text:
Yitzhak Rabin

Yitzhak Rabin (יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until his assassination in 1995.

Rabin was born in Jerusalem to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and was raised in a Labor Zionist household. He learned agriculture in school and excelled as a student. He led a 27-year career as a soldier and ultimately attained the rank of Rav Aluf, the most senior rank in the Israeli Defense Force (often translated as lieutenant general). As a teenager he joined the Palmach, the commando force of the Yishuv. He eventually rose through its ranks to become its chief of operations during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He joined the newly formed Israel Defense Forces in late 1948 and continued to rise as a promising officer. He helped shape the training doctrine of the IDF in the early 1950s, and led the IDF's Operations Directorate from 1959 to 1963. He was appointed chief of the general staff in 1964 and oversaw Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Rabin served as Israel's ambassador to the United States from 1968 to 1973, during a period of deepening U.S.–Israel ties. He was appointed Prime Minister of Israel in 1974 after the resignation of Golda Meir. In his first term, Rabin signed the Sinai Interim Agreement and ordered the Entebbe raid. He resigned in 1977 in the wake of a financial scandal. Rabin was Israel's minister of defense for much of the 1980s, including during the outbreak of the First Intifada.

In 1992, Rabin was re-elected as prime minister on a platform embracing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. He signed several historic agreements with the Palestinian leadership as part of the Oslo Accords. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with long-time political rival Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Rabin also signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994. In November 1995, he was assassinated by Yigal Amir, an extremist who opposed the terms of the Oslo Accords. Amir was convicted of Rabin's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Rabin was the first native-born prime minister of Israel, the only prime minister to be assassinated, and the second to die in office after Levi Eshkol. Rabin has become a symbol of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.

Family background
Rabin was born at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on 1 March 1922, Mandatory Palestine, to Nehemiah (1886 – 1 December 1971) and Rosa (née Cohen; 1890 – 12 November 1937) Rabin, immigrants of the Third Aliyah, the third wave of Jewish immigration to Palestine from Europe. Nehemiah was born Nehemiah Rubitzov in the shtetl Sydorovychi near Ivankiv in the southern Pale of Settlement (present-day Ukraine). His father Menachem died when he was a boy, and Nehemiah worked to support his family from an early age. At the age of 18, he emigrated to the United States, where he joined the Poale Zion party and changed his surname to Rabin. In 1917, Nehemiah Rabin went to Mandatory Palestine with a group of volunteers from the Jewish Legion.

Yitzhak's mother, Rosa Cohen, was born in 1890 in Mogilev in Belarus. Her father, a rabbi, opposed the Zionist movement and sent Rosa to a Christian high school for girls in Gomel, which gave her a broad general education. Early on, Rosa took an interest in political and social causes. In 1919, she traveled to Palestine on the steamship Ruslan. After working on a kibbutz on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, she moved to Jerusalem.

Rabin's parents met in Jerusalem during the 1920 Nebi Musa riots. They moved to Tel Aviv's Chlenov Street near Jaffa in 1923. Nehemiah became a worker for the Palestine Electric Corporation and Rosa was an accountant and local activist. She became a member of the Tel Aviv City Council. The family moved again in 1931 to a two-room apartment on Hamagid Street in Tel Aviv.

Early life and education
Yitzhak (Isaac) Rabin grew up in Tel Aviv, where the family relocated when he was one year old. He enrolled in the Tel Aviv Beit Hinuch Leyaldei Ovdim (בית חינוך לילדי עובדים, "School House for Workers' Children") in 1928 and completed his studies there in 1935. The school taught the children agriculture as well as Zionism. Rabin mostly received good marks in school, but he was so shy that few people knew he was intelligent.

In 1935, Rabin enrolled at an agricultural school on kibbutz Givat Hashlosha that his mother founded. It was here in 1936 at the age of 14 that Rabin joined the Haganah and received his first military training, learning how to use a pistol and stand guard. He joined a socialist-Zionist youth movement, HaNoar HaOved.

In 1937, he enrolled at the two-year Kadoorie Agricultural High School. He excelled in a number of agriculture-related subjects but disliked studying English language—the language of the British "enemy." He originally aspired to be an irrigation engineer, but his interest in military affairs intensified in 1938, when the ongoing Arab revolt worsened. A young Haganah sergeant named Yigal Allon, later a general in the IDF and prominent politician, trained Rabin and others at Kadoorie. Rabin finished at Kadoorie in August 1940. For part of 1939, the British closed Kadoorie, and Rabin joined Allon as a security guard at Kibbutz Ginosar until the school re-opened. When he finished school, Rabin considered studying irrigation engineering on scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley, although he ultimately decided to stay and fight in Palestine.

Marriage and family

Rabin married Leah Schlossberg during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Leah Rabin was working at the time as a reporter for a Palmach newspaper. They had two children, Dalia (born 19 March 1950) and Yuval (born 18 June 1955). Similar to the entire Israeli elite of the time, Rabin adhered to a secular-national understanding of Jewish identity, and was non-religious. American diplomat Dennis Ross described him as "the most secular Jew he had met in Israel".

Palmach
In 1941, during his practical training at kibbutz Ramat Yohanan, Rabin joined the newly formed Palmach section of the Haganah, under the influence of Yigal Allon. Rabin could not yet operate a machine gun, drive a car, or ride a motorcycle, but Moshe Dayan accepted the new recruit. The first operation he participated in was assisting the allied invasion of Lebanon, then held by Vichy French forces (the same operation in which Dayan lost his eye) in June–July 1941. Allon continued to train the young Palmach forces.

As a Palmachnik, Rabin and his men had to lie low to avoid arousing inquiry from the British administration. They spent most of their time farming, training secretly part-time. They wore no uniforms and received no public recognition during this time. In 1943, Rabin took command of a platoon at Kfar Giladi. He trained his men in modern tactics and how to conduct lightning attacks.

After the end of the war the relationship between the Palmach and the British authorities became strained, especially with respect to the treatment of Jewish immigration. In October 1945 Rabin planned a Palmach raid on the Atlit detainee camp in which 208 Jewish illegal immigrants who had been interned there were freed. In the Black Shabbat, a massive British operation against the leaders of the Jewish Establishment in the British Mandate of Palestine and the Palmach, Rabin was arrested and detained for five months. After his release he became the commander of the second Palmach battalion and rose to the position of Chief Operations Officer of the Palmach in October 1947.

IDF service
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Rabin directed Israeli operations in Jerusalem and fought the Egyptian army in the Negev. During the beginning of the war he was the commander of the Harel Brigade, which fought on the road to Jerusalem from the coastal plain, including the Israeli "Burma Road", as well as many battles in Jerusalem, such as securing the southern side of the city by recapturing kibbutz Ramat Rachel.

During the first truce Rabin commanded IDF forces on the beach of Tel Aviv confronting the Irgun during the Altalena Affair.

In the following period he was the deputy commander of Operation Danny, the largest scale operation to that point, which involved four IDF brigades. The cities of Ramle and Lydda were captured, as well as the major airport in Lydda, as part of the operation. Following the capture of the two towns there was an expulsion of their Arab population. Rabin signed the expulsion order, which included the following:

"... 1. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age. ... 2. Implement immediately." Later, Rabin was chief of operations for the Southern Front and participated in the major battles ending the fighting there, including Operation Yoav and Operation Horev.

In the beginning of 1949 he was a member of the Israeli delegation to the armistice talks with Egypt that were held on the island of Rhodes. The result of the negotiations were the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which ended the official hostilities of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Following the demobilization at the end of the war he was the most senior (former) member of the Palmach that remained in the IDF.

Like many Palmach leaders, Rabin was politically aligned with the left wing pro-Soviet Ahdut HaAvoda party and later Mapam. These officers were distrusted by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and several resigned from the army in 1953 after a series of confrontations. Those members of Mapam who remained, such as Rabin, Haim Bar-Lev and David Elazar, had to endure several years in staff or training posts before resuming their careers.

Rabin headed Israel's Northern Command from 1956 to 1959. In 1964 he was appointed chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) by Levi Eshkol, who had replaced David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. Since Eshkol did not have much military experience and trusted Rabin's judgement, he had a very free hand. According to the memoirs of Eshkol's military secretary, Eshkol followed Rabin "with closed eyes".

Under his command, the IDF achieved victory over Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the Six-Day War in 1967. After the Old City of Jerusalem was captured by the IDF, Rabin was among the first to visit the Old City, and delivered a famous speech on Mount Scopus, at the Hebrew University. In the days leading up to the war, it was reported that Rabin suffered a nervous breakdown and was unable to function. After this short hiatus, he resumed full command over the IDF.

Ambassador to the United States (1968–1973)
Following his retirement from the IDF he became ambassador to the United States beginning in 1968, serving for five years. In this period the US became the major weapon supplier of Israel and in particular he managed to get the embargo on the F-4 Phantom fighter jets lifted. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War he served in no official capacity.

Minister of Labour
In the elections held at the end of 1973, Rabin was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Alignment. He was appointed Israeli Minister of Labour in March 1974 in the short-lived Golda Meir-led 16th government.

First term as Prime Minister (1974–1977)
Following Golda Meir's resignation in April 1974, Rabin was elected party leader, after he defeated Shimon Peres. The rivalry between these two Labour leaders remained fierce and they competed several times in the next two decades for the leadership role, and even for who deserved credit for government achievements. Rabin succeeded Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel on 3 June 1974. This was a coalition government, including Ratz, the Independent Liberals, Progress and Development and the Arab List for Bedouins and Villagers. This arrangement, with a bare parliamentary majority, held for a few months and was one of the few periods in Israel's history where the religious parties were not part of the coalition. The National Religious Party joined the coalition on 30 October 1974 and Ratz left on 6 November.

In foreign policy, the major development at the beginning of Rabin's term was the Sinai Interim Agreement between Israel and Egypt, signed on 1 September 1975. Both countries declared that the conflict between them and in the Middle East shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means. This agreement followed Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy and a threatened "reassessment" of the United States' regional policy and its relations with Israel. Rabin notes it was "an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American–Israeli relations." But the agreement was an important step towards the Camp David Accords of 1978 and the peace treaty with Egypt signed in 1979.

Operation Entebbe was perhaps the most dramatic event during Rabin's first term of office. On his orders, the IDF performed a long-range undercover raid to rescue passengers of an airliner hijacked by militants belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's Wadie Haddad faction and the German Revolutionary Cells (RZ), who had been brought to Idi Amin's Uganda. The operation was generally considered a tremendous success, and its spectacular character has made it the subject of much continued comment and study.

Towards the end of 1976 his coalition government with the religious parties suffered a crisis: A motion of no confidence had been brought by Agudat Yisrael over a breach of the Sabbath on an Israeli Air Force base when four F-15 jets were delivered from the US and the National Religious Party had abstained. Rabin dissolved his government and decided on new elections, which were to be held in May 1977.

Rabin was narrowly reelected as party leader over Shimon Peres in February 1977.

Following the March 1977 meeting between Rabin and U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Rabin publicly announced that the U.S. supported the Israeli idea of defensible borders; Carter then issued a clarification. A "fallout" in U.S./Israeli relations ensued. It is thought that the fallout contributed to the Israeli Labor Party's defeat in the May 1977 elections. On 15 March 1977, Haaretz journalist Dan Margalit revealed that a joint dollar account in the names of Yitzhak and Leah Rabin, opened in a Washington, D.C., bank during Rabin's term of office as Israel ambassador (1968–73), was still open, in breach of Israeli law. According to Israeli currency regulations at the time, it was illegal for citizens to maintain foreign bank accounts without prior authorization. Rabin resigned on 7 April 1977, following the revelation by Maariv journalist S. Isaac Mekel that the Rabins held two accounts in Washington, not one, containing $10,000, and that a Finance Ministry administrative penalty committee fined them IL150,000. Rabin withdrew from the party leadership and candidacy for prime minister.

Opposition Knesset member (1977–1984)
Following Labour Party's defeat in the 1977 election, Likud's Menachem Begin became prime minister, and Labor (which was part of the Alignment alliance) entered the opposition. Until 1984 Rabin, as a member of Knesset, sat on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Rabin unsuccessfully challenged Shimon Peres for Israeli Labor Party leadership in the 1980 Israeli Labor Party leadership election.

Minister of Defense (1984–1990)
From 1984 until 1990, Labor was in government as part of the coalitions which formed the 21st and 22nd governments during the 11th Knesset and the 23rd government during the first portion of the 10th Knesset.

From 1984 to 1990, Rabin served as Minister of Defense in several national unity governments led by prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres. When Rabin came to office, Israeli troops were still deep in Lebanon. Rabin ordered their withdrawal to a "Security Zone" on the Lebanese side of the border. The South Lebanon Army was active in this zone, along with the Israeli Defence Forces.

On 4 August 1985 Minister of Defence Rabin introduced an Iron Fist policy in the West Bank, reviving the use of British Mandate era legislation to detain people without trial, demolish houses, close newspapers and institutions as well as deporting activists. The change in policy came after a sustained public campaign demanding a tougher policy following the May 1985 prisoner exchange in which 1,150 Palestinians had been released.

When the first Intifada broke out, Rabin adopted harsh measures to stop the violent riots, even authorizing the use of "Force, might and beatings," on the rioters. The derogative term the "bone breaker" was used as a critical International slogan. The combination of the failure of the "Iron Fist" policy, Israel's deteriorating international image, and Jordan cutting legal and administrative ties to the West Bank with the U.S.'s recognition of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people forced Rabin to seek an end to the violence through negotiation and dialogue with the PLO.

In 1988 Rabin was responsible for the assassination of Abu Jihad in Tunis and two weeks later he personally supervised the destruction of the Hizbullah stronghold in Meidoun during Operation Law and Order, in which the IDF claimed 40–50 Hizbullah fighters were killed. Three Israeli soldiers were killed and seventeen wounded.

Minister of Defence Rabin planned and executed the 27 July 1989 abduction of the Hizbullah leader Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and two of his aides from Jibchit in South Lebanon. Hizbullah responded by announcing the execution of Colonel Higgins, a senior American officer working with UNIFIL who had been kidnapped in February 1988.

Opposition Knesset member (1990–1992)
In "the dirty trick", the Labor Party left the coalition of the 23rd government in an effort to form a new coalition to be led by Peres. This failed as Yitzhak Shamir formed the 24th government with Labor in the opposition for the remainder of the 10th Knesset.

From 1990 to 1992, Rabin again sat on the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Following the backfiring of "the dirty trick" on Peres and the Labor Party, Rabin unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the party to schedule a leadership election in 1990. A prospective leadership race in 1990 had looked promising to Rabin. Peres was weakened from the backfiring of "the dirty trick", and polling showed Rabin to be the nation's most popular politician. Additionally, many of Peres' longtime backers in the party had begun shifting their support to Rabin. In July 1990, the Labor Party's 120 member Leadership Bureau voted to recommend that the party hold an immediate leadership election. However, one week later, on 22 July 1990, the 1,400 member Labor Party Central Committee voted 54 to 46% against holding an immediate leadership contest. This set the party up to not hold a leadership election until at least following year, unless the next Knesset election were to have been scheduled earlier than the anticipated 1992. The committee's vote to reject Rabin's push for a 1990 leadership contest was regarded as an upset result.

Return to party leadership
In its 1992 leadership election, Rabin was elected as chairman of the Labor Party, unseating Shimon Peres.

Second term as Prime Minister
In the 1992 Israeli legislative election, the Labor Party, led by Rabin, strongly focused on his popularity. The party managed to win a clear victory over the Likud of incumbent Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. However, the left-wing bloc in the Knesset only won an overall narrow majority, facilitated by the failure of small nationalist parties to pass the electoral threshold. Rabin formed the first Labor-led government in fifteen years, supported by a coalition with Meretz, a left wing party, and Shas, a Mizrahi ultra-orthodox religious party.

On 25 July 1993, after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, Rabin authorized a week-long military operation in Lebanon. Rabin played a leading role in the signing of the Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian National Authority and granted it partial control over parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Prior to the signing of the accords, Rabin received a letter from PLO chairman Yasser Arafat renouncing violence and officially recognizing Israel, and on the same day, 9 September 1993, Rabin sent Arafat a letter officially recognizing the PLO.

After the announcement of the Oslo Accords there were many protest demonstrations in Israel objecting to the Accords. As these protests dragged on, Rabin insisted that as long as he had a majority in the Knesset he would ignore the protests and the protesters. In this context he said, "they (the protesters) can spin around and around like propellers" but he would continue on the path of the Oslo Accords. Rabin's parliamentary majority rested on non-coalition member Arab support. Rabin also denied the right of American Jews to object to his plan for peace, calling any such dissent "chutzpah". The Oslo agreement was also opposed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions, which launched suicide bombings at Israel.

After the historical handshake with Yasser Arafat, Rabin said, on behalf of the Israeli people, "We who have fought against you, the Palestinians, we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice; Enough of blood and tears. Enough!" During this term of office, Rabin also oversaw the signing of the Israel–Jordan peace treaty in 1994.

Economic and social reforms
Rabin significantly reformed Israel's economy, as well as its education and healthcare systems. His government significantly expanded the privatization of business, moving away from the country's traditionally socialized economy. The scheme was described by Moshe Arens as a "privatization frenzy". In 1993, his government set up the "Yozma" program, under which attractive tax incentives were offered to foreign venture capital funds that invested in Israel and promised to double any investment with government funding. As a result, foreign venture capital funds invested heavily in the growing Israeli high-tech industry, contributing to Israel's economic growth and status as a world leader in high-tech. In 1995, the National Health Insurance Law was passed. The law created Israel's universal health care system, moving away from the traditionally Histadrut-dominated health insurance system. Doctors' wages were also raised by 50%. Education spending was raised by 70%, with new colleges being built in Israel's peripheral areas, and teachers' wages rising by one-fifth. His government also launched new public works projects such as the Cross-Israel Highway and an expansion of Ben Gurion Airport.

Nobel Peace Prize

For his role in the creation of the Oslo Accords, Rabin was awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres. "[M]any Palestinians viewed the peace treaty with Israel as a temporary measure only".

Military cemeteries in every corner of the world are silent testimony to the failure of national leaders to sanctify human life.
 * — Yitzhak Rabin, 1994 Nobel Peace Prize lecture

Assassination and aftermath
On the evening of 4 November 1995 (12th of Heshvan on the Hebrew calendar), Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a law student and right-wing extremist who opposed the signing of the Oslo Accords. Rabin had been attending a mass rally at the Kings of Israel Square (now Rabin Square) in Tel Aviv, held in support of the Oslo Accords. When the rally ended, Rabin walked down the city hall steps towards the open door of his car, at which point Amir fired three shots at Rabin with a semi-automatic pistol. Two shots hit Rabin, and the third lightly injured Yoram Rubin, one of Rabin's bodyguards. Rabin was taken to the nearby Ichilov Hospital, where he died on the operating table of blood loss and two punctured lungs. Amir was immediately seized by Rabin's bodyguards and police. He was later tried, found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment. After an emergency cabinet meeting, Israel's foreign minister, Shimon Peres, was appointed as acting Israeli prime minister.

Rabin's assassination shocked the Israeli public and much of the rest of the world. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis gathered at the square where Rabin was assassinated to mourn his death. Young people, in particular, turned out in large numbers, lighting memorial candles and singing peace songs. On 6 November 1995, he was buried on Mount Herzl. Rabin's funeral was attended by many world leaders, among them U.S. president Bill Clinton, Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and King Hussein of Jordan. Clinton delivered a eulogy whose final words were in Hebrew – "Shalom, haver" (שלום חבר).

The square where he was assassinated, Kikar Malkhei Yisrael (Kings of Israel Square), was renamed Rabin Square in his honor. Many other streets and public institutions in Israel have also subsequently been named after him. After his assassination, Rabin was hailed as a national symbol and came to embody the ethos of the "Israeli peace camp," despite his military career and hawkish views earlier in life. In November 2000, his wife Leah died and was buried alongside him.

After the murder, it was revealed that Avishai Raviv, a well-known right-wing extremist at the time, was a Shin Bet agent-informer codenamed Champagne. Raviv was later acquitted in court of charges that he failed to prevent the assassination. The court ruled there was no evidence that Raviv knew Amir was plotting to kill Rabin. After Rabin's assassination, his daughter Dalia Rabin-Pelossof entered politics and was elected to the Knesset in 1999 as part of the Center Party. In 2001, she served as Israel's deputy minister of defense.

Commemoration

 * The Knesset has set the 12th of Cheshvan, the murder date according to the Hebrew calendar, as the official memorial day of Rabin.
 * In 1995 the Israeli Postal Authority issued a commemorative Rabin stamp.
 * In 1996 Israeli songwriter Naomi Shemer translated Walt Whitman's poem "O Captain! My Captain!" to Hebrew and wrote music for it to mark the anniversary of Rabin's assassination. The song is since commonly performed or played in Yitzhak Rabin memorial day services.
 * The Yitzhak Rabin Centre was founded in 1997 by an act of the Knesset, to create "[a] Memorial Centre for Perpetuating the Memory of Yitzhak Rabin." It carries out extensive commemorative and educational activities emphasising the ways and means of democracy and peace.
 * Mechinat Rabin, an Israeli pre-army preparatory program for training recent high school graduates in leadership prior to their IDF service, was established in 1998.
 * In 2005 Rabin received the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Human Rights Award endowed by Alexandra Hildebrandt. The award is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.
 * Many cities and towns in Israel have named streets, neighbourhoods, schools, bridges and parks after Rabin. The country's largest power station, Orot Rabin, two government office complexes (at the HaKirya in Tel Aviv and the Sail Tower in Haifa), the Israeli terminal of the Arava/Araba border crossing with Jordan, and two synagogues are also named after him. Outside Israel, there are streets and squares named after him in Bonn, Berlin, Chicago, Madrid, Miami, New York City, and Odesa and parks in Montreal, Paris, Rome and Lima. The community Jewish high school in Ottawa is also named after him.
 * The Cambridge University Israel Society hosts its annual academic lecture in honour of Yitzhak Rabin.

Overview of offices held
Rabin twice served as prime minister (Israel's head of government). His first stint spanned from 3 June 1974 through 20 June 1977, leading the 17th government during the 8th Knesset. His second stint lasted from 13 July 1992 until his assassination on 4 November 1995, leading the 25th government during the 13th Knesset. Rabin was a member of the Knesset from 1974 until his assassination. For several months in 1992, Rabin served as the Knesset's opposition leader, at the time an unofficial and honorary role. Rabin also served as ambassador of Israel to the United States from 1968 until 1973.

Labor Party leadership
Peres twice served as leader of the Israeli Labor Party.

title: Yitzhak Rabin


text:
Johann Friedrich Struensee

Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish government. He rose in power to a position of de facto regent of the country, and he tried to carry out widespread reforms. His affair with Queen Caroline Matilda ("Caroline Mathilde") caused a scandal, especially after the birth of a daughter, Princess Louise Augusta, and was the catalyst for the intrigues and power play that caused his downfall and dramatic death.

Upbringing and early career
Born at Halle an der Saale and baptized at St. Moritz on 7 August 1737, Struensee was the third child of six born to Pietist theologian and minister Adam Struensee (baptized in Neuruppin on 8 September 1708 – Rendsburg, 20 June 1791), Pfarrer ("curate") in Halle an der Saale in 1732, "Dr. theol. (h. c.) von Halle" (Doctor of Theology (honoris causa, "for the honor") from the University of Halle) in 1757, pastor in Altona between 1757 and 1760, "Kgl. Generalsuperintendant von Schleswig und Holstein" ("Royal general superintendent of Schleswig and Holstein") between 1760 and 1791, and his wife (m. Berleburg, 8 May 1732) Maria Dorothea Carl (Berleburg, 31 July 1716 – Schleswig, 31 December 1792), a respectable middle-class family that believed in religious tolerance. Three of the Struensee sons went to University, but none became theologians like their father; two of the daughters married ministers.

Johann Friedrich entered the University of Halle on 5 August 1752 at the age of fifteen where he studied medicine, and graduated as a Doctor in Medicine ("Dr. Med.") on 12 December 1757. The university exposed him to Age of Enlightenment ideals, and social and political critique and reform. He supported these new ideas, becoming a proponent of atheism, the writings of Claude Adrien Helvétius, and other French materialists.

When Adam and Maria Dorothea Struensee moved to Altona in 1758, where the elder Struensee became pastor of Trinitatiskirche (Trinity's Church), Johann Friedrich moved with them. He was soon employed as a public doctor in Altona, in the estate of Count Rantzau, and in the Pinneberg District. His wages were meager and he expected to supplement them with private practice.

His parents moved to Rendsburg in 1760 where Adam Struensee became first superintendent (comparable to bishop) for the duchy, and subsequently superintendent-general of Schleswig-Holstein. Struensee, now 23 years old, had to set up his own household for the first time. His lifestyle expectations were not matched by his economics. His perceived intelligence and manner, however, soon made him fashionable in the better circles, and he entertained his contemporaries with his controversial opinions.

Struensee was ambitious and petitioned the Danish government through Minister of Foreign Affairs Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff for funds. He tried his hand at writing Enlightenment treatises and published many of them in his journal Zum Nutzen und Vergnügen ("For benefit and enjoyment").

Physician to King Christian VII
During Struensee's near ten-year residence in Altona he came into contact with a circle of aristocrats who had been sent away from the royal court in Copenhagen. Among them were Enevold Brandt and Count Schack Carl Rantzau, who were supporters of the Enlightenment. Rantzau recommended Struensee to the court as a physician to attend King Christian VII on his forthcoming tour to princely and royal courts in western Germany, the Netherlands, England, and France.

Struensee received the appointment in April 1768. The king and his entourage set forth on 6 May. While in England Struensee received the honorary degree of Doctor in Medicine from the University of Cambridge.

During the eight-month tour, he gained the king's confidence and affection. The king's ministers, Bernstorff and Finance Minister H.C. Schimmelmann, were pleased with Struensee's influence on the king, who began making fewer embarrassing "scenes". Upon the court's return to Copenhagen in January 1769, Struensee was appointed personal physician to the king. In May, he was given the honorary title of State Councillor, which advanced him to the class of the third rank at court. Struensee wrote an important report on the mental health of the King.

Rise to power
First he reconciled the king and queen. At first Caroline Matilda disliked Struensee, but she was unhappy in her marriage, neglected and spurned by the king, and affected by his illness. However, Struensee was one of the few people who paid attention to the lonely queen, and he seemed to do his best to alleviate her troubles. Over time her affection for the young doctor grew and by spring 1770 he became her lover; a successful vaccination of the baby crown prince in May still further increased his influence.

Struensee was very involved with the upbringing of the Crown Prince Frederick VI along the principles of Enlightenment, such as outlined by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's challenge to return to nature. However, he had his own interpretation of Rousseau's ideas and preferred isolating the child and encouraging him to manage things largely on his own. He also took Rousseau's advice about cold being beneficial for children literally, and the Crown Prince was thus only sparsely clothed even during wintertime.

In control of the government
Struensee was named royal adviser (forelæser) and konferensråd on 5 May 1770. As in the course of the year the king sank into a condition of mental torpor, Struensee's authority became paramount. On 15 September the 16-month period generally referred to as the "Time of Struensee" began.

At first, Struensee kept a low profile as he began to control the political machine. However, as the royal court and government spent the summer of 1770 in Schleswig-Holstein (Gottorp, Traventhal, and Ascheberg) his power grew. In December 1770, he grew impatient and on the 10th of that month, he abolished the council of state. A week later, he appointed himself maître des requêtes. It became his official duty to present reports from the various departments of state to the king. Because King Christian was scarcely responsible for his actions, Struensee dictated whatever answers he pleased. Next, he dismissed all department heads, and abolished the Norwegian viceroyship. Henceforth, the cabinet with himself as its motive power became the one supreme authority in the state. Struensee held absolute sway for almost thirteen months, between 18 December 1770 and 16 January 1772. During that time, he issued no fewer than 1,069 cabinet orders, or more than three a day.

Reforms initiated by Struensee included:
 * abolition of torture
 * abolition of unfree labor (corvée)
 * abolition of the censorship of the press
 * abolition of the practice of preferring nobles for state offices
 * abolition of noble privileges
 * abolition of "undeserved" revenues for nobles
 * abolition of the etiquette rules at the Royal Court
 * abolition of the Royal Court's aristocracy
 * abolition of state funding of unproductive manufacturers
 * abolition of several holidays
 * introduction of a tax on gambling and luxury horses to fund nursing of foundlings
 * ban of slave trade in the Danish colonies
 * rewarding only actual achievements with feudal titles and decorations
 * criminalization and punishment of bribery
 * re-organization of the judicial institutions to minimize corruption
 * introduction of state-owned grain storages to balance out the grain price
 * assignment of farmland to peasants
 * re-organization and reduction of the army
 * university reforms
 * reform of the state-owned medical institutions

Other reforms included the abolition of capital punishment for theft; the doing away with such demoralizing abuses as perquisites; and of "lackey-ism", the appointment of powerful men's domestic staff to lucrative public posts.

Critics of Struensee thought that he did not respect native Danish and Norwegian customs, saw them as prejudices and wanted to eliminate them in favour of abstract principles. He also did not speak Danish and conducted his business in German. To ensure obedience, he dismissed entire staffs of public departments, without pensions or compensation, and substituted with nominees of his own. The new officials were in many cases inexperienced men who knew little or nothing of the country that they were supposed to govern.

Initially, the Danish people favored his reforms, but they began to turn against him. When Struensee abolished all censorship of the press, it mostly resulted in a flood of anti-Struensee pamphlets.

During the initial months of his rule, middle-class opinion was in his favour. What incensed the people most against him was the way in which he put the king completely on one side, and the feeling was all the stronger as, outside a very narrow court circle, nobody seems to have believed that Christian VII was really mad, but only that his will had been weakened by habitual ill usage. That opinion was confirmed by the publication of the cabinet order of 14 July 1771, which appointed Struensee "gehejme kabinetsminister" or "Geheimekabinetsminister", with authority to issue cabinet orders which were to have the force of royal ordinances, even if unprovided with the royal sign manual.

Struensee's relations with the queen were offensive to a nation which had a traditional veneration for the royal House of Oldenburg, and Caroline Matilda's conduct in public scandalized the populace. The society which daily gathered round the king and queen excited the derision of the foreign ambassadors. The unhappy king was little more than the butt of his environment, but occasionally, the king would put up a show of obstinacy and refuse to carry out Brandt's or Struensee's orders. Once, when he threatened his keeper, Brandt, with a flogging for some impertinence, Brandt ended up in a struggle with the King and he struck the King in the face.

Arrest and execution
Struensee's dismissal of many government officials and officers brought him numerous political enemies. On 30 November 1771, he declared himself and Brandt counts. Those actions stirred feelings of unease and dissatisfaction in the populace of Denmark and Norway.

Christian VII along with his queen, Struensee, Brandt, and members of the royal court, spent the summer of 1771 at Hirschholm Palace north of Copenhagen. They stayed there until late in the autumn. On 7 July, the queen gave birth to a daughter, Louise Augusta. The court moved to Frederiksberg Palace just west of Copenhagen on 19 November.

The general ill will against Struensee, which had been smouldering all through the autumn of 1771, found expression in a conspiracy against him, headed by Schack Carl Rantzau and others, in the name of the Queen Dowager Juliana Maria, to wrest power away from the king, and secure her and her son's positions of power.

The court returned to Christiansborg Palace on 8 January 1772. The season's first masquerade ball was held at the Court Theatre on 16 January.

A palace coup took place in the early morning of 17 January 1772, Struensee, Brandt and Queen Caroline Matilda were arrested in their respective bedrooms, and the perceived liberation of the king, who was driven round Copenhagen by his deliverers in a gold carriage, was received with universal rejoicing. The chief charge against Struensee was that he had usurped the royal authority in contravention of the Royal Law (Kongelov). He defended himself with considerable ability and, at first, confident that the prosecution would not dare to lay hands on the queen, he denied that their liaison had ever been criminal. The queen was taken as prisoner of state to Kronborg Castle.

On 27 April/28 April, Struensee and Brandt were condemned first to lose their right hands and then to be beheaded. Their bodies were afterwards to be drawn and quartered. The Kongelov had no provisions for a mentally-ill ruler who was unfit to govern. However, as a commoner who had imposed himself in the circles of nobility, Struensee was condemned as being guilty of lèse majesté and usurpation of the royal authority, both of which were capital offences according to Paragraphs 2 and 26 of the Kongelov.

Struensee awaited his execution at Kastellet, Copenhagen. The sentences were carried out on 28 April 1772, with Brandt being executed first.

The king himself considered Struensee a great man, even after his death. Written in German on a drawing the king made in 1775, three years after Struensee's execution, was the following: Ich hätte gern beide gerettet ("I would have liked to have saved them both"), referring to Struensee and Brandt.

Cultural depictions

Struensee, his affair with the queen and his relation with the king have been featured in many artistic works:

Literature

 * 1773: A faithful narrative of the conversion and death of Count Struensee, late Prime Minister of Denmark (1773) by Balthasar Münter (translated Jørgen Hee)
 * 1935: Die Gefangene von Celle – a 1935 novel by Else von Hollander-Lossow
 * 1935: The Favourite of the Queen (Struensee: Doktor, Diktator, Favorit und armer Sünder; later Der Favorit der Königin) – a 1935 novel by Robert Neumann
 * 1948: The Queen's Physician – a 1948 novel by Edgar Maass
 * 1953: Converse at Night in Copenhagen (Samtale om natten i København) – a 1953 novel by Karen Blixen
 * 1955: Caroline Matilda, princess of Great Britain and queen of Denmark – a 1955 novel by Geoffrey Vaughan Blackstone
 * 1969: The Lost Queen – a 1969 historical novel by Norah Lofts
 * 1985: Letter from Celle – a 1985 dramatic poem by Edward Lowbury
 * 1999: The Visit of the Royal Physician (Livläkarens besök) – a 1999 novel by Per Olov Enquist
 * 2000: Prinsesse af Blodet - en roman om Caroline Mathilde – a 2000 novel by Bodil Steensen-Leth
 * 2015: There's a mad king in Denmark (C'è un re pazzo in Danimarca) – a 2015 biographical novel by Dario Fo

Stage

 * 1827: Struensee – an 1827 drama by Michael Beer with stage music by his brother Giacomo Meyerbeer (Stuttgart and Tübingen: Cotta 1829, premiered in Munich in 1828). The play was originally forbidden under the rule of the Prussian King Frederick William III, and finally allowed by his more liberal successor Frederick William IV and premiered in Berlin in 1856.
 * 1991: Caroline Mathilde – a 1991 two-act ballet staged by the Royal Danish Ballet and choreographed by Flemming Flindt to music by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
 * 2008: The Visit of the Royal Physician (Livlægens besøg) – a 2008 opera staged by the Royal Danish Opera and composed by Bo Holten to a libretto based on Enquist's 1999 novel.

Film

 * 1923: The Love of a Queen (Die Liebe einer Königin) – a 1923 German historical drama silent film directed by Ludwig Wolff, in which Struensee is played by Harry Liedtke.
 * 1935: The Dictator – a 1935 British film directed by Victor Saville, in which Struensee was played by the English actor Clive Brook. The film depicts his relationship with Caroline Mathilde, who is played by Madeleine Carroll.
 * 1957: King in Shadow (Herrscher ohne Krone) – a 1957 West German feature film directed by Harald Braun, and based on Neumann's 1935 novel, in which Struensee was portrayed by O.W. Fischer.
 * 2012: A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære) – an Academy Award-nominated Danish historical drama film directed by Nikolaj Arcel, starring Mads Mikkelsen as Struensee.

In Danish, Swedish or German

 * Bech, Svend Cedergreen. Struensee og hans tid. 2nd ed. Viborg. Forlaget Cicero, 1989. ISBN 87-7714-038-9
 * Lars Bisgaard, Claus Bjørn, Michael Bregnsbo, Merete Harding, Kurt Villads Jensen, Knud J. V. Jespersen, Danmarks Konger og Dronninger (Copenhagen, 2004)
 * Bregnsbo, Michael. Caroline Mathilde – Magt og Skæbne. Denmark. Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, 2007. ISBN 978-87-11-11856-6
 * Gether, Christian (editor), Kronprins og Menneskebarn (Sorø, 1988)
 * Glebe-Møller. Struensees vej til skafottet – Fornuft og åbenbaring i oplysningstiden. Copenhagen. Museum Tusculanums Forlag, 2007. ISBN 978-87-635-0513-0
 * Thiedecke, Johnny. For Folket. Oplysning, Magt og vanvid i Struensee-tidens Danmark. Viborg. Forlaget Pantheon, 2004. ISBN 87-90108-29-9
 * Winkle, Stefan: Johann Friedrich Struensee. Arzt – Aufklärer – Staatsmann, Stuttgart: Fischer 1989 (2nd ed.). Online excerpt (Ärztekammer Hamburg).
 * Bregnsbo, Michael. Caroline Mathilde – Magt og Skæbne. Denmark. Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, 2007. ISBN 978-87-11-11856-6
 * Gether, Christian (editor), Kronprins og Menneskebarn (Sorø, 1988)
 * Glebe-Møller. Struensees vej til skafottet – Fornuft og åbenbaring i oplysningstiden. Copenhagen. Museum Tusculanums Forlag, 2007. ISBN 978-87-635-0513-0
 * Thiedecke, Johnny. For Folket. Oplysning, Magt og vanvid i Struensee-tidens Danmark. Viborg. Forlaget Pantheon, 2004. ISBN 87-90108-29-9
 * Winkle, Stefan: Johann Friedrich Struensee. Arzt – Aufklärer – Staatsmann, Stuttgart: Fischer 1989 (2nd ed.). Online excerpt (Ärztekammer Hamburg).

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

title: Johann Friedrich Struensee


text:
Talk:Sardinian language

Cleanup needed
moved here from article

This article most definitely needs some cleaning-up. I would do it myself, but I am wanting for skills in that area. (whoever wrote this article probably didn't notice how it says use sparingly in the alt-text for the horizonal line button. Some of the language is a bit up-messed as well.--Node ue 19:34, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Which language?
I don't understand: did the employer at the Alghero airport speak in Catalan or in Sardinian? I know Sardinian is the language of Sardinia and Catalan the language of Alghero (together with Sardinian and Italian). Which one was used? - Marco Neves

 * "Sardinian Catalan" implies Catalan of the variety spoken on Sardinia (at Alghero), where "Sardinian" is a proper spatial adjective modifying the noun "Catalan". So yes, it refers presumably to Alguerese (as may also be inferred by the article to which it links)--Node ue 19:27, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The anecdote is nevertheless confusing: what does the reaction to Catalan prove about the social status of Sardinian? FilipeS 20:15, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

"No single Sardinian language"?
"There is no single Sardinian language"? That is not why I've heard. Yes, there are many languages and dialects used on Sardinia, but AFAIK one of them is actually called the "Sardinian language". --SJK

 * Yes indeed. Perhaps this was referring to the fact that some Sardinian dialect groups refer to the northern dialect groups as "Sardinian" but do not include themselves in that distinction.--Node ue 19:27, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * There is ONE Sardinian Language, Su Sardu, shared into two main dialect families, children idioms of mother tongue. These are Logudorese (Central North) and Campidanese (South). Besides, on the North there is Gallurese which is also relevant.

Funny, this was essentially the sense of Prof. Blasco Ferrer's studies: one Language, 2 main dialects.

Sardinian Language has recently been recognised as an official regional language by Sardinian Special Region, therefore it can be used for official purposes (in the island only).

I invite the editors of this page (2 dialects of Sardinian!) and the ones who claimed that the Southern dialects of Sardinian are influenced by Italian dialects to have a look at my book "Sardegna fra tante lingue", Condaghes, 2005 (with Wilbert Heeringa). On the base of state of the art computational linguistics we reject all such clichés, and show they are all based on old prejudices. (Roberto Bolognesi)

Origins
As for origins, Sardinian comes from unknown roots possibly directly leading to sanscrite, then influenced by phenician, etruscan and widely filtered by latin. It is indeed a romance language.

 * Sardinian does not come from unknown roots. It does not lead directly to the Sanskrit language. It is a Romance language with minor influences from Phoenician, Etruscan, Catalan, Spanish, and most recently Italian and English. There is, however, arguably a linguistic substratum remaining from the language of the original population.--Node ue 19:27, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Corsican
Some people, in recent times, is suggesting that corsican language would be spoken in some towns of Sardinia. Since this is neither what I can find in my sources, nor what my Sardinian friends were able to confirm me from site, I'd be glad to eventually read some sources, or to see that these statements are not any more happily added to articles on sardinian villages. Thank you. Gianfranco

 * Supposedly, some of the dialects of the very northernmost areas of Sardinian are indeed Corsican or very closely resembling Corsican, see Limba Sarda - Carta de sas Limbas de s'Isolas Sardinnas. I'm just giving an explanation, though; I'm not responsible for edits of that nature.--Node ue 19:27, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I`ve noticed cúcuru cucuredhu means 'pinnacle', 'mound'. It`s quite interesting because in Romanian we have "cucuruz" -meaning corn (the shape of corn being conic), cucui - lump on the head, cucuiet/cucuiat - horned ,stubborn, birds who have a crest on the head. cocoş - rooster, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.52.225.123 (talk) 16:45, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

"Proparossitones"?
What are "proparossitones"? A Google search for this word turned up only this page. -phma

 * Presumably that is an Italian or Sardinian word. I'm tempted to say "prepositions" but that is most likely an incorrect translation.--Node ue 19:27, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)
 * Why do you propose a translation when you think it's wrong? There is something called a dictionary. --2.245.133.120 (talk) 14:37, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

 * Proparossitones is the Italian spelling of "proparoxytones", which are words stressed on the antepenultimate syllable (e.g., English "inCARcerate"). "Paroxytones" are stressed on the next-to-last syllable and oxytones on the last. MTCicero 17:28, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

Sardo Laguterese
Is the Sardinian language different from Sardo Laguterese? If it is, perhaps this could be discussed in the article. I am wondering because there is an article for Sardo Laguterese, and there is an article for Sardinian, and neither article makes a reference to the other.

 * I can't find the article to which you are referring. Perhaps it is referring to Loguodorese (a dialect of Sardinian)?--Node ue 19:27, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Nothing to share between Corsica and Sardinia?
It's strange to read in this article that is few to share between these two islands: they have been occupied by the same town (Pisa), a town where the language spoken is italian (tuscanian), and they have been occupied together also by Aragon (catalan speakers). Is it not enough to understand why the northern region of Sardinia speaks a language that I understand without any difficulty? And that is very close to the dialects spoken in Sartene and Porto Vecchio. Sassari and Tempio are not on the opposite of the world. --Enzino 19:22, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Looking into the proximity between Northern dialects of Sardinia and Corsican, I read recently (in French) Des Langues romanes (Jean-Marie Klinkenberg, a very good specialist of Université de Liège, Belgium). He considers, without any doubt, that these two dialects are Tuscany dialects (from Pisa) for these main reasons : plural with -i (and not -s as in Logudorese and Campidanese), the same articles a and u of Corsican (and not sa and su as in proper Sardinian. Of course, these 2 dialects are also influenced by proper Sardinian (and even Corsican of Corsica is somehow influenced by Sardinian!). One word, very caracteristic, is Ajò, common to both Islanders (an interjection, very common, something like go!, so! isn't? ...). Enzino 21:37, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Sardu is a lenguage, yes in alghero speack catalan, but is the only town where is spoken. Sardu is more different to corso, becuase Corso is a middle of Sardu and a Middle of French. Socrate04.

Not at all. Coriscan is not middle of something. Just a variety of Italian. And two different Sardinian languages are spoken. The true ones, in the center and in the south of Sardinia. And a variety of Corsican, in Gallura and Sassarese. Please, refer to good books, not opinions. Enzino.

Enzino, there is "no Corsican language" in Sardinia. This is an old bulls never proved. On the contrary, we cannot forget that the Sardinians colonised the island of Corse spreading their language and culture ever since the Pre-Roman Era. This fact is proved by archaeological and historical evidences. The recent influences do not demonstrate any origin of the language. So it is wrong to say: in Sardinia the Corsican is still spoken. Stephan 1:10, 30 Dec 2006 (UTC)
 * It's not right. Linguistically, gallurese and sassarese are corsican dialects, and not sardinian ones, even with a relevant sardinian influence. There was a hard connection between corsican and sardinian cultures in prehistoric age, but after middle age (up to 18th century) was predominant the migration from Corsica to Northern Sardinia, creating the galllurese-sassarese corsican dialects. --Dch 13:09, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh yes, Gallurese is a (south)corsican dialect, influenced by italian and sardinian! Sassarese is a mix between italian, corsican, sardinian. This is linguistics, the rest is science fiction

Orthography
It's nice to know about the phonology of the language, but what about the orthography? There is virtually no information about it. Which phonemes respond to which spellings? (For instance, how are /tz/ and /z/ different?) Also, perhaps the pronunciations should be promoted to International Phonetic Alphabet symbols. - Gilgamesh 02:35, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

 * There is no official orthography. Just write anything you want, even gibberish, and you can tell people "Oh cutsu testu est stetiu scrivviu in sa lingua srada, ma impera otrogarfia orizniale presnoale mea". And theyll be all like "but... uhh... ...". If they say "It's not Sardinian!" just say "Oh, it's a really neat orthography. Plus it represents my dialect. So letters like "q" represent vowels, you know. Just not what youd expect".

 * Ahh, and when somebody tells me my Sardinian is weird: well, since there is no standard Sardinian, and lots of Sardinian dialects have that weird thing where letters switch from Latin unpredictably, I have a RIGHT to say "srada" and "otrogarfia" instead of "sarda" and "ortografia"! Like on dmoz how it says "crabonia" instead of "carbonia".........

Oh yes, Gallurese is a (south)corsican dialect, influenced by italian and sardinian! Sassarese is a mix between italian, corsican, sardinian. This is linguistics, the rest is science fiction

OSV
From Object Subject Verb: Sardinians very often use OSV while speaking in Italian.

From Yoda: For Italian fans of the Star Wars series, especially children, Yoda is often referred as "The Sardinian One" or "The One Who Speaks Sardinian". This is due to the fact that once translated into Italian, Yoda's manner of speaking is very close to the Sardinian accent that in Italy is considered humorous, even slightly ridiculous.

If true, this should added.

This is false and offensive. It is a form of raccism. Stephan 1:12, 30 Dec 2006 (UTC)

Su Sardu esti sa cosa pru bella chi c'esti in sa sardinia.Nobu tenemmu unu mari chi esti pru bellu de cussu, comenti si narara, de s'Hawai. A nobu po su mari non ci batti nisciuno.Grazia po su ascurtu e a tottusu nu bonu mari.

Here we go again! Anyone can write on Wikipedia and these are the results: OSV in Sardinian. This is really taken from Star Wars: i.e. science fiction! Instead, you should have a look at "Sardinia Syntax" (Michael Allan Jones, Routeledge, 1993) where the phenomenon is called "fronting" and consists of the left-dislocation of the focussed item in a yes/no question or in an emphatic statement. (Roberto Bolognesi)

etymology...
Who told u about this "fun" etymology of the word "barbaro"? where did u read it??? It is so false! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.163.215.74 (talk) 07:14, 30 April 2007 (UTC).
 * Barbaro is a word from ancient greek. Ό βάρβαρος-ου. It means stuttering because the people that weren't greek couldn't speak greek language well.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.49.29.177 (talk) 17:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
 * My greek teacher always told us that the word βάρβαρος came from the fact that the language of these invaders sounded to Greek ears like "bar bar bar bar". Thus it is an onomatopoetic exonym of a non-flattering nature. Peace, Dusty |💬|You can help! 20:09, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Eduardo Blasco Ferrer
Someone made the following remark in the main page. I'm moving it here. FilipeS 14:04, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

"Eduardo Blasco Ferrer: Mensching, 1969 --Not possible; Blasco Ferrer would have been 13 years old in 1969. (See also his curriculum vitae published online)"

ll > dd
I'm no expert, but it seems to me the Sardinian transformation of Latin "ll" into a retroflex "dd" (For example: bellus > [ˈbeɖ.ɖu]) and the retention of "u" is not unique to Sardinian. It seems the same is true of Sicilian and Calabrian, no? Dionix (talk) 17:15, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Basque
Why the rather odd reference to Basque in the Cagliari d/r alternation? That's an incredibly common alternation in languages in general. Akerbeltz (talk) 14:19, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Nugoresu
Hello. It seems Nugoresu is a language (dialect ?) near to Sardinian. Do you know what it is exactly? This name does not appear in this article. Pamputt (talk) 14:48, 5 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Look at the map, it's part of the northern dialect group (Nugoro/Nuoro). I agree it would be helpful to explain the traditional dialect names. Akerbeltz (talk) 16:48, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Origin of eya ("yes")?
The Langues d'oil article reads in part. ..
 * By late- or post-Roman times Vulgar Latin had developed two distinctive terms for signifying assent (yes): hoc ille ("this (is) it") and hoc ("this"), which became oïl and oc, respectively. Subsequent development changed "oïl" into "oui", as in modern French . . . . Other Romance languages derive their word for "yes" from the classical Latin sic, "thus", such as the Italian sì, Spanish and Catalan sí, Portuguese sim, and even French si (used when contradicting another's negative assertion). Sardinian is an exception in that its word for "yes", eya, is from neither origin."

I was curious to learn what the origin of eya might be, but found no mention of it in this article. Given the word's prominence and uniqueness, might this be added to the article? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.90 (talk) 08:22, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

 * A quick look into Wagner tells me there are two words, emmo (Log.) and ey ey or eya (Nuor.); for both the etymology seems to be obscure but eya is linked to Italian forms like Lombardic èj, Tuscan ei ei or Neapolitan è è. Akerbeltz (talk) 10:00, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Since my initial query above, a relative who passed through the Suez canal and resided briefly in and near Aden about 50-odd years ago has told me that "Arabic" (presumably he encountered versions of the language in Malta, Egypt and Yemen) has a similar sounding word meaning yes. Googling yields a number of different words for yes in various local versions of Arabic, and at least a couple do seem to be similar to eya. Is an Arabic origin plausible? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.179 (talk) 19:49, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

 * Unless you find a credible source, not on this page. As for idle speculation, you need to establish why the language would borrow this word, if it had the opportunity and that it conforms with the historical development of the language, ideally demonstrating borrowing patterns, not just a single word part which could be random coincidence. My gut feeling is, random coincidence. Akerbeltz (talk) 21:19, 1 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I wasn't proposing to add anything myself; rather, I was hoping that someone else knew the answer (and a suitable reference source) and might do so :-). Given the relative proximity of Arabian-speaking regions, and the Arabic language of not-too-distant Malta, (not to mention my ignorance of the Italian forms you mention), it seemed to me that an Arabic origin was a possibility.
 * Presumably those Italian forms may derive from the "ille" of "hoc ille"? If so, the assertion of Sardinian's anomaly in the Langues d'oil article may be mistaken. Either way, I feel that the latter's reference to "eya" (while it remains) ought to be complemented by a mention in this article.
 * On the subject of cross-language borrowings in general, I suspect that sometimes these may have been whimsical fads which have caught on, much as English people who have lived in Germany sometimes say "Gesundheit!" instead of "Bless you!" to the extent that the former is generally understood. (I realise that a parallel adoption via Yiddish may have occurred, but I have direct personal experience of the former process.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.79.243 (talk) 22:31, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

I'll see if I can find time to put something in. I can't say anything about the Italian forms - this is definitely not my patch ;) Maltese uses "iva" which looks an ulikely candidate but we would have to compare historical forms anyway, not modern surface forms. Yes, sometimes borrowings are "whimsical" as you put it but they usually require significant contact. And Gesundheit is definitely reinforced by Yiddish. Akerbeltz (talk) 00:16, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

 * Just a word on emmo/emmu: It is generally suspected to descend from Latin immo, but the vocalism is puzzling. Sardinian seems to be the only Romance language to preserve this word, which seems to exclude the possibility of Western Romance influence in this case. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 13:53, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

No Phoenician influence?
Funny how the section "History and origins" doesn't even contain a single mention of Phoenician-Punic or the Carthaginians, although this is the only pre-Roman stratum that is historically absolutely certain to have been present on Sardinia before and at the time of the Roman conquest – and there are even a few lexical examples where Phoenician origin is suggested in the preceding section! (More importantly even, it is assumed that Punic was spoken on Sardinia for many centuries longer.) Instead, we get all kinds of speculation about Iberians, Basques, Etruscans and even Illyrians (!), none of whose languages have been shown conclusively to have influenced Sardinian (all the justification rests on dubious – though admittedly, occasionally suggestive, as in some Basque echoes – etymologies), while in the case of Phoenician-Punic, there's a language we know reasonably well (better than all the others for the time, anyway, especially if we take into account our knowledge of Canaanite as a whole), and where the assumption of influence is absolutely justified from what we know about the languages of ancient Sardinia, only to be omitted from the picture utterly and completely. I find it hard to believe that this aspect has never been seriously touched upon in the literature on the problem of the pre-Roman Sardinian substrates. So, where are the Phoenicians? This gap in the section is boggling my mind. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 16:51, 11 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Imho, you should ask to yourself who Phoenicians are and who they find in Sardinia when they arrived on the island. Somebody says that Phoenicians and Nuragic people they were part of the Sea people. The Nuragic civilization was the most advanced of any civilization in the western Mediterranean during the Sea Peoples epoch, including those in the regions of Magna Graecia. Can be that Phoenicians they were speaking a sardinian language. Why not? :-)--93.45.60.12 (talk) 19:06, 24 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't understand what you're trying to say at all. When the Phoenicians arrived on Sardinia and established colonies there, of course they would have brought their native Phoenician along with them, which we know is a Semitic language. On the other hand, Sardinian is clearly not a Semitic language. Therefore, a Phoenician-Semitic substratum is to be expected, especially if Phoenician – in its Late Punic form – survived until even after the Roman conquest. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 21:21, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Phoenicians have built 4 colonies in the southern sardinian coasts, only few toponomies in the south area of the island have phoenician influence. Phoenician influence in Sardinia is continuously overrated by stangers. Should Chinese people speak an english influenced language because british people built a colony in Hong Kong? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Codex1985 (talk • contribs) 15:35, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

Did I miss something?
Logudurese and Campidanese got moved from dialects to Campidanese language and Logudorese language. Did a debate on that take place elsewhere cause it's the first time I've heard of these varieties being elevated to language status by linguists or indeed Sardinians. Anyone know? Akerbeltz (talk) 17:48, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I moved them because they were at non-English names (Logudorese got moved there today, that's why I saw it). The "language" part mainly came from a consistency with the two other varieties (sometimes considered) Sardinian, Gallurese and Sassarese, together with that I thought(well, think) these to be unintelligible (which I got via reading WP and a few links, and which is supported by their fairly low lexical similarity between them, according to Ethnologue; but which isn't as obvious from reading the article(s) as I thought, it seems). --JorisvS (talk) 18:20, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I haven't heard of Gallurese and Sassarese being labelled languages either to be honest. Do we have any refs that support the "language" label for any of them? Akerbeltz (talk) 17:32, 6 October 2011 (UTC)
 * "Campidanese is quite distinct from the other Sardinian language s ", Sassarese is in a WP incubator, speaks of "three Sardinian languages" and later has Sardinian N, C, and L (apparently also treating Nuorese independently), and Googling "X language" gives quite a few hits, though not very staggering amounts. While  treats Sardinian as a unit (language), it does say "... that now Campidanese people can hardly understand Nuorese speakers from the region of Barbagia.".  says "In almost no case the unity of Sardinian has been denied. The problem lies on the profound differences between the two main dialects of the Sardinian language. I would dare to say that the mutual understanding between northern and southern Sardinian speakers is worse than between speakers of Galician and Portuguese.". The thing that was easiest to find was the fact that there are profound differences between Sardinian varieties. So while most prefer to view Sardinian as a unit, there is some ground. --JorisvS (talk) 19:12, 6 October 2011 (UTC)
 * That Ethnologue link is ambiguous, given the existence of Catalan and Ligurian on the island I'd say and that fact it's on incubator does not necessarily make it a language (versus a dialect). I'm not a dialect basher, on the contrary, but given the paucity of evidence and the fact that according virtually all documents (academic and popular) I've read Sardinians view (perhaps with the exlusion of Gallurese) Sardinian as one language with diverging dialects makes me think this move is premature. Sardinian (excluding Gallurese) is no more divergent than Basque dialects were before the introduction of Standard Basque and mass media across all regions. Akerbeltz (talk) 10:02, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Note that we apparently also have Tuscan language. --JorisvS (talk) 10:11, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes but it would not appear that there seem to be any question about Tuscan and, say, Romagnolo being debated as subdialects of Tuscan. Whichever source I look at, it has Sardinian as one language. So for I really think there is no case for Nuorese and Campidanese being labelled as languages. And given there seems to be no other page by that name, it would be a safer bet to have Gallurese and Sassarese just like that, without a language or dialect label. Akerbeltz (talk) 12:34, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

Looking at the Sardinian Wiki, they state ''Sos limbistas partzint su sardu in duas bariedades fundamentales: su logudoresu-nugoresu e su campidanesu. Su galluresu (cossu), s'aligheresu (catalanu) e su tabarchinu (ligurinu) no sunt dialetos sardos.'' Which means they view it as a language with two main subvarieties but clearly exclude Gallurese as being "Corsican". Akerbeltz (talk) 12:39, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Sardinian Wiki is, to say the least, neglected: not exactly a good source, it's better to look at the italian one. Even the sassarese language is absolutely not part of Sardinian language and it is very difficult (impossible?) consider it part of the Corsican language, because of some "small" differences and 7-8 centuries (!) of independent evolution. Therefore, it is a separate language. For the Logudorese/Nuorese/Campidanese is an hard choice because there are many sources for all the theses (dialects, variants, independent languages) and very heavy political interferences... good luck! --Felisopus (talk) 14:03, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

I am a user of the Sardinian wiki, and the article clearly says that Gallurese (Corsican), Algherese (Catalan), Tabarchino (Ligurian) are considered to be part of the languages of Sardinia rather than to be part of the Sardinian language.. Actually, I sincerely don't understand why Sardinian would be divided into the "Sardinian proper" and the "Corso-Sardinian dialects", being separate languages with Corsican and Sardinian influences, and the choice to elevate the two (three?) main "Sardinian proper" varieties to a language status! It's a mess, for wich people are going to get confused about. Therefore, I'd say it's better to rename these pages with the title of "Campidanese Sardinian" and "Logudorese Sardinian".. Sardinian language is no more divergent than many minority languages were/are, as someone said. Sorry for my ugly English, saludos - Dk

Narrow vs Broad transcription
Hi, I was wondering myself why do you use a broad transcription for -lenition in Sardinian... Is there really a difference between Sardinian and Iberian lenitions? Jɑυмe (xarrades) 00:13, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Algherese (Catalan) is not sardinian
this sentence is out of place in this article being Algherese a catalan dialect and not a Sardinian dialect: "The debate as to its legality had become heated by the 1980s: at Alghero's Fertilia international airport, in a Sardinian Catalan-speaking area, a politically engaged employee of Alitalia was heard over the loudspeakers, provocatively announcing the flights in Italian, English and Algherese. The employee was fired and penally condemned, causing widespread Sardinian nationalist sentiment, sometimes including violent political disputes which finally led to the law officialising the language." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.10.229.37 (talk) 00:09, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

nav popups not working?
technical question with this article - are nav popups deactivated here? curious why? Dog-Patch Zero-Six (talk) 14:08, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Sardinian language. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160126223757/http://ir.nmu.org.ua/bitstream/handle/123456789/118720/655bf1c05b3e99f095c9edecc51f53a3.pdf?sequence=1 to http://ir.nmu.org.ua/bitstream/handle/123456789/118720/655bf1c05b3e99f095c9edecc51f53a3.pdf?sequence=1

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 04:34, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Massive reFill
I did a massive reFill on this page. Could anyone here check if all the filled links were done right? I would like to think so, but since it's semi-manual tool I would like to assume there might possibly be some reference issues on the page that still exist. Qwertyxp2000 (talk | contribs) 02:34, 14 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Since you were involved in this, I would like a bit of feedback on how this reFill process was done. I noticed you made some nice fixes to the massive reFill processings. :) Qwertyxp2000 (talk | contribs) 00:38, 15 May 2021 (UTC)
 * , thanks for your contribution. ReFill tool is a wonderful tool (when it is not down ). The result looks fine to me. Wondering though why sometimes the option website is added and sometimes not :-) Lotje (talk) 11:36, 15 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Qwertyxp2000 (talk | contribs) 05:06, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

Problem when viewing the page
When I am on another page, like for example Paleo-Sardinian language or List of ISO 639-1 codes and I see this article wikilinked, it shows (when I hover my mouse over it) the window, but it says "| belowclass = noprint selfref | belowstyle = background-color:#E7E7FF;padding:0.3em 0.5em;text-align:left;line-height:1.3; | below = This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an" I am not sure where this problem is coming from, and how to fix it. Therefore, if anyone knows how, please do, thanks!

- RandomEditorAAA (talk) 01:04, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Opening section too big
That opening bit is way, way too long. After reading it, I don't feel I really need to read anything else in the page. Save some mystery for the peeps. Spiel (talk) 05:43, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I disagree; the opening section gathers little information compared to the rest of the article, so that's fine. JackkBrown (talk) 10:50, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Template "Good article"
This page is really very well done and complete. I propose the addition of the template "Good article". JackkBrown (talk) 10:51, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Problems concerning the new linguistic map by WSEULO
The new map ("" by @WSEULO) is wrong in many areas:

- It labels the transitional dialects of Castelsardo, Sedini and Tergu as "Turritanu", but said word is just another denomination used for the Sassarese language as a whole, and not only for the aforementioned dialects of the Anglona region, marked in light blue. I'd propose that it be renamed to something like "transition zone" or to simply delete the label, since there is no umbrella term that comprises the 3 varieties (castellanese, sedinese and tergulano).

- The area marked as Algherese-speaking covers the entire commune or municipality of Alghero, when this is not the case in reality; only the city of Alghero speaks it, while the rest of the territory of the commune speaks Sardinian, or, in the case of the frazione of Fertilia, Venetian and Emilian (which hasn't been marked in the map).

- The same thing happens with the municipality of Arborea (wholly marked as Arborense-speaking) and the Sardinian-speaking island of Luras (only the town itself speaks Sardinian, while the surrounding countryside speaks Gallurese)

- The town of Fìgari/Golfo Aranci is marked as Gallurese-speaking area, when in reality it is also Sardinian-speaking, like Olbia.

I'd propose that until these issues are corrected the map showed in this page be replaced by the previous one, since, while it may still have some issues, and does not mention the Venetian-speaking communities, it can create less confusions regarding the linguistic borders and denominations. República de Tabarca (talk) 09:39, 20 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sardinian language


text:
Evil Empire speech

The "Evil Empire" speech was a speech delivered by US President Ronald Reagan to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, at the height of the Cold War and the Soviet–Afghan War. In that speech, Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and as "the focus of evil in the modern world". Reagan explicitly rejected the notion that the United States and the Soviet Union were equally responsible for the Cold War and the ongoing nuclear arms race between the two nations; rather, he asserted that the conflict was a battle between good and evil.

Background
Reagan's chief speechwriter at the time, Anthony R. Dolan, coined the phrase "evil empire" for Reagan's use. Dolan included similar language in a draft for Reagan's June 1982 speech before the British House of Commons in London, but reviewers flagged and struck the phrasing. Dolan included the phrase "evil empire" in drafts for Reagan's speech at the National Association of Evangelicals' 41st annual convention. White House staffers who saw drafts of the speech, including David Gergen, repeatedly struck the "evil empire" portion; the speech eventually reached Reagan with the "evil empire" portion included, staffer critics concluding the event would be minor and unlikely to attract attention.

When Reagan reviewed and edited the draft himself, he extended the material on domestic matters. Dolan had included a reference to "abortion on demand" as a "great moral evil"; Reagan cut the line and added a remark asserting that "until it can be proven that the unborn child is not a living entity" its "right to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness must be protected". Regan left the "evil empire" phrase and did not substantially alter the draft's strongly anti-communist tone.

Speech
Reagan spoke at the 41st annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, in the Citrus Crown Ballroom of the Sheraton Twin Towers Hotel in Orlando, Florida. The speech, marking his first recorded use of the phrase "evil empire" to refer to the Soviet Union, has become known as the "Evil Empire" speech. In that speech, Reagan said:

Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness—pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world .... So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

The audience applauded Reagan's speech.

In the "Evil Empire" speech, which also dealt with domestic issues, Reagan made the case for deploying NATO nuclear-armed intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Western Europe as a response to the Soviets installing new nuclear-armed missiles in Eastern Europe. Eventually, the NATO missiles were set up and used as bargaining chips in arms talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who took office two years and three days after Reagan's speech, on 11 March 1985. At the Washington Summit in 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to go further than a nuclear freeze. In an Atomic Age first, they signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, agreeing to reduce nuclear arsenals. Intermediate- and shorter-range nuclear missiles were eliminated.

Historian John Lewis Gaddis called the speech the "complet[ion of] a rhetorical offensive designed to expose what Reagan saw as the central error of détente: the idea that the Soviet Union had earned geopolitical, ideological, economic, and moral legitimacy" and argued that it "could not have been better calculated to feed the anxieties" afflicting Soviet leadership at the time.

Global reaction and aftermath
During a 1984 presidential debate, Reagan reiterated the phrase by saying "I have said on a number of occasions exactly what I believe about the Soviet Union, I retract nothing that I have said, I believe that many of the things that they have done are evil in any concept of morality that we have."

In 1987, American conservative Michael Johns compiled a list of Soviet crimes, echoing Reagan by saying "what we face today in Soviet Communism is, indeed, an evil empire".

The Soviet Union, for its part, alleged that the United States was an imperialist superpower seeking to dominate the entire world, and that the Soviet Union was fighting against it "in the name of humanity". In Moscow, the Soviet state-run press agency TASS said the "evil empire" words demonstrated that the Reagan administration "can think only in terms of confrontation and bellicose, lunatic anti-communism".

During his second term in office, in May–June 1988, more than five years after using the term "evil empire", Reagan visited the new reformist General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Moscow. When asked by a reporter whether he still thought the Soviet Union was an evil empire, Reagan responded that he no longer did, and that when he used the term it was "another time, another era".

The term has also been alluded to in reference to the domestic politics of the United States itself. American conservative journalist Pat Buchanan argued that Russia's President Vladimir Putin implied that the United States under the Obama administration deserved the title in the 21st century, and furthermore argued that Putin had a good case for doing so because of American views on abortion and same-sex marriage (that was criminalized in the Soviet Union), pornography, promiscuity and the general panoply of Hollywood values. Buchanan served as White House Communications Director for President Reagan from 1985 to 1987.

According to G. Thomas Goodnight, the "evil empire" speech, along with the "Zero Option" and "Star Wars" speeches, was part of the rhetorical side of the Cold War and reshaped public perceptions of nuclear warfare. In the former, Reagan depicted nuclear warfare as an extension of an "age old struggle between good and evil" By characterizing the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" and therefore irrational and untrustworthy, the speech justified demurrals on peace proposals.

title: Evil Empire speech