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Azusa Street Revival

The Azusa Street Revival was a historic series of revival meetings that took place in Los Angeles, California. It was led by William J. Seymour, an African-American preacher. The revival began on April 9, 1906, and continued until roughly 1915.

Seymour was invited to Los Angeles for a one-month engagement at a local church, but found himself barred due to his controversial views on baptism with the Holy Spirit after his first Sunday. He continued his ministry in the homes of sympathetic parishioners, and on the night of April 9, 1906, first one, then six others in his meeting began to speak in tongues and shout out loud praising God, so loudly that the neighborhood was alerted. The news quickly spread; the city was stirred; crowds gathered; services were moved outside to accommodate the crowds who came from all around; people fell down as they approached, and attributed it to God; people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and the sick were said to be healed.

The testimony of those who attended the Azusa Street Revival was "I am saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost" in reference to the three works of grace of Holiness Pentecostals, the original branch of Pentecostalism. To further accommodate the crowds, an old dilapidated, two-story frame building at 312 Azusa Street in the industrial section of the city was secured. This building, originally built for an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, had more recently been used as a livery stable, storage building and tenement house. In this humble Azusa Street mission, a continuous three-year revival occurred and became known around the world. Stanley H. Frodsham, in his book, With Signs Following, quotes an eye-witness description of the scene: The revival was characterized by spiritual experiences accompanied with testimonies of physical healing miracles, worship services, and speaking in tongues. The participants were criticized by some secular media and Christian theologians for behaviors considered to be outrageous and unorthodox, especially at the time.

Today, the revival is considered by historians to be the primary catalyst for the spread of Pentecostalism in the 20th century.

Los Angeles
In 1905, William J. Seymour, a 34-year-old son of freed slaves, was a student of well-known Pentecostal preacher Charles Parham and an interim pastor for a small holiness church in Topeka, Kansas. Seymour inherited from Parham the belief that baptism with the Holy Spirit was the third work of grace, following the new birth (first work of grace) and entire sanctification (second work of grace). Neely Terry, an African American woman who attended a small holiness church pastored by Julia Hutchins in Los Angeles, made a trip to visit family in Houston late in 1905. While in Houston, she visited Seymour's church, where he preached on receiving the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, and though he had not experienced this personally, Terry was impressed with his character and message. Once home in California, Terry suggested that Seymour be invited to speak at the local church. Seymour received and accepted the invitation in February 1906, and he received financial help and a blessing from Parham for his planned one-month visit.

Seymour arrived in Los Angeles on February 22, 1906, and within two days was preaching at Julia Hutchins' church at the corner of Ninth Street and Santa Fe Avenue. During his first sermon, he preached that speaking in tongues was the first biblical evidence of the inevitable infilling in the Holy Spirit. On the following Sunday, March 4, he returned to the church and found that Hutchins had padlocked the door. Elders of the church rejected Seymour's teaching, primarily because he had not yet experienced the blessing about which he was preaching. Condemnation of his message also came from the Holiness Church Association of Southern California with which the church had affiliation. However, not all members of Hutchins' church rejected Seymour's preaching. He was invited to stay in the home of congregation member Edward S. Lee, and he began to hold Bible studies and prayer meetings there.

North Bonnie Brae Street
Seymour and his small group of new followers soon relocated to the home of Richard and Ruth Asberry at 216 North Bonnie Brae Street. White families from local holiness churches began to attend as well. The group would get together regularly and pray to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. On April 9, 1906, after five weeks of Seymour's preaching and prayer, and three days into an intended 10-day fast, Edward S. Lee spoke in tongues for the first time. At the next meeting, Seymour shared Lee's testimony and preached a sermon on Acts 2:4 and soon six others began to speak in tongues as well, including Jennie Moore, who would later become Seymour's wife. A few days later, on April 12, Seymour spoke in tongues for the first time after praying all night long.

News of the events at North Bonnie Brae St. quickly circulated among the African American, Latino and white residents of the city, and for several nights, various speakers would preach to the crowds of curious and interested onlookers from the front porch of the Asberry home. Members of the audience included people from a broad spectrum of income levels and religious backgrounds. Hutchins eventually spoke in tongues as her whole congregation began to attend the meetings. Soon the crowds became very large and were full of people speaking in tongues, shouting, singing and moaning. Finally, the front porch collapsed, forcing the group to begin looking for a new meeting place. A resident of the neighborhood described the happenings at 216 North Bonnie Brae with the following words:

"They shouted three days and three nights. It was Easter season. The people came from everywhere. By the next morning there was no way of getting near the house. As people came in they would fall under God's power; and the whole city was stirred. They shouted until the foundation of the house gave way, but no one was hurt."

Conditions
The group from Bonnie Brae Street eventually discovered an available building at 312 Azusa Street (34.04838°N, -118.24111°W) in downtown Los Angeles, which had originally been constructed as an African Methodist Episcopal Church in what was then an impoverished part of town. The rent was $8.00 per month. A newspaper referred to the downtown Los Angeles building as a "tumble down shack". Since the church had moved out, the building had served as a wholesale house, a warehouse, a lumberyard, stockyards, a tombstone shop, and had most recently been used as a stable with rooms for rent upstairs. It was a small, rectangular, flat-roofed building, approximately 60 ft long and 40 ft wide, totaling 2400 sqft, sided with weathered whitewashed clapboards. The only sign that it had once been a house of God was a single Gothic-style window over the main entrance.

Discarded lumber and plaster littered the large, barn-like room on the ground floor. Nonetheless, it was secured and cleaned in preparation for services. They held their first meeting on April 14, 1906. Church services were held on the first floor where the benches were placed in a rectangular pattern. Some of the benches were simply planks put on top of empty nail kegs. There was no elevated platform, as the ceiling was only eight feet high. Initially there was no pulpit. Frank Bartleman, an early participant in the revival, recalled that "Brother Seymour generally sat behind two empty shoe boxes, one on top of the other. He usually kept his head inside the top one during the meeting, in prayer. There was no pride there.... In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors..."

The second floor at the now-named Apostolic Faith Mission housed an office and rooms for several residents including Seymour and his new wife, Jennie. It also had a large prayer room to handle the overflow from the altar services below. The prayer room was furnished with chairs and benches made from California Redwood planks, laid end to end on backless chairs.

By mid-May 1906, anywhere from 300 to 1,500 people would attempt to fit into the building. Since horses had very recently been the residents of the building, flies constantly bothered the attendees. People from a diversity of backgrounds came together to worship: men, women, children, Black, White, Asian, Native American, immigrants, rich, poor, illiterate, and educated. People of all ages flocked to Los Angeles with both skepticism and a desire to participate. The intermingling of races and the group's encouragement of women in leadership was remarkable, as 1906 was the height of the "Jim Crow" era of racial segregation, and fourteen years prior to women receiving suffrage in the United States.

Services and worship
Worship at 312 Azusa Street was frequent and spontaneous with services going almost around the clock. Among those attracted to the revival were not only members of the Holiness Movement, but also Baptists, Mennonites, Quakers, and Presbyterians. An observer at one of the services wrote these words:

"No instruments of music are used. None are needed. No choir – the angels have been heard by some in the spirit. No collections are taken. No bills have been posted to advertise the meetings. No church organization is back of it. All who are in touch with God realize as soon as they enter the meetings that the Holy Ghost is the leader."

The Los Angeles Times was not so kind in its description:

"Meetings are held in a tumble-down shack on Azusa Street, and the devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement in their peculiar zeal. Colored people and a sprinkling of whites compose the congregation, and night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howlings of the worshippers, who spend hours swaying forth and back in a nerve racking attitude of prayer and supplication. They claim to have the "gift of tongues" and be able to understand the babel."

The first edition of the Apostolic Faith publication claimed a common reaction to the revival from visitors:

"Proud, well-dressed preachers came to "investigate". Soon their high looks were replaced with wonder, then conviction comes, and very often you will find them in a short time wallowing on the dirty floor, asking God to forgive them and make them as little children."

Among first-hand accounts were reports of the blind having their sight restored, diseases cured instantly, and immigrants speaking in German, Yiddish, and Spanish all being spoken to in their native language by uneducated black members, who translated the languages into English by "supernatural ability".

Singing was sporadic and in a cappella or occasionally there would be singing in tongues. There were periods of extended silence. Attenders were occasionally slain in the Spirit. Visitors gave their testimony, and members read aloud testimonies that were sent to the mission by mail. There was prayer for the gift of tongues. There was prayer in tongues for the sick, for missionaries, and whatever requests were given by attenders or mailed in. There was spontaneous preaching and altar calls for salvation, sanctification and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Lawrence Catley, whose family attended the revival, said that in most services preaching consisted of Seymour opening a Bible and worshippers coming forward to preach or testify as they were led by the Holy Spirit. Many people would continually shout throughout the meetings. The members of the mission never took an offering, but there was a receptacle near the door for anyone who wanted to support the revival. The core membership of the Azusa Street Mission was never many more than 50–60 individuals, with hundreds if not thousands of people visiting or staying temporarily over the years.

Charles Parham
By October 1906, Charles Parham was invited to speak for a series of meetings at Azusa Street but was quickly un-invited.

Arriving at Azusa Street, [Parham] recoiled in disgust at the racial intermingling. He was aghast that black people were not in their "place," and simply could not abide "white people imitating unintelligent, crude negroisms of the Southland, and laying it on the Holy Ghost." Parham made his way through the crowd, stood at the pulpit, and delivered a stinging rebuke: "God is sick at his stomach!" He proceeded to explain that God would not stand for such "animalism." When it was clear that the majority of the Azusa Street Mission would not accept Parham's leadership, Parham left with an estimated two to three hundred followers and opened a rival campaign at a nearby Women's Christian Temperance Union building.

Criticism
In a skeptical front-page story titled "Weird Babel of Tongues", a Los Angeles Times reporter attempted to describe what would soon be known as the Azusa Street Revival. "Breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand", the story began, "the newest religious sect has started in Los Angeles". Another local paper reporter in September 1906 described the happenings with the following words:

"disgraceful intermingling of the races...they cry and make howling noises all day and into the night. They run, jump, shake all over, shout to the top of their voice, spin around in circles, fall out on the sawdust blanketed floor jerking, kicking and rolling all over it. Some of them pass out and do not move for hours as though they were dead. These people appear to be mad, mentally deranged or under a spell. They claim to be filled with the spirit. They have a one eyed, illiterate, Negro as their preacher who stays on his knees much of the time with his head hidden between the wooden milk crates. He doesn't talk very much but at times he can be heard shouting, "Repent," and he's supposed to be running the thing... They repeatedly sing the same song, "The Comforter Has Come.""

The attendees were often described as "Holy Rollers", "Holy Jumpers", "Tangled Tonguers" and "Holy Ghosters". Reports were published throughout the U.S. and the world of the strange happenings in Los Angeles. Christians from many traditions were critical, saying the movement was hyper-emotional, misused Scripture and lost focus on Christ by overemphasizing the Holy Spirit. Within a short time ministers were warning their congregations to stay away from the Azusa Street Mission. Some called the police and tried to get the building shut down.

Apostolic Faith publication
Also starting in September 1906 was the publication of the revival's own newsletter, the Apostolic Faith. Issues were published occasionally up until May 1908, mostly through the work of Seymour and a white woman named Clara Lum, a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission. The Apostolic Faith was distributed without charge, and thousands of laypersons and ministers received copies worldwide. Five thousand copies of the first edition were printed, and by 1907 the press run reached over 40,000.

The Apostolic Faith publication reported the happenings at the Azusa Street Mission to the world. Its first issue's lead story was titled "Pentecost has Come". It contained a letter from Charles Parham, an article on Pentecost from Acts, and a series of anecdotes of people's experience within the revival. One edition in 1907 wrote, "One token of the Lord's coming is that He is melting all races and nations together, and they are filled with the power and glory of God. He is baptizing by one spirit into one body and making up a people that will be ready to meet Him when He comes". The Apostolic Faith brought increasing attention to the happenings at Azusa Street and the fledgling movement that was emerging from the revival.

Legacy
By 1913, the revival at Azusa Street had lost momentum, and most of the media attention and crowds had left by 1915. Seymour remained there with his wife, Jennie, for the rest of their lives as pastors of the small African American congregation, though he often made short trips to help establish other smaller revivals later in life. After Seymour died of a heart attack on September 28, 1922, Jennie led the church until 1931, when the congregation lost the building.

Sending of missionaries
As The Apostolic Faith and many secular reports advertised the events of the Azusa Street Revival internationally, thousands of individuals visited the mission in order to witness it firsthand. At the same time, thousands of people were leaving Azusa Street with intentions of evangelizing abroad. Reverend K. E. M. Spooner visited the revival in 1909 and became one of the Pentecostal Holiness Church's most effective missionaries in Africa, working among the Tswana people of Botswana.

A. G. Garr and his wife were sent from Azusa Street as missionaries to Calcutta, India, where they managed to start a small revival. Speaking in tongues in India did not enable them to speak the native language, Bengali. The Garrs later traveled to China where they arrived in Hong Kong and began to spread Pentecostalism in mainland China. They did this by working through other Protestant churches and organizations that had already been established. Garr significantly contributed to early Pentecostalism through his later work in redefining the "biblical evidence" doctrine and changing the doctrine from a belief that speaking in tongues was explicitly for evangelism to a belief that speaking in tongues was a gift for "spiritual empowerment".

Missionary Bernt Bernsten traveled to the area from North China to investigate the happenings after hearing that the biblical prophecy of Acts 2:4 was being fulfilled. Other visitors left the revival to become missionaries in remote areas all over the world. So many missionaries went out from Azusa (some thirty-eight left in October 1906) that within two years the movement had spread to over fifty nations, including Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, Holland, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, South Africa, Hong Kong, China, Ceylon and India. Christian leaders visited from all over the world.

Birth of Pentecostal movement
By the end of 1906, most leaders from Azusa Street had spun off to form other congregations, such as the Apostolic Faith Church, 51st Street Apostolic Faith Mission, the Spanish AFM, and the Italian Pentecostal Mission. These missions were largely composed of immigrant or ethnic groups. The Southeast United States was a particularly prolific area of growth for the movement, since Seymour's approach gave a useful explanation for a charismatic spiritual climate that had already been taking root in those areas. Other new missions were based on preachers who had charisma and energy. Nearly all of these new churches were founded among immigrants and the poor.

Many existing Wesleyan-holiness denominations adopted the Pentecostal message, such as the Church of God in Christ and the Pentecostal Holiness Church, and are now Holiness Pentecostal denominations. Holiness Pentecostals, such as the Apostolic Faith Church, affirm three works of grace: (1) New Birth, (2) entire sanctification, and (3) Baptism with the Holy Ghost. The formation of new denominations also occurred, motivated by doctrinal differences between Holiness Pentecostals and their Finished Work Pentecostal counterparts, such as the Assemblies of God formed in 1914 and the Pentecostal Church of God formed in 1919—these represent Finished Work Pentecostal denominations. An early doctrinal controversy led to a split between Trinitarian and Oneness Pentecostals, the latter founded the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World in 1916 and the United Pentecostal Church in 1945.

Today, there are more than 500 million Pentecostal and charismatic believers across the globe, and it [was] the fastest-growing form of Christianity today [in 1978]. The Azusa Street Revival is commonly regarded as the beginning of the modern-day Pentecostal Movement.

title: Azusa Street Revival


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Legio III Italica

Legio III Italica ("Italian Third Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in 165 AD by the emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. AD 161–80) for his campaign against the Marcomanni tribe. The cognomen Italica suggests that the legion's original recruits were drawn for the defence of Italy. The legion was still active in Raetia and other provinces in the early 5th century (Notitia Dignitatum, dated ca. 420 AD for Western Roman Empire entries).

Together with Legio II Italica and Legio I Adiutrix, Legio III Italica was in the Danube provinces from the beginning, fighting the Marcomanni invasion of the Raetia and Noricum provinces. In 171 AD, they built the camp Castra Regina, (modern Regensburg) designed as a strong defensive position.

In the civil war of 193 AD, this legion supported Septimius Severus and helped him defeat his opponents: first Didius Julianus, then Pescennius Niger, and Clodius Albinus. Their loyalty was extended to Severus' successor, Emperor Caracalla, for whom they fought in 213 AD in a campaign against the Alamanni.

History

 * Antonine Dynasty

In AD 165, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius raised two new legions – the Legio II Italica and Legio III Italica, in preparation for a major campaign. Gaius Vettius Sabinianus was the legion's first commander. Immediately after treceiving their eagles, both legions were sent to Pannonia, which was being invaded by the Marcomanni. An inscription from Salona in Dalmatia attest to detachments (vexillationes) of the legion fortifying that strategic port city.

Under the command of Quintus Antistius Adventus, the Legio III Italica took part in the expeditio Germanica that protected Italy against Germanic tribes. In AD 170, the legion probably attacked the Germanic tribes under the command of the later Emperor Pertinax and in part succeeded in the process of expelling the Germanic invaders from the provinces of Raetia and Noricum.

During the AD 170s, the legion didn't have an established base but was dispersed in detachments. Between AD 172 and 179, some cohorts of the legion were stationed in the large temporary fort of Eining. Other detachments were stationed at Alkofen and Regensburg Kumpfmuehl. A headquarters for the legion was established around AD 175, as attested by an inscription at the east gate of Castra Regina (modern Regensburg).

From AD 179, the entire legion was stationed in Castra Regina. In AD 182, the legion participated in a military campaign against the Germanic Burer tribe. Soon after their arrival in Raetia, the legion was involved in the construction and, among other things, the repairing of damage to the Limes forts that had occurred in the course of the Marcomanni wars. They also built forts in Ellingen, Pfünz, Künzing, Dambach, Passau and Straubing. For this operation, inter alia, the Legion used brickworks in Bad Abbach.

A section built in the year AD 181, under the supervision of a centurion, the safety fence of the fort Böhming is inscribed:

 * Transferred soldiers (vexillarii) of Legio III Italica have the wall (vallum), built under the supervision of Julius Iulinus, centurion of Legio III Italica.

The majority of reinforcements for the legion came from the numerous villae rusticae in Raetia and initially served the legion well.

After the catastrophic German invasions from the middle of the 3rd century, many of these farms were destroyed and not rebuilt.

Earlier, reinforcements were partly brought from northern Italy; in Trento an inscription was discovered dating from the late 2nd century from Gaius Valerius Marianus annonae, there as adlectus legionis III Italicae – (literally, selected for the food supply of the Legio III Italica). However, the route over the Brenner Pass was not the only supply line, also from the Great St. Bernard is a dedicatory inscription (200 AD) of Titus Claudius Severus, a frumentarius legionis (Logistics Officer). He donated a bronze votive tablet to Jupiter Poeninus while travelling through the pass, possibly as a courier on the orders of the governor.

Aurelius Silvinus, another frumentarius legionis, left behind in Rome a dedicatory inscription. He was probably an official under Severus Alexander, and consecrated on the Caelian a small marble statue of the god in the "camp of the strangers" (castra peregrina).

 * Severan Dynasty

In the civil war of 193 (so-called Second Year of the Four Emperors), the legion supported Septimius Severus against Didius Julianus, and later against Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger in the struggle for the imperial throne.

As a reward for their loyalty, a series of coins were struck, which had a lapel one flanked by the eagle legion standards and the inscription LEG(io ) III ITAL(ica).

Their loyalty continued with Severus' successor and son Caracalla, under whose guidance in 213 they took part in a campaign against the Alemanni, and in 214 against the Karpen in Dacia and Syria in 217.

From this time the legion held the honorary title Antoniniana. Two inscriptions from the Dacian garrison city of Alba Iulia record the presence of two centurions of the III Legion, Marcus Ulpius Caius and Marcus Ulpius Vitalis. As part of the most battle-worthy army of the Danube, the III Italica was often involved in the conflicts of the so-called "soldier-emperors" in the Crisis of the Third Century.

They also served under the last two Severans Elagabalus (218–222) and Severus Alexander (222–235). The latter gave the Legion the honorary title Severiana.

 * Soldier Emperors

In an inscription from Celeia (Celje, Slovenia), another name of honor was added, Gordiana, suggesting that a detachment of the legion under Gordian III was proven in a campaign against the Sassanid Empire (242–244).

In 253 the legion supported the connection of their commander to the emperor Valerian. A detachment went with him in 259/60, again in the East, where an inscription of Shapur I. Sassanide, who Valerian defeated at Edessa and captured, talks of soldiers " from the people of Raeter " in the Roman army.

Meanwhile, in the West under the leadership of his son and second emperor Gallienus (253-268), the legion won multiple victories against German tribes, for which VI Pia VI Fidelis (six times faithful and loyal) and VII Pia VII Fidelis (seven times faithful and loyal) was awarded.

The Legio III Italica is not mentioned on the historically significant dedicatory inscription of the Augsburger Siegesaltar (made in 260), which has given rise to speculation about their whereabouts at the time.

A complete withdrawal of the Legion of Raetia is unlikely, as it was marching at this time only with the more flexible detachments in the field.

The Legion had been repeatedly deployed to the Persian front to fight against the usurper Ingenuus, and against the Alemanni. A complete withdrawal of the Legion would have been unlikely in view of the tense security situation.

In the year 273, the Legion was fighting in the war of Emperor Aurelian against the secession of the queen of Palmyra, Zenobia, in the east of the empire.

The legion was joined on the Palmyrenean campaign by a detachment of the Norian II Italica, and was involved in a decisive battle at Emesa (now Homs, Syria) in 272:

"... The Palmyrene army of 70 000 men strong [ ... ] and gathered in the plain before Emesa.

Opposite them is [Aurelian] placed with his Dalmatian cavalry, and with the Moesiern, the Pannonians [...], and the Noriker and Rhaetians, the Celtic legions are ..."

According to the Historia Augusta, in 275 Aurelian led an expedition to Raetia to again repulse sunken barbarians.

The Emperor Probus (276–282) was active militarily in Raetia and won a decisive victory at Lech in 278/279 over a coalition of Burgundians and Vandals. Despite this victory, in 282, Legio II and III Italica proclaimed the usurper Carus as a new emperor, by raising him on their shields.

Late Antiquity

In 285, a detachment of the Legion possibly took part in the campaign of Maximian to Africa. Selected existing soldiers of the Legion cohort was as Tertiani by the year 300 as legionis comitatenses in the field army Comes the Illyrici had been incorporated. They were under the command of the Magister Peditum Praesentalis.

Since the end of the 5th century the Rhaetian Legion no longer appears as a cohesive unit. Rather, they had been reorganized under the leadership of a sub-prefect into six major detachments. Approximately 1,000 men were probably still stationed at Castra Regina.

Since the main source for this is the Notitia Dignitatum, apparently it no longer reflects the original unit with the pars inferior (the section between Regensburg and Passau), and can probably be taken more as detachments for the early 4th century. According to the Notitia Dignitatum, the northern border of Raetia was now formed of the pars superior (upper part), with larger departments of the Legion stationed in Submuntorio and Vallato.

The western boundary was the pars media (middle part) with the city Cambodunum and border post Vemania to Cassilacum. The Legio III Italica was now "under the decree of the Most Honourable General of the provinces Raetiae I and II" (Sub dispositione viri spectabilis ducis provinciae Raetiae primae et secundae). It was spread over five locations, where each detachment was again led by its own Praefectus.

The soldiers from Zirl transported food and consumer goods over the Brenner pass to Seefeld by horse and handed them over to the cohort on foot. From there supply boats could transport supplies further down the Lech Valley, to provide, for example, the departments in Submuntorio (Burghöfe or Mertingen) and others units.

The road on foot led northwest via Cambodunum (Kempten), where again the forts could be built at the Iller.

The detachments in forts probably oversaw the section of road to the nearby provincial capital of Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg). It is likely that this unit was also equipped with rowing boats and so controlled the Danube marshes west and east of the mouth of the Lech.

With the loss of Dekumatlandes, Cambodunum had become a border town. From Cambodunum to the mouth of the Iller, the Empire's border ran along the route of the river.

There is a probable reference in the Notitia Dignitatum of a detachment of the Legio III Italica comprising about 200 men stationed on the higher grounds of the castle mound in this area. This detachment was likely responsible for the defense of the fort chain of Vimania (Isny) to Cassiliacum (Memmingen?).

In the Crisis of the Third Century
Since the cognomen III Italica Gordiana is recorded, vexillationes (detachments) of the legion were involved in Emperor Gordian III's campaign against the Sassanid Empire in 243–244.

As part of the powerful Danubian army, Legio III Italica took part in the frequent 3rd century internal power struggles. The legion fought for Gallienus against his rival Postumus, so it was awarded with the VI Pia VI Fidelis (six times faithful and six times loyal) and VII Pia VII Fidelis (seven times faithful and seven times loyal) cognomen. Legio III Italica main camp was still Regensburg, but they were included in the 273 AD campaign commanded by Emperor Aurelian against Queen Zenobia.

Notitia Dignitatum
Detachments (vexillationes) of the legion, comitatensis units, are mentioned in Notitia Dignitatum as still being in Castra Regina and the Danubian provinces during the early 5th century.

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

title: Legio III Italica


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Chemical kinetics

Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the branch of physical chemistry that is concerned with understanding the rates of chemical reactions. It is different from chemical thermodynamics, which deals with the direction in which a reaction occurs but in itself tells nothing about its rate. Chemical kinetics includes investigations of how experimental conditions influence the speed of a chemical reaction and yield information about the reaction's mechanism and transition states, as well as the construction of mathematical models that also can describe the characteristics of a chemical reaction.

History
The pioneering work of chemical kinetics was done by German chemist Ludwig Wilhelmy in 1850. He experimentally studied the rate of inversion of sucrose and he used integrated rate law for the determination of the reaction kinetics of this reaction. His work was noticed 34 years later by Wilhelm Ostwald. After Wilhelmy, Peter Waage and Cato Guldberg published 1864 the law of mass action, which states that the speed of a chemical reaction is proportional to the quantity of the reacting substances.

Van 't Hoff studied chemical dynamics and in 1884 published his famous "Études de dynamique chimique". In 1901 he was awarded by the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions". After van 't Hoff, chemical kinetics deals with the experimental determination of reaction rates from which rate laws and rate constants are derived. Relatively simple rate laws exist for zero order reactions (for which reaction rates are independent of concentration), first order reactions, and second order reactions, and can be derived for others. Elementary reactions follow the law of mass action, but the rate law of stepwise reactions has to be derived by combining the rate laws of the various elementary steps, and can become rather complex. In consecutive reactions, the rate-determining step often determines the kinetics. In consecutive first order reactions, a steady state approximation can simplify the rate law. The activation energy for a reaction is experimentally determined through the Arrhenius equation and the Eyring equation. The main factors that influence the reaction rate include: the physical state of the reactants, the concentrations of the reactants, the temperature at which the reaction occurs, and whether or not any catalysts are present in the reaction.

Gorban and Yablonsky have suggested that the history of chemical dynamics can be divided into three eras. The first is the van 't Hoff wave searching for the general laws of chemical reactions and relating kinetics to thermodynamics. The second may be called the Semenov-Hinshelwood wave with emphasis on reaction mechanisms, especially for chain reactions. The third is associated with Aris and the detailed mathematical description of chemical reaction networks.

Nature of the reactants
The reaction rate varies depending upon what substances are reacting. Acid/base reactions, the formation of salts, and ion exchange are usually fast reactions. When covalent bond formation takes place between the molecules and when large molecules are formed, the reactions tend to be slower.

The nature and strength of bonds in reactant molecules greatly influence the rate of their transformation into products.

Physical state
The physical state (solid, liquid, or gas) of a reactant is also an important factor of the rate of change. When reactants are in the same phase, as in aqueous solution, thermal motion brings them into contact. However, when they are in separate phases, the reaction is limited to the interface between the reactants. Reaction can occur only at their area of contact; in the case of a liquid and a gas, at the surface of the liquid. Vigorous shaking and stirring may be needed to bring the reaction to completion. This means that the more finely divided a solid or liquid reactant the greater its surface area per unit volume and the more contact it with the other reactant, thus the faster the reaction. To make an analogy, for example, when one starts a fire, one uses wood chips and small branches — one does not start with large logs right away. In organic chemistry, on water reactions are the exception to the rule that homogeneous reactions take place faster than heterogeneous reactions ( are those reactions in which solute and solvent not mix properly)

Surface area of solid state
In a solid, only those particles that are at the surface can be involved in a reaction. Crushing a solid into smaller parts means that more particles are present at the surface, and the frequency of collisions between these and reactant particles increases, and so reaction occurs more rapidly. For example, Sherbet (powder) is a mixture of very fine powder of malic acid (a weak organic acid) and sodium hydrogen carbonate. On contact with the saliva in the mouth, these chemicals quickly dissolve and react, releasing carbon dioxide and providing for the fizzy sensation. Also, fireworks manufacturers modify the surface area of solid reactants to control the rate at which the fuels in fireworks are oxidised, using this to create diverse effects. For example, finely divided aluminium confined in a shell explodes violently. If larger pieces of aluminium are used, the reaction is slower and sparks are seen as pieces of burning metal are ejected.

Concentration
The reactions are due to collisions of reactant species. The frequency with which the molecules or ions collide depends upon their concentrations. The more crowded the molecules are, the more likely they are to collide and react with one another. Thus, an increase in the concentrations of the reactants will usually result in the corresponding increase in the reaction rate, while a decrease in the concentrations will usually have a reverse effect. For example, combustion will occur more rapidly in pure oxygen than in air (21% oxygen).

The rate equation shows the detailed dependence of the reaction rate on the concentrations of reactants and other species present. The mathematical forms depend on the reaction mechanism. The actual rate equation for a given reaction is determined experimentally and provides information about the reaction mechanism. The mathematical expression of the rate equation is often given by
 * $$v = \frac{\mathrm{d}c}{\mathrm{d}t} = k \prod_i c_i^{m_i}$$

Here $$k$$ is the reaction rate constant, $$c_i$$ is the molar concentration of reactant i and $$m_i$$ is the partial order of reaction for this reactant. The partial order for a reactant can only be determined experimentally and is often not indicated by its stoichiometric coefficient.

Temperature
Temperature usually has a major effect on the rate of a chemical reaction. Molecules at a higher temperature have more thermal energy. Although collision frequency is greater at higher temperatures, this alone contributes only a very small proportion to the increase in rate of reaction. Much more important is the fact that the proportion of reactant molecules with sufficient energy to react (energy greater than activation energy: E > Ea) is significantly higher and is explained in detail by the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution of molecular energies.

The effect of temperature on the reaction rate constant usually obeys the Arrhenius equation $$k = A e^{-E_{\rm a}/(RT)}$$, where A is the pre-exponential factor or A-factor, Ea is the activation energy, R is the molar gas constant and T is the absolute temperature.

At a given temperature, the chemical rate of a reaction depends on the value of the A-factor, the magnitude of the activation energy, and the concentrations of the reactants. Usually, rapid reactions require relatively small activation energies.

The 'rule of thumb' that the rate of chemical reactions doubles for every 10 °C temperature rise is a common misconception. This may have been generalized from the special case of biological systems, where the α (temperature coefficient) is often between 1.5 and 2.5.

The kinetics of rapid reactions can be studied with the temperature jump method. This involves using a sharp rise in temperature and observing the relaxation time of the return to equilibrium. A particularly useful form of temperature jump apparatus is a shock tube, which can rapidly increase a gas's temperature by more than 1000 degrees.

Catalysts
A catalyst is a substance that alters the rate of a chemical reaction but it remains chemically unchanged afterwards. The catalyst increases the rate of the reaction by providing a new reaction mechanism to occur with in a lower activation energy. In autocatalysis a reaction product is itself a catalyst for that reaction leading to positive feedback. Proteins that act as catalysts in biochemical reactions are called enzymes. Michaelis–Menten kinetics describe the rate of enzyme mediated reactions. A catalyst does not affect the position of the equilibrium, as the catalyst speeds up the backward and forward reactions equally.

In certain organic molecules, specific substituents can have an influence on reaction rate in neighbouring group participation.

Pressure
Increasing the pressure in a gaseous reaction will increase the number of collisions between reactants, increasing the rate of reaction. This is because the activity of a gas is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas. This is similar to the effect of increasing the concentration of a solution.

In addition to this straightforward mass-action effect, the rate coefficients themselves can change due to pressure. The rate coefficients and products of many high-temperature gas-phase reactions change if an inert gas is added to the mixture; variations on this effect are called fall-off and chemical activation. These phenomena are due to exothermic or endothermic reactions occurring faster than heat transfer, causing the reacting molecules to have non-thermal energy distributions (non-Boltzmann distribution). Increasing the pressure increases the heat transfer rate between the reacting molecules and the rest of the system, reducing this effect.

Condensed-phase rate coefficients can also be affected by pressure, although rather high pressures are required for a measurable effect because ions and molecules are not very compressible. This effect is often studied using diamond anvils.

A reaction's kinetics can also be studied with a pressure jump approach. This involves making fast changes in pressure and observing the relaxation time of the return to equilibrium.

Absorption of light
The activation energy for a chemical reaction can be provided when one reactant molecule absorbs light of suitable wavelength and is promoted to an excited state. The study of reactions initiated by light is photochemistry, one prominent example being photosynthesis.

Experimental methods
The experimental determination of reaction rates involves measuring how the concentrations of reactants or products change over time. For example, the concentration of a reactant can be measured by spectrophotometry at a wavelength where no other reactant or product in the system absorbs light.

For reactions which take at least several minutes, it is possible to start the observations after the reactants have been mixed at the temperature of interest.

Fast reactions
For faster reactions, the time required to mix the reactants and bring them to a specified temperature may be comparable or longer than the half-life of the reaction. Special methods to start fast reactions without slow mixing step include

 * Stopped flow methods, which can reduce the mixing time to the order of a millisecond The stopped flow methods have limitation, for example, we need to consider the time it takes to mix gases or solutions and are not suitable if the half-life is less than about a hundredth of a second.
 * Chemical relaxation methods such as temperature jump and pressure jump, in which a pre-mixed system initially at equilibrium is perturbed by rapid heating or depressurization so that it is no longer at equilibrium, and the relaxation back to equilibrium is observed. For example, this method has been used to study the neutralization H3O+ + OH− with a half-life of 1 μs or less under ordinary conditions.
 * Flash photolysis, in which a laser pulse produces highly excited species such as free radicals, whose reactions are then studied.

Equilibrium
While chemical kinetics is concerned with the rate of a chemical reaction, thermodynamics determines the extent to which reactions occur. In a reversible reaction, chemical equilibrium is reached when the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are equal (the principle of dynamic equilibrium) and the concentrations of the reactants and products no longer change. This is demonstrated by, for example, the Haber–Bosch process for combining nitrogen and hydrogen to produce ammonia. Chemical clock reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction demonstrate that component concentrations can oscillate for a long time before finally attaining the equilibrium.

Free energy
In general terms, the free energy change (ΔG) of a reaction determines whether a chemical change will take place, but kinetics describes how fast the reaction is. A reaction can be very exothermic and have a very positive entropy change but will not happen in practice if the reaction is too slow. If a reactant can produce two products, the thermodynamically most stable one will form in general, except in special circumstances when the reaction is said to be under kinetic reaction control. The Curtin–Hammett principle applies when determining the product ratio for two reactants interconverting rapidly, each going to a distinct product. It is possible to make predictions about reaction rate constants for a reaction from free-energy relationships.

The kinetic isotope effect is the difference in the rate of a chemical reaction when an atom in one of the reactants is replaced by one of its isotopes.

Chemical kinetics provides information on residence time and heat transfer in a chemical reactor in chemical engineering and the molar mass distribution in polymer chemistry. It is also provides information in corrosion engineering.

Applications and models
The mathematical models that describe chemical reaction kinetics provide chemists and chemical engineers with tools to better understand and describe chemical processes such as food decomposition, microorganism growth, stratospheric ozone decomposition, and the chemistry of biological systems. These models can also be used in the design or modification of chemical reactors to optimize product yield, more efficiently separate products, and eliminate environmentally harmful by-products. When performing catalytic cracking of heavy hydrocarbons into gasoline and light gas, for example, kinetic models can be used to find the temperature and pressure at which the highest yield of heavy hydrocarbons into gasoline will occur.

Chemical Kinetics is frequently validated and explored through modeling in specialized packages as a function of ordinary differential equation-solving (ODE-solving) and curve-fitting.

Numerical methods
In some cases, equations are unsolvable analytically, but can be solved using numerical methods if data values are given. There are two different ways to do this, by either using software programmes or mathematical methods such as the Euler method. Examples of software for chemical kinetics are i) Tenua, a Java app which simulates chemical reactions numerically and allows comparison of the simulation to real data, ii) Python coding for calculations and estimates and iii) the Kintecus software compiler to model, regress, fit and optimize reactions.

-Numerical integration: for a 1st order reaction A → B

The differential equation of the reactant A is:

It can also be expressed as which is the same as $$ y' = f(x, y) $$

To solve the differential equations with Euler and Runge-Kutta methods we need to have the initial values.

title: Chemical kinetics


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Irish Army

The Irish Army (an tArm) is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland. The Irish Army has an active establishment of 7,520, and a reserve establishment of 3,869. Like other components of the Defence Forces, the Irish Army has struggled to maintain strength and has only 6,322 active personnel, and 1,382 reserve personnel. The Irish Army is organised into two brigades.

As well as maintaining its primary roles of defending the State and internal security within the State, since 1958 the Army has had a continuous presence in peacekeeping missions around the world. The Army also participates in the European Union Battlegroups. The Air Corps and Naval Service support the Army in carrying out its roles.

Roles of the Army
The roles of the Army are:
 * To defend the Irish state against armed aggression.
 * To give aid to the civil power (ATCP). This means that the Army assists, when requested, the Garda Síochána, who have primary responsibility for law and order in Ireland.
 * To participate in multinational peace support, crisis management and humanitarian relief operations in support of the United Nations peacekeeping missions, and EUFOR (UN-sanctioned peacekeeping missions only).
 * To carry out other duties which may be assigned to them from time to time. For example, assistance on the occasion of natural disasters, assistance in connection with the maintenance of essential services, etc.

Beginning of the Army
The Defence Forces, including the Army, trace their origins to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the guerrilla organisation that fought British government forces during the Irish War of Independence. In February 1922, the Provisional Government began to recruit volunteers into the new National Army.

The Provisional Government was set up on 16 January 1922 to assume power in the new Irish Free State. On 31 January 1922, a former IRA unit (the Dublin Guard) assumed its new role as the first unit of the new National Army and took over Beggars Bush Barracks, the first British barracks to be handed to the new Irish Free State. The National Army's first Commander-in-Chief, Michael Collins, envisaged the new Army being built around the pre-existing IRA, but over half of this organisation rejected the compromises required by the Anglo-Irish Treaty which established the Irish Free State, and favoured upholding the revolutionary Irish Republic which had been established in 1919.

As such, from January 1922 until late June and the outbreak of the Irish Civil War, there existed two antagonistic armed forces: the National Army, built from a nucleus of pro-Treaty IRA units, and armed and paid by the Provisional Government; and the anti-Treaty IRA who refused to accept the legitimacy of the new state. Both forces continued to use the Irish-language title Óglaigh na hÉireann, which had previously been used by both the original IRA and its predecessor, the Irish Volunteers of the mid-1910s. In July 1922, Dáil Éireann authorised raising a force of 35,000 men; by May 1923 this had grown to 58,000. The National Army lacked the expertise necessary to train a force of that size, such that approximately one-fifth of its officers and half of its soldiers were Irish ex-servicemen of the British Army, who brought considerable experience to it.

Civil War period

The Irish Civil War broke out on 28 June 1922. The pro-Treaty Sinn Féin party had won an election on 16 June. The British were applying increasing pressure on the government to assert its control over the anti-Treaty units of the IRA who had occupied the Four Courts in Dublin; this garrison had kidnapped JJ O'Connell, a lieutenant-general in the National Army.

In the early weeks of the Civil War, the newly formed National Army was mainly composed of pro-Treaty IRA units, especially the Dublin Guard, whose members had personal ties to Michael Collins. Its size was estimated at 7,000 men, in contrast to about 15,000 anti-Treaty IRA men. However, the Free State soon recruited far more troops, with the army's size mushrooming to 55,000 men and 3,500 officers by the end of the Civil War in May 1923. Many of its recruits were war-hardened Irishmen who had served in the British Army during the First World War. W. R. E. Murphy, a second-in-command of the National Army in the civil war (from January until May 1923), had been a lieutenant colonel in the British Army, as had Emmet Dalton. Indeed, the Free State recruited experienced soldiers from wherever it could; two more of its senior generals, John T. Prout and JJ "Ginger" O'Connell, had served in the United States Army.

The British government had supplied the National Army with small arms and ammunition as they departed from Ireland as well as a few armoured cars. They later supplied artillery which enabled it to bring the Civil War to a relatively speedy conclusion. The Four Courts and O'Connell Street were taken from anti-Treaty IRA units during the Battle of Dublin in July 1922. The anti-Treaty IRA were also dislodged from Limerick and Waterford in that month and Cork and County Kerry were secured in a decisive seaborne offensive in August.

The remainder of the war was a guerrilla war, concentrated particularly in the south and west of the country. On 15 October, directives were sent to the press by Piaras Béaslaí, the Free State director of communications, to the effect that Free State troops were to be referred to as the "National Army", the "Irish Army", or just "troops". The Anti-Treaty troops were to be called "Irregulars" and were not to be referred to as "Republicans", "IRA", "forces", or "troops", nor were the ranks of their officers allowed to be given. National Army units, especially the Dublin Guard, were implicated in a series of atrocities against captured anti-Treaty fighters.

The National Army suffered about 800 fatalities in the Civil War, including its commander-in-chief, Michael Collins. Collins was succeeded by Richard Mulcahy.

In April 1923, the anti-Treaty IRA called a ceasefire, and in May it ordered its fighters to "dump arms", effectively ending the war.

National Army
With the end of the Civil War, the National Army had grown too big for a peacetime role and was too expensive for the new Irish state to maintain. In addition, many of the civil war recruits were badly trained and undisciplined, making them unsuitable material for a full-time professional army. The Special Infantry Corps was established to perform the army's first post-war duty, breaking the strikes of agricultural labourers in Munster and south Leinster, as well as reversing factory seizures by socialists.

Richard Mulcahy, the new Irish defence minister, proposed to reduce the army from 55,000 to 18,000 men in the immediate post-Civil War period. This provoked mutiny among National Army officers in 1923–24, particularly among former IRA officers who considered that former British Army officers were being treated better than they were.

On 3 August 1923, the new State passed the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Act, putting the existing armed forces on a legal footing. This Act raised "an armed force to be called Óglaigh na hÉireann (hereinafter referred to as the Forces) consisting of such number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men as may from time to time be provided by the Oireachtas." The date of the establishment of the Defence Forces was 1 October 1924. The term "National Army" fell into disuse.

The Army had a new establishment, organisation, rank markings, headdress and orders of dress. The National Army's Air Service became the Air Corps and remained part of the Army until the 1990s. An all-Irish language-speaking unit was created – An Chéad Chathlán Coisithe (English: The First Infantry Battalion) was established in Galway, and functioned exclusively through the medium of the Irish state's first official language.

The Emergency

Ireland remained neutral during the Second World War, which was referred to as "The Emergency" by the Irish government. About 5,000 soldiers deserted and joined the British military. Those who returned in 1945 were summarily dismissed from the armed forces and disqualified from any form of state-funded employment for seven years. These soldiers received an official amnesty and apology from the government of Ireland on 7 May 2013.

Despite the Irish stance of neutrality, the Army was greatly expanded during the war (with more recruited to reserve forces). At its peak, the army was made up of almost 41,000 personnel, with another 106,000 reservists. Upon the outbreak of war two independent brigades were raised. During the so-called Phoney War period, numbers of men mobilised decreased. The Fall of France, however, saw a significant change in the government's attitude, and by early 1941 seven brigades were mobilised. On 9 May 1941, Minister for Defence Oscar Traynor approved the establishment of the 1st Division and 2nd Division, both of which encompassed six brigades, leaving the 5th Brigade to remain independent, as part of Curragh Command. This expansion was undertaken in the face of potential invasions from either the Allied or Axis powers (both of whom had drawn up contingency plans to invade Ireland).

In the Christmas Raid of 1939, the remnants of the IRA stole a large quantity of the Irish Army's reserve ammunition from its dump at the Magazine Fort in Dublin's Phoenix Park. While this was seen as an embarrassment for the Irish Army, most of it was recovered.

For the duration of the war, Ireland, while formally neutral, tacitly supported the Allies in several ways. For example, the Donegal Corridor allowed British military aircraft based in County Fermanagh to fly through Irish airspace to the Atlantic, thereby greatly increasing their operational range. G2, the Army's intelligence section, played a role in the detection and arrest of German spies, such as Hermann Görtz.

Peacekeeping missions
Since Ireland joined the United Nations in 1955, the Army has been deployed on many peacekeeping missions. The first of these took place in 1958 when a small number of observers were sent to Lebanon. A total of 86 Irish soldiers have died in the service of the United Nations since 1960 (see List of Irish military casualties overseas).

Congo
The first major overseas deployment came in 1960, when Irish troops were sent to the Congo as part of the UN force ONUC. The Belgian Congo became an independent republic on 30 June 1960. Twelve days later, the Congolese government requested military assistance from the United Nations to maintain its territorial integrity. On 28 July 1960 Lt-Col Murt Buckley led the 32nd Irish Battalion to the newly independent central African country. This was the most costly enterprise for the Army since the Civil War, as 26 Irish soldiers died.

Nine died in a single incident called the "Niemba Ambush", in which an eleven-man Irish patrol was ambushed by local tribesmen. Nine Irish soldiers and some 25 tribesmen were killed. A Niemba Ambush commemoration is hosted annually by the Irish Veterans Organisation (ONET) in Cathal Brugha Barracks, on the nearest Saturday to the actual date of the ambush.

One of the largest ONUC engagements in which Irish troops were involved was the Siege of Jadotville. During this action, a small party of 155 Irish soldiers ("A" Company, 35th Battalion) was attacked by a larger force of almost 4,000 Katangese troops, as well as French, Belgian and Rhodesian mercenaries, and supported by a trainer jet (a Fouga CM.170 Magister), equipped for ground attack. The Irish soldiers repeatedly repelled the attackers, and knocked out enemy artillery and mortar positions using 60mm mortars. An attempt was made by 500 Irish and Swedish Army soldiers to break through to the besieged company, but the attempt failed. A Company's commanding officer Commandant Patrick Quinlan, eventually surrendered his forces. A small number of Irish soldiers were wounded, but none killed. It is estimated, however, that up to 300 of A Company's attackers were killed, including 30 white mercenaries, and that up to 1,000 were wounded.

A total of 6,000 Irishmen served in the Congo from 1960 until 1964.

Cyprus and the Sinai
Starting in 1964, Irish troops have served as UN peacekeepers in Cyprus (UNFICYP). Over 9,000 Irish personnel have served there to date, without suffering casualties.

In 1973, an infantry group and some logistical troops were pulled out of Cyprus at short notice to serve in the Sinai desert between Egypt and Israel as part of the UN force that supervised the ceasefire that ended the Yom Kippur War.

From 1976 to 1981, UNFICYP was commanded by an Irish officer, Major-General James Quinn.

Lebanon

From 1978 to 2001, a battalion of Irish troops was deployed in southern Lebanon, as part of the UN mandate force UNIFIL. The Irish battalion consisted of 580 personnel which were rotated every six months, plus almost 100 others in UNIFIL headquarters and the Force Mobile Reserve. In all, 30,000 Irish soldiers served in Lebanon over 23 years.

The Irish troops in Lebanon were initially intended to supervise the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from the area after an invasion in 1978 and to prevent fighting between the Palestine Liberation Organization forces and Israel.

In April 1980, three Irish soldiers were killed in an episode of violence near At Tiri in Southern Lebanon. On 16 April 1980, soldiers attempting to set up a checkpoint near At Tiri were attacked by members of the South Lebanon Army (an Israeli-backed Christian militia). Private Stephen Griffin, of the 46th Irish Battalion, was shot in the head and died. Two days later, a party of three Irish soldiers, an American officer, a French officer and two journalists were travelling to a UN post near the Israeli border when they were intercepted by members of the S.L.A. Private John O'Mahony from Killarney, County Kerry was shot and wounded and his two comrades Privates Thomas Barrett from Cork and Derek Smallhorne from Dublin were driven away. Both men were found shot dead nearby, with their bodies showing signs of torture.

Another Israeli invasion in 1982 forced the PLO out of southern Lebanon and occupied the area. The following eighteen years until 2000 saw prolonged guerrilla warfare between Israeli forces, their allies in the South Lebanon Army and Hezbollah. UNIFIL was caught in the middle of this conflict. The Irish battalion's role consisted of manning checkpoints and observations posts and mounting patrols. A total of 47 soldiers were killed. In addition to peacekeeping, the Irish provided humanitarian aid to the local population – for example, aiding the orphanage at Tibnin. From 25 April 1995 to 9 May 1996, Brigadier General P. Redmond served as Deputy Force Commander of UNIFIL during a period that coincided with the Israeli Operation Grapes of Wrath offensive in 1996.

Most Irish troops were withdrawn from Lebanon in 2001, following the Israeli evacuation of their forces the previous year. However, 11 Irish troops remained there as observers. They were present during the 2006 Lebanon War. After this conflict, UNIFIL was reinforced and a mechanised infantry company of 165 Irish troops was deployed to southern Lebanon. Their role was to provide perimeter protection for a Finnish Army engineering unit. After 12 months, the 1st Finnish/Irish Battalion ceased operations and was stood down from duty after having completed its mandate with UNIFIL. A number of Irish personnel remained in service at UNIFIL HQ in Southern Lebanon.

Irish battalions returned to Lebanon in 2011 – initially with roughly 480 troops deployed in the region. This was reduced to approximately 330 troops in May 2013, and further to 180 troops in November 2013. As of May 2016, there were 194 Irish soldiers deployed to UNIFIL serving alongside Finnish Armed Forces as part of a joint Battalion which is currently under Finnish command. Ireland takes over command of the Battalion from Finland in November 2016 at which time an additional Company of some 150 personnel will be deployed to UNIFIL bringing Ireland's contribution to this mission to 340 personnel.

In November 2022, 333 Irish soldiers deployed to southern Lebanon as part of UNIFIL's 121st Infantry Battalion. On 14 December 2022, one Irish peacekeeper was killed and seven others were injured in a "serious incident" involving small arms fire.

Iran and Iraq
From August 1988 until May 1991, Irish soldiers were deployed under the UN force UNIIMOG, on the border between Iraq and Iran to supervise the withdrawal of both sides' forces to within their respective borders after the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The Irish provided 177 of the 400 UNIIMOG personnel involved with the mission. The mission came to an end in 1991, when Iran and Iraq completed the withdrawal of their troops. A small number of Irish observers were stationed in Kuwait from 1991 to 2002 as part of UNIKOM.

Somalia and Eritrea
In 1993, 100 troops forming a transport company were deployed in Somalia, as part of the UNOSOM II peace-enforcing mission. In December 2001, 221 Irish soldiers were sent to Eritrea as part of UNMEE, and were tasked with the defence of the UN headquarters there.

Bosnia and Kosovo
In 1997 an Irish Army Military Police unit and a company of transport corps troops were deployed to Bosnia as part of SFOR (1995–2005) and EUFOR (December 2005 to present). The MP company was based in SFOR HQ in Sarajevo and policed the 8,000 SFOR troops based in the area. From 1999 until 2010, a company of Irish troops was stationed in Kosovo as part of KFOR.

East Timor
In July 1999, Irish officers were sent to East Timor as part of the UNAMET observer group (Timorese Independence Referendum). In October, a platoon of Rangers (1 Ircon) from the Army Ranger Wing (ARW) were sent as part of the INTERFET peacekeeping force after the Referendum. The ARW platoon served in the reconnaissance company of the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Regiment (1 RNZIR) Battalion Group for a four-month tour. INTERFET handed over to UNTAET during ARW 2 Ircon's tour in 2000. The third contingent to East Timor (3 Ircon) in June 2000 marked a new departure for the Defence Forces, as all the infantry sections were drawn from the 2nd Infantry Battalion. Late 2000 saw the 12th Infantry supply 4 Ircon. Nine contingents in total were deployed including 4 Infantry Battalion, 5 Infantry Battalion, 28 Infantry Battalion, 1 Cathlán Coisithe, and finally the 6 Infantry Battalion under UNMISET until May 2004.

Liberia
After November 2003, Irish troops were stationed in Liberia as part of UNMIL. The Liberian mission was the largest Irish overseas deployment since Lebanon and consisted of a single composite battalion. The UN force, UNMIL, was 15,000 strong and was charged with stabilising the country after the Second Liberian Civil War. The Irish troops were based in Camp Clara, near Monrovia and were tasked with acting as the Force Commander's "Quick Reaction Force" (QRF) in the Monrovia area. This meant the securing of key locations, conducting searches for illegally held weapons, patrolling and manning checkpoints on the main roads and providing security to civilians under threat of violence. The Irish deployment to Liberia was due to end in November 2006. However, at that time the deployment was extended for a further 6 months to May 2007. During the UNMIL deployment, a detachment of Irish Army Rangers successfully rescued a group of civilians being held hostage by renegade Liberian gunmen. Acting on intelligence, twenty heavily armed Rangers were dropped by helicopter, freeing the hostages and capturing the rebel leader. In all the following battalions were involved in 2,745 cumulative missions under UNMIL:
 * 90th Infantry Battalion (4th Western Brigade) – Nov 2003-May 2004
 * 91st Infantry Battalion (2nd Eastern Brigade) – May 2004-Nov 2004
 * 92nd Infantry Battalion (1st Southern Brigade) – Nov 2004-May 2005
 * 93rd Infantry Battalion (4th Western Brigade) – May 2005-Nov 2005
 * 94th Infantry Battalion (2nd Eastern Brigade) – Nov 2005-May 2006
 * 95th Infantry Battalion (1st Southern Brigade) – May 2006-Nov 2006
 * 96th Infantry Battalion (4th Western Brigade) – Nov 2006-May 2007

Chad
In August 2007, the Irish government announced that 200 Irish soldiers would be sent to support the United Nations effort as part of EUFOR Chad/CAR. As of 2008 500 troops had been deployed – 54 of whom were Irish Army Rangers. In announcing the mission, the Minister for Defence recognised the regional nature of the crisis, involving instability in Darfur, Chad and the Central African Republic. In accordance with their terms of reference, the deployment of Irish forces was confined to Chad. Ireland contributed the second largest contingent of soldiers to EUFOR Chad/CAR, after France, as part of the mission to establish peace in Chad and to protect refugees from neighbouring Darfur. The Irish soldiers conducted operations concerned with the delivery of humanitarian aid, protection of civilians, and ensuring the safety of UN personnel. There were a number of deployments to the mission, rotating every four months, with the final contingent completing their tour in May 2010:
 * 97th Infantry Battalion – June 2008-Oct 2008
 * 98th Infantry Battalion – Oct 2008-Jan 2009
 * 99th Infantry Battalion – Jan 2009-May 2009
 * 100th Infantry Battalion – May 2009-Oct 2009
 * 101st Infantry Battalion – Oct 2009-Jan 2010
 * 102nd Infantry Battalion – Jan 2010-May 2010

Syria
In 2013 the United Nations asked Ireland to send peacekeepers as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan region of Syria, to try to contain the Syrian civil war from spreading into Israel. The 43 Infantry Group, consisting of 115 personnel, deployed into Syria in September 2013. The group is tasked primarily to serve as the Force Mobile Reserve within the UNDOF Area of Responsibility. The Irish peacekeepers were attacked by Syrian rebels on 29 November 2013. The Irish convoy came under small arms fire and a Mowag APC later struck a land mine, damaging the vehicle, when driving out of the attack. The Irish returned fire with 12.7mm (.50 calibre) heavy machine guns mounted on their vehicles before the rebels retreated.

The Irish were involved in a combat mission in August 2014 after 44 Fijian UN troops were captured by the rebel Al Nusra organisation. Nearby, 35 Filipino UN troops managed to conduct a successful breakout attempt and an armoured escort from the Irish 44th Infantry Group escorted the Filipino soldiers to safety. Fire was exchanged with heavy machine guns but there were no casualties on the UN side. The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs stated he would withdraw the Irish contingent from Golan unless guarantees could be given about their safety. '"We don't want to see Irish troops or the UN contingent being drawn into a Syrian civil war"', he said. Irish troops were withdrawn into Israeli occupied Golan in 2014. Nevertheless, as of late 2016, 138 Irish troops remained deployed in the region under UNDOF. In late 2018 the UN contingent returned to the Syria side of the de facto border after Syrian government forces took Daraa and Quneitra from rebel forces in the 2018 Southern Syria offensive.

Border duties
At home, the Army was deployed to aid the Garda Síochána (the police force) along the border with Northern Ireland during the conflict known as the Troubles (1969–1998). In the early 1970s, it was suggested that the Army might cross the Border to protect the Irish nationalist community within Northern Ireland. This was never acted upon, although units were moved to the border region in 1969–70 during the Battle of the Bogside, in order to provide medical support to those wounded in the fighting.

Aid to the civil power
The Army's largest aid to the civil power role is its cash-in-transit escorts, with over 2000 missions carried out every year. All large shipments of cash within the State have been provided with armed military escorts since 1978. The Army provides 24-hour armed security at the maximum security Portlaoise Prison and armed escorts for the Prison Service transporting Ireland's most dangerous criminals. The Central Bank of Ireland had the Government put in place contingency plans to provide armed Defence Force security for major Irish banks over public order fears if a cash shortage was triggered at the height of the 2008/2009 financial crisis.

Current overseas deployments
As of 1 December 2015, 493 Defence Force personnel are serving in 12 different missions throughout the world including Lebanon (UNIFIL), Syria (UNDOF), Middle East (UNTSO), Kosovo (KFOR), German-led Battle Group 2016 and other observer and staff appointments to UN, EU, OSCE and PfP posts. The largest deployments include:
 * Lebanon (UNIFIL) 51 Infantry Group
 * Syria (UNDOF) 50 Infantry Group

Training
All enlisted members of the Army undergo 29 weeks of training in order to become a fully trained infantry soldier. The first 17 weeks is recruit training, after which they become a 2 Star Private. They then undergo a further 12 weeks of advanced training, after which they pass-out as a 3 Star Private, Trooper or Gunner depending on their respective Corps. During this continuous 29 weeks of training, they are required to live in barracks. The Army recruits both men and women.

Recruit training includes foot drill, arms drill, field-craft, medical, radio operation, rifle marksmanship, unarmed combat, counter-IED, tactical and daily physical training (PT). During this stage of training, they are also given weapons training on the Steyr Rifle, General Purpose Machine Gun and grenade.

On completion of recruit training, soldiers become 2 Star Privates and immediately begin 3 Star training. This includes more advanced training of everything covered by recruit training plus riot training, navigation, CBRN, helicopter drills, survival, FIBUA, ATCP training, live fire tactical training, etc. They also receive further weapons training on the M203 Grenade Launcher and Short Range Anti-Armour Weapon.

Throughout their service, soldiers must complete Trained Soldier Specialist Training courses to advance their skills and for promotion.

Organisation
The Army has an establishment of 7,520 active and 3,869 reserve personnel organised into two brigades. Prior to 2012, the army was divided into three brigades, organised to be responsible for a geographical area of the State: Southern, Eastern and Western. Following budgetary decisions in 2011, the army was reorganised in late 2012 into a two brigades structure. The training element of the army, the Defence Forces Training Centre, operates independently of the brigade structure.

 * Badge of the Irish Defence Forces.svg Irish Army
 * 1st Brigade, at Collins Barracks in Cork
 * 2nd Brigade, at Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin
 * Defence Forces Training Centre, at Curragh Camp in Curragh
 * Army Ranger Wing, at Curragh Camp in Curragh
 * Army Reserve

Infantry Corps
The Infantry Corps represent the largest component and are the operational troops of the Army. They must be prepared for tactical deployment in any location at short notice. In wartime this means that they will be among the frontline troops in the defence of the Irish state. In peacetime, they can be seen daily performing operational duties in aid to the civil power such as providing escorts to cash, prisoner or explosive shipments, patrols of vital state installations and border patrols, including checkpoints.

Artillery Corps

The Artillery Corps provides fire support as required by infantry or armoured elements. The Corps was founded in 1924 and today consists of two main branches: Field Artillery and Air Defence. Between them, the two branches of the Corps provide several vital services;
 * Fire support of Infantry or Armoured troops.
 * Ground to low-level air defence.
 * Light field battery support to Irish overseas battalion.
 * Aid to the civil power duties.

Each brigade has a single artillery regiment.

Cavalry Corps

The Cavalry Corps is the army's armoured reconnaissance formation.

Engineer Corps
The Engineer Corps is the combat engineering unit of the Defence Forces. The Engineer Corps is responsible for all military engineering matters across the Defence Forces.

Ordnance Corps

The responsibility for the procurement and maintenance of all ordnance equipment is vested in the Ordnance Corps and encompasses a spectrum of equipment ranging from anti-aircraft missiles and naval armament to the uniforms worn by military personnel. The corps is also responsible for the procurement of food and provision of commercial catering services. These tasks are of a technical nature and the corps personnel are appropriately qualified and with the expertise to afford technical evaluation of complete weapon systems, it also includes embracing weapons, ammunition, fire control instruments and night vision equipment. The Ordnance Corps provides improvised explosive device disposal within the state, in support of the Garda Síochána. Courses are conducted for its own personnel and for students from the military and police of other nations. Ordnance Corps personnel continue to serve in overseas missions and are an essential component of missions involving troops.

Transport Corps
The Transport Corps is responsible for procurement, management and maintenance of soft-skinned vehicles, and maintenance of armoured vehicles. It is also responsible for the driving standards, training and certification, as well as providing vehicle fuels and lubricants, and certain logistics – such as heavy lift capabilities.

Medical Corps
The Medical Corps is responsible for promoting health and treating sick or wounded personnel, and has provided medical and dental support in all the Army's main UN missions. As with similar branches in other militaries, they also sometimes provide humanitarian assistance to local civilian populations – by giving medical aid where local health services are not functioning adequately.

Military Police Corps
The Military Police (Póilíní Airm, hence the nickname "PAs") are responsible for the prevention and investigation of offences, the enforcement of discipline and the general policing of the Defence Forces. In wartime, additional tasks include the provision of a traffic control organisation to allow rapid movement of military formations to their mission areas. Other wartime rules include control of prisoners of war and refugees. Traditionally, the Military Police have had involvement at State and ceremonial occasions. In recent years the Military Police have been deployed in UN missions (such as Iran and Iraq) and later in the former Yugoslavia (SFOR). The Gardaí assist in providing specialist police training to the Military Police in the field of crime investigation.

Communications & IT Corps
The Communications and Information Services (CIS) Corps is a support corps responsible for installing, maintaining and operating telecommunications equipment and information systems.

Rank structure
The rank structure of the Irish Army is organised along standard military rank and command structures. These consist of the following ranks:

 * Officers

 * Other ranks

Weapons

The Army has historically purchased and used weapons and equipment from other western countries, mainly from Western European nations. Ireland has a very limited arms industry and rarely produces its own armaments.

From its establishment the Army used the British-made Lee–Enfield .303 rifle, which would be the mainstay for many decades. In the 1960s some modernisation came with the introduction of the Belgian-made FN FAL 7.62 mm battle rifle. Since 1989 the service rifle for the Army is the Austrian-made Steyr AUG 5.56 mm assault rifle (used by all branches of the Defence Forces).

Other weapons in use by the Army include the USP 9mm pistol, M203 grenade launcher, FN MAG machine gun, M2 Browning machine gun, Accuracy International Arctic Warfare sniper rifles, AT4 SRAAW, FGM-148 Javelin Anti-tank guided missile, L118 105mm Howitzer, and RBS 70 Surface to Air Missile system.

Vehicles

The Army has purchased 80 Swiss made Mowag Piranha Armoured personnel carriers which have become the Army's primary vehicle in the Mechanized infantry role. These are equipped with 12.7 mm HMGs, or the Oto Melara 30 mm Autocannon. The Army operates a number of RG Outriders.

title: Irish Army


text:
Flintshire

Flintshire (Sir y Fflint) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It has a maritime border with Merseyside along the Dee Estuary to the north, and land borders with Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. Connah's Quay is the largest town, while Flintshire County Council is based in Mold.

The county covers 169 sqmi, with a population of 155,000 in 2021. After Connah's Quay-Shotton (23,000) the largest settlements are Flint (13,736), Buckley (16,127) and Mold (10,123). The east of the county is industrialised and contains the Deeside conurbation, which extends into Cheshire and has a population of 53,568. The adjacent coast is also home to industry, but further west has been developed for tourism, particularly at Talacre. Inland, the west of the county is sparsely populated and characterised by gentle hills, including part of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley AONB.

The county is named after the historic county of the same name, which was established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and has notably different borders. The county is considered part of the Welsh Marches and formed part of the historic Earldom of Chester and Flint.

History
Flintshire takes its name from the historic county of Flintshire, which also formed an administrative county between 1889 until 1974 when it was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972. The re-establishment of a principal area in 1996 under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 does not share the same boundaries and covers a smaller area.

Early history
At the time of the Roman invasion, the area of present-day Flintshire was inhabited by the Deceangli, one of the Celtic tribes in ancient Britain, with the Cornovii to the east and the Ordovices to the west. Lead and silver mine workings are evident in the area, with several sows of lead found bearing the name 'DECEANGI' inscribed in Roman epigraphy. The Deceangli appear to have surrendered to Roman rule with little resistance. Following Roman Britain, and the emergence of various petty kingdoms, the region had been divided into the Hundred of Englefield (Cantref Tegeingl), derived from the Latin Deceangli. It became part of the Kingdom of Mercia by the 8th century AD, with much of the western boundary reinforced under Offa of Mercia after 752, but there is evidence that Offa's Dyke is probably a much earlier construction. By the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 it was under the control of Edwin of Tegeingl, from whose Lordship the Flintshire coat of arms is derived.

Edwin's mother is believed to have been Ethelfleda or Aldgyth, daughter of Eadwine of Mercia. At the time of the establishment of the Earldom of Chester, which succeeded the Earl of Mercia, the region formed two of the then twelve Hundreds of Cheshire of which it remained a part for several hundred years.

Flintshire today approximately resembles the boundaries of the Hundred of Atiscross as it existed at the time of the Domesday Book. Atiscross, along with the Hundred of Exestan, was transferred from the Earldom of Chester to the expanding Kingdom of Gwynedd from the west in the 13th century following numerous military campaigns. This region, as well as an exclave formed from part of the Hundred of Dudestan (known as Maelor Saesneg), later formed the main areas of Flintshire, established by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 under Edward I. It was administered with the Palatinate of Chester and Flint by the Justiciar of Chester. The county was consolidated in 1536 by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 under the Tudor King Henry VIII, when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of England; it included the detached exclave of Welsh Maelor.

Flintshire as a separate local authority remained in existence until 1974 when it was merged with those of Denbighshire and Edeyrnion Rural District to form the administrative county of Clwyd. Clwyd was abolished 22 years later and Flintshire reorganised in its present form in 1996. However, some parts of the historic country are not included within the present administrative boundaries: significantly English Maelor was incorporated into Wrexham County Borough, and St Asaph, Prestatyn and Rhyl into Denbighshire.

Modern history
The current administrative area of Flintshire (a unitary authority and Principal area) came into existence in 1996, when the former administrative counties in Wales were split into smaller areas. The principal area was formed by the merger of the Alyn and Deeside and Delyn districts. In terms of pre-1974 divisions, the area comprises:

 * the former borough of Flint
 * the urban districts of Buckley, Connah's Quay, Holywell, Mold
 * the rural district of Holywell Rural District
 * all of Hawarden Rural District except the parish of Marford and Hosley

The district of Rhuddlan, which was also formed entirely from the administrative county of Flintshire was included in the new Denbighshire instead. Other parts of the pre-1974 administrative Flintshire to be excluded from the principal area are the Maelor Rural District and the parish of Marford and Hoseley, which became part of the Wrexham Maelor district in 1974 and are now part of Wrexham County Borough.

Geography
Flintshire is a maritime county bounded to the north by the Dee estuary, to the east by Cheshire, to the west by Denbighshire and to the south by Wrexham County Borough. The coast along the Dee estuary is heavily developed by industry and the north coast much developed for tourism. The Clwydian Range occupies much of the west of the county. The highest point is Moel Famau (1,820 feet/554 metres). Notable towns include Buckley, Connah's Quay, Flint, Hawarden, Holywell, Mold, Queensferry, and Shotton. The main rivers are the Dee (the estuary of which forms much of the coast), and the River Alyn.

Railways
Located on the North Wales Coast Line (Holyhead to Chester) with services run by Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales specifically calling at Flintshire stations such as Flint and Shotton with an interchange at Shotton with the Borderlands Line, which links it and other Flintshire stations with the Liverpool area and Wrexham.

Industry
Parts of Flintshire have major manufacturing industries. Amongst these are an advanced Toyota plant that manufactures engines, Eren Paper, and Airbus UK, making the wings for the A320, A330 and A350 aircraft at Broughton.

There are daily flights of the Airbus BelugaXL transport aircraft of Airbus wings from Broughton.

Flintshire is also known for its internet companies, the largest and most well known being Moneysupermarket.com based in Ewloe.

Flintshire included much of the North Wales Coalfield, with the last colliery at Point of Ayr closing in 1996.

Flintshire is home to Shotwick Solar Park, currently the largest photovoltaic solar array in the UK. It was built in 2016 and covers 250 acres of the south western edge of the Wirral Peninsula near the village of Shotwick. It has a maximum generating capacity of 72.2 MW and is connected directly to the largest paper-mill in the UK, UPM Shotton Paper.

Flintshire was home to a thriving steel industry with many of the local communities and homes being built around this sector. Steelmaking came to an end in 1980 with the loss of 6500 on one day. The Shotton Steelworks site, now owned by Tata Steel, continues to produce coated steel products, mainly for the construction industry.

Fairtrade
On 19 November 2004, Flintshire was granted Fairtrade County status.

Education
Flintshire County Council is the Local Education Authority of Flintshire. It runs 72 primary schools, 2 special schools and 11 secondary schools. Six of the primary schools and one comprehensive are Welsh medium schools.

Four of the secondary schools have come together with Coleg Cambria to form the Deeside Consortium.

In December 2022, the Climate Change Committee met and Buckley Bistre West councillor Carolyn Preece recommended weekly vegan school meals in the local schools to combat climate change.

Media
Flintshire's local newspapers include two daily titles, North Wales Daily Post and The Leader.

There are two radio stations broadcast in the area – Communicorp station Heart North and Mid Wales and Global Radio station Capital North West and Wales broadcast from the studios based in Wrexham. Whilst BBC Cymru Wales runs a studio and newsroom for their radio, television and online services located at Glyndŵr University but does not base their broadcasting there.

Local TV coverage is mainly served by BBC Wales and ITV Cymru Wales with BBC North West and ITV Granada can be also received. Television signals in the county are received from the Moel-y-Parc transmitter which is situated close to Caerwys, Winter Hill transmitter can also be received as well as the Storeton relay transmitter which is transmitted from both transmitters.

An online news website covering the Flintshire area, Deeside.com, operates from Deeside.

Politics and government
Flintshire has been traditionally a Labour Party stronghold, but in the 2019 general election, the Welsh Conservatives won the Delyn constituency.

The Alyn and Deeside constituency is a historically and still is a Welsh Labour Party constituency, which is represented by Mark Tami.

From 2024, Flintshire is covered by two UK parliament constituencies, Alyn and Deeside and Clwyd East, with Delyn being abolished. The Senedd uses the old set of Alyn and Deeside, and Delyn.

Notable people
See Category:People from Flintshire

 * Gareth Allen (born 1988 in Mynydd Isa, near Buckley), former professional snooker player.
 * Saint Asaph, 6th century Christian saint, the first Bishop of St Asaph
 * Claire Fox (born 1960), writer, journalist, lecturer and politician; grew up in Buckley
 * William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), 12 years as Prime Minister; retired to Hawarden Castle.
 * Jade Jones (born 1993 Bodelwyddan), taekwondo athlete; 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medallist
 * Michael Owen (born 1979), footballer with 362 club caps and 89 for England went to school in Hawarden
 * Ian Rush (born 1961 in St Asaph), footballer with 602 club caps and 73 for Wales
 * Gary Speed (1969 in Mancot – 2011), footballer and manager with 677 club caps and 85 for Wales
 * Frances Williams (c. 1760–1801), first Welsh woman to settle in Australia
 * Sir Jonathan Pryce CBE (born John Price; 1 June 1947, Holywell)

International relations
Flintshire has one formal twinning arrangement with:

 * 🇩🇪 Menden, Germany

title: Flintshire


text:
Talk:Stop the War Coalition

Neutrality
Thetag concerning neutrality is from 22 December 2015. Are you sure, that this is not outdated?--Cabanero01 (talk) 17:52, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Stop the War Coalition


text:
Monmouthshire (disambiguation)

Monmouthshire is a local government principal area in Wales.

Monmouthshire can also refer to:

 * Monmouthshire (historic), the historic county covering a wider area
 * Monmouthshire County Council, the local authority that since 1996 administers the principal area and previously the administrative county (1889–1974)
 * Monmouthshire (UK Parliament constituency), a parliamentary constituency based on the historic county (1536–1885) and re-created in 2024

title: Monmouthshire (disambiguation)