Bulgaria
Bulgaria the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north and North Macedonia to the west and Turkey to the south, the Black Sea to the east; the capital and largest city is Sofia. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europe's 16th-largest country. One of the earliest societies in the lands of modern-day Bulgaria was the Neolithic Karanovo culture, which dates back to 6,500 BC. In the 6th to 3rd century BC the region was a battleground for Thracians, Persians and ancient Macedonians; the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire lost some of these territories to an invading Bulgar horde in the late 7th century. The Bulgars founded the First Bulgarian Empire in AD 681, which dominated most of the Balkans and influenced Slavic cultures by developing the Cyrillic script; this state lasted until the early 11th century, when Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered and dismantled it. A successful Bulgarian revolt in 1185 established a Second Bulgarian Empire, which reached its apex under Ivan Asen II.
After numerous exhausting wars and feudal strife, the Second Bulgarian Empire disintegrated in 1396 and its territories fell under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 resulted in the formation of the current Third Bulgarian State. Many ethnic Bulgarian populations were left outside its borders, which led to several conflicts with its neighbours and an alliance with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 Bulgaria became part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc; the ruling Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power after the revolutions of 1989 and allowed multi-party elections. Bulgaria transitioned into a democracy and a market-based economy. Since adopting a democratic constitution in 1991, the sovereign state has been a unitary parliamentary republic with a high degree of political and economic centralisation; the population of seven million lives in Sofia and the capital cities of the 27 provinces, the country has suffered significant demographic decline since the late 1980s.
Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe. Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and relies on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. Widespread corruption is a major socioeconomic issue; the name Bulgaria is derived from a tribe of Turkic origin that founded the country. Their name is not understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD, but it is derived from the Proto-Turkic word bulģha and its derivative bulgak; the meaning may be further extended to "rebel", "incite" or "produce a state of disorder", i.e. the "disturbers". Ethnic groups in Inner Asia with phonologically similar names were described in similar terms: during the 4th century, the Buluoji, a component of the "Five Barbarian" groups in Ancient China, were portrayed as both a "mixed race" and "troublemakers". Neanderthal remains dating to around 150,000 years ago, or the Middle Paleolithic, are some of the earliest traces of human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria.
The Karanovo culture arose circa 6,500 BC and was one of several Neolithic societies in the region that thrived on agriculture. The Copper Age Varna culture is credited with inventing gold metallurgy; the associated Varna Necropolis treasure contains the oldest golden jewellery in the world with an approximate age of over 6,000 years. The treasure has been valuable for understanding social hierarchy and stratification in the earliest European societies; the Thracians, one of the three primary ancestral groups of modern Bulgarians, appeared on the Balkan Peninsula some time before the 12th century BC. The Thracians excelled in metallurgy and gave the Greeks the Orphean and Dionysian cults, but remained tribal and stateless; the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered most of present-day Bulgaria in the 6th century BC and retained control over the region until 479 BC. The invasion became a catalyst for Thracian unity, the bulk of their tribes united under king Teres to form the Odrysian kingdom in the 470s BC.
It was weakened and vassalized by Philip II of Macedon in 341 BC, attacked by Celts in the 3rd century, became a province of the Roman Empire in AD 45. By the end of the 1st century AD, Roman governance was established over the entire Balkan Peninsula and Christianity began spreading in the region around the 4th century; the Gothic Bible—the first Germanic language book—was created by Gothic bishop Ulfilas in what is today northern Bulgaria around 381. The region came under Byzantine control after the fall of Rome in 476; the Byzantines were engaged in prolonged warfare against Persia and could not defend their Balkan territories from barbarian incursions. This enabled the Slavs to enter the Balkan Peninsula as marauders through an area between the Danube River and the Balkan Mountains known as Moesia; the interior of the peninsula became a country of the South Slavs, who lived under a democracy. The Slavs assimilated the Hellenized and Gothicized Thracians in the rural areas. Not l
Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland, known in Poland as the September Campaign or the 1939 Defensive War, in Germany as the Poland Campaign, was an invasion of Poland by Germany that marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union; the Soviets invaded Poland on 17 September following the Molotov–Tōgō agreement that terminated the Soviet and Japanese Battles of Khalkhin Gol in the east on 16 September. The campaign ended on 6 October with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland under the terms of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. German forces invaded Poland from the north and west the morning after the Gleiwitz incident. Slovak military forces advanced alongside the Germans in northern Slovakia; as the Wehrmacht advanced, Polish forces withdrew from their forward bases of operation close to the Polish–German border to more established defense lines to the east.
After the mid-September Polish defeat in the Battle of the Bzura, the Germans gained an undisputed advantage. Polish forces withdrew to the southeast where they prepared for a long defence of the Romanian Bridgehead and awaited expected support and relief from France and the United Kingdom. While those two countries had pacts with Poland and had declared war on Germany on 3 September, in the end their aid to Poland was limited. On 17 September, the Soviet Red Army invaded Eastern Poland, the territory that fell into the Soviet "sphere of influence" according to the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Facing a second front, the Polish government concluded the defence of the Romanian Bridgehead was no longer feasible and ordered an emergency evacuation of all troops to neutral Romania. On 6 October, following the Polish defeat at the Battle of Kock and Soviet forces gained full control over Poland; the success of the invasion marked the end of the Second Polish Republic, though Poland never formally surrendered.
On 8 October, after an initial period of military administration, Germany directly annexed western Poland and the former Free City of Danzig and placed the remaining block of territory under the administration of the newly established General Government. The Soviet Union incorporated its newly acquired areas into its constituent Belarusian and Ukrainian republics, started a campaign of Sovietization. In the aftermath of the invasion, a collective of underground resistance organizations formed the Polish Underground State within the territory of the former Polish state. Many of the military exiles that managed to escape Poland subsequently joined the Polish Armed Forces in the West, an armed force loyal to the Polish government-in-exile. On 30 January 1933, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, under its leader Adolf Hitler, came to power in Germany. While the Weimar Republic had long sought to annex territories belonging to Poland, it was Hitler's own idea and not a realization of Weimar plans to invade and partition Poland, annex Bohemia and Austria, create satellite or puppet states economically subordinate to Germany.
As part of this long-term policy, Hitler at first pursued a policy of rapprochement with Poland, trying to improve opinion in Germany, culminating in the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934. Earlier, Hitler's foreign policy worked to weaken ties between Poland and France, attempted to manoeuvre Poland into the Anti-Comintern Pact, forming a cooperative front against the Soviet Union. Poland would be granted territory to its northeast in Ukraine and Belarus if it agreed to wage war against the Soviet Union, but the concessions the Poles were expected to make meant that their homeland would become dependent on Germany, functioning as little more than a client state; the Poles feared that their independence would be threatened altogether. How can they demand the rights of independent states?"The population of the Free City of Danzig was in favour of annexation by Germany, as were many of the ethnic German inhabitants of the Polish territory that separated the German exclave of East Prussia from the rest of the Reich.
The so-called Polish Corridor constituted land long disputed by Poland and Germany, inhabited by a Polish majority. The Corridor had become a part of Poland after the Treaty of Versailles. Many Germans wanted the urban port city of Danzig and its environs to be reincorporated into Germany. Danzig city had a German majority, had been separated from Germany after Versailles and made into the nominally independent Free City. Hitler sought to use this as casus belli, a reason for war, reverse the post-1918 territorial losses, on many occasions had appealed to German nationalism, promising to "liberate" the German minority still in the Corridor, as well as Danzig; the invasion was referred to by Germany as the 1939 Defensive War since Hitler proclaimed that Poland had attacked Germany and that "Germans in Poland are persecuted with a bloody terror and are driven from their homes. The series of border violations, which are unbearable to a great power, prove that the Poles no longer are willing to respect the German frontier."Poland participated with Germany in the partition of Czechoslovakia that followed the Munich Agreement, although they were not part of the agreement.
It coerced Czechoslovakia to surrender the region of Český Těšín by issuing an ultimatum to that effect
Military Museum's Manege
The Military Museum’s Manege, located in Suomenlinna sea fortress, is a Russian artillery storage built in 1880-1881. In 2012 a new exhibition From Autonomy to Atalanta was opened in the Manege; the new exhibition covers Finnish military history from early 19th century to the present day. Although most of the exhibition consists of World War II history, there is some information about earlier centuries. In 2018 a new exhibition "Finnish Defence Forces - 100 years at war and peace" was opened in the Manege; the building was opened as a museum in 1989 and there are 40 000 visitors annually from all over the world. The museum is open 9.5.2018–30.9.2019 every day 11AM-6PM. The Manege was built in a time when Finland was still part of the Russian Empire; some architectural plans had been made in 1875 but they were however rejected. Three years architect Greifon’s plan was considered the best alternative; the Manege was built using brick and floor was made of clay. Floor was re-constructed however in 1908 by using concrete as building material.
Between the entrances on both ends of the building is a large hall. There were heating ovens next to the entrances. Russians used the building as artillery storage but there was a possibility for soldiers to train gymnastics in the main hall. In the beginning of 1890s places for an orchestra, a stage and dressing rooms for both women and men were built in the end of the main hall; the Manege was suitable for many different purposes, but despite its name it was neved used as a riding hall. After Finland gained its independence in 1917 the command of Suomenlinna sea fortress transferred from Russia to Finland. Soon after becoming independent Finland fell into Civil War. During and after the Civil War, Suomenlinna sea fortress had camps for red side´s prisoners of war. However, during the war the Manege served as workshop. After the Civil War the Manege has served as storage facility for the Finnish Navy and from 1974 onwards for the Military Museum. Anyhow, the main hall has served as a movie theatre and during the Continuation War it was used as a basketball court.
The Manege was chosen to become a museum after The Military Museum received a permission from the government to open exhibitions again in Suomenlinna in 1975. Many residents of the sea fortress were suspicious about this at first because they feared the Military Museum would use residential buildings as exhibition space; the residents feared that the Naval Museum, closed in 1963, would be re-established in Suomenlinna. This however never occurred and the renovation of the Manege was carried out in 1986-1987. During the renovation, the heating ovens were removed and the floor was reconstructed. There have been several different exhibitions during the years in the Manege and the ongoing From Autonomy to Atalanta-exhibition covers Finnish military history from early 19th century until the present day; the Military Museum has arranged special exhibitions in the Manege, for example the Submarine Vesikko-exhibition in the summer of 2011. From Autonomy to Atalanta-exhibition is situated in the main hall of the Manege.
The exhibition consists of three parts: on the left side of the main hall is information about the Finnish military history and the development of Finnish Defence Forces. Different kinds of military uniforms from the 1800s until modern times are showcased on the right side of the main hall. In the middle visitors can explore bigger artifacts, such as cannons. During the years the content of exhibitions has varied. However, a signal dugout and British Vickers-Armstrong tank, used in Winter and Continuation Wars, have been a permanent part of the exhibitions in the Manege; the artifacts on display in From Autonomy to Atalanta- exhibition vary in branch: anti-aircraft defense is represented with an RMB anti-aircraft gun, field artillery with a 76K/02 cannon and Navy with a Soviet T-46 torpedo and a Somali pirate boat, taken over by minelayer Pohjanmaa during the Atalanta-operation. The relevance of supply in warfare is demonstrated with a field kitchen unit moved by horses, as well as with an American Ford V8-truck.
One of the exhibition´s rarities is the torpedo tube from a Finnish S2-torpedo boat. The tube has been in the bottom of the Baltic Sea twice; the tube is from Imperial Russia´s torpedo boat Bditelnyi, which sank after hitting a sea mine in November 1917. The tube was lifted from the sea by the Finnish army and put to a S2-torpedo boat, belonging to the Finnish Navy. In October 1925 the S2-torpedo boat sank near Reposaari; the tube was again lifted up in the next year and it became a part of the Military Museum's collection in 1930. Finnish Defence Forces – 100 years at the war and peace -exhibition was opened in 2018; the exhibition portrays the wars Finland has fought during its independence: the Civil was 1918, the Winter War in 1939-1940, the Continuation War in 1941-1944 and the Lapland War in 1944-1945. The exhibition continues in the adjacent building, telling the story of Finnish Defence Forces in the post-war period up to the present day Härö, Mikko. Varuskunnasta maailmanperinnöksi – Suomenlinnan itsenäisyysajan vaiheet.
Suomenlinna ry, Uudenkaupungin Sanomat Oy. https://sotamuseo.fi/en/frontpage
Poland
Poland the Republic of Poland, is a country located in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, covering an area of 312,696 square kilometres, has a temperate seasonal climate. With a population of 38.5 million people, Poland is the sixth most populous member state of the European Union. Poland's capital and largest metropolis is Warsaw. Other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Szczecin. Poland is bordered by the Baltic Sea, Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania to the north and Ukraine to the east and Czech Republic, to the south, Germany to the west; the establishment of the Polish state can be traced back to AD 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of the realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, in 1569 it cemented its longstanding political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin; this union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system which adopted Europe's first written national constitution, the Constitution of 3 May 1791.
More than a century after the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Germany, followed by the Soviet Union invading Poland in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. More than six million Polish citizens, including 90% of the country's Jews, perished in the war. In 1947, the Polish People's Republic was established as a satellite state under Soviet influence. In the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1989, most notably through the emergence of the Solidarity movement, Poland reestablished itself as a presidential democratic republic. Poland is regional power, it has the fifth largest economy by GDP in the European Union and one of the most dynamic economies in the world achieving a high rank on the Human Development Index. Additionally, the Polish Stock Exchange in Warsaw is the largest and most important in Central Europe. Poland is a developed country, which maintains a high-income economy along with high standards of living, life quality, safety and economic freedom.
Having a developed school educational system, the country provides free university education, state-funded social security, a universal health care system for all citizens. Poland has 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Poland is a member state of the European Union, the Schengen Area, the United Nations, NATO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative, the Visegrád Group; the origin of the name "Poland" derives from the West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta river basin of the historic Greater Poland region starting in the 6th century. The origin of the name "Polanie" itself derives from the early Slavic word "pole". In some languages, such as Hungarian, Lithuanian and Turkish, the exonym for Poland is Lechites, which derives from the name of a semi-legendary ruler of Polans, Lech I. Early Bronze Age in Poland begun around 2400 BC, while the Iron Age commenced in 750 BC. During this time, the Lusatian culture, spanning both the Bronze and Iron Ages, became prominent; the most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, around 700 BC.
Throughout the Antiquity period, many distinct ancient ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland in an era that dates from about 400 BC to 500 AD. These groups are identified as Celtic, Slavic and Germanic tribes. Recent archeological findings in the Kujawy region, confirmed the presence of the Roman Legions on the territory of Poland; these were most expeditionary missions sent out to protect the amber trade. The exact time and routes of the original migration and settlement of Slavic peoples lacks written records and can only be defined as fragmented; the Slavic tribes who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. Up until the creation of Mieszko's state and his subsequent conversion to Christianity in 966 AD, the main religion of Slavic tribes that inhabited the geographical area of present-day Poland was Slavic paganism. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the religious authority of the Roman Church.
However, the transition from paganism was not a smooth and instantaneous process for the rest of the population as evident from the pagan reaction of the 1030s. Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first documented ruler, Mieszko I, accepted Christianity with the Baptism of Poland in 966, as the new official religion of his subjects; the bulk of the population converted in the course of the next few centuries. In 1000, Boleslaw the Brave, continuing the policy of his father Mieszko, held a Congress of Gniezno and created the metropolis of Gniezno and the dioceses of Kraków, Kołobrzeg, Wrocław. However, the pagan unrest led to the transfer of the capital to Kraków in 1038 by Casimir I the Restorer. In 1109, Prince Bolesław III Wrymouth defeated the King of Germany Henry V at the Battle of Hundsfeld, stopping the Ge
QF 2-pounder naval gun
The 2-pounder gun designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 40-millimetre British autocannon, used as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound; this QF 2-pounder was not the same gun as the Ordnance QF 2 pounder, used by the British Army as an anti-tank gun and a tank gun, although they both fired 2 pounds, 40 millimetres projectiles. The first gun to be called a pom-pom was the 37 mm Nordenfelt-Maxim or "QF 1-pounder" introduced during the Second Boer War, the smallest artillery piece of that war, it fired a shell one pound in weight over a distance of 3,000 yd. The barrel was water-cooled, the shells were belt-fed from a 25-round fabric belt; the Boers used them against the British, seeing their utility, had the design copied by Vickers, who were producing Maxim guns. During the First World War, it was used in the trenches of the Western Front against aircraft; the first naval pom-pom was the QF 1.5-pdr Mark I, a piece with a calibre of 37 mm and a barrel 43 calibres long.
This was trialed in the Arethusa-class light cruisers HMS Arethusa and Undaunted, but did not enter full service, being replaced instead by a larger weapon, the QF 2-pdr Mark II. The QF 2-pounder Mark II was a scaled-up version of the QF 1 pounder Maxim gun produced by Vickers, it was a 40 mm calibre gun with a Vickers-Maxim mechanism. It was ordered in 1915 by the Royal Navy as an anti-aircraft weapon for ships of cruiser size and below; the original models fired from hand-loaded fabric belts, although these were replaced by steel-link belts. This "scaling-up" process was not successful, as it left the mechanism rather light and prone to faults such as rounds falling out of the belts. In 1918, one example of this weapon was experimentally mounted on the upper envelope of His Majesty's Airship 23r. Surviving weapons were brought out of storage to see service in World War II on board ships such as naval trawlers, Motor Boats and "armed yachts", it was used exclusively in the single-barrel, unpowered pedestal mountings P Mark II except for a small number of weapons on the mounting Mark XV, a twin-barreled, powered mount.
These were too heavy to be of any use at sea, were therefore mounted ashore. All were scrapped by 1944. Calibre: 40 mm L/39 Total length: 96 inches. Length of bore: 62 inches Rifling: Polygroove, plain section, 54.84 inches, uniform twist 1 in 30 inch, 12 grooves. Weight of gun & breech assembly: 527 lb Shell Weight: 2 lb. HE. Rate of Fire: 200 rpm Effective Range: 1,200 yd Muzzle Velocity: 1920 ft/s Some 7,000 guns were made; the gun was used by the Japanese as the 40 mm/62 "HI" Shiki. The Regia Marina used it from the Great War throughout World War II, although it was superseded in the 1930s as a primary AA weapon on Italian warships by more modern guns such as the Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54; the Royal Navy had identified the need for a rapid-firing, multi-barrelled close-range anti-aircraft weapon at an early stage. Design work for such a weapon began in 1923 based on the earlier Mark II, undoubtedly to utilise the enormous stocks of 2-pounder ammunition left over from the First World War.
Lack of funding led to a convoluted and drawn-out design and trials history, it was not until 1930 that these weapons began to enter service. Known as the QF 2-pounder Mark VIII, it is referred to as the multiple pom-pom; the initial mounting was the 11.8 to 17.35 ton, eight-barrelled mounting Mark V, suitable for ships of cruiser and aircraft carrier size upward. From 1935, the quadruple mounting Mark VII half a Mark V or VI, entered service for ships of destroyer and cruiser size; these multiple gun mounts required four different guns and were nicknamed the "Chicago Piano". The mount had two rows each of four guns. Guns were produced in both right- and left-hand and "inner" and "outer" so that the feed and ejector mechanisms matched. Single-barrelled mounts, the Mark VIII and Mark XVI, were widely used in small escorts and coastal craft; the Mark XVI mounting was related to the twin mounting Mark V for the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon and the "Boffin" mounting for the Bofors 40 mm gun. An interesting feature was the large magazine, from 140 rounds per gun for the eight-barrelled mount, to 56 rounds for the single mounts.
This large ammunition capacity gave the eight-barrelled mount the ability to fire continuously for 73 seconds without reloading. A high velocity, 1.8 lb. round was developed for the pom-pom, just prior to World War II, which raised the new gun muzzle velocity from 2,040 ft/s to 2400 ft/s. Many older mountings were modified with conversion kits to fire HV ammunition, while most newly manufactured mounts were factory built to fire HV ammunition. A mount modified or designed for HV ammunition was given a'*' designation; the United States Navy considered adopting the pom-pom gun prior to its entry into the Second World War, conducted a series of trials between their own 1.1" gun, the U. S. Army 37 mm Gun, the Vickers 40 mm pom-pom, the Bofors 40 mm: Among the machine guns under consideration were the Army's 37-mm and the British Navy's 2-pounder, more known as the "pompom." The decision soon narrowed to a choice between the British gun. The British were
Bolivia
Bolivia the Plurinational State of Bolivia is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. The capital is Sucre; the largest city and principal industrial center is Santa Cruz de la Sierra, located on the Llanos Orientales a flat region in the east of Bolivia. The sovereign state of Bolivia is a constitutionally unitary state, divided into nine departments, its geography varies from the peaks of the Andes in the West, to the Eastern Lowlands, situated within the Amazon Basin. It is bordered to the north and east by Brazil, to the southeast by Paraguay, to the south by Argentina, to the southwest by Chile, to the northwest by Peru. One-third of the country is within the Andean mountain range. With 1,098,581 km2 of area, Bolivia is the fifth largest country in South America, the 27th largest in the world and the largest landlocked country in the Southern Hemisphere; the country's population, estimated at 11 million, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans and Africans.
The racial and social segregation that arose from Spanish colonialism has continued to the modern era. Spanish is the official and predominant language, although 36 indigenous languages have official status, of which the most spoken are Guarani and Quechua languages. Before Spanish colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was part of the Inca Empire, while the northern and eastern lowlands were inhabited by independent tribes. Spanish conquistadors arriving from Cuzco and Asunción took control of the region in the 16th century. During the Spanish colonial period Bolivia was administered by the Royal Audiencia of Charcas. Spain built its empire in large part upon the silver, extracted from Bolivia's mines. After the first call for independence in 1809, 16 years of war followed before the establishment of the Republic, named for Simón Bolívar. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th century Bolivia lost control of several peripheral territories to neighboring countries including the seizure of its coastline by Chile in 1879.
Bolivia remained politically stable until 1971, when Hugo Banzer led a coup d'état which replaced the socialist government of Juan José Torres with a military dictatorship headed by Banzer. Banzer's regime cracked down on leftist and socialist opposition and other forms of dissent, resulting in the torture and deaths of a number of Bolivian citizens. Banzer was ousted in 1978 and returned as the democratically elected president of Bolivia from 1997 to 2001. Modern Bolivia is a charter member of the UN, IMF, NAM, OAS, ACTO, Bank of the South, ALBA and USAN. For over a decade Bolivia has had one of the highest economic growth rates in Latin America, it is a developing country, with a medium ranking in the Human Development Index, a poverty level of 38.6%, one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America. Its main economic activities include agriculture, fishing and manufacturing goods such as textiles, refined metals, refined petroleum. Bolivia is rich in minerals, including tin and lithium. Bolivia is named after Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan leader in the Spanish American wars of independence.
The leader of Venezuela, Antonio José de Sucre, had been given the option by Bolívar to either unite Charcas with the newly formed Republic of Peru, to unite with the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, or to formally declare its independence from Spain as a wholly independent state. Sucre opted to create a brand new state and on 6 August 1825, with local support, named it in honor of Simón Bolívar; the original name was Republic of Bolívar. Some days congressman Manuel Martín Cruz proposed: "If from Romulus comes Rome from Bolívar comes Bolivia"; the name was approved by the Republic on 3 October 1825. In 2009, a new constitution changed the country's official name to "Plurinational State of Bolivia" in recognition of the multi-ethnic nature of the country and the enhanced position of Bolivia's indigenous peoples under the new constitution; the region now known as Bolivia had been occupied for over 2,500 years. However, present-day Aymara associate themselves with the ancient civilization of the Tiwanaku culture which had its capital at Tiwanaku, in Western Bolivia.
The capital city of Tiwanaku dates from as early as 1500 BC when it was a small, agriculturally based village. The community grew to urban proportions between AD 600 and AD 800, becoming an important regional power in the southern Andes. According to early estimates, the city covered 6.5 square kilometers at its maximum extent and had between 15,000 and 30,000 inhabitants. In 1996 satellite imaging was used to map the extent of fossilized suka kollus across the three primary valleys of Tiwanaku, arriving at population-carrying capacity estimates of anywhere between 285,000 and 1,482,000 people. Around AD 400, Tiwanaku went from being a locally dominant force to a predatory state. Tiwanaku expanded its reaches into the Yungas and brought its culture and way of life to many other cultures in Peru and Chile. Tiwanaku was not a violent culture in many respects. In order to expand its reach, Tiwanaku exercised great political astuteness, creating colonies, fostering trade agree
Bogie
A bogie is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain attached or be detachable. While bogie is the preferred spelling and first-listed variant in various dictionaries and bogy are used. A bogie in the UK, or a railroad truck, wheel truck, or truck in North America, is a structure underneath a railway vehicle to which axles are attached through bearings. In Indian English, bogie may refer to an entire railway carriage. In South Africa, the term bogie is alternatively used to refer to a freight or goods wagon; the first standard gauge British railway to build coaches with bogies, instead of rigidly mounted axles, was the Midland Railway in 1874. Bogies serve a number of purposes: Support of the rail vehicle body Stability on both straight and curved track Improve ride quality by absorbing vibration and minimizing the impact of centrifugal forces when the train runs on curves at high speed Minimizing generation of track irregularities and rail abrasionUsually, two bogies are fitted to each carriage, wagon or locomotive, one at each end.
Another configuration is used in articulated vehicles, which places the bogies under the connection between the carriages or wagons. Most bogies have two axles. Heavy-duty cars may have more than two bogies using span bolsters to equalize the load and connect the bogies to the cars; the train floor is at a level above the bogies, but the floor of the car may be lower between bogies, such as for a bilevel rail car to increase interior space while staying within height restrictions, or in easy-access, stepless-entry, low-floor trains. Key components of a bogie include: The bogie frame: This can be of inside frame type where the main frame and bearings are between the wheels, or of outside frame type where the main frame and bearings are outside the wheels. Suspension to absorb shocks between the bogie frame and the rail vehicle body. Common types are coil springs and rubber airbags. At least one wheelset, composed of an axle with bearings and a wheel at each end; the bolster, the main crossmember, connected to the bogie frame through the secondary suspension.
The railway car is supported at the pivot point on the bolster. Axle box suspensions absorb shocks between the bogie frame; the axle box suspension consists of a spring between the bogie frame and axle bearings to permit up-and-down movement, sliders to prevent lateral movement. A more modern design uses solid rubber springs. Brake equipment: Two main types are used: brake shoes that are pressed against the tread of the wheel, disc brakes and pads. In powered vehicles, some form of transmission electrically powered traction motors or a hydraulically powered torque converter; the connections of the bogie with the rail vehicle allow a certain degree of rotational movement around a vertical axis pivot, with side bearers preventing excessive movement. More modern, bolsterless bogie designs omit these features, instead taking advantage of the sideways movement of the suspension to permit rotational movement; the Commonwealth bogie was manufactured by the English Steel Corporation under licence from the Commonwealth Steel Company in Illinois, United States.
Fitted with SKF or Timken bearings, it was introduced in the late 1950s for all BR Mark 1 vehicles. It was a heavy, cast-steel design weighing about 6.5 long tons, with sealed roller bearings on the axle ends, avoiding the need to maintain axle box oil levels. The leaf springs were replaced by coil springs running vertically rather than horizontally; the advanced design gave a better ride quality than the BR1. The side frame of the bogie was of bar construction, with simple horn guides attached, allowing the axle boxes vertical movements between them; the axle boxes had a cast-steel equaliser bar resting on them. The bar had two steel coil springs placed on it and the bogie frame rested on the springs; the effect was to allow the bar to act as a compensating lever between the two axles and to use both springs to soften shocks from either axle. The bogie had a conventional bolster suspension with swing links carrying a spring plank; the B4 bogie was introduced in 1963. It was a fabricated steel design versus cast iron and was lighter than the Commonwealth, weighing in at 5 long tons.
It had a speed rating of 100 mph. Axle to spring connection was again fitted with roller bearings. However, now two coil springs. Only a small number of Mark 1 stock was fitted with the B4 bogie from new, it being used on the Mark 1 only to replace worn BR1 bogies; the British Rail Mark 2 coach, carried the B4 bogies from new. A heavier-duty version, the B5, was standard on Southern Region Mk1-based EMUs from the 1960s onwards; some Mark 1 catering cars had mixed bogies—a B5 under the kitchen end, a B4 under the seating
Bolivia – used one twin-turret tank Type A and two single-turret tanks Type B. The Bolivian Vickers tanks were the first to see combat service, also the first tanks to see combat in the Americas—in 1933 they were used in the Chaco War against Paraguay. All of them were destroyed or captured by Paraguayan forces. See Tank warfare in the Chaco War.
Kingdom of Bulgaria – bought 8 single-turret Mk.E Type B tanks, used by the 3rd armoured company.[7]
Republic of China – used 20 single-turret tanks Vickers Mk.E Type B, they were used in combat against the Japanese in Shanghai in 1937.[8]
Finland – used 33 tanks since 1938 (including an evaluation tank). They were bought unarmed, without optics and radios; some were armed with a short-barreled 37 mm Puteaux gun and later equipped with a 37 mm Bofors anti-tank gun as their main gun with a coaxial turret MG and a "tank SMG" in bow plate. They were used in the Winter War with the USSR. After this war, the Finns rearmed Mark E tanks with captured Soviet long 45 mm guns and DT MGs as used in the T-26; the Finns designated the rebuilt Vickers tanks logically as: T-26E. They were used in combat from 1941–44 and remained in service as training tanks until 1959.
Nazi Germany – captured from Poland, some converted to self-propelled guns.
Kingdom of Greece – 1 type A and 1 type B for tests, acquired in 1931. Along with 2 Carden-Loyd Tankettes formed the first armoured battalion of the Hellenic Army, but were mostly used for training.
Kingdom of Italy – The Italians, after suffering losses from Republican T-26s during the Battle of Guadalajara, captured some of these tanks which served as a model for their M11/39 and M13/40 light/medium tanks.
Empire of Japan – The Imperial Japanese Army imported 1 Type A tank to research in 1930. The Imperial Japanese Army evaluated the design and developed the Type 95 Ha-Go.
Paraguay – One double-turret Vickers Mk.E Type A tank captured from Bolivia, later used as monument, returned to Bolivia in 1994.
Second Polish Republic – used 38 tanks since 1932: 22 Type B and 16 Type A tanks. Polish tanks had large air intakes behind the crew compartment as a significant feature. Poland also bought a license and developed an own improved model 7TP. Vickers Mk.E (Vickers E) tanks fought in the invasion of Poland.
Portugal – 2 tanks for tests
Soviet Union – the first buyer of Vickers Mk.E tanks. In 1931 bought 15 twin-turret tanks Mk.E Type A, and a license; the Soviets next started building and developing own improved tanks T-26 (about 12 000 made).
Spanish Republic – one ex-Bolivian single-turret Vickers Mk.E Type B tank bought from Paraguay, and a number of Soviet-made T-26.
Thailand (formerly Siam) – used 30 Vickers Mk.E Type B, which saw combat during the French-Thai War in French Indochina.
Turkey – used 16 Type A tanks since 1940.[9]
United Kingdom – used only 4 tanks for training.
