title: Prussia

text: The king died in 1740 and was succeeded by his son, Frederick II, whose accomplishments led to his reputation as "Frederick the Great". As crown prince, Frederick had focused, primarily, on philosophy and the arts. He was an accomplished flute player. In 1740, Prussian troops crossed over the undefended border of Silesia and occupied Schweidnitz. Silesia was the richest province of Habsburg Austria. It signalled the beginning of three Silesian Wars (1740–1763). The First Silesian War (1740–1742) and the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) have, historically, been grouped together with the general European war called the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748). Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI had died on 20 October 1740. He was succeeded to the throne by his daughter, Maria Theresa.


title: Prussia

text: By defeating the Austrian Army at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741, Frederick succeeded in conquering Lower Silesia (the northwestern half of Silesia). In the next year, 1742, he conquered Upper Silesia (the southeastern half). Furthermore, in the third Silesian War (usually grouped with the Seven Years' War) Frederick won a victory over Austria at the Battle of Lobositz on 1 October 1756. In spite of some impressive victories afterward, his situation became far less comfortable the following years, as he failed in his attempts to knock Austria out of the war and was gradually reduced to a desperate defensive war. However, he never gave up and on 3 November 1760 the Prussian king won another battle, the hard-fought Battle of Torgau. Despite being several times on the verge of defeat Frederick, allied with Great Britain, Hanover and Hesse-Kassel, was finally able to hold the whole of Silesia against a coalition of Saxony, the Habsburg monarchy, France and Russia. Voltaire, a close friend of the king, once described Frederick the Great's Prussia by saying "...it was Sparta in the morning, Athens in the afternoon."


title: Prussia

text: Silesia, full of rich soils and prosperous manufacturing towns, became a vital region to Prussia, greatly increasing the nation's area, population, and wealth. Success on the battleground against Austria and other powers proved Prussia's status as one of the great powers of Europe. The Silesian Wars began more than a century of rivalry and conflict between Prussia and Austria as the two most powerful states operating within the Holy Roman Empire (although both had extensive territory outside the empire). In 1744, the County of East Frisia fell to Prussia following the extinction of its ruling Cirksena dynasty.


title: Prussia

text: In the last 23 years of his reign until 1786, Frederick II, who understood himself as the "first servant of the state", promoted the development of Prussian areas such as the Oderbruch. At the same time he built up Prussia's military power and participated in the First Partition of Poland with Austria and Russia in 1772, an act that geographically connected the Brandenburg territories with those of Prussia proper. During this period, he also opened Prussia's borders to immigrants fleeing from religious persecution in other parts of Europe, such as the Huguenots. Prussia became a safe haven in much the same way that the United States welcomed immigrants seeking freedom in the 19th century.


title: Prussia

text: Frederick the Great (reigned 1740–1786) practised enlightened absolutism. He built the world's best army, and usually won his many wars. He introduced a general civil code, abolished torture and established the principle that the Crown would not interfere in matters of justice. He also promoted an advanced secondary education, the forerunner of today's German gymnasium (grammar school) system, which prepares the brightest pupils for university studies. The Prussian education system was emulated in various countries, including the United States.


title: Prussia

text: During the reign of King Frederick William II (1786–1797), Prussia annexed additional Polish territory through the Second Partition of Poland in 1793 and the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. His successor, Frederick William III (1797–1840), announced the union of the Prussian Lutheran and Reformed churches into one church.


title: Prussia

text: Prussia took a leading part in the French Revolutionary Wars, but remained quiet for more than a decade because of the Peace of Basel of 1795, only to go once more to war with France in 1806 as negotiations with that country over the allocation of the spheres of influence in Germany failed. Prussia suffered a devastating defeat against Napoleon Bonaparte's troops in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, leading Frederick William III and his family to flee temporarily to Memel. Under the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, the state lost about one-third of its area, including the areas gained from the second and third Partitions of Poland, which now fell to the Duchy of Warsaw. Beyond that, the king was obliged to pay a large indemnity, to cap his army at 42,000 men, and to let the French garrison troops throughout Prussia, effectively making the Kingdom a French satellite.


title: Prussia

text: In response to this defeat, reformers such as Stein and Hardenberg set about modernising the Prussian state. Among their reforms were the liberation of peasants from serfdom, the Emancipation of Jews and making full citizens of them. The school system was rearranged, and in 1818 free trade was introduced. The process of army reform ended in 1813 with the introduction of compulsory military service for men. By 1813, Prussia could mobilize almost 300,000 soldiers, more than half of which were conscripts of the "Landwehr" of variable quality. The rest consisted of regular soldiers that were deemed excellent by most observers, and very determined to repair the humiliation of 1806.


title: Prussia

text: After the defeat of Napoleon in Russia, Prussia quit its alliance with France and took part in the Sixth Coalition during the "Wars of Liberation" ("Befreiungskriege") against the French occupation. Prussian troops under Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher contributed crucially (alongside the British and Dutch) to the final victory over Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo of June 1815. Prussia's reward in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna was the recovery of her lost territories, as well as the whole of the Rhineland, Westphalia, 40% of Saxony and some other territories. These western lands were of vital importance because they included the Ruhr Area, the centre of Germany's fledgling industrialisation, especially in the arms industry. These territorial gains also meant the doubling of Prussia's population. In exchange, Prussia withdrew from areas of central Poland to allow the creation of Congress Poland under Russian sovereignty. In 1815 Prussia became part of the German Confederation.


title: Prussia

text: The first half of the 19th century saw a prolonged struggle in Germany between liberals, who wanted a united, federal Germany under a democratic constitution, and conservatives, who wanted to maintain Germany as a patchwork of independent, monarchical states with Prussia and Austria competing for influence. One small movement that signalled a desire for German unification in this period was the Burschenschaft student movement, by students who encouraged the use of the black-red-gold flag, discussions of a unified German nation, and a progressive, liberal political system. Because of Prussia's size and economic importance, smaller states began to join its free trade area in the 1820s. Prussia benefited greatly from the creation in 1834 of the German Customs Union (Zollverein), which included most German states but excluded Austria.


title: Prussia

text: In 1848 the liberals saw an opportunity when revolutions broke out across Europe. Alarmed, King Frederick William IV agreed to convene a National Assembly and grant a constitution. When the Frankfurt Parliament offered Frederick William the crown of a united Germany, he refused on the grounds that he would not accept a crown from a revolutionary assembly without the sanction of Germany's other monarchs.


title: Prussia

text: The Frankfurt Parliament was forced to dissolve in 1849, and Frederick William issued Prussia's first constitution by his own authority in 1850. This conservative document provided for a two-house parliament. The lower house, or "Landtag" was elected by all taxpayers, who were divided into three classes whose votes were weighted according to the amount of taxes paid. Women and those who paid no taxes had no vote. This allowed just over one-third of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-to-do men of the population. The upper house, which was later renamed the "Herrenhaus" ("House of Lords"), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces.


title: Prussia

text: In 1862 King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck was determined to defeat both the liberals and conservatives and increase Prussian supremacy and influence among the German states. There has been much debate as to whether Bismarck actually planned to create a united Germany when he set out on this journey, or whether he simply took advantage of the circumstances that fell into place. Bismarck curried support from large sections of the people by promising to lead the fight for greater German unification. He successfully guided Prussia through three wars, which unified Germany and brought William the position of German Emperor.


title: Prussia

text: The Kingdom of Denmark was at the time in personal union with the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, both of which had close ties with each other, although only Holstein was part of the German Confederation. When the Danish government tried to integrate Schleswig, but not Holstein, into the Danish state, Prussia led the German Confederation against Denmark in the First War of Schleswig (1848–1851). Because Russia supported Austria, Prussia also conceded predominance in the German Confederation to Austria in the Punctation of Olmütz in 1850.


title: Prussia

text: In 1863, Denmark introduced a shared constitution for Denmark and Schleswig. This led to conflict with the German Confederation, which authorised the occupation of Holstein by the Confederation, from which Danish forces withdrew. In 1864, Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border between Holstein and Schleswig initiating the Second War of Schleswig. The Austro-Prussian forces defeated the Danes, who surrendered both territories. In the resulting Gastein Convention of 1865 Prussia took over the administration of Schleswig while Austria assumed that of Holstein.


title: Prussia

text: Bismarck realised that the dual administration of Schleswig and Holstein was only a temporary solution, and tensions rose between Prussia and Austria. The struggle for supremacy in Germany then led to the Austro-Prussian War (1866), triggered by the dispute over Schleswig and Holstein, with Bismarck using proposed injustices as the reason for war.


title: Prussia

text: On the Austrian side stood the south German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg), some central German states (including Saxony), and Hanover in the north. On the side of Prussia were Italy, most north German states, and some smaller central German states. Eventually, the better-armed Prussian troops won the crucial victory at the Battle of Königgrätz under Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. The century-long struggle between Berlin and Vienna for the dominance of Germany was now over. As a sideshow in this war, Prussia defeated Hanover in the Battle of Langensalza (1866). While Hanover hoped in vain for help from Britain (as they had previously been in personal union), Britain stayed out of a confrontation with a continental great power and Prussia satisfied its desire for merging the once separate territories and gaining strong economic and strategic power, particularly from the full access to the resources of the Ruhr.


title: Prussia

text: Bismarck desired Austria as an ally in the future, and so he declined to annex any Austrian territory. But in the Peace of Prague in 1866, Prussia annexed four of Austria's allies in northern and central Germany—Hanover, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Nassau and Frankfurt. Prussia also won full control of Schleswig-Holstein. As a result of these territorial gains, Prussia now stretched uninterrupted across the northern two-thirds of Germany and contained two-thirds of Germany's population. The German Confederation was dissolved, and Prussia impelled the 21 states north of the Main River into forming the North German Confederation.


title: Prussia

text: Prussia was the dominant state in the new confederation, as the kingdom comprised almost four-fifths of the new state's territory and population. Prussia's near-total control over the confederation was secured in the constitution drafted for it by Bismarck in 1867. Executive power was held by a president, assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The presidency was a hereditary office of the Hohenzollern rulers of Prussia. There was also a two-house parliament. The lower house, or "Reichstag" (Diet), was elected by universal male suffrage. The upper house, or "Bundesrat" (Federal Council) was appointed by the state governments. The Bundesrat was, in practice, the stronger chamber. Prussia had 17 of 43 votes, and could easily control proceedings through alliances with the other states.


title: Prussia

text: As a result of the peace negotiations, the states south of the Main remained theoretically independent, but received the (compulsory) protection of Prussia. Additionally, mutual defence treaties were concluded. However, the existence of these treaties was kept secret until Bismarck made them public in 1867 when France tried to acquire Luxembourg.


title: Prussia

text: The controversy with the Second French Empire over the candidacy of a Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne was escalated both by France and Bismarck. With his Ems Dispatch, Bismarck took advantage of an incident in which the French ambassador had approached William. The government of Napoleon III, expecting another civil war among the German states, declared war against Prussia, continuing Franco-German enmity. However, honouring their treaties, the German states joined forces and quickly defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Following victory under Bismarck's and Prussia's leadership, Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria, which had remained outside the North German Confederation, accepted incorporation into a united German Empire.


title: Prussia

text: The empire was a "Lesser German" solution (in German, "kleindeutsche Lösung") to the question of uniting all German-speaking peoples into one state, because it excluded Austria, which remained connected to Hungary and whose territories included non-German populations. On 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of King Frederick I), William was proclaimed "German Emperor" (not "Emperor of Germany") in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside Paris, while the French capital was still under siege.


title: Prussia

text: The two decades after the unification of Germany were the peak of Prussia's fortunes, but the seeds for potential strife were built into the Prusso-German political system.


title: Prussia

text: The constitution of the German Empire was a version of the North German Confederation's constitution. Officially, the German Empire was a federal state. In practice, Prussia overshadowed the rest of the empire. Prussia included three-fifths of the German territory and two-thirds of its population. The Imperial German Army was, in practice, an enlarged Prussian army, although the other kingdoms (Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) retained their own small armies. There was at first no navy. The imperial crown was a hereditary office of the House of Hohenzollern, the royal house of Prussia. The prime minister of Prussia was, except for two brief periods (January–November 1873 and 1892–94), also imperial chancellor. But the empire itself had no right to collect taxes directly from its subjects; the only incomes fully under federal control were the customs duties, common excise duties, and the revenue from postal and telegraph services. While all men above age 25 were eligible to vote in imperial elections, Prussia retained its restrictive three-class voting system. This effectively required the king/emperor and prime minister/chancellor to seek majorities from legislatures elected by two different franchises. In both the kingdom and the empire, the original constituencies were never redrawn to reflect changes in population, meaning that rural areas were grossly overrepresented by the turn of the 20th century.


title: Prussia

text: As a result, Prussia and the German Empire were something of a paradox. Bismarck knew that his new German Reich was now a colossus and economically and militarily dominant in Europe; Britain was still dominant in finance and trade. He declared Germany a "satisfied" power, using his talents to preserve peace, for example at the Congress of Berlin. Bismarck did not set up his own party. He had mixed success in some of his domestic policies. His anti-Catholic "Kulturkampf" inside Prussia (and not the wider German state) was a failure. He ended his support for the anticlerical Liberals and worked instead with the Catholic Centre Party. He tried to destroy the socialist movement, with limited success. The large Polish population resisted Germanisation.


title: Prussia

text: Frederick III became emperor in March 1888, after the death of his father, but he died of cancer only 99 days later. At age 29, Wilhelm became Kaiser Wilhelm II after a difficult youth and conflicts with his British mother Victoria, Princess Royal. He turned out to be a man of limited experience, narrow and reactionary views, poor judgment, and occasional bad temper, which alienated former friends and allies.


title: Prussia

text: Prussia nationalised its railways in the 1880s in an effort both to lower rates on freight service and to equalise those rates among shippers. Instead of lowering rates as far as possible, the government ran the railways as a profit-making endeavour, and the railway profits became a major source of revenue for the state. The nationalisation of the railways slowed the economic development of Prussia because the state favoured the relatively backward agricultural areas in its railway building. Moreover, the railway surpluses substituted for the development of an adequate tax system.


title: Prussia

text: Because of the German Revolution of 1918, Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia. Prussia was proclaimed a "Free State" (i.e. a republic, German: "Freistaat") within the new Weimar Republic and in 1920 received a democratic constitution.


title: Prussia

text: Almost all of Germany's territorial losses, specified in the Treaty of Versailles, were areas that had been part of Prussia: Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium; North Schleswig to Denmark; the Memel Territory to Lithuania; the Hultschin area to Czechoslovakia. Many of the areas Prussia annexed in the partitions of Poland, such as the Provinces of Posen and West Prussia, as well as eastern Upper Silesia, went to the Second Polish Republic. Danzig became the Free City of Danzig under the administration of the League of Nations. Also, the Saargebiet was created mainly from formerly Prussian territories except present Saarpfalz district was part of Kingdom of Bavaria. East Prussia became an exclave, only reachable by ship (the Sea Service East Prussia) or by a railway through the Polish corridor.


title: Prussia

text: The German government seriously considered breaking up Prussia into smaller states, but eventually traditionalist sentiment prevailed and Prussia became by far the largest state of the Weimar Republic, comprising 60% of its territory. With the abolition of the older Prussian franchise, it became a stronghold of the left. Its incorporation of "Red Berlin" and the industrialised Ruhr Area, both with working-class majorities, ensured left-wing dominance.


title: Prussia

text: From 1919 to 1932, Prussia was governed by a coalition of the Social Democrats, Catholic Centre and German Democrats; from 1921 to 1925, coalition governments included the German People's Party. Unlike in other states of the German Reich, majority rule by democratic parties in Prussia was never endangered. Nevertheless, in East Prussia and some rural areas, the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler gained more and more influence and popular support, especially from the lower middle class starting in 1930. Except for Catholic Upper Silesia, the Nazi Party in 1932 became the largest party in most parts of the Free State of Prussia. However, the democratic parties in coalition remained a majority, while Communists and Nazis were in the opposition.


title: Prussia

text: The East Prussian Otto Braun, who was Prussian minister-president almost continuously from 1920 to 1932, is considered one of the most capable Social Democrats in history. He implemented several trend-setting reforms together with his minister of the interior, Carl Severing, which were also models for the later Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). For instance, a Prussian minister-president could be forced out of office only if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor. This concept, known as the constructive vote of no confidence, was carried over into the Basic Law of the FRG. Most historians regard the Prussian government during this time as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole.


title: Prussia

text: In contrast to its pre-war authoritarianism, Prussia was a pillar of democracy in the Weimar Republic. This system was destroyed by the "Preußenschlag" ("Prussian coup") of Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen. In this coup d'état, the government of the Reich deposed the Prussian government on 20 July 1932, under the pretext that the latter had lost control of public order in Prussia (during the Bloody Sunday of Altona, Hamburg, which was still part of Prussia at that time) and by using fabricated evidence that the Social Democrats and the Communists were planning a joint "putsch". The Defence Minister General Kurt von Schleicher, who was the prime mover behind the coup manufactured evidence that the Prussian police under Braun's orders were favouring the Communist "Rotfrontkämpferbund" in street clashes with the SA as part of an alleged plan to foment a Marxist revolution, which he used to get an emergency decree from President Paul von Hindenburg imposing "Reich" control on Prussia. Papen appointed himself Reich commissioner for Prussia and took control of the government. The "Preußenschlag" made it easier, only half a year later, for Hitler to take power decisively in Germany, since he had the whole apparatus of the Prussian government, including the police, at his disposal.


title: Prussia

text: After the appointment of Hitler as the new chancellor, the Nazis used the absence of Franz von Papen as an opportunity to appoint Hermann Göring federal commissioner for the Prussian ministry of the interior. The Reichstag election of 5 March 1933 strengthened the position of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP or "Nazi" Party), although they did not achieve an absolute majority.


title: Prussia

text: The Reichstag building having been set on fire a few weeks earlier on 27 February, a new Reichstag was opened in the Garrison Church of Potsdam on 21 March 1933 in the presence of President Paul von Hindenburg. In a propaganda-filled meeting between Hitler and the Nazi Party, the "marriage of old Prussia with young Germany" was celebrated, to win over the Prussian monarchists, conservatives and nationalists and induce them into supporting and subsequently voting in favor of the Enabling Act of 1933.


title: Prussia

text: In the centralised state created by the Nazis in the "Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich" ("", 30 January 1934) and the "Law on Reich Governors" ("Reichsstatthaltergesetz", 30 January 1935) the states were dissolved, in fact if not in law. The federal state governments were now controlled by governors for the Reich who were appointed by the chancellor. Parallel to that, the organisation of the party into districts ("Gaue") gained increasing importance, as the official in charge of a "Gau" (the head of which was called a "Gauleiter") was again appointed by the chancellor who was at the same time chief of the Nazi Party.


title: Prussia

text: This centralising policy went even further in Prussia. From 1934 to 1945, almost all ministries were merged and only a few departments were able to maintain their independence. Hitler himself became formally the governor of Prussia. However, his functions were exercised by Hermann Göring as Prussian prime minister.


title: Prussia

text: As provided for in the "Greater Hamburg Act" ("Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz"), certain exchanges of territory took place. Prussia was extended on 1 April 1937, for instance, by the incorporation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck.


title: Prussia

text: The Prussian lands transferred to Poland after the Treaty of Versailles were re-annexed during World War II. However, most of this territory was not reintegrated back into Prussia but assigned to separate "Gaue" of Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland during much of the duration of the war.


title: Prussia

text: The areas east of the Oder-Neisse line, mainly Eastern Prussia, Western Prussia, and Silesia, were ceded over to Poland and the Soviet Union in 1945 owing to the Treaty of Potsdam between three of the Allies: the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. This included important Prussian cities like Danzig, Königsberg, Breslau, and Stettin. The population fled, mostly to the Western zones, or was driven out.


title: Prussia

text: As part of their wartime goals, the Western allies sought the abolition of Prussia. Stalin was initially content to retain the name, Russians having a different historical view of their neighbour and sometime former ally. Nonetheless, by Law No. 46, which was accepted and implemented by the Allied Control Council on 25 February 1947, Prussia was officially proclaimed to be dissolved.


title: Prussia

text: In the Soviet occupation zone, which became East Germany (officially, the German Democratic Republic) in 1949, the former Prussian territories were reorganised into the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, with the remaining parts of the Province of Pomerania going to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. These states were "de facto" abolished in 1952 in favour of "Bezirke" (districts), but were recreated after German reunification in 1990.


title: Prussia

text: In the Western Zones of occupation, which became West Germany (officially, the Federal Republic of Germany) in 1949, the former Prussian territories were divided up among North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern were later merged with Baden to create the state of Baden-Württemberg. The Saar region, which had been administered by the French as a protectorate separate from the rest of Western Germany, was admitted to the Federal Republic of Germany as a separate state following the 1955 Saar Statute referendum.


title: Prussia

text: One year later, in 1957, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation was established and implemented by federal statutes in West Germany in response to a ruling from the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. The fundamental goal of this institution is protecting the cultural legacy of Prussia. As of 2021, it continues to operate from its headquarters in Berlin.


title: Prussia

text: In the mid-16th century the margraves of Brandenburg had become highly dependent on the Estates (representing counts, lords, knights, and towns, but not prelates, owing to the Protestant Reformation in 1538). The margraviate's liabilities and tax income as well as the margrave's finances were in the hands of the "Kreditwerk", an institution not controlled by the elector, and of the "Großer Ausschuß" ("Great Committee") of the Estates. This was because of concessions made by Elector Joachim II in 1541 in return for financial aid by the estates; however, the "Kreditwerk" went bankrupt between 1618 and 1625. The margraves further had to yield to the veto of the Estates in all issues concerning the "better or worse of the country", in all legal commitments, and in all issues concerning pawn or sale of the elector's real property.


title: Prussia

text: To reduce the influence of the Estates, in 1604, Joachim Frederick created a council called "Geheimer Rat für die Kurmark" ("Privy Council for the Electorate", which instead of the Estates would function as the supreme advisory council for the elector. While the council was permanently established in 1613, it failed to gain any influence until 1651, owing to the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)


title: Prussia

text: Until after the Thirty Years' War, the various territories of Brandenburg-Prussia remained politically independent from each other, connected only by the common feudal superior. Frederick William (ruled 1640–1688), who envisioned the transformation of the personal union into a real union, started to centralise the Brandenburg-Prussian government with an attempt to establish the "Geheimer Rat" as a central authority for all territories in 1651, but this project proved infeasible. Instead, the elector continued to appoint a governor ("Kurfürstlicher Rat") for each territory, who in most cases was a member of the "Geheimer Rat". The most powerful institution in the territories remained the governments of the estates ("Landständische Regierung", named "Oberratsstube" in Prussia and "Geheime Landesregierung" in Mark and Cleves), which were the highest government agencies regarding jurisdiction, finances and administration. The elector attempted to balance the Estates' governments by creating "Amtskammer" chambers to administer and coordinate the elector's domains, tax income and privileges. Such chambers were introduced in Brandenburg in 1652, in Cleves and Mark in 1653, in Pomerania in 1654, in Prussia in 1661 and in Magdeburg in 1680. Also in 1680, the "Kreditwerk" came under the aegis of the elector.


title: Prussia

text: Frederick William I's excise tax ("Akzise"), which from 1667 replaced the property tax raised in Brandenburg for Brandenburg-Prussia's standing army with the Estates' consent, was raised by the elector without consultation with the Estates. The conclusion of the Second Northern War of 1655–1660 had strengthened the elector politically, enabling him to reform the constitution of Cleves and Mark in 1660 and 1661 to introduce officials loyal to him and independent of the local estates. In the Duchy of Prussia he confirmed the traditional privileges of the Estates in 1663, but the latter accepted the caveat that these privileges were not to be used to interfere with the exertion of the elector's sovereignty. As in Brandenburg, Frederick William ignored the privilege of the Prussian Estates to confirm or veto taxes raised by the elector: while in 1656, an "Akzise" was raised with the Estates' consent, the elector by force collected taxes not approved by the Prussian Estates for the first time in 1674. From 1704 the Prussian estates "de facto" relinquished their right to approve the elector's taxes while formally still entitled to do so. In 1682 the elector introduced an "Akzise" to Pomerania and in 1688 to Magdeburg, while in Cleves and Mark an "Akzise" was introduced only between 1716 and 1720. Owing to Frederick William I's reforms, the state income increased threefold during his reign, and the tax burden per subject reached a level twice as high as in France.


title: Prussia

text: Under the rule of Frederick III (I) (in office: 1688–1713), the Brandenburg Prussian territories were "de facto" reduced to provinces of the monarchy. Frederick William's testament would have divided Brandenburg-Prussia among his sons, but his firstborn son Frederick III (I), with the emperor's backing, succeeded in becoming the sole ruler based on the Treaty of Gera of 1599, which forbade a division of Hohenzollern territories. In 1689, a new central chamber for all Brandenburg-Prussian territories was established, called "Geheime Hofkammer" (from 1713: "Generalfinanzdirektorium"). This chamber functioned as a superior agency of the territories' "Amtskammer" chambers. The General War Commissariat ("Generalkriegskommissariat") emerged as a second central agency, superior to the local "Kriegskommissariat" agencies initially concerned with the administration of the army, but before 1712 transformed into an agency also concerned with general tax and police tasks.


title: Prussia

text: The Kingdom of Prussia functioned as an absolute monarchy until the German revolutions of 1848–1849, after which Prussia became a constitutional monarchy and Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg was elected as Prussia's first prime minister ("Ministerpräsident"). Prussia's first constitution dated from 1848. The 1850 Prussian Constitution established a two-chamber parliament. The lower house, or "Landtag" represented all taxpayers, who were divided into three classes according to the amount of taxes paid. This allowed just over 25% of the voters to choose 85% of the legislature, all but assuring dominance by the more well-to-do elements of the population. The upper house (First Chamber or "Erste Kammer"), later renamed the Prussian House of Lords ("Herrenhaus"), was appointed by the king. He retained full executive authority and ministers were responsible only to him. As a result, the grip of the landowning classes, the Junkers, remained unbroken, especially in the eastern provinces. The Prussian Secret Police, formed in response to the German revolutions of 1848–1849, aided the conservative government.


title: Prussia

text: Unlike its authoritarian pre-1918 predecessor, Prussia from 1918 to 1932 was a promising democracy within Germany. The abolition of the political power of the aristocracy transformed Prussia into a region strongly dominated by the left wing of the political spectrum, with "Red Berlin" and the industrial centre of the Ruhr Area exerting major influence. During this period a coalition of centre-left parties ruled, predominantly under the leadership (1920–1932) of East Prussian Social Democrat Otto Braun. While in office Braun implemented several reforms (together with his Minister of the Interior, Carl Severing) that became models for the later Federal Republic of Germany. For instance, a Prussian prime minister could only be forced out of office if there was a "positive majority" for a potential successor. This concept, known as the constructive vote of no confidence, became part of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. Historians regard the Prussian government during the 1920s as far more successful than that of Germany as a whole.


title: Prussia

text: Similar to other German states both now and at the time, executive power remained vested in a Minister-President of Prussia and in laws established by a Landtag elected by the people.


title: Prussia

text: In 1871, Prussia's population numbered 24.69 million, accounting for 60% of the German Empire's population. The population grew rapidly from 45 million in 1880 to 56 million in 1900, thanks to declining mortality, even as birth rates declined. About 6 million Germans, primarily young families migrated to the United States, especially the mid-western farming regions. Their place in agriculture was often taken by young Polish farm workers. In addition, large numbers of Polish miners moved to Upper Silesia and many Germans and Poles moved to industrial jobs in the fast-growing cities especially in the Rhineland and Westphalia. In 1910, the population had increased to 40.17 million (62% of the Empire's population). In 1914, Prussia had an area of 354,490 km. In May 1939 Prussia had an area of 297,007 km and a population of 41,915,040 inhabitants.


title: Prussia

text: The Duchy of Prussia was the first state to officially adopt Lutheranism in 1525. In the wake of the Reformation, Prussia was dominated by two major Protestant confessions: Lutheranism and Calvinism. The majority of the Prussian population was Lutheran, although there were dispersed Calvinist minorities in central and western parts of the state especially Brandenburg, Rhineland, Westphalia and Hesse-Nassau. In 1613, John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Grand Duke of Prussia declared himself for the Calvinist creed and transferred the Berlin Cathedral from the Lutheran to the Calvinist church. Lutherans and Calvinist congregations all over the kingdom were merged in 1817 by the Prussian Union of churches, which came under tight royal control. In Protestant regions, writes Nipperdey:


title: Prussia

text: Prussia received significant Huguenot population after the issuing of the Edict of Fontainebleau by Louis XIV of France and the following dragonnades. Prussian monarchs, beginning with Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg opened the country to the fleeing French Calvinist refugees. In Berlin, they built and worshipped at their own church called the French Cathedral on Gendarmenmarkt. Time passed by, and the French Reformed assimilated into the wider Protestant community in Prussia. East Prussia's southern region of Masuria was mostly made up of Germanised Lutheran Masurians.


title: Prussia

text: After 1814, Prussia contained millions of Catholics in the west and in the east. There were substantial populations in the Rhineland, parts of Westphalia, eastern parts of Silesia, West Prussia, Ermland and the Province of Posen. Communities in Poland were often ethnically Polish, although this is not the case of eastern Silesia as the majority of Catholics there were German. During the 19th-century Kulturkampf, Prussian Catholics were forbidden from fulfilling any official functions for the state and were largely distrusted.


title: Prussia

text: Prussia contained a relatively large Jewish community, which was mostly concentrated in large urban areas. According to the 1880 census, it was the biggest one in Germany with 363,790 individuals.


title: Prussia

text: In 1925, 64.9% of the Prussian population was Protestant, 31.3% was Catholic, 1.1% was Jewish, 2.7% was placed in other religious categories.


title: Prussia

text: In 1871, approximately 2.4 million Poles lived in Prussia, constituting the largest minority. Other minorities were Jews, Danes, Frisians, Dutchmen, Kashubians (72,500 in 1905), Masurians (248,000 in 1905), Lithuanians (101,500 in 1905), Walloons, Czechs, Kursenieki, and Sorbs.


title: Prussia

text: The area of Greater Poland, where the Polish nation had originated, became the Province of Posen after the Partitions of Poland. Poles in this Polish-majority province (62% Polish, 38% German) resisted German rule. Also, the southeast portion of Silesia (Upper Silesia) had a Polish majority. But Catholics and Jews did not have equal status with Protestants.


title: Prussia

text: As a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the Second Polish Republic was granted not only these two areas, but also areas with a German majority in the Province of West Prussia. After World War II, East Prussia, Silesia, most of Pomerania and the eastern part of Brandenburg were either annexed by the Soviet Union or given to Poland, and the German-speaking populations forcibly expelled.


title: Prussia

text: The German states in the 19th century were world leaders in prestigious education and Prussia set the pace. For boys free public education was widely available, and the gymnasium system for elite students was highly professionalized. The modern university system emerged from the 19th century German universities, especially Friedrich Wilhelm University (now named Humboldt University of Berlin). It pioneered the model of the research university with well-defined career tracks for professors. The United States, for example, paid close attention to German models. Families focused on educating their sons. The traditional schooling for girls was generally provided by mothers and governesses. Elite families increasingly favoured Catholic convent boarding schools for their daughters. Prussia's Kulturkampf laws in the 1870s limited Catholic schools thus providing an opening for a large number of new private schools for girls.


title: James Spader

text: James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He has portrayed eccentric characters in films such as the drama "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (1989) for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the action science fiction film "Stargate" (1994), the controversial psychological thriller "Crash" (1996), the erotic romance "Secretary" (2002) and Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" (2012). He also voiced and performed motion-capture of the titular character of Ultron in "" (2015).


title: James Spader

text: His television roles include those of attorney Alan Shore in the last season of "The Practice" (2003–2004) and its spin-off "Boston Legal" (2004–2008) (for which he won three Emmy Awards), and Robert California in the comedy-mockumentary "The Office" (2011–2012). He currently stars as high-profile criminal-turned-FBI-informant Raymond "Red" Reddington in the NBC crime drama "The Blacklist" (2013–present) for which he has earned two Golden Globe Awards nominations.


title: James Spader

text: Spader was born on February 7, 1960, in Boston and is the youngest of three children. His parents, Jean (née Fraser) and Stoddard ("Todd") Greenwood Spader, were both teachers. He has two older sisters, Libby Spader and Annie Spader. According to Spader, he had a very progressive and liberal upbringing. "I was always around dominant and influential women, and that left a great impression". Spader is a sixth-generation descendant of Connecticut politician Seth P. Beers, Co-Founder of American School for the Deaf Laurent Clerc is his 3rd great-grandfather.


title: James Spader

text: During his early education, he attended many private schools, including The Pike School in Andover where his mother taught art, and the Brooks School in North Andover where his father was a teacher. He later transferred to Phillips Academy, befriended former President John F. Kennedy's son John F. Kennedy, Jr., dropped out at the age of seventeen, and moved to New York City to pursue his acting career. While studying to become a full-time actor, Spader undertook jobs including bartending, teaching yoga, driving a meat truck, loading railroad cars, and being a stable boy.


title: James Spader

text: Spader's first major film role was in the film "Endless Love" (1981), and his first starring role was in "Tuff Turf" (1985). He rose to stardom in 1986, when he played the rich, arrogant playboy Steff in "Pretty in Pink". He co-starred in "Mannequin" (1987) and the film adaptation of "Less than Zero" (1987), in which he played a drug dealer named Rip. Supporting roles in films such as "Baby Boom" (1987) and "Wall Street" (1987) followed until his breakthrough in "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (1989), in which he played a sexual voyeur who complicates the lives of three Baton Rouge, Louisiana residents. For this performance he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival.


title: James Spader

text: Spader's roles in the early 1990s included a young, affluent widower opposite Susan Sarandon in the romantic drama "White Palace" (1990), a yuppie who meets the mysterious Rob Lowe in the Noir drama "Bad Influence" (1990), John Cusack's best friend in the drama "True Colors" (1991), and a poker-playing drifter in "The Music of Chance" (1993). In 1994 he starred as Egyptologist Daniel Jackson in the sci-fi film "Stargate". In 1996 he played car accident fetishist James Ballard in the controversial Canadian film "Crash" and assassin Lee Woods in "2 Days in the Valley". In 1997 Spader guest starred in the "Seinfeld" episode "The Apology", as an angry recovering alcoholic who refuses to apologize to George for making fun of him. In 2000 he played a drug-addicted detective tracking a serial killer in "The Watcher". In 2002 he starred as a sadomasochistic boss in "Secretary".


title: James Spader

text: From 2004 to 2008 Spader starred as Alan Shore in the series "Boston Legal", in which he reprised his role from the television series "The Practice" (2002). Longtime writer-producer David E. Kelley said there was resistance when he first tried to cast Spader in the role, "I was told that no one would ever welcome James Spader into their living room". During a TV Game Changers interview Kelley noted, "People will watch him (Spader) in the movies, but they will never let him in their own home."


title: James Spader

text: He won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2004 for his portrayal on "The Practice" and won it again in 2005 and 2007 for "Boston Legal". With the 2005 win, he became one of only a few actors to win an Emmy Award while playing the same character in two series. Even rarer, he won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character in two series. He also won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for "Boston Legal" in 2006.


title: James Spader

text: In October 2006, Spader narrated "China Revealed", the first episode of Discovery Channel's documentary series "Discovery Atlas". He also did voice-over in several television commercials for Acura. He starred in "Race", a play written and directed by David Mamet, which opened on December 6, 2009, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway. The show closed on August 21, 2010, after 297 performances. In March 2011, he was named to star in the film "By Virtue Fall", written and to be directed by Sheldon Turner. , the movie was in pre-production.


title: James Spader

text: Spader guest starred as Robert California in "Search Committee", the season 7 finale of "The Office". On June 27, 2011, it was announced that he would join the cast on a permanent basis. He planned to stay only through the eighth season. While the original plan was just to do the guest appearance, executive producer Paul Lieberstein said: "those two scenes became a season".


title: James Spader

text: Spader stars in the television series, "The Blacklist", which premiered on NBC September 23, 2013. He portrays Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives. He also played villainous robot Ultron in "" (2015).


title: James Spader

text: Spader met his first wife, decorator Victoria Kheel, while working in a yoga studio after he moved to New York City in the 1980s. They married in 1987 and had two sons. Spader filed for divorce from Kheel in 2004. He began dating his former "Alien Hunter" (2003) co-star, Leslie Stefanson, in 2002. They have one son together.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of "The X Factor" and "Got Talent" franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on the British television talent competition series "Pop Idol" (2001–2003), "The X Factor UK" (2004–2010, 2014–2018) and "Britain's Got Talent" (2007–present), and the American television talent competition series "American Idol" (2002–2010), "The X Factor US" (2011–2013), and "America's Got Talent" (2006–present). Cowell is the founder and sole owner of the British entertainment company Syco.


title: Simon Cowell

text: After some success in the 1980s and 1990s as a record producer, talent scout and consultant in the UK music industry, Cowell came to public prominence in 2001 as a judge on "Pop Idol", a talent television show which he and its creator Simon Fuller successfully pitched to ITV Controller of Entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz. In 2004 and 2010, "Time" named Cowell one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2008, "The Daily Telegraph" ranked him sixth in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". The same year, he received the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards. At the 2010 British Academy Television Awards, Cowell received the BAFTA Special Award for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry and for his development of new talent". In 2018, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the television category.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell often makes blunt and controversial comments as a television music and talent show judge, including insults and wisecracks about contestants and their singing abilities. He combines activities in both the television and music industries. Cowell has produced and promoted successful singles and albums for various recording acts whom he has signed and taken under his wing, including Little Mix, James Arthur, Labrinth, Leona Lewis, Fifth Harmony, Il Divo, Olly Murs, Noah Cyrus, Cher Lloyd, Fleur East, and Susan Boyle. He has also signed successful boybands such as Westlife, One Direction, PrettyMuch, and CNCO.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Simon Phillip Cowell was born on 7 October 1959 in Lambeth, London, and raised in Elstree, Hertfordshire. His mother, Julie Brett ("née" Josie Dalglish, 1925–2015), was a ballet dancer and socialite, and his father, Eric Selig Phillip Cowell (1918–1999), was an estate agent, property developer, and music industry executive. Cowell's father was from a mostly Jewish family (his own mother was born in Poland), though he did not discuss his ancestry with his children. Cowell's mother was from a Christian background. He has a younger brother, Nicholas Cowell; three half brothers, John, Tony, and Michael Cowell; and a half sister, June Cowell.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell attended Radlett Preparatory School and the independent Dover College, as did his brother, but left after taking GCE O levels. He passed English Language and Literature and then attended Windsor Technical College, where he gained another GCE in Sociology. Cowell took a few menial jobs—including, according to his brother Tony, working as a runner on Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror film "The Shining"—but did not get along well with colleagues and bosses, until his father, who was an executive at EMI Music Publishing, managed to get him a job in the mail room. However, after failing to get a promotion, he left to try out other jobs before returning to EMI.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In the early 1980s, Cowell left EMI to form E&S Music with his former boss at EMI but quit in 1983. He then formed Fanfare Records with Iain Burton, initially selling exercise videos, and music from acts such as the Italian orchestra Rondò Veneziano. He had his first hit song in 1986 with "So Macho" by Sinitta. Some of Cowell's early success came through Stock Aitken Waterman, who produced a number of hits in the 1980s. However, in 1989 the company went under and he nearly became bankrupt.


title: Simon Cowell

text: He then found a job with BMG as an A&R consultant and set up S Records under BMG. He restarted his career in the music business by creating novelty records with acts such as the puppets Zig and Zag, Power Rangers and World Wrestling Federation. In 1995, through his persistence, he persuaded two actors, Robson Green and Jerome Flynn from the UK television drama series "Soldier Soldier", to sign with him and record the song "Unchained Melody", which they had performed on the show. The recording by the duo, now named Robson & Jerome, quickly reached number 1 in the UK, staying at the top of the chart for seven weeks. It became the best-selling single of 1995, and their self-titled album released later in the year also became the best-selling album of 1995. They released another album and two more singles before disbanding, and sold 7 million albums and 5 million singles in total. According to Cowell, they made him his first million. Later acts he signed included Five, Westlife and Teletubbies.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2001, Cowell was given the role of judge on the first series of "Pop Idol", a show that he and the show creator Simon Fuller successfully pitched to ITV Controller of Entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz. Maggie Brown in "The Guardian" states, "the show became a seminal reality/entertainment format once on air that autumn". Cowell's S Records signed the top two finishers of the first season of "Pop Idol", Will Young and Gareth Gates, both of whom went on to have No 1 UK hits, and they were the top 2 best-selling singles of 2002 and the decade of 2000s. He also became a judge on the first season of "American Idol" in 2002. With his notoriously critical reputation, Cowell has been likened to TV personalities such as Judge Judy and "The Weakest Link" host Anne Robinson. His closest predecessor was British TV critic Nina Myskow who, in the 1980s, became known for her harsh put-downs in "New Faces", a talent show that Cowell cited as an influence. Cowell's prominence grew, fed by his signature phrase, "I don't mean to be rude, but ...", inevitably followed by an unsparingly blunt appraisal of the contestant's talents, personality, or even physical appearance. A lot of these one-liners were the product of coaching that Cowell received from publicist Max Clifford. Cowell also appeared on the one-off "World Idol" programme in 2003, in which it became clear that each country's version of the "Idol" had attempted to come up with its own "Simon Cowell" type personality.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell formed a new company, Syco, in 2005. The company is divided into three units: Syco Music, Syco TV and Syco Film. Cowell returned to music with his latest brainchild signed to Syco, the internationally successful operatic pop group Il Divo, consisting of three opera singers and one pop singer of four different nationalities. Inspired by the success of Il Divo, Simon created a child version, Angelis, beating competition from similar groups emerging at Christmas 2006.


title: Simon Cowell

text: On 11 January 2010, Cowell's exit from "American Idol" was made official. By the time Cowell left "American Idol", the show was on its seventh consecutive season in its leadership among all primetime programmes in the United States, even lasting up to 2011 in the longest winning streak in the US overall viewership and demographics in the Nielsen ratings. The 2010 season was Cowell's last on the show, and he was replaced by Steven Tyler. It was also announced that FOX had acquired the rights to "The X Factor USA", an American version of British show "The X Factor" that launched in 2011.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2004, with Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, Cowell was a judge on the first series of the British television music competition "The X Factor", which he created using his production company, Syco TV. "The X Factor" was an instant success with the viewers and enjoyed its tenth series in 2013.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Leona Lewis, the winner of the third series of "The X Factor", was signed to Cowell's label Syco and has had number one singles and album sales around the world. Cowell returned for a fourth series on 18 August 2007 alongside Osbourne, Walsh and new judge, Dannii Minogue. Walsh had previously been sacked from the judging panel by Cowell for the fourth series, and he was subsequently replaced by Brian Friedman, who was a judge on "Grease Is the Word". Walsh was later brought back by Cowell a week into the auditions when he and Osbourne realised that they missed Walsh and that without him, there was no chemistry between the judges. Cowell returned for the fifth series in 2008, with Walsh, Minogue, and new judge Cheryl Cole, as Osbourne had decided to quit before the show began. Cowell returned for series 6 and 7 as well, although series 7 was to be his last, as he left in 2011 in order to launch "The X Factor" in America. After placing third in the seventh series of "The X Factor" in the UK, boyband One Direction signed to Cowell's label in 2011, and the group has gone on to top singles and album charts worldwide. Cowell was replaced by Gary Barlow. In 2011, UK series eight winners Little Mix signed to Cowell's label. The girl group has sold 50 million records worldwide.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Australian "The X Factor" launched in 2005 on Network Ten, and it featured Mark Holden, Kate Ceberano and John Reid as the show's judges, but it was cancelled after just one season due to poor ratings. However, the show returned in 2010 and performed strongly on the Seven Network until its eighth season in 2016, when its ratings declined. Subsequently, the show was axed for a second time in January 2017.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell also launched American "The X Factor" in September 2011 on American broadcaster Fox. It was originally announced that he would be a judge both on the UK and US editions of the show, which aired at similar times of the year, but MTV officially reported on 17 April 2011 that this was not true. Cowell was no longer to be a judge on the UK version, but he would remain a major presence backstage. He was joined by Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid, Nicole Scherzinger and formerly Cheryl Cole. Cowell's act Melanie Amaro won the season, making Cowell the winning judge. Cowell and Reid returned for season 2, while Demi Lovato and Britney Spears joined the judging panel as replacements for Abdul and Scherzinger. This season launched another of Cowell's acts into worldwide fame, the group Fifth Harmony.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell returned for a third season of "The X Factor" in September 2013 alongside Demi Lovato, while Britney Spears and L.A. Reid announced they would not be returning and were replaced by Paulina Rubio and Kelly Rowland. Cowell's last act Alex & Sierra won the season, marking Cowell's second season as the winning mentor after he won with Melanie Amaro in 2011.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In October 2010, Cowell signed new three-year deals with ITV for both "Britain's Got Talent" and "The X Factor", retaining them until 2013. On 15 November 2013, the three-year deal was extended by another three years, keeping it on air until 2016.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In October 2013, it was reported that Cowell might return to the UK version of "The X Factor" for series 11 in place of Gary Barlow, and on 7 February 2014, his return was officially confirmed. This resulted in the cancellation of the US version after three seasons by Fox. He joined judges Louis Walsh, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, who replaced Sharon Osbourne, and new judge, former Spice Girls member Mel B, who replaced Nicole Scherzinger. For his eighth series, he was given the Over 25s category. On 13 December, Ben Haenow and Fleur East reached the final two, which meant that Cowell was the winning mentor for the first time since series 3 2006, when he had both Leona Lewis and Ray Quinn in the final. Ben Haenow became the eleventh winner on 14 December. In 2015, Cowell returned to the "X Factor" for its twelfth series, along with veteran judge Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and newcomers Rita Ora and BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In December 2020 it was announced that Cowell will be a judge on "The X Factor Israel" in 2021. In late May 2021, Cowell announced he will be cancelling his appearance on the show in context of the Israeli aggression against Gaza.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Following the success of the "Idol" and "X Factor" franchises, Cowell, his company Syco, and its business partners developed a talent show format open to performers of any kind, not only singers, but also dancers, instrumentalists, magicians, comedians, novelty acts, and so on. The origins of the "Got Talent" format can be traced to the British talent shows "Opportunity Knocks" (on screen from 1956, with the winner using the now-standard method of a telephone vote) and "New Faces". Immensely popular with weekly audiences of 20 million, "Opportunity Knocks" showcased singers, dancers and comedians in addition to non standard performers such as acrobats, animal acts and novelty acts. Cowell states, "I was a fan of variety shows "Opportunity Knocks" and "New Faces", and to be able to update that tradition, really was a buzz".


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell is the executive producer of "America's Got Talent", which debuted in June 2006, along with Fremantle producers of the "Idol" series. The show was a huge success for NBC, drawing around 12 million viewers a week and beating "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox (produced by rival and "Idol" creator Simon Fuller).


title: Simon Cowell

text: "Britain's Got Talent" debuted on ITV in June 2007. Cowell appeared as a judge alongside Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. The show was a ratings success, and second and third seasons followed in 2008 and 2009. The third series featured a publicity coup when Susan Boyle made a global media impact comparable to that of any previous talent show series winner with her regional audition performance. In December 2019, Cowell signed a five-year deal with ITV ensuring "Britain's Got Talent" will stay on the channel until 2024.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2014, "Got Talent" was named the world's most successful reality TV format by "Guinness World Records", with spin-offs in over 68 countries. Cowell stated, “I am very proud that "Got Talent" is a home grown British show. We owe its success to a group of very talented producers all over the world who have made this happen. And of course amazing talent.”


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2015, Cowell launched "La Banda", his first US show since his stint with American "The X Factor". The show, designed to find male singers to form the "ultimate Latino Boy Band," launched on Univision in the US on 13 September 2015. The winner of the show, boy band CNCO, signed to Cowell's record label Syco Music.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell was announced as the replacement for Howard Stern on "America's Got Talent" on 22 October 2015. On 15 July 2020, it was announced that Cowell had bought out Sony Music from their joint venture, Syco Entertainment.


title: Simon Cowell

text: On 16 March 2006, "American Inventor" debuted on ABC. Cowell co-produced the show with British entrepreneur Peter Jones, who had devised the concept. Fledgling entrepreneurs from across the United States competed to see who could come up with the best new product concept. The 2006 winner, Janusz Liberkowski, received $1 million and the opportunity to develop his idea into a business. The show returned one more time in 2007 for a second season.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2006, Cowell executive-produced "Celebrity Duets", which was described as "an Idol show for Hollywood superstars." The show was hosted by Wayne Brady, and its judges were Marie Osmond, Little Richard, and David Foster.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell was also the executive producer of "Grease Is the Word" for ITV. This show set out to find performers to play Danny and Sandy in the 2007 West End revival of Grease. It was hosted by Zoë Ball and judged by Britons David Ian and Sinitta and Americans David Gest and Brian Friedman. The musical theatre casting concept had already been introduced by the BBC with the ratings hit "How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?", but Cowell's show was not the hoped-for success. He himself said, "It has been slaughtered by the critics – and rightly so. It is far too similar to our other formats."


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell collaborated with UK production company Shed Media to produce 2008 ITV drama series "Rock Rivals", which is based on an "X Factor" type show. In 2011, Cowell also created his first game show, titled "Red or Black?" and hosted by Ant & Dec, for ITV. Series 1 was broadcast from 3 to 10 September. The show was recommissioned by ITV for a second series in 2012, which aired weekly.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2013, Cowell, in partnership with YouTube, launched a video-sharing competition called "The You Generation". In 2013, Simon was executive producer for ITV cookery series "Food Glorious Food", which was hosted by Carol Vorderman. He did the same for a game show called "Keep it in the Family", presented by Bradley Walsh in 2016.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2018, it was announced that Cowell created his first show to air on the BBC, titled "The Greatest Dancer", which debuted on 5 January 2019. In the show, dancers competed for a £50,000 and a performance on the BBC's "Strictly Come Dancing". A second series is scheduled to air in 2020.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In April 2020, Cowell judged a spin-off version of the former show "Canada's Got Talent" called "Canadian Family's Got Talent", carried out virtually by Canadian broadcaster Citytv during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell has been involved in charity work for many years. He is a patron of Together for Short Lives, the leading UK charity for all children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. He was patron of Children's Hospices UK between 2009 and 2011 before it merged to become Together for Short Lives. He donated money to Manchester Dogs' Home in England after it was hit by a large fire. In view of his charitable works, particularly the production of the charity single "Everybody Hurts" in aid of victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as well as his services to the music industry, there was considerable media speculation as to whether Cowell would receive a knighthood in the Queen's 2010 Birthday Honours, a proposal allegedly put forward by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In November 2003, Cowell appeared on the charity telethon "Children in Need" where viewers pledged thousands to see him get sawn in half. In December 2003, Cowell published his autobiography titled "I Don't Mean to be Rude, but...". In it, he told the whole story of his childhood, his years working in music and experiences on "Pop Idol", "Pop Stars Rivals", and "American Idol", and finally, his tips for being successful as a pop star. In 2010, he was added as a new entry to the latest edition of the UK's "Who's Who".


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell has appeared as a guest voice in an episode of "The Simpsons" ("Smart and Smarter"), in which he gets beaten up by Homer Simpson (while criticising Homer's punches). In May 2010, he portrayed himself again in an episode of "The Simpsons", "Judge Me Tender". His voice was heard on an episode of "Family Guy" ("Lois Kills Stewie"), in which he told Stewie that his singing was so awful that he should be dead. He made an MTV Movie Award-winning cameo appearance as himself in "Scary Movie 3", where he sits in judgment during a battle rap (and is subsequently killed by gunfire for criticising the rappers). He appears in the DVD version of "Shrek 2" as himself in "Far Far Away Idol" and also provided the voice.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell was once the fastest "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" on BBC's motoring show "Top Gear", driving a Suzuki Liana around the show's test track in a time of 1:47.1. When "Top Gear" retired the Liana along with its rankings after the eighth series, Cowell was the eighth fastest overall and the third fastest non-professional driver. On 11 November 2007 Cowell yet again appeared on "Top Gear", achieving a time of 1:45.9 thus putting him ahead of chef Gordon Ramsay and back at the top of the table. His time of 1:45.9 was then tied with English rock singer Brian Johnson of AC/DC and "Grand Designs" host Kevin McCloud for the second fastest time, just 0.1 seconds behind Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay. In March 2015, Cowell backed "Top Gear" presenter Jeremy Clarkson after he was suspended by the BBC for punching a colleague, with Cowell stating on "Good Morning Britain": "He's apologised. But I think what is quite obvious is that the public are behind him, but you know, that's Jeremy."


title: Simon Cowell

text: He appeared on an episode of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" (the original British version) and "Saturday Night Live" in 2004. Cowell has also guest-starred (filling in for Regis Philbin) in the popular talk show "Live with Regis and Kelly" during "American Idol"'s finalist week in early 2006. Cowell introduced entertainer Dick Clark at the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards. He was seen on the British charity telethon Comic Relief, appearing on "Comic Relief Does The Apprentice" where he donated £25,000 for a fun fair ticket. Cowell has also appeared on the MTV shows "Cribs" and "Punk'd". On "Punk'd", Ryan Seacrest and Randy Jackson set him up to believe his $400,000 Rolls Royce was stolen and had caused an accident by using a nearly identical car.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell was a partner in the Royal Ascot Racing Club, a thoroughbred horse racing syndicate which owned the 2005 Epsom Derby winner, Motivator. Cowell was chosen as the first subject of the re-launched "This Is Your Life", in an episode broadcast on 2 June 2007. He was presented with the Red Book by Sir Trevor McDonald while presenting "American Idol".


title: Simon Cowell

text: On 1 July 2007, Cowell appeared as a speaker at the Concert for Diana (alongside Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest) held at Wembley Stadium, London, to celebrate the life of Princess Diana almost 10 years after her death. Proceeds from the concert went to Diana's charities as well as to charities of which her sons Princes William and Harry are patrons.


title: Simon Cowell

text: At the 2012 Pride of Britain Awards on 30 October, Cowell, along with Michael Caine, Elton John, Richard Branson and Stephen Fry, recited Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—" in tribute to the 2012 British Olympic and Paralympics athletes. In October 2013 Cowell took part in a fundraising event in Los Angeles in support of the Israeli Defense Forces. The event raised $20 million and Cowell made a personal donation of $150,000.


title: Simon Cowell

text: To raise money for the families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017 and for The London Community Foundation, Cowell arranged the recording and release of a charity single "Bridge over Troubled Water". Cowell collaborated with a number of vocalists for the single, including Robbie Williams, Dua Lipa, Roger Daltrey and Rita Ora, and the song reached number one in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Simon Cowell

text: Cowell dated English presenter Terri Seymour from 2002 to 2008. Cowell was engaged to make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy from 2010 to 2011. In 2013, Cowell allegedly began dating an American woman named Lauren Silverman. In July 2013, Silverman's husband and Cowell's friend, Andrew Silverman, filed for an at-fault divorce, citing adultery by his wife and naming Cowell as a co-respondent. News of the divorce filing became public two weeks later, when it was widely reported that Silverman and Cowell were expecting a baby together. Cowell said, "There are a lot of things I will eventually clear up when the time is right, but I really have to be sensitive because there's a lot of people's feelings involved here." The Silvermans released separate statements expressing concern for the well-being of their son during the divorce process. In August 2013, the Silvermans settled their divorce out of court, enabling Cowell to avoid being called as a witness in the divorce proceedings. He subsequently confirmed that Silverman was pregnant with his child, and she gave birth to their son on 14 February 2014. The couple confirmed their engagement in January 2022.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2010, Cowell came out in support for then Conservative Party leader David Cameron for Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, writing in "The Sun": "I believe he is the Prime Minister Britain needs at this time. He has substance and the stomach to navigate us through difficult times." In 2013, Cowell contravened his previous statement about David Cameron. According to the interview while he has supported candidates, he has never voted in an election. An opponent of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union (Brexit), Cowell came out in support of Remain in the 2016 EU referendum.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2019, Cowell became a vegan after doctors advised him to change his diet for health reasons. He was also named one of the wealthiest people in the UK by the "Sunday Times Rich List", Cowell was worth £385 million in 2019.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2020, Cowell announced he would be writing a seven-book series titled "Wishfits" with his son. The series is scheduled to launch in 2023. On 8 August 2020, Cowell broke his back after he fell off his new electric motorcycle which many press sources confused with an electric bike. The incident occurred while he was testing it at his home in Malibu, California. Cowell was taken to the hospital, where he underwent back surgery overnight. After the accident, he began eating animal-based food again in order to "rebuild his strength". In February 2022, Cowell tested positive for COVID-19.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2004 and 2010, "Time" magazine named Cowell one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2008 he received the Special Recognition Award (presented to him by Andrew Lloyd Webber) at the National Television Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall. "New Statesman" listed Cowell at number 41 in a list of "50 People who Matter [in] 2010". "TV Guide" named him at number 10 in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.


title: Simon Cowell

text: In 2012, Cowell was featured in the BBC Radio 4 series "The New Elizabethans" to mark the diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. A panel of seven academics, journalists and historians named Cowell among the group of people in the UK "whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character". Cowell was announced to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 22 August 2018, in the Television category.


title: KFC

text: KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 22,621 locations globally in 150 countries . The chain is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains.


title: KFC

text: KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders (1890–1980), an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Sanders identified the potential of the restaurant franchising concept and the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Utah in 1952. KFC popularized chicken in the fast-food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the established dominance of the hamburger. By branding himself as "Colonel Sanders", Harland became a prominent figure of American cultural history and his image remains widely used in KFC advertising to this day. However, the company's rapid expansion overwhelmed the aging Sanders and he sold it to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey in 1964.


title: KFC

text: KFC was one of the first American fast-food chains to expand internationally, opening outlets in Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Jamaica by the mid-1960s. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it experienced mixed fortunes domestically, as it went through a series of changes in corporate ownership with little or no experience in the restaurant business. In the early 1970s, KFC was sold to the spirits distributor Heublein, which was taken over by the R. J. Reynolds food and tobacco conglomerate; that company sold the chain to PepsiCo. The chain continued to expand overseas, however, and in 1987 it became the first Western restaurant chain to open in China. It has since expanded rapidly in China, which is now the company's single largest market. PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as Tricon Global Restaurants, which later changed its name to Yum! Brands.


title: KFC

text: KFC's original product is pressure-fried chicken pieces, seasoned with Sanders' signature recipe of "11 herbs and spices". The constituents of the recipe are a trade secret. Larger portions of fried chicken are served in a cardboard "bucket", which has become a feature of the chain since it was first introduced by franchisee Pete Harman in 1957. Since the early 1990s, KFC has expanded its menu to offer other chicken products such as chicken fillet sandwiches and wraps, as well as salads and side dishes such as French fries and coleslaw, desserts and soft drinks; the latter often supplied by PepsiCo. KFC is known for its slogans "It's Finger Lickin' Good!", "Nobody does chicken like KFC" and "So good".


title: KFC

text: Harland Sanders was born in 1890 and raised on a farm outside Henryville, Indiana (near Louisville, Kentucky). When Sanders was 5 years old, his father died, forcing his mother to work at a canning plant. This left Sanders, as the eldest son, to care for his two younger siblings. After he reached 7 years of age, his mother taught him how to cook. After leaving the family home at the age of 13, Sanders passed through several professions with mixed success.


title: KFC

text: In 1930, Sanders took over a Shell filling station on US Route 25 just outside North Corbin, Kentucky, a small town on the edge of the Appalachian Mountains. It was here that he first served to travelers the recipes that he had learned as a child: fried chicken and other dishes such as steaks and country ham. After four years of serving from his own dining room table, Sanders purchased the larger filling station on the other side of the road and expanded to six tables. By 1936, this had proven successful enough for Sanders to be given the honorary title of Kentucky Colonel by Governor Ruby Laffoon. In 1937 he expanded his restaurant to 142 seats and added a motel he purchased across the street, naming it Sanders Court & Café.


title: KFC

text: Sanders was unhappy with the 35 minutes it took to prepare his chicken in an iron frying pan, but he refused to deep fry the chicken, which he believed lowered the quality of the product. If he pre-cooked the chicken in advance of orders, there was sometimes wastage at day's end. In 1939, the first commercial pressure cookers were released onto the market, mostly designed for steaming vegetables. Sanders bought one and modified it into a pressure fryer, which he then used to fry chicken. The new method reduced production time to be comparable with deep frying while, in the opinion of Sanders, retaining the quality of pan-fried chicken.


title: KFC

text: In July 1940, Sanders finalised what came to be known as his "Original Recipe" of 11 herbs and spices. Although he never publicly revealed the recipe, he said the ingredients included salt and pepper and that the rest "stand on everybody's shelf". After being recommissioned as a Kentucky Colonel in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby, Sanders began to dress the part, growing a goatee, wearing a black frock coat (later switched to a white suit) and a string tie and referring to himself as "the Colonel". His associates went along with the title change, "jokingly at first and then in earnest", according to biographer Josh Ozersky.


title: KFC

text: In 1952, Sanders franchised his recipe to his friend Pete Harman of South Salt Lake, Utah, the operator of one of the city's largest restaurants. The Sanders Court & Café generally served travelers, so when the route planned in 1955 for Interstate 75 bypassed Corbin, Sanders sold his properties and traveled the US to franchise his recipe to restaurant owners. Independent restaurants would pay four (later five) cents on each chicken as a franchise fee in exchange for Sanders' recipe and the right to feature it on their menus and use his name and likeness for promotional purposes.


title: KFC

text: Don Anderson, a sign painter hired by Harman, coined the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken". For Harman, the addition of KFC was a way of differentiating his restaurant from competitors; a product from Kentucky was exotic and evoked imagery of Southern hospitality. Harman trademarked the phrase "It's finger lickin' good", which eventually became the company slogan. He also introduced the "bucket meal" in 1957 (14 pieces of chicken, five bread rolls and a pint of gravy in a cardboard bucket). Serving their signature meal in a paper bucket was to become an iconic feature of the company.


title: KFC

text: By 1963, there were 600 KFC restaurants, making the company the largest fast food operation in the United States. KFC popularized chicken in the fast food industry, diversifying the market by challenging the dominance of the hamburger.


title: KFC

text: Pat Grace met with Saunders at his holiday home in near Toronto and agreed to franchise the brand in Ireland. In 1970 Grace returned to Ireland after a number of years in Canada to open his first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in Phibsboro shopping centre in Dublin. Eventually he opened another six restaurants located in Dublin, Limerick and Cork. After disagreements over cost cutting with KFC management in the early 1980s, the Irish restaurants were renamed to Pat Grace's Famous Fried Chicken reportedly retaining the original recipe. These stores were closed in the late 1980s. Pat Grace went on to wholesale the chicken spice blend under the brand Grace’s Perfect Blend.


title: KFC

text: In 1964, Sanders sold KFC to a group of investors led by John Y. Brown Jr. and Jack C. Massey for US$2 million (around US$17 million in 2020). The contract included a lifetime salary for Sanders and the agreement that he would be the company's quality controller and trademark. The chain had reached 3,000 outlets in 48 countries by 1970. In July 1971, Brown sold the company to the Connecticut-based Heublein, a packaged food and drinks corporation, for US$285 million (around US$1.8 billion in 2020). Sanders died in 1980, his promotional work making him a prominent figure in American cultural history. By the time of his death, there were an estimated 6,000 KFC outlets in 48 countries worldwide, with $2 billion worth of sales annually.


title: KFC

text: In 1982, Heublein was acquired by R. J. Reynolds, the tobacco giant. In July 1986, Reynolds announced the sale of KFC to PepsiCo for $850 million (around US$2.0 billion in 2020). The actual sale took place in early October for $840 million. PepsiCo made the chain a part of its restaurants division alongside Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. KFC entered the Chinese market in November 1987, with an outlet in Beijing.


title: KFC

text: In 1991, the KFC name was officially adopted, although it had already been widely known by that initialism. Kyle Craig, president of KFC U.S., admitted the change was an attempt to distance the chain from the unhealthy connotations of "fried". The early 1990s saw a number of successful major product launches, including spicy "Hot Wings" (launched in 1990), popcorn chicken (1992) and, internationally, the "Zinger", a spicy chicken fillet sandwich (1993). By 1994 KFC had 5,149 outlets in the US and 9,407 overall, with over 100,000 employees. In August 1997, PepsiCo spun off its restaurants division as a public company valued at US$4.5 billion (around US$7.3 billion in 2020). The new company was named Tricon Global Restaurants and, at the time, had 30,000 outlets and annual sales of US$10 billion (around US$16 billion in 2020), making it second in the world only to McDonald's. Tricon was renamed Yum! Brands in May 2002.


title: KFC

text: By 2015, KFC was struggling, having lost business to other retailers and being surpassed by Chick-fil-A as the leading chicken retailer in the US three years previously. The company launched a new initiative with a plan to revamp its packaging, decor and uniforms and expand its menu. Additionally, beginning in May 2015, a new series of US advertisements was launched featuring Darrell Hammond as Colonel Sanders. In a planned rotation of actors, Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, George Hamilton and Rob Riggle portrayed Sanders in similar ads through the fall of 2016. In January 2018, country music icon Reba McEntire played the first female Colonel Sanders.


title: KFC

text: Before leaving as CEO in 2021, Andrea Zahumensky told "Ad Age" the "brand assets that we're so lucky to have" were the bucket, the three stripes and the full name Kentucky Fried Chicken. All of these were being used more by the chain.


title: KFC

text: KFC is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, one of the largest restaurant companies in the world. KFC had sales of $23 billion in 2013. KFC is incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law, and has its headquarters at 1441 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, Kentucky, in a three-story colonial style building known colloquially as the "White House" due to its resemblance to the US president's home. The headquarters contain executive offices and the company's research and development facilities.


title: KFC

text: KFC's core product offering is pressure fried on-the-bone chicken pieces seasoned with Colonel Harland Sanders' "Original Recipe" of 11 herbs and spices. The product is typically available in either two- or three-piece individual servings or in a family size cardboard bucket typically holding between six and 16 chicken pieces. In territories that follow the system handed down by Colonel Sanders, such as Canada and the UK, each chicken is divided into nine different cuts (two drumsticks, two thighs, two wings, two breast pieces and one keel); however, the United States now uses an eight-piece cut. The product is hand-breaded at individual KFC outlets with wheat flour mixed with seasoning in a two- to four-minute process. It is then pressure fried for between seven and 10 minutes (the timing differs between countries) in oil at 185 degrees Celsius. Following this, the chicken is left to stand for 5 minutes in order for it to sufficiently cool before it is placed in the warming oven. It is KFC policy to discard chicken if it has not been sold within 90 minutes in order to ensure freshness. The frying oil varies regionally and versions used include sunflower, soybean, rapeseed and palm oil. A KFC executive stated that the taste of the chicken will vary between regions depending on the oil variety used and whether the chicken has been corn-fed or wheat-fed.


title: KFC

text: As well as its core chicken on the bone offering, KFC's major products include chicken sandwiches (including the Zinger and the Tower); wraps ("Twisters" and "Boxmasters"); and a variety of finger foods, including crispy chicken strips and hot wings. Popcorn chicken, which consists of bite-sized pieces of fried chicken, is one of the most widely available KFC products. In some locations, such as in Australia, Belarus, Malaysia and South Africa, chicken nuggets are also sold.


title: KFC

text: McCormick & Company is KFC's largest supplier of sauces, seasonings and marinades and is a long-term partner in new product development.


title: KFC

text: Due to the company's previous relationship with PepsiCo, most territories supply PepsiCo products, but exceptional territories include Barbados, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia (since 2019), Singapore (since 2022) and Malaysia (since 2022) which stock drinks supplied by The Coca-Cola Company, and Aruba, which stocks RC Cola from the Cott Corporation. In Peru, the locally popular Inca Kola is sold.


title: KFC

text: Launched in 2009, the Krusher/Krushem range of frozen beverages containing "real bits" such as Kit Kat, Oreo and strawberry shortcake is available in over 2,000 outlets. Egg custard tart is a popular dessert worldwide, but other items include ice cream sundaes and tres leches cake in Peru.


title: KFC

text: In 2012, the "KFC AM" breakfast menu began to be rolled out internationally, including such items as pancakes, waffles and porridge, as well as fried chicken.


title: KFC

text: Sanders' Original Recipe of "11 herbs and spices" is one of the best known trade secrets in the catering industry. The recipe is not patented, because patent law requires public disclosure of an invention and provides protection only for a strictly limited term, whereas trade secrets can remain the intellectual property of their holders in perpetuity.


title: KFC

text: A copy of the recipe, signed by Sanders, is held inside a safe inside a vault in KFC's Louisville headquarters, along with 11 vials containing the herbs and spices. To maintain the secrecy of the recipe, half of it is produced by Griffith Laboratories before it is given to McCormick, who add the second half.


title: KFC

text: In 1999, a couple who bought the house formerly occupied by Colonel Sanders found scribbled notes purported to be the secret recipe. Initially, KFC wanted to file a lawsuit against the couple to stop an auction of the notes but, by early 2001, it dropped the lawsuit, claiming the scribbled notes are "nowhere close" to the original recipe.


title: KFC

text: Joe Ledington of Kentucky, a nephew by marriage of Colonel Sanders, claimed to have found a copy of the original KFC fried chicken recipe on a handwritten piece of paper in an envelope in a scrapbook. In August 2016, "Chicago Tribune" staffers conducted a cooking test of this recipe and claimed after a few attempts that, with the addition of the MSG flavor-enhancer Ac'cent, they produced fried chicken which tasted "indistinguishable" from the chicken they purchased at KFC.


title: KFC

text: The official KFC Twitter account follows just 11 accounts which are the social media accounts of the five Spice Girls and six profiles with the first name of Herb to reflect the KFC recipe of 11 herbs and spices.


title: KFC

text: KFC adapts its menu internationally to suit regional tastes and there are over 300 KFC menu items worldwide. Some locations, such as the UK and the US, sell grilled chicken. In predominantly Islamic countries, the chicken served is halal. In Asia, there is a preference for spicy foods, such as the Zinger chicken sandwich. In many international markets, the seasoning used for the core chicken pieces product is available as a hot and spicy version as an alternative to the classic KFC recipe. The hot and spicy coating, as well as having a spicier flavour, also has a crispy consistency. In Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, a grilled chicken known as "Smoky Red" is available. KFC locations in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam offer a roasted option known as Flava Crava. Some locations in the US sell fried chicken livers and gizzards. A small number of US outlets offer an all-you-can-eat buffet option with a limited menu.


title: KFC

text: Value menu items are sold under the "Streetwise" name in locations such as Canada, Nigeria, South Africa and Mauritius. Side dishes often include French fries, coleslaw, barbecue baked beans, corn on the cob, mashed potato, bread rolls and American biscuits. Salads include the bean salad, the Caesar salad and the garden salad. In a number of territories, KFC sells onion rings. In most of Asia, several Sub-Saharan Africa and Pacific markets, rice based side dishes are often sold. In the US and Greece, potato wedges are sold instead of French fries.


title: KFC

text: KFC initially used stove-top covered cooking pots to fry its chicken. In the 1960s, the officially recommended model was the L S Hartzog developed "KFC 20-Head Cooker", a large device that cost $16,000. The Hartzog model had no oil filtration system, meaning that filtering had to be done manually, and the pressure fryers occasionally exploded often harming employees. In 1969, inventor and engineer Winston L. Shelton developed the "Collectramatic" pressurized fryer to overcome the problems KFC faced in quickly frying chicken to meet growing customer demand. The Collectramatic used precision time and temperature controls and self-filtered the cooking oil – all while meeting Colonel Sanders' high standards. Fred Jeffries, then vice president of purchasing at KFC, claimed that the invention helped fuel the company's rapid expansion and success:


title: KFC

text: There's no way it (KFC) could have grown as it did without the Collectramatic. Stores were doing about $200,000 a year in sales on average with the pots...but they could never have done the $900,000 a year it became without Win's fryer. He (Shelton) helped set the stage for that with true engineering thinking.


title: KFC

text: Although a number of franchisees bought the Collectramatic, which had the support of Colonel Sanders from 1970 onwards, John Y. Brown Jr. had given tacit approval to franchisees to exclusively use the older L S Hartzog fryer, saying "Though those old pots were damn dangerous, at least we knew they worked! I was mostly afraid these new fryers would break down in the middle of business." Brown warned franchisees that they were in violation of their contract if they used the Collectramatic. Brown held his ground on the issue until he learned that his father, John Y. Brown Sr., who owned multiple KFC franchises, was successfully using the Collectramatic in every franchise he owned. The issue was eventually resolved after Heublein purchased KFC, acquired Hartzog and nullified the contract. The Collectramatic has been an approved pressure fryer for KFC from 1972 onwards.


title: KFC

text: From 2013 onwards, KFC has been transitioning from using Collectramatic cookers to pressure fryers produced by Henny Penny, which supplies KFC with various equipment. The 'Velocity' series of pressure fryers includes increased load capacity, automatic oil filtration and increased oil longevity.


title: KFC

text: Colonel Sanders was a key component of KFC advertising until his death in 1980. Despite his death, Sanders remains a key icon of the company as an "international symbol of hospitality". Early official slogans for the company included "North America's Hospitality Dish" (from 1956) and "We fix Sunday dinner seven nights a week". The "finger lickin' good" slogan was used from 1956 and went on to become one of the best-known slogans of the 20th century. The trademark expired in the US in 2006. The first KFC logo was introduced in 1952 and featured a "Kentucky Fried Chicken" typeface and a logo of the Colonel. In 1962, Dave Thomas took Colonel Sanders' bucket and turned it into a sign that revolved in a circular motion in front of almost every American KFC outlet.


title: KFC

text: Advertising played a key role at KFC after it was sold by Sanders and the company began to advertise on US television with a budget of US$4 million in 1966. In order to fund nationwide advertising campaigns, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Advertising Co-Op was established, giving franchisees 10 votes and the company three when deciding on budgets and campaigns. In 1969, KFC hired its first national advertising agency, Leo Burnett. A notable Burnett campaign in 1972 was the "Get a bucket of chicken, have a barrel of fun" jingle, performed by Barry Manilow. By 1976, KFC was one of the largest advertisers in the US.


title: KFC

text: In December 2020, KFC revealed the KFConsole, a new gaming console with a "Chicken Chamber" to keep food warm.


title: KFC

text: Since the beginning of the 21st century, fast food has been criticized for its animal welfare record, its links to obesity and its environmental impact. Eric Schlosser's book "Fast Food Nation" (2002) and Morgan Spurlock's film "Super Size Me" (2004) reflected these concerns. Since 2003, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has protested KFC's choice of poultry suppliers worldwide. The exception is KFC Canada, which signed an agreement pledging to only use "animal-friendly" suppliers. President of KFC's US division Gregg Dedrick said PETA mischaracterized KFC as a poultry producer rather than a purchaser of chickens. In 2008, Yum! stated: "[As] a major purchaser of food products, [Yum!] has the opportunity and responsibility to influence the way animals supplied to us are treated. We take that responsibility very seriously, and we are monitoring our suppliers on an ongoing basis."


title: KFC

text: In 2006, Greenpeace accused KFC Europe of sourcing the soya bean for its chicken feed from Cargill, which had been accused of clearing large swathes of the Amazon rainforest in order to grow the crop.


title: KFC

text: In 2010, according to "The Guardian", "in the US where fried chicken remains closely associated with age-old racist stereotypes about black people in the once segregated south", KFC Australia aired the 30-second promotion on television named "KFC's cricket survival guide" which shows a cricket fan surrounded by fans from the opposing team. The television announcer asks, "Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?" The fan passes around his "bucket of KFC", even though the commercial was intended for an Australian audience, which found its way to social media in the United States, prompting sharp disapproval. KFC Australia made a statement to the fact the commercial was "misinterpreted by a segment of people in the US" and it was a "light-hearted reference to the West Indian cricket team" and "The ad was reproduced online in the US without KFC's permission, where we are told a culturally-based stereotype exists, leading to the incorrect assertion of racism...We unequivocally condemn discrimination of any type and have a proud history as one of the world's leading employers for diversity".


title: KFC

text: In May 2012, Greenpeace accused KFC of sourcing paper pulp for its food packaging from Indonesian rainforest wood. Independent forensic tests showed that some packaging contained more than 50 percent mixed tropical hardwood fiber, sourced from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). APP said such fiber can be found in recycled paper, or: "It can also come from tree residues that are cleared, after a forest area has become degraded, logged-over or burned, as part of a sustainable development plan. APP has strict policies and practices in place to ensure that only residues from legal plantation development on degraded or logged-over forest areas and sustainable wood fiber enters the production supply chain." KFC said: "From a global perspective, 60 percent of the paper products that Yum! (our parent company) sources are from sustainable sources. Our suppliers are working towards making it 100 percent."