Old photo, origin unknown. Possibly a NCO in the Saxon transport corp (train-batallion), pre 1903 (based on the change-over from jaeger style shakos to the pickelhaube).

Look at that wonderful imperial moustache!

Camp Douglas, Wis - Marines with Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 311 pose in front of a successfully loaded McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) AV-8B "Harrier II" during Exercise Northern Lightning at Volk Field Counterland Training Center, Camp Douglas, Wis. Aug. 14. Exercise Northern Lightning 2018 allows the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy to strengthen interoperability between services and gives the different branches a greater understanding of aviation capabilities within a joint fighting force.

  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) AV-8B Harrier II is a single-engine ground-attack aircraft that constitutes the second generation of the "Harrier Jump Jet" family. Capable of vertical or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL), the aircraft was designed in the late 1970s as an Anglo-American development of the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational V/STOL aircraft. The aircraft is primarily employed on light attack or multi-role missions, ranging from close air support of ground troops to armed reconnaissance. The AV-8B is used by the United States Marine Corps (USMC), the Spanish Navy, and the Italian Navy. A variant of the AV-8B, the British Aerospace Harrier II, was developed for the British military, while another, the TAV-8B, is a dedicated two-seat trainer.

 

The project that eventually led to the AV-8Bs creation started in the early 1970s as a cooperative effort between the United States and United Kingdom (UK), aimed at addressing the operational inadequacies of the first-generation Harrier. Early efforts centered on a larger, more powerful Pegasus engine to dramatically improve the capabilities of the Harrier. Due to budgetary constraints, the UK abandoned the project in 1975.

 

Following the withdrawal of the UK, McDonnell Douglas extensively redesigned the earlier AV-8A Harrier to create the AV-8B. While retaining the general layout of its predecessor, the aircraft incorporates a new wing, an elevated cockpit, a redesigned fuselage, one extra hardpoint per wing, and other structural and aerodynamic refinements. The aircraft is powered by an upgraded version of the Pegasus, which gives the aircraft its V/STOL ability. The AV-8B made its maiden flight in November 1981 and entered service with the USMC in January 1985. Later upgrades added a night-attack capability and radar, resulting in the AV-8B(NA) and AV-8B Harrier II Plus, respectively. An enlarged version named Harrier III was also studied, but not pursued. The UK, through British Aerospace, re-joined the improved Harrier project as a partner in 1981, giving it a significant work-share in the project. After corporate mergers in the 1990s, Boeing and BAE Systems have jointly supported the program. Approximately 340 aircraft were produced in a 22-year production program that ended in 2003.

 

Typically operated from small aircraft carriers, large amphibious assault ships and simple forward operating bases, AV-8Bs have participated in numerous military and humanitarian operations, proving themselves versatile assets. U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf named the USMC Harrier II as one of several important weapons in the Gulf War. The aircraft took part in combat during the Iraq War beginning in 2003. The Harrier II has served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan since 2001, and was used in Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya in 2011. Italian and Spanish Harrier IIs have taken part in overseas conflicts in conjunction with NATO coalitions. During its service history, the AV-8B has had a high accident rate, related to the percentage of time spent in critical take-off and landing phases. USMC and Italian Navy AV-8Bs are to be replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, with the former expected to operate its Harriers until 2025.

  

Development

 

Origins

 

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first-generation Harriers entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Marine Corps (USMC), but were handicapped in range and payload. In short takeoff and landing configuration, the AV-8A (American designation for the Harrier) carried less than half the 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) payload of the smaller Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, over a more limited radius. To address this issue, Hawker Siddeley and McDonnell Douglas began joint development of a more capable version of the Harrier in 1973. Early efforts concentrated on an improved Pegasus engine, designated the Pegasus 15, which was being tested by Bristol Siddeley. Although more powerful, the engine's diameter was too large by 2.75 in (70 mm) to fit into the Harrier easily.

 

In December 1973, a joint American and British team completed a project document defining an "Advanced Harrier" powered by the Pegasus 15 engine. The "Advanced Harrier" was intended to replace the original RAF and USMC Harriers, as well as the USMC's A-4. The aim of the "Advanced Harrier" was to double the AV-8's payload and range, and was therefore unofficially named AV-16. The British government pulled out of the project in March 1975 owing to decreased defense funding, rising costs, and the RAF's insufficient 60-aircraft requirement. With development costs estimated to be around £180–200 million (1974 British pounds), the United States was unwilling to fund development by itself, and ended the project later that year.

 

Despite the project's termination, the two companies continued to take different paths toward an enhanced Harrier. Hawker Siddeley focused on a new larger wing that could be retrofitted to existing operational aircraft, while McDonnell Douglas independently pursued a less ambitious, though still expensive, project catering to the needs of the US military. Using knowledge gleaned from the AV-16 effort, though dropping some items—such as the larger Pegasus engine—McDonnell Douglas kept the basic structure and engine for an aircraft tailored for the USMC.

  

Designing and testing

 

As the USMC wanted a substantially improved Harrier without the development of a new engine, the plan for Harrier II development was authorized by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) in 1976. The United States Navy (USN), which had traditionally procured military aircraft for the USMC, insisted that the new design be verified with flight testing. McDonnell Douglas modified two AV-8As with new wings, revised intakes, redesigned exhaust nozzles, and other aerodynamic changes; the modified forward fuselage and cockpit found on all subsequent aircraft were not incorporated on these prototypes. Designated YAV-8B, the first converted aircraft flew on 9 November 1978, at the hands of Charles Plummer. The aircraft performed three vertical take-offs and hovered for seven minutes at Lambert–St. Louis International Airport. The second aircraft followed on 19 February 1979, but crashed that November due to engine flameout; the pilot ejected safely. Flight testing of these modified AV-8s continued into 1979. The results showed greater than expected drag, hampering the aircraft's maximum speed. Further refinements to the aerodynamic profile yielded little improvement. Positive test results in other areas, including payload, range, and V/STOL performance, led to the award of a development contract in 1979. The contract stipulated a procurement of 12 aircraft initially, followed by a further 324.

 

Between 1978 and 1980, the DoD and USN repeatedly attempted to terminate the AV-8B program. There had previously been conflict between the USMC and USN over budgetary issues. At the time, the USN wanted to procure A-18s for its ground attack force and, to cut costs, pressured the USMC to adopt the similarly-designed F-18 fighter instead of the AV-8B to fulfill the role of close air support (both designs were eventually amalgamated to create the multirole F/A-18 Hornet). Despite these bureaucratic obstacles, in 1981, the DoD included the Harrier II in its annual budget and five-year defense plan. The USN declined to participate in the procurement, citing the limited range and payload compared with conventional aircraft.

 

In August 1981 the program received a boost when British Aerospace (BAe) and McDonnell Douglas signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), marking the UK's re-entry into the program. The British government was enticed by the lower cost of acquiring Harriers promised by a large production run, and the fact that the US was shouldering the expense of development. Under the agreement BAe was relegated to the position of a subcontractor, instead of the full partner status that would have been the case had the UK not left the program. Consequently, the company received, in man-hours, 40 percent of the airframe work-share. Aircraft production took place at McDonnell Douglas' facilities in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, and manufacturing by BAe at its Kingston and Dunsfold facilities in Surrey, England. Meanwhile, 75 percent work-share for the engine went to Rolls-Royce, which had previously absorbed Bristol Siddeley, with the remaining 25 percent assigned to Pratt & Whitney. The two companies planned to manufacture 400 Harrier IIs, with the USMC expected to procure 336 aircraft and the RAF, 60.

 

Four full-scale development (FSD) aircraft were constructed. The first of these (BuNo 161396), used mainly for testing performance and handling qualities, made its maiden flight on 5 November 1981, piloted by Plummer. The second and third FSD aircraft, which introduced wing leading-edge root extensions and revised engine intakes, first flew in April the following year; the fourth followed in January 1984. The first production AV-8B was delivered to the Marine Attack Training Squadron 203 (VMAT-203) at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (MCAS Cherry Point) on 12 December 1983, and officially handed over one month later. The last of the initial batch of 12 was delivered in January 1985 to the front-line Marine Attack Squadron 331 (VMA-331). The engine used for these aircraft was the F402-RR-404A, with 21,450 lb (95.4 kN) of thrust; aircraft from 1990 onwards received upgraded engines.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

In the first years of the war, the Wehrmacht had only little interest in developing self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, but as the Allies developed air superiority and dedicated attack aircraft threatened the ground troops from above, the need for more mobile and better-armed self-propelled anti-aircraft guns increased. As a stopgap solution the Wehrmacht initially adapted a variety of wheeled, half-track and tracked vehicles to serve as mobile forward air defense positions. Their tasks were to protect armor and infantry units in the field, as well as to protect temporary forward area positions such as mobile headquarters and logistic points.

 

These vehicles were only lightly armored, if at all, and rather mobilized the anti-aircraft weapons. As Allied fighter bombers and other ground attack aircraft moved from machine gun armament and bombing to air-to-ground rockets and large-caliber cannons, the air defense positions were even more vulnerable. The answer was to adapt a tank chassis with a specialized turret that would protect the gun crews while they fired upon approaching Allied aircraft. Furthermore, the vehicle would have the same mobility as the battle tanks it protected.

 

Initial German AA-tank designs were the ‘Möbelwagen’ and the ‘Wirbelwind’, both conversions of refurbished Panzer IV combat tank chassis with open platforms or turrets with four 20mm cannon. Alternatively, a single 37mm AA gun was mounted, too – but all these vehicles were just a compromise and suffered from light armor, a high silhouette and lack of crew protection.

 

Further developments of more sophisticated anti-aircraft tank designs started in late 1943 and led into different directions. One development line was the ‘Kugelblitz’, another Panzer IV variant, but this time the ball-shaped turret, armed with very effective 30 mm MK 103 cannon, was fully integrated into the hull, resulting in a low silhouette and a protected crew. However, the ‘Kugelblitz’ only featured two of these guns and the tilting turret was very cramped and complicated. Venting and ammunition feed problems led to serious delays and a prolonged development stage.

The ‘Coelian’ family of bigger turrets with various weapon options for the Panzer V (the ‘Panther’) was another direction, especially as a response against the armored Il-2 attack aircraft at the Eastern front and against flying targets at medium altitude. Targets at high altitude, esp. Allied bombers, were to be countered with the very effective 8.8 cm Flak, and there were also several attempts to mount this weapon onto a fully armored hull.

 

The primary weapon for a new low/medium altitude anti-aircraft tank was to become the heavy automatic 55 mm MK 214. Like the 30 mm MK 103 it was a former aircraft weapon, belt-fed and adapted to continuous ground use. However, in early 1944, teething troubles with the ‘Kugelblitz’ suggested that a completely enclosed turret with one or (even better) two of these new weapons, mounted on a ‘Panther’ or the new E-50/75 tank chassis, would need considerable development time. Operational vehicles were not expected to enter service before mid-1945. In order to fill this operational gap, a more effective solution than the Panzer IV AA conversions, with more range and firepower than anything else currently in service, was direly needed.

 

This situation led to yet another hasty stopgap solution, the so-called ‘Ostwind II’ weapon system, which consisted primarily of a new turret, mated with a standard medium battle tank chassis. It was developed in a hurry in the course of 1944 and already introduced towards the end of the same year. The ‘Ostwind II’ was a compromise in the worst sense: even though it used two 37 mm FlaK 43 guns in a new twin mount and offered better firepower than any former German AA tank, it also retained many weaknesses from its predecessors: an open turret with only light armor and a high silhouette. But due to the lack of time and resources, the ‘Ostwind II’ was the best thing that could be realized on short notice, and with the perspective of more effective solutions within one year’s time it was rushed into production.

 

The ‘Ostwind II’ system was an open, roughly diamond-shaped, octagonal turret, very similar in design to the Panzer IV-based ‘Wirbelwind’ and ‘Ostwind’ (which was re-designated ‘Ostwind I’). As a novelty, in order to relieve the crew from work overload, traverse and elevation of the turret was hydraulic, allowing a full elevation (-4° to +90° was possible) in just over four seconds and a full 360° traverse in 15 seconds. This had become necessary because the new turret was bigger and heaver, both the weapons and their crews required more space, so that the Ostwind II complex could not be mounted onto the Panzer IV chassis anymore and movement by hand was just a fallback option.

In order to provide the ‘Ostwind II’ with a sufficiently large chassis, it was based on the SdKfz. 171 Panzer V medium battle tank, the ‘Panther’, exploiting its bigger turret ring, armor level and performance. The Panther chassis had, by late 1944, become available for conversions in considerable numbers through damaged and/or recovered combat tanks, and updated details like new turrets or simplified road wheels were gradually introduced into production and during refurbishments. Mounting the ‘Ostwind II’ turret on the Panzer VI (Tiger) battle tank chassis had been theoretically possible, too, but it never happened, because the Tiger lacked agility and its protection level and fuel consumption were considered impractical for an SPAAG that would typically protect battle tank groups.

 

The ‘Ostwind II’ turret was built around a motorized mount for the automatic 3.7 cm FlaK 43 twin guns. These proven weapons were very effective against aircraft flying at altitudes up to 4,200 m, but they also had devastating effect against ground targets. The FlaK 43’s armor penetration was considerable when using dedicated ammunition: at 100 m distance it could penetrate 36 mm of a 60°-sloped armor, and at 800 m distance correspondingly 24 mm. The FlaK 43’s theoretical maximum rate of fire was 250 shots/minute, but it was practically kept at ~120 rpm in order to save ammunition and prevent wear of the barrels. The resulting weight of fire was 76.8 kg (169 lb) per minute, but this was only theoretical, too, because the FlaK 43 could only be fed manually by 6-round clips – effectively, only single shots or short bursts could be fired, but a trained crew could maintain fire through using alternating gun use. A more practical belt feed was at the time of the Ostwind II's creation not available yet, even though such a mechanism was already under development for the fully enclosed Coelian turret, which could also take the FlaK 43 twin guns, but the armament was separated from the turret crew.

 

The new vehicle received the official designation ‘Sd.Kfz. 171/2 Flakpanzer V’, even though ‘Ostwind II’ was more common. When production actually began and how many were built is unclear. The conversion of Panther hulls could have started in late-1944 or early-1945, with sources disagreeing. The exact number of produced vehicles is difficult to determine, either. Beside the prototype, the number of produced vehicles goes from as little as 6 to over 40. The first completed Ostwind II SPAAGs were exclusively delivered to Eastern front units and reached them in spring 1945, where they were immediately thrown into action.

All Flakpanzer vehicles at that time were allocated to special anti-aircraft tank platoons (so-called Panzer Flak Züge). These were used primarily to equip Panzer Divisions, and in some cases given to special units. By the end of March 1945, there were plans to create mixed platoons equipped with the Ostwinds and other Flakpanzers. Depending on the source, they were either to be used in combination with six Kugelblitz, six Ostwinds and four Wirbelwinds or with eight Ostwinds and three Sd.Kfz. 7/1 half-tracks. Due to the war late stage and the low number of anti-aircraft tanks of all types built, this reorganization was never truly implemented, so that most vehicles were simply directly attached to combat units, primarily to the commanding staff.

 

The Ostwind II armament proved to be very effective, but the open turret (nicknamed ‘Keksdose’ = cookie tin) left the crews vulnerable. The crew conditions esp. during wintertime were abominable, and since aiming had to rely on vision the system's efficacy was limited, esp. against low-flying targets. The situation was slightly improved when the new mobile ‘Medusa’ and ‘Basilisk’ surveillance and target acquisition systems were introduced. These combined radar and powerful visual systems and guided the FlaK crews towards incoming potential targets, what markedly improved the FlaKs' first shot hit probability. However, the radar systems rarely functioned properly, the coordination of multiple SPAAGs in the heat of a low-level air attack was a challenging task, and - to make matters worse - the new mobile radar systems were even more rare than the new SPAAGs themselves.

 

All Ostwind II tanks were built from recovered ‘Panther’ battle tanks of various versions. The new Panther-based SPAAGs gradually replaced most of the outdated Panzer IV AA variants as well as the Ostwind I. Their production immediately stopped in the course of 1945 when the more sophisticated 'Coelian' family of anti-aircraft tanks with fully enclosed turrets became available. This system was based on Panzer V hulls, too, and it was soon followed by the first E-50 SPAAGs with the new, powerful twin-55 mm gun.

  

Specifications:

Crew: Six (commander, gunner, 2× loader, driver, radio-operator/hull machine gunner)

Weight: 43.8 tonnes (43.1 long tons; 48.3 short tons)

Length (hull only): 6.87 m (22 ft 6 in)

Width: 3.42 m (11 ft 3 in)

Height: 3.53 m (11 ft 6 3/4 in)

Suspension: Double torsion bar, interleaved road wheels

Fuel capacity: 720 litres (160 imp gal; 190 US gal)

 

Armor:

15–80 mm (0.6 – 3.15 in)

 

Performance:

Maximum road speed: 46 km/h (29 mph)

Operational range: 250 km (160 mi)

Power/weight: 15.39 PS (11.5 kW)/tonne (13.77 hp/ton)

 

Engine:

Maybach HL230 P30 V-12 petrol engine with 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW)

ZF AK 7-200 gear; 7 forward 1 reverse

 

Armament:

2× 37 mm (1.46 in) FlaK 43 cannon in twin mount with 1.200 rounds

1× 7.92 mm MG 34 machine gun in the front glacis plate with 2.500 rounds

  

The kit and its assembly:

This was a spontaneous build, more or less the recycling of leftover parts from a 1:72 Revell Ostwind tank on a Panzer III chassis that I had actually bought primarily for the chassis (it became a fictional Aufklärungspanzer III). When I looked at the leftover turret, I wondered about a beefed-up/bigger version with two 37 mm guns. Such an 'Ostwind II' was actually on the German drawing boards, but never realized - but what-if modelling can certainly change that. However, such a heavy weapon would have to be mounted on a bigger/heavier chassis, so the natural choice became the Panzer V, the Panther medium battle tank. This way, my ‘Ostwind II’ interpretation was born.

The hull for this fictional AA tank is a Hasegawa ‘Panther Ausf. G’ kit, which stems from 1973 and clearly shows its age, at least from today’s point of view. While everything fits well, the details are rather simple, if not crude (e. g. the gratings on the engine deck or the cupola on the turret). However, only the lower hull and the original wheels were used since I wanted to portray a revamped former standard battle tank.

 

The turret was a more complicated affair. It had to be completely re-constructed, to accept the enlarged twin gun and to fit onto the Panther hull. The first step was the assembly of the twin gun mount, using parts from the original Ostwind kit and additional parts from a second one. In order to save space and not to make thing uber-complicated I added the second weapon to the right side of the original gun and changed some accessories.

This, together with the distance between the barrels, gave the benchmark for the turret's reconstruction. Since the weapon had not become longer, I decided to keep things as simple as possible and just widen the open turret - I simply took the OOB Ostwind hexagonal turret (which consists of an upper and lower half), cut it up vertically and glued them onto the Panther turret's OOB base, shifting the sides just as far to the outside that the twin gun barrels would fit between them - a distance of ~0.4 inch (1 cm). At the rear the gap was simply closed with styrene sheet, while the front used shield parts from the Revell Ostwind kit that come from a ground mount for the FlaK 43. Two parts from this shield were glued together and inserted into the front gap. While this is certainly not as elegant as e. g. the Wirbelwind turret, I think that this solution was easier to integrate.

Massive PSR was necessary to blend the turret walls with the Panther turret base, and as a late modification the opening for the sight had to be moved, too. To the left of the weapons, I also added a raised protective shield for the commander.

Inside of the turret, details from the Ostwind kit(s), e. g. crew seats and ammunition clips, were recycled, too.

  

Painting and markings:

Since the Ostwind II would be based on a repaired/modified former Panzer V medium battle tank, I settled upon a relatively simple livery. The kit received a uniform finish in Dunkelgelb (RAL 7028), with a network of greenish-grey thin stripes added on top, to break up the tank's outlines and reminiscent of the British ‘Malta’ scheme, but less elaborate. The model and its parts were initially primed with matt sand brown from the rattle can (more reddish than RAL 7028) and then received an overall treatment with thinned RAL 7028 from Modelmaster, for an uneven, dirty and worn look. The stripes were created with thinned Tamiya XF-65 (Field Grey).

 

Once dry, the whole surface received a dark brown wash, details were emphasized with dry-brushing in light grey and beige. Decals were puzzled together from various German tank sheets, and the kit finally sealed with matt acrylic varnish.

 

The black vinyl tracks were also painted/weathered, with a wet-in-wet mix of black, grey, iron and red brown (all acrylics). Once mounted into place, mud and dust were simulated around the running gear and the lower hull with a greyish-brown mix of artist mineral pigments.

  

A bit of recycling and less exotic than one would expect, but it’s still a whiffy tank model that fits well into the historic gap between the realized Panzer IV AA tanks and the unrealized E-50/75 projects. Quite subtle! Creating the enlarged turret was the biggest challenge, even, even more so because it was/is an open structure and the interior can be readily seen. But the new/bigger gun fits well into it, and it even remained movable!

 

An impression with two ladies taking an interest . taken in Church street Liverpool

Sorting and assembling! Waiting on 40 dark tan legs and 17 tan torsos!

IMAGE INFO

- There is an Australian soldier hidden behind the pillar base in front of the British guard soldier at right foreground (you can see his slouch hat & part of his uniform though).

***************************

HISTORICAL INFO

- Baalbek's old name was "Heliopolis in Syria". en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baalbek

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SOURCE INFO

- Original image was captured by my late father-in-law, Driver Tom Beazley of the Australian Army 2/4 Anti Malaria Control Unit, 9th Division, 2nd Australian Imperial Force, using a folding Kodak 6-20 Brownie camera with 120 roll film, while he was on extended leave.

***************************

PROCESS INFO

- Digitized using a Canon Canoscan 8800F scanner.

- Restored from the very badly grained, scratched & faded original, using Adobe Photoshop Creative Studio 8.0 (duotoned version).

wrhstol.com/2ESY9Hm

-------------New Troops--------------

 

Sir Tarminus escorted the dazed and Bewildered Sir Ian further South, to where a large camp was set. He explained that he had been planning to attack Granhaven, but along the way had encountered Sir Ian by, ironically, hearing the same horn that attracted the Queen's men. Now they rested in the army camp. Sir Tarminus explained to Sir Ian that the creature that served as his mount was a Dire Wolf, often employed and tamed by the armies of Garheim. Sir Ian nodded thoughtfully. "Aye, 'tis a fine beast." "That 'tis! A finer one ye'll never find!" laughed Sir Tarminus.

Sir Ian thought of something and said: "I have not trained with war-gear for days. Is there a spare spear I could use?" Tarminus provided him with the necessary equipment, Sir Ian set about practicing his weapon skills. Just as he was finishing his training session, Tarminus strode over in his signature rolling gait. "Ay! I've remembered something. Stay there, and don't go over here," he waved vaguely with his arm,"I've got somethin' for ya!"

The knight disappeared around a large rock outcropping. Sir Ian wondered what it could be. He had lost all his armor on the mountain, it could be a new set. His thoughts were interrupted by the deafening roar of Tarminus: "EY! ALL OF YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHINGS BETTER GET YER SORRY HIDES INTO RANK FORMATION, OR I'LL TAN YE ALIVE!!" Sir Ian flinched. Tarminus reappeared around the corner. "This way."

Ian followed him, to see, standing in the archery range, a squad of a dozen men. He was delighted to see Harrison, Sven and Angus, three of his old troopers, among the ranks. "Yours!" said Sir Tarminus, grinning widely. "For our attack on Granhaven. I understand a few of these are your old boys." "Aye, sir," replied Ian. "Where's Bjorn? Built like a bear, red hair, huge axe."

"Oh, that' un had an injured leg. He's off in the tent." Sir Ian looked over the ranks of his new soldiers, standing proudly in the cold air and sunlight. A surge of strength came over him. "When do we ride to Granhaven? I want to get those Outlaws out of our land."

Please consider joining my group

 

www.flickr.com/groups/artificial_art/

In April of 1775 Royal Governor Lord Dunmore stole a portion of the gunpowder supply of the colony of Virginia from the magazine at Williamsburg.

 

On May 2, Patrick Henry led 60 mounted volunteers, known as the “Hanover Independent Company,” to rally at Newcastle on the Pamunkey River and ride with him to demand the powder’s return or just compensation.

 

The remainder of the Hanover militia stood ready, under arms, training, and ready for the shooting to start as it already done in Massachusetts.

 

“Liberty or Death”

Just some faction troops I have that I wanted to share.

Nyhavn is a harbor district in Copenhagen , which is one of the city's most visited tourist destinations. The harbor was excavated from 1671 to 1673 by Danish soldiers and by Swedish prisoners of war from the Second Carl Gustav War as an alternative to the existing harbor . The "Nyhavnskanalen" was inaugurated by Christian V in the 1670s , but today it is simply called Nyhavn. Worth seeing are the over 300-year-old houses. The oldest house is Nyhavn no. 9 from 1681 . Today, Nyhavn is covered with sidewalk cafes and restaurants , especially on the north-east side, the sunny side.

 

For many years, Nyhavn was among the city's more sinister quarters, with sailors' taverns and the accompanying prostitutes. But in the 1980s, the area was thoroughly renovated, and Nyhavn today houses a number of nicer restaurants, cafes and bars. Among the best known are Nyhavn 17 and Cap Horn.

 

The poet HC Andersen lived in three of the houses over the course of twenty years. In 1834 he lived in no. 20, from 1848 to 1865 in no. 67 and from 1871 until his death in 1875 in no. 18.

 

The Nyhavnsbroen between Holbergsgade and Toldbodgade was originally built in 1874-1875 but was replaced by the current drawbridge in 1911-1912. The bridge divides Nyhavn into an inner part, where veteran ships are now located, and an outer part.

 

The memorial anchor at the end of Nyhavn was erected in 1951 in memory of the Danish sailors who perished during the Second World War .

 

Close to Nyhavn is the Inderhavnsbroen .

 

Copenhagen is Denmark's capital and with 1,363,296 inhabitants (2023) the country's largest urban area comprising 18 municipalities or parts thereof.

 

The inner city had 809,314 inhabitants on 1 July 2022 and is defined by Statistics Denmark as consisting of Copenhagen Municipality (area: 90.10 km 2 ; population: 647,509 1 July 2022 ), Frederiksberg Municipality (area: 8 .70 km 2 ; population: 104,094 1 July 2022), Tårnby Municipality (area: 66.10 km 2 ; population: 43,042 1 July 2022) and Dragør Municipality (area: 18.30 km 2 ; population: 14,669 1. July 2022.

 

Copenhagen is also the center of the Øresund region , which is the largest metropolitan area in the Nordic region . The Øresund region covers a total of 20,754.63 km 2 in eastern Denmark and Scania in Sweden and had a population of 4,136,082 on 1 July 2022, of which 2,711,554 lived in the Danish parts as of 1 January 2022.

 

The city is located on the east coast of the island of Zealand ; another part of the city extends to Amager and is separated by the Øresund from Malmö , Sweden. The Øresund connection connects the two cities via motorway and railway.

 

Copenhagen's history can be traced back to around the year 700, when there was a small fishing village where the city center is now. Copenhagen became Denmark's capital at the beginning of the 15th century. Originating in the 17th century, it consolidated its position as a regional power center with its institutions, defenses and troops. During the Renaissance, the city was the de facto capital of the Kalmar Union , being the seat of the royal house that ruled a majority of today's Nordic regions in a personal union with Sweden and Norway with the Danish monarch as head of state. The city flourished as a cultural and economic center in Scandinavia during the union for over 120 years, from the 15th century until the early 16th century, when the union was dissolved by Sweden's secession. After an outbreak of plague and fires in the 18th century, the city underwent a period of reconstruction. This included the construction of the exclusive Frederiksstaden neighborhood and the foundation of institutions such as the Royal Danish Theater and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts . After further misfortunes in the 19th century, when Horatio Nelson attacked the Danish-Norwegian fleet and bombarded the city, the reconstruction during the Danish Golden Age brought a neoclassical touch to Copenhagen's architecture. Later, after the Second World War, the Fingerplan fostered urban development along five S-train lines with Copenhagen as the centre.

 

Since the turn of the millennium, Copenhagen has undergone strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investments in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is Denmark's cultural, economic and administrative centre; it is one of the main financial centers in Northern Europe with the Copenhagen Stock Exchange . Copenhagen's economy has witnessed rapid development in the service sector, particularly through initiatives concerning information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund connection, Copenhagen has been increasingly integrated with the Swedish province of Skåne and its largest city Malmö, forming the Øresund region.

 

With a number of bridges connecting the different neighborhoods, the urban landscape is characterized by parks, promenades and waterfronts. Copenhagen's landmarks include Tivoli Gardens , The Little Mermaid , Amalienborg , Christiansborg , Rosenborg , the Marble Church , the Stock Exchange , the Glyptoteket , the National Museum , which are significant tourist attractions.

 

Copenhagen houses the University of Copenhagen , the Technical University of Denmark, CBS , the IT University of Copenhagen . Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is Denmark's oldest university. Copenhagen is home to the football clubs FC Copenhagen and Brøndby IF . Copenhagen Marathon started in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the world's most bicycle-friendly cities.

 

The name

Elaborating Further article: Copenhagen's name

Before the Middle Ages , the name of the town was probably Havn. In the Middle Ages, the city was called Køpmannæhafn in Old Danish ; a name that translated into modern Danish means merchants' harbor and is an expression of the importance that merchants had for the city at this time.

 

A number of other names built over the original Danish name for the city are used in different languages. Examples include Swedish Copenhagen , German and Dutch Kopenhagen , English Copenhagen , Italian Copenaghen , French and Spanish Copenhague , Portuguese Copenhaga , Latin Hafnia , Czech Kodaň , Icelandic Kaupmannahöfn and Faroese Keypmannahavn .

 

In 1923 , the Latin version of the name became the basis for the naming of the newly discovered element hafnium , as the discovery took place at the current Niels Bohr Institute .

 

Nicknames

As befits big cities, Copenhagen also has nicknames and even several of this kind:

 

King's Copenhagen : over the centuries, changing kings have left their mark on the capital. This applies in particular to Christian IV , who, in addition to expanding the area within the city walls to three times the size, contributed buildings such as Rosenborg , Rundetårn and Børsen .

The city with beautiful towers : tourist slogan created by brewer Carl Jacobsen in 1910. It alludes to the many towers and spires that then and now leave their mark on Indre By in particular, and to which the generous brewer himself also contributed in the form of the spire at Nicholas Church .

Wonderful Copenhagen ("wonderful Copenhagen"): both a tourist slogan made famous by the actor Danny Kaye , who sang about the city in a 1952 film about HC Andersen , and the name of the city's official tourism organization, Wonderful Copenhagen .

The Paris of the North is also occasionally seen , but unlike the others, this flattering comparison with the City of Cities is not exclusive, as it is shared with both Norway's Tromsø and Denmark's Aalborg .

 

The name "Copenhagen" is used both for the city as a whole, which includes all or parts of 17 other municipalities, for the city without its suburbs (cf. the image of the road signs, according to which Copenhagen and Vanløse are two different places) and for Copenhagen Municipality . This article covers the city as a whole.

 

The total urban area is defined geographically by the Geodata Agency (with the so-called polygon method ), where water areas are deducted. The method follows the UN 's guidelines, where in order for an urban area to be considered integrated, there must not be more than 200 meters between the houses (parks and the like not included). However, the Geodata Agency still counts the entire municipalities of Copenhagen and Tårnby , despite the fact that this includes large completely undeveloped areas, e.g. on western Amager , Saltholm and Peberholm . The area occupies a little over 450 km 2 , but the city of Copenhagen itself occupies far from this geographical size. Statistics Denmark then obtains the number of inhabitants via CPR . It is also Statistics Denmark that presents the aggregated information. The extent of Copenhagen – the metropolitan area's urban area – appears from Statistics Denmark's map of urban areas and rural districts . (Zoom in, let the mouse slide over the dark blue areas and see where it says 'Capital area in ... Municipality'). The outermost parts of Copenhagen are thus Kastrup , Tårnby , Karlslunde , Albertslund , Ballerup , Hareskovby , Bagsværd , Holte , Øverød , Søllerød , Nærum and Klampenborg – but with green wedges in between that extend to e.g. Avedøre and Rødovre .

 

Although the urban area is clearly demarcated by the authorities, they use different designations for it. The Geodata Agency uses Copenhagen, while Statistics Denmark uses the metropolitan area , and on the road signs along the approach roads, the Road Directorate has chosen Greater Copenhagen . However, Copenhagen is the only one of the three designations authorized by the Place Names Committee . [However, in all cases the same area is meant.

 

Many residents of Copenhagen's suburbs, however, identify to a greater extent with the municipality they live in. This may be to distance themselves from Copenhagen Municipality , which, as by far the largest municipality, naturally often steals the picture. In practice, however, Copenhagen is so densely built-up that in many places it is difficult to see where the borders between the individual municipalities actually go. Outsiders, however, will typically consider the city as a whole, although here and there there is also a tendency to either limit it to the Municipality of Copenhagen or expand it to the entire Capital Region . Therefore, Copenhagen's population is given in some places as approx. 0.6 million (of the municipality) or approx. 2.0 million (of the metropolitan region), where the correct number is 1,363,296 ( as of 1 January 2020 ).

 

Furthermore, a number of administrative divisions have used Copenhagen or the capital in their name. For example , the Capital Region also includes Bornholm , regardless of the fact that this island is approx. 130 km away, and the former Copenhagen County, despite the name, did not include the Municipality of Copenhagen , although the county seat was located there for a number of years.

 

History

Elaborating In-depth article: Copenhagen's history

History up to the 12th century

A number of finds from prehistoric times have been made in the Copenhagen area. At the building of Amager Strandpark, one found e.g. remains of a coastal settlement from the Neolithic . Burial mounds in the suburbs indicate human activity in prehistoric times, and many of the town names in the vicinity of Copenhagen also bear witness to the founding of towns in the greater Copenhagen area in the Viking Age .

 

Until recently, the oldest traces of urban settlement in the Copenhagen area were within the ramparts from around the year 1000, where traces of a small fishing village were found where Copenhagen is today. Fiskerlejet was located just north of Copenhagen's Town Hall around Mikkel Bryggers Gade, which at the time lay by the sea. But in connection with the excavation of the Metro, traces of boat bridges at Gammel Strand have been found, dating all the way back to around the year 700. During the excavation of the metro station at Kongens Nytorv, traces of a farm from the Viking Age have also been found.

 

1043-1536: The Middle Ages

The first time the precursor to Copenhagen under the name "Havn" is mentioned in the sources, is in connection with a naval battle between Svend Estridsen and the Norwegian king Magnus the Good in 1043. After that, there is silence about the city's fate in the next approx. 120 years.

 

It is likely that during the 12th century the city was able to profit from its central location between the large cathedral cities of Lund and Roskilde and thus was an important point for traffic and trade between the two cities. The natural harbor and the small island of Slotsholmen , which was easy to defend, probably also gave the city great advantages. In the second half of the 12th century, the silence about the town is broken, when Saxo mentions that Pope Urban III in 1186 confirms that the small town "Hafn", together with a number of other towns that King Valdemar had previously given to Bishop Absalon, must continue belong to Absalom. The exact year of King Valdemar's gift is not known, as the deed of gift that Absalon received has disappeared. From around 1167-1171 , Absalon built a castle and a city wall on the site.

 

Under Absalon's leadership, the city began to grow. Especially in the 13th century, the city expanded, so that it gradually came to cover a larger part of the area between Kongens Nytorv and Rådhuspladsen . Gråbrødre Kloster and the churches Our Lady , St. Peder (now St. Petri) and St. Nikolai were all built in the first half of the 13th century. The 13th century was a turbulent time in Danish history , which was expressed in the fierce battle between successive bishops and kings for the right to the city. However, in 1251 Bishop Jakob Erlandsen was able to force the pressured King Abel to surrender the city to him, and in 1254 this bishop gave the city its first city court. Five years later, in 1259, the city was attacked and plundered by the Rygian prince Jaromar .

 

Gradually, the city began to grow into the kingdom's largest and most important, although it had not yet become the capital. Although the city was the largest, there were still less than 5,000 inhabitants, and thus only a few hundred fewer in cities such as Ribe and Århus. The location in the middle of the kingdom with a natural harbor on an important sea trade route was ideal. In 1419, a Danish king, Erik of Pomerania , finally managed to permanently take power over the city from the church, and in 1443 Christopher III made the city a royal residence. In 1479 the university was founded. Copenhagen was now the country's most important city.

 

Christian IV was of great importance to Copenhagen. Under him, the city's old walls, which had hitherto been along Gothersgade around 1647, were moved, so that they ran along the current railway line between Nørreport and Østerport, bypassing the Nyboder newly built by Christian IV . Copenhagen's ramparts were also expanded with defenses in the newly built area of ​​Christianshavn .

 

From 1658-1660 during the First Karl Gustav War, Copenhagen was the last area in the kingdom under Danish control, but under siege by the Swedish troops led by Karl X Gustav . In February 1659, the Swedes tried to take the town by storm , but a joint effort by soldiers and the townspeople held them back. After the unsuccessful storming, however, the Swedes kept the city besieged until 27 May 1660. As an offshoot of the Peace of Copenhagen, the monarchy was introduced in 1660 under Frederik III and Copenhagen became an even more important city in Denmark, because it was from here that the increasingly centralist Danish state was governed. As part of this process, in 1660, Copenhagen got a new form of management called the City's 32 men , which was a precursor to the current Citizens' Representation .

 

In 1711-1712, one of the worst plague epidemics in Copenhagen's history ravaged . The plague killed approximately 22,000 of the city's approximately 60,000 inhabitants. A few years later, things went wrong once again, when just over a quarter of the city's buildings went up in smoke during a city fire in 1728 .

 

Inspired by European ideas, Frederiksstaden was founded in 1748 north of Kongens Nytorv with Amalienborg as the most beautiful part. In the latter half of the 18th century, during the Florissant period, Copenhagen experienced an enormous boom as a result of the profitable trade with the warring powers, England and France. However, the boom period ended for a time when first Christiansborg burned in 1794 and then a town fire in 1795 ravaged the inner city, and then the British navy came to claim Denmark's navy, which triggered the Battle of the Nest in 1801 , as part of the Napoleonic Wars . Parts of the city were also damaged in that conflict. However, the damage was far from the extent of the damage caused by the landed British army during the English bombardment of the city in 1807 , where large areas of the city burned down, as the British military used rockets. The medieval Church of Our Lady also went up in flames. The challenges for Denmark and Copenhagen end with the state bankruptcy in 1813 and the loss of Norway, and the accompanying trade from Copenhagen to Norway, in 1814.

 

After the tumultuous events in the years up to 1814, Denmark and Copenhagen had ended up as a small, poor country. It was therefore not immediately possible to rebuild the public buildings that had been destroyed by the bombardment, such as Our Lady's Church and the university , until well into the 19th century. When the economy finally got going, this gave rise to enormous development and most of Copenhagen's inner city is characterized by the reconstructions after the fires and the bombing. Culturally, Copenhagen came to form the framework for one of the most rewarding cultural periods in Danish history, the Golden Age , which was characterized by, among other things, CF Hansen , Bertel Thorvaldsen and Søren Kierkegaard . This was followed by industrialization in the second half of the 19th century. After a major cholera epidemic in 1853, it was finally decided to take down the old ramparts.

 

It was now allowed to build permanent, foundation-walled new construction outside the ramparts. This release, in combination with very liberal building legislation, led to a building boom in the bridge districts and a significant increase in the population. Around 1800, approximately 100,000 people lived in the capital, and at the start of the 20th century there were almost 500,000.

 

The new districts became very different: Frederiksberg and Østerbro became neighborhoods of the bourgeoisie ; Nørrebro and Vesterbro, on the other hand, became workers' districts.

 

As a replacement for the old fortress, the Estrup government adopted the construction of the large fortifications , including the Vestvolden, from 1886 . It was Denmark's largest workplace and was only later surpassed by the Great Belt connection . The construction of large projects such as the Free Harbor (1894), the Town Hall (1905) and the Central Station (1911) also left their mark. Copenhagen had become an industrial metropolis, home to companies on an international scale such as Burmeister & Wain , Østasiatisk Kompagni and the Great Nordic Telegraph Company .

 

After a weak start ( the Battle of Fælleden ), the labor movement had its breakthrough in the capital of the 20th century, where the post of finance mayor was taken over in 1903 by trade unionist Jens Jensen . In 1901, the municipality incorporated a number of parishes, including Brønshøj and Valby , and in 1902 the municipality of Sundbyernes was incorporated . The municipality's area was thus tripled, leaving Frederiksberg as an enclave in Copenhagen Municipality.

 

From World War I to the present

This section describes the period from the start of World War I in 1914 to the present day. The policy of neutrality meant that Copenhagen was not particularly affected by the First World War. The so-called goulash barons made a lot of money from stock speculation and from exporting meat products to Germany . After the First World War, there was a shortage of most things, and a great deal of unemployment contributed to a lot of unrest, especially in Copenhagen's working-class neighborhoods. In 1922, the Copenhagen-based Landmandsbanken went bankrupt, dragging many people down with it.

 

From 1917, the Social Democrats had a majority in the municipality's board. This led to increased public welfare, municipal housing construction, etc. The construction of Fælledparken and other parks was another result of the municipality's new social and health policy programme, which, among other things, as a result of the housing crises of 1908 and 1916 focused on building housing that was not influenced by building speculation. As buildings were built on the lands outside the Søerne and on the areas around e.g. Brønshøj and Valby, which had been merged with Copenhagen Municipality in 1901, approached Copenhagen with surrounding towns such as Lyngby, Herlev and Rødovre. And gradually these became suburbs. Due to a lack of suitable land in the inner city, much of the urban development took place around these cities. This development was also helped by more public transport, i.a. the opening of the S train lines from 1934.

 

During World War II, Copenhagen, like the rest of Denmark , was occupied by German troops. Several buildings were destroyed during the occupation either by sabotage or by attacks from the allied forces. Among these can be mentioned that the Shell House , which was the headquarters of the Gestapo , was bombed by British planes on 21 March 1945 . During this attack , the French School in Frederiksberg was hit and many children were killed. Many industrial buildings in Copenhagen were also blown up by the Danish resistance movement . One of the biggest popular protests against the conditions under the German occupation was the People's Uprising in 1944

 

After the war, the increasing use of motor vehicles became increasingly important for the city's development, and this caused the master plan's ideas of a Copenhagen built around collective S-train traffic to become somewhat diluted. Some suburbs grew up away from the S-train network. In the 1960s, development in the Municipality of Copenhagen seemed to have almost come to a standstill, while in the suburban municipalities people were building on life. Gladsaxe Municipality under Erhard Jakobsen and Albertslund are examples of this development in Copenhagen's surrounding municipalities.

 

Inner Copenhagen, on the other hand, experienced a period of decline from the 1960s with the relocation of industry and residents. This development began to reverse around 1990. Especially with the urban renewal plans from 1991, many run-down neighborhoods slowly but surely became desirable. With the construction of the subway and housing along the harbor, the inner city has become better connected. The construction of the Øresund Bridge in 2000 has connected Copenhagen with western Scania, and the city thus strengthened its status as the center of the Øresund region .

 

While Ungdomshuset på Jagtvej existed, the Nørrebro area in particular was regularly characterized by violent demonstrations that emanated from here. This culminated in the demolition of the house in March 2007, and subsided in mid-2008, when a new house was built for the young people in North West. Since then, there have been no major demonstrations based on the movement around the Youth House.

 

During the period, the housing market in the city was approx. 2002–2007, along with the rest of the country, characterized by a housing bubble. This stopped, as in the rest of Denmark, in 2006/2007, when large price drops were experienced. However, Copenhagen recovered quickly and the Copenhagen housing market has been characterized by rising prices since 2009 and today ( 2021 ) prices are higher than prices were at their peak in 2006. At the beginning of the period, it was also possible to assess cooperative housing according to market price. This opened up the otherwise closed co-operative housing market, and instead of being traded through closed lists and sometimes money under the table, co-operative housing is now most often traded in free trade. During the bubble period it was popular to settle in Malmö in Sweden and work in Copenhagen. ​​In 2021, there have been large price increases again and some politicians spoke of further restrictions on the possibilities of borrowing, while others spoke of the fact that it was not necessary.

 

In 2020, Copenhagen, like the rest of Denmark and the rest of the world, was hit by the Coronavirus pandemic . The authorities recommended homework and shut down entertainment.

 

Future plans

Until around 2025, four major expansion areas are planned in the Municipality of Copenhagen, which will provide space for 45,000 new Copenhageners; Ørestad south of Field's and on Amager Fælled , Nordhavnen , Valby around New Ellebjerg Station and the Carlsberg plot north of Carlsberg Station are to be developed. Likewise, it is planned that the former freight railway area between Dybbølsbro Station and Hovedbanegården is to be developed, but primarily with business, i.a. hotels and Ikea . All the areas are either old industrial areas or land reclamation, except for Amager Fælled which is originally salt meadow. The municipality of Copenhagen is also planning a very large development in the north-eastern harbor area in the form of Lynetteholmen .

 

In the preliminary municipal plan 2021, Frederiksberg Municipality plans urban development around e.g. Nordens Plads and the Hospital grounds where Frederiksberg Hospital used to be located. In addition, the focus is on conservation and hollow filling with either new buildings or green areas.

 

In Rødovre there are three primary urban development areas Rødovre North, the City Core (around Rødovre Centrum ) and Rødovre South. At the City Center, among other things, the possibilities of making a metro stop by extending one of the existing metro lines.

 

A major challenge with the many additional residents will be to make room for the traffic in the city. The extension in 2019 of the metro with the City Ring and the construction of light rail along ring 3 from Lyngby to Ishøj should create even more coherence in Copenhagen's public transport. There has also been talk for many years about an Eastern Ring Road around the central parts of the city. One possibility is that the eastern ring road can go over Lynetteholmen .

 

Geography

Geographically, Copenhagen is located in north-eastern Zealand with part of the city on the island of Amager . Western Copenhagen stretches relatively flat further into Zealand, while to both north and south you can experience more hilly terrain. In north-western Copenhagen, e.g. around Søborg and Høje Gladsaxe a larger chain of hills with heights up to 50 meters above sea level. These hilly landscapes in northern Copenhagen are intersected by a number of lakes and Mølleåen . Due to height in the Gladsaxe area, the Gladsaxe transmitter and Copenhagen's water supply have been placed here . In the south-western part of Copenhagen, a calcareous landslide rises at the Carlsberg fault . The more central parts of Copenhagen consist primarily of flatter landscape, alternating in Valby and Brønshøj with less domed hills. Two valley systems follow these small hill ranges from northeast to southwest. In one valley you will find the lakes , in the other you will find Damhussøen . These smaller valleys are crossed by the rivers Harrestrup Å and Ladegårdsåen . Amager and most of the inner city is flat coastal land.

 

Geologically speaking, Copenhagen, like most of Denmark, rests on an Ice Age bedrock moraine landscape, which in turn rests on a harder subsoil of limestone . In certain places in the area, there is only ten meters down to the limestone layer, which caused considerable problems during the construction of the metro.

 

Religion

A majority (56.5%) of those who live in the Diocese of Copenhagen are members of the People's Church, and the number is decreasing. The national cathedral, Vor Frue Kirke, is one of numerous churches in Copenhagen. There are also several other Christian congregations in the city, the largest of which is Roman Catholic.

 

Foreign immigration to Copenhagen, which has increased over the past three decades, has contributed to increasing religious diversity; The Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilization Center opened in 2014. Islam is the second largest religion in Copenhagen, making up an estimated 10% of the population. Although there are no official statistics, it is estimated that a significant proportion of the estimated 175,000–200,000 Muslims in the country live in the Copenhagen area, with the highest concentration in Nørrebro and Vesteggen . There are also up to 7,000 Jews in Denmark, with most living in Copenhagen, where there are several synagogues. Jews have a long history in the city and the first synagogue in Copenhagen was built in 1684. Today, the history of Danish Jews can be experienced at the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen.

 

Music, theater and opera

The oldest and most famous theater in the capital is the Royal Theater , founded in 1748 , located at the end of Kongens Nytorv. Since its foundation, the theater has been the national stage for theatre , plays , opera and ballet . The theater has a large stage called Gamle scene , which can accommodate approx. 1,600 spectators. Within the last few years, however, opera and plays have been given independent buildings. The opera house was built in 2005 on Holmen opposite Amalienborg and can accommodate up to 1,703 spectators. The theater was built in 2008 at Kvæsthusbroen near Nyhavn. The Royal Danish Ballet can still be found on the old stage of the Royal Danish Theatre. Since it was founded in 1748, it is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. It is the home of the Bournonville ballet style .

 

In addition to the more traditional offerings such as theatre, opera and ballet, which the Royal Theater can offer, there are a multitude of other theaters that offer reinterpretations of classic plays as well as completely new pieces and genres, such as Folketeatret and Nørrebro Teater .

 

Copenhagen has had a large jazz scene for many years . Jazz came to Copenhagen in the 1960s, when American jazz musicians such as Ben Webster , Thad Jones and Dexter Gordon moved to the city. Musically, they gathered at Jazzhus Montmartre , which in the 1960s was the European center for modern jazz. The jazz club closed in 1995, reopened in May 2010, but is expected to close again in 2020/2021 due to challenges arising in connection with the shutdown due to the corona epidemic. Every year in July, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival is celebrated , which fills venues and squares with jazz concerts.

 

The most important venue for rhythmic music in Copenhagen is Vega on Vesterbro, which was voted "best concert venue in Europe" by the international music magazine Live Pumpehuset and Den Grå Hal are also popular indoor concert venues. The largest indoor concerts are held in the Park , where there is room for up to 55,000 spectators. The biggest outdoor concerts are often arranged in Valbyparken , including Grøn Koncert , which has ended the tour in Copenhagen since 1985 and since 2017 has also started in Copenhagen.

 

For free entertainment, you can take a walk up Strøget, especially between Nytorv and Højbro Plads , which in the late afternoon and evening transforms into an improvised three-ring circus with musicians, magicians , jugglers and other street performances.

 

Museums

As Denmark's capital, Copenhagen contains some of the most important collections of Danish history and culture, but some museums also have collections of great international quality. The National Museum , founded in 1807, is the most important museum in Denmark for culture and history. The museum contains, among other things, a multitude of ancient finds with priceless objects such as The Sun Chariot . New Carlsberg Glyptotek also displays a wide collection of objects from prehistoric times to the present day. The museum has ancient collections from Mesopotamia , Egypt including a large collection of mummies , Ancient Greece with a piece from the Parthenon Frieze that is of international quality, and various artifacts from Ancient Rome . The Glyptotek is completely unique and the only one of its kind in the Nordic countries .

 

The Statens Museum for Kunst is the country's largest art museum with large collections and often exhibitions of recent art. Thorvaldsen's Museum from 1848 with Bertel Thorvaldsen's many figures was the city's first proper art museum. The Hirschsprung collection contains mostly paintings from the Golden Age and by the Skagen painters . The modern art is presented primarily in Arken in Ishøj and Louisiana in Humlebæk north of Copenhagen.

 

In addition to Danish art and handicrafts , David's Collection contains one of the ten most important collections of Islamic art in the Western world. The war museum from 1838 contains an enormous collection of military equipment from the Middle Ages until recent times.

 

The natural history museums are represented by the Botanical Garden , the Geological Museum and the Zoological Museum . The three museums have entered into a collaboration, the Statens Natural History Museum, and are expected to be united in a building at the Botanical Gardens in 2024 as a national natural history museum. Experimentarium and Planetarium deal with general physics and astronomy .

 

Copenhagen also contains more specialized museums such as the Arbejdermuseet , Frihedsmuseet , Copenhagen City Museum , Storm P Museum and Enigma (expected to open in 2022) which is a successor to the Post & Tele Museum .

 

Parks, forests, lakes and beaches

Copenhagen has a number of parks, the two largest being Valbyparken and Fælledparken , respectively. 64 and 58 ha. Valbyparken is also surrounded by football pitches and allotment gardens. A beach is being built ( as of 2021 ) at the water's edge facing the Port of Copenhagen. The large lawn in the park lays, among other things, place for Green Concert . The public park on Østerbro is among the most visited attractions in Denmark, with several million visitors a year. The third largest park in Copenhagen is Frederiksberg Have (32 ha). Here you can e.g. enjoy the view of Norman Foster's elephant house in the Zoo , which occupies the western part of the garden.

 

In addition to parks, the city has some very open natural areas, the largest of which is Amager Fælled at 223 ha. Amager Fælled consists of approx. one quarter original salt marsh and three quarters filled seabed. The community has been continuously reduced and has ceded areas to e.g. Ørestad and ball fields. There are currently being prepared to be built in the southern part. This construction creates ( as of 2021 ) a lot of debate, especially in the Copenhagen media and in Copenhagen politics. In addition, there is the Sydhavnstippen , which is a 40 ha natural area with plenty of wildlife and plant life.

 

Another very popular park is Kongens Have in central Copenhagen with Rosenborg Castle . The park has been open to the public since the beginning of the 18th century. Centrally in the city along the former ramparts are a number of parks, of which Tivoli is the best known.

 

Something special for Copenhagen is that several cemeteries also have a double function as parks, although only for quiet activities. Assistens Kirkegård , where HC Andersen is buried, among other things, is an important green breathing hole for Indre Nørrebro . It is official policy in Copenhagen that in 2015 all residents must be able to reach a park or beach on foot in less than 15 minutes.

 

In addition to parks, Copenhagen also has a number of forests, including Vestskoven (15 km²) in the western part and Hareskoven (9 km²) in the northwestern part. The animal park (11 km²) is located in the northern part and contains both forest, plain and a golf course.

 

Just west of the ring of parks from the old ramparts are Copenhagen's Indre Søer . Other significant lakes include Damhussøen and i.a. Utterslev Mose and Bagsværd Lake .

 

Copenhagen has a number of sandy beaches. The largest is Amager Strandpark , which opened in 2005 , which includes a 2 km long artificial island and a total of 4.6 km of sandy beach. In addition, there are e.g. beaches at Bellevue and Charlottenlund along the north coast and Brøndby along the south coast. The beaches are complemented by several harbor baths along the waterfront. The first and most popular of these is located at Islands Brygge .

 

Media and Film

Many Danish media companies have their headquarters in Copenhagen. The state-funded DR started its radio activities here in 1925. At the beginning of the 1950s, the company was also responsible for spreading television throughout the country. Today, the media company has several television and TV channels, which are controlled from DR Byen , built in 2006/07 in Ørestad . The Odense -based TV 2 has gathered its Copenhagen activities at Teglholmen .

 

Two of the three major national newspapers, Politiken and Berlingske , as well as the two major tabloid newspapers , Ekstra Bladet and BT, have their headquarters in Copenhagen. Furthermore, Jyllands-Posten has a newsroom in the city. In 2003 Politikens Hus merged with Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and formed the company JP/Politikens Hus . Berlingske , founded in 1749, is Denmark's oldest newspaper. Berlingske Media , which i.a. publisher Berlingske is owned by the London -based Mecom Group . In addition, there are a large number of local newspapers such as Vesterbro Avis . Other media companies include Aller Media , which is the largest publisher of weekly and monthly magazines in Scandinavia, Egmont , which, among others, is behind Nordisk Film , and Gyldendal , the largest Danish book publisher.

 

Copenhagen also has a relatively large film and television industry. Filmbyen , located on a disused military base in the suburb of Hvidovre , houses several film companies and studios. Among the film companies is Zentropa , in which the film director Lars von Trier is a co-owner, who is behind several international film productions and who was one of the founders of the dogma movement . Historically, Copenhagen, and especially the company Nordisk Film , was the center of the film industry in Northern Europe in the 1910s and 1920s, with hundreds of annual film productions. Nordisk Film in Valby still produces many films and today has 1,200 employees (as of 2006 ) and is the largest producer and distributor of electronic entertainment in the Nordics.

 

The largest concentration of cafes is in Indre By, Østerbro and Vesterbro. The first Copenhagen cafe opened in 1831 at the Hotel D'Angleterre , but it was only with the opening of Café Sommersko in 1976 that the cafe culture really came to Copenhagen, and there are now over 300 cafes spread across the city.

 

Copenhagen's nightlife is centered around Indre by, Nørrebro and Vesterbro, i.a. Laurits Betjent , Nasa , Rust and Vega .

 

Within the last decade, Copenhagen has really distinguished itself with restaurants that can measure up among the best. Most prominent is Noma , with 2 stars in the Michelin guide since 2007, which has also been named the best restaurant in the world. In addition to Noma, Copenhagen had 11 restaurants that have received one star in the Michelin guide per 2021. With 18 stars, Copenhagen is the Nordic city with the most stars, which has been the case for a number of years. In 2016, Restaurant Geranium was the first Danish restaurant ever to receive three Michelin stars (which is the highest score), which they have maintained ever since.

 

The sausage cart has traditionally been the favorite place to eat for the little hungry, but is now being challenged by burger bars, pizzerias , shawarma and sushi bars and the like. Smørrebrød restaurants are another type of lunch catering that is characteristic of Copenhagen.

 

Copenhagen is the capital in the world where organic food has the largest market share. One in ten purchases is organic in Copenhagen.

 

Sports

Copenhagen represents a wide range of sports and is often a leader in the field in Denmark . Larger sports facilities include The park , but also e.g. Brøndby Stadium , Farum Park and Gladsaxe Stadium for football, Østerbro Stadium for athletics, Ballerup Super Arena for track cycling , Rødovre Skøjte Arena for ice hockey , Brøndbyhallen for handball and Bagsværd Rostadion for rowing .

 

The largest Danish stadium Parken , located on Østerbro , is both the home ground for the Danish national football team and the football club FC Copenhagen . FC Copenhagen has for a number of years been very dominant in the Danish Superliga with thirteen championships since 2000 . In addition, Copenhagen is, among other things, hometown of football clubs Brøndby IF , AB , B.93 , Frem and Fremad Amager . In addition to the park, larger football stadiums include Brøndby Stadium (Denmark's second largest), Gladsaxe Stadium and Farum Park . Østerbro Stadium is the city's largest stadium for athletics .

 

Within handball , KIF Kolding København is the biggest Copenhagen team. However, they only have a men's team associated with the handball league . KIF Kolding Copenhagen is a partial continuation of AG Copenhagen , which merged with Kolding IF Handball . Despite great success in the Champions League in the spring of 2012 , AG Copenhagen suddenly fell into financial crisis in the summer of the same year , which led to the club filing for bankruptcy on 31 July 2012 .

 

Within athletics , it is the club Sparta in particular that has made a name for itself and the men's team has won the Danish athletics tournament 29 years in a row until 2014 and the women's team has won the Danish athletics tournament 17 years in a row until 2014. The Copenhagen Athletics Games were held in the period 2005 –2007, and before that the Copenhagen Games were held (1973-1986). Both aspired to display world-class athleticism.

 

The DM in ice hockey for men was won many times until the mid-1970s by the Copenhagen clubs KSF and Rungsted IK . Since then, the DM has primarily been won by Jutland clubs, while Rungsted Seier Capital and Rødovre Mighty Bulls have changed to being Copenhagen's best men's ice hockey team. On the women's side, Hvidovre Ishockey Klub has been very dominant in the DM with 8 championships in the 10 tournaments since 2011, often with Herlev IK as the closest competitor.

 

Copenhagen has a long tradition of rowing and has produced several national team rowers. DSR , which is Denmark's largest rowing club, and Kvik , both located in Svanemøllebugten , have rowed the traditional swan mill match every year since 1895 . In addition, there are a number of other clubs, e.g. Copenhagen Rowing Club and Bagsværd Rowing Club .

 

Copenhagen can display a number of golf courses , including Copenhagen Golf Club in Dyrehaven and Royal Golf Center in Ørestad . The Royal Golf Center has been built with a view to being able to hold PGA tournaments .

 

In the Municipality of Copenhagen, plans have been made to make Copenhagen the host of future international sporting events. In 2009 , Copenhagen hosted the World Outgames , which is an international gay sporting event. And the ambition of holding world championships in e.g. handball and ice hockey are currently being strengthened by the construction of the Copenhagen Arena .

 

For equestrian sports, the Charlottenlund Track , which opened in 1891 and is the oldest in the Nordic region , can be found in the northern suburbs . Likewise, to the north, there is also the Klampenborg Galopbane . From 1922 to 1976, the Amager Trotting Track also existed in Tårnby .

 

Copenhagen was one of the host cities at the European Football Championship 2020 , which took place in June and July 2021. Three group stage matches and a round of 16 final were played in Parken .

 

The 1st stage of the Tour de France 2022 was run as a single start in the city center on 1 July .

 

Economy

Elaborating In-depth article: Copenhagen's economy

As the country's largest urban area, the capital area is a natural economic powerhouse for the country, but also for southern Sweden, the urban area plays an important economic role.

 

Previously, Copenhagen was characterized by a number of large industrial companies such as Burmeister & Wain and Dansk Sojakagefabrik . Copenhagen was also the starting point for CF Tietgen's extensive network of companies ( Privatbanken , Det Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab , De Danske Spritfabrikker and others). However, since the end of the Second World War, in line with similar trends in the rest of Europe, heavy industry has moved outside the city or completely out of the country, and Copenhagen has increasingly become a city of knowledge.

 

Politically, most of the central administration is located in Copenhagen, where most ministries have offices on or in the area around Slotsholmen . Likewise, most agencies are located in the Copenhagen area, which together with the many private knowledge workplaces provides a highly specialized labor market with many knowledge-intensive jobs.

 

The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters in the areas of biotech , cleantech , IT and shipping . The clusters within biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental technology, it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster . Clusters have received a greater focus from the regional political side, as clusters such as the cleantech cluster cover more than 350 companies and approx. 30,000 jobs.

 

Several of the largest Danish companies have their headquarters in the city area; especially companies within the pharmaceutical industry ( Novo Nordisk , Lundbeck , Ferring and others) and shipping ( AP Møller-Mærsk , Torm , D/S Norden , J. Lauritzen) are important for the area's economy. Likewise, several large financial groups together with the National Bank characterize central Copenhagen, including Danske Bank , Nordea Bank Danmark and Nykredit . Carlsberg , ISS and Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni are other large companies headquartered in the Copenhagen area.

 

Tourism

According to the tourist organization HORESTA, the number of hotel nights in the capital region in 2018 was approx. nine million, which is approx. 1 million more than in 2012. Most foreign tourists in Copenhagen continue to come from Sweden , Norway and Germany .

 

Hotels

Elaborating Detailed article: Copenhagen hotels

In Copenhagen, there are five 5-star hotels, which include counts Hotel Nimb in Tivoli and Hotel Skt. Petri in Indre By . An extensive renovation in 2012–2013 of the famous Hotel D'Angleterre on Kongens Nytorv has made the hotel Copenhagen's only 6-star hotel.

 

Copenhagen has a total of 12 hotels with more than 300 rooms and Europe's largest hostel, Danhostel Copenhagen City at Kalvebod Brygge , with a total of 1020 beds. The city's – and Scandinavia's – largest hotel is the 75 meter high Bella Sky Comwell in Ørestad with a total of 812 rooms spread over two towers. With its 86 meters and 26 floors , the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel at Islands Brygge is Denmark's tallest hotel. 8 out of Copenhagen's 11 largest hotels were built in the 21st century , whereas the Admiral Hotel in Frederiksstaden , which opened in 1978 , is located in a building built in 1787 . The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel by Arne Jacobsen from 1960 is also worth mentioning. It is centrally located at Vesterport .

 

Cruise tourism

Since the 1990s, cruise tourism – like many other large port cities in Europe and the rest of the world – has seen significant growth in Copenhagen. In the period 2005-2012, the number of calls increased by over 100, and the number of passengers almost doubled as the tonnage increased. In the Port of Copenhagen, cruise ships dock in three different – ​​and from 2014 four – areas : Langeliniekaj , Nordre Toldbod , Frihavnen and Nordhavnen (opens in 2014). In 2012, a cruise ship docked in the Port of Copenhagen 372 times with a total of 840,000 passengers, which was the best season so far in both Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark. Copenhagen is thus Scandinavia's largest cruise port and Northern Europe's second largest, surpassed only by Southampton .

 

Business clusters

The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters in the areas of biotech , cleantech , IT and shipping . The clusters within biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental technology, it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster . The latter is considered one of the strongest in the world, partly as a result of annual growth rates of over 10% within exports.

 

Within shipping, the activities are gathered in The Danish Maritime Cluster , which has its center in Copenhagen. It is one of the world's leading maritime clusters, and accounts for 24% of Denmark's exports and 10% of total Danish production. The cluster as a whole employs 80,000 people in the companies themselves and 35,000 in related occupations, the majority of which are found in the large shipping companies in Copenhagen. The cluster has a large number of partners in education and research, including among others CBS , the University of Copenhagen and DTU . The organization of the cluster is led by the Maritime Development Center and Europe , which is also located in the city.

 

Within financial IT, there is also a business cluster. While finance and IT make up 5% of Denmark's general employment, the figure is 14% for the Capital Region. Since 2009, the organization Copenhagen Finance IT Region has tried to develop and maintain the industry in the region. One of the challenges is that 50% of jobs in the sector are at risk in relation to outsourcing, compared to 25% for the service sector in general. The cluster organization has a number of partners, including CBS , the Swedish Financial Agency , Dansk Metal and DI ITEK .

 

Retail

Strøget and Købmagergade are the two biggest shopping streets with the biggest and most common shops, while many of the side streets have the more "quirky" shops. On Gammeltorv by Strøget is the Caritas well, which is considered one of the finest memorials from the Renaissance . [169] In the bridge districts, especially the main streets, such as Nørrebrogade , Amagerbrogade and Østerbrogade from the center, function as traditional shopping streets.

 

In central Copenhagen are the department stores Magasin du Nord , Illum and Illums Bolighus , while shopping centers are found in several different places in the city, with Fields in Ørestad, City 2 in Taastrup and Fisketorvet at Dybbølsbro being the largest. In the central districts, other centers include e.g. Amager Centre , Frederiksberg Centre , Nørrebro City Center and Spinderiet in Valby, as well as Copenhagen Central Station and Copenhagen Airport also contain a number of shops. In the suburban areas there are e.g. Lyngby Storcenter , Glostrup Storcenter and Rødovre Centrum .

 

Architecture and urban planning

Copenhagen is famous for having a balance between new and old architecture and a homogeneous building mass of 5-6 storeys in height. In 2008 , the Citizens' Representative Council decided that Indre By should be kept free of high-rise buildings . Thus, large parts of Indre By appear quite well preserved despite historic city fires and bombardments, although many of the famous towers and spires are of recent date. However, large city fires have meant that there are not very many buildings older than 1728 left. Contrary to e.g. Stockholm is Copenhagen, characterized by point-by-point renovations of the building stock rather than violent clearances of larger neighborhoods. At the same time, the economy has often put restrictions on the most ambitious projects, which is why knock-on solutions such as at the Statens Museum for Art are widespread. Large parts of Indre By are subject to building conservation .

 

Some of the oldest buildings in the inner city are Sankt Petri Church from the 15th century and the Consistory House from approx. 1420 . Christian IV occupies a special place in the city's history. Not only did he double the city's area and build Christianshavn and Nyboder, but he was also the capital's first urban planner. Of all the king's many magnificent buildings, Børsen (1619–25) in the Dutch Renaissance style stands out as a unique building in European architecture. Baroque Copenhagen is also represented by the famous twisted staircase spire on the tower of Our Saviour's Church .

 

The new district of Frederiksstaden , which was started in 1749, was characterized by the Rococo style. In the center, a large square, Amalienborg Palace Square , was built with four noble palaces surrounding the Equestrian Statue of Frederik 5. . The entire neighborhood is included in the Kulturkanonen .

 

After the city's fire in 1795 and the British bombardment in 1807, large parts of the city had to be rebuilt. It became a house, with corners cut off so that the fire escapes could get around the corners. Most of Indre By is characterized by this architecture.

 

The fall of the ramparts (1856) was the start of an unbridled era, where new neighborhoods quickly sprung up. In the bridge quarters and on Gammelholm , an abysmal difference arose between the decorated facades facing the street and the dark backyards and small apartments.

 

One of the greatest architects of the 20th century, Arne Jacobsen, introduced modernism to Denmark and marked the city with, among other things, Royal Hotel (1960) and Nationalbank (1978).

 

The post-war planning of the capital area was supported by the Finger plan (1947). The finger plan determined that the urban densification in the future should primarily be concentrated in corridors along the S-Bahn network, while the spaces in between should be kept free for green areas.

 

The 1970s and 1980s were characterized by international modular architecture with no distinctive character and a building zeal that was mainly concentrated around the suburban municipalities, most often in the form of prefabricated concrete construction . In the central parts of Copenhagen during the period, the focus was mostly on urban renovations , this time aimed at the miserable backyard carts in the bridge districts.

 

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Municipality of Copenhagen was in crisis, but there was still enough money to initiate large conservation urban renewal projects on Vesterbro and Amagerbro . The construction of Ørestad was supposed to help pull the capital out of the doldrums.

 

Towards the end of the century, a real flourishing in architecture began with the additions to the Statens Museum for Art and the Royal Library. Then followed significant buildings such as the Opera House , the Theater House and the Tietgen College in Ørestad Nord.

 

High-rises and towers

Copenhagen has long been a densely built-up but not very tall city. This is due, among other things, to a great respect for the city's historic towers and very strict local plans . In the past 100 years, the general maximum building height has been approx. 25 meters. This has meant that the tallest buildings in Indre By to date are the towers and spires of Copenhagen City Hall , Christiansborg , Our Saviour's Church and Nikolaj Kunsthal .

 

The tallest buildings in Copenhagen are Herlev Hospital at 120 m and the tower at Christiansborg at 106 m. [ source missing ] However, the tallest man-made structure in Copenhagen is the Gladsaxesenderen at 220 metres. With its 267 m (incl. 47 m natural height), the top of the Gladsaxesenderen is the third highest point in Denmark after two other transmitter masts. [ source missing ] Domus Vista in Frederiksberg was, until Turning Torso in Malmö was inaugurated in 2005, the tallest residential building in the Nordic region, but is now only the second tallest.

 

Famous Copenhageners

Frank Arnesen , soccer player, soccer coach and talent manager

Bille August , film director

Herman Bang , journalist and author

Niels Bohr , physicist and Nobel Prize winner

Aage Bohr , physicist and Nobel laureate (Niels Bohr's son)

Victor Borge , entertainer

August Bournonville , ballet choreographer

Georg Brandes , cultural and literary critic

Helena Christensen , supermodel

Tove Ditlevsen , author

Carl Th. Dreyer , film director

Rune Glifberg , skateboarder

Vilhelm Hammershøi , painter

Gus Hansen , poker player

Iben Hjejle , actor

Peter Høeg , author

Arne Jacobsen , architect and designer

JC Jacobsen , founder of the Carlsberg brewery

Robert Jacobsen artist

CV Jørgensen , singer and songwriter

Søren Kierkegaard , philosopher

Per Kirkeby , painter

Christen Købke , painter

Kim Larsen , singer, guitarist and songwriter

Michael Laudrup , footballer

Bjørn Lomborg , political scientist and author

Lauritz Melchior , opera singer

Mads Mikkelsen , actor

Andreas Mogensen , astronaut

Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller , shipowner

Verner Panton , architect

Dirch Passer , comedian and actor

Peter Schmeichel , soccer player

Julius Thomsen , chemist

Bertel Thorvaldsen , sculptor

Lars von Trier , film director

Dan Turèll , author

Lars Ulrich , drummer and songwriter for Metallica

Jørn Utzon , architect

Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen R. actor

Magnus Millang actor

Recolored using Photoshop CS4

Ohai! c:

 

I know I haven't been much active with my faction for few weeks, (amirite? :P) so here comes little (literally ;3) faction action!

  

Basically; this is a minivig of Juzu Corp. troops patrolling on an industrial area.

  

Don't be too rude about the bad photography and crappy buildings, this is my first time doing microscale :P

   

Enjoy! (comments and faves are very welcome :] )

  

Recolored using photoshop CS4

  

Just a quick shot of a detachment of the 501st Deploying on Alzoc III

 

Picture Effects done on Paint.NET

Recolored using Photoshop CS4

 

 

If you go down to the woods today you might even get a surprise !!

 

Part of the Heart of an Empire photoshoot.....

Antioc News- Antioc continues to patch back together as Antioc troops and Atlas Paladins retook the key city of Pelonia, just north of the capital and the home of Antioc's best warriors. The famed Antioc 5th legion, which defeated the southern barbarians at the southern borders, captured Alas, fought throughout the Thunder- Storm War (actually fighting from the north as an elite marine division aiding the northmen) fought fiercely alongside crusaders from the 3rd Legion of the Atlas Field regulars. The battle was hard fought but troops are continuing to rebuild and fortify Pelonia.

 

-Antioc News Herald

 

MIGHT be going inactive soon because my mother's aunt just died.

So this is police dog Stryker. He had his photo taken at Fort York Armoury because his handler is a veteran so I thought it would be a nice way of showing support for the young men and women who put on the uniform and protect our freedom and assist people in war-torn countries.

 

Apparently not everyone sees it this way,(Twitter I'm looking at you) but I'm not willing to accept that it's ok for us to ask these folks to risk their lives every day, but it's somehow not ok to put their photo on a trading card with a K9 who is also out there serving us. These young people shipped out to Afghanistan the next day.

 

What did you do with your day besides surf the net and look for things to complain about?

Statement of support for America's service people.

The Qajyr rifle platoon consists of 29 soldiers armed with rifles, machineguns, and anti-tank weapons organized into 3 squads and a specialist sniper team. The platoon HQ consists of the Platoon Leader and Platoon Senior NCO, who fill the Squad leader and Deputy Squad Leader spot in on of the squads.

Like an Army officer standing before his troops, this vine covered windmill stands next to this tight rowed field of corn in rural Clinton County Iowa.

Another shot courtesy of m20wc51, this one taken by Maj. C.B. White of the 51st Field Artillery in late March-early April of 1951 during the battle for Hoengsong. There are at least six trucks visible, each of them carrying around 25-30 soldiers, that is, a little less than a couple of hundred in total, and in another shot we can see more trucks, so at least one full company moving up to the line, and likely more, as the 51st here seems to be pulled off to the side to let them past. The one soldier looking at the camera is just a kid, 16 or 17 years old maybe, and maybe scared too, judging by his face.

 

I've not worked much to reduce the dust and scratches, just on the colour and contrast. The original can be found here, for purposes of comparison.

 

Update: replaced with a version that gets rid of the major scratches.

Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it originally pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. It is noted for the Vindolanda tablets, a set of wooden leaf-tablets that were, at the time of their discovery, the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain.

 

The first post-Roman record of the ruins at Vindolanda was made by the antiquarian William Camden, in his Britannia (1586). Occasional travellers reached the site over the next two hundred years, and the accounts they left predate much of the stone-stealing that has damaged the site. The military Thermae (bath-house) was still partly roofed when Christopher Hunter visited the site in 1702. In about 1715 an excise officer named John Warburton found an altar there, which he removed. In 1814 the first real archaeological work was begun, by the Rev. Anthony Hedley.

 

Hedley died in 1835, before writing up his discoveries. Little more was done for a long time, although in 1914 a workman found another altar at the site, set up by the civilians living at the fort in honour of the Divine House and Vulcan. Several names for the site are used in the early records, including "Chesters on Caudley", "Little Chesters", "The Bower" and "Chesterholm"; the altar found in 1914 confirmed that the Roman name for the site was "Vindolanda", which had been in dispute as one early source referred to it as "Vindolana".

 

The garrison consisted of infantry or cavalry auxilia, not components of Roman legions. From the early third century, this was the Cohors IV Gallorum equitata also known as the Fourth Cohort of Gauls. It had been presumed that this title was, by this time, purely nominal, with auxiliary troops being recruited locally but an inscription found in a recent season of excavations suggests that native Gauls were still to be found in the regiment and that they liked to distinguish themselves from British soldiers. The inscription reads:

 

CIVES GALLI

DE GALLIAE

CONCORDES

QUE BRITANNI

 

A translation of this is "The troops from Gaul dedicate this statue to the goddess Gallia with the full support of the British-born troops".

 

Among the troops were Basque-speaking soldiers of the Varduli.

 

The earliest Roman forts at Vindolanda were built of wood and turf. The remains are now buried as much as 13 ft (4 m) deep in the anoxic waterlogged soil. There are five timber forts, built (and demolished) one after the other. The first, a small fort, was probably built by the 1st Cohort of Tungrians about 85 AD. By about 95 AD this was replaced by a larger wooden fort built by the 9th Cohort of Batavians, a mixed infantry-cavalry unit of about 1,000 men. That fort was repaired in about 100 AD under the command of the Roman prefect Flavius Cerialis. When the 9th Cohort of Batavians left in 105 AD, their fort was demolished. The 1st Cohort of Tungrians returned to Vindolanda, built a larger wooden fort and remained here until Hadrian's Wall was built around 122 AD, when they moved, most likely to Vercovicium (Housesteads Roman Fort) on the wall, about two miles to the north-east of Vindolanda.

 

Soon after Hadrian's Wall was built, most of its men were moved north to the Antonine Wall. A stone fort was built at Vindolanda, possibly for the 2nd Cohort of Nervians. From 208 to 211 AD, there was a major rebellion against Rome in Britain, and the Emperor Septimius Severus led an army to Britain to cope with it personally. The old stone fort was demolished, and replaced by an unconventional set of army buildings on the west, and an unusual array of many round stone huts where the old fort had been. Some of these circular huts are visible by the north and the southwest walls of the final stone fort. The Roman army may have built these to accommodate families of British farmers in this unsettled period. Septimius Severus died at York in 211 AD; his sons paid off the rebels and left for Rome. The stone buildings were demolished, and a large new stone fort was built where the huts had been, for the 4th Cohort of Gauls.

 

A vicus, a self-governing village, developed to the west of the fort. The vicus contains several rows of buildings, each containing several one-room chambers. Most are not connected to the existing drainage system. The one that does was perhaps a butchery where, for health reasons, an efficient drain would have been important. A stone altar found in 1914 (and exhibited in the museum) proves that the settlement was officially a vicus and that it was named Vindolanda. To the south of the fort is a thermae (a large imperial bath complex), that would have been used by many of the individuals on the site. The later stone fort, and the adjoining village, remained in use until about 285 AD, when it was largely abandoned for unknown reasons.

 

About 300 AD, the fort was again rebuilt, but the vicus was not reoccupied, so most likely the area remained too unsafe for life outside the defended walls of the fort. In about 370, the fort was roughly repaired, perhaps by irregular soldiers. There is no evidence for the traditional view that Roman occupation ended suddenly in 410; it may have declined slowly.

 

In the 1930s, the house at Chesterholm where the museum is now located was purchased by archaeologist Eric Birley, who was interested in excavating the site. The excavations have been continued by his sons, Robin and Anthony, and his grandson, Andrew Birley, into the present day. They are undertaken each summer, and some of the archaeological deposits reach depths of six metres. The anoxic conditions at these depths have preserved thousands of artefacts, such as 850 ink tablets and over 160 boxwood combs, that normally disintegrate in the ground, thus providing an opportunity to gain a fuller understanding of Roman life – military and otherwise – on the northern frontier. The study of these ink tablets shows a literacy among both the high born who there, as with the party invitation from one officer's wife to another and with soldiers and their families who send care packages with notes on the contents of the packages. A study of spindle whorls from the north-western quadrant has indicated the presence of spinners of low- and high- status in the fort in the 3rd and 4th century AD. Along with ongoing excavations (in season) and excavated remains, a full-size replica of a section of Hadrian's Wall in both stone and turf can be seen on the site. As of yet there is no reconstruction of the Vallum.

 

Nearly 2000-year-old Roman boxing gloves were uncovered at Vindolanda in 2017 by the Vindolanda Trust experts led by Dr Andrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands and date back to 120 AD. It is suggested that, based on their difference from gladiator gloves, warriors using this type of gloves had no purpose to kill each other. These gloves were probably used in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum. According to Birley, they are not part of a matching pair:

 

The larger of the two gloves is cut from a single piece of leather and was folded into a pouch configuration, the extending leather at each side were slotted into one another forming a complete oval shape creating an inner hole into which a hand could still easily be inserted. The glove was packed with natural material acting as a shock absorber.

 

Recent excavations have been accompanied by new archaeological methodologies. 3-D imaging has been used to investigate the use of an ox cranium in target practice.

 

In 2021, a carved sandstone artifact was discovered a few inches below the floor of the fort. It depicts a nude warrior or deity before a horse or similar animal. Early interpretations point to the figure being of a Roman deity, perhaps of Mars or Mercury.

 

In 2023 February, a 2,000 year-old disembodied 6.3 inches long wooden phallus toy was revealed, according to the research published in the journal Antiquity.

 

In addition to the older initial findings of ink tablets, shoes and combs, several more artifacts and discoveries of note have been covered by the media. In 2017, the British newspaper The Guardian focused on a discovery of cavalry barracks that were uncovered during the excavation season that held a large number of artifacts including swords, ink tablets, textiles, arrowheads, and other military paraphernalia. Relative dating of the barracks had determined that they were built around 105 AD. The Guardian also publicized the discovery of a cache of 25 ink tablets found earlier in the 2017 season. The tablets were discovered in a trench in one of the earliest layers of the fort, dating to the 1st century AD. This discovery was considered to be the second-largest discovery of ink tablets in the world, with the first being a cache that was also discovered at Vindolanda in 1992.

 

In the 2014 excavation season, BBC ran a story about the discovery of one of the few surviving examples of a wooden toilet seat to be found in the Roman Empire. In the same year, they also recorded the discovery of the only (very old, very worn) gold coin ever to be found on the site with a mint date of 64 or 65 AD, lying in a site layer dating to the 4th century AD.

 

In 2010, the BBC announced the discovery of the remains of a child between the ages of 8 and 10 years, which was uncovered in a shallow pit in a barrack room in a position suggesting that its arms may have been bound. Further archaeological analysis indicated that it could be female. She is believed to have died about 1,800 years ago.

 

Another find publicised on the BBC website in 2006 was a bronze and silver fibula modelled with the figure of Mars, with the name Quintus Sollonius punched into its surface.

 

In 2020, archaeologists discovered a 5th-century chalice covered in religious iconography within a collapsed church structure. The images include crosses, angels, a smiling priestly figure holding a crook, fish, a whale, ships, the Greek letters chi-rho. In addition, the chalice bears scripts written in Latin, Greek, and possibly Ogham.

 

The Vindolanda site museum, also known as Chesterholm Museum, conserves and displays finds from the site. The museum is set in gardens, which include full-sized reconstructions of a Roman temple, a Roman shop, a Roman house and Northumbrian croft, all with audio presentations. Exhibits include Roman boots, shoes, armour, jewellery and coins, infrared photographs of the writing tablets and, from 2011, a small selection of the tablets themselves, on loan from the British Museum. 2011 saw the reopening of the museum at Vindolanda, and also the Roman Army Museum at Magnae Carvetiorum (Carvoran), refurbished with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

 

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

 

Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.

 

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed. In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.

 

Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.

 

Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.

 

History

Britain was known to the Classical world. The Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 6th or 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. It was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed.

 

The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure, it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgic tribes on returning to the continent.

 

The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.

 

Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind, but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could. Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus, and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.

 

Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.

 

Roman invasion

The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[26] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The Legio IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. This is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed, with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

 

The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent; at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.

 

The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest, Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.

 

Establishment of Roman rule

After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. The Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.

 

On Nero's accession, Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the conqueror of Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco), then became governor of Britain, and in 60 and 61 he moved against Mona (Anglesey) to settle accounts with Druidism once and for all. Paulinus led his army across the Menai Strait and massacred the Druids and burnt their sacred groves.

 

While Paulinus was campaigning in Mona, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. She was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome[clarification needed] responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome[clarification needed] punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Paulinus regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being outnumbered by more than twenty to one, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.

 

There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.

 

In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in north-east Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans initially retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.

 

For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.

 

Roman military organisation in the north

In 84 AD

In 84 AD

 

In 155 AD

In 155 AD

 

Hadrian's Wall, and Antonine Wall

There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged; others appear to have been abandoned. By 87 the frontier had been consolidated on the Stanegate. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.

 

Around 105 there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site.[citation needed] There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.

 

A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.

 

In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.

 

The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.

 

During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall in 163/4, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.

 

In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.

 

The future emperor Pertinax (lived 126–193) was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control, but a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.

 

3rd century

The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia; it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.

 

Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Albinus came close to victory, but Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment. Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions, but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.

 

The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject – the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.

 

Northern campaigns, 208–211

An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.

 

As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.

 

During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, but increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.

 

Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.

 

The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.

 

Diocletian's reforms

As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese governed by a vicarius under a praetorian prefect who, from 318 to 331, was Junius Bassus who was based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).

 

The vicarius was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese. Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals and the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency.

 

Civilian and military authority of a province was no longer exercised by one official and the governor was stripped of military command which was handed over to the Dux Britanniarum by 314. The governor of a province assumed more financial duties (the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The Dux was commander of the troops of the Northern Region, primarily along Hadrian's Wall and his responsibilities included protection of the frontier. He had significant autonomy due in part to the distance from his superiors.

 

The tasks of the vicarius were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.

 

The early-4th-century Verona List, the late-4th-century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th-century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name (may be the enigmatic "Vespasiana"), and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.

 

Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. The list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium). The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia, Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun., and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni (all various names of Colchester); Gale and Bingham offered colonia Lindi and Henry Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon). On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.

 

In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.

 

A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicarius; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[d] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.

 

4th century

Emperor Constantius returned to Britain in 306, despite his poor health, with an army aiming to invade northern Britain, the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. His son Constantine (later Constantine the Great) spent a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius died in York in July 306 with his son at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.

 

In the middle of the century, the province was loyal for a few years to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.

 

As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts had been built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when, in 367, a general assault of Saxons, Picts, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate. The invaders overwhelmed the entire western and northern regions of Britannia and the cities were sacked. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius from 368 with a string of military and civil reforms. Theodosius crossed from Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and marched on Londinium where he began to deal with the invaders and made his base.[ An amnesty was promised to deserters which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. By the end of the year Hadrian's Wall was retaken and order returned. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province named Valentia, probably to better address the state of the far north. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius, with Civilis to head a new civilian administration.

 

Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were stretched to the limit along the Rhine and Danube. Around 396 there were more barbarian incursions into Britain. Stilicho led a punitive expedition. It seems peace was restored by 399, and it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.

 

End of Roman rule

The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. Consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation. Some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts. Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.

 

The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There was a growing number of barbarian attacks, but these targeted vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Chedworth, Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy. Many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.

 

Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, but never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, though minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were very few new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Mass-produced wheel thrown pottery ended at approximately the same time; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor made do with humble "grey ware" or resorted to leather or wooden containers.

 

Sub-Roman Britain

Towards the end of the 4th century Roman rule in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks. Apparently, there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Historian Stuart Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.

 

In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts, Scoti, and Déisi. (Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries.) The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.

 

Historians generally reject the historicity of King Arthur, who is supposed to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon conquest according to later medieval legends.

 

Trade

During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, with more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.

 

Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products. Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.

 

These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.

 

It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. Evidence has been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.

 

From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century. During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.

 

Economy

Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine were probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.

 

The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), but the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.

 

By the 3rd and 4th centuries, small towns could often be found near villas. In these towns, villa owners and small-scale farmers could obtain specialist tools. Lowland Britain in the 4th century was agriculturally prosperous enough to export grain to the continent. This prosperity lay behind the blossoming of villa building and decoration that occurred between AD 300 and 350.

 

Britain's cities also consumed Roman-style pottery and other goods, and were centres through which goods could be distributed elsewhere. At Wroxeter in Shropshire, stock smashed into a gutter during a 2nd-century fire reveals that Gaulish samian ware was being sold alongside mixing bowls from the Mancetter-Hartshill industry of the West Midlands. Roman designs were most popular, but rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Britain was home to much gold, which attracted Roman invaders. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north.

 

Government

Further information: Governors of Roman Britain, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, and Roman auxiliaries in Britain

Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons, were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility, such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning, he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.

 

To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and, in time of war, probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.

 

Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.

 

Demographics

Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[80] The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, from Britannia and other Roman territories, including continental Europe, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In a study conducted in 2012, around 45 percent of sites investigated dating from the Roman period had at least one individual of North African origin.

 

Town and country

During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.

 

Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.

 

Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C

 

Alcester (Alauna)

Alchester

Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C

Bath (Aquae Sulis) C

Brough (Petuaria) C

Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)

Caerleon (Isca Augusta) C

Caernarfon (Segontium) C

Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C

Caister-on-Sea C

Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C

Carlisle (Luguvalium) C

Carmarthen (Moridunum) C

Chelmsford (Caesaromagus)

Chester (Deva Victrix) C

Chester-le-Street (Concangis)

Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) C

Cirencester (Corinium) C

Colchester (Camulodunum) C

Corbridge (Coria) C

Dorchester (Durnovaria) C

Dover (Portus Dubris)

Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C

Gloucester (Glevum) C

Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)

Ilchester (Lindinis) C

Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C

Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C

London (Londinium) C

Manchester (Mamucium) C

Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)

Northwich (Condate)

St Albans (Verulamium) C

Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C

Towcester (Lactodurum)

Whitchurch (Mediolanum) C

Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C

Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C

York (Eboracum) C

 

Religion

The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). Under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.

 

The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.

 

Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.

 

Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).

 

Christianity

It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain. The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th-century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th-century cemetery at Poundbury with its east–west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.

 

The Church in Britain seems to have developed the cust

A memorial to the dead of WW1.

 

See: martin-turner-woodcarver.com/galleries.html

 

Previously mis-captioned as: "A haunting memorial to British and Commonwealth troops killed in the North African desert in World War Two to be found at Sherborne Abbey, Dorset." Sorry, my error!

This 2016 kayak fishing edition was organised by Cameron .The idea was to bring many kayak fishers from all over Scotland , have them sleep in a tent , car or caravan , give them a lot to drink every evening and see how they perform on the water , hooking a fish or two .Mick and I took the highroad , a two hours drive through the most scenic part of Scotland .We arrived in the evening and it was great to sit down in Cammy’s big tent . Most of the kayakers have already returned home but this is day three and we are all still looking forward a good day on the water . It’s always fantastic to catch up with good friend and sharing fishing stories .Couple of beers later I was ready to fit into the sleeping bag for a good night sleep .Luxury camping with that little heater going on , for once I was not cold . The morning was wet , really wet and cold with rain battering down .We organise ourselves slowly , the dry suit going on first .The sea loch scenery is unbelievable , mountains all around , snow at the top , cloud cover mystical Scotland .Six kayakers into wilderness hoping to catch a fish . Drifting along the rocky shores we went , and then hooking on some buoys or anchoring down we fished . Little bites here and there , little fish trying to steal our bait . Andy however hooked and released a ray , well done .We got rained down all morning and eventually went back to the camp for a hot cup of coffee . At that time most kayakers were leaving , returning home . Mick and I paddled out once more still hoping for a fish . Fishing deep close in I eventually managed a small codling , Mick lifting a whiting .Terrible fishing so to say , still very early in the year but the scenery was awesome and what a great bunch of guys to spend time with on the water . Already looking forward to the next edition , hopefully a little back in the year , Yes it is still winter in Scotland !..

Cool Video youtu.be/geM48GQ8aaI

youtu.be/geM48GQ8aaI

Recolored using photoshop CS4

Another recolored video still using photoshop

Unfortunately, no information on the back of the map.

 

One of them is carrying a bag of grenades.

 

*Despite the poor quality of the photo, there are some very amusing details such as this soldier standing at the foot of his comrades.

 

If you have any idea where these soldiers come from, please comment

German assault troops from the German Navy are photographed after their assault against the British forces at Yser in July 1917. The First and Second Marine regiments along with the Naval Sturmabteilung overran the British positions. "German Stormtrooper" by Drury and Embleton page 51.

12/12/12 yo

I am a Blythe slave :( but I enjoyed every bit's of the process :)

Original caption illegible.

 

Photo depicts troops of 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division coming ashore at Aitape. April, 1944.

 

Photo Source: U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.

Former president George W. Bush greets a member of the Oregon National Guard as 150 troops returned from Iraq and Afghanistan at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

KCS 4006 trails on 65K this morning as it passes through central PA

Gil Whitley and Chris Laguna