Background.

During the reign of Louis XVI, France faced a major economic crisis. This crisis was caused in part by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution and exacerbated by a regressive system of taxation. On 5 May 1789, the Estates General of 1789 convened to deal with this issue, but were held back by archaic protocols and the conservatism of the second estate: representing the nobility who made up less than 2% of France's population.  On 17 June 1789, the third estate, with its representatives drawn from the commoners, reconstituted themselves as the National Assembly, a body whose purpose was the creation of a French constitution. The king initially opposed this development, but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July.  Paris, close to insurrection and in François Mignet's words, "intoxicated with liberty and enthusiasm", showed wide support for the Assembly. The press published the Assembly's debates; political debate spread beyond the Assembly itself into the public squares and halls of the capital. The Palais-Royal and its grounds became the site of an ongoing meeting. The crowd, on the authority of the meeting at the Palais-Royal, broke open the prisons of the "Abbaye" to release some grenadiers of the French guards, reportedly imprisoned for refusing to fire on the people. The Assembly recommended the imprisoned guardsmen to the clemency of the king; they returned to prison, and received pardon. The rank and file of the regiment, previously considered reliable, now leaned toward the popular cause.

Necker's dismissal.

On 11 July 1789, Louis XVI—acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council—dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker (who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate) and completely reconstructed the ministry. The marshals Victor-François, duc de Broglie, la Galissonnière, the duc de la Vauguyon, the Baron Louis de Breteuil, and the intendant Foulon, took over the posts of Puységur, Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin, La Luzerne, Saint-Priest, and Necker. News of Necker's dismissal reached Paris on the afternoon of Sunday, 12 July. The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements. Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troops—brought in from frontier garrisons to Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars, and Saint-Denis—would attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than ten thousand at the Palais-Royal. Camille Desmoulins successfully rallied the crowd by "mounting a table, pistol in hand, exclaiming: "'Citizens, there is no time to lose; the dismissal of Necker is the knell of a Saint Bartholomew for patriots! This very night all the Swiss and German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre us all; one resource is left; to take arms"!'"  The Swiss and German regiments referred to were among the foreign mercenary troops who made up a significant portion of the pre-revolutionary Royal Army, and were seen as being less likely to be sympathetic to the popular cause than ordinary French soldiers. By early July, approximately half of the 25,000 regular troops in Paris and Versailles were drawn from these foreign regiments. The French regiments included in the concentration appear to have been selected either because of the proximity of their garrisons to Paris or because their colonels were supporters of the reactionary "court party" opposed to reform.  During the public demonstrations that started on 12 July, the multitude displayed busts of Necker and of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, then marched from the Palais Royal through the theater district before continuing westward along the boulevards. The crowd clashed with the Royal German Cavalry Regiment ("Royal-Allemand") between the Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Palace. From atop the Champs-Élysées, the Prince de Lambesc unleashed a cavalry charge that dispersed the remaining protesters at Place Louis XV—now Place de la Concorde. The Royal commander, Baron de Besenval, fearing the results of a blood bath amongst the poorly armed crowds or defections among his own men, then withdrew the cavalry towards Sèvres.  Meanwhile, unrest was growing among the people of Paris who expressed their hostility against state authorities by attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food and wine prices. The people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns and supplies could be hoarded. That night, rumors spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a huge property of the clergy, which functioned as convent, hospital, school and even as a jail. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property, seizing 52 wagons of wheat, which were taken to the public market. That same day multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. The Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of social chaos in Paris during those days.

Armed conflict.

The regiment of Gardes Françaises (English: French Guards) formed the permanent garrison of Paris and, with many local ties, was favourably disposed towards the popular cause. This regiment had remained confined to its barracks during the initial stages of the mid-July disturbances. With Paris becoming the scene of a general riot, Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (Marshal of the Camp, Proprietor of the Royal Allemand-Dragoons), not trusting the regiment to obey his order, posted sixty dragoons to station themselves before its dépôt in the Chaussée d'Antin. The officers of the French Guards made ineffectual attempts to rally their men. The rebellious citizenry had now acquired a trained military contingent. As word of this spread, the commanders of the royal forces encamped on the Champ de Mars became doubtful of the dependability of even the foreign regiments. The future "Citizen King", Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orléans, witnessed these events as a young officer and was of the opinion that the soldiers would have obeyed orders if put to the test. He also commented in retrospect that the officers of the French Guards had neglected their responsibilities in the period before the uprising, leaving the regiment too much to the control of its non-commissioned officers. However, the uncertain leadership of Besenval led to a virtual abdication of royal authority in central Paris. On the morning of 13 July the electors of Paris met and agreed to the recruitment of a "bourgeois militia" of 48,000 men from the sixty voting districts of Paris, to restore order. Their identifying cockades were of blue and red, the colors of Paris. Lafayette was elected commander of this group on 14 July and subsequently changed its name to the National Guard. He added the color white, the color of the King, to the cockade on 27 July, to make the famous French tri-color.

Storming the Bastille (14 July 1789).

On the morning of 14 July 1789, the city of Paris was in a state of alarm. The partisans of the Third Estate in France, now under the control of the Bourgeois Militia of Paris (soon to become Revolutionary France's National Guard), had earlier stormed the Hôtel des Invalides without meeting significant opposition. Their intention had been to gather the weapons held there (29,000 to 32,000 muskets, but without powder or shot). The commandant at the Invalides had in the previous few days taken the precaution of transferring 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille for safer storage.  At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners: four forgers; James F.X. Whyte, a "lunatic" imprisoned at the request of his family; Auguste-Claude Tavernier, who had tried to assassinate Louis XV thirty years before; and one "deviant" aristocrat, the Comte de Solages, imprisoned by his father using a "lettre de cachet" (while the Marquis de Sade had been transferred out ten days earlier).  The high cost of maintaining a garrisoned medieval fortress, for what was seen as having a limited purpose, had led to a decision being made shortly before the disturbances began to replace it with an open public space. Amid the tensions of July 1789, the building remained as a symbol of royal tyranny.  The regular garrison consisted of 82 "invalides" (veteran soldiers no longer suitable for service in the field). It had however been reinforced on 7 July by 32 grenadiers of the Swiss Salis-Samade Regiment from the regular troops on the Champ de Mars. The walls mounted 18 eight-pound guns and 12 smaller pieces. The governor was Bernard-René de Launay, son of the previous governor and actually born within the Bastille.  The official list of "vainqueurs de la Bastille" (conquerors of the Bastille) subsequently compiled has 954 names, and the total of the crowd was probably fewer than one thousand. A breakdown of occupations included in the list indicates that the majority were local artisans, together with some regular army deserters and a few distinctive categories, such as 21 wine merchants.  The crowd gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the cannon and the release of the arms and gunpowder. Two representatives of the crowd outside were invited into the fortress and negotiations began, and another was admitted around noon with definite demands. The negotiations dragged on while the crowd grew and became impatient. Around 1:30 pm, the crowd surged into the undefended outer courtyard. A small party climbed onto the roof of a building next to the gate to the inner courtyard and broke the chains on the drawbridge, crushing one "vainqueur" as it fell. Soldiers of the garrison called to the people to withdraw, but in the noise and confusion these shouts were misinterpreted as encouragement to enter. Gunfire began, apparently spontaneously, turning the crowd into a mob. The crowd seems to have felt that they had been intentionally drawn into a trap and the fighting became more violent and intense, while attempts by deputies to organise a cease-fire were ignored by the attackers.  The firing continued, and after 3:00 pm, the attackers were reinforced by mutinous "gardes françaises", along with two cannons. A substantial force of Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars did not intervene. With the possibility of mutual carnage suddenly apparent, Governor de Launay ordered a cease-fire at 5:00 pm. A letter offering his terms was handed out to the besiegers through a gap in the inner gate. His demands were refused, but Launay nonetheless capitulated, as he realised that with limited food stocks and no water supply his troops could not hold out much longer. He accordingly opened the gates to the inner courtyard, and the "vainqueurs" swept in to liberate the fortress at 5:30 pm.  Ninety-eight attackers and one defender had died in the actual fighting, a disparity accounted for by the protection provided to the garrison by the fortress walls. Launay was seized and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. Outside the Hôtel, a discussion as to his fate began. The badly beaten Launay shouted "Enough! Let me die!" and kicked a pastry cook named Dulait in the groin. Launay was then stabbed repeatedly and died. An English traveller, Doctor Edward Rigby, reported what he saw, "[We] perceived two bloody heads raised on pikes, which were said to be the heads of the Marquis de Launay, Governor of the Bastille, and of Monsieur Flesselles, Prévôt des Marchands. It was a chilling and a horrid sight!... Shocked and disgusted at this scene, [we] retired immediately from the streets."  The three officers of the permanent Bastille garrison were also killed by the crowd; surviving police reports detail their wounds and clothing.  Two of the "invalides" of the garrison were lynched, but all but two of the Swiss regulars of the Salis-Samade Regiment were protected by the French Guards and eventually released to return to their regiment. Their officer, Lieutenant Louis de Flue, wrote a detailed report on the defense of the Bastille, which was incorporated in the logbook of the Salis-Samade and has survived. It is (perhaps unfairly) critical of the dead Marquis de Launay, whom Flue accuses of weak and indecisive leadership. The blame for the fall of the Bastille would rather appear to lie with the inertia of the commanders of the 5,000 Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars, who did not act when either the nearby Hôtel des Invalides or the Bastille were attacked.  Returning to the Hôtel de Ville, the mob accused the "prévôt dès marchands" (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery, and he was assassinated on the way to an ostensible trial at the Palais-Royal. The king first learned of the storming only the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. "Is it a revolt?" asked Louis XVI. The duke replied: "No sire, it's not a revolt; it's a revolution."  At Versailles, the Assembly remained ignorant of most of the Paris events, but eminently aware that the Marshal de Broglie stood on the brink of unleashing a pro-Royalist coup to force the Assembly to adopt the order of 23 June and then to dissolve. Noailles apparently was first to bring reasonably accurate news of the Paris events to Versailles. M. Ganilh and Bancal-des-Issarts, dispatched to the Hôtel de Ville, confirmed his report.  By the morning of 15 July, the outcome appeared clear to the king as well, and he and his military commanders backed down. The twenty three regiments of Royal troops concentrated around Paris dispersed to their frontier garrisons. The Marquis de la Fayette took up command of the National Guard at Paris; Jean-Sylvain Bailly – leader of the Third Estate and instigator of the Tennis Court Oath – became the city's mayor under a new governmental structure known as the "Commune de Paris". The king announced that he would recall Necker and return from Versailles to Paris; on 17 July, in Paris, he accepted a tricolour cockade from Bailly and entered the Hôtel de Ville to cries of "Long live the King" and "Long live the Nation".

Aftermath.

Nonetheless, after this violence, nobles – little assured by the apparent and, as it was to prove, temporary reconciliation of king and people – started to flee the country as "émigrés". Among the first to leave were the comte d'Artois (the future Charles X of France) and his two sons, the prince de Condé, the prince de Conti, the Polignac family, and (slightly later) Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the former finance minister. They settled at Turin, where Calonne, as agent for the count d'Artois and the prince de Condé, began plotting civil war within the kingdom and agitating for a European coalition against France.  The news of the successful insurrection at Paris spread throughout France. In accord with principles of popular sovereignty and with complete disregard for claims of royal authority, the people established parallel structures of municipalities for civic government and militias for civic protection. In rural areas, many went beyond this: some burned title-deeds and no small number of châteaux, as the "Great Fear" spread across the countryside during the weeks of 20 July to 5 August, with attacks on wealthy landlords impelled by the belief that the aristocracy was trying to put down the revolution.  On 22 July 1789 the populace lynched Joseph Foullon de Doué and his son-in-law Louis Bénigne François Bertier de Sauvigny. Both held official positions under the monarchy.  Although there were arguments that the Bastille should be preserved as a monument to liberation or as a depot for the new National Guard, the Permanent Committee of Municipal Electors at the Paris Town Hall gave the construction entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy the commission of disassembling the building. Palloy commenced work immediately. The demolition of the fortress itself, the melting down of its clock portraying chained prisoners, and the breaking up of four statues were all carried out within five months.  On 16 July 1789, two days after the Storming of the Bastille, John Frederick Sackville, serving as ambassador to France, reported to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, "Thus, my Lord, the greatest revolution that we know anything of has been effected with, comparatively speaking—if the magnitude of the event is considered—the loss of very few lives. From this moment we may consider France as a free country, the King a very limited monarch, and the nobility as reduced to a level with the rest of the nation."  In 1790, Lafayette gave the wrought-iron, one-pound and three-ounce key to the Bastille to U.S. President George Washington. Washington displayed it prominently at government facilities and events in New York and in Philadelphia until shortly before his retirement in 1797. The key remains on display at Washington's residence of Mount Vernon.  Palloy also took bricks from the Bastille and had them carved into replicas of the fortress, which he sold, along with medals allegedly made from the chains of prisoners. Pieces of stone from the structure were sent to every district in France, and some have been located. Various other pieces of the Bastille also survive, including stones used to build the Pont de la Concorde bridge over the Seine, and one of the towers, which was found buried in 1899 and is now at Square Henri-Galli in Paris, as well as the clock bells and pulley system, which are now in the Musée d’Art Campanaire. About 900 people who claimed to have stormed the Bastille received certificates ("Brevet de vainqueur de la Bastille") from the National Assembly in 1790, and a number of these still exist. The building itself is outlined in brick on the location where it once stood, as is the moat in the Paris Metro stop below it, where a piece of the foundation is also on display.

The Storming of the Bastille ( ) occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789. The medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. The prison contained only seven inmates at the time of its storming but was seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power; its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution.

La prise de la Bastille, survenue le mardi à Paris, est l'un des événements inauguraux et emblématiques de la Révolution française. Cette journée, durant laquelle la Bastille est prise d’assaut par des émeutiers, est, dans la tradition historiographique, considérée comme la première intervention d'ampleur du peuple parisien dans le cours de la Révolution et dans la vie politique française.


Very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line

Conceptual Development.

The concept of VDSL was first published in 1991. through a joint Bellcore-Stanford research study. The study searched for potential successors to the then-prevalent HDSL and relatively new ADSL, which were both 1.5 Mbit/s. Specifically, it explored the feasibility of symmetric and asymmetric data rates exceeding 10 Mbit/s on short phone lines.  VDSL2 standard is an enhancement to ITU T G.993.1 that supports asymmetric and symmetric transmission at a bidirectional net data rate up to 400 Mbit/s on twisted pairs using a bandwidth up to 35 MHz.

VDSL standards.

A VDSL connection uses up to seven frequency bands, so one can allocate the data rate between upstream and downstream differently depending on the service offering and spectrum regulations. The first-generation VDSL standard specified both quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and discrete multi-tone modulation (DMT). In 2006., ITU-T standardized VDSL in recommendation G.993.2 which specified only DMT modulation for VDSL2.

VDSL2.

VDSL2 is an enhancement to VDSL designed to support the wide deployment of triple play services such as voice, video, data and high-definition television (HDTV) VDSL2 is intended to enable operators and carriers to gradually, flexibly, and cost-efficiently upgrade existing xDSL infrastructure.  The protocol is standardized in the International Telecommunication Union telecommunications sector (ITU-T) as Recommendation G.993.2. It was announced as finalized on 27 May 2005, and first published on 17 February 2006. Several corrections and amendments were published from 2007 to 2011.  VDSL2 permits the transmission of asymmetric and symmetric aggregate data rates up to 300+ Mbit/s downstream and upstream on twisted pairs using a bandwidth up to 35 MHz. It deteriorates quickly from a theoretical maximum of 350 Mbit/s at source to 100 Mbit/s at 500m (1640.42ft) and 50 Mbit/s at 1000m (3280.84ft), but degrades at a much slower rate from there, and outperforms VDSL Starting from its performance is equal to ADSL2+.  ADSL-like long-reach performance is one of the key advantages of VDSL2. LR-VDSL2 enabled systems are capable of supporting speeds of around 1–4 Mbit/s (downstream) over distances of 4–5 km (2.5–3 miles), gradually increasing the bit rate up to symmetric 100 Mbit/s as loop-length shortens. This means that VDSL2-based systems, unlike VDSL systems, are not limited to short local loops or MTU/MDUs only, but can also be used for medium range applications.  Bonding (ITU-T G.998.x) may be used to combine multiple wire pairs to increase available capacity, or extend the copper network's reach. Hybrid Access Networks

Vplus/35b.

Vplus is a technology to achieve higher speeds over existing VDSL2 networks. It was developed by Alcatel-Lucent and standardised in November 2015 in ITU G.993.2 Amendment 1 as VDSL2 profile 35b. It promises to deliver speeds of up to 300 Mbit/s downstream and 100 Mbit/s upstream on loops shorter than 250 m. On longer loops, Vplus falls back to VDSL2 17a vectoring performance. Vplus uses the same tone spacing as VDSL2 17a to allow vectoring across Vplus (35b) and 17a lines, and thus mixed deployments and a smooth introduction of Vplus.

Profiles.

The VDSL1 standard has three bandplans: Annex A (Asymmetric BandPlan), Annex B (Symmetric BandPlan) and Annex C (Fx BandPlan). Annex A and Annex B were formerly called Plan 998 and Plan 997 respectively. VDSL1 Annex C is intended for use in Sweden only and it uses a variable separating frequency between the second downstream band, and the second upstream band. All VDSL1 bandplans have spectrum up to 12 MHz, so the length of the copper loops must be shorter than ADSL  The VDSL2 standard defines a wide range of profiles that can be used in different VDSL deployment architectures; in the central office, in the cabinet or in the building for example.

VDSL2 vectoring.

Vectoring is a transmission method that employs the coordination of line signals for reduction of crosstalk levels and improvement of performance. It is based on the concept of noise cancellation, much like noise-cancelling headphones. The ITU-T G.993.5 standard, "Self-FEXT cancellation (vectoring) for use with VDSL2 transceivers" (2010), also known as G.vector, describes vectoring for VDSL2 The scope of Recommendation ITU-T G.993.5 is specifically limited to the self-FEXT (far-end crosstalk) cancellation in the downstream and upstream directions. The far end crosstalk (FEXT) generated by a group of near-end transceivers and interfering with the far-end transceivers of that same group is cancelled. This cancellation takes place between VDSL2 transceivers, not necessarily of the same profile. The technology is analogous to G.IMP and Seamless Rate Adaptation (SRA).  Although technically feasible, at the moment vectoring is incompatible with local-loop unbundling, but future standard amendments could bring a solution.

Very high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) and Very high-speed Digital Subscriber Line 2 (VDSL2) are digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies providing data transmission faster than Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL).

Le ou VDSL, est une technologie de type xDSL (les signaux VDSL sont transportés sur une paire de cuivre, simultanément et sans interférence avec la voix téléphonique). Elle permet d'atteindre des débits de dans un sens et de dans l'autre ou, si l'on veut en faire une connexion symétrique, un débit de. Le VDSL est un protocole de couche 1 (Physique) selon le modèle OSI.


Armorican Saints.

Before the Bretons came, the land now known as Brittany was known as Armorica within the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. The earliest saint associated with this region is Saint Anne, mother of Mary (mother of Jesus), said by tradition to have been Armorican, and she is the patroness of Brittany. She also appeared to Yves Nicolazic, to whom she spoke in Breton.  After her, the earliest saints in what is now Brittany have dates which are sometimes unclear, but tradition holds they go back to the earliest days of the Church. One Saint Maxime, said to have been the disciple of Saint Philip the Apostle, was sent to preach among the Gauls and was made the first Bishop of Rennes. He may have been accompanied by saints by the names of Clarus and Justus. Pope Saint Linus, the second Bishop of Rome, sent Saints Clair and Adeodatus; this is said to be the Saint Clair who became the first Bishop of Nantes around AD 280 and died early in the third century, though the dates make this suspect, and Saint Adeodatus preached especially in the area of Vannes. Other Armorican saints include Saint Similien, the third Bishop of Nantes in the early fourth century, and the brother-martyrs saints Donatian and Rogatian. Saint Palladius may also have had an Armorican connection.

The Seven Founders.

The Bretons, coming from the British Isles, brought Christianity with them. With the coming of the Bretons, the seven ancient dioceses were established by the seven founding saints.  The other two dioceses of Brittany were founded by Saint Clair de Nantes and Saint Maxime de Rennes.

Modern Saints.

The "modern" in modern saints refers to the process, not the person, and groups those whose status has been recognized by Rome.

Breton saints refers to one of two groups, the innumerable people who lived, died, worked in, or came to be particularly venerated in the nine traditional dioceses of Brittany (Cornouailles, Dol, Leon, Nantes, Rennes, Saint-Brioc, Saint-Malo, Treguier, Vannes) who were accepted as saintly before the establishment of the Congregation of Rites (now the Congregation for the Causes of Saints), or those saints, blesseds, venerables, and Servants of God who have come to be recognized since that time.

Les saints bretons désignent des personnalités bretonnes vénérées pour le caractère exemplaire de leur vie d'un point de vue chrétien. Peu d'entre elles ont été reconnues saintes par la procédure de canonisation de l'Église catholique (mise en place plusieurs siècles après leur mort), mais ont été désignées par le peuple, leur existence même n'étant pas toujours historiquement attestée. La plupart des vitae de saints bretons qui nous sont parvenues datent en effet des ou ont été réécrites dans le contexte de la réforme grégorienne qui induit parfois les clercs à remodeler les documents hagiographiques, issus de traditions orales transmises aussi bien dans le vieux fond populaire que dans le milieu savant, dans leur intérêt (légitimation de la figure épiscopale, du bien-fondé d'une réforme d'une communauté monastique). Le développement du culte de ces saints se développe au Moyen Âge tardif lorsque plusieurs familles de l'aristocratie bretonne s'approprient les légendes hagiographiques en justifiant par des arguments généalogiques, de la protection particulière d'un saint ou de son adoption comme ancêtre de substitution dans leurs lignages.


History.

Origins.

France was one of the first countries to hold motor racing events of any kind. The first competitive motor race, the Paris to Rouen Horseless Carriages Contest was held on 22 July 1894, and was organized by the Automobile Club de France (ACF). The race was 126 km (78 mi) long and was won by Count Jules-Albert de Dion in his De Dion Bouton steam powered car in just under 7 hours. This race was followed by races starting in Paris to various towns and cities around France such as Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon and Dieppe, and also to various other European cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Innsbruck and Vienna. The 1901 Paris-Berlin race was noteworthy as the race winner, Henri Fouriner averaged an astonishing 57 mph (93

The world's oldest Grand Prix.

Public road courses.

The French "Grand Prix", open to international competition was first run on 26 June 1906 under the auspices of the Automobile Club de France in Sarthe with a starting field of 32 automobiles. The Grand Prix name ("Great Prize") referred to the prize of 45,000 French francs to the race winner. The franc was pegged to the gold at 0.290 grams per franc, which meant that the prize was worth 13kg of gold, or €191,000 adjusted for inflation. The earliest French Grands Prix were held on circuits consisting of public roads near towns through northern and central France, and they usually were held at different towns each year, such as Le Mans, Dieppe, Amiens, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Tours. Dieppe in particular was an extremely dangerous circuit – 9 people (5 drivers, 2

France's first permanent circuit and other public road circuits.

In 1925, the first permanent autodrome in France was built, it was called Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, located 20 miles south of the centre of the French capital of Paris. The 7.7mile (12.3km) circuit included a 51degree concrete banking, an asphalt road course and then-modern facilities, including pit garages and grandstands. After the construction of Brooklands in England in 1907, and Indianapolis in the United States in 1908 and after World War I, Monza in Italy was opened in 1922, and Stiges–Terramar in Spain was also opened in 1923. The French were then prompted to construct a purpose-built racing circuit at Montlhéry in the north and then Miramas in the south. Nürburgring in Germany followed in 1927. Montlhery first held the Grand Prix

Reims, Rouen and Charade.

The French Grand Prix returned to the Reims-Gueux circuit for 1938 and 1939, where the Silver Arrows continued their domination of Grand Prix racing. The Reims-Gueux circuit had its straights widened and facilities updated for the 1938 race. But when World War II began, the French Grand Prix did not come back until 1947, where it was held at the one-time Parilly circuit near Lyon, a race that was marred by an accident involving Pierre Levegh crashing into and killing 3 spectators. After that, Grand Prix racing returned to Reims-Gueux, where another manufacturer – Alfa Romeo – would dominate the event for 4 years. 1950 was the first year of the Formula One World Championship, but all the Formula One-regulated races were held in Europe. The race was won by Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, who also won the next year's race – the longest Formula

Paul Ricard and Dijon-Prenois.

Formula One returned to Paul Ricard in 1973; the French Grand Prix was never run on public road circuits like Reims, Rouen and Charade ever again. Paul Ricard also had a driving school, the École de Pilotage Winfield, run by the Knight brothers and Simon Delatour, that honed the talents of people such as France's first (and so far only) Formula One World Champion Alain Prost, and Grand Prix winners Didier Pironi and Jacques Laffite. The event was run at the new fast, up-and-down Prenois circuit near Dijon in 1974, before returning to Ricard in 1975 and 1976. The race was originally scheduled to be run at Clermont-Ferrand for 1974 and 1975, but the circuit was deemed too dangerous for Formula One. The two venues alternated the venue until 1984, with Ricard getting

Magny-Cours.

In 1991, the race moved to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, where it stayed for another 17 years. The move to Magny-Cours was an attempt to stimulate the economy of the area, but many within Formula One complained about the remote nature of the circuit. Highlights of Magny-Cours's time hosting the French Grand Prix include Prost's final of six wins on home soil in 1993, and Michael Schumacher's securing of the 2002 championship after only 11 races. The 2004 and 2005 races were in doubt

Absence.

After various negotiations, the future of the race at Magny-Cours took another turn, with increased speculation that the 2008 French Grand Prix would return, with Ecclestone himself stating "We're going to maybe resurrect it for a year, or something like that". On 24 July, Ecclestone and the French Prime Minister met and agreed to possibly maintain the race at Magny Cours for 2008 and 2009. The change in fortune was completed on July, when the FIA published the calendar with a 2008 French Grand Prix scheduled at Magny-Cours once again. The 2009 race, however, was again cancelled on 15 October 2008, with the official website citing "economic reasons". A huge makeover of Magny-Cours ("2.0") was planned, but cancelled in the end. The race's

Return to Paul Ricard.

In December 2016, it was confirmed that the French Grand Prix would return in 2018 at the Circuit Paul Ricard and it currently holds a contract to host the French Grand Prix until at least 2022. In an

Winners of the French Grand Prix.

Repeat winners (drivers).

"Drivers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season."<br> "A pink background indicates an event which was not part

Repeat winners (constructors).

"Teams in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season."<br> "A pink background indicates an event which was not part

Repeat winners (engine manufacturers).

"Manufacturers in bold are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season."
 "A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship."

By year.

"A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship."<br> "A yellow

Races sometimes considered to be French Grand Prix.

Beginning in the early 1920s, French media represented eight races held in France before 1906 as being Grands Prix de l'Automobile Club de France, leading to the first

The French Grand Prix (), formerly known as the Grand Prix de l'ACF, is an auto race held as part of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One World Championship. It is one of the oldest motor races in the world as well as the first "Grand Prix". It ceased shortly after its centenary in with 86 races having been held, due to unfavourable financial circumstances and venues. The race returned to the Formula One calendar in with Circuit Paul Ricard hosting the race.

Le Grand Prix automobile de France (officiellement appelé Grand Prix de l'ACF jusqu'en 1967 à sa cinquante-troisième édition) est une course automobile sur circuit créée en 1906. Il a figuré au calendrier du championnat du monde de Formule 1 de 1950 à 2008 sur sept circuits différents, exception faite de l'année 1955 où l'épreuve a été annulée à la suite du drame des 24 Heures du Mans. L'épreuve s'est déroulée sur le circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours de 1991 à 2008, avant d'être retirée du calendrier pour une période de dix ans.


History.

Foundational period.

Opus Dei was founded by a Catholic priest, Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, on 2 October 1928 in Madrid, Spain. According to Escrivá, on that day he experienced a vision in which he "saw Opus Dei". He gave the organization the name "Opus Dei", which in Latin means "Work of God", in order to underscore the belief that the organization was not his (Escrivá's) work, but was rather God's work. Throughout his life, Escrivá held that the founding of Opus Dei had a supernatural character. Escrivá summarized Opus Dei's mission as a way of helping ordinary Christians "to understand that their life... is a way of holiness and evangelization... And to those who grasp this ideal of holiness, the Work offers the spiritual assistance and training they need to put it into practice."  Initially, Opus Dei was open only to men, but in 1930, Escrivá started to admit women, based on what he believed to be a communication from God. In 1936,

Post-foundational years.

In 1975, Escriva died and was succeeded by Álvaro del Portillo. In 1982, Opus Dei was made into a personal prelature. This means that Opus Dei is part of the universal Church, and the apostolate of the members falls under the direct jurisdiction of the Prelate of Opus Dei wherever they are. As to "what the law lays down for all the ordinary faithful", the lay members of Opus Dei, being no different from other Catholics, "continue to be... under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop", in the words of John Paul II's "Ut Sit". In 2017, Fernando Ocáriz Braña became Prelate upon the death of his predecessor, Javier Echevarría.  One-third of the world's bishops sent letters petitioning for the canonization of Escrivá. Escriva was beatified in 1992 in the midst of controversy prompted by questions about Escriva's suitability for sainthood. In 2002, approximately 300,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square on the day Pope John Paul II canonized Josemaría Escrivá. According to one author, "Escrivá is... venerated by millions".  There are other members whose process

Spirituality.

Doctrine.

Opus Dei is an organization of the Catholic Church. As such, it shares the doctrines of the Catholic Church and has "no other teaching than the teaching of the Magisterium of the Holy See", as per the founder.  Opus Dei places special emphasis on certain aspects of Catholic doctrine. A central feature of Opus Dei's theology is its focus on the lives of the ordinary Catholics who are neither priests nor monks. Opus Dei emphasizes the "universal call to holiness": the

Prayers.

All members – whether married or unmarried, priests or laypeople – are trained to follow a 'plan of life', or 'the norms of piety', which are some traditional Catholic devotions. This is meant to follow the teaching of the Catholic Catechism: "pray at specific times...to nourish continual prayer," which in turn is based on Jesus' "pray at all

Mortification.

As a spirituality for ordinary people, Opus Dei focuses on performing sacrifices pertaining to normal duties and to its emphasis on charity and cheerfulness. But much public attention has focused on Opus Dei's practice of mortification—the voluntary offering up of discomfort or pain to God; this includes fasting, or for its celibate members, "corporal mortifications" such as self-inflicted pain self-flagellation, sleeping without a pillow or sleeping on the floor, fasting, and if compatible with their family or professional duties, remaining silent for certain hours during

Organization and activities.

Governance.

In Pope John Paul II's 1982 decree known as the Apostolic constitution "Ut Sit", Opus Dei was established as a personal prelature, a new official structure of the Catholic Church, similar to a diocese in that it contains lay people and secular priests who are led by a bishop. However, whereas a bishop normally has a territory or diocese, the prelate of Opus Dei is pastor to the members and priests of Opus Dei worldwide, no matter what diocese they are in. To date, Opus Dei is the only personal prelature in existence. In addition to being governed by "Ut Sit" and by the Catholic Church's general law, Opus Dei is governed by the Church's Particular Law concerning Opus Dei, otherwise known as Opus Dei's statutes. This specifies the objectives and workings of the prelature. The prelature is under

Membership.

Based on the language of Catholic Church law and theology, the prelature calls the people under the pastoral care of the prelate as "faithful of the prelature", since the term member connotes an association rather than a hierarchical structure such as a prelature or a diocese.  As of 2016, the faithful of the Opus Dei Prelature numbered 94,776 members, of which 92,667 are lay persons, men and women, and 2,109 priests. These figures do not include the priest members of Opus Dei's Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, estimated to number 2,000 in the year 2005.  About 60 per cent of Opus Dei faithful reside in Europe, and 35 per cent reside in the Americas. Women comprise 57% of total membership. According to the study of John Allen, for the most part, Opus Dei faithful belong to the middle to low levels in society, in terms of education, income, and social status.  Opus Dei

Activities.

Leaders of Opus Dei describe the organization as a teaching entity whose main activity is to train Catholics to assume personal responsibility in sanctifying the secular world from within. This teaching is done by means of theory and practice.  Its lay people and priests organize seminars, workshops, retreats, and classes to help people put the Christian faith into practice in their daily lives. Spiritual direction, one-on-one coaching with a more experienced lay person or priest, is considered the "paramount means" of training. Through these activities they provide religious instruction (doctrinal formation), coaching in spirituality for lay people (spiritual formation), character and moral education (human formation), lessons in sanctifying one's work (professional formation), and know-how in evangelizing one's family and workplace (apostolic formation).  The official Catholic document which established the prelature states that Opus Dei strives "to put into practice the

Relations with Catholic leaders.

Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, the bishop of Madrid where Opus Dei was born, supported Opus Dei and defended it in the 1940s by saying that "this "opus" is truly "Dei"" (this work is truly God's). Contrary to attacks of secrecy and heresy, the bishop described Opus Dei's founder as someone who is "open as a child" and "most obedient to the Church hierarchy".  In the 1950s, Pope Pius XII told the most senior Australian bishop, Cardinal Norman Gilroy that Escrivá "is a true saint, a man sent by God for our times". Pius XII gave Opus Dei the canonical status of "pontifical right", an institution depending directly and exclusively on the Vatican in its internal governance.  In 1960, Pope John XXIII commented that Opus Dei opens up "unsuspected horizons of apostolate". Furthermore, in 1964, Pope Paul VI praised the organization in a handwritten letter to Escrivá, saying:  Opus Dei is "a vigorous expression of the perennial youth of the Church, fully open to the demands of a modern apostolate... We look with paternal satisfaction on all that Opus Dei has achieved and is achieving for the kingdom of God, the desire of doing good that guides it, the burning love for the Church and its visible head that distinguishes it, and the ardent zeal for souls that impels it along the arduous and difficult paths of the apostolate of presence and witness in every sector of contemporary life." The relationship between Paul VI and Opus Dei, according to Alberto Moncada, a doctor of sociology and ex-member, was "stormy". After the Second Vatican Council concluded in 1965, Pope Paul VI denied Opus Dei's petition to become a personal prelature, Moncada stated.  Pope John Paul I, a few years before his election, wrote that Escrivá was more radical than other saints who taught about the universal call to holiness. While others emphasized monastic spirituality applied to lay people, for Escrivá "it is the material work itself which must be turned into prayer and sanctity", thus providing a lay spirituality.  Criticisms against Opus Dei have prompted Catholic scholars and writers like Piers Paul Read and Vittorio Messori to call Opus Dei a sign of contradiction, in reference to the biblical quote of Jesus as a "sign that is spoken against". Said John Carmel Heenan, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster: "One of the proofs of God's favor is to be a sign of contradiction. Almost all founders of societies in the Church have suffered. Monsignor Escrivá de Balaguer is no exception. Opus Dei has been attacked and its motives misunderstood. In this country and elsewhere an inquiry has always vindicated Opus Dei."  One of Opus Dei's most prominent supporters was Pope John Paul II. John Paul II cited Opus Dei's aim of sanctifying secular activities as a "great ideal." He emphasized that Escrivá's founding of Opus Dei was "ductus divina inspiratione," led by divine inspiration, and he granted the organization its status as a personal prelature. Stating that Escrivá is "counted among the great witnesses

Controversy.

Throughout its history, Opus Dei has been criticized from many quarters, prompting journalists to describe Opus Dei as "the most controversial force in the Catholic Church" and founder Saint Josemaría Escrivá as a "polarizing" figure. Criticism of Opus Dei has centered on allegations of secretiveness, controversial and aggressive recruiting methods, strict rules governing members and elitism, and support of or participation in authoritarian or right-wing governments, including the fascist Franco regime which governed in Spain until 1978. The mortification of the flesh practiced by some of its members is also criticized. Opus Dei has also been criticized for allegedly seeking independence and more influence within the Catholic Church.  On the other hand, according to several journalists who researched Opus Dei separately, many criticisms against Opus Dei are based on fabrications by opponents. Several popes and other Catholic leaders have endorsed what they see as its innovative teaching on the sanctifying value of work, and its fidelity to Catholic beliefs. In 2002, Pope John Paul II canonized Escrivá, and called him "the saint of ordinary life."  In recent years, Opus Dei has received international attention due to the novel "The Da Vinci Code" and its film version of 2006, both of which prominent Christians and non-believers criticized as misleading, inaccurate and anti-Catholic.  Critics such as the Jesuit Wladimir Ledóchowski sometimes refer to Opus Dei as a Catholic (or Christian or "white") form of Freemasonry.

Supporting views.

According to several journalists who have worked independently on Opus Dei, such as John Allen, Jr., Vittorio Messori, Patrice de Plunkett, Maggy Whitehouse, Noam Friedlander many of the criticisms against Opus Dei are myths and unproven tales. Allen, Messori, and Plunkett say that most of these myths were created by its opponents, with Allen adding that he perceives that Opus Dei members generally practice what they preach.  Allen, Messori, and Plunkett also state that accusations that Opus Dei is secretive are unfounded. These accusations stem from a clerical paradigm which expects Opus Dei members to behave as monks and clerics, people who are traditionally known and externally identifiable as

Criticism.

Critics of Opus Dei include María del Carmen Tapia, an ex-member who was a high-ranking officer of Opus Dei for many years, liberal Catholic theologians such as Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit writer and editor, and supporters of Liberation theology, such as journalist Penny Lernoux and Michael Walsh, a writer on religious matters and former Jesuit.  Critics state that Opus Dei is "intensely secretive"—for example, members generally do not disclose their affiliation with Opus Dei in public. Further, under the 1950 constitution,

Other views.

Sociologists Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington suggest that Opus Dei is involved in "a deliberate attempt to construct an alternative modernity," one that engages modern culture while at the same time is resolutely loyal to Catholic traditions. Van Biema of "Time" magazine emphasises Opus Dei's Spanish roots as a source of misunderstandings in the Anglo-Saxon world,

Members proposed for beatification.

Aside from Escriva (canonized in 2002), Alvaro del Portillo (beatified in 2014), and Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri Fernández de Heredia (beatified in 2019) there a number of members of Opus Dei who have been proposed for beatification:

Opus Dei, formally known as the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (), is an institution of the Catholic Church which teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people; the remainder are secular priests under the governance of a prelate elected by specific members and appointed by the Pope. "Opus Dei" is Latin for "Work of God"; hence the organization is often referred to by members and supporters as "the Work".

L’Opus Dei (« Œuvre de Dieu » en latin), également appelé Prélature de la Sainte Croix et Opus Dei (en latin : "Praelatura sanctae crucis et Operis Dei"), est une institution de l'Église catholique romaine fondée en 1928 par Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer. Elle a d'abord été une pieuse union, puis, un institut séculier et elle est une prélature personnelle depuis 1982. En 2010, l'Opus Dei compte dont laïcs et prêtres.


Early history.

Mercenary groups first appeared in the 12th century, when they participated in the Anarchy (a conflict of succession between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda between 1137 and 1153).  In the 1180s, similar groups were integrated into the armies of the King of France under Philip II of France. These troops of seasoned mercenaries were organized and mobile, a valuable advantage during the battles of the time and were important elements of the armies of Henry II of England and his son, Richard I. King John used them at the beginning of his reign, when he was richer and more powerful than the King of France. However, in 1204, he did not pay the mercenaries. Philip Augustus used them to overcome the Plantagenets.  During the Hundred Years War between England and France there were intermittent hostilities punctuated by periods of truce, when soldiers would be laid off en masse. In the absence of civilian skills and opportunities many, especially the foreign soldiers, formed armed bands known as "bandes de routiers" or "écorcheurs" and made a living by pillaging the countryside of southern France until hostilities resumed. Similar events occurred in Spain and Germany. By the time of the Treaty of Brétigny (1360), which brought about a several years suspension of the Hundred Years War, the bands had grown in size to the point where they had evolved an internal structure and adopted romantic names. The Tards-venus ("late-comers"), led by Seguin de Badefol ravaged Burgundy and Languedoc and even defeated the forces of the Kingdom of France at the Battle of Brignais in 1362.  The Catalan Company, formed in Spain in the early 1300s, fought in the Byzantine Empire before ending up in what is now Greece and the Navarrese Company, also formed in Spain, followed them there.  By 1356, free companies, men at arms, and brigands had spread throughout the country from the Seine to the Loire engaging in unlawful activities. They had especially infested the roads from Paris to Orléans, Chartres, Vendôme, and Montargis.

Brigands.

Brigands were recruited from all nations, but mainly from troops dismissed from the army of Edward III of England after the peace treaty of Brétigny. On October 24, 1360, after the Treaty of Calais ratified the ceasefire of 8 May, Edward III had ordered the evacuation of English troops from fortresses in many parts of France.  One of the main brigand leaders was a Welshman named Ruffin, who was enriched by robberies and became a knight. These bands of brigands occupied and ransomed towns such as Saint-Arnoult, Gallardon, Bonneval, Cloyes, Étampes, Châtres, Montlhéry, Pithiviers-en-Gatinais, Larchant, Milly-la-Forêt, Château-Landon and Montargis. Meanwhile, Robert Knolles headed an Anglo-Navarrese band of brigands near the borders of Normandy, where he earned 100,000 écus. Eventually the King of France sent his constable to escort these bands to Spain in order to rid France of them. There they could assist Henry of Trastamara in his ongoing feud with his half-brother Peter of Castile. However, after placing Henry of Trastamara on the throne of Castile, the companies returned to France. One company plundered Vire in 1368 and another, conducted by John Cresswell and Folquin Lallemant, seized Château-Gontier.  The Tard-Venus were mercenaries who had been demobilized after the Treaty of Brétigny of 8 May 1360. Under the orders of Seguin de Badefol, they raged from Burgundy to Languedoc. In 1362, in Brignais, they defeated Jacques de Bourbon, Count of La Marche.  The White Company (Compagnia Bianca) was also formed after the Treaty of Brétigny and was under the command of John Hawkwood.  The Bretons and the English in Dauphiné were companies which operated from 1374 to 1411, and accompanied the Counts of Armagnac, Turenne and Duguesclin during their conflicts in Provence and Italy, which brought about the Great Schism between the popes of Avignon and Rome. One of their achievements was taking the Château de Soyons in 1381, from which they were later dislodged by Bouville, governor of Dauphine and Marshal Clisson. Their leaders were Guilhem Camisard, Amaury de Sévérac (the Bastard of Bertusan) and John Broquiers.  The Écorcheurs were demobilized mercenaries who desolated France in the 15th century after the Treaty of Arras in 1435.

Italy.

The structure of 14th-century Italy, where a patchwork of rich city states were in a state of perpetual dispute with their neighbours, provided an ideal base for the later and larger mercenary groups with their complements of cavalry, infantry and archers and complex internal structure. Predominantly made up of English, Spanish and German troops, they included the Great Company formed by the German knight Werner von Urslingen (1342), the Compagnia di San Giorgio formed by the Italian nobleman Lodrisio Visconti in 1339, the White Company formed by Albert Sterz (1360) and the Compagnia della Stella of Anichino di Bongardo (Hannekin Baumgarten) (1364).  The companies made a good living by extortion (Siena paid the companies 37 times not to attack them) or by contracting to fight on behalf of one city state against another. They came to be known, in particular their leaders, as "Condottieri", from the Italian word for contractor. On several occasions the companies were contracted by different states to fight each other.  By the mid-1400s the power of the Free Companies had come to an end with the rise in centralised state power and military force.

A free company (sometimes called a great company or "grande companie") was an army of mercenaries between the 12th and 14th centuries recruited by private employers during wars. They acted independently of any government, and were thus "free". They regularly made a living by plunder when they were not employed; in France they were the "routiers" and "écorcheurs" who operated outside the highly structured law of arms. The term "free company" is most applied to those companies of soldiers which formed after the Peace of Brétigny during the Hundred Years' War and were active mainly in France, but it has been applied to other companies, such as the Catalan Company and companies that operated elsewhere, such as in Italy and the Holy Roman Empire.

Les compagnies de mercenaires recrutées du au, privées d'employeurs pendant les périodes de paix, se regroupaient en bandes appelées grandes compagnies, et vivaient au détriment des populations. Ces mercenaires étaient alors désignés comme « routiers » car appartenant à une « route » (« troupe » en français de l'époque).


Establishment.

The English made at least two unsuccessful attempts in the 17th century to colonise the lands that would later be known as British Guiana, at which time the Dutch had established two colonies in the area: Essequibo, administered by the Dutch West India Company, and Berbice, administered by the Berbice Association. The Dutch West India Company founded a third colony, Demerara, in the mid-18th century. During the French Revolutionary Wars of the late 18th century, when the Netherlands were occupied by the French, and Great Britain and France were at war, Britain took over the colony in 1796. A British expeditionary force was dispatched from its colony of Barbados to seize the colonies from the French-dominated Batavian Republic. The colonies surrendered without a struggle. Initially very little changed, as the British agreed to allow the long-established laws of the colonies to remain in force.  In 1802 Britain returned the colonies to the Batavian Republic under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens. But, after resuming hostilities with France in the Napoleonic Wars in 1803, Britain seized the colonies again less than a year later. The three colonies were officially ceded to the United Kingdom in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. The UK continued separate administration of the individual colonies until 1822 when the administration of Essequibo and Demerara was combined. In 1831, the administration Essequibo-Demerara and Berbice was combined, and the united colony became known as British Guiana.

Economy and politics.

The economy of British Guiana was completely based on sugarcane production until the 1880s, when falling cane sugar prices stimulated a shift toward rice farming, mining and forestry. However, sugarcane remained a significant part of the economy (in 1959 sugar still accounted for nearly 50% of exports). Under the Dutch, settlement and economic activity was concentrated around sugarcane plantations lying inland from the coast. Under the British, cane planting expanded to richer coastal lands, with greater coastline protection. Until the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, sugar planters depended almost exclusively on slave labour to produce sugar. Georgetown was the site of a significant slave rebellion in 1823. In the 1880s gold and diamond deposits were discovered in British Guiana, but they did not produce significant revenue. Bauxite deposits proved more promising and would remain an important part of the economy. The colony did not develop any significant manufacturing industry, other than sugar factories, rice mills, sawmills, and certain small-scale industries (including a brewery, a soap factory, a biscuit factory and an oxygen-acetylene plant, among others).  The London-based Booker Group of companies (Booker Brothers, McConnell & Co., Ltd) dominated the economy of British Guiana. The Bookers had owned sugar plantations in the colony since the early 19th century; by the end of the century they owned a majority of them; and by 1950 owned all but three. With the increasing success and wealth of the Booker Group, they expanded internationally and diversified by investing in rum, pharmaceuticals, publishing, advertising, retail stores, timber, and petroleum, among other industries. The Booker Group became the largest employer in the colony, leading some to refer to it as "Booker's Guiana".

Railways.

British colonists built the first railway system in British Guiana: of, from Georgetown to Rosignol, and of line between Vreeden Hoop and Parika; it opened in 1848. Several narrow-gauge lines were built to serve the sugar industry and others were built to serve the later mines.  In 1948, when the railway in Bermuda was closed down, the locomotives, rolling stock, track, sleepers and virtually all the associated paraphernalia of a railway were shipped to British Guiana to renovate the aged system.  The lines ceased to operate in 1972, but the large Central Station is still standing in Georgetown. Some of the inland mines still operate narrow-gauge lines.

Administration.

The British long continued the forms of Dutch colonial government in British Guiana. A Court of Policy exercised both legislative and executive functions under the direction of the colonial Governor (which existed from 1831 to 1966). A group known as the Financial Representatives sat with the Court of Policy in a Combined Court to set tax policies. A majority of the members of the Courts was appointed by the Governor; the rest were selected by a College of Kiezers (Electors). The Kiezers were elected, with the restrictive franchise based on property holdings and limited to the larger landowners of the colony. The Courts were dominated in the early centuries by the sugar planters and their representatives.  In 1891 the College of Kiezers was abolished in favour of direct election of the elective membership of the Courts. Membership of the Court of Policy became half elected and half appointed, and all of the Financial Representatives became elective positions. The executive functions of the Court of Policy were transferred to a new Executive Council under the control of the Governor. Property qualifications were significantly relaxed for voters and for candidates to the Courts.  In 1928 the British Government abolished the Dutch-influenced constitution and replaced it with a Crown colony constitution. A Legislative Council with an appointed majority was established, and the administrative powers of the Governor were strengthened. These constitutional changes were not popular among the Guyanese, who viewed them as a step backward. The franchise was extended to women.  In 1938 the West India Royal Commission ("The Moyne Commission") was appointed to investigate the economic and social condition of all the British colonies in the Caribbean region after a number of civil and labour disturbances. Among other changes, the Commission recommended some constitutional reforms. As a result, in 1943 a majority of the Legislative Council seats became elective, the property qualifications for voters and for candidates for the Council were lowered, and the bar on women and clergy serving on the Council was abolished. The Governor retained control of the Executive Council, which had the power to veto or pass laws against the wishes of the Legislative Council.  The next round of constitutional reforms came in 1953. A bicameral legislature, consisting of a lower House of Assembly and an upper State Council, was established. The voting membership of the House of Assembly was entirely elective. The membership of the State Council was appointed by the Governor and the House of Assembly and possessed limited revisionary powers. A Court of Policy became the executive body, consisting of the Governor and other colonial officials. Universal adult suffrage was instituted, and the property qualifications for office abolished.  The election of 27 April 1953 under the new system provoked a serious constitutional crisis. The People's Progressive Party (PPP) won 18 of the 24 seats in the House of Assembly. This result alarmed the British Government, which was surprised by the strong showing of the PPP. It considered the PPP as too friendly with communist organisations.  As a result of its fears of communist influence in the colony, the British Government suspended the constitution, declared a state of emergency, and militarily occupied British Guiana on 9 October 1953. Under the direction of the British Colonial Office, the Governor assumed direct rule of the colony under an Interim Government, which continued until 1957. On 12 August 1957, elections were held and the PPP won nine of fourteen elective seats in a new legislature.  A constitutional convention convened in London in March 1960 reached agreement on another new legislature, to consist of an elected House of Assembly (35 seats) and a nominated Senate (13 seats). In the ensuing election of 21 August 1961, the PPP won 20 seats in the House of Assembly, entitling it as the majority party to appoint eight senators. Upon the 1961 election, British Guiana also became self-governing, except as to defence and external matters. The leader of the majority party became Prime Minister, who then named a Council of Ministers, replacing the former Executive Council.  From 1962 to 1964, riots, strikes and other disturbances stemming from racial, social and economic conflicts delayed full independence for British Guiana. The leaders of the political parties reported to the British Colonial Secretary that they were unable to reach agreement on the remaining details of forming an independent government. The British Colonial Office intervened by imposing its own independence plan, in part requiring another election under a new proportional representation system. Britain expected that this system would reduce the number of seats won by the PPP and prevent it from obtaining a majority.  The December 1964 elections for the new legislature gave the PPP 45.8% (24 seats), the People's National Congress (PNC) 40.5% (22 seats) and the United Force (UF) 12.4% (7 seats). The UF agreed to form a coalition government with the PNC, and accordingly, the PNC leader became the new Prime Minister. In November 1965 an independence conference in London quickly reached agreement on an independent constitution; it set the date for independence as 26 May 1966. On that date, at 12 midnight, British Guiana became the new nation of Guyana.

Territorial disputes.

Western boundary with Venezuela.

In 1840, the British Government assigned Robert Hermann Schomburgk to survey and mark out the western boundary of British Guiana with newly independent Venezuela. Venezuela did not accept the Schomburgk Line, which placed the entire Cuyuni River basin within the colony. Venezuela claimed all lands west of the Essequibo River as its territory (see map in this section).  The dispute continued on and off for half a century, culminating in the Venezuela Crisis of 1895, in which Venezuela sought to use the United States' Monroe Doctrine to win support for its position. US President Grover Cleveland used diplomatic pressure to get the British to agree to arbitration of the issue, ultimately agreeing terms for the arbitration that suited Britain. An arbitration tribunal convened in Paris in 1898, and issued its award in 1899. The tribunal awarded about 94% of the disputed territory to British Guiana. A commission surveyed a new border according to the award, and the parties accepted the boundary in 1905.  There the matter rested until 1962, when Venezuela renewed its 19th-century claim, alleging that the arbitral award was invalid. After his death, Severo Mallet-Prevost, legal counsel for Venezuela and a named partner in the New York law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle published a letter alleging that the judges on the tribunal acted improperly as a result of a back-room deal between Russia and Great Britain. The British Government rejected this claim, asserting the validity of the 1899 award. The British Guiana Government, then under the leadership of the PPP, also strongly rejected this claim. Efforts by all parties to resolve the matter on the eve of Guyana's independence in 1966 failed; as of today, the dispute remains unresolved.

Eastern boundary with Suriname.

Robert Schomburgk's 1840 commission also included a survey of the colony's eastern boundary with the Dutch colony of Surinam, now the independent nation of Suriname. The 1899 arbitration award settling the British Guiana—Venezuela border made reference to the border with Suriname as continuing to the source of the Courantyne River, which it named as the Kutari River. The Netherlands raised a diplomatic protest, claiming that the New River, and not the Kutari, was to be regarded as the source of the Courantyne and the boundary. The British government in 1900 replied that the issue was already settled by the longstanding acceptance of the Kutari as the boundary.  In 1962, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, on behalf of its then-constituent country of Suriname, finally made formal claim to the "New River Triangle", the triangular-shaped region between the New and Kutari rivers that was in dispute. The then Surinamese colonial government and, after 1975, the independent Surinamese government, maintained the Dutch position, while the British Guiana Government, and later the independent Guyanese government, maintained the British position.

Stamps and postal history of British Guiana.

British Guiana is famous among philatelists for its early postage stamps, which were first issued in 1850. These stamps include some of the rarest, most expensive stamps in the world, such as the unique British Guiana 1c magenta from 1856, which was sold in 2014 for US$9.5 million.

British Guiana was a former British colony, part of the British West Indies, which resided on the northern coast of South America, now known as the independent nation of Guyana (since 1966).

La Guyane britannique est une ancienne colonie britannique située sur la côte nord de l'Amérique du Sud, désormais la nation indépendante du Guyana.


History of the United States (1918–1945)

1919: strikes, riots and scares.

The United States was in turmoil throughout 1919. The huge number of returning veterans could not find work, something the Wilson administration had given little thought to. After the war, fear of subversion resumed in the context of the Red Scare, massive strikes in major industries (steel, meatpacking) and violent race riots. Radicals bombed Wall Street, and workers went on strike in Seattle in February. During 1919, a series of more than 20 riotous and violent black-white race-related incidents occurred. These included the Chicago, Omaha, and Elaine Race Riots.  A phenomenon known as the

Aftermath of World War I.

A popular Tin Pan Alley song of 1919 asked, concerning the United States troops returning from World War I, "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?". In fact, many did not remain "down on the farm"; there was a great migration of youth from farms to nearby towns and smaller cities. The average distance moved was only 10 miles (16 km). Few went to the cities with over 100,000 people. However, agriculture became increasingly mechanized with widespread use of the tractor, other heavy equipment, and superior techniques disseminated through County Agents, who were employed by state agricultural colleges and funded by the Federal government.  In 1919,

Women's suffrage.

After a long period of agitation, U.S. women were able in 1920 to obtain the necessary votes from a majority of men to obtain the right to vote in all state and federal elections. Women participated in the 1920 Presidential and Congressional elections.  Politicians responded to the new electorate by emphasizing issues of special interest to women, especially prohibition, child health, public schools, and world peace. Women did respond to these issues, but in terms of general voting they shared the same outlook and the same voting behavior as men.  The suffrage organization NAWSA became the League of Women Voters. Alice

Roaring Twenties.

In the U.S. presidential election of 1920, the Republican Party returned to the White House with the landslide victory of Warren G. Harding, who promised a "return to normalcy" after the years of war, ethnic hatreds, race riots and exhausting reforms. Harding used new advertising techniques to lead the GOP to a massive landslide, carrying the major cities as many Irish Catholics and Germans, feeling betrayed, deserted the Democrats.

Prosperity.

Except for a recession in 1920–21, the United States enjoyed a period of prosperity. Good times were widespread for all sectors (except agriculture and coal mining). New industries (especially electric power, movies, automobiles, gasoline, tourist travel, highway construction, and housing) flourished.  "The business of America is business," proclaimed President Coolidge. Entrepreneurship flourished and was widely hailed. Business interests had captured control of the regulatory agencies established before 1915 and used progressive rhetoric, emphasizing technological efficiency and prosperity as the keys to social improvement. William Allen White, a leading progressive spokesman, supported GOP candidate Herbert Hoover in 1928 as one who could "spiritualize" business prosperity and make it serve progressive ends.  Energy was a key to the economy, especially electricity and oil. As electrification reached all the cities and towns, consumers demanded new products such as light bulbs, refrigerators, and toasters. Factories installed electric motors and saw productivity surge. With the oil booms in Texas, Oklahoma, and California, the United States dominated world petroleum production, now even more important in an age of automobiles and trucks.

Herbert Hoover.

Herbert Hoover became world famous by leading the Commission for Relief in Belgium in World War I. He directed the U.S. Food Administration when the U.S. entered the war, and served as Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s. An energetic exponent of progressivism he promoted engineering-style efficiency in business and public service, and promoted standardization, elimination of waste, and international trade. He easily won the Republican presidential nomination in 1928 and defeated Democrat Al Smith in a landslide.  The promise of prosperity made Hoover

Unions.

Labor unions grew very rapidly during the war, emerging with a large membership, full treasuries, and a temporary government guarantee of the right of collective bargaining. Inflation was high during the war, but wages went up even faster. However, unions were weak in heavy industry, such as automobiles and steel. Their main strength was in construction, printing, railroads, and other crafts where the AFL had a strong system in place. Total union membership had soared from 2.7 million in 1914 to 5 million at its peak in 1919. An aggressive spirit appeared in 1919, as demonstrated by the general strike in Seattle and the police strike in Boston. The larger unions made a dramatic move for expansion

Immigration restriction.

The United States became more anti-immigration in outlook during this period. The American Immigration Act of 1924 limited immigration from countries where 2% of the total U.S. population, per the

Jazz.

The "Jazz Age" symbolized the popularity of new musics and dance forms, which attracted younger people in all the large cities as the older generation worried about the threat of looser sexual standards as suggested by the uninhibited "flapper." In every locality, Hollywood discovered an audience for its silent films. It was an age of celebrities and heroes, with movie stars, boxers, home run hitters, tennis aces, and football

Prohibition.

In 1920, the manufacture, sale, import and export of alcohol was prohibited by the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in an attempt to alleviate high rates of alcoholism and, especially, political corruption led by saloon-based politicians. It was enforced

Ku Klux Klan.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the name of three entirely different organizations (1860s, 1920s, post 1960) that used the same nomenclature and costumes but had no direct connection. The KKK of the 1920s was a purification movement that rallied against crime, especially violation of prohibition, and decried the growing "influence" of "big-city" Catholics and Jews, many of them immigrants and their descendants from Ireland as well as Southern and Eastern Europe. Its membership was often exaggerated but possibly reached as many as 4 million men, but no prominent national figure claimed membership; no daily newspaper endorsed it, and indeed

Scopes "Monkey" Trial.

The Scopes Trial of 1925 was a Tennessee court case that tested a state law which forbade the teaching of "any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." The law was the result of a systematic

Federal government.

In retrospect, the 1920s are sometimes seen as the last gasp of unregulated "robber-baron" capitalism. The federal government took on an increasing role in business affairs. In addition to Prohibition, the government obtained new powers and duties such as funding and overseeing the new U.S. Highway system and the regulation of radio frequencies. The result was a rapid spread of standardized roads and broadcasts that were welcomed by most Americans. The Harding Administration was rocked by the Teapot Dome scandal, the most

Foreign policy, 1919–1941.

In the 1920s, American policy was an active involvement in international affairs, while ignoring the League of Nations, setting up numerous diplomatic ventures, and using the enormous financial power of the United States to dictate major diplomatic questions in Europe.  The Republican presidents, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, avoided any political commitments or alliances with anyone else. They minimize contact with the League of Nations. However, as historian Jerald Combs reports their administrations in no way returned to 19th-century isolationism. The key Republican leaders: The Washington Naval Conference, was the most successful diplomatic venture the 1920s. It was held in Washington, under the Chairmanship of Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes from 12 November 1921 to 6 February 1922. Conducted outside the auspice of the League of Nations, it was attended by nine nations—the United States, Japan, China, France, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Portugal Russia and Germany were pariahs and were not invited. It focused on resolving misunderstandings or conflicts regarding interests in the Pacific Ocean and

Mexico.

Since the turmoil of the Mexican revolution had died down, the Harding administration was prepared to normalize relations with Mexico. Between 1911 and 1920 American imports from Mexico increased from $57,000,000 to $179,000,000 and exports from $61,000,000 to $208,000,000. Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover took the lead in order to promote trade and investments other than in oil and land, which had long dominated

Intervention ends in Latin America.

Small-scale military interventions continued after 1921 as the Banana Wars tapered off. The Hoover administration began a goodwill policy and withdrew all military forces. President Roosevelt announced the "Good Neighbor Policy" by which the United States

Isolationism in 1930s.

In the 1930s, the United States entered the period of deep isolationism,

Coming of war: 1937–1941.

President Roosevelt tried to avoid repeating what he saw as Woodrow Wilson's mistakes in World War I. He often made exactly the opposite decision. Wilson called for neutrality in thought and deed, while Roosevelt made it clear his administration strongly favored Britain and China. Unlike the loans in World War I, the United States made large-scale grants of military and economic aid to the Allies through Lend-Lease, with little expectation of repayment. Wilson did not greatly expand war production before the declaration of war; Roosevelt did. Wilson waited for the declaration to begin a draft; Roosevelt

Great Depression.

Historians and economists still have not agreed on the causes of the Great Depression, but there is general agreement that it began in the United States in late 1929 and was either started or worsened by "Black Thursday," the stock market crash of Thursday, October 24, 1929. Sectors of the US economy had been showing some signs of distress for months before October 1929. Business inventories of all types were three times as large as they had been a year before (an indication that the public was not buying products as rapidly as in the past), and other signposts of economic health—freight carloads, industrial production, and wholesale prices—were slipping downward.  The events in the United States triggered a worldwide depression, which led to deflation and a great increase in unemployment. In the United States between 1929 and 1933, unemployment soared from 3% of the workforce to 25%, while manufacturing output collapsed by one-third. Local relief was overwhelmed. Unable to support their families, many unemployed men deserted (often going to "Hoovervilles") so the meager relief supplies their families received would stretch further. For many, their next meal was found at a soup kitchen, if at all.  Adding to the misery of the times, drought arrived in the Great Plains. Decades of bad farming practices caused the topsoil to erode, and combined with the weather conditions (the 1930s was the overall warmest decade of the 20th century in North America) caused an ecological disaster. The dry soil was lifted by wind and blown into huge dust storms that blanketed entire towns, a phenomenon that continued for several years. Those who had lost their homes and livelihoods in the Dust Bowl were lured westward by advertisements for work put out by agribusiness in western states, such as California. The migrants came to be called Okies, Arkies, and other derogatory names as they flooded the labor supply of the agricultural fields, driving down wages, pitting desperate workers against each other. They came into competition with Mexican laborers, who were deported en masse back to their home country.  In the South, the fragile economy collapsed further. To escape, rural workers and sharecroppers migrated north by train, both black and white. By 1940 they were attracted by booming munitions factories in plants in the Great Lakes region Nationwide, farmers had been experiencing depressed market conditions for their crops and goods since the end of World War I. Many family farms that had been mortgaged during the 1920s to provide money to "get through until better times" were foreclosed when farmers were unable to make payments.

World War II.

Foreign and military policy.

Isolationist sentiment with regard to foreign wars in America had ebbed, but the United States at first declined to enter the war, limiting itself to giving supplies and weapons via Lend Lease to Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. American feeling changed drastically with the sudden Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. enthusiastically went to war against Japan, Italy, and Nazi Germany. Italy surrendered in 1943, followed by Germany and Japan in 1945. The economy doubled and tripled in size as a massive industrial mobilization was accompanied by artificial wage and price controls. 16 million men entered the military (most were drafted), in addition to 300,000 women volunteers. After a series of defeats inflicted by Japan, the U.S. Navy turned the tide at Midway (June 1942), then inexorably moved toward total destruction of the Japanese military. After small-scale invasions of North Africa (1942) and Italy (1943), the main American effort was

Homefront.

Economics.

The main contributions of the U.S. to the Allied war effort comprised money, industrial output, food, petroleum, technological innovation, and (especially 1944–45), soldiers. Much of the focus in Washington was maximizing the economic output of the nation. The overall result was a dramatic increase in GDP, the export of vast quantities of supplies to the Allies and to American forces overseas, the end of unemployment, and a rise in civilian consumption even as 40% of the GDP went to the war effort. This was achieved by tens of millions of

Taxes and controls.

Federal tax policy was highly contentious during the war, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt battling a conservative Congress. Everyone agreed on the need for high taxes to pay for the war. Roosevelt tried unsuccessfully to impose a 100% tax on incomes over $25,000 (equal to $ today), while Congress enlarged the base

Rationing.

In 1942 a rationing system was begun to guarantee minimum amounts of necessities to everyone (especially poor people) and prevent inflation. Tires were the first item to be rationed in January 1942 because supplies of natural rubber were interrupted. Gasoline rationing proved an even better way to allocate scarce rubber. By 1943 one needed government issued ration coupons to purchase typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, silk, nylon, coffee, stoves, shoes, meat, cheese, butter, margarine, canned foods, dried fruits, jam, and many other items. Some items—like new automobiles and appliances—were no longer made. The rationing system did not apply to used goods (like clothes or cars). The ration system was complex and confusing, but high levels of patriotism made it acceptable as people helped each other through the maze of rules.  To get a classification and a book of

Work force.

The unemployment problem ended in the United States with the beginning of World War II, when stepped up wartime production created millions of new jobs and the draft pulled young men out of the labor pool.  Women also joined the workforce to replace men who had joined the forces, though in fewer numbers. Roosevelt stated that the efforts of civilians at home to support the war through personal sacrifice was as critical to winning the war as the efforts of the soldiers themselves. "Rosie the Riveter" became the symbol of women laboring in manufacturing. The war effort brought about significant changes in the role of women in society as a whole. At the end of the war, many of the munitions factories closed. Other women were replaced by returning veterans. However most women who wanted to continue

Labor unions.

The war mobilization changed the relationship of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) with both employers and the national government. Both the CIO and the larger American Federation of Labor (AFL) grew rapidly in the war years.  Nearly all the unions that belonged to the CIO were fully supportive of both the war effort and of the Roosevelt administration. However the United Mine Workers, who had taken an isolationist stand in the years leading up to the war and had opposed Roosevelt's reelection in 1940, left the CIO in 1942. The major unions supported a wartime no-strike pledge that aimed to eliminate not only major strikes for new contracts, but also the innumerable small strikes called by shop stewards and local union leadership to protest particular grievances. In return for labor's no-strike pledge, the government offered arbitration to determine the wages and other terms of new contracts. Those

Racial tensions.

The cities were relatively peaceful; much-feared large-scale race riots did not happen, but there were small-scale confrontations, notably the 1943 race riot in Detroit and

Japanese American internment.

About 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast and their children were interned by the U.S. government. They were sent to inland camps. Canada followed a similar policy. The 100,000 or more Japanese Americans in Hawaii were not interned. The American camps were closed in 1944.

End of an era.

1945 marked the end of an era. In foreign policy the United Nations was established on October 24, 1945, to serve as a world body to help prevent future world wars. By a vote of 65 to 7, the United States Senate, on December 4, 1945, approved the treaty that set full American participation in the UN, with a veto in the all-important Security Council. This marked a turn away from the traditional interest in strategic local concerns of the U.S. and toward more international involvement.  Fears of a postwar depression did not materialize, thanks in part to the large stock of savings that paid for the pent-up demands for housing, cars, new clothes—and babies. The Baby Boom began as the veterans returned, many moving to the rapidly expanding suburbs. Optimism was the hallmark of the new age—an age of grand expectations.

The history of the United States from 1918 through 1945 covers the post-World War I era, the Great Depression, and World War II. After World War I, the U.S. rejected the Treaty of Versailles and did not join the League of Nations.

L'histoire des États-Unis de 1918 à 1945 couvre la période d'entre-deux-guerres, lorsque les États-Unis se sont notamment opposés à la ratification du traité de Versailles et n'ont pas adhéré à la Société des Nations.


Religion.

Religions, even those that are radically monotheistic, do not necessarily deny the existence of other gods or spiritual beings. On the contrary, they claim other gods are not worthy of worship and in actuality are demons who mislead followers from proper belief or practice. Christian missionaries often employed demonization tactics when converting pagans, although Judaism, Islam, and other religions have similar histories. Demonization is not limited to focusing on other religions but can also be directed inward to condemn various schools of thought or movements.  From a secular viewpoint, demonization can be used to denigrate an opposed individual or group, making adherents to one's own religion or viewpoint less inclined to do business with them (and possibly convert) and more inclined to fight against them. If foreigners are evil and corrupted by demonic influence, then any means of self-defense is easily portrayed as legitimate. The portrayal of almost all pagans in the Middle East as Baal worshippers in the Hebrew Bible is an example of this. If pagans are corrupted by the demon "god" Baal, then clearly they must be fought or at least oppressed. Especially in the earlier books of the Hebrew Bible, foreign deities are portrayed as existing and corrupting entities rather than being mere powerless idols. Some would argue this later transferred to Christianity after Constantine I's ascension in its suppression of Roman paganism. Some of the most known of these demonizations are Lucifer, Beelzebub and Baphomet up to the extend that they became synonymous with the devil/satan of Abrahamic religions. Later, the language of demonization would be invoked during the Spanish Inquisition, leading to the expulsion of Jews and Moriscos from Spain.  The view of early Judaism treating foreign deities as devils and later Judaism treating them as nonexistent is not universal. Psalms 96:5, for example, is alternately translated as, "For all the Gods of the gentiles are nothing," "For all the Gods of the gentiles are devils" (Vulgate), and "For all the gods of the peoples are idols."(NRSV) The Greek Septuagint translation of that passage, used by the early Christian Church, used the "devils" version. Jerome would follow the Greek text rather than the Hebrew when he translated the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible. The "devils" epithet would still appear in Bibles up until the end of the 20th century when the consensus reverted to the original Hebrew text for modern translations.  Analogs to demonization exist outside monotheistic religions, as well. Polytheism easily accepts foreign gods in general, and in times of conflict, a foreign nation's gods would sometimes be portrayed as evil. Less commonly, it would be applied to other religions as well. For example, Buddha's portrayal in Hinduism varies: Some strains of Hinduism consider the Buddha an incarnation of Vishnu while in some texts such as the Puranas, he is portrayed as an avatar born to mislead those who deny the Vedic knowledge.

Political conflicts.

Demonization is sometimes used against what are arguably political opponents rather than religious ones. The Knights Templar were destroyed by accusations that they worshipped Baphomet from King Philip the Fair. Baphomet, often thought to be Beelzebub, may have been used because of the likeness of this horned deity with the Christian images of Satan.

Modern usage.

In colloquial usage, the term demonization is used metaphorically to refer to propaganda or moral panic directed against any individual or group.

Demonization is the reinterpretation of polytheistic deities as evil, lying demons by other religions, generally monotheistic and henotheistic ones. The term has since been expanded to refer to any characterization of individuals, groups, or political bodies as evil.

La diabolisation est un procédé consistant à donner une forte connotation négative à une idée, un groupe ou un individu, de sorte que sa seule évocation suscite une réaction de rejet.