title: MS Dhoni

text: In 1998, Dhoni was selected by Deval Sahay, a former Bihar Cricket Association Vice President and Ranchi District Cricket President, to play for the Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) team. Till 1998 Dhoni, who was in 12th grade, had never played professional cricket. At CCL, he got an opportunity to bat higher up the order, where he performed exceptionally, which had helped CCL move to the A division. Deval Sahay, impressed by his performance, pushed for his selection in the Bihar team. Dhoni moved to the Ranchi team, the junior Bihar cricket team and eventually the senior Bihar Ranji Team within one year.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In the 1998–99 Cooch Behar Trophy, Dhoni played for the U-19 Bihar team and scored 176 runs in 5 matches (7 innings). However, Bihar finished fourth in the group of six and did not make it to the quarter-finals. Dhoni was not picked for the East Zone U-19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) or Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy). In the 1999–2000 Cooch Behar Trophy, the Bihar U-19 cricket team made it to the finals, where Dhoni's 84 helped Bihar post a total of 357. Nevertheless, Bihar's efforts were thwarted by Punjab's 839 with Dhoni's future teammate Yuvraj Singh making 358. Dhoni's contribution in the tournament included 488 runs (9 matches, 12 innings), 5 fifties, 17 catches and 7 stumpings. Dhoni made it to the East Zone U-19 squad for the CK Nayudu trophy in the 1999–2000 season but scored only 97 runs in four matches, as East Zone lost all four matches and finished last in the tournament.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999–2000 season, as an eighteen-year-old. He made a half century in his debut match scoring 68* in the second innings against Assam cricket team. Dhoni finished the season with 283 runs in 5 matches. Dhoni scored his maiden first-class century while playing for Bihar against Bengal in the 2000/01 season, this match ended as draw Apart from this century, his performance in the 2000/01 season did not include another score over fifty and in the 2001/02 season, he scored just five fifties in four Ranji matches.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni's performance in the 2002–03 season included three half-centuries in the Ranji Trophy and a couple of half-centuries in the Deodhar Trophy, as he started gaining recognition for his lower-order contribution as well as hard-hitting batting style. In the 2003/04 season, Dhoni scored a century (128*) against Assam in the first match of the Ranji ODI tournament. Dhoni was part of the East Zone squad that won the Deodhar Trophy 2003–2004 season and contributed with 244 runs in 4 matches, including a century (114) against Central zone.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In the Duleep Trophy finals, Dhoni was picked over international cricketer Deep Dasgupta to represent East Zone. He scored a fighting half-century in the second innings in a losing cause. Dhoni's talent was discovered via the BCCI's small-town talent-spotting initiative TRDW. Dhoni was discovered by TRDO Prakash Poddar, captain of Bengal in the 1960s, when he saw Dhoni play for Jharkhand at a match in Jamshedpur in 2003, and sent a report to the National Cricket Academy.


title: MS Dhoni

text: He was recognised for his efforts in the 2003/04 season, especially in the One Day format and was picked for the India A squad for a tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya. Against the Zimbabwe XI in Harare Sports Club, Dhoni had his best wicket-keeping effort with 7 catches and 4 stumpings in the match. In the tri-nation tournament involving Kenya, India A and Pakistan A, Dhoni helped India A chase down their target of 223 against Pakistan A with a half-century. Continuing his good performance, he scored back to back centuries – 120 and 119* – against the same team. Dhoni scored 362 runs in 6 innings at an average of 72.40 and his performance in the series received attention from the then Indian captain – Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri, amongst others.


title: MS Dhoni

text: The Indian ODI team in the early 2000s saw Rahul Dravid as the wicket-keeper to ensure that the wicket-keeper spot didn't lack in batting talent. The team also saw the entry of wicket-keeper/batsmen from the junior ranks, with talents like Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik (both India U-19 captains) named in the Test squads. With Dhoni making a mark in the India A squad, he was picked in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/05. Dhoni did not have a great start to his ODI career, getting run out for a duck on debut. In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, Dhoni was picked for the Pakistan ODI series.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In the second match of the series, Dhoni, in his fifth one-day international, scored 148 in Visakhapatnam off only 123 deliveries. Dhoni's 148 surpassed the earlier record for the highest score by an Indian wicket-keeper, a record that he would re-write before the end of the year.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni had few batting opportunities in the first two games of the Sri Lankan bilateral ODI series (October–November 2005) and was promoted to No. 3 in the third ODI at Sawai Mansingh Stadium (Jaipur). Sri Lanka had set India a target of 299 after a Kumar Sangakkara century and, in reply, India lost Tendulkar early. Dhoni was promoted to accelerate the scoring and ended the game with an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls, winning the game for India. The innings was described in Wisden Almanack (2006) as 'Uninhibited, yet anything but crude'. The innings set various records including the highest individual score in ODI cricket in the second innings, a record only broken after seven years by Shane Watson. Dhoni ended the series with the highest run aggregate (346) and was awarded the Man of the Series award for his efforts. In December 2005, Dhoni was rewarded a B-grade contract by the BCCI.


title: MS Dhoni

text: India scored 328 in 50 overs with Dhoni contributing 68 in their first match of 2006 against Pakistan. However, the team finished poorly, scoring just 43 runs in the last eight overs and lost the match due to Duckworth-Lewis method. In the third match of the series, Dhoni came in with India in a precarious situation and scored 72 runs off just 46 balls that included 13 boundaries to help India take a 2–1 lead in the series. The final match of the series had a repeat performance as Dhoni scored 77 runs off 56 balls to enable India win the series 4–1. Due to his consistent ODI performances, Dhoni overtook Ricky Ponting as number one in the ICC ODI Rankings for batsmen on 20 April 2006, becoming the fastest batsman to do so, in 42 innings. His reign lasted just a week as Adam Gilchrist's performance against Bangladesh moved him to the top spot.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Two cancelled series in Sri Lanka, one due to the withdrawal of South Africa from the Unitech Cup due to security concerns and the replacement three-match ODI bilateral series against Sri Lanka washed due to rain, was India's prelude to another disappointing tournament – DLF Cup 2006-07. Dhoni scored 43 runs as the team lost twice in three games and did not qualify for the finals. India's lack of preparation showed in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy as they lost to West Indies and Australia, though Dhoni scored a half-century against West Indies. The story of the ODI series in South Africa was the same for both Dhoni and India as Dhoni scored 139 runs in 4 matches and India lost the series 4–0. From the start of the West Indies ODI series, Dhoni had played 16 matches, hit just two fifties and averaged 25.93. Dhoni received criticism on his wicket-keeping technique from former wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani. Yet, for his performances in 2006, he was named in the World ODI XI by the ICC.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Preparations for the 2007 Cricket World Cup improved as India recorded identical 3–1 victories over West Indies and Sri Lanka and Dhoni had averages in excess of 100 in both these series.


title: MS Dhoni

text: India unexpectedly crashed out of the World Cup after losses to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the group stage. Dhoni was out for a duck in both these matches and scored just 29 runs in the tournament. After the loss to Bangladesh in 2007 Cricket World Cup, the house that Dhoni was constructing in his home-town Ranchi was vandalised and damaged by political activists of JMM. The local police arranged for security for his family as India exited the World Cup in the first round.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni put his disappointing performances in the World Cup behind him by scoring 91* against Bangladesh, after India were left in a tight spot earlier in the run-chase. Dhoni was declared the Man of the Match for his performance, his fourth in ODI cricket. He was also later adjudged the Man of the Series after the third game of the series was washed away. Dhoni had a good Afro-Asia Cup, scoring 174 runs in 3 matches at an average of 87.00, with a blitzkrieg 139 not out off 97 balls, a Man of the Match innings, in the third ODI.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni was named vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa in Ireland and the subsequent India-England seven-match ODI series. Dhoni, who received a 'B' grade contract in December 2005, was awarded an 'A' grade contract in June 2007. He was also elected as the captain of the Indian squad for the World Twenty20 in September 2007. On 2 September 2007, Dhoni equalled his idol Adam Gilchrist's international record for the most dismissals in an innings in ODI by catching five English players and stumping one.


title: MS Dhoni

text: During the series between India and Australia in 2009, Dhoni scored 124 runs in 107 balls in the second ODI, and scored 71 runs in 95 balls in the third ODI. Along with Yuvraj Singh's 78 off of 96 balls, India won the third ODI by 6 wickets. Dhoni took his first and only wicket in international cricket on 30 September 2009. He bowled Travis Dowlin of the West Indies during a match in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni topped the ICC ODI Batsman rankings for several months in 2009. Michael Hussey from Australia replaced him at the top spot at the beginning of 2010.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni had an excellent year in ODIs in 2009, scoring 1198 runs in just 24 innings, at considerably high average of 70.43. Dhoni was also the joint top-scorer in ODIs in 2009 along with Ricky Ponting, but the latter having played 30 innings. For his performances in 2009, he was named as captain and wicketkeeper of the World ODI XI by the ICC.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In 2012, Pakistan toured India for a bilateral series for the first time in five years. In the three-match ODI series, Dhoni top-scored for India in all three innings; however, India lost the series 1–2. In the first ODI at Chennai, he helped India recover from 29/5 to help post a total of 227 in 50 overs. Scoring 113 not out, he had a record partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin, although India had lost .


title: MS Dhoni

text: Winning the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, Dhoni became the first and the only captain in international cricket to claim all ICC trophies. In the rain-shortened final against England, he was out for a duck and ended the tournament with 27 runs from two innings. However, Dhoni's field placements and tactics were to India's advantage, as the team had beat the opposition by five runs (D/L method). He was also named as captain and wicketkeeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' by the ICC.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Just after the Champions Trophy, India toured West Indies for a tri-nation tournament against West Indies and Sri Lanka. Dhoni had gotten injured at the start of the tournament itself and got ruled out for the whole tournament. However, despite not having fully recovered, he returned to play the final against Sri Lanka, once again only to find himself become a hero after single-handedly taking India to a victory by one wicket. Dhoni scored an unbeaten 45 off 52 balls while scoring 16 runs in the final over required for the victory. He was adjudged Man of the match for this performance.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In November 2013, Dhoni became the second India batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to aggregate 1,000 or more ODI-runs against Australia.


title: MS Dhoni

text: India toured South Africa and New Zealand in the 2013–14 season and ending up losing both series, 0–2 and 0–4, respectively. Against South Africa, Dhoni managed 84 runs at an average of 48.0, including one half-century. Against New Zealand, he managed 272 runs which included three consecutive 50-plus scores. In the third match of the series, his knock of 50 helped India tie the match and eventually avoiding a series whitewash. Meanwhile, he scored his 8000th run in ODI cricket on the tour.


title: MS Dhoni

text: India won the away ODI series in England in 2014 by 3–1 and series against West Indies in India by 2–1 margin. Dhoni had performed, as he scored a half-century in each of the series.


title: MS Dhoni

text: India's preparation going into the tournament looked poor, as India had failed to perform in the Carlton Mid Triangular Series in Australia, failing to win a single match, with Dhoni himself managing 70 runs from three innings and averaging 23.34.


title: MS Dhoni

text: During the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Dhoni became the first Indian captain to win all group stage matches in such a tournament. India achieved wins against arch-rivals Pakistan, South Africa (whom they hadn't beaten before in a World Cup game), the UAE, West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe. In the match against Zimbabwe at Eden Park, he made 85 not out chasing 288 and had an unbeaten partnership of 196 with Suresh Raina. This is the highest score by an Indian captain on New Zealand soil. Beating Bangladesh in the quarter finals, he became the third overall and the first non-Australian captain to win 100 ODI matches. In an unsuccessful effort against eventual champions Australia in the semi-finals, he made 65 as India were unable to defend their title. Dhoni, however, performed well with the bat by scoring 237 runs in 6 innings at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 102.15 and thus, became only the second Indian captain to have an average over 50 and strike rate over 100 in a particular season of the World Cup.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni stepped down as captain of India in the limited over formats in January 2017, just ahead of the ODI series at home against England. In the second game of the series, he scored 134 off 122 balls, that included a 256-run partnership for the fourth wicket along with Yuvraj Singh. The century, his tenth in ODIs, was his first in over three years. He was named as a wicketkeeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' at the 2017 Champions Trophy by Cricbuzz. He was also named in the ODI XI of the year by Cricbuzz.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In August that year, during the fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo, he became the first wicket-keeper to effect 100 stumpings surpassing Kumar Sangakkara, when he stumped Akila Dananjaya off Yuzvendra Chahal. He reached the milestone of effecting 400 dismissals in ODIs in February 2018, following the stumping of Aiden Markram in the third ODI of the South Africa tour.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni went past 10,000 ODI runs in the second ODI against England during his team's 2018 tour, and became the fourth Indian and twelfth overall to do so. He had a relatively mediocre series, having scored 79 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 63.20. This was followed by two poor performances for him in the ODI format; the Asia Cup that he finished with 77 runs in four innings at an average of 19.25 and the home series against West Indies where he aggregated 50 runs from three innings. Dhoni was given rest and thus wasn't available for the selection of the T20I squads for the series that followed and the Australia tour later that season. However, he was included in the squad named for the ODI series there. In the three-match series, Dhoni found form and scored half-centuries in all three games with the latter two resulting in wins, helping India secure a 2–1 series victory, their first in a bilateral series on Australian soil. Dhoni finished with 193 runs and was named player of the series. He also became the fourth Indian to score more than 1,000 ODI runs there.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In April 2019, he was named in India's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. In July 2019, in India's semi-final match against New Zealand, Dhoni played in his 350th ODI.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Following his one-day performance against Sri Lanka, Dhoni replaced Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian teams' Test wicket-keeper. Dhoni scored 30 runs in his debut match, that was marred by rain. Dhoni came to the crease when the team was at 109/5 and as wickets kept falling in quick succession, he played an aggressive innings in which he was the last man to be dismissed. Dhoni made his maiden half-century in the second Test and his quick scoring rate (50 off 51 balls) helped India set a target of 436, where the Sri Lankans were then bowled out for 247.


title: MS Dhoni

text: India toured Pakistan in January–February 2006 and Dhoni scored his maiden century in the second Test at Faisalabad. India was struggling, where Dhoni along with Irfan Pathan tried to recover, with the team still needing 107 runs to avoid a follow-on. Dhoni played in his naturally aggressive style as he brought up his maiden Test century in 93 balls, after scoring the first fifty in 34 deliveries.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni followed up the century with respectable batting performances over the next three matches, one against Pakistan that India lost and two against England that had India holding a 1–0 lead. Dhoni was the top scorer in India's first innings in the third Test at Wankhede Stadium as his 64 helped India post 279 in reply to England's 400. However, Dhoni and the Indian fielders dropped catches and missed many dismissal chances, including a key stumping opportunity of Andrew Flintoff (14). Dhoni failed to collect the Harbhajan Singh delivery cleanly as Flintoff went on to make 36 more runs as England set a target of 313 for the home team, a target that India was never in danger of threatening. A batting collapse saw the team being dismissed for 100 and Dhoni scored just 5 runs and faced criticism for his wicket-keeping lapses as well as his shot selection.


title: MS Dhoni

text: On the West Indies tour in 2006, Dhoni scored a quick and aggressive 69 in the first Test at Antigua. The rest of the series was unremarkable for Dhoni as he scored 99 runs in the remaining 6 innings but his wicket-keeping skills improved and he finished the series with 13 catches and 4 stumpings. In the Test series in South Africa later that year, Dhoni's scores of 34 and 47 were not sufficient to save the second Test against the Proteas, as India lost the series 2–1, squandering the chance to build on their first ever Test victory in South Africa (achieved in the first Test match). Dhoni's bruised hands ruled him out of the third Test match.


title: MS Dhoni

text: On the fourth day of the first Test match at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua during India's tour of West Indies, 2006, Dhoni's flick off Dave Mohammed to the midwicket region was caught by Daren Ganga. As the batsman started to walk back, captain Dravid declared the innings when the confusion started as the umpires were not certain if the fielder stepped on the ropes and Dhoni stayed for the umpire's verdict. While the replays were inconclusive, the captain of the West Indies side, Brian Lara, wanted Dhoni to walk off based on the fielder's assertion of the catch. The impasse continued for more than 15 minutes and Lara's temper was on display with finger-wagging against the umpires and snatching the ball from umpire Asad Rauf. Ultimately, Dhoni walked off and Dravid's declaration was effected but the game was delayed, and Lara's action was criticised by the commentators and former players. Lara was summoned by the match referee to give an explanation of his actions, but he was not fined.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni scored two centuries in Sri Lanka's tour of India in 2009, a series of three matches in which he led India to a 2–0 victory. With this feat, India soared up to the number one position in Test cricket for the first time in history. India scored 726–9 (decl) in the third match of this series, which was their highest Test total then.


title: MS Dhoni

text: He played his last series in the 2014–15 season in India's tour of Australia captaining India in the second and third tests; losing the second and drawing the third, trailing the series 2–0 before the Sydney Test. Following the third Test in Melbourne, Dhoni announced his retirement from the format. In his last Test, he effected nine dismissals (eight catches and a stumping), and in the process, went past Kumar Sangakkara in the record for stumpings with 134 (in all three formats combined). He also set a record for effecting the most dismissals in a match by an Indian wicketkeeper until it was broken by Wriddhiman Saha in 2018. He finished his last innings unbeaten making 24 runs.


title: MS Dhoni

text: On 12 February 2012, Dhoni made an unbeaten 44 to guide India to their first win over Australia at Adelaide. In the final over, he hit considerably large six which travelled 112 meters off the bowling of Clint McKay. During the post-match presentation, he described this six as more important than the one he hit during the ICC World Cup final in 2011.


title: MS Dhoni

text: He was named as captain and wicketkeeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2014 T20 World Cup by the ICC.


title: MS Dhoni

text: MS Dhoni was chosen to lead India in first-ever World T20 in 2007. He made his captaincy debut against Scotland but the match was washed off. Thereon, he led India to the ICC World Twenty 20 trophy in South Africa, with a victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in an intensely fought final on 24 September 2007, and became the second Indian captain to have won a World Cup in any form of cricket, after Kapil Dev.


title: MS Dhoni

text: He debuted in first class and List A Cricket in the season of 1999–2000. In domestic cricket circuit he played for the teams such as Bihar, Jharkhand, India A, Air India Blue, Indian Board President's XI, Rajasthan Cricket Association President's XI, East Zone, Rest of India, East zone under 19, Chennai Super Kings, Rising Pune Supergiant. In BCCI Corporate trophy he played for Indian government owned Air India airlines's Air India team until his resignation from the company in 2013. In 2009, BCCI Corporate trophy Dhoni scored 106 runs playing for Air India Blue team against 'India Revenue' team. In the inning he hit 7 sixes and 7 fours at Chandigarh.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni was contracted by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for US$1.5 million. This made him the most expensive player in the IPL for the first season auctions. Under his captaincy, CSK won the 2010, 2011, 2018 and the 2021 Indian Premier League titles and the 2010 and 2014 Champions League T20 titles and ended up as a runner-up in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2019 league seasons.


title: MS Dhoni

text: MS Dhoni became the first player to play 200 T20 matches for Super Kings. Dhoni is at the top of the list of most matches played in the Indian Premier League. Dhoni is also one of the three captains to have won the Indian Premier League twice, with CSK.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In 2015, the Chennai Super Kings got banned from the IPL for 2 years by R.M. Lodha from the committee of Supreme Court of India. They were banned due to the illegal betting of one of their officials, Gurunath Meiyappan. He was arrested with charges of spot-fixing According to Dhoni, it was darkest period of his career. He said "The biggest crime that I can commit is not a murder, it is actually match-fixing".


title: MS Dhoni

text: In 2016, Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS), a debuting IPL franchise team made him captain but after poor performance of the team in that season they removed Dhoni from captain's position and chose Steve Smith, then Australian national team captain, for the post. Dhoni played as wicketkeeper batsman in 2017 season for RPS.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In the 2018 IPL season, CSK returned to IPL, and he was again appointed to lead the franchise by the franchise. Dhoni scored 455 runs in that season and led his side to their third IPL title.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In the 2020 & 2021 seasons of the IPL, Dhoni failed to perform where he scored 200 runs in 14 innings in 2020 and 116 runs in 16 innings with an average of 15.29 in 2021 IPL season.


title: MS Dhoni

text: He led the franchise to 4th title in 2021 Indian Premier League season. Dhoni got retained by CSK for ₹12 Cr, before IPL 2022 player's auction. He stepped down from captaincy on 24 March 2022, where Ravindra Jadeja became the new captain. However, on 30 April 2022, Jadeja handed over the captaincy back to Dhoni.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. Dhoni is an unorthodox batsman, in the sense that much of his batting technique does not follow coaching manuals. Dhoni prefers to hit a full ball to Long-on, Long-off or Midwicket regions rather than driving it to the Cover region. Not only taking advantage of full length balls, he also displays skill in playing pull shots & hook shots off of short balls, which applies pressure to the bowler to bowl to him. He holds the bat firmly at the bottom of the handle and tries to hit the ball hard and flat to clear the boundary. Yet, he manages to hit long sixes at times.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Initially, Dhoni appeared as a lower-order attacking batsman but he gradually changed his playing style to deal with high-pressure scenarios and his growing responsibility as a captain. He is a powerful hitter of the ball and is one of the fastest men in running between the wickets. He made use of the helicopter shot technique, taught to him by a fellow player and childhood friend Santosh Lal.


title: MS Dhoni

text: His wicket-keeping skill is widely praised by cricket experts but also criticised for lack of good technique. He has a world record for the highest number of stumpings by any wicket-keeper.


title: MS Dhoni

text: As a captain Dhoni, was approachable to players. Former cricketers and opposition players underline that his behaviour on cricket ground was calm and composed. He used to allow bowlers to set field for themselves.


title: MS Dhoni

text: His ancestral village is "Lwali", which is in "Jaiti" "taluka" of Almora district of the Uttarakhand state. The village has population of 20 to 30 families.His father Pan Singh Dhoni left the village in 1970 for employment. He eventually settled in Ranchi. Dhoni's uncle Dhanpat Singh Dhauni and his cousin Hayat Singh Dhauni still live in Lwali.


title: MS Dhoni

text: The wedding took place in Dehradun, one day after the couple got engaged. Dhoni and his wife have one daughter.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni is a enthusiast of the Indian Army. While spending a day with the parachute regiment in Ranchi, Dhoni said, "Since childhood I wanted to join the Army. Seeing the soldiers, I thought one day I'll be the same".


title: MS Dhoni

text: He holds the post of vice-president marketing in India Cements Ltd. The company is headed by former BCCI president and IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings owner N. Srinivasan.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Along with Sahara India Pariwar, Dhoni is a co-owner of Ranchi-based hockey club Ranchi Rays, a franchise of the Hockey India League.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni is also a co-owner, along with Abhishek Bachchan and Vita Dani, of Chennai-based football club Chennaiyin FC, a franchise of the Indian Super League.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In February 2016, Dhoni launched lifestyle brand SEVEN. Dhoni owns the footwear side of the brand and is also the brand ambassador of SEVEN. In 2019, Dhoni invested in CARS24 and simultaneously became brand ambassador of the company.


title: MS Dhoni

text: On 11 October 2022, at an event in Bengaluru, MS Dhoni was unveiled as the newest member of a startup. He has invested in Shaka Harry, a plant-based protein company.


title: MS Dhoni

text: In 2019, Dhoni Entertainment entered into a long-term business agreement with Banijay Asia to produce content in various genres. The first show developed was a documentary web series, titled "Roar of The Lion", about the comeback of the Chennai Super Kings to lift the 2018 Indian Premier League starring MS Dhoni in the lead role. The web series is the biggest ever release through the platform of Hotstar Specials and started its online streaming from 20 March 2019.


title: MS Dhoni

text: Dhoni holds an honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Parachute Regiment of the Indian Territorial Army (106 Para TA battalion). The honorary rank was presented to him by the Indian Army in 2011 for his service to the nation as a cricketer.


title: MS Dhoni

text: After completing five parachute training jumps from Indian Army aircraft in the Agra training camp, he became a qualified paratrooper in 2015. In August 2019 he completed a two-week stint with the Territorial Army in Jammu and Kashmir.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The M142 HIMARS (M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is a light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the United States Army and mounted on a standard United States Army Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) truck frame.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The HIMARS carries one pod with either six GMLRS rockets or one ATACMS missile. It is based on the United States Army's FMTV five-ton truck, and is capable of launching all rockets specified in the Multiple Launch Rocket System Family of Munitions (MFOM). HIMARS ammunition pods are interchangeable with the M270 MLRS; however, it is limited to a single pod as opposed to the standard two for the M270 and its variants.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The launcher can be transported by Airbus A400M Atlas and Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft. The FMTV truck that transports the HIMARS was initially produced by BAE Systems Mobility & Protection Systems (formerly Armor Holdings Aerospace and Defense Group Tactical Vehicle Systems Division), the original equipment manufacturer of the FMTV. It was produced by the Oshkosh Corporation from 2010 to 2017. Both chassis and launcher system are now produced by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control in Camden, Arkansas.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The requirement for HIMARS first came about in 1982, when the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) saw the need to acquire a light multiple rocket launcher as a counterfire asset, but the requirement failed to gather support from the Field Artillery School and languished for a number of years. The institutional bias at the time was oriented towards heavy forces. However, with the waning of the Cold War and the growing interest in low-intensity operations, both Field Artillery School and Missile Command realized that the M270 MLRS was too heavy for rapid deployment and pushed for the funding of HIMARS. The Gulf War gave a further incentive towards fielding a lightweight MLRS, when the M270 proved too costly in airlift assets to deploy in theater and the launchers did not arrive with the initial wave of U.S. troops. The HIMARS concept was tested on April 1991 at White Sands Missile Range, using a modified Honest John launcher.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: HIMARS was then developed as a private venture by Loral Vought Systems (later Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control) to meet this requirement. The system first appeared publicly in 1993. In 1996, the U.S. Army Missile Command awarded Lockheed Martin a $23.2 million contract to build four prototypes. The vehicles were delivered to the XVIII Airborne Corps in April 1998 for a two-year evaluation with 3rd Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment. In July 1998, the Army conducted a test firing of the ATACMS. In December 1999, the Aviation and Missile Command awarded Lockheed Martin a $65 million contract for engineering and manufacturing development. Under this contract, Lockheed Martin delivered six HIMARS in late 2001 for Army evaluation. In April 2003, the Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $96 million contract to begin low rate initial production. Around this time, the Marine Corps placed an order for two units for evaluation purposes.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The HIMARS is similar in design to the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), with the main exception being that it is a wheeled vehicle as opposed to tracked vehicle. The HIMARS carries one ordnance pod, which is identical to the pods used by the M270. The windows are made of sheets of sapphire laminated with glass and polycarbonate.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The HIMARS was also tested as a unified launch system for both artillery rockets and the SLAMRAAM surface-launched variant of the AMRAAM anti-aircraft missile.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In October 2017, a Marine Corps HIMARS fired a rocket while at sea against a land target for the first time from the deck of the amphibious transport dock , demonstrating the system's ability to operate while on ships to deliver precision fire from a standoff range against shore defenses. The vehicle's targeting software was reworked so it can better fire while on a launch platform in motion.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: By early 2022, Lockheed Martin was producing HIMARS at a rate of 48 launchers annually, but following the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine that rate was increased to 60. In October 2022 the company announced it would boost production to 96 systems annually in response to increased demand caused by the war; limitations in building new industrial capacity means it will be several months before production can be ramped up from five to eight vehicles monthly.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In February 2010, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan indicated in a press release that two rockets fired from a HIMARS were believed to have fallen 300 metres short of their intended target, killing 12 civilians during Operation Moshtarak. ISAF suspended the use of the HIMARS until a full review of the incident was completed. A British officer later said that the rockets were on target, that the target was in use by the Taliban, and that use of the system had been reinstated. Reports indicated that the civilian deaths were due to the Taliban's use of human shields; the presence of civilians at that location had not been known to the ISAF forces. A report in the "New York Times" in October 2010 credited the HIMARS with aiding the NATO offensive in Kandahar by targeting Taliban commanders' hideouts, forcing many to flee to Pakistan, at least temporarily.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In November 2015, the U.S. Army revealed that it had deployed the HIMARS to Iraq, firing at least 400 rockets at Islamic State (ISIL) targets since the beginning of that summer. HIMARS detachments were sent to Al Asad Airbase and Al-Taqaddum Air Base in Al Anbar Governorate. In March 2016, a U.S. Army HIMARS fired rockets into Syria for the first time in support of Syrian rebels fighting ISIL, from launchers based in neighboring Jordan.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In January 2016, Lockheed announced that the HIMARS had reached 1 million operational hours with U.S. forces, achieving a 99 percent operational readiness rate.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In April 2016, it was announced that the U.S. would be deploying the HIMARS in Turkey near the border with Syria as part of the battle with ISIL. In early September, international media and the U.S. State Department reported a newly deployed HIMARS had engaged ISIL targets in Syria near the Turkish border.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In October 2016, HIMARS were stationed at Qayyarah Airfield West, some south of Mosul, taking part in the Battle of Mosul.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: On 24 May 2018, a HIMARS strike killed 50 Taliban fighters and leaders in Musa Qala, Afghanistan. Three rockets struck the building within a 14-second timespan.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In September 2018, US support forces coordinated with Syrian Democratic Forces fighting to defeat ISIS in east Syria in the Deir ez-Zor campaign, sometimes striking ISIS positions with GMLRS rockets 30 times per day. The HIMARS used in this support operation were located in the Omar oilfields, some north of the ISIS-controlled targets.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: On 31 May 2022, the US announced that it would be supplying HIMARS to Ukraine with M31 GMLRS unitary rockets. The next day, it was reported that four units would be sent. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said that the US would be able to send more systems as the fighting evolves. On 23 June, the first HIMARS arrived in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. On 25 June 2022, Ukraine started deploying the system against Russian forces during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Ukraine's Chief of General Staff, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, "Artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit ... military targets of the enemy on our, Ukrainian, territory". The Ukrainian military claimed that this first strike, on a Russian base in Izyum, killed over 40 soldiers. The day before, a second batch of four was announced to be delivered in mid-July.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: On 1 July, a US defense official told reporters that Ukraine had been using the system to destroy Russian command posts: "selecting targets and then accurately hitting them ... degrading Russian capability". On 18 July, Zaluzhnyi said: "An important factor contributing to our retention of defensive lines and positions is the timely arrival of M142 HIMARS, which deliver surgical strikes on enemy control posts, ammunition and fuel storage depots."


title: M142 HIMARS

text: Another four HIMARS were announced for delivery on 8 July, the delivery spacing driven by the weeks-long process to train Ukrainian troops on how to use the platform. To avoid escalating the conflict, US restricted Ukraine from firing HIMARS rockets into Russian territory. For the same reason, the US has not provided Ukraine with the longer-range ATACMS missile, which could easily engage targets inside of Russia.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: A fourth batch of four was announced on 20 July, bringing the total number of HIMARS committed to Ukraine to 16. Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov claimed that the country needed "at least 100" of the system and that by that point, eight systems had destroyed 30 command stations and ammunition storage facilities, decreasing the intensity of Russian shelling and slowing their advance. In that announcement, it was revealed that the number delivered had reached 12 launchers. That number had increased to 16 by 1 August.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: On 30 August, 2022, "The Washington Post" reported on Ukrainian claims to have successfully used decoy HIMARS units made out of wood to draw at least 10 Russian 3M-54 Kalibr cruise missiles. One US diplomat was reported to state that Russian sources had claimed more HIMARS destroyed than the US had sent. A Pentagon official had earlier in the month asserted that no HIMARS had been destroyed at that time.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: On 8 September, US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters: "We are seeing real and measurable gains from Ukraine in the use of these systems. For example, the Ukrainians have struck over 400 targets with the HIMARS and they've had devastating effect".


title: M142 HIMARS

text: A further 18 HIMARS were announced on 28 September, however it was part of an aid package aimed at meeting Ukraine's mid- and long-term needs, so deliveries are to begin in six months at the earliest. Ukraine had previously been provided with only M31 Unitary Warhead missiles, which are "not ideal against targets spread over large areas, as the deadly chunks are not designed to fly far." As of early October they have been granted the M30A1 which uses the Alternative Warhead that can cover up to "half a square mile of land in a single salvo" with 180,000 tungsten steel BB sized balls. The US also announced on 4 October that four more HIMARS launchers would be provided from US military stockpiles, bringing the total to 20 HIMARS in Ukrainian service.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: In response to the effects of HIMARS, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared the HIMARS system as a high priority target for Russian troops. Ukrainian officials identified Russia's kamikaze drones as the biggest threat to the HIMARS system.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: HIMARS attacks by Ukraine have been credited with "destroy(ing) Russian command nodes, tens of thousands of howitzer artillery rounds and a staggering 20 million small-arms rounds." As of 11 November 2022, no HIMARS systems have been destroyed after five months in operational use.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: On 6 December, a report appears to reveal that the HIMARS supplied to Ukraine have been modified by the US military so that they can't fire ATACMS. These modifications could have been a mixture of either software or physical limitations on the use of ATACMS. Such modifications also could be used to prevent Ukraine from gaining ATACMS from third countries such as "Bahrain, Greece, Poland, Qatar, Romania, South Korea, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates".


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The M28 rockets are a variant of the unguided M26 rockets of the M270 system. Each rocket pod contains 6 identical rockets.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) 227mm rockets have an extended range and add GPS-aided guidance to their Inertial Navigation System. GMLRS rockets were introduced in 2005 and the M30 and M31 rockets are, except for their warheads, identical. 50,000 GMLRS rockets have been produced, with yearly production now exceeding 9,000 rockets. Each rocket pod contains 6 identical rockets. Most of GMLRS series rockets have effective range of up to 92 km.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a series of 610 mm surface-to-surface missile (SSM) with a range of up to . Each rocket pod contains one ATACMS missile. , only the M48, M57, and M57E1 remain in the US military's arsenal.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: The Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) is a new series of GPS-guided missiles, which will begin to replace ATACMS missiles in 2024. PrSM carries a newly designed area-effects warhead and has a range of . PrSM missiles can be launched from the M270A2 and the HIMARS, with rockets pods containing 2 missiles. the PrSM is in low-rate initial production with 110 missiles being delivered to the US military over the year. PrSM will enter operational service in 2023.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: Lockheed Martin UK and INSYS had jointly developed a demonstrator rocket artillery system similar to HIMARS for the British Army's "Lightweight Mobile Artillery Weapon System/Rocket" (LIMAWS(R)) program. The system consisted of a single MLRS pod, mounted on a Supacat SPV600 chassis. The LIMAWS(R) program was canceled in September 2007.


title: M142 HIMARS

text: Lockheed Martin and Thales Australia are discussing with the Australian government, manufacturing HIMARS rockets in Australia, due in part to concerns of resupply during conflict. Australia has the ability to manufacture the rockets but it depends on the technology (specifically the guidance components) being authorized by the US government. In November 2022, the publication The Strategist (published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute) warned that "acquiring the missile-delivery system without a dedicated surveillance and target acquisition, or STA, capability means that Australia's long-range fires will have no eyes."


title: Donbas

text: The Donbas or Donbass (, ; ; ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War: the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic.


title: Donbas

text: The word "Donbas" is a portmanteau formed from "Donets Basin", an abbreviation of "Donets Coal Basin" (; ). The name of the coal basin is a reference to the Donets Ridge; the latter is associated with the Donets river.


title: Donbas

text: There are numerous definitions of the region's extent. It is now most commonly defined as the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The historical coal mining region excluded parts of these oblasts, and included areas in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Southern Russia. A Euroregion of the same name is composed of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine and Rostov Oblast in Russia.


title: Donbas

text: The Donbas formed the historical border between the Zaporizhian Sich and the Don Cossack Host. It has been an important coal mining area since the late 19th century, when it became a heavily industrialised territory.


title: Donbas

text: In March 2014, following the Euromaidan protest movement and the resulting Revolution of Dignity, large swaths of the Donbas became gripped by pro-Russian and anti-government unrest. This unrest later grew into a war between Ukrainian government forces and Russian and pro-Russian separatists affiliated with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "People's Republics", who were supported by Russia as part of the broader Russo-Ukrainian War. Both republics went unrecognized internationally until their recognition by Russia in 2022. The conflict rendered the Donbas split between Ukrainian-held territory, constituting about two-thirds of the region, and separatist-held territory, constituting about one-third. The region remained this way for years until Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including the Ukrainian-government controlled part of the Donbas, in February 2022.


title: Donbas

text: Before the war, the city of Donetsk (then the fifth largest city in Ukraine) had been considered the unofficial capital of the Donbas. Large cities (over 100,000 inhabitants) included Luhansk, Mariupol, Makiivka, Horlivka, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Alchevsk, Sievierodonetsk, and Lysychansk. Since 2014, the city of Kramatorsk is the interim administrative centre of the Donetsk Oblast, while the interim centre of Luhansk Oblast is Sievierodonetsk.


title: Donbas

text: The Kurgan hypothesis places the Pontic steppes of Ukraine and southern Russia as the linguistic homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The Yamnaya culture is identified with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans.


title: Donbas

text: The region has been inhabited for centuries by various nomadic tribes, such as Scythians, Alans, Huns, Bulgars, Pechenegs, Kipchaks, Turco-Mongols, Tatars and Nogais. The region now known as the Donbas was largely unpopulated until the second half of the 17th century, when Don Cossacks established the first permanent settlements in the region.


title: Donbas

text: The first town in the region was founded in 1676, called Solanoye ("now Soledar"), which was built for the profitable business of exploiting newly discovered rock-salt reserves. Known for being "Wild Fields" (, "dyke pole"), the area that is now called the Donbas was largely under the control of the Ukrainian Cossack Hetmanate and the Turkic Crimean Khanate until the mid-late 18th century, when the Russian Empire conquered the Hetmanate and annexed the Khanate.


title: Donbas

text: In the second half of the 17th century, settlers and fugitives from Hetman's Ukraine and Muscovy settled the lands north of the Donets river. At the end of the 18th century, many Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs and Greeks migrated to lands along the southern course of the Donets river, into an area previously inhabited by nomadic Nogais, who were nominally subject to the Crimean Khanate. Tsarist Russia named the conquered territories "New Russia" (, "Novorossiya"). As the Industrial Revolution took hold across Europe, the vast coal resources of the region, discovered in 1721, began to be exploited in the mid-late 19th century.


title: Donbas

text: It was at this point that the name "Donbas" came into use, derived from the term "Donets Coal Basin" (; ), referring to the area along the Donets river where most of the coal reserves were found. The rise of the coal industry led to a population boom in the region, largely driven by Russian settlers. The region was governed as the Bakhmut, Slovianserbsk and Mariupol counties of Yekaterinoslav Governorate.


title: Donbas

text: Donetsk, the most important city in the region today, was founded in 1869 by Welsh businessman John Hughes on the site of the old Zaporozhian Cossack town of Oleksandrivka. Hughes built a steel mill and established several collieries in the region. The city was named after him as "Yuzovka" (). With the development of Yuzovka and similar cities, large numbers of landless peasants from peripheral governorates of the Russian Empire came looking for work.


title: Donbas

text: According to the Russian Imperial Census of 1897, Ukrainians ("Little Russians", in the official imperial language) accounted for 52.4% of the population of the region, whilst ethnic Russians constituted 28.7%. Ethnic Greeks, Germans, Jews and Tatars also had a significant presence in the Donbas, particularly in the district of Mariupol, where they constituted 36.7% of the population. Despite this, Russians constituted the majority of the industrial workforce. Ukrainians dominated rural areas, but cities were often inhabited solely by Russians who had come seeking work in the region's heavy industries. Those Ukrainians who did move to the cities for work were quickly assimilated into the Russian-speaking worker class.


title: Donbas

text: In April 1918 troops loyal to the Ukrainian People's Republic took control of large parts of the region. For a while, its government bodies operated in the Donbas alongside their Russian Provisional Government equivalents. The Ukrainian State, the successor of the Ukrainian People's Republic, was able in May 1918 to bring the region under its control for a short time with the help of its German and Austro-Hungarian allies.


title: Donbas

text: During the 1917–22 Russian Civil War, Nestor Makhno, who commanded the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine, was the most popular leader in the Donbas.


title: Donbas

text: Along with other territories inhabited by Ukrainians, the Donbas was incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War. Cossacks in the region were subjected to decossackisation during 1919–1921. Ukrainians in the Donbas were greatly affected by the 1932–33 Holodomor famine and the Russification policy of Joseph Stalin. As most ethnic Ukrainians were rural peasant farmers, they bore the brunt of the famine.


title: Donbas

text: The Donbas was greatly affected by the Second World War. In the lead-up to the war, the region was racked by poverty and food shortages. War preparations resulted in an extension of the working day for factory labourers, whilst those who deviated from the heightened standards were arrested. Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler viewed the resources of the Donbas as critical to Operation Barbarossa. As such, the Donbas suffered under Nazi occupation during 1941 and 1942.


title: Donbas

text: Thousands of industrial labourers were deported to Nazi Germany for use in factories. In what was then called Stalino Oblast, now Donetsk Oblast, 279,000 civilians were killed over the course of the occupation. In Voroshilovgrad Oblast, now Luhansk Oblast, 45,649 were killed.


title: Donbas

text: In 1943 the Operation Little Saturn and Donbas strategic offensive by the Red Army resulted in the return of Donbas to Soviet control. The war had taken its toll, leaving the region both destroyed and depopulated.


title: Donbas

text: During the reconstruction of the Donbas after the end of the Second World War, large numbers of Russian workers arrived to repopulate the region, further altering the population balance. In 1926, 639,000 ethnic Russians resided in the Donbas. By 1959, the ethnic Russian population was 2.55 million. Russification was further advanced by the 1958–59 Soviet educational reforms, which led to the near elimination of all Ukrainian-language schooling in the Donbas. By the time of the Soviet Census of 1989, 45% of the population of the Donbas reported their ethnicity as Russian. In 1990, the Interfront of the Donbass was founded as a movement against Ukrainian independence.


title: Donbas

text: In the 1991 referendum on Ukrainian independence, 83.9% of voters in Donetsk Oblast and 83.6% in Luhansk Oblast supported independence from the Soviet Union. Turnout was 76.7% in Donetsk Oblast and 80.7% in Luhansk Oblast. In October 1991, a congress of South-Eastern deputies from all levels of government took place in Donetsk, where delegates demanded federalisation.


title: Donbas

text: The region's economy deteriorated severely in the ensuing years. By 1993, industrial production had collapsed, and average wages had fallen by 80% since 1990. The Donbas fell into crisis, with many accusing the new central government in Kyiv of mismanagement and neglect. Donbas coal miners went on strike in 1993, causing a conflict that was described by historian Lewis Siegelbaum as "a struggle between the Donbas region and the rest of the country". One strike leader said that Donbas people had voted for independence because they wanted "power to be given to the localities, enterprises, cities", not because they wanted heavily centralised power moved from "Moscow to Kyiv".


title: Donbas

text: This strike was followed by a 1994 consultative referendum on various constitutional questions in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, held concurrently with the first parliamentary elections in independent Ukraine. These questions included whether Russian should be declared an official language of Ukraine, whether Russian should be the language of administration in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, whether Ukraine should federalise, and whether Ukraine should have closer ties with the Commonwealth of Independent States.


title: Donbas

text: Close to 90% of voters voted in favour of these propositions. None of them were adopted: Ukraine remained a unitary state, Ukrainian was retained as the sole official language, and the Donbas gained no autonomy. Nevertheless, the Donbas strikers gained many economic concessions from Kyiv, allowing for an alleviation of the economic crisis in the region.


title: Donbas

text: Small strikes continued throughout the 1990s, though demands for autonomy faded. Some subsidies to Donbas heavy industries were eliminated, and many mines were closed by the Ukrainian government because of liberalising reforms pushed for by the World Bank. Leonid Kuchma, who had won the 1994 presidential election with support from the Donbas and other areas in eastern Ukraine, was re-elected as president of Ukraine in 1999. President Kuchma gave economic aid to the Donbas, using development money to gain political support in the region.


title: Donbas

text: Power in the Donbas became concentrated in a regional political elite, known as oligarchs, during the early 2000s. Privatisation of state industries led to rampant corruption. Regional historian Hiroaki Kuromiya described this elite as the "Donbas clan", a group of people that controlled economic and political power in the region. Prominent members of the "clan" included Viktor Yanukovych and Rinat Akhmetov.


title: Donbas

text: A brief attempt at gaining autonomy by pro-Viktor Yanukovych politicians and officials was made in 2004 during the Orange Revolution. The so-called South-East Ukrainian Autonomous Republic was intended to consist out of nine South-Eastern regions of Ukraine. The project was initiated on 26 November 2004 by the Luhansk Oblast Council, and was discontinued the next month by the Donetsk Oblast Council. On 28 November 2004, in Sievierodonetsk, the so-called took place, organised by the supporters of Viktor Yanukovych.


title: Donbas

text: A total of 3,576 delegates from 16 oblasts of Ukraine, Crimea and Sevastopol took part in the congress, claiming to represent over 35 million citizens. Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov and an advisor from the Russian Embassy were present in the presidium. There were calls for the appointment of Viktor Yanukovych as president of Ukraine or prime minister, for declaring of martial law in Ukraine, dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada, creation of self-defence forces, and for the creation of a federative South-Eastern state with its capital in Kharkiv.


title: Donbas

text: Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko, however, stated that no one wanted autonomy, but rather sought to stop the Orange Revolution demonstrations going on at the time in Kyiv and negotiate a compromise. After the Orange Revolution's victory, some of the organisers of the congress were charged with "encroachment upon the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine", but no convictions were made.


title: Donbas

text: In other parts of Ukraine during the 2000s, the Donbas was often perceived as having a "thug culture", as being a "Soviet cesspool", and as "backward". Writing in the "Narodne slovo" newspaper in 2005, commentator Viktor Tkachenko said that the Donbas was home to "fifth columns", and that speaking Ukrainian in the region was "not safe for one's health and life". It was also portrayed as being home to pro-Russian separatism. The Donbas is home to a significantly higher number of cities and villages that were named after Communist figures compared to the rest of Ukraine. Despite this portrayal, surveys taken across that decade and during the 1990s showed strong support for remaining within Ukraine and insignificant support for separatism.


title: Donbas

text: From the beginning of March 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in the Donbas, as part of the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and the Euromaidan movement. These demonstrations, which followed the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and which were part of a wider group of concurrent pro-Russian protests across southern and eastern Ukraine, escalated in April 2014 into a war between the Russian-backed separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR respectively), and the Ukrainian government.


title: Donbas

text: Amid that conflict, the self-proclaimed republics held referendums on the status of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts on 11 May 2014. In the referendums, viewed as illegal by Ukraine and undemocratic by the international community, about 90% voted for the independence of the DPR and LPR.


title: Donbas

text: The initial protests in the Donbas were largely native expressions of discontent with the new Ukrainian government. Russian involvement at this stage was limited to its voicing of support for the demonstrations. The emergence of the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk began as a small fringe group of the protesters, independent of Russian control. This unrest, however, only evolved into an armed conflict because of Russian military backing for what had been a marginal group as part of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The conflict was thus, in the words of historian Hiroaki Kuromiya, "secretly engineered and cleverly camouflaged by outsiders".


title: Donbas

text: There was limited support for separatism in the Donbas before the outbreak of the war, and little evidence of support for an armed uprising. Russian claims that Russian speakers in the Donbas were being persecuted or even subjected to "genocide" by the Ukrainian government, forcing its hand to intervene, were false.


title: Donbas

text: Fighting continued through the summer of 2014, and by August 2014, the Ukrainian "Anti-Terrorist Operation" was able to vastly shrink the territory under the control of the pro-Russian forces, and came close to regaining control of the Russo-Ukrainian border. In response to the deteriorating situation in the Donbas, Russia abandoned what has been called its "hybrid war" approach, and began a conventional invasion of the region. As a result of the Russian invasion, DPR and LPR insurgents regained much of the territory they had lost during the Ukrainian government's preceding military offensive.


title: Donbas

text: Only this Russian intervention prevented an immediate Ukrainian resolution to the conflict. This forced the Ukrainian side to seek the signing of a ceasefire agreement. Called the Minsk Protocol, this was signed on 5 September 2014. As this failed to stop the fighting, another agreement, called Minsk II was signed on 12 February 2015. This agreement called for the eventual reintegration of the Donbas republics into Ukraine, with a level of autonomy. The aim of the Russian intervention in the Donbas was to establish pro-Russian governments that, upon reincorporation into Ukraine, would facilitate Russian interference in Ukrainian politics. The Minsk agreements were thus highly favourable to the Russian side, as their implementation would accomplish these goals.


title: Donbas

text: The conflict led to a vast exodus from the Donbas: half the region's population were forced to flee their homes. A UN OHCHR report released on 3 March 2016 stated that, since the conflict broke out in 2014, the Ukrainian government registered 1.6 million internally displaced people who had fled the Donbas to other parts of Ukraine. Over 1 million were said to have fled elsewhere, mostly to Russia. At the time of the report, 2.7 million people were said to continue to live in areas under DPR and LPR control, comprising about one-third of the Donbas.


title: Donbas

text: Despite the Minsk agreements, low-intensity fighting along the line of contact between Ukrainian government and Russian-controlled areas continued until 2022. Since the start of the conflict there have been 29 ceasefires, each intended to remain in force indefinitely, but none of them stopped the violence.<ref name="tass.com/world/1027270"></ref> This led the war to be referred to as a "frozen conflict".


title: Donbas

text: On 11 January 2017, the Ukrainian government approved a plan to reintegrate the occupied part of the Donbas and its population into Ukraine. The plan would give Russian-backed political entities partial control of the electorate and has been described by "Zerkalo Nedeli" as "implanting a cancerous cell into Ukraine's body." This was never implemented, and was subject to public protest.


title: Donbas

text: A 2018 survey by Sociological Group "Rating" of residents of the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Donbas found that 82% of respondents believed there was no discrimination against Russian-speaking people in Ukraine. Only 11% saw some evidence of discrimination. The same survey also found that 71% of respondents did not support Russia's military intervention to "protect" the Russian-speaking population, with only 9% offering support for that action. Another survey by Rating, conducted in 2019, found that only 23% of those Ukrainians polled supported granting the Donbas autonomous status, whilst 34% supported a ceasefire and "freezing" the conflict, 23% supported military action to recover the occupied Donbas territories, and 6% supported separating these territories from Ukraine.


title: Donbas

text: Russia officially recognised the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics on 21 February 2022, effectively killing the Minsk agreements. Russia subsequently launched a new, full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, which Russian president Vladimir Putin said was intended to "protect" the people of the Donbas from the "abuse" and "genocide" of the Ukrainian government. There is no evidence to support Putin's claims. The DPR and LPR joined Russia's operation; the separatists stated that an operation to capture the entirety of Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast had begun.


title: Donbas

text: According to the 2001 census, ethnic Ukrainians form 58% of the population of Luhansk Oblast and 56.9% of Donetsk Oblast. Ethnic Russians form the largest minority, accounting for 39% and 38.2% of the two oblasts respectively. In the present day, the Donbas is a predominately Russophone region. According to the 2001 census, Russian is the main language of 74.9% of residents in Donetsk Oblast and 68.8% in Luhansk Oblast. The proportion of native Russian-speakers is higher than ethnic Russians because some ethnic Ukrainians and other nationalities also indicate Russian as their mother tongue.


title: Donbas

text: Residents of Russian origin are mainly concentrated in the larger urban centers. Russian became the main language and "lingua franca" in the course of industrialization, boosted by the immigration of many Russians, particularly from Kursk Oblast, to newly founded cities in the Donbas. A subject of continuing research controversies, and often denied in these two oblasts, is the extent of forced emigration and deaths during the Soviet period, which particularly affected rural Ukrainians during the Holodomor which resulted as a consequence of early Soviet industrialization policies combined with two years of drought throughout southern Ukraine and the Volga region.


title: Donbas

text: Nearly all Ukrainian Jews either fled or were murdered in the Holocaust in Ukraine during the German occupation in World War II. The Donbas is about 6% Muslim according to the official censuses of 1926 and 2001.


title: Donbas

text: Prior to the Revolution of Dignity, the politics of the region were dominated by the pro-Russian Party of Regions, which gained about 50% of Donbas votes in the 2008 Ukrainian parliamentary election. Prominent members of that party, such as former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, were from the Donbas.


title: Donbas

text: According to linguist George Shevelov, in the early 1920s the proportion of secondary schools teaching in the Ukrainian language was lower than the proportion of ethnic Ukrainians in the Donbas – even though the Soviet Union had ordered that all schools in the Ukrainian SSR should be Ukrainian-speaking (as part of its Ukrainization policy).


title: Donbas

text: Surveys of regional identities in Ukraine have shown that around 40% of Donbas residents claim to have a "Soviet identity". Roman Horbyk of Södertörn University wrote that in the 20th century, "[a]s peasants from all surrounding regions were flooding its then busy mines and plants on the border of ethnically Ukrainian and Russian territories", "incomplete and archaic institutions" prevented Donbas residents from "acquiring a notably strong modern urban – and also national – new identity".


title: Donbas

text: According to a 2016 survey of religion in Ukraine held by the Razumkov Center, 65.0% of the population in the Donbas believe in Christianity (including 50.6% Orthodox, 11.9% who declared themselves to be "simply Christians", and 2.5% who belonged to Protestant churches). Islam is the religion of 6% of the population of the Donbas and Hinduism of the 0.6%, both the religions with a share of the population that is higher compared to other regions of Ukraine. People who declared to be not believers or believers in some other religions, not identifying in one of those listed, were 28.3% of the population.


title: Donbas

text: The Donbas economy is dominated by heavy industry, such as coal mining and metallurgy. The region takes its name from an abbreviation of the term "Donets Coal Basin" (, ), and while annual extraction of coal has decreased since the 1970s, the Donbas remains a significant producer. The Donbas represents one of the largest coal reserves in Ukraine, with estimated reserves of 60 billion tonnes of coal.


title: Donbas

text: Coal mining in the Donbas is conducted at very deep depths. Lignite mining takes place at around below the surface, whilst mining for the more valuable anthracite and bituminous coal takes place at depths of around . Prior to the start of the region's war in April 2014, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts together produced about 30 percent of Ukraine's exports.


title: Donbas

text: Other industries in the Donetsk region include blast-furnace and steel-making equipment, railway freight-cars, metal-cutting machine-tools, tunneling machines, agricultural harvesters and ploughing systems, railway tracks, mining cars, electric locomotives, military vehicles, tractors and excavators. The region also produces consumer goods like household washing-machines, refrigerators, freezers, TV sets, leather footwear, and toilet soap. Over half its production is exported, and about 22% is exported to Russia.


title: Donbas

text: In mid-March 2017, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on a temporary ban on the movement of goods to and from territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, so since then Ukraine does not buy coal from the Donets Coal Basin.


title: Donbas

text: Shale gas reserves, part of the larger Dnieper–Donets basin, are present in the Donbas, most notably the Yuzivska gas field. In an effort to reduce Ukrainian dependence on Russian gas imports, the Ukrainian government reached an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell in 2012 to develop the Yuzivska field. Shell was forced to freeze operations after the outbreak of war in the region in 2014, and officially withdrew from the project in June 2015.


title: Donbas

text: The coal mines of the Donbas are some of the most hazardous in the world because of the deep depths of mines, as well as frequent methane explosions, coal-dust explosions, rock burst dangers, and outdated infrastructure. Even more hazardous illegal coal mines became very common across the region in the late 2000s.


title: Donbas

text: Intensive coal-mining and smelting in the Donbas have led to severe damage to the local environment. The most common problems throughout the region include:


title: Donbas

text: Additionally, several chemical waste-disposal sites in the Donbas have not been maintained, and pose a constant threat to the environment. One unusual threat is the result of the Soviet-era to test experimental nuclear mining in Yenakiieve. For example, on 16 September 1979, at the Yunkom Mine, known today as the Young Communard mine in Yenakiyeve, a 300kt nuclear test explosion was conducted at 900m to free methane gas or to degasified coal seams into a sandstone oval dome known as the Klivazh [Rift] Site so that methane would not pose a hazard or threat to life. Before Glasnost, no miners were informed of the presence of radioactivity at the mine, however.


title: Donbas

text: The Gross regional product of Donbas was ₴250 billion (7.0 billion EUR) in 2020. Donbas in 2020 generated around 6% of Ukraine GDP.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital, largest city, and one of nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's most populous city and its primate city, with about two million inhabitants (2.9 million within the metropolitan area, nearly one third of the country's population), and its cultural, economic, and political center. It is the 6th-largest city proper by population in the European Union and the largest of all cities on the Danube river.


title: Vienna

text: Until the beginning of the 20th century, Vienna was the largest German-speaking city in the world, and before the splitting of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, the city had two million inhabitants. Today, it is the second-largest German-speaking city after Berlin. Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations, OPEC and the OSCE. The city is located in the eastern part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city center was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In July 2017 it was moved to the list of World Heritage in Danger. Additionally, Vienna is known as the "City of Music" due to its musical legacy, as many famous classical musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart called Vienna home. Vienna is also said to be the "City of Dreams" because it was home to the world's first psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. Vienna's ancestral roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city. It is well known for having played a pivotal role as a leading European music center, from the age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic center of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque palaces and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first (in a tie with Vancouver and San Francisco) for the world's most livable cities. Between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne. Monocle's 2015 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within". Monocle's 2012 "Quality of Life Survey" ranked Vienna fourth on a list of the top 25 cities in the world "to make a base within" (up from sixth in 2011 and eighth in 2010). The UN-Habitat classified Vienna as the most prosperous city in the world in 2012–2013. The city was ranked 1st globally for its culture of innovation in 2007 and 2008, and sixth globally (out of 256 cities) in the 2014 Innovation Cities Index, which analyzed 162 indicators in covering three areas: culture, infrastructure, and markets. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is often used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the world's number-one destination for international congresses and conventions. It attracts over 6.8 million tourists a year.


title: Vienna

text: The English name "Vienna" is borrowed from the homonymous Italian name. The etymology of the city's name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from "vedunia", meaning "forest stream", which subsequently produced the Old High German "uuenia" ("wenia" in modern writing), the New High German "wien" and its dialectal variant "wean".


title: Vienna

text: Others believe that the name comes from the Roman settlement name of Celtic extraction "Vindobona", probably meaning "fair village, white settlement" from Celtic roots, "vindo-", meaning "bright" or "fair" – as in the Irish "fionn" and the Welsh "gwyn" –, and "-bona" "village, settlement". The Celtic word "vindos" may reflect a widespread prehistorical cult of Vindos, a Celtic deity who survives in Irish Mythology as the warrior and seer Fionn mac Cumhaill. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech, Slovak, Polish and Ukrainian names of the city ("Vídeň", "Viedeň", "Wiedeń" and "Відень" respectively) and in that of the city's district Wieden.


title: Vienna

text: Another theory suggests the name comes from the Wends (Old English: Winedas; Old Norse: Vindr; German: Wenden, Winden; Danish: vendere; Swedish: vender; Polish: Wendowie, Czech: Wendové) which is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas.


title: Vienna

text: The name of the city in Hungarian ("Bécs"), Serbo-Croatian ("Beč"; ) and Ottoman Turkish ("Beç") has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city "Dunaj", which in other Central European Slavic languages means the river Danube, on which the city stands.


title: Vienna

text: Evidence has been found of continuous habitation in the Vienna area since 500 BC, when Celts settled the site on the Danube. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the frontier city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north.


title: Vienna

text: Close ties with other Celtic peoples continued through the ages. The Irish monk Saint Colman (or Koloman, Irish "Colmán", derived from "colm" "dove") is buried in Melk Abbey and Saint Fergil (Virgil the Geometer) served as Bishop of Salzburg for forty years. Irish Benedictines founded twelfth-century monastic settlements; evidence of these ties persists in the form of Vienna's great Schottenstift monastery (Scots Abbey), once home to many Irish monks.


title: Vienna

text: In 976, Leopold I of Babenberg became count of the Eastern March, a district centered on the Danube on the eastern frontier of Bavaria. This initial district grew into the duchy of Austria. Each succeeding Babenberg ruler expanded the march east along the Danube, eventually encompassing Vienna and the lands immediately east. In 1145, Duke Henry II Jasomirgott moved the Babenberg family residence from Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria to Vienna. From that time, Vienna remained the center of the Babenberg dynasty.


title: Vienna

text: In 1440, Vienna became the resident city of the Habsburg dynasty. It eventually grew to become the "de facto" capital of the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) in 1437 and a cultural center for arts and science, music and fine cuisine. Hungary occupied the city between 1485 and 1490.


title: Vienna

text: In the 16th and 17th centuries, Christian forces twice stopped Ottoman armies outside Vienna, in the 1529 Siege of Vienna and the 1683 Battle of Vienna. The Great Plague of Vienna ravaged the city in 1679, killing nearly a third of its population.


title: Vienna

text: In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars, Vienna became the capital of the newly formed Austrian Empire. The city continued to play a major role in European and world politics, including hosting the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15. The city also saw major uprisings against Habsburg rule in 1848, which were suppressed. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Vienna remained the capital of what became the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city functioned as a center of classical music, for which the title of the First Viennese School (Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven) is sometimes applied.


title: Vienna

text: During the latter half of the 19th century, Vienna developed what had previously been the bastions and glacis into the Ringstraße, a new boulevard surrounding the historical town and a major prestige project. Former suburbs were incorporated, and the city of Vienna grew dramatically. In 1918, after World War I, Vienna became capital of the Republic of German-Austria, and then in 1919 of the First Republic of Austria.


title: Vienna

text: From the late-19th century to 1938, the city remained a center of high culture and of modernism. A world capital of music, Vienna played host to composers such as Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss. The city's cultural contributions in the first half of the 20th century included, among many, the Vienna Secession movement in art, psychoanalysis, the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Berg, Webern), the architecture of Adolf Loos and the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle. In 1913 Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Josip Broz Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin all lived within a few kilometers of each other in central Vienna, some of them becoming regulars at the same coffeehouses.


title: Vienna

text: Austrians came to regard Vienna as a center of socialist politics, sometimes referred to as "Red Vienna" ("Das rote Wien"). In the Austrian Civil War of 1934 Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss sent the Austrian Army to shell civilian housing such as the Karl Marx-Hof occupied by the socialist militia.


title: Vienna

text: In 1938, after a triumphant entry into Austria, the Austrian-born German Chancellor Adolf Hitler spoke to the Austrian Germans from the balcony of the Neue Burg, a part of the Hofburg at the Heldenplatz. In the ensuing days the new Nazi authorities oversaw the harassment of Viennese Jews, the looting of their homes, and their on-going deportation and murder.<ref name="https://www.nytimes.com/"></ref><ref name="https://www.wien.gv.at/"></ref> Between 1938 (after the Anschluss) and the end of the Second World War in 1945, Vienna lost its status as a capital to Berlin, because Austria ceased to exist and became part of Nazi Germany.


title: Vienna

text: During the November pogroms on November 9, 1938, 92 synagogues in Vienna were destroyed. Only the city temple in the 1st district was spared, as the data of all Jews in Vienna were collected in the adjacent archives. Adolf Eichmann held office in the expropriated Palais Rothschild and organized the expropriation and persecution of the Jews. Of the almost 200,000 Jews in Vienna, around 120,000 were driven to emigrate and around 65,000 were killed. After the end of the war, the Jewish population of Vienna was only about 5,000.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna was also the center of the important resistance group around Heinrich Maier, which provided the Allies with plans for V-1, V-2 rockets, Peenemünde, Tiger tanks, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and other aircraft. The information was important to Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra, both preliminary missions for Operation Overlord. In addition, factory locations for war-essential products were communicated as targets for the Allied Air Force. The group was exposed and most of its members were executed after months of torture by the Gestapo in Vienna. The group around the later executed Karl Burian even tried to blow up the Gestapo headquarters in the Hotel Metropole.


title: Vienna

text: On 2 April 1945, the Soviet Red Army launched the Vienna Offensive against the Germans holding the city and besieged it. British and American air-raids, as well as artillery duels between the Red Army and the SS and Wehrmacht, crippled infrastructure, such as tram services and water- and power-distribution, and destroyed or damaged thousands of public and private buildings. The Red Army was helped by an Austrian resistance group in the German Wehrmacht. The group tried under the code name Radetzky to prevent the destruction and fighting in the city. Vienna fell eleven days later. At the end of the war, Austria again became separated from Germany, and Vienna regained its status as the capital city of the Republic of Austria, but the Soviet hold on the city remained until 1955, when Austria regained full sovereignty.


title: Vienna

text: After the war, Vienna was part of Soviet-occupied Eastern Austria until September 1945. As in Berlin, Vienna in September 1945 was divided into sectors by the four powers: the US, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union and supervised by an Allied Commission. The four-power occupation of Vienna differed in one key respect from that of Berlin: the central area of the city, known as the first district, constituted an "international zone" in which the four powers alternated control on a monthly basis. The control was policed by the four powers on a "de facto" day-to-day basis, the famous "four soldiers in a jeep" method. The Berlin Blockade of 1948 raised Western concerns that the Soviets might repeat the blockade in Vienna. The matter was raised in the UK House of Commons by MP Anthony Nutting, who asked: "What plans have the Government for dealing with a similar situation in Vienna? Vienna is in exactly a similar position to Berlin."


title: Vienna

text: There was a lack of airfields in the Western sectors, and authorities drafted contingency plans to deal with such a blockade. Plans included the laying down of metal landing mats at Schönbrunn. The Soviets did not blockade the city. The Potsdam Agreement included written rights of land access to the western sectors, whereas no such written guarantees had covered the western sectors of Berlin. Also, there was no precipitating event to cause a blockade in Vienna. (In Berlin, the Western powers had introduced a new currency in early 1948 to economically freeze out the Soviets.) During the 10 years of the four-power occupation, Vienna became a hotbed for international espionage between the Western and Eastern blocs. In the wake of the Berlin Blockade, the Cold War in Vienna took on a different dynamic. While accepting that Germany and Berlin would be divided, the Soviets had decided against allowing the same state of affairs to arise in Austria and Vienna. Here, the Soviet forces controlled districts 2, 4, 10, 20, 21, and 22 and all areas incorporated into Vienna in 1938.


title: Vienna

text: Barbed wire fences were installed around the perimeter of West Berlin in 1953, but not in Vienna. By 1955, the Soviets, by signing the Austrian State Treaty, agreed to relinquish their occupation zones in Eastern Austria as well as their sector in Vienna. In exchange they required that Austria declare its permanent neutrality after the allied powers had left the country. Thus they ensured that Austria would not be a member of NATO and that NATO forces would therefore not have direct communications between Italy and West Germany.


title: Vienna

text: The atmosphere of four-power Vienna is the background for Graham Greene's screenplay for the film "The Third Man" (1949). Later he adapted the screenplay as a novel and published it. Occupied Vienna is also depicted in the 1991 Philip Kerr novel, "A German Requiem".


title: Vienna

text: The four-power control of Vienna lasted until the Austrian State Treaty was signed in May 1955. That year, after years of reconstruction and restoration, the State Opera and the Burgtheater, both on the Ringstraße, reopened to the public. The Soviet Union signed the State Treaty only after having been provided with a political guarantee by the federal government to declare Austria's neutrality after the withdrawal of the allied troops. This law of neutrality, passed in late October 1955 (and not the State Treaty itself), ensured that modern Austria would align with neither NATO nor the Soviet bloc, and is considered one of the reasons for Austria's delayed entry into the European Union in 1995.


title: Vienna

text: In the 1970s, Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky inaugurated the Vienna International Center, a new area of the city created to host international institutions. Vienna has regained much of its former international stature by hosting international organizations, such as the United Nations (United Nations Industrial Development Organization, United Nations Office at Vienna and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.


title: Vienna

text: Because of the industrialization and migration from other parts of the Empire, the population of Vienna increased sharply during its time as the capital of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). In 1910, Vienna had more than two million inhabitants, and was the third largest city in Europe after London and Paris. Around the start of the 20th century, Vienna was the city with the second-largest Czech population in the world (after Prague). After World War I, many Czechs and Hungarians returned to their ancestral countries, resulting in a decline in the Viennese population. After World War II, the Soviets used force to repatriate key workers of Czech, Slovak and Hungarian origins to return to their ethnic homelands to further the Soviet bloc economy. The population of Vienna generally stagnated or declined through the remainder of the 20th century, not demonstrating significant growth again until the census of 2000. In 2020, Vienna's population remained significantly below its reported peak in 1916.


title: Vienna

text: Under the Nazi regime, 65,000 Jews were deported and murdered in concentration camps by Nazi forces; approximately 130,000 fled.


title: Vienna

text: By 2001, 16% of people living in Austria had nationalities other than Austrian, nearly half of whom were from former Yugoslavia; the next most numerous nationalities in Vienna were Turks (39,000; 2.5%), Poles (13,600; 0.9%) and Germans (12,700; 0.8%).


title: Vienna

text: , an official report from Statistics Austria showed that more than 660,000 (38.8%) of the Viennese population have full or partial migrant background, mostly from Ex-Yugoslavia, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Romania and Hungary.


title: Vienna

text: From 2005 to 2015 the city's population grew by 10.1%. According to UN-Habitat, Vienna could be the fastest growing city out of 17 European metropolitan areas until 2025 with an increase of 4.65% of its population, compared to 2010.


title: Vienna

text: According to the 2001 census, 49.2% of Viennese were Catholic, while 25.7% were of no religion, 7.8% were Muslim, 6.0% were members of an Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, 4.7% were Protestant (mostly Lutheran), 0.5% were Jewish and 6.3% were either of other religions or did not reply. A 2011 report by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis showed the proportions had changed, with 41.3% Catholic, 31.6% no affiliation, 11.6% Muslim, 8.4% Eastern Orthodox, 4.2% Protestant, and 2.9% other.


title: Vienna

text: Based on information provided to city officials by various religious organizations about their membership, Vienna's Statistical Yearbook 2019 reports in 2018 an estimated 610,269 Roman Catholics, or 32.3% of the population, and 195,000 (10.3%) Muslims, 70,298 (3.7%) Orthodox, 57,502 (3.0%) other Christians, and 9,504 (0.5%) other religions. A study conducted by the Vienna Institute of Demography estimated the 2018 proportions to be 34% Catholic, 30% unaffiliated, 15% Muslim, 10% Orthodox, 4% Protestant, and 6% other religions.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna is the seat of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna, in which is also vested the exempt Ordinariate for Byzantine-rite Catholics in Austria; its Archbishop is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. Many Catholic churches in central Vienna feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung to classical music and organ. Some of Vienna's most significant historical buildings are Catholic churches, including the St. Stephen's Cathedral ("Stephansdom"), Karlskirche, Peterskirche and the Votivkirche. On the banks of the Danube, there is a Buddhist Peace Pagoda, built in 1983 by the monks and nuns of Nipponzan Myohoji.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna is located in northeastern Austria, at the easternmost extension of the Alps in the Vienna Basin. The earliest settlement, at the location of today's inner city, was south of the meandering Danube while the city now spans both sides of the river. Elevation ranges from . The city has a total area of 414.65 square kilometers (160.1 sq mi), making it the largest city in Austria by area.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna has an oceanic climate (Köppen classification "Cfb"). The city has warm summers, with periodical precipitations that can reach its yearly peak in July and August (66.6 and 66.5 mm respectively) and average high temperatures from June to September of approximately , with a record maximum exceeding and a record low in September of . Winters are relatively dry and cold with average temperatures at about freezing point. Spring is variable and autumn cool, with possible snowfalls already in November. Precipitation is generally moderate throughout the year, averaging around annually, with considerable local variations, the Vienna Woods region in the west being the wettest part ( annually) and the flat plains in the east being the driest part ( annually). Snow in winter is common, even if not so frequent compared to the Western and Southern regions of Austria.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna was moved to the UNESCO world heritage in endangered list in 2017. The main reason was a planned high-rise development. The city's social democratic party planned construction of a complex in 2019. The plan includes a -high tower, which was reduced from due to opposition. UNESCO believed that the project "fails to comply fully with previous committee decisions, notably concerning the height of new constructions, which will impact adversely the outstanding universal value of the site." UNESCO set the restriction for the height of the construction in the city center to .


title: Vienna

text: The citizens of Vienna also opposed the construction of the complex because they are afraid of losing UNESCO status and also of encouraging future high-rise development. The city officials replied that they will convince the WHC to maintain UNESCO world heritage status and said that no further high-rise developments are being planned.


title: Vienna

text: UNESCO is concerned about the height of high-rise development in Vienna as it can dramatically influence the visual integrity of the city, specifically the baroque palaces. Visual impact studies are being done in the Vienna city center to assess the level of visual disturbance to visitors and how the changes influenced the city's visual integrity.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna is composed of 23 districts ("Bezirke"). Administrative district offices in Vienna (called Magistratische Bezirksämter) serve functions similar to those in the other Austrian states (called Bezirkshauptmannschaften), the officers being subject to the mayor of Vienna; with the notable exception of the police, which is under federal supervision.


title: Vienna

text: District residents in Vienna (Austrians as well as EU citizens with permanent residence here) elect a District Assembly (Bezirksvertretung). City hall has delegated maintenance budgets, e.g., for schools and parks, so that the districts are able to set priorities autonomously. Any decision of a district can be overridden by the city assembly (Gemeinderat) or the responsible city councilor (amtsführender Stadtrat).


title: Vienna

text: The heart and historical city of Vienna, a large part of today's Innere Stadt, was a fortress surrounded by fields in order to defend itself from potential attackers. In 1850, Vienna with the consent of the emperor annexed 34 surrounding villages, called Vorstädte, into the city limits (districts no. 2 to 8, after 1861 with the separation of Margareten from Wieden no. 2 to 9). Consequently, the walls were razed after 1857, making it possible for the city center to expand.


title: Vienna

text: In their place, a broad boulevard called the Ringstraße was built, along which imposing public and private buildings, monuments, and parks were created by the start of the 20th century. These buildings include the Rathaus (town hall), the Burgtheater, the University, the Parliament, the twin museums of natural history and fine art, and the Staatsoper. It is also the location of New Wing of the Hofburg, the former imperial palace, and the Imperial and Royal War Ministry finished in 1913. The mainly Gothic Stephansdom is located at the center of the city, on Stephansplatz. The Imperial-Royal Government set up the Vienna City Renovation Fund (Wiener Stadterneuerungsfonds) and sold many building lots to private investors, thereby partly financing public construction works.


title: Vienna

text: From 1850 to 1890, city limits in the West and the South mainly followed another wall called "Linienwall" at which a road toll called the "Liniengeld" was charged. Outside this wall from 1873 onwards a ring road called Gürtel was built. In 1890 it was decided to integrate 33 suburbs (called Vororte) beyond that wall into Vienna by 1 January 1892 and transform them into districts no. 11 to 19 (district no. 10 had been constituted in 1874); hence the Linienwall was torn down beginning in 1894. In 1900, district no. 20, Brigittenau, was created by separating the area from the 2nd district.


title: Vienna

text: From 1850 to 1904, Vienna had expanded only on the right bank of the Danube, following the main branch before the regulation of 1868–1875, i.e., the Old Danube of today. In 1904, the 21st district was created by integrating Floridsdorf, Kagran, Stadlau, Hirschstetten, Aspern and other villages on the left bank of the Danube into Vienna, in 1910 Strebersdorf followed. On 15 October 1938 the Nazis created Great Vienna with 26 districts by merging 97 towns and villages into Vienna, 80 of which were returned to surrounding Lower Austria in 1954. Since then Vienna has had 23 districts.


title: Vienna

text: Industries are located mostly in the southern and eastern districts. The Innere Stadt is situated away from the main flow of the Danube, but is bounded by the "Donaukanal" ("Danube canal"). Vienna's second and twentieth districts are located between the Donaukanal and the Danube. Across the Danube, where the Vienna International Center is located (districts 21–22), and in the southern areas (district 23) are the newest parts of the city.


title: Vienna

text: In the twenty years before the First World War and until 1918, Viennese politics were shaped by the Christian Social Party. In particular, long-term mayor Karl Lueger was able to not apply the general voting rights for men introduced by and for the parliament of imperial Austria, the "Reichsrat", in 1907, thereby excluding most of the working class from taking part in decisions. For Adolf Hitler, who spent some years in Vienna, Lueger was a teacher of how to use antisemitism in politics.


title: Vienna

text: Vienna is today considered the center of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ). During the period of the First Republic (1918–1934), the Vienna Social Democrats undertook many social reforms. At that time, Vienna's municipal policy was admired by Socialists throughout Europe, who therefore referred to the city as "Red Vienna" ("Rotes Wien"). In February 1934 troops of the Austrian federal government under Engelbert Dollfuss, who had closed down the first chamber of the federal parliament, the "Nationalrat", in 1933, and paramilitary socialist organizations were engaged in the Austrian Civil War, which led to the ban of the Social Democratic party.


title: Vienna

text: The SPÖ has held the mayor's office and control of the city council/parliament at every free election since 1919. The only break in this SPÖ dominance came between 1934 and 1945, when the Social Democratic Party was illegal, mayors were appointed by the austro-fascist and later by the Nazi authorities. The mayor of Vienna is Michael Ludwig of the SPÖ.


title: Vienna

text: The city has enacted many social democratic policies. The "Gemeindebauten" are social housing assets that are well integrated into the city architecture outside the first or "inner" district. The low rents enable comfortable accommodation and good access to the city amenities. Many of the projects were built after the Second World War on vacant lots that were destroyed by bombing during the war. The city took particular pride in building them to a high standard.