title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand was ranked as the world's third most unequal nation, behind Russia and India, in the Credit Suisse "Global Wealth Databook 2016" (companion volume to the "Global Wealth Report 2016"), with one percent of the Thai population estimated to own 58 percent of Thailand's wealth.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Virtually all of Thailand's firms, 99.7 percent, or 2.7 million enterprises, are classed as being small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). , SMEs account for 80.3 percent (13 million) of Thailand's total employment. In sheer numbers SMEs predominate, but their contribution to the nation's GDP decreased from 41.3 percent of GDP in 2002 to 37.4 percent in 2013. Their declining contribution is reflected in their turnover rate: seventy percent fail within "...a few years".


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Developments in agriculture since the 1960s have supported Thailand's transition to an industrialised economy. As recently as 1980, agriculture supplied 70 percent of employment. In 2008, agriculture, forestry and fishing contributed 8.4 percent to GDP; in rural areas, farm jobs supply half of employment. Rice is the most important crop in the country and Thailand had long been the world's number one exporter of rice, until recently falling behind both India and Vietnam. It is a major exporter of shrimp. Other crops include coconuts, corn, rubber, soybeans, sugarcane and tapioca.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand is the world's third-largest seafood exporter. Overall fish exports were worth around US$3 billion in 2014, according to the Thai Frozen Foods Association. Thailand's fishing industry employs more than 300,000 persons.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 1985, Thailand designated 25 percent of its land area for forest protection and 15 percent for timber production. Forests have been set aside for conservation and recreation, and timber forests are available for the forestry industry. Between 1992 and 2001, exports of logs and sawn timber increased from 50,000 to 2,000,000 cubic meters per year.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The regional avian-flu outbreak contracted Thailand's agricultural sector in 2004, and the tsunami of 26 December devastated the Andaman Sea fishing industry. In 2005 and 2006, agricultural GDP was reported to have contracted by 10 percent.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand is the world's second-largest exporter of gypsum (after Canada), although government policy limits gypsum exports to support prices. In 2003 Thailand produced more than 40 different minerals, with an annual value of about US$740 million. In September 2003, to encourage foreign investment in mining the government relaxed its restrictions on mining by foreign companies and reduced mineral royalties owed to the state.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2007 industry contributed 43.9 percent of GDP, employing 14 percent of the workforce. Industry expanded at an average annual rate of 3.4 percent from 1995 to 2005. The most important sub-sector of industry is manufacturing, which accounted for 34.5 percent of GDP in 2004.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Electrical and electronics (E&E) equipment is Thailand's largest export sector, amounting to about 15 percent of total exports. In 2014 Thailand's E&E exports totalled US$55 billion. The E&E sector employed approximately 780,000 workers in 2015, representing 12.2 per cent of the total employment in manufacturing.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: , Thailand is the largest exporter of computers and computer components in ASEAN. Thailand is the world's second-biggest maker of hard disk drives (HDDs) after China, with Western Digital and Seagate Technology among the biggest producers. But problems may loom for Thailand's high-tech sector. In January 2015, the country's manufacturing index fell for the 22nd consecutive month, with production of goods like televisions and radios down 38 percent year-on-year. Manufacturers are relocating to nations where labour is cheaper than Thailand. In April 2015, production will cease at an LG Electronics factory in Rayong Province. Production is being moved to Vietnam, where labour costs per day are US$6.35 versus US$9.14 in Thailand. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will site two large smartphone factories in Vietnam. It made around US$11 billion worth of investment pledges to the Vietnamese economy in 2014. As technologies evolve, e.g., as HDDs are replaced by solid-state drives (SSDs), manufacturers are reexamining where best to produce these latest technologies. In addition, 74 percent of salaried workers in the sector face a high risk of being replaced by robots, as these positions consist of "repetitive, non-cognitive tasks".


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand is the ASEAN leader in automotive production and sales. The sector employed approximately 417,000 workers in 2015, representing 6.5 per cent of total employment across all manufacturing industries and accounting for roughly 10 percent of the country's GDP. In 2014, Thailand exported US$25.8 billion in automotive goods. As many as 73 percent of automotive sector workers in Thailand face a high risk of job loss due to automation.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Gem and jewelry exports are Thailand's third-largest export category by value, trailing automotive and parts and computer components. In 2019, gem and jewelry exports, including gold, exceeded US$15.7 billion, up 30.3% from 2018 (486 billion baht, up 26.6%). Key export markets included ASEAN, India, the Middle East, and Hong Kong. The industry employs more than 700,000 workers according to the Gem and Jewelry Institute of Thailand (GIT).


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand's 2004 energy consumption was estimated at 3.4 quadrillion British thermal units, representing about 0.7 percent of total world energy consumption. Thailand is a net importer of oil and natural gas; however, the government is promoting ethanol to reduce imports of petroleum and the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2005 Thailand's daily oil consumption of exceeded its production of . Thailand's four oil refineries have a combined capacity of . The government is considering a regional oil-processing and transportation hub serving south-central China. In 2004, Thailand's natural-gas consumption of exceeded its production of .


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand's 2004 estimated coal consumption of 30.4 million short tons exceeded its production of 22.1 million. As of January 2007, proven oil reserves totaled and proven natural-gas reserves were . In 2003, recoverable coal reserves totalled 1,493 million short tons.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2005, Thailand used about 118 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. Consumption rose by 4.7 percent in 2006, to 133 billion kWh. According to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (the national electricity utility), power consumption by residential users is increasing due to more favorable rates for residential customers than for the industry and business sectors. Thailand's electric utility and petroleum companies (also state-controlled) are being restructured.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2007 the service sector (which includes tourism, banking and finance), contributed 44.7 percent of GDP and employed 37 percent of the workforce. Thailand's service industry is competitive, contributing to its export growth.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Dangerous levels of non-performing assets at Thai banks helped trigger an attack on the baht by currency speculators which led to the Asian financial crisis in 1997–1998. By 2003, nonperforming assets had been cut in half (to about 30 percent).


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Despite a return to profitability, Thailand's banks continue to struggle with unrealized losses and inadequate capital. The government is considering reforms, including an integrated financial regulatory agency which would enable the Bank of Thailand to focus on monetary policy. In addition, the government is attempting to strengthen the financial sector through the consolidation of commercial, state- and foreign-owned institutions. The 2004 Financial Sector Reform Master Plan provides tax breaks to financial institutions engaging in mergers and acquisitions. The reform program has been deemed successful by outside experts. In 2007 there were three state-owned commercial banks, five state-owned specialized banks, fifteen Thai commercial banks, and seventeen foreign banks in Thailand.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The Bank of Thailand sought to stem the flow of foreign funds into the country in December 2006, leading to the largest one-day drop in stock prices on the Stock Exchange of Thailand since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The sell-off by foreign investors amounted to more than US$708 million.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2019, the Bank of Thailand kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a fourth straight meeting, with the concerns of high household debt and financial stability risks.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Retail employs more than six million Thai workers. Most are employed by small businesses. Large multinational and national retail players (such as Tesco Lotus, 7-Eleven, Siam Makro, Big C, Villa Market, Central Group and Mall Group) are estimated to employ fewer than 400,000 workers. This accounts for less than seven percent of Thailand's total employment in retail.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2016, tourism revenue, 2.53 trillion baht, accounted for 17.7 percent of Thailand's GDP, up from 16.7 percent in 2015. It is expected to generate 2.71 trillion baht in 2017. The global average for GDP contribution from tourism is nine percent.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand's Ministry of Finance approved four licensed brokers and dealers of cryptocurrencies in the country: Bx, Bitkub, Coins and Satang Pro. The country still did not elaborated regulation for ICOs, though it announced in late 2018 to loosen the rules.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand's labour force has been estimated at from 36.8 million employed (of 55.6 million adults of working age) to 38.3 million (1Q2016). About 49 percent were employed in agriculture, 37 percent in the service sector and 14 percent in industry. In 2005 women constituted 48 percent of the labour force, and held an increased share of professional jobs. Thailand's unemployment rate was 0.9 percent as of 2014, down from two percent in 2004. A World Bank survey showed that 83.5 percent of the Thai workforce is unskilled.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: A joint study by the Quality Learning Foundation (QLF), Dhurakij Pundit University (DPU), and the World Bank suggests that 12 million Thais may lose their jobs to automation over the next 20 years, wiping out one-third of the positions in the workforce. The World Bank estimates that Thai workers are two times and five times less productive than Malaysian and Singaporean workers respectively. The report assesses the average output of Thai workers at US$25,000 (879,200 baht) in 2014 compared to Malaysia's US$50,000 and US$122,000 for Singapore. A 2016 report by the International Labor Office (ILO) estimates that over 70 percent of Thai workers are in danger of being displaced by automation. Factories in Thailand are estimated to be adding from 2,500–4,500 industrial robots per year.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In fiscal year 2015, 71,000 Thais worked abroad in foreign countries. Taiwan employed the most Thai employees overall with 59,220 persons, followed by South Korea at 24,228, Israel at 23,479, Singapore at 20,000, and the UAE at 14,000. Most employees work in metal production, agriculture, textile manufacturing, and electronic part manufacturing fields. As of 2020, Thai migrant labourers overseas generate remittances worth 140 billion baht.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The number of migrant workers in Thailand is unknown. The official number—1,339,834 registered migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar—reported by the Office of Foreign Workers Administration under the Ministry of Labour, represents only legal migrant workers. Many more are presumed to be non-registered or illegal migrants. The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) estimates that there may yet be more illegal migrant workers than legal ones in Thailand.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: China has replaced the United States as Thailand's largest export market while the latter still holds its position as its second-largest supplier (after Japan). While Thailand's traditional major markets have been North America, Japan, and Europe, economic recovery in Thailand's regional trading partners has helped Thai export growth.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Recovery from financial crisis depended heavily on increased exports to the rest of Asia and the United States. Since 2005 the increase in export of automobiles from Japanese manufacturers (particularly Toyota, Nissan and Isuzu) has helped improve the trade balance, with over one million cars produced annually since then. Thailand has joined the ranks of the world's top ten automobile-exporting nations.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Machinery and parts, vehicles, integrated circuits, chemicals, crude oil, fuels, iron and steel are among Thailand's principal imports. The increase in imports reflects a need to fuel production of high-tech items and vehicles.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Cairns Group of agricultural exporters and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and has pursued free-trade agreements. A China-Thailand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) began in October 2003. This agreement was limited to agricultural products, with a more comprehensive FTA planned to be signed by 2010. Thailand also has a limited free-trade agreement with India (since 2003) and a comprehensive Australia-Thailand Free Trade Agreement, which began on 1 January 2005.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand began free trade negotiations with Japan in February 2004, and an in-principle agreement was agreed to in September 2005. Negotiations for a US-Thailand free trade agreement have been underway, with a fifth round of meetings held in November 2005.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Several industries are restricted to foreign investment by the 1999 Foreign Business Act. These industries include media, agriculture, distribution of land, professional services, tourism, hotels, and construction. Share ownership of companies engaged in these activities must be limited to a 49 percent minority stake. The 1966 US-Thailand Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations provides exemption of these restrictions for shareholders with United States citizenship.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The Bangkok area is one of the most prosperous parts of Thailand and heavily dominates the national economy, with the infertile northeast being the poorest. A concern of successive Thai governments, and a focus of the recently ousted Thaksin government, has been to reduce the regional disparities which have been exacerbated by rapid economic growth in Bangkok and financial crisis.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Although little economic investment reaches other parts of the country except for tourist zones, the government has stimulated provincial economic growth in the eastern seaboard and the Chiang Mai area. Despite talk of other regional development, these three regions and other tourist zones still dominate the national economy.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Although some US rights holders report good cooperation with Thai enforcement authorities (including the Royal Thai Police and Royal Thai Customs), Thailand remained on the priority watch list in 2012. The United States is encouraged that Thailand's government has affirmed its commitment to improving IPR protection and enforcement, but more must be done for Thailand to be removed from the list.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Although the economy has grown moderately since 1999, future performance depends on continued reform of the financial sector, corporate-debt restructuring, attracting foreign investment and increasing exports. Telecommunications, roads, electricity generation and ports showed increasing strain during the period of sustained economic growth. Thailand is experiencing a growing shortage of engineers and skilled technical personnel.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The economy of Isan is dominated by agriculture, although output is poor and this sector is decreasing in importance at the expense of trade and the service sector. Most of the population is poor and badly educated. Many labourers have been driven by poverty to seek work in other parts of Thailand or abroad.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Although Isan accounts for around a third of Thailand's population and a third of its area, it produces only 8.9 percent of GDP. Its economy grew at 6.2 percent per annum during the 1990s.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 1995, 28 percent of the population was classed as below the poverty line, compared to just 7 percent in central Thailand. In 2000, per capita income was 26,317 baht, compared to 208,434 in Bangkok. Even within Isan, there is a rural/urban divide. In 1995, all of Thailand's ten poorest provinces were in Isan, the poorest being Sisaket. However, most wealth and investment is concentrated in the four major cities of Khorat, Ubon, Udon, and Khon Kaen. These four provinces account for 40 percent of the region's population.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In his televised national address on 23 January 2015 in the program "Return Happiness to the People", Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha addressed the government's policy on the establishment of special economic zones.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: He said that the policy would promote connectivity and regional economic development on a sustainable basis. There are currently 10 SEZs in Thailand, with trade and investment valued at almost 800 billion baht a year.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2014, the government launched a pilot project to set up six special economic zones in five provinces: Tak, Mukdahan, Sa Kaeo, Songkhla, and Trat. In the second phase, which is expected to begin in 2016, seven special economic zones will be established in another five provinces: Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi, Nong Khai, Nakhon Phanom, and Narathiwat.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In early 2015, the government approved an infrastructure development plan in special economic zones. In 2015, the plan includes 45 projects, budgeted at 2.6 billion baht. Another 79 projects, worth 7.9 billion baht, will be carried out in 2016. Relying on a mix of government revenue, bond sales, and other funding, Prayut plans to spend US$83 billion over seven years on new railways, roads, and customs posts to establish cross-border trade routes. The idea is to link some 2.4 billion consumers in China and India with Asia's newest economic grouping, the ASEAN Economic Community, of which Thailand is a member.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Critics of the SEZs maintain that free trade agreements and SEZs are incompatible with the principles of the late-King Bhumibol's sufficiency economy, claimed by the government to be the inspiration for governmental economic and social policies.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: "Thailand's shadow economy ranks globally among the highest," according to Friedrich Schneider, an economist at Johannes Kepler University of Linz in Austria, author of "Hiding in the Shadows: The Growth of the Underground Economy". He estimates Thailand's shadow economy was 40.9 percent of real GDP in 2014, including gambling and small weapons, but largely excluding drugs. Schneider defines the "shadow economy" as including all market-based


title: Economy of Thailand

text: legal production of goods and services that are deliberately concealed from public authorities for the following reasons: (1) to avoid payment of income, value added or other taxes, (2) to avoid payment of social security contributions, (3) to avoid having to meet certain legal labor market standards, such as minimum wages, maximum working hours, or safety standards, and (4) to avoid complying with certain administrative procedures, such as completing statistical questionnaires or other administrative forms. It does not deal with typical underground, economic (classical crime) activities, which are all illegal actions that fits the characteristics of classical crimes like burglary, robbery, or drug dealing. The shadow economy also includes loan sharking. According to estimates, there are about 200,000 "informal lenders" in the country, many of whom charge exorbitant interest rates, creating an often insurmountable burden for low-income borrowers.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: The Indian campaign of Alexander the Great began in 327BC. After conquering the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, the Macedonian king Alexander launched a campaign into the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent (precisely in present-day south-eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan), part of which formed the easternmost territories of the Achaemenid Empire following the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley (late 6th century BC).


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: After gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara, including the city of Taxila, Alexander advanced into Punjab, where he engaged in battle against the regional king Porus. Alexander defeated Porus at the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC. Although victorious, the Battle of the Hydaspes was possibly also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander's march east put him in confrontation with the Nanda Empire of Magadha. According to the Greek sources, the Nanda army was supposedly five times larger than the Macedonian army. His army, exhausted, homesick, and anxious by the prospects of having to further face large Indian armies throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas River) and refused to march further east. Alexander, after a meeting with his officer, Coenus, and after hearing about the lament of his soldiers, eventually relented, being convinced that it was better to return. This caused Alexander to turn south, advancing through southern Punjab and Sindh, along the way conquering more tribes along the lower Indus River, before finally turning westward.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: There are no ancient sources at all giving an Indian account of the campaign, or even mentioning it at all. Taxila housed one of the seats of higher learning in the Indian subcontinent. There is no mention of Porus in the extremely sparse Indian accounts of the period. There are however Indian literary accounts and Indian folktales, possibly written many years later.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Of those who accompanied Alexander to India, Aristobulus, Onesicritus, and Nearchus wrote about the Indian campaign. The only surviving contemporary account of Alexander's Indian campaign is a report of the voyage of the naval commander Nearchus, who was tasked with exploring the coast between the Indus River and the Persian Gulf. This report is preserved in Arrian's "Anabasis" (). Arrian provides a detailed account of Alexander's campaigns, based on the writings of Alexander's companions and courtiers.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Arrian's account is supplemented by the writings of other authors, whose works are also based on the accounts of Alexander's companions: these authors include Diodorus (), Strabo (), and Plutarch ().


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander's incursion into India was limited to the Indus River basin area, which was divided among several small states. These states appear to have been based on dominance of particular tribes, as the Greek writers mention tribes such as the Malloi as well as kings whose name seem to be tribal designations. The Achaemenid Empire of Persia had held suzerainty over the Indus valley in the previous decades, but there was no trace of Achaemenid rule beyond the Indus river when Alexander's army arrived in the region. Strabo, sourcing his information from the earlier writer Eratosthenes, states that the Achaemenid king controlled the area to the west of the Indus. This area (including the Kapisa-Gandhara region) was probably the territory of the Indians, who according to the Greek accounts, fought alongside their overlord Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Greek writings as well archaeological excavations indicate the existence of an urban economy dependent on agriculture and trade in the Indus basin. The Greeks mention the existence of cities and fortified towns such as Taxila. Arrian mentions that after defeating Porus, Alexander marched eastwards towards the Chenab River, and captured 37 towns: the smallest of these towns had 5,000 or more inhabitants. In the Swat valley, Alexander is said to have seized 230,000 oxen (possibly Zebu), intending to send them to Macedonia for ploughing land. Aristobulus saw rice being grown in paddy fields, Onesicritus reported the existence of a crop called bosmoran (possibly the pearl millet), and Nearchus wrote of "honey-yielding reeds" (presumably the sugarcane). Nearchus also mentions that Indians wore clothes made of cotton. Rock salt was extracted from the Salt Range, and supplied to other parts of India. Some primitive communities existed in the forest, desert, and coastal regions of the subcontinent. For example, Nearchus mentions that people around the Tomeros river (Hingol) subsisted on fishing, and used stone tools instead of iron ones.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: The Greek writers mention the priestly class of Brahmanas (as "Brachmanes"), who are described as teachers of Indian philosophy. They do not refer to the existence of any religious temples or idols in India, although such references commonly occur in their descriptions of Alexander's campaigns in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Iran. Greek accounts mention naked ascetics called gymnosophists. A philosopher named Calanus (probably a Greek transcription of the Indian name "Kalyana") accompanied Alexander to Persepolis, where he committed suicide on a public funeral pyre: he was probably a Jain or an Ajivika monk. Curiously, there is no reference to Buddhism in the Greek accounts.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Other than their mention of the Brahmanas, the Greek narratives about Alexander's invasion do not directly mention the caste system. Some Brahmanas acted as advisors to local princes: Alexander had groups of Brahmanas hanged in present-day Sindh for instigating the rulers Musicanus and Sambus to revolt against him. The Greek writings attest the existence of slavery in at least two places: Onesicritus describes slavery in the territory ruled by Musicanus, and Aristobulus mentions poor people selling their daughters publicly in Taxila. Aristobulus also observed Sati, the practice of widows immolating themselves on their husbands' pyre, at Taxila. The practice of exposing dead bodies to vultures, similar to the Magian practice of Tower of Silence, was also prevalent in Taxila.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Nearchus mentions that Indians wrote letters on closely woven cloth; it is possible that this is a reference to a precursor of the Kharoshthi script, which may have developed from the Aramaic alphabet during the Achaemenid rule. While describing a tribe on the coast of present-day Balochistan, Nearchus mentions that they were different from Indians in "their language and customs", which implies that he associated a particular language with the Indians. This does not mean that the Indians spoke a single language: the language that Nearchus associated with India might have been a lingua franca used for official and commercial purposes. This lingua franca was most probably the Gandhari Prakrit, as the Greek names (e.g. "Taxila" and "Sandrokottus") for Indian people and places seem to be derived from this language (e.g. "Takhasila" and "Chandagutta") rather than Sanskrit (e.g. "Takshashila" and "Chandragupta").


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Nearchus attests the existence of medical science in India: he mentions that when the Greek physicians failed to provide remedies for snake-bites to Alexander, the king gathered Indian healers who were also able to cure other diseases and painful conditions. The Greek accounts do not mention any other sciences of contemporary India.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: After the death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Raoxshna in Old Iranian) in 326BC to cement his relations with his new Central Asian satrapies, Alexander was finally free to turn his attention to India. For Alexander, the invasion of India was a natural consequence of his subjugation of the Achaemenid Empire, as the areas of the Indus valley had long been under Achaemenid control, since the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley . Alexander was only taking possession of territories which he had obtained from the Achaemenids, and now considered rightfully his own.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander invited all the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara, to come to him and submit to his authority. Ambhi (Greek: Omphis), ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Jhelum (Greek: Hydaspes), complied. At the end of the spring of 327 BC, Alexander started on his Indian expedition leaving Amyntas behind with 3,500 horse and 10,000 foot soldiers to hold the land of the Bactrians.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander personally took command of the shield-bearing guards, foot-companions, archers, Agrianians, and horse-javelin-men and led them against the clansthe Aspasioi of Kunar valleys, the Guraeans of the Guraeus (Panjkora) valley, and the Assakenoi of the Swat and Buner valleys.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander faced resistance from Hastin (or Astes), chief of the Ilastinayana (called the Astakenoi or Astanenoi) tribe, whose capital was Pushkalavati or Peukelaotis. He later defeated Asvayanas and Asvakayanas and captured their 40,000 men and 230,000 oxen. Asvakayanas of Massaga fought him under the command of their queen, Cleophis, with an army of 30,000 cavalry, 38,000 infantry, 30 elephants, and 7,000 mercenaries. Other regions that fought Alexander were Abhisara, Aornos, Bazira, and Ora or Dyrta.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi, in the course of which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight; 40,000 of them were enslaved. The Assakenoi faced Alexander with an army of 30,000 cavalry, 38,000 infantry, and 30 elephants. They had fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to the invader in many of their strongholds such as the cities of Ora, Bazira, and Massaga. The fort of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which Alexander himself was wounded seriously in the ankle. When the Chieftain of Massaga fell in the battle, the supreme command of the army went to his old mother, Cleophis, who also stood determined to defend her motherland to the last extremity. The example of Cleophis assuming the supreme command of the military also brought the entire population of women of the locality into the fighting. Alexander was only able to reduce Massaga by resorting to political strategem and actions of betrayal. According to Curtius: "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles". A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: In the aftermath of general slaughter and arson committed by Alexander at Massaga and Ora, numerous Assakenians fled to a high fortress called Aornos (not definitely identified but somewhere between Shangla, in Swat, and the Kohistan region, both in northern Pakistan). Alexander followed close behind their heels and besieged the strategic hill-fort. The Siege of Aornos was Alexander's last siege, "the climax to Alexander's career as the greatest besieger in history", according to Robin Lane Fox. The siege took place in April 326BC. It presented the last threat to Alexander's supply line, which stretched, dangerously vulnerable, over the Hindu Kush back to Balkh, though Arrian credits Alexander's heroic desire to outdo his kinsman Heracles, who allegedly had proved unable to take the place Pir-Sar, which the Greeks called Aornis. The site lies north of Attock in what is now the Punjab, Pakistan, on a strongly reinforced mountain spur above the narrow gorges in a bend of the upper Indus. Neighboring tribesmen who surrendered to Alexander offered to lead him to the best point of access.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: At the vulnerable north side leading to the fort, Alexander and his catapults were stopped by a deep ravine. To bring the siege engines within reach, an earthwork mound was constructed to bridge the ravine. A low hill connected to the nearest tip of Pir-Sar was soon within reach and taken. Alexander's troops were at first repelled by boulders rolled down from above. Three days of drumbeats marked the defenders' celebration of the initial repulse, followed by a surprise retreat. Hauling himself up the last rockface on a rope, Alexander cleared the summit, slaying some fugitivesinflated by Arrian to a massacreand erected altars to Athena Nike, Athena of Victory, traces of which were identified by Stein. "Sisikottos", or Saśigupta, who had helped Alexander in this campaign, was made the governor of Aornos.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: The Battle of the Hydaspes River was fought by Alexander in July 326BC against king Porus (possibly, Paurava) on the Hydaspes River (Jhelum River) in the Punjab, near Bhera. The Hydaspes was the last major battle fought by Alexander. The main train went into what is now modern-day Pakistan through the Khyber Pass, but a smaller force under the personal command of Alexander went via the northern route, resulting in the Siege of Aornos along the way. In early spring of the next year, he combined his forces and allied with Taxiles (also Ambhi), the King of Taxila, against his neighbor, the King of Hydaspes.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Porus drew up on the south bank of the Jhelum River, and was set to repel any crossings. The Jhelum River was deep and fast enough that any opposed crossing would probably doom the entire attacking force. Alexander knew that a direct crossing would fail, so he found a suitable crossing, about upstream of his camp. The name of the place is "Kadee". Alexander left his general Craterus behind with most of the army while he crossed the river upstream with a strong contingent. Porus sent a small cavalry and chariot force under his son to the crossing.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: According to sources, Alexander had already encountered Porus's son, so the two men were not strangers. Porus's son killed Alexander's horse with one blow, and Alexander fell to the ground. Also writing about this encounter, Arrian adds,


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: The force was easily routed, and according to Arrian, Porus' son was killed. Porus now saw that the crossing force was larger than he had expected, and decided to face it with the bulk of his army. Porus's army were poised with cavalry on both flanks, the war elephants in front, and infantry behind the elephants. These war elephants presented an especially difficult situation for Alexander, as they scared the Macedonian horses.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander started the battle by sending horse archers to shower the Porus's left cavalry wing, and then used his cavalry to destroy Porus's cavalry. Meanwhile, the Macedonian phalanxes had crossed the river to engage the charge of the war elephants. The Macedonians eventually surrounded Porus's force.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: According to Plutarch this was one of Alexander's hardest battles: Plutarch also wrote that the bitter fighting of the Hydaspes made Alexander's men hesitant to continue on with the conquest of India, considering that they would potentially face far larger armies than those of Porus if they were to cross the Ganges River.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Porus was one of many local kings who impressed Alexander. Wounded in his shoulder, standing over tall, but still on his feet, he was asked by Alexander how he wished to be treated. "Treat me, Alexander, the way a King treats another King", Porus responded. Other historians question the accuracy of this entire event, noting that Porus would never have said those words. Philostratus the Elder in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana writes that in the army of Porus there was an elephant who had fought bravely against Alexander's army and Alexander dedicated it to Helios (Sun) and named it Ajax, because he thought that a so great animal deserved a great name. The elephant had gold rings around its tusks and an inscription was on them written in Greek: "Alexander the son of Zeus dedicates Ajax to Helios" (ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ Ο ΔΙΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΙΑΝΤΑ ΤΩΙ ΗΛΙΩΙ).


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander did not continue, thus leaving all the headwaters of the Indus River unconquered. He later founded Alexandria Nikaia (Victory), located at the battle site, to commemorate his triumph. He also founded Alexandria Bucephalus on the opposite bank of the river in memory of his much-cherished horse, Bucephalus, who carried Alexander through the Indian subcontinent and died heroically during the Battle of Hydaspes.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Musicanus (, Indian: Mûshika) was an Indian king at the head of the Indus, who raised a rebellion against Alexander the Great . Peithon, one of Alexander's generals, managed to put down the revolt:


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: The King of Patala came to Alexander and surrendered. Alexander let him keep possession of his own dominions, with instructions to provide whatever was needed for the reception of the army.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: East of Porus's kingdom, near the Ganges River (the Hellenic version of the Indian name "Ganga"), was the powerful Nanda Empire of Magadha and the Gangaridai Empire of Bengal. Fearing the prospects of facing other powerful Indian armies and exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River (the modern Beas River), refusing to march further east.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander, using the incorrect maps of the Greeks, thought that the world ended a mere away, at the edge of India. He therefore spoke to his army and tried to persuade them to march further into India, but Coenus pleaded with him to change his mind and return, saying the men "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland". Alexander, seeing the unwillingness of his men, agreed and turned back.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Along the way, his army conquered the Malli clans (in modern-day Multan). During a siege, Alexander jumped into the fortified city with only two of his bodyguards and was wounded seriously by a Mallian arrow. His forces, believing their king dead, took the citadel and unleashed their fury on the Malli who had taken refuge within it, perpetrating a massacre, sparing no man, woman or child. However, due to the efforts of his surgeon, Kritodemos of Kos, Alexander survived the injury. Following this, the surviving Malli surrendered to Alexander's forces, and his beleaguered army moved on, conquering more Indian tribes along the way.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: Alexander sent much of his army to Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his general Craterus, and commissioned a fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his admiral Nearchus while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran) and Makran (now part of Pakistan). In crossing the desert, Alexander's army took enormous casualties from hunger and thirst, but fought no human enemy. They encountered the "Fish Eaters", or Ichthyophagi, primitive people who lived on the Makran coast of the Arabian Sea, who had matted hair, no fire, no metal, no clothes, lived in huts made of whale bones, and ate raw seafood obtained by beachcombing. During the crossing, Alexander refused as much water as possible, to share the sufferings of his men and to boost the morale of the army.


title: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great

text: In the territory of the Indus, Alexander nominated his officer Peithon as a satrap, a position he would hold for the next ten years until 316 BC, and in the Punjab he left Eudemus in charge of the army, at the side of the satrap Porus and Taxiles. Eudemus became ruler of a part of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BC with their armies. In BC, Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha founded the Maurya Empire in India and conquered the Macedonian satrapies during the Seleucid–Mauryan war (305–303BC).


title: Southern rock

text: Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculates the term "southern rock" may have been coined in 1972 by Mo Slotin, writing for Atlanta's underground paper, "The Great Speckled Bird", in a review of an Allman Brothers Band concert.


title: Southern rock

text: Rock music's origins lie mostly in the music of the American South, and many stars from the first wave of 1950s rock and roll such as Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, and Jerry Lee Lewis hailed from the Deep South. However, the British Invasion and the rise of folk rock and psychedelic rock in the middle 1960s shifted the focus of new rock music away from the rural south and to large cities like Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. In the 1960s, rock musician Lonnie Mack blended black and white roots-music genres within the framework of rock, and he gained hit song "Memphis" in 1965. Music historian Dick Shurman considers Mack's recordings from that era "a prototype of what later could be called Southern rock". In the late 1960s, Blues rock musicians such as Canned Heat (from Los Angeles) and Janis Joplin, and swamp rock artists Creedence Clearwater Revival (from El Cerrito, California) and Tony Joe White were under the influence of Southern blues, boogie and country music.


title: Southern rock

text: The Allman Brothers Band, based in Macon, Georgia, made their national debut in 1969 and soon gained a loyal following. Their blues rock sound on one hand incorporated long jams informed by jazz, and on the other hand drew from native elements of country and folk. They were also contemporary in their electric guitar and keyboard delivery. Gregg Allman commented that "Southern rock" was a redundant term, like "rock rock."


title: Southern rock

text: Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that Charlie Daniels' self-titled debut album, released in 1970, was a pivotal recording in the development of the Southern rock genre, "because it points the way to how the genre could and would sound, and how country music could retain its hillbilly spirit and rock like a mother." Erlewine described Daniels as "a redneck rebel, not fitting into either the country or the rock & roll [...] but, in retrospect, he sounds like a visionary, pointing the way to the future when southern rockers saw no dividing lines between rock, country, and blues, and only saw it all as sons of the south." Charlie Daniels and Johnny Cash joined Bob Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" album. Daniels later formed the Charlie Daniels Band, a group which fused rock, country, blues, and jazz; Erlewine described the band's sound as "a distinctly Southern blend" which emphasized improvisation in their instrumentation. After the success of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", a single which Erlewine described as a "a roaring country-disco fusion", Daniels shifted his sound from rock to country music. In both Daniels' rock and country recordings, Daniels "helped shape the sound of country-rock". In 1974, Daniels had started the Volunteer Jam, an annual Southern rock-themed concert held in Tennessee.


title: Southern rock

text: In the early 1970s other Southern rock groups emerged, influenced by the British rock and hard rock guitar sound: notably, the sound of Richie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page,and Paul Kossoff. The harder rocking Southern groups' music emphasized boogie rhythms and fast guitar leads with lyrics extolling love affair, dream, desire, hard work, of Southern working-class young adults, like the outlaw country movement. Lynyrd Skynyrd of Jacksonville, Florida recorded "Free Bird", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Saturday Night Special" and "What's Your Name". They played British hard rock influenced music until the deaths of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and two other members of the group in a 1977 airplane crash. After this tragic plane crash, members Allen Collins and Gary Rossington started the Rossington Collins Band.


title: Southern rock

text: The Marshall Tucker Band, from Spartanburg, South Carolina opened many of The Allman Brothers Band concerts and were creatively on par with The Allman Brothers Band, using elements of blues, country rock and blues rock in their music. They gained hit "Heard it in a Love Song" in 1977.


title: Southern rock

text: Loosely associated with the country music style of Southern rock were acts like Barefoot Jerry from North Carolina. The Outlaws from Tampa, Florida, brought bluegrass licks into their music.


title: Southern rock

text: Duane Allman's playing on the two "Hour Glass" albums and an "Hour Glass" session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama had caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME. In November 1968, Hall hired Allman to play on an album with Wilson Pickett. Allman's work on that album, "Hey Jude" (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of a number of other musicians, such as Eric Clapton, who later related how he heard Pickett's version of "Hey Jude" on his car radio and called Atlantic Records to find out who the guitarist was: "To this day," Clapton said, "I’ve never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It’s the best." Allman's performance on "Hey Jude" blew away Atlantic Records producer and executive Jerry Wexler when Hall played it over the phone for him. Wexler immediately bought Allman's recording contract from Hall and wanted to use him on sessions with all sorts of Atlantic R&B artists.


title: Southern rock

text: As Duane Allman's distinctive electric bottleneck steel sound began to mature, it evolved in time into the musical voice of what would come to be known as Southern Rock, being picked up and redefined in their own styles by slide guitarists that included bandmate Dickey Betts (after Allman's death), Derek Trucks and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Duane Allman was killed by motorcycle accident in 1971.


title: Southern rock

text: Late 1970s southern rock bands such as The Atlanta Rhythm Section (former Classics IV) and the Amazing Rhythm Aces were gained hit with bluesy vocal. And Louisiana's Le Roux ranged from Cajun-flavored sound early years, on to a more AC, hard rock, arena rock sound later on, while Allman Brothers Band's offshoot Sea Level explored crossover and jazz fusion. Wet Willie, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, ZZ Top, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter Group, Grinderswitch, and Black Oak Arkansas were also popular southern rock musicians in 1970s.


title: Southern rock

text: By the beginning of the 1980s, the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd had disbanded and Capricorn Records had gone bankrupt. Leading acts of the genre (in particular, 38 Special) had become enmeshed in corporate arena rock. With the rise of MTV, new wave, funk , Urban Contemporary and heavy metal, most surviving Southern rock groups were relegated to secondary or regional venues. Rock musicians such as Molly Hatchet, Outlaws, Georgia Satellites, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmy Vaughan, Point Blank, Tom Petty, Bruce Hornsby, Steve Earle, Widespread Panic, and Kentucky Headhunters emerged as popular Southern bands across the Southeastern United States during the 1980s and 1990s.


title: Southern rock

text: During the 1990s, the Allman Brothers reunited and became a strong touring and recording presence again, and the jam band scene revived interest in extended improvised music.


title: Southern rock

text: Georgia's Alt rock band R.E.M. released the album "Fables of the Reconstruction", which explicitly invokes the Reconstruction Era in the title and is considered a Southern gothic album.


title: Southern rock

text: The 1990s also saw The Black Crowes rise to mainstream popularity with the releases of Shake Your Money Maker (3× platinum), the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 and certified 2× platinum) and Amorica (certified Gold).


title: Southern rock

text: From 1990s to 2000s, heavy metal and punk were popular in south area. Hard rock groups with Southern rock touches such as Jackyl renewed some interest in Southern rock. Several bands from the Southern United States (particularly New Orleans with its metal scene), such as Eyehategod, Acid Bath, Soilent Green, Corrosion of Conformity and Down, influenced by the Melvins, mixed Black Sabbath-style metal, hardcore punk and Southern rock to give shape to what would be known as sludge metal. Most notable sludge metal bands hail from the Southeastern United States. Most bands who have tried this style have slipped out of mainstream popularity, but there are still a few who belong to the genre, such as Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, and occasionally Hellyeah. Post-grunge bands such as Shinedown, Saving Abel, Saliva, 3 Doors Down, 12 Stones, and Black Stone Cherry have included a Southern rock feel to their songs and have recorded cover versions of Southern rock classics like "Simple Man" and "Tuesday's Gone". Blues rock/stoner rock band have a southern rock influence.


title: Southern rock

text: Southern rock influence can also be seen in the metal and hardcore punk genres. This is showcased by such bands as Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, He Is Legend, Nashville Pussy, the Showdown, Alabama Thunderpussy, Memphis May Fire, Acid Bath, and Down.


title: Southern rock

text: New musicians such as the Tedeschi Trucks Band(the Derek Trucks Band), Warren Haynes, Gov't Mule, Chris Duarte Group, Dixie Witch, The Marcus King Band, Widespread Panic, the Black Crowes, Blackberry Smoke , JJ Grey & Mofro, and the Allman Betts Band are continuing the Southern rock art form.


title: Southern rock

text: Kid Rock drew from Southern rock for his single "I Am the Bullgod" and the albums "Cocky" (2001) and "Rebel Soul" (2012), as did Uncle Kracker on his 2002 album "No Stranger to Shame".


title: Southern rock

text: In 2005, singer Bo Bice took an explicitly Southern rock sensibility and appearance to a runner-up finish on the normally pop-oriented "American Idol" television program, with a performance of the Allmans' "Whipping Post" and later performing Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and, with Skynyrd on stage with him, "Sweet Home Alabama".


title: Southern rock

text: Southern rock currently plays on the radio in the United States, but mostly on oldies stations and classic rock stations. Although this class of music gets minor radio play, there is still a following for older bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers play in venues with sizable crowds.


title: Southern rock

text: Additionally, alternative rock groups such as Drive-By Truckers, the Bottle Rockets(Missouri), Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket(Kentucky), and Kings of Leon combine Southern rock with rawer genres, such as garage rock, alt-country, and blues rock. Much of the old style Southern rock (as well as other classic rock) has made its transition into the country music genre, establishing itself along the lines of outlaw country in recent years.


title: Southern rock

text: Several of the original early 1970s hard rock Southern rock groups are still performing in 2020. This list includes Atlanta Rhythm Section (ARS), the Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Hatchet, Outlaws, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Canned Heat, Black Oak Arkansas, .38 Special and Dickey Betts.


title: Southern rock

text: A number of books in the 2000s have chronicled Southern rock's history, including Randy Poe's "Skydog – The Duane Allman Story" and Rolling Stone writer Mark Kemp's "Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race & New Beginnings in a New South." "Turn It Up" was released by Ron Eckerman, Lynyrd Skynyrd's former manager and plane crash survivor. Sociologist Jason T. Eastman analyzes contemporary southern rock to illustrate changes in today's southern identity in his book "The Southern Rock Revival: The Old South in a New World."


title: Southern rock

text: South rock musicians like Little Big Town, Billy Cullington and Ryan Adams combine the Southern rock sound with country, bluegrass and blues. This has been propelled by record labels like Capitol Records Nashville, Mercury Nashville and Lost Highway Records.


title: College Station, Texas

text: College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. As of the 2020 census, College Station had a population of 120,511. College Station and Bryan make up the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area, the 13th-largest metropolitan area in Texas with 273,101 people as of 2019.


title: College Station, Texas

text: College Station is home to the main campus of Texas A&M University, the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The city owes its name and existence to the university's location along a railroad. Texas A&M's triple designation as a Land-, Sea-, and Space-Grant institution reflects the broad scope of the research endeavors it brings to the city, with ongoing projects funded by agencies such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research.


title: College Station, Texas

text: College Station's origins date from 1860, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway began to build through the region. Eleven years later, the site was chosen as the location for the proposed Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, a land-grant school. In 1876, as the nation celebrated its centennial, the school (renamed Texas A&M University in 1963) opened its doors as the first public institution of higher education in the state of Texas.


title: College Station, Texas

text: College Station's population grew slowly, reaching 350 in 1884 and 391 at the turn of the century. However, during this time, transportation improvements took place in the town. In 1900, the I&GN Railroad was extended to College Station (the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company abandoned the line in 1965), and 10 years later, electric interurban service was established between Texas A&M and the neighboring town of Bryan. A city bus system replaced the interurban in the 1920s.


title: College Station, Texas

text: In 1930, the community to the north of College Station, known as North Oakwood, was incorporated as part of Bryan. College Station did not incorporate until 1938, with John H. Binney as the first mayor. Within a year, the city established a zoning commission, and by 1940, the population had reached 2,184.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The city grew under the leadership of Ernest Langford, called by some the "Father of College Station", who began a 26-year stretch as mayor in 1942. Early in his first term, the city adopted a council-manager system of city government.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Population growth accelerated following World War II as the nonstudent population reached 7,898 in 1950, 11,396 in 1960, 17,676 in 1970, 30,449 in 1980, 52,456 in 1990, and 67,890 in 2000. The Bryan-College Station metropolitan area's population crossed 270,000 people in 2018.


title: College Station, Texas

text: In the 1990s, College Station and Texas A&M University drew national attention when the George Bush Presidential Library opened in 1997. Attention was drawn again in 1999, when 12 people were killed and 27 injured when the Aggie Bonfire collapsed while being constructed.


title: College Station, Texas

text: College Station is south of the center of Brazos County at (30.601433, –96.314464). It is bordered by the city of Bryan to the northwest.


title: College Station, Texas

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and , or 0.35%, is covered by water.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The local climate is subtropical and winters are mild with periods of low temperatures usually lasting less than two months, while summers are hot and humid.


title: College Station, Texas

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 120,511 people, 41,682 households, and 20,487 families residing in the city.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Of the 24,691 households, 21.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.2% were married couples living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 58.0% were not families. About 27.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.98. The racial makeup of the city as of 2019 was 77.45% White, 7.74% African American, 0.30% Native American, 10.25% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 6.32% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any ethnicity/nationality were 15.6% of the population.


title: College Station, Texas

text: In the city, the population was distributed as 14.4% under the age of 18, 51.2% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 9.4% from 45 to 64, and 3.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 22 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.0 males.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The median income for a household in the city was $21,180, and for a family was $53,147. Males had a median income of $38,216 versus $26,592 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,170. About 15.4% of families and 37.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.4% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The city of College Station has a council-manager form of government. Voters elect the members of a city council, who pass laws and make policy. The council hires a professional city manager who is responsible for day-to-day operations of the city and its public services.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Bryan District Parole Office in College Station.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The United States Postal Service operates the College Station and Northgate College Station post offices.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Northgate is a mixed-use district north of Texas A&M University that features a combination of businesses, restaurants, apartments, churches, and entertainment. It is known for its eclectic mix of restaurants and bars. A large portion of the stores, bars, and restaurants in Northgate are frequented, patronized, and staffed by Texas A&M students. In total, the district spans about , bounded by Wellborn Road to the west, South College Avenue to the east, the College Station city limits to the north, and University Drive to the south. The district is the home of the Dixie Chicken and of the first Texas location for the regional fast-food chain Freebirds World Burrito.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Northgate's roots started in the 1930s as the city began enjoying rapid population growth from the influx of Texas A&M University students, professors, and their families. Realizing that proximity to the campus would be a boon for revenues, the first business district was established in College Station near the campus, taking its name for the closest on-campus landmark: the north gate. When the city was incorporated in 1938, its first City Hall was opened in the new district. In 1994, restoration efforts began to revitalize the ailing area. A four-day music festival, "North By Northgate", was introduced in 1998 and has become an annual tradition, renamed the "Northgate Music Festival" in 2002. In 2006, the city council incorporated Northgate as a special tax zone to finance additional improvements and expansions.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Live music is a major draw to the Northgate area. Many well-known musicians, especially in the Texas country music scene, initially performed in the Northgate area. Notable names include Robert Earl Keen, Grammy award-winner Lyle Lovett, Dub Miller, and Roger Creager. The district is bisected to the north by Church Street, made famous by the Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett duet "The Front Porch Song".


title: College Station, Texas

text: Wolf Pen Creek District is a large commercial development adjacent to Post Oak Mall and between two of the city's main commercial thoroughfares: Earl Rudder Freeway and Texas Avenue. The area consists of a greenway with trails, a $1.5 million amphitheater and entertainment area, a small lake, the Spirit Ice Arena, and is the home of the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley. The amphitheater has hosted a variety of musical events, including the annual Starlight Music Series, a concert series that starts in late spring and runs through late summer. Wolf Pen also has a sidewalk for a scenic run that when completed is about .


title: College Station, Texas

text: Wellborn became a community in 1867 as a construction camp on the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. The town's name has been attributed to a well at the construction camp, a foreman named E.W. Wellborn, or a landowner named W.W. Willburn. Also in 1867, a post office opened in the community under the name Wellborn Station. In 1870, the name was shortened to Wellborn. On April 14, 2011, the City Council of College Station voted 5–2 to annex Wellborn, thus making the community the Wellborn district. Wellborn is often mispronounced as 'well-born' but is pronounced by locals as 'Well-burn'.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Easterwood Airport, owned by Texas A&M, is located three miles (5 km) southwest of College Station and has flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.


title: College Station, Texas

text: As of May 2008, the local unemployment hovered around 3 to 4%, among the lowest in Texas. This rate is largely attributed to the significant role the university plays in the local economy. However, underemployment is an ongoing issue.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Until its 2007 acquisition by Tavistock Group, Freebirds World Burrito had its corporate headquarters in College Station.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Post Oak Mall was the city's first mall and is currently the largest mall in the Brazos Valley. The mall is home to 125 stores; its opening on February 17, 1982, helped create the impetus for growing economic and commercial developments for College Station. It is currently the largest taxpayer in College Station and the second-largest in the Brazos Valley, though the anchor stores are free-standing units that are privately owned and taxed separate from the mall proper. Over 75% of retail sales in the Brazos Valley come from sales at the mall's stores.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The only full power local commercial television station is CBS affiliate KBTX, which also broadcasts a CW channel. Waco-based KCEN operates a semi-satellite low power NBC channel, KAGS providing local news, weather and sports. ABC affiliate KRHD and Fox affiliate KWKT air coverage originating in Waco. PBS affiliate KAMU, which is owned by Texas A&M University, is also based in College Station.


title: College Station, Texas

text: The service area of Blinn College includes all of Brazos County. Blinn operates a campus in nearby Bryan.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Almost all of College Station is within the College Station Independent School District, while small sections are in Bryan Independent School District. College Station ISD operates two high schools: A&M Consolidated High School and College Station High School.


title: College Station, Texas

text: Students living in the portion of Bryan ISD located in the City of College Station are zoned for: Stephen F. Austin Middle School, and Bryan High School.


title: Lima bean

text: A lima bean ("Phaseolus lunatus"), also commonly known as the butter bean, sieva bean, double bean, Madagascar bean, or wax bean is a legume grown for its edible seeds or beans.


title: Lima bean

text: "Phaseolus lunatus" is found in Meso- and South America. Two gene pools of cultivated lima beans point to independent domestication events. The Mesoamerican lima bean is distributed in neotropical lowlands, while the other is found in the western Andes. They were discovered in Peru and may have been the first plant that was brought up under civilization by the native farmers.


title: Lima bean

text: The Andes domestication took place around 2000 BC and produced a large-seeded variety (lima type), while the second, taking place in Mesoamerica around 800 AD, produced a small-seeded variety (Sieva type). By around 1300, cultivation had spread north of the Rio Grande, and, in the 1500s, the plant began to be cultivated in the Old World.


title: Lima bean

text: The small-seeded (Sieva) type is found distributed from Mexico to Argentina, generally below above sea level, while the large-seeded wild form (lima type) is found distributed in the north of Peru, from above sea level.


title: Lima bean

text: The Moche culture (1–800 CE) cultivated lima beans heavily and often depicted them in their art. During the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, lima beans were exported to the rest of the Americas and Europe, and since the boxes of such goods had their place of origin labeled "Lima, Peru", the beans got named as such. Despite the origin of the name, when referring to the bean, the word "lima" is generally pronounced differently from the Peruvian capital.


title: Lima bean

text: The term "butter bean" is widely used in North and South Carolina for a large, flat and yellow/white variety of lima bean ("P. lunatus" var. "macrocarpus", or "P. limensis"). In the United States Sieva-type beans are traditionally called butter beans, also otherwise known as the Dixie or Henderson type. In that area, lima beans and butter beans are seen as two distinct types of beans, although they are the same species. In the United Kingdom and the United States, "butter beans" refers to either dried beans which can be purchased to rehydrate, or the canned variety which are ready to use. In culinary use there, lima beans and butter beans are distinct, the former being small and green, the latter large and yellow. In areas where both are considered to be lima beans, the green variety may be labelled as "baby" (and less commonly "junior") limas.


title: Lima bean

text: In Spain, it is called "garrofón", and constitutes one of the main ingredients of the famous Valencian "paella".


title: Lima bean

text: In India, they are called double beans. Dried beans are soaked overnight and pressure-cooked as ingredients in curries.


title: Lima bean

text: The lima bean is a domesticated species of economic and cultural importance worldwide, especially in Mexico. The species has two varieties. The wild variety is "silvester" and the domesticated one is "lunatus."


title: Lima bean

text: In the U.S, it is a warm-season crop, grown mainly in Delaware and the mid-Atlantic region for processing and in the Midwest and California for dry beans. Baby lima beans are planted in early June and harvested about 10–12 weeks later. In western New York State, baby lima bean production increased greatly from 2011 to 2015.


title: Lima bean

text: In Oaxaca, Mexico, the main rainy season lasts from June to August and most of the above-ground parts die during dry season. Germination or budding occurs in June or July. The first inflorescence is in October or November. The production of flowers and fruits usually ends between February and April.


title: Lima bean

text: Both bush and pole (vine) cultivars exist; the latter range from in height. The bush cultivars mature earlier than the pole cultivars. The pods are up to long. The mature seeds are long and oval to kidney-shaped. In most cultivars, the seeds are quite flat, but in the "potato" cultivars, the shape approaches spherical. White seeds are common, but black, red, orange, and variously mottled seeds are also known. The immature seeds are uniformly green. Lima beans typically yield of seed and of biomass per hectare.


title: Lima bean

text: The seeds of the cultivars listed below are white unless otherwise noted. Closely related or synonymous names are listed on the same line.


title: Lima bean

text: "Phytophthora phaseoli" is one example of a pathogen of the lima bean. It is an oomycete plant pathogen that causes downy mildew of lima bean during cool and humid weather conditions. To combat this pathogen, developing lima bean cultivars with resistance is a relatively cost-efficient method that is also environmentally safe as compared to using pesticides.


title: Lima bean

text: Didymella is a foliar disease found in baby lima beans first reported in New York State. Symptoms include small necrotic tan spots with red to reddish brown irregular margins that come together to eventually cover the entire leaf. Lesions occur after around 3–4 weeks of planting and increase till there is considerable defoliation. Lesions are usually observed on the stems. Two pynidial fungi were found on leaves included "Didymella" sp. And "Boeremia exigua" var. "exigua" which is pathogenic on baby lima bean and plays a role in the foliar disease complex. Other fungal diseases on lima beans with similar symptoms are "B. exigua" var. "exigua", pod blight caused by "Diaporthe phaseolorum," and leaf spots caused by "Phyllosticta" sp. and "Phoma" "subcircinata."


title: Lima bean

text: The two-spotted spider mites or "Tetranychus" "urticae" lay eggs on lima bean leaves. It prefers lima bean plants as host food source over other plants such as tomato or cabbage plants.


title: Lima bean

text: Spider mites pose the greatest threat to the lima bean plants as compared to other species such as the Common cutworm ("Spodoptera litura") that are also known to feed on lima bean plants. They are host plants for their larvae.


title: Lima bean

text: One herbivore of lima bean is "Spodoptera littoralis", the African cotton leafworm. An attack by this herbivore induces hydrogen peroxide in the leaves. This may be also advantageous to defend against pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, or viruses, as they can easily invade herbivore-infected leaves.


title: Lima bean

text: Lima beans use extrafloral nectar (EFN) secretion when exposed to volatiles from other plants infested by herbivore species. Producing EFN can be an indirect defense since it supplies enemies of herbivores with an alternative food source. The predator of lima bean, spider mites, also have their own predators, the carnivorous mite "Phytoseiulus persimilis". These predatory mites use EFN as an alternative food source and thus the production of this by the lima bean can attract "P. persimilis" and thus deter their herbivore hosts.


title: Lima bean

text: The main induced defense of the lima bean is the Jasmonic acid pathway. Jasmonic acid induces production of extrafloral nectar flow or induces it when herbivory occurs such as when attacked by spider mites.


title: Lima bean

text: One direct chemical defense involves cyanogenesis which is the release of hydrogen cyanide when the cell senses damage. Cyanide acts as a repellent on leaves of the lima bean.


title: Lima bean

text: "Phaseolus lunatus" has adapted to live in many different climates around the world. One of these adaptations includes a particularly effective induced herbivory defense. The lima bean is able to signal to the carnivorous natural enemy of herbivores, the carnivorous mite, mediated by HIPVs (Herbivore Induced Plant Volatiles) in an attempt to save itself from further predation.


title: Lima bean

text: The lima bean plant does this as an induced defense when being eaten by herbivorous predators. It is the mechanical wounding and chemical elicitors from insect oral secretions that first begin the signaling pathway to induce HIPV production. Once this pathway is induced, the plant produces HIPVs which are released in to the air and can be received by any organisms that have receptors capable of receiving HIPVs, which includes: carnivores, conspecific and heterospecific herbivores, as well as neighboring plants. It is this signaling of the carnivorous natural enemy of herbivores that is of particular interest, as they become attracted to the plant and will then come and prey upon the plant's herbivorous enemy, thereby reducing herbivory of the plant.


title: Lima bean

text: One particular experiment in which this was made apparent was in the understanding of the tritrophic system between the lima bean plant, two-spotted spider mite, and the carnivorous mite. Here experimenters noticed an increase in HIPVs when the lima bean plant was preyed on by the two-spotted spider mite. Then, when the carnivorous mite was introduced, it had increased prey searching efficacy and overall attraction to the lima bean plant, even once the two-spotted spider mite was removed, but the HIPVs remained high.


title: Lima bean

text: Lima beans, like many other legumes, are a good source of dietary fiber, and a virtually fat-free source of high-quality protein.


title: Lima bean

text: Lima beans contain both soluble fiber, which helps regulate blood sugar levels and lowers cholesterol, and insoluble fiber, which aids in the prevention of constipation, digestive disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, and diverticulitis.


title: Lima bean

text: The most abundant mineral in the raw lima bean is potassium, followed by calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, and iron. When lima beans germinate, there is increased bioavailability of calcium and phosphorus. Additionally, it is a good source of vitamin B-6.


title: Lima bean

text: Like many beans, raw lima beans are toxic (containing e.g. phytohaemagglutinin) if not boiled for at least 10 minutes. However, canned beans can be eaten without having to be boiled first, as they are pre-cooked.


title: Lima bean

text: The lima bean can contain anti-nutrients like phytic acids, saponin, oxalate, tannin, and trypsin inhibitor. These inhibit absorption of nutrients in animals and can cause damage to some organs. In addition to boiling, methods of roasting, pressure cooking, soaking, and germination can also reduce the antinutrients significantly.


title: Lima bean

text: The high fiber content in lima beans prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after eating them due to the presence of those large amounts of absorption-slowing compounds in the beans, and the high soluble fiber content. Soluble fiber absorbs water in the stomach, forming a gel that slows down the absorption of the bean's carbohydrates. They can therefore help balance blood sugar levels while providing steady, slow-burning energy, which makes them a good choice for people with diabetes suffering with insulin resistance.


title: Dorit Kemsley

text: Dorit Kemsley (born July 14, 1976) is an American fashion designer and television personality. She is known as a main cast member on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."


title: Dorit Kemsley

text: She was born in Connecticut in the city of Woodbridge to Jewish parents: her father Shalom Lemel is Israeli, and her mother Rachel was born in Morocco. After graduating from Quinnipiac University with a degree in marketing, design, and communication, she traveled throughout Europe and eventually settled in Italy where she spent the next 10 years working for a global swimwear company.


title: Dorit Kemsley

text: Kemsley developed the swimwear line Beverly Beach and bridal collection Nektaria. She is a current cast member, joining in 2016, of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills". Kemsley has since starred in a main role for 6 seasons. In 2019, Kemsley appeared as a guest on "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" alongside her husband, where they listed their home for sale.


title: Dorit Kemsley

text: She is married to Paul Kemsley, and they have two children. The couple owns a 9,000-square-foot home in Encino, California that they purchased for $6.47M. In October 2021, Kemsley, alone with her two children, was robbed at gunpoint at her Encino home by three male burglars.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The First Battle of Grozny was the Russian Army's invasion and subsequent conquest of the Chechen capital, Grozny, during the early months of the First Chechen War. The attack lasted from December 1994 to March 1995, which resulted in the military occupation of the city by the Russian Army and rallied most of the Chechen nation around the government of Dzhokhar Dudayev.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The initial assault resulted in considerable Russian casualties and demoralization in the Russian forces. It took another two months of heavy fighting, and a change in tactics, before the Russian Army was able to capture Grozny. The battle caused enormous destruction and casualties amongst the civilian population and saw the heaviest bombing campaign in Europe since the end of World War II.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The Chechen fighters had the advantage as they were motivated and familiar with the terrain. As former Soviet citizens, they spoke and were educated in Russian; many served in the Soviet Armed Forces. Many (like their Russian adversaries) had Soviet uniforms. Chechen units were divided into combat groups consisting of about twenty personnel, sub-divided into three- or four-person fire teams. Each fire team consisted of an anti-tank gunner, usually armed with Russian-made RPG-7s or RPG-18s, a machine gunner, and a rifleman. To destroy Russian armored vehicles in Grozny, multiple hunter-killer fire teams coordinated at ground level, in second and third stories, and in basements. The snipers and machine gunners pinned the supporting infantry while the anti-tank gunners engaged any armored vehicle.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Most Chechen fighters were irregulars and militia working with their commander (often a warlord), complicating effective battle co-ordination for Grozny's Chief of Staff, Colonel Aslan Maskhadov. The Chechen forces (including foreign volunteers, among them a group of Ukrainian nationalists) had limited heavy weapons, including a handful of T-62 and T-72 tanks. Most heavy weapons were used by regular forces.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Initially, the Russians were surprised, and their armored columns—intended to take the city without difficulty—were devastated in fighting reminiscent of the Battle of Budapest in late 1944. As a short-term measure, the Russians deployed self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (ZSU-23-4 and 9K22 Tunguska) to engage the Chechen combat groups because the main gun of the tanks could not elevate or depress enough to engage the fire teams, and the armored vehicle's machine gun could not suppress the fire of several fire teams simultaneously.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Eventually, the Russians brought in more infantry for a house-to-house advance through the city with dismounted Russian infantry supporting armor. The Russians established ambush points, then moved armor toward the Chechens to lure the Chechens into ambushes. Similar to Soviet tank crews in the Battle in Berlin in 1945, some of the Russian armor were fitted with 'field-expedient' cages of wire mesh mounted about 30 centimeters from the hull armor in an attempt to defeat the shaped charges of the Chechen RPGs.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: On 22 December 1994, at 5 am, the shelling of Grozny began, but only on 24 December did the Russian troops begin to drop leaflets from airplanes with explanations for the population. During these shelling and bombings, according to some reports (the Memorial Society, human rights activist S. Kovalev), several thousand civilians died and were injured. Aviation began the assault from the airfields of Yeysk, Krymsk, Mozdok and Budyonnovsk. Due to adverse weather conditions, the effectiveness of aviation operations was low. Simultaneously with the start of air strikes, artillery opened fire. On the morning of 31 December, the United Group of Federal Forces entered Grozny. The so-called "New Year's assault on Grozny" began.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Citizens of the city woke up at 5 am Moscow Time on New Year's Eve to a Russian bombardment. Bombs and shells hit oil tanks on the western side of the city, creating heavy black smoke. The Oil Institute, in the center of the city, was also set ablaze after coming under aerial bombardment, creating more smoke. Pamphlets urging the Chechens to surrender were air-dropped. Early in December, the Russian Defense Minister, General Pavel Grachev boasted he could seize Grozny in two hours with just one airborne regiment. Before the battle, Grachev said:


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: It is not a question of an assault in the classic sense of the word. What does an assault on a city mean? It means the use of all the forces and weapons in the country's arsenal. It primarily means heavy rocket preparation lasting several hours. It means heavy bombing raids on the whole city with the aim of disabling 60% of the defenders and de-moralizing the rest.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The plan for the Russian Federal Forces—invade the city in three columns: "Northern group", "Western group", and "Eastern group".


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Because of unexpected heavy and mobile resistance of the Chechens, this was modified to Russian Federal Forces attacking in four columns:


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The Russian armored columns invading Grozny on 31 December 1994, were amalgamated from various army units, including untrained conscripted soldiers. The force's columns aimed to provide blunt firepower, hoping to intimidate the Chechens through the sheer scale of the armored operation. However, all armored and mechanized units were under-staffed and under-trained. Although the Russian forces enjoyed air superiority, weather prevented flight operations. Advancing troops were supported only by Mi-24 attack helicopters, with the Group East losing five vehicles alone due to a friendly-fire incident by Russian air. The previous day, the Russian Air Force bombed nearby villagers, including those anti-Dudayev and pro-Russian. Simultaneously, Moscow claimed Chechens destroyed buildings in Grozny to simulate bomb-damage by Russian warplanes. From the ground, the assaulting troops were supported by hundreds of artillery pieces positioned on the hills near Grozny, including rocket artillery batteries such as the BM-27 Uragan and BM-21 Grad.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Four Russian armored columns were ordered to move in a sudden and co-ordinated attack, and, after defeating all defenders, were to meet at the Presidential Palace in the center of the city. The key to the plan was all four columns reaching the center of the city simultaneously. However, the 19th Motorized Rifle Division (MRD) was late arriving to the group West, commanded by Major General Ivan Babichev, and the bloated column could barely move, with disputed reports of friendly artillery fire. In the east, units of Major General Vadim Orlov's 104th Airborne Division did not join the 129th MRR from the Leningrad Military District after they moved on Grozny and were subsequently hit by friendly artillery fire, the 129th Regiment was badly demoralised and retreated the next day without accomplishing much. Lieutenant General Lev Rokhlin's forces of the 8th Corps from the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) attacked the Chechens from the north.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Following their plan, the Chechen command concentrated most of their regular forces against the Russian Main Assault Force commanded by Lieutenant General Anatoly Kvashnin. The MAF comprised the 131st Separate Motor Rifle Brigade and the 81st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment from the city of Samara. The 131st brigade's job was to move into the city from the north at dawn toward the train station. On the brigade's left flank, the 81st regiment drove down Pervomaiskaya Street.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: One of the two assault groups of the 81st regiment drove toward Pervomaiskaya Street, stretching along the road for a mile. They were delayed while the advanced detachment removed demolition-charges at the River Neftyanka bridge along their route. The first casualty was a T-72 tank attached to the reconnaissance platoon at the crossroads of the Mayakovskogo and Khmel'nitzkogo streets just before the Pervomaiskaya street, with the gunner and driver killed from multiple RPG hits and internal ammunition detonation; the commander survived. Small-arms fire was also received, and one of the reconnaissance vehicles was disabled. Another was attacked from the school building at the start of Pervomaiskaya Street, while a third reconnaissance vehicle was abandoned.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: As the reconnaissance platoon retreated into the column, the troopers were confused because they were followed by a truck, and there was hesitation to fire on it because Russian troopers were ordered only to return fire. However, the truck was approaching the leading tank platoon at high speed, so it was destroyed by the accompanying Tunguska. The huge detonation indicated it was a suicide truck bomb. Accompanying artillery fired into the area around the school building for about 45 minutes, and all incoming fire ceased.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: At 2 pm, the leading assault group reached the Mayakovskogo street objective. However, while the first echelon was conducting artillery fire, the 1st echelon vehicles (81st Gd MR Regt.) were stationary, and this caused the leading vehicles of the second echelon (2nd Bn., 131st IMR Br.) to mingle with them due to lack of coordination. This lack of experience, including by the individual vehicle drivers, caused a considerable traffic jam at the Mayakovskogo and Khmelnitzkogo intersection for much of an hour. However, that intersection represented the objective for the first day of operation, and both battalion commanders prepared their command for a defensive over-night position.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Suddenly, Pulikovsky ordered them to resume the advance. Captain Arkhangelov, 81st Regiment's deputy for training with the 1st Company, 1st Motor Rifle Battalion, reported call-sign "Mramor" ordering them to advance into the city. In retrospect, some field troopers thought this call sign belonged to General Leonti Shevtsov, Chief of Staff of the Combined Group of Forces in the Chechen Republic.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: At this point, the advance guard of the "North" Group reached their 'first day of operation' objective, and the columns of the two battalions of the 81st Guards Motor-Rifle Regiment arranged into a defensive position. Supporting artillery was tasked with firing into citizen defenders.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The Russians had no operational plan for an advance that day. After the order from "Mramor" came to continue the advance toward the Presidential Palace, the advancing column quickly formed during the lingering confusion from the Mayakovskogo and Khmelnitzkogo intersection fiasco. The elements of 1st battalion departed first, but, with them, elements of the 2nd battalion and some vehicles from supporting sub-units. Meanwhile, more vehicles arrived in the intersection, mostly stray detachments left to guard the route earlier including single vehicles recovered from break-downs.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The traffic jam was exacerbated by the elements of the 255th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment arriving as the second echelon of the "North" Group. This supported the decision for the first echelon to re-commence movement. The 255th proceeded to the Central Hospital Complex east of the Central Railway.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: From the Mayakovskogo and Khmelnitzkogo intersection, the 1st battalion advanced toward the Dzerzhinskogo square via Dzerzhinskogo Street. They also used parallel streets in an attempt to reduce congestion in the column. Point elements reached the railway station just after noon. This column included the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion with Colonel Perepelkin commanding. They were joined by the 4th company from the 2nd battalion plus the 7th tank company. At Dzerzhinskogo square, the 7th tank company was tasked with guarding the bridge from Krasnikh Frontovikov street. This column included about 40 BMPs, 9 to 12 tanks (including several 'strays') and at least one anti-aircraft vehicle.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: From there, the column attempted to reach the Ordzhonikidze square, but came under intense fire from the Chechens. Colonel Yaroslavtzev, commanding the 81st Regiment, ordered all units to return to the Dzerzhinskogo square before sundown. All units in the Ordzhonikidze square received fire from all types of weapons from different directions, disabling several vehicles including tanks. The regimental and battalion radio signals were 'jammed', so the two battalion commanders in the square drove around to deploy their vehicles and coordinate defensive fire.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: As the Russian point vehicles reached the Presidential Palace, they were ambushed by heavy fire from Chechen small arms and rockets from roofs and basements along the street. The Chechen ambush funneled the Russian armored columns, then the RPG gunners disabled the first and last vehicles in the line to trap the rest of the battalions in the middle. Relatively useless in urban combat compared to dismounted fighters, Russian tanks were unable to elevate their cannons high enough to engage the top floors of many buildings, or low enough to fire into the basements.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The brigade's deputy commander for training, Colonel Stankevich, took command of the largest group of the regiment's survivors after the bulk of the unit's armor was destroyed in the street; joined by some paratroopers, they eventually fought back to Russian lines. After obliterating most of the 81st, the Chechens foraged the Russians for weapons and ammunition. By the evening, the Russians gathered in the center of Grozny around the city's main marketplace, then moved toward the main train station.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Mid-afternoon, the first battalion of the 131st MRB occupied the train station. Because of the radio black-out, they were unaware of the 81st MRR's situation. They separated from the second battalion from the freight station to the west, and from the third battalion on the outskirts of the city. The unit parked their tanks and armored personnel carriers around the station to wait for orders, around which time Chechen security minister Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev, who had served alongside Russian commanding officer Colonel Ivan Alekseevich Savin prior to the encounter and was worried about bloodshed on both sides (likely concerned for the safety of his old friend), extended a desperate plea to Savin (nicknamed Alik by Atgeriyev in the brief communication), proposing a negotiation for Savin to "withdraw his men and come to him as a guest", an offer which the latter had no choice but to reject due to having insufficient permission to call a ceasefire. Sometime after, a Russian communications officer heard the words ""Welcome to Hell"" on his headset. Shortly after, Chechen defenders in the depot buildings, the post office, and the five-story building surrounding the station opened devastating automatic and anti-tank fire. The surviving Russian troopers took cover inside the station, then the Chechens completed their ambush by setting it on fire. Colonel Savin radioed for help and artillery fire, but help never arrived.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Most distress calls from the 131st went unanswered. The second and third battalions of the brigade responded to the call for help, but were caught in layered ambushes before reaching the station. Both battalions were ordered to stay away from the Presidential Palace; this added to the trouble as the armored columns turned into alleyways, only to be destroyed by more of the layered ambushes. After a small element of the 503rd Motor Rifle Regiment received orders to move during the early hours of the day, they immediately received friendly fire from the other Russian forces bogged down under heavy fire; they fought each other for six hours (there were many more such incidents, some of them organized by the Chechens). The 8th Corps reached the city center from the north, but were unable to save the units fallen into the ambush. No Russian reinforcements reached the railway station.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: At sundown, Colonel Savin decided to evacuate the wounded via the only working armored personnel carrier. After loading forty wounded troopers, the APC moved in the wrong direction (toward the center of the city). It eventually turned around to retreat along the same route, but was ambushed by Chechen anti-tank gunners; thirteen of the crew and passengers survived to be taken prisoner. On 2 January, Colonel Savin and his remaining officers abandoned the railway station. They found some abandoned Russian armored personnel-carriers. They attempted to escape, but were attacked by Chechen fighters. Savin died on the street from air-burst shrapnel beside his wrecked vehicle. By 3 January, the 131st Brigade lost nearly 789 men killed (another 75 were captured, and only 160 reached safety), including almost all of their officers. In addition, twenty of twenty-six tanks and 102 of 120 other armored vehicles were lost. The entire Maikop Brigade of over 1,000 men was wiped out in sixty hours.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: During this debacle, General Grachev proclaimed ""the entire city centre and several districts of the city and its outskirts are under complete control of Russian forces"".


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: The New Year's Eve battle was devastating for the Russians; the first Russian armored column lost 105 of their 120 tanks and armored personnel carriers. The entire first battalion of the Maikop Brigade, more than half of the 81st Regiment plus hundreds of men from the remaining units, were dead. A high-ranking Russian General Staff officer said ""On January 2nd, we lost contact with our forward units."" According to Maskhadov, some 400 Russian tanks and APCs were destroyed. Russian General Aleksandr Galkin reported 225 armored vehicles lost during the first month and a half of the invasion, including 62 tanks.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Russian prisoners did not know where and why they were there; some were ordered to "protect roads," while others asked the reporters "who is fighting whom". After more captured Russian troopers were shown on television programming, the mothers of some went to Grozny to negotiate the release of their sons. Those negotiations took place in the center of the city without involving Russian government agents and while under Russian artillery bombardment; some of the prisoners were released on the promise they would never fight the Chechens again.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: Unknown to the Russians and prior to the New Year invasion, Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev moved his headquarters to Shali, 25 kilometers south of Grozny. The Russian forces pulled back, abandoning many troopers. Morale dropped so low, units of the Interior Ministry and OMON forces outside town departed without orders. Several Russian commanders were sacked for their reluctance to assault their neighboring citizens.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: In the first days of January, Chechen forces not dealing with the remnants of the destroyed Russian units counterattacked against General Rokhlin's army group of some 5,000 men (now hastily entrenched in the north as the only organized Russian forces in Grozny at the time), unsuccessfully trying to drive it from the city.


title: Battle of Grozny (1994–1995)

text: On 4 and 5 January, the Chechens began retreating to villages south of Grozny with whatever combat vehicles they had at their disposal. These convoys were bombed by Russian air attacks. Though the Chechens were on the retreat, they still controlled much of the center of the city. Reinforcements from both sides arrived, including Chechen volunteers from the villages outside of Grozny and Russian Naval Infantry.