Gameplay.

"The Secret of Monkey Island" is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Via a point-and-click interface, the player guides protagonist Guybrush Threepwood through the game's world and interacts with the environment by selecting from twelve verb commands (nine in newer versions) such as "talk to" for communicating with characters and "pick up" for collecting items between commands and the world's objects in order to successfully solve puzzles and thus progress in the game. While conversing with other characters, the player may choose between topics for discussion that are listed in a dialog tree; the game is one of the first to incorporate such a system. The in-game action is frequently interrupted by cutscenes. Like other LucasArts adventure games, "The Secret of Monkey Island" features a design philosophy that makes the player character's death nearly impossible (Guybrush does drown if he stays underwater for more than ten minutes).

Plot.

A youth named Guybrush Threepwood arrives on the fictional Mêlée Island, with the desire to become a pirate. He seeks out the island's pirate leaders, who set him three trials that must be completed to become a pirate: winning a sword duel against Carla, the island's resident swordmaster, finding a buried treasure, and stealing a valuable idol from the governor's mansion. These quests take Guybrush throughout the island, where he hears of stories of the Ghost Pirate LeChuck, who apparently died in an expedition to the mysterious Monkey Island, an act that was meant to win the love of the governor Elaine Marley. Guybrush meets several characters of interest, including a local voodoo priestess, Stan the Used Boat Salesman, Carla the Sword Master, a prisoner named Otis, and Meathook, whose hands have been replaced by hooks.  Guybrush also encounters the governor and is instantly smitten, and she soon reciprocates. However, as he completes the tasks set for him, the island is raided by LeChuck and his undead crew, who abduct Elaine and then retreat to their secret hideout on Monkey Island. Guybrush takes it upon himself to rescue her, buying a ship and hiring Carla, Otis, and Meathook as crew before setting sail for the fabled island. When Guybrush reaches Monkey Island, he discovers a village of cannibals in a dispute with Herman Toothrot, a ragged castaway marooned there. He settles their quarrel, and then recovers a magical "voodoo root" from LeChuck's ship for the cannibals, who provide him with a seltzer bottle of "voodoo root elixir" that can destroy ghosts.  When Guybrush returns to LeChuck's ship with the elixir, he learns that LeChuck has returned to Mêlée Island to marry Elaine at the church. He promptly returns to Mêlée Island and gatecrashes the wedding, only to ruin Elaine's own plan for escape; in the process he loses the elixir. Now confronted with a furious LeChuck, Guybrush is savagely beaten by the ghost pirate in a fight ranging across the island. The fight eventually arrives at the island's ship emporium, where Guybrush finds a bottle of root beer. Substituting the beverage for the lost elixir, he sprays LeChuck, destroying the ghost pirate. With LeChuck defeated, Guybrush and Elaine enjoy a romantic moment, watching fireworks caused by LeChuck exploding.

Development.

Origin and writing.

Ron Gilbert conceived the idea of a pirate adventure game in 1988, after completing "Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders". He first wrote story ideas about pirates while spending the weekend at a friend's house. Gilbert experimented with introductory paragraphs to find a satisfactory idea. His initial story featured unnamed villains that would eventually become LeChuck and Elaine; Guybrush was absent at this point. He pitched it to Lucasfilm Games's staff as a series of short stories. Gilbert's idea was warmly received, but production was postponed because Lucasfilm Games assigned its designers, including Gilbert, to "". Development of "The Last Crusade" was finished in 1989, which allowed Gilbert to begin production of "The Secret of Monkey Island", then known internally under the working title "Mutiny on Monkey Island".  Gilbert soon realised that it would be difficult to design the game by himself; he decided to join forces with Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, both of whom he hired for Lucasfilm. The game's insult sword fighting mechanics were influenced by swashbuckling movies starring Errol Flynn, which Gilbert, Schafer and Grossman often watched for inspiration. They noticed that pirates in those films often taunted their opponents instead of attacking them, which gave the designers the idea to base the game's duels on insults rather than combat. Writer Orson Scott Card helped them write the insults during a visit to Lucasfilm's headquarters at Skywalker Ranch. Many of Gilbert's original gameplay ideas were abandoned during the production process, although he stated that "most of that stuff was left out for a reason".  The game's plot, as described by Dave Grossman: "It's a story about this young man who comes to an island in search of his life's dream. He's pursuing his career goals and he discovers love in the process and winds up thinking that was actually more important than what he was doing to begin with. You’re laughing, but there's actually something deeper going on as well." When work on the plot began, Gilbert discovered that Schafer's and Grossman's writing styles were too different to form a cohesive whole: Grossman's was "very kind of a dry, sarcastic humor" and Schafer's was "just a little more in your face". In reaction, Gilbert assigned them to different characters and story moments depending on what type of comedy was required. Grossman believed that this benefited the game's writing, as he and Schafer "were all funny in slightly different ways, and it worked well together". Schafer and Grossman wrote most of the dialogue while they were programming the game; as a result, much of it was improvised. Some of the dialogue was based on the designers' personal experiences, such as Guybrush's line "I had a feeling in hell there would be mushrooms", which came from Schafer's own hatred of fungi.  The game's world and characters were designed primarily by Gilbert. After having read Tim Powers' historical fantasy novel "On Stranger Tides", he decided to add paranormal themes to the game's plot. He also cited Powers' book as an influence on the characters, particularly those of Guybrush and LeChuck. Inspiration for the game's ambiance came from Gilbert's favorite childhood amusement park ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. Grossman said that Gilbert always wanted "to step off the ride" and "talk to the people who lived in that world". Near the final stages of the design work, Gilbert introduced several characters who were not directly related to the game's story. He considered this to be an important decision, as the player would need those seemingly minor characters in later parts of the game and would receive a chance to "really interact with them".

Creative and technical design.

Gilbert, Schafer and Grossman's primary goal was to create a simpler and more accessible gameplay model than those presented in previous Lucasfilm titles. Gilbert had conceived the main designs and puzzles before production began, which resulted in the bulk of the designers' work to flesh out his ideas. He was frustrated by the adventure games that Sierra On-Line was releasing at the time, and later said that "you died any time you did anything wrong". Gilbert considered such gameplay as "a cheap way out for the designer". He had previously applied his design ideas to the 1987 graphic adventure title "Maniac Mansion", but committed a number of mistakes during development, such as dead-end situations that prevented the player from completing the game and poorly implemented triggers for cutscenes. Gilbert aimed to avoid such errors in "The Secret of Monkey Island". The team decided to make it impossible for the player character to die, with one notable exception, which focused gameplay primarily on world exploration. The Sierra game-over screen was parodied, when Guybrush falls off a cliff only to be bounced back up by a "rubber tree". Guybrush can also be killed by drowning, though it is an Easter Egg unlikely to be found without conscientious effort.  "The Secret of Monkey Island" was the fifth Lucasfilm Games project powered by the SCUMM engine, originally developed for "Maniac Mansion". The company had gradually modified the engine since its creation. For "Maniac Mansion", the developers hard coded verb commands in the SCUMM scripting language. These commands become more abstract in subsequent versions of the engine. The developers carried over the practice of referring to individual segments of the gameworld as "rooms", even though the areas in "Monkey Island" were outdoors. The game uses the same version of the engine used in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", with minor changes. A dialogue tree was added, which facilitated conversation options and the sword-fighting puzzles. The developers removed the "What is" option (an input command that describes an on-screen object to the player) in favor of allowing the player to simply highlight the object with the mouse cursor. The game's improved interface became the standard for the company's later titles. The game also introduced logical verb shortcuts, which could be performed with the mouse; for example, clicking on a character defaults to the "talk" action, the most obvious action in the situation. SCUMM's visuals were updated for the game—the original EGA version had a 320x200 pixel resolution rendered in 16 colors. According to artist Steve Purcell, that became a major limitation for the art team; due to a low number of "ghastly" colors, they often chose bizarre tones for backgrounds. They chose black and white for Guybrush's outfit for the same reason. The VGA version of the game later corrected these issues by implementing 256-color support, which allowed for more advanced background and character art. The VGA (and other platform releases) removed the infamous "stump joke" from the game, which was a joke in the EGA version in which the player would examine a tree stump in the forest. Guybrush would exclaim that there is an opening to a system of catacombs and attempt to enter, but this would result in a message stating the player needed to insert disc 22, then 36, then 114 in order to continue. The joke resulted in numerous calls to the LucasArts hotline asking about missing discs. As a result, the joke was removed from later editions and is mentioned as a conversation option for the LucasArts Hint Hotline in the sequel.  The game's "pirate reggae" music was composed by Lucasfilm Games' in-house musician Michael Land in MIDI format. It was his first project at the company. The game was originally released for floppy disk in 1990, but a CD-ROM version with a high-quality CD soundtrack followed in 1992. The music has remained popular, and has been remixed by the musicians of OverClocked ReMix and by the game's fans.  "The Secret of Monkey Island" ultimately cost $200,000 to produce, and was developed over nine months.

Special edition.

LucasArts released a remake with updated audiovisuals titled "The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition" in July 2009 for iPhone, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox 360 exclusively via digital distribution. PlayStation 3, macOS and iPad versions followed early in 2010 for download on their respective services. LucasArts confirmed the game's development on June 1, 2009; rumors appeared several days earlier when the Xbox 360 version of the game received an USK rating. The game was first displayed to the public at the 2009 E3 in June. The remake features hand-drawn visuals with more detail, a remastered musical score, voice work for characters, and a hint system. The developers included the function to switch between 2009 and original audiovisuals at will. The voice actors included Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood and Earl Boen as LeChuck; most had provided voice work in sequels to "The Secret of Monkey Island".  LucasArts's game producer Craig Derrick and his team conceived the idea of the remake in 2008. After researching the "Monkey Island" series' history, they decided to make "something fresh and new while staying true to the original", which resulted in the idea of "The Secret of Monkey Island" remake. The developers tried to leave much of the original design unchanged. Any changes were intended to achieve the level of immersion desired for the original. To that end, they added details like a pirate ship or pirates talking in the background of scenes. While the team considered the SCUMM interface revolutionary at the time, LucasArts community manager Brooks Brown noted that it is incompatible with an analog stick, which most consoles use. The designers made the cursor contextual to the game objects as the primary interface. Brown had considered updating the reference to advertise "" because "Loom" was not on the market at the time, but concluded that the game would not be the same if such changes were implemented. Prior to the "Special Edition" release, however, LucasArts announced that "Loom", along with other games from its back catalog, would be made available on Steam. Brown stated that the decision to distribute the game online was because "digital downloads have finally gotten going".

Reception.

"The Secret of Monkey Island" received positive reviews from critics. According to Gilbert, it "sold well" but was "never a big hit". Grossman later summarized that the game's sales were "north of 100,000, far south of 1 million". According to "Next Generation", "The Secret of Monkey Island" was a "relatively minor hit" in the United States, but the game and its sequel became "blockbusters on the PC and the Amiga throughout Europe."  Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser of "Dragon" praised the designers' attention to detail, and cited the game's humor as a high point. Although they believed that the game was too expensive, they summarized it as "a highly enjoyable graphic adventure replete with interesting puzzles, a fantastic Roland soundtrack, superb VGA graphics, smooth-scrolling animation, and some of the funniest lines ever seen on your computer screen." Duncan MacDonald of "Zero" praised the graphics and found the game "quite amusing". His favorite aspect was the fine-tuned difficulty level, which he believed was "just right". He ended his review, "At last an adventure game that's enjoyable rather than frustrating." Paul Glancey of "Computer and Video Games" consider the game superior to Lucasfilm's earlier adventure titles, and wrote that, "Usually the entertainment you get from an adventure is derived solely from solving puzzles, but the hilarious characters and situations, and the movie-like presentation... make playing this more like taking part in a comedy film, so it's much more enjoyable." He considered the puzzles to be "brilliantly conceived" and found the game's controls accessible. He summarized it as "utterly enthralling".  "ACE"s Steve Cooke also found the controls convenient, and he praised the game's atmosphere. He wrote that, "in graphics and sound terms... "Monkey Island", along with "King's Quest V", is currently at the head of the pack." However, he disliked the designers' running joke of placing "TM" after character and place names, which he thought detracted from the atmosphere. He singled out the game's writing, characters and plot structure as its best elements. "Amiga Power"s Mark Ramshaw wrote, "With "The Secret of Monkey Island", the mouse-controlled, graphic-adventure comes of age." He lauded its comedic elements, which he believed were the highlight of the game. The reviewer also praised the control scheme, noting that it allows the player to "more or less forget about the specifics of what [they are] physically doing... and lose [themselves] in the adventure instead." He noted that the game's plot and visual and aural presentation fit together to create a thick atmosphere, and finished, "Forget all those other milestone adventures ("Zork", "The Hobbit", "" "et al") — for sheer enjoyment and general all-round perfection, "The Secret of Monkey Island" creams 'em all in style." The game, along with its sequel, was ranked the 19th best game of all time by "Amiga Power".  Writing for "The One", Paul Presley stated that "Lucasfilm appears to have taken all of the elements that worked in its previous releases and, not only incorporated them into this tale of scurvy swashbuckling, but even improved on them in the process!" Like the other reviewers, he praised its controls. He also lauded its "hilarious storyline, strong characters and... intriguing setting", but complained about graphical slowdowns. Nick Clarkson of "Amiga Computing" cited the game's graphics as "flawless", noting that "the characters are superbly animated and the backdrops simply ooze atmosphere." He highly praised its sound effects and music, and believed that its controls "couldn't be simpler". The staff of "Amiga Action" wrote that the "attention to detail and the finely tuned gameplay cannot be faulted." They called the graphics "stunning throughout", and believed that, when they were combined with the "excellent Caribbean tunes", the result is a game filled with "character and atmosphere." They ended by stating that "there is absolutely no excuse for not owning this game." "Computer Gaming World" said that ""Monkey Island" offers up LucasArt's famous humor at its best... For an adventure you'll long remember, raise your cup of grog".  "The Secret of Monkey Island" has featured regularly in lists of "top" games, such as "Computer Gaming World's" Hall of Fame and IGN's Video Game Hall of Fame. In 1991, "PC Format" placed "The Secret of Monkey Island" on its list of the 50 best computer games of all time, calling it "genuinely funny". In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" ranked it as the 19th best game of all time, writing, "Who could ever forget the insult-driven duel system or the identity of the mysterious Swordmaster?". In 2004, readers of "Retro Gamer" voted it as the 33rd top retro game. IGN named "The Secret of Monkey Island" one of the ten best LucasArts adventure games in 2009, and ranked the Xbox Live Arcade version as the 20th best title of all time for that platform in 2010. In 2017, "The Secret of Monkey Island" ranked 78th in the "Scientifically Proven Best Video Games of All Time," a statistical meta-analysis compiled by Warp Zoned of 44 "top games" lists published between 1995 and 2016.

Special edition.

Like the original release, "The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition" received positive reviews from critics. Sean Ely of "GamePro" praised its updated audio, and said that the new graphics "blow the old clunker visuals... out of the water". He cited its script, humor, plot, puzzles and balanced difficulty level as high points, and finished, ""The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition" is impressive, hilarious and downright worth your money." Daemon Hatfield of IGN wrote, "Almost 20 years after its release, ["The Secret of Monkey Island"] remains a blast to play." He called the new graphics "slick, if a little generic", and noted that the "original graphics have a certain charm to them that the fancy pants new visuals just don't." However, he enjoyed the redone music, the new hint function, and the added sound effects and voice acting. He summarized it as "one of the best times you'll ever have pointing and clicking", and noted that "few games are this funny." Justin Calvert of GameSpot noted that "the Special Edition looks much better and is the only way to play if you want to hear... what characters are saying, whereas the original game's interface is less clunky." However, he wrote that "the voice work is such a great addition to the game that it's difficult to go back to the original edition." He praised its humor, writing, puzzles and characters, and he believed that it had aged well. Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead wrote, "Purists like me will almost certainly find something to grumble about over the span of the game, but the overall impact of the redesign is undeniably for the better." However, he preferred the original game's Guybrush design, and believed that the new control system was "rather less intuitive" than the old one. He finished by stating that "few games can stand the test of time with such confidence".

Legacy.

"The Secret of Monkey Island" spawned four sequels. The first, "", was released in 1991 and focuses on LeChuck's return. Six years later, LucasArts released "The Curse of Monkey Island", which features a new visual design. In 2000, the company released "Escape from Monkey Island", which uses the GrimE engine of "Grim Fandango" to produce 3D graphics. The next title, "Tales of Monkey Island" released in 2009, is a series of five episodic chapters.  Elements of the game have appeared elsewhere in popular culture. The original version was selected as one of five for the exhibition "The Art of Video Games" in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2011. A fictive drink recipe in the game for grog was mistakenly reported as real in 2009 by Argentinian news channel C5N, which urged adolescents against consuming the dangerous "Grog XD" drink. In "Tales of Monkey Island", Guybrush refers to this news story while pushing the Grog XD button on a Grog machine.

The Secret of Monkey Island is a 1990 point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It takes place in a fictional version of the Caribbean during the age of piracy. The player assumes the role of Guybrush Threepwood, a young man who dreams of becoming a pirate and explores fictional islands while solving puzzles.

À sa sortie,'est très bien accueilli par la presse spécialisée qui met en avant son humour, ses effets sonores et son système de jeu qui lui valent d’être encore considéré aujourd'hui comme l'une des références dans le domaine des jeux d'aventure. À la suite du succès du jeu, LucasArts publie dès 1991 une suite, intitulée '. Trois autres épisodes viendront ensuite compléter la série : ','et ". En 2009, le jeu est réédité sous la forme d’une édition spéciale jouable sur iPhone, Windows et Xbox 360 avec des graphismes améliorés et une nouvelle interface adaptée à ces plateformes. Cette dernière est également disponible sur PlayStation 3, iPad et Mac OS X depuis 2010.


Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne

Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne (vicomte de Turenne)

Background and early career.

The second son of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, sovereign Prince of Sedan, by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, he was born at Sedan. It is said that much of his money found its way to the poor during his early life. He received a Huguenot education and the usual training of a young noble of the time, but physical infirmity, and particularly an impediment of speech (which he never lost), hampered his progress, though he showed a marked partiality for history and geography, and was greatly impressed by the exploits of Alexander the Great and Caesar. At first he was a lazy student. After his father began claiming that his intellectual laziness would be as great a barrier to joining the army as his physical weakness he began to study on his own accord. After his father's death in 1623, he devoted himself to bodily exercises and in a great measure overcame his natural weakness. At the age of fourteen he went to learn war, as he and his mother were devout Calvinists and were suspicious of Cardinal Richelieu, in the camp of his uncle, Maurice of Nassau the Stadtholder of Holland and Prince of Orange He began his military career as a private soldier in Maurice's bodyguard during the Eighty Years' War.  Frederick Henry of Nassau, who succeeded his brother Maurice as Stadtholder and Prince of Orange in 1625, granted Turenne a captaincy in 1626. He personally drilled his troops, as was the custom in that time, and won their respect with his charity and simple lifestyle. His company was alleged to be the best drilled and most disciplined one in the army, he required of his soldiers not only discipline but also high moral standards. His kindness made him well-liked among the entire army. The young officer took his part in the siege warfare of the period, learning much about fortifications and siege warfare. He won special commendation for his skill at the siege of Bois-le-Duc of 1629 but was reprimanded for recklessness. He also learned much about the details of leading an army like posting guards and reconnaissance. In 1630 Turenne left the Netherlands and entered the service of France, motivated both by the prospect of military advancement but also because of his mother's desire to display loyalty to the French crown.  Cardinal Richelieu immediately made him colonel of an infantry regiment. He still continued to serve at short intervals with the prince of Orange, who at the time had an alliance with France. He took part in successful fighting near Antwerp and fought against Van Den Berg. He took part in an uneventful campaign under Schomberg in 1630 but first serious service under the French flag occurred at the siege of La Mothe in Lorraine by Marshal de la Force (1634), where his brilliant courage at the assault won him immediate promotion to the rank of "maréchal de camp" (equivalent to the modern grade of major-general). In 1635 Turenne served under Louis de Nogaret de La Valette in Lorraine and on the Rhine. The French and their allies raised the Imperial siege of Mainz (8 August 1635), but the French army had to fall back on Metz for want of provisions. In the retreat he measured swords with the famous imperial General Gallas, and distinguished himself greatly. He managed to defeat his pursuers in battle but the Imperials were too numerous to be turned around. The reorganised army took the field again in 1636 and captured Saverne (Zabern), at the storming of which he was seriously wounded. In 1637 he took part in the campaign of Flanders, including the capture of Landrecies (26 July). In the latter part of 1638, serving under Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1608–1639), he directed the assault on Breisach (reputedly the strongest fortress on the upper Rhine), which surrendered on 17 December.  Turenne had now gained a reputation as one of the foremost of the younger generals of France, and Richelieu next employed him in the Italian campaign of 1639–1640 under, Henri de Lorraine, count of Harcourt. On 19 November 1639 Turenne fought in the famous rearguard action called the battle of the "Route de Quiers", for which he received a lot of credit but he only gave himself only role in his own description. At the battle of Casal 10.000 Frenchmen defeated 20.000 Spanish, the French commander Harcourt was almost encircled but Turenne used deception to scare off the enemy and the battle was won. In 1640 Harcourt saved Casale Monferrato and besieged Prince Thomas' forces in Turin, which meanwhile besieged in their turn another French force in the citadel. That winter he re-victualled the citadel of Turin, held by the French against the forces of Prince Thomas of Savoy. The French in the citadel held out, while Prince Thomas had to surrender on 17 September 1640, a fourth army which had invested Harcourt's lines being at the same time forced to retire. Turenne, by now lieutenant-general, played a major role in the victory. He himself commanded during the campaign of 1641 and took Coni, Ceva and Mondovì.  In 1642 he served as second-in-command of the French troops which conquered Roussillon. At this time Richelieu discovered the conspiracy of Cinq Mars in which Turenne's elder brother, the Duke of Bouillon, had become implicated.

Marshal of France.

The relations of the principality of Sedan to the French crown markedly influenced the earlier career of Turenne; sometimes it proved necessary to advance the soldier to conciliate the ducal family, at other times the machinations of the ducal family against Richelieu or Mazarin prevented the king's advisers from giving their full confidence to their general in the field. Moreover, his steady adherence to the Protestant religion provided a further element of difficulty in Turenne's relations with the ministers. Cardinal Richelieu nevertheless entrusted him with the command in Italy in 1643 under prince Thomas, who had changed sides in the quarrel, and who was not trusted by Richelieu. Thomas, while in theory in command himself, quickly put Turenne in control of the campaign. Using deception to fool the Spanish into weakening the Trino Turenne took the town in a few weeks. He gained the rank of Marshal of France (16 May 1643).  Turenne was recalled due to the intrigues of Cardinal Mazarin, who was sabotaging Turenne's career. This meant that he was available in case of sudden need for a good commander. After the French suffered a devastating defeat at Tuttlingen, Turenne was thrown back into action. The following campaign would greatly advance his career.  While molding the army back into fighting condition Turenne bought mounts for 5,000 cavalrymen and clothes for 4,000 infantrymen of his own money. The reorganization finished, Turenne began campaigning in June 1644, crossing the river Rhine at Breisach. He defeated Gaspard von Mercy killing 2.400 imperials. After this however, he was quickly joined by a force under the Duke of Enghien, later to be known as the Grand "Condé". The Duke, as a prince of the royal house, took the chief command of the united armies of "France" and "Weimar". The desperately fought battle of Freiburg against Franz von Mercy's Bavarians (3, 5 and 9 August 1644) proved the chief event of the first campaign. In this battle Turenne distinguished himself with a well executed strike at the enemy flank. The French continued on by successfully besieging Philippsburg. Before the capitulation Enghien withdrew and left Turenne in command. With Condé and most of the army gone Franz von Mercy occupied Mannheim and tried to induce Turenne to abandon the Siege of Philippsburg by pretending to crops the river there but to no avail. At the same time the Duke of Lorraine moved to besiege nearby Bacharach. Turenne to 500 men and built a huge camp near Bacharach, believing Turenne had a large force Lorraine retreated. Turenne continued on by taking the important fortress of Kreuznach and blocking the route between the two armies.  Turenne began the 1645 campaign with a successful forward movement, but Mercy managed to deceive him into thinking the Bavarians were scattered and far away and he was taken by surprise and defeated at Mergentheim. While Turenne had quickly ordered his forces to unite one of his subordinates, general Rosen, was not informed on the situation, defied the order, leading to defeat while Turenne's main force was winning. Turenne's army lost all of its artillery and baggage and five sixths of its infantry. Turenne retreated to Hesse, which caused its forces to join the French, while a Swedish force and reinforcements under Condé, who took command once again. The Swedes soon departed, but Enghien commanded still 17,000 men. The French marched into Bavaria with facing little opposition until they caught up with Mercy's retreating army. Mercy inflicted casualties of the French in an artillery duel and outmaneuvered them in the march on Allerheim, buying time to fortify his position. Turenne advised not to fight but this was rejected by Condé. Turenne's plan of attack was accepted by Condé. The following battle was a French victory and Mercy was killed but the French had suffered heavily. Ill-health forced Enghien to retire soon afterwards, leaving Turenne for the third time in command of the French army. He was met by superior imperial forces and forced to retreat. At Philippsburg Turenne crossed the Rhine using a bridge made of boats.  A month after his retreat Turenne was able to recross the Rhine and march 120 miles to Trier which he recaptured for its elector after over a decade of imperialist occupation. Having taken control of the Moselle for France by this move he set upon improving the defence of that river. Turenne now returned to France where he was offered the Duchy of Château-Thierry, which had also been promised to his brother, by Mazarin, who was trying to drive a wedge between Turenne and his rebellious brother, but Turenne saw what the cardinal was doing and accepted only if the transaction to his brother was completed. In 1646 Turenne obtained more military successes. He decided to unite his forces with those Swedish under Wrangel. Mazarin however had made a deal with the Duke of Bavaria not to unite French and Swedish forces and not to cross the Rhine. In return the Bavarians would not join the Imperial army. He ordered Turenne to besiege Luxembourg but Turenne correctly suspected the Duke of Bavaria of foul play and procrastinated. Soon the Bavarian army linked up with the imperials, who sent forces to block the road in between Turenne and Wrangel. Turenne outmaneuvered an Imperial blockade and successfully linked up with Wrangel. The combined army marched down the Danube and advanced as far as Munich and Bregenz, plundering their way through Bavaria. This convinced the Elector of Bavaria to make peace. With these manoeuvres Napoleon said he displayed “great boldness, sagacity and genius; they are fertile in grand results, and ought to be studied by all military men”. In 1647 he proposed to attack the weakened army of the emperor, but he was ordered into Flanders instead. Not only did France thus lose an opportunity, but a serious mutiny broke out amongst the Weimar troops, who had not received their pay for six months. Rosen, who had been recently promoted to high office on Turenne's insistence, convinced the Weimarian cavalry to revolt, pretending to be held prisoner by them. Turenne had already left for Flanders with his main force but rode back with a small contingent, surprising the mutineers. Instead of destroying them with a surprise attack he marched with them as if he was still in command and managed to secretly have Rosen arrested after which the mutiny died down. He then marched into Luxembourg but soon received orders to switch to the Rhine. As Turenne predicted Bavaria again joined the Imperial course in 1647. He compelled the imperials to list Siege of Worms and formally declared war on Bavaria. After joining with the Swedes, once again led by Wrangel, they moved together against the imperials. Scouts detected the imperials, during the following night Turenne secretly moved his troops close to the imperials. The following day, 17 May, the imperials marched off unaware of the danger resulting in their rearguard being caught isolated and defeated in a vicious battle at Zusmarshausen. Troops subsequently wasted Bavaria with fire and sword until a more secure pacification was obtained This devastation, for which many modern writers have blamed Turenne, appeared no more harsh a measure than the spirit of the times and the circumstances of the case permitted. Turenne planned on moving into Austria and take Vienna, a Franco-Swedish army had already captured Prague, but as the Peace of Westphalia had been signed this campaign never materialized.

The Fronde and the early reign of Louis XIV.

The Peace of Westphalia (1648) brought little peace to France, which soon became involved in the civil war of the Fronde (1648–1653). During the first war, he refused to join either side. Mazarin had him removed as commander of the army of Weimar causing Turenne to flee the Netherlands, where he remained until the treaty of Rueil (March 1649) put an end to the first war of the Fronde. Louis, Grand Condé had made many enemies at court, especially Mazarin, which eventually lead to conflict. While Condé had expected to be rewarded greatly for his military service, which had turned the Fronde in Mazarin favor, Mazarin did not have a high opinion of Condé accomplishment. Condé had recently inherited the princely title of Condé, won great fame and influence through his military actions, was made prince of the blood and had built strong connections among the members of the first Fronde. Now he and Mazarin were busy plotting each other's destruction. The second war erupted when Condé and some of his allies were arrested. Turenne, intended for arrest with them, escaped in time, and with the duchess de Longueville held Stenay for the cause of the "Princes"—Condé, his brother Conti, and his brother-in-law the Duc de Longueville. Love for the duchess seems to have ruled Turenne's action, both in the first war, and, now, in seeking Spanish aid for the Princes. In this war Turenne sustained one of his few reverses at Rethel (15 December 1650); but the second conflict ended in the early months of the following year with the collapse of the court party and the release of the Princes.  Turenne reconciled and returned to Paris in May 1651, but the trouble soon revived and before long Condé again raised the standard of revolt in the south of France. In this, the third war of the Fronde, Turenne and Condé stood opposed to each other, the marshal commanding the royal armies, the prince that of the Frondeurs and their Spanish allies. Turenne displayed the personal bravery of a young soldier at Jargeau (28 March 1652), the skill and wariness of a veteran general at Gien (7 April), and he practically crushed the civil war in the Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine (2 July) and in the re-occupation of Paris (21 October).

Against Spain.

Turenne still needed to deal with Condé, who was fighting alongside the Spaniards, however, and the long drawn-out campaigns of the "Spanish Fronde" gave ample scope for the display of scientific generalship on the part of both the famous captains. In June 1653 Turenne and La Ferté marched against them. They had either 7.000 infantry and 5.000 cavalry or 6.000 infantry and 10.000 cavalry under their command according to different sources. Condé controlled 30.000. Hearing that the Spanish army camped in two positions 120 miles apart, he rapidly marche on and captured Rethel, which lay between them. Now a Spanish force, the one not commanded by Condé, of 16.000 infantry and 11.000 cavalry arrived in the area. Turenne decided to shadow this force to prevent it from taking Paris with Condé and limit their freedom of action until winter. The Spanish intended only to take a few forts so Turenne was successful. At one point Condé was in a position to defeat Turenne but the Spanish commander didn’t allow Condé an attack. Eventually the Spanish managed to loose Turenne and captured Rocroi but at the same time Turenne managed to take Mouzon. He also managed to take St Menehould during the campaign. Turenne started the 1654 campaign by moving on Stenay, one of the centres of the Fronde and personal property of Condé. Turenne had received reinforcement for the campaign and prepared vigorously to defend against a relief attempt. Instead Condé and archduke Archduke Leopold Wilhelm outmanoeuvred him by besieging the crucial fortress of Arras. As Condé and the archduke had 25.000 under his command and there were only 14.000-15.000 troops Turenne could call on in the region, he decided to wait until Stenay fell before moving against them in force. Though Turenne was not in sole command, some level of authority being held by Yorck, La Ferté, Broglie and Hocquincourt, he overcame the opposition to his plan to deal aggressively with the more numerous Spanish army. Turenne had tirelessly prepared for the attack: scouting the enemy positions in person, he knew it would take the Spanish too long to decide whether to attack him or not, providing religious services to his troops and explaining to his officers the technology they were to use to assault the elaborate Spanish defences. Soon after dark on 24 August the French began their attack. The Spaniards were routed losing 3.000 men and 63 canon while the French lost just 400 men. This victory would be a turning point, the French from then on having a marked advantage in the region.  Before the campaign of 1655 another important matter required Turenne’s energies. Riots had broken out in Paris combined with political disputes between the king and parliament, civil conflict threatened again. The king forbade parliament from meeting while parliament for their part ignored this demand. At invitation of the increasingly despotic Mazarin Turenne was invited to negotiate, which he did successfully.  Turenne started the 1655 campaign by taking Landreçies. Shortly after Turenne almost captured Condé but the failure of a subordinate led to the latter’s escape. Turenne then took the fortresses Condé and St. Guislain before being recalled to the court at Compiègne. Hocquincourt’s has been robbed of his important position by Mazarin and was now approached by Condé. If he surrendered Ham and Peronne, the places he was now governing, the French position would be much weaker, especially considering Hocquincourt was cultivating ties with former Fornduers. Turenne could not move forces to the place due to the Spanish dispositions but convinced Mazarin of negotiating with Hocquincourt, which succeeded.  At this point Cromwell’s England as well as Lorraine, up until now Spain’s ally, joined the French side. Philip IV of Spain now arranged for the commanders who had been so unsuccessful in the last campaigns to be removed and replaced them with the veteran commander marshal Caracena and Don Juan of Austria. In June troops under Turenne and La Ferté surrounded Valenciennes, beginning the siege of that place. The Spanish broke the nearby dikes to flood Turenne’s position but Turenne had the water diverted to flood part of the city. When Turenne observed the Spaniards preparing for an attack he gave orders to prepare for an afternoon or nighttime attack but La Ferté didn’t carry out the order so when his position was subsequently attacked it was overrun in no more than 15 minutes. La Ferté and 4.400 troops were captured. Despite the confusion and darkness Turenne managed to collect his forces and made an ordered retreat though losing half his artillery. After twelve miles Turenne ordered a halt. Seeing the French in battle array the Spanish suspected a trap and as a result failed to attack. Despite this was not able to save the places of Condé and Quesnoy but he did take La Chapelle, which Condé failed to relieve, and prevent the fall of St. Guislain. Napoleon rebukes Turenne for the defeat at Valenciennes, stating that he should have marched against the Spanish because the river split his army and as such made him unable to support La Ferté in case of plight.  The war eventually concluded soon after Turenne's victory at the Battle of the Dunes near Dunkirk in 1658, in which a corps of English veterans sent by France's ally Oliver Cromwell played a notable part (3–14 June); a victory which, followed by another successful campaign in 1658, led to the peace of the Pyrenees in 1659.  On the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661 Louis XIV took the reins of government into his own hands, and as one of his first acts appointed Turenne "marshal-general of the camps and armies of the king". He had offered to revive the office of Constable of France (suppressed in 1627) in Turenne's favour if the marshal would become a Roman Catholic. Turenne declined. Born of Calvinist parents and educated a Protestant, he had refused to marry one of Richelieu's nieces in 1639 and subsequently rejected a similar proposal from Mazarin.  Turenne married in 1652 Charlotte de Caumont, a daughter of the Protestant Marshal de la Force, to whom he remained deeply attached. But he sincerely deplored the division of Christianity into two hostile camps. He had always distrusted the influence of many dissident and uncontrolled sects; the history of independence in the English army and people made a deep impression on his mind, and the same fear of indiscipline which drove the English Presbyterians into royalism drew Turenne more and more towards the Roman Catholic Church. The letters between him and his wife show how closely both studied available evidence on the matter, and in the end, two years after her death, the eloquence of Bossuet and the persuasions of his nephew, the Cardinal de Bouillon prevailed upon him to give his adhesion to the Roman Catholic faith (October 1668). In 1667 he had returned to the more congenial air of the "Camps and Armies of the King", directing (nominally under Louis XIV) the famous "Promenade militaire" in which the French overran the Spanish Netherlands. Soon afterwards Condé, now reconciled with the king, rivaled Turenne's success by the rapid conquest of the Franche-Comté, shortly before the end the War of Devolution in February 1668.

The Dutch War.

In Louis XIV's Dutch War of 1672 Turenne accompanied the army commanded by the king which overran the Dutch United Provinces up to the gates of Amsterdam. The terms offered by Louis to the Prince of Orange only aroused a more bitter resistance.  The Dutch opened the dikes and flooded the countryside around Amsterdam. This measure completely checked Turenne, whom the king had left in command. News of this event roused Europe to action, and the conflict spread to Germany. Turenne fought a successful war of manoeuvre on the middle Rhine while Condé covered Alsace.  In January 1673 Turenne assumed the offensive, penetrated far into Germany, and forced the Great Elector of Brandenburg to make peace; later in the year, however, the famous imperial general Montecuccoli completely outmanoeuvred Turenne: Montecuccoli evaded his opponent, joined the Dutch and took the important place of Bonn.  In June 1674, Turenne won the battle of Sinzheim, which made him master of the Electorate of the Palatinate. Under orders from Paris the French wasted the country far and wide, and this devastation with the sack of Türckheim usually counts as the gravest blot on Turenne's fame. In the autumn the anti-French allies again advanced, and though they again outmanoeuvred Turenne, the action of the neutral city of Strasbourg occasioned his failure by permitting the enemy to cross the Rhine by the bridge at that place. The battle of Enzheim followed; this proved a tactical victory, but hardly affected the situation, and, at the beginning of December, the allies remained in Alsace. The old marshal now made the most daring campaign of his career. A swift and secret march in mid-winter from one end of the Vosges to the other took the allies by surprise. Sharply following up his first successes, Turenne drove the enemy to Turkheim, and there inflicted upon them a heavy defeat (5 January 1675). As revenge for the active resistance the inhabitants of the city had shown, Turenne let his troops loot it and massacre the remaining population during two weeks. In a few weeks he had completely recovered Alsace.  In the summer campaign he once more faced Montecuccoli, and after the highest display of "strategic chess-moves" by both commanders, Turenne finally compelled his opponent to offer battle at a disadvantage at Salzbach. There, on 27 July 1675, one of the first shots fired killed him. The news of his death produced universal sorrow.

Legacy.

Turenne's most eloquent countrymen wrote his "éloges", and Montecuccoli himself exclaimed, ""II est mort aujourd'hui un homme qui faisait honneur à l'homme"" (A man is dead today who did honour to Man). His body, taken to St Denis, was buried with the Kings of France. Even the extreme revolutionists of 1793 respected it, and, while they ignominiously reburied the bodies of the monarchs in a mass grave, they preserved the remains of Turenne at the Jardin des Plantes until 22 September 1800, when Napoleon had them removed to the church of the Invalides at Paris, where they still rest.  Napoleon recommended all soldiers to "read and re-read" the campaigns of Turenne as one of the great captains. His fame as a general rivalled that of any other in Europe at a period when the populace studied war more critically than ever before, for his military character epitomized the art of war of his time (Prince de Ligne). Strategic caution and logistic accuracy, combined with brilliant dash in small combats and constancy under all circumstances—of success or failure—perhaps emerge as the salient points of Turenne's genius for war. Great battles he avoided. "Few sieges and many combats" he used as his own maxim. And, unlike his great rival Condé, who appeared as brilliant in his first battle as in his last, Turenne improved day by day. Napoleon said of him that, his genius grew bolder as it grew older, and a later author, the Duke of Aumale ("Histoire des princes de la maison de Condé"), took the same view when he wrote: "To know him, you must follow him up to Salzbach. In his case, every day signaled some progress”.  In his personal character Turenne showed little more than the nature of a simple and honourable soldier, endowed with much tact; but in the world of politics and intellect he seemed almost helpless in the hands of a skilful intriguer or casuist. His morals, if not beyond reproach, were at least more austere than those prevalent in the age in which he lived. He operated essentially as a commander of regular armies. He spent his life with the troops; he knew how to win their affection; he tempered a severe discipline with rare generosity, and his men loved him as a comrade no less than they admired him as a commander. Thus, though Condé's genius appeared far more versatile, Turenne's genius best represents the art of war in the 17th century. For the small, costly, and highly trained regular armies, and for the dynastic warfare of the age of Louis XIV, Turenne functioned as the ideal army leader.  During the French Revolution his reputation as a man of the people made his tomb one of the few nobles’ tombs not destroyed by the Revolutionaries. Napoleon rated him the greatest modern commander. Eugene of Savoy when praised above Turenne called in ingratiating ing at the expense of Turenne. Turenne is one of the subjects of Morris’ work “Great commanders of modern times”. According to him the “powerful genius” of Turenne greatly contributed to shaping modern warfare.

In fiction.

Marshal of France Turenne is depicted in several alternative history novels written by Eric Flint and David Weber. These include "1633" and "". Turenne also appears in a historical novel by G.A. Henty called "Won by the Sword".

Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 161127 July 1675), often called simply Turenne, was a French Marshal General and the most illustrious member of the La Tour d'Auvergne family. His military exploits over his five-decade career earned him a reputation as one of the greatest generals in modern history.

Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, dit Turenne (Sedan, -Salzbach, ), est un gentilhomme et célèbre militaire français passé à la postérité sous le nom que lui donne son titre de vicomte de Turenne.


Institut des sciences de l'ingénieur de Toulon et du Var

Engineering majors.

Marine Engineering.

The Marine Engineering option at ISITV is a training that aims to train engineers who possess a solid scientific knowledge of the marine environment and the relevant technologies. This option provides students with the high level skills required in marine technology, offshore petroleum industry, coastal engineering, underwater robotics, remote sensing (ocean acoustics and optics)... starting from the basic sciences required to understand and describe the marine environment, hydrodynamics and fluid mechanics, oceanography, soil physics, strength of materials, corrosion...  There is a possibility of double diploma with Cranfield University (Master of Science Offshore and Ocean Technology) in England, and with the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo in Brazil. Moreover, there is also a possibility to spend a term at the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy.  The School possesses several important experimental structures, including a surge tank and a wave tank for studies in ocean engineering. For numerical modelling, students have access to a variety of scientific software in different areas (fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics, structures). Practicals at sea enable the students to become familiar with modern methods of measurement.  This training leads to numerous job opportunities at the national and international levels in such varied domains as offshore engineering, the protection of the seashore and offshore structures, undersea robotics, and oceanography.

Materials Engineering.

The engineer trained in this option biased towards the development of products, is capable of rapidly assuming responsibility in the design and realisation of complex systems.  There is a possibility of double diploma with Cranfield University (Master of Science Advanced Materials, Master of Science Microsystems & Nanotechnology) in England.

Telecommunications Engineering.

The objective is to train engineers who are specialists in the modern methods of telecommunications with regard to the acquisition, transmission, and processing of information, data and signals (sound, images, shapes, etc.)  There is a possibility of double diploma with Cranfield University in England.

Mathematics Engineering.

The objective of this major is to train engineers who can fit into any of the engineering disciplines; engineers who are specialists in mathematical and numerical analysis, the type of engineers industry needs to create and use mathematical models and algorithms to solve complex problems.  This major is no more available; the option was closed in 2007

Research.

Students can continue at the post-graduate and doctoral level in the various laboratories of the University. Four laboratories are geographically located at ISITV : The integration of these research teams in the School places them at the interface between University Research and the world of work.

The Institut des Sciences de l'Ingénieur de Toulon et du Var (), or ISITV, is a French public engineering school. It offers a diploma recognized by the Commission of Registered Engineers. It is located in the south of France, between Toulon and Hyères, on the French Riviera. The School was established in 1991 by combining the teaching and research resources of the University of the South, Toulon-Var with support and collaboration from industry.

L'Institut des Sciences de l'Ingénieur de Toulon et du Var souvent abrégé en ISITV, était une école publique d'ingénieurs française interne à l'université de Toulon, créée en 1991, maintenant devenue SeaTech. Elle est située sur le campus de La Garde de l'université de Toulon et du Var. L'ISITV délivrait des titres habilités par la Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur (CTI).


Family.

Antilochus was the son of King Nestor either by Anaxibia or Eurydice. He was the brother to Thrasymedes, Pisidice, Polycaste, Perseus, Stratichus, Aretus, Echephron and Pisistratus.

Mythology.

One of the suitors of Helen of Troy, Antilochus accompanied his father and his brother Thrasymedes to the Trojan War. He was distinguished for his beauty, swiftness of foot, and skill as a charioteer. Though the youngest among the Greek princes, he commanded the Pylians in the war and performed many deeds of valour. He was a favorite of the gods and a friend of Achilles, to whom he was commissioned to announce the death of Patroclus.  When his father Nestor was attacked by Memnon, Antilochus sacrificed himself to save him, thus fulfilling an oracle which had warned to "beware of an Ethiopian." Antilochus' death was avenged by Achilles, who drove the Trojans back to the gates, where he is killed by Paris. In later accounts, he was slain by Hector or by Paris in the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo together with Achilles His ashes, along with those of Achilles and Patroclus, were enshrined in a mound on the promontory of Sigeion, where the inhabitants of Ilium offered sacrifice to the dead heroes. In the Odyssey, the three friends are represented as united in the underworld and walking together in the Asphodel Meadows. According to Pausanias, they dwell together on the island of Leuke.  Among the Trojans he killed were Melanippus, Ablerus, Atymnius, Phalces, Echepolos, and Thoon, although Hyginus records that he only killed two Trojans. At the funeral games of Patroclus, Antilochus finished second in the chariot race and third in the foot race.  Antilochus left behind in Messenia a son Paeon, whose descendants were among the Neleidae expelled from Messenia, by the descendants of Heracles.

In Greek mythology, Antilochus (; Ancient Greek: Ἀντίλοχος, "Antílokhos") was a prince of Pylos and one of the Achaeans in the Trojan War.

Dans la mythologie grecque, Antiloque (en grec ancien / ) est le fils du roi de Pylos Nestor et d'Anaxibie frère notamment de Thrasymédès et de Pisistrate.


Structure of a family.

Language families can be divided into smaller phylogenetic units, conventionally referred to as "branches" of the family because the history of a language family is often represented as a tree diagram. A family is a monophyletic unit; all its members derive from a common ancestor, and all attested descendants of that ancestor are included in the family. (Thus, the term "family" is analogous to the biological term "clade".)  Some taxonomists restrict the term "family" to a certain level, but there is little consensus in how to do so. Those who affix such labels also subdivide branches into "groups", and groups into "complexes". A top-level (i.e., the largest) family is often called a "phylum" or "stock". The closer the branches are to each other, the closer the languages will be related. This means if a branch off of a proto-language is 4 branches down and there is also a sister language to that fourth branch, then the two sister languages are more closely related to each other than to that common ancestral proto-language.  The term "macrofamily" or "superfamily" is sometimes applied to proposed groupings of language families whose status as phylogenetic units is generally considered to be unsubstantiated by accepted historical linguistic methods. For example, the Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Italic, and Indo-Iranian language families are branches of a larger Indo-European language family. There is a remarkably similar pattern shown by the linguistic tree and the genetic tree of human ancestry that was verified statistically. Languages interpreted in terms of the putative phylogenetic tree of human languages are transmitted to a great extent vertically (by ancestry) as opposed to horizontally (by spatial diffusion).

Dialect continua.

Some closely-knit language families, and many branches within larger families, take the form of dialect continua in which there are no clear-cut borders that make it possible to unequivocally identify, define, or count individual languages within the family. However, when the differences between the speech of different regions at the extremes of the continuum are so great that there is no mutual intelligibility between them, as occurs in Arabic, the continuum cannot meaningfully be seen as a single language.  A speech variety may also be considered either a language or a dialect depending on social or political considerations. Thus, different sources, especially over time, can give wildly different numbers of languages within a certain family. Classifications of the Japonic family, for example, range from one language (a language isolate with dialects) to nearly twenty—until the classification of Ryukyuan as separate languages within a Japonic language family rather than dialects of Japanese, the Japanese language itself was considered a language isolate and therefore the only language in its family.

Isolates.

Most of the world's languages are known to be related to others. Those that have no known relatives (or for which family relationships are only tentatively proposed) are called language isolates, essentially language families consisting of a single language. An example is Basque. In general, it is assumed that language isolates have relatives or had relatives at some point in their history but at a time depth too great for linguistic comparison to recover them.  A language isolated in its own branch within a family, such as Albanian and Armenian within Indo-European, is often also called an isolate, but the meaning of the word "isolate" in such cases is usually clarified with a modifier. For instance, Albanian and Armenian may be referred to as an "Indo-European isolate". By contrast, so far as is known, the Basque language is an absolute isolate: it has not been shown to be related to any other language despite numerous attempts. Another well-known isolate is Mapudungun, the Mapuche language from the Araucanían language family in Chile. A language may be said to be an isolate currently but not historically if related but now extinct relatives are attested. The Aquitanian language, spoken in Roman times, may have been an ancestor of Basque, but it could also have been a sister language to the ancestor of Basque. In the latter case, Basque and Aquitanian would form a small family together. (Ancestors are not considered to be distinct members of a family.)

Proto-languages.

A proto-language can be thought of as a mother language (not to be confused with a mother tongue, which is one that a specific person has been exposed to from birth), being the root which all languages in the family stem from. The common ancestor of a language family is seldom known directly since most languages have a relatively short recorded history. However, it is possible to recover many features of a proto-language by applying the comparative method, a reconstructive procedure worked out by 19th century linguist August Schleicher. This can demonstrate the validity of many of the proposed families in the list of language families. For example, the reconstructible common ancestor of the Indo-European language family is called "Proto-Indo-European". Proto-Indo-European is not attested by written records and so is conjectured to have been spoken before the invention of writing.

Other classifications of languages.

Sprachbund.

Shared innovations, acquired by borrowing or other means, are not considered genetic and have no bearing with the language family concept. It has been asserted, for example, that many of the more striking features shared by Italic languages (Latin, Oscan, Umbrian, etc.) might well be "areal features". However, very similar-looking alterations in the systems of long vowels in the West Germanic languages greatly postdate any possible notion of a proto-language innovation (and cannot readily be regarded as "areal", either, since English and continental West Germanic were not a linguistic area). In a similar vein, there are many similar unique innovations in Germanic, Baltic and Slavic that are far more likely to be areal features than traceable to a common proto-language. But legitimate uncertainty about whether shared innovations are areal features, coincidence, or inheritance from a common ancestor, leads to disagreement over the proper subdivisions of any large language family.  A sprachbund is a geographic area having several languages that feature common linguistic structures. The similarities between those languages are caused by language contact, not by chance or common origin, and are not recognized as criteria that define a language family. An example of a sprachbund would be the Indian subcontinent.

Contact languages.

The concept of language families is based on the historical observation that languages develop dialects, which over time may diverge into distinct languages. However, linguistic ancestry is less clear-cut than familiar biological ancestry, in which species do not crossbreed. It is more like the evolution of microbes, with extensive lateral gene transfer: Quite distantly related languages may affect each other through language contact, which in extreme cases may lead to languages with no single ancestor, whether they be creoles or mixed languages. In addition, a number of sign languages have developed in isolation and appear to have no relatives at all. Nonetheless, such cases are relatively rare and most well-attested languages can be unambiguously classified as belonging to one language family or another, even if this family's relation to other families is not known.

A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common "ancestral language" or "parental language", called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a biological family tree, or in a subsequent modification, to species in a phylogenetic tree of evolutionary taxonomy. Linguists therefore describe the "daughter languages" within a language family as being "genetically related".

Une famille de langues est un ensemble de langues apparentées qui ont évolué par transmission de génération en génération de locuteurs à partir d'une langue ancestrale commune. On parle de parenté "généalogique" ou "génétique" pour désigner ce type de relation ; le terme n'implique pas de parenté biologique entre les locuteurs des langues en question. La notion repose sur une analogie de l'évolution des langues avec celle des organismes vivants, selon le modèle de l'arbre généalogique. L'établissement de ces parentés est un objet essentiel de la linguistique historique.


History.

The first Gare du Nord was built by Bridge and Roadway Engineers on behalf of the Chemin de Fer du Nord company, which was managed by Léonce Reynaud, professor of architecture at the École Polytechnique. The station was inaugurated on 14 June 1846, the same year as the launch of the Paris–Amiens–Lille rail link. Since the station was found to be too small in size, it was partially demolished in 1860 to provide space for the current station. The original station's façade was removed and transferred to Lille.  The chairman of the Chemin de Fer du Nord railway company, James Mayer de Rothschild, chose the French architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff to design the current station. Construction lasted from May 1861 to December 1865, but the new station opened for service while still under construction in 1864. The façade was designed around a triumphal arch and used many slabs of stone. The building has the usual U-shape of a terminus station. The main support beam is made out of cast iron. The support pillars inside the station were made at Alston & Gourley's ironworks in Glasgow in the United Kingdom, the only country with a foundry large enough for the task.  The sculptural display represents the principal cities served by the company. Eight of the nine most majestic statues, crowning the building along the cornice line, illustrate destinations outside France, with the ninth figure of Paris in the centre. Fourteen more modest statues representing northern European cities are lower on the façade. The sculptors represented are:  It was originally planned that a monumental avenue would be constructed leading up to the station's façade, cutting through the old street layout. However, this was never built due to a dispute between de Rothschild and Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann during his rebuilding of Paris. One version claims that the lack of a boulevard was due to Haussmann discovering that his wife was having an affair with the Gare du Nord's architect, Jacques Ignace Hittorff, though this story is unlikely, since Hittorff, born in 1792, was seventy-three years old when the station was completed, and died two years later. Whatever the reason, the station has persistently suffered problems with a lack of space and poor access.  To remedy these problems, in 2015 SNCF engaged the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte to "open the station towards the city". It is intended that the station will undergo a major refurbishment to be completed by 2024, when Paris is to host the Olympic Games. The station will remain open during the renovations. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has also pledged to address the traffic problems in front of the station by reconfiguring its approaches.

Service.

Like other Parisian railway stations, the Gare du Nord rapidly became too small to deal with the increase in railway traffic. In 1884, engineers were able to add five supplementary tracks. The interior was completely rebuilt in 1889 and an extension was built on the eastern side to serve suburban rail lines. More expansion work was carried out between the 1930s and the 1960s.  Beginning in 1906 and 1908, the station was served by the Metro Line 4, which crosses Paris from north to south, and the terminus of Metro Line 5, which ran to Étoile through Place d'Italie. In 1942, Line 5 was extended towards the northern suburbs of Pantin and Bobigny, while its south terminus was set to Place d'Italie. Metro Line 2 (station "La Chapelle") is linked to the Gare du Nord via a tunnel. One enters the Métro station and, instead of climbing the stairs that lead to the elevated métro line (not all of Line 2 is elevated) descends several flights of stairs, before traversing a long, arched circular hallway to enter the station.  Finally, in 1994, the arrival of Eurostar trains required another reorganisation of the rail tracks:  It is also connected to Magenta RER Station (4 platforms, line E) and La Chapelle Métro Station (2 platforms, line 2).  Today, the Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in Europe, with over 700,000 passengers daily. Most of the passengers are commuters travelling in from the northern suburbs of Paris and outlying towns; only 3 per cent of the traffic is accounted for by Eurostar.  There is a further construction project to build a connecting hallway between Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est, which is projected to open around the time when the new LGV Est begins serving the station. When open the Gare du Nord-Gare de l'Est complex (including Magenta & La Chapelle) will have 77 platforms.  Security for the station is provided by the French police, the railways police and private security companies. Due to the position of the station as a gateway to the northern suburbs of Paris, there are some parts of the station where security incidents occur from time to time.  After the 'Additional Protocol to the Sangatte Protocol' was signed by France and the United Kingdom on 29 May 2000, juxtaposed controls were set up in the station. Eurostar passengers travelling to the UK clear exit checks from the Schengen Area (carried out by the French Border Police) as well as UK entry checks (conducted by the UK Border Force) in the station before boarding their train. PARAFE self-service gates are available in the station which eligible passengers (EU, EEA and Swiss citizens aged 12 or above holding biometric passports) can use to clear French exit immigration checks (instead of a staffed counter). ePassport gates have also been installed in the station, which eligible passengers (UK, EU, EEA, Swiss, Australian, Canadian, Japanese, New Zealand, Singaporean, South Korean and United States citizens (as well as other foreign nationals who have applied for the Registered Traveller scheme) aged 12 or over holding biometric passports) can use to clear UK entry immigration instead of a staffed counter.

In popular culture.

The Gare du Nord has served as a backdrop in numerous French films, for instance in "Les Poupées Russes".  In Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love" Linda first meets Fabrice in the Gare du Nord when she's run out of resources and is sitting weeping on her suitcase.  In US movies, both the exterior and the interior of the Gare du Nord are seen in the 2002 film "The Bourne Identity" with Matt Damon and again in the trilogy's finale, "The Bourne Ultimatum", released in August 2007. It was also seen in "Ocean's Twelve" in 2004, and "Mr Bean's Holiday" in 2007. The ending of the 2012 movie "The Raven" by James McTeigue takes place at the station.  Scenes of "Gossip Girl" episode "Double Identity" were shot inside the Gare du Nord.  The trio travel from Amsterdam Centraal station to Gare du Nord in the Clint Eastwood film "".  Gare du Nord is mentioned in the song "Polaris" by Jimmy Eat World off their album "Futures".

Train services.

The following services currently call at Paris Nord:

RER.

Gare du Nord is well connected to the Paris RER network. Lines B and D call at platforms under the station. Line B serves Charles de Gaulle Airport (Roissy), Mitry – Claye in the north-east of the city and Antony (for Orly Airport), Massy-Palaiseau) (for Massy TGV and Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse in south-west Paris. Line D offers a quick connection between Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon and many areas of south-east Paris. Line D also operates to northern Paris, to Saint-Denis and Creil.  Both lines B and D serve Stade de France in Saint-Denis.  The RER station is directly connected to Magenta station, which was constructed further underground to the east of the Gare du Nord. It is served by the RER E line that offers a link between the Gare du Nord and Saint-Lazare/Gare Saint-Lazare and to eastern Paris, to Bondy, Chelles and Tournan-en-Brie.

The Gare du Nord () (literally "Station of the North", or more simply "North Station", lexically), officially Paris-Nord, is one of the six large terminus stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It serves train services toward regions north of Paris, along the Paris–Lille railway. Near Gare de l'Est in the 10th arrondissement, the Gare du Nord offers connections with several urban transport lines, including Paris Métro, RER and buses. By the number of travelers, around 222 million per year, it is the busiest railway station in Europe by total passenger numbers.

La gare de Paris-Nord, dite aussi gare du Nord, est l'une des six grandes gares terminus de la SNCF à Paris. Elle constitue la tête de ligne parisienne du réseau ferroviaire desservant le Nord de la France, ainsi que les pays limitrophes. Du fait de la proximité de la Belgique, des Pays-Bas, de la Grande-Bretagne et de l'Allemagne, elle a toujours possédé une vocation internationale marquée, avant de voir son trafic régional se développer fortement. Elle a accueilli plus de de voyageurs en 2018, en comptant également le trafic du. Elle est souvent considérée comme la première gare européenne, et la troisième mondiale, en termes de fréquentation (en englobant celle de la station de métro).


Activities.

SOS Racisme's stated goal is to fight racial discrimination. Often the plaintiff in discrimination trials, the organization also offers support to immigrants and racial minorities that are facing discrimination. It is also heavily involved in protesting and publicising examples of discrimination in society and in the law.  SOS Racisme uses testing as a method to expose racial discrimination by finding where racial double standards may exist. For example, two identical work applications might be submitted to a prospective employer, with the only difference being the name of the applicants. One with a name of French origin, the other with a name suggestive of an immigrant. Other testings could take place at a realty office, where two people whose only difference is race would both look for housing, etc.. This tactic has led to numerous lawsuits for racial discrimination, especially against nightclubs.

History.

SOS Racisme was created one year after the March for Equality and Against Racism, considered to be the first national anti-racist movement in France, which took place in 1983. Most participants were young people from North African immigration, who protested against racist crimes. In 1984, a second march was organised, led by Farida Belghoul. That same year, the socialist government helped to create SOS Racisme, a more moderate anti-racist organisation, without the main leaders of the two marches, who denounced a "hijacking" of the movement by the Socialist Party. The UEJF, a Jewish student organisation, also played an important part in the creation of SOS Racisme.  The guiding principle of the association, brotherhood, is represented by the yellow hand logo upon which is written "Touche pas à mon pote". This slogan, which means "Hands off my pal!", was adopted upon the creation of the organization in October 1984. SOS Racisme benefitted from open support from the PS in the 1980s, and many members of SOS Racisme became high-level PS politicians: Harlem Désir, president of SOS Racisme from 1984 to 1992, is today a Member of the European Parliament for the PS; Fodé Sylla, president of SOS Racisme from 1992 to 1999 was at that time a member of the PS (and later a Member of the European Parliament for the Communist Party, PCF); his successor, Malek Boutih, was national secretary of the PS in charge of social issues (including immigration-related issues); another president of SOS Racisme,, started political activism in the UNEF-ID socialist student trade-union, before taking membership in the youth organisation of the PS.  SOS Racisme believes that, to put an end to racial discrimination, changes must be made to methods of urban planning and to education. Since the early 1990s, it has denounced the ghettos that are on the outskirts of big cities. The association advocates integration, and often cites examples of successful immigrants or their descendants.  At the turn of the century, SOS Racisme declared support for the Israeli–Palestinian peace process that was interrupted by the Second Intifada. It also denounced a resurgence of antisemitism in a book jointly published in 2002 with the UEJF, a Jewish student organization. Since then, the two organizations have continued to collaborate. Their "Rire contre le racisme" event (Laughing against racism) is held annually since 2004 at the Zenith concert hall in Paris, where it has featured performances by comedians such as Michel Boujenah, Dany Boon, Jean-Marie Bigard and Gad Elmaleh. In 2003, they also founded a joint student association called FEDER ("Fédération des Enfants de la République") which runs for office in university elections.  In February 2006, during the "Jyllands-Posten" Muhammad cartoons controversy, SOS Racisme organized public meetings to defend their publication.

Criticism.

While often criticized by the centre-right, SOS Racisme is often criticized by the far left and moderate left as well. Immigrants' associations and far left movements have often decried it as a puppet of the Socialist Party, and have in particular criticized its reformist and assimilationist stance, based on a classic Republican vision of a "meritocratic society," where social ascension is held to be favored by the Republic—a vision already denounced in the 1970s by the works of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.  Malek Boutih, president of SOS Racisme between 1999 and 2003, was often criticized for statements supporting immigration quotas when he was the Socialist Party's point man on immigration affairs.  SOS Racisme has been accused of encouraging islamophobia with some of its campaigns, for instance one launched in Reims in the summer of 2015.

Bankruptcy and criminal proceedings against Norwegian branch.

Its Norwegian branch SOS Rasisme was by far the largest chapter of SOS Racisme and claimed to have 40,000 members and 270 local branches. SOS Rasisme was closely affiliated with and largely controlled by the Workers' Communist Party and later by the Maoist party Serve the People – The Communist League (the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist faction which split from the Workers' Communist Party in 1997 as a result of an internal conflict), and was widely described as a front organization for those communist parties. SOS Rasisme went bankrupt in 2013 after being convicted of defrauding the government by exaggerating its membership, and 8 of its leaders, including its last President and its last Secretary-General, were indicted for fraud, embezzlement and money laundering in 2015 and subsequently convicted and sentenced to prison in 2016. SOS Rasisme faced strong criticism from the media in Norway and from all mainstream political parties over several years due to its dominance by Maoists, and SOS Racisme has been widely considered politically extreme in Norway and was shunned by some other anti-racist organisations.

SOS Racisme () is a movement of NGOs which describe themselves as anti-racist. The oldest chapter of SOS Racisme was founded in 1984 in France, and it has counterparts in several other European countries or regions. Its Norwegian branch, which claimed to be both the largest chapter of SOS Racisme and the largest anti-racist organisation in Europe, was controversial for its strong Maoist stance and for defrauding the government, resulting in the organisation's conviction for fraud and its bankruptcy as well as criminal proceedings against its leaders.

SOS Racisme est une association française créée en 1984, dont le but est la lutte contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et plus généralement toutes les formes de discrimination. Son slogan est.


Mode of a sample.

The mode of a sample is the element that occurs most often in the collection. For example, the mode of the sample [1, 3, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 12, 12, 17] is 6. Given the list of data [1, 1, 2, 4, 4] the mode is not unique – the dataset may be said to be bimodal, while a set with more than two modes may be described as multimodal.  For a sample from a continuous distribution, such as [0.935..., 1.211..., 2.430..., 3.668..., 3.874...], the concept is unusable in its raw form, since no two values will be exactly the same, so each value will occur precisely once. In order to estimate the mode of the underlying distribution, the usual practice is to discretize the data by assigning frequency values to intervals of equal distance, as for making a histogram, effectively replacing the values by the midpoints of the intervals they are assigned to. The mode is then the value where the histogram reaches its peak. For small or middle-sized samples the outcome of this procedure is sensitive to the choice of interval width if chosen too narrow or too wide; typically one should have a sizable fraction of the data concentrated in a relatively small number of intervals (5 to 10), while the fraction of the data falling outside these intervals is also sizable. An alternate approach is kernel density estimation, which essentially blurs point samples to produce a continuous estimate of the probability density function which can provide an estimate of the mode.  The following MATLAB (or Octave) code example computes the mode of a sample: X = sort(x); indices = find(diff([X; realmax]) > 0); % indices where repeated values change [modeL,i] = max (diff([0; indices])); % longest persistence length of repeated values mode = X(indices(i)); The algorithm requires as a first step to sort the sample in ascending order. It then computes the discrete derivative of the sorted list, and finds the indices where this derivative is positive. Next it computes the discrete derivative of this set of indices, locating the maximum of this derivative of indices, and finally evaluates the sorted sample at the point where that maximum occurs, which corresponds to the last member of the stretch of repeated values.

Comparison of mean, median and mode.

Use.

Unlike mean and median, the concept of mode also makes sense for "nominal data" (i.e., not consisting of numerical values in the case of mean, or even of ordered values in the case of median). For example, taking a sample of Korean family names, one might find that "Kim" occurs more often than any other name. Then "Kim" would be the mode of the sample. In any voting system where a plurality determines victory, a single modal value determines the victor, while a multi-modal outcome would require some tie-breaking procedure to take place.  Unlike median, the concept of mode makes sense for any random variable assuming values from a vector space, including the real numbers (a one-dimensional vector space) and the integers (which can be considered embedded in the reals). For example, a distribution of points in the plane will typically have a mean and a mode, but the concept of median does not apply. The median makes sense when there is a linear order on the possible values. Generalizations of the concept of median to higher-dimensional spaces are the geometric median and the centerpoint.

Uniqueness and definedness.

For some probability distributions, the expected value may be infinite or undefined, but if defined, it is unique. The mean of a (finite) sample is always defined. The median is the value such that the fractions not exceeding it and not falling below it are each at least 1/2. It is not necessarily unique, but never infinite or totally undefined. For a data sample it is the "halfway" value when the list of values is ordered in increasing value, where usually for a list of even length the numerical average is taken of the two values closest to "halfway". Finally, as said before, the mode is not necessarily unique. Certain pathological distributions (for example, the Cantor distribution) have no defined mode at all. For a finite data sample, the mode is one (or more) of the values in the sample.

Properties.

Assuming definedness, and for simplicity uniqueness, the following are some of the most interesting properties.

Example for a skewed distribution.

An example of a skewed distribution is personal wealth: Few people are very rich, but among those some are extremely rich. However, many are rather poor. A well-known class of distributions that can be arbitrarily skewed is given by the log-normal distribution. It is obtained by transforming a random variable "X" having a normal distribution into random variable "Y" = "e". Then the logarithm of random variable "Y" is normally distributed, hence the name.  Taking the mean μ of "X" to be 0, the median of "Y" will be 1, independent of the standard deviation σ of "X". This is so because "X" has a symmetric distribution, so its median is also 0. The transformation from "X" to "Y" is monotonic, and so we find the median "e" = 1 for "Y".  When "X" has standard deviation σ = 0.25, the distribution of "Y" is weakly skewed. Using formulas for the log-normal distribution, we find: Indeed, the median is about one third on the way from mean to mode.  When "X" has a larger standard deviation, σ = 1, the distribution of "Y" is strongly skewed. Now Here, Pearson's rule of thumb fails.

Van Zwet condition.

Van Zwet derived an inequality which provides sufficient conditions for this inequality to hold. The inequality  holds if  for all "x" where F() is the cumulative distribution function of the distribution.

Unimodal distributions.

It can be shown for a unimodal distribution that the median formula_4 and the mean formula_5 lie within (3/5) ≈ 0.7746 standard deviations of each other. In symbols,  where formula_7 is the absolute value.  A similar relation holds between the median and the mode: they lie within 3 ≈ 1.732 standard deviations of each other:

History.

The term mode originates with Karl Pearson in 1895.  Pearson uses the term "mode" interchangeably with "maximum-ordinate". In a footnote he says, "I have found it convenient to use the term "mode" for the abscissa corresponding to the ordinate of maximum frequency."

The mode of a set of data values is the value that appears most often. If X is a discrete random variable, the mode is the value "x" (i.e, X = x) at which the probability mass function takes its maximum value. In other words, it is the value that is most likely to be sampled.

En statistique, le mode, ou valeur dominante, est la valeur la plus représentée d'une variable quelconque dans une population donnée. Une répartition peut être unimodale ou plurimodale (bimodale, trimodale...), si deux ou plusieurs valeurs de la variable considérée émergent également, voire sans aucun mode (distribution uniforme) si toutes les valeurs de la variable considérée émergent également.