text: During a visit to her maternal relatives, the Princes of Battenberg, at Jugenheim in August 1868, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, then fourteen years old, met Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son, was a shy and handsome young man, with a career in the British navy. He was visiting his sister, Princess Alice, who was married to Maria Alexandrovna's first cousin. Alfred's voyage around the world with the Royal Navy kept him away, traveling for the next two years. Maria and Prince Alfred saw each other again in the summer 1871, when Alexander II and his wife visited the Battenbergs again at their "schloss", Heiligenberg. The Tsar and his wife were accompanied by seventeen-year-old Maria and her two elder brothers. Alfred also happened to be there, along with the Prince and Princess of Wales. During that summer, Maria and Alfred felt attracted to each other, spending their days walking and talking together. They had a common love of music; Alfred was an enthusiastic amateur violinist, while Maria played the piano. Although they wished to marry, no engagement was announced, and Alfred returned to England.


title: Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

text: Their parents were against the match. Alexander II did not want to lose his daughter, to whom he was deeply attached. He presented his daughter's youth as the main obstacle and suggested a waiting period of at least one year before any definitive decision should be taken. The Tsar also objected to a British son-in-law, due to the general anti-English feeling in Russia following the Crimean War. The Tsarina regarded the British customs as peculiar and the English people as cold and unfriendly. She was convinced that her daughter would not be happy there. However, marriage negotiation began in July 1871, only to be stalled in 1872.


text: Queen Victoria was also against the match. No British prince had ever married a Romanov, and she foresaw problems with Maria's Orthodox religion and Russian upbringing. The Queen considered that Russia was generally "unfriendly" towards Britain. Victoria was also suspicious about Russian moves in the direction of India. The Queen was dismayed, therefore, when she heard that official negotiations had restarted in January 1873. There were rumors going about St Petersburg that Maria Alexandrovna had compromised herself with Prince Golitsyn, the Tsar's aide-de-camp, and her family were anxious to see her settled. Alfred refused to believe those rumors and he was prepared to fight to marry the person he loved. Queen Victoria therefore swallowed her pride and said nothing. Both mothers continued to look for other partners for their children, but Alfred and Maria would not have anyone else. Marie liked neither the Prince of Württemberg nor the Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz that were presented to her as alternatives. As the Tsarina failed to find a German prince acceptable for her daughter, a meeting among Alfred, the Tsarina and her daughter took place in Sorrento, Italy in mid April 1873. The reunion did not go as planned because Marie came down with fever and Alfred could spend only a short time with her. That year, there was an Anglo-Russian dispute over the Afghan border. The Queen's ministers thought that a marriage might help to ease the tension between the two countries, if only by putting the monarchs into closer contact with one another.


text: In June 1873, Tsar Alexander II joined his wife and daughter at Ems, and Alfred was invited to meet them at Jugenheim. Alfred arrived in early July. On 11 July, he asked for Maria Alexandrovna's hand and she accepted him. He was nearly twenty-nine; she was nineteen. He sent a telegram from Germany back to his mother: "Maria and I were engaged this morning. Cannot say how happy I am. Hope your blessing rests on us." The Queen sent her congratulations, but confined her misgivings to her diary on 11 July 1873: "Not knowing Marie, and realizing that there may still be many difficulties, my thoughts and feelings are rather mixed." When breaking the news to her eldest daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Queen Victoria simply said: "The murder is out."


text: Tsar Alexander II granted his daughter the then staggering sum of £100,000 as a dowry, plus an annual allowance of £32,000. He also bestowed on his only daughter some of the best jewels owned by the Romanovs, including the sapphires he had inherited from his mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and a parure that had belonged to Catherine the Great. As a wedding present, the Tsar commissioned a complete parure of diamonds and Burmese rubies from the court jeweller Bolin. Her other pieces of jewellery included a "tiara russe" made of diamonds, which could also be worn as a necklace. George Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick later recalled that "I saw the finest jewels I have ever seen in my life" when he visited Maria's home in Eastwell and that "One would have thought that the world had been ransacked to lay these treasures at the Duchess’s feet, and there seemed to be enough for an entire royal family rather than for one member of it.” Alexander II gave Maria an extravagant trousseau that cost £40,000: It included "50 magnificent dresses, not including ball-dresses, to say nothing of the splendid furs and lace at 1,000 roubles a yard." He made Alfred honorary chief of a Russian guards regiment and even named a Russian battleship after him – the "Herzog Edinburgsky".


text: A week after the engagement, the proposed Anglo-Russo alliance experienced its first crisis. Queen Victoria asked the Tsar to bring Maria to Scotland, so that she could meet her future daughter-in-law. Alexander II refused. The Tsarina suggested that they all meet in Cologne, instead. The Queen called it "simply impertinent" that "I ... who have been nearly twenty years longer on the throne than the Emperor of Russia ... and who am a Reigning Sovereign ... should be ready to run to the slightest call of the mighty Russians ... like any little Princess." Victoria also made herself unpopular by refusing the Tsar's offer to make the Prince of Wales colonel of a Russian regiment, and by demanding that an Anglican marriage service be held in St Petersburg alongside the Orthodox ceremony. But Maria Alexandrovna looked forward happily to her marriage: "How happy I am to belong to him. I feel that my love for him is growing daily. I have a feeling of peace and inexpressible happiness and a boundless impatience to be altogether his own."


text: On 4 January 1874, Alfred arrived in St Petersburg for the wedding and stayed in the Winter Palace. The other British guests arrived on 18 January. The wedding was celebrated in great splendour, at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace on . Queen Victoria was represented by her eldest son Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife Alexandra, Princess of Wales, sister of Tsarevna Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The Queen's eldest daughter, Victoria, and her husband Frederick, Crown Prince of Germany, were present as well.


text: The marriage ceremony consisted of two parts. The Orthodox service took place first and was performed by the Metropolitans of St Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev in the Imperial Chapel. Grand Dukes Vladimir, Alexis, and Sergei and the groom's brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, relieved each other taking turns holding the golden crowns over the head of the bride and groom. Maria wore a glittering coronet and a mantle of crimson velvet trimmed with ermine and a sprig of myrtle, specially sent by Queen Victoria. Alfred wore the uniform of the Royal Navy. The Tsar looked pale throughout the entire ceremony and said afterwards: "It is for her happiness, but the light of my life has gone out." After this, the bride and groom each drank thrice from a goblet of wine. The service concluded with the couple joining hands under the priest's stole. Then they all proceeded to the Alexander Hall, where Arthur Stanley, Dean of Westminster, made Prince Alfred and Maria Alexandrovna husband and wife according to the rites of the Church of England. The two services were followed by a banquet at the palace. The famous opera singer Adelina Patti sang for the guests. The evening ended with a ball at St George Hall.


text: In London that night, Queen Victoria wore the Order of St Catherine on her dress and drank a toast to the young couple. Those members of her court who had traveled to St Petersburg were overwhelmed by the scale of the celebrations, receptions and entertainments marking the Anglo-Russian marriage. Major-General Sir Howard Elphinstone noted that, in one room, supper was served to five hundred people at fifty different tables, with "palms and exotics ... used to so large an extent that it gives the place the appearance of a conservatory ... the heat of the rooms was almost unbearable, and several ladies left the ballroom in a fainting state." Lady Augusta Stanley summed up the wedding in three words: "What a day."


text: Alfred and Maria spent their wedding night at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Alexander II had ordered a lavish honeymoon suite on the ground floor, hoping that it would persuade the young couple to remain in Russia. After a short honeymoon in Tsarskoe Selo, however, Alfred and Maria left Russia to live in England. Alexander II never lost hope that they would return, and the honeymoon suite was kept preserved for the couple for two decades. In 1894, it became the bedroom of the last Tsar and his wife, Nicholas II and Alexandra, who were Maria's nephew and Alfred's niece respectively.


text: The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh arrived in England on 7 March 1874. The town of Windsor was decorated in their honour, with Union Jacks and Russian flags, and Maria was given a great welcome by the waiting crowds. Queen Victoria met them at the South-Western Station and recorded their arrival in her journal: "I took dear Marie in my arms and kissed her warmly several times. I was quite nervous and trembling, so long had I been in expectation ... Dear Marie has a very friendly manner, a pleasant face, beautiful skin and fine bright eyes ... She speaks English wonderfully well." Later on, Queen Victoria described her new daughter-in-law as "most pleasing natural, unaffected and civil" even if "she was not pretty or graceful and held herself badly". "I have formed a high opinion of her," Queen Victoria reported, impressed with "her wonderfully even, cheerful, satisfied temper – her kind and indulgent disposition, free from bigotry and intolerance, and her serious, intelligent mind – so entirely free from everything fast – and so full of occupation and interest in everything, makes her a most agreeable companion. Everyone must like her." The queen also noted that Marie was "not a bit afraid of Affie and I hope will have the very best influence upon him."


text: The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made their public entry into London on 12 March. Thousands lined the route from Paddington Station to Buckingham Palace to take a glimpse of the new British Princess Alfred and Maria moved into Clarence House in London, which was their main residence in England. Here she had an Orthodox Chapel installed for her and the Russian priest she had brought from St Petersburg. In addition, they had a country residence, Eastwell Park, a large estate of 2,500 acres near Ashford in Kent, where the Duke enjoyed shooting parties. To alleviate his daughter's homesickness, the Tsar and his son Grand Duke Alexei paid a family visit to England in May 1874.


text: Maria Alexandrovna often squabbled with her mother-in-law on how she should be addressed at court. As the Tsar's only daughter, she was an Imperial Highness had precedence over all the grand duchesses in Russia. Once she married her husband she was only entitled to the style of Royal Highness. Tsar Alexander II alleged that his daughter should continue to be styled as an Imperial Highness, not royal, "as in all civilized countries". Queen Victoria replied that she did not care whether imperial was used or not, as long as royal came first. There was also the added problem that Maria was both Duchess of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess of Russia, and which title should be written first was a controversial matter. In retaliation for the quarrel over precedence, the Duchess of Edinburgh took great pleasure in showing off her magnificent jewellery. The English princesses were clearly jealous of her diamonds, as was Queen Victoria. Meriel Buchanan, daughter of the last British ambassador to Imperial Russia, described Maria's first Drawing Room: "The Queen compared the Duchess’s tiara with those of her own daughters, shrugging her shoulders like a bird whose plumage has been ruffled, her mouth drawn down at the corners, in an expression which those who knew her had learned to dread."


text: When she visited Scotland, Maria Alexandrovna was frozen in her unheated bedroom in Balmoral Castle and ordered a fire to be lit. When she was out, Queen Victoria entered the room and ordered a maid to throw water on the fire and open all the windows.


text: Maria Alexandrovna's relationship with her mother-in-law deteriorated. She wrote letters to her father describing Queen Victoria as a "silly obstinate old fool". Her mother Marie of Hesse and by Rhine was angry with Queen Victoria and wrote, "To be quite frank, it is difficult to take such a mother-in-law seriously, and I am sorry on Marie's account." Her daughter Queen Marie of Romania reflected that, "I do not think my mother always found it easy being Queen Victoria's daughter-in-law, though they had great respect for each other."


text: Maria Alexandrovna was angry that Queen Victoria opposed the marriage of Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine to her favorite brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia. In August 1883, she wrote, "that happy and so entirely satisfactory... prospect of marriage of my brother Sergei is going I think to fall through, under the deplorable influence of the Queen... I knew that from the start she set her heart against it saying that she had only heard his praise, but he had the greatest of all misfortunes, he was Russian and she had enough of one Russian in the family (meaning me, of course)."


text: Maria Alexandrovna had five children. Nine months after their marriage, she gave birth to her first child and only son, young Alfred, in Buckingham Palace on 15 October 1874. Her mother came to London to visit her daughter during her confinement and to meet her grandson. She gave birth to her second child and first daughter on 29 October 1875 at Eastwell Park, whom she named Marie after herself and her mother. Maria shocked English society by nursing the children herself. While the Duchess was in Malta with her husband, who was stationed there as an officer in the Royal Navy, Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to her third child and second daughter, Victoria Melita, on 25 November 1876. On 1 September 1878, she gave birth to her fourth child and third daughter Alexandra. On 20 April 1884, she gave birth to her fifth child and fourth daughter, Beatrice at Eastwell. Years later, she lamented that she only had five children: "The only real heavenly moment is the birth of the child. This cannot be compared to anything else. I think if I had even a dozen children, I would have kept the same feeling."


text: The family's main residence in England was Clarence House, in London. Autumns, Christmas and new year were spent at Eastwell Park, a country estate they leased in Kent. On summer holidays, the family went to Osborne Cottage on the Isle of Wight.


text: In 1877, Russia went to war with Turkey in an attempt to gain control of the Balkans. Queen Victoria sent Tsar Alexander II a series of aggressive telegrams that almost led to a state of war between the two countries. The Duchess was deeply shocked at her mother-in-law's hostility towards her country and her own father in particular.


text: Maria found it difficult to settle at the British Court. Her mother Marie of Hesse and by Rhine wrote that "Marie thinks London hideous... the air there appalling, the English food abominable, the later hours very tiring, the visits to Windsor and Osborne boring beyond belief." Maria described London as "an impossible place, where people are mad of pleasure" and a let down compared to the broad streets, golden domes, and magnificent palaces of Saint Petersburg. In her eyes, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle could never compete with the splendours of the Winter Palace. Constant visits to her mother-in-law at Windsor Castle and Osborne in the Isle of Wight were tedious. Although she loved music, the duchess did not like the Royal Albert Hall, describing it as "all ecclesiastical and ... quite boring ... Every concert goes on for several hours". During a banquet at Marlborough house, she had a conversation with the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. When Disraeli identified his rival, she exclaimed, "What a strange state society is in here. Wherever I go there is a double. Two Prime Ministers, two Secretaries of State, two Lord Chamberlains, and two Lord Chancellors."


text: Maria disliked her in-laws. The Queen's company was oppressive, and her husband was a philanderer. Of her sisters and brothers-in-law, she only cared for the two youngest: Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice. Proud of her strong intellect, she considered Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, a light-minded and foolish woman.


text: Maria became increasingly homesick for Russia and was happy for any excuse to return there. She spoke of her “Russian heart" and said that "every sympathetic voice from the Fatherland is sacred to me." Her daughter Marie of Romania reflected that "my mother dearly loved her native country, and she never really felt completely happy in England."


text: British people thought her rough and masculine in her manners. Her imperious attitude towards her servants and her defiance of English convention by smoking in public made her unpopular. She made it equally plain that she did not care what people thought.


text: The Duke of Edinburgh was the heir of his childless uncle Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, the eldest brother of Prince Albert. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, for a long while, Maria Alexandrovna resided in Coburg, as her husband was expected to succeed his aging uncle. While in Germany, a third daughter, Alexandra, was born on 1 September 1878 at Rosenau Castle, in Coburg. On 13 October 1879 the Duchess gave birth prematurely to a stillborn son at Eastwell Park. On 17 February 1880, Maria was back in Russia, during the 25th anniversary celebration of her father's coronation. That day, radicals attempted to assassinate the Tsar and the entire Imperial family. A terrorist bomb demolished the dining room and the guard room at the Winter Palace. Maria Alexandrovna returned to Russia again in June 1880, to be with her dying mother. She was back in England at Clarence House when her father was killed by a terrorist bomb. Maria Alexandrovna had to rush back to Russia to attend her father's funeral in Saint Petersburg in March 1881.


text: The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were present at the coronation of her brother, Tsar Alexander III, in Moscow in May 1883. In July 1884, they traveled to Ilinskoe, outside Moscow, to visit Maria's younger brother Grand Duke Sergei, who had married Queen Victoria's granddaughter Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine.


text: Alfred was heir to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Expecting to be the Duchess there, Maria Alexandrovna had a palace built for her family in Coburg. The building, known as the Edinburgh Palais, was built across the central square from the Ehrenburg Palace, the official residence of the reigning duke, and next to the town's opera hall. The royal couple's rooms were on the second floor, while the bedrooms of the four young princesses were on the third floor. Both the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were avid collectors. In the Edinburgh Palais, there were many objects that reminded Maria Alexandrovna of her homeland. As a reminder of Russia, Maria Alexandrovna organised entertainment in the Russian fashion.


text: In January 1886, the Duke was appointed commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet, based in Malta. In October 1886, the family settled there. For the next three years, they spent every winter at the San Anton Palace in Malta. Life in the island was unexciting for the Duchess of Edinburgh, but it was a welcome respite from living in England. While in Malta, the Duchess proved to be an excellent hostess, entertaining naval officers and their wives. In 1887, the couple returned briefly to London to take part in Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Her husband's career in the British navy and their many relations in the European courts allowed Maria Alexandrovna to travel extensively, something that she truly enjoyed. She visited most European countries, including Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, and even Montenegro, making annual trips to Germany, England, and Russia.


text: In March 1887, the Duke relinquished his command of the Mediterranean Fleet, and the family moved to Coburg. Their main residence was the Palais Edinburgh, where the Duchess held court. Her husband, occupied with his naval affairs, was away most of the time. Responsibility for the education of the couple's five children fell upon the Duchess. She was a strict, but devoted mother who made sure to be the most important person in her children's lives. Between August 1890 and June 1893, the Duke was stationed at the Royal Navy's base in Devonport. Maria Alexandrovna did not care for the Admiralty House, her husband's official residence, and only made rare visits to Devonport with her children.


text: With the passing of the years, Alfred and Maria grew apart. They had little in common other than a shared interest in music and their children. He was reserved, taciturn, moody, ill-tempered, and a heavy drinker. By the mid-1880s he was an alcoholic. The Duke was described as "rude, touchy, willful, unscrupulous, improvident, and unfaithful." The Duchess resented her husband's attitude, but kept her marriage going, hiding her troubled married life from her children, providing a happy environment for them. She later confessed to one of her daughters that she felt she was never anything more than her husband's "legitimate mistress". Arguments over their children added to the couple's marital problems. The Duke hoped that their eldest daughter, Marie, would marry his nephew, the future King George V. The Duchess, however, was determined that her daughter should avoid her mistake, and married her instead to Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania on 10 January 1893.


text: On the death of his uncle, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on 22 August 1893, the Duke of Edinburgh inherited the vacant throne (his elder brother the Prince of Wales had deferred his right to the succession). Upon her husband's ascension to the Ducal throne, Maria Alexandrovna became Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in addition to being Duchess of Edinburgh. Unlike her husband, disgruntled to leave his career in the navy, Maria Alexandrovna thoroughly enjoyed her new role. She found the country "charming" and the prospect of "a new fine position, with plenty to do" a "real God-send". Known for its hunting forest and picturesque castles, the ducal estate was small, compromising separate lands in Coburg, Gotha, Upper Austria, and Tyrol, but there she could live according to her desires in a domain of her own. The family moved to Schloss Ehrenburg, the Duke's official residence, but they all preferred their summer house, Schloss Rosenau, a gingerbread-yellow villa on a hill with views of the surrounding countryside. They also had two residences in Gotha, where they had to live part of the year: Schloss Friedenstein and Schloss Reinhardsbrunn, which the Duke enjoyed for its hunting grounds. The Duchess took on updating the badly furnished castles, and also charitable works, opening an establishment for those with intellectual disabilities that bore her name. Her passions were the opera and the theater, which she supported both in Coburg and in Gotha. The Duchess was also an avid reader and enjoyed mushroom hunting.


text: Alfred and Maria's second daughter, Victoria Melita, married Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse on 19 April 1894. The Duchess was initially against this match as Ernest was close to his British grandmother, Queen Victoria, who arrived at Coburg with many other royals for the wedding. In November 1894, Marie's eldest brother, Tsar Alexander III, died of nephritis, aged forty-nine, leaving his twenty-six-year-old son, Nicholas II, as the new Tsar. Alfred and Maria went to Russia, arriving just before Alexander III's death. They stayed on in Saint Petersburg for the wedding of Nicholas to his fiancée, Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, the youngest surviving daughter of Alfred's deceased sister, Princess Alice.


text: Over her husband's objections, the Duchess arranged the marriage of her third daughter, Alexandra, in September 1895, to Prince Ernest of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a grandson of Queen Victoria's half-sister Feodora. He was an attaché at the German Embassy in London and his family was mediatized but not a reigning royal family. The Duchess's main concern was her wayward only son, "Young Alfred", who had a checkered career in the German army. On 15 October 1895, he reached his majority, but he was already in bad health. Alexandra's wedding took place in Coburg in April 1896, and the following month, Maria Alexandrovna travelled to Russia with her husband and their other four children for Tsar Nicholas II's coronation in Moscow. In June 1897, the Duchess and her husband went back to London to take part in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. By then, the couple's relationship had deteriorated further. Maria Alexandrovna despaired in finding a topic of conversation with her difficult husband as he hated her interest in literature and the theater, while she found his fondness for politics and hunting "dull". The Duchess was relieved when her husband was away. She wrote to her eldest daughter "if only you knew how easy and comfortable life is without him." By 1898, the Duke's health had deteriorated, exacerbated by his excessive smoking and heavy drinking.


text: On 23 January 1899 Maria Alexandrovna and her husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at Friedenstein Palace, the Duke's official residence in Gotha. Absent from the festivities was their only son, who was gravely ill. Young Alfred was a junior officer in Potsdam, where his chief hobbies were gambling, drinking and womanizing. He had contracted syphilis in 1892, and by 1898, his health deteriorated rapidly. He died at the age of twenty-four on 6 February 1899 in Meran, after reportedly shooting himself at Gotha during his parents' wedding anniversary celebrations. The Duke was heartbroken at young Alfred's death. This tragedy drove the parents farther apart as Alfred blamed his wife, who had been responsible for young Alfred's education. In her grief, the Duchess sank to her knees sobbing uncontrollably during her son's funeral. With the death of Young Alfred, the heir to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was Alfred's nephew Charles Edward, Duke of Albany, who came to Germany to be educated there. The succession to the Duchy was complicated by the news that Alfred himself had cancer of the throat, too advanced for any treatment. By May 1900, he was unable to swallow and could only be fed by a tube. The Duchess and their youngest daughter, Beatrice, who were in England visiting Queen Victoria, returned on 17 July, unaware of the seriousness of the Duke's condition. On 30 July 1900, he died in his sleep at Schloss Rosenau in Coburg. Maria Alexandrovna was at his bedside with their daughters Victoria Melita, Alexandra, and Beatrice. Maria became Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The duchy went to Alfred's nephew Charles Edward, then sixteen years old. During his minority the regency fell on Maria's son-in-law, Ernest of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, for nearly five years.


text: Maria Alexandrovna was only forty-six years old when she became a widow. After the death of her husband, she stayed, for a while, in England, where she had to relinquish Clarence House which was inherited by her brother-in-law, the Duke of Connaught. Maria Alexandrovna was at Osborne during the final days of her mother-in law, Queen Victoria. In her widowhood, Maria Alexandrovna kept the Edinburgh Palace as her home in Coburg, and Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha. Schloss Rosenau served as her country residence. However, she spent most of her time at her villa in Tegernsee overlooking a lake in Bavaria, near Munich. Her winter residence was the Château de Fabron, near Nice. The upkeep of five residences put a strain on her finances.


text: Although she was critical of her daughters, she supported them during their personal crisis. In 1901, her second daughter Victoria Melita divorced her husband and came to live with her. On 25 September 1905, Victoria Melita married her maternal first cousin, Grand Duke Kiril Vladimirovich of Russia. The Dowager Duchess's relationship with her nephew Tsar Nicholas II deteriorated, as he opposed Victoria Melita's second marriage, and it doomed the romance between Princess Beatrice and his younger brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich because they too were first cousins.


text: Maria Alexandrovna lamented that, after working hard for the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg, and clearing its finances, the duchy passed to Charles Edward who took control of the Duchy at his majority in July 1905. Relations with the new Duke were initially tense, but improved when Charles Edward provided his full support to the marriage of Maria Alexandrovna's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice to Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain on 15 July 1909. In the following years, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna continued to make frequent trips to her native Russia in order to stay with her daughter, Victoria Melita, Grand Duchess of Russia. The last one of her trips took place in May 1914.


text: At the outbreak of World War I, Maria Alexandrovna was in Coburg after returning from a visit to King George V in Buckingham Palace. Her sympathies were divided, but she sided with Germany against her native Russia. The Coburg family faced intense hostility during the war for their British and Russian connections. The Dowager Duchess' position in Coburg became untenable as Russophobia took over the German Empire. To avoid complications, Maria Alexandrovna stayed away from Coburg, retiring to Tegernsee in Bavaria. At one point, while she was returning home with her two younger daughters, their car was stopped by an angry mob who recognised her and harassed her for her Russian heritage. It took the police over an hour to extricate them from the situation. After that incident Maria Alexandrovna went to live in exile in Switzerland at the Walhaus, an annex of the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zürich.


text: In August 1917 she wrote: "At the age of 63, I am very fresh in mind, if not in body, and I can support with patience and resignation a sad and perhaps miserable end of life which is in store for my old age... Sometimes I also seem to despair, but not about myself, but about the state of things in general." Many of her relatives were killed during the Russian revolution, including her only surviving brother Grand Duke Paul and her nephew Tsar Nicholas II with his immediate family. In the aftermath of the war, the Dowager Duchess lost her large fortune as the bulk of it was held in trust in Russia. Her British income was small, and as she never saw a penny of it, she was forced to sell a great part of her jewellery collection.


text: Living under reduced circumstances in Zürich, Maria Alexandrovna was reunited with her two eldest daughters Marie, Queen of Romania, and Victoria Melita, Grand Duchess of Russia who had been on the opposite side during the war. In July 1920, she wrote: "I am too utterly disgusted with the present state of the world and mankind in general... They have destroyed and ruined my beloved Russia, my much-loved Germany." She was a broken woman, her figure, always plump, became thin and her hands trembling. Although she had been affected by gastric troubles, her death came unexpectedly. Eight days after her sixty-seventh birthday, on 25 October 1920, she died in her sleep of a heart attack. She was buried in the ducal mausoleum at "" in Coburg beside her husband and their son. "She was profoundly religious," her eldest daughter wrote, "I hope God will not disappoint her as most things and beings did in this life."


text: Maria Alexandrovna's letters to her third daughter, Alexandra, are preserved in the Hohenlohe Central Archive (Hohenlohe-Zentralarchiv Neuenstein) in Neuenstein Castle in the town of Neuenstein, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.


title: Alkaline battery

text: An alkaline battery (IEC code: L) is a type of primary battery where the electrolyte (most commonly potassium hydroxide) has a pH value above 7. Typically these batteries derive energy from the reaction between zinc metal and manganese dioxide, nickel and cadmium, or nickel and hydrogen.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Compared with zinc–carbon batteries of the Leclanché cell or zinc chloride types, alkaline batteries have a higher energy density and longer shelf life, yet provide the same voltage.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The alkaline battery gets its name because it has an alkaline electrolyte of potassium hydroxide (KOH) instead of the acidic ammonium chloride (NHCl) or zinc chloride (ZnCl) electrolyte of the zinc–carbon batteries. Other battery systems also use alkaline electrolytes, but they use different active materials for the electrodes.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Alkaline batteries account for 80% of manufactured batteries in the US and over 10 billion individual units produced worldwide. In Japan, alkaline batteries account for 46% of all primary battery sales. In Switzerland, alkaline batteries account for 68%, in the UK 60% and in the EU 47% of all battery sales including secondary types. Alkaline batteries contain zinc (Zn) and manganese dioxide (MnO) (Health codes 1), which is a cumulative neurotoxin and can be toxic in higher concentrations. However, compared to other battery types, the toxicity of alkaline batteries is moderate.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Alkaline batteries are used in many household items such as MP3 players, CD players, digital cameras, toys, flashlights, and radios.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Batteries with alkaline (rather than acid) electrolyte were first developed by Waldemar Jungner in 1899, and, working independently, Thomas Edison in 1901. The modern alkaline dry battery, using the zinc/manganese dioxide chemistry, was invented by the Canadian engineer Lewis Urry in the 1950s in Canada before he started working for Union Carbide's Eveready Battery division in Cleveland, OH, building on earlier work by Edison. On October 9, 1957, Urry, Karl Kordesch, and P.A. Marsal filed US patent (2,960,558) for the alkaline battery. It was granted in 1960 and was assigned to the Union Carbide Corporation.


title: Alkaline battery

text: When alkaline batteries were introduced in the late 1960s, their zinc electrodes (in common with the then ubiquitous carbon-zinc cells) had a surface film of mercury amalgam. Its purpose was to control electrolytic action on impurities in the zinc; that unwanted electrolytic action would reduce shelf life and promote leakage. When reductions in mercury content were mandated by various legislatures, it became necessary to greatly improve the purity and consistency of the zinc.


title: Alkaline battery

text: In an alkaline battery, the negative electrode is zinc and the positive electrode is manganese dioxide (MnO). The alkaline electrolyte of potassium hydroxide is not consumed during the reaction, only the zinc and MnO are consumed during discharge. The alkaline electrolyte of potassium hydroxide remains, as there are equal amounts of OH consumed and produced.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The capacity of an alkaline battery is greater than an equal size Leclanché cell or zinc chloride cell because the manganese dioxide is purer and denser, and less space is taken up by internal components such as electrodes. An alkaline cell can provide between three and five times the capacity of an acidic cell.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The capacity of an alkaline battery is strongly dependent on the load. An AA-sized alkaline battery might have an effective capacity of 3000 mAh at low drain, but at a load of 1 ampere, which is common for digital cameras, the capacity could be as little as 700 mAh. The voltage of the battery declines steadily during use, so the total usable capacity depends on the cutoff voltage of the application.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Unlike Leclanché cells, the alkaline cell delivers about as much capacity on intermittent or continuous light loads. On a heavy load, capacity is reduced on continuous discharge compared with intermittent discharge, but the reduction is less than for Leclanche cells.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The nominal voltage of a fresh alkaline cell as established by manufacturer standards is 1.5 V. The "actual" zero-load voltage of a new alkaline battery ranges from 1.50 to 1.65 V, depending on the purity of the manganese dioxide used and the contents of zinc oxide in the electrolyte. The voltage delivered to a load decreases as the current drawn increases and as the cell discharges. A cell is considered fully discharged when the voltage drops to about 1.0 V. Cells connected in series produce a voltage which is the sum of the voltages of each cell (e.g., three cells will generate about 4.5 V when new).


title: Alkaline battery

text: The amount of electrical current an alkaline battery can deliver is roughly proportional to its physical size. This is a result of decreasing internal resistance as the internal surface area of the cell increases. A rule of thumb is that an AA alkaline battery can deliver 700 mA without any significant heating. Larger cells, such as C and D cells, can deliver more current. Applications requiring currents of several amperes such as powerful portable audio equipment require D-sized cells to handle the increased load.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Alkaline batteries are manufactured in standard cylindrical forms interchangeable with zinc–carbon batteries, and in button forms. Several individual cells may be interconnected to form a true "battery", such as the 9-volt PP3-size battery.


title: Alkaline battery

text: A cylindrical cell is contained in a drawn stainless steel can, which is the cathode connection. The positive electrode mixture is a compressed paste of manganese dioxide with carbon powder added for increased conductivity. The paste may be pressed into the can or deposited as pre-molded rings. The hollow center of the cathode is lined with a separator, which prevents contact of the electrode materials and short-circuiting of the cell. The separator is made of a non-woven layer of cellulose or a synthetic polymer. The separator must conduct ions and remain stable in the highly alkaline electrolyte solution.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The negative electrode is composed of a dispersion of zinc powder in a gel containing the potassium hydroxide electrolyte. The zinc powder provides more surface area for chemical reactions to take place, compared to a metal can. This lowers the internal resistance of the cell. To prevent gassing of the cell at the end of its life, more manganese dioxide is used than required to react with all the zinc. Also, a plastic-made gasket is usually added to increase leakage resistance.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The cell is then wrapped in aluminium foil, a plastic film, or rarely, cardboard, which acts as a final layer of leak protection as well as providing a surface on which logos and labels can be printed.


title: Alkaline battery

text: When describing AAA, AA, C, sub-C and D size cells, the negative electrode is connected to the flat end, and the positive terminal is the end with the raised button. This is usually reversed in button cells, with the flat ended cylindrical can being the positive terminal.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Some alkaline batteries are designed to be recharged a few times, and are described as rechargeable alkaline batteries. Attempts to recharge standard alkaline batteries may cause rupture, or the leaking of hazardous liquids which will corrode the equipment. However, it is reported that standard alkaline batteries can often be recharged a few times (typically not more than ten), albeit with reduced capacity after each charge; chargers are available commercially. The UK consumer organisation "Which?" reported that it tested two such chargers with Energizer alkaline batteries, finding that battery capacity dropped on average to 10% of its original value, with huge variations, after two cycles (without stating how depleted they were before recharging) after recharging them two times.


title: Alkaline battery

text: In 2017 Gautam G. Yadav published papers reporting that alkaline batteries made by interleaving the interlayers with copper ions could be recharged for over 6,000 cycles due to the theoretical second electron capacity of manganese dioxide. The energy density of these rechargeable batteries with copper intercalated manganese dioxide is reported to be over 160Wh/L, the best among the aqueous-based chemistries. It could be capable of energy densities comparable to lithium-ion (> 250Wh/L) if zinc utilization in the batteries is improved.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Alkaline batteries are prone to leaking potassium hydroxide, a caustic agent that can cause respiratory, eye and skin irritation. The risk of this can be reduced by not attempting to recharge disposable alkaline cells, by not mixing different battery types in the same device, by replacing all of the batteries at the same time, by storing batteries in a dry place and at room temperature, and by removing batteries for storage of devices.


title: Alkaline battery

text: All batteries gradually self-discharge (whether installed in a device or not) and dead batteries will eventually leak. Extremely high temperatures can also cause batteries to rupture and leak (such as in a car during summer) as well as decrease the shelf life of the battery.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The reason for leaks is that as batteries discharge — either through usage or gradual self-discharge — the chemistry of the cells changes and some hydrogen gas is generated. This out-gassing increases pressure in the battery. Eventually, the excess pressure either ruptures the insulating seals at the end of the battery, or the outer metal canister, or both. In addition, as the battery ages, its steel outer canister may gradually corrode or rust, which can further contribute to containment failure.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Once a leak has formed due to corrosion of the outer steel shell, potassium hydroxide absorbs carbon dioxide from the air to form a feathery crystalline structure of potassium carbonate that grows and spreads out from the battery over time, following along metal electrodes to circuit boards where it commences oxidation of copper tracks and other components, leading to permanent circuitry damage.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The leaking crystalline growths can also emerge from seams around battery covers to form a furry coating outside the device, that corrodes any objects in contact with the leaking device.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Since alkaline batteries were made with less mercury beginning in 1996, alkaline batteries are allowed to be disposed of as regular domestic waste in some locations. However, older alkaline batteries with mercury, and the remaining other heavy metals and corrosive chemicals in all batteries (new and old), still present problems for disposal—especially in landfills. There is also the issue of simplifying the disposal of batteries by excluding them all from domestic waste, so that the most toxic batteries will be diverted from general waste streams.


title: Alkaline battery

text: Disposal varies by jurisdiction. For example, the state of California considers all batteries as hazardous waste when discarded, and has banned the disposal of batteries in domestic waste. In Europe, battery disposal is controlled by the WEEE Directive and Battery Directive regulations, and as such alkaline batteries must not be thrown in with domestic waste. In the EU, most stores that sell batteries are required by law to accept old batteries for recycling.


title: Alkaline battery

text: The use of disposable batteries increases by 5–6% every year. In the past, used batteries ended up at landfill sites, but in 2004, disposal of alkaline batteries at landfill sites was forbidden by an EU regulation. EU member countries are committed to recycling 50% of alkaline batteries by 2016. The need for recycling thus amounts 125,000 tons per year. The share of alkaline batteries is approximately 80% of the whole.


title: Alkaline battery

text: In the US, only one state, California, requires all alkaline batteries to be recycled. Vermont also has a statewide alkaline battery collection program. In other US states, individuals can purchase battery recycling kits used to ship batteries to recyclers. Some stores such as IKEA also collect alkaline batteries for recycling. However, some chain stores which advertise battery recycling (such as Best Buy) only accept rechargeable batteries and will generally not accept alkaline batteries.


title: Alkaline battery

text: For recycling, the metals from crushed alkaline batteries are mechanically separated, and the waste black mass is treated chemically to separate zinc, manganese dioxide and potassium hydroxide.


title: Freddy Fender

text: Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was best known for his 1975 hits "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and the subsequent remake of his own "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights".


title: Freddy Fender

text: Fender was born in San Benito, Texas, United States, to Margarita Garza and her Mexican husband, Serapio Huerta. He made his debut radio performance at age 10 on Harlingen, Texas, radio station KGBT, singing a then-hit "Paloma Querida."


title: Freddy Fender

text: Fender dropped out of high school at age 16 in 1953, and when he turned 17, he enlisted for three years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served time in the brig on several occasions because of his drinking, and he was court-martialed in August 1956 and discharged with rank of private (E-1). According to Fender, he later received a letter from the U.S. Department of the Navy saying that he had been wrongfully discharged dishonorably because of alcoholism, and he was given a general discharge. He returned to Texas and played nightclubs, bars, and honky-tonks throughout the south, mostly to Latino audiences. In 1957, then known as El Bebop Kid, he released two songs to moderate success in Mexico and South America: Spanish-language versions of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" (as "No Seas Cruel") and Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farewell." He also recorded his own Spanish version of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" under the title "Tu Frío Corazón" ("Your Cold Heart").


title: Freddy Fender

text: He became known for his rockabilly music and his cool persona as Eddie con los Shades. In 1958, he legally changed his name from Baldemar Huerta to Freddy Fender. He took the name Fender from the guitar and amplifier, and Freddy because the alliteration sounded good and would "sell better with Gringos!" He then relocated to California.


title: Freddy Fender

text: In 1959, Fender recorded the blues ballad "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights." His self-penned song was a hit, but he was beset by legal troubles in May 1960 after he and a band member were arrested for possession of marijuana in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After serving nearly three years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, he was released through the intervention of then-governor Jimmie Davis, also a songwriter and musician. Davis requested that Fender stay away from music while on probation as a condition of his release. However, in a 1990 NPR interview on "Fresh Air with Terry Gross" (rebroadcast October 17, 2006), Fender said that the condition for parole was to stay away from places that served alcohol.


title: Freddy Fender

text: By the end of the 1960s, Fender was back in Corpus Christi, Texas, working as a mechanic and attending local institution, Del Mar College, while playing music only on the weekends.


title: Freddy Fender

text: In 1974 Fender recorded "Before the Next Teardrop Falls." The single was selected for national distribution and became a number-one hit on the "Billboard" Country and Pop charts. It sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in May 1975. His next three singles, "Secret Love", "You'll Lose a Good Thing", and a remake of "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights", all reached number one on the "Billboard" Country chart. Between 1975 and 1983, Fender charted 21 country hits, including "Since I Met You Baby", "Vaya con Dios", "Livin' It Down", and "The Rains Came". "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" became Fender's second million-selling single, with the gold disc presentation taking place in September 1975.


title: Freddy Fender

text: Fender also was successful on the pop charts. Besides "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" reaching number one on the pop chart in May 1975, "Wasted Days And Wasted Nights" went into the pop top 10 and "Secret Love" into the top 20. "Since I Met You Baby," "You'll Lose A Good Thing" (his last pop top 40), "Vaya con Dios," and "Livin' It Down" (his last to reach the pop top 100) all did well on the pop chart.


title: Freddy Fender

text: At the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) Jukebox Awards in 1975, Fender was awarded "Artist of the Year" and "Record of the Year" for having the highest-earning songs played on jukebox machines in the United States.


title: Freddy Fender

text: Fender was heavily influenced by the swamp pop sound from southern Louisiana and southeast Texas as is shown by his recording swamp pop standards on his 1978 album "Swamp Gold". One of his major hits, "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights," has a typical swamp pop ballad arrangement. Fender associated with swamp pop musicians such as Joe Barry and Rod Bernard and issued many recordings on labels owned by Huey P. Meaux, a Cajun who specialized in swamp pop. As music writer John Broven observed, "Although Freddy was a Chicano from Texas marketed as a country artist, much of his formative career was spent in South Louisiana; spiritually, Fender's music was from the Louisiana swamps."


title: Freddy Fender

text: In 1989, Fender teamed up with fellow Tex–Mex musicians Doug Sahm, Flaco Jiménez, and Augie Meyers to form the Texas Tornados, whose work meshed "conjunto, Tejano", R&B, country, and blues to wide acclaim. When the Texas Tornados went to audition for Warner Bros. Records, Fender did not think that the group was strong enough, so he brought his own band. The audition was nearly a bust, because he played country music and that was not what the executives were looking for. Fender was persuaded to play some vintage rock and blues numbers, which was what the executives were looking for, and was subsequently given a record contract. After being a solo act, Fender was not sure if signing with a group was a good thing, but according to Fender, he "just wanted to record for a major label." The group released four albums and won a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Mexican American Performance for the track ""Soy de San Luis"". Fender described the group in this way: "You've heard of New Kids on the Block? Well, we're the Old Guys in the Street." Following the death of Sahm, the Tornados' production slowed. A live 1990 appearance on TV's "Austin City Limits", one of three the group made, was released in 2005 as part of the "Live From Austin, Texas", series.


title: Freddy Fender

text: In the late 1990s, Fender joined another supergroup, Los Super Seven, with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo and César Rosas, Flaco Jiménez, Ruben Ramos, Joe Ely, and country singer Rick Trevino. The group won a 1998 Grammy in the Mexican American Performance category for their self-titled disc.


title: Freddy Fender

text: In 2001, Fender made his final studio recording, a collection of classic Mexican "boleros" titled "La Música de Baldemar Huerta" that brought him a third Grammy award, this time in the category of Latin Pop Album. Joe Reyes, who worked with Fender in 2004 for a Texas Folklife and Austin tribute titled "Fifty Years of Freddy Fender," said of the album: "When he did Mexican standards at that point in his career, I expected it to be good because he's a perfectionist. But that record is so beautifully recorded; his voice is perfection. I was so proud it was coming back to his roots."


title: Freddy Fender

text: On March 13, 2001, Fender was erroneously reported to be dead by "Billboard". He laughed off the magazine's error. He underwent a kidney transplant in 2002 with a kidney donated by his daughter and underwent a liver transplant in 2004. Nonetheless, his condition continued to worsen. He was suffering from an "incurable cancer" in which he had tumors on his lungs.


title: Freddy Fender

text: On June 5, 2005, Fender was present for the dedication of a $1.4 million water tower in San Benito. The tower bears an image of Fender along with the words "San Benito Hometown of Freddy Fender," and is visible when driving east on U.S. Route 83 through San Benito. On December 31, 2005, Fender performed his last concert and resumed chemotherapy.


title: Freddy Fender

text: He died on October 14, 2006, at the age of 69 of lung cancer at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas, with his family at his bedside. He was buried in his hometown of San Benito.


title: Freddy Fender

text: He had said in a 2004 interview with the Associated Press that he wished to become the first Mexican American inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.


title: Freddy Fender

text: A Freddy Fender Museum and The Conjunto Music Museum opened November 17, 2007, in San Benito. They share a building with the San Benito Historical Museum. His family maintains the Freddy Fender Scholarship Fund and donates to philanthropic causes that Fender supported.


title: Freddy Fender

text: On June 25, 2019, "The New York Times Magazine" listed Freddy Fender among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire.


title: Freddy Fender

text: In 1988, Fender played the mayor of a small town in the Robert Redford–directed film, "The Milagro Beanfield War". He appeared as Tony in the prison movie, "Short Eyes", a 1977 film adaptation, directed by Robert M. Young, of the Miguel Pinero play. Fender also played the role of Pancho Villa in 1979's "She Came to the Valley" (later released as "Texas in Flames"). The movie was directed by Albert Band and based on the book by Cleo Dawson. Fender appeared as himself in an episode of the television series, "The Dukes of Hazzard".


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £25 million UK government support, partnered with the UK Cabinet Office as part of a commitment to the Northern Powerhouse, with 87 percent of all matches to be held in northern towns and cities. Organisers initially planned for the tournaments to go ahead between 23 October and 27 November 2021 despite the COVID–19 pandemic but withdrawals from Australia and New Zealand over "player welfare and safety concerns" caused the tournaments to be postponed – with the event's chief executive admitting that a World Cup without those teams would have lacked credibility.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: For the first time, the men's, women's, and wheelchair tournaments were held concurrently as centrepiece events with all participants being paid the same. 32 teams (16 men, 8 women, and 8 wheelchair) from 20 nations competed across 61 matches. Australia men beat Samoa 30–10 to win a record-extending 12th title, Australia women beat New Zealand 54–4 to win a record-equalling third title, and England wheelchair team beat France 28–24 to win a record-equalling second title. Additional competitions under the Festival of World Cups banner were also planned to take place but were cancelled due to fundraising and squad selection issues caused by the COVID–19 pandemic. Despite its cancellation, an inaugural Physical Disability Rugby League World Cup (PDRL) and a Masters Rugby League event were rescheduled to take place alongside the main competitions. England beat New Zealand 42–10 in the final to become world champions.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: All 61 matches in the men's, women's, and wheelchair competitions were broadcast live, with the opening and closing matchdays of the physical disability competition also receiving UK coverage via BBC Sport. Along with official sponsors and partners, organisers announced numerous projects to focus on the long-term impact of the Rugby League World Cup. Named ""InspirationALL"", this included a £10 million fund from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to enable sports clubs to develop their facilities.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: There were initially three bids for the but the United Arab Emirates' bid was cancelled due to the arrest of Sol Mokdad at the behest of UAE rugby union officials.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: England, and the United States and Canada were the two remaining bidders of the event. The English RFL received UK government support – £15 million to enhance the tournament and up to a further £10 million into the game's infrastructure – for the event to be staged in the country. The RFL mentioned they wanted the event to be the most attended in history with over 1,000,000 people attending the grounds over the tournament's days. They were also planning to use 12 venues for the event which included non-purpose and rugby league-purpose stadiums.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The United States and Canada bid was initially a sole United States bid from an Australian sports–marketing agency, Moore Sports International (MSI). Eight to ten cities, featuring venues from either the NFL or MLS, were planned for the event, offering Rugby League International Federation the opportunity to stage the tournament outside of Europe and Australasia for the first time. Canada Rugby League later announced they wanted to be a part of the United States bid stating that the cities of Vancouver and Toronto could also potentially host matches.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The full list of 21 venues to be used for the three tournaments (men's, women's and wheelchair) was announced on 29 January 2019. Seventeen venues were used for the men's tournament and in addition Preston and York were announced as a training venue for the tournaments. Four of those same venues (DW Stadium, Headingley Stadium, MKM Stadium, and Old Trafford) as well as the York Community Stadium were used for the women's tournament. Three further venues (Copper Box Arena, English Institute of Sport, and Manchester Central) will host the Wheelchair tournament. Base camps were used by the 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. On 10 June 2020, these locations were released. All three tournaments held their final in Manchester, with the Wheelchair tournament concluding on 18 November, and the women's and the men's finals taking place in a double-header the day after at Old Trafford.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Organisers partnered with the UK Cabinet Office as part of a commitment to the Northern Powerhouse. The UK's Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Northern Powerhouse minister welcomed the news that 87 percent of matches (including all three finals) would be held in the North, exceeding a previous 80 percent commitment from organisers in receipt of £25 million government funding. This attracted some criticism from Rugby League expansionists unhappy about the lack of games throughout the country outside of the traditional M62 Corridor.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The use of the as-yet unbuilt Workington Community Stadium was initially a venue for three group matches in the men's tournament but was later cancelled. The venue was first thrown into doubt after the 2019 Allerdale Borough Council election when control of the council changed and the new council showed less enthusiasm for the new stadium project. In early July 2019, Allerdale Council confirmed that they would be unable to host any matches in the tournament. On 28 August 2019, it was announced that Kingston Park in Newcastle upon Tyne would host the three games originally allocated to Workington. Anfield in Liverpool were also due to host matches in both the men's and women's tournaments but became unavailable when the competition was moved from 2021 to 2022. It was replaced by the DW Stadium in Wigan.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The BBC's official trailer for the tournaments depicted landmarks from some of the host towns and cities. In chronological order these were; the Tyne Bridge (Newcastle), Sports Village (Leigh), Tower Bridge and its surroundings (London), the Corn Exchange (Leeds), the M62 motorway (in reference to the M62 Corridor), and Beetham Tower and its surroundings (Manchester).


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Stadiums are referred to by their official name rather than sponsored name, as is International Rugby League policy.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: 14 base camps were used by the 32 national teams to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament, as follows:


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The World Cups were originally due to be held between 23 October 2021 and 27 November 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent withdrawals of Australia and New Zealand caused the tournament to be postponed.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Despite the initial date for World Cup being over a year and a half away when Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, from very early on organisers developed contingency plans to defer the events to 2022 should it become necessary to postpone in 2021. Having originally given themselves a cut off date of May 2021, organisers finally announced in July their decision to go ahead with the planned scheduling for 2021. This was despite reports that the Australian Rugby League Commission had yet to sign the participation agreement and the South Sydney Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly claiming the preferred option from NRL clubs remained to postpone it to 2022. RLWC2021 chief executive Jon Dutton told BBC Radio 5 live that the option to postpone was discussed but was ""significantly unpalatable" with the potential of clashing with the men's football World Cup, the women's football European Championships and the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Dutton also suggested that there would be "a number of nations who would step up if any nation didn't take part for any reason across all three tournaments". Just one week later, Australia and New Zealand officially declared their withdrawal from the competitions citing "player welfare and safety concerns".


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: In the one week between tournament organisers announcing the tournament would go ahead in 2021 and the announcement that Australia and New Zealand would withdraw, the United Kingdom had repealed its last remaining social contact restrictions on so called "Freedom Day" despite skyrocketing Covid-19 cases. In contrast, during that same period, half of Australia's population were placed back under lockdown and 14 NRL clubs were relocated to Queensland in order for the remainder of 2021 NRL season to be completed.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Australia and New Zealand faced backlash following their announcement to withdraw with RFL chairman Simon Johnson calling the decision "selfish, parochial and cowardly". "The Guardian" had previously claimed that NRL clubs were not keen on the World Cup's current scheduling because players may not return until two weeks before the start of trial games for the 2022 NRL season (and border rules dictated anyone returning to the country must spend 14 days in government-managed quarantine). Johnson also suggested that the decision had been made at boardroom-level and without the consultation of players whilst "The Guardian" further claimed that a survey showed 75% of players consulted by Australia's players union remained happy to travel to England. Johnson had also pointed out the difference compared to other Australian sporting bodies that were still planning to send athletes to the Tokyo Olympics from July 2021. However, former Downing Street Press Secretary and British journalist Alastair Campbell noted the differences between the lower cases and tougher restrictions in Japan compared to the higher cases and no restrictions that existed in the UK – instead blaming Simon Johnson's namesake and then-British PM Boris Johnson for wrecking the World Cup.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: On 5 August 2021 tournament organisers announced they would postpone the World Cups to 2022 with just little more than a month away from its start with Dutton admitting that a World Cup without Australia and New Zealand would have lacked credibility.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The opening ceremony for all three tournaments took place at St James' Park in Newcastle on 15 October 2022 before the men's Group A match between England and Samoa.On 5 October 2022, the Kaiser Chiefs were announced as the headline act for the opening ceremony.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The opening ceremony suffered major disruption as the PA system at St. James's Park failed resulting in most of it being curtailed. Kaiser Chiefs only managed to play one song and only the flag bearers of participating nations were called to the field before the failure. The trophies of the three tournaments were brought out without announcement from the PA. It was planned that local school children would also perform a display, however this was cut due to the curtailment. Kaiser Chiefs's lead singer Ricky Wilson entertained the crowd during the technical difficulties.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The PA failure also resulted in a ten minute delay to kick-off as the system was needed in order to play "The Banner of Freedom" and "God Save The King" before the match.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: For the first time, the men's, women's, and wheelchair tournaments were held concurrently as centrepiece events with all players receiving equal pay. The draw for all the World Cup tournaments were originally scheduled to be finalised on 27 November 2019, exactly two years before the original date of the tournament final, but it was postponed until 16 January 2020. The draw was made at Buckingham Palace on 16 January 2020. For each competition teams from pool 1 were drawn by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, pool 2 was drawn by Katherine Grainger and pool 3 by Jason Robinson. Teams in each group played one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The 2021 Men's Rugby League World Cup was the sixteenth staging of Men's Rugby League World Cup. 16 teams competed in the tournament, an increase of two from the previous two tournaments and the first to feature 16 teams since the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Australia are defending champions having won a record eleventh title last time out. Competing countries were divided into four groups of four teams (groups A to D).


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Reigning champions Australia took on first-time finalists Samoa in the men's final. Australia beat New Zealand by two points in the semi-final to progress and went into the match having been crowned champion in 10 of the last 11 tournaments. Samoa beat the highly-ranked host nation, England, with a golden point drop goal to become the first nation outside Australia, New Zealand or Great Britain/England to reach the final since 1968. Australia, who had reached every final since 1957, were considered overwhelming favourites against a Samoa team they had beaten in the 2017 quarter-finals, 46–0.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Australia won their 12th title in a 30–10 victory at Old Trafford. Samoa started the match well with early pressure but Australia's strong defensive performance laid the foundations and more than lived up to their billing as overwhelming favourites. Samoa were unlucky not to have been awarded a 40/20 kick, and despite a competitive start to the match, were hit by two tries in four minutes; Latrell Mitchell breaking the deadlock on 13 minutes before Josh Addo-Carr and Liam Martin extended Australia's lead to 14–0 at half-time. After the break, Angus Crichton was sin-binned for an elbow that ruled out Chanel Harris-Tavita for the remainder of the match with a head injury, but even with a man down Australia added a fourth try through Cameron Murray. Brian To’o scored a consolation for Samoa to make it 20–6, before Tedesco and Stephen Crichton exchanged tries prior to Mitchell rounding up the scoring with his second try in the final minute.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The 2021 tournament was the sixth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and will feature eight teams, an increase of two from 2017. Australia were the defending champions having won their second title last time out. The teams were drawn into two groups of four. The two seeded teams were (Group A) as hosts and as holders (Group B).


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Australia and New Zealand squared off in the women's final for the fourth consecutive time. New Zealand had previously won the tournament a record three times and had appeared in every final since the innagural event in 2000. Australia went into the match with only two previous titles but had claimed both their wins in the two most recent tournaments in 2013 and 2017. Australia had been the most dominant side throughout the tournament, amassing 258 points in their five matches prior to the final – including a 82–0 victory against Papau New Guinea in the semi-final. In contrast, New Zealand beat hosts England in the semi-final 20–6 and had already lost to Australia in the group stages, 10–8. Australia won a record-equalling third title in a dominant 54–4 thrashing. Jessica Sergis opened the scoring within six minutes into the final, before two tries from Isabelle Kelly and another from Julia Robinson gave Australia a 20–0 lead at half-time. New Zealand could not muster a response in the second-half with Emma Tonegato, Tarryn Aiken, and Sergis all extending the lead for Australia, but a Madison Bartlett try did give the Kiwis a consolation. Kennedy Cherrington and Evania Pelite concluded the scoring for Australia as they ran out as 54–4 winners, the second-highest margin of victory recorded in a final.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The teams were drawn into two groups of four. 8 teams are competing, an increase of one from 2017. France are defending champions having won their second title in 2017. The two seeded teams were England (Group A) as hosts and as holders (Group B).


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: France and England were considered to have "been the best at the tournament by a distance, going through the pool stages unbeaten and then both recording comprehensive semi-final wins" to ultimately face off against each other for a third consecutive world cup final. England overturned their "heartbreaking defeats" by four points in 2017 and two points in 2013 to claim their first world cup title since 2008. With the sides evenly matched, the game was not the free-scoring spectacle that earlier rounds had been and both teams produced strong defensive displays. The final did not see either team stretch a lead beyond eight points at any point during the match, with France taking an 8–0 lead early on and a narrow 14–12 scoreline into half-time. England went ahead for the first time three minutes into the second half through a try by Lewis King before Jack Brown extended their lead by eight points. 59-year-old Gilles Clausells hit back with a try whilst his nephew, Nicolas Clausells, added two goals to make it 22–22. England briefly went ahead through a penalty before Nico Clausells responded again to ensure a grandstand finish at 24–24 but later missed a further penalty to go ahead in the 75th minute. With the scores level, England captain Tom Halliwell dummied through for his second score of the match to win the game 28–24 in front of a world-record crowd of 4,526.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Additional competitions under the Festival of World Cups banner were planned to be held in Greater Manchester in the summer prior to the three centrepiece men's, women's and wheelchair tournaments.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The world cup organisers asked for expressions of interest for different tournaments in the summer of 2019 and received over 90 responses. Anticipated World Cup events were:


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: On 27 August 2020 the organising body announced the postponement of the festival due to fund raising and squad selection issues for the participating nations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, though World Cup events for the physical disability and masters variants were rescheduled.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The inaugural world cup for went ahead between 23 and 30 October in Warrington. Australia, England, New Zealand, and Wales competed in a single round-robin tournament with the top two teams facing off in a final at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. The draw was made for the match schedule on 29 July 2022 during an episode of "The Last Leg" on which the main presenter, Adam Hills, announced his intention to be part of the Australian squad. England beat New Zealand 42–10 in the final to become world champions, whilst Wales claimed third place after a technical infringement saw the result of their opening group stage match overturned.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The International Masters festival went ahead on 13 November at York St John University. Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, and Wales took part.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The Rugby League World Cup announced a partnership with the International Rugby League (IRL) in July 2020. The organisations will work together on match broadcast production and the sale of global broadcast rights.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: In April 2019, it was reported that the digital strategy for the tournament would be led by Deloitte. In May 2019, the world cup organisers announced they were looking for an esport partner to engage new audiences with the sport.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The legacy of the is the long-term impact of the combined World Cup tournaments. Named InspirationALL in October 2018, the chairman of the world cup organising committee, Jon Dutton, said "economic benefit is about 10% of what we’re focusing on, and 90% is the social benefit."


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The first project launched is a £10 million fund to develop facilities under the banner of "Created by RLWC 2021" was launched concurrently with the legacy announcement in October 2018 and enables sports clubs to apply for funds to develop facilities The funding comes from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and £9 million is allocated for major grants (over £15,000) and £1 million for smaller applications. The fund is administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL) in conjunction with Sport England.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The first major grants were announced in June 2019 and saw monies allocated for the construction of new clubhouses and changing facilities at locations in Salford and Shevington. £90,000 of minor grant funding was announced in July with 20 projects across England receiving funding.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: In May 2021 it was announced that the National Lottery (United Kingdom) partner with the tournament to strengthen the CreatedBy program and allow RLWC2021 to deliver more projects to the community clubs especially those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The investment accompanied National Lottery sponsorship on RLWC2021 matchdays.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The second project is "Inspired by RLWC 2021" which aims to get more people involved with rugby league. The first product, a resource pack on introducing and teaching rugby league in primary schools was released in July 2019.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The third project and yet to be launched is "Empowered by RLWC 2021" which has the aim of involving people in the communities where the tournaments take place both in assisting at the tournaments but also continuing that involvement with rugby league afterwards by becoming involved with community rugby league clubs.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: RLWC 2021 pledged their commitment to the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework in 2018. One of just four UK based sporting bodies to do so.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: In partnership with the tournament's Logistics Partner, Kuehne + Nagel, it was announced that for every try scored across the Men's, Women's and Wheelchair tournaments, a tree would be planted. The trees will predominantly be planted in Brazil, one of the nations competing in the Women's tournament


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: As of 6 November, the 2021 Rugby League World Cup became the most viewed edition of the World Cup with television viewing surpassing 18.7 million.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: Before the start of the semi-finals, the opening match of the men's tournament saw the largest television viewing figures with 1.8 million. England vs Canada and England v Australia saw the largest viewing figures for a women's and wheelchair match respectively, both attracting a peak of 700,000.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The England v Papua New Guinea men's quarter final broke the record for the largest stadium audience for a Rugby League World Cup quarter final of 23,179.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: England v Spain broke the attendance record for a wheelchair rugby league match with 3,268 in attendance. The record previous broke by the opening match of England v Australia.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: At the men's semi-finals stage, the 2021 semi finals were the sixth and second best attended semi-finals in world cup history attracting 28,113 and 40,489 fans respectively.


title: 2021 Rugby League World Cup

text: The men's final, attracting 67,502, was the fourth best attended rugby league world cup match in history.


title: Millennialism

text: Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future eternal state of the "World to Come".


title: Millennialism

text: Christianity and Judaism have both produced messianic movements which featured millennialist teachings—such as the notion that an earthly kingdom of God was at hand. These millenarian movements often led to considerable social unrest.


title: Millennialism

text: Similarities to millennialism appear in Zoroastrianism, which identified successive thousand-year periods, each of which will end in a cataclysm of heresy and destruction, until the final destruction of evil and of the spirit of evil by a triumphant king of peace at the end of the final millennial age. "Then Saoshyant makes the creatures again pure, and the resurrection and future existence occur" ("Zand-i Vohuman Yasht 3:62").


title: Millennialism

text: Scholars have also linked various other social and political movements, both religious and secular, to millennialist metaphors.


title: Millennialism

text: Bahá'u'lláh mentioned in the "Kitáb-i-Íqán" that God will renew the "City of God" about every thousand years, and specifically mentioned that a new Manifestation of God would not appear within 1,000 years (1852–2852 CE) of Bahá'u'lláh's Dispensation, but that the authority of Bahá'u'lláh's message could last up to 500,000 years.


title: Millennialism

text: Most Christian millennialist thinking is based upon the Book of Revelation, specifically Revelation 20, which describes the vision of an angel who descended from heaven with a large chain and a key to a bottomless pit, and captured Satan, imprisoning him for a thousand years:


title: Millennialism

text: The Book of Revelation then describes a series of judges who are seated on thrones, as well as John's vision of the souls of those who were beheaded for their testimony in favor of Jesus and their rejection of the mark of the beast. These souls:


title: Millennialism

text: During the first centuries after Christ, various forms of chiliasm (millennialism) were to be found in the Church, both East and West. Premillennialism held by the Early Church is called "historic premillennialism",and it was supported by in the early church by Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Polycarp, Pseudo-Barnabas, Methodius, Lactantius, Commodianus, Theophilus, Melito, Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau, Nepos, Julius Africanus, Commodianus, Tatian and Montanus. However, the premillennial views of Montanus probably affected the later rejection of premillennialism in the Church, as Montanism was seen as a heresy.


title: Millennialism

text: In the 2nd century, the Alogi (those who rejected all of John's writings) were amillennial, as was Caius in the first quarter of the 3rd century. With the influence of Platonism, Clement of Alexandria and Origen denied premillennialism. Likewise, Dionysius of Alexandria (died 264) argued that Revelation was not written by John and could not be interpreted literally; he was amillennial.


title: Millennialism

text: Justin Martyr (died 165), who had chiliastic tendencies in his theology, mentions differing views in his "Dialogue with Trypho the Jew", chapter 80:"I and many others are of this opinion [premillennialism], and [believe] that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise."Augustine in his early days affirmed premillennialism, but later changed to amillennialism, causing the view to become popularized together with Pope Gregory the Great.


title: Millennialism

text: The "Catholic Encyclopedia" notes that the 2nd century proponents of various Gnostic beliefs (themselves considered heresies) also rejected millenarianism.


title: Millennialism

text: Christian views on the future order of events diversified after the Protestant reformation (c.1517). In particular, new emphasis was placed on the passages in the Book of Revelation which seemed to say that as Christ would return to judge the living and the dead, Satan would be locked away for 1000 years, but then released on the world to instigate a final battle against God and his Saints. Previous Catholic and Orthodox theologians had no clear or consensus view on what this actually meant (only the concept of the end of the world coming unexpectedly, "like a thief in a night", and the concept of "the antichrist" were almost universally held). Millennialist theories try to explain what this "1000 years of Satan bound in chains" would be like.


title: Millennialism

text: Various types of millennialism exist with regard to Christian eschatology, especially within Protestantism, such as Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Amillennialism. The first two refer to different views of the relationship between the "millennial Kingdom" and Christ's second coming.


title: Millennialism

text: Premillennialism sees Christ's second advent as preceding the millennium, thereby separating the second coming from the final judgment. In this view, "Christ's reign" will be physically on the earth.


title: Millennialism

text: Postmillennialism sees Christ's second coming as subsequent to the millennium and concurrent with the final judgment. In this view "Christ's reign" (during the millennium) will be spiritual in and through the church.


title: Millennialism

text: Amillennialism sees the 1000 year kingdom as being metaphorically described in Rev. 20:1–6 in which "Christ's reign" is current in and through the church. Thus, while this view does not hold to a future millennial reign, it does hold that the New Heavens and New Earth will appear upon the return of Christ.


title: Millennialism

text: The Bible Student movement is a millennialist movement based on views expressed in "The Divine Plan of the Ages," in 1886, in Volume One of the "Studies in the Scriptures" series, by Pastor Charles Taze Russell. (This series is still being published, since 1927, by the Dawn Bible Students Association.) Bible Students believe that there will be a universal opportunity for every person, past and present, not previously recipients of a heavenly calling, to gain everlasting life on Earth during the Millennium.


title: Millennialism

text: Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ will rule from heaven for 1,000 years as king over the earth, assisted by the 144,000 ascended humans.


title: Millennialism

text: Also known as Eastern Lightning, The Church of Almighty God mentions in its teachings the Age of Millennial Kingdom, which will follow the catastrophes prophesied in the Book of Revelation.


title: Millennialism

text: Millennialist thinking first emerged in Jewish apocryphal literature of the tumultuous Second Temple period,


title: Millennialism

text: Gerschom Scholem profiles medieval and early modern Jewish millennialist teachings in his book "Sabbatai Sevi, the mystical messiah", which focuses on the 17th-century movement centered on the self-proclaimed messiahship (1648) of Sabbatai Zevi


title: Millennialism

text: The Theosophist Alice Bailey taught that Christ (in her books she refers to the powerful spiritual being best known by Theosophists as "Maitreya" as "The Christ" or "The World Teacher", not as "Maitreya") would return “sometime after AD 2025”, and that this would be the New Age equivalent of the Christian concept of the Second Coming of Christ.


title: Millennialism

text: Millennial social movements, a specific form of millenarianism, have as their basis some concept of a cycle of one-thousand years. Sometimes the two terms are used as synonyms, but purists regard this as not entirely accurate. Millennial social movements need not have a religious foundation, but they must have a vision of an apocalypse that can be utopian or dystopian. Those associated with millennial social movements are "prone to be violent", with certain types of millennialism connected to violence.


title: Millennialism

text: In progressive millennialism, the "transformation of the social order is gradual and humans play a role in fostering that transformation".


title: Millennialism

text: Catastrophic millennialism "deems the current social order as irrevocably corrupt, and total destruction of this order is necessary as the precursor to the building of a new, godly order".


title: Millennialism

text: However the link between millennialism and violence may be problematic, as new religious movements may stray from the catastrophic view as time progresses.


title: Millennialism

text: The most controversial interpretation of the Three Ages philosophy and of millennialism in general involves Adolf Hitler's "Third Reich" (""Drittes Reich""), which in his vision would last for a thousand years to come (""Tausendjähriges Reich"") but ultimately lasted for only 12 years (1933–1945).


title: Millennialism

text: The German thinker Arthur Moeller van den Bruck coined the phrase "Third Reich" and in 1923 published a book titled "Das Dritte Reich". Looking back at German history, he distinguished two separate periods, and identified them with the ages of the 12th-century Italian theologian Joachim of Fiore:


title: Millennialism

text: After the interval of the Weimar Republic (1918 onwards), during which constitutionalism, parliamentarianism and even pacifism dominated, these were then to be followed by:


title: Millennialism

text: Although van den Bruck was unimpressed by Hitler when he met him in 1922 and did not join the Nazi Party, nevertheless the Nazis adopted the term "Third Reich" to label the totalitarian state they wanted to set up when they gained power, which they succeeded in doing in 1933. Later, however, the Nazi authorities banned the informal use of "Third Reich" throughout the German press in the summer of 1939, instructing it to use more official terms such as "German Reich", "Greater German Reich", and "National Socialist Germany" exclusively.


title: Millennialism

text: During the early part of the Third Reich many Germans also referred to Hitler as being the "German Messiah", especially when he conducted the Nuremberg Rallies, which came to be held annually (1933-1938) at a date somewhat before the Autumn Equinox in Nuremberg, Germany.


title: Millennialism

text: In a speech held on 27 November 1937, Hitler commented on his plans to have major parts of Berlin torn down and rebuilt:


title: Millennialism

text: After Adolf Hitler's unsuccessful attempt to implement a thousand-year-reign, the Vatican issued an official statement that millennial claims could not be safely taught and that the related scriptures in Revelation (also called the Apocalypse) should be understood spiritually. Catholic author Bernard LeFrois wrote:


title: Millennialism

text: The early Christian concepts of millennialism had ramifications far beyond strictly religious concerns during the centuries to come, as various theorists blended and enhanced them with ideas of utopia.


title: Millennialism

text: In the wake of early millennial thinking, the Three Ages philosophy developed. The Italian monk and theologian Joachim of Fiore (died 1202) saw all of human history as a succession of three ages:


title: Millennialism

text: It was believed that the Age of the Holy Spirit would begin at around 1260, and that from then on all believers would live as monks, mystically transfigured and full of praise for God, for a thousand years until Judgment Day would put an end to the history of our planet.


title: Millennialism

text: Joachim of Fiore's divisions of historical time also highly influenced the New Age movement, which transformed the Three Ages philosophy into astrological terminology, relating the Northern-hemisphere vernal equinox to different constellations of the zodiac. In this scenario the Age of the Father was recast as the Age of Aries, the Age of the Son became the Age of Pisces, and the Age of the Holy Spirit was called the Aquarian New Age. The current so-called "Age of Aquarius" will supposedly witness the development of a number of great changes for humankind,


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: I Know This Much Is True is an American drama television miniseries co-written and directed by Derek Cianfrance based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Wally Lamb. Mark Ruffalo stars in two roles, identical twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey. The series premiered on HBO on May 10, 2020, receiving generally positive reviews from critics.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: The show takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut in the early 1990s. Dominick Birdsey's identical twin, Thomas Birdsey, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. With medication, Thomas is able to live his life in relative peace and work at a coffee stand, but occasionally, he has severe episodes of his illness. Thinking he is making a sacrificial protest that will stop the Gulf War, Thomas cuts off his own hand while at a public library. Dominick sees him through the ensuing decision not to attempt to reattach the hand, and makes efforts on his behalf to free him from what he knows to be an inadequate and depressing hospital for the dangerously mentally ill.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: In June 1998, it was announced that 20th Century Fox had acquired film rights to "I Know This Much Is True" by Wally Lamb, with Clinica Estetico producing, and Jonathan Demme potentially directing. In July 2000, it was announced Matt Damon would star in the film, with Jim Sheridan directing from a screenplay by Richard Friedenberg. In July 2004, it was announced Gina Prince-Bythewood would direct and re-write the film. The film rights expired and reverted to Lamb, who thought the novel would be better adapted into a miniseries rather than a film. Being a fan of Mark Ruffalo's work, Lamb suggested Ruffalo should play the role of the twins. Ruffalo was sent the book and wrote an e-mail to Lamb confessing his love for the novel, stating he definitely wanted to be involved.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: Ruffalo had been interested in working with Derek Cianfrance, and reached out to see if Cianfrance would be interested in directing and writing the series. Lamb told Cianfrance and Ruffalo to make the material their own, and did not ask to see the scripts. In October 2017, it was announced HBO would produce and distribute the series, with Ruffalo starring and executive producing, Cianfrance directing, writing and executive-producing alongside Lamb, with FilmNation Entertainment producing the series. In October 2018, the series was greenlit.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: Ruffalo first shot all of his scenes as Dominick, requiring him to lose . After finishing his scenes as Dominick, Ruffalo took a six-week break to gain and then shoot his scenes as Thomas. Gabe Fazio worked as a stand-in for both Dominick and Thomas. He is the same height as Ruffalo and lost 30 lb to play Dominick when Ruffalo shot his scenes as Thomas. Production concluded in October 2019.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: In April 2019, Melissa Leo, Rosie O'Donnell, Archie Panjabi, Imogen Poots, Juliette Lewis and Kathryn Hahn joined the cast of the series. In November 2019, it was announced Aisling Franciosi, John Procaccino, Rob Huebel, Philip Ettinger and Michael Greyeyes had joined the cast of the series.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: The members of the Psychiatric Security Review Board in Episode 4 are played by some local officials in Dutchess County, New York, where most of the series was filmed: State Senator Sue Serino, sheriff Butch Anderson, and his wife Danielle, president of the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: Principal photography began in April 2019, in New York's Hudson Valley. On May 9, 2019, a fire erupted on the set of the series at a used car dealership in Ellenville. The building, film equipment and 20 vintage cars were destroyed. There were no injuries but it put filming on hold.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: Poughkeepsie was used for many of the scenes set in Three Rivers, with the Mid-Hudson Bridge visible in the background of the cityscape in most establishing shots. The Birdsey family home is at the corner of Delafield and Hoffman streets. The Vassar College campus is used for scenes set at the University of Connecticut, and Dr. Patel's office is in a strip mall on U.S. Route 9 south of the city. A flashback scene in a later episode required covering Mount Carmel Avenue with dirt to recreate a pre-automotive era. The casino in the closing scenes of the series is the new patient pavilion at Vassar Brothers Hospital, still under construction while it was used in the production.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: Elsewhere in Dutchess County, Dominick and Joy's apartment is at Pleasant Valley Estates, and he and Leo play their racquetball match at a Fishkill club; Seasons restaurant in that community was also the location for some scenes. The flashback to 1922 was filmed at the Market Street Industrial Park in Wappingers Falls, where the costumes and sets were stored as well. Many of the mental hospital scenes were filmed at the Taconic Development Disability Services offices in Wassaic.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: Across the Hudson River, Thomas's initial breakdown in the opening scene was filmed in the Newburgh library, looking out across the river, and Dominick and Dessa are shown entering the terminal at Stewart International Airport near that city in flashback, where she boards a flight for Europe. In addition to the Ellenville car dealership used for the scenes with Leo, some other locations in Ulster County were used, including Awosting Falls in Minnewaska State Park Preserve on the Shawangunk Ridge west of New Paltz. The Springtown Truss Bridge on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail across the Wallkill River north of that village, also known for its use in the opening scenes of the 2018 horror film "A Quiet Place" and its 2021 sequel, was used for the flashback scene where Dominick and Thomas's grandfather throws a bag with a live monkey into the river. A section of U.S. Route 209 outside Kingston also was used for a confrontation between Dominick and Thomas in the first episode; the road was closed for two days in both directions for filming.


title: I Know This Much Is True (miniseries)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the miniseries holds an approval rating of 76% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 6.85/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""I Know This Much is True" relentlessly grim plotting makes it a difficult watch, but the strength of Mark Ruffalo's dual performances is enough to make it a dark tale worth tuning into." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".