1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
3.
Provinces of the Netherlands
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The most populous province is South Holland, with over 3.5 million inhabitants in 2009. With approximately 381,000 inhabitants, Zeeland has the smallest population, in terms of area, Friesland is the largest province with a total area of 5,749 km2. If water is excluded, Gelderland is the largest province in terms of area at 4,972 km2, Utrecht is the smallest at 1,449 km2. In total about 13,000 people were employed by the administrations in 2009. The provinces of the Netherlands are joined in the Association of Provinces of the Netherlands and this organisation promotes the common interests of the provinces in the national government of the Netherlands in The Hague and within the EU in Brussels. The government of each province consists of three parts, The States-Provincial is the provincial parliament elected every four years. The number of members varies between 39 and 55, depending on the number of inhabitants of the province, being a member is a part-time job. The main task of the States-Provincial is to scrutinise the work of the provincial government, the Provincial Executive is a college elected from among the members of the States-Provincial and charged with most executive tasks. Each province has three and seven deputies, each having their own portfolio. The task of the Provincial Executive is the management of the province. The Kings Commissioner is a person appointed by the Crown who presides over the States-Provincial as well as over the Provincial Executive. The Commissioner is appointed for a term of six years, after which reappointment for another term is possible, the members of the States-Provincial are elected every four years in direct elections. To a large extent, the political parties are enlisted in these elections in the national elections. The chosen provincial legislators elect the members of the national Senate within three months after the provincial elections, the elections for the water boards take place on the same date as the provincial elections. The last three elections were held in 2007,2011 and in 2015. The provinces of the Netherlands have 7 core tasks, Sustainable spatial development, also, provinces have income from a part of the Vehicle Excise Duty. Several provinces have made a profit in the past from privatising utility companies originally owned or partly owned by the provinces. An example is Essent, which was owned by six provinces
4.
North Brabant
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Noord Brabant, also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the west, the northern border follows the Meuse river westward to its mouth in the Hollands Diep strait, part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. The Duchy of Brabant was a state of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183 or 1190. Until the 17th century, the area that now makes up the province of North Brabant was mostly part of the Duchy of Brabant, of which the southern part is now in Belgium. In the 14th and 15th century, the experienced a golden age, especially the cities of Brussel, Mechelen, Leuven, Antwerpen, Breda, Bergen op Zoom. After the Union of Utrecht was signed in 1579, Brabant became a battlefield between the Protestant Dutch Republic and Catholic Spain, which occupied the southern Netherlands, attempts to introduce Protestantism into the region were largely unsuccessful, North Brabant remained strongly Roman Catholic. For over a century, North Brabant served mainly as a buffer zone. In 1796, when confederate Dutch Republic became the unitary Batavian Republic and this status ended with the reorganisation by the French, and the area was divided over several departments. This boundary between the Netherlands and Belgium is special in that it does not form a contiguous line, a few of these irregularities were corrected, Huijbergen became totally Dutch, but some remain, notably Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau. The period from 1900 until the late 1960s is called Het Rijke Roomse Leven, in those days every village in North Brabant had a convent from which the nuns operated. Politically, the province was dominated by Catholic parties, the Roomsch-Katholieke Staatspartij and its successor, the Katholieke Volkspartij. The influence of Het Rijke Roomse Leven remains in the form of education where some schools are still Roman Catholic, a cultural divide is still found between the Catholic south and the Protestant north, but with a total of 1. In the province of North Brabant Catholics are no longer a majority of the population as of 2010, only 1–2% of the total population of Catholic area attend mass, and these churchgoers consist mostly of people over 65 years old. With a population density of 501/km², North-Brabant is above average urbanized, the urbanization is at the center of the province at largest, where the kite is located, the rest of the province has a more rural character. The province has preserved some of its scenic nature well, also, south of Eindhoven named De Kempen is a beautiful area with farmlands and forests. In Heeze, also south of Eindhoven, are the areas the Groote Heide. The Strabrechtse Heide holds also the largest fen of the Netherlands, like most of the Netherlands, North Brabant is mostly flat but nearly every part of North Brabant is above sea level, therefore, there are not as many canals as in the lower parts of The Netherlands. Although most of the lives in urban areas, the province is scattered with villages around which most of the land is cultivated
5.
Municipal council (Netherlands)
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In the Netherlands the municipal council is the elected assembly of the municipality. Its main role is laying down the guidelines for the policy of the council of mayor and aldermen and exercising control over its execution by the council of mayor and aldermen. The municipal councils range in size from nine to 45 seats, depending on the municipalitys population, in many municipalities all major political parties contest in the election in addition to local parties. All citizens and foreigners who live in the Netherlands for at least four years in a municipality have the right to vote, ministers and state secretaries in the national government are barred from standing in elections as well as mayors and civil servants employed by the municipality. After the elections the parties in the elect the aldermen. The municipal council is supported by its own civil service headed by the raadsgriffier, members of the council are not paid as full-time politicians, instead, most of them have day job. As in most legislatures, the members of municipal council work in political groups and policy area related committees. The mayor chairs the meetings of the council, some municipalities allow parties to have dual councillors, politicians who are not elected into the city council but are allowed to speak in committees
6.
Burgemeester
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In the Netherlands and Belgium, the mayor is an appointed government position, whose main responsibility is chairing the executive and legislative councils of a municipality. The title is translated in English as burgomaster. In the Netherlands, mayors chair both the council of mayor and aldermen and the municipal council and they are members of the council of mayor and aldermen and have their own portfolios, always including safety and public order. They also have a role for the municipal government, both to its civilians and to other authorities on the local, regional and national level. A large majority of mayors are members of a political party and this can be the majority party in the municipal council, but there are many exceptions on this. However, the mayors are expected to exercise their office in a non-partisan way, the mayor is appointed by the national government for a renewable six-year term. In the past, mayors for important cities were chosen after negotiations between the national parties. This appointment procedure has been criticised because it was seen by some as undemocratic, especially the party D66 had a direct election of the mayor as one of the main objectives in its platform. In the early 2000s, proposals for change were discussed in the national parliament, however, opponents of the status quo were divided between two alternatives, direct election of the mayor by the people or appointment by the municipal council. A constitutional change to direct election gained a majority in both chambers but failed to pass the vote in the Senate in March 2005. In the meantime, although the law remained the same, the practice changed, nowadays, when a vacancy occurs, a special committee of the municipal council interviews candidates, which are pre-selected by the provincial governor. After advice by the committee, the council express its preferences to the Minister of the Interior, who almost always follows this recommendation
7.
Christian Democratic Appeal
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The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Sybrand van Haersma Buma has been the party leader since 18 May 2012, the party suffered severe losses in the 2010 general election, losing half of its seats and falling to fourth place in the House of Representatives. Subsequently, the CDA again lost a number of seats in the 2012 general election. Since 1880 the sizeable Catholic and Protestant parties had worked together in the so-called Coalitie and they shared a common interest in public funding of religious schools. In 1888 they formed the first Christian-democratic government, led by the Anti-Revolutionary Æneas Baron Mackay, the cooperation was not without problems and in 1894 the more anti-papist and aristocratic conservatives left the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, to found the Christian Historical Union. The main issues dividing Protestants and Catholics was the position of the Dutch Representation at the Holy See, the General League evolved into the Roman Catholic State Party by 1926, and the Catholic Peoples Party in 1945. From 1918 to 1967, the three Christian Democratic parties had a majority in both houses of the States General, and at least two of them were included in every cabinet, the KVP and its antecedents had been in government without interruption since 1918. In the sixties, the Dutch society became more secularized and the pillars faded, in 1963 general election the three parties held 51% of the vote, whilst in 1972 general election they held only 32%. This decline forced the three parties to work closer together, in 1967 the Group of Eighteen was formed, it was a think-tank of six prominent politicians per party that planned the future cooperation of the three parties. In 1968 the three leaders of the parties (Norbert Schmelzer, Barend Biesheuvel and Jur Mellema made a public appearance. This caused progressive forces within the three parties, especially the ARP and KVP, to regret their political affiliation, in 1968 they founded the Political Party of Radicals, a left-wing party that sought cooperation with the Labour Party. Locally and provincially however the three parties had long cooperated well, in areas they formed one Christian-democratic parliamentary party. In the 1971 general election, the three presented a common political program, which lay the foundation for the first Biesheuvel cabinet. After the disastrous elections of 1972 the cooperation was given new momentum, in 1973 this federation was officially formed, with Steenkamp as chairperson. The cooperation was frustrated by the formation of the Den Uyl cabinet, established by the leader of the social-democratic PvdA, Den Uyl refused to allow members of the CHU in the cabinet that he would lead. This led to a situation where the CHU, ARP and KVP sat as a faction in both houses of parliament, but only the KVP and ARP supplied ministers and junior ministers. The cabinet Den Uyl was riddled with political and personal conflicts, another issue that split the three parties was the place that the Bible would take in the new party. In 1976, the three announced that they would field a single list at the 1977 general election under the name Christian Democratic Appeal
8.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
9.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
10.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
11.
Municipality
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It is to be distinguished from the county, which may encompass rural territory and/or numerous small communities such as towns, villages and hamlets. The term municipality may also mean the governing or ruling body of a given municipality, a municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The term is derived from French municipalité and Latin municipalis, a municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state, such as the Principality of Monaco, or a small village, such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The power of municipalities range from virtual autonomy to complete subordination to the state, municipalities may have the right to tax individuals and corporations with income tax, property tax, and corporate income tax, but may also receive substantial funding from the state. Similar terms include Spanish ayuntamiento, also called municipalidad, Polish gmina, Dutch/Flemish Gemeente, in Australia, the term local government area is used in place of the generic municipality. Here, the LGA Structure covers only incorporated areas of Australia, incorporated areas are legally designated parts of states and territories over which incorporated local governing bodies have responsibility. In Canada, municipalities are local governments established through provincial and territorial legislation, the Province of Ontario has different tiers of municipalities, including lower, upper, and single tiers. Types of upper tier municipalities in Ontario include counties and regional municipalities, nova Scotia also has regional municipalities, which include cities, counties, districts, or towns as municipal units. In India, a Nagar Palika or Municipality is a local body that administers a city of population 100,000 or more. Under the Panchayati Raj system, it directly with the state government. Generally, smaller cities and bigger towns have a Nagar Palika. Nagar Palikas are also a form of local self-government entrusted with duties and responsibilities. Such a corporation in Great Britain consists of a head as a mayor or provost, since local government reorganisation, the unit in England, Northern Ireland and Wales is known as a district, and in Scotland as a council area. A district may be awarded borough or city status, or can retain its district title, in Jersey, a municipality refers to the honorary officials elected to run each of the 12 parishes into which it is subdivided. This is the highest level of government in this jurisdiction. In the United States, municipality is usually understood as a city, town, village, or other local government unit, in the Peoples Republic of China, a direct-controlled municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing. In Taiwan, a municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei. In Portuguese language usage, there are two words to distinguish the territory and the administrative organ, when referring to the territory, the word concelho is used, when referring to the organ of State, the word município is used
12.
Scheldt
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The Scheldt is a 350-kilometre long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old English sceald shallow, Modern English shoal, Low German schol, Frisian skol, the headwaters of the Scheldt are in Gouy, in the Aisne department of northern France. It flows north through Cambrai and Valenciennes, and enters Belgium near Tournai, in Ghent, where it receives the Lys, one of its main tributaries, the Scheldt turns east. Near Antwerp, the largest city on its banks, the Scheldt flows west into the Netherlands towards the North Sea, today the river therefore continues into the Westerschelde estuary only, passing Terneuzen to reach the North Sea between Breskens in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and Vlissingen on Walcheren. The Scheldt is an important waterway, and has been navigable from its mouth up to Cambrai. The port of Antwerp, the second largest in Europe, lies on its banks, several canals connect the Scheldt with the basins of the Rhine, Meuse and Seine, and with the industrial areas around Brussels, Liège, Lille, Dunkirk and Mons. In Roman times, it was important for the lanes to Roman Britain. Nehalennia was venerated at its mouth, the Franks took control over the region about the year 260 and at first interfered with the Roman supply routes as pirates. Later they became allies of the Romans, Antwerp was the most prominent harbour in Western Europe. After this city fell back under Spanish control in 1585, the Dutch Republic took control of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, a strip of land on the left bank, and closed the Scheldt for shipping. Access to the river was the subject of the brief Kettle War of 1784, once Belgium had claimed its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the treaty of the Scheldt determined that the river should remain accessible to ships heading for Belgian ports. Nevertheless, the Dutch government would demand a toll from passing vessels until 16 July 1863, in the Second World War, the Scheldt estuary once again became a contested area. Paget-Tyrell Memorandum of August 7,1916, Section 6
13.
Lord
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Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others acting like a master, a chief, or a ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, the collective Lords can refer to a group or body of peers. The appellation lord is primarily applied to men, while for women the appellation lady is used. However, this is no universal, the Lord of Mann, a title currently held by the Queen of the United Kingdom. Under the feudal system, lord had a wide, loose, an overlord was a person from whom a landholding or a manor was held by a mesne lord or vassal under various forms of feudal land tenure. The modern term landlord is a survival of this function. A liege lord was a person to whom a vassal owed sworn allegiance, neither of these terms were titular dignities, but rather factual appellations, which described the relationship between two or more persons within the highly stratified feudal social system. For example, a man might be Lord of the Manor to his own tenants but also a vassal of his own overlord, where a knight was a lord of the manor, he was referred to in contemporary documents as John, knight, lord of. A feudal baron was a true titular dignity, with the right to attend Parliament, the substantive title of Lord of the Manor came into use in the English medieval system of feudalism after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The title Lord of the Manor was a titular feudal dignity which derived its force from the existence, to the tenants of a manor their lord was a man who commanded on occasion the power of exercising capital punishment over them. The term invariably used in mediaeval documents is simply lord of X, X being the name of the manor. The title of Lord of the Manor is recognised by the British Government, in the form of the Her Majestys Land Registry, modern legal cases have been won by persons claiming rights as lords of the manor over village greens. The heads of many ancient English land-owning families have continued to be lords of the manor of lands they have inherited. The UK Identity and Passport Service will include titles on a British passport as an observation, provided the holder can provide documentary evidence of ownership. The United States however, forbids the use of all titles on passports, australia forbids the use of titles on passports if those titles have not been awarded by the Crown or the Commonwealth. The word is used to refer to any owner of a landed estate and has no meaning in heraldic terms. Lord is used as a term to denote members of the peerage. Five ranks of peer exist in the United Kingdom, in descending order these are duke, marquess, earl, viscount, the appellation Lord is used most often by barons, who are rarely addressed by their formal and legal title of Baron
14.
Breda
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Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark, as a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance. Breda had a population of 180,420 in 2014, the area had a population of 324,812. In the 11th century, Breda was a fief of the Holy Roman Emperor. The city of Breda obtained a charter in 1252. After that Breda had the rights to build fortifications, the city constructed brick walls and Roman-style gates. In 1327 Adelheid of Gaveren Breda sold Breda to Duke Johannes III of Brabant, in 1350, the fief was resold to Johannes II of Wassenaar. In 1403 the heiress of his line, Johanna of Polanen, thus, the baron of Breda was also count of Nassau, Germany, prince of Orange and stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. Breda remained part of the barony Breda until it was taken by French revolutionary forces in 1795, the acquisition of the city by the House of Orange-Nassau marked its emergence as a residentiestad. The presence of the Orange-Nassau family attracted other nobles, who built palatial residences in the old quarters of the city. The most impressive one, built by the Italian architect Thomas Vincidor de Bologna for the first Dutch prince, was the first renaissance-style palace built north of the Alps, in the 15th century the citys physical, economic and strategic importance expanded rapidly. A great church was built in Brabantine Gothic style with a gallant 97-metre-high tower, in 1534 Henry III of Nassau-Breda rebuilt the modest medieval fortifications in impressive style. In 1534 a fire destroyed over 90 percent of the city, close to 1300 houses, churches and chapels, only 150 houses and the main church remained. In July 1581, during the Eighty Years War, Breda was captured by surprise by Spanish troops then under the command of Claudius van Barlaymont, although the city had surrendered upon the condition that it would not be plundered, the troops vented their fury upon the inhabitants. In the resulting mayhem, known as Haultpennes Fury, over 500 citizens were killed, the so-called Spaniards Hole marks the spot where the peat-boat allegedly lay, although this has not been historically proven. After a ten-month siege in 1624–25, the city surrendered to the Spaniards under Spinola, in 1637 Breda was recaptured by Frederick Henry of Orange after a four-month siege, and in 1648 it was finally ceded to the Dutch Republic by the Treaty of Westphalia. The Treaty of Breda was signed in the city, July 31,1667, during World War II the city was under German occupation. It was liberated following a successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by forces of 1st Polish Armoured Division of Gen. Maczek on October 29,1944
15.
Early modern Europe
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Early modern Europe is the period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century. The early modern period was characterized by changes in many realms of human endeavor. Capitalist economies began to develop in a nascent form, first in the northern Italian republics such as Genoa and Venice and in the cities of the Low Countries, later in France, Germany and England. The early modern period saw the rise and dominance of the economic theory of mercantilism. As such, the modern period is often associated with the decline and eventual disappearance of feudalism. The Protestant Reformation greatly altered the balance of Christendom, creating a formidable new opposition to the dominance of the Catholic Church. The early modern period also witnessed the circumnavigation of the Earth, the beginning of the early modern period is not clear-cut, but is generally accepted to be in the late 15th century or early 16th century. Movable type, which allowed characters to be arranged to form words. 1453 The conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans signalled the end of the Byzantine empire,1494 French king Charles VIII invaded Italy, drastically altering the status quo and beginning a series of wars which would punctuate the Italian Renaissance. 1513 First formulation of modern politics with the publication of Machiavellis The Prince,1517 The Reformation begins with Martin Luther nailing his ninety-five theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. 1526 Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor gains the crowns of Bohemia,1545 The Council of Trent marks the end of the medieval Roman Catholic Church. The role of nobles in the Feudal System had yielded to the notion of the Divine Right of Kings during the Middle Ages, among the most notable political changes included the abolition of serfdom and the crystallization of kingdoms into nation-states. Perhaps even more significantly, with the advent of the Reformation, many kings and rulers used this radical shift in the understanding of the world to further consolidate their sovereignty over their territories. For instance, many of the Germanic states converted to Protestantism in an attempt to out of the grasp of the Pope. The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century movement to reform the Catholic Church in Europe, in November he mailed them to various religious authorities of the day. The Reformation ended in division and the establishment of new church movements, the four most important traditions to emerge directly from the Reformation were Lutheranism, the Reformed tradition, Anglicanism, and the Anabaptists. Subsequent Protestant churches generally trace their roots back to these four schools of the Reformation. This period refers to England 1558–1603, the Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and is often considered a golden age in English history
16.
Arsenal
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An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury or armory are mostly regarded as synonyms, although differences in usage exist. A sub-armory is a place of storage or carrying of weapons and ammunition. From Italian, arsenale, and French, arsenal, from Arabic, دار تعبئة, dār a-tabiya, in a second-class arsenal, the factories would be replaced by workshops. The situation of an arsenal should be governed by strategic considerations. If of the first class, it should be situated at the base of operations and supply, secure from attack, not too near a frontier, the importance of a large arsenal is such that its defences would be on the scale of those of a large fortress. The usual subdivision of branches in a great arsenal is into storekeeping, under construction, Gun factory, carriage factory, laboratory, small-arms factory, harness and tent factory, powder factory, etc. In a second-class arsenal there would be instead of these factories. Frederick Taylor introduced command and control techniques to arsenals, including the U. S. s Watertown Arsenal, armorer Dresden Armory Halifax Armoury Harpers Ferry Armory Kremlin Armoury Royal Arsenal Royal Armouries Springfield Armory Zeughaus Magazine
17.
Dutch Republic
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It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces, Seven Provinces, Federated Dutch Provinces, most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. This was the start of the Eighty Years War, in 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II. In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them, but after an attempt to take Antwerp in 1583. After the assassination of William of Orange, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty, however, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England, and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy, the Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the Anglo-French war, the territory was divided into groups, the Patriots, who were pro-French and pro-American and the Orangists. The Republic of the United Provinces faced a series of revolutions in 1783–1787. During this period, republican forces occupied several major Dutch cities, initially on the defence, the Orangist forces received aid from Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands in 1787. After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland, the Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names United Provinces of the Netherlands, on 16 March 1815, the son of stadtholder William V crowned himself King William I of the Netherlands. Between 1815 and 1890 the King of the Netherlands was also in a union the Grand Duke of the sovereign Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After Belgium gained its independence in 1830, the state became known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world, the free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company, while Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the worlds first stock exchange, that of the Dutch East-India Company, went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a city so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles
18.
Siege
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A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. This derives from sedere, Latin for to sit, Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static defensive position. Consequently, an opportunity for negotiation between combatants is not uncommon, as proximity and fluctuating advantage can encourage diplomacy, a siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by direct assault and refuses to surrender. Failing a military outcome, sieges can often be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease and this form of siege, though, can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds. During the process of circumvallation, the force can be set upon by another force of enemies due to the lengthy amount of time required to starve a position. During the Warring States era of ancient China, there is textual and archaeological evidence of prolonged sieges and siege machinery used against the defenders of city walls. Siege machinery was also a tradition of the ancient Greco-Roman world, during the Renaissance and the early modern period, siege warfare dominated the conduct of war in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci gained as much of his renown from the design of fortifications as from his artwork, Medieval campaigns were generally designed around a succession of sieges. In the Napoleonic era, increasing use of more powerful cannon reduced the value of fortifications. In the 20th century, the significance of the classical siege declined, with the advent of mobile warfare, a single fortified stronghold is no longer as decisive as it once was. Modern sieges are more commonly the result of smaller hostage, militant, the Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, and defensive walls. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified, by about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus River floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets, mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun-dried bricks. City walls and fortifications were essential for the defence of the first cities in the ancient Near East, the walls were built of mudbricks, stone, wood, or a combination of these materials, depending on local availability. They may also have served the purpose of showing presumptive enemies the might of the kingdom. The great walls surrounding the Sumerian city of Uruk gained a widespread reputation, the walls were 9.5 km in length, and up to 12 m in height. Later, the walls of Babylon, reinforced by towers, moats, in Anatolia, the Hittites built massive stone walls around their cities atop hillsides, taking advantage of the terrain. In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 m in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards squared
19.
Eighty Years' War
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The Eighty Years War or Dutch War of Independence was a revolt of the Seventeen Provinces against the political and religious hegemony of Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands. After the initial stages, Philip II deployed his armies and regained control over most of the rebelling provinces, under the leadership of the exiled William the Silent, the northern provinces continued their resistance. They eventually were able to oust the Habsburg armies, and in 1581 they established the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, after a 12-year truce, hostilities broke out again around 1619 which can be said to coincide with the Thirty Years War. An end was reached in 1648 with the Peace of Münster, in the decades preceding the war, the Dutch became increasingly discontented with Habsburg rule. A major cause of discontent was heavy taxation imposed on the population, while support. At that time, the Seventeen Provinces were known in the empire as De landen van herwaarts over, the presence of Spanish troops, under the command of the Duke of Alba, brought in to oversee order, further amplified this unrest. Spain also attempted a policy of religious uniformity for the Catholic Church within its domains. The Reformation meanwhile produced a number of Protestant denominations, which gained followers in the Seventeen Provinces and these included the Lutheran movement of Martin Luther, the Anabaptist movement of the Dutch reformer Menno Simons, and the Reformed teachings of John Calvin. This growth lead to the 1566 Beeldenstorm, the Iconoclastic Fury which saw many churches in northern Europe stripped of their Catholic statuary, in October 1555, Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire began the gradual abdication of his several crowns. The balance of power was heavily weighted toward the local and regional governments, Philip did not govern in person but appointed Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy as governor-general to lead the central government. When Philip left for Spain in 1559 political tension was increased by religious policies, not having the liberal-mindedness of his father Charles V, Philip was a fervent enemy of the Protestant movements of Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Anabaptists. Towards the end of Charles reign enforcement had become lax. Philip, however, insisted on rigorous enforcement, which caused widespread unrest, the new hierarchy was to be headed by Granvelle as archbishop of the new archdiocese of Mechelen. The reform was unpopular with the old church hierarchy, as the new dioceses were to be financed by the transfer of a number of rich abbeys. Granvelle became the focus of the opposition against the new governmental structures, after the recall of Granvelle, Orange persuaded Margaret and the Council to ask for a moderation of the placards against heresy. Philip delayed his response, and in this interval the opposition to his religious policies gained more widespread support, Philip finally rejected the request for moderation in his Letters from the Segovia Woods of October 1565. This Compromise of Nobles was supported by about 400 nobles, both Catholic and Protestant, and was presented to Margaret on 5 April 1566, impressed by the massive support for the compromise, she suspended the placards, awaiting Philips final ruling. The first half of the Eighty Years War between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic was fought between 1566 and 1609, when the Twelve Years Truce was signed in 1609, ending this first phase of war, the northern Netherlands had achieved de facto independence
20.
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
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Alexander Farnese was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 1592, and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1578 to 1592. He is best known for his successful campaign 1578-1592 against the Dutch Revolt, in which he captured the cities in the south. His talents as a commander, strategist and organizer earned him the regard of his contemporaries. Alessandro was the son of Duke Ottavio Farnese of Parma and Margaret and he had a twin brother, Charles, who only lived one month. His mother was the half-sister of Philip II of Spain and John of Austria and he led a significant military and diplomatic career in the service of Spain under the service of his uncle the King. He fought in the Battle of Lepanto and then in the Netherlands against the rebels and he accompanied his mother to Brussels when she was appointed Governor of the Netherlands. In 1565 his marriage with Maria of Portugal was celebrated in Brussels with great splendour and it was seven years before he again had the opportunity to display his great military talents. During that time the provinces of the Netherlands had revolted against Spanish rule. In the autumn of 1577, Farnese was sent to join Don John at the head of reinforcements, shortly afterwards Don John, whose health had broken down, died. Phillip appointed Farnese to take his place, both as Captain-General of the Army of Flanders, and as Governor-General, Farnese was confronted with a difficult situation. Perceiving that his opponents were divided between Catholic and Protestant, Fleming and Walloon, he worked to exploit these divisions. By this means, he regained the allegiance of the Walloon provinces for the king, by the treaty of Arras, January 1579, he secured the support of the Malcontents for the royal cause. The rebels in the seven northern provinces then formed the Union of Utrecht, formally abjuring Phillips rule, as soon as he had secured a base of operations in Hainaut and Artois, Farnese set himself in earnest to the task of reconquering Brabant and Flanders by force of arms. Town after town fell under his control, tournai, Maastricht, Breda, Bruges, and Ghent opened their gates. In a war composed mostly of sieges rather than battles, he proved his mettle and he finally laid siege to the great seaport of Antwerp. The town was open to the sea, strongly fortified, and defended with resolute determination and they were led by the famous Marnix van St. Aldegonde and assisted by an ingenious Italian engineer named Federigo Giambelli. The siege began in 1584 and called all of Farneses military genius. He cut off all access to Antwerp from the sea by constructing a bridge of boats across the Scheldt from Calloo to Oordam, the terms offered included the clause that all Protestants had to leave the city within four years
21.
Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases
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He is often called Ambrosio by Spanish speaking people and is considered one of the greatest military commanders of his time and in the history of the Spanish army. Ambrogio Spinola was born in Genoa, the eldest son of Filippo Spinola, Marquis of Sesto and Venafro, the family of Spinola was of great antiquity, wealth and power in Genoa. Don Ambrogios sister Donna Lelia was married to Don Giulio Cesare Squarciafico, 2nd Marquess of Galatone, from whom descend the Princes of Belmonte. In the 16th century the Italian Republic of Genoa was in terms a protected state of the Spanish Empire. Several of the brothers of Ambrogio Spinola sought their fortune in Spain. The eldest brother Ambrogio remained at home to marry and continue the family, in 1592 he was married to Giovanna Bacciadonne, daughter of the count of Galerata. They had three children, Filippo, 2nd Marquis of Los Balbases and his successor, Polissena, married Diego Felipez de Guzmán, 1st Marquis of Leganés, Governor of Flanders. Agustin, Bishop of Tortosa 1625, Archbishop of Granada 1627, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela 1630, the houses of Spinola and Doria were rivals for authority within the republic. Ambrogio Spinola continued the rivalry with the count of Tursi, then the chief of the Dorias, in 1602 he and his brother Federico entered into a contract with the Spanish government—a condotta on the old Italian model. It was a speculation on which Spinola risked the whole of the fortune of his house. Ambrogio Spinola undertook to raise 9.000 Lombard mercenaries for land service, several of Federicos galleys were destroyed by English war-ships on his way up the Channel. He himself was slain in an action with the Dutch on 24 May 1603, Ambrogio Spinola marched overland to Flanders in 1602 with the men he had raised at his own expense. During the first months of his stay in Flanders the Spanish government played with schemes for employing him on an invasion of England, at the close of the year he returned to Italy for more men. His experience as a soldier did not begin until, as General, despite failing to relieve Sluis under siege at the same time, the ruinous remains of Ostend fell into his hands on 22 September 1604. For this victory, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1605, at the close of the campaign he went to Spain to meet with the court, then in Valladolid, and make arrangements for the continuation of the war. At Valladolid he insisted on being appointed commander-in-chief in Flanders, by April he was back in Brussels to lead his first campaign. In 1606 he again went to Spain and he was received with much outward honour, and entrusted with a very secret mission to secure the government of Flanders in case of the death of the Archduke or his wife. As he was never repaid, he was in the end utterly ruined financially, the Spanish government began now to have recourse to devices for keeping him away from Spain
22.
Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom (1622)
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The Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom was a battle during the Eighty Years War. On 18 July 1622, the Spanish general Ambrosio Spinola laid siege to the Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom, the population was divided between Protestants, who favored resistance and Catholics, who favored a Spanish conquest. But the city did not fall because it was supplied by sea, furthermore, the Dutch Navy regularly bombarded the Spanish, causing many casualties. The young Michiel de Ruyter was one of these gunners, maurice of Nassau and his army relieved the city on the next day. The siege cost Spinola 5000 troops
23.
War of the Austrian Succession
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The War of the Austrian Succession involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresas succession to the Habsburg Monarchy. The war included King Georges War in British America, the War of Jenkins Ear, the First Carnatic War in India, the Jacobite rising of 1745 in Scotland, and the First and Second Silesian Wars. Austria was supported by Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, the enemies of France, as well as the Kingdom of Sardinia. France and Prussia were allied with the Electorate of Bavaria, the war ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, by which Maria Theresa was confirmed as Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary, but Prussia retained control of Silesia. But the peace was soon to be shattered, when Austrias desire to recapture Silesia intertwined with the political changes in Europe. In 1740, after the death of her father, Charles VI, Maria Theresa succeeded him as Queen of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria and Duchess of Parma. The complications involved in a female Habsburg ruler had been long foreseen, problems began when King Frederick II of Prussia violated the Pragmatic Sanction and invaded Silesia on 16 December 1740, using the 1537 Treaty of Brieg as a pretext. For much of the century, France approached its wars in the same way. It would let its colonies defend themselves, or would offer only minimal help, similarly, several long land borders made an effective domestic army imperative for any ruler of France. At the end of the war, France gave back its European conquests, the British—by inclination as well as for pragmatic reasons—had tended to avoid large-scale commitments of troops on the Continent. For the War of the Austrian Succession, the British were allied with Austria, by the time of the Seven Years War, they were allied with its enemy, Prussia. In marked contrast to France, Britain strove to prosecute the war in the colonies once it became involved in the war. The British pursued a strategy of naval blockade and bombardment of enemy ports. They would harass enemy shipping and attack enemy outposts, frequently using colonists from nearby British colonies in the effort and this plan worked better in North America than in Europe, but set the stage for the Seven Years War. Prince Frederick had been only 28 years of age on 31 May 1740 when his father, Frederick William I died, neither Frederick nor his father had ever been fond of Austria and its various snubs against Prussia. Emperor Charles VI had made provision for the succession of his daughter, in support of his invasion of Silesia, Frederick also used a questionable interpretation of a treaty between the Hohenzollerns and the Piasts of Brieg as pretext. In particular, Frederick feared that Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, was preparing to seize Silesia for himself to unite Saxony and Poland. The only recent combat experience of the Prussian Army was their participation in the War of the Polish Succession, accordingly, the Prussian Army had an uninspiring reputation and was counted as one of the many minor armies of the Holy Roman Empire
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French Army
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The French Army, officially the Land Army is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. Along with the French Air Force, the French Navy and the National Gendarmerie, the current Chief of Staff of the French Army is General Jean-Pierre Bosser, a direct subordinate of the Chief of the Defence Staff. All soldiers are considered professionals following the suspension of conscription, voted in parliament in 1997, as of 2014, the French Army employed 111,628 personnel. In addition, the element of the French Army consisted of 15,453 personnel of the Operational Reserve. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the Hundred Years War and these units of troops were raised by issuing ordonnances to govern their length of service, composition and payment. These Compagnies dordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme Cavalry into the sixteenth century, stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also made for Francs-archers units of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes. The bulk of the infantry for warfare was still provided by urban or provincial militias, raised from an area or city to fight locally and named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually these units became more permanent, and in 1480s Swiss instructors were recruited and these men would be paid and contracted and receive training. Henry II further regularised the French army by forming standing Infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure, the first of these the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne were called the Les Vieux Corps. It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the Kings own Household Troops the Maison du Roi being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so called after the region in which they were raised, or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. In 1684 there was a reorganisation of the French infantry and again in 1701 to fit in with Louis XIVs plans. This reshuffle created many of the regiments of the French Army and standardised their equipment. The army of the Sun King tended to wear coats with coloured linings. There were exceptions and the troops, recruited from outside France. In addition to these regiments of the line the Maison du Roi provided several elite units, the Swiss Guards, French Guards, the revolution split the army with the main mass losing most of its officers to aristocratic flight or guillotine and becoming demoralised and ineffective. The French Guard joined the revolt and the Swiss Guards were massacred during the storming of the Tuileries palace, under Napoleon I, the French Army conquered most of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars
25.
Siege of Bergen op Zoom (1747)
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Bergen op Zoom was defended by allies, consisting of the Dutch, Austrians, British, Hanoverians and Hessians, that supported the Pragmatic Sanction. After seven years of war, both sides in this conflict were suffering from weariness of the war. Although tentative peace initiatives had been put forward, neither side was yet willing to make meaningful concessions, the capture of Bergen op Zoom would be a signal defeat for the Dutch and would open the door for an invasion of the Dutch Netherlands. Saxe calculated that his numerically inferior opponents would not be able to defend two fortified cities at once. Bergen op Zoom was a town with a population of some 5,000 people. The circumference of the ramparts was about three miles with ten bastions covered by five hornworks. The intervals contain twenty one ravelins which are covered by stone lunettes, much of the surrounding country was marshland. Because of these lines and some lines to the west, Bergen op Zoom could not be completely invested. The fortress was the work of the great Dutch engineer. It was believed to be impregnable and was considered the strongest fortification in Dutch Brabant, Bergen op Zoom had withstood two previous sieges, the first in 1588 and a second in 1622. It could be supplied with munitions and provision by boats using two navigable canals each defended by its own fort, Bergen op Zoom was well-garrisoned and well-supplied, so the siege by French forces did not cause immediate alarm in the Netherlands. The fortress had access to the sea, and the Dutch navy supplied the fortress without serious interference by the French, the French, since they were the besieging force and controlled much of the surrounding area, were also well-supplied and reinforced. However, the allies had an army under Prince Waldeck nearby which posed a threat to French supply lines. The various bastions, ravelins and lunettes of the fortification were all named and would mount over 230 cannon, the principal effort of the French concentrated on the bastions Coehoorn and Pucelle. Facing the French trench lines, the sides of Coehoorn were flanked on its right by the ravelin Antwerpen, between the bastion and Antwerpen was the lunette Holland and between the bastion and Diden was the lunette Zealand. To the left of Diden was the lunette, Utrecht, and this area would witness the most continuous and fierce combat of the siege. On the night of the 14 July the French opened the trenches using 2,400 workers supported by 10 companies of grenadiers and 5 battalions of infantry. Lowendal used 12,000 of his troops to man the trench lines, the first parallel was laid overnight of the first day,400 paces out from the fortifications
26.
Menno van Coehoorn
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Menno, Baron van Coehoorn was a Dutch soldier and military engineer. He made a number of influential weaponry innovations in siege warfare and he was also known as the Dutch Vauban, after his famous French counterpart, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. Coehoorn was born in Britsum, a north of Leeuwarden in the Dutch province of Friesland. He received an excellent military and general education, and at the age of sixteen became a captain in the Dutch army. He was promoted to the rank of colonel for his gallant conduct at the battle of Seneffe, and was present at the Battle of Cassel. The circumstances of the time and the country turned Coehoorns attention to the art of fortification, Coehoorn gained most of his knowledge and insights on the building of fortification by having to capture many of them himself. His first published work, Versterchinge de Vijfhoeks met alle syne Buytenwerken, at once aroused attention, the military authorities were much interested in his work, and entrusted Coehoorn with the reconstruction of several fortresses in the Netherlands. This task he continued throughout his career and his experience made him the rival of his great contemporary Vauban. Essential to his new approach was the ability to fight an active defence on the shores of the enveloping ditch. Throughout his career he never hesitated to depart from his own rules in dealing with exceptional cases, subsequent editions of Nieuwe Vestingbouw appeared in Dutch, English, French, and German. In the War of the Grand Alliance Coehoorn served as a brigadier, at the battle of Fleurus he greatly distinguished himself, and he defended Namur, a fortress of his own creation, when it was besieged by the French in 1692. Coehoorn became lieutenant-general and inspector-general of the Netherlands fortresses and he commanded a corps in the army of the Duke of Marlborough from 1701 to 1703, and in the constant siege warfare of these campaigns in the Low Countries his technical skill was of the highest value. The swift reduction of the fortress of Bonn and the siege of Huy in 1703 were his crowning successes, at the opening of his following campaign he was on his way to confer with Marlborough when he died of apoplexy at Wijkel. His first system was applied to places in the Netherlands, notably Nijmegen, Breda. Mannheim in Germany was also fortified in this way, while the system was applied to Belgrade. Coehoorns son, Gosewijn Theodor van Coehoorn, wrote a biography, andrzej Sapkowski, Polish fantasy writer, used Menno van Coehoorns name for one of the Nilfgaard marshalls in the five book Saga about The Witcher. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban Erik Dahlberg This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Coehoorn, Menno
27.
Fortification
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Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
28.
Looting
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The term is also used in a broader sense to describe egregious instances of theft and embezzlement, such as the plundering of private or public assets by governments. The proceeds of all these activities can be described as booty, loot, plunder, spoils, looting by a victorious army during war has been common practice throughout recorded history. For foot soldiers, it was viewed as a way to supplement their meagre income and was part of the celebration of victory. To rob them of their wealth, in other pre-modern societies, objects made of precious metals were the preferred target of war looting, largely because of their easy portability. In many cases looting was an opportunity to obtain treasures that otherwise would not have been obtainable, since the 18th century, works of art have increasingly become a popular target. In the 1930s and even more so during World War II, Nazi Germany engaged in large scale and organized looting of art, looting, combined with poor military discipline, has occasionally been an armys downfall. In other cases, for example the Wahhabi sack of Karbala, not all looters in wartime are conquerors, the looting of Vistula Land by its retreating defenders in 1915 was among the factors sapping the loyalty of Poland in World War I. Local civilians can also take advantage of a breakdown of order to loot public and private property, the novel War and Peace describes widespread looting by Moscows citizens before Napoleons troops enter the town, and looting by French troops elsewhere. Looting can also refer to antiquities formerly removed from countries by outsiders, other examples include the obelisks of Pharaoh Amenhotep II, in the, Pharaoh Ptolemy IX. In the aftermath of the Second World War Soviet forces systematically plundered the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and they sent valuable industrial equipment, infrastructure and whole factories to the Soviet Union. Especially during natural disasters, some find themselves forced to take what is not theirs in order to survive. How to respond to this, and where the line between unnecessary looting and necessary scavenging lies, is often a dilemma for governments, in other cases, looting may be tolerated or even encouraged by governments for political or other reasons. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 explicitly prohibits the looting of property during wartime. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 obliges military forces not only to avoid destruction of enemy property, theoretically, to prevent such looting, unclaimed property is moved to the custody of the Custodian of Enemy Property, to be handled until the return to its owner. Around the same time of the Hyksos invasion and occupation of Egypt, in Genesis 15,14, the despoliation is an act of justifiable vengeance upon the oppressors of Israel. Yet in Exodus, God uses the plagues as an act of mercy to bring a knowledge of himself to Israel, Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and to the ends of the earth. See Hyksos Iconoclasm and Genesis 13,2 and Genesis 15,14 and Exodus 12,36 Following the death of Valentinian III in 455, in 870 AD, the Byzantine city of Melite was captured by the Aghlabids under Sawāda Ibn Muḥammad. The city was destroyed, its churches looted and its population massacred, marble from the citys churches was used to build the castle of Sousse
29.
Siege of Bergen op Zoom (1814)
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The initial British assault force seized part of the defenses, but a well-managed French counterattacked and compelled much of the assault force to surrender. Bergen op Zoom is a port in the Netherlands about 70 kilometres south of Rotterdam and 40 kilometres north of Antwerp in Belgium, French General Guilin Laurent Bizanet had 2,700 soldiers in the garrison when, under cover of night and using local intelligence, Graham attacked. The French, however, were positioned well, and the population allied with them as they fought in the streets, the attacking British troops took heavy casualties. General Bizanet remained in control of Bergen op Zoom until an accord was signed. One source named Bizanet as the governor and Jean-Jacques Ambert as the French commander, the 2, 700-man French garrison sustained 500 killed and wounded and 100 captured during the action. Of the 4,000 troops in the British assault force,2,100 were killed, wounded or captured, in addition to the units listed below, the source counted the 2nd Battalion of the 35th Foot in the assault force. The Guards Brigade consisted of three companies of the 1st Foot Guards and four each of the 2nd Foot Guards and 3rd Foot Guards. Graham formed his troops into four columns as follows, Alison, history of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons. The Military Panorama, Or, Officers Companion, French Garrisons in the Lowlands,1 January 1814. United States Army Combined Arms Center, the Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London, UK, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Greenhill Books, Stackpole Books
30.
Halsteren
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Halsteren is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Bergen op Zoom, about 1 km north of that city, Halsteren has an old church from 1457 and a new church, built in 1919. A little village called Polder was located between Halsteren and Tholen in the Middle Ages, Halsteren was a separate municipality until 1997, when it became a part of Bergen op Zoom. Media related to Halsteren at Wikimedia Commons J. Kuyper, Gemeente Atlas van Nederland, 1865-1870, map of the former municipality, around 1868. Information about Halsteren on the site of the BHIC
31.
Gertrudiskerk
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The Gertrudiskerk is a church approachable from the large market in the center of Bergen op Zoom. The towers of the church are called pepper plant towers, an old legend says Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, abbess of the abbey in Nivelles, founded the church in 654. The older part of the church consisting of the towers, dates to around 1370 and these were later incorporated in probably the fourteenth and fifteenth century when changes were made to the church. The building at that time was used for Catholic worship services, the current church building, completed in 1477 was designed by Evert Spoorwater. He devised a new chancel with ambulatory and vaults in the ship style of the Brabantine Gothic. In 1489 Anthonis submitted to Keldermans a design for a new church in the Late Gothic style, in spite of a constant lack of money, a new chancel and transept were realized. During the troubles of 1580 the church was plundered and thereafter used as a military warehouse, a cannonade by the French in 1747 left the church devastated. In 1750 rebuilding efforts started again, albeit with a more sober character, the church was 9 meters lower after being rebuilt. In 1586 the church was arranged for reformed services, the new chancel and transept were completed and in 1698 were demolished. Thus only a part remained of the second transept. Material was needed at time for the construction of fortifications. From 1586 to 1966 the reformed congregation had this building in possession, in 1747 the building burned down after the bombardment by the French. Rebuilding took place using Protestant funds and Protestant stones, the reformed congregation retained control through the 1950s and 1960s and people began to regret that more and more. It appeared an impossible task to maintain such a large building, in 1966 the church was transferred to the municipality so the government could restore the building. New misfortune struck the church again in 1972 when a fire broke out, the whole interior including the 18th century pipe organ by Louis Delhaye II was lost. In the 1980s restoration started anew, the congregation would pay for heating the church and the municipality would receive a limited use charge. The large advantage of this agreement was that the empty restored church in time could be equipped with religious furnishings, estimated cost for the restoration was €1,000,000. In 1987, the church was inaugurated by the bishop of Breda
32.
Cultural center
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A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, colombia Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, and São Paulo. Art space community centre infoshop music venue social centre
33.
SABIC
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SABIC is a Saudi diversified manufacturing company, active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers, and metals. It is the largest public company in Saudi Arabia, as listed in Tadawul, SABIC is also the largest listed company in the Middle East. Private shareholders are from Saudi Arabia and other countries of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, SABIC was the worlds fourth largest chemical producer in 2013. It is currently the second largest global ethylene glycol producer and is expected to top the list after the introduction of new projects, SABIC is the third largest polyethylene manufacturer, the fourth largest polyolefins manufacturer, and the fourth largest polypropylene manufacturer. SABIC is also the world’s largest producer of MTBE, granular urea, polycarbonate, polyphenylene, in 2014, SABIC was ranked fourth in the world among chemical companies by Fortune Global 500, and the world’s 205th largest corporation. In 2010, SABIC grew to be the second largest diversified chemical company, the company is based in Riyadh and has interests in 17 affiliated companies, which range from full ownership to significant partial participation. SABIC was founded in 1976 by royal decree to convert oil by-products into useful chemicals, polymers, the first chairman of the company was Ghazi Abdul Rahman Al Gosaibi, the Minister of Industry and Electricity, and the first CEO was Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Al Zamil. SABICs founding transformed the fishing villages of Jubail on the Persian Gulf. Production in 1985 was 6.5 million tons, five years later production rose to 13 million tons and by 2003 production had risen to 42 million metric tons, SABIC employs more than 40,000 people globally and has 60 manufacturing and compounding plants in over 40 countries. SABICs manufacturing network in Saudi Arabia consists of 18 affiliates, most of these are based in the Al-Jubail Industrial City on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Two are located in Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea, SABIC is also partners in three regional ventures based in Bahrain. SABIC is a leader in key products such as ethylene, ethylene glycol, methanol, MTBE. SABICs wholly owned subsidiary, the Saudi Iron and Steel Company, SABIC underwent a business restructuring in October 2015, that saw the absorption of the commodity chemicals produced under the Innovative Plastics SBU into the Chemicals and Polymers SBUs. This change follows the reallocation of the Performance Chemicals portfolio into the Chemicals SBU, the business units are currently, Chemicals, Polymers, Fertilizers, Metals and Specialties, plus manufacturing. In July 2002, SABIC commenced operations in Europe after the $1.98 billion acquisition of the business of Dutch group DSM. SABIC Europe, SABIC’s European subsidiary, produces over 2 million metric tonnes of polymers and it employs over 3,000 people and has two major manufacturing locations in Geleen in the Netherlands and Gelsenkirchen in Germany. After forming SABIC Europe, SABIC became the 11th largest petrochemicals company in the world, the purchase of DSM signified SABIC’s intent to expand and become a true global company. In 2004, the value of SABIC shares, listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange and that same year, Bloomberg ranked SABIC as the 13th largest company in the world in terms of market capitalization and the second largest by market value outside the US and UK
34.
Philip Morris International
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Philip Morris International Inc. is an American global cigarette and tobacco company, with products sold in over 180 countries outside the United States. The most recognized and best selling product of the company is Marlboro, until a spin-off in March 2008, Philip Morris International was an operating company of Altria Group. While Altria focuses on the United States, the shareholders in Altria at the time were given shares in PMI, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange and other markets. The companys operational headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, although the headquarters remain in New York. It does not operate in the United States, with Philip Morris brands there still owned by PMIs former owner Altria, Philip Morris is a long-term main sponsor of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One team. The company states its history is traced to a London tobacconists, Philip Morris’s,1847 opening of a shop on London’s Bond Street which sold tobacco. The current operations center of the company is located in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2015 it sold 850 billion cigarettes. Philip Morris International has six multi-billion US$ brands including,1, Dji Sam Soe 234 was launched on 1913 and is a brand of Kretek cigarettes. It is the best seller of Kretek cigarettes in Indonesia, l&M was launched by Liggett & Myers on 1953 with tagline, American cigarettes of the highest quality with the best filter. Longbeach include on Australia and Indonesia on 1999, Longbeach variant include, Longbeach Filter and Longbeach Mild. ST Dupont Paris is the brand designed by Simon Tissot Dupont on 1902. ST Dupont Paris variants include, filter, lights, menthol, U Mild was launched on Indonesia on May 22,1998 after Indonesian revolution. U Mild is a Mild Kretek cigarette sold in Indonesia, the Bentoel Group products on 1980-2005 include Bentoel Biru, Bentoel Sejati, Bentoel Merah, Bentoel Mild, Star Mild, X Mild, Rawit, Pr1nsip, and Country. PMFTC, Inc. s products include Champion, Fortune, harold Brown André Calantzopoulos Louis C. Camilleri – Chairman Mathis Cabiallavetta Werner Geissler Jennifer Li Jun Makihara Sergio Marchionne Kalpana Morparia Lucio A. Noto Frederik Paulsen Jr Robert B. Polet Stephen M. PMI has a research and development program and it says the focus of the program is reducing the levels of toxic chemical compounds. So far, most extensive and most successful project is IQOS - Heating tobacco product which actively came on stage in half of 2016. In 2010, the company lobbied against Uruguays strong anti-smoking laws, on July 8,2016, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruled in favour of Uruguay
35.
Jacob Obrecht
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Jacob Obrecht was a Low Countries composer of Low Countries Renaissance music. He was the most famous composer of masses in Europe in the late 15th century, what little is known of Obrechts origins and early childhood comes mostly from his motet Mille quingentis. He was the son of Ghent city trumpeter Willem Obrecht. His mother died in 1460 at the age of 20, details of his early education are sparse, but he probably learned to play the trumpet, like his father, and in so doing learned counterpoint and how to improvise over a cantus firmus. He is likely to have known Antoine Busnois at the Burgundian court, scholar, composer and clergyman, Obrecht seems to have had a succession of short appointments, two of which ended in less than ideal circumstances. There is a record of his compensating for a shortfall in his accounts by donating choirbooks he had copied, throughout the period he was held in the highest esteem both by his patrons and by his fellow composers. Erasmus served as one of Obrechts choirboys around 1476, while most of Obrechts appointments were in Flanders in the Low Countries, he made at least two trips to Italy, once in 1487 at the invitation of Duke Ercole dEste I of Ferrara, and again in 1504. In 1504 Obrecht returned to Ferrara, but on the death of the Duke at the beginning of the year he became unemployed. In what capacity he stayed in Ferrara is unknown, but he died in the outbreak of plague there just before 1 August 1505, Obrecht wrote mainly sacred music—masses and motets—and he also wrote some chansons. Combining modern and archaic elements, Obrechts style is multi-dimensional, Obrechts style is an example of the contrapuntal extravagance of the late 15th century. He once even extracted the component notes and ordered them by note value, long to short, clearly to Obrecht there could not be too much variety, particularly during the musically exploratory period of his early twenties. He began to free from conformity to formes fixes, especially in his chansons. Of the formes fixes, the rondeau retained its popularity longest, however, he much preferred composing Masses, where he found greater freedom. Furthermore, his motets reveal a variety of moods and techniques. In his Missa Sub tuum presidium, the number of parts in the five movements increases from three in the Kyrie, to four in the Gloria, and so on up to seven in the Agnus Dei. The title chant is heard in the top voice throughout the work. Requiring more than an hour to perform, it is one of the longest polyphonic settings of the Mass Ordinary ever written, despite working at the same period, Obrecht and Ockeghem differ significantly in musical style. Obrecht does not share Ockeghems fanciful treatment of the cantus firmus, whereas the phrases in Ockeghems music are ambiguously defined, those of Obrechts music can easily be distinguished, though both composers favor wide-arching melodic structure
36.
Erasmus
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Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, known as Erasmus or Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch/Netherlandish Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. Erasmus was a scholar and wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he enjoyed the sobriquet Prince of the Humanists, and has called the crowning glory of the Christian humanists. He also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia, Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works. Erasmus remained a member of the Roman Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and he also held to the Catholic doctrine of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination. His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps, Erasmus died suddenly in Basel in 1536 while preparing to return to Brabant, and was buried in Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. A bronze statue of him was erected in his city of birth in 1622, Desiderius Erasmus is reported to have been born in Rotterdam on 28 October in the late 1460s. He was named after Saint Erasmus of Formiae, whom Erasmuss father Gerard personally favored, a 17th-century legend has it that Erasmus was first named Geert Geerts, but this is unfounded. He was born in Rotterdam, but there are insufficient records to confirm that, a well-known wooden picture indicates, Goudæ conceptus, Roterodami natus. According to an article by historian Renier Snooy, Erasmus was born in Gouda, the exact year of his birth is debated, with most biographers citing the year as 1466. Some evidence confirming 1466 can be found in Erasmuss own words, of twenty-three statements Erasmus made about his age, all and he was christened Erasmus after the saint of that name. Although associated closely with Rotterdam, he lived there for four years. Information on his family and early life comes mainly from vague references in his writings and his parents were not legally married. His father, Gerard, was a Catholic priest and curate in Gouda, little is known of his mother other than that her name was Margaretha Rogerius and she was the daughter of a physician from Zevenbergen, she may have been Gerards housekeeper. Erasmus was given the highest education available to a man of his day. During his stay there the curriculum was renewed by the principal of the school, for the first time ever Greek was taught at a lower level than a university in Europe, and this is where he began learning it. He also gleaned there the importance of a relationship with God but eschewed the harsh rules. His education there ended when plague struck the city about 1483, and his mother, in 1492, poverty forced Erasmus into the consecrated life
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Media related to Bergen op Zoom at Wikimedia Commons
Bergen op Zoom
