title: Oceanic climate

text: An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification Cfb, typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters (for their latitude), with a relatively narrow annual temperature range and few extremes of temperature. Oceanic climates can be found in both hemispheres generally between 45 and 63 latitude, most notably in Northwestern Europe, Northwestern America, as well as New Zealand.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Locations with oceanic climates tend to feature frequent cloudy conditions with precipitation, low hanging clouds, and frequent fronts and storms. Thunderstorms are normally few, since strong daytime heating and hot and cold air masses meet infrequently in the region. In most areas with an oceanic climate, precipitation comes in the form of rain for the majority of the year. However, some areas with this climate see some snowfall annually during winter. Most oceanic climate zones, or at least a part of them, experience at least one snowfall per year. In the poleward locations of the oceanic climate zone ("subpolar oceanic climates", described in greater detail below), snowfall is more frequent and commonplace. Severe weather is rare.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Overall temperature characteristics of the oceanic climates feature cool temperatures and infrequent extremes of temperature. In the Köppen climate classification, oceanic climates have a mean temperature of or higher (or or higher) in the coldest month, compared to continental climates where the coldest month has a mean temperature of below (or ) in the coldest month. Summers are warm but not hot, with the warmest month having a mean temperature below . Poleward of the latter is a subtype of it and is the subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfc"), with long but relatively mild (for their latitude) winters and cool and short summers (average temperatures of at least for one to three months). Examples of this climate include parts of coastal Iceland, the coast of Norway north of Bodø, the Scottish Highlands, the mountains of Vancouver Island, and Haida Gwaii in Canada, in the Northern Hemisphere and extreme southern Chile in the Southern Hemisphere (examples include Punta Arenas), the Tasmanian Central Highlands, and parts of New Zealand.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Oceanic climates are not necessarily found in coastal locations on the aforementioned parallels; however, in most cases oceanic climates parallel higher middle latitude oceans. The polar jet stream, which moves in a west to east direction across the middle latitudes, advances low pressure systems, storms, and fronts. In coastal areas of the higher middle latitudes (45–60° latitude), the prevailing onshore flow creates the basic structure of most oceanic climates. Oceanic climates are a product and reflection of the cool ocean adjacent to them. In the autumn, winter, and early spring, when the polar jet stream is most active, the frequent passing of marine weather systems creates the frequent fog, cloudy skies, and light drizzle often associated with oceanic climates. In summer, high pressure often pushes the prevailing westerlies north of many oceanic climates, often creating a drier summer climate (for example in the Northwest coast of North America, bathed by the Pacific Ocean).


title: Oceanic climate

text: The North Atlantic Gulf Stream, a tropical oceanic current that passes north of the Caribbean and up the East Coast of the United States to North Carolina, then heads east-northeast to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, is thought to greatly modify the climate of Northwest Europe. As a result of the North Atlantic Current, west coast areas located in high latitudes like Ireland, the UK, and Norway have much milder winters (for their latitude) than would otherwise be the case. The lowland attributes of western Europe also help drive marine air masses into continental areas, enabling cities such as Dresden, Prague, and Vienna to have maritime climates in spite of being located well inland from the ocean.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Oceanic climates in Europe occur mostly in Western Europe. It starts in northwestern Europe, from Ireland and Great Britain eastward to central Europe. Most of France (away from the Mediterranean), Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark, western Germany, south coast and western areas of Norway north to Skrova Lofoten, several parts of Czech Republic, the north coast of Spain (Asturias, Basque Country, Cantabria, Galicia and north of Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia), the western Azores off the coast of Portugal, the north of Serbia and far southern portions of Sweden, also have oceanic climates.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Examples of oceanic climates are found in Glasgow, London, Bergen, Amsterdam, Dublin, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Bilbao, Oviedo, Biarritz, A Coruña, Bayonne, Zürich, Copenhagen, Prague, Skagen, and Paris. With decreasing distance to the Mediterranean Sea, the oceanic climate of northwest Europe gradually changes to the subtropical dry-summer or Mediterranean climate of southern Europe. The line between Oceanic and Continental climates in Europe runs in a generally west to east direction. For example, western Germany is more impacted by milder Atlantic air masses than is eastern Germany. Thus, winters across Europe become colder to the east, and (in some locations) summers become hotter. The line between oceanic Europe and Mediterranean Europe normally runs north to south and is related to changes in precipitation patterns and differences to seasonal temperatures.


title: Oceanic climate

text: The oceanic climate exists in an arc spreading across the north-western coast of North America from the Alaskan panhandle to northern California, in general the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest. It includes the western parts of Washington and Oregon, the Alaskan panhandle, western portions of British Columbia, and north-western California. In addition, some east coast areas such as Block Island, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket have a similar climate. An extensive area of oceanic climates distinguishes the coastal regions of southern Chile and extends into bordering Argentina.


title: Oceanic climate

text: All mid-latitude oceanic climates are classified as humid. However, some rainshadow climates feature thermal régimes similar to those of oceanic climates but with steppe-like ("BSk") or even desert-like ("BWk") scarcity of precipitation. Despite the oceanic-like thermal regimes, these areas are generally classified as steppe or desert climates. These arid versions of oceanic climates are found in eastern Washington and Oregon to the east of the Cascade Range in the United States, in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia in Canada, Patagonia in southern Argentina, and the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.


title: Oceanic climate

text: The only noteworthy area of maritime climate at or near sea-level within Africa is in South Africa from Mossel Bay on the Western Cape coast to Plettenberg Bay (the Garden Route), with additional pockets of this climate inland of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal coast. It is usually warm most of the year with no pronounced rainy season, but slightly more rain in autumn and spring. The Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the South Atlantic also has an oceanic climate.


title: Oceanic climate

text: The oceanic climate is prevalent in the more southerly parts of Oceania. A mild maritime climate is in existence in New Zealand. It occurs in a few areas of Australia, namely in the southeast, although average high temperatures during summers there tend to be higher and the summers drier than is typical of oceanic climates, with summer maxima sometimes exceeding . The climate is found in Tasmania, southern half of Victoria and southeastern New South Wales (southwards from Wollongong).


title: Oceanic climate

text: In Asia, the coastal part of northwestern Turkey, from Karadeniz Ereğli to Inebolu, features this climate. Additionally parts of the northeastern coast of Honshu, from Mutsu, Aomori towards Miyako, Iwate in Japan, feature this climate.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Île Amsterdam and Île Saint-Paul, both part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, are located in the subtropics and have an oceanic climate (akin to Tristan da Cunha; see above).


title: Oceanic climate

text: The subtropical highland climate is the variety of the oceanic climate that exists in elevated portions of the world that are within either the tropics or subtropics, though it is typically found in mountainous locations in some tropical countries. Despite the latitude, the higher altitudes of these regions mean that the climate tends to share characteristics with oceanic climates, though it can experience noticeably drier weather during the lower-sun "winter" season, and it usually has warmer winters than most oceanic climates.


title: Oceanic climate

text: In locations outside the tropics, other than the drying trend in the winter, subtropical highland climates tend to be essentially identical to an oceanic climate, with mild summers and noticeably cooler winters, plus, in some instances, some snowfall. In the tropics, a subtropical highland climate typically features spring-like weather year-round. Temperatures there remain relatively constant throughout the year and snowfall is seldom seen.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Areas with this climate feature monthly averages below but above (or using American standards). At least one month's average temperature is below . Without their elevation, many of these regions would likely feature either tropical or humid subtropical climates.


title: Oceanic climate

text: This type of climate exists in parts of east, south and southeastern Africa, interior southern Africa and elevated portions of eastern Africa as far north as Ethiopia and of western Africa (west region of Cameroon) up to the southwestern Angola highlands also share this climate type. The exposed areas of High Atlas, some mountainous areas across southern Europe, mountainous sections of North America, including parts of the southern Appalachians, Central and parts of South America in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo in Brazil, most of Yunnan and mountainous areas across Southeast Asia, parts of the Himalayas, parts of Sri Lanka, and parts of the Hawaiian Islands of Maui and Hawaii (island). In the Caribbean for the most part, only the peaks in the highest mountain ranges have this climate (including the Blue Mountains in Jamaica and Cerro Maravilla in Puerto Rico, with only Hispaniola having significant urban settlements under this climate zone, such as cities like Kenscoff in Haiti and Constanza in the Dominican Republic.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Small areas in Yunnan, Sichuan and parts of Bolivia have summers sufficiently short to be "Cwc" with fewer than four months over . However due to the high altitudes at these locations, these areas feature Cwc climates. This is the cold variant of Subtropical Highland Climate. El Alto, Bolivia, is one of the few confirmed towns that features this variation of the subtropical highland climate.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Temperate oceanic climates, also known as "marine mild winter" climates or simply oceanic climates, are found either at middle latitudes. They are often found on or near the west coast of continents; hence another name for Cfb, "marine west coast climates". In addition to moderate temperatures year-round, one of the characteristics is the absence of a dry season. Except for western Europe, this type of climate is confined to narrow bands of territory, largely in mid or high latitudes, although it can appear in elevated areas of continental terrain in low latitudes, e.g. plateaus in the subtropics. It exists in both hemispheres between 35° and 60°: at low altitudes between Mediterranean, humid continental, and subarctic climates.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Western sea breezes ease temperatures and moderates the winter, especially if warm sea currents are present, and cause cloudy weather to predominate. Precipitation is constant, especially in colder months, when temperatures are warmer than elsewhere at comparable latitudes. This climate can occur farther inland if no mountain ranges are present or nearby. As this climate causes sufficient moisture year-round without permitting deep snow cover, vegetation typically prospers in this climate. Deciduous trees are predominant in this climate region. However, conifers such as spruce, pine, and cedar are also common in few areas, and fruits such as apples, pears, and grapes can often be cultivated here.


title: Oceanic climate

text: In the hottest month, the average temperature is below , and at least four months feature average temperatures higher than . The average temperature of the coldest month must not be colder than , or the climate will be classified as continental. The average temperature variations in the year are between , with average annual temperatures between . Rain values can vary from , depending on whether mountains cause orographic precipitation. Frontal cyclones can be common in marine west coast regions, with some areas experiencing more than 150 rainy days annually, but strong storms are rare.


title: Oceanic climate

text: Cfb climates are predominant in most of Europe except the northeast, as global temperature became warmer towards late 20th and early 21st century. However, just few decades ago, oceanic climate was only present in parts of Western Europe, including northern Spain, Northwestern Portugal (mountains), Belgium, Britain, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands. They are the main climate type in New Zealand and the Australian states of Tasmania, Victoria, and southeastern New South Wales (starting from the Illawarra region). In North America, they are found mainly in Washington, Oregon, Vancouver Island, and neighbouring parts of British Columbia, as well as many coastal areas of southeast Alaska. There are pockets of Cfb in most South American countries, including many parts of Southern Brazil, parts of the provinces of Chubut, Santa Cruz, and southeast Buenos Aires province in Argentina. In Western Asia, small pockets are found close to sea level on the Black Sea coast of northern Turkey and Georgia. While Cfb zones are rare in Africa, one dominates the coastline of the Eastern Cape in South Africa.


title: Oceanic climate

text: The climate subtype can also be found in Nantucket, Massachusetts (in the immediate west and northwest in transition for humid continental, the remainder of Cape Cod)


title: Oceanic climate

text: Areas with subpolar oceanic climates feature an oceanic climate but are usually located closer to polar regions, with long but relatively mild winters and short, cool summers. As a result of their location, these regions tend to be on the cool end of oceanic climates, approaching to polar regions. Snowfall tends to be more common here than in other oceanic climates. Subpolar oceanic climates are less prone to temperature extremes than subarctic climates or continental climates, featuring milder winters than these climates. Subpolar oceanic climates feature only one to three months of average monthly temperatures that are at least 10 °C (50 °F). As with oceanic climates, none of its average monthly temperatures fall below -3.0 °C (26.6 °F) or 0 °C depending on the isotherm used. Typically, these areas in the warmest month experience daytime maximum temperatures below 17 °C (63 °F), while the coldest month features highs near or slightly above freezing and lows just below freezing while keeping the average warm enough. It typically carries a "Cfc" designation, though very small areas in Argentina and Chile have summers sufficiently short to be "Cwc" with fewer than four months over .


title: Oceanic climate

text: This variant of an oceanic climate is found in parts of coastal Iceland, the Faroe Islands, parts of Scotland, northwestern coastal areas of Norway (most of Lofoten, Vesterålen, warmest part of Tromsø reaching to 71°N on some islands), uplands/highlands in western Norway, the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and northern parts of the Alaskan Panhandle, the southwest of Argentina and Chile, and a few highland areas of Tasmania, and the Australian and Southern Alps. This type of climate is even found in very remote parts of the New Guinea Highlands. The classification used for this regime is Cfc. In the most marine of those areas affected by this regime, temperatures above are extreme weather events, even in the midst of summer. Temperatures above have been recorded on rare occasions in some areas of this climate, and in winter temperatures down to have seldom been recorded in some areas.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus. It is located in Duffus to the north-west of Elgin. Pupils are accepted subject to an interview plus references and exam results. It is one of the last remaining full boarding schools in the United Kingdom.


title: Gordonstoun

text: It was founded in 1934 as the British Salem School by German-Jewish educator Kurt Hahn based on the model of Schule Schloss Salem, that he had founded in Germany in 1919. Gordonstoun has an enrollment of around 500 full boarders as well as about 100 day pupils between the ages of 6 and 18. With the number of teaching staff exceeding 100, there is a low student-teacher ratio compared to the average in the United Kingdom. There are eight boarding houses (formerly nine prior to the closure of Altyre house in summer 2016) including two 17th-century buildings that were part of the original estate. The other houses have been built or modified since the school was established.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Gordonstoun has some notable alumni. Two generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including Prince Philip and his son King Charles III. Rock musician David Bowie sent his son Duncan Jones to Gordonstoun, and Jason Connery, son of actor Sir Sean Connery, also attended. Due to Hahn's influence, the school has had a strong connection with Germany. It is part of the Round Square Conference of Schools, a group of more than 80 schools across the globe based on the teaching of Hahn, and named after the Round Square building at Gordonstoun, where the first conference took place in 1967. Around 30% of students attending Gordonstoun come from abroad.


title: Gordonstoun

text: There were acknowledged cases of reported pupil abuse with no action taken in the 1970s and 1980s, for which the school much later apologised, commenting that at the time there had been "a completely unacceptable view that these were just things that happen".


title: Gordonstoun

text: The British Salem School of Gordonstoun was established in 1934 by Kurt Hahn, a German Jewish educationalist who, after being arbitrarily arrested after the Reichstag fire, fled Nazi Germany. Hahn was asked by friends to give a demonstration in the UK of his "Salem system". He was born in Berlin in 1886 and studied at the University of Oxford. After reading Plato's "The Republic" as a young man, Hahn conceived the idea of a modern school. With the help of Prince Max of Baden, he set up the Schule Schloss Salem in 1919. After the First World War, both men decided that education was key in influencing the future. They developed Salem to develop its students as community leaders. By the 1930s Salem had already become a renowned school throughout Europe. In 1932, Hahn spoke out against the Nazis and was arrested in March 1933.


title: Gordonstoun

text: He was released and exiled to Britain in the same year through the influence of the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, who was familiar with Hahn's work. At the urging of British friends, Hahn decided to start a new school in Morayshire.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Gordonstoun was started in a small way and had financial difficulties in its early years. After the death in 1930 of Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet, his house at Gordonstoun was obtained by Kurt Hahn, whose offer for the lease was accepted on 14 March 1934. The buildings needed repair and renovation, and at the start of the first academic year, the school had only two enrolled pupils. Hahn expected Gordonstoun to operate for only a few years, as an example of his vision. The number of pupils steadily increased, and some additional pupils transferred from Salem, including Prince Philip of Greece, who later became Duke of Edinburgh. By the start of the Second World War, 135 boys were attending.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In June 1940 the school was evacuated and the Gordonstoun estate was taken over by the army for use as barracks. The school was relocated temporarily to quarters in Llandinam in Mid Wales In 1941 by Hahn and Lawrence Holt with the support of the Blue Funnel Line, founded Outward Bound, based on the educational approach of Gordonstoun.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The school survived the war, pupil numbers increased again, and the school became well known throughout Wales and the Midlands. Once the war ended, the school returned to the Gordonstoun estate.


title: Gordonstoun

text: By the end of 1940, the school achieved its primary target of 250 pupils and continued growing in size. It built dormitories on the estate, removing the need for maintaining a house in Altyre, Forres, many miles away from the main campus. Gordonstoun also developed its academic offerings. It arranged to admit poorer children from the surrounding areas, and to deepen the Outward Bound-type activities that were central to Hahn's system. Skills in mountaineering and seamanship were always taught at the school. The introduction of the Moray Badge, from which the Duke of Edinburgh's Award was borrowed, expanded the types of physical challenges for students to conquer.


title: Gordonstoun

text: From the 1950s onwards, the school administration concentrated on improving the facilities and expanding the curriculum. Major changes since then include: the founding of Round Square in 1966, an international community of schools sharing Hahn's educational ideals; the school becoming co-educational in 1972; and the moving of Aberlour House, Gordonstoun's preparatory school, from Speyside to a purpose-built Junior School on campus in 2004.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Former governor Lisa Kerr took over from Simon Reid as the school's principal in 2016. She is the school's first female principal.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Gordonstoun's curriculum emphasises an experiential approach, and built upon the work of educationalists, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Johann Friedrich Herbart and John Dewey. However, unlike Herbart and Dewey, who were concerned with the cognitive benefits of out of classroom experiences, Hahn's ethos emphasises the emotional aspects of Herbartianism and Experiential learning.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Hahn established Gordonstoun's ethos during his tenure at Schule Schloss Salem. In a document, written in 1930, Hahn set out, what he referred to as the seven laws of Salem;


title: Gordonstoun

text: Hahn blended outdoor activities and skills such as seamanship and mountaineering with a traditional private school ethos, modelled on his experiences at Eton and Oxford. Plato's "The Republic" and other elements of ancient Greek history inspired Hahn's approach. This is seen in the title "Guardian", denoting the head boy and girl, the adoption of a Greek trireme as the school's emblem, and a routine that could be described as Spartan.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Classics, and the Greek ideal that education aims to produce a complete person, intellectually, morally, physically and aesthetically had a profound influence on Hahn. Mostly, He believed that pupils should participate in activities, as opposed to sitting and absorbing information. Therefore, physical education forms much of Gordonstoun's curriculum but achieving personal-goals and overcoming physical challenges take precedent over any competition. As part of their studies, Gordonstoun's students complete something referred to as "The Project" a practical assignment of the student's choosing. The result might be a handmade boat, a restored car or a piece of music.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Additionally, there is a chance to join one of the annual international service projects which take pupils abroad to help a foreign community, for instance, there have been projects to build schools in Africa, build wells in Thailand and help orphans in Romania.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The school had a reputation for challenging conditions, with cold showers and morning runs as a matter of routine. The school still practices periods of silence, intended to give the pupils the space to reflect and glean insights from their experiences. The school no longer practices cold showers or punishment runs, although physical education and challenging outdoor activities are still an integral part of Gordonstound's identity. Former pupil Charles, Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) had called the school a "Colditz in kilts" alluding to the prisoner-of-war camp Colditz Castle.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Hahn believed that "The Platonic view of education is that a nation must do all it can to make the individual citizen discover his own power and further more that the individual becomes a cripple in his or her point of view if he is not qualified by education to serve the community." The idea of service at the school is thought to encourage students to gain a feeling of responsibility to aid other people and is implemented in creating an array of services to the community in which every student becomes involved (see below).


title: Gordonstoun

text: Gordonstoun offers a series of grants, drawing on its investments and other funds, to support pupils who are unable to pay the full fees. In the academic year 2009/10 the school provided financial support for 163 pupils including 11 with 100% fee coverage and 95 with 50% fee reduction. The school is a registered charity: Scottish charity number SC037867.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Hahn's views on education centred on the ability to understand different cultures. Gordonstoun incorporates this in a number of ways including its association with Round Square and in offering pupil exchanges to the different schools within the association.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In 2018, Simon Beames, senior lecturer in outdoor learning at the University of Edinburgh, co-published research the effectiveness of Gordonstoun's ethos, and this research has formed an important part of the school's promotional literature. A poll of alumni revealed mixed feelings about Gordonstoun's emphasis on extra-curricular activities. Fifty-seven per cent of the former pupils surveyed agreed that outdoor activities enhanced their academic studies. At the same time, the remaining forty-three per cent felt the activities did not help their studies. However, the research by Beames et al. also found that most former pupils believe the school's emphasis on outdoor activities had a positive effect on their careers.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Along with the main school, two other schools form part of the greater Gordonstoun community. These are Gordonstoun's preparatory school, Aberlour House, and a summer school that serves to promote the school outside of the academic year.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The first preparatory school was founded in 1936 at Wester Elchies and unlike Gordonstoun, was not made to move during the war. At the start of the war, there were 40 boys and girls attending, and these numbers increased to the point that a second school was opened at Aberlour House in 1947 by which time nearly 100 pupils were attending.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Wester Elchies was pulled down in the early 1960s because of dilapidation. The prep school continued with just Aberlour, but even so, there were always problems with the that separated the main Gordonstoun campus and the school. In 2002 the running of Aberlour House was taken over by Gordonstoun, and in 2004 a purpose-built prep school was constructed on the main campus. In January 2007, the disused Aberlour House became the head offices of Walkers Shortbread, whose main factory complex at Fisherton is adjacent to the house.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Presently Aberlour House has approximately 115 pupils between the ages of 6 and 13 attending. Although they form part of the same institution, going to Aberlour is not a prerequisite for going to Gordonstoun and neither is it enforced that pupils at Aberlour House continue on into Gordonstoun. They share the school song, flag and motto with Gordonstoun.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The Gordonstoun International Summer School started in 1976, it has catered to over 7,000 pupils since then. It opens for a four-week period every summer with the aim of giving a taste of the Gordonstoun ethos. Although for the most part, the priority is adventure, sports and creative arts, the school also teaches courses in English. Around 250 children from all over the world between the ages of 8 and 16 attend each year.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The school runs a revision programme over the Easter Holidays, based on the belief that exercise improves cognition. Gordonstoun designed the programme for GCSE students, and it combines revision in English, mathematics and science with periods of gentle exercise and restricted access to electronic devices. The school also claim to serve a diet which promotes brain health throughout the programme.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In the Junior School (ages 8–13), pupils study a range of courses and follow the Scottish education system. In the Senior School (ages 13+) the pupils complete a year's foundation course and then enter into the English education system by starting a two-year GCSE course followed by a two-year A Level course. Gordonstoun offers 21 GCSE courses, 27 AS Level courses and 21 A Level courses including specialised subjects such as Dance, Classical Studies and Further Mathematics.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The 2019 Education Scotland inspection of Gordonstoun rated the school as 'outstanding' and 'sector-leading'


title: Gordonstoun

text: 96% of pupils proceed to higher education with 79% going to British universities and 17% to universities abroad. Of those who do not go on to further education, many take gap years or join the armed forces.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In the beginning, Hahn expressed his view that at many schools, ball games had been given precedence over other activities and so, to start with, more focus was placed on seamanship and practical work than the playing of games. Due to this, competitive matches did not start until 1935 when Gordonstoun played and won its first rugby match against Grantown Academy. Even so, the school was still in its infancy, and there were no designated fields on which to play with conditions being so bad that during pre-match, half-time and post-match, players would clear as many pebbles off the field of play as possible. 1935 saw Gordonstoun's cricket team win two, lose two and draw one. Hahn set up the hockey team personally, with Prince Philip humorously recalling a game against Elgin Academy's ladies' team and saying that he "hoped that soon we shall be among the best Scottish girls' teams."


title: Gordonstoun

text: As of 2013 there were playing fields for rugby, football and cricket as well as an outdoor hockey AstroTurf, outdoor tennis courts and a 400m running track. Apart from these outdoor pitches, there is a large sports centre with facilities that include a rock climbing wall, a 25m swimming pool, a weights room, squash courts and an indoor activity hall for basketball, badminton and netball.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Aside from these more traditional sports, there is the opportunity to participate in karate, horse riding, skiing, .22 rifle shooting and clay pigeon shooting, athletics, golf and many others. Clubs also form part of the activities list which is made up of cooking, debating, astronomy and film.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Sports and other physical activities are vital for an esteemed "correct" education at Gourdonstouns. Exercise is a key element in the everyday life at Gourdonstouns. All children subject to this physical curriculum must exercise for at least three-hour a day not to mention, much more.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The 1st XI participate in four different competitions. The main competition is the County Schools League where Gordonstoun plays alongside nine other schools in a league system with the chance of promotion/relegation at the end of the season. The other three are Scottish Cup, North of Scotland Cup and the Scottish Independent Schools Cup where Gordonstoun plays with a mixture of independent and state schools.


title: Gordonstoun

text: The school's fire service works closely with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and has a fire station on campus with two fire-fighting appliances at their disposal. It was started in 1940 while the school was based in Wales and they acquired an appliance soon after. They attend roughly fifty call-outs a year and so members have to be medically and physically fit, training to pass the practical test before becoming fire fighters. The team is split into three watches lasting a week each and are on call 24 hours a day having to carry pagers and react quickly should they be called.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Seamanship has been a main part of the curriculum since the school began. The first voyage of note was in a cutter from Hopeman to Dornoch in June 1935, a distance of . Pupils still train in cutters from the age of 13 upward at Hopeman Harbour to prepare for a voyage in the school's sailing vessel. Most excursions take a week sailing off the West Coast of Scotland, but the school also enters into the Tall Ships' Races annually which allows pupils to take part in an international competition in European waters lasting up to a month.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In the lower school, ages 13 to 16, a boy and a girl in the sixth form (ages 16 to 18) are elected to be Captains of the lower school. They provide liaison between teachers and pupils so that any concerns can be rectified. Other roles can include organising inter-house activities, charitable events and the lower school social ("social" refers to social event or party).


title: Gordonstoun

text: In the Upper School, ages 16 to 18, responsibility is available through a hierarchy of positions. This starts with Captains of Sports, Service and House. In the case of Captains, no peer voting takes place, but rather a pupil is elected by the Head of the respective department. This way it is not uncommon for some people to be re-elected as Captain for multiple terms depending on whether or not anybody else of suitable stance is available. Captains of Sport such as the Football or Rugby Captain are chosen by the Head of that sport and will help the Head organise teams for practice and preparation off the field of play as well as on it. Similarly, Captains of Service will aid the Head of Service to organise training sessions and be a point of contact for the rest of the members.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Captains of House are slightly different though in that they play a more personal role for pupils who want to voice problems with conditions within the house and this often means that House Captains have a lot more pupils to be responsible for. This difference is more evident in their original title of 'Helper'. They tend to be in close contact with the housemaster so that any issues requiring immediate attention can be dealt with as well as being able to relay any general ideas or concerns in the House Captains' Council which meet once every two weeks. At the meeting a teacher is present, and minutes are taken so that they can be passed onto the Colour Bearers (CBs).


title: Gordonstoun

text: Colour Bearers get their name from a band of purple they wear as insignia on their uniform, purple being one of the school's colours. They are elected by the pupils and the staff, similar to Eton's Pop, and have non-important roles in the school community as a whole. Unlike captains they keep their positions for a whole year unless they are demoted as a punishment for untoward behaviour. They meet every week with the Headmaster to attend to a wide range of school matters. As well as this they are responsible for minor roles which would otherwise be taken up by teaching staff such as, maintaining the refectory and the library and for serving drinks behind the bar at the weekly socials in addition to organising major school wide events that take place throughout the year.


title: Gordonstoun

text: From the CBs a boy and a girl are chosen to be Guardians for the academic term. These are the Head Pupils for the entire school and only normally 6 people a year are allowed to have this position. The term Guardian comes from the name of the supportive rulers of Plato's ideal state. Like the staff, they are closely involved in the management and well-being of the school.


title: Gordonstoun

text: There are seven boarding houses ranging from year 9–13, one sixth-form house, nine including the one no longer in operation, on the campus. The houses are run by a small team of teachers. The House Master (HM) has overall responsibility and is helped by the Assistant House Master (AHM). Either or both of these will be present at the daily house meeting and will oversee homework to make sure pupils are studying. The HM will organise any special house events, decide who the house captain will be for the term as well as choosing a captain to take care of other house related activities. The HM is also the person who most pupils would talk to if they had a problem although all teachers are available for help. Both the HM and the AHM normally have residences within the houses and so are very much part of the house. Each house has a matron who helps the pupils through their daily routine as well as a tutor to help the pupils in their studies. The year a pupil is in, and the amount of rooms in the house decides which pupils are allowed a room of their own, although it is normally decided that younger years share whilst senior pupils get their own rooms. All pupils rotate rooms each term.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Some houses will go on house expeditions and there are many inter-house competitions that take place in the year. These competitions vary. The most common are sports such as basketball and football or simply a tug of war. All of the boarding houses throw a themed party annually, and pupils may invite guests from other houses.


title: Gordonstoun

text: For OGs there is the Gordonstoun Association which aims to promote and strengthen links between former pupils of the school and the school itself. The patron of the GA is the Duke of Edinburgh.


title: Gordonstoun

text: During the 1960s, Charles III (then Prince of Wales) attended the school on the recommendation of his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who had been one of the first pupils to attend Gordonstoun, having previously been educated at Salem in Germany. Prince Charles did not enjoy the regime, which he later characterised as "Colditz in kilts". Princes Andrew and Edward followed in their father's and elder brother's footsteps. Of the four princes, three (Philip, Charles and Edward) were appointed Guardian (Head Boy) during their time at the school. Princess Anne, Philip's only daughter, was not educated at Gordonstoun, which at that time was for boys only, but she sent her two children, Zara and Peter, while also serving for some time on the school's board of governors.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Gordonstoun also has a notable fictional alumna: the heroine of "Tomb Raider", Lady Lara Croft, was supposed to have attended the school in sixth year; she has also been used to advertise it.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In 2010, a teacher had their teaching licence/qualification revoked by the General Teaching Council for Scotland for warning students about exam content in advance of the tests.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In 2020, the school carried out renovations which included work on principal Lisa Kerr's living quarters. An unnamed source claimed that the renovations cost approximately £100,000 and included £8,000 for carpets and £6,000 for flooring. Speaking to the Times, the school confirmed that Kerr "contributed significantly" to the costs and that the renovations had "become urgent in order to reconfigure classrooms and increase cleaning regimes to comply with Covid regulations".


title: Gordonstoun

text: In 2017, Gordonstoun was named as one of the schools being investigated in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry chaired by Lady Smith. In 2021 Gordonstoun said at the inquiry that there had been 11 cases of pupil abuse and 82 claims of bullying between students, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1995 the school had started a child protection policy and in 2013 there had been "significant" abuse disclosures. The school issued a "sincere and unreserved apology" to pupils who had undergone abuse.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In 2018, ex-teacher Andrew Keir was convicted of offences including indecent assault involving thirteen-year-old pupils at the school between 1988 and 1991. He was subsequently jailed for twelve months.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In 1996, the school appeared on an episode of Channel Four's "True Stories". Filmmaker Penny Woodcock shot the documentary during the autumn term. Despite preconceptions that Gordonstoun was one of Britain's stricter boarding schools; Woodcock's documentary depicted a compassionate and liberal institution led at that time by the headteacher Mark Pyper. The programme gave insights into the school's management, conflict resolution processes and day-to-day life. Highlights included technologically literate students using a modified Walkman to trigger amplified toilet flushes during the daily sermon and a candid interview with the school's sailing instructor.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In December 2017, a fictionalised depiction of the school featured in episode 9 of season 2 of the Netflix TV series "The Crown". Left Bank Pictures filmed ten of the scenes on the grounds of Gloucestershire's Woodchester Mansion.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Queen Elizabeth II reportedly felt "sad and annoyed" by how the episode portrayed the relationship between Charles and Philip during Charles' time at Gordonstoun. The episode states at its end that Charles later described his time at Gordonstoun as a "prison sentence".


title: Gordonstoun

text: The school disputed the series' portrayal of Charles' alma mater, citing in their defence a 1970s speech he made in the House of Lords and an interview published in The Observer Magazine where he gave a nuanced recollection of the school.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Gordonstoun temporarily relocated to Aberdyfi, Wales during World War II, while the British Army used the Gordonstoun estate as barracks.


title: Gordonstoun

text: Hahn worked with friends and fellow educationalist, Lawrence Durning Holt and Jim Hogan. Holt was a partner in the Alfred Holt and Company who owned the Blue Funnel Line. Hogan was the Warden of The Blue Funnel Line's sea school in Aberdyfi, which provided four-year character-building courses and practical training to young, prospective officers. The courses included preparations for a land-based expedition as the course' finale. Due to the necessities of World War II, Aberdyfi focused on Seamanship. However, the courses' founders later claimed that their sea school didn't offer "training for the Sea", but "Training through the sea".


title: Gordonstoun

text: Hahn founded the Moray Badge scheme in 1937. The Scheme gave Moray's local children training by taking part in expeditions before completing a final project to earn the award. The Duke of Edinburgh completed his Moray badge while at Gordonstoun. Hahn approached the Duke of Edinburgh after World War II about the prospect of creating a national awards scheme based on the Moray Badge. At the time a gap existed for boys leaving school aged 15 and beginning National Service aged 18. Therefore, its founders aimed the original Duke of Edinburgh award at boys aged 15 to 18.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In the U.S., Hahn's Outward-Bound approach inspired an English and Arts Curriculum known as EL Education. From 2009, U.S schools adopted the ELA curriculum after the formation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.


title: Gordonstoun

text: In Britain, former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan voiced a need for a greater curricular emphasis on character building. At the same time the educational advisor John Cridland and former shadow education minister Tristram Hunt began using phrases such as "rounded and grounded", "resilience", "team-building" and "communication skills" when discussing education.


title: Lisa Emery

text: Lisa Emery is an American stage, film, and television actress. Emery is best known for playing Darlene Snell on Netflix series "Ozark".


title: Lisa Emery

text: Emery was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of an aspiring actress from Charlottesville, Virginia and an advertising executive who worked in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She attended Hollins College, where she planned to study painting, but became interested in drama classes instead because "they were having way more fun." After graduation she studied at the Circle in the Square Theatre School for a year, then began to audition.


title: Lisa Emery

text: Emery moved to New York with her then-longtime boyfriend. They eventually broke up and she enrolled in the Circle in the Square two-year program. She moved to the East Village in 1982.


title: Lisa Emery

text: Emery's theatre credits include "The Matchmaker", "Dinner with Friends" (1999), "What the Butler Saw" (2000), "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (2006), "Talley & Son", "Burn This" (1987), "Rumors", "Present Laughter", "The Women" (2001), "Marvin's Room" (1991), "Abigail's Party" (2005), and "Relatively Speaking" (2011). She has been nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play three times.


title: Lisa Emery

text: Emery's film credits include "A Map of the World", "Unfaithful", "The Night Listener", and "Margot at the Wedding". On television she had a reoccurring role on "Ed" and has made guest appearances on "Law & Order", "Sex and the City", "", "", "Third Watch", "Fringe", "Damages" and "Jessica Jones". She also had a cast role on "Ozark".


title: Lisa Emery

text: Charles Isherwood, in his review of "Relatively Speaking" ("George Is Dead" by Elaine May) for "The New York Times", wrote of Emery: "Carla, a thankless straight-woman role played with skill by the fine Lisa Emery..."


title: Lisa Emery

text: In a July 2020 interview for The Natural Aristocrat, Emery spoke about enjoying the unpredictable nature of her Ozark character Darlene Snell. "Every time I get a script, I’m surprised, which is great. It’s not like, ‘Oh, there she goes again!’ I think it’s unpredictable what a great mother she is in her own way."


title: Lisa Emery

text: Emery was married to actor Josh Pais; their son, Zane, appeared with his mother in "Margot at the Wedding".


title: Lisa Emery

text: Emery did not seek a film or television career and did not think of career strategies. "I take it as it comes... Perhaps I'd regret it if I were less happy now. I live perfectly well and love what I do."


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement in which affiliates receive a commission for each visit, signup or sale they generate for a merchant. This arrangement allows businesses to outsource part of the sales process. It is a form of performance-based marketing where the commission acts as an incentive for the affiliate; this commission is usually a percentage of the price of the product being sold, but can also be a flat rate per referral.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate marketers may use a variety of methods to generate these sales, including organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, content marketing, display advertising, organic social media marketing, and more.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Though the largest companies run their own affiliate networks (for example Amazon), most merchants join affiliate networks which provide reporting tools and payment processing.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: The concept of revenue sharing—paying commission for referred business—predates affiliate marketing and the Internet. The translation of the revenue share principles to mainstream e-commerce happened in November 1994, almost four years after the origination of the World Wide Web.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: The concept of affiliate marketing on the Internet was conceived of, put into practice and patented by William J. Tobin, the founder of PC Flowers & Gifts. Launched on the Prodigy Network in 1989, PC Flowers & Gifts remained on the service until 1996. By 1993, PC Flowers & Gifts generated sales in excess of $6 million per year on the Prodigy service. In 1998, PC Flowers and Gifts developed the business model of paying a commission on sales to the Prodigy Network.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: In 1994, Tobin launched a beta version of PC Flowers & Gifts on the Internet in cooperation with IBM, who owned half of Prodigy. By 1995 PC Flowers & Gifts had launched a commercial version of the website and had 2,600 affiliate marketing partners on the World Wide Web. Tobin applied for a patent on tracking and affiliate marketing on January 22, 1996, and was issued U.S. Patent number 6,141,666 on Oct 31, 2000. Tobin also received Japanese Patent number 4021941 on Oct 5, 2007, and U.S. Patent number 7,505,913 on Mar 17, 2009, for affiliate marketing and tracking. In July 1998 PC Flowers and Gifts merged with Fingerhut and Federated Department Stores.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: In November 1994, CDNow launched its BuyWeb program. CDNow had the idea that music-oriented websites could review or list albums on their pages that their visitors might be interested in purchasing. These websites could also offer a link that would take visitors directly to CDNow to purchase the albums. The idea for remote purchasing originally arose from conversations with music label Geffen Records in the fall of 1994. The management at Geffen wanted to sell its artists' CDs directly from its website but did not want to implement this capability itself. Geffen asked CDNow if it could design a program where CDNow would handle the order fulfillment. Geffen realized that CDNow could link directly from the artist on its website to Geffen's website, bypassing the CDNow home page and going directly to an artist's music page.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Amazon.com (Amazon) launched its associate program in July 1996: Amazon associates could place banner or text links on their site for individual books, or link directly to the Amazon home page.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: When visitors clicked on the associate's website to go to Amazon and purchase a book, the associate received a commission. Amazon was not the first merchant to offer an affiliate program, but its program was the first to become widely known and serve as a model for subsequent programs.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: In February 2000, Amazon announced that it had been granted a patent on components of an affiliate program. The patent application was submitted in June 1997, which predates most affiliate programs, but not PC Flowers & Gifts.com (October 1994), AutoWeb.com (October 1995), Kbkids.com/BrainPlay.com (January 1996), EPage (April 1996), and several others.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate marketing has grown quickly since its inception. The e-commerce website, viewed as a marketing toy in the early days of the Internet, became an integrated part of the overall business plan and in some cases grew to a bigger business than the existing offline business. According to one report, the total sales amount generated through affiliate networks in 2006 was £2.16 billion in the United Kingdom alone. The estimates were £1.35 billion in sales in 2005. MarketingSherpa's research team estimated that, in 2006, affiliates worldwide earned US$6.5 billion in bounty and commissions from a variety of sources in retail, personal finance, gaming and gambling, travel, telecom, education, publishing, and forms of lead generation other than contextual advertising programs.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: In 2006, the most active sectors for affiliate marketing were the adult gambling, retail industries and file-sharing services. The three sectors expected to experience the greatest growth are the mobile phone, finance, and travel sectors. Soon after these sectors came the entertainment (particularly gaming) and Internet-related services (particularly broadband) sectors. Also several of the affiliate solution providers expect to see increased interest from business-to-business marketers and advertisers in using affiliate marketing as part of their mix.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Websites and services based on Web 2.0 concepts—blogging and interactive online communities, for example—have impacted the affiliate marketing world as well. These platforms allow improved communication between merchants and affiliates. Web 2.0 platforms have also opened affiliate marketing channels to personal bloggers, writers, and independent website owners. Contextual ads allow publishers with lower levels of web traffic to place affiliate ads on websites.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Eighty percent of affiliate programs today use revenue sharing or pay per sale (PPS) as a compensation method, nineteen percent use cost per action (CPA), and the remaining programs use other methods such as cost per click (CPC) or cost per mille (CPM, cost per estimated 1000 views).


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Within more mature markets, less than one percent of traditional affiliate marketing programs today use cost per click and cost per mille. However, these compensation methods are used heavily in display advertising and paid search.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Cost per mille requires only that the publisher make the advertising available on his or her website and display it to the page visitors in order to receive a commission. Pay per click requires one additional step in the conversion process to generate revenue for the publisher: A visitor must not only be made aware of the advertisement but must also click on the advertisement to visit the advertiser's website.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Cost per click was more common in the early days of affiliate marketing but has diminished in use over time due to click fraud issues very similar to the click fraud issues modern search engines are facing today. Contextual advertising programs are not considered in the statistic pertaining to the diminished use of cost per click, as it is uncertain if contextual advertising can be considered affiliate marketing.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: While these models have diminished in mature e-commerce and online advertising markets they are still prevalent in some more nascent industries. China is one example where Affiliate Marketing does not overtly resemble the same model in the West. With many affiliates being paid a flat "Cost Per Day" with some networks offering Cost Per Click or CPM.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: In the case of cost per mille/click, the publisher is not concerned about whether a visitor is a member of the audience that the advertiser tries to attract and is able to convert because at this point the publisher has already earned his commission. This leaves the greater, and, in case of cost per mille, the full risk and loss (if the visitor cannot be converted) to the advertiser.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Cost per action/sale methods require that referred visitors do more than visit the advertiser's website before the affiliate receives a commission. The advertiser must convert that visitor first. It is in the best interest of the affiliate to send the most closely targeted traffic to the advertiser as possible to increase the chance of a conversion. The risk is absorbed by the affiliate who funnels their traffic to the campaign (normally a landing page). In the case a conversion is not fired the publisher won't receive any compensation for the traffic.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate marketing is also called "performance marketing", in reference to how sales employees are typically being compensated. Such employees are typically paid a commission for each sale they close, and sometimes are paid performance incentives for exceeding objectives. Affiliates are not employed by the advertiser whose products or services they promote, but the compensation models applied to affiliate marketing are very similar to the ones used for people in the advertisers' internal sales department.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: The phrase, "Affiliates are an extended sales force for your business", which is often used to explain affiliate marketing, is not completely accurate. The primary difference between the two is that affiliate marketers provide little if any influence on a possible prospect in the conversion process once that prospect is directed to the advertiser's website. The sales team of the advertiser, however, does have the control and influence up to the point where the prospect either a) signs the contract, or b) completes the purchase.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate marketing overlaps with network marketing, also known as multi-level marketing (MLM). Multi-level refers to different levels of compensation offered by companies to different tiers of distributor. While MLM schemes are not inherently illegal, they become illegal when income from recruitment-fees and similar exceeds the sale of actual goods and services. In these situations, MLM schemes overlap with pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Some advertisers offer multi-tier programs that distribute commission into a hierarchical referral network of sign-ups and sub-partners. In practical terms, publisher "A" signs up to the program with an advertiser and gets rewarded for the agreed activity conducted by a referred visitor. If publisher "A" attracts publishers "B" and "C" to sign up for the same program using his sign-up code, all future activities performed by publishers "B" and "C" will result in additional commission (at a lower rate) for publisher "A".


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Merchants favor affiliate marketing because in most cases it uses a "pay for performance" model, meaning that the merchant does not incur a marketing expense unless results are accrued (excluding any initial setup cost).


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Some merchants run their own (in-house) affiliate programs using dedicated software, while others use third-party intermediaries to track traffic or sales that are referred from affiliates. There are two different types of affiliate management methods used by merchants: standalone software or hosted services, typically called affiliate networks. Payouts to affiliates or publishers can be made by the networks on behalf of the merchant, by the network, consolidated across all merchants where the publisher has a relationship with and earned commissions or directly by the merchant itself.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Uncontrolled affiliate programs aid rogue affiliates, who use spamming, trademark infringement, false advertising, cookie stuffing, typosquatting, and other unethical methods that have given affiliate marketing a negative reputation.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Some merchants are using outsourced (affiliate) program management (OPM) companies, which are themselves often run by affiliate managers and network program managers. OPM companies perform affiliate program management for the merchants as a service, similar to the role an advertising agencies serves in offline marketing.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate websites are often categorized by merchants (advertisers) and affiliate networks. There are currently no industry-wide standards for the categorization. The following types of websites are generic, yet are commonly understood and used by affiliate marketers.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate networks that already have several advertisers typically also have a large pool of publishers. These publishers could be potentially recruited, and there is also an increased chance that publishers in the network apply to the program on their own, without the need for recruitment efforts by the advertiser.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Relevant websites that attract the same target audiences as the advertiser but without competing with it are potential affiliate partners as well. Vendors or existing customers can also become recruits if doing so makes sense and does not violate any laws or regulations (such as with pyramid schemes).


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Almost any website could be recruited as an affiliate publisher, but high traffic websites are more likely interested in (for their sake) low-risk cost per mille or medium-risk cost per click deals rather than higher-risk cost per action or revenue share deals.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Since the emergence of affiliate marketing, there has been little control over affiliate activity. Unscrupulous affiliates have used spam, false advertising, forced clicks (to get tracking cookies set on users' computers), adware, and other methods to drive traffic to their sponsors. Although many affiliate programs have terms of service that contain rules against spam, this marketing method has historically proven to attract abuse from spammers.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: In the infancy of affiliate marketing, many Internet users held negative opinions due to the tendency of affiliates to use spam to promote the programs in which they were enrolled. As affiliate marketing matured, many affiliate merchants have refined their terms and conditions to prohibit affiliates from spamming.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: A browser extension is a plug-in that extends the functionality of a web browser. Some extensions are authored using web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Most modern web browsers have a whole slew of third-party extensions available for download. In recent years, there has been a constant rise in the number of malicious browser extensions flooding the web. Malicious browser extensions will often appear to be legitimate as they seem to originate from vendor websites and come with glowing customer reviews. In the case of affiliate marketing, these malicious extensions are often used to redirect a user's browser to send fake clicks to websites that are supposedly part of legitimate affiliate marketing programs. Typically, users are completely unaware this is happening other than their browser performance slowing down. Websites end up paying for fake traffic numbers, and users are unwitting participants in these ad schemes.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: As search engines have become more prominent, some affiliate marketers have shifted from sending e-mail spam to creating automatically generated web pages that often contain product data feeds provided by merchants. The goal of such web pages is to manipulate the relevancy or prominence of resources indexed by a search engine, also known as "spamdexing". Each page can be targeted to a different niche market through the use of specific keywords, with the result being a skewed form of search engine optimization.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Spam is the biggest threat to organic search engines, whose goal is to provide quality search results for keywords or phrases entered by their users. Google's PageRank algorithm update ("BigDaddy") in February 2006—the final stage of Google's major update ("Jagger") that began in mid-summer 2005—specifically targeted spamdexing with great success. This update thus enabled Google to remove a large amount of mostly computer-generated duplicate content from its index.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Websites consisting mostly of affiliate links have previously held a negative reputation for underdelivering quality content. In 2005 there were active changes made by Google, where certain websites were labeled as "thin affiliates". Such websites were either removed from Google's index or were relocated within the results page (i.e., moved from the top-most results to a lower position). To avoid this categorization, affiliate marketer webmasters must create quality content on their websites that distinguishes their work from the work of spammers or banner farms, which only contain links leading to merchant sites.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Although it differs from spyware, adware often uses the same methods and technologies. Merchants initially were uninformed about adware, what impact it had, and how it could damage their brands. Affiliate marketers became aware of the issue much more quickly, especially because they noticed that adware often overwrites tracking cookies, thus resulting in a decline of commissions. Affiliates not employing adware felt that it was stealing commission from them. Adware often has no valuable purpose and rarely provides any useful content to the user, who is typically unaware that such software is installed on his/her computer.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliates discussed the issues in Internet forums and began to organize their efforts. They believed that the best way to address the problem was to discourage merchants from advertising via adware. Merchants that were either indifferent to or supportive of adware were exposed by affiliates, thus damaging those merchants' reputations and tarnishing their affiliate marketing efforts. Many affiliates either terminated the use of such merchants or switched to a competitor's affiliate program. Eventually, affiliate networks were also forced by merchants and affiliates to take a stand and ban certain adware publishers from their network. The result was Code of Conduct by Commission Junction/beFree and Performics, LinkShare's Anti-Predatory Advertising Addendum, and ShareASale's complete ban of software applications as a medium for affiliates to promote advertiser offers. Regardless of the progress made, adware continues to be an issue, as demonstrated by the class action lawsuit against ValueClick and its daughter company Commission Junction filed on April 20, 2007.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliates were among the earliest adopters of pay per click advertising when the first pay-per-click search engines emerged during the end of the 1990s. Later in 2000 Google launched its pay per click service, Google AdWords, which is responsible for the widespread use and acceptance of pay per click as an advertising channel. An increasing number of merchants engaged in pay per click advertising, either directly or via a search marketing agency, and realized that this space was already occupied by their affiliates. Although this situation alone created advertising channel conflicts and debates between advertisers and affiliates, the largest issue concerned affiliates bidding on advertisers names, brands, and trademarks. Several advertisers began to adjust their affiliate program terms to prohibit their affiliates from bidding on those type of keywords. Some advertisers, however, did and still do embrace this behavior, going so far as to allow, or even encourage, affiliates to bid on any term, including the advertiser's trademarks.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Bloggers and other publishers may not be aware of disclosure guidelines set forth by the FTC. Guidelines affect celebrity endorsements, advertising language, and blogger compensation.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Affiliate marketing currently lacks industry standards for training and certification. There are some training courses and seminars that result in certifications; however, the acceptance of such certifications is mostly due to the reputation of the individual or company issuing the certification. Affiliate marketing is not commonly taught in universities, and only a few college instructors work with Internet marketers to introduce the subject to students majoring in marketing.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Education occurs most often in "real life" by becoming involved and learning the details as time progresses. Although there are several books on the topic, some so-called "how-to" or "silver bullet" books instruct readers to manipulate holes in the Google algorithm, which can quickly become out of date, or suggest strategies no longer endorsed or permitted by advertisers.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Outsourced Program Management companies typically combine formal and informal training, providing much of their training through group collaboration and brainstorming. Such companies also try to send each marketing employee to the industry conference of their choice.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Other training resources used include online forums, weblogs, podcasts, video seminars, and specialty websites.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: A code of conduct was released by affiliate networks Commission Junction/beFree and Performics in December 2002 to guide practices and adherence to ethical standards for online advertising.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: In 2008 the state of New York passed a law asserting sales tax jurisdiction over Amazon.com sales to New York residents. New York was aware of Amazon affiliates operating within the state. In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, the US Supreme Court ruled that the presence of independent sales representatives may allow a state to require sales tax collections. New York determined that affiliates are such independent sales representatives. The New York law became known as "Amazon's law" and was quickly emulated by other states. While that was the first time states successfully addressed the internet tax gap, since 2018 states have been free to assert sales tax jurisdiction over sales to their residents regardless of the presence of retailer affiliates.


title: Affiliate marketing

text: Many voucher code web sites use a click-to-reveal format, which requires the web site user to click to reveal the voucher code. The action of clicking places the cookie on the website visitor's computer. In the United Kingdom, the IAB Affiliate Council under chair Matt Bailey announced regulations that stated that "Affiliates must not use a mechanism whereby users are encouraged to click to interact with content where it is unclear or confusing what the outcome will be."


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His most notable work, (""On War""), though unfinished at his death, is considered a seminal treatise on military strategy.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz was a realist in many different senses, including realpolitik, and while in some respects a romantic, he also drew heavily on the rationalist ideas of the European Enlightenment.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz's thinking is often described as Hegelian because of his dialectical method; but, although he was probably personally acquainted with Hegel, there remains debate about whether Clausewitz was influenced by him. He stressed the dialectical interaction of diverse factors, noting how unexpected developments unfolding under the "fog of war" (i.e., in the face of incomplete, dubious, and often erroneous information and great fear, doubt, and excitement) call for rapid decisions by alert commanders. He saw history as a vital check on erudite abstractions that did not accord with experience. In contrast to the early work of Antoine-Henri Jomini, he argued that war could not be quantified or reduced to mapwork, geometry, and graphs. Clausewitz had many aphorisms, of which the most famous is "War is the continuation of policy with other means." (often misquoted as "... by other means").


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz's Christian names are sometimes given in non-German sources as "Karl", "Carl Philipp Gottlieb", or "Carl Maria". He spelled his own given name with a "C" in order to identify with the classical Western tradition; writers who use "Karl" are often seeking to emphasize their German (rather than European) identity. "Carl Philipp Gottfried" appears on Clausewitz's tombstone. Nonetheless, sources such as military historian Peter Paret and "Encyclopædia Britannica" continue to use Gottlieb instead of Gottfried.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz was born on 1 June 1780 in Burg bei Magdeburg in the Prussian Duchy of Magdeburg as the fourth and youngest son of a family that made claims to a noble status which Carl accepted. Clausewitz's family claimed descent from the Barons of Clausewitz in Upper Silesia, though scholars question the connection. His grandfather, the son of a Lutheran pastor, had been a professor of theology. Clausewitz's father, once a lieutenant in the army of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, held a minor post in the Prussian internal-revenue service. Clausewitz entered the Prussian military service at the age of twelve as a lance-corporal, eventually attaining the rank of major general.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz served in the Rhine Campaigns (1793–1794) including the Siege of Mainz, when the Prussian army invaded France during the French Revolution, and fought in the Napoleonic Wars from 1806 to 1815. He entered the "Kriegsakademie" (also cited as "The German War School", the "Military Academy in Berlin", and the "Prussian Military Academy," later the "War College") in Berlin in 1801 (aged 21), probably studied the writings of the philosophers Immanuel Kant and/or Fichte and Schleiermacher and won the regard of General Gerhard von Scharnhorst, the future first chief-of-staff of the newly reformed Prussian Army (appointed 1809). Clausewitz, Hermann von Boyen (1771–1848) and Karl von Grolman (1777–1843) were among Scharnhorst's primary allies in his efforts to reform the Prussian army between 1807 and 1814.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz served during the Jena Campaign as aide-de-camp to Prince August. At the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt on 14 October 1806—when Napoleon invaded Prussia and defeated the Prussian-Saxon army commanded by Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick—he was captured, one of the 25,000 prisoners taken that day as the Prussian army disintegrated. He was 26. Clausewitz was held prisoner with his prince in France from 1807 to 1808. Returning to Prussia, he assisted in the reform of the Prussian army and state. Johann Gottlieb Fichte wrote "On Machiavelli, as an Author, and Passages from His Writings" in June 1807. (""Über Machiavell, als Schriftsteller, und Stellen aus seinen Schriften"" ). Carl Clausewitz wrote an interesting and anonymous Letter to Fichte (1809) about his book on "Machiavelli." The letter was published in Fichte's "Verstreute kleine Schriften" 157–66. For an English translation of the letter see "Carl von Clausewitz Historical and Political Writings" Edited by: Peter Paret and D. Moran (1992).


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: On 10 December 1810 he married the socially prominent Countess Marie von Brühl, whom he had first met in 1803. She was a member of the noble German von Brühl family originating in Thuringia. The couple moved in the highest circles, socialising with Berlin's political, literary, and intellectual élite. Marie was well-educated and politically well-connected—she played an important role in her husband's career progress and intellectual evolution. She also edited, published, and introduced his collected works.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Opposed to Prussia's enforced alliance with Napoleon I, Clausewitz left the Prussian army and served in the Imperial Russian Army from 1812 to 1813 during the Russian Campaign, taking part in the Battle of Borodino (1812). Like many Prussian officers serving in Russia, he joined the Russian-German Legion in 1813. In the service of the Russian Empire, Clausewitz helped negotiate the Convention of Tauroggen (1812), which prepared the way for the coalition of Prussia, Russia, and the United Kingdom that ultimately defeated Napoleon and his allies.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: In 1815 the Russian-German Legion became integrated into the Prussian Army and Clausewitz re-entered Prussian service as a colonel. He was soon appointed chief-of-staff of Johann von Thielmann's III Corps. In that capacity he served at the Battle of Ligny and the Battle of Wavre during the Waterloo Campaign in 1815. An army led personally by Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Ligny (south of Mont-Saint-Jean and the village of Waterloo) on 16 June 1815, but they withdrew in good order. Napoleon's failure to destroy the Prussian forces led to his defeat a few days later at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), when the Prussian forces arrived on his right flank late in the afternoon to support the Anglo-Dutch-Belgian forces pressing his front. Napoleon had convinced his troops that the field grey uniforms were those of Marshal Grouchy's grenadiers. Clausewitz's unit fought heavily outnumbered at Wavre (18–19 June 1815), preventing large reinforcements from reaching Napoleon at Waterloo. After the war, Clausewitz served as the director of the "Kriegsakademie", where he served until 1830. In that year he returned to active duty with the army. Soon afterward, the outbreak of several revolutions around Europe and a crisis in Poland appeared to presage another major European war. Clausewitz was appointed chief of staff of the only army Prussia was able to mobilise in this emergency, which was sent to the Polish border. Its commander, Gneisenau, died of cholera (August 1831), and Clausewitz took command of the Prussian army's efforts to construct a to contain the great cholera outbreak (the first time cholera had appeared in modern heartland Europe, causing a continent-wide panic). Clausewitz himself died of the same disease shortly afterwards, on 17 November 1831.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: His widow edited, published, and wrote the introduction to his "magnum opus" on the philosophy of war in 1832. (He had started working on the text in 1816, but had not completed it.) She wrote the preface for "On War" and by 1835 had published most of his collected works. She died in January 1836.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz was a professional combat soldier who was involved in numerous military campaigns, but he is famous primarily as a military theorist interested in the examination of war, utilising the campaigns of Frederick the Great and Napoleon as frames of reference for his work. He wrote a careful, systematic, philosophical examination of war in all its aspects. The result was his principal book, "On War," a major work on the philosophy of war. It was unfinished when Clausewitz died and contains material written at different stages in his intellectual evolution, producing some significant contradictions between different sections. The sequence and precise character of that evolution is a source of much debate as to the exact meaning behind some seemingly contradictory observations in discussions pertinent to the tactical, operational and strategic levels of war, for example (though many of these apparent contradictions are simply the result of his dialectical method). Clausewitz constantly sought to revise the text, particularly between 1827 and his departure on his last field assignments, to include more material on "people's war" and forms of war other than high-intensity warfare between states, but relatively little of this material was included in the book. Soldiers before this time had written treatises on various military subjects, but none had undertaken a great philosophical examination of war on the scale of those written by Clausewitz and Leo Tolstoy, both of whom were inspired by the events of the Napoleonic Era.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz's work is still studied today, demonstrating its continued relevance. More than sixteen major English-language books that focused specifically on his work were published between 2005 and 2014, whereas his 19th-century rival Jomini has faded from influence. The historian Lynn Montross said that this outcome "may be explained by the fact that Jomini produced a system of war, Clausewitz a philosophy. The one has been outdated by new weapons, the other still influences the strategy behind those weapons." Jomini did not attempt to define war but Clausewitz did, providing (and dialectically comparing) a number of definitions. The first is his dialectical thesis: "War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will." The second, often treated as Clausewitz's 'bottom line,' is in fact merely his dialectical antithesis: "War is merely the continuation of policy with other means." The synthesis of his dialectical examination of the nature of war is his famous "trinity," saying that war is "a fascinating trinity—composed of primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, which are to be regarded as a blind natural force; the play of chance and probability, within which the creative spirit is free to roam; and its element of subordination, as an instrument of policy, which makes it subject to pure reason." Christopher Bassford says the best shorthand for Clausewitz's trinity should be something like "violent emotion/chance/rational calculation." However, it is frequently presented as "people/army/government," a misunderstanding based on a later paragraph in the same section. This misrepresentation was popularised by U.S. Army Colonel Harry Summers' Vietnam-era interpretation, facilitated by weaknesses in the 1976 Howard/Paret translation.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: The degree to which Clausewitz managed to revise his manuscript to reflect that synthesis is the subject of much debate. His final reference to war and "Politik," however, goes beyond his widely quoted antithesis: "War is simply the continuation of political intercourse with the addition of other means. We deliberately use the phrase 'with the addition of other means' because we also want to make it clear that war in itself does not suspend political intercourse or change it into something entirely different. In essentials that intercourse continues, irrespective of the means it employs. The main lines along which military events progress, and to which they are restricted, are political lines that continue throughout the war into the subsequent peace."


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz introduced systematic philosophical contemplation into Western military thinking, with powerful implications not only for historical and analytical writing but also for practical policy, military instruction, and operational planning. He relied on his own experiences, contemporary writings about Napoleon, and on deep historical research. His historiographical approach is evident in his first extended study, written when he was 25, of the Thirty Years War. He rejects the Enlightenment's view of the war as a chaotic muddle and instead explains its drawn-out operations by the economy and technology of the age, the social characteristics of the troops, and the commanders' politics and psychology. In "On War", Clausewitz sees all wars as the sum of decisions, actions, and reactions in an uncertain and dangerous context, and also as a socio-political phenomenon. He also stressed the complex nature of war, which encompasses both the socio-political and the operational and stresses the primacy of state policy. (One should be careful not to limit his observations on war to war between states, however, as he certainly discusses other kinds of protagonists).


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: The word "strategy" had only recently come into usage in modern Europe, and Clausewitz's definition is quite narrow: "the use of engagements for the object of war" (which many today would call "the operational level" of war). Clausewitz conceived of war as a political, social, and military phenomenon which might—depending on circumstances—involve the entire population of a political entity at war. In any case, Clausewitz saw military force as an instrument that states and other political actors use to pursue the ends of their policy, in a dialectic between opposing wills, each with the aim of imposing his policies and will upon his enemy.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz's emphasis on the inherent superiority of the defense suggests that habitual aggressors are likely to end up as failures. The inherent superiority of the defense obviously does not mean that the defender will always win, however: there are other asymmetries to be considered. He was interested in co-operation between the regular army and militia or partisan forces, or citizen soldiers, as one possible—sometimes the only—method of defense. In the circumstances of the Wars of the French Revolution and those with Napoleon, which were energised by a rising spirit of nationalism, he emphasised the need for states to involve their entire populations in the conduct of war. This point is especially important, as these wars demonstrated that such energies could be of decisive importance and for a time led to a democratisation of the armed forces much as universal suffrage democratised politics.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: While Clausewitz was intensely aware of the value of intelligence at all levels, he was also very skeptical of the accuracy of much military intelligence: "Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain... In short, most intelligence is false." This circumstance is generally described as part of the fog of war. Such skeptical comments apply only to intelligence at the tactical and operational levels; at the strategic and political levels he constantly stressed the requirement for the best possible understanding of what today would be called strategic and political intelligence. His conclusions were influenced by his experiences in the Prussian Army, which was often in an intelligence fog due partly to the superior abilities of Napoleon's system but even more simply to the nature of war. Clausewitz acknowledges that friction creates enormous difficulties for the realization of any plan, and the "fog of war" hinders commanders from knowing what is happening. It is precisely in the context of this challenge that he develops the concept of military genius, whose capabilities are seen above all in the execution of operations. 'Military genius' is not simply a matter of intellect, but a combination of qualities of intellect, experience, personality, and temperament (and there are many possible such combinations) that create a very highly developed mental aptitude for the waging of war.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz used a dialectical method to construct his argument, leading to frequent misinterpretation of his ideas. British military theorist B. H. Liddell Hart contends that the enthusiastic acceptance by the Prussian military establishment—especially Moltke the Elder, a former student of Clausewitz —of what they believed to be Clausewitz's ideas, and the subsequent widespread adoption of the Prussian military system worldwide, had a deleterious effect on military theory and practice, due to their egregious misinterpretation of his ideas:


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: As described by Christopher Bassford, then-professor of strategy at the National War College of the United States:


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Another example of this confusion is the idea that Clausewitz was a proponent of total war as used in the Third Reich's propaganda in the 1940s. In fact, Clausewitz never used the term "total war": rather, he discussed "absolute war," a concept which evolved into the much more abstract notion of "ideal war" discussed at the very beginning of —the purely "logical" result of the forces underlying a "pure," Platonic "ideal" of war. In what he called a "logical fantasy," war cannot be waged in a limited way: the rules of competition will force participants to use all means at their disposal to achieve victory. But in the "real world," he said, such rigid logic is unrealistic and dangerous. As a practical matter, the military objectives in "real" war that support political objectives generally fall into two broad types: limited aims or the effective "disarming" of the enemy "to render [him] politically helpless or militarily impotent. Thus the complete defeat of the enemy may not be necessary, desirable, or even possible.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: In modern times the reconstruction of Clausewitzian theory has been a matter of much dispute. One analysis was that of Panagiotis Kondylis, a Greek writer and philosopher, who opposed the interpretations of Raymond Aron in "Penser la Guerre, Clausewitz," and other liberal writers. According to Aron, Clausewitz was one of the first writers to condemn the militarism of the Prussian general staff and its war-proneness, based on Clausewitz's argument that "war is a continuation of policy by other means." In "Theory of War," Kondylis claims that this is inconsistent with Clausewitzian thought. He claims that Clausewitz was morally indifferent to war (though this probably reflects a lack of familiarity with personal letters from Clausewitz, which demonstrate an acute awareness of war's tragic aspects) and that his advice regarding politics' dominance over the conduct of war has nothing to do with pacifist ideas. For Clausewitz, war is simply one unique means that is sometimes applied to the eternal quest for power, of in an anarchic and unsafe world.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Other notable writers who have studied Clausewitz's texts and translated them into English are historians Peter Paret of the Institute for Advanced Study and Sir Michael Howard. Howard and Paret edited the most widely used edition of "On War" (Princeton University Press, 1976/1984) and have produced comparative studies of Clausewitz and other theorists, such as Tolstoy. Bernard Brodie's "A Guide to the Reading of "On War,"" in the 1976 Princeton translation, expressed his interpretations of the Prussian's theories and provided students with an influential synopsis of this vital work. The 1873 translation by Colonel James John Graham was heavily—and controversially—edited by the philosopher, musician, and game theorist Anatol Rapoport.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: The British military historian John Keegan attacked Clausewitz's theory in his book "A History of Warfare". Keegan argued that Clausewitz assumed the existence of states, yet 'war antedates the state, diplomacy and strategy by many millennia.'


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz died without completing "Vom Kriege," but despite this his ideas have been widely influential in military theory and have had a strong influence on German military thought specifically. Later Prussian and German generals, such as Helmuth Graf von Moltke, were clearly influenced by Clausewitz: Moltke's widely quoted statement that "No operational plan extends with high certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy force" is a classic reflection of Clausewitz's insistence on the roles of chance, friction, "fog," uncertainty, and interactivity in war.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz's influence spread to British thinking as well, though at first more as a historian and analyst than as a theorist. See for example Wellington's extended essay discussing Clausewitz's study of the Campaign of 1815—Wellington's only serious written discussion of the battle, which was widely discussed in 19th-century Britain. Clausewitz's broader thinking came to the fore following Britain's military embarrassments in the Boer War (1899–1902). One example of a heavy Clausewitzian influence in that era is Spenser Wilkinson, journalist, the first Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford University, and perhaps the most prominent military analyst in Britain from until well into the interwar period. Another is naval historian Julian Corbett (1854–1922), whose work reflected a deep if idiosyncratic adherence to Clausewitz's concepts and frequently an emphasis on Clausewitz's ideas about 'limited objectives' and the inherent strengths of the defensive form of war. Corbett's practical strategic views were often in prominent public conflict with Wilkinson's—see, for example, Wilkinson's article "Strategy at Sea", "The Morning Post", 12 February 1912. Following the First World War, however, the influential British military commentator B. H. Liddell Hart in the 1920s erroneously attributed to him the doctrine of "total war" that during the First World War had been embraced by many European general staffs and emulated by the British. More recent scholars typically see that war as so confused in terms of political rationale that it in fact contradicts much of "On War." That view assumes, however, a set of values as to what constitutes "rational" political objectives—in this case, values not shaped by the fervid Social Darwinism that was rife in 1914 Europe. One of the most influential British Clausewitzians today is Colin S. Gray; historian Hew Strachan (like Wilkinson also the Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford University, since 2001) has been an energetic proponent of the "study" of Clausewitz, but his own views on Clausewitz's ideas are somewhat ambivalent.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: With some interesting exceptions (e.g., John McAuley Palmer, Robert M. Johnston, Hoffman Nickerson), Clausewitz had little influence on American military thought before 1945 other than via British writers, though Generals Eisenhower and Patton were avid readers of English translations. He did influence Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Mao Zedong, and thus the Communist Soviet and Chinese traditions, as Lenin emphasized the inevitability of wars among capitalist states in the age of imperialism and presented the armed struggle of the working class as the only path toward the eventual elimination of war. Because Lenin was an admirer of Clausewitz and called him "one of the great military writers," his influence on the Red Army was immense. The Russian historian A.N. Mertsalov commented that "It was an irony of fate that the view in the USSR was that it was Lenin who shaped the attitude towards Clausewitz, and that Lenin's dictum that war is a continuation of politics is taken from the work of this [allegedly] anti-humanist anti-revolutionary." The American mathematician Anatol Rapoport wrote in 1968 that Clausewitz as interpreted by Lenin formed the basis of all Soviet military thinking since 1917, and quoted the remarks by Marshal V.D. Sokolovsky:


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Henry A. Kissinger, however, described Lenin's approach as being that politics is a continuation of war by other means, thus turning Clausewitz's argument "on its head."


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: Clausewitz directly influenced Mao Zedong, who read "On War" in 1938 and organised a seminar on Clausewitz for the Party leadership in Yan'an. Thus the "Clausewitzian" content in many of Mao's writings is not merely a regurgitation of Lenin but reflects Mao's own study.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: The idea that war involves inherent "friction" that distorts, to a greater or lesser degree, all prior arrangements, has become common currency in fields such as business strategy and sport. The phrase "fog of war" derives from Clausewitz's stress on how confused warfare can seem while one is immersed within it. The term center of gravity, used in a military context derives from Clausewitz's usage, which he took from Newtonian mechanics. In U.S. military doctrine, "center of gravity" refers to the basis of an opponent's power at the operational, strategic, or political level, though this is only one aspect of Clausewitz's use of the term.


title: Carl von Clausewitz

text: The deterrence strategy of the United States in the 1950s was closely inspired by President Dwight Eisenhower's reading of Clausewitz as a young officer in the 1920s. Eisenhower was greatly impressed by Clausewitz's example of a theoretical, idealized "absolute war" in "Vom Kriege" as a way of demonstrating how absurd it would be to attempt such a strategy in practice. For Eisenhower, the age of nuclear weapons had made what was for Clausewitz in the early 19th century only a theoretical vision an all too real possibility in the mid-20th century. From Eisenhower's viewpoint, the best deterrent to war was to show the world just how appalling and horrific a nuclear "absolute war" would be if it should ever occur, hence a series of much publicized nuclear tests in the Pacific, giving first priority in the defense budget to nuclear weapons and delivery systems over conventional weapons, and making repeated statements in public that the United States was able and willing at all times to use nuclear weapons. In this way, through the massive retaliation doctrine and the closely related foreign policy concept of brinkmanship, Eisenhower hoped to hold out a credible vision of Clausewitzian nuclear "absolute war" in order to deter the Soviet Union and/or China from ever risking a war or even conditions that might lead to a war with the United States.