History.

The most important change found in Middle French is the complete disappearance of the noun declension system (already underway for centuries). There is no longer a distinction between nominative and oblique forms of nouns, and plurals are indicated simply with an "s". This transformation necessitates an increased reliance on the order of words in the sentence, which becomes more or less the syntax of modern French (although there is a continued reliance on the verb in the second position of a sentence, or "verb-second structure", until the 16th century).  Among the elites, Latin was still the language of education, administration, and bureaucracy; this changed in 1539, with the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, in which François I made French alone the language for legal acts. Regional differences were still extremely pronounced throughout France: In the south of France, Occitan languages dominated; in east central France, Franco-Provençal languages were predominant; while, in the north of France, Oïl languages other than Francien continued to be spoken.  The fascination with classical texts led to numerous borrowings from Latin and Greek. Numerous neologisms based on Latin roots were introduced, and some scholars modified the spelling of French words to bring them into conformity with their Latin roots, sometimes erroneously. This often produced a radical difference between a word's spelling and the way it was pronounced.  The French wars in Italy and the presence of Italians in the French court brought the French into contact with Italian humanism. Many words dealing with military ("alarme", "cavalier", "espion", "infanterie", "camp", "canon", "soldat") and artistic (especially architectural: "arcade", "architrave", "balcon", "corridor"; also literary: "sonnet") practices were borrowed from Italian. These tendencies would continue through Classical French.  There were also some borrowings from Spanish ("casque") and German ("reître") and from the Americas ("cacao", "hamac", "maïs").  The influence of the Anglo-Norman language on English had left words of French and Norman origin in England. Some words of Romance origin now found their way back into French as doublets through war and trading contacts.  Also, the meaning and usage of many words from Old French were transformed.  Spelling and punctuation in this period are extremely variable. The introduction of printing in 1470 highlighted the need for reform in spelling. One proposed reform came from Jacques Peletier du Mans, who developed a phonetic spelling system and introduced new typographic signs (1550); but this attempt at spelling reform was not followed.  This period saw the publication of the first French grammars and of the French-Latin dictionary of Robert Estienne (1539).  At the beginning of the 17th century, French would see the continued unification of French, the suppression of certain forms, and the prescription of rules, leading to Classical French.

Literature.

Middle French is the language found in the writings of Charles, Duke of Orléans, François Villon, Clément Marot, Rabelais, Montaigne, Ronsard, and the poets of the Pléiade.  The affirmation and glorification of French finds its greatest manifestation in the "Defense and Illustration of the French Language" (1549) by the poet Joachim du Bellay, which maintained that French (like the Tuscan of Petrarch and Dante) was a worthy language for literary expression and which promulgated a program of linguistic production and purification (including the imitation of Latin genres).

Middle French () is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the 14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which:

中古法语(法语:moyen français)是法语其中一个历史分期,主要由1340年至1611年,主要特点有:


Personal life and family.

Wong was born into a large and wealthy family in Johor Bahru, Malaya. He was the seventh son of Mr Wong Ah Yam and Madam Mak Qui Tong. His granduncle is Wong Ah Fook, who was a good friend of Sultan Abu Bakar and was the contractor responsible for the construction of Istana Besar. Wong has nine brothers and seven sisters. Of his siblings, five brothers and one sister were also prominent Johore badminton players. The family stayed in a big mansion in Jalan Ah Siang, Johor Bahru. Wong married his wife, Doreen Poi Chim Neo, at a church in Seremban on 3 August 1947 and moved to Singapore shortly after. They lived at a single-storey home in Jalan Jarak, Seletar Hills and had three children together, namely Patricia, Audrey and Dennis.

Badminton career.

Having grown up in a family with a love for badminton, Wong started playing the sport since young. His career began when he joined Mayflower Badminton Party as a teenager where he won numerous club and interstate competitions. He excelled in the singles event and quickly rose to become a household name in Singapore and Malaya.  In 1938, Wong won his first Singapore Open singles title and went on to win the tournament six more times in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1947, 1948 and 1949.  Wong also captured his first two Malaysia Open singles titles in 1940 and 1941 before a break due to World War II prevented him from continuing his career until 1947 where he once again won the crown. He then won five titles in a row from 1949 to 1953, until his run was stopped by Ong Poh Lim in 1954. His eight Malaysian singles titles were also a long-standing international circuit record jointly held by the legendary Rudy Hartono (eight times All England champions) and Morten Frost (eight times Denmark Open champions) till it was broken by Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in 2013.  In 1950, he became the first Asian to win the All-England Championships, and won the title again in 1951, 1952, and 1955, earning him an international reputation as the "Great Wong". He was also a member of the victorious Malayan Thomas Cup teams of 1949, 1952, and 1955, serving as captain of the last. His achievements in 1955 was remarkable because he was 37 years old at the time, an age by which most badminton players were considered past their prime.  Wong also won the Denmark Open men's singles title in 1950, the India Open men's singles and men's doubles titles with Abdullah Piruz in 1951 and the Philippines Open men's singles and men's doubles titles with Cheong Hock Leng in 1952.  Wong retired from competitive badminton after the 1955 Thomas Cup. He became a badminton coach for the Singapore Youth Sports Centre. He also coached the Malayan team in its bid to retain the Thomas Cup in 1958, when Malaya lost the title to Indonesia. Wong later took up coaching stints in Thailand, Canada, India and Japan, as well as at the Haarlem Badminton Club of Holland in 1966.

Awards.

In 1956, his contribution to the sport was recognised when he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). In 1962, he made local history as the first and still the only sportsperson to date to be awarded the Sijil Kemuliaan (Certificate of Honour) by the Government of Singapore. In 1985, the International Badminton Federation (IBF) awarded Wong the Distinguished Services Award for his services to the sport. In 1986, Wong was inducted into the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) Sports Museum Hall of Fame. Three years after his death, the International Badminton Federation (IBF) inducted him into its Hall of Fame posthumously in May 1999. Then chairman of the IBF, H R Ward, commented, that "Wong was one of the most remarkable players" and "had enhanced the sport through exceptional achievements". In a Straits Times poll of 2000, Wong was voted as Singapore's "Sports Personality of the Century". The Olympic Council of Malaysia inducted Wong into its Hall of Fame in 2004.

Death.

Wong died on 22 May 1996, at the age of 78, due to pneumonia.

Wong Peng Soon, (; 17 February 1918 – 22 May 1996) was an ethnic Chinese Malayan/Singaporean badminton player who reigned as a top player in Malaya from the 1930s to the 1950s. Noted for his smooth but powerful strokes and graceful footwork, he won the singles title seven times in Singapore and eight times in Malaya during this period, as well as being the top player in the All England, the Danish Open, the Indian Open, and the Philippines Open to name a few. Wong's great rival during his career was his contemporary Ong Poh Lim.

黄秉璇(罗马拼音:Wong Peng Soon,1918年-1996年-5月22日),马来亚、新加坡前羽球运动员,自1930年代起至1950年代,曾经长期支配新加坡羽球界。他的球风平稳,击球力道强而步法极其优雅,曾赢得7次新加坡单打冠军及8次马来亚单打冠军。另外,他还得过丹麦公开赛、印度公开赛及菲律宾公开赛等比赛的冠军。


History.

VFL era (1897–1989).

Background and founding.

The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was established in 1877 and quickly went on to become Victoria's major Australian rules football competition. During the 1890s, an off-field power struggle occurred between the VFA's stronger and weaker clubs, the former seeking greater administrative control commensurate with their relative financial contribution to the game. This came to a head in 1896 when it was proposed that gate profits, which

1897–1900s: inaugural VFL season and early years.

The VFL's inaugural season occurred in 1897. It made several innovations early on to entice the public's interest, including an annual finals tournament, rather than awarding the premiership to the team with the best record through the season; and, the formal establishment of the modern scoring system, in which six points are awarded for a goal, and one point for a behind.  Although the VFL and the VFA continued to compete for spectator interest for many years, the VFL quickly established itself as the premier competition in Victoria. In 1908, the league expanded to ten teams,

1915–1945: three VFA clubs join VFL.

In 1925, the VFL expanded from nine teams to twelve, with Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne each crossing from the VFA. North Melbourne and Hawthorn remained very weak in the VFL for a very long period. Although North Melbourne would become the

1946–1975: Post-war golden years.

In 1952, the VFL hosted a "national day", when all six matches were played outside Melbourne. Matches were played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Brisbane Exhibition Ground, North Hobart Oval, Albury Sports Ground and Victorian country towns Yallourn and Euroa.  Footscray became the first of the 1925 expansion teams to win the premiership in 1954.  Melbourne became a powerhouse during the 1950s and early 1960s under coach Norm Smith and star player Ron Barassi. The club contested seven consecutive grand finals from 1954 to 1960, winning five premierships, including three in a row from 1955 to 1957.  Television coverage commenced in 1957 with direct telecasts of the final quarter permitted. At first, several channels competed through broadcasting different games. When the VFL found that television reduced crowds it decided no coverage was to be allowed for 1960. In 1961 television replays in Melbourne were introduced although direct telecasts were rarely permitted. Other states and territories enjoyed live telecasts every Saturday afternoon.  In 1959, the VFL planned the first purpose built mega-stadium, VFL Park (later known as Waverley Park), to give it some independence from the Melbourne Cricket Club,

1976–1981: VFL leaves Australian National Football Council.

In 1976, the National Football League, which was the national administrative body for Australian rules football at the time, established the NFL Night Series to succeed the Championship of Australia. Played concurrently with the premiership season, the Night Series was contested among twelve clubs from the VFL, SANFL and WANFL invited based on their finishing positions from the previous year. The event was mostly played on Tuesday nights, with night games at Norwood Oval in Adelaide, and all games were televised live in colour on Channel 9, which opened up unprecedented revenue streams from television rights and sponsorship opportunities for the sport.

1982–1989: professionalism, bankruptcy and expansion.

The 1980s was a period of significant structural change in Australian football around the country. The VFL was the most popular and dominant of the state leagues around the country in terms of overall attendance, interest, and money, and began to look towards expanding its influence directly into other states. The VFL and its top clubs were asserting their financial power to recruit top players from interstate. As a result of this, rising cost pressures were driving some of Victoria's weaker clubs into dire financial situations. One of those clubs, the South Melbourne Swans, became the first VFL club to relocate interstate. The Swans moved their home games to Sydney in 1982, officially renaming themselves the Sydney Swans the following year. Under the private ownership of wealthy Dr Geoffrey Edelsten during the mid-1980s Sydney became a successful team on-field.

AFL era (1990–present).

The league was officially renamed the Australian Football League in 1990 to reflect its national composition.

1990–2006: A professional national competition.

In 1990 the AFLPA, the players union, signed its first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the league which outlined wages and conditions in what was becoming a sole source of income for players who had previously had part-time or full-time jobs outside of football. Functionally, the AFL gave up control over its Victorian-based minor grades at the end of 1991 – clubs continued to field reserves teams in the independent Victorian State Football League.  Midway through 1990, the SANFL's most successful club, Port Adelaide, made a bid for an AFL licence. In response, the SANFL gained an injunction via Glenelg and Norwood against Port Adelaide, allowing it time to establish a composite South Australian team called the Adelaide Crows, which was awarded the licence and joined the league in 1991 as the fourth non Victorian club. The same year saw the West Coast Eagles become the first non Victorian club to reach the Grand Final, which was won by Hawthorn. The Eagles would then win the premiership in 1992 and 1994. In 1994, the Fremantle Football Club was formed in Western Australia, and joined the AFL in

2006–present: new frontiers.

In the late 2000s, the AFL looked to establish a permanent presence on the Gold Coast in the state of Queensland, which was fast-developing as a major population centre. North Melbourne, which was in financial difficulty and had played a few home games on the Gold Coast in previous years, was offered significant subsidies to relocate to the Gold Coast but declined. The AFL then began work to establish a club on the Gold Coast as a new expansion team.  Early in 2008, a meeting held by the AFL discussed having two new teams enter the AFL competition. In March 2008, the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club presidents to establish sides on the Gold Coast and in Western Sydney. The Gold Coast Suns were

Clubs.

The AFL operates on a single table system, with no divisions and conferences, nor promotion and relegation from other leagues.  The league was founded as the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1897, comprising eight teams only based in the Australian state of Victoria. Over the next century, a series of expansions, a relocation, a merger and a club withdrawal saw the league's teams expand to the 18 teams there are today.  In 1990, the national nature of the competition resulted in the name change to the Australian Football League (AFL). Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Tasmania are the only states or territories not to have AFL clubs, although at least two games per year are played in each of these parts of the country. The current 18 teams are based across five states of Australia; the majority (ten) still remain in Victoria, nine of which are located in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia have two teams each.

Former clubs.

Since the league commenced in 1897 as the VFL, only one club,, has withdrawn from the competition. It last competed in 1914 and withdrew because, as an amateur club, it was unable to remain competitive in a

Timeline of clubs.

Venues.

Throughout the history of the VFL/AFL, there have been a total of 45 different grounds used, with 17 used during the 2019 AFL season. The largest capacity ground in use is the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), which has a capacity of over 100,000 people, and hosts the Grand Final each year. The MCG is shared by four teams as a home ground, while the other grounds used as home venues by multiple teams are Docklands Stadium in Melbourne (five teams), Adelaide Oval in Adelaide (two teams), and Perth Stadium in Perth (two teams). The AFL has had exclusive ownership of Docklands Stadium (commercially known as Marvel Stadium) since late 2016.  Prior to the expansion of the competition, most grounds were located in suburban Melbourne, with Princes Park, Victoria Park, the Junction Oval, Waverley Park, and the Lake Oval each having hosted over 700 games. However, since the introduction of a national competition, each state and territory of Australia has hosted AFL games. On 25 April 2013 (Anzac Day), a match took place between St Kilda and Sydney at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, being the first AFL match played outside Australia for official premiership points.

Current venues.

Below are the venues that hosted AFL matches

Former venues.

Below are the other venues to have hosted

Players.

AFL players are drawn from a number of sources; however, most players enter the league through the AFL draft, held at the end of each season. A small number of players have converted from other sports, or been recruited internationally. Prior to the nationalisation of the competition, a zoning system was in place. At the end of the season, the best 22 players and coach from across the competition are selected in the All-Australian team.  The AFL has tight controls over the player lists of each club. Currently, apart from the recently added expansion clubs who have some additional players, each team can have a senior list of 38 to 40 players plus 4 to 6 rookie players, to a total of 44 players (following a reduction by two of the number of rookies in 2012) and up to three development rookies (international, alternate talent or New South Wales scholarship players). Changes to playing lists are permitted only in the off-season: clubs can trade players during a "trade period" which follows each season and recruit new players through the three AFL drafts, the national draft, the pre-season draft and the rookie draft, which take place after the trade period. A mid-year draft was conducted between 1990 and 1993. The national draft is the primary method of recruiting new players and has been used since 1986. The draft order is based on reverse-finishing position from the previous year, but selections can be traded. Free agency player movements have only been permitted since the 2012/13 offseason, having been rejected by the AFL commission previously.

Salary cap.

A salary cap (known as the Total Player Payments or TPP) is also in place as part of the league's equalisation policy; this is $9,130,000 for the 2013 season with a salary floor of $8,673,500 except for the Gold Coast, whose salary cap will be $9,630,000 with a salary floor of $9,171,500, and Greater Western Sydney, whose salary cap is $9,987,000 with a floor of $9,530,500. As part of the AFL's enhanced equalisation policies, in 2014 the league announced an increase of the TPP for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. TPP increases an additional $150,000 per club in 2015 above previously contracted amounts, increasing from $9.92m to $10.07m in 2015 and $10.22m to $10.37m in 2016.  The salary cap was set at $1.25 million for 1987–1989 as per VFL agreement, with the salary floor set at 90% of the cap or $1.125 million; the salary floor was increased to 92.5% of the cap in 2001, and 95% of the cap for 2013 due to increased revenues. Both the salary cap and salary floor has increased substantially since the competition was rebranded as the AFL in 1990.  Salaries of draft selections are

Demographics.

There were 801 players on AFL club senior, veteran, rookie and international lists in 2011, including players from every state and mainland territory of Australia., there are 68 players of Indigenous Australian descent on AFL club lists, comprising approximately 9% of the overall playing population.  There were 12 players recruited from outside Australia on AFL lists in 2011, including 10 from Ireland, all converts from Gaelic football drafted as part of the Irish Experiment, and one each from the United States and Canada. There were also another five overseas-born players who emigrated to Australia at

Season structure.

Pre-season.

From 1988 until 2013, the AFL ran a pre-season competition that finished prior to the commencement of the premiership season, which served as both warm-up matches for the season and as a stand-alone competition.  It was mostly contested as a four-week knock out tournament,

Premiership season.

The AFL home-and-away season at present lasts for 23 rounds, starting in late March and ending in early September. As of the 2013 AFL season, each team plays 22 matches, with one bye. Teams receive four premiership points for a win and two premiership points for a draw. Ladder finishing positions are based on the number of premiership points won, and "percentage" (calculated as the ratio of points scored to points conceded throughout the season) is used as a tie-breaker when teams finish with equal premiership points. At the end of the home-and-away season, the McClelland Trophy is awarded to the minor premiers.

Themed rounds and special matches.

Some rounds of the season are named as themed rounds, such as Rivalry Round (in which traditional rivals are matched up against each other), Women's Round and Heritage Round (where teams play in old style guernseys). Some matches are also themed for special events. For example, each year Collingwood play Essendon in the annual Anzac Day clash at the MCG and the game will typically sell out regardless of the positions of the two teams on the ladder, due to their strong rivalry and huge followings. Another annual match is the Queen's Birthday game between Melbourne and Collingwood.  There are separate trophies for the matches between several clubs and former rivalries such as the Lake Trophy between St Kilda and the Sydney Swans.

Finals series.

The top eight teams at the end of the AFL Premiership season compete in a four-week finals series throughout September, culminating in a grand final to determine the premiers. The finals series is played under the AFL final eight system, and the grand final is traditionally played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September.  The winning team receives a

Awards.

The following major individual awards and accolades are presented each season:  Other independent best and fairest awards are presented by different football and media organisations.

Team of the Century.

To celebrate the 100th season of the VFL/AFL, the "AFL Team of the Century" was named in 1996.  Jack Elder was declared the "Umpire of the Century" to coincide with the Team

Representative football.

State football.

State representation football in the AFL initially ended in 1999.The concept has been revived twice since then in 2008 and 2020 when a Victorian state team took on all stars teams. (2008 "The dream team") 2020 "All stars" infusing all the other states best players. The most recent state match being for the bush fire relief.; Adelaide Now; 25 February 2007</ref>

History of the VFL/AFL's involvement.

VFL players first represented the Victoria representative team in 1897 regardless of their state of origin.  Being the dominant league drawing many of the country's best players, the Victoria Australian rules football team (nicknamed the "Big V" and composed mostly of VFL players) dominated interstate matches until the introduction of State of Origin selection criteria by the Australian Football Council in 1977, after which Victoria's results with the other main Australian football states became more even.  The AFL Commission assumed control of interstate football in 1993 and co-ordinated an annual State of Origin series typically held during a mid-season bye round.  However, after the 1999 series, the AFL declared the concept of interstate football "on hold", citing club unwillingness to release star players and

Global expansion.

Although no professional leagues or teams exist outside Australia, the AFL has stated that it wishes to showcase Australian rules football to other countries such as India, China and South Africa so as to create a global following thus creating more exposure for its sponsors in the increasing Asian and African markets. On 17 October 2010, AFL clubs Melbourne Demons and Brisbane Lions played an exhibition game in front of 7,000 people at the Jiangwan Sports Center in Shanghai. This was the first professional AFL game to be played in China.

International Rules Series.

The AFL has garnered increased interest in Ireland due to the introduction of the International Rules Series played between an AFL picked All Australian Team and Ireland international rules football team beginning from 1984. The series is organised under the auspices of the AFL and the Gaelic Athletic Association. The game itself is a

Administration.

The AFL Commission is responsible for the administration of the AFL. It was established in December 1985, and then granted almost unilateral administrative control over the league in 1993, after the club parochialism and self-interest which came with the traditional club delegate based administrative structure threatened to undermine the competition.  The Commission's chairman is Richard Goyder, who officially took over from Mike Fitzpatrick on 4 April 2017. The CEO of the AFL is Gillon McLachlan, who replaced Andrew Demetriou in 2014.  In

Audience.

The AFL was the best-attended sporting league in Australia in 2012. According to market research, the AFL is the second-most-watched sporting event in Australia, behind cricket. Currently, broadcast rights for the AFL are shared between the Seven Network (free-to-air), Foxtel and Austar (pay TV), and Telstra (internet). In 2019, a record 1,057,572 people were members of an AFL club.

Attendance.

The following are

Television.

Australian television.

AFL matches are currently broadcast in Australia by the free-to-air Seven Network, subscription television provider Foxtel, and digital content provider Telstra. The six-year deal which was announced on August 2015 covers the inclusive 2017 - 2022 seasons.  The Seven Network usually broadcasts three matches from every round within the season, exceptions being the Easter (round 2) and Anzac (round 5) rounds in which five

Telecast history.

The 1957 VFL season was the first broadcast after the commencement of television in Australia (introduced in 1956 to coincide with the Melbourne Olympic Games). During the late 1950s and 1960s, all Melbourne stations (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9 and, after it commenced in 1965, ATV0/ATV10) broadcast some games. However, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the VFL was concerned that direct telecasts may affect attendances and stations were only permitted to telecast a delayed replay of the last quarter of games. In the 1980s, the Seven Network was given exclusive rights to VFL/AFL games. The only year Seven did not telecast games was 1987, when the rights were bought by Broadcom, which on-sold the rights to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

International broadcast partners.

Historically AFL broadcasts in other countries have varied.  In the 1980s, VFL matches were shown in the United States on ESPN for some time. In the early 1990s, Prime Network, an American regional sports network unrelated to the Australian regional television network, aired Seven's weekly highlight show as well as the Grand Final. Some other English speaking countries have shown the game, however it has been since 2008 that channels in other countries began televising matches. From 1998 to 2006 games were broadcast in the United States by the Fox Sports World network.  In 2007, after the record domestic television rights deal, the AFL secured an additional bonus: greater international television rights and increase exposure to overseas markets, including a five-year deal with Setanta Sports and new deals with other overseas pay-TV networks. The deal ended early in 2009 when Setanta stopped broadcasting into Great Britain. ESPN again took up the contract.  The following countries are ranked by the approximate extent of their current television coverage (and whether it is free to air):

Radio.

The first broadcast of a VFL game was by 3AR in 1923, the year that broadcasting officially commenced in Australia. The first commentator was Wallace (Jumbo) Shallard, a former Geelong player who went on to have a long and respected career in print and broadcast media. The VFL/AFL has been broadcast every year since then by the ABC and

Internet.

The official internet/mobile broadcast partner of the AFL is BigPond, part of Telstra. The AFL also provides exclusive broadband content including streaming video for international fans via its website. Bigpond also hosts the official websites of all the 18

Corporate relations.

Sponsorship.

The following are the official naming sponsors of the VFL/AFL competition:  1Note: In 2001 CUB and Coca-Cola were joint sponsors

Membership.

The AFL sells memberships that entitle subscribers to reserve seats for matches at Docklands Stadium and Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne. AFL members

Merchandising.

The AFL runs a chain of stores that sell merchandise from all clubs. Merchandise is also available from other retailers.

AFL World.

A modern museum called the Hall of Fame and Sensation opened in Melbourne in 2003 to celebrate the culture of the AFL and to provide a venue for the Australian Football Hall of Fame. The museum, a licensed offshoot of the AFL, was originally touted for the MCG, but the Hall of Fame failed to get support from the Melbourne Cricket

Video games.

The following is a list of

Gambling.

The AFL is the subject of footy tipping and betting competitions around Australia run by individuals, syndicates, workplaces and professional bookmakers. In recent years national website based tipping competitions have started to replace the traditional, but more labour-intensive, office or pub run competitions.  Fantasy football competitions based on actual player statistics (number of kicks, marks, goals etc.) are also very popular on websites and in newspapers.

AFL and LGBTI policy.

AFL is a supporter of the LGBTI community. In September 2017 in conjunction with the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, the AFL modified its 'AFL' logo coming out strongly in support of same-sex marriage. However they reverted to the original logo 24 hours later.  However in September 2017 the AFL ruled that Hannah Mouncey, a transgender woman, was ineligible for selection in the 2018 AFLW draft. There has been some opposition to the AFL's decision.

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional men's competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body, and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game. Originally known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), it was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing the following year. The VFL, aiming to become a national competition, began expanding beyond Victoria to other Australian states in the 1980s, and changed its name to the AFL in 1990.

澳大利亚澳式足球联盟 (Australian Football League,简称AFL) 是澳大利亚的澳式足球国内职业联赛,同时也指该运动的最高国际和国内管理机构。


Naming convention.

Japanese submarines since World War II were named after ocean currents. The JMSDF changed its naming convention with the "Sōryū", and submarines will now be named after mythological creatures. "Sōryū" (そうりゅう) means blue dragon in Japanese and shares its name with the World War II aircraft carrier, sunk during the Battle of Midway.

Variants.

The eleventh "Sōryū"-class submarine ("Ōryū") is the first Japanese submarine in the fleet to mount lithium-ion batteries. The JS "Ōryū" was given a budget of ¥64.3 billion/US$536.7 million under the 2015 Japanese Defense Budget. Lithium-ion batteries have almost double the electric storage capacity of traditional lead-acid batteries, and by not only replacing them in the existing battery storage areas but adding to the already large battery capacity by also filling the huge space (several hundred tons displacement) inside the hull previously occupied by the AIP Stirling engines and their fuel cells with these new batteries, the amount of (more powerful) batteries carried overall is massive. This has improved the underwater endurance significantly and is felt will be an advantage over the slow recharge capability of the AIP system. In any event, JMSDF believes that lithium-ion is the way forward and intends to 'trial' this new system and compare it to the previous AIP system for operational effectiveness.

Exports.

Japan offered "Sōryū"-class submarines to Australia to replace the Royal Australian Navy's s as part of the. On 9 April 2014, then-Australian Defence Minister David Johnston, while discussing Australia's future submarine options, described the "Sōryū" class as "extremely impressive". On April 26, 2016, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the Australian contract had been awarded to the French-designed Shortfin Barracuda.  India and Taiwan have also approached Japan and expressed an interest in buying "Sōryū"-class submarines. During a visit by India's Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar to Japan he asked the Japanese government to participate in the multi-billion-dollar Project 75I-class submarine project.

The Sōryū"-class submarines (16SS") are diesel-electric attack submarines. The first boat in the class entered service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in 2009. The design is an evolution of the, from which it can most easily be distinguished by its X-shaped stern combination diving planes and rudders. The "Sōryūs" have the largest displacement of any submarine used by post-war Japan.

苍龙级潜舰()为日本海上自卫队在21世纪初最新型式的潜舰,首艘苍龙号(SS-501)由三菱重工神户造船厂负责建造,日本海上自卫队第一款量产的AIP型潜舰。这是继中国海军2006年装备039A型潜艇、韩国海军2007年装备「孙元一」级(引进德国214型潜艇)之后,东亚第三款AIP型潜舰。第11艘苍龙级潜艇则是日本第一艘搭载锂离子电池的潜艇。


Overview.

The northern third of this formation is overlain by the rim and outer rampart of the walled plain Leibnitz, forming a deep indentation in the formation. The remainder of the outer wall is roughly circular in shape, although it is irregular and heavily worn by subsequent impacts.  The interior of Von Kármán has been subjected to flooding by lava flows after the original crater formed, leaving the southern portion of the floor nearly flat. This surface has a lower albedo than the surrounding terrain, and is nearly as dark as the interior of Leibnitz. There is a central peak at the location where the midpoint of the original Von Kármán was formed, which joins with the rougher surface in the northern part of the crater.  In addition to Leibnitz to the north, the crater Oresme is located to the west-northwest, and Finsen lies to the northeast on the edge of Leibnitz's rim. Nearly attached to the southeast rim is the unusual figure-eight-shaped Von Kármán L formation. Directly to the east of this is the crater Alder.  Prior to formal naming in 1970 by the IAU, the crater was known as "Crater 434".

Exploration.

On 3 January 2019, the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 4 landed inside the Von Kármán crater, becoming the first spacecraft to soft-land on the far side of the Moon. The site has symbolic as well as scientific value. Theodore von Kármán (1881-1963) was the PhD advisor of Qian Xuesen, the founder of the Chinese space program.  On February 4, 2019, the IAU approved the name of the landing site as "Statio Tianhe". The central peak of Von Kármán, to the northwest of the landing site, was named "Mons Tai". Three small craters were also named: Hegu is south of the landing site, Zhinyu is to the west, and Tianjin is to the northeast.

Satellite craters.

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Von Kármán.

Von Kármán is a large lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon. The crater is about in diameter and lies within an immense impact crater known as the South Pole–Aitken basin of roughly in diameter and deep. Von Kármán is the site of the first soft-landing on the lunar far side by the Chinese Chang'e 4 spacecraft on 3 January 2019.

冯·卡门环形山(Von Kármán)是月球背面南半部一座巨大的古撞击坑,约形成于45.5-39.2亿年前的前酒海纪,其名称取自匈牙利裔美籍工程师暨物理学家“西奥多·冯·卡门”(1881年-1963年),1970年被国际天文学联合会批准接受。2019年1月3日,中国嫦娥四号探测器在冯·卡门环形山完成世界首次月球背面软着陆。值得注意的是,西奥多·冯·卡门是中国太空计划创始人钱学森的博士导师,使得嫦娥四号的登陆也具有纪念的象征性意义。


Plot.

"King's Bounty: Armored Princess" begins 10 years after the previous title, "", with the world of Darion being almost completely overrun by hordes of demons. In a last-ditch effort to obtain assistance for a besieged kingdom, a powerful spell is cast which opens a portal to another world, the world of Teana. Playing as Princess Amelie, the player ventures through this portal in search of the legendary knight Sir Bill Gilbert. Upon arriving in this alternate world, Bill Gilbert is nowhere to be found, but the inhabitants provide a number of their own quests, including a search for eight magical stones with the powers of the gods.

Gameplay.

"Armored Princess" maintains many of the same game conventions used in "The Legend". The player again chooses from one of three different classes (warrior, paladin or mage) and recruits up to five different squadrons of troops at any given time in order to fight battles. Troops are recruited from various locations in the game, with a limit on the maximum size of each unit determined by the character's "Leadership" statistic. In combat, troops are then assisted by the player's character through the use of magic, passive bonuses, and a new element, Amelie's pet baby dragon.  The world map is broken up into a number of different islands which can be navigated between via ship. Each island generally has troops of certain types and foes of a certain level range, giving each island a distinctive identity. The player can only travel to islands for which the player has discovered a map, and this mechanic is used to slowly provide additional islands for the player to visit as he or she explores the previous islands. At some point during play, the player's mount gains the ability to fly, making dodging enemies and traversing each island easier.  Upon first reaching the world of Teana, Princess Amelie obtains a pet baby dragon. The player chooses the dragon's color and base abilities, and it then travels with the princess for the remainder of the game. During combat, the dragon can be summoned to attack foes or otherwise influence the battle using the player's accumulated rage. This mechanic replaces the "Spirits of Rage" from the previous title, and like the Spirits, the dragon cannot be attacked or harmed by enemies. After each use of an ability, the baby dragon must sleep for at least one turn, possibly longer, before being able to be called on again.  In addition, the player can choose from among several companions met over the course of the game to travel with. A companion can carry additional pieces of equipment (providing additional bonuses), and each companion has a unique ability. Companions take the place of wives from "The Legend", although they act in much the same way.

Release.

The title was first announced in November 2008, with the first release being the Russian version on April 10, 2009. The Polish version was released on October 23, 2009, while the North American version was released on November 20, 2009. Serving as an alternate publisher, Focus Multimedia published the title in the UK on March 19, 2010. Dtp entertainment published on April 2010 the German-language edition of "Armored Princess". An expansion pack, "", was released in 2010, with a rebalanced and extended campaign, as well as two additional ones, and an editor to create additional content.

Reception.

The game holds a score of 83/100 on Metacritic and an aggregate score of 80.83% on GameRankings. The game was awarded a review score of 8/10 by Alec Meer of Eurogamer. Brett Todd of GameSpot also awarded it the same score praising its gameplay and characters while criticising its visual and sound quality. Adam Beissener of Game Informer gave it a review score of 8.75/10, comparing its gameplay to the classic title of Heroes of Might and Magic. Anna Marie Neufeld gave it a score of 3/5 praising its strategic gameplay while criticising it for its hard difficulty. Tyler Sager gave it a score of 8.5/10 calling it a solid standalone installment in the "King's Bounty" series.

King's Bounty: Armored Princess is a strategy video game developed for Microsoft Windows by Katauri Interactive and published in most regions by 1C Company in 2009. It is the sequel to the strategy game "", which is itself based on concepts from the much older "King's Bounty" developed years earlier by New World Computing. While the mechanics of the game do not differ significantly from that of the previous year's release, it features a new heroine and other minor new elements. Its expansion pack "" was released in 2010.

是Katauri Interactive开发,在多数地区由1C Company发行的一款电脑游戏。它是策略游戏《国王的恩赐:传奇》的续作,与前作在游戏系统上并无多大区别,只是增加了一个新的女英雄和一些小更改。


Background.

Italian imperialism.

In the late 1920s, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini said that Fascist Italy needed "Spazio vitale", an outlet for its surplus population and that it would be in the best interests of other countries to aid in the expansion of Imperial Italy. The regime wanted hegemony in the Mediterranean–Danubian–Balkan region and Mussolini imagined the conquest "of an empire stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Strait of Hormuz".  There were designs for a protectorate over the Albanian Kingdom and for the annexation of Dalmatia and economic and military control of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Kingdom of Greece. The fascist regime also sought to establish protectorates over the First Austrian Republic, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, which lay on the

Greek–Italian relations in the interwar period.

Italy had captured the predominantly Greek-inhabited Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea from the Ottoman Empire in the Italo-Turkish War of 1912. It had occupied them since, after reneging on the 1919 Venizelos–Tittoni agreement to cede them to Greece. When the Italians found that Greece had been promised land in Anatolia at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, for aid in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, the Italian delegation withdrew from the conference for several months. Italy occupied parts of Anatolia which threatened the Greek occupation zone and the city of Smyrna. Greek troops were landed and the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) began with Greek troops advanced into Anatolia. Turkish forces eventually defeated the Greeks and with Italian aid, recovered the lost territory, including Smyrna. In 1923, Mussolini used the murder of an Italian general on

Prelude to war, 1939–40.

On 4 February 1939, Mussolini addressed the Fascist Grand Council on foreign policy. The speech outlined Mussolini's belief that Italy was being imprisoned by France and the United Kingdom and what territory would be needed to break free. During this speech, Mussolini declared Greece to be a "vital [enemy] of Italy and its expansion." On 18 March, as signs for an imminent Italian invasion of Albania as well as a possible attack on Corfu mounted, Metaxas wrote in his diary of his determination to resist any Italian attack.  Following the Italian annexation of Albania in April, relations between Italy and Greece deteriorated rapidly. The Greeks began making defensive preparations for an Italian attack, while the Italians began improving infrastructure in Albania to facilitate troop movements. The new Italian ambassador, Emanuele Grazzi, arrived in Athens later in April. During his tenure, Grazzi worked earnestly for the improvement of Italian–Greek relations, something that Metaxas too desired—despite his anglophile stance, Grazzi considered him "the only real friend Italy could claim in Greece"—but he was in the awkward position of being ignorant of his country's actual policy towards Greece: he had arrived with no instructions whatsoever, and was constantly left out of the loop thereafter, frequently receiving no replies to his dispatches. Tensions mounted as a result of a continued anti-Greek campaign in the Italian press, combined with provocative Italian actions. Thus during Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano's visit to Albania, posters supporting Albanian irredentism in Chameria were publicly displayed; the governor of the Italian Dodecanese, Cesare Maria De Vecchi, closed the remaining Greek communal schools in the province, and Italian troops were heard singing ""Andremo nell'Egeo, prenderemo pure il Pireo. E, se tutto va bene, prenderemo anche Aténe."" ("We go to the Aegean, and will take even Piraeus. And if all goes well, we

Opposing plans.

Italy.

The Italian war aim was to establish a Greek puppet state, which would permit the Italian annexation of the Ionian Islands and the Sporades and the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea, to be administered as a part of the Italian Aegean Islands. The islands were claimed on the basis that they had once belonged to the Venetian Republic and the Venetian client state of Naxos. The Epirus and Acarnania regions were to be separated from the rest of the Greek territory and the Italian-controlled Kingdom of Albania was to annex territory between the Greek north-western frontier and a line from Florina to Pindus, Arta and Preveza. The Italians intended to partly compensate Greece for its extensive territorial losses by allowing it to annex the British Crown Colony of Cyprus after the war. On 13 October, Mussolini finalized the decision for war when he informed Marshal Badoglio to start preparing an attack for 26 October. Badoglio then issued the order for the Italian military to begin preparations for executing the existing war plan, "Contingency G[reece]", which envisioned the capture of Epirus as far as Arta but left the further pursuit of the campaign open. On the next day, Badoglio and acting Army Chief of Staff Mario Roatta met with Mussolini, who announced that his objective was the capture of the entire country and that he would contact Bulgaria for a joint operation. Roatta advised that an extension of the invasion beyond Epirus would require an additional ten divisions, which

Greece.

In 1936, the 4th of August Regime came to power in Greece, under the leadership of Ioannis Metaxas. Plans were laid down for the reorganization of the Greek armed forces, including building the "Metaxas Line'", a defensive fortification along the Greco-Bulgarian frontier. Large sums of money were spent to re-equip the army but due to the increasing threat of and the eventual outbreak of war, the most significant foreign purchases from 1938 to 1939, were only partly delivered or not at all. A massive contingency plan was developed and great amounts of

Orders of battle.

Italy.

In the Epirus sector, the XXV "Ciamuria" Corps consisted of the 23rd Infantry Division "Ferrara" and auxiliary troops), the 51st Infantry Division "Siena" and and the 131st Armoured Division "Centauro" and tanks, of which only In addition, it was reinforced by cavalry units in a brigade-level command operating on the extreme Italian right along the coast and The XXV Corps comprised battalions, three cavalry regiments, batteries and Along with Blackshirt battalions and auxiliary troops, it numbered XXVI "Corizza" Corps in the Korçë area comprised the 29th Infantry Division "Piemonte" and and the 49th Infantry Division "Parma" and In addition, the Corps comprised the "Venezia" Division and moving south from its deployment along the Yugoslav frontier between Lake Prespa

Greece.

On 28 October, the Greek army had divisions, one cavalry division and three infantry brigades, all at least partly mobilized since August; four infantry divisions and two brigades were on the border with Albania; five infantry divisions faced Bulgaria and five more with the cavalry division were in general reserve. Greek army divisions were triangular and held up to more infantry than the Italian binary divisions, with slightly more medium artillery and machine-guns but no tanks. Most Greek equipment was still of First World War issue, from countries like Belgium, Austria, Poland and France, all of which were under Axis occupation, cutting off the supply of spare parts and ammunition. Many senior Greek officers were veterans of a decade of almost continuous warfare, including the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, the First World War, and the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–22.  In Epirus, the 8th Infantry Division was already mobilized and reinforced with a regiment and the staff of the 3rd Infantry Brigade, fielding battalions and batteries. At the time of the Italian attack, the 2/39 Evzone Regiment was moving north from Missolonghi to reinforce the division. The western Macedonia sector was held

Britain.

On 22 October 1940, six days before the Italian invasion of Greece, despite the Italian invasion of Egypt, the RAF Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Middle East in Cairo was ordered to prepare squadrons for Greece, based on Ultra decodes and other sources that an Italian invasion of Greece was imminent. The RAF first sent 30 Squadron, consisting of one flight of Blenheim IF night fighters and one flight of Blenheim I light bombers, that were based at Athens-Eleusis airfield. Soon afterwards,

Campaign.

The Greek official history of the Greco-Italian War divides it into three periods:  The Greek commander-in-chief, Alexandros Papagos, in his memoirs regarded the second phase as ending on 28 December 1940; as the historian Ioannis Koliopoulos comments, this seems more appropriate, as December marked a watershed in the course of the war, with the Greek counter-offensive gradually grinding to a halt, the German threat becoming clear, and the beginning of British attempts to guide and shape Greek strategy. According to Koliopoulos, the final three months of the war were militarily of little significance as they did not alter the situation of the two combatants, but were mostly dominated by the diplomatic and political developments leading up to the German invasion.

Italian offensive (28 October – 13 November 1940).

Italian forces invaded Greece in several columns. On the extreme Italian right, the coastal group moved south in the direction of Konispol with the final aim of capturing Igoumenitsa and thence driving onto Preveza. In the central sector, the "Siena" Division moved in two columns onto the area of Filiates, while the "Ferrara" Division moved in four columns against the main Greek resistance line at Kalpaki with the aim of capturing Ioannina. On the Pindus sector, the "Julia" Division launched five columns aiming to capture Metsovo and cut off the Greek forces in the Epirus sector from

Epirus and coastal sectors.

On the Epirus sector, Katsimitros had left five battalions along the border to delay the Italian advance, and installed his main resistance line in a convex front with the Kalpaki pass in the centre, manned by nine battalions. Further two battalions under Major-General Nikolaos Lioumbas took over the coastal sector in Thesprotia. The swamps of the Kalamas river, especially before Kalpaki, formed a major obstacle not only to armoured formations, but even to the movement of infantry. A further battalion and some artillery were detached to the Preveza area in the event of an Italian landing, but as this did not materialize, they were swiftly moved to reinforce the coastal sector. By the

Pindus sector.

A greater threat to the Greek positions was posed by the advance of the "Julia" Alpine Division, under Mario Girotti, over the Pindus Mountains towards Metsovo, which threatened to separate the Greek forces in Epirus from those in Macedonia. The opposing Greek force, the Pindus Detachment, numbered 2,000 men, was formed of reservists of the 51st Regiment, mobilized on 29 August, while one of its three battalions (III/51) was formed as late as 15 October and was still on its way to the front. Colonel Davakis and his men had to cover a front some 37 km in width, and moreover over extremely broken terrain. The Italian attack began under torrential rainfall and made rapid progress, forcing the Greeks to abandon their forward posts, especially in the Detachment's central sector. Davakis was forced to deploy the companies of the III/51 Battalion piecemeal as soon as they arrived, leaving himself with no reserves.  The situation worried the TSDM, which began sending whatever reinforcements it could muster, and assigned the Pindus sector to the 1st Infantry Division. Despite the onset of snowfall on the 29th, the "Julia" Division continued pressing its attack on the Greek

Greek counter-offensive (14 November 1940 – 6 January 1941).

By 14 November, the Italian forces in Albania had been reorganized in two field armies: the Ninth Army, formed out of the XXVI Corps in the Korçë sector, comprising five infantry and two Alpini divisions as well as a number of independent regiments, including Blackshirt and Albanian battalions; and the Eleventh Army (former XXV Corps) on the Epirus sector, with three infantry, an armoured, and a cavalry division, as well as a number of independent units. The Italian situation was very difficult, as the troops on the front had been fighting non-stop for three weeks and were exhausted. The supply situation was abysmal, with the army lacking lorries,

Fall of Korçë (14–23 November).

From the first days of November, III Corps had undertaken limited advances into Albanian territory, and already on 6 November, it submitted plans for a general offensive. Judged too ambitious for the moment, Papagos postponed the offensive for 14 November. III Corps' main objective was the capture of the Korçë plateau, which controlled access to the interior of Albania along the valley of the Devoll river. The plateau lay behind the Morava and Ivan mountains on the Greco-Albanian frontier, which were held by the 29th "Piemonte", the 19th "Venezia", and the 49th "Parma" divisions. The Italians were later reinforced by the 2nd Alpine Division "Tridentina", the 53rd "Arezzo" Division, and 30–50 tanks of the "Centauro" Division. Leaving five battalions to secure its rear, III Corps attacked with twenty battalions and 37 artillery batteries. Due to the lack of tanks or anti-tank weapons to counter Italian armour, the Greeks decided to limit their movement along the mountain ridges, never descending to the valleys. The offensive was launched on the morning of

Greek offensive towards Valona (23 November – December 1940).

Following the capture of Korçë and the eviction of the Italian forces from Greek soil, the Greek GHQ faced two options: continue the offensive in the Korçë sector in the direction of Elbasan or shift focus on the left flank and drive towards the port of Valona. The latter was chosen, as the capture of Valona would be of great strategic significance, leaving the Italians with only Durrës as an entrepôt. TSDM, comprising III Corps and OMK, would defend their positions on the Greek right and apply pressure, while I Corps would move north along the Gjirokastër–Tepelenë–Valona axis. II Corps would form the pivot of the movement, securing the connection between I Corps and TSDM, advancing in step with its western neighbour in the direction of Berat. I Corps was reinforced with 3rd Division (21 November) and II Corps with 11th Division (27 November) and the Cavalry Division (28 November).  Between 24 and 30 November, I Corps moved north into Albania along the Drinos river, while II Corps moved in the direction of Frashër, which it captured in early December. TSDM continued to apply pressure against the Italians and the 10th Division captured Moscopole on 24 November. Pogradec was captured unopposed by the 13th Division on 30 November. The continued Greek advance caused another crisis in the Italian hierarchy. The news of the fall of Pogradec and the pessimistic reports of the Italian commanders in Albania reportedly caused Mussolini to consider asking for a truce through the Germans but in the end he

End of the Greek offensive (6 January – 6 April 1941).

On 28 December 1940, the Greek GHQ took the decision to halt large-scale offensive operations in view of the stiffening Italian resistance, the worsening supply situation and the bad weather, which "inter alia" led to a large number of frostbite casualties. This decision took effect on 6 January, whereby only local offensive operations would take place to improve Greek lines until the weather improved. The Italians had eleven infantry divisions, (11th Infantry Division "Brennero", 29th Infantry Division "Piemonte", 19th Infantry Division "Venezia", 23rd Infantry Division "Ferrara", 33rd Mountain Division "Acqui", 37th Mountain Division "Modena", 48th Infantry Division

Struggle for Klisura Pass and Tepelenë.

The main operation envisaged by the Greek GHQ was the capture of the Klisura Pass by II Corps, coupled with minor offensives by I Corps and TSDM to improve their positions. II Corps attacked on 8 January, with 1st Division on the left and 15th Division, followed by the 11th Division, on the right flank. The 15th Division faced the "Julia" Division, and after a hard struggle managed to capture its positions in a costly success. The 11th Division followed up on 9 January next day captured the pass. The offensive forced Cavallero to deploy the reserves he had husbanded for the Korçë offensive, which never took place. The newly arrived "Lupi di Toscana" division was routed. The division went into action on 9 January to support the "Julia" Division, after a 24-hour forced march in horrendous weather, without having time to reconnoitre the front, without maps and without coordinating fire support with the "Julia" Division. The commander and the chief of staff failed to coordinate its two regiments, which became entangled on the same mule track. Despite attacking downhill and facing a numerically inferior enemy, the division lost a battalion to encirclement and were driven back to their starting positions after two days. By 16 January, the division had disintegrated and "ceased to exist as an organized force", with only 160 officers and men immediately available and over 4,000 casualties. On 26 January, the Italians counter-attacked to recover the pass but II Corps, reinforced with 5th Division, managed to repel them and then counter-attacked. In the Battle of Trebeshina, a series of engagements from 2–12 February, the Trebeshinë massif was captured. The capture of the strategic Klisura pass by

Italian Spring Offensive.

On 4 March, the British sent the first convoy of Operation Lustre with "W Force" (Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson) and supplies for Greece. The Italian leadership desired to achieve a success against the Greek army before the impending German intervention and reinforced the Albanian front to 28 divisions with an average of 26 serviceable bombers, 150 fighters, along with 134 bombers and 54 fighters of the 4° "Squadra" in Italy. Cavallero planned an attack on a of the centre of the front, to recapture Klisura and advance towards Leskovik and Ioannina. The attack would be carried out by the VIII Army Corps (59th "Cagliari", 38th "Puglie" and 24th "Pinerolo" divisions), XXV Corps' "Sforzesca" Division, the 47th "Bari", 51st "Siena", and 7th "Lupi di Toscana" divisions as a second echelon, and the "Centauro" and "Piemonte" divisions as general reserves. The Greek units opposite them were II

Greek logistical situation in early 1941.

Although it failed, the Italian Spring Offensive revealed a "chronic shortage of arms and equipment" in the Greek Army. Even with British support, the Greeks were fast approaching the end of their logistical tether. British intelligence estimated that Greece's reserves, although numbering 200,000–300,000 partly-trained men on paper, could not be mobilized for lack of arms and equipment, which were being consumed by the Albanian front. By the end of March 1941, the Greek Army as a whole possessed only a single month's supply of 105mm, 85mm,

German invasion.

With most of the Greek army on the Albanian border, Operation Marita began through Bulgaria on 6 April, which created a second front. Greece had received a small reinforcement from British forces based in Egypt in anticipation of the German attack, but no more help was sent after the invasion. The Greek army was outnumbered; the Bulgarian defensive line did not receive adequate troop reinforcements and was quickly overrun. The Germans outflanked the immobile Greek forces on the Albanian border, forcing the surrender of the Eastern Macedonia Field Army section in only four days. The British

Sea and air campaign.

Naval operations.

Thoroughly outclassed by the far larger and more modern Italian "Regia Marina", the Royal Hellenic Navy (RHN) was unable to attempt a direct naval confrontation. Its role was rather limited to patrol and convoy escort duties, a particularly important task given the general inadequacy of the Greek transport network on land; apart from large quantities of matériel, mobilized men and over were moved by sea during the war. The RHN carried out limited operations against Italian shipping in the Strait of Otranto with submarines (losing one vessel), sinking at least of transport and merchant shipping, but lack of maintenance facilities made it impossible to continue the effort. However, the Greek submarine force was too small to be able to seriously hinder the supply lines between Italy and Albania; between 28 October 1940 and 30 April 1941 Italian ships made 3,305

Air operations.

Regia Aeronautica.

The poor infrastructure in Albania air bases hindered communications and movements between the Italian flying units. Only two airfields – Tirana and Valona – had Macadam runways so Autumn and Winter weather made operations more difficult. There was also the usual lack of co-operation with Italian Navy and Army. Two days after the start

Royal Hellenic Air Force.

On 2 November, a squadron of 15 Italian CANT Z.1007 bombers, with Fiat CR.42 fighter escorts headed towards Thessaloniki and was intercepted by Greek PZL P.24 fighters of the 22nd Squadron. Second Lieutenant Marinos Mitralexis shot down

RAF.

Ultra decrypts of orders to the "Regia Aeronautica" and nightly reports from in Italy to "Comando Aeronautico Albania della Regia Aeronautica" in Tirana, disclosed bombing targets for the next day and were sent to RAF HQ in Greece, to assist in fighter interception. From mid-November to the end of December, the Blenheim and Wellington bombers from Egypt flew but almost failed, due to a lack of all-weather airfields and the season, when flying was possible for about per month. The bombing effort was concentrated on Durazzo and Valona but some close support operations were carried out and the fighters near Athens helped to reduce the number of Italian raids. By the end of 1940, the Gladiator pilots had claimed shot down for the loss of

Home front.

Greece.

The war was greeted with great enthusiasm by the Greek population, in Athens crowds filled the streets with patriotic fervour, as newspapers hurried to publish their newest editions to stir up the people further. The popular story that Metaxas had defiantly told Grazzi ""ochi!"" ("no!") on the night of 28 October 1940 made the previously unpopular prime minister into a national hero. Georgios Vlachos in an editorial in his newspaper "Kathimerini" wrote: "Today there is no Greek who does not add his voice to the thunderous OCHI. OCHI, we will not hand over Greece to Italy. OCHI, Italian ruffians will not set foot on our land. OCHI, the barbarians will not desecrate our Parthenon".  Men in Greece rushed to volunteer for the war effort, cramming into the back of trams to get to the recruiting offices. Morale amongst

Italy.

The announcement of the Italian attack was greeted with favour but not much enthusiasm, by the Italian public. The situation changed as the Italian attack devolved into a stalemate in early November, especially after the British Taranto raid and the start of the Greek counter-offensive. In private conversations, Italians soon took to calling the war in Albania "a second and worse Caporetto". The regime's popularity slumped further with the introduction of strict rationing in food, oil and fats in early December. Despite imposing a price freeze in July, prices rose and the state distribution network of staple foods and heating oil broke down. Coupled with the dismissal of Badoglio and the British advance in North Africa in Operation Compass, it produced "the regime's most serious crisis since the murder

Albania.

In an effort to win Albanian support for Italian rule, Ciano and the Fascist regime encouraged Albanian irredentism in the directions of Kosovo and Chameria. Despite Jacomoni's assurances of Albanian support in view of the promised "liberation" of Chameria, Albanian enthusiasm for the war was distinctly lacking. The few Albanian units raised to fight alongside the Italian Army mostly "either deserted or fled in droves". Albanian agents recruited before the war, are reported to have operated behind Greek lines and engaged in acts of sabotage but these were few in number. Support for the Greeks, although of

Aftermath.

Analysis.

Impact on "Barbarossa".

Hitler blamed Mussolini's "Greek fiasco" for his failed campaign in Russia. "But for the difficulties created for us by the Italians and their idiotic campaign in Greece", he commented in mid-February 1945, "I should have attacked Russia a few weeks earlier," he later said. Hitler noted that, the "pointless campaign in Greece", Germany was not notified in advance of the impending attack, which "compelled us, contrary to all our plans, to intervene in the Balkans, and that in its turn led to a catastrophic delay in the launching of our attack on Russia. We were compelled to expend some of our best divisions there. And as a net result we were then forced to occupy vast territories in which, but for this stupid show, the presence of our troops would have been quite unnecessary". "We have no luck with the Latin races", he complained afterwards. Mussolini

Effect on Italy.

In the preface to the collection of documents published in 1965 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the historian and diplomat Mario Toscano summed up the war as follows: "As we all know, the campaign against Greece ended in total failure. This was due, as the published material confirms, to Mussolini’s conviction, based on indications he received from his colleagues, that the campaign would be decided in the political rather than the military sector. The consequences of this error were so serious as to bring about Italy’s complete subjection to Germany as far as the political and military direction of the war was concerned." This has been echoed by other writers since: Gann and Duignan regarded that the fighting in France, Yugoslavia and Greece reduced Italy to the status

Impact on Greece.

Anti-Italian feeling among the Greek public, already strong, reached its peak after the sinking of "Elli" on 15 August 1940, the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, a major Orthodox religious holiday. Greek optimism that the Italian attack would fail was evident from the first moments of the war. Besides, official propaganda, as well as the spontaneous reaction of the people created the optimism which was necessary for the first difficult moments. From the first hours of the war a strong national feeling was quite evident "to teach a lesson to the macaroni-boys" (, ""Makaronades""), as the Italians were pejoratively called. Various factors have contributed to the high morale of the Greek side and the subsequent repulsion of the Italian attacks: the strong belief in a just cause, the specialized and well trained military personnel of the Greek army and its leadership, as well as the devotion of the civilian population who lived next to the battlefields, including women, children and the elderly, to the Greek cause. Public opinion in Greece still accepts that the failure of the numerically superior Italian army came as a result of its unjustified action against Greece.  After the Italian troops

German opinion.

The difficulty Italy encountered in subduing a minor power such as Greece further lowered the opinion among the Germans of their Italian allies. German SS-"Oberst-Gruppenführer" Sepp Dietrich labeled the Albania campaign as one of the three "great disasters [that have] deprived the Italian Army of its former confidence", along with the Italian invasion of France and Operation Compass. He bitterly noted: "For this attack they used troops from Southern Italy- exactly what was needed for a winter campaign in mountainous country, without proper equipment, over an impracticable terrain, and without any organization in depth!". Wilhelm Keitel, commenting about the end of the campaign, said that "this miserable spectacle, laid on by our gallant ally, must have produced some hollow laughter from the Greeks."  Others among the German leadership were less critical, most notably Adolf Hitler. In his address to the Reichstag following the conclusion of the Balkan Campaign, Hitler

Casualties.

The Italian invasion began with a force of about and was increased to about supported by and Italian forces suffered casualties of and (of whom taken prisoner), for a total of in action and cases for a grand total of Eighteen ships of the "Regia Marina" were sunk. The "Regia Aeronautica" had 79 aircraft destroyed (65 shot down) and more than 400 damaged, with killed, while claiming 218 kills against Greek and British and 55 probables. Greek military forces amounted to fewer than with casualties of and for a total of and frostbite cases, a grand

Occupation.

On 13 April, Hitler issued Directive 27, including his occupation policy for Greece and jurisdiction in the Balkans with Directive No. 31 (9 June). Italy occupied the bulk of the mainland, German forces occupied Athens, Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia and several Aegean islands, including

The Greco-Italian War (Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece; in Greece: War of '40) took place between the kingdoms of Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This local war began the Balkans Campaign of World War II between the Axis powers and the Allies. It turned into the Battle of Greece when British and German ground forces intervened early in 1941.

希义战争(或,)是意大利王国及希腊王国之间在1940年10月28日至1941年4月23日间爆发的军事冲突,它标志着第二次世界大战巴尔干战役的开始。这场冲突从1941年4月6日纳粹德国干预起被称为希腊战役。


Early life.

Born in 1961 in Kendal, Central Java, in Indonesia, Mas Selamat grew up in Kaki Bukit in Singapore leading a typical childhood kampung life. He attended the Kaki Bukit Primary School, and was known simply as "Selamat" to his neighbors. In the early 1980s, Mas Selamat moved to a flat in Bedok Reservoir where he married and had five children.

Involvement with Jemaah Islamiah.

Mas Selamat is believed to have begun his involvement with Jemaah Islamiah (JI) in the 1990s upon joining Darul Islam, a precursor movement to the JI group. By 1992, he had joined the Singapore JI cell, and was sent to Afghanistan for training a year later. In 1998, he studied the Taliban system of government and returned home 'deeply impressed'.  According to Singapore intelligence authorities, Mas Selamat has met Hambali, the leader of JI, and discussed various terror plots including hijacking a plane from Bangkok and crashing it into Singapore Changi Airport. He escaped from Singapore in 2001 before authorities conducted a massive operation to arrest 13 suspected JI members in December 2001.

Arrests.

Mas Selamat had earlier been arrested in February 2003 in the island of Bintan, Indonesia, to assist Indonesian police in their investigations of several bombings in Indonesia in 2001 and 2002. Mas Selamat had changed his identity, assuming the name of Edi Heriyanto and obtained an Indonesian passport. Found in his possession was literature on making bombs and the virtue of suicide. He was jailed for 18 months in 2003 for immigration offences. He was, however, not handed over to Singapore upon his release, since Indonesia and Singapore do not yet have an extradition treaty. During this period of imprisonment, he broke his left leg in a botched attempt to escape when he jumped from a high floor, resulting in him walking with a permanent limp.  On 20 January 2006, he was arrested again for using a fake identity card in Java, where he was visiting his son who was said to be studying at a religious school there. Singapore requested Mas Selamat's extradition and he was handed over to Singapore on 3 February 2006, where he was detained in Singapore under the Internal Security Act without trial. The Malaysian intelligence authorities also wanted to question Mas Selamat who had made frequent visits to Johor before fleeing to Indonesia.

Escape in February 2008.

At 4:05 pm on Wednesday, 27 February 2008, the JI leader escaped from the Internal Security Department's Whitley Road Detention Centre where he was being detained. His family were visiting him at the time, and he was being led to a room to meet them when he asked to go to the toilet. He then fled. A massive manhunt comprising personnel from the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Contingent, the Singapore Armed Forces, the Police Tactical Unit and the Police National Service Key Installation Protection Unit were deployed in the vicinity of the area immediately after the escape. They were later aided by members of the Singapore Guards and the Singapore Armed Forces Military Police Command, before the operation was wound down over 17 hours later without success in locating the fugitive, who was believed to be unarmed.  Authorities said security was very tight at the detention centre and conducted an independent study to determine how the fugitive escaped. Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng acknowledged that a security lapse led to his escape, and that everything was being done to recapture Mas Selamat. The Onraet Road facility has armed guards, high wire fences and CCTV cameras. Reactions to the escape were filled with surprise and disbelief in what Western observers describe as a country where ""security breaches are virtually unheard of"". It brought serious embarrassment to the Singapore government, and many questions raised by the public and the press. Security around the schools in the area was also beefed up to assure worried parents. Indonesia and Malaysia announced that they stepped up their own border security in the wake of this incident. Government authorities received more than 1100 calls on sightings of Mas Selamat. The earliest sighting of him was in a back road near MacRitchie Reservoir leading to Toa Payoh Lorong 1, right behind Braddell View Estates.  An urgent worldwide security alert, or Orange Notice, was issued by INTERPOL to each of its 186 National Central Bureaus following a request from Singapore. The alert was later changed to red.  Wanted posters of Mas Selamat were put up in shopping centers, buses, train stations, and schools islandwide to appeal for the public to inform police should they spot him, and leaflets given out by volunteers to members of the public. The three telecommunications companies in Singapore sent out Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages starting on 1 March 2008 to all 5.5 million subscribers with Mas Selamat's photograph, as well as email messages to SingNet Internet users. The MMS read, "Please call 999 immediately if you see Mas Selamat bin Kastari. He is short (1.58m tall) and limps on his left leg. Thank you." Lockdowns at border and immigration checkpoints also resulted in much longer queues for people leaving Singapore.  There were conflicting reports on the whereabouts of Mas Selamat. While Singaporean police initially believed that he remained in Singapore, others such as Malaysia's "The Star" reported that he may have fled to Indonesia via a speedboat ride.  On 21 July 2008, a cash reward of one million dollars was offered for information leading to the apprehension of Mas Selamat. The million dollar reward was put up by two private individuals who had approached the Home Affairs Ministry, wishing to remain anonymous.

Public reaction.

Agence France-Presse noted, "Terrorism is usually no laughing matter, especially not in security-conscious Singapore, but the escape from custody of a limping Islamist extremist suspect has led to scorn on the Internet." Online critics also accused the pro-government media of trying to play down the incident and skirting key issues. Speculations and conspiracy theories abounded in Internet chatrooms and blogs, such as that Mas Selamat had died in detention or that he was purposefully let out in order to allow authorities to search for other terrorists.  Criticism has been directed towards Wong Kan Seng, the Minister of Home Affairs in Singapore, with regards to the fact that news of Mas Selamat's escape was not disseminated to the public until four hours after its occurrence. The public were not given any details until the next day at a parliamentary session. Wong then had cited a serious security lapse as the reason for the escape and revealed that Mas Selamat escaped when he was being taken to the toilet before a meeting at the Family Visit Room.  On 2 March 2008, it was announced that an independent Committee of Inquiry, chaired by former judge Goh Joon Seng, would be set up to find out how the escape occurred.

Accountability.

Nine individuals, including the commander and his superior holding a rank equivalent to brigadier general, were penalised for lapses that allowed Mas Selamat Kastari to escape from the Whitley Road detention centre.

Findings of investigation.

On 21 April 2008, the only findings of the Committee of Inquiry were released in a Parliament of Singapore session. It was announced that he escaped through an unsecured bathroom window. The Committee attributed the escape to three critical factors – first, the lack of grilles where the window was located; second, Mas Selamat being allowed to close the toilet door on the guards, thus avoiding detection during his escape and third, a physical weakness at the perimeter fencing outside the visitation centre.  Additionally, the report stated that a re-enactment of the potential escape route would have taken 49 seconds to escape through the window and clear the perimeter fencing, with another 2 minutes and 44 seconds to reach the Pan Island Expressway located next to the detention centre. Mas Selamat had turned on the water tap after closing the toilet door and the guards on duty only acted on their suspicions 11 minutes after this incident. It is believed that Mas Selamat could have been gone for some time at that point.  It was later revealed that Mas Selamat had used an improvised flotation device to cross the Straits of Johor into Malaysia.

Possible capture.

On 7 August 2008, a man 'limping like' Mas Selamat was arrested by Indonesian police at Buluh Tumbang Airport in Tanjung Pandan, Belitung. The man claimed to be an educational book salesman and not the fugitive in question. The man was later released.

Capture.

On 8 May 2009, the media in Singapore reported that Mas Selamat had been captured by Malaysian authorities in Johor, Malaysia. This report was later confirmed by both the Singapore and Malaysian governments, with the date of capture given as 1 April 2009. Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed that Mas Selamat is being held under the Internal Security Act, saying that he was "planning something, which allowed us to arrest him". Hishammuddin declined to give details, since the case is sensitive as it involves intelligence agencies of Singapore, Indonesia as well as Malaysia. Inspector-General of Malaysian Police Musa Hassan said that the arrest was made possible as the involved parties had been sharing intelligence reports since his escape.  According to the media, Mas Selamat was captured in the early morning of 1 April in a secluded house in Kampung Tawakal, an obscure village with a population of less than 100 in Skudai, northwest of Johor Bahru. According to witness, Mohd Saat Marjo, 57, a villager who lived opposite the fugitive’s home, about 40 personnels from the Royal Malaysian Police—such as the Special Actions Unit (Pasukan Gerakan Khas A-Detachment; UTK) and Special Branch members—broke through two doors and rushed into the house, were Mas Selamat refused to come out and surrender when ordered by the police. Mas Selamat resided in the house's refurbished basement, while his landlord, known only as "Johar", and Johar's wife and two children, resided in the upper portions of the house. Prior to his arrest, Mas Selamat had limited contact with outsiders, even avoiding prayers at the local "surau", but had been witnessed tending to the compound's garden. Villagers in Kampung Tawakal expressed shock of Mas Selamat's presence after his identity was made known to the public.  Several people who had helped Mas Selamat to hide in the country, including Johar, were arrested along with him, and the news of the arrest was undisclosed for weeks to enable investigations into his network in Malaysia. Immediately after his arrest, the house Mas Selamat resided in and its surroundings were combed for explosives.  Mas Selamat was transferred back to Singapore for indefinite detention under the Internal Security Act on 24 September 2010.

Mas Selamat Kastari (born 23 January 1961), an Indonesian-born Singaporean, was for more than a year Singapore's most-wanted fugitive after escaping from detention on 27 February 2008. The search for him has been described as the largest manhunt ever launched in Singapore. He was eventually recaptured in Skudai, Malaysia, on 1 April 2009, over a year after his escape, and has since been returned to Singapore. His escape was found to be one of the events in Singapore's history that Singaporeans were most aware of, with 95% being aware of it.

马士·沙拉末·本·卡斯塔里(,1961年-1月23日),-{zh-hans:新马地区译为马士沙拉末;zh-hant:中国大陆译为马斯·塞拉马特;zh-sg:中国大陆译为马斯·塞拉马特}-,是一名出生于印度尼西亚的新加坡人。他于2008年2月27日从新加坡一处拘留所逃跑,因此成为新加坡头号通缉犯,国际刑警组织为此发出了橙色警报并通缉此人。这已是他第三次成功越狱(前两次越狱发生在印度尼西亚)。官方称他是回教祈祷团(回祈团)新加坡分部的头目。


Early life.

Yosano was born into a prosperous merchant family in Sakai, near Osaka. From the age of 11, she was the family member most responsible for running the family business, which produced and sold youkan, a type of confection. From early childhood, she was fond of reading literary works, and read widely in her father's extensive library. As a high school student, she began to subscribe to the poetry magazine "Myōjō" (Bright Star), of which she became a prominent contributor. "Myōjō's" editor, Tekkan Yosano, taught her "tanka" poetry, having met her on visits to Osaka and Sakai to deliver lectures and teach in workshops.  Although Tekkan had a common-law wife, he eventually separated from her after he fell in love with Akiko. The two poets started a new life together in the suburb of Tokyo and were married in 1901. The couple had two sons, Hikaru and Shigeru. Despite separating from his first wife, Tekkan remained actively involved with her.

The "Midaregami".

In 1901, Yosano brought out her first volume of "tanka", "Midaregami" (Tangled Hair), which contained 400 poems and was mostly denounced by literary critics. Despite this critical reaction, it was widely read and became a sort of lighthouse for free-thinkers of her time. Her first book, by far her best known, brought a passionate individualism to traditional "tanka" poetry, unlike any other work of the late Meiji period.  The majority are love poems through which Akiko expresses her feelings towards Tekkan Yosano. It was through this particular collection that she set an image for herself as well as the stage for female voices in modern Japan. The poems tended to express femininity in a manner unconventional for her time, especially from a female writer.  In traditional Japanese values, women are perceived as (and are expected to be) gentle and modest. The domestic and societal roles of Japanese women were and are focused on procreation and raising children, especially boys. "Midaregami" not only expresses concepts and/or issues that pertain to women and are not normally voiced in such a public manner, but also created a new, revolutionary image of womanhood, as lively, free, sexual and assertive people, nothing at all like the conventional picture of the modest, demure young lady expected in Japan. Yosano's women were not passive, but active agents of their love lives. In a typical "tanka", Yosano wrote: "Spring is short what is there that has eternal life, I said and, made his hands seek out my powerful breasts." The "Midaregami" posed a challenge to patriarchal values of Japanese society, as well as the accepted literary and cultural conventions of her time. Although Akiko Yosano's work was denounced and severely criticized, it served as a great source of inspiration to women of her day. The American scholar Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase noted: "The visual representations of flesh, lips and breasts symbolize women’s sexuality".  No poet had written of breasts in a "tanka" before, which led the poet Nobutsuna Sasaki to attack her in a magazine article for "corrupting public morals" and "mouthing obscenities fit for a whore". From the examples in the "Midaregami", the idea of nudity changed the way Japanese people viewed eroticism and female sexuality. Up until this point women's breasts were a symbol for child feeding and motherhood. From then on they began to take on a different representation; that of natural beauty, and especially that of young women. A door was opened for Japanese women to imagine new representations of sexuality and the female body.

A poet's life.

She followed this with twenty more "tanka" anthologies over the course of her career, including "Koigoromo" (Robe of Love) and "Maihime" (Dancer). Her husband Tekkan was also a poet, but his reputation was eclipsed by hers. He continued to publish his wife's work and to encourage her in her literary career. Yosano Akiko was an extraordinarily prolific writer. She could produce as many as 50 poems in one sitting. During the course of her lifetime, Yosano Akiko is thought to have written between 20,000 and 50,000 poems. She also wrote 11 books of prose.  Yosano helped to found what was originally a girls' school, the Bunka Gakuin (Institute of Culture), together with Nishimura Isaku, Kawasaki Natsu and others, and became its first dean and chief lecturer. She assisted many aspiring writers to gain a foothold in the literary world. She was a lifelong advocate of women's education. She also translated the Japanese classics into modern Japanese, including the "Shinyaku Genji Monogatari" (Newly Translated Tale of Genji) and "Shinyaku Eiga Monogatari" (Newly Translated Tale of Flowering Fortunes).  Yosano's poem "Kimi Shinitamou koto nakare" (君死にたもうこと勿れ, Thou Shalt Not Die), addressed to her younger brother, was published in Myōjō during the height of the Russo-Japanese War and was extremely controversial. Made into a song, it was used as a mild form of anti-war protest, as the number of Japanese casualties from the bloody Siege of Port Arthur became public. In September 1904, Yosano had learned that Japanese soldiers at Port Arthur were being used as "human bullets", being strapped with explosives and sent to blast holes through the Russian barbed wire entanglements in suicide missions. Yosano's younger brother serving in the Imperial Army and was attached to the forces besieging Port Arthur. In "Bushido", it was the highest honor for a man to die for the Emperor, and knowing of her brother's impulsive nature, Yosano was seized with the fear that he might volunteer to be a "human bullet", inspiring her to write a poem pledging with him to think of his widowed mother. Addressed to her brother, Yosano wrote: "Did our parents make you grasp the sword and teach you to kill? For you what does it matter whether the fortress of Lüshun [Port Arthur] falls or not?" Yosano attacked the central concept of "Bushido" in the "Kimi", noting that it was the greatest honor for a man to die for the Emperor, whom she sarcastically noted never put himself in harm's way, expecting others to die for him. For calling the war with Russia senseless and stupid Yosano made herself into Japan's most controversial poet, and the government attempted to ban her poem. The "Kimi" was so unpopular that Yosano's house was stoned by angry people while she became involved in a rancorous debate with the journalist Omachi Keigestu over the question of whether poets had the duty to support the war or not.  The first issue of the liberal journal "Seito" in September 1911 featured her poem "The Day the Mountains Move" asking for woman to be given equal rights. In a 1918 article, Yosano attacked "the ruling and military class which deliberately block the adoption of a truly moral system in an effort to protect the wealth and influence of their families...They hurry to invoke the power and precepts of the old totalitarian moral codes to direct the lives of Japanese citizens". Yosano ended her article by calling militarism a form of "barbarian thinking which is the responsibility of us women to eradicate from our mist".  Yosano gave birth to 13 children, of whom 11 survived to adulthood. The late Japanese politician Yosano Kaoru was one of her grandsons.

Feminist perspective.

Yosano Akiko frequently wrote for the all-women literary magazine "Seitō" (Bluestocking), as well as other publications. Her opinions were rooted in the concept of equally partaking in child rearing, financial independence, and social responsibility.

On financial independence.

Yosano Akiko disagreed with the concept of mothers seeking financial independence through the help of the government, claiming that dependence on the state and dependence on men are one and the same. In her essay titled "Woman's Complete Independence," or "Joshi no tettei shita dokuritsu" (女性の徹底した独立), she says:  This viewpoint was diametrically opposed to many Japanese feminists' shared opinion at the time that the government should financially support mothers, including one of the five founders of "Seitō", Raichō Hiratsuka. Raichō criticized this, saying that most women cannot realistically live without financial assistance.

On motherhood.

Despite giving birth to thirteen children in her lifetime, Yosano stated that she did not consider the act of giving birth to be the main part of her identity. She also expressed worry that fully equating the identity of womanhood with motherhood prioritizes motherhood over the other aspects of a person.  This was written in response to Swedish feminist Ellen Key and Leo Tolstoy in her "Taiyō" magazine column, "One Woman's Notebook," in January 1915. Her main assertion is that women could accept roles as mothers, but exemplified more than that role: as friends, as wives, as Japanese citizens, and as members of the world.

Turn to the right.

During the Taishō period, Yosano turned her attention to social commentary, with "Hito oyobi Onna to shite" (As a Human and as a Woman), "Gekido no Naka o Iku" (Going through Turbulent Times) and her autobiography "Akarumi e" (To the Light). In 1931, Yosano, Japan's most famous pacifist succumbed to the "war fever" that gripped Japan when the Kwantung Army seized Manchuria. In a poem from 1932, "Rosy-Cheeked Death" concerning the First Battle of Shanghai, Yosano supported her country against China, though she also portrayed the Chinese soldiers killed in the battle as victims, albeit only of Chiang Kai-shek, who she accused of betraying the legacy of Dr. Sun Yet-sen, who always preached Sino-Japanese friendship. In "Rosy-Cheeked Death", the Chinese are "foolish" to resist Japan because Japan is a "good neighbor" whom they could never hope to defeat, making their resistance futile. In her poem "Citizens of Japan, A Morning Song" published in June 1932, Yosano embraced "Bushido" as she praised a Japanese soldier for dying for the Emperor at the First Battle of Shanghai as she described how the soldier "scatters" his body when he is blown apart as a "human bomb". Yosano called the "scattered" body of the soldier "purer than a flower, giving life to a samurai's honor". Unlike the "Kimi", Yosano called for Japanese women to "unify in loyalty" for the "cause of the Emperor's forces". The American scholar Steven Robson noted that unlike the "Kimi", which like the rest of Yosano's early poetry was extremely innovative, "Citizens of Japan" is cliche-ridden as Yosano used well-known phrases like "a samurai's honor" taken straight from the ultra-nationalist press without developing a vocabulary of her own. Yosano ended her poem by praising "Bushido", declaring that the "purest" act a Japanese man could perform was to die for the Emperor in battle and urged the Kwantung Army forward onward in the conquest of Manchuria "through suffering a hundredfold" to "smash the sissified dreams of compromise".  Yosano's poems from 1937 onward support the war against China, and in 1941, she supported war against the United States and the United Kingdom. Her late commentaries in the early Showa years tended to praise militarism, and also promoted her feminist viewpoints. Her final work, "Shin Man'yōshū" (New Man'yōshū, 1937–39) was a compilation of 26,783 poems by 6,675 contributors, written over a 60-year period.  In 1942, in one of her last poems, Yosano praised her son who was serving as a lieutenant the Imperial Navy, urging him to "fight bravely" for the Emperor in "this sacred war". Yosano died of a stroke in 1942 at the age of 63. Her death, occurring in the middle of the Pacific War, went almost unnoticed in the press, and after the end of the war, her works were largely forgotten by critics and the public. In the 1950s, the "Kimi" was made mandatory reading in Japanese high schools, and during the protests led by idealistic university students against the government of Nobusuke Kishi, whose intention was to do away with Article 9 of the constitution, the "Kimi" become something of an anthem for the students. Her romantic, sensual style has come back into popularity in recent years, and she has an ever-increasing following. Her grave is at Tama Cemetery in Fuchu, Tokyo.

Yosano Akiko (Shinjitai:, seiji: ; 7 December 1878 – 29 May 1942) was the pen-name of a Japanese author, poet, pioneering feminist, pacifist, and social reformer, active in the late Meiji period as well as the Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan. Her name at birth was. She is one of the most noted, and most controversial, post-classical woman poets of Japan.

与谢野 晶子(1878年-12月7日-1942年-5月29日),是明治至昭和时期活跃的诗人、作家、思想家。旧姓「凤」(ほう)。户籍名为「志よう」。其笔名中的「晶」字,是取自「志よう(しょう)」。丈夫为与谢野铁干(本名与谢野宽)。她一生著述颇丰,被日本作家田边圣子评为:“一千年才出现一个的天才。”


Description.

Korean mint is a perennial plant growing up to tall, with square stalks that branch at the upper part. The oval-cordate leaves are oppositely arranged, long and broad, with coarsely serrated margins. Some leaves have hair and/or touches of white on the underside.  From July to September in the Northern Hemisphere, purple bilabiate flowers bloom in verticillasters that are long and broad. The calyx is long, with five narrow triangular lobes. The petals are long, lower ones longer and the ones inside serrated. The stamens are didynamous, long, and exposed. The fruit is schizocarp, with obovate elliptical mericaps of.

Cultivation.

Korean mint grows well in fertile, moisture-retentive soils and good sunlight. The aroma becomes weaker in shady conditions.  Korean mint can be propagated by both sexual and asexual means. The seeds gathered in autumn can be sown in the spring. One can also dig out the plant in autumn or early spring, divide the roots, and plant them at intervals of.

Cultivars.

There is one known cultivar, "Agastache rugosa" 'Golden Jubilee', which has yellow-green foliage.

Uses.

Culinary.

Korea.

The plant's Korean name is baechohyang (), but it is more commonly known as banga () in southern parts of Korea, where the herb is extensively cultivated and consumed. In southern Korean cuisine, the herb is a popular last minute addition to various dishes, such as "chueo-tang" (pond loach stew), and "maeun-tang" (spicy fish stew). It is also sometimes used as the main ingredient in "buchimgae" (Korean pancakes).

Medicinal.

China.

It is called "huò xiāng" () in Chinese and it is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. It is used interchangeably with guang huo xiang. It was traditionally used to relieve nausea, vomiting and poor appetite. It contains methyl chavicol, anethole, anisaldehyde, limonene, pinene and linalool.

Chemical constituents.

Chemical compounds found in the plant include:

Agastache rugosa, the Korean mint, also known as wrinkled giant hyssop, purple giant hyssop, Indian mint, blue licorice, huo xiang (藿香), and Chinese patchouli, is an aromatic herb in the mint family, native to East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Russian Primorye, Taiwan, India, and Vietnam).

藿香(学名:),又名排草香,唇形科藿香属多年生草本植物。原产于东亚。