title: Max Blumenthal

text: Oz Katerji wrote in "Haaretz" in July 2017, that "[v]irtually any group that speaks out on the Assad regime’s campaign of systematic slaughter have been targeted by this coterie", consisting of Blumenthal, Gareth Porter, Ben Norton and Rania Khalek "with the express intention of defending a regime guilty of human extermination." Far from being anti-war, they are "acting as full-time advocates for Russian and Iranian military imperialism in Syria and to provide them immunity in the American public square from war crimes charges." Gershom Gorenberg wrote on October 14, 2016, for "The American Prospect" that "Blumenthal's concern for Arab lives and rights seems to vanish once he locates the Assad regime as an opponent of American hegemony."


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In separate articles, Charles Davis and Oz Katerji wrote that, in January 2017, following claims made by the Syrian government, Blumenthal blamed the contamination of the water supply for Damascus in the Wadi Barada valley on militants opposed to the government. A subsequent report by the UN found that “Syria’s air force deliberately bombed water sources in December [2016], a war crime that cut off water [to] 5.5 million people in and around the capital Damascus." He tweeted in April 2018 that every time government forces "liberate" a rebel held area those opponents of Assad "allege a chemical attack."


title: Max Blumenthal

text: Around the same time, Blumenthal told Sky News Australia that it was quite probable the Syrian rebels were responsible for the Douma chemical attack. "I cannot think of one pundit on the national scene, in cable news or in any major newspaper who has questioned the drive for regime change in Syria", he told Al Jazeera in an interview in June 2018. It is "left to a small group of journalists and online activists to really sift through what we believe is disinformation from our own governments aimed at stimulating a war of regime change."


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In September 2019, Blumenthal was part of an American delegation which visited Damascus to participate in a Assad-backed trade union convention and to stand "against the economic blockade, imperialist interventions and terrorism." The Syrian government does not allow independent labor unions and strikes are illegal. Bellingcat wrote that recent visitors and a tour operator in Damascus had told it that Syria was not generally issuing travel visa to US citizens at the time Blumenthal visited. Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, writing for Al Jazeera, said the delegation included Rania Khalek, Paul Larudee of the Syrian Solidarity Movement, Ajamu Baraka, former RT producer Anya Parampil and "other pro-Assad conspiracy theorists". The delegation visited government-held areas and, according to Idrees Ahmad, were accompanied by a minder from the Assad government.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In 2019, Bellingcat wrote that Blumenthal was a recipient of the Serena Shim Award, a financial award for "uncompromised integrity in journalism" awarded by the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, which Bellingcat said was a non-profit group that supported Assad. Blumenthal, in a tweet, said he had not received money from "the 'Assad regime' or any lobbying group connected to it". Blumenthal challenged his critics assertions when he was interviewed by "Rolling Stone" in November 2019.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In 2018, during the 2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests, Blumenthal wrote a "lengthy, insinuation-infused attack" on the journalist Carl David Goette-Luciak, a freelance reporter for "The Guardian". The article, which was published by "MintPress News" and "The Canary", stated that Goette-Luciak had links to the Nicaraguan opposition party Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) and to US organizations that supposedly fund the MRS to destabilise the government. Following an online harassment campaign, Luciak went into hiding. When he returned to his home, immigration officials arrested him and deported to El Salvador. Goette-Luciak said the officials threatened him with torture while he was in custody. A lawyer for Blumenthal told "The Guardian" "there was nothing to suggest [Blumenthal]'s reporting contributed to the deportation of Goette-Luciak."


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In November 2017, Blumenthal discussed the decision of the United States Department of Justice to classify RT as a "foreign agent" in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News. He told Carlson: "I go on RT fairly regularly, and the reason I do so is because, while the three major cable networks are promoting bombing and sanctioning half the world, at least the non-compliant nations, RT is questioning that." Charles Davis, in an article for "New Politics", stated in 2018 that Blumenthal is "found almost every week defending Russian foreign policy on platforms such as RT and "Sputnik"", and has defended Russia's role in the Syrian Civil War.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: Blumenthal was skeptical of accounts of President Donald Trump and his administration colluding with Russia in the 2016 presidential election in an interview with Tucker Carlson. He said that establishment Republicans and progressive Democrats were using the Russia story to avoid "do[ing] anything progressive". Petra Marquardt-Bigman wrote that, in a December 2017 interview with "Sputnik", Blumenthal had said "the Trump transition team colluded with a foreign power to subvert America's political system". She said he was referring to collusion with Israel, not Russia.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: Peter Beinart wrote in "The Atlantic" that while Blumenthal and Glenn Greenwald have a strong dislike of President Donald Trump, they are more fundamentally against "hawkish" US foreign policy resulting in them minimizing "Russia's election meddling to oppose what they see as a new Cold War". Matt Taibbi in "Rolling Stone" cited Blumenthal among a group of journalists who had expressed what he described as "healthy" skepticism of Russiagate. Blumenthal described Russiagate, in an article for "Truthdig", as a "vicious backlash ... against Trump's moves toward detente" with Russia. A 2018 article in the Ukrainian fact-checking organization StopFake described Blumenthal as a "pro-Russia American journalist" who "promotes Russian propaganda".


title: Max Blumenthal

text: For his writing concerning Ukraine, Sławomir Sierakowski, the chief editor of the Polish left-wing magazine Krytyka Polityczna, included Blumenthal in a 2014 "New York Times" opinion piece entitled "Putin's Useful Idiots". Sierakowski discussed Blumenthal's statement that the "openly pro-Nazi politics" of the Ukrainian political party Svoboda and its leader, Oleg Tyagnibok, "have not deterred Senator John McCain from addressing a Euromaidan rally" and did not "prevent Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland from enjoying a friendly meeting with the Svoboda leader this February". He said that Blumenthal's statement "distorts how these things work. A whole range of Western political leaders traveled to Euromaidan, and virtually all of them were photographed with Mr. Tyagnibok."


title: Max Blumenthal

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Blumenthal falsely claimed the Mariupol theatre airstrike was the responsibility of Ukraine's Azov Regiment rather than Russian forces.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: "The Grayzone" and Blumenthal have denied the scale of the detention of Uyghurs in mass internment camps in Xinjiang. "I don't have reason to doubt that there's something going in Xinjiang, that there could even be repression", he told Afshin Rattansi on RT UK's "Going Underground" in July 2020, adding "we haven't seen the evidence for these massive claims [of a million people detained]". He has asserted that the exaggeration or manufacture of crimes against humanity in Xinjiang are part of a United States government campaign to discredit China. In an email to "Axios" (which they quoted in a August 2020 article), he accused "Cold War ideologues" like the website, of "a desperate campaign to suppress ["The Grayzone"s] factual journalism." Representatives of the Chinese Foreign Ministry have approvingly tweeted links to "The Grayzone" articles on this issue.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: Blumenthal's book "The Management of Savagery: How America's National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump" was published in 2019 by Verso Books.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: Lydia Wilson, in a review for "The Times Literary Supplement", was critical of "The Management of Savagery". She wrote that Blumenthal overstates his case "with misleading or one-sided examples" in an account of the United States involvement in wars during the previous two decades which "tips sufficiently and with enough regularity into full-scale conspiracy to allow any careful reader to dismiss it." Wilson commented that Blumenthal "uses long-debunked myths", originating from Russian and Syrian sources, to explain the Ghouta chemical attack in 2013.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: Journalist Chris Hedges, in a positive review for Truthdig, described the book as "insightful". A review by Nasser Baston in the British newspaper "Morning Star" stated that it is a "useful antidote to the torrents of pro-empire bilge promoted by conservatives and liberals alike".


title: Max Blumenthal

text: On February 24, 2019, Blumenthal posted an article on "The Grayzone" website about clashes on February 23 on the Colombia–Venezuela border during the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis and the shipping of humanitarian aid to Venezuela. The US government and media had stated that humanitarian aid trucks that were attempting to enter Venezuela from Colombia had been deliberately set on fire by Nicolas Maduro's forces. In his article, Blumenthal wrote that "the claim was absurd on its face". He said footage from "Bloomberg News" showed that opposition protesters on the Francisco de Paula Santander bridge in the border were preparing Molotov cocktails, "which could easily set a truck cabin or its cargo alight". He referred to having seen similar situations during his reporting on the West Bank. According to Glenn Greenwald in "The Intercept," "[Blumenthal] compiled substantial evidence strongly suggesting that the trucks were set ablaze by "anti-Maduro" protesters".


title: Max Blumenthal

text: On July 30, Nicolás Maduro awarded Blumenthal with a replica of Simón Bolívar's sword for his role in the occupation of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., along with other participants. In August, Blumenthal interviewed Maduro.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: On October 25, 2019, Blumenthal was arrested and charged with assault of a woman in a case related to a May 7 incident at the embassy of Venezuela, Washington, D.C. The US Department of Justice dropped the case against Blumenthal in December 2019.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In May 2020, Blumenthal said on "The Jimmy Dore Show" that George Soros is funding anti-government protesters in Venezuela, as well as in Hong Kong.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In February 2021, tweets concerning a "Grayzone" article by Blumenthal were the first to receive a Twitter warning label stating: "These materials may have been obtained through hacking". The story was entitled "Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to 'weaken Russia', leaked docs reveal". The story referred to hacked and leaked documents which, it alleged, show a British Army unit has used "social media to help fight wars". Twitter's head of editorial in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is a reservist for the same British Army Unit.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In June 2007, Blumenthal attended the "Take Back America Conference" (sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future), where he interviewed both supporters of Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Blumenthal said that conference organizers were angered by the video, and refused to air it.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: Blumenthal made a short video titled "Generation Chickenhawk" (2007). It featured interviews with attendees at the July 2007 College Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C. Blumenthal asked why they, as Iraq War supporters, had not enlisted in the United States Armed Forces.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: In August 2007, Blumenthal made a short video called "Rapture Ready", about American Christian fundamentalists' support for the State of Israel.


title: Max Blumenthal

text: "Killing Gaza", a feature-length documentary Blumenthal made with filmmaker Dan Cohen, was released in 2018. The work concerned the 2014 Gaza War, seen from the perspective of the residents of Gaza.


Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie is a 2022 American animated superhero film directed by Andy Suriano and Ant Ward. Produced by Nickelodeon, it serves as a continuation of the animated television series "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Ben Schwartz, Omar Miller, Brandon Mychal Smith, Josh Brener, Kat Graham, and Eric Bauza reprising their voice roles from the series, joined by Haley Joel Osment. The film follows Leonardo as he is forced to lead his brothers to save the world from the Krang.


title: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie

text: The film was released in the United States on August 5, 2022, by Netflix. It received generally positive reviews from critics.


text: In the year 2044, the alien Krang has invaded the Earth and the resistance has fallen. In one final attempt, Leonardo and Michelangelo now as Masters with the rest of their family having died in the war, send their student Casey Jones back in time to stop the invasion by finding a key that allowed the Krang to come to the Earth, though it costs Leo and Mikey their lives to do so.


text: Casey successfully reaches the present day, several months after the defeat of the Shredder. After Leo breaks Donatello's pizza box stack record, Raphael alerts both of them and Mikey of a theft unfolding by Hypno-Potamus and Warren Stone, with the key that Casey is looking for is included with the stolen items. The Turtles manage to stop them, but the Foot ninjas arrive and claim the key. Back in the new lair, Raph and Leo get into an argument due to the latter's growing ego.


text: Meanwhile, Casey finds April O'Neil who knocks him out and takes him to the Turtles' lair. He then explains his mission and after mentioning the Krang, Splinter explains that they came to Earth long ago and were exiled to another realm by a band of warriors who created and used the key, which is a mystic weapon, and that they are worshiped by the Foot. The Turtles, along with April, Splinter and Casey, go after the Foot, who have managed to open the portal. Their fight against the Krang causes them to lose their mystic powers, forcing them to retreat, but Leo manages to seize the key and close the portal. To protect Leo, Raph forces him to escape while he is captured.


text: Afterwards, the remaining Turtles, along with Casey, go after the Krang and Raph while Splinter and April remain behind to get rid of the key. The Krang manage to find the Turtles' lair through Raph, they then parasitically possess the members of the Foot clan and sends them after the key while they prepare the portal on top of the Metro Tower, the tallest building in the city.


text: The Turtles and Casey are ambushed in the sub-way tunnels and get separated. Casey calls out Leo for his arrogance before they reunite with the rest of the Turtles. They then find Raph, who has been possessed by the Krang and seizes the key, the Krang then uses the key to open the portal and bring forth the Technodrome. The Krang began their attack upon New York City and easily defeat the U.S. Army.


text: While April, Splinter, and Casey occupy the Krang forces, the Turtles board the ship. Leo goes after Raph, while Donnie and Mikey try to seize control of the ship. They are captured, but Leo reaches out to Raph and helps him break free, and the brothers manage to regain their mystic powers. The four fight valiantly but the Krang are too strong with Mikey, Donnie and Raph thrown out of the ship during the battle. Leo forces the Krang back to their prison realm and orders Casey to close the portal, which results in the Technodrome getting cut in half from the closure and destroyed. Leo is trapped in the realm with the enraged Krang who proceeds to mercilessly beat Leo, but Mikey, Raph, and Donnie save him using Mikey's newly-developed mystic powers, leaving the Krang alone in the prison realm, preventing the future of earth being destroyed.


text: Sometime later, the heroes enjoy pizza on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, with Casey revealing that former Foot Clan recruit Cassandra Jones is his mother. They watch the city as it is being rebuilt and make a vow to defend it when it is needed. Afterwards, Raph tries to break Leo's pizza box stack record.


text: On February 5, 2019, it was announced that feature films based on "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "The Loud House" were in production for Netflix. The film was in development since October 2018, though production didn't begin until March 2020; Nickelodeon first approached showrunners Andy Suriano and Ant Ward to develop a film during development of season 2. The producers worked on the film simultaneosly with the series' second season. Due to the season being shortened by Nickelodeon, the writers had to adjust the film's plot to align it with changes made for the second season's story, though the directors did noted some details would not align with the series. In January 2021, the films's plot synopsis was revealed on the franchise's official Twitter account, along with the original release year. In August, the film was pushed back to 2022 due to it not being completed in time. Production on the film was completed in April 2022.


text: The film features a rift between Leonardo and Raphael as a plot point. A traditional aspect of "TMNT" lore, the filmmakers wanted to potray their rivalry in a "unique way". While writing the Krang as villains, Suriano and Ward aimed for them to be "formidable adversaries to the Turtles" and establish them as more dangerous foes than the series' potrayal of the Shredder. In order to enphasize the threat represented by the Krang, the characters' designs were altered from previous potrayals, such as altering their size proportions.


text: Animation services were provided by Flying Bark Productions, Top Draw, Digitoonz Media, and Cartoon Conrad Productions. Due to the increased budget, the animators were allowed to feature more fluidity and color in the film than in the series.


text: The film was originally set to be released in 2021 but was pushed back to 2022 due to it not being completed in time. The film's trailer was released on July 6, 2022. "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie" was released on Netflix on August 5, 2022. The film saw a theatrical release in China nationwide on November 19, 2022, where it was distributed by China Film Group Corporation.


text: On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


text: Hayden Mears of "IGN" praised the fim, writing "Not only does "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie" function as a superb entry point for new fans, but it also commits to tonal and stylistic makeovers that elevate the franchise in unexpected ways." Jennifer Borget of Common Sense Media wrote, "Though this is a dark, and at times frightening, story, it's also thrilling and exciting for long-time fans of the iconic characters." In a more critical review, Ricky Valero of "Ready Steady Cut" wrote, "While fans of the series might love the film, "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" ["The Movie"] is an overlong episode that overstays its welcome."


title: Artist

text: An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the term is also often used in the entertainment business, especially in a business context, for musicians and other performers (although less often for actors). "Artiste" (French for artist) is a variant used in English in this context, but this use has become rare. Use of the term "artist" to describe writers is valid, but less common, and mostly restricted to contexts like used in criticism.


title: Artist

text: The Greek word "techně", often translated as "art," implies mastery of any sort of craft. The adjectival Latin form of the word, "technicus",


title: Artist

text: No muse was identified with the visual arts of painting and sculpture. In ancient Greece sculptors and painters were held in low regard, somewhere between freemen and slaves, their work regarded as mere manual labour.


title: Artist

text: The word "art" derives from the Latin "ars" (stem "art-"), which, although literally defined means "skill method" or "technique", also conveys a connotation of beauty.


title: Artist

text: During the Middle Ages the word "artist" already existed in some countries such as Italy, but the meaning was something resembling "craftsman", while the word "artesan" was still unknown. An artist was someone able to do a work better than others, so the skilled excellency was underlined, rather than the activity field. In this period some "artisanal" products (such as textiles) were much more precious and expensive than paintings or sculptures.


title: Artist

text: The first division into major and minor arts dates back at least to the works of Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472): "De re aedificatoria, De statua, De pictura", which focused on the importance of the intellectual skills of the artist rather than the manual skills (even if in other forms of art there was a project behind).


title: Artist

text: With the Academies in Europe (second half of 16th century) the gap between fine and applied arts was definitely set.


title: Artist

text: Many contemporary definitions of "artist" and "art" are highly contingent on culture, resisting aesthetic prescription, in much the same way that the features constituting beauty and the beautiful cannot be standardized easily without moving into kitsch.


title: Artist

text: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies many visual artists as either "craft artists" or "fine artists". A craft artist makes handmade functional works of art, such as pottery or clothing. A fine artist makes paintings, illustrations (such as book illustrations or medical illustrations), sculptures, or similar artistic works primarily for their aesthetic value.


title: Artist

text: The main source of skill for both craft artists and fine artists is long-term repetition and practice. Many fine artists have studied their art form at university and some have a master's degree in fine arts. Artists may also study on their own or receive on-the-job training from an experienced artist.


title: Artist

text: The number of available jobs as an artist is increasing more slowly than other fields. About half of US artists are self-employed. Others work in a variety of industries. For example, a pottery manufacturer will employ craft artists, and book publishers will hire illustrators.


title: Artist

text: In the US, fine artists have a median income of approximately US$50,000 per year, and craft artists have a median income of approximately US$33,000 per year. This compares to US$61,000 for all art-related fields, including related jobs such as graphic designers, multimedia artists, animators, and fashion designers. Many artists work part-time as artists and hold a second job.


title: 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

text: The 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup will be the 17th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament will take place from June 24 to July 16, 2023. The final will be held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.


title: 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup

text: On September 2, 2020, CONCACAF announced that 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts Qatar would participate in the 2021 and 2023 tournaments. The remaining teams will qualify through the 2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League and the 2023 Gold Cup qualifying tournament:


title: Ballista

text: The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα "ballistra" and that from βάλλω "ballō", "throw"), plural ballistae, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an ancient missile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target.


title: Ballista

text: Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a tension prod (the bow part of a modern crossbow). The springs consisted of several loops of twisted skeins. Early versions projected heavy darts or spherical stone projectiles of various sizes for siege warfare. It developed into a smaller precision weapon, the "scorpio", and possibly the "polybolos".


title: Ballista

text: The early ballistae in Ancient Greece were developed from two weapons called oxybeles and gastraphetes. The gastraphetes ('belly-bow') was a handheld crossbow. It had a composite prod and was spanned by bracing the front end of the weapon against the ground while placing the end of a slider mechanism against the stomach. The operator would then walk forward to arm the weapon while a ratchet prevented it from shooting during loading. This produced a weapon which, it was claimed, could be operated by a person of average strength but which had a power that allowed it to be successfully used against armoured troops. The oxybeles was a bigger and heavier construction employing a winch, and was mounted on a tripod. It had a lower rate of fire and was used as a siege engine.


title: Ballista

text: With the invention of torsion spring bundle technology, the first ballistae were built. The advantage of this new technology was the fast relaxation time of this system. Thus it was possible to shoot lighter projectiles with higher velocities over a longer distance. By contrast, the comparatively slow relaxation time of a tension machine such as the oxybeles meant that much less energy could be transferred to light projectiles, limiting the effective range of the weapon.


title: Ballista

text: The earliest form of the ballista is thought to have been developed for Dionysius of Syracuse, 400 BC.


title: Ballista

text: The Greek ballista was a siege weapon. All components that were not made of wood were transported in the baggage train. It would be assembled with local wood, if necessary. Some were positioned inside large, armoured, mobile siege towers or even on the edge of a battlefield. For all of the tactical advantages offered, it was only under Philip II of Macedon, and even more so under his son Alexander, that the ballista began to develop and gain recognition as both a siege engine and field artillery. Historical accounts, for instance, cited that Philip II employed a group of engineers within his army to design and build catapults for his military campaigns. There is even a claim that it was Philip II with his team of engineers who invented the ballista after improving Dionysius's device, which was merely an oversized slingshot. It was further perfected by Alexander, whose own team of engineers introduced innovations such as the idea of using springs made from tightly strung coils of rope instead of a bow to achieve more energy and power when throwing projectiles. Polybius reported about the usage of smaller, more portable ballistae, called scorpions, during the Second Punic War.


title: Ballista

text: Ballistae could be easily modified to shoot both spherical and shaft projectiles, allowing their crews to adapt easily to prevailing battlefield situations in real time.


title: Ballista

text: As the role of battlefield artillery became more sophisticated, a universal joint (which was invented just for this function) was integrated into the ballista's stand, allowing the operators to alter the trajectory and firing direction of the ballista as required without a lengthy disassembly of the machine.


title: Ballista

text: After the absorption of the Ancient Greek city-states into the Roman Republic in 146 BC, the highly advanced Greek technology began to spread across many areas of Roman influence. This included the great military machine advances the Greeks had made (most notably by Dionysus of Syracuse), as well as all the scientific, mathematical, political and artistic developments.


title: Ballista

text: The Romans adopted the torsion-powered ballista, which had by now spread to several cities around the Mediterranean, all of which became Roman spoils of war, including one from Pergamon, which was depicted among a pile of trophy weapons in relief on a balustrade.


title: Ballista

text: The torsion ballista, developed by Alexander, was a far more complicated weapon than its predecessor and the Romans developed it even further, especially into much smaller versions, that could be easily carried.


title: Ballista

text: The early Roman "ballistae" were made of wood, and held together with iron plates around the frames and iron nails in the stand. The main stand had a slider on the top, into which were loaded the bolts or stone "shot". Attached to this, at the back, was a pair of 'winches' and a 'claw', used to ratchet the bowstring back to the armed firing position.


title: Ballista

text: The slider passed through the "field frames" of the weapon, in which were located the "torsion springs" (rope made of animal sinew), which were twisted around the bow arms, which in turn, were attached to the bowstring.


title: Ballista

text: Drawing the bowstring back with the winches twisted the already taut springs, storing the energy to fire the projectiles. The bronze or iron caps, which secured the torsion bundles were adjustable by means of pins and peripheral holes, which allowed the weapon to be tuned for symmetrical power and for changing weather conditions.


title: Ballista

text: The "ballista" was a highly accurate weapon (there are many accounts of single soldiers being picked off by (ballistarii), but some design aspects meant it could compromise its accuracy for range. The maximum range was over , but the effective combat range for many targets was far shorter.


title: Ballista

text: The Romans continued the development of the "ballista", and it became a highly prized and valued weapon in the army of the Roman Empire.


title: Ballista

text: It was used, just before the start of the Empire, by Julius Caesar during his conquest of Gaul and on both of his campaigns in subduing Britain.


title: Ballista

text: The first of Caesar's invasions of Britain took place in 55 BC, after a rapid and successful initial conquest of Gaul, in part as an expedition, and more practical to try to put an end to the reinforcements sent by the native Britons to fight the Romans in Gaul.


title: Ballista

text: A total of eighty means of transport, carrying two legions, attempted to land on the British shore, only to be driven back by the many British warriors assembled along the shoreline. The ships had to unload their troops on the beach, as it was the only one suitable for many miles, yet the massed ranks of British charioteers and javeliners were making it difficult.


title: Ballista

text: Seeing this, Caesar ordered the warships – which were swifter and easier to handle than the transports, and likely to impress the natives more by their unfamiliar appearance – to be removed a short distance from the others, and then be rowed hard and run ashore on the enemy’s right flank, from which position men on deck could use the slings, bows, and artillery to drive them back. This maneuver was highly successful.<br> Scared by the strange shape of the warships, the motion of the oars, and the unfamiliar machines, the natives halted and retreated. (Caesar, "The Conquest of Gaul", p.99)


title: Ballista

text: In Gaul, the stronghold of Alesia was under a Roman siege in 52 BC, and was completely surrounded by a Roman fortification including a wooden palisade and towers. As was standard siege technique at the time, small "ballistae" were placed in the towers with other troops armed with bows or slings. The use of the "ballista" in the Roman siege strategy was also demonstrated in the case of the Siege of Masada.


title: Ballista

text: During the conquest of the Empire, the ballista proved its worth many times in sieges and battles, both at sea and on land. It is from the time of the Roman Empire that many of the archaeological finds of ballistae date. Accounts by the finders, including technical manuals and journals, are used today by archaeologists to reconstruct these weapons.


title: Ballista

text: After Julius Caesar, the ballista was a permanent fixture in the Roman army and, over time, modifications and improvements were made by successive engineers. This included replacing the remaining wooden parts of the machine with metal, creating a much smaller, lighter and more powerful machine than the wooden version, which required less maintenance (though the vital torsion springs were still vulnerable to the strain). The largest ballistae of the 4th century could throw a dart further than 1200 yards (1,100 m). The weapon was named "ballista fulminalis" in "De rebus bellicis": "From this ballista, darts were projected not only in great number but also at a large size over a considerable distance, such as across the width of the Danube River." Ballistae were not only used in laying siege: after AD 350, at least 22 semi-circular towers were erected around the walls of Londinium (London) to provide platforms for permanently mounted defensive devices.


title: Ballista

text: But Belisarius placed upon the towers engines which they call "ballistae". Now these engines have the form of a bow, but on the under side of them a grooved wooden shaft projects; this shaft is so fitted to the bow that it is free to move, and rests upon a straight iron bed. So when men wish to shoot at the enemy with this, they make the parts of the bow which form the ends bend toward one another by means of a short rope fastened to them, and they place in the grooved shaft the arrow, which is about one half the length of the ordinary missiles which they shoot from bows, but about four times as wide...but the missile is discharged from the shaft, and with such force that it attains the distance of not less than two bow-shots, and that, when it hits a tree or a rock, it pierces it easily. Such is the engine which bears this name, being so called because it shoots with very great force...


title: Ballista

text: And at the Salarian Gate a Goth of goodly stature and a capable warrior, wearing a corselet and having a helmet on his head, a man who was of no mean station in the Gothic nation, refused to remain in the ranks with his comrades, but stood by a tree and kept shooting many missiles at the parapet. But this man by some chance was hit by a missile from an engine which was on a tower at his left. And passing through the corselet and the body of the man, the missile sank more than half its length into the tree, and pinning him to the spot where it entered the tree, it suspended him there a corpse.


title: Ballista

text: The carroballista was a cart-mounted version of the weapon. There were probably different models of ballista under the "cheiroballistra" class, at least two different two-wheeled models and one model with four wheels. Their probable size was roughly 1.47 m width, i.e., 5 Roman feet. The cart system and structure gave it a great deal of flexibility and capability as a battlefield weapon, since the increased maneuverability allowed it to be moved with the flow of the battle. This weapon features several times on Trajan's Column.


title: Ballista

text: It has been speculated that the Roman military may have also fielded a 'repeating' ballista, also known as a "polybolos". Reconstruction and trials of such a weapon carried out in a BBC documentary, "What the Romans Did For Us", showed that they "were able to shoot eleven bolts a minute, which is almost four times the rate at which an ordinary ballista can be operated". However, no example of such a weapon has been found by archaeologists.


title: Ballista

text: The cheiroballistra and the manuballista are held by many archaeologists to be the same weapon. The difference in name may be attributable to the different languages spoken in the Empire. Latin remained the official language in the Western Empire, but the Eastern Empire predominantly used Greek, which added an extra 'r' to the word ballista.


title: Ballista

text: The manuballista was a handheld version of the traditional ballista. This new version was made entirely of iron, which conferred greater power to the weapon, since it was smaller, and less iron (an expensive material before the 19th century), was used in its production. It was not the ancient gastraphetes, but the Roman weapon. However, the same physical limitations applied as with the gastraphetes.


title: Ballista

text: Archaeology, and in particular experimental archaeology has been influential on this subject. Although several ancient authors (such as Vegetius) wrote very detailed technical treatises, providing us with all the information necessary to reconstruct the weapons, all their measurements were in their native language and therefore highly difficult to translate.


title: Ballista

text: Attempts to reconstruct these ancient weapons began at the end of the 19th century, based on rough translations of ancient authors. It was only during the 20th century, however, that many of the reconstructions began to make any sense as a weapon. By bringing in modern engineers, progress was made with the ancient systems of measurement. By redesigning the reconstructions using the new information, archaeologists in that specialty were able to recognize certain finds from Roman military sites, and identify them as ballistae. The information gained from the excavations was fed into the next generation of reconstructions and so on.


title: Ballista

text: Sites across the empire have yielded information on ballistae, from Spain (the Ampurias Catapult), to Italy (the Cremona Battleshield, which proved that the weapons had decorative metal plates to shield the operators), to Iraq (the Hatra Machine) and even Scotland (Burnswark siege tactics training camp), and many other sites between.


title: Ballista

text: The most influential archaeologists in this area have been Peter Connolly and Eric Marsden, who have not only written extensively on the subject but have also made many reconstructions themselves and have refined the designs over many years of work.


title: Ballista

text: With the decline of the Roman Empire, resources to build and maintain these complex machines became very scarce, so the ballista was supplanted initially by the simpler and cheaper onager and the more efficient springald.


title: Ballista

text: Though the weapon continued to be used in the Middle Ages, it faded from popular use with the advent of the trebuchet and mangonel in siege warfare.


title: Ballista

text: While not a direct descendant mechanically, the concept and naming continues on as arbalest crossbows ("arcus" 'bow' + ballista).


title: Bob Probert

text: Robert Alan Probert (June 5, 1965 – July 5, 2010) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. Probert played for the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. While a successful player by some measures, including being voted to the 1987–88 Campbell Conference all-star team, Probert was best known for his activities as a fighter and enforcer, as well as being one half of the "Bruise Brothers" with then-Red Wing teammate Joey Kocur, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Probert was also known for his off-ice antics and legal problems.


title: Bob Probert

text: Prior to playing with the Detroit Red Wings, Probert was with the Brantford Alexanders of the Ontario Hockey League. After being drafted, he spent one more season with the Alexanders before spending his 1984–85 season with both the Hamilton Steelhawks and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert was drafted as the fourth pick in the third round (46th overall) in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, in which the Red Wings also selected Kocur and Steve Yzerman.


title: Bob Probert

text: During the 1985–1986 and 1986–1987 seasons, Probert spent the majority of his time with the Red Wings while occasionally playing for their minor league affiliate Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League. In the 1985–1986 season, he finished third on the team in penalty minutes behind Kocur and Randy Ladouceur, both of whom played more regular season games than Probert. In the 1986–1987 season, Probert accumulated only 24 points, but amassed 221 penalty minutes.


title: Bob Probert

text: The 1987–1988 season was the pinnacle of Probert's career. He cemented his reputation as an enforcer with a league-leading 398 penalty minutes, the sixth-highest single-season total in NHL history. He also tied for third on the team with 62 points, and played in his only NHL All-Star Game. In addition he contributed the most points during the Red Wings' playoff run, in which Yzerman missed all but the final three games with a knee injury.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert's career hit a snag in 1989 when he was arrested for cocaine possession while crossing the Detroit–Windsor border. U.S. Customs agents at the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel found 14 grams of cocaine hidden in Probert's underpants. He served three months in a federal prison in Minnesota, three more months in a halfway house, and was indefinitely suspended from the NHL. The NHL lifted the suspension at the conclusion of his prison term. Probert was initially ordered to be deported to Canada following his conviction, but he immediately filed for an appeal. The appeal process allowed him to resume his career with the Red Wings, but barred him from traveling with the team to Canada, as he would not be allowed to return to the United States. The matter was resolved on 7 December 1992, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service granted his appeal, restoring his travel privileges between the United States and Canada.


title: Bob Probert

text: When Probert returned to the Red Wings, he was temporarily one of the alternate captains of the team along with Gerard Gallant. While his penalty minutes remained high, he also averaged 40 points a season. During his last season with the Red Wings, he accumulated only 17 points for the team.


title: Bob Probert

text: At this time, Probert once again got into trouble with the law. On 15 July 1994, he had minor injuries when he crashed his motorcycle into a car in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Police determined that his blood alcohol level was approximately triple the legal limit, and that there were also trace amounts of cocaine in his system. At the time of the accident, Probert had been ruled an unrestricted free agent. On July 19, the Red Wings announced that they would not offer him a contract. "This is the end," said senior vice-president Jim Devellano. "[In] my 12 years with the organization ... we've never spent more time on one player and his problems than we have on Probert."


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert signed with the Chicago Blackhawks on July 23, 1994, but was placed on inactive status by commissioner Gary Bettman in September 1994 while Probert entered rehab following his July 15 crash and subsequent drunk-driving charge. As a result, Probert sat out the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season before joining the Blackhawks.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert's first season with the Blackhawks was the last in which he accumulated over 40 points in a season. From then on, his points and penalty minutes gradually decreased. While he never returned to the levels of point production he achieved with the Red Wings, he remained a physical force on the ice and continued many long-term rivalries with other enforcers.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert also sustained various injuries during his time with the Blackhawks, most notably a torn rotator cuff injury which caused him to miss most of the 1997–98 season. One of the more noteworthy occurrences of his career with Chicago is that he scored the final NHL goal at the historic Maple Leaf Gardens on February 13, 1999.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert often saw it as his job to protect his teammates, especially Detroit captain Steve Yzerman. In a 2007 news story, he recalled a time that he sucker-punched enforcer Kevin Maguire of the Buffalo Sabres (December 23, 1987) after Maguire attacked Yzerman. Maguire then unsuccessfully attempted to avoid Probert.


title: Bob Probert

text: He actively supported young hockey players in the community, and often bought tickets for kids who couldn't afford to go to Red Wings games. He encouraged a young fan in 1989 to pursue sobriety and challenged him to a contest in which he predicted he would surpass him. By August 18, 2011, that man had been sober for 23 years.


title: Bob Probert

text: After the 2001–2002 season, Probert was placed on waivers by the Blackhawks. Because he was not picked up by another team, he was advised that his role with the Blackhawks would be limited, or even relegated to playing in the minor leagues again. On November 16, 2002, Probert opted to "unofficially" retire so that he could join the Blackhawks radio broadcasting team. He had finished fourth on the NHL's all-time list with 3,300 penalty minutes.


title: Bob Probert

text: His stint with the Blackhawks radio team did not last long. In February 2003, it was reported that Probert went back to rehab. During the 2003 offseason, Probert formally announced his retirement.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert, along with former teammate Joe Kocur, is featured in a book entitled "Bruise Brothers" by Bob Duff.


title: Bob Probert

text: Before his death, Probert had been working on a memoir with Kirstie McLellan Day, co-writer of Theo Fleury's bestselling autobiography "Playing with Fire". Probert's widow, Dani, decided to honour his wishes to tell his story and continue with completion of the book.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert routinely appeared in charity games, spoke at conventions, and conducted youth clinics. His activities as a Red Wings alumnus were somewhat limited by the fact that, due to his criminal history, he required an immigration waiver each time he wanted to cross the border.


title: Bob Probert

text: On January 2, 2007, Probert appeared along with many other former Red Wings teammates to honor the retiring of Steve Yzerman's number 19 at Joe Louis Arena. He wore his number 24 Red Wings jersey, and helped former teammate Vladimir Konstantinov onto the ice for the ceremony. The Detroit crowd gave him a very warm welcome, which he later said he appreciated. He stayed on to watch the game with Joey Kocur behind the penalty box.


title: Bob Probert

text: This was noted as a possible reconciliation with the Red Wings organization. Apparently it worked, as Probert became a late addition to a January 27, 2007, Red Wings alumni game against the Boston Bruins alumni at Joe Louis Arena. He scored a goal and two assists, though the Red Wings alumni lost the game 8–6.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert worked on the Mike Myers 2008 film "The Love Guru", making a cameo as a hockey player. He commented on the irony of being given jersey number 28 to wear in the film — the same number worn by longtime rival Tie Domi.


title: Bob Probert

text: In 2009, Probert participated in the Canadian figure skating reality television show "Battle of the Blades" which features figure skating pairs of male hockey players and female figure skaters competing against other pairs. Probert was partnered with Kristina Lenko.


title: Bob Probert

text: On June 4, 2004, Probert was arrested for allegedly parking his BMW sport utility vehicle on the wrong side of the street and entering into an altercation over drugs with bystanders. Several police officers intervened and had to subdue Probert with taser and stun guns. He was later acquitted on all charges related to this incident.


title: Bob Probert

text: On July 1, 2005, Probert was arrested at his Windsor-area (Lakeshore) home for breach of peace, resisting arrest, and assaulting a police officer. Probert's attorney, Patrick Ducharme, advised the media, "I anticipate he will be pleading not guilty and going to trial." Probert was arrested again on August 23, 2005, at a bar in Tecumseh, Ontario, for violating two conditions of his bail conditions that he not consume alcohol or be in an establishment that serves liquor. He was released after paying $200 CAD bail. All charges stemming from the arrest on July 1 were eventually dropped.


title: Bob Probert

text: Bob Probert died of a heart attack on July 5, 2010. During a severe heat wave, while boating on Lake St. Clair with his children, father-in-law, and mother-in-law, Probert developed what was described as "severe chest pain" and collapsed at approximately 2:00 pm local time. His stepfather-in-law, Dan Parkinson, the Cornwall, Ontario chief of police, attempted CPR to save his life. He was rushed to Windsor Regional Hospital's Metropolitan Campus with no vital signs. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead later that afternoon.


title: Bob Probert

text: Funeral services were held July 9, 2010, in Windsor, Ontario, and attended by several former teammates and opponents, including Dino Ciccarelli, Tie Domi, Chris Nilan, Gerard Gallant, Doug Gilmour, Stu Grimson, Joey Kocur, Brad McCrimmon, Darren McCarty and Steve Yzerman, as well as Red Wings general manager Ken Holland and owners Mike and Marian Ilitch. Yzerman delivered the eulogy. In recognition of Probert's love of motorcycle riding, his funeral procession was led by a group of 54 motorcyclists, and his casket was transported on a custom-built motorcycle sidecar. Probert is survived by his wife, Dani, and four children.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert's family announced, on September 25, 2010, that his brain would be donated to the Sports Legacy Institute to assist researchers who are studying the effects of concussions and other sports-related head injuries. In March 2011, it was reported that researchers at Boston University had found evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in Probert's brain.


title: Bob Probert

text: On Sunday April 9, 2017, Probert's family spread his ashes in the Red Wings penalty box at the Joe Louis Arena's final game.


title: Bob Probert

text: Probert married Danielle Wood in 1993. They have four children. He had an older brother, Norm, who also played hockey. Norm never played in the NHL, but it is mentioned in the 2018 documentary "Tough Guy: The Bob Probert Story" that Norm "briefly played in Czechoslovakia." However, there is no evidence for this claim even in the Czech sources.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: The history of Egypt under the British lasted from 1882, when it was occupied by British forces during the Anglo-Egyptian War, until 1956 after the Suez Crisis, when the last British forces withdrew in accordance with the Anglo-Egyptian agreement of 1954. The first period of British rule (1882–1914) is often called the "veiled protectorate". During this time the Khedivate of Egypt remained an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, and the British occupation had no legal basis but constituted a "de facto" protectorate over the country. Egypt was thus not part of the British Empire. This state of affairs lasted until 1914 when the Ottoman Empire joined the First World War on the side of the Central Powers and Britain declared a protectorate over Egypt. The ruling khedive was deposed and his successor, Hussein Kamel, compelled to declare himself Sultan of Egypt independent of the Ottomans in December 1914.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: The formal protectorate over Egypt outlasted the war for only a short period. It was brought to an end when the British government issued the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence on 28 February 1922. Shortly afterwards, Sultan Fuad I declared himself King of Egypt, but the British occupation continued, in accordance with several reserve clauses in the declaration of independence. The situation was normalised in the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, which granted Britain the right to station troops in Egypt for the defence of the Suez Canal, its link with India. Britain also continued to control the training of the Egyptian Army. During the Second World War (1939–45), Egypt came under attack from Italian Libya on account of the British presence there, although Egypt itself remained neutral until late in the war. After the war Egypt sought to modify the treaty, but it was abrogated in its entirety by an anti-British government in October 1951. After the 1952 coup d'état, the British agreed to withdraw their troops, and by June 1956 had done so. Britain went to war against Egypt over the Suez Canal in late 1956, but with insufficient international support was forced to back down.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: Throughout the 19th century, the ruling dynasty of Egypt had borrowed and spent vast sums of money on its own luxury and on the infrastructural development of Egypt. The dynasty's economic development was almost wholly oriented toward military dual-use goals. Consequently, despite vast sums of European capital, actual economic production and resulting revenues were insufficient to repay the loans. Eventually, the country teetered toward economic dissolution and implosion. In turn, a European commission led by Britain and France took control of the treasury of Egypt, forgave debt in return for taking control of the Suez Canal, and reoriented economic development toward capital gain.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: However, by 1882 Islamic and Arabic Nationalist opposition to European influence led to growing tension amongst notable natives, especially in Egypt which was then the most powerful, populous, and influential of Arab countries. The most dangerous opposition during this period came from the Egyptian army, which saw the reorientation of economic development away from their control as a threat to their privileges.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: A large military demonstration in September 1881 forced the Khedive Tewfiq to dismiss his Prime Minister and rule by decree. Many of the Europeans retreated to specially designed quarters suited for defense or heavily European-settled cities such as Alexandria.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: Consequently, in April 1882 France and Great Britain sent warships to Alexandria to bolster the Khedive amidst a turbulent climate and protect European lives and property. In turn, Egyptian nationalists spread fear of invasion throughout the country to bolster Islamic and Arabian revolutionary action. Tawfiq moved to Alexandria for fear of his own safety as army officers led by Ahmed Urabi began to take control of the government. By June, Egypt was in the hands of nationalists as opposed to European domination of the country and the new revolutionary government began nationalizing all assets in Egypt. Anti-European violence broke out in Alexandria, prompting a British naval bombardment of the city. Fearing the intervention of outside powers or the seizure of the canal by the Egyptians, in conjunction with an Islamic revolution in the Empire of India, the British led an Anglo-Indian expeditionary force at both ends of the Suez Canal in August 1882. Simultaneously, French forces landed in Alexandria and the northern end of the canal. Both joined together and maneuvered to meet the Egyptian army. The combined Anglo-French-Indian army easily defeated the Egyptian Army at Tel El Kebir in September and took control of the country putting Tawfiq back in control.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: The purpose of the invasion had been to restore political stability to Egypt under a government of the Khedive and international controls that were in place to streamline Egyptian financing since 1876. It is unlikely that the British expected a long-term occupation from the outset; however, Lord Cromer, Britain's Chief Representative in Egypt at the time, viewed Egypt's financial reforms as part of a long-term objective. Cromer took the view that political stability needed financial stability and embarked on a program of long-term investment in Egypt's agricultural revenue sources, the largest of which was cotton. To accomplish this, Cromer worked to improve the Nile's irrigation system through multiple large projects, such as the construction of the Aswan Dam, the Nile Barrage, and an increase in canals available to agriculturally focused lands.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: In 1906 the Denshawai Incident provoked questioning of British rule in Egypt. This was exploited in turn by the German Empire which began re-organizing, funding, and expanding anti-British revolutionary nationalist movements. For the first quarter of the 20th century, Britain's main goal in Egypt was penetrating these groups, neutralizing them, and attempting to form more pro-British nationalist groups with which to hand further control. However, after the end of World War I, British colonial authorities attempted to legitimize their less radical opponents with entrance into the League of Nations including the peace treaty of Versailles. Thus, the Wafd Party was invited and promised full independence in the years ahead. British occupation ended nominally with the UK's 1922 declaration of Egyptian independence, but British military domination of Egypt lasted until 1936.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: During British occupation and later control, Egypt developed into a regional commercial and trading destination. Entrepreneurs including Greeks, Jews and Armenians began to flow into Egypt. The number of foreigners in the country rose from 10,000 in the 1840s to around 90,000 in the 1880s, and more than 1.5 million by the 1930s.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: In 1914 as a result of the declaration of war with the Ottoman Empire, of which Egypt was nominally a part, Britain declared a Protectorate over Egypt and deposed the Khedive, replacing him with a family member who was made Sultan of Egypt by the British. A group known as the Wafd Delegation attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 to demand Egypt's independence.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: In the aftermath of World War I, the large British Imperial Army in Egypt which was the centre of operations against the Ottoman Empire was quickly reduced with demobilization and restructuring of garrisons. Free of the large British military presence, the incipient German backed revolutionary movements were able to more effectively launch their operations.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: Consequently, from March to April 1919, there were mass demonstrations that became uprisings. This is known in Egypt as the 1919 Revolution. Almost daily demonstrations and unrest continued throughout Egypt for the remainder of the Spring. To the surprise of the British authorities, Egyptian women also demonstrated, led by Huda Sha'rawi (1879–1947), who would become the leading feminist voice in Egypt in the first half of the twentieth century. The first women's demonstration was held on Sunday, 16 March 1919, and was followed by yet another one on Thursday, 20 March 1919. Egyptian women would continue to play an important and increasingly public nationalist role throughout the spring and summer of 1919 and beyond. The anticolonial riots and British suppression of them led to the death of some 800 people.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: In November 1919, the Milner Commission was sent to Egypt by the British to attempt to resolve the situation. In 1920, Lord Milner submitted his report to Lord Curzon, the British Foreign


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: Secretary, recommending that the protectorate should be replaced by a treaty of alliance. As a result, Curzon agreed to receive an Egyptian mission headed by Zaghlul and Adli Pasha to discuss the proposals. The mission arrived in London in June 1920 and the agreement was concluded in August 1920. In February 1921, the British Parliament approved the agreement and Egypt was asked to send another mission to London with full powers to conclude a definitive treaty. Adli Pasha led this mission, which arrived in June 1921. However, the Dominion delegates at the 1921 Imperial Conference had stressed the importance of maintaining control over the Suez Canal Zone and Curzon could not persuade his Cabinet colleagues to agree to any terms that Adli Pasha was prepared to accept. The mission returned to Egypt in disgust.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: In December 1921, the British authorities in Cairo imposed martial law and once again deported Zaghlul. Demonstrations again led to violence. In deference to the growing nationalism and at the suggestion of the High Commissioner, Lord Allenby, the UK unilaterally declared Egyptian independence on 28 February 1922, abolishing the protectorate and establishing an independent Kingdom of Egypt. Sarwat Pasha became prime minister. British influence continued to dominate Egypt's political life and fostered fiscal, administrative, and governmental reforms. Britain retained control of the Canal Zone, Sudan and Egypt's external protection; protection of foreigners and separate courts for foreigners; the police forces, the army, the railways and the communications. British troops were stationed in cities and towns.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: King Fuad died in 1936 and Farouk inherited the throne at the age of sixteen. Alarmed by Italy's recent invasion of Ethiopia, he signed the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, requiring Britain to withdraw all troops from Egypt, except at the Suez Canal (agreed to be evacuated by 1949).


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: During World War II, British troops used Egypt as a base for Allied operations throughout the region.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: British troops were withdrawn to the Suez Canal area in 1947, but nationalist, anti-British feelings continued to grow after the war. The 1952 coup overthrew the Egyptian monarchy and established the modern Republic of Egypt. The last British troops left Egypt in June 1956 as per the 1954 Anglo-Egyptian Agreement, returning briefly during the Suez Crisis.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: From the beginning of his reign in 1805, Muhammad Ali Pasha set about modernising Egypt along Western European lines, being particularly influenced by France. In addition to French military and scientific prowess, the French language was the language of international relations. Consequently, French attained an esteemed status in Egypt throughout the rule of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, emerging as a lingua franca in the country well into the second half of the 20th century. In addition to its use at the Khedival court, French was the formal language used among foreigners, and between foreigners and Egyptians. By the reign of Muhammad Ali's grandson, Isma'il the Magnificent, all government decrees, publications, or other documents (such as passports) in the Arabic language that required a foreign language version would also be issued in French, and French appeared alongside Arabic on road signs, train timetables, taxi stands, and other every day signage, such as "Entrance" and "Exit" signs in public buildings. The French civil law legal system also became the basis of the modern Egyptian legal system (which would in turn become the basis for the legal systems of numerous other Arab states).


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: The privileged position of the French language in Egypt, second only to Arabic, persisted even during the decades of the United Kingdom's occupation of the country, with French rather than English being the foreign language of choice of both the Egyptian government, and the Egyptian elites. Despite efforts from British legal personnel, English was never adopted as a language of the Egyptian civil courts during the period of British influence.


title: History of Egypt under the British

text: Foreigners tried for civil offenses attended mixed Egyptian-foreigner courts; these courts used the French language as the medium of proceedings. Courts operated by embassies and consulates tried their respective citizens in regards to criminal matters.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: An upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is an illness caused by an acute infection, which involves the upper respiratory tract, including the nose, sinuses, pharynx, larynx or trachea. This commonly includes nasal obstruction, sore throat, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, otitis media, and the common cold. Most infections are viral in nature, and in other instances, the cause is bacterial. URTIs can also be fungal or helminthic in origin, but these are less common.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: In 2015, 17.2 billion cases of URTIs are estimated to have occurred. As of 2014, they caused about 3,000 deaths, down from 4,000 in 1990.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: In uncomplicated colds, coughing and nasal discharge may persist for 14 days or more even after other symptoms have resolved.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Acute URTIs include rhinitis, pharyngitis/tonsillitis, and laryngitis often referred to as a common cold, and their complications: sinusitis, ear infection, and sometimes bronchitis (though bronchi are generally classified as part of the lower respiratory tract.) Symptoms of URTIs commonly include cough, sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, headache, low-grade fever, facial pressure, and sneezing.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Symptoms of rhinovirus in children usually begin 1–3 days after exposure. The illness usually lasts 7–10 more days.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Color or consistency changes in mucous discharge to yellow, thick, or green are the natural course of viral URTI and not an indication for antibiotics.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis/tonsillitis (strep throat) typically presents with a sudden onset of sore throat, pain with swallowing, and fever. Strep throat does not usually cause a runny nose, voice changes, or cough.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Pain and pressure of the ear caused by a middle-ear infection (otitis media) and the reddening of the eye caused by viral conjunctivitis are often associated with URTIs.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: In terms of pathophysiology, rhinovirus infection resembles the immune response. The viruses do not cause damage to the cells of the upper respiratory tract, but rather cause changes in the tight junctions of epithelial cells. This allows the virus to gain access to tissues under the epithelial cells and initiate the innate and adaptive immune responses.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Up to 15% of acute pharyngitis cases may be caused by bacteria, most commonly "Streptococcus pyogenes", a group A streptococcus in streptococcal pharyngitis ("strep throat"). Other bacterial causes are "Streptococcus pneumoniae", "Haemophilus influenzae", "Corynebacterium diphtheriae", "Bordetella pertussis", and "Bacillus anthracis".


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Rhinitis affects the nasal mucosa, while rhinosinusitis or sinusitis affects the nose and paranasal sinuses, including frontal, ethmoid, maxillary, and sphenoid sinuses. Nasopharyngitis (rhinopharyngitis or the common cold) affects the nares, pharynx, hypopharynx, uvula, and tonsils generally. Without involving the nose, pharyngitis inflames the pharynx, hypopharynx, uvula, and tonsils. Similarly, epiglottitis (supraglottitis) inflames the superior portion of the larynx and supraglottic area; laryngitis is in the larynx; laryngotracheitis is in the larynx, trachea, and subglottic area; and tracheitis is in the trachea and subglottic area.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Vaccination against influenza viruses, adenoviruses, measles, rubella, "Streptococcus pneumoniae", "Haemophilus influenzae", diphtheria, "Bacillus anthracis", and "Bordetella pertussis" may prevent them from infecting the URT or reduce the severity of the infection.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Treatment comprises symptomatic support usually via analgesics for headache, sore throat, and muscle aches. Moderate exercise in sedentary subjects with a naturally acquired URTI probably does not alter the overall severity and duration of the illness. No randomized trials have been conducted to ascertain benefits of increasing fluid intake.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Prescribing antibiotics for laryngitis is not a suggested practice. The antibiotics penicillin V and erythromycin are not effective for treating acute laryngitis. Erythromycin may improve voice disturbances after a week and cough after 2 weeks, but any modest subjective benefit is not greater than the adverse effects, cost, and the risk of bacteria developing resistance to the antibiotics. Health authorities have been strongly encouraging physicians to decrease the prescribing of antibiotics to treat common URTIs because antibiotic usage does not significantly reduce recovery time for these viral illnesses. A 2017 systematic review found three interventions which were probably effective in reducing antibiotic use for acute respiratory infections: C-reactive protein testing, procalcitonin-guided management, and shared decision-making between physicians and patients. The use of narrow-spectrum antibiotics has been shown to be just as effective as broad-spectrum alternatives for children with acute bacterial URTIs, and has a lower risk of side effects in children. Decreased antibiotic usage could also have prevented drug-resistant bacteria. Some have advocated a delayed antibiotic approach to treating URTIs, which seeks to reduce the consumption of antibiotics while attempting to maintain patient satisfaction. A Cochrane review (updated 2017) of 11 studies and 3,555 participants explored antibiotics for respiratory tract infections. It compared delaying antibiotic treatment to either starting them immediately or to no antibiotics. Outcomes were mixed depending on the respiratory tract infection; symptoms of acute otitis media and sore throat were modestly improved with immediate antibiotics with minimal difference in complication rate. Antibiotic usage was reduced when antibiotics were only used for ongoing symptoms and maintained patient satisfaction at 86%.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: No good evidence exists for or against the effectiveness of over-the-counter cough medications for reducing coughing in adults or children. Children under 2 years old should not be given any type of cough or cold medicine due to the potential for life-threatening side effects. In addition, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the use of cough medicine to relieve cough symptoms should be avoided in children under 4 years old, and the safety is questioned for children under 6 years old.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: According to a Cochrane review, a single oral dose of nasal decongestant in the common cold is modestly effective for the short-term relief of congestion in adults; however, data on the use of decongestants in children are insufficient. Therefore, decongestants are not recommended for use in children under 12 years of age with the common cold. Oral decongestants are also contraindicated in patients with hypertension, coronary artery disease, and history of bleeding strokes.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Mucolytics such as acetylcysteine and carbocystine are widely prescribed for upper and lower respiratory tract infection without chronic broncho-pulmonary disease. However, in 2013 a Cochrane review reported their efficacy to be limited. Acetylcystine is considered to be safe for the children older than 2 years.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Routine supplementation with vitamin C is not justified, as it does not appear to be effective in reducing the incidence of common colds in the general population. The use of vitamin C in the inhibition and treatment of upper respiratory infections has been suggested since the initial isolation of vitamin C in the 1930s. Some evidence exists to indicate that it could be justified in persons exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise and/or cold environments. Given that vitamin C supplements are inexpensive and safe, people with common colds may consider trying vitamin C supplements to assess whether they are therapeutically beneficial in their case.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Some low-quality evidence indicates the use of nasal irrigation with saline solution may alleviate symptoms in some people. Also, saline nasal sprays can be of benefit.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Children typically have two to nine viral respiratory illnesses per year. In 2013, 18.8 billion cases of URTIs were reported. As of 2014, they caused about 3,000 deaths, down from 4,000 in 1990. In the United States, URTIs are the most common infectious illness in the general population, and are the leading reasons for people missing work and school.


title: Upper respiratory tract infection

text: Preliminary research indicates that consumption of probiotics may reduce the incidence of acute URTIs.


title: Kassel

text: Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020. The former capital of the state of Hesse-Kassel has many palaces and parks, including the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kassel is also known for the "documenta" exhibitions of contemporary art. Kassel has a public university with 25,000 students (2018) and a multicultural population (39% of the citizens in 2017 had a migration background).


title: Kassel

text: Kassel was first mentioned in 913 AD, as the place where two deeds were signed by King Conrad I. The place was called "Chasella" or "Chassalla" and was a fortification at a bridge crossing the Fulda river. There are several yet unproven assumptions of the name's origin. It could be derived from the ancient "Castellum Cattorum", a castle of the Chatti, a German tribe that had lived in the area since Roman times. Another assumption is a portmanteau from Frankonian "cas", meaning "valley or recess," and "sali" meaning "hall or service building," which can be interpreted as "(town)hall in a valley."


title: Kassel

text: A deed from 1189 certifies that Cassel had city rights, but the date when they were granted is not known.


title: Kassel

text: In 1567, the Landgraviate of Hesse, until then centered in Marburg, was divided among four sons, with Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) becoming one of its successor states. Kassel was its capital and became a centre of Calvinist Protestantism in Germany. Strong fortifications were built to protect the Protestant stronghold against Catholic enemies. Secret societies, such as Rosicrucianism flourished, with Christian Rosenkreutz's work "Fama Fraternitatis" first published in 1617. In 1685, Kassel became a refuge for 1,700 Huguenots who found shelter in the newly established borough of Oberneustadt. Landgrave Charles, who was responsible for this humanitarian act, also ordered the construction of the "Oktogon" (Hercules monument) and of the "Orangerie". In the late 18th Century, Hesse-Kassel became infamous for selling mercenaries (Hessians) to the British crown to help suppress the American Revolution and to finance the construction of palaces and the Landgrave's opulent lifestyle.


title: Kassel

text: In the early 19th century, the Brothers Grimm lived in Kassel. They collected and wrote most of their fairy tales there. At that time, around 1803, the Landgraviate was elevated to a Principality and its ruler to "Prince-elector". Shortly after, it was annexed by Napoleon and in 1807 it became the capital of the short-lived Kingdom of Westphalia under Napoleon's brother Jérôme. The Electorate was restored in 1813.


title: Kassel

text: Having sided with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War to gain supremacy in Germany, the principality was annexed by Prussia in 1866. The Prussian administration united Nassau, Frankfurt and Hesse-Kassel into the new Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. Kassel ceased to be a princely residence but soon developed into a major industrial centre, as well as a major railway junction. Henschel & Son, the largest railway locomotive manufacturer in Germany at the end of the nineteenth century, was based in Kassel.


title: Kassel

text: In 1870, after the Battle of Sedan, Napoleon III was sent as a prisoner to the Wilhelmshöhe Palace above the city. During World War I the German military headquarters were located in the Wilhelmshöhe Palace. In the late 1930s Nazis destroyed Heinrich Hübsch's Kassel Synagogue.


title: Kassel

text: During World War II, Kassel was the headquarters for Germany's Wehrkreis IX, and a local subcamp of Dachau concentration camp provided forced labour for the Henschel facilities, which included tank production plants. The most severe bombing of Kassel in World War II destroyed 90% of the downtown area, and some 10,000 people were killed and 150,000 were made homeless. Most of the casualties were civilians or wounded soldiers recuperating in local hospitals, whereas factories survived the attack generally undamaged. Karl Gerland replaced the regional Gauleiter, Karl Weinrich, soon after the raid.


title: Kassel

text: The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Kassel at the beginning of April 1945. The US 80th Infantry Division captured Kassel in bitter house-to-house fighting during 1–4 April 1945, which included numerous German panzer-grenadier counterattacks, and resulted in further widespread devastation to bombed and unbombed structures alike.


title: Kassel

text: Post-war, most of the ancient buildings were not restored, and large parts of the city area were completely rebuilt in the style of the 1950s. A few historic buildings, however, such as the Museum Fridericianum (see below), were restored. In 1949, the interim parliament ("Parlamentarischer Rat") eliminated Kassel in the first round as a city to become the provisional capital of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn won). In 1964, the town hosted the fourth "Hessentag" state festival (again in 2013). In 1972 the Chancellor of West Germany Willy Brandt and the Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic Willy Stoph met in Wilhelmshöhe Palace for negotiations between the two German states. In 1991 the central rail station moved from "Hauptbahnhof" () (today only used for regional trains) to "Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe". The city had a dynamic economic and social development in the recent years, reducing the unemployment rate by half and attracting many new citizens so that the population has grown constantly.


title: Kassel

text: Several international operating companies have factories or headquarters in the city (Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, SMA, Wintershall, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Rheinmetall, Bombardier). The city is home of several hospitals; the public Klinikum Kassel is one of the largest hospitals in the federal state, offering a wide range of health services.


title: Kassel

text: Kassel is the largest city in the north of the federated state of Hesse in the south-western part of Germany, about 70 kilometers northwest of the geographic center of Germany.


title: Kassel

text: It is located on both sides of the river Fulda. Kassel's deepest point is in the north-eastern Fulda valley at 132.9 m above sea level.


title: Kassel

text: The urban area of Kassel is divided into 23 local districts, each of which has a local council with a local mayor as chairman. The local councils are elected every five years by the population of the local districts. The local advisory board can be heard on all important issues affecting the local district. However, the final decision on a measure rests with the Kassel city council.


title: Kassel

text: Around Kassel is the administrative district ("Landkreis") of Landkreis Kassel. The following cities and municipalities border the city of Kassel (starting clockwise in the north): Ahnatal, Vellmar, Fuldatal, Staufenberg, Niestetal, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Fuldabrück, Baunatal, Schauenburg, Habichtswald. Of these, Vellmar and Fuldatal in the north, Kaufungen in the east, Lohfelden in the southeast and Baunatal in the south are growing ever closer to the urban area.


title: Kassel

text: In 1558, the first German observatory was built in Kassel, and a later version from 1714 survives as the Bellevue Palace. The "Ottoneum", the first permanent German theatre building, was built in 1604. The old building is today the Natural History Museum, and the now-called Staatstheater Kassel is located in a nearby building that was constructed in the 1950s.


title: Kassel

text: Since 1955 the "documenta", an international exhibition of modern and contemporary art, has been held regularly in Kassel. The "documenta" now takes place every five years. As a result of the "documenta 6" (1977), Kassel became the first town in the world to be illuminated by laser beams at night (Laserscape, by artist Horst H. Baumann). This laser installation is nowadays still visible at weekends. Artworks from former editions of the "documenta" (mainly sculptures) can be found in many places in Kassel; among those are the "7000 Oaks", a work of land art by the German artist Joseph Beuys. The latest/current edition of the "documenta", known as ""documenta 15"", runs from June 18 until September 25, 2022.


title: Kassel

text: Kassel experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen: "Cfb") but not so far from marine climates, with a more notable continental influence than Berlin. Using the 1961-1990 normal and 0 °C isotherm, the city already had a humid continental climate ("Dfb").


title: Kassel

text: The bombing raids of 1943 destroyed 90% of the city center. The city was almost completely rebuilt during the 1950s and is a combination of renovated or reconstructed old buildings and architecture of the 1950s. Outside the city center, the suburbs are dominated by 19th-century architecture. The oldest monument is the Druselturm; the Brüderkirche and the Martinskirche are also, in part, of medieval origin. The towers of the Martinskirche are from the 1950s.


title: Kassel

text: The main Protestant church of Kassel, it was begun in 1364 and finished in 1462. Severely damaged by British bombing in 1943, it was later reconstructed in a more modern style between 1954 and 1958.


title: Kassel

text: The complex includes Wilhelmshöhe Palace (with the Antiquities Collection and Old Masters), the Hercules monument, and the Lions Castle.


title: Kassel

text: Wilhelmshöhe Palace above the city was built in 1786, by landgrave Wilhelm IX of Hesse-Kassel. The palace is now a museum and houses an important collection of Graeco-Roman antiques and a fine gallery of paintings comprising the second largest collection of Rembrandts in Germany. It is surrounded by the beautiful Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe with many appealing sights. The complex was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.


title: Kassel

text: The Hercules monument is a huge octagonal stone structure carrying a giant replica of Hercules "Farnese" (now at Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples, Italy). From its base down to Wilhelmshöhe Palace runs a long set of artificial cascades which delight visitors during the summer months. Every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon at 14:30 (from May until October) the famous water features take place. They start at the Oktagon and during a one-hour walk through the park visitors can follow the water's way until they reach the lake of the Wilhelmshöhe Palace, where a fountain of about marks the end of the spectacle.


title: Kassel

text: The "Löwenburg" ("Lions Castle") is a replica of a medieval castle, also built during the reign of Wilhelm IX. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 Napoléon III was imprisoned in Wilhelmshöhe. In 1918, Wilhelmshöhe became the seat of the German Army High Command (OHL): it was there that the military commanders Hindenburg and Ludendorff prepared the German capitulation.


title: Kassel

text: Another large park and also part of the European Garden Heritage Network is the Karlsaue along the Fulda River. Established in the 16th century, it is famous for the Orangerie, a palace built in 1710 as a summer residence for the landgraves. Today, the Orangerie contains the Museum of Astronomy and Technology, with a scale model of the Solar System spanning the entire park and beyond.


title: Kassel

text: In addition, the Park Schönfeld contains a small, municipal botanical garden, the Botanischer Garten Kassel.


title: Kassel

text: Europe's first public museum, the Museum Fridericianum was founded in 1779. By the end of the 19th century the museum held one of the largest collections of watches and clocks in the world.


title: Kassel

text: Hessen Kassel is the football club in the city, who plays in the Hessenliga after being relegated from the Regionalliga Südwest in the 2017/2018 season. The city's own football stadium, the Auestadion was built in 1953 and is able to hold 18,737 people. It is located in the south of Kassel at the quarter Südstadt, next to the Karlsaue.


title: Kassel

text: Kassel has a long ice hockey tradition, but it was not until 1977 that the Kassel ice rink (Eissporthalle) opened on a private initiative. The Kassel Huskies were founding members of the DEL in 1994, belonging to the league from 1994 to 2006 and again from 2008 to 2010. In 1997, they were runners-up in the championship playoffs, losing to Adler Mannheim, and reached the semifinals on three more occasions. The Huskies ran into financial difficulties and dissolved in 2010. The "Young Huskies," which is a junior and youth hockey club, decided to enter a men's team in the Hessenliga. This is the fifth division and the lowest men's competition in the state of Hesse. The new club was expecting no more than 3,000 supporters for the first home game in the Hessenliga. However, they had over 5,000 supporters come to watch.


title: Kassel

text: Kassel has seven tram lines (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), with trams arriving usually every 15 minutes. The city also operates a light rail Stadtbahn network called "RegioTram" using Regio Citadis low-floor trams which run on both tram and main line railway tracks with three lines (RT1, RT4, RT5). Moreover, a number of low-floor buses complete the Kassel public transport system. The introduction of low-floor buses led to the development of the Kassel kerb which improves the accessibility at bus stops.


title: Kassel

text: The city is connected to the national rail network at two stations, Kassel Central, and Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe. The traditional central station (Hauptbahnhof) has been reduced to the status of a regional station since the opening of the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line in 1991 and its station (Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe) on the high-speed line at which the InterCityExpress (ICE) and InterCity services call as well as Nightjet and Flixtrain.


title: Kassel

text: The current mayor of Kassel is Christian Geselle of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who was elected in 2017.


title: Kassel

text: The Kassel city council ("Stadtverordnetenversammlung") governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 14 March 2021, and the results were as follows:


title: Kassel

text: The University of Kassel is a public higher education institution and was founded in 1971 as a so-called reform university offering new and innovative models of teaching. It is the newest university in the state of Hessen and has an urban and lively inner-city campus between the city center and the Northern city district, a typical working-class area with a multicultural population. There were 25,000 students enrolled at the university in 2018, 3381 of them non-Germans. Two hundred and twenty-four students obtained their doctorate from the university in 2017.


title: Kassel

text: The University offers a wide range of study programs from organic agriculture to social work. Furthermore, it offers several English master's programs as well as two short-term international programs, the Summer University and the Winter University. The Kunsthochschule Kassel (University of Fine Arts) is also part of the university with a satellite campus directly at the Karlsaue park in the Southern city district.


title: Country pop

text: Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres like rock, pop, and country, continuing similar efforts that began in the late 1950s, known originally as the Nashville sound and later on as Countrypolitan. By the mid-1970s, many country artists were transitioning to the pop-country sound, which led to some records' charting high on mainstream top 40 as well as the "Billboard" country chart. In-turn, many pop and easy listening artists crossed over to country charts during this time. After declining in popularity during the neotraditional movement of the 1980s, country pop had a comeback in the 1990s with a sound that drew more heavily on pop rock and adult contemporary.


title: Country pop

text: The joining of country and pop began in the 1950s when studio executives Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley wanted to create a new kind of music for the young adult crowd after "rockabilly stole away much of country music's youth audience". According to Bill Ivey, this innovative genre originated in Nashville, Tennessee and thus became known as the Nashville Sound. He believes that the "Nashville Sound often produced records that sounded more pop than country, after the removal of the fiddle and banjo. Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold were among the most popular artists during this time. The famous male artists to come out of this genre were Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold. Both Reeves and Arnold had major influence on their RCA labelmate Elvis Presley, apparent not only in secular songs, but even more so in country gospel songs. Patsy Cline was a famous female country singer in the early 1960s. Skeeter Davis "The End of the World", Sonny James "Young Love", Jenny C.Riley "Harper Valley P.T.A.", and Bobby Goldsboro "Honey" were 60s pop country hits. Even though Cline also gained widespread acceptance from country and pop audiences alike, the Nashville Sound was not well received by country purists, and faced competition, first from the Bakersfield Sound and later the outlaw movement on that front; on the pop side, the format was overshadowed by the British Invasion, which was taking place during the same time that Cline and Reeves died by airplane accident.


title: Country pop

text: The Nashville sound eventually evolved into countrypolitan during the 1970s and had varying levels of success, with several artists recording in the style: Ray Price ("For the Good Times" 1970), Charley Pride ("Kiss an Angel Good Morning" 1971), Mac Davis ("Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me" 1972), Charlie Rich ("The Most Beautiful Girl" 1974), Billy Swan ("I Can Help" 1974), Ray Stevens ("The Streak" 1974), Jessi Colter ("I'm Not Lisa" 1975), Crystal Gayle ("Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" 1977), Kris Kristofferson ("Why Me" 1973), and Lynn Anderson ("Rose Garden (Joe South song)" 1970) were all charted pop-influenced country hits during the 1970s.


title: Country pop

text: Country pop started when pop music singers like Glen Campbell, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, and Anne Murray (Canada), began having hits on the country charts. Songs like Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" was a crossover hit between the pop and country charts. Rhinestone Cowboy was produced by blue-eyed soul writer team Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter and written by Larry Weiss. Denver's single "Take Me Home, Country Roads" went to No. 2 on the "Billboard" charts. Denver's career flourished from then on, and he had a series of hits over the next four years. In 1972, Denver scored his first Top Ten album with "Rocky Mountain High", with its title track reaching the Top Ten in 1973. In 1974 and 1975, Denver had a string of four No. 1 songs ("Sunshine on My Shoulders," "Annie's Song," "Thank God I'm a Country Boy," "I'm Sorry") and two No. 1 albums ("John Denver's Greatest Hits", "Back Home Again)". Another crossover artist was Olivia Newton-John, who emerged from Australia in the mid-1970s, hoping to make it big in the United States. Her single "Let Me Be There" became a big pop-country crossover hit in 1974. She won a Grammy award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" for the song, and also won the Country Music Association's most coveted award for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year" (beating out established Nashville artists Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Tanya Tucker, as well as Canadian transplant Anne Murray). Newton-John began moving away from country in the late 1970s after starring in "Grease" and focused mostly on pop music from then onward.


title: Country pop

text: The debate raged into 1975 and reached its apex at that year's Country Music Association Awards when reigning Entertainer of the Year Charlie Rich (who himself had a series of crossover hits) presented the award to his successor, John Denver. As he read Denver's name, Rich set fire to the envelope with a cigarette lighter. The ACE would only last two years; its two biggest backers, firm traditionalists George Jones and Tammy Wynette, faced a bitter divorce, and Jean Shepard, the other major backer of the ACE, closed down the organization when she could not find others that shared her enthusiasm for the association's purpose. Bellamy Brothers "Let Your Love Flow," Starland Vocal Band "Afternoon Delight" (1976), Amazing Rhythm Aces "Third Rate Romance" (1976) were examples of late 70s pop country hits.


title: Country pop

text: In 1977, Kenny Rogers, former frontman of the rock band The First Edition, burst onto the country charts with "Lucille" and would go on to become the most successful of the country pop performers, topping charts. After "Lucille," Rogers had a string of songs that did well on both the country and pop charts around the world, including "Daytime Friends," "The Gambler," and "Coward of the County," all of which were produced by Larry Butler. Rogers would go on to push the boundaries of pop influence in country music, having records produced by the likes of The Bee Gees, Lionel Richie, David Foster, and George Martin, all of which did well in both the pop and country markets. Barbara Mandrell's vocal style is also known for blue-eyed soul style. Several of her other hits charted on the country adult contemporary charts, but her songs were the Bubbling under Billboard top 100 charts. She was one of country music's most successful artists during the 1970s and 1980s. She was involved in a serious car accident in 1984. Her big country hits included "Sleeping Single In a Double Bed," and "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Wanna be Right.


title: Country pop

text: In 1977, Dolly Parton was crossing over into the pop music world with No. 1 country and No. 3 pop hit that year, "Here You Come Again.


title: Country pop

text: Parton earned another big hit with "9 to 5", which topped both the country and pop singles charts in early 1981, supplemented by the 1980 film of the same name.


title: Country pop

text: Country pop reached an early peak immediately following the movie "Urban Cowboy" in the early 1980s. "Urban Cowboy" was the third music-themed hit film to star John Travolta, each from a different genre; much like "Saturday Night Fever" did for disco and "'Grease" did for oldies, "Urban Cowboy" likewise popularized pop-country, helping to boost the career of Mickey Gilley in particular (whose real-life bar and music were featured in the film), along with other songs that appeared on the film's soundtrack.


title: Country pop

text: Willie Nelson, and Dottie West came back in 80s. Dottie West released singles series of hit duets with Kenny Rogers. Kenny Rogers also had a duet hit with Parton, the Bee Gees-penned "Islands in the Stream", which topped the country and pop singles charts in late 1983. The Bee Gees themselves have one credited country hit to their name, 1978's "Rest Your Love on Me," which was made an even bigger hit by Conway Twitty in 1980.) Because of this, Dottie West achieved her biggest success as a country singer during this time, acquiring her first No. 1 hit as a solo artist thanks to her music in 1980 titled "A Lesson in Leaving".