The Province of Quebec was a colony in North America. It was created by Great Britain after the Seven Years' War. Great Britain acquired French Canada by the Treaty of Paris (1763). After a long debate France negotiated to keep the small island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. Guadeloupe was rich in sugar. By Britain's Royal Proclamation of 1763, Canada (part of New France) was renamed the Province of Quebec. The province extended from the coast of Labrador on the Atlantic Ocean, southwest through the Saint Lawrence River Valley to the Great Lakes and beyond to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Portions of its southwest (below the Great Lakes) were later ceded to the United States in a later Treaty of Paris (1783) at the conclusion of the American Revolution.
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is information about an enemy or possible enemy. It is information that has first been interpreted and evaluated. It can include the terrain, the weather, and any other information about a theater of operations. Military intelligence gathering has a long history.
By the time of the Battle of Kadesh in BC Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II was known to have had court spies. In the biblical Book of Genesis Joseph thought his brothers were Canaanite spies.
The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC) wrote about the importance of military intelligence. In his book The Art of War he wrote: "If you know both yourself and your enemy you can win a hundred battles without jeopardy." He emphasized the importance of using spies to learn an enemy's strength and what they were doing. He also wrote: "All warfare is based on deception". What he meant was war can even be avoided if you feed your enemy enough bad information. This is also called counterintelligence. Ancient Rome depended heavily on intelligence information to rule it's empire.
When Major General Joseph Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac he ordered Colonel George H. Sharpe to establish an intelligence unit. In 1863, they established the Bureau of Military Information. The information they gathered was amazingly accurate. They calculated the size of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia within 2% of the actual number. By war's end Sharpe knew more about the Army of Northern Virginia than many Confederate officers. One of the best sources of military information Sharpe's organization had was slaves who used the Underground Railroad to escape the South.
During World War I intelligence became better organized. For the first time Airplanes were used for intelligence gathering. An observer would fly with a pilot and diagram and map battlefields. They would also photograph intelligence targets and count troops. Operators at listening stations reported on enemy communications.
Before the 20th century accurate weather information was not available. Military planners had no data on the climate of their target area. In many cases they didn't even have accurate maps of the area. In 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union they did not have any information on how harsh the Russian winters were. They did not have accurate maps of the roads. Between October 1941 and April 1942 the Germans lost between 100,000 and 112, 000 soldiers to frostbite. That is two-thirds of the number of soldiers who were killed in action or missing.
General knowledge of terrain has always been important to military intelligence. But environmental factors sometimes went unnoticed. At the Battle of Agincourt mud was a major factor in the English victory. The extremely muddy ground slowed down the French and made them easy prey for English archers. In the 17th and 18th centuries army quartermasters, in addition to providing supplies, also scouted terrain and planned s the army would take. One of the first major improvements in gaining scientific knowledge of terrain was during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). The Russians used geologists to do a detailed survey of Korea. They also used geologists to advise them in building fortifications.
Having little or no knowledge of terrain has proved costly to many battles in history. During the Pacific War in World War II, the United States forces had little knowledge of the terrain of the many Pacific islands they fought on. After the war, the United States Army Corps of Engineers contracted with the United States Geological Survey to provide detailed geological information on occupied islands.
In addition to intelligence gathering on other countries, terrorism is also a major concern of military intelligence. Intelligence gathering by examining communications signals has been a regular activity of military intelligence. Since 2005 military and other intelligence services have also monitored the Internet.
In some 21st century countries, military intelligence competes with civilian-led intelligence agencies. Often military and civilian intelligence gathering have different goals and objectives. Both gather their own intelligence and do not always share information. New methods of intelligence gathering, such as video imagery, satellites, reconnaissance aircraft and drones, produce tremendous amounts of raw data. Artificial intelligence is used to analyze this data for information.
Casualty (person)
A casualty in military usage is a person in military service, who becomes unavailable for duty due to death or injury. It also includes illness, capture, desertion, etc.; or a civilian casualty.
In civilian usage the word "casualty" is properly used for a person who is killed, wounded or injured by some event. It is usually used to describe multiple deaths and injuries due to violent incidents or disasters. "Casualties" is sometimes loosely used to mean "fatalities", but non-fatal injuries are also casualties.
Bryant Reeves
Bryant Reeves (born June 8, 1973) is an American retired professional basketball player. He played six seasons with the Vancouver Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was nicknamed Big Country by his college teammate Byron Houston after he was amazed through his first cross-country flight over the United States, having grown up in the small town of Gans, Oklahoma.
Reeves played college basketball at the Oklahoma State University–Stillwater with the Cowboys. During his time with the Cowboys, Reeves led the team to the 1995 Final Four and averaged 21.5 points per game as a senior player.
He was selected 6th overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1996 NBA Draft. He was the Grizzlies' first-ever draft choice. During his six seasons with the Grizzlies, he had averaged 13.3 points per game in his rookie season and he averaged 16.2 points per game in 1997. On July 8, 1997, Reeves was given a six-year, $61.8 million contract extension. Reeves' best season came in 1997-98, when averaged 16.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.08 blocked shots per game, and scored a career-high 41 points against the Boston Celtics.
After 1998, he began suffering from both weight-control problems and injuries. His production numbers had fell off severely. The Grizzlies were still using Reeves as their starting center but both his minutes per game dropped and his field goal percentage had dropped. When the Grizzlies were moved to Memphis in 2001, Reeves had to start the season on the injured list because of continuing back pain and he was never able to play another game after only playing two preseason games with Memphis. Reeves retired from playing professional basketball on January 29, 2002.
Since retiring, Reeves moved back to Gans, Oklahoma where he owns a large cattle ranch just outside of Gans and lives with his wife and three children.
Narratology