title: Splitting (psychology)

text: At what Klein called the paranoid-schizoid position, there is a stark separation of the things the child loves (good, gratifying objects) and the things the child hates (bad, frustrating objects), "because everything is polarised into extremes of love and hate, just like what the baby seems to experience and young children are still very close to". Klein refers to the "good breast" and the "bad breast" as split mental entities, resulting from the way "these primitive states tend to deconstruct objects into 'good' and 'bad' bits (called 'part-objects')". The child sees the breasts as opposite in nature at different times, although they actually are the same, belonging to the same mother. As the child learns that people and objects can be good "and" bad at the same time, he or she progresses to the next phase, the depressive position, which "entails a steady, though painful, approximation towards the reality of oneself and others": integrating the splits and "being able to balance [them] out ... are tasks that continue into early childhood and indeed are never completely finished".


title: Splitting (psychology)

text: However, Kleinians also use Freud's first conception of splitting to explain the way "in a related process of splitting, the person divides his own self. This is called 'splitting of the ego'". Indeed, Klein herself maintained that "the ego is incapable of splitting the object—internal or external—without a corresponding splitting taking place within the ego". Arguably at least, by this point "the idea of splitting does not carry the same meaning for Freud and for Klein": for the former, "the ego finds itself 'passively' split, as it were. For Klein and the post-Kleinians, on the other hand, splitting is an 'active' defence mechanism". As a result, by the close of the century "four kinds of splitting can be clearly identified, among many other possibilities" for post-Kleinians: "a coherent split in the object, a coherent split in the ego, a fragmentation of the object, and a fragmentation of the ego".


title: Splitting (psychology)

text: In the developmental model of Otto Kernberg, the overcoming of splitting is also an important developmental task. The child has to learn to integrate feelings of love and hate. Kernberg distinguishes three different stages in the development of a child with respect to splitting:


title: Splitting (psychology)

text: If a person fails to accomplish this developmental task satisfactorily, borderline pathology can emerge. In the borderline personality organization, Kernberg found 'dissociated ego states that result from the use of "splitting" defences'. His therapeutic work then aimed at "the analysis of the repeated and oscillating projections of unwanted self and object representations onto the therapist" so as to produce "something more durable, complex and encompassing than the initial, split-off and polarized state of affairs".


title: Splitting (psychology)

text: Heinz Kohut has emphasized in his self psychology the distinction between horizontal and vertical forms of splitting. Traditional psychoanalysis saw repression as forming a horizontal barrier between different levels of the mind – so that for example an unpleasant truth might be accepted superficially but denied in a deeper part of the psyche. Kohut contrasted with this vertical fractures of the mind into two parts with incompatible attitudes separated by mutual disavowal.


title: Splitting (psychology)

text: It has been suggested that interpretation of the transference "becomes effective through a sort of splitting of the ego into a reasonable, judging portion and an experiencing portion, the former recognizing the latter as not appropriate in the present and as coming from the past". Clearly, "in this sense, splitting, so far from being a pathological phenomenon, is a manifestation of self-awareness". Nevertheless, "it remains to be investigated how this desirable 'splitting of the ego' and 'self-observation' are to be differentiated from the pathological cleavage ... directed at preserving isolations".


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The National Party (, NP), also known as the Nationalist Party, was a political party in South Africa founded in 1914 and disbanded in 1997. The party was an Afrikaner ethnic nationalist party that promoted Afrikaner interests in South Africa. However, in 1990 it became a South African civic nationalist party seeking to represent all South Africans. It first became the governing party of the country in 1924. It merged with its rival, the SAP, during the Great Depression, and a splinter faction became the official opposition during World War II and returned to power and governed South Africa from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Beginning in 1948 following the general election, the party as the governing party of South Africa began implementing its policy of racial segregation, known as apartheid (the Afrikaans term for "separateness"). Although White-minority rule and racial segregation were already in existence in South Africa with non-Whites not having voting rights and efforts made to encourage segregation, apartheid intensified the segregation with stern penalties for non-Whites entering into areas designated for Whites-only without having a pass to permit them to do so (known as the pass laws), interracial marriage and sexual relationships were illegal and punishable offences, and black people faced significant restrictions on property rights. After South Africa was condemned by the British Commonwealth for its policies of apartheid, the NP-led government had South Africa leave the Commonwealth, abandon its monarchy led by the British monarch and become an independent republic.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: During the 1970s and 1980s, the NP-led government faced internal unrest in South Africa and international pressure for accommodation of non-Whites in South Africa. It resulted in policies of granting concessions to the non-White population, while still retaining the apartheid system, such as the creation of Bantustans that were autonomous self-governing Black homelands (criticised for several of them being broken up into unconnected pieces and that they were still dominated by the White minority South African government), removing legal prohibitions on interracial marriage, and legalising non-White and multiracial political parties (however the outlawed though very popular African National Congress (ANC), was not legalised due to the government identifying it as a terrorist organisation). Those identified as Coloureds and Indian South Africans were granted separate legislatures in 1983 alongside the main legislature that represented Whites to provide them self-government while maintaining apartheid, but no such legislature was provided to the Black population as their self-government was to be provided through the Bantustans. The NP-led government began changing laws affected by the apartheid system that had come under heavy domestic and international condemnation such as removing the pass laws, granting Blacks full property rights that ended previous major restrictions on Black ownership of land, and the right to form trade unions. Following escalating economic sanctions over apartheid, negotiations between the NP-led government led by P. W. Botha and the outlawed ANC led by then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela began in 1987 with Botha seeking to accommodate the ANC's demands and consider releasing Mandela and legalising the ANC on the condition that it would renounce use of political violence to attain its aims.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: In the 1989 South African general election, the party under F. W. de Klerk's leadership declared that it intended to negotiate with the Black South African community for a political solution to accommodate Black South Africans. This resulted in De Klerk declaring in February 1990 the decision to transition South Africa out of apartheid, and permitted the release of Mandela from prison and ending South Africa's ban on the ANC and other anti-apartheid movements, and began negotiations with the ANC for a post-apartheid political system. In September 1990 the party opened up its membership to all racial groups and rebranded itself as no longer being an ethnic nationalist party only representing Afrikaners, but would henceforth be a civic nationalist and conservative party representing all South Africans. However, there was significant opposition among hardliner supporters of apartheid that resulted in De Klerk's government responding to them by holding a national referendum on Apartheid in 1992 for the White population alone that asked them if they supported the government's policy to end apartheid and establish elections open to all South Africans: a large majority voted in favour of the government's policy. In the 1994 elections it managed to expand its base to include many non-Whites, including significant support from Coloured and Indian South Africans. It participated in the Government of National Unity between 1994 and 1996. In an attempt to distance itself from its past, the party was renamed the New National Party in 1997. The attempt was largely unsuccessful and the new party was decided to merge with the ANC.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The National Party was founded in Bloemfontein in 1914 by Afrikaner nationalists soon after the establishment of the Union of South Africa. Its founding was rooted in disagreements among South African Party politicians, particularly Prime Minister Louis Botha and his first Minister of Justice, J. B. M. Hertzog. After Hertzog began speaking out publicly against the Botha government's "one-stream" policy in 1912, Botha removed him from the cabinet. Hertzog and his followers in the Orange Free State province subsequently moved to establish the National Party to oppose the government by advocating a "two-stream" policy of equal rights for the English and Afrikaner communities. Afrikaner nationalists in the Transvaal and Cape provinces soon followed suit, so that three distinct provincial NP organisations were in existence in time for the 1915 general elections.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The NP first came to power in coalition with the Labour Party in 1924, with Hertzog as Prime Minister. In 1930 the Hertzog government worked to undermine the vote of Coloureds (South Africans of mixed White and non-White ancestry) by granting the right to vote to White women, thus doubling White political power. In 1934, Hertzog agreed to merge his National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts to form the United Party. A hardline faction of Afrikaner nationalists led by Daniel François Malan refused to accept the merger and maintained a rump National Party called the "Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party" (Purified National Party). The Purified National Party used opposition to South African participation in World War II to stir up anti-British feelings amongst Afrikaners. This led to a reunification of the Purified Nationalists with the faction that had merged with the South African Party; together they formed the "Herenigde Nasionale Party" (Reunited National Party), which went on to defeat Smuts' United Party in 1948 in coalition with the much smaller Afrikaner Party. In 1951, the two amalgamated to once again become known simply as the National Party.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Upon taking power after the 1948 general election, the NP began to implement a program of apartheid – the legal system of political, economic and social separation of the races intended to maintain and extend political and economic control of South Africa by the White minority.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: In 1959 the Bantu Self-Government Act established so-called Homelands (sometime pejoratively called Bantustans) for ten different Black tribes. The ultimate goal of the NP was to move all Black South Africans into one of these homelands (although they might continue to work in South Africa as "guest workers"), leaving what was left of South Africa (about 87 percent of the land area) with what would then be a White majority, at least on paper. As the homelands were seen by the apartheid government as embryonic independent nations, all Black South Africans were registered as citizens of the homelands, not of the nation as a whole, and were expected to exercise their political rights only in the homelands. Accordingly, the three token parliamentary seats that had been reserved for White representatives of Black South Africans in the Cape Province were scrapped. The other three provinces – Transvaal Province, the Orange Free State Province, and Natal Province had never allowed any Black representation.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Coloureds were removed from the Common Roll of Cape Province in 1953. Instead of voting for the same representatives as White South Africans, they could now vote only for four White representatives to speak for them. Later, in 1968, the Coloureds were disenfranchised altogether. In the place of the four parliamentary seats, a partially elected body was set up to advise the government in an amendment to the Separate Representation of Voters Act. This made the electorate entirely White, as Indian South Africans had never had any representation.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: In a move unrecognised by the rest of the world, the former German colony of South West Africa (now Namibia), which South Africa had occupied in World War I, was effectively incorporated into South Africa as a League of Nations mandate, with seven members elected to represent its White citizens in the Parliament of South Africa. The White minority of South West Africa, predominantly Germans and Afrikaners, considered its interests akin to those of the Afrikaners in South Africa and therefore supported the National Party in subsequent elections.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: These reforms all bolstered the NP politically, as they removed Black and Coloured influence – which was hostile to the NP – from the electoral process, and incorporated the pro-nationalist Whites of South-West Africa. The NP increased its parliamentary majority in almost every election between 1948 and 1977.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Numerous segregation laws had been passed before the NP took power in 1948. Among the most significant were the 'Natives Land Act, No 27 of 1913', and the 'Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923'. The former made it illegal for Blacks to purchase or lease land from Whites except in reserves, which restricted Black occupancy to less than eight percent of South Africa's land. The latter laid the foundations for residential segregation in urban areas. Apartheid laws passed by the NP after 1948 included the 'Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act', the 'Immorality Act', the 'Population Registration Act', and the 'Group Areas Act', which prohibited non-white males from being in certain areas of the country (especially at night) unless they were employed there.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The NP was a strong advocate of republicanism, a sentiment which was rooted in Boer history. Beginning in 1836, waves of Boers began to migrate north from the Cape Colony to live beyond the reach of the British colonial administration. Eventually, the migrating Boers founded three republics in southern Africa: the Natalia Republic, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. British colonial expansion in the 19th century led to the annexation of the Natalia Republic by Britain and the First and Second Boer Wars, which resulted in the South African Republic and the Orange Free State being annexed into the Empire as well.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Despite Britain's victory in the Second Boer War, Afrikaners continued to resist British control in southern Africa. In 1914, a group of anti-British Afrikaners led the Maritz rebellion against the Union of South Africa during World War I; two years later, a NP congress called for South Africa to become a republic before changing its mind and deciding that it was too early. The "Afrikaner Broederbond", a secret organization founded in 1918 to support the interests of Afrikaners in South Africa, soon became a powerful force in the South African political scene. The Republican Bond was established in the 1930s, and other republican organisations such as the Purified National Party, the Voortrekkers, Noodhulpliga (First-Aid League) and the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurverenigings (Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organisations) also came into being. There was a popular outpouring of nationalist sentiment around the 1938 centenary of the Great Trek and the Battle of Blood River. It was seen to signify the perpetuation of white South African culture, and anti-British and pro-republican feelings grew stronger.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: It was obvious in political circles that the Union of South Africa was headed inexorably towards republicanism. Although it remained a Dominion after unification in 1910, the country was granted increased amounts of self-government; indeed, it already had complete autonomy on certain issues. It was agreed in 1910 that domestic matters would be looked after by the South African government but that the country's external affairs would still remain British-controlled.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Hertzog's trip to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference was a definite (if failed) attempt to gain independence. In 1926, however, the Balfour Declaration was passed, affording every British dominion within the British Empire equal rank and bestowing upon them their own right of direction of foreign issues. This resulted the following year in the institution of South Africa's first-ever Department of Foreign Affairs. 1931 saw a backtrack as the Statute of Westminster resolved that British Dominions could not have "total" control over their external concerns, but in 1934 the Status and Seals Acts were passed, granting the South African Parliament even greater power than the British government over the Union.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The extreme NP members of the 1930s were known collectively as the Republikeinse Bond. The following organisations, parties and events promoted the republican ideal in the 1930s:


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: There was some confusion about the republican ideal during the war years. The "Herenigde Nasionale Party", with Hertzog its leader, pushed the issue into the background. After Hertzog left the party, however, it became republican. In 1942 and 1944, Daniel François Malan introduced a motion in the House of Assembly in favour of the establishment of a republic, but this was defeated.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: When the NP came to power in 1948 (making it the first all-Afrikaner cabinet since 1910), there were two uppermost priorities which it was determined to fulfill:


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Between 1948 and 1961, Prime Ministers D. F. Malan, J. G. Strijdom and Hendrik Verwoerd all worked very hard for the latter, implementing a battery of policies and changes in a bid to increase the country's autonomy. Divided loyalty, they felt, was holding South Africa back. They wanted to break the country's ties with the United Kingdom and establish a republic, and many South Africans grew confident that a republic was possible.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Unfortunately for its republicans, however, the NP was not in a strong parliamentary position. Although it held a majority (only five) of seats, a large number of these were in rural constituencies, which had far fewer voters than urban constituencies. Malan appealed to many rural voters due to his agricultural policy, meaning black workers relied on white farmers for work, fuelling his quest for a segregated nation. The United Party held a 100,000-vote lead. Consequently, the NP had to rely on the Afrikaner Party's support. It did not, therefore, have the groundswell of public support that it needed to win a referendum, and only when it had that majority on its side could a referendum be held on the republican matter. However, with a small seating majority and a total vote-tally minority, it was impossible for now for Malan and his ardently republican Nats to bring about a republic constitutionally. In the interim, the NP would have to consolidate itself and not antagonise the British.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Many English-speakers did not want to break their ties with the United Kingdom. However, in 1949, at the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London (with Malan in attendance), India requested that, in spite of its newly attained republican status, it remain a member of the British Commonwealth. When this was granted the following year by the London Declaration, it roused a great deal of debate in South Africa between the pro-republican NP and the anti-republican UP (under Strauss). What it meant was that, even if South Africa did become a republic, it did not automatically have to sever all of its ties with the UK and the British Commonwealth. This gained the movement further support from the English-speaking populace, which was less worried about being isolated; and the republican ideal looked closer than ever to being fulfilled.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Although he could not yet make South Africa a republic, Malan could prepare the country for this eventuality. In his term of office, from 1948 to 1954, Malan took a number of steps to break ties with the UK:


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The 1953 ballot votes saw the NP fortify its position considerably, winning comfortably but still falling well short of the clear majority it sought: it had 94 seats in parliament to the UP's 57 and the Labour Party's five.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Malan retired in 1954, at the age of eighty. The two succession contenders were J. G. Strijdom (Minister of Lands and Irrigation) and Havenga (Minister of Finance). Malan personally preferred the latter and, indeed, recommended him. Malan and Strijdom had clashed frequently over the years, particularly on the question of whether a republican South Africa should be inside or outside the Commonwealth.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Strijdom, however, had the support of Verwoerd and Ben Schoeman, and he was eventually voted in as Prime Minister. Strijdom was a passionate and outspoken Afrikaner and republican, and he wholeheartedly supported apartheid. He was completely intolerant towards non-Afrikaners and liberal ideas, utterly determined to maintain White rule, with zero compromise. Known as the "Lion of the North", Strijdom made few changes to his cabinet and pursued with vigour the policy of apartheid. By 1956, he successfully placed the Coloureds on a separate voters' roll, thus further weakening ties with the Commonwealth and gaining support for the NP.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Anti-republican South Africans recognised the shift and distancing from Britain, and the UP grew increasingly anxious, doing all that it could to persuade Parliament to retain Commonwealth links. Strijdom, however, declared that South Africa's participation (or otherwise) in the Commonwealth would be determined only by its best interests.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The question of apartheid dominated the 1958 election and the NP took 55% of the vote, thus winning a clear majority for the first time. When Strijdom died that same year, there was a tripartite succession contest between Swart, Dönges and Verwoerd. The latter, devoted to the cause of a republican South Africa, was the new Prime Minister. Verwoerd, a former Minister of Native Affairs, played a leading role in the institution of the apartheid system. Under his leadership, the NP solidified its control over South African apartheid-era politics.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: To gain support of the English-identified population of South Africa, Verwoerd appointed several English-speakers to his cabinet. He also cited the radical political movements elsewhere in the African continent as vindication of his belief that White and Black nationalism could not work within the same system. Verwoerd also presented the NP as the party best equipped to deal with the widely perceived threat of communism.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: By the end of his term (caused by his assassination), Verwoerd had solidified the NP's domination of South African politics. In the 1966 elections the party won 126 out of the 170 seats in Parliament.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: By 1960, however, much of the South African electorate were calling for withdrawal from the Commonwealth and the establishment of South Africa as a republic. It was decided that a republican referendum was to be held in October. International circumstances made the referendum a growing necessity. In the aftermath of the World War II, former British colonies in Africa and Asia were gaining independence and publicising the ills of apartheid. Commonwealth members were determined to isolate South Africa.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: There were numerous internal factors which had paved the way for and may be viewed as influences on the result:


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The opposition accused Verwoerd of trying to break from the Commonwealth and the west, thus losing South Africa all of its trade preferences. The NP, however, launched a vigorously enthusiastic political campaign, with widely advertised public meetings. The opposition found it very difficult to fight for the preservation of British links.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: On 5 October 1960, 90.5% of the White electorate turned out to vote on the issue. 850,458 (52%) voted in favour of a republic, while 775,878 were against it. The Cape, Orange Free State and Transvaal were all in favour; Natal, a mainly English-speaking province, was not. It was a narrow victory for the republicans. However, a considerable number of Afrikaners did vote against the measure. The few Blacks, Indians and Coloureds allowed to vote were decidedly against the measure.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: English-speakers who voted for a republic had done so on condition that their cultural heritage be safeguarded. Many had associated a republic with the survival of the White South Africans. Macmillan's speech had illustrated that the British government was no longer prepared to stand by South Africa's racist policies. Nevertheless, the referendum was a significant victory for Afrikaner nationalism as British political and cultural influence waned in South Africa.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: However, one question remained after the referendum: would South Africa become a republic outside the Commonwealth (the outcome favoured by the most Afrikaner nationalists)? Withdrawal from the Commonwealth would likely alienate English-speakers and damage relations with many other countries. Former British colonies such as India, Pakistan and Ghana were all republics within the Commonwealth, and Verwoerd announced that South Africa would follow suit "if possible".


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: In January 1961, Verwoerd's government brought forth legislation to transform the Union of South Africa into the Republic of South Africa. The constitution was finalised in April. It merged the authority of the British Crown and Governor-General into a new post, State President of South Africa. The State President would have rather little political power, serving more as the ceremonial head of state. The political power was to lie with the Prime Minister (head of government). The Republic of South Africa would also have its own monetary system, employing Rand and Cents.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: In March 1961, Verwoerd visited the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London to discuss South Africa becoming a republic within the Commonwealth, presenting the Republic of South Africa's application for a renewal of its membership to the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth had earlier declined to predict how republican status would affect South Africa's membership, it did not want to be seen to be meddling in its members' domestic affairs. However, many of the Conference's affiliates (prominent among them the Afro-Asia group and Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker) attacked South Africa's racial policies and rebuffed Verwoerd's application; they would go to any lengths to expel South Africa from the Commonwealth. In the UK, numerous anti-apartheid movements were also campaigning for South Africa's exclusion. Some member countries warned that, unless South Africa was expelled, they would themselves pull out of the organisation. Verwoerd disregarded the censure, arguing that his Commonwealth cohorts had no right to question and criticise the domestic affairs of his country. On this issue, he even had the support of his parliamentary opposition.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Thus, on 15 March 1961, ostensibly to Britain an awkward decision and causing a split within the Commonwealth, but more likely to avoid further condemnation and embarrassment, Verwoerd withdrew his application and announced that South Africa would become a republic outside the Commonwealth. His decision was received with regret by the Prime Ministers of the UK, Australia and New Zealand, but was met with obvious approval from South Africa's critics. Verwoerd issued a statement the next day to the effect that the move would not affect South Africa's relationship with the United Kingdom. On his homecoming, he was met with a rapturous reception. Afrikaner nationalists were not at all deterred by the relinquishment of Commonwealth membership, for they regarded the Commonwealth as little more than the British Empire in disguise. They believed that South Africa and the United Kingdom had absolutely nothing in common, and even UP leader Sir De Villiers Graaff praised Verwoerd for his handling of the situation.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: On 31 May 1961, South Africa became a republic. The date was a significant one in Afrikaner history, as it heralded the anniversary of a number of historical events, the 1902 Treaty of Vereeniging, which ended the Anglo-Boer War; South Africa's becoming a union in 1910; and the first hoisting of the Union flag in 1928. The Afrikaner republican dream had finally come to reality.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The significance of Commonwealth withdrawal turned out to be less than had been expected. It was not necessary for South Africa to amend its trading preferences, and Prime Minister Macmillan reciprocated Verwoerd's assurance that withdrawal would not alter trade between South Africa and the UK.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: South Africa had now its first independent constitution, although the only real constitutional change was that the State President, in charge for seven years, would assume the now-vacant position of the Queen as Head of State. C. R. Swart, the State President elect, took the first republican oath as State President of South Africa before Chief Justice L.C. Steyn (DRC).


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Although White inhabitants were generally happy with the republic, united in their support of Verwoerd, the Blacks defiantly rejected the move. Nelson Mandela and his National Action Council demonstrated from 29 to 31 May 1961. The republican issue would strongly intensify resistance to apartheid.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The NP won a majority of parliamentary seats in all elections during the apartheid era. Its popular vote record was more mixed: While it won the popular vote with a comfortable margin in most general elections, the NP carried less than 50% of the electorate in 1948, 1953, 1961, and 1989. In 1977, the NP got its best-ever result in the elections with support of 64.8% of the White voters and 134 seats in parliament out of 165. After this the party's support declined as a proliferation of right wing parties siphoned off important segments of its traditional voter base.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Throughout its reign, the party's support came mainly from Afrikaners, but other White people were courted by and increasingly voted for the NP after 1960. By the 1980s however, in reaction to the "verligte" reforms of P. W. Botha, the majority of Afrikaners drifted to the Conservative Party of Andries Treurnicht, who called for a return to the traditional policies of the NP. In the 1974 general elections for example 91% of Afrikaners voted for the NP; however, in the 1989 general elections, only 46% of Afrikaners cast their ballot for the National party.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Following the assassination of Verwoerd, John Vorster took over as party leader and Prime Minister. From the 1960s onwards, the NP and the Afrikaner population in general was increasingly divided over the application of apartheid (the legal opposition being similarly divided over its response), leading to the emergence of the ""verkramptes"" and ""verligtes"". "Verkramptes" were members of the party's right-wing who opposed any deviation from the rigid apartheid structure. "Verligtes" took a somewhat more moderate stance towards racial issues, primarily from a pragmatic standpoint over fears of international scrutiny should reforms fail to be made.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: In addition to the question of apartheid, the two factions were divided over such issues as immigration, language, racially-mixed sporting teams, and engagement with Black African states. In 1969, members of the ""verkrampte"" faction including Albert Hertzog and Jaap Marais, formed the "Herstigte Nasionale Party", which claimed to be the true upholder of pure Verwoerdian apartheid ideology and continues to exist today. While it never had much electoral success, it attracted sufficient numbers to erode support for the government at crucial points, although not to the extent that the Conservative Party would do. Meanwhile, the "verligtes" began to gain some traction inside the party in response to growing international opposition to apartheid.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Perhaps a precursor to the split came around 1960 when Japie Basson, a moderate, was expelled for disagreements on racial questions and would form his own National Union Party, he would later join the United Party and Progressive Federal Party before rejoining the NP in the 1980s. Former Interior Minister Theo Gerdener formed the Democratic Party in 1973 to attempt its own verligte solution to racial questions.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: Beginning in the early 1980s, under the leadership of Pieter Willem Botha, Prime Minister since 1978, the NP began to reform its policies. Botha legalised interracial marriages and multiracial political parties and relaxed the Group Areas Act. Botha also amended the constitution to grant a measure of political representation to Coloureds and Indians by creating separate parliamentary chambers in which they had control of their "own affairs". The amendments also replaced the parliamentary system with a presidential one. The powers of the Prime Minister were essentially merged with those of the State President, which was vested with sweeping executive powers. Although portraying the new system as a power-sharing agreement, Botha ensured that the real power remained in White hands, and in practice, in the hands of the NP. Whites had large majorities in the electoral college which chose the State President, as well as on the President's Council, which settled disputes between the three chambers and decided which combination of them could consider any piece of legislation. However, Botha and the NP refused to budge on the central issue of granting meaningful political rights to Black South Africans, who remained unrepresented even after the reforms. Most Black political organisations remained banned, and prominent Black leaders, including Nelson Mandela, remained imprisoned.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: While Botha's reforms did not even begin to meet the opposition's demands, they sufficiently alarmed a segment of his own party to engender a second split. In 1982, hardline NP members including Andries Treurnicht and Ferdinand Hartzenberg formed the Conservative Party, committed to reversing Botha's reforms, which by 1987 became the largest parliamentary opposition party. The party later merged into the Freedom Front, which today represents Afrikaner nationalism. On the other hand, some reformist NP members also left the party, such as Dennis Worrall and Wynand Malan, who formed the Independent Party which later merged into the Democratic Party (a similar breakaway group existed for a time in the 1970s). The loss of NP support to both the DP and CP reflected the divisions among White voters over continued maintenance of apartheid.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: In the midst of rising political instability, growing economic problems and diplomatic isolation, Botha resigned as NP leader, and subsequently as State President in 1989. He was replaced by F. W. de Klerk in this capacity. Although conservative by inclination, De Klerk had become the leader of an "enlightened" NP faction that realised the impracticality of maintaining apartheid forever. He decided that it would be better to negotiate while there was still time to reach a compromise, than to hold out until forced to negotiate on less favourable terms later. He persuaded the NP to enter into negotiations with representatives of the Black community. Late in 1989, the NP won the most bitterly contested election in decades, pledging to negotiate an end to the very apartheid system that it had established.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: On 2 February 1990, the African National Congress was legalised, and Nelson Mandela was released after twenty-seven years of imprisonment. In the same year, the NP opened its membership to all racial groups and moves began to repeal the racial legislation which had been the foundations of apartheid. A referendum in 1992 gave De Klerk plenipotentiary powers to negotiate with Mandela. Following the negotiations, a new interim constitution was drawn up, and non-racial democratic elections were held in 1994. These elections were won by the African National Congress. The NP remained in government, however, as a coalition partner to the ANC in the Government of National Unity until 30 June 1996, when it withdrew to become the official opposition.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: The NP won 20.39% of the vote and 82 seats in the National Assembly at the first multiracial election in 1994. This support extended well beyond the White community and into other minority groups. For instance, two-thirds of Indian South Africans voted for the NP. It became the official opposition in most provinces and also won a majority in the Western Cape, winning much of the White and Coloured vote. Its Coloured support also earned it a strong second place in the Northern Cape. The party was wracked by internal wranglings whilst it participated in the Government of National Unity, and finally withdrew from the government to become the official opposition in 1996. Despite this, it remained uncertain about its future direction, and was continually outperformed in parliament by the much smaller Democratic Party (DP), which provided a more forceful and principled opposition stance. In 1997, its voter base began to gradually shift to the DP. The NP renamed itself the New National Party towards the end of 1997, to distance itself from the apartheid past.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: However, the NNP would quickly disappear from the political scene, faring poorly at both the 1999 and 2004 general elections. Going back and forth on whether to oppose or work with the ANC, the two finally formed an alliance in late-2001. After years of losing members and support to other parties, the NNP's collapse in its previous stronghold in the Western Cape at the 2004 general election proved to be the final straw; its federal council voted to dissolve the party on 9 April 2005, following a decision the previous year to merge with the ANC.


title: National Party (South Africa)

text: On 5 August 2008 a new party using the name of "National Party South Africa" was formed and registered with the Independent Electoral Commission. The new party had no formal connection with the now defunct New National Party. The relaunched National Party of 2008 pushes for a non-racial democratic South Africa based on federal principles and the legacy of F. W. de Klerk.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: Penelope Claire Lancaster, Lady Stewart (born 15 March 1971) is an English model and television personality. She is married to rock singer Rod Stewart. In 2014, she joined the ITV lunchtime show "Loose Women".


title: Penny Lancaster

text: Lancaster was born to Graham and Sally and has a brother named Oliver. At the age of six, Lancaster took up dance, including tap, ballet and modern. At 16, she gave up because of her height and decided that aerobics would better suit her frame, and six years later she became a certified fitness trainer. It was during this time that she was spotted by a model scout, who suggested she should consider a career in modelling. Lancaster suffers from a chronic sweat problem called hyperhidrosis.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: Throughout the 1990s, Lancaster was in a long-term relationship with city trader Mickey Sloan. They lived in Bermuda from 1996 to 1998 but separated in 1999.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: Around this time, Lancaster decided to learn about the other side of modelling and began taking photography classes.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: In 2002, Lancaster signed up to be the face of designer lingerie brand Ultimo for £200,000. Although she was a success at promoting the brand—raising its profile, especially in the United Kingdom—two years later, Lancaster's contract was not renewed. She was replaced in the role by Rod Stewart's ex-wife Rachel Hunter. The decision, dubbed Bra Wars by the British press, was seen as a publicity stunt, which infuriated Stewart, who described Ultimo's founder Michelle Mone as "manipulative". However, two of Stewart's daughters—Kimberly and Ruby—have since modelled for Ultimo.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: Lancaster was one of fourteen celebrities taking part in the fifth series of "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2007. In week 4, she was revealed as one of the bottom two participants. She and her dancing partner, (Ian Waite), were in the week six dance-off with Matt Di Angelo and were voted off.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: On 15 September 2014, Lancaster was billed as an occasional panellist on the lunchtime TV chat show "Loose Women". She made four subsequent appearances during her first series. Through series 20 and 21 Lancaster started appearing on the show more regularly, usually twice per month. However, from series 22, Lancaster returned to appearing much more infrequently, making a total of six appearances. This was followed by a further ten appearances in series 23 and four in series 24. In series 25, she appeared more frequently and was a regular panellist. In the current series, she has not yet appeared as a panellist but has appeared as a guest. She has not officially left the show.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: In January 2019, she appeared in an episode of "Celebrity Catchphrase". In February 2019, she appeared in "Famous and Fighting Crime" alongside fellow celebrities Jamie Laing, Katie Piper, Sandi Bogle and Marcus Brigstocke on Channel 4.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: In 2021, Lancaster was a competitor on BBC's "Celebrity MasterChef". She made it as far as her quarter final, losing out to Melanie Sykes and Megan McKenna.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: In 2020, after appearing on Channel 4's "Famous and Fighting Crime", Lancaster joined the City of London Police as a volunteer special constable. In April 2021, she completed her training to become a special police constable and is now fully qualified. She was on policing duties during the Queen’s funeral.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: In 1999, Lancaster met singer Rod Stewart when he agreed to let her take photos of him on tour. A romance soon developed and they began seven-year courtship. Lancaster gave birth to their first child, Alastair Wallace Stewart, on 27 November 2005. Lancaster and Stewart married on 16 June 2007 at La Cervara near Portofino, Italy. On 17 February 2011, it was announced that Lancaster had given birth to their second child (Stewart's eighth), Aiden Patrick Stewart.


title: Penny Lancaster

text: Lancaster is an ambassador for Penny for London, a charity helping young people escape poverty, supported by Northern & Shell, the parent company of the "Daily Express", Goldman Sachs, Barclaycard and VISA. She is also a vice-president of the Royal National Institute of Blind People.


title: Iberian Union

text: The Iberian Union refers to the dynastic union of the Crowns of Castile and Aragon and the Kingdom of Portugal that existed between 1580 and 1640 and brought the entire Iberian Peninsula, as well as Portuguese and Spanish overseas possessions, under the Spanish Habsburg monarchs Philip II, Philip III, and Philip IV. The union began after the Portuguese crisis of succession and the ensuing War of the Portuguese Succession, and lasted until the Portuguese Restoration War, during which the House of Braganza was established as Portugal's new ruling dynasty with the acclamation of John IV as the new King of Portugal.


title: Iberian Union

text: The kings from the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg were the only element that connected the multiple kingdoms and territories, ruled by the six separate government councils of Castile, Aragon, Portugal, Italy, Flanders, and the Indies. The governments, institutions, and legal traditions of each kingdom remained independent of one another. Alien laws ("Leyes de extranjería") determined that a national of one kingdom was a foreigner in all other kingdoms.


title: Iberian Union

text: The unification of the peninsula had long been a goal of the region's monarchs with the intent of restoring the Visigothic monarchy. Sancho III of Navarre and Alfonso VII of León and Castile had both taken the title "Imperator totius Hispaniae", meaning "Emperor of All Hispania". There were many attempts to unite the different kingdoms after Alfonso VII's death in 1109, especially through a policy of intermarriage. Some of the most famous attempts are those of Miguel da Paz, who would inherit the crowns of Portugal, Leon, Castile, and Aragon, but who died at a young age; and those of Afonso, Prince of Portugal, who was to marry the eldest daughter of the Catholic Monarchs, if not for his untimely death by an accident in which he fell off his horse.


title: Iberian Union

text: The Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578 saw the death of the young king Sebastian. Sebastian's granduncle and successor, Cardinal Henry, was 66 years old at the time. Henry's death was followed by a succession crisis, with three grandchildren of Manuel I claiming the throne: Infanta Catarina, Duchess of Braganza (married to John, 6th Duke of Braganza), António, Prior of Crato, and King Philip II of Spain. António had been acclaimed King of Portugal by the people of Santarém on 24 July 1580, and then in many cities and towns throughout the country. Some members of the Council of Governors of Portugal who had supported Philip escaped to Spain and declared him to be the legal successor of Henry. Philip marched into Portugal and defeated the troops loyal to the Prior of Crato in the Battle of Alcântara. The troops occupying the countryside (Tercios) commanded by the 3rd Duke of Alba arrived in Lisbon. The Duke of Alba imposed on the Portuguese provinces a subjection of Philip before entering Lisbon, where he seized an immense treasure; meanwhile, he allowed his soldiers to sack the vicinity of the capital. Philip was recognized as king by the Cortes of Tomar in 1581, beginning the reign of the House of Habsburg over Portugal. When Philip left in 1583 to Madrid, he made his nephew Albert of Austria his viceroy in Lisbon. In Madrid he established a Council of Portugal to advise him on Portuguese affairs.


title: Iberian Union

text: António exploited the opportunity that the war between Elizabeth and Philip presented in order to convince the English to back an amphibious assault on Portugal in April 1589. Led by Francis Drake and John Norris, the expedition of 120 ships and 19,000 men failed due to poor planning.


title: Iberian Union

text: Portugal's status was maintained under the first two kings under the Union, Philip II and Philip III. Both monarchs gave excellent positions to Portuguese nobles in the Spanish courts, and Portugal maintained an independent law, currency, and government. It was even proposed to move the royal capital to Lisbon.


title: Iberian Union

text: The history of Portugal from the dynastic crisis in 1578 to the first Braganza Dynasty monarchs was a period of transition. The Portuguese Empire's spice trade was peaking at the start of this period. It continued to enjoy widespread influence after Vasco da Gama had finally reached the East by sailing around Africa in 1497–98. Vasco da Gama's achievement completed the exploratory efforts inaugurated by Henry the Navigator, and opened an oceanic route for the profitable spice trade into Europe that bypassed the Middle East.


title: Iberian Union

text: Due to the complexity in the management of government, the Spanish Monarch needed some auxiliary bodies, as the Councils ("Consejos"), dedicated to the advice and resolution of problems, and submitted to the Monarch's knowledge and dictum. This complexity needed a permanent seat, and the king Philip II of Spain established in 1562 the permanent capital in Madrid, seat of the Royal Court and of the administrative staff, although transferred in Valladolid, with the whole administrative staff, during a brief period (1601–1606).


title: Iberian Union

text: As for the functioning, the administrative correspondence came to the different Councils, to Madrid, then the secretary of every Council arranged the material that had to deliver for the attention of the king, and later the King assembled with the secretaries requesting the opinion of the council. After that, the Council answered afterwards a session to treat the issue and to raise the formal consultation to the monarch. The secretary raise the consultation to the king, and was returned to the council with his response to be executed. The meetings of the Councils took place in the royal palace, and they did not count on the presence of the king habitually. In this poly-synodical system, "Consejo de Estado" (Council of State) stood out for its importance. The "Consejo de Estado" in Madrid, entrusted to declare on the major decisions that concerned the organization and the defense of the ensemble of the Hispanic monarchy, and it had frequently that to get into Portuguese matters. Even, the Council of War ("Consejo de Guerra") exercised its jurisdiction on the troops placed in the Castilian strongholds established on the Portuguese littoral.


title: Iberian Union

text: And also, there were Councils of territorial character, which functions specialized in a concrete territorial space, the Council of Castile, Council of Aragon, Council of Navarre, Council of Italy, Council of The Indies, Council of Flanders, and the Council of Portugal. The Council of Portugal, established in 1582, was integrated with a president and six (later four) counselors, and it was abolished at the end of the war in 1668, when Charles II of Spain gave up his title as King of Portugal. The function of the Council consists in representing close to the king the courts of the Crown of Portugal for the matters that depend on the justice, grace, finally, the economy of the royal Portuguese domain. Any decision of the king who concerning his Kingdom must do the object of a consultation to the council before being transmitted to the chancellery of Lisbon and to the concerned courts. The Council of Portugal knows two eclipses: in 1619, for the presence of the King in Lisbon, and between 1639 and 1658, replaced with the Junta of Portugal. From the Restauração, the Council continued existing, since Philip IV had not recognized the independence of Portugal, and carried out the attending to the faithful Portuguese to the Spanish monarch, and the government of Ceuta.


title: Iberian Union

text: Relating to the particular government of the kingdom of Portugal itself. During the union of the kingdom of Portugal to the Spanish monarchy, the Spanish Hasburgs on the whole respected the pledges made at Thomar in 1581 to allow considerable Portuguese autonomy and to respected the territories of its empire. Public offices were reserved for Portuguese subjects at home and overseas. The king was represented at Lisbon sometimes by a governor and sometimes by a viceroy. So, Spain left the administration of Portugal and its empire largely to the Portuguese themselves, under general supervision from Madrid channeled through a viceroy in Lisbon. Important matters, however, were referred to Madrid, where they came before the Council of Portugal. In the kingdom of Portugal, the polisynodial system is reinforced:


title: Iberian Union

text: Nevertheless, the political conjuncture need urgent reactions, and in this context a system of meetings appeared for specific issues, as the Junta for the reform of the Council of Portugal (1606–1607, 1610), the Junta for the classification of the debts to the treasury (since 1627) or the Juntas for the organization of the navies of succor of Brazil (since 1637)...


title: Iberian Union

text: Throughout the 17th century, the increasing raids on Portuguese merchant shipping by Dutch, English and French privateers and their establishment of trading posts in Africa, Asia and the Americas undermined Portugal's monopoly on the lucrative spice trade. This sent the Portuguese spice trade into a long decline. The diversion of wealth from Portugal by the Habsburg monarchy to support the Catholic side of the Thirty Years' War also created strains within the union, although Portugal did also benefit from Spanish military power in helping to retain Brazil and in disrupting Dutch trade. These events, and those that occurred at the end of Aviz dynasty and the Iberian Union, led Portugal to a state of dependency on its colonies, first India and then Brazil.


title: Iberian Union

text: The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign policy, and Spain's enemies became Portugal's. England had been an ally of Portugal since the Treaty of Windsor in 1386. War between Spain and England led to a deterioration of the relations with Portugal's oldest ally, and the loss of Hormuz. English help provided by Queen Elizabeth I of England in a rebellion against the kings assured the survival of the alliance. War with the Dutch led to invasions of many countries in Asia, including Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka), and commercial interests in Japan, Africa (Mina), and South America. Even though Portuguese were unable to capture the entire island of Ceylon, they were able to keep the coastal regions of Ceylon under their control for a considerable time. Brazil was partially conquered by both France and the Seventeen Provinces.


title: Iberian Union

text: In the 17th century, taking advantage of this period of Portuguese weakness, many Portuguese territories in Brazil were occupied by the Dutch, who gained access to the sugarcane plantations. John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, was appointed as the governor of the Dutch possessions in Brazil in 1637 by the Dutch West India Company. He landed at Recife, the port of Pernambuco, in January 1637. By a series of successful expeditions, he gradually extended the Dutch possessions from Sergipe on the south to São Luís de Maranhão in the north. He likewise conquered the Portuguese possessions of Elmina Castle, Saint Thomas, and Luanda, Angola, on the west coast of Africa. After the dissolution of the Union in 1640, Portugal reestablished its authority over the lost territories of the Portuguese Empire. The Dutch intrusion into Brazil was long-lasting and troublesome to Portugal. The Seventeen Provinces captured a large portion of the Brazilian coast including Bahia (and its capital Salvador) and Pernambuco (and its capital Olinda). The whole Brazilian northeast was occupied, but the Dutch conquest was short-lived. The recapture of Salvador by a Spanish-Portuguese fleet in 1625 was followed by a rapid recovery of the lost territories. The Dutch returned in 1630 and captured Recife and Olinda in the captaincy of Pernambuco, the largest and richest sugar-producing area in the world. This began a war over Brazil, which would see the Dutch establish a colony called New Holland. However, the Second Battle of Guararapes, second and decisive battle in a conflict called Pernambucana Insurrection, ended the Dutch occupation of the Portuguese colony of Brazil.


title: Iberian Union

text: On the other hand, the Iberian Union opened to both countries a worldwide span of control, as Portugal dominated the African and Asian coasts that surrounded the Indian Ocean, and Spain the Pacific Ocean and both sides of Central and South America, while both shared the Atlantic Ocean space.


title: Iberian Union

text: When Philip II of Portugal (and III of Spain) died, he was succeeded by Philip III (and IV of Spain) who had a different approach on Portuguese issues. Taxes raised affected mainly the Portuguese merchants (Carmo Reis 1587). The Portuguese nobility began to lose its importance at the Spanish "Cortes", and government posts in Portugal were occupied by Spaniards. Ultimately, Philip III tried to make Portugal a royal province, and Portuguese nobles lost all of their power.


title: Iberian Union

text: Several other problems also damaged Portuguese support of their union with Spain. One of these was certainly the pressure from the center, especially from the Count-Duke of Olivares, towards uniformity and sharing the financial and military burden of Castile's wars in Europe. However, the Portuguese were hardly inclined to help with that, as Spain had failed to prevent the Dutch occupation of several of Portugal's colonial holdings, despite the fact that both the Portuguese and the Spanish were nominally under the same crown.


title: Iberian Union

text: This situation culminated in a revolution by the nobility and high "bourgeoisie" on 1 December 1640, 60 years after the crowning of Philip I. This revolution, while foreseeable, was most immediately sparked by a popular Catalan Revolt against the Crown. The plot was planned by Antão Vaz de Almada, Miguel de Almeida and João Pinto Ribeiro. They, together with several associates, known as the Forty Conspirators, took advantage of the fact that the Castilian troops were occupied in the other side of the Iberian Peninsula. The rebels killed Secretary of State Miguel de Vasconcelos and imprisoned the king's cousin, the Duchess of Mantua, who had governed Portugal in his name. The moment was well chosen, as Philip's troops were at the time fighting the Thirty Years' War in addition to the previously mentioned revolution in Catalonia.


title: Iberian Union

text: The support of the people became apparent almost immediately and soon John, 8th Duke of Braganza, was acclaimed King of Portugal throughout the country as John IV. By 2 December 1640, John had already sent a letter to the Municipal Chamber of Évora as sovereign of the country.


title: Iberian Union

text: The subsequent Portuguese Restoration War against Philip III () consisted mainly of small skirmishes near the border. The most significant battles were the Battle of the Lines of Elvas (1659), the Battle of Ameixial (1663), the Battle of Castelo Rodrigo (1664), and the Battle of Montes Claros (1665); the Portuguese were victorious in all of these battles. However, the Spaniards won the Battle of Vilanova (1658) and the Battle of the Berlengas (1666). The Battle of Montijo (1644) was indecisive, starting out with great Spanish success and ending with Portuguese success; the number of casualties were nearly equal.


title: Iberian Union

text: Several decisions made by John IV to strengthen his forces made these victories possible. On 11 December 1640, the Council of War was created to organize all the operations. Next, the king created the Junta of the Frontiers, to take care of the fortresses near the border, the hypothetical defense of Lisbon, and the garrisons and sea ports. In December 1641, a tenancy was created to assure upgrades on all fortresses that would be paid with regional taxes. John IV also organized the army, established the Military Laws of King Sebastian, and developed intense diplomatic activity focused on restoring good relations with England. Meanwhile, the best Spanish forces were pre-occupied with their battles against the French in Catalonia, along the Pyrenees, Italy and the Low Countries. The Spanish forces in Portugal never received adequate support. Nevertheless, Philip IV felt he could not give up what he regarded as his rightful inheritance. By the time the war with France ended in 1659, the Portuguese military were well established and ready to confront the last major attempt of a worn out Spanish regime to reclaim control.


title: Iberian Union

text: English soldiers were sent to Portugal and helped the Portuguese rout Don John's army at Ameixial near Estremoz on June 8, 1663. The Spaniards lost 8,000 men and all their artillery while the Portuguese had only 2,000 casualties. On 7 July 1664 about 3,000 Portuguese met 7,000 Spaniards near Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo and killed 2,000 and took 500 prisoners. Many Spanish communities lost population and blamed their decline on the war against Portugal. Louis XIV sent French troops to Lisbon, and on 17 June 1665 the German General Friedrich Hermann Schomberg led about 20,000 Portuguese forces to victory at Montes Claros near Vila Viçosa with only 700 killed and 2,000 wounded. The Spanish army of 22,600 men was devastated with 4,000 dead and 6,000 captured. Protests erupted in Madrid as Spain had wasted 25 million ducats on the disastrous Portuguese war. The Spanish tried to carry on the war for two years more. Spain recognized Portugal's sovereignty and made peace on 13 February 1668.


title: Iberian Union

text: In the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain, the Valdegovía adopted the royal coat of arms during the Iberian Union period with the Navarre arms and the Portuguese arms added on the honor point.


title: Iberian Union

text: The spanish city of Ceuta was a part of the Portuguese Empire until the end of the Iberian Union in 1640, after which it decided to remain with Spain. Thus the coat of arms of the city is nearly identical to that of the Kingdom of Portugal, showing the seven castles over the red bordure and the five escutcheons with silver roundels, and the gyronny field of its flag is identical to that of the flag of Lisbon, to commemorate the fact of that flag having been the first raised in Ceuta by the Portuguese when they conquered the city in 1415.


title: Living Colour

text: Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992). Stylistically, their music is a creative fusion influenced by heavy metal, funk, jazz, hip hop, punk, and alternative rock. The band's lyrics range from the personal to the political, including social commentary on racism in the United States.


title: Living Colour

text: Living Colour has released six studio albums so far. The band rose to fame with their debut album "Vivid" in 1988. Although they scored a number of hits, Living Colour is best known for their signature anthem "Cult of Personality", which won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1990. They were also named Best New Artist at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards and won their second Grammy Award for their follow-up album "Time's Up" (1990). Their third album, "Stain" (1993), was also well received by music critics. After disbanding in 1995, Living Colour reunited in late 2000, and has released three more studio albums since then: "Collideøscope" (2003), "The Chair in the Doorway" (2009) and "Shade" (2017). The band has been in the process of working on new material for the follow-up to "Shade".


title: Living Colour

text: English-born guitarist Vernon Reid had formed a number of bands, and after a few years, he formed Living Colour in New York in 1984, using the British spelling of "colour". Reid assembled a number of bands under the name Vernon Reid's Living Colour from 1984 to 1986. Reid was well known on the downtown New York jazz scenes because of his tenure in Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society.


title: Living Colour

text: Early band members included bassists Alex Mosely, Jerome Harris and Carl James, drummers Greg Carter, Pheeroan akLaff and J.T. Lewis, keyboardist Geri Allen, and vocalists D.K. Dyson and Mark Ledford, with Reid occasionally singing lead vocals himself. The band's sound was vastly different from the songs that showed up later on their major label recordings. Material from this period included instrumental jazz/funk workouts, politically pointed punk rock burners, experimental excursions via Reid's guitar synth, and an early version of the song "Funny Vibe", which was reworked for their debut album "Vivid".


title: Living Colour

text: In 1986 a stable lineup was formed, consisting of vocalist/actor Corey Glover, guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Muzz Skillings, and drummer Will Calhoun (who had graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music). After hiring managers Jim Grant and Roger Cramer, the band hired prodigy lighting designer Andy Elias in November 1986 to strengthen their live shows with explosive visual productions. Soon after, the band became experienced at touring and performed regular gigs at the club CBGB. Around this time their career also benefited from English Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger's involvement; Jagger was aware of Living Colour from working with bassist Doug Wimbish, and after going to see the band live at CBGBs, he went on to produce two of their demos; his 'endorsement' encouraged Epic Records to sign Living Colour. Interviewed in 2018, Vernon Reid looked back on the deal as a bittersweet triumph; “We had to get the co-sign from a person who literally embodied what rock ’n’ roll is, the fact that he had to come see us, and dig us, for us to get at the back of the line is crazy.”


title: Living Colour

text: "Vivid", released on May 3, 1988, gathered sales momentum when later that year, MTV began playing the video for "Cult of Personality". The album reached #6 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 chart. On April 1, 1989, the band performed on NBC's "Saturday Night Live". Four months later, the band gained further exposure as an opening act, along with Guns N' Roses, for The Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour.


title: Living Colour

text: In 1990 the band's second full-length album, "Time's Up", featured songs in numerous musical contexts; jazz fusion, punk rock, Delta blues, hip hop (cameos by Queen Latifah and Doug E. Fresh), funk, thrash metal, jive, and hints of electronica were all represented. The album reached #13 on the "Billboard" 200, and won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. Other guests included Maceo Parker and Little Richard.


title: Living Colour

text: In 1991, Living Colour joined the inaugural Lollapalooza tour, and released an EP of outtakes entitled "Biscuits".


title: Living Colour

text: In 1992, Skillings left the band and was replaced by Doug Wimbish. This new line up released their third full-length album, "Stain", in March 1993. The album reached #26 in the U.S., a further drop since their debut. Despite retaining their strong fan base, Living Colour disbanded in January 1995, after failing to settle on common musical goals during sessions for their fourth studio album. Four of these tracks were included on the compilation "Pride". Following the breakup, individual band members released a variety of solo efforts.


title: Living Colour

text: Living Colour re-formed on December 21, 2000, at CBGB as a gig billed "Head»Fake w/ special guests". Head»Fake was the current drum and bass project headed by Calhoun and Wimbish. Glover was on the bill to sing a few songs and Reid came on after three songs. The reunion was followed by the release of the band's fourth studio album, "Collideøscope", in 2003, their first album not to chart in the United States, although it was critically praised. In 2005, Sony Records released "Live from CBGB's", a live album recorded on December 19, 1989, as well as another best-of compilation, "", with songs from "Vivid" to "Collideøscope".


title: Living Colour

text: On September 22, 2006, Skillings joined the band for the first time in fourteen years when they played at a private party which drummer Jack DeJohnette threw for his wife Lydia. Wimbish was unable to come back from his base in London to play for the event, so Skillings agreed to take over for the special private event.


title: Living Colour

text: The band performed a week-long European Tour starting on December 12, 2006. In May 2007, the band released their first live DVD - "On Stage At World Cafe Live". On July 11, 2008, the band performed at the 1980s hard rock-themed Rocklahoma festival at Pryor, Oklahoma. Once again, Skillings performed with them in August 2008 for a Black Rock Coalition Band of Gypsys tribute in Harlem. They performed "Them Changes" and "Power of Soul".


title: Living Colour

text: On October 25, 2008, MVD Audio and CBGB Records released "CBGB OMFUG MASTERS: August 19, 2005 The Bowery Collection", a soundboard collection of songs from the Save CBGB's benefit show. On November 25, 2008, Inakustik and MVD released "The Paris Concert", a DVD recorded at New Morning, in Paris, France, during their 2007 European Tour. The band released their fifth studio album, "The Chair in the Doorway", on September 15, 2009 on Megaforce Records. The album sold approximately 2,800 copies in its first week and landed at #161 on the "Billboard" 200. This was the band's first album to chart since "Stain" in 1993. The band toured the world in support of the record.


title: Living Colour

text: In an interview on breakdownroom.net, Glover hoped to release another album with the band next year. "We're going to do something different [for us] and make a real record, right now, right after we've done this one," Glover said with a laugh. The band's song "Cult of Personality" received fresh exposure from 2011, as it was used as the entrance music for professional wrestler CM Punk. In 2013, Living Colour performed the song live during Punk's entrance at WrestleMania 29.


title: Living Colour

text: On July 2, 2014 Living Colour announced on their official website that they were putting the finishing touches on their upcoming sixth album "Shade", which was released on September 8, 2017. ""Shade" is the sound of a band coming to terms with its shadows and light, From the blue pulpit of Robert Johnson to the mean red streets of Brooklyn to the golden lure of Hollywood, "Shade" is the next chapter of a unique American journey," Reid stated on the official website. The album includes 10 originals and 3 covers: Robert Johnson's "'Preachin' Blues", Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya?" and Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues'" available on CD, MP3, and vinyl.


title: Living Colour

text: On August 19, 2016 the band released a cover of The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya?", from an upcoming EP entitled "Mixtape" which was released on September 9. It features appearances from Chuck D, Black Thought, Pharoahe Monch, Prodigal Sunn, and Kyle Mansa.


title: Living Colour

text: By late 2018, Living Colour had begun working on new material for a possible EP or seventh full-length studio album. When asked about a month after the release of "Shade" if fans would have to wait another four years for the follow-up album, Reid replied, "Well I don't know about all that. It's intriguing to be back in this cycle." The band announced on December 10, 2022 that they had entered the studio to begin recording their seventh studio album.


title: Living Colour

text: "Cult of Personality" was part of the "" repertoire of radio songs in . It was also the first song to be confirmed for the track list of "". The version featured in "Guitar Hero III" is a new master recording of the song that features an updated solo, as the original masters could not be used.


title: Living Colour

text: In October 2006, "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" was ranked and voted 303 out of the 2006 songs featured in the Triple M Essential 2006 Countdown.


title: Living Colour

text: In early 2009, WWE used "Cult of Personality" in the video promoting the induction of Stone Cold Steve Austin into its Hall of Fame. WWE performer CM Punk used the song as his entrance theme in Ring of Honor for a period of time. CM Punk used other licensed music while working with WWE, but, after feigning a departure from the company in July 2011, he returned with "Cult of Personality" as his entrance theme. CM Punk also entered to the song at his debut in the world of mixed martial arts at UFC 203 and subsequently at UFC 225 for his fight versus Mike Jackson. He subsequently used the same song in his All Elite Wrestling debut at Rampage: The First Dance on August 20th, 2021, and continues using it as his entrance theme.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Achtung Baby () is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 on Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 release "Rattle and Hum", U2 shifted their direction to incorporate influences from alternative rock, industrial music, and electronic dance music into their sound. Thematically, "Achtung Baby" is darker, more introspective, and at times more flippant than their previous work. The album and the subsequent multimedia-intensive Zoo TV Tour were central to the group's 1990s reinvention, by which they abandoned their earnest public image for a more lighthearted and self-deprecating one.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Seeking inspiration from German reunification, U2 began recording "Achtung Baby" at Berlin's Hansa Studios in October 1990. The sessions were fraught with conflict, as the band argued over their musical direction and the quality of their material. After tension and slow progress nearly prompted the group to disband, they made a breakthrough with the improvised writing of the song "One". Morale and productivity improved during subsequent recording sessions in Dublin, where the album was completed in 1991. To confound the public's expectations of the band and their music, U2 chose the record's facetious title and colourful multi-image sleeve.


title: Achtung Baby

text: "Achtung Baby" is one of U2's most successful records; it received favourable reviews and debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 Top Albums, while topping the charts in many other countries. Five songs were released as commercial singles, all of which were chart successes, including "One", "Mysterious Ways", and "The Fly". The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and won a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. "Achtung Baby" has since been acclaimed by writers and music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time. The record was reissued in October 2011 for its 20th anniversary, and again in November 2021 for its 30th anniversary.


title: Achtung Baby

text: After U2's 1987 album "The Joshua Tree" and the supporting Joshua Tree Tour brought them critical acclaim and commercial success, their 1988 album and film "Rattle and Hum" precipitated a critical backlash. Although the record sold 14 million copies and performed well on music charts, critics were dismissive of it and the film, labelling the band's exploration of early American music as "pretentious" and "misguided and bombastic". U2's high exposure and their reputation for being overly serious led to accusations of grandiosity and self-righteousness.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Despite their commercial popularity, the group were dissatisfied creatively; lead vocalist Bono believed they were musically unprepared for their success, while drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. said, "We were the biggest, but we weren't the best." By the band's 1989 Lovetown Tour, they had become bored with playing their greatest hits. U2 believe that audiences misunderstood the group's collaboration with blues musician B.B. King on "Rattle and Hum" and the Lovetown Tour, and they described it as "an excursion down a dead-end street". Bono said that, in retrospect, listening to black music enabled the group to create a work such as "Achtung Baby", while their experiences with folk music helped him to develop as a lyricist. During a 30 December 1989 show near the end of the Lovetown Tour, Bono said on stage to the hometown crowd in Dublin that it was "the end of something for U2", and that "we have to go away and ... dream it all up again". Following the tour, the group began what was at the time their longest break from public performances and album releases.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Reacting to their own sense of musical stagnation and to their critics, U2 searched for new musical ground. They had written "God Part II" from "Rattle and Hum" after realising they had excessively pursued nostalgia in their songwriting. The song had a more contemporary feel that Bono said was closer to "Achtung Baby"s direction. Further indications of change were two recordings they made in 1990: the first was a cover version of "Night and Day" for the first "Red Hot + Blue" release, in which U2 used electronic dance beats and hip hop elements for the first time; the second indication of change was contributions made by Bono and guitarist the Edge to the original score of "A Clockwork Orange"s stage adaptation. Much of the material they wrote was experimental, and according to Bono, "prepar[ed] the ground for "Achtung Baby"". Ideas deemed inappropriate for the play were put aside for the band's use. During this period, Bono and the Edge began increasingly writing songs together without Mullen or bassist Adam Clayton.


title: Achtung Baby

text: In mid-1990, Bono reviewed material he had written in Australia on the Lovetown Tour, and the group recorded demos at STS Studios in Dublin. The demos later evolved into the songs "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", "Until the End of the World", "Even Better Than the Real Thing", and "Mysterious Ways". After their time at STS Studios, Bono and the Edge were tasked with continuing to work on lyrics and melodies until the group reconvened. Going into the album sessions, U2 wanted the record to completely deviate from their past work, but they were unsure how to achieve this. The emergence of the Madchester scene in the UK left them confused about how they would fit into any particular musical scene.


title: Achtung Baby

text: U2 hired Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno to produce the album, based on the duo's prior work with the band on "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree". Lanois was principal producer, with Mark "Flood" Ellis as engineer. Eno took on an assisting role, working with the group in the studio for a week at a time to review their songs before leaving for a month or two. Eno said his role was "to come in and erase anything that sounded too much like U2". By distancing himself from the work, he believed he provided the band with a fresh perspective on their material each time he rejoined them. As he explained, "I would deliberately not listen to the stuff in between visits, so I could go in cold". Since U2 wanted the record to be harder-hitting and live-sounding, Lanois "push[ed] the performance aspect very hard, often to the point of recklessness". The Lanois–Eno team used lateral thinking and a philosophical approach—popularised by Eno's Oblique Strategies—that contrasted with the direct and retro style of "Rattle and Hum" producer Jimmy Iovine.


title: Achtung Baby

text: The band believed that "domesticity [w]as the enemy of rock 'n' roll" and that to work on the album, they needed to remove themselves from their normal family-oriented routines. With a "New Europe" emerging at the end of the Cold War, they chose Berlin, in the centre of the reuniting continent, as a source of inspiration for a more European musical aesthetic. They chose to record at Hansa Studios in West Berlin, near the recently opened Berlin Wall. Several acclaimed records were made at Hansa, including two from David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" with Eno, and Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life". U2 arrived on 3 October 1990 on the last flight into East Berlin on the eve of German reunification. While looking for public celebrations, they mistakenly ended up joining an anti-unification protest by Communists. Expecting to be inspired in Berlin, U2 instead found the city to be depressing and gloomy. The collapse of the Berlin Wall had resulted in a state of malaise in Germany. The band found their East Berlin hotel to be dismal and the winter inhospitable, while the location of Hansa's Studio 2 in a former SS ballroom, the Meistersaal, added to the "bad vibe". Complicating matters, the studios had been neglected for years, forcing Eno and Lanois to import recording equipment.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Morale worsened once the sessions commenced, as the band worked long days but could not agree on a musical direction. The Edge had been listening to electronic dance music and to industrial bands like Einstürzende Neubauten, Nine Inch Nails, the Young Gods, and KMFDM. He and Bono advocated new musical directions along these lines. In contrast, Mullen was listening to classic rock acts such as Blind Faith, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix, and he was learning how to "play around the beat". Like Clayton, he was more comfortable with a sound similar to U2's previous work and was resistant to the proposed innovations. Further, the Edge's interest in dance club mixes and drum machines made Mullen feel that his contributions as a drummer were being diminished. Lanois was expecting the "textural and emotional and cinematic U2" of "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree", and he did not understand the "throwaway, trashy kinds of things" on which Bono and the Edge were working. Compounding the divisions between the two camps was a change in the band's songwriting relationship; Bono and the Edge were working more closely together, writing material without the rest of the group.


title: Achtung Baby

text: U2 found that they were neither prepared nor well-rehearsed, and that their ideas were not evolving into completed songs. The group were unable to reach consensus during their disagreements and felt that they were not making progress. Bono and Lanois, in particular, had an argument that almost came to blows during the writing of "Mysterious Ways". During one tense session, Clayton removed his bass guitar and held it out to Bono, saying, "You tell me what to play and I'll play it. You want to play it yourself? Go ahead." With a sense of going nowhere, the band considered breaking up. Eno visited for a few days, and understanding their attempts to deconstruct the band, he assured them that their progress was better than they thought. By adding unusual effects and sounds, he showed that the Edge's pursuit for new sonic territory was not incompatible with Mullen's and Lanois' "desire to hold on to solid song structures". Ultimately, a breakthrough was achieved with the writing of the song "One". While working on "Sick Puppy"—an early version of "Mysterious Ways"—the Edge played two separate chord progressions sequentially on guitar at Lanois' encouragement, and finding inspiration, the group quickly improvised a new song that became "One". It provided reassurance and validated their long-standing "blank page approach" to writing and recording together.


title: Achtung Baby

text: U2 returned to Dublin for Christmas, where they discussed their future together and all recommitted to the group. Listening to the tapes, they agreed their material sounded better than they originally thought. They briefly returned to Berlin in January 1991 to finish their work at Hansa. Reflecting on their time in Berlin, Clayton called the sessions a "baptism of fire" and said, "It was something we had to go through to realize what we were trying to get to was not something you could find physically, outside of ourselves, in some other city—that there was not magic to it and that we actually had to put the work in and figure out the ideas and hone those ideas down." Although just two songs were delivered during their two months in Berlin, the Edge said that in retrospect, working there had been more productive and inspirational than the output had suggested. The band had been removed from a familiar environment, providing what they described as a certain "texture and cinematic location", and many of their incomplete ideas would be revisited in the subsequent Dublin sessions with success.


title: Achtung Baby

text: In February 1991, U2 moved the album's recording sessions to the seaside manor Elsinore in the Dublin suburb of Dalkey, renting the house for £10,000 per month. The band nicknamed the house "Dog Town" for the "tackiness" of its exterior dog kennels, and the location was credited as such in the album notes. Lanois' strategy to record in houses, mansions, or castles was something he believed brought atmosphere to the recordings. The group rented recording equipment from Dublin audio services company Audio Engineering, and they used a converted garage as a recording space, diagonally beneath the control room. Video cameras and TV monitors were used to monitor and communicate between the spaces. With Elsinore located within walking distance of Bono's and the Edge's homes, the sessions there were more relaxed and productive. The band struggled with one particular song—later released as the B-side "Lady With the Spinning Head"—but three separate tracks, "The Fly", "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" and "Zoo Station", were derived from it. During the writing of "The Fly", Bono created a persona based on an oversized pair of black sunglasses that he wore to lighten the mood in the studio. The character, which he also named "The Fly", evolved into a leather-clad egomaniac meant to parody rock stardom. Bono assumed this alter ego for the band's subsequent public appearances and live performances on the Zoo TV Tour.


title: Achtung Baby

text: In April, tapes from the earlier Berlin sessions were stolen after the band reportedly left them in a hotel room, and they were subsequently leaked before the album was finished. The recordings were bootlegged into a three-disc collection dubbed the "Salome – The [Axtung Beibi] Outtakes", named for a song that was prominently featured in the collection but did not make the album's final cut. The release is considered the most famous bootleg of U2 material. Bono dismissed the leaked demos as "gobbledygook", and the Edge likened the situation to "being violated". The leak shook U2's confidence and soured their collective mood for a few weeks.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Staffing schedules led to the band having a surplus of engineers at one point, and as a result, they split recording between Elsinore and the Edge's home studio to increase productivity. Engineer Robbie Adams said the approach raised morale and activity levels: "There was always something different to listen to, always something exciting happening." The band's desire to record everything they played in the studio posed a challenge to the production team. A conventional setup with their equipment would have restricted them to 24 tracks of audio; to capture multiple overdubs and takes for different arrangement possibilities, the engineers utilised a technique they called "fatting", which allowed them to achieve more than 48 tracks of audio by using an Otari MTR100 24-track recorder, a Fostex D20 timecode-capable DAT recorder, and an Adams Smith Zeta Three synchroniser. The focus on capturing the band's material and encouraging the best performances meant that little attention was paid to combating audio spill, aside from placing the Edge's and Clayton's amplifiers in separate rooms. In issue 14 of U2's fan magazine "Propaganda", Lanois said that he believed some of the in-progress songs would become worldwide hits, despite lyrics and vocal takes being unfinished.


title: Achtung Baby

text: During the Dublin sessions, Eno was sent tapes of the previous two months' work, which he called a "total disaster". Joining U2 in the studio, he stripped away what he thought to be excessive overdubbing. The group believes his intervention saved the album. Eno theorised that the band was too close to their music, explaining: "if you know a piece of music terribly well and the mix changes and the bass guitar goes very quiet, you still hear the bass. You're so accustomed to it being there that you compensate and remake it in your mind." Eno also assisted them through a crisis point one month before the recording deadline; he recalled that "everything seemed like a mess", and he insisted the band take a two-week holiday. The break gave them a clearer perspective and added decisiveness.


title: Achtung Baby

text: After work at Elsinore finished in July, the sessions moved to Windmill Lane Studios where Eno, Flood, Lanois, and previous U2 producer Steve Lillywhite mixed the tracks. Each producer created his own mixes of the songs, and the band either picked the version they preferred or requested that certain aspects of each be combined. Additional recording and mixing continued at a frenetic pace until the 21 September deadline, including last-minute changes to "The Fly", "One", and "Mysterious Ways". The Edge estimated that half of the sessions' work was done in the last three weeks to finalise songs. The final night was spent devising a running order for the record. The following day, the Edge travelled to Los Angeles with the album's tapes for mastering.


title: Achtung Baby

text: U2 is credited with composing the music for all of "Achtung Baby"s tracks, despite periods of separated songwriting. They wrote the music primarily through jam sessions, a common practice for them. The album represents a deviation from the sound of their past work; the songs are less anthemic in nature, and their musical style demonstrates a more European aesthetic, introducing influences from alternative rock, industrial music, and electronic dance music. The band referred to the album's musical departure as "the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree". Accordingly, the distorted introduction to the opening track "Zoo Station" was intended to make listeners think the record was broken or was mistakenly not the new U2 album. Author Susan Fast said that with the group's use of technology in the song's opening, "there can be no mistake that U2 has embraced sound resources new to them".


title: Achtung Baby

text: For the album, the Edge often eschewed his normally minimalistic approach to guitar playing and his trademark chiming, delay-heavy sound, in favour of a style that incorporated more solos, dissonance, and feedback. Industrial influences and guitar effects, particularly distortion, contributed to a "metallic" style and "harder textures". Music journalist Bill Wyman said the Edge's guitar playing on the closing track "Love Is Blindness" sounded like a "dentist's drill". The Edge achieved breakthroughs in the writing of songs such as "Even Better Than the Real Thing" and "Mysterious Ways" by toying with various effects units.


title: Achtung Baby

text: The rhythm section is more pronounced in the mix on "Achtung Baby", and hip hop-inspired electronic dance beats are featured on many of the album's tracks, most prominently "The Fly". Elysa Gardner of "Rolling Stone" compared the layering of dance beats into guitar-heavy mixes to songs by British bands Happy Mondays and Jesus Jones. "Mysterious Ways" combines a funky guitar riff with a danceable, conga-laden beat, for what Bono called "U2 at our funkiest... Sly and The Family Stone meets Madchester baggy." Amidst layers of distorted guitars, "The Fly" and "Zoo Station" feature industrial-influenced percussion—the timbre of Mullen's drums exhibits a "cold, processed sound, something like beating on a tin can", according to author Albin Zak.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Whereas Bono exhibited a full-throated vocal delivery on the group's previous releases, for "Achtung Baby" he extended his range into a lower register and used what Fast described as "breathy and subdued colors". On many tracks, including "The Fly" and "Zoo Station", he sang as a character; one technique used is octave doubling, in which the vocals are doubled but sung in two different octaves. This octave differentiation was sometimes done with vocals simultaneously, while at other times, it distinguishes voices between the verses and choruses. According to Fast, the technique introduces "a contrasting lyrical idea and vocal character to deliver it", leading to both literal and ironic interpretations of Bono's vocals. He said that lowering his voice helped him find a new vocal vocabulary, which he felt was limited to "certain words and tones" by his tenor voice. Other methods of altering his vocals included treating them with processing and feeding them through a distortion pedal. These techniques were all used to give his voice a different emotional feel and distinguish it from his previous work.


title: Achtung Baby

text: As is often the case on U2 albums, Bono is credited as the sole lyricist. In contrast to U2's previous records, whose lyrics were politically and socially charged, "Achtung Baby" is more personal and introspective, examining love, sexuality, spirituality, faith, and betrayal. The lyrics are darker in tone, describing troubled personal relationships and exuding feelings of confusion, loneliness, and inadequacy. Central to these themes was the Edge's separation from his wife (the mother of his three children), which occurred halfway through the album's recording. The pain not only focused him on the record and led him to advocate more personal themes, but it also affected Bono's lyrical contributions. Bono found inspiration from his own personal life, citing the births of his two daughters in 1989 and 1991 as major influences. This is reflected in "Zoo Station", which opens the album as a statement of intent with lyrics suggesting new anticipations and appetites.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Of the album's personal nature, Bono said that there were a lot of "blood and guts" in it. His lyrics to the ballad "One" were inspired by the band members' struggling relationships and the German reunification. The Edge described the song on one level as a "bitter, twisted, vitriolic conversation between two people who've been through some nasty, heavy stuff". Similarly, "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" describes a strained relationship and unease over obligations, and on "Acrobat", Bono sings about weakness, hypocrisy, and inadequacy. The torch songs of Roy Orbison, Scott Walker, and Jacques Brel were major influences, evidenced by tracks such as: "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", a description of a couple's argument; "So Cruel", about unrequited love, obsession, and possessiveness; and the closing track, "Love Is Blindness", a bleak account of a failing romance.


title: Achtung Baby

text: U2 biographer Bill Flanagan credits Bono's habit of keeping his lyrics "in flux until the last minute" with providing a narrative coherence to the album. Flanagan interpreted "Achtung Baby" as using the moon as a metaphor for a dark woman seducing the singer away from his virtuous love, the sun; he is tempted away from domestic life by an exciting nightlife and tests how far he can go before returning home. For Flanagan, "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" on the album's latter third describes the character stumbling home in a drunken state, and the final three songs—"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)", "Acrobat", and "Love Is Blindness"—are about how the couple deal with the suffering they have forced on each other.


title: Achtung Baby

text: Despite the record's darker themes, many lyrics are more flippant and sexual than those from the band's previous work. This reflects the group's revisiting some of the Dadaist characters and stage antics they dabbled with in the late 1970s as teenagers but abandoned for more literal themes in the 1980s. While the band had previously been opposed to materialism, they examined and flirted with this value on the album and the Zoo TV Tour. The title and lyrics of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" are "reflective of the times [the band] were living in, when people were no longer looking for the truth, [they] were all looking for instant gratification". "Trashy" and "throwaway" were among the band's buzzwords during recording, leading to many tracks in this vein. The chorus of "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" features the pop lyrical cliché "baby, baby, baby", juxtaposed against the dark lyrics in the verses. Bono wrote the lyrics to "The Fly" in character as the song's eponymous persona by composing a sequence of aphorisms. He called the song "like a crank call from Hell... but [the caller] likes it there".


title: Achtung Baby

text: Religious imagery is present throughout the record. "Until the End of the World" is an imagined conversation between Jesus Christ and his betrayer, Judas Iscariot. On "Acrobat", Bono sings about feelings of spiritual alienation in the line "I'd break bread and wine / If there was a church I could receive in". In many tracks, Bono's lyrics about women carry religious connotations, describing them as spirits, life, light, and idols to be worshipped. Religious interpretations of the album are the subject of the book "Meditations on Love in the Shadow of the Fall" from the "33 ⅓" series.