title: Stade Brestois 29

text: The sports section of Saint Louis patronage was created in 1903 by taking the name of Armoricaine de Brest and adopting a motto: "Pen Huel" ("Heads up" in Breton). Before the First World War, 500 young people and 400 children attended the various patronage activities: military preparation, shooting, football, athletics, men's gymnastics, theatre, choir, brass band, study circles. The war thinned the ranks of the Armoricans but activities quickly resumed.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: In 1922, Father Cozanet had a stadium built at Petit Paris, on the site of the current Stade Francis-Le Blé, a grandstand still bearing the Armorican motto (the Pen Huel stand) as its name. The stadium was inaugurated on 9 February 1923 during a meeting between the Armoricaine and the Stade Français. From the ranks of the Armorican, between the wars, French internationals Alexis Thépot, Robert Coat and Jean Guéguen emerged.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: The patronage of the Armorican contested the 16th finals of the Coupe de France in 1921 and 1927, the 32nd finals in 1923, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931 and 1935. In 1926, the Armoricaine took away the title of champion of France patronage by winning in the final against Saint-Jean-de-Luz (3-0). The goalkeeper Alexis Thépot, who obtained a selection while he was part of the Armoricaine squad in 1927 against England, is one of the club's brightest players during this period.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: In 1950, the merger initiated by Canon Balbous between five Catholic patronages (the Armoricaine de Saint-Louis, the Avenir de Saint-Martin, the Flamme du Pilier Rouge, the Milice de Saint-Michel and the Jeune de Saint-Marc) gave birth to Stade Brest. One of the objectives of this merger of Catholic teams is to supplant the great Brest club of the time, AS Brest, which is secular.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: At its birth, the Stade Brestois had as President (then as Honorary President until his death in 1998) Jean Offret.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: Taking over the place of Armoricaine in the first division of Brittany, the Stadium was promoted in Promotion d'honneur in 1951, in regional honour division (just created) in 1952 before joining the Honour Division (1953). Stade Brestois finally reached the French Amateur Championship (CFA) in 1958, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the Voltigeurs de Châteaubriant. The club is finally evolving at the same level as its rival AS Brest. In 1963, the club went back down to the honor division, but returned to the CFA in 1966. Continuing its rise in the hierarchy of French football, the Stade Brestois then acceded to the second division following its enlargement in 1970.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: In 1979, the Stade Brestois was promoted to the Division 1 for the first time in its history. This apprenticeship year ends with a last place in the standings, but Stade goes back up the following season. The club, whose new president is called François Yvinec, is this time quite comfortably in Division 1. Despite a certain instability in the post of coach, the Breton club confirmed its place in the elite during the following seasons.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: In 1983, President François Yvinec decided to change the name of the club to that of "FC Brest Armorique" in order to better specify the geographical location of the club. The year 1986 is a turning point in the life of the club. From this season, the Bretons embark on the path of "football-business" by recruiting South American stars, who after a fanfare debut allow them to reach a historic (and still unmatched) 8th place in Division 1 in 1987. However, behind the scenes, the rupture between the president and the coach Raymond Keruzoré leads to the resignation of the latter, then to the withdrawal of the main sponsor, the Leclerc stores.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: Young Paul Le Guen, Vincent Guérin and Patrick Colleter are not enough to keep the club going, which went down to Division 2 in 1988 with its promising young generation. It was against the Racing Club de Strasbourg that they regained their place in the elite a year later after play-offs which remain as a great moment in the history of the club.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: Back in the first division, the Brest team is made up of talented young players such as Corentin Martins, David Ginola, the Paraguayan Roberto Cabañas or the future world champion Stéphane Guivarc'h, who allow the club to rank well in the elite. But in 1991, despite the 11th place obtained by Brest in the league, the club's significant deficit led to its administrative relegation to the Second Division.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: The club on the banks of the Penfeld ended up imploding in December of that same year. During his last match with the rival Guingamp, the invasion of the lawn by the exasperated Brest supporters forces David Ginola to call for calm so that the match can resume. The results of matches played by the club since the start of the competition are void. The club, whose liabilities are estimated at 150 million francs, filed for bankruptcy.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: The professional team is dissolved, the Brest players are released. The reserve team, which then plays in the third division, becomes the pennant team.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: In 1993, the club was promoted to the brand new National 1 championship. Following the merger of the two National groups in 1997, the Stade Brestois was relegated to the French Amateur Championship, where three seasons remained.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: After ten years in the amateur championships, the Breton club, which regained its original name (in 1993), went back to the National championship in 2000, where four seasons remained.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: In 2004, led by a young Franck Ribéry, the club secured promotion to Ligue 2, the second division of French football. The club managed to stay at this level in the following years. However, Brest was not a serious candidate for promotion until the end of the decade. The 2009–10 season saw the Breton club, coached by Alex Dupont, finish in second place, which secured automatic promotion to Ligue 1, following a 2–0 victory against Tours on 30 April 2010. In addition, the team had a good run in the Coupe de France, eventually falling in the round of 16 to RC Lens in extra time.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: The club managed to ensure its position in the top division, obtained on 29 May 2011 despite a defeat at home against Toulouse. During the 2011–12 season, Brest secured its place in the first division with a win over Évian on the final day of the season. It was also the club's first away win during the campaign.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: Below are the notable former and current players who have represented Stade Brestois in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1903. To appear in the section below, a player must have either played in at least 80 official matches for the club or represented their country's national team either while playing for Brest or after departing the club.


title: Stade Brestois 29

text: Since September 2011, Stade Brestois 29 sponsors its amateur American counterpart in New York, Stade Brestois New York.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: Vasundhara Raje Scindia (born 8 March 1953) is an Indian politician, who has held two terms as the chief minister of Rajasthan. She was previously a minister in the Union Cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was India's first Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. She is currently one of the national vice presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A member of the Scindia family, she is also the matriarch of the Bamraulia family of Dholpur.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: Vasundhara Raje singh was born on 8 March 1953 in Bombay (now Mumbai). She is the daughter of Vijayaraje Scindia-Shinde and Jivajirao Scindia-Shinde, Maharaja of Gwalior, members of the prominent Scindia royal Maratha family.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: Raje completed her school education at Presentation Convent School in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, and later graduated with economics and political science degrees from the Sophia College for Women, Mumbai.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: She married Maharaj Rana Hemant Singh, of the royal Dholpur family, on 17 November 1972, but they separated a year later. Her son, Dushyant Singh, was elected to the Lok Sabha from her former constituency, Jhalawar.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: Her siblings are Yashodhara Raje Scindia, a former industries minister of Madhya Pradesh, the late Madhavrao Scindia, the late Padmavati Raje "Akkasaheb" Burman (1942–64), who married Kirit Deb Burman, the last ruling Maharaja of Tripura, and Usha Raje Rana (b. 1943) who married into the Rana family of Nepal.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: She has one son Dushyant Singh a four-time member of Parliament through Loksabha and the Yuvraj of Dholpur.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: In 1984, Raje entered the Indian political system. Initially, she was made a member of the national executive of the newly formed Bharatiya Janata Party. She was also elected as a member of the 8th Rajasthan Assembly from Dholpur. In the same year, she was appointed vice president of the Yuva Morcha, Rajasthan BJP.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: In 2007, she received the "Women Together Award" from the UNO for services rendered towards the self-empowerment of women.


title: Vasundhara Raje

text: A book on the life of Vasundhara Raje named "Vasundhara Raje aur Vikasit Rajasthan" was written by the historian Vijay Nahar and published by Prabhat Prakashan.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Nocturne is a 2020 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Zu Quirke. The film stars Sydney Sweeney, Madison Iseman, Jacques Colimon and Ivan Shaw. Jason Blum serves as a producer under his Blumhouse Television banner. The film stars Sweeney as Juliet Lowe, a pianist in her last year of high school who is jealous because she is constantly overshadowed by her twin sister.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: It was released on October 13, 2020, by Amazon Studios, as the fourth installment in the anthological "Welcome to the Blumhouse" film series.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Juliet and Vivian Lowe are twin sisters attending their last year at Lindberg Academy, a prestigious boarding school for the performing arts. Both sisters are classical pianists; however, Vivian, a prodigy, has already been accepted to Juilliard while Juliet, overshadowed by her sister, has decided to take a gap year.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Another student, Moira, dies by suicide, as seen earlier. The staff announce that Moira will be replaced at the senior school showcase and auditions will be held to see who will play in her place. Juliet discovers Moira's theory notebook, having fallen off a shelf. Both sisters decide to audition, but at the last minute, Juliet decides to audition using the same piece as Vivian, Piano Concerto No. 2. After finishing practicing, Juliet hears violin music from Moira's room that stops as soon as she enters, and finds a sun symbol etched into the wall behind a curtain, that matches the one on the notebook. She decides to play an untitled piece from the notebook, but is interrupted by Dr. Cask who tells the name of the piece, The Devil's Trill by Giuseppe Tartini, and confronts her about not telling Vivian that she changed her audition piece. While auditioning, she enters a dreamscape and sees herself at the showcase receiving roses and wakes up, realizing she fainted during her audition. Her relationship with Vivian is strained and, in class, when looking at the first image of the notebook, she notices the three balls in the hand, corresponding with the tablets she took. She is crushed when she learns that Vivian landed the showcase.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Juliet fights with her mentor Roger, accusing him of underestimating her. The fight results in Roger slapping her and being suspended. Juliet uses the opportunity to be assigned to the prestigious Dr. Cask, who is also mentoring her sister, and later, finds bloody tampons in her shelf. She confronts Vivian, the latter only telling her that they're now "even". When Dr. Cask asks her reason for changing her piece, Juliet admits to only wanting to beat Vivian, upon which, Dr. Cask tells Juliet she is Vivian's equal in technique but lacks her passion.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Juliet is invited and goes to the secret senior party, where she overhears Vivian on a call, telling someone she is "done fucking" them. Juliet flirts with Vivian's boyfriend Max, and tells him about Moira's notebook. Vivian catches them and the two fight, causing Juliet to run off. She is stopped by a blinding light similar to the one seen on Moira's notebook. The light stops Juliet but Vivian, who does not see it, runs after her, falling off a cliff. The next day, Juliet wakes up on her desk with several pages with Vivian's name written repeatedly, and notices the third page matches with Vivi's fall, and the second with Roger. Juliet learns that Vivian injured her arm in two places and that the injury may permanently ruin her career; Juliet is offered Vivian's role in the showcase and accepts, while Vivian is suspended. Juliet goes to talk to Vivian, but is accused of having purposely let her fall. Juliet looks up Moira's suicide on the internet, and learns that her mother fell off a ski-lift and went into a coma and her father burnt down their house and himself.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Juliet talks to Max about Moira and her notebook, and persuades Max that Vivian cheated on him and, after they break up, has sex with him.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: The night of her birthday, Juliet invites Dr. Cask to her and Vivian's birthday dinner. At the dinner, an agitated Vivian throws the cake onto Dr. Cask and storms off. As her father is drunk, Juliet has to be driven back by Dr. Cask. At his home, he attempts to encourage her for the next day and Juliet kisses him. After he rejects her, she reveals that she discovered he was having an affair with Vivian and burns his prestigious trophy. Juliet realizes that the previous events have coincided with drawings found in Moira's notebook. She is unsure of what will happen next as the last page is torn out. She falls into a trance and through automatic writing produces an illustration which demands sacrifice, and in a panic, she burns the entire notebook.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Before the showcase, Vivian confronts Juliet over her sabotage and tells her she will always be mediocre. Juliet suffers a panic attack on stage and runs offstage to the roof of the auditorium. She starts to jump but has a hallucination in which she is in the auditorium and has finished her playing, receiving a standing ovation and the approval of her sister.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Afterward, it is revealed Juliet has jumped to her death, but her body fails to be noticed by the busy campus students.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: In September 2019, it was announced that Sydney Sweeney, Madison Iseman, Jacques Colimon and Ivan Shaw had joined the cast of the film, with Zu Quirke writing and directing in her directorial debut. Jason Blum will serve as a producer under his Blumhouse Television banner, with Amazon Studios distributing. Principal photography began that same month.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: In October 2020, the rest of the cast was announced, including Julie Benz, Brandon Keener, JoNell Kennedy, and others.


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: The film was released on October 13, 2020, by Amazon Studios, alongside "Evil Eye", as one of the first four films in the 8 film anthology "Welcome to the Blumhouse".


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: ""Nocturne"s thought-provoking themes find themselves at odds with its genre ingredients, resulting in a mild blend that isn't quite pulpy enough." On Metacritic has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Jordan Mintzer of "The Hollywood Reporter" called the film "A rather familiar tune", while Ryan Lattanzio of "IndieWire" wrote that "[Sydney] Sweeney delivers on the promise of her turn in "Euphoria," but deserves better than this "Black Swan"-lite tale that's more half-baked ripoff than homage".


title: Nocturne (2020 film)

text: Around the hour and fifteen minute mark as Juliet is walking backstage, a poster for the album The Bedlam in Goliath by The Mars Volta can be seen displayed on a cabinet.


title: Event management

text: Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. It involves studying the brand, identifying its target audience, devising the event concept, and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event.


title: Event management

text: The events industry now includes events of all sizes from the Olympics down to business breakfast meetings. Many industries, celebrities, charitable organizations, and interest groups hold events in order to market their label, build business relationships, raise money, or celebrate achievement.


title: Event management

text: The process of planning and coordinating the event is usually referred to as event planning and which can include budgeting, scheduling, site selection, acquiring necessary permits, coordinating transportation and parking, arranging for speakers or entertainers, arranging decor, event security, catering, coordinating with third-party vendors, and emergency plans. Each event is different in its nature so process of planning and execution of each event differs on basis of the type of event.


title: Event management

text: The event manager is the person who plans and executes the event, taking responsibility for the creative, technical, and logistical elements. This includes overall event design, brand building, marketing and communication strategy, audio-visual production, script writing, logistics, budgeting, negotiation, and client service.


title: Event management

text: Due to the complexities involved, the extensive body of knowledge required, and the rapidly changing environment, event management is frequently cited as one of the most stressful career paths, in line next to surgeons.


title: Event management

text: Event management might be a tool for strategic marketing and communication, used by companies of every size. Companies can benefit from promotional events as a way to communicate with current and potential customers. For instance, these advertising-focused events can occur as press conferences, promotional events, or product launches.


title: Event management

text: Event managers may also use traditional news media in order to target their audience, hoping to generate media coverage which will reach thousands or millions of people. They can also invite their audience to their events and reach them at the actual event.


title: Event management

text: An event venue may be an onsite or offsite location. The event manager is responsible for operations at a rented event or entertainment venue as they are coordinating directly with the property owner. An event manager will monitor all aspects of the event on-site. Some of the tasks listed in the introduction may pass to the venue, but usually at a cost.


title: Event management

text: Events present substantial liability risk to organizers and venues. Consequently, most venues require the organizers to obtain blanket or event-specific general liability insurance of an amount not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, which is the industry standard.


title: Event management

text: Corporate event managers book event venues to host corporate meetings, conferences, networking events, trade shows, product launches, team-building retreats or training sessions in a more tailored environment.


title: Event management

text: Sustainable event management (also known as event greening) is the process used to produce an event with particular concern for environmental, economic, and social issues. Sustainability in event management incorporates socially and environmentally responsible decision making into the planning, organization and implementation of, and participation in, an event. It involves including sustainable development principles and practices in all levels of event organization, and aims to ensure that an event is hosted responsibly. It represents the total package of interventions at an event, and needs to be done in an integrated manner. Event greening should start at the inception of the project, and should involve all the key role players, such as clients, organizers, venues, sub-contractors, and suppliers. A recent study shows that the trend of moving events from in-person to virtual and hybrid modes can reduce the carbon footprint by 94% (virtual) and by 67% (hybrid mode with over 50% in-person participation rate due to trade-offs between the per capita carbon footprint and in-person participation level).


title: Event management

text: Event management software companies provide event planning with software tools to handle many common activities such as delegate registration, hotel booking, travel booking, or allocation of exhibition floor space.


title: Event management

text: A recent trend in event technology is the use of mobile apps for events. Event mobile apps have a range of uses. They can be used to hold relatively static information such as the agenda, speaker biographies, and general FAQs. They can also encourage audience participation and engagement through interactive tools such as live voting/polling, submitting questions to speakers during Q&A, or building live interactive "word clouds". Mobile event apps can also be used by event organizers as a means of communication. Organizers can communicate with participants through the use of alerts, notifications, and push messages. They can also be used to collect feedback from the participants through the use of surveys in app. Some mobile event apps can help participants to engage with each other, with sponsors, and with the organizers with built-in networking functionality.


title: Event management

text: There are an increasing number of universities which offer training in event management in the form of both certificates and undergraduate or graduate degrees.


title: Event management

text: The University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management offered the first ever Bachelor of Science degree in Event Management beginning in 2006. The program leverages core training in both hospitality, covering lodging operations, tourism, guest services, accounting, and marketing as well as event management, including sales, promotion, technology, design, risk management, and catering with electives available for specific interests, such as cruises, clubbing, wine, or trade shows. Other degree programs that do not offer a full degree usually offer concentrations, such as New York University, which offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel and Tourism Management with a concentration in event management. The University of Florida offers a similar program as well.


title: Event management

text: Because of the limited number of undergraduate degree programs available, it is not uncommon for event managers to earn their degrees in business administration, marketing, or public relations. To supplement their candidacy, persons interested in event management typically earn one or more certifications which offer specialization into particular fields. Certifications available include:


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The Franco-Dutch War, also known as the Dutch War (; ), was fought between France and the Dutch Republic, supported by its allies the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark-Norway. In its early stages, France was allied with Münster and Cologne, as well as England. The 1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and 1675 to 1679 Scanian War are considered related conflicts.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The war began in May 1672 when France nearly overran the Dutch Republic, an event still known as the "Rampjaar" or "Disaster Year". Their advance was halted by the Dutch Water Line in June and by late July the Dutch position had stabilised. Concern over French gains led to a formal alliance in August 1673 between the Dutch, Emperor Leopold I, Spain and Brandenburg-Prussia. They were joined by Lorraine and Denmark, while England made peace in February 1674. Now facing a war on multiple fronts, the French withdrew from the Dutch Republic, retaining only Grave and Maastricht.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Louis XIV refocused on the Spanish Netherlands and Rhineland, while the Allies led by William of Orange sought to limit French gains. After 1674, the French occupied Franche-Comté and areas along their border with the Spanish Netherlands and in Alsace, but neither side was able to achieve a decisive victory. The war ended with the September 1678 Peace of Nijmegen; although the terms were far less generous than those available in June 1672, it is often considered the high point of French military success under Louis XIV and provided him a significant propaganda success.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Spain recovered Charleroi from France but ceded Franche-Comté, as well as much of Artois and Hainaut, establishing borders that remain largely unchanged into modern times. Under the leadership of William of Orange, the Dutch had recovered all the territory lost in the disastrous early stages, a success that secured him a leading role in domestic politics. This helped him counter the threat posed by continued French expansion and create the 1688 Grand Alliance that fought in the Nine Years War.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: As part of a general policy of opposition to Habsburg power in Europe, France backed the Dutch Republic during the 1568 to 1648 Eighty Years War against Spain. The 1648 Peace of Münster confirmed Dutch independence and permanently closed the Scheldt estuary, benefiting Amsterdam by eliminating its rival, Antwerp. Preserving this monopoly was a Dutch priority, but this increasingly clashed with French aims in the Spanish Netherlands, which included reopening Antwerp.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: William II of Orange's death in 1650 led to the First Stadtholderless Period, with political control vested in the urban patricians or "Regenten". This maximised the influence of the States of Holland and Amsterdam, the power base of Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary from 1653 to 1672. He viewed his relationship with Louis XIV of France as crucial for preserving Dutch economic power, but also to protect him from his domestic Orangist opponents.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Although France and the Republic concluded an assistance treaty in 1662, the States of Holland refused to support a division of the Spanish Netherlands, convincing Louis his objectives could only be achieved by force. The Dutch received limited French support during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667) but increasingly preferred a weak Spain as a neighbour to a strong France. Shortly after talks to end the Anglo-Dutch War began in May 1667, Louis launched the War of Devolution, rapidly occupying most of the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In July, the Treaty of Breda ended the Anglo-Dutch War, leading to talks between the Dutch and Charles II of England on a common diplomatic front against France. This was supported by Spain and Emperor Leopold, who was also concerned by French expansion. After his first suggestion of an Anglo-French alliance was rejected by Louis, Charles entered the 1668 Triple Alliance, between England, the Republic and Sweden. After the Alliance mediated between France and Spain, Louis relinquished many of his gains in the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: While Breda and Aix-la-Chapelle were seen as Dutch diplomatic triumphs, they also presented significant dangers; De Witt himself was well aware of these, but failed to convince his colleagues. Louis considered the January 1668 Partition Treaty with Leopold confirmation of his right to the Spanish Netherlands, a point reinforced by Aix-la-Chapelle, despite his concessions. He no longer saw the need to negotiate, and decided their acquisition was best achieved by first defeating the Republic.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The Dutch also over-estimated their own power; defeat at Lowestoft in 1665 exposed the shortcomings of their navy and the federal command system, while the successful Raid on the Medway was largely due to English financial weakness. In 1667, the Dutch navy was at the height of its power, an advantage rapidly eroded by English and French naval expansion. The Anglo-Dutch War was primarily fought at sea, masking the poor state of their army and forts, deliberately neglected since they were viewed as bolstering the power of the Prince of Orange.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In preparation for an attack on the Republic, Louis embarked on a series of diplomatic initiatives, the first being the 1670 Secret Treaty of Dover, an Anglo-French alliance against the Dutch. It contained secret clauses not revealed until 1771, including the payment to Charles of £230,000 per year for providing a British brigade of 6,000. Agreements with the Bishopric of Münster and Electorate of Cologne allowed French forces to bypass the Spanish Netherlands, by attacking via the Bishopric of Liège, then a dependency of Cologne (see Map). Preparations were completed in April 1672, when Charles XI of Sweden accepted French subsidies in return for invading areas of Pomerania claimed by Brandenburg-Prussia.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: French armies of the period held significant advantages over their opponents; an undivided command, talented generals like Turenne, Condé and Luxembourg, as well as vastly superior logistics. Reforms introduced by Louvois, the Secretary of War, helped maintain large field armies that could be mobilised much quicker. This meant the French could mount offensives in early spring before their opponents were ready, seize their objectives, then assume a defensive posture. As in other wars of the period, the army's strength fluctuated throughout the conflict; starting with 180,000 in 1672, by 1678 it had an authorised strength of 219,250 infantry and 60,360 cavalry, of whom 116,370 served in garrisons.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The retention of border towns like Charleroi and Tournai in 1668 allowed Louvois to pre-position supply dumps, stretching from the French border to Neuss in the Rhineland. 120,000 men were allocated to attacks on the Republic, split into two main groups; one at Charleroi, under Turenne, the other near Sedan, commanded by Condé. After marching through the Bishopric of Liège, they would join near Maastricht, then occupy the Duchy of Cleves, a possession of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. At the same time 30,000 mercenaries, paid by Münster and Cologne and led by Luxembourg, would attack from the east. One final element was a planned English landing in the Spanish Netherlands but this ceased to be a viable option when the Dutch retained control of the sea at Solebay in June.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The French had demonstrated their new tactics when over-running the Duchy of Lorraine in mid 1670, while the Dutch were given accurate information on their plans as early as February 1671. These were confirmed by Condé in November and again in January 1672, Dutch regent de Groot describing him as "one of our best friends." However, the Dutch were poorly prepared for a campaign against France; available funds had mostly been invested in the fleet, at the expense of their land defences. Most of the Dutch States Army was based in the three southern fortresses of Breda, 's-Hertogenbosch and Maastricht; in November 1671, the Council of State reported these as being short of supplies and money, with many fortifications barely defendable. Most units were substantially below strength; on 12 June, one officer reported his official strength of eighteen companies had only enough men for four.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: This was partly because with Prince William now of age, his Orangist supporters refused to approve additional military spending unless he was appointed Captain-General, a move opposed by de Witt. Aware of internal English opposition to the Anglo-French alliance, the Dutch relied on the provisions of the Triple Alliance requiring England and the Republic to support each other, if attacked by Spain or France. This assumption was shared by the Parliament of England, who approved funding for the fleet in early 1671 to fulfil its obligations under the alliance. The true danger only became obvious on 23 March, when acting under orders from Charles, the Royal Navy attacked a Dutch merchant convoy in the Channel; this followed a similar incident in 1664.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In February 1672, de Witt compromised by appointing William as Captain-General for a year. Budgets were approved and contracts issued to increase the army to over 80,000 but assembling these men would take months. Negotiations with Frederick William to reinforce Cleves with 30,000 men were delayed by his demands for Dutch-held fortresses on the Rhine, including Rheinberg and Wesel. By the time they reached agreement on 6 May, he was occupied with a French-backed Swedish invasion of Pomerania, and could not engage the French in 1672. The Maastricht garrison was increased to 11,000, in the hope they could delay the French long enough to strengthen the eastern border; the cities provided 12,000 men from their civil militia, with 70,000 peasants conscripted to build earthworks along the IJssel river. These were unfinished when France declared war on 6 April, followed by England on 7 April, using a manufactured diplomatic incident known as the 'Merlin' affair. Münster and Cologne entered the war on 18 May.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The French offensive began on 4 May 1672 when a subsidiary force under Condé left Sedan and marched north along the right bank of the Meuse. Next day, Louis arrived in Charleroi to inspect the main army of 50,000 under Turenne, one of the most magnificent displays of military power in the seventeenth century. Accompanied by Louis, on 17 May Turenne met up with Condé at Visé, just south of Maastricht; supported by Condé, Louis wanted to besiege the fortress immediately but Turenne convinced him it would be folly to allow the Dutch time to reinforce other positions. Avoiding a direct assault on Maastricht, Turenne prevented it being reinforced by occupying outlying positions at Tongeren, Maaseik and Valkenburg.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Leaving 10,000 men to cover Maastricht, the rest of the French army crossed back over the Meuse, then advanced along the Rhine, supported by troops from Münster and the Electorate of Cologne, led by Luxembourg. The Dutch garrisoned forts intended to defend the Rhine crossings were still severely undermanned and poorly equipped. By 5 June, the French had captured Rheinberg, Orsoy and Burick, with minimal resistance; Wesel, perhaps the most important fortress, surrendered when the townspeople threatened to butcher the commanders, followed by Rees on 9 June. Having secured their rear, the bulk of the French army began to cross the Rhine at Emmerich am Rhein; Grand Pensionary De Witt was deeply shocked by the news of the catastrophe and concluded "the fatherland is now lost".


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Although the situation on land had become critical for the Dutch, events at sea were much more favourable. On 7 June, Dutch Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter attacked the Anglo-French fleet as it took on supplies at Southwold on the English coast. The French squadron under d'Estrées failed to properly coordinate with the English and ended up fighting a separate battle with Lieutenant-Admiral Adriaen Banckert, which led to mutual recriminations between the two allies. Although ship losses were roughly equal, Solebay ensured the Dutch retained control of their coastal waters, secured their trade routes and ended hopes of an Anglo-French landing in Zeeland. Anger at the alleged lack of support from D'Estrées increased opposition to the war, and Parliament was reluctant to approve funds for essential repairs. For the rest of the year, this restricted English naval operations to a failed attack on the Dutch East India Company Return Fleet.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In early June, the Dutch headquarters at Arnhem prepared itself for a French onslaught on the IJssel Line. Only twenty thousand troops could be assembled to block a crossing and a dry spring meant that the river could be forded at many points. Nevertheless, there seemed to be no alternative but to make a last stand at the IJssel. However, should the enemy outflank this river by crossing the Lower Rhine into the Betuwe, the field army would fall back to the west to prevent being surrounded and quickly annihilated. The commander of Fort Schenkenschanz protecting the Lower Rhine abandoned his position. When he arrived at Arnhem with his troops, immediately a force of two thousand horse and foot under Field Marshal Paulus Wirtz was sent out to cover the Betuwe. At arrival they intercepted French cavalry crossing at a ford pointed out to them by a farmer. A bloody encounter fight followed but in this Battle of Tolhuis on 12 June, the Dutch cavalry was eventually overwhelmed by French reinforcements. Louis personally observed the battle from the Elterberg. Condé was shot through the wrist. In France, this battle was celebrated as a major victory and paintings of the "Passage du Rhin" have this crossing as their subject, not the earlier one at Emmerich.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Captain-General William Henry now wanted the entire field army to fall back on Utrecht. However, in 1666 the provinces had regained full sovereignty of their forces. Overijssel and Guelders in June 1672 withdrew their troops from the confederated army. The French army made little effort to cut off the escape route of the Dutch field army. Turenne recrossed the Lower Rhine to attack Arnhem, while part of his army moved to the Waal towards Fort Knodsenburg at Nijmegen. Louis wanted to besiege Doesburg first, on the east side of the IJssel, taking it on 21 June. The king delayed the capture somewhat to allow his brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, to take Zutphen some days earlier. On his right flank, the armies of Münster and Cologne, reinforced by a French corps under de Luxembourg, advanced to the north along the river, after having taken Grol on 10 June and Bredevoort on 18 June. The IJssel cities panicked. Deventer seceded from the Republic and again rejoined the Holy Roman Empire on 25 June. Then, the province of Overijssel surrendered as a whole to the bishop of Münster, Bernard von Galen, whose troops plundered towns on the west side of the IJssel, such as Hattem, Elburg and Harderwijk, on 21 June. Louis ordered de Luxembourg to expel them again, as he wanted to make the duchy of Guelders a French possession. Annoyed, Von Galen announced to advance to the north of the Republic and invited de Luxembourg to follow him by wading through the IJssel, as no pontoon bridge was available. Exasperated, de Luxembourg got permission from Louis to withhold his corps and the army of Cologne from the Münsterite forces.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: From that point onwards, Von Galen would wage a largely separate campaign. He started to besiege Coevorden on 20 June. Von Galen, nicknamed "Bomb Berend", was an expert on artillery ammunition and had devised the first practical incendiary shell or carcass. With such fire shot he intimidated the garrison of Coevorden into a quick surrender on 1 July. He was advised by his subcommanders to subsequently plunder the hardly defended Friesland and use vessels captured there to isolate Groningen, the largest city in the north. Alternatively, he could take Delfzijl, allowing a landing by an English expeditionary force. But the bishop feared the Protestant British would make common cause with the Calvinist Groningers and expected that his siege mortars would force a fast capitulation, starting the Siege of Groningen on 21 July.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: On 14 June, William arrived with the remnants of the field army, some eight thousand men, at Utrecht. The common citizens had taken over the city gates and refused him entrance. In talks with the official city council, William had to admit that he had no intention to defend the city but would retreat behind the Holland Water Line, a series of inundations protecting the core province of Holland. Eventually, the council of Utrecht literally delivered the keys of the gates to Henri Louis d'Aloigny (the Marquis de Rochefort), to avoid plundering. On 18 June, William withdrew his forces. The flooding was not ready yet, only having been ordered on 8 June, and the countryside of Holland was basically defenceless against the French. On 19 June, the French took the fortress of Naarden close to Amsterdam.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In a defeatist mood a divided States of Holland – Amsterdam was more pugnacious – sent a delegation to de Louvois in Zeist to ask for peace terms, headed by Pieter de Groot. The French king was offered the Generality Lands and ten million guilders. Compared to the eventual outcome of the war, these conditions were very favourable to France. It would have made territorial gains not equalled until 1810. The Generality Lands included the fortresses of Breda, 's-Hertogenbosch and Maastricht. Their possession would have ensured the conquest of the Spanish Netherlands and the remaining Republic would have been little more than a French satellite state. De Louvois, rather bemused that the Estates had not capitulated but still considered some damage control possible, demanded far harsher terms.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The Dutch were given the choice of surrendering their southern fortresses, permitting religious freedom for Catholics and a payment of six million guilders, or France and Münster retaining their existing gains – thus the loss of Overijssel, Guelders and Utrecht – and a single payment of sixteen million livres. Louis knew perfectly well that the delegation did not have the mandate to agree such terms and would have to return for new instructions. However, he also did not continue his advance to the west.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Several explanations have been given for this policy. The French were rather overwhelmed by their success. They had within a month captured three dozen fortresses. This strained their organisational and logistical capacities. All these strongholds had to be garrisoned and supplied. An intrusion into Holland proper seemed meaningless to them, unless Amsterdam could be besieged. This city would be a very problematic target. It had a population of 200,000 and could raise a large civil militia, reinforced by thousands of sailors. As the city had recently expanded, its fortifications were the best maintained in the Republic. Their normal armament of three hundred pieces was being enlarged by the militia hauling the reserve ordnance of the Admiralty of Amsterdam upon the ramparts which began to bristle with thousands of cannon. The low-lying surrounding terrain, below sea level, was easily flooded, making a traditional attack via trenches impractical. The battle fleet could support the fortifications from the IJ and Zuyderzee with gun fire, meanwhile ensuring a constant resupply of the food and ammunition stocks. A deeper problem was that Amsterdam was the world's main financial centre. The promissory notes with which many of the French military and the contractors had been paid, were covered by the gold and silver reserves of the Amsterdam banks. Their loss would mean the collapse of Europe's financial system and the personal bankruptcy of large segments of the French elite.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Relations with England were also delicate. Louis had promised Charles to make William Henry the Sovereign Prince of a Holland rump state and puppet state. He very much preferred that it would be France pulling the strings but there was a distinct possibility that the uncle of the prince would be in control. Louis had not mentioned William in his peace conditions. The very patricians that the French king desired to punish were traditionally pro-French and his natural allies against the pro-English Orangists. He wanted to simply annex Holland and hoped that fear of the Orangists would cause the "regenten" to surrender the province to him. Of course, the opposite might happen too: that a French advance would lead to the Orangists taking power and capitulating to England. The province of Zealand had already decided to rather make Charles their lord than be subjugated by the French. Only fear of the military power of De Ruyter's fleet had kept them from surrendering outright to the English. De Ruyter would not tolerate any talk of capitulation and intended, if necessary, to take the fleet overseas to continue the fight. Louis feared the English wanted to claim Staats-Vlaanderen which he saw as French territory because the County of Flanders was a fief of the French crown. In secret he arranged an informal warband of six thousand under Claude Antoine de Dreux to quickly cross the officially neutral Spanish Flanders and execute a surprise assault on the Dutch fortress of Aardenburg, on 25-26 June. The attempt was a total failure, the small garrison killing hundreds of attackers and taking prisoner over six hundred Frenchmen who had become pinned down in a ravelin.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Louis also allowed his honour to take precedence over the raison d'état. The harsh peace conditions upon which he insisted were meant to humiliate the Dutch. He demanded an annual embassy to the French court asking pardon for their perfidy and presenting a plaquette extolling the magnanimity of the French king. For Louis, a campaign was not complete without some major siege to enhance his personal glory. The quick surrender of so many cities had been somewhat disappointing in this respect. Maastricht having escaped him for the time being, he turned his attention on an even more prestigious object: 's-Hertogenbosch, which was considered "inexpugnable". The city was not only a formidable fortress in itself, it was surrounded by a rare fortification belt. Normally its marshy surroundings would make a siege impossible but its presently weak garrison seemed to offer some possibility of success. After Nijmegen had been taken on 9 July, Turenne captured near 's-Hertogenbosch Fort Crèvecœur, which controlled the sluice outlets of the area, halting further inundations. The main French force, thus removed from the Holland war theatre, camped around Boxtel and Louis took residence in Heeswijk Castle.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The news that the French had penetrated into the heart of the Republic led to a general panic in the cities of the province of Holland. Blaming the States regime for the Dutch collapse, their populations rioted. Members of the city councils were by force replaced by Orangist partisans or in fear of reprisals declared for the cause of the Prince of Orange. Pamphlets accused the "regenten" of having betrayed the Republic to Louis and De Ruyter of wanting to deliver the fleet to the French. When the French peace terms became known on 1 July, they caused outrage.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The result was to bolster Dutch resistance. On 2 July, William was appointed stadtholder of Zealand and on 4 June of Holland. The new stadtholder William III of Orange was given a general mandate to negotiate. Meanwhile, the polders of the Holland Water Line had slowly filled, forming an obstacle to a possible French advance.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Charles thought that William's rise to power allowed to quickly obtain a peace favourable to England. He sent two of his ministers to Holland. They were received with jubilation by the population, who assumed they came to save them from the French. Arriving at the Dutch army camp in Nieuwerbrug, they proposed to install William as monarch of a Principality of Holland. In return he should pay ten million guilders as "indemnities" and formalise a permanent military English occupation of the ports of Brill, Sluys and Flushing. England would respect the French and Münsterite conquests. To their surprise, William flatly refused. He indicated that he might be more pliable if they managed to moderate the French peace terms. They then travelled to Heeswijk Castle, but the Accord of Heeswijk they agreed there was even harsher, England and France promising never to conclude a separate peace. France demanded the areas of Brabant, Limburg and Guelders. Charles tried to right matters by writing a very moderate letter to William, claiming that the only obstacle to peace was the influence of De Witt. William made counteroffers unacceptable to Charles but also on 15 August published the letter to incite the population. On 20 August, Johan and Cornelis de Witt were lynched by an Orangist civil militia, leaving William in control.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Observing that the water around 's-Hertogenbosch showed little sign of receding, Louis became impatient and lifted the siege on 26 July. Leaving his main force of 40,000 behind, he took 18,000 men with him, and marched to Paris within a week, straight through the Spanish Netherlands. He freed 12,000 Dutch prisoners of war for a small ransom, to avoid having to pay for their maintenance, allowing the majority to rejoin the Dutch States Army, which by August contained 57,000 men.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In June, the Dutch seemed defeated. The Amsterdam stock market collapsed and their international credit evaporated. Frederick William, the Elector of Brandenburg, in these circumstances hardly dared to threaten the eastern borders of Münster. A single loyal ally remained: the Spanish Netherlands. They well understood that if the Dutch capitulated, they too would be lost. Although officially neutral, and forced to allow the French to transgress their territory with impunity, they openly reinforced the Dutch with thousands of troops.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The Dutch position had stabilised, while concern at French gains brought the support of Brandenburg-Prussia, Emperor Leopold and Charles II of Spain. Instead of a rapid victory, Louis was forced into another war of attrition around the French frontiers; in August, Turenne ended his offensive against the Dutch and proceeded to Germany with 25,000 infantry and 18,000 cavalry. Frederick William and Leopold combined their forces of around 25,000 under the Imperial general Raimondo Montecuccoli; he crossed the Rhine at Koblenz in January 1673 but Turenne forced him to retreat into northern Germany.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The faltering offensive caused financial problems for the allies, especially England. Münster was in an even worse condition; on 27 August it had to abandon the siege of Groningen. Whereas the Dutch had managed to supply the city through waterways at its northern edge, Von Galen's troops were starving and had largely deserted. Largely due to an effective guerrilla campaign by troops from Friesland under Hans Willem van Aylva against their supply lines. Also, his siege mortars had lost the artillery duel with the fortress cannon, gradually having been destroyed. Before the end of 1672, the Dutch under Carl von Rabenhaupt retook Coevorden and liberated the province of Drenthe, leaving the Allies in possession of only three of the ten—the territories of Drenthe, Staats-Brabant, and Staats-Overmaas were also part of the republic—Dutch provincial areas. The supply lines of the French army were dangerously overextended. In the autumn of 1672, William tried to cut them off, crossing the Spanish Netherlands via Maastricht in forced marches to attack Charleroi, the starting point of the supply route through Liège, though he had to abandon the siege quickly.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The absence of the Dutch field army offered opportunities for the French to renew their offensive. On 27 December, after a severe frost, de Luxembourg began to cross the ice of the Water Line with eight thousand men, hoping to sack The Hague. A sudden thaw cut his force in half and he narrowly escaped to his own lines with the remainder, on his way back massacring the civilian population of Bodegraven and Zwammerdam. This increased the hatred against de Luxembourg. The province of Utrecht was one of the richest regions of Europe and "intendant" Louis Robert had extorted large sums from its wealthy inhabitants. The French applied the not-unusual method of "mettre à contribution": unless noble refugees or Amsterdam merchants made regular payments, their luxury mansions would be burnt down. This made the general the favourite subject of Dutch anti-French propaganda. Special books were published highlighting the outrages he committed, illustrated by Romeyn de Hooghe. The most common Dutch school book, the "Mirror of Youth", that had been dedicated to Spanish misdeeds, was now rewritten to reflect French atrocities.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Until the advent of railways in the 19th century, goods and supplies were largely transported by water, making rivers such as the Lys, Sambre and Meuse vital for trade and military operations. The primary French objective in 1673 was the capture of Maastricht, which controlled a key access point on the Meuse; the city surrendered on 30 June. In June 1673, the French occupation of Kleve and lack of money temporarily drove Brandenburg-Prussia out of the war in the Peace of Vossem.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: However, in August, the Dutch, Spain and Emperor Leopold, supported by other German states, agreed the anti-French Alliance of The Hague, joined by Charles IV of Lorraine in October. In September, William recaptured Naarden, while Münster and Cologne left the war in November; with the war expanding into the Rhineland and Spain, French troops withdrew from the Dutch Republic, retaining only Grave and Maastricht.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The alliance between England and Catholic France had been unpopular from the start and although the real terms of the Treaty of Dover remained secret, many suspected them. The Cabal ministry that managed government for Charles had gambled on a short war but when this proved not to be the case, opinion quickly turned against it, while the French were also accused of abandoning the English at Solebay.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Opposition to the alliance with France further increased when Charles' heir, his Catholic brother, James, was given permission to marry Mary of Modena, also a devout Catholic. In February 1673, Parliament refused to continue funding the war unless Charles withdrew a proposed Declaration of Indulgence and accepted a Test Act barring Catholics from public office. After the Dutch defeated the Anglo-French fleet at the battles of Schooneveld in June, at the Battle of Texel in August and captured the English settlement of New York, pressure to end the war became unstoppable and England made peace in the February 1674 Treaty of Westminster.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The combination led Louis to pursue a "policy of exhaustion that emphasised...sieges and the gathering of war taxes, raids, and blockades over full-scale battles”. In support of this strategy, Swedish forces in Swedish Pomerania attacked Brandenburg-Prussia in December 1674 after Louis threatened to withhold their subsidies. It resulted in the 1675–1679 Scanian War and the Swedish-Brandenburg War, whereby the Swedes tied up the armies of Brandenburg, Denmark and some minor German principalities.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In broad terms, French strategy now focused on retaking Spanish possessions gained in 1667–1668 but returned at Aix-La-Chapelle, while preventing Imperialist advances in the Rhineland. They also supported minor campaigns in Roussillon and Sicily that absorbed Spanish and Dutch naval resources.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In the spring of 1674, the French invaded the Spanish province of Franche-Comté and over-ran the entire province in less than six weeks. French troops then reinforced Condé's army in the Spanish Netherlands, who were outnumbered by the main Allied field army. William invaded French Flanders, hoping to recapture the Spanish possession of Charleroi and take Oudenarde, but was halted by Condé at the Battle of Seneffe. While this was a French victory, the appalling casualties confirmed Louis' preference for positional warfare, ushering in a period where siege and manoeuvre dominated military tactics.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: One of the biggest obstacles to Allied success in Flanders was their diverging objectives; the Imperials wanted to prevent reinforcements reaching Turenne in the Rhineland while the Spanish aimed at recovering losses in the Spanish Netherlands. The Dutch were further split by internal disputes; the powerful Amsterdam mercantile body were anxious to end an expensive war once their commercial interests were secured, while William saw France as a long-term threat that had to be defeated. This conflict increased once ending the war became a distinct possibility with the recapture of Grave in October 1674, leaving only Maastricht.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: During the winter of 1673–1674, Turenne based his troops in Alsace and the Palatinate; despite England's withdrawal from the war in February, his army of less than 8,000 retained a number of English regiments, as Charles II encouraged members to continue serving in order to keep his French subsidies. Monmouth and Churchill were among those who did so, while others enrolled in the Dutch Scots Brigade, including John Graham, later Viscount Dundee.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The 1674 campaign began when Turenne crossed the Rhine in June with 7,000 men, hoping to attack Charles of Lorraine before he could combine with forces under Alexander von Bournonville. At Sinsheim, the French routed a separate Imperial army led by Aeneas de Caprara but the delay allowed Bournonville to link up with Charles at Heidelberg; after receiving reinforcements, Turenne began crossing the Neckar river, forcing the Imperial troops to retreat.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Bournonville marched south to the Imperial City of Strasbourg, giving him a base for an attack on Alsace but delayed while he awaited the arrival of 20,000 troops under Frederick William. To prevent this, Turenne made a night march that enabled him to surprise the Imperial army and fought them to a standstill at Entzheim on 4 October. As was then accepted practice, Bournonville halted operations until spring but in his Winter Campaign 1674/1675, Turenne inflicted a series of defeats culminating in Turckkeim on 5 January, which secured Alsace and prevented an Imperial invasion. This campaign is often considered to be Turenne's masterpiece.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Command of Imperial operations in the Rhineland passed to Montecuccoli, the only Allied general considered equal to Turenne. He crossed the Rhine at Philippsburg with 25,000 men, hoping to draw the French north, then double back, but Turenne was not fooled, and instead blocked the river near Strasbourg to prevent Montecuccoli being resupplied. By mid-July, both armies were running out of food and Turenne tried to bring the retreating Imperial army to battle. At Salzbach on 27 July, he was killed by a stray cannonball while reconnoitering the enemy's positions. Demoralised by his death, the French withdrew after some inconclusive skirmishing, and fell back to Alsace. They were pursued by Montecuccoli, who crossed the Rhine at Strasbourg and besieged Hagenau, while another Imperial army defeated Créquy at Konzer Brücke and recaptured Trier. Condé was despatched from Flanders to take command and forced Montecuccoli to withdraw across the Rhine; however, ill-health forced him to retire in December and he was replaced by Créquy.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Activity on this front was largely limited to skirmishing in Roussillon between a French army under Frederick von Schomberg and Spanish forces led by the Duque de San Germán. The Spanish won a minor victory at Maureillas in June 1674 and captured Fort Bellegarde, ceded to France in 1659 and retaken by Schomberg in 1675.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In Sicily, the French supported a successful revolt by the city of Messina against their Spanish overlords in 1674, obliging San Germán to transfer some of his troops. A French naval force under Jean-Baptiste de Valbelle managed to resupply the city in early 1675 and establish local naval supremacy.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In the 1660s and early 1670s, the Swedish Empire experienced a financial crisis. In hope of subsidies, Charles XI of Sweden had entered the anti-French Triple Alliance with the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of England, which broke apart when Charles II of England signed the Treaty of Dover with France in 1670. In April 1672, Sweden and France also concluded an alliance, with France promising subsidies in peace time, and more subsidies in war time, if Sweden maintained a 16,000 men strong army in her German dominions. In December 1674 Sweden invaded Brandenburg after France had threatened to halt their subsidies if the Swedish didn't use their army. In June however the a Swedish army under Carl Gustaf Wrangel was decisively defeated by the Brandenburgian army under Frederick William at Fehrbellin. The Swedish invasion had failed and in September Imperial and Danish forces attacked Swedish Bremen-Verden.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: On both sides, the last years of the war saw minimal return for their investment of men and money. French strategy in Flanders was largely based on Vauban's proposed line of fortresses known as the "Ceinture de fer" or iron belt (see Map). This aligned with Louis' preference for siege warfare, which was further reinforced by the death of Turenne and Condé's retirement; their passing removed two of the most talented and aggressive French generals of the 17th century and the only ones with sufficient stature to challenge him.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In Germany, Imperial forces captured Philippsburg in September 1676 but the French stabilised their front. Créquy's maneuvering countered Imperial offensives by Charles V of Lorraine whereas the French commander succeeded in capturing Freiburg in November 1677. Defeating the Imperials at Rheinfelden and Ortenbach in July 1678 ended their hopes of retaking the city. The French followed up by capturing Kehl and the bridge over the Rhine near Strasbourg, thus ensuring control of Alsace. The Spanish theatre remained largely static; French victory at Espolla in July 1677 left the strategic position unchanged but their losses worsened the crisis faced by the Spanish administration.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Dutch admiral De Ruyter was killed at Augusta in April 1676 and the French achieved naval supremacy in the Western Mediterranean when their galleys surprised the Dutch/Spanish fleet at anchor at Palermo in June. However, French intervention had been opportunistic; friction arose with the anti-Spanish rebels, the cost of operations was prohibitive and Messina was evacuated in early 1678.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In Northern Germany meanwhile the Swedish position crumbled. In 1675, most of Swedish Pomerania and the Duchy of Bremen had been taken by the Brandenburgers, Imperials, and Danes. In December 1677, the elector of Brandenburg captured Stettin. Stralsund fell on October 11, 1678. Greifswald, Sweden's last possession on the continent, was lost on November 5. Swedish seapower was annihilated after the battles of Battle of Öland and Battle of Køge Bay but the Danish invasion of Scania was less successfull. After the very bloody Battle of Lund and the Battle of Landskrona Danish forces were evacuated back to Denmark.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The peace talks that began at Nijmegen in 1676 were given a greater sense of urgency in November 1677 when William married his cousin Mary, Charles II of England's niece. An Anglo-Dutch defensive alliance followed in March 1678, although English troops did not arrive in significant numbers until late May. Louis seized this opportunity to improve his negotiating position and captured Ypres and Ghent in early March, before signing a peace treaty with the Dutch on 10 August.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The Battle of Saint-Denis was fought three days later on 13 August, when a combined Dutch-Spanish force attacked the French army under Luxembourg. The battle ensured Mons would remain in Spanish hands and on 19 August, Spain and France agreed an armistice, followed by a formal peace treaty on 17 September.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The Peace of Nijmegen confirmed most of the French gains. Louis XIV, having successfully fought a powerful coalition, came to be known as the 'Sun King' in the years that followed the conflict. Nevertheless, while favourable to France, and largely permanent, the peace terms were significantly worse than those that had been available in July 1672. France returned Charleroi, Ghent and other towns in the Spanish Netherlands, in return for Spain ceding Franche-Comté, Ypres, Maubeuge, Câteau-Cambrésis, Valenciennes, Saint-Omer and Cassel; with the exception of Ypres, all of these remain part of modern France.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Brandenburg managed to occupy Swedish Pomerania completely in September 1678, France's ally Sweden regained it by the 1679 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye but this did little to improve its perilous financial position. In addition, Frederick William's resentment at being forced to give up what he saw as his own territory turned Brandenburg-Prussia into an implacable opponent.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: The Dutch recovered from the near disaster of 1672 to prove they were a permanent and significant power in Northern Europe. Arguably, their most lasting gain was William's marriage to Mary and his arrival as one of the most powerful statesmen in Europe, with sufficient stature to hold together an anti-French coalition. It also showed that while significant sections of the English mercantile and political class were anti-Dutch on commercial grounds, there was no popular support for an alliance with France.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: In Spain, defeat led to the Queen Regent, Mariana of Austria, being replaced by her long-term rival, the pro-French John of Austria the Younger. She returned to power after his death in September 1679 but not before he arranged the marriage of Charles II of Spain to Louis' niece, 17-year-old Marie Louise of Orléans in November 1679.


title: Franco-Dutch War

text: Louis had the enormous advantages of a stellar corps of commanders, superior logistics and a unified strategy, in contrast to the differing objectives of his opponents; while this remained a factor, 1672–1678 showed the threat of French expansion over-ruled all other considerations and that France, though having emerged as Europe's greatest power, could not impose its will without support. His inability to recognise this and the 1683–1684 War of the Reunions led to the creation of the anti-French Grand Alliance in 1688, which held together through the 1688–1697 Nine Years War and the 1701–1714 War of the Spanish Succession.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is an American theoretical physicist and cosmologist who previously taught at Arizona State University, Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project, now called ASU Interplanetary Initiative, to investigate fundamental questions about the universe and served as the project's director.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss is an advocate for public understanding of science, public policy based on sound empirical data, scientific skepticism, and science education. An anti-theist, Krauss seeks to reduce the influence of what he regards as superstition and religious dogma in popular culture.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss is the author of several bestselling books, including "The Physics of Star Trek" (1995) and "A Universe from Nothing" (2012), and chaired the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" Board of Sponsors.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Upon investigating allegations about sexual misconduct by Krauss, ASU determined that Krauss had violated university policy and did not renew his Origins Project directorship for a third term in July 2018. Krauss continued as a Professor at ASU until retiring in May 2019. He currently serves as President of The Origins Project Foundation and as host of "The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss".


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss was born on May 27, 1954, in New York City, but spent his childhood in Toronto. He was raised in a household that was Jewish but not religious. Krauss received undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics with first-class honours at Carleton University in Ottawa in 1977, and was awarded a Ph.D. in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: After some time in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Krauss became an assistant professor at Yale University in 1985 and associate professor in 1988. He left Yale for Case Western Reserve University in 1993 when he was named the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, professor of astronomy, and chairman of the physics department until 2005. In 2006, Krauss led the initiative for the no-confidence vote against Case Western Reserve University's president Edward M. Hundert and provost John L. Anderson by the College of Arts and Sciences faculty. On March 2, 2006, both no-confidence votes were carried: 131–44 against Hundert and 97–68 against Anderson.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: In August 2008, Krauss joined the faculty at Arizona State University as a Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at the Department of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He also became the Director of the Origins Project, a university initiative "created to explore humankind's most fundamental questions about our origins". In 2009, he helped inaugurate this initiative at the Origins Symposium, in which eighty scientists participated and three thousand people attended.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Donors to the Origins Project included a foundation called "Enhanced Education", run by the financier and sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. In 2011, Krauss defended his association with Epstein, saying "As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I've never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people."


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss appears in the media both at home and abroad to facilitate public outreach in science. He has also written editorials for "The New York Times". As a result of his appearance in 2002 before the state school board of Ohio, his opposition to intelligent design has gained national prominence.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss attended and was a speaker at the symposia in November 2006 and October 2008. He served on the science policy committee for Barack Obama's first (2008) presidential campaign and, also in 2008, was named co-president of the board of sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 2010, he was elected to the board of directors of the Federation of American Scientists, and in June 2011, he joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private college in London. In 2013, he accepted a part-time professorship at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics in the physics department of the Australian National University.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss is a critic of string theory, which he discusses in his 2005 book "Hiding in the Mirror". In his 2012 book "A Universe from Nothing" Krauss says about string theory "we still have no idea if this remarkable theoretical edifice actually has anything to do with the real world". Released in March 2011, another book titled "", while "A Universe from Nothing"with an afterword by Richard Dawkinswas released in January 2012, and became a "New York Times" bestseller within a week. Originally, its foreword was to have been written by Christopher Hitchens, but Hitchens grew too ill to complete it. The paperback version of the book appeared in January 2013 with a new question-and-answer section and a preface integrating the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider. On March 21, 2017, his newest book, "The Greatest Story Ever Told—So Far: Why Are We Here?" was released in hardcover, paperback, and audio version.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: A July 2012 article in "Newsweek", written by Krauss, indicates how the Higgs particle is related to our understanding of the Big Bang. He also wrote a longer piece in "The New York Times" explaining the science behind and significance of the particle.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: In January 2019, Krauss became President of the Origins Project Foundation, a non-profit corporation intended to host public panel discussions on science, culture, and social issues. On June 21, 2019, a new video podcast, "The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss", launched with Krauss as host. The first episodes included dialogues with Ricky Gervais, Noam Chomsky, and Jenny Boylan.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss mostly works in theoretical physics and has published research on a variety of topics within that field. In 1995 he proposed that the energy-density of the universe was dominated by the energy of empty space. In 1998 this prediction was confirmed by two observational collaborations and in 2011 the Nobel Prize was awarded for their discovery. Krauss has formulated a model in which the Universe could have potentially come from "nothing", as outlined in his 2012 book "A Universe from Nothing". He explains that certain arrangements of relativistic quantum fields might explain the existence of the Universe as we know it while disclaiming that he "has no idea if the notion [of taking quantum mechanics for granted] can be usefully dispensed with". As his model appears to agree with experimental observations of the Universe (such as its shape and energy density), it is referred to by some as a "plausible hypothesis". His model has been criticized by cosmologist and theologian George Ellis, who said it "is not tested science" but "philosophical speculation".


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Initially, Krauss was skeptical of the existence of the Higgs boson. However, after it was detected by CERN, he has been researching the implications of the Higgs field on the nature of dark energy.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss has argued that public policy debates in the United States should have a greater focus on science. He criticized Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's statements on science, writing that Carson's remarks "suggest he never learned or chooses to ignore basic, well-tested scientific concepts".


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss has described himself as an antitheist and takes part in public debates on religion. Krauss is featured in the 2013 documentary "The Unbelievers", in which he and Richard Dawkins travel across the globe speaking publicly about the importance of science and reason as opposed to religion and superstition. He has participated in many debates with religious apologists, including William Lane Craig and John Lennox.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: In his book "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing" (2012), Krauss discusses the premise that something cannot come from nothing, which has often been used as an argument for the existence of a prime mover. He has since argued in a debate with John Ellis and Don Cupitt that the laws of physics allow for the Universe to be created from nothing. "What would be the characteristics of a universe that was created from nothing, just with the laws of physics and without any supernatural shenanigans? The characteristics of the universe would be precisely those of the ones we live in." In an interview with "The Atlantic", however, he states that he has never claimed that "questions about origins are over". According to Krauss, "I don't ever claim to resolve that infinite regress of why-why-why-why-why; as far as I'm concerned it's turtles all the way down".


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: With the publication of his newest book, "The Physics of Climate Change" (2021), Krauss is urging the use of science, and not politics, ideology, or emotion, to steer the public debate on how to address climate change.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: In an interview with Krauss in the "Scientific American", science writer Claudia Dreifus called Krauss "one of the few top physicists who is also known as a public intellectual." Krauss is one of very few to have received awards from all three major American physics societies: the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics. In 2012, he was awarded the National Science Board's Public Service Medal for his contributions to public education in science and engineering in the United States.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss helped to organize a 2006 conference on gravity, funded by Jeffrey Epstein. The conference was held on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss defended Epstein after his 2008 guilty plea of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18. In 2011, Krauss told an interviewer, "As a scientist I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I've never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people...I don't feel tarnished in any way by my relationship with Jeffrey; I feel raised by it."


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Harvard Professor Steven Pinker said that Krauss was one of several colleagues who invited him to "salons and coffee klatsches" that included Epstein.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: In a February 2018 article describing allegations that "range from offensive comments to groping and non-consensual sexual advances", BuzzFeed reported a variety of sexual misconduct claims against Krauss, including two complaints from his years at Case Western Reserve University. Krauss responded that the article was "slanderous" and "factually incorrect". In a public statement, he apologized to anyone he made feel intimidated or uncomfortable, but stated that the BuzzFeed article "ignored counter-evidence, distorted the facts and made absurd claims about [him]."


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: ASU stated that they had not received complaints from faculty, staff, or students before the BuzzFeed article but subsequently began an internal investigation regarding an accusation that Krauss grabbed a woman's breast while at a convention in Australia. Investigators interviewed two eyewitnesses, and two other witnesses who immediately spoke with the unnamed woman. The witnesses described the woman as troubled and shocked. The woman told investigators that "she did not feel victimized, felt it was a clumsy interpersonal interaction and thought she had handled it in the moment." ASU found that the preponderance of evidence suggested that Krauss had violated the university's policy against sexual harassment by grabbing a woman's breast without her permission. As a result, Krauss was not renewed as Director of the Origins Project and the University moved its staff to a project run by planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton, formally ending the Origins project.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: In response to the University determination, Krauss produced a 51-page appeal document responding to the allegations, including a counter-claim that a photo claimed to be of Krauss grabbing a woman's breast was actually showing his hand moving away from the woman.


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Several organizations also canceled scheduled talks by Krauss. Krauss resigned from the position of chair of the "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" Board of Sponsors when informed that its other members felt his presence was distracting "from the ability of the Bulletin to effectively carry out [its] work".


title: Lawrence Krauss

text: Krauss has authored or co-authored more than three hundred scientific studies and review articles on cosmology and theoretical physics.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros ( ) are an English band formed in 1986 in Camberley, Surrey. The band originally consisted of twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss, and their friend Craig Logan, who attended Collingwood School in Camberley. The band was managed by former Pet Shop Boys manager Tom Watkins. They achieved chart success and a large teenage fanbase in 1988 with songs such as "When Will I Be Famous" and "I Owe You Nothing". Early the following year, Logan quit the band and the Goss twins continued as a duo. After two more albums the band split up in 1992.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros are estimated to have sold 16 million records worldwide. In 2017, the Goss twins reunited to perform two dates as Bros at the O Arena in London.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Luke Goss and Matt Goss (born 29 September 1968 in Lewisham, London) had settled in Camberley, Surrey, after their parents had split up and their mother had found a new boyfriend, who bought Luke an electronic drum kit and Matt a saxophone, noticing their interest in music. The twins attended Collingwood College, where they became part of a band called Blue. At school they met Craig Logan (born 22 April 1969 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland) who was playing bass guitar in another school band, Stillbrook. Logan recalled that the Goss brothers came to his house one evening to say they had split from their band, and asked Logan to join them in a new group. Logan agreed, and the trio went through a variety of names for the group before settling on Gloss.


title: Bros (British band)

text: The group were noticed by Bob Herbert, who had ambitions to break into the music business as a manager – Herbert's son Chris was a classmate of the trio at Collingwood. Herbert allowed the group to practise in his summer house and paid for them to record demos, but he was unable to sign them to a contract as they were under 18 years old.


title: Bros (British band)

text: During this period Gloss had met Nicky Graham, a songwriter and producer. Graham was working and writing songs with music manager Tom Watkins, and he suggested that Watkins meet the group. Although he was unimpressed with either their look or their music, Watkins realised that he could shape the group into a boy band for the teen girl market, with Graham and Watkins writing the songs for them. Gloss split from Herbert, and signed a contract with Watkins and his management company as soon as they turned 18. Watkins renamed the band Bros, and he and Graham wrote the group's songs under the pseudonym of "The Brothers", in order to create the impression that the Goss brothers had written the songs themselves.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros's debut single, "I Owe You Nothing", was released in August 1987, but it only peaked at number 80 in the UK Singles Chart. However, their breakthrough came with the release of their second single, "When Will I Be Famous?", in November 1987. The song reached number two in the UK, and number one in Ireland. The song also reached the top ten in 10 other countries across Europe and Australia, and peaked at number 10 in the US "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros followed up the success of "When Will I Be Famous?" with their third single, "Drop the Boy". Like its predecessor, it also peaked at number two in the UK and was certfified Silver by the BPI. and at number one in Ireland. as well as reaching the top ten in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and West Germany.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros released their debut album "Push" on 28 March 1988. "Push" entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. Although it never reached number one, the album was eventually certified quadruple platinum in the UK, as well as double platinum in Australia, platinum in New Zealand, and gold in France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland. A deluxe 3-CD edition of "Push" was reissued in 2013 by Cherry Pop records for its 25th anniversary, featuring bonus tracks.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros reissued a remixed version of "I Owe You Nothing" as a single in June 1988, which became their only number one single in the UK. The song peaked at number two in Ireland and in the top ten in eight other countries across the world, as well as giving them their second top ten hit on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart. Two further singles were released from "Push", "I Quit" in September 1988, which entered the UK charts at number four, and "Cat Among the Pigeons", which was released in November 1988 as a double A-side with a version of the Christmas carol "Silent Night" and entered the UK charts at number two.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros then announced their first UK tour, known as Bros Push Live. Within an hour of the tickets going on sale Bros had sold out 14 shows. Due to the demand, extra dates were added.


title: Bros (British band)

text: The group's popularity was named "Brosmania" by the music press, and their following of teenage girls were known as "Brosettes". In September 1988 the Metropolitan Police had to close off part of Oxford Street in central London when an overwhelming number of fans turned up to a record signing by the band at the flagship store of record shop HMV. Bros had over six million fans worldwide join the band's fan club, known as the Bros Front. With such demand for merchandise and fans wanting to talk to their idols, a phone line was set up, with 70,000 fans using the service within the first month.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Logan left the band in early 1989, due to several bouts of illness, including ME, and the fact he could no longer walk and was being assisted on and off stage due to the recurring bouts of illness. Logan was admitted to hospital for six weeks, once released from hospital he spent a further six months of rehabilitation to learn to walk again. Logan decided that the pressure of stardom was no longer for him and told Matt and Luke he was thinking of leaving the band. He appeared with the brothers at the 1988 Smash Hits Poll Winners Party; this would be his final appearance as a member of Bros. Logan appeared on the BBC1 television programme "Wogan" discussing why he had left the band. During the interview Logan talked about the legal action he took against the management of Bros over unpaid royalties, but confirmed he left the band due to illness.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros continued as a duo, with Matt Goss and Luke Goss continuing with the sold-out world tour titled 'The Global Push', where the band played to fans in Australia, Japan, mainland Europe and the UK.


title: Bros (British band)

text: After a short break recovering from their Global Push Tour, Bros went back to the recording studio and released their second album, "The Time". The album was released on 16 October 1989 and reached number 4 in the UK Albums Chart. Bros released several tracks from the album as singles, including "Too Much", "Chocolate Box", "Madly in Love", and "Sister".


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros did a one-off concert, "Bros in 2 Summer", which was seen by over 77,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in August 1989. The support acts for the show were Salt 'n' Pepa and Debbie Gibson.


title: Bros (British band)

text: In 1991 Bros released their third and final album, "Changing Faces", before the band split up in 1992. They released two tracks from the album: "Are You Mine?", reaching number 12 in the UK and "Try", which got to number 27. The album was not highly publicised and entered the chart at number 18.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros achieved eleven top 40 singles and three top 20 albums in the United Kingdom. Worldwide, the group is estimated to have sold 16 million records. The band never had commercial success in the US, where they remain relatively unknown.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Matt Goss began a solo career during the 1990s, enjoying chart success with singles "The Key" and "If You Were Here Tonight", and had his own Vegas Residency at The Palms, Caesars Palace and The Mirage.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Luke Goss moved to the US and became a film actor, appearing in blockbuster hits such as "Blade II" and "". He starred in the UK film "Interview with a Hitman" in 2012 and released his directorial debut Your Move in 2018.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Craig Logan became a songwriter and later an artist manager following his departure from the band in 1989. At the time he was going out with singer Kim Appleby and co-wrote many of her solo songs. From 2006 to 2010 he was the head of RCA Records in the UK, before launching his own management company.


title: Bros (British band)

text: On 1 July 2008, singer Matt Goss told BBC News that he had spoken to the other members of the band and in principle they had agreed to reform, feeling that he and his bandmates "are finally at a place" where they could reunite. However, his brother Luke denied any plans of taking part in a reunion. On 14 September 2010, Matt Goss stated that the band would not be reforming in the near future, saying that the moment had passed.


title: Bros (British band)

text: On 5 October 2016, it was announced that a 30th anniversary Bros concert would take place at the O2 Arena on 19 August 2017, featuring Matt and Luke Goss. Craig Logan wished the Goss brothers success with the concerts, but confirmed he was not interested in taking part in the reunion. A UK tour was announced, with a second date at the O2 Arena and shows in Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and Newcastle upon Tyne, but all the dates except the two shows in London and the show in Manchester were later cancelled, with the band blaming "unforeseen logistical circumstances". The first concert at the O2 Arena took place 28 years to the day since the band's original farewell concert at Wembley Stadium. A documentary film of the brothers' reunion and the rehearsals and lead-up to the first concert at the O2 Arena, titled "", was produced. It was shown on 18 October 2018 as part of the 2018 BFI London Film Festival and given a limited cinema release on 9 November 2018, with a DVD and digital release on 12 November. The film debuted at number one on the UK's Official Music Video Chart. It received its television debut on BBC Four on 23 December and became one of that year's Christmas television highlights due to its subsequent popularity on BBC iPlayer.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Following the documentary's success, the duo announced that they would play a concert at London's O Brixton Academy on 5 July 2019, followed by further UK tour dates.


title: Bros (British band)

text: In an interview published in March 2019 with "Balance" magazine, Bros announced plans to re-record their debut album "Push" in a more contemporary style, and to release an album of new material in the future.


title: Bros (British band)

text: On the week ending 9 April 2020, "Bros: Gold" entered the UK Official Physical Albums Chart at No.8 based on sales of CDs, vinyl and other formats.


title: Bros (British band)

text: Bros's first video album, "Push Live Tour", was released mid-1988 on VHS, and LaserDisc in Japan; it was recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo. Their second video release, "Push Over", was a collection of music videos for singles taken from their "Push" album. These music videos, together with others recorded later by the duo, were also published on their third video album "The Big Picture" in 2004.


title: Mononoke (TV series)

text: "Mononoke" follows a wandering, nameless character known only as the "Medicine Seller" (voiced by Takahiro Sakurai). The series is made up of individual chapters in which the medicine seller encounters, combats and subsequently destroys "mononoke". The "mononoke" are a type of "ayakashi", unnatural spirits that linger in the human world by binding themselves to negative human emotions. The Medicine Seller always proceeds in the same manner, using his knowledge of the supernatural to fend off the "mononoke" until he can learn the spirit's shape ("Katachi"), truth ("Makoto") and reasoning ("Kotowari"). Only then can he unsheathe his sword and exorcise the demon. The English subtitles translate these three necessities as Form, Truth, and Reason.


title: Mononoke (TV series)

text: While spending the night in a traditional inn, the Medicine Seller stumbles upon a strange phenomenon. A pregnant woman named Shino who is desperately seeking shelter at the inn is led to the last vacant room. The room, though, is haunted by a group of Zashiki Warashi. When the Zashiki Warashi kill an assassin aiming for Shino's life, protecting Shino and her unborn child, the Medicine Seller inquires into the origin of the mononoke.


title: Mononoke (TV series)

text: The innkeeper reveals that the inn used to be a brothel, which she owned and ran. The innkeeper forced her prostitutes to abort their children to continue working, and Shino's room is the room in which the abortions took place. The Medicine Seller realizes that the mononoke are attracted to Shino because of their strong desire to be birthed. The Zashiki Warashi want Shino to give birth to them, and she agrees, much to the Medicine Seller's dismay. She pulls the talisman warding off the mononoke from her stomach. As it turns out one of the Zashiki Warashi that she had met upon her arrival was in fact her own child. However, the overload of all the spirits causes Shino's in-the-womb child to start bleeding. At this point, realizing their wish would cause only harm to the only person that showed them kindness, the Zashiki Warashi smiles and allows the Medicine Seller to destroy them with the sword.


title: Mononoke (TV series)

text: Traveling on a merchant's luxurious ship, the Medicine Seller and the other passengers drift into the Dragon's Triangle, a mysterious sea full of ayakashi. Among the passengers are Kayo, a servant girl from the Sakai house of Bakeneko fame, Genkei, a Buddhist monk, and Genyousai, a minstrel and spiritualist. Through the appearance of Umizatou, an ayakashi who demands that the passengers reveal their worst fears, the group discovers that Genkei was the one who set the ship off course.


title: Mononoke (TV series)

text: Genkei explains that he and his sister Oyō, who was five years his junior, grew up very close ("too close" he states) because they were left alone on their tiny island home when their parents perished at sea. This lust for his sister drove him to become a Buddhist ascetic at the age of 15, leaving Oyō behind.


title: Mononoke (TV series)

text: Although he faithfully immersed himself in study and the solitary monk's life, he still could not extinguish his lust for his sister. When he learned that their home island's ships were sinking and being destroyed at sea, he accepts his village's request for him to return to become a human sacrifice to the sea by being imprisoned alive in a "hollow boat" set adrift. He explained that he would rather be dead than live with his unquenchable thirst to "lie with" Oyō. However, on the night before he was to climb into the boat at sunrise, he met with Oyō, who was now 16 and "so pretty." She then confessed to him that she had the same feelings for him all along and that since they could never marry she would rather become the sacrifice in his stead, preferring, as she stated, "to go to the pure land" rather than marry a man who was not her brother. Upon hearing this, the young recently promoted monk fled vowing to commit suicide to join Oyō in the afterlife. He could not do this and, instead, spent 50 years in deep meditation praying for the soul of his poor sister Oyō, her corpse supposedly adrift in the hollow boat in the Ayakashi Sea. However, deep down he actually was glad that his sister died instead of him, and that guilt followed him. It was his intense focus—metaphorically and specifically, his right eye—on that area of the sea and magnified by his guilt over not truly loving his sister that had caused the Dragon's Triangle or Ayakashi (spirits, generally malevolent) Sea to be so deadly.


title: Mononoke (TV series)

text: Tragically, the ayakashi showed the hollow boat to the current passengers by dragging it up from the bottom of the sea onto the deck of their ship. Although they thought they heard scratching from the inside, they discovered that it had lain empty for 50 years, and that Oyō had in reality "given herself to the sea," as she too could no longer live with her own lust for her brother. The Medicine Seller discovers that Genkei is the mononoke, or at least his darker side has become one, and that this particular mononoke (literally translated as "enraged god who is sick" that form when human feelings of vengeance, rage, guilt etc. meld with ayakashi) was responsible for the Ayakashi Sea's unrest. The Medicine Seller exterminates the mononoke at Genkei's request and restores calm to him. After 50 years of guilt and lust, he is now at peace, although his beloved Oyō died for naught.