recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
God

**God**, also known as **Jehovah**, **Yahweh**, **Elohim**, **Adonai**, **Allah**, **Eru Ilúvatar**, among many other names, is the monotheistic god, supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in the Abrahamic faiths, most notably in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, it is stated that God was always in existence and that he created the heavens and the Earth in around 4004 BC. In the Abrahamic faiths, he played an active role in human affairs, making covenants with mankind after the Great Flood, and giving the Ten Commandments to the Israelites following their Exodus from Egypt in 1491 BC. In 4 BC, he was said to have immaculately conceived a son with the virgin Mary in Bethlehem, and the son was Jesus, God's messenger on Earth. In 30 AD, Jesus was crucified after spreading the Gospel (the "good news") to the people of Judea, as he was seen as a heretic for his challenging of traditional Jewish laws and customs. His followers went on to found Christianity, which believed that Jesus was resurrected following his crucifixion and rose to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the Father. In most Christian denominations, God is seen as part of the Holy Trinity, consisting of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Islam, it was said that God communicated with Muhammad and demanded the submission of mankind to his word, and he had Muhammad communicate a new message to the people of the world, written down in the Quran.
Constitutional monarchy

A **constitutional monarchy** is a form of monarchy in which a ruler is forced to abide by written laws, legislatures, and/or customs, setting it apart from an absolute monarchy. Constitutional monarchies typically consisted of a ruler, a Prime Minister, and a Parliament, with the ruler either appointing parliament members or the people (typically "landed" voters) electing officials to represent them. The purpose of a constitutional monarchy was to ensure that tyranny would not govern the people of a country, and that rulers would be forced to acknowledge the views of their subjects. By the 21st century, most "constitutional monarchies" were pretty much republics with monarchs as their figureheads. The United Kingdom was the first major constitutional monarchy in Europe, adopting the Magna Carta as its constitution in 1215, and most absolute monarchies were forced to adopt constitutions during the 19th century.
California

**California** is a large state on the West Coast of the United States, with its capital at Sacramento. The state was originally settled by Spain after it built missions to convert the Chumash and Tongva tribes to Christianity, and it would become a part of Mexico after the Mexican War of Independence in 1821 and then the US in 1848 after the Mexican-American War. The 1848 California Gold Rush led to an influx of settlers from the rest of America, and California became a diverse mixture of Mexicans (many of whom were in California since before the war ever happened), white Americans, and African-Americans that moved into the cities during the 1930s. During the 20th century, California became the birthplace of the Hollywood film industry, the hippie counterculture movement, the Silicon Valley computer industry, and West Coast hip-hop, and cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco became global cities. California had a population of 39,144,818 people in 2015.
Frank Aiello

Aiello in December, 1944

**Frank Aiello** (1920- 1989) was a United States Army Technician Fifth Grade during World War II. Aiello served in the US 1st Infantry Division in North Africa, France, Belgium, and Germany.

## Biography

Frank Aiello was born in Queens, New York City, New York in 1920 to a family of Italian descent, and his family was devoutly Catholic; his mother once told him to never shake hands with a Jew, Aiello also holding a dislike for African-Americans. During World War II, Aiello was drafted into the US 1st Infantry Division, and he fought at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in 1943, losing his best friends because of William Pierson's decision to disobey orders. Aiello then served as a Technician Fifth Grade during the D-Day invasion of France on 6 June 1944, and he fought at the Battle of the Bulge and continued fighting as the division advanced towards the Rhine. During this time, Aiello lost his hatred of African-Americans, having witnessed the bravery of black soldiers at The Bulge and Remagen. After the war, he returned home to Queens, married his girlfriend and sired three sons. In his later years, Aiello became a butcher, owning his own meat shop. He reunited with his squad every year until his death in 1989 from a stroke.
African nationalism

**African nationalism** is a political ideology in Africa that supports national self-determination and the creation of nation states. The ideology developed during the period of European colonial rule during the 19th and 20th centuries, and its views represented "positive nationalism", supporting majority rule in white-ruled countries, as well as decolonization. The ideology was the driving force behind the campaigns of the Kenya African National Union, the African National Congress, and the Democratic Party of Guinea. The movement would later inspire the Black Power movement worldwide as an extension of its ideals to the diaspora.
China

The **People's Republic of China** is a communist superpower located in East Asia. With a population of over 1,381,000,000 people, it is the most populous state on Earth, covering 9.6 million square kilometers and ranging from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asia to the west. One of the cradles of civilization, China was ruled by a number of dynasties for thousands of years, and it would not be until 1911 that a republic would be founded.

The Kuomintang party of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek led the 1911 revolution, and they established the democratic Republic of China. However, they had to fight against both communists led by Mao Zedong and several warlords such as Yuan Shikai, and the Chinese Civil War and the concurrent Japanese invasion during World War II left millions of people dead. After World War II's end in 1945, fighting reached its worst stage, and it took four years of horrific battles and massacres for Mao Zedong's communists to liberate the country from Chiang's dictatorship. Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang fled to the island of Taiwan, proclaiming the "Republic of China" there. Communist China languished during its sped-up process of modernization, but the reforms of Deng Xiaoping helped in establishing a more moderate form of socialism called "state capitalism", in which the government moderated the economy.

This led to an economic boom, and China became one of the world's superpowers. China turned against the Soviet Union in 1969 due to ideological differences, and China allied with the United States during the Cold War. After the war, China emerged as one of Asia's "Tiger Economies", and it engaged in trade deals with other Pacific nations, including the USA. By 2016, China was economically stronger than America, which was trillions of dollars in debt. China is a multicultural society, with 56 recognized ethnic groups and five recognized religions: Buddhism, Taoism (including Confucianism and folk religion), Islam, Protestantism, and the Chinese Catholic Church. 87.4% of the population is atheist, Taoist, or animist, while 6.2% is Buddhist, 2.3% Christian, 2.2% folk religious sects, 1.7% Muslim, and .2% other beliefs.

China is a multicultural society, with 56 recognized ethnic groups and five recognized religions: Buddhism, Taoism (including Confucianism and folk religion), Islam, Protestantism, and the Chinese Catholic Church. 87.4% of the population is atheist, Taoist, or animist, while 6.2% is Buddhist, 2.3% Christian, 2.2% folk religious sects, 1.7% Muslim, and .2% other beliefs.
Aegean Sea

The **Aegean Sea** is a sea located north of the Mediterranean Sea and to the southwest of the Sea of Marmara. Named for Aegea, the queen of the Amazons who died at sea, the Aegean Sea is home to several islands possessed by Greece and Turkey, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea has a surface area of 83,000 square miles.
Golden Age of Piracy

The **Golden Age of Piracy** lasted from approximately 1650 to before 1730, during which there were several major outburtsts of pirate activity across the world's oceans. The first outburt occurred from 1650 to 1680, when buccaneers from England and France based on Jamaica and Tortuga targeted Spain's Caribbean and Latin American colonies and shipping, with the English and French governments allowing for these pirates to attack their common enemy, Spain. During the 1690s, pirates embarked on long-distance voyages from the Americas to attack Muslim and British East India Company vessels in the Indian Ocean in the "Pirate Round". The last outburst occurred in the aftermath of the War of the Spanish Succession (which had ended in 1713), when former British Royal Navy sailors and privateers turned to piracy to continue making money by plundering enemy ships. The North American eastern seaboard, the Caribbean, West Africa, and the Indian Ocean were locations of pirating actions from 1716 to 1726, but the quelling of the Nassau Republic uprising in the second half of 1718 and the European powers' bolstering of their fleets led to a decline in piracy. By 1719, the pirates were on the run, and the Golden Age did not outlast the 1720s.
Feminism

**Feminism** is a political ideology that has the goal of establishing the equality of sexes, including establishing educational and professional opportunities for women that are equal to such opportunities for men. Feminist movements have come in three waves, each advocating for different causes. "First-wave feminists" were active during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and they supported marriage, parenting, and property rights for women, as well as the right to vote. Second-wave feminism began in the 1960s, supporting an end to gender discrimination, supporting reproductive rights, and contraceptive rights. Third-wave feminism began in the 1990s with the goal of challenging female heterosexuality and celebrating sexuality as a means of female empowerment, and it would face opposition from "post-feminists", who opposed the third-wave feminists' radical views on strict gender neutrality, loose definitions of rape and sexual assault, and occasionally misandrous views. Feminism has several variants across the world, with feminist movements in the Islamic world arguing for different causes than American feminist movements.
Abraham

**Abraham** (2058 BC-1883 BC) was the founding father of the Jewish people's covenant with God, Christianity's prototype of all believers, and one of the many Islamic prophets. In 1921 BC, he was called by God to leave the house of his father Terah and settle in Canaan, which was promised to Abraham and his progeny. Abraham purchased a tomb (the Cave of the Patriarchs) at Hebron to be his wife Sarah's grave, and his heir Isaac was married to his own kin; these two acts ruled the Canaanites out of any inheritance. Abraham later married Keturah and had six more sons, and his son Isaac inherited all of his goods.
Battle of Aachen

The **Battle of Aachen** occurred from 2 to 21 of October 1944 when the US 1st Army attacked the German city of Aachen, located on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands. The battle was one of the hardest urban battles fought by the United States Army during World War II, and the Americans were able to capture the first German town of any significance after heavy fighting.

In October 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered for Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and the British Army to clear the Scheldt before advancing to Antwerp, the Maas River, and then the Rhine River; for Jacob L. Devers' French Army and United States Army troops to close up to the Rhine River via the Belfort gap; and for the Americans under Omar Bradley to advance to Cologne. The Americans advancing towards Cologne found themselves blocked by the German city of Aachen, defended by 13,000 soldiers and 5,000 *Volkssturm* militiamen. The civilian population of Aachen was evacuated, and much of the city was destroyed in the house-to-house fighting and the street fighting between the US troops and the German troops. On October 21, 1944, the German commander Gerhard Wilck defied Hitler's orders and decided to surrender to the Allied Powers.
13th Guards Rifle Division

The **13th Guards Rifle Division** was an infantry division of the Soviet Red Army that existed from January 19, 1942 to 1988. The division replaced the old Soviet 87th Rifle Division after Operation Barbarossa, and the division suffered extremely high losses at the Battle of Stalingrad. Of the 10,000 troops in the division, only 260 survived the battle, with 3,000 dying on the first day. The division was later refitted to fight at the Battle of Kursk, and the division took part in the push into the Ukraine, Poland, and Germany itself. The division ended the war in Berlin, and it was disbanded in 1988.
Astoria, Queens

**Astoria** is a middle-class neighborhood of Queens, New York City. The neighborhood was named after wealthy 19th century German-American businessman John Jacob Astor, and it was settled by German and Irish immigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries. Astoria is notable for its Irish architecture, including the famous Bohemian Beer Garden, modelled after a traditional Irish pu. In 2010, Astoria had a population of 78,793 people, with 49.2% being whites, 26.5% Hispanics, 16.2% Asians (including many Bangladeshi immigrants), 4.5% African-Americans, and 3.4% others.
American South

The **American South** is a region of the United States, located in the geographic south of the country. The states of Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas are counted among the South's states. The South consists mostly of whites (especially Scots-Irish, Scots, Welsh, English, Irish and French), African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, with little racial diversity. The "Bible Belt" runs through the South, which is one of the most religious areas of the country; the Baptists and other Protestant denominations are major religious groups in the region. In addition, the South has historically been a center of racism in the country, starting with the discrimination against Native Americans and African slavery, and segregation existed in almost all of the states until the late 20th century (in some cases, the early 21st century).
Gulf of Guinea

The **Gulf of Guinea** is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean, located at the intersection of the Equator and the Prime Meridian between Gabon and Liberia. The gulf spaned 910,000 square miles, and the area was explored by Portugal, which named the gulf "Guinea", a corruption of the name "Ghana". In 1481, Portugal built the fort of Elmina in the Gulf of Guinea, and the gulf regions were exploited by the colonial powers for the slavery, gold, and sugar industries during the age of colonialism.
Great Migration

The **Great Migration** was the movement of 6,000,000 African-Americans from the rural American South into the urban centers of the northeast, Midwest, and American West from 1910 to 1970, caused by a lack of social and economic opportunities in the South and widespread racism. During the 1910s, labor agents were sent out by businessmen to recruit southern workers to work in steel mills, on railroads, in meatpacking plants, and in the automobile industry, booming industries during the decade. The northern companies offered free transportation and low-cost housing to African-Americans, leading to millions of black people in the rural South moving into urban centers to become laborers. The Great Migration led to the development of the concept of the "inner city", with many African-American workers settling in urban areas and forming communities there. Between 1900 and 1970, the percentage of African-Americans living in the South dropped from 90% to a mere 53%. The Great Migration is related to "White flight", the period in the 20th century during which middle-class and upper-class whites moved into the suburbs to escape urban sprawl, leaving the "inner cities" in poverty. The Great Migration has led to the development of major African-American communities in New York City, Newark, Chicago, and Los Angeles, with California and Nevada seeing at least a 10,000% increase in their African-American populations; only Kentucky had a declining black population.
Corsica

*Corsica'* is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the thirteen regions of France, located west of Italy, southeast of France, and north of Sardinia. The island was once a Greek colony, and it was later conquered by the Etruscans and Carthage before the Roman Republic annexed the island in 260 BC as a result of the First Punic War. The Lombards conquered the island from the Byzantine Empire during the 6th century, but King Pepin the Short of the Franks conquered the island during the 750s and granted it to Pope Stephen II and the Papal States. The Republic of Pisa would come to rule the island, but the defeat of Pisa at the 1284 Battle of Meloria led to the rival Republic of Genoa coming to rule over the island. In 1729, a tax revolt against the Genoese broke out on the island, led by Luigi Giafferi. In 1755, Pasquale Paoli proclaimed the formation of a Corsican Republic, but French general Noel Jourda de Vaux and an army of 168,000 troops conquered the island in 1769. Genoa sold the island to the Kingdom of France, which was seeking to reestablish its superiority in the Mediterranean after its defeat in the Seven Years' War. From 1794 to 1796, Great Britain occupied the island during the French Revolutionary Wars, and France would continue to rule over Corsica for several more centuries. In 2015, Corsica had a population of 326,898 people.
Enfield Individual Weapon

The **L64/65**, better known as the **Enfield Individual Weapon** or simply as the **Enfield**, was a prototype assault rifle developed by the United Kingdom from 1964 into the 1980s. However, the L1A1 was instead used as the primary infantry weapon of the British Commonwealth, and the Enfield never saw use in war, although it was used by soldiers during the Cold War.
Elias Gordon

**Elias Gordon** (1936-January 2, 1968) was a United States Army Sergeant during the Vietnam War.

## Biography

Elias Gordon was born in 1936, and he joined the United States Army during the Vietnam War, serving as a Sergeant in Bravo Company, US 25th Infantry Division. He was friendly to squad members and smoked marijuana with them, and he became rivals with Sergeant Bob Barnes over his cruelty towards Vietnamese civilians while taking part in patrols along the Cambodian border in September 1967. Barnes became concerned that Gordon would tell command about his atrocities, so, during an NVA ambush, Barnes found Gordon alone and mortally wounded him. As the platoon was exiting via helicopter, they saw a mortally-wounded Gordon running towards them from the NVA soldiers, only to be shot dead; PFC Chris Taylor, who had befriended Gordon, realized that Barnes was responsible for his death.
Benjamin Franklin

**Benjamin Franklin** (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1786) was an American polymath and founding father who served as Governor of Pennsylvania from October 18, 1785 to November 5, 1788, succeeding John Dickinson and preceding Thomas Mifflin. Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat, and he left a lasting impact both on his home state of Pennsylvania and on his country, the United States, which he helped to create.

## Biography

### Rise to prominence

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1706 to a Puritan family that had settled in America in 1635. He became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the *Pennsylvania Gazette* at the age of 23; he used the pen name "Silence Dogood". He became wealthy publishing this and *Poor Richard's Almanack*, which he authored under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". After 1767, he was associated with the revolutionary *Pennsylvania Chronicle*, criticizing British policies.

Franklin soon became Pennsylvania's favorite son, founding Philadelphia's fire department and the University of Pennsylvania (as the Academy and College of Philadelphia, in 1751), as well as serving as Philadelphia postmaster for several years. He invented the lightning rod, bifoclas, and the Franklin stove, and he was a major figure in the Enlightenment and physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. In 1754, he headed the Pennsylvania delegation to the Albany Congress, where he campaigned for colonial unity. He also began to campaign for abolitionism during the 1750s, arguing against slavery from an economic perspective.

### American Revolution

During the American Revolutionary War, Franklin was one of the leaders of the Patriots, who were determined to create a democratic government for the Thirteen Colonies. From 1775 to 1776, he served as the United States' first Postmaster General, and he then served as ambassador to France from 1779 to 1785 and as ambassador to Spain from 1782 to 1783. Franklin played an integral role in convincing France to enter the war on the side of America, and he was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. From 1785 to 1788, he served as President (Governor) of Pennsylvania, serving as an independent. In this capacity, he hosted the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. He died in 1790 at the age of 84, and his colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement has led to him being honored on coinage (the Franklin half-dollar) and the $100 bill, warships, and several place and company names.
Abolitionism

**Abolitionism** was a movement that sought to end slavery, starting in the late 18th century when American Quakers began to question the morality of slavery. Opponents of slavery often invoked Christianity to prove that slavery was against God's messages, and that all men were created equal under God. The movement spread to the rest of the Western world, with France outlawing slavery in 1791 and the United Kingdom outlawing slavery in 1809. The abolitionist movement in the United States was also strong, operating the "Underground Railroad" to smuggle slaves to freedom in non-slave states and making fiery speeches, pamphlets, and books that opposed the practice (such as *Uncle Tom's Cabin*). Ironically, the USA would be one of the last Western nations to outlaw slavery, doing so with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 during the American Civil War.
French

The **French people** are an ethnic group native to **France** in **Western Europe**. Descended from the Celts of Gaul, the Romans of Italy, and the Franks of **Germany**, the French people were culturally influenced by the Romans (they speak French, a Romance language, and derive many of their laws from Rome), while the Franks shaped the future of the French people of today. There are 113 million people of French descent worldwide, with the largest groups being in France (67,087,000 people), the **United States** (8,228,623 people), **Argentina** (6,800,000 people), Canada (5,077,215 people), and **Brazil** (as many as 1,000,000 people). Most of the French people in France are **Catholic**, while over a third of French-Americans are descended from the **Protestant** **Huguenots**.
Democracy

**Democracy** is a system of government in which all citizens of a nation, granted equal representation regardless of race, religion, gender, or social class, exercise power directly or elect representatives to lead them. Democracy consists of an electoral system in which representatives can be chosen and replaced, the active participation of citizens in the government, the protection of the human rights of all citizens, and a rule of law that applies equally to all citizens. The system originated in the 5th century BC-era Greece, and it has since been opposed to dictatorship or tyranny, two rival systems.
Buddha

**Buddha** (563 BC-483 BC), also known as **Gautama Buddha**, **Siddhartha Gautama**, or **Shakyamuni**, was the founder of Buddhism. He was born in Nepal to Queen Maya of Sakya. Buddha lived mostly in northeastern India, and his religion spread to the rest of Asia after his death. A nontheistic religion, Buddhism shunned both ignorance and desire, and focused on the spiritual world. Buddha is the man from whom the tenets of Buddhism originate, and there is no deity in the religion.

## Biography

Buddha was the son of Suddhodana and Queen Maya of Sakya, the king and queen of the Shakya clan of Lumbini in present-day Nepal. Suddhodana wished for his son to become a great king, so he refused to give him religious teachings and avoided his discovery of human suffering, giving him a perfect view of the world. He married his cousin Yasodhara, and he became a prince.

When he was 29, however, Buddha's ideas of life were shattered when he wandered around the palace and saw an old man. He found out that people grew old and died, found out that people could grow sick, and he also encountered a decaying corpse as well as an ascetic. Buddha decided to overcome aging, sickness, and suffering by becoming an ascetic as well, focusing on a spiritual life. He left his palace and became a beggar, and he met the hermit Alara Kalama, learning his teachings. Kalama asked him to succeed him, but Buddha instead decided to do yoga with Uddaka Ramaputta, a meditator.

He was again unsatisfied and moved on, and he decided to eat either one leaf or one nut per day, starving himself nearly to death. Buddha almost drowned when he passed out in a river due to his starvation, but he was rescued by a villager, and he decided to meditate. He realized that meditation was the right path to awakening, but not self-mortification; he gained the idea of the "Middle Way", which was the gray area in between the two. He then became enlightened after much work, and his name "Buddha" means "enlightened one" due to his liberation.

Buddha believed that mastering the Four Noble Truths (that all conditional experiences are ultimately unsatisfying; clinging to what is pleasurable would lead to dissatisfaction, rebirth, and redeath; putting an end to craving would mean that dissatisfaction could no longer arise; and that by following the Noble Eightfold Path of behaving decently, having discipline, and practicing mindfulness and meditation, an end could be put to craving, clinging, dissatisfaction, rebirth, and redeath) would allow the person to achieve Nirvana, where no rebirth would take place.

He later formed the "sangha", the Buddhist community, after preaching to five companions in Varanasi, India. Buddhism became a major religion that flourished in India, rivalling Hinduism, as the religion declared that the vedas did not hold any authority. The religion would spread to the rest of Asia in the centuries after his death, and King Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire would adopt Buddhism as the state religion of his nation. Buddha died in Kushinagar in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India.
Grenada

**Grenada** is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines. Formerly a possession of the United Kingdom, it gained independence in 1974, and in 1979 the socialist New Jewel Movement of Maurice Bishop took power, fighting for the rights of the people. There was real progress until a party split in 1983 that led to Bishop being deposed and executed by Hudson Austin and Bernard Coard, prompting the United States to invade Grenada in Operation Urgent Fury. The Grenadian Army was easily destroyed and its Cuban and Soviet allies forced off the island, and the New Jewel Movement's leaders were all imprisoned. Since then, the island is known for its exportation of nutmeg and mace, becoming known as the "Island of Spice". Today, it has a population of 110,000 people on a 133 mile-large island, with 53% being Catholic, 47% Protestant, 1.4% Rastafari, .7% Hindu, .3% Muslim, .2% Buddhist, and .2% Baha'i.
Bayonne

**Bayonne** is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey. The city was formed as a township in 1861, and it was named for the city of Bayonne in France, from which the Huguenots settled for a year before the founding of New Amsterdam. Bayonne was a port city as well as an industrial city, similar to nearby Elizabeth; the city is connected to Staten Island by bridge. Manufacturing, distribution, and maritime activities are the main sources of Bayonne's diminishing economy, with the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal being partially located in Bayonne. In 2016, Bayonne had a population of 66,238 people.
Charles V

**Charles V and I** (February 24, 1500-September 21, 1558) was the King of Spain (as Carlos I) from January 23, 1516 to January 16, 1556, succeeding Joanna of Castile/Ferdinand II of Aragon and preceding Philip II of Spain, and Holy Roman Emperor (as Karl V) from 28 June 1519 to 27 August 1556, succeeding Maximilian I of Germany and preceding Ferdinand I of Germany. Charles was the heir to the House of Valois-Burgundy through his paternal grandmother Mary of Burgundy, the House of Habsburg through his father, and the House of Trastamara through his mother, and the personal union of the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire under his rule was the closest Europe came to universal monarchy since the death of Louis the Pious in 840. His reign was dominated by war and three specific conflicts: the Italian Wars with France, the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars with the Ottoman Turks, and the Protestant Reformation; during his reign, Spain also conquered much of the New World. Owing to the vast size of his empire, he once quipped, "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse." Charles presided over 40 years of energetic rule, and he abdicated in 1556, dividing his large Habsburg empire between his sons philip and Ferdinand. He spent the rest of his life in peace in a monastery in Yuste, Spain, where he died in 1558.

## Biography

Charles of Habsburg was the son of King Philip I of Castile and Queen Juana I of Castile, born in 1500. His mother was the *de jure* Queen of Spain, but she was mentally-unstable, so his father (born the son of Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Burgundy) became the first Habsburg king of Spain. Upon the death of his mother in 1516, Charles became the King of Spain, and during his reign, he resisted the Kingdom of France's moves in Italy. In 1519 he gained the title of Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his grandfather Maximilian, uniting Spain and the Holy Roman Empire into a huge fusion of the two Habsburg monarchies.

This title was coveted by King Francis I of France, so this brought the Habsburgs and France into warfare. Charles invaded Italy in 1521, conquering Milan, and he won the Battle of Pavia in 1525, crushing France's Italian ambitions. Charles waged war against France for the rest of his life, thwarting Francis' ambitions in Italy. At the same time, he waged war against the Ottoman Empire, repulsing a siege of Vienna in 1527 and conquering Tunis in 1535. Karl V waged war for his whole life, and he abdicated in 1556, living in a monastery until his death two years later.
3rd Shock Army

The **3rd Shock Army** was a field army of the Soviet Union Red Army that lasted from 1941 to 1991. It was made up of four corps and two independent regiments, created from six rifle divisions. The 3rd Shock Army's most famous commander was Vasily Kuznetsov, a Hero of the Soviet Union.

## History

The 3rd Shock Army was founded on 25 December 1941 out of the old Soviet 60th Army, made up of four corps and two independent regiments. With the special purpose of destroying enemy forces, the 3rd Shock Army was assisted by more artillery and air support than other Soviet units.

The 3rd Army failed in its attempt to encircle Theodor Scherer's German forces in the Kholm Pocket, but they assisted in the push on Velikiye Luki and into the Baltics. The 3rd Shock Army captured Riga in Latvia in 1944 before assisting in the push into East Prussia, and the 3rd Shock Army joined with the 1st Belorussian Front in the Vistula-Oder Offensive of 1945.

During the drive on Berlin, it was the 3rd Shock Army that distinguished itself. Their forces took part in the battle of Seelow Heights in mid-April 1945 and played a large role in the capture of the Berlin suburb of Pankow on 23 April, before advancing on the German capital itself. The battle of Berlin was the greatest moment for the 3rd Shock Army, whose 150th Rifle Division planted the Red Army flag over the Reichstag in victory on 30 April 1945. On 8 May 1945, the war service of the army ended as the last pockets of German resistance were crushed in Berlin.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the 3rd Shock Army remained in Berlin, with T-62 and T-55 tanks in their armory. In 1991, the army disbanded with the fall of the Soviet Union.
German-American Bund

The **German-American Bund** was a German-American pro-Nazi organization established in 1936 with the goal of promoting national socialism in the United States. The German-American Bund was unique in that it was not merely a Nazi Party organ in America, but also an organization that promoted American nationalism in a Nazi manner. For instance, the German-American Bund flew American flags at rallies (in addition to Nazi insignia) and claimed that George Washington was the first fascist, claiming that he did not believe that democracy would work. The organization set up training camps for members, all of whom had to be of German descent, and it divided America into three *gau*s (east, midwest, and west) to organize its supporters. The German-American Bund also held rallies against Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, Jewish groups, communism, labor unions, and American boycotts of German goods. In 1938, Nazi Germany distanced itself from the group to appease the United States, and 1939 revelations of embezzlement of funds by party leader Fritz Julius Kuhn led to its decline. In 1941, when the USA entered World War II, the Bund was outlawed.
Assault rifle

An **assault rifle** is a fully automatic selective-fire rifle that uses a detachable magazine. The purpose of an assault rifle is to facilitate close-quarters fighting and to kill as many people as possible, with detachable magazines speeding up the reload time and allowing for more shots to be fired. Nazi Germany's StG 44 was the first assault rifle, with the AK-47 and M16 being later examples of the type of weapon.
19th Panzer Division

The **19th Panzer Division** was an armored division of the German Wehrmacht that existed from 1 November 1940 to 8 May 1945 during World War II. The division was formed when a regular infantry division was turned into a panzer division, trading one of its infantry regiments for a tank regiment. 19th Panzer suffered heavy losses during Operation Barbarossa, with one of its three tank battalions being disbanded in August 1941. After the Battle of Moscow and the fighting in the winter of 1941-1942, the division was left with just one tank battalion, and the front was later sent south to support the Italian Army in Russia. The division suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, and the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation in 1942-1943, but it was reinforced with an additional tank battalion. In May 1944, the division was sent to be refitted in the Netherlands after nearly being destroyed, and the division was transferred to Poland to crush the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. After the Vistula-Oder Offensive by the Soviet Red Army in January 1945, the division withdrew towards the Silesian city of Breslau and then into Czechoslovakia, where it surrendered to Soviet forces west of Prague on 8 May 1945.
Calvin Coolidge

**John Calvin Coolidge** (4 July 1872 – 5 January 1933) was President of the United States from 2 August 1923 to 4 March 1929, succeeding Warren G. Harding and preceding Herbert Hoover. He previously served as Governor of Massachusetts (R) from 2 January 1919 to 6 January 1921, succeeding Samuel W. McCall and preceding Channing H. Cox.

## Biography

Calvin Coolidge was born to a middle-class family in Plymouth Notch, Vermont on 4 July 1872. He studied at Amherst in Massachusetts, graduated with a BA in 1895, and became a lawyer in 1897. He became active in municipal politics in Northampton, and he was elected as a US Republican Party member to the State House in 1906, to the State Senate in 1911, and to the Lieutenant-Governorship in 1915. He became governor after the election of 1915, succeeding Samuel W. McCall. Tough action in response to a police strike in Boston in 1919 made him a national figure, and he won election as Vice-President in 1920.

### Presidency

Following the death of President Warren G. Harding in 1923, he became President. His integrity in office and firm action against corrupt officers of the Harding administration, combined with national prosperity, caused him to be re-elected in 1924. The national debt fell and taxes were cut whilst relations were re-established with Mexico and improved with Latin America. However, Coolidge's general indifference to governance (his hands-off approach earned him the nickname "Silent Cal") frustrated many who were used to a more activist presidency and may have contributed to the unregulated speculation which precipitated the Wall Street crash in 1929. He suffered from clinical depression following the death of his son in July 1924, and he refused to run for the nomination in 1928, despite the public believing him to be a certain candidate. He left office, and he then left public life in March 1929, still grieving for his son. He died in Northampton in 1933 at the age of 60.
Court Faction

The **Court Faction** was a political clique of conservative courtiers in Tokugawa Shogunate-era Japan that supported the power of the Imperial Court over the Tokugawa *bakufu*. The Court Faction supported the authority of the Emperor over the shogun, causing friction with the reactionary Shogunate Faction. The Court Faction held very similar views to the Shogunate Faction, apart from less extreme economic policy views, but its views on the government of Japan differed greatly. The Court Faction would gain strength after the Shogunate angered the Japanese people by engaging in dealings with the Westerners and allowing for Japan to be opened to foreign trade, and it ultimately seized power from the Shogunate during the Boshin War. After the Emperor was restored to power, the Court Faction was split into the Imperialist Faction, the Conservative Faction of Japan, and the Nationalist Faction of Japan.
GIGN

The **National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN)** is the elite special forces unit of France. Founded in 1973, their first actions were the war against the National Liberation Front of Corsica from 1976 to 2014, but their most famous intervention was probably the Grand Mosque seizure in Saudi Arabia in 1979, where they helped the government of Saudi Arabia in storming the grand mosque.

## History

The GIGN was formed in 1973 in the aftermath of the October 1972 Munich Massacre in Germany as a counter-terrorist unit that could be used in rescuing hostages, which the German police failed to do at Munich. The GIGN were deployed on Corsica from 1976 to 2014 to fight the terrorist National Liberation Front of Corsica, and in 1979 they helped Saudi Arabia in storming the Grand Mosque when it was seized by Islamist extremists. The GIGN serve the same purpose as the United States' Delta Force/Navy SEALs or the United Kingdom's SAS/SBS, and they are a major counter-terrorist unit.

## Gallery

GIGN troops at the Washington Mall in Miami, 1986GIGN troops in Paris in 2016GIGN operators with their weapons and equipment in 2022.
Bandits

**Bandits** were robbers and outlaws who operated in gangs in isolated and lawless areas. Organized bandit gangs infested the mountainous areas of Italy, Spain, Sicily, Greece, Iran, and Turkey by the 1880s; by the time of Pope Sixtus V's death in 1590, he had executed 5,000 Italian bandits, but there were more than 27,000 more at liberty in central Italy. Marauding was one of the most common peasant reactions to oppression and hardship, as well as a symptom of warlordism; by 1930, China's total bandit population was 20 million. Although most banditry had been dealt with by the mid-20th century, the term is still used to refer to thieves.
Farmer

A **farmer** is an agricultural worker who raises livestock and/or grows crops on a farm. Farmers tend to live in the countryside, where there are open ranges and fertile ground, and they tend to be ranked among the lower classes of society; in many undeveloped societies, farmers grew only what they needed to survive as "subsistence farmers", while farmers in developed societies sold their goods at markets in addition to consuming some of their own products. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th-19th centuries, cities rapidly expanded into the countryside, and many farmers were forced to become craftsmen, laborers, or artisans.
Antarctica

**Antarctica** is one of the Continents of Earth. It is a Snowy Desert and The Reason Why it is a Desert is Because Millions of Millions of Years Ago it Broke Away from the Mainland of Earth and was a Desert, It drifted south and over time it wasn't facing the Sun so it got Colder, Colder and Colder. It is now a Large Snowy Island with No Inhabitants, It is Cold Like the North Pole Although it is Land. Many Countries have Claimed Parts of it, In the Future it may become split, The Nations that Claim It, Well the main ones are Chile, United States, Russia, And Others.
Argentine Army

The **Argentine Army** is the army of Argentina, founded on 29 May 1810. The army was founded four days after the Spanish colonial administration in Buenos Aires was overthrown during the South American Wars of Liberation, and the new national army was formed from pre-existent colonial militias and locally manned regiments. During the first half of the 19th century, the army was fractionalized under the leadership of *caudillo* warlords, but it was reunited during the Cisplatine War with Brazil from 1824 to 1827. After 1930, the Army began to play a major role in politics, starting with the deposition of President Hipolito Yrigoyen in 1930 and continuing with the 1943 Argentine coup d'etat, which brought Juan Peron into the limelight. In 1955, the army overthrew Peron, and it ousted Arturo Frondizi in 1962 and Arturo Illia in 1966. From 1966 to 1973, another military junta ruled Argentina. In 1973, Juan Peron returned to power, and his widow Isabel Peron led the country from 1974 until her deposition in a coup in 1976. During the 1970s, the Army committed grave war crimes during the suppression of the Montoneros and other left-wing Peronist and communist insurgent groups during the "Dirty War". In 1982, the Army occupied the Falkland Islands, but it was defeated by the British in the ensuing Falklands War. The defeat in the war led to a return to civilian rule in 1983, and the Army was reduced both in number and budget.

## Gallery

Argentine troops in 1945.pngArgentine troops in 1945
Gestapo

The **Secret State Police**, better known by its German acronym **Gestapo**, was the secret police of Nazi Germany from April 26, 1933 to May 8, 1945. The force was created when the executive and judicial branches were combined by Hermann Goering, and it fell under the jurisdiction of the SS under Heinrich Himmler. Heinrich Mueller led the Gestapo during World War II, and the Gestapo was responsible for arresting and/or murdering political opponents and for ensuring that the Nazi Party remained in power. In 1945, the secret police was disbanded at the end of the war.
Comintern

The **Comintern**, formally **Communist International**, was an international group of communist parties that advocated world communism and the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic on the road to abolishing the state. Formed on March 2, 1919 by Vladimir Lenin, its chief member was the Soviet Union, with its allies and puppet states being drawn towards the Comintern alliance, one of the three major alliances in the Interwar Years alongside the Allied Powers and Axis Powers. On May 15, 1943, Joseph Stalin had Comintern dissolved to appease his allies Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II so that he could prove that he was not fomenting communist revolutions in other countries.
Charles II of England

**Charles II of England** (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of England from 30 January 1649 to 6 February 1685, succeeding Charles I of England and preceding James II of England.

## Biography

Charles was born on 29 May 1630, the son of Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. Charles' father was executed at Whitehall in 1649 during the English Civil Wars, and from 30 January 1649 to 3 September 1651 he reigned as king of Scotland; England, ruled by Parliament, refused to crown him as king, instead letting Oliver Cromwell rule over the Parliament-ruled English Commonwealth. When he was defeated at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Charles was forced into exile in France, and he lived in the United Provinces and Spanish Netherlands until 1660, when he returned to England after a political crisis led to Richard "Tumbledown Dick" Cromwell and the Commonwealth being overthrown. Charles was crowned as King of England, and while King Charles agreed with religious tolerance, he shored up the power of the Church of England. In 1665, he went to war with the United Provinces in the Second Anglo-Dutch War over trade routes, and King Charles later allied with the Kingdom of France against the Dutch in the 1670 Third Anglo-Dutch War. King Louis XIV of France offered to pay him a pension and form an alliance if Charles would convert to Catholicism at a later date, and in 1679 the Exclusion Crisis began when it was found out that Charles' brother, the Duke of York (the future James II of England) was a Catholic. In 1683, he had pro-exclusion Whigs executed or exiled from England after the "Rye House Plot" to murder Charles and James was discovered, and he dissolved Parliament. Charles converted to Catholicism on his deathbed in 1685 before his brother became the new king.