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Aston Martin

Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with expensive grand touring cars in the 1950s and 1960s, and with the fictional character James Bond following his use of a DB5 model in the 1964 film Goldfinger. Their grand tourers and sports cars are regarded as a British cultural icon.

Aston Martin has held a royal warrant as purveyor of motorcars to Charles III (as Prince of Wales and later as King) since 1982, and has over 160 car dealerships in 53 countries, making it a global automobile brand. The company is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. In 2003 it received the Queen's Award for Enterprise for outstanding contribution to international trade. The company has survived seven bankruptcies throughout its history.

The headquarters and main production of its sports cars and grand tourers are in a 55 acre facility in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, on the former site of RAF Gaydon, adjacent to the Jaguar Land Rover Gaydon Centre. The old 3.6 acre facility in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire is the present home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department, which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. The 90 acre factory in St Athan, Wales features three converted 'super-hangars' from MOD St Athan, and serves as the production site of Aston Martin's first-ever SUV, the DBX.

Aston Martin has been involved in motorsport at various points in its history, mainly in sports car racing, and also in Formula One. The Aston Martin brand is increasingly being used, mostly through licensing, on other products including a submarine, real estate development, and aircraft.

Founding
Aston Martin was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. The two had joined forces as Bamford & Martin the previous year to sell cars made by Singer from premises in Callow Street, London where they also serviced GWK and Calthorpe vehicles. Martin raced specials at Aston Hill near Aston Clinton, and the pair decided to make their own vehicles. The first car to be named Aston Martin was created by Martin by fitting a four-cylinder Coventry-Simplex engine to the chassis of a 1908 Isotta Fraschini.

They acquired premises at Henniker Mews in Kensington and produced their first car in March 1915. Production could not start because of the outbreak of the First World War, when Martin joined the Admiralty and Bamford joined the Army Service Corps.

1918–1939: Interwar years
After the war they found new premises at Abingdon Road, Kensington and designed a new car. Bamford left in 1920 and Bamford & Martin was revitalised with funding from Louis Zborowski. In 1922, Bamford & Martin produced cars to compete in the French Grand Prix, which went on to set world speed and endurance records at Brooklands. Three works Team Cars with 16-valve twin cam engines were built for racing and record-breaking: chassis number 1914, later developed as the Green Pea; chassis number 1915, the Razor Blade record car; and chassis number 1916, later developed as the Halford Special.

Approximately 55 cars were built for sale in two configurations; long chassis and short chassis. Bamford & Martin went bankrupt in 1924 and was bought by Dorothea, Lady Charnwood, who put her son John Benson on the board. Bamford & Martin got into financial difficulty again in 1925 and Martin was forced to sell the company (Bamford had already left it in 1920).

Later that year, Bill Renwick, Augustus (Bert) Bertelli and investors including Lady Charnwood took control of the business. They renamed it Aston Martin Motors and moved it to the former Whitehead Aircraft Limited Hanworth works in Feltham. Renwick and Bertelli had been in partnership some years and had developed an overhead-cam four-cylinder engine using Renwick's patented combustion chamber design, which they had tested in an Enfield-Allday chassis. The only "Renwick and Bertelli" motor car made, it was known as "Buzzbox" and still survives.

The pair had planned to sell their engine to motor manufacturers, but having heard that Aston Martin was no longer in production realised they could capitalise on its reputation to jump-start the production of a completely new car.

Between 1926 and 1937 Bertelli was both technical director and designer of all new Aston Martins, since known as "Bertelli cars". They included the 1½-litre "T-type", "International", "Le Mans", "MKII" and its racing derivative, the "Ulster", and the 2-litre 15/98 and its racing derivative, the "Speed Model". Most were open two-seater sports cars bodied by Bert Bertelli's brother Enrico (Harry), with a small number of long-chassis four-seater tourers, dropheads and saloons also produced.

Bertelli was a competent driver keen to race his cars, one of few owner/manufacturer/drivers. The "LM" team cars were very successful in national and international motor racing including at Le Mans.

Financial problems reappeared in 1932. Aston Martin was rescued for a year by Lance Prideaux Brune before passing it on to Sir Arthur Sutherland. In 1936, Aston Martin decided to concentrate on road cars, producing just 700 until World War II halted work. Production shifted to aircraft components during the war.

1947–1972: David Brown

In 1947, old-established (1860) privately owned Huddersfield gear and machine tools manufacturer David Brown Limited bought Aston Martin, putting it under control of its Tractor Group. David Brown became Aston Martin's latest saviour. He also acquired Lagonda, without its factory, for its 2.6-litre W. O. Bentley-designed engine. Lagonda moved operations to Newport Pagnell and shared engines, resources and workshops. Aston Martin began to build the classic "DB" series of cars.

In April 1950, they announced planned production of their Le Mans prototype to be called the DB2, followed by the DB2/4 in 1953, the DB2/4 MkII in 1955, the DB Mark III in 1957 and the Italian-styled 3.7 L DB4 in 1958.

While these models helped Aston Martin establish a good racing pedigree, the DB4 stood out and yielded the famous DB5 in 1963. Aston stayed true to its grand touring style with the DB6 (1965–70), and DBS (1967–1972).

The six-cylinder engines of these cars from 1954 up to 1965 were designed by Tadek Marek.

1972–1975: William Willson

Aston Martin was often financially troubled. In 1972, David Brown paid off all its debts, said to be £5 million or more, and handed it for £101 to Company Developments, a Birmingham-based investment bank consortium chaired by accountant William Willson. More detail on this period may be read at Willson's biography. The worldwide recession, lack of working capital and the difficulties of developing an engine to meet California's exhaust emission requirements – it stopped the company's US sales – again pulled Aston Martin into receivership at the end of 1974. The company had employed 460 workers when the manufacturing plant closed.

1975–1981: Sprague and Curtis
The receiver sold the business in April 1975 for £1.05 million to North American businessman Peter Sprague of National Semiconductor, Toronto hotelier George Minden, and Jeremy Turner, a London businessman, who insisted to reporters that Aston Martin remained a British controlled business. Sprague later claimed he had fallen in love with the factory, not the cars, the workforce's craftsmanship dedication and intelligence. At this point, he and Minden had brought in investor Alan Curtis, a British office property developer, together with George Flather, a retired Sheffield steel magnate.

Six months later, in September 1975, the factory – shut down the previous December – re-opened under its new owner as Aston Martin Lagonda Limited with 100 employees, and planned to lift staff to 250 by the end of 1975. In January 1976, AML revealed that it now held orders for 150 cars for the US, 100 for other markets and another 80 from a Japanese importing agency. At the Geneva Motor Show, Fred Hartley, managing director and sales director for 13 years before that, announced he had resigned over "differences in marketing policy".

The new owners pushed Aston Martin into modernising its line, introducing the V8 Vantage in 1977, the convertible Volante in 1978, and the one-off Bulldog styled by William Towns in 1980. Towns also styled the futuristic new Lagonda saloon, based on the V8 model.

Curtis, who had a 42% stake in Aston Martin, also brought about a change in direction from the usual customers who were Aston Martin fans, to successful young married businessmen. Prices had been increased by 25%. There was speculation that AML was about to buy Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini. At the end of the 1970s, there was widespread debate about running MG into the Aston Martin consortium. 85 Conservative MPs formed themselves into a pressure group to get British Leyland to release their grip and hand it over. CH Industrials plc (car components) bought a 10% share in AML. But in July 1980, blaming a recession, AML cut back their workforce of 450 by more than 20%, making those people redundant.

1981–1987: Victor Gauntlett
In January 1981, there having been no satisfactory revival partners, Alan Curtis and Peter Sprague announced they had never intended to maintain a long-term financial stake in Aston Martin Lagonda and it was to be sold to Pace Petroleum's Victor Gauntlett. Sprague and Curtis pointed out that under their ownership AML finances had improved to where an offer for MG might have been feasible.

Gauntlett bought a 12.5% stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 via Pace Petroleum in 1980, with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials taking a similar share. Pace and CHI took over as joint 50/50 owners at the beginning of 1981, with Gauntlett as executive chairman. Gauntlett also led the sales team, and after some development and publicity when the Lagonda became the world's fastest four-seater production car, was able to sell the car in Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. In 1982, Aston Martin was granted a Royal Warrant of Appointment by the Prince of Wales.

Understanding that it would take some time to develop new Aston Martin products, they created an engineering service subsidiary to develop automotive products for other companies. It was decided to use a trade name of Salmons & Son, their in-house coachbuilder, Tickford, which Aston Martin had bought in 1955. Tickford's name had been long associated with expensive high-quality carriages and cars along with their folding roofs. New products included a Tickford Austin Metro, a Tickford Ford Capri and even Tickford train interiors, particularly on the Jaguar XJS. Pace continued sponsoring racing events, and now sponsored all Aston Martin Owners Club events, taking a Tickford-engined Nimrod Group C car owned by AMOC President Viscount Downe, which came third in the Manufacturers Championship in both 1982 and 1983. It also finished seventh in the 1982 24 Hours of Le Mans race. However, sales of production cars were now at an all-time low of 30 cars produced in 1982.

As trading became tighter in the petroleum market, and Aston Martin was requiring more time and money, Gauntlett agreed to sell Hays/Pace to the Kuwait Investment Office in September 1983. As Aston Martin required greater investment, he also agreed to sell his share holding to American importer and Greek shipping tycoon Peter Livanos, who invested via his joint venture with Nick and John Papanicolaou, ALL Inc. Gauntlett remained chairman of AML, 55% of the stake was owned by ALL, with Tickford a 50/50 venture between ALL and CHI. The uneasy relationship was ended when ALL exercised options to buy a larger share in AML; CHI's residual shares were exchanged for CHI's complete ownership of Tickford, which retained the development of existing Aston Martin projects. In 1984, Papanicolaou's Titan shipping business was in trouble so Livanos's father George bought out the Papanicolaou's shares in ALL, while Gauntlett again became a shareholder with a 25% holding in AML. The deal valued Aston Martin/AML at £2 million, the year it built its 10,000th car.

Although as a result Aston Martin had to make 60 members of the workforce redundant, Gauntlett bought a stake in Italian styling house Zagato, and resurrected its collaboration with Aston Martin. In 1986, Gauntlett negotiated the return of the fictional British secret agent James Bond to Aston Martin. Cubby Broccoli had chosen to recast the character using actor Timothy Dalton, in an attempt to re-root the Bond-brand back to a more Sean Connery-like feel. Gauntlett supplied his personal pre-production Vantage for use in the filming of The Living Daylights, and sold a Volante to Broccoli for use at his home in America. Gauntlett turned down the role of a KGB colonel in the film, however: "I would have loved to have done it but really could not afford the time."

1987–2007: Ford Motor Company
As Aston Martin needed funds to survive in the long term, Ford bought a 75% stake in the company in 1987, and bought the rest later. In May of that year, Victor Gauntlett and Prince Michael of Kent were staying at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original Mille Miglia, while watching the revival event. Another house guest was Walter Hayes, vice-president of Ford of Europe. Despite problems over the previous acquisition of AC Cars, Hayes saw the potential of the brand and the discussion resulted in Ford taking a share holding in September 1987. In 1988, having produced some 5,000 cars in 20 years, a revived economy and successful sales of limited edition Vantage, and 52 Volante Zagato coupés at £86,000 each; Aston Martin finally retired the ancient V8 and introduced the Virage range.

Although Gauntlett was contractually to stay as chairman for two years, his racing interests took the company back into sports car racing in 1989 with limited European success. However, with engine rule changes for the 1990 season and the launch of the new Volante model, Ford provided the limited supply of Cosworth engines to the Jaguar cars racing team. As the entry-level DB7 would require a large engineering input, Ford agreed to take full control of Aston Martin, and Gauntlett handed over Aston Martin's chairmanship to Hayes in 1991. In 1992, the high-performance variant of the Virage called the Vantage was announced, and the following year Aston Martin renewed the DB range by announcing the DB7.

By 1993, Ford had fully acquired the company after having built a stake in 1987. Ford placed Aston Martin in the Premier Automotive Group, invested in new manufacturing and ramped up production. In 1994, Ford opened a new factory at Banbury Road in Bloxham to manufacture the DB7. In 1995, Aston Martin produced a record 700 cars. Until the Ford era, cars had been produced by hand coachbuilding craft methods, such as the English wheel. During the mid 1990s, the Special Projects Group, a secretive unit with Works Service at Newport Pagnell, created an array of special coach-built vehicles for the Brunei royal family. In 1998, the 2,000th DB7 was built, and in 2002, the 6,000th, exceeding production of all of the previous DB series models. The DB7 range was revamped by the addition of more powerful V12 Vantage models in 1999, and in 2001, Aston Martin introduced the V12-engined flagship model called the Vanquish which succeeded the aging Virage (now called the V8 Coupé).

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan in 2003, Aston Martin introduced the V8 Vantage concept car. Expected to have few changes before its introduction in 2005, the Vantage brought back the classic V8 engine to allow Aston Martin to compete in a larger market. 2003 also saw the opening of the Gaydon factory, the first purpose-built factory in Aston Martin's history. The facility is situated on a 55 acre site of a former RAF V Bomber airbase, with an 8000 m2 front building for offices, meeting rooms and customer reception, and a 35000 m2 production building. Also introduced in 2003 was the DB9 coupé, which replaced the ten-year-old DB7. A convertible version of the DB9, the DB9 Volante, was introduced at the 2004 Detroit auto show.

In October 2004, Aston Martin set up the dedicated 12500 m2 Aston Martin Engine Plant (AMEP) within the Ford Germany Niehl, Cologne plant. With the capacity to produce up to 5,000 engines a year by 100 specially trained personnel, like traditional Aston Martin engine production from Newport Pagnell, assembly of each unit was entrusted to a single technician from a pool of 30, with V8 and V12 variants assembled in under 20 hours. By bringing engine production back to within Aston Martin, the promise was that Aston Martin would be able to produce small runs of higher performance variants' engines. This expanded engine capacity allowed the entry-level V8 Vantage sports car to enter production at the Gaydon factory in 2006, joining the DB9 and DB9 Volante.

In December 2003, Aston Martin announced it would return to motor racing in 2005. A new division was created, called Aston Martin Racing, which became responsible, together with Prodrive, for the design, development, and management of the DBR9 program. The DBR9 competes in the GT class in sports car races, including the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2006, an internal audit led Ford to consider divesting itself of parts of its Premier Automotive Group. After suggestions of selling Jaguar Cars, Land Rover, or Volvo Cars were weighed, Ford announced in August 2006 it had engaged UBS AG to sell all or part of Aston Martin at auction.

2007–2018: Private Limited Company
On 12 March 2007, a consortium led by Prodrive chairman David Richards purchased Aston Martin for £475 million (US$848 million). The group included American investment banker John Sinders and two Kuwaiti companies namely Investment Dar and Adeem Investment. Prodrive had no financial involvement in the deal. Ford kept a stake in Aston Martin valued at £40 million (US$70 million).

To demonstrate the V8 Vantage's durability across hazardous terrain and promote the car in China, the first east–west crossing of the Asian Highway was undertaken between June and August 2007. A pair of Britons drove 12089 km from Tokyo to Istanbul before joining the European motorway network for another 3259 km to London. The promotion was so successful Aston Martin opened dealerships in Shanghai and Beijing within three months.

On 19 July 2007, the Newport Pagnell plant rolled out the last of nearly 13,000 cars made there since 1955, a Vanquish S. The Tickford Street facility was converted and became the home of the Aston Martin Works classic car department which focuses on heritage sales, service, spares and restoration operations. UK production was subsequently concentrated on the 55 acre facility in Gaydon on the former RAF V Bomber airbase. In March 2008, Aston Martin announced a partnership with Magna Steyr to outsource manufacture of over 2,000 cars annually to Graz, Austria, reassuringly stating: "The continuing growth and success of Aston Martin is based upon Gaydon as the focal point and heart of the business, with the design and engineering of all Aston Martin products continuing to be carried out there."

More dealers in Europe and the new pair in China brought the total to 120 in 28 countries. On 1 September 2008, Aston Martin announced the revival of the Lagonda marque, proposing a concept car to be shown in 2009 to coincide with the brand's 100th anniversary. The first production cars were slated for production in 2012. In December 2008, Aston Martin announced it would cut its workforce from 1,850 to 1,250 due to the economic recession.

The first four-door Rapide grand tourers rolled out of the Magna Steyr factory in Graz, Austria in 2010. The contract manufacturer provides dedicated facilities to ensure compliance with the exacting standards of Aston Martin and other marques, including Mercedes-Benz. Then CEO of the company, Ulrich Bez had publicly speculated about outsourcing all of Aston Martin's operations with the exception of marketing. In September 2011, it was announced that production of the Rapide would be returned to Gaydon in the second half of 2012, restoring all of the company's automobile manufacture there.

Italian private equity fund Investindustrial signed a deal on 6 December 2012 to buy a 37.5% stake in Aston Martin, investing £150 million as a capital increase. This was confirmed by Aston Martin in a press release on 7 December 2012. David Richards left Aston Martin in 2013, returning to concentrate on Prodrive.

In April 2013, it was reported that Bez would be leaving his role as the chief executive officer to take up a more ambassadorial position. On 2 September 2014, Aston Martin announced it had appointed the Nissan executive Andy Palmer as the new CEO with Bez retaining a position as non-executive chairman. As sales had been declining from 2015, Aston Martin sought new customers (particularly wealthy female buyers) with introducing concept cars like the DBX SUV along with track focused cars like the Vulcan. According to Palmer, the troubles started when sales of the DB9 failed to generate sufficient fund to develop next-generation models which led to a downward spiral of declining sales and profitability.

Palmer outlined that the company plans to develop two new platforms, add a crossover, refresh its supercar lineup and leverage its technology alliance with Daimler as part of its six-year plan to make the 100-year-old British brand consistently profitable. He stated, "In the first century we went bankrupt seven times. The second century is about making sure that is not the case." In preparation for its next-generation of sports cars, the company invested £20 million ($33.4 million) to expand its manufacturing plant in Gaydon. The expansion at the Gaydon plant includes a new chassis and pilot build facility, as well as an extension of the parts and logistics storage area, and new offices. In total, Aston Martin will add approximately 10000 m2 to the plant.

In 2014, Aston Martin suffered a pre-tax loss of £72 million, almost triple of the amount of 2013 selling 3,500 cars during the year, well below the 7,300 cars sold in 2007 and 4,200 sold in 2013 respectively. In March 2014, Aston Martin issued "payment in kind" notes of US$165 million, at 10.25% interest, in addition to the £304 million of senior secured notes at 9.25% issued in 2011. Aston Martin also had to secure an additional investment of £200 million from its shareholders to fund development of new models. It was reported that Aston Martin's pre-tax losses for 2016 increased by 27% to £162.8 million, the sixth year it continued to suffer a loss.

In 2016, the company selected a 90 acre site in St Athan, South Wales for its new factory. The Welsh facility was unanimously chosen by Aston's board despite fierce competition from other locations as far afield as the Americas, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Europe, as well as two other sites in the UK, believed to be Bridgend and Birmingham. The facility featured three existing 'super-hangars' of MOD St Athan. Construction work of converting the hangars commenced in April 2017. Aston Martin returned to profit in 2017 after selling over 5,000 cars. The company made a pre-tax profit of £87 million compared with a £163 million loss in 2016. 2017 also marked the return of production of the Newport Pagnell facility ten years after it originally ceased.

2013–present: Partnership with Mercedes-Benz Group
In December 2013, Aston Martin signed a deal with Mercedes-Benz Group (at the time known as Daimler) to supply the next generation of Aston Martin cars with Mercedes-AMG engines. Mercedes-AMG also was to supply Aston Martin with electrical systems. This technical partnership was intended to support Aston Martin's launch of a new generation of models that would incorporate new technology and engines. In exchange, Mercedes will get as much as 5% equity in Aston Martin and a non-voting seat on its board. The first model to sport the Mercedes-Benz technology was the DB11, announced at the 86th Geneva Motor Show in March 2016. It featured Mercedes-Benz electronics for the entertainment, navigation and other systems. It was also the first model to use Mercedes-AMG V8 engines. In October 2020, Mercedes confirmed it will increase its holding "in stages" from 5% to 20%. In return, Aston Martin will have access to Mercedes-Benz hybrid and electric drivetrain technologies for its future models.

2018–present: Listed on the London Stock Exchange
After "completing a turnaround for the once perennially loss-making company that could now be valued at up to 5 billion pounds ($6.4 billion)," and now reporting a full-year pre-tax profit of £87 million (compared with a £163 million loss in 2016) Aston Martin in August 2018 announced plans to float the company at the London Stock Exchange as  Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc. The company was the subject of an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange on 3 October 2018. In the same year, Aston Martin opened a new vehicle dynamics test and development centre at Silverstone's Stowe Circuit alongside a new HQ in London. In June 2019, the company opened its new 90 acre factory in St Athan for the production of its first-ever SUV the DBX. The factory was finally completed and officially opened on 6 December 2019. When full production begins in the second quarter of 2020, around 600 people will be employed at the factory, rising to 750 when peak production is reached.

On 31 January 2020 it was announced that Canadian billionaire and investor Lawrence Stroll was leading a consortium, Yew Tree Overseas Limited, who will pay £182 million in return for 16.7% stake in the company. The re-structuring includes a £318 million cash infusion through a new rights issue, generating a total of £500 million for the company. Stroll will also be named as chairman, replacing Penny Hughes. Swiss pharmaceutical magnate Ernesto Bertarelli and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team principal and CEO Toto Wolff have also joined the consortium, acquiring 3.4% and 4.8% stakes, respectively. In March 2020, Stroll increased his stake in the company to 25%.

On 26 May 2020, Aston Martin announced that Andy Palmer had stepped down as CEO. Tobias Moers of Mercedes-AMG will succeed him starting 1 August, with Keith Stanton as interim chief operating officer. In June 2020, the company announced that it cut out 500 jobs as a result of the poor sales, an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. In March 2021, executive chairman Lawrence Stroll stated that the company plans on building electric vehicles by 2025. In May 2022, Aston Martin named 76-year-old Amedeo Felisa as the new chief executive officer, replacing Tobias Moers. Roberto Fedeli was also announced as the new chief technical officer.

In late 2020, Aston Martin was involved in a controversy in which it was accused of using a report to spread disputed information about electric vehicles in the wake of the UK's declaration to end the sale of combustion engine vehicles by 2030, with some in the media dubbing the controversy as "Astongate". In November 2020, a communications agency called Clarendon Communications published a report comparing the environmental impact of various powertrain options for cars. After the report received coverage from The Sunday Times and other publications, it emerged that the company had been set up in February that year and was registered under the name of Rebecca Stephens – the wife of James Stephens, who is the government affairs director of Aston Martin Lagonda. Citing a study by Polestar, the report stated that electric vehicles would need to be driven 48000 mi before they would have lower overall emissions than a petrol car. This statement was disputed by electric vehicle researcher Auke Hoekstra, who argued that the report underestimated the emissions from combustion engine vehicles and did not consider the emissions from creating petrol. According to him, a typical EV would need to drive 16,000–18,000 miles (25,700–30,000 km) to offset the emissions from manufacture. Bosch and a number of other companies were also involved with the report.

In July 2022, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will take a stake in the company through a £78 million equity placing as well as a £575 million separate rights issue, giving it two board seats in the company. After the rights issue, the Saudi fund will have a 16.7% stake in Aston Martin, behind the 18.3% holding by Stroll's Yew Tree consortium while the Mercedes-Benz Group will own 9.7%. In September 2022, Chinese automaker Geely acquired a 7.6% stake in the company. In December 2022, Stroll and the Yew Tree consortium increased their stake in the company to 28.29%. In May 2023, Geely increased its stake to 17%, becoming the third-largest shareholder after the Yew Tree consortium and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.

In June 2023, Aston Martin signed an agreement with Lucid Motors after selecting it to help supply electric motors, powertrains, and battery systems for its upcoming range of fully electric cars. In return, Aston Martin will make cash payments and issue a 3.7percent stake in its company to Lucid, worth $232million in total. In September 2023, the Yew Tree consortium increased their stake by 3.27% to 26.23%. In October 2023, Aston Martin announced that it would compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2025. In February 2024, the company announced it would push back production of its first electric vehicle to 2026. In March 2024, Aston Martin announced Adrian Hallmark as its new CEO beginning 1 October 2024, replacing Amedeo Felisa.

Sales at auction
In August 2017, a 1956 Aston Martin DBR1/1 sold at a Sotheby's auction at the Pebble Beach, California Concours d'Elegance for US$22,550,000, which made it the most expensive British car ever sold at an auction, according to Sotheby's. The car had previously been driven by Carroll Shelby and Stirling Moss.

In 2015 a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato for US$14,300,000 in New York, and a 1963 Aston Martin DP215 for US$21,455,000 in August 2018.

Pre-war cars

 * 1921–1925 Aston Martin Standard Sports
 * 1927–1932 Aston Martin First Series
 * 1929–1932 Aston Martin International
 * 1932–1932 Aston Martin International Le Mans
 * 1932–1934 Aston Martin Le Mans
 * 1933–1934 Aston Martin 12/50 Standard
 * 1934–1936 Aston Martin Mk II
 * 1934–1936 Aston Martin Ulster
 * 1936–1940 Aston Martin 2-litre Speed Models (23 built; the last 8 were fitted with C-type bodywork)
 * 1937–1939 Aston Martin 15/98

Post-war cars

 * 1948–1950 Aston Martin 2-Litre Sports (DB1)
 * 1950–1953 Aston Martin DB2
 * 1953–1957 Aston Martin DB2/4
 * 1957–1959 Aston Martin DB Mark III
 * 1958–1963 Aston Martin DB4
 * 1961–1963 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
 * 1963–1965 Aston Martin DB5
 * 1965–1966 Aston Martin Short Chassis Volante
 * 1965–1969 Aston Martin DB6
 * 1967–1972 Aston Martin DBS
 * 1969–1989 Aston Martin V8
 * 1977–1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
 * 1986–1990 Aston Martin V8 Zagato
 * 1989–1996 Aston Martin Virage/Virage Volante
 * 1989–2000 Aston Martin Virage
 * 1993–2000 Aston Martin Vantage
 * 1996–2000 Aston Martin V8 Coupe/V8 Volante
 * 1993–2003 Aston Martin DB7/DB7 Vantage
 * 2001–2007 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish/Vanquish S
 * 2002–2003 Aston Martin DB7 Zagato
 * 2002–2004 Aston Martin DB AR1
 * 2004–2016 Aston Martin DB9
 * 2005–2018 Aston Martin V8 and V12 Vantage
 * 2007–2012 Aston Martin DBS V12
 * 2009–2012 Aston Martin One-77
 * 2010–2020 Aston Martin Rapide/Rapide S
 * 2011–2012 Aston Martin Virage/Virage Volante
 * 2011–2013 Aston Martin Cygnet (based on the Toyota iQ)
 * 2012–2013 Aston Martin V12 Zagato
 * 2012–2018 Aston Martin Vanquish/Vanquish Volante
 * 2015–2016 Aston Martin Vulcan
 * 2016–2023 Aston Martin DB11
 * 2018–present Aston Martin Vantage
 * 2018–present Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
 * 2020–present Aston Martin DBX
 * 2023–present Aston Martin DB12

Other

 * 1944 Aston Martin Atom (concept)
 * 1961–1964 Lagonda Rapide
 * 1976–1989 Aston Martin Lagonda
 * 1980 Aston Martin Bulldog (concept)
 * 1993 Lagonda Vignale (concept)
 * 2001 Aston Martin Twenty Twenty (Italdesign concept)
 * 2007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS (concept)
 * 2007–2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage N400
 * 2009 Aston Martin Lagonda SUV (concept)
 * 2010 Aston Martin V12 Vantage Carbon Black Edition
 * 2010 Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition
 * 2013 Aston Martin Rapide Bertone Jet 2+2 (concept)
 * 2013 Aston Martin CC100 Speedster (concept)
 * 2015 Aston Martin DB10 (concept)
 * 2015–2016 Lagonda Taraf
 * 2019 Aston Martin Lagonda All-Terrain (concept)
 * 2019 Aston Martin Vanquish Vision (concept)
 * 2019 Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato
 * 2020 Aston Martin V12 Speedster
 * 2021 Aston Martin Victor
 * 2022 Aston Martin DBR22
 * 2023 Aston Martin Valour
 * 2024 Aston Martin Valiant

Current models

 * Aston Martin DB12
 * Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
 * Aston Martin DBX
 * Aston Martin Vantage
 * Aston Martin Valkyrie

Upcoming models

 * Aston Martin Valhalla

Brand expansion
Since 2015, Aston Martin has sought to increase its appeal to women as a luxury lifestyle brand. A female advisory panel was established to adapt the design of the cars to the taste of women. In September 2016, a 37-foot-long Aston Martin speedboat was unveiled called the Aston Martin AM37 powerboat. In September 2017, Aston Martin announced that they had partnered with submarine building company Triton Submarines to build a submarine called Project Neptune. Aston Martin has collaborated with the luxury clothing company Hackett London to deliver items of clothing. In November 2017, Aston Martin unveiled a special limited edition bicycle after collaborating with bicycle manufacturer Storck.

Aston Martin and global property developer G&G Business Developments are currently building a 66-storey luxury condominium tower called Aston Martin Residences at 300 Biscayne Boulevard Way in Miami, Florida, which is set for completion in 2021.

In July 2018, Aston Martin unveiled the Volante Vision Concept, a luxury concept aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities. Also in July, a Lego version of James Bond's DB5 car was put on sale and an Aston Martin-branded watch was released in collaboration with TAG Heuer.

In October 2018, Aston Martin announced it was opening a design and brand studio in Shanghai.

Motorsport
Aston Martin is currently associated with two different racing organisations. The Aston Martin Formula One team which competes in the Formula One Championship and Aston Martin Racing which currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Both racing organisations use the Aston Martin brand, but are not directly owned by Aston Martin. The Aston Martin Formula One team is owned by major Aston Martin shareholder Lawrence Stroll and operated by his company AMR GP, while Aston Martin Racing is operated by racing company Prodrive as part of a partnership with Aston Martin.

Formula One
Aston Martin participated as a Formula One constructor in and  entering six races over the two years but failing to score any points. In January 2020, it was announced that the Racing Point F1 Team is due to be rebranded as Aston Martin for the 2021 season, as a result of a funding investment led by Racing Point owner Lawrence Stroll. As part of the rebrand, the team switched their racing colour of BWT pink to a modern iteration of Aston Martin's British racing green. The Aston Martin AMR21 was unveiled in March 2021 and became Aston Martin's first Formula One car after a 61-year absence from the sport.

Racing cars (post-war)

 * Aston Martin DB3 (1950–1953)
 * Aston Martin DB3S (1953–1956)
 * Aston Martin DBR1 (1956–1959)
 * Aston Martin DBR2 (1957–1958)
 * Aston Martin DBR3 (1958)
 * Aston Martin DBR4 (1959)
 * Aston Martin DBR5 (1960)
 * Aston Martin DP212 (1962)
 * Aston Martin DP214 (1963)
 * Aston Martin DP215 (1963)
 * Aston Martin RHAM/1 (1976–1979)
 * Aston Martin AMR1 (1989)
 * Aston Martin AMR2 (never raced)
 * Aston Martin DBR9 (2005–2008)
 * Aston Martin DBRS9 (2005–2008)
 * Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24 (2006–2008)
 * Aston Martin V8 Vantage Rally GT (2006–2010)
 * Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 (2008–2017)
 * Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 (2008–2018)
 * Aston Martin DBR1-2 (2009)
 * Aston Martin AMR-One (2011)
 * Aston Martin Vantage GTE (2018–)
 * Aston Martin AMR21 (2021)
 * Aston Martin AMR22 (2022)
 * Aston Martin AMR23 (2023)
 * Aston Martin AMR24 (2024)

Aston Martin-powered racing cars

 * Cooper-Aston Martin (1963)
 * Lola T70-Aston Martin (1967)
 * Aston Martin DPLM (1980–1982)
 * Nimrod NRA/C2-Aston Martin (1982–1984)
 * Aston Martin EMKA C83/1 and C84/1 (1983–1985)
 * Cheetah G604-Aston Martin
 * Lola B08/60-Aston Martin (2008–2011)

Sponsorships
Aston Martin sponsors 2. Bundesliga club 1860 Munich.

title: Aston Martin


text:
Albert Pike

Albert Pike (December 29, 1809 – April 2, 1891) was an American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist and Confederate States Army general who served as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court in exile from 1864 to 1865. He had previously served as a senior officer of the Confederate States Army, commanding the District of Indian Territory in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. A prominent member of the Freemasons, Pike served as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA) from 1859 to 1891.

Early life and education
Albert Pike was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 29, 1809, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Andrews) Pike. He grew up in Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. His colonial ancestors had settled in the area in 1635, and included John Pike (1613–1688/1689), the founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey.

He attended school in Newburyport and Framingham until he was 15. In August 1825, he passed entrance exams at Harvard University, though when the college requested payment of tuition fees for the first two years, he chose not to attend. He began a program of self-education, later teaching school in Gloucester, North Bedford, Fairhaven and Newburyport.

Pike was an imposing figure; 6 ft tall and 300 lb with hair that reached his shoulders and a long beard. In 1831, he left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in Nashville, Tennessee.

He later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he joined a hunting and trading expedition to Taos, New Mexico. En route his horse broke and ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining 500 mi to Taos. After this, he joined a trapping expedition to the Llano Estacado in New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal and, after traveling about 1300 mi, half of it on foot, he finally arrived at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Career
Settling in Arkansas in 1833, Pike taught in a school and wrote a series of articles for the Little Rock Arkansas Advocate under the pen name of "Casca." The articles were sufficiently well received for him to be asked to join the newspaper's staff. Under Pike's administration, the Advocate promoted the viewpoint of the Whig Party in a politically volatile and divided Arkansas in December 1832. After marrying Mary Ann Hamilton in 1834, he purchased the newspaper.

He was the first reporter for the Arkansas Supreme Court. He wrote a book (published anonymously), titled The Arkansas Form Book, which was a guidebook for lawyers. Pike began to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1837, selling the Advocate the same year. (At least one source indicates that Pike read Kent and Blackstone and was admitted to the bar in 1834 by Superior Court judge Thomas J. Lacy, after a perfunctory examination.)

He proved to be a highly effective lawyer, representing clients in courts at every level. This continued after he received permission in 1849 to practice before the United States Supreme Court.

He also made several contacts among the Native American tribes in the area. He specialized in claims on behalf of Native Americans against the federal government. In 1852, he represented the Creek Nation before the Supreme Court in a claim regarding ceded tribal land. In 1854 he advocated for the Choctaw and Chickasaw, although compensation later awarded to the tribes in 1856 and 1857 was insufficient. These relationships were to influence the course of his Civil War service.

Pike also began a campaign of newspaper essays urging support for the construction of a transcontinental railroad to extend from New Orleans to the Pacific coast. He moved to New Orleans in 1853 and prepared to pass the state bar in furtherance of his campaign. He ultimately secured a charter from the Louisiana State Legislature for a project, following which he returned to Little Rock in 1857.

He joined the anti-Catholic Know Nothing Party at its founding; in the summer of 1854, he helped introduce the party in Arkansas. He attended the national convention in 1856, but walked out when it failed to adopt a pro-slavery platform.

In the lead-up to the Civil War, Pike signed a pamphlet that proposed expelling all free African Americans from Arkansas. It said that the "evil is the existence among us of a class of free colored persons".

Additionally, Pike wrote on several legal subjects. He also continued writing poetry, a hobby he had begun in his youth in Massachusetts. His poems were highly regarded in his day, but are now mostly forgotten. Several volumes of his works were privately published posthumously by his daughter. In 1859, he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Harvard.

Poetry
As a young man of letters, Pike wrote poetry, and he continued to do so for the rest of his life. At 23, he published his first poem, "Hymns to the Gods." Later work was printed in literary journals such as Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine and local newspapers. His first collection of poetry, Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country, was published in 1834. He later gathered many of his poems and republished them in Hymns to the Gods and Other Poems (1872). After his death these were published again in Gen. Albert Pike's Poems (1900) and Lyrics and Love Songs (1916).

The authorship of "The Old Canoe" was attributed to Pike. He was suggested as author because about the time of its publication, when it was going the rounds of the press, probably without any credit, a doggerel called "The Old Canoe" was composed about Pike by one of his political foes. The subject was a canoe in which he left Columbia, Tennessee, when a young man practicing law in that place. Pike told Senator Edward W. Carmack that he was not the author of "The Old Canoe," and could not imagine how he ever got the credit for it. The rightful author was Emily Rebecca Page.

Freemasonry
Pike first joined the fraternal Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1840. He next joined a Masonic Lodge, where he became extremely active in the affairs of the organization. In 1859 he was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction. He remained Sovereign Grand Commander for the rest of his life, devoting a large amount of his time to developing the rituals of the order.

He published a book called Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871, the first of several editions. This helped the Order grow during the nineteenth century. He also researched and wrote the seminal treatise Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda. In the United States, Pike is still considered an eminent and influential Freemason, primarily in the Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction.

Mexican–American War
When the Mexican–American War started, Pike joined the Arkansas Mounted Infantry Regiment and was commissioned as a company commander with the rank of captain in June 1846. With his regiment, he fought in the Battle of Buena Vista. Pike was discharged in June 1847. He and his commander, Colonel John Selden Roane, had several differences of opinion. This situation led finally to an "inconclusive" duel between Pike and Roane on July 29, 1847, near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Although several shots were fired in the duel, nobody was injured, and the two were persuaded by their seconds to discontinue it.

After the war, Pike returned to the practice of law, moving to New Orleans for a time beginning in 1853. He wrote another book, Maxims of the Roman Law and Some of the Ancient French Law, as Expounded and Applied in Doctrine and Jurisprudence. Although unpublished, this book increased his reputation among his associates in law. He returned to Arkansas in 1857, gaining some amount of prominence in the legal field.

At the Southern Commercial Convention of 1854, Pike said the South should remain in the Union and seek equality with the North, but if the South "were forced into an inferior status, she would be better out of the Union than in it." His stand was that state's rights superseded national law and he supported the idea of a Southern secession. This stand is made clear in his pamphlet of 1861, "State or Province, Bond or Free?"

American Civil War
In 1861, Pike penned the lyrics to "Dixie to Arms!" At the beginning of the war, Pike was appointed as Confederate envoy to Native American nations. In this capacity he negotiated several treaties, one of the most important being with Cherokee chief John Ross, which was concluded in 1861. At the time, Ross agreed to support the Confederacy, which promised the tribes a Native American state if it won the war. Ross later changed his mind and left Indian Territory, but the succeeding Cherokee government maintained the alliance.

Pike was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army on November 22, 1861, and given a command in the Indian Territory. With Brig. Gen. Ben McCulloch, Pike trained three Confederate regiments of Indian cavalry, most of whom belonged to the "civilized tribes", whose loyalty to the Confederacy was variable. Although initially victorious at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in March 1862, Pike's unit was defeated later in a counterattack, after falling into disarray. When Pike was ordered in May 1862 to send troops to Arkansas, he resigned in protest. As in the previous war, Pike came into conflict with his superior officers, at one time drafting a letter to Jefferson Davis complaining about his direct superior.

After Pea Ridge, it was alleged that Pike's Native American troops had scalped soldiers in the field. The single incident of scalping was, however, done by a Native American acting on his own. Official records submitted to the Headquarters Department of Indian territory reveal that Pike "regarded [the incident] with horror" and that he was personally "angry and disgusted." He also filed a report in which he said it caused him the "utmost pain and regret."

Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman charged Pike with mishandling of money and material, ordering his arrest. The incident arose when Hindman, who had declared martial law in Arkansas, ordered Pike to turn over weapons and Native American Indian treaty funds. Pike thought the action was illegal and refused. Both these charges were later found to be considerably lacking in evidence; nevertheless Pike, facing arrest, escaped into the hills of Arkansas, submitting his resignation from the Confederate States Army on July 12, 1862. He was arrested on November 3 on charges of insubordination and treason, and held briefly in Warren, Texas. His resignation was accepted on November 11, and he was allowed to return to Arkansas.

As Union troops advanced toward the state capital in September 1863, the State Supreme Court retreated to Washington, Arkansas, which was made the new Confederate state capital. Associate Justice Hulbert F. Fairchild resigned because the new location was too far from his family, and Pike was appointed as his replacement.

In the wake of the war, Pike moved to New York City, then for a short time to Canada. On June 24, 1865, Pike applied to President Andrew Johnson for a pardon, disowning his earlier interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. He said he now planned "to pursue the arts of peace, to practice my profession, to live among my books, and to labour to benefit my fellows and my race by other than political courses". President Johnson pardoned him on April 23, 1866.

Later life and death
During the Arkansas political conflict known as the Brooks-Baxter War, Pike was one of the lawyers to speak on behalf of Elisha Baxter.

Pike died on April 2, 1891, at the Scottish Rite Temple of the Supreme Council in Washington DC, at the age of 81, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, despite the fact that he had left instructions for his body to be cremated. In 1944, his remains were moved to the House of the Temple, headquarters of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite. The House of the Temple contains numerous memorials and artifacts related to Pike, including his personal library.

Legacy
A memorial to Pike was erected in 1901 in the Judiciary Square neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The location was appropriate considering that Pike had sued the government to secure Native American rights. The statue portrayed him as a private citizen and Freemason. He was the only former Confederate military officer with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C., and in 2019 Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton called for its removal. On June 19, 2020, protestors tore down the statue and set it ablaze, in connection with the George Floyd protests because of Pike's association with the Confederacy and of his alleged association with the Ku Klux Klan.

The Albert Pike Memorial Temple is an historic Masonic lodge in Little Rock, Arkansas; the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Albert Pike Highway was an auto trail that extended more than 900 mi from Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Colorado Springs, Colorado, crossing the Ozark Mountains and passing through Fort Smith, Muskogee, Tulsa, Dodge City, La Junta and Pueblo.

Masonic baptism
In 1865, Pike publicly performed a ceremony of Masonic baptism in New York City. The ceremony was greeted with skepticism by many American Masons including Albert Mackey, but was based on older European Masonic baptism ceremonies that began in the 1820s. However, some, like the New York Times, reacted positively to the ceremony describing it as "interesting" and "novel." In the ritual, six children were baptized by Pike with water and consecrated oil.

Racism
In the aftermath of the Civil War, as former Confederates found themselves barred from the ballot box, Pike remained deeply opposed to black suffrage, insisting that "the white race, and that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one that is fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall."

Regarding membership in the Freemasons, Pike is quoted as saying, "Prince Hall Lodge was as regular a Lodge as any Lodge created by competent authority. It had a perfect right to establish other Lodges and make itself a Mother Lodge. I am not inclined to meddle in the matter. I took my obligations from white men, not from negroes. When I have to accept negroes as brothers or leave masonry, I shall leave it. Better let the thing drift."

His attitudes towards African-Americans may have changed towards the end of his life. A 1945 letter written by Willard W. Allen, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the United Supreme Council, S.J. Prince Hall Affiliation noted that "what practically all Masonic scholars know very well, viz., that in the closing years of General Pike's Masonic career, he became a very staunch friend of Negro Masonry." Pike had become a personal friend of Thornton A. Jackson, Supreme Grand Commander of the United Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Prince Hall Affiliation and even gifted to Thornton his complete set of rituals for Prince Hall Scottish Rite Masonry to use.

Speculated/Uncertain Involvement in the Ku Klux Klan
Pike first wrote about the Klan in an April 16, 1868 editorial in the Memphis Daily Appeal, indicating that his main problems lay not with its aims, but with its methods and leadership. Later in this editorial, he proposed "one great Order of Southern Brotherhood", a secret society which would have been a larger and more centrally organized version of the Klan: "If it were in our power, if it could be effected, we would unite every white man in the South, who is opposed to negro suffrage, into one great Order of Southern Brotherhood, with an organization complete, active, vigorous, in which a few should execute the concentrated will of all, and whose very existence should be concealed from all but its members."

The U.S. Congress investigated the KKK in 1871 and Pike's name is not mentioned in those records. However only volume 13 of the Report of the Joint Select Committee deals with the Klan in Arkansas, and only a handful of members are named in the report. Similarly, in his testimony before Congress, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest was likewise evasive about the organization's membership rolls. At first, he claimed he could "not recall" the names of any members, later noting that he did not wish to answer any questions about who might or might not be a member. Ultimately, the full membership rosters of the original Ku Klux Klan are poorly known by historians.

However, histories of the Ku Klux Klan published in the early 20th century, before the Klan's 1915 rebirth, identify Pike as a high-ranking official of the order. In 1905's Ku Klux Klan: Its Origin, Growth and Disbandment, the author Walter Lynwood Fleming, lists Pike as the Klan's "chief judicial officer". Susan Lawrence Davis, whose father was a founding member of the Klan in Alabama, writes in her sympathetic account titled Authentic History: Ku Klux Klan, 1865–1877, published in 1924, that Pike was personally chosen by Nathan Bedford Forrest to serve as the Klan's "Chief Judicial Officer" and to head the Klan in Arkansas as "Grand Dragon of that Realm." In 1939's Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871, Stanley Horn, who served as president of the Tennessee Historical Society, also reports that Forrest appointed Pike to lead the Klan in Arkansas and credits him with a surge of local Klan activity in April 1868. Horn says that a pro-Klan poem, "Death's Brigade", is attributed to Pike. Southern Agrarian poet John Gould Fletcher, who grew up in Little Rock in a house that Pike built, also believed Pike was the poem's author.

When the Ku Klux Klan was revived in 1915, there even existed an Albert Pike Klan, a local chapter of the organization based in Illinois.

It was not until 1971 that Allen W. Trelease published White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction, and first cast doubt on Pike's KKK membership as, according to Trelease, the offices that Pike allegedly held are not mentioned in "The Prescript", the Klan constitution. However, the office of Grand Dragon, which Davis claims Pike once held, is explicitly mentioned in the 1867 Klan constitution.

Walter Lee Brown in his 1997 biography of Pike, likewise asserts that Pike was not a member of the Klan. Brown claims the work of Davis, Fleming, and Brown are "unreliable histories", but offers no further evidence other than citing Trelease.

Selected books

 * Indo-Aryan Deities and Worship as Contained in the Rig-Veda (1872)
 * Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (1872)
 * Book of the Words (1874)
 * Reprints of Old Rituals (1879)
 * Esoterika (1887)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Albert Pike


text:
ALF Tales

ALF Tales is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series that aired on NBC from September 10, 1988, to December 9, 1989. The show is a spin-off of ALF: The Animated Series that featured characters from that series playing various characters from fairy tales. The fairy tale parody was usually altered for comedic effect in a manner akin to Jay Ward's "Fractured Fairy Tales".

The episodes were performed in the style of a resident theater company or ensemble cast where Gordon and Rhonda would take the leading male and female roles, and the other characters were cast according to their characteristics.

Many stories spoof a film genre, such as the "Cinderella" episode which is presented like an Elvis Presley film. Some episodes featured a "fourth wall" effect where Gordon is backstage preparing for the episode, and Rob Cowan would appear drawn as a TV executive (who introduced himself as "Roger Cowan, network executive") who tries to brief Gordon on how to improve the episode. For instance Cowan once told Gordon who was readying for a medieval themed episode that "less than 2% of our audience lives in the Dark Ages".

Voice cast

 * Paul Fusco as ALF (Gordon Shumway), Rick Fusterman
 * Paulina Gillis ) as Augie, Rhonda
 * Peggy Mahon as Flo
 * Thick Wilson as Larson Petty, Bob
 * Dan Hennessey as Sloop
 * Rob Cowan as Skip
 * Ellen-Ray Hennessy as Stella the Waitress
 * Noam Zylberman as Curtis (1988)
 * Michael Fantini as Curtis (1989)

Home media
The first seven episodes were released on DVD on May 30, 2006, in Region 1 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment in a single-disc release entitled ALF and The Beanstalk and Other Classic Fairy Tales.

The complete series was remastered and subsequently released on October 17, 2023, by Shout! Factory in the DVD box set ALF: The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition). The box set release also included the original 1986–90 sitcom, ALF: The Animated Series and Project: ALF.

title: ALF Tales


text:
Talk:Religious denominations in Poland

Regarding the Pope's cross at Auschwitz -- which camp is it outside? Camp I, II or III? If it is at Camp I (where the museum is), I might point out that few Jews were murdered at Camp I, they were mostly murdered at Camp II. Most of the people murdered at Camp I were Poles (i.e. Catholics) or Soviet POWs. How then can it be disrespectful to Jews to put a cross up outside a camp that was used mainly to kill Catholics and other non-Jews? -- SJK

I don't know how camps were numerated, but it was placed it this camp which was made in ex-barracks (the oldest one). It is disrespectful, because the policy of Auschwitz museum was: "no religious symbols", and Catholic fundamentals put this cross without asking or informing anyone, even museum council. Moreover, tt was rather political than religious initiative, and using Auschwitz for politics isn't very respectful for those who died there. Taw

 * Polish law places Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish communities on the same legal footing.
 * Not really. Catholic Church has a lot of priviledges that no other religious group has. Taw

The article text is duplicated in a big part. As there are minor differences, that I don't feel able to resolve, I would like to ask somebody to remove the duplication. Matusz 14:29, 1 Oct 2003 (UTC)

IMO the section "Threats to religious freedom" has nothing to do with the topic. Antisemitism is totally separate issue. It is not about the rights of Jews to practice their religion (what actually "religious freedom" means). It about the Jews as people. Therefore the section should be moved elsewhere. At least it shouldn't be the very top of the article. It is against the logical structure of encyclopedias. Mikkalai 17:19, 4 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * I don't follow your logic. Anti-Semitism is, by definition, an infringement on the ability of Jews to practice Judaism.
 * By whose definition? My logic is within wikipedia. If you really want to follow my logic, please read Anti-semitism, Roots of anti-Semitism, and Religious freedom first. Simply put, antisemitism is an extremely acute, multirooted form of xenophobia. If you really want to discuss the issue with me further, I suggest to continue the talk on my personal page. Mikkalai 18:17, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * A synagogue in my own town was fire-bombed last year. It was an anti-Semitic act, and the Arab immigrant perpetrators who were caught admitted this. Back in the early 1990s, New York City policemen told me not to wear a yarmulka in certain neighborhoods, because of anti-Semitic black mobs that beat up Jews by the dozen. Last week in New York a Jewish neighborhood was covered in swastikas. All this restricts the right of Jews to worship; we are afraid to practice our own faith when people beat us up, paint swastikas, and bomb our houses of worship. Just look at at the anti-Semitic arsons against Temples and bombings if Temples in England, Turkey and Israel. It is literally impossible to separate anti-Semitism from religious discrimination. RK 13:16, Dec 5, 2003 (UTC)
 * It is possible, if you knew the history of Jews (it could be difficult though). But do you really think punks and skinheads really care about God? Desecration is just the way to hit harder, rather than "to restrict the right of Jews to worship", just like pogroms were *not* about "to restrict the right of Jews to own property". Mikkalai 18:17, 5 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I've moved a large block of unformatted Polish text out of the article - it's a list of names of religious dominations but even so I don't think it's helpful without a translation there as well. Here it is. Onebyone 00:33, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * ŚWIECKI RUCH MISYJNY "EPIFANIA"
 * ZRZESZENIE WOLNYCH BADACZY PISMA ŚWIĘTEGO W RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ
 * STOWARZYSZENIE BADACZY PISMA ŚWIĘTEGO W POLSCE
 * URZĄD APOSTOLSKI JEZUSA CHRYSTUSA
 * KOŚCIÓŁ CHRZEŚCIJAN DNIA SOBOTNIEGO
 * JEDNOTA BRACI POLSKICH
 * KOŚCIÓŁ JEZUSA CHRYSTUSA ŚWIĘTYCH W DNIACH OSTATNICH (MORMONI)
 * ZWIĄZEK BUDDYSTÓW ZEN "BODHIDHARMA"
 * EWANGELICZNA WSPÓLNOTA ZIELONOŚWIĄTKOWA
 * KOŚCIÓŁ WOLNYCH CHRZEŚCIJAN W RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ
 * SZKOŁA "ZEN KWAM UM" W POLSCE
 * KOŚCIÓŁ CHRYSTUSOWY W POLSCE
 * KOŚCIÓŁ NOWOAPOSTOLSKI W POLSCE
 * ZWIĄZEK BUDDYJSKI KARMA KAGYU
 * STOWARZYSZENIE ZBORÓW CHRZEŚCIJAN
 * ZWIĄZEK AJAPA YOGA
 * CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKA WSPÓLNOTA ZIELONOŚWIĄTKOWA
 * ZWIĄZEK BADACZY BIBLII W RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ
 * LECTORIUM ROSICRUCIANUM, MIĘDZYNARODOWA SZKOŁA ZŁOTEGO RÓŻOKRZYŻA
 * STOWARZYSZENIE BUDDYJSKIE SANGHA "KANDZEON"
 * ŚWIATOWY UNIWERSYTET DUCHOWY BRAHMA KUMARIS W POLSCE
 * EWANGELICZNY ZWIĄZEK BRATERSKI
 * KOŚCIÓŁ ZBORÓW CHRYSTUSOWYCH
 * KOŚCIÓŁ CHRZEŚCIJAN WIARY EWANGELICZNEJ W RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ
 * KOŚCIÓŁ EWANGELICZNYCH CHRZEŚCIJAN
 * KOŚCIÓŁ BOŻY W CHRYSTUSIE
 * "WSPÓLNOTA BEZ BRAM" MUMON - KAI ZWIĄZEK BUDDYJSKI ZEN RINZAI W RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ
 * MIĘDZYNARODOWE TOWARZYSTWO ŚWIADOMOŚCI KRYSZNY
 * UCZNIOWIE DUCHA ŚWIĘTEGO (STOWARZYSZENIE PANUNISTYCZNE)
 * BUDDYJSKA WSPÓLNOTA ZEN KANNON
 * STOWARZYSZENIE JEDNOŚCI MUZUŁMAŃSKIEJ
 * STRAŻNICA - TOWARZYSTWO BIBLIJNE I TRAKTATOWE. ZAREJESTROWANY ZWIĄZEK WYZNANIA ŚWIADKÓW JEHOWY
 * KOŚCIÓŁ ZJEDNOCZENIOWY CZYLI RUCH POD WEZWANIEM DUCHA ŚWIĘTEGO DLA ZJEDNOCZENIA CHRZEŚCIJAŃSTWA ŚWIATOWEGO
 * KOŚCIÓŁ EWANGELICZNY "MISJA ŁASKI"
 * RUCH ŚWIADOMOŚCI BABADŻI HERAKHANDI SAMADŹ
 * STOWARZYSZENIE CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKIEJ NAUKI. ZWIĄZEK WYZNANIOWY.
 * ZBÓR CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKI W RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ
 * CENTRUM BIBLIJNE "JEZUS JEST PANEM"
 * ZBÓR EWANGELICKO-BAPTYSTYCZNY W KATOWICACH
 * ZBÓR EWANGELICZNYCH CHRZEŚCIJAN W DUCHU APOSTOLSKIM
 * CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKA WSPÓLNOTA EWANGELICZNA
 * ZBÓR STANOWCZYCH CHRZEŚCIJAN W RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ POLSKIEJ
 * ADWENTYŚCI DNIA SIÓDMEGO PORUSZENIE REFORMACYJNE
 * INSTYTUT WIEDZY O TOŻSAMOŚCI "MISJA CZAITANII"
 * STOWARZYSZENIE MUZUŁMAŃSKIE AHMADIYYA
 * KOŚCIÓŁ REFORMOWANY ADWENTYSTÓW DNIA SIÓDMEGO W POLSCE
 * MISJA "CENTRUM SŁUŻBY ŻYCIA"
 * ISLAMSKIE ZGROMADZENIE AHL-UL-BAYT
 * KOŚCIÓŁ CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKI W DUCHU PRAWDY I POKOJU
 * STOWARZYSZENIE ŚWIADOMOŚCI DUCHOWEJ MIŁOŚCI
 * ZACHODNI ZAKON SUFI W POLSCE
 * HAVURAH LELIMUD JAHADUT BRACTWO DLA POZNAWANIA JUDAIZMU
 * ZBÓR EWANGELICZNY "AGAPE" W POZNANIU
 * WSPÓLNOTA CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKA "POJEDNANIE"
 * ZBORY BOŻE CHRZEŚCIJAN DNIA SIÓDMEGO
 * CHRZEŚCIJAŃSKA WSPÓLNOTA JEZUS PANEM
 * ZWIĄZEK WYZNANIOWY "WIERZĘ W DOBRO CZŁOWIEKA"
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Move
I've moved this article from Religious freedom in Poland to Religious denominations in Poland because that's what it is in fact. However, it would be good to have a separate articles on religious freedom in Poland and anti-Semitism in Poland, preferably from a historic POV.

--Kpalion 21:30, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Number of Polish citizens who consider themselves Roman Catholics: 35, 033,087, or 94 percent of the population.
 * That's not true. This is only number of people that were baptised and didn't change their religion or commit apostasy. Many of them don't consider themselves to be Roman Catholics. I'd change it but I don't know english well enaugh. -- (Glonojad from polish Wikipedia) 193.24.220.109 11:26, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Religious denominations in Poland


text:
Abdul Rashid Dostum

Abdul Rashid Dostum (Uzbek Latin: Abdurrashid Do'stum, Uzbek Cyrillic: Абдуррашид Дўстум, ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan warlord, exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish-e Milli. Dostum was a major army commander in the communist government during the Soviet–Afghan War, and in 2001 was a key indigenous ally to U.S. Special Forces and the CIA during the campaign to topple the Taliban government. He is one of the most powerful warlords since the beginning of the Afghan wars, known for siding with winners during different wars. Dostum has also referred to as a kingmaker due to his significant role in Afghan politics.

An ethnic Uzbek from a peasant family in Jawzjan province, Dostum joined the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) as a teenager before enlisting in the Afghan National Army and training as a paratrooper, serving in his native region around Sheberghan. Soon with the start of the Soviet–Afghan War, Dostum commanded a KHAD militia and eventually gained a reputation, often defeating mujahideen commanders in northern Afghanistan and even persuading some to defect to the communist cause. Much of the country's north was in strong government control as a result. He achieved several promotions in the army and was honored as a "Hero of Afghanistan" by President Mohammed Najibullah in 1988. By this time he was commanding up to 45,000 troops in the region under his responsibility.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Dostum played a central role in the collapse of Najibullah's government by "defecting" to the mujahideen; the division-sized loyal forces he commanded in the north became an independent paramilitary of his newly founded party called Junbish-e Milli. He allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and together they captured Kabul, before another civil war loomed. Initially supporting the new government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, he switched sides in 1994 by allying with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, but he backed Rabbani again by 1996. During this time he remained in control of the country's north which functioned as a relatively stable proto-state, but remained a loose partner of Massoud in the Northern Alliance. A year later, Mazar-i-Sharif was overrun by his former aide Abdul Malik Pahlawan, resulting in a battle in which he regained control. In 1998, the city was overrun by the Taliban and Dostum fled the country until returning to Afghanistan in 2001, joining the Northern Alliance forces after the US invasion and leading his loyal faction in the Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif.

After the fall of the Taliban, he joined interim president Hamid Karzai's administration as Deputy Defense Minister and later served as chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Afghan Army, a role often viewed as ceremonial. His militia feuded with forces loyal to general Atta Muhammad Nur. Dostum was a candidate in the 2004 elections, and was an ally of victorious Karzai in the 2009 elections. From 2011, he was part of the leadership council of the National Front of Afghanistan along with Ahmad Zia Massoud and Mohammad Mohaqiq. He served as Vice President of Afghanistan in Ashraf Ghani's administration from 2014 to 2020. In 2020, he was promoted to the rank of marshal after a political agreement between Ghani and former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

Dostum is a controversial figure in Afghanistan. He is seen as a capable and fierce military leader and remains wildly popular among the Uzbek community in the country. Many of his supporters call him "Pasha" (پاشا), an honorable Uzbek/Turkic term. However, he has also been widely accused of committing atrocities and war crimes, most notoriously the suffocation of up to 1,000 Taliban fighters in the Dasht-i-Leili massacre, and he was widely feared among the populace. In 2018, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was reported to be considering launching an inquiry into whether Dostum had engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan.

Early life
Dostum was born in 1954 in Khwaja Du Koh near Sheberghan in Jowzjan province, Afghanistan. Coming from an impoverished ethnic Uzbek family, he received a very basic traditional education as he was forced to drop out of school at a young age. From there, he took up work in the village's major gas fields.

Career
Dostum began working in 1970 in a state-owned gas refinery in Sheberghan, participating in union politics, as the new government started to arm the staff of the workers in the oil and gas refineries. The reason for this was to create "groups for the Defense of the Revolution". Because of the new communist ideas entering Afghanistan in the 1970s, he enlisted in the Afghan National Army in 1978. Dostum received his basic military training in Jalalabad. His squadron was deployed in the rural areas around Sheberghan, under the auspices of the Ministry of National Security. According to photographic evidence, Dostum additionally received airborne training and still chooses to wear two first-class "Master Paratrooper" Afghan jump wings.

As a Parcham member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), he was exiled by the purge of the party's Khalqist leaders, living in Peshawar, Pakistan for a while. After the Soviet invasion (Operation Storm-333) and installation of Babrak Karmal as head of state, Dostum returned to Afghanistan where he started commanding a local pro-government militia in his native Jawzjan Province.

Soviet–Afghan War
By the mid-1980s, he commanded around 20,000 militia men and controlled the northern provinces of Afghanistan. While the unit recruited throughout Jowzjan and had a relatively broad base, many of its early troops and commanders came from Dostum's home village. He left the army after the purge of Parchamites, but returned after the Soviet occupation began.

During the Soviet–Afghan War, Dostum was commanding a militia battalion to fight and rout mujahideen forces; he had been appointed an officer due to prior military experience. This eventually became a regiment and later became incorporated into the defense forces as the 53rd Infantry Division. Dostum and his new division reported directly to President Mohammad Najibullah. Later on he became the commander of the military unit 374 in Jowzjan. He defended the Soviet-backed Afghan government against the mujahideen forces throughout the 1980s. While he was only a regional commander, he had largely raised his forces by himself. The Jowzjani militia Dostum controlled was one of the few in the country which was able to be deployed outside its own region. They were deployed in Kandahar in 1988 when Soviet forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Due to his efforts in the army, Dostum was awarded the title "Hero of the Republic of Afghanistan" by President Najibullah.

Civil war and northern Afghanistan autonomous state
Dostum's men would become an important force in the fall of Kabul in 1992, with Dostum deciding to defect from Najibullah and allying himself with opposition commanders Ahmad Shah Massoud and Sayed Jafar Naderi, the head of the Isma'ili community, and together they captured the capital city. With the help of fellow defectors Mohammad Nabi Azimi and Abdul Wakil, his forces entered Kabul by air in the afternoon of 14 April. He and Massoud fought in a coalition against Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Massoud and Dostum's forces joined to defend Kabul against Hekmatyar. Some 4,000–5,000 of his troops, units of his Sheberghan-based 53rd Division and Balkh-based Guards Division, garrisoning Bala Hissar fort, Maranjan Hill and Khwaja Rawash Airport, where they stopped Najibullah from entering to flee.

Dostum then left Kabul for his northern stronghold Mazar-i-Sharif, where he ruled, in effect, an independent region (or 'proto-state'), often referred as the Northern Autonomous Zone. He printed his own Afghan currency, ran a small airline named Balkh Air, and formed relations with countries like Uzbekistan effectively creating his own proto-state with an army of up to 40,000 men, and with tanks supplied by Uzbekistan and Russia. While the rest of the country was in chaos, his region remained prosperous and functional, and it won him the support from people of all ethnic groups. Many people fled to his territory to escape the violence and fundamentalism imposed by the Taliban later on. In 1994, Dostum allied himself with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar against the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Massoud, but in 1995 sided with the government again.

Taliban era
Following the rise of the Taliban and their capture of Kabul, Dostum aligned himself with the Northern Alliance (United Front) against the Taliban. The Northern Alliance was assembled in late 1996 by Dostum, Massoud and Karim Khalili against the Taliban. At this point he is said to have had a force of some 50,000 men supported by both aircraft and tanks.

Much like other Northern Alliance leaders, Dostum also faced infighting within his group and was later forced to surrender his power to General Abdul Malik Pahlawan. Malik entered into secret negotiations with the Taliban, who promised to respect his authority over much of northern Afghanistan, in exchange for the apprehension of Ismail Khan, one of their enemies. Accordingly, on 25 May 1997, Malik arrested Khan, handed him over and let the Taliban enter Mazar-e-Sharif, giving them control over most of northern Afghanistan. Because of this, Dostum was forced to flee to Turkey. However, Malik soon realized that the Taliban were not sincere with their promises as he saw his men being disarmed. He then rejoined the Northern Alliance, and turned against his erstwhile allies, driving them from Mazar-e-Sharif. In October 1997, Dostum returned from exile and retook charge. After Dostum briefly regained control of Mazar-e-Sharif, the Taliban returned in 1998 and he again fled to Turkey.

Operation Enduring Freedom
Dostum returned to Afghanistan in May 2001 to open up a new front before the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban joined him, along with Commander Massoud, Ismail Khan and Mohammad Mohaqiq. On 17 October 2001, the CIA's eight-man Team Alpha, including Johnny Micheal Spann landed in the Dar-e-Suf to link up with Dostum. Three days later, the 12 members of Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595 landed to join forces with Dostum and Team Alpha. Dostum, the Tajik commander Atta Muhammad Nur and their American allies defeated Taliban forces and recaptured Mazar-i-Sharif on 10 November 2001.

On 24 November 2001, 15,000 Taliban soldiers were due to surrender after the Siege of Kunduz to American and Northern Alliance forces. Instead, 400 Al-Qaeda prisoners arrived just outside Mazar-i-Sharif. After they surrendered to Dostum, they were transferred to the 19th century garrison fortress, Qala-i-Jangi. The next day, while being questioned by CIA officers Spann and David Tyson, they used concealed weapons to revolt, triggering what became the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi against the guards. The uprising was finally brought under control after six days.

Dasht-i-Leili massacre
Dostum has been accused by Western journalists of responsibility for the suffocating or otherwise killing of Taliban prisoners in December 2001, with the number of victims estimated as 2,000. In 2009, Dostum denied the accusations and US President Obama ordered an investigation into the massacre.

Karzai administration
In the aftermath of Taliban's removal from northern Afghanistan, forces loyal to Dostum frequently clashed with Tajik forces loyal to Atta Muhammad Nur. Atta's men kidnapped and killed a number of Dostum's men, and constantly agitated to gain control of Mazar-e-Sharif. Through the political mediations of the Karzai administration, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the United Nations, the Dostum-Atta feud gradually declined, leading to their alignment in a new political party.

Dostum served as deputy defense minister the early period of the Karzai administration. On 20 May 2003, Dostum narrowly escaped an assassination attempt. He was often residing outside Afghanistan, mainly in Turkey. In February 2008, he was suspended after the apparent kidnapping and torture of a political rival.

Time in Turkey
Some media reports in 2008 stated earlier that Dostum was "seeking political asylum" in Turkey while others said he was exiled. One Turkish media outlet said Dostum was visiting after flying there with then Turkey's Foreign Minister Ali Babacan during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

On 16 August 2009, Dostum was asked to return from exile to Afghanistan to support President Hamid Karzai in his bid for re-election. He later flew by helicopter to his northern stronghold of Sheberghan, where he was greeted by thousands of his supporters in the local stadium. He subsequently made overtures to the United States, promising he could "destroy the Taliban and al Qaeda" if supported by the U.S., saying that "the U.S. needs strong friends like Dostum."

Ghani administration
On 7 October 2013, the day after filing his nomination for the 2014 general elections as running mate of Ashraf Ghani, Dostum issued a press statement that some news media were willing to welcome as "apologies": "Many mistakes were made during the civil war (…) It is time we apologize to the Afghan people who were sacrificed due to our negative policies (…) I apologize to the people who suffered from the violence and civil war (…)".

Dostum was directly chosen as First Vice President of Afghanistan in the April–June 2014 Afghan presidential election, next to Ashraf Ghani as president and Sarwar Danish as second vice president.

In July 2016, Human Rights Watch accused Abdul Rashid Dostum's National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan of killing, abusing and looting civilians in the northern Faryab Province during June. Militia forces loyal to Dostum stated that the civilians they targeted – at least 13 killed and 32 wounded – were supporters of the Taliban.

In November 2016, at a buzkashi match, he punched his political rival Ahmad Ischi, and then his bodyguards beat Ischi. In 2017, he was accused of having Ischi kidnapped in that incident and raped with a gun on camera during a five-day detention, claims that Dostum denies but that nevertheless forced him into exile in Turkey.

On 26 July 2018, he narrowly escaped a suicide bombing by ISIL-KP as he returned to Afghanistan at Kabul airport. Just after Dostum's convoy departed the airport, an attacker armed with a suicide vest bombed a crowd of several hundred people celebrating his return at the entrance to the airport. The attack killed 14 and injured 50, including civilians and armed security.

On 30 March 2019, Dostum again escaped an expected assassination attempt while traveling from Mazar-e-Sharif to Jawzjan Province, though two of his bodyguards were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the second in eight months.

On 11 August 2021 during the Taliban's nationwide offensive, Dostum, along with Atta Muhammad Nur, led the government's defence of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Three days later, they fled across Hairatan to Uzbekistan. Atta Nur claimed that they were forced to flee due to a "conspiracy". Both men later pled allegiance to the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, the remaining remnants of the collapsed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Dostum, Atta, Yunus Qanuni, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and some other political figures formed the Supreme Council of National Resistance of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in opposition to the new Taliban regime in October 2021.

Political and social views
Dostum is considered to be liberal and somewhat leftist. Being ethnic Uzbek, he has worked on the battlefield with leaders from all other major ethnic groups, Hazaras, Tajiks and Pashtuns. When Dostum was ruling his northern Afghanistan proto-state before the Taliban took over in 1998, women were able to go about unveiled, girls were allowed to go to school and study at the University of Balkh, cinemas showed Indian films, music played on television, and Russian vodka and German beer were openly available: activities which were all banned by the Taliban.

"We will not submit to a government where there is no whisky and no music."

He viewed the ISAF forces attempt to crush the Taliban as ineffective and has gone on record saying in 2007 that he could mop up the Taliban "in six months" if allowed to raise a 10,000 strong army of Afghan veterans. As of 2007, senior Afghan government officials did not trust Dostum as they were concerned that he might be secretly rearming his forces.

Personal life
Dostum is more than 183 cm tall and has been described as "beefy". He generally prefers to wear a Soviet-style camouflage military uniform, previously having worn KLMK, having a trademark bushy moustache.

Dostum was married to a woman named Khadija. According to Brian Glyn Williams, Khadija had an accidental death in the 1990s which broke Dostum as he "really loved his wife". Dostum eventually remarried after Khadija's death.

He named one of his sons Mustafa Kamal, after the founder of the modern Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Dostum has spent a considerable amount of time in Turkey, and some of his family reside there.

Dostum is known to drink alcohol, a rarity in Afghanistan, and apparently a fan of Russian vodka. He reportedly suffered from diabetes. In 2014 when he became vice president, Dostum reportedly gave up drinking for healthy meals and morning jogs.

In popular culture

 * Navid Negahban portrays Dostum in the 2018 film 12 Strong.
 * Dostum appears as a playing card in the board game A Distant Plain.

title: Abdul Rashid Dostum