1.
German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
2.
Gothaer Waggonfabrik
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Gothaer Waggonfabrik was a German manufacturer of rolling stock established in the late nineteenth century at Gotha. During the two wars, the company expanded into aircraft building. In World War I, Gotha was the manufacturer of a successful series of bombers based on a 1914 design by Oskar Ursinus. From 1917, the Burkhard-designed twin pusher biplane bomber aircraft were capable of carrying out bombing missions over England. Several dozen of these bombers were built in a number of subtypes - the Ursinus-based Gotha G. I, and the succeeding Burkhard-designed G. II, G. III, G. IV, and G. V. This last variant was the most prolific, with thirty-six in squadron service at one point and this gave Cyklon access to the viable sales and distribution network of Dixi and aspirations to become a serious auto-producer. Between 1927 and 1929 the company produced the Cyklon 9/40 which at the time was the most inexpensive six cylinder powered car sold in Germany, the conservative looking car featured a modern all-steel body produced by Germanys leading producer of steel car bodies, Ambi-Budds Berlin based business. Gothas main contribution to the new Luftwaffe was the Gotha Go 145 trainer, the firm also produced the Gotha Go 242 assault glider and licence-built Messerschmitt Bf 110. Perhaps the most famous Gotha product of World War II, however, was an aircraft that never entered service and this was an exotic jet-powered, flying wing fighter aircraft designed by the Horten brothers, who lacked the facilities to mass-produce it. Two prototypes flew, the second version lost in an accident on its third flight, the third prototype- built to a modified design - was almost complete and four more were in various stages of manufacture before the end of the war. The Ho 229 V3 ended up in American hands, and is currently at the NASMs Udvar-Hazy Center, under evaluation for restoration. On 22 February 1944, a squadron of American bombers was sent from Britain to bomb the factory, but due to bad weather, on the way back, the Dutch border city of Nijmegen was bombed instead as a target of opportunity, killing hundreds of civilians. Following the war, Gotha once again returned to its purpose, building trams
3.
Heavy bomber
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Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft with the greatest bomb load carrying capacity and longest range of their time. They have also typically been among the largest size aircraft in military or civil service. Delivery of the largest possible amount of air-to-ground weaponry over long distances to strike enemy targets is the heavy bombers mission, availability of such large, long range aircraft in mass-produced quantity also allowed methodologies of strategic bombing to be developed and employed during the 1940s. In August 1945, the U. S. B-29 heavy bombers delivered two atomic bombs against enemy targets, the arrival of nuclear weapons permanently changed the nature of warfare and military strategy. After the 1950s intercontinental ballistic missiles and ballistic missile submarines began to supersede heavy bombers in the nuclear role. Russian and U. S. heavy bombers have been used in regional conflicts since World War II delivering conventional weapons only. Heavy bombers are today only retained in service by the U. S, Russia and China for strategic bombing and tactical bombing roles. The first heavy bomber was designed as an airliner, igor Sikorsky, an engineer educated in St Petersburg, but born in Kiev of Polish-Russian ancestry designed the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets to fly between his birthplace and his new home. It did so briefly until August 1914, when the Russo-Balt wagon factory converted to a bomber version, by December 1914 a squadron of 10 was bombing German positions on the Eastern Front and by summer 1916 there were twenty. It was well-armed with nine guns, including a tail gun. It had a wingspan just a few feet shorter but a load of just 3% of a WW II Avro Lancaster. The Handley Page Type O/100 owed a lot to Sikorskys ideas, of similar size, it used just two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines and could carry up to 2,000 lb of bombs. But after one was lost, it switched to night attacks, one was used to support T. E. Lawrences Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The Imperial German Air Service operated the Gotha bomber, which developed a series of marques, the Gotha G. IV operated from occupied Belgium from the Spring of 1917. It mounted several raids on London beginning in May 1917, some reached no further than Folkestone or Sheerness on the Kent Coast. But on June 13, Gothas killed 162 civilians, including 18 children in a primary school, initially defence against air attack was poor, but by May 19,1918, when 38 Gothas attacked London, six were shot down and another crashed on landing. German aircraft companies also built a number of giant bombers, collectively known as the Riesenflugzeug, most were produced in very small numbers from 1917 onwards and several never entered service. The most numerous were the Zeppelin-Staaken R. VI of which 13 saw service, bombing Russia and London, four were shot down and they were larger than the standard Luftwaffe bombers of World War II
4.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
5.
Rudder
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A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other conveyance that moves through a fluid medium. On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw, a rudder operates by redirecting the fluid past the hull or fuselage, thus imparting a turning or yawing motion to the craft. In basic form, a rudder is a plane or sheet of material attached with hinges to the crafts stern, tail. Often rudders are shaped so as to minimize hydrodynamic or aerodynamic drag, on simple watercraft, a tiller—essentially, a stick or pole acting as a lever arm—may be attached to the top of the rudder to allow it to be turned by a helmsman. In larger vessels, cables, pushrods, or hydraulics may be used to link rudders to steering wheels, in typical aircraft, the rudder is operated by pedals via mechanical linkages or hydraulics. Generally, a rudder is part of the apparatus of a boat or ship that is fastened outside the hull, that is denoting all different types of oars, paddles. More specifically, the gear of ancient vessels can be classified into side-rudders and stern-mounted rudders. A third term, steering oar, can denote both types, in a Mediterranean context, side-rudders are more specifically called quarter-rudders as the later term designates more exactly the place where the rudder was mounted. Stern-mounted rudders are uniformly suspended at the back of the ship in a central position. S, a steering oar was used at this time because the rudder had not yet been invented. With a single sail, a frequent movement of the oar was required to steer a straight course. The steering oar or steering board is an oar or board to control the direction of a ship or other watercraft prior to the invention of the rudder. It is normally attached to the side in larger vessels, though in smaller ones it is rarely, if ever. Rowing oars set aside for steering appeared on large Egyptian vessels long before the time of Menes, in the Old Kingdom as much as five steering oars are found on each side of passenger boats. The tiller, at first a small pin run through the stock of the steering oar, both the tiller and the introduction of an upright steering post abaft reduced the usual number of necessary steering oars to one each side. In Iran, oars mounted on the side of ships for steering are documented from the 3rd millennium BCE in artwork, wooden models, the strength of the steering oar lay in its combination of effectiveness, adaptability and simpleness. Roman quarter steering oar mounting systems survived mostly intact through the medieval period, by the first half of the 1st century AD, steering gear mounted on the stern were also quite common in Roman river and harbour craft as proved from reliefs and archaeological finds. A tomb plaque of Hadrianic age shows a harbour tug boat in Ostia with a long stern-mounted oar for better leverage, interestingly, the boat already featured a spritsail, adding to the mobility of the harbour vessel. Further attested Roman uses of stern-mounted steering oars includes barges under tow, transport ships for wine casks, also, the well-known Zwammerdam find, a large river barge at the mouth of the Rhine, featured a large steering gear mounted on the stern
6.
Aileron
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An aileron is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll, movement around this axis is called rolling or banking. The aileron was first patented by the British scientist and inventor Matthew Piers Watt Boulton in 1868, considerable litigation ensued within the United States over the legal issues of lateral roll control, until World War I which compelled the U. S. Government to legislate a legal resolution. The name aileron, from French, meaning wing, also refers to the extremities of a birds wings used to control their flight. It first appeared in print in the 7th edition of Cassells French-English Dictionary of 1877, in the context of powered airplanes it appears in print about 1908. Prior to that, ailerons were often referred to as rudders, their older technical sibling, among the earliest printed aeronautical use of aileron was that in the French aviation journal LAérophile of 1908. He was the first to patent an aileron control system in 1868, Boultons description of his lateral flight control system was both clear and complete. It was the first record we have of appreciation of the necessity for active lateral control as distinguished from, with this invention of Boultons we have the birth of the present-day three torque method of airborne control as was praised by Charles Manly. This was also endorsed by C. H, the fact that the Wright brothers were able to gain a patent in 1906 did not invalidate Boultons lost and forgotten invention. The pioneering U. S. aeronautical engineer Octave Chanute published descriptions and drawings of the Wright brothers 1902 glider in the leading periodical of the day, LAérophile. This prompted Esnault-Pelterie, a French military engineer, to build a Wright-style glider in 1904 that used ailerons in lieu of wing warping. The French journal L’Aérophile then published photos of the ailerons on Esnault-Pelterie’s glider which were included in his June 1905 article, during the early years of powered flight the Wrights had better roll control on their designs than airplanes that used movable surfaces. From 1908, as aileron designs were refined it became clear that ailerons were much more effective, ailerons also had the advantage of not weakening the airplanes wing structure as did the wing warping technique, which was one reason for Esnault-Pelteries decision to switch to ailerons. By 1911 most biplanes used ailerons rather than wing warping - by 1915 ailerons had become almost universal on monoplanes as well, the Wright brothers quietly changed their aircraft flight controls from wing warping to the use of ailerons at that time as well. In 1886 his third glider design used rotation of the wing rather than just a trailing edge portion for roll control. By his own all of these changes in addition to his use of an elevator for pitch control provided entire control of the machine in the wind. Both Bullet prototypes crashed during their first flights when their wings broke off in flight due to flutter as a result of being deliberately unbraced. S, the patents importance lay in its claim of a new and useful method of controlling an airplane. Curiously, John J. Montgomery was granted U. S, Patent 831173 at nearly the same time for his methods of wing warping
7.
Armistice of 11 November 1918
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It went into effect at 11 a. m. Paris time on 11 November 1918, and marked a victory for the Allies, the Germans were responding to the policies proposed by U. S. President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points of January 1918. Although the armistice ended the fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. In addition, he recommended the acceptance of the demands of US president Woodrow Wilson including putting the Imperial Government on a democratic footing, hoping for more favorable peace terms. As he said to officers of his staff on 1 October, on 3 October, the liberal Prince Maximilian of Baden was appointed Chancellor of Germany, replacing Georg von Hertling in order to negotiate an armistice. In the subsequent two exchanges, Wilsons allusions failed to convey the idea that the Kaisers abdication was a condition for peace. The leading statesmen of the Reich were not yet ready to contemplate such a monstrous possibility, in late October, Ludendorff, in a sudden change of mind, declared the conditions of the Allies unacceptable. He now demanded to resume the war which he himself had declared lost only one month earlier, however the German soldiers were pressing to get home. It was scarcely possible to arouse their readiness for battle anew, the Imperial Government stayed on course and Ludendorff was replaced by Wilhelm Groener. On 5 November, the Allies agreed to take up negotiations for a truce, the latest note from Wilson was received in Berlin on 6 November. That same day, the led by Matthias Erzberger departed for France. For example, they assumed that the de-militarization suggested by Wilson would be limited to the Central Powers, there were also contradictions with their post-War plans that did not include a consistent implementation of the ideal of national self-determination. Also on 9 November, Max von Baden handed over the office of Chancellor to Friedrich Ebert, eberts SPD and Erzbergers Catholic Centre Party had enjoyed an uneasy relationship with the Imperial government since Bismarcks era in the 1870s and 1880s. They were well represented in the Imperial Reichstag, which had power over the government. Their prominence in the negotiations would cause the new Weimar Republic to lack legitimacy in right-wing. The Armistice was the result of a hurried and desperate process and they were then entrained and taken to the secret destination, aboard Ferdinand Fochs private train parked in a railway siding in the forest of Compiègne. Foch appeared only twice in the three days of negotiations, on the first day, to ask the German delegation what they wanted, the Germans were handed the list of Allied demands and given 72 hours to agree. The German delegation discussed the Allied terms not with Foch, but with other French, the Armistice amounted to complete German demilitarization, with few promises made by the Allies in return
8.
Aircraft engine
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An aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines, in commercial aviation, the major players in the manufacturing of turbofan engines are Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, Rolls-Royce, and CFM International. In general aviation, the dominant manufacturer of engines has been Pratt & Whitney. General Electric announced in 2015 entrance into the market,1848, John Stringfellow made a steam engine for a 10-foot wingspan model aircraft which achieved the first powered flight, albeit with negligible payload. 1903, Charlie Taylor built an inline aeroengine for the Wright Flyer,1903, Manly-Balzer engine sets standards for later radial engines. 1906, Léon Levavasseur produces a successful water-cooled V8 engine for aircraft use,1908, René Lorin patents a design for the ramjet engine. 1908, Louis Seguin designed the Gnome Omega, the worlds first rotary engine to be produced in quantity. In 1909 a Gnome powered Farman III aircraft won the prize for the greatest non-stop distance flown at the Reims Grande Semaine dAviation setting a record for endurance of 180 kilometres. 1910, Coandă-1910, a ducted fan aircraft exhibited at Paris Aero Salon. The aircraft never flew, but a patent was filed for routing exhaust gases into the duct to augment thrust,1930, Frank Whittle submitted his first patent for turbojet engine. June 1939, Heinkel He 176 is the first successful aircraft to fly powered solely by a rocket engine. August 1939, Heinkel HeS3 turbojet propels the pioneering German Heinkel He 178 aircraft,1940, Jendrassik Cs-1, the worlds first run of a turboprop engine. It is not put into service,1943 Daimler-Benz DB670, first turbofan runs 1944, Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet, the worlds first rocket-propelled combat aircraft deployed. 1945, First turboprop powered aircraft flies, a Gloster Meteor with two Rolls-Royce Trent engines,1947, Bell X-1 rocket propelled aircraft exceeds the speed of sound. 1948,100 shp 782, the first turboshaft engine to be applied to aircraft use,1949, Leduc 010, the worlds first ramjet-powered aircraft flight. 1950, Rolls-Royce Conway, the worlds first production turbofan, enters service,1968, General Electric TF39 high bypass turbofan enters service delivering greater thrust and much better efficiency. 2002, HyShot scramjet flew in dive,2004, NASA X-43, the first scramjet to maintain altitude. This is typically to differentiate them from radial engines, a straight engine typically has an even number of cylinders, but there are instances of three- and five-cylinder engines
9.
German strategic bombing during World War I
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The best-known German strategic bombing campaign during World War I was the campaign against England, although strategic bombing raids were carried out or attempted on other fronts. The main campaign against England started in January 1915 using airships, from then until the end of World War I the German Navy and Army Luftstreitkräfte mounted over 50 bombing raids on the United Kingdom. Weather conditions and night flying conditions made airship navigation and maintaining bombing accuracy difficult, bombs were often dropped miles off target and accurate targeting of military installations was impossible. The civilian casualties made the Zeppelins an object of hatred, with the development of effective defensive measures the airship raids became increasingly hazardous, and in 1917 the airships were largely replaced by aeroplanes. The defence organisation developed by the British was an important precursor of the direction system that would prove vital in winning the Battle of Britain. The raids were also influential because they led to an overestimation of both the material and psychological effects of the bombing of cities, airships made about 51 bombing raids on England during the war. These killed 557 and injured another 1,358 people, more than 5,000 bombs were dropped on towns across Britain, causing £1.5 million in damage. 84 airships took part, of which 30 were either shot down or lost in accidents. Aeroplanes carried out 27 raids, dropping 246,774 lb of bombs for the loss of 62 aircraft, resulting in casualties of 835 dead,1,972 injured. On 6 August 1914 the German Army Zeppelin Z VI bombed the Belgian city of Liège and this was followed by night raids on Antwerp on 25 August and 2 September. In the first month of the war Germany formed the Ostend Carrier Pigeon Detachment, during the opening months of the war a German pilot flying a Taube regularly dropped bombs on Paris. The first raid consisted of five bombs and a note demanding the immediate surrender of Paris. Before the stabilisation of the Western Front, German aircraft made a number of raids on Paris, the first German bombing raids on England were nuisance raids carried out against Channel ports. German press reports mention a raid carried out on 27 October, the first confirmed raid occurred on 21 December, when a Friedrichshafen FF.29 dropped two bombs into the sea near the Admiralty Pier in Dover. These raids, usually carried out by one or two aircraft during daytime, continued throughout the war, with little effect, proposals to bomb Britain were first made by Paul Behncke, deputy chief of the German Naval Staff, in August 1914. The campaign was approved by the Kaiser on 7 January 1915, following an attempt on 13 January 1915 which was abandoned because of the weather, the first successful raid took place on the night of 19–20 January 1915. Two Zeppelins targeted Humberside but were diverted by strong winds, and dropped their bombs on Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, Kings Lynn, four people were killed and 16 injured. Monetary damage was estimated at £7,740, an Imperial Order dated 12 February authorised the bombing of Londons docks, which was interpreted by the German General Staff as permitting bombing targets east of Charing Cross
