recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Benin

The **Republic of Benin**, formerly known as **Dahomey**, is a West African country with its capital at Porto-Novo. Benin was a part of the "Slave Coast" during the 17th century, with many African slaves being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World for sale to European powers. In 1904, France colonized Benin as "French Dahomey", and it ruled the colony until August 1 of 1960, when Benin was granted its independence. In 1975, the communists seized power and created the People's Republic of Benin, which lasted until 1991, when a multi-party democracy was restored. In 2015, Benin had a population of 10,879,829 people, with 42.8% being Christian, 24.4% Muslim, 17.3% voodoo practicioners, 6% animist, 1.9% others, and 6.5% secular.
George I of Great Britain

**George I of Great Britain** (28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was the King of Hanover from 1698 to 1727 and King of Great Britain from 1714 to 1727, succeeding Georg Wilhelm I of Hannover and Anne of Great Britain and preceding George II of Great Britain.

## Biography

Georg Ludwig von Hanover was born on 28 May 1660, the son of Ernst August I of Hanover and his wife Sophia of the Palatinate. George succeeded his father as Elector of Hanover in 1698, and inherited the Duchy of Brunswick-Luneburg from his uncles. In 1708, he was ratified as Prince-Elector of Hanover, becoming the new ruler.

Due to his Lutheran faith and his power, he was made the new king of Great Britain after the death of Queen Anne I of Great Britain in 1714, and he inherited a country at war with the Kingdom of France and Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714). George I made peace with France and Spain to end the war, letting the French duke of Anjou inherit the Spanish throne as King Felipe V of Spain in exchange for stopping him from retaining French nobility and in exchange for his cession of Italy to the Austrian Empire. Although he was the King of Great Britain, he did not know how to speak English, as he only had knowledge of his native German.

George fought against Spain thrice after the War of the Spanish Succession: the Anglo-Spanish War (1715-1722), the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1717-1720), and the Anglo-Spanish War (1727). During his reign, he also helped to eradicate Caribbean pirates, sending pirate hunters such as Woodes Rogers to offer pirates freedom but poverty or being hung by the neck until dead as a pardon option. At this time, Britain engaged Spain in an undeclared naval war from 1715 to 1722 which ended indecisively. He died in 1727, and was succeeded by his son, George II of Great Britain.
Aelfward Spelman

**Aelfward Spelman** (1725-11 May 1745) was an English soldier who served in the British Army's 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot during the War of the Austrian Succession. Denton fought under the Duke of Cumberland in the Austrian Netherlands before being killed at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745.
AK-47

The **AK-47** is an assault rifle that was developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1947, seeing action in the Soviet Union and several other Warsaw Pact nations. The AK-47 is rugged and reliable and cheap to manufacture, so the weapon has seen widespread use among Third World countries and former communist states, with guerrilla forces adopting the AK-47 as their weapon of choice. 75 million copies of the AK-47 have been produced and 100 thousands AK-47 family weapons, including the AKM and Type 56. This assault rifle remain one of the most popular and widely used firearms in the world.
Denmark

**Denmark** is a country located in the Scandinavia region of northern Europe, with its capital at Copenhagen. Denmark was first united in 936 by Gorm the Old, and Gorm's son Harald Bluetooth converted the pagan Danes to Christianity. Since then, Denmark has been a Christian monarchy, and Denmark once united much of Scandinavia under its "Kalmar Union" from 1397 to 1523; Denmark ruled Norway until 1814. In 1849, Denmark became a constitutional monarchy, and it underwent social reforms in the 20th century, transforming Denmark into a welfare state. By the 21st century, Denmark was rated as the happiest country on Earth, as the nation was neutral and had a strong economy. In 2016, Denmark had a population of 5,707,251 people.
Gascony

**Gascony** is a historic region of southwestern France to the east and south of Bordeaux, overlapping with the region of Guyenne/Aquitaine. The region was historically inhabited by the Basques, with the name coming from the same root as "Basque", "Vasco". Since then, it has been inhabited by Occitans, and it is known for its foie gras cuisine, medieval villages, its scenic view of the Pyrenees, and Armagnac wine.
Abu Bakr

**Abdullah ibn Abi Qhuhafah** (573-23 August 634), also known as **Abu Bakr**, was a *sahabi* (companion) and father-in-law of Muhammad. He was the first ruler of the Rashidun Caliphate, reigning from 632 to 634 - he was therefore the first Caliph. He was succeeded by Umar.

## Biography

### Sahabah

Abdullah ibn Abi Qhuhafah (abu Bakr) was born in 573 CE in Mecca to the Banu Taym clan of the Quraysh tribe, and he grew up with a fondness for camels. When he was ten, he met Muhammad while traveling with a merchant convoy to Byzantine Empire-ruled Syria. He became a cloth merchant like his father, and traveled to Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere. When he returned from Yemen, he found out that the people of Mecca said that Muhammad declared himself the messenger of God (Allah). Abu Bakr was around the 50th man to embrace the new religion of Islam, with the first man being Ali. He divorced his wife Qutaylah bint Abd-al-Uzza when she did not embrace Islam, while his other wife Um Raman did. His conversion inspired future third Caliph Uthman ibn Affan and future generals Al-Zubayr, Abdur Rahman bin Awf, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah to also convert to Islam from paganism. He prayed in secret, as the Quraysh persecuted Muslims. In 615 he fled to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), but in 617 he returned to Mecca. In 624 he defended Muhammad's tent during the Battle of Badr against the Quraysh, and also took part in the 625 defeat at the Battle of Uhud. Also in 625, he fought the Jewish Banu Nadir tribe and won the Battle of Khaybar against them. He guarded a belt of "the Trench" in his sector during the 627 AD Battle of the Trench in the surrounding perimeter of Mecca with bravery, helping in the victory. He later commanded troops in expeditions against the Byzantine Empire, and led an expedition against seven houses of polytheists in Nejd, killing many pagans.

### First caliph

After Muhammad's death in 632, a split between the Ansar converts of Medina and the Muhajiurn Meccan immigrants threatened to divide the Ummah, so Abu Bakr, Umar, and Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah prevented the Ansar from making a premature decision. Abu Bakr was elected as the first Caliph of the new Rashidun Caliphate, the Islamic state in the Arabian Peninsula that Muhammad had worked to found before he died. He crushed Arab rebels in the Ridda Wars, and Khalid ibn al-Walid led his armies in the victories such as the Battle of Yamama. After Yamama, in which many of the Muslims who memorized the Quran were killed, he decided to preserve the writings by putting them down in written format. He sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to conquer spice-rich Iraq from the Sassanid Empire of Persia, and Khalid won the Battle of Chains, the Battle of River, the Battle of Walaja, and the Battle of Ullais in 633. After the December 633 Battle of Firaz, the Muslim conquest of Iraq ended. In 634, Khalid ibn al-Walid took command of an army of Muslim troops sent to conquer Syria from the Byzantines, and Abu Bakr personally oversaw the great campaign that defeated the Byzantines. Abu Bakr died during the Siege of Damascus, and Umar succeeded him as Caliph.
CIA

The **Central Intelligence Agency** (**CIA**) is the foreign intelligence service of the United States, was founded on September 18, 1947 to provide intelligence for the President and his Cabinet. The CIA's formation coincided with the Cold War, and it was rivals with the Soviet Union's KGB, and the CIA was involved in several covert operations against the USSR and its allies with its Special Activities Division. It was also behind several coups, assassinations, and supporting rebel movements in other countries such as the Contras in Nicaragua and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. The CIA backed the 1973 Chile coup by Augusto Pinochet and was responsible for several shady activities during the war. Since the 9/11 attacks, the CIA has been dramatically increased in size and has been devoted to fighting terrorism, carrying out drone strikes against terrorist leaders in the Middle East.
Book of Mormon

The **Book of Mormon** is the sacred text of the LDS Church, which adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived in the Americas from approximately 2200 BC to 421 AD. In was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, who claimed that the book had been written in "reformed Egyptian" engraved on golden plates. The last prophet, Moroni, buried it in the Hill Cumorah in present-day Manchester, New York, and then returned to the Earth as an angel in 1827. Smith was told the location of the plates, and he was instructed to translate the plates into English for use in the restoration of Jesus' true church in the latter days before the end times. As of 2011, more than 150 million copies of the book had been published.

## Books

* First Nephi
* Second Nephi
* Book of Jacob
* Book of Enos
* Book of Jarom
* Book of Omni
* Words of Mormon
* Book of Mosiah
* Book of Alma
* Book of Helaman
* Third Nephi
* Fourth Nephi
* Book of Mormon
* Book of Ether
* Book of Moroni
African-Americans

**African-Americans** are a major ethnic group in the United States. Most African-Americans are descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the Thirteen Colonies from the 17th to the 19th centuries, while the term also includes any Americans of African descent in general.

With a population of 42,020,743, they make up 13.6% of the US population, and they have been an important part of US history. African-Americans led the Civil Rights movement of the 20th century, and in 2009 President Barack Obama was the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. 78% of African-Americans are Protestant, 13% atheist, 5% Catholic, and 1% Muslim (mostly Sunni or Ahmadiyya).
Central Powers

The **Central Powers** was an alliance established on 28 June 1914 between the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, with the Ottoman Empire joining the alliance on 2 August 1914 and Bulgaria joining the alliance on 14 October 1915. The Central Powers consisted of a mere four member states, but they controlled extensive territories, with Germany controlling colonies in Africa and the Pacific and the Turks controlling lands in the Middle East in addition to Asia Minor. The Central Powers was dissolved on 11 November 1918 after being defeated by the Triple Entente during World War I.
Chicago

**Chicago** is the third-most populous city of the United States and the most populous city in the state of Illinois, positioned along Lake Michigan. The city's name comes from the Native American word *Shikaakwa*, which refers to a type of wild onion commonly called a "ramp". The United States Army founded Fort Dearborn in the Chicago area in 1803 and organized the town of Chicago on August 12, 1833. In 1837, Chicago was incorporated as a city following the expulsion of the Potawatomi tribe, and it was the world's fastest growing city for decades.

During the 1850s and 1860s, the city was raised on jackscrews, accommodating rapid population growth and sanitation issues; however, the untreated sewage and industrial waste flowed into Lake Michigan, the city's primary freshwater source. In 1871, a great fire destroyed 3.3 miles of the city, killed 300 people, and made 100,000 people homeless, and the city was rebuilt with steel buildings; the world's first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, was built in 1885 with a steel skeleton. Chicago rapidly grew as hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived, with Germans, Irish, Poles, Swedes, and Czechs making up nearly two-thirds of the city's foreign-born population; in 1900, 77% of Chicagoans were either foreign-born or children of immigrants. The Great Migration led to many African-Americans moving into the city, leading to racial tensions and violence. From 1919 to 1933, the city was a battleground for Prohibition bootleggers such as Johnny Torrio, Al Capone, Dean O'Banion, Bugs Moran, and Tony Accardo as they battled law enforcement and each other to control the illegal liquor trade. During the 1960s, white flight occurred, and the city became poorer and more violent. In 1968, there was fighting between protesters and police outside the Democratic Party's National Convention hall during the Vietnam War. In the following decades, "the Windy City" became known for its high crime rate, and President Donald Trump threatened to send in the US National Guard in 2016.

Chicago had a population of 2,695,598 in 2010, with its combined statistical area having a population of 9,882,634 people. 32.9% was African-American, 31.7% were white, 28.9% were Hispanic, and 5.5% were Asian, and 71% of Chicagoans are Christians, 22% irreligious, and 7% other faiths.

## Gallery

Chicago in 1930People in Great Depression-era ChicagoChicago in 2019
Diet of Worms

The **Diet of Worms** was an Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire held in the Imperial city of Worms (in what is now the Rhineland-Palatinate state of western Germany) from 28 January to 26 May 1521. At the diet, Protestant leader Martin Luther refused to recant his 95 theses, and he famously said, "Here I stand, I can do no other...God help me." Emperor Charles V of Germany responded by outlawing Lutheranism, and Luther was spirited away to Wartburg from his prison by Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, preventing the Emperor from punishing him. Cardinal Thomas Cajetan excommunicated Luther as the result of his refusal to recant his views, and Cardinal Girolamo Aleandro demanded harsh punishments against the Protestants, leading to the outlawing of Lutheranism in the empire.
Australia

The **Commonwealth of Australia** is an island nation located in the continent of Oceania in the southern Pacific Ocean. The sixth-largest country by land area (including other islands like the Torres Strait Islands, Tasmania, and other outlying islands), Australia's interior is mostly desert, and the country has a population of 24,141,800 people, most of whom live along the coast in cities.

Australia was settled by the United Kingdom during the course of the late 18th century, starting with James Cook's discovery of the island in 1770, and from January 26, 1788 the island was used as a penal colony. This led to rapid settlement, and five crown colonies were established on the island, which became a commonwealth on January 1 1901.

Since then, it has been a liberal democratic country, having the twelfth-largest economy in the world and the fifth-highest *per capita* income.

The country is still a part of the Commonwealth of Nations, and Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is still regarded as the *de jure* ruler of the country, represented in Australia by her Governor-General; the Prime Minister is the *de facto* head of state.
Americas

The **Americas**, also known as the **Western Hemisphere** or the **New World**, is a landmass that covers 8% of the world and 28.4% of its and area. After 3,500 BC, the Inuit tribe spread across the Americas, beginning the settlement of the continents of North America and South America. The Native Americans would live in tribes in accordance with nature until the 1500s, when the Spanish Empire and other European empires would colonize the Americas and slaughter the natives with disease and with weapons. Today, Native Americans are sidelined in society on both continents, with the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean being virtually wiped out, with a new *mestizo* race (mixed indigenous and European descent) rising to replace the natives. In the United States and Canada, the colonists and later immigrants set up multicultural societies that had nothing to do with their native roots, while Latin America mixed native and Iberian customs and culture. The Spanish language is spoken in most of Central America and South America, Dutch in Curacao and Suriname, English in Guyana, the Bahamas, and other Caribbean nations in addition to the United States, Belize, and Canada, Portuguese in Brazil, French in the Windward Islands and parts of Canada, and indigenous languages in some Latin American nations.
Arisugawa Taruhito

**Arisugawa Taruhito** (March 17, 1835 – January 15, 1895) was Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army from December 22, 1885 to May 14, 1888 (succeeding Yamagata Aritomo and preceding Ozawa Takeo) and from March 9, 1889 to January 15, 1895 (succeeding Ozawa and preceding Komatsu Akihito).

## Biography

Arisugawa Taruhito was born in Kyoto, Japan on March 17, 1835, the son of Prince Arisugawa Takahito and the adoptive son of Emperor Ninko. He served as an advisor to his adoptive brother Emperor Komei and then to his nephew Emperor Meiji, and he served as an Imperial general during the Boshin War, fighting at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and accepting the surrender of Edo Castle on 3 May 1867. Arisugawa later served as Lord President of the Council of State from 1870 to 1885, as Governor of Fukuoka in 1871, and as commander of the Imperial army which was sent to crush the Satsuma Rebellion at the Battle of Shiroyama in 1877. Arisugawa later served as Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1885 to 1888 and from 1889 until his death in 1895.
Ardennes

The **Ardennes** is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills, and ridges located along the Moselle and Meuse basins in Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxembourg. The Ardennes forest was key to military strategy in both World War I and World War II, during which Germany twice used it to invade France through neutral Belgium. The forest was supposed to stop German armor from moving, but the Germans were able to push through the rough terrain to surprise the French forces. The invasion route was used twice during World War II, at the Battle of France and the Battle of the Bulge.
French Indochina

**French Indochina** was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia which existed from 1887 to 1954. France grouped the Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina regions of Vietnam together in 1887, adding Laos in 1893. Indochina was administered from the city of Hanoi, and Indochina would later become a part of Vichy France after the fall of France in 1940. Japan invaded and occupied Indochina in September 1940 to gain access to French airbases and raw materials, and Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh began a guerrilla war against the Japanese in May 1941. In August 1945, when Japan surrendered, the Viet Minh declared that Vietnam was an independent nation, leading to the First Indochina War with France. The war ended in September 1954 when France agreed to grant Vietnam and Laos independence, ending their control of Indochina.
Central Asia

**Central Asia** is a geographical region in Asia, spanning from the Caspian Sea and the Urals to the west to the Gobi Desert and Tarim Basin to the west. Historically, it was the heart of the Silk Road and a center of nomadic peoples, and the Tajiks, Hazaras, Turks, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Kyrgyz, and Uyghurs have originated in the region, with the Karluks and other extinct tribes coming from the region.
Capital punishment

**Capital punishment**, also known as the **death penalty**, is a government-sanctioned practice whereby a person is killed by the state as punishment for a crime. Although it has been in practice in most societies since the dawn of civilization, it has since been heavily debated.

## In religion

### Hinduism and Buddhism

In Hinduism and Buddhism, the concept of *ahimsa* (noninjury) posits that no harm should be done others. Buddhism believes that any action, even if it brings good to the doer, cannot be good if it inflicts physical harm against others. However, Buddhism also believes in defense of the family, justifying pro-capital punishment beliefs. The two faiths also believe that killing someone will cause bad *karma*.

### Judaism

In the Hebrew Bible, there are reasons given to justify capital punishment in the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" proportionate punishment system. There was scripture given after Noah's flood which said, "Whoever sheds the blood of man by man, shall his blood be shed," which makes the case for capital punishment. However, there are also scriptures that allow for mercy, including Ezekiel's statement that his pleasure would not be in the death of the wicked, but in the wicked's pursuit of a more righteous life. Within Reform Judaism, many are opposed to the death penalty, as many people are often given the death penalty more than others. In Israel, the death penalty was eliminated in all cases except for treason and genocide, and the death penalty was applied to Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

### Christianity

In Christianity, Jesus taught his followers to turn the other cheek and to love their neighbors as themselves. In John 8:7, Jesus told his followers, who were about to stone an adulterer, "Those who are without sin, cast the first stone." However, there are other teachings in support of capital punishment; in Romans 13, Saint Paul said that God ordained government, the authority, and the government's ability to keep order. Supporters of capital punishment believes that, if the government sees capital punishment as necessary, than it is supported. There is an argument that many people use the King James Version translation of the Sixth Commandment, which is "Thou shalt not kill", to prove the rest of the Bible "wrong"; in reality, the translation should be "Thou shalt not *murder*", as this was the original Hebrew meaning of the word.

### Islam

In Islam, capital punishment is another controversial subject. In the *Quran* and in the *Sunnah*, corporal and capital punishment are sanctioned, but there are conditions to implement the texts. However, many scholars did not read the texts, leading to a misunderstanding and a lack of critical thinking. Some scholars believe that dignity and justice come before capital punishment, and some argue that capital punishment should be suspended until scholars could have a critical discussion concerning the death penalty. Many anti-death penalty Muslims believe that the death penalty disproportionally affects the poor and women, but pro-death penalty Muslims believe that their texts authorize its use.
Electorate of Hesse

**Hesse-Kassel** was a landgraviate in Germany that existed from 1567 to 1803, being a state in the Holy Roman Empire after the dissolution of the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1567. Hesse-Kassel was one of the Protestant states that sided with the Protestant Union during the Thirty Years' War, and it formed an alliance with Great Britain during the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 against the Kingdom of France. After the Seven Years' War, King George III of Britain was impressed with the military capabilities of the German states, and King George decided to purchase German mercenaries from princes such as the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel; the German mercenaries were nicknamed "Hessians", as many of them came from Hesse-Kassel. Hesse-Kassel was conquered by Westphalia in 1803 during the Napoleonic Wars, but was restored at the Congress of Vienna in 1814 as the **Electorate of Hesse**.
Bulgaria

**Bulgaria** is a southeastern European nation located in the Balkans Peninsula, bordering Romania to the north, Serbia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. Dominated by the Ottoman Empire for centuries, it regained independence in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and became a principality. In 1908, Bulgaria was made a kingdom under the rule of Tsar Ferdinand. It remained a monarchy until the communist Bulgarian Fatherland Front seized power with Soviet assistance at the end of World War II. Since the Revolutions of 1989, Bulgaria has been a democratic republic. At present, it has a population around 7 million people and has been a member state of the European Union since 2004.
Charleston

**Charleston** is the oldest and second-largest city in the US state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and a major Atlantic port. The city was founded by settlers from England in 1670, and it was named for King Charles II of England; it was not incorporated until 1783, by which time the city had already been the site of two American Revolutionary War battles. The city was one of the nation's ten largest cities through the 1840 census, and it was the only US city to have a majority-enslaved population. The city was burned down by the Confederate States Army during the twilight days of the American Civil War, but the demand for its cash crops and industrialization led to its revival during Reconstruction. In 2015, the Charleston metro area had a population of 744,526 people.

## Gallery

Location of CharlestonPatriots in Charleston cheering at the announcement of the Continental Army levy passing, 1776
1993 World Trade Center bombing

The **1993 World Trade Center bombing** occurred on February 26, 1993 when al-Qaeda terrorists set off a truck bomb in a parking garage below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, United States, killing 6 people and killing 1,042 people. The attack was planned by Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammed A. Salameh, Abdul Rahman Yasin, and Ahmed Ajaj, having received funding from Yousef's uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The bombing was motivated by American foreign policy, including the USA's support for Israel.
Central America

**Central America** is the southernmost portion of the North American continent, connecting with South America on the southeast. The religion consists of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, with a population of 42,688,190 people in 2012. It is a hotspot of biodiversity, with volcanoes and rainforests, and most of its inhabitants are of full or partial Native American descent.
Anglicanism

**Anglicanism** is a Christian denomination that evolved out of the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the Protestant Reformation. The faith is self-presented as a middle way between Protestantism and Catholicism, leading to Anglicanism's identity being "Catholic and Reformed". The church officially broke with the Catholic Church under Queen Elizabeth I of England, but it retained Catholic traditions such as Bishops and Archbishops, apostolic succession, and the writings of the Church Fathers. Instead of being headed by the Pope, its spiritual head is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Anglican Church is the most prominent religious affiliation in England; it used to be the dominant church in the United States and Canada, but, in the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War, the Anglican Church in America became the Episcopal Church, while Canada had its own "Church of England in the Dominion of Canada" branch. Anglicanism is closely tied to the causes of social justice and pacifism, and women can be ordained as priests in the faith.
Ali

**Ali ibn Abi Talib** (October 23, 598- February 28, 661) was the Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate from 656 to 661, succeeding Uthman ibn Affan and preceding Hasan ibn Ali. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, and the final of the "rightly-guided caliphs". He was killed in 661 after losing the First Fitna to rebels led by Aisha, the young widow of Muhammad.

## Biography

Ali ibn Abi Talib was born on 20 September 601 in the Ka'aba of Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia to Abu Talib ibn Shaiba, the Custodian of the Ka'aba and a Sheikh of the powerful Banu Hashim branch of the powerful Quraysh tribe. In 610 AD, a ten-year-old Ali professed to Islam, the first male to embrace the religion. He became a follower of the prophet Muhammad, and aside from the Battle of Tabuk, he fought in all of the battles of the campaigns of Muhammad to spread Islam. In 624 AD he killed Walid ibn Utbah at the Battle of Badr and used the bifurcated sword *Zulfikar* in battle. In 629 AD he defeated the Jews of Khaybar Oasis at the Battle of Khaybar, personally slaying Khaybar commander Marhab ibn Abu Zaynad. After the death of Muhammad, Ali served his three successors. Uthman ibn Affan's assassination on June 17, 656 led to Ali being proclaimed the new Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate by Muhammad's followers, but his inability to deliver justice to Uthman's killers led to Aisha leading a rebellion. On November 7, 656, Ali's Rashidun army defeated Aisha at the Battle of the Camel. However, in 661 Ali was attacked by Kharijites in the Grand Masjid of Kufa in Iraq while praying, and he was stabbed to death with a poisoned sword. Shortly after his death, his successor Hassan ibn Ali abdicated, letting Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan establish the Umayyad Caliphate.
Boston

**Boston**is the capital and most populous municipality in the US state of Massachusetts. The town was settled by English colonists on 7 September 1630, and it was named for a town in Lincolnshire, England. Boston was the largest town in the Thirteen Colonies until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid-18th century, and it played a key role in starting the American Revolutionary War, with the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston taking place in or around Boston. After the revolution, Boston became one of the world's wealthiest international ports, and the old WASP Boston families (the Boston *brahmins*) were regarded as the nation's social and cultural elites. In the 1820s, Boston's population grew rapidly as the result of the first wave of European immigrants. Irish immigrants poured into the city, especially after the Irish Potato Famine, and around 35,000 Irish lived in Boston by 1850. In the latter half of the 19th century, Germans, Lebanese, Syrians, French Canadians, and Russian and Polish Jews also settled in the city. By the end of the century, the city was divided into ethnic enclaves: Italians inhabited the North End, Irish dominated South Boston and Charlestown, and Russian Jews in the West End. The city went into decline by the mid-20th century as factories became old and obsolete and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere. By the 1970s, the city's economy had recovered, and housing prices rose sharply after the 1990s. In 2016, the Boston metro area had a population of 4,628,910 people, with 45.4% being white, 22.6% African-American, 19.1% Hispanic, 9.7% Asian, 2.4% multiracial, .5% other, .2% Native American, and .04% Pacific islander.
Czechoslovakia

**Czechoslovakia** was a country which existed in Central Europe from 1918 to 1939 and from 1945 to 1992. The country was founded out of lands ceded to the Bohemian people by Austria-Hungary after World War I, and the nation was dominated by two cultural groups, the Czechs and Slovaks.

The new nation's capital was Prague, and Czechoslovakia would exist as a whole country until 1938. That year, Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany forced the country to cede the ethnically-German Sudetenland region to his nation, with the United Kingdom and France agreeing on behalf on an unwitting Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia felt betrayed, as the country's most important defensive fortifications and banks were located in the region. In March 1939, Wehrmacht forces moved into Czechoslovakia after Hitler virtually held Prime Minister Emil Hacha hostage in Berlin, forcing him to allow the annexation of Czechoslovakia unless he wished for the German Luftwaffe to bomb Prague.

The German administration granted independence to the Slovaks as the "Slovak Republic" in eastern Czechoslovakia, while the western half became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Czechoslovakia was the first non-German conquest of the Nazi Party, and the Germans sought to Germanize the Slavs who made up the majority of the population, teaching them German and legally changing town names to Germanized names. Czechoslovakia would operate as a government-in-exile in league with the Allied Powers during World War II, declaring war on Germany in 1942. Czechoslovak partisans took part in a resistance war against the Nazis, assassinating Protector Reinhard Heydrich, a move which led to the Lidice massacre. The country would remain under Nazi rule until after the official German surrender of May 8, 1945, with Prague falling to the Allies on May 11, 1945.

After the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union installed a communist government in power, and Czechoslovakia lost some lands to the Soviet Ukrainian SSR after the war's end, including Mukacheve (known as Mukacevo in Czech) and Uzhhorod (Uzhorod in Czech). Czechoslovakia gained some lands from Hungary, however, including Balassagyarmat (Balasske Darmoty) and Sarospatak (Sarissky Potok), although these lands would later be returned. Czechoslovakia's premier Alexander Dubcek moved to liberalize the country to become a social democratic nation in 1968 with the "Prague Spring" reforms, but the Warsaw Pact crushed the reforms and restored Czechoslovakia to a Soviet puppet state. In 1989, the Velvet Revolution led to the peaceful end of communist rule over Czechoslovakia. In 1992, the "Velvet Divorce" occurred when the Czechs and Slovaks decided to form their own countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

## Gallery

Location of Czechoslovakia before and after [[World War II]
Asia

**Asia** is one of the seven continents of Earth, covering 30 percent of Earth's land area and 8.7% of Earth's total surface area. Asia is located as far west as the Bosphorus and the Suez Canal in the south and the Urals in the north, and it extends eastward towards the Pacific Ocean and Indonesia. The continent has a population of 4,164,252,000, over half of the world's population, with India and China being the two most populous nations in the world. Asia has a wide variety of cultures, with Islamic cultures in the Middle East, Indian culture in the Indian Subcontinent, and East Asian culture in the east.
Benito Juarez

**Benito Juarez** (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872) was President of Mexico from January 15, 1858 to July 18, 1872, succeeding Ignacio Comonfort and preceding Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada.

## Biography

Juarez was a Zapotec Indian born to peasant parents, and he was taken in to his uncle's home after his parents and grandparents died within a short distance of time. In 1841, he became a judge, and in six years he became the Governor of Oaxaca. He went into exile in 1853 after resisting Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's dictatorship, and became the leader of Liberal Party of Mexico. In the Reform War, he overthrew Felix Zuloaga's government, becoming President in place of Zuloaga and fighting to assert Liberal control over the country.

The response to this civil war was a French invasion of Mexico in 1862, and despite Juarez's gestures of a compromise peace, the French refused to leave. Despite a victory at the Battle of Puebla, the Mexicans were defeated and in 1864 Mexico City was occupied by Maximilian von Hapsburg's troops. Hapsburg became "Maximilian I", and Mexico's loyal Republicans fought a guerrilla war until the fall of Mexico City in 1867. Juarez was hailed as a national hero, and he was president until his death in 1872.
Banastre Tarleton

**Banastre Tarleton** (21 August 1754 – 15 January 1833) was a general of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War, leading a unit of dragoons in the later stages of the war in the southern theater. Tarleton was accused of massacring American troops in the Waxhaw Massacre in 1780, and he was forced to return home after the Battle of Cowpens and his surrender at Gloucester during the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, becoming a member of parliament.

## Biography

Banastre Tarleton was born on 21 August 1754, the third son of the Mayor of Liverpool in England. Tarleton studied at Oxford in preparation for becoming a lawyer, but he squandered all of his 5,000 pounds on gambling and women at The Cocoa Tree club in London before buying a commission in the British Army in 1775. He sailed to North America with a cavalry regiment alongside General Charles Cornwallis, and he captured Charles Lee before fighting at the Battle of Brandywine and other battles in 1777 and 1778.

In 1780, leading Tarleton's Raiders (a mixture of British and loyalist cavalrymen), he took part in the Siege of Charleston and its capture before carrying out the Waxhaw Massacre of 1780 against surrendering American troops after he was unhorsed. Tarleton criticized Cornwallis' restrained methods and used ruthlessness, and in 1780 the Americans used "Tarleton's quarter" against Patrick Ferguson's troops in the Battle of King's Mountain in revenge. In 1781, the final battle came at the Battle of Cowpens, where he faced off with Daniel Morgan's army. Tarleton's army was destroyed by the Americans, and he was captured after surrendering Gloucester to the Continental Army in October 1781 after the Siege of Yorktown.

In 1790, he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool, and he joined the Whigs, strongly supporting slavery. He died in 1833 at the age of 78.
Great Plains

The **Great Plains** is a region of the United States Midwest and American West covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. The region is perfect for ranching and dry farming due to its fertility, and it used to have a large population of wild bison and horses; however, the bison were hunted to near-extinction by white fur trappers, and the wildlife would disappear as their habitats were replaced by towns and farms.

## Gallery

Great Plains in 1899A herd of bison on the Great Plains, 1863
Etruscans

The **Etruscans** were a powerful ancient Italian civilization which existed from 900 BC to 100 BC, consisting of several city-states (later united under the Etruscan League). In 1200 BC, after the Lydians went through a period of severe deprivation in western Anatolia, they decided to split into two groups, and one would leave the country. The King's son Tyrrhenus led the group of Etruscans which departed from Asia Minor, traveling via Lemnos to Italy. The Etruscans allied with the Rutuli king Turnus during his war with the Trojan prince Aeneas and his forces, and the Etruscans became the first people in Italy to write when they adopted the Greek alphabet in 700 BC. By 550 BC, Etruscan power was at its zenith, allying with the Carthaginians and partaking in Mediterranean trade. In 510 BC, the Etruscan king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was expelled from Rome, leading to the establishment of the Roman Republic. After a defeat at the hands of the Greeks at Cumae in 474 BC, the Etruscans began to lose their hold on Italy to the south of Rome. The Roman Republic would go on to gradually absorb all of the Etruscan cities by 100 BC.
Anthony Eden

**Anthony Eden** (July 12, 1897 – January 14, 1977) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 6 April 1955 to 10 January 1957, succeeding Winston Churchill and preceding Harold Macmillan. He was a member of the Conservative Party, and he was Churchill's trusted right-hand man for several years. Eden was forced to resign as the result of the Suez Crisis, in which Britain was humiliated due to its loss of superpower status.

## Biography

Anthony Eden was born in Windlestone, County Durham, England in 1897. After finishing at Eton, he served on the Western Front in World War I and was awarded the Military Cross. After the war, he resumed his education at Oxford, and became the Conservative Party MP for Warwick and Leamington in 1923. From 1926 to 1929, he served as Parliamentary Private secretary to Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain. He became an Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office in 1931, and in 1935 entered the Cabinet as Minister for League of Nations Affairs. Later that year, he replaced Samuel Hoare as Foreign Secretary. Initially, Eden supported the policies of appeasement pursued by the government, but when Neville Chamberlain replaced Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister in 1937, Eden found that his department was being increasingly interfered with.

Eden had the good fortune to resign in February 1938, just before the signing of the Munich Agreement, so that his career was untainted by the episode. Unlike Winston Churchill, he was not a principled opponent of appeasement, his resgination being triggered more by dislike and distrust of Benito Mussolini than of Adolf Hitler. Officially, he stepped down over the government's recognition of Italy's conquest of Abyssinia, while the underlying casue was his struggle with Chamberlain over control of policy. Subsequently, he was critical of the government's foreign policies, and did not regain office until World War II broke out, when he became Dominions Secretary.

### Rise to power

Eden was made Foreign Secretary by Churchill in 1940, and he emerged as the second-in-command within the Conservative Party. After defeat in the 1945 elections, he became increasingly impatient with Churchill's refusal to resign, especially as Churchill left the running of day-to-day politics to him, basking in his glory as a war hero. Again Foreign Secretary from 1951, his appeal to Churchill to resign became ever more pressing, though he was unable to succeed him until 1955, a year in which he led the party to a clear election victory. However, the fiasco of the Suez Crisis made his early resignation inevitable. Though not a military disaster, it was his complete failure to foresee and then acknowledge international outrage at Britain's actions which resulted in a resounding diplomatic and national humiliation. In this sense, his long and successful involvement in foreign policy for three decades proved more of a liability than an asset, leading him not to understand that Britain was no longer the world power it had been when he first took office. He died in 1977.
Bangladesh

The **People's Republic of Bangladesh** (1971-present) is a unitary parliamentary republic located in the Indian Subcontinent, with its capital at Dhaka. It has a population of 156,594,962 people, with 89% of them being Muslim, 8% Hindu, 1% Buddhist, and .5% Christian.

## History

Bangladesh was originally called East Pakistan, 1,760 kilometers (1,100 miles) away from West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan). In 1947 the state of Pakistan was created in the Indian Subcontinent as a union of any Muslim regions that wanted to create a state separate from predominantly-Hindu India. East Pakistan was duly inclined to join forces with West Pakistan because 89% of its population was Muslim.

The Bengalis of East Pakistan had little in common with West Pakistan, however; 98% of their population was Bengali and the only similarity was their religion. The people of Bangladesh sought to escape the economic exploitation of West Pakistan, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman formed the Awami League fighting for autonomy in 1954. In December 1970 his party won a major elecion victory, and on 26 March 1971, East Pakistan declared independence. When Rahman was imprisoned, Indian Army forces assisted the rebels and the Pakistanis were defeated by Indian forces in massive tank battles. On 16 December 1971, the Pakistanis surrendered unconditionally and Rahman became the new president. In 1974, Bangladesh was recognized as independent by Pakistan.

Bangladesh went through problems shortly after it gained independence. President Rahman had to deal with rampant corruption, poverty, and inequality between the classes. In 1974, a famine dealt a blow to the prestige of the country and on 15 August 1975 Rahman and his family were encircled by rogue Bangladeshi troops and massacred in their house. Ziaur Rahman, a general of the Bangladeshi armed forces, became the dominant leader of the provisional government and he was elected as president in 1977. However, he was killed in 1981 by rogue members of the military after he took power over the Awami League.

Only in 1991 was democracy restored, and Bangladesh faces less problems. Bangladesh's political instability, poverty, corruption, overpopulation, and climate change continue to poorly affect the country, although their economy slightly increased. In 2013, the Islamist Jamat-e-Islami party was banned and leaders Delwar Hossain Saidi, Abdul Quader Molla, and others were sentenced to death for war crimes committed in the 1971 war.
Church of England

The **Church of England** is a Protestant church in England that is the mother of worldwide Anglicanism. Founded in 1534 after King Henry VIII of England split from the Catholic church, the Church of England renounced the Pope's authority, instead viewing the King of England as its religious head. The church believes itself to be both Protestant and Catholic, as it sees itself as a part of the universal church of Jesus in unbroken continuity with the early church, but it also sees itself agreeing with many of the points of the Protestant Reformation. Eventually, the Church persecuted Catholics across the British Isles with the Penal Laws, effectively making the Church of England the state religion of England and persecuting non-conforming Protestants and all other religions. However, religious tolerance grew after papal recognition of King George III of Britain in 1766, and the Church of England would remain a major religion in England. In 2010, the church had 26,000,000 baptized members
British Empire

The **British Empire** was the name given to the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled by England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom from the late 16th to mid-20th centuries. The empire originated with overseas possessions and trading posts, but the British expanded their empire through military force, including the French and Indian War, the Anglo-Maratha Wars, the Opium Wars, and the Scramble for Africa, among other conflicts. The British Empire was centered around the British capital of London in England, but it was spread across the world, owning 24% of Earth's total land area at its height in 1913. The phrase, "The Sun never sets on the British Empire," came from the fact that Britain had territories all across the world, and that the sun was always shining on one part of the empire. However, the rise of nationalism and anti-imperialism during the 20th century led to the downfall of the British Empire. In 1947, British Raj (its possessions in South Asia) gained independence, and the post-World War II decolonization period would also see the British be forced to abandon Southeast Asia and Africa. In 1980, it lost its last African colony, Southern Rhodesia, and the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 was considered to be the end of the empire.
East Asia

**East Asia** is a region of Asia located in the Far East. East Asia is made up of China (including Macau and Hong Kong), Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, and South Korea, and its cultures have interacted several times, with China being the most influential due to its invention of the East Asian writing style and its introduction of Confucianism (including its civil service exams), tea, and paper money to other countries. Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shamanism can be found in almost all of the countries, with Shinto being exclusive to Japan, Juche exclusive to North Korea, Taoism being exclusive to China, and Christianity being seen mostly in Hong Kong and Macau.
Constitution of the Year X

The **Constitution of the Year X** was the national constitution of France that was adopted in 1802. The constitution amended the Constitution of the Year VIII, making Napoleon Bonaparte "First Consul for Life", effectively cementing and confirming his rule as dictator of the French First Republic. In 1804, he replaced the Year X constitution with the Constitution of the Year XII, which created the First French Empire with himself as emperor.