title: Plaid Cymru

text: Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Plaid was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in the UK Parliament in 1966. The party holds four of 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 13 of 60 seats in the Senedd, and 203 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors. It is a member of the European Free Alliance.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In September 2008, a senior Plaid assembly member spelled out her party's continuing support for an independent Wales. Then Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, told delegates at Plaid's annual conference in Aberystwyth that the party would continue its commitment to independence under the coalition with Welsh Labour.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: While Wales remains a member of the United Kingdom, Plaid Cymru want to see further powers devolved from the UK Government to Wales, including: broadcasting and communication powers, devolution of the Crown Estate, welfare and rail.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The party opposes nuclear power and nuclear weapons (including the UK's Trident nuclear weapons programme).


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The party also favours lowering the voting age to 16 years old. The voting age has already been lowered to include 16 and 17-year-olds for both Senedd elections and local elections in Wales since 2020, but not for UK general elections or police and crime commissioner elections where the minimum voting age for both is 18-years-old.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: While both the Labour and Liberal parties of the early 20th century had accommodated demands for Welsh home rule, no political party existed for the purpose of establishing a Welsh government. () was formed on 5 August 1925, by Moses Gruffydd, H. R. Jones and Lewis Valentine, members of ("The Home Rule Army of Wales"; literally, "The Self-Rulers' Army of Wales"); and Fred Jones, Saunders Lewis and DJ Williams (David John Williams) of ("The Welsh Movement"). Initially, home rule for Wales was not an explicit aim of the new movement; keeping Wales Welsh-speaking took primacy, with the aim of making Welsh the only official language of Wales.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 1929 general election the party contested its first parliamentary constituency, Caernarvonshire, polling 609 votes, or 1.6% of the vote for that seat. The party contested few such elections in its early years, partly due to its ambivalence towards Westminster politics. Indeed, the candidate Lewis Valentine, the party's first president, offered himself in Caernarvonshire on a platform of demonstrating Welsh people's rejection of English dominion.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: By 1932, the aims of self-government and Welsh representation at the League of Nations had been added to that of preserving Welsh language and culture. However, this move, and the party's early attempts to develop an economic critique, did not broaden its appeal beyond that of an intellectual and socially conservative Welsh language pressure group. The alleged sympathy of the party's leading members (including President Saunders Lewis) towards Europe's totalitarian regimes compromised its early appeal further.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Saunders Lewis, David John Williams and Lewis Valentine set fire to the newly constructed RAF Penyberth air base on the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd in 1936, in protest at its siting in the Welsh-speaking heartland. The leaders' treatment, including the trial judge's dismissal of the use of Welsh and their subsequent imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs, led to "The Three" becoming a "cause célèbre". This heightened the profile of the party dramatically and its membership had doubled to nearly 2,000 by 1939.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Penyberth, and Plaid Cymru's neutral stance during the Second World War, prompted concerns within the UK Government that it might be used by Germany to insert spies or carry out other covert operations. In fact, the party adopted a neutral standpoint and urged (with only limited success) conscientious objection to war service.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In 1943 Saunders Lewis contested the University of Wales parliamentary seat at a by-election, gaining 1,330 votes, or 22%. In the 1945 general election, with party membership at around 2,500, Plaid Cymru contested seven seats, as many as it had in the preceding 20 years, including constituencies in south Wales for the first time. At this time Gwynfor Evans was elected president.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Gwynfor Evans's presidency coincided with the maturation of Plaid Cymru (as it now began to refer to itself) into a more recognisable political party. Its share of the vote increased from 0.7% in the 1951 general election to 3.1% in 1955 and 5.2% in 1959. In the 1959 election, the party contested a majority of Welsh seats for the first time. Proposals to flood the village of Capel Celyn in the Tryweryn valley in Gwynedd in 1957 to supply the city of Liverpool with water played a part in Plaid Cymru's growth. The fact that the parliamentary bill authorising the dam went through without support from any Welsh MPs showed that the MPs' votes in Westminster were not enough to prevent such bills from passing.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Support for the party declined slightly in the early 1960s, particularly as support for the Liberal Party began to stabilise from its long-term decline. In 1962 Saunders Lewis gave a radio talk entitled "Tynged yr Iaith" (The fate of the language) in which he predicted the extinction of the Welsh language unless action was taken. This led to the formation of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) the same year.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Labour's return to power in 1964 and the creation of the post of Secretary of State for Wales appeared to represent a continuation of the incremental evolution of a distinctive Welsh polity, following the Conservative government's appointment of a Minister of Welsh Affairs in the mid-1950s and the establishment of Cardiff as Wales' capital in 1955.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: However, in 1966, less than four months after coming in third in the constituency of Carmarthen, Gwynfor Evans captured the seat from Labour at a by-election. This was followed by two further by-elections in Rhondda West in 1967 and Caerphilly in 1968 in which the party achieved massive swings of 30% and 40% respectively, coming within a whisker of victory. The results were caused partly by an anti-Labour backlash. Expectations in coal mining communities that the Wilson government would halt the long-term decline in their industry had been dashed by a significant downward revision of coal production estimates. However, particularly in Carmarthen, Plaid also successfully depicted Labour's policies as a threat to the viability of small Welsh communities.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 1970 general election Plaid Cymru contested every seat in Wales for the first time and its vote share surged from 4.5% in 1966 to 11.5%. Gwynfor Evans lost Carmarthen to Labour, but regained the seat in October 1974, by which time the party had gained a further two MPs, representing the constituencies of Caernarfon and Merionethshire.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Plaid campaigned to leave the Common Market in the 1975 referendum. Wales and the United Kingdom as a whole voted to remain.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Plaid Cymru's emergence (along with the Scottish National Party) prompted the Wilson government to establish the Kilbrandon Commission on the constitution. The subsequent proposals for a Welsh Assembly were, however, heavily defeated in a referendum in 1979. Despite Plaid Cymru's ambivalence toward home rule (as opposed to outright independence) the referendum result led many in the party to question its direction.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In 1975, Plaid Cymru opposed remaining in the European Communities (EC), feeling that the EC’s regional aid policies would "reconcile places like Wales to their subordinate position". Nevertheless, 65% of Welsh voters voted to remain in the EC during a 1975 referendum. The EC were incorporated into the European Union (EU) in 1993.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: At the 1979 general election the party's vote share declined from 10.8% to 8.1% and Carmarthen was again lost to Labour, although Caernarfon and Merionethshire were held by the party.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Caernarfon MP Dafydd Wigley succeeded Gwynfor Evans as president in 1981, inheriting a party whose morale was at an all-time low. In 1981 the party adopted "community socialism" as a constitutional aim. While the party embarked on a wide-ranging review of its priorities and goals, Gwynfor Evans fought a successful campaign (including the threat of a hunger strike) to oblige the Conservative government to fulfill its promise to establish S4C, a Welsh-language television station. In 1984 Dafydd Elis-Thomas was elected president, defeating Dafydd Iwan, a move that saw the party shift to the left. Ieuan Wyn Jones (later Plaid Cymru leader) captured Ynys Môn from the Conservatives in 1987. In 1989 Dafydd Wigley once again assumed the presidency of the party.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 1992 general election the party added a fourth MP, Cynog Dafis, when he gained Ceredigion and Pembroke North from the Liberal Democrats. Dafis was endorsed by the local branch of the Green Party. The party's vote share recovered to 9.9% at the 1997 general election.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In 1997, following the election of a Labour government committed to devolution for Wales, a further referendum was narrowly won, establishing the National Assembly for Wales. Plaid Cymru became the main opposition to the ruling Labour Party, with 17 seats to Labour's 28. In doing so, it appeared to have broken out of its rural Welsh-speaking heartland, and gained seats in traditionally strong Labour areas in industrial South Wales.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 1999 election Plaid Cymru gained seats in traditional Labour areas such as Rhondda, Islwyn and Llanelli, achieving by far its highest share of the vote in any Wales-wide election. While Plaid Cymru regarded itself as the natural beneficiary of devolution, others attributed its performance in large part to the travails of the Labour Party, whose nomination for Assembly First Secretary, Ron Davies, was forced to stand down in an alleged sex scandal. The ensuing leadership battle, won by Alun Michael, did much to damage Labour, and thus aided Plaid Cymru, whose leader was the more popular and higher profile Dafydd Wigley. The Labour Party's UK national leadership was seen to interfere in the contest and deny the popular Rhodri Morgan victory. Less than two months later, in elections to the European parliament, Labour support slumped further, and Plaid Cymru came within 2.5% of achieving the largest share of the vote in Wales. Under the new system of proportional representation, the party also gained two MEPs.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Plaid Cymru then developed political problems of its own. Dafydd Wigley resigned, citing health problems but amid rumours of a plot against him. His successor, Ieuan Wyn Jones, struggled to impose his authority, particularly over controversial remarks made by a councillor, Seimon Glyn. At the same time, Labour leader and First Minister Alun Michael was replaced by Rhodri Morgan.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 2001 general election, notwithstanding Plaid Cymru recording its highest-ever vote share in a general election, 14.3%, the party lost Wyn Jones's former seat of Ynys Môn to Albert Owen, although it gained Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, where Adam Price was elected.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The Assembly elections of May 2003 saw the party's representation drop from 17 to 12, with the seats gained in the 1999 election falling again to Labour and the party's share of the vote declining to 21%. Plaid Cymru narrowly remained the second-largest party in the National Assembly ahead of the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Forward Wales.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: On 15 September 2003 folk-singer and county councillor Dafydd Iwan was elected as Plaid Cymru's president. Ieuan Wyn Jones, who had resigned from his dual role as president and Assembly group leader following the losses in the 2003 Assembly election, was re-elected in the latter role. Elfyn Llwyd remained the Plaid Cymru leader in the Westminster Parliament. Under Iwan's presidency the party formally adopted a policy of independence for Wales within Europe.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The 2004 local election saw the party lose control of the two South Wales councils it gained in 1999, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Caerphilly, while retaining its stronghold of Gwynedd in the north-west. The results enabled the party to claim a greater number of ethnic minority councillors than all the other political parties in Wales combined, along with gains in authorities such as Cardiff and Swansea, where Plaid Cymru representation had been minimal. In the European Parliament elections of the same year, the party's vote share fell to 17.4%, and the reduction in the number of Welsh MEPs saw its representation reduced to one.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the general election of 5 May 2005, Plaid Cymru lost the Ceredigion seat to the Liberal Democrats; this result was a disappointment to Plaid, who had hoped to gain Ynys Môn. Overall therefore, Plaid Cymru's Parliamentary representation fell to three seats, the lowest number for the party since 1992. The party's share of the vote fell to 12.6%.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Since Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru reformation to 'Plaid Cymru' in 1933, the logo representing the party was the green 'triban' (three peaks) which symbolically represented Plaid's three key goals; self-government, cultural prosperity and economic prosperity, 'anchored in the bedrock of Welsh identity and history that is the Welsh upland landscape', the logo would change in the late stages of 20th century to include the red dragon of Wales, however this version was short-lived. In 2006, the party voted constitutional changes to formally designate the party's leader in the assembly as its overall leader, with Ieuan Wyn Jones being restored to the full leadership and Dafydd Iwan becoming head of the voluntary wing of the party. 2006 saw the party unveil a radical change of image, opting to use "Plaid" as the party's name, although "Plaid Cymru — the Party of Wales" would remain the official title. Plaid would abandon the triban (apart from the merchandise) and adopt the yellow Welsh poppy ("Meconopsis cambrica").


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the National Assembly election of 3 May 2007, Plaid Cymru increased its number of seats from 12 to 15, regaining Llanelli, gaining one additional list seat and winning the newly created constituency of Aberconwy. The 2007 election also saw Plaid Cymru's Mohammad Asghar become the first ethnic minority candidate elected to the Welsh Assembly. The party's share of the vote increased to 22.4%.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: After weeks of negotiations involving all four parties in the Assembly, Plaid Cymru and Labour agreed to form a coalition government. Their agreed "One Wales" programme included a commitment for both parties to campaign for a Yes vote in a referendum on full law-making powers for the Assembly, to be held at a time of the Welsh Assembly Government's choosing. Ieuan Wyn Jones was subsequently confirmed as Deputy First Minister of Wales and Minister for the Economy and Transport. Rhodri Glyn Thomas was appointed Heritage Minister. He later stood down, and Alun Ffred Jones took over. Ceredigion AM Elin Jones was appointed to the Rural Affairs brief in the new 10-member cabinet. Jocelyn Davies became Deputy Minister for Housing, and later, Regeneration.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 2010 general election, Plaid returned three MPs to Westminster. They took part in the Yes for Wales cross-party campaign for the March 2011 referendum.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 2011 National Assembly election Plaid slipped from second place to third, being overtaken by the Welsh Conservatives and losing its deputy leader Helen Mary Jones. The party held an inquiry into the election result. The internal investigation led to the adoption of wide-ranging changes to its constitution, including a streamlining of the leadership structure.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In May 2011, Ieuan Wyn Jones announced he would stand down as leader within the first half of the Assembly term. A leadership election was held in which three candidates eventually stood: Elin Jones, Dafydd Elis-Thomas and Leanne Wood; Simon Thomas withdrew his candidacy before ballots were cast.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: On 15 March 2012, Plaid Cymru elected Leanne Wood as its new leader. She received 55% of the vote, over second-placed Elin Jones with 41%. Wood was the party's first female leader, and its first not to be a fluent Welsh speaker. Soon after her election as leader she appointed former MP Adam Price to head an economic commission for the party "focussed on bringing together tailor-made policies in order to transform our economy". On 1 May 2012, it was confirmed Leanne Wood would not be taking the £23,000 pay increase that every other party leader in the Assembly receives.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: On 12 November 2012, Wood announced she would aim to abandon her relatively safe list seat by winning a constituency at the 2016 National Assembly elections; she later confirmed she would contest the Rhondda. Adam Price was subsequently selected as the party's candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr. Lindsay Whittle confirmed he would stand solely in Caerphilly.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: On 20 June 2013, former party leader Ieuan Wyn Jones stood down from the Assembly as the member for Ynys Môn. Plaid Cymru's candidate Rhun ap Iorwerth was elected as the new Assembly Member for the constituency, receiving 12,601 votes (a 58% share) with a majority of 9,166 over the Labour candidate.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: At the 2016 Welsh Assembly elections, Plaid Cymru gained one seat, became the Assembly's second-largest party and briefly became the official opposition to the Welsh Government with 12 seats. By January 2018 Plaid Cymru had been reduced to ten Assembly Members, following the resignation of Dafydd Elis-Thomas in 2016 and the permanent expulsion of Neil McEvoy from Plaid's Assembly group in 2018.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Despite campaigning to leave in 1975, Plaid campaigned for a Remain vote in the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, spending £27,495 on the campaign. In the referendum Wales voted 52.5% in favour of Leave. Immediately after the referendum, Leanne Wood stated that voters 'must be respected' and criticised calls for a second EU referendum. Plaid Cymru later modified their policy to support a People's Vote.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 2017 United Kingdom general election, Plaid saw their popular vote fall, but narrowly gained Ceredigion and saw Arfon become highly marginal.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In September 2018, Adam Price won the party's leadership election, defeating the incumbent Leanne Wood and fellow challenger Rhun ap Iorwerth.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election Plaid Cymru decided not to put up a candidate, but instead to support the Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds in order to maximise the chance of an anti-Brexit candidate winning.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 2019 United Kingdom general election, Plaid stood aside in four seats to endorse Unite to Remain candidates. Plaid held their four seats but saw a decrease in their popular vote.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the run-up to the 2021 Senedd election, polling suggested that Welsh Labour would win the highest number of seats but fall short of an overall majority. Pollsters and commentators suggested that the most likely outcome would be another Labour–Plaid Cymru coalition, an option First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would be open to. Price insisted that his party would not be Labour's "junior partner", nor would they work with the Conservatives under any circumstances. He stated that Plaid would be willing to join forces with Labour, but only if the former were the largest party or if it were an equal partnership. Price also said that he did not consider Welsh independence to be "a distraction or a constitutional abstraction", but rather "a practical necessity".


title: Plaid Cymru

text: At the election, Plaid increased their seat total to thirteen, up one from the twelve they won in 2016, but lost out in their target constituencies, and lost Rhondda where former leader Leanne Wood lost her seat to Labour. Price said he would not resign, telling ITV Wales: "My job is to lead, its not to give up at a set back or disappointment. My job is to sustain the hope – all those young people who voted for Plaid because they were inspired by our message of the potential we believe is there in Wales to deliver a decent society for our people. I firmly believe that we have sown a lot of seed at this election. A lot of young people in particular who did come with us this time has laid the foundations for the future which I think will set us up for growth in the years to come."


title: Plaid Cymru

text: On 22 November 2021, despite Price's earlier comments about refusing to work with Labour, the two parties announced a co-operation agreement consisting of almost 50 different policies, including providing free school meals for all primary school children, the establishment of a free-at-point-of-need national care system and building a railway between North and South Wales. Price called the agreement "a down-payment on independence" and claimed that the results of the Senedd election "confirmed Wales's status as an indy-curious nation. A curiosity that will give birth – sooner than many think – to an independent Wales." He went on to say, "For Wales to be free, we must first be united. And, that is what this Co-operation Agreement sets out to achieve. It launches us on a pathway to a united Wales, one that, sooner than we perhaps think, will find it both comfortable and natural, indeed essential, to join the world community of normal, independent nations."


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The co-operation agreement was ratified by Plaid's conference, with 94% voting in favour. "This is a huge step forward for Wales and our democracy,” Price said. "The co-operation agreement will bring immediate, tangible and long-term benefit for the people of Wales. All primary school children will now receive free school meals; there will be free childcare for all two-year-olds; and radical action to tackle the housing crisis. There will be stability payments to support family farms; exploration of an accelerated pathway to net zero by 2035; the creation of Ynni Cymru – a company to expand community-owned renewable energy generation; and a new and reformed Senedd – bigger, more diverse, and gender balanced in law. From feeding our children to caring for our elderly, this is a nation-building Programme for Government which will change the lives of thousands of people the length and breadth of our country for the better. And none of it would be happening without Plaid Cymru."


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Before the 2019 general election, Price announced that he would set up a commission to look at the practicality of Welsh independence, and how a Plaid Government would hold an independence referendum. The commission, led by former Dwyfor Meirionydd Plaid MP Elfyn Llwyd, released its report on 25 September 2020. It recommends five key aims for Plaid Cymru:


title: Plaid Cymru

text: It also recommends that there should be one multiple choice referendum to gauge views and to persuade a UK Westminster government to agree to a referendum on the preferred option.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The report was met with criticism from the Welsh Liberal Democrats, describing the report as a mix of "fanatical politics" and "pie in the sky economics".


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In December 2020, Price stated that an independence referendum would be held in Plaid Cymru's first term in office, if the party won a majority at the 2021 Senedd election.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Undeb Credyd Plaid Cymru Credit Union Limited is a savings and loans co-operative established for party members in 1986. Based in Roath, Cardiff, it is a member of the Association of British Credit Unions Limited. The credit union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA. Ultimately, like the banks and building societies, members’ savings are protected against business failure by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The Party leader was referred to as the president until March 2000 when the separate role of Leader was created.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: "*Six seats (Blaenau Gwent, Ceredigion & Pembroke North, Islwyn, Monmouth, Newport West and Torfaen) contested on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket"


title: Plaid Cymru

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki>The 2012 figures exclude Anglesey, where the vote was delayed until 2013. The changes in seats and votes shown for 2012 are a direct comparison since the 2008 elections in the 21 councils up for election (i.e. excluding Anglesey).


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In 2008 Plaid won 205 seats including six in Anglesey. For the purposes of this table the 205 figure has been reduced to 199 for the 2012 elections where the party lost 41 of the 199 seats it was defending on the night, leaving them with 158 seats.


title: Plaid Cymru

text: In the 2013 elections in Anglesey the party won 12 seats, up from the 6 it won in 2008 (although there were significant boundary changes and a reduction in the total number of seats from 40 to 30).


title: Plaid Cymru

text: The 2017 figures are based on changes from the 2012 and 2013 elections. "(Hence the slight discrepancy in the percentage increase.)"


title: Plaid Cymru

text: Plaid retains close links with the Scottish National Party (SNP), with both parties' MPs co-operating closely with one another. They work as a single parliamentary group within Westminster, and were involved in joint campaigning, under the banner of a "Celtic alliance", during the 2001 and 2010 general elections. Both Plaid and the SNP, along with Mebyon Kernow of Cornwall, are members of the European Free Alliance (EFA), a pan-European political party for regionalist, autonomist and pro-independence political parties across Europe. The EFA co-operates with the larger European Green Party to form The Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) political group in the European Parliament, although the UK is no longer a member of the European Union.


title: Kike

text: Kike or Kyke () is an ethnic slur for a Jew. The earliest record of "Kike" dates back to the 19th century.


title: Kike

text: According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", it may be an alteration of the endings –"ki" or –"ky" common in the personal names of Jews in eastern Europe who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century. A variation or expansion of this theory published in "Our Crowd", by Stephen Birmingham, postulates that the term "kike" was coined as a put-down by the assimilated U.S. Jews from Germany to identify eastern European and Russian Jews: "Because many Russian [Jewish] names ended in 'ki', they were called 'kikes'—a German Jewish contribution to the American vernacular. The name then proceeded to be co-opted by non-Jews as it gained prominence in its usage in society, and was later used as a general derogatory slur."


title: Kike

text: The "Encyclopedia of Swearing" suggests that Leo Rosten's suggestion is the most likely. He stated that:


title: Kike

text: Compounding the mysterious origin of this term, in 1864 in the UK the word "ike" or "ikey" was used as a derogatory term for Jews, which derived from the name "Isaac", a common Jewish name.


title: Kike

text: Some sources say that the first use was on Ellis Island as a term for Jewish people, others that it was used primarily by Jewish-Americans to put down Jewish immigrants.


title: Kike

text: In a travel report from 1937 for the German-Jewish publication "Der Morgen", Joachim Prinz, writing of the situation of Jewish immigrants in the US, mentions the word as being used by Jews to refer contemptuously to other (Eastern) Jews:


title: London Stansted Airport

text: London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: London Stansted serves over 160 destinations across Europe, Asia and Africa. Stansted is a base for a number of major European low-cost carriers, being the largest base for low-cost airline Ryanair, with over 100 destinations served by the airline. In 2015, it was the fourth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom after Heathrow, Gatwick, and Manchester. However as of 2021 numbers, it is second largest in the country. Stansted's runway is also used by private companies such as the Harrods Aviation, Titan Airways, and XJet terminals, which are private ground handlers that are able to handle private flights, charter flights, and state visits.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Converted to civil use from RAF Stansted Mountfitchet in the late 1940s, Stansted was used by charter airlines. It came under British Airports Authority control in 1966. The privatised


title: London Stansted Airport

text: BAA sold Stansted in February 2013 to Manchester Airports Group as a result of a March 2009 ruling by the Competition Commission against BAA's monopoly position.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: London Stansted Airport is located near the village of Stansted Mountfitchet. It has one main passenger terminal. Three passenger satellites have departure gates; one is connected to the main terminal by an air bridge and the other two by the Stansted Airport Transit System people mover.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The terminal building was designed by Foster and Partners with input from structural engineer Peter Rice, and features a "floating" roof, supported by a space frame of inverted-pyramid roof trusses, creating the impression of a stylised swan in flight. The base of each truss structure is a "utility pillar", which provides indirect uplighting illumination and is the location for air-conditioning, water, telecommunications, and electrical outlets. The layout of the airport was originally designed to provide an unobstructed flow for passengers to arrive at the short-stay car park, move through the check-in hall, and go through security and on to the departure gates, all on the same level.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: From 1997 to 2007, Stansted had rapid expansion of passenger numbers on the back of the boom in low-cost air travel, peaking at 24 million passengers in the 12 months to October 2007, but passenger numbers declined in the next five years. Passenger totals later increased, and in 2016 recorded an annual increase of 8.0% to 24.3 million, and numbers have since continued to rise.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The airfield opened in 1943 and was used during the Second World War as RAF Stansted Mountfitchet by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces as a bomber airfield and as a major maintenance depot. Although the official name was Stansted Mountfitchet, the base was known as simply Stansted in both written and spoken form.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The station was first allocated to the USAAF Eighth Air Force in August 1942 as a heavy-bomber airfield. As well as an operational bomber base, Stansted was also an Air Technical Services Command maintenance and supply depot concerned with major overhauls and modification of B-26s. After D-Day, these activities were transferred to France, but the base was still used as a supply storage area for the support of aircraft on the continent.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: After the withdrawal of the Americans on 12 August 1945, Stansted was taken over by the Air Ministry and used by No. 263 Maintenance Unit, RAF, for storage purposes. In addition, between March 1946 and August 1947, Stansted was used for housing German prisoners of war.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In November 1946, the recently established British cargo airline, London Aero and Motor Services, equipped with ex-RAF Handley Page Halifaxes, moved into Stansted, using it as a base for its operations until it was wound up in July 1948.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The Ministry of Civil Aviation finally took control of Stansted in 1949 and the airport was then used as a base by several UK charter airlines. The US military returned in 1954 to extend the runway for a possible transfer to NATO. The transfer to NATO was never realised, however, and the airport continued in civil use, ending up under BAA control in 1966.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: During the 1960s, '70s, and early '80s, the Fire Service Training School was based on the eastern side of the airfield under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, now the Civil Aviation Authority. The school was responsible for the training of all aviation fire crews for British airfields, as well as those of many overseas countries.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Beginning in 1966, after Stansted was placed under BAA control, the airport was used by holiday charter operators wishing to escape the higher costs associated with operating from Heathrow and Gatwick.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted had been held in reserve as a third London airport since the 1950s. However, after a public inquiry at Chelmsford in 1966–67, the government set up the Roskill Commission to review the need afresh. The Commission for the Third London Airport (the "Roskill Commission") of 1968–71 did not include Stansted as one of its four short-listed sites and recommended that Cublington in Buckinghamshire should be developed as London's third airport. However, the Conservative government under Ted Heath agreed with a minority recommendation that a site at Foulness in the Thames Estuary, later renamed Maplin, should be developed, but in 1974, the incoming Labour government under Harold Wilson cancelled the Maplin project because of the economic situation.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted was then considered as an option for long-term development in the Advisory Committee on Airports Policy and the Study Group on South East Airports and was selected from a short list of six by the Conservative government in December 1979. The proposal, for a new terminal associated with the existing runway and the safeguarding of land for a second runway, was considered at the Airports Inquiries of 1981–83. The "Inspector's Report" was published in 1984 and the decision, announced in a white paper in 1985, was to approve a plan to develop Stansted in two phases, involving both airfield and terminal improvements that would increase the airport's capacity to 15 million passengers per year, but to reject the second runway.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The current terminal building was designed by architectural practice Foster + Partners, commissioned in 1981. As part of the development, a railway branch was built to the airport, and Stansted Airport railway station opened in 1991. Construction was undertaken by John Laing and took place between 1988 and 1991, costing £100 million. In 1990, it was awarded the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award. The building, recognised as a landmark work of high-tech architecture, was opened to the public in 1991.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: As part of the project's development, in 1988 Norman Foster and British architectural artist Brian Clarke made several proposals for an integral artwork for the terminal building. The principal proposal would have seen the east and west elevations of the terminal clad in two sequences of traditionally mouth-blown, leaded stained glass, along the full 162-metre length of the building. However, for technical and security reasons, the artwork was not executed. In 1991, the British Airports Authority commissioned a second, smaller stained glass project from Clarke for Stansted Airport in place of the 1988 proposal. The artist designed two stained glass friezes and a 6-metre high tower of stained glass for a circulation area in the centre of the terminal which, in their composition, echoed elements of Foster's structure; by 1994 the tower had been removed to 'allow greater flow of traffic through the space', and later the friezes were likewise removed.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Long-haul scheduled services commenced in the early 1990s when American Airlines operated a transatlantic service between Stansted and Chicago–O'Hare, but the route was unprofitable and was withdrawn in 1993. Continental Airlines also operated services in the late 1990s from Newark Liberty International Airport, but this service was stopped shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Long-haul services to the United States returned in late 2005, when Eos Airlines and MAXjet Airways commenced all-business class services from Stansted to New York–JFK. In 2006, MAXjet expanded their service with flights to Washington–Dulles, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. American Airlines began daily flights to Stansted in October 2007 from New York–JFK and was originally expected to operate a second daily flight from April 2008. However, because of the jump in fuel price, weakening economic performance, and worsening credit environment at the time, all three services to the United States have since been discontinued following the demise of MAXjet Airways in December 2007 and Eos Airlines in April 2008. Finally, in July 2008, American Airlines withdrew from Stansted, as well as Gatwick, and consolidated to Heathrow Airport.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Long-haul transatlantic operations made a return to Stansted in June 2010, when Sun Country Airlines announced a seasonal weekly service from Stansted to Minneapolis/St. Paul. The flights made a refuelling stopover in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador as the aircraft used for the flight, a Boeing 737-800, would not be able to complete a nonstop westbound flight from Stansted to Minneapolis. The flights operated from 11 June to 15 August 2010. In 2011, Sun Country operated to Gatwick rather than Stansted and then discontinued flights due to the price involved in carrying fuel on long-haul flights. .


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Long-haul services to Asia commenced in March 2009 with Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia X providing direct flights to Kuala Lumpur International Airport; however, on 24 October 2011, this service moved to Gatwick Airport before being later withdrawn completely.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: A major expansion programme to the existing terminal took place between 2007 and 2009, adding nearly of floorspace to give space for additional baggage carousels, a new immigration and passport control hall, and a hypostyle arrivals' hall with improved facilities.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In November 2006, Uttlesford District Council rejected a BAA planning application to increase the permitted number of aircraft movements and to remove the limit on passenger numbers. BAA immediately appealed against the decision and a public inquiry opened, lasting from May until October 2007. Planning Inspector Alan Boyland made his recommendations in January 2008. Those recommendations were largely followed by the Secretary of State for Transport (Geoff Hoon) and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Hazel Blears), who jointly allowed the applicant's appeal in October 2008. A legal challenge by community campaign group Stop Stansted Expansion was rejected by the High Court in March 2009.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In 2008, 57 people were arrested after Plane Stupid, an environmental activist group, broke through the barriers and created a "stockade" on a taxiway, which resulted in 52 flights being cancelled.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The Competition Commission ruled in March 2009 that BAA should sell Gatwick and Stansted Airports within two years. The ruling was quashed within a year following an appeal, but was subsequently upheld. The Competition Commission reconfirmed its ruling in July 2011 that the airport be sold, and the Court of Appeal turned down an appeal by BAA on 26 July 2012. In light of the result, BAA chose not to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and confirmed on 20 August 2012 that the airport would be sold.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In 2017, Antonov Airlines opened a UK office at Stansted for cargo charter flights, generally of outsize loads.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Low-cost airline Primera Air launched non-stop flights from Stansted to Boston, Newark and Washington DC until the collapse of the airline meant the discontinuation of the routes by 2018, leaving the airport without transatlantic routes once more.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In March 2018, a group of activists delayed a deportation flight to Nigeria. 15 of the protestors were found guilty of "intentional disruption of services at an aerodrome", under the 1990 Aviation and Maritime Security Act. This verdict on the "Stansted 15" was described in "New Statesman" as having a chilling effect on public dissent.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The airline easyJet announced the closure of their base at Stansted, which had more than two dozen routes and existed for more than a decade, in August 2020. On 24 June 2021, Icelandic low-cost carrier Play (airline) began operating flights from the airport.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The terminal is separated into three areas: Check-in and main concourse along the front, Departures towards the back left, and Arrivals on the back right upon entry. No gates are in the main terminal building; instead, they are located in three separate oblong satellite buildings. The airport has 68 gates: 40 jetway gates, and 28 hardstands with 6 additional spaces for narrowbody planes to be stored; these spaces however inhibit the 2 spaces these storage spaces are flanked by.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: An additional building, known as the Advanced Passenger Vehicle (APV), was brought back into use in 2016 for flights departing during the busy 06:00 to 08:00 am period. The APV building is linked to the main terminal building by an accessible route and acts as a bus terminal for international flights at remote stands. Prior to the completion of Satellite 3, this terminal (then consisted of gates 90–95) was in regular passenger use.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Domestic arrivals (from the UK and Common Travel Area) use a separate exit route, located at the opposite end of the Terminal to the International arrivals hall. This exit is connected solely by footbridge from Satellite 2 gates 81–88. When a domestic flight arrives at a gate which is not located in Satellite 2, passengers are transported to a gate on Satellite 2 by a courtesy bus service from the aircraft.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted has a variety of car parking including long-, mid-, and short-stay options along with valet and meet-and-greet parking services. Two drop off areas also are available. The express area is located near the short-stay car park, while a free service is within the mid-stay area. A fee is charged for the express service. Terminal Road North and its free drop-off area directly outside the terminal was closed shortly after MAG took over the airport in 2013. Since 2004, Stansted also offers a range of hotel accommodation including Holiday Inn Express, Novotel, Premier Inn, and Radisson Blu hotels and the recently opened Hampton by Hilton, the last two of which are both within two minutes of the terminal building via an undercover walkway. Regular bus service handles transfers between the terminal building and Stansted's car parks and hotels.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted's air traffic control tower was completed in 1996 and was the tallest in Britain at the time of its construction. It is located on the southside of the airfield alongside the main terminal building. It replaced the old control tower, which offered poor views of the airfield once the current terminal building was opened in 1991.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: There are several cargo buildings and hangars around the airfield. The main cargo centre is located by the control tower and handles most cargo operations, including aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the Boeing 747. There are a small number of hangars on the other side of the runway to the rest of the airport. The largest are located at the south east of the airfield, one of which is used by Ryanair.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Titan Airways has its head office in the Enterprise House on the airport property. Several airlines at one time had their head offices on the airport property. AirUK (later KLM uk) had its head office in the Stansted House. When Buzz existed, its head office was in the Endeavour House. When AB Airlines existed, its head office was in the Enterprise House. For a period Lloyd International Airways had its head office at the Lloyd House at Stansted. When Go Fly existed its head office was at the Enterprise House.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: On 11 March 2008, BAA submitted a planning application (titled "G2") to expand the airport by and for the construction of a second runway and terminal, etc., in line with a recommendation in the 2003 Air Transport White Paper (ATWP). This would have been the subject of a public inquiry, and if approved, would have allowed Stansted to handle more passengers than Heathrow did at the time of the application.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In May 2010, BAA withdrew its plans to build a second runway at Stansted and withdrew the plans to build a new runway at Heathrow.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The ATWP had anticipated that a second runway would be operational by 2011, but this date continued to slip. BAA's 2008 planning application envisaged operation commencing in 2015, and in 2009, BAA revised the anticipated opening date to 2017.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Prior to the United Kingdom's May 2010 general election, all three major political parties pledged not to approve a second runway. Soon after the election, the new government confirmed this, and BAA withdrew its application for planning permission, having spent nearly £200 million preparing for the public inquiry and buying up properties.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The public inquiry into BAA's second runway application had been scheduled to start on 15 April 2009, but the start was delayed by Secretary of State Hazel Blears to allow time for BAA and the government to consider the implications of the March 2009 Competition Commission's ruling that BAA must sell Stansted within two years. As 2011 drew to a close, BAA was still appealing against the Competition Commission ruling. On 20 August 2012, after losing a case at the Court of Appeal, BAA agreed to cease challenging the Competition Commission's ruling and to sell Stansted.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: On 10 February 2010, Secretary of State John Denham, in an open letter, concluded that the inquiry could not reasonably start until after the general election. In addition, he commented that the planning application documents were nearly two years old and would require updating. Eventually, BAA realised the futility of pursuing its G2 application in the context of the new government policy and withdrew it on 24 May 2010.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The advocacy group Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) was formed in 2002, as a working group of the North West Essex and East Herts Preservation Association, in response to the Government's consultation on expanding UK airports and, particularly, expansion plans for Stansted Airport subsequently defined in the Air Transport white paper in December 2003.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: SSE, whose membership includes the majority of local parish councils and thousands of residents, continues to actively campaign against unsustainable expansion of the airport. SSE was a major participant in the 2007 G1 public inquiry and had committed to be a major participant in the anticipated inquiry into the G2 second runway proposal. Following the withdrawal of the G2 planning application, the group called upon BAA to sell the homes it had bought to support the planned expansion.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In September 2012, as a result of pressure from the aviation industry, the government set up the Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, to consider what, if anything, needed to be done to maintain the UK's status as a global aviation hub. The commission concluded that an additional runway would be required for South East England and that it should be added to either Heathrow or Gatwick. Following the 2015 election, the commission made a final recommendation to expand Heathrow subject to certain environmental constraints.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Throughout 2013, the Airports Commission published discussion papers and invited submissions from key stakeholders on the main issues it wished to consider. SSE made several thorough submissions. SSE also accepted an invitation to give oral evidence and make a presentation to the commission on aviation demand forecasting and connectivity at a public evidence session held in Manchester in July 2013.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: MAG announced on 20 June 2013 as part of a visit to the airport by the Secretary of State for Transport that it would be launching an £80 million terminal redevelopment programme. MAG has invested £40 million and the remainder was invested by other commercial partners. The redevelopment included relocation of the security area, doubling the amount of seating, and improving the information displays. The new Departure Lounge offers a food court, a number of new shops, and an Escape Lounge, but the remodelling has drawn heavy criticism due to the length of time it takes to walk through the shopping areas to get to the departure gates.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: An arrivals terminal is planned to be built at Stansted. The site is planned to include larger immigration and baggage reclaim areas, with more shops and facilities available after arrival into the UK. The current terminal will be reconfigured to departures only, with security and check-in areas due to be expanded. The project is expected to cost £130m, and, once completed, will make London Stansted the only airport in the UK with dedicated arrivals and departures terminal buildings. Initially construction was due to start in 2018, taking three years to complete. However, the arrivals terminal was put on hold at the end of 2019. In 2020, an initial decision by Uttlesford District Council refused permission for a modified version of the plan. However, this decision was overturned by the Planning Inspectorate following a public inquiry in 2021 and permission has now been granted for the airports expansion plan.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In 1988, over 1.1 million passengers passed through Stansted, the first time annual passenger numbers had exceeded 1 million at the airport. Consistent year-on-year growth followed, and by 1997, the total had reached over 5 million, rapidly rising to almost 12 million in 2000.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: In 2007, passenger numbers peaked at nearly 24 million, but then declined for five years, and in 2012, the total was around 17.5 million. An increase of 2.2% was recorded in 2013 to 17.8 million passengers, then 11.7% in 2014 to 19.9 million, followed by 12.8% in 2015 to 22.5 million, and 8.0% in 2016 to a record total of 24.3 million, making Stansted the fourth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom. Stansted also is a major freight airport, the third-busiest in the UK during 2016, behind London Heathrow and East Midlands Airport, handling in excess of 223,203 tonnes per annum, although freight throughput has declined slightly from its 2005 peak level.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Passenger numbers for the year ending September 2016 increased by 8.4% to over 24 million for the first time since 2007.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: The Stansted Airport Transit System connects the terminal to the satellite buildings via a free automated people mover service, which runs on dual concrete tracks. The system uses a mix of Adtranz C-100 and CX-100 vehicles to carry passengers to departure gates. Unlike the similar Gatwick Airport Shuttle Transit, the Stansted transit is only accessible "airside" (i.e. only after passengers pass through security).


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted Airport railway station is situated in the terminal building directly below the main concourse.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Services to London are on the Stansted Express train to and from London Liverpool Street in Central London. This service operates every 15 minutes and the usual journey time is between 45 and 53 minutes. Liverpool Street is served by the Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines of the London Underground network, alongside the Elizabeth line, offering access throughout London. The Stansted Express also calls at Tottenham Hale, for the Underground's Victoria line and connections to various destinations in North London and the West End. Some Stansted Express services also call at Stansted Mountfitchet, Bishop's Stortford and/or Harlow Town en route to London Liverpool Street.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: CrossCountry operates an hourly service from the airport to Birmingham New Street, via Cambridge, Peterborough and Leicester. Greater Anglia operates services to Norwich via Cambridge.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Scheduled express bus or coach services run to and from Stratford (45 minutes), Victoria Coach Station (75 minutes), Liverpool Street Station (55 minutes), and Portman Square via Golders Green (70 minutes) and Paddington Station (105 minutes) (all in London), costing about half the train fare, but taking longer. The bus station is next to the terminal building. National Express runs direct coach services to the airport from Luton Airport and Heathrow, and also from Birmingham (11 a day), Oxford (8 a day), Norwich (10 a day), and Cambridge (11 a day).


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted is also the start of the hourly X30 coach service to Southend-on-Sea via Chelmsford and London Southend Airport and the hourly X10 coach service to Basildon via Chelmsford, both operated by First Essex.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Local bus services operate to nearby communities, including the 510/509/508 (Harlow to Stansted via Stansted Mountfitchet, Parsonage Lane and Takeley, respectively), 7/7a (Bishops Stortford to Stansted), 133 (Braintree), and 6 (Saffron Walden), operated by Arriva.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted is connected to northeast London and Cambridge by the M11 motorway and to Braintree, Colchester, and Harwich by the A120, which is dual-carriageway until Braintree. The road distance to London is .


title: London Stansted Airport

text: As of October 1996, the airport has 2,500 short-stay parking spaces within walking distance to the terminal. In addition, as of the same month, the airport has over 8,000 long-stay spaces located near the M11 motorway and A120 junction. A courtesy bus service links the long-stay spaces to the terminal. The airport also offers mid-stay parking, closer to the terminal than its long-stay spaces. Stansted Airport also offers valet parking and a meet-and-greet service, which is similar to valet, but marketed more at the leisure-traveller market, both are run from the short-stay car park.


title: London Stansted Airport

text: Stansted has been designated by the UK government as its preferred airport for any hijacked planes requesting to land in the UK. This is because its design allows a hijacked airliner to be isolated well away from any terminal buildings or runways, allowing the airport to continue to operate while negotiations are carried out, or even while an assault or rescue mission is undertaken. For this reason, Stansted has been involved in more hijack incidents than might be expected for an airport of its size.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom "dinnerladies" (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama "Shameless" (2004–2007), Martha Costello in the BBC One legal drama "Silk" (2011–2014), and Grace Middleton in the BBC One drama series "The Village" (2013–2014). In 2017, she starred in the "Black Mirror" episode "Metalhead". She has also played the title role in "Hamlet", as well as the notorious serial killer Myra Hindley in the critically acclaimed ITV dramatization of the Moors murders, "" (2006).


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake was born in Westhoughton, Bolton, on 14 July 1974, the second of two daughters born to Glenys ("née" Hall) and Brian Peake. Her father was a lorry driver before working in the electrical industry, and her mother was a part-time careworker. Her older sister, Lisa, who was born in 1965, is a police officer. Peake's parents separated when she was nine and she lived with her mother until the age of 15. When her mother moved in with a new boyfriend several miles away, Peake went to live with her grandfather so she could continue her GCSE studies at Westhoughton High School, before going on to take her A-Levels at Canon Slade School in Bradshaw.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake joined the Octagon Youth Theatre in Bolton at age 13, before a period at the youth theatre of the Royal Exchange in Manchester. She later did a two-year performing arts course at the Salford College of Technology. During this time she appeared in productions with two leading amateur theatre companies in Bolton: The Marco Players and The Phoenix Theatre Company. Peake was a member of the Communist Party of Britain Salford branch in her youth. In her teens, Peake played for Wigan Ladies rugby league team.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake's early attempts to enter the acting profession were unsuccessful. She was rejected by every theatre education company in North West England, and tried unsuccessfully for three years to get into Manchester Polytechnic Theatre School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. However, at 21, she obtained a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Her attempts to find sponsorship for her study at RADA were the subject of a 1996 documentary by "The South Bank Show". Eventually, after being put forward by RADA, she was awarded the Patricia Rothermere Scholarship.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake has appeared in many television and stage productions including Victoria Wood's "dinnerladies", Channel 4's "Shameless", in the lead role of barrister Martha Costello in the BBC's legal drama "Silk" and alongside John Simm in the BBC drama "The Village", depicting life in a Derbyshire village during the First World War. Following career advice from Victoria Wood, between the two series of "dinnerladies", Peake lost so much weight that an explanation had to be written into the script for her character, Twinkle.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake portrayed Moors murderer Myra Hindley in "", which was broadcast in May 2006. In January 2009, Peake appeared in her first major feature film role, as Angela, in the film "Clubbed".


title: Maxine Peake

text: In 2012, Peake played the title role in "Miss Julie" at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, and previously played the part of Kristin in a 2000 production. She played Doll Tearsheet in the BBC2 adaptations of "Henry IV, Parts I and II".


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake wrote, directed and starred in the play "Beryl: A Love Story On Two Wheels" about the life of the Leeds-born cyclist Beryl Burton, which was broadcast on BBC Radio Four in November 2012. In 2014, Peake adapted her play for the stage. Titled simply "Beryl", it was commissioned by the West Yorkshire Playhouse where it ran in June and July 2014 to coincide with the start of the Tour de France in Leeds. The play returned in June and July 2015 and toured across England in Autumn 2015. Peake wrote a later play called "Queens of the Coal Age" again for Radio 4 that told the story of Annie Scargill and three other women who tried to occupy a coal mine in 1993.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake provided the vocals for the Eccentronic Research Council's 2012 concept album "1612 Underture" about the Pendle Witch Trials and for their 2015 album "Johnny Rocket, Narcissist & Music Machine…I'm Your Biggest Fan". Peake also features as a crazed stalker in the music video for "Sweet Saturn Mine" by Moonlandingz; a collaborative effort by Eccentronic Research Council and Fat White Family in 2015.


title: Maxine Peake

text: In September 2013, Peake was appointed an Associate Artist of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Her association with the theatre began in childhood and she was a member of the youth theatre. Major productions in which she has performed include "The Children's Hour" in 2008, for which she won a MEN Award, and "Miss Julie" in 2012 for which she won a Manchester Theatre Award. All of her performances at the Royal Exchange have been directed by Sarah Frankcom with whom she also collaborated on "The Masque of Anarchy" in 2012 for the Manchester International Festival. Building on this work, in September 2014 Frankcom went on to direct her as the title character in a radical re-imagining of "Hamlet". The demand for tickets was so great that the production was extended for a week, having been "the theatre's fastest-selling show in a decade". "The Guardian" said of her performance: "Peake’s delicate ferocity, her particular mixture of concentration and lightness, ensure that you want to follow her whenever she appears". A year later she appeared in Frankcom's production of "The Skriker", as "Caryl Churchill's shape-shifting, doom-wreaking fairy". "The Guardian"'s Lyn Gardner listed the production in her top ten British plays of the year. In 2016, Peake resumed her partnership with Royal Exchange Artistic Director, Sarah Frankcom, to star as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire". Peake's performance in the role garnered critical acclaim with "The Guardian" describing her performance as "exquisite" and "breathtaking".


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake starred in "Metalhead", a December 2017 episode of Netflix's "Black Mirror" anthology. The episode was directed by "Hannibal" and "American Gods" director, David Slade.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake starred as Nellie in Mike Leigh's 2018 film, "Peterloo", based on the events of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre in Manchester.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake starred as the eponymous protagonist in the 2018 film "Funny Cow" alongside a cast including Paddy Considine and Stephen Graham. Tony Pitts wrote and starred in the film, which received positive reviews, in particular for Peake's "magnificent" performance.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake starred in, and won critical acclaim for, the lead role of Winnie in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days at the Royal Exchange Theatre in May 2018. "The Guardian" said she gave a "brilliant central performance, there’s barely a breath between optimism and despair". Following "Happy Days", the theatre presented "Queens of the Coal Age", a play written by Peake. Adapted from her earlier radio drama, "Queens of the Coal Age" looks at the 1993 pit closure protests by miners' wives in northern England. The play received mixed reviews.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake starred in "The Nico Project" as Velvet Underground singer Nico at the Manchester International Festival in July 2019.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake stars as Miss Fozzard in the 2020 BBC remake of "Talking Heads", recreating a role originally played by Patricia Routledge.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake is in a relationship with art director Pawlo Wintoniuk. In 2009, Peake left London after living there for 13 years. She said that living in Salford with Wintoniuk gave her the freedom to choose more risky roles and lower-paying jobs in theatre.


title: Maxine Peake

text: Peake is a feminist and socialist. She was active in communist organisations during her youth and a member of the Communist Party of Britain. In January 2014, Peake won the first Bolton Socialist Club Outstanding Contribution to Socialism Award, for using her work to oppose the government's "crippling austerity measures".


title: Maxine Peake

text: In January 2016, Peake featured in the Climate Coalition's short film "I Wish For You" as Mia, with Jeremy Irons starring as her grandfather, to highlight the urgency of combating climate change.


title: Maxine Peake

text: In July 2015, Peake endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. She wrote on her website: "For me, Jeremy Corbyn is our only beacon of hope to get the Labour Party back on track, get the electorate back in touch with politics and save this country from the constant mindless bullying of the vulnerable and poor." In 2016, along with other celebrities, Peake toured the UK to support Corbyn's bid to become prime minister.


title: Maxine Peake

text: In April 2017, Peake endorsed Labour Party leader Corbyn in the 2017 general election. She said: "I am a Corbyn supporter. My mind boggles why people treat him like the anti-Christ, but it goes to show people are a lot more right-wing than they like to believe." In November 2019, along with other public figures, Peake signed a letter supporting Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 general election.


title: Maxine Peake

text: In June 2020, she took part in an interview with "The Independent", in which she stated that the practice of police officers in the United States kneeling on someone's neck, one example of which led to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, was "learnt from seminars taught by Israeli secret services". "The Independent" amended the original article to add a note that "the allegation that US police were taught tactics of 'neck kneeling' by Israeli secret services is unfounded". Peake later stated that she was "inaccurate in [her] assumption of American police training and its sources". Peake's statement was denounced by Labour leader Keir Starmer, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Labour Movement as an "antisemitic conspiracy theory". Shadow Education Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey retweeted the article and called Peake an "absolute diamond". When Jewish groups demanded she delete the tweet, Long-Bailey refused to do so, leading to her sacking from the Shadow cabinet by Starmer. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor under Corbyn, said that "criticism of practices of [the] Israeli state is not antisemitic" and that Peake's claim "was not antisemitic".


title: July Crisis

text: The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914, which led to the outbreak of World War I (1914–1918). The crisis began on 28 June 1914, when Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. The assassin team was armed, trained, smuggled across the border and instructed by the head of the Serbian military intelligence service and his staff. A complex web of alliances, coupled with miscalculations when many leaders regarded war as in their best interests or felt that a general war would not occur, resulted in a general outbreak of hostilities among most major European nations in early August 1914.


title: July Crisis

text: Austria-Hungary viewed the irredentist movements of South Slavs, as promoted by Serbia, as a threat to the unity of its multi-national empire. Following the assassination, Austria sought to inflict a military blow on Serbia to demonstrate its own strength and to dampen Serbian support for Yugoslav nationalism. However, Vienna, wary of the reaction of the Russian Empire (a major supporter of Serbia), sought a guarantee from its ally Germany that Berlin would support Austria in any conflict. Germany guaranteed its support through what came to be known as the blank check, but urged Austria to attack quickly, while world sympathy for Ferdinand was high, in order to localize the war and to avoid drawing in Russia. Some German leaders believed that growing Russian economic power would change the balance of power between the two nations, that a war was inevitable, and that Germany would be better off if a war happened soon. However, rather than launching a quick attack with available military forces, Austrian leaders deliberated into mid-July before deciding that Austria would give Serbia a harsh ultimatum on 23 July and would not attack without a full mobilization of the Austro-Hungarian Army (which could not be accomplished before 25 July 1914).


title: July Crisis

text: Just prior to the Serbian reply to the ultimatum, Russia decided that it would intervene in any AustroSerbian war and ordered a secret but noticed partial mobilization (Maskirovka) of its armed forces. While Russian military leadership acknowledged that Russia was not yet strong enough for a general war, Russia believed that the Austrian grievance against Serbia was a pretext orchestrated by Germany and that Saint Petersburg needed to show strength in support of its Serbian client. The Russian partial mobilization—the first major military action not undertaken by a direct participant in the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia—increased the willingness of Serbia to defy the threat of an Austrian attack and greatly increased the alarm in Germany about masses of Russian troops assembling near its borders. Previously, the German General Staff had predicted that Russian mobilization in the east would be slower than that of Russia's French ally on Germany's western border; therefore, German military strategy in any conflict with Russia involved attacking France through Belgium (to avoid French fixed defenses) and quickly defeating France in the west before turning to face Russia in the east. France, aware that it would have to act together with its Russian ally to defeat its German rival, escalated its military preparations as tensions along the Russian border increased, which, in turn, further alarmed Germany.


title: July Crisis

text: While the United Kingdom was semi-formally aligned with Russia and France, it also had relatively friendly diplomatic relations with Germany, and many British leaders saw no compelling reason to involve Britain in a continental war. Britain repeatedly offered to mediate, using the Serbian reply as the basis of negotiation, and Germany made various promises in an attempt to ensure British neutrality. However, Britain decided that it had a moral obligation to defend Belgium and to aid its formal allies, and thus became the last major country actively involved in the July Crisis to formally enter the conflict on 4 August. By early August, the ostensible reason for armed conflict, the dispute between Serbia and Austria-Hungary over the murdered heir, had already become a sidenote to a general European war.


title: July Crisis

text: At the Congress of Berlin that brought an end to the Russo-Turkish War in 1878, Austria-Hungary was given the right to occupy Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thirty years later, Austria-Hungary formally annexed the territory, violating the Berlin treaty and upsetting the fragile balance of power in the Balkans, precipitating a diplomatic crisis. Sarajevo became the provincial capital and Oskar Potiorek, a military commander, became governor of the province. In the summer of 1914, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, to attend military exercises due to be held in Bosnia. After the exercises, on 28 June, Ferdinand toured Sarajevo with his wife, Sophie. Six armed irredentists, five Bosnian Serbs and one Bosnian Muslim, coordinated by Danilo Ilić, seeking to free Bosnia of Austria-Hungarian colonial rule and unite all Southern Slavs, lay in wait along Ferdinand's announced motorcade route.


title: July Crisis

text: At 10:10 a.m., Nedeljko Čabrinović threw a hand grenade at Ferdinand's motorcade damaging the following car and injuring its occupants. Later that morning, Gavrilo Princip managed to shoot and kill Franz Ferdinand and Sophie as they drove back to visit the wounded in the hospital. Čabrinović and Princip took cyanide, but it only sickened them. Both were arrested. Within 45 minutes of the shooting, Princip began telling his story to interrogators. The next day, based on the interrogations of the two assassins, Potiorek telegraphed Vienna to announce that Princip and Čabrinović had conspired in Belgrade with others to obtain bombs, revolvers, and money to kill the Archduke. A police dragnet quickly caught most of the conspirators.


title: July Crisis

text: Immediately following the assassinations, Serbian envoy to France Milenko Vesnić and Serbian envoy to Russia Miroslav Spalajković put out statements claiming that Serbia had warned Austria-Hungary of the impending assassination. Serbia soon thereafter denied making warnings and denied knowledge of the plot. By 30 June, Austro-Hungarian and German diplomats were requesting investigations from their Serbian and Russian counterparts, but were rebuffed. On 5 July, based on interrogations of the accused assassins, Governor Potiorek telegraphed Vienna that Serbian Major Voja Tankosić had directed the assassins. The next day, Austrian chargé d'affaires Count Otto von Czernin proposed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov that the instigators of the plot against Ferdinand needed to be investigated within Serbia, but he too was rebuffed.


title: July Crisis

text: Austria-Hungary immediately undertook a criminal investigation. Ilić and five of the assassins were promptly arrested and interviewed by an investigating judge. The three young Bosnian assassins who had travelled to Serbia stated that Serbian Major Vojislav Tankosić had directly and indirectly supported them. In fact Princip had received a few days of training and some weapons through renegade intelligence officers in Serbia and Mlada Bosna, the freedom fighting group to which Princip was primarily loyal, had members who came from all three major Bosnian ethnic groups. A total of twenty-five people were indicted as a result of the investigation, while the group was dominated by Bosnian Serbs, four of the indictees were Bosnian Croats, all of them were Austro-Hungarian citizens, none from Serbia.


title: July Crisis

text: Within Serbia, there was popular rejoicing over the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Because Serbian elections were scheduled for 14 August, Prime Minister Nikola Pašić was unwilling to court unpopularity by being seen to bow down to Austria. If he had actually warned the Austrians in advance of the plot against Franz Ferdinand, Pašić was probably concerned about his chances at the polls and perhaps his life being endangered if such news leaked out.


title: July Crisis

text: Léon Descos, French Ambassador to Belgrade, on 1 July reported that a Serbian military party was involved in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, that Serbia was in the wrong, and that Russian Ambassador Hartwig was in constant conversations with Regent Alexander to guide Serbia through this crisis. The "military party" was a reference to Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence, Dragutin Dimitrijević and the officers he led in the 1903 murder of the King and Queen of Serbia. Their acts led to the installation of the dynasty ruled by King Peter and Regent Alexander. Serbia requested and France arranged the replacement of Descos with the more hawkish who arrived on 25 July.


title: July Crisis

text: While few mourned Franz Ferdinand himself, many ministers argued the assassination of the heir to the throne was a challenge to Austria that must be avenged. This was especially true of Foreign Minister Leopold Berchtold; in October 1913, his ultimatum to Serbia made them back down over the occupation of Northern Albania, which gave him confidence it would work again.


title: July Crisis

text: Members of the "War Party", like Conrad von Hötzendorf, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff saw it as an opportunity to destroy Serbia's ability to interfere in Bosnia. Moreover, the Archduke, who had been a voice for peace in the previous years, had now been removed from the discussions. The assassination combined with existing instability in the Balkans sent deep shockwaves through the Austrian elite. The murder has been described by historian Christopher Clark as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna".


title: July Crisis

text: Between 29 June to 1 July, Berchtold and Conrad debated an appropriate response to the events in Sarajevo; Conrad wanted to declare war on Serbia as soon as possible, stating: "If you have a poisonous adder at your heel, you stamp on its head, you don't wait for the bite." He advocated immediate mobilization against Serbia, while Berchtold wanted to ensure public opinion be prepared first. On 30 June, Berchtold suggested they demand Serbia disband anti-Austrian societies and relieve certain officials of their responsibilities, but Conrad continued to argue for the use of force. On 1 July, Berchtold told Conrad that Emperor Franz Joseph would await the criminal inquiry results, that István Tisza, Prime Minister of Hungary, was opposed to war, and that Karl von Stürgkh, Prime Minister of Austria, hoped that the criminal inquiry would provide a proper basis for action.


title: July Crisis

text: Opinion in Vienna was divided; Berchtold now agreed with Conrad and supported war, as did Franz Joseph, although he insisted German support was a prerequisite, while Tisza was opposed; he correctly predicted war with Serbia would trigger one with Russia and hence a general European war. The pro-war party saw it as a reactionary means of re-invigorating the Habsburg monarchy, restoring it to the vigour and virility of an imagined past, and that Serbia must be dealt with before it became too powerful to defeat militarily.


title: July Crisis

text: Conrad continued to push for war but worried what attitude Germany would take; Berchtold replied that he planned to inquire of Germany what its position was. Berchtold used his memo of 14 June 1914, proposing Serbia's destruction, as the basis for the document that would be used to solicit German support.


title: July Crisis

text: On 1 July, Viktor Naumann, a German journalist and friend of German Foreign Secretary Gottlieb von Jagow, approached Berchtold's chief of cabinet, Alexander, Count of Hoyos. Naumann's advice was that it was time to annihilate Serbia and that Germany could be expected to stand by her ally. The next day, German Ambassador Heinrich von Tschirschky spoke to Emperor Franz Joseph and stated that it was his estimate that Wilhelm II would support resolute, well-thought-out action by Austria-Hungary with regard to Serbia.


title: July Crisis

text: On 2 July, the Saxon Ambassador in Berlin wrote back to his king that the German Army wanted Austria to attack Serbia as quickly as possible because the time was right for a general war since Germany was more prepared for war than either Russia or France. On 3 July, the Saxon military attaché in Berlin reported that the German General Staff "would be pleased if war were to come about now".


title: July Crisis

text: Emperor Wilhelm II came to share the views of the German General Staff and declared on 4 July that he was entirely for "settling accounts with Serbia". He ordered the German ambassador in Vienna, Count Heinrich von Tschirschky, to stop advising restraint, writing that "Tschirschky will be so good to drop this nonsense. We must finish with the Serbs, "quickly". Now or never!". In response, Tschirschky told the Austro-Hungarian government that next day that "Germany would support the Monarchy through thick and thin, whatever action it decided to take against Serbia. The sooner Austria-Hungary struck, the better". On 5 July 1914, Count Moltke, the Chief of the German General Staff, wrote that "Austria must beat the Serbs".


title: July Crisis

text: In order to ensure Germany's full support, the Chef de Cabinet of the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Ministry Count Alexander von Hoyos visited Berlin on 5 July. On 24 June, Austria-Hungary had prepared a letter for its ally outlining the challenges in the Balkans and how to address them, but Franz Ferdinand was assassinated before it could be delivered. According to the letter, Romania was no longer a reliable ally especially since the Russo-Romanian summit meeting of 14 June in Constanța. Russia was working toward an alliance of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro against Austria-Hungary, dismemberment of Austria-Hungary, and the movement of borders from east to west. To break up this effort, Germany and Austria-Hungary should first ally with Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. To this letter was added a post-script on the Sarajevo Outrage and its impact. Finally, Emperor Franz Joseph added his own letter to Emperor Wilhelm II which closed with advocating the end of Serbia as a political power factor. Hoyos was dispatched to Germany to present these letters. The letters were presented to Wilhelm II on 5 July.


title: July Crisis

text: Hoyos provided Austro-Hungarian Ambassador Count Ladislaus de Szögyény-Marich with two documents, one of which was a memo by Tisza, advising that Bulgaria should join the Triple Alliance, and another letter by Franz Joseph I of Austria stating that the only way of preventing the disintegration of the Dual Monarchy was "to eliminate Serbia" as a state. The letter by Franz Joseph was based closely upon Berchtold's 14 June memo calling for the destruction of Serbia. Franz Josef's letter explicitly stated that the decision for war against Serbia had been made before the assassination of the Archduke, and that the events of Sarajevo only confirmed the already pre-existing need for a war against Serbia.


title: July Crisis

text: After meeting with Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Germany Szögyény on 5 July, the German Emperor informed him that his state could "count on Germany's full support", even if "grave European complications" ensued, and that Austria-Hungary "ought to march at once" against Serbia. He added that "in any case, as things stood today, Russia was not at all ready for war, and would certainly think long before appealing to arms". Even if Russia were to act in defence of Serbia, Wilhelm promised that Germany would do everything in its power, including war, to support Austria-Hungary. Wilhelm added that he needed to consult with Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, who he was quite sure would have a similar view.


title: July Crisis

text: After his meeting, Szögyény reported to Vienna that Wilhelm "would regret it if we [Austria-Hungary] let this present chance, which was so favourable for us, go by without utilising it". This so-called "blank cheque" of German support up to and including war was to be the main determining factor in Austrian policy in July 1914.


title: July Crisis

text: At another meeting held on 5 July, this one at Potsdam palace, German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Foreign Ministry's State Secretary Arthur Zimmermann, the Minister of War Erich von Falkenhayn, the head of the German Imperial Military Cabinet Moriz von Lyncker, the Adjutant general Hans von Plessen, Captain Hans Zenker of the Naval General Staff, and Admiral Eduard von Capelle of the Naval State Secretariat all endorsed Wilhelm's "blank cheque" as Germany's best policy. On 6 July, Hoyos, Zimmerman, Bethmann-Hollweg, and Austro-Hungarian Ambassador Szögyény met and Germany gave its "blank cheque" commitment to Austria-Hungary of firm support.


title: July Crisis

text: On 6 July, Bethmann-Hollweg and Zimmermann further repeated the promise of Wilhelm's "blank cheque" at a conference with Szögyény. Although Bethmann-Hollweg stated that the decision for war or peace was in Austria's hands, he strongly advised that Austria choose the former. That same day, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey was warned by the German Ambassador in London, Prince Lichnowsky, of the dangerous situation in the Balkans. Grey felt that Anglo-German co-operation could resolve any Austro-Serbian dispute, and he "believed that a peaceful solution would be reached".


title: July Crisis

text: When asked if Germany was ready for a war against Russia and France, Falkenhayn replied with a "curt affirmative". Later on 17 July, the Army's Quartermaster general Count Waldersee wrote to Gottlieb von Jagow, Foreign Minister: "I can move at a moment's notice. We in the General Staff are "ready": there is nothing more for us to do at this juncture".


title: July Crisis

text: As Wilhelm himself stated in private "in order not to alarm world opinion", the Kaiser left on his annual North Sea cruise. Shortly after, Wilhelm's close friend Gustav Krupp von Bohlen wrote that the Emperor said that we would not waver in declaring war if Russia mobilized. In the same way, Berchtold suggested that Austrian leaders go on vacation "to prevent any disquiet" about what had been decided.


title: July Crisis

text: Germany's policy was to support a swift war to destroy Serbia that would present a "fait accompli" to the world. Unlike the three earlier cases dating from 1912 when Austria had asked for German diplomatic support for a war against Serbia, this time it was felt that political conditions for such a war now existed. At this time, the German military supported the idea of an Austrian attack against Serbia as the best way of starting a general war, whereas Wilhelm believed that an armed conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia would be purely local. Austrian policy based upon pre-existing plans to destroy Serbia involved not waiting to complete judicial inquiries to strike back immediately and not to strain its credibility in the coming weeks as it would become more and more clear that Austria was not reacting to the assassination. Likewise, Germany wished to give the impression of its ignorance of Austrian intentions.


title: July Crisis

text: The thinking was that, as Austria-Hungary was Germany's only ally, if its prestige was not restored then its position in the Balkans might be irreparably damaged, encouraging further irredentism by Serbia and Romania. A quick war against Serbia would not only eliminate her, but also probably lead to further diplomatic gains vis a vis Bulgaria and Romania. A Serbian defeat would also be a defeat for Russia and reduce her influence in the Balkans.


title: July Crisis

text: The benefits were clear but there were risks, namely that Russia would intervene and this would lead to a continental war. However, this was thought even more unlikely since the Russians had not yet finished their French-funded rearmament programme scheduled for completion in 1917. Moreover, they did not believe that Russia, as an absolute monarchy, would support regicides, and more broadly "the mood across Europe was so anti-Serbian that even Russia would not intervene". Personal factors also weighed heavily and the German Kaiser was close to the murdered Franz Ferdinand and was affected by his death, to the extent that German counsels of restraint vis a vis Serbia in 1913 changed to an aggressive stance.


title: July Crisis

text: On the other hand, the military thought that if Russia did intervene then St Petersburg clearly desired war and now would be a better time to fight, when Germany had a guaranteed ally in Austria-Hungary, Russia was not ready and Europe was sympathetic to them. On balance, at this point in the crisis, the Germans anticipated that their support would mean the war would be a localised affair between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. This would be particularly true if Austria moved quickly, "while the other European powers were still disgusted over the assassinations and therefore likely to be sympathetic to any action Austria-Hungary took".


title: July Crisis

text: On 7 July, the Council of Joint Ministers debated Austria-Hungary's course of action. The most hawkish on the Council considered a surprise attack on Serbia. Count Tisza persuaded the Council that demands should be placed on Serbia before mobilization to provide a proper "juridical basis for a declaration of war".


title: July Crisis

text: Samuel R. Williamson, Jr. has emphasized the role of Austria-Hungary in starting the war. Convinced Serbian nationalism and Russian Balkan ambitions were disintegrating the Empire, Austria-Hungary hoped for a limited war against Serbia and that strong German support would force Russia to keep out of the war and weaken its Balkan prestige.


title: July Crisis

text: At this stage in the crisis the possibility of determined Russian support for Serbia, and its attendant risks, was never properly weighed up. The Austrians remained fixated on Serbia but did not decide on their precise objectives other than war.


title: July Crisis

text: Nevertheless, having decided upon war with German support, Austria was slow to act publicly, and did not deliver the ultimatum until 23 July, some three weeks after the assassinations on 28 June. Thus Austria lost the reflex sympathies attendant to the Sarajevo murders and gave the further impression to the Entente powers that Austria was merely using the assassinations as a pretext for aggression.


title: July Crisis

text: The Council agreed on putting harsh demands on Serbia but could not reach consensus on how harsh. Except for Count Tisza, the Council intended to make such harsh demands that their rejection would be very probable. Tisza held out for demands that, while harsh, would not appear impossible to meet. Both views were sent to the Emperor on 8 July. The Emperor's opinion was that the gap in opinion could most likely be bridged. An initial set of demands was drafted during the Council meeting. Over the next few days, the demands were reinforced, possibly with the help of the German Foreign Office, to make sure there was a war, and made more iron-clad and difficult for Serbia to accept.


title: July Crisis

text: On 7 July, on his return to Vienna, Count Hoyos reported to Austro-Hungarian Crown Council that Austria had Germany's full support even if "measures against Serbia should bring about a big war". At the Crown Council, Berchtold strongly urged that a war against Serbia be begun as soon as possible.


title: July Crisis

text: At that meeting of the Crown Council, all involved were in full favour of war except Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza. Tisza warned that any attack on Serbia "would, as far as can humanly be foreseen, lead to an intervention by Russia and hence a world war". The rest of the participants debated about whether Austria should just launch an unprovoked attack or issue an ultimatum to Serbia with demands so stringent that it was bound to be rejected. Austrian Prime Minister Stürgkh warned Tisza that if Austria did not launch a war, its "policy of hesitation and weakness" would cause Germany to abandon Austria-Hungary as an ally. All present, except Tisza, finally agreed that Austria-Hungary should present an ultimatum designed to be rejected.


title: July Crisis

text: Starting 7 July, the German Ambassador to Austria-Hungary, Heinrich von Tschirschky, and Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Berchtold held almost daily meetings about how to co-ordinate the diplomatic action to justify a war against Serbia. On 8 July, Tschirschky presented Berchtold with a message from Wilhelm who declared he "stated most emphatically that Berlin expected the Monarchy to act against Serbia, and that Germany would not understand it, if ... the present opportunity were allowed to go by ... without a blow struck". At the same meeting, Tschirschky told Berchtold, "if we [Austria-Hungary] compromised or bargained with Serbia, Germany would interpret this as a confession of weakness, which could not be without effect on our position in the Triple Alliance and on Germany's future policy". On 7 July, Bethmann Hollweg told his aide and close friend Kurt Riezler that "action against Serbia can lead to a world war" and that such a "leap in the dark" was justified by the international situation. Bethmann Hollweg explained to Riezler that Germany was "completely paralysed" and that the "future belongs to Russia which is growing and growing, and is becoming an ever increasing nightmare to us". Riezler went to write in his diary that Bethmann Hollweg painted a "devastating picture" with Russia building rail-roads in Poland allowing Russian forces to mobilize faster once the Great Military Programme was finished in 1917. While admitting that an Austro-Serbian war would probably cause a world war "which would lead to an overthrow of the existing order", Bethmann Hollweg reasoned the "existing order was lifeless and void of ideas" and that such a war could only be welcomed as a blessing to Germany. Such fears about Russia led Bethmann Hollweg to credit Anglo-Russian naval talks in May 1914 as the beginning of an "encirclement" policy against Germany that could only be broken through war.


title: July Crisis

text: On 8 July, Tisza informed another meeting of the Crown Council that any attack on Serbia was bound to lead to "intervention by Russia and consequently world war". On the same day, Kurt Riezler's diary has his friend Bethmann Hollweg saying: "If the war comes from the East, so that we are marching to Austria-Hungary's aid instead of Austria-Hungary to ours, then we have a chance of winning it. If war does not come, if the Czar does not want it or France dismayed, counsels peace, then we still have a chance of maneuvering the Entente apart over this action."


title: July Crisis

text: On 9 July, Berchtold advised the Emperor that he would present Belgrade with an ultimatum containing demands that were designed to be rejected. This would ensure a war without the "odium of attacking Serbia without warning, put her in the wrong", and ensure that Britain and Romania would remain neutral. On 10 July, Berchtold told Tschirschky he would present Serbia with an ultimatum containing "unacceptable demands" as the best way of causing war, but "chief care" would be taken about how to present these "unacceptable demands". In response, Wilhelm wrote angrily on the margins of Tschirschky's dispatch "They had time enough for that!"


title: July Crisis

text: It took the week of 7–14 July to persuade Tisza to support war. On 9 July, Prince Lichnowsky, the German Ambassador in London was told by British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey that he "saw no reason for taking a pessimistic view of the situation". Despite Tisza's opposition, Berchtold had ordered his officials to start drafting an ultimatum to Serbia on 10 July. The German Ambassador reported that "Count Berchtold appeared to hope that Serbia would not agree to the Austro-Hungarian demands, as a mere diplomatic victory would put the country here again in a stagnant mood". Count Hoyos told a German diplomat "that the demands were really of such a nature that no nation that still possessed self-respect and dignity could possibly accept them".


title: July Crisis

text: On 11 July, Tschirschky reported to Jagow that he "again took the occasion to discuss with Berchtold what action was to be taken against Serbia, chiefly in order to assure the minister once again, emphatically that speedy action was called for". On the same day, the German Foreign Office wanted to know if they should send a telegram congratulating King Peter of Serbia on his birthday. Wilhelm replied that not doing so might attract attention. On 12 July, Szögyény reported from Berlin that everyone in the German government wanted to see Austria-Hungary declare war on Serbia at once, and were tired of Austrian indecision about whether to choose war or peace.


title: July Crisis

text: On 12 July, Berchtold showed Tschirschky the contents of his ultimatum containing "unacceptable demands", and promised to present it to the Serbs after the Franco-Russian summit between President Poincaré and Nicholas II was over. Wilhelm wrote on the margins of Tschirschky's dispatch "What a pity!" that the ultimatum would be presented so late in July. By 14 July, Tisza agreed to support war out of fear that a policy of peace would lead to Germany renouncing the Dual Alliance of 1879. On that day, Tschirschky reported to Berlin that Austria-Hungary would present an ultimatum "which would almost certainly be rejected and should result in war". That same day, Jagow sent instructions to Prince Lichnowsky, the German Ambassador in London, stating Germany had decided to do everything within its power to cause an Austro-Serbian war, but Germany must avoid the impression "that we were egging Austria on to war".


title: July Crisis

text: Jagow described a war against Serbia as Austria-Hungary's last chance at "political rehabilitation". He stated that under no circumstances did he want a peaceful solution, and though he did not want a preventive war, he would not "jib at the post" if such a war came because Germany was ready for it, and Russia "fundamentally was not". Russia and Germany being destined to fight each other, Jagow believed that now was the best time for the inevitable war, because: "in a few years Russia ... will be ready. Then she will crush us on land by weight of numbers, and she will have her Baltic Fleet and her strategic railroads ready. Our group meanwhile is getting weaker".