title: Nine Years' War

text: The Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire declared war on France on 11 February 1689, beginning a unified imperial war effort. The Germans prepared to take back what they had lost, and in 1689 formed three armies along the Rhine. The smallest of these, initially under the Elector of Bavaria, protected the upper Rhine between the lines north of Strasbourg to the Black Forest. On the middle Rhine stood the largest army under the best Imperial general, and commander-in-chief, Charles V, Duke of Lorraine. Charles V cleared away the French threat on Frankfurt and opened trenches around Mainz on 22/23 July. After a bloody two months siege the Marquis of Huxelles finally yielded the town on 8 September. Meanwhile, on the lower Rhine stood the Elector of Brandenburg who, aided by the celebrated Dutch engineer Menno van Coehoorn, besieged Kaiserswerth. Kaiserswerth fell on 26 June before the Elector led his army on Bonn, which, having endured a heavy bombardment, finally capitulated on 10 October. The invasion of the Rhineland had united the German princes in their opposition to Louis XIV who had lost more than he had gained that year along the Rhine. The campaign had also created a diversion of French forces and sufficient time for William of Orange to invade England.


title: Nine Years' War

text: James II's ill-advised attempts to Catholicise the army, government and other institutions had proved increasingly unpopular with his mainly Protestant subjects. His open Catholicism and his dealings with Catholic France had also strained relations between England and the Dutch Republic, but because his daughter Mary was the Protestant heir to the English throne, her husband William of Orange had been reluctant to act against James II for fear it would ruin her succession prospects. Yet if England was left to itself the situation could become desperate for the Dutch Republic: Louis XIV might intervene and so make James II his vassal; or James, wishing to distract his subjects, might even join with Louis in a repetition of the attack made on the Dutch Republic in 1672. By the end of 1687, therefore, William had envisaged intervention, and by early 1688 he had secretly begun to make active preparations. The birth of a son to James's second wife in June displaced William's wife Mary as James's heir apparent. With the French busy creating their "cordon sanitaire" in the Palatinate (too busy to consider serious intervention in the Spanish Netherlands or to move against the south-eastern Dutch provinces along the Rhine) the States General unanimously gave William their full support in the knowledge that the overthrow of James II was in the security interests of their own state.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The invasion fleet consisted of 463 ships and 40,000 men on board, roughly twice the size of the Spanish Armada, with 49 warships, 76 transports carrying soldiers and 120 for the five thousand horses required by the cavalry and supply train.


title: Nine Years' War

text: For propaganda purposes, English admiral Arthur Herbert was nominally put in command, but in reality operational control remained with Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Vice-Admiral Philips van Almonde.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Louis XIV had considered William's invasion as a declaration of war between France and the Dutch Republic (officially declared on 26 November); but he did little to stop the invasion – his main concern was the Rhineland. Moreover, French diplomats had calculated that William's action would plunge England into a protracted civil war that would either absorb Dutch resources or draw England closer to France. However, after his forces landed unhindered at Torbay on 5 November (O.S), many welcomed William with open arms, and the subsequent Glorious Revolution brought a rapid end to James II's reign. On 13 February 1689 (O.S.) William of Orange became King William III of England – reigning jointly with his wife Mary – and bound together the fortunes of England and the Dutch Republic. Yet few people in England suspected that William had sought the crown for himself or that his aim was to bring England into the war against France on the Dutch side. The Convention Parliament did not see that the offer of joint monarchy carried with it the corollary of a declaration of war, but the subsequent actions of the deposed king finally swung Parliament behind William's war policy.


title: Nine Years' War

text: After his flight from England in December 1688, James II had been given refuge by Louis XIV, who provided him financial and diplomatic assistance. Accompanied by 6,000 French troops, on 12 March 1689 he landed in Ireland, where he was backed by the majority Catholic population. His supporters were known as "Jacobites", and the war in Ireland was accompanied by a rising in Scotland; for James, the main objective was to retake England and thus he viewed both Scotland and Ireland as strategic dead ends. On the other hand, Louis saw them as an opportunity to divert British resources from the Low Countries, a difference in aims that was never adequately resolved.


title: Nine Years' War

text: James' Catholic deputy, the Earl of Tyrconnell, had raised an Army of around 36,000, although many were poorly equipped and it was almost impossible to feed, pay and supply so many. Although they quickly occupied much of Ireland, including largely Protestant Ulster, they were unable to capture the key northern port of Derry and were forced to retreat at the end of July. In August, Williamite general Schomberg landed in Belfast Lough with 15,000 reinforcements, but logistics failures meant his army stalled at Dundalk and suffered heavily from sickness and desertion.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The Scottish Jacobites suffered heavy losses in securing victory at Killiecrankie in July 1689, including their leader Viscount Dundee. By May 1690 the rising had been largely suppressed, although pockets of resistance continued in the Highlands until early 1692. At the same time, William III assumed command of government troops in Ireland and gained an important success at The Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, before victory at Beachy Head gave the French temporary control of the English Channel. James returned to France to urge an immediate invasion of England, but the Anglo-Dutch fleet soon regained maritime supremacy, and the opportunity was lost.


title: Nine Years' War

text: By the end of 1690, French and Jacobite troops were confined to the south and west of Ireland. Although repulsed with heavy losses at Limerick in September, William transferred command to de Ginkel and returned to Flanders. Despite receiving reinforcements and a new general in the Marquis de St Ruth, the Franco-Irish army was defeated at Aughrim on 12 July 1691; the war in Ireland ended with the Treaty of Limerick in October, allowing the bulk of the Williamite forces to be shipped to the Low Countries.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The success of William's invasion of England rapidly led to the coalition he had long desired. On 12 May 1689 the Dutch and the Holy Roman Emperor had signed an offensive compact in Vienna, the aims of which were no less than to force France back to her borders as they were at the end of the Franco-Spanish War (1659), thus depriving Louis XIV of all his gains since his assumption of power. This meant for the Emperor and the German princes the reconquest of Lorraine, Strasbourg, parts of Alsace, and some Rhineland fortresses. Leopold I had tried to disentangle himself from the Turkish war to concentrate on the coming struggle, but the French invasion of the Rhineland had encouraged the Turks to stiffen their terms for peace and make demands the Emperor could not conceivably accept. Leopold I's decision to side with the coalition (against the opposition of many of his advisers) was, therefore, a decision to intervene in the west while continuing to fight the Ottomans in the Balkans. Although the Emperor's immediate concerns were for the Rhineland, the most important parts of the treaty were the secret articles pledging England and the States-General to assist him in securing the Spanish succession should Charles II die without an heir, and to use their influence to secure his son's election to succeed him as Emperor.


title: Nine Years' War

text: William III regarded the war as an opportunity to reduce the power of France and protect the Dutch Republic, while providing conditions that would encourage trade and commerce. Although there remained territorial anomalies, Dutch war aims did not involve substantial alterations to the frontier; but William did aim to secure his new position in Britain. By seeking refuge in France and subsequently invading Ireland, James II had given William III the ideal instrument to convince the English parliament that entry into a major European war was unavoidable. With the support of Parliament, William III and Mary II declared war on 17 May (O.S.); they then passed the Trade with France Act 1688 (1 Will. & Mar. c. 34), which prohibited all English trade and commerce with France, effective 24 August. This Anglo-Dutch alignment was the basis for the Grand Alliance, ratified on 20 December by William III representing England, Anthonie Heinsius and Treasurer Jacob Hop representing the Dutch Republic, and Königsegg and Stratman representing Emperor Leopold I. Like the Dutch the English were not preoccupied with territorial gains on the Continent, but were deeply concerned with limiting the power of France to defend against a Jacobite restoration (Louis XIV threatened to overthrow the Glorious Revolution and the precarious political settlement by supporting the old king over the new one). William III had secured his goal of mobilising Britain's resources for the anti-French coalition, but the Jacobite threat in Scotland and Ireland meant only a small English expeditionary force could be committed to assist the Dutch States Army in the coalition in the Spanish Netherlands for the first three years of the war.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The Duke of Lorraine also joined the Alliance at the same time as England, while the King of Spain (who had been at war with France since April) and the Duke of Savoy signed in June 1690. The Allies had offered Victor Amadeus handsome terms to join the Grand Alliance, including the return of Casale to Mantua (he hoped it would revert to him upon the death of the childless Duke of Mantua) and of Pinerolo to himself. His adhesion to the Allied cause would facilitate the invasion of France through Dauphiné and Provence, where the naval base of Toulon lay. In contrast Louis XIV had embarked on a policy of overt military intimidation to retain Savoy in the French orbit, and had envisaged the military occupation of parts of Piedmont (including the citadel of Turin) to guarantee communications between Pinerolo and Casale. French demands on Victor Amadeus, and their determination to prevent the Duke from achieving his dynastic aims, were nothing less than an attack on Savoyard independence, convincing the Duke that he had to stand up to French aggression.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The Elector of Bavaria consented to add his name to the Grand Alliance on 4 May 1690, while the Elector of Brandenburg joined the anti-French coalition on 6 September. However, few of the minor powers were as devoted to the common cause, and all protected their own interests; some never hesitated to exact a high price for continuing their support. Charles XI of Sweden supplied the contingents due from his German possessions to the Allied cause (6,000 men and 12 warships), while in August Christian V of Denmark agreed to a treaty to supply William III with 7,000 troops in return for a subsidy. However, in March 1691 Sweden and Denmark put aside their mutual distrust and made a treaty of armed neutrality for the protection of their commerce and to prevent the war spreading north. To the annoyance of the Maritime Powers the Swedes now saw their rôle outside the great power-struggle of the Nine Years' War, exploiting opportunities to increase their own maritime trade. Nevertheless, Louis XIV at last faced a powerful coalition aimed at forcing France to recognise Europe's rights and interests.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The main fighting of the Nine Years' War took place around France's borders: in the Spanish Netherlands; the Rhineland; Catalonia; and Piedmont-Savoy. The importance of the Spanish Netherlands was the result of its geographic position, sandwiched between France and the Dutch Republic. Initially Marshal Humières commanded French forces in this theatre but in 1689, while the French concentrated on the Rhine, it produced little more than a stand-off – the most significant engagement occurred when William's second-in-command, the Prince of Waldeck, defeated Humières at the Battle of Walcourt on 25 August. However, by 1690 the Spanish Netherlands had become the main seat of the war where the French formed two armies: Boufflers' army on the Moselle, and a larger force to the west under Humières' successor – and Louis XIV's greatest general of the period – Marshal Luxembourg. On 1 July Luxembourg secured a clear tactical victory over Waldeck at the Battle of Fleurus; but his success produced little benefit – Louis XIV's concerns for the dauphin on the Rhine (where Marshal de Lorge now held actual command) overrode strategic necessity in the other theatres and forestalled a plan to besiege Namur or Charleroi. For the Emperor and the German princes, though, the most serious fact of 1690 was that the Turks had been victorious on the Danube, requiring them to send reinforcements to the east. The Elector of Bavaria – now Imperial commander-in-chief following Lorraine's death in April – could offer nothing on the lower or upper Rhine, and the campaign failed to produce a single major battle or siege.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The smallest front of the war was in Catalonia. In 1689 the Duke of Noailles had led French forces there aimed at bringing further pressure to bear on the Spanish by re-igniting a peasant rising against Charles II, which initially broke out in 1687. Exploiting the situation, Noailles captured Camprodon on 22 May, but a larger Spanish army under the Duke of Villahermosa forced him to withdraw back to Roussillon in August. The Catalan campaign settled down in 1690, but a new front in Piedmont-Savoy proved more eventful. A ferment of religious animosities and Savoyard hatred of the French produced a theatre characterised by massacres and atrocities: constant guerrilla attacks by the armed populace were met by draconian reprisals. In 1690 Saint-Ruth took most of the Victor Amadeus II's exposed Duchy of Savoy, routing the Savoyard army in the process until only the great fortress of Montmélian remained in ducal hands; while to the south in Piedmont, Nicolas Catinat led 12,000 men and soundly defeated Victor Amadeus at the Battle of Staffarda on 18 August. Catinat immediately took Saluzzo, followed by Savigliano, Fossano, and Susa, but lacking sufficient troops, and with sickness rife within his army, Catinat was obliged to withdraw back across the Alps for the winter.


title: Nine Years' War

text: French successes in 1690 had checked the Allies on most of the mainland fronts, yet their victories had not broken the Grand Alliance. With the hope of unhinging the coalition French commanders in 1691 prepared for an early double-blow: the capture of Mons in the Spanish Netherlands, and Nice in northern Italy. Boufflers invested Mons on 15 March with some 46,000 men, while Luxembourg commanded a similar force of observation. After some of the most intense fighting of all of Louis XIV's wars the town inevitably capitulated on 8 April. Luxembourg proceeded to take Halle at the end of May, while Boufflers bombarded Liège; but these acts proved to have no political nor strategic consequence. The final action of note in the Low Countries came on 19 September when Luxembourg's cavalry surprised and defeated the rear of the Allied forces in a minor action near Leuze. Now that the defence of the Spanish Netherlands depended almost wholly on the Allies William III insisted on replacing its Spanish governor, the Marquis of Gastañaga, with the Elector of Bavaria, thus overcoming delays in getting decisions from Madrid.


title: Nine Years' War

text: In 1691 there was little significant fighting in the Catalan and Rhineland fronts. In contrast, the northern Italian theatre was very active. Villefranche fell to French forces on 20 March, followed by Nice on 1 April, forestalling any chance of an Allied invasion of France along the coast. Meanwhile, to the north, in the Duchy of Savoy, the Marquis of La Hoguette took Montmélian (the region's last remaining stronghold) on 22 December – a major loss for the Grand Alliance. However, by comparison the French campaign on the Piedmontese plain was far from successful. Although Carmagnola fell in June, the Marquis of Feuquières, on learning of the approach of Prince Eugene of Savoy's relief force, precipitously abandoned the Siege of Cuneo with the loss of some 800 men and all his heavy guns. With Louis XIV concentrating his resources in Alsace and the Low Countries, Catinat was forced onto the defensive. The initiative in northern Italy now passed to the Allies who, as early as August, had 45,000 men (on paper) in the region, enabling them to regain Carmagnola in October. Louis XIV offered peace terms in December, but anticipating military superiority for the following campaign Amadeus was not prepared to negotiate seriously.


title: Nine Years' War

text: After the sudden death of the influential Louvois in July 1691 Louis XIV had assumed a more active role in the direction of military policy, relying on advice from experts such as the Marquis of Chamlay and Vauban. Louvois' death also brought changes to state policy with the less adventurous Duke of Beauvilliers and the Marquis of Pomponne entering Louis XIV's government as ministers of state. From 1691 onwards Louis XIV and Pomponne pursued efforts to unglue the Grand Alliance, including secret talks with Emperor Leopold I and, from August, attempts of religious solidarity with Catholic Spain. The approaches made to Spain came to naught (the Nine Years' War was not a religious war), but the Maritime Powers were also keen for peace. Talks were hampered, however, by Louis XIV's reluctance to cede his earlier gains (at least those made in the Reunions) and, in his deference to the principle of the divine right of kings, his unwillingness to recognise William III's claim to the English throne. For his part William III was intensely suspicious of Louis XIV and his supposed designs for universal monarchy.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Over the winter of 1691/92 the French devised a grand plan to gain the ascendancy over their enemies – a design for the invasion of England in one more effort to support James II in his attempts to regain his kingdoms; and a simultaneous assault on Namur in the Spanish Netherlands. The French hoped that Namur's seizure might inspire the Dutch to make peace, but if not, its capture would nevertheless be an important pawn at any future negotiations. With 60,000 men (protected by a similar force of observation under Luxembourg), Marshal Vauban invested the stronghold on 29 May. The town soon fell but the citadel – defended by van Coehoorn – held out until 30 June. Endeavouring to restore the situation in the Spanish Netherlands William III surprised Luxembourg's army near the village of Steenkirk on 3 August. The Allies enjoyed some initial success, but as French reinforcements came up William III's advance stalled. The Allies retired from the field in good order, and both sides claimed victory: the French because they repulsed the assault; the Allies because they had saved Liège from the same fate as Namur. However, due to the nature of late 17th-century warfare the battle, like Fleurus before it, produced little of consequence. (See below).


title: Nine Years' War

text: While French arms had proved successful at Namur the proposed descent on England was a failure. James II believed that there would be considerable support for his cause once he had established himself on English soil, but a series of delays and conflicting orders ensured a very uneven naval contest in the English Channel. The engagement was fought at the tip of the Cherbourg peninsula, and lasted six days. At the action off Cape Barfleur on 29 May, the French fleet of 44 rated vessels under Admiral Tourville put up stern resistance against Admirals Russell's, Rooke's and Almonde's 82 rated English and Dutch vessels. Nevertheless, the French were forced to disengage: some escaped, but the 15 ships that had sought safety in Cherbourg and La Hogue were destroyed by English seamen and fireships on 2–3 June. With the Allies now dominant in the English Channel James II's invasion was abandoned. Yet the battle itself was not the death-blow for the French navy: the subsequent mismanagement and underfunding of the fleet under Pontchartrain, coupled with Louis XIV's own personal lack of interest, were central to the French losing naval superiority over the English and Dutch during the Nine Years' War.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Meanwhile, in southern Europe the Duke of Savoy with 29,000 men (substantially exceeding Catinat's number who had sent some troops to the Netherlands) invaded Dauphiné via the mountain trails shown to them by the Vaudois. The Allies invested Embrun, which capitulated on 15 August, before sacking the deserted town of Gap. However, with their commander falling ill with smallpox, and concluding that holding Embrun was untenable, the Allies abandoned Dauphiné in mid-September, leaving behind seventy villages and châteaux burned and pillaged. The attack on Dauphiné had required Noailles give up troops to bolster Catinat, condemning him to a passive campaign in Catalonia; but on the Rhine the French gained the upper hand. De Lorge devoted much of his effort imposing contributions in Swabia and up to Franconia. In October the French commander relieved the siege of Ebernburg on the left bank of the Rhine before returning to winter quarters.


title: Nine Years' War

text: By 1693 the French army had reached an official size of over 400,000 men (on paper), but Louis XIV was facing an economic crisis. France and northern Italy witnessed severe harvest failures resulting in widespread famine which, by the end of 1694, had accounted for the deaths of an estimated two million people. Nevertheless, as a prelude to offering generous peace terms before the Grand Alliance Louis XIV planned to go over to the offensive: Luxembourg would campaign in Flanders, Catinat in northern Italy, and in Germany, where Louis XIV had hoped for a war-winning advantage, Marshal de Lorge would attack Heidelberg. In the event, Heidelberg fell on 22 May before Luxembourg's army took to the field in the Netherlands, but the new Imperial commander on the Rhine, Prince Louis of Baden, provided a strong defence and prevented further French gains. Luxembourg had better luck in the Low Countries, however. After taking Huy on 23 July, the French commander outmanoeuvred William III, catching him off-guard between the villages of Neerwinden and Landen. The ensuing engagement on 29 July was a close and costly encounter but French forces, whose cavalry once again showed their superiority, prevailed. Luxembourg and Vauban proceeded to take Charleroi on 10 October which, together with the earlier prizes of Mons, Namur and Huy, provided the French with a new and impressive forward line of defence.


title: Nine Years' War

text: In northern Italy, meanwhile, Catinat marched on Rivoli (with reinforcements from the Rhine and Catalan fronts), forcing the Duke of Savoy to abandon the siege and bombardment of Pinerolo (25 September – 1 October) before withdrawing to protect his rear. The resultant Battle of Marsaglia on 4 October 1693 ended in a resounding French victory. Turin now lay open to attack but further manpower and supply difficulties prevented Catinat from exploiting his gain, and all the French could get out of their victory was renewed breathing-space to restock what was left of Pinerolo. Elsewhere, Noailles secured the valuable seaport of Rosas in Catalonia on 9 June before withdrawing into Roussillon. When his opponent, Medina-Sidonia, abandoned plans to besiege Bellver, both sides entered winter quarters. Meanwhile, the French navy achieved victory in its final fleet action of the war. On 27 June Tourville's combined Brest and Toulon squadrons ambushed the Smyrna convoy (a fleet of between 200 and 400 Allied merchant vessels travelling under escort to the Mediterranean) as it rounded Cape St. Vincent. The Allies lost approximately 90 merchant ships with a value of some 30 million livres.


title: Nine Years' War

text: French arms at Heidelberg, Rosas, Huy, Landen, Charleroi and Marsaglia had achieved considerable battlefield success, but with the severe hardships of 1693 continuing through to the summer of 1694 France was unable to expend the same level of energy and finance for the forthcoming campaign. The crisis reshaped French strategy, forcing commanders to redraft plans to fit the dictates of fiscal shortfalls. In the background, Louis XIV's agents were working hard diplomatically to unhinge the coalition but the Emperor, who had secured with the Allies his 'rights' to the Spanish succession should Charles II die during the conflict, did not desire a peace that would not prove personally advantageous. The Grand Alliance would not come apart as long as there was money available and a belief that the growing strength of their armies would soon be much greater than those of France.


title: Nine Years' War

text: In the Spanish Netherlands Luxembourg still had 100,000 men; but he was outnumbered. Lacking sufficient supplies to mount an attack Luxembourg was unable to prevent the Allies garrisoning Dixmude and, on 27 September 1694, recapturing Huy, an essential preliminary to future operations against Namur. Elsewhere, de Lorge marched and manoeuvred against Baden on the Rhine with undramatic results before the campaign petered out in October; while in Italy, the continuing problems with French finance and a complete breakdown in the supply chain prevented Catinat's push into Piedmont. However, in Catalonia the fighting proved more eventful. On 27 May Marshal Noailles, supported by French warships, soundly defeated the Marquis of Escalona's Spanish forces at the Battle of Torroella on the banks of the river Ter; the French proceeded to take Palamós on 10 June, Gerona on 29 June, and Hostalric, opening the route to Barcelona. With the Spanish King threatening to make a separate peace with France unless the Allies came to his assistance, William III prepared the Anglo-Dutch fleet for action. Part of the fleet under Admiral Berkeley would remain in the north, first leading the disastrous amphibious assault on Brest on 18 June, before bombarding French coastal defences at Dieppe, Saint-Malo, Le Havre, and Calais. The remainder of the fleet under Admiral Russell was ordered to the Mediterranean, linking up with Spanish vessels off Cadiz. The Allied naval presence compelled the French fleet back to the safety of Toulon, which, in turn, forced Noailles to withdraw to the line of the Ter, harassed en route by General Trinxería's "miquelets". By shielding Barcelona in this way the Allies kept Spain in the war for two more years.


title: Nine Years' War

text: In 1695 French arms suffered two major setbacks: first was the death on 5 January of Louis XIV's greatest general of the period, Marshal Luxembourg (to be succeeded by the Duke of Villeroi); the second was the loss of Namur. In a role reversal of 1692 Coehoorn conducted the siege of the stronghold under William III, and the Electors of Bavaria and Brandenburg. The French had attempted diversions with the bombardment of Brussels, but despite Boufflers' stout defence Namur finally fell on 5 September. The siege had cost the Allies a great deal in men and resources, and had pinned down William III's army through the whole summer campaign; but the recapture of Namur, together with the earlier prize of Huy, had restored the Allied position on the Meuse, and had secured communications between their armies in the Spanish Netherlands and those on the Moselle and Rhine.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Meanwhile, the recent fiscal crisis had brought about a transformation in French naval strategy – the Maritime Powers now outstripped France in shipbuilding and arming, and increasingly enjoyed a numerical advantage. Suggesting the abandonment of fleet warfare, "guerre d'escadre", in favour of commerce-raiding, "guerre de course," Vauban advocated the use of the fleet backed by individual shipowners fitting out their own vessels as privateers, aimed at destroying the trade of the Maritime Powers. Vauban argued that this strategic change would deprive the enemy of its economic base without costing Louis XIV money that was far more urgently needed to maintain France's armies on land. Privateers cruising either as individuals or in complete squadrons from Dunkirk, St Malo and the smaller ports, achieved significant success. For example, in 1695, the Marquis of Nesmond, with seven ships of the line, captured vessels from the English East India Company that were said to have yielded 10 million livres. In May 1696, Jean Bart slipped the blockade of Dunkirk and struck a Dutch convoy in the North Sea, burning 45 of its ships; on 18 June 1696 he won the battle at Dogger Bank; and in May 1697, the Baron of Pointis with another privateer squadron attacked and seized Cartagena, earning him, and the king, a share of 10 million livres.


title: Nine Years' War

text: For their part, the Allied navy expended more shells on St Malo, Granville, Calais, and Dunkirk; likewise on Palamos in Catalonia where Charles II had appointed the Marquis of Gastañaga as the governor-general. The Allies sent Austrian and German reinforcements under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, a cousin of the Queen of Spain, while the French replaced the ailing Noailles with the Duke of Vendôme who would become one of Louis XIV's best generals. But the balance of military power was turning dangerously against the French. In Spain, in the Rhineland, and in the Low Countries, Louis XIV's forces only barely held their own: the bombardment of the French channel ports, the threats of invasion, and the loss of Namur were causes of great anxiety for the King at Versailles.


title: Nine Years' War

text: In the meantime the diplomatic breakthrough was made in Italy. For two years the Duke of Savoy's Minister of Finance, Gropello, and the Count of Tessé (Catinat's second-in-command), had secretly been negotiating a bi-lateral agreement to end the war in Italy. Central to the discussions were the two French fortresses that flanked the Duke's territory – Pinerolo and Casale, the latter now completely cut off from French assistance. By now Victor Amadeus had come to fear the growth of Imperial military power and political influence in the region (now more than he feared the French) and the threat it posed to Savoyard independence. Knowing, therefore, that the Imperials were planning to besiege Casale the Duke proposed that the French garrison surrender to him following a token show of force, after which the fortifications would be dismantled and handed back to the Duke of Mantua. Louis XIV was compelled to accept, and after a sham siege and nominal resistance Casale surrendered to Amadeus on 9 July 1695; by mid-September the place had been razed.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Most fronts were relatively quiet throughout 1696: the armies in Flanders, along the Rhine, and in Catalonia, marched and counter-marched but little was achieved. Louis XIV's hesitancy to engage with the Allies (despite the confidence of his generals) may have reflected his knowledge of the secret talks that had begun more than a year earlier—with François de Callières acting for Louis XIV, and Jacob Boreel and Everhard van Weede Dijkvelt representing the Dutch. By the spring of 1696 the talks covered the whole panorama of problems that were proving an obstacle to peace. The most difficult of these were the recognition of the Prince of Orange as the King of England and the subsequent status of James II in France; the Dutch demand for a barrier against future French aggression; French tariffs on Dutch commerce; and the territorial settlements in the Rhine–Moselle areas regarding the Reunions and the recent conquests, particularly the strategically important city of Strasbourg. Louis XIV had succeeded in establishing the principle that a new treaty would be fixed within the framework of the Treaties of Westphalia and Nijmegen, and the Truce of Ratisbon, but with the Emperor's demands for Strasbourg, and William III's insistence that he be recognized as King of England "before" the conclusion of hostilities, it hardly seemed worthwhile in calling for a peace conference.


title: Nine Years' War

text: In Italy the secret negotiations were proving more productive, with the French possession of Pinerolo now central to the talks. When Amadeus threatened to besiege Pinerolo the French, concluding that its defence was not now possible, agreed to hand back the stronghold on condition that its fortifications were demolished. The terms were formalised as the Treaty of Turin on 29 August 1696, by which provision Louis XIV also returned, intact, Montmélian, Nice, Villefranche, Susa, and other small towns. Amongst other concessions Louis XIV also promised not to interfere in Savoy's religious policy regarding the Vaudois, provided the Duke prevents any communication between them and French Huguenots. In return, Amadeus agreed to abandon the Grand Alliance and join with Louis XIV – if necessary – to secure the neutralisation of northern Italy. The Emperor, diplomatically outmanoeuvred, was compelled to accept peace in the region by signing the Treaty of Vigevano of 7 October, to which the French immediately acceded. Italy was neutralised and the Nine Years' War in the peninsula came to an end. Savoy had emerged as an independent sovereign House and a key second-rank power: the Alps, rather than the River Po, would be the boundary of France in the south-east.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The Treaty of Turin started a scramble for peace. With the continual disruption of trade and commerce politicians from England and the Dutch Republic were desirous for an end to the war. France was also facing economic exhaustion, but above all Louis XIV was becoming convinced that Charles II of Spain was near death and he knew that the break-up of the coalition would be essential if France was to benefit from the dynastic battle ahead. The contending parties agreed to meet at Ryswick (Rijswijk) and come to a negotiated settlement. But as talks continued through 1697, so did the fighting. The main French goal that year in the Spanish Netherlands was Ath. Vauban and Catinat (now with troops freed from the Italian front) invested the town on 15 May while Marshals Boufflers and Villeroi covered the siege; after an assault on 5 June the Count of Roeux surrendered and the garrison marched out two days later. The Rhineland theatre in 1697 was again quiet: the French commander, Marshal Choiseul (who had replaced the sick de Lorge the previous year), was content to remain behind his fortified lines. Although Baden took Ebernburg on 27 September, news of the peace brought an end to the desultory campaign, and both armies drew back from one another. In Catalonia, however, French forces (now also reinforced with troops from Italy) achieved considerable success when Vendôme, commanding some 32,000 troops, besieged and captured Barcelona. The garrison, under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, capitulated on 10 August. Yet it had been a hard-fought contest: French casualties amounted to about 9,000, and the Spanish had suffered some 12,000 killed, wounded or lost.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The European war was reflected in North America, where it was known as King William's War, though the North American contest was very different in meaning and scale. The European war declaration arrived amid long-running tensions over control of the fur trade, economically vital to both French and English colonies, and influence over the Iroquois, who controlled much of that trade. The French were determined to hold the St. Lawrence country and to extend their power over the vast basin of the Mississippi. Moreover, Hudson Bay was a focal point of dispute between the Protestant English and Catholic French colonists, both of whom claimed a share of its territory and trade. Although important to the colonists, the North American theatre of the Nine Years' War was of secondary importance to European statesmen. Despite numerical superiority, the English colonists suffered repeated defeats as New France effectively organised its French regulars, local militiamen and Indian allies (notably the Algonquins and Abenakis), to attack frontier settlements. Almost all resources sent to the colonies by England were to defend the English West Indies, the "crown jewels" of the empire.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Friction over Indian relations worsened in 1688 with French incursions against the Iroquois in upstate New York, and with Indian raids against smaller settlements in Maine. The Governor General of New France, Louis de Buade de Frontenac, capitalising on disorganisation in New York and New England following the collapse of the Dominion of New England, expanded the war with a series of raids on the northern borders of the English settlements: first was the destruction of Dover, New Hampshire, in July 1689; followed by Pemaquid, Maine, in August. In February 1690 Schenectady in New York was attacked; massacres at Salmon Falls and Casco Bay followed. In response, on 1 May 1690 at the Albany Conference, colonial representatives elected to invade French Canada. In August a land force commanded by Colonel Winthrop set off for Montreal, while a naval force, commanded by the future governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips (who earlier on 11 May had seized the capital of French Acadia, Port Royal), set sail for Quebec via the Saint Lawrence River. They were repulsed in Battle of Quebec and the expedition on the St Lawrence failed, while the French retook Port Royal.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The war dragged on for several years longer in a series of desultory sallies and frontier raids: neither the leaders in England nor France thought of weakening their position in Europe for the sake of a knock-out blow in North America. By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick, the boundaries and outposts of New France, New England, and New York remained substantially unchanged. In Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay French influence now predominated but William III, who had made the interests of the Bay Company a cause of war in North America, was not prepared to hazard his European policy for the sake of their pursuit. The Five Nations, abandoned by their English allies, were obliged to open separate negotiations, and by the treaty of 1701 they agreed to remain neutral in any future Anglo-French conflicts.


title: Nine Years' War

text: When news of the European war reached Asia, English, French and Dutch colonial governors and merchants quickly took up the struggle. In October 1690 the French Admiral Abraham Duquesne-Guitton sailed into Madras to bombard the Anglo-Dutch fleet; this attack proved foolhardy but extended the war into the Far East. In 1693 the Dutch launched an expedition against their French commercial rivals at Pondichéry on the south-eastern coast of India; the small garrison under François Martin was overwhelmed and surrendered on 6 September.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The Caribbean and the Americas were historically an area of conflict between England and Spain but the two were now allies. Outside North America, French interests were far less significant. Saint Kitts twice changed hands. There was sporadic conflict in Jamaica, Martinique and Hispaniola, but mutual suspicion between the English and Spanish limited joint operations. The Allies had the naval advantage in these isolated areas, though it proved impossible to keep the French from supplying their colonial forces.


title: Nine Years' War

text: By 1693, it was clear the campaigns in Flanders had not dealt a decisive blow to either the Dutch Republic or England, so the French switched to attacking their trade. The Battle of Lagos in 1693 and the loss of the Smyrna convoy caused intense anger among English merchants who demanded increased global protection from the navy. In 1696, a combination of regular French naval forces and privateers went to the Caribbean hoping to intercept the Spanish silver fleet; this was a double threat since capture of the silver would give France a major financial boost and the Spanish ships also carried English cargoes. The strategy failed, but combined with de Pointis' expedition of 1697, it demonstrated the vulnerability of English interests in the Caribbean and North America; their protection in future conflicts became a matter of urgency. In May 1697 French naval forces raided Cartagena and plundered the city.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The peace conference opened in May 1697 in William III's palace at Ryswick near The Hague. The Swedes were the official mediators, but it was through the private efforts of Boufflers and William Bentinck, the Earl of Portland that the major issues were resolved. William III had no intention of continuing the war or pressing for Leopold I's claims in the Rhineland or for the Spanish succession: it seemed more important for Dutch and British security to obtain Louis XIV's recognition of the 1688 revolution.


title: Nine Years' War

text: By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick, Louis XIV kept the whole of Alsace, including Strasbourg. Lorraine returned to its duke (although France retained rights to march troops through the territory), and the French abandoned all gains on the right bank of the Rhine – Philppsburg, Breisach, Freiburg and Kehl. Additionally, the new French fortresses of La Pile, Mont Royal and Fort Louis were to be demolished. To win favour with Madrid over the Spanish succession question, Louis XIV evacuated Catalonia in Spain and Luxembourg, Chimay, Mons, Courtrai, Charleroi and Ath in the Low Countries. The Maritime Powers asked for no territory, but the Dutch were given a favourable commercial treaty, of which the most important provision was to relax regulations to favour Dutch trade and return to the French tariff of 1664. Although Louis XIV continued to shelter James II, he now recognised William III as King of England, and undertook not to actively support the candidature of James II's son. He also gave way over the Palatinate and Cologne issues. Beyond this, the French gained recognition of their ownership of the western half of the island of Hispaniola.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The representatives of the Dutch Republic, England, and Spain signed the treaty on 20 September 1697. Emperor Leopold I, desperate for a continuation of the war so as to strengthen his own claims to the Spanish succession, initially resisted the treaty, but because he was still at war with the Turks and could not face fighting France alone, he also sought terms and signed on 30 October. The Emperor's finances were in a bad state, and the dissatisfaction aroused by the raising of Hanover to electoral rank had impaired Leopold I's influence in Germany. The Protestant princes had also blamed him for the religious clause in the treaty, which stipulated that the lands of the Reunions that France was to surrender would remain Catholic, even those that had been forcibly converted—a clear defiance of the Westphalia settlement. However, the Emperor had netted an enormous accretion of power: Leopold I's son, Joseph, had been named King of the Romans (1690), and the Emperor's candidate for the Polish throne, August of Saxony, had carried the day over Louis XIV's candidate, the Prince of Conti. Additionally, Prince Eugene of Savoy's decisive victory over the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Zenta – leading to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 – consolidated the Austrian Habsburgs and tipped the European balance of power in favour of the Emperor.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The war had allowed William III to destroy militant Jacobitism and helped bring Scotland and Ireland under more direct control. England emerged as a great economic and naval power and became an important player in European affairs, allowing her to use her wealth and energy in world politics to the fullest advantage. William III also continued to prioritise the security of the Dutch Republic, and in 1698 the Dutch garrisoned a series of fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands as a barrier to French attack – future foreign policy would centre on the maintenance and extension of these barrier fortresses. However, the question of the Spanish inheritance was not discussed at Ryswick, and it remained the most important unsolved question of European politics. Within three years Charles II of Spain would be dead, and Louis XIV and the Grand Alliance would again plunge Europe into conflict – the War of the Spanish Succession.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The campaign season typically lasted from May through October. Winter campaigns were rare for lack of animal fodder, but the French practice of storing food and provisions in magazines brought them considerable advantage, often enabling them to take to the field weeks before their foes. Nevertheless, military operations during the Nine Years' War did not produce decisive results. The war was dominated by what may be called 'positional warfare' – the construction, defence, and attack of fortresses and entrenched lines. Positional warfare played a wide variety of roles: fortresses controlled bridgeheads and passes, guarded supply routes, and served as storehouses and magazines. However, fortresses hampered the ability to follow success on the battlefield – defeated armies could flee to friendly fortifications, enabling them to recover and rebuild their numbers from less threatened fronts. Many lesser commanders welcomed these relatively predictable, static operations to mask their lack of military ability. As Daniel Defoe observed in 1697, "Now it is frequent to have armies of 50,000 men of a side spend the whole campaign in dodging – or, as it is genteelly called – observing one another, and then march off into winter quarters." In fact, during the Nine Years' War field armies had waxed to nearly 100,000 men in 1695, the strain of which had reduced the Maritime Powers to a fiscal crisis while the French struggled under the weight of a shattered economy.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Yet there were aggressive commanders: William III, Boufflers, and Luxembourg had the will to win but their methods were hampered by numbers, supply, and communications. The French commanders were also restricted by Louis XIV and Louvois who distrusted field campaigns, preferring Vauban, the taker of fortifications, rather than campaigns of movement.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Another contributing factor for the lack of decisive action was the necessity to fight for secure resources. Armies were expected to support themselves in the field by imposing contributions (taxing local populations) upon a hostile, or even neutral, territory. Subjecting a particular area to contributions was deemed more important than pursuing a defeated army from the battlefield to destroy it. It was primarily financial concerns and availability of resources that shaped campaigns, as armies struggled to outlast the enemy in a long war of attrition. The only decisive action during the whole war came in Ireland where William III crushed the forces of James II in a campaign for legitimacy and control of Britain and Ireland. But unlike Ireland, Louis XIV's Continental wars were never fought without compromise: the fighting provided a foundation for diplomatic negotiations and did not dictate a solution.


title: Nine Years' War

text: The major advancement in weapon technology in the 1690s was the introduction of the flintlock musket. The new firing mechanism provided superior rates of fire and accuracy over the cumbersome matchlocks. But the adoption of the flintlock was uneven, and until 1697 for every three Allied soldiers that were equipped with the new muskets, two soldiers were still handicapped by matchlocks: French second-line troops were issued matchlocks as late as 1703. These weapons were further enhanced with the development of the socket-bayonet. Its predecessor, the plug bayonet – jammed down the firearm's barrel – not only prevented the musket from firing but was also a clumsy weapon that took time to fix properly, and even more time to unfix. In contrast, the socket-bayonet could be drawn over the musket's muzzle and locked into place by a lug, converting the musket into a short pike yet leaving it capable of fire. The disadvantage of the pike came to be widely recognised: at the Battle of Fleurus in 1690, German battalions armed only with the musket repulsed French cavalry attacks more effectively than units conventionally armed with the pike, while Catinat had abandoned his pikes altogether before undertaking his Alpine campaign against Savoy.


title: Nine Years' War

text: In 1688 the most powerful navies were the French, English, and Dutch; the Spanish and Portuguese navies had suffered serious declines in the 17th century. The largest French ships of the period were the "Soleil Royal" and the "Royal Louis", but while each was rated for 120 guns, they never carried this full complement and were too large for practical purposes: the former only sailed on one campaign and was destroyed at La Hogue; the latter languished in port until sold in 1694. By the 1680s, French ship-design was at least equal to its English and Dutch counterparts, and by the Nine Years' War the French fleet had surpassed ships of the Royal Navy, whose designs stagnated in the 1690s. Innovation in the Royal Navy, however, did not cease. At some stage in the 1690s, for example, English ships began to employ the ship's wheel, greatly improving their performance, particularly in heavy weather. (The French navy did not adopt the wheel for another thirty years).


title: Nine Years' War

text: Combat between naval fleets was decided by cannon duels delivered by ships in line of battle; fireships were also used but were mainly successful against anchored and stationary targets, while the new bomb vessels operated best in bombarding targets on shore. Sea battles rarely proved decisive. Fleets faced the almost impossible task of inflicting enough damage on ships and men to win a clear victory: ultimate success depended not on tactical brilliance but on sheer weight of numbers. Here Louis XIV was at a disadvantage: without as large a maritime commerce as benefited the Allies, the French were unable to supply as many experienced sailors for their navy. Most importantly, though, Louis XIV had to concentrate his resources on the army at the expense of the fleet, enabling the Dutch, and the English in particular, to outdo the French in ship construction. However, naval actions were comparatively uncommon and, just like battles on land, the goal was generally to outlast rather than to destroy one's opponent. Louis XIV regarded his navy as an extension of his army – the French fleet's most important role was to protect the French coast from enemy invasion. Louis used his fleet to support land and amphibious operations or the bombardment of coastal targets, designed to draw enemy resources from elsewhere and thus aid his land campaigns on the continent.


title: Nine Years' War

text: Once the Allies had secured a clear superiority in numbers the French found it prudent not to contest them in fleet action. At the start of the Nine Years' War the French fleet had 118 rated vessels and a total of 295 ships of all types. By the end of the war the French had 137 rated ships. In contrast, the English fleet started the war with 173 vessels of all types, and ended it with 323. Between 1694 and 1697 the French built 19 first- to fifth-rated ships; the English built 58 such vessels, and the Dutch constructed 22. Thus the maritime powers outbuilt the French at a rate of four vessels to one.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Garrett Camp (born October 4, 1978) is a Canadian billionaire entrepreneur. He has helped build a series of companies, including founding StumbleUpon, a web-discovery tool; co-founding Uber; and founding Expa, a startup studio. Camp is chairman of Mix, the successor to StumbleUpon, and served on the board of directors of Uber until 2020.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Camp was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His father was an economist, and his mother an artist, and both later became home builders. He graduated from the University of Calgary with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 2001, and later earned a master's degree in software engineering, researching collaborative systems, evolutionary algorithms and information retrieval.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Camp co-founded StumbleUpon in 2002. It was the first web-discovery platform and personalized recommendation engine. The service enabled users to discover web content with a single click, during the Web 2.0 era. In 2006, StumbleUpon relocated to San Francisco, after receiving its first round of funding from Silicon Valley angel investors. In 2007, StumbleUpon was included on the "Time" magazine's "50 Best Websites" list, and on its 2013 "50 Must-Have iPad Apps" list.


title: Garrett Camp

text: StumbleUpon was acquired by eBay for $75M in 2007 and spun-out in 2009, becoming an independent company again. Following its spin-off, Camp worked to expand its offerings to include mobile phone app discovery and social networking. He grew the company to over one hundred employees and over 25 million registered users as its founding CEO before stepping down in mid 2012 to work on other ventures. In August 2015, he acquired it again, after resetting all previous shareholders at $0/share. The platform continued to have standalone web and mobile apps until mid 2018, when its users were transitioned to the Mix.com, a venture built in part through Camp's studio startup company, Expa.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Camp founded Uber as UberCab in early 2009 while he was CEO of StumbleUpon, and self-funded the seed round of $250K.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Uber launched in San Francisco in mid 2010 with just a few cars on the road and, in late 2010, raised $1.25M in venture capital. In 2011, the company continued to expand across the United States and abroad, including major markets such as New York City and Paris. Uber's motto is "Everyone's Private Driver" and, in mid-2012, launched UberX and Uber SUV to offer customers low cost options and more vehicle choices. In late 2012, Uber launched UberTAXI, allowing taxi drivers to use the application with taxi-like fares for customers, and, in early 2013, CEO Travis Kalanick announced that Uber would begin offering a ride-sharing service, allowing community drivers to use the application.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Uber was listed in "Forbes" Top 10 Companies of 2012, and was ranked number 6 in "Fast Company" Most Innovative Companies of 2013. Uber is based in San Francisco, and has expanded in the US and abroad, offering service in over 600 cities worldwide.


title: Garrett Camp

text: In 2020, Camp announced that he was exiting the board of directors but would remain a board observer at the company.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Camp formed Expa in 2013, integrating his ten years of start-up experience into a system for building new companies. Expa is a startup studio to create and launch new companies by providing early-stage startups with starting capital, a workspace, and technical advice. Companies that partner with Expa work from offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver or, most recently, London.


title: Garrett Camp

text: In March 2014, Expa raised its first $50 million from investors to fund the design and development of new companies. In March 2016, Expa raised an additional $100 million to fund the creation of new startups. Expa has helped to build and launch a number of companies, including Mix.com, Haus.com and Cmd.com, among others.


title: Garrett Camp

text: On April 29, 2020, Expa announced that David Clark would join the company as its European partner to set up a new headquarters in London.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Camp is currently working on a cryptocurrency he calls Eco. Camp is striving to make it a digital global currency that facilitates daily transactions between business as a form of payment in order to improve commonly occurring issues with digital currencies. Eco also aims to be the most energy efficient currency in terms of transaction verification and token generation.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Previously, Camp invested in Prism Skylabs; SoundTracking; WillCall; PSDept; and BlackJet, an on-demand private aviation service.


title: Garrett Camp

text: Camp was named to the TR35 List of Top Innovators under the age of 35 at Technology Review's Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT in 2007. In 2008 Camp was named by "Bloomberg Businessweek" as one of Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs. Camp was honored at the 2013 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards for his accomplishments at both StumbleUpon and Uber.


title: Garrett Camp

text: In 2015, he was the 283rd-richest person in the world and the third-richest Canadian, with an estimated wealth of US$5.3 billion according to "Forbes". As of November 2022, Camp's net worth is calculated at US$2.7 billion according to Forbes.


title: Garrett Camp

text: In June 2019, Camp bought a newly built, 11,000-square-foot mansion in Trousdale Estates of Beverly Hills for $72.5 million. Camp's purchase drew the ire of activists and Uber drivers, who protested the firm's labor practices and advocated for better working conditions for drivers. Karim Bayumi, a Los Angeles Uber driver and labor organizer, said "this guy is buying lavish houses with our money, our hard-earned money that they are unjustly taking from us."


title: Garrett Camp

text: Camp has joined The Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away half of his wealth to charity. In a personal blog post announcing his plans, Camp spoke of recent travels to Kenya, where he connected with people living without access to basic services like clean water, food and electricity. In 2018 Camp established the Camp Foundation, a non-profit research organization to support research into infrastructure, sustainability, and conservation projects that will have a significant global impact.


title: Fox (code word)

text: Fox is a brevity code used by NATO pilots to signal the simulated or actual release of an air-to-air munition or other combat function. Army aviation elements may use a different nomenclature, as the nature of helicopter-fired weapons is almost always air-to-surface. "Fox" is short for "foxtrot", the NATO phonetic designation for the letter "F", which is short for "fire". The radio call announcing that a weapon has been fired is intended to help avoid friendly fire, alerting other pilots to avoid maneuvering into the path of the munition.


title: Fox (code word)

text: There are three variations of the "Fox" brevity word in use, with a number added to the end of "Fox" to describe the primary type of sensors the launched munition possesses (if applicable).


title: Fox (code word)

text: Before the introduction of Active radar homing missiles Fox three was the callsign for guns in an air to air role.


title: Nick Land

text: Nick Land (born 17 January 1962) is an English philosopher, theorist, short story writer and blogger. He has been described as "the father of accelerationism", and his work has been tied to the development of speculative realism. He was a leader of the 1990s "theory-fiction" collective Cybernetic Culture Research Unit after its original founder cyberfeminist theorist Sadie Plant departed from it. His work departs from the formal conventions of academic writing and embraces a wide range of influences, as well as exploring unorthodox and "dark" philosophical interests.


title: Nick Land

text: Land is also known for later developing the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic ideas behind neo-reaction and the Dark Enlightenment.


title: Nick Land

text: Land began as a lecturer in Continental Philosophy at the University of Warwick from 1987 until his resignation in 1998. At Warwick, he and Sadie Plant co-founded the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU), an interdisciplinary research group described by philosopher Graham Harman as "a diverse group of thinkers who experimented in conceptual production by welding together a wide variety of sources: futurism, technoscience, philosophy, mysticism, numerology, complexity theory, and science fiction, among others". During his time at Warwick, Land participated in Virtual Futures, a series of cyber-culture conferences. Virtual Futures 96 was advertised as “an anti-disciplinary event” and “a conference in the post-humanities”. One session involved Nick Land “lying on the ground, croaking into a mic”, recalls Robin Mackay, while Mackay played jungle records in the background."


title: Nick Land

text: In 1992, he published "The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism". Land published an abundance of shorter texts, many in the 1990s during his time with the CCRU. The majority of these articles were compiled in the retrospective collection "Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings 1987-2007", published in 2011.


title: Nick Land

text: Land taught at the New Centre for Research & Practice until March 2017, when the Centre ended its relationship with him "following several tweets by Land this year in which he espoused intolerant opinions about Muslims and immigrants".


title: Nick Land

text: Land's work with CCRU, as well as his pre-Dark Enlightenment writings, have all been influential to the political philosophy of accelerationism, an idea resembling that of the "fatal strategy" of "ecstasy" in the earlier work of Jean Baudrillard, where "a system is abolished only by pushing it into hyperlogic, by forcing it into an excessive practice which is equivalent to a brutal amortization". Along with the other members of CCRU, Land wove together ideas from the occult, cybernetics, science fiction, and poststructuralist philosophy to try to describe the phenomena of techno-capitalist acceleration.


title: Nick Land

text: One of Land's celebrated concepts is "hyperstition," a portmanteau of "superstition" and "hyper" that describes the action of successful ideas in the arena of culture. Hyperstitions are ideas that, once "downloaded" into the cultural mainframe, engender apocalyptic positive feedback cycles. Hyperstitions – by their very existence as ideas – function causally to bring about their own reality. Nick Land describes hyperstition as "the experimental (techno-)science of self-fulfilling prophecies".


title: Nick Land

text: Mark Fisher, a British cultural theorist and student of Land's, argued in 2011 that Land's greatest impact so far had been on music and art, rather than on philosophy. The musician Kode9, the artist Jake Chapman, and others studied with or describe their influence by Land, often highlighting Land's inhuman, "technilist," or "delirious" qualities. Fisher underscores in particular how Land's personality during the 1990s could catalyze changes in those engaging with his work through what Kodwo Eshun describes as a manner "immediately open, egalitarian, and absolutely unaffected by academic protocol" which could dramatise "theory as a geopolitico-historical epic."


title: Nick Land

text: Land's Dark Enlightenment philosophy (also known as neo-reactionary movement and abbreviated NRx) opposes egalitarianism, and is sometimes associated with the alt-right or other far-right movements. Land believes democracy restricts accountability and freedom. Shuja Haider notes, "His sequence of essays setting out its principles have become the foundation of the NRx canon." Land insists, however, that “as a populist, and in significant ways anti-capitalist movement, the Alt-Right is a very different beast to NRx.”


title: Nick Land

text: His writing has variously explored themes of scientific racism and eugenics, or what he briefly called "hyper-racism". Land's current version of accelerationism incorporates explicitly racist views and since late 2016 has been increasingly recognised as an inspiration for the alt-right and, according to "Vox" writer Dylan Matthews, for white supremacist mass murderers. Additionally, Land has promoted the Atomwaffen-affiliated Order of Nine Angles that adheres to the ideology of neo-Nazi terrorist accelerationism, describing O9A's works as "highly-recommended" but is also "uncomfortable with soliciting belief" in said material.


title: Nick Land

text: Land has also written on the implications for philosophy and politics of cryptocurrency, specifically Bitcoin. Drawing from Kantian epistemology, Land has described Bitcoin as "an operational truth procedure". As of August 2019, Land is still working on a book about Bitcoin.


title: Slough

text: Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2020, the built-up area subdivision had an estimated population of 164,793. In 2011, the district had a population of 140,713.


title: Slough

text: Slough's population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the United Kingdom, attracting people from across the country and the world for labour since the 1920s, which has helped shape it into a major trading centre. In 2017, unemployment stood at 1.4%, one-third the UK average of 4.5%.


title: Slough

text: Slough has the highest concentration of UK HQs of global companies outside London. Slough Trading Estate is the largest industrial estate in single private ownership in Europe, with over 17,000 jobs in 400 businesses. Blackberry, McAfee, Burger King, DHL, Telefonica and Lego have head offices in the town.


title: Slough

text: The name was first recorded in 1195 as "Slo". It first seems to have applied to a hamlet between Upton to the east and Chalvey to the west, roughly around the "Crown Crossroads" where the road to Windsor (now the A332) met the Great West Road. The Domesday Survey of 1086 refers to Upton, and a wood for 200 pigs, worth £15. During the 13th century, King Henry III had a palace at Cippenham. Parts of Upton Court were built in 1325, while St Mary the Virgin Church in Langley was probably built in the late 11th or early 12th century, though it has been rebuilt and enlarged several times.


title: Slough

text: From the mid-17th century, stagecoaches began to pass through Slough and Salt Hill (later absorbed into Slough), which became locations for the second stage to change horses on the journey out from London. By 1838 and the opening of the Great Western Railway, Upton-cum-Chalvey's parish population had reached 1,502. In 1849, a branch line was completed from Slough to Windsor & Eton Central, opposite Windsor Castle, for Queen Victoria's convenience.


title: Slough

text: 1918 saw a large area of agricultural land to the west of Slough developed as an army motor repair depot, used to store and repair huge numbers of motor vehicles coming back from the battlefields of the First World War in Flanders. In April 1920, the Government sold the site and its contents to the Slough Trading Co. Ltd. Repair of ex-army vehicles continued until 1925, when the Slough Trading Company Act was passed allowing the company (renamed Slough Estates Ltd) to establish an industrial estate. Spectacular growth and employment ensued, with Slough attracting workers from many parts of the UK and abroad. Slough Town Hall, which was designed by Charles Holloway James and Stephen Rowland Pierce, was completed in 1937.


title: Slough

text: During the Second World War, Slough experienced a series of air raids, mostly in October 1940 (the largest number of people, five, dying as a result of one on the 13th), and an emergency hospital treating casualties from London was set up in Slough. Local air raid deaths and deaths at the hospital account for the 23 civilian lives recorded lost in the borough area.


title: Slough

text: After the war, several further large housing developments arose to take large numbers of people migrating from war-damaged London. Between 1955 and 1957 the town was the site of the Slough experiment, a large-scale road safety trial.


title: Slough

text: The old Slough library was opened on 28 November 1974. It was officially called the Robert Taylor Library, named after Alderman Taylor in recognition of his contribution to the library service. The library was officially opened by the Mayor, Councillor DR Peters, on 15 May 1975. It was demolished in May 2017 as part of the programme of redevelopment in the town centre.


title: Slough

text: In the 21st century, Slough has seen major redevelopment of the town centre. Old buildings are being replaced with new offices and shopping complexes. Tesco has replaced an existing superstore with a larger Tesco Extra. The Heart of Slough Project is a plan for the large-scale redevelopment of the town centre as a focus and cultural quarter for the creative media, information and communications industries. It will create a mixed-use complex, multi-functional buildings, visual landmarks and a public space in the Thames Valley. Recommendations for the £400 million project have been approved, and planning approval was given by Slough Borough Council's planning committee on 9 July 2009. Work began in 2010 for completion in 2018.


title: Slough

text: In December 2009, two key components of the project were signed: the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) signed its agreement to provide £11m of funding for infrastructure and Thames Valley University (TVU) courses which are due to remain in the town have found a new home at the Centre in Farnham Road, Slough. In parallel to the town centre redevelopment plan, Segro (owner of the Slough Trading Estate) plans to spend £600 million over the next 20 years on the trading estate. This is intended to create environmentally sustainable buildings, open green spaces, two hotels, a conference centre, cafés, restaurants and better transport facilities to improve links to Slough town centre and the surrounding residential areas. It is claimed that the plan will create more than 4,100 new jobs and contribute around £100m a year to Slough's economy. If both plans go ahead in their current forms, nearly £1 billion will be spent on redeveloping Slough over the next 20 years.


title: Slough

text: Herschel Park (known as Upton Park until 1949), named for astronomer William Herschel, is currently being relandscaped in a multimillion-pound effort to bring it back to its former Victorian era glory. The park was featured in an episode of the documentary programme "Who Do You Think You Are?" focusing on the TV presenter Davina McCall.


title: Slough

text: In 2010, £2 million was set aside to improve disabled access to Slough railway station in preparation for an expected increase in use during the 2012 London Olympics. Preparations were under way for the regeneration of the Britwell suburb of Slough, involving tearing down a dilapidated block of flats and the closing of the public house the Jolly Londoner in Wentworth Avenue and replacing them with new homes, as well as relocating the shopping parade in the street to nearby Kennedy Park. As part of the Heart of Slough project, construction work on a new bus station began in March 2010 following weeks of demolition work to half of the existing bus station and the removal of Compair House near the railway station; it was expected to be completed by January 2011 and was opened in May 2011, 5 months behind schedule. The bus station was seriously damaged by a fire on 29 October 2022, which started from a parked bus and spread across the roof of the station, damaging three other buses that were being stored overnight and forcing bus operators to arrange temporary bus stands nearby.


title: Slough

text: Redevelopment on this scale has been strongly criticised by conservation groups. The Twentieth Century Society has stated that


title: Slough

text: [A] tragically high quantity of good buildings have been demolished in Slough in recent years, including grand Art-Deco-styled factories by the likes of Wallis Gilbert and high-quality post-war offices. More are to come down as the town tries to erase its past and reinvent itself from scratch. Despite famously heckling Slough, John Betjeman's praise for the town hall's architecture as 'a striving for unity out of chaos' in 1948 has never been so relevant as today. C20 believes that the redevelopment of the town hall would be an act of vandalism to the civic centre and is supporting the Campaign to Save Slough's Heritage in their request for a review of the decision.


title: Slough

text: During November 2016, the Slough Queensmere and Observatory shopping centres were sold to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in a deal worth £130 million.


title: Slough

text: Slough is west of Charing Cross, central London, north of Windsor, east of Maidenhead, south-east of High Wycombe and north-east of the county town of Reading. Slough is within the Greater London Urban Area and on the border with London Borough of Hillingdon and London Borough of Hounslow. Heathrow Airport is 5 miles away. Nearby towns are Uxbridge to the northeast and Beaconsfield to the north.


title: Slough

text: Most of the area that now makes up Slough was anciently part of Buckinghamshire, however, Poyle was historically in Middlesex. The town developed by the expansion and amalgamation of villages along the Great West Road. Over the years Slough has expanded greatly, incorporating a number of different villages. Original villages that are now suburbs of Slough include Chalvey, Cippenham, Colnbrook, Langley, Poyle, Upton, and Wexham.


title: Slough

text: Named neighbourhoods include Brands Hill, Britwell, Huntercombe, Manor Park, Salt Hill, Upton Lea and Windsor Meadows. The urban area merges into the neighbouring parishes of Burnham, a small area of Taplow near Cippenham, Farnham Royal and Stoke Poges which remain in the county of Buckinghamshire and Datchet which is also in Berkshire. Eton is narrowly buffered by the Jubilee River and by green space (mainly the college playing fields) from part of Slough, and the two areas formerly formed the Eton birth, marriages and deaths registration district.


title: Slough

text: The nearest Met Office weather observing station to Slough is Heathrow Airport, about east of Slough town centre. This part of the Thames Valley is notable for generally having the warmest daytime summer temperatures on average in the British Isles. Typically, according to 1981–2010 normals, the average high temperature in July is 23.5 °C (74.3 °F.)


title: Slough

text: Rainfall is low compared to most of the British Isles, with under annually, and 105 days reporting over 1 mm of rain.


title: Slough

text: During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many unemployed Welsh people who walked up the Great West Road looking for employment settled in Slough.


title: Slough

text: According to the 2011 census, 45.7% of the population was white (34.5% white British, 1.1% white Irish, 0.2% gypsy or Irish Traveller, 9.9% other white), 3.4% of mixed race (1.2% white and black Caribbean, 0.4% white and black African, 1.0% white and Asian, 0.8% other mixed), 39.7% Asian (17.7% Pakistani, 15.6% Indian, 0.4% Bangladeshi, 0.6% Chinese, 5.4% other Asian), 8.6% black (5.4% African, 2.2% Caribbean, 1.0% other black), 0.7% Arab and 1.9% of other ethnic heritage.


title: Slough

text: In the post-war years, immigrants from the Commonwealth, notably Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, India and Pakistan came to the town. There is also a significant Irish and London-Irish population from London overspill.


title: Slough

text: In the early 1950s, there were a number of Polish refugee camps scattered around the Slough area. As returning to Poland (then in the Soviet Bloc) was not considered an option by many of the wartime refugees, many Polish families decided to settle in Slough. In time, a Polish-speaking Roman Catholic parish was established with its own church building. A new wave of Polish migration to Slough has followed since Poland became part of the European Union.


title: Slough

text: Figures from the 2011 census showed that 41.2% of Slough's population identified as Christian, 23.3% as Muslim, 10.6% as Sikh, 6.2% as Hindu, 0.5% as Buddhist, 0.1% as Jewish, 0.3% as having other religions, 12.1% as having no religion and 5.7% did not answer the question. Slough has the highest percentage of Sikh residents in the country according to the census figures. Slough also has the highest percentage of Muslim and Hindu residents in the South East region.


title: Slough

text: In July 2007 Slough was the subject of a documentary by the BBC's "Panorama" series, entitled "Immigration – how we lost count". The programme highlighted Slough and other affordable towns close to London had a much greater rise in the EU immigrant population than had been nationally predicted and for which resources had been allocated. The programme found certain public services failing to deliver to expected standards and with large groups selecting a small area in which to live, an increase in overcrowding.


title: Slough

text: In 1863, Slough became a local government area when a Slough Local Board of Health was elected to represent what is now the central part of the modern Borough. This part of Upton-cum-Chalvey Civil Parish became Slough Urban Sanitary District in 1875. The functions of these two bodies were strengthened in 1894, when Slough Urban District was created, Buckinghamshire County Council having been created in the previous decade. In 1930, there was a major extension westward of the Urban District, and the area was divided into electoral wards for the first time (the new areas of Burnham (Beeches), Farnham (Royal) and Stoke (Poges) (commonly used suffixes) as well as the divisions of the old district Central, Chalvey, Langley and Upton). In 1938, the town became a Municipal Borough by Royal Charter.


title: Slough

text: Slough was transferred to Berkshire in the 1974 local government reorganisation. The old Municipal Borough was abolished and not deemed part of an urban conglomeration, replaced by a non-city type second-tier authority (Non-metropolitan district), which was however made a Borough by the town's second Royal Charter. Britwell and Wexham Court became part of Slough at this time, with their civil parish councils. On 1 April 1995, the Borough of Slough expanded slightly into Buckinghamshire and Surrey, to take in Colnbrook and Poyle and merged their civil parish councils.


title: Slough

text: Slough became a unitary authority, on 1 April 1998. This coincided with the abolition of Berkshire County Council and the dissolution of its Borough Status received under its second Royal Charter. However, to enable the continued use of the word Borough, as in some other parts of Berkshire, Slough received its third Royal Charter in 1998.


title: Slough

text: Before the 19th century, the main businesses of Slough were brickfields and agriculture. The bricks for the building of Eton College were made in Slough. Later, as the Great West Road traffic increased, inns and pubs sprang up along the road to service the passing trade. Until the town developed as an industrial area, nurseries were prominent in the local economy; the Cox's Orange Pippin apple was first raised in Colnbrook (not then within Slough) around 1825, and the dianthus "Mrs Sinkins Pink" was first raised at some point between 1868 and 1883 by John Sinkins, the master of the Eton Union Workhouse, which lay in Slough.


title: Slough

text: In the mid-19th century, the only major employer apart from the brickfields was James Elliman, who started as a draper in Chandos Street. In 1847, he changed business and manufactured his and "Royal Embrocation" horse liniment at factories in Wellington Street and Chandos Street. Elliman became a major benefactor to the town, and is remembered today in the names of local roads and schools.


title: Slough

text: In September 1851, William Thomas Buckland, an auctioneer and surveyor from nearby Wraysbury, began livestock sales in a field near the "Great Western Road Railway Station" belonging to the "North Star Inn". Originally held on the first Tuesday of every month, the Cattle Market's popularity soon saw this increased to every Tuesday. A move to Wexham Street was necessitated by the postwar redevelopment of the town. The "Slough Cattle Market" was run by "Messrs Buckland and Sons" until its final closure in 1988.


title: Slough

text: In 1906, James Horlick, one of the founders of the eponymous malted milk company, opened a purpose-built red-brick factory near Slough Railway Station to manufacture his malted milk product. In 2015, the business was sold by Glaxo Smith Kline and in 2017, manufacturing at the site ceased altogether. The site is currently proposed to become residential making use of the original buildings as much as possible.


title: Slough

text: Starting in the 1920s, Slough Estates Ltd, the operator of the original Slough Trading Estate, created and operated many more estates in the UK and abroad. The Slough Trading Estate meant that the town was largely insulated from many of the effects of recession. For many years, Slough's economy was mainly manufacturing-based.


title: Slough

text: In the last 20 or so years, there has been a major shift from a manufacturing to an information-based economy, with the closure of many factories (some of which had been in Slough for many decades). The factories are rapidly being replaced by office buildings. Hundreds of major companies have sited in Slough Trading Estate over the years, with its proximity to London Heathrow Airport and good motorway connections being attractive. In the 1960s, Gerry Anderson's film company was based in Slough, and his Supermarionation series, including "Thunderbirds", were filmed there.


title: Slough

text: The UK headquarters of Mars, Incorporated is in Slough, the main factory having been established in 1932 by Forrest Mars Sr. and Frank C. Mars. It produced the Mars Bar in Slough over 70 years ago. One of the Mars factories has been demolished and some production has moved to the Czech Republic. The European head offices of major IT companies such as BlackBerry, McAfee, Computer Associates, PictureTel and Compusys (among others) are all in the town. O is headquartered in the town across four buildings. The town is also home to the business support organisation Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group and National Foundation for Educational Research, which is housed in the Mere.


title: Slough

text: Recent new offices include those of Nintendo, Black and Decker and Abbey business centres. The registered office of Furniture Village lies in the town.


title: Slough

text: The motor trade has long been represented in Slough. Until 1966, Citroën assembled cars in a Liverpool Road factory (later used by "Mars Confectionery"), and it retains its UK headquarters in the town. Ford built D Series and Cargo lorries at its factory in Langley (a former Hawker Aircraft site) from 1936 to the 1950s until the site was redeveloped for housing in the 1990s. Ferrari, Mercedes, Fiat and Maserati now have offices in the town.


title: Slough

text: Slough is near London, Heathrow Airport, Uxbridge, Maidenhead and Staines and the town is a travel hub. Many people from Slough work in nearby towns and cities such as Windsor, Reading, London and Bracknell, and there are large passenger movements in the morning and evening rush hours. Road transport in Slough includes:


title: Slough

text: Slough station is a junction between the Great Western Main Line and the Slough to Windsor & Eton Line to allow passengers to connect for Windsor & Eton Central.


title: Slough

text: Reading: Great Western Railway operate fast services to Reading every half an hour which takes about 15 minutes, as well as slow services every fifteen minutes which take 30 minutes.


title: Slough

text: London Paddington: Great Western Railway operate express services to London every half an hour which take 14 minutes, as well as slow services every fifteen minutes taking 26 minutes.


title: Slough

text: The Western Rail Approach to Heathrow is a £500m rail project announced by the Department for Transport; Network Rail announced the route in 2014. It will directly serve Slough with four trains every hour, reducing travel times to Heathrow to six minutes. It is expected to be operational in the early 2020s.


title: Slough

text: National Cycle Network route 61 runs through central Slough. A Smoove bike sharing system was launched in October 2013, targeting commuters travelling between the trading estate and nearby railway stations.


title: Slough

text: Slough is connected by the Slough Arm to the main line of the Grand Union Canal which runs between the Thames at Brentford and Birmingham. It travels from the terminus basin at Stoke Road to the junction with the main line at Cowley Peachey; it was restored to navigability in 1975 having been disused since 1960.


title: Slough

text: Slough has a senior non-League football team, Slough Town F.C., who currently play in the National League South.


title: Slough

text: Reading F.C. Womens and Republic of Ireland Womens goalkeeper Grace Moloney was born and lives in the town.


title: Slough

text: There are numerous primary and secondary schools serving Slough. In addition, East Berkshire College has a campus in the area. Slough schools are in the top 10 best performers in the country at GCSE level. In 2011, 68.1% of pupils left school with a minimum of 5 A*-C grades (with English and maths). The national average is 58.9%.


title: Slough

text: Thames Valley University (Slough Campus) is currently closed due to the Heart of Slough project. The new campus was scheduled to be opened in 2013 as part of the University of West London. However, as of March 2022 there has been no progress. In fact the former site of the university has been sold for housing.


title: Slough

text: Slough has a relatively high crime rate; figures for all crime categories are annually above the English average and figures for a few categories are at more than double the frequency. According to British Crime Survey statistics, as of September 2013, Slough had the second worst rate of crime among local authority areas in the Thames Valley Police counties (87 recorded crimes per 1,000 population vs Oxford's 104). However the borough's crime rate reduced by 29% in the ten years to 2013. In the year ending September 2017, the crime rate in Slough was the third highest in the Thames Valley force area, behind Reading (96.42 police recorded crimes per 1000 population) and Oxford (100.71 for the same metric).


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which he first achieved in September 2020. He is the third highest-ranked Canadian male player in history behind Félix Auger-Aliassime (world No. 8 in 2022) and Milos Raonic (world No. 3 in 2016). He has won one ATP Tour singles title and produced his best Grand Slam performance at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, where he reached the semifinals. Shapovalov also has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 44, which he attained in February 2020.As a junior, Shapovalov was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world. He won two junior Grand Slam titles, his first being the doubles title at the 2015 US Open with Auger-Aliassime and his second being the singles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. As a professional, Shapovalov broke into the top 100 for the first time in 2017 after making the semifinals of the 2017 Canadian Open; at the age of 18, he became the youngest player ever to reach the semifinal of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. The next year, Shapovalov continued his success with a second Masters semifinal appearance at the 2018 Madrid Open and ended the year ranked inside the top 30, making him the youngest player in the group. In 2019, Shapovalov won his first ATP title at the 2019 Stockholm Open and made his first Masters finals appearance at the 2019 Paris Masters, after which he ended the year ranked No. 15. For 2020, Shapovalov reached his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2020 US Open and his fourth Masters semifinal at the 2020 Italian Open, taking him to his career-high ranking of world No. 10. He made two more tour final appearances in 2021.With partner Rohan Bopanna, Shapovalov has also succeeded in doubles at the Grand Slam level, having reached his first quarterfinal at the 2020 US Open, and the Masters level after making five quarterfinals and one semifinal. Together, they also reached their first doubles final at the 2019 Stuttgart Open, which brought Shapovalov past Adil Shamasdin to become the No. 1 Canadian doubles player. After their quarterfinal appearance at the 2019 Paris Masters, he entered the top 50 in doubles for the first time.A left-handed player with a one-handed backhand, Shapovalov plays an aggressive, high-risk ground game and has some of the strongest groundstrokes on the tour, complemented by his powerful forehand and serve. He also often plays serve-and-volley to quickly end points, which has rewarded him on faster surfaces. In recognition of his breakout tennis success in 2017, his peers on the ATP Tour voted him as the ATP Most Improved Player and ATP Star of Tomorrow. That same year, he was also awarded the Lionel Conacher Award as Canada's male athlete of the year, making him the second tennis player to have won the award since its inception in 1932.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov ( ; ; ) was born on 15 April 1999 in Tel Aviv, Israel. His mother, Tessa Shapovalova, was a tennis player and played for the Soviet national tennis team. She moved from the Soviet Union to Tel Aviv with Denis' father, Viktor Shapovalov, when the Soviet Union was collapsing. She eventually became a tennis coach there. His mother is Jewish, while his father is Orthodox Christian. Shapovalov has one sibling, an older brother named Evgeniy, who was also born in Israel.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: The family moved from Israel to Canada before Denis' first birthday. He then lived in Vaughan, Ontario. He started playing tennis at the Richmond Hill Country Club, where his mother got a job as a coach two weeks after arriving in Toronto from Tel Aviv. Denis began playing tennis at age 5, and quickly became obsessed with the game. When it became difficult to get Denis enough time on the Richmond Hill club's courts, his mother left her job there and eventually opened her own tennis academy in Vaughan, named TessaTennis, to help give him a home base to train and to teach the game to other juniors. Shapovalov attended Stephen Lewis Secondary School in Vaughan. He is nicknamed "Shapo" or "Deni".


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: When Shapovalov was 13, his training needs were too much for his mother to handle on her own. It was at this point that the family hired Adriano Fuorivia, a former manager of tennis development for Tennis Canada, to be his personal coach and travel with Shapovalov while his parents stayed home to run the academy. The relationship between Shapovalov and Adriano lasted four years, and included numerous junior and ITF futures titles, including the 2015 US Open Junior Doubles title and the 2016 Wimbledon Junior Singles title. In October 2013, Shapovalov won his first junior singles title at the ITF G5 in Burlington, Ontario. He captured his second singles title in April 2014 at the ITF G5 in Burlington. In July 2014, Shapovalov won the singles and doubles titles at the ITF G4 in San José. At the US Open in September 2015, he qualified in singles and made it to the third round for his second straight Grand Slam. In doubles, he won the title with partner Félix Auger-Aliassime. In October 2015, Shapovalov and fellow Canadians Félix Auger-Aliassime and Benjamin Sigouin captured the first Junior Davis Cup title for Canada in its history. At the French Open in May 2016, he advanced to the semifinals in singles and to the second round in doubles. At the beginning of July 2016, he captured his first G1 singles title after winning in Roehampton. A week later, Shapovalov became the third Canadian to win a junior Grand Slam singles title with a three-set victory over Alex de Minaur at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. He also reached the doubles final with Félix Auger-Aliassime.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: In late November 2015, Shapovalov won his first professional doubles title at the ITF Futures in Pensacola. In January 2016, he reached the doubles final at the ITF Futures in Sunrise. A week later, he captured his first professional singles title with a straight-set victory over Pedro Sakamoto at the ITF Futures in Weston. In March 2016, he reached the semifinals of the Challenger Banque Nationale de Drummondville, beating his first top 100 player in Austin Krajicek before losing to Daniel Evans in three sets.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: In April 2016, Shapovalov won his second and third singles titles after defeating world No. 286 Tennys Sandgren at the ITF 25K in Memphis and winning the ITF 10K in Orange Park over Miomir Kecmanović two weeks later. He also won the doubles title in Orange Park. In July 2016, Shapovalov was awarded a wildcard for the tournament in Washington, his first ATP main draw appearance. He was defeated by Lukáš Lacko in three sets. Shapovalov then was awarded a wildcard for the 2016 Rogers Cup the next week. In the first round he upset world No. 19 Nick Kyrgios, beating him in three sets to win his first tour level match. He was defeated by No. 40 Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the next round.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: In February 2017, Shapovalov was selected to play for the Canada Davis Cup team in the World Group 1st round tie against Great Britain, and lost his opener to Dan Evans. In the deciding rubber against Kyle Edmund, he accidentally hit the chair umpire, Arnaud Gabas, in the eye after launching a ball aimlessly towards the crowd in anger after dropping serve in the opening stages of the third set, leading to immediate disqualification for unsportsmanlike behaviour, and as a result, Great Britain won the tie 3–2.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: In March in Gatineau, Shapovalov captured his fourth ITF Futures singles title after defeating Gleb Sakharov in straight sets. Two weeks later, he won his first ATP Challenger title with a victory over Ruben Bemelmans at the 75K in Drummondville, and was the youngest Canadian to win a Challenger until Félix Auger-Aliassime's victory at the Open Sopra Steria de Lyon later in the year. The next week, he was defeated by Mirza Bašić in the final of the ATP Challenger 50K in Guadalajara, stopping his winning streak at 17 matches. At the French Open in May, his first professional Grand Slam, he was defeated in the first round of qualifying by the first seed Marius Copil in three sets. In June, Shapovalov qualified for the ATP 500 at the Queen's Club Championships, his fourth ATP main draw but his first as a qualifier. In the first round, he defeated his second top 50 player, world No. 47 Kyle Edmund, before losing to world No. 14 Tomáš Berdych.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: At Wimbledon in July, Shapovalov made his Grand Slam debut after he was awarded a wildcard for the main draw. He was defeated by Jerzy Janowicz in the opening round. At the end of the month, he won his second ATP Challenger title, defeating compatriot Peter Polansky in the final of the 75K in Gatineau.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: Shapovalov experienced a significant breakthrough in August at the Rogers Cup when he defeated world No. 31 Juan Martín del Potro in the second round and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the next round, which was his first-ever match against a top 10 player. He went on to defeat world No. 42 Adrian Mannarino in the quarterfinals before bowing out to world No. 8 Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, thus becoming the youngest player ever to reach an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semifinal.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: Despite his achievements at the Rogers Cup, Shapovalov had to qualify to enter the main draw of the US Open. In the qualifying rounds, he defeated Denis Kudla, Gastão Elias, and Jan Šátral. In the main draw, Shapovalov defeated Daniil Medvedev in the first round, then No. 8 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second. He reached the fourth round by defeating Kyle Edmund in four sets, becoming the youngest player to reach the fourth round since Michael Chang in 1989. He was defeated by world No. 19 Pablo Carreño Busta in the fourth round, after which he reached his career-high ATP ranking of world No. 51 on 11 September 2017.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: Shapovalov was offered a wildcard to the main draw of the Shanghai Masters in October where he lost in the first round to Viktor Troicki in three sets. He also lost in the first round of the Paris Masters two weeks later to Julien Benneteau. In November, Shapovalov competed in the inaugural Next Generation ATP Finals along with seven other top singles players aged 21 and under. Seeded third, Shapovalov finished third in his Group with a record of one win and two losses in round robin play, which was not enough to qualify for the semifinals.


title: Denis Shapovalov

text: Shapovalov began his 2018 season at the Brisbane International, where he lost in the first round in both singles, to Kyle Edmund, and doubles, to eventual winners Henri Kontinen and John Peers. At the ASB Classic, he defeated Rogério Dutra Silva in the opening round but was knocked out in the second round to second seed Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Shapovalov won his first round match over Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets, but lost in the next round to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets despite leading Tsonga 5–2 in the deciding set.