title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: Vergne had his first outing in a Formula One car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2010, driving a Red Bull RB5. In September 2010, it was announced that he would drive for Toro Rosso in the post-season young driver test to be held at the Yas Marina Circuit in November, with the team later confirming that he would drive the Toro Rosso STR5 for both days of the test. On the first day of the test he set the seventh fastest time with a lap of 1:42.489, completing 93 laps in the process.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: On the second day of the test, Vergne finished ninth fastest with a lap time of 1:40.974, just 0.030 seconds behind the Williams of new GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado. As well as suffering an engine-related issue which limited his running, he also had to leave the test early to travel to Macau for the end-of-season Formula Three race.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: In August 2011, during the weekend, it was confirmed that Vergne would participate in selected first practice sessions later in the season for Toro Rosso, with the team later confirming that he would take part in three of the final four race weekends, beginning at the . He did not take part in practice at the to allow race drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sébastien Buemi the maximum track time at the brand new circuit. Vergne was eleventh fastest during free practice at the , less than 0.3 seconds off the pace of Alguersuari, who was in the other STR6.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: In November 2011, Vergne tested the title-winning Red Bull RB7 at the young driver test in Abu Dhabi, setting the fastest lap time on all three days.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: On 14 December 2011, it was officially confirmed that Vergne would race for Toro Rosso in the season, alongside fellow Red Bull Junior Team member Daniel Ricciardo. After qualifying and finishing in eleventh place at the season-opening , Vergne scored his first World Championship points at the following race in Malaysia by finishing eighth in a rain-affected race. In the he turned into the car of Heikki Kovalainen from outside of the racing line during an overtake attempt, damaging both cars severely and scattering enough debris on the track that the safety car had to be deployed. After the race the stewards found that the accident had been avoidable and that Vergne had caused the accident. He would receive a 10-position double-penalty to his qualification result at the , along with a €25,000 fine.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: This also proved to be his first race retirement in Formula One as he had finished consistently at the previous seven races on the schedule. Vergne would not score points again until the , but scored again four races later, at the and then finally at the season-ending race, the . Vergne finished the season in 17th in the Drivers' Championship with 16 points, the total being accrued with four eighth-place finishes. Despite not scoring points as frequently as Daniel Ricciardo, he finished the season ahead of Ricciardo.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: Vergne started the season with a twelfth-place finish at the , before taking his first point of the season with tenth place in Malaysia, despite contact with the Caterham of Charles Pic. Vergne did not score points again until the , where he finished the race in eighth place, matching the best result of his career. Vergne had the best qualifying of his career for the , when he qualified seventh on the grid, before going on to take a career best finish of sixth the following day, in the race. The rest of the season was a nightmare with a highest finish of 12th with three retirements, finishing the final race in 15th place and 15th in the standings with a total of 13 points while Daniel Ricciardo outshone him to earn 20 points.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: It was announced in 2013 that Vergne would drive again for Toro Rosso alongside rookie, 19-year-old Daniil Kvyat, who replaced Ricciardo at the team. Vergne qualified well in the season opener in Australia in sixth place beating champions Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button and he finished the race just ahead of his teammate in ninth, however after Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified, he moved up to eighth place. In Malaysia he qualified ninth but did not finish the race after getting a poor start and colliding with the Marussia and Caterham while his rookie teammate Kvyat finished tenth. Vergne then retired again in the following race in Bahrain. At the , Vergne qualified in ninth while Kvyat qualified 13th in the wet conditions. Vergne again had a poor start and finished in 12th place while Kvyat scored again in tenth place.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: As the calendar moved to Europe for the , Vergne's luck did not improve. A wheel was not properly fitted in Friday practice ending his session early and earning him a 10 place grid penalty. As a result, he started from 21st position, only ahead of Pastor Maldonado who crashed in Q1. Vergne got off to a decent start getting through the Marussias and Caterhams while pulling away from Maldonado, but he retired for the third time in five races due to technical problems. At the , Vergne retired for the fifth time in eight races, after finishing the previous race in Canada in eighth place. In the following race at Silverstone, Vergne was able to get in to Q3 for the 6th time, finishing the race in 10th. In Hungary, Vergne qualified eighth in changing conditions, but in the race he managed to get as high as second after pitting after a safety car; he held position in front of a battle which included Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. However, after his second stop he dropped back to eventually finish in ninth place.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: At the , Vergne was able to equal his best-ever Formula One result with a sixth-place finish after a late charge which saw him pass Nico Hülkenberg, Kimi Räikkönen and Valtteri Bottas in the last four laps of the race, despite two five-second time penalties. In Japan, Vergne finished 9th in worsening wet conditions despite starting 20th on the grid. At the , he qualified ninth while Kvyat started fifth for his home race. At the start of the race, Vergne climbed to fifth and pulled a move around the outside of Kevin Magnussen at turn three on the third lap. However, Vergne slowly dropped back, finishing 13th, directly ahead of Kvyat.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: In August, Red Bull announced that Kvyat would be joined in the Toro Rosso team by Max Verstappen for , leaving Vergne without a drive for the 2015 season. However, after Sebastian Vettel left Red Bull, it was announced that Kvyat would replace him, leaving a possible seat for Vergne at Toro Rosso for 2015. On 26 November 2014 however, Vergne announced that he would be leaving Toro Rosso for 2015, and Carlos Sainz Jr would replace him.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: On 19 December 2014, it was announced that Vergne would join Ferrari in 2015, as test and development driver particularly in respect of simulator work. He left Ferrari in February 2017.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: After being unable to secure a full-time drive for the 2015 Formula One season, he switched to the FIA Formula E Championship and signed for Andretti Autosport. Vergne made his debut in the third race of the season in Uruguay and secured pole position. Vergne was overtaken at the start by Nelson Piquet Jr., and he retook the lead on lap 12. After the pit stops Vergne conceded the lead to Sébastien Buemi, but he attacked Buemi until retiring due to a broken suspension two laps before the end of the race. He achieved his first podium in Long Beach, finishing second behind race winner Piquet. He finished third in the first race at the London ePrix, passing Piquet and Lucas di Grassi in the process. In the second race, he finished 16th after receiving a drive-through penalty. He ultimately finished seventh in the final championship standings, with 70 points.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: On 8 August 2015, it was announced that Vergne would join the DS Virgin Racing team for the 2015–16 Formula E season, partnering Sam Bird. Vergne struggled to compete with Bird and finished ninth in the championship.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: In July 2016, it was announced Vergne would compete with the newly formed Techeetah, following their acquisition of Team Aguri. Vergne went on to score the first podiums, fastest lap award and the team's first win at the 2016–17 season finale in Montréal.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: He scored his second win at the 2018 Santiago ePrix, and achieved his third win in his Formula E career at the 2018 Punta del Este ePrix. After stringing together a consistent run of points finishes, Vergne clinched the title with a race to spare in New York, becoming the fourth different driver's champion in four seasons.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: For the 2018–19 season Vergne stayed with Techeetah and won 3 races in Sanya, Monaco and Bern. He also became champion for the second year in a row, becoming Formula E's first repeat champion.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: It was announced that in the 2019–20 season, Vergne would be racing alongside António Félix da Costa, who would replace the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team bound André Lotterer (who was his teammate from 2017 to 2019). After two points finishes and two retirements, Vergne scored his first podium finish in Marrakesh despite missing FP1 due to a fever. Super GT and Super Formula veteran James Rossiter took his place during FP1. After a brief hiatus to the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vergne scored two podium finishes in two of the six rounds in the Berlin, finishing third in round three, and scoring his first victory of the season in round four. He would ultimately finish third in the championship standings, just one point behind Stoffel Vandoorne.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: Vergne remained with DS Techeetah for the 2020-21 season. Vergne failed to score in Diriyah and won the first race in rome, leaving Italy with 25 points after 4 races. Vergne failed to finish in the first race in Puebla after being squeezed into the wall after activating attack mode. Vergne took second in New York on day 1 but remained in the 24th slot on the grid after the lights went out the next day, giving him his second DNF. Vergne again failed to score in London and finished the season in 10th with 80 points, 19 behind De Vries who won the championship.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: Vergne stayed with DS Techeetah for a sixth straight season. Vergne got 12 points from Diriyah and took 3rd in Mexico. His 2 poles were in the second race in Rome and Jakarta, finishing second in both to Mitch Evans and scored 2 more podium in Monaco and Berlin inbetween. Vergne had a DNF in both second races in New York and London, Both from contact. Vergne finished 6th in both races in Seoul which meant he finished the season in 4th with 144 points.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: In October 2022, it was announced that Vergne would be joining the newly formed DS Penske outfit alongside reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne for the 2023 season.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: Vergne signed with the Peugeot factory team to compete at the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship at the Hypercar class.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: In 2018, Vergne signed a partnership with Veloce Esports. They became the co-founders of Veloce Racing, a racing team currently part of Extreme E.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: Vergne plays the piano. In addition to his native French, Vergne also speaks English, Italian, and Spanish. He considers André Lotterer, his teammate from 2017 to 2019, a close friend.


title: Jean-Éric Vergne

text: Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.


title: 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election

text: Elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly were held on 25 November 1917, although some districts had polling on alternate days, around two months after they were originally meant to occur, having been organized as a result of events in the February Revolution. They are generally recognised to be the first free elections in Russian history.


text: Various academic studies have given alternative results. However, all clearly indicate that the Bolsheviks were clear winners in the urban centres, and also took around two-thirds of the votes of soldiers on the Western Front. Nevertheless, the Socialist-Revolutionary party topped the polls, winning a plurality of seats (no party won a majority) on the strength of support from the country's rural peasantry, who were for the most part one-issue voters, that issue being land reform.


text: The elections, however, did not produce a democratically-elected government. The Constituent Assembly only met for a single day the following January before being dissolved by the Bolsheviks. All opposition parties were ultimately banned, and the Bolsheviks ruled the country as a one-party state.


text: The convocation of a Constituent Assembly had been a long-standing demand of the democratic and popular movements in Tsarist Russia. In the later phase of the February Revolution, Tsar Nicolas II abdicated on March 2, 1917. The Russian Provisional Government was formed and pledged to carry through with holding elections for a Constituent Assembly. Consensus emerged between all major political parties to go ahead with the election. Nevertheless, the various political parties were divided over many details on the organization of the impending election. The Bolsheviks demanded immediate elections, whilst the Socialist-Revolutionaries wanted to postpone the vote for several months for it not to collide with the harvest season. Right-wing forces also pushed for delay of the election.


text: On March 19, 1917 a mass rally was held in Petrograd, demanding female suffrage. The march gathered some 40,000 participants. The protest was led by Vera Figner and Poliksena Shishkina-Iavein. It moved from the Petrograd City Duma to the Tauride Palace, and the demonstrators refused to vacate the palace grounds before the Provisional Government and the Soviet committed to female suffrage. On July 20, 1917, the Provisional Government issued a decree awarding voting rights for women aged 20 years and above.


text: In May the political parties agreed on main principles of the election (proportional representation, universal suffrage and secret ballot). A special electoral commission was set up, composed of multiple lawyers and legal experts. The following month September 17, 1917 was set as the election date. The new Constituent Assembly was supposed to have its first meeting on September 30, 1917.


text: In July the left-wing parties increased their pressure on the Provisional Government, reaching a nearly insurrectionist situation. In the end, the following month the left consented to a further postponement. On August 9, 1917 a new date for the election was set by the Provisional Government: voting on November 12 and the first session of the Constituent Assembly would be held on November 28, 1917.


text: Between the finalization of candidate lists and the election, the October Revolution broke out. The October Revolution ended the reign of the Provisional Government. A new Soviet government took charge of the country, the Council of People's Commissars. Nevertheless, the new government pledged to go ahead with the election and that its rule remained provisional until its authority would be confirmed by the Constituent Assembly.


text: 81 electoral districts ("okrugs") were formed by the Provisional Government. Electoral districts were generally set up on (pre-revolutionary) governorate or ethnic oblast boundaries. Moreover, there were electoral districts for the different army groups and fleets. There were also an electoral district assigned for the workers at the Chinese Eastern Railroad and one electoral district for the soldiers of the Russian Expeditionary Corps in France and the Balkans (with some 20,000 voters).


text: No official electoral census exists. The estimated population of eligible voters at the time (excluding occupied territories) has been estimated at around 85 million; the number of eligible voters in the districts where polling took place has been estimated at around 80 million.


text: Each party had a separate ballot with a list with names of candidates, there was no general ballot. The voter would either have received copies of different party lists in advance or at the polling station. The voter would select one list, place it in an envelope, seal it and place it in the box. If any name was scratched, the vote would be invalid.


text: The voting began on November 12–14, 1917. The election was at the time the largest election organized in history. However, only in 39 districts did the election take place as scheduled. In many districts the voting occurred in late November or early December, and in some remote places the vote took place only in early January 1918.


text: In spite of war and turmoil, some 47 million voters exercised their franchise, with a national voter turnout of around 64% (per Protasov (2004)). According to Protasov (2004), the countryside generally had a higher voter turnout than the cities. 220 cities across the country, with a combined population of seven million, had a voter turnout of 58%. In agrarian provinces turnout generally ranged from 62 to 80%. In Tambov province urban areas had a turnout of 50.2% while rural areas had 74.5%. According to Radkey (1989) national voter turnout stood at around 55%.


text: The Socialist-Revolutionaries emerged as the most voted party in the election, swaying the broad majority of the peasant vote. The agrarian programmes of the SR and Bolshevik parties were largely similar, but the peasantry were more familiar with the SRs. The Bolsheviks lacked an organizational presence in many rural areas. In areas where the Bolshevik electoral campaign had been active (for example, near to towns or garrisons) the peasant vote was somewhat evenly divided between SRs and Bolsheviks.


text: Moreover, whilst the SRs enjoyed widespread support among the peasantry, the party lacked a strong organizational structure in rural areas. The party was highly dependent on peasant union, zemstvos, cooperatives and soviets.


text: On the issue of war and peace, the SR leadership had vowed not to enter into a separate peace with the Central Powers. The SR leadership condemned the peace talks initiated by the Bolsheviks, but to what extent the SR's were prepared to continue the war was unclear at the time. Along with the Mensheviks, the SRs supported the notion of engaging with other European socialist politicians to find a settlement to the ongoing World War.


text: The filing of nominations for the election took place just as the split in the SR party was taking place. By late October, when the SR party lists were already set, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries formed a separate party. But whilst by the time of the election the Left SRs had constituted a separate party, the split was not completed in local SR party branches until early 1918. The Kazan, Yaroslavl, Kazan and Kronstadt SR organizations went over to the Left SRs en bloc. In Ufa and Pskov the majority in the SR party organization crossed over to the Left SRs. In Petrograd the leftist faction had dominated the SR party branch prior to the October Revolution, but elsewhere the majority in the party organizations remained with the PSR. Notably in some of the locations leftist and rights SR lists were separately presented (Baltic Fleet, Petrograd, Kazan), the leftists prevailed over the rightists, leading D'Agostino (2011) to argue that had separate right/left SRs lists been presented nationwide the peasantry could have opted for the left (considering that there were no major difference between the factions on their agrarian programmes).


text: A key Bolshevik argument against the legitimacy of the Constituent Assembly once it was elected was the fact that the lists had been finalized before the Left SRs constituted themselves as a separate party, and that if the Left SRs had stood separately the Bolshevik and Left SR would have won the majority vote. This was despite the Left SR's eventual opposition to the closure of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks. Per Serge's account, 40 of 339 elected SR deputies were leftists and 50 belong to Chernov's centrist faction. Smith points out that though the association with Soviet power strengthened the PLSR popularity in the countryside, the schism did not transform the PLSR overnight into a large and well-organized political party, and during the following months of 1918 the PSR managed to regain control over some of the soviets and local branches it lost to the left.


text: In 1917 the Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) had begun to allow mass membership, without consulting with Lenin. On July 1, 1917 the Central Committee sent out an instruction to local party organizations to build a broad democratic unity ahead of the elections, to reach out to Menshevik-Internationalists, left-wing SRs and trade unions. In the wake of the abortive July uprising (organized by the revolutionary Petrograd Bolshevik Committee and the Military Organization), the moderates of the Central Committee again appealed to build a left socialist bloc and invited the Menshevik-Internationalists to attend the upcoming party congress as observers. With the election finally approaching, Lenin took a tough stance towards the Central Committee. He deplored the absence of proletarians from the list of proposed candidates that the Central Committee had adopted, charging the Committee with opening the doors for opportunists. In Lenin's view, only workers would be able to create alliances with the peasantry. Lenin also criticised the list for including many recent arrivals to the party who had not yet been tested in "proletarian work in our Party's spirit." While Lenin believed that some new members of the Bolsheviks, in particular Leon Trotsky (who had fought for the merger of his Mezhraiontsy faction into the Bolshevik Party since his return to Russia and had "proved himself equal to the task and a loyal supporter of the party of the revolutionary proletariat"), were acceptable candidates, placing large numbers of untested new members on the Bolshevik ballot opened the party's doors to careerism.


text: The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) campaigned for bread, peace and a government of Soviets. But the party leadership was divided on the issue of the Constituent Assembly. The moderates in the Central Committee held the opinion that the Constituent Assembly should become the supreme body to decide the future path of Russia. Lenin opposed this line. In an article edited after the elections, he stated that the proletariat cannot achieve victory if it does not win the majority of the population to its side. But to limit that winning to polling a majority of votes in an election under the rule of the bourgeoisie, or to make it the condition for it, is crass stupidity, or else sheer deception of the workers. In order to win the majority of the population to its side the proletariat must, in the first place, overthrow the bourgeoisie and seize state power; secondly, it must introduce Soviet power and completely smash the old state apparatus, whereby it immediately undermines the rule, prestige and influence of the bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeois compromisers over the non-proletarian working people. Thirdly, it must entirely destroy the influence of the bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeois compromisers over the majority of the non-proletarian masses by satisfying their economic needs in a revolutionary way at the expense of the exploiters.


text: The party emerged victorious in the two main cities; Petrograd and Moscow, and emerged the major party in urban Russia overall. It won an absolute majority of votes in the Baltic Fleet, the Northern Front and the Western Front. The call for immediate peace made the Bolsheviks popular in the military, winning around 42% of the votes from the armed forces. Often the election result is portrayed as an indicator for impopularity of the Bolsheviks, but as per Victor Serge the strong showing of the Bolshevik vote in the main cities 18 days after the October Revolution broke out shows that there was a popular mandate from the industrial workers for the Revolution.


text: By the time of the election, the Mensheviks had lost most of their influence in the workers' soviets. The election result confirmed the marginalization of the Mensheviks, obtaining a little over a million votes. In a fifth of the constituencies, pro-war Mensheviks and Internationalists ran on competing slates and in Petrograd and Kharkov the defencists had set up their own local organizations. Nearly half of the Menshevik vote came from Georgia.


text: The Kadet party had changed its name to 'People's Freedom Party' by 1917, but the new name was rarely used. Kadets campaigned for national unity, law and order, honour commitments to the allies of Russia and 'honorable peace'. The Kadets condemned Bolsheviks in election campaign. The Kadets had sought to build a broad democratic coalition, setting up a liaison committee for alliances (Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, Andrei Ivanovich Shingarev and M. S. Adzhemov) but this effort failed as the Popular Socialists and cooperative movement rejected electoral pacts with the Kadets.


text: Whilst the Kadets emerged as the main losers in the election, they did take a sizable share of the votes in the largest cities. However the Kadets were hurt by abstention amongst urban intelligentsia voters. They had also lost a large share of their habitual Jewish intelligentsia vote to Jewish national coalition lists.


text: The congress of the Popular Socialists, held on September 26, 1917, rejected the notion of an electoral alliance with the Kadets. The party congress ordered that joint lists would only be organized with fellow socialist groups. The Popular Socialists condemned Bolsheviks in their campaigning, whilst stressing the defencist line of their own party.


text: The cooperative societies held an emergency congress on October 4, 1917, at which it was decided that they would contest the Constituent Assembly elections directly. The congress discarded the notion of electoral pacts with non-socialist groups. In the Petrograd election district, the list of cooperative candidates included only one notable figure, Alexander Chayanov. The other six candidates were largely unknown.


text: Most non-Russian voters opted for national minority parties. In the case of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party dominated the 4 electoral districts of the Ukrainian peasantry. Non-Ukrainian urban populations largely voted for Russian parties. In Kiev city the Ukrainian parties obtained 26% of the vote. Over half a million soldiers and officers in the army and navy voted for Ukrainian parties supporting the Central Rada, making the Ukrainians the third force among military voters.


text: However, in Belorussia, Belorussian nationalist groups gathered less than 1% of the votes. In Transcaucasus the vote was divided between Georgians (voting for Mensheviks), Armenians (voting for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, also known as "Dashnaksiun") and Azeris (voting for Musavat and other Muslim groups). Tatar and Bashkir lists gathered 55% of the votes in Ufa.


text: In July 1917 the First All-Kazakh Congress was held, establishing the Alash Party as a national political party. The party called for the 'liberation of the Kazakh people from colonial yoke'. Ahead of the election, party committees were formed in Semipalatinsk, Omsk, Akmolinsk and Uralsk. In the Semirechie, Syr-Darya and Horde electoral districts Alash did not field lists of their own, but placed candidates of other Muslim lists. Four days ahead of the vote the newspaper "Qazaq" published the Alash programme, including a call for a democratic federal republic with equality of nationalities.


text: In 14 electoral districts, 2 or more Jewish lists were in the fray. In Zhitomir, 5 out of 13 parties contesting were Jewish. In Gomel 4 out of 11 parties were Jewish, in Poltava 5 out of 14. Some 80% of the votes cast for Jewish parties went to Jewish national coalition lists. The Folkspartey was the most enthusiastic proponent of Jewish national coalition lists. These coalitions, generally contesting under titles such as 'Jewish National Bloc' or 'Jewish National Election Committee' also gathered Zionists and Orthodox Jews. The candidates on these lists had vowed to form a common bloc in the Constituent Assembly and implement decisions of the All-Russian Jewish Congress. The Jewish national lists were confronted by the various Jewish socialist parties; the General Jewish Labour Bund, the Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poalei Zion) and the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party ("Fareynikte"). The Bund carried out 200 electoral meetings in White Russia (with a total attendance of about 127,000), and in the Ukraine the party held 2-3 electoral meetings weekly. In Odessa confrontations between socialist and non-socialist Jewish parties led to physical violence. Jewish national lists elected Iu. D. Brutskus, A.M. Goldstein, the Moscow rabbi Yaakov Mazeh. V. I. Temkin, D. M. Kogan-Bernsthein, N. S. Syrkin and O. O. Gruzenberg (who was then close to Zionist circles). David Lvovich was elected on SR-Fareynikte list and the Bundist G.I. Lure was elected on a Menshevik-Bund list.


text: The Buryat National Committee had previously been linked to the SRs, but ahead of the election relation was broken. Buryat SRs were not given prominent places on candidate lists, and the Buryat National Committee ended up contesting on its own.


text: There are various different accounts of the election result, with varying numbers. Many accounts on the election result originate from N. V. Svyatitsky's account, who was himself elected as an SR deputy to the Constituent Assembly. His article was included in the one-year anniversary symposium of the Russian Revolution organized by the SR party (Moscow, Zemlya i Volya Publishers, 1918). Lenin (1919) describes Svyatitsky's account as extremely interesting. It presented results from 54 electoral districts, covering most of European Russia and Siberia. Notably is lacked details from the Olonets, Estonian, Kaluga, Bessarabian, Podolsk, Orenburg, Yakutsk, Don governorates, as well as Transcaucasus. All in all, Svyatitsky's account includes 36,257,960 votes. According to Lenin, the actual number from said 54 electoral districts was 36,262,560 votes. But Lenin reaffirms that between Svyatitisky's article and his account, the number of votes cast by party is largely identical.


text: More recent studies often use Svyatitsky's 1918 account as their starting point for further elaboration. L. M. Spirin (1987) uses local newspapers and Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian archival holdings to supplement Svyatitsky, whereas U.S. historian Oliver Henry Radkey predominately uses local newspapers as sources. According to Rabinovitch (2016), Spirin's account is the most complete. According to Arato (2017), U.S. scholar Radkey is the most serious historian on the 1917 election.


text: Radkey uses a number of uses broad categories in presenting the result party-wise: SRs (sometimes distinguished between left/right), Bolsheviks, Mensheviks (sometimes divided between Menshevik-Internationalists and Right-wing pro-war Mensheviks), Other Socialists (with subcategories) Kadets, Special interests (including subcategories peasants, landowners, Cossacks, middle-class, others), Religious (Orthodox, Old Believers, others), Ukrainian (with subcategories), Turkic-Tatar (with subcategories), Other Nationalities (with subcategories).


text: Protasov (2004) presents the party affiliation of 765 deputies elected from 73 electoral districts: 345 SRs, 47 Ukrainian SRs, 175 Bolsheviks, 17 Mensheviks, 7 Ukrainian Social Democrats, 14 Kadets, 2 Popular Socialists, another 32 Ukrainian socialists (possibly SRs or social democrats), 13 Muslim Socialists, 10 Dashnaks, 68 from other national parties, 16 Cossacks, 10 Christians and one clergyman. Another 55 deputies were supposed to have been elected from another 8 electoral districts. Of the over 700 deputies known by name, over 400 participated at first session and only session of the Constituent Assembly (240 of the assembled belonged to the SR bloc).


text: Several prominent politicians had stood as candidates in multiple electoral districts. The Central Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) had named Lenin as their candidate in 5 districts: Petrograd City, Petrograd Province, Ufa, Baltic Fleet and Northern Front. Lenin was also nominated from Moscow City. On November 27 (December 10) the All-Russia Committee for Elections to the Constituent Assembly requested members of the Constituent Assembly who had been returned by several areas to present a written statement indicating the electoral district for which they accepted election. Having been elected by several areas, Lenin, too, presented such a statement. Lenin opted to represent the Baltic Fleet in the Constituent Assembly. In case an elected candidate didn't send in such a statement, the All-Russian Election Commission for the Constituent Assembly would consider the person elected from the district where he obtained the highest number of votes.


text: The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное собрание, Vserossiyskoye Uchreditelnoye sobraniye) convened for 13 hours, from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m., , whereupon it was dissolved by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, making the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets the new governing body of Russia.


title: The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

text: The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults is a two-hour live American television special that was broadcast in syndication on April 21, 1986, and hosted by Geraldo Rivera. It centered on the live opening of a walled-off underground room in the Lexington Hotel in Chicago once owned by noted crime lord Al Capone, which turned out to be empty except for debris. Thirty million viewers watched, making it the "highest rated syndicated special" in history. Rivera had inadvertently launched a "no-news" form of news, where instead of reporting on news, entire programs were about possible and hypothetical news. Included in this was news channels counting down and hyping an upcoming news event, like a presidential briefing.


title: The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

text: Al Capone was born to Italian immigrant parents on January 17, 1899, in New York City. He moved to Chicago in 1919, and there he became a notable criminal figure and gangster. He played large parts in gambling, alcohol, and prostitution rackets. In 1925, after an assassination attempt on former head Johnny Torrio, Capone took control of the Chicago Outfit organized crime syndicate, which he had served as second in command. He was listed on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list, transported and sold alcohol during the Prohibition era, planned the St. Valentine's Day massacre, and was eventually indicted and convicted of income tax evasion in 1931. In 1939, he was released from Alcatraz prison on humanitarian grounds, due to acutely advancing syphilis. He died on January 25, 1947 in his home in Palm Island, Florida from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke a week after his 48th birthday.


title: The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

text: Capone had previously housed his headquarters at the Metropole Hotel in Chicago, but in July 1928 moved to a suite at the nearby Lexington Hotel. Capone ran his various enterprises from this hotel until his arrest in 1931. A construction company in the 1980s planned a renovation of the Lexington Hotel, and while surveying the building had discovered a number of walled-off subterranean chambers on the property.


title: The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

text: Geraldo Rivera had been fired from ABC in 1985 after criticizing the network for canceling a report on an alleged relationship between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. He then hosted the special "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults" which was broadcast live on April 21, 1986. The two-hour special (including commercials) was greatly hyped as potentially revealing great riches or dead bodies on live television. This included the presence of a medical examiner should bodies be found, and agents from the Internal Revenue Service to collect any of Capone's money that might be discovered.


title: The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

text: When the vault was finally opened, the only things found inside were dirt and several empty bottles, including one Rivera claimed was for moonshine bathtub gin. After several attempts to dig further into the vault, Geraldo admitted defeat and voiced his disappointment to the viewers, apologizing as he thanked the excavation team for their efforts. Although it gathered criticism and became infamous for its disappointing ending, the program was the most-watched syndicated television special that year with an estimated audience of 30 million. After the show, Rivera was quoted as saying "Seems like we struck out". Geraldo said on the April 20, 2016 edition of the Fox News Channel program "The Five" that he went right across the street and got "tequila drunk" after the special aired, then went back to his hotel room and put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. However, in his 1991 autobiography "Exposing Myself", he wrote, regarding the event, "My career was not over, I knew, but had just begun. And all because of a silly, high-concept stunt that failed to deliver on its titillating promise."


title: The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

text: This was not the first time a vault was opened on live TV: in 1984, a safe recovered from the shipwreck SS "Andrea Doria" was opened. During the broadcast, all that was revealed were a few silver certificates floating at the top of the waterlogged safe. Peter Gimbel, who recovered the safe and arranged the TV event, said the media "felt ripped off because there wasn't a treasure".


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: Suchinta Chowdhury Chanchal (), known as Chanchal Chowdhury (), is a Bangladeshi actor. Critically acclaimed for his performances in "Rupkothar Golpo" (2006), "Monpura" (2009), "Television" (2012), "Aynabaji" (2016), "Debi" (2018) and "Hawa" (2022). He has received two Bangladesh National Film Awards for Best Actor and three Meril Prothom Alo Awards for Best Actor.


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: A household name in Bangladesh, Chowdhury started his career in 1996 in the theaters of Bangladesh. He joined famous theaters such as Aranyak Natyadal and performed in stage plays like "Prakritojoner Kotha", "Joyjoyonti", "Ora Kodom Ali", "Mayur Singhason", "Songkranti", "Rarang and Che-er Cycle". Albeit a prolific actor in TV series and films, he appeared in six movies as of 2018.


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: Chowdhury was born and raised in a Hindu family in the village of Kamarhaat in Pabna, Bangladesh, on 1 June 1974. His father's name is Radha Gobinda Chowdhury and mother's name is Nomita Chowdhury. He passed his SSC examination from Udaypur High School in 1990 and HSC examination from Rajbari Govt. College, Rajbari in 1992. He came to Dhaka in 1993 to apply for admission in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. His parents wanted him to be an engineer but an innate urge for art and culture drove him to become an actor.


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: Chanchal Chowdhury settled in Dhaka in 1993 and dived headfirst into as much culture as possible. As a third year student of DU, he joined 'Aronyak', a theater group of Legendary actor, director and scriptwriter Mamunur Rashid. Then he worked on stage for 10 years continuously. During this period, he played minor roles in different television dramas as well. His first role as a hero was in the drama Grash directed by Faridur Rahman. Meanwhile, Chowdhury pursued his profession in UODA as a lecturer of Fine Arts from 2001 to 2006.


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: It was in 2004 that Fazlur Rahman Babu (actor) introduced Chowdhury to Gias Uddin Selim and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. Chowdhury then started working more and more in television dramas. His initial works are Shurjer Hashi with Gias Uddin Selim, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shogbaad and a TV commercial, Maa with Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. At this point Chanchal's life took an upward surge towards success as the commercial gained him immense popularity.


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: Even the advertisement's jingle was sung by Chowdhury. Though he never had any formal singing lessons, he is gifted with the talent to sing. "I always listened to Hemanta Mukhopadhdhay and Bhupen Hajarika and sang those songs to myself; I told Mostofa Sarwar Farooki bhai to give me a chance to sing the jingle because I really thought that my voice would suit the song. Ayub Bachchu and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki then listened to my singing and later let me know that my song had been selected." Chowdhury later won the Meril-Prothom Alo award as the best model 2006 for this commercial. Chowdhury came into the spotlight for the first time as a model in the commercial of Grameenphone which became immensely popular at that time. "Pother Klanti Bhule" - a very popular song of Hemanta Mukherjee attracted some more attention onto the advertisement. Eventually, that advertise brought him the prestigious Meril-Prothom Alo award in "The Best Model - Men" category in 2005. The commercial was directed by Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, with whom, Chowdhury worked with on the serial 'Talpatar Shepai'.


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: After the commercial, Chowdhury's acting career started moving forward at a very good pace. He then worked with Salauddin Lavlu, Saidul Anam Tutul, Golam Sarwar Tutul and so on. Some of the dramas that Chowdhury specially likes are Vober Hat, Bongsho Rokkhe, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shongbaad, Ami Tumi Shottojit, Boral Parer Shitlai Gaon, Akjon Durbol Manush and also many more. The busy actor is also seen frequently in Eid-special TV plays.


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: Chowdhury plays a key role, called ‘Laley’, in Aronyak's popular production Shangkranti. In Che'er Cycle (a Bengali Theatre production), he plays six different characters including those of Fidel Castro and a peace-loving young boy, Shubhro — demonstrating his versatility. Chowdhury considers his performance in Che'er Cycle as one of his best works on stage so far. On his contemporaries, the actor says, several artistes are doing well. Among them, AKM Hasan, Mosharraf Karim, Shamim Zaman, Anisur Rahman Milon, Nusrat Imroz Tisha, Chandni and Richi Solaiman have done some impressive works. Chowdhury says that performing in front of the camera is relatively easy for him, thanks to his experience on stage. He adds, acting in films is more challenging than TV plays because of its duration and format. He has also been a playback singer, along with Meher Afroz Shaon, in the 2012 war film depicting the Bangladesh Liberation War, "Pita"


title: Chanchal Chowdhury

text: Chanchal Chowdhury faced online backlash after posting a picture with his mother on Mother's day 2020. On getting to know about his Hindu faith from the customary sindur on his mother's forehead, many people made derogatory remarks. Chanchal responded with poetry, encouraging harmony between all faiths.


title: Opole

text: Opole is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of Opole County. Its built-up (or metro area) was home to 146,522 inhabitants. It is the smallest city in Poland that is also the largest city in its province.


title: Opole

text: Its history dates to the 8th century, and Opole is one of the oldest cities in Poland. An important stronghold in Poland, it became the capital of a duchy within medieval Poland in 1172, and in 1217 it was granted city rights by Duke Casimir I of Opole, the great-grandson of Polish Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth. During the Medieval Period and the Renaissance, the city was known as a centre of commerce; several main trade routes intersected here, which helped to generate steady profits from transit trade. The rapid development of the town was also caused by the establishment of a seat of regency in Opole in 1816. The first railway connection between Opole, Brzeg and Wrocław was opened in 1843 and the first manufacturing plants were constructed in 1859, which greatly contributed to the city's regional significance.


title: Opole

text: The city's extensive heritage entails several cultures of Central Europe, as it was under periods of Polish, Bohemian (Czech), Prussian, and German rule. Opole formally became part of Poland again in 1945 after the end of World War II. Many German Upper Silesians and Poles of ethnic German ancestry still reside in the Opole region; but, following the 1945–46 expulsions, in the city of the 21st century, ethnic Germans make up less than 3% of the population.


title: Opole

text: There are four higher education establishments in the city: the Opole University, Opole University of Technology, a Medical College and the private Higher College of Management and Administration. The National Festival of Polish Song has been held annually since 1963. Each year new regular events, fairs, shows and competitions take place.


title: Opole

text: Opole is sometimes referred to as "Polish Venice", because of its picturesque Old Town and several canals and bridges connecting parts of the city.


title: Opole

text: Opole's history begins in the 8th century. At this time, according to the archeological excavations, the first settlement was founded on the Ostrówek – the northern part of the Pasieka Island in the middle of the Oder river. In the early 10th century it developed into one of the main "gords" of the Lechitic (Polish) Opolans tribe.


title: Opole

text: At the end of the century Silesia became part of Poland and was ruled by the Piast dynasty; the land of the pagan Opolanie was conquered by Duke Mieszko I in 992. From the 11th–12th centuries, it was also a castellany. After the death of Duke Władysław II the Exile, Silesia was divided in 1163 between two Piast lines – the Wrocław line in Lower Silesia and the Opole-Racibórz of Upper Silesia. Opole would become a duchy in 1172 and would share much in common with the Duchy of Racibórz, with which it was often combined. In 1281 Upper Silesia was divided further between the heirs of the dukes. The Duchy of Opole was temporarily reestablished in 1290.


title: Opole

text: In the early 13th century, Duke Casimir I of Opole decided to move the settlement from the Pasieka Island to the right shore of the Oder river (since the 17th century, the old stream bed of the Oder, known as the Młynówka). All of the inhabitants had to be moved in order to accommodate the castle that was built in place of the old city. Former inhabitants of Ostrówek, together with German merchants that immigrated from the West, received the first town rights probably as early as around 1217, although this date is disputed. Opole received German town law in 1254, which was expanded with Neumarkt law in 1327. Opole developed during the rule of duke Bolko I of Opole. The castle was finally completed around this time and new buildings, including the city walls and the Holy Cross Church, were constructed.


title: Opole

text: Along with most of Silesia, in 1327 the Duchy of Opole came under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Bohemia, itself part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1521 the Duchy of Opole inherited the Duchy of Racibórz ("Ratibor"), then also known by its German equivalent – Oppeln. The second castle of Opole was probably founded in the 14th century by duke Vladislaus II, though some sources claim that it was originally a wooden stronghold of Opole's castellan dating into 12th century.


title: Opole

text: With the death of King Ludvík II of Bohemia at the Battle of Mohács, Silesia was inherited by Ferdinand I, placing Opole under the sovereignty of the Habsburg monarchy of Austria. The Habsburgs took control of the region in 1532 after the last Piast duke of Opole, Jan II the Good, died. At that time the city was still mainly Polish-speaking (around 63%), with other nationalities represented mainly by Germans, Czechs and Jews. The last two dukes of Opole, Nicholas II and Janusz II the Good, did not master the German language.


title: Opole

text: Beginning in 1532 the Habsburgs pawned the duchy to different rulers including several monarchs of Poland (see Dukes of Opole). After the Swedish invasion of Poland, in 1655 the King of Poland, John II Casimir Vasa, stayed with his entire court in Opole. In Opole in November 1655, the Universal of Opole ("Uniwersał opolski") was issued by the King, calling for Poles to rise against the Swedes, who at that time occupied a large part of Poland.


title: Opole

text: With the abdication of King John II Casimir of Poland as the last Duke of Opole in 1668, the region passed to the direct control of the Habsburgs. At the beginning of the 18th century the German population of Opole was estimated at around 20%.


title: Opole

text: King Frederick II of Prussia conquered most of Silesia from Austria in 1740 during the Silesian Wars; Prussian control was confirmed in the Peace of Breslau in 1742. In the 18th century, Opole belonged to the tax inspection region of Prudnik. Under Prussian rule the ethnic structure of the city began to change. In the early 20th century the number of Polish and bilingual citizens of Opole, according to the official German statistics, varied between 25% and 31%. Nonetheless, Opole remained an important cultural, social and political center for the Poles of Upper Silesia. From 1849 the Polish newspaper "Gazeta Wiejska dla Górnego Śląska" was published in Opole. Polish reporter and opponent of Germanisation Bronisław Koraszewski founded the newspaper "Gazeta Opolska" in 1890 and the People's Bank in Opole ("Opolski Bank Ludowy") in 1897. Another Polish newspaper, the "Nowiny" was founded by Franciszek Kurpierz in 1911.


title: Opole

text: From 1816–1945 Opole was the capital of Regierungsbezirk Oppeln within Prussia. The city became part of the German Empire during the unification of Germany in 1871.


title: Opole

text: After the defeat of Imperial Germany in World War I, a plebiscite was held on 20 March 1921 in Oppeln to determine if the city would be in the Weimar Republic or become part of the Second Polish Republic, which just regained independence. 20,816 (94.7%) votes were cast for Germany, 1,098 (5.0%) for Poland, and 70 (0.3%) votes were declared invalid. Voter participation was 95.9%. The results of the referendum in the Oppeln-Land county were different, with 30% of the population voting for Poland.


title: Opole

text: Oppeln was the administrative seat of the Province of Upper Silesia from 1919–1939. In the years 1928–1931, by the decision of the German regional administration, the Piast Castle was demolished. Thanks to the strong opposition of the local Polish community and protests of the Union of Poles in Germany, the castle tower was saved from demolition. Nowadays called the "Piast Tower" it is one of the city's landmarks. In 1929, a Polish theatre from Katowice came to Opole to perform the opera "Halka" by Stanisław Moniuszko. After the performance, the actors were brutally beaten by a German militia with the silent consent of the German police.


title: Opole

text: Local Polish activists were intensively persecuted from 1937 onwards. The local "Gestapo" terrorized and spied on Polish activities in the German-held part of Upper Silesia, participated in espionage and sabotage in the Polish part of Silesia and prepared border provocations against Poland. There was strong anti-Polish propaganda in the city and region.


title: Opole

text: The local Polish newspaper "Nowiny Codzienne" was frequently confiscated from 1937 and its editors were harassed, its work obstructed, its distributors persecuted, and its readers threatened. In 1938–1939, the local "Gestapo" carried out expulsions of Polish activists from the region, which the local Polish press could still report. On July 2, 1939, a Nazi militia attacked and severely beat Poles going to a Polish service in the Saint Sebastian Church.


title: Opole

text: On August 31, the day before the German invasion of Poland that began World War II, the Germans began mass arrests of prominent Poles in the city, which were continued in September. Among the arrested Poles were activists, entrepreneurs, journalists, editors, scout leaders, the director of the local Polish bank and the director of the local Polish library. The "Nowiny Codzienne" newspaper was closed down on September 1, and its editorial team, including editor-in-chief Jan Łangowski, was deported to concentration camps. In September 1939, local Polish organizations were closed down by the German police and "Gestapo", and the assets of the local Polish bank were confiscated. On September 13 and October 4, 1939, arrested Poles were deported from the city to concentration camps, men to Buchenwald and women to Ravensbrück. Some local Poles avoided arrest by escaping earlier to Poland.


title: Opole

text: The German 10th Army and 14th Army attacked Poland from the city, and the "Einsatzgruppe" I and II followed the armies from Opole to various Polish cities to commit crimes against the Polish people. After the defeat of Poland, Polish Eastern Upper Silesia was re-annexed to the Province of Upper Silesia and Oppeln lost its status as provincial capital to German-occupied Katowice (renamed "Kattowitz").


title: Opole

text: Polish prisoners from the city co-founded the secret resistance movement in Buchenwald, while Polish escapees from the city participated in the Polish resistance in occupied Poland. Local members of the Polish resistance were expelled from the city.


title: Opole

text: During the war, the Nazis operated thirteen forced labour subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs in the city, and two in the present-day district of Groszowice.


title: Opole

text: After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Oppeln was transferred from Germany to Poland, pursuant to the agreements of the Potsdam Conference, and given its original Slavic name of Opole. Opole became part of the Katowice Voivodeship from 1946–1950, after which it became part of the Opole Voivodeship. Unlike other parts of the so-called Recovered Territories, Opole and the surrounding region's indigenous population remained and was not expelled as elsewhere. Over 1 million Silesians who considered themselves Poles or were treated as such by the authorities due to their language and customs were allowed to stay after they were verified as Poles in a special verification process. It involved declaring Polish nationality and an oath of allegiance to the Polish nation.


title: Opole

text: In the later years however many of them left to West Germany to flee the communist Eastern Bloc (see Emigration from Poland to Germany after World War II). Today Opole, along with the surrounding region, is known as a centre of the German minority in Poland that recruits mainly from the descendants of the positively verified autochthons. In the city itself however, only 2.46% of the inhabitants declared German nationality according to the last national census of 2002.


title: Opole

text: On January 1, 2017, Borki, Chmielowice, Czarnowąsy, Krzanowice, Sławice, Świerkle, Winów, Wrzoski, Żerkowice as well as parts of Brzezie, Dobrzeń Mały and Karczów became a part of Opole, enlargening its population by about 9,500, and its area by over 5,300 ha, despite the protests of inhabitants.


title: Opole

text: In the early 20th century the number of Polish and bilingual citizens of Opole, according to the official German statistics, varied from 25% to 31%.


title: Opole

text: Alongside German and Polish, many citizens of the city before 1945 used a strongly German-influenced Silesian dialect (sometimes called "wasserpolnisch" or "wasserpolak"). Because of this, the post-war Polish state administration after the annexation of Silesia in 1945 did not initiate a general expulsion of all former inhabitants of Opole, as was done in Lower Silesia, for instance, where the population almost exclusively spoke the German language. Because they were considered "autochthonous" (Polish), the Wasserpolak-speakers instead received the right to remain in their homeland after declaring themselves as Poles. Some German speakers took advantage of this decision, allowing them to remain in Opole, even when they considered themselves to be of German nationality. The city surroundings currently contain the largest German and Upper Silesian minorities in Poland. However, Opole itself is only 2.46% German. (See also Germans of Poland.)


title: Opole

text: Opole hosts the annual National Festival of Polish Song. The city is also known for its 10th-century Church of St. Adalbert and the 14th-century Church of the Holy Cross. There is a zoo, the Ogród Zoologiczny w Opolu.


title: Opole

text: Opole is one of the warmest cities in Poland. The national all-time heat record was measured in Prószków, near Opole. The climate is oceanic with sizeable continental influences.


title: Opole

text: Opole is the Opole Voivodeship's centre for commerce, banking, industrial complexes and other major service sector industries.


title: Opole

text: Prior to World War II, due to major limestone deposits in Opole's vicinity, the city developed as a centre for cement production in Germany, with the "Cementownia "Odra"" being active till this day. The French building materials company Lafarge is also active in the area, having its roofing division, Lafarge Roofing, together with its German subsidiary Schiedel (chimney manufacturing) based in Opole.


title: Opole

text: Other companies in the city include: the German valve manufacturer Kludi; the German men's fashion manufacturer Ahlers and the American automotive manufacturer Tower Automative. As is the case with the entire Opole Voivodeship, there is a strong presence of food industry services in the city. The largest companies in the food sector include: Zott, the Dutch baby food and nutrition company Nutricia, part of the Danone food-products corporation.


title: Opole

text: Opole has branches of all major banks, including: PKO, Pekao, Deutsche Bank and Raiffeisen Zentralbank.


title: Opole

text: The retail sector in Opole includes major Metro AG brand stores: Metro Cash and Carry and Media-Saturn-Holding, as well as Real. The city has a plethora of other major supermarket chains, namely: the Polish supermarket chains Biedronka, Lidl, Aldi and Netto. Other major brand stores include the shoe retailer Deichmann and Rossmann drugstores.


title: Opole

text: Furthermore, the city has three major shopping centres. The Solaris Center, with a total of 86 shops, opened in May 2009 and is located in the centre of Mikołaj Kopernik Square. In the city's suburbs, by Wrocławska Street ("ul. Wrocławska") is the location of Karolinka Shopping Centre ("Centrum Handlowe Karolinka"). The shopping centre, which opened in September 2008, has a total area of 38,000 m², with a total of 99 stores, including fashion, hardware and electronics stores. To the east of the city, by the National Road 46, is the smallest of the three shopping centres, Turawa Park, with a total of 50 stores. Other shopping centres include "Galeria Opolanin", built between 1974 and 1981 and upon its completion, was the largest shopping centre in Poland.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: Pershing Square Capital Management is an American hedge fund management company founded and run by Bill Ackman, headquartered in New York City.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In 2004, with $54 million in funding from his personal funds and former business partner Leucadia National, Ackman started Pershing Square Capital Management.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: Ackman has been known to hire people outside of traditional finance backgrounds; for instance, his professionals have included a former fly fishing guide, a former tennis pro, and "a man whom he met in a cab."


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In October 2014, Ackman launched a UK-based closed-end fund, Pershing Square Holdings, on the London Stock Exchange.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In 2005, Pershing bought a significant share in fast food chain Wendy's International and successfully pressured them to sell off its Tim Horton's donut chain. Wendy's spun off the Canadian restaurant donut chain through an IPO in 2006 and raised $670 million for Wendy's investors. After Ackman sold his shares at a substantial profit after a dispute over executive succession, the stock price collapsed, raising criticism the sale of Wendy's fastest growing unit left the company in a weaker market position. Ackman blamed the poor performance on their new CEO.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In December 2007, his funds owned a 10% stake in Target Corporation, valued at $4.2 billion through the purchase of stock and derivatives. His funds now own a 7.8% stake. In December 2010, his funds held a 38% stake in Borders Group and on December 6, 2010, Ackman indicated he would finance a buyout of Barnes & Noble for .


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: On January 9, 2009, the fund disclosed a 7.4% ownership stake in General Growth Properties (GGP) according to documents filed with the SEC, becoming the second-largest shareholder behind Brookfield Asset Management. The fund was betting on the company going bankrupt in such a way as to leave its shareholders intact. In November 2010, Pershing Square helped the company emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As of August 2012 the fund held beneficial ownership of 7.7 percent of General Growth's stock.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In 2010, Pershing Square reported having taken large ownership stakes in JC Penney and Canadian Pacific Railway.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In July 2012, Ackman acknowledged to CNBC he had acquired shares in Procter & Gamble worth approximately $1.8 billion, a 1% stake in the company, with the idea of taking an activist role within the corporation. Pershing Square later reduced its stake in Procter & Gamble, which was valued at around $60 million by the end of 2013.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In the first quarter of 2016, the hedge fund experienced its "biggest-ever quarterly loss" of 25%, due in part to its 9% stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. Ackman, who joined Valeant's board in March 2016, commented on the company's 88% loss since August 2015 stating, “This is going to be a badly scraped knee that may even require stitches but it is not life threatening... We should be able to recover the lion's share of our investment—if not all of it—over time". After the controversial drug prices and operations of Valeant became public, Ackman and Valeant's board fired former CEO Mike Pearson, and Pershing Square sold all of its stake in Valeant with a total loss of $4bn.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In September 2016, Pershing Square continued its investment in fast food by buying a 9.9% stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill. As of March 2018, Pershing Square held a 10.3% stake in Chipotle.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In 2018, Ackman dumped $500 million into the publicly traded arm of Pershing Square Capital Management stating it was significantly undervalued at roughly $15 a share. As of September 2019, the fund returned 54.5% with a share price of $19.10, the highest since January 2016.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In December 2012, Ackman announced the firm had made a $1 billion short bet against Herbalife, a maker of weight-loss and vitamin supplements, calling the company a "pyramid scheme". After activist billionaire investor Carl Icahn bought a stake in the company in January 2013, the share price rose nearly 13% and the investment was seen by analysts as the worst investment ever made by the firm. After a persistent political and grassroots campaign funded by Ackman and the firm, the Federal Trade Commission initiated a civil investigation into Herbalife, causing its stock to drop enough that by March 2014, Pershing Square was nearly even on their bet. In April 2014, "Reuters" reported that, according to its sources, the FBI conducted a probe into Herbalife and reviewed documents obtained from the company's former distributors.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In March 2015, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer dismissed a suit filed by Herbalife investors alleging the company is operating an illegal pyramid scheme. On March 12, 2015, it reported that Ackman was under investigation by federal prosecutors and the FBI; Ackman was quoted that he would not back down from his claims against Herbalife.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: As of June 2014, Pershing Square is the largest institutional holder of the shares of Platform Specialty Products Corporation (), owning a 24.28% stake. Pershing first disclosed the position in January 2014, shortly after Platform debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. Subsequently, in April 2014, Platform announced a deal to acquire the agrochemicals business of Chemtura for approximately $1 billion. Agriphar, another agricultural specialty chemicals company, agreed in August 2014 to become the third company to join the Platform umbrella.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In April 2014, Ackman singled out Platform Specialty Products in "The Outsider" presentation, which discusses optimal methods of capital allocation.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: Pershing Square Tontine Holdings is a blank check company formed by Bill Ackman that went public in July 22, 2020 at a value of $4 billion and trade under the ticker symbol PSTH.U before the split of its warrants and shares. PSTH is currently the largest SPAC to IPO to date.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: PSTH has a unique "Tontine" structure where shareholders are incentivized to hold shares through merger once a target is found for acquisition. The IPO included 200 million units, which included a total of 200 million shares and 22,222,222 warrants. Another 44,444,444 warrants, or two ninths per share, will be distributed to shareholders who choose to participate in the proposed merger. The strike price of PSTH warrants are $23.


title: Pershing Square Capital Management

text: In July 2022, Ackman addressed PSTH shareholders saying that he would return the funds of the SPAC as he was "unable to consummate a transaction that both meets our investment criteria and is executable."


title: Jet airliner

text: A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly classified as either the large wide-body aircraft, medium narrow-body aircraft and smaller regional jet.


title: Jet airliner

text: Most airliners today are powered by jet engines, because they are capable of safely operating at high speeds and generate sufficient thrust to power large-capacity aircraft. The first jetliners, introduced in the 1950s, used the simpler turbojet engine; these were quickly supplanted by designs using turbofans, which are quieter and more fuel-efficient.


title: Jet airliner

text: The first airliners with turbojet propulsion were experimental conversions of the Avro Lancastrian piston-engined airliner, which were flown with several types of early jet engine, including the de Havilland Ghost and the Rolls-Royce Nene. They retained the two inboard piston engines, the jets being housed in the outboard nacelles. The first airliner with jet power only was the Nene-powered Vickers VC.1 Viking "G-AJPH", which first flew on 6 April 1948.


title: Jet airliner

text: The early jet airliners had much lower interior levels of noise and vibration than contemporary piston-engined aircraft, so much so that in 1947, after piloting a jet powered aircraft for the first time, Wing Commander Maurice A. Smith, editor of "Flight" magazine, said, "Piloting a jet aircraft has confirmed one opinion I had formed after flying as a passenger in the Lancastrian jet test beds, that few, if any, having flown in a jet-propelled transport, will wish to revert to the noise, vibration and attendant fatigue of an airscrew-propelled piston-engined aircraft"


title: Jet airliner

text: The first purpose-built jet airliner was the British de Havilland Comet which first flew in 1949 and entered service in 1952, though it was withdrawn from service due to serious structural problems. Also developed in 1949 was the Avro Canada C102 Jetliner, which never reached production; however the term "jetliner" came into use as a generic term for passenger jet aircraft.


title: Jet airliner

text: These first jet airliners were followed some years later by the Sud Aviation Caravelle from France, the Tupolev Tu-104 from the Soviet Union (2nd in service), and the Boeing 707, Douglas DC-8 and Convair 880 from the United States. National prestige was attached to developing prototypes and bringing these early designs into service. There was also a strong nationalism in purchasing policy, so that US Boeing and Douglas aircraft became closely associated with Pan Am, while BOAC ordered British Comets.


title: Jet airliner

text: Pan Am and BOAC, with the help of advertising agencies and their strong nautical traditions of command hierarchy and chain of command (retained from their days of operating flying boats), were quick to link the "speed of jets" with the safety and security of the "luxury of ocean liners" in the public's perception.


title: Jet airliner

text: Aeroflot used Soviet Tupolevs, while Air France introduced French Caravelles. Commercial realities dictated exceptions, however, as few airlines could risk missing out on a superior product: American Airlines ordered the pioneering Comet (but later cancelled when the Comet ran into metal fatigue problems), Canadian, British and European airlines could not ignore the better operating economics of the Boeing 707 and the DC-8, while some American airlines ordered the Caravelle.


title: Jet airliner

text: Boeing became the most successful of the early manufacturers. The KC-135 Stratotanker and military versions of the 707 remain operational, mostly as tankers or freighters. The basic configuration of the Boeing, Convair and Douglas aircraft jet airliner designs, with widely spaced podded engines underslung on pylons beneath a swept wing, proved to be the most common arrangement and was most easily compatible with the large-diameter high-bypass turbofan engines that subsequently prevailed for reasons of quietness and fuel efficiency.


title: Jet airliner

text: The Pratt & Whitney JT3 turbojets powered the original Boeing 707 and DC-8 models; in the early 1960s the JT3 was modified into the JT3D low-bypass turbofan for long-range 707 and DC-8 variants.


title: Jet airliner

text: The de Havilland and Tupolev designs had engines incorporated within the wings next to the fuselage, a concept that endured only within military designs while the Caravelle pioneered engines mounted either side of the rear fuselage.


title: Jet airliner

text: The 1960s jet airliners include the BAC One-Eleven and Douglas DC-9 twinjets; Boeing 727, Hawker Siddeley Trident and Tupolev Tu-154 trijets; and the paired multi-engined Ilyushin Il-62, and Vickers VC10.


title: Jet airliner

text: The 1960s jet airliners were known for the advancement of turbofan technology, as well as the advent of the trijet design. Jet airliners that entered service in the 1960s were powered by slim, low-bypass turbofan engines, many aircraft used the rear-engined, T-tail configuration, such as the BAC One-Eleven, Douglas DC-9 twinjets; Boeing 727, Hawker Siddeley Trident, Tupolev Tu-154 trijets; and the paired multi-engined Ilyushin Il-62, and Vickers VC10. The rear-engined T-tail arrangement is still used for jetliners with a maximum takeoff weight of less than 50 tons.


title: Jet airliner

text: Other 1960s developments, such as rocket assisted takeoff (RATO), water-injection, and afterburners (also known as reheat) used on supersonic jetliners (SSTs) such as Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144, have been superseded.


title: Jet airliner

text: The 1970s jet airliners introduced wide-body (twin-aisle) craft and high-bypass turbofan engines. Pan Am and Boeing "again opened a new era in commercial aviation" when the first Boeing 747 entered service in January 1970, marking the debut of the high-bypass turbofan which lowered operating costs, and the initial models which could seat up to 400 passengers which earned it the nickname "Jumbo Jet". Other wide-body designs included the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar trijets, smaller than the Boeing 747 but capable of flying similar long-range routes from airports with shorter runways. There was also the market debut of the European consortium Airbus, whose first aircraft was the twinjet Airbus A300.


title: Jet airliner

text: In 1978, Boeing unveiled the twin-engine Boeing 757 to replace its 727, and the twin-engine 767 to challenge the Airbus A300. The mid-size 757 and 767 launched to market success, due in part to 1980s extended-range twin-engine operational performance standards (ETOPS) regulations governing transoceanic twinjet operations. These regulations allowed twin-engine airliners to make ocean crossings at up to three hours' distance from emergency diversionary airports. Under ETOPS rules, airlines began operating the 767 on long-distance overseas routes that did not require the capacity of larger airliners.


title: Jet airliner

text: By the late 1980s, DC-10 and L-1011 models were approaching retirement age, prompting manufacturers to develop replacement designs. McDonnell Douglas started working on the MD-11, a stretched and upgraded successor of the DC-10. Airbus, thanks to the success of its A320 family, developed the medium-range A330 twinjet and the related long-range A340 quad-jet. In 1988, Boeing began developing what would be the 777 twinjet, using the twin-engine configuration given past design successes, projected engine developments, and reduced-cost benefits. In addition, Boeing also released a major update on their 747, the 747-400.


title: Jet airliner

text: The most modern airliners are characterized by increased use of composite materials, high-bypass ratio turbofan engines, and more advanced digital flight systems. Examples of the latest widebody airliners are the Airbus A380 (first flight in 2005), Boeing 787 (first flight in 2009) and Airbus A350 (first flight in 2013). These improvements allowed longer ranges and lower cost of transportation per passenger. Sukhoi Superjet 100 and Airbus A220 (formerly Bombardier CSeries) are examples of narrowbodies with similar level of technological advancements.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Bulletstorm is a 2011 first-person shooter video game developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The game is distinguished by its system of rewarding players with "skillpoints" for performing increasingly creative kills. "Bulletstorm" does not have any competitive multiplayer modes, preferring instead to include cooperative online play and score attack modes. Set in the 26th century, the game's story follows Grayson Hunt, a space pirate and former black ops soldier who gets shot down on a war-torn planet while trying to exact revenge on General Sarrano, his former commander who tricked him and his men into committing war crimes and assassinating innocents.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Development of the game began in June 2007. Adrian Chmielarz and Cliff Bleszinski served as its director and designer respectively, while Rick Remender, the author of "Fear Agent", wrote the game's story. It was originally envisioned to be a cover-based third-person shooter, though the core combat loop and gameplay perspective went through multiple revisions. Pulp fiction, "Burnout", "Duke Nukem" and "Firefly" all inspired the team during "Bulletstorm"s development. The team experimented with competitive multiplayer modes and campaign cooperative multiplayer mode during production, but decided to remove them because of technological constraints.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Upon its release in February 2011 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the game received positive reviews from critics who praised its setting, graphics, action, pacing and gameplay, but was criticized for its story, writing and multiplayer modes. It has amassed a great deal of controversy during its release window for its depiction of violence. "Bulletstorm" was a commercial failure for both Epic Games and Electronic Arts, selling one million copies by 2013. Gearbox Publishing released a remastered version of the game titled "Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition" in April 2017 for Windows (with a campaign only version titled "Bulletstorm Lite"), PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and a version for Nintendo Switch, titled "Bulletstorm: Duke of Switch Edition", in August 2019. A sequel was put on hold as the studio reallocated its resources to work on "".


title: Bulletstorm

text: As a first-person shooter, "Bulletstorm" focuses on combat. The game features eight weapons, each with their own distinct behaviors. In addition to standard firearms such as shotguns and assault rifles, the game features unusual weaponry such as the "Bouncer", which shoots explosive bouncing cannonballs, and the "Flailgun", a cannon that shoots bolas weighted by grenades. Each weapon has an alternate fire mode that uses "charges"; for example, the Screamer revolver's "charge shot" turns the weapon into a flare gun that ignites an enemy and sends them into the air.


title: Bulletstorm

text: The playable character is equipped with an "instinct leash" that allows him to pull enemies towards him; an upgrade unlocks the "Thumper", which slams down a ball of energy that launches all nearby enemies and explosive barrels into the air. The player can also kick enemies or run and slide into them. If an enemy is launched into the air from the whip or by being kicked/slid into, they go into slow motion, allowing players to perform "skillshots". Skillshots reward the player for killing opponents in the most creative and unusual ways possible. Points are awarded for various actions, such as killing enemies in midair, making use of environmental hazards such as kicking enemies towards spikes and impaling them, or using a weapon's distinct feature. The more complicated or unusual the skillshot, the more points players acquire. Points are used as currency at "dropkits" scattered across the planet to purchase firearms, ammunition and upgrades. Dropkit checkpoints are also the sites where players can swap their weapons, access the Skillshot database, and view players' statistics.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Besides the single-player campaign, players can access two additional modes. In "Echoes", players must play through a single-player level and kill the enemies in the most unusual ways possible within a fixed period. Each player is given a rating on their performance, which is then uploaded to a leaderboard. Another mode is "Anarchy", a four-player co-operative multiplayer mode. In Anarchy, players must fight through waves of enemies and perform skillshots. When the group of players gains enough skillshots, they can then unlock new levels and arenas. The Anarchy mode has its own set of skillshots and a unique progression system.


title: Bulletstorm

text: "Bulletstorm" takes place in the 26th century, where the universe is run by the "Confederation of Planets". Grayson Hunt (Steven Blum) is the leader of Dead Echo, a black ops team under the command of Confederation General Victor Sarrano (Anthony De Longis). Dead Echo assassinates a man named Bryce Novak and accesses his personal files; they discover Novak was not a criminal "separatist" as they had been told, but a civilian reporter, documenting evidence of Sarrano's corruption and his use of Dead Echo to eliminate his political and personal enemies. When Sarrano tries to have them killed for questioning him, Grayson and his team desert, flee to the edges of the universe, and become pirates.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Ten years later, the ship carrying Grayson (now struggling with alcoholism), and his comrades Ishi Sato (Andrew Kishino), Rell Julian (Chris Cox), and Dr. Whit Oliver (Robin Atkin Downes) is intercepted by the "Ulysses", Sarrano's flagship, near the ruined planet of Stygia. In a drunken rage, Grayson attempts a suicide attack on "Ulysses". Both ships crash land onto Stygia, fatally wounding Ishi. Oliver sends Grayson and Rell to find an energy cell to power the ship's medical equipment so he can operate. Grayson locates an escape pod from "Ulysses" and retrieves its energy cell and a device called an "instinct leash". They return with the cell, and Doc manages to replace most of Ishi's body with cybernetics, including an AI processor for parts of his brain. However, in the middle of the operation, marauders break into the ship; Doc and Rell are both killed, and while Ishi survives, he is left permanently disfigured by the incomplete surgery.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Grayson and Ishi decide to work together to get off the planet, despite Ishi blaming Grayson for their friends' deaths. As they work their way towards the nearest city, the AI processor in Ishi's brain takes over several times, fueled by his anger at Grayson's selfishness and refusal to give up his vendetta. The instinct leash leads Grayson to another escape pod, where they find Trishka (Jennifer Hale), a member of Final Echo, the unit that replaced Dead Echo. She agrees to work with Grayson and Ishi on the condition that they help her rescue Sarrano. Grayson eventually learns that Trishka was Novak's daughter; after Dead Echo inadvertently saved her life, she joined the military to hunt down the "separatists" who killed him. Grayson tells her that Sarrano was in fact responsible for her father's death, but lies about his involvement.


title: Bulletstorm

text: The three fight their way to Sarrano's escape pod, which landed on top of a skyscraper. Trishka holds Sarrano at gunpoint and demands answers; he manages to throw her off the roof and informs Grayson and Ishi that the "Ulysses" is carrying a "DNA bomb" designed to wipe out all life on Stygia so it can be repopulated. He claims that the bomb is damaged and that if it is not disarmed soon, they will die before help arrives. Reluctantly, the two fight alongside him to reach the wreckage of the "Ulysses". Sarrano tricks Grayson into arming the bomb and escapes, leaving him and Ishi trapped. Just as it seems they are about to die, Trishka, who turns out to still be alive, rescues them.


title: Bulletstorm

text: The three race to Sarrano's rescue ship and get on board just as it takes off. They fight their way through Sarrano's "Heavy Echo" troops and confront him on the ship's bridge. Trishka demands to know who killed her father, and Sarrano reveals that Grayson and his men did. An argument ensues, and Sarrano then uses his own instinct leash to hijack Ishi's body and force him to attack Grayson and Trishka. Encouraged by Grayson, Ishi manages to wrest back control and winds up taking a bullet meant for his friend. Enraged, Grayson impales Sarrano on the wall, but Sarrano is able to eject him and Trishka from the ship back onto Stygia's surface. Grayson and Trishka race back to the "Ulysses" and board an unused escape pod. They launch it into low orbit, with the explosion of the DNA bomb propelling the pod into space. As Stygia is slowly consumed by the blast, the two talk about Grayson's revenge, the loss of his team, and Sarrano still being alive. Trishka asks Grayson what he is going to do about Sarrano escaping, and the screen fades to black. In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that Sarrano is now a cyborg due to the extent of his injuries. Ishi also survives, albeit under the full control of his AI processor.


title: Bulletstorm

text: "Bulletstorm" was developed by Polish game studio People Can Fly. They had previously created the "Painkiller" series, a first-person shooter (FPS) designed for the PC. "Bulletstorm" was the studio's first triple-A game. Development began in June 2007, and the game enjoyed a roughly three-and-a-half year development cycle. During the game's production, the studio had about 70 people working on it. The game was a collaboration between PCF and Epic Games, which had acquired a majority stake in the studio in August 2007. Electronic Arts (EA) published the game under its EA Partners program, after being impressed by the studio's work on "Painkiller". PCF's Adrian Chmielarz directed the game, which was designed by Epic's "Gears of War" creator Cliff Bleszinski, and penned by writer and producer Rick Remender. PCF confirmed on February 2, 2011, that "Bulletstorm" had declared gold, indicating it was being prepared for duplication and release.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Since "Bulletstorm" was the studio's first video game developed for home consoles, Epic Games helped PCF extensively when they were porting the game to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Epic's own Unreal Engine 3 rather than PCF's proprietary engine powered the game. This change allowed the team to create game demos quickly when they were pitching the project to publishers. The initial demo impressed Epic, who agreed to collaborate with PCF. While PCF was the main developer of "Bulletstorm", Epic Games ensured that the game was high quality by providing feedback and engine support. Some of the game's development was outsourced to external companies in Germany, USA, China, USA, Sweden, and Poland. Epic, an esteemed developer, helped to secure a publishing agreement with Electronic Arts. While there were communication troubles among the three companies initially, this problem eased when the studio streamlined the communication processes. Whereas EA and Epic had provided their feedback separately to PCF, the new communication model saw EA providing feedback directly to Epic, which would then integrate EA's feedback with their own and deliver it to PCF. Regarding the collaboration with Epic, Chmielarz said that the studio "got some tough love from Epic and their uncompromising approach to quality", and suggested that it was "a fantastic lesson on what quality means".


title: Bulletstorm

text: Originally the studio did not plan to have any unique gameplay feature or an ambitious goal for the game and only wanted to "offer a fun high adventure". The game was initially envisioned to be a cover-based third-person shooter similar to "Gears of War". The gameplay underwent multiple iterations, and as development progressed, it became a cover-based FPS. The team later decided to de-emphasize cover after they had created the weapons, as they felt the cover did not complement with the cover-based gameplay. The studio incorporated systems that would support emergent gameplay. "Mega Man" inspired the slide mechanic, while Scorpion's spear in "Mortal Kombat" inspired the leash. Through internal focus testing and seeing how fellow developers played the game, the team realized that "people were playing with their enemies like a cat plays with a mouse before he takes it out". This led to the creation of the Skillshots system, which aimed to reward players' creativity. Bleszinski described the game as "the "Burnout" of shooters", and cited "Duke Nukem", "Firefly" and "Serenity" as his inspirations.


title: Bulletstorm

text: While the studio had created a playable team deathmatch prototype, they did not incorporate it into the final product because they believed that the market was crowded with competitive FPS at that time. The team created the Anarchy cooperative mode as an alternative. The development of Anarchy began during the late stages of production, and it catered only to hardcore players. He concluded it was the "wrong choice for the online modes" retrospectively. Bleszinski added that the unusual firearms featured in the campaign would not translate well to a competitive game environment, and it would have required PCF to rework all the systems. The game initially had a cooperative mode that allowed friends to play through the campaign together, but it was cancelled after the team had realized that it shifted the game from "being this kind of puzzle shooter into essentially this downhill skiing simulator". Its removal allowed the studio to encourage players to use Skillshots more frequently and enabled the team to create more unique scenarios. The score attack Echoes mode was added in the last six months of production after seeing gamers and journalists competing against each other for high scores playing the game's E3 2010 demo.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Chmielarz recruited Rick Remender in 2009, impressed by his work on comic book series "Fear Agent" and "Black Heart Billy". Remender was invited to visit PCF's headquarters in Warsaw for a week and finished drafting the story with the game's team. The game's story focused on "redemption and revenge", and the planet Stigya, a tourist paradise destroyed by a natural disaster of unknown origin, was to evoke the same feeling as "BioShock"s Rapture. Remender added that the story telling was not intended to be serious, and that the narrative relied a lot on cliches. The character Ichi was described as "Samurai Spock" while General Sarrano, who was initially only a placeholder villain, was described as a "classic psychopath" and "pure evil". Pulp fiction such as "Juan Buscamares" (a comic series published in January 1998 in "Heavy Metal" magazine), "Indiana Jones", and men's magazines covers from 1920 to 1970 all helped inspire the game's narrative and visuals. The game was criticized on release for its heavy profanity; Chmielarz responded that as Poles, English's profanity was "exotic and fun to us" and he did not realize that the game had so much of it until he read the Polish translation. The team incorporated a language filter, though Chmielarz noted that few noticed its existence.


title: Bulletstorm

text: In 2008, Electronic Arts announced it would be publishing a new Intellectual property (IP) from independent game developer Epic Games. The name "Bulletstorm" was revealed when game developer People Can Fly filed a trademark request for the name in December 2009. Originally, Epic Games designer Cliff Bleszinski was scheduled to announce the game alongside "Gears of War 3" during an appearance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on April 8, 2010. However, his appearance was delayed to April 12, 2010. The game was revealed before Bleszinski's scheduled appearance when gaming magazine "Game Informer" released its May 2010 issue, which mentioned the game on its cover.


title: Bulletstorm

text: EA provided extensive marketing for the game. Epic released a limited edition of "Bulletstorm" exclusively for the Xbox 360 known as the "Epic Edition". The "Epic Edition" includes bonus in-game content when playing "Bulletstorm" online, and access to the multiplayer beta of "Gears of War 3". In January 2011, a viral video for "Bulletstorm" was released, parodying the "Halo 3" "Believe" diorama. This was followed in February with the release of "Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm", a free downloadable PC game that parodies the "Call of Duty" series as well as general first-person shooter clichés. Players who preordered the Limited Edition for the PC also received a free copy of Klei Entertainment's "Shank". A demo of the game, featuring one of the game's Echoes missions, was released on January 25, 2011, for the Xbox 360 and on January 26, 2011, for the PlayStation 3. Following this announcement, Bleszinski wrote a tweet on January 14, 2011, saying the demo was only for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which game reviewers considered was a way of making fun of PC players. Epic Games' vice-president Mark Rein later clarified that a PC demo would be released after the game's release. Epic released it on April 4; it featured the same level as the console versions. The demo attracted more than two million players, though in hindsight, Chmielarz believed the demo had confused players, as the Echo mission did not adequately communicate the experience to the player. The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on February 22, 2011. Ragdoll effects, blood, splatter and dismembering were initially censored in the game's German version, despite the German Entertainment Software Rating Board granting it an "Adult" rating. The German rating board later reversed its decision with "Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition", which was allowed to be released uncensored. Both Bleszinski and Chmielarz criticized the game's marketing campaign, which focused extensively on the game's silliness and relied a lot on jokes.


title: Bulletstorm

text: The first downloadable content (DLC) for "Bulletstorm", titled "Gun Sonata", was released on April 14, 2011, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and on May 19, 2011, for the PC. The content includes three Anarchy maps, two Echo missions and two Leash colors. The second DLC, "Blood Symphony", was released on June 10, 2011, for Xbox 360. The content includes two "Echoes" maps, three "Anarchy" maps, and a new mode called "The Ultimate Echoes".


title: Bulletstorm

text: Gearbox Publishing revealed the remastered version during The Game Awards 2016 in December. It increased texture resolution and included support for 4K resolutions, and additional content created by People Can Fly. The remastered version includes new content such as the Overkill Campaign Mode, which starts the players with access to all the game's weapons and six new Echo maps. Those who pre-ordered the game received access to the "Duke Nukem's Bulletstorm Tour" downloadable content, allowing players to play as Duke Nukem with new voice lines recorded by Jon St. John. Gearbox' Randy Pitchford explained that the remastered version was not a free update for those who already owned the game on Windows because the license was still held by Electronic Arts, and Gearbox had only secured the rights to help People Can Fly create the remaster. In addition, there were issues in transitioning from the discontinued Games for Windows Live platform. Entitled the "Full Clip Edition" , the remastered version was released on April 7, 2017, for Windows (with a "Lite" version, which only contains the campaign), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Gearbox sparked controversy when they partnered with game key reseller G2A for the sales of exclusive Collector's Editions of "Full Clip Edition". The studio ultimately canceled its agreement with G2A. A port of the "Full Clip Edition" for the Nintendo Switch, titled "Duke of Switch Edition", was released on August 31, 2019.


title: Bulletstorm

text: According to review aggregator Metacritic, the game received generally positive reviews upon release.


title: Bulletstorm

text: The game's combat received acclaim. Writing for "GameSpot", Kevin VanOrd described the game as "sometimes ludicrous and often ludicrously fun". He praised the skillshot mechanic for tying into the upgrade system as this gave players an incentive to use them during combat. He also enjoyed the weapons, which enables players to fight against enemies in "intriguing" ways. Tim Turi of "Game Informer" praised the game for offering players a lot of freedom when controlling Grayson, comparing the game favourably to "Mirror's Edge". He also applauded how the game allowed players to combine different moves together freely. Rich McCormick of "PC Gamer" also liked the skillshot system for allowing players to use their creativity to eliminate enemies. However, he noted that this combat loop falls flat during the latter part of the game where players combat more agile mutant enemies. Arthur Gies, an "IGN" reviewer, described the game as "violently charming". He felt the skillshot system, the weapons, and the responsive gunplay turned "Bulletstorm"s combat into a success. He noted, though, that by the end of the game, the combat became monotonous and repetitive as the game failed to offer more diverse combat encounters. David Houghton of "GamesRadar" compared the game to a "3D puzzle game" and a "high-speed strategy game". He described the game as "a very intelligent, highly intricate, and sumptuously nuanced design masquerading as a big dumb action game" and recognized that its gameplay helped evolve the FPS genre.


title: Bulletstorm

text: Critics also generally enjoyed the game's setting and pacing. VanOrd liked the variety in the game's mission design and felt that most of the missions were entertaining and exciting. Despite this, he was disappointed by the game's linear design, making it difficult for the player to control the battlefield when they were facing multiple enemies at once. Gies, "Joystiq"s Randy Nelson, Christian Donlan of "Eurogamer" praised the game's setpieces and pacing. Both McCormick and Gies praised the game's visuals and the setting's color palette. Nelson praised Stygia as a setting, describing the campaign as a "wild ride through some truly fantastic, alien locations". Gies also appreciated the game's environmental storytelling, which helped establish Stygia's history and turned it into an interesting setting.


title: Bulletstorm

text: The characters and the writing in the game received a mixed opinion. The characters were conflictingly considered rounded or one-dimensional, and VanOrd called the profanity-filled dialogue "cringe-worthy" and undermined the studio's attempt at serious storytelling. Nelson, in contrast, believed the use of profanities fit tonally with the game and offered moments of levity following combat-heavy sequences. Gies described the set-up as original and liked the characters, though he criticized the anticlimactic ending. Nick Chester, writing for "Destructoid", said the entertaining story complemented the gameplay fairly well, though he noted the narrative relied on pulp fiction clichés and predictable plot twists. Taylor Cocke of "1Up.com" liked how the game parodied other FPS writing and that it broke free of a focus on melodrama. However, he remarked the story was overly serious, and the campaign was dragged down by the stark contrast between the tone of the story and the chaotic and creative nature of the combat.