoil

text: Recoilless rifles and rocket launchers exhaust gas to the rear, balancing the recoil. They are used often as light anti-tank weapons. The Swedish-made Carl Gustav 84mm recoilless gun is such a weapon.


title: Recoil

text: In machine guns following Hiram Maxim's design – e.g. the Vickers machine gun – the recoil of the barrel is used to drive the feed mechanism.


title: Kasia Smutniak

text: Smutniak was born in Piła, Poland. Her father, Brigadier General Zenon Smutniak, is a military pilot and served in the Polish Air Force. At 16, she obtained a glider pilot's license. Her mother was a nurse.


title: Kasia Smutniak

text: She had a daughter, Sophie, in 2004 with Italian actor Pietro Taricone who died in an accident in 2010. She had a son, Leone, in 2014 with Italian film producer Domenico Procacci. The couple later married in September 2019.


title: Deven Verma

text: Deven Verma (23 October 1937 – 2 December 2014) was an Indian film and television actor, particularly known for his comic roles, with Bollywood directors like Basu Chatterji, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Gulzar. He also produced and directed films, including "Besharam". He won Filmfare Best Comedian Award for "Chori Mera Kaam", "Chor Ke Ghar Chor" and "Angoor".


title: Deven Verma

text: Verma was born on 23 October 1937 in Kutch, to Baldev Singh Verma and Sarala Devi and was brought up in Pune. His father was Rajasthani and mother belonged to Kutch. His father was a film distributor. He studied at the Nowrosjee Wadia College for Arts and Science (University of Pune) (1953–57), graduating with Honours in Politics and Sociology. He married Rupa Ganguly, daughter of late veteran Bollywood actor Ashok Kumar and sister of Preeti Ganguly.


title: Deven Verma

text: The original name of Deven Verma was Devendu Verma, which he changed to Deven when he was in college. He had four sisters, two of whom were older and two of whom were younger. The two younger sisters were twins. The names of his sisters are Nirupama, Tushar, Amita, and Parul.


title: Jura Mountains

text: The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; ; ; , ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper ("folded Jura", "Faltenjura") is located in France and Switzerland, the range continues as the Table Jura ("not folded Jura", "Tafeljura") northeastwards through northern Switzerland and Germany.


title: Jura Mountains

text: The mountain range gives its name to the French department of Jura, the Swiss Canton of Jura, the Jurassic period of the geologic timescale, and the Montes Jura of the Moon.


title: Jura Mountains

text: It is first attested as "mons Iura" in book one of Julius Caesar's "Commentarii de Bello Gallico". Strabo uses a Greek masculine form "ὁ Ἰόρας" ("through the Jura mountains", "διὰ τοῦ Ἰόρα ὄρους") in his "Geographica" (4.6.11). Based on suggestions by Ferdinand de Saussure, early celticists such as Georges Dottin tried to establish an etymon "iura-, iuri" as a Celtic word for mountains, with similar putative etymologies (e.g. *"juris", "mountainous forest") still appearing in more recent non-academic publications. However, since there are no clear cognates in the surviving corpus of the Celtic languages, modern studies of Proto-Celtic and Gaulish etymology tend not to list any lemmata connected to Jura, and the name must be considered fundamentally unclear.


title: Jura Mountains

text: The Jura Mountains are a far province of the larger Central European uplands. The Jura range proper lies in France and Switzerland.


title: Jura Mountains

text: In France, the Jura covers most of the Franche-Comté region, stretching south into the Rhône-Alpes region and north into the Grand Est region. The range reaches its highest point at the Crêt de la Neige (), in department of Ain, 5km west from the Swiss border of the canton of Geneva, and finds its southern terminus in the northwestern part of the department of Savoie. The north end of the Jura extends into the southern tip of Alsace (Sundgau). Roughly of the mountain range in France is protected by the Jura Mountains Regional Natural Park.


title: Jura Mountains

text: The Swiss Jura is one of the three distinct geographical regions of Switzerland, the others being the Swiss plateau and the Swiss Alps. Most of the range covers the western border with France. In Switzerland, the Jura Mountains extend over an area covering (from northeast to southwest) the cantons of Zurich, Aargau, Basel-Landschaft, Solothurn, Jura, Bern (i.e., Bernese Jura), Neuchâtel, Vaud, and Geneva. The easternmost mountain of the Jura range proper is the Lägern, situated east of the Aare river. Much of the Swiss Jura region has no historical association with Early Modern Switzerland and was incorporated as part of the Swiss Confederacy only in the 19th century. In the 20th century, a movement for Jura separatism developed which resulted in the creation of the Canton of Jura in 1979.


title: Jura Mountains

text: The east of the Jura range proper separates the Rhine and Rhône basins. The northern and eastern part of the range drains towards the Rhine river and its tributaries Aare and Ill, whereas the western and southern parts drain towards the Rhône river and its (sub)tributaries Doubs, Saône, and Ain. Initially the river Doubs (a subtributary of the Rhône) flows about northeast, briefly venturing into Switzerland, then changing direction and flowing about southwest before joining the Saône ca. north of the French city of Lyon. In Lyon, the Saône joins the Rhône. While the Rhine flows into the North Sea, the Rhône flows into the Mediterranean Sea.


title: Jura Mountains

text: Northeast, the Jura range proper (known as "folded Jura", "Faltenjura") is continued as the Table Jura ("Tafeljura"). The Table Jura ranges (from southwest to northeast) across the Swiss cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Aargau, and Schaffhausen (Randen), and the southern German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (as Klettgau Jura, Baar Jura, and the Swabian and Franconian plateaus).


title: Jura Mountains

text: The range is built up vertically while decreasing in size laterally (along a rough northwest–southeast line). This deformation accommodates the compression from alpine folding as the main Alpine orogenic front moves roughly northwards. The deformation becomes less pervasive away from the younger, more active Alpine mountain building.


title: Jura Mountains

text: The geologic folds comprise three major bands (lithological units) of building that date from three epochs: the Lias (Early Jurassic), the Dogger (Middle Jurassic) and the Malm (Late Jurassic) geologic periods. Each era of folding reveals effects of previously shallow marine environments as evidenced by beds with carbonate sequences, containing abundant bioclasts and oolitic divisions between layers (called horizons).


title: Jura Mountains

text: Structurally, the Jura consists of a sequence of geologic folds, the formation of which is facilitated by an evaporitic decollement layer. The box folds are still relatively young, which is evident by the general shape of the landscape showing that they have not existed long enough to experience erosion, thus revealing recent mountain building.


title: Jura Mountains

text: The Jura range offer a variety of tourist activities including hiking, cycling, downhill skiing and cross-country skiing. There are many signposted trails including the Jura ridgeway, a hiking route.


title: Jura Mountains

text: Tourist attractions in the Swiss Jura include natural features such as the Creux du Van, lookout peaks such as the Chasseral, caves such as the Grottes de l'Orbe, as well as gorges such as Taubenloch. The Swiss Jura has been industrialized since the 18th century and became a major centre of the watchmaking industry. The area has several cities at very high altitudes, such as La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle and Sainte-Croix (renowned for its musical boxes); however, it generally has had a marked decline in population since 1960. Both Le Locle and its geographical twin town La Chaux-de-Fonds are recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage Site for their horological and related cultural past.


title: Jura Mountains

text: In the French Jura, the 11th-century Fort de Joux, famously remodeled and strengthened by Vauban in 1690 and subsequently by other military engineers, is situated on a natural rock outcropping in the middle of the range not far from Pontarlier. Part of the A40 autoroute crosses through a portion of the southern Jura between Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, which is known as the "Highway of the Titans".


title: Ram Bergman

text: Ram Bergman () is an Israeli film producer. He is known for producing "Brick" (2005), "The Brothers Bloom" (2008), "Looper" (2012), "" (2017), and "Knives Out" (2019), all of which were written and directed by Rian Johnson.


title: Ram Bergman

text: Bergman received an Achievement in Film Award at the 2018 Israel Film Festival and was nominated for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures for "Knives Out" at the 2020 Producers Guild of America Awards.


title: Ram Bergman

text: Bergman first began producing films during his early 20s, having moved from his native Rishon LeZion in Israel to initially New York and then Los Angeles, in 1991. He had no formal training, just a passion for the film industry and a willingness to keep at it. He worked as a valet, while also “trying to figure out how to make movies” and within the year he was producing his first film, learning his trade while on the job.


title: Ram Bergman

text: Bergman met writer-director Rian Johnson while Johnson was attempting to make Brick. Bergman recalls: “Rian had been trying to make this movie for seven years after he got out of school and when I read the script, I realized I’d never seen anything like this." With Bergman's help, Johnson was able to get the movie made for significantly less money. Describing their relationship, Bergman says “You don’t think when you start out what it could lead to. You just focus on making the movie, but today we are partners and I think I’ll be the luckiest man if I can continue making movies with him for the rest of my life.”


title: Ram Bergman

text: Bergman produced "" (2017), the second film in the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy. This again reunited him with Rian Johnson.


title: Ram Bergman

text: In September 2019, Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman launched T-Street, an entrepreneurial company that will generate original content for film and TV shows. The venture is fully capitalized by global media company Valence Media. T-Street launched with a first look deal with Valence Media's Media Rights Capital for film and television projects. Valence Media holds a substantial minority equity stake in the company. Johnson and Bergman intend to make their own original creations through the company, and produce others.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif (), born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727, as the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty. He was the seventh son of Moulay Sharif and was governor of the province of Fez and the north of Morocco from 1667 until the death of his half-brother, Sultan Moulay Rashid in 1672. He was proclaimed sultan at Fez, but spent several years in conflict with his nephew Moulay Ahmed ben Mehrez, who also claimed the throne, until the latter's death in 1687. Moulay Ismail's 55-year reign is the longest of any sultan of Morocco.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: The reign of Moulay Ismail marked a high watermark for Moroccan power. His military successes are explained by the creation of a strong army, originally relying on the 'Guichs' (especially the Udaya) and on the Black Guard (or Abid al-Bukhari), black slaves who were totally devoted to him. As a result, the central power could be less reliant on tribes that often rebelled. Moulay Ismail failed against the Regency of Algiers during the battle of Moulouya in 1692, as he tried to expand his territory towards Tlemcen. Moulay Ismail once again attempted to capture Oran, which was under Spanish rule, he had some success in pushing back the tribes of the Regency of Algiers until the Algerian Bey Mustapha cooperated with the Spaniards in pushing back Moulay Ismail's army. Moulay Ismail engaged in the Maghrebi War against the Regency of Algiers, he was successful in conquering the Western Beylik, he even looted the palace of the Bey. His army was subsequently pushed back in the Battle of Chelif in 1701. He participated in other minor battles such as Laghouat in 1708 which ended successfully. He expelled the Europeans from the ports they had occupied: Larache, Asilah, Mehdya, and Tangier. He took thousands of Christians prisoner and nearly took Ceuta.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Ismail controlled a fleet of corsairs based at Salé-le-Vieux and Salé-le-Neuf (now Rabat), which supplied him with European Christian slaves and weapons through their raids in the Mediterranean and all the way to the Black Sea. He established significant diplomatic relations with foreign powers, especially the Kingdom of France, Great Britain, and Spain. Often compared to his contemporary, Louis XIV, due to his charisma and authority, Moulay Ismail was nicknamed the 'bloody king' by the Europeans due to his extreme cruelty and exaction of summary justice upon his Christian slaves. He is also known in his native country as the "Warrior King".


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: He also made Meknes his capital and undertook the construction of an enormous citadel and palace complex next to its old city which included several grand residences, gardens, monumental gates, mosques and more than forty kilometers of walls. He died following a sickness. After his death, his supporters became so powerful that they controlled the country, enthroning and dethroning the sultans at will.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Born in 1645 at Sijilmassa, Moulay Ismail ben Sharif was the son of Sharif ibn Ali, Emir of Tafilalt and first sovereign of the Alaouite dynasty. His mother was a black slave. His clan claimed descent from Hassan Ad-Dakhil, a 21st generation descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: After the death of the Saadi Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, Morocco entered a period of unrest, during which his sons fought with one another for the throne, while the country was parcelled up by the different military leaders and religious authorities. From the beginning of the reign of Zidan Abu Maali in 1613, the Saadi sultanate was very weak. The Zaouia of Dila controlled central Morocco, the established its influence from Souss to the Draa River, the marabout Sidi al-Ayachi took possession of the northwestern plains, the Atlantic coast as far as Taza, the Republic of Salé became an independent state at the mouth of the Bou Regreg, and the city of Tétouan became a city-state under the control of the Naqsis family. At Tafilalt, the Alouites were appointed by the local people in order to check the influence of the Zaouias of Illigh and Dila. They were an independent emirate from 1631.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Three rulers preceded Ismail ben Sharif: his father, Moulay Sharif, then his two half-brothers respectively Sidi Mohammed and Moulay Rachid. As the first sovereign of the Alaouite dynasty from 1631, Moulay Sharif succeeded in keeping Tafilalt outside the authority of the Zaouia of Dila. He abdicated in 1636 and his eldest son, Sidi Muhammad ibn Sharif succeeded him. Under the latter's reign, the Alaouite realm expanded into the north of the country, to Tafna and the Draa river and managed to capture the Ottoman city of Oudja. His half-brother, Moulay Rashid rebelled against him and managed to kill him on 3 August 1664, in a battle on the plain of Angad (near Oujda). Moulay Ismail chose to support Rashid and was rewarded by being appointed governor of Meknes. There, Moulay Ismail devoted himself to the region's agriculture and commerce, in order to increase his wealth, while Moulay Rashid reigned as Sultan of Tafilalt and then as Sultan of Morocco after his conquest of Fez on 27 May 1664. Rashid further entrusted Ismail with military control of the North of Morocco and made him Khalifa (viceroy) of Fez in 1667, while he fought in the south of Morocco. Rashid conquered the Zaouia of Dila in 1668 and then took two years to overcome rebels at Marrakesh before he broke into the city in 1669.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: On 6 April 1670, in the presence of his brother Sultan Moulay Rashid, Moulay Ismail celebrated his first marriage at Fez to the daughter of a Sa'adi prince. On 25 July, he put to death sixty brigands from Oulad Djama, by crucifying them on the wall of the Borj el-Jadid in Fez. While Rashid continued his campaigns against the independent tribes of the High Atlas, he was killed on 9 April 1672 at Marrakesh, after falling off his horse. On 13 April, after he had learnt of Rashid's death, Moulay Ismail rushed to Fez, where he took possession of his brother's treasury and then proclaimed himself Sultan of Morocco on 14 April 1672, at the age of twenty-six. This proclamation occurred around 2pm and a grand ceremony followed. The whole population of Fez, including the nobles, intellectuals, and sharifs swore to be loyal to the new sovereign, as did the tribes and cities of the kingdom of Fez, who sent embassies and presents to him. Only Marrakesh and the region around it did not send an embassy. Ismail fixed his capital at Meknes, on account of the water supply and climate of the town.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: After seizing power, Moulay Ismail faced several rebellions: most significant was the revolt of his nephew Moulay Ahmed ben Mehrez, son of Moulay Murad Mehrez, then the rebellions of his brothers, including Harran ibn Sharif, who assumed the title of King of Tafilalt. The Tetouan warlord Khadir Ghaïlan also resisted Sultan Ismail, along with several tribes and religious groups.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: When the news of Rashid's death reached Sijilmassa, Ahmed ben Mehrez rushed to Marrakesh, in order to have himself proclaimed sultan. The tribes of Al Haouz, the Arabs of Souss, and the inhabitants of Marrakesh joined him and he was able to assume control of the area. He rallied the southern tribes and was proclaimed sultan at Marrakesh. In response, Moulay Ismail launched a campaign against his nephew on 27 April 1672. Ismail was victorious as a result of his artillery. He entered the city of Marrakesh and was recognised as sultan there on 4 June 1672. Ahmed suffered a bullet wound and fled into the mountains. Ismail pardoned the inhabitants of Marrakesh and reorganised the city's defences. He then went back to Fez to collect his brother Rashid's coffin and inter it in the mausoleum of Sheikh Ali ibn Herzouhm, before returning to Meknes on 25 July 1672.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail arranged the organisation of the empire and distributed goods to the soldiers of his army in preparation for an expedition into the Sahara. The project was abandoned however after a revolt broke out in the city of Fez, during which the Caid Zidan ben Abid Elamri, the intended head of the expedition, was killed and the sultan's forces were expelled from the city, on the night of 26 August 1672. Moulay Ismail immediately arrived and encamped outside the walls of the city. After several days of conflict, the noble clans of Fez appealed to Ahmed ben Mehrez in despair. He responded favourably to their appeal and travelled through Debdou to Taza, where he was proclaimed Sultan again. In the meanwhile, Khadir Ghaïlan sent a messenger to Fez and notified the inhabitants of his arrival by sea from Algiers to Tetouan, where he was welcomed by the Ennaqsîs family that governed the city. These events sparked serious unrest in the country. Moulay Ismail marched on Taza, which surrendered to him after a siege of several months, and forced Ahmed ben Mehrez to flee into the Sahara. While the siege of Fez continued, Ismail turned northwest to face Khadir Ghaïlan, who had taken control of the Habt region (the Gharb and Khlot plains and part of the Jebala territory) with the help of the Ottomans in Algeria. With a force of 12,000 men, Ismail suppressed the rebellion and pacified the northern provinces, killing Ghaïlan on 2 September 1673 at Ksar el-Kebir He returned again to Fez, which was still under siege by his forces. The heart of the city, Fez Jdid, finally opened its gates on 28 October 1673, after a siege of fourteen months and eight days. Ismail granted a pardon to the inhabitants of Fez. He reorganised the city and appointed governors in charge of the suburbs of Fez el Bali and Fez Jdid.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: On returning to Meknes, Moulay Ismail continued construction work and built several palaces. He was disturbed once more by his nephew Ahmed ben Mehrez, who seized Marrakesh sometime after May 1673. When Ismail learnt of it in 1674, he first launched a campaign against the Arab tribes of the Angad region who were engaging in banditry. He severely defeated the Sgoûna tribe and then put in place the preparations for a major campaign against his nephew. Ismail marched at the head of his army into the Tadla region and encountered Ahmed ben Mehrez's army at Bou Agba, near Oued El Abid. Ismail was victorious over his nephew's army and killed its commander, Hida Ettouïri. Ahmed was chased by his uncle all the way to Marrakesh, where he entrenched himself. Ismail besieged the city and took it by force in 1674, forcing Ahmed to flee to the province of Drâa. The sultan then led a number of operations against the Chaouia tribes. In this same year, the Sanhaja of the High and Middle Atlas revolted and massacred the envoys of the Sultan, after having refused to pay tribute. Moulay Ismail launched a first expedition and attempted to dislodge them from the mountain strongholds where they had entrenched themselves. The sultan's troops were repulsed by a force of 8,000 Berber infantry and 5,000 Berber cavalry. A second expedition followed, and this time the Sultan's forces inflicted a heavy defeat on the rebels, seizing substantial booty.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In 1675, with the help of the inhabitants of Taroudant, Ahmed secretly returned to Marrakesh, expelled the royal army, and reoccupied the city. Ismail placed Marrakesh under siege once more. The fighting was bloody, with very high casualties on both sides, especially in June 1676. Ahmed eventually had to flee the city on 26 June 1677, heading for Souss. This time, Ismail violently sacked the city as punishment for supporting Ahmed.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: While still at Marrakesh, Ismail learnt that Ahmed ben Abdellah ad-Dila'i, grandson of Mohammed al-Hajj ibn Abu Bakr al-Dila'i, had gathered a large army of Sanhaja tribes from the mountains, crossed the Moulouya River and was raiding the Arab tribes of Tadla and Saïss, forcing them to flee to the cities of Fez, Meknes, and Sale. Ahmed was attempting to revive the defunct Zaouia of Dila and was supported by the Ottomans in Algiers, who had previously given him refuge. Since Ismail was busy with Ahmed ben Mehrez at Souss, he sent an autonomous force of 3,000 cavalry. They were defeated by the Berber army of Ahmed ben Abdellah and the force's commander, Caid Ikhlef, was killed. Ismail then sent two further armies, numbering 4,000 men each, which were also beaten - the first near Meknes and the second at Kasba Tadla, which was then seized and destroyed by the Sanhaja. Meanwhile, Ismail also learnt that three of his brothers, Moulay Harran, Moulay Hammada, and Moulay Murad Mehrez (the father of Ahmed ben Mehrez) had revolted and attacked Tafilalt. The sultan decided to deal with the unrest at Tadla first. He personally intervened and routed the Berbers in a battle which say 3,000 Berbers dead and several hundred soldiers of the imperial army. He retook Tadla, stabilised the Middle Atlas region with his artillery and an enveloping manoeuvre carried out by the guich of Oudaya. The heads of nearly 700 rebels were nailed to the walls of Fez by the Caid Abdellah Errousi. Moulay Ismail returned to Meknes at the end of 1677 and ended his brothers' rebellion. He captured Moulay Harran but chose to spare him.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Between 1678 and 1679, Moulay Ismail attempted an expedition over the Amour mountain range into the region of Cherg, accompanied by a large contingent of Arab tribes, including the Beni Amer. The Turkish artillery put all the Arab tribes in the expedition to flight and the Sultan was forced to set the border between the Ottoman empire and Morocco at Tafna. Moulay Ismail restored and reorganised Oujda on his return. He reorganised the south of the empire following an expedition in 1678, from Souss and the oasis of Touat to the provinces of Chenguit on the border of the Sudan region in modern Mauritania. During his journey, Ismail appointed caids and pashas and ordered the construction of forts and ribats to demonstrate his control to the makhzen in these regions. During this expedition, the Sultan received embassies from all the Maqil tribes in the Saharan provinces of the country, which stretched all the way to the Senegal river. Moroccan control over the Pashalik of Timbuktu was established in 1670 and continued throughout Moulay Ismail's reign.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Around the end of Ramadan 1678-1679, Ismail's three brothers, Harran, Hashem and Ahmed, and three of his cousins revolted with the help of the Sanhaja confederation of Aït Atta and the tribes of the and Dadès valleys. Moulay Ismail launched a massive expedition and seized Ferkla, Gueria, Toudra and Dadès in quick succession. The rebel tribes abandoned their oases and fled into the Jbel Saghro in the eastern Anti-Atlas. With a large army, Ismail fought a difficult battle in the Jbel Saghro on 3 February 1679. The heavy casualties included Moussa ben Ahmed ben Youssef, commander of the Moroccan army and 400 soldiers from Fez. It was a partial failure. The battle was ended by an agreement in which the rebel tribes granted the people of Tafilalt free passage back to Marrakesh through the Saharan rebel tribes' territory and promised future aid against the Christians. On their return journey, a blizzard struck the force as it crossed the Atlas at Telwet or Elglâoui on the Jbel Ben Deren, destroying nearly three thousand tents, part of the army and the booty. In a fury, Moulay Ismail executed his vizier in order to avenge those who had been travelling with him, even though the vizier had had nothing to do with this catastrophe.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: A plague struck around this time that killed several thousand people, mainly in the plain of Rharb and Rif.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: After he had achieved the unification of Morocco, Moulay Ismail decided to end the Christian presence in the country. He first launched a campaign to recapture the city of Tangiers, which had been under English control since 1471 - initially Portuguese, the city had passed into English hands after the marriage of Catherine of Braganza to Charles II. The city was strongly fortified and had a large garrison of 4,000 men. Moulay Ismail assigned one of his best generals, , to besiege Tangier in 1680. At Tangiers, the English resisted, but, as a result of the high cost of maintaining the garrison, they decided to abandon the city, demolishing their fortifications and harbour over the winter of 1683. The Moroccan army entered the city on 5 February 1684.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In 1681, while the siege of Tangiers was still ongoing, Moulay Ismail sent part of his army under the command of Omar ben Haddou El-Bottoui to conquer the city of La Mamora. This city had been occupied by the Spanish in the period of chaos in Morocco after 1614. Ismail besieged the city, which had no water source, and captured it, along with all the Spaniards in the city, who numbered 309. Caid Omar had told the Spaniards that they would not be sold into slavery if they surrendered unconditionally "Although they would be captives they would spend their days without working, until the first redemption." However Moulay Ismaïl saw no reason to honour Kaid Omar's promises and had no intention of allowing the captives from al-Mamurah to be redeemed so they, including fifty "poor girls and women", were forced to walk to Meknes as booty along with their possessions, arms and artillery (88 bronze cannons, 15 iron cannons, fire-pots, muskets and gunpowder) which Germain Mousette wrote was "more than he had in the rest of his kingdom". The city was renamed al-Mahdiya. Omar ben Haddou died of plague on his return journey and was replaced by his brother Ahmed ben Haddou.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: While his generals were undertaking these operations, Moulay Ismail was focussed on stabilising the country. After an expedition to the Cherg region against the Beni Amer, he learnt that Ahmed ben Mehrez had made yet another agreement with the Turks in Algiers. He also learnt that the Turkish army was approaching Tafna and had already reached the territory of the . Ismail immediately sent a large force to the south of the country to face Ahmed and prepared an expedition against the Ottomans, which did not end up taking place because the Turkish army withdrew. He then marched south to confront his nephew at Souss in 1683. A battle took place there in April. After twenty-five days of fighting, Ahmed fled to Taroudant and entrenched himself there. Another battle on 11 June 1683 cost more than 2,000 lives. Ahmed and Ismail were themselves wounded. The clashes continued until Ramadan. Moulay Ismail undertook two expeditions which succeeded in pacifying several Berber regions.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: While Moulay Ismail was occupied with these tribes in the Atlas, Ahmed ben Mehrez forged an alliance with Moulay Harran in order to destabilise Ismail's empire. When Moulay Ismail learnt, in 1684/5, that the two rebels had taken control of Taroudant and its hinterland, he immediately set out to besiege the city. Ahmed went out with a group of slaves to visit a sanctuary and was confronted by some members of the Zirâra tribe, who were soldiers of Ismail. Although they did not recognise him, the Zirâra attacked him, sparking a short battle, which ended with the death of Ahmed. The sultan's soldiers only realised who he was after his death around the middle of October 1685. Ismail ordered that he be given a funeral and buried. Moulay Harran continued the resistance until April 1687, when he fled into the Sahara. The population of Taroudant was massacred and the city was repopulated with Rifans from Fez. Many of Ismail's military commanders had lost their lives in this war, but after this date, no one else challenged the power of the Sultan. The war between Ahmed and Ismail had come to an end after thirteen years of fighting.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail now prepared a strong army, estimated at 30,000-50,000 men, under the command of Ali ben Abdallah Er-Riffi and Ahmed ben Haddou El-Bottoui, to seize the city of Larache, which had been under Spanish control since 1610. The Sultan, who announced his plan in 1688, forced the Spaniards to fortify the city heavily, with 200 cannons and 1500-2000 men. The campaign began on 15 July 1689 and the siege began in August. The Moroccan army eventually took the city on 11 November 1689, at an estimate cost of 10,000 dead. The Moroccans captured 1,600 Spanish soldiers including 100 officers and 44 cannons. The Spanish army lost 400 soldiers in the battle. A prisoner exchange was arranged at a rate of one officer for ten Moroccans, so the hundred officers were exchanged for a thousand Moroccan prisoners. The rest of the Spanish garrison remained in captivity, as slaves in Meknes, except for those who converted to Islam. To celebrate the triumph Moulay Ismaïl issued an edict banning the wearing of black shoes because the Spanish were said to have introduced the custom into Morocco when they first acquired Larache in 1610. The mufti of Fez was so elated by the victory he wrote, Shortly after Larache was conquered, Ismail sent Ahmed ben Haddou to besiege Assilah. Exhausted, the Spanish garrison evacuated the city by sea and the Moroccan army occupied the town in 1691.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In 1692-3, Moulay Ismail organised a very large expedition against the last unconquered tribes. These were the Sanhaja Brâbér tribes, Berbers in Fêzzâz, a region in the west part of the Middle Atlas. These tribes formed the last pocket of the Bled es-Siba (area that did not accept the authority of the sultan). Ismail's army was very numerous and equipped with mortars, balistae, cannons, and other siege weapons, which were dragged by Christian slaves all the way from Moulouya to Ksar Beni M'Tir. Meanwhile, the Moroccan forces gathered at Adekhsan. Ismail divided his army into three groups. The first was commanded by Pasha Msahel, with 25,000 infantry, and marched from Tadla to Oued El Abid, bypassing the Aït Isri. The second army was led by Caid Ali Ou Barka and consisted of Aït Imour and Aït Idrassen, who had to occupy Tinteghalin. The third and final group was commanded by Ali ben Ichchou El-Qebli, caid of and Beni Hakim, and was concentrated in the High Moulouya. The unconquered tribes comprised the Aït Oumalou, the Ait Yafelman and the Aït Isri. They were surrounded by Mulay Ismail who used all his artillery to break up the Berber rebels. A terrible battle followed, the Berbers were dispersed and fled into the ravines and valleys. After pursuing them for three days, 12,000 Berbers had been captured by the Sultan and 10,000 horses and 30,000 guns as booty. Moulay Ismail had now conquered the whole of Morocco and forced all the tribes of the country to recognise his authority. He was the first Alaouite Sultan to achieve this. He quickly organised the defence of the captured regions through the construction of several dozen fortresses throughout the country, which helped the central power to reach distant regions like Fêzzâz. With this victory, the conquest of Morocco was over. In 1693, according to Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri:


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: The Guerouans learnt this the hard way. Some men of this tribe who carried out raids in the upper course of the Ziz River, on the road to Sijilmassa, drew the attention of Moulay Ismail. He ordered the caid Idrassen Ali ben Ichchou El-Qebli to massacre them. In Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri's "Al-Istiqsa", it is reported that Moulay Ismail provided 10,000 horsemen to Ali ben Ichchou, the caid of the Zemmour and Bni Hakem tribes and told him "I do not want you to return, until you have fallen upon the Gerrouans and unless you bring back to me a heads for each man here." So they left to kill as many of the Guerouans as possible and to pillage their encampments. He offered 10 mithqals to anyone who brought back an additional head. In the end, they collected 12,000. The Sultan was very happy with this and extended Ali ben Ichchou's command to include the Aït Oumalou and Aït Yafelmâl territories, which had just been conquered.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Jean-Baptiste Estelle, the French consul in Salé wrote to his minister, the Marquis de Torcy in 1698:


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: At its height, the Moroccan army contained 100,000 to 150,000 black soldiers in the Black Guard, as well as thousands more in the Guich of the Udaya, European renegades and vassal tribes which received land and slaves in exchange for providing soldiers.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: The rest of Moulay Ismail's reign was marked by military setbacks and family problems relating to the succession. In May 1692, Moulay Ismail sent his son Moulay Zeydan with a large army to attack Ottoman Algeria. He was defeated by the Ottomans who counter-attacked and advanced as far as Fez. Ismail offered his submission to the dey of Algiers and had to send an embassy to Algiers to make peace. He thus fixed his borders with the kingdom of Algiers at the Moulouya River. In 1693, Moulay Ismail raided the Oran region and attempted to pillage the Beni Amer which was successful. The city of Oran resisted two attacks, leading to the sultan's retreat. This time, it was the Turks who sent envoys to make peace, at the initiative of the Ottoman Sultan, Ahmed II. In 1699, Moulay Ismail participated in the Maghrebi War and was successful in capturing the Beylik of Mascara and advanced with about 50,000 men as far as the Chelif River but his army was routed by the Algerians at the Battle of Chelif in 1701. Ismail, wounded in the fighting, had to escape on horseback and narrowly escaped capture. Moulay Ismail fought other minor conflicts with the Ottoman Algeria such as Laghouat in 1708 which turned out successful.Ismail attempted to besiege the city of Ceuta with an army of 40,000 soldiers, but the strength of Spanish resistance meant that the siege dragged on. Part of Ismail's army also besieged Melilla from 1694 to 1696, but the city's fortifications were too much for them. In spring 1701, Moulay Ismail launched another expedition against Algeria. The Moroccan forces advanced to the Chelif River before they were intercepted by the Ottoman army in Chediouïa. With a force of 10,000-12,000 men, the Algerian army managed to defeat the 60,000 soldiers of the Moroccan army. The Moroccan army suffered a heavy defeated and fell into disarray. Moulay Ismail himself was wounded and barely escaped. The heads of 3,000 Moroccan soldiers and 50 Moroccan leaders were brought to Algiers. In 1702, Moulay Ismail gave his son Moulay Zeydan an army of 12,000 men and instructed him to capture the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. The Moroccans razed the Spanish fortress, but failed to retain la Isleta. Meanwhile, the English admiral, George Rooke joined in the siege of Ceuta, blockading the port in 1704.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Between 1699 and 1700, Moulay Ismail divided the provinces of Morocco between his children. Moulay Ahmed was given responsibility for the province of Tadla and a force of 3,000 Black Guards. Moulay Abdalmalik was entrusted with Draâ province, with a kasbah and 1,000 cavalry. Moulay Mohammed al-Alim received Souss and 3,000 cavalry. Moulay El-Mâmoun commanded Sijilmasa and received 500 cavalry. When he died, he was replaced two years later by Moulay Youssef. Moulay Zeydan received command of "Cherg" (East), but he lost it after the Ottomans attacked and Ismail made peace with them. He was then replaced by Moulay Hafid. This division of the realm provoked jealousy and rivalry between Ismail's sons, which sometimes degenerated into open clashes. In one of these, Moulay Abdelmalek was defeated by his brother, Moulay Nasser, who took control of the whole of Draâ. Moulay Sharif was appointed governor of Draâ by his father in place of Abdelmalek and succeeded in retaking the region from Nasser.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In response to the intrigues, slanders and opposition of Lalla Aisha Mubarka, who wanted her son Moulay Mohammed Zeydan to succeed his father as Sultan, Ismail's eldest son Moulay Mohammed al-Alim revolted in Souss and took control of Marrakesh on 9 March 1703. When Moulay Zeydan arrived with an army, Mohammed al-Alim fled to Taroudant. His brother besieged the place and captured it on 25 June 1704, and took him to Oued Beht on 7 July. Mohammed al-Alim was harshly punished by his father, who amputated one hand and one arm, executing both the butcher who refused to spill Mohammed al-Alim's blood on the grounds that he was a Sharif, and the one who agreed to do it. He subsequently eliminated a caid of Marrakesh who had been responsible for Moulay Mohammed al-Alim's acquisition of the city, with exceptional violence. Moulay al-Alim committed suicide at Meknes on 18 July, despite precautions that his father had put in place to prevent this. On learning of the atrocities which Moulay Zeydan had committed at Taroudant, especially the massacre of the city's inhabitants, Moulay Ismail organised for him to be murdered in 1708, having his wives smother him when he was black-out drunk. Moulay Nasser also revolted in Souss, but was eventually killed by the Oulad Delim, who remained loyal to Moulay Ismail.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: To prevent further trouble, Moulay Ismail rescinded the governorships that he had conferred on his sons, except for Moulay Ahmed, who retained his post as governor of Tadla and Moulay Abdelmalek who became governor of Souss. Since Abdelmalek behaved like an independent and absolute monarch and refused to pay tribute, Ismail decided to change the order of succession - this was aided by the fact that Abdelmalek's mother was no longer close to him. Abdelmalek belatedly apologized, but Ismail remained hostile to his son. As a result, Moulay Ismail chose Moulay Ahmed as his successor.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In 1720, Philip V of Spain, who wanted to get revenge on Morocco for having aided the Grand Alliance in the War of the Spanish Succession, sent a fleet commanded by the Marquess of Lede to raise the siege of Ceuta which had been ongoing since 1694 and to force the Moroccans to give up on retaking the city. The Spanish fleet managed to raise the siege, but Moulay Ismail resumed it in 1721, after the Marquess of Lede had returned to Spain. The Sultan further planned a large armada for an invasion of Spain, but it was destroyed by a storm in 1722. The siege of Ceuta continued until Ismail's death in 1727.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif finally died on 22 March 1727 at the age of 81, from an abscess in his lower abdomen. His reign had lasted 55 years, making him the longest reigning Moroccan monarch. He was succeeded by Moulay Ahmed. Both he and Ahmed were buried in the same mausoleum in Meknes. The empire immediately fell into civil war, as a result of a rebellion of the Black Guards. More than seven claimants to the throne succeeded to power between 1727 and 1757, some of them repeatedly, like Moulay Abdallah who was Sultan six times.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: The main character traits of Moulay Ismail, according to the chronicles and legends of his period, were his "tendency to order and authority, as well as his iron will." He put his strength and power at the service of this unyielding will, "If God gave me the kingship, man cannot take it from me," he is reported to have said. This will was always apparent in his actions and decisions. According to Dominique Busnot, the colour of his clothes was linked to his mood,


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: By contemporary Europeans, Moulay Ismail was considered cruel, greedy, merciless and duplicitous. It was his cruelty and viciousness that particularly attracted their attention. Legends of the ease in which Ismail could behead or torture laborers or servants he thought to be lazy are numerous. According to a Christian slave, Moulay Ismail had more than 36,000 people killed over a 26-year period of his reign. According to François Pidou de Saint Olon, Moulay Ismail had 20,000 people assassinated over a twenty-year period of his reign. He was described by many authors, including Dominique Busnot, as a "bloodthirsty monster."


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: He was also a very good horseman, with great physical strength, agility, and extraordinary cleverness, which he maintained even in his old age. "One of his normal entertainments was to draw his sword as he mounted his horse and decapitate the slave who held the stirrup."


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: His physical appearance is almost always described in the same way by the Europeans. He had "a long face, more black than white, i.e. very mulatto," according to Saint-Amans, ambassador of Louis XIV, who added that "he is the strongest and most vigourous man of his State." He was of average height and he inherited the colour of his face from his mother, who had been a black slave.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: "A faithful and pious follower of his religion," he attempted to convert King James II of England to Islam, sending him letters whose sincerity and religious feeling are inarguable. Dominique Busnot, who was generally critical of Ismail, asserted that "he had a great attachment to his Law and publicly practised all the ceremonies, ablutions, prayers, fasts, and feasts with scrupulous precision."


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: He enjoyed debating theology with the Trinitarians in Morocco on points of controversy. On many occasions when returning from the mosque on Fridays, he asked for Trinitarians to be brought into his court. During a debate with the fathers of Mercy, he said this:


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail chose Meknes as Morocco's capital city in 1672 and carried out an extensive building program there that resulted in the construction of numerous gates, mosques, gardens and madrases. On account of the rate of construction, Ismail is often compared to his contemporary Louis XIV. The Saadian El Badi Palace in Marrakesh was stripped of almost all its fittings, so that they could be transported to Meknes. Marble blocks and pillars were also taken from the ancient Roman ruins at Volubilis. At least 25,000 workers, mostly paid labourers along with a smaller number of Christian prisoners conscripted into forced labour, were employed on his major construction projects in Meknes. Ismail enjoyed visiting the building sites, to correct or revise whatever did not please him. He was sometimes cruel to the workers and did not hesitate to execute or punish those who produced poor quality work.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: He began the construction of his magnificent palace complex (or Kasbah) at Meknes before learning of the work being undertaken by Louis XIV at Versailles. According to European ambassadors present at Meknes in the period, the fortification walls of the palace alone were more than twenty-three kilometers long. Dar al-Kebira, the first of his palaces, was completed after three years of building and was immense, with hanging gardens modelled on those of Babylon. As soon as it was complete, he laid the foundations of Dar al-Makhzen, which linked together around fifty different palaces, containing their own hammams and its own mosque for his wives, concubines, and children. This was followed by Madinat er-Riyad, the residence of the viziers, governors, caids, secretaries and other high functionaries of Ismail's court, which the historian Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri called 'the beauty of Meknes'.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In the economic sphere, Moulay Ismail built within his citadel the Heri es-Swani (also spelled Heri es-Souani), a major storehouse of foodstuffs which was fed by wells, and the Agdal or Sahrij Reservoir which was dug in order to ensure a regular water supply for the gardens of Meknes. Ambassadors were received in the Qubbat al-Khayyatin pavilion which he built at the end of the seventeenth century. He also built prisons to hold criminals, Christian slaves, and prisoners of war. Finally, Ismail built or restored in Meknes a large number of mosques, madrasas, public squares, kasbahs, fountains, city gates, and gardens. Construction continued throughout his whole reign.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In the military sphere, Ismail ordered the construction of a network of sixty-seven fortresses, which lined the main roads and surrounded mountainous areas. Meknes was protected by forty kilometres of walls, pierced by twenty gatehouses. Control over the eastern part of the country was ensured by the construction of many strong forts along the border with Ottoman Algeria. Others were built in the territory of individual tribes, to maintain the peace. He also built defensive structures along the route from the Oasis of Touat to the Chenguit provinces, and reorganised or rebuilt the walls of some cities on the model of Oujda. Garrisons of the Black Guards were protected by the construction of Kasbahs in major population centers, modelled on the Kasbah of Gnawa in Salé.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Around 1677, Moulay Ismail began to assert his authority over the whole country. Once he had killed and disabled his principal opponents, he was able to return to Meknes in order to organise his empire. It was during this fighting that he had the idea of creating the corps of the Abid al-Bukhari or Black Guard.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: The Alaouite army was principally composed of soldiers from the Saharan provinces and the provinces on the margin of the Sahara, such as Tafilalt, Souss, western Sahara, and Mauritania - the home of Khnata bent Bakkar, one of the four official wives of Ismail. The Banu Maqil, who inhabited these areas in great numbers, thus represented the foremost contingents of the Alaouites until the middle of Moulay Ismail's reign, as they had under the Saadian dynasty. Several jayshes originated from these Arab tribes. The Alaouites could also count on the tribes of the Oujda region, which had been conquered by Sidi Mohammed of Tafilalt. The jaysh tribes were exempted from import taxes in order to compensate them and were given land in exchange for their troops.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Additionally, Moulay Ismail was able to make use of European renegades' knowledge and experience of artillery, when he formed them into a military corps, as well as the Arab-Zenata Jaysh ash-Sheraka, which Rashid ibn Sharif had originally installed in the area north of Fez. Khlot and Sherarda, tribes of Banu Hilal, were given the rank of Makhzen and formed several contingents in the Moroccan army. He also founded Jaysh al-Rifi, an independent army of Berber tribesmen from the eastern Rif. This group later played an important role in the 17th-century Moroccan wars against Spanish colonization.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: However, Ismail could not rely solely on these tribes, because they had a long history of independence and could change sides or desert him at any moment. Thus he decided to create Morocco's first professional army, the Black Guard or Abid al-Bukhari, who were entirely beholden to him, unlike the tribal contingents. After the Siege of Marrakesh in 1672, he imported a large number of black male slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa and recruited many of the free black men in Morocco for his army. The initial contingent numbered perhaps 14,000 men. The Black Guard was rapidly expanded, reaching 150,000 men towards the end of Ismail's reign. The guards received a military education from age ten until their sixteenth birthday, when they were enlisted in the army. They were married to black women who had been raised in the royal palace like them.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail also created the Jaysh al-Udaya, which is to be distinguished from the tribe of Udaya. The guich was divided into three "reha". The first of these "reha" was the Ahl Souss (house of Souss), which was composed of four Banu Maqil Arab tribes of Souss: Ulad Jerrar, Ulad Mtâa, Zirara, and the Chebanate. In the 16th century, these tribes had formed the core of the Saadian army, against the Jashem Arabs of Rharb who were part of Banu Hilal and included the Khlot and Safiane, who had supported the Marinid dynasty of Fez. The second "reha" was the M'ghafra of Oued Noun, who were descended from Banu Maqil, Khnata bent Bakkar came from this group. The third "reha" contained the members of the tribe of Udaya itself. They were a powerful desert tribe who were originally from the Adrar Plateau and were formidable camel riders. Shortly before Moulay Ismail's reign, they had moved north and they were found in Souss under Moulay Ismail. After he reconquered Marrakesh in 1674, Ismail encountered a poor shepherd of the Udaya called Bou-Chefra and learnt that his people had been forced to leave the desert because of the drought and were originally Banu Maqil like himself. Sympathising with their plight, the Sultan decided to turn them into an elite division of his army.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: The Jaysh al-Udaya became a major portion of the Sultan's army, governed by the principle of makhzen in which land was granted to soldiers in exchange for military service. According to the historian Simon Pierre, "After the Alaouite conquest, the people of the Maghreb had been despoiled and disarmed and, except for one Berber tribe and the Rifians, only the Abid al-Bukhari and the Udaya exercised the monopoly on violence. Thirty years later, at the death of Moulay Ismail in 1727, it was the caids of the Abid al-Bukhari and the Udaya who joined with the ulama of Meknes and the ministers to choose sultan Moulay Ahmed Adh-Dhahabî!" However, other sources state that Moulay Ismail had designated him as his successor before his death. Regardless, during the period of anarchy after Ismail's death, the Udaya certainly played a major role in deposing several Sultans along with the Abid al-Bukhari.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: By the end of his reign, Ismail had built more than 76 kasbahs and military posts throughout his territory. Each kasbah was defended by a force of at least 100 soldiers drawn from the jaysh tribes or the Black Guard. Moroccan forces were stationed in all the major cities and provincial capitals. For example, there were 3,000 Sheraka, 4,500 Sherarda and 2,000 Udaya stationed around Fez, which formed a defensive cordon against the unsubjugated Berber tribes in the area.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: The kasbahs ensured the defence of the eastern border, where there was a heavy Moroccan military presence, but they also protected the main lines of communication within the kingdom and facilitated the control of unsubjugated tribes, by continuously raiding them.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Morocco's relations with the Ottoman Empire and its possessions in North Africa were often very strained. The two powers always distrusted one another and this was particularly true during Ismail's reign. The Ottomans supported Ismail's rivals within Morocco both financially and militarily, repeatedly mounting expeditions to support them. Conversely, Moulay Ismail led several invasions and raids of their territory, often with the support of anti-Ottoman Arab tribes in Algeria, such as the Benu Amer. The two empires repeatedly signed peace treaties, notably in 1678, 1692, and 1693, none of which lasted very long. A final treaty, in 1701, held until the end of Ismail's life.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Following the approach to foreign policy begun by Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I, Moulay Ismail sought good relations with France and Great Britain in order to ensure trade relations. These relations centred on the sale of Christian sailors captured at sea by the Salé Rovers and others, but also the creation of military alliances. Moulay Ismail repeatedly sought French assistance in his wars with Spain, without success. However, an alliance with France and the Bey of Tunis against Algeria was arranged.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: In 1682, Moulay Ismail sent Mohammad Temim on an embassy to France. He succeeded in negotiating a treaty of friendship between Morocco and France, which was signed at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. A request for the hand in marriage of Mlle de Nantes, one of Louis XIV's illegitimate children, was not successful. A second embassy to France was led by Abdallah ben Aisha in 1699. However, the accession of Louis XIV's grandson Philip to the Spanish throne in 1710 doomed this alliance, resulting in the breaking of diplomatic relations with France and Spain and the departure of the French and Spanish merchants and consuls from Morocco in 1718. The French diplomats considered Moulay Ismail extremely greedy. They complained that he undertook negotiations and made agreements solely in order to receive presents, denying whatever they had proposed once he had gotten what he wanted.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Despite Ismail's conquest of Tangier in 1684, the English supported him against the Spanish and signed several treaties of friendship and commerce. The English participated in the blockade of the Spanish port of Ceuta in 1704, during Ismail's siege of the city. After the break of relations with France, Moroccan ties with Britain increased. Abdelkader Perez was sent on two embassies to Britain, in 1723 and 1737. Moulay Ismail also sent several embassies to James II after he was deposed, offering him aid and asking him to convert to Islam.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: His first marriage is recorded to have taken place in 1670, he married more than the nine wives named below, and the order his nuptials are unclear after his first spouse. Historian Abd al-Rahman Ibn Zaydan recorded children of around 68 wedded wives and 8 unnamed slave concubines from the royal birth registers kept during the reign of Sidi Mohammed III. He specifies that upon Ismail's death the full number of his wives and harem slave concubines was 700. Some of his wedded wives were:


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail had four official wives, including Khanatha bint Bakkar, daughter of the Grand Sheikh Bakkar of M'ghafra, who was famous for her beauty, intelligence and learning. Lalla Aisha Mubarka or Zeydana was one of Moulay Ismail's much esteemed wives. She is described as a woman of great intuition. About her, Moulay Ismail was quoted saying that: "she was wiser than most men".


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Zeydana also had substantial influence over Ismail and sought to get her son Moulay Mohammed Zeydan enthroned for many years, this failed however, as he was finally secretly executed by his father in 1708. She was referred to as the Empress of Morocco by the Europeans, although in a Muslim court, no wife had precedence above the other and there was not empress or queen consort as there was in Europe. Zeydana was for long Moulay Ismail's favorite wife, until her downfall. Historic sources state that after the death of her older son, she fell into oblivion. It is widely believed that part of the motive for her disgrace was that she pushed her step-son, Moulay Mohammed al-Alim's revolt in 1703. The rebellion caused atrocities, with Marrakesh and Taroudant civilian population massacred on various criminal acts unsponsored by Moulay Ismail, which wouldn't had happened if her machinations were not pushed to extreme. Moulay Ismail initially forgave her when she violated his seal on an initial trinket to dishonor Moulay Mohammed al-Alim and have her son as heir.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Many of his concubines are only fragmentary documented. As concubines, they were slave captives, sometimes from Europe. One of them, an Irishwoman by the name Mrs. Shaw, was brought to his harem after having been enslaved and was made to convert to Islam when the Sultan wished to have intercourse with her, but was manumitted and married off to a Spanish convert when the Sultan grew tired of her; the Spanish convert being very poor, she was described by contemporary witnesses as reduced to beggary. Other slave concubines became favorites and as such were allowed some influence, such as an Englishwoman called Lalla Balqis. Another favorite was a Spanish captive renamed Al-Darah, mother to Moulay Ismail's once favorite son that he himself educated: Moulay Mohammed al-Alim; and to Moulay Sharif. Around 1702, Al-Darah tragically died strangled by Moulay Ismail whom Lalla Aisha had made believe she had betrayed him.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: According to the writings of the French diplomat Dominique Busnot, Moulay Ismail had at least 500 concubines and even more children. A total of 868 children (525 sons and 343 daughters) is recorded in 1703, with his seven hundredth son being born shortly after his death in 1727, by which time he had well over a thousand children. The final total is uncertain: the "Guinness Book of Records" claims 1042, while Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer of the University of Vienna put the total at 1171. This is widely considered among the largest number of children of any human in history.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: After nearly a century of difficulty and division, Morocco had experienced peace under Moulay Ismail, who had pacified all parts of the country. His reign is considered a golden age in the country's history, during which is experience, security, tranquility, and order. The historian Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Nasiri, who recorded the whole history of Morocco in this period, declared:


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Moulay Ismail accomplished the political reunification of the whole country, the formation of its main military force - the Black Guard or Abid al-Bukhari, as well as the Jaysh al-Rifi, and recaptured several coastal cities from the Europeans. He had considerably extended Moroccan territory, and undertook an extraordinary amount of construction.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: After Moulay Ismaïl's death at the age of eighty (or around ninety by the 1634 birthdate) in 1727, there was another succession battle between his surviving sons. His successors continued with his building program, but in 1755 the huge palace compound at Meknes was severely damaged by an earthquake. By 1757 his grandson, Sidi Mohammad III moved the capital to Marrakesh.


title: Ismail Ibn Sharif

text: Ismail ibn Sharif is mentioned in chapter 11 of Voltaire's "Candide". The character of the sultan in the novel "The Sultan's Wife" by Jane Johnson is based on Moulay Ismaïl. In Marguerite Henry's "King of the Wind" "Sultan Mulai Ismael, Emperor of all Morocco" sends six Arabian horses to Louis XV, "the boy-King of France."


title: Lee Na-eun

text: Lee Na-eun (; born May 5, 1999), also known mononymously as Naeun, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is a former member of South Korean girl group April. Besides from her group's activities, Naeun also has roles in "A-Teen" (2018), "A-Teen 2" (2019) and "Extraordinary You" (2019). She previously hosted "Inkigayo" alongside Jaehyun of NCT and Minhyuk of Monsta X from October 2019 to February 2021.


title: Lee Na-eun

text: Naeun was first introduced as a member of April by DSP Media on July 21, 2015. The group debuted on August 24 with the EP "Dreaming" and the title track "Dream Candy" (). Naeun made her official acting debut in the VR web drama "April Love" in 2016. She also made a minor appearance in KBS2's "My Father is Strange" in 2017.


title: Lee Na-eun

text: In 2018 it was revealed that Naeun would be taking part in the soundtrack of SBS TV's "Switch" alongside April member Jinsol. The track, "Stars In The Night Sky" was released on May 2, 2018. It was also announced in 2018 that Naeun would play the lead role in teen drama "A-TEEN" (2018) and the second season of the series in 2019. Naeun also starred in MBC's school fantasy drama "Extraordinary You", based on the hit Daum webtoon "July Found by Chance".


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: 1. FC Magdeburg is a German association football club based in the city of Magdeburg. The club was founded in 1965 and spent all but one season in East Germany top flight, the DDR-Oberliga, winning three championships and seven cup titles. It is the only East German club to have won a European title, winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1974. After German reunification, the club fell on hard times and only entered professional football in 2015 when the side was promoted to the 3. Liga.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Football has been played in Magdeburg since the end of the 19th century. On 15 June 1896 SV Victoria 96 Magdeburg was founded, a club that had its best days before World War II, when it participated in the German championship finals on several occasions. Later the club participated in the Gauliga Mitte. After World War II, all sports clubs in the Soviet Occupation Zone were dissolved and a number of smaller clubs were created, which at first competed at a local and regional level. In 1945 players from the disbanded clubs "Magdeburger SC Prussia 1899" and "Cricket Viktoria Magdeburg" formed "Sportgruppe (SG) Sudenburg". This club and "SG Lemsdorf" came together as the sports club "BSG Eintracht Sudenburg", which in turn merged with "SAG Krupp Gruson" in 1950. The next year the club was renamed "BSG Stahl Magdeburg", and then in 1952, became "BSG Motor Mitte Magdeburg". In 1957 the football department of Motor Mitte was moved to SC Aufbau Magdeburg, a political decision with the goal of achieving higher standards of performance. In 1965, the football department was again broken out of SC Aufbau Magdeburg and a pure football club was created, 1. FC Magdeburg. This was part of a general – again politically motivated – movement in East Germany towards football-only clubs with the goal of achieving higher standards. 1. FC Magdeburg is the oldest of the football clubs created in this period.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: SC Aufbau Magdeburg were promoted to the first tier of East German football in 1959. At the beginning of the 1960s, the club usually played in the lower midtable of the DDR-Oberliga, but in 1964 the club had its first major success with a surprise win of the FDGB-Pokal. In the final at Dessau, SC Augbau Magdeburg came back from being 0–2 down to beat SC Leipzig 3–2. The cup win meant the first international appearance of a Magdeburg club, and SC Aufbau Magdeburg managed to hold Galatasaray to a draw – three times (the deciding match in Vienna ended 1–1, as well as the home and away legs), but went out on a coin toss. Legend reports that the coin first stuck upright in the muddy ground, and only the second toss brought about a decision.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: SC Aufbau Magdeburg finished mid-table again in the 1964–65 season and managed to defend their cup title as the first team in East German football ever, beating FC Carl Zeiss Jena 2–1 in the final in Berlin. However, the 1965–66 season, when the football department of SC Aufbau Magdeburg was reorganized into football club 1. FC Magdeburg, ended in disaster: The club finished last in the table and was relegated to the second-tier DDR-Liga. However, in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, 1. FC Magdeburg managed to reach the quarter final, eventually going out against defending champions West Ham United featuring stars such as Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: With their new manager Heinz Krügel, 1. FC Magdeburg were immediately repromoted and finished third in 1968 and 1969. With their third win of the FDGB-Pokal in 1969 the club had finally established itself among the top teams of East German football.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: During the 1970s, the DDR-Oberliga was mostly dominated by two teams, 1. FC Magdeburg and SG Dynamo Dresden. One of the figures behind the success at Magdeburg was Heinz Krügel, manager of the first team. Under his reign, Magdeburg produced 9 East German internationals between 1969 and 1974 alone, four of which were part of the East German team competing at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. The golden age of Magdeburg football began in 1972, when the club won the East German championship with the youngest squad in history. 1. FC Magdeburg had a record attendance in this season, an average 22,231 spectators per game.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: The following season Magdeburg finished third again. The club's European campaign ended in the second round of the European Cup with a 0–2 aggregate loss against Juventus. The home leg saw an attendance of 50,000 spectators. However, Magdeburg did not finish the season without a title, as they won their fourth FDGB-Pokal title with a 3–2 against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: The 1973–74 season is generally considered as the most successful in the history of 1. FC Magdeburg. Aside from winning their second East German championship, the club could celebrate the biggest success in club history when they won the Cup Winners' Cup against title holders AC Milan, beating them 2–0 in De Kuip in Rotterdam. 1. FC Magdeburg would be the only East German football club to triumph in a European competition.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: In the next season, 1. FC Magdeburg defended their Oberliga title successfully and topped their record attendance once more, averaging 22,923 spectators. The European Super Cup that usually pitted the Cup Winners' Cup and European Cup winners against each other was not played, supposedly because the two clubs involved could not fit it into their schedules, but a political motivation has since been suggested, as West German powerhouse FC Bayern Munich would have been the opposition. However, the two teams were drawn against each other in the first round of the European Cup, and Bayern won both matches.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: In 1976, Heinz Krügel was relieved of his duties as manager of 1. FC Magdeburg, as he had fallen into disgrace with the SED cadres. They considered him politically unreliable. His successor was Klaus Urbanczyk. 1. FC Magdeburg would not win any more championships, but always finished in the top four for the rest of the 1970s. In the FGDB-Pokal, 1. FC Magdeburg was more successful, winning the competition in 1978 and 1979, against Dynamo Dresden (1–0) and BFC Dynamo (1–0 a.e.t.).


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: The late 1970s saw 1. FC Magdeburg play against a number of famous teams in the European competitions. In the 1976–77 UEFA Cup, 1. FC Magdeburg went out in the quarter-finals against eventual winners Juventus, in the 1977–78 UEFA Cup Magdeburg met FC Schalke 04 and beat them 4–2 and 3–1, making 1. FC Magdeburg the only team to beat Schalke 04 in a European competition at their home Parkstadion. But 1. FC Magdeburg went out in the quarter-finals again, eventual winners PSV Eindhoven scoring the deciding goal with just 90 seconds left on the clock.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: From the end of the 1970s, 1. FC Magdeburg did not have much more success in the league, aside from a third-placed finish in 1981. This had a profound effect on attendances: While until the 1976–77 season the club had averaged 18,000 spectators or more – with attendances of up to 45,000 against Dynamo Dresden or FC Carl Zeiss Jena, the season average had now dropped to a mere 13,000 spectators. Only with their seventh FDGB-Pokal title in 1983 was the club able to get back into the limelight – and with the club came the fans. About 25,000 fans supported their team in Berlin's Stadion der Weltjugend against FC Karl-Marx-Stadt, a club record for travelling fans that still stands today. However, it soon became clear that 1. FC Magdeburg had lost its position among the best clubs in East Germany, those were now BFC Dynamo, Dynamo Dresden and Lok Leipzig. This made qualification for the UEFA Cup via league position the only realistic goal in this period. But even in the UEFA Cup, 1. FC Magdeburg usually went out in the early rounds, albeit against reputable opposition, such as AC Torino, Borussia Mönchengladbach, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. The 1–5 home defeat against Barcelona (three goals by Diego Maradona) showed that the club from 1. FC Magdeburg was no longer able to keep up with Europe's footballing greats. From the mid-80s, attendances shrunk to around 10,000 spectators.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Only in the 1989–90 season did 1. FC Magdeburg compete for the championship until the final day. However, the team lost the decisive match against their direct competitors from Karl-Marx-Stadt and only managed to finish third in the table.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Grave mistakes by the club's management led to 1. FC Magdeburg losing touch with top-flight football. After the third place in 1990, hopes were high that the team would be able to qualify for Fußball-Bundesliga or at least Second Bundesliga in the 1990–91 season. However, the club could not compensate for losing manager Joachim Streich (to Eintracht Braunschweig) and a number of players (Dirk Schuster, Wolfgang Steinbach among others) and only finished tenth. In the qualification playoffs for the Second Bundesliga the club did not win a single game and found themselves in the tier III Oberliga Nordost/Staffel Mitte. Eventually, Magdeburg are ranked eighth in All-Time DDR-Oberliga Table. During the 1991–92 season Magdeburg managed to keep up with 1. FC Union Berlin, but eventually finished second, trailing the winners by thirteen points.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: In the next season Magdeburg finished eighth, but winning the Saxony-Anhalt Cup meant qualification for the DFB-Pokal. Magdeburg met then Second Bundesliga club Wuppertaler SV and beat them 8–7 after penalties in a dramatic game. In the third round, holders Bayer 04 Leverkusen came to a sold out Ernst-Grube-Stadion and triumphed, Magdeburg was beaten 5–1. The 1993–94 season saw Magdeburg miss out in yet another qualification, finishing seventh because they had scored less goals than Hertha Zehlendorf. Magdeburg competed in tier IV now, finishing twelfth in Oberliga Nordost/Staffel Nord. This was the worst position the club ever finished in – and a mere 444 spectators came to see the matches on average.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: In 1996–97 Magdeburg moved to Oberliga Nordost/Staffel Süd again. In this season, another Magdeburg team, Fortuna Magdeburg had been promoted to this league, leading to better attendance levels: Both derbies and the key match against FSV Hoyerswerda were watched by more than 10,000 people. FCM averaged 3,000 spectators in that season. Eventually, 1. FC Magdeburg could reaffirm their position as the number one club in the city, finishing first in the league and winning promotion to the Regionalliga Nordost.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: In 1997–98 Magdeburg managed to stay in the third-tier Regionalliga and win the Saxony-Anhalt Cup for the second time and in the following year, the team competed for promotion to 2nd Bundesliga for a long time, but eventually finished third, raising hopes that the team would be able to qualify for the reduced Regionalligas in the following season. However, a tenth place meant relegation to tier IV once more. Consolation could only be found in the club's reserves winning the Saxony-Anhalt Cup for a third time.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Magdeburg had a very successful season in 2000–01. Not only did the club win their league in superior style, scoring more than 120 goals, but they also reached the quarter final of the DFB-Pokal. 1. FC Magdeburg beat Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln, holders FC Bayern Munich and Karlsruher SC, ultimately going out against eventual winners Schalke 04. Additionally the club won their fourth Saxony-Anhalt-Cup. In the promotion play-offs, Magdeburg beat their old rivals BFC Dynamo 5–2 on aggregate, but financially the club was in deep trouble. In order to be allowed to play, they had to raise 5 million DM in a matter of days. A two-day donation drive initiated by the fans brought 1 million Marks, the remaining sum was loaned to the club by two banks.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Magdeburg managed to remain in the league, finishing twelfth, and averaging 4,500 spectators, but in June 2002 the club had to go into receivership. This led to the club's relegation to tier IV, and almost all players left the club and 1. FC Magdeburg had to manage the next season with players from their youth department and their reserves. This young team finished tenth in the Oberliga Nordost-Süd and won the Saxony-Anhalt-Cup for a fifth time. Despite this negative development, average attendance stayed at the same level.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: After the club had almost gone bust, its board restructured it and began to work at a slow, but steady reconstruction. In 2004, the city of Magdeburg resolved to build a new stadium, which meant that 1. FC Magdeburg had to move to the much smaller Heinrich Germer Stadium. The patient rebuilding of the squad paid off eventually, when the club was re-promoted to Regionalliga Nord in 2006. Additionally, Magdeburg won the Saxony-Anhalt-Cup for a sixth time.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: The 2006–07 Regionalliga Nord season saw Magdeburg with the simple goal of non-relegation and setting the foundation for qualifying for the new 3rd Liga in the 2007–08 season. In December 2006 Magdeburg moved to their new stadium, dramatically increasing attendance. With their fans as support, Magdeburg started a run of great results after the winter break that opened up the opportunity to win promotion to the Second Bundesliga immediately, a feat only two other teams (FC Gütersloh and Carl Zeiss Jena) had achieved before. But despite having a five-point lead on the third-placed team three matchdays before the end of the season, Magdeburg eventually finished in a disappointing third place. In the Saxony-Anhalt-Cup the reserves won the club's seventh title.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: In the following season the club missed out on qualification for the newly created 3rd Liga. After a terrible first half of the campaign with as little as 24 points from 21 matches, the board sacked manager Dirk Heyne and replaced him with Paul Linz. This proved to be a successful measure as the club moved to a qualifying spot with only two games to go. But a home defeat to Rot-Weiß Essen eventually destroyed all hopes of qualification and Magdeburg finished eleventh behind Eintracht Braunschweig on goal difference. Attendance remained high throughout the season, averaging 11,800 spectators.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: For the first season in the new tier-IV Regionalliga Nord, the Magdeburg board gave out immediate repromotion as the team's goal. As only one player had a valid contract for the new league, the club was forced to bring in a large number of new players. Especially in the midfield virtually none of the previous season's squad was retained. With just the top spot bringing promotion, the task for manager Linz was exceptionally difficult. But in spite of the challenge of forming a team from scratch, the majority of managers in the league declared Magdeburg the top candidate for promotion. Following a drop to fourth place in March, the club sacked manager Paul Linz and hired former player Steffen Baumgart as his successor. Baumgart signed a contract until June 2009.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Despite a mediocre record in the league, Baumgart' contract was extended another year until June 2010. Promotion was still the target for Baumgart's team, but after the winter break the distance to the promotion spot had increased so much that the board decided to let Baumgart go. Carsten Müller was appointed as an interim manager with the goal of at least winning the Landespokal, but even that failed. For the following season, Magdeburg signed Ruud Kaiser as manager, tasked with building a team capable of winning the league within two years. However, after a string of bad results brought the side dangerously close to relegation, Kaiser was let go and succeeded by Wolfgang Sandhowe.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Sandhowe stayed on as manager for the next season, but was unable to get results. Hence he was replaced by assistant manager Ronny Thielemann in October. The continuing string of bad results that saw Magdeburg slip to last place led to Thielemann's dismissal from the manager role. Detlef Ullrich became the new manager in March, with Thielemann working as assistant manager. Towards the end of April, the club presented Andreas Petersen as the manager for the next season and on 3 May announced that Detlef Ullrich had been relieved of all duties, with Carsten Müller again serving as the interim manager for the remaining three matches.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: After finishing bottom of the league at the end of the 2011–12 season, new manager Andreas Petersen led the club to a 6th-place finish in his first and a 2nd-place finish in his second season, winning the Landespokal on both occasions. Despite this, the board announced in March that the contract with Petersen would not be extended. A month later, the club presented Jens Härtel as his successor. Härtel signed a two-year contract.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Having qualified for the DFB-Pokal and finished second in the league, the club set their eyes firmly on finishing first in the new season, with promotion to the 3. Liga as the eventual goal. To that end, a number of experienced players were signed, such as Silvio Bankert, Marcel Schlosser and Jan Glinker, in order to increase quality in the squad. Magdeburg won the Regionalliga Nordost and thereby earned the right to take part in the promotion round to the 3. Liga. They faced Kickers Offenbach, winners of Regionalliga Südwest. Magdeburg won 1–0 at home on 27 May 2015 and 3–1 away on 31 May 2015 and returned to third level after 7 years. This also meant that the club would compete in a fully professional league for the first time since reunification. Magdeburg finished the inaugural 3. Liga season in fourth place and qualified for 2016–17 DFB-Pokal. Finishing in 1st place at the end of the 2017–18 season Magdeburg achieved promotion to 2. Bundesliga. Their spell in the 2. Bundesliga was short lived and on 12 May 2019 they were relegated back to the 3. Liga alongside MSV Duisburg.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: For over 40 years, 1. FC Magdeburg's home stadium was the Ernst-Grube-Stadion. In 2005, the stadium which had decayed rapidly after German reunification was demolished to make way for a new, football-only stadium. In December 2006 the new Stadion Magdeburg was opened, it is fully covered and offers room for 27,250 spectators. As it is usual in Germany, there is standing room for 4,500 people that can be converted to seats to make the stadium a 25,000 capacity all-seater for international matches. In July 2009, local ISP and cable TV company MDCC announced they had signed a five-year sponsorship agreement with the stadium operator under which the stadium would be known as MDCC-Arena.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: While the average attendance has had its ups and downs in recent years, 1. FC Magdeburg traditionally had a large number of supporters. At an average away match, the club will bring several hundred fans, but for important matches or derbies, this number can increase into thousands. 5,000 fans accompanied their club to the away match against Eintracht Braunschweig in the 2007–08 season. A similar number traveled to the match against VfL Wolfsburg II. While there are claims that in 1983 some 25,000 fans traveled to Berlin to see the FDGB-Pokal final against FC Karl-Marx-Stadt in the Stadion der Weltjugend, Berliner Zeitung only reports 8,000 Magdeburg fans.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: After the new stadium was opened, fans were found in two different sections for a time, but are now mainly found behind the goal in sections 3 through 5. They refer to themselves as "Block U", a reference to the initial plan of designating the various sections of the new stadium with letters instead of numbers. Block U unites a number of different ultra and fan groups. Currently, 49 fan clubs have registered with 1. FC Magdeburg.


title: 1. FC Magdeburg

text: Magdeburg have fan rivalries with Hallescher FC and Dynamo Dresden. The rivalry with Hallescher FC centers around the question of being no. 1 in Saxony-Anhalt, while the Dresden rivalry can be traced back to the 1970s, when both clubs formed the elite of East German football. There is a friendly relation to Eintracht Braunschweig, accepted by a large part of Magdeburg supporters. Some, however, merely respect the friendship, while remaining generally critical. The fans have also friendly relations with fans of Polish team Hutnik Kraków, as well as Welsh club Wrexham AFC (against whom they played in the Cup Winners Cup in 1979–80).