Early history.

Numerous lake-side settlements from the Neolithic and Bronze Age have been found, such as those in the Zürich Pressehaus and Zürich Mozartstrasse. The settlements were found in the 1800s, submerged in Lake Zürich. Located on the then swamp land between the Limmat and Lake Zürich around Sechseläutzenplatz on small islands and peninsulas in Zürich, Prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zürich were set on piles to protect against occasional flooding by the Linth and Jona. Zürich–Enge Alpenquai is located on Lake Zürich lakeshore in Enge, a locality of the municipality of Zürich. It was neighbored by the settlements at Kleiner Hafner and Grosser Hafner on a then peninsula respectively island in the effluence of the Limmat, within an area of about in the city of Zürich. As well as being part of the 56 Swiss sites of the UNESCO Worl Heritage Site "Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps", the settlement is also listed in the Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional significance as a "Class object". In 2004, traces of a previously unknown pre-Roman Celtic (La Tène culture) settlement were discovered, the center of which lay on the Lindenhof hill respectively the area around the Münsterhof square besides the Limmat. The Celtic Helvetians had a settlement when they were succeeded by the Romans, who established a custom station here for goods going to and coming from Italy. At the later Vicus "Turicum", probably in the first 1st century BC or even much earlier, the Celts settled at the Lindenhof Oppidium. In 1890, so-called "Potin lumps" were found, whose largest weights at the Prehistoric pile dwelling settlement "Alpenquai". The pieces consist of a large number of fused Celtic coins, which are mixed with charcoal remnants. Some of the 18,000 coins originate from the "Eastern Gaul", others are of the "Zürich" type, that were assigned to the local "Helvetii", which date to around 100 BC. There's also an island sanctuary of the Helvetii in connection with the settlement at the preceding Oppidi Uetliberg on the former "Grosser Hafner" island. at the "Sechseläutenplatz" on the effluence of the Limmat on Lake Zürich lake shore. The Roman Vicus "Turicum" first belonged to the province of Gallia Belgica, and to Germania superior from AD 90. Following Constantine's reform of the Empire in 318, the border between the praetorian prefectures of Gaul and Italy was just east of Turicum crossing the Linth between Lake Zürich and Walensee. Roman Turicum was not fortified, but there was a small garrison at the tax-collecting point, set up not exactly on the border, but downstream of Lake Zürich, where the goods entering Gaul were loaded onto larger ships. South of the castle, at the location of the St. Peter church, there was a temple to Jupiter. The earliest record of the town's name is preserved on a 2nd-century tombstone found in the 18th century on Lindenhof, referring to the Roman castle as "STA(tio) TUR(i)CEN(sis)".  Christianity was introduced early in the 3rd century by Felix and Regula, with whom Exuperantius was afterwards associated. According to legend, Felix and Regula were executed at the location of the Wasserkirche in 286.  The Alamanni settled in the Swiss plateau from the 5th century, but the Roman castle persisted into the 7th century. The earliest manuscript mention of the settlement, as "castellum turegum", describes the mission of Columban in 610. An 8th-century list of toponyms from Ravenna mentions "Ziurichi". There is a legendary account of an Alamannic duke "Uotila" residing on, and giving his name to, the Uetliberg.  A female who died in about 200 B.C found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl. Archaeologists revealed that she was approximately 40 years old when she died and likely carried out little physical labor when she was alive. A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf and a pendant made of glass and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.

Holy Roman Empire.

Zürich was part of Frankish-ruled Alemannia from 746, following the blood court at Cannstatt, lying in the "Turgowe" (Thurgau) dominated by Konstanz.  A Carolingian castle, built on the site of the now ruined Roman castle by the grandson of Charlemagne, Louis the German, is mentioned in 835 (""in castro Turicino iuxta fluvium Lindemaci""). Louis also founded the Fraumünster abbey on 21 July 853 for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zürich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority.  In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.  Zürich became "reichsunmittelbar" (direct control of the emperor) in 1218 with the extinction of the main line of the Zähringer family. A city wall was built during the 1230s, enclosing 38 hectares (about 94 acres). The Bahnhofstrasse marks the course of the western moat. The earliest citizens' stone houses at the Rennweg date to this period, using the dilapidated Carolingian castle as a quarry.  Emperor Frederick II promoted the abbess of the Fraumünster to the rank of a duchess in 1234. The abbess assigned the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. However, the political power of the convent slowly waned in the fourteenth century, beginning with the establishment of the "Zunftordnung" (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not assigned by the abbess.  From this time, the city increasingly came under the domination of the "Zünfte", a process only fully completed in the 16th century with the suspension of the monasteries following the reformation. Predigerkirche was built in 1231 AD as a Romanesque church of the then Dominican "Predigerkloster" nearby the Neumarkt and the city's hospital. As the other convents in Zürich, it was abolished after the Reformation in Switzerland.  The Codex Manesse, a major source of medieval German poetry, was written and illustrated in the early 14th century in Zürich.  The Frankish kings had special rights over their tenants, were the protectors of the two churches, and had jurisdiction over the free community. In. 870 the sovereign placed his powers over all four in the hands of a single official (the Reichsvogt), and the union was still further strengthened by the wall built round the four settlements in the 10th century as a safeguard against Saracen marauders and feudal barons.  The Reichsvogtei passed to the counts of Lenzburg (1063–1173), and then to the dukes of Zahringen (extinct 1218). Meanwhile, the abbess of the Benedictine Frau Münster had been acquiring extensive rights and privileges over all the inhabitants, though she never obtained the criminal jurisdiction. The town flourished greatly in the 12th and 13th centuries, the silk trade being introduced from Italy.  In 1218 the Reichsvogtei passed back into the hands of the king, who appointed one of the burghers as his deputy, the town thus becoming a free imperial city under the nominal rule of a distant sovereign. The abbess in 1234 became a princess of the empire, but power rapidly passed from her to the council which she had originally named to look after police, but which came to be elected by the burghers, though the abess was still the lady of Zürich.  This council (all powerful since 1304) was made up of the representatives of certain knightly and rich mercantile families (the patricians), who excluded the craftsmen from all share in the government, though it was to these last that the town was largely indebted for its rising wealth and importance.

Old Swiss Confederacy.

In October 1291 the town made an alliance with Uri and Schwyz, and in 1292 failed in a desperate attempt to seize the Habsburg town of Winterthur. After that Zürich began to display strong Austrian leanings, which characterize much of its later history. In 1315 the men of Zürich fought against the Swiss Confederates at the Battle of Morgarten.  The year 1336 marks the admission of the craftsmen to a share in the town government, which was brought about by Rudolf Brun, a patrician. Under the new constitution (the main features of which lasted till 1798) the Little Council was made up of the burgomaster and thirteen members from the "Constafel" (which included the old patricians and the wealthiest burghers) and the thirteen masters of the craft guilds, each of the twenty-six holding office for six months.  The Great Council of 200 (really 212) members consisted of the Little Council, plus 78 representatives each of the Constafel and of the guilds, besides 3 members named by the burgomaster. The office of burgomaster was created and given to Brun for life. Out of this change arose a quarrel with one of the branches of the Habsburg family, in consequence of which Brun was induced to throw in the lot of Zürich with the Swiss Confederation (May 1351).  The double position of Zürich as a free imperial city and as a member of the Everlasting League was soon found to be embarrassing to both parties. In 1373 and again in 1393 the powers of the Constafel were limited and the majority in the executive secured to the craftsmen, who could then aspire to the burgomastership. Meanwhile, the town had been extending its rule far beyond its walls, a process which began in the 14th, and attained its height in the 15th century (1362–1467). Zürich joined the Swiss confederation (which at that point was a loose confederation of "de facto" independent states) as the fifth member in 1351. Zürich was expelled from the confederation in 1440 due to a war with the other member states over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zürich War). Zürich was defeated in 1446, and re-admitted to the confederation in 1450.  During the later half of the 15th century, Zürich managed to substantially increase the territory under its control, gaining the Thurgau (1460), Winterthur (1467), Stein am Rhein (1459/84) and Eglisau (1496). Zürich's position in the Confederacy was improved further with its role in the Burgundy Wars under Hans Waldmann. From 1468 to 1519, Zürich was the "Vorort" of the Federal Diet.  This thirst for territorial aggrandizement brought about the first civil war in the Confederation (the "Old Zürich War," 1436-50), in which, at the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl (1443), under the walls of Zürich, the men of Zürich were completely beaten and their burgomaster Stissi slain. The purchase of the town of Winterthur from the Habsburgs (1467) marks the culmination of the territorial power of the city.  It was to the men of Zürich and their leader Hans Waldmann that the victory of Morat (1476) was due in the Burgundian War; and Zürich took a leading part in the Italian campaign of 1512–15, the burgomaster Schmid naming the new duke of Milan (1512). No doubt her trade connections with Italy led her to pursue a southern policy, traces of which are seen as early as 1331 in an attack on the Val Leventina and in 1478, when Zürich men were in the van at the fight of Giornico, won by a handful of Confederates over 12,000 Milanese troops.  In 1400 the town obtained from the King Wenceslaus the Reichsvogtei, which carried with it complete immunity from the empire and the right of criminal jurisdiction. As early as 1393 the chief power had practically fallen into the hands of the Great Council, and in 1498 this change was formally recognized. (Derived from Free Public Domain: Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition) This transfer of all power to the guilds had been one of the aims of the burgomaster Hans Waldmann (1483–89), who wished to make Zürich a great commercial centre. He also introduced many financial and moral reforms, and subordinated the interests of the country districts to those of the town. He practically ruled the Swiss Confederation, and under him Zürich became the real capital of the League. But such great changes excited opposition, and he was overthrown and executed. His main ideas were embodied, however, in the constitution of 1498, by which the patricians became the first of the guilds, and which remained in force till 1798; some special rights were also given to the subjects in country districts. It was the prominent part taken by Zürich in adopting and propagating (against the strenuous opposition of the Constafel) the principles of the Reformation (the Fraumünster Abbey being suppressed in 1524) which finally secured for it the lead in the Confederation. The Augustiner and Prediger monasteries and Oetenbach nunnery and Rüti Abbey nearby Rapperswil were also disestablished in 1524. The aftermath of the Reformation in Zürich resulted also in the abolishment of the Zürich convent, the worship in the churches were discontinued, and the buildings and income of the monasteries were assigned to an according "Amt", a bailiwick of administratively function of the city's government ("Rat").

Reformation.

Zwingli started the Swiss reformation at the time when he was the main preacher in Zürich at the Grossmünster. He started his preaching there by preaching systematically through Matthew which was a huge difference from almost every other priest that preached through the liturgical cycle of readings issued by the Church.  He lived and preached in Zürich from 1484 until his death in 1531 at the defeat of Zürich in the second war of Kappel. Zwingli's Zürich Bible first appeared in 1531 and continued to be revised until the present day. Katharina von Zimmern (1478-1547), the last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey, supported the peaceful introduction of the reformation in Zürich.

Early Modern history.

An important source for Zürich under Heinrich Bullinger is the "Wickiana", a collection of curious documents from 1560 to 1587. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the patriciate and council of Zürich adopted an increasingly aristocratic and isolationist attitude. A sign of this was the second ring of impressive city ramparts was built in 1642 under the impression of the Thirty Years' War.  The funds required for this ambitious project were imposed on the subject territories without consultation, resulting in revolts that were crushed by force. From 1648, the city changed its official status from "Reichsstadt" to "Republik", thus likening itself to city republics like Venice and Genova.  In the 17th and 18th centuries, a distinct tendency becomes observable in the town government to limit power to the actual holders. Thus the country districts were consulted for the last time in 1620 and 1640; and a similar breach of the charters of 1489 and 1531 (by which the consent of these districts was required for the conclusion of important alliances, war and peace, and might be asked for as to other matters) occasioned disturbances in 1777.  The council of 200 came to be largely chosen by a small committee of the members of the guilds actually sitting in the council by the constitution of 1713 it consisted of 50 members of the Little Council (named for a fixed term by the Great Council), 18 members named by the Constafel, and 144 selected by the 12 guilds, these 162 (forming the majority) being co-opted for life by those members of the two councils who belonged to the gild to which the deceased member himself had belonged.  Early in the 18th century a determined effort was made to crush by means of heavy duties the flourishing rival silk trade in Winterthur. It was reckoned that about 1650 the number of privileged burghers was 9000, while their rule extended over 170,000 persons. The first symptoms of active discontent appeared later among the dwellers by the lake, who founded in 1794 a club at Stäfa and claimed the restoration of the liberties of 1489 and 1531, a movement which was put down by force of arms in 1795. The old system of government perished in Zürich, as elsewhere in Switzerland, with the French invasion in the spring of 1798, and under the Helvetic constitution the country districts obtained political liberty.

Napoleonic era.

Zürich lost much of its power in the Helvetic Republic, with territory lost to the Aargau, the Thurgau and the Canton of Linth. In 1799, the city became even a battlefield of the French Revolutionary Wars of the Second Coalition, at the First Battle of Zürich in June and the Second Battle of Zürich in September. Gottfried Keller became an intellectual influence on the Radical "free-thinking" side in the formation of Switzerland as a federal state.  The environs of Zürich are famous in military history on account of the two battles of 1799 (French Revolutionary Wars). In the first battle (4 June) the French under General André Masséna, on the defensive, were attacked by the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, Massena retiring behind the Limmat before the engagement had reached a decisive stage. The second and far more important battle took place on 25 and 26 September. Massena, having forced the passage of the Limmat, attacked and totally defeated the Russians and their Austrian allies under Korsakov's command.

Modern history.

In 1839, the city had to yield to the demands of its rural subjects, following the Züriputsch of 6 September. Most of the ramparts built in the 17th centuries were torn down, without ever having been sieged, to allay rural concerns over the city's hegemony. The Limmatquai was built in several stages between 1823 and 1859 along the right side of the Limmat. From 1847, the "Spanisch-Brötli-Bahn", the first railway on Swiss territory, connected Zürich with Baden, putting the Zürich Hauptbahnhof at the origin of the Swiss rail network. The present building of the Hauptbahnhof dates to 1871. The emergence of the Sechseläuten as the city's (more properly, the "Zünfte"'s) most prominent traditional holiday dates to this period.  The Ötenbach monastery, founded 1285, fell victim to the increasingly grand city planning in 1902, with the entire Lindenhof hill it was built on removed to make way for the new Uraniastrasse and administration buildings. It had been serving as a prison, and the inmates were moved to the newly completed cantonal prison in Regensdorf. But under the cantonal constitution of 1814 matters were worse still, for the town (10,000 inhabitants) had 130 representatives in the Great Council, while the country districts (200,000 inhabitants) had only 82. A great meeting at Uster on 22 November 1830 demanded that two-thirds of the members in the Great Council should be chosen by the country districts. In 1831 a new constitution was drawn up on these lines, the town getting 71 representatives as against 141 allotted to the country districts, though it was not till 1837-38 that the town finally lost the last relics of the privileges which it had so long enjoyed as compared with the country districts.  From 1803 to 1814 Zürich was one of the six directorial cantons, its chief magistrate becoming for a year the chief magistrate of the Confederation, while in 1815 it was one of the three cantons, the government of which acted for two years as the Federal government when the diet was not sitting. In 1833 Zürich tried hard to secure a revision of the Federal constitution and a strong central government.  The town was the Federal capital for 1839–40, and consequently the victory of the Conservative party there in 1839 (due to indignation at the nomination by the Radical government to a theological chair in the university of David Strauss, the author of the famous Life of Jesus) caused a great stir throughout Switzerland. But when in 1845 the Radicals regained power at Zürich, which was again the Federal capital for 1845–46, that town took the lead in opposing the Sonderbund cantons.  It of course voted in favor of the Federal constitutions of 1848 and of 1874, while the cantonal constitution of 1869 was remarkably advanced for the time. The enormous immigration from the country districts into the town from the "thirties" onwards created an industrial class which, though "settled" in the town, did not possess the privileges of burghership, and consequently had no share in the municipal government.  First of all in 1860 the town schools, opened to "settlers" only on paying high fees, were made accessible to all, next in 1875 ten years' residence ipso facto conferred the right of burghership.  The Quaianlagen and Quaibrücke are important milestones in the development of the modern city of Zürich, as by the construction of the new lake front, Zürich was transformed from the medieval small town on the Limmat and Sihl to an attractive modern city on the Lake Zürich lake shore, unter the guidance of the city engineer Arnold Bürkli.  The town and canton continued to be on the Liberal, or Radical, or even Socialistic side, while from 1848 to 1907 they claimed 7 of the 37 members of the Federal executive or Bundesrat, these 7 having filled the presidential chair of the Confederation in twelve years, no canton surpassing this record. From 1833 onwards the walls and fortifications of Zürich were little by little pulled down, thus affording scope for the extension and beautification of the town. In 1915 the tenant organization Mieterverband was founded in Zürich.  Zürich was accidentally bombed during World War II. An economic boom set in after World War II, lasting into the 1960s.  The further, for that time extremely high subventions, but lacking of alternative governmental cultural programs for the youth in Zürich, occurred in 1980 to the so-called "Opernhauskrawalle" youth protests – "Züri brännt", meaning "Zürich is burning", documented in the Swiss documentary film "Züri brännt (movie)". The most prominent politician involved was Emilie Lieberherr, then member of the city's executive ("Stadtrat") authorities. In 1982, communal elections resulted in the first conservative majority in 53 years (president Thomas Wagner 1982–1990), but in the early 1980s, Emilie Lieberherr and Ursula Koch where the first female politicians in Zürich's exekutive authority "Stadtrat", both representing the social-democratic "SP" political party.  From 1990, there has again been a leftist majority (presidents Josef Estermann 1990, Elmar Ledergerber 2002, Corine Mauch 2009, all of the Social Democratic Party). The introduction of liberal laws ("Gastgewerbegesetz" 1997) favoured the development of Zürich's role as regional center of nightlife; also during the 1990s, a liberalisation of zoning laws ("Bau- und Zonenordnung" 1992; "Stadtforum" 1996) led to a renewal of construction activity ("Technopark" 1991–93, "Steinfels-Areal" 1993, "Zürich West" 1998), Growing suburbanization since the 1960s had resulted in congestions due to commuting, partly eased with the Zürich S-Bahn, introduced 1990. Population declined during the 1980s to 1990s, but began to increase again in the 2000s, paired with significant gentrification of central areas.

Merger of municipalities.

In 1893, the city was extended ("grosse Eingemeindung") to include the (former) villages of Wollishofen, Enge, Leimbach, Wiedikon, Wipkingen, Fluntern and Hottingen, and the then-recently built-up areas of Aussersihl (formerly part of Wiedikon, a municipality since 1787), Oberstrass, Unterstrass, Riesbach and Hirslanden.  In 1934, the city borders were again extended, to the inclusion of the former villages, by that time de facto suburbs, of Albisrieden, Altstetten, Höngg, Affoltern, Seebach, Oerlikon, Schwamendingen and Witikon ("kleine Eingemeindung").  There were no changes between 1934 and 2013, but occurred in all two further mergers ("Eingemeindungen") of municipalities in the canton of Zürich. As per 1 January 2014 "Bertschikon bei Attikon" and "Wiesendangen" merged to Wiesendangen, and on 1 January 2015 "Bauma" and "Sternenberg" merged to Bauma. Therefore, the Canton of Zürich comprises now of 169 municipalities.

Demographic history.

Zürich during its period of territorial expansion and prosperity during the late 14th to early 15th century increased in population to an estimated 7,000 inhabitants. This figure decreased rapidly as a result of the Old Zürich War, to some 5,000, comparable to the population of Berne, Schaffhausen or Lucerne.  Population grew slowly but steadily during the 16th to 18th centuries, reaching 10,000 by 1800. Population then increased rapidly during the 19th century, due to industrialization, and the increased availability of building space after the destruction of the city walls in the 1830s, reaching 28,000 by 1888.  Counting the population within the modern city borders, the figures are 17'200 in 1800, 56,700 in 1871, 150,700 in 1900, and 251,000 in 1930. Population grew rapidly during 1945–1965, peaking at 440,000. After 1965, population declined due to suburbanization, to below 360,000 in the 1990s. After 2000, there has again been population growth, surpassing the 400,000 mark in 2014.

Zürich has been continuously inhabited since Roman times. The vicus of "Turicum" was established in AD 90, at the site of an existing Gaulish (Helvetic) settlement.

Die Stadt Zürich bestand als "Turicum" schon zu römischer Zeit, stieg aber erst im Mittelalter in die Reihe der grösseren Schweizer Städte auf. Die Herrscher des Heiligen Römischen Reiches erwählten die Stadt an der Limmat als Standort für zwei bedeutende geistliche Stiftungen um die Kultstätten der Stadtpatrone Felix und Regula, die Zürich prägten: Das Grossmünster- und das Fraumünsterstift.


Characteristics.

Besides the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet, Fraktur includes the ß ( ), vowels with umlauts, and the s ("long s"). Some Fraktur typefaces also include a variant form of the letter r known as the r rotunda, and many a variety of ligatures which are left over from cursive handwriting and have rules for their use. Most older Fraktur typefaces make no distinction between the majuscules "I" and "J" (where the common shape is more suggestive of a "J"), even though the minuscules "i" and "j" are differentiated.  One difference between the Fraktur and other blackletter scripts is that in the lower case "o", the left part of the bow is broken, but the right part is not. In Danish texts composed in Fraktur, the letter ø was already preferred to the German and Swedish ö in the 16th century.  In the Latvian variant of Fraktur, used mainly till 1920s, there are additional characters used to denote Latvian letters with diacritical marks: for palatalized consonants Ķ ķ, Ļ ļ, Ņ ņ, Ŗ ŗ and long vowels Ā ā, Ē ē, Ū ū, Ī ī.

Origin.

The first Fraktur typeface arose in the early 16th century, when Emperor Maximilian I commissioned the design of the "Triumphal Arch" woodcut by Albrecht Dürer and had a new typeface created specifically for this purpose, designed by Hieronymus Andreae. Fraktur types for printing were established by the Augsburg publisher Johann Schönsperger at the issuance of a series of Maximilian's works such as his "Prayer Book" (, 1513) or the illustrated "Theuerdank" poem (1517).  Fraktur quickly overtook the earlier Schwabacher and Textualis typefaces in popularity, and a wide variety of Fraktur fonts were carved and became common in the German-speaking world and areas under German influence (Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Central Europe). In the 18th century, the German "Theuerdank" Fraktur was further developed by the Leipzig typographer Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf to create the typeset Breitkopf Fraktur. While over the succeeding centuries, most Central Europeans switched to Antiqua, German speakers remained a notable holdout.

Use.

Typesetting in Fraktur was still very common in the early 20th century in all German-speaking countries and areas, as well as in Norway, Estonia, and Latvia, and was still used to a very small extent in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, while other countries typeset in Antiqua in the early 20th century. Some books at that time used related blackletter fonts such as Schwabacher; however, the predominant typeface was the Normalfraktur, which came in slight variations. From the late 18th century to the late 19th century, Fraktur was progressively replaced by Antiqua as a symbol of the classicist age and emerging cosmopolitanism in most of the countries in Europe that had previously used Fraktur. This move was hotly debated in Germany, where it was known as the Antiqua–Fraktur dispute. The shift affected mostly scientific writing in Germany, whereas most belletristic literature and newspapers continued to be printed in Fraktur.  The Fraktur typefaces remained in use in Nazi Germany, when they were initially represented as true German script; official Nazi documents and letterheads employed the font, and the cover of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" used a hand-drawn version of it. However, more modernized fonts of the type such as were in fact the most popular typefaces in Nazi Germany, especially for running text as opposed to decorative uses such as in titles. These fonts were designed in the early 20th century, mainly the 1930s, as grotesque versions of blackletter typefaces. The Nazis heavily used these fonts themselves, though the shift remained controversial and the press was at times scolded for its frequent use of "Roman characters" under "Jewish influence" and German émigrés were urged to use only "German script". On January 3, 1941, the Nazi Party ended this controversy in favour of the modern scripts including Antiqua. Martin Bormann issued a circular to all public offices which declared Fraktur (and its corollary, the -based handwriting) to be (Jewish letters) and prohibited their further use. German historian Albert Kapr has speculated that the regime had realised that Fraktur would inhibit communication in the territories occupied during World War II.

After 1941.

Even with the abolition of Fraktur, some publications include elements of it in headlines. Very occasionally, academic works still used Fraktur in the text itself. Notably, Joachim Jeremias's work "Die Briefe an Timotheus und Titus" ("The Letters to Timothy and Titus") was published in 1963 using Fraktur. More often, some ligatures ch, ck from Fraktur were used in antiqua-typed editions up to the offset type period. Fraktur saw a brief resurgence after the war, but quickly disappeared in a Germany keen on modernising its appearance.  Fraktur is today used mostly for decorative typesetting: for example, a number of traditional German newspapers such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine, as well as the Norwegian Aftenposten, still print their name in Fraktur on the masthead (as indeed do some newspapers in other European countries and the U.S.) and it is also popular for pub signs and the like. In this modern decorative use, the traditional rules about the use of long s and short s and of ligatures are often disregarded.  Individual Fraktur letters are sometimes used in mathematics, which often denotes associated or parallel concepts by the same letter in different fonts. For example, a Lie group is often denoted by "G", while its associated Lie algebra is formula_1. A ring ideal might be denoted by formula_2 (or formula_3 if a prime ideal) while an element is formula_4. The Fraktur formula_5 is also sometimes used to denote the cardinality of the continuum, that is, the cardinality of the real line. In model theory, formula_6 is used to denote an arbitrary model, with "A" as its universe. Fraktur is also used in other ways at the discretion of the author.  Fraktur is still used among traditional Anabaptists to print German texts, while Kurrent is used as hand writing for German texts. Groups that use both form of traditional German script are the Amish, Old Order Mennonites, Hutterites and traditional German-speaking Mennonites from Russia who live today mostly in Latin America.

Typeface samples.

In the figures below, the German sentence that appears after the names of the fonts (Walbaum-Fraktur in Fig. 1 and Humboldtfraktur in Fig. 2) reads, """". It means "Victor chases twelve boxers across the Sylt dike" and contains all 26 letters of the alphabet plus the umlauted glyphs used in German, making it an example of a pangram.

Unicode.

Unicode does not encode Fraktur as a separate script. Instead, Fraktur is considered a class of fonts of the Latin alphabet. Thus, the additional ligatures that are required for Fraktur fonts will not be encoded in Unicode, and Unicode proposes to deal with these ligatures using smart-font technologies such as OpenType, AAT or Graphite. There are many Fraktur fonts that do not use smart-font technologies, but use their own legacy encoding instead that is not compliant with Unicode.  There are, however, two sets of "Fraktur" symbols in the Unicode blocks of Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols, Letterlike Symbols, and Latin Extended-E. These are meant to be used only in mathematics and phonetics, so they are not suitable for typesetting German-language texts, as letters such as long s, "ä", "ö", "ü", and "ß" are not encoded.  The following set of Fraktur and bold Fraktur letters is intended for use as mathematical alphanumeric symbols:

Fraktur () is a calligraphic hand of the Latin alphabet and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. The blackletter lines are broken up; that is, their forms contain many angles when compared to the smooth curves of the Antiqua (common) typefaces modeled after antique Roman square capitals and Carolingian minuscule. From this, Fraktur is sometimes contrasted with the "Latin alphabet" in northern European texts, which is sometimes called the "German alphabet", simply being a typeface of the Latin alphabet. Similarly, the term "Fraktur" or "Gothic" is sometimes applied to "all" of the blackletter typefaces (known in German as, "Broken Script").

Die Fraktur (von ‚Bruch‘, seit Mitte des 15. Jahrhunderts auch ‚gebrochene Schrift‘) ist eine Schriftart aus der Gruppe der gebrochenen Schriften. Sie war von Mitte des 16. bis Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts die meistbenutzte Druckschrift im deutschsprachigen Raum, dazu – in Konkurrenz zur Antiqua – auch in den nordeuropäischen Ländern.


History.

Rottweil was founded by the Romans in AD 73 as Arae Flaviae and became a "municipium", but there are traces of human settlement going back to 2000 BC. Roman baths and an Orpheus mosaic of c. AD 180 date from the time of Roman settlement. The present town became a ducal and a royal court before 771 and in 1268 it became a Free Imperial City.  In 1463 Rottweil joined the Swiss Confederacy under the pretence of a temporary alliance. In 1476 the Rottweilers fought on the Swiss side against Charles the Bold in the Battle of Morat. In 1512, Pope Julius II gave the city a valuable "Julius banner" for its services in the 1508-1510 "Great Pavier Campaign" to expel the French. In 1519, the Rottweilers left the old Swiss alliance. They joined a new one in which their membership was extended indefinitely – the so-called "Eternal Covenant".  Rottweil thus became a centre of the Swiss Confederation. The relations between the Swiss Confederation and Rottweil cooled rapidly during the Protestant Reformation. When Rottweil was troubled by wars, however, it still asked the Confederates for help.  In the Rottweil Witch Hunts from 1546 to 1661, 266 so-called witches, wizards and magicians were executed in the imperial city of Rottweil. On April 15, 2015, they were given a posthumous pardon. An official apology was given by the City Council about 400 years after their violent death.  Rottweil lost both its status as free city and its alliance with the Swiss Confederacy with the conquest of the region by Napoleon in 1803.

International relations.

Rottweil is twinned with:

Rottweil () is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a Free Imperial City for nearly 600 years.

Rottweil, die älteste Stadt Baden-Württembergs, liegt etwa 90 Kilometer südlich von Stuttgart. Sie ist die Kreisstadt und größte Stadt des gleichnamigen Landkreises sowie ein Mittelzentrum für die umliegenden Gemeinden. Rottweil ist seit dem 1. Juni 1970 eine Große Kreisstadt. Mit den Gemeinden Deißlingen, Dietingen, Wellendingen und Zimmern hat die Stadt eine Verwaltungsgemeinschaft vereinbart.


Plot.

During the Vietnam War, U.S. Army 5th Special Forces soldier Colonel Walter E. Kurtz has apparently gone insane and is waging a brutal but successful guerrilla war against terrified NVA and PLAF forces without permission, directions or resupply from his commanders. At an outpost in Cambodia, he commands American and Montagnard troops who see him as a demigod. Captain Benjamin L. Willard is summoned to I Field Force headquarters in Nha Trang, briefed on the situation by two Army commanders and a CIA officer, and ordered to "terminate Kurtz's command... with extreme prejudice". Willard, initially ambivalent, joins a U.S. Navy river patrol boat (PBR) commanded by Chief Petty Officer "Chief" Phillips, with crewmen Lance, "Chef", and "Mr. Clean" to quietly navigate up the Nùng River to Kurtz's outpost. Before reaching the coastal mouth of the Nùng, they rendezvous with the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, a helicopter-borne air assault unit commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, to discuss safe passage. Kilgore is initially uncooperative as he has not received word about their mission through normal channels, but he becomes more engaged after discovering that Lance is a well-known surfer. The commander is an avid surfer himself and agrees to escort them through the Nùng's Viet Cong-held coastal mouth. The squadron raids at dawn, with Kilgore ordering a napalm strike on the Viet Cong. Before Kilgore can lure Lance out to surf on the newly-conquered beach, Willard gathers the sailors to the PBR to continue their mission.  Tension arises as Willard believes himself in command of the PBR while Chief prioritizes routine patrol objectives over Willard's. Slowly making their way upriver, Willard partially reveals his mission to the Chief to assuage his concerns about why his mission should proceed. As Willard studies Kurtz's dossier, he is struck by the mid-career sacrifice he made by leaving a prestigious Pentagon assignment to join the Special Forces, which afforded no prospect of advancing in

Adaptation.

Although inspired by Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", the film deviates extensively from its source material. The novella, based on Conrad's experience as a steamboat captain in Africa, is set in the Congo Free State during the 19th century. Kurtz and Marlow (whose corresponding character in the movie is Capt. Willard) work for a Belgian trading company that brutally exploits its native African workers.  After arriving at Kurtz's outpost, Marlow concludes that Kurtz has gone insane and is lording over a small tribe as a god. The novella ends with Kurtz dying on the trip back and the narrator musing about the darkness of the human psyche: "the heart of an immense darkness".  In the novella, Marlow is the pilot of a river boat sent to collect ivory from Kurtz's outpost, only gradually becoming infatuated with Kurtz. In fact, when he discovers Kurtz in terrible health, Marlow makes an effort to bring him home safely. In the film, Willard is an assassin dispatched to kill Kurtz. Nevertheless, the depiction of Kurtz as a god-like leader of a tribe of natives and his malarial fever, Kurtz's written exclamation "Exterminate all the brutes!" (which appears in the film as "Drop the bomb. Exterminate them all!") and his last words "The horror! The horror!" are taken from Conrad's novella.  Coppola argues that many episodes in the film—the spear and arrow attack on the boat, for example—respect the spirit of the novella and in particular its critique of the concepts of civilization and progress. Other episodes adapted by Coppola, the Playboy Playmates' (Sirens) exit, the lost souls, "take me home" attempting to reach the boat and Kurtz's tribe of (white-faced) natives parting the canoes (gates of Hell) for Willard, (with Chef and Lance) to enter the camp are likened to Virgil and "The Inferno" (Divine Comedy) by Dante. While Coppola replaced European colonialism with American interventionism, the message of Conrad's book is still clear.  It is often speculated that Coppola's interpretation of the Kurtz character was modeled after Tony Poe, a highly decorated Vietnam-era paramilitary officer from the CIA's Special Activities Division. Poe's actions in Vietnam and in the "Secret War" in neighboring Laos, in particular his highly unorthodox and often savage methods of waging war, show many similarities to those of the fictional Kurtz; for example, Poe was known to drop severed heads from helicopters into enemy-controlled villages as a form of psychological warfare and use human ears to record the number of enemies his indigenous troops had killed. He would send these ears back to his superiors as proof of the efficacy of his operations deep inside Laos. Coppola denies that Poe was a primary influence and says the character was loosely based on Special Forces Colonel Robert B. Rheault, who was the actual head of 5th Special Forces Group (May to July 1969), and whose 1969 arrest over the murder of suspected double agent Thai Khac Chuyen in Nha Trang generated substantial contemporary news coverage, in the Green Beret Affair, including making public the phrase "terminate with extreme prejudice", which was used prominently in the movie.

Production.

Development.

While working as an assistant for Francis Ford Coppola on "The Rain People" in 1967, filmmaker John Milius was encouraged by his friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to write a Vietnam War film. Milius had wanted to volunteer for the war, and was disappointed when he was rejected for having asthma. Milius came up with the idea for adapting the plot of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" to the Vietnam War setting. He had read the novel as a teenager and was reminded about it when his college English professor,

Pre-production.

Coppola was drawn to Milius's script and acquired the rights, which he described as "a comedy and a terrifying psychological horror story". In the spring of 1974, Coppola discussed with friends and co-producers Fred Roos and Gray Frederickson the idea of producing the film. He asked Lucas and then Milius to direct "Apocalypse Now", but both men were involved with other projects; in Lucas's case, he got the go-ahead to make "Star Wars", and declined the offer to direct "Apocalypse Now". Coppola was determined to make the film and pressed ahead himself. He envisioned the film as a definitive statement on the nature of modern war, the difference between good and evil, and the impact of American society on the rest of the world. The director said that he wanted to take the audience "through an unprecedented experience of war and have them react as much

Casting.

Steve McQueen was Coppola's first choice to play Willard, but the actor did not accept because he did not want to leave America for three weeks and Coppola was unwilling to pay his $3 million fee. After McQueen dropped out in February 1976, Coppola had to return $5 million of the $21 million he had raised in financing. Al Pacino was also offered the role, but he too did not want to be away for that long and was afraid of falling ill in the jungle as he had done in the Dominican Republic during the shooting of "The Godfather Part II". Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, and James Caan were approached to play either Kurtz or Willard. Tommy Lee Jones, Keith Carradine, Nick Nolte, and Frederic Forrest were also considered for the role of Willard. In a 2015 "The Hollywood Reporter" interview, Clint Eastwood revealed that Coppola offered him the role of Willard, but much like McQueen and Pacino, did not want to be away from America for a long time. Eastwood also revealed that McQueen tried to convince him to play Willard; McQueen wanted to play Kurtz because then he

Principal photography.

On March 1, 1976, Coppola and his family flew to Manila and rented a large house there for the planned four-month shoot. Sound and photographic equipment had been coming in from California since late 1975. John Ashley assisted with production in the Philippines. Shooting began March 20, 1976 and the film was due to be released on Coppola's 38th birthday, April 7, 1977.  Within a few days, Coppola was unhappy with Harvey Keitel's take on Willard, saying that the actor "found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker". With Brando not due to film until 3 months later as he did not want to work while his children were on school vacation, Keitel left the project in April and quit the seven-year deal he had signed as well.

Post-production and audio.

The budget had doubled to over $25 million, and Coppola's loan from United Artists to fund the overruns had been extended to over $10 million. UA took out a $15 million life insurance policy for Coppola. By June 1977, Coppola had offered his car, house, and "The Godfather" profits as security to finish the film. After "Star Wars" became a gigantic hit, Coppola sent a telegram to George Lucas asking for money. The release date was pushed back to spring 1978.  Japanese composer Isao Tomita was scheduled to provide an original score, with Coppola desiring the film's soundtrack to sound like Tomita's electronic adaptation of "The Planets" by Gustav Holst. Tomita went as far as to accompany the film crew in the Philippines, but label contracts ultimately prevented his involvement. In the summer of 1977, Coppola told Walter Murch that he had four months to assemble the sound. Murch realized that the script had been narrated but Coppola abandoned the idea during filming. Murch thought that there was a way to assemble the film without narration but it would take ten months and decided to give it another try. He put

Release.

In April 1979, Coppola screened a "work in progress" for 900 people that was not well received. That same year, he was invited to screen "Apocalypse Now" at the Cannes Film Festival. United Artists were not keen on showing an unfinished version in front of so many members of the press. Since his 1974 film "The Conversation" won the Palme d'Or, Coppola agreed to screen "Apocalypse Now" with only a month before the festival.  The week prior to Cannes, Coppola arranged three sneak previews of a 139-minute cut in Westwood, Los Angeles on Friday, May 11 attended by 2,000 paying customers, some of who lined up for over 6 hours. Other cuts shown during 1979 ran 150 and 165 minutes. The film was also shown at the White House for Jimmy Carter on Thursday, 10 May. Coppola allowed critics to attend the L.A. screenings and believed that they would honor the embargo not to review the work in progress. On 14 May, Rona Barrett previewed the film on television on "Good Morning America" and called it "a disappointing failure". As "Variety" considered the embargo broken, it published its review the following day in "Daily Variety" saying it was "worth the wait" and called it a "brilliant and bizarre film" and noted that it was the first "70mm presentation without credits", for which Coppola obtained permission from the various guilds (Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild and Writers Guild of America) and instead provided a program with the credits. The title appeared scrawled on a wall on a temple in the last third of the film. "Daily Variety" reported that the first, 8 p.m. screening was received with "limited, if enthusiastic, applause".

Cannes screening.

At Cannes, Zoetrope technicians worked during the night before the screening to install additional speakers on the theater walls, to achieve Murch's 5.1 soundtrack. A three-hour version of "Apocalypse Now" was screened as a "work in progress" at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 19, 1979 and met with prolonged applause. It was the first work in progress shown in competition at the festival. At the

Theatrical release.

On August 15, 1979 "Apocalypse Now" was released in North America in only 3 theaters equipped to play the Dolby Stereo 70 mm prints with stereo surround sound, - the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City, the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles and the University Theatre

Alternative and varied endings.

At the time of its release, discussion and rumors circulated about the supposed various endings for "Apocalypse Now". Coppola said the original ending was written in haste, where Kurtz convinced Willard to join forces and together they repelled the air strike on the compound. Coppola said he never fully agreed with the Kurtz and Willard dying in fatalistic explosive intensity, preferring to end the film in a more encouraging manner.  When Coppola originally organized the ending, he considered two significantly different ends

Re-release.

The film was re-released on August 28, 1987, in six cities to capitalize on the success of "Platoon", "Full Metal Jacket", and other Vietnam War movies. New 70 mm prints were shown

Reception.

Critical response.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 8.94/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Francis Ford Coppola's haunting, hallucinatory Vietnam War epic is cinema at its most audacious and visionary." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 94 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".  Upon its release, "Apocalypse Now" received mixed reviews. In his original review, Roger Ebert wrote, ""Apocalypse Now" achieves

Box office.

"Apocalypse Now" performed well at the box office when it opened on August 15, 1979. The film initially opened in

Legacy.

Today, the movie is regarded by many as a masterpiece of the New Hollywood era. Roger Ebert considered it to be the finest film on the Vietnam war and included it on his list for the 2002 "Sight & Sound" poll for the greatest movie of all time. It is on the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Movies" list at number 28, but it dropped two to number 30 on their 10th anniversary list. Kilgore's quote, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning," written by Milius, was number 12 on the AFI's "100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes" list and was also voted the greatest movie speech

Other versions.

"Apocalypse Now Redux".

In 2001, Coppola released "Apocalypse Now Redux" in cinemas and subsequently on DVD. This is an extended version that restores 49 minutes of scenes cut from the original film. Coppola has continued to circulate the original version as well: the two versions are packaged together in the "Complete Dossier" DVD, released on August 15, 2006 and in the Blu-ray edition released on October 19, 2010.  The longest section of added footage in the "Redux" version is the "French Plantation" sequence, a chapter involving the de Marais family's rubber plantation, a holdover from the colonization of French Indochina, featuring Coppola's two sons Gian-Carlo and Roman as children of the family. Around the dinner table, a young French child recites a poem by Charles Baudelaire entitled "L'albatros". The French family patriarch is not satisfied with the child's recitation. The child is sent away. These scenes were removed from the 1979 cut, which premiered at Cannes. In behind-the-scenes footage in "Hearts of Darkness", Coppola expresses his anger, on the set, at the technical limitations of the scenes, the result of shortage of money. At the time of the "Redux" version, it was possible to digitally enhance the footage to accomplish Coppola's vision.

First Assembly.

A 289-minute First Assembly circulates as a video bootleg, containing

"Apocalypse Now Final Cut".

In April 2019, Coppola showed "Apocalypse Now Final Cut" for the 40th anniversary screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. This new version is Coppola's preferred version of the film and has a runtime of three hours and three minutes, with Coppola having cut 20 minutes of the added material from "Redux";

Home media.

The first home video releases of "Apocalypse Now" were pan-and-scan versions of the original Technovision anamorphic 2.39:1 print, and the closing credits, white on black background, were presented in compressed 1.33:1 full-frame format to allow all credit information to be seen on standard televisions. The first letterboxed appearance, on Laserdisc on December 29, 1991, cropped the film to a 2:1 aspect ratio (conforming to the Univisium spec created by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro), and included a small degree of pan-and-scan processing at the insistence of Coppola and Storaro. The end credits, from a videotape source rather than a film print, were still crushed for 1.33:1 and zoomed to fit the anamorphic video frame. All DVD releases have maintained this aspect

Documentaries.

"" (American Zoetrope/Cineplex Odeon Films) (1991) Directed by Eleanor Coppola, George Hickenlooper, and Fax Bahr  "Apocalypse Now – The Complete Dossier" DVD (Paramount Home Entertainment) (2006). Disc 2 extras include:

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic war film directed, produced and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, and Dennis Hopper. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola and John Milius and narration written by Michael Herr, was loosely based on the 1899 novella "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. The setting was changed from late 19th-century Congo to the Vietnam War. The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Benjamin L. Willard (a character based on Conrad's Marlow and played by Sheen), who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Brando, with the character being based on Conrad's Mr. Kurtz), a renegade Army Special Forces officer accused of murder and who is presumed insane.

Apocalypse Now [] ( für etwa „Apokalypse jetzt“ oder „Weltuntergang jetzt“) ist ein Antikriegsfilm des Regisseurs Francis Ford Coppola aus dem Jahr 1979, dessen Handlung während des Vietnamkriegs spielt. Er basiert auf einer freien Interpretation von Joseph Conrads Erzählung "Heart of Darkness" – "Herz der Finsternis" sowie auf Michael Herrs Vietnamkriegs-Reportagen "An die Hölle verraten – Dispatches". Captain Benjamin Willard, die Hauptfigur, ist Angehöriger einer amerikanischen Spezialeinheit und erhält den Auftrag, den abtrünnigen, angeblich wahnsinnig gewordenen Colonel Walter Kurtz zu töten. Willards Flussreise mit einem Patrouillenboot zu Kurtz' Dschungelversteck in Kambodscha, wo dieser wie ein König über eine Schar von Anhängern herrscht, zeigt die Widersprüche und den Wahnsinn des Kriegs auf.


Early life and education.

Ostwald was born ethnically Baltic German in Riga, to master-cooper Gottfried Wilhelm Ostwald (1824–1903) and Elisabeth Leuckel (1824–1903). He was the middle child of three, born after Eugen (1851–1932) and before Gottfried (1855–1918).  Ostwald graduated from the University of Dorpat, Estonia, (now Tartu) in 1875. He also earned his Ph.D. at the University of Dorpat in 1878, with Carl Schmidt as his thesis advisor. During this time, Ostwald also taught at Co-Arc from 1875 to 1881 and at Riga Polytechnicum from 1881 to 1887.

Academic career.

Ostwald began is career as an independent investigator in 1875 while at the University of Dorpat. His initial research focused on mass action, chemical affinity, electrochemistry, and chemical dynamics. He continued this research in 1877 as an unpaid investigator at the University of Dorpat, working in the Physics Institute and the Chemistry Laboratory at the university.  In 1881, Ostwald became a full time Professor of Chemistry at the Polytechnicum in Riga. In 1887, he became Professor of Physical Chemistry at Leipzig University. Ostwald remained on the faculty at Leipzig University until his retirement in 1906. He also served as the first "exchange professor" at Harvard University in 1904 and 1905.  During Ostwald's academic career, he had many research students who became accomplished scientists in their own rite. These included future Nobel Laureates Svante Arrhenius, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, and Walther Nernst. All of these students became notable for their contributions to physical chemistry.

Scientific contributions.

Nitric acid process.

Ostwald invented a process for the inexpensive manufacture of nitric acid by oxidation of ammonia. He was awarded patents for this process. Ostwald's patent made use of a catalyst and described conditions under which the yield of nitric acid was near the theoretical limit. Aspects of the basic process had also been patented some 64 years earlier by Kuhlmann. Kuhlmann's process did not become industrially significant, likely due to the lack of an inexpensive source of ammonia. Shortly after Ostwald's finding, inexpensive ammonia became available as a result of Haber and Bosch's invention of a process for nitrogen fixing process (completed by 1911 or 1913) for ammonia synthesis. The combination of these two breakthroughs soon led to more economical and larger-scale production of fertilizers and explosives, of which Germany was in short supply during World War I. The process is often referred to as the Ostwald Process.

Further scientific research.

Ostwald also conducted significant research on dilution theory leading to his discovery of the law of dilution which is named after him. Ostwald's rule concerns the behaviour of polymorphs. The word mole, according to Gorin, was introduced into chemistry around 1900 by Ostwald. Ostwald defined one mole as the molecular weight of a substance in mass grams. The concept was linked to the ideal gas, according to Ostwald. Ironically, Ostwald's development of the mole concept was directly related to his philosophical opposition to the atomic theory, against which he (along with Ernst Mach) was one of the last holdouts. He explained in a conversation with Arnold Sommerfeld that he was converted by Jean Perrin's experiments on Brownian Motion.  In 1906 Ostwald was elected a member of the International Committee on Atomic Weights. As a consequence of World War I this membership ended in 1917 and was not resumed after the war. The 1917 Annual report of the committee ended with the unusual note: "Because of the European war the Committee has had much difficulty in the way of correspondence. The German member, Professor Ostwald, has not been heard from in connection with this report. Possibly the censorship of letters, either in Germany or en route, has led to a miscarriage".  In addition to his work in chemistry, Wilhelm Ostwald was very productive in an extremely broad range of fields. His published work, which includes numerous philosophical writings, contains about forty thousand pages. Ostwald was also engaged in the peace movement of Berta von Suttner.  Among his other interests, Ostwald was a passionate amateur painter who made his own pigments, and who developed a strong interest in color theory in the later decades of his life. He wrote several publications in the field, such as his "Malerbriefe" ("Letters to a Painter," 1904) and "Die Farbenfibel" ("The Color Primer," 1916). His work in color theory was influenced by that of Albert Henry Munsell, and in turn influenced Paul Klee and members of De Stijl, including Piet Mondrian. He was also interested in the international language movement, first learning Esperanto, then later supporting Ido and had become member of Committee of the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language. Ostwald donated half the proceedings of his 1909 Nobel prize to the Ido movement, funding the Ido magazine "Progreso" which he had proposed in 1908.  Ostwald adopted the philosophy of Monism as advanced by Ernst Haeckel and became President of the Monistic Alliance in 1911. He used the Alliance's forum to promote Social Darwinism, eugenics and euthanasia. Ostwald's Monism influenced Carl G. Jung's identification of psychological types.  Ostwald was one of the directors of the Die Brücke institute in Munich. The institute was sponsored, significantly, from Ostwald's Nobel Prize money. Through the institute, Ostwald's intention was to develop a standardized system for scholarly publications.

Honours and awards.

Ostwald received the 1909 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his contributions to understanding catalysis and for his investigations of the fundamental principles underlying chemical equilibria and reaction rates. Ostwald, donated more than USD40,000 of his Nobel Prize award money to advance the cause of the Ido language.  In 1923, Ostwald was awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal, recognizing the economic impact of Ostwald's scientific contributions.  In 1904 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.  Ostwald crater, which is on the far side of the Earth's moon was named in honor of Wilhelm Ostwald.

Personal life.

On 24 April 1880 Ostwald married Helene von Reyher (1854–1946), with whom he had five children. These were: Grete, (1882 - 1960) born in Riga and died in Großbothen; Wolfgang (1883 - 1943) born 1883 in Riga and died in Dresden; Elisabeth (1884- 1968) born in Riga and died in Großbothen; Walter (1886 - 1958) born in Riga and died in Freiburg im Breisgau; and Carl Otto (1890 - 1958) born in Leipzig and died in Leipzig. Wolfgang Ostwald also became a notable scientist.  Ostwald was initiated to the Scottish Rite Masonry and became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge "Zur Aufgehenden Sonne" in Bayreuth.  In 1887, he moved to Leipzig where he worked for the rest of his life. Arthur Noyes was one of his students, as was Willis Rodney Whitney. On his religious views, Ostwald was an atheist. Ostwald died in a hospital in Leipzig on 4 April 1932, and was buried at his house in Großbothen, near Leipzig and then in the Great Cemetery of Riga.

In fiction.

He appears as a character in Joseph Skibell's 2010 novel, "A Curable Romantic".  Ostwald is also mentioned in Italo Svevo's 1923 novel, "Zeno's Conscience".

Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald ( – 4 April 1932) was a Baltic German chemist and philosopher. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909 for his scientific contributions to the fields of catalysis, chemical equilibria and reaction velocities. Ostwald, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst, and Svante Arrhenius are credited with being the founders of the field of physical chemistry.

Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (; * in Riga, Gouvernement Livland; † 4. April 1932 in Leipzig) war ein deutsch-baltischer Chemiker, Philosoph, Soziologe, Wissenschaftsorganisator, -theoretiker und -historiker. Er gilt als einer der Begründer der Physikalischen Chemie und lehrte an der Universität Leipzig. Sein Laboratorium und das von ihm 1898 begründete Wilhelm-Ostwald-Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie der Universität machte er zu einem Zentrum der neuen Wissenschaftsdisziplin.


Aims & Tasks.

One of the EMF's main aims is the deepening of the social dimension in the process of European integration. The EMF contributes to the it by representing the economic and social interests of workers in the metal industry at European level.  The EMF advocates a social Europe characterised by democracy, freedom, social justice and solidarity. It also defends and promotes the ability of the European social model to face up to future challenges. At the same time it supports Europe's political and economic integration, whilst bearing in mind the unions' traditions and roots in the culture of their own respective nation states. The EMF's core tasks are:  To defend the trade union, social and political interests of the European metalworkers' unions vis-a-vis the European employers' organisations in the metal industry.  To coordinate and implement the initiatives and actions of the European metalworkers' unions at European level.  To serve its member organisations (affiliates) where European interests are involved.  To collaborate with the other federations affiliated to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).  To represent the European interests of the metalworkers' unions at an international level.

Areas of work in short.

The main areas of work are: Collective Bargaining Policy, Industrial Policy, Company Policy and the Social Dialogue.  Collective Bargaining Policy includes the coordination of wage policy, the harmonisation of working time policy and the joint approach to training policy through collective agreement. The EMF also plays an active role in intersectoral negotiations at a European level.  Industrial Policy focuses on keeping and developing a strong manufacturing base in Europe and future employment interests of workers in the European metal industry. The EMF is helping to structure the changes in the metal industry brought about by globalisation and seeks to strike a balance between employment interests and competitiveness in its representation of its members' interests.  Company Policy focuses on all elements of workers' interests in a multinational company ranging from economic and industrial development, restructuring and reorganisation and working conditions. It covers information and consultation rights at European level (European Works Councils, EWC) as well as participation rights (Company Statute). At the same time the EMF supports the development of a negotiation role in multinational companies. The EMF company policy involves the European Works Councils, the workers' representatives on company boards, the national trade unions and the EMF EWC coordinators.  The Social Dialogue focuses on building lasting dialogue structures with European-level employers’ and industry associations in the metal sector. The Social Dialogue is being developed at the metal sectoral level with the employers’ organisation CEEMET as well as at the level of sub-sectors such as the shipbuilding and steel industries. Through the Social Dialogue the EMF seeks to develop common solutions to meet the challenges of global competition and industrial change affecting the metalworking sector across Europe. The EMF strives to improve the economic and social situation of workers by reconciling the legitimate social interests of workers and the need for competitive industries.

Tools.

The EMF seeks consensus and reconciliation of interests through information, consultation and negotiation.  The most important tools are: Dialogue with and the submission of demands to European institutions such as the Council, Parliament and the Commission. Dialogue and the proactive defence of workers' demands in the context of cooperation with European metal industry employers, industry federations and multinational companies. Initiating and coordinating cross-border European actions aimed at enforcing union demands in the European metal industry. The negotiation of positions and framework agreements on the basis of the EMF Statutes. Information and guidance about developments at European level.

Statutes & Work Programme.

The statutes of the European Metalworkers' Federation were adopted by the second EMF Congress that took place on 13–14 June 2003 in Prague.  The Statutes consist the following headlines: I. Aim, Name, Admission, Object, Composition II. Organs and decision making III. Finances Appendix I: List of EMF Affiliates List of Associate members Appendix II Rules for EMF elections Work Programme  The EMF Work Programme was adopted by the second Congress on 13–14 June 2003 in Prague.  The Work Programme contains the following headlines: Introduction Collective Bargaining Industrial Policy Automobile Aerospace Steel Information and Communication Technologies Shipbuilding Defence Lifts Training and Education Equal Opportunities Company Policy Social Dialogue Enlargement Infrastructure Needs Training Needs

Congress.

The congress is the highest EMF statutory body and meets every four years. It is composed of some 250 delegates and advisors from organisations affiliated to the EMF. Congress takes decisions regarding elections, affiliations, financial issues, the Statutes, the basic policy guidelines and the work programme of the EMF. The latest Congress took place on 13–14 June 2003 in Prague and the next Congress takes place in Lisbon on 6–7 June 2007.

Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee is the decision making body of the EMF in between Congresses. The Executive Committee consists of 65 members from 67 affiliated organisations in 30 countries and meets twice a year. It is chaired by EMF President Tony Janssen.

Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee was established in June 1999 as a body that shall advise and support the Secretaiat in the preparation and implementation of the Executive Committee decisions. It comprises the President, the Vice-President and regional representatives from the seven EMF regions as established by the Statutes.

Secretariat.

The Secretariat implements the decsisons of the Executive Committee and prepares the meetings. It consists of 16 staff members and is led by the General Secretary.

Sector Committees.

Automotive.

The car sector and its related sub-sectors is a key player in European industry. High-tech performance and quality, environmental aspects and future oriented examples of flexibility lay the ground for a high level of employment. The EMF contributes to all issues related to industrial policy especially the future of the automotive industry in Europe and working conditions. Technological development and environmental needs are decisive elements with regard to transport policy.

ICT.

The ICT sector in Europe is facing a number of challenges, including mass redundancies in developed countries, skill shortages, outsourcing and off-shoring, structural mutation from hardware production towards software and services, and increasing pressure on salary levels and benefits. A trade union strategy has to address these challenges and seek to create conditions which allow a combination of competitiveness, flexibility and social cohesion for Europe. Driven by globalisation, swift technological and process changes, global sourcing and stock market fluctuation, the ICT sector is constantly restructuring. We will have to focus on the effectiveness and the quality of change management in order to achieve higher competitiveness and better employment in Europe.

Non-ferrous metals.

The situation within the non-ferrous metals sector clearly indicates that steps have to be taken to protect this industry, its locations and employees in Europe and provide it with real prospects for sustainability and further development.

Steel.

The European Steel industry has undergone substantial changes due to the concentration process started in the mid-1990s, in parallel with the privatisation of the state owned steel companies and the globalisation of the steel market. This process has been given fresh impetus by the surge in demand for steel in China and the substantial increases in the price of all steel products during 2004. The EMF is convinced that there will be further concentration of production in the industry and that further company mergers will follow.

Ad hoc group mechanical engineering.

In 2005 the EMF has re-introduced a working structure for the engineering sector in order to develop policies for the sustainable development of the sector and guarantee a stable and highly skilled labour in Europe.

The European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF), founded in 1971, is a federation of 68 metalworkers' unions from 31 countries, representing a combined total of 6.5 million affiliates. It is based in Brussels, Belgium, the general secretary is Ulrich Eckelman and Bart Samyn is the Deputy General Secretary. The organisation was dissolved on 15 May 2012, to become a part - together with EMCEF and ETUF-TCL - of the newly created organisation "industriAll European Trade Union" on 16 May 2012

Der Europäische Metallgewerkschaftsbund (EMB), engl. European Metalworkers Federation (EMF), gegründet 1971, war ein Europäischer Gewerkschaftsverband mit Sitz in Brüssel. Am 12. Mai 2012 wurde IndustriALL European Trade Union als Zusammenschluss von gegründet.


Etymology.

There is no universally accepted etymology of the word "Chuvash", but there are two main theories that try to explain it: one suggests that the word "Chuvash" may be derived from Common Turkic "jăvaš" ('friendly', 'peaceful'), as opposed to "şarmăs" ('warlike'). Another theory is based on the "Tabghach", an early medieval Xianbei clan and founders of the Northern Wei dynasty in China. The Old Turkic name "Tabghach" ("Tuoba" in Mandarin) was used by some Inner Asian peoples to refer to China long after this dynasty. Gerard Clauson has shown that through regular sound changes, the clan name Tabghach may have transformed to the ethnonym Chuvash.

Subgroups.

Chuvash people are divided into three main groups:

History.

The Turkic ancestors of the Chuvash people are believed to have come from central Siberia, where they lived in the Irtysh basin (between the Tian Shan and Altay) from at least the end of the third millennium BC. In the beginning of the first century AD, the Bulgars started moving west through Zhetysu and the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan, reaching the North Caucasus in 2nd–3rd centuries AD. There they established several states (Old Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast and the Suar Duchy in modern-day Dagestan.  Old Bulgaria broke up in the second half of the 7th century after a series of successful Khazar invasions. Some of its population fled north, to the Volga-Kama region, where they established Volga Bulgaria, which eventually became extremely wealthy: its capital being the 4th largest city in the world. Shortly after that, the Suar Duchy was forced to become a vassal state of Khazaria. About half a century later, the Suars took part in the Arab–Khazar wars of 732–737. The adoption of Islam in the early tenth century in Volga Bulgaria led to most of its people (including the Chuvash) to embrace the religion.  After the collapse of Volga Bulgaria by the Mongols in 1236, the Golden Horde kept control of the region until its slow dissolution in 1438. The Kazan Khanate then became the new authorities of the region and of the Chuvash. The modern name 'Chuvash' began to appear in records starting from the sixteenth century from Russian and other foreign sources.  In 1552, the Russians conquered the Kazan Khanate and its territories. The subsequent centuries saw the Christianization and Russification of the Chuvash. During this period, most Chuvash converted to Orthodox Christianity (sometimes by force) but Russification was never achieved. However, a few Chuvash continued being Muslim.  The eighteenth and nineteenth century saw the revival of Chuvash culture and the publication of many educational, literary, and linguistic works along with the establishment of schools and other programs. The Chuvash language began being used in local schools and a special written script for the Chuvash language was created in 1871.  On June 24, 1920, the Chuvash Autonomous Region was established but was renamed the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in April 21, 1925. Around this time saw the rise of Chuvash nationalism but the Soviet authorities attempted to suppress these nationalist movements by redrawing the borders of the republic so that many Chuvash will be living in neighboring republics or Russian districts. During most of the Soviet period, the Chuvash were subjected to Russification campaigns and propaganda. The Chuvash language vanished from educational and public use. In 1989, another Chuvash cultural revival began partly in response to these changes. Soon, the Chuvash language was once again used in educational, public, and political life.  Today, the Chuvash language and culture is taught in schools in the Chuvash Republic and in areas outside that have large Chuvash populations. Chuvash around Russia also have media available to them in their local communities.

Origin.

According to one theory, the Chuvash may be descended from the Volga Bulgars.  They have been subjected to much infusion and influence, not only from Russian and Turkic peoples, but also from neighboring Finnic tribes, with whom they were persistently and mistakenly identified for centuries, perhaps aided by the fact that the Chuvash language is a highly divergent form of Turkic, and was not easily recognized as such. Chuvash is classified, alongside the extinct Bulgar language, as the only remaining member of the Oghuric branch of the Turkic language family.

Genetics.

Chuvashes are autosomally approximately 75% West Eurasian and 25% East Eurasian on average.  The two main Y-DNA haplogroups amongst the Chuvash are R1a (Z282 and Z93) at the frequency of 28-32% and N-B211 at about 20%. R1a haplogroup peaks in the Kyrgyz at 63% and is present at 57,5% in Poles. N-B211 reaches its highest frequency at 67% in Udmurts and is also found in approximately 20% of Komis and Ugrians and in approximately 10% of Maris and Mordvins. In lower frequencies other haplogroups also found amongst the Chuvash are E-M78, N-P43 (especially N-L1419), J2, I1, R1b, I2a, J1a and C.

Culture.

They speak the Chuvash language and have some pre-Christian traditions. The Chuvash language is Turkic and is the only Oghur Turkic language that survives. The language has been influenced by Tatar, Russian, and Finno-Ugric languages. It has two to three dialects. In addition to Chuvash, many people also use the Russian language.

Religion.

Today Chuvash people are Eastern Orthodox Christians and belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. They retain some pre-Christian Tengrism traditions in their cultural activities. They syncretized Orthodox Christianity and Tengriism. Parallel pray in the shrines called keremet and sacrifice geese there. One of the main shrines is located in the town of Bilyarsk. There are some Chuvash who follow Islam which also has many traces of pre-Islamic beliefs and rituals.

The Chuvash people (;, ;, ) are a Turkic ethnic group, native to an area stretching from the Volga Region to Siberia. Most of them live in the Republic of Chuvashia and surrounding areas, although Chuvash communities may be found throughout the Russian Federation.

Die Tschuwaschen (Eigenbezeichnung: чăваш/"čăvaš", Pl. чăвашсем/"čăvašsem") sind ein turkstämmiges Volk Osteuropas. Sie bilden heute mit etwa 1,7 Millionen Zugehörigen eine Sondergruppe innerhalb der Turkvölker. Sie gelten im Allgemeinen als Nachfahren der als Onoguren bezeichneten Wolgabulgaren.


Cyclogenesis.

North Atlantic Oscillation.

The state of the North Atlantic Oscillation relates strongly to the frequency, intensity, and tracks of European windstorms. An enhanced number of storms have been noted over the North Atlantic region during positive NAO phases (compared to negative NAO phases) and is due to larger areas of suitable growth conditions. The occurrence of extreme North Atlantic cyclones is aligned with the NAO state during the cyclones' development phase. The strongest storms are embedded within, and form in large scale atmospheric flow. It should be kept in mind that, on the other hand, the cyclones themselves play a major role in steering the NAO phase. Aggregate European windstorm losses show a strong dependence on NAO, with losses increasing/decreasing 10-15% at all return periods.

Clustering.

Temporal clustering of windstorm events has also been noted, with eight consecutive storms hitting Europe during the winter of 1989/90. Cyclone Lothar and Martin in 1999 were separated by only 36 hours. Cyclone Kyrill in 2007 followed only four days after Cyclone Per. In November 2011, Cyclone Berit moved across Northern Europe, and just a day later another storm, named Yoda, hit the same area.

Nomenclature.

Naming of individual storms.

Up to the second half of the 19th century, European windstorms were named after the person who spotted them. Usually, they would be named either by the year, the date, the Saint's day of their occurrence or any other way that made them commonly known.  However, a storm may still be named differently in different countries. For instance, the Norwegian weather service also names independently notable storms that affect Norway, which can result in multiple names being used in different countries they affect, such as:  An alternative Scottish naming system arose in 2011 via social media/Twitter which resulted in the humorous naming of Hurricane Bawbag and Hurricane Fannybaws. Such usage of the term Hurricane is not without precedent, as the 1968 Scotland storm was referred to as "Hurricane Low Q".

UK and Ireland.

The UK Met Office and Ireland's Met Éireann held discussions about developing a common naming system for Atlantic storms. In 2015 a pilot project by the two forecasters was launched as ""Name our storms"" which sought public participation in naming large-scale cyclonic windstorms affecting the UK and/or Ireland over the winter of 2015/16. The UK/Ireland storm naming system began its first operational season in 2015/2016, with Storm Abigail. An independent forecaster, the European Windstorm Centre, also has its own naming list, although this is not an official list.

Germany.

During 1954, Karla Wege, a student at the Free University of Berlin's meteorological institute suggested that names should be assigned to all areas of low and high pressure that influenced the weather of Central Europe. The university subsequently started to name every area of high or low pressure within its weather forecasts, from a list of 260 male and 260 female names submitted by its students. The female names were assigned to areas of low pressure while male names were assigned to areas of high pressure. The names were subsequently exclusively used by Berlin's media until February 1990, after which the German media started to commonly use the names, however, they were not officially approved by the German Meteorological Service Deutscher Wetterdienst. The DWD subsequently banned the usage of the names by their offices during July 1991, after complaints had poured in about the naming system. However, the order was leaked to the German press agency, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, who ran it as its lead weather story. Germany's ZDF television channel subsequently ran a phone in poll on 17 July 1991 and claimed that 72% of the 40,000 responses favored keeping the names. This made the DWD pause and think about the naming system and these days the DWD accept the naming system and request that it is maintained.  During 1998 a debate started about if it was discrimination to name areas of high pressure with male names and the areas of low pressure with female names. The issue was subsequently resolved by alternating male and female names each year. In November 2002 the "Adopt-a-Vortex" scheme began, which allows members of the public or companies to buy naming rights for a letter chosen by the buyer that are then assigned alphabetically to high and low pressure areas in Europe during each year. The naming comes with the slim chance that the system will be notable. The money raised by this is used by the meteorology department to maintain weather observations at the Free University.

Name of phenomena.

Several European languages use cognates of the word "huracán" ("ouragan", "uragano", "orkan", "huragan", "orkaan", "ураган", which may or may not be differentiated from tropical hurricanes in these languages) to indicate particularly strong cyclonic winds occurring in Europe. The term hurricane as applied to these storms is not in reference to the structurally different tropical cyclone of the same name, but to the "hurricane strength" of the wind on the Beaufort scale (winds ≥ 118 km/h or ≥ 73 mph).  In English, use of term "hurricane" to refer to European windstorms is mostly discouraged, as these storms do not display the structure of tropical storms. Likewise the use of the French term "ouragan" is similarly discouraged as "hurricane" is in English, as it is typically reserved for tropical storms only. European windstorms in Latin Europe are generally referred to by derivatives of "tempestas" ("tempest", "tempête", "tempestado", "tempesta"), meaning storm, weather, or season, from the Latin "tempus", meaning time.  Globally storms of this type forming between 30° and 60° latitude are known as "extratropical cyclones". The name "European windstorm" reflects that these storms in Europe are primarily notable for their strong winds and associated damage, which can span several nations on the continent. The strongest cyclones are called "windstorms" within academia and the insurance industry. The name "European windstorm" has not been adopted by the UK Met Office in broadcasts (though it is used in their academic research), the media or by the general public, and appears to have gained currency in academic and insurance circles as a linguistic and terminologically neutral name for the phenomena.  In contrast to some other European nations there is a lack of a widely accepted name for these storms in English. The Met Office and UK media generally refer to these storms as "severe gales". The current definition of severe gales (which warrants the issue of a weather warning) are repeated gusts of or more over inland areas. European windstorms are also described in forecasts variously as "winter storms", "winter lows", "autumnal lows", "Atlantic lows" and "cyclonic systems". They are also sometimes referred to as "bullseye isobars" and "dartboard lows" in reference to their appearance on weather charts. A Royal Society exhibition has used the name "European cyclones", with "North-Atlantic cyclone" and "North-Atlantic windstorms" also being used. Though with the advent of the "Name our Storms" project, they are generally known as storms.

Economic impact.

Insurance losses.

Insurance losses from windstorms are the second greatest source of loss for any natural peril after Atlantic hurricanes in the United States. Windstorm losses exceed those caused by flooding in Europe. For instance one windstorm, Kyrill in 2007, exceeded the losses of the 2007 United Kingdom floods. On average, some 200,000 buildings are damaged by high winds in the UK every year.

Energy supplies.

European windstorms wipe out electrical generation capacity across large areas, making supplementation from abroad difficult (windturbines shut down to avoid damage and nuclear capacity may shut if cooling water is contaminated or flooding of the power plant occurs). Transmission capabilities can also be severely limited if power lines are brought down by snow, ice or high winds. In the wake of Cyclone Gudrun in 2005 Denmark and Latvia had difficulty importing electricity, and Sweden lost 25% of its total power capacity as the Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant and Barsebäck nuclear power plant nuclear plants were shut down.  During the Boxing Day Storm of 1998 the reactors at Hunterston B nuclear power station were shut down when power was lost, possibly due to arcing at pylons caused by salt spray from the sea. When the grid connection was restored, the generators that had powered the station during the blackout were shut down and left on "manual start", so when the power failed again the station was powered by batteries for a short time of around 30 minutes, until the diesel generators were started manually. During this period the reactors were left without forced cooling, in a similar fashion to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, but the event at Hunterston was rated as International Nuclear Event Scale 2.  A year later in 1999 during the Lothar storm Flooding at the Blayais Nuclear Power Plant resulted in a "level 2" event on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Cyclone Lothar and Martin in 1999 left 3.4 million customers in France without electricity, and forced EdF to acquire all the available portable power generators in Europe, with some even being brought in from Canada. These storms brought a fourth of France's high-tension transmission lines down and 300 high-voltage transmission pylons were toppled. It was one of the greatest energy disruptions ever experienced by a modern developed country.  Following the Great Storm of 1987 the High Voltage Cross-Channel Link between the UK and France was interrupted, and the storm caused a domino-effect of power outages throughout the Southeast of England. Conversely windstorms can produce too much wind power. Cyclone Xynthia hit Europe in 2010, generating 19000 megawatts of electricity from Germany's 21000 wind turbines. The electricity produced was too much for consumers to use, and prices on the European Energy Exchange in Leipzig plummeted, which resulted in the grid operators having to pay over 18 euros per megawatt-hour to offload it, costing around half a million euros in total.  Disruption of the gas supply during Cyclone Dagmar in 2011 left Royal Dutch Shell's Ormen Lange gas processing plant in Norway inoperable after its electricity was cut off by the storm. This left gas supplies in the United Kingdom vulnerable as this facility can supply up to 20 percent of the United Kingdom's needs via the Langeled pipeline. However, the disruption came at a time of low demand. The same storm also saw the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant also affected, as algae and mud stirred up by the storm were sucked into the cooling system, resulting in one of the generators being shut down. A similar situation was reported in the wake of Storm Angus in 2016 (though not linked specifically to the storm) when reactor 1 at Torness Nuclear Power Station in Scotland was taken offline after a sea water intake tripped due to excess seaweed around the inlet. Also following Storm Angus the UK's National Grid launched an investigation into whether a ship's anchor damaged four of the eight cables of the Cross Channel high voltage interconnector, which would leave it only able to operate at half of its capacity until February 2017.

European windstorms are powerful extratropical cyclones which form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure. They can occur throughout the year, but are most frequent between October and March, with peak intensity in the winter months. Deep areas of low pressure are common over the North Atlantic, and occasionally start as nor'easters off the New England coast. They frequently track across the North Atlantic Ocean towards the north of Scotland and into the Norwegian Sea, which generally minimizes the impact to inland areas; however, if the track is further south, it may cause adverse weather conditions across Central Europe, Northern Europe and especially Western Europe. The countries most commonly affected include the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

Als Orkan werden im weiteren Sinn Winde mit der Stärke 12 auf der Beaufortskala bezeichnet, im engeren Sinn werden darunter Nordatlantiktiefs verstanden, in denen solche Winde mit der Stärke 12 auftreten.