Background.

The blockade at Norfolk.

On April 19, 1861, shortly after the outbreak of hostilities at Charleston Harbor, US President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of ports in the seceded states. On April 27, after Virginia and North Carolina had also passed ordinances of secession, the blockade was extended to include their ports also. Even before the extension, local troops seized the Norfolk area and threatened the Gosport Navy Yard in Portsmouth. The commandant there, Captain Charles S. McCauley, though loyal to the Union, was immobilized by advice he received from his subordinate officers, most of whom were in favor of secession. Although he had orders from (Union) Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to move his ships to Northern ports, he refused to act until April 20, when he gave orders to scuttle the ships in the yard and destroy its facilities. Nine ships were burned, among them the screw frigate. One (the old frigate ) was towed away successfully. "Merrimack" burned only to the waterline, however, and her engines were more or less intact. The destruction of the navy yard was mostly ineffective; in particular, the large

Birth of the ironclads.

When steam propulsion began to be applied to warships, naval constructors renewed their interest in armor for their vessels. Experiments had been tried with armor during the Crimean War (1853–1856), just prior to the American Civil War, and the British and French navies had each built armored ships and were planning to build others. In 1860 the French Navy commissioned, the world's first ocean-going ironclad warship. Great Britain followed a year later with. The use of armor remained controversial, however, and the United States Navy was generally reluctant to embrace the new technology.

CSS "Virginia".

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory was an early enthusiast for the advantages of armor. As he looked upon it, the Confederacy could not match the industrial North in numbers of ships at sea, so they would have to compete by building vessels that individually outclassed those of the Union. Armor would provide the edge. Mallory gathered about himself a group of men who could put his vision into practice, among them John M. Brooke, John L. Porter, and William P. Williamson.  When Mallory's men searched the South for factories that could build engines to drive the heavy ships that he wanted, they found no place to do it immediately. At the best facility, the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, building engines from scratch would take at least a year. Upon learning this, Williamson suggested taking the engines from the hulk of "Merrimack", recently raised

USS "Monitor".

Intelligence that the Confederates were working to develop an ironclad caused consternation for the Union, but Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles waited for Congress to meet to request permission to consider building armored vessels; Congress gave this permission on August 3, 1861. Welles appointed a commission, which became known as the Ironclad Board, of three senior naval officers to choose among the designs that were submitted for consideration. The three men were Captains Joseph Smith, Hiram Paulding, and Commander Charles Henry Davis. The board considered seventeen designs, and chose to support three. The first of the three to be completed, even though she was by far the most radical in design, was Swedish engineer and inventor John Ericsson's.  Ericsson's "Monitor", which was built at Ericsson's yard on the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, incorporated new and striking design features, the most significant of which were her

Battle.

Command.

The Confederate chain of command was anomalous. Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones had directed much of the conversion of "Merrimack" to "Virginia", and he was disappointed when he was not named her captain. Jones was retained aboard "Virginia", but only as her executive officer. Ordinarily, the ship would have been led by a captain of the Confederate States Navy, to be determined by the rigid seniority system that was in place. Secretary Mallory wanted the aggressive Franklin Buchanan, but at least two other captains had greater seniority and had applied for the post. Mallory evaded the issue by appointing Buchanan, head of the Office of Orders and Detail, flag officer in charge

March 8: "Virginia" wreaks havoc on wooden Union warships.

The battle began when the large and unwieldy CSS "Virginia" steamed into Hampton Roads on the morning of March 8, 1862. Captain Buchanan intended to attack as soon as possible. "Virginia" was accompanied from her moorings on the Elizabeth River by and, and was joined at Hampton Roads by the James River Squadron,,, and. When they were passing the Union batteries at Newport News, "Patrick Henry" was temporarily disabled by a shot in her boiler that killed four of her crew. After repairs, she returned and rejoined the others.  At this time, the Union Navy had five warships in the roadstead, in addition to several support vessels. The sloop-of-war and frigate were anchored in the channel near Newport News. The sail

March 9: "Monitor" engages "Virginia".

Both sides used the respite to prepare for the next day. "Virginia" put her wounded ashore and underwent temporary repairs. Captain Buchanan was among the wounded, so command on the second day fell to his executive officer, Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones. Jones proved to be no less aggressive than the man he replaced. While "Virginia" was being prepared for renewal of the battle, and while "Congress" was still ablaze, "Monitor", commanded by Lieutenant John L. Worden, arrived in Hampton Roads. The Union ironclad had been rushed to Hampton Roads in hopes of protecting the Union fleet and preventing "Virginia" from threatening Union cities. Captain Worden was informed that his primary task was to protect "Minnesota", so "Monitor" took up a

Spring 1862—a standoff at Hampton Roads.

"Virginia" remained in drydock for almost a month, getting repairs for battle damage as well as minor modifications to improve her performance. On April 4, she was able to leave drydock. Buchanan, still recovering from his wound, had hoped that Catesby Jones would be picked to succeed him, and most observers believed that Jones's performance during the battle was outstanding. The seniority system for promotion in the Navy scuttled his chances, however, and the post went to the 67-year-old Commodore Josiah Tattnall. "Monitor", not severely damaged, remained on duty. Like his antagonist Jones, Greene was deemed too young to remain as captain; the day after the battle,

Destruction of the combatants.

The end came first for "Virginia". Because the blockade was unbroken, Norfolk was of little strategic use to the Confederacy, and preliminary plans were laid to move the ship up the James River to the vicinity of Richmond. Before adequate preparations could be made, the Confederate Army under Major General Benjamin Huger abandoned the city on May 9, without consulting anyone from the Navy. "Virginia"s draft was too great to permit her to pass up the river, which had a depth of only, and then only under favorable circumstances. She was trapped and could only be captured or sunk by the Union Navy. Rather than allow either, Tatnall

The victor.

The victory claims that were made by each side in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Hampton Roads, based as both were on misinterpretations of the opponent's behavior, have been dismissed by present-day historians. They agree that the result of the "Monitor"–"Virginia" encounter was not a victory for either side. As the combat between ironclads was the primary significance of the battle, the general verdict is that the overall result was a draw. All would acknowledge that the Southern fleet inflicted far more damage than it received, which would ordinarily imply that they had gained a tactical victory. Compared to other Civil War battles, the loss of men and ships for the Union Navy would be considered a clear defeat. On the other hand, the blockade was not seriously threatened, so the entire battle can be regarded as an assault that ultimately failed.  However, initially after

Impact upon naval warfare.

Both days of the battle attracted attention from almost all the world's navies. USS "Monitor" became the prototype for the monitor warship type. She thus became the first of two ships whose names were applied to entire classes of their successors, the other being. Many more were built, including river monitors, and they played key roles in Civil War battles on the Mississippi and James rivers. The US immediately started the construction of ten more monitors based on Ericsson's original larger plan, known as the s. However, while the design proved exceptionally well-suited for river combat, the low profile and heavy turret caused poor seaworthiness in

Commemorating the battle: "Virginia".

The name of the warship that served the Confederacy in the Battle of Hampton Roads has been a continuing source of confusion and some contention. She was originally a screw frigate in the United States Navy carrying the name. All parties continued to use the name after her capture by secessionists while she was being rebuilt as an ironclad. When her conversion was almost complete, her name was officially changed to. Despite the official name change, Union accounts persisted in calling "Merrimack" by her original name, while Confederate sources used either "Virginia" or "Merrimac(k)". The alliteration of "Monitor" and "Merrimack"

Commemorating the battle: "Monitor".

After resting undetected on the ocean floor for 111 years, the wreck of "Monitor" was located by a team of scientists in 1973. The remains of the ship were found upside down off Cape Hatteras, on a relatively flat, sandy bottom at a depth of about. In 1987, the site was declared a National Marine Sanctuary, the first shipwreck to receive this distinction.  Because of "Monitor"s advanced state of deterioration,

Commemorating the Battle of Hampton Roads.

The Battle of Hampton Roads was a significant event in both Naval and Civil War history that has been detailed in many books, televised Civil War documentaries, and in film, to include TNT's 1991 "Ironclads". In New York City, where the designer of the Monitor, John Ericsson, died in March 1889, a statue was commissioned by the

Notes.

Abbreviations used in these notes:

The Battle of Hampton Roads, also referred to as the Battle of the "Monitor" and "Merrimack (or Virginia") or the Battle of Ironclads, was a famous and arguably most important naval battle of the American Civil War. It was fought over two days, March 8–9, 1862, in Hampton Roads, a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederacy to break the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia's largest cities and major industrial centers, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade.

Die Schlacht von Hampton Roads, oft auch als "Die Schlacht der Panzerschiffe" oder "Schlacht zwischen Virginia und Monitor" bezeichnet, war ein Seegefecht während des Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieges. Sie ging als erstes Gefecht zwischen Panzerschiffen in die Geschichte ein und fand am 8. und 9. März 1862 in der Mündung des James, den Hampton Roads, in Virginia statt.


Background.

Although the Allied strategy emphasized destroying German forces retreating towards the Rhine, the French Forces of the Interior (the armed force of the French Resistance), led by Henri Rol-Tanguy, staged an uprising in Paris.  As the Falaise Pocket battle (12–21 August 1944), the final phase of Operation Overlord, was still going on, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, was not considering the liberation of Paris to be a primary objective. The goal of the U.S. and British Armed Forces was to destroy the German forces, and therefore end World War II in Europe, which would allow the Allies to concentrate all their efforts on the Pacific front.  Thus, as the French Resistance began to rise against the Germans in Paris as of 15 August, not wanting to get the Allies involved in a battle for the liberation of Paris instead of pursuing the Germans rushing toward the Rhine, Eisenhower stated that it was too early for an assault on Paris. He was aware that Adolf Hitler had ordered the German military to completely destroy the city in the event of an Allied attack; Paris was considered to have too great a value, culturally and historically, to risk its destruction. Eisenhower was keen to avoid a drawn-out battle of attrition, such as the Battle of Stalingrad or the Siege of Leningrad. It was also estimated that, in the event of a siege, of food per day, as well as significant amounts of building materials, manpower, and engineering skill, would be required to feed the population after the liberation of Paris. Basic utilities would have to be restored, and transportation systems rebuilt. All these supplies were needed in other areas of the war effort.  De Gaulle was concerned that military rule by Allied forces would be implemented in France with the implementation of the Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories. This administration which had been planned by the American Chiefs of Staff had been approved by US President Franklin Roosevelt but had been opposed by Eisenhower. Nevertheless De Gaulle, upon learning the French Resistance had risen up against the German occupiers, and unwilling to allow his countrymen to be slaughtered as was happening to the Polish Resistance in the Warsaw Uprising, petitioned for an immediate frontal assault. He threatened to detach the French 2nd Armored Division (2e DB) and order it to single-handedly attack the German forces in Paris, bypassing the SHAEF chain of command, if Eisenhower delayed approval unduly.

General strike (15–19 August 1944).

On 15 August, in the northeastern suburb of Pantin, 1,654 men (among them 168 captured Allied airmen), and 546 women, all political prisoners, were sent to the concentration camps of Buchenwald (men) and Ravensbrück (women), on what was to be the last convoy to Germany. Pantin had been the area of Paris from which the Germans had entered the capital in June 1940.  That same day, employees of the Paris Métro, the Gendarmerie, and Police went on strike; postal workers followed the next day. They were soon joined by workers across the city, causing a general strike to break out on 18 August.  On 16 August, 35 young FFI members were betrayed by Capitaine Serge, a double agent of the Gestapo. They had gone to a secret meeting near the "Grande Cascade" in the Bois de Boulogne and were gunned down there.  On 17 August, concerned that the Germans were placing explosives at strategic points around the city, Pierre Taittinger, the chairman of the municipal council, met Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris. When Choltitz told them that he intended to slow the Allied advance as much as possible, Taittinger and Swedish consul Raoul Nordling attempted to persuade Choltitz not to destroy Paris.

Battle and Liberation.

FFI uprising (19–23 August).

All over France, from the BBC and the "Radiodiffusion nationale" (the Free French broadcaster) the population knew of the Allies' advance toward Paris after the end of the battle of Normandy. RN had been in the hands of the Vichy propaganda minister, Philippe Henriot, since November 1942 until de Gaulle took it over in the "Ordonnance" (he signed in Algiers on 4 April 1944),  On 19 August, continuing their retreat eastwards, columns of German vehicles moved down the Champs Élysées. Posters calling citizens to arm had previously been pasted on walls by FFI members. These posters called for a general mobilization of the Parisians, arguing that "the war continues"; they called on the Parisian police, the Republican Guard, the Gendarmerie, the Garde Mobile, the Groupe mobile de réserve (the police units replacing the army), and patriotic Frenchmen ("all men from 18 to 50 able to carry a weapon") to join "the struggle against the invader". Other posters assured that "victory is near" and promised "chastisement for the traitors", i.e. Vichy loyalists, and collaborators. The posters were signed by the "Parisian Committee of the Liberation", in agreement with the Provisional Government of the French Republic, and under the orders of "Regional Chief Colonel Rol" (Henri Rol-Tanguy), the commander of the French Forces of the Interior in the Île de France region. Then, the first skirmishes between the French and the German occupiers began. During the fighting, small mobile units of the Red Cross moved into the city to assist the French and Germans who were wounded. That same day in Pantin, a barge filled with mines was detonated by the Germans and set mills on fire which supplied flour to Paris. On 20 August, as barricades began to appear, Resistance fighters organized themselves to sustain a siege. Trucks were positioned, trees cut down, and trenches were dug in the pavement to free paving stones for consolidating the barricades. These materials were transported by men, women, and children using wooden carts. Fuel trucks were attacked and captured. Civilian vehicles were commandeered, painted with camouflage, and marked with the FFI emblem. The Resistance used them to transport ammunition and orders from one barricade to another.  Skirmishes reached their peak on 22 August, when some German units tried to leave their fortifications. At 09:00 on 23 August, under Choltitz' orders, the Germans opened fire on the Grand Palais, an FFI stronghold, and German tanks fired at the barricades in the streets. Adolf Hitler gave the order to inflict maximum damage on the city.  It is estimated that between 800 and 1,000 Resistance fighters were killed during the Battle for Paris, and another 1,500 were wounded.

Allies enter Paris (24–25 August).

On 24 August, delayed by combat and poor roads, Free French General Leclerc, commander of the 2nd French Armored Division which were equipped with American M4 Sherman tanks, halftracks and trucks disobeyed his direct superior, American corps commander Major General Leonard T. Gerow, and sent a vanguard (the "colonne Dronne") to Paris, with the message that the entire division would be there the following day. The 9th Company of the Régiment de marche du Tchad which was nicknamed "La Nueve" (Spanish for "the nine") consisted of 160 men under French command, 146 of which were Spanish republicans. They were commanded by French Captain Raymond Dronne, who became the second uniformed Allied officer to enter Paris after Amado Granell.  At 9:22 p.m. on the night of 24 August 1944, the 9th Company broke into the center of Paris by the Porte d'Italie. Upon entering the town hall square, the half-track "Ebro" fired the first rounds at a large group of German fusiliers and machine guns. Civilians went out to the street and sang "La Marseillaise". The leader of the 9th Company, Raymond Dronne, went to the command center of the German general Dietrich von Choltitz to request the surrender.  The 4th US Infantry Division commanded by Raymond Barton also entered through the Porte d'Italie in the early hours of the next day. The leading American regiments covered the right flank of the French 2nd Armoured and turned Eastward at the Place de la Bastille and made their way along Avenue Daumesnil heading towards the Bois de Vincennes. In the afternoon the British 30 Assault Unit had entered the Porte d'Orléans and then searched buildings for vital intelligence, later capturing the former Headquarters of Admiral Karl Dönitz, the Château de la Muette.  While awaiting the final capitulation, the 9th Company assaulted the Chamber of Deputies, the Hôtel Majestic and the Place de la Concorde. At 3:30 p.m. on 25 August, the German garrison of Paris surrendered and the Allies received Von Choltilz as a prisoner, while other French units also entered the capital.  Near the end of the battle, Resistance groups brought Allied airmen and other troops hidden in suburban towns, such as Montlhéry, into central Paris. Here, they witnessed the ragged end of the capital's occupation, de Gaulle's triumphal arrival, and the claim of "One France" liberated by the Free French and the Resistance.  The 2nd Armored Division suffered 71 killed and 225 wounded. Material losses included 35 tanks, six self-propelled guns, and 111 vehicles, "a rather high ratio of losses for an armored division", according to historian Jacques Mordal.

German surrender (25 August).

Despite repeated orders from Adolf Hitler that the French capital "must not fall into the enemy's hand except lying in complete debris", which was to be accomplished by bombing it and blowing up its bridges, Choltitz, as commander of the German garrison and military governor of Paris, surrendered on 25 August at the Hôtel Meurice. He was then driven to the Paris Police Prefecture where he signed the official surrender, then to the Gare Montparnasse, Montparnasse train station, where General Leclerc had established his command post, to sign the surrender of the German troops in Paris. Choltitz was kept prisoner until April 1947. In his memoir "Brennt Paris?" ("Is Paris Burning?"), first published in 1950, Choltitz describes himself as the saviour of Paris.  In a 1964 interview, Choltitz claimed that he had refused to obey Hitler's orders: "If for the first time I had disobeyed, it was because I knew that Hitler was insane". According to a 2004 interview, which his son Timo gave to the French public channel France 2, Choltitz disobeyed Hitler and personally allowed the Allies to take the city safely and rapidly, preventing the French Resistance from engaging in urban warfare that would have destroyed parts of the city.

De Gaulle's speech (25 August).

On 25 August, the same day that the Germans surrendered, Charles de Gaulle, President of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, moved back into the War Ministry on the Rue Saint-Dominique. He made a rousing speech to the crowd from the Hôtel de Ville.

Victory parades (26 and 29 August).

The day after de Gaulle's speech, Leclerc's French 2nd Armored Division paraded down the Champs-Élysées. A few German snipers were still active, and ones from rooftops in the Hôtel de Crillon area shot at the crowd while de Gaulle marched down the Champs Élysées and entered the Place de la Concorde. On 29 August, the U.S. Army's 28th Infantry Division, which had assembled in the Bois de Boulogne the previous night, paraded 24-abreast up the "Avenue Hoche" to the Arc de Triomphe, then down the Champs Élysées. Joyous crowds greeted the Americans as the entire division, men and vehicles, marched through Paris "on its way to assigned attack positions northeast of the French capital."

Food crisis.

Whilst the liberation was ongoing, it became apparent that food in Paris was getting scarcer by the day. The French rail network had largely been destroyed by Allied bombing, so getting food in had become a problem, especially since the Germans stripped Paris of its resources for themselves. The Allies realised the necessity to get Paris back on its feet and pushed a plan for food convoys to get through to the capital as soon as possible. In addition, surrounding towns and villages were requested to supply as much of Paris as possible. The Civil Affairs of SHAEF authorised the import of up to 2,400 tons of food per day at the expense of the military effort. A British food convoy labelled 'Vivres Pour Paris' entered on 29 August and US supplies were flown in via Orléans Airport before being sent in. 500 tons were delivered a day by the British and another 500 tons by the Americans. Along with French civilians outside Paris bringing in indigenous resources, within ten days the food crisis was overcome.

Aftermath.

The uprising in Paris gave the newly established Free French government and its president, Charles de Gaulle, enough prestige and authority to establish a provisional French Republic. This replaced the fallen Vichy State (1940–1944), and united the politically divided French Resistance, drawing Gaullists, nationalists, communists and anarchists into a new "national unanimity" government.  De Gaulle emphasized the role that the French had in the liberation and made it clear that Paris liberated itself rather than was freed by the Allies. De Gaulle drove the necessity for the French people to do their "duty of war" by advancing into the Benelux countries and Germany. He wanted France to be among "the victors", a belief that they escaped the fate of having a new constitution imposed by the AMGOT threat like those that would be established in Germany and Japan in 1945.  On 28 August, the FFI, called "the combatants without uniform", were incorporated into the New French Army ("nouvelle armée française"). The New French Army was fully equipped with U.S. equipment, such as uniforms, helmets, weapons and vehicles, and they continued to be used until after the Algerian War in the 1960s.  Although Paris was liberated, there was still heavy fighting elsewhere in France. Large portions of the country were still occupied after the successful Operation Dragoon in southern France, which extended into the south-western region of the Vosges Mountains from 15 August to 14 September 1944. Fighting went on in Alsace and Lorraine in eastern France during the last months of 1944 until the early months of 1945.

Legal purge.

Several alleged Vichy loyalists involved in the Milice, a paramilitary militia established by Sturmbannführer Joseph Darnand that hunted the Resistance along with the Gestapo, were made prisoners in a post-liberation purge known as the "Épuration légale" (Legal purge). Some were executed without trial. Women accused of "horizontal collaboration" because of alleged sexual relationships with Germans were arrested and had their heads shaved, were publicly exhibited and some were allowed to be mauled by mobs.  On 17 August, the Germans took Pierre Laval to Belfort. On 20 August, under German military escort, Marshal Philippe Pétain was forcibly moved to Belfort, and to the Sigmaringen enclave in Germany on 7 September; there, 1,000 of his followers (including Louis-Ferdinand Céline) joined him. They established the government of Sigmaringen, challenging the legitimacy of de Gaulle's Provisional Government of the French Republic. As a sign of protest over his forced move, Pétain refused to take office, and was eventually replaced by Fernand de Brinon. The Vichy government in exile ended in April 1945.

Legacy.

60th, 70th and 75th anniversaries of the liberation.

On 25 August 2004, two military parades reminiscent of the parades of 26 and 29 August 1944, one in commemoration of the 2nd Armored Division, the other of the US 4th Infantry Division, and featuring armoured vehicles from the era, were held on the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris. Under the auspices of the Senate, a jazz concert and popular dancing took place in the Jardin du Luxembourg. In the same event, homage was paid to the Spanish contribution - the first time in 60 years. Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë laid a plaque on a wall along the River Seine at the "Quai Henri IV" in the presence of surviving Spanish veterans, Javier Rojo the President of the Senate of Spain and a delegation of Spanish politicians.  On 25 August 2014, plaques were placed on the Boulevard Saint-Michel and neighboring streets, in the vicinity of the Luxembourg Palace, seat of the French Senate, where combatants had been killed in August 1944. There was dancing in the street in every neighborhood of the French capital and "Place de la Bastille", as well as a "Son et Lumière" spectacle and dancing on the "Place de l'Hôtel de Ville" in the evening.  On 25 August 2019 many acts in commemoration of the liberation of Paris on 24 and 25 August 2019 focused on the role of the Spanish soldiers of "La Nueve" (Spanish for 'Nine'). The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, herself descendant of Spanish Republican veterans, emphasized during the inauguration of a fresco that it has taken too long to recognize this chapter of the French history.

Homage to the liberation martyrs.

On 16 May 2007, following his election as President of the Fifth French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy organized an homage to the 35 French Resistance martyrs executed by the Germans on 16 August 1944. French historian Max Gallo narrated the events that took place in the woods of Bois de Boulogne, and a Parisian schoolgirl read 17-year-old French resistant Guy Môquet's final letter. During his speech, Sarkozy announced that this letter would be read in all French schools to remember the resistance spirit. After the speech, the chorale of the French Republican Guard closed the homage ceremony by singing the French Resistance's anthem "Le Chant des Partisans" ("The Partisans' song"). Following this occasion, the new President traveled to Berlin to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel, as a symbol of the Franco-German reconciliation.

In popular culture.

"La Libération de Paris".

"La Libération de Paris" ("The Liberation of Paris"), whose original title was "L'Insurrection Nationale inséparable de la Libération Nationale" ("The National Insurrection inseparable from the National Liberation"), was a short 30 minute documentary film secretly shot from 16 to 27 August by the French Resistance. It was released in French theatres on 1 September.

Postal Material.

On 8 September 1945, the U.S. Post Office issued a three-cent stamp commemorating the liberation of Paris from the Germans. First day covers were illustrated with images of the Ludendorff Bridge illustrating its capture. Other countries have issued stamps commemorating the bridge's capture, including Nicaragua, Guyana, Micronesia, and Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The Liberation of Paris () was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been ruled by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Second Compiègne Armistice on 22 June 1940, after which the "Wehrmacht" occupied northern and western France.

Die Befreiung von Paris (franz.: "Libération de Paris") fand während des Zweiten Weltkriegs im Verlauf der Operation Overlord gegen Ende August des Jahres 1944 statt.


Early life.

Starr was born near Vernon, Texas, and was raised in Centerville, Texas. His father was a minister in the Churches of Christ who also worked as a barber. Starr attended Sam Houston High School in San Antonio and was a popular, straight‐A student. His classmates voted him most likely to succeed.  In 1970, Starr married Alice Mendell, who was raised Jewish but converted to Christianity.

Education.

Starr attended the Churches of Christ–affiliated Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, where he was an honor student, a member of the Young Democrats and a vocal supporter of Vietnam protesters. He later transferred to George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, in 1968. While there, he became a member of Delta Phi Epsilon.  Starr was not drafted for military service during the Vietnam War, as he was classified 4‐F, because he has psoriasis. He worked in the Southwestern Advantage entrepreneurial program and later attended Brown University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1969, and then Duke University School of Law, earning a J.D. in 1973.

Legal career.

After his graduation from Duke, Starr worked as a law clerk for U.S. circuit judge David W. Dyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1973–1974). Later, he clerked for Chief Justice Warren Burger of the Supreme Court of the United States (1975–77).  He joined the Washington, D.C., office of the Los Angeles–based law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 1977. He was appointed counselor to U.S. attorney general William French Smith in 1981.

Federal judge and solicitor general.

On September 13, 1983, he was nominated by Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated by George MacKinnon. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 20, 1983, and received the commission on September 20, 1983. His service terminated on May 26, 1989, due to resignation.  Starr was the United States solicitor general, from 1989 to 1993, under George H. W. Bush.

Early 1990s.

When the Senate Ethics committee needed someone to review Republican senator Bob Packwood's diaries, the committee chose Starr. In 1990, Starr was the leading candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court nomination after William Brennan's retirement. He encountered strong resistance from the Department of Justice leadership, which feared that Starr might not be reliably conservative as a Supreme Court justice. George H. W. Bush nominated David Souter instead of Starr. Starr also considered running for the United States Senate, from Virginia in 1994, against incumbent Chuck Robb, but opted against opposing Oliver North for the Republican nomination.

Independent counsel.

Appointment.

In August 1994, pursuant to the newly reauthorized Ethics in Government Act (), Starr was appointed by a special three-judge division of the D.C. Circuit to continue the Whitewater investigation. He replaced Robert B. Fiske, a moderate Republican who had been appointed by attorney general Janet Reno.  Starr took the position part-time and remained active with his law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, as this was permitted by statute and was also the norm with previous independent counsel investigations. As time went on, however, Starr was increasingly criticized for alleged conflicts of interest stemming from his continuing association with Kirkland & Ellis. Kirkland, like several other major law firms, was representing clients in litigation with the government, including tobacco companies and auto manufacturers. The firm itself was being sued by the Resolution Trust Company, a government agency involved in the Whitewater matter. Additionally, Starr's own actions were challenged because Starr had, on one occasion, talked with lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing Bill Clinton over an alleged sexual harassment. Starr had explained to them why he believed that sitting U.S. presidents are not immune to civil suit.

Investigation of the death of Vince Foster.

On October 10, 1997, Starr's report on the death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster, drafted largely by Starr's deputy Brett Kavanaugh, was released to the public by the Special Division. The complete report is 137 pages long and includes an appendix added to the Report by the Special Division over Starr's objection. The report agrees with the findings of previous independent counsel Robert B. Fiske that Foster committed suicide at Fort Marcy Park, in Virginia, and that his suicide was caused primarily by undiagnosed and untreated depression. As CNN explained on February 28, 1997, "The [Starr] report refutes claims by conservative political organizations that Foster was the victim of a murder plot and coverup," but "despite those findings, right-wing political groups have continued to allege that there was more to the death and that the president and first lady tried to cover it up." CNN also noted that organizations pushing the murder theory included the "Pittsburgh Tribune-Review", owned by billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, and Accuracy in Media, supported in part by Scaife's foundation. Scaife's reporter on the Whitewater matter, Christopher Ruddy, was a frequent critic of Starr's handling of the case.

Expansion of the investigation.

The law conferred broad investigative powers on Starr and the other independent counsels named to investigate the administration, including the right to subpoena nearly anyone who might have information relevant to the particular investigation. Starr would later receive authority to conduct additional investigations, including the firing of White House Travel Office personnel, potential political abuse of confidential FBI files, Madison Guaranty, Rose Law Firm, Paula Jones lawsuit and, most notoriously, possible perjury and obstruction of justice to cover up President Clinton's sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The Lewinsky portion of the investigation included the secret taping of conversations between Lewinsky and coworker Linda Tripp, requests by Starr to tape Lewinsky's conversations with Clinton, and requests by Starr to compel Secret Service agents to testify about what they might have seen while guarding Clinton. With the investigation of Clinton's possible adultery, critics of Starr believed that he had crossed a line and was acting more as a political hit man than as a prosecutor.

Clinton–Lewinsky scandal, Paula Jones lawsuit.

In his deposition for the Paula Jones lawsuit, Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky. On the basis of the evidence provided by Monica Lewinsky, a blue dress with Clinton's semen, Ken Starr concluded that this sworn testimony was false and perjurious.  During the deposition in the Jones case, Clinton was asked, "Have you ever had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, as that term is defined in Deposition Exhibit 1, as modified by the Court?" The definition included contact with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of a person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of that person, any contact of the genitals or anus of another person, or contact of one's genitals or anus and any part of another person's body either directly or through clothing. The judge ordered that Clinton be given an opportunity to review the agreed definition. Clinton flatly denied having sexual relations with Lewinsky. Later, at the Starr grand jury, Clinton stated that he believed the definition of "sexual relations" agreed upon for the Jones deposition excluded his receiving oral sex.  Starr's investigation eventually led to the impeachment of President Clinton, with whom Starr shared "Time'"s Man of the Year designation for 1998. Despite his impeachment, the president was acquitted in the subsequent trial before the United States Senate as all 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted to acquit.

Second thoughts on DOJ request.

In 2004, Starr expressed regret for ever having asked the Department of Justice to assign him to oversee the Lewinsky investigation personally, saying, "the most fundamental thing that could have been done differently" would have been for somebody else to have investigated the matter.

Criticism and political satire.

As with many controversial figures, Starr has been the subject of political satire. The book, "And the Horse He Rode In On", by pundit James Carville, attempts to portray Starr's time as special prosecutor in a comedic, negative light. At the end of his tenure at Baylor, many called Starr a hypocrite for playing a role in covering up the Baylor Football sex scandal, considering how harshly he stood against Clinton in regards to Clinton's scandal.

Post-independent counsel activities.

After five years as independent counsel, Starr resigned and returned to private practice as an appellate lawyer and a visiting professor at New York University, the Chapman University School of Law, and the George Mason University School of Law. Starr worked as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, specializing in litigation. He was one of the lead attorneys in a class-action lawsuit filed by a coalition of liberal and conservative groups (including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association) against the regulations created by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known informally as McCain-Feingold Act. In the case, Starr argued that the law was an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech.  On April 6, 2004, he was appointed dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law. He originally accepted a position at Pepperdine as the first dean of the newly created School of Public Policy in 1996; however, he withdrew from the appointment in 1998, several months after the Lewinsky controversy erupted. Critics charged that there was a conflict of interest due to substantial donations to Pepperdine from billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, a Clinton critic who funded many media outlets attacking the president. (Scaife's money, however, supported the Foster-was-murdered theory, according to CNN, and Scaife defunded "The American Spectator" after it endorsed Starr's conclusion of suicide and mocked a Scaife-aided book.) In 2004, some five years after President Clinton's impeachment, Starr was again offered a Pepperdine position at the School of Law and this time accepted it.

Death penalty cases.

In 2005, Starr worked to overturn the death sentence of Robin Lovitt, who was on Virginia's death row for murdering a man during a robbery in 1998. Starr provided his services to Lovitt pro bono. On October 3, 2005, the Supreme Court denied certiorari. (Lovitt was granted clemency and had his sentence commuted to life in prison without parole, on November 29, 2005, by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia.)  On January 26, 2006, the defense team of convicted murderer Michael Morales (which included Starr) sent letters to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger requesting clemency for Morales. Letters purporting to be from the jurors who determined Morales's death sentence were included in the package sent to Schwarzenegger. However, prosecutors alleged that the documents were forgeries, and accused investigator and anti-death penalty activist Kathleen Culhane of falsifying the documents. Lead defense attorney David Senior and his team soon withdrew the documents. Ultimately, clemency was denied, but the falsified documents were not used in the rationale. Eventually, Culhane was criminally charged with forging the documents and, under a plea agreement, was sentenced to five years in prison.

"Morse v. Frederick".

On May 4, 2006, Starr announced that he would represent the school board of Juneau, Alaska, in its appeal to the United States Supreme Court in a case brought by a former student, Joseph Frederick. A high school student at that time, Joseph Frederick unfurled a banner at a school-sponsored event saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as the Olympic torch was passing through Juneau, before arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The board decided to suspend the student. The student then sued and won at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which stated that the board violated the student's first amendment right to free speech. On August 28, 2006, Starr filed a writ of certiorari for a hearing with the Supreme Court. On June 21, 2007, in an opinion authored by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, the court ruled in favor of Starr's client, finding that "a principal may, consistent with the First Amendment, restrict student speech at a school event, when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use."

"Blackwater Security Consulting v. Nordan" (No. 06-857).

Starr continues to represent Blackwater in a case involving the deaths of four unarmed civilians killed by Blackwater contractors in Fallujah, Iraq, in March 2004.

California Proposition 8 post-election lawsuits.

On December 19, 2008, Proposition 8 supporters named Starr to represent them in post-election lawsuits to be heard by the Supreme Court of California. Opponents of the measure sought to overturn it as a violation of fundamental rights, while supporters sought to invalidate the 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in the state before Proposition 8 passed. Oral arguments took place on March 5, 2009, in San Francisco.  Starr argued that "Prop. 8 was a modest measure that left the rights of same-sex couples undisturbed under California's domestic-partner laws and other statutes banning discrimination based on sexual orientation," to the agreement of most of the judges. The main issue that arose during the oral argument included the meaning of the word "inalienable," and to which extent this word goes when used in Article I of the Californian Constitution. Christopher Krueger of the attorney general's office said that inalienable rights may not be stripped away by the initiative process. Starr countered that "rights are important, but they don't go to structure... rights are ultimately defined by the people."  The court ultimately held that the measure was valid and effective, but would not be applied retroactively to marriages performed prior to its enactment.

Defense of Jeffrey Epstein.

In 2007, Starr joined the legal team defending Palm Beach billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who was criminally accused of the statutory rape of numerous underage high school students. Epstein would later plea bargain to plead guilty to several charges of soliciting and trafficking of underage girls, serve 13 months on work release in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail, and register as a sex offender. Starr said he was “in the room” when then-US attorney Alex Acosta made the deal that yielded the plea bargain for Epstein and later described Acosta as “a person of complete integrity,” adding that “everyone was satisfied” with the agreement. In early 2019 a federal judge ruled that because prosecutors failed to disclose the deal to Epstein's victims, they had violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA) which entitles victims to know about significant events in their cases. Acosta, who later served as Secretary of Labor, resigned that role in mid 2019 under pressure over the perceived lenience of the Epstein deal.

Support for Christopher Kloman.

In 2013, Starr was among many high-profile figures to express support for Christopher Kloman, a 74-year-old retired teacher at the Potomac School who pleaded guilty to molesting five female students over a period from 1966 to 1985. Starr signed a letter, written by his wife Alice, to the Fairfax County, Virginia, judge presiding over the case. The letter asked for leniency for Kloman, who is a friend of the Starr family and who "took the time to chat" with Starr's daughter, a student at the school until 1998. "Community service would be a far better punishment than having him languish in jail," they wrote. Kloman was convicted in October 2013 and sentenced to 43 years in prison.

Donald Trump impeachment trial.

On January 16, 2020, Starr was announced as a member of President Donald Trump's legal team for his Senate impeachment trial. He argued before the Senate on Trump's behalf on January 27, 2020. Slate journalist Jeremy Stahl pointed out that as he was urging the Senate not to remove Trump as president, Starr contradicted various arguments he used in 1998 to justify Clinton's impeachment. In defending Trump, Starr also claimed he was wrong to have called for impeachment against Clinton for abuse of executive privilege and efforts to obstruct Congress and also stated that the House Judiciary Committee was right in 1998 to have rejected one of the planks for impeachment he had advocated for. He also invoked a 1999 Hofstra Law Review article by Yale law professor Akhil Amar, who argued that the Clinton impeachment proved just how impeachment and removal causes "grave disruption" to a national election.

Baylor University.

Starr was the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine University, when on February 15, 2010, Baylor University announced that it would introduce Starr as its newest president. Starr became Baylor's 14th president, replacing John Lilley who was ousted in mid‐2008. Starr was introduced as the new president on June 1, 2010.  His inauguration was held on September 17, 2010, where Stephen L. Carter was the keynote speaker. Within his first two weeks in office, Starr was "leading the charge" to keep the university in the Big 12 Conference for athletics. Starr was additionally named chancellor of Baylor in November 2013, a post that had been vacant since 2005. He became the first person to hold the positions of president and chancellor at Baylor at the same time.  In September 2015, Baylor's Board of Regents initiated an external review of the university's response to reports of sexual violence to be conducted by the Pepper Hamilton law firm. Baylor had been accused of failing to respond to reports of rape and sexual assault filed by at least six female students from 2009 to 2016. Former football player Tevin Elliot was convicted of rape. Elliot is currently serving a 20-year sentence after his conviction in January 2014. Another student, Sam Ukwuachu, was convicted but has since had that conviction overturned and was retried, only to see it reinstated by the Texas Court of Appeals in 2018. Pepper Hamilton reported their findings to the regents on May 13, and on May 26, the regents announced Starr's removal as university president, effective May 31.  The May 26, 2016, announcement of personnel changes by the Board of Regents said Starr was to have continued as Chancellor and also as a faculty member at Baylor Law School. Starr, however, announced his resignation as Chancellor on June 1, effective immediately. He told an interviewer that he took that action "as a matter of conscience." He said he "willingly accepted responsibility" and "The captain goes down with the ship." He resigned his position as the Louise L. Morrison Chair of Constitutional Law in Baylor Law School on August 19, 2016.

Kenneth Winston Starr (born July 21, 1946) is an American lawyer who served as a United States circuit judge and 39th solicitor general of the United States. He is best known for heading an investigation of members of the Clinton administration, known as the Whitewater controversy.

Kenneth Winston „Ken“ Starr (* 21. Juli 1946 in Vernon, Texas) ist ein US-amerikanischer Jurist und früherer Richter. Starr wurde in das Amt des Unabhängigen Ermittlers berufen, um die Whitewater-Transaktionen von Präsident Bill Clinton zu untersuchen. Später unterbreitete er dem US-Kongress einen Untersuchungsbericht, den sogenannten Starr-Report, der zum Impeachment-Verfahren gegen Präsident Clinton wegen Vorwürfen führte, die auf der Lewinsky-Affäre beruhten.


Titles.

On May 16, 2001, by president Putin's decree, Rosenbaum was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia, probably the highest title in the artistic field of activity in Russia.

Songwriting and performing characteristics.

Rosenbaum sometimes employs peculiar musical time signatures and patterns in his songs, striving to sound fresh and unique – a bit atypical for a songwriter that employs gangster and criminal slang elements in his lyrics. Though many of his songs are elaborate in their instrumentation, the stress is placed on the primary melodies of his songs and their messages, as is usually the case in bard music.  However many prominent Russian bards shun Rozenbaum and refuse to count him in as a member of their community. While bards used to be treated as outcasts and their music was drawn underground through the years of Soviet regime, Rozenbaum enjoyed official approval long before collapse of the Soviet Union with its tight ideological censorship. "Bard Song Anthology" by Dmitry Sukharev ("Бардовская песня. Антология", сост. Дмитрий Сухарев, ) widely acclaimed as 'Bible' of Russian bard movement, listing nearly every author of every song, doesn't even mention his name.  His lyrics are quite often heart-wrenching, telling stories of people in insufferable pain, suffering implacable fates, and of love powerful enough to enslave a man. He sees himself not so much as a critic, but a true patriot who sees the worst sides of his country, but loves its people still.  He has stated that his wide lyrical scope is due to his being a sort of medium. For example, he wrote many crime-related songs using their jargon, but he never lived the criminal life in reality. Similarly, many of his songs about the Cossacks were written without the benefit of ever having a single relative from that community.  Rosenbaum's most popular and culturally relevant song to-date, and his greatest hit, is "Vals-Boston" (Russian: Вàльс-бостòн), which translates to "The Boston Waltz." The title refers to a dance called the American Waltz, or alternatively the Boston.  In concert, Rosenbaum performs either alone or with his band, usually consisting of at least six other members (drummer, bass guitarist, two keyboardists, lead electric guitarist, and violinist). In his solo concerts, his guitar accompaniment tends to be different every time in some way. He is known for the way he stretches or, contrarily, cuts the length of musical bars in a song, making the song unique and unpredictable every time.  Rosenbaum is strongly opposed to lip synching during his concerts, a practice that has become increasingly widespread in Russia after the Soviet era. Once, during a festival concert, where many performers lip synched, Rosenbaum, all the time speaking into his live microphone, acerbically asked the sound mixer: "Can you turn up my guitar a bit, guys? After all, the little thing's live!"

2000s.

Political career.

On December 7, 2003 Alexander Rosenbaum took office as a member of the Russian parliament (the fourth Duma) for "Yedinaya Rossiya" and deputy chairman of the State Duma Culture Committee. When asked by a journalist about what he had to sacrifice to be able to run for MP, Rosenbaum answered:  He was not listed as an MP in the fifth Duma.  He is also a supporter of Yisrael Beiteinu Israeli political party and sang the theme tune for the party in the 2009 Israeli legislative election.  Rosenbaum expressed support for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, and stated, "Crimea is ours." For this he was banned from entering Ukraine. Crimea is since March 2014 under dispute by Russia and Ukraine.

Business.

Rosenbaum is co-owner of a growing (as of 2007) network of beer-halls in Saint-Petersburg, called "Tolstiy Frayer". The name has a humorous, as well as gangster slang air to it and can roughly be rendered as "Non-Criminal Fat Chap". The name is a reference to one of Rosenbaum's songs.

Alexander Yakovlevich Rosenbaum PAR (, "Aleksandr Jakovlevič Rozyenbaum") (born September 13, 1951) is a Russian bard from Saint Petersburg. He is best known as an interpreter of the blatnaya pesnya (criminal song) genre. Modern singers in this genre, such as Mikhail Shufutinsky often sing Rosenbaum's songs.

Alexander Jakowlewitsch Rosenbaum oder Rozenbaum (, wiss. Transliteration ""; * 13. September 1951 in Leningrad) ist ein russischer Künstler, Bard- und Chansonsänger.


History.

Writing a free software Flash player has been a priority of the GNU Project for some time. Prior to the launch of Gnash, the GNU Project had asked for people to assist the GPLFlash project. The majority of the previous GPLFlash developers have now moved to the Gnash project and the existing GPLFlash codebase will be refocused towards supporting embedded systems.  The primary distribution terms for Gnash are those of the GNU GPL. However, since Gnash was started using the codebase of the gameswf project, which is in the public domain, code developed by the Gnash project which might be useful in gameswf is placed in the public domain.

Technical details.

Architecture.

Adobe only provides an outdated version (11.2) of its official player for Linux on IA-32 and an AMD64 developer preview release in a binary-only form. Gnash, however, can be compiled and executed on many architectures, including x86, ARM, MIPS, and PowerPC. It also supports BSD-based operating systems. An early port for RISC OS, which has never had Macromedia/Adobe Flash support beyond Flash 3, does exist, as well as an early port for BeOS, where Flash support terminated at Version 4. Development of a port to AmigaOS 4.1 has also recently begun. A port to the Haiku Operating System also exists.  Gnash requires one of AGG, Cairo, or OpenGL for rendering. In contrast to most GNU projects, which are typically written in C, Gnash is written in the C++ programming language because of its gameswf heritage.

Flash compatibility.

Gnash can play SWF files up to version 7, and 80% of ActionScript 2.0.  The goal of the Gnash developers is to be as compatible as possible with the proprietary player (including behavior on bad ActionScript code). However, Gnash offers some special features not available in the Adobe player, such as the possibility to extend the ActionScript classes via shared libraries: sample extensions include MySQL support, file system access and more. For security reasons the extension mechanism must be compiled-in explicitly and enabled via configuration files.

Video support.

Gnash supports playback of FLV videos and allows playing some FLV files from YouTube, Myspace, ShowMeDo and other similar websites (older files with sound – newer files without playing sound). FLV support requires FFmpeg or GStreamer to be installed on the system.  Some other free-software programs, such as MPlayer, VLC media player or players for Windows based on the ffdshow DirectShow codecs can play back the FLV format if the file is specially downloaded or piped to it.  Version 0.8.8 was released 22 August 2010. Rob Savoye announced that Gnash should now work with all YouTube videos. Version 0.8.8 has GPU support, which pushed it ahead of the proprietary Adobe Flash Player in Linux, until Flash 10.2 came out with hardware acceleration built in. Gnash still suffers from high CPU usage. A Flashblock plugin can be installed by the user, turning on the Flash support on a case-by-case, as needed basis. YouTube video controls and full screen mode is functioning, although version 0.8.8 has a bug that can cause YouTube to display "Invalid parameters". Many popular Flash games do not work with Gnash 0.8.8.

Cygnal.

Cygnal is the Gnash Project's Flash Media Server-compatible audio and video server. It handles negotiating the copyright metadata exchange, as well as streaming the content. It will need to handle many thousands of simultaneous network connection, and support running on large GNU/Linux clusters. It should support handling multiple streams with differing content, as well as a multicast stream with a single data source.  Due to the patent issues surrounding MP3, and the fact that FLV and ON2 are closed formats, one of the main goals of this project is to support free codes and free protocols as the primary way of doing things. There is an optional support for MP3, FLV, and ON2 (VP6 and VP7) when playing existing Flash content. Both FLV and the VP6 & VP7 codecs are included in ffmpeg. Users can use the ffmpeg plugin for GStreamer 0.10 to use these proprietary codecs.

Platform availability.

Gnash has successfully run on Microsoft Windows, Darwin (OS X), Irix, Solaris, BeOs, OS/2, and Haiku. Gnash has also run on the following 64-bit systems: PowerPC, Itanium, UltraSparc and AMD64.

Microsoft Windows.

Gnash has been ported to Windows and the plugin works best with Firefox 1.0.4 or newer, and should work in any Mozilla-based browser. However, in newer browsers the plugin may become unstable or inoperative.  Newer Gnash binaries for Windows do not include a plugin and currently there is no newer working Gnash plugin on Windows.

Financial support.

The project was financially supported by a commercial company, Lulu.com until July 2010.  As of March 2012, the lead developer reported donations were barely enough to pay for hosting the project on the web.

Adobe Flash Player End-User License Agreement.

One problem for the project is the difficulty of finding developers. The current developers have never installed Adobe's Flash player, because they fear that anyone who has ever installed the Adobe Flash Player has at the same time accepted an agreement not to modify or reverse engineer Flash player. Therefore, the Gnash project has only about 6 active developers, as of November 2010.  Such generic clauses, however, may be against national anticompetition laws when used in normal software license agreements. On May 2, 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in case C-406/10 of SAS Institute Inc v World Programming Ltd that the functionality of a computer program is not covered by copyright in the European Union and that contractual provisions are null and void if they forbid observing, studying and testing a computer program in order to reproduce its behavior in a second program. This holds as long as no source code or object code was copied.

Gnash is a media player for playing SWF files. Gnash is available both as a standalone player for desktop computers and embedded devices, as well as a plugin for several browsers. It is part of the GNU Project and is a free and open-source alternative to Adobe Flash Player. It was developed from the gameswf project.

Gnash (zusammengesetzt aus GNU und Flash) ist eine freie Software zur Wiedergabe von Flash-Dateien, die als Teil des GNU-Projekts entwickelt wird.


Application.

Users generally know standard streams as input and output channels that handle data coming from an input device, or that write data from the application. The data may be text with any encoding, or binary data. In many modern systems, the standard error stream of a program is redirected into a log file, typically for error analysis purposes.  Streams may be used to chain applications, meaning that the output stream of one program can be redirected to be the input stream to another application. In many operating systems this is expressed by listing the application names, separated by the vertical bar character, for this reason often called the pipeline character. A well-known example is the use of a pagination application, such as more, providing the user control over the display of the output stream on the display.

Background.

In most operating systems predating Unix, programs had to explicitly connect to the appropriate input and output devices. OS-specific intricacies caused this to be a tedious programming task. On many systems it was necessary to obtain control of environment settings, access a local file table, determine the intended data set, and handle hardware correctly in the case of a punch card reader, magnetic tape drive, disk drive, line printer, card punch, or interactive terminal.  One of Unix's several groundbreaking advances was "abstract devices", which removed the need for a program to know or care what kind of devices it was communicating with. Older operating systems forced upon the programmer a record structure and frequently non-orthogonal data semantics and device control. Unix eliminated this complexity with the concept of a data stream: an ordered sequence of data bytes which can be read until the end of file. A program may also write bytes as desired and need not, and cannot easily declare their count or grouping.  Another Unix breakthrough was to automatically associate input and output to terminal keyboard and terminal display, respectively, by default — the program (and programmer) did absolutely nothing to establish input and output for a typical input-process-output program (unless it chose a different paradigm). In contrast, previous operating systems usually required some—often complex—job control language to establish connections, or the equivalent burden had to be orchestrated by the program.  Since Unix provided standard streams, the Unix C runtime environment was obliged to support it as well. As a result, most C runtime environments (and C's descendants), regardless of the operating system, provide equivalent functionality.

Standard input (stdin).

Standard input is a stream from which a program reads its input data. The program requests data transfers by use of the "read" operation. Not all programs require stream input. For example, the "dir" and "ls" programs (which display file names contained in a directory) may take command-line arguments, but perform their operations without any stream data input.  Unless redirected, standard input is inherited from the parent process. In the case of an interactive shell, that is usually associated with the keyboard.  The file descriptor for standard input is 0 (zero); the POSIX "<unistd.h>" definition is codice_1; the corresponding C "<stdio.h>" variable is codice_2; similarly, the C++ "<iostream>" variable is codice_3.

Standard output (stdout).

Standard output is a stream to which a program writes its output data. The program requests data transfer with the "write" operation. Not all programs generate output. For example, the "file rename" command (variously called "mv", "move", or "ren") is silent on success.  Unless redirected, standard output is inherited from the parent process. In the case of an interactive shell, that is usually the text terminal which initiated the program.  The file descriptor for standard output is 1 (one); the POSIX "<unistd.h>" definition is codice_4; the corresponding C "<stdio.h>" variable is codice_5; similarly, the C++ "<iostream>" variable is codice_6.

Standard error (stderr).

Standard error is another output stream typically used by programs to output error messages or diagnostics. It is a stream independent of standard output and can be redirected separately. This solves the semi-predicate problem, allowing output and errors to be distinguished, and is analogous to a function returning a pair of values – see Semi-predicate problem: Multi valued return. The usual destination is the text terminal which started the program to provide the best chance of being seen even if "standard output" is redirected (so not readily observed). For example, output of a program in a pipeline is redirected to input of the next program, but errors from each program still go directly to the text terminal.  It is acceptable and normal to direct "standard output" and "standard error" to the same destination, such as the text terminal. Messages appear in the same order as the program writes them, unless buffering is involved. For example, in common situations the standard error stream is unbuffered but the standard output stream is line-buffered; in this case, text written to standard error later may appear on the terminal earlier, if the standard output stream buffer is not yet full.  The file descriptor for standard error is defined by POSIX as 2 (two); the "<unistd.h>" header file provides the symbol codice_7; the corresponding C "<stdio.h>" variable is codice_8. The C++ "<iostream>" standard header provides two variables associated with this stream: codice_9 and codice_10, the former being unbuffered and the latter using the same buffering mechanism as all other C++ streams.  Bourne-style shells allow "standard error" to be redirected to the same destination that standard output is directed to using  csh-style shells allow "standard error" to be redirected to the same destination that standard output is directed to using  Standard error was added to Unix in the 1970s after several wasted phototypesetting runs ended with error messages being typeset instead of displayed on the user's terminal.

Timeline.

1950s: Fortran.

Fortran has the equivalent of Unix file descriptors: By convention, many Fortran implementations use unit numbers codice_11 for stdin, codice_12 for stdout and codice_13 for stderr. In Fortran-2003, the intrinsic codice_14 module was standardized to include the named constants codice_15, codice_16, and codice_17 to portably specify the unit numbers. ! FORTRAN 77 example! Fortran 2003 example program main end program

1960: ALGOL 60.

ALGOL 60 was criticized for having no standard file access.

1968: ALGOL 68.

ALGOL 68's input and output facilities were collectively referred to as the transput. Koster coordinated the definition of the "transput" standard. The model included three standard channels: codice_18, codice_19, and codice_20.

1970s: C and Unix.

In the C programming language, the standard input, output, and error streams are attached to the existing Unix file descriptors 0, 1 and 2 respectively. In a POSIX environment the "<unistd.h>" definitions "STDIN_FILENO", "STDOUT_FILENO" or "STDERR_FILENO" should be used instead rather than magic numbers. File pointers "stdin", "stdout", and "stderr" are also provided.  Ken Thompson (designer and implementer of the original Unix operating system) modified sort in Version 5 Unix to accept "-" as representing standard input, which spread to other utilities and became a part of the operating system as a special file in Version 8. Diagnostics were part of standard output through Version 6, after which Dennis M. Ritchie created the concept of standard error.

1995: Java.

In Java, the standard streams are referred to by (for stdin), (for stdout), and (for stderr).  public static void main(String args[]) {

2000s:.NET.

In C# and other.NET languages, the standard streams are referred to by codice_21 (for stdin), codice_22 (for stdout) and codice_23 (for stderr). Basic read and write capabilities for the stdin and stdout streams are also accessible directly through the class codice_24 (e.g. codice_25 can be used instead of codice_26).  codice_21, codice_22 and codice_23 are codice_30 (stdin) and codice_31 (stdout, stderr) objects, which only allow access to the underlying standard streams on a text basis. Full binary access to the standard streams must be performed through the codice_32 objects returned by codice_33, codice_34 and codice_35 respectively.  // C# example public static int Main(string[] args) 'Visual Basic.NET example  Public Function Main() As Integer  End Function When applying the codice_36 class one can use the instance properties codice_37, codice_38, and codice_39 of that class to access the standard streams of the process.

GUIs.

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) rarely make use of the standard streams. Consequently, redirecting GUI programs or constructing a GUI pipeline is neither practical nor useful. The nearest analogy is probably "cutting" (or "copying") from one application and "pasting" into another. Since manual user operations are required, moving large numbers of "pastes" is not especially efficient. The Services menu, as implemented on NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X, is also analogous to standard streams. On these operating systems, graphical applications can provide functionality through a systemwide menu that operates on the current selection in the GUI, no matter in what application.  Some GUI programs, primarily on Unix, still write debug information to standard error. Others (such as many Unix media players) may read files from standard input. Popular Windows programs that open a separate console window in addition to their GUI windows are the emulators pSX and DOSBox.  GTK-server can use stdin as a communication interface with an interpreted program to realize a GUI.  The Common Lisp Interface Manager paradigm "presents" GUI elements sent to an extended output stream.

In computer programming, standard streams are interconnected input and output communication channels between a computer program and its environment when it begins execution. The three input/output (I/O) connections are called standard input (stdin), standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr). Originally I/O happened via a physically connected system console (input via keyboard, output via monitor), but standard streams abstract this. When a command is executed via an interactive shell, the streams are typically connected to the text terminal on which the shell is running, but can be changed with redirection or a pipeline. More generally, a child process inherits the standard streams of its parent process.

Die Standard-Datenströme (englisch: "standard streams") sind drei Datenströme für die Ein- und Ausgabe im Betriebssystem Unix oder in verwandten Betriebssystemen. Sie werden auch von der C-Standard-Bibliothek unterstützt. Viele Programme verwenden automatisch die Standardein- bzw. Standardausgabe, wenn auf der Kommandozeile keine Dateien für die Ein- oder Ausgabe angegeben werden.