title: One Ring

text: The Anglo-Saxon name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien traced Nodens to the Irish hero "Nuada Airgetlám", "Nuada of the Silver-Hand". Shippey thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand. "The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia" notes the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there; it cites Helen Armstrong's comment that the place may have inspired Tolkien's "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms of Moria and Eregion". The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers writes that the name of the Elven-smith Celebrimbor, who forged the Elf-rings, is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand".


title: One Ring

text: Tolkien stated that "The Lord of the Rings" was not a point-by-point allegory, particularly not of political events of his time such as the Second World War. At the same time he contrasted "applicability", which he described as "within the "freedom of the reader", and "allegory" as "the purposed domination of the author". He stated that had the Second World War "inspired or directed the development of the legend" as an allegory, then the fate of the Ring, and of Middle-earth, would have been very different:


title: One Ring

text: Anne C. Petty, writing in "The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia", notes that Tolkien was all the same quite capable of using "allegorical elements when it suited his purpose", and that he agreed that the approach of war in 1938 "had had some effect on it": "The Lord of the Rings" was applicable to the horror of war in general, as long as it was not taken as a point-by-point allegory of any particular war, with false equations like "Sauron=Satan or Hitler or Stalin, Gandalf=God or Churchill, Aragorn=Christ or MacArthur, the Ring=the atomic bomb, Mordor=Hell or Russia or Germany".


title: One Ring

text: One aspect of such applicability, that the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes is rarely picked up by readers, is that Tolkien chose dates of symbolic importance in Christianity for the quest to destroy the Ring. It began in Rivendell on 25 December, the date of Christmas, and ended on Mount Doom on 25 March, a traditional Anglo-Saxon date for the crucifixion.


title: One Ring

text: A source that Tolkien "might have borrowed" from, though there is no evidence for this, is Plato's "Republic". Its second book tells the story of the Ring of Gyges that gave its owner the power of invisibility. In so doing, it created a moral dilemma, enabling people to commit injustices without fearing they would be caught. In contrast, Tolkien's Ring actively exerts an evil force that destroys the morality of the wearer.


title: One Ring

text: The scholar of humanities Frederick A. de Armas notes parallels between Plato's and Tolkien's rings, and suggests that both Bilbo and Gyges, going into deep dark places to find hidden treasure, may have "undergone a Catabasis", a psychological journey to the Underworld.


title: One Ring

text: The Tolkien scholar Eric Katz, without suggesting that Tolkien was aware of the Ring of Gyges, writes that "Plato "argues" that such [moral] corruption will occur, but Tolkien "shows" us this corruption through the thoughts and actions of his characters". In Katz's view, Plato tries to counter the "cynical conclusion" that moral life is chosen by the weak; Glaucon thinks that people are only "good" because they suppose they will be caught if they are not. Plato argues that immoral life is no good as it corrupts one's soul. So, Katz states, according to Plato a moral person has peace and happiness, and would not use a Ring of Power. In Katz's view, Tolkien's story "demonstrate[s] various responses to the question posed by Plato: would a just person be corrupted by the possibility of almost unlimited power?" The question is answered in different ways: Gollum is weak, quickly corrupted, and finally destroyed; Boromir begins virtuous but like Plato's Gyges is corrupted "by the temptation of power" from the Ring, even if he wants to use it for good, but redeems himself by defending the hobbits to his own death; the "strong and virtuous" Galadriel, who sees clearly what she would become if she accepted the ring, and rejects it; the immortal Tom Bombadil, exempt from the Ring's corrupting power and from its gift of invisibility; Sam who in a moment of need faithfully uses the ring, but is not seduced by its vision of "Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age"; and finally Frodo who is gradually corrupted, but is saved by his earlier mercy to Gollum, and Gollum's desperation for the Ring. Katz concludes that Tolkien's answer to Plato's "Why be moral?" is "to be yourself".


title: One Ring

text: The scholar of the humanities Brian Rosebury noted that "The Lord of the Rings" combines a slow, descriptive series of scenes or tableaux illustrating Middle-earth with a unifying plotline in the shape of the quest to destroy the Ring. The Ring needs to be destroyed to save Middle-earth itself from destruction or domination by Sauron. The work builds up Middle-earth as a place that readers come to love, shows that it is under dire threat, and – with the destruction of the Ring – provides the "eucatastrophe" for a happy ending. The work is thus, Rosebury asserted, very tightly constructed, the expansive descriptions and the Ring-based plot fitting together exactly.


title: One Ring

text: The Ring offers power to its wearer, and progressively corrupts the wearer's mind to evil. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey applies Lord Acton's 1887 statement that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men" to it. He notes that the opinion is distinctively modern, and that other modern authors such as George Orwell with "Animal Farm" (1945), William Golding with "Lord of the Flies" (1954), and T. H. White with "The Once and Future King" (1958) similarly wrote about the corrupting effects of power. When the critic Colin Manlove described Tolkien's attitude to power as inconsistent, arguing that the supposedly overwhelming Ring was handed over easily enough by Sam and Bilbo, and had little effect on Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, Shippey replies in "one word" that the explanation is simple: the Ring is addictive, increasing in effect with exposure. Other scholars concur about its addictive nature.


title: One Ring

text: In the 1981 BBC Radio serial of "The Lord of the Rings", the Nazgûl chant the Ring-inscription; the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's sound effects for the Nazgul and the Black Speech of Mordor have been described as "nightmarish".


title: One Ring

text: In Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, the wearer of the Ring is portrayed as moving through a shadowy realm where everything is distorted. The effects of the Ring on Bilbo and Frodo are obsessions that have been compared with drug addiction; the actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum, cited drug addiction as an inspiration for his performance. The actual ring for the films was designed and created by Jens Hansen Gold & Silversmith in Nelson, New Zealand, and was based on a simple wedding ring. "Polygon" highlighted that "the workshop produced approximately 40 different rings for the films. Most expensive were the 18 carat solid gold 'hero' rings, sized ten for Frodo’s hand and 11 for the chain. [...] To save money — though not time — the workshop used gold-plated sterling silver for most of the rings. [...] For many fans, the ring used in close-ups — like the scene where the Ring slips away from Frodo to lure Boromir in the snow at Caradhras, or when arguing participants in the Council of Elrond are shown reflected in the Ring’s surface — is the real hero ring. In order to capture the ring’s sheen in high definition, that prop was a full eight inches wide — too big even for Hansen’s tools. Instead, a local machine shop made and polished the shape that Hansen’s team then plated".


title: One Ring

text: A tabletop roleplaying game set in Middle-earth and called "The One Ring" was manufactured by Cubicle 7; a new edition is planned by a partnership of Sophisticated Games and Free League Publishing from 2020.


title: San Sebastián

text: San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: "Donostia" () and "San Sebastián" ()) is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border. The capital city of the province of Gipuzkoa, the municipality's population is 188,102 as of 2021, with its metropolitan area reaching 436,500 in 2010. Locals call themselves "donostiarra" (singular), both in Spanish and Basque. It is also a part of Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián.


title: San Sebastián

text: The main economic activities are almost entirely service-based, with an emphasis on commerce and tourism, as it has long been one of the most famous tourist destinations in Spain. Despite the city's small size, events such as the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the San Sebastian Jazz Festival have given it an international dimension. San Sebastian, along with Wrocław, Poland, was the European Capital of Culture in 2016.


title: San Sebastián

text: In spite of appearance, both the Basque form "Donostia" and the Spanish form "San Sebastián" have the same meaning — Saint Sebastian. The "dona/done/doni" element in Basque place names signifies "saint" and is derived from Latin "domine"; the second part of "Donostia" contains a shortened form of the saint's name. There are two hypotheses regarding the evolution of the Basque name: one says it was "*Done Sebastiáne > Donasa(b)astiai > Donasastia > Donastia > Donostia", the other one says it was "*Done Sebastiane > *Done Sebastiae > *Done Sebastie > *Donesebastia > *Donasastia > *Donastia > Donostia".


title: San Sebastián

text: The city is located in the north of the Basque Country, on the south-eastern coast of the Bay of Biscay. San Sebastian has three beaches, Concha, Ondarreta, and Zurriola, and is surrounded by 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).


title: San Sebastián

text: San Sebastian lies at the mouth of the Urumea river, and it was in large part built on the river's wetlands during the last two centuries. The city centre and the districts of Amara Berri and Riberas de Loiola lie on the former riverbed, which was diverted to its current canalized course in the first half of the 20th century.


title: San Sebastián

text: San Sebastian features an oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb") with warm summers and cool winters. Like many cities with this climate, San Sebastian typically experiences cloudy or overcast conditions for the majority of the year, typically with some precipitation. The city averages roughly of precipitation annually, which is fairly evenly spread throughout the year. However, the city is somewhat drier and noticeably sunnier in the summer months, experiencing on average approximately of precipitation during those months. Average temperatures range from in January to in August.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 knapped stones used as knives to cut animal skin, date from 24,000 to 22,000 BC. The open-air findings of the Upper Paleolithic have revealed that the settlers were modern human "(Homo sapiens)" hunters, besides pointing to a much colder climate at the time.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 the slopes of Urgull.


title: San Sebastián

text: San Sebastian is thought to have been in the territory of the Varduli in Roman times. east of the current city lay the Basque Roman town of Oiasso (Irun), which was for a long time wrongly identified with San Sebastian.


title: San Sebastián

text: After a long period of silence in evidence, in 1014 the monastery of St. Sebastián with its apple orchards (for cider), located in the town of Hernani, was donated to the Abbey of Leire by Sancho III of Pamplona. By 1181, the city was 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.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 started to be populated with Gascon-speaking colonizers from Bayonne and beyond, who left an important imprint in the city's identity in the centuries to come.


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1265, the use of the city as a seaport was granted to Navarre as part of a wedding pact. The large quantity of Gascons inhabiting the town favoured the development of trade with other European ports and Gascony. The city steered clear of the destructive War of the Bands in Gipuzkoa, the only town in doing so in that territory. In fact, the town only joined Gipuzkoa in 1459 after the war came to an end. Up to the 16th century, Donostia remained mostly out of wars, but by the beginning of the 15th century, a line of walls of simple construction is attested encircling the town. The last chapter of the town in the Middle Ages was brought about by a fire that devastated Donostia in 1489. After burning to the ground, the town began a new renaissance by building up mainly with stone instead of bare timber.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 Leal", recorded on its coat of arms. The town also aided the monarch by sending a party to the Battle of Noain and providing help to quash the Revolt of the Comuneros in 1521.


title: San Sebastián

text: After these events, Gascons, who had played a leading role in the political and economic life of the town since its foundation, began to be excluded from influential public positions by means of a string of regional sentences upheld by royal decision (regional diets of Zestoa 1527, Hondarribia 1557, Bergara 1558, Tolosa 1604 and Deba 1662). Meanwhile, the climate of war and disease left the town in a poor condition that drove many fishermen and traders to take to the sea as corsairs as a way of getting a living, most of the times under the auspices of the king Philip II of Spain, who benefited from the disruption caused to and wealth obtained from the French and Dutch trade ships.


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1660, the city was used as the royal headquarters during the marriage of the Infanta to Louis XIV at Saint-Jean-de-Luz nearby. After a relatively peaceful 17th century, the town was besieged and taken over by the troops of the French Duke of Berwick up to 1721. However, San Sebastian was not spared by shelling in the French assault and many urban structures were reconstructed, e.g. a new opening in the middle of the town, the Plaza Berria (that was to become the current Konstituzio Plaza).


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1728, the Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas was founded and boosted commerce with the Americas. Thanks to the profit the company generated, the town underwent some urban reforms and improvements and the new Santa Maria Church was erected by subscription. This period of wealth and development was to last up to the end of 18th century.


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1808, Napoleonic forces captured San Sebastian in the Peninsular War. In 1813, after a siege of various weeks, on 28 August, during the night, a landing party from a British Royal Navy squadron captured Santa Clara Island, in the bay. Situated on a narrow promontory that jutted out into the sea between the waters of the Bay of Biscay and the broad estuary of the Urumea River, the town was hard to get at and well fortified – "it was the strongest fortification I ever saw, Gibraltar excepted", wrote William Dent. Three days later, on 31 August, British and Portuguese troops besieging San Sebastián assaulted the town. The relieving troops ransacked and burnt the city to the ground. Only the street at the foot of the hill (now called 31 August Street) remained.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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.


title: San Sebastián

text: The liberal and bourgeois San Sebastian became the capital of Gipuzkoa (instead of Tolosa) until 1823, when absolutists besieged the town (only 200 inhabitants remained in the town when the offensive troops entered). It was designated again as the capital in 1854. In 1835-6, the British Auxiliary Legion under Sir George de Lacy Evans defended the town against the Carlist besiegers. Some of those who died were buried in the English Cemetery on Mount Urgull.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 Sebastian benefited greatly from the charter system established in the Southern Basque Country ("foruak", with borders in the Ebro river and no duties for overseas goods), the town was at odds with the more traditional Gipuzkoa, even requesting secession from the province and annexation to Navarre in 1841.


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1863, the defensive walls of the town were demolished (their remains are visible in the underground car park on the Boulevard) and an expansion of the town began in an attempt to move on from its previous military function. Jose Goicoa and Ramon Cortazar were appointed to oversee the work. They modelled the new city according to an orthogonal shape in a neoclassical Parisian style, and Goicoa designed several elegant buildings, such as the Miramar Palace and La Concha Promenade. The city was chosen by the Spanish monarchy as a summer retreat following the French example of nearby Biarritz, and Spanish nobility and the diplomatic corps opened residences in the town. As the "wave baths" at La Concha were in conflict with nearby shipbuilding activity, the shipyards relocated to Pasaia, a nearby bay that had formerly been part of San Sebastian.


title: San Sebastián

text: However, in 1875, war came to the town again, and in 1876 shelling over the city by Carlists claimed the life of acclaimed the poet Bilintx. From 1885, King Alfonso XII of Spain's widow Maria Cristina spent every summer in Donostia along with her retinue, staying at the Miramar Palace. In 1887, a casino was built, which eventually became the current city hall, and some time later the Regional Government building was completed in Plaza Gipuzkoa following Jose Goicoa's design. Cultural life thrived in this period, giving rise to various events that still take place in the city, such as the Caldereros or the Tamborrada, and journalistic and literary works in both Spanish and Basque.


title: San Sebastián

text: After much debate in the city over whether to pursue an economy based on tourism or manufacturing, Donostia developed into a fully-fledged seaside resort, but some industry developed in the district of Antiguo and on the outskirts of the city. Following the outbreak of World War I, San Sebastian became a destination for renowned international figures of culture and politics, including Mata Hari, Leon Trotsky, Maurice Ravel, and Romanones.


title: San Sebastián

text: San Sebastian was one of earliest towns hit by the 1918 Influenza epidemic, dealing with a first wave outbreak in February of that year. Officials feared for the city's reputation and attempted to keep the disease's spread quiet, to no avail, and the outbreak soon spread throughout Spain.


title: San Sebastián

text: Various rationalist architectural works, typically white or light-coloured, were built in the 1920s and 1930s, such as La Equitativa, Nautico, and Easo. In 1924–1926, canalisation work was carried out on the Urumea river at the southern edge of the city. However, after the city's Belle Epoque in the European wartime, repression under Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship was not favourable for the city. In 1924, gambling was prohibited by the authoritarian regime, causing existential problems for the Grand Casino and the Kursaal (1921).


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1930, Spanish republican forces signed up to the Pact of San Sebastián, leading to the Second Spanish Republic. Unrest and repression did not stop with the new political regime, and large-scale industrial action was called several times by the growing anarchist, communist and socialist unions. The 1936 military coup was initially defeated by the resistance, led by the Basque Nationalists, anarchists and communists, but later that same year the province fell to Spanish Nationalist forces during the Northern Campaign. The occupation proved disastrous for the city's residents. Between 1936 and 1943, 485 people were executed as a result of show trials by the Spanish Nationalists (Requetés and Falangists). It has been estimated that extrajudicial executions ("paseos") by the occupying military forces accounted for over 600 murders in the area during the first months of occupation. Many children were evacuated to temporary safety in Bilbao, with the city's population falling by an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants.


title: San Sebastián

text: In the aftermath of war, the city was stricken by poverty, famine and repression, coupled with a thriving smuggling trade. Many republican detainees were held at the beach-side Ondarreta Prison in grim and humid conditions, until the building was demolished in 1948. However, industrial development paved the way for urban expansion in the Egia and Amara Berri districts, on the marshes and riverbed of the Urumea, at the end of the 1940s and beginning of the 1950s.


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1943, the first Basque language schools were established by Elvira Zipitria, who taught in Basque from her home in the Old Town. In 1947, the Grand Casino was converted into the City Hall. In 1953, city businessmen organised the first San Sebastián International Film Festival to stimulate the economic life and profile of the city.


title: San Sebastián

text: Mass immigration from other parts of Spain, spurred by growing industrial production, greatly increased the population, initiating rapid and chaotic urban development on the outskirts of the city (Altza, Intxaurrondo, Herrera, Bidebieta), yet social, cultural and political injustices followed, setting the scene for popular dissatisfaction. A general climate of protest and street demonstrations followed, driven by Basque nationalists (especially the armed separatist organisation ETA) and various underground unions, triggering the first state of emergency in Gipuzkoa in 1968. Several more were imposed by the Francoist authorities in the period immediately preceding Franco's death in 1975.


title: San Sebastián

text: Amid the fragile economic situation and real estate speculation, the Kursaal and the Chofre bullring in Gros were demolished in 1973. From 1975 to 1977, sculptor Eduardo Chillida and architect Luis Peña Ganchegui's landmark The Comb of the Winds was built at the western tip of the bay. The 1970s to the mid-1980s were years of general urban and social decay marked by social and political unrest and violence.


title: San Sebastián

text: In 1979, the first democratic municipal elections were held, won by the Basque Nationalist Party, who held office along with splinter party Eusko Alkartasuna (Basque Solidarity) until 1991. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party's Odon Elorza took over as mayor from 1991 until 2011, when he was defeated unexpectedly by Juan Carlos Izagirre (Bildu) in elections.


title: San Sebastián

text: From the 1990s, a major makeover of the city centre began, aimed at enhancing and revamping the neoclassical and modernist side of San Sebastian's architecture. Other regeneration projects included the reshaping and enlargement of Zurriola beach and promenade, the opening of the Kursaal Palace cubes (1999), the new university campus and technology facilities in Ibaeta, the creation of a wide network of cycle lanes, underground car-parks and significant improvements to public transport. Districts of cutting-edge design have been erected, such as Ibaeta and Riberas de Loiola, while some other major public works are still pending confirmation of funding and approval.


title: San Sebastián

text: New districts developed after the walls of the city were demolished in 1863, as the city expanded in several directions, first into the flatlands shaped by the river Urumea and later up the hills. The first expansion of the old town was towards 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).


title: San Sebastián

text: The orthogonal layout of the modern city centre (the Cortazar development) was built up until 1914 (when the first phase finished) reflecting a Parisian Haussmannian style. The arcades of the Buen Pastor square were modelled upon those of the Rue de Rivoli, while the Maria Cristina Bridge was inspired by the Pont Alexandre III that crosses the Seine. The Estación del Norte train station standing directly across the bridge was inaugurated in 1864, just after the arrival of the railway to San Sebastian. Its metallic roof was designed by Gustave Eiffel. San Sebastian's central bus station is located underground adjacent to the train station.


title: San Sebastián

text: The Parte Vieja "(Spanish)" or Alde Zaharra "(Basque)" — Old Town – is the traditional core area of the city, and was surrounded by walls until 1863, when they were demolished in order to occupy the stretch of sand and land that connected the town to the mainland. A part of these walls is still standing at the exit from the Old Town towards 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 known traditionally as "joxemaritarrak", while those attached to the latter are referred to as "koxkeroak". Until the early 18th century, the koxkeroak mostly spoke Gascon. Especially after the end of Franco's dictatorship, many bars were established around the Old Part. Most current buildings date back to the 19th century, built as part of the city's reconstruction after the 1813 destruction of the town by the allied Anglo-Portuguese troops.


title: San Sebastián

text: There is a small fishing and recreation port, with two-floor houses lined under the front-wall of mount Urgull. These houses are relatively new, resulting from the demilitarization of the hill, sold to the city council by the Ministry of War in 1924.


title: San Sebastián

text: This part is located on the western side of the city beyond the Miramar Palace. The monastery of "San Sebastián el Antiguo" ('the Old') is mentioned in historical documents from the time of the foundation of the city in the 12th century. In the mid 19th century, industrial enterprises developed in the district, such as Cervezas El León, Suchard, and Lizarriturry, and it subsequently came to be populated by workers. Industry has since been replaced by services and the tourism sector. The "Matia kalea" provides the main axis for the district.


title: San Sebastián

text: "Amara Zaharra" ("Old Amara") is named after the "Amara" farmhouse. Over time it has mostly merged with the city centre, as the former Amara lay on the marshes on the left of the River Urumea. The core of this district is the "Easo plaza", with the Euskotren railway terminal closing the square at its south.


title: San Sebastián

text: This southern expansion of the city began from the 1940s, after the completion of works to canalize the river. Nowadays the name Amara usually refers to this district, which has exceeded Amara Zaharra both in size and population. The district revolves around the axis of "Avenida Sancho el Sabio" and "Avenida de Madrid", and is the main road entrance to the city. Facilities of many state run agencies are established here, as well as many business offices.


title: San Sebastián

text: The district is built on the sandy terrain across the river from the old town. In the 19th century, shanties and workshops began to appear in this area, which was eventually named for Tomás Gros, one of the main proprietors. The former monumental bullring in the area, "Chofre", was demolished in 1973, and the site is now occupied by a housing estate. A relatively recent major landmark of the district is the Kursaal Congress Centre overlooking Zurriola Beach.


title: San Sebastián

text: One of the newest parts of the city, Aiete retained a rural character until not long ago. The post-war city council purchased the compound of the Aiete Palace for the use of Francisco Franco in 1940, immediately after the Civil War. The palace became Franco's summer residence until 1975, and is now home to the Bakearen Etxea (Peace Memorial House).


title: San Sebastián

text: Egia, stemming from (H)Egia (Basque for either bank/shore or hill), is a district of San Sebastián 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 of the local team "Real Sociedad" before it was transferred in the 1990s to Anoeta, south of Amara Berri (nowadays the site harbours houses). The former tobacco factory building Tabakalera, which has been converted into a Contemporary Culture Centre, conjures up the former industrial past of the area. Right opposite to this building lies the Cristina Enea park, a public compound with a botanic vocation. Egia holds the city cemetery, Polloe, at the north-east fringes of the district, stretching out to South Intxaurrondo.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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. The railway cuts across the district, the southern side being the fruit of the heavy development undergone in the area during the immigration years of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, further housing estates have been built up more recently souther beyond the N-1 E-5 E-80 E-70 ring road (South Intxaurrondo). The police force Guardia Civil runs controversial barracks there (works for new housing are underway).


title: San Sebastián

text: Altza (Basque for alder tree) is the easternmost district of San Sebastián, along with Bidebieta and Trintxerpe. In 1910 it was a quaint village comprising scattered farmhouses and a small nucleus, with 2,683 inhabitants, but the arrival of thousands of immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s led to rapid and chaotic housing and building activity, resulting in a maze of grey landscape of skyscrapers with a population of 32,531 in 1970. The population is 20,000 .


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 planned modern and elegant housing estate, featuring a new university campus for the public University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and institutions such as the Donostia International Physics Center or the Nanotechnology Center. A stream called Konporta flows down along the eastern side of the area, but it was canalized under the ground almost all along to its mouth on the bay pushed by urban building pressure.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 gone through a major makeover, with works finishing in 2008. The road axis coming from important industrial areas (Astigarraga-Hernani) crosses the district heading downtown. A military base stands across the river, home to an uprising in 1936. Attempts by the city council to close it have been unsuccessful so far.


title: San Sebastián

text: New modern district erected in the 2000s next to the city's inner bypass and south road entrance to San Sebastián. A pedestrian bridge spans the Urumea river onto the Cristina Enea Park.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 football pitch for lower leagues, a disused vocational training building and enclosure as well as a prison, much in decay and due to be transferred soon to a new location, probably in the municipality's exclave of Zubieta, while this option is coming in for much opposition.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 San Sebastián to Pasaia and Irun. It consists of a residential area, besides holding a number of educational institutions, culture and sports centres built since 1980. The Park of Nurseries of Ulia sits at the base of the road leading to Mount Ulia, with its name deriving from its function as a nursery of plants for the public gardens of San Sebastián throughout the 20th century until 2008. It includes two ancient water-tanks, architectonic elements, and specific flora and fauna.


title: San Sebastián

text: Former area of caserios on the outskirts of San Sebastián, the establishment in 1900 of the Cementos Rezola company in the neighborhood transformed Añorga into an industrial-type neighborhood, although it will lose its rural character that it once had. Even considering Añorga a single neighborhood, three distinct neighborhoods are generally distinguished: Añorga (Añorga Haundi), Añorga-Txiki and Rekalde. According to the National Institute of Statistics, it had 1769 inhabitants in 2013.


title: San Sebastián

text: The exclave Zubieta (meaning 'place of bridges') was a village until recent years, with a number of houses, a pelota pitch (with a single wall as opposed to the regular two) and a church. However, it has since undergone much urban development, and is now a built-up area with paved streets and due equipment. There are two contested proposals for a new solid-waste incinerator and a prison in the area. In the wake of the 1813 burning, inhabitants of San Sebastián held a meeting at a house in the village to decide the reconstruction of the town.


title: San Sebastián

text: San Sebastián has a dynamic cultural scene, and was selected as European Capital of Culture for 2016 (shared with Wrocław, Poland) with the motto, "Waves of people's energy".


title: San Sebastián

text: Events ranging from traditional city festivals to music, theatre or cinema take place throughout the year, especially in summer. In the last week of July, the city hosts the San Sebastian Jazz Festival (Jazzaldia), the longest continuously running Jazz Festival in Europe, featuring concerts staged in different locations around the city, sometimes with free admission. This is followed by the Musical Fortnight, which features classical music concerts taking place over 15 days into August. The San Sebastián International Film Festival is held in September, for more than 50 years, centred around the Kursaal Palace 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.


title: San Sebastián

text: Other cinema festivals in the city include: Street Zinema, an international audiovisual festival exploring contemporary art and urban culture; the Horror and Fantasy Festival in October; and the Surfilm Festival, a cinema festival featuring surfing footage, especially shorts.


title: San Sebastián

text: Every year on 20 January, the feast of Saint Sebastian, the people of San Sebastián celebrate a festival known as the "Tamborrada", the most celebrated festival of the year for residents of the town. At midnight, in the Konstituzio plaza in the "Alde Zaharra/Parte Vieja" (Old Part), the mayor raises the flag of San Sebastián. For 24 hours, the entire city is filled with the sound of drums. The adults march around the city dressed as chefs and soldiers throughout the night as part of the March of San Sebastián.


title: San Sebastián

text: On this day in the early 19th century, a procession was held from the Santa Maria Church in the Old Part to the San Sebastián Church in the district of Antiguo, while later limited due to weather conditions to the walled area. The event finished with a public dance accompanied by the military band's flutes and drums. Every day, a soldiers' parade took place to change the guards at the town's southern walls. Since the San Sebastián Day was the first festival heralding the upcoming Carnival, exuberant youths began to follow them, aping their martial manners and drumrolls, using the buckets left at the fountains as drums. The celebrations started to take their current form in the period from the 1860s to 1880s, with real military style outfits and parades and music by composer Raimundo Sarriegui.


title: San Sebastián

text: Adults usually have dinner in "txokos" ("gourmet clubs"). Traditionally, these admitted only men, but now even the most conservative ones allow women on the "Noche de la Tamborrada". They eat sophisticated meals cooked by themselves, mostly composed of seafood (traditionally elvers, now no longer served due to its exorbitant price) and drink the best wines.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 on a fireworks display each night over the bay, with the winner of the contest announced at the end. The displays are sometimes accompanied by a full live orchestra performing on the boardwalk. Attendees often claim spots along the beach and bay hours in advance. The festival also includes a parade of marching bands, entertainers on stilts, and Basque processional giants every afternoon. "Semana Grande" attracts a lot of domestic and international tourism.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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, where teams from different towns of the Bay of Biscay contend for the Flag of La Concha. Thousands of supporters coming from these coastal locations pour into the city's streets and promenades overlooking the bay to follow the event, especially on the Sunday of the final race. All day long the streets of the Old Part play host to droves of youths clad in their team colours who party there in a cheerful atmosphere.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 run-up to the Carnival. Groups dressed up in Basque traditional farmer costume march across the neighbourhood singing and wielding a characteristic stick beaten on the ground to the rhythm of the traditional Saint Agatha's tune. The singers ask for a small donation, which can be money, a drink or something to eat.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 a pot or pan, and usually bar-hop while they sing the traditional songs for the occasion. They were just male voices some time ago, but women participate and sing currently too, and the main event is at the City Hall, where the city band plays marches while the crowds bang the pots and pans. The festival began in 1884.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 Old Part, many dressed in traditional Basque "farmer" outfits. Traditional and typical produce is sold from the stalls; the main drink is cider and the most popular snacks are txistorra, a thin, uncured chorizo wrapped in talo flatbread. A large pig is displayed in Plaza Constitucion, which is raffled off during the festival.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 in the city centre, asking for small donations in bars, shops and banks after singing their repertoire. Sometimes Olentzero choirs roam around the streets in later dates, on the 31st for example, and are often related to cultural, social or political associations and demands.


title: San Sebastián

text: The main economic activities are commerce and tourism. San Sebastián is one of the best-known tourist destinations in Spain.


title: San Sebastián

text: The city is served by Euskotren Trena, Euskotren's railway network. Euskotren runs trains to Bilbao and other destinations, as well as the San Sebastián Metro; which together with Renfe's Cercanías San Sebastián cover the San Sebastián metropolitan area. There are frequent trains via San Sebastián railway station from Madrid to Hendaye in France, which is connected to the French rail network. The city is also served by San Sebastián Airport in the nearby municipality of Hondarribia. San Sebastián Airport currently has no international destinations. Bilbao airport is away from San Sebastian city. Biarritz Airport in France is located about from San Sebastián.


title: San Sebastián

text: San Sebastián is renowned for its Basque cuisine. San Sebastián and the surrounding area is home to a high concentration of restaurants with Michelin stars, including Arzak (San Sebastián), Berasategi (Lasarte), Akelarre (district Igeldo) and Mugaritz (Errenteria). It is the city with the second most Michelin stars per capita in the world, after Kyoto, Japan. According to The World's 50 Best Restaurants ranking in 2013, two of the world's top ten best restaurants were in San Sebastian. As well as these restaurants, the city is known for "pintxos" (small-plate dishes similar to tapas) which are found in the bars of the Old Quarter and elsewhere in the city.


title: San Sebastián

text: It is also the birthplace of Basque gastronomical societies, with the oldest recorded mention of such a "txoko" back in 1870. In addition, San Sebastian hosts the first institution to offer a university degree in Gastronomy, the Basque Culinary Center.


title: San Sebastián

text: Donostia-San Sebastián has become an important University town. Four universities and a superior conservatory are present in the city:


title: San Sebastián

text: The secondary studies activity is having an increasing impact on social, cultural, technological and economical levels of the city and surroundings. With its pushing innovative and research centers and its research strategies it is becoming one of Spain's main Science production locations, along with Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Seville and Valencia, among others. Donostia-San Sebastián's scientific production covers areas like Materials Science, Cancer Research, Alzheimer and Parkinson, Architecture, Polymer Science, Biomaterials, Nanotechnology, Robotics or Informatics.


title: San Sebastián

text: 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 Queen's Cup for the first time. The city's Anoeta Stadium located at the Anoeta Sports Complex is home to the Real Sociedad and also hosts rugby union matches featuring Biarritz Olympique or Aviron Bayonnais.


title: San Sebastián

text: Each summer the city plays host to a well known cycling race, the one-day Clásica de San Sebastián ("San Sebastián Classic"). Cycling races are popular in Spain, and the Clásica de San Sebastián professional is held during early August. It has been held annually in San Sebastián since 1981. The race is part of the UCI World Tour and was previously part of its predecessors UCI ProTour and UCI Road World Cup. A women's version of the race has been held since 2019.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Udonis Johneal Haslem ( born June 9, 1980) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Florida Gators, where he was a key member of four NCAA tournament teams. Haslem began his professional career in France with Chalon-sur-Saône and then signed with his hometown Miami Heat in 2003 and has become the longest tenured Heat player in franchise history. He has also won three NBA championships while playing for the Heat.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem was born in Miami. His father, John, played college basketball for the Stetson Hatters from 1972 to 1974. His mother, Debra, was Puerto Rican. Haslem attended Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, Florida, then Miami Senior High School in Miami. He helped lead Miami High to state titles in 1997 and 1998 (the last two of three in a row), playing alongside another future NBA player, Steve Blake. The team was coached by former South Carolina head coach Frank Martin.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: However, an investigation by the "Miami New Times" revealed that Haslem, Blake and several other players circumvented residency requirements. The "New Times" reported that while he claimed to live in Miami, he actually lived in Miramar. His official school address was an efficiency apartment owned by a longtime Miami High booster, which was also a violation of Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) rules. As a result, Miami High was stripped of its 1998 title and ordered to forfeit its entire schedule.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Billy Donovan's Gators teams from 1998 to 2002, while majoring in leisure service management. As the Gators' starting center for four years, he was part of Donovan's 1998 recruiting class that raised the national prominence of the Florida Gators basketball program, and included future Miami Heat teammate Mike Miller. His sophomore season saw the team advance to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship game, before falling to the Michigan State Spartans 89–76. The Gators received NCAA tournament invitations four consecutive years during his college career–the first time in the program's history. During his tenure with Florida, Haslem averaged 13.7 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game. He was named to the coaches' All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) team four times: as the third team in 1999 and 2000, and the first team in 2001 and 2002. Haslem also ranks third in team history in points scored (1,782) and tenth in rebounds (831). He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 2012.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem went undrafted in the 2002 NBA draft largely due to his lack of size; he measured just at the NBA pre-draft camp. He accepted an offer to join the Atlanta Hawks for training camp and made their roster for the Shaw's Pro Summer League. Haslem was released by the Hawks before the start of the 2002–03 NBA season.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem signed with Chalon-Sur-Saône of the French LNB Pro A. He arrived in France weighing nearly . While in France, he lost in eight months. Haslem averaged 16.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game in his one season with the team.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: On August 6, 2003, Haslem signed with his hometown team, the Miami Heat. As a rookie, he played in the Rookie Challenge during All-Star weekend, earned NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors, and helped the Heat reach the Eastern Conference Semifinals.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: In 2004–05, Haslem started in all 80 games in which he appeared, averaging 10.9 points, a career-high 9.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 33.4 minutes per game. His .540 field goal percentage ranked fifth on the Heat's all-time single-season list at the time. His .540 field goal percentage also ranked fourth in the NBA. Haslem appeared in the Rookie Challenge for the second straight year, this time for the sophomore team.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem re-signed with the Heat in August 2005. In June 2006, he helped the Heat win their maiden NBA Championship with a 4–2 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Haslem recorded 17 points and 10 rebounds in the title-clinching game six.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem scored a career-high 28 points on November 10, 2006, in a 113–106 win over the New Jersey Nets.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: On January 29, 2008, Haslem—who had been the only Miami player to start all 43 games of the 2007–08 season—sustained a sprained left ankle during the Heat's 117–87 loss to the Boston Celtics. He returned to action on February 23, only to play in five games before being ruled out for the rest of the season after reaggravating the ankle injury on March 7 against the Golden State Warriors. He averaged a career-high 12.0 points per game in 2007–08.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: In July 2010, Haslem signed a five-year deal worth approximately $20 million to remain with the Heat. The contract paid him roughly $14 million less than he could have received if he accepted more lucrative offers from the Dallas Mavericks or Denver Nuggets. He continued on with a new-look Heat roster that included LeBron James and Chris Bosh teaming up with Dwyane Wade. In November 2010, Haslem sustained a torn ligament in his foot, which sidelined him for the rest of the regular season. He returned to action in May 2011 during the playoffs. In June, the Heat were defeated in six games by the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 NBA Finals.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem helped the Heat return to the NBA Finals in 2012. The team defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games, with Haslem winning his second championship.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: In November 2012, Haslem passed Alonzo Mourning to become the franchise leader in total rebounds with 4,808, breaking Mourning's previous record of 4,807. Haslem also became the first undrafted player to lead a franchise in rebounding. In June 2013, Haslem won his third championship after the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games in the NBA Finals. After winning his third championship, Haslem revealed he had played through much of the second half of the 2012–13 season with a torn right meniscus.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: In 2013–14, Haslem lost the rotation spot he had long occupied. His on-court time continued to significantly diminish as the season progressed. Haslem played in just seven games in January and February combined, and played only two total minutes from January 21 to February 27. Haslem played in just 46 regular-season games in 2013–14, averaging 3.8 points and 3.8 rebounds. The Heat returned to the NBA Finals in 2014 for the fourth straight year, where they were defeated in five games by the Spurs. Following the 2013–14 season, Haslem decided to opt out of the final year of his contract.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem re-signed with the Heat on a two-year deal in July 2014. He re-signed with the Heat on one-year deals in 2016, 2017, and 2018. In January 2019, Haslem indicated that the 2018–19 season would be his last. In April 2019, however, Haslem stated that he had not decided if he was retiring and the decision would not be made until the 2019–20 season.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: On August 6, 2019, Haslem re-signed with the Heat to a one-year contract. During the 2019–20 season, Haslem played in four games, including starting at power forward in a loss to the Indiana Pacers during the Heat's regular season finale. During that season, he became the 30th player in league history to play after turning 40 years old, as well as the first modern era undrafted player to play to that age. Following Vince Carter's retirement during the suspension of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Haslem became the oldest active player in the NBA. The Heat reached the 2020 NBA Finals, losing in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers; Haslem was on the active roster but did not play in the postseason.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: On November 28, 2020, Haslem re-signed with the Heat. He played in a single game in the 2020–21 season, on May 13, 2021, against the Philadelphia 76ers. Haslem scored four points in two minutes off the bench before getting ejected as a result of a scuffle with Dwight Howard, making the 40-year-old Haslem the oldest player in the last 20 years to get ejected.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem appeared in the music video for the song "GDFR" by Flo Rida, as well as the music video for "Bet That" by Trick Daddy, and the music video for Born-N-Raised by DJ Khaled, Pitbull, Trick Daddy, and Rick Ross.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem is married to Faith Rein-Haslem, a sports broadcaster, whom he dated for 14 years. He met Rein in 1999 while attending the University of Florida, where she was a member of the Florida Gators track and field team. The couple have three sons. He also has two brothers and three sisters.


title: Udonis Haslem

text: Haslem, among other high-profile athletes and celebrities, was a paid spokesperson for FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange. In November 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy, wiping out billions of dollars in customer funds. Haslem, alongside other spokespeople, is currently being sued for promoting unregistered securities through a class-action lawsuit. In February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media.


title: Freeware

text: Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines "freeware" unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the freeware it offers. For instance, modification, redistribution by third parties, and reverse engineering are permitted by some publishers but prohibited by others. Unlike with free and open-source software, which are also often distributed free of charge, the source code for freeware is typically not made available. Freeware may be intended to benefit its producer by, for example, encouraging sales of a more capable version, as in the freemium and shareware business models.


title: Freeware

text: The term "freeware" was coined in 1982 by Andrew Fluegelman, who wanted to sell PC-Talk, the communications application he had created, outside of commercial distribution channels. Fluegelman distributed the program via a process now termed "shareware". As software types can change, freeware can change into shareware.


title: Freeware

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, the term "freeware" was often applied to software released without source code.


title: Freeware

text: Software classified as freeware may be used without payment and is typically either fully functional for an unlimited time or has limited functionality, with a more capable version available commercially or as shareware.


title: Freeware

text: In contrast to what the Free Software Foundation calls free software, the author of freeware usually restricts the rights of the user to use, copy, distribute, modify, make derivative works, or reverse engineer the software. The software license may impose additional usage restrictions; for instance, the license may be "free for private, non-commercial use" only, or usage over a network, on a server, or in combination with certain other software packages may be prohibited. Restrictions may be required by license or enforced by the software itself; e.g., the package may fail to function over a network.


title: Freeware

text: The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) defines "open source software" (i.e., free software or free and open-source software), as distinct from "freeware" or "shareware"; it is software where "the Government does not have access to the original source code". The "free" in "freeware" refers to the price of the software, which is typically proprietary and distributed without source code. By contrast, the "free" in "free software" refers to freedoms granted users under the software license (for example, to run the program for any purpose, modify and redistribute the program to others), and such software may be sold at a price.


title: Freeware

text: According to the Free Software Foundation (FSF), "freeware" is a loosely defined category and it has no clear accepted definition, although FSF asks that free software (libre; unrestricted and with source code available) should not be called freeware.


title: Freeware

text: In contrast the Oxford English Dictionary simply characterizes freeware as being "available free of charge (sometimes with the suggestion that users should make a donation to the provider)".


title: Freeware

text: Some freeware products are released alongside paid versions that either have more features or less restrictive licensing terms. This approach is known as freemium ("free" + "premium"), since the free version is intended as a promotion for the premium version. The two often share a code base, using a compiler flag to determine which is produced. For example, BBEdit has a BBEdit Lite edition which has fewer features. XnView is available free of charge for personal use but must be licensed for commercial use. The free version may be advertising supported, as was the case with the DivX.


title: Freeware

text: Ad-supported software and free registerware also bear resemblances to freeware. Ad-supported software does not ask for payment for a license, but displays advertising to either compensate for development costs or as a means of income. Registerware forces the user to subscribe with the publisher before being able to use the product. While commercial products may require registration to ensure licensed use, free registerware do not.


title: Freeware

text: The Creative Commons offer licenses, applicable to all by copyright governed works including software, which allow a developer to define "freeware" in a legal safe and internationally law domains respecting way. The typical freeware use case "share" can be further refined with Creative Commons restriction clauses like non-commerciality (CC BY-NC) or no-derivatives (CC BY-ND), see description of licenses. There are , for instance The White Chamber, Mari0 or Assault Cube, all freeware by being CC BY-NC-SA licensed: free sharing allowed, selling not.


title: Freeware

text: Freeware cannot economically rely on commercial promotion. In May 2015 advertising freeware on Google AdWords was restricted to "authoritative source"[s]. Thus web sites and blogs are the primary resource for information on which freeware is available, useful, and is not malware. However, there are also many computer magazines or newspapers that provide ratings for freeware and include compact discs or other storage media containing freeware. Freeware is also often bundled with other products such as digital cameras or scanners.


title: Freeware

text: Freeware has been criticized as "unsustainable" because it requires a single entity to be responsible for updating and enhancing the product, which is then given away without charge. Other freeware projects are simply released as one-off programs with no promise or expectation of further development. These may include source code, as does free software, so that users can make any required or desired changes themselves, but this code remains subject to the license of the compiled executable and does not constitute free software.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Hungarian People's Republic. The invasion stopped Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring liberalisation reforms and strengthened the authoritarian wing of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ).


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: About 250,000 Warsaw Pact troops (afterwards rising to about 500,000), supported by thousands of tanks and hundreds of aircraft, participated in the overnight operation, which was code-named Operation Danube. The Socialist Republic of Romania and the People's Republic of Albania refused to participate, while East German forces, except for a small number of specialists, were ordered by Moscow not to cross the Czechoslovak border just hours before the invasion because of fears of greater resistance if German troops were involved, due to the previous German occupation. 137 Czechoslovaks were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Public reaction to the invasion was widespread and divided. Although the majority of the Warsaw Pact supported the invasion along with several other communist parties worldwide, Western nations, along with Albania, Romania, and particularly the People's Republic of China condemned the attack. Many other communist parties lost influence, denounced the USSR, or split up or dissolved due to conflicting opinions. The invasion started a series of events that would ultimately see Brezhnev establish peace with U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1972 after the latter's historic visit to China.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The process of de-Stalinization in Czechoslovakia had begun under Antonín Novotný in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but had progressed more slowly than in most other states of the Eastern Bloc. Following the lead of Nikita Khrushchev, Novotný proclaimed the completion of socialism, and the new constitution, accordingly, adopted the name Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The pace of change, however, was sluggish; the rehabilitation of Stalinist-era victims, such as those convicted in the Slánský trials, may have been considered as early as 1963, but did not take place until 1967.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: In the early 1960s, Czechoslovakia underwent an economic downturn. The Soviet model of industrialization applied unsuccessfully since Czechoslovakia was already entirely industrialized before World War II, and the Soviet model mainly took into account less developed economies. Novotný's attempt at restructuring the economy, the 1965 New Economic Model, spurred increased demand for political reform as well.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: As the strict government eased its rules, the Union of Czechoslovak Writers cautiously began to air discontent, and in the union's gazette, "", members suggested that literature should be independent of Party doctrine. In June 1967, a small fraction of the Czech writer's union sympathized with radical socialists, specifically Ludvík Vaculík, Milan Kundera, Jan Procházka, Antonín Jaroslav Liehm, Pavel Kohout and Ivan Klíma. A few months later, at a party meeting, it was decided that administrative actions against the writers who openly expressed support of reformation would be taken. Since only a small part of the union held these beliefs, the remaining members were relied upon to discipline their colleagues. Control over "Literární noviny" and several other publishing houses was transferred to the Ministry of Culture, and even members of the party who later became significant reformers, including Dubček, endorsed these moves.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The Prague Spring (, ) was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia that began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), and continued until 21 August when the Soviet Union and other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded the country to halt the reforms.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The Prague Spring reforms were a strong attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. After national discussion of dividing the country into a federation of three republics, Bohemia, Moravia–Silesia and Slovakia, Dubček oversaw the decision to split into two, the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Leonid Brezhnev and the leadership of the Warsaw Pact countries were worried that the unfolding liberalizations in Czechoslovakia, including the ending of censorship and political surveillance by the secret police, would be detrimental to their interests. The first such fear was that Czechoslovakia would defect from the Eastern Bloc, injuring the Soviet Union's position in a possible Third World War with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Not only would the loss result in a lack of strategic depth for the USSR, but it would also mean that it could not tap Czechoslovakia's industrial base in the event of war. Czechoslovak leaders had no intention of leaving the Warsaw Pact, but Moscow felt it could not be certain exactly of Prague's intentions. However, the Soviet government was initially hesitant to approve an invasion, due to Czechoslovakia's continued loyalty to the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union's recent diplomatic gains with the West as détente began.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Other fears included the spread of liberalization and unrest elsewhere in Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact countries feared that if the Prague Spring reforms went unchecked, then those ideals might very well spread to Poland and East Germany, upsetting the status quo there as well. Within the Soviet Union, nationalism in the republics of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine was already causing problems, and many were worried that events in Prague might exacerbate those problems.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: According to documents from the Ukrainian Archives, compiled by Mark Kramer, KGB chairman Yuri Andropov and Communist Party of Ukraine leaders Petro Shelest and Nikolai Podgorny were the most vehement proponents of military intervention. The other version says that the initiative for the invasion came originally from Poland as the Polish First Secretary Władysław Gomułka and later his collaborator, East German First Secretary Walter Ulbricht, pressured Brezhnev to agree on the Warsaw Letter and on ensued military involvement. Władysław Gomułka accused Brezhnev for being blind and looking at the situation in Czechoslovakia with too much of emotion. Walter Ulbricht, in turn, insisted upon the necessity to enact military action in Czechoslovakia while Brezhnev was still doubting. Poland's foreign policy on the issue is still unknown. The deliberation that took place in Warsaw meeting, resulted in a majority consensus rather than unanimity. According to Soviet politician Konstantin Katushev, "our allies were even more worried than we were by what was going on in Prague. Gomulka, Ulbricht, Bulgarian First Secretary Todor Zhivkov, even Hungarian First Secretary János Kádár, all assessed the Prague Spring very negatively."


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: In addition, part of Czechoslovakia bordered Austria and West Germany, which were on the other side of the Iron Curtain. This meant both that foreign agents could slip into Czechoslovakia and into any member of the Communist Bloc and that defectors could slip out to the West. The final concern emerged directly from the lack of censorship; writers whose work had been censored in the Soviet Union could simply go to Prague or Bratislava and air their grievances there, circumventing the Soviet Union's censorship.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: As President Antonín Novotný was losing support, Alexander Dubček, First Secretary of the regional Communist Party of Slovakia, and economist Ota Šik challenged him at a meeting of the Central Committee. Novotný then invited Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev to Prague that December, seeking support; but Brezhnev was surprised at the extent of the opposition to Novotný and thus supported his removal as Czechoslovakia's leader. Dubček replaced Novotný as First Secretary on 5 January 1968. On 22 March 1968, Novotný resigned his presidency and was replaced by Ludvík Svoboda, who later gave consent to the reforms.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: When the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) Presidium member Josef Smrkovský was interviewed in a "Rudé Právo" article, entitled "What Lies Ahead", he insisted that Dubček's appointment at the January Plenum would further the goals of socialism and maintain the working class nature of the Communist Party.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: On the 20th anniversary of Czechoslovakia's "Victorious February", Dubček delivered a speech explaining the need for change following the triumph of socialism. He emphasized the need to "enforce the leading role of the party more effectively" and acknowledged that, despite Klement Gottwald's urgings for better relations with society, the Party had too often made heavy-handed rulings on trivial issues. Dubček declared the party's mission was "to build an advanced socialist society on sound economic foundations ... a socialism that corresponds to the historical democratic traditions of Czechoslovakia, in accordance with the experience of other communist parties ..."


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: In April, Dubček launched an "Action Programme" of liberalizations, which included increasing freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of movement, with economic emphasis on consumer goods and the possibility of a multiparty government. The programme was based on the view that "Socialism cannot mean only liberation of the working people from the domination of exploiting class relations, but must make more provisions for a fuller life of the personality than any bourgeois democracy." It would limit the power of the secret police and provide for the federalization of the ČSSR into two equal nations. The programme also covered foreign policy, including both the maintenance of good relations with Western countries and cooperation with the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc nations. It spoke of a ten-year transition through which democratic elections would be made possible and a new form of democratic socialism would replace the status quo.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Those who drafted the Action Programme were careful not to criticize the actions of the post-war Communist regime, only to point out policies that they felt had outlived their usefulness. For instance, the immediate post-war situation had required "centralist and directive-administrative methods" to fight against the "remnants of the bourgeoisie." Since the "antagonistic classes" were said to have been defeated with the achievement of socialism, these methods were no longer necessary. Reform was needed, for the Czechoslovak economy to join the "scientific-technical revolution in the world" rather than relying on Stalinist-era heavy industry, labour power, and raw materials. Furthermore, since internal class conflict had been overcome, workers could now be duly rewarded for their qualifications and technical skills without contravening Marxism-Leninism. The Programme suggested it was now necessary to ensure important positions were "filled by capable, educated socialist expert cadres" in order to compete with capitalism.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Although it was stipulated that reform must proceed under KSČ direction, popular pressure mounted to implement reforms immediately. Radical elements became more vocal: anti-Soviet polemics appeared in the press (after the abolishment of censorship was formally confirmed by law of 26 June 1968), the Social Democrats began to form a separate party, and new unaffiliated political clubs were created. Party conservatives urged repressive measures, but Dubček counselled moderation and re-emphasized KSČ leadership. At the Presidium of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in April, Dubček announced a political programme of "socialism with a human face". In May, he announced that the Fourteenth Party Congress would convene in an early session on 9 September. The congress would incorporate the Action Programme into the party statutes, draft a federalization law, and elect a new Central Committee.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Dubček's reforms guaranteed freedom of the press and political commentary was allowed for the first time in mainstream media. At the time of the Prague Spring, Czechoslovak exports were declining in competitiveness, and Dubček's reforms planned to solve these troubles by mixing planned and market economies. Within the party, there were varying opinions on how this should proceed; certain economists wished for a more mixed economy while others wanted the economy to remain mostly socialist. Dubček continued to stress the importance of economic reform proceeding under Communist Party rule.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: On 27 June Ludvík Vaculík, a leading author and journalist, published a manifesto titled "The Two Thousand Words". It expressed concern about conservative elements within the KSČ and so-called "foreign" forces. Vaculík called on the people to take the initiative in implementing the reform programme. Dubček, the party Presidium, the National Front, and the cabinet denounced this manifesto.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Dubček's relaxation of censorship ushered in a brief period of freedom of speech and the press. The first tangible manifestation of this new policy of openness was the production of the previously hard-line communist weekly "Literarni noviny", renamed "Literarni listy".


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The reduction and later complete abolition of the censorship on 4 March 1968 was one of the most important steps towards the reforms. It was for the first time in Czech history the censorship was abolished and it was probably the only reform fully implemented, albeit only for a short period. From the instrument of Party's propaganda media quickly became the instrument of criticism of the regime.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Freedom of the press also opened the door for the first honest look at Czechoslovakia's past by Czechoslovakia's people. Many of the investigations centered on the country's history under communism, especially in the instance of the Joseph Stalin-period. In another television appearance, Goldstucker presented both doctored and undoctored photographs of former communist leaders who had been purged, imprisoned, or executed and thus erased from communist history. The Writer's Union also formed a committee in April 1968, headed by the poet Jaroslav Seifert, to investigate the persecution of writers after the Communist takeover in February 1948 and rehabilitate the literary figures into the Union, bookstores and libraries, and the literary world. Discussions on the current state of communism and abstract ideas such as freedom and identity were also becoming more common; soon, non-party publications began appearing, such as the trade union daily "Práce" (Labour). This was also helped by the Journalists Union, which by March 1968 had already convinced the Central Publication Board, the government censor, to allow editors to receive uncensored subscriptions for foreign papers, allowing for a more international dialogue around the news.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The press, the radio, and the television also contributed to these discussions by hosting meetings where students and young workers could ask questions of writers such as Goldstucker, Pavel Kohout and Jan Procházka and political victims such as Josef Smrkovský, Zdeněk Hejzlar and Gustáv Husák. Television also broadcast meetings between former political prisoners and the communist leaders from the secret police or prisons where they were held. Most importantly, this new freedom of the press and the introduction of television into the lives of everyday Czechoslovak citizens moved the political dialogue from the intellectual to the popular sphere.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The Soviet leadership at first tried to stop or limit the impact of Dubček's initiatives through a series of negotiations. the Czechoslovak and Soviet Presidiums agreed to bilateral meeting to be held in July 1968 at Čierna nad Tisou, near the Slovak-Soviet border. The meeting was the first time the Soviet Presidium met outside Soviet territory.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: At the meeting, with attendance of Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Podgorny, Mikhail Suslov and others on the Soviet side and Dubček, Ludvík Svoboda, Oldřich Černík, Josef Smrkovský and others on the Czechoslovak side, Dubček defended the program of the reformist wing of the KSČ while pledging commitment to the Warsaw Pact and Comecon. The KSČ leadership, however, was divided between vigorous reformers (Josef Smrkovský, Oldřich Černík, Josef Špaček and František Kriegel) who supported Dubček, and conservatives (Vasil Biľak, Drahomír Kolder, and Oldřich Švestka) who represented an anti-reformist stance. Brezhnev decided on compromise. The KSČ delegates reaffirmed their loyalty to the Warsaw Pact and promised to curb "anti-socialist" tendencies, prevent the revival of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party, and control the press by the re-imposition of a higher level of censorship. In return the USSR agreed to withdraw their troops (still stationed in Czechoslovakia since the June 1968 maneuvers) and permit 9 September party congress. Dubček appeared on television shortly afterwards reaffirming Czechoslovakia's alliance with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: On 3 August, representatives from the Soviet Union, East Germany, People's Republic of Poland, the Hungarian People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia met in Bratislava and signed the Bratislava Declaration. The declaration affirmed unshakable fidelity to Marxism–Leninism and proletarian internationalism and declared an implacable struggle against bourgeois ideology and all "antisocialist" forces. The Soviet Union expressed its intention to intervene in a Warsaw Pact country if a bourgeois systema pluralist system of several political parties representing different factions of the capitalist classwas ever established. After the Bratislava conference, Soviet troops left Czechoslovak territory but remained along Czechoslovak borders.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: As these talks proved unsatisfactory, the USSR began to consider a military alternative. The Soviet Union's policy of compelling the socialist governments of its satellite states to subordinate their national interests to those of the Eastern Bloc (through military force if needed) became known as the Brezhnev Doctrine.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The United States and NATO largely ignored the situation in Czechoslovakia. Whilst the Soviet Union was concerned about the possibility of losing a regional ally and buffer state, the United States did not publicly seek an alliance with the Czechoslovak government. President Lyndon B. Johnson had already involved the United States in the Vietnam War and was unlikely to be able to drum up support for a conflict in Czechoslovakia. Also, he wanted to pursue an arms control treaty with the Soviets, SALT. He needed a willing partner in Moscow in order to reach such an agreement, and he did not wish to risk that treaty over what was ultimately a minor conflict in Czechoslovakia. For these reasons, the United States stated that it would not intervene on behalf of the Prague Spring.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: At approximately 11 pm on 20 August 1968, Eastern Bloc armies from four Warsaw Pact countries – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary – invaded Czechoslovakia. That night, 250,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 2,000 tanks entered the country. The total number of invading troops eventually reached 500,000. Brezhnev was determined to give the operation a multilateral appearance (unlike during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956), but the invasion was dominated by Soviet forces, which outnumbered other troops participating in it roughly five times over. The invading armies were under the direct control of the Soviet High Command at all times. Among them were 28,000 soldiers of the Polish 2nd Army from the Silesian Military District, commanded by general Florian Siwicki. All invading Hungarian troops were withdrawn by 31 October.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Romania did not take part in the invasion, nor did Albania, which subsequently withdrew from the Warsaw Pact over the matter the following month. The participation of East Germany was cancelled just hours before the invasion. The decision for the non-participation of the East German National People's Army in the invasion was made on short notice by Brezhnev at the request of high-ranking Czechoslovak opponents of Dubček who feared much larger Czechoslovak resistance if German troops were present, due to previous experience with the German occupation.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The invasion was well planned and coordinated; simultaneously with the border crossing by ground forces, a Soviet spetsnaz task force of the GRU (Spetsnaz GRU) captured Ruzyne International Airport in the early hours of the invasion. It began with a flight from Moscow which carried more than 100 agents in plain clothes and requested an emergency landing at the airport due to "engine failure". They quickly secured the airport and prepared the way for the huge forthcoming airlift, in which Antonov An-12 transport aircraft began arriving and unloading Soviet Airborne Forces equipped with artillery and light tanks.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: As the operation at the airport continued, columns of tanks and motorized rifle troops headed toward Prague and other major centers, meeting almost no resistance. Despite the fact that the Czechoslovak People's Army was one of the most advanced militaries in the Eastern Block, it failed to effectively resist the invasion due to its lack of an independent chain of command and the government's fears that it would side with the invaders as the Hungarian People's Army did during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The Czechoslovak People's Army was utterly defeated by the Warsaw Pact armies.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: During the attack of the Warsaw Pact armies, 137 Czechs and Slovaks were killed, and hundreds were wounded. Alexander Dubček called upon his people not to resist. The Central Committee, including Dubček, hunkered down at its headquarters as Soviet forces seized control of Prague. Eventually, paratroopers cut the building's telephone lines and stormed the building. Dubček was promptly arrested by the KGB and taken to Moscow along with several of his colleagues. Dubček and most of the reformers were returned to Prague on 27 August, and Dubček retained his post as the party's first secretary until he was forced to resign in April 1969 following the Czechoslovak Hockey Riots.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The invasion was followed by a wave of emigration, largely of highly qualified people, unseen before and stopped shortly after (estimate: 70,000 immediately, 300,000 in total). Western countries allowed these people to immigrate without complications.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The Dubček regime took no steps to forestall a potential invasion, despite ominous troop movements by the Warsaw Pact. The Czechoslovak leadership believed that the Soviet Union and its allies would not invade, having believed that the summit at Čierna nad Tisou had smoothed out the differences between the two sides. They also believed that any invasion would be too costly, both because of domestic support for the reforms and because the international political outcry would be too significant, especially with the World Communist Conference coming up in November of that year. Czechoslovakia could have raised the costs of such an invasion by drumming up international support or making military preparations such as blocking roads and ramping up security of their airports, but they decided not to, paving the way for the invasion.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Although on the night of the invasion, the Czechoslovak Presidium declared that Warsaw Pact troops had crossed the border without the knowledge of the ČSSR Government, the Eastern Bloc press printed an unsigned request, allegedly by Czechoslovak party and state leaders, for "immediate assistance, including assistance with armed forces". At the 14th KSČ Party Congress (conducted secretly, immediately following the intervention), it was emphasized that no member of the leadership had invited the intervention. At the time, a number of commentators believed the letter was fake or non-existent.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: In the early 1990s, however, the Russian government gave the new Czechoslovak President, Václav Havel, a copy of a letter of invitation addressed to Soviet authorities and signed by KSČ members Biľak, Švestka, Kolder, Indra, and Kapek. It claimed that "right-wing" media were "fomenting a wave of nationalism and chauvinism, and are provoking an anti-communist and anti-Soviet psychosis". It formally asked the Soviets to "lend support and assistance with all means at your disposal" to save the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic "from the imminent danger of counterrevolution".


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: A 1992 "Izvestia" article claimed that candidate Presidium member Antonin Kapek gave Leonid Brezhnev a letter at the Soviet-Czechoslovak Čierna nad Tisou talks in late July which appealed for "fraternal help". A second letter was supposedly delivered by Biľak to Ukrainian Party leader Petro Shelest during the August Bratislava conference "in a lavatory rendezvous arranged through the KGB station chief". This letter was signed by the same five as Kapek's letter, mentioned above.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Long before the invasion, planning for a coup was undertaken by Indra, Kolder and Biľak, among others, often at the Soviet embassy and at the Party recreation centre at Orlík Dam. When these men had managed to convince a majority of the Presidium (six of eleven voting members) to side with them against Alexander Dubček's reformists, they asked the USSR to launch a military invasion. The USSR leadership was even considering waiting until the 26 August Slovak Party Congress, but the Czechoslovak conspirators "specifically requested the night of the 20th".


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The plan was to unfold as follows. A debate would unfold in response to the Kašpar report on the state of the country, during which conservative members would insist that Dubček present two letters he had received from the USSR; letters which listed promises he had made at the Čierna and Tisou talks but had failed to keep. Dubček's concealment of such important letters, and his unwillingness to keep his promises would lead to a vote of confidence which the now conservative majority would win, seizing power, and issue a request for Soviet assistance in preventing a counterrevolution. It was this formal request, drafted in Moscow, which was published in Pravda on 22 August without the signatories. All the USSR needed to do was suppress the Czechoslovak military and any violent resistance.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: With this plan in mind, the 16 to 17 August Soviet Politburo meeting unanimously passed a resolution to "provide help to the Communist Party and people of Czechoslovakia through military force". At an 18 August Warsaw Pact meeting, Brezhnev announced that the intervention would go ahead on the night of 20 August, and asked for "fraternal support", which the national leaders of Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, and Poland duly offered.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The coup, however, did not go according to plan. Kolder intended to review the Kašpar report early on in the meeting, but Dubček and Špaček, suspicious of Kolder, adjusted the agenda so the upcoming 14th Party Congress could be covered before any discussion on recent reforms or Kašpar's report. Discussion of the Congress dragged on, and before the conspirators had a chance to request a confidence vote, early news of the invasion reached the Presidium.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: An anonymous warning was transmitted by the Czechoslovak Ambassador to Hungary, Jozef Púčik, approximately six hours before Soviet troops crossed the border at midnight. When the news arrived, the solidarity of the conservative coalition crumbled. When the Presidium proposed a declaration condemning the invasion, two key members of the conspiracy, Jan Pillar and František Barbírek, switched sides to support Dubček. With their help, the declaration against the invasion won with a 7:4 majority.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: By the morning of 21 August, Dubček and other prominent reformists had been arrested and were later flown to Moscow. There they were held in secret and interrogated for days.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The conservatives asked Svoboda to create an "emergency government" but since they had not won a clear majority of support, he refused. Instead, he and Gustáv Husák traveled to Moscow on 23 August to insist Dubček and Černík should be included in a solution to the conflict. After days of negotiations, all members of the Czechoslovak delegation (including all the highest-ranked officials President Svoboda, First Secretary Dubček, Prime Minister Černík and Chairman of the National Assembly Smrkovský) but one (František Kriegel) accepted the "Moscow Protocol", and signed their commitment to its fifteen points. The Protocol demanded the suppression of opposition groups, the full reinstatement of censorship, and the dismissal of specific reformist officials. It did not, however, refer to the situation in the ČSSR as "counterrevolutionary" nor did it demand a reversal of the post-January course.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Popular opposition was expressed in numerous spontaneous acts of nonviolent resistance. In Prague and other cities throughout the republic, Czechs and Slovaks greeted Warsaw Pact soldiers with arguments and reproaches. Every form of assistance, including the provision of food and water, was denied to the invaders. Signs, placards, and graffiti drawn on walls and pavements denounced the invaders, the Soviet leaders, and suspected collaborationists. Pictures of Dubček and Svoboda appeared in the streets. Citizens gave wrong directions to soldiers and even removed street signs (except for those giving the direction back to Moscow).


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Initially, some civilians tried to argue with the invading troops, but this met with little or no success. After the USSR used photographs of these discussions as proof that the invasion troops were being greeted amicably, secret Czechoslovak broadcasting stations discouraged the practice, reminding the people that "pictures are silent". The protests in reaction to the invasion lasted only about seven days. Explanations for the fizzling of these public outbursts mostly centre on demoralisation of the population, whether from the intimidation of all the enemy troops and tanks or from being abandoned by their leaders. Many Czechoslovaks saw the signing of the Moscow Protocol as treasonous. Another common explanation is that, due to the fact that most of Czech society was middle class, the cost of continued resistance meant giving up a comfortable lifestyle, which was too high a price to pay.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: The generalised resistance caused the Soviet Union to abandon its original plan to oust the First Secretary. Dubček, who had been arrested on the night of 20 August, was taken to Moscow for negotiations. It was agreed that Dubček would remain in office, but he was no longer free to pursue liberalisation as he had before the invasion.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: On 19 January 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in Prague to protest the renewed suppression of free speech.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: Finally, on 17 April 1969, Dubček was replaced as First Secretary by Gustáv Husák, and a period of "Normalization" began. Pressure from the Soviet Union pushed politicians to either switch loyalties or simply give up. In fact, the very group that voted in Dubček and put the reforms in place were mostly the same people who annulled the program and replaced Dubček with Husák. Husák reversed Dubček's reforms, purged the party of its liberal members, and dismissed the professional and intellectual elites who openly expressed disagreement with the political turnaround from public offices and jobs.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: On 25 August, at the Red Square, eight protesters carried banners with anti-invasion slogans. The demonstrators were arrested and later punished, as the protest was dubbed "anti-Soviet".


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: One unintended consequence of the invasion was that many within the Soviet State security apparatus and Intelligence Services were shocked and outraged at the invasion and several KGB/GRU defectors and spies such as Oleg Gordievsky, Vasili Mitrokhin, and Dmitri Polyakov have pointed out the 1968 invasion as their motivation for cooperating with the Western Intelligence agencies.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: In the People's Republic of Poland, on 8 September 1968, Ryszard Siwiec immolated himself in Warsaw during a harvest festival at the 10th-Anniversary Stadium in protest against the Warsaw Pact's invasion of Czechoslovakia and the totalitarianism of the Communist regime. Siwiec did not survive. After his death, Soviets and Polish communists attempted to discredit his act by claiming that he was psychologically ill and mentally unstable.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: A more pronounced effect took place in the Socialist Republic of Romania, which did not take part in the invasion. Nicolae Ceauşescu, who was already a staunch opponent of Soviet influence and had previously declared himself on Dubček's side, held a public speech in Bucharest on the day of the invasion, depicting Soviet policies in harsh terms. This response consolidated Romania's independent voice in the next two decades, especially after Ceauşescu encouraged the population to take up arms in order to meet any similar manoeuvre in the country: he received an enthusiastic initial response, with many people, who were by no means Communist, willing to enroll in the newly formed paramilitary Patriotic Guards.


title: Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

text: In the German Democratic Republic, the invasion aroused discontent mostly among young people who had hoped that Czechoslovakia would pave the way for a more liberal socialism. However, isolated protests were quickly stopped by the Volkspolizei and Stasi. The official government newspaper "Neues Deutschland" published an article before the invasion began falsely claiming that the Czechoslovak Presidium had ousted Dubcek and that a new "revolutionary" provisional government had requested Warsaw Pact military assistance.