Etymology.

In spite of appearances, both the Basque form "Donostia" and the Spanish form "San Sebastián" have the same meaning of Saint Sebastian. The "dona/done/doni" element in Basque place-names signifies "saint" and is derived from Latin "domine"; the second

Geography.

The city is located in the north of the Basque Autonomous Community, on the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay. San Sebastián's three beaches, Concha, Ondarreta, and Zurriola, make it a popular resort. The town is surrounded by easily accessible hilly areas: Urgull (adjacent to the old part of the city), Mount Ulia (extending east to Pasaia), Mount Adarra (south of the city) and Igeldo (overlooking Concha Bay from the west).  The city sits at the mouth of the River Urumea, Donostia was built to a large extent on the river's wetlands over the last two centuries. In fact, the city centre and the districts of Amara Berri and Riberas de Loiola lie on the former bed of the river, which was diverted to its current canalized course in the first half of the 20th century.

Climate.

San Sebastián features an oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb") with warm summers and cool winters. Like many cities with this climate, San Sebastián typically experiences cloudy or overcast conditions for the majority of the year,

History.

Prehistory.

The first evidence of human stationary presence in the current city is the settlement of Ametzagaña, between South Intxaurrondo and Astigarraga. The unearthed remains, such as carved

Antiquity.

There were Roman settlements (from around 50-200 AD) in what is now the Old Part of the city, according to excavations carried out in the convent of Santa Teresa, on

Middle Ages.

After a long period of silence in evidence, in 1014 the monastery of St. Sebastián with its apple orchards (for cider), located in the term of Hernani, is donated to the Abbey of Leire by Sancho III of Pamplona. By 1181, the city is chartered (given fuero) by king Sancho VI of Pamplona on the site of Izurum, having jurisdiction over all the territory between the rivers Oria and Bidasoa.  In 1200, the city was conquered by Castile, whose king Alfonso VIII, confirmed its charter (fuero), but the Kingdom of Navarre was deprived of its main direct access out to the sea. Perhaps as soon as 1204 (or earlier), the city nucleus at the foot of Urgull

Modern Age.

The advent of the Modern Age brought a period of instability and war for the city. New state boundaries were drawn that left Donostia located close to Spain's border with France; thicker and more sophisticated walls were erected, with the town becoming involved in the 1521–1524 military campaigns that formed part of the Spanish conquest of Navarre. The town provided critical naval help to Emperor Charles V during the siege of Hondarribia, which earned the town the titles "Muy Noble y Muy

Contemporary history.

After these destructive events, reconstruction of the city was commenced in the original location with a slightly altered layout. A modern octagonal layout as drafted by the architect P.M. Ugartemendia was turned down and eventually M. Gogorza's blueprint was approved, then supervised and implemented by the Ugartemendia. This area, the old town, has a neoclassical, austere and systematic style of architectural construction. Constitution Square was built in 1817 and the town hall (currently a library) between 1828 and 1832. Housing in the old town was built gradually alongside the rest of the area.  The liberal and bourgeois San Sebastián became the capital of Gipuzkoa (instead of Tolosa) until 1823, when absolutists attacked the town again (only 200 inhabitants remained in the town when the offensive troops entered). It was designated again as the capital in 1854. In 1833, British volunteers under Sir George de Lacy Evans defended the town against Carlist attack, and those who died were buried in the English Cemetery on Mount Urgull.  At the beginning of the 19th century, the local government was still ruled by the principle of nobility, while inhabitants of foreign origin or descent had always been ubiquitous in the town, especially among the trading community. Although San Sebastián benefited greatly from the charts

Districts of the city.

As a result of Donostia's sprawling in all directions, first into the flatlands shaped by the river Urumea and later up the hills, new districts arose after the walls of the city were demolished in 1863. The first expansion of the old town stretched out to the river's mouth, on the old quarter called Zurriola (a name later given by Council decision to the sand area and the avenue across the river).  The orthogonal layout nowadays making up the city centre (the Cortazar development) was built up to 1914 (first phase finished) much in tune with a Parisian Haussmannian style. The arcades of the Buen Pastor square were fashioned after the ones of the Rue de Rivoli, with the Maria Cristina Bridge being inspired by the Pont Alexandre III that spans the Seine. The Estación del Norte train station standing right across the bridge was inaugurated in 1864 just after the arrival of the railway to San Sebastián, with its metallic roof being designed by Gustave Eiffel. Donostia's central bus station is located underground adjacent to the train station.

Parte Vieja / Alde Zaharra.

The Parte Vieja "(Spanish)" or Alde Zaharra "(Basque)" — Old Town – is the traditional core area of the city, and was surrounded by walls up to 1863, when they were demolished so as to occupy the stretch of sand and land that connected the town to the mainland (a stretch of the walls still limits the Old Part on its exit to the port through the Portaletas gate). The Old Town is divided in two parishes relating to the Santa Maria and San Vicente churches, the inhabitants belonging to the former being dubbed

Antiguo.

This part stands at the west side of the city beyond the Miramar Palace. It is arguably the first population nucleus, even before the land at the foot of Urgull (Old Part) was settled. A monastery of "San

Amara Zaharra.

Or Old Amara, named after the farmhouse "Amara". It has eventually merged with the city centre to a large extent, since former

Amara Berri.

This city expansion to the south came about as of the 1940s, after the works to canalize the river were achieved. Nowadays the name Amara usually applies to this sector, the newer district having

Gros.

The district is built on the sandy terrain across the river. The "Gros" or "Zurriola" surf beach by the river's mouth bears witness to that type of soil. In the 19th century, shanties and workshops started to dot the area,

Aiete.

One of the newest parts in the city, it kept a rural air until not long ago. The postwar city council bought the quaint compound of the Aiete

Egia.

Egia, stemming from (H)Egia (Basque for either bank/shore or hill), is a popular district of Donostia on the right side of the Urumea beyond the train station. At the beginning of the 20th century, a patch of land by the railway started to be used as a football pitch, eventually turning into the official stadium

Intxaurrondo.

This part (meaning 'walnut tree' in Basque) is a large district to the east of the city. The original nucleus lies between the railway and the Ategorrieta Avenue, where still today the farmhouse Intxaurrondo Zar, declared "National Monument", is situated since the mid-17th century.

Altza.

Altza (Basque for alder tree) is the easternmost district of San Sebastián along with Bidebieta and Trintxerpe. It was but a quaint village comprising scattered farmhouses and a small nucleus a century ago

Ibaeta.

Ibaeta stands on the former location for various factories (e.g., Cervezas El León) of San Sebastián, with the buildings of the old industrial estate being demolished in the late 20th century. The levelling of this large flat area paved the ground for a carefully

Loiola.

It lies by the Urumea at the south-east end of the city. It comprises a small patch of detached houses (Ciudad Jardín) and a core area of 6-odd floor buildings. The district has recently

Riberas de Loiola.

New modern district erected in the 2000s next to the city's inner

Martutene.

The Martutene district bordering to the south on the town of Astigarraga comes next to Loiola in the south direction. This part of the city features an industrial area, a

Ulia.

This part stands on the east side of the city at the foot of the Mount Ulia Park, on the left hand side of the road heading from Donostia to Pasaia and Irun. It consists of a residential area, besides holding a number

Zubieta.

The exclave Zubieta (meaning 'place of bridges') was a village up to recent years, with a number of houses, a handball pitch (on account of its single wall as opposed to the regular two) and a church. Yet it has undergone a

Culture and events.

San Sebastián shows a dynamic cultural scene, where grass-roots initiative based on different parts of the city and the concerted private and public synergy have paved the ground for a rich range of possibilities and events catering to the tastes of a wide and selected public alike. The city was selected as European Capital of Culture for 2016 (shared with Wrocław, Poland) with a basic motto, "Waves of people's energy", summarizing a clear message: people and movements of citizens are the real driving force behind transformations and changes in the world.  Events ranging from traditional city festivals to music, theatre or cinema take place all year round, while they specially thrive in summer. In the last week of July, San Sebastián's Jazz Festival (Jazzaldia), the longest, continuously running Jazz Festival in Europe is held. In different spots of the city gigs are staged, sometimes with free admission. The Musical Fortnight comes next extending for at least fifteen days well into August and featuring classical music concerts. In September, the San Sebastián International Film Festival comes to the spotlight, an event with more than 50 years revolving around the venues of Kursaal and the Victoria Eugenia Theatre. The city is also home to the San Telmo Museoa, a major cultural institution with an ethnographic, artistic and civic vocation.  Sticking to the cinematic language but lacking its echo, Street Zinema is an international audiovisual festival exploring contemporary art and urban cultures. Other rising and popular events include the Horror and Fantasy Festival in October (21st edition in 2010) and the Surfilm Festibal, a cinema festival featuring surfing footage, especially shorts. During centuries, the city has been open to many influences that have left a trace, often mingling with the local customs and traditions and eventually resulting in festivals and new customs.

San Sebastián Day.

Every year on 20 January (the feast of Saint Sebastian), the people of San Sebastián celebrate a festival known as the "Tamborrada". At midnight, in the Konstituzio plaza in the "Alde Zaharra/Parte Vieja" (Old Part), the mayor raises the flag of San Sebastián (see in the infobox). For 24 hours, the entire city is awash with the sound of drums. The adults, dressed as cooks and soldiers, march around the city. They march all night with their cook hats and white aprons with the March of San Sebastián.  On this day a procession was held in the early 19th century from the Santa Maria Church in the Old Part to the San Sebastián Church in the district of Antiguo, while later

La Semana Grande/Aste Nagusia.

A festival, "La Semana Grande" in Spanish and "Aste Nagusia" in Basque ("The Big/Main Week"), is held every year in mid-August. A major international fireworks competition is held during the festival, in which teams representing various countries and cities put

Basque Week.

This decades long festivity taking place at the beginning of September features events related to Basque culture, such as performances of traditional improvising poets (bertsolaris), Basque pelota games, stone lifting contests, oxen wagers, dance exhibitions or the cider tasting festival. Yet the main highlight may be the rowing boat competition,

Santa Ageda Bezpera.

Saint Agatha's Eve is a traditional event taking place at the beginning of February or end of January in many spots of the Basque Country. It holds a small but cherished slot in the city's

Caldereros.

This is a local festival held on the first Saturday of February linked to the upcoming Carnival, where different groups of people dressed in Romani (Gypsy) tinkers attire take to the streets banging rhythmically a hammer or spoon against

Santo Tomas.

The Santo Tomas festival takes place on Thomas the Apostle's day, 21 December. From the early morning, stalls are erected around the city centre, and visitors from across Gipuzkoa come to the centre and the

Olentzero.

As in other Basque cities, towns and villages, on Christmas Eve the Olentzero and the accompanying carol singers usually dressed in Basque farmer costume take over the streets, especially

Economy and industry.

The main economic activities are commerce and tourism. San Sebastián is one

Transport.

The city is served by Euskotren Trena, the main Basque rail operator. Euskotren Trena operates trains to Bilbao and other destinations, as well as the Metro Donostialdea and Cercanías San Sebastián within the San Sebastián metropolitan area. There

Gastronomy.

Donostia is renowned for its Basque cuisine. San Sebastián and its surrounding area is home to a high concentration of restaurants boasting Michelin stars including Arzak (San Sebastián), Berasategi (Lasarte), Akelarre (district Igeldo) and Mugaritz (Errenteria), to mention but a few. It is the city with the second most Michelin stars per capita in the world, only

University.

Donostia-San Sebastián has become an important University town. Four universities and a superior conservatory are present in the city:  The secondary studies activity is having an increasing impact on social, cultural, technological and economical levels of the

Sport.

The principal football club in the city is Real Sociedad. After three seasons in the Segunda División, the club won promotion back to La Liga after winning the 2009–10 Segunda División. Real Sociedad was one of the founding members of the top division in Spanish football, La Liga. They enjoyed a particularly successful period of history in the early 1980s when they were Spanish champions for two years running (1980–81, 1981–82). In May 2019, Real Sociedad's female team won the

International relations.

Twin towns – sister cities.

San Sebastián

Partnership cities.

San Sebastián signed a cooperation agreement with Stepanakert,

San Sebastián () or Donostia () is a coastal city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the French border. The capital city of Gipuzkoa, the municipality's population is 186,095 as of 2015, with its metropolitan area reaching 436,500 in 2010. Locals call themselves "donostiarra" (singular), both in Spanish and Basque.

Donostia-San Sebastián (baskisch "Donostia", Aussprache: ; spanisch "San Sebastián") ist die Hauptstadt der Provinz Gipuzkoa (span. "Guipúzcoa") in der spanischen Autonomen Gemeinschaft Baskenland. Sie liegt etwa 20 km westlich der französischen Grenze im Bogen des Golfs von Biskaya. Die Stadt war 2016 gemeinsam mit Breslau Kulturhauptstadt Europas.


Types.

Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine type is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.

Process.

Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous, since they can eat other species of "Morus", as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.  After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few—the Bombycidae, in particular the genus "Bombyx", and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus "Antheraea"—have been exploited for fabric production.  If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets, etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.  As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semiwild silk moths.  The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild "B. mandarina" and other "Bombyx" species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silk moths can still fly. Silk moths have a wingspan of and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs), but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.

Cocoon.

The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m (1,000 to 3,000 ft) long. The fibers are very fine and luscious, about 10 μm (0.0004 in) in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make 1 pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.

Research.

Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual silkworm.  Currently, research is focusing on the genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. "Bombyx mori" females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.  Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.  Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.  Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the silkworms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.  Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery, as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.

Domestication.

The domestic species, compared to the wild species, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domestic silk moths cannot fly, so the males need human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments have also been lost, so the domestic silk moths are leucistic, since camouflage is not useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.

Silkworm breeding.

Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum output. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and crossbreeding.  Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworms from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (this lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors, including genetics.

Hobby raising and school projects.

In the U.S., teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising domestic silk moths in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insects from eggs to larvae to pupae to moths.  The domestic silk moth has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silk moths. The practice of raising silk moths by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silk moths, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.

Genome.

The full genome of the domestic silk moth was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.  The genome of the domestic silk moth is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.  High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silk moths, though this is less than that among wild silk moths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild silkworms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.

Cuisine.

Silk moth pupae are eaten in some cultures.

Silkworm legends.

China.

In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress named Leizu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor, also known as Xi Lingshi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.  The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.

Vietnam.

According to a Vietnamese folk tale, silkworms were originally a beautiful housemaid running away from her gruesome masters and living in the mountain, where she was protected by the mountain god. One day, a lecherous god from the heaven came down to Earth to seduce women. When he saw her, he tried to rape her but she was able to escape and hidden by the mountain god. The lecherous god then tried to find and capture her by setting a net trap around the mountain. With the blessing of Guanyin, the girl was able to safely swallow that net into her stomach. Finally, the evil god summons his fellow thunder and rain gods to attack and burn away her clothes, forcing her to hide in a cave. Naked and cold, she spit out the net and used it as a blanket to sleep. The girl died in her sleep, and as she wished to continue to help other people, her soul turned into silkworms.

Bombyx mori, the domestic silk moth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of "Bombyx mandarina", the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even Osage orange. Domestic silk moths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silk moths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are thus not as commercially viable in the production of silk.

Der Seidenspinner oder Maulbeerspinner ("Bombyx mori") ist ein ursprünglich in China beheimateter Schmetterling aus der Familie der Echten Spinner (Bombycidae). Die Seidenraupe wurde vom Wildseidenspinner ("Bombyx mandarina") domestiziert, der in Nordindien, Nordchina, Korea, Japan, und den fernöstlichen Regionen Russlands beheimatet ist. Die domestizierte Seidenraupe stammt eher aus China als aus Japan oder Korea. Der Mensch nutzte schon früh die Fähigkeiten der Raupen des Seidenspinners, der „Seidenraupen“, zur Erzeugung von Seide; bereits vor 5000 Jahren wurden in China Seidenraupen gezüchtet. Durch die Verbreitung der Seidenherstellung (Seidenbau) wurde er bis heute auch außerhalb seines ursprünglichen Lebensraumes verbreitet, unter anderem in Südeuropa.


Background to conflict.

Diplomatic background.

War between Japan and the United States had been a possibility that each nation had been aware of, and planned for, since the 1920s. The relationship between the two countries was cordial enough that they remained trading partners. Tensions did not seriously grow until Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Over the next decade, Japan expanded into China, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China and endeavored to secure enough independent resources to attain victory on the mainland. The "Southern Operation" was designed to assist these efforts.  Starting in December 1937, events such as the Japanese attack on USS "Panay", the Allison incident, and the Nanking Massacre swung Western public opinion sharply against Japan. Fearing Japanese expansion, the

Military planning.

Preliminary planning for an attack on Pearl Harbor to protect the move into the "Southern Resource Area" (the Japanese term for the Dutch East Indies and Southeast Asia generally) had begun very early in 1941 under the auspices of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, then commanding Japan's Combined Fleet. He won assent to formal planning and training for an attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff only after much contention with Naval Headquarters, including a threat to resign his command. Full-scale planning was underway by early spring 1941, primarily by Rear Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka, with assistance from Captain Minoru Genda and Yamamoto's Deputy Chief of Staff, Captain Kameto Kuroshima. The planners studied the 1940 British air attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto intensively.  Over the next several months, pilots were trained, equipment was adapted,

Objectives.

The Japanese attack had several major aims. First, it intended to destroy important American fleet units, thereby preventing the Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies and Malaya and to enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference. Second, it was hoped to buy time for Japan to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength before shipbuilding authorized by the 1940 Vinson-Walsh Act erased any chance of victory. Third, to deliver a blow to America's ability to mobilize its forces in the Pacific, battleships were chosen as the main targets, since they were the prestige ships of any navy at the time. Finally, it was hoped that the attack would undermine American morale such that

Approach and attack.

On November 26, 1941, a Japanese task force (the Striking Force) of six aircraft carriers—,,,,, and —departed Hittokapu Bay on Kasatka (now Iterup) Island in the Kurile Islands, "en route" to a position northwest of Hawaii, intending to launch its 408 aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor: 360 for the two attack waves and 48 on defensive combat air patrol (CAP), including nine fighters from the first wave.  The first wave was to be the primary attack, while the second wave was to attack carriers as its first objective and cruisers as its second, with battleships as the third target. The first wave carried most of the weapons to attack capital ships, mainly specially adapted Type 91 aerial torpedoes which were designed with an anti-roll mechanism and a rudder extension that let them operate in shallow water. The aircrews were ordered to select the highest value targets (battleships and aircraft carriers) or, if these were not present, any other high value ships (cruisers and destroyers). First wave dive bombers were to attack ground targets. Fighters were ordered to strafe and destroy as many parked aircraft as possible to ensure they did not get into the air to intercept the bombers, especially in the first wave. When the fighters' fuel got low they were to refuel at the aircraft carriers and return to combat. Fighters were to serve CAP duties where needed, especially over U.S. airfields.  Before the attack commenced, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched reconnaissance floatplanes from cruisers and, one to scout over Oahu and the other over Lahaina Roads, Maui, respectively, with orders to report on U.S. fleet composition and location. Reconnaissance aircraft flights risked alerting the U.S., and were not necessary. U.S. fleet composition and preparedness information in Pearl Harbor were already known due to the reports of the Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa. A report of the absence of the U.S. fleet in Lahaina anchorage off Maui was received from the Tone's floatplane and fleet submarine. Another four scout planes patrolled the area between the Japanese carrier force (the Kidō Butai) and Niihau, to detect any counterattack.

Submarines.

Fleet submarines,,,, and each embarked a Type A midget submarine for transport to the waters off Oahu. The five I-boats left Kure Naval District on November 25, 1941. On December 6, they came to within of the mouth of Pearl Harbor and launched their midget subs at about 01:00 local time on December 7. At 03:42 Hawaiian Time, the minesweeper spotted a midget submarine periscope southwest of the Pearl Harbor entrance buoy and alerted the destroyer. The midget may have entered Pearl Harbor. However, "Ward" sank another midget submarine at 06:37 in the first American shots in the Pacific Theater. A midget submarine on the north side of Ford Island missed the seaplane tender with her first torpedo and missed the attacking destroyer

Japanese declaration of war.

The attack took place before any formal declaration of war was made by Japan, but this was not Admiral Yamamoto's intention. He originally stipulated that the attack should not commence until thirty minutes after Japan had informed the United States that peace negotiations were at an end. However, the attack began before the notice could be delivered. Tokyo transmitted the 5000-word notification (commonly called the "14-Part Message") in two blocks to the Japanese Embassy in Washington. Transcribing the message took too long for the Japanese ambassador to deliver it on schedule; in the event, it was not presented until more than an hour after the attack began. (In fact, U.S. code breakers had already deciphered and translated most of the message hours before he was scheduled to deliver it.) The final part is sometimes described as a declaration of war. While it was viewed by a number of senior U.S government and military officials as a very strong indicator negotiations were

First wave composition.

The first attack wave of 183 planes was launched north of Oahu, led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida. Six planes failed to launch due to technical difficulties. The first attack included three groups of planes:  As the first wave approached Oahu, it was detected by the U.S. Army SCR-270 radar at Opana Point near the island's northern tip. This post had been in training mode for months, but was not yet operational. The operators, Privates George Elliot Jr. and Joseph Lockard, reported a target. But Lieutenant Kermit A. Tyler, a newly assigned officer at the thinly manned Intercept Center, presumed it was the scheduled arrival of six B-17 bombers from

Second wave composition.

The second planned wave consisted of 171 planes: 54 B5Ns, 81 D3As, and 36 A6Ms, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Shigekazu Shimazaki. Four planes failed to launch because of technical difficulties.

American casualties and damage.

Ninety minutes after it began, the attack was over. 2,008 sailors were killed and 710 others wounded; 218 soldiers and airmen (who were part of the Army prior to the independent United States Air Force in 1947) were killed and 364 wounded; 109 marines were killed and 69 wounded; and 68 civilians were killed and 35 wounded. In total, 2,403 Americans were killed, and 1,143 were wounded. Eighteen ships were sunk or run aground, including five battleships. All of the Americans killed or wounded during the attack were legally non-combatants, given that there was no state of war when the attack occurred.  Of the American fatalities, nearly half were due to the explosion of's forward magazine after it was hit by a modified shell. Author Craig

Japanese losses.

Fifty-five Japanese airmen and nine submariners were killed in the attack, and one, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. Of Japan's 414 available planes, 350 took part in the raid

Possible third wave.

Several Japanese junior officers including Fuchida and Genda urged Nagumo to carry out a third strike in order to destroy as much of Pearl Harbor's fuel and torpedo  storage, maintenance, and dry dock facilities as possible. Genda, who had unsuccessfully advocated for invading Hawaii after the air attack, believed that without an invasion, three strikes were necessary to disable the base as much as possible. The captains of the other five carriers in the task force reported they were willing and ready to carry out a third strike. Military historians have suggested the

Ships lost or damaged.

Twenty-one ships were damaged or lost in the

Salvage.

After a systematic search for survivors, Captain Homer N. Wallin was ordered to lead a formal salvage operation.  Around Pearl Harbor, divers from the Navy (shore and tenders), the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, and civilian contractors (Pacific Bridge Company and others) began work on the ships that could be refloated. They patched holes, cleared debris, and pumped water out of ships. Navy divers worked inside the damaged ships. Within

News coverage.

The initial announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor was made by the White House Press Secretary, Stephen Early, at 2:22 p.m. Eastern time (8:52 a.m. Hawaiian time): "The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor from the air and all naval and military activities on the island of Oahu, principal American base in the Hawaiian islands." As information developed, Early made a number of additional announcements to approximately 150 White House reporters over the course of the afternoon.  Initial reports of the attack moved on news wires at approximately 2:25 p.m. Eastern time. The

Aftermath.

In the wake of the attack, 15 Medals of Honor, 51 Navy Crosses, 53 Silver Stars, four Navy and Marine Corps Medals, one Distinguished Flying Cross, four Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal, and three Bronze Star Medals were awarded to the American servicemen who distinguished themselves in combat at Pearl Harbor. Additionally, a special military award, the Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal, was later authorized for all military veterans of the attack.  The day after the attack, Roosevelt delivered his famous Infamy Speech to a Joint Session of Congress, calling for a formal declaration of war on the Empire of Japan. Congress obliged his request less than an hour later. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, even though the Tripartite Pact did not require it. Congress issued a declaration of war against Germany and Italy later that same day. The UK actually declared war on Japan nine hours before the U.S. did, partially due to Japanese attacks on Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and partially due to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's promise to declare war "within the hour" of a Japanese attack on the United States.  The attack was an initial shock to all the Allies in the Pacific Theater. Further losses compounded the alarming setback. Japan attacked the Philippines hours later (because of the time difference, it was December 8 in the Philippines). Only three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleships "Prince of Wales" and "Repulse" were sunk off the coast of Malaya, causing Churchill later to recollect "In all the war I never received a more direct shock. As I turned and twisted in bed the full horror of the news sank in upon me. There were no British or American capital ships in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific except the American survivors of Pearl Harbor who were hastening back to California. Over this vast expanse of waters Japan was supreme and we everywhere were weak and naked".  Throughout the war, Pearl Harbor was frequently used in American propaganda.  One further consequence of the attack on Pearl Harbor and its aftermath (notably the Niihau incident) was that Japanese-American residents and citizens were relocated to nearby Japanese-American internment camps. Within hours of the attack, hundreds of Japanese-American leaders were rounded up and taken to high-security camps such as Sand Island at the mouth of Honolulu harbor and Kilauea Military Camp on the island of Hawaii. Eventually, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans, nearly all who lived on the West Coast, were forced into interior camps, but in Hawaii, where the 150,000-plus Japanese Americans composed over one-third of the population, only 1,200 to 1,800 were interned.  The attack also had international consequences. The Canadian province of British Columbia, bordering the Pacific Ocean, had long had a large population of Japanese immigrants and their Japanese-Canadian descendants. Pre-war tensions were exacerbated by the Pearl Harbor attack, leading to a reaction from the Government of Canada. On February 24, 1942, Order-in-Council P.C. no. 1486 was passed under the War Measures Act, allowing for the forced removal of any and all Canadians of Japanese descent from British Columbia, as well as the prohibiting them from returning to the province. On March 4, regulations under the Act were adopted to evacuate Japanese-Canadians. As a result, 12,000 were interned in interior camps, 2,000 were sent to road camps, and another 2,000 were forced to work in the prairies on sugar beet farms.

References.

Informational notes Citations

External links.

Accounts  Media  Historical documents

The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, preemptive military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States (a neutral country at the time) against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' formal entry into World War II the next day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning. Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Der Angriff auf Pearl Harbor, auch bekannt als Überfall auf Pearl Harbor, war ein Überraschungsangriff der Kaiserlich Japanischen Marineluftstreitkräfte in Friedenszeiten auf die in Pearl Harbor im Hawaii-Territorium vor Anker liegende Pazifikflotte der USA am 7. Dezember 1941.


Organization.

The book is divided into six parts, described in the author's preface as:

Part I: Various scientific considerations.

Descartes begins by allowing himself some wit:  A similar observation can be found in Hobbes: "But this proveth rather that men are in that point equal, than unequal. For there is not ordinarily a greater sign of the equal distribution of anything than that every man is contented with his share," but also in Montaigne, whose formulation indicates that it was a common place at the time: "Tis commonly said that the justest portion Nature has given us of her favors is that of sense; for there is no one who is not contented with his share." Descartes continues with a warning:  Descartes describes his disappointment with his education: "[A]s soon as I had finished the entire course of study...I found myself involved in so many doubts and errors, that I was convinced I had advanced no farther...than the discovery at every turn of my own ignorance." He notes his special delight with mathematics, and contrasts its strong foundations to "the disquisitions of the ancient moralists [which are] towering and magnificent palaces with no better foundation than sand and mud."

Part II: Principal rules of the Method.

Descartes was in Germany, attracted thither by the wars in that country, and describes his intent by a "building metaphor" (see also: Neurath's boat). He observes that buildings, cities or nations that have been planned by a single hand are more elegant and commodious than those that have grown organically. He resolves not to build on old foundations, or to lean upon principles which, he had taken on faith in his youth. Descartes seeks to ascertain the true method by which to arrive at the knowledge of whatever lay within the compass of his powers; he presents four precepts:

Part III: Morals and Maxims of conducting the Method.

Descartes uses the analogy of rebuilding a house from secure foundations, and extends the analogy to the idea of needing a temporary abode while his own house is being rebuilt. The following three maxims were adopted by Descartes so that he could effectively function in the "real world" while experimenting with his method of radical doubt. They formed a rudimentary belief system from which to act before he developed a new system based on the truths he discovered using his method:

Part IV: Proof of God and the Soul.

Applying the method to itself, Descartes challenges his own reasoning and reason itself. But Descartes believes three things are not susceptible to doubt and the three support each other to form a stable foundation for the method. He cannot doubt that something has to be there to do the doubting (I think, therefore I am). The method of doubt cannot doubt reason as it is based on reason itself. By reason there exists a God, and God is the guarantor that reason is not misguided. Descartes supplies three different proofs for the existence of God, including what is now referred to as the ontological proof of the existence of God.

Part V: Physics, the heart, and the soul of man and animals.

Here he describes how in other writings he discusses the idea of laws of nature, of the sun and stars, the idea of the moon being the cause of ebb and flow, on gravitation, and going on to discuss light and fire.  Describing his work on light, he states:  His work on such physico-mechanical laws is, however, projected into a "new world." A theoretical place God created  Descartes does this "to express my judgment regarding... [his subjects] with greater freedom, without being necessitated to adopt or refute the opinions of the learned".  He goes on to say that he "was not, however, disposed, from these circumstances, to conclude that this world had been created in the manner I described; for it is much more likely that God made it at the first such as it was to be." Despite this admission, it seems that Descartes' project for understanding the world was that of re-creating creation—a cosmological project which aimed, through Descartes' particular brand of experimental method, to show not merely the possibility of such a system, but to suggest that this way of looking at the world—one with (as Descartes saw it) no assumptions about God or nature—provided the only basis upon which he could see knowledge progressing (as he states in Book II).  Thus, in Descartes' work, we can see some of the fundamental assumptions of modern cosmology in evidence—the project of examing the historical construction of the universe through a set of quantitative laws describing interactions which would allow the ordered present to be constructed from a chaotic past.  He goes on to the motion of the blood in the heart and arteries, endorsing the findings of "a physician of England" about the circulation of blood, referring to William Harvey and his work "De motu cordis" in a marginal note. But then he disagrees strongly about the function of the heart as a pump, ascribing the motive power of the circulation to heat rather than muscular contraction. He describes that these motions seem to be totally independent of what we think, and concludes that our bodies are separate from our souls.  He does not seem to distinguish between mind, spirit and soul, which are identified as our faculty for rational thinking. Hence the term "I think, therefore I am." All three of these words (particularly "mind" and "soul") can be identified by the single French term "âme".

Part VI: Prerequisites for advancing the investigation of Nature.

Descartes begins by noting, without directly referring to it, the recent trial of Galileo for heresy and the condemnation of heliocentrism; he explains that for these reasons he has been slow to publish.  Secure on these foundation stones, Descartes shows the practical application of "the Method" in Mathematics and the Science.

Influencing future science.

Skepticism had previously been discussed by philosophers such as Sextus Empiricus, Al-Ghazali, Francisco Sánchez and Michel de Montaigne. Descartes started his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions or influences. This is summarized in the book's first precept to "never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such". This method of pro-foundational skepticism is considered to be the start of modern philosophy.

Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences () is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. It is best known as the source of the famous quotation ""Je pense, donc je suis"" ("I think, therefore I am", or "I am thinking, therefore I exist"), which occurs in Part IV of the work. A similar argument, without this precise wording, is found in "Meditations on First Philosophy" (1641), and a Latin version of the same statement "Cogito, ergo sum" is found in "Principles of Philosophy" (1644).

Der Discours de la méthode, mit vollem Titel Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison et chercher la verité dans les sciences (dt. „Abhandlung über die Methode, seine Vernunft gut zu gebrauchen und die Wahrheit in den Wissenschaften zu suchen“), ist ein philosophisches und autobiographisches Werk des französischen Philosophen René Descartes.


History.

Origins.

The Via Regia ran west–east through the centre of the Holy Roman Empire, from the Rhine at Mainz-Kastel ("Elisabethenstraße") to Frankfurt am Main, trade city and site of the election of the King of the Romans, continuing along Hanau, the "Kaiserpfalz" at Gelnhausen, the towns of Steinau an der Straße, Neuhof, Fulda and Eisenach to Erfurt, a centre of woad production. It ran further eastwards to Eckartsberga, crossing the Saale river between Bad Kösen and Naumburg and reached Leipzig, another trade city. The eastern part continued through Upper Lusatia ("Via Regia Lusatiae Superioris") along Großenhain, Königsbrück, Kamenz, Bautzen and Görlitz to Wrocław in Silesia with further connection to Kraków in Poland.

Medieval times.

The road was first mentioned as "strata regia" in a document issued by Margrave Henry III of Meissen in 1252, while its origins date back to the 8th and 9th centuries. After the downfall of the Imperial power in Central Germany in favour of the Saxon House of Wettin following the 1307 Battle of Lucka, the road lost its royal status and from the 14th century this route could no longer really be spoken of as a "Via Regia". Nevertheless, the important section of the road between Frankfurt and Leipzig continued to exist under the name "Hohe Straße" ("High Road"). It remained under sovereign control of e.g. the Bohemian Crown in Upper Lusatia, the Saxon electors, the Abbey of Fulda, as well as the Archbishopric of Mainz and was chartered through tolling. Also the branch-off from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne via Wetzlar was called "Hohe Straße".  The road had a large economic significance for interregional trade and bartering. From the west came Flemish blankets, from the east wood, pelts, wax and honey, and the middle section controlled the German indigo ("Isatis tinctoria") of the Thuringian Basin as well as the mining products of the Saxon Ore Mountains. The High Road also provided the direct route between the largest German trade fairs of Frankfurt and Leipzig.  Pilgrims, who took part in the Aachen Cathedral shrine pilgrimage used the road in large numbers. Thereto they turned off the trunk road at Eisenach along the "Long Hesse" road to Marburg and Cologne. Testimonies of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela are known from Großenhain, Leipzig, Erfurt, Gotha, Vacha, Fulda, Frankfurt am Main and Mainz.  The road was repeatedly used by armies. Some large battles came to pass in its catchment area (e.g. Breitenfeld 1631, Lützen 1632, Rossbach 1757, Hochkirch 1758, Jena-Auerstedt 1806 as well as the Battles of Bautzen, Lützen (Großgörschen) and Leipzig in 1813).

19th century to present day.

After the final defeat of Napoleon, the significance of the road declined, since, as a result of the reduction of the Kingdom of Saxony by large parts of its Lusatian territories at the Congress of Vienna, the toll on behalf of Leipzig was no longer continued.  Parts of the historic Via Regia route are today marked by major national roads: between Eisenach and Erfurt by the Bundesstraße 7 (B7); between Eckartsberga and Leipzig by the B87; and between Leipzig and Görlitz by the Bundesstraße 6 (B6) and eastwards to Kraków by the Polish national road 94. In Hanau the "Birkenhainer Strasse" branches off the Via Regia crossing the Spessart mountain range towards Gemünden am Main in Franconia, also as a high road.

Tourism.

The Council of Europe awarded the Via Regia the title of Major Cultural Route of the "Council of Europe” in 2005. According to the Council of Europe, it "is the name of the oldest and longest road link between the East and the West of Europe. The route has existed for more than 2.000 years and connects 8 European countries through a length of 4.500 km."

The Via Regia (Royal Highway) - is a European Cultural Route following the route of the historic road of the Middle Ages.

Die Via Regia (lat. für „Königliche Straße“ oder „Königlicher Weg“) oder Hohe Straße war im Mittelalter und der frühen Neuzeit eine wichtige west-östlich verlaufende Handels- und Militärstraße im Heiligen Römischen Reich sowie ein Pilgerweg. Sie verband das Rheinland über Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig mit Schlesien. Seit 2005 ist die Via Regia als Kulturweg des Europarats anerkannt.


Etymology.

"Accolade" was first used in 1611 and is French, from the Occitan "acolada". This, in turn, came from the Latin "ad" ("to") + "collum" ("neck") and in Occitan originally meant "embrace".  "Accolade" is akin to "dubbing" or "to dub" since the tap on the shoulder with the knighting sword is accepted to be the point at which the title is awarded.

History.

Ceremony.

The accolade is a ceremony to confer knighthood. It may take many forms, including the tapping of the flat side of a knighting sword on the shoulders of a candidate (who is himself sometimes referred to as an accolade during the ceremony) or an embrace about the neck. In the first example, the "knight-elect" kneels in front of the monarch on a knighting-stool. First, the monarch lays the side of the sword's blade onto the accolade's right shoulder. The monarch then raises the sword just up over the apprentice's head, flips it counterclockwise so that the same side of the blade will come in contact with the knight's body, and places it on his left shoulder. The new knight then stands up, and the king or queen presents him with the insignia of his new order. Contrary to popular belief, the phrase "Arise, Sir..." is not used.  There is some disagreement among historians on the actual ceremony and in what time period certain methods could have been used. It could have been an embrace or a slight blow on the neck or cheek. Gregory of Tours wrote that the early kings of France, in conferring the gilt shoulder-belt, kissed the knights on the left cheek. In knighting his son Henry with the ceremony of the "accolade," history records that William the Conqueror used the blow. The blow, or colée, when first utilized was given with a bare fist, a stout box on the ear. This was later substituted for by a gentle stroke with the flat part of the sword against the side of the neck. This then developed into the custom of tapping on either the right or left shoulder, or both, which is still the tradition in the United Kingdom today.  An early Germanic coming-of-age ceremony, of presenting a youth with a weapon that was buckled on him, was elaborated in the 10th and 11th centuries as a sign that the minor had come of age. Initially this was a simple rite often performed on the battlefield, where writers of Romance enjoyed placing it. A panel in the Bayeux Tapestry shows the knighting of Harold by William of Normandy, but the specific gesture is not clearly represented. Another military knight (commander of an army), sufficiently impressed by a warrior's loyalty, would tap a fighting soldier on his back and shoulder with the flat of his sword and announce that he was now an official knight. Some words that might be spoken at that moment were "Advances Chevalier au nom de Dieu".  In medieval France, early ceremonies of the "adoubement" were purely secular and indicated a young noble coming of age. Around 1200, these ceremonies began to include elements of Christian ritual (such as a night spent in prayers, prior to the rite ).  The increasingly impressive ceremonies surrounding "adoubement" figured largely in the Romance literature, both in French and in Middle English, particularly those set in the Trojan War or around the legendary personage of Alexander the Great.

Promotion steps.

The process of becoming a knight generally included these stages:

Accolade in the 21st century.

France.

Newly inducted military Knights of the Legion of Honour are struck on both shoulders with a sword (Army and Navy) or a dirk (Air Force), if the ceremony is presided over by a military authority. Civilian members and all members of lesser orders (Merit, Arts and Letters...) are not dubbed with a bladed weapon. They receive only the "accolade", which has kept in French its ancient meaning of "embrace".

Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, the knights in the exclusive Military Order of William (the Dutch "Victoria Cross") are struck on the left shoulder with the palm of the hand, first by the Dutch monarch (if present) then by the other knights. The new knight does not kneel.

United Kingdom.

All newly created knights in the UK, that is Knights Bachelor, Knights Commanders and Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, Royal Victorian Order, Order of Saint Michael and Saint George and Order of the Bath, Knights Companions of the Order of the Thistle and the Order of the Garter are dubbed on both shoulders with a sword by the monarch or the prince delegated by her.  Clergy receiving a knighthood are not dubbed. The use of a sword in this kind of a ceremony is believed to be inappropriate.

Vatican.

Knights of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an Order of chivalry under the protection of the Holy See, are dubbed in the head and on both shoulders during the investiture ceremony. The accolade is given during Holy Mass, by the officiating Prelate.

The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) () was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term accolade was used much more generally to mean "praise" or "award" or "honour."

Der Ritterschlag ist ein feierlicher Initiationsritus, mit dem ein Mann von einem Herrscher oder einem anderen Adeligen in den Ritterstand erhoben wurde. Im späteren Mittelalter war die „Ritterbürtigkeit“, also die Abstammung von adeligen, ritterlichen Vorfahren, meist Voraussetzung für die Aufnahme in den Ritterstand. Der Ritterschlag löste ab dem 14. Jahrhundert in Mitteleuropa die Schwertleite als die gängige Form der Ritterpromotion ab. Schwertleite und Ritterschlag sind also zwei unterschiedliche Initiationsriten, besonders in populärwissenschaftlichen Werken werden beide Formen oft fälschlicherweise gleichgesetzt. Im Vereinigten Königreich ist der Ritterschlag eine bis heute erhalten gebliebene Auszeichnung für besondere Leistungen in Wissenschaft, Kultur, Kunst usw., die nur durch den jeweils amtierenden britischen Monarchen verliehen werden kann.


History.

The origin of book-keeping is lost in obscurity, but recent researches indicate that methods of keeping accounts have existed from the remotest times of human life in cities. Babylonian records written with styli on small slabs of clay have been found dating to 2600 BCE. The term "waste book" was used in colonial America, referring to the documenting of daily transactions of receipts and expenditures. Records were made in chronological order, and for temporary use only. Daily records were then transferred to a daybook or account ledger to balance the accounts and to create a permanent journal; then the waste book could be discarded, hence the name.

Process.

The bookkeeping process primarily records the "financial effects" of transactions. An important difference between a manual and an electronic accounting system is the former's latency between the recording of a financial transaction and its posting in the relevant account. This delay, which is absent in electronic accounting systems due to nearly instantaneous posting to relevant accounts, is characteristic of manual systems, and gave rise to the primary books of accounts—cash book, purchase book, sales book, etc.—for immediately documenting a financial transaction.  In the normal course of business, a document is produced each time a transaction occurs. Sales and purchases usually have invoices or receipts. Deposit slips are produced when lodgements (deposits) are made to a bank account. Checks (spelled "cheques" in the UK and several other countries) are written to pay money out of the account. Bookkeeping first involves recording the details of all of these "source documents" into multi-column "journals" (also known as "books of first entry" or "daybooks"). For example, all credit sales are recorded in the sales journal; all cash payments are recorded in the cash payments journal. Each column in a journal normally corresponds to an account. In the single entry system, each transaction is recorded only once. Most individuals who balance their check-book each month are using such a system, and most personal-finance software follows this approach.  After a certain period, typically a month, each column in each journal is totalled to give a summary for that period. Using the rules of double-entry, these journal summaries are then transferred to their respective accounts in the ledger, or "account book". For example, the entries in the Sales Journal are taken and a debit entry is made in each customer's account (showing that the customer now owes us money), and a credit entry might be made in the account for "Sale of class 2 widgets" (showing that this activity has generated revenue for us). This process of transferring summaries or individual transactions to the ledger is called "posting". Once the posting process is complete, accounts kept using the "T" format undergo "balancing", which is simply a process to arrive at the balance of the account.  As a partial check that the posting process was done correctly, a working document called an "unadjusted trial balance" is created. In its simplest form, this is a three-column list. Column One contains the names of those accounts in the ledger which have a non-zero balance. If an account has a "debit" balance, the balance amount is copied into Column Two (the "debit column"); if an account has a "credit" balance, the amount is copied into Column Three (the "credit column"). The debit column is then totalled, and then the credit column is totalled. The two totals must agree—which is not by chance—because under the double-entry rules, whenever there is a posting, the debits of the posting equal the credits of the posting. If the two totals do not agree, an error has been made, either in the journals or during the posting process. The error must be located and rectified, and the totals of the debit column and the credit column recalculated to check for agreement before any further processing can take place.  Once the accounts balance, the accountant makes a number of adjustments and changes the balance amounts of some of the accounts. These adjustments must still obey the double-entry rule: for example, the "inventory" account and asset account might be changed to bring them into line with the actual numbers counted during a stocktake. At the same time, the "expense" account associated with usage of inventory is adjusted by an equal and opposite amount. Other adjustments such as posting depreciation and prepayments are also done at this time. This results in a listing called the "adjusted trial balance". It is the accounts in this list, and their corresponding debit or credit balances, that are used to prepare the financial statements.  Finally financial statements are drawn from the trial balance, which may include:

Entry systems.

Single-entry system.

The primary bookkeeping record in single-entry bookkeeping is the "cash book", which is similar to a checking account register (in UK: cheque account, current account), except all entries are allocated among several categories of income and expense accounts. Separate account records are maintained for petty cash, accounts payable and receivable, and other relevant transactions such as inventory and travel expenses. To save time and avoid the errors of manual calculations, single-entry bookkeeping can be done today with do-it-yourself bookkeeping software.

Double-entry system.

A "double-entry bookkeeping system" is a set of rules for recording financial information in a financial accounting system in which every transaction or event changes at least two different nominal ledger accounts.

Daybooks.

A "daybook" is a descriptive and chronological (diary-like) record of day-to-day financial transactions; it is also called a "book of original entry". The daybook's details must be transcribed formally into journals to enable posting to ledgers. Daybooks include:

Petty cash book.

A "petty cash" book is a record of small-value purchases before they are later transferred to the ledger and final accounts; it is maintained by a petty or junior cashier. This type of cash book usually uses the imprest system: a certain amount of money is provided to the petty cashier by the senior cashier. This money is to cater for minor expenditures (hospitality, minor stationery, casual postage, and so on) and is reimbursed periodically on satisfactory explanation of how it was spent. And also the balance of petty cash book is Asset.

Journals.

"Journals" are recorded in the general journal daybook. A journal is a formal and chronological record of financial transactions before their values are accounted for in the general ledger as debits and credits. A company can maintain one journal for all transactions, or keep several journals based on similar activity (e.g., sales, cash receipts, revenue, etc.), making transactions easier to summarize and reference later. For every debit journal entry recorded, there must be an equivalent credit journal entry to maintain a balanced accounting equation.

Ledgers.

A "ledger" is a record of accounts. The ledger is a permanent summary of all amounts entered in supporting Journals which list individual transactions by date. These accounts are recorded separately, showing their beginning/ending balance. A journal lists financial transactions in chronological order, without showing their balance but showing how much is going to be charged in each account. A ledger takes each financial transaction from the journal and records it into the corresponding account for every transaction listed. The ledger also sums up the total of every account, which is transferred into the balance sheet and the income statement. There are three different kinds of ledgers that deal with book-keeping:

Chart of accounts.

A chart of accounts is a list of the accounts codes that can be identified with numeric, alphabetical, or alphanumeric codes allowing the account to be located in the general ledger. The equity section of the chart of accounts is based on the fact that the legal structure of the entity is of a particular legal type. Possibilities include "sole trader", "partnership", "trust", and "company".

Computerized bookkeeping.

Computerized bookkeeping removes many of the paper "books" that are used to record the financial transactions of a business entity; instead, relational databases are used today, but typically, these still enforce the norms of bookkeeping including the single-entry and double-entry bookkeeping systems. CPAs supervise the internal controls for computerized bookkeeping systems, which serve to minimize errors in documenting the numerous activities a business entity may initiate or complete over an accounting period.

Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business. Transactions include purchases, sales, receipts, and payments by an individual person or an organization/corporation. There are several standard methods of bookkeeping, including the single-entry and double-entry bookkeeping systems. While these may be viewed as "real" bookkeeping, any process for recording financial transactions is a bookkeeping process.

Die Buchhaltung ist die Organisationseinheit eines Unternehmens, die sich mit der Buchführung befasst. Häufig wird auch der umfassendere Begriff Rechnungswesen verwendet. Die Begriffe Buchhaltung und Buchführung werden als Tätigkeit umgangssprachlich häufig synonym verwendet. In der Betriebswirtschaftslehre bezeichnet der Begriff Buchführung nur die Methodik oder Tätigkeit. Personen, die mit der Buchhaltung betraut sind, werden als Buchhalter bezeichnet.


History.

Cabo da Roca was known to the Romans as "Promontorium Magnum" and during the Age of Sail as the Rock of Lisbon.

Geography.

The cape is within the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, 42 kilometres west of the city of Lisbon and in the southwest of Sintra. A location () is inscribed on a stone plaque, located on a monument at the site.  The western coast is a mixture of sandy beaches and rocky cliff promontories: around Cabo da Roca, cliffs are more than 100 metres in height, and cut into crystalline rocks, composed of strongly folded and faulted sedimentary units. These forms are disturbed by dikes and small beaches. This promontory of "high" beaches is the extreme western immersion of the ancient eruptive Sintra massif, as evident from the rose-coloured granite in the north and syenite of the Ribeira do Louriçal in the south. In the vicinity of the Cape, there are geomorphological examples of gabbro-diorite, volcanic breccia, and granite.  Part of the granite formations show evidence of strong coastal erosion, while in other areas there are limestone deposits embedded in the granite.  Much of the vegetation on this cape is low-lying and adapted to saltwater and windy conditions. Once home to a variety of plant life, Cabo da Roca has been overrun with the invasive plant species "Carpobrotus edulis". This creeping, mat-forming plant, a member of the Aizoaceae succulent family, was introduced as ground cover by local residents several decades ago, but now covers much of the arable land on Cabo da Roca.  Many migratory and marine birds roost temporarily along the cliffs and protected coves of the coastal area.

Cabo da Roca () or Cape Roca is a cape which forms the westernmost point of the Sintra Mountain Range, of mainland Portugal, of continental Europe, and of the Eurasian land mass. It is situated in the municipality of Sintra, near Azóia, in the southwest of the district of Lisbon.

Cabo da Roca ist der westlichste Punkt des Festlands des europäischen Kontinents. Er liegt in Portugal an der Atlantikküste westlich von Lissabon in einer Höhe von 140 Metern über dem Meeresspiegel. Cabo da Roca gehört zur Gemeinde ("freguesia") Colares im Kreis ("concelho" bzw. "município") Sintra. Von Sintra und von Cascais verkehrt ein Bus zum Cabo da Roca.


Background.

"Kabinettskrieg".

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, European aggression had turned outwards and the fewer wars fought within the continent had been, local conflicts decided by professional armies loyal to dynastic rulers. Military strategists had adapted by creating plans to suit the characteristics of the post-Napoleonic scene. In the late nineteenth century, military thinking remained dominated by the German Wars of Unification (1864–1871), which had

Franco-Prussian War.

Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (26 October 1800 – 24 April 1891), led the armies of the North German Confederation that achieved a speedy and decisive victory against the armies of the Second French Empire (1852–1870) of Napoleon III (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873). On 4 September, after the Battle of Sedan (1 September 1870), there had been a republican coup d'état and the installation of a Government of National Defence (4 September 1870 – 13 February 1871), that declared (war to the uttermost). From the French confronted Moltke (the Elder) with new, improvised armies and destroyed bridges, railways, telegraphs and other infrastructure; food, livestock and other material was evacuated to prevent it falling into German hands. A was promulgated on 2 November and by February 1871, the republican army had increased to Despite inexperience, lack of training and a shortage of officers and artillery, the size of the new armies forced Moltke (the Elder) to divert large forces to confront them, while still besieging Paris, isolating French garrisons in the rear and guarding lines of communication from (irregular military forces).

"Volkskrieg".

The Germans had defeated the forces of the Second Empire by superior numbers and then found the tables turned; only their superior training and organisation had enabled them to capture Paris and dictate peace terms. Attacks by, forced the diversion of to guard railways and bridges, which put great strain on Prussian manpower resources. Moltke (the Elder) wrote later  having already written, in 1867, that French patriotism would lead them to make a supreme effort and use all the national resources. The quick victories of 1870 led Moltke (the Elder) to hope that he had been mistaken but by December, he planned an against the French population, by taking the war into the south, once the size of the Prussian army had been increased by another of reservists. Moltke intended to destroy or capture the remaining resources which the French possessed, against the protests of the German civilian authorities, who after the fall of Paris, negotiated a quick end to the war. Colmar von der Goltz (12 August 1843 – 19 April 1916) and other military thinkers, like Fritz Hoenig in (The People's War in the Loire Valley in Autumn

"Ermattungs strategie".

The (strategy debate) was a public and sometimes acrimonious argument after Hans Delbrück (11 November 1848 – 14 July 1929), challenged the orthodox army view and its critics. Delbrück was editor of the (Prussian Annals), author of (The History of the Art of War within the Framework of Political History; four volumes 1900–1920) and professor of modern history at the Humboldt University of Berlin from 1895. General Staff historians and commentators like Friedrich von Bernhardi, Rudolph von Caemmerer, Max Jähns and Reinhold Koser, believed that Delbrück was challenging the strategic wisdom of the army. Delbrück had introduced (source criticism) developed by Leopold von Ranke, into the study of military history and attempted a reinterpretation of (On War). Delbrück wrote that Clausewitz had intended to divide strategy into (strategy of destruction) or (strategy of exhaustion) but had died in 1830 before he could revise the book.  Delbrück wrote that Frederick the Great had

Moltke (the Elder).

Deployment plans, 1871–1872 to 1890–1891.

Assuming French hostility and a desire to recover Alsace-Lorraine, Moltke (the Elder) drew up a deployment plan for 1871–1872, expecting that another rapid victory could be achieved but the French introduced conscription in 1872. By 1873, Moltke thought that the French army was too powerful to be defeated quickly and in 1875, Moltke considered a preventive war but did not expect an easy victory. The course of the second period of the Franco-Prussian War and the example of the Wars of Unification had prompted Austria to begin conscription in 1868 and Russia in 1874. Moltke assumed that in another war, Germany would have to fight a coalition of France and Austria or France and Russia. Even if one opponent was quickly defeated, the victory could not be exploited before the Germans would have to redeploy their armies against the second enemy. By 1877, Moltke was writing war plans with provision for an incomplete victory, in which diplomats negotiated

Schlieffen.

In February 1891, Schlieffen was appointed to the post of Chief of the (Great General Staff), the professional head of the ( [German Army]). The post had lost influence to rival institutions in the German state because of the machinations of Alfred von Waldersee (8 April 1832 – 5 March 1904), who had held the post from 1888 to 1891 and had tried to use his position as a political stepping stone. Schlieffen was seen as a safe choice, being junior, anonymous outside the General Staff and with few interests outside the army. Other governing institutions gained power at the expense of the General Staff and Schlieffen had no following in the army or state. The fragmented and antagonistic character of German state institutions made the development of a grand strategy most difficult, because no institutional body co-ordinated foreign, domestic and war policies. The General Staff planned in a political vacuum and Schlieffen's weak position was exacerbated by his narrow military view.  In the army, organisation and theory had no obvious link with war planning and institutional responsibilities overlapped. The General Staff devised deployment plans and its chief became Commander-in-Chief in war but in peace, command was vested in the commanders of the twenty army corps districts. The corps district commanders were independent of the General Staff Chief and trained soldiers according to their own devices. The federal system of government in the German empire

Prelude.

Moltke (the Younger).

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger took over from Schlieffen as Chief of the German General Staff on 1 January 1906, beset with doubts about the possibility of a German victory in a great European war. French knowledge about German intentions might prompt them to retreat to evade an envelopment that could lead to, a war of exhaustion and leave Germany exhausted, even if it did eventually win. A report on hypothetical French ripostes against an invasion, concluded that since the French army was six times larger than in 1870,

Deployment plans, 1906–1907 to 1914–1915.

Extant records of Moltke's thinking up to 1911–1912 are fragmentary and almost wholly lacking to the outbreak of war. In a 1906 staff ride Moltke sent an army through Belgium but concluded that the French would attack through Lorraine, where the decisive battle would be fought before an enveloping move from the north took effect. The right wing armies would counter-attack through Metz, to exploit the opportunity created by the French advancing beyond their frontier fortifications. In 1908, Moltke expected the British to join the French but that neither would violate Belgian neutrality, leading

"Aufmarsch I West".

anticipated an isolated Franco-German war, in which Germany might be assisted by an Italian attack on the Franco-Italian border and by Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces in Germany. It was assumed that France would be on the defensive because their troops would be (greatly) outnumbered. To win the war, Germany and its allies would have to attack France. After the deployment

"Aufmarsch II West".

anticipated a war between the Franco-Russian Entente and Germany, with Austria-Hungary supporting Germany and Britain perhaps joining the Entente. Italy was only expected to join Germany if Britain remained neutral. of the German army would operate in the west and in the east. France and Russia were expected to attack simultaneously, because they had the larger force. Germany would execute an "active defence", in at least

"Aufmarsch I Ost".

was for a war between the Franco-Russian Entente and Germany, with Austria-Hungary supporting Germany and Britain perhaps joining the Entente. Italy was only expected to join Germany if Britain remained neutral; of the German army would deploy in the west and in the east. France and Russia would attack simultaneously, because they had the larger force and Germany would execute an "active defence", in at least the first operation/campaign of the war. German forces would mass against the Russian

"Aufmarsch II Ost".

was for the contingency of an isolated Russo-German war, in which Austria-Hungary might support Germany. The plan assumed that France would be neutral at first and possibly attack Germany later. If France helped Russia then Britain might join in and if it did, Italy was expected to remain neutral. About of the German army would operate in the west and in the east. Russia would begin an offensive because of its larger army and in anticipation of French involvement but if not, the German army would attack. After the Russian army had been defeated, the German army in the east would pursue the remnants. The German army in the west would stay on the defensive, perhaps conducting a counter-offensive but without reinforcements from the east. became a secondary deployment plan when the international situation made an isolated Russo-German war impossible. had the same flaw as, in that it was feared that a French offensive would be harder to defeat, if not countered with greater force, either slower as in or with greater force and quicker, as in.

"Plan XVII".

After amending "Plan XVI" in September 1911, Joffre and the staff took eighteen months to revise the French concentration plan, the concept of which was accepted on 18 April 1913. Copies of Plan XVII were issued to army commanders on 7 February 1914 and the final draft was ready on 1 May. The document was not a campaign plan but it contained a statement that the Germans were expected to concentrate

Battle of the Frontiers.

When Germany declared war, France implemented "Plan XVII" with five attacks, later named the Battle of the Frontiers. The German deployment plan, II, concentrated German forces (less 20 percent to defend Prussia and the German coast) on the German–Belgian border. The German force was to advance into Belgium, to force a decisive battle with the French army, north of the fortifications on the Franco-German border. "Plan XVII" was an offensive into Alsace-Lorraine and southern Belgium. The French attack into Alsace-Lorraine resulted in worse losses than anticipated, because artillery–infantry co-operation that French military theory required, despite its embrace of the "spirit of the offensive", proved to be inadequate. The attacks of the French forces in southern Belgium and Luxembourg were conducted with negligible

History.

Interwar.

"Der Weltkrieg".

Work began on "Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918: Militärischen Operationen zu Lande" (The World War [from] 1914 to 1918: Military Operations on Land) in 1919 in the (War History Section) of the Great General Staff. When the Staff was abolished by the Treaty of Versailles, about eighty historians were transferred to the new in Potsdam. As President of the, General Hans von Haeften led the project and it overseen from 1920 by a civilian historical commission. Theodor Jochim, the first head of the section for collecting documents, wrote that  The historians produced "Der Weltkrieg", a narrative history (also known as the "Weltkriegwerk") in fourteen volumes published from 1925 to 1944, which became the only source written with free access to the German documentary records of the war.  From 1920, semi-official histories had been written by Hermann von Kuhl, the 1st Army Chief of Staff in 1914, "Der Deutsche Generalstab in Vorbereitung und Durchführung des Weltkrieges" (The German General Staff in

Hans Delbrück.

In his post-war writing, Delbrück held that the German General Staff had used the wrong war plan, rather than failed adequately to follow the right one. The Germans should have defended in the west and attacked in the east, following the plans drawn up by Moltke (the Elder) in the 1870s and 1880s. Belgian neutrality need not have been breached and a negotiated peace could have been achieved, since a decisive victory in the west was impossible and not worth the attempt. Like the before the war, this led to a long exchange between Delbrück and the official and semi-official historians of the former Great General Staff, who held that an offensive strategy in the east would have resulted in another 1812. The war could only have been won against Germany's most powerful enemies, France and Britain. The debate between the Delbrück and Schlieffen "schools" rumbled on through the 1920s and 1930s.

1940s – 1990s.

Gerhard Ritter.

In "Sword and the Sceptre; The Problem of Militarism in Germany" (1969), Gerhard Ritter wrote that Moltke (the Elder) changed his thinking, to accommodate the change in warfare evident since 1871, by fighting the next war on the defensive in general,  Moltke tried to resolve the strategic conundrum of a need for quick victory and pessimism about a German victory in a by resorting to, beginning with an offensive intended to weaken the opponent, eventually to bring

Martin van Creveld.

In 1980, Martin van Creveld concluded that a study of the practical aspects of the Schlieffen Plan was difficult, because of a lack of information. The consumption of food and ammunition at times and places are unknown, as are the quantity and loading of trains moving through Belgium, the state of repair of railway stations and data about the supplies which reached the front-line troops. Creveld thought that Schlieffen had paid little attention to supply matters, understanding the difficulties but trusting to luck, rather than concluding that such an operation was

John Keegan.

In 1998, John Keegan wrote that Schlieffen had desired to repeat the frontier victories of the Franco-Prussian War in the interior of France but that fortress-building since that war had made France harder to attack; a diversion through Belgium remained feasible but this "lengthened and narrowed the front of advance". A corps took up of road and was the limit of a day's march; the end of a column would still be near the beginning of the march, when the head of the column arrived at the destination. More roads meant smaller columns but parallel roads were only about apart and with thirty corps advancing on a front, each corps would have about width, which might contain seven roads. This number of roads was not enough for the ends of marching columns to reach the heads by the end of the day; this physical limit meant that it would be pointless to add troops to the right wing.  Schlieffen was realistic and the plan reflected mathematical and geographical reality; expecting the French to refrain from advancing from the frontier and the German armies to fight great battles in

1990s–present.

German reunification.

In the 1990s, after the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic, it was discovered that some Great General Staff records had survived the Potsdam bombing in 1945 and been confiscated by the Soviet authorities. About and of documents were handed over to the (German Federal Archives) containing the working notes of historians, business documents, research notes, studies, field reports, draft manuscripts, galley proofs, copies of documents, newspaper clippings and other papers. The trove shows that is a "generally accurate, academically rigorous and straightforward account of military operations", when compared to other contemporary official accounts. Six volumes cover the first of the war in of the series). The first volumes attempted to explain why the German war plans failed and who was to blame.  In 2002, "RH 61/v.96", a summary of German war planning from 1893 to 1914 was discovered in records written in the late 1930s – early 1940s. The summary was for a revised edition of

Robert Foley.

In 2005, Robert Foley wrote that Schlieffen and Moltke (the Younger) had recently been severely criticised by Martin Kitchen, who had written that Schlieffen was a narrow-minded technocrat, obsessed with minutiae. Horst Bucholz had called Moltke too untrained and inexperienced to understand war planning, which prevented him from having a defence policy from 1906 to 1911; it was the failings of both men that caused them to keep a strategy that was doomed to fail. Foley wrote that Schlieffen and Moltke (the Younger) had good reason to retain as the foundation of their planning, despite their doubts as to its validity. Schlieffen had been convinced that only in a short war was there the possibility of victory and that by making the army operationally superior to its potential enemies, could be made to work. The unexpected weakening of the Russian army in 1904–1905 and the exposure of its incapacity to conduct

Terence Holmes.

In 2013, Holmes published a summary of his thinking about the Schlieffen Plan and the debates about it in "Not the Schlieffen Plan". He wrote that people believed that the Schlieffen Plan was for a grand offensive against France to gain a decisive victory in six weeks. The Russians would be held back and then defeated with reinforcements rushed by rail from the west. Holmes wrote that no-one had produced a source showing that Schlieffen intended a huge right-wing flanking move into France, "in a two-front war". The 1905 Memorandum was for "War against France", in which Russia would be unable to participate. Schlieffen had thought about such an attack

Holmes–Zuber debate.

Zuber wrote that the Schlieffen Memorandum was a "rough draft" of a plan to attack France in a one-front war, which could not be regarded as an operational plan, as the memo was never typed up, was stored with Schlieffen's family and envisioned the use of units not in existence. The "plan" was not published after the war, when it was being called an infallible recipe for victory, ruined by the failure of Moltke adequately to select and maintain the aim of the offensive. Zuber wrote that if Germany faced a war with France and Russia, the real Schlieffen Plan was for defensive counter-attacks. Holmes supported Zuber in his analysis that Schlieffen had demonstrated in his thought-experiment and in, that corps (1.36 million front-line troops) was the "minimum" force necessary to win a "decisive" battle against France or to take strategically important territory. Holmes asked why Moltke attempted to achieve either objective with (970,000 first-line troops) only of the minimum required.  In the 1914 campaign, the retreat by the French army denied the Germans a decisive battle, leaving them to breach the

Humphries and Maker.

In 2013, Mark Humphries and John Maker published "Germany's Western Front 1914", an edited translation of the volumes for 1914, covering German grand strategy in 1914 and the military operations on the Western Front to early September. Humphries and Maker wrote that the interpretation of strategy put forward by Delbrück had implications about war planning and began a public debate, in which the German military establishment defended its commitment to. The editors wrote that German strategic thinking was concerned with creating the conditions for a decisive (war determining) battle in the west, in which an envelopment of the French army from the north would inflict such a defeat on the French as to end their ability to prosecute the war within forty days. Humphries and Maker called this a simple device to fight France and Russia simultaneously and to defeat one of them quickly, in accordance with of German military tradition. Schlieffen may or may not have written the 1905 memorandum as a plan of operations but the thinking in it was the basis for the plan of operations devised by Moltke (the Younger) in 1914. The failure of the 1914 campaign was a calamity for the German Empire and the Great General Staff, which was disbanded by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.  Some of the writers of (The Frontier Battles in the West [1925]), the first volume of, had already published memoirs and analyses of the war, in which they tried to explain why the plan failed, in terms that confirmed its validity. Förster, head of the from 1920 and reviewers

Aftermath.

Analysis.

In 2001, Hew Strachan wrote that it is a cliché that the armies marched in 1914 expecting a short war, because many professional soldiers anticipated a long war. Optimism is a requirement of command and expressing a belief that wars can be quick and lead to a triumphant victory, can be an essential aspect of a career as a peacetime soldier. Moltke (the Younger) was realistic about the nature of a great European war but this conformed to professional wisdom. Moltke (the Elder) was proved right in his 1890 prognostication to the "Reichstag", that European alliances made a repeat of the successes of 1866 and 1871 impossible and anticipated a war of seven or thirty years' duration. Universal military service enabled a state to exploit its human and productive resources to the

References.

Books  Journals

Further reading.

Books  Journals  Theses

The Schlieffen Plan (, ) was a name given after the First World War to German war plans, the influence of Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen and his thinking on an invasion of France and Belgium which began on 4 August 1914. Schlieffen was Chief of the General Staff of the German Army from 1891 to 1906. In 1905 and 1906, Schlieffen devised an army deployment plan for a war-winning offensive against the French Third Republic. After losing the First World War, German official historians of the and other writers described the plan as a blueprint for victory. (Colonel-General) Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, succeeded Schlieffen as Chief of the German General Staff in 1906 and was dismissed after the First Battle of the Marne (5–12 September 1914). German historians claimed that Moltke had ruined the plan by meddling with it out of timidity.

Der Schlieffen-Plan war ein strategisch-operativer Plan des Großen Generalstabs im Deutschen Kaiserreich, der auf eine Denkschrift des Generalfeldmarschalls Alfred Graf von Schlieffen zurückgeht. Er bildete nach gründlicher Überarbeitung durch Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke eine Grundlage der deutschen Operationen zu Beginn des Ersten Weltkrieges.