Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician. He was born in Berlin. He was the SPD Governing Mayor of Berlin from 2001 to 2014. He and his party won 31.4% of the votes in the 2001 state elections, and he started a coalition government with Linkspartei.PDS. He was President of the Bundesrat in 2001/02. He was re-elected as Governing Mayor in 2006, and has carried on the coalition.
He supports Kurt Beck as "Kanzlerkandidat", the SPDs nominee for the Chancellorship of Germany. Many people wanted Wowereit to be the candidate, not so many after he decided to stay in coalition with Die Linke after the 2006 elections.
He is openly gay.
Klaus Wowereit attended the Ulrich-von-Hutten-Oberschule in Berlin until 1973. He went on to study law at the Free University Berlin, passing his first State Exams in 1981 and the second set in 1984.
After university Wowereit spent three years as a civil servant in the Senate Office (that is, Ministry) of the Interior. At the age of 30, he was became the youngest councillor in the city of Berlin when he was elected a councillor of Tempelhof Borough. After eleven years he stood for the Berlin House of Deputies Abgeordnetenhaus which is City's Landtag or state legislature in 1995. In December 1999, he was elected chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Abgeordnetenhaus. From June 2001 to December 2014 he served as Governing Mayor, "Regierender Bürgermeister", of Berlin.
Wowereit is one of the most famous German politicians who has openly declared himself homosexual. He came out at a convention of the Berlin SPD just before the 2001 mayoral elections, when he said "" ("I am gay, and it's good that way".) This is now a famous quotation in Germany. He probably came out so that the tabloid newspapers could not publish what they thought were embarrassing stories about him.
Wowereit is not the only gay mayor of a large European city. Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, is openly gay, and Ole von Beust, the former mayor of Hamburg, is also gay.
In September 2007, Wowereit published an autobiography called ""...und das ist auch gut so."", after his famous coming out phrase.
Sino-Soviet split
The Sino-Soviet split (1960–1989) was a time when the relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union weakened during the Cold War. Eventually, China's leader, Mao Zedong, decided to break the alliance with the Soviet Union.
The Soviet leader, Stalin, wanted to help spread communism in the world, including China. In the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Soviets gave weapons and supplies to the Kuomintang, and advised the Communists to ally with them against the Japanese Empire. The Chinese Civil War continued, however. After World War II, Stalin and the Soviet Union helped the Communists. Chinese leaders disliked the Soviet leaders for not helping Mao and the Communists from the start.
Suddenly, in 1953, Stalin died. Mao saw Stalin as the leader of Communism, but also had a bad relationship with the Soviet Union throughout his time as leader. The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, was not like Stalin. He did not want capitalism to collapse like Stalin did. Mao got angry about this, and he wanted Nikita Khrushchev to help him fight the imperialists. Khrushchev said no, and then Mao decided that if Khrushchev was not going to cooperate, they would not work with each other anymore.
Later, there was peace between the USSR and China, but they were suspicious of each other. They were no longer allies, and Mao's supporters said that it had been a victory.
Awake
Being Awake is a daily brain state. It is being in a state of consciousness where one is conscious about the surroundings. The person (or animal) can respond to these surroundings by communicating, walking, eating, and more.
Being awake is the opposite of being asleep. When you are asleep most responses to your surroundings are turned off, and you are unconscious of what is happening around you.
Animals are awake for some hours each day or night. Animals which are awake during the day are called diurnal. Animals which are awake during the night are called nocturnal.
Diurnal animals include humans. They wake up in the morning and are awake during the day. When they are awake they can eat and move.
Liu Bei
Liu Bei (161-223) was the founder of the Chinese Shu Han dynasty and its first Emperor.
He went into battle against the Yellow Turban Rebellion rebellion in 184, along with his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Later (in 190) he joined Gongsun Zan against the evil Dong Zhuo who had seized the Han emperor Xian.
After Dong lost, the emperor was in the clutches of his followers—until Cao Cao saved him and seized control over him. Cao Cao tried to conquer all of China for the emperor but in fact wanted to conquer it for himself. He defeated Liu Bei once at the Battle of Changban in 207 but was not able to win the Battle of Red Cliffs against the united forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, a warlord in the South.
Sun Quan granted Liu Bei some land in the West of his domain, and the two agreed to fight Cao Cao again if necessary.
From 211 to 214, Liu Bei conquered the country Ba Shu in the West. Because he had now an empire of his own, Sun Quan demanded his western regions back but Liu Bei declined. This made Sun Quan quite angry.
After several useless battles against Liu Bei's general Guan Yu, Cao Cao chose to make a union with Sun Quan. They attacked Guan Yu with their allied forces and overthrew him in 219. Liu Bei was mad and swore revenge for the death of his brother and the loss of an important part of his empire.
When Cao Cao died in 220, his son Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian of Han to give up his power. Cao Pi declared himself Emperor of the Wei Dynasty. Liu Bei found that offensive, for he was a member of the royal family of Han and considered himself the righteous Emperor of China. That's why he declared himself emperor of the Shu Han in 221. The next year, Sun Quan claimed the title "Emperor of Wu" for himself.
Liu Bei was really mad at Sun Quan's arrogance. In 222 he opposed him in the Battle of Yiling but failed due to Lu Xun's (a Wu general) great tactics. After his defeat Liu Bei got ill and died a year later. His son Liu Shan followed him as emperor.
Cao Cao
Cao Cao (曹操 155-220) was a Chinese general. He managed to control the last Han Emperor Xian and conquered the whole northern China.
Cao Cao gathered an army in 184 to fight against the Yellow Scarves rebellion. After the Dong Zhuo had seized the Emperor Liu Bian in 189 and deposed him in favour of his brother Liu Xie (Emperor Xian), a coalition of local warlords all over the country arose against Dong. It was called by Cao Cao and led by Yuan Shao, and many powerful warriors joined it.
After Dong Zhuo's death through the hands of his foster son Lü Bu, Emperor Xian was controlled by Dong's associates. He fled to Chang'an (the old capital) in 195 but almost starved to death. Cao Cao saved him in 196 and brought him to his own place at Xuchang.
With the emperor under his control, Cao Cao managed to kill most of the minor warlords in Northern China and was even able to defeat Lü Bu and the powerful Yuan Shao at Guandu in 200. He tried to conquer the south, too, but Liu Bei and Sun Quan opposed him and defeated his forces in the "Battle at Red Cliffs". Cao Cao led several campaigns against the south, but with fairly low success. Also, he managed to get the famous general Guan Yu killed by Sun Quan's general Lü Meng.
Cao Cao died in 220, and his son Cao Pi followed him in control of the emperor. He eventually deposed him the same year and became Emperor Wen of Wei, making his father posthumously "Emperor Wu of Wei".
Zhang Fei
Zhang Fei (167-221) was a warrior in ancient China. He fought along with his brothers Liu Bei and Guan Yu for the restoration of the Han Dynasty.
In the battles against the Dong Zhuo, Zhang fended off the enemy general Lü Bu and was greatly rewarded by his then-ally Cao Cao.