title: Kyūjō incident

text: At some time after 01:00, Hatanaka and his men surrounded the palace. Hatanaka, Shiizaki, Ida, and Captain Shigetarō Uehara (of the Air Force Academy) went to the office of Lt. General Takeshi Mori to ask him to join the coup. Mori was in a meeting with his brother-in-law, Michinori Shiraishi. The cooperation of Mori, as commander of the 1st Imperial Guards Division, was crucial. When Mori refused to side with Hatanaka, Hatanaka murdered him, fearing Mori would order the Guards to stop the rebellion. Uehara killed Shiraishi. These were the only two murders of the night. Hatanaka then used General Mori's official stamp to authorize Imperial Guards Division Strategic Order No. 584, a false set of orders created by his co-conspirators, which would greatly increase the strength of the forces occupying the Imperial Palace and Imperial Household Ministry, and "protecting" the emperor.


title: Kyūjō incident

text: The palace police were disarmed and all the entrances blocked. Over the course of the night, Hatanaka's rebels captured and detained eighteen people, including Ministry staff and NHK workers sent to record the surrender speech.


title: Kyūjō incident

text: The rebels, led by Hatanaka, spent the next several hours fruitlessly searching for Imperial Household Minister Sōtarō Ishiwata, Lord of the Privy Seal Kōichi Kido, and the recordings of the surrender speech. The two men were hiding in the "bank vault", a large chamber underneath the Imperial Palace. The search was made more difficult by a blackout in response to Allied bombings, and by the archaic organization and layout of the Imperial House Ministry. Many of the names of the rooms were unrecognizable to the rebels. The rebels did find the chamberlain Yoshihiro Tokugawa. Although Hatanaka threatened to disembowel him with a samurai sword, Tokugawa lied and told them he did not know where the recordings or men were. During their search, the rebels cut nearly all of the telephone wires, severing communications between their prisoners on the palace grounds and the outside world.


title: Kyūjō incident

text: At about the same time, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, another group of Hatanaka's rebels led by Captain Takeo Sasaki went to Prime Minister Suzuki's office, intent on killing him. When they found it empty, they machine-gunned the office and set the building on fire, then left for his home. Hisatsune Sakomizu had warned Suzuki, and he escaped minutes before the would-be assassins arrived. After setting fire to Suzuki's home, they went to the estate of Kiichirō Hiranuma to assassinate him. Hiranuma escaped through a side gate and the rebels burned his house as well. Suzuki spent the rest of August under police protection, spending each night in a different bed.


title: Kyūjō incident

text: Around 03:00, Hatanaka was informed by Lieutenant Colonel Masataka Ida that the Eastern District Army was on its way to the palace to stop him, and that he should give up. Finally, seeing his plan collapsing around him, Hatanaka pleaded with Tatsuhiko Takashima, Chief of Staff of the Eastern District Army, to be given at least ten minutes on the air on NHK radio, to explain to the people of Japan what he was trying to accomplish and why. He was refused. Colonel Haga, commander of the Second Regiment of the First Imperial Guards, discovered that the Army did not support this rebellion, and he ordered Hatanaka to leave the palace grounds.


title: Kyūjō incident

text: Just before 05:00, as his rebels continued their search, Major Hatanaka went to NHK studios, and, brandishing a pistol, tried desperately to get some airtime to explain his actions. A little over an hour later, after receiving a telephone call from the Eastern District Army, Hatanaka finally gave up. He gathered his officers and walked out of the NHK studio.


title: Kyūjō incident

text: At dawn, Tanaka learned that the palace had been invaded. He went there and confronted the rebellious officers, berating them for acting contrary to the spirit of the Japanese army. He convinced them to return to their barracks. By 08:00, the rebellion was entirely dismantled, having succeeded in holding the palace grounds for much of the night but failing to find the recordings.


title: Kyūjō incident

text: Hatanaka, on a motorcycle, and Shiizaki, on horseback, rode through the streets, tossing leaflets that explained their motives and their actions. Within an hour before the emperor's broadcast, sometime around 11:00, August 15, Hatanaka placed his pistol to his forehead, and shot himself. Shiizaki stabbed himself with a dagger, and then shot himself. In Hatanaka's pocket was his death poem: "I have nothing to regret now that the dark clouds have disappeared from the reign of the Emperor."


title: Telephone numbers in Japan

text: Geographic numbers are nine digits long, including the area code, but not including the leading zero. Consequently, densely populated areas have shorter area codes, while less populated areas have longer area codes. For example:


title: Telephone numbers in Japan

text: Area codes increase from north to south; Sapporo in Hokkaidō (the northernmost prefecture) has 11, and Setouchi's 99-73 is far to the south in Kagoshima. When the telephone system was devised, Okinawa was still under U.S. occupation, so when it was returned to Japan in 1972, its telephone numbers were squeezed between Miyazaki (98x) and Kagoshima (99x) and begin with 988, 989, and 980.


title: Telephone numbers in Japan

text: During the 1990s, when plans were being drawn up to amalgamate mid-sized cities and towns into larger municipalities, telephone numbering systems were merged in advance. For example,


title: Telephone numbers in Japan

text: Many of these towns have in fact refused to merge, leaving callers with more digits to dial when making local calls. This is partially balanced by not having to dial an area code for the neighboring city.


title: Telephone numbers in Japan

text: After entering the 2010s, local products and events have begun using names which come from the area code.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Tom Brady–Bill Belichick era, also known as the Brady–Belichick era, the New England Patriots dynasty, or the Patriots dynasty, was a sports dynasty of the New England Patriots in the National Football League (NFL) that lasted from the 2001 to the 2019 season. The dynasty is named after quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, who are regarded as among the greatest in their respective positions. Belichick and Brady are consistently credited with the Patriots' success and are considered responsible for one of the sport's longest and most dominant dynasties. They are also credited with helping to create and sustain the culture around the team, dubbed the "Patriot Way", where there is an emphasis on personal accountability, consistent improvement, and a focus on team success over personal gain.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Under Belichick and Brady, the Patriots played in nine Super Bowls, more than any other NFL franchise, and won a league-record six (tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers). They also had 19 consecutive winning seasons, 17 division titles (including 11 consecutive from 2009 to 2019), 13 AFC Championship Game appearances (including eight consecutive from 2011 to 2018), and the only undefeated 16-game regular season in 2007. The Patriots appeared in half of all Super Bowls played during Brady's 18 seasons as the primary starter and won two-thirds of those they played in.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In addition to helping set the Patriots' franchise records, Brady and Belichick hold the records for the most Super Bowl appearances and victories by a player and head coach, respectively. Belichick also holds the records for the most playoff wins by a head coach (31) and Super Bowl appearances by an individual (11), while Brady holds the quarterback records for career wins (264), regular season wins (230), and playoff wins (34) and the record for Super Bowl MVP awards (five).


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The era came to an end when Brady left the Patriots as a free agent for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2020.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Belichick first moved to the Patriots in 1996 to serve as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for Bill Parcells. He previously spent 13 years with the New York Giants from 1979 to 1990. During this period, he was the defensive coordinator during the Giants' 20–19 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots went 11–5 in 1996 and earned a trip to Super Bowl XXXI, but lost to the Green Bay Packers. Belichick subsequently served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the New York Jets. When Parcells, then their head coach, retired in 1999, Belichick resigned as his successor and went to New England, this time as their head coach. In his tenure in New England, the Patriots have missed the playoffs only four times: 2000 (5–11), 2002 (9–7), 2008 (11–5), and 2020 (7–9). In 2008, Belichick coached the Patriots to an 11–5 record despite losing franchise quarterback Tom Brady in Week 1 versus the Kansas City Chiefs. A series of division tiebreakers left the 11–5 Miami Dolphins as AFC East champions, making the 2008 Patriots the second team in NFL history to go 11-5 and miss the playoffs.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In 2010, he was selected as the first team head coach in the National Football League 2000s All-Decade Team. He has won the AP Coach of the Year award three times in his career, all during his time with the Patriots. As head coach, Belichick is 225–79 (.740 winning percentage) in regular season games and has coached the Patriots to 40 postseason games, winning 30. From 2010 to 2017, Belichick coached the Patriots to 8 consecutive 12+ win seasons, an NFL record. The Patriots, since 2002, have lost more than 5 games just three times. As the Patriots head coach, Belichick has had just two losing seasons, in 2000 and 2020. In 21 seasons from 2001 onwards, the Patriots have won 16 AFC East titles and earned a wild-card berth in 2021. Such dominance in the salary cap era, which limits teams in how much they can pay players and therefore forces parity, is credited to Belichick's football prowess.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Belichick is known for taking players that otherwise had lackluster or declining careers and making them productive for one or more seasons. He is credited for doing this with players such as RB Corey Dillon, who gained 1,738 yards from scrimmage, including 1,635 rushing yards. Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss was traded to New England in 2007 after lackluster play for the Oakland Raiders, but went on to catch 23 touchdowns in 2007, setting an NFL record. Belichick drafted wide receiver Julian Edelman in the 7th round. Edelman went on to set a franchise record for postseason receptions and caught one of the most memorable catches in Super Bowl LI. He also earned a Super Bowl MVP award two years later. Most notably, Belichick is credited with drafting quarterback Tom Brady with the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. Brady went on to help the Patriots form a dynasty that lasted from 2001 until 2019, and currently holds every NFL postseason passing record except yards per attempt and completion percentage.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Belichick is third all-time for wins as a coach. He is the longest tenured active coach in the NFL, and has won the most postseason games, with 31. He is the only coach to win three Super Bowls in four years and the only head coach to have won 6 Super Bowls.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady attended college at the University of Michigan, where he battled for the starting role with Brian Griese and Drew Henson. He led the Wolverines to the 2000 Orange Bowl, with a record 10–2 as starter during the regular season. Despite trailing by two scores twice during the game, Brady led the Wolverines to an overtime win over the Alabama Crimson Tide, 35–34. His come-from-behind victory earned him the nickname "Comeback Kid".


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Due to questions about his starting ability in college and uninspiring physical statistics, Brady fell in the 2000 Draft until he was selected in the 6th round by the New England Patriots. He spent his rookie year as backup to franchise quarterback Drew Bledsoe and would not start a game until the next year when Bledsoe, who had just signed a 10-year, $103 million contract that offseason, was seriously injured by a sideline hit by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis on September 23, 2001.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady went 11–3 as a starter in 2001, leading the Patriots to the Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams. Despite trailing 17–3 in the second half, the Rams stormed back to tie the game 17–17 with 1:30 left in the game. With no time outs, the Patriots drove downfield to set up a 48-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri to win the game in the closing seconds.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady currently holds the NFL postseason record for appearances, wins, pass attempts, completions, yards, and touchdowns. In the Super Bowl, Brady holds the record for most pass attempts, completions, touchdowns, and yards. In Super Bowl LI he helped the Patriots, who were down 28–3 in the third quarter against the Atlanta Falcons, score 31 unanswered points and win the game in overtime, 34–28, and set a Super Bowl record in the process with 466 passing yards. The following year, he broke his own record by throwing for a record 505 yards in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady currently holds every Super Bowl record in passing except for completion percentage and interceptions. In his 10 appearances in 22 years, he has came away with 7 wins and 5 Super Bowl MVPs (including 1 appearance, win and MVP with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: With the Patriots, Brady threw touchdowns to 77 different players, setting an NFL record (previously held by Vinny Testaverde, with 70). Upon completion of the 2021 season, he had extended his record to 92.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In the 2000 NFL Draft, first year head coach Bill Belichick was looking for ways to improve a New England Patriots team that had not been to a Super Bowl since 1996. Belichick had been hired after 3rd-year head coach Pete Carroll was fired following the 1999 season. Prior to the draft the Patriots sent quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein to scout quarterbacks for the draft. When Rehbein returned, he stated that Brady was the best quarterback prospect for the Patriots' system. Despite the Patriots already having a franchise quarterback in Drew Bledsoe, they drafted Tom Brady in the sixth round.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots went 5–11 in 2000, the last losing season the Patriots had until 2020. Belichick, after a loss during the season, claimed that "I can't win games with 40 good players while the other team has 53" after many players showed up to camp out of condition.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In 2001, Belichick made major reforms. The beginning of the culture he brought to New England, dubbed the "Patriot Way", was beginning to show with wide receiver Terry Glenn's contract holdout. The Patriots could not afford to raise Glenn's salary, and Belichick suspended Glenn indefinitely after repeated failed drug tests. Glenn did not receive a ring when the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI that year.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots started 0–1, and faced a division rival in Week 2 against the New York Jets. Late in the game, down 10–3, quarterback Drew Bledsoe rolled out of the pocket and tried to scramble down the sideline, until he was nearly fatally hit by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. In the hospital later that day, Bledsoe came perilously close to death resulting from internal bleeding sustained in the hit. The concussion alone had been more than enough to sideline him for the remainder of the game. The Patriots lost the game, moving to 0–2. Second year backup QB Tom Brady started the next game against the Indianapolis Colts, the first of 17 games in the famous Tom Brady–Peyton Manning rivalry. Brady landed the opening salvo, taking the first of his 11 wins in the series, including two playoff games. The Patriots finished the season on an 11–3 run to go 11–5 overall. The playoffs saw New England beat the Oakland Raiders in the Tuck Rule Game that closed Foxboro Stadium, then the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road; they ended the season with an upset of the heavily favored St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, 20–17.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots started off 2002 hot, winning their first three games to open up the new Gillette Stadium, but losing the next four. They ended with a 9–7 record, but a series of division and conference tiebreakers forced the Patriots out of the playoffs. It was one of only two times in the Brady/Belichick era that the Patriots missed the playoffs, and the only time with Brady as their starting quarterback. (They also missed the playoffs in 2008, when Matt Cassel replaced an injured Brady.)


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Ahead of the 2003 season, Bill Belichick surprisingly released strong safety Lawyer Milloy in the offseason due to contract issues. As a replacement he signed hard-hitting enforcer Rodney Harrison, whose career appeared to be on the decline until that point. By the time Harrison retired in 2008, he held the NFL record for most sacks by a defensive back (30.5) and became the first defensive player to have 30 sacks and 30 interceptions; he also holds the Patriots' team record for postseason interceptions, with seven.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots lost their season opener 31–0 to the Buffalo Bills, who had signed Milloy days earlier. It was the worst loss of the Brady/Belichick era. What followed has been called one of the most successful two year stretches by a team in NFL history. The Patriots lost just three more games in 2003 and 2004 combined, culminating in back-to-back Super Bowl victories (Super Bowls XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers and XXXIX over the Philadelphia Eagles). In 2004, they set the then-NFL record for consecutive victories, from Week 5, 2003 through Week 7, 2004. Through the 2022 season, the 2003–04 Patriots remain the last team to repeat as Super Bowl champions.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: 2005 was somewhat of a down year for the Patriots as they finished with a 10–6 record. The 2005 season featured injuries to many key players including safety Rodney Harrison and forced the Patriots to start 45 different players throughout the season, an NFL record. Linebacker Tedy Bruschi suffered a stroke and missed the beginning of the season before returning for the October 30 game against the Buffalo Bills. Despite the injuries, the Patriots won the AFC East for the third straight time. They defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card round, but lost to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional round, committing five turnovers.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In 2006, the Patriots came back strong, going 12–4 and winning the AFC East again. After beating the New York Jets and San Diego Chargers in the wildcard and divisional rounds, they squandered a 21–3 halftime lead against the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game and lost 38–34.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In 2007, the Patriots became the first team to win every regular season game since the NFL schedule was extended to 16 games. They outscored opposing teams by an average of 36–17. Brady won MVP for the first time in his career, throwing for 4800 yards and an NFL record 50 touchdowns. Wide receiver Randy Moss, traded to New England from the Oakland Raiders for a 4th round pick, caught an NFL record 23 touchdown passes, a record that still stands. After beating the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Diego Chargers in the playoffs, New England suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, 17–14, the same team New England had beaten in week 17 to cap the 16–0 record. Super Bowl XLII became renowned for the miraculous play made by Eli Manning and David Tyree, which became known as The Helmet Catch. With the loss, the Patriots failed to match the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team in NFL history to complete a perfect season (regular season and playoffs).


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The 2008 season started off with disaster for the Patriots, when Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite the loss of Brady, Belichick coached the Patriots, with backup QB Matt Cassel under center, to a respectable 11–5 record. A series of division and conference tiebreakers made the 11–5 Miami Dolphins AFC East champions and allowed the 11–5 Baltimore Ravens to clinch the sixth and final conference playoff berth. The 2008 Patriots became the second 11-win team in NFL history to not make the playoffs (the other being the 1985 Denver Broncos).


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The 2009 season was important for several reasons. They started the year with a comeback against the Buffalo Bills to go 1–0. Their week 6 opponent, the Tennessee Titans, were the Patriots faced that season who had already lost a game. The Patriots beat the Titans 59–0, tying the NFL record for the largest blowout since the 1970 merger. After a string of losses, including a heartbreaking road loss to the undefeated Indianapolis Colts, the Patriots finished 10–6 but lost to the Baltimore Ravens 33–14 in the Wild Card round. Brady had a comeback year, throwing for 4,300 yards and 28 touchdowns.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In 2010, the Patriots went 14–2 and won the AFC East outright. Brady became the first unanimous NFL MVP, as well as the Offensive Player of the year. Despite all of the regular season hype, the Patriots failed to live up to it in the playoffs, losing in the Divisional Round to the division rival New York Jets 28–21.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In 2011, the Patriots had another strong year, finishing with a 13–3 record, winning the AFC East, and making it to the Super Bowl. Tom Brady threw for 5,235 yards, still short of the NFL single-season record which was set by Drew Brees in the same season. In Super Bowl XLVI, against the New York Giants, Brady was pressured again and had difficulty scoring points. Another miracle play for the Giants offense made by Eli Manning on a pass to Mario Manningham allowed the Giants offense to take a late lead over the Patriots in the fourth quarter. The Patriots again lost to Manning and the Giants, 21–17.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: For the 2012 season, Brady threw for 4,827 yards and rushing for a career-high 4 touchdowns. After beating the Houston Texans in the Divisional round, they lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game 28–13.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady and Belichick led the 2013 Patriots team to a 12–4 record, earning the team a first round playoff bye week for the fourth year in a row even despite Brady only throwing 25 touchdowns and adding 11 interceptions. The premier victory of the Patriots regular season came in Week 6 against the New Orleans Saints. Despite consecutive Patriots drives ending in a 3-and-out and Brady throwing a seemingly game-ending interception with 2:16 left in the fourth quarter, the Patriots defense forced the Saints to punt with 1:13 left in the game. Brady then led the Patriots to score with only 5 seconds left, throwing a touchdown to Kenbrell Thompkins in the corner of the end zone. In the playoffs, the Patriots easily made it to the AFC Championship Game, where they faced the Denver Broncos and their record-breaking offense. In another Tom Brady–Peyton Manning rivalry game, the Broncos won 26–16.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots began the 2014 season with a rough 2–2 record, including an embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4. Many sports writers were beginning to call for the end of the Patriots dynasty, which had not won a Super Bowl since the 2004 season. Still, the Patriots bounced back and went 10–2 down the stretch to finish the season 12–4. After coming back from two 14 point deficits to beat the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round, the Patriots routed the Indianapolis Colts 45–7 in the AFC Championship Game, earning their sixth Super Bowl appearance since 2001.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In Super Bowl XLIX, after throwing two interceptions and leaving his team down by 10 points in the 4th quarter, Brady led the Patriots on two touchdown drives against the Seattle Seahawks. The Patriots capped off the comeback with a touchdown pass to Julian Edelman with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. On the ensuing Seahawks drive, quarterback Russell Wilson threw a deep pass to wide receiver Jermaine Kearse that was initially deflected by cornerback Malcolm Butler. Kearse juggled the ball on his chest and caught it, giving Seattle a first down on the 5 yard line. Color commentator Cris Collinsworth compared the acrobatic catch to David Tyree's iconic "Helmet Catch" against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. On the next play, running back Marshawn Lynch rushed to the 1 yard line, where he was tackled by Dont'a Hightower. Hightower later made one of the best tackles of the game, as he had to push a lineman off of him and dive tackle Lynch with his shoulder. On the next play, with 26 seconds left in the game, Wilson threw the ball to the right, intended for Ricardo Lockette. Instead of a touchdown, undrafted rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler read the route and intercepted the ball on the goal line in one of the most iconic plays in a Super Bowl. The Patriots prevailed, 28–24.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots had a hot start to the 2015 season, winning their first ten games. A series of injuries, including Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Brandon LaFell, Dion Lewis, and at one point, the entire offensive line, led to the Patriots to lose four of their next six games. After beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round, Brady faced the vaunted Denver Broncos defense in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots lost, 20–18.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: As a result, from his involvement in the Deflategate scandal, Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season. With backups Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett, the Patriots started the year 3–1. With Brady back in Week 5, the Patriots lost just one game the rest of the season and dominated on the way to a 14–2 finish. After beating the Houston Texans and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs, the Patriots, who finished as the #3 scoring offense and the #1 scoring defense faced the Atlanta Falcons and their top-ranked scoring offense and 27th-ranked scoring defense in Super Bowl LI.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Early on, the Patriots' defense could not stop the high-powered Falcons offense. Brady was inconsistent, off on his throws, and threw an interception to Robert Alford that was returned for a touchdown, the first pick-six in Brady's postseason career. By halftime, the score was 21–3. The Falcons scored again in the third quarter to make the score 28–3, a 25-point deficit. In Super Bowls, the largest deficit ever overcome was 10 points. The Patriots scored 31 unanswered points to win the Super Bowl 34–28 in overtime. It was the first Super Bowl to go to overtime, as well as the largest deficit overcome. Brady won his fourth Super Bowl MVP after setting a Super Bowl record with 466 passing yards. 30 Super Bowl records were broken or tied in Super Bowl LI.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots started off the 2017 season slow yet again, going 2–2 before going 11–1 down the stretch to win another AFC East title and claiming the first seed in the AFC. Brady became the oldest MVP in the NFL, at 40. He also became the oldest quarterback to lead the NFL in passing with, 4,577 yards. After defeating the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars in the playoffs, they faced backup quarterback Nick Foles and the high-powered Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. The Patriots were aiming to be the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since they themselves won back-to-back from 2003 to 2004. In a high-scoring shootout, Brady was slated to lead the Patriots to another comeback victory late in the fourth quarter when Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham strip sacked Brady and the Eagles recovered the ball, securing a Patriots defeat, 41–33. Brady set another Super Bowl record with 505 passing yards, breaking the record he set the year before.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots drew much criticism in 2018 after losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the winless Detroit Lions in the first three weeks; both teams ended below a .500 winning percentage for the season. The Patriots bounced back with a string of wins, including a Sunday Night thriller at home against the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, who were led by young quarterback Patrick Mahomes; Mahomes threw over 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns for the season and won the NFL MVP award.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In Week 14 against the Miami Dolphins, the Patriots led with 7 seconds left in the game. On the last play, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill passed the ball to Kenny Stills, who lateraled the ball to DeVante Parker, who in turn tossed the ball to Kenyan Drake. Drake then ran the remaining 53 yards for the touchdown with no time on the clock, immortalizing the play in NFL lore as the Miracle in Miami.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: For the first time in almost a decade, the Patriots finished the season with more than four losses, at 11–5, but secured the AFC East for a record 10th consecutive time (an NFL record and tying the Atlanta Braves for most consecutive playoff berths) and the AFC's second seed, behind the 12–4 Chiefs. After handily defeating the Los Angeles Chargers by a score of 41–28 in the Divisional round, the Patriots faced Mahomes and the vaunted Chiefs offense in the AFC Championship Game. After leading 14–0 at halftime, the Patriots fought a comeback by the Chiefs and forced the game to overtime at 31-31. On the first drive of OT the Patriots quickly moved downfield through critical third down completions to Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, setting up a touchdown run by Rex Burkhead. Belichick and Brady earned their third straight trip to the Super Bowl and their ninth overall, more than any other coach/quarterback duo.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In Super Bowl LIII, the Patriots' stiff defense held the high-scoring Los Angeles Rams offense to three points all game, sacking quarterback Jared Goff four times, intercepting him once, and allowing only a 57.6 passer rating. The Patriots' offense started slow, with Brady throwing an early interception. They came back late in the fourth quarter, with Brady lobbing a 29-yard pass to Gronkowski, capped by a two-yard touchdown run by rookie Sony Michel. On the Patriots' next drive, kicker Stephen Gostkowski cemented the win, 13–3. It is the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, and Brady and Belichick's sixth and final Super Bowl win together.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: The Patriots started 8–0, but went 4–4 down the stretch to finish 12–4, including a stunning Week 17 loss to the Miami Dolphins at home, coached at the time by former Patriots assistant Brian Flores, who had coached for the Patriots organization from 2004-2018. The loss, which was their first home loss to the Dolphins since 2008, cost New England a first-round playoff bye, forcing them to play a wild card game for the first time since 2009, in which they faced the Tennessee Titans, coached by ex-Patriots linebacker and former Brady teammate Mike Vrabel, who played for the Patriots from 2001-2008. The Titans shocked the Patriots 20–13 at Gillette Stadium, avenging their 2003 and 2017 Divisional round defeats at the same venue and marking the first time the Patriots had not advanced to the AFC Championship Game since 2010 and was the Titans' first win at New England since 1993, when the club was known as the Houston Oilers. Brady's last pass as a Patriot was a pick-six to former teammate Logan Ryan, who joined the Titans in 2017 after spending his first four years with the Patriots and winning two Super Bowls (XLIX, LI).


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on March 17, 2020, separating the Belichick and Brady duo, while the Patriots signed ex-Carolina Panthers quarterback and 2015 MVP Cam Newton as their quarterback for the 2020 season. Brady and the Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV in his first season in Tampa Bay, while Belichick and Newton finished with the Patriots' first sub-.500 season in twenty years. Following the season, the Patriots would draft quarterback Mac Jones with the fifteenth-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, releasing Newton after Jones won the starting job.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: During week 4 of the 2021 season, Brady's Buccaneers visited the Patriots, led by Belichick and Jones, in which Tampa Bay narrowly won the game 19–17 off a missed field goal in the final seconds from Nick Folk. In the week leading up to the matchup, both Brady and Belichick spoke fondly of their time with one another in the press, with Brady calling Belichick a "great mentor" and Belichick calling Brady a "special player". Patriots owner Robert Kraft greeted Brady outside of the locker room hours before the game, and the two exchanged warm words. Brady received a standing ovation at Gillette Stadium when he took the field for warmups, with Patriots fans chanting his name. The stadium's video screens showed a tribute video shortly before kickoff highlighting Brady's accomplishments during his 20-year tenure with the team.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: During the game, Brady officially surpassed Drew Brees for the most career passing yards in NFL history. With the victory over his former team, Brady became the fourth quarterback in NFL history to record a win against all 32 current teams in the league, joining Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees. In addition, he became the sixth quarterback to have a victory against every incumbent NFL franchise after Fran Tarkenton and Joe Montana, as the league only had 28 teams during the latter two's respective tenures.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: While the Patriots fans gave quarterback Brady a warm reception prior to the game, the cheers turned to boos when he took the field with the Buccaneers offense, as he was now on the opposing team. Immediately after the Buccaneers victory, Brady and Belichick shared a quick embrace on the field before Brady greeted his former teammates and other members of the Patriots organization. Though fans criticized Belichick for his lack of warmth displayed towards his former quarterback, the two privately spoke at length in the Buccaneers locker room following the match.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady's return to New England became the second most-watched "Sunday Night Football" game on NBC. The broadcast also scored a 43.8 rating and 70 share in Boston, making it the city's second-biggest audience for a regular season Patriots game after New England clinched their undefeated season against the New York Giants in 2007.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Brady would later announce his retirement from football on February 1, 2022, but later announced his unretirement on March 13, 2022.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: According to many writers and analysts, the culture that Bill Belichick upheld in New England, dubbed the "Patriot Way", helped to sustain the success the Patriots have enjoyed. Belichick has been known to be very punctual and attentive to detail in order to win. Players such as Brady, All-Pro Safety Devin McCourty, and longtime Patriot Julian Edelman were known to keep the culture around New England alive. For example, Brady consistently took pay cuts despite his elite performance.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: In 2017, Brady's cap value was only $14 million. Moreover, the total cash spent on Brady in 2017 was a mere $1 million. Despite such low pay, Brady played at an elite level and set several NFL records for a 40-year-old quarterback, culminating in an MVP award and a record-breaking 505 passing yards in a losing effort in Super Bowl LII. When asked why he accepted pay cuts and a salary below market value, Brady replied "I think the thing I've always felt for me in my life, winning has been a priority. And my wife (model Gisele Bündchen) makes a lot of money. I'm a little smarter than you think... Actually, it's a salary cap. You can only spend so much and the more that one guy gets is less for others. And for a competitive advantage standpoint, I like to get a lot of good players around me." Brady's willingness to take pay cuts allowed the Patriots to spend that money elsewhere on additional skill players. A famous example of this was in the signing of Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss in 2007. According to Patriots executives, Brady restructured his contract to allow the Patriots to acquire the cap space needed to sign Moss. Moss went on to set the NFL single season receiving touchdown record.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Another example of Belichick's disciplinarian demeanor is how he handled running back Jonas Gray. In Week 11 of the 2014 season against the Indianapolis Colts, Gray rushed for 201 yards and set a franchise record for touchdowns in a game with four. Despite this standout performance, he was active in only five more games for the Patriots, and was released less than a year later. The reason for this release was cited as him being late to practice a week after the Colts game, something Belichick is known not to tolerate.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Spygate was an incident during the 2007 NFL season, when the Patriots were disciplined by the league for videotaping New York Jets' defensive coaches' signals from an unauthorized location. Videotaping opposing coaches is not illegal in the NFL de jure, but there are designated areas allowed by the league to do such taping. Because the Patriots were instead videotaping the Jets' coaches from their own sideline, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell deemed it to be in violation of league rules, stating that the act represented a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid long-standing rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: After an investigation, the NFL fined Belichick $500,000 (the maximum allowed by the league and the largest fine ever imposed on a coach in league history) for his role in the incident, fined the Patriots $250,000, and docked the team their first-round selection in the 2008 NFL Draft. After the original incident, several other allegations were made against the Patriots filming opposing teams.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: Deflategate was a controversy involving the allegation that Brady ordered the deliberate deflating of footballs used in the Patriots' victory against the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014-15 AFC Championship Game. The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for four games, the Patriots being fined $1 million and losing two draft picks, and saw the NFL later change the procedure for monitoring football pressure.


title: Brady–Belichick era

text: For his alleged part in the scandal, Brady was originally suspended by the league for four games of the 2015 regular season, but a federal judge later vacated his suspension and allowed Brady to resume his playing duties for the entirety of the 2015 season. However, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Brady's four-game suspension, which became effective for the 2016 regular season. However, the suspension was rendered moot as the Patriots won that season's Super Bowl LI.


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: Priya Tendulkar (19 October 1954 – 19 September 2002) was an Indian actress, social activist and a writer, who is most known for her eponymous role in the television series "Rajani" (1985).


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: Priya displayed an inclination towards art and culture from her childhood, as her father was the eminent popular writer and Padma bhushan awardee Vijay Tendulkar.


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: Her first appearance was as a doll in a stage play called "Hayavadana" (1969), along with Kalpana Lajmi. Later, she shuffled between different jobs as a hotel service receptionist in a 5 star hotel, an air hostess, and a part-time model, and also she was a news reader.


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: Her debut film appearance was in Shyam Benegal's "Ankur" (1974), where she played Anant Nag's submissive wife. Thereafter, she switched her interest towards Marathi films and played stellar roles in nearly a dozen Marathi family socials, opposite actors like Ashok Saraf, Ravindra Mahajani and Mahesh Kothare. She also appears opposite to Anant Nag in the Kannada movie "Minchina Ota", in an important role.


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: She rose to national fame with her TV series "Rajani" (1985), where she played a housewife who can't stand any injustice and solves public social issues. Her portrayal of Rajani made her a household name all over India. Later, she played a role in Vijay Tendulkar's TV series, "Swayamsiddha".


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: Priya led a freestyle life wherein she spoke about social issues openly without fear and always expressed her feelings without bias or prejudice. This side of her fiery personality reflected in her talk shows like "Priya Tendulkar Talk Show" and "Zimmedar Kaun".


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: She also played an important role as actress in a Gujarati movie named "Pooja Na Phool", which was a very popular movie of the time.


title: Priya Tendulkar

text: Priya died following a heart attack on 19 September 2002 at her Prabhadevi residence after a long battle with breast cancer.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species, it ranges widely from the number of species to differences within species and can be attributed to the span of survival for a species. It is distinguished from "genetic variability", which describes the tendency of genetic characteristics to vary.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Genetic diversity serves as a way for populations to adapt to changing environments. With more variation, it is more likely that some individuals in a population will possess variations of alleles that are suited for the environment. Those individuals are more likely to survive to produce offspring bearing that allele. The population will continue for more generations because of the success of these individuals.


title: Genetic diversity

text: The academic field of population genetics includes several hypotheses and theories regarding genetic diversity. The neutral theory of evolution proposes that diversity is the result of the accumulation of neutral substitutions. Diversifying selection is the hypothesis that two subpopulations of a species live in different environments that select for different alleles at a particular locus. This may occur, for instance, if a species has a large range relative to the mobility of individuals within it. Frequency-dependent selection is the hypothesis that as alleles become more common, they become more vulnerable. This occurs in host–pathogen interactions, where a high frequency of a defensive allele among the host means that it is more likely that a pathogen will spread if it is able to overcome that allele.


title: Genetic diversity

text: A study conducted by the National Science Foundation in 2007 found that genetic diversity (within species diversity) and biodiversity are dependent upon each other — i.e. that diversity within a species is necessary to maintain diversity among species, and vice versa. According to the lead researcher in the study, Dr. Richard Lankau, "If any one type is removed from the system, the cycle can break down, and the community becomes dominated by a single species." Genotypic and phenotypic diversity have been found in all species at the protein, DNA, and organismal levels; in nature, this diversity is nonrandom, heavily structured, and correlated with environmental variation and stress.


title: Genetic diversity

text: The interdependence between genetic and species diversity is delicate. Changes in species diversity lead to changes in the environment, leading to adaptation of the remaining species. Changes in genetic diversity, such as in loss of species, leads to a loss of biological diversity. Loss of genetic diversity in domestic animal populations has also been studied and attributed to the extension of markets and economic globalization.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Variation in the populations gene pool allows natural selection to act upon traits that allow the population to adapt to changing environments. Selection for or against a trait can occur with changing environment – resulting in an increase in genetic diversity (if a new mutation is selected for and maintained) or a decrease in genetic diversity (if a disadvantageous allele is selected against). Hence, genetic diversity plays an important role in the survival and adaptability of a species. The capability of the population to adapt to the changing environment will depend on the presence of the necessary genetic diversity The more genetic diversity a population has, the more likelihood the population will be able to adapt and survive. Conversely, the vulnerability of a population to changes, such as climate change or novel diseases will increase with reduction in genetic diversity. For example, the inability of koalas to adapt to fight Chlamydia and the koala retrovirus (KoRV) has been linked to the koala's low genetic diversity. This low genetic diversity also has geneticists concerned for the koalas' ability to adapt to climate change and human-induced environmental changes in the future.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Large populations are more likely to maintain genetic material and thus generally have higher genetic diversity. Small populations are more likely to experience the loss of diversity over time by random chance, which is called genetic drift. When an allele (variant of a gene) drifts to fixation, the other allele at the same locus is lost, resulting in a loss in genetic diversity. In small population sizes, inbreeding, or mating between individuals with similar genetic makeup, is more likely to occur, thus perpetuating more common alleles to the point of fixation, thus decreasing genetic diversity. Concerns about genetic diversity are therefore especially important with large mammals due to their small population size and high levels of human-caused population effects.


title: Genetic diversity

text: A genetic bottleneck can occur when a population goes through a period of low number of individuals, resulting in a rapid decrease in genetic diversity. Even with an increase in population size, the genetic diversity often continues to be low if the entire species began with a small population, since beneficial mutations (see below) are rare, and the gene pool is limited by the small starting population. This is an important consideration in the area of conservation genetics, when working toward a rescued population or species that is genetically-healthy.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Random mutations consistently generate genetic variation. A mutation will increase genetic diversity in the short term, as a new gene is introduced to the gene pool. However, the persistence of this gene is dependent of drift and selection (see above). Most new mutations either have a neutral or negative effect on fitness, while some have a positive effect. A beneficial mutation is more likely to persist and thus have a long-term positive effect on genetic diversity. Mutation rates differ across the genome, and larger populations have greater mutation rates. In smaller populations a mutation is less likely to persist because it is more likely to be eliminated by drift.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Gene flow, often by migration, is the movement of genetic material (for example by pollen in the wind, or the migration of a bird). Gene flow can introduce novel alleles to a population. These alleles can be integrated into the population, thus increasing genetic diversity.


title: Genetic diversity

text: For example, an insecticide-resistant mutation arose in "Anopheles gambiae" African mosquitoes. Migration of some "A. gambiae" mosquitoes to a population of "Anopheles coluzziin" mosquitoes resulted in a transfer of the beneficial resistance gene from one species to the other. The genetic diversity was increased in "A. gambiae" by mutation and in "A. coluzziin" by gene flow.


title: Genetic diversity

text: When humans initially started farming, they used selective breeding to pass on desirable traits of the crops while omitting the undesirable ones. Selective breeding leads to monocultures: entire farms of nearly genetically identical plants. Little to no genetic diversity makes crops extremely susceptible to widespread disease; bacteria morph and change constantly and when a disease-causing bacterium changes to attack a specific genetic variation, it can easily wipe out vast quantities of the species. If the genetic variation that the bacterium is best at attacking happens to be that which humans have selectively bred to use for harvest, the entire crop will be wiped out.


title: Genetic diversity

text: The nineteenth-century Great Famine in Ireland was caused in part by a lack of biodiversity. Since new potato plants do not come as a result of reproduction, but rather from pieces of the parent plant, no genetic diversity is developed, and the entire crop is essentially a clone of one potato, it is especially susceptible to an epidemic. In the 1840s, much of Ireland's population depended on potatoes for food. They planted namely the "lumper" variety of potato, which was susceptible to a rot-causing oomycete called "Phytophthora infestans". The fungus destroyed the vast majority of the potato crop, and left one million people to starve to death.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Genetic diversity in agriculture does not only relate to disease, but also herbivores. Similarly, to the above example, monoculture agriculture selects for traits that are uniform throughout the plot. If this genotype is susceptible to certain herbivores, this could result in the loss of a large portion of the crop. One way farmers get around this is through inter-cropping. By planting rows of unrelated, or genetically distinct crops as barriers between herbivores and their preferred host plant, the farmer effectively reduces the ability of the herbivore to spread throughout the entire plot.


title: Genetic diversity

text: The genetic diversity of livestock species permits animal husbandry in a range of environments and with a range of different objectives. It provides the raw material for selective breeding programmes and allows livestock populations to adapt as environmental conditions change.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Livestock biodiversity can be lost as a result of breed extinctions and other forms of genetic erosion. As of June 2014, among the 8,774 breeds recorded in the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS), operated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 17 percent were classified as being at risk of extinction and 7 percent already extinct. There is now a Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources that was developed under the auspices of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2007, that provides a framework and guidelines for the management of animal genetic resources.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Awareness of the importance of maintaining animal genetic resources has increased over time. FAO has published two reports on the state of the world's animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, which cover detailed analyses of our global livestock diversity and ability to manage and conserve them.


title: Genetic diversity

text: High genetic diversity in viruses must be considered when designing vaccinations. High genetic diversity results in difficulty in designing targeted vaccines, and allows for viruses to quickly evolve to resist vaccination lethality. For example, malaria vaccinations are impacted by high levels of genetic diversity in the protein antigens. In addition, HIV-1 genetic diversity limits the use of currently available viral load and resistance tests.


title: Genetic diversity

text: The natural world has several ways of preserving or increasing genetic diversity. Among oceanic plankton, viruses aid in the genetic shifting process. Ocean viruses, which infect the plankton, carry genes of other organisms in addition to their own. When a virus containing the genes of one cell infects another, the genetic makeup of the latter changes. This constant shift of genetic makeup helps to maintain a healthy population of plankton despite complex and unpredictable environmental changes.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Cheetahs are a threatened species. Low genetic diversity and resulting poor sperm quality has made breeding and survivorship difficult for cheetahs. Moreover, only about 5% of cheetahs survive to adulthood However, it has been recently discovered that female cheetahs can mate with more than one male per litter of cubs. They undergo induced ovulation, which means that a new egg is produced every time a female mates. By mating with multiple males, the mother increases the genetic diversity within a single litter of cubs.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Attempts to increase the viability of a species by increasing genetic diversity is called genetic rescue. For example, eight panthers from Texas were introduced to the Florida panther population, which was declining and suffering from inbreeding depression. Genetic variation was thus increased and resulted in a significant increase in population growth of the Florida Panther. Creating or maintaining high genetic diversity is an important consideration in species rescue efforts, in order to ensure the longevity of a population.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Furthermore, stochastic simulation software is commonly used to predict the future of a population given measures such as allele frequency and population size.


title: Genetic diversity

text: Genetic diversity can also be measured.The various recorded ways of measuring genetic diversity include:


title: Louise Delamere

text: Louise Alexandra Delamere (born 17 June 1969) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Lia in the Channel 4 comedy drama "No Angels" and Colette Sheward in the BBC medical drama "Holby City".


title: Louise Delamere

text: Delamere appeared in "Agatha Christie's Poirot", in the episode "Evil Under the Sun", where she played Arlena Stuart-Marshall, an actress who is murdered on a beach. She was featured in the "Cadfael" episode "The Holy Thief" and appeared in the BBC crime show "Waking the Dead" as Elaine Ashcroft, again playing a murder victim in the fourth season finale "Thin Air".


title: Louise Delamere

text: She also had a role in the television drama "The Chatterley Affair" and has appeared in "Torchwood". She played the recurring character Marion James in the fifth series of "Waterloo Road". Delamere appeared as regular character Colette Sheward in BBC medical drama "Holby City" from 3 December 2013 until 4 November 2014.


title: Louise Delamere

text: Delamere is married to actor Stephen Mangan. They have three sons: Harry (born October 2007), Frank (born 2010), and Jack (born March 2016).


title: Louise Delamere

text: She has three brothers; her younger brother is the actor Matthew Delamere, and one of her older brothers is the director Robert Delamere.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Latin for "Library of Alexandria"; "", ) is a major library and cultural center on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, Egypt. It is a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria, once one of the largest libraries worldwide, which was lost in antiquity. The idea of reviving the old library dates back to 1974 when a committee set up by Alexandria University selected a plot of land for its new library. Construction work began in 1995, and after some US$220 millions had been spent, the complex was officially inaugurated on 16 October 2002. In 2010, the library received a donation of 500,000 books from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The gift makes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina the sixth-largest Francophone library in the world.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The library has shelf space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft). The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums; four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The idea of reviving the old library dates back to 1974 when a committee set up by Alexandria University selected a plot of land for its new library between the campus and the seafront, close to where the ancient library once stood. The recreation of the ancient library was not only adopted by other individuals and agencies, it garnered support from Egyptian politicians. One leading supporter of the project was former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; UNESCO was also quick to embrace the concept of endowing the Mediterranean region with a center of cultural and scientific excellence. This initiative by the Egyptian government, UNESCO, and Alexandria University was undertaken "with the aim of re-establishing Alexandria as one of the great intellectual and cultural centres of the twenty-first century". UNESCO's involvement beginning in 1986 created a great opportunity for the project to truly be international in focus.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: UNESCO organized an architectural design competition in 1988 to choose a design worthy of the site and its heritage. The competition was won by Snøhetta, a Norwegian architectural office, associated with Austrian architect Christoph Kapeller and Egyptian architect Ihab El Habbak, among more than 1,400 entries. This architectural team consisted of ten members representing six countries. In addition, UNESCO created an International Commission for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina which consisted of high-level representatives from 18 diverse countries and organizations. Given UNESCO’s involvement and the investment by the international community, this project achieved its mission to “play an educational, cultural, and scientific role throughout the region”.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The first pledges were made for funding the project at a conference held in 1990 in Aswan: USD $65 million, mostly from the MENA states. Construction work began in 1995 and, after some US$220 million had been spent, the complex was officially inaugurated on 16 October 2002.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is trilingual, containing books in Classical Arabic, English, and French. In 2010, the library received a donation of 500,000 books from the National Library of France, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). The gift makes the Bibliotheca Alexandrina the world's sixth-largest Francophone library. The BA also is now the largest depository of French books in the Middle East and North Africa, surpassing those of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, in addition to being the main French library in Africa.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The library has shelf space for eight million books, with the main reading room covering on eleven cascading levels. The complex also houses a conference center; specialized libraries for maps, multimedia, the blind and visually impaired, young people, and for children; four museums; four art galleries for temporary exhibitions; 15 permanent exhibitions; a planetarium; and a manuscript restoration laboratory. The library's architecture is equally striking. The main reading room stands beneath a 32-meter-high glass-panelled roof, tilted out toward the sea like a sundial, and measuring some 160 m in diameter. The walls are of gray Aswan granite, carved with characters from 120 scripts.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The collections at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina were donated from all over the world. The Spanish donated documents that detailed their period of Moorish rule. The French also donated, giving the library documents dealing with the building of the Suez Canal.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The BA/IA partnership is built to preserve heritage for future generations and provide universal access to human knowledge. The BA was the site of the first mirror and external backup of the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive donated five million USD to the BA, including:


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The BA's mission is to be a center of excellence in the production and dissemination of knowledge and to be a place of dialogue, learning and understanding between cultures and peoples. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina offers several additional such as book fairs, book launches, ceremonies, cinema, competitions, concerts, conferences, educational courses, exhibitions, festivals, forums, lectures, meetings, performances, presentations, reading activities, round table discussions, seminars, shows, theater, training courses, video-conferences and workshops for adults, children, young people and the academic community.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Taha Hussein Library contains materials for the blind and visually impaired using special software that makes it possible for readers to read books and journals. It is named after Taha Hussein, the Egyptian professor of Arabic and literary critic and one of the leading figures of the Arab Renaissance ("Nahda") in literature, who was himself blinded at the age of three.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: Contains book collections of Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature from 1901 to present. The Nobel Section was inaugurated by Queen Silvia of Sweden and Queen Sonja of Norway on 24 April 2002.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: Established in 2001, the BA Antiquities Museum is the first archeological museum to be situated within a library. The primary aims of the museum are to promote research, creativity, and cultural awareness. Holding approximately 1,316 artifacts, the Antiquities Museum collection provides a glimpse into Egyptian history from the Pharaonic era to the conquest of Alexander the Great to the Roman civilizations before the advent of Islam across Egypt. The collection includes underwater antiquities from the Mediterranean seabed near the Eastern Harbour and the Bay of Abukir.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Manuscript Museum provides visitors and researchers with rare manuscripts and books. Established in 2001, the Manuscript Museum contains the world's largest collection of digital manuscripts. It is an academic institution that is affiliated to the Library of Alexandria. The stated aims of the museum are to preserve heritage, foster human cadres in the conservation and restoration of manuscripts, and create a generation of new restorers.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Manuscript Museum operates alongside the Manuscript Center, which provides digital access to more than 6,000 rare books, maps, and documents within the museum's collection. There are three sections housed within the museum:


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: This museum contains many personal belongings of the Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat. The collections include some of his military robes, his Nobel Prize medal, his copy of the Qur'an, a few of his handwritten letters, pictures of him and his family, and the blood-stained military robe he wore the day of his assassination. The museum also contains a recording in his voice of part of the Qur'an and assorted newspaper articles written about him.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Culturama hall consists of a huge 180-degree panoramic interactive computer screen with a diameter of 10 meters that is made up of nine separate flat screens arranged in a semicircle and nine video projectors controlled by a single computer. Culturama has enabled the display of information that could never have been displayed clearly using a regular computer display system.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: It was developed by the Egyptian Center for Documentation of Cultural, and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) and holds its patent in 2007.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Digital Assets Repository (DAR) is a system developed at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) by the International School of Information Science (ISIS) to create and maintain digital library collections and preserve them to future generations, as well as providing free public access to the library's digitized collections through a web-based search and browsing facilities via DAR's website.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: Per Presidential Decree No. 76 in 2001, the Bibliotheca Alexandria is managed by a Council of Patrons, a Board of Trustees, and a Director. The founding director was Ismail Serageldin, who served until May 2017. He also was chair of the Board of Directors for each BA's affiliated research institutes and museums. He was succeeded by current manager Dr. Moustafa El Feqy. The Council of Patrons is composed of a number of world leaders from different parts of the world, numbering not less than eight and no more than twenty-four, to be selected by invitation of the President of Egypt, and one of these shall be the Director-General of UNESCO. The Board of Trustees shall be composed of a number of eminent figures of scientific and intellectual standing or international experience, Egyptians and non-Egyptians. They shall number no less than fifteen and no more than thirty; of whom five shall be ex-officio members of the Egyptian Government, namely: the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Minister of Culture, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Governor of Alexandria and the President of the University of Alexandria.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: The Bibliotheca Alexandrina held a variety of symposiums in 2011 in support of the Egyptian community and emphasizing the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the Egyptian Constitution and Democratic Government in Arab nations. The library also displays a photo gallery of the January 25, 2011 revolution and works to document it in various formats.


title: Bibliotheca Alexandrina

text: Criticism of the library comes chiefly from two angles. Many allege that the library is a white elephant, unsustainable for modern Egypt, which serves little more than a vanity project for the Egyptian government. Furthermore, there are fears that censorship would affect the library's collection. In addition, the building's elaborate architecture (which imitates a rising Sun) upset some who believed too much money was being spent on construction rather than the library's actual collection. Due to the lack of available funds, the library had only 500,000 books in 2002, a small number compared to other national libraries (however, in 2010, the library received an additional 500,000 books from the Bibliothèque nationale de France.) It has been estimated that it will take 80 years to fill the library at the current level of funding. The library relies heavily on donations to buy books for its collections.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Kuban Cossacks (, "kubanskiye kаzaki"; , "kubanski kozaky"), or Kubanians (, ; , ), are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Most of the Kuban Cossacks are descendants of different major groups of Cossacks who were re-settled to the western Northern Caucasus in the late 18th century (estimated 230,000 to 650,000 initial migrants). The western part of the host (Taman Peninsula and adjoining region to the northeast) was settled by the Black Sea Cossack Host who were originally the Zaporozhian Cossacks of Ukraine, from 1792. The eastern and southeastern part of the host was previously administered by the Khopyour and Kuban regiments of the Caucasus Line Cossack Host and Don Cossacks, who were re-settled from the Don from 1777.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The Kuban Cossack Host (Кубанское казачье войско), the administrative and military unit composed of Kuban Cossacks, formed in 1860 and existed until 1918. During the Russian Civil War, the Kuban Cossacks proclaimed the Kuban People's Republic, and played a key role in the southern theatre of the conflict. The Kuban Cossacks suffered heavily during the Soviet policy of decossackization, which between 1917 and 1933 aimed at the elimination of the Cossacks as a separate ethnic, political, and economic entity. The decossackization is frequently described as genocide of the Cossacks. Hence, during the Second World War, Cossacks fought both for the Red Army and against them with the German Wehrmacht. The modern Kuban Cossack Host was re-established in 1990 at the fall of the Soviet Union.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Although Cossacks lived in the region prior to the late 18th century (one theory of Cossack origin traces their lineage to the ancient Kasog peoples who populated the Kuban in 9th-13th centuries), the landscape prevented permanent habitation. Modern Kuban Cossacks claim 1696 as their foundation year, when the Don Cossacks from the Khopyor took part in Peter's Azov campaigns. Sporadic raids reached out into the land, which was partially populated by the Nogay, though territorially part of the Crimean khanate. In 1784 the lower Kuban passed to Russia, after which its colonisation became an important step in the Empire's expansion.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: In a different part of southeastern Europe, on the middle Dnieper in what is now Ukraine, lived the Zaporozhian Cossacks. By the late 18th century, however, their combat ability was greatly reduced. With their traditional adversaries, the Crimean Khanate and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth now all but defunct, the Russian administration saw little military use for them. The Zaporozhian Sich, however, represented a safe haven for runaway serfs, where the state authority did not extend, and often took part in rebellions which were constantly breaking out in Ukraine. Another problem for the imperial Russian government was the Cossacks' resistance to colonization of lands the government considered theirs. In 1775, after numerous attacks on Serbian colonisers, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great had Grigory Potemkin destroy the Zaporozhian Host. The operation was carried out by General Pyotr Tekeli.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The Zaporozhians scattered; some (five thousand men or 30% of the host) fled to the Ottoman-controlled Danube area. Others joined the Imperial Russian Husar and Dragoon regiments, while most turned to local farming and trade.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: A decade later, the Russian administration was forced to reconsider its decision, with the escalation of tension with the Ottoman Empire. In 1778 the Turkish sultan offered the exiled Zaporozhians the chance to build a new Danubian Sich. Potemkin suggested that the former commanders Antin Holovaty, Zakhary Chepiha and Sydir Bily round the former Cossacks into a "Host of the loyal Zaporozhians" in 1787.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The new host played a crucial role in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), and for their loyalty and service the Russian Empress rewarded them with eternal use of the Kuban, then inhabited by Nogai remnants, and in the cause of the Caucasus War a crucial progress in further pushing the Russian line into Circassia. Renamed the Black Sea Cossack Host, a total of 25,000 men made the migration in 1792-93.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: During the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774), the Don Cossacks on the Khopyor River took part in the campaign, and in 1770 – then numbering four settlements – requested to form a regiment. Owing to their service in the war, on 6 October 1774 Catherine the Great issued a manifesto granting their request.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The end of the war and the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca brought Russia's frontiers south from the Kuban River's entry into the Azov Sea along its right bank and right to the bend of the Terek River. This created a 500-verst undefended border, and in the summer of 1777 the Khopyor regiment – in addition to the remnants of the Volga Cossacks and a Vladimir Dragoon regiment – were re-settled in the Northern Caucasus to build the Azov-Mozdok defence line. This marked the start of the Caucasus War, which would continue for almost 90 years.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The Khopyor regiment was responsible for the western flank of the line. In 1778-1782, Khopyor Cossacks founded four stanitsas: Stavropolskaya (next to the fortress of Stavropol, established on 22 October 1777), Moskovskaya, Donskaya and Severnaya – with approximately 140 Cossack families in each. In 1779, the Khopyor regiment was given its own district. The conditions were desperate as the Circassians would mount almost daily raids on the Russian positions. In 1825-1826 the regiment began its first expansions, pushing westwards to the bend of the Kuban River and founding five new stanitsas (the so-called new-Kuban line: Barsukovskaya, Nevinnomysskaya, Belomechetskaya, Batalpashinskaya (modern Cherkessk), Bekeshevskaya and Karantynnaya (currently Suvorovskaya). In 1828 the Khopyor Cossacks participated in the conquest of Karachay and became part of the first Russian expedition to reach the summit of Elbrus in 1829.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: However, the Russian position in the Caucasus was desperate, and to ease administration in 1832 military reform united ten regiments from the mouth of the Terek River all the way to the Khopyor in the western Kabarda, forming a single Caucasus Line Cossack Host. The Khopyor regiment was also given several civilian settlements, raising its manpower to 12,000. With the further advance to the Laba River the Khopyor district was split into two regiments, and Spokoynaya, Ispravnaya, Podgornaya, Udobnaya, Peredovaya, Storozhevaya formed the Laba line.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Many traditions of the Zaporozhian Cossacks continued in the Black Sea Cossacks, such as the formal election of the host administration, but in some cases, new traditions replaced the old. Instead of a central Sich, a defence line was formed from the Kuban River Black Sea inlet to the Bolshaya Laba River inlet. The land north of this line was settled with villages called stanitsas. The administrative centre of Yekaterinodar (literally "Catherine's gift") was built. The Black Sea Cossacks sent men to many major campaigns at the Russian Empire's demand, such as the suppression of the Polish Kościuszko Uprising in 1794, the ill-fated Persian Expedition of 1796 where nearly half of the Cossacks died from hunger and disease, and sent the 9th plastun (infantry) and 1st joint cavalry regiments as well as the first Leib Guards (elite) sotnia to aid the Russian Army in the Patriotic War of 1812. The new host participated in the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) where they stormed the last remaining Ottoman bastion of the northern Black Sea coast, the fortress of Anapa, in 1828. In the course of the Crimean War of 1853 to 1856, the Cossacks foiled any attempts of allied landing on the Taman Peninsula, whilst the 2nd and 5th plastun battalions took part in the Defence of Sevastopol.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: In the land they left behind, the Buh Cossacks were able to provide a strong buffer from the Danubian Sich. After the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) most of the Danube Cossacks officially turned themselves over and under amnesty were resettled between the Mariupol and Berdyansk, forming the Azov Cossack Host.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: As the years went by, the Black Sea Cossacks continued its systematic penetrations into the mountainous regions of the Northern Caucasus. Taking an active part in the finale of the Russian conquest of the Northern Caucasus, they settled the regions each time these were conquered. To aid them, a total of 70 thousand additional ex-Zaporozhians from the Bug, Yekaterinoslav, and finally the Azov Cossack Host migrated there in the mid 19th century. All three of the former were necessary to be removed to vacate space for the colonisation of New Russia, and with the increasing weakness of the Ottoman Empire as well as the formation of independent buffer states in the Balkans, the need for further Cossack presence had ended. They made the migration to the Kuban in 1860. Separating the ethnic Ukrainian Black Sea Cossacks from the Caucasian mountain tribes were the Caucasus Line Cossack Host, ethnic Russian Cossacks from the Don region. Although both groups lived in the general Kuban region, they did not integrate with each other.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The new Host grew to be the second largest in Russia. The Kuban Cossacks continued to make an active part in the Russian affairs of the 19th century starting from the finale of the Russian-Circassian War which ceased shortly after the hosts' formation. A small group took part in the 1873 conquest that brought the Khanate of Khiva under Russian control. Their largest military campaign was the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), on both the Balkan and the Caucasus fronts. The latter in particular was a strong contribution as the Kuban Cossacks made 90% of the Russian cavalry. Famous achievements in the numerous Battles of Shipka, the defence of Bayazet and finally, in decisive and victorious Battle of Kars where the Cossacks were the first to enter. Three Kuban Cossack regiments took part in the storming of Geok Tepe in Turkmenistan in 1881. During the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the host mobilised six cavalry regiments, five plastun battalions and one battery to the distant region of Russia.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The Cossacks also carried out the second strategical objective, the colonisation of the Kuban land. In total, the host owned more than six million tithes, of which 5.7 million belonged to the stanitsas, with the remaining in the reserve or in private hands of Cossack officers and officials. Upon reaching the age of 17, a Cossack would be given between 16 and 30 tithes for cultivation and personal use. With the natural growth of the population, the average land that a Cossack owned decreased from 23 tithes in the 1860s to 7.6 in 1917. Such arrangements, however ensured that the colonisation and the cultivation would be very rational.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The military purpose of the Kuban was echoed in its administration pattern. Rather than a traditional Imperial Guberniya (governorate) with uyezds (districts), the territory was administered by the Kuban Oblast which was split into (regions, which in 1888 counted seven). Each would have its own which in turn would be split into and . The (commander) for each region was not only responsible for the military preparation of the Cossacks, but for the local administration duties. Local Stanitsa and Khutor atamans were elected, but approved by the of the . These, in turn, were appointed by the supreme of the host, who was in turn appointed directly by the Russian Emperor. Prior to 1870, this system of legislature in the Oblast remained a robust military one and all legal decisions were carried out by the and two elected judges. Afterwards, however, the system was bureaucratised and the judicial functions became independent of the .


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The more liberal policy of the Kuban was directly mirrored in the living standards of the people. One of the central features of this was education. Indeed, the first schools were known to have existed since the migration of the Black Sea Cossacks, and by 1860, the host had one male high school and 30 elementary schools. In 1863, the first periodical Кубанские войсковые ведомсти ("Kubanskiye voiskovye vedomsti") began printing, and two years later the host's library was opened in Yekaterinodar. In all, by 1870, the number of schools in rural stanitsas increased to 170. Compared with the rest of the Russian Empire, by the start of the 20th century the Oblast had a very high literacy rate of 50% and each year up to 30 students from Cossack families (again a rate unmatched by any other rural province) were sent to study in the higher education establishments of Russia.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: During the early twentieth century contacts between Kuban and Ukraine were established and clandestine Ukrainian organizations appeared in Kuban.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Until 1914 the Kuban Cossack Host wore a full dress uniform comprising a dark grey/black kaftan (knee length collarless coat) with red shoulder straps and braiding on the wide cuffs. Ornamental containers ("gaziri") which had originally contained single loading measures of gunpowder for muzzle-loading muskets, were worn on the breasts of the kaftans. The kaftan had an open front, showing a red waistcoat. Wide grey trousers were worn, tucked into soft leather boots without heels. Officers wore silver epaulettes, braiding and ferrules. This Caucasian national dress was also worn by the Terek Cossack Host but in different facing colors. Tall black fur hats were worn on all occasions with red cloth tops and (for officers) silver lace. A white metal scroll was worn on the front of the fur hat. A whip was used instead of spurs. Prior to 1908, individual cossacks from all Hosts were required to provide their own uniforms (together with horses, Caucasian saddles and harness). On active service during World War I the Kuban Cossacks retained their distinctive dress but with a black waistcoat replacing the conspicuous red one and without the silver ornaments or red facings of full dress. A black felt cloak () was worn in bad weather both in peace-time and on active service.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The 200 Kuban and 200 Terek Cossacks of the Imperial Escort ("Konvoi") wore a special gala uniform; including a scarlet kaftan edged with yellow braid and a white waistcoat. Officers had silver braiding on their coats and epaulettes. A dark coloured kaftan was issued for ordinary duties together with a red waistcoat.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: During the Russian Revolution and resulting Civil War, the Cossacks found themselves conflicted in their loyalties. In October 1917, the Kuban Soviet Republic and the Kuban Rada were formed simultaneously, with both proclaiming their right to rule the Kuban. Shortly after the Rada declared a Kuban National Republic, but this was soon dispersed by Bolshevik forces. While most Cossacks initially sided with the Rada, many joined the Bolsheviks who promised them autonomy.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: In March 1918, after Lavr Kornilov's successful offensive, the Kuban Rada placed itself under his authority. With his death in June 1918, however, a federative union was signed with the Ukrainian government of Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky after which many Cossacks left to return home or defected to the Bolsheviks. Additionally, there was an internal struggle among the Kuban cossacks over loyalty towards Anton Denikin's Russian Volunteer Army and the Ukrainian People's Republic.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: On 6 November 1919, Denikin's forces surrounded the Rada, and with the help of Ataman Alexander Filimonov arrested ten of its members, including the Ukrainophile, P. Kurgansky, who was the premier of the Rada, and publicly hanged one of them for treason. Many Cossacks joined Denikin and fought in the ranks of the Volunteer Army. In December 1919, after Denikin's defeat and as it became clear that the Bolsheviks would overrun the Kuban, some of the pro-Ukrainian groups attempted to restore the Rada and to break away from the Volunteer Army and fight the Bolsheviks in alliance with Ukraine; however, by early 1920 the Red Army took most of Kuban, and both the Rada and Denikin were ousted.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The first collaborators were formed from Soviet Cossack POWs and deserters after the consequences of the Red Army's early defeats in the course of Operation Barbarossa. After the horrors of Collectivization and Decossackization, in summer of 1942, many of the Germans reaching Kuban were greeted as liberators. Many Soviet Kuban Cossacks chose to switch to the German side either when in POW camps or on active service in the Soviet Army. For example, Major Kononov deserted on 22 August 1941 with an entire regiment and was instrumental in organizing Cossack volunteers in the Wehrmacht. Some Cossack emigres, such as Andrei Shkuro and Pyotr Krasnov chose to collaborate with the Germans as well and stood at the helm of two Cossack divisions on German service. However, most volunteers came after the Germans reached the Cossack homelands in summer of 1942. The Cossack National Movement of Liberation was set up in hope of mobilizing opposition to the Soviet regime with an intent to rebuild an independent Cossack state.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: While there were several smaller Cossack detachments in the Wehrmacht since 1941, the 1st Cossack Division made up of Don, Terek and Kuban Cossacks was formed in 1943. This division was further augmented by the 2nd Cossack Cavalry Division formed in December 1944. Both divisions participated in hostilities against Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia. In February 1945, both Cossack Divisions were transferred into the Waffen-SS and formed the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps. At the end of the war, the Cossack collaborators retreated to Italy and surrendered to the British army, but, under the Yalta agreement, were forcibly repatriated with the rest of the collaborators to the Soviet authorities and some executed. (see Betrayal of the Cossacks) One of the Kuban leaders, the "ataman" Vyacheslav Naumenko served as their principle historian after World War Two, writing the first Russian language book about the Repatriation of Cossacks in his two volume work published in 1962 and 1970 entitled "Velikoe Predatelstvo" ("The Great Betrayal").


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Despite the defections that were taking place, the majority of the Cossacks remained loyal to the Red Army. In the earliest battles, particularly the encirclement of Belostok Cossack units such as the 94th Beloglisnky, 152nd Rostovsky and 48th Belorechensky regiments fought to their death.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: In the opening phase of the war, during the German advance towards Moscow, Cossacks became extensively used for the raids behind enemy lines. The most famous of these took place during the Battle of Smolensk under the command of Lev Dovator, whose 3rd Cavalry Corps consisted of the 50th and 53rd Cavalry divisions from the Kuban and Terek Cossacks, which were mobilised from the Northern Caucasus. The raid, which in ten days covered 300 km and destroyed the hinterlands of the 9th German Army, before successfully breaking out. Whilst units under the command of General Pavel Belov, the 2nd Cavalry Corps made from Don, Kuban and Stavropol Cossacks spearheaded the counter-attack onto the right flank of the 6th German Army delaying its advance towards Moscow.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The high professionalism that the Cossacks under Dovator and Belov (both generals would later be granted the title Hero of the Soviet Union and their units raised to a Guards (elite) status) ensured that many new units would be formed. In the end, if the Germans during the whole war only managed to form two Cossack Corps, the Red Army in 1942 already had 17. Many of the newly formed units were filled with ethnically Cossack volunteers. The Kuban Cossacks were allocated to the 10th, 12th and 13th Corps. However, the most famous Kuban Cossack unit would be the 17th Cossack Corps under the command of general .


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: During one particular attack, Cossacks killed up to 1,800 enemy soldiers and officers, they took 300 prisoners, seized 18 artillery pieces and 25 mortars. The 5th and 9th Romanian Cavalry divisions fled in panic, and the 198th German Infantry division, carrying large losses, hastily departed to the left bank of the river Ei.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: During the opening phase of the Battle of Stalingrad, when the Germans overran the Kuban, the majority of the Cossack population, long before the Germans began their agitation with Krasnov and Shkuro, became involved in Partisan activity. Raids onto the German positions from the Caucasus mountains became commonplace. After the German defeat at Stalingrad, the 4th Guards Kuban Cossack Corps, strengthened by tanks and artillery, broke through the German lines and liberated Mineralnye Vody, and Stavropol.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: For the latter part of the war, although the Cossacks did prove especially useful in reconnaissance and rear guards, the war did show that the age of horse cavalry had come to an end. The famous 4th Guards Kuban Cossacks Cavalry Corps which took part in heavy fighting in the course of the liberation of Southern Ukraine and Romania was allowed to proudly march on the Red Square in the famous Moscow Victory Parade of 1945.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Following the war, the Cossack regiments, along with remaining cavalry were disbanded and removed from the Soviet armed forces as they were thought to be obsolete.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Starting in the late 1980s, there were renewed efforts to revive Cossack traditions which went to great lengths; in 1990, the Host was once again recognised by the Supreme Ataman of the All-Great Don Host (Всевеликое Войско Донское). At this time some pro-Ukrainian sentiment emerged among some Kuban Cossack leaders. For example, when in May 1993 Cossack leader Yevhen Nahai was arrested and accused of plotting a coup, another Cossack leader (kish otaman Pyuypenko) threatened to call for support for Ukraine if Nahai's rights were violated. A march of cossack cavalry from eastern Ukraine to Kuban was met with some enthusiasm by locals.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The Cossacks have actively participated in some of the more abrupt political developments following the dissolution of the Soviet Union: South Ossetia, Crimea, Kosovo, Transnistria and Abkhazia. The latter conflict was in particular special for the Kuban Cossacks, initially a number of Cossacks fled from the de-Cossackization repressions of the 1920s and assimilated with the Abkhaz people. Before the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict there was a strong movement of creating an Abkhaz-Kuban Host among the descendants. When the civil war broke out, 1500 Kuban Cossack volunteers from Russia came to aid the Abkhaz side. One of the notable groups was the 1st sotnia under the command of Ataman Nikolay Pusko which reportedly completely destroyed a Ukrainian volunteer group fighting on the Georgian side and then went on to be the first to enter Sukhumi in 1993. Since then, a detachment of Kuban Cossacks continue to inhabit Abkhazia, and their presence continues to influence the Georgian-Russian relations.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: According to human rights reports from the 1990s, the Cossacks regularly harassed non-Russians, such as Armenians and Chechens, living in southern Russia.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: A contingent of Kuban Cossacks (led by Head of the All-Russian Cossack Society, Cossack General Nikolai Doluda) took part in the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade for the first time.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: With the help of the governor of Krasnodar Krai, Aleksandr Tkachyov, the host has become an integral part of the Kuban life, there are joint combat training operations with the Russian Army, policing of the rural areas with the Police of Russia, and preparation of local youth for the one-year military conscription term. Not only is their aid in military affairs important, during the floods in 2004 of the Taman Peninsula they provided men and equipment for relief missions. Today, the host numbers 25 thousand men and has its own distinct forces: a whole regiment of the 7th "Cherkassy" Guards Air-Assault Division (the 108th "Kuban Cossack" Guards Airborne Regiment) in the Russian VDV; 205th Motorised Rifle Brigade, within the Southern Military District in the Russian Ground Forces, in addition to border guards.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: On 2 August 2012, the governor of Krasnodar Krai, Alexander Tkachyov announced a controversial plan to deploy a paramilitary force of one thousand unarmed but uniformed Kuban Cossacks in the region to help police patrols. The cossacks were to be charged with preventing what he described as "illegal immigration" from the neighboring Caucasian republics.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The Kuban Cossacks has maintained a guard of honour since the mid 2000s. The formation of the guard of honor began in April 2006 by a group of Cossacks with the support of the Cossack chieftain, General Vladimir Gromov. On 12 June 2006, the guard performed for the first time at the Cossack monument in Krasnodar. Cossack Colonel Pyotr Petrenko has been in charge of this unit for 12 years. They wear the historical uniform of the His Majesty's Own Cossack Escort Regiment. After an increase in personnel took place, an equestrian group was formed. The requirements for members of the guard of honor include a lack of a criminal record and being more than 180 centimeters in height.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Because of the unique migration pattern that the original Zaporozhian Cossacks undertook, the Kuban Cossack identity has produced one of the most distinct cultures not only amongst other Cossacks but throughout the whole Eastern Slavic identity. The proximity to the Caucasus mountains and the Circassian people influenced the dress and uniform of the Cossacks — the distinctive cherkeska overcoat and the bashlyk scarf, local dance such as the Lezginka too came into the Kuban Cossack lifestyle. At the same time, the Cossacks continued much of their Zaporozhian legacy, including a Kuban Bandura movement and the Kuban Cossack Choir which became one of the most famous in the world for their performance of Cossack and other folk songs and dances, performed in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The concept of national and ethnic identity of the Kuban Cossacks has changed with time and has been the subject of much contention.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: In the 1897 census, 47.3% of the Kuban population (including extensive 19th century non-Cossack migrants from both Ukraine and Russia) referred to their native language as Little Russian (Ukrainian), while 42.6% referred to their native language as Great Russian (Russian).


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Most cultural productions in Kuban spanning 1890–1910, such as plays, stories, etc., were written and performed in the Ukrainian language, and one of the first political parties in Kuban was the Ukrainian Revolutionary Party. During World War I, Austrian officials received reports from a Ukrainian organization of the Russian Empire that 700 Kuban Cossacks in eastern Galicia had been arrested by their Russian officers for refusing to fight against Ukrainians in the Austrian army. Briefly during the Russian Civil War, the Kuban Cossack Rada declared Ukrainian to be the official language of the Kuban Cossacks, before its suppression by the Russian White leader General Denikin.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: After the Bolshevik Victory in the Russian Civil War, the Kuban was viewed as one of the most hostile regions to the young Communist state. In his 1923 speech devoted to the national and ethnic issues in the party and state affairs, Joseph Stalin identified several obstacles in implementing the national programme of the party. Those were the "dominant-nation chauvinism", "economic and cultural inequality" of the nationalities and the "remnants of nationalism among a number of nations which have borne the heavy yoke of national oppression". For the Kuban, this was met with a unique approach. The victim/minority became the non-Cossack peasants who, like their counterparts in New Russia, were mixed population group, with an ethnic Ukrainian majority. To counter "dominant-nation chauvinism" a policy of Ukrainization/Korenization was introduced. According to the 1926 census, there were already nearly a million Ukrainians registered in the Kuban Okrug alone (or 62% of the total population)


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: Additionally, more than 700 schools with Ukrainian as the language of instruction were opened, and the Kuban Pedagogical Institute had its own Ukrainian department. Numerous Ukrainian-language newspapers such as "Chornomorets" and "Kubanska Zoria" were published. According to historian A.L. Pawliczko, there was an attempt to have a referendum on the joining of Kuban to the Ukrainian SSR. In 1930, the Ukrainian Minister ("People’s Komissar") Mykola Skrypnyk, involved in solving national issues in the Ukrainian SSR, put forward an official proposal to Joseph Stalin that the territories of Voronezh, Kursk, Chornomoriya, Azov, Kuban regions be administered by the government of the Ukrainian SSR.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: By the end of 1932, the Ukrainization programme was reversed, and by the late 1930s the majority of Kuban Ukrainians identified themselves as Russians As a result, in the 1939 census, Russians in the Kuban were a majority of 2754027 or 86% The 2nd edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia explicitly named the Kuban Cossacks as Russians.


title: Kuban Cossacks

text: The modern Kuban vernacular known as balachka differs from contemporary literary Russian and is most similar to the dialect of Ukrainian spoken in central Ukraine near Cherkasy Some regions the vernacular includes many Northern Caucasus words and accents. The influence of Russian grammatical forms is also apparent.