title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: In 2010 he played in the 2010 World Club Challenge at halfback in the absence of his usual number 7 Cooper Cronk due to injury. Smith kicked 5 goals and was named man of the match. For the 2010 ANZAC Test victory, Smith was selected to play at hooker. For the first time since Game II of the 2003 Origin series, Smith wasn't wearing the number 9 for Queensland, after he failed to overcome the elbow injury he sustained playing in that test. He was replaced by Matt Ballin. In Round 26 of the 2010 NRL season Smith became the first Melbourne Storm player to reach 1,000 points after successfully converting Ryan Hinchcliffe's try.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: Smith played in the 42–0 thrashing of the Papua New Guinea national rugby league team during the 2010 Four Nations. It was a game where he converted 5 tries and scored once. He was later named man of the match.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: Smith was named man-of-the-match in Queensland's win in Game I and later Game III of the 2011 State of Origin series, subsequently resulting in his naming as the Wally Lewis medal winning man-of-the-series. On 3 November 2011 The annual RLIF Awards dinner was held at the Tower of London and Smith was named hooker of the year.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: Following Darren Lockyer's retirement at the end of the 2011 season, Smith became captain of both Australia and Queensland. He captained both sides to the 2012 ANZAC Test and 2012 State of Origin series victories respectively. At the 2012 Dally M Awards Smith was named the NRL's hooker of the year. He captained Storm to victory in the 2012 NRL Grand Final over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Smith also received the Rugby League International Federation's international player of the year award for 2012.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: In early 2013, Smith captained the Storm to victory in the 2013 World Club Challenge over Leeds earning the title of world champions.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: Smith captained Australia in the 2013 ANZAC Test and played at hooker. He kicked four goals from six attempts in what was the first test match ever played in Canberra.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: After victory in the third and deciding game of the 2013 State of Origin series Smith was awarded the Wally Lewis Medal for player of the series, in which he captained the Queensland team which extended their record winning streak to 8 years.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 9 June 2013, Smith played his 250th game for the Melbourne Storm, the second only player to have achieved that feat.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: Queensland's win in Game III of the 2014 State of Origin series made Smith the first player in State of Origin history to win 20 games.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 30 November 2013, Smith captained Australia to a dominant 34 to 2 win against New Zealand in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup Final ensuring the Australian side went through the entire tournament undefeated.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: In November 2014, in the Four Nations game against England, Smith became just the sixth player to appear for Australia in 40 test matches.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 9 July 2015, Smith captained Queensland to a 2 to 1 series win against New South Wales winning game three emphatically by 52 – 6. It was Smiths' 9th series win in ten years and his fourth series win as captain. At series end, Smith had equalled Darren Lockyer for most Queensland appearances with 36 and received his fifth man of the match award in game one to sit in equal second behind Wally Lewis for most man of the match awards in State of Origin.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 17 July 2015, Smith became the Melbourne Storms' first 300-game player and only the 24th player in the history of the NRL to achieve such a feat. As of April 2017, Smith is one of only three current NRL players to have eclipsed 300 NRL games.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 22 June 2016, Smith captained Queensland to their 10th series win in 11 years over New South Wales. Smith was awarded his sixth man of the match award in game 2 of Origin and was awarded the Wally Lewis medal as the player of the series for the fourth time at series end.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 10 March 2017, Smith reached 2000 career points in a match against the New Zealand Warriors, becoming the first forward, the first Queenslander, and just the fifth player in history to have achieved the milestone.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 30 July 2017, Smith became only the 3rd player in NRL history to play 350 games, behind Darren Lockyer (355) and equal with Terry Lamb. On 9 September, he played his 356th match and thereby became NRL's most capped player of all time.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 2 December 2017, he captained the Kangaroos to another World Cup victory, defeating England in the final 6–0. He was also named in the team of the tournament.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 30 March 2018, during the round 4 fixture against the Sharks, Smith was sent to the sin bin for backchatting. This was Smith's first sinbinning in his career and the Storm lost the game 14–4 in a match that had 33 penalties in total.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 15 May 2018, Smith announced his retirement from all representative football, making him unavailable for Queensland or Australian selection.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: In July 2019, he became the first NRL player to play 400 games. The "Herald Sun" marked the occasion with a front-page photograph by Mark Stewart at AAMI Park showing Smith and the only four others to achieve the feat in Australia, all Australian rules footballers: North Melbourne's Brent Harvey (the AFL/VFL leader in games played with 432), Essendon's Dustin Fletcher, Hawthorn's Michael Tuck and Richmond's Kevin Bartlett. For perspective, only one NRL or AFL player has since replicated the feat: Shaun Burgoyne of Port Adelaide and Hawthorn in 2021.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: The Melbourne Storm 2020 NRL season saw Smith captain the team for his 13th consecutive year. The season was suspended indefinitely on 23 March 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic; however, on 28 April 2020, the NRL announced it would recommence on 28 May as a 20-round competition with a revised draw. During the season, Smith landed 86 goals and scored a total of 184 points.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: In Round 9, the Storm defeated the Canberra Raiders 20-14, with Smith reaching another milestone with 300 wins in the NRL. In Round 12, the Storm defeated the Knights in their 6th consecutive win, with Smith injuring his shoulder while scoring a try.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 25 October 2020, Smith captained the Storm to another NRL Premiership, scoring 14 points including a try in a 26–20 Grand Final victory over the Penrith Panthers.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: On 10 March 2021, the day before the start of the NRL season, Smith announced his retirement from professional rugby league.


title: Cameron Smith (rugby league, born 1983)

text: Smith has three children with his long-term partner Barbara Johnson, whom he married in late 2011: two daughters and a son, he also supports the Hawthorn Football Club, and is an avid car enthusiast who is an ambassador for Holden Special Vehicles as well as an ambassador for the Ovarian Cancer Awareness campaign.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Early modern warfare is the era of warfare following medieval warfare. It is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including artillery and firearms; for this reason the era is also referred to as the age of gunpowder warfare (a concept introduced by Michael Roberts in the 1950s). This entire period is contained within the Age of Sail, which characteristic dominated the era's naval tactics, including the use of gunpowder in naval artillery.


title: Early modern warfare

text: All of the Great Powers of Europe and the Islamic gunpowder empires were actively fighting numerous wars throughout this period, grouped in rough geographical and chronological terms as:


title: Early modern warfare

text: The period from 1501–1800 saw a rapid advance in techniques of fortification in Europe. Whereas medieval castles had relied on high walls to keep out attackers, early modern fortifications had to withstand artillery bombardments. To do this, engineers developed a style of fortress known as the "Italian style" or "trace Italienne". These had low, thick, sloping walls, that would either absorb or deflect cannon fire.


title: Early modern warfare

text: In addition, they were shaped like stars, with bastions protruding at sharp angles. This was to ensure that every bastion could be supported with fire from an adjacent bastion, leaving no "dead ground" for an attacker to take cover in. These new fortifications quickly negated the advantages cannon had offered to besiegers.


title: Early modern warfare

text: A polygonal fort is a fortification in the style that evolved around the middle of the 18th century, in response to the development of explosive shells.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The complex and sophisticated designs of star forts that preceded them were highly effective against cannon assault, but proved much less effective against the more accurate fire of rifled guns and the destructive power of explosive shells. The polygonal style of fortification is also described as a "flankless fort". Many such forts were built in the United Kingdom and the British Empire during the government of Lord Palmerston, and so they are also often referred to as Palmerston forts. Their low profile makes them easy to overlook.


title: Early modern warfare

text: In response to the vulnerabilities of star forts, military engineers evolved a much simpler but more robust style of fortification.


title: Early modern warfare

text: An example of this style can be seen at Fort McHenry in Baltimore in the United States of America, the home of the famous battle where "The Star-Spangled Banner" was penned by Francis Scott Key.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The power of aristocracies "vis à vis" states diminished throughout Western Europe during this period. Aristocrats' 200- to 400-year-old ancestral castles no longer provided useful defences against artillery. The nobility's importance in warfare also eroded as medieval heavy cavalry lost its central role in battle. The heavy cavalry - made up of armoured knights - had begun to fade in importance in the Late Middle Ages. The English longbow and the Swiss pike had both proven their ability to devastate larger armed forces of mounted knights. However, the proper use of the longbow required the user to be extremely strong, making it impossible to amass very large forces of archers.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The proper use of the pike required complex operations in formation and a great deal of fortitude and cohesion by the pikemen, again making amassing large forces difficult. Starting in the early 14th-century, armourers added plate-armour pieces to the traditional protective linked mail armour of knights and men-at-arms to guard against the arrows of the longbow and crossbow. By 1415, some infantrymen began deploying the first "hand cannons", and the earliest small-bore arquebuses, with burning "match locks", appeared on the battlefield in the later 15th century.


title: Early modern warfare

text: In virtually all major European battles during a period of 250 years (1400 to 1650), many soldiers wore extensive plate armour; this includes infantrymen (usually pikemen) and almost all mounted troops. Plate armour was expected to deflect edged weapons and to stop an arquebus or pistol ball fired from a distance, and it usually did. The use of plate armour as a remedy to firearms tended to work as long as the velocity and weight of the ball remained quite low, but over time the increasing power and effectiveness of firearms overtook the development of defenses to counteract them, such that flintlock muskets (entering use after 1650) could kill an armoured man at a distance of even 100 yards (though with limited accuracy), and the armour necessary to protect against this threat would have been too heavy and unwieldy to be practical.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The flintlock musket, carried by most infantrymen other than pikemen after 1650, fired a heavier charge and ball than the matchlock arquebus. A recruit could be trained to use a musket in a matter of weeks. Operating a musket did not require the great physical strength of a pikeman or a longbowman or the fairly rare skills of a horseman. Unlike their arquebus predecessors, flintlock muskets could neutralize even the most heavily armoured cavalry forces.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Since a firearm requires little training to operate, a peasant with a gun could now undermine the order and respect maintained by mounted cavalry in Europe and their Eastern equivalents. Although well-smithed plate-armour could still prevent the penetration of gunpowder-weapons, by 1690 it had become no match for massed firearms in a frontal attack and its use ended, even among the cavalry. By the end of the 17th century, soldiers in the infantry and most cavalry units alike preferred the higher mobility of being completely unarmoured to the slight protection, but greatly lessened mobility, offered by donning the heavy plate armour of the period.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The arquebus, in use from 1410, was one of the first hand held firearms that were relatively light (it still required a stand to balance on) and a single person could operate one. One of these weapons was first recorded as being used in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, although this was still very much a medieval battle. The term "musket" originally applied to a heavier form of the arquebus, which fired a shot that could pierce plate armour, though only at close range. In the 16th century it still had to be mounted on a support stick to keep it steady. The caliver was the lighter form of the arquebus. By 1600, armies phased out these firearms in favour of a new lighter matchlock musket. Throughout the 16th century and up until 1690, muskets used the matchlock design.


title: Early modern warfare

text: However, the matchlock design was superseded in the 1690s by the flintlock musket, which was less prone to misfires and had a faster reloading rate. By this time, only light-cavalry scouting units, "the eyes of the army", continued to wear front and back armour plates to protect themselves from distant or undisciplined musket-equipped troops.


title: Early modern warfare

text: While soldiers armed with firearms could inflict great damage on cavalry at a moderate distance, at close quarters the cavalry could slaughter the musket-armed infantry if they could break their formation and close to engage in melee combat. For many years infantry formations included a mix of troops armed with both firearms to provide striking power and pikes to allow for the defence of the arquebusiers or musketeers from a cavalry charge. The invention of the bayonet allowed the combining of these two weapons into one in the 1690s, which transformed the infantry into the most important branch of the early modern military—one that uniformly used flintlock muskets tipped with bayonets.


title: Early modern warfare

text: This period saw the size and scale of warfare greatly increase. The number of combatants involved escalated steadily from the mid 16th century and dramatically expanded after the 1660s. For example, the King of France could field around 20,000 men in total for his wars against Spain in the 1550s, but could mobilize up to 500,000 men into the field by 1700 in the War of the Spanish Succession. Moreover, wars became increasingly deadly in this period. This may in part be attributed to improvements in weapons technology and in the techniques of using it (for example infantry volley fire).


title: Early modern warfare

text: However, the main reason was that armies were now much bigger, but logistical support for them was inadequate. This meant that armies tended to devastate civilian areas in an effort to feed themselves, causing famines and population displacement. This was exacerbated by the increasing length of conflicts, such as the Thirty Years' War and Eighty Years' War, which fought over areas subjected to repeated devastation. For this reason, the wars of this era were among the most lethal before the modern period.


title: Early modern warfare

text: For example, the Thirty Years' War and the contemporary Wars of the Three Kingdoms, were the bloodiest conflicts in the history of Germany and Britain respectively before World War I. Another factor adding to bloodshed in war was the lack of a clear set of rules concerning the treatment of prisoners and non-combatants. While prisoners were usually ransomed for money or other prisoners, they were sometimes slaughtered out of hand - as at the battle of Dungans Hill in 1647.


title: Early modern warfare

text: One of the reasons for warfare's increased impact was its indecisiveness. Armies were slow moving in an era before good roads and canals. Battles were relatively rare as armies could manoeuvre for months, with no direct conflict. In addition, battles were often made irrelevant by the proliferation of advanced, bastioned fortifications. To control an area, armies had to take fortified towns, regardless of whether they defeated their enemies' field armies. As a result, by far the most common battles of the era were sieges, hugely time-consuming and expensive affairs. Storming a fortified city could result in massive casualties and cities which did not surrender before an assault were usually brutally sacked -for example Magdeburg in 1631 or Drogheda in 1649. In addition, both garrisons and besiegers often suffered heavily from disease.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The indecisive nature of conflict meant wars were long and endemic. Conflicts stretched on for decades and many states spent more years at war than they did at peace. The Spanish attempt to reconquer the Netherlands after the Dutch Revolt became bogged down in endless siege warfare. The expense caused the Spanish monarchy to declare bankruptcy several times, beginning in 1577.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The changes in warfare eventually made the mercenary forces of the Renaissance and Middle Ages obsolete. However this was a gradual change. As late as the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), most troops were mercenaries. However, after this conflict, most states invested in better disciplined and more ideologically inspired troops. For a time mercenaries became important as trainers and administrators, but soon these tasks were also taken by the state. The massive size of these armies required a large supporting force of administrators. The newly centralized states were forced to set up vast organized bureaucracies to manage these armies, which some historians argue is the basis of the modern bureaucratic state.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The combination of increased taxes and increased centralisation of government functions caused a series of revolts across Europe such as the English Civil War and the Fronde in France. In many countries, the resolution of this conflict was the rise of monarchical absolutism. Only in England and the Netherlands did representative government evolve as an alternative. From the late 17th century, states started financing wars through long term low interest loans from national banking institutions like the Bank of England. The first state to take full advantage of this process was the Dutch Republic.


title: Early modern warfare

text: This transformation in the armies of Europe had great social impact. J. F. C. Fuller famously stated that "the musket made the infantryman and the infantryman made the democrat". This argument states that the defence of the state now rested on the common man, not on the aristocrats. Revolts by the underclass, that had routinely been defeated in the Middle Ages, could now conceivably threaten the power of the state. However, aristocrats continued to monopolise the officer corps of almost all early modern armies, including their high command.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Moreover, popular revolts almost always failed unless they had the support and patronage of the noble or gentry classes. The new armies, because of their vast expense, were also dependent on taxation and the commercial classes who also began to demand a greater role in society. The great commercial powers of the Dutch and English matched much larger states in military might.


title: Early modern warfare

text: As any man could be quickly trained in the use of a musket, it became far easier to form massive armies. The inaccuracy of the weapons necessitated large groups of massed soldiers. This led to a rapid swelling of the size of armies.


title: Early modern warfare

text: For the first time huge masses of the population could enter combat, rather than just the highly skilled professionals. It has been argued that the drawing of men from across the nation into an organized corps helped breed national unity and patriotism, and during this period the modern notion of the nation state was born. However, this would only become apparent after the French Revolutionary Wars. At this time, the levée en masse and conscription would become the defining paradigm of modern warfare.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Before then, however, most national armies were in fact composed of many nationalities. For example, although the Swedish Army under Gustavus Adolphus was originally recruited by a kind of national conscription, the losses of the Thirty Years' War meant that by 1648 over 80% of its troops were foreign mercenaries. In Spain, armies were recruited from all the Spanish European territories including Spain, Italy, Wallonia and Germany. The French recruited soldiers from Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere as well as from France. Britain recruited Hessian troops until the late 18th century. Irish Catholics made careers for themselves in the armies of many European states (See the Flight of the Wild Geese).


title: Early modern warfare

text: Column - This formation was typically used while marching, although with sufficient will and mass it was effective at breaking through line formations, albeit with heavy casualties.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Line - A simple two- or three-rank deep line formation allowed most muskets to be brought to bear and was the most commonly used battle formation. Often the first rank would kneel after firing to allow the second rank to fire.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Skirmishers - Skirmishers were not a common infantry unit until late in the 18th Century. Light infantry would advance and be the first to fire to draw the enemy to attack, while also probing the flanks. In later eras, sharpshooters would not only target common soldiers, but also officers so that the men were without leadership.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Square - This formation was used against cavalry. Bayonets would be fixed, the first line would kneel with their muskets angled upward (much like a pike.) The second and third lines would fire at the cavalry when it came close. This formation was very ineffective when faced with combined cavalry and infantry, or artillery fire in the case of plain squares.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The rise of gunpowder reduced the importance of the once dominant heavy cavalry, but it remained effective in a new role into the 19th century. The cavalry, along with the infantry, became more professional in this period but it retained its greater social and military prestige than the infantry. Light cavalry was introduced for skirmishing and scouting because of its advantage in speed and mobility. The new types of cavalry units introduced in this period were the dragoons or mounted infantry.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Dragoons were intended to travel on horseback but fight on foot and were armed with carbines and pistols. Even orthodox cavalry carried firearms, especially the pistol, which they used in a tactic known as the caracole. Cavalry charges using swords on undisciplined infantry could still be quite decisive, but a frontal charge against well-ordered musketeers and pikemen was all but futile. Cavalry units, from the 16th century on, were more likely to charge other cavalry on the flanks of an infantry formation and try to work their way behind the enemy infantry. When they achieved this and pursued a fleeing enemy, heavy cavalry could still destroy an enemy army. Only a specialised cavalry units like winged hussars armed with long lances could break pikemen lines, but this was rather an exception. After wars with Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, when he fought often against superior mounted troops, King Gustavus II Adolphus started using successfully cavalry melee charge more often instead of caracole like during Battle of Breitenfeld. The cavalry charge remained an important part of battle tactics for the rest of 17th century and until the modern area, and its shock value could be decisive when implemented properly like during Battle of Vienna (1683).


title: Early modern warfare

text: However, the power formerly wielded by a heavy cavalry-focused army was at an end. For the first time in millennia, the settled people of the agricultural regions could defeat the horse peoples of the steppe in open combat. The power of the Mongols was broken in Russia and, no longer threatened from the east, Russia began to assert itself as a major force in European affairs. Never again would nomads from the east threaten to overrun Europe or the Middle East. In the Siege of Kazan (1552), Russia had employed artillery, sappers, cavalry and infantry armed with arquebus (Streltsy), while the Khanate of Kazan had only employed cavalry. The use of sappers proved decisive.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The one exception to this was the Ottoman Empire, which had been founded by Turkish horsemen. The Ottomans were some of the first to embrace gunpowder artillery and firearms and integrated them into their already formidable fighting abilities. As European infantry became better armed and disciplined, by about 1700, the Ottoman forces began to be regularly defeated by the troops of the Austria and Russia.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Age of Sail (usually dated as 1571–1862) was a period roughly corresponding to the early modern period in which international trade and naval warfare were dominated by sailing ships and gunpowder warfare, lasting from the mid-16th to the mid-19th centuries. The spread of European power around the world was closely tied to naval developments in this period. The caravel for the first time made unruly seas like the Atlantic Ocean open to exploration, trade, and military conquest. While in all previous eras, European navies had been largely confined to operations in coastal waters, and were generally used only in a support role for land-based forces, this changed with the introduction of the new vessels like the caravel, carrack, and galleon, and the increasing importance of international waterborne trade in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The new caravels were large enough and powerful enough to be armed with cannons with which they could bombard both shoreline defenses and other vessels.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Ethiopian–Adal war was a military conflict between the Ethiopian Empire and the Adal Sultanate from 1529 until 1543. The Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (nicknamed Gurey in Somali and Gragn in Amharic (ግራኝ Graññ), both meaning "the left-handed") came close to extinguishing the ancient realm of Ethiopia, and converting all of its subjects to Islam; the intervention of the European Cristóvão da Gama, son of the famous navigator Vasco da Gama, helped to prevent this outcome. Many historians trace the origins of hostility between Somalia and Ethiopia to this war. Some historians also argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlock musket, cannons, and the arquebus over traditional weapons. Imam Ahmed was the first African commander to use cannon warfare on the continent during the Adal's conquest of the Ethiopian Empire under Dawit II.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Gunpowder was invented in china in the Eastern Jin dynasty. It started being broadly used in warfare in the Tang dynasty From the 15th through 18th century, there were widespread advances in gunpowder technology. While the Europeans were pressed on technological advancements and military developments with gunpowder, the Chinese fell back in regards to further developing military technology. This was due to the fact that the Chinese were not as heavily engaged in wars or conquests as the Europeans. Notably, when the Chinese were at war with the Portuguese, for example, they swiftly adapted to military technology, and adopted Western style guns.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Chinese pioneered the use of gunpowder weapons, crossbows, advanced forms of arms and armor, naval and nomadic cavalry. Thus, the Chinese even adopted Western military technology. Interestingly, the Chinese had many descriptions of how they utilized their technology. For Ming China, they had experiences on the battlefield: against Chinese rebels, Shan elephants, and Mongol horsemen. Nonetheless, under the Ming Dynasty, intensively practiced tactical strategies based on their firearm use. Qi Jiguang and his troops used innovative battle techniques such as counter marching, dividing the troops, as a flexible way of adapting to the battlefield. These tactics were proved effective during the Sino-Dutch War beginning in 1661. While the Chinese were undermined as the inferior empire due to lack of weaponry, their strict adherence discipline and tactical strategy led to them defeating the Dutch. This draws a parallel to the Sino-Portuguese conflict. During the first war, in 1521, the Portuguese firepower was far more effective than the Chinese. As they witnessed the power of Portuguese artillery, the Chinese better prepared for the war in 1522. They modified, adapted, innovated and improved. The Chinese were a display of rapid militarization, as they instilled Western style learnings to their knowledge of artillery and war tactical strategy.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The fire arrows (rocket arrows) were first reported to have been used by the Southern Wu in 904 during the siege of Yuzhang.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Soon after the Ottoman Empire, two other Muslim gunpowder empires appeared: the Safavid Empire in Iran and the Mughal Empire in India. They both began in the early 16th century but later collapsed in the 18th century.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The refusal of their Qizilbash forces to use firearms contributed to the Safavid rout at Chaldiran in 1514.


title: Early modern warfare

text: After this, the Persians actively sought to acquire the skills to make and use firearms. In a report given to the Council of Ten on 24 September 1572, the Venetian envoy Vincenzo di Alessandri noted how firearms had become integrated into the Persian army:


title: Early modern warfare

text: They used for arms, swords, lances, arquebuses, which all the soldiers carry and use; their arms are also superior and better tempered than those of any other nation. The barrels of the arquebuses are generally six spans long, and carry a ball little less than three ounces in weight. They use them with such facility that it does not hinder them drawing their bows nor handling their swords, keeping the latter hung at their saddle bows till occasion requires them. The arquebus is then put away behind the back so that one weapon does not impede the use of the other.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Japanese were introduced to early firearms by Portuguese traders arriving with European style arquebuses onto the island of Tanegashima, near the island of Kyushu in September 1543. The impact of this event would revolutionize Japanese strategy throughout the Sengoku-jidai, revolving around tactics that centered on usage of firearms.


title: Early modern warfare

text: While memoirs by Fernão Mendes Pinto attribute himself and Diogo Zeimoto as the traders to initially introduce firearms to Japan, studies of said memoirs call this claim highly embellished, and therefore the validity of this claim falls into question. Daimyō of the period, searching for any sort of new tactical edge over their regional rivals, were quick to acquire and have blacksmiths under their retinue, reverse-engineer and reproduce the early European firearms. Portuguese traders visiting Japan several years later found that the Japanese had successfully reproduced hundreds of arquebuses, and by 1546, a rough estimate of over 300,000 of the early firearms were in circulation throughout Japan. Early production of said firearms were limited to the general region of Kyushu, though gunsmiths would eventually migrate throughout Japan. Different schools started to emerge from this migration. with notable examples from Sakai, Yokkaichi, and Kunitomo being the most prevalent. Moreover, production of small arms ranged from the early Tanegashima arquebus, to later production teppo, which also subdivided into arquebuses of varying caliber and length, to "hand cannons" favored by those of the Shimazu clan.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Japanese military strategy upon receiving the new weapon, began to gradually shift towards infantry based tactics, rather than those that favored horseback cavalry. This is most famously portrayed at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, where Oda Nobunaga's 3,000 riflemen had handily dispatched the much larger Takeda clan cavalry force using the first recorded utilization of volley fire. However, certain studies have disputed the claim that Nobunaga was the first to utilize this tactic, though Japanese forces were utilizing it far earlier than other world contemporaries. Japanese battle planning soon centered around manipulating one's enemies into allied fortified positions to rapidly dispatch enemy manpower, only engaging in hand-to-hand combat when necessary.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Similarly, Japanese daimyō were introduced to artillery in 1551, when a trader claiming to be the king of Rome presented elements of the Ōtomo clan with two examples of field artillery. As with their small arms counterparts, many warlords wished to quickly adopt the weapon in order to gain an advantage over their contemporaries, but difficulties in producing suitable reproductions led to limited early usage in comparison. As with personal firearms, Oda Nobunaga was early to adopt the new weapon, and later, after his death, one of his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi would use cannons to destructive effect to lay siege to Kanki Castle in 1582. Moreover, Nobunaga had attempted to incorporate cannons onto warships in 1578, but their inefficacy against rival naval daimyō forces under the Mori had led to the discontinuation of any further implementations to other naval forces.


title: Early modern warfare

text: These changes and adoptions into Sengoku era Japanese warfare made themselves present during the Japanese invasions of Korea of 1592–1598 after Toyotomi Hideyoshi had unified Japan. Early success in the first incursion during May 1592 into Korea was attributed to the varied small arms and tactics of the Japanese forces, allowing them to make and defend early footholds into the Korean peninsula. However, after the Koreans had allied themselves with Ming China, they gained access to better artillery with greater range and destructive power than their Japanese equivalents. Finally, the Korean navy under the command of Yi Sun-sin had utilized the superior, cannon-armed navy of the Korean-Ming alliance against the Japanese maritime supply lines, eventually leading to a shortage of supplies and Japanese losses on the mainland. Japan was driven off their last stronghold in Seoul in May 1594, and subsequent ventures 1597 would not come close to the success of the first, as the Korean-Ming alliance had developed countermeasures and equivalent small arms to Japanese equivalents.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Japanese version of the fire arrow (rocket arrow) was known as the bo hiya. The Japanese pirates (wokou, also known as wako or kaizoku) in the 16th century were reported to have used the bo hiya which had the appearance of a large arrow. A burning element made from incendiary waterproof rope was wrapped around the shaft and when lit the bo hiya was launched from a mortar like weapon or a wide bore Tanegashima matchlock arquebus. During one sea battle it was said the bo hiya were "falling like rain".


title: Early modern warfare

text: The first iron rockets were developed by Tipu Sultan, a Muslim ruler of the South Indian Kingdom of Mysore. He successfully used these iron rockets against the larger forces of the British East India Company during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. The Mysore rockets of this period were much more advanced than what the British had seen, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant; this enabled higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km range). After Tipu's eventual defeat in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and the capture of the Mysore iron rockets, they were influential in British rocket development and were soon put into use in the Napoleonic Wars.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, employed firearms, gun carts and movable artillery in battle. In particular, he used them at the first Battle of Panipat (1526) to defeat the much larger forces of Ibrahim Lodhi, the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Other battles he fought using gunpowder weapons include the Battle of Khanwa in 1527 against Rana Sanga, and the Battle of Ghaghra in 1529.


title: Early modern warfare

text: His descendants also employed gunpowder weapons in their expansion of the Mughal Empire, such as Akbar the Great at the second Battle of Panipat (1556) against Adil Shah Suri and Hemu of the Sur Dynasty. In 1582, Fathullah Shirazi, a Persian-Indian developed a seventeen-barrelled cannon, fired with a matchlock.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Ottoman Empire had been one of the first Middle Eastern states to effectively use gunpowder weapons and used them to great effect conquering much of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans. In the 17th century the state began to stagnate as more modern technologies and strategies were not adopted. Specifically, the Ottoman Empire was slow to adopt innovations like boring cannon (rather than casting them in a mold), making the conversion from matchlock firearms to flintlocks, and the lightening of field guns and carriages.


title: Early modern warfare

text: In part this was because the military elite had become a powerful force in the empire and change threatened their positions. David Nicolle theorizes that one contributing factor to the Ottoman reluctance to adopt the flintlock musket, despite its superiority over the matchlock ignition system, was the dusty climate of much of the Middle East which could cause problems with reliability.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Overall, the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 18th centuries has been assessed as a military producer which copies existing technologies, but does not capture the underlying process of innovation or adaption. Other research, though, complicates that view. A Chinese military manual published in 1644 compared Ottoman and European firearms in the following manner:


title: Early modern warfare

text: Firearms have been in use since the beginning of the dynasty, and field armies in battle formation have found them convenient and useful to carry along... Since muskets have been transmitted to China, these weapons have lost their effectiveness... In battle formation, aside from various cannon such as the "three generals", the breech-loading swivel gun, and the "hundred-league thunder", nothing has more range or power than the Ottoman musket. The next best is the European one.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The fact that Ottoman firearms were considered by 17th century Chinese writers to be superior to European firearms demonstrates that the Ottoman Empire was at least a second tier producer of muskets during this period. However, some claim that the 'European' firearms the Chinese researcher tested were actually Japanese arquebuses based on fifty-year-old Portuguese models. The design of the Ottoman matchlock is substantially different from that of the European variety and it in turn influenced the matchlocks produced in both Safavid Persia and Mughal India.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Ottoman Empire by the middle of the fifteenth century had developed strategic infantry groups along with the ascension of weaponry. Early modern warfare has many important factors alongside weapons and artillery, and strategy is one of them. Developing a strong core for the sultan was key to understanding the way the Ottoman Empire could expand and take over vast territories to maintain them under their rule. One of the most important creations for their early modern warfare was a group called the Janissaries. They were considered to be an elite group of infantryman that were highly skilled and sociable. With their placement in use for the sultan, they were an unmatched military power that no European power could compete with during the fifteenth century.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The Ottoman Empire was brought up in a different way from most militaristic powers, and that was from the bottom up. They were developed in peaceful upbringings. When they conquered Constantinople in 1453, they had created a transcontinental government that would see them to continue to expand militarily and politically. They used the Janissary units to advance their stronghold on the will of the people they conquered. One of their techniques was to capture boys from the territories they had defeated and forced them to become Muslim in order to control their easily molded minds. It was a similar tactic to many growing empires, because it is understood that children are easily manipulated, and in order to maintain new territories guarded by the Janissary, they needed to have an easier population to mold. The Janissaries also had other roles outside of military conflict. They were one of the main protectors of the sultan in order to prevent coups from happening, or paramilitary units from gaining control of the empire. The problem with this is that the Ottoman Empire made the Janissaries too powerful and because of their socialization, career advancement options, and recruitment procedures, the men in the units were very cohesive and respected each other more than the sultan. This would prove to be an issue later on, but during the fifteenth century it was not an issue yet because their numbers were still growing and would continue to grow in order to boost their elite power.


title: Early modern warfare

text: A man by the name of Konstantin Mihalovic was captured by the Turks in 1455 and would eventually write a memoir about his time with the Ottoman Empire Janissary units. His account would be considered flawed because of the translations from Serbian to Czech and Polish. There is no original text from his memoir and only translations are left to work from, and those have far fetched ideas of what the Janissaries were doing during the time. He was recaptured in 1463 by Hungarian troops and eventually wrote the memoir after he became a Christian again. His memoir is an important piece of history, but scholars and historians have widely debated the authentic nature of his stories and doubt the consistency of his tales.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The famous Janissary corps of the Ottoman army began using matchlock muskets as early as the 1440s. The army of Mehmed the Conqueror, which conquered Constantinople in 1453, included both artillery and foot soldiers armed with gunpowder weapons. The Ottomans brought to the siege sixty-nine guns in fifteen separate batteries and trained them at the walls of the city. The barrage of Ottoman cannon fire lasted forty days, and they are estimated to have fired 19,320 times.


title: Early modern warfare

text: The 16th century saw the first widespread use of the matchlock musket as a decisive weapon on the battlefield with the Turks becoming leaders in this regard. The first of these campaigns was the campaign against the Persians in 1514 under Yavuz Sultan Selim, or Selim the Grim. Armed with gunpowder weapons, his army defeated the Persians at the Battle of Chaldiran. After his victory over the Safavids, Selim turned his attention towards the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt. The decisive battle of his campaign against the Mamluks, and the battle which highlighted the importance of the musket in the Ottoman military, was the Battle of Raydaniyah, fought in 1517. There, Selim outflanked the entrenched Mamluk artillery, and attacked the Mamluk forces with his Janissaries. The Janissaries, armed with firearms, destroyed the Mamluk army, armed mostly with traditional swords and javelins.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Reference was made by João de Barros to a sea battle outside Jiddah, in 1517, between Portuguese and Ottoman vessels. The Muslim force under Salman Reis had "three or four basilisks firing balls of thirty palms in circumference". This was estimated to be a cannon of about 90 inch bore "firing cut stone balls of approximately 1,000 pounds (453 kg)".


title: Early modern warfare

text: After the death of Selim, he was succeeded by his son Suleiman the Magnificent. During his reign, gunpowder weapons continued to be used effectively. One important example is the Battle of Mohács in 1526. During this battle, Ottoman artillery, and Janissaries armed with muskets, were able to cut down charging Hungarian cavalry.


title: Early modern warfare

text: Although the cannon and musket were employed by the Ottomans long beforehand, by the 17th century they witnessed how ineffective the traditional cavalry charges were in the face of concentrated musket-fire volleys. In a report given by an Ottoman general in 1602, he confessed that the army was in a distressed position due to the emphasis in European forces for musket-wielding infantry, while the Ottomans relied heavily on cavalry. Thereafter it was suggested that the janissaries, who were already trained and equipped with muskets, become more heavily involved in the imperial army while led by their "agha".


title: Early modern warfare

text: By the middle of the 17th century, the continued reliance of the Ottomans on over-heavy ordnance had been made out by European officers as a liability. Raimondo Montecuccoli, the Habsburg commander who defeated the Ottomans at Battle of Saint Gotthard commented on Ottoman cannon:


title: Early modern warfare

text: This enormous artillery produces great damage when it hits, but it is awkward to move and it requires too much time to reload and site. Furthermore, it consumes a great amount of powder, besides cracking and breaking the wheels and the carriages and even the ramparts on which it is placed ... our artillery is more handy and more efficient and here resides our advantage over the cannon of the Turks."


title: Early modern warfare

text: Western matchlock arquebuses were imported into Vietnam during the early 16th century. The raging and lengthy wars between Le and Mac dynasties, and later Trinh and Nguyen clans invoked an arm race between the opposing factions. Gunnery and marksmanship rapidly spread across the country and soon Vietnamese musketeers became famous within Asia as masters of firearms.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: Pyar Ke Sadqay () is a 2020 Pakistani drama television series premiered on 23 January 2020 on Hum TV. It is directed by Farooq Rind, written by Zanjabeel Asim Shah and produced by Momina Duraid under MD Productions. It has Yumna Zaidi and Bilal Abbas in leads while Yashma Gill, Omair Rana and Atiqa Odho in supporting roles.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: The series received critical acclaim due to Rind's direction and Zaidi's performance as Mahjabeen. "Pyar Ke Sadqay" won the most awards in Lux Style Awards 2021 including Best Actor Critics for Khan and Best Actress Critics and Best Actress Popular both for Zaidi.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: "Pyar Ke Sadqay" is the story of Abdullah (Bilal Abbas) and Mahjabeen (Yumna Zaidi), who are social misfits. Mahjabeen's character is that of an ingénue. Mahjabeen is a naïve, quirky, clumsy, carefree, overtalkative, and mischievous young woman who has failed the tenth-grade multiple times. She is very innocent and fails to pick up on specific social cues. Presumably, she has a lower-middle-class family background. Abdullah is a shy, nerdy, soft-spoken, and socially awkward/out-of-place university student gifted in mathematics. He comes from an affluent upbringing and has been verbally abused by his stepfather, Sarwar (Omair Rana). Both protagonists are daydreamers with different aspirations; Mahjabeen fantasises about escaping from her studies and getting married one day, while Abdullah dreams about a relationship with his crush and classmate, Shanzey (Yashma Gill).


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: Mahjabeen and Abdullah know each other through her father, Munshi Jee, who works for Abdullah's family and business. Mahjabeen teases Abdullah occasionally, and they are acquaintances at the beginning of the series. Early in the series, Sarwar becomes smitten with Mahjabeen and plots to pursue her romantically. However, his desire to marry Mahjabeen is rejected by Munshi Jee as she is far too innocent and young to be married to someone as cunning and old as Sarwar. After both protagonists get rejected by their interests (with Mahjabeen's fiancé eloping with her best friend on her wedding day and Abdullah's crush rejecting his proposal), Abdullah marries Mahjabeen. He does this out of pity. This angers Sarwar, and he secretly plots to ruin the gullible Abdullah's relationship with the ever-so innocent Mahjabeen. He continuously insults Mahjabeen and tells Abdullah that she is unworthy of him. Although he listens to and believes his stepfather, in the beginning, he begins to like the small things that make her a "Middle class" wife.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: As this happens, Shanzey, Abdullah's crush, gets married to the man she wanted to marry, a wealthy and high-class businessman. However, she finds him very stubborn and selfish. She leaves him early in their marriage as she realises he is not the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with. At first, her father is hesitant to let her come home and stay; however, once he sees him abuse his daughter, he kicks him out and supports his daughter as she divorces him. Eventually, Shanzey realises she wants to marry someone like Abdullah, so she begins to pursue him with the guidance and support of Sarwar, who wants Mahjabeen to himself.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: The plot twists, and Sarwar tries to assault Mahjabeen. Mahjabeen tells Abdullah about Sarwar, who says his father could never do Such a thing. He sends her back home on the account of his father's insult. Munshi Jee gets arrested on the order of Sarwar, has a heart attack and dies after asking Vashma, Abdullah's younger sister, to take care of Mahjabeen as she is very innocent. Unlike her brother Abdullah, Vashem is a confident girl as she grew up with her aunt, Lalarukh, instead of lurking with Sarwar. Abdullah proceeds to get engaged to Shanzey after she attempts suicide. As he talks to his fiancé about their future, he realises she will be a very different wife compared to Mahjabeen. Shanzey says she will not do any of the "middle class" wife things Mahjabeen used to do for him, which leaves Abdullah missing his wife. Shanzey and Sarwar pressure Abdullah to divorce Mahjabeen; however, his sister and aunt tell him not to. Abdullah's mother, Mansura, is adamant that her husband loves her and refuses to believe Vashma when she tells her what he did to Mahjabeen. However, she eventually gets suspicious about him, so she tells Abdullah not to divorce his wife. Sarwar threatens Mahjabeen and her mother, but she cuts the call on his end. Vashem takes Mahjabeen to the hospital, where she is revealed to be pregnant. Vashem explains to her mom that Munshi Ji was innocent and was tied to a plan plotted by Sarwar. Mansura then tells her son to take over their company. She leaves Sarwar. Abdullah realises Mehjabeen is his true love and ends his engagement with Shanzey.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: The serial ends with Abdullah bringing Mehjabeen home, Sarwar ends up in the jail, and the last scene is of Mahjabeen and Abdullah quarrelling.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: "Pyar Ke Sadqay"’s OST (titled after the series) was composed and performed by Pakistani singer Ahmed Jahanzaib. Mahnoor Khan also provided vocals for the song. The OST has drawn heavy comparisons to the popular Sindhi song, "Rahat Milay Thi Dard Mein, Man Piyar Tan Sadqay", in terms of its lyrics, melody, harmonies, and overall composition. The song "Rahat Milay Thi Dard Mein" was originally performed by the Pakistani Sindhi folk/playback singer, Ustad Muhammad Yousuf for the 1968 Pakistani Sindhi-language film, Shehro Feroz.


title: Pyar Ke Sadqay

text: "Pyar Ke Sadqay" created critical hype before its premier and received rave reviews throughout its broadcast due to its characters and Rind's direction. Zaid's performance as Mahjabeen and Khan's performance as Abdullah was highly praised. A reviewer from DAWN Images criticised the narrative onwards the 20th episodes due to ordinary storyline.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Modu, Maodun, Modun (, from Old Chinese (220 B.C.E.): *"mouᴴ-tuən" or *"mək-tuən", c. 234 – c. 174 BCE) was the son of Touman and the founder of the empire of the Xiongnu. He came to power by ordering his men to kill his father in 209 BCE.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Modu ruled from 209 BCE to 174 BCE. He was a military leader under his father Touman and later Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire, based on the Mongolian Plateau. He secured the throne and established a powerful Xiongnu Empire by successfully unifying the tribes of the Mongolian-Manchurian grassland in response to the loss of Xiongnu pasture lands to invading Qin forces commanded by Meng Tian in 215 BCE. While Modu rode and then furthered the wave of militarization and effectively centralized Xiongnu power, the Qin quickly fell into disarray with the death of the first emperor in 210 BCE, leaving Modu a free hand to expand his Xiongnu Empire into one of the largest of his time. The eastern border stretched as far as the Liao River, the western borders of the empire reached the Pamir Mountains, whilst the northern border reached Lake Baikal.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: His name "Mòdùn" (Wade-Giles: "Motun") is pronounced in Later Han Chinese and in Middle Chinese; the name's Old Chinese pronunciation might have represented the pronunciation of the foreign word "*baɣtur", a relative of the later attested Central Eurasian culture word "baɣatur" "hero". According to Gerard Clauson, "bağatur", transcribed by Chinese with "-n" for foreign "-r", was by origin almost certainly a Hunnic (Xiongnu) proper name.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: His name was also read as "Modun" 墨頓 (MC: *"mək-tuən"; following to Sima Zhen's commentary on Shiji) and "Modu" 墨毒 (MC: *"mək-duok"; following Song Qi's commentary on Hanshu), the latter of which, according to Pulleyblank (1999), "does not make sense" phonologically.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: According to Sima Qian, Modu was a gifted child but his father Touman wanted the son of another of his wives to succeed him. To eliminate Modu as a competitor to his chosen heir, Touman sent the young Modu to the Yuezhi as a hostage; then he attacked the Yuezhi in the hopes that they would kill Modu as retribution. Modu was able to escape this fate by stealing a fast horse and returned to the Xiongnu, who welcomed him as a hero. As reward for this show of bravery, his father appointed him the commander of 10,000 horsemen.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Due to his reputation for bravery, Modu began to gather a group of extremely loyal warriors. He invented a signaling arrow that made a whistling sound in flight and trained his men to shoot in the direction of the sound in synchrony. To be sure of his men's loyalty, Modu commanded the warriors to shoot his favourite horse, any who refused to do so being summarily executed. He later repeated this test of loyalty, but with one of his favourite wives and once again executed those who hesitated to carry out his order. Only when he was convinced of the absolute loyalty of his remaining warriors did he order them to shoot his father during a hunting trip, killing him in a shower of arrows. With none of his followers failing to shoot at his command and the removal of his father, Modu proclaimed himself Chanyu of the Xiongnu.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: After his self-proclaimed ascension as Chanyu, Modu began to eliminate those who would prove a threat to his newly acquired power. Thus, he proceeded to execute his rival half-brother, his step-mother and other Xiongnu officials who refused to support his rule.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Modu's Xiongnu Empire aggressively protected and expanded their territory. When their eastern neighbors, the Donghu, expressed desire to occupy uninhabited land that lay between them, Modu reacted by attacking them. By 208 BCE, the Donghu had been defeated and their remnants split into the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes. Modun went on to subdue the Dingling and other peoples to the north, and defeat the Yuezhi in 203 BCE. After these conquests, all Xiongnu lords submitted to him.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: With these victories, he was able to gain control of the important trade routes, which later supplied the Xiongnu with a large income.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: In 200 BCE, Xin, King of Han, surrendered to the Xiongnu at Mayi, Shuofang, Dai Commandery, and joined them in raiding Han territory. Emperor Gaozu of Han led an army against them and scattered their forces, defeating them several times before they retreated. Later Xin set up Zhao Li as King of Zhao and marched south against Gaozu. They too were defeated. Seeing the influence the Xiongnu had on his vassals, Gaozu marched north with a 320,000 strong army to confront them. However his men suffered from inadequate clothing to ward off the cold and a lack of supplies, so Gaozu left them behind and advanced to Pingcheng with only 40,000 men. Modu Chanyu saw his chance to turn the tide and immediately surrounded the city 400,000 cavalry, cutting the emperor off from the rest of his army. It's not clear why, but the Chanyu eventually withdrew some of his men. Sima Qian suggests his consort persuaded him to let the emperor escape. However a prolonged siege would have been impractical anyway since Xin's infantry never made it on time. Seeing the Chanyu's thinned lines, Gaozu sortied out and broke the siege. When Han reinforcements arrived, the Xiongnu withdrew. This came to be known as the Battle of Baideng. Gaozu's narrow escape from capture by the Xiongnu convinced him to make peace with his nomadic enemy. He sent a "princess" to the Chanyu ("heqin," marriage alliance) and offered him silk, wine, and food stuffs. The Chanyu accepted the offer and restricted himself to minor raids throughout the duration of Gaozu's reign. The Han dynasty sent random unrelated commoner women falsely labeled as "princesses" and members of the Han imperial family multiple times when they were practicing "heqin" marriage alliances with the Xiongnu in order to avoid sending the emperor's daughters.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: In 195 BCE, Lu Wan King of Yan, fled to the Xiongnu after he was defeated by the Han general Zhou Bo.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: In 192 BC Empress Dowager Lü Zhi (widow of Emperor Gaozu of Han) received a marriage proposal from Modu, who wrote as follows in a letter meant to intimidate and mock her:


title: Modu Chanyu

text: I'm a lonesome ruler born in marshes and raised in plains populated by livestock. I've visited your border numerous times and wanted to tour China. Your Majesty is now alone and living in solitude. Since both of us are not happy and have nothing to entertain ourselves, I'm willing to use what I possess to exchange for what you lack.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Lü Zhi was infuriated at the rude proposition, and in a heated court session, her generals advised her to rally an army and exterminate the Xiongnu immediately. As she was about to declare war, an outspoken attendant named Ji Bu pointed out that the Xiongnu army was much more powerful than the Chinese. At Ji Bu's words, the court immediately fell into a fearful silence. Rethinking her plans, Lü Zhi rejected Modu's proposition humbly, as follows:


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Your Lordship does not forget our land and writes a letter to us, we fear. I retreat to preserve myself. I'm old and frail, I'm losing hair and teeth, and I struggle to maintain balance when I move. Your Lordship has heard wrongly, you shouldn't defile yourself. Our people did not offend you, and should be pardoned. We've two imperial carriages and eight fine steeds, which we graciously offer to Your Lordship.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: However she continued implementing the "heqin" policy of marrying so called "princesses" to Xiongnu chieftains and paying tribute to the Xiongnu in exchange for peace between both sides.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: As Nicola Di Cosmo summarizes the sequence of events, the Qin invasion of the Ordos Plateau (the area within the bend of the Yellow River) came at the same time as a leadership crisis within the loose Xiongnu confederation. Modu took advantage of the Xiongnu militarization process that came in response to the Qin invasion, and ably created a newly centralized political structure that made possible his empire. He was aided by the rapid fall of Qin and the fact that the Han initially set up independent "kingdoms," whose leaders, like Xin, King of Han, were as likely to ally with Xiongnu and attack Han as the other way around. Han weakness meant that it supplied Modu and his successors with a steady flow of luxury and staple tribute they could pass down to the aristocracy supporting them. Without that tribute, the Xiongnu might not have been able to expand and maintain control.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Christopher I. Beckwith has pointed out that the story of the young Modu resembles a widespread class of folk tales in which a young hero is abandoned, goes on a quest, proves his worth, gains a group of trusted companions, returns to his home country, slays a powerful figure and becomes a king.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: The name of Modu has been associated with Oghuz Khagan, a legendary ancestor of Oghuz Turks. The reason for that is a striking similarity of the Oghuz Khagan biography in the Turco-Persian tradition (Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Husayni Isfahani, Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur) with the Modu biography in the Chinese sources (feud between the father and son and murder of the former, the direction and sequence of conquests, etc.), which was first noticed by Hyacinth (Compilation of reports, pp. 56–57).


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Another suggestion connects it with the name of the "Magyar" royal tribe of the Hungarians and with their distant relatives the Mators, now extinct. Modu has been linked with the Dulo clan known from the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans and this, in the form *Duh-klah Tuqi King, with the Hungarian Gyula clan. It has been suggested that his name, as Bixtun or Beztur, appears in the genealogy as the ancestor of Attila, in the "Chronica Hungarorum" of Johannes de Thurocz.


title: Modu Chanyu

text: Modu Chanyu is also known as Mete Khan (particularly, "Mete Han" in Turkish) across a number of Turkic languages.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: The priesthood of Melchizedek is a role in Abrahamic religions, modelled on Melchizedek, combining the dual position of king and priest.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: Melchizedek is a king and priest appearing in the Book of Genesis. The name means "King of Righteousness" – a name echoing kingly and priestly functions. He is the first individual to be given the title "Kohen" (priest) in the Hebrew Bible.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: In the King James Version the Book of Psalms 110:4 names Melchizedek as representative of the priestly line through which a future king of Israel's Davidic line was ordained. Alternatively, it is suggested this term was here intended to be treated as an agglutinated improper noun, and thus translated as "rightful king" rather than left as a proper name "Melchizedek"; this interpretation is taken by some modern translations, such as the New JPS Tanakh.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: The Law of Moses stipulates that only the male descendants of Aaron be commissioned to serve as Jewish priests before the God of Israel and the Jewish nation. This commission is believed in Judaism to be "a covenant of everlasting priesthood" ("Brith HaKehuna") and not eligible for replacement by other tribes of Israel.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: Judaic midrash (exegesis) identifies Melchizedek with Shem the son of Noah. Although the Book of Genesis affirms that Melchizedek was "priest of God Most High" (Genesis 14:18), the Midrash and Babylonian Talmud maintain that the priesthood held by Melchizedek, who pre-dated the patriarch Levi by five generations (Melchizedek pre-dates Aaron by six generations; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kehoth, Amram, Aaron), was given in his stead to Abraham who, in turn, passed it on to his patrilineal descendants, Isaac and then to Jacob. Midrashic literature attributes this transition as a consequence due to Melchizedek preceding the name of Abraham to that of God, such as in the Midrash Rabbah to Genesis, while some Jewish commentators, such as Chaim ibn Attar, write that Melchizedek gave the priesthood to Abraham willingly.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: Maimonides, in his Mishna Torah compilation, explains that Jacob separated his son Levi from his other sons and appointed him to instruct and teach the ways of "service to God", specifically the servicial methods used by his forefather Abraham, to his brothers. He also instructed his sons to perpetuate this status of Levi ("Shevet Levi") for eternity (Maimonides, Avodah Zorah 1:15). For the prelude of this choice see Targum Yonathan to Genesis 32:25, and/or Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer ch. 37. In midrash, it is written that Amram the son of Kohath the son of Levi was the spiritual leader of the sons of Jacob ("Israel") during their Egyptian Bondage. Following his passing, his post was assumed by his son Aaron.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: At the time of the erection of the Tabernacle, God commanded Moses to appoint Aaron and his sons to the Jewish priestly service as a precondition to God revealing his Shechinah amongst the nation of Israel;


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: The majority of Chazalic literature attributes the primary character of psalm 110 as King David who was a "righteous king" (מלכי צדק) of Salem (Jerusalem) and, like Melchizedek, had certain priest-like responsibilities, while the Babylonian Talmud understands the chapter as referring to Abram who was victorious in battling to save his nephew Lot and merited priesthood. The Zohar defines the noted Melchizedek as referring to Ahron the Kohen Gadol (high priest).


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah spoken of as "a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek" (), and so Jesus plays the role of the king-priest once and for all. According to the writer of Hebrews (7:13-17) Jesus is considered a priest in the order of Melchizedek because, like Melchizedek, Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron, and thus would not qualify for the Jewish priesthood under the Law of Moses.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: Melchizedek is referred to again in Hebrews 5:6-10; Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 7:1-21: "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek"; and Hebrews 8:1.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises" (Hebrews 7:5-6).


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Hebrews 7:11-12).


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament discussed this subject considerably, listing the following reasons for why the priesthood of Melchizedek is superior to the Aaronic priesthood:


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: The epistle goes on to say that the covenant of Jesus is superior to the covenant the Levitical priesthood is under. Some Christians hold that Melchizedek was a type of Christ, and some other Christians hold that Melchizedek indeed "was" Christ. Reasons provided include that Melchizedek's name means "king of righteousness" according to the author of Hebrews, and that being king of Salem makes Melchizedek the "king of peace". Heb. 7:3 states, "Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he (Melchizedek) remains a priest forever." Melchizedek gave Abraham bread and wine, which some Christians consider symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice to confirm a covenant.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: Catholics believe that Melchizedek was a prefiguration of Christ.(CCC 1544). In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek offers a sacrifice of bread and wine. Catholics believe that Christ therefore fulfilled the prophecy of Ps 110:4, that he would be a priest "after the order of Melchizedek" at the Last Supper, when he initiated the sacrifice of the New Covenant with his disciples— his body and blood under the appearances of bread and wine. Melchizedek and his offering are explicitly referenced as a foreshadowing of the Sacrifice of the Mass in the liturgical prayers of the Roman Canon of the Catholic Mass. Catholic priests, in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, are priests inasmuch as they share in the one priesthood of Christ according to the order of Melchizedek due to their ordination.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Melchizedek priesthood is viewed as the priesthood authority of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, as well as Old Testament prophets, higher than that of the Aaronic authority of John the Baptist and of the Levites.


title: Priesthood of Melchizedek

text: According to the Book of Mormon, the prophet Melchizedek preached repentance to the people of a wicked city, and established peace in the land. According to , Melchizedek's efforts earned him the title "the prince of peace". Of particular importance is the parallel Hebrew meaning of "prince of peace" and "king of Salem", another of Melchizedek's titles, and his association with (or typology of) Jesus Christ, who is also called the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:2), as well as the Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14). Later, Melchizedek's people were, according to Joseph Smith, caught up, or "translated", to meet the city of Enoch (Joseph Smith Translation of Genesis 14:34). The priesthood is referred to by the name of Melchizedek because he was such a great high priest (Doctrine & Covenants ). The Doctrine and Covenants states that before Melchizedek's day the Priesthood "was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too-frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in the ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood" (Doctrine and Covenants ). Initially, the only Melchizedek Priesthood office in the Latter Day Saint movement was Elder. Later revelations extended the office complement to Seventy, High Priest, Patriarch and Apostle.


title: Sky Go

text: Sky Go is a streaming television service from Sky Group provided free for Sky TV subscribers in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, it complements Sky TV by allowing subscribers to watch live and on demand Sky TV via an internet connection on the go. The Sky Go app is available on Windows and Mac computers and also on Android and iOS devices.


title: Sky Go

text: On demand content comprises sports highlights, latest news, movies and TV programmes. Content is viewable for a limited amount of time and is protected by digital rights management software provided by Microsoft and the NDS Group, and therefore cannot be copied to disc or viewed beyond the date carried by its license. The service is available at no extra cost to existing Sky TV customers, with accessible content depending on the subscriber's Sky package. Non-Sky TV customers can access the service by subscribing on a pay-per-view basis.


title: Sky Go

text: Sky Go is viewable on up to two devices, with the ability to increase this to four devices with Sky Go Extra for a monthly fee. The now-deprecated Microsoft Silverlight 3.0 browser plug-in is required to play content on computers. Due to viewing rights, certain programmes are not available to watch via Sky Go, and are 'blacked out' from the schedule. To have access to the full selection of live TV channels available on Sky Go, users will need a subscription to the relevant Sky TV packages that correspond to the available channels.


title: Sky Go

text: It originally launched on 11 January 2006 as Sky by Broadband. On 25 November 2006 Sky announced that Sky By Broadband had been rebranded as Sky Anytime on PC. The rebranding also coincided with an update to the client, which included a new interface and a pay-per-view service for movies and US television shows. On 16 May 2008, Sky Anytime on PC was rebranded as Sky Player, along with updated software to include live simulcasts of Sky News and Sky Sports.


title: Sky Go

text: On 29 October 2009, the Sky Player service expanded on to the Xbox 360. An Xbox Live Gold subscription is required, and users need to register via the Sky Go website. Features include a party system which allows multiple users to watch content at the same time, with users represented by their Xbox 360 Avatars in a virtual room. Due to the high level of demand, the launch of the service was troublesome and technical issues caused the entire Sky Go platform to become unavailable. To rectify this, Sky decided to open up Sky Go on Xbox 360 to users incrementally over the following days. On 19 November 2009, Sky Player was also made available to Windows Media Center-equipped Windows 7 computers.


title: Sky Go

text: Users of 3G phones on Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile could subscribe to a service called Sky Mobile TV. The service consisted of three packages —-Sky News, Sport and Factual Pack; Sky Entertainment Pack; and Sky Music Pack—-which include a mixture of live and made-for-mobile channels of broadcasters’ channels. Originally Sky Mobile TV launched for 3G Vodafone live! customers in November 2005. The first live football match from Sky Sports was streamed to mobile at the start of the 2007-08 season.


title: Sky Go

text: On 6 July 2011, Sky Player and Sky Mobile TV services were merged and rebranded as Sky Go. Key changes include the ability to watch live channels in line with your Sky TV subscription at no additional cost, limited to two simultaneous devices. Support for Windows Media Center was dropped, however an app was released for Apple's iOS operating system, used on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. A Sky Go app for Android devices was released on 20 February 2012. Sky Go for Android does not work on rooted phones and was initially only available on a selection of Android phones from HTC and Samsung. On 11 December 2012, Sky Go added support for Jelly Bean and additional devices, including those from Google, LG and Sony.


title: Sky Go

text: , Sky Go is not in development for other platforms such as BlackBerry 10, Windows Phone 8 or Windows RT, as Sky believes that the market is too small to justify the cost of development.


title: Sky Go

text: On 22 January 2013, a download service called Sky Go Extra was added, allowing up to four users to download content to their computers, smartphones and tablets to view offline for an additional monthly fee. The download feature was previously available for free in the Sky Go Desktop client.


title: Sky Go

text: On 1 May 2014, Sky announced the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 will be receiving Sky Go by the end of 2014. The PlayStation 4 received the service on 3 December 2014, through an application named "TV from Sky" and on 29 January 2015 Sky launched this application on the PlayStation 3.


title: Sky Go

text: Since 2019, Sky Mobile customers can use Sky Go including Sky Cinema and Sky Sports without a mobile data charge.


title: Allen Coage

text: Allen James Coage (October 22, 1943 – March 6, 2007) was an American judoka and professional wrestler. He won medals for the United States at several international judo competitions, including the heavyweight bronze medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and later appeared in professional wrestling promotions such as the World Wrestling Federation, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling under the ring names Bad News Brown, Buffalo Allen, and Bad News Allen.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage was born in Harlem, New York City and raised in St. Albans, Queens, attending Thomas A. Edison High School. After graduating in 1962, Coage began working in a bakery, eventually becoming a foreman.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage began training in judo under Jerome Mackey after seeing a poster for Mackey's dojo on the New York City Subway, at the age of 15. He began his career in 1964 at the relatively late age of 22. After seven months as a white belt, he placed first in the Chicago Invitational tournament. Coage achieved a black belt in two and a half years and after five years was named a sandan. Coage practised a "classical" style, with his favored throws being the Ōuchi gari and the Tai otoshi. Coage also studied judo and Tomiki Aikido under Kastuo Watanabe who awarded him shodan in the latter.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage won the Amateur Athletic Union judo championship (heavyweight class) in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1975, as well as winning the open division in 1970. He also competed in the Pan American Games, winning gold medals in the heavyweight class in 1967 and 1975.


title: Allen Coage

text: In 1970, Coage relocated to Japan for two years, where he studied at Nihon University, majoring and minoring in judo. In 1972, Coage suffered a severe knee injury during an Olympic Trials bout with Jimmy Wooley, rendering him unable to compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics.


title: Allen Coage

text: Upon recovering, Coage began training for the 1976 Summer Olympics. Coage was initially excluded from the United States judo team until a class action lawsuit was filed against the United States Olympic Committee by the United States Judo Association. Coage ultimately won a bronze medal. His victory made him the first African American to win a solo Olympic Games medal in a sport other than boxing or track and field.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage retired from competitive judo following the 1976 Summer Olympics due to frustrations around internal politics. He went on to hold a number of other jobs, including briefly working as a bodyguard for singer Aretha Franklin, before deciding to train as a professional wrestler.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage began training as a professional wrestler under Antonio Inoki in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo in 1977. He debuted in October 1977, briefly performing under his birth name before adopting the ring name "Buffalo Allen". Coage wrestled intermittently for NJPW over the next 15 years.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage made a one-off appearance in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in February 1978, defeating jobber Frank Williams at a live event under his birth name. He returned to the promotion in January 1979 and wrestled for the WWWF for the remainder of the year, appearing on several episodes of "WWF Championship Wrestling". Late in 1979, at Madison Square Garden, teaming with JoJo Andrews, Coage challenged for the Japanese Tag Team Championship against Riki Choshu and Seiji Sakaguchi. Coage's team was unsuccessful when Andrews submitted to a Boston crab by Sakaguchi in a match that lasted just under 10 minutes.


title: Allen Coage

text: In 1982, Bad News Allen found a long-term home in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, centered in Allen's adopted home city of Calgary. Allen remained with Stampede from 1982 until 1988, with some tours of Australia and Florida during that time, and had matches with wrestlers such as the Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart. He often referred to himself in interviews as "The Ultimate Warrior".


title: Allen Coage

text: Allen returned to the World Wrestling Federation in early 1988 as Bad News Brown, and it was during this time that he achieved his greatest notoriety. His trademark characteristic as Bad News Brown was never smiling—either he kept an angry face, or he "laughed loud" at the expense of opponents' misfortunes. While the roster was mostly filled with ultra-virtuous babyfaces and cowardly and monster heels, Bad News was something entirely different: a tough loner. While other heels were likely to form alliances with one another, Bad News was reclusive. His dislike for all fellow wrestlers was clear when he abandoned his teams at the Survivor Series of 1988 and 1989. Some memorable moments from his WWF tenure included winning the battle royal at WrestleMania IV by last eliminating Bret Hart, who was then a heel, after a sneak attack, followed by a brief feud with WWF World Heavyweight Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage and his manager Miss Elizabeth in late 1988 that led to more main-event matches.


title: Allen Coage

text: On the March 11, 1989 edition of "Saturday Night's Main Event XX" Bad News memorably took a microphone towards the end of his match with Hulk Hogan and told him that it was time for the "Ghetto Blaster" (an enzuigiri). As he was getting ready to execute it, however, Hogan got out of the way, leading him to miss the move and suffer an eventual loss.


title: Allen Coage

text: Brown's next feud was with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (starting at the 1990 Royal Rumble when he was eliminated by Piper, then illegally eliminated Piper. This led to Brown being ridiculed which he would counter by calling Piper out for wearing a "skirt". This culminated at WrestleMania VI in a match where both men were counted out. Brown was initially planned to continue this feud with Piper, but since neither man would agree to lose to each other, their program was scrapped and instead Brown was assigned to work with Jake "The Snake" Roberts, where Bad News used a sewer (actually a possum) rat against Jake's snake. Around this time, Brown was worked into a story where he attacked WWF president Jack Tunney on "The Brother Love Show" after confronting him about being denied title matches.


title: Allen Coage

text: Brown eventually left the WWF after SummerSlam 1990, claiming Vince McMahon failed to live up to his promise to make him the company's first black champion, which reportedly affected him and his wife.


title: Allen Coage

text: As written in the autobiography of the Dynamite Kid, Coage's legitimate toughness was displayed in a confrontation involving André the Giant, who allegedly made a racist comment on a tour bus for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Coage overheard it and made the driver stop the bus, walked off and demanded the Giant get off and fight him one on one. André did not move from his seat and later apologized for the remark.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage continued to work in independent promotions for several more years, including Japan's shoot wrestling UWFi promotion. In 1994, he worked in South Africa and feuded with former Stampede wrestler Gama Singh. Also worked for Tokyo Pro Wrestling from 1997 to 1998 and worked in independent shows in Calgary and Western Canada. Coage retired in 1999 due to knee damage. He continued occasionally working independent shows for friends while living in Calgary with his wife, and had considered starting a promotion himself. Additionally, he taught wrestling with Canadian wrestling coach Leo Jean, and worked as a mall security officer in Airdrie, Alberta.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage was married three times. With his first wife, Audrey, he had his eldest child, Tonya. Then Coage was in a long-term relationship with Lorriane, in which he had his eldest son, Bryan, and April, and two step children—Martin and Ronda. He had another relationship with Lottie, in which he had two more children, Michael and Nancy. Coage was then married for a second time to Katharine, in which he had Lynnette. During his last marriage until his death, Coage was married to Helen in which he had one son, Allen Jr. (AJ) and raised two step children, Dawn and Frances. .


title: Allen Coage

text: At one point, Rick Bognar and Coage ran a wrestling school out of Calgary, Alberta. He was working on a book about his career and other wrestling stories before his death.


title: Allen Coage

text: Coage died of a heart attack on the morning of March 6, 2007, at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, minutes after being rushed there due to chest pain. Three weeks prior to his death, he had undergone hip replacement surgery. His wife Helen Coage attended with some of Allen’s children and grandchildren at the Bad News Allen Memorial Show.


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: Bob Steele (born Robert Adrian Bradbury; January 23, 1907 – December 21, 1988) was an American actor. He also was billed as Bob Bradbury Jr..


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: Steele was born in Portland, Oregon, into a vaudeville family. His parents were Robert North Bradbury and the former Nieta Quinn. He had a twin brother, Bill, also an actor.


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: After years of touring, the family settled in Hollywood in the late 1910s, where his father soon found work in the movies, first as an actor, later as a director. By 1920, Robert Bradbury hired his son Bob and Bob's twin brother, Bill (1907–1971), as juvenile leads for a series of adventure movies titled "The Adventures of Bill and Bob". Steele attended Glendale High School but left before graduation.


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: Steele's career began to take off in 1927, when he was hired by production company Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) to star in a series of Westerns. Renamed Bob Steele at FBO, he soon made a name for himself, and in the late 1920s, 1930s and 1940s starred in B-Westerns for almost every minor film studio, including Monogram, Supreme, Tiffany, Syndicate, Republic (including several films of "The Three Mesquiteers" series) and Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) (including the initial films of their "Billy the Kid" series), plus he had the occasional role in an A-movie, as in the adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, "Of Mice and Men" in 1939.


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: In cowboy movies shown on TV in the 1940s he played a dashing, but short cowboy replete with eye-make-up and lipstick. In the 1940s, Steele's career as a cowboy hero was on the decline, although he still had leading roles in Westerns as late as 1946 in films such as "Ambush Trail" (1946). He kept himself working regularly by accepting supporting roles in big movies like Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep", or the John Wayne vehicles "Island in the Sky", "Rio Bravo" , "Rio Lobo", "The Comancheros", and "The Longest Day". Besides these he also made occasional appearances in science fiction films like "Atomic Submarine" and "Giant from the Unknown".


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: He also performed on television, including the role of Sergeant Granger in the premiere episode, "The Peacemaker", in 1957 of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, "Colt .45". In 1957, he was cast as Sam Shoulders in "Bunch Quitter" in another ABC/WB western series, "Sugarfoot", with Will Hutchins. He appeared in 1958 and 1959 in two episodes of the NBC western, "The Californians", as well as three episodes of "Maverick" with James Garner, including "The War of the Silver Kings," "The Seventh Hand," and "Holiday at Hollow Rock."


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: Steele appeared as "Kirby" with Agnes Moorehead and Madlyn Rhue in the 1959 episode "In Memoriam" of another ABC western series, "The Rebel", starring Nick Adams. He also appeared as Deputy Sam in four episodes of Hugh O'Brian's "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp". In 1959, he appeared with Mason Alan Dinehart, another "Wyatt Earp" alumnus, in the episode "Half a Loaf" of the syndicated series, "Death Valley Days", hosted by Stanley Andrews.


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: Steele appeared in six different episodes of the Walt Disney's Western television series "Texas John Slaughter" with Tom Tryon. On January 25, 1960, Steele was cast as the frontier gunfighter Luke Short in an episode of the CBS western series, "The Texan", starring Rory Calhoun. Barbara Stuart played the gambler Poker Alice in the same episode, which also features Reed Hadley and Richard Devon.


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: In the mid-1960s, Steele was cast in a regular supporting role as Trooper Duffy in ABC's "F Troop", which allowed him to show his comic talent. Trooper Duffy in the "F Troop" story line claimed to have been "shoulder to shoulder with Davy Crockett at the Alamo" and to have been the only survivor of the battle 40 years before. In real life, forty years before "F Troop", Steele played a supporting role in his father's 1926 film "Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo".


title: Bob Steele (actor)

text: Steele is said to have been the inspiration for the character "Cowboy Bob" in the "Dennis The Menace" comic strip.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: Dattātreya Rāmachandra Bēndre (31 January 1896 – 26 October 1981), popularly known as Da Rā Bēndre, is generally considered the greatest Kannada lyric poet of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the history of Kannada literature. A pioneering poet of Kannada's "Navōdaya" movement and a leading figure in the linguistic renaissance of Kannada in the region of North Karnataka (then part of the Bombay Presidency), Bendre forged a new path in Kannada literature and modern Kannada poetry through his original use of "desi" Kannada, particularly Dharwad Kannada – the form of Kannada spoken in the North Karnataka region of Dharwad. The richness, originality, and euphony of his poetry, his preternatural feel for the Kannada language, and his charismatic personality would result in him being hailed as a "Varakavi" (lit. 'boon-gifted poet-seer') by the Kannada people. In a poetic journey that spanned almost 70 years (~ 1914 – 1981), Bendre engaged continuously in what he called "Kāvyōdyōga" or 'The High Yoga of Poetry'.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: A multidisciplinary genius, he has exercised in over 102 disciplines, including Quantum Physics, Mathematic and Human Physiology. A proficient mind, capable of deep conversations with scientists and doctors alike. An instance in his life, where a famous doctor Sudarshan told him about an ailment and Bendre provided a fluent description of the ailment, inspiring the doctor to type it on a paper. After 38 papers, Doctor exclaimed it was the description like none other. In another instance, Bendre was said to have the books which were released just a few weeks back in another part of the world.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: From very early on, Bendre published his poetry as "Ambikātanayadatta" (). Often mistaken for a pseudonym or pen name (in the western sense), Bendre described Ambikatanayadatta as the "universal inner voice" within him that dictated what he, Bendre, then presented in Kannada to the world.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: In 1973, Bendre was awarded the Jnanapitha, India's highest literary award, for his 1964 poetry collection, "Naaku Tanti" (ನಾಕು ತಂತಿ) (). Recognized as Karnataka's "Kavikula Tilaka" ("Crown-jewel among Kannada Poets") by Udupi's Adamuru Matha, he would also be called a "Kāvya Gāruḍiga" (~ poet-sorcerer) for his ability to create magical poetry. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1968 and made a fellow of the Sahitya Akademi in 1969.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre was born into a Chitpavan Brahmin Marathi family in Dharwad, Karnataka. He was the eldest son of Ramachandrabhatta and Parvatibai (nee Ambavva). The Bendres, also known as Thosars for some time, originally belonged to Kumbaru, a village in the Colaba district of Maharashtra, but a series of migrations which took them to Kalasi, Nasik and Tasgaon would see them finally settle down, along with the Lagus, their patrons, in Shirahatti, a town that was formerly part of the princely state of Sangli but is now in the Dharwad district of Karnataka.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: Bendre's paternal grandfather, Appashastri (called Appabhatta) (1840–1914), was a "Dashagranthi" ("Master of ten volumes of sacred lore") who composed several kirtans in Marathi. He was also was a Vedic scholar who wrote a treatise on the Arya metre, titled "Chhandodaharana". Bendre's father, Ramachandra Bendre (?–1907), was a Sanskrit scholar who died of scrofula when Bendre was only 12 years old. His mother, Ambika (?–1924), was Ramachandra Bendre's second wife and the youngest child of his grandmother, Godubai.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: Bendre's maternal grandmother, Godubai, was related to the Dixit family of Naragund on her father's side and the Natu family of Mulagund on her husband's side. Extraordinarily strong-willed, she confronted being cast out by her in-laws following her husband's death (in 1887–88) by moving, on her own, to Dharwad with her newborn child (Bendre's mother, Ambavva) and her two older daughters. Over there, she set up a "khanavali" (eatery) and, given Ramachandra Bendre's ill-health, became the sole breadwinner of her daughter's family. Consequently, Bendre would grow up under the aegis of his mother and grandmother.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: In his autobiographical essay titled 'The High Yoga of Poetry', Bendre says that "deprived by fate of my father's and his family's closeness, it was by direct observance of my mother's and grandmother's conduct that I realised my manhood." In a poem he wrote in his seventies, Bendre would pay tribute to Godubai's courage by remembering her as someone who has "fed him [on] tiger's milk". The oldest of four boys, Bendre completed his primary and high school education in Dharwad. Matriculating in 1913, he joined Fergusson College, Pune, and graduated in 1918 with a BA in Sanskrit and English. While in Pune, he lived with Bandopant Bendre, his father's younger brother. With no children of his own, Bandopant would, until the end of his life, act as a great support to his older brother's wife and children. Upon finishing his BA, Bendre returned immediately to Dharwad, where he became a teacher at the "Victoria High School", thereby transforming into ""Bendre Maastara"" (ಬೇಂದ್ರೆ ಮಾಸ್ತರ), a title he held for the rest of his life.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: Bendre left for pune in 1913 to attend Fergusson College. Joining him was Shridhar Khanolkar, a classmate from his very first day of primary school. A poet himself, Khanolkar too would return to Dharwad after his BA and work alongside Bendre at "Victoria High School". Bendre would "with affection" dedicate his 1938 poetry collection "ಉಯ್ಯಾಲೆ (Uyyaale)" to Khanolkar's friendship and encouragement and their warm relationship would last until Khanolkar's death in 1965.


title: D. R. Bendre

text: During his years in Pune, Bendre came in contact with Professor B. V. Patwardhan. Patwardhan had taught at the Basel Mission High School in Dharwad and was an influential person in Pune's literary circles. Through Patwardhan's cousin, K. R. Paranjape, Bendre would come to know Ram Ganesh Gadkari (Govindagraja), a pioneering poet of modern Marathi literature. While in college, Bendre would also become very involved in the 'Sharada Mandal', a group built by Prabhakar Hari Khadlikar and his friends. The Mandal was dedicated to the promotion of national identity and the mother tongue. This 'Sharada Mandal' would serve as a model for (and sow the seed of) the famous "ಗೆಳೆಯರ ಗುಂಪು (Geleyara Gumpu)", the "literary circle" that Bendre would put together in the years following his return to Dharwad.