text:
Talk:Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League

Untitled
This article has problems: I don't have the time or the historical background to rewrite the whole thing, so I'm listing it on Cleanup and NPOV dispute. —Hob←Talk 00:21, 2004 Aug 17 (UTC)
 * 1) It is not particularly compliant with Neutral point of view, and in fact appears to be written specifically from the point of view of the group itself, or a member thereof ("We want to see..." etc.). Examples: "Communist tyranny"; "Only by returning to the roots of Vietnamese independence can the country ever be truly free".
 * 2) It is badly in need of copyediting. Grammatical errors abound, and in some cases I can't even tell whether statements are POV or just inaccurate because they are so unclear (e.g. "...and the people chose to form a Constitutional Monarchy Government in 1993"; which people?).

Well, the first step is easier than I thought, since the bulk of the article is an unacknowledged cut-and-paste from the linked web site. That's got to go. I'll briefly summarize the salient points and leave it as a stub which may deserve future expansion. The following is the text I'm deleting which is verbatim from the web site. Note, User:Celindgren is the webmaster of this site. —Hob←Talk 02:09, 2004 Aug 17 (UTC)

 * The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League is a group of patriotic people who wish to see the end of the Communist tyranny in Viet-Nam, a return of human rights and basic dignity to the people, and the restoration of its last legitimate government, the Nguyen Dynasty, in a democratic constitutional monarchy which will provide liberty, representative government while still preserving the unique culture and heritage of Viet-Nam with its ancient imperial traditions. Only by returning to the roots of Vietnamese independence can the country ever be truly free.

 * The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League also works with other patriotic groups supporting similar goals, including the Southeast Asia Imperial & Royal League, and the British Committee for Free Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia & Burma. Any government which does not have the best interests of the people at heart is not legitimate, regardless of the circumstances of its own foundation. We want to see the people of Vietnam, free of fear and false indoctrination, make the choice of how their nation is to be governed.

 * Likewise, beyond Vietnam, we must make it a priority to share the benefits of liberty and democracy with the other oppressed nations of Indo-China from Laos to Burma. Only when people are free can they truly be prosperous. With stable and democratic regimes in the nations of Southeast Asia, based on national tradition and concern for the people, there is no limit to the amount of success and prosperity these nations could gain in the future.

 * To accomplish this, the people of the Free World have an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves, who are suffering under the boot of communist tyranny. Working together, we must strive to wipe out oppression wherever it exists and end the brutal exploitation of the people of Southeast Asia. To this end the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League is pledged to and encourages all caring individuals, organizations and world leaders to unite behind this noble effort.

 * "When we are not devoted to serve the People, we cannot have the right to ask for the favors from the nation."

 * H.I.H. Prince Regent Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh, The Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam

- Tran Van Ba: I've reverted your edits because you cut a large amount of text with no explanation, and then added some extremely POV text. Please, in future, use edit summaries or the Talk page to explain what you are doing, especially if you have factual disputes. ←Hob 03:08, 2004 Sep 8 (UTC)

- Once again, I don't think User:Tran Van Ba's changes to the introductory paragraph are consistent with Neutral point of view, and they are also very difficult to read:

 * ... a U.S.-based organization dedicated to promote to awakened and liberated Communist Vietnamese to cooperate with them in common brotherhood to rebuild and embellish their country of Vietnam ...

Tran Van Ba is apparently an officer of the group in question (note that in the original addition of this text, it said "cooperate with us"). This user has never provided explanations in any edit summaries. ←Hob 18:41, 2004 Sep 9 (UTC)

more non-NPOV edits
I guess I should be encouraged that User:Tran Van Ba is now adding edit summaries, but still I think I'm justified in removing the large block of text he copied verbatim from the VCML website. Quoting a small part of this mission statement might be useful, as a way of showing what the group says about themselves, but presenting it as Wikipedia's opinion is ludicrous. I have left a note on this user's talk page. ←Hob 00:48, 2004 Sep 12 (UTC)

 * Right now I'm more worried about the copyright implications. He's copying stuff from various web sites, some of which he may have permission to, and some I doubt. He's also uploading a lot of pictures with a very vague and confusing statement about them belonging to the Prince Regent. -- Cyrius|✎ 01:36, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I noticed that. Well, in this case at least, the two problems have the same solution: don't copy this extremely POV and non-encyclopedic material.   ←Hob 02:12, 2004 Sep 12 (UTC)

 * It states that in the directions be specific who the pictures belong to, I state that the pictures belong to the Prince and that they can be used for History of Nguyen dynasty there are not to be misused the website that that I use as reference I have discussed them in the Discussion to show it was allowed to be used. Tran Van Ba

 * Those terms are unacceptable and the images need to be removed. -- Cyrius|✎ 03:33, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Reference more non-NPOV edits
Please the statement above is incorrect, The website cover statement http://users.panola.com/vietnam/ is not verbatim and I did not copy it from there.

please see what I wrote and it was just stating the beliefs on this organization:

The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League is a U.S.-based organization dedicated to promoting the replacement of the current communist government of Vietnam with a constitutional monarchy led by the Nguyen Dynasty. The League's position is that Bao Dai was the last legitimate ruler of Vietnam.

The organization was founded in 1994 by its President Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh, who was exiled from Vietnam after 1975. Members of the League consist of former officials of the South Vietnamese government, Religious, and Vietnamese Exiles from the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League seeks to work with all other groups with the basic goal of seeing democracy and personal freedom returned to the people of Vietnam. They also work with other nations who are also suffering under communist tyranny in such as the Southeast Asia. The League is in full partnership with the Southeast Asia Imperial & Royal League and The British Committee For Free Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia & Burma. Their is to work with the traditions of Vietnamese culture to achieve a democratic, tolerant and free government in true representation for the people of Vietnam and to support such efforts in other countries across Southeast Asia.

The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League believes it is a simple fact that the people of Vietnam have never been given the choice of how they are to be governed. Ho Chi Minh took power by military force in 1945 and the people of the north were indoctrinated to believe that Communism was the only solution to the problems Vietnam faced. The south of the country never accepted Ho Chi Minh, nor did they accept the loss of the monarchy. Ho Chi Minh first abolished the monarchy in 1945 without giving the nation an opportunity to vote on the issue. Emperor Bao Dai was brought out of exile as the last legitimate ruler of Vietnam (since Ho took power by force) and Vietnam was supposed to choose in nation-wide elections how their country was to be administered. This never happened. Ngo Dinh Diem held a referendum which was openly rigged in his favor to abolish the monarchy and neither Ngo Dinh Diem or Ho Chi Minh were willing to trust the will of the people throughout all of Vietnam to choose the government best for them.

The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League believes there was also certainly no consideration given to popular opinion when the Communist forces invaded and conquered the Republic of Vietnam after the evacuation of all U.S. armed forces. The Republic of Vietnam itself existed only because the United States wanted the "new" Vietnam to be built in their image rather than traditional Vietnam, which had always been a monarchy. The north was likewise built on foreign models, becoming more like Soviet Russia or Red China than ancient Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was known to idolize the Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin. In Communist government offices pictures of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx decorate the walls rather than traditional Vietnamese heroes such as Le Loi, Gia Long or Minh Mang.

The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League believes that if the Vietnamese people are given the choice they would rather have a government built on the preservation of Vietnamese culture and traditions, that can truly reflect their national identity.

The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League agenda is to work as hard as it can to unite those who wish to restore the nation to freedom and give the people the choice of deciding how they are to be governed, confident that those who have done the most to help them and fight for what Vietnam truly stands for will not be forgotten in the end.

The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League states that their country of Vietnam has learned anything from the years of conflict it is that the words of His Majesty the Emperor Bao Dai hold true, unity means life and division means death.

In Conclusion the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League wants to see a government in Vietnam that represents all groups who favor freedom and democracy must join together, putting aside differences, and work for the common good of the people and nation of Vietnam. It is to this end, as well as the restoration of cultural pride and the dignity of the Nguyen Dynasty that the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League is dedicated.

In 2004, The Nguyen Dynasty Overseas Council assigned Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh Regent of The Imperial Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam.

I wrote me statement and corrected it as you can see there is not the copied as stated by other member http://users.panola.com/vietnam/   Tran Van Ba

 * It makes no sense to say "the above statement [that the text was a verbatim copy] is incorrect". It obviously is a verbatim copy. It was not taken from the website's cover page, but I never said it was. It was taken from the mission statement page (http://users.panola.com/vietnam/14.html), as I am sure you are well aware.
 * Now, your most recent edits (after I made my comments) have modified the text slightly to add "The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League believes" before each paragraph, which is a slight improvement. But the article still devotes so much space to repeating all the claims of the VCML, while adding almost no specific relevant facts beyond what is already in the introductory paragraph, that you cannot call it a neutral point of view. The purpose of the article should be to explain what the VCML is, not to repeat all of its opinions. Here are examples of highly non-neutral phrases:
 * "other nations who are also suffering under communist tyranny" ("tyranny" is a non-neutral, pejorative term)
 * "the people of the north were indoctrinated to believe that Communism was the only solution to the problems Vietnam face" (what is your evidence that they were "indoctrinated"?)
 * "In Communist government offices pictures of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx decorate the walls rather than traditional Vietnamese heroes such as Le Loi, Gia Long or Minh Mang" (why is this relevant to the article?)
 * "The Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League agenda is to work as hard as it can to unite those who wish to restore the nation to freedom" (since this provides no details on how the League intends to do these things, it is nothing more than a vague propaganda statement)

 * Have you actually read the guidelines in Neutral point of view?  ←Hob 04:01, 2004 Sep 13 (UTC)

just let me know I will fix it
Hob, ok I will fix those words of neutral "tryanny" or any other non-neutral words.

Also I will will condense the paragraph so not to be repetative in the mission of what this organization goals are. If you see something just assist me, so that other people will know about Asian issues. thank you Tran Van Ba

 * Feel free to try to improve the article, but you have to understand that other people can also edit it; it's not "your" article. Other editors may choose to make drastic changes, for neutrality or other reasons. You should not just continue putting in the same text and removing other points of view without discussion, as you have done in the past. It really shouldn't have required a complaint page against you to get your attention. And as you know, the non-neutral text is not the only complaint against you at this point.  ←Hob 18:09, 2004 Sep 13 (UTC)

This group is a total farce, the leader claims to be a "prince" though this was a title only the Vietnamese emperor could give and he would have been only 13 when the monarchy was abolished (I doubt the Emperor would have given a 13-year-old a princely title when his own prime minister was almost 50 before being so honored). Apparently, after having lunch with the former Emperor in Paris, taking a few pictures and showing them around to various politicians he decided to name himself "boss" of the Nguyen Dynasty. The actual head of the family is the Emperor's eldest son, Crown Prince Bao Long, who has disavowed any connection to this group and firmly refused to deal with them at all.

Most of their material is stolen from other websites, their various arms, flags & symbols are all computer generated copies of various older insignia and the membership of the group seems to consist of only about 200 people world-wide, most simply out to play "let's pretend I'm royalty" and exchange grand sounding titles. They have also carpet-bombed every forum or message board relating to Vietnam or the Vietnamese community with advertisements for their group and used their own website to slander a number of scholars who questioned them as to the validity of their claims.

Obviously, their posting here is simply the lastest childish effort by these pretenders to try and gain some legitimacy for their organization which the actual Vietnamese Imperial Family has dismissed as absurd. -Nguyen Van Tuan

 * Nguyen Van Tuan, these factual disputes and other matters are currently under review at Requests for arbitration/Jimmyvanthach. If you have evidence to contribute to that discussion (with links, or references to printed material, to back it up), please do so at Requests for arbitration/Jimmyvanthach/Evidence. Also, it would be very helpful if you would register a Wikipedia login and password, so that your edits and comments will be seen to come from a single individual - this will also give you a user talk page (like mine), so other users can talk to you without going to a lot of different article talk pages like this one.  ←Hob 22:03, 2004 Oct 1 (UTC)

"This group is a total farce[...] he would have been only 13 when the monarchy was abolished (I doubt the Emperor would have given a 13-year-old a princely title when his own prime minister was almost 50 before being so honored)."

Age doesn't matter for monarchy, an attack on the age of a monarch makes me laugh... Consider Isabella II of Spain[1], she acquired the title of queen when she was 3 years old and assumed power when she was 13 years old (born in 1830 assumed power in 1843 after the military reinstalled her). [1]http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_isabella_ii.htm 2112Z 2004 Dec 14

Age does matter in this case, if you knew Asian monarchies are not the same as Europe. Buu Chanh is not a prince -he was not born a prince, if he was age would not matter, but he was not, but claims to be now, so it does. For him to be a prince the Emperor would have had to make him one and considering that he did not even make Prince Buu Hoi a prince until he became Prime Minister, do you really think he would have made some child who had accomplished nothing yet in life a prince before his own prime minister? NguyenHue 21:27, 5 August 2005 (UTC)NguyenHue

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 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20041009191732/http://www.aiipowmia.com:80/inter24/in130904princevn.html to http://www.aiipowmia.com/inter24/in130904princevn.html
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Still Active?
Is this group still active? Googling their name doesn't come up with a whole lot, and clicking some of the "External Links" on this article are redirecting me to some site about building websites. I just thought if this group is dissolved/inactive it should be mentioned in the article, or if they're still active we should fix the links to go to their proper website. Komihama (talk) 11:14, 10 June 2017 (UTC)

Removed uncited content
VCML members consist of former officials of the South Vietnamese government, religious figures, Vietnamese exiles, and sympathizers from the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. The VCML has contacts with royal family members in Vietnam, that have been organizing grassroot efforts for years to spread and unify supporters in Vietnam to politically pressure the government of Vietnam for a multi-party system that would guarantee equal treatment for all citizens regardless of political party, religion or ethnicity. The VCML believes in politically pressuring the Communist government of Vietnam to reach its goals so the Vietnamese people would have the opportunity to choose a Constitutional Monarchy government in an election, which does not violate the U.S. Neutrality Act.

The VCML has a budget consisting of donations from Vietnamese exiles living in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

FuzzyCatPotato (talk) 20:14, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:53, 2 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Flag of the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League.svg


text:
General Tso's chicken

General Tso ' s chicken (左宗棠雞 Zuǒ Zōngtáng jī) is a sweet and spicy deep-fried chicken dish.

Name
The dish was retroactively named after Zuo Zongtang (Tso Tsung-t'ang) (1812–1885), a Qing dynasty statesman and military leader from Hunan Province. Chef Eileen Yin-Fei Lo speculated that name "Zongtang" was not a reference to Zuo Zongtang, but rather a reference to the homophone zongtang (宗堂), meaning "the hall of the ancestors". The dish is known by many alternative names, mostly replacing Tso with a different surname.

Claims of origin
Two Chinese chefs, Peng Chang-kuei and T.T. Wang, each claimed to have invented General Tso's chicken. The two claims may be somewhat reconciled in that the current General Tso's chicken recipe — where the meat is crispy fried — was introduced by Wang under the name "General Ching's chicken", a name which still has trace appearances on menus on the Internet (the identity of its namesake "General Ching" is, however, unclear); whereas the name "General Tso's chicken" can be traced to Peng, who cooked it in a different way.

Peng's claim
Peng Chang-kuei, a chef from Hunan who was later based in Chongqing and Taipei, rolled out the new dish circa 1973 when he opened the restaurant "Uncle Peng's Hunan Yuan" on East 44th Street, New York City. Peng claimed his restaurant was the first in New York City to serve Tso's chicken. Since the dish was new, Peng made it the house specialty in spite of the dish's commonplace ingredients. A review of Uncle Peng in 1977 mentioned that their "General Tso's chicken was a stir-fried masterpiece, sizzling hot both in flavor and temperature". When Peng opened a restaurant in Hunan in the 1990s introducing Tso's chicken, the locals found the dish too sweet. His restaurant quickly closed in Hunan.

There are two stories purporting to explain how Peng Chang-kuei created the dish when he worked in Taipei before he introduced it to New York. Both stories linked to the fact that Peng was well connected to the senior Kuomintang politicians in Hunan, Chongqing and Taiwan. The first story was given by Peng himself in 2008 by Jennifer 8. Lee for the documentary The Search for General Tso (2014). In the documentary, Peng recalled in 1952 he was invited by the Republic of China Navy to be in charge of a three-day state banquet during Admiral Arthur W. Radford's visit of Taiwan. Peng claimed Tso's chicken was served on Radford's menu on the third day. According to U.S. diplomatic records, Radford's visit was during June 2–6, 1953. The second story was proposed by Taiwanese food writer Zhu Zhenfan in 2009, who said Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of President Chiang Kai-shek, paid a late visit to Peng's restaurant when Peng ran out of ingredients. Chiang was served an improvised dish, General Tso's chicken, by Peng.

Wang claim
New York's Shun Lee Palaces, located at East (155 E. 55th St.) and West (43 W. 65th St.), also claims that it was the first restaurant to serve General Tso's chicken and that it was invented by a Chinese immigrant chef named T. T. Wang in 1972. Michael Tong, owner of New York's Shun Lee Palaces, says "We opened the first Hunanese restaurant in the whole country, and the four dishes we offered you will see on the menu of practically every Hunanese restaurant in America today. They all copied from us."

Popularity
Tso's chicken was spicy rather than sweet and spicy. It was altered to suit the tastes of Americans. The dish drew the attention of many food writers; among them were Fuchsia Dunlop from the United Kingdom and Jennifer 8. Lee from the U.S. The dish was adopted by some Hunan chefs. In Taiwan, it is not served sweet; the chicken is cooked with its skin and soy sauce plays a much more prominent role.

Recipes
Basic ingredients include:
 * Sauce: soy sauce, rice wine, rice-wine vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, dried red chili peppers (whole), garlic.
 * Batter / breading: egg, cornstarch.
 * Dish: broccoli, chicken dark meat (cubed).

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

title: General Tso's chicken


text:
Arthur Percival

Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, (26 December 1887 – 31 January 1966) was a British Army officer. He saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period, but is best known for his defeat in the Second World War, when Percival commanded British Commonwealth forces during the Malayan campaign, which culminated in a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Singapore.

Percival's surrender to the invading Imperial Japanese Army, which was the largest of its kind in British military history, significantly undermined Britain's prestige and military position in East Asia. Some historians, such as Sir John Smyth, have argued that under-funding of British Malaya's defences and the inexperienced, under-equipped nature of the Commonwealth forces in Malaya, not Percival's leadership, were ultimately to blame for the defeat.

Childhood and employment
Arthur Ernest Percival was born on 26 December 1887 in Aspenden Lodge, Aspenden near Buntingford in Hertfordshire, England, the second son of Alfred Reginald and Edith Percival (née Miller). His father was the land agent of the Hamel's Park estate and his mother came from a Lancashire cotton family. By 1891 the family was living in nearby Thundridge at "Sprangewell" on Poles Lane, his father being listed as "Land Agent" in the 1891 census, although it is unclear if this is still for Hamel's Park, or for E.S. Hanbury's Poles estate (now "Hanbury Manor"), which is adjacent to Sprangewell.

Percival was initially schooled locally in Bengeo. Then in 1901, he was sent to Rugby with his more academically successful brother, where he was a boarder in School House. A moderate pupil, he studied Greek and Latin but was described by a teacher as "not a good classic". Percival's only qualification on leaving in 1906 was a higher school certificate. He was a more successful sportsman, playing cricket and tennis and running cross country. He also rose to colour sergeant in the school's Volunteer Rifle Corps. However, his military career began at a comparatively late age: although a member of Youngsbury Rifle Club, he was working as a clerk for the iron ore merchants Naylor, Benzon & Company Limited in London, which he had joined in 1914, when the First World War broke out.

Enlistment and First World War
Percival enlisted on the first day of the war as a private in the Officer Training Corps of the Inns of Court, at the age of 26, and was promoted after five weeks' basic training to temporary second lieutenant. Nearly one third of his fellow recruits would be dead by the end of the war. By November Percival had been promoted to captain. The following year he was despatched to France with the newly formed 7th (Service) Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment (later the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment), which became part of the 54th Brigade, 18th (Eastern) Division, in February 1915. The first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916) left Percival unscathed, but in September he was badly wounded in four places by shrapnel, as he led his company in an assault on the Schwaben Redoubt, beyond the ruins of Thiepval village, and was awarded the Military Cross (MC), the citation for which reads:

"For conspicuous gallantry in action. During the advance he showed fine leadership and determination under heavy shell and machine-gun fire. He worked unceasingly, with absolute disregard of danger, in completing every detail in the consolidation of the captured position."

Percival took a regular commission as a captain with the Essex Regiment in October 1916, whilst recovering from his injuries in hospital. He was appointed a temporary major in his original regiment. In 1917, he became a battalion commander with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel. During Germany's Spring Offensive, Percival led a counter-attack that saved a unit of French artillery from capture, winning a Croix de Guerre. For a short period in May 1918, he acted as commander of the 54th Brigade. He was given brevet promotion to major, and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), with his citation stating the following:

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during recent operations. He handled his battalion cleverly, showing power of command and knowledge of tactics. He set a fine example during several critical periods."

He ended the war, which came to an end on 11 November 1918 due to the Armistice with Germany, as a respected soldier, described as "very efficient" and was recommended for the Staff College.

Russia
Percival's studies were delayed in 1919 when he decided to volunteer for service with the Archangel Command of the British Military Mission during the North Russia intervention of the Russian Civil War. Acting as second-in-command of the 45th Royal Fusiliers, he earned a bar to his DSO in August, when his attack in the Gorodok operation along the Northern Dvina resulted in the British capture 400 Red Army troops. The citation reads:

"He commanded the Gorodok column on 9–10 August 1919, with great gallantry and skill, and owing to the success of this column the forces on the right bank of the Dvina were able to capture all its objectives. During the enemy counter-attack from Selmenga on Gorodok he handled his men excellently. The enemy were repulsed with great loss, leaving 400 prisoners in our hands."

Ireland

In 1920, Percival was deployed to Ireland and fought against the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence, first as a company commander and later as the intelligence officer of the 1st Essex Regiment. He was stationed in Bandon and Kinsale in County Cork. In December 1920 the Commander in Chief of British forces in Ireland (Nevil Macready) informed the British Cabinet that "official reprisals" had been authorized in Martial law areas. Percival proved to be an energetic counterinsurgency commander who was noted for his aptitude for intelligence-gathering and establishment of bicycle infantry formations which acted as flying columns. He was also accused by several IRA prisoners of using torture during interrogations. As a result, Percival became one of the most hated British commanders in Ireland at the time and survived three assassination attempts by the IRA. The IRA had promised a £1,000 reward to whomever captured or killed Percival.

Following the IRA killing of a Royal Irish Constabulary sergeant outside a Bandon church in July 1920, Percival captured Tom Hales, the commander of the IRA's 3rd Cork Brigade, and Patrick Harte, the brigade's quartermaster, for which he was given an OBE. Both Hales and Harte subsequently claimed they had been tortured while in custody, and acccording to IRA commander Tom Barry, Harte suffered a brain injury and died in a mental hospital in 1925 as a result. British intelligence officer Ormonde Winter subsequently stated that Hales had informed on the IRA while in British custody and had invented his allegations to deflect attention away from his decision to provide the names of fellow IRA members in return for a lesser sentence.

On 4 February 1921, while participating a raid carried out by British forces between Bandon and Kilbrittain, Percival shot and killed IRA volunteer Patrick Crowley Jr. When Crowley, who was being treated for appendicitis, tried to flee from a house in Maryboro, Percival chased him on foot and shot him in the back. Barry later wrote that Percival was "easily the most vicious anti-Irish of all serving British officers". David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill met Percival in 1921, when he was called as an expert witness during an inquiry into the Irish War of Independence.

Percival would later deliver a series of lectures on his experiences in Ireland in which he stressed the importance of surprise and offensive action, intelligence-gathering, maintaining security and co-operation between different security forces. Historian J. B. E. Hittle wrote that of all the British officers in Ireland "Percival stood out for his violent, sadistic behaviour towards IRA prisoners, suspects and innocent civilians... He also participated in reprisals, burning farms and businesses in response to IRA attacks. However, Clifford Kinvig, Percival's biographer considers him to have been unfairly vilified by Irish republican propaganda due to being "tireless in his attempt to destroy the spirit of the people and the organisation of the IRA".

Staff officer
Percival attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1923 to 1924, which had Major-General Edmund Ironside as its Commandant, where he was taught by J. F. C. Fuller, who was one of the few sympathetic reviewers of his book, The War in Malaya, twenty-five years later. He impressed his instructors, who picked him out as one of eight students for accelerated promotion, and his fellow students who admired his cricketing skills. Following an appointment as major with the Cheshire Regiment, he spent four years with the Nigeria Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force in West Africa as a staff officer. He was given brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel in 1929.

In 1930, Percival spent a year studying at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. From 1931 to 1932, Percival was a General Staff Officer Grade 2, an instructor at the Staff College. The college's commandant was by now Major-General Sir John Dill, who became Percival's mentor over the next decade, helping to ensure his protégé's advancement. Dill regarded Percival as a promising officer and wrote that "he has an outstanding ability, wide military knowledge, good judgment and is a very quick and accurate worker" but added "he has not altogether an impressive presence and one may therefore fail, at first meeting him, to appreciate his sterling worth". With Dill's support, Percival was appointed to command the 2nd Battalion, the Cheshire Regiment from 1932 to 1936, initially in Malta. In 1935, he attended the Imperial Defence College in London.

Percival was made a full colonel in March 1936, and until 1938 he was General Staff Officer Grade 1 in Malaya, the Chief of Staff to General Dobbie, the General Officer Commanding in Malaya. During this time, he recognised that Singapore was no longer an isolated fortress. He considered the possibility of the Japanese landing in Thailand to "burgle Malaya by the backdoor and conducted an appraisal of the possibility of an attack being launched on Singapore from the North, which was supplied to the War Office, and which Percival subsequently felt was similar to the plan followed by the Japanese in 1941. He also supported Dobbie's unexecuted plan for the construction of fixed defences in Southern Johore. In March 1938, Percival returned to Britain and was (temporarily) promoted to brigadier on the General Staff, Aldershot Command.

Second World War

Percival was appointed brigadier, General Staff, of the I Corps, British Expeditionary Force, commanded by General Dill, from 1939 to 1940. He was then promoted to acting major-general, and in February 1940 briefly became General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division. He was made Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the War Office in 1940 but asked for a transfer to an active command after the Dunkirk evacuation. Given command of the 44th (Home Counties) Division, he spent 9 months organising the protection of 62 mi of the English coast from invasion. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1941 King's Birthday Honours.

Percival's early assessment of the vulnerability of Singapore

In 1936, Major-General William Dobbie, then General Officer Commanding (Malaya), had made an inquiry into whether more forces were required on mainland Malaya to prevent the Japanese from establishing forward bases to attack Singapore. Percival, then his Chief Staff Officer, had been tasked to draw up a tactical assessment of how the Japanese were most likely to attack. In late 1937, his analysis had duly confirmed that north Malaya might become the critical battleground. The Japanese were likely to seize the east coast landing sites on Thailand and Malaya in order to capture aerodromes and achieve air superiority. This could serve as a prelude to further Japanese landings in Johore to disrupt communications northwards and enable the construction of another main base in North Borneo. From North Borneo, the final sea and air assault could be launched against eastern Singapore – in particular the Changi area.

General Officer Commanding (Malaya)
In April 1941 Percival was promoted to acting Lieutenant-General, and was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) Malaya. This was a significant promotion for him as he had never commanded an army corps although he had previous experience there. He left Britain in a Sunderland flying boat and embarked on an arduous fortnight-long, multi-stage flight via Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria (where he was delayed by the Anglo-Iraqi War), Basra, Karachi, and Rangoon, where he was met by an RAF transport.

Percival had mixed feelings about his appointment, noting that "In going to Malaya I realised that there was the double danger either of being left in an inactive command for some years if war did not break out in the East or, if it did, of finding myself involved in a pretty sticky business with the inadequate forces which are usually to be found in the distant parts of our Empire in the early stages of a war."

For much of the interwar period, Britain's defensive plan for Malaya had centred on the dispatch of a naval fleet to the newly built Singapore Naval Base. Accordingly, the army's role was to defend Singapore and Southern Johore. While this plan had seemed adequate when the nearest Japanese base had been 1700 mi away, the outbreak of war in Europe, combined with the partial Japanese occupation of the northern part of French Indochina and the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, had underlined the difficulty of a sea-based defence. Instead it was proposed to use the RAF to defend Malaya, at least until reinforcements could be dispatched from Britain. This led to the building of airfields in northern Malaya and along its east coast and the dispersal of the available army units around the peninsula to protect them.

On arrival, Percival set about training his inexperienced army; his Indian troops were particularly raw, with most of their experienced officers having been withdrawn to support the formation of new units as the Indian army expanded. Relying upon commercial aircraft or the Volunteer air force to overcome the shortage of RAF planes, he toured the peninsula and encouraged the building of defensive works around Jitra. A training manual approved by Percival, Tactical Notes on Malaya, was distributed to all units.

In July 1941 when the Japanese occupied southern Indochina, Britain, the United States and the Netherlands imposed economic sanctions, freezing Japanese financial assets and cutting Japan from its supplies of oil, tin and rubber. The sanctions were aimed at pressuring Japan to abandon its involvement in China; instead, the Japanese government planned to seize the resources of South-East Asia from the European nations by force. Both the Japanese navy and army were mobilised, but for the moment an uneasy state of cold war persisted. British Commonwealth reinforcements continued to trickle into Malaya. On 2 December, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battle-cruiser HMS Repulse, escorted by four destroyers, arrived in Singapore, the first time a battle fleet had been based there. (They were to have been accompanied by the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable (92) to provide air cover but she had run aground in the Caribbean en route.) The following day Rear-Admiral Spooner hosted a dinner attended by the newly arrived Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet, Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, and Percival.

Japanese attack and British surrender

On 8 December 1941 the Japanese 25th Army under the command of Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita launched an amphibious assault on the Malay Peninsula (one hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor; the difference in date was because the two places lie on opposite sides of the international date line). That night the first Japanese invasion force arrived at Kota Bharu on Malaya's east coast. This was just a diversionary force, and the main landings took place the next day at Singora and Pattani on the south-eastern coast of Thailand, with troops rapidly deploying over the border into northern Malaya.

On 10 December Percival issued a stirring, if ultimately ineffective, Special Order of the Day: "In this hour of trial the General Officer Commanding calls upon all ranks Malaya Command for a determined and sustained effort to safeguard Malaya and the adjoining British territories. The eyes of the Empire are upon us. Our whole position in the Far East is at stake. The struggle may be long and grim but let us all resolve to stand fast come what may and to prove ourselves worthy of the great trust which has been placed in us."

The Japanese advanced rapidly, and on 27 January 1942 Percival ordered a general retreat across the Johore Strait to the island of Singapore and organised a defence along the length of the island's 70 mi coast line. But the Japanese did not dawdle, and on 8 February Japanese troops landed on the northwest corner of Singapore island. After a week of fighting on the island, Percival held his final command conference at 9 am on 15 February in the Battle Box of Fort Canning. The Japanese had already occupied approximately half of Singapore and it was clear that the island would soon fall. Having been told that ammunition and water would both run out by the following day, Percival agreed to surrender. The Japanese at this point were running low on artillery shells, but Percival did not know this.

The Japanese insisted that Percival himself march under a white flag to the Old Ford Motor Factory in Bukit Timah to negotiate the surrender. A Japanese officer present noted that he looked "pale, thin and tired". After a brief disagreement, when Percival insisted that the British keep 1,000 men under arms in Singapore to preserve order, which Yamashita finally conceded, it was agreed at 6:10 pm that all British Commonwealth troops would lay down their arms and cease resistance at 8:30 pm. This was in spite of instructions from Prime Minister Winston Churchill for prolonged resistance.

A common view holds that 129,704 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. However, the former figure includes nearly 50,000 troops captured or killed during the Battle of Malaya, and perhaps 15,000 base troops. Many of the other troops were tired and under-equipped following their retreat from the Malayan peninsula. Conversely, the latter number represents only the front-line troops available for the invasion of Singapore. British Commonwealth casualties in battle since 8 December amounted to 7,500 killed and 11,000 wounded. Japanese losses totalled more than 3,507 killed and 6,107 wounded.

Culpability for the fall of Singapore

Churchill viewed the fall of Singapore to be "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history." However, the British defence was that the Middle East and the Soviet Union had all received higher priorities in the allocation of men and material, so the desired air force strength of 300 to 500 aircraft was never reached, and whereas the Japanese invaded with over two hundred tanks, the British Army in Malaya did not have a single tank. In The War in Malaya Percival himself cites this as the major factor for the defeat stating that the 'war material which might have saved Singapore was sent to Russia and the Middle East'. However he also concedes that Britain was engaged in 'a life and death struggle in the West' and that 'this decision, however painful and regrettable, was inevitable and right'.

In 1918, Percival had been described as "a slim, soft spoken man... with a proven reputation for bravery and organisational powers" but by 1945 this description had been turned on its head with even Percival's defenders describing him as "something of a damp squib". The fall of Singapore switched Percival's reputation to that of an ineffective "staff wallah", lacking ruthlessness and aggression. Over six feet in height and lanky, with a clipped moustache and two protruding teeth, and unphotogenic, Percival was an easy target for a caricaturist, being described as "tall, bucktoothed and lightly built". There was no doubt his presentation lacked impact as "his manner was low key and he was a poor public speaker with the cusp of a lisp".

Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Far East Command, refused Percival permission to launch Operation Matador, a pre-emptive invasion of Thailand, in advance of the Japanese landings there; he did not wish to run any risk of provoking the coming war. Brooke-Popham was accused by his detractors of not arguing forcefully for air reinforcements required to defend Malaya.

Peter Wykeham suggested that the government in London was more to blame than any of the British commanders in the Far East. Despite repeated requests, the British government did not provide the necessary reinforcements and they denied Brooke-Popham – and therefore Percival – permission to enter neutral Thailand before it was too late to put in place forward defences.

Moreover, Percival had difficulties with his subordinates Sir Lewis "Piggy" Heath, commanding Indian III Corps, and the independent-minded Gordon Bennett, commanding the Australian 8th Division. The former officer had been senior to Percival prior to his appointment as GOC (Malaya).

Percival was ultimately responsible for the men who served under him, and with other officers – notably Major-General David Murray-Lyon, commander of the Indian 11th Infantry Division – he had shown a willingness to replace them when he felt their performance was not up to scratch. Perhaps his greatest mistake was to resist the building of fixed defences in either Johore or the north shore of Singapore, dismissing them in the face of repeated requests to start construction from his Chief Engineer, Brigadier Ivan Simson, with the comment "Defences are bad for morale – for both troops and civilians".

Percival also insisted on defending the north-eastern shore of Singapore most heavily, against the advice of the Allied supreme commander in South East Asia, General Sir Archibald Wavell. Percival was perhaps fixed on his responsibilities for defending the Singapore Naval Base. He also spread his forces thinly around the island and kept few units as a strategic reserve. When the Japanese attack came in the west, the Australian 22nd Brigade took the brunt of the assault. Percival refused to reinforce them as he continued to believe that the main assault would occur in the north east. The attacking Japanese were down to the last of their ammunition when Percival surrendered. Before surrendering, besides taking his own counsel, he consulted his own officers.

In the post-war Percival Report (written in 1946, published in 1948) the "imminent collapse" of the water supply, estimated by David J. Murnane, the Municipal Water Engineer, on 14 February to occur within 24–48 hours, was highlighted as a direct cause for surrender. According to oral history records, quoted by Louis Allen (author of Singapore 1941–42), Murnane asked for and was promised by General Percival "ten lorries and a hundred Royal Engineers" so he could fix the water supply leaks caused by Japanese bombing and shelling. He never got what he needed: Louis Allen says Murnane got 'one lorry and ten frightened Sikhs'. When confronted again, all that Percival delivered (on 14 February) was one lorry and ten Royal Engineers but it was too late.

Captivity
Percival himself was briefly held prisoner in Changi Prison, where "the defeated GOC could be seen sitting head in hands, outside the married quarters he now shared with seven brigadiers, a colonel, his ADC and cook-sergeant. He discussed feelings with few, spent hours walking around the extensive compound, ruminating on the reverse and what might have been". In the belief that it would improve discipline, he reconstituted a Malaya Command, complete with staff appointments, and helped occupy his fellow prisoners with lectures on the Battle of France.

Along with the other senior British captives above the rank of colonel, Percival was removed from Singapore in August 1942. First he was imprisoned in Formosa and then sent on to Manchuria, where he was held with several dozen other VIP captives, including the American General Jonathan Wainwright, in a prisoner-of-war camp near Hsian, about 100 mi to the north east of Mukden.

As the war drew to an end, an OSS team removed the prisoners from Hsian. Percival was then taken, along with Wainwright, to stand immediately behind General Douglas MacArthur as he confirmed the terms of the Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. Afterwards, MacArthur gave Percival a pen he had used to sign the treaty.

Percival and Wainwright then returned together to the Philippines to witness the surrender of the Japanese army there, which in a twist of fate was commanded by General Yamashita. Yamashita was momentarily surprised to see his former captive at the ceremony; on this occasion Percival refused to shake Yamashita's hand, angered by the mistreatment of POWs in Singapore. The flag carried by Percival's party on the way to Bukit Timah was also a witness to this reversal of fortunes, being flown when the Japanese formally surrendered Singapore back to Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Later life
Percival returned to the United Kingdom in September 1945 to write his despatch at the War Office but this was revised by the UK Government and published only in 1948. He retired from the army in 1946 with the honorary rank of lieutenant-general but the pension of his substantive rank of major-general. Thereafter, he held appointments connected with the county of Hertfordshire, where he lived at Bullards in Widford: he was Honorary Colonel of 479th (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, (T.A.) from 1949 to 1954 and acted as one of the Deputy Lieutenants of Hertfordshire in 1951. He continued his relationship with the Cheshire Regiment being appointed Colonel of the Cheshire Regiment between 1950 and 1955; an association continued by his son, Brigadier James Percival who became Colonel of the Regiment between 1992 and 1999.

Percival was respected for the time he had spent as a Japanese prisoner of war. Serving as life president of the Far East Prisoners of War Association (FEPOW), he pushed for compensation for his fellow captives, eventually helping to obtain a token £5 million of frozen Japanese assets for this cause. This was distributed by the FEPOW Welfare Trust, on which Percival served as chairman. He led protests against the film The Bridge on the River Kwai when it was released in 1957, obtaining the addition of an on-screen statement that the movie was a work of fiction. He also worked as president of the Hertfordshire British Red Cross and was made an Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John in 1964.

Percival died at the age of 78 on 31 January 1966, in King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers, Beaumont Street in Westminster, and is buried in the churchyard at Widford in Hertfordshire.

Family
On 27 July 1927 Percival married Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" MacGregor Greer in Holy Trinity Church, Brompton. She was the daughter of Thomas MacGregor Greer of Tallylagan Manor, a Protestant linen merchant from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. They had met during his tour of duty in Ireland but it had taken Percival several years to propose. They had two children. A daughter, Dorinda Margery, was born in Greenwich and became Lady Dunleath. Alfred James MacGregor, their son, was born in Singapore and served in the British Army.

Honours

 * Military cross BAR.svg Military Cross (MC) (1916)
 * Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 ribbon.svg Croix de Guerre (1918)
 * Dso-ribbon.svg Distinguished Service Order (DSO) (1918)
 * Distinguished Service Order (DSO*) (1920)
 * Order of the British Empire (Military) Ribbon.svg (OBE (Mil)) (1921)
 * Order of the Bath UK ribbon.svg Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB (Mil)) (1941)
 * Deputy Lieutenant (DL) (1951)
 * Order of St John (UK) ribbon -vector.svg Officer of the Order of Saint John (OStJ) (1964)

title: Arthur Percival


text:
Talk:Tenjho Tenge

Need works to stay GA if re-assessed
Hi,

I just want to point out that this article would need more work to keep its GA status. Fortunately this one isn't concerned by the current GA re-assessment drive. However it will be eventually re-assessed.

--KrebMarkt 16:25, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The style and themes bit, especially, is unsourced, OR fluff. Also, the controversy section is clearly POV, with what appears to be several biased sources.192.249.47.196 (talk) 17:47, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

THERE SEEMS TO BE A SERIOUS PROBLEM with the transliteration. It may be serious because this transliteration is repeated many times, and also appears in links to this page.

Why "Tenjho"? The cluster "jh" does not exist in Japanese transliteration. Normally this name should be "Tenjoh", a variant of Tenjo.

On the other hand, if "Tenjho" is a transliteration consistently preferred by an author, as is sometimes (though very rarely) the case for (the work of) Japanese artists, then it may be retained. Otherwise, the mistake should be corrected. 10:59, 16 December 2011 (UTC)Viktor Laszlo (talk)
 * It might be retained, but it should probably not be the article title unless it can be shown to be commonly used. ∞ 陣  内  Jinnai  21:48, 16 December 2011 (UTC)
 * "Tenjho" is a non-standard spelling of "Tenjō" that is used by the official English publishers of the work; this means the article should continue using it. I believe Oh! great used this romanized title in the Japanese versions. WhisperToMe (talk) 13:20, 19 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Aha! VIZ uses Tenjo Tenge https://www.viz.com/tenjo-tenge - CMX, Geneon, and Madman (Australia) use "Tenjho" WhisperToMe (talk) 18:44, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

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CMX pages
I am looking to see if CMX Comics had an index website for Tenjho Tenge.

See: WhisperToMe (talk) 22:33, 18 March 2020 (UTC)
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20050207200117/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=2596 for Volume 1
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20060428030129/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=4045 for Volume 3
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20060506221530/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=4464 for Volume 4
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20060216120441/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=4653 for Volume 5
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20071012172712/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=4877 for Volume 6
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20060311022435/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=5007 for Volume 7
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20060514111116/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=5255 for Volume 8
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20060506084836/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=5611 for Volume 9
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20060710100400/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=5947 for Volume 10
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20071012173255/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=6337 for Volume 11
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20071012173429/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=6681 for Volume 12
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20071012173536/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=6997 for Volume 13
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20071012173628/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=7341 for Volume 14
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20071012173806/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=7676 for Volume 15
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20080415173231/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=9605 for Volume 17
 * http://web.archive.org/web/20100104160212/http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=12555 for Volume 18

title: Talk:Tenjho Tenge


text:
Primus

Primus (Latin, 'first') may refer to:

Fictional entities

 * Primus (DC Comics), a character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics
 * Primus (Marvel Comics), a character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics
 * Primus, a character in the novel Stardust and its film adaptation
 * Primus, a planet in The New Adventures of He-Man
 * Primus, the creator and god of the Transformers

Other uses in arts, entertainment and media

 * Primus (band), an American funk metal band
 * PRIMUS (journal), a quarterly journal of undergraduate mathematics education
 * Primus (TV series), 1971–1972

Businesses and brands

 * Primus, a brand of keys by Schlage
 * Primus AB, a Swedish manufacturer of portable cooking devices and outdoor stoves
 * Primus stove, a pressurized-burner kerosene stove
 * Primus beer, by Bralima Brewery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 * Primus Telecommunications Group, Inc., now HC2 Holdings
 * Primus Canada, Canadian ISP owned by Distributel
 * Primus Telecommunications (Australia), a subsidiary of Vocus Communications

People

 * Primus (name), including a list of people with the name
 * Pope Primus of Alexandria, pope and patriarch of Alexandria 106–118
 * Saint Primus (died c. 297), Christian martyr
 * Marcus Antonius Primus 1st century Roman general

Other uses

 * Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the church's presiding bishop
 * Primus (cycling team), a Polish women's road-racing team
 * Primus Peak, a mountain in the U.S. state of Washington
 * Patient Reported Outcome Indices for Multiple Sclerosis (PRIMUS), a medical research tool
 * Adler Primus, a 1930s German small family car
 * CAIGA Primus 150, a Chinese light aircraft
 * Honeywell Primus, a range of glass cockpits by Honeywell Aerospace
 * SSPH Primus, a Singaporean self-propelled howitzer

title: Primus


text:
Western saddle

Western saddles are used for western riding and are the saddles used on working horses on cattle ranches throughout the United States, particularly in the west. They are the "cowboy" saddles familiar to movie viewers, rodeo fans, and those who have gone on trail rides at guest ranches. This saddle was designed to provide security and comfort to the rider when spending long hours on a horse, traveling over rugged terrain.

The design of the Western saddle derives from the saddles of the Mexican vaqueros—the early horse trainers and cattle handlers of Mexico and the American Southwest. It was developed for the purpose of working cattle across vast areas, and came from a combination of the saddles used in the two main styles of horseback riding then practiced in Spain—la jineta, the Moorish style which allowed great freedom of movement to the horse; and la estradiota, later la brida, the jousting style, which provided great security to the rider and strong control of the horse. A very functional item was also added: the saddle "horn". This style of saddle allowed vaqueros to control cattle by use of a rope around the neck of the animal, tied or dallied (wrapped without a knot) around the horn.

Today, although many Western riders have never roped a cow, the western saddle still features this historical element. (Some variations on the Western saddle design, such as those used in bronc riding, endurance riding and those made for the European market, do not have horns.) Another predecessor which may have contributed to the design of the Western saddle was the Spanish tree saddle, which was also influential in the design of the McClellan saddle of the American military, being used by all branches of the U.S. Army, but being particularly associated with the cavalry.

The Western saddle is designed to be comfortable when ridden in for many hours. Its history and purpose is to be a working tool for a cowboy who spends all day, every day, on horseback. For a beginning rider, the western saddle may give the impression of providing a more secure seat. However, this may be misleading; the horn is not meant to be a handle for the rider to hang onto, and the high cantle and heavy stirrups are not for forcing the rider into a rigid position. The development of an independent seat and hands is as critical for western riders as for English riders.

Construction

The modern western saddle begins with a "tree" that defines the shape of the bars, the seat, the swells, horn, and cantle. Traditional trees are made of wood covered with rawhide, coated with varnish or a similar modern synthetic coating. In some cases, the core of the horn may be of metal. Modern synthetic materials of various types have also been used instead of wood, but while lighter and less expensive, are generally considered weaker than traditional materials, some, such as fiberglass, dangerously so. A high-quality tree is at the heart of a good saddle, particularly those used for sports such as steer roping, where the equipment must withstand considerable force.

The tree is usually covered with leather on all visible parts of the saddle. The seat may have foam rubber or other materials added between the tree and the top layer of leather to provide additional comfort to the rider, and leather or foam padding may be used to slightly alter the contours of the seat. Sheepskin is placed on the underside of the saddle, covering both the tree and the underside of the skirts. The cinch rings, made of metal, are attached to the tree as described under "Rigging," below. For decoration, metal conchos, lacing, and small plates, usually silver or a silver-like substitute, are added.

The leather parts of the saddle are often tooled into designs that range from simple to complex. The finest-quality saddles often have hand-carved tooling that itself is considered a work of art.

Western saddles compared to English saddles
The Western saddle is different from an English saddle in that it has no padding between the tree and the external leather and fleece skirting. The weight bearing area of the saddle is large and usually covered with sheepskin, but it must be padded with a saddle blanket in order to provide a comfortable fit for the horse. Western saddles are extensively decorated and intricately carved silver conchos and other additions are frequently added to the saddle for show purposes.

Other differences between the Western and English saddles include:
 * Stirrups: Those of the Western saddle cannot detach from the saddle in an emergency, but instead have a wider tread; combined with the rider's high-heeled cowboy boots, the design minimizes the risk that the rider's feet will slip through the stirrup during a fall and the rider being dragged.
 * Cinching (girthing): The method of securing the saddle to the horse. Rather than buckling on as does the English girth, the Western girth, known as a cinch, is anchored with a flat strap of leather or nylon called a latigo that may be secured with a flat knot, or via holes added so that a buckle can be used, either in place of the knot or in addition to one.
 * Seat and Cantle: These parts of a western saddle are more pronounced than in an English saddle and may provide greater comfort and security to the rider.
 * Tree: The tree of a western saddle is larger and covers more surface area than that of an English saddle.  There is little padding between the tree bars and the underside of a western saddle, whereas much of the weight bearing area on an English saddle is supported by a large amount of internal flocking inside the panels.

While a western saddle is designed to be ridden for many hours at a stretch; for covering distance where time is a factor, such as with Endurance riding, the lighter English saddle dominates.

Types

There are many types of Western saddle available. Some are general-purpose models while others emphasize either greater freedom for the horse or greater security for the rider, as may be necessary for specialized work in the various Western horse sports such as cutting, reining, barrel racing, team roping, equitation and western pleasure. Factors such as width of the swells, height of the cantle, depth of the seat, placement of the stirrups and type of rigging all influence the uses of a given design. For example, a saddle with wide swells, high cantle and deep seat is suitable for cutting, where a rider must remain in a secure, quiet seat on the horse. At the other end of the spectrum, a saddle with a "slick fork" - virtually no swells - and a low cantle is suited for calf roping, where a rider must dismount quickly, often while the horse is still in motion, and not be caught up on the saddle.

The most common variations include the following:
 * Roping saddle: Heavy, sturdy saddle that usually has a thicker horn for securing a rope, low cantle, and slick fork that allows rider to dismount quickly when needed.
 * Rodeo bronc riding saddle: Hornless, deep seated saddle with wide swells, having small fenders with oxbow style stirrups, originally designed and made by rodeo innovator Earl Bascom in 1922.
 * Cutting saddle: Has a deep seat and wide swells allows the rider to sit deep and securely through sharp stops and turns.
 * Reining saddle: Has a deep seat to allow the rider to sit deeply and more freely swinging fenders for more leg movement on the rider's part.
 * Working cowhorse saddle: Highly versatile and designed to work for both reining and cutting for reined cowhorse events.
 * Barrel racing saddle: Lightweight saddle with wide swells and high cantle which allows rider to sit securely but also allows the horse to perform fast sprints and sharp turns.
 * Endurance saddle: Lighter weight than most western saddles, often without a horn, has a tree that spreads the rider's weight out over a large area of the horse's back, thus reducing pounds per square inch. Often has stirrups hung slightly farther forward, to allow rider to get off the horse's back when traveling at faster speeds. Designed for long rides at faster speeds than a trail saddle.
 * Trail saddle: Designed for maximum comfort of rider as well as a good fit for the horse, features deep, padded seat, designed for long rides at slower speeds.
 * Show saddle: May be based on roping, cutting, or other trees, but is characterized by additional leather tooling and silver decoration.  Usually features a deep, padded seat that allows the rider to sit quietly and give the appearance of a smooth ride.
 * "Equitation" saddle: Show saddle with an especially deep seat to help hold a rider in place.

Design variations
There are many variations of design and optional equipment elements that were influenced by geographic region, history, use and the body types of horses bred in a given area. Certain stylistic elements seen on some, but not all western saddles include:

 * Breastcollar, an additional piece of equipment that runs from the saddle around the chest of the horse, lending both lateral stability and preventing the saddle from sliding back. Breastcollars are particularly common on trail horses and roping horses and stylized versions are often seen at horse shows. They are generally made out of leather, but may also be made of mohair or synthetic cord similar to a front cinch, or from synthetic materials that resemble leather.
 * Back cinch: A second cinch is often seen on working saddles, particularly full-rigged roping saddles. Made of several thicknesses of leather, it is adjusted just tight enough to touch the underside of the horse, but not tight enough to provoke discomfort or bucking.  It prevents the back end of the saddle from rising up in working situations, and when team roping, it also minimizes the saddle fork from digging forward into the horse's withers when a cow is dallied from the saddle horn. The back cinch is generally not required or used on a center-fire or 3/4 rigged saddle.
 * Saddle strings, long strips of leather attached to the pommel and back jockey of working saddles, used for tying items to a saddle.
 * Horn wrap, primarily seen on roping saddles, extra wraps of leather or other material that thickens the horn and provides support for a dallied lasso.
 * Tapaderos, leather covers over the toe that close each stirrup from the front. A tapadero prevents the rider's boot from slipping through and also prevents brush encountered while working cattle on the open range from poking through the stirrup, injuring or impeding the horse or rider. The tapadero was particularly seen on certain saddles of the vaquero tradition where the length was used in herding calves, but today is primarily a decorative element. Tapaderos are not "show legal" for western-style horse show competition in most cases, but are often seen on saddles used by parade horses.

Trees
There are several different sizes of trees commonly found in saddles. Trees differ in the width of gullet and bars of the saddle, pitch of the bars (steep to flat, usually between an angle of 86 to 94 degrees with 90 being common), and length of the bars. The tree also influences the shape of the pommel and cantle on the seat on the saddle, though the seat can be altered to fit a rider by adding padding and other materials to a far greater degree than the fit of the saddle tree's bars on a horse. A wider gullet sits lower on the horse, while a narrow gullet sits higher and is designed to fit horses with higher withers. The bars form the primary loading surface of the saddle as it site on the horse's back. A horse with a flat back and widely sprung ribs will require bars with a flatter pitch than a saddle made for a narrow horse, where a steeper pitch to the bars will keep the saddle placed properly. Most saddles are made with pre-manufactured trees which come in a limited range of sizes. Custom-made saddles may be able to have further alterations made to a standard tree.

 * Regular - If a manufacturer has a 'regular' barred saddle it usually falls between 5¾" and 6". Often 90 degrees
 * Semi Quarter Horse - This type usually has a gullet width of about 6½ inches and steeper bars than most other trees. It is the narrowest common tree and, despite its name,  fits many breeds of horse. Often 90 degrees
 * Quarter Horse /Full Quarter Horse - Terminology varies with manufacturer, but overall design is intended to fit stock horse breeds such as the American Quarter Horse. This type usually has a gullet width of about 6¾ inches, but may be up to 7 inches. It usually has a flatter pitch than the Semi-Quarter horse tree. Different makers tend to give different gullet dimensions in Quarter Horse and Full Quarter Horse trees. Usually between 90 and 94 degrees
 * Arabian - Depending on manufacturer, has a 6½" - 6¾" width gullet but a very flat pitch to the tree.  Usually has shorter bars than Full- and Semi- Quarter horse trees. Intended to fit smaller horses with short but wide backs, such as the stock horse-type Arabian and Morgan.
 * Haflinger (7½" gullet) are very wide, designed for semi-draft breeds such as the Haflinger horse, which are short-backed, heavy, low-withered horses. Often have a flat pitch (usually greater than 94 degrees) and very little rock.
 * Draft - (8" gullet), are designed for riding Draft horses. Usually greater than 94 degrees
 * Pony - narrow gullet, flat pitch to the bars, very short tree, designed for children and smaller ponies such as the Shetland and Welsh pony.

Rigging

Saddle rigging refers to the arrangement of rings and plate hardware that connects the billets and girthing system that holds the saddle on the horse. Western saddle rigging can be either single or double. The front rigging consists of metal "cinch rings" on each side of the saddle to which a long, wide strap called a latigo is attached for holding the front cinch that goes around the heart girth of the horse, just behind the elbows. The back cinch is placed around the widest part of the horse's barrel, and is attached to the saddle either by reinforced slots in the leather skirting of the saddle, or, in particularly heavy-duty models, to a second set of rings.

The front cinch is secured to the saddle by means of a latigo on the left, and on the right, by either a latigo or a billet. Latigos are not removed until worn out or broken. They run through the ring or buckle of the cinch (also called a cinch ring), and back to the rigging, sometimes multiple times for extra security. Modern latigos have several holes at the end so that a cinch can be buckled at a set tension, though the cinch may also be secured by a knot called a "latigo knot," which is a type of half-hitch. The off-side billet is a shorter, doubled piece of leather with holes along its length, somewhat heavier and less flexible than latigo leather. It runs through the rigging cinch ring and both ends buckle onto the cinch. Older saddles may use a latigo on the off side, but this is less common. Once adjusted to the horse, an off-side latigo or billet is seldom disconnected from the cinch, which remains attached to the saddle until it needs to be replaced, unlike the girth of an English saddle, which is to be removed on both sides when not in use. While leather is preferred for latigos, nylon web is sometimes used, particularly on cheaper saddles, though it is prone to slip when knotted and the holes may tear more easily.

When used, a back cinch, made of several thicknesses of leather, is held on by a simple heavy leather billet on each side of the saddle that buckles just tight enough to touch the underside of the horse, but not tight enough to provoke discomfort or bucking. At the belly midline, the front and back cinches are joined by a light belly strap, called a cinch hobble, that prevents the back cinch from moving too far back.

Rigging placement
A saddle that has only a cinch in the front is "single rigged". A saddle that has both a front cinch and a back cinch (sometimes called a flank cinch, even though it should never go around the horse's flanks) is "double rigged". The rear rigging is meant to stabilize the saddle. The back cinch is always located just below the cantle and held in place with a cinch hobble to prevent it from slipping back; however, the position of the front rigging varies. The rig positions are named by how far they are from the cantle to the fork. Placement of the front rigging is a critical component of western saddle design. The closer the rigging is to the center of the saddle, the more the rider will be balanced over the horse's center of balance, allowing freer movement and agility of horse and rider. On the other hand, the more forward the rigging is set, especially when combined with a back cinch, the more the saddle will set down on the horse, placing the rider a bit behind the horse's center of balance, but creating greater security.

 * Full rigging refers to the most forward position, where the front cinch ring is placed located under the center of the fork or swells of the saddle. Spanish settlers of North America originally used full rigging, but without a back cinch, this type of rigging was a disadvantage because the saddle would rise in the back while traveling over rough terrain.
 * Center fire is the rigging design placed closest to the center of the saddle. Historically, it replaced the full rigging. Center fire rigging is located halfway between the cantle and the fork and was always single-rigged. This type is rarely seen on western saddles today, but was used during the 1800s, and notably on the McClellan saddle of the U.S. Army. The Pony Express saddle also had center fire rigging.
 * Modern saddles also use two additional positions, called "seven-eighths" (written 7/8) and "three-quarter" (written 3/4). 3/4 rigging is located three-quarters of the way from the cantle to the fork; thus halfway between center fire and full positions. 7/8 rigging is 7/8 of the way from the cantle to the fork; or halfway between 3/4 and full.Three way rigging demo.jpg
 * Three-way rigging utilizes various designs of multi-position cinch rings to combine the Full, 7/8 and 3/4 positions in one piece of hardware. Full position is achieved when the latigo is attached to the front ring. 7/8ths position has the latigo attached to both the front and the back ring, and the 3/4 position has the latigo attached at the back ring.
 * Flank cinches were added after the rodeo sports of calf roping and team roping became popular. The flank cinch was added in order to keep the saddle from tipping in the back when a lasso was tied or dallied to the saddle horn. As a result, the 3/4 and 7/8 front rigging positions were also developed.

Custom built saddles may be designed with any of the above rigging styles. Modern western saddles for riders who need speed and agility, such as barrel racing saddles, often have a 3/4 rigging, the closest placement to a center-fire rigging seen on modern saddles. The most popular modern rigging placement is the 7/8 rigging, which allows a rider to have a secure seat but more easily stay centered over a horse's center of balance and is often seen on saddles used for western equitation. A "full double" rigging is seen most often on saddles used for team roping, where the weight of the steer puts tremendous forward stress on the saddle, requiring rigging set well forward and both a front and back cinch to support the saddle. A few saddles are built with a three-way rigging plate that allows a saddle to be rigged in the full, 7/8 or 3/4 positions.

Rigging attachment styles
The front rigging is attached to the saddle in one of three ways: ring, flat plate or in-skirt. Ring rigging is made of rings on heavy leather straps attached directly to the saddle tree. This is the strongest attachment method, but a disadvantage is that it creates bulk under the legs and inhibits the free swing of the stirrups. The second style of attachment is the flat plate. This type has leather layers that are riveted around a metal plate and attached directly to the tree of the saddle. This is also a very strong type of ring attachment that reduces bulk under the leg and does not inhibit the swinging of the stirrups, though it is not as strong as ring rigging.

The third style is the in-skirt, where the rings or plates are attached directly to the saddle's skirt. The advantage of having an in-skirt rigging is that it provides the least amount of bulk under the leg compared to the other styles of attachment. Two variations exist, the built-in and the built-on. The "built-in" rigging design makes the attachment of the rings very strong by sandwiching the rings with layers of leather and then sewing and riveting them to the skirt. This design is strong enough for pleasure riding but not for roping. It has the least amount of bulk under the leg and is popular for show saddles. A "built-on" rigging attaches the plate to the surface of the skirt, a weak placement of low quality.

Historic saddles of the 19th century had rigging rings made of forged iron round stock, which would rust if it was exposed to the horse's sweat. The iron oxide would degrade and rot the leather that it came in contact with, which caused the rigging straps that were held by the rings to break. In order to correct this problem, saddle makers covered the metal rings in 4-5 ounces of medium thickness belly leather. This was a common remedy for the problem until approximately 1915, when brass rigging hardware became more common.

Western sidesaddle rigging

The Goodnight western sidesaddle that was developed in the 1870s by Charles Goodnight for his wife was a double rigged design. Goodnight developed this sidesaddle because there was a need to produce a woman's saddle for daily riding and work on the range. The saddle also had to fit a variety of horses on a day-to-day basis. it required two cinches. The cinches have a connecting strap, called a cinch hobble, to keep the rear girth from slipping back, which would cause the horse to buck. The girthing system still produced a shimmy in the rear, even though the rear cinch was brought up snugly against the horse. The double girthing system was not as secure as the balance strap seen on many modern sidesaddles.

title: Western saddle