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Balkan League

The League of the Balkans was a quadruple alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Eastern Orthodox kingdoms of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which at the time still controlled much of Southeastern Europe.

The Balkans had been in a state of turmoil since the early 1900s, with years of guerrilla warfare in Macedonia followed by the Young Turk Revolution, the protracted Bosnian Crisis, and several Albanian Uprisings. The outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War in 1911 had further weakened the Ottomans and emboldened the Balkan states. Under Russian influence, Serbia and Bulgaria settled their differences and signed an alliance, originally directed against Austria-Hungary on 13 March 1912, but by adding a secret chapter to it essentially redirected the alliance against the Ottoman Empire. Serbia then signed a mutual alliance with Montenegro, while Bulgaria did the same with Greece. The League was victorious in the First Balkan War which broke out in October 1912, where it successfully seized control of almost all European Ottoman territories. Following this victory however, unresolved prior differences between the allies re-emerged over the division of the spoils, particularly Macedonia, leading to the effective break-up of the League, and soon after, on 16 June 1913, Bulgaria attacked her erstwhile allies, beginning the Second Balkan War.

Background
After the Crimean War (1853–1856), Russia realized that the other Great Powers would spare no effort to prevent it from gaining access to the Mediterranean. As a consequence, it started engineering an ambitious plan for indirect expansion through the creation of friendly and closely allied states under Russian patronage in the Balkan peninsula. Instrumental to this policy was the emerging Panslavic movement, which henceforth formed the basis of Russian foreign policy up until the end of the Tsarist regime in 1917. Working in this direction, following the victorious Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Russia managed to establish an autonomous Bulgarian state. Similarly, after saving Serbia from annihilation at the Turks' hands in 1876, Russia forced the Ottomans to accept a full independence and expanded Serbia two years later. However, although both states acknowledged Russian patronage and protection, their conflicted national aspirations soon led to a series of hostile actions before and after the short war between them. With the antagonism of the European powers mounting, and smarting from her humiliation by the Austrians at the Bosnian crisis, Russia sought to gain the upper hand by creating a Russophile "Slavic block" in the Balkans, directed both against Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans. Consequently, Russian diplomacy began pressuring the two countries, Serbia and Bulgaria, to reach a compromise and form an alliance.

Apart from the Russian pressure upon Bulgaria and Serbia, another issue that triggered the formation of the League was the Albanian Uprising of 1911. The timetable of the negotiations between Serbia and Bulgaria indicates that progress paralleled the success of the Albanian revolt. In May 1912 the Albanians succeeded in taking Skopje and continued towards Monastir, forcing the Ottomans to recognize the autonomy of Albania in June 1912. For Serbia this was considered catastrophic; after its hopes of expansion to the north were thwarted due to Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 1908, Serbia now found the last direction of possible expansion, the south, also closing due to the creation of an Albanian Vilayet. The Serbs now wanted to stop the establishment of the Albanian state. On the other hand, Bulgaria used this Serbian anxiety in order to force Serbia to agree to significant concessions in regard to Vardar Macedonia. Thus the final agreement between the two countries stipulated that, in the event of a victorious war against the Ottomans, Bulgaria would receive all of Macedonia south of the Kriva Palanka–Ohrid line. Serbia's expansion was to be to the north of this line, including Kosovo, and west to the Adriatic coast, a territory including the northern half of modern Albania, giving Serbia access to the sea. In essence, Serbia was forced to exchange Macedonia for Albania, an issue that would play a key role in the eventual dissolution of the League in the spring of 1913, when the Great Powers insisted upon the creation of the Albanian state and denied Serbia its territorial gains in that direction.

Bulgaria, on its part, had held a long-term policy regarding the Ottomans since regaining independence during the Russo-Turkish War. After the successful coup d'état for the incorporation of Eastern Rumelia, Bulgaria had orchestrated a methodical scenario of indirect expansion through the creation, in the multi-ethnic Ottoman-held Macedonia (for many centuries an administrative rather than a nationalistic name), of a united, liberating and revolutionary organization, the IMRO, allegedly without national color. IMRO's rhetoric claimed to be speaking generally for liberation on behalf of the "Macedonian People", declaring its anti-chauvinism. In fact, it was a Bulgarian-backed organization created with the secret agenda of facilitating the incorporation of Thrace (Eastern and Western) and Macedonia (Aegean and the Vardar) into a new autonomous state, as an intermediate step before unification with Bulgaria could take place in the same way as with Eastern Rumelia. After initial success, Serbia and especially Greece realized the true purpose of IMRO and consequently, a vicious guerrilla war, the so-called Macedonian Struggle broke out between Bulgarian and Greek-backed armed groups within Ottoman Macedonia. The conflict ended only when the Young Turks movement came to power, promising reforms and equality of all Ottoman subjects regardless of religion or nationality. Bulgaria then turned to the more direct method of expansion through winning a war, building a large army for that purpose, and started to see itself as the "Prussia of the Balkans". But even so, it was clear that Bulgaria could not win a war against the Ottomans alone, and an alliance was necessary. By signing the military appendix to the original agreement Bulgaria aimed to use the Serbian army to seize most of Macedonia while concentrating her own army for the operations against Thrace with its major cities of Adrianople and Constantinople.

In Greece, army officers had revolted in August 1909 and secured the appointment of a progressive government under Eleftherios Venizelos, which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greece's favour and reverse their defeat of 1897 at the hands of the Ottomans. In the discussions that led Greece to join the League, Bulgaria refused to commit to any agreement on the distribution of territorial gains, unlike the deal with Serbia over Vardar Macedonia. The reason was Bulgaria's diplomatic policy of pushing Serbia into an agreement limiting her access to Macedonia, while at the same time refusing any such agreement with Greece. Having low regard for the Greek Army's military effectiveness, the Bulgarian leadership estimated that, according to the military plans, their limited forces that had been deployed to the Macedonian theatre would be able to occupy the larger part of the region and the important port city of Thessaloniki before the Greeks. The entry of Greece in the League however was essential for the allies, since Greece, alone among the Balkan states in possessing a major fleet, could preclude the mass transfer of Ottoman reinforcements from Asia directly into Europe by sea. As the Greek ambassador to Sofia had put it during the negotiations that led to Greece's entry in the League: "Greece can provide 600,000 men for the war effort. 200,000 men in the field, and the fleet will be able to stop 400,000 men being landed by Turkey between Salonika and Gallipoli."

Montenegro, a relatively small country but a close ally of Serbia was considered a second-class participant. It took the invitation to the insistence of Serbia more as a favour, having limited local aspirations over the Sanjak and city of Shkodër, both in northern Albania.

Another fact that helped the formation of the League was the evident inefficiency of the Ottoman army. The Ottomans were at war with Italy for a year (29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912) over Libya after Italy had launched an invasion of Tripolitania. Although the Italians made little progress and Ottoman resistance, aided by the Libyans, proved stiffer than expected, the war exhausted the Ottoman state. In addition, the Italian occupation of the Greek-inhabited Dodecanese Islands served as a warning for Greece of the consequences of staying out of a future war against the Ottomans.

Reaction of the Great Powers
These developments did not go unnoticed by the Great Powers, but although there was an official consensus between the European Powers over the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire, which led to a stern warning to the Balkan states, unofficially each of them took a different diplomatic approach due to their conflicting interests in the area. As a result, any possible preventative effect of the common official warning was canceled by the mixed unofficial signals, and failed to prevent the outbreak of hostilities:

 * Russia was a prime mover in the establishment of the League and saw it as an essential tool in case of a future war against Russia's rival, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But it was unaware of the Bulgarian plans over Thrace and Constantinople, territories on which Russia had long-held ambitions, and on which it had just secured a secret agreement of expansion from its allies France and Britain, as a reward in participating in the upcoming World War I against the Central Powers.
 * France, not feeling ready for a war against Germany in 1912, took a totally negative position against the League, firmly informing its ally Russia that it would not take part in a potential conflict between Russia and Austria-Hungary if it resulted from the actions of the Balkan League. The French however failed to achieve British participation in a common intervention to stop the upcoming Balkan conflict.
 * The British Empire, although officially a staunch supporter of the Ottoman Empire's integrity, took secret diplomatic steps encouraging the Greek entry into the League in order to counteract Russian influence. At the same time, it encouraged the Bulgarian aspirations over Thrace, preferring a Bulgarian Thrace to a Russian one, despite the assurances it had given to the Russians in regard of their expansion there.
 * Austria-Hungary, struggling for an exit from the Adriatic and seeking ways for expansion in the south at the expense of the Ottoman Empire, was totally opposed to any other nation's expansion in the area. At the same time, the Habsburg Empire had its own internal problems with the significant Slav populations that campaigned against the German–Hungarian control of the multinational state. Serbia, whose aspirations in the direction of Bosnia were no secret, was considered an enemy and the main tool of Russian machinations that were behind the agitation of Austria's Slav subjects.
 * Germany, already heavily involved in the internal Ottoman politics, officially opposed a war against the Empire, but in its effort to win Bulgaria for the Central Powers, and seeing the inevitability of Ottoman disintegration, was playing with the idea to replace the Balkan positions of the Ottomans with a friendly Greater Bulgaria in its San Stefano borders, an idea that was based on the German origin of the Bulgarian king and his anti-Russian sentiments.

For the Balkan League, the opportunity was too good to be missed, as the Ottoman Empire was weak and riddled with internal strife. The allied governments intensified their military and diplomatic preparations. During the last days of September, the Balkan states and the Ottoman Empire mobilized their armies. The first state to declare war was Montenegro, on October 8, 1912, starting the First Balkan War. The other three states, after issuing an ultimatum to the Porte on October 13, declared war on Turkey on October 17.

Aftermath

In the resulting war, the combined Balkan armies effectively destroyed Ottoman power in Europe in a series of victories. However, the League's triumph was short-lived. The antagonisms between the Balkan states still persisted, and after the successful conclusion of the First Balkan War, they resurfaced, especially over the partition of Macedonia. Mounting tensions effectively tore the League apart, and the Second Balkan War broke out when Bulgaria, confident of a quick victory, attacked its former allies Serbia and Greece. The Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counterattacked, penetrating into Bulgaria. The Ottoman Empire and Romania took advantage of the situation and invaded Bulgaria too. The subsequent peace left Bulgaria with gains in territory but led to the loss of Eastern Thrace to the Ottomans and most of Macedonia to the Greeks. Defeat turned Bulgaria into its participation in the First World War on the side of the Central Powers since its Balkan enemies (Serbia, Greece, and Romania) were involved in the war on the side of the Entente.

During the war, the Greek king was assassinated in Thessaloniki by Alexandros Schinas. That generated a shift in the Greek foreign policy from clearly pro-Entente to neutrality, since the new King, unlike his father and his popular Prime Minister, was pro-German and tried to keep the country neutral in the upcoming World War. With the outbreak of World War I and the Entente's intervention in Macedonia, the conflict between king and first minister steadily deteriorated, leading eventually to the National Schism, which greatly contributed to the loss of the next war against Kemalist Turkey in Asia Minor, and dominated Greek politics for over a half of a century.

The outcome of the Balkan Wars caused a permanent break-up of the Russo-Bulgarian alliance and left Serbia and Montenegro as the only allies of Russia in this critical region.

title: Balkan League


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Émile Augier

Guillaume Victor Émile Augier (17 September 1820 – 25 October 1889) was a French dramatist. He was the thirteenth member to occupy seat 1 of the Académie française on 31 March 1857.

Biography
Augier was born at Valence, Drôme, the grandson of Pigault Lebrun, and belonged to the well-to-do bourgeoisie in spirit as well as by birth. After a good education and legal training, he wrote a play in two acts and in verse, La Ciguë (1844), which was refused at the Théâtre Français, but produced with as considerable success at the Odéon. This settled his career. From then on, at fairly regular intervals, either alone or in collaboration with other writers—Jules Sandeau, Eugène Marin Labiche, Édouard Foussier—he produced plays such as Le Fils de Giboyer (1862)—which was regarded as an attack on the clerical party in France, and was surely brought out by the direct intervention of the emperor. His last comedy, Les Fourchambault, belongs to the year 1879. After that date he wrote no more, restrained by the fear of producing inferior work.

He died at his home at Croissy-sur-Seine.

Career
Augier described his own life as "without incident". L'Aventurière (1848), the first of his important works, already shows a deviation from romantic ideals; and in the Mariage d'Olympe (1855), the courtesan is shown as she is, not glorified as in Dumas's Dame aux Camélias. In Gabrielle (1849), the husband, not the lover, is the sympathetic character. Augier provided the libretto for the first opera composed by Charles Gounod, Sapho (1851). In this version of the story a courtesan Glycère is the perfidious villainess, and the self-sacrificing title character is wholly heterosexual, not a "sapphist". In the Lionnes pauvres (1858) the wife who sells her favours comes under the lash. Greed of gold, social moralization, ultramontanism, lust of power, these are satirized Les Effrontés (1861), Le Fils de Giboyer (1862), La Contagion announced under the title of Le Baron d'Estrigaud (1866), Lions et renards (1869)—which, with Le Gendre de Monsieur Poirier (1854), written in collaboration with Jules Sandeau, reach the high-water mark of Augier's art; in Philiberte (1853), he produced a graceful and delicate drawing-room comedy; and in Jean de Thommeray, acted in 1873 after the great reverses of 1870, the regenerating note of patriotism rings high and clear.

His last two dramas, Madame Caverlet (1876) and Les Fourchambault (1879), are problem plays. But it would be unfair to suggest that Augier was a mere preacher. He was a moralist in the same sense in which the term can be applied to Molière and the great dramatists. Nor does the interest of dramas depend on elaborate plot. It springs from character. His men and women are real, several of them typical. Augier's first drama, La Ciguë, belongs to a time (1844) when romantic drama was on the wane; and his almost elusively domestic range of subject scarcely lends itself to lyric bursts of pure poetry. His verse, if not that of a great poet, has excellent dramatic qualities, while the prose of his prose dramas is admirable for directness, alertness, sinew and a large and effective wit.

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

title: Émile Augier


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Alex Harvey (musician)

Alexander James Harvey (5 February 1935 – 4 February 1982) was a Scottish rock and blues musician. Although his career spanned almost three decades, he is best remembered as the frontman of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, with whom he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the era of glam rock in the 1970s.

Biography
Harvey was born and raised in the working-class Kinning Park district of Glasgow (also reported as the Gorbals in the 2009 STV show The Greatest Scot). By his own account, he worked in a number of jobs, from carpentry to being a waiter at a restaurant to carving tombstones, before finding success in music. He first began performing in skiffle groups in 1954. On Friday, 20 May 1960, at the Town Hall in Alloa, Alex Harvey and his Big Beat Band opened for Johnny Gentle and His Group, "His Group" being the Beatles (John, Paul, George, Stuart Sutcliffe and Tommy Moore), on this the opening night – and biggest audience – of the Beatles' seven-date tour of Scotland with Gentle.

His musical roots were in Dixieland jazz and skiffle music, which enjoyed considerable popularity in Britain during the late 1950s. From 1958 until 1965, he was the leader of Alex Harvey's Big Soul Band, playing blues and rock and roll songs and spending considerable time touring in the United Kingdom and Germany. He also won a competition that sought "Scotland's answer to Tommy Steele". Harvey became strongly identified with British rhythm and blues music, although he was equally able to play rock songs.

After leaving the Big Soul Band, he briefly tried for a solo career but with little success. By 1967, he found a positive direction for his career when he became a member of the pit band in the London stage production of the musical Hair. This band recorded the live album Hair Rave Up, which contained Harvey originals and other songs not from the stage show. In 1970, Harvey formed Rock Workshop with Ray Russell; their first, self-titled album contained an early version of "Hole in Her Stocking", later to appear on Framed. Harvey remained with Hair for five years.

Harvey was instrumental in the formation of the band Stone the Crows by introducing his younger brother Leslie "Les" Harvey to singer Maggie Bell. Also in Stone the Crows was bassist James Dewar, later of Robin Trower fame. Les Harvey was fatally electrocuted in a freak accident while performing with the band in 1972.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
In 1972, Harvey formed the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (often shortened to SAHB) with guitarist Zal Cleminson, bassist Chris Glen, and cousins Hugh (keyboards) and Ted McKenna (drums), all previous members of progressive rock act Tear Gas.

SAHB produced a succession of highly regarded albums and tours throughout the 1970s. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band had top 40 hits in Britain with the single "Delilah", a cover version of the Tom Jones hit, which reached number seven in 1975, and also with "The Boston Tea Party" in June 1976. The band never achieved acclaim in the United States the way it did in Great Britain, but it had a cult following in certain US cities, especially Cleveland, where the group first played at the Agora Ballroom in December 1974. Thanks to airplay from WMMS, songs like "Next" and "The Faith Healer" became very popular. Cleveland remained a city where the Sensational Alex Harvey Band had a devoted following. However, they were unable to replicate that popularity in most other US cities.

After Harvey left the group in 1976, the other members continued as SAHB (Without Alex) producing the album Fourplay. Harvey re-joined the group for 1978's Rock Drill. SAHB with Alex toured the UK in Autumn 1981 with the last gig at Workington's Carnegie Theatre on 1 November.

Single, solo albums and death
After he left the band for good, he released two more solo albums and went on tour with his solo band from 1979. On 4 February 1982, returning from performances in Belgium, Harvey died from a heart attack, a day before his 47th birthday.

Personal life
Married twice, first to Mary Martin, with whom he had a son; second to Trudy, with whom he had a son.

Harvey was a Master Mason in Lodge Union, No. 332, in the Province of Glasgow, in Scotland. He was initiated on 22 June 1955 and was passed to the Second Degree in Freemasonry on 24 August 1955. He received his Third Degree on 16 November 1955.

Legacy
In 2002, a biography of Harvey by John Neil Munro was published: The Sensational Alex Harvey. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were voted the fifth greatest Scottish band of all time in a 2005 survey. On 4 February 2012, a rowan tree was planted in memory of Harvey on the grounds of the People's Palace museum in Glasgow. The tree was planted by Alex Harvey Junior and the remaining members of the band. A limited edition book entitled Alex Harvey: Last of the Teenage Idols, photographed by Janet Macoska and edited by Martin Kielty was released for the 30th anniversary of his death.

Two novels by Christopher Brookmyre, The Sacred Art of Stealing and A Snowball in Hell, reference SAHB's work.

On 18 March 2016, Universal Music released a 14-disc box set of Harvey's work, entitled The Last of the Teenage Idols. This multi-disc set was the most comprehensive compilation of Harvey's music to date, including many rare and out-of-print titles.

Studio albums

 * The Blues (1964)
 * Roman Wall Blues (1969)
 * The Joker Is Wild (1972)
 * The Mafia Stole My Guitar (1979)
 * Soldier on the Wall (1982)

Singles

 * "Agent OO Soul" / "Go Away Baby" (1965) Fontana: TF 610
 * "Do the Dog" / "Something You Got" (1966) GTA Records: PO 40018
 * "My Girl Slooping" / "Mashed Potatoes" (1966) GTA Records: PO 40019
 * "Work Song" / "I Can Do Without Your Love" (1966) Fontana: TF 764
 * "Maybe Some Day" / "Curtains for My Baby (St. James Infirmary)" (1967) Decca
 * "The Sunday Song" (1967) Decca
 * "Midnight Moses" (1969) Fontana
 * "Alex Harvey Talks About Everything (An In-Depth Session with Alex Harvey of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band)" (1974) Vertigo: MK 71974
 * "Runaway" (1976) Vertigo
 * "Mitzi" (1984) Victoria: VIC-117, 10.282
 * "Runaway" (1976, remastered 2002) Vertigo
 * "Midnight Moses" (2015) Fontana: 535 854-6

Live albums

 * Hair Rave Up (1969)
 * Alex Harvey Talks About Everything (1974)
 * Live (1975) (live at Hammersmith Odeon, London on 24 May 1975)
 * Alex Harvey Presents: The Loch Ness Monster (1977)
 * BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (1991) (recorded for the BBC at The Paris Theatre 1972 and The Hippodrome 1973)
 * Live on the Test (1995)
 * The Gospel According to Alex Harvey (1998)
 * British Tour '76 (2004)
 * Live at the BBC (2009)

Alex Harvey and His Soul Band

 * Alex Harvey and His Soul Band (1964)

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

 * Framed (1972)
 * Next... (1973)
 * The Impossible Dream (1974)
 * Tomorrow Belongs to Me (1975)
 * The Penthouse Tapes (1976)
 * SAHB Stories (1976)
 * Rock Drill (1978)

Compilations/other records

 * Band on the Wagon (1969)
 * Hot City (recorded in 1974; released in 2009)
 * Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, 20 unreleased tracks, CD only (1999)
 * Teenage a Go Go - The Unreleased Recordings of Alex Harvey 1963-67 (Alchemy Entertainment 2003)
 * Last of the Teenage Idols (2016) - a 14-CD/217-track box set including 21 previously unreleased songs, 59 songs on cd for the 1st time and a number of rare recordings plus a hardback book of photographs

title: Alex Harvey (musician)


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Big Brother Awards

The Big Brother Awards (BBAs) recognize "the government and private sector organizations ... which have done the most to threaten personal privacy". They are named after the George Orwell character Big Brother from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. They are awarded yearly to authorities, companies, organizations, and persons that have been acting particularly and consistently to threaten or violate people's privacy, or disclosed people's personal data to third parties.

The awards are intended to draw public attention to privacy issues and related alarming trends in society, especially in data privacy. The contest is organized by a loose coalition of nongovernmental organizations, including Iuridicum Remedium, Privacy International, and others, although some national-level BBAs are organized by specific sponsors.

The German Big Brother Awards are organized and hosted by Digitalcourage (formerly FoeBuD) in Bielefeld.

The United States' most recently hosted its Big Brother Awards – also known as the Orwell Awards or simply the Orwells – on 14 April 2005 in Seattle, Washington. They had previously been hosted in Berkeley, California, on 12 April 2004; New York City on 3 April 2003; San Francisco, California, on 18 April 2002; and Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 7 March 2001. The first annual US Big Brother Awards were made at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference in Washington, D.C., on 7 April 1999, the 50th anniversary of the publication of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The awards were made by Simon Davies, managing director of the London-based Privacy International to recognize "the government and private sector organizations which have done the most to invade personal privacy in the United States." The awards were given in five categories: Greatest Corporate Invader, Lifetime Menace, Most Invasive Program, People's Choice, and Worst Public Official.

Countries
The following countries have their own version of the Big Brother Awards:
 * Australia
 * Austria
 * Belgium
 * Bulgaria
 * Czech Republic
 * Denmark
 * Finland
 * France
 * Germany
 * Hungary
 * Italy
 * Japan (2003)
 * Netherlands
 * New Zealand
 * Spain
 * Switzerland
 * United Kingdom
 * United States

title: Big Brother Awards


text:
Battle of Olustee

The Battle of Olustee or Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in Baker County, Florida on February 20, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the largest battle fought in Florida during the war.

Union General Truman Seymour had landed troops at Jacksonville, aiming chiefly to disrupt Confederate food supply. Meeting little resistance, he proceeded towards the state capital of Tallahassee, against orders, assuming that he would face only the small Florida militia. Confederates in Charleston sent reinforcements under General Alfred H. Colquitt and the two armies collided near Ocean Pond in Olustee.

The Union forces were repulsed and retreated to Jacksonville. Some were garrisoned there to occupy territory. Other troops were transferred to other, more active, areas where they were needed.

Background
From the start of the war, Florida primarily served as a supplier of essential provisions, particularly beef and salt, for the Confederacy. The importance of these supplies escalated significantly after the fall of Vicksburg, as it severed the eastern part of the Confederacy from beef and supplies originating west of the Mississippi. Additionally, Florida became a refuge for an increasing number of Confederate deserters and pro-Union Floridians, which seemingly made it a more vulnerable target for raids and assaults by Union forces.

On January 13, 1864, President Lincoln wrote to Major General Quincy A. Gillmore, commander of the Union's Department of the South at Hilton Head, South Carolina, asking that he take steps to "reconstruct a loyal State government in Florida." By the following month, Gillmore ordered an expedition into Florida to secure Union enclaves, sever Confederate supply routes, and recruit black soldiers. Brigadier General Truman Seymour, in command of the expedition, landed troops at Jacksonville, in an area already seized by the Union in March 1862. Seymour's forces made several raids into the northeast and north-central Florida. During these raids, he met little resistance, seized several Confederate camps, captured small bands of troops and artillery pieces, and liberated slaves. But, Seymour was under orders from Gillmore not to advance deep into the state.

Seymour's preparations at Hilton Head had concerned the Confederate command in the key port city of Charleston, South Carolina. General P. G. T. Beauregard, correctly guessed Seymour's objective was Florida and believed these Union actions posed enough of a threat for him to detach reinforcements under Georgian Alfred H. Colquitt to bolster Florida's defenses and stop Seymour. Colquitt arrived in time to reinforce Florida troops under the command of Brigadier General Joseph Finegan. As Colquitt's troops began arriving, Seymour, without Gillmore's knowledge, began a new drive across north Florida with the capture of Tallahassee as a possible objective.

Battle
Following the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad, Seymour led his 5,500 men in the direction of Lake City. At approximately 2:30 in the afternoon of February 20, the Union force approached General Finegan's 5,000 Confederates entrenched near Olustee Station. Finegan sent out an infantry brigade to meet Seymour's advance units and lure them into the Confederate entrenchments, but this plan went awry. The opposing forces met at Ocean Pond and the battle began. Seymour made the mistake of assuming he was once again facing Florida militia units he had previously routed with ease and committed his troops piecemeal into the battle. Finegan and Seymour both reinforced their engaged units during the afternoon and the battle took place in open pine woods. The Union forces attacked but were savagely repulsed by withering barrages of rifle and cannon fire. At about 2:00 p.m, Confederate officer Benjamin B. Sample led a spoiling assault on the Union lines, causing a great number of casualties on both sides. Sample's assault was unsuccessful in breaking the Union line, but managed to demoralize the already weary union soldiers.

The battle raged throughout the afternoon until, as Finegan committed the last of his reserves, the Union line broke and began to retreat. Finegan did not exploit the retreat, allowing most of the fleeing Union forces to reach Jacksonville. It is claimed in letters and memoirs from Confederate officers the reason that the confederate troops were not able to exploit the retreat was because they were killing the surviving black wounded and captured troops. The Confederates did make a final attempt to engage the rear element of Seymour's forces just before nightfall, but they were repulsed by elements of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment and the 35th United States Colored Troops, both composed of Black soldiers.

Aftermath
Union casualties were 203 killed, 1,152 wounded, and 506 missing, a total of 1,861 men—about 34 percent. Confederate losses were lower: 93 killed, 848 wounded, and 8 missing, a total of 949 casualties in all—but still about 19 percent. Union forces also lost six artillery pieces and 39 horses that were captured. The ratio of Union casualties to the number of troops involved made this the second bloodiest battle of the War for the Union, with 265 casualties per 1,000 troops. Soldiers on both sides were veterans of the great battles in the eastern and western theaters of war, but many of them remarked in letters and diaries that they had never undergone such terrible fighting. The Confederate dead were buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in nearby Lake City.

The Union losses caused Northern authorities to question the necessity of further Union involvement in the militarily insignificant state of Florida.

On the morning of February 22, as the Union forces were still retreating to Jacksonville, the 54th Massachusetts was ordered to countermarch back to Ten-Mile Station. The locomotive of a train carrying wounded Union soldiers had broken down and the wounded were in danger of capture. When the 54th Massachusetts arrived, the men attached ropes to the engine and cars and manually pulled the train approximately three miles to Camp Finegan, where horses were secured to help pull the train. After that, the train was pulled by both men and horses to Jacksonville for a total distance of 10 miles (16 km). It took 42 hours to pull the train that distance.

In the South, the battle was seen as a spirit-raising rout. One Georgia newspaper referred to Union forces as walking "forty miles over the most barren land of the South, frightening the salamanders and the gophers, and getting a terrible thrashing". The Confederate Congress even passed a resolution to officially thank the rebel soldiers.

Today, the battlefield is commemorated by the Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, a part of the Florida State Park system. This park is located within the Osceola National Forest, on U.S. 90. The battlefield is partially protected as state park, and part of the national forest. Part of it is privately held land on the south side of U.S. 90. However as of 2022 there is still no monument to the Union dead of this battle.

On Presidents' Day weekend each February (see Citations), an annual historical reenactment is conducted on the site of the battle. Thousands of reenactors from across the U.S., and even from overseas, have participated over the years.

The reenactment of the Battle of Olustee is co-sponsored by four organizations: the Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park Citizens Support Organization; the Florida Department of Environmental Protection – Recreation and Parks; the USDA Forest Service – Osceola National Forest; and The Blue-Grey Army, Inc.

Battle lithograph
The lithograph at the top of the page was printed by the firm of Kurz and Allison in 1894. It depicts soldiers of the 8th U.S. Colored Troops advancing against Confederate entrenchments. While frequently used in media about the Battle of Olustee, the image is inaccurate and reveals the artist's ignorance about the events. During the battle, Confederates operated well in advance of their prepared positions. Neither side fought from behind fortifications, as the fighting took place in a pine forest (see map – top of the map is approximately due West), and there were few large cleared area. The dotted red line on the map indicates the location of the Confederate trenches.

title: Battle of Olustee


text:
Brandeis Award

Brandeis Award may refer to:

 * Brandeis Award (privacy)
 * Brandeis Award (Zionism)
 * Brandeis Award (litigation), from Federal Trade Commission

title: Brandeis Award


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Abdullah el-Faisal

Abdullah el-Faisal (born Trevor William Forrest, also known as Abdullah al-Faisal, Sheikh Faisal, Sheik Faisal, and Imam Al-Jamaikee, born 10 September 1963 ) is a Jamaican Muslim cleric who preached in the United Kingdom until he was convicted of stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindus, Christians, Americans and other "unbelievers".

El-Faisal was sentenced to nine years in prison, of which he served four years before being deported to Jamaica in 2007. He subsequently traveled to Africa, but was deported from Botswana in 2009 and from Kenya back to Jamaica in January 2010.

Early life
El-Faisal was born in Saint James Parish to an evangelical Christian family which belonged to the Salvation Army church, a Christian denomination. He grew up in the small farming village of Point, about 14 mi from the city of Montego Bay, in upper St. James, Jamaica. He attended Springfield All-Age, then Maldon Primary and Junior High. At age 16, he converted to Islam, after being introduced to the religion by a teacher at Maldon High School.

He began using the name Abdullah el-Faisal shortly after graduating Maldon in 1980, and changed it legally in 1983. In 1981, in Trinidad, he took a six-week course in Islamic and Arabic studies sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government. He left Jamaica in 1983 for Guyana where he studied Arabic and Islam for a year. Starting in 1984, El-Faisal studied Islam for seven years on a Saudi government scholarship at the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He then moved to the UK later in the 1980s.

England: 1991–2003
El-Faisal was sent to the United Kingdom to preach by Sheikh Raji. He returned to the UK in 1991, became the imam at the Brixton Mosque in South London, began preaching to crowds of up to 500 people at the mosque and at Brixton Town Hall. He married his second wife, Pakistani-British biology graduate Zubeida Khan whom he met months after his arrival, in 1992, thereby acquiring rights of residence. This meant he had two wives, as his first marriage was still extant. In 1993, el-Faisal was ejected by Brixton Mosque's administration who objected to his radical preaching.

Afterward, he gave a lecture he called The Devil's Deception of the Saudi Salafis, where he attacked the Brixton Mosque management on the basis of their alleged subservience to the corrupt rulers of Saudi Arabia. He opened a study center in Tower Hamlets, East London.

Referred to as "Sheikh" by his followers, el-Faisal travelled and lectured to audiences in mosques in Birmingham, London, and Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, and in Manchester, Worthing, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Swansea, Coventry, Maidenhead, Tipton, Beeston, and venues in Scotland and Wales. Some of his lectures were taped and sold at Islamic bookshops. He also called on Muslim mothers to raise their children to be jihad soldiers by the age of 15. The content of those taped lectures served as the basis for his later trial and conviction.

In February 2002, El-Faisal's tapes were purchased by an undercover police officer at an Islamic bookshop at 62 Brick Lane in London and seized under a search warrant at Zam Zam Bookshop at 388 Green Street in East Ham and at his home at 104 Albert Square in Stratford. He was arrested on 18 February 2002.

El-Faisal is an associate of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the Egyptian ousted from the Finsbury Park mosque who is known for preaching against non-Muslims, and who is currently incarcerated in the United States for various offenses. El-Faisal is reportedly a former supporter of Osama bin Laden, and has been linked to al-Qaeda members.

Conviction and imprisonment: 2003–07
After a four-week trial at the Old Bailey, el-Faisal was found guilty by a jury of six men and six women on 24 February 2003 of: (a) three charges of soliciting the murder of Jews, Americans, Hindus, and Christians; and (b) two charges of using threatening words to stir up racial hatred, in tapes of speeches to his followers. He was the first Muslim cleric to be tried in the UK. In tapes of lectures he had given, he exhorted Muslim women to buy toy guns for their children, to train them for jihad. El-Faisal tried to recruit British schoolboys for Jihad training camps, promising them "seventy-two virgins in paradise" if they died fighting a holy war. El-Faisal said "Those who want to go to Jannah [paradise], it's easy, just kill a Kaffar [unbeliever] ... by killing that Kaffar you have purchased your ticket to paradise." He suggested killing non-Muslims like "cockroaches."
 * Conviction
 * Taped lectures

On one tape, titled "Jihad", he said: "Our methodology is the bullet, not the ballot." In a tape called "Rules of Jihad", thought to have been made before the 9/11 attacks, he said: "You have to learn how to shoot. You have to learn how to fly planes, drive tanks, and you have to learn how to load your guns and to use missiles. You are only allowed to use nuclear weapons in that country which is 100% unbelievers." He encouraged the use of "anything, even chemical weapons," to "exterminate non-believers." A picture of the burning World Trade Center was on the cover of one recording.

He lectured: "You can go to India, and if you see a Hindu walking down the road you are allowed to kill him and take his money, is that clear, because there is no peace treaty between us." He also suggested that power plants could use the dead bodies of Hindus as fuel. "Jews," el-Faisal said, "should be killed ... as by Hitler." He said: "People with British passports, if you fly into Israel, it is easy. Fly into Israel and do whatever you can. If you die, you are up in paradise. How do you fight a Jew? You kill a Jew. In the case of Hindus, by bombing their businesses."

During the trial, he denied he had intended to incite people to violence. He also testified that he had held Osama bin Laden in "great respect," but that bin Laden had "lost the path" since 11 September. El-Faisal was sentenced on 7 March 2003 to nine years in prison. He received seven years for soliciting murder, 12 months to run concurrently for using threatening words with intent to stir up racial hatred, and a further two years (to run consecutively) for distributing threatening recordings with intent to stir up racial hatred. Old Bailey judge Peter Beaumont delivered the sentence. He said el-Faisal had "fanned the flames of hostility", and told him: "As the jury found, you not only preached hate, but the words you uttered in those meetings were recorded to reach a wider audience. You urged those who listened and watched to kill those who did not share your faith." The judge suggested that el-Faisal serve at least half his sentence, and then be deported.
 * Sentencing and appeal

On 17 February 2004, el-Faisal lost an appeal of his conviction. While in prison, he attempted to improve conditions, saying: "if you're a cleric, you have to set an example for other Muslim prisoners to follow, and you're not supposed to crack under pressure." He ended up serving four years.

Followers: 9/11 plotter, Richard Reid, 7/7 and Flight 253 bombers
Prosecutors said he preached to 2001 shoe bomber Richard Reid and 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui.

In addition, two of the four accused 2005 7/7 suicide bombers, Muhammad Sidique Khan, responsible for the Edgware Road blast that killed 6 people, and Jamaican-born Briton Germaine Lindsay, responsible for the blast that killed 26 people at King's Cross tube station, were followers of El-Faisal. In an interview with the BBC in June 2008, he admitted knowing Germaine Lindsay but insisted he had not radicalized him.

In a May 2005 online posting under the name "farouk1986," Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspected Christmas Day 2009 Flight 253 bomber, referred to El-Faisal, writing: "i thought once they are arrested, no one hears about them for life and the keys to their prison wards are thrown away. That's what I heard sheikh faisal of UK say (he has also been arrested i heard)."

Deportations from the UK, Botswana, and Kenya: May 2007–present
Upon being eligible for parole, el-Faisal was released from prison, deported to Jamaica, and permanently banned from the UK on 25 May 2007. He remained on an international watch list. Andrew Dismore, a Labour Member of Parliament, noted that deportation might not adequately address the risks posed by el-Faisal, saying: "Once he's deported to Jamaica, what restrictions will there be to prevent him spreading his message of hate over the Internet?" He is said to preach extremists views online at paltalk chat rooms and associated with the authentic tawheed website.

On his arrival in Jamaica, the Islamic Council of Jamaica refused him permission to preach in its mosques. He began to again give lectures, conduct Q&A sessions via online chats, and established himself at the pulpit of a mosque in Spanish Town, just west of Kingston, Jamaica. The content of his sermons remained the same as that which was submitted at his trial.

In June 2008, he was preaching in South Africa. He reportedly traveled by road through various countries in Africa including Nigeria, Angola, Malawi, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana, and Tanzania before entering Kenya.

Along the way, Botswana had deported him as a prohibited immigrant.

Kenya
El-Faisal was allowed entry to Kenya on 24 December 2009, due to a computer error. He was arrested by anti-terror police in Mombasa on New Year's Eve 2009. Attempts by Kenya to deport him were initially unsuccessful because of his involvement in terrorist activities. He was unable to reach Jamaica, which had said it would accept him, because South Africa, the U.K., the U.S., and Tanzania all declined to issue him transit visas that would allow him to connect to flights to Jamaica.

He was deported from Kenya on 7 January 2010 to the West African nation of Gambia, which agreed to accept el-Faisal at his request. But as he was being transported through Nigeria, Nigerian authorities refused to grant him a transit visa and instead sent him back to Kenya on 10 January 2010. The Gambian government also indicated it would not grant him entry.

Several hundred people demonstrated on 8 January 2010, protesting the "unfair" treatment of el-Faisal. On 15 January, police in Nairobi were summoned to block a protest march by several hundred people, some of whom were waving the flag of al Shabaab. Some angry residents threw stones at the marchers. The following day at least five people died in demonstrations after Friday prayers at Jami'a Mosque.

Jamaica
He was deported from Kenya on a private plane (at a cost in excess of $523,000), and on 22 January 2010 arrived back in Jamaica. There, he was questioned by Special Branch investigators who made it clear that he had not broken any laws in Jamaica, but that the police wanted to make sure they knew where and how to find him "because of the international attention he has received." The Islamic Council of Jamaica banned him from preaching at any of its 12 mosques, but he is permitted to worship there. In 2017, he continued releasing public statements in support of the Islamic State.

In his book Ticking Time Bomb: Counter-Terrorism Lessons from the U.S. Government's Failure to Prevent the Fort Hood Attack (2011), former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman described Australian Muslim preacher Feiz Mohammad, American-Yemeni imam Anwar al-Awlaki, el-Faisal, and Pakistani-American Samir Khan as "virtual spiritual sanctioners" who use the internet to offer religious justification for terrorism.

On 25 August 2017, he was arrested in Jamaica after US officers caught him allegedly trying to recruit jihadis in an undercover sting operation. According to the Manhattan district attorney, he offered to help an undercover officer travel to the Middle East and join ISIL and was taken into custody in Jamaica to await extradition to the USA.

In July 2020, Jamaica's Court of Appeal ruled the extradition to the USA could proceed, Faisal was extradited on 13 August 2020. The New York City district attorney assumed prosecution of the case, with five charges of terrorism and his trial has yet to occur. According to a Washington Post report, Faisal is being held in "lockdown", confined for 23 hours a day. In 2023, Faisal was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

On March 23, 2023, Faisal was convicted, after a two month long jury trial, of recruiting, soliciting, and inspiring students and followers to pledge allegiance to, travel to, join and commit acts of terrorism on behalf of the Islamic State, a/k/a “ISIS” or “ISIL.” He was sentenced to 18 years in a New York state prison.

Book

 * Natural Instincts: Islamic Psychology, Darul Islam Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0953062104.

title: Abdullah el-Faisal


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Oswald Boelcke

Oswald Boelcke PlM (19 May 1891 – 28 October 1916) was a World War I German professional soldier and pioneering flying ace credited with 40 aerial victories. Boelcke is honored as the father of the German fighter air force, and of air combat as a whole. He was a highly influential mentor, patrol leader, and tactician in the first years of air combat, 1915 and 1916.

Boelcke fulfilled his childhood dream of a military career by joining the Imperial German Army on 15 March 1911. He pursued an early interest in aviation, learning to fly as World War I began. After duty as an aerial observer during 1914, he became one of the original fighter pilots during mid-1915. Flying the first true fighters, Boelcke, Max Immelmann, and several other early aces began shooting down enemy airplanes. Boelcke and Immelmann were the first German fighter pilots awarded Prussia's highest honor, the Pour le Mérite. The German high command reassigned Boelcke after his 19th victory. During his forced grounding on staff duty, he helped transform Die Fliegertruppe (Flying Troop) air arm into the Luftstreitkräfte (Air Force). His innovative turn of mind codified his combat experiences into the first manual of fighter tactics distributed to an air force, the Dicta Boelcke. The Dicta promulgated axioms for individual pilot success, as well as a requirement for teamwork directed by a formation's leader. Modern tactics manuals stem from the Dicta.

After an enforced holiday leave spent on a military inspection tour of Ottoman facilities, Boelcke was picked to lead one of Germany's first fighter squadrons, Jagdstaffel 2 (Fighter Squadron 2). Its pilots were hand picked by Boelcke and indoctrinated in his Dicta through extensive training. During September and October 1916, Boelcke scored 21 more victories while commanding Jagdstaffel 2, maintaining his position as the world's highest-scoring ace. He was killed in a mid-air collision with his best friend, Erwin Böhme, on 28 October 1916. By the end of the war, Jagdstaffel 2 (renamed Jasta Boelcke) had 25 aces in its ranks; many of them were selected to lead other squadrons and four of its members became generals during World War II. Boelcke's influence extends to the present, with extensive tributes to him at the German Air Force's Nörvenich Air Base and throughout Germany.

Early years
The son of a schoolmaster, Oswald Boelcke was born on 19 May 1891, in Giebichenstein (since 1900 a district of Halle), Prussian Province of Saxony. The Boelcke family had returned to the German Empire from Argentina six months before Oswald's birth. His family name was originally spelt Bölcke, but Oswald and his elder brother Wilhelm (1886–1954) dispensed with the umlaut and adopted the Latin spelling in place of the German. The pronunciation is the same for both spellings.

Boelcke caught whooping cough aged three, resulting in lifelong asthma. When he was four, his father moved the family to Dessau near the Junkers factory in pursuit of professional advancement. The planes flying overhead were Boelcke's first exposure to aircraft.

As Boelcke grew, he turned to athletics despite his asthma. In later life, he was described as being about 5 ft tall, broad-shouldered and well proportioned, with great agility and strength. He played soccer and tennis, skated and danced, and was considered the best gymnast in his school. He was an oarsman, and a prizewinning swimmer and diver. When he was 17, he became an alpinist capable of out-climbing his father and elder brother. His athletic prowess made him a popular leader on the school playing fields.

He got along well in school with both his fellow students and the teachers. His frank and friendly demeanor, blond hair, and intense blue eyes made him memorable. One source says Oswald Boelcke was studious as well as athletic, excelling at mathematics and physics.

Boelcke's family was a conservative one. They realized that a military career could move their son up the social ladder. Under this influence, while in the third or fourth form, ten-year-old Boelcke wrote a personal letter to Kaiser Wilhelm requesting an appointment to military school. His wish was granted when he was 13, but once his parents were apprised of the opportunity by the belated letter of reply, they objected and he did not attend Cadet School. He attended Herzog Friedrichs-Gymnasium (Duke Frederick's High School) instead of interrupting his education.

Boelcke's interest in a military career seemed undiminished. While in school, his favorite author was the nationalist writer Heinrich von Treitschke. Boelcke also read publications from the German General Staff. At age 17, for an elocution class, he chose three subjects—General Gerhard von Scharnhorst's military reforms, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's life before his aeronautical experiments, and the first airship flights. Despite his principal's reservations about his scholarship, Boelcke was awarded his Abitur honors degree on 11 February 1911.

Entry into military service
After leaving school Boelcke joined a telegraph battalion in Koblenz as a Fahnenjunker (cadet officer) on 15 March 1911. As he learned his general military duties, he saw more airplanes. In January 1912 he began attending the Kriegsschule (Military Academy) in Metz. As the advent of spring lengthened the days, he took advantage of his early class dismissal to spend the rest of his daylight hours watching airplanes at a nearby airfield. In June, he stood his final exams. His written tests were graded as only "fair"; his oral exams were "good" or "very good"; his leadership skills were considered "excellent".

In July 1912, he graduated and was commissioned as an ensign. Since Boelcke had gained his Abitur, his commission was back-dated to 23 August 1910, making him senior to the other new ensigns in his battalion. Promotion to lieutenant soon followed. He settled into a daily routine of training recruit telegraphers, and enjoyed an active social life.

During 1913, Boelcke took advantage of a temporary posting to Metz to be taken on some flights with the 3rd Air Battalion. That October he was transferred to Darmstadt. On a visit to Frankfurt, he witnessed an aerobatic performance by pioneer French aviator Adolphe Pégoud. In February 1914, he competed in the officer's pentathlon, taking third place and qualifying for the 1916 Olympics scheduled for Berlin.

1914

Without informing his family, Boelcke applied for a transfer to aviation duty. On 29 May 1914, he was accepted for pilot's training. On 2 June, he began a six-week course of instruction at the Halberstädter Fliegerschule (Halberstadt Flying School). He passed his final pilot's exam on 15 August. His first assignment was training 50 neophyte pilots on an Aviatik B.I.

World War I having begun, Boelcke was anxious to see action. On 31 August, he connived his way into joining his older brother Wilhelm at Feldflieger Abteilung 13 (Field Flyer Detachment 13). On 1 September, the aircrew of Boelcke and Boelcke flew the first of many missions together. On 8 September, during reconnaissance of a French aerodrome, Wilhelm avoided a challenge by French aircraft because he feared they had machine guns aboard.

The brothers soon compiled a record of flying longer missions at more frequent intervals than the other aircrews, causing some resentment within the unit. The two Boelckes continued to fly as the weather worsened and the opposing armies' activities began to stagnate into trench warfare. By year's end, Oswald, who had been last to join the section, had flown 42 sorties beyond the front line and Wilhelm had flown 61. The next most active airman had 27 sorties.

Catalyst for action
There was little ground combat and little need for air support during early 1915. Oswald had a spell in hospital with asthma, and both brothers went on home leave. The Boelckes' new commanding officer wished to separate them. In late March, matters came to a head when the brothers refused to fly separately and jumped the chain of command to complain but, in April, they were parted. As Wilhelm returned to Germany, Oswald was posted to Feldflieger Abteilung 62 (Field Flyer Detachment 62) in La Brayelle, Douai, France on 25 April.

He was quickly passed on to Kampfeinsitzerkommando Douai (Combat Single-Seater Command Douai), arriving 19 May. He was the most experienced pilot in the unit. His new assignment brought him friendship with Max Immelmann, a fellow citizen of the Prussian Province of Saxony serving in the unit. Boelcke's and Immelmann's posting to FFA 62 proved momentous, as they would fly the unit's Fokker Eindeckers during the Fokker Scourge.

Advent of synchronized guns
When Roland Garros, Eugène Gilbert and Adolphe Pégoud managed to score the first aerial victories, they caught the public imagination. French newspapers hailed Pégoud as "l'as", or ace. To an audience overwhelmed by a war of enormous armies and geographic complexity, simple stories of lone heroes had great appeal. German propagandists took advantage of this by supplying press releases to newspapers and magazines, encouraging printing of postcards, and filming of popular aviators.

After two unsuccessful combats in two-seated reconnaissance craft, Boelcke scored his first accredited victory on 4 July 1915, after 30 minutes of angling about to afford his observer with fields of fire. Then Boelcke shifted from two-seaters to the world's original dedicated fighter plane. The Fokker E.I Eindecker (monoplane) was a hasty German response to the first air-to-air victories achieved by French fliers. The airplane itself was unremarkable, with cranky controls and underpowered inefficient engine, but its weapon system was not.

The noses of Eindeckers were fitted with a forward-firing air-cooled Parabellum machine-gun connected to a gun synchronizer that prevented bullets from being fired when the propeller blades were in the line of fire. Aiming the airplane aimed the gun, murderously simplifying the task of attacking other aircraft. The Eindecker machine-guns carried hundreds of bullets in ammunition belts. The few British Lewis guns in use had to be aimed indirectly around the propeller, and awkwardly reloaded after the 47 rounds in its ammunition drum had been fired. Fokkers were issued singly or in pairs to operational detachments.

The Eindeckers were to be flown when pilots were not on their assigned reconnaissance missions in their two-seaters. The German General Staff had settled on an aerial strategy of defensive "barrier" patrols over their own lines. The new aircraft were considered so revolutionary that they could not be risked over enemy lines for fear of capture. This restriction to defensive patrols was soon eroded by the insubordinate aggression of Boelcke and other Fokker fliers.

Early fighter warfare
On 17 June, on the French side of the lines, Gilbert shot down his fifth German aeroplane. On 21 June, operating from the Allied side of the lines, British pilot Lanoe Hawker scored his first victory. In July 1915, Boelcke, Immelmann, Parschau, and Wintgens began to fly the Eindecker aircraft in combat. As the German single-seat pilots began waging war in the third dimension, they had no tactical knowledge for reference. Until Boelcke recorded his experiences in July 1916, there was no tactical guide.

On 1 July, Wintgens achieved the initial victory with the Fokker, but the French aircraft fell behind their own lines and went unverified—until after the war. On 4 July, Wintgens filed another victory claim—again only confirmed postwar. That day, Boelcke and his observer brought down an enemy two-seater in a prolonged engagement between reconnaissance machines. It was Boelcke's first victory, and the only one he scored in a two-seater, as he then switched to the Eindecker. By the end of July, Wintgens had two more victories, both verified. On 1 August, Immelmann shot down his first aircraft. By this time, the Eindecker pilots were being mentioned in official dispatches and lionized in magazine and newspaper. In letters home, Boelcke was already counseling his father about modesty in dealing with journalists.

Boelcke and Immelmann often flew together. Boelcke won his first individual aerial combat on 19 August 1915, forcing down a British plane. On 31 August, Pégoud was shot down and killed after six victories. By then, Hawker had won six of his eventual seven victories, generally unnoticed. In the glare of German publicity, Wintgens had claimed five victims, Boelcke two and Immelmann one.

The ace race begins
September 1915 saw improved models of the Eindecker delivered to the front. Engine power was increased and the Fokker E.IV carried a pair of guns over the engine. That month Boelcke and Immelmann scored two victories apiece. On 22 September, Boelcke was moved to Metz, joining the secretive Brieftauben-Abteilung-Metz (Carrier Pigeons Detachment Metz) to counter a French offensive. On 1 November, the day after his sixth victory, Boelcke was awarded the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. Immelmann duplicated the feat six days later, reaching six victories and being awarded the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. By now, the deadly effect of the new aircraft on aerial warfare was beginning to be referred to by the British and French public as the Fokker Scourge.

Boelcke moved back to Field Flieger Abteilung 62 on 12 December. When he arrived, he was awarded a Prussian Lifesaving Medal for an act of heroism in late August. While watching French locals fishing from a high pier jutting into a canal, Boelcke saw a teen boy topple in and sink. Boelcke plunged in and saved the child from drowning. When French bystanders applauded his heroism, Boelcke was embarrassed by his soggy public appearance in his dress uniform. By the end of 1915, Immelmann had seven victories, Boelcke had six, Wintgens had five (including two unconfirmed) and Hans-Joachim Buddecke had four (one unconfirmed). There were 86 Fokker and 21 Pfalz Eindeckers in service. Officially, the nine successful pilots of the Fokker Scourge had shot down 28 enemy aircraft.

Ace race continues
On 5 January 1916, the winter weather improved enough for flying, and Boelcke shot down a British BE.2. Landing near the downed aircraft, he found that the German-speaking pilot knew of him. Boelcke later visited the observer in hospital, bringing him reading material. By now, Boelcke was so well known that this incident was front-page news. On 12 January, Buddecke submitted his ninth combat claim, but four had not been verified. Boelcke and Immelmann shot down their eighth victims that day. These two were immediately presented the German Empire's most prestigious decoration, the Pour le Merite. This award sparked articles in the American and British press, as well as the German news. Boelcke was internationally famous, and could not walk German streets or attend the opera without being lionized. The young lieutenant also found that generals and nobility sought his company.

On 21 January, Boelcke was again covertly posted to Brieftauben-Abteilung-Metz, in anticipation of the Battle of Verdun. Bad weather limited his flying, and he complained he had little to do except reluctantly reply to fan mail. In late February, he was hospitalized with an intestinal ailment. After about a week, he absconded from care to return to duty. He complained he was stationed too far from the front at Jametz and was given permission to use the forward airfield at Sivry only 12 km behind the lines.

On 11 March, he was given command of the new Fliegerabteilung Sivry (Flying Detachment Sivry). This unit of six fighter pilots was the precursor of German fighter squadrons. Boelcke connected a front-line observation post to the Sivry airfield and established the first tactical air direction center. The new fighter unit was stationed near Stenay, which was the headquarters of Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm. A friendship developed between the Crown Prince and the flier.

On 3 March 1916, Boelcke was ordered to evaluate a new Eindecker prototype: his report pointed out shortcomings like inaccurately mounted guns and the limitations of its rotary engine. He also submitted a memorandum that criticized German use of airpower as "wretched". Boelcke became the first aviator to score 10 victories on 12 March. The following day, as Boelcke scored another, Immelmann scored one of the first double victories of the war to tie it up at 11 all. The dead heat lasted for a week. On 19 March, Boelcke used his usual tactics of point-blank fire for his 12th victory.

By this time, the obsolescent Fokker E.III was being replaced by newer Halberstadt D.II single-gun and twin-gun Albatros D.I biplane fighters, both types fitted with synchronized guns. The French counter to the Fokker Scourge was the new Nieuport 11. The British counter was the Airco DH.2 pusher biplane that could shoot without use of synchronizing gear. Boelcke concentrated on developing fighter tactics, massing fighters in formation and using accurate gunnery in combat.

The ace race continued, although Buddecke lost ground and was no longer a contender due to problems verifying some of his victories in Turkey. Now it became more of an "ace chase", with Immelmann playing catchup to Boelcke as their scores rose into the teens. When Boelcke shot down two enemy airplanes on 21 May 1916, the emperor disregarded army regulations prohibiting promotion to Hauptmann until age 30. Boelcke was promoted to the rank ten days past his 25th birthday, making him the youngest captain in the German military.

The ace race ends
Immelmann was killed on 18 June 1916 after his 17th victory. Boelcke, who then had 18 victories, was left the preeminent ace of the war. Upon Boelcke's return from Immelmann's funeral, Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered Boelcke grounded for a month to avoid losing him in combat soon after Immelmann. He had become such an important hero to the German public, as well as such an authority on aerial warfare, that he could not be risked. Boelcke downed his 19th victim before reporting to headquarters on 27 June.

There the disgruntled flier was detailed to share his expertise with the head of German military aviation, Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen, who was planning the reorganization of the German air service from the Fliegertruppe (Flying Troops) into the Luftstreitkräfte (Air Force). The Prussian military believed that a combat officer knew best which tactics would succeed. In concordance with this belief, Boelcke codified his successful mission tactics into the Dicta Boelcke. Its eight maxims seem self-evident, but Boelcke was the first to recognize them. His first six rules pointed out ways to gain an advantage in combat. The seventh counseled keeping a line of retreat, and the eighth mandated squadron teamwork. These rules were published in a pamphlet that was widely distributed throughout the Luftstreitkräfte as the original training manual on fighter tactics.

The British launched their Somme offensive on 1 July. Their air assets amounted to 185 aircraft. The French supplied 201 more. The opposing German force amounted to 129 aircraft, including 19 fighters. The British alone had 76 fighters in their force. Allied bombers began a campaign to destroy the German planes on their aerodromes.

Journey to the east
On 10 July 1916, Boelcke left on a tour of the Balkans. He travelled through Austria-Hungary to visit the Ottoman Empire. From his diary notes, the journey seemed a combination of military facility inspections, a celebrity tour, and a holiday. He kept attendance at formal social obligations to a minimum, but had to oblige such important hosts as Enver Pasha and Otto Liman von Sanders. Making his rounds of the Turkish flying units supported by the German Military Mission, Boelcke again met his friend Hans Joachim Buddecke. After a three-day beach vacation at Smyrna, Boelcke reached the quiescent Gallipoli battlefield on 30 July. When he returned to Constantinople, he learned that in his absence, the French and British airmen had taken air superiority from the Germans on the Western Front.

On his hastened return trip, Boelcke visited Bulgaria and the Russian Front. He was visiting his brother Wilhelm at his unit in Kovel, a telegram arrived from Lieth-Thomsen: "Return to west front as quickly as possible to organize and lead Jagdstaffel 2 (Fighter Squadron 2) on the Somme front."

Creation of Jagdstaffel 2
When the message from headquarters reached the Boelcke brothers, it was followed by an extraordinary authorization. Six Kampfeinsitzerkommandos (Combat Single-Seater Commands) were expanded into Jagdstaffeln (fighter squadrons), by orders issued on 10 August. The seventh planned squadron would be raised from scratch. This squadron, Jagdstaffel 2 (Fighter Squadron 2), was designated as Boelcke's to man and command. This authorization gave him a free hand to recruit fighter pilots for his new unit.

Upon Wilhelm's recommendation, Oswald recruited a pair of pilots from Wilhelm's unit, both of whom he had previously met. One was a young cavalry officer, Manfred von Richthofen. The other was 37-year-old Erwin Böhme, a civil engineer returned from six years in Africa to reenlist in the military. After choosing three other pilots, Boelcke returned to France to organize his squadron.

Boelcke started with only four empty buildings vacated by Feldflieger Abteilung 32 (Field Flyer Detachment 32) in the Vélu Woods. His new squadron was authorized 14 aircraft, the pilots to fly them, and ground crew to support them. As of 27 August, the fledgling squadron had three officers and 64 other ranks on strength, but no aircraft. By 8 September, there were eight pilots on board, including Richthofen and Böhme. Three days later, Böhme was pushing for permission to use his castoff Halberstadt; there were four aircraft in the squadron by then.

While his squadron struggled into existence, Boelcke flew solo combat sorties, to be eagerly greeted upon his return by his pilots. On 2 September, he shot down Captain R. E. Wilson for his 20th victory. The next day, Boelcke hosted Wilson in the squadron mess before returning the British flier to captivity.

As new personnel continued to check in, facilities were built, and the squadron's pilots trained. They began with firing and troubleshooting machine guns on the ground. They also received extensive lectures from Boelcke on aircraft recognition and the strengths and flaws of opposing aircraft. They familiarized themselves with their Halberstadts before taking to the air. Boelcke believed, "You can win the men's confidence if you associate with them naturally and do not try to play the high and mighty superior."

Boelcke drilled his pilots in his tactics as they flew. They learned to pair as leader and wingman, spaced 60 meters abreast to allow room for a U-turn without collision. They flew formation, massing their power for attacks. While attacking they split into pairs, although the Dicta Boelcke advised single assaults on the foe by flight leaders. Meanwhile, Boelcke withheld the squadron from combat, and continued flying his solo sorties. Single victims fell to him on 8 and 9 September, and he scored double victories on the 14th and 15th. When Boelcke returned to base with gunpowder soot on his chin, they knew he had shot down another enemy plane. Boelcke told them, "I only open fire when I can see the goggle strap on my opponent's crash helmet."

Into battle
New fighters arrived on 16 September. There was a prototype Albatros D.II for Boelcke, and five Albatros D.Is to be shared by his pilots. The new aircraft outclassed previous German types, as well as those of their enemies. With more powerful engines, the new arrivals were faster, climbed more quickly to a higher ceiling, and carried two synchronized nose machine guns instead of one. With these new airplanes, Jagdstaffel 2 flew its first squadron missions on 17 September. Boelcke shot down his 27th victim, and his men shot down four more. Squadron training continued amid the initial successes. Boelcke now discussed flights beforehand and listened to his pilots' input, then issued orders for the mission. Post-flight, he debriefed his men.

On 22 September, rainy weather had aggravated Boelcke's asthma to the point he could not fly. He refused to go to hospital, but devolved command on Oberleutnant Gunther Viehweger. That night, Jagdstaffel 2 transferred from Bertincourt to Lagnicourt because British artillery was beginning to shell its airfield. The next day, in a letter home, Boelcke noted he was still trying to impress his pilots that they should fight as a team instead of individually. Nevertheless, when the squadron flew six sorties that day without him, it shot down three enemy aircraft. Boelcke returned to flight status and command on the 27th. The squadron's September monthly activity report, written by Boelcke, reported 186 sorties flown, 69 of which resulted in combat. Ten victories were credited to him, and 15 more were shared among his men. Jagdstaffel 2 suffered four casualties.

By 1 October, the squadron had ten pilots; besides Boelcke, five of them had shot down enemy aircraft. Boelcke scored his 30th victory, but the squadron lost a pilot to antiaircraft fire. The next day began a stretch of rainy weather that prevented flying until the 7th. On 8 October, General Erich Ludendorff reorganized the makeshift Fliegertruppe into the Luftstreitkräfte and appointed Generalleutnant Ernst von Hoeppner to the new post of Chief of Field Aviation. Hoeppner immediately had the Dicta Boelcke distributed within the new air force.

On 10 October, a clear day saw the resumption of flying. Jagdstaffel 2 flew 31 sorties, fought during 18 of them, and claimed five victories, including Boelcke's 33rd. More air battles came on the 16th; among the four victories for the squadron were two more by Boelcke. He achieved 11 victories in October, with his 40th coming on 26 October. This total easily made him the leading ace of the war; his score would hold until Richthofen surpassed it on 13 April 1917. At the time of his death he had 36 more victories than von Richthofen's 4. This demonstrated just how far ahead he was of the future 80 victory ace. By this time, it was becoming obvious that the Royal Flying Corps had lost its mastery of the air. Jagdstaffel 2 had 50 victories to its credit—26 in October alone—with only six casualties. The German air service had suffered only 39 casualties between mid-September and mid-October, and had shot down 211 enemy aircraft.

Last mission
On the evening of 27 October, a depressed and tired Boelcke left the squadron mess early to return to his room. He complained of the racket in the mess to his batman, then sat staring into the fire. Böhme joined him, also stating the mess was too noisy. They shared a long talk, ending only when the orderly suggested bedtime. The following day was misty with a cloud layer, but the squadron still flew four missions during the morning, as well as another later in the day.

On the sixth mission, Boelcke and five of his pilots attacked a pair of British airplanes from 24 Squadron RFC. Boelcke and Böhme chased the Airco DH.2 of Captain Arthur Knight, while Richthofen pursued the other DH.2, flown by Captain Alfred McKay. McKay evaded Richthofen by crossing behind Knight, cutting off Boelcke and Böhme. Both of them jerked their planes upward to avoid colliding with McKay, each hidden from the other by their aircraft's wings. Neither was aware of the other's position.

Just as Böhme spotted the other plane bobbing up below him, Boelcke's upper left wing brushed the undercarriage of Böhme's airplane. The slight impact split the fabric on the wing of Boelcke's Albatros. As the fabric tore away, the wing lost lift, and the aircraft spiralled down to glide into an impact, near a German artillery battery near Bapaume. Although the crash seemed survivable, Boelcke was not wearing his crash helmet, nor was his safety belt fastened. He died of a fractured skull. Böhme returned to base and overturned while landing, blanking the accident from his mind in his distress. He lamented, "Destiny is generally cruelly stupid in her choices..." but he was exonerated by an enquiry.

In memoriam
Pilots from Jagdstaffel 2 rushed forward to the artillery position where Boelcke had crashed, hoping he was still alive. The gunners handed over his body to them. Despite Boelcke being Protestant, his memorial service was held in the Catholic Cambrai Cathedral on 31 October. Among the many wreaths, there was one from Captain Wilson and three of his fellow prisoners; its ribbon was addressed to "The opponent we admired and esteemed so highly". Another wreath of British origin had been air dropped by the Royal Flying Corps; it read "To the memory of Captain Boelcke, our brave and chivalrous opponent".

Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria attended the ceremony and two generals spoke at the service. Richthofen preceded the coffin from the cathedral, displaying Boelcke's decorations. The sun broke through the gloom as the coffin was placed on a gun caisson. Idling aircraft criss-crossed overhead in tribute. The journey to a waiting train passed through an honor guard to the sound of rifle salutes, followed by a hymn. The train crept away through Magdeburg and Halberstadt to Dessau.

When the train arrived in Dessau the next day, Boelcke was taken to his home church, Saint John's and laid out before the altar, attended by an honor guard of decorated sergeant pilots. Condolences, decorations and honors arrived from the crowned heads of Europe. When the funeral service was held on the afternoon of 2 November, the crowd was packed with royalty, generals and nobility. General Moriz von Lyncker gave Boelcke's funeral oration, followed by a speech by Lieth-Thomsen. Boelcke was buried in the Ehrenfriedhof (Cemetery of Honor).

Legacy
According to his pre-eminent student, Manfred von Richthofen, "Boelcke had not a personal enemy. He was equally polite to everybody, making no differences."

Boelcke was the progenitor of air-to-air combat tactics, fighter squadron organization, early-warning systems, and the German air force; he has been dubbed "the father of air combat". From his first victories, the news of his success instructed and motivated both his fellow fliers and the German public. It was at his instigation that the Imperial German Air Service founded its Jastaschule (Fighter School) to teach his aerial tactics. The promulgation of his Dicta Boelcke set tactics for the German fighter force. The concentration of fighter airplanes into squadrons gained Germany air supremacy on the Western Front, and was the basis for their wartime successes. Jagdstaffel 2 was re-named Jagdstaffel Boelcke and remained one of Germany's premier fighter squadrons after Boelcke's death, outscoring all but one other Jagdstaffel. The 336 victories the Jagdstaffel Boelcke scored during the war came at the price of 44 casualties.

Of the first 15 pilots chosen by Boelcke, eight became aces—seven of them within the squadron. Three of the 15, at various times, commanded the Jagdstaffel. By war's end, 25 aces had served in the squadron and accounted for 90 per cent of its victories. Four of its aces became generals during World War II – Gerhard Bassenge, Ernst Bormann, Hermann Frommherz, and Otto Höhne. The most notable of Boelcke's original roster of pilots was Richthofen. The Red Baron acknowledged Boelcke's influence in the Richthofen Dicta; the opening sentence of his tactical manual for wing operations refers to Boelcke. The Richthofen Dicta section entitled "The One to One Battle" quotes Boelcke. As was done with Dicta Boelcke, the Richthofen Dicta was distributed service-wide by the German High Command.

Boelcke was one of the few German heroes of World War I not tainted by association with the Nazi cause. Nevertheless, Nazi Germany named Kampfgeschwader 27 (Bomber Wing 27) for Boelcke, and Boelcke's barracks, a Luftwaffe barracks named after him, later became a subcamp of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. There is a Boelcke-Straße (Boelcke Street) in Berlin; a Boelcke-Kaserne in Koblenz, located on another Boelcke-Straße; and still another Boelcke-Straße extends northwest from Kerpen, leading to two Boelcke-Kaserne in separate locations. There is also an officers clubhouse named for Boelcke on a military installation, near the northern Boelcke-Kaserne located on the base.

Boelcke's name appears on the coat of arms of the present-day German Air Force fighter-bomber wing Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 31 (Tactical Air Force Wing 31). The wing conducts a pilgrimage to Boelcke's grave on the anniversary of his death. He is also extensively commemorated on the wing's home airfield at Norvenich Air Base. He is memorialized by murals on base buildings, portraits in their halls, and a bust in the headquarters entry. The base magazine is named for him. An aircraft tail section on static display is emblazoned with his name and a painting of his Fokker.

Awards and honors
Prussian/Imperial German awards
 * Pour le Mérite
 * Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords
 * Iron Cross: First and Second Class
 * Lifesaving Medal

Other German awards

Duchy of Anhalt:
 * House Order of Albert the Bear, Knight's Cross, 1st and 2nd class
 * Friedrich Cross, 2nd class

Kingdom of Bavaria:
 * Military Merit Order, 4th class with Swords

Duchies of Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Saxe-Meiningen joint award:
 * Saxe-Ernestine House Order

Kingdom of Württemberg:
 * Knight of the Military Merit Order

Foreign awards

Ottoman Empire:
 * Imtiyaz Medal

Austro-Hungary:
 * Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd class with war decoration

Kingdom of Bulgaria:
 * Order of Bravery, 3rd class

Honors
 * By order of the Emperor, Jagdstaffel 2 was renamed as Jagdstaffel Boelcke on 17 December 1916.

title: Oswald Boelcke


text:
Jean-Étienne Championnet

Jean-Étienne Vachier Championnet, also known as Championnet (13 April 1762, Alixan, Drôme – 9 January 1800), led a Republican French division in many important battles during the French Revolutionary Wars. He became commander-in-chief of the Army of Rome in 1798 and of the Army of Italy in 1799. He died in early 1800 of typhus. His name is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3.

Career

Championnet enlisted in the army at an early age and served in the Great Siege of Gibraltar.

When the Revolution broke out he took a prominent part in the movement and was elected by the men of a battalion to command them. In May 1793 he was charged with the suppression of the civil disturbances in the Jura, which he quelled without bloodshed. Under Pichegru he took part in the Rhine campaign of 1793 as a brigade commander, and at Weissenburg and in the Palatinate won the commendation of Lazare Hoche.

At Fleurus his stubborn fighting in the centre of the field contributed greatly to Jourdan's victory. In the subsequent campaigns he commanded the left wing ‘of the French armies on the Rhine between Neuwied and Düsseldorf, and took a part in expeditions to the Lahn and the Main rivers. At the conclusion of the Rhine Campaign of 1796, he briefly commanded the Army of Sambre and Meuse from 24 January–31 January 1797.

In 1798 Championnet was named commander-in-chief of the Armée de Rome which was protecting the infant Roman Republic against the Neapolitan court and the British fleet. Nominally 32,000 strong, the army scarcely numbered 8000 effectives, with a bare fifteen cartridges per man. Leading the Neapolitan army, the Austrian general Karl Mack von Leiberich had a tenfold superiority in numbers, but Championnet held his own and captured Naples itself, and there established the Parthenopaean Republic. His intense earnestness and intolerance of opposition, plus his penchant for looting and an unwillingness to curb atrocities by his troops, soon embroiled him with the civil population. He became involved in a quarrel with Guillaume-Charles Faipoult, one of the "Representatives on mission" (political commissar), was relieved with the accusation of graft, and subsequently imprisoned for a short time.

The following year, however, saw him again in the field as commander-in-chief of the Army of the Alps. This, too, was at first a mere paper force, but after three months' hard work it was able to take the field. After Barthélemy Catherine Joubert was killed at the Battle of Novi, Championnet assumed control over the Army of Italy. The campaign which followed was uniformly unsuccessful and, worn out by the unequal struggle, Championnet died at Antibes in the French Maritime Alps. In 1848 a statue was erected in his honour at Valence.

According to Napoleon, Championette "was brave, full of zeal, active, devoted to his country; he was a good General of Division, an indifferent Commander-in-Chief."

The figure of General Championnet is linked to the traditional carnival of Frosinone, which had been part of the short-lived Parthenopaean Republic, during which a puppet representing the general is carried around the streets of the city and then given to the flames.

title: Jean-Étienne Championnet