1.
United Nations Charter
–
The Charter of the United Nations of 1945 is the foundational treaty of the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization. It was signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, as a charter, it is a constituent treaty, and all members are bound by its articles. Furthermore, Article 103 of the Charter states that obligations to the United Nations prevail over all other treaty obligations, most countries in the world have now ratified the Charter. The Charter consists of a preamble and a series of articles grouped into chapters, the preamble consists of two principal parts. The first part contains a call for the maintenance of peace and international security. Chapter I sets forth the purposes of the United Nations, including the important provisions of the maintenance of international peace, Chapter II defines the criteria for membership in the United Nations. Chapters III–XV, the bulk of the document, describe the organs and institutions of the UN, Chapters XVI and Chapter XVII describe arrangements for integrating the UN with established international law. Chapters XVIII and Chapter XIX provide for amendment and ratification of the Charter, all Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter. All Members shall settle their disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security. Such subsidiary organs as may be found necessary may be established in accordance with the present Charter, the Security Council shall consist of fifteen Members of the United Nations. The non-permanent members of the Security Council shall be elected for a term of two years, a retiring member shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. Each member of the Security Council shall have one representative, FUNCTIONS and POWERS Article 241. In discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations, the specific powers granted to the Security Council for the discharge of these duties are laid down in Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII. The Security Council shall submit annual and, when necessary, special reports to the General Assembly for its consideration, Article 25 The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter. Each member of the Security Council shall have one vote, decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members. The Security Council shall be so organized as to be able to function continuously, each member of the Security Council shall for this purpose be represented at all times at the seat of the Organization. The Security Council may hold meetings at places other than the seat of the Organization as in its judgment will best facilitate its work. Article 29 The Security Council may establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions, Article 30 The Security Council shall adopt its own rules of procedure, including the method of selecting its President
United Nations Charter
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Atlantic Charter
United Nations Charter
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World War II poster from the United States on the UNITED NATIONS – PREAMBLE TO THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS
2.
United Nations Security Council
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The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946. Like the UN as a whole, the Security Council was created following World War II to address the failings of an international organization. The Security Council consists of fifteen members, the great powers that were the victors of World War II—the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, Republic of China, and the United States—serve as the bodys five permanent members. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General, the Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The bodys presidency rotates monthly among its members, Security Council resolutions are typically enforced by UN peacekeepers, military forces voluntarily provided by member states and funded independently of the main UN budget. As of 2016,103,510 peacekeeping soldiers and 16,471 civilians are deployed on 16 peacekeeping operations and 1 special political mission. Following the catastrophic loss of life in World War I, the Paris Peace Conference established the League of Nations to maintain harmony between the nations, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. The term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. The most contentious issue at Dumbarton and in successive talks proved to be the rights of permanent members. At the conference, H. V. Evatt of the Australian delegation pushed to further restrict the power of Security Council permanent members. Due to the fear that rejecting the strong veto would cause the conferences failure, the UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five then-permanent members of the Security Council and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. On 17 January 1946, the Security Council met for the first time at Church House, Westminster, in London, United Kingdom. The Security Council was largely paralysed in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and USSR and their allies, and the Council generally was only able to intervene in unrelated conflicts. Cold War divisions also paralysed the Security Councils Military Staff Committee, the committee continued to exist on paper but largely abandoned its work in the mid-1950s. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its budget for peacekeeping. After the Cold War, the UN saw an expansion in its peacekeeping duties. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, undersecretary-General Brian Urquhart later described the hopes raised by these successes as a false renaissance for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. In 1994, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan Genocide in the face of Security Council indecision, in the late 1990s, UN-authorised international interventions took a wider variety of forms
United Nations Security Council
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UN Security Council Chamber in
New York City
United Nations Security Council
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United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
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British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Soviet General Secretary
Joseph Stalin at the
Yalta Conference, February 1945
United Nations Security Council
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US Secretary of State Colin Powell holds a model vial of
anthrax while giving a presentation to the Security Council in February 2003.
3.
China
–
China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
China
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Yinxu, ruins of an ancient
palace dating from the
Shang Dynasty (14th century BCE)
China
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Flag
China
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Some of the thousands of life-size
Terracotta Warriors of the
Qin Dynasty, c. 210 BCE
China
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The
Great Wall of China was built by several dynasties over two thousand years to protect the sedentary agricultural regions of the
Chinese interior from incursions by
nomadic pastoralists of the northern
steppes.
4.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
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Flag
France
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The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
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With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
5.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
Russia
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Kievan Rus' in the 11th century
Russia
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Flag
Russia
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The
Baptism of Kievans, by
Klavdy Lebedev
Russia
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Sergius of Radonezh blessing
Dmitry Donskoy in
Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the
Battle of Kulikovo, depicted in a painting by
Ernst Lissner
6.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
Soviet Union
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Vladimir Lenin addressing a crowd with Trotsky, 1920
Soviet Union
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Flag
Soviet Union
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Stalin and
Nikolai Yezhov, head of the
NKVD. After Yezhov was executed, he was
edited out of the image.
Soviet Union
7.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
United Kingdom
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Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
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Flag
United Kingdom
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The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
–
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
8.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
–
Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
–
Flag
United States
–
The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
–
The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
9.
Great power
–
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. International relations theorists have posited that great power status can be characterized into power capabilities, spatial aspects, while some nations are widely considered to be great powers, there is no definitive list of them. Sometimes the status of great powers is formally recognized in such as the Congress of Vienna or the United Nations Security Council. Accordingly, the status of great powers has also been formally and informally recognised in such as the G7. The term great power was first used to represent the most important powers in Europe during the post-Napoleonic era, the Great Powers constituted the Concert of Europe and claimed the right to joint enforcement of the postwar treaties. The formalization of the division between small powers and great powers came about with the signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814, since then, the international balance of power has shifted numerous times, most dramatically during World War I and World War II. In literature, alternative terms for power are often world power or major power. There are no set or defined characteristics of a great power and these characteristics have often been treated as empirical, self-evident to the assessor. However, this approach has the disadvantage of subjectivity, as a result, there have been attempts to derive some common criteria and to treat these as essential elements of great power status. Later writers have expanded this test, attempting to define power in terms of military, economic. These expanded criteria can be divided into three heads, power capabilities, spatial aspects, and status, as noted above, for many, power capabilities were the sole criterion. However, even under the more expansive tests, power retains a vital place and this aspect has received mixed treatment, with some confusion as to the degree of power required. Writers have approached the concept of power with differing conceptualizations of the world situation. This differed from earlier writers, notably from Leopold von Ranke and these positions have been the subject of criticism. All states have a scope of interests, actions, or projected power. This is a factor in distinguishing a great power from a regional power. It has been suggested that a power should be possessed of actual influence throughout the scope of the prevailing international system. Arnold J. Toynbee, for example, observes that Great power may be defined as a political force exerting an effect co-extensive with the widest range of the society in which it operates, the Great powers of 1914 were world-powers because Western society had recently become world-wide
Great power
–
Great powers are recognized in an international structure such as the
United Nations Security Council. Shown here is the
Security Council Chamber.
Great power
–
Leopold von Ranke was one of the first to attempt to scientifically document the great powers.
Great power
–
The
Congress of Vienna by
Jean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819.
Great power
–
The "Big Four" at the
Paris Peace Conference of 1919:
David Lloyd George,
Vittorio Emanuele Orlando,
Georges Clemenceau and
Woodrow Wilson.
10.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
World War II
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
World War II
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
World War II
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
World War II
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
11.
Member states of the United Nations
–
The United Nations member states are the 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the worlds largest intergovernmental organization, ahead of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. A recommendation for admission from the Security Council requires affirmative votes from at least nine of the fifteen members. The Security Councils recommendation must then be approved in the General Assembly by a majority vote. In principle, only states can become UN members. Although five members were not sovereign when they joined the UN and this is because the UN does not consider them to possess sovereignty, mainly due to the lack of international recognition or due to opposition from one of the permanent members. Observers are generally intergovernmental organizations and international organizations and entities whose statehood or sovereignty is not precisely defined, the other two original members, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, had been dissolved and their memberships in the UN not continued from 1992 by any one successor state. India was under British colonial rule, until gaining independence in 1947. The Philippines was a commonwealth with the United States, until gaining independence in 1946. New Zealand, while de facto sovereign at that time, only gained full capacity to enter into relations with states in 1947 when it passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act. This occurred 16 years after the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster Act in 1931 that recognised New Zealands autonomy, if judged by the Montevideo Convention criteria, New Zealand did not achieve full de jure statehood until 1947. The current members and their dates of admission are listed below with their official designations used by the United Nations, the member states can be sorted by their official designations and dates of admission by clicking on the buttons in the header of the columns. See related sections on former members by clicking on the links in the column See also, original members are listed with blue background. Both sides rejected compromise proposals to both states to participate in the UN, based on the One-China policy. By the 1970s, a shift had occurred in diplomatic circles. This effectively transferred the seat of China in the UN, including its permanent seat on the Security Council, from the ROC to the PRC, from the United Nations perspective the Republic of China is not a former member. No UN member was expelled in 1971, rather, the credentials of one Chinese delegation were rejected and the credentials of another Chinese delegation were accepted. In addition to losing its seat in the UN, the UN Secretary-General concluded from the resolution that the General Assembly considered Taiwan to be a province of China
Member states of the United Nations
–
Flags of the member states of the United Nations, in front of the
Palace of Nations (
Geneva,
Switzerland). Since 2015, the flags of the two
non-member observer states are raised alongside those of the 193 member states.
Member states of the United Nations
–
Map of the United Nations (UN) member states, with their territories (including
dependent territories) recognized by the UN in blue
Member states of the United Nations
–
The presidency of
Ma Ying-jeou saw the first participation of the
Republic of China on a United Nations body in almost 40 years.
Member states of the United Nations
–
Egyptian president
Gamal Abdel Nasser (seated right) and Syrian president
Shukri al-Quwatli sign the accord to form the
United Arab Republic in 1958. The short-lived political union briefly represented both states and was used as the name of
Egypt following
Syria 's withdrawal in 1961.
12.
United Nations Security Council veto power
–
Abstention or absence from the vote by a permanent member does not prevent a draft resolution from being adopted. However, the power does not apply to procedural votes. The permanent members can vote against a draft resolution without blocking its adoption by the Council. A negative vote by a permanent member will also block the selection of a Secretary-General and this de facto control over the UN Council by the five governments has been seen by critics as the most undemocratic character of the UN. Critics also claim that veto power is the cause for international inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the United States refused to join the United Nations unless it was given a veto, the absence of the United States from the League of Nations contributed to its ineffectiveness. The idea of states having a veto over the actions of international organizations was not new in 1945, from the foundation of the League of Nations in 1920, each member of the League Council, whether permanent or non-permanent, had a veto on any non-procedural issue. From 1920 there were 4 permanent and 4 non-permanent members, thus there were in effect 15 vetoes. This was one of several defects of the League that made action on many issues impossible, the UN Charter provision for unanimity among the Permanent Members of the Security Council was the result of extensive discussion, including at Dumbarton Oaks and Yalta. The veto was forced on all other governments by the five veto holders and you may, if you wish, he said, go home from this Conference and say that you have defeated the veto. But what will be your answer when you are asked, Where is the Charter, the United Nations Security Council veto system was established in order to prohibit the UN from taking any future action directly against its principal founding members. One of the lessons of the League of Nations had been that an organization cannot work if all the major powers are not members. Article 27 of the United Nations Charter states, Each member of the Security Council shall have a vote, decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members. For this reason, the power of veto is also referred to as the principle of great power unanimity, the actual use of the veto, and the constant possibility of its use, have been central features of the functioning of the Security Council throughout the UNs history. In the period from 1945 to the end of 2009,215 resolutions on substantive issues were vetoed, the average number of vetoes cast each year to 1989 was over five, since then the average annual number has been just above one. The figures reflect the fact that a Permanent Member of the Security Council can avoid casting a veto if the proposal in question does not in any event obtain the requisite majority. In the first two decades of the UN, the Western states were able to defeat resolutions without actually using the veto. Use of the veto has reflected a degree of isolation of the vetoing state on the particular issue
United Nations Security Council veto power
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Number of resolutions vetoed by each of the five permanent members of the Security Council between 1946 and 2007.
13.
China and the United Nations
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China was one of the charter members of the United Nations and is one of five permanent members of its Security Council. It has used its veto the least of any of the permanent members, One of the victorious Allies of the Second World War, the Republic of China joined the UN at its founding in 1945. The subsequent resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, nearly all of mainland China was soon under its control and the ROC fled to the island of Taiwan. On October 25,1971, Albanias motion to recognize the Peoples Republic of China as the sole legal China was passed as General Assembly Resolution 2758. It was supported by most of the communist states and non-aligned countries, nixon then personally visited China the next year, beginning the normalization of Sino-American relations. Since that time, the Republic of China has softened its own One-China Policy and these moves have been opposed and mostly blocked by the Peoples Republic of China, forcing the Republic of China to join international organizations under other names. These include Chinese Taipei at the International Olympic Committee, the ROC co-founded the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in 1943 and is one of four members of its policy-making Central Committee. UNRRA provided supplies and services to areas under occupation by the Axis Powers, the largest project undertaken by UNRRA was the China program which had a total estimated cost of $658.4 million. UNRRA China Office was opened in Shanghai at the end of 1944, final work and responsibilities were finished by March,1948. UNRRA cooperated with Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, led by Jiang Tingfu, UNRRA functions were later transferred to several UN agencies, including the International Refugee Organization and the World Health Organization. Peng Chun Chang of ROC was the Vice-Chairman of United Nations Commission on Human Rights that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly as Resolution 217 A on December 10,1948, the ROC was one of the 48 states that voted for it. The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, the Court has jurisdiction if a situation is referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council. As of May 2013,122 states have ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute that established the Court, the PRC, as well its neighbouring rival India, has been critical of the Court. China ranked 7th among member states for contributing 3. 93% of United Nations Peacekeeping operations budget for 2013–2015, United States ranked first by contributing 27. 14%. The 1954 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR assistance was also given to needy refugees among the Chinese refugees in Macao, and the Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal. India hosted some 110,000 Tibetan refugees as of the end of 2001, UNHCR estimates that there are 15,000 Tibetans who arrived in Nepal prior to 1990 and were recognized by the Government as refugees. The Republic of China was a member of the United Nations
China and the United Nations
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China was honored for its long struggle on
the War of Resistance against Axis Power since
Japanese aggression in Northeast China as the first signatory to affix the
United Nations Charter on 24 August 1945.
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was the representative of
Republic of China.
China and the United Nations
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Taiwanese propaganda about the ROC's exclusion from the UN
14.
France and the United Nations
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The French Republic is a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council. A constitutional referendum was held on 28 September 1958,82. 6% voted for constitution for the French Fifth Republic written by Charles de Gaulle. The French Fifth Republic succeeded the seat of the former Fourth Republic, including its permanent membership on the Security Council in the United Nations. France has used its veto power sparingly, vetoing 18 resolutions from 1949 to 2007, compared with 82 by the United States and 123 by the Soviet Union and Russia,32 by Britain, and 6 by China. France used its power along with the United Kingdom, to veto a resolution to resolve the Suez Crisis in 1956. France also used a veto in 1976 on the question of the Comoros independence, in 2002, France threatened to veto Resolution 1441 on the then upcoming 2003 Iraq war. France contributes 4. 86% of the regular UN 2014/15 budget, claude de Kemoularia European Union and the United Nations Gérard Araud François Delattre
France and the United Nations
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French Republic
15.
Russia and the United Nations
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Russia succeeded the Soviet Unions seat, including its permanent membership on the Security Council in the United Nations after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. If there was to be a successor to the Soviet seat on the Security Council among the former Soviet republics, chapter V, Article 23 of the UN Charter, adopted in 1945, provides that The Security Council should consist of fifteen Members of the United Nations. The USSR collapsed in late 1991, one day before the resignation of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Ambassador Y. In this connection, I request that the name Russian Federation should be used in the United Nations in place of the name the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Russian Federation maintains full responsibility for all the rights and obligations of the USSR under the Charter of the United Nations, the Secretary-General circulated the request among the UN membership. There being no objection, the Russian Federation took the USSRs place, the legality of the succession has been questioned by international lawyer Yehuda Z. The elimination of Soviet membership on the UN Security Council would have created a crisis for the UN. This situation could have been avoided had all the other nations but Russia seceded from the USSR, a mere change of name by itself, from the USSR to the Russian Federation, would not have barred Russia from succeeding the USSR. Zaire changed its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, Blum argues that a key difference between these situations is that the Soviet Union was terminated as a legal entity. The poorly defined rules on state succession make the legal situation murky, secondly, Soviet Russia after 1917 and especially the Soviet Union after 1922 were treated as continuing the same State as existed under the Russian Empire. These are objective factors to show that Russia is the continuation of the Soviet Union, the third reason which forms the subjective factor is the State’s behaviour and the recognition of the continuity by the third States. The Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties was not a factor in the succession because it did not enter into force until 1996. The transition led to increased debate on the relevance of the 1945 system of a Security Council dominated by five permanent members to the present world situation. Russians abroad notes that Russia is only half the size of the former Soviet economy, Mohamed Sid-Ahmed noted that one of the five powers enjoying veto prerogatives in the Security Council has undergone a fundamental identity change. When the Soviet Union became Russia, its status changed from that of a superpower at the head of the communist camp to that of a society aspiring to become part of the capitalist world, russias permanent membership in the Security Council is no longer taken for granted. The global ideological struggle that had for so long dominated the scene is no more. The years following the breakup of the Soviet Union have seen an increase in the number of proposals for Security Council reform. In 2005, Kofi Annans report In Larger Freedom proposed finalizing arrangement to add more permanent seats as soon as possible
Russia and the United Nations
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Russian Federation
16.
Soviet Union and the United Nations
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The Soviet Union was a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the Security Council. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its UN seat was transferred to the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union took an active role in the United Nations and other major international and regional organizations. At the behest of the United States, the Soviet Union took a role in the establishment of the UN in 1945. The Soviet Union insisted that there be veto rights in the Security Council, from the creation to 1955, there was a Western majority in the UN. Other nations joining the UN were limited,1955 marked the end of American hegemony over the General Assembly, because as more nations became states, they were accepted into the UN. The Soviet Union made many new allies this way, the USSR initially protested the membership of India and the Philippines, whose independence was then largely theoretical. Ultimately two Soviet Republics were admitted as members of the UN, so between 1945 and 1991, the Soviet Union was represented by three seats in the United Nations. This resulted in the chairman of the US delegation to the San Francisco Conference, Edward Stettinius, john G. Stoessinger argued the Soviet Union did not abuse its veto power. The Soviet Union had cast its veto 109 times by 1973, the Soviet Union used the veto 18 times to protect their national interest against the United States. Many more vetoes were used because of Cold War and anti-Communist actions taken by the Western states, even with all the vetoes used not all stuck. It is shown that for 75 percent of the vetoes cast by the Soviet Union, the Soviets believed strongly in the veto power, and insisted it be part of the UN Security Council. They voiced this option for the power to both the Security Council and the General Assembly. The veto power is the paramount principle which constitutes the cornerstone of the United Nations Debate over Chinas representation with the United nations began in 1949, the Communist Party of China took over the countrys mainland, while the Nationalists moved to the island of Taiwan. The UN seat of China was held by the Nationalist government of the Republic of China, the Soviet Union supported the communist party, leading to conflict with the West. The Security Council sided with the United States and saw the Communist government of Peoples Republic of China as illegitimate, and prevented it from entering the UN until 1971. Before the China seat was transferred to the Communist government of PRC in 1971, yakov Malik was the sole Soviet representative that walked out of the UN, and announced that they would be boycotting further Security Council meetings. In the absence of the Soviet representatives, the UN Security Council was able to vote for the intervention of UN military forces in what would become the Korean War and this was a downfall to the action of the boycott that was unforeseeable to the Soviet Union at the time. Nations questioned Soviet actions on relations with China, and how they acted on the issue of representation, the Soviet Union always voted for Chinas Communist Party to have the seat
Soviet Union and the United Nations
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Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
17.
United Kingdom and the United Nations
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The United Kingdom is a founding member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council. As the fifth largest provider of financial contributions to the United Nations, the UK provided 5 percent of the UN budget in 2015, and 6.7 percent of the peacekeeping budget. British English is one of the six languages of the United Nations. Permanent Missions of the United Kingdom to the United Nations are maintained in New York City, Geneva and these diplomatic missions represent the UK during negotiations and ensure Britains interests and views are taken into account by UN bodies and other member states. This was the first of six conferences that led up to the founding of the United Nations, during the visit, the name United Nations was suggested by Roosevelt to Churchill to refer to the Allies of World War II. Roosevelt proposed it as an alternative to Associated Powers, a term the U. S. used in the First World War. Churchill accepted the idea noting the phase was used by Lord Byron in the poem Childe Harolds Pilgrimage, the name appeared in the Declaration by the United Nations, which was drafted by Roosevelt and Churchill with Roosevelts aide Harry Hopkins while meeting at the White House in December 1941. The phrase Four Policemen was coined to refer to the four major Allied countries, the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration in January 1942. Winston Churchill urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major Power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944, the heads of the delegations of the sponsoring countries took turns as chairman of the plenary meetings beginning with Anthony Eden of Britain. The first meetings of the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council took place in London beginning on 6 January 1946, the General Assembly met in Westminster Central Hall, and the Security Council met at Church House, Westminster. The United Kingdom has used its Security Council veto power on 32 occasions, the first occurrence was in October 1956 when the United Kingdom and France vetoed a letter from the US to the president of the Security Council concerning Palestine. The most recent was in December 1989 when the United Kingdom, France, along with France, the United Kingdom used its veto power to veto a draft resolution aimed at resolving the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. The United Kingdom has stated its support for modernisation of the United Nations, according to a formal statement made jointly by the United Kingdom and France in 2008, Reform of the UNSC, both its enlargement and the improvement of its working methods, must therefore succeed. We reaffirm the support of our two countries for the candidacies of Germany, Brazil, India and Japan for permanent membership and we will work with all our partners to define the parameters of such a reform. UNSC reform requires a commitment from the member states at the highest level. We will work in this direction in the months with a view to achieving effective reform. Under the United Nations Command, the United Kingdom participated in the Korean War from 1950-53, since then, the UK has contributed to a number of United Nations peacekeeping missions. In the 1990s, British Armed Forces were part of the United Nations Protection Force from 1992–1995 that intervened in the Bosnian War, the 2000 British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War supported the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
United Kingdom and the United Nations
18.
United States and the United Nations
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The United States of America is a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council. The United States is the largest provider of financial contributions to the United Nations, providing 22 percent of the UN budget in 2015, the United States had a pivotal role in establishing the UN and is one of 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The UN is an outgrowth of the Atlantic Charter. It appeared in the Declaration by United Nations on January 1,1942, in which 26 nations pledged to continue fighting the Axis powers. ”Roosevelt’s main role was to convince the different allies, especially Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, to join the new organization. It is interesting to note that saw the United Nations as the crowning achievement of his political career. ”In 1945. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin reviewed the Dumbarton Oaks proposal during the Yalta Conference in February 1945. ”The world leaders eventually agreed on Roosevelt’s proposal to give members an veto power so “that the Organization could take no important action without their joint consent. ”Though the veto power question created a lot of disagreement among the different signatories, its inclusion in the charter was never a matter of negotiation for Roosevelt. Finally, during the Yalta conference, Stalin agreed to make the USSR a member of the United Nations, an important American contribution, prior to the formation of the United Nations, was made at the Bretton Woods Conference. This conference took place in 1944 and its goal was “to create a new monetary and trade regime that was stable and predictable. ”Over subsequent decades. It was implemented through different institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations was the first international governmental organization to receive significant support from the United States. Its forerunner, the League of Nations, had been championed by Woodrow Wilson after World War I to prevent future conflicts, shortly after the establishment of the United Nations, the United States came into conflict with another member of the Security Council. Since the Soviet Union was a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, in fact, Soviet foreign minister and UN ambassador Vyacheslav Molotov used veto power twice as often as any other permanent member, earning him the title Mr. Veto. Relations between the U. S. and the Soviet Union within the UN have evolved in step with the geopolitical situation between the two powers. Later, the U. S. persuaded all permanent members of the Security Council to authorize force against Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1991. This was a step toward U. S. and Russian reconciliation after the end of the Cold War. S. Conflict between the U. S. and the UN predates the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1971, the UN adopted Resolution 2758—which affected the admission of the Peoples Republic of China and the removal of the Republic of China—despite objections by the U. S. government. The U. S. government changed its own China policy shortly afterward, however, the U. S. governments repeated opposition to Arab military actions has created much more tension between the U. S. government and the United Nations. The General Assembly Resolution 3379 of 1975 was strongly opposed by U. S. officials, in 1991, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 4686, which effectively negated Resolution 3379. Of these 12 occasions, only two related to other than the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
United States and the United Nations
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George W. Bush addressed the General Assembly on September 12, 2002 on Iraq prior to the passage of Resolution 1441.
19.
Mainland China
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Mainland China, also known as the Chinese mainland, is the geopolitical area under the direct jurisdiction of the Peoples Republic of China. It generally includes Hainan island and excludes the special regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The term mainland China was coined by the Kuomintang after receiving control of Taiwan from Japan after World War II. By 1949, the KMT-led Republic of China government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War, there are two terms in Chinese for mainland, Dàlù, which means continent, and Nèidì, literally inland or inner land. In the PRC, the usage of the two terms are interchangeable and there is no prescribed method of reference in any jurisdiction. To emphasize equal footing in Cross-Strait relations, the term is used in official contexts with reference to Taiwan, but in its relations with Hong Kong and Macau, the PRC government refers to itself as the Central Peoples Government. Mainland area is the term to free area of the Republic of China used in the ROC Constitution. It treats the mainland as part of ROCs territory despite the lack of effective control, by 1949, the Communist Party of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army had largely defeated the Kuomintang s National Revolutionary Army in the Chinese Civil War on the mainland. This has resulted in a situation in which two co-existing governments compete for legitimacy and recognition as the government of China. The phrase mainland China emerged as a neutral term to refer to the area under control of the Communist Party of China. Until the late 1970s, both the PRC and ROC envisioned a military takeover of the other, during this time the ROC referred to the PRC government as Communist Bandits while the PRC referred to the ROC as Chiang Bandits. Later, as a military solution became less feasible, the ROC referred to the PRC as Communist China, due to their status as colonies of foreign states during the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the phrase mainland China excludes Hong Kong and Macau. Since the return of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and 1999, respectively, the territories also have their distinct identities. Therefore, mainland China generally continues to exclude these territories, because of the One country, the term is also used in economic indicators, such as the IMD Competitiveness Report. International news media often use China to refer only to mainland China or the Peoples Republic of China, in the PRC, the term 内地 is often contrasted with the term 境外 for things outside of the mainland region. Examples include Administration of Foreign-funded Banks or the Measures on Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Insurance Institutions, Hainan is an offshore island, therefore geographically not part of the continental mainland. Nonetheless, Hainanese people still refer to the mainland as the mainland. In some coastal provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangsu, in contrast, the pro-Taiwan independence Democratic Progressive Party prefer to use the term China instead, referring to the PRC, to imply that Taiwan is separate from China
Mainland China
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The highlighted orange area in the map is what is commonly known as "mainland China".
20.
Taiwan
–
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
Taiwan
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A young
Tsou man
Taiwan
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Flag
Taiwan
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Overview of
Fort Zeelandia, painted around 1635
Taiwan
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Japanese colonial soldiers march Taiwanese captured after the
Tapani Incident from the
Tainan jail to court, 1915.
21.
Free area of the Republic of China
–
As the island of Taiwan is the main component of the whole area, it is therefore also referred to as the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China or simply the Taiwan Area. This term is used in the Additional Articles to the Constitution of the Republic of China, the term free area or Free China was used during the Second Sino-Japanese War to describe the territories under the control of the Kuomintang government in Chongqing. The Japanese occupation ended with the surrender in 1945. Prior to the Battle of Dachen Archipelago in 1955, the Free Area also encompassed a group of islands off Zhejiang, the islands have since been administered exclusively by the PRC. Various names used to describe the area include, The term free area of the Republic of China has persisted to the present day in the ROC legislation. This term was first used in the Constitution with the promulgation of the first set of amendments to the Constitution in 1991 and has retained in the most recent revision passed in 2005. In the absence of such changes, the Republic of Chinas official borders were to be regarded as all of mainland China. In ordinary legislation, the term Taiwan Area is usually used, especially in contexts of trade, however, on more practical grounds, the mainland area refers simply to mainland China. In addition, there are two other Acts defining other areas, the Hong Kong Area and the Macau Area, the hand-over of these former European colonies to the Peoples Republic of China necessitated laws governing the relations of the Taiwan Area with them. The Acts are worded in a manner to avoid discussing whether the Republic of China claims sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macau
Free area of the Republic of China
–
With President
Chiang Kai-shek, U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to onlookers during his visit to
Taipei, Taiwan in June 1960.
Free area of the Republic of China
–
Taiwan Area of the Republic of China
Free area of the Republic of China
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"Protect Kinmen and Matsu" postage stamp set, ROC, 1959
22.
Xi Jinping
–
Xi Jinping is the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the Peoples Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. As General Secretary, Xi holds a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee. The son of Communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping rose through the ranks politically in Chinas coastal provinces, Xi was governor of Fujian from 1999 to 2002, and governor, then party secretary of neighboring Zhejiang province from 2002 to 2007. Following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to Shanghai as party secretary for a period in 2007. Xi joined the Politburo Standing Committee and central secretariat in October 2007, Xi was vice-president from 2008 to 2013 and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 2010 to 2012. Since assuming power, Xi has attempted to legitimize the authority of the Communist Party by introducing far-ranging measures to enforce party discipline and he initiated an unprecedented and far-reaching campaign against corruption, leading to the downfall of prominent incumbent and retired officials. Xi has also imposed further restrictions over civil society and ideological discourse, Xi Jinping was born in Beijing on 15 June 1953. After the founding of the Communist state in 1949, Xis father held a series of posts, including propaganda chief, vice-premier, Xis father is from Fuping County, Shaanxi, and Xi could further trace his patrilineal descent from Xiying in Dengzhou, Henan. He is the son of Xi Zhongxun and his wife Qi Xin. When Xi was age 10, his father was purged from the Party and sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, Henan. In May 1966, Xis secondary education was cut short by the Cultural Revolution, Xi was age 15 when his father was jailed in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution. Without the protection of his father, Xi was sent to work in Yanchuan County, Shaanxi and he later became the Party branch secretary of the production team, leaving that post in 1975. When asked about this experience later by Chinese state television, Xi recalled, and when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realised, it proved an illusion. From 1979 to 1982, Xi served as secretary for his fathers former subordinate Geng Biao and this gained Xi some military background. In 1985, as part of a Chinese delegation to study American agriculture, he visited the town of Muscatine and this trip, and his stay with an American family, has been considered influential in his views on the United States. Xi joined the Communist Youth League in 1971 and the Communist Party of China in 1974, in 1982, he was sent to Zhengding County in Hebei as deputy Party Secretary of Zhengding County. He was promoted in 1983 to Secretary, becoming the top official of the county, Xi subsequently served in four provinces during his regional political career, Hebei, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. Xi held posts in the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and became the president of the Party School in Fuzhou in 1990, in 1997, Xi was named an alternate member of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Xi Jinping
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Xi in October 2013
Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping greeting U.S. President
George W. Bush in August 2008.
Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping with
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on 28 September 2010.
Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping at a meeting with United States Secretary of Defense
Leon Panetta on 19 September 2012.
23.
Li Keqiang
–
Li Keqiang is the current Premier of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China. An economist by training, Li is Chinas head of government as well as one of the figures behind Chinese economic policy. He is also the member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China. Li is a part of the fifth generation of Chinese leadership. Li was named the Worlds 12th Most Powerful Person by the Forbes list of The Worlds Most Powerful People in 2015 and 2016, Li rose through the ranks through his involvement in the Communist Youth League. From 1998 to 2004, Li served as the Governor of Henan, from 2004 to 2007 he served as the Party Secretary of Liaoning, the top political office in the province. Given his Youth League experience, Li has generally been considered an ally of former leader Hu Jintao. Li assumed the post of Premier in 2013, and has facilitated the Chinese governments shifting of priorities from export-led growth to a focus on internal consumption. Li has also been a force behind the implementation of the comprehensively deepening reforms announced in the fall of 2013. Li was born on 1 July 1955 in Hefei, the capital and his father was a local official in Anhui. He was awarded the honour of Outstanding Individual in the Study of Mao Zedong Thought during this time and he earned a PhD in economics in 1995, and the prominent economist Li Yining was his doctoral advisor. His doctoral dissertation was awarded the Sun Yefang Prize, Chinas highest prize in economics, in 1980, Li became the Communist Youth League secretary at Peking University. Li became the organizations First Secretary in 1993 and served until 1998 and he is a representative member of the first generation to have risen from the CYL leadership. Li became the youngest Chinese provincial governor in June 1998 when he was appointed governor of Henan at the age of 43, according to provincial officials working with him at the time, Li refused to participate in any banquets or large fancy events not related to government activities. During his time as governor, a sense of his bad luck grew due to the occurrence of three major fires in the province. Li is known to be outspoken and led development in Henan. Li did not spend time pursuing superficial projects and he trekked through all regions of the province trying to search for a comprehensive solution to its growing problems. Henan jumped in national GDP rankings from 28th in the early 1990s to 18th in 2004, however, his government was relatively ineffective at curbing the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was affecting the rural areas of the province
Li Keqiang
–
Li Keqiang
24.
Liu Jieyi
–
Liu Jieyi is a Chinese diplomat. Since 2013, he has been Chinas Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and he attended Beijing Foreign Studies University and from 1981 to 1987 was a language translator at the UN offices in Geneva. In 1987, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of China, from 2009 to 2013, Liu was the Vice Minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In 2013, Liu succeeded Li Baodong as Chinas Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, during November 2013, Liu was the President of the UN Security Council
Liu Jieyi
–
as seen in 2010
25.
French Fourth Republic
–
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II. France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic on 13 October 1946, the greatest accomplishments of the Fourth Republic were in social reform and economic development. In 1946, the government established a social security system that assured unemployment insurance, disability and old-age pensions. Moreover, the government proved unable to make decisions regarding decolonization of the numerous remaining French colonies. After a series of crises, most importantly the Algerian crisis of 1958, wartime leader Charles de Gaulle returned from retirement to preside over a transitional administration which was empowered to design a new French constitution. The Fourth Republic was dissolved by a referendum on 5 October 1958 which established the modern-day Fifth Republic with a strengthened presidency. After the liberation of France in 1944, the Vichy government was dissolved, Charles de Gaulle led the GPRF from 1944 to 1946. Meanwhile, negotiations took place over the new constitution, which was to be put to a referendum. De Gaulle advocated a system of government, and criticized the reinstatement of what he pejoratively called the parties system. He resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Félix Gouin, the new constituent assembly included 166 MRP deputies,153 PCF deputies and 128 SFIO deputies, giving the tripartite alliance an absolute majority. Georges Bidault replaced Félix Gouin as the head of government, a new draft of the Constitution was written, which this time proposed the establishment of a bicameral form of government. Léon Blum headed the GPRF from 1946 to 1947, after a new legislative election in June 1946, the Christian democrat Georges Bidault assumed leadership of the Cabinet. This culminated in the establishment in the year of the Fourth Republic. The President of the Republic was given a symbolic role, although he remained chief of the French Army. The wartime damage was extensive and expectations of large reparations from defeated Germany largely failed, the United States helped revive the French economy with the Marshall Plan, 1948-1951, whereby it gave France $2.3 billion with no repayment. France was the second largest recipient after Britain, the total of all American grants and credits to France from 1946 to 1953, amounted to $4.9 billion. The terms of the Marshall Plan required a modernization of French industrial and managerial systems, free trade, after the expulsion of the Communists from the governing coalition, France joined the Cold War against Stalin, as expressed by becoming a founding member of NATO in April 1949
French Fourth Republic
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Flag
26.
Emmanuel Macron
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Emmanuel Macron is a French politician, senior civil servant, and former investment banker. Born in Amiens, he studied Philosophy at Paris Nanterre University and he went on to become an Inspector of Finances in the Inspectorate General of Finances before becoming an investment banker at Rothschild & Cie Banque. He resigned in August 2016 in order to launch a bid in the 2017 presidential election, in November 2016, Macron declared that he would run in the election under the banner of En Marche. A centrist movement he founded in April 2016, born in Amiens, Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron is the son of Jean-Michel Macron, Professor of Neurology at the University of Picardy, and Françoise Macron-Noguès, a physician. He was educated mostly at the Jésuites de la Providence lycée in Amiens before his parents sent him to finish his last year of school at the high school Lycée Henri-IV in Paris. He studied Philosophy at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense and he obtained a Masters degree in Public Affairs at Sciences Po, before training for a senior civil service career at the École nationale dadministration, graduating in 2004. Macron worked as an Inspector of Finances in the French Ministry of Economy between 2004 and 2008, in 2007, he served as deputy rapporteur for the Commission to improve French growth headed by Jacques Attali. While an investment banker, Macron closed a deal between Nestlé and Pfizer, which in part allowed him to amass a small fortune reportedly in the region of €2,800,000. Macron was a member of the Socialist Party from 2006 to 2009, in 2015, he stated that he was no longer a member of the PS and was now an Independent. From 2012 to 2014, he served as deputy secretary-general of the Élysée and he was appointed Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Data in the second Valls Cabinet on 26 August 2014, replacing Arnaud Montebourg. As Minister of the Economy, Macron was at the forefront of pushing through business-friendly reforms, in February 2015, he pledged that the government would force through reforms despite opposition from the parliament. On 30 August 2016, Macron resigned from the government ahead of the 2017 presidential election and this came shortly after he founded his own progressive political movement, En Marche. An independent political party, for which he was reprimanded by President Hollande, Macron founded En Marche. in Amiens, the city of his birth. On 16 November 2016, Macron formally declared his candidacy for the French presidency after months of speculation, in his announcement speech, Macron called for a democratic revolution and promised to unblock France. He eventually laid out his 150-page formal program on 2 March, publishing it online, as well as numerous others – many of them from the Socialist Party, but also a significant number of centrist and centre-right politicians. Macron has been described by observers as a social liberal. Macron has notably advocated in favor of the market and reducing the public-finances deficit. He first publicly used the term liberal to describe himself in a 2015 interview with Le Monde and he added that he is neither right nor left and that he advocates a collective solidarity
Emmanuel Macron
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Emmanuel Macron in 2015
27.
Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician. Putin is the current President of the Russian Federation, holding the office since 7 May 2012 and he was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, President from 2000 to 2008, and again Prime Minister from 2008 to 2012. During his second term as Prime Minister, he was the Chairman of the ruling United Russia Party, born in Leningrad, Putin studied German in high school and speaks the language fluently. He studied Law at the Saint Petersburg State University, graduating in 1975, Putin was a KGB Foreign Intelligence Officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring in 1991 to enter politics in Saint Petersburg. He moved to Moscow in 1996 and joined President Boris Yeltsins administration, rising quickly through the ranks and becoming Acting President on 31 December 1999, when Yeltsin resigned. Putin won the subsequent 2000 Presidential election by a 53% to 30% margin, thus avoiding a runoff with his Communist Party of the Russian Federation opponent and he was re-elected President in 2004 with 72% of the vote. During Putins first presidency, the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, the growth was a result of the 2000s commodities boom, high oil prices, and prudent economic and fiscal policies. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third presidential term in 2008. The 2008 Presidential election was won by Dmitry Medvedev, who appointed Putin Prime Minister, in September 2011, after presidential terms were extended from four to six years, Putin announced he would seek a third term as president. He won the March 2012 Presidential election with 64% of the vote, Putin has enjoyed high domestic approval ratings during his career, and received extensive international attention as one of the worlds most powerful leaders. In 2007, he was the Time Person of the Year, in 2015, he was #1 on the Times Most Influential People List. Forbes ranked him the Worlds Most Powerful Individual every year from 2013 to 2016, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was born on 7 October 1952 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, the youngest of three children of Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin and Maria Ivanovna Putina. His birth was preceded by the death of two brothers, Viktor and Albert, born in the mid-1930s, Albert died in infancy and Viktor died of diphtheria during the Siege of Leningrad. Putins mother was a worker and his father was a conscript in the Soviet Navy. Early in World War II, his father served in the battalion of the NKVD. Later, he was transferred to the army and was severely wounded in 1942. On 1 September 1960, Putin started at School No.193 at Baskov Lane and he was one of a few in the class of approximately 45 pupils who was not yet a member of the Young Pioneer organization. At age 12, he began to practice sambo and judo and he wished to emulate the intelligence officers portrayed in Soviet cinema
Vladimir Putin
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Vladimir Putin Владимир Путин
Vladimir Putin
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Putin's father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin
Vladimir Putin
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Maria Ivanovna Shelomova, the mother of Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin
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Putin with his mother, Maria Ivanovna, in July 1958
28.
Dmitry Medvedev
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Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is a Russian politician who is the current Prime Minister. From 2008 to 2012, Medvedev served as the third President of Russia, born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Leningrad State University Law Department in 1987. Medvedev defended his dissertation in 1990, and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed the Saint Petersburg State University, Medvedevs political career began as the Election Campaign Manager, and later as an adviser of the St. Petersburg Mayor, Anatoly Sobchak. During this time, Medvedev befriended Vladimir Putin, in November 1999, Medvedev was hired by the Russian Presidential Administration, where he worked as the Deputy Chief of Staff. In the 2000 Russian Presidential Elections, Medvedev was Putins Campaign Manager, on 14 November 2005, Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister, and was tasked with overseeing National Priority Projects. Medvedev worked as the Chairman of Gazproms Board of Directors, a post that he held until 2008, Medvedevs candidacy was backed by the popular outgoing President, Vladimir Putin, thus giving a significant boost to his popularity. The 2008 Presidential election, held on 2 March 2008, was won by Medvedev with 70. 28% of the popular vote, and he was inaugurated on 7 May 2008. Medvedev did not run for a term as President, and therefore was appointed Prime Minister by President Vladimir Putin. On 26 May 2012, Medvedev was appointed to be the Leader of United Russia Party, during Medvedevs tenure, Russia emerged victorious in the Russo-Georgian War, and recovered from the Great Recession. Medvedev launched a campaign, and initiated a substantial law enforcement reform. Dmitry Medvedev was born on 14 September 1965 in Leningrad, in the Soviet Union and his father, Anatoly Afanasyevich Medvedev, was a chemical engineer teaching at the Leningrad State Institute of Technology. Dmitrys mother, Yulia Veniaminovna Medvedeva, studied languages at Voronezh University, later, she would also work as a tour guide at Pavlovsk Palace. The Medvedevs lived in a 40 m² apartment at 6 Bela Kun Street in the Kupchino Municipal Okrug of Leningrad, Dmitry was his parents only child. The Medvedevs were regarded as Soviet intelligentsia family of the time and his maternal grandparents were Ukrainians, whose surname was Kovalev, originally Koval. Medvedev traces his roots to the Belgorod region. As a child, Medvedev was bookish and studious, described by his first grade teacher Vera Smirnova as a dreadful why-asker, after school, he would spend some time playing with his friends before hurrying home to work on his assignments. In the third grade, Medvedev studied the ten-volume Small Soviet Encyclopedia belonging to his father, in the second and third grades, he showed interest in dinosaurs and memorized primary Earths geologic development periods, from the Archean up to the Cenozoic. In the fourth and fifth grades, he demonstrated interest in chemistry, conducting elementary experiments, in grade seven, adolescent curiosity blossomed through Svetlana Linnik, his future wife, studying at the same school in a parallel class
Dmitry Medvedev
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Dmitry Medvedev Дмитрий Медведев
Dmitry Medvedev
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Dmitry Medvedev in 1967 at the approximate age of 2
Dmitry Medvedev
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The
Faculty of Law building of
Saint Petersburg State University, The place where Medvedev studied and later taught.
Dmitry Medvedev
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Facade of the
Smolny Institute, meeting place of the City Hall's Committee for Foreign Affairs where Medvedev worked as a consultant.
29.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
Elizabeth II
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The Queen in March 2015
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by
Philip de László, 1933
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth in
Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945
30.
Theresa May
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Theresa Mary May is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party, having served as both since July 2016. She has been the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead since 1997, may identifies as a one-nation conservative and has been characterised as a liberal conservative. She is the second female Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader after Margaret Thatcher, the daughter of a vicar, May grew up in Oxfordshire. From 1977 until 1983, she worked for the Bank of England, after unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons in 1992 and 1994, she was elected as the MP for Maidenhead in the 1997 general election. She was also Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2003, after the formation of a coalition government following the 2010 general election, May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, giving up the latter role in 2012. Reappointed after the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election, she went on to become the longest-serving Home Secretary since James Chuter Ede over 60 years previously. She won the first and second ballot of Conservative MPs by a significant margin and was due to face a vote of Conservative Party members in a contest with Andrea Leadsom, leadsoms withdrawal from the election on 11 July led to Mays appointment as party leader the same day. She was appointed Prime Minister on 13 July, as Prime Minister, Mays focus has primarily been on withdrawing the UK from the European Union. Born on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex, May is the child of Zaidee Mary. Her father was a Church of England clergyman who was chaplain of an Eastbourne hospital and he later became vicar of Enstone with Heythrop and finally of St Marys at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford. Mays mother was a supporter of the Conservative Party. May was educated primarily in the sector but with a short spell at an independent Catholic school. She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, a school in Heythrop, followed by St. Julianas Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke. At the age of 13, May won a place at the former Holton Park Girls Grammar School, during her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was reorganised and the school became the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School. May then attended the University of Oxford where she read geography at St Hughs College, between 1977 and 1983 May worked at the Bank of England, and from 1985 to 1997 as a financial consultant and senior advisor in International Affairs at the Association for Payment Clearing Services. Both Mays parents died during this period, her father in a car accident in 1981, may served as a councillor for Durnsford ward on the London Borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994, where she was Chairman of Education and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesman. May then stood at the 1994 Barking by-election, which was prompted by the death of Labour MP Jo Richardson. The seat had been held by Labour since it was created in 1945 and Labour candidate Margaret Hodge was expected to win easily
Theresa May
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The Right Honourable Theresa May
MP
Theresa May
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St Hugh's College, Oxford
Theresa May
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May with
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron.
Theresa May
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May speaks at a reception for the Muslim feast of
Eid al-Adha, 21 September 2010
31.
Matthew Rycroft
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Matthew John Rycroft CBE is a British diplomat who is Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. Rycroft was born in Southampton, before moving to Cambridge at the age of eleven and he studied mathematics and philosophy at Merton College, Oxford. Rycroft joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after graduation, in 1989, following short spells in Geneva and on the NATO desk in Whitehall, Rycroft spent four years at the British embassy in Paris. In 1995-96, Rycroft was Head of Section in the Eastern Adriatic Unit at the FCO, very soon after taking up this role, he served as a member of the British deputation to the Dayton peace talks. Between 1996 and 1998 he was an officer in the FCO Policy Planners. In 1998, he joined the British embassy in the United States, in 2002, Rycroft was appointed Private Secretary to Prime Minister Tony Blair, to advise him on matters related to foreign policy, the European Union, Northern Ireland and defence. During this time Rycroft wrote a letter to Mark Sedwill, private secretary to the foreign secretary, the letter reveals that we and the US would take action without a new resolution by the UN security council if UN weapons inspectors showed Saddam had clearly breached an earlier resolution. In that case, he would not have a second chance and that was the only way Britain could persuade the Bush administration to agree to a role for the UN and continuing work by UN weapons inspectors, the letter says. This letter is sensitive, Rycroft underlined and it must be seen only by those with a real need to know its contents, and must not be copied further. It was in this capacity that Rycroft issued the Downing Street memo, during his time in Downing Street, in 2003, he was made a CBE. From March 2005 to July 2008, Rycroft served as Ambassador to Bosnia, in July 2008, he was appointed EU Director in the FCO, and then, in 2011, he became Chief Operating Officer of the FCO. He became Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York in April 2015, the memo was leaked to The Sunday Times, which printed it on 1 May 2005. Furthermore, the memo went on to state, Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy, the NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regimes record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action and this was even more explicitly stated elsewhere in the memo, The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. RYCROFT, Matthew John, Whos Who 2014, A & C Black,2014, online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013 Matthew Rycroft, Esq, CBE Authorised Biography – Debretts People of Today
Matthew Rycroft
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His Excellency Matthew Rycroft
CBE
32.
Donald Trump
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Donald John Trump is the 45th and current President of the United States. Prior to entering politics he was a businessman and television personality, Trump was born and raised in Queens, New York City, and earned an economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He then took charge of The Trump Organization, the estate and construction firm founded by his paternal grandmother, which he ran for four. During his real career, Trump has built, renovated, and managed numerous office towers, hotels, casinos. Besides real estate, he started several ventures and has lent the use of his name for the branding of various products. He owned the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants from 1996 to 2015, and he hosted The Apprentice, as of 2017, Forbes listed him as the 544th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $3.5 billion. Trump first publicly expressed interest in running for office in 1987. He won two Reform Party presidential primaries in 2000, but withdrew his candidacy early on, in June 2015, he launched his campaign for the 2016 presidential election and quickly emerged as the front-runner among 17 candidates in the Republican primaries. His final opponents suspended their campaigns in May 2016, and in July he was nominated at the Republican National Convention along with Indiana governor Mike Pence as his running mate. His campaign received unprecedented media coverage and international attention, many of the statements he made at rallies, in interviews, or on social media were controversial or false. Trump won the election on November 8,2016, in a surprise victory against Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. His political positions have been described by scholars and commentators as populist, protectionist, Trump was born on June 14,1946 at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Queens, New York City. He was the fourth of five born to Frederick Christ Fred Trump. His siblings are Maryanne, Fred Jr. Elizabeth, and Robert, Trumps ancestors originated from the village of Kallstadt, Palatinate, Germany on his fathers side, and from the Outer Hebrides isles of Scotland on his mothers side. All his grandparents, and his mother, were born in Europe and his mothers grandfather was also christened Donald. On a visit to his village, he met Elisabeth Christ. He died from the flu pandemic of 1918 and Elizabeth incorporated the family real estate business, Elizabeth Trump and Son, which would later become The Trump Organization. Trumps father Fred was born in the Bronx, and worked with his mother since he was 15 as a real estate developer, primarily in the New York boroughs of Queens and he eventually built and sold thousands of houses, barracks and apartments
Donald Trump
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Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
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The Trump Organization owns, operates, develops and invests in real estate around the world such as
Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
Donald Trump
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Trump Tower, at 725
Fifth Avenue, in
Midtown Manhattan
33.
Mike Pence
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Michael Richard Mike Pence is an American politician, lawyer, and the 48th Vice President of the United States. He previously served as the 50th Governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017, born and raised in Columbus, Indiana, Pence graduated from Hanover College and earned a law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law before entering private practice. After losing two bids for a U. S. congressional seat in 1988 and 1990, he became a conservative radio and he served as the chairman of the House Republican Conference from 2009 to 2011. Pence positioned himself as an ideologue and supporter of the Tea Party movement, noting he was a Christian, a conservative. Pence signed bills intended to restrict abortions, including one that prohibited abortions if the reason for the procedure was the race, gender. He later signed an additional bill acting as an amendment intended to protect LGBT people. Michael Richard Mike Pence was born June 7,1959, in Columbus, Indiana, one of six children of Nancy Jane and Edward J. Pence and his family were Irish Catholic Democrats. He was named after his grandfather, Richard Michael Cawley, who emigrated from County Sligo, Ireland, to the United States through Ellis Island and became a bus driver in Chicago and his maternal grandmothers parents were from Doonbeg, County Clare. Pence graduated from Columbus North High School in 1977 and he earned a BA degree in history from Hanover College in 1981, and a JD degree from the Indiana Universitys Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis in 1986. While at Hanover, Pence joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, after graduating from Hanover, Pence was an admissions counselor at the college from 1981 to 1983. In his childhood and early adulthood, Pence was a Roman Catholic, kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. While in college, Pence became an evangelical, born-again Christian, after graduating from law school in 1986, Pence was an attorney in private practice. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in 1988 and in 1990. He became the president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, a self-described free-market think tank in 1991, Pence left the Indiana Policy Review Foundation in 1993, a year after beginning to host The Mike Pence Show, a talk radio program based in WRCR-FM in Rushville, Indiana. Pence called himself Rush Limbaugh on decaf since he considered himself politically conservative while not as outspoken as Limbaugh, the show was syndicated by Network Indiana and aired weekdays 9 a. m. to noon on 18 stations throughout the state, including WIBC in Indianapolis. From 1995 to 1999, Pence also hosted a political talk show from Indianapolis. In 1988, Pence ran for Congress against Democratic incumbent Phil Sharp and he ran against Sharp again in 1990, quitting his job in order to work full-time in the campaign, but once again was unsuccessful. During the race, Pence used political donations to pay the mortgage on his house, his credit card bill, groceries, golf tournament fees
Mike Pence
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Mike Pence
Mike Pence
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Governor Mike Pence speaking at the 2015
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on February 27, 2015.
Mike Pence
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Mike Pence at the
Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade, 2015
34.
Nikki Haley
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Nimrata Nikki Haley is the 29th and current United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She served as the 116th Governor of South Carolina from January 2011 to January 2017, before her tenure as governor, Haley was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Haley was the first female Governor of South Carolina and the second Indian American, after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal, Haley delivered the official Republican response to President Barack Obamas 2016 State of the Union Address on January 12,2016. In 2016, then-Governor Haley was named among The 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine, Haley was born Nimrata Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina, on January 20,1972, to an Indian American Sikh family. She was always called Nikki, which means one, by her family. Her parents, father Ajit Singh Randhawa and mother Raj Kaur Randhawa, are immigrants from Amritsar District, Punjab and her father had been a professor at Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother had received her law degree from the University of Delhi. Haleys parents immigrated to Canada, after her received a scholarship offer from the University of British Columbia. When her father received his PhD degree in 1969, he moved his family to South Carolina, when Haley was five years old, her parents entered her in the Miss Bamberg contest. The contest traditionally crowned a queen and a white queen. Since the judges decided Haley did not fit either category, they disqualified her, Haley has two brothers, Mitti, a retired member of the United States Army Chemical Corps who served in Desert Storm, and Charan, a web designer. She has one sister, Simran, a radio host and Fashion Institute of Technology alumna, at age 12, Haley began helping with the bookkeeping in her mothers ladies clothing shop. In 1989, Haley graduated from Orangeburg Preparatory Schools and she graduated from Clemson University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. Haley worked for FCR Corporation, a management and recycling company, before joining her mothers business, Exotica International. The family business grew to become a multimillion-dollar company, Haley was named to the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce in 1998. She was named to the board of directors of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003, Haley became treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003 and president in 2004. She chaired the Lexington Gala to raise funds for the local hospital and she also serves on the Lexington Medical Foundation, Lexington County Sheriffs Foundation, and West Metro Republican Women. She is president of the South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and was chair for the 2006 Friends of Scouting Leadership Division campaign and she has spoken at Rotary clubs in South Carolina. In 2004, Haley ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives for a district in Lexington County and she challenged incumbent state Representative Larry Koon in the Republican primary—the real contest in this heavily Republican district
Nikki Haley
–
Her Excellency Nikki Haley
35.
Jiang Zemin
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Jiang has been described as the core of the third generation of Communist Party leaders since 1989. With the waning influence of Eight Elders due to old age and with the death of Deng Xiaoping, Jiang consolidated his hold on power, Jiang has been criticized for being too concerned about his personal image at home, and too conciliatory towards Russia and the United States abroad. His contributions to party doctrine, known as the Three Represents, were written into the constitution in 2002. Jiang vacated the post of party General Secretary in 2002, but did not relinquish all of his titles until 2005. Jiang was born in the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu and his ancestral home was the Jiang Village, Wuyuan County, Jiangxi. This was also the hometown of a number of prominent figures in Chinese academic, Jiang grew up during the years of Japanese occupation. His uncle, also his father, Jiang Shangqing, died fighting the Japanese in World War II and is considered in Jiang Zemins time to be a national hero. He graduated there in 1947 with a degree in electrical engineering. Jiang married Wang Yeping in 1949, also a native of Yangzhou and she graduated from Shanghai International Studies University. They have two sons, Jiang Mianheng and Jiang Miankang and he claims that he joined the Communist Party of China when he was in college. After the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China, Jiang received his training at the Stalin Automobile Works in Moscow in the 1950s and he also worked for Changchuns First Automobile Works. In 1985 he became Mayor of Shanghai, and subsequently the Party Secretary of Shanghai, Jiang received mixed reviews as mayor. Many of his critics dismissed him as a pot, a Chinese term for someone who only seems useful. Many credited Shanghais growth during the period to Zhu Rongji, Jiang was an ardent believer, during this period, in Deng Xiaopings economic reforms. In an attempt to curb student discontent in 1986, Jiang recited the Gettysburg Address in English in front of a group of student protesters, Jiang was described as having a passable command of several foreign languages, including Romanian, Russian, and English. One of his activities was to engage foreign visitors in small talk on arts and literature in their native language. He became friends with Allen Broussard, the African-American judge who visited Shanghai in 1987, in 1989, China was in crisis over the Tiananmen Square protest, and the central government was in conflict on how to handle the protesters. In June, Deng Xiaoping dismissed liberal Zhao Ziyang, who was considered to be too conciliatory toward the student protestors, at the time, Jiang was the Shanghai Party secretary, the top figure in Chinas new economic center
Jiang Zemin
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Jiang visiting the
Russian city of
Saint Petersburg in June 2002.
Jiang Zemin
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Jiang Zemin with
Bill Clinton in 1999.
Jiang Zemin
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Jiang Zemin with wife
Wang Yeping and
George W. Bush with wife
Laura Bush in Crawford, Texas in 2002.
Jiang Zemin
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Jiang Zemin's inscription engraved on a stone in his hometown,
Yangzhou
36.
Bill Clinton
–
William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to the Presidency he was the 40th Governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, before that, he served as Arkansas Attorney General from 1977 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton was ideogically a New Democrat, Clinton is married to Hillary Clinton, who served as United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 and U. S. Senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, and served the Democratic nominee for President in 2016, Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham both earned degrees from Yale Law School, where they met and began dating. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton overhauled the states education system, Clinton was elected President of the United States in 1992, defeating incumbent George H. W. Bush. At age 46, he was the third-youngest president and the first from the Baby Boomer generation, Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history and signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. After failing to pass health care reform, the Democratic House was ousted when the Republican Party won control of the Congress in 1994. Two years later, in 1996, Clinton became the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to be elected to a second term, Clinton passed welfare reform and the State Childrens Health Insurance Program, providing health coverage for millions of children. Clinton was acquitted by the U. S. Senate in 1999, the Congressional Budget Office reported a budget surplus between the years 1998 and 2000, the last three years of Clintons presidency. In foreign policy, Clinton ordered U. S. Clinton left office with the highest end-of-office approval rating of any U. S. President since World War II, since then, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. He created the William J. Clinton Foundation to address international causes, such as the prevention of AIDS, in 2004, Clinton published his autobiography, My Life. In 2009, Clinton was named the United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti, since leaving office, Clinton has been rated highly in public opinion polls of U. S. Presidents. Clinton was born on August 19,1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas and he was the son of William Jefferson Blythe Jr. a traveling salesman who had died in an automobile accident three months before his birth, and Virginia Dell Cassidy. His parents had married on September 4,1943, but this later proved to be bigamous. Soon after their son was born, his mother traveled to New Orleans to study nursing, leaving her son in Hope with her parents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy, who owned and ran a small grocery store. At a time when the Southern United States was segregated racially, in 1950, Bills mother returned from nursing school and married Roger Clinton Sr. who owned an automobile dealership in Hot Springs, Arkansas, with his brother and Earl T. Ricks. The family moved to Hot Springs in 1950, although he immediately assumed use of his stepfathers surname, it was not until Clinton turned fifteen that he formally adopted the surname Clinton as a gesture toward his stepfather. In Hot Springs, Clinton attended St. Johns Catholic Elementary School, Ramble Elementary School, and Hot Springs High School—where he was a student leader, avid reader
Bill Clinton
–
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
–
William Jefferson Blythe III, in 1950 at age four
Bill Clinton
–
Clinton's boyhood home in
Hope, Arkansas
Bill Clinton
–
Clinton ran for President of the
Student Council while attending the School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown University.
37.
Tony Blair
–
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. From 1983 to 2007, Blair was the MP for Sedgefield, under Blairs leadership, the party used the phrase New Labour, to distance it from previous Labour policies and the traditional conception of socialism. Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism, in May 1997, the Labour Party won a landslide general election victory, the largest in its history, allowing Blair, at 43 years old, to become the youngest Prime Minister since 1812. In September 1997, Blair attained early personal popularity, receiving a 93% public approval rating, the Labour Party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory, and in 2005, with a reduced majority. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blairs government introduced the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act, Blairs government also devolved power, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly. In Northern Ireland, Blair was involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Blair has faced strong criticism for his role in the invasion of Iraq, including calls for having him tried for war crimes and waging a war of aggression. In 2016, the Iraq Inquiry strongly criticised his actions and described the invasion of Iraq as unjustified, Blair also intervened militarily in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Blair was succeeded as the leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown in June 2007. On the day that Blair resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East and he now runs a consultancy business and has set up various foundations in his own name, including the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 6 May 1953 and he was the second son of Leo and Hazel Blair. Leo Blair was the son of two entertainers and adopted as a baby by Glasgow shipyard worker James Blair and his wife. Hazel Corscadden was the daughter of George Corscadden, a butcher, in 1923 he returned to Ballyshannon, County Donegal. In Ballyshannon Corscaddens wife, Sarah Margaret, gave birth above the grocery shop to Blairs mother. Blair has one brother, Sir William Blair, a High Court judge. Blairs first home was with his family at Paisley Terrace in the Willowbrae area of Edinburgh, during this period, his father worked as a junior tax inspector whilst also studying for a law degree from the University of Edinburgh. Blairs first relocation was when he was 19 months old, at the end of 1954 Blairs parents and their two sons moved from Paisley Terrace to Adelaide, South Australia. His father lectured in law at the University of Adelaide and it was when in Australia that Blairs sister Sarah was born. The Blairs lived in the suburb of Dulwich close to the university, the family returned to the UK in summer 1958
Tony Blair
–
Blair in January 2014
Tony Blair
–
Blair addressing a crowd in
Armagh in 1998
Tony Blair
–
Tony Blair and
George W. Bush shake hands after their press conference in the East Room of the White House on 12 November 2004.
Tony Blair
–
Jacques Chirac,
George W. Bush, Tony Blair and
Silvio Berlusconi during the G8 Summit in
Évian, June 2003
38.
Jacques Chirac
–
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician, who served as the President of France and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra from 1995 to 2007. Chirac served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976, from 1986 to 1988, Chirac occupied various senior positions, including Minister of Agriculture, Minister of the Interior, Prime Minister, Mayor of Paris, and President of the French Republic. Chiracs internal policies initially included lower tax rates, the removal of controls, strong punishment for crime and terrorism. After pursuing these policies as Prime Minister, Chirac changed his method, Jacques Chirac has emerged as an improbable icon of retro taste and a figure of public affection. On 15 December 2011, the Paris court declared him guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, and gave Chirac a two-year suspended prison sentence. Chirac, born in the Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire clinic, is the son of Abel François Marie Chirac, an executive for an aircraft company, and Marie-Louise Valette. His great grandparents on both sides were peasants, but his two grandfathers were teachers from Sainte-Féréole in Corrèze, according to Chirac, his name originates from the langue doc, that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry. He was educated in Paris at the Cours Hattemer, a private school and he then attended the Lycée Carnot and at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. After his baccalauréat, he served for three months as a sailor on a coal-transporter, Chirac played rugby union for Brives youth team, and also played at university level. He played no.8 and second row, in 1956, he married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, with whom he had two daughters, Laurence and Claude. Chirac is the grandfather of Martin Rey-Chirac by the relationship of Claude with French judoka Thierry Rey, Jacques and Bernadette Chirac also have a foster daughter, Anh Dao Traxel. Inspired by General Charles de Gaulle, Chirac started to pursue a civil career in the 1950s. During this period, he joined the French Communist Party, sold copies of LHumanité, in 1950, he signed the Soviet-inspired Stockholm Appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons – which led him to be questioned when he applied for his first visa to the United States. Chirac trained as a military officer in armoured cavalry at Saumur. He then volunteered to fight in the Algerian War, using connections to be sent despite the reservations of his superiors. His superiors did not want to make him an officer because they suspected he had communist leanings, after leaving the ENA in 1959, he became a civil servant in the Court of Auditors. In April 1962, Chirac was appointed head of the staff of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. This appointment launched Chiracs political career, Pompidou considered Chirac his protégé, and referred to him as my bulldozer for his skill at getting things done
Jacques Chirac
–
Chirac at the
Élysée Palace in June 1999
Jacques Chirac
–
Chirac during his second term as Prime Minister
Jacques Chirac
–
Chirac with
Bill Clinton outside the
Élysée Palace in Paris, June 1999
Jacques Chirac
–
Chirac with German Federal Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder.
39.
Nationalist government
–
The Nationalist government, officially the National Government of the Republic of China, refers to the government of the Republic of China between 1 July 1925 to 20 May 1948, led by the Kuomintang. The name derives from the Kuomintangs translated name Nationalist Party, the government was in place until the Government of the Republic of China under the newly promulgated Constitution of the Republic of China was established in its place. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution on 10 October 1911, revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen was elected Provisional President, to preserve national unity, Sun ceded the presidency to military strongman Yuan Shikai, who established the Beiyang government. After a failed attempt to himself as Emperor of China, Yuan died in 1916, leaving a power vacuum which resulted in China being divided into several warlord fiefdoms. The legitimacy of this transfer is disputed and is another aspect of the political status of Taiwan. After World War II, the war between the ruling Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China resumed, despite attempts at mediation by the United States. The Nationalist Government began drafting the Constitution of the Republic of China under a National Assembly, with the promulgation of the constitution, the Nationalist Government abolished itself and was replaced by the Government of the Republic of China. Following their loss of the Civil War, the Nationalist Government retreated moved their capital to Taiwan while claiming that they were the government of the mainland. After Suns death on 12 March 1925, four later on 1 July 1925. The following year, Chiang Kai-shek became the de facto leader of the KMT, Chiang led the Northern Expedition through China with the intention of defeating the warlords and unifying the country. Chiang received the help of the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communists, however and he was convinced, not without reason, that they wanted to get rid of the KMT and take over. Chiang decided to strike first and purged the Communists, killing thousands of them, at the same time, other violent conflicts took place in the south of China where the Communists fielded superior numbers and were massacring Nationalist supporters. These events eventually led to the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and Communists, Chiang Kai-shek pushed the Communists into the interior as he sought to destroy them, and moved the Nationalist Government to Nanjing in 1927. Leftists within the KMT still allied to the communists had established a rival Nationalist Government in Wuhan two months earlier, but soon joined Chiang in Nanjing in August 1927. By the following year, Chiangs army had captured Beijing after overthrowing the Beiyang government and unified the nation, at least nominally. By 1928, the Nationalists, having taken over power militarily and reunified China, started the second phase, promulgating a provisional constitution, the KMT was criticized as instituting totalitarianism, but claimed it was attempting to establish a modern democratic society. Among others, they created at time the Academia Sinica, the Central Bank of China. In 1932, China sent a team for the first time to the Olympic Games, historians, such as Edmund Fung, argue that establishing a democracy in China at that time was not possible
Nationalist government
–
Organisational chart of the KMT regime (1934).
Nationalist government
–
The
Blue Sky with a White Sun became the state emblem of China after 1928
Nationalist government
–
Headquarters of the Nationalist Government in Nanjing
Nationalist government
–
The NRA during World War II
40.
Chinese Civil War
–
The Chinese Civil War was fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang -led government of the Republic of China, and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China. The civil war began in August 1927, with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-sheks Northern Expedition and it can generally be divided into two stages, the first being from 1927 to 1937, and the second being from 1946 to 1950 with the Second Sino-Japanese War separating them. The war represented a split between the Communist CPC and the KMTs brand of Nationalism. It continued intermittently until late 1937, when the two came together to form the Second United Front to counter the Japanese threat and prevent the country from crumbling. Chinas full-scale civil war resumed in 1946, a year after the end of hostilities with Japan, to this day no armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed, and there is debate about whether the Civil War has legally ended. The ROC mutually claims mainland China, and they continue the fight over diplomatic recognition. The Qing Dynasty, the last of the ruling Chinese dynasties, collapsed in 1911 and finally fell in 1912 with the abdication of the last emperor, Puyi. China fell into what became known as the era, when control of much of the country was divided among a group of powerful independent warlords. Sun Yat-sens efforts to aid from the Western countries were ignored, however. Thus the struggle for power in China began between the KMT and the CPC, in 1923, a joint statement by Sun and Soviet representative Adolph Joffe in Shanghai pledged Soviet assistance for Chinas unification. The Sun-Joffe Manifesto was a declaration of cooperation among the Comintern, KMT, Comintern agent Mikhail Borodin arrived in China in 1923 to aid in the reorganization and consolidation of the KMT along the lines of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The CPC joined the KMT to form the First United Front, in 1923, Sun Yat-sen sent Chiang Kai-shek, one of his lieutenants from his Tongmeng Hui days, for several months of military and political study in Moscow. By 1924 Chiang became the head of the Whampoa Military Academy, the Soviets provided the academy with much educational material, organization and equipment, including munitions. They also provided education in many of the techniques for mass mobilization, with this aid, Sun Yat-sen was able to raise a dedicated army of the party, with which he hoped to defeat the warlords militarily. CPC members were present in the academy, and many of them became instructors, including Zhou Enlai. Communist members were allowed to join the KMT on an individual basis, the CPC itself was still small at the time, having a membership of 300 in 1922 and only 1,500 by 1925. The KMT in 1923 had 50,000 members, however, after Sun died, the KMT split into left- and right-wing movements. KMT members worried that the Soviets were trying to destroy the KMT from inside using the CPC, the CPC then began movements in opposition of the Northern Expedition, passing a resolution against it at a party meeting
Chinese Civil War
–
Clockwise from the top: Communist troops at the
Battle of Siping,
Muslim soldiers of the NRA,
Mao Zedong in the 1930s,
Chiang Kai-shek inspecting soldiers, CCP general
Su Yu investigating the front field shortly before the
Menglianggu Campaign
Chinese Civil War
–
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Commander-in-Chief of the
National Revolutionary Army, emerged from the
Northern Expedition as the leader of the
Republic of China.
Chinese Civil War
–
A Communist leader addressing "Long March" survivors.
Chinese Civil War
–
From left to right: US diplomat
Patrick J. Hurley,
Chiang Ching-kuo,
Chiang Kai-shek,
Chang Ch'ün, Wang Shi Jie (王世杰),
Mao Zedong
41.
Communist Party of China
–
The Communist Party of China is the founding and ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. It was founded in 1921, chiefly by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the CPC is currently the worlds second largest political party with a membership of 88.76 million as of 2016. It also controls the worlds largest armed force, the Peoples Liberation Army, the highest body of the CPC is the National Congress, convened every fifth year. The partys leader holds the offices of General Secretary, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, through these posts the party leader is the countrys paramount leader. The current party leader is Xi Jinping, elected at the 18th National Congress, the CPC is still committed to communist thought and continues to participate in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties each year. The official explanation for Chinas economic reforms is that the country is in the stage of socialism. The planned economy established under Mao Zedong was replaced by the socialist market economy, the CPC has its origins in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, during which radical ideologies like Marxism and anarchism gained traction among Chinese intellectuals. Other influences stemming from the Bolshevik revolution and Marxist theory inspired the Communist Party of China, Li Dazhao was the first leading Chinese intellectual who publicly supported Leninism and world revolution. In contrast to Chen Duxiu, Li did not renounce participation in the affairs of the Republic of China, both of them regarded the October Revolution in Russia as groundbreaking, believing it to herald a new era for oppressed countries everywhere. The CPC was modeled on Vladimir Lenins theory of a vanguard party, Study circles were, according to Cai Hesen, the rudiments. Several study circles were established during the New Culture Movement, the founding National Congress of the CPC was held on 23–31 July 1921. With only 50 members in the beginning of 1921, the CPC organization, while it was originally planned to be held in Shanghai French Concession, police officers interrupted the meeting on 3 July. Because of that, the congress was moved to a tourist boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, only 12 delegates attended the congress, with neither Li nor Chen being able to attend. Chen sent a representative to attend the congress. The resolutions of the called for the establishment of a communist party. The communists dominated the left wing of the KMT, a party organized on Leninist lines, when KMT leader Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, he was succeeded by a rightist, Chiang Kai-shek, who initiated moves to marginalize the position of the communists. Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords, Chiang Kai-shek turned on the communists, ignoring the orders of the Wuhan-based KMT government, he marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by communist militias. Although the communists welcomed Chiangs arrival, he turned on them, Chiangs army then marched on Wuhan, but was prevented from taking the city by CPC General Ye Ting and his troops
Communist Party of China
–
Mao declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949
Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
–
Chinese communists celebrate
Joseph Stalin 's birthday, 1949
Communist Party of China
–
A monument dedicated to Marx (left) and Engels (right) in Shanghai, China
42.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758
–
Four years later, the Chinese Civil War resulted in the Communists in control of mainland China and the Nationalists in control of Taiwan. Additionally, the Republic of China had signed and ratified the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations on April 18,1961, however, by the late 1960s concerns regarding human rights surged, turning the tables of the situation. It was now the ROC government that was becoming increasingly isolated, no important international problems, they added, could be solved without the participation of the Peoples Republic of China. This meant the immediate expulsion of the representatives of the Chiang Kai-shek regime from the seat which it holds in the United Nations. On 17 August 1971, the United States requested that a second item, in the explanatory memorandum accompanying the U. S. request, the U. S. On 22 September 1971 the United States proposed at the UN General Committee that the two items be combined into one item called The Question of China, the proposal was, however, rejected by 12 votes to 9 with 3 abstentions. On 25 September 1971, the first Albanian backed draft resolution, A/L.630, on 29 September 1971, a second draft resolution, A/L.632 and Add. l and 2, sponsored by 22 members including the U. S. On 29 September 1971, a draft resolution, A/L.632 and Add. l and 2. It added, there was only one China, the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan, it added, was an inalienable part of Chinese territory and a province of China which had already been returned to the motherland after the Second World War. It went on to state that the U. S. was plotting to separate Taiwan from China and was attempting to force members of the UN to submit to its will. They declared they would have nothing to do with the UN in such scenarios. Discussion at the Assembly took place at 12 plenary meetings between 18 and 26 October 1971 with 73 member states taking part, during the debates four more draft resolutions were submitted - three by Tunisia and one by Saudi Arabia. Similarly, the Tunisian resolution would have called for the Republic of China government to be represented in the United Nations under the name Formosa. The spokesman of the Republic of China submitted that his country had earned its place in the United Nations by virtue of its contribution to peace and freedom during the Second World War. He said the Chinese communist regime, which had never had the consent of the Chinese people. Rather it concerned only credentials and Taiwan had never been a member and they argued there was only one Chinese state that was a member. Any other Chinese state would have to apply for membership in accordance with the Charter, on 25 October 1971 the voting took place. In the first vote held, the Assembly rejected the U. S. backed proposal that the matter would require a supermajority vote - the important question motion, the Assembly then voted on a separate U. S
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758
–
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758
43.
Political status of Taiwan
–
In 1945, the ROC took control of Formosa, the Pescadores and other nearby islands, under the direction of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. In addition, the situation can be confusing because of the different parties, what a formal declaration of independence would consist of is not clear. Taiwan was first populated by Austronesian people and was colonized by the Dutch, the Kingdom of Tungning, lasting from 1661 to 1683, was the first Han Chinese government to rule on Taiwan. From 1683, the Qing dynasty ruled Taiwan and the Pescadores as Taiwan Prefecture, in 1885 the island was made into a separate Chinese province to speed up development in this region. In the aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan and Penghu were ceded by the Qing dynasty to Japan in 1895. Upon losing the Chinese civil war in 1949, the ROC government retreated to Taipei, the Peoples Republic of China was established in mainland China on 1 October 1949, claiming to be the successor to the ROC. Quemoy, Matsu and Wuqiu on the coast of Fukien, Taiping and Pratas in the South China Sea, are part of the ROCs present territory, some arguments supporting the independence of Taiwan do not apply to these islands. China, during the Qing dynasty, ceded the island of Taiwan, including Penghu, according to the viewpoints of both the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of China, this agreement was given legal force by the Instrument of Surrender of Japan in 1945. The ROC argues that the Treaty of Taipei implicitly transferred sovereignty of Taiwan to it, in addition, the ROCs Foreign Minister Yeh stated that no provision has been made either in the San Francisco Treaty of Peace as to the future of Taiwan and Penghu. On the other hand, a number of supporters of Taiwan independence argue that Taiwan was only incorporated as a Chinese territory under the Qing dynasty in 1683. Subsequently, because of the Shimonoseki Treaty of 1895, Taiwan had been de jure part of Japan when the ROC was established in 1912 and thus was not part of the Chinese republic. Also, because the Cairo Declaration was an unsigned press communiqué, therefore, only a military occupation of Taiwan began on 25 October 1945, and both the Treaty of San Francisco and Treaty of Taipei hold legal supremacy over the surrender instrument. These treaties did not transfer the title of Taiwan from Japan to China, according to this argument, the sovereignty of Taiwan was undetermined when Japan renounced sovereignty of Taiwan in the Treaty of San Francisco in 1951. Except for Taiwan independence supporters, most Taiwanese support the popular sovereignty theory, in fact, former president Chen Shui-bian has been frequently emphasizing the popular sovereignty theory in his speeches. However, as of 2016, the conflict between these two theories still plays a role in internal Taiwanese politics, the popular sovereignty theory, which the Pan-Green Coalition emphasizes, suggests that Taiwan could make fundamental constitutional changes by means of a popular referendum. Kinmen and Matsu Islands on the coast of Fukien, and the islands in the South China Sea administered by the Republic of China on Taiwan were not part of the cession. In 1895, subsequent to the Treaty of Shimonoseki, officials in Taiwan declared independence in the hope of returning the island to Qing rule, the Republic of Taiwan collapsed after 12 days due to political infighting, but local leaders continued resistance in the hope of achieving self-rule. The incoming Japanese crushed the islands independence bid in a five-month campaign, the Qing Dynasty was subsequently overthrown and replaced by the ROC in 1912
Political status of Taiwan
–
Non-partisan Taiwanese political candidate Wu San-lian (2L) celebrated his landslide victory (65.5%) in the first-time
Taipei city mayoral election in January 1951 with his supporters.
Taipei has been the capital of the
Republic of China since December 1949.
Political status of Taiwan
–
According to the
Treaty of Shimonoseki Taiwan was part of Japan at the establishment of the ROC in 1912. The PRC (founded 1 October 1949) argues that the Treaty of Shimonoseki was never valid, saying it was one of several
unequal treaties forced upon the Qing.
Political status of Taiwan
–
A shopping bag produced by an independence-leaning pastry establishment. The address uses "State of Taiwan, Taipei County" (台灣國台北縣) rather than "Taiwan Province" (台灣省) or "Republic of China" (中華民國)
Political status of Taiwan
–
A ROC Map, printed in 1926, which showed Taiwan as part of Japan.
44.
Foreign relations of Taiwan
–
The foreign relations of Taiwan, constitutionally and officially the Republic of China, are the relations between the Republic of China and other countries. The Republic of China is recognized by 20 United Nations member states, the ROC maintains diplomatic relations with those countries, as well as unofficial relations with 57 UN member states via its representative offices and consulates. Those diplomatic relations do not constitute an international acceptance of Taiwan as a state, in 1949, the Nationalists lost the Chinese Civil War in mainland China and retreated to Taiwan. Despite the major loss of territory, the ROC continued to be recognized as the government of China by the UN. In 1971, the UN expelled the ROC and transferred Chinas seat to the Peoples Republic of China, articles 23 and 110 of the United Nations Charter explicitly refer to the Republic of China, but the seat of China is currently occupied by the Peoples Republic of China. The ROC continues to maintain de facto relations, including with most of the non-governmental organizations at the United Nations, article 35th of 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties also applies to the ROC after 1971. The first direct election was held in 1996 and the incumbent President Lee Teng-hui was elected. As of 4 May 2015, ROC nationals are eligible for preferential treatment from 142 countries. In the context of superpower and influential diplomacy, the ROCs traditional and sober allies includes United States of America, Canada, Japan, Australia, the ROCs cultural diplomacy includes the establishment of the Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies in 2012 in major Universities around the world. The ROC is one of the supporters of official development assistance. International Cooperation and Development Fund manages ROCs Foreign Assistance and International Cooperation projects, the Common Strategic Objectives of Joint Statement of the U. S. Improve openness and transparency with respect to China’s military modernization and activities and, strengthen confidence building measures, Taiwans GDP by nominal means is ahead of several G20 economies of global financial governance. Taiwan was annexed from China by Japan in 1895 after the First Sino-Japanese War, in the Northern Expedition, the Nationalists defeated the warlords of the Beiyang clique and established a unified government for China in Nanjing. The United States recognized Nationalist China on 25 July 1928, the first government to do so, the Japanese occupied much of China during World War II. After Japans defeat in 1945, Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China, the Communists gained control of the mainland in 1949 and proclaimed the Peoples Republic of China, while the Nationalists fled to Taiwan. In 1952, Taiwan was ceded by Japan in the Treaty of San Francisco, in September 2016, the MOFA planned to reduce less than 10 ROC diplomatic missions due to the needs to meet the demand of the strategic and diplomatic needs for Taiwan. The 1970s saw a switch in diplomatic recognition from the ROC to the PRC, with countries like the United States, Japan, and Canada making the switch during that decade. In October 1971, Resolution 2758 was passed by the UN General Assembly, expelling the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek, the resolution declared that the representatives of the Government of the Peoples Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations
Foreign relations of Taiwan
–
Building of the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Taipei.
Foreign relations of Taiwan
–
The ROC embassy in
Swaziland.
Foreign relations of Taiwan
–
Due to the limited size of Vatican City, all embassies accredited to the
Holy See are actually located in
Rome, outside the borders of Vatican City. Hence, the Republic of China's embassy to the Holy See is actually located in a country that does not officially recognize the ROC.
Foreign relations of Taiwan
–
President
Chen Shui-bian (far left) attended the
funeral of Pope John Paul II, and as the Holy See's recognized head of state of China, was seated in the first row in alphabetical order beside the first lady and president of Brazil.
45.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26,1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and that evening at 7,32, the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag. Previously, from August to December, all the individual republics, the week before the unions formal dissolution,11 republics signed the Alma-Ata Protocol formally establishing the CIS and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the USSR also signalled the end of the Cold War, some have joined NATO and the European Union. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo on March 11,1985, Gorbachev, aged 54, was the youngest member of the Politburo. His initial goal as general secretary was to revive the Soviet economy, the reforms began with personnel changes of senior Brezhnev-era officials who would impede political and economic change. On April 23,1985, Gorbachev brought two protégés, Yegor Ligachev and Nikolai Ryzhkov, into the Politburo as full members. He kept the power ministries happy by promoting KGB Head Viktor Chebrikov from candidate to full member and this liberalisation, however, fostered nationalist movements and ethnic disputes within the Soviet Union. Under Gorbachevs leadership, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1989 introduced limited competitive elections to a new central legislature, in May 1985, Gorbachev delivered a speech in Leningrad advocating reforms and an anti-alcohol campaign to tackle widespread alcoholism. Prices of vodka, wine, and beer were raised in order to make these drinks more expensive and a disincentive to consumers, unlike most forms of rationing intended to conserve scarce goods, this was done to restrict sales with the overt goal of curtailing drunkenness. Gorbachevs plan also included billboards promoting sobriety, increased penalties for public drunkenness, however, Gorbachev soon faced the same adverse economic reaction to his prohibition as did the last Tsar. The disincentivization of alcohol consumption was a blow to the state budget according to Alexander Yakovlev. Alcohol production migrated to the market, or through moonshining as some made bathtub vodka with homegrown potatoes. The purpose of these reforms, however, was to prop up the centrally planned economy, unlike later reforms. The latter, disparaged as Mr Nyet in the West, had served for 28 years as Minister of Foreign Affairs, gromyko was relegated to the largely ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, as he was considered an old thinker. In the fall of 1985, Gorbachev continued to bring younger, at the next Central Committee meeting on October 15, Tikhonov retired from the Politburo and Talyzin became a candidate. Finally, on December 23,1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party replacing Viktor Grishin, Gorbachev continued to press for greater liberalization. The CTAG Helsinki-86 was founded in July 1986 in the Latvian port town of Liepāja by three workers, Linards Grantiņš, Raimonds Bitenieks, and Mārtiņš Bariss and its name refers to the human-rights statements of the Helsinki Accords
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
–
Tanks at
Red Square during the
1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
–
Mikhail Gorbachev (1987 photo)
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
–
Figure of Liberty on the
Freedom Monument in Riga, focus of 1986 Latvian demonstrations.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
–
The Dawn of Liberty monument in
Almaty (Alma-Ata).
46.
French Fifth Republic
–
The Fifth Republic, Frances current republican system of government, was established by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958. De Gaulle, who was the first president elected under the Fifth Republic in December 1958, believed in a head of state. The Fifth Republic is Frances third-longest political regime, after the hereditary and feudal monarchies of the Ancien Régime, the trigger for the collapse of the French Fourth Republic was the Algiers crisis of 1958. France was still a power, although conflict and revolt had begun the process of decolonization. French West Africa, French Indochina, and French Algeria still sent representatives to the French parliament under systems of limited suffrage in the French Union, Algeria in particular, despite being the colony with the largest French population, saw rising pressure for separation from the Metropole. The situation was complicated by those in Algeria, such as white settlers, the Algerian War was not just a separatist movement but had elements of a civil war. Further complications came when a section of the French Army rebelled, Charles de Gaulle, who had retired from politics a decade before, placed himself in the midst of the crisis, calling on the nation to suspend the government and create a new constitutional system. The Fourth Republic suffered from a lack of consensus, a weak executive. With no party or coalition able to sustain a parliamentary majority, De Gaulle and his supporters proposed a system of strong presidents elected for seven-year terms. The President under the constitution would have executive powers to run the country in consultation with a prime minister whom he would appoint. These plans were approved by more than 80% of those who voted in the referendum of 28 September 1958, the new constitution was signed into law on 4 October 1958. Since each new constitution established a new republic, France moved from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic, the new constitution contained transitional clauses extending the period of rule by decree until the new institutions were operating. René Coty remained President of the Republic until the new president was proclaimed, on 21 December 1958, Charles de Gaulle was elected President of France by an electoral college. The provisional constitutional commission, acting in lieu of the Constitutional Council, the new president began his office on that date, appointing Michel Debré as Prime Minister. The 1958 constitution also replaced the French Union with the French Community,1960 became known as the Year of Africa because of this wave of newly independent states. Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962, the president was initially elected by an electoral college, but in 1962 de Gaulle proposed that the president be directly elected by the citizens, and held a referendum on the change. Although the method and intent of de Gaulle in that referendum were contested by most political groups except for the Gaullists, the Constitutional Council declined to rule on the constitutionality of the referendum. Two major changes occurred in the 1970s regarding constitutional checks and balances, traditionally, France operated according to parliamentary supremacy, no authority was empowered to rule on whether statutes passed by Parliament respected the constitutional rights of the citizens
French Fifth Republic
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Charles de Gaulle 1890–1970 served 1959–1969
French Fifth Republic
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Flag
French Fifth Republic
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Alain Poher 1909–1996 served 1969, 1974 (as interim)
French Fifth Republic
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Georges Pompidou 1911–1974 served 1969–1974
47.
Charles de Gaulle
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Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, in 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era, born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was an officer of the First World War, wounded several times. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions, during the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division which counterattacked the invaders, he was then appointed Under-Secretary for War. Refusing to accept his governments armistice with Nazi Germany, de Gaulle exhorted the French population to resist occupation and he led a government in exile and the Free French Forces against the Axis. Despite frosty relations with Britain and especially the United States, he emerged as the leader of the French resistance. He became Head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, frustrated by the return of petty partisanship in the new Fourth Republic, he resigned in early 1946 but continued to be politically active as founder of the RPF party. He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs, when the Algerian War was ripping apart the unstable Fourth Republic, the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle founded the Fifth Republic with a presidency. He granted independence to Algeria and progressively to other French colonies and he restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence. However, he opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring a Europe of sovereign nations, De Gaulle openly criticised the US intervention in Vietnam and the exorbitant privilege of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for an independent Quebec, De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization. He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, leaving his Presidential memoirs unfinished, many French political parties and figures claim the Gaullist legacy. De Gaulle was ranked as Le Plus Grand Français de tous les temps, De Gaulle was born in the industrial region of Lille in the Nord departement, the third of five children. He was raised in a devoutly Catholic and traditional family and his father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of history and literature at a Jesuit college who eventually founded his own school. Henri de Gaulle came from a line of parliamentary gentry from Normandy and Burgundy. De Gaulles mother, Jeanne, descended from a family of entrepreneurs from Lille
Charles de Gaulle
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Charles de Gaulle in 1961
Charles de Gaulle
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De Gaulle's birth house in
Lille, now a national museum
Charles de Gaulle
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A plaque in
Dinant commemorating the place where Charles de Gaulle, then an infantry lieutenant, was wounded while crossing the
Meuse in 1914
Charles de Gaulle
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Charles de Gaulle (far right) with
Andrew McNaughton,
Władysław Sikorski, and
Winston Churchill
48.
French Community
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The French Community was an association of some states which were once a part of the Second French Empire. During 1958 it replaced the French Union, which had succeeded the French colonial empire during 1946. The constitution of the Fifth Republic, which created the French Community, was a consequence of the war in Algeria, in reality, the colonies had little power, with all power remaining centralized in the French Parliament. This was an attempt to quell the concerns over Algerian independence, however, this did not stop the demands for independence. The 1 million French colonists in Algeria were determined to resist any possible Algerian independence, the trouble, which threatened to become a civil war, provoked a political crisis in France and caused the end of the Fourth Republic. General Charles de Gaulle was recalled to power and a new constitution was written and this attitude was manifest in the new constitution, which provided for the right of the overseas territories to request complete independence. Under this new constitution, the French Union was replaced by the French Community, become a state of the French Community. None of the overseas territories opted to become overseas departments, by early 1959, the members of the French Community were as follows, The French Republic, which was one and indivisible. All the inhabitants were French citizens and participated with the election of the president of the republic and it consisted of, European France, including Corsica. These areas, considered a part of France, were divided into departments,13 in Algeria and 2 in Sahara. All the inhabitants were French citizens, but the Muslims preserved their own juridical status, all sent representatives to the French assemblies and elected municipalities. Their administration and legislation were in principle those of the metropole, the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, with no permanent population, were administered directly from Paris. The member states, which were initially, Central African Republic, although there was only one citizenship of the Community, the territories that became Community member states did not form part of the French Republic, and were granted broad autonomy. They had their own constitutions and could create unions among themselves, agreements of Association could also be made by the Community with other states. Associated with the Community were the United Nations trust territories of French Cameroun and French Togoland, article 91 of the constitution stipulated that the institutions of the Community were to be established by 4 April 1959. These were as follows, The President of the Community was the President of the French Republic, the member states also participated with his election and he was represented in each state by a High Commissioner. During 1958 President de Gaulle was elected by an majority in all the states. To promote autonomy within France, Gaulle gave autonomy to the colonies so that they would stay within the community
French Community
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Flag
49.
List of countries by military expenditures
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This article is a list of countries by military expenditure in a given year. Military expenditure figures are presented in United States dollars based on either constant or current exchange rates and these results can vary greatly from one year to another based on fluctuations in the exchange rates of each countrys currency. Such fluctuations may change a countrys ranking from one year to the next, the 2nd list is based on the 2016 edition of The Military Balance published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies using average market exchange rates
List of countries by military expenditures
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Top ten military expenditures in US$ Bn. in 2014, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies
50.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
United States dollar
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Series of 1917
$1 United States bill
United States dollar
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Federal Reserve Notes
United States dollar
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Spanish silver real or
peso of 1768
United States dollar
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Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President
William McKinley.
China[2]
Republic of China (1945–49) (on the Mainland)
France
Russia
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1945–91)
United Kingdom
United States
Xi Jinping
Emmanuel Macron
Vladimir Putin
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