title: Estoppel

text: Estoppel is sometimes said to be a rule of evidence whereby a person is barred from leading evidence of a fact that has already been settled or they are otherwise precluded from asserting, but that may be an oversimplification. Firstly, although some estoppels relate to preventing a party from asserting "facts", others relate to preventing a party from asserting a "right" or a "claim". Secondly, under the conflict of laws in common law jurisdictions, matters of evidence are usually treated as procedural matters for the law of the local court (the ), whereas it is generally accepted that an estoppel may affect substantive rights and are therefore matters to be determined by the proper law (or ) that governs the particular issue.


title: Estoppel

text: There are many different types of estoppel that can arise under common law legal systems. It has been judicially noted on more than one occasion that the link between them is often somewhat tenuous. "Treitel on Contracts" notes that "unconscionability ... provides the link between them", but they nevertheless have "separate requirements and different terrains of application". The courts have long abandoned an attempt to create a single general underlying rationale or principle:


title: Estoppel

text: The plea of estoppel is often closely connected with the plea of waiver, the object of both being to ensure bona fides in day-to-day transactions. It is also related to the doctrines of variation and election. It is applied in many areas of contract law, including insurance, banking, and employment. In English law, the concept of legitimate expectation in the realm of administrative law and judicial review is estoppel's counterpart in public law.


title: Estoppel

text: Promissory estoppel is often applied where there is a promise or an agreement made without consideration. When used as a defense by a defendant it is sometimes called a "shield", and when used affirmatively by a plaintiff it is sometimes called a "sword". It is most commonly used as a shield, with some commentators stating that it can only be used as a shield, although this varies with jurisdictions.


title: Estoppel

text: Both "Halsbury's" and Spencer Bower (see below) describe these three estoppels collectively as estoppels by representation. More simply, one party must say or do something and see the other party rely on what is said or done to change behavior.


title: Estoppel

text: All reliance-based estoppels require the victimised party to show both "inducement" and "detrimental reliance", i.e.:


title: Estoppel

text: Estoppel by representation of fact and promissory estoppel are mutually exclusive: the former is based on a representation of existing fact (or of mixed fact and law), while the latter is based on a promise not to enforce some pre-existing right (i.e. it expresses an intention as to the future). A promissory estoppel operates only between parties who, at the time of the representation, were in an existing relationship, while this is not a requirement for estoppel by representation of fact.


title: Estoppel

text: The test for unconscionability in the English and Australian courts takes many factors into account, including the behavior, state of mind and circumstances of the parties. Generally, the following eight factors are determinative:


title: Estoppel

text: In English law, estoppel by representation of fact is a term coined by Spencer Bower. This species of estoppel is also referred to as "common law estoppel by representation" in "Halsbury's Laws of England", vol 16(2), 2003 reissue.


title: Estoppel

text: A representation can be made by words or conduct. Although the representation must be clear and unambiguous, a representation can be inferred from silence where there is a duty to speak or from negligence where a duty of care has arisen. Under English law, estoppel by representation of fact usually acts as a defence, though it may act in support of a cause of action or counterclaim.


title: Estoppel

text: Under English and Australian legal systems, "estoppels in equity" include promissory and proprietary estoppels, described below. (Contrast with estoppel by representation, which is a claim (under the English system) at law.)


title: Estoppel

text: In English law, "proprietary estoppel" is distinct from promissory estoppel. Proprietary estoppel is not a concept in American law, but a similar result is often reached under the general doctrine of promissory estoppel.


title: Estoppel

text: Traditionally, proprietary estoppel arose in relation to rights to use the land of the owner, and possibly in connection with disputed transfers of ownership. Although proprietary estoppel was only traditionally available in disputes affecting title to real property, it has now gained limited acceptance in other areas of law. Proprietary estoppel is closely related to the doctrine of constructive trust.


title: Estoppel

text: Example: A father promised a house to his son who took possession and spent a large sum of money improving the property, but the father never actually transferred the house to the son. Upon the father's death, the son claimed to be the equitable owner. The court found the testamentary trustees (as representatives of the deceased father's estate) were "estopped" from denying the son's proprietary interest, and ordered them to convey the land to the son.


title: Estoppel

text: The doctrine of "promissory estoppel" prevents one party from withdrawing a promise made to a second party if the latter has reasonably relied on that promise.


title: Estoppel

text: A promise made without consideration is generally not enforceable. It is known as a bare or gratuitous promise. Thus, if a car salesman promises a potential buyer not to sell a certain car over the weekend, but does so, the promise cannot be enforced. But should the car salesman accept from the potential buyer even one penny in consideration for the promise, the promise will be enforceable in court by the potential buyer. Estoppel extends the court's purview even to cases where there is no consideration, though it is generally not a 'sword': not a basis on which to initiate a lawsuit.


title: Estoppel

text: In English jurisprudence, the doctrine of "promissory estoppel" was first developed in "Hughes v. Metropolitan Railway Co" [1877] but was lost for some time until it was resurrected by Denning J in the controversial case of "Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd".


title: Estoppel

text: In general, estoppel is "a shield not a sword"—it cannot be used as the basis of an action on its own. It also does not extinguish rights. In "High Trees" the plaintiff company was able to restore payment of full rent from early 1945, and could have restored the full rent at any time after the initial promise was made provided a suitable period of notice had been given. In this case, the estoppel was applied to a "negative promise", that is, one where a party promises not to enforce full rights.


title: Estoppel

text: Estoppel is an equitable (as opposed to common law) construct and its application is therefore discretionary. In the case of "D & C Builders v Rees" the courts refused to recognise a promise to accept a part payment of £300 on a debt of £482 on the basis that it was extracted by duress. In "Combe v Combe" Denning elaborated on the equitable nature of estoppel by refusing to allow its use as a "sword" by an ex-wife to extract funds from the destitute husband.


title: Estoppel

text: The general rule is that when one party agrees to accept a lesser sum in full payment of a debt, the debtor has given no consideration, and so the creditor is still entitled to claim the debt in its entirety. This is not the case if the debtor offers payment at an earlier date than was previously agreed, because the benefit to the creditor of receiving payment early can be thought of as consideration for the promise to waive the rest of the debt. This is the rule formulated in "Pinnel's Case", and affirmed in "Foakes v Beer".


title: Estoppel

text: The decision of the Court of Appeal in "Collier v P & MJ Wright (Holdings) Ltd" suggests that the doctrine of promissory estoppel can now operate to mitigate the harshness of this common law rule. Moreover, Arden LJ held that allowing a creditor to renege on his promise to forebear seeking the balance of a debt in return for part payment would be, in and of itself, inequitable. Therefore, the only reliance that the promisee must demonstrate is the actual making of the part payment. This approach has been criticised as doing violence to the principle set down in Hughes and the extent to which the other members of the Court, namely Longmore LJ, agreed with it is uncertain.


title: Estoppel

text: Equitable estoppel is the American counterpart to estoppel by representation. Its elements are summarized as:


title: Estoppel

text: For example, in "Aspex Eyewear v. Clariti Eyewear", eyeglass frame maker Aspex sued competitor Clariti for patent infringement. Aspex waited three years, without responding to a request that it list the infringed patent claims, before asserting its patent in litigation. During this period, Clariti expanded its marketing and sales of the products. The Federal Circuit found that Aspex misled Clariti to believe it would not enforce its patent, and thus estopped Aspex from proceeding with the suit.


title: Estoppel

text: Another example of equitable estoppel is the case of Sakharam Ganesh Pandit, an Indian emigrant and lawyer who was granted American citizenship in 1914 due to his designation as "white". Subsequently, Pandit bought property, was admitted to the California bar, married a white woman, and renounced his rights to property and inheritance in British India. Following the Supreme Court case "United States v. Thind", which found that Indians were considered non-white, and in which Pandit represented the applicant, Bhagat Singh Thind, the US government moved to strip Pandit of his "illegally procured" citizenship. Pandit successfully challenged the denaturalization, arguing that under equitable estoppel, he would be unjustly harmed by losing his citizenship, as it would cause him to become stateless, lose his profession as a lawyer, and make his marriage illegal. In "U.S. v. Pandit", the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld Pandit's citizenship, ending denaturalization processes against him and other Indian-Americans.


title: Estoppel

text: In many jurisdictions of the United States, "promissory estoppel" is an alternative to consideration as a basis for enforcing a promise. It is also sometimes called "detrimental reliance."


title: Estoppel

text: The American Law Institute in 1932 included the principle of estoppel into § 90 of the Restatement of Contracts, stating:


title: Estoppel

text: Suppose that B goes to a store and sees a sign that the price of a radio is $10. B tells the shopkeeper that he will get the money and come back later that day to purchase it; there is no discussion of price. The shopkeeper says that when B returns, he will welcome B as a customer—unless he sells all three of his radios first. Hearing this, B goes and sells his watch for $10 (it was really worth $15, but since B wanted the money right away, he chose not to wait for the best price). When B returns, the sign says $11, and the owner tells B that he has raised the price. In equity, can you argue that the shopkeeper is estopped by conduct? B relied upon the implied representation that a radio would be sold for $10 when he returned with the money; B has sold his watch at a discount, to his detriment. (This element would be absent if B sold the watch at the market price.) But the shopkeeper did not guarantee to hold one of the radios against the possibility of B's return nor did they agree a fixed price.


title: Estoppel

text: In some common-law jurisdictions, a promise by the shopkeeper to hold a specific radio would create a binding contract, even if B had to go for the money. A "promise" to pay the owner in the future is good consideration if it is made in exchange for a promise to sell a specific radio (one from three is probably sufficiently specific): one promise in exchange for a second promise creates equal value. So the shopkeeper's actual words and knowledge are critical to deciding whether either a contract or an estoppel arises.


title: Estoppel

text: The drafters of the Second Restatement debated how to calculate the amount of damages flowing from a promissory estoppel, using the following example: A young man's uncle promises to give him $1,000 to buy a car. The young man buys a car for $500, but the uncle refuses to pay any money. Is the young man entitled to $1,000 (the amount promised), or merely $500 (the amount he actually lost)? The Restatement states that "The remedy granted for breach may be limited as justice requires"—leaving quantification to the discretion of the court.


title: Estoppel

text: "Estoppel in pais" (literally "by act of notoriety", or "solemn formal act") is the historical root of common law estoppel by representation and equitable estoppel. The terms "Estoppel in pais" and equitable estoppel are used interchangeably in American law.


title: Estoppel

text: "Estoppel by convention" in English law (also known as "estoppel by agreement") occurs where two parties negotiate or operate a contract but make a mistake. If they share an assumption, belief, or understanding of the contract's interpretation or legal effect, then they are bound by it, if:


title: Estoppel

text: Estoppel by convention is most commonly invoked if one party wishes to rely on pre-contract negotiation as an aid to construction of the contract.


title: Estoppel

text: It is debatable whether "estoppel by convention" is a separate estoppel doctrine, or merely a case of "reliance-based estoppel" ("estoppel by representation" would be its most frequent form), or of the rule of interpretation that, where words in a contract are ambiguous, one always interprets those words so as to give effect to the actual intentions of the parties even if that would not be the usual legal outcome (see "Amalgamated Investment and Property Co Ltd v Texas Commerce International Bank Ltd" [1982] QB 84).


title: Estoppel

text: "Estoppel by acquiescence" may arise when one person gives a legal warning to another based on some clearly asserted facts or legal principle, and the other does not respond within "a reasonable period of time". By "acquiescing", the other person is generally considered to have lost the legal right to assert the contrary.


title: Estoppel

text: As an example, suppose that Jill has been storing her car on Jack's land with no contract between them. Jack sends a registered letter to Jill's legal address, stating: "I am no longer willing to allow your car to stay here for free. Please come get your car, or make arrangements to pay me rent for storing it. If you do not do so, within 30 days, I will consider the car abandoned and will claim ownership of it. If you need more time to make arrangements, please contact me within 30 days, and we can work something out." If Jill does not respond, she may be said to have "relinquished" her ownership of the car, and "estoppel by acquiescence" may prevent any court from invalidating Jack's actions of registering the car in his name and using it as his own.


title: Estoppel

text: "Estoppel by deed" is a rule of evidence arising from the status of a contract signed under seal—such agreements, called deeds, are more strictly enforced than ordinary contracts and the parties are expected to take greater care to verify the contents before signing them. Hence, once signed, all statements of fact (usually found in the opening recital which sets out the reason(s) for making the deed) are conclusive evidence against the parties who are estopped from asserting otherwise.


title: Estoppel

text: "[O]ne who by his speech or conduct has induced another to act in a particular manner ought not be permitted to adopt an inconsistent position, attitude or course of conduct may not be adopted to loss or injury of another". For example, as between two or more claimants, a party that takes multiple and inconsistent legal positions is estopped to assert its positions against another consistent and certain claim, i.e. preferential treatment for certain over uncertain claims.


title: Estoppel

text: Issue estoppel (more commonly known as issue preclusion) prevents, in some cases, an issue that has already been litigated and decided on the merits from being re-litigated, even when the parties are different. In the world of crime, some cases have achieved notoriety, e.g. in the Birmingham Six saga, the House of Lords ruled in "Hunter v Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police (1982)" that "issue estoppel" applied. Lord Diplock said:


title: Estoppel

text: A variant of issue estoppel also precludes a party from bringing a claim in subsequent proceedings which ought properly to have been brought as part of earlier legal proceedings.


title: Estoppel

text: The doctrine of promissory estoppel was adopted into Australian law in "Legione v Hateley". However, the plaintiffs were unsuccessful in that case because the reliance was unreasonable and the promise not unequivocal.


title: Estoppel

text: Australian law has now gone beyond the position espoused in the English "High Trees" case, to cases where there is no pre-existing legal relationship between the two parties, and promissory estoppel can be wielded as a "sword", not just as a "shield". Mason CJ and Wilson J in "Waltons Stores (Interstate) Ltd v Maher" held that if estoppel is proven, it gives rise to an equity in favour of the plaintiff, and the court will do the minimum equity that is just in the circumstances. From this case, it is also possible for the promise to come from silence or inaction.


title: Estoppel

text: Although there is some debate as to whether "unconscionability" is an element that English courts need to take into account when considering estoppel by representation of fact, the Australian courts clearly do. This element is satisfied if one party encourages the other party to create assumptions that lead to reliance.


title: Estoppel

text: Today, the principle of estoppel may give birth to an enforceable obligation even without a consideration under the following conditions:


title: Estoppel

text: When enforcing an estoppel, Australian courts will look to the impact that enforcement will have on others, especially third parties. Relief in estoppel thus remains discretionary, and will not always be granted based on the expectation of the plaintiff.


title: Estoppel

text: The status of estoppel by representation of fact is less clear in Australia. Two seminal decisions purport to fuse common law and equitable estoppels into a single unified doctrine, but the New South Wales Court of Appeal continues to treat estoppel by representation at common law as distinct from equitable estoppel. This can be significant in deciding which court has jurisdiction to adjudicate on the issue.


title: Estoppel

text: Whilst there also exists a doctrine of proprietary estoppel, the High Court of Australia merged this doctrine with the doctrine of promissory estoppel by virtue of their similar criteria.


title: Estoppel

text: Nonetheless, authority for the doctrine of proprietary estoppel indicates that if a landlord allows a licensee to expend money on the land under an expectation created or encouraged by the landlord that he/she will be able to remain there, and the licensee suffers a detriment in relying on that expectation, an equity arises in the licensee such as to entitle him/her to stay. Where a proprietary estoppel is found to exist, the court does not have to grant the plaintiff a proprietary interest in the land subject to the dispute. It may instead make an order that the plaintiff receive equitable compensation.


title: Estoppel

text: Section 115 of the Indian Evidence Act defines estoppel: "When one person has, by his declaration, act or omission, intentionally caused or permitted another person to believe a thing to be true and to act upon such belief, neither he nor his representative shall be allowed, in any suit or proceeding between himself and such person or his representative, to deny the truth of that thing."


title: Estoppel

text: So, for instance, if A intentionally and falsely leads B to believe that certain land belongs to A, and thereby induces B to buy and pay for it, and only later does A acquire the land, then A is not allowed to argue to void the sale on the ground that, at the time of the sale, he had no title.


title: Estoppel

text: The doctrine of estoppel is based on the principle that consistency in word and action imparts certainty and honesty to human affairs. If a person makes a representation to another, on the faith of which the latter acts, to his prejudice, the former cannot recant the representation.


title: Estoppel

text: However, estoppel has no application to representations made regarding the fundamental rights conferred by the Constitution of India, the source of all laws, which exists not only to benefit individuals but to secure collective rights. Thus, no one can barter away the freedoms conferred upon him by the Constitution. A concession made by him in a proceeding, whether under a mistake of law or otherwise, that he does not possess or will not enforce any particular fundamental right, cannot estop him, as enforcing estoppel would defeat the purpose of the Constitution.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: r/wallstreetbets, also known as WallStreetBets or WSB, is a subreddit where participants discuss stock and option trading. It has become notable for its colorful and profane jargon, aggressive trading strategies, and for playing a major role in the GameStop short squeeze that caused losses for some US firms and short sellers in a few days in early 2021.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: The subreddit, describing itself through the tagline "Like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal", is known for its aggressive trading strategies, which primarily revolve around highly speculative, leveraged options trading. Members of the subreddit are often young retail traders and investors who ignore fundamental investment practices and risk management techniques, so their activities are often considered gambling. The growing popularity of no-commission brokers and mobile online trading has potentially contributed to the growth of such trading trends. Members of the communities often see high-risk day trading as an opportunity to quickly improve their financial conditions and obtain additional income. Some of the members tend to use borrowed capital, like student loans, to bet on certain "" that show popularity within the community.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: The subreddit is also known for its profane and juvenile nature, with members often referring to themselves as "autists", "retards", "degenerates", and "apes". Users also frequently use slang such as "stonks" for stocks; "tendies" for gains or profits; "gay bears" for those who expect a stock to decline, for stock shorters, or as a general insult; "DD" (from "due diligence") for analysis of potential trades; "bagholder" for one whose position has severely dropped in value; "diamond hands" for holding stocks adamantly; and "paper hands" for selling at the first sign of loss.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: On January 22, 2021, users of r/wallstreetbets initiated a short squeeze on GameStop, pushing their stock prices up significantly. This occurred shortly after a comment from Citron Research predicting the value of the stock would decrease. The stock price increased more than 600 percent by January 26, and its high volatility caused trading to be halted multiple times. A series of posts by user u/DeepFuckingValue on the subreddit helped to generate interest in the stock. After the GameStop stock closed up 92.7 percent on Tuesday, January 26, business magnate Elon Musk tweeted out a link to the r/wallstreetbets subreddit.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: On January 27, r/wallstreetbets users also triggered a short squeeze on AMC, another company with heavily shorted stock, similar to GameStop.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: On January 27, the official r/wallstreetbets Discord server was banned for "hateful and discriminatory content". Discord denied that the ban was related to the ongoing GameStop short squeeze. In an official statement posted to the r/wallstreetbets subreddit, moderators claimed that their efforts to automatically delete content that violated rules had been overwhelmed by the sheer influx of users, and criticized Discord for not providing the tools needed to take action to curtail hate speech on the server. Subsequently, the r/wallstreetbets Discord server has been brought back online, and staff from Discord have been reported assisting with moderation.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: The subreddit was set to private by the moderators at around 7:00 p.m. EST on January 27, before being made public again around an hour later. Within one week of the GameStop short squeeze, the subreddit had gained over 2.4 million new subscribers, while it had taken nine years to gain the first 2 million subscribers. As of October 4, 2022, the subreddit had 12.7 million followers.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: A few days following the short squeeze, some subreddit users started to pay for billboards depicting messages supporting r/wallstreetbets across the country, which included messages such as "buying" and "holding" GME shares, other messages consisted of "we like the stock" and joining the subreddit, labelling it as a "movement". Reddit also ran a five-second commercial during Super Bowl LV celebrating the subreddit, stating that "underdogs can accomplish just about anything when we come together around a common area."


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: , many members of the subreddit used the mobile app Robinhood to trade stocks and options. Some members have been responsible for significant feature removals and bug fixes after identifying and publishing ways to exploit them.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: Around January 2019, a user known as u/1R0NYMAN sold a box spread creating a $300,000 credit that should have netted him from $40,000–50,000 over the course of two years. He described the trade as a way to make "risk-free money", but he was unaware of the assignment risk. A few days later, some of the options were exercised against him, causing a loss of over $60,000; calculating from the original amount in the user account, $5,000, the negative return of the trade was 1,832.99 percent. As a result, Robinhood decided soon after that it would no longer allow the trading of box spreads. The user withdrew $10,000 from the account before the positions were closed; it is believed by the news website MarketWatch that the brokerage itself took the majority of the loss.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: Around November 2019, a user known as u/ControlTheNarrative found a bug in Robinhood's trading platform and exploited it to leverage his original deposit of $2,000 up to roughly $50,000, resulting in a leverage ratio of approximately 25:1. He sold covered calls and, thanks to the bug, the credit that he received appeared as liquid money on his account. He used the money to buy put options on Apple stock, a trade which led to a loss of $46,000, enormous relative to his initial deposit of only $2,000. He recorded the live reaction to his loss and uploaded it on his YouTube channel. Many other users tried to exploit the glitch, which they referred to as the "free money cheat code", before it was fixed, with one in particular claiming to have opened a $1,000,000 position from a $4,000 deposit.


title: R/wallstreetbets

text: On January 28, 2021, during the GameStop short squeeze, Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, E-Trade, and Webull restricted the trade of heavily shorted stocks such as GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry Limited, Nokia, and Koss Corporation on their platforms. Many of the brokerage firms, including Robinhood, stated that the restrictions were the result of clearing houses raising the collateral required for executing trades on highly volatile stocks. Numerous members of the community have since expressed outrage directed towards those companies, particularly Robinhood. Efforts by r/wallstreetbets members and others across the Reddit platform plummeted Robinhood's star rating in both the iOS and Android app stores to one star by January 28, though intervention by Google increased its rating to 2.2 (as of January 30) by deleting one-star reviews. Class-action lawsuits were subsequently filed against Robinhood for the restrictions on trading.


title: The Mavericks

text: The Mavericks are an American country music band from Miami, Florida. The band consists of Raul Malo (lead vocals, guitar), Paul Deakin (drums), Eddie Perez (lead guitar), and Jerry Dale McFadden (keyboards). Malo and Deakin founded the band in 1989 along with Robert Reynolds (bass guitar) and Ben Peeler (lead guitar). After one independent album, the band was signed by MCA Nashville Records and David Lee Holt replaced Peeler on lead guitar; he would be replaced by Nick Kane shortly after their second MCA album and third overall 1994's "What a Crying Shame". The band recorded a total of four albums for MCA and one for Mercury Records before disbanding in 2000. They reunited for one album in 2003 on Sanctuary Records, by which point Perez had become their fourth guitarist, and former touring keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden became an official fifth member. The lineup of Malo, Deakin, Reynolds, Perez, and McFadden reunited a second time in 2012 for a series of new albums, first on Big Machine Records' Valory imprint and then on Mono Mundo. Reynolds was fired in 2014 and while he was not officially replaced, Ed Friedland is their touring bassist.


title: The Mavericks

text: The Mavericks have charted fifteen times on the American "Billboard" Hot Country Songs charts; their highest-peaking single there is "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down", a collaboration with accordionist Flaco Jiménez which reached number thirteen in 1996. Three of their singles made top ten on the country music charts of the defunct "RPM" magazine in Canada, and "Dance the Night Away" was a hit single in the United Kingdom in 1998. Their most commercially successful album "What a Crying Shame" has been certified platinum in the United States and double-platinum in Canada. In addition, the band has received one Grammy Award, two Country Music Association awards, and three Academy of Country Music awards. Their sound is defined by a wide variety of musical styles outside of country music, such as Tejano, Latin, Americana, and the pop music of the 1950s, with particular emphasis on Malo's singing voice.


title: The Mavericks

text: The Mavericks were founded in Miami, Florida, in 1989. Lead vocalist and guitarist Raul Malo met bass guitarist Robert Reynolds, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, when both were performing in local bands. The two of them developed a friendship after realizing that they both shared interest in musicians such as Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash, and decided to form their own band. Paul Deakin, a friend of Reynolds's and native of Ohio, was chosen as drummer. Completing the original lineup was lead guitarist Ben Peeler, a native of Jackson, Mississippi. They immediately began touring throughout the Miami area, primarily at venues that typically booked rock bands. This was because the band wanted to perform original songs, while most of the country music-themed venues at the time preferred acts that performed cover songs instead. In late 1990, The Mavericks released their self-titled debut album on a local independent label called Y&T Music. Malo wrote every song on the album.


title: The Mavericks

text: Due to the independent album's success throughout the Miami music community, the band was invited to perform for a showcase in Nashville, Tennessee, at which talent scouts for major country music labels were present. One of these labels, MCA Nashville, signed the band in May 1991. According to Colin Larkin in the "Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music", the band was signed before they had finished their soundcheck. Peeler was fired from his role as guitarist in October 1991 due to concerns from the other three band members and their then-manager that his playing was not suitable for a country music band. He was replaced by David Lee Holt, a session musician who had also played for Joe Ely and Carlene Carter. After Holt Joined, the band began recording their first MCA album "From Hell to Paradise" at Miami-based Criteria Studios late in 1991. Malo wrote the title track, which was about his parents emigrating from Cuba to the United States. He co-produced it with guitarists Richard Bennett and Steve Fishell, both of whom also played on the album. The album was released in May 1992 and charted one single a month later: a cover of Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'", which the band took to number 74 on "Billboard" Hot Country Songs. Sandra Schulman of the South Florida "Sun-Sentinel" wrote that this album "reflected their Miami roots with social issues of homelessness and immigrant rights shoehorned in with the boot-kicking country ballads". Rating it "B+", Alanna Nash of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "Some of the group’s writing could use a finer bead, but the Mavericks earn major points for integrating the hillbilly heart of the masters with the consciousness and muscle of the contemporary generation."


title: The Mavericks

text: Holt quit the band after only one album. Dale Martin, music reviewer for "The Victoria Advocate", attributed Holt's departure to "friction of some sort". Conversely, Karen Essex of "New Country" magazine stated that Holt left amicably. After leaving The Mavericks, Holt would become a founding member of the blues rock band Storyville. In 1993, The Mavericks chose Bill Dwyer to fill in on lead guitar while on tour in Europe. Reynolds told Mike Cooper of "The Hard Report" in July of that year that the band did not yet know who would replace Holt.


title: The Mavericks

text: The Mavericks' next MCA release was 1994's "What a Crying Shame". This was also their first to be produced by Don Cook, best known for his work with Brooks & Dunn. By the time of the album's release, Reynolds had selected Nick Kane, another friend of his, to become the band's third guitarist. Although Kane was pictured on the album's liner notes and in promotional material, the project was completed prior to his joining. As a result, Bruce Bouton and Mark Casstevens of Garth Brooks' studio band The G-Men played guitar on the album alongside session guitarist Brent Mason. It was also at this point that keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden began accompanying the band in concerts. Malo wrote four of the album's ten songs with Greek-American songwriter Kostas, best known for his work with Patty Loveless and Dwight Yoakam. Three months prior to the album's release, Reynolds married country singer Trisha Yearwood; she, along with James House and Joy Lynn White, contributed backing vocals. Mark Deming of AllMusic thought that Cook's production was "glossier" than the preceding albums, also stating that they "fully hit their stride with...the band's blend of rootsy country and vintage pop sounds".


title: The Mavericks

text: "What a Crying Shame" produced a total of five singles, four of which made top forty on the "Billboard" country singles charts. First was "What a Crying Shame", one of the songs which Malo and Kostas co-wrote. The song was initially unsuccessful at radio, but Malo insisted that the label keep promoting it through the Christmas season of late 1993-early 1994, after which it began ascending the airplay charts. As a result, it reached a peak of number 25 in early 1994. After it was a cover of Jesse Winchester's "O What a Thrill", which would become the most successful single off the album with a number 18 peak on the country charts. It was followed by "There Goes My Heart", "I Should Have Been True", and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "All That Heaven Will Allow". "What a Crying Shame" and "O What a Thrill" both made top ten on "RPM" Country Tracks, then the main country music chart published in Canada. In February 1995, "What a Crying Shame" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of one million copies. In Canada, the album was certified double-platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (now Music Canada), a certification which at the time honored shipments of 200,000 copies in that country.


title: The Mavericks

text: The commercial success of "What a Crying Shame" also led to the first of several industry award nominations for the band. The title track earned the band their first Grammy Award nomination at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards in 1995, in the category of Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The Academy of Country Music also awarded the band as Top Vocal Group and Top New Vocal Duet or Group in 1994; they would win the former again in 1995 and be nominated a third time for it in 1996. In mid-1995, The Mavericks covered Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's 1934 standard "Blue Moon" for the soundtrack of the film "Apollo 13".


title: The Mavericks

text: MCA released the band's next album "Music for All Occasions" in 1995. The album was led off by the single "Here Comes the Rain", which charted at 22 on Hot Country Songs that year. "Here Comes the Rain" was their most successful single in Canada, peaking at number 4 on "RPM" Country Tracks. Its follow-up was "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down", a collaboration with Tejano accordionist Flaco Jiménez. The song peaked at number thirteen on Hot Country Songs in 1996, representing not only The Mavericks' highest peak on that chart, but also Jiménez's only appearance on it. Despite this, the follow-up single "Missing You" failed to make top 40. Malo wrote nine of the eleven songs on the album, including all three singles. He collaborated with Kostas on "Here Comes the Rain" and with former NRBQ member Al Anderson on the other two. Also included on the album was a collaboration with Trisha Yearwood on a cover of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra's 1967 single "Somethin' Stupid". Yearwood, along with Shelby Lynne and Lari White, also sang backing vocals on the track "Foolish Heart". Nash described the Sinatra cover as "kitsch", but otherwise praised Malo's voice and the musical variety. Rick Harmon of the "Montgomery Advertiser" called the album "more subtle" than its predecessor, highlighting the singles in particular and considering the Sinatra cover superior to the original song. Similarly, Mark Deming of AllMusic wrote that it was "a slyer, more subtle affair" compared to "What a Crying Shame", and added that "the record's abundant pleasures become clear upon repeated listenings". Joel Bernstein of Country Standard Time noted that the band did not "play it safe", praising "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down" and "Somethin' Stupid" in particular.


title: The Mavericks

text: In 1996, "Music for All Occasions" was certified gold by the RIAA for shipments of 500,000 copies. At the 38th Grammy Awards in February 1996, "Music for All Occasions" was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Country Album, while "Here Comes the Rain" won Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; one year later, "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down" was nominated in the same category. Despite the commercial success of the album, Deakin was critical of its overall sound, saying that "there was little vibe to it" and that he considered "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down" to be its only good song. After this album's release, The Mavericks contributed the original composition "I Don't Care (If You Love Me Anymore)" to the soundtrack of the 1996 Nora Ephron film "Michael"; the song would also receive a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1997. The Country Music Association nominated the band for Vocal Group of the Year for four consecutive years between 1995 and 1998. They would win this award in both 1995 and 1996.


title: The Mavericks

text: The band went on a touring and recording hiatus starting in December 1996. The only exception was a live album called "It's Now! It's Live!", composed of earlier concert recordings and released only in Canada in 1997. During this hiatus, Malo performed solo shows throughout Nashville which focused on pop standards from the 1930s through the 1950s. Accompanying him at these shows was a nine-piece band assembled by session musician Dennis Burnside. In May 1997, Malo also previewed new songs at live sessions from the Bluebird Café, a venue in Nashville which is frequented by songwriters. Accompanying him was Jaime Hanna, son of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder Jeff Hanna. Jaime Hanna would also go on to tour with The Mavericks as a backup musician. The band's hiatus ended in early 1998 with the release of their next studio album "Trampoline". Contributing songwriters to "Trampoline" once again included Malo, Kostas, House, and Anderson; another contributing writer for this album was Big Kenny, later one-half of Big & Rich. Deakin told the "North County Times" that the album was recorded in only one week, and unlike their previous albums, did not include any overdubbing. After the album's release, the band toured throughout Scandinavia in support.


title: The Mavericks

text: Writing for "Entertainment Weekly", Scott Schnider described Malo's singing voice favorably, also noting influences of samba and soul music in the album's tracks. John D. Buchanan of AllMusic wrote that "Easily the group's most musically ambitious set to date, "Trampoline"s blend of pop and Latin textures didn't connect with the mainstream country audience in the United States". The album charted only two singles in the United States: "To Be with You" and "Dance the Night Away", neither reaching top 40 on Hot Country Songs. The latter was more successful in the United Kingdom, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart in 1998. Its success led to two more singles charting in that country: "I've Got This Feeling" and "Someone Should Tell Her". "Dance the Night Away" was also the band's fifth and final Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Following this album's failure in the United States, The Mavericks left MCA Nashville in 1999; Deakin told the website Country Standard Time in 2000 that the band chose to leave MCA in favor of Mercury Records because many of the executives who had supported the band during their commercial peak earlier in the decade were no longer active at the label. Malo told the same publication in 2003, "That's part of the problem of being signed to a major label in Nashville. When you venture outside the box, you're pretty much sealing your fate."


title: The Mavericks

text: The band's only release for Mercury was a greatest hits compilation called "". They chose to release a greatest-hits album due to their recognition in Europe, where they found that such compilations tended to be commercially successful. For this project, each band member selected both singles and album cuts, along with four previously unreleased songs. Among the new songs were covers of Buck Owens' "Think of Me" and Cat Stevens' "Here Comes My Baby", the latter of which was released as a single. "Super Colossal Smash Hits of the 90's" was certified gold in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 100,000 copies. Despite the commercial success in other countries, the band continued to find lessened success in the United States. Also in 1999, Reynolds divorced Yearwood; she would marry Garth Brooks in 2005. By the end of the decade, the Mavericks had disbanded. Buchanan said that the band was "at loggerheads with their record company". Malo stated at the time that the decision to disband was due to creative exhaustion brought on by extensive touring, combined with unspecified disputes between Kane and the rest of the band.


title: The Mavericks

text: After the disbanding, Kane released a solo album of cover songs in 2000 titled "Songs in the Key of E". Malo recorded both as a solo artist and as a member of Los Super Seven, a supergroup that also included Mexican-American country singers Rick Trevino and Freddy Fender. Meanwhile, Reynolds recorded one album with the supergroup Swag, which also included members of Cheap Trick, Wilco, and Sixpence None the Richer.


title: The Mavericks

text: The Mavericks reunited in 2003, with Eddie Perez as their fourth guitarist. Malo had known Perez because the two had played in an Austin, Texas nightclub prior to The Mavericks' foundation. The re-established band recorded two albums for the British Sanctuary Records: the self-titled "The Mavericks" and a live album recorded in Austin, Texas, which was accompanied by a DVD release. Malo said that many of the songs were inspired by his concerns over the sociopolitical scene of the United States following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and that Sanctuary Records executives were more willing to let the band record their music without executive interference. Only one single from "The Mavericks" charted: a cover of The Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe". Also included on the album was a duet with Willie Nelson on "Time Goes By". Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time reviewed the album favorably, finding influences of The Beatles and Roy Orbison in the songwriting and arrangements. Despite touring in 2003 and 2004 to support these projects, they were commercially unsuccessful, and the band broke up a second time. Malo continued to record as a solo artist after this second disbanding; he also produced Rick Trevino's 2003 album "In My Dreams" and wrote several of its songs with Hanna. After this, Hanna recorded one album in 2005 as half of the duo Hanna-McEuen.


title: The Mavericks

text: In October 2011, Malo, Deakin, Reynolds, and Perez reunited as The Mavericks for a second time. McFadden officially became a fifth member at this point, still accompanying on keyboards. Following this, they announced plans to reunite for a tour in 2012. Included in the tour was the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California, followed by various stops in North America and Europe. Coinciding with this reunion, the group signed with Valory Music Co., an imprint of Big Machine Records, in February 2012. They released a digital extended play titled "Suited Up and Ready" and charted in early 2012 with its lead single "Born to Be Blue". Their first full-length album for Valory "In Time" was released on February 26, 2013. On this project, Malo co-produced with Niko Bolas and wrote or co-wrote every song. Writing for AllMusic, Steve Leggett stated that it was "a further step away from anything resembling a mainstream country release, incorporating not only the Tex-Mex and Cuban influences the band was known for, but also the rhythms of polkas, tangos, and all manner of approaches". He thought that these additional influences made the album an "extension" of their previous efforts. Following this album, the band announced in early 2014 that they would honor their twenty-fifth anniversary with a tour throughout the United States and Canada, starting in Charleston, South Carolina.


title: The Mavericks

text: Reynolds was dismissed from the band in October 2014 after it was revealed that he had developed an addiction to opiates and was soliciting money from fans under false pretenses to support his addiction. His firing left Malo and Deakin as the two remaining original members. The band did not publicize Reynolds's departure until December. Reynolds has not been replaced by a permanent band member. As Reynolds' addiction affected his playing, he accompanied solely on acoustic guitar; Ed Friedland was hired as a touring bassist prior to Reynolds' firing, and continued in this capacity afterward. Also joining The Mavericks' touring band at this point were Max Abrams (saxophone, percussion), Matt Cappy (trumpet), and Michael Guerra (accordion).


title: The Mavericks

text: The Mavericks released their second Valory album "Mono" on February 7, 2015. The album was so named because it was mixed in monaural sound. As with the previous album, Malo wrote most of the songs, except for a cover of Doug Sahm's "Nitty Gritty". Country Standard Time reviewer Andy Turner stated that the album "is quite festive and certainly sounds like a band happy to be back and having a fun time." A year later, this album was nominated at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards for Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.


title: The Mavericks

text: After being released from Valory in 2016, the band founded their own label Mono Mundo in association with Thirty Tigers. Their first release on their own label was a live album titled "All Night Live, Volume 1". This was followed by their next studio release, "Brand New Day", in March 2017. This, too, was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Americana Album the following year. Deming contrasted the album favorably to "Trampoline", noting that the band continued to include Latin, Tejano, and "vintage pop". This was followed in 2018 by their first Christmas album, "Hey! Merry Christmas!" A thirtieth-anniversary tour followed in 2019, focusing mainly on the United Kingdom, Canada, and The Netherlands while also including select locations in the United States. By this point, both Lorenzo Molina and Julio Diaz replaced Matt Cappy on trumpets. Coinciding with this tour, the band released their next album, "Play the Hits", the same year. This album consisted entirely of cover songs, including Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart", Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel", Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain", and Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" among others. Deming said of this album that "Even when the Mavericks don't necessarily make the songs their own, they know how to perform them with a conviction that elevates them from the work of another cover outfit".


title: The Mavericks

text: On August 21, 2020, the band released "En Español," their first album entirely in the Spanish language. Deming stated in AllMusic that while the album contained fewer country and pop influences than its predecessors, that it also emphasized the band's Latin music roots more fully than previous projects. He concluded his review by stating that it was "adventurous and crafted with heart and skill, and that's what they've always done best."


title: The Mavericks

text: At the time of their signing with MCA, The Mavericks were seen as unusual in country music due not only to Malo's Cuban-American ancestry, but also to the band's origins in Miami, Florida. This was because at the time, the Miami music scene was better known for hip hop music and dance music than for country. Many reviewers have considered Malo's role as lead singer and songwriter an integral part of the band's sound. In a review of "From Hell to Paradise", Alanna Nash described Malo's singing voice as "a tight, pinched vibrato that carries all the tension of a high-voltage wire". Writing for AllMusic, John D. Buchanan described "What a Crying Shame" as "a grand showcase for the rich, emotive vocals of Raul Malo and the band's eclectic but accessible approach." In a review of "Trampoline" for the same site, Thom Owens stated that Malo's voice was the defining characteristic of the band's sound; he wrote that, through his singing and production, Malo was the "driving force behind all of the group's stylistic fusions, their blend of honky tonk with country-rock, classic rock & roll, pop, and Latin." Of the songwriting, Owens continued that Malo was "among the most imaginative roots songwriting of the '90s." Tony Brown, a record producer who was also the head of artists and repertoire (A&R) of MCA Nashville at the time of the band's signing, described Malo as "bigger than life" in a way that he compared to Alabama lead singer Randy Owen; Brown also thought that having a "great frontman" was key to a country music band's success.


title: The Mavericks

text: Music critics have defined the band's musical styles with a wide variety of influences. Brown thought that the success of new bands in the 1990s such as Diamond Rio, combined with the commercial appeal of more rock-influenced country bands such as The Kentucky Headhunters, would lead to The Mavericks' success. Nash wrote that they "constitute country’s coolest ensemble, synthesizing ’50s country and ’60s pop and rock with intelligence, verve, and cultural variety." John D. Buchanan of AllMusic said of the band that "Fusing traditional country with a rich variety of rock, pop, and Latin influences, the Mavericks became one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful groups of the early '90s." Rick Bell of the "North County Times", in a review of "Trampoline", noted that the band's use of horn sections and string sections on the album gave it a "fuller sound" that complemented Malo's "velvety baritone". Mark Deming highlighted Nick Kane's "fine hipster jazz picking" in a review of "Music for All Occasions". He also found influences of two-step in the album's "The Writing on the Wall" and Tejano music through the use of accordion on "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down", while Joel Bernstein of Country Standard Time compared the latter to Cajun music for the same reason. He also described the band's cover of "Blue Moon" as "Roy Orbison meets Dean Martin". Deming stated in a review of "What a Crying Shame" that "Robert Reynolds and Paul Deakin are a rhythm section who can give these songs the nervy drive of a rock band without betraying the Mavericks' country leanings, and they give the covers of 'All That Heaven Will Allow' and 'O What a Thrill' a taut foundation most contemporary Nashville acts lack."


title: Argus Panoptes

text: Argus Panoptes (), guardian of the heifer-nymph Io and son of Arestor and probably Mycene (in other version son of Gaia), was a primordial giant whose epithet "Panoptes", "all-seeing", led to his being described with multiple, often one hundred, eyes. The epithet "Panoptes" was applied to the god of the Sun, Helios, and was taken up as an epithet by Zeus, "Zeus Panoptes". "In a way," Walter Burkert observes, "the power and order of Argos the city are embodied in Argos the neatherd, lord of the herd and lord of the land, whose name itself is the name of the land."The epithet "Panoptes", reflecting his mythic role, set by Hera as a very effective watchman of Io, was described in a fragment of a lost poem "Aigimios", attributed to Hesiod:


title: Argus Panoptes

text: In the 5th century and later, Argus' wakeful alertness was explained for an increasingly literal culture as his having so many eyes that only a few of the eyes would sleep at a time: there were always eyes still awake. In the 2nd century AD Pausanias noted at Argos, in the temple of Zeus Larissaios, an archaic image of Zeus with a third eye in the center of his forehead, allegedly Priam's "Zeus Herkeios" purloined from Troy.


title: Argus Panoptes

text: Argus was Hera's servant. His great service to the Olympian pantheon was to slay the chthonic serpent-legged monster Echidna as she slept in her cave. Hera's defining task for Argus was to guard the white heifer Io from Zeus, who was attracted to her, keeping her chained to the sacred olive tree at the Argive Heraion. She required someone who had at least a hundred eyes spread out, always watching in all directions, someone who would stay awake despite being asleep. Argos was meant to be the perfect guardian. She charged him to "Tether this cow safely to an olive-tree at Nemea". Hera knew that the heifer was in reality Io, one of the many nymphs Zeus was coupling with to establish a new order. To free Io, Zeus had Argus slain by Hermes. The messenger of the Olympian gods, disguised as a shepherd, first put all of Argus' eyes asleep with spoken charms, then slew him by hitting him with a stone, the first stain of bloodshed among the new generation of gods. After beheading Argus, Hermes acquired the epithet Argeiphontes or “Argus-slayer”.


title: Argus Panoptes

text: The sacrifice of Argus liberated Io and allowed her to wander the earth, although tormented by a gadfly sent by Hera, until she reached the Ionian Sea, named after her, from where she swam to Egypt and gave birth to a love child of Zeus, according to some versions of the myth.


title: Argus Panoptes

text: According to Ovid, Argus had a hundred eyes. Hera had Argus' hundred eyes preserved forever in a peacock's tail so as to immortalise her faithful watchman.


title: Argus Panoptes

text: The myth makes the closest connection of Argus, the neatherd, with the bull. According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Argus, "being exceedingly strong ... killed the bull that ravaged Arcadia and clad himself in its hide".


title: Argus Panoptes

text: Argus Panoptes is referenced in the scientific names of at least eight animals, each of which bears a pattern of eye spots: reptiles "Cnemaspis argus, Eremias argus, Sibon argus", "Sphaerodactylus argus", and the Argus monitor "Varanus panoptes"; the pheasant "Argusianus argus"; the fish Cephalopholis argus and the cowry "Arestorides argus".


title: Tear down this wall!

text: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall", also known as the Berlin Wall Speech, was a speech delivered by United States President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987. Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Though Reagan's speech received relatively little media coverage at the time, it became widely known after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In the post-Cold War era, it was often seen as one of the most memorable performances of an American president in Berlin after John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech of 1963. It was written by Peter Robinson—then a speechwriter for the President—who currently hosts the Uncommon Knowledge program of the Hoover Institution.


title: Tear down this wall!

text: The "tear down this wall" speech was not the first time Reagan had addressed the issue of the Berlin Wall. In a visit to West Berlin in June 1982, he stated, "I'd like to ask the Soviet leaders one question [...] Why is the wall there?". In 1986, 25 years after the construction of the wall, in response to West German newspaper "Bild-Zeitung" asking when he thought the wall could be removed, Reagan said, "I call upon those responsible to dismantle it [today]".


title: Tear down this wall!

text: On the day before Reagan's 1987 visit, 50,000 people had demonstrated against the presence of the American president in West Berlin. The city saw the largest police deployment in its history after World War II. During the visit itself, wide swaths of Berlin were closed off to prevent further anti-Reagan protests. The district of Kreuzberg, in particular, was targeted in this respect, with movement throughout this portion of the city in effect restrained completely (for instance the U1 U-Bahn line was shut down). About those demonstrators, Reagan said at the end of his speech: "I wonder if they ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they are doing again".


title: Tear down this wall!

text: The speech drew controversy within the Reagan administration, with several senior staffers and aides advising against the phrase, saying anything that might cause further East-West tensions or potential embarrassment to Gorbachev, with whom President Reagan had built a good relationship, should be omitted. American officials in West Germany and presidential speechwriters, including Peter Robinson, thought otherwise. According to an account by Robinson, he traveled to West Germany to inspect potential speech venues, and gained an overall sense that the majority of West Berliners opposed the wall. Despite getting little support for suggesting Reagan demand the wall's removal, Robinson kept the phrase in the speech text. On Monday, May 18, 1987, President Reagan met with his speechwriters and responded to the speech by saying, "I thought it was a good, solid draft." White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker objected, saying it sounded "extreme" and "unpresidential", and Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor Colin Powell agreed. Nevertheless, Reagan liked the passage, saying, "I think we'll leave it in."


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Chief speechwriter Anthony Dolan gives another account of the line's origins, however, attributing it directly to Reagan. In an article published in "The Wall Street Journal" in November 2009, Dolan gives a detailed account of how in an Oval Office meeting that was prior to Robinson's draft Reagan came up with the line on his own. He records impressions of his own reaction and Robinson's at the time. This led to a friendly exchange of letters between Robinson and Dolan over their differing accounts, which "The Wall Street Journal" published.


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Arriving in Berlin on Friday, June 12, 1987, President and Mrs. Reagan were taken to the Reichstag, where they viewed the wall from a balcony. Reagan then made his speech at the Brandenburg Gate at 2:00 p.m., in front of two panes of bulletproof glass. Among the spectators were West German President Richard von Weizsäcker, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and West Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen. The current title of the speech comes from Reagan's rhetorical demand of Gorbachev and the Soviet Union:


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Later on in his speech, President Reagan said, "As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, 'This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.' Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom."


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Another highlight of the speech was Reagan's call to end the arms race with his reference to the Soviets' SS-20 nuclear weapons, and the possibility "not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth."


title: Tear down this wall!

text: The speech received "relatively little coverage from the media", "Time" magazine wrote 20 years later. John Kornblum, senior US diplomat in Berlin at the time of Reagan's speech, and US Ambassador to Germany from 1997 to 2001, said "[The speech] wasn't really elevated to its current status until 1989, after the wall came down." East Germany's communist rulers were not impressed, dismissing the speech as "an absurd demonstration by a cold warrior", as later recalled by Politburo member Günter Schabowski. The Soviet press agency TASS accused Reagan of giving an "openly provocative, war-mongering speech."


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Former West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said he would never forget standing near Reagan when he challenged Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. "He was a stroke of luck for the world, especially for Europe."


title: Tear down this wall!

text: In an interview, Reagan claimed that the East German police did not allow people to come close to the wall, which prevented the citizens from experiencing the speech at all.


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Peter Robinson, the White House speech writer who drafted the address, said that the phrase "tear down this wall" was inspired by a conversation with Ingeborg Elz of West Berlin; in a conversation with Robinson, Elz remarked, "If this man Gorbachev is serious with his talk of "Glasnost" and "perestroika" he can prove it by getting rid of this wall."


title: Tear down this wall!

text: In a September 2012 article in "The Atlantic", Liam Hoare pointed to the many reasons for the tendency for American media to focus on the significance of this particular speech, without weighing the complexity of the events as they unfolded in both East and West Germany and the Soviet Union.


title: Tear down this wall!

text: Author James Mann disagreed with both critics like Hoare, who saw Reagan's speech as having no real effect, and those who praised the speech as key to shaking Soviet confidence. In a 2007 opinion article in "The New York Times", he put the speech in the context of previous Reagan overtures to the Soviet Union, such as the Reykjavik summit of the previous year, which had very nearly resulted in an agreement to eliminate American and Soviet nuclear weapons entirely. He characterized the speech as a way for Reagan to assuage his right-wing critics that he was still tough on communism, while also extending a renewed invitation to Gorbachev to work together to create "the vastly more relaxed climate in which the Soviets sat on their hands when the wall came down." Mann claimed that Reagan "wasn't trying to land a knockout blow on the Soviet regime, nor was he engaging in mere political theater. He was instead doing something else on that damp day in Berlin 20 years [before Mann's article] – he was helping to set the terms for the end of the cold war."


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus (; ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos. His given name was Tyrtamus (); his nickname (or 'godly phrased') was given by Aristotle, his teacher, for his "divine style of expression".


title: Theophrastus

text: He came to Athens at a young age and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death, he attached himself to Aristotle who took to Theophrastus in his writings. When Aristotle fled Athens, Theophrastus took over as head of the Lyceum. Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which time the school flourished greatly. He is often considered the father of botany for his works on plants. After his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.


title: Theophrastus

text: The interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, including from biology, physics, ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, "Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum)" and "On the Causes of Plants", were an important influence on Renaissance science. There are also surviving works "On Moral Characters", "On Sense Perception", and "On Stones", as well as fragments on "Physics" and "Metaphysics". In philosophy, he studied grammar and language and continued Aristotle's work on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as on virtue.


title: Theophrastus

text: Most of the biographical information about Theophrastus was provided by Diogenes Laërtius' "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers", written more than four hundred years after Theophrastus's time. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos. His given name was Tyrtamus (), but he later became known by the nickname "Theophrastus", given to him, it is said, by Aristotle to indicate the grace of his conversation (from Ancient Greek 'god' and 'to phrase', i.e. divine expression).


title: Theophrastus

text: After receiving instruction in philosophy on Lesbos from one Alcippus, he moved to Athens, where he may have studied under Plato. He became friends with Aristotle, and when Plato died (348/7 BC) Theophrastus may have joined Aristotle in his self-imposed exile from Athens. When Aristotle moved to Mytilene on Lesbos in 345/4, it is very likely that he did so at the urging of Theophrastus. It seems that it was on Lesbos that Aristotle and Theophrastus began their research into natural science, with Aristotle studying animals and Theophrastus studying plants. Theophrastus probably accompanied Aristotle to Macedonia when Aristotle was appointed tutor to Alexander the Great in 343/2. Around 335 BC, Theophrastus moved with Aristotle to Athens, where Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. When, after the death of Alexander, anti-Macedonian feeling forced Aristotle to leave Athens, Theophrastus remained behind as head ("scholarch") of the Peripatetic school, a position he continued to hold after Aristotle's death in 322/1.


title: Theophrastus

text: Aristotle in his will made him guardian of his children, including Nicomachus, with whom he was close. Aristotle likewise bequeathed to him his library and the originals of his works, and designated him as his successor at the Lyceum. Eudemus of Rhodes also had some claims to this position, and Aristoxenus is said to have resented Aristotle's choice.


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-five years, and died at the age of eighty-five according to Diogenes.


title: Theophrastus

text: Under his guidance the school flourished greatly—there were at one period more than 2000 students, Diogenes affirms—and at his death, according to the terms of his will preserved by Diogenes, he bequeathed to it his garden with house and colonnades as a permanent seat of instruction. The comic poet Menander was among his pupils. His popularity was shown in the regard paid to him by Philip, Cassander, and Ptolemy, and by the complete failure of a charge of impiety brought against him. He was honored with a public funeral, and "the whole population of Athens, honouring him greatly, followed him to the grave." He was succeeded as head of the Lyceum by Strato of Lampsacus.


title: Theophrastus

text: From the lists of Diogenes, giving 227 titles, it appears that the activity of Theophrastus extended over the whole field of contemporary knowledge. His writing probably differed little from Aristotle's treatment of the same themes, though supplementary in details. Like Aristotle, most of his writings are lost works. Thus Theophrastus, like Aristotle, had composed a first and second "Analytic" ( and ). He had also written books on "Topics" (, and ); on the "Analysis of Syllogisms" ( and ), on "Sophisms" () and on "Affirmation and Denial" () as well as on the "Natural Philosophy" (, , and others), on "Heaven" (), and on "Meteorological Phenomena" ( and ).


title: Theophrastus

text: In addition, Theophrastus wrote on the "Warm and the Cold" (), on "Water" (), "Fire" (), the "Sea" (), on "Coagulation and Melting" (), on various phenomena of organic and spiritual life, and on the "Soul" (), on "Experience" () and "On Sense Perception" (also known as "On the Senses"; ). Likewise, we find mention of monographs of Theophrastus on the early Greek philosophers Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Archelaus, Diogenes of Apollonia, Democritus, which were made use of by Simplicius; and also on Xenocrates, against the Academics, and a sketch of the political doctrine of Plato.


title: Theophrastus

text: He studied general history, as we know from Plutarch's lives of Lycurgus, Solon, Aristides, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, Lysander, Agesilaus, and Demosthenes, which were probably borrowed from the work on "Lives" (). But his main efforts were to continue the labours of Aristotle in natural history. This is testified to not only by a number of treatises on individual subjects of zoology, of which, besides the titles, only fragments remain, but also by his books "On Stones", his "Enquiry into Plants", and "On the Causes of Plants" (see below), which have come down to us entire. In politics, also, he seems to have trodden in the footsteps of Aristotle. Besides his books on the "State" ( and ), we find quoted various treatises on "Education" ( and ), on "Royalty" (, and ), on the "Best State" (), on "Political Morals" (), and particularly his works on the "Laws" (, and ), one of which, containing a recapitulation of the laws of various barbarian as well as Greek states, was intended to be a companion to Aristotle's outline of "Politics", and must have been similar to it. He also wrote on oratory and poetry. Theophrastus, without doubt, departed further from Aristotle in his ethical writings, as also in his metaphysical investigations of motion, the soul, and God.


title: Theophrastus

text: Besides these writings, Theophrastus wrote several collections of problems, out of which some things at least have passed into the "Problems" that have come down to us under the name of Aristotle, and commentaries, partly dialogue, to which probably belonged the "Erotikos" (), "Megacles" (), "Callisthenes" (), and "Megarikos" (), and letters, partly books on mathematical sciences and their history.


title: Theophrastus

text: Many of his surviving works exist only in fragmentary form. "The style of these works, as of the botanical books, suggests that, as in the case of Aristotle, what we possess consists of notes for lectures or notes taken of lectures," his translator Arthur F. Hort remarks. "There is no literary charm; the sentences are mostly compressed and highly elliptical, to the point sometimes of obscurity". The text of these fragments and extracts is often so corrupt that there is a certain plausibility to the well-known story that the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus were allowed to languish in the cellar of Neleus of Scepsis and his descendants.


title: Theophrastus

text: The most important of his books are two large botanical treatises, "Enquiry into Plants" (, generally known as ), and "On the Causes of Plants" (Greek: , Latin: ), which constitute the most important contribution to botanical science during antiquity and the Middle Ages, the first systemization of the botanical world; on the strength of these works some, following Linnaeus, call him the "father of botany".


title: Theophrastus

text: The "Enquiry into Plants" was originally ten books, of which nine survive. The work is arranged into a system whereby plants are classified according to their modes of generation, their localities, their sizes, and according to their practical uses such as foods, juices, herbs, etc. The first book deals with the parts of plants; the second book with the reproduction of plants and the times and manner of sowing; the third, fourth, and fifth books are devoted to trees, their types, their locations, and their practical applications; the sixth book deals with shrubs and spiny plants; the seventh book deals with herbs; the eighth book deals with plants that produce edible seeds; and the ninth book deals with plants that produce useful juices, gums, resins, etc.


title: Theophrastus

text: "On the Causes of Plants" was originally eight books, of which six survive. It concerns the growth of plants; the influences on their fecundity; the proper times they should be sown and reaped; the methods of preparing the soil, manuring it, and the use of tools; and of the smells, tastes, and properties of many types of plants. The work deals mainly with the economical uses of plants rather than their medicinal uses, although the latter is sometimes mentioned. A book on wines and a book on plant smells may have once been part of the complete work.


title: Theophrastus

text: Although these works contain many absurd and fabulous statements, they include valuable observations concerning the functions and properties of plants. Theophrastus detected the process of germination and realized the importance of climate and soil to plants. Much of the information on the Greek plants may have come from his own observations, as he is known to have travelled throughout Greece, and to have had a botanical garden of his own; but the works also profit from the reports on plants of Asia brought back from those who followed Alexander the Great:


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus's "Enquiry into Plants" was first published in a Latin translation by Theodore Gaza, at Treviso, 1483; in its original Greek it first appeared from the press of Aldus Manutius at Venice, 1495–98, from a third-rate manuscript, which, like the majority of the manuscripts that were sent to printers' workshops in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, has disappeared. Christian Wimmer identified two manuscripts of first quality, the "Codex Urbinas" in the Vatican Library, which was not made known to J. G. Schneider, who made the first modern critical edition, 1818–21, and the excerpts in the "Codex Parisiensis" in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.


title: Theophrastus

text: His book "Characters" () contains thirty brief outlines of moral types. They are the first recorded attempt at systematic character writing. The book has been regarded by some as an independent work; others incline to the view that the sketches were written from time to time by Theophrastus, and collected and edited after his death; others, again, regard the "Characters" as part of a larger systematic work, but the style of the book is against this. Theophrastus has found many imitators in this kind of writing, notably Joseph Hall (1608), Sir Thomas Overbury (1614–16), Bishop Earle (1628), and Jean de La Bruyère (1688), who also translated the "Characters". George Eliot also took inspiration from Theophrastus's "Characters", most notably in her book of caricatures, "Impressions of Theophrastus Such". Writing the "character sketch" as a scholastic exercise also originated in Theophrastus's typology.


title: Theophrastus

text: A treatise "On Sense Perception" () and its objects is important for a knowledge of the doctrines of the more ancient Greek philosophers regarding the subject. A paraphrase and commentary on this work was written by Priscian of Lydia in the sixth century. With this type of work we may connect the fragments on "Smells", on "Fatigue", on "Dizziness", on "Sweat", on "Swooning", on "Palsy", and on "Honey".


title: Theophrastus

text: Fragments of a "History of Physics" () are extant. To this class of work belong the still extant sections on "Fire", on the "Winds", and on the signs of "Waters", "Winds", and "Storms".


title: Theophrastus

text: Various smaller scientific fragments have been collected in the editions of Johann Gottlob Schneider (1818–21) and Friedrich Wimmer (1842–62) and in Hermann Usener's "Analecta Theophrastea".


title: Theophrastus

text: The "Metaphysics" (anachronistic Greek title: ), in nine chapters (also known as "On First Principles"), was considered a fragment of a larger work by Usener in his edition (Theophrastos, "Metaphysica", Bonn, 1890), but according to Ross and Fobes in their edition (Theophrastus, "Metaphysica", Oxford, 1929), the treatise is complete (p. X) and this opinion is now widely accepted. There is no reason for assigning this work to some other author because it is not noticed in Hermippus and Andronicus, especially as Nicolaus of Damascus had already mentioned it.


title: Theophrastus

text: In his treatise "On Stones" (), which would become a source for other lapidaries until at least the Renaissance, Theophrastus classified rocks and gems based on their behavior when heated, further grouping minerals by common properties, such as amber and magnetite, which both have the power of attraction.


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus describes different marbles; mentions coal, which he says is used for heating by metal-workers; describes the various metal ores; and knew that pumice stones had a volcanic origin. He also deals with precious stones, emeralds, amethysts, onyx, jasper, etc., and describes a variety of "sapphire" that was blue with veins of gold, and thus was presumably lapis lazuli.


title: Theophrastus

text: He knew that pearls came from shellfish, that coral came from India, and speaks of the fossilized remains of organic life. Theophrastus made the first known reference to the phenomenon, now known to be caused by pyroelectricity, that the mineral lyngurium (probably tourmaline) attracts straws and bits of wood when heated. He also considers the practical uses of various stones, such as the minerals necessary for the manufacture of glass; for the production of various pigments of paint such as ochre; and for the manufacture of plaster.


title: Theophrastus

text: Many of the rarer minerals were found in mines, and Theophrastus mentions the famous copper mines of Cyprus and the even more famous silver mines, presumably of Laurium near Athens – the basis of the wealth of the city – as well as referring to gold mines. The Laurium silver mines, which were the property of the state, were usually leased for a fixed sum and a percentage on the working. Towards the end of the fifth century BCE the output fell, partly owing to the Spartan occupation of Decelea from BCE. But the mines continued to be worked, though Strabo ( BCE to CE) records that in his time the tailings were being worked over, and Pausanias ( to ) speaks of the mines as a thing of the past. The ancient workings, consisting of shafts and galleries for excavating the ore, and washing tables for extracting the metal, may still be seen. Theophrastus wrote a separate work "On Mining", which – like most of his writings – is a lost work.


title: Theophrastus

text: Pliny the Elder makes clear references to his use of "On Stones" in his "Naturalis Historia" of 77 AD, while updating and making much new information available on minerals himself. Although Pliny's treatment of the subject is more extensive, Theophrastus is more systematic and his work is comparatively free from fable and magic, although he did describe lyngurium, a gemstone supposedly formed of the solidified urine of the lynx (the best ones coming from wild males), which featured in many lapidaries until it gradually disappeared from view in the 17th century.


title: Theophrastus

text: The extent to which Theophrastus followed Aristotle's doctrines, or defined them more accurately, or conceived them in a different form, and what additional structures of thought he placed upon them, can only be partially determined because of the loss of so many of his writings. Many of his opinions have to be reconstructed from the works of later writers such as Alexander of Aphrodisias and Simplicius.


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus seems to have carried out still further the grammatical foundation of logic and rhetoric, since in his book on the elements of speech, he distinguished the main parts of speech from the subordinate parts, and also direct expressions ( ) from metaphorical expressions, and dealt with the emotions ( ) of speech. He further distinguished a twofold reference of speech ( ) to things ( ) and to the hearers, and referred poetry and rhetoric to the latter.


title: Theophrastus

text: He wrote at length on the unity of judgment, on the different kinds of negation, and on the difference between unconditional and conditional necessity. In his doctrine of syllogisms he brought forward the proof for the conversion of universal affirmative judgments, differed from Aristotle here and there in the laying down and arranging the "modi" of the syllogisms, partly in the proof of them, partly in the doctrine of mixture, i.e. of the influence of the modality of the premises upon the modality of the conclusion. Then, in two separate works, he dealt with the reduction of arguments to the syllogistic form and on the resolution of them; and further, with hypothetical conclusions. For the doctrine of proof, Galen quotes the second "Analytic" of Theophrastus, in conjunction with that of Aristotle, as the best treatises on that doctrine. In different monographs he seems to have tried to expand it into a general theory of science. To this, too, may have belonged the proposition quoted from his "Topics", that the "principles of opposites" are themselves opposed, and cannot be deduced from one and the same higher genus. For the rest, some minor deviations from the Aristotelian definitions are quoted from the "Topica" of Theophrastus. Closely connected with this treatise was that upon ambiguous words or ideas, which, without doubt, corresponded to book Ε of Aristotle's "Metaphysics".


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus introduced his Physics with the proof that all natural existence, being corporeal and composite, requires "principles", and first and foremost, motion, as the basis of all change. Denying the substance of space, he seems to have regarded it, in opposition to Aristotle, as the mere arrangement and position ( and ) of bodies. Time he called an accident of motion, without, it seems, viewing it, with Aristotle, as the numerical determinant of motion. He attacked the doctrine of the four classical elements and challenged whether fire could be called a primary element when it appears to be compound, requiring, as it does, another material for its own nutriment.


title: Theophrastus

text: He departed more widely from Aristotle in his doctrine of motion, since on the one hand he extended it over all categories, and did not limit it to those laid down by Aristotle. He viewed motion, with Aristotle, as an activity, not carrying its own goal in itself (), of that which only potentially exists, but he opposed Aristotle's view that motion required a special explanation, and he regarded it as something proper both to nature in general and the celestial system in particular:


title: Theophrastus

text: He recognised no activity without motion, and so referred all activities of the soul to motion: the desires and emotions to corporeal motion, judgment () and contemplation to spiritual motion. The idea of a spirit entirely independent of organic activity, must therefore have appeared to him very doubtful; yet he appears to have contented himself with developing his doubts and difficulties on the point, without positively rejecting it. Other Peripatetics, like Dicaearchus, Aristoxenus, and especially Strato, developed further this naturalism in Aristotelian doctrine.


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus seems, generally speaking, where the investigation overstepped the limits of experience, to have preferred to develop the difficulties rather than solve them, as is especially apparent in his "Metaphysics". He was doubtful of Aristotle's teleology and recommended that such ideas be used with caution:


title: Theophrastus

text: He did not follow the incessant attempts by Aristotle to refer phenomena to their ultimate foundations, or his attempts to unfold the internal connections between the latter, and between them and phenomena. In antiquity, it was a subject of complaint that Theophrastus had not expressed himself with precision and consistency respecting God, and had understood it at one time as Heaven, at another an (enlivening) breath ("pneuma").


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus did not allow a happiness resting merely upon virtue, or, consequently, to hold fast by the unconditional value of morality. He subordinated moral requirements to the advantage at least of a friend, and had allowed in prosperity the existence of an influence injurious to them. In later times, fault was found with his expression in the "Callisthenes", "life is ruled by fortune, not wisdom" (""). That in the definition of pleasure, likewise, he did not coincide with Aristotle, seems to be indicated by the titles of two of his writings, one of which dealt with pleasure generally, the other with pleasure as Aristotle had defined it. Although, like his teacher, he preferred contemplative (theoretical), to active (practical) life, he preferred to set the latter free from the restraints of family life, etc. in a manner of which Aristotle would not have approved.


title: Theophrastus

text: Theophrastus was opposed to eating meat on the grounds that it robbed animals of life and was therefore unjust. Non-human animals, he said, can reason, sense, and feel just as human beings do.


title: Theophrastus

text: The marble herm figure with the bearded head of philosopher type, bearing the explicit inscription, must be taken as purely conventional. Unidentified portrait heads did not find a ready market in post-Renaissance Rome. This bust was formerly in the collection of marchese Pietro Massimi at Palazzo Massimi and belonged to marchese L. Massimi at the time the engraving was made. It is now in the Villa Albani, Rome (inv. 1034). The inscribed bust has often been illustrated in engravings and photographs: a photograph of it forms the frontispiece to the Loeb Classical Library "Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants" vol. I, 1916. André Thevet illustrated in his iconographic compendium, (Paris, 1584), an alleged portrait plagiarized from the bust, supporting his fraud with the invented tale that he had obtained it from the library of a Greek in Cyprus and that he had seen a confirming bust in the ruins of Antioch.


title: Theophrastus

text: A board game named Theophrastus was released in 2001. Players compete through a series of Alchemy experiments in order to become Theophrastus's apprentice.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: The Scharnhorst" class was a class of German battleships (or battlecruisers) built immediately prior to World War II. The first capital ships of Nazi Germany's "Kriegsmarine", it comprised two vessels: and . "Scharnhorst" was launched first, and is considered to be the lead ship by some sources; they are also referred to as the Gneisenau" class in some other sources, as "Gneisenau" was the first to be laid down and commissioned. They marked the beginning of German naval rearmament after the Treaty of Versailles. The ships were armed with nine 28 cm (11 in) SK C/34 guns in three triple turrets; plans to replace these with six 38 cm (15 in) SK C/34 guns in twin turrets were never realized.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: The two ships were laid down in 1935, launched in late 1936, and commissioned into the German fleet by early 1939. "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" operated together for the early years of World War II, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping. The two ships participated in Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. During operations off Norway, the two ships engaged the battlecruiser and sank the aircraft carrier on 8 June 1940. In the engagement with "Glorious", "Scharnhorst" achieved one of the longest-range naval gunfire hits in history. In early 1942, the two ships made a daylight dash up the English Channel from occupied France to Germany.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: In late 1942, "Gneisenau" was heavily damaged in an Allied air raid against Kiel. In early 1943, "Scharnhorst" joined the in Norway to interdict Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. "Scharnhorst" and several destroyers sortied from Norway to attack a convoy; the Germans were instead intercepted by British naval patrols. During the battle of North Cape, a force led by the Royal Navy battleship sank "Scharnhorst". In the meantime, repair work on "Gneisenau" had begun, and the ship was in the process of being rearmed. When "Scharnhorst" was sunk, work on her sister was abandoned. Instead, she was sunk as a blockship in Gotenhafen in 1945; the wreck was broken up for scrap in the 1950s.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: They were the first class of German ships to be officially classified by the Kriegsmarine as "Schlachtschiff" (battleship). Previous German battleships were classified as "Linienschiffe" (ships of the line), and "Panzerschiffe" (armored ship).


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: Their adversary, the Royal Navy, rated them as battlecruisers but after the war reclassified them as battleships. "Jane's Fighting Ships 1940" lists both the "Scharnhorst" and es as "Battleships ("Schlachtschiffe")" Another adversary, the United States Navy, rated them as battleships. In English language reference works they are sometimes referred to as battleships and sometimes as battlecruisers.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: The Treaty of Versailles, which established the terms concluding World War I, restricted German naval shipbuilding to warships displacing no more than . Debates in Germany over the role and size of its navy continued through the 1920s, when increased naval shipbuilding in France and the Soviet Union prompted the Germans to begin drawing up designs for large capital ships. The first design, completed in 1928, called for a battlecruiser armed with eight 30.5 cm (12 in) guns in four twin gun turrets, based on the design for the s that had not been completed during the war. In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany; he made clear to the naval command that he had no intention of building a large fleet to challenge British supremacy at sea. He was primarily concerned with the possibility of a limited war with France, which would require the protection of German sea lanes. To this end, he authorized two more ships—the —to augment the three "Panzerschiffe" (armored ships). These ships would displace 19,000 tons and have the same armament and speed as the "Panzerschiffe"; the extra tonnage would be taken up by increased protection. Hitler wanted to follow this course so he would not be seen as overtly flouting the Treaty of Versailles. He did not realize that such "unsinkable" commerce raiders would provoke Great Britain more severely than 26,000-ton battlecruisers armed with 28.3 cm (11.1 inch) guns, which would be regarded as inferior to all the Royal Navy battleships and battlecruisers then in commission.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: To combat the German "Panzerschiffe", the French built two small s in the early 1930s. This in turn prompted the German navy to begin plans for a more powerful battlecruiser design. Since 1933, Erich Raeder, the head of the German Navy, had argued to increase the defensive qualities of the "Panzerschiffe", and to increase the offensive power of the main battery with the addition of a third triple turret. This was also the view of the "Kriegsmarine", which saw the 19,000-ton design as being unbalanced. Hitler agreed to increased armor protection and internal subdivision, but refused to permit an increase in armament. Finally, by February 1934, Hitler acquiesced over the addition of the third turret. The new ship would displace and be armed with nine 28.3 cm guns in three triple turrets. To secure political freedom to build the new ships, Hitler concluded the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which guaranteed Great Britain a 3 to 1 superiority in capital ships, and, more importantly, removed the limitations of the Treaty of Versailles for the German navy.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: The construction of new D-class cruisers were canceled to make way for "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau". The provisional names of the planned D-class cruisers, "Ersatz Elsass" and "Ersatz Hessen", were reallocated to the new ships, the contracts for which were awarded to the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven and the Deutsche Werke in Kiel. Construction was held up by 14 months, partly because Hitler wanted to secure the treaty with Britain before work began, and partly due to numerous design changes after the ships had been ordered.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: Because the maximum caliber of naval gun allowed under the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was 40.6 cm (16 inch), Hitler soon had second thoughts about the guns to be used for the new ships and ordered that they be armed with 38 cm (15 inch) weapons. The 28.3 cm turrets were readily available; 38 cm turrets would take years to develop, and Hitler wanted capital ships as soon as possible to fulfill his political ideals. He was also reminded that, despite the allowances of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, the British had historically been sensitive about increases in main gun calibers aboard German capital ships. He therefore acquiesced to the ships' being armed with 28.3 cm guns, with the provision that they be upgunned to 38 cm at the earliest opportunity. The 38 cm turret was eventually used in the "Bismarck"-class battleships.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" were long at the waterline; "Scharnhorst" was long overall, while "Gneisenau" had a slightly shorter overall length, at . The ships both had a beam of . They were designed to displace , which would have given the ships a draft of . At standard displacement of , which reduced draft to , while at a full combat load of , draft increased to . The ships' hulls were constructed from longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plates were welded. Their hulls contained 21 watertight compartments and had a double bottom for 79% of their length.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: The German navy considered the ships to be poor sea boats; they were bow-heavy when fully equipped and very "wet" as high as the bridge. This problem was mitigated to some extent by replacement of the straight stem with an "Atlantic bow" to both "Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst" in January and August 1939 respectively; use of the "A" turret remained restricted in heavy seas. The ships' stern was also frequently "wet", they were very slow entering a turn, and always required assistance from tugboats in shallow waters. With the rudder hard over, the ships lost over 50% speed and heeled over more than 10°. During trials, the ships heeled as much as 13° at hard rudder.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" had a crew of between 56 and 60 officers and 1,613 to 1,780 enlisted men. The crew was augmented by another 10 officers and 61 men when serving as a squadron flagship. They carried a number of smaller watercraft, including two picket boats, two launches, two barges, two pinnaces, two cutters, two yawls, and two dinghies.


title: Scharnhorst-class battleship

text: Initially, diesel propulsion was planned for these ships, as had been used for the three "Panzerschiffe". It was decided to use superheated steam propulsion, as the required total output for the desired speed was three times that of the "Panzerschiffe". In the case of triple-screw ships, this would have meant more than twice the horsepower per shaft of the "Panzerschiffe", and in the case of a quadruple-screw ship, this would have amounted to more than 40,000 horsepower per shaft. This requirement was beyond the diesel technology then available, and devising engines that could meet this demand would take an unforeseeable amount of time. Since high-pressure superheated steam had already proved successful, it was considered the most suitable choice for high power machinery.