OxFoRd UniVeRSiTy

The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University, or simply Oxford), located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world.[6] It is also regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. The name is sometimes abbreviated as Oxon. in post-nominals (from the Latin Oxoniensis), although Oxf is sometimes used in official publications. The University has 38 independent colleges, and 6 permanent private halls.[7]
The university traces its roots back to at least the end of the 12th century, although the exact date of foundation remains unclear. After a dispute between students and townsfolk broke out in 1209, some of the academics at Oxford fled north-east to the town of Cambridge, where the University of Cambridge was founded. The two universities (collectively known as "Oxbridge") have since had a long history of competition with each other.
The University of Oxford is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group (a network of leading European universities), the League of European Research Universities, International Alliance of Research Universities and is also a core member of the Europaeum. Academically, Oxford is consistently ranked in the world's top 10 universities.[8][9] For more than a century, it has served as the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, which brings highly accomplished students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as postgraduates.

History
The coat of arms of the University of Oxford
The expulsion of foreigners from the University of Paris in 1167 caused many English scholars to return from France and settle in Oxford. The historian Gerald of Wales lectured to the scholars in 1188, and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland arrived in 1190. The head of the University was named a chancellor from 1201, and the masters were recognised as a universitas or corporation in 1231. The students associated together, on the basis of geographical origins, into two “nations”, representing the North (including the Scots) and the South (including the Irish and the Welsh). In later centuries, geographical origins continued to influence many students' affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. Members of many religious orders, including Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinians, settled in Oxford in the mid-13th century, gained influence, and maintained houses for students. At about the same time, private benefactors established colleges to serve as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest were John I de Balliol, father of the future King of Scots; Balliol College bears his name. Another founder, Walter de Merton, a chancellor of England and afterwards Bishop of Rochester, devised a series of regulations for college life; Merton College thereby became the model for such establishments at Oxford as well as at the University of Cambridge. Thereafter, an increasing number of students forsook living in halls and religious houses in favour of living at colleges.
The new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onward. Among University scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of the Greek language, and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar. With the Reformation and the breaking of ties with the Roman Catholic Church, the method of teaching at the university was transformed from the medieval Scholastic method to Renaissance education, although institutions associated with the university suffered loss of land and revenues. In 1636, Chancellor William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, codified the university statutes; these to a large extent remained the university's governing regulations until the mid-19th century. Laud was also responsible for the granting of a charter securing privileges for the university press, and he made significant contributions to the Bodleian Library, the main library of the university.

A map of Oxford, 1605.
The university was a centre of the Royalist Party during the English Civil War (1642–1649), while the town favoured the opposing Parliamentarian cause. Soldier-statesman Oliver Cromwell, chancellor of the university from 1650 to 1657, was responsible for preventing both Oxford and Cambridge from being closed down by the Puritans, who viewed university education as dangerous to religious beliefs. From the mid-18th century onward, however, the University of Oxford took little part in political conflicts.
The mid nineteenth century saw the aftermath of of the Oxford Movement (1833-1845) led amongst others by the future Cardinal Newman. The influence of the reformed German university reached Oxford via key scholars such as Jowett and Max Muller.
Administrative reforms during the 19th century included the replacement of oral examinations with written entrance tests, greater tolerance for religious dissent, and the establishment of four colleges for women. Women have been eligible to be full members of the university and have been entitled to take degrees since 7 October 1920.[10] Twentieth century Privy Council decisions (such as the abolition of compulsory daily worship, dissociation of the Regius professorship of Hebrew from clerical status, diversion of theological bequests to colleges to other purposes) loosened the link with traditional belief and practice. Although the University's emphasis traditionally had been on classical knowledge, its curriculum expanded in the course of the 19th century and now attaches equal importance to scientific and medical studies.
The mid twentieth century saw many distinguished continental scholars displaced by Nazism and Communism who were to find academic fulfilment in Oxford.
The list of distinguished scholars at the University of Oxford is long and includes many who have made major contributions to British politics, the sciences, medicine, and literature. More than forty Nobel laureates and more than fifty world leaders have been affiliated with the University of Oxford.

Organisation
As a collegiate university, Oxford's structure can be confusing to those unfamiliar with it. The university is essentially a federation: it comprises over forty self-governing colleges and halls, along with a central administration headed by the Vice-Chancellor. The academic departments are located centrally within this structure; they are not affiliated to any particular college. The departments perform research, provide facilities for teaching and research, organise lectures and seminars, and determine the syllabi and guidelines for the teaching of students. Colleges then organise the tutorial teaching for their undergraduates. The members of an academic department are spread around many colleges; though certain colleges do have subject strengths (e.g. Nuffield College as a centre for the social sciences), they are the exception, and most colleges will have a broad mix of academics and students from a diverse range of subjects. Facilities such as libraries are provided on all these levels: by the central university (the Bodleian), by the departments (individual departmental libraries, such as the English Faculty Library), and by colleges (all of which maintain a multi-discipline library for the use of their members).

The Sheldonian Theatre, built by Sir Christopher Wren between 1664-1668, hosts the University's Congregation, as well as concerts and degree ceremonies

Central governance
The university's formal head is the Chancellor (currently Lord Patten), though as with most British universities, the Chancellor is a titular figure, rather than someone involved with the day-to-day running of the university. Elected by the members of Convocation, a body comprising all graduates of the university, the Chancellor holds office until death.
The Vice-Chancellor, currently Dr John Hood, is the de facto head of the University. Five Pro-Vice-Chancellors have specific responsibilities for Education; Research; Planning and Resources; Development and External Affairs; and Personnel and Equal Opportunities. The University Council is the executive policy-forming body, which consists of the Vice-Chancellor as well as heads of departments and other members elected by Congregation, in addition to observers from the Student Union. Congregation, the ‘parliament of the dons’, comprises over 3,700 members of the University’s academic and administrative staff, and has ultimate responsibility for legislative matters: it discusses and pronounces on policies proposed by the University Council. Oxford and Cambridge (which is similarly structured) are unique for this democratic form of governance.
Two university proctors, who are elected annually on a rotating basis from two of the colleges, supervise undergraduate discipline. The collection of University Professors is called the Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford. They are particularly influential in the running of the graduate programmes within the University. Examples of Statutory Professors are the Chichele Professorships and the Drummond Professor of Political Economy. The various academic faculties, departments, and institutes are organised into four divisions, each with their own Head and elected board. They are the Humanities Division; the Social Sciences Division; the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division; and the Medical Sciences Division.

Magdalen College on May Morning, 2007.

St Catherine's College, founded in 1962.

Colleges
There are 38 colleges of the University of Oxford and 6 Permanent Private Halls, each with its own internal structure and activities. All students, and most academic staff, are affiliated with a college. The heads of Oxford colleges are known by various titles, according to the college, including warden, provost, principal, president, rector, master or dean. The colleges join together as the Conference of Colleges to discuss policy and to deal with the central University administration. Teaching members of the colleges (fellows and tutors) are collectively and familiarly known as dons (though the term is rarely used by members of the university itself). In addition to residential and dining facilities, the colleges provide social, cultural, and recreational activities for their members. Colleges have responsibility for admitting undergraduates and organising their tuition; for graduates, this responsibility falls upon the departments.

Teaching and degrees
Main articles: Degrees of the University of Oxford and List of Professorships at the University of Oxford
Undergraduate teaching is centred upon the tutorial, where 1-4 students spend an hour with an academic discussing their week’s work, usually an essay (arts) or problem sheet (sciences). Students usually have around two tutorials a week, and can be taught by academics at any other college - not just their own - as expertise and personnel requires. These tutorials are complemented by lectures, classes and seminars, which are organised on a departmental basis. Graduate students undertaking taught degrees are usually instructed through classes and seminars, though naturally there is more focus upon individual research.
The university itself is responsible for conducting examinations and conferring degrees. The passing of two sets of examinations is a prerequisite for a first degree. The first set of examinations, called either Honour Moderations (‘Mods’ and ‘Honour Mods’) or Preliminary Examinations (‘Prelims’), are usually held at the end of the first year (after two terms for those studying Law, Theology, Philosophy and Theology, Experimental Psychology or Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology or after five terms in the case of Classics). The second set of examinations, the Final Honour School (‘Finals’), is held at the end of the undergraduate course. Successful candidates receive first-, upper or lower second-, or third-class honours based on their performance in Finals. Research degrees at the master's and doctoral level are conferred in all subjects studied at graduate level at the university.

Tom Quad, Christ Church in the snow.

Academic year
The academic year is divided into three terms, determined by Regulations.[11] Michaelmas Term lasts from October to December; Hilary Term from January to March; and Trinity Term from April to June.
Within these terms, Council determines for each year eight-week periods called Full Terms, during which undergraduate teaching takes place. These terms are shorter than those of many other British universities.[12] Undergraduates are also expected to prepare heavily in the three vacations (known as the Christmas, Easter and Long Vacations).
Internally at least, the dates in the term are often referred to by a number in reference to the start of each full term, thus the first week of any full term is called "1st week" and the last is "8th week". The numbering of the weeks continues up to the end of the term, and begins again with negative numbering from the beginning of the succeeding term, through "minus first week" and "noughth week", which precedes "1st week". Weeks begin on a Sunday. Undergraduates must be in residence from Thursday of 0th week.

Finances
In 2005/06 the University had income of £609m, and the colleges £237m (of which £41m is a flow-through from the University). For the University, key sources were HEFCE (£166m) and research grants (£213m). For the colleges, the largest single source was endowments and interest (£82m) and residential charges (£47m). While the University has the larger operating budget, the colleges have a far larger aggregate endowment, at around £2.7bn compared to the University's £900m.[13]

Admission

Procedure
The admission process for undergraduates is undertaken by the individual colleges, working with each other to ensure that the best students gain a place at the University regardless of whether they are accepted by their preferred college. Selection is based on achieved and predicted exam results; candidate-submitted written work; interviews, which are held between applicants and college tutors; and, in some subjects, written admission tests prior to interview. Personal statements and school references are also considered. Prospective students apply through the UCAS application system, in common with all British universities, but (along with applicants for Cambridge) must observe an earlier deadline. Because of the high volume of applications and the direct involvement of the faculty in admissions, students are not permitted to apply to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same year, with the exception of applicants for Organ Scholarships and those applying to read for a second undergraduate degree.
The decentralised, college-based nature of the admissions procedure necessitates a number of mechanisms to ensure that the best students are offered admission to the University, regardless of whether the college they originally applied to can accommodate them. As such, colleges can 'pool' candidates to other colleges, whereby candidates can be interviewed at and/or offered admission to another college. Some applicants are also awarded an 'open offer', which does not carry an attachment to a particular college until A Level results day in August. The colleges have recently signed up to what they call a 'common framework' outlining the principles and procedures they observe.
Undergraduate and graduate students may name preferred colleges in their applications. For undergraduate students, an increasing number of departments practice college reallocation to ensure that the ratio between potential students and subject places available at all colleges are as uniform as possible. Students who named colleges which are over-subscribed are reallocated to under-subscribed colleges for their subjects. For the Department of Physics, college reallocation is done on a random basis after a shortlist of candidates is drawn up and before candidates are invited for interviews at the university.[14] As a result of this, the college eventually offering a candidate a place to read a subject may not be the one he/she originally applied to.
For graduate students, many colleges express a preference for candidates who will be undertaking research in an area of interest of one of its fellows. St Hugh's College, for example, states that it accepts graduate students in most subjects, principally those in the fields of interest of the Fellows of the college.[15] Perhaps as a consequence of this, it is not uncommon for a graduate student to be a member of his/her supervisor's college, although this is not an official university requirement. For graduate students, admission is first handled by the relevant department, and then by a college.

Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Access
Despite the University's claims that its admissions policies avoid bias against candidates of certain socioeconomic or educational backgrounds,[16] the fairness of Oxford admissions have continued to attract considerable public controversy through episodes such as the Laura Spence Affair in 2000.[17] Oxbridge entrance remains a central focus for many private and selective-state schools, and the lack of a more representative social mix at the university remains a point of national controversy.[18] In 2007, the University refined its admissions procedure to take into account the academic performance of applicants' schools.[19] A study showed that "[a] student in a state school is as likely to go on to a leading university as a student from the independent sector who gets two grades lower at A-level".[20]
Students who apply from state schools and colleges have a comparable acceptance rate to those from independent schools (25% and 32% of applicants accepted respectively, 2006). However, most pupils who are accepted from state schools come from "elite" grammar and selective schools, rather than comprehensives.[21] About half of applications come from the state sector,[21] and the University of Oxford funds many initiatives to attract applicants from this sector, including the Oxford Access Scheme, Target Schools, and the FE Access Initiative.[16] Most colleges also run their own access schemes and initiatives.

The Ashmolean is the oldest museum in Britain
Mature and part-time students are supported by the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education.

Scholarships and financial support
There are many opportunities for students at Oxford to receive financial help during their studies. The Oxford Opportunity Bursaries, introduced in 2006, are university-wide means-based bursaries available to any British undergraduate. With a total possible grant of £10,235 over a 3-year degree, it is the most generous bursary scheme offered by any British university.[22] In addition, individual colleges also offer bursaries and funds to help their students. For graduate study, there are many scholarships attached to the University, available to students from all sorts of backgrounds, from the famous Rhodes Scholarships to the new Weidenfeld Scholarships.[23] In October 2007, it was announced that Oxford would be launching a fund-raising campaign with a goal in excess of £1 billion. Of the money raised, approximately one quarter is expected to go towards student financial support.[24]
Students successful in early examinations are rewarded by their colleges with scholarships and exhibitions, normally the result of a long-standing endowment, although when tuition fees were first abolished, the amounts of money available became purely nominal. Scholars, and exhibitioners in some colleges, are entitled to wear a more voluminous undergraduate gown; "commoners" (originally those who had to pay for their "commons", or food and lodging) being restricted to a short, sleeveless garment. The term "scholar" in relation to Oxbridge, therefore, had a specific meaning as well as the more general meaning of someone of outstanding academic ability. In previous times, there were "noblemen commoners" and "gentlemen commoners", but these ranks were abolished in the 19th century. "Closed" scholarships, which were accessible only to candidates who fitted specific conditions such as coming from specific schools, exist now only in name.
From the inception of the Church of England to 1866 one had to belong to that church to receive the BA degree from Oxford, and "dissenters" were only permitted to receive the MA in 1871. Knowledge of Ancient Greek was required until 1920, and Latin until 1960. Women were admitted to degrees in 1920.

[Collections

The Radcliffe Camera, built 1737-1749, holds books from the Bodleian Library's English, History, and Theology collections

Libraries

All Saints Church, now Lincoln College's library, on the High Street.
Oxford's central research library is the Bodleian, founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1598 and opened in 1602.[25] With over 8 million volumes housed on 117 miles (188 km) of shelving, it is the second-largest library in the UK, after the British Library. It is a legal deposit library, which means that it is entitled to request a free copy of every book published in the UK. As such, its collection is growing at a rate of over three miles (five kilometres) of shelving every year.[26] Its main central site consists of the Radcliffe Camera, the Old Schools Quadrangle, the Clarendon Building, and the New Bodleian Building. A tunnel underneath Broad Street connects the buildings. There are plans to build a new book depository in Osney Mead,[27] and to remodel the New Bodleian building [28] to better showcase the library’s various treasures (which include a Shakespeare First Folio and a Gutenberg Bible) as well as temporary exhibitions. Several other libraries, such as the Radcliffe Science Library and the Oriental Institute Library, also fall within the Bodleian Group’s remit.
As well as the Bodleian, there are a number of other specialised libraries in Oxford, such as the Sackler Library which holds classical collections. In addition, most academic departments maintain their own library, as do all colleges. The University’s entire collection is catalogued by the Oxford Libraries Information System, though with such a huge collection, this is an ongoing task.[29] Oxford University Library Services, the head of which is Bodley’s Librarian, is the governing administrative body responsible for libraries in Oxford. The Bodleian is currently engaged in a mass-digitisation project with Google.[30][31]
See also: Category:Libraries in Oxford

Pitt Rivers Museum interior

Museums
Oxford maintains a number of museums and galleries in addition to its libraries. The Ashmolean Museum, founded in 1683, is the oldest museum in the UK, and the oldest university museum in the world.[32] It holds significant collections of art and archaeology, including works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, and Picasso, as well as treasures such as the Scorpion Macehead, the Parian Marble and the Alfred Jewel. It also contains "The Messiah", a pristine Stradivarius violin, regarded by some as one of the finest examples in existence. The Ashmolean is scheduled to complete a £49m redevelopment in 2009, [33] doubling the display space as well as providing new facilities.
The Museum of Natural History holds the University’s anatomical and natural history specimens. It is housed in a large neo-Gothic building on Parks Road, in the University’s Science Area.[34][35] Among its collection are the skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops, and the most complete remains of a dodo found anywhere in the world. It also hosts the Simonyi Professorship of the Public Understanding of Science, currently held by Marcus du Sautoy.

Autumn in the Walled Garden of the Botanic Garden
Adjoining the Museum of Natural History is the Pitt Rivers Museum, founded in 1884, which displays the University’s archaeological and anthropological collections, currently holding over 500,000 items. It recently built a new research annexe; its staff have been involved with the teaching of anthropology at Oxford since its foundation, when as part of his donation General Augustus Pitt Rivers stipulated that the University establish a lectureship in anthropology.
The Museum of the History of Science is housed on Broad St in the world’s oldest-surviving purpose-built museum building.[36] It contains 15,000 artifacts, from antiquity to the 20th century, representing almost all aspects of the history of science. In the Faculty of Music on St Aldate's is the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, a collection mostly comprising of instruments from Western classical music, from the medieval period onwards. The Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in the UK, and the third-oldest scientific garden in the world. It contains representatives from over 90% of the world’s higher plant families. Christ Church Picture Gallery holds a collection of over 200 old master paintings.

Reputation
In the subject tables of the Times Good University Guide 2008, Oxford is ranked as the top university in the UK with Cambridge as the second.[37] Oxford is ranked first in Politics, Physiological Sciences, English, Fine Art, Business Studies, Materials technology, Middle Eastern and African Studies, Music, Philosophy, and also Education and Linguistics which it shares first with Cambridge. Oxford comes second after Cambridge in a further seventeen subjects. The University then takes three third-places and an equal-third, as well as a fourth, fifth, and equal-sixth place in one subject each.[38]
In the Guardian's subject tables for institutions in tariff-band 6 (universities whose prospective students are expected to score 400 or more tariff points) Oxford took first place for Anatomy and Physiology, Anthropology, Biosciences, Business and Management Studies, Earth and Marine Sciences, Economics, English, Law, Materials and Mineral Engineering, Modern Languages, Music, Politics, Psychology, and Sociology. Oxford came second to Cambridge in Geography, Archaeology, Classics, History, History of Art, Mathematics, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies. Oxford came second in General Engineering, and third in Fine Art, General Engineering and Physics; fourth place in Chemistry and Medicine; sixth place in Computer Science and IT.[39]
According to the 2008 THES - QS World University Rankings Oxford is rated 4th in the world, behind Harvard, Yale and Cambridge, making it the 2nd best university in Europe.
Oxford is one of four UK universities that belong to the Coimbra Group, one of four UK universities that belong to the League of European Research Universities, and one of three UK universities that belong to both. It is the only UK university to belong to the Europaeum group.

KaTriNA KaiF

Katrina Kaif (Hindi: कत्रिना कैफ़; born 16 July 1984) is a Hong Kong-born Indian film actress who has appeared in Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films.

Biography
Kaif was born in Hong Kong on 16 July 1984,[1] to a Kashmiri father (who acquired British citizenship) and a British mother. Kaif has eight siblings; seven sisters and one brother. At age 14 she was approached by an agent and began modeling; her first job was for a jewelry campaign. She continued modeling in London.

Career
Kaif's London model work led to her discovery by filmmaker Kaizad Gustad, who gave her a part in his film Boom (2003). She moved to Mumbai and was offered a number of modeling assignments. However, filmmakers were at first hesitant to sign her because of her linguistic shortcomings.[2] Katrina saw success with the 2005 film Sarkar where she played the brief role of Abhishek Bachchan's love interest. Her next release, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (2006), where she was paired opposite Salman Khan, earned her an award at the Stardust Award for breakthrough female performance. In 2007 Katrina appeared in the hit movie Namastey London, wherein she starred as a British Indian alongside Akshay Kumar for the second time after the box office dud Humko Deewana Kar Gaye. She then worked on a series of box office hits that include Apne, Partner and Welcome. 2008 saw her play a negative role for the first time in Abbas-Mustan's super hit action thriller Race. She played the role of Saif Ali Khan's secretary who is secretly in love with him. She appeared next in Anees Bazmee's box office blockbuster Singh Is Kinng alongside Akshay Kumar for the fourth time. Kaif's final release of the year, Subhash Ghai's Yuvvraaj, was a surprise disaster at the box office.

Awards
2006: Stardust Breakthrough Performance Award (Female), Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya
2008: British-Indian Actor award, Zee Cine Awards
2008: IIFA Awards: Best Female Style Icon [3]
2008: Voted at the No. 1 spot in FHM India's 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll[4]
2008: Voted Sexiest Asian Woman [5]
2008: Most searched Indian celebrity on Google [6]
2009: Ranked 48 on Most Desired Woman List[7]

BuGaTti CaRs

The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale, was a large luxury car with a 4.3 m (169.3 in) wheelbase and 6.4 m (21 ft) overall length. It weighed approximately 3175 kg (7000 lb) and used a 12.7 L (12763 cc/778 in³) straight-8 engine.
(For comparison, the Royale is about as heavy as a large modern commercial pickup truck, such as a Ford Super Duty F-450, but it is about 10% longer. When compared to the modern Rolls-Royce Phantom., it is about 20% longer, and more than 25% heavier.)
Ettore Bugatti planned to build twenty-five of these cars, and sell them to royalty. But even royalty was not buying such things during the Great Depression, and Bugatti was able to sell only six. Today a Bugatti Royale is the ultimate status symbol - one of the biggest, rarest, most desirable cars in the world.

Design

Type 41 radiator cap
Crafted by Ettore Bugatti, the Type 41 is said to have come about because he took exception to the comments of an English lady who compared his cars unfavourably with those of Rolls-Royce.[1]
The prototype had a near 15-litre capacity, the production of 12.7 litres engine (apx. 4.5 ft (1.4 m) long x 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high), is one of the largest automobile engines ever made, producing 205 to 223 kW (275 to 300 hp). Its cylinders, bored to 125 by 130 mm (5.1 in), each displaced more than the entire engine of the contemporary Type 40 touring car. It had 3 valves per cylinder driven by a single overhead camshaft. Nine bearings were specified for reliability, but only a single custom carburettor was needed.
All Royales were individually bodied, but its cast "Roue Royale" wheels measured 610 mm (24 inches) in diameter. The radiator cap was a posed elephant.

French National Railway SNCF
The final aesthetically beautiful overhead camshaft engine, a 770 lb (350 kg) sculpture in turned aluminium, proved to be one of Ettore's greatest successes, but initially a failure commercially. To use up the remaining 23 engines after the final Royale was built, Bugatti built a rail car powered by either two or four of the eight-cylinder units. 79 were built for the French National Railway SNCF, using a further 186 engines, and remained in use until the 1960s - turning the episode from an economic failure into a success for Bugatti. One took a world average speed record of 122 mph (196 km/h) for 43.9 miles (70.7 km).

Production
The Royale with a basic chassis price of $30,000, was launched just as the world economy began to sour into the 1930s Great Depression. Just six were built between 1929 and 1933, with just three sold to external customers. Intended for royalty, none were eventually sold to any royals, and Bugatti even refused to sell one to King Zog of Albania, claiming that "the man's table manners are beyond belief!"[4]
All six production Royales still exist (the prototype was destroyed in an accident in 1931), and each has a different body, some having been rebodied several times.

41.110 - Coupe Napoleon

Chassis no.41.110, known as the Coupe Napoleon, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
The first car is chassis number 41.110
Known as the Coupe Napoleon
Kept by Ettore Bugatti, and in his later life became his personal car
Bricked up with 41.141 and 41.150 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.[1]
Sold by L'Ebe Bugatti in the early 1960s to the brothers Schlumpf
Resides in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse, alongside 41.131 that the brothers Schlumpf had acquired from John Shakespeare.[1]

41.111 - Coupe de Ville Binder

250'Replica of Coupe Napoleon, made for the French film Rebus with american V8 engine' while resident in the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum
The second car is chassis no.41.111
Known as the Coupe de Ville Binder
Sold in 1932 to French clothing manufacturer Armand Esders. Ettore's eldest son, Jean, fashioned for the car a dramatic two-seater open body with flamboyant, full-bodied wings and a dickey seat, but no headlamps. In this form it became known as the Royale Esders Roadster.[5]
Purchased by the French politician [Paternotre]],[6] the car was rebodied in the Coupe de Ville style by the coach builder Henri Binder. From this point onwards, known as the Coupe de Ville Binder
Never delivered to the King of Romania due to World War 2,[6] it was hidden from the Nazis by storing it in the sewers of Paris
Briefly found its way to the United Kingdom after World War 2, before taking up residence in The Harrah Collection.[1]
Sold in 1986 to Californian collector General William Lyon, he offered the car during the 1996 Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas auction, where he refused an offer of $11 million; the reserve was set at $15 million
In 1999, the new owner of the Bugatti brand, Volkswagen AG, bought the car for a reputed $20 million. Now used as a brand promotion vehicle, it travels to various museums and locations

41.121 - Cabriolet Weinberger

Bugatti Type 41 Royale 'Weinberger Cabriolet' 1931
The third car is chassis no.41.121
Known as the Cabriolet Weinberger
Sold in 1932 to German obstetrician Josef Fuchs, who specified coach builder Ludwig Weinberger of Munich to build him a open cabriolet. Painted black with yellow, the car was delivered to Dr Fuchs in 1931
As political tensions rose in pre-war Germany, Fuchs as a Jew relocated to Italy, then Japan; before permanently relocating to New York around 1937, bringing the Royale with him.[7]
Admired in Dr Fuchs ownership by Charles Chayne, later CEO of General Motors. Chayne later found the car in a scrap yard in New York, buying it in 1946 for $400.[7]
Chayne modified the car to make it more road usable, with the completed car featuring from 1947 onwards: a brand new intake manifold with four carburetors, instead of the original single carb setup; a new paint scheme of oyster white with a dark green trim and convertible roof
In 1957, after running the car for ten years, Chayne donated the car to the Henry Ford Museum, located in Dearborn, Michigan, where it still resides.[7] The associated placard, in its entirety, reads: "1931 Bugatti Royale Type 41 Cabriolet, Ettore Bugatti, Molsheim, France, Body by Weinberger, OHC, in-line 8 cylinder, 300 horsepower, 779 cu.in. displacement, 7,035 lb (3,191 kg). Original price: $43,000, Gift of Charles and Esther Chayne."

41.131 - Limousine Park-Ward

Chassis no.41.131, known as the Limousine Park-Ward, at home in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse
The fourth car is chassis no.41.131
Known as the Foster car or Limousine Park-Ward[1]
sold to Englishman Captain Cuthbert W. Foster, heir to a large department store in Boston USA, through his American mother , in 1933.[1] Foster had a limousine body made for the car by Park Ward, created in the style of a 1921 daimler he had once owned.[1]
Acquired in 1946 by British Bugatti dealer Jack Lemon Burton who was forced to replace the huge tyres with ones from an artilliery piece, neccesitating the need to remove the skirting from the fenders.
Sold in 1956 to American Bugatti collector John Shakespeare, becoming part of the largest collection of Bugattis at that time.
Facing financial problems, in 1963 Shakespeare sold his entire car collection, and he found a willing buyer in Fritz Schlumpf
Part of the Schlumpf Collection [8]
Resides in the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse, alongside 41.110 that the brothers Schlumpf had acquired from the Bugatti estate.[1]

41.141 - Kellner car
The fifth car is chassis no.41.141
Known as the Kellner car
Unsold, it was kept by Bugatti
Bricked up with 41.110 and 41.150 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.[1]
Sold together with 41.150 by L'Ebe Bugatti in 1950 to American Le Mans racer Briggs Cunningham, in return for a small but undisclosed sum of money, plus a couple of new General Electric refrigerators, then unavailable in post-war France.[1]
After closing his museum in 1986,[9] in 1987 the car was sold direct from Briggs Cunningham's collection by Christie's for £5.5 million at the Royal Albert Hall, to a Swedish property tycoon named Hans Thulin
On collapse of his empire, Thulin sold the car in 1990 to Japanese conglomerate the Meitec Corporation,[10] and it resided in their modern building basement before being offered for sale for £10million by Bonhams in 2002.[1]
Ownership is presently unknown, but it has been shown in recent years by Swiss broker Lukas Huni.[11]

41.150 - Berline de Voyage
The sixth car is chassis no.41.150
Known as the Berline de Voyage
Unsold, it was kept by Bugatti
Bricked up with 41.110 and 41.141 during World War II at the home of the Bugatti family in Ermenonville, to avoid being commandeered by the Nazis.[1]
Sold together with 41.141 by L'Ebe Bugatti in 1950 to American Le Mans racer Briggs Cunningham, in return for a small but undisclosed sum of money, plus a couple of new General Electric refrigerators, then unavailable in post-war France.[1]
On their arrival in the United States, Cunningham sold 41.150, which found its way into The Harrah Collection.[1]
In 1991, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, sold 41.150 for US$8,000,000, which was actually less than the £5.7 million (US$8.4 million) he purchased it for in 1986
Presently believed to be in the hands of a South Korean investor.[12]

Replica cars

The brothers Schlumpf replica of the Royale Esders Coupe on display at the 2006 Paris Motor Show
In light of the rarity of the Type 41 and its associated price, it is unsurprising that some replicas have been made.
The Schlumpf brothers so liked the original Dr Armand Esders coupe body on chassis 41.111, using original Bugatti parts they had a replica made of the car. It now resides with the two originals they purchased at the Musée National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse.[6]
Tom Wheatcroft commissioned Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations to build an exact replica of Bugatti's personal car, the Coupe Napoleon (chassis number 41110), for his Donington Grand Prix Collection in England. So good was the replica, that when the Kellner car needed a replacement piston, its then Japanese owners commissioned South Cerney Engineering part of AKVR to provide a replacement.[1] On May 24th 2008, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim of Denmark on the day of his wedding to Princess Marie (formerly Marie Cavallier) had Wheatcroft's replica waiting outside Møgeltønder Church to drive the newly married couple to Schackenborg Manor.

80th anniversary
In 2007 to celebrate the Royale's eightieth anniversary, five of the six cars were on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.[6]

ThE GrEaT WaLL Of ChiNa

The Great Wall of China (simplified Chinese: 长城; traditional Chinese: 長城; pinyin: Chángchéng; literally "long city/fortress") or (simplified Chinese: 万里长城; traditional Chinese: 萬里長城; pinyin: Wànlǐ Chángchéng; literally "The long wall of 10,000 Li (里)"[1]) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from Xiongnu attacks during the rule of successive dynasties. Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC. One of the most famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang; little of it remains; it was much farther north than the current wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty.[2]
The Great Wall stretches over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)[3] from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total.[4] At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men.[5] It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.[6]

History

Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty

Great Wall of the Han Dynasty

Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty

Map of the whole wall constructions
The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn Period, which began around the 8th century BC. During the Warring States Period from the 5th century BC to 221 BC, the states of Qi, Yan and Zhao all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly by stamping earth and gravel between board frames. Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states and unified China in 221 BC, establishing the Qin Dynasty. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the former state borders. To protect the empire against intrusions by the Xiongnu people from the north, he ordered the building of a new wall to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's new northern frontier. Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. Later, the Han, Sui, Northern and Jin dynasties all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders.
The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty following the Ming army's defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Manchurian and Mongolian tribes after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic tribes out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Huang He.

Photograph of the Great Wall in 1907
Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong.[7]
Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Under the military command of Yuan Chonghuan, the Ming army held off the Manchus at the heavily fortified Shanhaiguan pass, preventing the Manchus from entering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, when the gates at Shanhaiguan were opened by Wu Sangui, a Ming border general who disliked the activities of rulers of the Shun Dynasty. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and defeated the newly founded Shun Dynasty and remaining Ming resistance, to establish the Qing Dynasty.
Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so construction and repairs on the Great Wall were discontinued.

Notable areas

An area of the sections of the Great Wall at Jinshanling


The following three sections are in Beijing municipality, which were renovated and which are regularly visited by modern tourists today.
"North Pass" of Juyongguan pass, known as the Badaling. When used by the Chinese to protect their land, this section of the wall has had many guards to defend China’s capital Beijing. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 meters (25.6 ft) high and 5 meters (16.4 ft) wide.
"West Pass" of Jiayuguan (pass). This fort is near the western edges of the Great Wall.
"Pass" of Shanhaiguan. This fort is near the eastern edges of the Great Wall.
One of the most striking sections of the Ming Great Wall is where it climbs extremely steep slopes. It runs 11 kilometers (7 mi) long, ranges from 5 to 8 meters (16–26 ft) in height, and 6 meters (19.7 ft) across the bottom, narrowing up to 5 meters (16.4 ft) across the top. Wangjinglou is one of Jinshanling's 67 watchtowers, 980 meters (3,215 ft) above sea level.
South East of Jinshanling, is the Mutianyu Great Wall which winds along lofty, cragged mountains from the southeast to the northwest for approximately 2.25 kilometers (about 1.3 miles). It is connected with Juyongguan Pass to the west and Gubeikou to the east.
25 km west of the Liao Tian Ling stands of part of Great wall which is only 2~3 stories high. According to the records of Lin Tian, the wall was not only extremely short compared to others, but it appears to be silver. Archeologists explain that the wall appears to be silver because the stone they used were from Shan Xi, where many mines are found. The stone contains extremely high metal in it causing it to appear silver. However, due to years of decay of the Great Wall, it is hard to see the silver part of the wall today.
Another notable section lies near the eastern extremity of the wall, where the first pass of the Great Wall was built on the Shanhaiguan (known as the “Number One Pass Under Heaven”), the first mountain the Great Wall climbs. Jia Shan is also here, as is the Jiumenkou, which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge. Shanhaiguan Great Wall is called the “Museum of the Construction of the Great Wall”, because of the Meng Jiang-Nu Temple, built during the Song Dynasty.

Characteristics

The Great Wall on an 1805 map
Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from Earth or Taipa, stones, and wood.
During the Ming Dynasty, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone. The size and weight of the bricks made them easier to work with than earth and stone, so construction quickened. Additionally, bricks could bear more weight and endure better than rammed earth. Stone can hold under its own weight better than brick, but is more difficult to use. Consequently, stones cut in rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outer brims, and gateways of the wall. Battlements line the uppermost portion of the vast majority of the wall, with defensive gaps a little over 30 cm (one foot) tall, and about 23 cm (9 inches) wide.

Condition

The Great Wall at Mutianyu, near Beijing

The Great Wall in fog
While some portions north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in many locations the Wall is in disrepair. Those parts might serve as a village playground or a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads.[8] Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction.[9] No comprehensive survey of the wall has been carried out, so it is not possible to say how much of it survives, especially in remote areas. Intact or repaired portions of the Wall near developed tourist areas are often frequented by sellers of tourist kitsch.
More than 60 kilometres (37 mi) of the wall in Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years, due to erosion from sandstorms. In places, the height of the wall has been reduced from more than five meters (16.4 ft) to less than two meters. The square lookout towers that characterize the most famous images of the wall have disappeared completely. Many western sections of the wall are constructed from mud, rather than brick and stone, and thus are more susceptible to erosion.[10]

Watchtowers and barracks

Watchtower
Communication between the army units along the length of the Great Wall, including the ability to call reinforcements and warn garrisons of enemy movements, was of high importance. Signal towers were built upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their visibility.

Visibility from space

The Great Wall of China as seen in a false-color radar image from the Space Shuttle, taken in April 1994

Visibility from the moon
Popular beliefs ranging from Ripley's Believe It or Not!'s cartoons from 1930s, which claimed that the Great Wall is "the mightiest work of man, the only one that would be visible to the human eye from the moon," to Richard Halliburton's 1938 book Second Book of Marvels which makes a similar claim, have persisted, assuming urban legend status, and sometimes even appeared in school textbooks. Arthur Waldron, author of The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth, has speculated that the belief might go back to the fascination with the "canals" once believed to exist on Mars.
One of the earliest known reference to this myth appears in a letter written in 1754 by the English antiquary William Stukeley. Stukeley wrote that, "This mighty wall of four score miles in length (Hadrian's Wall) is only exceeded by the Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure upon the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the moon."[11]
The Great Wall is a maximum 9.1m (30 ft) wide and is about the same color as the soil surrounding it. Based on the optics of resolving power (distance versus the width of the iris: a few millimetres for the human eye, metres for large telescopes) an object of reasonable contrast to its surroundings some 70 miles in diameter (1 arc-minute) would be visible to the unaided eye from the moon, whose average distance from Earth is 384,393 km (238,857 miles). The Great Wall is of course not a disc but more like a thread—it can be seen from much further than would be possible if it were simply a 30 foot disc. Still, the apparent width of the Great Wall from the moon is the same as that of a human hair viewed from 2 miles away. To see the wall from the moon would require spatial resolution 17,000 times better than normal (20/20) vision.[12] Not surprisingly, no lunar astronaut has ever claimed seeing the Great Wall from the moon.
Incidentally, if it were possible to see the Great Wall from the moon, one ought to be able to see many of the world's highways as well, given that many surpass the Great Wall in width and brightness.

Visibility from low earth orbit
A more controversial question is whether the Wall is visible from low earth orbit, i.e an altitude of as little as 100 miles (160 km). NASA claims that it is barely visible, and only under nearly perfect conditions; it is no more conspicuous than many other man-made objects.[13] Other authors have argued that due to limitations of the optics of the eye and the spacing of photoreceptors on the retina, it is impossible to see the wall with the naked eye, even from low orbit, and would require visual acuity of 20/3 (7.7 times better than normal).[12]

Anecdotal reports
Astronaut William Pogue thought he had seen it from Skylab but discovered he was actually looking at the Grand Canal of China near Beijing. He spotted the Great Wall with binoculars, but said that "it wasn't visible to the unaided eye." U.S. Senator Jake Garn claimed to be able to see the Great Wall with the naked eye from a space shuttle orbit in the early 1980s, but his claim has been disputed by several U.S. astronauts. Veteran U.S. astronaut Gene Cernan has stated: "At Earth orbit of 100 miles (160 km) to 200 miles (320 km) high, the Great Wall of China is, indeed, visible to the naked eye." Ed Lu, Expedition 7 Science Officer aboard the International Space Station, adds that, "it's less visible than a lot of other objects. And you have to know where to look."
In October 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei stated that he had not been able to see the Great Wall of China. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) issued a press release reporting that from an orbit between 160 and 320 km, the Great Wall is visible to the naked eye. In an attempt to further clarify things, the ESA published a picture of a part of the “Great Wall” photographed from Space. However, in a press release a week later (no longer available in the ESA’s website), they acknowledged that the "Great Wall" in the picture was actually a river.

Topographic maps put together showing the location of the eastern parts of the wall between the Yellow River and the Bohai Sea.
Neil Armstrong stated about the view from Apollo 11: "I do not believe that, at least with my eyes, there would be any man-made object that I could see. I have not yet found somebody who has told me they've seen the Wall of China from Earth orbit. ...I've asked various people, particularly Shuttle guys, that have been many orbits around China in the daytime, and the ones I've talked to didn't see it.[14]
Leroy Chiao, a Chinese-American astronaut, took a photograph from the International Space Station that shows the wall. It was so indistinct that the photographer was not certain he had actually captured it. Based on the photograph, the China Daily later reported that the Great Wall can be seen from space with the naked eye, under favorable viewing conditions, if one knows exactly where to look.[15]

PaLm JuMeRiAh aRtiFiCiAL iSLaNd

The Palm Jumeirah is an artificial island created using land reclamation by Nakheel, a company owned by the Dubai government. It is one of three islands called The Palm Islands which extend into the Persian Gulf, increasing Dubai’s shoreline by a total of 520 km. The Palm Jumeirah is the smallest and the original of three Palm Islands (Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira) under development by Nakheel. It is located on the Jumeirah coastal area of the emirate of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Contents[hide]
1 Description
2 Transportation
3 Construction
4 Controversy

Description

The Crown on 11 March 2008

Atlantis on 8 May 2008
The Palm Jumeirah is in the shape of a palm tree. It consists of a trunk, a crown with 17 fronds, and a surrounding crescent island that forms an 11 kilometre long breakwater. The island is 5 kilometres by 5 kilometres and its total area is larger than 800 football pitches[1]. The crown is connected to the mainland by a 300-metre bridge and the crescent is connected to the top of the palm by a subsea tunnel[1]. Over the next few years, as the tourism phases develop, The Palm Jumeirah is touted as soon to be one of the world’s premier resorts. The Palm Island is the self-declared 'Eighth Wonder of the World'. The island will double the length of the Dubai coastline.[2]
According to the developer's publicity material[3], the Jumeirah Palm island will feature themed boutique hotels, three types of villas (Signature Villas, Garden Homes and Canal Cove Town Homes), shoreline apartment buildings, beaches, marinas, restaurants, cafés and a variety of retail outlets. Over 30 beachfront hotels will be opened by the end of 2009[1], including:

Oceana Resort & Spa on 1 May 2007
The Trump International Hotel & Tower
Atlantis, The Palm
The Taj Exotica Hotel & Resort
Grandeur Residences
Tiara Hotel & Residence
Oceana Resort & Spa
The Fairmont Palm Residence
The Fairmont Palm Hotel & Resort
The Dubai Estates Hotel & Park
Hotel Missoni Dubai
Radisson SAS Hotel Dubai, The Palm Jumeirah
Kempinski Emerald Palace
Kempinski Emerald Palace Residences
Two F-100 Super Sabre fighter jets have been stripped and sunk near The Palm Jumeirah to create an artificial reef, intended to encourage marine life[4].
On 18 June 2007, the Cunard Line announced that it had sold its former flagship, RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, to Istithmar for use as a floating hotel at The Palm Jumeirah beginning in 2009.[5]

Transportation

Palm Jumeirah Monorail
See also: Palm Jumeirah Monorail
The 5.4 km (3.35 mile) Palm Jumeirah Monorail is being built on the island which will be able to transport 40,000 people every day. It is expected to open in April 2009.[6]

Construction
Construction began on the Palm Jumeirah island in June 2001 and the developers announced handover of the first residential units in 2006[1]. The island has been created using 94 million cubic metres of sand and 7 million tons of rock. The Palm Jumeirah was created by pouring sand fill onto the 10.5 metre-deep seabed using dredgers. Above sea level, 3 metres of the reclamation were achieved by a dredging technique known as "rainbowing," in which the sand fill was sprayed over the surface of the rising island. Calcareous sand was used for the reclamation. The island includes a curved breakwater using natural rock, intended to encourage the creation of a natural reef and provide habitats for sea life. The land form was reclaimed by the Dutch company Van Oord, who are world experts in land reclamation. Total cost reached US$12.3 billion and maintaining the island is a costly expenditure[citation needed]. Approximately 40,000 workers, mostly from South Asia, have been involved in the construction of the island[citation needed].
In early October 2007, the Palm Jumeirah had already become the world's largest man-made island.[7] Also at this time, 75% of the properties were ready to hand over, with 500 families already residing on the island.[7] By the end of 2009, 28 hotels will be open on the Crescent.[7]

Controversy
The complexities of the construction have been blamed, in part, for the extended delays to the completion of the project, the date of which has been pushed back multiple times and is now nearly two years late. Further controversy was engendered when it was revealed that after launching the project, Nakheel increased the number of residential units on the island (with a concomitant reduction in the amount of physical space between individual properties) from the originally-announced 4500 (comprising 2000 villas and 2500 apartments) to an estimated 8000 without recompense to those investors who had purchased early in the expectation of greater separation between properties.[8] This increase was attributed to Nakheel miscalculating the actual cost of construction and requiring the raising of additional capital, although Nakheel has never commented publicly on the matter.[citation needed]
Doubts have also been expressed about the quality of the construction and finishing of the properties on the island and the real ability of the infrastructure on both the Palm and the mainland to cope with the stresses of the sheer number of people leaving from and returning to the development every day once complete.[8]
Furthermore, there are numerous concerns about the environmental impact of the Palm. As originally constructed, the breakwater was a continuous barrier, but it was realised that by preventing natural tidal movement, the seawater within the Palm was becoming stagnant. The problem was corrected by adding an additional gap in the barrier. [9] As explained in the National Geographic Channel's documentary Impossible Islands, part of its MegaStructures series, the breakwater was subsequently modified to create gaps on either side, allowing tidal movement to oxygenate the water within and prevent it stagnating, albeit less efficiently than would be the case if the breakwater did not exist.[9][10] This same episode addressed the issue of marine life as well, but stated that the breakwater has actually encouraged marine life and that new marine species are moving into the area.
In a 2009 article describing the collapsing Dubai economy, The New York Times reported that "lurid rumors" were spreading that the Palm was sinking "and when you turn the faucets in the hotels built atop it, only cockroaches come out."[11]

JaCKiE cHaN

Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE[1] (born Chan Kong Sang, 陳港生, on 7 April 1954) is an actor, action choreographer, film director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer from Hong Kong.
Chan is one of the best-known names worldwide in the areas of kung fu and action films. In his films, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts. Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1970s and has appeared in over 100 films. Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a cultural icon, Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons and video games. Besides acting, Chan is a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. In 2008, Chan sang at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.[2]

Early life
Chan was born in 1954 in Victoria Peak, Hong Kong (then a British Overseas Territory), as Chan Kong Sang (meaning "born in [Hong] Kong") to Charles and Lee-Lee Chan, refugees from the Chinese Civil War. He was nicknamed Pao Pao (Chinese: 炮炮, literally meaning "Cannonball") because he was always rolling around as an infant. He also had a brother name Soo-Sung Chan and a sister Tai Chan.[3] Since his parents worked for the French Consul to Hong Kong, Chan spent his formative years within the grounds of the consul's residence in the Victoria Peak district.[4]
Chan attended the Nah-Hwa Primary School on Hong Kong Island, where he failed his first year, after which his parents withdrew him from the school. In 1960, his father emigrated to Canberra, Australia, to work as head cook for the American embassy, and Chan was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School run by Master Yu Jim Yuen.[4][5]
Chan trained rigorously for the next decade, excelling in martial arts and acrobatics.[6] He eventually joined the Seven Little Fortunes, a performance group made up of the school's best students, gaining the stage name Yuen Lo in homage to his master. Chan became close friends with fellow group members Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, the three of them later to be known as the Three Brothers or Three Dragons.[7]

Jackie Chan began his film career as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973, pictured).
At the age of 8, he appeared with some of his fellow "Little Fortunes", in the film Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962), with Li Li Hua playing his mother. Chan appeared with Li again the following year, in The Love Eterne (1963) and had a small role in King Hu's 1966 film, Come Drink with Me. In 1971, after an appearance as an extra in another King Hu film, A Touch of Zen, Chan began his adult career in the film industry, initially signing to Chu Mu's Great Earth Film Company.[8] At the age of 17, he worked as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon under the stage name Chen Yuen Long.[9] He received his first starring role later that year, in Little Tiger of Canton, which had a limited release in Hong Kong in 1973.[10]. Due to the commercial failures in his early ventures into films and trouble finding stunt work, in 1975 Chan starred in a comedic adult film, All in the Family, the only film he has made to date that did not feature a single fight scene or stunt sequence.[11]
Chan joined his parents in Canberra in 1976, where he briefly attended Dickson College and worked as a construction worker.[12] A fellow builder named Jack took Chan under his wing, earning Chan the nickname of "Little Jack" which was later shortened to "Jackie" and the name Jackie Chan stuck with him ever since.[13] In addition, Chan changed his Chinese name to Fong Si Lung, since his father's original surname was Fong.[13]

Film career

The 1978 film Drunken Master brought Jackie Chan into the mainstream.

Early exploits: 1976–1980
In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stuntwork. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo had seen Chan's performance in the John Woo film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury.[8] His stage name was changed to Cheng Long (Chinese: 成龍, literally "become the dragon") to emphasise his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name was Lei Siu Lung (Chinese: 李小龍, meaning "Little Dragon"). The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, resulting in little improvement at the box office.[14]
Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal.[15] Under director Yuen Woo Ping, Chan was allowed complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Hong Kong audience.[16] Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.[17]
Upon Chan's return to Lo Wei's studio, Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master, producing Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu.[13] He also gave Chan the opportunity to co-direct The Fearless Hyena with Kenneth Tsang. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest.[18]

Success of the action comedy genre: 1980–1987
Willie Chan had become Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and has remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was Battle Creek Brawl in 1980. Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run, which grossed US$100 million worldwide. Despite being largely ignored by audiences in favour of established American actors like Burt Reynolds, Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits, inspiring him to include the same device in his future films.

The film Police Story, nicknamed "Glass Story" for its stunt work, is set in a modern period.
After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the US market, returning his focus to Hong Kong films.[14]
Back in Hong Kong, Chan's films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his opera school friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which won the Best Action Design Award at the third annual Hong Kong Film Awards.[19] Over the following two years, the "Three Brothers" appeared in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy.[20][21] In 1985, Chan made the first Police Story film, a US-influenced action comedy in which Chan performed his own stunts. It was named the "Best Movie" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards.[22] In 1987, Chan played "Asian Hawk", an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan's biggest domestic box office success to date, grossing over HK $35 million.[23]

Acclaimed sequels and Hollywood breakthrough: 1988–1998

Chan in his Hollywood breakthrough film Rumble in the Bronx.
In 1988 Chan starred alongside Hung and Yuen for the last time to date, in the film Dragons Forever. Hung co-directed with Corey Yuen, and the villain in the film was played by Yuen Wah, both of whom were fellow graduates of the China Drama Academy.
In the late 1980s and early 90s, Chan starred in a number of successful sequels beginning with Police Story 2, which won the award for Best Action Choreography at the 1989 Hong Kong Film Awards. This was followed by Armour of God II: Operation Condor, and Police Story 3, for which Chan won the Best Actor Award at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival. In 1994, Chan reprised his role as Wong Fei Hung in Drunken Master II, which was listed in Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies.[24] Another sequel, Police Story 4: First Strike, brought more awards and domestic box office success for Chan, but did not fare as well in foreign markets.[25] Jackie Chan rekindled his Hollywood ambitions in the 1990s, but refused early offers to play villains in Hollywood films to avoid being typecast in future roles. For example, Sylvester Stallone offered him the role of Simon Phoenix, a criminal in the futuristic film Demolition Man. Chan declined and the role was taken by Wesley Snipes.[26]
Chan finally succeeded in establishing a foothold in the North American market in 1995 with a worldwide release of Rumble in the Bronx, attaining a cult following in the United States that was rare for Hong Kong movie stars.[27] The success of Rumble in the Bronx led to a 1996 release of Police Story 3 in the United States under the title Supercop, which grossed a total of US $16,270,600. Jackie then co-starred with Chris Tucker in the 1998 buddy cop action comedy Rush Hour,[28] grossing US$130 million in the United States alone.[18]

Dramatisation: 1998–present
In 1998, Chan released his final film for Golden Harvest, Who Am I? After leaving Golden Harvest in 1999, he produced Gorgeous, a romantic comedy that focused on personal relationships.[29] Chan then helped create a PlayStation game in 2000 called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, to which he lent his voice and performed the motion capture.[30]

Jackie Chan plays an anti-hero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood: a burglar with gambling problems.
Despite further success with Shanghai Noon in 2000, Rush Hour 2 in 2001 and Shanghai Knights in 2003, Chan became frustrated with Hollywood over the limited range of roles and lack of control over the film-making process.[31] In response to Golden Harvest's withdrawal from the film industry in 2003, Chan started his own film production company, JCE Movies Limited (Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited) in association with Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG).[18] His films have since featured an increasing number of dramatic scenes while continuing to succeed at the box office; examples include New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and Rob-B-Hood (2006).[32][33][34]
Chan's next release was Rush Hour 3 in August 2007. It grossed US$255 million.[35] However, it performed poorly in Hong Kong, grossing only HK$3.5 million during its opening weekend.[36] The filming of The Forbidden Kingdom, Chan's first onscreen collaboration with fellow Chinese actor Jet Li, was completed on 24 August 2007 and the film was released in April 2008.[37][38] Chan voiced the character Master Monkey in the DreamWorks Animation film, Kung Fu Panda, released in June 2008, appearing with stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie.[39] In addition, he has signed up to assist Anthony Szeto in an advisory capacity for the writer-director's upcoming film Wushu, which is currently in pre-production. The film will star Sammo Hung and Wang Wenjie as father and son.[40] In November 2007, Chan began filming Shinjuku Incident with director Derek Yee, which sees Chan take on the role of a Chinese immigrant in Japan.[41] Filming is now complete and it is currently in post-production. The film is due for release in Hong Kong cinemas on 25 September 2008.[42] According to his blog, Chan wishes to direct a film after completing Shinjuku Incident, something he has not done for a number of years.[43] The film is expected to be the third in the Armour of God series, and has a working title of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac. Chan originally stated that he would start filming on 1 April 2008, but that date had passed.[44] Because the Screen Actors Guild did not go on strike, Chan started shooting his next movie The Spy Next Door at the end of October in New Mexico,[45] leaving the status of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac up in the air. In The Spy Next Door, Chan plays an undercover agent whose cover is blown when he looks after the children of his neighbor. Chan is scheduled to make an appearance in Indo-Japanese Project Nair San with Indian actor Mohanlal. With regards to the role Chan will play, reports are contradictory, some stating he will co-star and others saying he will only make a cameo appearance.

Stunts

Jackie Chan prepares to slide down the side of a high rise building in New Police Story
Jackie Chan performs most of his own stunts, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He has stated in interviews that the primary inspiration of his more comedic stunts were the films such as The General, starring Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts without doubles. Since the team's establishment in 1983, Chan has used it in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities.[46] Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes such that their faces are obscured.[47]
The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult for Chan to get insurance, especially in the United States, where his stunt work is contractually limited.[47] Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor", which emphasises "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions, in which he performs all his own stunts".[48] In addition, he holds an unrecognised record for the most number of takes for a single shot in a film, having shot over 2900 retakes for a complex scene involving a badminton game in Dragon Lord.[49]
Chan has been injured numerous times attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God, when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, Chan has dislocated his pelvis and broken his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle and ribs on numerous occasions.[50][51]

Filmography and screen persona
Further information: Jackie Chan filmography
Jackie Chan created his screen persona as a response to Bruce Lee, and the numerous imitators who appeared before and after Lee's death. In contrast to Lee's characters, who were typically stern, morally upright heroes, Chan plays well-meaning, slightly foolish regular guys (often at the mercy of their friends, girlfriends or families) who always triumph in the end despite the odds.[13] Additionally, Chan has stated that he deliberately styles his movement to be the opposite of Lee's: where Lee held his arms wide, Chan holds his tight to the body; where Lee was loose and flowing, Chan is tight and choppy. Despite the success of the Rush Hour series, Chan has stated that he is not a fan of it since he neither appreciates the action scenes in the movie, nor understands American humour.[52] In the same interview Chan said that while he is not enamored with the films he makes in the U.S., and has repeatedly shown a lack of enthusiasm for some of his biggest Hollywood projects fearing that Chinese viewers may not understand them, he uses the high salaries from these pictures to fund Chinese projects that he is more interested in.
In recent years, the aging Chan grew tired of being typecast as an action hero, prompting him to act with more emotion in his latest films.[53] In New Police Story, he portrayed a character suffering from alcoholism and mourning his murdered colleagues.[54] To further shed the image of Mr. Nice Guy, Chan played an anti-hero for the first time in Rob-B-Hood starring as Thongs, a burglar with gambling problems.[55]

Television work

The title card of his own animated series.
In 2000, Chan hosted a fictionalised version of himself in the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures, which ran until 2005.[56]
In July 2008, the BTV reality television series entitled The Disciple (traditional Chinese: 龍的傳人; simplified Chinese: 龙的传人, lit. "Disciple of the Dragon") concluded. The series was produced by, and featured Jackie Chan. The aim of the program was to find a new star, skilled in acting and martial arts, to become Chan's "successor" and student in filmmaking. Contestants were trained by Jackie Chan Stunt Team members Alan Wu and He Jun and competed in various fields, including explosion scenes, high-altitude wire-suspension, gunplay, car stunts, diving, obstacles courses etc. The regular judges on the program were He Ping, Wu Yue and Cheng Pei Pei. Guest judges include Stanley Tong, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The "Finals" began on 5 April 2008, with 16 contestants remaining, and concluded on 26 June 2008. Amongst those in attendance were Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ng See Yuen and Yu Rong Guang.
The winner of the series was Jacky Tu (Tu Sheng Cheng). Along with runners up Yang Zheng and Jerry Liau, Tu is now set to star in three modern Chinese action films, one of which was scripted by Chan, and all three will be co-produced by Chan and his company JCE Movies Limited. The films will be entitled Speedpost 206, Won't Tell You and Tropical Tornado and will be directed by Xie Dong, Jiang Tao and Cai Rong Hui. All 16 finalists will be given the opportunity to work on the films, or to join the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. Production on the first film is due to begin in September 2008. In addition, the finalists will be given roles in a forthcoming BTV action series.[57][58][59]

Music career
Further information: Jackie Chan discography
Jackie Chan had vocal lessons whilst at the Peking Opera School in his childhood. He began producing records professionally in the 1980s and has gone on to become a successful singer in Hong Kong and Asia. He has released 20 albums since 1984 and has performed vocals in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Taiwanese and English. He often sings the theme songs of his films, which play over the closing credits. Chan's first musical recording was "Kung Fu Fighting Man", the theme song played over the closing credits of The Young Master (1980).[60] At least 10 of these recordings have been released on soundtrack albums for the films.[54][61] His cantonese song Story of a Hero (英雄故事) (theme song of Police Story) was selected by the Royal Hong Kong Police and incorporated into their recruitment advertisment in 1994. [62]
Chan voiced the character of Shang in the Chinese release of the Walt Disney animated feature, Mulan (1998). He also performed the song "I'll Make a Man Out of You", for the film's soundtrack. For the US release, the speaking voice was performed by B.D. Wong and the singing voice was done by Donny Osmond.
In 2007, Chan recorded and released the song "We Are Ready", the official one-year countdown song to the 2008 Summer Olympics. He performed the song at a ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Paralympics.[63]
The day before the Beijing Olympics opened, Chan released one of the two official Olympics albums, Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - Jackie Chan's Version, which featured a number of special guest appearances.[64] Chan, along with Andy Lau, Liu Huan and Emil Chau, performed "Hard to Say Goodbye", the farewell song for the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.[2]

[ Image and celebrity status

Chan's star on the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong
Jackie Chan has received worldwide recognition for his acting, having won several awards including an Innovator Award from the American Choreography Awards and a lifetime achievement award from the Taurus World Stunt Awards.[65] He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars.[66] Despite considerable box office success in Hollywood, Chan's American films have been criticised with respect to the action choreography. Reviewers of Rush Hour 2, The Tuxedo, and Shanghai Knights criticised the toning down of Chan's fighting scenes, citing less intensity compared to his earlier films.[67][68][69] The comedic value of his films is questioned; some critics stated it can be childish at times.[70]
Chan is a cultural icon, having been referenced in Ash's song "Kung Fu", "Jackie Chan Is a Punk Rocker" by Heavy Vegetable, as well as in "Jackie Chan" by Frank Chickens, and television shows Celebrity Deathmatch and Family Guy. He has been the inspiration for manga such as Dragon Ball (including a character with the alias "Jackie Chun"),[71] the character Lei Wulong in Tekken and the fighting-type Pokémon Hitmonchan.[72][73][74] In addition, Jackie Chan has a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi Motors. As a result, Mitsubishi cars can be found in the most recent Jackie Chan films. Furthermore, Mitsubishi honoured Chan by launching Evolution, a limited series of cars which he personally customised.[75][76][77]
A number of video games have featured Jackie Chan. Before Stuntmaster, Chan already had a game of his own, Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu, released in 1990 for the PC-Engine and NES. In 1995, Chan was featured in the arcade fighting game Jackie Chan The Kung-Fu Master. In addition, a series of Japanese Jackie Chan games were released on the MSX by Pony, based on several of his films (Project A, Project A 2, Police Story, The Protector and Wheels On Meals).[78]
Chan has always wanted to be a role model to children, remaining popular with them due to his good-natured acting style. He has refused to play villains and has almost never used the word fuck in his films (He's only said that word in two films, The Protector and Burn, Hollywood, Burn). [79] Chan's greatest regret in life is not having received proper education,[80] inspiring him to fund educational institutions around the world. He funded the construction of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the Australian National University[81] and the establishment of schools in poor regions of China.[82]

Chan with Disney favourites during the opening ceremony of Hong Kong Disneyland
Chan is a spokesperson for the Government of Hong Kong, appearing in public service announcements. In a Clean Hong Kong commercial, he urged the people of Hong Kong to be more considerate with regards to littering, a problem that has been widespread for decades.[83] Furthermore, in an advertisement promoting nationalism, he gave a short explanation of the March of the Volunteers, the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.[84] When Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, Chan participated in the opening ceremony.[85] In the United States, Chan appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in a government advert to combat copyright infringement and made another public service announcement with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca to encourage people, especially Asians, to join the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.[86][87]
Construction has begun on a Jackie Chan museum in Shanghai. Work began in July 2008 and is due to finish in October 2009.[88]

[edit] Entrepreneurship and philanthropy
In 2004, Chan launched his own line of clothing, which bears a Chinese dragon logo and the English word "Jackie", or the initials "JC".[89] Chan also has a number of other branded businesses. His sushi restaurant chain, Jackie's Kitchen, has outlets throughout Hong Kong, as well as seven in South Korea and one in Hawaii, with plans to open another in Las Vegas. Jackie Chan's Cafe has outlets in Beijing, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and the Philippines. Other ventures include Jackie Chan Signature Club gyms (a partnership with California Fitness), and a line of chocolates, cookies and nutritional oatcakes. He also hopes to expand into furniture and kitchenware, and is also considering a branded supermarket.[90] With each of his businesses, a percentage of the profits goes to various charities, including the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation.
Chan is a keen philanthropist and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, having worked tirelessly to champion charitable works and causes. He has campaigned for conservation, against animal abuse and has promoted disaster relief efforts for floods in mainland China and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.[5][91][92] In June 2006, he announced the donation of half his assets to charity upon his death, citing his admiration of the effort made by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates to help those in need.[93] On 10 March 2008, Chan was the guest of honour for the launch, by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, of the Jackie Chan Science Centre at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University in Canberra. Jackie Chan is also a supporter of the Save China's Tigers project which aims at saving the endangered South China Tiger through breeding and releasing them into the wild; he is currently an ambassador for this conservation project.[94] Chan has many historic artifacts, such as old door frames from 2000 years ago. He also owns the Jinricksha Station in Singapore.
In April 2008, Jackie Chan was invited for the audio launch of an Indian film, entitled Dasavathaaram (2008) in Chennai, where he shared the dais with Indian celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hassan. Though he did not understand a word of Tamil, Chan was touched by the Indian community's love for him and his films, and was impressed with the movie Dasavathaaram, expressing a keen interest in working with the star of the film, Kamal Hassan. Hassan himself reciprocated the desire to work with the action superstar, urging Chan to keep his promise of working with him on a possible film project.
Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Chan donated RMB ¥10 million to help those in need. In addition, he is planning to make a film about the Chinese earthquake to raise money for survivors.

Personal life
In 1982, Jackie Chan married Lin Feng-Jiao (aka Joan Lin), a Taiwanese actress. That same year, the two had a son, singer and actor Jaycee Chan.[31]
"In a 1999 scandal, he all but acknowledged paternity of a daughter with 1990 Miss Asia Pageant winner Elaine Ng," although paparazzi had also linked Jackie to "everyone from the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng to sultry pop star and actress Anita Mui."[95]

LeNiN

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (22 April 1870 - 21 January 1924), born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Russian: Владимир Ильич Ульянов) and commonly known by the pseudonyms V.I. Lenin or simply Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, Bolshevik communist politician, principal leader of the October Revolution and the first head of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1998, he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.[1] His contributions to Marxist theory are commonly referred to as Leninism.

Early life

Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), aged three.

Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), c. 1887.

"Lenin's Room in Simbirsk, 1878 to 1887" by Vladimir Gavrilovich Krikhatzkij.
Born in Simbirsk – later renamed Ulyanovsk after its most famous son – beside the Volga River in the Russian Empire, Lenin was the son of Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov and Maria Alexandrovna Ulyanova.[2]
His father was a successful Russian official in public education who wanted democracy. The family was of mixed ethnicity, his ancestry being “Russian, Mordovian, Kalmyk, Jewish (see Blank family), Volgan German, and Swedish, and possibly others” according to biographer Dmitri Volkogonov.[3] Lenin was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church. In January 1886, Lenin’s father, a schoolmaster, died of a cerebral hemorrhage, and, in May 1887, when Lenin was 17 years old, his eldest brother Alexander was arrested and hanged for participating in a terrorist bomb plot threatening the life of Tsar Alexander III.[4]
His sister Anna, who was with Alexander at the time of his arrest, was banished to his family estate in the village of Kokushkino, about 40 km (25 mi.) from Kazan.
These events radicalized Lenin, and his official Soviet biographies describe them as being central to the revolutionary track of his life. It is also significant, perhaps, that this emotional upheaval transpired in the same year he enrolled at the Kazan State University.
As Lenin became interested in Marxism, he was involved in student protests and was subsequently arrested. He was then expelled from Kazan University for his political ideals. He continued to study independently, however, and it was during this period of exile that he first familiarized himself with Karl Marx’s Das Kapital.
Lenin was later permitted to continue his studies, this time at the University of Saint Petersburg, and, by 1891, had been admitted to the Bar.[5]
In January 1892, Lenin was awarded a first class degree in law by the University.[6] He also distinguished himself in Latin and Greek, and learned German, French and English, although his knowledge of the latter two languages was limited: he relied on Inessa Armand to translate an article into French and into English in 1917. In the same year he also wrote to S. N. Ravich in Geneva, “I am unable to lecture in French.”[7]

Revolutionary activity, travel and exile

Lenin’s mug shot, December 1895.
Lenin practiced as a lawyer for some years in Samara, a port on the Volga river,[8] before moving to St Petersburg in 1893. Rather than pursuing a legal career, he became increasingly involved in revolutionary propaganda efforts, joining the local Marxist group. On 7 December 1895, Lenin was arrested, detained by authorities for fourteen months, in cell 193 of the St Petersburg Remand Prison, and then released and exiled to the village of Shushenskoye in Siberia, where he mingled with such notable Marxists as Georgy Plekhanov, who had introduced socialism to Russia.[9]
In July 1898, Lenin married socialist activist Nadezhda Krupskaya and he published the book The Development of Capitalism in Russia in April 1899.[10] In 1900, his exile came to an end, and he began his travels throughout Russia and the rest of Europe. Lenin lived in Zurich, Geneva (where he lectured and studied at Geneva University), Munich, Prague, Vienna, Manchester and London, and, during this time, he co-founded the newspaper Iskra (“The Spark”) with Julius Martov, who later became a leading opponent. He also wrote several articles and books related to the revolutionary movement, striving to recruit future Social Democrats. He began using various aliases, finally settling upon "Lenin"—"N. Lenin" in full. (The Western press often called him "Nikolai Lenin" - perhaps on the mistaken assumption that N. stood for Nikolai - however, he was virtually never referred to by this name in Russia or the Soviet Union, and Lenin himself never used it as a pseudonym.)
Lenin was active in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; РСДРП in Russian) and, in 1903, led the Bolshevik faction after a split with the Mensheviks. The names ‘Bolshevik’, or ‘Majority’, and ‘Menshevik’, or ‘Minority’, referred to the narrow outvoting of the Mensheviks in the decision to limit party membership to revolutionary professionals, rather than including sympathizers. The division was inspired partly by Lenin’s pamphlet What Is to Be Done? (1901–02), which focused on his revolutionary strategy. It is said to have been one of the most influential pamphlets in pre-revolutionary Russia, with Lenin himself claiming that three out of five workers had either read it or had had it read to them.[11]
In November 1905, Lenin returned from exile to Russia to support the 1905 Russian Revolution.[12] In 1906, Lenin was elected to the Presidium of the RSDLP. At this time he shuttled between Finland and Russia but, in December 1907, with the revolution crushed by the Tsarist authorities, he returned back to European exile.[13] Until the revolutions of 1917, he spent the majority of his time exiled in Europe, where, despite relative poverty, he managed to continue his political writings.[14]
In response to philosophical debates on the proper course of a socialist revolution, Lenin completed Materialism and Empirio-criticism in 1909—a work which became fundamental in the Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Lenin continued to travel in Europe and participated in many socialist meetings and activities, including the Prague Party Conference of 1912. When Inessa Armand left Russia and settled in Paris, she met Lenin and other Bolsheviks living in exile, and it is believed that she was Lenin’s lover during this time. As writer Neil Harding points out however, although much has been made of this relationship, despite the “slender stock of evidence … we still have no evidence that they were sexually intimate”.[15]

2008 photo of Lenin’s rented house in Zurich, Switzerland

1920 photo of the house.

Memorial plate
When the First World War began in 1914, and the large Social Democratic parties of Europe (at that time self-described as Marxist, and including luminaries such as Karl Kautsky) supported their various countries’ war efforts, Lenin was absolutely stunned, refusing to believe at first that the German Social Democrats had voted for war credits. This led him to a final split with the Second International, which was composed of these parties. Lenin (against the war in his belief that the peasants and workers were fighting the battle of the bourgeoisie for them) adopted the stance that what he described as an “imperialist war” ought to be turned into a civil war between the classes. As war broke out, Lenin was briefly detained by the Austrian authorities in the town of Poronin, where he was residing at the time. On 5 September 1914 Lenin moved to neutral Switzerland, residing first at Berne and then Zurich.[16] In 1915 he attended the anti-war Zimmerwald Conference, convened in the Swiss town of that name. Lenin was the main leader of the minority Zimmerwald Left, who unsuccessfully urged against the majority pacifists that the conference should adopt Lenin's stance of converting the imperialist war into a class war. Lenin and the Zimmerwald Left urged a similar resolution at the next anti-war conference, also held in Switzerland at Kienthal (24-30 April 1916), but in the end settled for a compromise manifesto.[17]
It was in Zurich in the spring of 1916 that Lenin wrote the notable theoretical work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, which ironically popularized Kautsky's take in the 1900s.[18] In this work Lenin argues that the merging of banks and industrial cartels give rise to finance capital. According to Lenin, in the last stage of capitalism, in pursuit of greater profits than the home market can offer, capital is exported. This leads to the division of the world between international monopolist firms and to European states colonizing large parts of the world in support of their businesses. Imperialism is thus an advanced stage of capitalism, one relying on the rise of monopolies and on the export of capital (rather than goods), and of which colonialism is one feature.[19]

Return to Russia

Locomotive of Lenin’s train, on which he arrived at Finland Station, Petrograd in April, 1917.
After the 1917 February Revolution in Russia and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, Lenin realized that he must return to Russia as soon as possible, but this was problematic because he was isolated in neutral Switzerland as the First World War raged throughout neighboring states. The Swiss communist Fritz Platten nonetheless managed to negotiate with the German government for Lenin and his company to travel through Germany by rail, on the so-called “sealed train”. The German government clearly hoped Lenin’s return would create political unrest back in Russia, which would help to end the war on the Eastern front, allowing Germany to concentrate on defeating the Western allies. Once through Germany, Lenin continued by ferry to Sweden; the remainder of the journey through Scandinavia was subsequently arranged by Swedish communists Otto Grimlund and Ture Nerman.
On 16 April 1917, Lenin arrived by train to a tumultuous reception at Finland Station, in Petrograd.[20] He immediately took a leading role within the Bolshevik movement, publishing the April Theses,[21] which called for an uncompromising opposition to the provisional government. Initially, Lenin isolated his party through this lurch to the left. However, this uncompromising stand meant that the Bolsheviks were to become the obvious home for all those who became disillusioned with the provisional government, and with the “luxury of opposition” the Bolsheviks did not have to assume responsibility for any policies implemented by the government.[22]

Lenin disguised as “Vilén”, wearing a wig and his goatee shaved off. Finland, 11 August 1917.
Meanwhile, Aleksandr Kerensky, Grigory Aleksinsky and other opponents of the Bolsheviks accused them and Lenin in particular of being paid German agents.[23] In response Leon Trotsky, a prominent new Bolshevik leader, made a defensive speech on 17 July, saying:
“
An intolerable atmosphere has been created, in which you as well as we are choking. They are throwing dirty accusations at Lenin and Zinoviev. Lenin has fought thirty years for the revolution. I have fought twenty years against the oppression of the people. And we cannot but cherish a hatred for German militarism. … I have been sentenced by a German court to eight months’ imprisonment for my struggle against German militarism. This everybody knows. Let nobody in this hall say that we are hirelings of Germany.[24]
”
After the turmoil of the July Days, when workers and soldiers in the capital clashed with government troops, Lenin had to flee to Finland for safety, to avoid arrest by Kerensky. The Bolsheviks had not arranged the July Uprising. The time was still not ripe for revolution, claimed Lenin: the workers in the city were willing, but the Bolsheviks still needed to wait for the support of the peasants. During his short time in Finland, Lenin finished his book State and Revolution,[25] which called for a new form of government based on workers’ councils, or soviets, elected and revocable at all moments by the workers. After an abortive coup attempt by General Kornilov in late August the masses rallied to the Bolsheviks and their programme of 'peace, land, bread'.[26]Imprisoned Bolshevik leaders were released and Lenin returned to Petrograd in October, inspiring the October Revolution with the slogan “All Power to the Soviets!” Lenin directed the overthrow of the Provisional Government from the Smolny Institute between 6 and 8 November 1917. The storming and capitulation of the Winter Palace on the night of the 7th to 8th of November marked the beginning of Soviet rule.

Head of the Soviet State

Lenin and his wife, in 1919.
On 8 November 1917, Lenin was elected the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars by the Russian Congress of Soviets.
“Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the entire country,”[27] Lenin said, emphasizing the importance of bringing electricity to all corners of Russia and modernizing industry and agriculture:
“
We must show the peasants that the organisation of industry on the basis of modern, advanced technology, on electrification which will provide a link between town and country, will put an end to the division between town and country, will make it possible to raise the level of culture in the countryside and to overcome, even in the most remote corners of land, backwardness, ignorance, poverty, disease, and barbarism.[28]
”
He initiated and supervised the devising and realisation of the GOELRO plan, the first-ever Soviet project for national economic recovery and development. He was very concerned about creating a free universal health care system for all, the rights of women, and teaching the illiterate Russian people to read and write.[29] But first and foremost, the new Bolshevik government needed to take Russia out of the World War.
Faced with the imposing threat of a continuing German advance eastwards, Lenin argued that Russia should immediately sign a peace treaty. Other Bolshevik leaders, such as Bukharin, advocated continuing the war as a means of fomenting revolution in Germany. Trotsky, who led the negotiations, advocated an intermediate position, of “No War, No Peace”, calling for a peace treaty only on the conditions that no territorial gains on either side be consolidated. After the negotiations collapsed, the Germans renewed their advance, resulting in the loss of much of Russia’s western territory. As a result of this turn of events, Lenin’s position consequently gained the support of the majority in the Bolshevik leadership. On 3 March 1918, Lenin removed Russia from World War I by agreeing to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, under which Russia lost significant territories in Europe.

Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Mikhail Kalinin, 1919.
The Russian Constituent Assembly was shut down during its first session 19 January and the Bolsheviks in alliance with the left Socialist Revolutionaries then relied on support from the soviets.
The Bolsheviks had formed a coalition government with the left wing of the Socialist Revolutionaries. However, their coalition collapsed after the Social Revolutionaries opposed the Brest-Litovsk treaty, and joined other parties in seeking to overthrow the Bolshevik government. Lenin responded to these efforts by a policy of wholesale persecution, which included jailing some of the members of the opposing parties.
From early 1918, Lenin campaigned for a single individual (accountable to the state to which the workers could ask for measures) to be put in charge of each enterprise (workers having to obey him until it was changed by the state), contrary to most conceptions of workers' self-management, but absolutely essential for efficiency and expertise according to Lenin (it was argued by most proponents of self-management that the intention behind this move was to strengthen state control over labour and that the failures of self-management were mostly because of lack of resources —a problem the government itself could not solve as his licensing for a month of all workers of most factories proved). As S.A. Smith wrote: “By the end of the civil war, not much was left of the democratic forms of industrial administration promoted by the factory committees in 1917, but the government argued that this did not matter since industry had passed into the ownership of a workers’ state.”
Lenin had a certain admiration for the Irish socialist revolutionary James Connolly, and the Soviet Union was the first country to recognize the Irish Republic which fought a war of independence against Britain. He would often meet with the famous revolutionary’s son, Roddy Connolly and developed a close friendship with him.

Creation of the Soviet state security organization

Lenin in his Kremlin office, 1918.
Main article: Cheka
To protect the newly-established Bolshevik government from counterrevolutionaries and other political opponents, the Bolsheviks created a Soviet state security organization, the Cheka, in December 1917.[30]
The Bolsheviks had planned to hold a trial for the former Tsar, but in July 1918, when the White Army was advancing on Yekaterinburg where the former royal family was being held, Sverdlov acceded to the request of the local Soviet to execute the Tsar right away, rather than having him freed by the Whites. The Tsar and the rest of his immediate family were executed, though whether this was a decision of the central government or the local Soviet remains the subject of historical dispute. According to King and Wilson in The Fate of the Romanovs (2003) Lenin was informed about the execution only after it had taken place, but did not criticize it.[31] According to Orlando Figes in A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 (1997) and Dmitri Volkogonov in Lenin: A New Biography (1994) the order to execute the Romanovs came from the Party leadership in Moscow.[32][33]
Censorship was quickly imposed, and it was up to the Cheka to confiscate the literature of dissident workers: “[On] 17 November the Central Executive Committee passed a decree giving the Bolsheviks control over all newsprint and wide powers of closing down newspapers critical of the regime…” (Leonard Shapiro, The Communist Party of the Soviet Union). Workers were re-forming independent soviets; the Cheka broke them up. Independent newspapers criticized Lenin’s government; the Cheka closed them down, until the Bolshevik-controlled Pravda and Izvestia had a monopoly on the supply of news. Shapiro asserts that “The refusal to come to terms with the socialists and the dispersal of the Constituent assembly led to the logical result that revolutionary terror would now be directed not only against traditional enemies, such as the bourgeoisie or right-wing opponents, but against anyone, be he socialist, worker or peasant, who opposed Bolshevik rule.”

Assassination attempts

Lenin and Fritz Platten in 1919.
On 14 January 1918, an assassination attempt on Lenin was made in his car in Petrograd by unrecognizable gunmen. Lenin and Fritz Platten were in the back of the car together, after having given a public speech. When the shooting started, “Platten grabbed Lenin by the head and pushed him down. … Platten’s hand was covered in blood, having been grazed by a bullet as he was shielding Lenin.”[34]
On 30 August 1918, Fanya Kaplan, a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, approached Lenin after he had spoken at a meeting and was on the way to his car. He had his foot on the running board. She called out to Lenin, who turned to answer. She immediately fired three shots hitting Lenin twice: one bullet, relatively harmless, lodged in the arm; the second round, more seriously entering at the juncture of Lenin’s jaw and neck, the third shot striking a woman who was talking with Lenin when the shooting began.[35] Lenin fell to the ground, unconscious. He was taken to his apartment in the Kremlin, refusing to venture to a hospital since he believed that other assassins would be waiting there. Doctors were summoned but decided that it was too dangerous to remove the bullets. While Lenin began his slow recovery, Pravda ridiculed Kaplan as a latter-day Charlotte Corday; assuring its readers that immediately after the shooting: “Lenin, shot through twice, with pierced lungs, spilling blood, refuses help and goes on his own. The next morning, still threatened with death, he reads papers, listens, learns, and observes to see that the engine of the locomotive that carries us towards global revolution has not stopped working…”[36] Although Lenin had no “pierced lungs”, the potentially fatal neck-jaw wound had allowed blood to enter one of his lungs, which is still a very serious condition.[37]
Other than similar exhortation by the press, little was revealed to the Russian public – either about the attempted assassination, the suspect, or Lenin’s condition. Richard Pipes, Professor Emeritus at Harvard, a vociferous anti-communist and former head of the CIA's Team B, wrote, “The impression one gains … is that the Bolsheviks deliberately underplayed the event to convince the public that whatever happened to Lenin, they were firmly in control.”
Popular reaction to the assassination attempt on Lenin was described at the time by Leonid Krasin, who wrote to his wife on 7 Sept 1918:
“As it happens, the attempt to kill Lenin has made him much more popular than he was. One hears a great many people who are far from having any sympathy with the Bolsheviks, saying that it would be an absolute disaster if Lenin had succumbed to his wounds, as it was first thought he would. And they are quite right, for in the midst of all this chaos and confusion he is the backbone of the new body politic, the main support on which everything rests.”[38]
A personal cult of Lenin, which he himself tried to discourage, began with this incident.[39] Lenin’s health declined from this point. It is believed by some that the incident contributed to his later strokes.

Lenin against Anti-Semitism
Lenin was intrigued with technology and in 1919 recorded eight of his speeches on gramophone records. Seven were later re-recorded and put on sale in the Khrushchev era. Significantly, the one which was suppressed outlined Lenin’s feelings on anti-Semitism:[40]
“
The Tsarist police, in alliance with the landowners and the capitalists, organized pogroms against the Jews. The landowners and capitalists tried to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants who were tortured by want against the Jews. … Only the most ignorant and downtrodden people can believe the lies and slander that are spread about the Jews. … It is not the Jews who are the enemies of the working people. The enemies of the workers are the capitalists of all countries. Among the Jews there are working people, and they form the majority. They are our brothers, who, like us, are oppressed by capital; they are our comrades in the struggle for socialism. Among the Jews there are kulaks, exploiters and capitalists, just as there are among the Russians, and among people of all nations… Rich Jews, like rich Russians, and the rich in all countries, are in alliance to oppress, crush, rob and disunite the workers… Shame on accursed Tsarism which tortured and persecuted the Jews. Shame on those who foment hatred towards the Jews, who foment hatred towards other nations.[41]
”

Social reforms
Alexandra Kollontai and fellow feminist revolutionary Inessa Armand in 1919 together established the Zhenotdel (Женотдел), the first government department for women in the world. Soviet Russia under Lenin was also the first country to decriminalize homosexuality in 1922. The Russian Communist Party effectively legalized no-fault divorce, abortion and homosexuality, when they abolished all the old Tsarist laws and the initial Soviet criminal code kept these liberal sexual policies in place.[42] However, Lenin's emancipation of homosexuals was reversed a decade later by Stalin and homosexuality remained illegal under Article 121 until the Yeltsin era.

Lenin and the Red Terror

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Lenin with Trotsky and soldiers in Petrograd, 1921.
Following the assassination attempt on Lenin and the successful assassination of Petrograd chief of secret police Moisei Uritsky, Stalin, in a telegram argued that a policy of “open and systematic mass terror” be instigated against “those responsible”. The other Bolsheviks agreed, and instructed Felix Dzerzhinsky, whom Lenin had appointed to head the Cheka in 1917, to commence a “Red Terror”, which was officially announced to the public on 1 September 1918, by the Bolshevik newspaper, Krasnaya Gazeta.[43] According to Christopher Read, at this time, due to the assassination attempt by Kaplan, Lenin was lying severely wounded in the hospital and was too ill to advise retaliatory measures.[44] But, according to MI5's official historian at the University of Cambridge, Christopher Andrew, and Richard Pipes, while recovering from his wounds, Lenin instructed: "It is necessary - secretly and urgently to prepare the terror."[45][46] According to Pipes, Lenin's Hanging Order, which was translated and published by Robert Service Professor of history at Oxford and an outspoken anti-communist,[47] claims that Lenin himself ordered terror on 11 August 1918, before he was fired on.[48]
The Cheka killed and abused their victims without mercy, says historian Robert Gellately.[unreliable source?] In his book, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe,[49] Gellately, Earl Ray Beck Professor of History at Florida State University, claims that suspected enemies could expect brutal torture, flogging, maiming or execution. Some were shot, others drowned, frozen, buried alive, or hacked to death by swords, and quite often those about to be executed were forced to dig their own graves, Gellately claims.[50] Many lurid and often embellished accounts of these atrocities were produced. A British observer claimed that "The evidence of wholesale executions...of the cold-blooded and refined tortures carried out by Chinese experts and of the revolting sadism of young Jewesses is irrefutable".[51] Historians Serge Petrovich Melgunov, who supported the armed overthrow of the Bolsheviks, W. Bruce Lincoln and George Leggett also claim that these atrocities occurred.[52][53][54][unreliable source?] Orlando Figes, Professor of History at Birkbeck College and who has also written extensively against communism, claims the torture practiced by the Chekas was matched only by the Spanish Inquisition.[55]. The only published Soviet statistics regarding Cheka executions are the semi-official ones provided by the Chekist Martin Latsis, limited to RSFSR over the period 1918–1920, giving the grand total of 12,733 executed, including 3,082 for taking part in rebellions, 2,024 for membership of counter-revolutionary organisations, 643 for gangsterism, 455 for incitement to revolution, 206 for corruption, 102 for desertion and the same number for espionage.[56] These statistics are considered by many scholars to be understatements, as they do not embrace the war zones of the Ukraine or the Crimea.[57] In the latter at least 50,000 people were shot or hanged after General Wrangel was put down at the end of 1920, according to Robert Gellately.[58] Some historians estimate that between 1917 and 1922 up to 280,000 people were killed by the Chekas, of which about half perished through summary executions and the other half through the suppression of rebellions (e.g. Tambov Rebellion).[59] Orlando Figes goes so far as to assert that it is possible more people were killed by the Cheka than died in battle.[60]
According to the Black Book of Communism, in May 1919 there were 16,000 people in labour camps based on the old Tsarist katorga labour camps, and in September 1921 there were more than 70,000.[61] Conditions in these camps led to high mortality rates, and there were "repeated massacres"[62] Occasionally, entire prisons were “emptied” of inmates via mass shootings prior to abandoning a town to White forces.[63][64]
According to Orlando Figes, Lenin had always been an advocate of “mass terror against enemies of the revolution” and was open about his view that the proletarian state was a system of organized violence against the capitalist establishment. Figes also claims that the terror, while encouraged by the Bolsheviks, had its roots in a popular anger against the privileged.[65] When Kamenev and Bukharin tried to curb the “excesses” of the Cheka in late 1918, it was Lenin who defended it.[66] In 1921, the Politboro, chaired by Lenin, expanded the Cheka's use of the death penalty.[67]
Lenin remained an advocate of mass terror, according to Richard Pipes. In a letter of 19 March 1922, to Molotov and the members of the Politburo, following an uprising by the clergy in the town of Shuia, Lenin outlined a brutal plan of action against the clergy and their followers, who were defying the government decree to remove church valuables: “We must (…) put down all resistance with such brutality that they will not forget it for several decades. (…) The greater the number of representatives of the reactionary clergy and reactionary bourgeoisie we succeed in executing (…) the better.”[68] Estimates of the numbers of the clergy killed vary. According to Orlando Figes[69] and The Black Book of Communism[70], 2,691 priests, 1,962 monks and 3,447 nuns were executed as a result of Lenin's aforementioned directives. Historian Christopher Read estimates from the records that a grand total of 1,023 clergy were killed in the whole period 1917-23.[71] However, the late Alexander Yakovlev, the architect of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) and later head of the Presidential Committee for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression, cites documents that confirm nearly 3,000 were shot in 1918 alone.[72] Yakovlev stated that Lenin was "By every norm of international law, posthumously indictable for crimes against humanity."[73]
In September 1918, during the Red Terror, 25 former tsarist ministers and high civil servants, along with 765 so-called White Guards, were shot in Moscow. Lenin personally signed the execution lists, which, according to historian Robert Gellately, "invented another tradition that was carried out under Stalin."[74]
During the Civil War, atrocities were carried out by both Reds and Whites.[75] According to historian Christopher Read the numbers killed by the White forces were on a comparable scale to the Bolsheviks and can probably be numbered in hundreds of thousands.[76] For instance, the Whites killed 115,000 Ukrainian Jews in 1919 alone.[77] But, according to The Black Book of Communism, the two types of terror were not on the same level. The Red Terror, which was official policy, was more systematic, better organized, and targeted at whole social classes (i.e. Decossackization). The White Terror was never systematized in such a fashion, and was almost invariably the work of detachments that were taking measures not authorized by the military command.[78] Professor Donald Rayfield asserts that only Roman Ungern von Sternberg, Nestor Makhno and some Cossack forces employed terror on a scale comparable to the Red Terror.[79] However, according to historian Evan Mawdsley, the White general Anton Denikin "deserves criticism" for not fully condemning anti-Jewish pogroms.[80] According to Lenin critic Robert Conquest, "Lenin's terror was the product of years of war and violence, of the collapse of society and administration, of the desperate acts of rulers precariously riding the flood, and fighting for control and survival. Stalin, on the contrary, attained complete control at a time when general conditions were calm."[81] The late Australian historian and leftist intellectual Manning Clark described Lenin as "Christ-like, at least in his compassion."[82] Some of Lenin's own writings tend to contradict this view; like in "How to Organize the Competition," which proclaimed the common, united purpose of purging the Russian land of all kinds of "vermin, of fleas—the rogues, of bugs—the rich, and so on" and that "one out of every ten idlers will be shot on the spot."[83] Christopher Hitchens, a former Trotskyite, also describes Lenin as "a great man."[84] According to Hitchens: "One of Lenin's great achievements, in my opinion, is to create a secular Russia. The power of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was an absolute warren of backwardness and evil and superstition, is probably never going to recover from what he did to it."[85] Some social democratic Marxists from Lenin's time, such as Yuliy Osipovich Martov and Karl Kautsky, were highly critical of his regime's use of capital punishment, which Kautsky described as "terrorism".[86][87] Russian Provisional Government minister Viktor Chernov described Lenin as "a virtual Robespierre."[88]

Russian Communist Party and Civil War

Lenin giving a speech.

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Further information: On the Allies invasion of Russia: Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Polar Bear Expedition, North Russia Campaign, American Expeditionary Force Siberia
In March 1919, Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders met with revolutionary socialists from around the world and formed the Communist International. Members of the Communist International, including Lenin and the Bolsheviks themselves, broke off from the broader socialist movement. From that point onwards, they would become known as communists. In Russia, the Bolshevik Party was renamed the “Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks),” which eventually became the CPSU.
Meanwhile, the civil war raged across Russia. A wide variety of political movements and their supporters took up arms to support or overthrow the Soviet Government. Although many different factions were involved in the civil war, the two main forces were the Red Army (communists) and the White Army (traditionalists). Foreign powers such as France, Britain, the United States and Japan also intervened in this war (on behalf of the White Army). Eventually, the more organisationally proficient Red Army, led by Leon Trotsky, won the civil war, defeating the White Russian forces and their allies in 1920. Smaller battles continued for several more years, however.
The civil war has been described as “unprecedented for its savagery,” with mass executions and other atrocities committed by both sides. Between battles, executions, famine and epidemics, many millions would perish.[89]

Trotsky, Lenin and Kamenev at the II Party Congress in 1919.
In late 1919, successes against the White Russian forces convinced Lenin that it was time to spread the revolution to the West, by force if necessary. When the newly independent Second Polish Republic began securing its eastern territories annexed by Russia in the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century, it clashed with Bolshevik forces for dominance in these areas, which led to the outbreak of the Polish-Soviet War in 1919. With the revolution in Germany and the Spartacist League on the rise, Lenin viewed this as the perfect time and place to “probe Europe with the bayonets of the Red Army.” Lenin saw Poland as the bridge that the Red Army would have to cross in order to link up the Russian Revolution with the communist supporters in the German Revolution, and to assist other communist movements in Western Europe. However the defeat of Soviet Russia in the Battle of Warsaw invalidated these plans.
Lenin was a harsh critic of imperialism.[90] In 1917, he declared the unconditional right of separation for national minorities and oppressed nations. However, when the Russian Civil War was won he used military force to assimilate the newly independent states of Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.[91] He argued that the inclusion of those countries in the newly emerging Soviet government would shelter them from capitalist imperial ambitions.[citation needed]
During the civil war, as an attempt to maintain food supply to the cities and the army in the conditions of economic collapse, the Bolsheviks adopted the policy of War Communism. That involved “requisitioning” supplies from the peasantry for little or nothing in exchange. This led the peasants to drastically reduce their crop production. Additionally, according to the official Bolshevik view which is still shared by some Marxists,[92] rich peasants (kulaks) withheld grain in order to increase their profits – statistics indicate that most of the grain and the other food supplies passed through the black market.[93] Then, the Bolshevik requisitions came to affect the food that peasants had grown for their own subsistence and their seed grain. The resulting conflicts began with the Cheka and the army shooting hostages, and, according to The Black Book of Communism, ended with a second full-scale civil war against the peasantry, including the use of poison gas, death camps, and deportations. The same source emphasizes that in 1920, Lenin ordered increased emphasis on the food requisitioning from the peasantry, at the same time as the Cheka gave detailed reports about the large scale famine.[94] The long war and a drought in 1921 also contributed to the famine. Estimates on the deaths from this famine are between 3 and 10 million.[95][96]

“Comrade Lenin Cleanses the Earth of Filth”, a Communist poster from 1920.
The long years of war, the Bolshevik policy of War Communism, famine and the encirclement of hostile governments took their toll on Russia, however, and much of the country lay in ruins. There were many peasant uprisings, the largest being the Tambov rebellion. After an uprising by the sailors at Kronstadt in March 1921, Lenin replaced the policy of War Communism with the New Economic Policy (NEP), in a successful attempt to rebuild industry and especially agriculture. The new policy was based on recognition of political and economic realities, though it was intended merely as a tactical retreat from the socialist ideal. The whole policy was later reversed by Stalin.

Later life and death

Kamenev and Lenin at Gorki Leninskiye, 1922

Lenin paralyzed in a wheelchair, 1924
Lenin’s health had already been severely damaged by the strains of revolution and war. The assassination attempt earlier in his life also added to his health problems. The bullet remained lodged in his neck until 24 April 1922, when a German doctor surgically removed it.[97] In May 1922, Lenin had his first stroke. He was left partially paralyzed on his right side, and his role in government declined. After the second stroke in December of the same year, he resigned from active politics. In March 1923, he suffered his third stroke and was left bedridden for the remainder of his life, no longer able to speak.

Lenin with Stalin. Lenin warned that Stalin was becoming too powerful and called for him to be removed.
After his first stroke, Lenin dictated to his wife several papers regarding the government. Most famous of these is Lenin's Testament, which was partially inspired by the 1922 Georgian Affair and among other things criticized top-ranking communists, including Joseph Stalin, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin and Leon Trotsky. Of Stalin, who had been the Communist Party’s general secretary since April 1922, Lenin said that he had “unlimited authority concentrated in his hands”. He suggested that “comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post” because his rudeness would become “intolerable in a Secretary-General”. Upon Lenin’s death, his wife mailed his Testament to the central committee, to be read at the 13th Party Congress in May 1924. However, the committee and especially the ruling “triumvirate” – Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev – had a vested interest in not releasing the will to the wider public. Lenin’s Testament was first officially published in 1925 in the United States by Max Eastman. In the same year, Trotsky wrote an article that downplayed its significance, stating that Lenin’s notes should not be regarded as a “will” and had neither been concealed nor violated.[98] He did invoke it in his polemic against Stalin on later occasions, while in exile.[99][100]
Lenin died at 18:50 Moscow time on 21 January 1924, aged 53, at his estate in Gorki Leninskiye. Over 900,000 people passed through the Hall of Columns during the four days and nights that Lenin lay in state. Large sections of the population in other countries expressed their grief at the death of Lenin. Speaking at a memorial meeting, Chinese premier Sun Yat-sen. said:
Through the ages of world history thousands of leaders and scholars appeared who spoke eloquent words, but these remained words. You, Lenin, were an exception. You not only spoke and taught us, but translated your words into deeds. You created a new country. You showed us the road of joint struggle... You, great man that you are, will live on in the memories of the oppressed people through the centuries.[101]
Winston Churchill, who had supported the British interventionist forces which, in league with the Whites, had tried to suppress the Bolsheviks, later commented that:
He alone could have found the way back to the causeway...The Russian people were left floundering in the bog. Their worst misfortune was his birth...their next worst his death.[102]
The city of Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor three days after Lenin’s death. This remained the name of the city until the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, when it reverted to its original name, St. Petersburg, even though its administrative area kept the name (Leningrad Oblast)
During the early 1920s the Russian movement of cosmism was so popular that Leonid Krasin and Alexander Bogdanov proposed to cryonically preserve Lenin’s body in order to revive him in the future.[103] Necessary equipment was purchased abroad, but for a variety of reasons the plan was not realized.[104] Instead his body was embalmed and placed on permanent exhibition in the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow on 27 January 1924.

After death

The Lenin Mausoleum at Red Square, Moscow.
Lenin’s preserved body is on permanent display at the Lenin Mausoleum.

Vladimir Lenin, cartoon by Nikolai Bukharin, 1927
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the level of reverence for Lenin in post-Soviet republics has declined considerably, though he is still considered an important figure by generations who grew up during the Soviet period.[105] Most statues of Lenin have been torn down in Eastern Europe, but many still remain in Russia and ex-Soviet Central Asia. In 1991, following a close vote and political battles between communists and liberals the city of Leningrad returned to its original name, St Petersburg, whilst the surrounding Leningrad Oblast retained Lenin’s name.[106] The citizens of Ulyanovsk, Lenin’s birthplace, have so far resisted all attempts to revert its name to Simbirsk. The subject of interring Lenin’s body has been a recurring topic for the past several years in Russia.

Censorship of Lenin in the Soviet Union
Lenin’s writings were carefully censored under the Soviet state after his death. In the early 1930s, it became accepted dogma under Stalin to assume that neither Lenin nor the Central Committee could ever be wrong. Trotsky was a particularly vocal critic of these practices, which he saw as a form of deification of a human being, something which went against the principles of Marxism. Therefore, it was necessary to remove evidence of situations where Lenin and Stalin had actually disagreed, since in those situations it was impossible for both to have been right at the same time.[107] Later, even the fifth “complete” Soviet edition of Lenin’s works (published in 55 thick volumes between 1958 and 1965) left out parts that either contradicted dogma or showed their author in an unfavorable light.[108