title: Harold Camping

text: Camping did not consider Family Radio a church and did not claim ordained or hierarchical authority within a church or institution. Camping claimed that the church institutions do not employ the Bible alone as the sole authority. According to Camping, each church or denomination has its own unique set of doctrines and hermeneutics, which dictate how they understand the Bible. Family Radio's sole focus on the Bible is what he believed distinguishes it from mainstream churches. In his book "1994?", he claimed there was a very high likelihood that the world would end in September 1994, although he did acknowledge in the book "the possibility does exist that I could be wrong"; Family Radio remained popular despite this failed prediction. Both before and after the failure of his 2011 prophecies, Camping received criticism from a number of leaders, scholars, and laymen within the Christian community, who argued that Jesus Christ taught that no man knows the day or the hour of the Lord's return. Camping responded to those who labelled him a "date-setter", following his own method of Biblical interpretation, by asserting that he followed the Bible's method of interpretation.


title: Harold Camping

text: Central to Camping's teaching was his belief that the Bible alone is the word of God in its entirety, and thus is absolutely trustworthy. However, he emphasized, this does not mean that each sentence in the Bible is to be understood only literally. Rather, the meaning of individual Biblical passages also needs to be interpreted in the light of two factors. The first is the context of the Bible as a whole. The second is its spiritual meaning. In Camping's words, "the Bible is an earthly story with a Heavenly meaning." This stems from Mark 4:34, which states that Jesus did not speak to the disciples without using parables. Because Christ is said to be the living Word of God, therefore, the historical accounts of the Old Testament can also be seen as parables. For example, in Camping's view, Joshua in the Book of Joshua (whose name in Hebrew is identical to the name "Jesus" in Greek) is a picture of Christ, who safely led the Israelites (who supposedly represented those who became saved) across the Jordan River (a representation of the wrath of God) into the land of Canaan (which represents the kingdom of God).


title: Harold Camping

text: After leaving the Christian Reformed Church in 1988, Camping taught doctrines that explicitly conflicted with the doctrines and confessions of the Christian Reformed Church and churches of the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions. Examples of Camping's teachings which varied from conventional Reformed doctrines include:


title: Harold Camping

text: He projected these cycles into modern times and combined the results with other information in the Bible.


title: Harold Camping

text: Camping's date for the crucifixion of Christ – Friday, April 1, AD 33 (Gregorian) – is nominally the same day as one of those supported by other 20th-century commentators: Friday, April 3, AD 33 (Julian). However, the dates differ because Camping used the Gregorian calendar, while most commentators use the older Julian calendar, which had a two-day difference during the 1st century AD (they now differ by thirteen days).


title: Harold Camping

text: In 1992, Camping published a book titled "1994?", in which he proclaimed that Christ's return might be on September 6, 1994. In that publication, he also mentioned that 2011 could be the end of the world. Camping's predictions use 1988 as a significant year in the events preceding the apocalypse; this was also the year he left Alameda Bible Fellowship. As a result, some individuals criticized him for "date-setting." Camping's later publications, "We are Almost There!" and "To God be The Glory", referred to additional Bible passages which, in his opinion, pointed to May 21, 2011, as the date for the Rapture and October 21, 2011, as the date for the end of the world.


title: Harold Camping

text: Camping gained notoriety owing to his incorrect prediction that the Rapture would take place on May 21, 2011, and that the end of the world would subsequently take place five months later on October 21, 2011. Followers of Camping claimed that around 200 million people (approximately 2.8% of the world's 2011 population) would be raptured, and publicized the prediction in numerous countries. It has also been reported that a 14-year old Russian girl named Nastya Zachinova committed suicide over his prediction.


title: Harold Camping

text: Reuters reported on May 21 that the curtains were drawn in Camping's house in Alameda, California, and that no one was answering the door. Camping emerged from his home on May 22, saying he was "flabbergasted" that the Rapture had not occurred. He stated that he was "looking for answers," and would say more when he returned to work on May 23.


title: Harold Camping

text: On May 23, 2011, in an appearance before the press, Camping stated he had reinterpreted his prophecy. In his revised claim, May 21 was a "spiritual" judgment day, and the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the destruction of the world. Camping said his company would not return money donated by followers to publicize the failed May 21 prediction, stating: "We're not at the end. Why would we return it?"


title: Harold Camping

text: Atheist and skeptic groups such as American Atheists and IIG gathered across the country with signs attracting attention away from Camping's followers who were in seclusion. Meanwhile, mainstream Christian groups distanced themselves from Camping's predictions.


title: Harold Camping

text: In September 2011, Camping and several other prognosticators who incorrectly predicted various dates for the end of world were jointly awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for "teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations". In October 2011, News24 reported that the size of Camping's congregation had dwindled to "about 25 adults on a typical Sunday". Camping and his followers largely avoided the media in the months following May 2011, and he remained in seclusion after October 21, 2011, had passed without his predictions coming true. On October 21, "Time" magazine's website listed Camping's end times prediction as one of "Time"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s "Top 10 Failed Predictions".


title: Harold Camping

text: In March 2012, Camping admitted that his predictions were in error, stating: "We humbly acknowledge we were wrong about the timing." He also announced the "End to Doomsday Predictions". In May 2012, a year after the failure of Camping's prophecy, "Religion Dispatches" published a report on Camping's disillusioned former followers, some of whom had reportedly come to view him as a cult leader.


title: Harold Camping

text: In October 2012, the "Christian Post" reported that Family Radio was re-broadcasting recordings of Camping's teachings. In March 2013, it was calculated that Family Stations Inc. spent more than $5 million on billboard advertising in 2011, the year the apocalypse was predicted to occur, and the network was reported to be suffering from a major loss of revenue, forcing it to sell its main radio stations and lay off staff.


title: Harold Camping

text: In January 2014, a month after Camping's death, Family Radio stated that it would maintain his mission and theology, including the belief that all established Christian churches are apostate. For the next few years, Family Radio continued to air Camping's past broadcasts and distribute his literature. But in October 2018, Family Radio discontinued using any of his commentary and content because "so much of it still contains elements that are very difficult." Tom Evans, who succeeded Camping as president and general manager of Family Radio, said "Family Radio has come out of self-imposed isolation and we've repented from many of our former positions, date-setting the end of the world and all that, as well as the condemnation of the church." They are now using content from multiple evangelical sources, such as the young-earth creationist organization Answers in Genesis and Alistair Begg's "Truth for Life" program.


title: Harold Camping

text: On June 9, 2011, Camping suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. In June, a neighbor stated his speech had become slurred as a result of the stroke, but on July 15, Family Radio stated Camping's speech was unaffected. After leaving the hospital, he moved to a nursing home for rehabilitation, before returning home to continue his recovery. Previously, on June 23, Family Radio had announced that it would replace Camping's "Open Forum" program with new programming.


title: Harold Camping

text: Camping died on December 15, 2013, as a result of complications from a fall at his home two weeks earlier. His death was confirmed by an employee of the Family Radio Network.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: Death from Above 1979 (also known as Death from Above) is a Canadian rock duo consisting of bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band released their debut album, "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine", in 2004 and broke up in 2006. They reformed in 2011 and released their second album, "The Physical World", in 2014. Since then the band has released 2 more albums, "Outrage! Is Now" in 2017 and "Is 4 Lovers" in 2021.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: Grainger and Keeler reportedly met at a Sonic Youth concert, though they sometimes jokingly claimed to have met in prison, on a pirate ship, or in a gay bar, leading some journalists and fans to believe these stories. Keeler has also said to have met Grainger when looking for a drummer to play in his hardcore punk band Femme Fatale, further stating "That's how Death from Above got started." In a 2021 interview with Anthony Fantano, Keeler finally revealed how the band actually formed. In 2001, Keeler was playing drums in Black Cat #13 and was storing bass guitar gear at his house for a planned concert in Detroit opening for The Blood Brothers. The concert was cancelled due to the September 11 attacks, so Keeler invited Grainger to jam to put the equipment to use and they were inspired to form their own band.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: The band began recording for their debut album, "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine" from February to April 2004 at The Chemical Sound in Toronto. Additional recording was done at Studio Plateau in Montreal and the album was engineered and produced by Al-P, with the exception of the Montreal sessions which were engineered by Drew Malamud. The album was released in October, 2004. The band released three singles to promote, "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine", these singles were "Romantic Rights" on November 4, 2004, "Blood on Our Hands" on February 17, 2005, and "Black History Month" on June 13, 2005. In 2005, the video for "Blood on Our Hands" won a VideoFACT award at the MuchMusic Video Awards.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: In 2004, the band changed their name to "Death from Above 1979" (previously named "Death from Above") due to a cease and desist letter that was filed against the band by James Murphy's label Death From Above Records. The band responded by attaching the legal minimum number of numerals required to keep the first part of the name. On MuchMusic's television program "The New Music", Keeler further explained why the band split. He claimed it was due to disagreements with bandmate Grainger on many levels, including creative differences and musical style.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: The band performed a new song while performing at EdgeFest on July 14, 2012, at Downsview Park in Toronto. On September 18, 2012, a Canadian tour was announced; the band revealed that they had written new songs, but needed to perform them live in order to "make them any good". On October 28, 2012, the band's blog was updated as they built excitement for their string of shows around Canada. In the post, Grainger cited that they were "coming to share new material, and to work out the kinks". The band was originally scheduled to perform at Governors Ball Music Festival in June 2013, but later announced that they were having unexpected trouble while working on new music and cancelled their appearance. On July 11, 2013, the band confirmed that a new record is in the works on their Facebook page after cancelling European shows due to a "medical emergency". They did, however, perform at Wakestock Music Festival in August and Rifflandia in September. On July 8, 2014, the band released a single, "Trainwreck 1979", and announced more details of their upcoming studio album, "The Physical World". On September 9, 2014, the band released their second album, "The Physical World" through Last Gang and Warner Bros. Records.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: On October 7, 2014, the band released a documentary "Life After Death from Above 1979". The documentary chronicled the history of the band and their reunion. It was directed by Grainger's wife, Eva Michon.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: On April 22, 2016, the band released a live album, "Live At Third Man Records" which was recorded in 2015 at Jack White's Third Man Records headquarters in Nashville.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: On June 6, 2017, the band announced an official name change back to the original "Death from Above". Although the band has said their social media handles will keep the "1979" suffix, all future music and shows from the duo will reportedly arrive under the new name. Grainger said in an interview that the band decided to not include the "1979" suffix on a tour promo for their tour with the Eagles of Death Metal in early 2016, "just to see what would happen" and the band received no legal issues because of it which led to them doing it again on their tour promo with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and once again there were no legal repercussions. Sebastian has also said the making the album art for the band's single "Freeze Me" also was part of the decision, "The final straw was when I was making the art for our single 'Freeze Me'. I wanted to write the name out in ice, so I went on Amazon and ordered an ice cube tray in the alphabet. It came and there were no numbers. That was that." Along with the name change, the duo announced the new single, "Freeze Me." The song premiered on BBC Radio 1 before its release on June 7.


title: Death from Above (band)

text: In December 2020, the band wiped their social media pages. A series of posts to their Instagram grid revealed the band's logo, followed by a teaser video confirming the band's name change back to Death from Above 1979. After months of teaser posts, the band confirmed a new album on February 3, 2021. The album, "Is 4 Lovers", was released on March 26. The announcement coincided with the release of a new single, "One + One".


title: Death from Above (band)

text: Throughout its career, the band has been described as dance-punk, noise punk, and punk rock. Grainger has stated when the band first started his and Keeler's aim was "to be as straight ahead as possible," and "to be the AC/DC of hardcore." "Rolling Stone" claims "Death From Above embodied the DIY dance-punk aesthetic that lived in home recordings and grimy basement clubs" and that the band's early work "combined noisy hardcore, gritty synths and earnest screams".


title: Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein

text: Franz Joseph II (Franz Josef Maria Aloys Alfred Karl Johannes Heinrich Michael Georg Ignaz Benediktus Gerhardus Majella; 16 August 1906 – 13 November 1989) was the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein from 25 July 1938 until his death.


text: Franz Joseph was the son of Prince Aloys of Liechtenstein and Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria. He succeeded his childless grand-uncle, Prince Franz I, after his father renounced his right of succession in his favour in 1923.


text: During his reign, women received voting rights for the first time, following a referendum on the topic (among men only) in 1984.


text: Franz Joseph was an extremely popular sovereign in Liechtenstein. He was the first ruling prince to live full-time in the principality. He also oversaw the economic development of Liechtenstein from a poor agricultural backwater into one of the richest countries (per capita) in the world.


text: Liechtenstein remained neutral throughout World War II, and its neutrality was not violated by any of the combatants.


text: Just before the end of the war, the Prince granted political asylum to 494 First Russian National Army pro-Axis pro-emperor Vladimir White emigres led by General Boris Smyslovsky.


text: On 7 March 1943, at St. Florin's in Vaduz, Franz Joseph II married Countess Georgina of Wilczek (24 October 1921 – 18 October 1989). They had five children, twelve grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren:


text: Franz Joseph II died on 13 November 1989, a mere twenty-six days after his wife. Ruling Liechtenstein for 51 years, he was among the longest-ruling sovereigns in Europe and the longest-serving national leader in the world at the time of his death.


title: Bullet for My Valentine (album)

text: Bullet for My Valentine is the seventh studio album by Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine. Originally scheduled for release on 22 October 2021, it was released on 5 November 2021 through Spinefarm Records and was produced by Carl Bown.


title: Bullet for My Valentine (album)

text: On 19 May 2020, in an interview with "Rock Sound", Tuck announced that the band was in the process of writing a new album. After several mixed-to-negative reviews by critics on "Gravity", they decided to working on a new record which would be 'heavier' compared to the latest album. However, the production of the upcoming release, confirmed to be once again produced by Carl Bown, has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuck commented about the upcoming album: "So it's not ideal, and we did have a lot of plans for the rest of the year for writing and making the record, which are on the backburner now until further notice. [...] It's pretty brutal, to be honest. It couldn't be more of a contrast with "Gravity" in a ferocious style. It's very technical. [...] The riffs are crushing. There's probably 60 percent aggressive vocals, 40 [percent] clean, which is a ratio we've never really dabbled with before. [...] It's very heavy, it's very technical. For the Bullet fans out there that kind of like that side of this band, it's very cool and very exciting. It feels good."


title: Bullet for My Valentine (album)

text: On 11 June 2021, Bullet for My Valentine unveiled a new Patreon page, The Army of Noise, posting that it is "the only place to get the latest BFMV news, early tix, BTS, merch discounts and exclusive items, signed gifts and more. Plus, a portion of each sub goes to the Teenage Cancer Trust." On 15 June, ahead of their headline slot at this weekend's Download Pilot, the band announced that they are planning to release new music on Friday, 18 June, with a 30-second video teaser hinting at some potentially heavy new music. On that day, the band officially released the new single "Knives" along with its music video. At the same time, they officially announced the album itself while also revealed the album cover, the release date and the track list. On 23 July, the band released the second single "Parasite" and its corresponding music video. On 10 September, the band released the third single "Shatter" alongside an accompanying music video. On 20 September, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and manufacturing delays, the band announced that they pushed back the release of the album to 5 November. On 1 October, one month before the album release, the band released the fourth single "Rainbow Veins". On 8 April 2022, the band released the fifth single "Omen" while also announcing the deluxe edition of the album which is set to be released on 8 July. At the same time, the band officially revealed the album cover and the track list. On 30 April, the band delayed the release of the deluxe edition from 8 July to 5 August. On 27 May, the group unveiled another single "Stitches". On 29 July, their seventh single, "No More Tears to Cry", was released.


title: Bullet for My Valentine (album)

text: The album received generally positive reviews from critics. "Distorted Sound" scored the album 6 out of 10 and said: "This record is nothing special, but it could lead to some interesting places. Somebody needs to buy Matthew Tuck a thesaurus to improve his clichéd lyric writing, but at no point will you find yourself laughing at anything, you just won't remember any of it. Their next record could really benefit from trimming down on the length of the songs, and not being afraid to continue down this path of aggression that has been missing with this band for a while. Perhaps the reason for self-titling this record will be this was the moment that BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE decided to get their act together and take a brave step forward, rather than just present their audience with another record of rather forgettable melodic metal." "Kerrang!" gave the album 4 out of 5 and stated: "This is Bullet firing on all cylinders and it sounds absolutely immense." "Louder Sound" gave the album a positive review and stated: "Ultimately, this self-titled seventh offering is a decent, all-box-ticking Bullet album that will enamour fans of all eras. And granted, while it doesn't surpass the full-throttle glory of 2006 breakthrough "The Poison", it's hard to see it delaying what seems like a determined charge back to metal's summits." "New Noise" gave the album 4.5 out of 5 and stated: "All in all, the album is an incredible piece of work that is definitely worthy of the name "Bullet for My Valentine"." "Wall of Sound" gave the album the score 8/10 and saying: "With Judas Priest celebrating 50 years, Iron Maiden a tick over 40 and Black Sabbath now long retired, one of the mid-2000s upstarts needed to step up after the lean 90s. While contemporaries Bring Me the Horizon are exciting and trend setting, they often leave metal to the side, so a Bullet for My Valentine with full artillery is a thing of beauty and necessity. Like their cross Atlantic peers Trivium, Bullet are a band whose time has come and "Bullet for My Valentine" is an album that deserves headline slots."


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: Bader Ahmed al-Mutawa (; born 10 January 1985) is a Kuwaiti professional footballer who plays for Qadsia and the Kuwait national team, where he usually operates as a second striker. He wears the jersey number 17 for both club and country.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: Al-Mutawa was born in Kuwait City. His performance for both club and national teams lead to him being nominated for best Asian player in 2006 and 2010, though Al-Mutawa did not win the prize.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: He was awarded the Kuwaiti league's top scorer for local players in the 2008–09 season with 10 goals.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: On 23 July 2012, he began training with Nottingham Forest as their new owners, the Al-Hasawi family, arranged a one-month trial for the striker. He impressed manager Sean O'Driscoll enough that the club were looking to sign him on a permanent basis but he was denied a work permit and the club wasn't able to sign him.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: On 11 May 2021, he scored his 300th goal for Qadsia in all competitions, Including friendly matches, in a 3–1 win over Kuwait SC.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: Al-Mutawa's first major competition on international level was the 2003 Arabian Gulf Cup, hosted by Kuwait. The home side finished sixth with only five points from six matches (only Yemen, the newcomer to the Gulf Cup finished the tournament with less points, sparing Kuwait the embarrassment of ending up at the bottom of the table of the gulf cup for the first time in their history). Al-Mutwa scored once in Kuwait's only victory of the tournament, a 4–0 win against Yemen.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: Al-Mutawa played in the 17th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2004, scoring a goal in the 87th minute against Saudi Arabia in Kuwait's opening match. Al-Mutawa excelled in this tournament, forming a strike partnership with captain and star striker Bashar Abdullah. They managed to score five goals between them. This partnership was short lived as Bashar retired from international football shortly after the tournament and Kuwait was eliminated in the semi-finals by Qatar after topping Group B with two victories and one draw with Bahrain.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: At the 18th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2007, Al-Mutawa scored goals against Yemen and in the final group match against the United Arab Emirates, but Kuwait exited the tournament for the first time in their history without winning a single game.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: On 3 September 2015, Al-Mutawa scored his second senior hat-trick, in a 9–0 defeat of Myanmar in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: FIFA recognizes him as the men's joint all-time record appearance holder with 196 caps, after having surpassed Soh Chin Ann's record of 195 recognized by FIFA matches on 14 June 2022. He is also the joint most capped active international male footballer.


title: Bader Al-Mutawa

text: Al-Mutawa holds the military rank of Colonel and he is also director of the Security Affairs Department of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Guard, as sports professionalism is not fully applied in Kuwait.


title: Takashi Shimura

text: Shimura was born in Ikuno, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. His birth-name was Shimazaki Shōji (島崎捷爾). His forebears were members of the samurai class: in 1868 his grandfather took part in the Battle of Toba–Fushimi during the Boshin War. Shimura entered Ikuno Primary School in 1911 and Kobe First Middle School in 1917. He missed two years of schooling because of a mild case of tuberculosis, and subsequently moved to the prefectural middle school in Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, where his father had been transferred by his employer, Mitsubishi Mining. At Nobeoka Middle School, he excelled in English and became active on the literary society's magazine, to which he contributed poetry. He also became a star of the rowing club. In 1923, he entered Kansai University, but after his father's retirement the family could no longer afford the fees for a full-time course and he switched to the part-time evening course in English literature, supporting himself by working at the Osaka municipal waterworks. Among the teachers in the English Literature Department were the playwright Toyo-oka Sa-ichirō (豊岡佐一郎) and the Shakespeare scholar Tsubouchi Shikō (坪内士行). These two inspired in Shimura an enthusiasm for drama. He joined the University's Theatre Studies Society and in 1928 formed an amateur theatrical group, the Shichigatsu-za (七月座) with Toyo-oka as director. He began to miss work because of the time he spent on theatrical activities and eventually lost his job. He then left university to try to earn a living in the theatre. The Shichigatsu-za turned professional and began to tour, but got into financial difficulties and folded.


title: Takashi Shimura

text: After the failure of the Shichigatsu-za, Shimura went back to Osaka, where he began to get roles in radio plays. In 1930 he joined the Kindaiza (近代座) theatre company and became a fully professional actor. He toured China and Japan with the Kindaiza, but in 1932 he left the company and returned again to Osaka, where he appeared with the Shinseigeki (新声劇) and Shinsenza (新選座) troupes. Talking pictures were just then coming in and Shimura realised they would provide opportunities for stage-trained actors. In 1932 he joined the Kyoto studios of the film production company Shinkō Kinema. He made his film debut in the 1934 silent "Ren'ai-gai itchōme" (恋愛街一丁目: "Number One, Love Street"). The first film in which he had a speaking part was the 1935 "Chūji uridasu" (忠次売出す), directed by Mansaku Itami. His first substantial film role was as a detective in Mizoguchi Kenji's 1936 "Osaka Elegy" ("Naniwa erejii"; 浪華悲歌).


title: Takashi Shimura

text: The film which established his reputation as a first-rate actor was Itami Mansaku's 1936 "Akanishi Kakita" (赤西蠣太: "Capricious Young Man"). In 1937 he moved to Nikkatsu film corporation's Kyoto studios, and between then and 1942 appeared in nearly 100 films. His most notable role in these years was that of Keishirō in the long-running series "Umon Torimono-chō" (右門捕物帖), starring Kanjūrō Arashi. He also demonstrated his considerable ability as a singer in the 1939 "cine-operetta", "Singing Lovebirds". During this time the political regime in Japan was growing ever more oppressive, and Shimura was arrested by the Special Higher Police (Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu, known as Tokkō) and held for about three weeks because of his earlier association with left-wing theatre groups. He was eventually released on the recognisance of his wife Masako and fellow-actor Ryūnosuke Tsukigata. He is said to have made use of this experience later when playing a Tokkō official in Akira Kurosawa's 1946 "No Regrets for Our Youth". When Nikkatsu and Daiei merged in 1942, Shimura moved to the Kōa Eiga studios and then in 1943 to Tōhō. A few weeks before the end of the Pacific War in August 1945, Shimura's elder brother was killed in Southeast Asia.


title: Takashi Shimura

text: In 1943, Shimura appeared as the old jujutsu teacher Murai Hansuke, a character based in the historical Hansuke Nakamura, in Kurosawa's debut movie, "Sanshiro Sugata". Along with Toshirō Mifune, Shimura is the actor most closely associated with Kurosawa: he eventually appeared in 21 of Kurosawa's 30 films. In fact, Kurosawa's cinematic collaboration with Shimura, from "Sanshiro Sugata" in 1943 to "Kagemusha" in 1980, started earlier and lasted longer than his work with Mifune (1948–65). Shimura's performances for Kurosawa included the doctor in "Drunken Angel" (1948), the veteran detective in "Stray Dog" (1949), the flawed lawyer in "Scandal" (1950), the woodcutter in "Rashomon" (1950), the mortally ill bureaucrat in "Ikiru" (1952), and the lead samurai Kambei in "Seven Samurai" (1954). Kurosawa wrote the part in "Kagemusha" specifically for Shimura, but the scenes were cut from the Western release, so many in the West did not know that he had been in the film. The DVD release of the film by The Criterion Collection restored Shimura's footage.


title: Takashi Shimura

text: Shimura appeared in a number of Tōhō "kaiju" (giant monster) and "tokusatsu" (special effects) films, many of which were directed by Kurosawa's good friend and colleague Ishirō Honda. Shimura's roles included Professor Kyohei Yamane in the original "Godzilla" (1954), a character he briefly reprised in "Godzilla Raids Again" (1955).


title: Takashi Shimura

text: Shimura died on February 11, 1982 in Tokyo, Japan, from emphysema at the age of 76. His effects were presented to the Film Centre of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.


title: April Parker Jones

text: April Parker Jones is an American television actress, best known for her roles as Darcy Hawkins in the CBS post-apocalyptic drama series "Jericho" from 2006 to 2008, and as Natalie Henning in the Oprah Winfrey Network prime time soap opera, "If Loving You Is Wrong" (2014–2020). In 2018, she starred in the CW superhero series, "Supergirl" as Colonel Lauren Haley.


title: April Parker Jones

text: Parker was born in Durham, North Carolina and attended North Carolina Central University before moving to New York. After guest-starring role on "", in 2006 she won the series regular role of Darcy Hawkins in the CBS series "Jericho". The series was canceled after two seasons and Parker Jones later appeared on "Lost", "The Unit", "NCIS", "Scandal", and had recurring roles in "90210" and "The Fosters".


title: April Parker Jones

text: In 2014, Parker Jones was cast as one of leads in the Oprah Winfrey Network prime time soap opera, "If Loving You Is Wrong". She plays the role of Natalie Henning, the single working mother. The series also stars Edwina Findley, Zulay Henao, Heather Hemmens, and Amanda Clayton. In 2015, she also had the recurring role as detective Claire Bryce in the ShondaLand's legal thriller "How to Get Away with Murder", and the following year on Lifetime comedy-drama, "Devious Maids".


title: April Parker Jones

text: In 2018, Parker starred as Gen. Anita DuFine in the final season of TNT drama series, "The Last Ship", and later was cast in a series regular role as Lauren Haley in the fourth season of The CW superhero series, "Supergirl". In 2022, Parker was cast in a recurring role on the Peacock drama series, "Bel-Air", and co-starred opposite Joey King in the romantic drama film "The In Between". Later she was cast as title character's mother in the CW series, "Tom Swift".


title: April Parker Jones

text: In June 2007, Parker married fellow actor Joseph J. Jones; they have two children together. Their son, Will, died in 2018.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: Timothy Francis LaHaye (April 27, 1926 – July 25, 2016) was an American Baptist evangelical Christian minister who wrote more than 85 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic fiction, which he co-authored with Jerry B. Jenkins. He was a founder of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing conservative Christian advocacy group. LaHaye was vociferously anti-homosexual, a harsh critic of Roman Catholicism, and a strong believer of the Illuminati global conspiracy theory.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: Timothy Francis LaHaye was born on April 27, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan to Frank LaHaye, a Ford auto worker who died in 1936 of a heart attack, and Margaret LaHaye (née Palmer). His father's death had a significant influence on LaHaye, who was only nine years old at the time. He had been inconsolable until the minister at the funeral said, "This is not the end of Frank LaHaye; because he accepted Jesus Christ, the day will come when the Lord will shout from heaven and descend, and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we'll be caught up together to meet him in the air."


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye later said that, upon hearing those remarks, "all of a sudden, there was hope in my heart I'd see my father again."


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1944, at the age of 18, after he finished night school. He served in the European Theater of Operations as a machine gunner aboard a bomber. In 1950, LaHaye received a Bachelor of Arts from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. LaHaye held the Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Seminary.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: He served as a pastor in Pumpkintown, South Carolina, and after that he pastored a congregation in Minneapolis until 1956. After that, the LaHaye family moved to San Diego, California, where he served as pastor of the Scott Memorial Baptist Church (now called Shadow Mountain Community Church) for nearly 25 years. In 1971, he founded Christian Heritage College, now known as San Diego Christian College.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: In 1972, LaHaye helped establish the Institute for Creation Research in El Cajon, California, along with Henry M. Morris.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye started numerous groups to promote his views, having become involved in politics at the Christian Voice during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1979, he encouraged Jerry Falwell to found the Moral Majority and sat on its board of directors. LaHaye's wife, Beverly, founded Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian women's activist group.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: Then in 1981, he left the pulpit to concentrate his time on politics and writing. That year, he helped found the Council for National Policy (CNP) a policy making think tank in which membership is only available through invitation; it has been reported "the most powerful conservative organization in America you've never heard of".


title: Tim LaHaye

text: In the 1980s he was criticized by the evangelical community for accepting money from Bo Hi Pak, a longtime Sun Myung Moon operative. He was additionally criticized for joining Moon's Council for Religious Freedom, which was founded to protest Moon's 1984 imprisonment. In 1996, LaHaye's wife spoke at an event sponsored by Moon.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: In the 1980s, LaHaye founded the American Coalition for Traditional Values and the Coalition for Religious Freedom. He founded the Pre-Tribulation Research Center along with Thomas Ice in 1998. The center is dedicated to producing material that supports a dispensationalist, pre-tribulation interpretation of the Bible. He and his wife had connections to the John Birch Society, a conservative, anti-communist group.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye also took more direct roles in presidential politics. He supported Ronald Reagan's elections as United States president. He was a co-chairman of Jack Kemp's 1988 presidential bid but was removed from the campaign after four days when his anti-Catholic views became known. LaHaye played a significant role in getting the Religious Right to support George W. Bush for the presidency in 2000. In 2007, he endorsed Mike Huckabee during the primaries and served as his spiritual advisor.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye is best known for the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic fiction that depicts the Earth after the pretribulation rapture which Premillennial Dispensationalists believe the Bible states, multiple times, will occur. The books were LaHaye's idea, though Jerry B. Jenkins, a former sportswriter with numerous other works of fiction to his name, wrote the books from LaHaye's notes. Jenkins has said, "I write the best I can. I know I'm never going to be revered as some classic writer. I don't claim to be C. S. Lewis. The literary-type writers, I admire them. I wish I was smart enough to write a book that's hard to read, you know?"


title: Tim LaHaye

text: The series, which started in 1995 with the first novel, includes 12 titles in the adult series, as well as juvenile novels, audio books, devotionals, and graphic novels. The books have been very popular, with total sales surpassing 65 million copies as of July 2016. Seven titles in the adult series have reached No. 1 on the bestseller lists for "The New York Times, USA Today", and "Publishers Weekly". Jerry Falwell said about the first book in the series: "In terms of its impact on Christianity, it's probably greater than that of any other book in modern times, outside the Bible." The best-selling series has been compared to the equally popular works of Tom Clancy and Stephen King: "the plotting is brisk and the characterizations Manichean. People disappear and things blow up."


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye indicates that the idea for the series came to him one day circa 1994, while he was sitting on an airplane and observed a married pilot flirting with a flight attendant. He wondered what would befall the pilot if the Rapture happened at that moment. The first book in the series opens with a similar scene. He sold the movie rights for the "Left Behind" series and later stated he regretted that decision, because the films turned out to be "church-basement videos", rather than "a big-budget blockbuster" that he had hoped for.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: In 2001, LaHaye co-hosted with Dave Breese the prophecy television program "The King Is Coming". In 2001, LaHaye gave $4.5 million to Liberty University to build a new student center and School of Prophecy, which opened in January 2002 and was named after LaHaye. He also served as its president.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: He provided funds for the LaHaye Ice Center on the campus of Liberty University, which opened in January 2006.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye's book "The Rapture" was released on June 6, 2006, in order to capitalize on a 6-6-6 connection.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: Tim LaHaye married activist and fellow author Beverly Ratcliffe in 1947 while attending Bob Jones University.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: In July 2016, the LaHayes celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary. They had four children and nine grandchildren, and lived in the Los Angeles area. The LaHayes owned a home in Rancho Mirage, California.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye died on July 25, 2016, in a hospital in San Diego, California, after suffering from a stroke, aged 90. In addition to his wife, Beverly, he was survived by four children, nine grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, a brother (Richard LaHaye), and a sister. His funeral service took place at Shadow Mountain Community Church on August 12, 2016, with David Jeremiah, who succeeded LaHaye as pastor at what was then Scott Memorial Baptist Church, led the service. LaHaye is interred at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego, California.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: In 1978 LaHaye published "The Unhappy Gays", which was later retitled "What Everyone Should Know About Homosexuality". The book called homosexuals "militant, organized" and "vile." "The Unhappy Gays" also argues that homosexuals share 16 pernicious traits, including "incredible promiscuity", "deceit", "selfishness", "vulnerability to sadism-masochism", and "poor health and an early death." He believed that homosexuality can be cured. However, he said that such conversions are rare.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye believed that the Illuminati is secretly engineering world affairs. In "Rapture Under Attack" he wrote:I myself have been a forty-five year student of the satanically-inspired, centuries-old conspiracy to use government, education, and media to destroy every vestige of Christianity within our society and establish a new world order. Having read at least fifty books on the Illuminati, I am convinced that it exists and can be blamed for many of man's inhumane actions against his fellow man during the past two hundred years.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: The Illuminati is just one of many groups that he believed are working to "turn America into an amoral, humanist country, ripe for merger into a one-world socialist state." Other secret societies and liberal groups working to destroy "every vestige of Christianity", according to LaHaye, include: the Trilateral Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, "the major TV networks, high-profile newspapers and newsmagazines," the State Department, major foundations (Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford), the United Nations, "the left wing of the Democratic Party", Harvard, Yale "and 2,000 other colleges and universities."


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye held apocalyptic beliefs and asserted the end of the world was near. Other believers in dispensational premillennialism, who believe that the return of Jesus is imminent, criticize various aspects of his theology, saying he has "some real problems with his prophetical teachings in the "Left Behind" series." It is noted that "in books 8 & 9, LaHaye and Jenkins teach that [non-willing] recipients of the mark of the beast can still be saved". However, in "The Mark", "the Chang scenario" is developed, whereby a character receives both the mark of the beast and the sealing of the Lord. In "Desecration", his dual-marking was justified in the storyline. This has led some readers to wonder "how a Christian can have the mark of the beast and still be saved" and has been asked many times by perplexed readers on the "Left Behind" messageboard. Attempts to address this question have appeared on the FAQ page at LeftBehind.com.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: Many mainstream Christians and certain other evangelicals had broader disagreements with the series as a whole, pointing out that "most biblical scholars largely reject the eschatological assumptions of this kind of pop end-times literature." Others say that LaHaye portrays the Book of Revelation with a selective literalism, choosing to take some things literally (such as the violence) and others as metaphor (the Beast) as it suits his point of view. In "The Rapture Exposed" by Barbara Rossing, a number of criticisms are raised regarding the series, particularly its focus on violence.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: LaHaye was a harsh critic of Roman Catholicism, which he called "a false religion". In his 1973 book "Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain", he stated that the Catholic Church "is more dangerous than no religion because she substitutes religion for truth" and "is also dangerous because some of her doctrines are pseudo-Christian." Elsewhere the same book compared Catholic ceremonies to pagan rituals. It was these statements that were largely responsible for LaHaye's dismissal from Jack Kemp's 1988 presidential campaign. It was later revealed that Scott Memorial Baptist Church, the San Diego church that LaHaye had pastored throughout the 1970s, had sponsored an anti-Catholic group called Mission to Catholics; one of their pamphlets asserted that Pope Paul VI was the "archpriest of Satan, a deceiver, and an antichrist, who has, like Judas, gone to his own place."


title: Tim LaHaye

text: The issue of anti-Catholicism also comes up in regard to the "Left Behind" series. While the fictional Pope John XXIV was raptured, he is described as having "stirred up controversy in the church with a new doctrine that seemed to coincide more with the 'heresy' of Martin Luther than with the historic orthodoxy they were used to," and this is implied as the reason he was raptured. His successor, Pope Peter II becomes Pontifex Maximus of Enigma Babylon One World Faith, an amalgamation of all remaining world faiths and religions.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: In Book 9 of the series, "The Desecration", Nicolae Carpathia, the villain, specifically refutes all happenings at Jesus' crucifixion that are part of the Catholic stations of the Cross but not in the canonical gospels, further undercutting the Catholic traditions. Other Catholic writers have said that while the books aren't "anti-Catholic per se" they reflect LaHaye's other writings on the subject.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: Despite his anti-Catholic views, he praised traditionalist Catholic director Mel Gibson's 2004 film "The Passion of the Christ", saying that "Everyone should see this movie. It could be Hollywood's finest achievement to date." He also endorsed Catholic convert Newt Gingrich for president in 2012.


title: Tim LaHaye

text: "Time Magazine" named LaHaye one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America, and in the summer of 2001, the "Evangelical Studies Bulletin" named him the most influential Christian leader of the preceding quarter century.


title: Little Dark Age (song)

text: "Little Dark Age" is a song by American rock band MGMT. It was released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, "Little Dark Age", on October 17, 2017, through Columbia Records. In an interview with "Newsweek", Andrew VanWyngarden, the lead vocalist, guitar player and songwriter for the band stated that 80's Soviet synth-pop was influential to the song.


title: Little Dark Age (song)

text: Leading up to the song's release, the band made several posts on their social media hyping up the album and then upcoming single. On October 12, 2017, the band posted a video clip of the beginning instrumental of the song to their social media with the caption "#LittleDarkAge". "Little Dark Age" was released as a digital single on October 17 through Columbia Records. The song was released with an accompanying music video.


title: Little Dark Age (song)

text: The cover art for the single is taken directly from a work of Japanese manga artist Suehiro Maruo. In the text-bubble, the character states the following: "Oh, OK. It's bad to ask for something without offering something in return. So I will show you some magic. No tricks here. I call this 'Discovery of Africa.'"


title: Little Dark Age (song)

text: "Little Dark Age" received generally positive reviews from critics. Writing for "Spin", Jeremy Gordon called the song "grim and playful". He said the song and video were "dark, but only a little, and the vibe feels appropriate for where they are now—older, and without office jobs, but recognizant of what's still gone wrong." In late 2020, it experienced a resurgence in popularity due to a viral TikTok trend where hundreds of thousands utilized the song.


title: Little Dark Age (song)

text: The music video for "Little Dark Age", directed by David MacNutt and Nathaniel Axel, premiered on October 17, 2017. The video was considered out of character and surprisingly gothic for the band. Jeremy Gordon of "Spin" called the video "Dada-esque".


title: Little Dark Age (song)

text: As of August 2022, the video has been viewed over 87 million times through the band's official Vevo account on YouTube.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Balkans and parts of this area are alternatively situated in Southeast, Southern, Eastern Europe and Central Europe. The distinct identity and fragmentation of the Balkans owes much to its common and often turbulent history regarding centuries of Ottoman conquest and to its very mountainous geography.


title: History of the Balkans

text: First human settlement in Europe is Iron Gates Mesolithic (11000 to 6000 BC), located in Danube River, in modern Serbia and Romania. It has been described as "the first city in Europe", due to its permanency, organisation, as well as the sophistication of its architecture and construction techniques.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Archaeologists have identified several early culture-complexes, including the Cucuteni culture (4500 to 3500 BC), Starcevo culture (6500 to 4000 BC), Vinča culture (5500 to 3000 BC), Linear pottery culture (5500 to 4500 BC), and Ezero culture (3300—2700 BC). The Eneolithic Varna culture in Bulgaria (4600–4200 BC radiocarbon dating) produced the world's earliest known gold treasure and had sophisticated beliefs about afterlife. A notable set of artifacts are the Tărtăria tablets found in Romania, which appear to be inscribed with proto-writing. The Butmir Culture (2600 to 2400 BC), found on the outskirts of present-day Sarajevo, developed unique ceramics, and was likely overrun by the proto-Illyrians in the Bronze Age.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture", around 5000 BC, until it encompassed the entire pontic steppe. Kurgan IV was identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC.


title: History of the Balkans

text: At ca. 1000 BC, Illyrian tribes appear in what is modern day Albania and all the way aside Adriatic Sea in modern day Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, parts of Serbia, etc. The Thracians lived in Thrace and adjacent lands (now mainly Bulgaria, but also Romania, northeastern Greece, European Turkey, eastern Serbia and North Macedonia), and the closely related Dacians lived in what is today Romania. These three major tribal groups spoke Paleo-Balkan languages, Indo-European languages. The Phrygians seem to have settled in the southern Balkans at first, centuries later continuing their migration to settle in Asia Minor, now extinct as a separate group and language.


title: History of the Balkans

text: After the period that followed the arrival of the Dorians, known as the Greek Dark Ages or the Geometric Period, the classical Greek culture developed in the southern Balkan peninsula, the Aegean islands and the western Asia Minor Greek colonies starting around the 9th or 8th century BC and peaking with the democracy that developed in 6th and 5th century BC Athens. Later, Hellenistic culture spread throughout the empire created by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE. The Greeks were the first to establish a system of trade routes in the Balkans, and in order to facilitate trade with the natives, between 700 BC and 300 BC they founded a number of colonies on the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) coast, Asia Minor, Dalmatia, Southern Italy (Magna Graecia) etc.


title: History of the Balkans

text: By the end of the 4th century BC, Greek language and culture were dominant not only in the Balkans but also around the whole Eastern Mediterranean. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians invaded the Balkans, and then proceed to the more fertile areas of Europe. Parts of the Balkans and more northern areas were ruled by the Achaemenid Persians for some time, including Thrace, Paeonia, Macedon, and most Black Sea coastal regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia. However, the outcome of the Greco-Persian Wars resulted in the Achaemenids being forced to withdraw from most of their European territories.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Thracian Odrysian empire - the Odrysian kingdom, was the most important Daco-Thracian state union, and was founded c.470 BC after the Persian defeat in Greece, had its capital at Seuthopolis, near Kazanlak, Stara Zagora Province, in central Bulgaria. Other tribal unions existed in Dacia at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC under King Oroles. The Illyrian tribes were situated in the area corresponding to today's Adriatic coast. The name "Illyrii" was originally used to refer to a people occupying an area centered on Lake Skadar, situated between Albania and Montenegro (Illyrians proper). However, the term was subsequently used by the Greeks and Romans as a generic name for the different peoples within a well defined but much greater area. In the same way, the territory to the north of the kingdom of Macedon was occupied by the Paeonians, who were also ruled by kings.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Around 513 BC, as part of the military incursions ordered by Darius I, a huge Achaemenid army invaded the Balkans and tried to defeat the Western Scythians roaming to the north of the Danube river. Several Thracian peoples, and nearly all of the other European regions bordering the Black Sea (including parts of the modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia), were conquered by the Achaemenid army before it returned to Asia Minor. Darius's highly regarded commander Megabazus was responsible for fulfilling the conquest of the Balkans. The Achaemenid troops conquered Thrace, the coastal Greek cities, and the Paeonians. Eventually, in about 512–511 BC, the Macedonian king Amyntas I accepted the Achaemenid domination and surrendered his country as a vassal state to the Achaemenid Persia. The multi-ethnic Achaemenid army possessed many soldiers from the Balkans. Moreover, many of the Macedonian and Persian elite intermarried. For instance, Megabazus' own son, Bubares, married Amyntas' daughter, Gygaea; and that supposedly ensured good relations between the Macedonian and Achaemenid rulers.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Following the Ionian Revolt, the Persian authority in the Balkans was restored by Mardonius in 492. This not only included the re-subjugation of Thrace, but also the full subordinate inclusion of Macedon into the Persian Empire. The Persian invasion led indirectly to Macedonia's rise in power and Persia had some common interests in the Balkans; with Persian aid, the Macedonians stood to gain much at the expense of some Balkan tribes such as the Paeonians and Greeks. All in all, the Macedonians were "willing and useful Persian allies." Macedonian soldiers fought against Athens and Sparta in Xerxes' army.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Although Persian rule in the Balkans was overthrown following the failure of Xerxes' invasion, the Macedonians and Thracians borrowed heavily from the Achaemenid Persians their tradition in culture and economy in the 5th- to mid-4th centuries. Some artifacts, excavated at Sindos and Vergina maybe be considered as influenced by Asian practices, or even imported from Persia in the late sixth and early fifth centuries.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Bardylis, a Dardanian chieftain, created a kingdom which turned Illyria into a formidable local power in the 4th century BC. The main cities of this kingdom were Scodra (present-day Shkodra, Albania) and Rhizon (present-day Risan, Montenegro). In 359 BC, King Perdiccas III of Macedon was killed by attacking Illyrians.


title: History of the Balkans

text: But in 358 BC, Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, defeated the Illyrians and assumed control of their territory as far as Lake Ohrid (present-day North Macedonia). Alexander himself routed the forces of the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus in 335 BC, and Illyrian tribal leaders and soldiers accompanied Alexander on his conquest of Persia. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Greek states started fighting among themselves again, while up north independent Illyrian polities arose again. In 312 BC, King Glaukias seized Epidamnus. By the end of the 3rd century BC, an Illyrian kingdom based in Scodra controlled parts of northern Albania, and littoral Montenegro. Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attacked Roman merchant vessels plying the Adriatic Sea and gave Rome an excuse to invade the Balkans.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC and 219 BC, Rome overran the Illyrian settlements in the Neretva river valley and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe. In 180 BC, the Dalmatians declared themselves independent of the Illyrian king Gentius, who kept his capital at Scodra. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, bringing him to Rome in 165 BC. Four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was directly governed by Rome and organized as a province, with Scodra as its capital. Also, in 168 BC, by taking advantage of the constant Greek civil wars, the Romans defeated Perseus, the last King of Macedonia and with their allies in southern Greece, they became overlords of the region. The territories were split to Macedonia, Achaia and Epirus.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Starting in the 2nd century BC, the rising Roman Republic began annexing the Balkan area, transforming it into one of the Empire's most prosperous and stable regions. To this day, the Roman legacy is clearly visible in the numerous monuments and artifacts scattered throughout the Balkans, and most importantly in the Latin-based languages used by almost 25 million people in the area (the Balkan Romance languages). However, the Roman influence failed to dissolve Greek culture, which maintained a predominant status in the Eastern half of the Empire, and continued to be strong in the southern half of the Balkans.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Beginning in the 3rd century AD, Rome's frontiers in the Balkans were weakened because of internal political and economic disorders. During this time, the Balkans, especially Illyricum, grew to greater importance. It became one of the Empire's four prefectures, and many warriors, administrators and emperors arose from the region. Many rulers built their residences in the region.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Though the situation had stabilized temporarily by the time of Constantine, waves of non-Roman peoples, most prominently the Thervings, Greuthungs and Huns, began to cross into the territory, first (in the case of the Thervingi) as refugees with imperial permission to take shelter from their foes the Huns, then later as invaders. Turning on their hosts after decades of servitude and simmering hostility, Thervingi under Fritigern and later Visigoths under Alaric I eventually conquered and laid waste the entire Balkan region before moving westward to invade Italy itself.


title: History of the Balkans

text: By the end of the Empire the region had become a conduit for invaders to move westward, as well as the scene of treaties and complex political maneuvers by Romans, Goths and Huns, all seeking the best advantage for their peoples amid the shifting and disorderly final decades of Roman imperial power.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Christianity first came to the area when Saint Paul and some of his followers traveled in the Balkans passing through Thracian, Illyrian and Greek populated areas. He spread Christianity to the Greeks at Beroia, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth and Dyrrachium. Saint Andrew also worked among the Thracians, Dacians and Scythians, and had preached in Dobruja and Pontus Euxinus. In 46 AD, this territory was conquered by the Romans and annexed to Moesia.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In 106 AD the emperor Trajan invaded Dacia. Subsequently, Christian colonists, soldiers and slaves came to Dacia and spread Christianity.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Edict of Serdica, also called Edict of Toleration by Emperor Galerius, was issued in 311 in Serdica (today Sofia, Bulgaria) by the Roman emperor Galerius, officially ending the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity in the East. In the 3rd century the number of Christians grew. When Emperor Constantine of Rome issued the Edict of Milan in 313, thus ending all Roman-sponsored persecution of Christianity, the area became a haven for Christians. Just twelve years later in 325, Constantine assembled the First Council of Nicaea. In 391, Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of Rome.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The East-West Schism, known also as the Great Schism (though this latter term sometimes refers to the later Western Schism), was the event that divided Christianity into Western Catholicism and Greek Eastern Orthodoxy, following the dividing line of the Empire in Western Latin-speaking and Eastern Greek-speaking parts. Though normally dated to 1054, when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius excommunicated each other, the East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between the two Churches.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The primary claimed causes of the Schism were disputes over papal authority—the Pope claimed he held authority over the four Eastern patriarchs, while the patriarchs claimed that the Pope was merely a first among equals—and over the insertion of the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed. Most serious (and real) cause of course, was the competition for power between the old and the new capitals of the Roman Empire (Rome and Constantinople).


title: History of the Balkans

text: There were other, less significant catalysts for the Schism, including variance over liturgical practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Byzantine Empire was the Greek-speaking, Eastern Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. During most of its history it controlled provinces in the Balkans and Asia Minor. The Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian for a time retook and restored much of the territory once held by the unified Roman Empire, from Spain and Italy, to Anatolia. Unlike the Western Roman Empire, which met a famous if rather ill-defined death in the year 476 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire came to a much less famous but far more definitive conclusion at the hands of Mehmet II and the Ottoman Empire in the year 1453. Its expert military and diplomatic power ensured inadvertently that Western Europe remained safe from many of the more devastating invasions from eastern peoples, at a time when the still new and fragile Western Christian kingdoms might have had difficulty containing it.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The magnitude of influence and contribution the Byzantine Empire made to Europe and Christendom has only begun to be recognised recently. The Emperor Justinian I's formation of a new code of law, the "Corpus Juris Civilis", served as a basis of subsequent development of legal codes. Byzantium played an important role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world and to Renaissance Italy. Its rich historiographical tradition preserved ancient knowledge upon which splendid art, architecture, literature and technological achievements were built. This is embodied in the Byzantine version of Christianity, which spread Orthodoxy and eventually led to the creation of the so-called "Byzantine commonwealth" (a term coined by 20th-century historians) throughout Eastern Europe. Early Byzantine missionary work spread Orthodox Christianity to various Slavic peoples, amongst whom it still is a predominant religion. Jewish communities were also spread through the Balkans at this time, while the Jews were primarily Romaniotes. In a sense of a Greek-influenced "Byzantine commonwealth", the Greek Christian culture and also the Romaniote culture have influenced the emerging cultures both the Christian and the Jewish cultures of the Balkans and of Eastern Europe.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Throughout its history, its borders were ever fluctuating, often involved in multi-sided conflicts with not only the Arabs, Persians and Turks of the east, but also with its Christian neighbours- the Bulgarians, Serbs, Normans and the Crusaders, which all at one time or another conquered large amounts of its territory. By the end, the empire consisted of nothing but Constantinople and small holdings in mainland Greece, with all other territories in both the Balkans and Asia Minor gone. The conclusion was reached in 1453, when the city was successfully besieged by Mehmet II, bringing the Second Rome to an end.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Coinciding with the decline of the Roman Empire, many "barbarian" tribes passed through the Balkans, most of whom did not leave any lasting state. During these "Dark Ages", Eastern Europe, like Western Europe, regressed culturally and economically, although enclaves of prosperity and culture persisted along the coastal towns of the Adriatic and the major Greek cities in the south. As the Byzantine Empire withdrew its borders more and more, in an attempt to consolidate its waning power, vast areas were de-urbanised, roads abandoned and native populations may have withdrawn to isolated areas such as mountains and forests.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The first such barbarian tribe to enter the Balkans were the Goths. From northern East Germany, via Scythia, they pushed southwards into the Roman Balkans following the threat of the Huns. These Goths were eventually granted lands inside the Byzantine realm (south of the Danube), as "foederati" (allies). However, after a period of famine, the proto-Visigoths rebelled and defeated the emperor in 378. The Visigoths subsequently sacked Rome in 410, and in an attempt to deal with them, they were granted lands in France. The Huns, a confederation of a Turkic-Uralic ruling core that subsequently incorporated various Germanic, Sarmatian and Slavic tribes, moved west into Europe entering Pannonia in 400–410 AD. The Huns are supposed to have triggered the great German migrations into western Europe. From their base, the Huns subdued many people and carved out a sphere of terror extending from Germany and the Baltic to the Black Sea. With the death of Attila the Hun in 454 AD, succession struggles led to the rapid collapse of Hun prestige and subsequent disappearance from Europe. In the meantime, the Ostrogoths freed themselves from Hunnish domination in 454 AD and became foedorati as well. The Ostrogoths too migrated westwards, commissioned by the Byzantines, and established a state in Italy. In the second half of the 5th- and first of the 6th century, new Germanic barbarian tribes entered the Balkans. The Gepids, having lived in Dacia in the 3rd century with the Goths, settled Pannonia and eventually conquered Singidunum (Belgrade) and Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica), establishing a short-lived kingdom in the 6th century. The Lombards entered Pannonia in 550s, defeated the Gepids and absorbed them. In 569 they moved into northern Italy, establishing their own kingdom at the expense of the Ostrogoths.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Slavs, known as the "Sklavenoi", migrated in successive waves. Small numbers might have moved down as early as the 3rd century however the bulk of migration did not occur until the 6th century. The Slavs migrated from Central Europe and Eastern Europe and eventually became known as South Slavs. Most still remained subjects of the Roman Empire.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Avars were a Turkic group (or possibly Mongol), possibly with a ruling core derived from the Rouran that escaped the Göktürks. They entered Central Europe in the 7th century AD, forcing the Lombards to flee to Italy. They continuously raided the Balkans, contributing to the general decline of the area that had begun centuries earlier. After their unsuccessful siege on Constantinople in 626, they limited themselves to Central Europe. They ruled over the Western Slavs that had already inhabited the region. By the 10th century, the Avar confederacy collapsed due to internal conflicts, Frankish and Slavic attacks. The remnant Avars were subsequently absorbed by the Slavs and Magyars.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Bulgars, Turkic people of Central Asia, first appeared in a wave commenced with the arrival of Asparuh's Bulgars. Asparuh was one of Kubrat's, the Great Khan, successors. They had occupied the fertile plains of the Ukraine for several centuries until the Khazars swept their confederation in the 660s and triggered their further migration. One part of them — under the leadership of Asparuh — headed southwest and settled in the 670s in present-day Bessarabia. In 680 AD they invaded Moesia and Dobrudja and formed a confederation with the local Slavic tribes who had migrated there a century earlier. After suffering a defeat at the hands of Bulgars and Slavs, the Byzantine Empire recognised the sovereignty of Asparuh's Khanate in a subsequent treaty signed in 681 AD. The same year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of Bulgaria (see History of Bulgaria). A smaller group of Bulgars under Khan Kouber settled almost simultaneously in the Pelagonian plain in western Macedonia after spending some time in Panonia. Some Bulgars actually entered Europe earlier with the Huns. After the disintegration of the Hunnic Empire the Bulgars dispersed mostly to eastern Europe.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Magyars, led by Árpád, were the leading clan in a ten tribe confederacy. They entered Europe in the 10th century AD, settling in Pannonia. There they encountered a predominantly Slavic populace and Avar remnants. The Magyars were a Uralic people, originating from west of the Ural Mountains. They learned the art of horseback warfare from Turkic people. They then migrated further west around 400AD, settling in the Don-Dnieper area. Here they were subjects of the Khazar Khaganate. They were neighboured by the Bulgars and Alans. They sided with 3 rebel Khazar tribes against the ruling factions. Their loss in this civil war, and ongoing battles with the Pechenegs, was probably the catalyst for them to move further west into Europe.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The local Romans and Romanized remnants of the Iron Age populace of the Balkans began their assimilation into mainly the Slavs and Greeks, however, notable Latin-speaking communities are known to have survived. In literature, these Romance-speakers are known as "Vlachs". In Dacia, Roman colonists and Romanized Dacians retreated in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania after the Roman withdrawal. Archaeological evidence indicate a Romanized population in Transylvania by at least the 8th century. By the 7th and 8th centuries, the Roman Empire existed only south of the Danube River in the form of the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. In this ethnically diverse closing area of the Roman Empire, Vlachs were recognized as those who spoke Latin, the official language of the Byzantine Empire used only in official documents, until the 6th century when it was changed to the more popular Greek. These original Vlachs probably consisted of a variety of ethnic groups (most notably Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians) who shared the commonality of having been assimilated in language and culture of the Roman Empire with the Roman colonists settled in their areas. Anna Comnene relates in Alexiade about Dacians (instead of Vlachs) from Balkans and from the North side of Danube and they were identified as Romanians. Romance-speaking populations survived on the Adriatic, and the Albanians are believed by some to be descending from partially Romanized Illyrians.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In the 7th century, the First Bulgarian Empire was established by Khan Asparuh. It greatly increased in strength in the coming centuries stretching from Dnieper to Budapest and the Mediterranean. Bulgaria dominated the Balkans for the next four centuries and was instrumental in the adoption of Christianity in the region and among other Slavs. Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I the Great, following the cultural and political course of his father Boris I, ordered the creation of the Bulgarian Alphabet, which was later spread by missionaries to the north reaching modern Russia.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Arbanon was ruled by the native Progoni familiy. And it is officially viewed (ignoring the Illyrian tribe of the Abroi/Albanoi) as the first Albanian state. It was founded 1190 in the lands of Kruja, to the east and northeast of Venetian territories. The sons Gjin and Demetrius succeeded Progon and managed to retain a considerable degree of autonomy from the Byzantine Empire. However, in ca. 1216, Arbanon lost its great autonomy.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Uprising of Asen and Peter was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs living in Moesia and the Balkan Mountains, then the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. It began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the restoration of Bulgaria with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire, ruled by the Asen dynasty.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In building its maritime commercial empire, the Republic of Venice dominated the trade in salt, acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean, including Cyprus and Crete, and became a major "power" in the Near East and in all the Balkans. Venice seized a number of locations on the eastern shores of the Adriatic sea before 1200, partly for purely commercial reasons, but also because pirates based there were a menace to its trade. The Doge since that time bore the titles of "Duke of Dalmatia" and "Duke of Istria". Venice became a fully imperial power following the Venetian-financed Fourth Crusade, which in 1203 captured and in 1204 sacked and conquered Constantinople, dividing the Byzantine Empire into several smaller states and established the Latin Empire. Venice subsequently carved out a sphere of influence in the Aegean known as the Duchy of the Archipelago, and also gained control of the island of Crete. Weakened by constant warfare with Bulgaria and the unconquered sections of the empire, the Latin Empire eventually fell when Byzantines recaptured Constantinople under Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went into exile, but the imperial title survived, with several pretenders to it until the 14th century.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In 1346, The Serbian Empire was established by King Stefan Dušan (Who was known by many as "Dušan the Mighty"). He was able to significantly expand the state. Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the major power in the Balkans, and a multi-lingual empire that stretched from the Danube to the Gulf of Corinth, with its capital in Skopje. He also promoted the Serbian Archbishopric to the Serbian Patriarchate. Dušan enacted the constitution of the Serbian Empire, known as Dušan's Code, which was one of the most important literary works of Medieval Serbia. He was crowned as Emperor and autocrat of the Serbs and Greeks (Romans). His son and successor, Uroš the Weak, lost most of the territory conquered by Dušan, hence his epithet. The Serbian Empire effectively ended with the death of Uroš V in 1371 and the break-up of the Serbian state.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In the 14th century, Ottoman rule would extend over the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. Sultan Orhan captured the city of Bursa in 1326 and would make it the new capital of the Ottoman state. The fall of Bursa meant the loss of Byzantine control over Northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387. The Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe. The Empire controlled nearly all former Byzantine lands surrounding the city, but the Byzantines were temporarily relieved when Timur invaded Anatolia in the Battle of Ankara in 1402. The son of Murad II, Mehmed the Conqueror, reorganized the state and the military, and demonstrated his martial prowess by capturing Constantinople on 29 May 1453, at the age of 21. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II cemented the status of the Empire as the preeminent power in southeastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. After taking Constantinople, Mehmed met with the Orthodox patriarch, Gennadios. An agreement would later be worked out in which the Eastern Orthodox Church would exchange their ability to maintain its autonomy and land and then accepted Ottoman authority. The Empire prospered under the rule of a line of committed and effective Sultans. Sultan Selim I (1512–1520) dramatically expanded the Empire's eastern and southern frontiers by defeating Shah Ismail of Safavid Persia, in the Battle of Chaldiran.


title: History of the Balkans

text: From the 14th century, Venice controlled most of the maritime commerce of the Balkans with important colonial possessions on the Adriatic and Aegean coasts. Venice's long decline started in the 15th century, when it first made an unsuccessful attempt to hold Thessalonica against the Ottomans (1423–1430). She also sent ships to help defend Constantinople against the besieging Turks (1453). After the city fell to Sultan Mehmet II, he declared war on Venice. The war lasted thirty years and cost Venice many of the eastern Mediterranean possessions. Slowly the Republic of Venice lost nearly all possessions in the Balkans, maintaining in the 18th century only the Adriatic areas of Istria, Dalmatia and Albania Veneta. The Venetian island of Corfu was the only area of Greece never occupied by the Turks. In 1797 Napoleon conquered Venice and caused the end of the Republic of Venice in the Balkans.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Much of the Balkans was under Ottoman rule throughout the Early modern period. Ottoman rule was long, lasting from the 14th century up until the early 20th in some territories. The Ottoman Empire was religiously, linguistically and ethnically diverse, and, at times, a much more tolerant place for religious practices when compared to other parts of the world. The different groups in the empire were organised along confessional lines, in the so-called the Millet system. Among the Orthodox Christians of the empire (the Rum Millet) a common identity was forged based on a shared sense of time defined by the ecclesiastical calendar, saint's days and feasts.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The social structure of the Balkans in the late 18th century was complex. The Ottoman rulers exercised control chiefly in indirect ways. In Albania and Montenegro, for example, local leaders paid nominal tribute to the Empire and otherwise had little contact. The Republic of Ragusa paid an annual tribute but otherwise was free to pursue its rivalry with the Republic of Venice. The two Romance-speaking principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia had their own nobility, but were ruled by Greek families chosen by the Sultan. In Greece, the elite comprised clergymen and scholars, but there was scarcely any Greek aristocracy. A million or more Turks had settled in the Balkans, typically in smaller urban centers where they were garrison troops, civil servants, and craftsmen and merchants. There were also important communities of Jewish and Greek merchants. The Turks and Jews were not to be found in the countryside, so there was a very sharp social differentiation between the cities and their surrounding region in terms of language, religion and ethnicity. The Ottoman Empire collected taxes at about the 10% rate but there was no forced labor and the workers and peasants were not especially oppressed by the Empire. The Sultan favoured and protected the Orthodox clergy, primarily as a protection against the missionary zeal of Roman Catholics.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The rise of Nationalism under the Ottoman Empire caused the breakdown of millet concept. With the rise of national states and their histories, it is very hard to find reliable sources on the Ottoman concept of a nation and the centuries of the relations between House of Osman and the provinces, which turned into states. Unquestionably, understanding the Ottoman conception of nationhood helps us to understand what happened in the Balkans in the late Ottoman period.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Serbian revolt in Herzegovina in 1875, which led to Serbian-Turkish Wars (1876-1878), and the bloody suppression of the April Uprising in Bulgaria, became occasion of the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and the Liberation of Bulgaria and Serbia in 1878.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a meeting of the leading statesmen of Europe's Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. In the wake of the Russia's decisive victory in a war with Turkey, 1877–78, the urgent need was to stabilize and reorganize the Balkans, and set up new nations. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who led the Congress, undertook to adjust boundaries to minimize the risks of major war, while recognizing the reduced power of the Ottoman Empire, and balance the distinct interests of the great powers.


title: History of the Balkans

text: As a result, Ottoman holdings in Europe declined sharply; Bulgaria was established as an independent principality inside the Ottoman Empire, but was not allowed to keep all its previous territory. Bulgaria lost Eastern Rumelia, which was restored to the Turks under a special administration. Macedonia, and East and Western Thrace were returned outright to the Turks, who promised reform and Northern Dobrudja became part of Romania, which achieved full independence but had to turn over part of Bessarabia to Russia. Serbia and Montenegro finally gained complete independence, but with smaller territories. Austria took over Bosnia and Herzegovina, and effectively took control of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, in order to separate Serbia and Montenegro. Britain took over Cyprus.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The results were at first hailed as a great achievement in peacemaking and stabilization. However, most of the participants were not fully satisfied, and grievances regarding the results festered until they exploded into World War in 1914. Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece made gains, but far less than they thought they deserved. The Ottoman Empire, called at the time the "sick man of Europe," was humiliated and significantly weakened, rendering it more liable to domestic unrest and more vulnerable to attack. Although Russia had been victorious in the war that caused the conference, it was humiliated at Berlin, and resented its treatment. Austria-Hungary gained a great deal of territory, which angered the South Slavs, and led to decades of tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bismarck became the target of hatred of Russian nationalists and Pan-Slavists, and found that he had tied Germany too closely to Austria in the Balkans.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In the long-run, tensions between Russia and Austria-Hungary intensified, as did the nationality question in the Balkans. The congress was aimed at the revision of the Treaty of San Stefano and at keeping Constantinople in Ottoman hands. It effectively disavowed Russia's victory over the decaying Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War. The Congress of Berlin returned to the Ottoman Empire territories that the previous treaty had given to the Principality of Bulgaria, most notably Macedonia, thus setting up a strong revanchist demand in Bulgaria that in 1912 was one of many causes of the First Balkan War.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Balkan Wars were two wars that took place in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913. Four Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in the first war; one of the four, Bulgaria, was defeated in the second war. The Ottoman Empire lost nearly all of its holdings in Europe. Austria-Hungary, although not a combatant, was weakened as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples. The war set the stage for the Balkan crisis of 1914 and thus was a "prelude to the First World War."


title: History of the Balkans

text: The monumentally colossal World War I was ignited from a spark in the Balkans, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand. Princip was a member of a Serbian secret military society called the Crna Ruka (Serbian for "Black Hand"). Following the assassination, Austria-Hungary sent Serbia an ultimatum in July 1914 with several provisions largely designed to prevent Serbian compliance. When Serbia only partially fulfilled the terms of the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Many members of the Austro-Hungarian government, such as Conrad von Hötzendorf had hoped to provoke a war with Serbia for several years. They had a couple of motives. In part they feared the power of Serbia and its ability to sow dissent and disruption in the empire's "south-Slav" provinces under the banner of a "greater Slav state". Another hope was that they could annex Serbian territories in order to change the ethnic composition of the empire. With more Slavs in the Empire, some in the German-dominated half of the government hoped to balance the power of the Magyar-dominated Hungarian government. Until 1914 more peaceful elements had been able to argue against these military strategies, either through strategic considerations or political ones. However, Franz Ferdinand, a leading advocate of a peaceful solution, had been removed from the scene, and more hawkish elements were able to prevail. Another factor in this was the development in Germany giving the Dual-Monarchy a "blank cheque" to pursue a military strategy that ensured Germany's backing.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Austro-Hungarian planning for operations against Serbia was not extensive and they ran into many logistical difficulties in mobilizing the army and beginning operations against the Serbs. They encountered problems with train schedules and mobilization schedules, which conflicted with agricultural cycles in some areas. When operations began in early August Austria-Hungary was unable to crush the Serbian armies as many within the monarchy had predicted. One difficulty for the Austro-Hungarians was that they had to divert many divisions north to counter advancing Russian armies. Planning for operations against Serbia had not accounted for possible Russian intervention, which the Austro-Hungarian army had assumed would be countered by Germany. However, the German army had long planned on attacking France before turning to Russia given a war with the Entente powers. (See: "Schlieffen Plan") Poor communication between the two governments led to this catastrophic oversight.


title: History of the Balkans

text: As a result, Austria-Hungary's war effort was damaged almost beyond redemption within a couple of months of the war beginning. The Serb army, which was coming up from the south of the country, met the Austrian army at the Battle of Cer beginning on August 12, 1914.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Serbians were set up in defensive positions against the Austro-Hungarians. The first attack came on August 16, between parts of the 21st Austro-Hungarian division and parts of the Serbian Combined division. In harsh night-time fighting, the battle ebbed and flowed, until the Serbian line was rallied under the leadership of Stepa Stepanovic. Three days later the Austrians retreated across the Danube, having suffered 21,000 casualties against 16,000 Serbian casualties. This marked the first Allied victory of the war. The Austrians had not achieved their main goal of eliminating Serbia. In the next couple of months the two armies fought large battles at Drina (September 6 to November 11) and at Kolubara from November 16 to December 15.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In the autumn, with many Austro-Hungarians tied up in heavy fighting with Serbia, Russia was able to make huge inroads into Austria-Hungary capturing Galicia and destroying much of the Empire's fighting ability. It wasn't until October 1915 with a lot of German, Bulgarian, and Turkish assistance that Serbia was finally occupied, although the weakened Serbian army retreated to Corfu with Italian assistance and continued to fight against the central powers.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Yugoslav Committee, a political interest group formed by South Slavs from Austria-Hungary during World War I, aimed at joining the existing south Slavic nations in an independent state. From this plan, a new kingdom eventually was born: The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Montenegro declared war on 6 August 1914. Bulgaria, however, stood aside before eventually joining the Central Powers in 1915, and Romania joined the Allies in 1916.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In 1916 the Allies sent their ill-fated expedition to Gallipoli in the Dardanelles, and in the autumn of 1916 they established themselves in Salonika, establishing front. However, their armies did not move from front until near end of the war, when they marched up north to free territories under rule of Central Powers.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Bulgaria, the most populous of the Balkan states with 7 million people sought to acquire Macedonia but when it tried it was defeated in 1913 in the Second Balkan War. In 1914 Bulgaria stayed neutral. However its leaders still hoped to acquire Macedonia, which was controlled by an ally, Serbia. In 1915 joining the Central Powers seemed the best route. Bulgaria mobilized a very large army of 800,000 men, using equipment supplied by Germany. The Bulgarian-German-Austrian invasion of Serbia in 1915 was a quick victory, but by the end of 1915 Bulgaria was also fighting the British and French—as well as the Romanians in 1916 and the Greeks in 1917. Bulgaria was ill-prepared for a long war; absence of so many soldiers sharply reduced agricultural output. Much of its best food was smuggled out to feed lucrative black markets elsewhere. By 1918 the soldiers were not only short of basic equipment like boots but they were being fed mostly corn bread with a little meat. Germany increasingly was in control, and Bulgarian relations with its ally the Ottoman Empire soured. The Allied offensive in September 1918, which failed in 1916 & 1917 was successful at Dobro Pole. Troops mutinied and peasants revolted, demanding peace. By month's end Bulgaria signed an armistice, giving up its conquests and its military hardware. The Czar abdicated and Bulgaria's war was over. The peace treaty in 1919 stripped Bulgaria of its conquests, reduced its army to 20,000 men, and demanded reparations of £100 million.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The war had enormous repercussions for the Balkan peninsula. People across the area suffered serious economic dislocation, and the mass mobilization resulted in severe casualties, particularly in Serbia where over 1.5 million Serbs died, which was approx. ¼ of the total population and over half of the male population. In less-developed areas World War I was felt in different ways: requisitioning of draft animals, for example, caused severe problems in villages that were already suffering from the enlistment of young men, and many recently created trade connections were ruined.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The borders of many states were completely redrawn, and the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later Yugoslavia, was created. Both Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were formally dissolved. As a result, the balance of power, economic relations, and ethnic divisions were completely altered.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Between World War I and World War II, in order to create nation-states the following population movements were seen:


title: History of the Balkans

text: World War II in the Balkans started from the Italian attempts to create an Italian empire. They invaded Albania in 1939 and annexed after just a week to the Kingdom of Italy. Then demanded Greece to surrender in October 1940. However, the defiance of the Greek prime minister Metaxas on 28 October 1940, started the Greco-Italian war. After seven months of hard fighting, with some of the first Allied victories and the Italians losing nearly one third of Albania, Germany intervened to save its ally. In 1941, it invaded Yugoslavia with the forces they later used against the Soviet Union.


title: History of the Balkans

text: After the fall of Sarajevo on 16 April 1941 to Nazi Germany, the Yugoslav provinces of Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina were recreated as fascist satellite states, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska (NDH, the Independent State of Croatia). Croat-nationalist, Ante Pavelić was appointed leader. The Nazis effectively created the Handschar division and collaborated with Ustaše in order to combat the Yugoslav Partisans.


title: History of the Balkans

text: With help from Italy, they succeeded in conquering Yugoslavia within two weeks. They then joined forces with Bulgaria and invaded Greece from the Yugoslavian side. Despite Greek resistance, the Germans took advantage of the Greek army's presence in Albania against the Italians to advance in Northern Greece and consequently conquer the entire country within 3 weeks, with the exception of Crete. However, even with the fierce Cretan resistance, which cost the Nazis the bulk of their elite paratrooper forces, the island capitulated after 11 days of fighting.


title: History of the Balkans

text: On May 1 the Balkan frontiers were once again reshuffled, with the creation of several puppet states, such as Croatia and Montenegro, the Albanian expansion into Greece and Yugoslavia, Bulgarian annexation of territories in the Greek North, creation of a Vlach state in the Greek mountains of Pindus and the annexation of all the Ionian and part of the Aegean islands into Italy.


title: History of the Balkans

text: With the end of the war, the changes of the ethnic composition reverted to their original conditions and the settlers returned to their homelands, mainly the ones settled in Greece. An Albanian population of the Greek North, the Cams, were forced to flee their lands because they collaborated with the Italians. Their numbers were about 18 000 in 1944.


title: History of the Balkans

text: On January 7–9, 1945, Yugoslav authorities killed several hundred of declared Bulgarians in Macedonia as collaborators, in an event known as the "Bloody Christmas".


title: History of the Balkans

text: The Greek Civil War was fought between 1944 and 1949 in Greece between the armed forces of the Greek government, supported at first by Britain and later by the United States, against the forces of the wartime resistance against the German occupation, whose leadership was controlled by the Communist Party of Greece. Its goal was the creation of a Communist Northern Greece. It was the first time in the Cold War that hostilities led to a proxy war. In 1949, the partisans were defeated by the government forces.


title: History of the Balkans

text: During the Cold War, most of the countries in the Balkans were ruled by Soviet-supported communist governments.


title: History of the Balkans

text: The nationalism was not dead after World War II. Yugoslavia was not an isolated case of ethnic tension. For example: in Bulgaria, beginning in 1984, the Communist government led by Todor Zhivkov began implementing a policy of forced assimilation of the ethnic Turkish minority. Ethnic Turks were required to change their names to Bulgarian equivalents, or to leave the country. In 1989, a Turkish dissident movement was formed to resist these assimilationist measures. The Bulgarian government responded with violence and mass expulsions of the activists. In this repressive environment, over 300,000 ethnic Turks fled to neighboring Turkey.


title: History of the Balkans

text: However, despite being under communist governments, Yugoslavia (1948) and Albania (1961) fell out with the Soviet Union. After World War 2, communist plans of merging Albania and Bulgaria into Yugoslavia were created, but later nullified when Albania broke all relations with Yugoslavia, due to Tito breaking from the USSR. Marshal Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), later rejected the idea of merging with Bulgaria, and instead sought closer relations with the West, later even creating the Non-Aligned Movement, which brought them closer ties with third world countries. Albania on the other hand gravitated toward Communist China, later adopting an isolationist position.


title: History of the Balkans

text: Religious persecutions took place in Bulgaria, directed against the Christian Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches as well as the Muslim, Jewish and others in the country. Antagonism between the communist state and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church eased somewhat after Todor Zhivkov became Bulgarian Communist Party leader in 1956 for "its historic role in helping preserve Bulgarian nationalism and culture".


title: History of the Balkans

text: The late 1980s and the early 1990s brought the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. As westernization spread through the Balkans, many reforms were carried out that led to implementation of market economy and to privatization, among other capitalist reforms.


title: History of the Balkans

text: In Albania, Bulgaria and Romania the changes in political and economic system were accompanied by a period of political and economic instability and tragic events. The same was the case in most of former Yugoslav republics.