title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos joined Real Madrid in the year 1996 close season. When newly appointed manager Fabio Capello learned that Roberto Carlos had become transferable he barely could believe it, and he asked chairman Lorenzo Sanz to travel to Milan immediately. An agreement had been reached 24 hours later. Roberto Carlos was given the number 3 shirt and held the position as the team's first choice left-back from the 1996–97 season until the 2006–07 season. During his 11 seasons with Madrid, he appeared in 584 matches in all competitions, scoring 71 goals. He is Real Madrid's most capped foreign-born player in La Liga with 370 appearances, after breaking the previous record of 329 held by Alfredo Di Stéfano in January 2006. During his Real Madrid career, Roberto Carlos was, alongside Milan and Italy legend Paolo Maldini, considered the greatest left-back in the world. As a high-profile player and one of the most influential members of the team, Roberto Carlos was considered one of Madrid's "Galácticos" (which included Zinedine Zidane, Luís Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham) during Florentino Pérez's first tenure as club president.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: He won four La Liga titles with Madrid, and played in the 1998, 2000 and 2002 UEFA Champions League finals, assisting Zinedine Zidane's winning goal in 2002, considered one of the greatest goals in Champions League history. Roberto Carlos was named as Club Defender of the Year and included in the UEFA Team of the Year in 2002 and 2003. In the later part of his Real Madrid career, Carlos was named as one of the club's "three captains" alongside Raúl and Guti. Renowned for getting forward from his left-back position and scoring spectacular goals, in February 1998, he scored arguably his most memorable goal for Real Madrid with a bending volley struck with the outside of his left foot from near the sideline in a Copa del Rey match against Tenerife in what was described as an "impossible goal".


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On the final day of the 2002–03 season, with Madrid needing to beat Athletic Bilbao to overtake Real Sociedad and win their 29th La Liga title, Carlos scored from a free-kick in the second minute of first half stoppage time to put "los Blancos" 2–1 ahead. The team eventually ran out 3–1 winners to wrap up the title. On 6 December 2003, Roberto Carlos scored the opening goal for Madrid as they beat Barcelona in "El Clásico" at Camp Nou for the first time in a La Liga match in 20 years.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: In March 2007, in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Bayern Munich, Roberto Carlos failed to control the backpass when Madrid kicked off, allowing Bayern's Hasan Salihamidžić to steal the ball and feed to Roy Makaay, who scored the quickest goal in Champions League history at 10.12 seconds. Roberto Carlos bore the brunt of criticism for that mistake which led to the team's elimination from the Champions League, and, on 9 March 2007, he announced he would leave Real Madrid upon the expiration of his contract at the end of the 2006–07 season. His final goal for Real Madrid was a stoppage time winner against Recreativo de Huelva with three games remaining in the 2006–07 La Liga season. The goal proved to be crucial to Real Madrid winning its 30th league title as they eventually finished level on points with Barcelona, becoming champions via the head-to-head rule. Madrid clinched La Liga in Roberto Carlos's final match, a 3–1 win over Mallorca at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 19 June 2007, Roberto Carlos signed a two-year contract (with one year optional) with the Turkish Süper Lig champions Fenerbahçe; he was presented at club's home ground, the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, in front of thousands of fans. In the first official match he played with the team, Fenerbahçe won the Turkish Super Cup against Beşiktaş by a score of 2–1. During a league match against Sivasspor, he scored his first goal for Fenerbahçe on 25 August 2007 from a diving header, which was only the third headed goal of his career. He was injured during the final period of the same season and missed the title race between Fenerbahçe and rivals Galatasaray. His team eventually lost the title to their rivals, while guaranteeing a place for themselves in Champions League knockouts for the next season. He announced that he was unhappy about the final result and would do his best to carry the domestic trophy back to the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 7 October 2009, Roberto Carlos announced that he would leave Fenerbahçe when his contract expired in December 2009. He offered to return to Real Madrid and play for free, though he also said return to the Brazilian domestic leagues was a possibility, and announced his departure on 25 November. He made his last appearance for Fenerbahçe on 17 December, as a late substitute against Sheriff Tiraspol in the UEFA Europa League.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: After 15 years away from Brazil, Roberto Carlos returned to his country in 2010 to play for Corinthians, joining his friend and former Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 4 June 2010, Roberto Carlos scored a goal against Internacional and helped Corinthians to move to the top of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A table. The "Timão" won the game 2–0.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 16 January 2011, Roberto Carlos scored an impressive goal directly from a corner kick against Portuguesa. Concerned with his safety after being threatened by fans after the Copa Libertadores da América defeat to Colombian club Tolima, Roberto Carlos requested his release by the club, which was promptly facilitated by Corinthians.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 12 February 2011, Roberto Carlos signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Russian Premier League club Anzhi Makhachkala, worth approximately €10 million. Playing in a defensive midfield position, Roberto Carlos was named captain of Anzhi on 8 March. On 25 April, he scored his first goal for Anzhi in a 2–2 draw with Dynamo Moscow, converting a 58th minute penalty. On 30 April, he scored his second goal, converting a penalty in a 1–0 win over Rostov, and on 10 June, he then scored his third goal on a 20th minute in a 2–0 win over Spartak Nalchik.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 11 September 2011, Roberto Carlos scored his fourth goal in a 2–1 win over Volga Nizhny Novgorod. As of his first season for Anzhi, Roberto Carlos made 28 appearances and scored five goals. On 30 September, he became the caretaker coach of Anzhi following the sacking of Gadzhi Gadzhiyev, before Andrei Gordeyev assumed the role also in a caretaker capacity. Roberto Carlos announced his plans to retire at the end of 2012, but continued to work behind the scenes at Anzhi. In August 2012, Anzhi coach Guus Hiddink confirmed his retirement at a news conference in Moscow, also stating, "Roberto was a world class football player. Every master's career ends at some point."


title: Roberto Carlos

text: In March 2011, during a game away at Zenit Saint Petersburg, a banana was held near Carlos by one of the fans as the footballer was taking part in a flag-raising ceremony. In June, in a match away at Krylia Sovetov Samara, Roberto Carlos received a pass from the goalkeeper and was about to pass it when a banana was thrown onto the pitch, landing nearby. Carlos picked it up and threw it by the sidelines, walking off the field before the final whistle and raising two fingers at the stands, indicating this was the second such incident since March.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: He ended his professional playing career with a spell as player-manager of Delhi Dynamos of the Indian Super League.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos amassed 125 caps, scoring 11 goals for the Brazilian national team. He represented Brazil at three FIFA World Cups, four Copa América tournaments, the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 1996 Olympic Games.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: He is especially famous for a bending 40-yard free kick against France in the inaugural match of Tournoi de France 1997 on 3 June 1997. The ball curled so much that the ball boy ten yards to the right ducked instinctively, thinking that the ball would hit him. Instead, it curled back on target, much to the surprise of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who just stood in place. This particular attempt has been considered to be the greatest free kick of all time. In 2010, a team of French scientists produced a paper explaining the trajectory of the ball.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: At the 1998 World Cup, he played seven matches, including the final loss to France. After a qualifying game for the 2002 World Cup which was held in South Korea/Japan, Paraguay goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert spat on Roberto Carlos, an action which caused FIFA to give Chilavert a three-match suspension and forced him to watch the first game of the World Cup from the stands. Roberto Carlos played six matches in the finals, scoring a goal from a free kick against China, and was a starter in the final against Germany, with Brazil winning 2–0. After the tournament, he was also included in the World Cup All-Star Team.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos's next international tournament was the 2006 World Cup. In July 2006, after Brazil's 1–0 defeat to France in the quarter-finals, he announced his retirement from the national team, saying, "I've stopped with the national team. It was my last game." He said he no longer wanted to play for Brazil because of the criticism he faced from fans and Brazilian media for his failure to mark goalscorer Thierry Henry on France's winning goal.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Upon signing with Corinthians in January 2010, Roberto Carlos told TV Globo that he hoped to play at the 2010 World Cup and believed his return to Brazilian football may help him return to the national team, as manager Dunga had yet to settle on a left back. However, he was left off the 30-man provisional squad that was submitted to FIFA on 11 May 2010, along with Ronaldinho and Ronaldo. Despite his deep desire to do so, Roberto Carlos was ultimately not named in Dunga's final squad of 23 for the Brazilian squad for the World Cup. Instead, Brazil newcomer Michel Bastos earned a spot for the left back position.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Tactically, Roberto Carlos started out playing football in Brazil as a forward – usually as a centre-forward or outside forward – but spent most of his career as defender, usually as a left-sided full-back or wing-back. In 2006, he was described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the history of the game", by John Carlin of "The New York Times"; indeed, he was known for his forward surging runs throughout his career. Carlos is also widely considered by several pundits as one of the best left backs in the history of the sport. During his time at Inter, he was also used out of position as a winger in a 4–4–2 formation on occasion by manager Roy Hodgson, which had a negative impact on his performances, and often saw him caught out defensively; in his later career with Anzhi Makhachkala, he was instead deployed as a defensive midfielder in a three-man midfield, in order to compensate for his loss of pace and physical decline due to his advancing age.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Carlos was nicknamed "El Hombre Bala" ("The Bullet Man") throughout his career, due to his powerful bending shots and free kicks, which have been measured at over , and for which he became renowned. A set-piece specialist, he is regarded as one of the foremost free kick takers of his generation, and was known for being capable of striking the ball powerfully – in particular from long range – and of producing curling shots with the outside of his left boot in dead ball situations. A talented and consistent player, with good dribbling skills at speed, as well as precise passing and crossing ability, he also possessed significant strength and excellent physical qualities, which along with his pace, work-rate, and energy, allowed him to cover the left flank effectively and assist at both ends of the pitch. While he earned a reputation as a hard-tackler, he was also known for being a clean player throughout his career. In addition to his stamina, running speed, technical skills, and crossing ability, he was also known for his long throw ins, as well as his strong thighs, despite his small stature, which allowed him to accelerate quickly and strike the ball powerfully.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos has appeared in commercials for the sportswear company Nike. In 1998, he starred in a Nike commercial set in an airport in the buildup to the 1998 World Cup alongside a number of stars from the Brazil national team, including Ronaldo and Romário. In a Nike advertising campaign in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Roberto Carlos starred in a "Secret Tournament" commercial (branded "Scopion KO") directed by Terry Gilliam, appearing alongside other star footballers, including Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Francesco Totti, Ronaldinho, Luís Figo and the Japanese Hidetoshi Nakata, with former player Eric Cantona the tournament's "referee".


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos has also starred in Pepsi commercials, including a 2002 World Cup Pepsi advertisement where he lined up alongside David Beckham, Raúl and Gianluigi Buffon in taking on a team of Sumo players.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos features in EA Sports' "FIFA" video game series, and was selected to appear on the cover of "FIFA Football 2003" alongside Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs and Juventus midfielder Edgar Davids. He was named in the Ultimate Team Legends in "FIFA 15". In 2015, the arcade game company Konami announced that Roberto Carlos would feature in their football video game "Pro Evolution Soccer 2016" as one of the new myClub Legends.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: In 2016, Roberto Carlos launched a software called Ginga Scout that connects players with coaches across the globe. In April 2018, Carlos was announced as ambassador of Morocco's candidature of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 16 June 2019, Roberto Carlos took part in Soccer Aid at Stamford Bridge, London. He played for the World XI team which was captained by Usain Bolt and they beat the England XI on penalties.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: In 2019, Roberto Carlos became the global ambassador of the international children's social programme Football for Friendship. Carlos attended programme's Forum and awarded the winners.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: In January 2022, Bull In The Barne United, an English Sunday League pub team, won a raffle meaning that Roberto Carlos would play for them in a one-off friendly. The Shrewsbury-based side play in Division One of the Shrewsbury & District Sunday League and paid just £5 to enter the eBay raffle. On 4 March 2022, Roberto Carlos made a goalscoring debut for Bull In The Barne United during a 4–3 defeat to Harlescott Rangers in a friendly match at Hanwood.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos had a brief spell as interim manager at Anzhi Makhachkala in early 2012. He later criticised the club upon resigning alongside manager Guus Hiddink.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos was appointed manager of Turkish Süper Lig team Sivasspor in June 2013. On 21 December 2014, he left the club following a defeat to İstanbul BB.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: After finishing his season in Turkey, Roberto Carlos signed for Al-Arabi of the Qatari Stars League, but due to talks breaking down, he did not join the Qatari club. Then, on 5 July 2015, it was announced that he had signed to be the head coach of the Delhi Dynamos of the Indian Super League for the 2015 season.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: In 2017, a report of investigative journalists of German broadcasting station ARD revealed doping practices in Brazil, including physician Júlio César Alves who claims to have treated Carlos for many years. Carlos denies the allegations.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 24 June 2005, Roberto Carlos was robbed by two gunmen while doing a live radio interview. He was not hurt but they took his watch and the interviewer's cellular phone.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: On 2 August 2005, he was naturalised as a Spanish citizen. This proved important for Real Madrid, as it meant that he now counted as a European Union player, opening up one of the club's allowed three slots for non-EU players and enabling Real Madrid to sign fellow Brazilian Robinho.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: For his 38th birthday, it was reported that Anzhi Makhachkala owner Suleyman Kerimov bought him a Bugatti Veyron.


title: Roberto Carlos

text: Roberto Carlos has 11 children with 7 women. In October 2017, he became a grandfather when his daughter Giovanna gave birth to a son.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia established it on 17 March 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars (EK 1813). The award was backdated to the birthday (10 March) of his late wife, Queen Louise. Louise was the first person to receive this decoration (posthumously). Recommissioned Iron Cross was also awarded during the Franco-Prussian War (EK 1870), World War I (EK 1914), and World War II (EK 1939). During the 1930s and World War II, the Nazi regime superimposed a swastika on the traditional medal.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Iron Cross was usually a military decoration only, though there were instances awarded to civilians for performing military functions, including Hanna Reitsch, who received the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and Iron Cross, 1st Class, and Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, who received the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, for being civilian test pilots during World War II.


title: Iron Cross

text: The cross symbol's design, black with a white or silver outline, was ultimately derived from the cross pattée of the Teutonic Order and used by knights on occasions from the 13th century.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Prussian Army black crosses pattée was also used as the symbol of the succeeding German Army from 1871 to March–April 1918, when the Balkenkreuz replaced it. In 1956, it was re-introduced as the symbol of the "Bundeswehr", the modern German armed forces (with the "ends" of the white border removed, as in the "Balkenkreuz" of 1918).


title: Iron Cross

text: The Black Cross ("Schwarzes Kreuz") is the emblem used by the Prussian Army and Germany's army from 1871 to the present. It was designed on the occasion of the German Campaign of 1813, when Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia commissioned the Iron Cross as the first military decoration open to all ranks, including enlisted men. From this time, the Black Cross was featured on the Prussian war flag alongside the Black Eagle. It was designed by neoclassical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, based on Friedrich Wilhelm III. The design is ultimately derivative of the black cross used by the Teutonic Order. This heraldic cross took various forms throughout the order's history, including a Latin cross, a cross potent, cross fleury, and occasionally also a cross pattée.


title: Iron Cross

text: When the Quadriga of the Goddess of Peace was retrieved from Paris at Napoleon's fall, it was re-established atop Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. An Iron Cross was inserted into Peace's laurel wreath, making her into a Goddess of Victory. In 1821 Schinkel crowned the top of his design of the National Monument for the Liberation Wars with an Iron Cross, becoming name-giving as Kreuzberg (cross mountain) for the hill it stands on and, 100 years later, for the homonymous quarter adjacent to it.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Black Cross was used on the naval and combat flags of the German Empire. The Black Cross was used as the German Army symbol until 1915 when a simpler Balkenkreuz replaced it. The "Reichswehr" of the Weimar Republic (1921–35), the "Wehrmacht" of Nazi Germany (1935–46), and the "Bundeswehr" (1 October 1956 to present) also inherited the use of the emblem in various forms. The traditional design in black is used on armored vehicles and aircraft, while after German reunification, a new creation in blue and silver was introduced for use in other contexts.


title: Iron Cross

text: The ribbon for the 1813, 1870 and 1914 Iron Cross (2nd Class) was black with two thin white bands, the colors of Prussia. The non-combatant version of this award had the same medal, but the black and white colors on the ribbon were reversed. The ribbon color for the 1939 EKII was black/white/red/white/black.


title: Iron Cross

text: Since the Iron Cross was issued over several different periods of German history, it was annotated with the year indicating the era in which it was issued. For example, an Iron Cross from World War I bears the year "1914", while the same decoration from World War II is annotated "1939". The reverse of the 1870, 1914 and 1939 series of Iron Crosses have the year "1813" appearing on the lower arm, symbolizing the year the award was created. The 1813 decoration also has the initials "FW" for King Friedrich Wilhelm III, while the next two have a "W" for the respective kaisers, Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II. The final version shows a swastika representing the Nazi Party instead of a letter for a German monarch. There was also the "1957" issue, a replacement medal for holders of the 1939 series which substituted an oak-leaf cluster for the banned swastika.


title: Iron Cross

text: When the Iron Cross was reauthorized for World War I in 1914, it was possible for individuals who had previously been awarded one in 1870 to be subsequently granted another. These recipients were recognized with the award of a clasp featuring a miniaturized 1914 Iron Cross on a metal bar. The award was quite rare, since by this time there were few in service who held the 1870 Iron Cross. In World War II it was also possible for a holder of the 1914 Iron Cross to be awarded a second or higher grade of the 1939 Iron Cross. In such cases, a "1939 Clasp" (") would be worn on the original 1914 Iron Cross. For the 1st Class award, the Spange appears as an eagle with the date "1939". This was pinned to the uniform above the original medal. Although they were two separate awards in some cases the holders soldered them together.


title: Iron Cross

text: On 17 March 1813 King Frederick William III of Prussia, who had fled to non-occupied Breslau (today Wrocław), established the military decoration of the Iron Cross, backdated to 10 March (the late Queen Louise's birthday). The Iron Cross was awarded to soldiers during the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon. Before a soldier could be awarded with the Iron Cross 1st Class, he needed to have been decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class. It was first awarded to Karl August Ferdinand von Borcke on 21 April 1813. The first form of the Iron Crosses 1st Class were stitched in ribbon to the left uniform breast. By order of 1 June 1813, the 2nd form was created in cast iron with silver borders, and 8 loops on the reverse, to be fixed to the left uniform breast. In 1817 a total of 670 chevaliers had received the Iron Cross 1st Class.


title: Iron Cross

text: King Wilhelm I of Prussia authorized further awards on 19 July 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War. Recipients of the 1870 Iron Cross who were still in service in 1895 were authorized to purchase and wear above the cross a " ("Jubilee clip"), a 25-year clasp consisting of the numerals "25" on three oak leaves.


title: Iron Cross

text: Emperor Wilhelm II reauthorized the Iron Cross on 5 August 1914, at the start of World War I. During these three periods, the Iron Cross was an award of the Kingdom of Prussia, although—given Prussia's pre-eminent place in the German Empire formed in 1871—it tended to be treated as a generic German decoration. The 1813, 1870, and 1914 Iron Crosses had three grades:


title: Iron Cross

text: Although the obverse of the medals of each class was identical, the manner in which each was worn differed. The Iron Cross, 1st class, employed a pin or screw posts on the back of the medal, and was worn on the left side of the recipient's uniform, like the original 1813 version. The Iron Cross 2nd Class, and the larger Grand Cross, were suspended from different ribbons: the Grand Cross from a neck ribbon, the 2nd Class from a ribbon on the chest. The usual display of the 2nd Class version was as a ribbon through one of the button holes in the recipient's tunic.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Grand Cross was intended for senior generals of the Prussian or (later) the German Army. An even higher decoration, the Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (also called the "Blücher Star"), was awarded only twice, to Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in 1813 and to Paul von Hindenburg in 1918. A third award was planned for the most successful German general during World War II, but was not made after the defeat of Germany in 1945.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Iron Cross, 1st class, and the Iron Cross, 2nd class, were awarded without regard to rank. One had to possess the 2nd Class already in order to receive the 1st Class (though in some cases both could be awarded simultaneously). The egalitarian nature of this award contrasted with those of most other German states (and indeed of many other European monarchies), where military decorations were awarded based on the rank of the recipient. For example, Bavarian officers received various grades of that Kingdom's Military Merit Order ('), while enlisted men received various grades of the Military Merit Cross ('). Prussia did have other orders and medals which it awarded on the basis of rank, and even though the Iron Cross was intended to be awarded without regard to rank, officers and NCOs were more likely to receive it than junior enlisted soldiers.


title: Iron Cross

text: During World War I, approximately 218,000 EKIs, 5,196,000 EKIIs and 13,000 non-combatant EKIIs were awarded. Exact numbers of awards are not known, since the Prussian military archives were destroyed during World War II. The multitude of awards reduced the status and reputation of the decoration. Among the holders of the 1914 Iron Cross, 2nd class, and 1st Class was Adolf Hitler, who served as an Austrian citizen in the Bavarian Army with the rank of " (lance-corporal), he received these medals for showing bravery on the field of battle. Most photographs of Hitler show him wearing his EKI in standard fashion on his left breast.


title: Iron Cross

text: In 1914, a variety of very crude anti-German propaganda versions of the Iron Cross were created by the Allies, and sold to raise money for the war effort and the relief of Belgian refugees. One was inscribed "FOR KULTUR" in raised letters, another "FOR BRUTALITY." Yet another showed the names of French and Belgian towns attacked or destroyed during the retreat from Mons on the ends of the upper arms of the cross; these included Rheims, Louvain and Amiens on one side, and Antwerp, Dinant and Ghent on the other, with the date 1914 on the lower arm, and a central W for Kaiser Wilhelm as on the original. Another commemorated the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, showing the names of these "war atrocities" on the arms of the cross.


title: Iron Cross

text: Adolf Hitler restored the Iron Cross in 1939 as a German decoration (rather than Prussian), and continued the tradition of issuing it in various classes. Legally, it is based on the "Enactment for the re-introduction of the Iron Cross" (') of 1 September 1939. The Iron Cross of World War II was divided into three main series of decorations with an intermediate category, the Knight's Cross, instituted between the lowest, the Iron Cross, and the highest, the Grand Cross. The Knight's Cross replaced the Prussian ' or "Blue Max". Hitler did not care for the ", as it was a Prussian order that could be awarded only to officers. The ribbon of the medal (2nd class and Knight's Cross) was different from the earlier Iron Crosses as the color red was used in addition to the traditional black and white (black and white were the colors of Prussia, while black, white, and red were the colors of Nazi Germany). Hitler also created the War Merit Cross as a replacement for the non-combatant version of the Iron Cross. It also appeared on certain Nazi flags in the upper left corner. The sides of the cross were curved, like most original iron crosses.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Iron Cross was awarded for bravery in battle as well as other military contributions in a battlefield environment.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Iron Cross, 2nd class, came with a ribbon and the cross itself was worn in one of two different ways:


title: Iron Cross

text: The Iron Cross, 1st class, was a pin-on medal with no ribbon and was worn centered on a uniform breast pocket, either on dress uniforms or everyday outfit. It was a progressive award, with the second class having to be earned before the first class and so on for the higher degrees.


title: Iron Cross

text: It is estimated that some four and a half million 2nd Class Iron Crosses were awarded during World War II, and 300,000 of the 1st Class.


title: Iron Cross

text: Thirty-nine women, chiefly female nurses from the German Red Cross were granted the Iron Cross 2nd Class. Example of such women are Elfriede Wnuk, wounded in 1942 on the Eastern Front, Magda Darchniger, decorated in 1942, Marga Droste, who remained at her post in the Wilhelmshaven hospital despite her own wounds during a bombing in 1942, Ilse Schulz and Grete Fock, who served in the African campaign, Liselotte Hensel and Miss Holzmann, who were both decorated in 1943 for bravery during a bombing of Hamburg, and the countess Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg , acting as a qualified test pilot and development engineer and decorated in August 1943. Other DRK female auxiliaries who received the Iron Cross for acts of bravery are Hanny Weber, Geolinde Münchge, Elfriede Gunia, Ruth Raabe, Ilse Daub, Greta Graffenkamp, Elfriede Muth, Ursula Kogel, Liselotte Schlotterbeck, Rohna von Ceuern, Anna Wohlschütz, and Dr. Elizabeth Potuz. Two non-German female auxiliaries of the German Red Cross were awarded the Iron Cross: Norwegian nurse Anne Gunhild Moxnes in April 1944, and an unknown Belgian nurse in 1942. A young member of the female youth organisation of the Third Reich, Ottilie Stephan, was also awarded the Iron Cross in February 1945 under unknown circumstances. At least two Iron Cross, 1st class, recipients were women, test pilot ("Flugkapitän") Hanna Reitsch and in January 1945 German Red Cross sister Else Grossmann.


title: Iron Cross

text: One of the Muslim SS members to receive the award, SS " Imam Halim Malkoć was granted the Iron Cross (2nd Class) in October 1943 for his role in suppressing the Villefranche-de-Rouergue mutiny. He, together with several other Bosnian Muslims, was decorated with the EK II personally by Himmler in the days after the mutiny. Because of his Muslim faith, he wore only the ribbon, and not the cross. Two Jewish officers of the Finnish Army, Major Leo Skurnik and Captain Solomon Klass, and a nurse from the Lotta Svärd organization, were awarded the Iron Cross, but they would not accept them. The Spanish double-agent Juan Pujol García, known to the Germans as and the British as received the 2nd Class Iron Cross, and an MBE from King George VI four months later. William Manley is possibly the only recipient of both the Iron Cross and the Victoria Cross. He was awarded the Iron Cross for service with an ambulance unit in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (', often simply ') recognized military valour or successful leadership. The Knight's Cross was divided into five degrees:


title: Iron Cross

text: In total, 7,313 awards of the Knight's Cross were made. Only 883 received the Oak Leaves; 160 both the Oak Leaves and Swords (including Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (posthumously)); 27 with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds; and one with the Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (" Hans-Ulrich Rudel).


title: Iron Cross

text: Like the Knight's Cross, the Grand Cross (') was worn suspended from the collar. It was reserved for general officers for "the most outstanding strategic decisions affecting the course of the war". The only recipient during the Second World War was ' Hermann Göring, who was awarded the decoration on 19 July 1940 for his command of the ", after the Battle of France in 1940.


title: Iron Cross

text: The medal is a larger version of the Knight's Cross, measuring wide as opposed to about for the Iron Cross and for the Knight's Cross. It was originally intended to have outer edges lined in gold, but this was changed to silver before the award was presented. It was worn with a wide ribbon bearing the same colors as the Knight's Cross and 2nd Class ribbons. The award case was in red leather with the eagle and the swastika outlined in gold.


title: Iron Cross

text: The original Grand Cross presented to Göring (personally by Hitler) was destroyed during an air raid on his Berlin home. Göring had extra copies made, one of them with a platinum frame that he was wearing at the time of his surrender to the allies in 1945.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (also called Iron Cross with Golden Rays) was pinned to the left breast, above the Iron Cross 1st Class. Like the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, it was for bestowal upon successful general officers.


title: Iron Cross

text: The Star of the Grand Cross was awarded only twice, both to Field Marshals who already held the Grand Cross: in 1815 to Gebhard von Blücher for his part in the Battle of Waterloo, and in March 1918 to Paul von Hindenburg for his conduct of the 1918 Spring Offensive on the Western Front. It is often called the Blücher Star "()", after its first recipient.


title: Iron Cross

text: A Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was manufactured in World War II, but never formally instituted or awarded. The only known example, based on the World War I version but with the 1939 Iron Cross centerpiece, was found by Allied forces at the end of the war, and it is now in the museum at West Point. It is likely that " Göring was the intended eventual recipient. He was the only holder of the World War II Iron Cross Grand Cross, and both the previous recipients of the Star had already received the Grand Cross.


title: Iron Cross

text: Officers awarded the Iron Cross were given entitlements and often wore signifying articles, such as an Iron Cross signet ring or cloth Iron Cross which could be affixed to clothing. Also, during the Nazi period, those attaining more than one award, for example, an officer who had attained an Iron Cross 1st Class, an Iron Cross, 2nd class, and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with the Oak Leaves, were entitled to wear a pin which exhibited three Iron Crosses with an exaggerated swastika, thereby consolidating the awards.


title: Iron Cross

text: As modern German law prohibits the production and display of items containing Nazi insignia, the West German government authorized replacement Iron Crosses in 1957 with a trifoliate Oak Leaf Cluster in place of the swastika, similar to the Iron Crosses of 1813, 1870 and 1914, which could be worn by World War II Iron Cross recipients. The 1957 law also authorized de-Nazified versions of most other World War II-era decorations (except those specifically associated with Nazi Party organizations, such as SS Long Service medals, or with the expansion of the German ", such as the medals for the annexation of Austria, the Sudetenland and the Memel region).


title: Iron Cross

text: After post-war German armed forces began seeing active service, first in Kosovo and then in Afghanistan, a campaign began to revive the Iron Cross and other military medals, since Germany had no awards specifically for active military service. In 2007, a petition to the German parliament to revive the Iron Cross decoration was initiated, quickly receiving over 5,000 signatures. On 13 December 2007 parliament decided to let the Ministry of Defence decide the matter. On 6 March 2008, President Horst Köhler approved a proposal by Minister of Defense Franz Josef Jung to institute a new award for bravery. The ' (Badge of Honor of the German Armed Forces) series was instituted on 10 October 2008. However, it does not have the traditional form of the Iron Cross (instead more closely resembling the Prussian Military Merit Cross), but is seen as a supplement of existing awards of the '.


title: Iron Cross

text: In the United States, the Iron Cross also became adopted by outlaw bikers, more to signify rebellion or to shock than for a specific political ideology. By the early 2000s, this other use of the Iron Cross had spread from bikers to skateboarders and many extreme sports enthusiasts and became part of the logo of several different clothing companies.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to the Hindu Kush in the east, and from Central Asia in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The Seljuk Empire was founded in 1037 by Tughril (990–1063) and his brother Chaghri (989–1060), both of whom co-ruled over its territories; there are indications that the Seljuk leadership otherwise functioned as a triumvirate and thus included Musa Yabghu, the uncle of the aforementioned two. From their homelands near the Aral Sea, the Seljuks advanced first into Khorasan and into the Iranian mainland, where they would become largely based as a Persianate society. They then moved west to conquer Baghdad, filling up the power vacuum that had been caused by struggles between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Iranian Buyid Empire. The subsequent Seljuk expansion into eastern Anatolia triggered the Byzantine–Seljuk wars, with the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 marking a decisive turning point in the conflict in favour of the Seljuks, undermining the authority of the Byzantine Empire in the remaining parts of Anatolia and gradually enabling the region's Turkification. The Seljuk Empire united the fractured political landscape in the non-Arab eastern parts of the Muslim world and played a key role in both the First Crusade and Second Crusade; it also played an important part in the creation and expansion of multiple art forms during the period in which they had influence.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: By the 1140s, the Seljuk Empire began to decline in power and influence, and was eventually supplanted by the Khwarazmian Empire in 1194.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The founder of the Seljuq dynasty was an Oghuz Turkic warlord Seljuk. He was reputed to have served in the Khazar army, under whom, the Seljuks migrated to Khwarezm, near the city of Jend, where they converted to Islam in 985. Khwarezm, administered by the Ma'munids, was under the nominal control of the Samanid Empire. By 999 the Samanids fell to the Kara-Khanids in Transoxiana, but the Ghaznavids occupied the lands south of the Oxus. The Seljuks became involved, having supported the last Samanid emir against the Kara-Khanids, in this power struggle in the region before establishing their own independent base.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Oghuz Turks (also known as Turkmens at the time), led by Seljuq's son, Musa and his two nephews, Tughril and Chaghri, were one of several groups of the Oghuz who made their way to Iran between about 1020 and 1040, first moving south to Transoxiana, and then to Khorasan, initially at the invitation of the local rulers, then under alliances and conflicts. However, prior to the arrival of the Seljuks to Khorasan, other Oghuz Turks were already present in the area: that is, the northern slopes of Kopet Dag mountains, which is principally the region stretching from the Caspian Sea to Merv; what is today – Turkmenistan. Contemporary sources mention places such as Dahistan, Farawa and Nasa, as well as Sarakhs, all in present-day Turkmenistan.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Around 1034, Tughril and Chaghri were soundly defeated by the Oghuz Yabghu Ali Tegin and his allies, forcing them to escape from Transoxiana. Initially, Turkmens took refuge in Khwarazm, which served as one of their traditional pastures, but they were also encouraged by the local Ghaznavid governor, Harun, who hoped to utilise Seljuqs for his efforts to seize Khorasan from his sovereign. When Harun was assassinated by Ghaznavid agents in 1035, they again had to flee, this time heading south across the Karakum Desert. First, Turkmens made their way to the important city of Merv, but perhaps due to its strong fortification, they then changed their route westwards to take refuge in Nasa. Finally, they arrived on the edges of Khorasan, the province considered a jewel in the Ghaznavid crown.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: After moving into Khorasan, Seljuks under Tughril wrested an empire from the Ghaznavids. Initially the Seljuks were repulsed by Mahmud and retired to Khwarezm, but Tughril and Chaghri led them to capture Merv and Nishapur (1037–1038). Later they repeatedly raided and traded territory with his successor, Mas'ud, across Khorasan and Balkh.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1040, at the Battle of Dandanaqan, Seljuqs decisively defeated Mas'ud I of Ghazni, forcing him to abandon most of his western territories. Afterwards, Turkmens employed Khorasanians and set up a Persian bureaucracy to administer their new polity with Toghrul as its nominal overlord. By 1046, Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im had sent Tughril a diploma recognizing Seljuk rule over Khurasan. In 1048–1049, the Seljuk Turks, commanded by Ibrahim Yinal, uterine brother of Tughril, made their first incursion into the Byzantine frontier region of Iberia and clashed with a combined Byzantine-Georgian army of 50,000 at the Battle of Kapetrou on 10 September 1048. The devastation left behind by the Seljuk raid was so fearful that the Byzantine magnate Eustathios Boilas described, in 1051–1052, those lands as "foul and unmanageable... inhabited by snakes, scorpions, and wild beasts." The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir reports that Ibrahim brought back 100,000 captives and a vast booty loaded on the backs of ten thousand camels. In 1055, Tughril entered Baghdad and removed the influence of the Buyid dynasty, under a commission from the Abbasid caliph.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Alp Arslan, the son of Chaghri Beg, expanded significantly upon Tughril's holdings by adding Armenia and Georgia in 1064 and invading the Byzantine Empire in 1068, from which he annexed almost all of Anatolia. Arslan's decisive victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 effectively neutralized the Byzantine resistance to the Turkish invasion of Anatolia, although the Georgians were able to recover from Alp Arslan's invasion by securing the theme of Iberia. The Byzantine withdrawal from Anatolia brought Georgia in more direct contact with the Seljuks. In 1073 the Seljuk Amirs of Ganja, Dvin and Dmanisi invaded Georgia and were defeated by George II of Georgia, who successfully took the fortress of Kars. A retaliatory strike by the Seljuk Amir Ahmad defeated the Georgians at Kvelistsikhe.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Alp Arslan authorized his Turkmen generals to carve their own principalities out of formerly Byzantine Anatolia, as atabegs loyal to him. Within two years the Turkmens had established control as far as the Aegean Sea under numerous "beghlik"s (modern Turkish beyliks): the Saltukids in Northeastern Anatolia, the Shah-Armens and the Mengujekids in Eastern Anatolia, Artuqids in Southeastern Anatolia, Danishmendis in Central Anatolia, Rum Seljuks (Beghlik of Suleyman, which later moved to Central Anatolia) in Western Anatolia, and the Beylik of Tzachas of Smyrna in İzmir (Smyrna).


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Under Alp Arslan's successor, Malik Shah, and his two Persian viziers, Nizām al-Mulk and Tāj al-Mulk, the Seljuk state expanded in various directions, to the former Iranian border of the days before the Arab invasion, so that it soon bordered China in the east and the Byzantines in the west. Malikshāh was the one who moved the capital from Ray to Isfahan. The Iqta military system and the Nizāmīyyah University at Baghdad were established by Nizām al-Mulk, and the reign of Malikshāh was reckoned the golden age of "Great Seljuk". The Abbasid Caliph titled him "The Sultan of the East and West" in 1087. The Assassins ("Hashshashin") of Hassan-i Sabāh started to become a force during his era, however, and they assassinated many leading figures in his administration; according to many sources these victims included Nizām al-Mulk.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1076, Malik Shah I surged into Georgia and reduced many settlements to ruins. From 1079/80 onward, Georgia was pressured into submitting to Malik-Shah to ensure a precious degree of peace at the price of an annual tribute.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Internally, the most prominent development of Malik Shah's rule was the continuous increase in the power of the Nizām al-Mulk. Some contemporary chroniclers refer to the period as "al-dawla al-Nizamiyya", the Nizam's state, while modern scholars have mentioned him as "the real ruler of the Seljuq empire". The 14-century biographer Subki claimed that Nizām al-Mulk's vizierate was "not just a vizierate, it was above the sultanate".


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Ahmad was the son of Malik Shah I and initially took part in wars of succession against his three brothers and a nephew: Mahmud I, Barkiyaruq, Malik Shah II and Muhammad I Tapar. In 1096, he was tasked to govern the province of Khorasan by his brother Muhammad I. Over the next several years, Ahmad Sanjar became the ruler of most of Iran (Persia), and eventually in 1118, the sole ruler of the Great Seljuk Empire.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1141, Ahmad marched to eliminate the threat posed by Kara Khitans and faced them in the vicinity of Samarkand at the Battle of Qatwan. He suffered his first defeat in his long career, and as a result lost all Seljuk territory east of the Syr Darya.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Sanjar's as well as the Seljuks' rule collapsed as a consequence of yet another unexpected defeat, this time at the hands of the Seljuks' own tribe, in 1153. Sanjar was captured during the battle and held in captivity until 1156. It brought chaos to the Empire - a situation later exploited by the victorious Turkmens, whose hordes would overrun Khorasan unopposed, wreaking colossal damage on the province and prestige of Sanjar. Sanjar eventually escaped from captivity in the fall of 1156, but soon died in Merv in 1157. After his death, Turkic rulers, Turkmen tribal forces, and other secondary powers competed for Khorasan, and after a long period of confrontations, the province was finally conquered by Khwarazmians in the early 1200s.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The Tomb of Ahmed Sanjar was destroyed by the Mongols led by Tolui, who sacked the city of Merv in 1221, killing 700,000 people according to contemporary sources during their catastrophic invasion of Khwarazm; however, modern scholarship holds such figures to be exaggerated.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: When Malikshāh I died in 1092, the empire split as his brother and four sons quarrelled over the apportioning of the empire among themselves. Malikshāh I was succeeded in Anatolia by Kilij Arslan I, who founded the Sultanate of Rum, and in Syria by his brother Tutush I. In Persia he was succeeded by his son Mahmud I, whose reign was contested by his other three brothers Barkiyaruq in Iraq, Muhammad I in Baghdad, and Ahmad Sanjar in Khorasan. When Tutush I died, his sons Radwan and Duqaq inherited Aleppo and Damascus respectively and contested with each other as well, further dividing Syria amongst emirs antagonistic towards each other.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1118, the third son Ahmad Sanjar took over the empire. His nephew, the son of Muhammad I, did not recognize his claim to the throne, and Mahmud II proclaimed himself Sultan and established a capital in Baghdad, until 1131 when he was finally officially deposed by Ahmad Sanjar.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Elsewhere in nominal Seljuk territory were the Artuqids in northeastern Syria and northern Mesopotamia; they controlled Jerusalem until 1098. The Dānišmand dynasty founded a state in eastern Anatolia and northern Syria and contested land with the Sultanate of Rum, and Kerbogha exercised independence as the atabeg of Mosul.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: During the First Crusade, the fractured states of the Seljuks were generally more concerned with consolidating their own territories and gaining control of their neighbours than with cooperating against the crusaders. The Seljuks easily defeated the People's Crusade arriving in 1096, but they could not stop the progress of the army of the subsequent Princes' Crusade, which took important cities such as Nicaea (İznik), Iconium (Konya), Caesarea Mazaca (Kayseri), and Antioch (Antakya) on its march to Jerusalem (Al-Quds). In 1099 the crusaders finally captured the Holy Land and set up the first Crusader states. The Seljuks had already lost Palestine to the Fatimids, who had recaptured it just before its capture by the crusaders.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: After pillaging the County of Edessa, Seljukid commander Ilghazi made peace with the Crusaders. In 1121 he went north towards Georgia and with supposedly up to 250 000 – 350 000 troops, including men led by his son-in-law Sadaqah and Sultan Malik of Ganja, he invaded the Kingdom of Georgia. David IV of Georgia gathered 40,000 Georgian warriors, including 5,000 monaspa guards, 15,000 Kipchaks, 300 Alans and 100 French Crusaders to fight against Ilghazi's vast army. At the Battle of Didgori on August 12, 1121, the Seljuks were routed, being run down by pursuing Georgian cavalry for several days afterward. The battle helped the Crusader states, which had been under pressure from Ilghazi's armies. The weakening of the main enemy of the Latin principalities also benefitted the Kingdom of Jerusalem under King Baldwin II.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: During this time conflict with the Crusader states was also intermittent, and after the First Crusade increasingly independent atabegs would frequently ally with the Crusader states against other atabegs as they vied with each other for territory. At Mosul, Zengi succeeded Kerbogha as atabeg and successfully began the process of consolidating the atabegs of Syria. In 1144 Zengi captured Edessa, as the County of Edessa had allied itself with the Artuqids against him. This event triggered the launch of the Second Crusade. Nur ad-Din, one of Zengi's sons who succeeded him as atabeg of Aleppo, created an alliance in the region to oppose the Second Crusade, which landed in 1147.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Ahmad Sanjar fought to contain the revolts by the Kara-Khanids in Transoxiana, Ghurids in Afghanistan and Qarluks in modern Kyrghyzstan, as well as the nomadic invasion of the Kara-Khitais in the east. The advancing Kara-Khitais first defeated the Eastern Kara-Khanids, then followed up by crushing the Western Kara-Khanids, who were vassals of the Seljuks at Khujand. The Kara-Khanids turned to their Seljuk overlords for assistance, to which Sanjar responded by personally leading an army against the Kara-Khitai. However, Sanjar's army was decisively defeated by the host of Yelu Dashi at the Battle of Qatwan on September 9, 1141. While Sanjar managed to escape with his life, many of his close kin including his wife were taken captive in the battle's aftermath. As a result of Sanjar's failure to deal with the encroaching threat from the east, the Seljuk Empire lost all its eastern provinces up to the river Syr Darya, and vassalage of the Western Kara-Khanids was usurped by the Kara-Khitai, otherwise known as the Western Liao in Chinese historiography.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1153, the Ghuzz (Oghuz Turks) rebelled and captured Sanjar. He managed to escape after three years but died a year later. The atabegs, such as the Zengids and Artuqids, were only nominally under the Seljuk Sultan, and generally controlled Syria independently. When Ahmad Sanjar died in 1157, this fractured the empire even further and rendered the atabegs effectively independent.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: After the Second Crusade, Nur ad-Din's general Shirkuh, who had established himself in Egypt on Fatimid land, was succeeded by Saladin. In time, Saladin rebelled against Nur ad-Din, and, upon his death, Saladin married his widow and captured most of Syria and created the Ayyubid dynasty.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: On other fronts, the Kingdom of Georgia began to become a regional power and extended its borders at the expense of Great Seljuk. The same was true during the revival of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia under Leo II of Armenia in Anatolia. The Abbasid caliph An-Nasir also began to reassert the authority of the caliph and allied himself with the Khwarezmshah Takash.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: For a brief period, Togrul III was the Sultan of all Seljuk except for Anatolia. In 1194, however, Togrul was defeated by Takash, the Shah of Khwarezmid Empire, and the Seljuk Empire finally collapsed. Of the former Seljuk Empire, only the Sultanate of Rûm in Anatolia remained.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: As the dynasty declined in the middle of the thirteenth century, the Mongols invaded Anatolia in the 1260s and divided it into small emirates called the Anatolian beyliks. Eventually one of these, the Ottoman, would rise to power and conquer the rest.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Seljuk power was indeed at its zenith under Malikshāh I, and both the Qarakhanids and Ghaznavids had to acknowledge the overlordship of the Seljuks. The Seljuk dominion was established over the ancient Sasanian domains, in Iran and Iraq, and included Anatolia, Syria, as well as parts of Central Asia and modern Afghanistan. Seljuk rule was modelled after the tribal organization common among Turkic and Mongol nomads and resembled a 'family federation' or 'appanage state'. Under this organization, the leading member of the paramount family assigned family members portions of his domains as autonomous appanages.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Various emblems and banners have been recorded as having been used by the Seljuks in different periods. Early Seljuks used their traditional emblems, but gradually adopted local Muslim signs and banners. The official flag of the empire was most probably a black flag, similar to that of the Abbasid Caliphate. The flag was decorated with signs, which were either superimposed over it, or placed above the flag.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Seljuks exercised full control over Islamic Central Asia and the Middle East between 1040 and 1157. For most of its history, the empire was split into western and eastern half and did not have a single capital or political center. In the east, the chief seat of Seljuk rule was Marv in present-day Turkmenistan. In the west, various cities, where the Seljuk rulers lived periodically, served as capitals: Rayy, Isfahan, Baghdad, and later Hamadan. These western lands were known as the Sultanate of Iraq. Since 1118, the Seljuk rulers of Iraq recognized the suzerainty of the great Seljuk sultan Sanjar, who mostly ruled from Marv, and was known by the title of al-sultān al-a'zam, "the Greatest Sultan". The Seljuk rulers of Iraq were often mentioned as the "Lesser Seljuks".


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Much of the ideological character of the Seljuq Empire was derived from the earlier Samanid and Ghaznavid kingdoms, which had in turn emerged from the Perso-Islamic imperial system of the Abbasid caliphate. This Perso-Islamic tradition was based on pre-Islamic Iranian ideas of kingship molded into an Islamic framework. Little of the public symbolism used by the Seljuks was Turkic, namely the tughra. The populace of the Seljuk Empire would have considered this Perso-Islamic tradition more significant than that of steppe customs. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuks also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia. Under the Seljuks, Persian was also used for books lecturing about politics in the Mirrors for princes genre, such as the prominent "Siyasatnama" (Book of Politics) composed by Nizam al-Mulk. During this period, these type of books consciously made use of Islamic and Iranian traditions, such as an ideal government based on the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his successors, or the Sasanian King of Kings Khosrow I ().


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In most of their coins, the Seljuk sultans used the Sasanian title of "shahanshah" (King of Kings), and even used the old Buyid title of "Shahanshah of Islam." The title of "malik" was used by lesser princes of the Seljuk family. Like the caliphate, the Seljuks relied on a refined Persian bureaucracy. The settlement of Turkic tribes in the northwestern peripheral parts of the empire, for the strategic military purpose of fending off invasions from neighboring states, led to the progressive Turkicization of those areas. According to the 12th-century poet Nizami Aruzi, all of the Seljuk sultans had a liking for poetry, which is also demonstrated by the large compilation of Persian verses written under their patronage. This had already started under Tughril, who was praised in Arabic and Persian by poets such as Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani and Bakharzi, albeit he could not understand the verses. The last Seljuk sultan Tughril III was well-known for his Persian poetry. The "Saljuq-nama" of Zahir al-Din Nishapuri, which was most likely dedicated to Tughril III, indicates that the Seljuk family now used Persian to communicate, and even were taught about the achievements of their forefathers in that language.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Tughril relied on his vizier to translate from Arabic and Persian into Turkic for him, and Oghuz songs were sung at the wedding of Tughril to the caliph's daughter. Later sultans, like Mahmud, could speak Arabic alongside Persian, however, they still used Turkic among themselves. The most significant evidence of the importance of Turkic language is the extensive Turkic–Arabic dictionary, or the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, assembled in Baghdad for Caliph al-Muqtadi by Mahmud al-Kashgari. However, besides the Diwan, no works written in Turkic language survive from the Seljuk Empire. While the "Maliknama" was compiled from Turkic oral accounts, it was written in Persian and Arabic languages.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Steppe traditions influenced Seljuk marriages, with Tughril marrying his brother Chaghri's widow, a practice despised in Islam. Seljuk ceremonies were based on the Abbasid model, but sometimes ancient Iranian ceremonies were observed. During a night in 1091, all of Baghdad was lit with candles under the orders of Malik-Shah I, which resembled the Zoroastrian ritual of "sadhak".


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 985, the Seljuks migrated to the city of Jend where they converted to Islam. The arrival of the Seljuq Turks into Persia, and their patronage of constructing madrassas, allowed for Sunni Islam to become the dominant sect of Islam.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1046, Tughril built the madrasa, al-Sultaniya in Nishapur, while Chaghri Beg founded a madrasa in Merv. Tughril and Alp Arslan chose Hanafi "qadis" and preachers for these madrassas. By 1063, there were twenty-five madrassas scattered throughout Persia and Khorasan, founded by Seljuq princes. In the 12th century there were over thirty madrassas in Baghdad.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1056, Tughril built a Friday mosque with a newly constructed quarter in Baghdad which was surrounded by a wall. The new quarter separated the Shia community from the Sunnis, since there had been frequent outbreaks of violence. Through the influence of Tughril's vizier, al-Kunduri, a Hanafi Sunni, the Ash'ari and Ismaili Shi'ites were exiled from Khurasan and cursed at Friday sermons in Seljuq mosques. Al-Kunduri's vizierate persecuted Ash'aris and Sharifis, although this ended with the vizierate of Nizam al-Mulk. It was under the vizierate of al-Kunduri that the Islamic scholar, Al-Juwayni was forced to flee to Mecca and Medina. In 1065, Alp Arslan campaigned against the Kingdom of Georgia, subjugated Tbilisi, and built a mosque in the city.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In 1092, Malik-shah built the Jami al-Sultan Mosque in Baghdad. At the capital, Isfahan, Malik-shah had constructed a madrasa, a citadel and a castle near Dizkuh. Following Malik-Shah's death, the familial civil war drew attention away from religious patronage, slowing the building of madrassas and mosques. Although, in 1130, the Seljuk sultan Sanjar ordered the construction of the Quthamiyya madrasa in Samarkand.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: While the Seljuk sultans were prodigious builders of religious houses, Seljuk viziers were no different. The Seljuk vizier, Nazim al-Mulk, founded the first madrasa in Baghdad, in 1063, called the "Nizamiya". In the madrassas he built, he patronized Shafi'is. The vizier Taj al-Mulk and Malik-shah's widow, Terken Khatun, patronized the building of a madrasa to compete with Nazim's "Nizamiya".


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Until the death of Sultan Sanjar, the Seljuks were pious Sunnis, and represented a re-establishment of Sunni Islam in Iraq and western Persia since the 10th century.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The army of the earliest Seljuks was not similar to the renowned Turkic military of the classical 'Abbasid era. Their first invasions were more of a great nomadic migration accompanied by their families and livestock rather than planned military conquests. They were not a professional army, however warfare was a way of life for nearly all of adult male Turkmens.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: According to a Seljuk vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, by the reign of Malik-Shah I, the sovereign had a large army at his disposal. There were Turkmens, mamluks, a standing army, infantry and the sultan's personal guard. Nizam al-Mulk also estimated Malik-Shah's forces at 400,000 men, and often opposed cost-cutting plans (instituted by Taj al-Mulk) to bring these to 70,000.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Vizier Nizam al-Mulk, the greatest advocate of Iranian orientation for the Seljuk empire, admitted the debt dynasty owed to the Turkmens. After the establishment of the Seljuk state, Turkmens continued to be the driving force behind the Seljuk expansion in Anatolia. After the rule of Malik-Shah I, however, there are very few mentions of Turkmens in the Jibali region of the state, especially in their traditional axis of Rayy, Hamadhan and Hulwan.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Turkmens were difficult to manage, and they were susceptible to undisciplined pillaging. The greatest issue, however, was their dependence on pasturelands for their livestock. A great number of regions that constituted the Seljuk state were ecologically ill-suited for supporting a nomadic army. Turkmens' limitations are adeptly described by Arab scholar Sibt ibn al-Jawzi:


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Long campaigns had to be discontinued due to Turkmens' insistence on returning home, and conquests had to be scheduled to satisfy the demands of Turkmens. The short-term needs of Turkmens made a longer term military plans unachievable.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The alternative to nomadic Turkmen troops was mamluks. While also of Turkic and often nomadic origin, dependence on pasturelands was non-existent for mamluks as they did not live a nomadic life. Previously, mamluks had constituted the later 'Abbasid, the Samanid and the Ghaznavid armies. In fact, the Ghaznavid dynasty was itself of mamluk origin.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The process of mamluk recruitment are well known from other periods in Islamic history, but there is almost no information directly relating to the Seljuks. The chief source of mamluks was most probably forays to the steppe. The alternative to raids was buying them from slave traders and various dealers as evidenced from a slave dispute between a merchant and Muhammad I Tapar.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The Seljuks were educated in the service of Muslim courts as slaves or mercenaries. The dynasty brought revival, energy, and reunion to the Islamic civilization hitherto dominated by Arabs and Persians.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The Seljuks founded universities and were also patrons of art and literature. Their reign is characterized by Persian astronomers such as Omar Khayyám, and the Persian philosopher al-Ghazali. Under the Seljuks, New Persian became the language for historical recording, while the center of Arabic language culture shifted from Baghdad to Cairo.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Various art forms were popularized during the Seljuk period, as evidenced by the vast amount of surviving artifacts. Most Seljuk arts are known to have been produced in what is modern-day Iran. However, the Seljuk sultans also encouraged artists to settle in Anatolia as part of a recolonization and reconstruction process of several cities. Many works of Seljuk art continued to be produced following the decline of the empire in the late 12th century. In this regard, the timeline associated with the production of Seljuk art does not entirely match the political events pertaining to the empire and its eventual fall. Nonetheless, relatively little art can be correctly dated and ascribed to a Great Seljuq context. Much of the material deemed to be Seljuq in world museums in fact belongs to the period A.D. 1150–1250, after the fall of the Great Seljuq Empire, when there seems to have been a sudden burst in artistic production, apparently to a great extent unrelated to court patronage.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Among other ceramics, the manufacture of polychrome ceramic tiles, often used as decor in architecture, were popularized during the Seljuk dynasty. The Seljuks pioneered the use of the "Minai" technique, a painted and enameled polychrome overglaze for ceramics. The glazes on the Seljuk ceramics produced often ranged from a brilliant turquoise to a very dark blue. The art of Seljuk mosaic tile decorating would continue to dominate the interior of many Anatolian mosques following the period of Seljuk rule. The Seljuks also created ceramic house models, while other ceramic forms in the Seljuk period included pottery figurines, some of them children's toys.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: In the realm of architecture, mosques and madrasas were created and embellished during the period of Seljuk control. Congregational mosques were either repaired, re-built, or constructed in their entirety. The Seljuk sultan also commissioned numerous madrasas to promote the teaching of orthodox Islamic sciences. These developments in architectural practice are coherent with the Seljuk dynasty's focus on Islam and the promotion of Muslim orthodoxy, the combining of Sufism and Sunnism.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: One architectural form that flourished during the Seljuk dynasty was the muqarnas. Some interpretations maintain that the earliest known examples of muqarnas were constructed during the period of Seljuk hegemony, though it also remains possible that they were being developed at the same time in North Africa. The layering of multiple embellished cells with divergent profiles in muqarnas creates a dome that has a seemingly-insubstantial interior. The play of light on the surface enhances this visual effect. Art historian Oleg Grabar argues that the effect of muqarnas domes embodies Qur'anic water symbolism. Examples of muqarnas also appear in the niches of mosques built during the Seljuk empire. Overall, the architecture attributed to the Seljuk period is characterized by elaborate decoration, much like the other arts produced under Seljuk rule.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Both secular and non-secular manuscripts were produced during the Seljuk period. These pieces are now limited in availability, considering their ultimate susceptibility to damage overtime. But those manuscripts that have survived over the centuries provide insight into the Seljuk's involvement in the arts of the book. Calligraphers and illuminators were responsible for the creation of these manuscripts, though sometimes calligraphers mastered the art of both writing and illustration. By the end of the 10th century, both illuminators and calligraphers were beginning to employ various colors, styles, and writing techniques in the realm of the book arts.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: The Qur'an's produced during the period of Seljuk rule evidence developments in calligraphy and other changes in how the holy text was divided. Uniquely, calligraphers during this period frequently combined several scripts on one page of the Qur'an, such as Kufic and New Style. In addition to these changes in the text, the dawn of the Seljuk empire coincided with a newfound increase in the popularity of paper as a replacement for parchment in the Islamic world. The use of durable paper increased the production of compact, single-volume Qur'an's, whereas parchment codexes often contained multiple volumes of Qur'anic text. Despite this development, parchment would remain popular for the production of some Qur'an's, and multi-volume pieces continued to be produced. Illuminated borders continued to distinguish the Qur'ans produced during the Seljuk period and relative consistency was maintained with regard to their structure.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: One example of a manuscript created during Seljuk rule is a thirty-volume (juz) Qur'an created c.1050, produced by only one calligrapher and illuminator (Freer Gallery of Art, District of Columbia, F2001.16a-b). As paper had just been introduced to the Islamic world, this piece is an early Islamic paper manuscript. This Qur'an is bound in brown leather, dyed in pink, decorated with gold, and offers an intricate frontispiece. These elements imply the care that went into the production of this text and indications of frequent usage confirm that it was appreciated. It is primarily written in the vertical "New-Style" Arabic script, a sharp, vertical script. The dominant use of New Style in this folio, also referred to as "new Abbasid Script," attests to the shift from the geometric Kufic script to a more legible calligraphic style, which occurred in the 10th century. Scattered remnants of Kufic, used primarily to indicate volume and page number, also appear in the text. The verticality of the paper in this manuscript speaks to the historic shift away from the horizontal use of paper in many Qur'ans, also a 10th-century development.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Another example of a religious manuscript produced closer to the end of the period of Seljuk Rule is the "Qarmathian Qur'an" (dispersed folio, Arthur M. Stackler Gallery of Art, District of Columbia, S1986.65a-b). This manuscript's folios are illuminated with a gold border and thin, spiraled illustration, featuring vegetal motifs. Despite the generous illumination, the four lines of Qur'anic text on the folio are exceptionally legible. Created between the years 1170–1200, this particular folio demonstrates the evolution of New Style, as both vocalized cursive and diacritical dots appear in this later version of the script. Only during the 13th century would New Style be replaced by the curvier proportional scripts for regular use.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: A final example of a Seljuk Qur'an that has entered into scholarship is a manuscript studied in-depth by the late art historian Richard Ettinghausen. This piece was written in 1164 by Mahmud Ibn Al-Husayn and contains the entirety of the Qur'an (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, NEP27). Unlike the two Seljuk Qur'ans discussed prior, this manuscript primarily contains Naskh script, another early Arabic script that replaced Kufic. However, some Kufic calligraphy is embedded in the chapter headings. This aspect speaks to how the inclusion of Kufic in Qur'ans became more of a decorative element overtime, often included in headings as opposed to the main body of text. The manuscript is large, with seventeen lines of text per two-hundred and fifteen sheets of paper. Though not all of the Qur'an is illuminated, both the beginning and the end boast elaborate illustration, with blue, gold, and white hues. Ettinghausen describes the subsequent visual effect as "brilliant." The inscriptions feature detailed rosettes, vines, medallions, and arabesques, some exclusively as decoration and others to indicate the end of particular lines of Qur'anic text.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Manuscript production during the Seljuk period was not limited to religious texts. Beyond these religious manuscripts, scientific, literary, and historical pieces were created. One example of a secular manuscript is the "Nusrat al-fatrah", a historiographical and literary account of the Seljuk period written in 1200 by Imād al-Dīn (Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, London). Meanwhile, the scientific manuscripts produced during the Seljuk period oftentimes pertained to geography, physics, mechanics, mathematics, and astronomy. The former Seljuk city of Isfahan not only boasted twelve libraries that contained a total of twelve thousand volumes, but also had an observatory where scholars could record their astrological findings. Secular manuscripts from the Seljuk empire bear illuminations that often relate to the alignment of planets and the zodiac, a couple examples of common themes.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Whether secular or non-secular, Seljuk illuminated manuscripts had enough influence as to inspire other relevant art forms, such as brass or bronze metal objects. For example, the large "Qarmathian Qur'an" influenced some of the inscriptions on Seljuk ceramic wares. Even mirrors, candlesticks, coins, and jugs manufactured in Anatolia during the Seljuk period would often bear occult astrological images inspired by manuscripts. Occult knowledge persisted in manuscripts produced after the decline in the Seljuk's political power in the late 12th century, as the Seljuk sultanate's influence on the book arts continued in Anatolia.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Historian Andrew Peacock demonstrates an interest in the Seljuks of Anatolia's focus on occult themes and its manifestation in the book arts. Peacock describes this finding as something that challenges the reigning view that the Seljuks were exclusively the "pious defenders of Islam" when it came to larger systems of belief. Some of the occult sciences that the Seljuks took special interest in included geomancy, astrology, alchemy. A relevant occult manuscript from a period of Seljuk influence is the "Dustur al-Munajjimin", otherwise known as the "Rules of Astrologers," while another is the "Daqa'iq al-Haqa'iq," or the "Fine Points of Eternal Truths." The latter text captures an interest in magic and spells, with a particular focus on calling upon spiritual beings, such as angels, through ritualistic acts (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, Persan 174). The text was written by a man who wrote under a pen name, "Nasiri." Interestingly, Nasiri's "Daqa'iq al-Haqa'iq" challenges prevailing Islamic understandings of God while encouraging piety and invoking both Sufi terms and themes. For example, while incorporating a Sufi poem, the occult text speaks of supernatural bodies and disputes what Islam considers to be the accepted number of names for God.


title: Seljuk Empire

text: Similar to architecture, Seljuk fabrics depict inscriptions and decorative forms. These fabrics represent what could be called a "Sasanian renaissance" marking a new dominance of Persian culture. Textiles, along with literary works, are evidence of this. Contrast is the main feature of different techniques and fabric qualities. Stories of the period are told through a variety of inscriptions. At the same time, higher contrasts generate a more abstract approach to the ornaments and figures within the fabric patterns. Seljuk fabrics that were excavated in 1931 are distinguished by the representation of nature, by minimal ornamental details, and by the combination of colorful linens giving an interchangeable color effect to the fabric. Many realistic natural elements characterize the composition of the fabrics, such as animals and plants, forming patterns consisting of arabesque elements.


title: Betty Gilpin

text: Elizabeth Folan Gilpin (born July 21, 1986) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan in the Netflix comedy series "GLOW" (2017–2019), for which she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also starred as Dr. Carrie Roman in the Showtime comedy-drama series "Nurse Jackie" (2013–2015).


title: Betty Gilpin

text: Gilpin has appeared in films such as the mystery thriller "True Story" (2015), the science fiction romantic comedy "Future '38" (2017), the fantasy romantic comedy "Isn't It Romantic" (2019), the drama "A Dog's Journey" (2019), and the action comedy "Stuber" (2019). In 2020, Gilpin starred in the horror film "The Grudge", the satirical action thriller "The Hunt", and the action comedy "Coffee & Kareem". For "The Hunt", she won a Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie.


title: Betty Gilpin

text: Elizabeth Folan Gilpin was born in New York City on July 21, 1986, the daughter of actors Jack Gilpin and Ann McDonough. Her father, also an Episcopal priest, is a first cousin of Drew Gilpin Faust, the president of Harvard University from 2007 to 2018. She grew up in the South Street Seaport neighborhood of Manhattan, where she says that her family home was "one of the only occupied buildings on the block." Gilpin is a 2004 graduate of The Loomis Chaffee School, and a 2008 graduate of Fordham University. During her time at Fordham, she studied under Dianne Wiest.


title: Betty Gilpin

text: Gilpin began her acting career with guest starring roles in numerous television series, including "", "Fringe", "Medium", "", and "Elementary". She received further recognition for her starring role as Dr. Carrie Roman in the comedy-drama series "Nurse Jackie", appearing from 2013 to the series' conclusion in 2015. She has also appeared off-Broadway in productions such as "Heartless", "I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard", and "We Live Here".


title: Betty Gilpin

text: Gilpin had supporting roles in such films as "Ghost Town" (2008), "Take Care" (2014), "True Story" (2015), and "Future '38" (2017), but her breakthrough came with her starring role as Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan in the Netflix comedy series "GLOW" (2017–2019), which was inspired by the 1980s female professional wrestling league of the same name. She received significant critical acclaim and numerous award nominations for her performance, including two Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Between 2019 and 2020, Gilpin appeared in the fantasy romantic comedy film "Isn't It Romantic", the comedy-drama film "A Dog's Journey", the action comedy film "Stuber", and the action horror film "The Hunt". In 2021, she appeared in the science fiction action movie, "The Tomorrow War". In the same year, Gilpin was set to star in the upcoming HBO series "Blood Sugar".


title: Betty Gilpin

text: Gilpin has been married to actor Cosmo Pfeil since 2016. She gave birth to the couple’s daughter in November 2020.


title: Siberian Husky

text: The Siberian Husky is a medium-sized working sled dog breed. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family. It is recognizable by its thickly furred double coat, erect triangular ears, and distinctive markings, and is smaller than the similar-looking Alaskan Malamute.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Siberian Huskies originated in Northeast Asia where they are bred by the Chukchi people of Siberia for sled pulling, and companionship. It is an active, energetic, resilient breed, whose ancestors lived in the extremely cold and harsh environment of the Siberian Arctic. William Goosak, a Russian fur trader, introduced them to Nome, Alaska, during the Nome Gold Rush, initially as sled dogs to work the mining fields and for expeditions through otherwise impassable terrain. Today, the Siberian Husky is typically kept as a house pet, though they are still frequently used as sled dogs by competitive and recreational mushers.


title: Siberian Husky

text: The Siberian Husky was originally developed by the Chukchi people of the Chukchi Peninsula in eastern Siberia. They were brought to Nome, Alaska in 1908 to serve as working sled dogs, and were eventually developed and used for sled dog racing. In 2015, a DNA study indicated that the Siberian Husky, the Alaskan Malamute and the Alaskan husky share a close genetic relationship between each other and were related to Chukotka sled dogs from Siberia. They were separate to the two Inuit dogs, the Canadian Eskimo Dog and the Greenland Dog. In North America, the Siberian Husky and the Malamute both had maintained their Siberian lineage and had contributed significantly to the Alaskan husky, which was developed through crossing with European breeds. Siberian Huskies show a genetic affinity with historical East Siberian dogs and ancient Lake Baikal dogs, and can be traced to a lineage which is over 9,500 years old.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Several Arctic dog breeds, including the Siberian, show a significant genetic closeness with the now-extinct Taimyr wolf of North Asia due to admixture. These breeds are associated with high latitudes – the Siberian Husky and Greenland Dog, also associated with arctic human populations and to a lesser extent, the Shar-Pei and Finnish Spitz. There is data to indicate admixture of between 1–3% between the Taymyr wolf population and the ancestral dog population of these four high-latitude breeds. This introgression could have provided early dogs living in high latitudes with phenotypic variation beneficial for adaption to a new and challenging environment. It also indicates the ancestry of present-day dog breeds descends from more than one region.


title: Siberian Husky

text: A Siberian Husky has a double coat that is thicker than that of most other dog breeds. It has two layers: a dense, finely wavy undercoat and a longer topcoat of thicker, straight guard hairs. It protects the dogs effectively against harsh Arctic winters, and also reflects heat in the summer. It is able to withstand temperatures as low as . The undercoat is often absent during shedding. Their thick coats require weekly grooming. An excessively long coat, sometimes referred to as a "wooly" or "woolie" coat, is considered a fault by the breed's standard as it lacks the thicker protection of the standard coat's guard hairs, obscures the dog's clear-cut outline, causes quicker overheating during serious harness work, and becomes easily matted and encrusted with snow and ice.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Siberian Huskies come in a variety of colors and patterns, often with white paws and legs, facial markings, and tail tip. Example coat colors are black and white, copper-red and white, grey and white, pure white, and the rare "agouti" coat, though many individuals have blondish or piebald spotting. Some other individuals also have the "saddle back" pattern, in which black-tipped guard hairs are restricted to the saddle area while the head, haunches and shoulders are either light red or white. Striking masks, spectacles, and other facial markings occur in wide variety. All coat colors from black to pure white are allowed. Merle coat patterns are not permitted by the American Kennel Club (AKC) and The Kennel Club (KC). This pattern is often associated with health issues and impure breeding.


title: Siberian Husky

text: The American Kennel Club describes the Siberian Husky's eyes as "an almond shape, moderately spaced and set slightly obliquely." The AKC breed standard is that eyes may be brown, blue or black; one of each or particoloured are acceptable (complete is heterochromia). These eye-color combinations are considered acceptable by the American Kennel Club. The parti-color does not affect the vision of the dog.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Show-quality dogs are preferred to have neither pointed nor square noses. The nose is black in gray dogs, tan in black dogs, liver in copper-colored dogs, and may be light tan in white dogs. In some instances, Siberian Huskies can exhibit what is called "snow nose" or "winter nose." This condition is called hypopigmentation in animals. "Snow nose" is acceptable in the show ring.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Siberian Husky tails are heavily furred; these dogs will often curl up with their tails over their faces and noses in order to provide additional warmth. As pictured, when curled up to sleep the Siberian Husky will cover its nose for warmth, often referred to as the "Siberian Swirl". The tail should be expressive, held low when the dog is relaxed, and curved upward in a "sickle" shape when excited or interested in something.


title: Siberian Husky

text: The breed standard indicates that the males of the breed are ideally between tall at the withers and weighing between . Females are smaller, growing to between tall at the withers and weighing between . The people of Nome referred to Siberian Huskies as "Siberian Rats" due to their size of , versus the Alaskan Malamute's size of .


title: Siberian Husky

text: The Husky usually howls instead of barking. They have been described as escape artists, which can include digging under, chewing through, or even jumping over fences.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Because the Siberian Husky had been raised in a family setting by the Chukchi and not left to fend for themselves, they could be trusted with children. The ASPCA classifies the breed as good with children. It also states they exhibit high energy indoors, have special exercise needs, and may be destructive "without proper care".


title: Siberian Husky

text: Siberian Huskies have a high prey drive due to the Chukchi allowing them to roam free in the summer. The dogs hunted in packs and preyed on wild cats, birds, and squirrels, but with training can be trusted with other small animals. They would only return to the Chukchi villages when the snow returned and food became scarce. Their hunting instincts can still be found in the breed today, noted by their typically high prey-drive.


title: Siberian Husky

text: A fence is recommended for this breed as a pet, although some have been known to overcome fences as high as . Electric pet fencing may not be effective. They need the frequent companionship of people and other dogs, and their need to feel as part of a pack is very strong.


title: Siberian Husky

text: The character of the Siberian Husky is friendly and gentle. The Husky cannot be used as a guard dog; Siberian Huskies typically have no aggression towards humans. In addition, the breed often shows independence, which is a disadvantage for service dogs. Attempting to teach Siberian Huskies aggressive behavior can lead to mental problems in the dog. It can be dangerous for the owner. The dog is intelligent, but can be stubborn because of its independence, impulsivity and inattention. To achieve obedience it is highly beneficial to start training at an early age.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Siberian Huskies were ranked 77th out of 138 compared breeds for their intelligence by canine psychologist Stanley Coren. However, the rankings in Coren's published work utilized only one of three defined forms of dog intelligence, "Working and Obedience Intelligence", which focused on trainability—a dog's ability to follow direction and commands in a direct context, specifically by trial judges in a controlled course setting. The Siberian Husky's work as a sled dog, with minimal active direction from a driver, and a driver's reliance on the dogs to make their own decisions in poor conditions, utilizes the other two forms, "Instinctive Intelligence" and "Adaptive Intelligence", to a much greater extent.


title: Siberian Husky

text: A 1999 ASPCA publication shows the average life span of the Siberian Husky is 12 to 14 years. Health issues in the breed are mainly genetic, such as seizures and defects of the eye (juvenile cataracts, corneal dystrophy, canine glaucoma and progressive retinal atrophy) and congenital laryngeal paralysis. Hip dysplasia is not often found in this breed; however, as with many medium or larger-sized canines, it can occur. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals currently has the Siberian Husky ranked 155th out of a possible 160 breeds at risk for hip dysplasia, with only two percent of tested Siberian Huskies showing dysplasia.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Siberian Huskies used for sled racing may also be prone to other ailments, such as gastric disease, bronchitis or bronchopulmonary ailments ("ski asthma"), and gastric erosions or ulcerations.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Modern Siberian Huskies registered in the US are almost entirely the descendants of the 1930 Siberia imports and of Leonhard Seppala’s dogs, particularly Togo. The limited number of registered foundational dogs has led to some discussion about their vulnerability to the founder effect.


title: Siberian Husky

text: The Chukotka Sled Dog is considered the progenitor to the Siberian Husky. Developed by the Chukchi people of Russia, Chukotka sled dog teams have been used since prehistoric times to pulls sleds in harsh conditions, such as hunting sea mammals on oceanic pack ice.


title: Siberian Husky

text: From the 1890s to the 1930s, Chukotka sled dogs were actively imported into Alaska, to transport gold miners to the Yukon, first as part of the Klondike Gold Rush, then later the "All-Alaska Sweepstakes," a 408-mile (657-km) distance dog sled race from Nome, to Candle, and back. At this time, "Esquimaux" or "Eskimo" was a common pejorative term for native Arctic inhabitants with many dialectal permutations including Uskee, Uskimay and Huskemaw. Thus dogs used by Arctic people were the dogs of the Huskies, the Huskie's dogs, and eventually simply the husky dogs. Canadian and American settlers, not well versed on Russian geography, would distinguish the Chukotka imports by referring to them as Siberian huskies as Chukotka is part of Siberia.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Smaller, faster and more enduring than the 100- to 120-pound (45- to 54-kg) freighting dogs then in general use, they immediately dominated the Sweepstakes race. Leonhard Seppala, the foremost breeder of Siberian sled dogs of the time, participated in competitions from 1909 to the mid-1920s with a number of championships to his name.


title: Siberian Husky

text: On February 3, 1925, Gunnar Kaasen was the final musher in the 1925 serum run to Nome to deliver diphtheria serum from Nenana, over 600 miles to Nome. This was a group effort by several sled dog teams and mushers, with the longest (264 miles or 422 km) and most dangerous segment of the run covered by Leonhard Seppala and his sled team lead dog Togo. The event is depicted in the 2019 film "Togo". A measure of this is also depicted in the 1995 animated film "Balto"; the name of Gunnar Kaasen's lead dog in his sled team was Balto, although unlike the real dog, Balto the character was portrayed as a wolf-dog in the film. In honor of this lead dog, a bronze statue was erected at Central Park in New York City. The plaque upon it is inscribed, Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the winter of 1925. Endurance · Fidelity · Intelligence


title: Siberian Husky

text: In 1930, exportation of the dogs from Siberia was halted. The same year saw recognition of the Siberian Husky by the American Kennel Club. Nine years later, the breed was first registered in Canada. The United Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1938 as the "Arctic Husky," changing the name to Siberian Husky in 1991. Seppala owned a kennel in Alaska before moving to New England, where he became partners with Elizabeth Ricker. The two co-owned the Poland Springs kennel and began to race and exhibit their dogs all over the Northeast.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Siberian huskies gained mass popularity with the story of the "Great Race of Mercy," the 1925 serum run to Nome, featuring Balto and Togo. Although Balto is considered the more famous, being the dog that delivered the serum to Nome after running the final 53-mile leg, it was Togo who made the longest run of the relay, guiding his musher Leonhard Seppala on a 261-mile journey that included crossing the deadly Norton Sound to Golovin, and who ultimately became a foundation dog for the Siberian Husky breed.


title: Siberian Husky

text: As the breed was beginning to come to prominence, in 1933 Navy Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd brought about 50 Siberian Huskies with him on an expedition in which he hoped to journey around the 16,000-mile coast of Antarctica. Many of the dogs were trained at Chinook Kennels in New Hampshire. Called Operation Highjump, the historic trek proved the worth of the Siberian Husky due to its compact size and great speed. Siberian Huskies also served in the United States Army's Arctic Search and Rescue Unit of the Air Transport Command during World War II. Their popularity was sustained into the 21st century. They were ranked 16th among American Kennel Club registrants in 2012, rising to 14th place in 2013.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Huskies were extensively used as sled dogs by the British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica between 1945 and 1994. A bronze monument to all of BAS's dog teams sits outside its Cambridge headquarters.


title: Siberian Husky

text: In 1960, the US Army undertook a project to construct an under the ice facility for defense and space research, Camp Century, part of Project Iceworm involved a 150+ crew who also brought with them an unofficial mascot, a Siberian Husky named Mukluk.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Due to their high popularity combining with their high physical and mental needs, Siberians are abandoned or surrendered to shelters at high rates by new owners who do not research them fully and find themselves unable to care for them. Many decide on the breed for their looks and mythos in pop culture, and purchase pups from backyard breeders or puppy mills who do not have breeder-return contracts that responsible breeders will, designed to keep the breed out of shelters.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Sled dogs that were bred and kept by the Chukchi tribes of Siberia were thought to have gone extinct, but Benedict Allen, writing for "Geographical" magazine in 2006 after visiting the region, reported their survival. His description of the breeding practiced by the Chukchi mentions selection for obedience, endurance, amiable disposition, and sizing that enabled families to support them without undue difficulty.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Originally, huskies were used as sled dogs in the polar regions. One can differentiate huskies from other dog types by their fast pulling-style. Modern racing huskies (also known as Alaskan huskies) represent an ever-changing crossbreed of the fastest dogs. Humans use huskies in sled-dog racing. Various companies]have marketed tourist treks with dog sledges for adventure travelers in snow regions. Huskies are also kept as pets, and groups work to find new pet homes for retired racing and adventure-trekking dogs.


title: Siberian Husky

text: Many huskies, especially Siberian Huskies, are considered “working dogs” and often are high energy. Exercise is extremely important for the physical and mental health of these kinds of dogs and it can also prompt a strong bond between the owner and dog. Since many owners now have huskies as pets in settings that are not ideal for sledding, other activities have been found that are good for the dog and fun for the owner.


title: Timothy Leary

text: Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a hero of American consciousness", according to Allen Ginsberg, and Tom Robbins called him a "brave neuronaut".


title: Timothy Leary

text: As a clinical psychologist at Harvard University, Leary founded the Harvard Psilocybin Project after a revealing experience with magic mushrooms in Mexico. He led the Project from 1960 to 1962, testing the therapeutic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, which were legal in the U.S., in the Concord Prison Experiment and the Marsh Chapel Experiment. Other Harvard faculty questioned his research's scientific legitimacy and ethics because he took psychedelics along with his subjects and allegedly pressured students to join in. One of Leary's students, Robert Thurman, has denied that Leary pressured unwilling students. Harvard fired Leary and his colleague Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass) in May 1963. Many people only learned of psychedelics after the Harvard scandal.


title: Timothy Leary

text: Leary believed that LSD showed potential for therapeutic use in psychiatry. He took LSD and developed a philosophy of mind expansion and personal truth through LSD. After leaving Harvard, he continued to publicly promote psychedelic drugs and became a well-known figure of the counterculture of the 1960s. He popularized catchphrases that promoted his philosophy, such as "turn on, tune in, drop out", "set and setting", and "think for yourself and question authority". He also wrote and spoke frequently about transhumanist concepts of space migration, intelligence increase, and life extension (SMI²LE). Leary developed the eight-circuit model of consciousness in his book "Exo-Psychology" (1977) and gave lectures, occasionally calling himself a "performing philosopher".


title: Timothy Leary

text: During the 1960s and 1970s, Leary was arrested 36 times. President Richard Nixon once called him "the most dangerous man in America".


title: Timothy Leary

text: Leary was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, an only child in an Irish Catholic household. His father, Timothy "Tote" Leary, was a dentist who left his wife Abigail Ferris when Leary was 14. He graduated from Classical High School in Springfield.