title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: The series, like the comic, starts with a pandemic that turns the dead into zombie-like "walkers" that decimates civilization, and takes place along the United States eastern seaboard. The series focuses on the character of Clementine, a young girl that is cared for by Lee Everett during the first season, and subsequently travels both by herself and with other groups in later seasons after Lee sacrifices himself for her. During the second season, she becomes the adoptive caretaker of AJ, an infant left parentless. When Clementine later joins with a survival group called the New Frontier in the third season, they strip AJ from her, and Clementine works with another survivor, Javier Garcia, to rescue both their families from the New Frontier. During the final season, some years later, Clementine and AJ join other teenagers holding out at their boarding school to protect it from bandits and walkers. Some of the characters from the comic series, such as Shawn Greene, Glenn Rhee, Hershel Greene, Michonne, Siddiq and Paul "Jesus" Monroe, have appeared during the video game series.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: The games in "The Walking Dead" series eschew typical puzzles and exploration found in most adventure games and instead offer a stronger narrative and interaction with other characters. The game mixes such scenes with more action-oriented ones based on quick time events to elicit excitement during the games. Telltale introduced the feature of having numerous determinants that could result from the player's choices, such as which of two characters to save during an attack, that influenced the story in later episodes and seasons, and the company has used this aspect of player choice in its subsequent adventure games.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: While the series was primarily developed and published by Telltale Games under license from Skybound, the studio effectively shuttered in late 2018 in the midst of the fourth main series, "The Final Season". Robert Kirkman, creator of "The Walking Dead" and of Skybound, felt it was necessary to finish off Clementine's story, and hired some of the Telltale staff to finish off the series. Skybound also took over publishing duties for the other games in the series.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: The series has been praised for its strong narratives and impact of player choices. The first season was particularly noted as having been considered as revitalizing the waning adventure game genre, which had been languishing since around 2000.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead" series is based on the comic series of the same name. The game's events run concurrently to the comic, starting at the onset of a zombie apocalypse, where dead humans have become undead "walkers" that feed on the living which quickly overwhelmed most of the population. As established in the comic and show, this is a result of a virus that all living humans possess that takes over the brain of the body once the person dies, and the only way to stop this is to destroy the brain.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: The game series initially starts in Georgia, with the whole of the first season and the events of "400 Days" content taking place within the state. The second series follows the protagonists as they move north along the United States' eastern seaboard, believing there to be a human encampment in the north as well as the colder temperatures slowing the walkers' speed.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead" games follow the same point-and-click adventure game approach that other Telltale Games episodic series have followed. Within an episode, the player controls a protagonist as the story progresses through several scenes. Within a scene, the player can move the character to explore the area, examine items, and initiate conversation trees with non-player characters; in these dialogs, the player has the option of selecting a number of options to reply to characters, including the option to stay silent. Other scenes are based on cinematic elements using quick time events in which the player must hit a controller button or a keyboard command as indicated on screen to react to an event. Failure to do so in time can lead to the character's death or other undesirable ending, and the game will restart just prior to these scenes.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: All choices made by the player in "The Walking Dead" are tracked by the game, and certain choices ("determinants") will influence later scenes across the episodes and the series to date, when the player continues from the same saved game state. For example, in the first episode of the first season, the player has an option to save one of two non-player characters from a walker attack; the other character is killed, while the surviving character will uniquely impact other aspects of the story. Other times, selection of certain dialog options will influence the attitude of a non-player character towards the protagonist, and can manifest in later scenes as providing additional options for the player to select from. Telltale Games tracks these decisions, including five main choices made during the course of each episode, allowing players to compare their choices to others.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: At the onset of the zombie apocalypse, Lee Everett rescues young Clementine whose parents had traveled to Savannah prior to the apocalypse. They join with other survivors in Macon, Georgia to protect themselves from the undead, taking shelter in a defensible motel. When their position is overrun by both walkers and scavengers, the group flees and heads towards Savannah hoping to find boats to flee the mainland. Lee promises to reunite Clementine with her parents while teaching her rules of survival in this new world. In Savannah, they find no boats, and a strange man communicating to Clementine via walkie-talkie. When Clementine goes missing, Lee in his panic searching is accidentally bitten by a walker. With his time short, Lee assures the safety of the remaining survivors and goes to rescue Clementine, held by a man who has blamed Lee directly for the death of his family. Lee and Clementine overwhelm the man, and as they escape, they witness Clementine's parents, who have already become walkers. Clementine drags a weakening Lee to a safe location, and Lee, in his final moments of rationality, directs her to find the other survivors, before telling her to kill him or leave him before he fully becomes a walker.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "400 Days" is a downloadable special episode. It focuses on five different protagonists and it serves as a bridge between Season 1 and Season 2. In the final scene, the survivors of each story are offered to be taken into a safe camp.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: A 3-D virtual pinball adaptation of the first season, developed jointly by Telltale Games and Zen Studios, was released on August 27, 2014, as downloadable content for most of Zen Studios' family of pinball games and also as a standalone paid mobile app.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: More than a year after the first game, Clementine is separated from the other survivors and forced to fend on her own. She meets up with another group that are attempting to flee a man named Carver, who runs the human survivor camp at a strip mall, as alluded to in "400 Days". Clementine learns Carver seeks to capture Rebecca believing her to be carrying his child while she insists it is her husband Alvin's. They come into another group, discovering that Kenny, one of the survivors that Clementine traveled with from the first season and who had lost his wife and son to walkers, has managed to survive. In the midst of a walker attack, they are captured by Carver. Learning that a massive walker horde is approaching the strip mall and will readily overrun it, the group manages to escape with other prisoners, killing Carver in the process after he kills Alvin. During their escape, a woman that Kenny had taken a romantic interest in is bitten by a walker, forcing Clementine to intercede to kill her before she can turn, angering Kenny. As they regroup, Clementine becomes close to Jane, a loner that was part of the prisoners at Carver's camp and who teaches Clementine survival skills. Later, Rebecca dies after giving birth to a child, which they name Alvin Jr. (AJ) As winter sets in, Jane and Kenny become hostile towards each other, and Kenny's distrust of the group leads to a fraction of them fleeing from Kenny, Jane, Clementine, and Alvin Jr.. Jane forces Clementine to see what Kenny has become from witnessing the deaths of his loved ones by faking the death of Alvin Jr., and Clementine is forced to intercede, killing one of them and opting to continue with the other while overseeing to Alvin Jr. herself.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: In June 2014, Telltale announced a three-episode series "The Walking Dead: Michonne". The mini-series released on February 23, 2015 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; February 25, 2015 for iOS and Android; and March 1, 2015 for PC, and serves as a tie-in between the first two "The Walking Dead" seasons developed by Telltale. The series mostly focuses on Michonne's untold story on what took Michonne away from Rick, Ezekiel, and the rest of Rick Grimes' trusted group and what brought her back. Samira Wiley voiced Michonne in the game. The mini-series was originally scheduled to be released as downloadable content for "Season 2". However, in December 2014, Telltale announced that the game would be released as a standalone title that would not require any previous game in the series to play


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: The third season of "The Walking Dead" launched with two episodes on December 20, 2016. The season plans to tie in all the possible endings from previous seasons without compromising the story to avoid pushing away new players to the series. In an interview with "IGN", Kirkman stated that the third season would bring the video game closer to the comic book's time frame. It takes place a few years after the second season, and includes a somewhat older Clementine along with AJ, the infant she rescues at the end of Season 2 who is now a toddler. Clementine is a playable character along with a new character, Javier. "A New Frontier" uses the updated Telltale Tool, the same game engine Telltale used for .


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: During the 2016 PAX Expo, Telltale revealed the third season will be released in November 2016, with the subtitle "A New Frontier". Telltale later had to delay the first episode's release until December 20, 2016. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment published retail versions of "Season 3" as part of a deal with Telltale for "Batman" that was released in August 2016. The physical edition was released on February 7, 2017, featuring the first episode on disc and download codes to obtain all future episodes of the series.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: Announced in November 2017, "The Walking Dead Collection" includes all episodes from the first three seasons, as well as "400 Days" and "The Walking Dead: Michonne". The collection was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on December 5, 2017. The content of the first two seasons and "400 Days" has been visually improved, reflecting on improvements Telltale has made in their engine since these seasons were first released, including high-definition texture mapping for all survivor characters, improved dynamic lighting, and upgrading the game's graphics to use DirectX 11 over DirectX 9. The older games also use the user interface elements developed for the third season as to provide a consistent interface to the players.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead Collection" was nominated for the Tappan Zee Bridge Award for Best Remake at the New York Game Awards 2018.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: Announced during the July 2017 San Diego Comic Con, "The Walking Dead: The Final Season", launched as four-episode series on August 14, 2018 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Nintendo Switch version to launch later that year. Episodes are expected to launch roughly each month through December 2018. Clementine will return as the lead character, voiced by Hutchinson, as Telltale found that fans of the series were not pleased with how little interactivity there was with Clementine in "A New Frontier". Telltale wanted to have the final season call back to what fans had praised about the first season, and knew they needed to make Clementine the focus. With this direction, Telltale decided to make this the final season for "The Walking Dead" series so that they can create a satisfactory conclusion to Clementine's story arc. For this purpose, Telltale brought back Gary Whitta, the writer for the first season and "400 Days" content, to help close out Clementine's story.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: The story follows from "A New Frontier" with Clementine having rescued AJ from the McCarroll Ranch, with an ellipsis a few years ahead, where AJ is now a young boy. With diminishing resources amid the apocalypse, Clementine and AJ find the importance of staying with communities of vital importance, meeting other characters who have little memory of the time before the downfall of society. Clementine starts to teach AJ the essentials of survival as Lee had taught her. Telltale had initially considered writing a version of Clementine that had become more jaded, but found this was far too different from the established version of the character, and reworked her to be more sympathetic.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: The final season used the updated version of the Telltale Tool first introduced in "", along with improvements in the visual style to approach the style used in "The Walking Dead" comic. Some scenes will feature "unscripted" zombies who may attack Clementine if the player is not careful, creating new freeform combat sequences, while other parts of the game will continue to use quick-time events as from previous games.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: Despite the title "The Final Season", Telltale did not rule out future "The Walking Dead" games; Creative Director Kent Mudle said that "The Final Season" title represented the end of Clementine's journey from Telltale's view, but could revisit the franchise through other characters.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: However, due to the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games on September 21, 2018, only two of the four episodes were released and production on the latter two were cancelled, effectively leaving the season half-finished. Skybound Entertainment later stepped in to develop the rest of the season, re-hiring some ex-Telltale staff in the process, as Kirkman had felt it necessary to properly complete Clementine's story. Skybound has also acquired the publishing rights to all previous Telltale "The Walking Dead" games.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: Skybound published "The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series" that includes all episodes from all four seasons, as well as "400 Days" and "The Walking Dead: Michonne", for release on Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 10, 2019. Each of the previous episodes in the series was remastered to use the new rendering system that was introduced in "The Final Season", and adds over ten hours of developers and voice actor commentary. Additional improvements have been made in character models movement and lip syncing.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: In addition to the "Definitive Series" edition, Skybound has also published all four seasons (including the "400 Days" content) for the Nintendo Switch by January 21, 2020, and republished all four seasons, "400 Days" and "Michonne" on personal computer digital storefronts in January 2020, after they had been pulled from sale from Telltale Games' closure.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead" video game series introduces new characters developed by Telltale for the games. "Season One" is based around Lee Everett (voiced by Dave Fennoy), a Georgia college professor who had been charged with murder, and was in the midst of being sent to prison at the start of the walker outbreak. Lee escapes and encounters young Clementine (voiced by Melissa Hutchison), hiding in her treehouse after her babysitter had turned and her parents not yet back from vacation. Lee becomes a protective figure to her to help reunite her with her parents. Within "Season Two" taking place about a year later, Clementine is now the central character, struggling to find a place in several survivor groups.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: Other major characters include Kenny, a fisherman who has suffered numerous losses of family and loved ones and has become emotionally unstable, Luke, a former entrepreneur who carries himself logically than emotionally, Jane, a young lone-wolf woman that teaches Clementine the values of self-preservation that a person's life comes first than anybody else, Carver, a principle antagonist of "Season Two" that seeks out the group of survivors that Clementine has joined believing one carries his child, and A.J., the newborn infant that Carver seeks who Clementine takes care of after his mother succumbs to the elements. The fate of several characters are determinant based on the actions that the player has taken in previous episodes, or otherwise unresolved within the narrative of the games. As the game takes place within the comic's universe, there have been some character crossovers with the series; Hershel Greene, Shawn Greene and Glenn, three characters from the comic series, have appeared briefly in "Season One". Michonne, a prominent comic character, is featured as the playable-character in the "Michonne" mini-series, which also features comic characters Pete, Siddiq, Elodie, Dominic and Colette (the latter two are mentioned, but not seen, in the comics). Jesus makes an appearance in The New Frontier.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: According to Telltale, the combined games in the series have sold over 50 million episodes worldwide by July 2017.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead" has received critical acclaim, with reviewers giving praise for the harsh emotional tone, the characters, story and the resemblance to the original comic book, although criticizing the graphical glitches. The game received over 80 Game of the Year awards and many other awards.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 1 – A New Day" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic calculated scores of 85.14% and 84/100, respectively, for the PlayStation 3 version, 83.87% and 79/100 for the Xbox 360 version, and 83.38% and 82/100 for the PC version. The game received various accolades including the IGN "Editors' Choice", "PC Gamer" "Editors' Choice", Xbox Editors' Choice Award, and the PlayStation Gold Award.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 2 – Starved for Help" received positive reviews. GameRankings and Metacritic calculated scores of 86.53% and 84/100, respectively, for the PC version, 86.26% and 84/100 for the Xbox 360 version, and 85.90% and 84/100 for the PlayStation 3 version. The game won the GameSpy E3 2012 award for "Best Adventure Game".


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 3 – Long Road Ahead" received positive reviews. GameRankings and Metacritic calculated scores of 88.47% and 88/100, respectively, for the Xbox 360 version, 86.11% and 87/100 for the PlayStation 3 version, and 85.41% and 85/100 for the PC version. IGN's Greg Miller gave the game a 9 out of 10, saying "It's a disturbing, depressing and entertaining entry in a journey that's been nothing short of excellent so far." GameSpot gave the game an 8.5, saying ""The Walking Dead" has passed the midway point of its series of five episodes with every indication that the game will keep getting better right through to its inevitably depressing and unsettling conclusion." MTV also gave it a positive review, saying "Telltale has created a series of wrenching, emotional decisions in the middle of a collection of not-too-hard puzzles in a visually-impressive adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic series (with some nods to the TV show)."


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 4 – Around Every Corner" received positive reviews, but to a lesser extent than the previous episodes. GameRankings and Metacritic calculated scores of 84.00% and 80/100, respectively, for the PC version, 82.50% and 82/100 the Xbox 360 version, and 78.94% and 81/100 for the PlayStation 3 version.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 5 – No Time Left" received critical acclaim. GameRankings and Metacritic calculated scores of 94.75% and 89/100, respectively, for the PC version, 88.15% and 89/100 for the Xbox 360 version, and 87.75% and 88/100 for the PlayStation 3 version.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "400 Days" received positive reviews. GameRankings and Metacritic calculated scores of 78.20% and 78/100, respectively, for the PlayStation 3 version, 78.00% and 78/100 for the PC version, and 76.88% and 80/100 for the Xbox 360 version.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead: Season Two" overall received generally positive reviews from critics earning praise for its atmosphere, tension, and Clementine's newly appointed role as the protagonist, but earned criticism for its lack of hub areas and certain aspects of its storytelling.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 1 – All That Remains" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 81.29% and 82/100, the PC version 78.76% and 78/100 and the Xbox 360 version 77.50% and 80/100. Matt Liebl from GameZone gave the episode an 8.5/10, stating that it "...is just a taste of what's to come -- a mere setup for the horror that awaits us in the final four episodes."


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 2 – A House Divided" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 87.29% and 82/100, the PC version 81.39% and 81/100 and the Xbox 360 version 79.44% and 80/100. Mitch Dyer from IGN gave the episode a 9.5/10, saying it is one of the best episodes Telltale Games has ever made.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 3 – In Harm's Way" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 82.43% and 80/100, the Xbox 360 version 82.25% and 82/100 and the PC version 82.22% and 81/100.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "Episode 4 – Amid the Ruins" received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 79.22% and 78/100, the PC version 78.58% and 78/100 and the Xbox 360 version 72.00% and 71/100.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: higher than its predecessor. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 81.67% and 87/100, the PC version 79.19% and 78/100 and the Xbox 360 version 77.00% and 84/100. Mitch Dyer of IGN gave the episode a 9.5/10 saying that the finale is "an impressive and intelligent episode, and among Telltale Games' finest stories."


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead: Michonne" received mixed reviews from critics earning praise for its action sequences, atmosphere, and the character development of Michonne, but earned criticism for its story, side characters, short episode lengths, and graphical glitches.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead: A New Frontier" received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics with particular praise directed at the game's updated graphics, new cast of characters, action sequences, and overall new direction. However, the short episode lengths and the treatment of the Season 2 endings were both subjects of criticism. The game's story and Clementine's shift to a supporting character were both met with a mixed response.


title: The Walking Dead (video game series)

text: "The Walking Dead: The Final Season" received generally positive reviews earning praise for its characterization, visuals, and upgraded gameplay mechanics, and is considered by both critics and fans to be an improvement over its predecessor and a return to form for the series.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Stahlhelm () is a German military steel combat helmet intended to provide protection against shrapnel and fragments of grenades. The term "Stahlhelm" refers both to a generic steel helmet and more specifically to the distinctive German military design.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The armies of major European powers introduced helmets of this type during World War I. The German Army began to replace the traditional boiled leather "Pickelhaube" () with the "Stahlhelm" in 1916. The "Stahlhelm", with its distinctive "coal scuttle" shape, was instantly recognizable and became a common element of propaganda on both sides, just like the "Pickelhaube" before it. The name was also used by "Der Stahlhelm", a post–World War I organization for German ex-servicemen that existed from 1918 to 1935. After World War II, the German () continued to call their standard helmet "Stahlhelm", but the design was based on the American M1 helmet. The "Bundesgrenzschutz" (), however, continued to use the original German design, until both troops switched to the new M92 Aramid helmet.


title: Stahlhelm

text: At the beginning of World War I, none of the combatants were issued with any form of protection for the head other than cloth and leather caps, designed at most to protect against sabre cuts. When trench warfare began, the number of casualties on all sides suffering from severe head wounds (more often caused by shrapnel bullets or shell fragments than by gunfire) increased dramatically, since the head was typically the most exposed part of the body when in a trench. The French were the first to see a need for more protection—in mid-1915 they began to issue Adrian helmets to their troops. The British and Commonwealth troops followed with the Brodie helmet (a development of which was also later worn by US forces) and the Germans with the "Stahlhelm".


title: Stahlhelm

text: As the German army behaved hesitantly in the development of an effective head protection, some units developed provisional helmets in 1915. Stationed in the rocky area of the Vosges the Army Detachment "Gaede" recorded significantly more head injuries caused by stone and shell splinters than did troops in other sectors of the front. The artillery workshop of the Army Detachment developed a helmet that consisted of a leather cap with a steel plate (6 mm thickness). The plate protected not only the forehead but also the eyes and nose.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The helmet was quite deep relative to the thickness of the steel; one American company that tried to press similar thickness steel into the shape of the much shallower Brodie helmet was unable to do so. The helmet was bullet-resistant to pistol rounds such as 9mm Luger and 45 ACP that would only dent the surface.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The design of the "Stahlhelm" was carried out by Dr Friedrich Schwerd of the Technical Institute of Hanover. In early 1915, Schwerd had carried out a study of head wounds suffered during trench warfare and submitted a recommendation for steel helmets, shortly after which he was ordered to Berlin. Schwerd then undertook the task of designing and producing a suitable helmet, broadly based on the 15th-century sallet, which provided good protection for the head and neck.


title: Stahlhelm

text: After lengthy development work, which included testing a selection of German and Allied headgear, the first "stahlhelm" were tested in November 1915 at the Kummersdorf Proving Ground and then field-tested by the 1st Assault Battalion. Thirty thousand examples were ordered, but it was not approved for general issue until New Year of 1916, hence it is most usually referred to as the "Model 1916". In February 1916 it was distributed to troops at Verdun, following which the incidence of serious head injuries fell dramatically. The first German troops to use this helmet were the stormtroopers of the "Sturm-Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr)", which was commanded by captain Willy Rohr.


title: Stahlhelm

text: In contrast to the Hadfield steel used in the British Brodie helmet, the Germans used a harder martensitic silicon/nickel steel. As a result, and also due to the helmet's form, the "Stahlhelm" had to be formed in heated dies at a greater unit cost than the British helmet, which could be formed in one piece.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Like the British and French, German troops identified highly with their helmets, as it became a popular symbol of paramilitary groups after the First World War. Such was the attachment of the World War One generation to the design that it was reportedly the reason that Hitler rejected a modernised, sloping helmet design to replace it.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Germany exported versions of the M1935 helmet to various countries. Versions of the M1935 "Stahlhelm" were sent to Republic of China from 1935 to 1936 and the M1935 was the main helmet of the Chinese Nationalist Army (especially the "central" divisions) during World War II. Spain also received shipments of the helmet. During the inter-war years, several military missions were sent to South America under the command of Hans Kundt, after Chaco War the Bolivian army used to wear the helmet up until recently. The exported M1935 helmets were similar to the German issue, except for a different liner.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Some countries manufactured their own helmets using the M1935 design, and this basic design was in use in various nations as late as the 1970s.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Germans allowed and assisted the Hungarians in copying their design of the M1935 steel helmet. Therefore, the WWII-produced M38 Hungarian steel helmet is nearly identical to the German M1935. Both have almost the same shape, riveted ventilation holes, and the classic rolled edge. Differences include somewhat rougher Hungarian finishing, a different liner and different rivets position – the split pins are situated behind the ventilation holes. A square metal bracket is riveted on the rear, above the back brim; used to secure the helmet to the knapsack while marching. It was typically painted in Hungarian brown-green, albeit blue-grey versions existed. It is sometimes called the "Finnish M35" due to its extensive use by the Finnish Army during the Continuation War 1941–44.


title: Stahlhelm

text: After the end of World War I Poland seized large quantities of M1918 helmets. Most of those were later sold to various countries, including Spain. However, at the end of the 1930s, it was discovered that the standard Polish wz. 31 helmet was unsuitable for tank troops and motorized units; while offering decent protection, it was too large and heavy. As a stop-gap measure before a new helmet was developed, the General Staff decided to issue M1918 helmets to the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, which used them during the Polish Defensive War.


title: Stahlhelm

text: During the time of the Warsaw Uprising the helmet was also worn by the members of the Polish Home Army and it was during this time that the helmet became the symbol of the resistance, as every "Stahlhelm" worn by a soldier of the underground army signified a dead German occupier it was taken from.


title: Stahlhelm

text: In November 1926, the Irish Defence Forces decided upon adopting the German "Stahlhelm". However, when the Irish government contacted the German Foreign Office with a request for a sample they were informed that Germany was barred from exporting steel helmets by the Treaty of Versailles. The Irish then turned to London based Vickers, ordering 5,000 copies of a model closely resembling the M1918 helmet. The helmet remained in use until it was replaced by the British Mark II model in 1940. Following the outbreak of World War II, the helmets became the subject of anti-Irish propaganda originating in Britain. A large number of the withdrawn helmets were reissued to various emergency services after being painted white.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Switzerland used a helmet, designated the M1918, that was roughly similar to the M1916 but had a shallower, wider and more rounded crown and skirt. This was to protect against the harsh winter winds of the alpine regions.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Chilean Army was a prolific user of the Vulkanfiber models, bought before the Second World War, along with a few M1935 and Czechoslovak M32 helmets. After the war, local production of lightweight fiber and plastic models started, which are still in ceremonial & garrison use today. Small runs of steel helmets were made by FAMAE in the 80's, but ultimately were not adopted due to the ascendance of kevlar and synthetic ballistic fiber helmets by that time. A "Stahlhelm" with crossed bayonets and the corresponding number is the standard insignia of infantry regiments.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Argentine Army adopted a similar model, made of pressed fibre, during World War II, reflecting the traditional sympathy towards Germany found in many of the officers. For combat and provincial police use, imported Swiss M1918 Helmets were still in service as late as 1976.


title: Stahlhelm

text: In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, due to large quantities captured by World War II Partisans, the "Stahlhelm" was used in Yugoslav People's Army up to 1959, when it was phased out and replaced by the M59/85 steel helmet.


title: Stahlhelm

text: After World War II, West Germany's Bundesgrenzschutz border guards and some West German police units kept the "Stahlhelm" in their inventories (police units can be seen wearing them during footage of the Black September hostage crisis in 1972), and the Fallschirmjäger variant was used for some time by the GSG 9. With the re-armament of West Germany the Bundeswehr introduced the United States Army M1 Helmet which was replaced by a Kevlar helmet ("Gefechtshelm"), similar to the modern US helmets, in the 1990s. German firefighter units today still use "Stahlhelm"-shaped helmets in a fluorescent colour.


title: Stahlhelm

text: East Germany's National People's Army M-56 helmet was modelled on an unused 1942 German design with a more conical shape. The Chilean Army still uses the "Stahlhelm" design for ceremonial purposes, as well as the Bolivian Army. There are also some Japanese bicycle helmets (with accompanying goggles) that resemble the "Stahlhelm". Many schools and universities in Mexico such as the Autonomous University of Baja California have military bands that use or resemble the M35 "Stahlhelm".


title: Stahlhelm

text: The U.S. Army's 1980s and 1990s era Kevlar Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops Helmet was sometimes called the "Fritz helmet" for its resemblance to the "Stahlhelm". The U.S. Army and Marines have continued to use a design akin to the PASGT helmet with the MICH TC-2000 Combat Helmet and Lightweight Helmet, respectively.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers still used M1935 helmets which were captured from the Chinese Nationalist Army during the Chinese Civil War until the 1970s.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Since 2012, El Salvador's Policia Nacional Civil use a navy/indigo blue-coloured helmet that strongly resembles the "Stahlhelm"; this helmet is used by some members of the riot-control unit and rarely used by the Police's assault teams.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The different "Stahlhelm" designs are named for their year of introduction. For example, the "Modell 1942" which was introduced in 1942 is commonly known as "M1942" or simply "M42". Here, they are referred to by their M19"XX" names.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The M1916 design had side-mounted horn-like ventilator lugs which were intended to be support for an additional steel brow plate or "Stirnpanzer", which only ever saw limited use by snipers and trench raiding parties, as it was too heavy for general use.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The shell came in different sizes, from 60 to 68, with some size 70s reported. Helmet weight varied from 0.98 kg to 1.4 kg, depending on shell size. The suspension, or liner, consisted of a headband with three segmented leather pouches, each holding padding materials, and leather or fabric cords could be adjusted to provide a comfortable fit. The one-piece leather chin strap was attached to the shell by M1891 chinstrap lugs, the same kind used in the Pickelhaube helmet.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The M1916 design provided excellent protection: Reserve Lieutenant Walter Schulze of 8th Company Reserve Infantry Regiment 76 described his combat introduction to the helmet on the Somme, 29 July 1916:


title: Stahlhelm

text: ... suddenly, with a great clanging thud, I was hit on the forehead and knocked flying onto the floor of the trench... a shrapnel bullet had hit my helmet with great violence, without piercing it, but sufficiently hard to dent it. If I had, as had been usual up until a few days previously, been wearing a cap, then the Regiment would have had one more man killed.


title: Stahlhelm

text: But the helmet was not without its flaws. The ventilator horns often let cold air in during the winter, requiring the wearer to block the vents with mud or fabric. The large, flared skirt tended to make it difficult for soldiers to hear, distorting surrounding sounds and creating an echo when the wearer spoke.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Originally painted "Feldgrau" (field grey), the "Stahlhelm" was often camouflaged by troops in the field using mud, foliage, cloth covers, and paint. Official issue cloth covers in white and grey appeared in late 1916 and early 1917. Camouflage paint was not formally introduced until July 1918, when German Army Order II, No 91 366, signed by General Erich Ludendorff on 7 July 1918, outlined official standards for helmet camouflage. The order stipulated that helmets should be painted in several colours, separated by a finger-wide black line. The colours should be relevant to the season, such as using green, brown and ochre in summer.


title: Stahlhelm

text: After the effectiveness of the M1916 design was validated during the 1916 campaigns, incremental improvements were subsequently made. The M1917 version saw improvements to the liner but was otherwise identical to the original design.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Extensive redesigns were made for the M1918 model. A new two-piece chin strap was introduced and was attached directly to the helmet liner rather than the shell. Certain examples of the M1918 had cutouts in the rim along the sides of the helmet. It has incorrectly been said that these cutouts were to accommodate using headphones while wearing the helmet. These cutouts were actually done to improve hearing and to reduce echo created by the large, flared skirt.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The M1918 "Stahlhelm" can be distinguished from the M1916, as the M1918 shell lacks the chinstrap rivet on the lower side of the helmet skirt found on earlier models.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Austria-Hungary purchased about 416,000 German helmets from November 1916 until the end of the war and also began its own licensed production starting in May 1917. Around a million "Stahlhelm" of all variants were issued until the end of the war.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Austrian M17 helmet was similar to the German M16 but was coloured golden-brown (known as Isonzo-braun), had a cloth chinstrap and had the chinstrap rivet located higher up on the steel shell. From May 1917 till the end of World War I 534,013 were produced, many of which were manufactured at the Krupp in Berndorf, Lower Austria.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Hungarian M18 variant was similar to the Austrian M17 design, but the chinstrap rivet was smaller in size and located even higher up than the Austrian version. It was coloured in golden-brown (known as Isonzo-braun). These were manufactured at the Krupp in Berndorf, Lower Austria.


title: Stahlhelm

text: There was also a quite different, domestically developed Berndorfer variant. 139,968 were produced from May till November 1917 at the Krupp in Berndorf, Lower Austria


title: Stahlhelm

text: The formation in 1917 by the Ottoman Empire of stormtrooper battalions following the German model prompted the requirement for steel helmets, as these had not previously been adopted. Although German helmets were ordered, Ottoman officers believed that the design impeded the soldiers' ability to hear orders in the field and requested that the visor, ear and neck protectors be removed, which was done using grinding machines. Germany delivered 5,400 visorless versions of the M1918 helmet for the Ottoman Empire. The missing front visor was thought by the Germans to be for religious reasons, and it was claimed that it was to allow Turkish soldiers to touch their foreheads to the ground during prayer, without removing their helmets. However, this story has been disputed. The Turks rejected any more than the 5,400 delivered and an unknown number from the overrun were issued to German armed forces and were used by German Freikorps units after the war.


title: Stahlhelm

text: In 1932 the Army High Command ordered the testing of a new prototype helmet intended to replace the older models. It was made entirely from a composite plastic material called "Vulkanfiber". The Model 1933 Vulkanfiber helmet kept the basic form of previous helmets but was much lighter. It was put into limited production following favourable field tests in early 1933 and small numbers were issued to Reichswehr infantry, artillery and communications units. It was removed from service following the introduction of the M1935 helmet and most of the remaining stock were reissued to civil organizations such as fire brigades and police forces. Some examples were also retained for parade use by senior officers, who were not generally issued with the "Stahlhelm".


title: Stahlhelm

text: In 1934 tests began on an improved "Stahlhelm", whose design was a development of World War I models. The company "Eisenhüttenwerke Thale" (today Thaletec) carried out prototype design and testing, with Dr Friedrich Schwerd once again taking a hand.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The new helmet was pressed from sheets of molybdenum steel in several stages. The size of the flared visor and skirt was reduced, and the large projecting lugs for the obsolete armour shield were eliminated. The ventilator holes were retained but were set in smaller hollow rivets mounted to the helmet's shell. The edges of the shell were rolled over, creating a smooth edge along the helmet. Finally, a completely new leather suspension, or liner, was incorporated that greatly improved the helmet's safety, adjustability, and comfort for each wearer. These improvements made the new M1935 helmet lighter, more compact, and more comfortable to wear than the previous designs.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The Army's Supreme Command within the Third Reich's "Wehrmacht" combined armed forces officially accepted the new helmet on June 25, 1935 and it was intended to replace all other helmets in service.


title: Stahlhelm

text: More than 1 million M1935 helmets were manufactured in the first two years after its introduction, and millions more were produced until 1940 when the basic design and production methods were changed.


title: Stahlhelm

text: In 1938, the Germans developed a variant of the "Stahlhelm" with a wider, flared peak and ventilation holes originally intended for civil defense and Luftschutz personnel. Known as the gladiator pattern, the privately purchased Luftschutz helmet was originally made from three pieces of steel and typically painted black or dark blue. Later in the war these were issued to Volkssturm personnel, and sometimes repainted in Feldgrun. By 1944, the helmets were stamped from a single steel sheet, and the original leather lining replaced with vinyl or cloth to reduce costs. A modified postwar version in fluorescent green, white or yellow continued to be issued to rescue workers in the Bundesrepublik until the early 1990s.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The M1935 design was slightly modified in 1940 to simplify its construction, the manufacturing process now incorporating more automated stamping methods. The principal change was to stamp the ventilator hole mounts directly onto the shell, rather than utilizing separate fittings. In other respects, the M1940 helmet was identical to the M1935. The Germans still referred to the M1940 as the M1935, while the M1940 designation were given by collectors.


title: Stahlhelm

text: A variant of the M1935 helmet with a shell lacking the projecting visor and deep flared rim was issued to "Fallschirmjäger" (German paratrooper) units. It was so designed in order to lessen the risk of head injury on landing after a parachute jump; also to reduce the significant wind resistance and resulting neck trauma. Early Fallschirmjäger helmets were manufactured from existing M1935 helmets by removing the undesirable projections, which were omitted when the new design entered full production. The modified shell also incorporated a completely different and more substantial liner and chinstrap design that provided far more protection for German airborne troops. The chinstrap featured a four-point retention system that has come into use again by modern combat helmets such as the MICH since the late 1990s.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The M1942 design was a result of wartime demands. From direct orders of the Führer, to ‘maintain intimidation but reduce cost’. The rolled edge on the shell was eliminated, creating an unfinished edge along the rim. This edge slightly flared out, along the base of the skirt, reducing the protection the helmet gave. The elimination of the rolled edge expedited the manufacturing process and reduced the amount of metal used in each helmet. Shell paint colours were typically matte grey-green (Heer) or grey-blue (Luftwaffe), and the decals were eliminated in 1943 to speed up production and reduce the helmet's combat visibility. Greater manufacturing flaws were also observed in M1942 helmets made late in the war.


title: Stahlhelm

text: A simpler variant, designed in 1942 by the Institute for Defence Technical Materials Science in Berlin, was also stamped out of one piece of metal, but with sloped sides. It was similar in appearance to the British 1944 Type Mk III helmet.


title: Stahlhelm

text: There have been reports of a variant manufactured in the last months of the war. The M1945 was reported to have been similar to the M1942 design but did away completely with the ventilator. These helmets are reported to be extremely rare. Many collectors and historians are of the opinion that the M1945 helmet is just a regular M1942 helmet that lacked the vents simply because of machine malfunctions in the factory, or unfinished M1942 that were completed in the post-war era.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The East German M-56 helmet was originally designed in 1942 as a replacement for the M1935/M1940 model "Stahlhelm". It was initially developed for the Wehrmacht by the Institute for Defense Technical Materials Science in Berlin (see "M1944" above). The helmet had seen trials since 1943 but was not adopted during World War II.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The design was not used until the requirement for a distinct German helmet for the Volkspolizei and the National People's Army arose. The East German leadership was motivated in large part by a desire to avoid provoking the offence that using a traditional "Stahlhelm" design would have caused East Germany's Warsaw Pact allies (especially Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union), but a more practical military necessity was also present due to the continued use of surplus "Stahlhelmen" by West German units, in particular border guards. Moreover, the East Germans suspected the West could re-issue the "Stahlhelm" on a general basis in the Bundeswehr at any time and therefore needed a helmet that was easily distinguishable from that of their potential enemy. For both reasons, the 1942 design was likely chosen because it was the most similar of all German designs to the most recognizable Soviet helmets, in particular the iconic SSh-40 design. Such a design not only served a political purpose but was one that NATO armies were unlikely to closely duplicate. Indeed, the M-56 was similar enough in appearance to the SSh-40 that some Westerners failed to realize its German origins altogether and assumed the East Germans had adopted a Soviet design.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The M-56 helmet came in three basic versions, Mod 1 or I/56, Mod 2 or I/57 and Mod 3 or I/71, and was widely sold (or given) to Third World armies.


title: Stahlhelm

text: When the Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS) (Federal Border Guards of Germany) was formed in 1951, it was supplied with old salvaged and refurbished M35, M40 or M42 helmets. Among the changes made, there was the replacement of the interior and the introduction of new eyelets for the chinstrap, some welded inside the helmet some even fixed to the helmet with rivets. The helmets for the BGS were repainted in dark green RAL 6012.


title: Stahlhelm

text: With the progressive depletion of stocks, starting from 1951 new helmets were produced following the construction rules of the M40 model. Regarding the interior, was used the simplified M31 type, with a chinstrap directly fixed to it, (adopted above all by the police forces of the Länder), and a liner with a chinstrap fixed to the helmet according to the methods described above; this version was adopted by the BGS.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Starting from 1953 a further update of the interior was introduced with the type called I53, developed by the company Schuberth Werke Braunschweig.


title: Stahlhelm

text: This interior was no longer fixed with the classic three nails that ran along the helmet shell but by a screw placed inside, in the center of the upper part of the helmet.


title: Stahlhelm

text: For this reason the helmet is recognizable from the previous versions by the absence of the rivets on the shell. In later versions, the ventilation holes were also removed. As regards to the fastening of the chinstrap, were used the same solutions of the previous model.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The West German M-56 "Stahlhelm" was a direct copy of the U.S. M1 helmet. It was properly called "zweiteiliger "Stahlhelm"" (two-piece steel helmet). In 1958 the helmet was made as a one-piece helmet and renamed "Stahlhelm" M1A1. The M1A1 came in three sizes: 66, 68, and 71. This helmet was used until 1981 when a modified version was released and renamed the Helm1A1. Modifications included a 3-point chin strap with the third point connecting at the nape, extra-large sizes, and a further adjustable liner.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The M1A1 "Stahlhelm" remained in service until 1992 when the Bundeswehr replaced it with a PASGT-derived kevlar helmet called the "Gefechtshelm" ("Combat helmet").


title: Stahlhelm

text: After "Stahlhelm" shells were painted, the colours of which varied by organization, small identification or insignia decals usually were affixed to one or both sides of the helmet. Almost every military, naval, and political organization had its own distinctive insignia, which was applied as decals to the sides of helmets. The right side of early M35 helmets bore the tricolored shield of black, white, and red stripes, the traditional national colors of the pre-WWI German Empire (cf. the black, red, and gold of today's Federal Republic of Germany, harking back to the 1848 Revolt). The left side of the shell often received decal insignia denoting the branch of the armed forces, or "Wehrmacht", or an organization within the Nazi Party.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The combined "Wehrmacht" military forces of Nazi Germany consisted of the "Heer" (army), the "Kriegsmarine" (navy), and the "Luftwaffe" (air force). While not technically part of the Wehrmacht, the "Waffen-SS" ("Armed-SS") tactically operated as such and was considered part of Germany's armed forces during the war. The same was true of some "Sturmabteilung" (SA) units, along with other subsidiary organizations, which functioned as part of the armed forces particularly towards the end of the war. Wehrmacht branches typically displayed distinctive emblems in the form of decals on their helmets. The Heer, or army, displayed a black shield bearing the frontal view of a silver-coloured German eagle holding a swastika in its talons (known as the "Reichsadler"), while the navy used the same eagle emblem in gold. Luftwaffe decals displayed the side view of an eagle in flight, also holding a swastika. The SS was both a paramilitary and a political organization, and its black runic initials on a silver-coloured shield (normally applied to the right side of the shell) looked like twin lightning bolts. Other military, political, and civil or defence organizations used similar decal insignia to distinguish their helmets. Such visible identification devices were gradually abandoned as the war progressed, however, so that by war's end most Wehrmacht helmet insignia had been eliminated to reduce the wearer's visibility in combat.


title: Stahlhelm

text: For the Chinese Nationalist Army soldiers, their M35 helmets were stencilled with the Chinese Nationalist Insignia on the left side. Bolivian Army personnel carry the national flag decal on their Stahlhelms when in the full dress.


title: Stahlhelm

text: The German army "Stahlhelm", as well as the Japanese "Kabuto", served as a template for the fictional character's Darth Vader outfit in the Star Wars franchise.


title: Stahlhelm

text: Members of the Wolf Brigade, a fictional Japanese unit in the anime are equipped with "Stahlhelme", as well as Wehrmacht weapons of the Second World War, including StG 44s and MG 42s.


title: Drywall

text: Drywall (also called plasterboard, dry lining, wallboard, sheet rock, gypsum board, buster board, custard board, and gypsum panel) is a panel made of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives, typically extruded between thick sheets of facer and backer paper, used in the construction of interior walls and ceilings. The plaster is mixed with fiber (typically paper, glass wool, or a combination of these materials); plasticizer, foaming agent; and additives that can reduce mildew, flammability, and water absorption.


title: Drywall

text: In the middle of the 20th century, drywall construction became prevalent in North America as a time- and labor-saving alternative to lath and plaster.


title: Drywall

text: The first plasterboard plant in the UK was opened in 1888 in Rochester, Kent. Sackett Board was invented in 1894 by Augustine Sackett and Fred Kane, graduates of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It was made by layering plaster within four plies of wool felt paper. Sheets were thick with open (untaped) edges.


title: Drywall

text: Gypsum board evolved between 1910 and 1930, beginning with wrapped board edges and the elimination of the two inner layers of felt paper in favor of paper-based facings. In 1910 United States Gypsum Corporation bought Sackett Plaster Board Company and by 1917 introduced "Sheetrock". Providing installation efficiency, it was developed additionally as a measure of fire resistance. Later air entrainment technology made boards lighter and less brittle, and joint treatment materials and systems also evolved. Gypsum lath was an early substrate for plaster. An alternative to traditional wood or metal lath was a panel made up of compressed gypsum plaster board that was sometimes grooved or punched with holes to allow wet plaster to key into its surface. As it evolved, it was faced with paper impregnated with gypsum crystals that bonded with the applied facing layer of plaster. In 1936 US Gypsum trademarked ROCKLATH for their gypsum lath product.


title: Drywall

text: In 2002 the European Commission imposed fines totaling €420 million on the companies Lafarge, BPB, Knauf and Gyproc Benelux, which had operated a cartel on the market which affected 80% of consumers in France, the UK, Germany and the Benelux countries.


title: Drywall

text: A wallboard panel consists of a layer of gypsum plaster sandwiched between two layers of paper. The raw gypsum, , is heated to drive off the water and then slightly rehydrated to produce the hemihydrate of calcium sulfate (). The plaster is mixed with fiber (typically paper and/or glass fiber), plasticizer, foaming agent, finely ground gypsum crystal as an accelerator, EDTA, starch or other chelate as a retarder, various additives that may decrease mildew and increase fire resistance, and wax emulsion or silanes for lower water absorption. The board is then formed by sandwiching a core of the wet mixture between two sheets of heavy paper or fiberglass mats. When the core sets, it is dried in a large drying chamber, and the sandwich becomes rigid and strong enough for use as a building material.


title: Drywall

text: Drying chambers typically use natural gas today. To dry of wallboard, between is required. Organic dispersants and plasticizers are used so that the slurry will flow during manufacture and to reduce the water and hence the drying time. Coal-fired power stations include devices called scrubbers to remove sulfur from their exhaust emissions. The sulfur is absorbed by powdered limestone in a process called flue-gas desulfurization (FGD), which produces several new substances. One is called "FGD gypsum". This is commonly used in drywall construction in the United States and elsewhere.


title: Drywall

text: The term "plasterboard" is used in Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, the product is often called "Gyprock", the name of the largest plasterboard manufacturer. In New Zealand it is also called "Gibraltar" and "Gib board", after the registered trademark ("GIB") of the locally made product that dominates the market there.


title: Drywall

text: It is made in thicknesses of 10  mm, 13  mm, and 16  mm, and sometimes other thicknesses up to 25  mm. Panels are commonly sold in 1200 × 2400 mm, 1200 × 4800 mm, and 1200 × 6000 mm sheets. Sheets are usually secured to either timber or cold-formed steel frames anywhere from 150 to 300 mm centres along the beam and 400 to 600 mm across members.


title: Drywall

text: In both countries, plasterboard has become a widely used replacement for scrim and sarking walls in renovating 19th- and early 20th-century buildings.


title: Drywall

text: Drywall panels in the United States are made in widths of and varying lengths to suit the application. The most common width is . Lengths up to are common; the most common is . Common thicknesses are ; thicknesses of are used in specific applications.


title: Drywall

text: In Europe, most plasterboard is made in sheets wide; sheets wide are also made. Plasterboard 120 cm wide is most commonly made in lengths; sheets of and longer also are common. Thicknesses of plasterboard available are .


title: Drywall

text: Plasterboard is commonly made with one of three edge treatments: tapered edge, where the long edges of the board are tapered with a wide bevel at the front to allow jointing materials to be finished flush with the main board face; plain edge, used where the whole surface will receive a thin coating (skim coat) of finishing plaster; and beveled on all four sides, used in products specialized for roofing. Major UK manufacturers do not offer four-sided chamfered drywall for general use.


title: Drywall

text: As an alternative to a week-long plaster application, an entire house can be drywalled in one or two days by two experienced drywallers, and drywall is easy enough to be installed by many amateur home carpenters. In large-scale commercial construction, the work of installing and finishing drywall is often split between drywall mechanics, or "hangers", who install the wallboard, and "tapers" and "mud men", or "float crew", who finish the joints and cover the fastener heads with drywall compound. Drywall can be finished anywhere from a level 0 to a level 5, where 0 is not finished in any fashion, and five is the most pristine. Depending on how significant the finish is to the customer, the extra steps in the finish may or may not be necessary, though priming and painting of drywall are recommended in any location where it may be exposed to any wear.


title: Drywall

text: Drywall is cut to size using a large T-square, by scoring the paper on the finished side (usually white) with a utility knife, breaking the sheet along the cut, and cutting the paper backing. Small features such as holes for outlets and light switches are usually cut using a keyhole saw or a tiny high-speed bit in a rotary tool. Drywall is then fixed to the structure with nails or drywall screws and often glue. "Drywall fasteners", also referred to as "drywall clips" or "stops", are gaining popularity in residential and commercial construction. Drywall fasteners are used for supporting interior drywall corners and replacing the non-structural wood or metal blocking that traditionally was used to install drywall. Their function saves material and labor costs, minimizes call-backs due to truss uplift, increases energy efficiency, and makes plumbing and electrical installation simpler.


title: Drywall

text: When driven fully home, drywall screws countersink their heads slightly into the drywall. They use a 'bugle head', a concave taper, rather than the conventional conical countersunk head; this compresses the drywall surface rather than cutting into it and so avoids tearing the paper. Screws for light-gauge steel framing have a sharp point and finely spaced threads. If the steel framing is heavier than 20-gauge, self-tapping screws with finely spaced threads must be used. In some applications, the drywall may be attached to the wall with adhesives.


title: Drywall

text: After the sheets are secured to the wall studs or ceiling joists, the installer conceals the seams between drywall sheets with "joint tape" and several layers of "joint compound" (sometimes called "mud"), typically spread with a taping knife or putty knife. This compound is also applied to any screw holes or defects. The compound is allowed to air dry and then typically sanded smooth before painting. Alternatively, for a better finish, the entire wall may be given a "skim coat", a thin layer (about ) of finishing compound, to minimize the visual differences between the paper and mudded areas after painting.


title: Drywall

text: Another similar skim coating process is called veneer plastering, although it is done slightly thicker (about ). Veneering uses a slightly different specialized setting compound ("finish plaster") that contains gypsum and lime putty. This application uses blueboard, which has specially treated paper to accelerate the setting of the gypsum plaster component. This setting has far less shrinkage than the air-dry compounds normally used in drywall, so it only requires one coat. Blueboard also has square edges rather than tapered-edge drywall boards. The tapered drywall boards are used to countersink the tape in taped jointing, whereas the tape in veneer plastering is buried beneath a level surface. One coat veneer plaster over dry board is an intermediate style step between full multi-coat "wet" plaster and the limited joint-treatment-only given "dry" wall.


title: Drywall

text: The method of installation and type of drywall can reduce sound transmission through walls and ceilings. Several builders' books state that thicker drywall reduces sound transmission, but engineering manuals recommend using multiple layers of drywall, sometimes of different thicknesses and glued together, or special types of drywall designed to reduce noise. Also important are the construction details of the framing with steel studs, wider stud spacing, double studding, insulation, and other details reducing sound transmission. Sound transmission class (STC) ratings can be increased from 33 for an ordinary stud-wall to as high as 59 with double drywall on both sides of a wood stud wall with resilient channels on one side and glass wool batt insulation between the studs.


title: Drywall

text: Sound transmission may be slightly reduced using regular panels (with or without light-gauge resilient metal channels and/or insulation), but it is more effective to use two layers of drywall, sometimes in combination with other factors, or specially designed, sound-resistant drywall.


title: Drywall

text: Drywall is highly vulnerable to moisture due to the inherent properties of the materials that constitute it: gypsum, paper, and organic additives and binders. Gypsum will soften with exposure to moisture and eventually turn into a gooey paste with prolonged immersion, such as during a flood. During such incidents, some, or all, of the drywall in an entire building will need to be removed and replaced. Furthermore, the paper facings and organic additives mixed with the gypsum core are food for mold.


title: Drywall

text: The porosity of the board—introduced during manufacturing to reduce the board's weight, lowering construction time and transportation costs—enables water to rapidly reach the core through capillary action, where mold can grow inside. Water that enters a room from overhead may cause ceiling drywall tape to separate from the ceiling as a result of the grooves immediately behind the tape where the drywall pieces meet becoming saturated. The drywall may also soften around the screws holding the drywall in place, and with the aid of gravity, the weight of the water may cause the drywall to sag and eventually collapse, requiring replacement.


title: Drywall

text: Drywall's paper facings are edible to termites, which can eat the paper if they infest a wall cavity covered with drywall. This causes the painted surface to crumble to the touch, its paper backing material being eaten. In addition to the necessity of patching the damaged surface and repainting, if enough of the paper has been eaten, the gypsum core can easily crack or crumble without it, and the drywall must be removed and replaced.


title: Drywall

text: In many circumstances, especially when the drywall has been exposed to water or moisture for less than 48 hours, professional restoration experts can avoid the cost, inconvenience, and difficulty of removing and replacing the affected drywall. They use rapid drying techniques that eliminate the elements required to support microbial activity while restoring most or all of the drywall.


title: Drywall

text: It is for these reasons that greenboard and ideally cement board are used for rooms expected to have high humidity, primarily kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms.


title: Drywall

text: Foam insulation and the gypsum part of sheetrock are easily chewed out by honeybees when they are setting up a stray nest in a building, and they want to enlarge their nest area.


title: Drywall

text: A substantial amount of defective drywall was imported into the United States from China and incorporated into tens of thousands of homes during rebuilding in 2006 and 2007 following Hurricane Katrina and in other places. Complaints included the structure's foul odour, health effects, and metal corrosion. The emission of sulfurous gases causes this. The same drywall was sold in Asia without problems resulting, but US homes are built much more tightly than homes in China, with less ventilation. Volatile sulfur compounds, including hydrogen sulfide, have been detected as emissions from the imported drywall and may be linked to health problems. These compounds are emitted from many different types of drywall.


title: Drywall

text: Several lawsuits are underway in many jurisdictions, but many of the sheets of drywall are simply marked "Made in China", thus making the manufacturer's identification difficult. An investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, was underway in 2009. In November 2009, the CPSC reported a "strong association" between Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires reported by thousands of homeowners in the United States. The issue was resolved in 2011, and now all drywall must be tested for volatile sulfur, and any containing more than ten ppm is unable to be sold in the US.


title: Drywall

text: Some fire barrier walls are constructed of Type X drywall as a passive fire protection item. Gypsum contains the water of crystallization bound in the form of hydrates. When exposed to heat or fire, this water is vaporized, which retards heat transfer until the water in the gypsum is gone. The fire-resistance rating of the fire barrier assembly is increased with additional layers of drywall, up to four hours for walls and three hours for floor/ceiling assemblies. Fire-rated assemblies constructed of drywall are documented in design or certification listing catalogues, including DIN 4102 Part 4 and the Canadian Building Code, Underwriters Laboratories and Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC).


title: Drywall

text: Tests result in code-recognized designs with assigned fire-resistance ratings. The resulting designs become part of the code and are not limited to use by any manufacturer. However, individual manufacturers may also have proprietary designs that they have had third-party tested and approved, provided that the material used in the field configuration can be demonstrated to meet the minimum requirements of Type X drywall and that sufficient layers and thicknesses are used.


title: Drywall

text: In the Type X gypsum board, special glass fibers are intermixed with the gypsum to reinforce the core of the panels. These fibers reduce the size of the cracks that form as the water is driven off, thereby extending the length of time the gypsum panels resist fire without failure.


title: Drywall

text: Type C gypsum panels provide stronger fire resistance than Type X. The core of Type C panels contains a higher density of glass fibers. The core of Type C panels also contains vermiculite which acts as a shrinkage-compensating additive that expands when exposed to elevated temperatures of a fire. This expansion occurs at roughly the same temperature as the calcination of the gypsum in the core, allowing the core of the Type C panels to remain dimensionally stable in a fire.


title: Drywall

text: North America is one of the largest gypsum board users in the world, with a total wallboard plant capacity of per year, roughly half of the worldwide annual production capacity of . Moreover, the homebuilding and remodeling markets in North America in the late 1990s and early 2000s increased demand. The gypsum board market was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the housing boom as "an average new American home contains more than 7.31 metric tons of gypsum."


title: Drywall

text: The introduction in March 2005 of the Clean Air Interstate Rule by the United States Environmental Protection Agency requires fossil-fuel power plants to "cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 73%" by 2018. The Clean Air Interstate Rule also requested that the power plants install new scrubbers (industrial pollution control devices) to remove sulfur dioxide present in the output waste gas. Scrubbers use the technique of flue-gas desulfurization (FGD), which produces synthetic gypsum as a usable by-product. In response to the new supply of this raw material, the gypsum board market was predicted to shift significantly. However, issues such as mercury release during calcining need to be resolved.


title: Drywall

text: Because up to 12% of drywall is wasted during the manufacturing and installation processes and the drywall material is frequently not reused, disposal can become a problem. Some landfill sites have banned the dumping of drywall. Some manufacturers take back waste wallboard from construction sites and recycle them into new wallboard. Recycled paper is typically used during manufacturing. More recently, recycling at the construction site itself has been researched. There is potential for using crushed drywall to amend certain soils at building sites, such as sodic clay and silt mixtures (bay mud), as well as using it in compost. As of 2016, industry standards are being developed to ensure that when and if wallboard is taken back for recycling, quality and composition are maintained.


title: Mainz

text: Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Mainz on the left bank, and Wiesbaden, the capital of the neighbouring state Hesse, on the right bank.


title: Mainz

text: Mainz is an independent city with a population of 218,578 (as of 2019) and forms part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region.


title: Mainz

text: Mainz was founded by the Romans in the 1st century BC as a military fortress on the northernmost frontier of the empire and provincial capital of Germania Superior. Mainz became an important city in the 8th century AD as part of the Holy Roman Empire, capital of the Electorate of Mainz and seat of the Archbishop-Elector of Mainz, the Primate of Germany. Mainz is famous as the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of a movable-type printing press, who in the early 1450s manufactured his first books in the city, including the Gutenberg Bible. Mainz was heavily damaged in World War II; more than 30 air raids destroyed most of the historic buildings.


title: Mainz

text: Mainz is notable as a transport hub, for wine production, and for its many rebuilt historic buildings. One of the ShUM-cities, Mainz and its Jewish cemetery is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Mainz

text: Mainz is on the 50th latitude north, on the left bank of the Rhine. The east of the city is opposite where the Main falls into it. The population in early 2012 was 200,957. A further 18,619 people live mainly elsewhere but have a second home in Mainz. The city is part of the Rhein Metro area of 5.8 million people. Mainz can easily be reached from Frankfurt International Airport in 25 minutes by commuter railway Line S8.


title: Mainz

text: Mainz is a river port city as the Rhine which connects with its main tributaries, such as the Neckar, the Main and, later, the Moselle and thereby continental Europe with the Port of Rotterdam and thus the North Sea. Mainz's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to the Rhine historically handling much of the region's waterborne cargo. Today's huge container port hub allowing trimodal transport is north of the town centre. The river moderates climate. It makes waterfront neighbourhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer.


title: Mainz

text: After the last ice age, sand dunes were deposited in the Rhine valley at what was to become the western edge of the city. The Mainz Sand Dunes area is now a nature reserve with a unique landscape and rare "steppe" vegetation for this area.


title: Mainz

text: While the Mainz legion camp was founded in 13/12 BC on the Kästrich hill, the associated vici and canabae (civilian settlements) were erected towards the Rhine. Historical sources and archaeological findings both prove the importance of the military and civilian Mogontiacum as a port city on the Rhine.


title: Mainz

text: The Roman stronghold or "castrum Mogontiacum", the precursor to Mainz, was founded by the Roman general Drusus perhaps as early as 13/12 BC. As related by Suetonius the existence of "Mogontiacum" is well established by four years later (the account of the death and funeral of Nero Claudius Drusus), though several other theories suggest the site may have been established earlier. Although the city is situated opposite the mouth of the Main, the name of Mainz is not from "Main", the similarity being perhaps reinforced by folk-etymological reanalysis. "Main" is from Latin "Moenis" (also "Moenus" or "Menus"), the name the Romans used for the river. Linguistic analysis of the many forms that the name "Mainz" has taken on make it clear that it is a simplification of "Mogontiacum". The name appears to be Celtic and ultimately it is. However, it had also become Roman and was selected by them with a special significance. The Roman soldiers defending Gallia had adopted the Gallic god Mogons (Mogounus, Moguns, Mogonino), for the meaning of which etymology offers two basic options: "the great one", similar to Latin magnus, which was used in aggrandizing names such as "Alexander magnus", "Alexander the Great" and "Pompeius magnus", "Pompey the great", or the god of "might" personified as it appears in young servitors of any type whether of noble or ignoble birth.


title: Mainz

text: Mogontiacum was an important military town throughout Roman times, probably due to its strategic position at the confluence of the Main and the Rhine. The town of "Mogontiacum" grew up between the fort and the river. The castrum was the base of Legio XIV "Gemina" and XVI "Gallica" (AD 9–43), XXII "Primigenia", IV "Macedonica" (43–70), I "Adiutrix" (70–88), XXI "Rapax" (70–89), and XIV "Gemina" (70–92), among others. Mainz was also a base of a Roman river fleet, the Classis Germanica. Remains of Roman troop ships (navis lusoria) and a patrol boat from the late 4th century were discovered in 1982/86 and may now be viewed in the "Museum für Antike Schifffahrt". A temple dedicated to Isis Panthea and Magna Mater was discovered in 2000 and is open to the public. The city was the provincial capital of Germania Superior, and had an important funeral monument dedicated to Drusus, to which people made pilgrimages for an annual festival from as far away as Lyon. Among the famous buildings were the largest theatre north of the Alps and a bridge across the Rhine. The city was also the site of the assassination of emperor Severus Alexander in 235.


title: Mainz

text: Alemanni forces under Rando sacked the city in 368. From the last day of 405 or 406, the Siling and Asding Vandals, the Suebi, the Alans, and other Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine, possibly at Mainz. Christian chronicles relate that the bishop, Aureus, was put to death by the Alemannian Crocus. The way was open to the sack of Trier and the invasion of Gaul.


title: Mainz

text: Throughout the changes of time, the Roman castrum never seems to have been permanently abandoned as a military installation, which is a testimony to Roman military judgement. Different structures were built there at different times. The current citadel originated in 1660, but it replaced previous forts. It was used in World War II. One of the sights at the citadel is still the cenotaph raised by legionaries to commemorate their Drusus.


title: Mainz

text: Through a series of incursions during the 4th century Alsace gradually lost its Belgic ethnic character of formerly Germanic tribes among Celts ruled by Romans and became predominantly influenced by the Alamanni. The Romans repeatedly re-asserted control; however, the troops stationed at Mainz became chiefly non-Italic and the emperors had only one or two Italian ancestors in a pedigree that included chiefly peoples of the northern frontier.


title: Mainz

text: The last emperor to station troops serving the western empire at Mainz was Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), who relied heavily on his "Magister militum per Gallias", Flavius Aëtius. By that time the army included large numbers of troops from the major Germanic confederacies along the Rhine, the Alamanni, the Saxons and the Franks. The Franks were an opponent that had risen to power and reputation among the Belgae of the lower Rhine during the 3rd century and repeatedly attempted to extend their influence upstream. In 358 the emperor Julian bought peace by giving them most of Germania Inferior, which they possessed anyway, and imposing service in the Roman army in exchange.


title: Mainz

text: European factions in the time of master Aëtius included Celts, Goths, Franks, Saxons, Alamanni, Huns, Italians, and Alans as well as numerous other minor peoples. Aëtius played them all off against one another in a masterly effort to keep the peace under Roman sovereignty. He used Hunnic troops a number of times. At last, a day of reckoning arrived between Aëtius and Attila, both commanding polyglot, multi-ethnic troops. Attila went through Alsace in 451, devastating the country and destroying Mainz and Trier with their Roman garrisons. Shortly after he was thwarted by Flavius Aëtius at the Battle of Châlons, the largest of the ancient world.


title: Mainz

text: Aëtius was not to enjoy the victory long. He was assassinated in 454 by the hand of his employer, who in turn was stabbed to death by friends of Aëtius in 455. As far as the north was concerned this was the effective end of the Roman empire there. After some sanguinary but relatively brief contention a former subordinate of Aëtius, Ricimer, became commander in chief, and was named Patrician. His father was a Suebian; his mother, a princess of the Visigoths. Ricimer did not rule the north directly but set up a client province there, which functioned independently. The capital was at Soissons. Even then its status was equivocal. Many insisted it was the Kingdom of Soissons. which extended across northern France and was ruled in the name of Rome by Aegidius, an ally of emperor Majorian, 457–461, who died about 464. He was succeeded by his son, Syagrius, who was defeated by Clovis in 486.


title: Mainz

text: Previously the first of the Merovingians, Clodio, had been defeated by Aëtius at about 430. His son, Merovaeus, fought on the Roman side against Attila, and his son, Childeric, served in the domain of Soissons. Meanwhile, the Franks were gradually infiltrating and assuming power in this domain from Toxandria (northern Belgium which had been given to them by the Romans to protect as allies). They also moved up the Rhine and created a domain in the region of the former Germania Superior with capital at Cologne. They became known as the Ripuarian Franks as opposed to the Salian Franks. Events moved rapidly in the late 5th century.


title: Mainz

text: After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the Franks under the rule of Clovis I gained control over western Europe by the year 496. Clovis, son of Childeric, became king of the Salians in 481, ruling from Tournai. In 486 he defeated Syagrius, the last governor of the Soissons domain, and took northern France. He extended his reign to Cambrai and Tongeren in 490–491, and repelled the Alamanni in 496. Also in that year, he converted to Catholicism from non-Arian Christianity. Clovis annexed the kingdom of Cologne in 508. Thereafter, Mainz, in its strategic position, became one of the bases of the Frankish kingdom. Mainz had sheltered a Christian community long before the conversion of Clovis. His successor Dagobert I reinforced the walls of Mainz and made it one of his seats. A solidus of Theodebert I (534–548) was minted at Mainz.


title: Mainz

text: Charlemagne (768–814), through a succession of wars against other tribes, built a vast Frankish empire in Europe. Mainz from its central location became important to the empire and to Christianity. Meanwhile, language change was gradually working to divide the Franks. Mainz spoke a dialect termed Ripuarian. On the death of Charlemagne, distinctions between France and Germany began to be made. Mainz was not central any longer but was on the border, creating a question of the nationality to which it belonged, which descended into modern times as the question of Alsace-Lorraine.


title: Mainz

text: In the early Middle Ages, Mainz was a centre for the Christianisation of the German and Slavic peoples. The first archbishop in Mainz, Boniface, was killed in 754 while trying to convert the Frisians to Christianity and is buried in Fulda. Boniface held a personal title of archbishop; Mainz became a regular archbishopric see in 781, when Boniface's successor Lullus was granted the pallium by Pope Adrian I. Harald Klak, king of Jutland, his family and followers, were baptized at Mainz in 826, in the abbey of St. Alban's. Other early archbishops of Mainz include Rabanus Maurus, the scholar and author, and Willigis (975–1011), who began construction on the current building of the Mainz Cathedral and founded the monastery of St. Stephan.


title: Mainz

text: From the time of Willigis until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Archbishops of Mainz were archchancellors of the Empire and the most important of the seven Electors of the German emperor. Besides Rome, the diocese of Mainz today is the only diocese in the world with an episcopal see that is called a Holy See ("sancta sedes"). The Archbishops of Mainz traditionally were "primas germaniae", the substitutes of the Pope north of the Alps.


title: Mainz

text: In 1244, Archbishop Siegfried III granted Mainz a city charter, which included the right of the citizens to establish and elect a city council. The city saw a feud between two archbishops in 1461, namely Diether von Isenburg, who was elected Archbishop by the cathedral chapter and supported by the citizens, and Adolf II von Nassau, who had been named archbishop for Mainz by the pope. In 1462, Archbishop Adolf raided the city of Mainz, plundering and killing 400 inhabitants. At a tribunal, those who had survived lost all their property, which was then divided between those who promised to follow Adolf. Those who would not promise to follow Adolf (amongst them Johannes Gutenberg) were driven out of the town or thrown into prison. The new archbishop revoked the city charter of Mainz and put the city under his direct rule. Ironically, after the death of Adolf II his successor was again Diether von Isenburg, now legally elected by the chapter and named by the Pope.


title: Mainz

text: The Jewish community of Mainz dates to the 10th century CE. It is noted for its religious education. Rabbi Gershom ben Judah (960–1040) taught there, among others. He concentrated on the study of the Talmud, creating a German Jewish tradition. Mainz is also the legendary home of the martyred Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, composer of the Unetanneh Tokef prayer. The Jews of Mainz, Speyer and Worms created a supreme council to set standards in Jewish law and education in the 12th century.


title: Mainz

text: The city of Mainz responded to the Jewish population in a variety of ways, behaving in a capricious manner towards them. Sometimes they were allowed freedom and were protected; at other times, they were persecuted. The Jews were expelled in 1012, 1462 (after which they were invited to return), and in 1474. Jews were attacked in the Rhineland massacres of 1096 and by mobs in 1283. Outbreaks of the Black Death were usually blamed on the Jews, at which times they were massacred, such as the burning of 11 Jews alive in 1349.


title: Mainz

text: Outside of the medieval city centre, there is a Jewish cemetery, with over 1500 headstones dating from the 11th through the 19th centuries. The earliest known gravestone is date to 1062 or 1063, and these early gravestones resemble those found in Italy in the late 10th century. Medieval memorial stones which do not explicitly mark graves are also found in the cemetery.


title: Mainz

text: Nowadays the Jewish community is growing rapidly, and a new synagogue by the architect Manuel Herz was constructed in 2010 on the site of the one destroyed by the Nazis on "Kristallnacht" in 1938. The community itself has 1,034 members, according to the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and at least twice as many Jews altogether since many are unaffiliated with Judaism.


title: Mainz

text: During the French Revolution, the French Revolutionary army occupied Mainz in 1792; the Archbishop of Mainz, Friedrich Karl Josef von Erthal, had already fled to Aschaffenburg by the time the French marched in. On 18 March 1793, the Jacobins of Mainz, with other German democrats from about 130 towns in the Rhenish Palatinate, proclaimed the 'Republic of Mainz'. Led by Georg Forster, representatives of the Mainz Republic in Paris requested political affiliation of the Mainz Republic with France, but too late: Prussia was not entirely happy with the idea of a democratic free state on German soil (although the French dominated Mainz was neither free nor democratic). Prussian troops had already occupied the area and besieged Mainz by the end of March 1793. After a siege of 18 weeks, the French troops in Mainz surrendered on 23 July 1793; Prussians occupied the city and ended the Republic of Mainz. It came to the Battle of Mainz in 1795 between Austria and France. Members of the Mainz Jacobin Club were mistreated or imprisoned and punished for treason.


title: Mainz

text: In 1797, the French returned. The army of Napoléon Bonaparte occupied the German territory to the west of the Rhine, and the Treaty of Campo Formio awarded France this entire area. On 17 February 1800, the French "Département du Mont-Tonnerre" was founded here, with Mainz as its capital, the Rhine being the new eastern frontier of la Grande Nation. Austria and Prussia could not but approve this new border with France in 1801. However, after several defeats in Europe during the next years, the weakened Napoléon and his troops had to leave Mainz in May 1814.


title: Mainz

text: In 1816, the part of the former French Département which is known today as Rhenish Hesse () was awarded to the Hesse-Darmstadt, Mainz being the capital of the new Hessian province of Rhenish Hesse. From 1816 to 1866, to the German Confederation Mainz was the most important fortress in the defence against France, and had a strong garrison of Austrian, Prussian and Bavarian troops.


title: Mainz

text: On the afternoon of 18 November 1857, a huge explosion rocked Mainz when the city's powder magazine, the "Pulverturm", exploded. Approximately 150 people were killed and at least 500 injured; 57 buildings were destroyed and a similar number severely damaged in what was to be known as the "Powder Tower Explosion" or "Powder Explosion".


title: Mainz

text: During the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Mainz was declared a neutral zone. After the founding of the German Empire in 1871, Mainz no longer was as important a stronghold, because in the War of 1870/71 France had lost the territory of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany (which France had occupied bit by bit from 1630 to 1795), and this defined the new border between the two countries.


title: Mainz

text: For centuries the inhabitants of the fortress of Mainz had suffered from a severe shortage of space which led to disease and other inconveniences. In 1872 Mayor Carl Wallau and the council of Mainz persuaded the military government to sign a contract to expand the city. Beginning in 1874, the city of Mainz assimilated the "Gartenfeld", an idyllic area of meadows and fields along the banks of the Rhine to the north of the rampart. The city expansion more than doubled the urban area which allowed Mainz to participate in the industrial revolution which had previously avoided the city for decades.


title: Mainz

text: Eduard Kreyßig was the man who made this happen. Having been the master-builder of the city of Mainz since 1865, Kreyßig had the vision for the new part of town, the "Neustadt". He also planned the first sewer system for the old part of town since Roman times and persuaded the city government to relocate the railway line from the Rhine side to the west end of the town. The main station was built from 1882 to 1884 according to the plans of Philipp Johann Berdellé.


title: Mainz

text: The Mainz master builder constructed a number of state-of-the-art public buildings, including the Mainz town hall – which was the largest of its kind in Germany at that time – as well a synagogue, the Rhine harbour and a number of public baths and school buildings. Kreyßig's last work was Christ Church ("Christuskirche"), the largest Protestant church in the city and the first building constructed solely for the use of a Protestant congregation. In 1905 the demolition of the entire circumvallation and the Rheingauwall was taken in hand, according to the imperial order of Wilhelm II.


title: Mainz

text: During the German Revolution of 1918 the Mainz Workers' and Soldiers' Council was formed which ran the city from 9 November until the arrival of French troops under the terms of the occupation of the Rhineland agreed in the Armistice. The French occupation was confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles which went into effect 28 June 1919. The Rhineland (in which Mainz is located) was to be a demilitarized zone until 1935 and the French garrison, representing the "Triple Entente", was to stay until reparations were paid.


title: Mainz

text: In 1923 Mainz participated in the Rhineland separatist movement that proclaimed a republic in the Rhineland. It collapsed in 1924. The French withdrew on 30 June 1930. Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and his political opponents, especially those of the Social Democratic Party, were either incarcerated or murdered. Some were able to move away from Mainz in time. One was the political organizer for the SPD, Friedrich Kellner, who went to Laubach, where, as the chief justice inspector of the district court, he continued his opposition against the Nazis by recording their misdeeds in a 900-page diary.


title: Mainz

text: In March 1933, a detachment from the National Socialist Party in Worms brought the party to Mainz. They hoisted the swastika on all public buildings and began to denounce the Jewish population in the newspapers. In 1936, the Nazis remilitarized the Rhineland with great fanfare, the first move of Nazi Germany's meteoric expansion. The former Triple Entente took no action.


title: Mainz

text: During World War II, more than 30 air raids destroyed about 80 per cent of the city's centre, including most of the historic buildings. Mainz was captured on 22 March 1945 against uneven German resistance (staunch in some sectors and weak in other parts of the city) by the 90th Infantry Division under William A. McNulty, a formation of the XII Corps under Third Army commanded by General George S. Patton, Jr. Patton used the ancient strategic gateway through "Germania Superior" to cross the Rhine south of Mainz, drive down the Danube towards Czechoslovakia and end the possibility of a Bavarian redoubt crossing the Alps in Austria when the war ended.


title: Mainz

text: From 1945 to 1949, the city was part of the French zone of occupation. When the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded on 30 August 1946 by the commander of the French army on the French occupation zone Marie Pierre Kœnig, Mainz became the capital of the new state. In 1962, the diarist, Friedrich Kellner, returned to spend his last years in Mainz. His life in Mainz, and the impact of his writings, is the subject of the Canadian documentary "".


title: Mainz

text: Following the withdrawal of French forces from Mainz, the United States Army Europe occupied the military bases in Mainz. Today USAREUR only occupies McCulley Barracks in Wackernheim and the Mainz Sand Dunes for the training areas. Mainz is home to the headquarters of the "Bundeswehr"s "Landeskommando" Rhineland-Palatinate and other units.


title: Mainz

text: The destruction caused by the bombing of Mainz during World War II led to the most intense phase of building in the history of the town. During the last war in Germany, more than 30 air raids destroyed about 80 per cent of the city's centre, including most of the historic buildings. The attack on the afternoon of 27 February 1945 remains the most destructive of all 33 bombings that Mainz has suffered in World War II in the collective memory of most of the population living then. The air raid caused most of the dead and made an already hard-hit city largely levelled.


title: Mainz

text: Nevertheless, the post-war reconstruction took place very slowly. While cities such as Frankfurt had been rebuilt fast by a central authority, only individual efforts were initially successful in rebuilding Mainz. The reason for this was that the French wanted Mainz to expand and become a model city. Mainz lay within the French-controlled sector of Germany and it was a French architect and town-planner, Marcel Lods, who produced a Le Corbusier-style plan of an ideal architecture. But the very first interest of the inhabitants was the restoration of housing areas. Even after the failure of the model city plans it was the initiative of the French (founding of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, elevation of Mainz to the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate, the early resumption of the Mainz carnival) driving the city in a positive development after the war. The City Plan of 1958 by Ernst May allowed a regulated reconstruction for the first time. In 1950, the seat of the government of Rhineland-Palatinate had been transferred to the new Mainz and in 1963 the seat of the new ZDF, notable architects were Adolf Bayer, Richard Jörg and Egon Hartmann. At the time of the two-thousand-years-anniversary in 1962 the city was largely reconstructed. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Oberstadt had been extended, Münchfeld and Lerchenberg added as suburbs, the Altstadttangente (intersection of the old town), new neighbourhoods as Westring and Südring contributed to the extension. By 1970 there remained only a few ruins. The new town hall of Mainz had been designed by Arne Jacobsen and finished by Dissing+Weitling. The town used Jacobsens activity for the Danish Novo erecting a new office and warehouse building to contact him. The urban renewal of the old town changed the inner city. In the framework of the preparation of the cathedrals millennium, pedestrian zones were developed around the cathedral, in northern direction to the Neubrunnenplatz and in a southern direction across the Leichhof to the Augustinerstraße and Kirschgarten. The 1980s brought the renewal of the façades on the Markt and a new inner-city neighbourhood on the Kästrich. During the 1990s the Kisselberg between Gonsenheim and Bretzenheim, the "Fort Malakoff Center" at the site of the old police barracks, the renewal of the Main Station and the demolition of the first post-war shopping centre at the Markt followed by the erection of a new historicising building at the same place.