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In his article "The Old Man and the Daiquiri", Wayne Curtis writes about how Hemingway's "home bar also held a bottle of Bacardí rum". Hemingway wrote in "Islands in the Stream", "...this frozen daiquirí, so well beaten as it is, looks like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots." Mishaps. Death of Day Davis. On August 16, 2012 temporary worker Lawrence Daquan "Day" Davis was crushed to death when a faulty palletizer he was cleaning was activated. It was his first day on the job at the Jacksonville, Florida Bacardi Bottling facility. No lockout/tagout procedures had been implemented. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation found 12 safety violations, and Bacardi was fined $192,000, but reached an agreement where it paid $110,000. Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Bacardi announced that it would halt all exports to Russia and freeze investment and advertising programs. From June 2022 through June 2023, the company imported $169 million worth of products and tripled its profits, and through the summer of 2023 it increased its business in Russia and sought new employees for its Russian branch. When this gained international media attention, the pledge disappeared from their company website. On August 10, 2023, Ukrainian authorities added Bacardi to their list of International Sponsors of War.
Black and Tans The Black and Tans () were constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) as reinforcements during the Irish War of Independence. Recruitment began in Great Britain in January 1920, and about 10,000 men enlisted during the conflict. The majority were unemployed former British soldiers from England, Scotland and Wales who had fought in the First World War. Some sources count Irish recruits to the RIC from 1920 as "Black and Tans." The Black and Tans had a reputation for brutality; they committed murder, arson and looting and became notorious for reprisal attacks on civilians and civilian property. Their actions further swayed Irish public opinion against British rule and drew condemnation in Britain. The Black and Tans were sometimes confused with the Auxiliary Division, a counterinsurgency unit of the RIC, also recruited during the conflict and made up of former British officers. At the time, "Black and Tans" was sometimes used for both groups. Another force, the Ulster Special Constabulary (commonly called the "B-Specials"), was founded in 1920 to reinforce the RIC in Northern Ireland.
The British administration in Ireland promoted the idea of bolstering the RIC with British recruits. They were to help the overstretched RIC maintain control and suppress the Irish Republican Army (IRA), although they were less well trained in ordinary police methods. The nickname "Black and Tans" arose from the colours of the improvised uniforms they initially wore, a mixture of dark green RIC (which appeared black) and khaki British Army. They served in all parts of Ireland, but most were sent to southern and western regions where fighting was heaviest. By 1921, for example the Black and Tans made up almost half of the RIC in County Tipperary. Name. The nickname "Black and Tans" arose from the improvised uniforms they initially wore. Due to a shortage of RIC uniforms, the new recruits were issued with a mixture of dark RIC tunics and caps, and khaki army trousers. Christopher O'Sullivan wrote in the "Limerick Echo" on 25 March 1920 that, meeting a group of recruits on a train at Limerick Junction, the attire of one reminded him of the Scarteen Hunt, whose "Black and Tans" nickname derived from the colours of its Kerry Beagles. Ennis comedian Mike Nono elaborated the joke in Limerick's Theatre Royal, and the nickname soon took hold, persisting even after the men received full RIC uniforms.
Some modern sources refer to the Black and Tans as the "RIC Special Reserve", such as the Irish police researcher Jim Herlihy. However, historians agree that they were not a separate reserve force but "recruits to the regular RIC" and "enlisted as regular constabulary". Canadian historian D. M. Leeson and Irish historian Seán William Gannon have not found the name in any historical documents. Leeson partly blames Wikipedia for promoting this misnomer. Definition. As "Black and Tans" was not the official name of any RIC formation, there is some disagreement over which RIC men it should apply to. Some historians, such as David Leeson, Tom Toomey and Jim Herlihy, define "Black and Tans" as only those RIC recruits from Britain during the War of Independence. Leeson argues that British-recruited police received less training, which took place at Gormanston Camp rather than the RIC depot in Phoenix Park. Herlihy says the British-recruited personnel were recruited differently and trained for a shorter time and considers them to have formed a "Special Reserve". Others, such as William Lowe and Seán William Gannon, also include those recruited in Ireland during the conflict. Gannon argues that records do not show a large difference in training time between British and Irish-recruited personnel, that both wore the black-and-tan uniform, and that they performed identical duties.
Auxiliary Division. During the war, the British government founded the Auxiliary Division of the RIC, which is sometimes conflated with the "Black and Tans". Some British politicians also occasionally conflated them at the time, such as Churchill, Henry Wilson and Herbert Samuel. However, while the "Black and Tans" were regular constables, the Auxiliary Division was a paramilitary counterinsurgency force which was operationally independent and composed of former British military "officers". Thus, academic sources generally distinguish the Auxiliaries from the "Black and Tans". At least some of the crimes attributed to the Black and Tans were actually the work of the Auxiliaries. Foundation. The early 20th century in Ireland was dominated by Irish nationalists' pursuit of Home Rule from the United Kingdom. The issue of Home Rule was shelved with the outbreak of World War I, and in 1916 Irish republicans staged the Easter Rising against British rule in an attempt to establish an independent republic. Growing support amongst the Irish populace for the republican Sinn Féin party saw it win a majority of Irish seats in the 1918 general election. On 21 January 1919, Sinn Féin followed through on its manifesto and founded an independent Irish parliament (Dáil Éireann), which then declared an independent Irish Republic. The Dáil called on the public to boycott the RIC, while the Irish Republican Army (IRA) began attacking police barracks and ambushing police patrols. In September 1919 David Lloyd George, the British Prime Minister, outlawed the Dáil and augmented the British Army presence in Ireland.
After the First World War, there were many unemployed ex-servicemen in Britain. British Unionist leader Walter Long had suggested recruiting these men into the RIC in a May 1919 letter to John French, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The idea was promoted by French as well as by Frederick Shaw, Commander of the British Army in Ireland. The RIC's Inspector General, Joseph Byrne, was against it. He resisted the militarisation of the police and believed ex-soldiers could not be controlled by police discipline. In December 1919, Byrne was replaced by his deputy T. J. Smith, an Orangeman. On 27 December, Smith issued an order authorising recruitment in Britain. The advertisements appeared in major cities calling for men willing to "face a rough and dangerous task". The first British recruits joined the RIC six days later, on 2 January 1920. By June 1920 the RIC was considered to be under strength while being increasingly threatened. Many RIC members were older men who were forced into living in a state of constant vigilance. The newly appointed 'Police Adviser' to the Dublin Castle administration in Ireland Lieutenant-General Hugh Tudor called for the adding of 4,000 men to the RIC.
Recruits. About 10,000 were recruited between January 1920 and the end of the conflict. About 100 were recruited each month from January to June 1920. The recruitment rate rose from July, when the RIC was given a large pay raise. The RIC began losing men at a high rate in the summer of 1920, due to the IRA campaign. On an average week, about 100 men resigned or retired while only 76 recruits enlisted to replace them. More police were needed, but enough replacements could not be found in Ireland; on average, the RIC recruited only seven Irishmen per week. The intake of British recruits steadily rose and then surged from late September, following the widely publicised Sack of Balbriggan. This sudden influx of men led to a shortage of RIC uniforms, and the new recruits were issued with a mixture of dark RIC tunics and caps, and khaki army trousers. These uniforms differentiated them from both the regular RIC and the British Army, and gave rise to their nickname: "Black and Tans". The new recruits were trained at Gormanstown Camp near Dublin, most spending two or three weeks there before being sent to RIC barracks around the country. In general, the recruits were poorly trained for police duties and received much less training than the existing Irish RIC constables.
The vast majority of Black and Tans were unemployed First World War veterans in their twenties, most of whom joined for economic reasons. The RIC offered men good wages, a chance for promotion, and the prospect of a pension. According to historian David Leeson, "The typical Black and Tan was in his early twenties and relatively short in stature. He was an unmarried Protestant from London or the Home Counties who had fought in the British Army [...] He was a working-class man with few skills". The popular Irish claim made at the time that most Black and Tans had criminal records and had been recruited straight from British prisons is incorrect, as a criminal record would disqualify one from working as a policeman. According to Jim Herlihy, author of "The Royal Irish Constabulary – A Short History and Genealogical Guide", 10,936 Black and Tans were recruited; the vast majority were born in Britain, while 883 (8%) were "Irish-born". Based on RIC recruitment data stored in the British Public Record Office at Kew, William Lowe, extrapolating from a sample of 2745 (about one quarter), estimates that 20% of Black and Tans were Irish, with just over half of these giving their religion as Catholic.
Deployment and violence. Black and Tans served in all parts of Ireland, but most were sent to southern and western regions where the IRA was most active and fighting was heaviest. By 1921, Black and Tans made up nearly half of all RIC constables in County Tipperary, for example. Few were sent to what became Northern Ireland, however. The authorities there raised their own reserve force, the Ulster Special Constabulary. For the most part, the Black and Tans were "treated as ordinary constables, despite their strange uniforms, and they lived and worked in barracks alongside the Irish police". They spent most of their time manning police posts or on patrol—"walking, cycling, or riding on Crossley Tenders". They also undertook guard, escort and crowd control duties. While some Irish constables got along well with the Black and Tans, "it seems that many Irish police did not like their new British colleagues" and saw them as "rough". Differing discipline, dialect and ignorance of "local knowledge" contributed to an estrangement between the Black and Tans and the greater police force which at times rose to violent infighting.
Alexander Will, from Forfar in Scotland, was the first Black and Tan to die in the conflict. He was killed during an IRA attack on the RIC barracks in Rathmore, County Kerry, on 11 July 1920. The Black and Tans soon gained a reputation for brutality. In the summer of 1920, Black and Tans began responding to IRA attacks by carrying out arbitrary reprisals against civilians, especially republicans. This usually involved the burning of homes, businesses, meeting halls and farms. Some buildings were also attacked with gunfire and grenades, and businesses were looted. Reprisals on property "were often accompanied by beatings and killings". Many villages suffered mass reprisals, including the Sack of Balbriggan (20 September), Kilkee (26 September), Trim (27 September), Tubbercurry (30 September) and Granard (31 October). Following the Rineen ambush (22 September) in which six RIC men were killed, police burned many houses in the surrounding villages of Milltown Malbay, Lahinch and Ennistymon, and killed five civilians. In early November, Black and Tans "besieged" Tralee in revenge for the IRA abduction and killing of two local RIC men. They closed all the businesses in the town, let no food in for a week and shot dead three local civilians. On 14 November, Black and Tans were suspected of abducting and murdering a Roman Catholic priest, Father Michael Griffin, in Galway. His body was found in a bog in Barna a week later. From October 1920 to July 1921, the Galway region was "remarkable in many ways", most notably the level of police brutality towards suspected IRA members, which was far above the norm in the rest of Ireland. The villages of Clifden and Knockcroghery suffered mass reprisals in March and June 1921.
Members of the British government, the British administration in Ireland, and senior officers in the RIC tacitly supported reprisals as a way of encouraging the police and scaring the population into rejecting the IRA. In December 1920, the government officially approved certain reprisals against property. There were an estimated 150 official reprisals over the next six months. Taken together with an increased emphasis on discipline in the RIC, this helped to curb the atrocities the Black and Tans committed for the remainder of the war, if only because reprisals were now directed from above rather than being the result of a spontaneous desire for revenge. Many of the activities popularly attributed to the Black and Tans may have been committed by the Auxiliary Division or 'old' RIC constables. For instance, Tomás Mac Curtain, the Mayor of Cork, was killed in his home on the night of 19 March 1920, when few Black and Tans were stationed in the city. The coroner's inquest found that Mac Curtain had been murdered by unknown members of the RIC, and named District Inspector Oswald Swanzy as the responsible officer. The RIC transferred Swanzy from Cork to Lisburn, County Antrim for his own safety, but he was killed by the IRA on 22 August 1920. The Burning of Cork city on 11 December 1920 was carried out by K Company of the Auxiliary Division, in reprisal for an IRA ambush at Dillon's Cross. The shooting dead by Crown forces of 13 civilians at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, in retaliation for the killing of British intelligence officers was carried out by a mixed force of military, Auxiliaries and RIC, though it is not clear who initiated the shooting. In the aftermath, "The army blamed the Auxiliaries and the Auxiliaries blamed the regular police".
Reaction. The actions of the Black and Tans alienated public opinion in both Ireland and Great Britain. Their violent tactics encouraged the Irish public to increase their covert support of the IRA, while the British public pressed for a move towards a peaceful resolution. In January 1921, the British Labour Commission produced a report on the situation in Ireland which was highly critical of the government's security policy. It said the government, in forming the Black and Tans, had "liberated forces which it is not at present able to dominate". Edward Wood MP, better known as the future Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, rejected force and urged the British government to make an offer to the Irish "conceived on the most generous lines". Sir John Simon MP, another future Foreign Secretary, was also horrified at the tactics being used. Lionel Curtis, writing in the imperialist journal "The Round Table", wrote: "If the British Commonwealth can only be preserved by such means, it would become a negation of the principle for which it has stood". The King, senior Anglican bishops, MPs from the Liberal and Labour parties, Oswald Mosley, Jan Smuts, the Trades Union Congress and parts of the press were increasingly critical of the actions of the Black and Tans. Mahatma Gandhi said of the British peace offer: "It is not fear of losing more lives that has compelled a reluctant offer from England but it is the shame of any further imposition of agony upon a people that loves liberty above everything else".
Disbandment. More than a third left the service before they were disbanded along with the rest of the RIC in 1922, an extremely high wastage rate, and well over half received government pensions. Over 500 members of the RIC died in the conflict and more than 600 were wounded. Some sources have stated that 525 police were killed in the conflict, including 152 Black and Tans and 44 Auxiliaries. This figure of total police killed would also include 72 members of the Ulster Special Constabulary killed between 1920 and 1922 and 12 members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Many Black and Tans were left unemployed after the RIC was disbanded and about 3,000 were in need of financial assistance after their employment in Ireland was terminated. About 250 Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, among over 1,300 former RIC personnel, joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Another 700 joined the Palestine Police Force which was led by former British Chief of Police in Ireland, Henry Hugh Tudor. Others were resettled in Canada or elsewhere by the RIC Resettlement branch. Those who returned to civilian life sometimes had problems re-integrating. At least two former Black and Tans were hanged for murder in Britain and another (Scott Cullen) wanted for murder committed suicide before the police could arrest him.
Legacy. Due to the enduring historical memory of the Black and Tans' violence, historian David Leeson describes them as "the most notorious police in the history of the British Isles". One of the best known Irish Republican songs is Dominic Behan's "Come Out, Ye Black and Tans". The Irish War of Independence is sometimes referred to as the "Tan War" or "Black-and-Tan War". This term was preferred by those who fought on the anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War and is still used by Republicans today. The "Cogadh na Saoirse" ("War of Independence") medal, awarded since 1941 by the Irish government to IRA veterans of the War of Independence, bears a ribbon with two vertical stripes in black and tan. In 2020, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan proposed a commemoration ceremony for those who had served in the Royal Irish Constabulary. This resulted in widespread criticism due to the Black and Tans being members of the RIC; many officials announced that they would not appear and refused to participate. Flanagan decided to cancel the ceremony due to the controversy.
Bunsen burner A Bunsen burner, named after Robert Bunsen, is a kind of ambient air gas burner used as laboratory equipment; it produces a single open gas flame, and is used for heating, sterilization, and combustion. The gas can be natural gas (which is mainly methane) or a liquefied petroleum gas, such as propane, butane, a mixture or, as Bunsen himself used, coal gas. Combustion temperature achieved depends in part on the adiabatic flame temperature of the chosen fuel mixture. History. In 1852, the University of Heidelberg hired Bunsen and promised him a new laboratory building. The city of Heidelberg had begun to install coal-gas street lighting, and the university laid gas lines to the new laboratory. The designers of the building intended to use the gas not just for lighting, but also as fuel for burners for laboratory operations. For any burner lamp, it was desirable to maximize the temperature of its flame, and minimize its luminosity (which represented lost heating energy). Bunsen sought to improve existing laboratory burner lamps as regards economy, simplicity, and flame temperature, and adapt them to coal-gas fuel.
While the building was under construction in late 1854, Bunsen suggested certain design principles to the university's mechanic, Peter Desaga, and asked him to construct a prototype. Similar principles had been used in an earlier burner design by Michael Faraday, and in a device patented in 1856 by gas engineer R. W. Elsner. The Bunsen/Desaga design generated a hot, sootless, non-luminous flame by mixing the gas with air in a controlled fashion before combustion. Desaga created adjustable slits for air at the bottom of the cylindrical burner, with the flame issuing at the top. When the building opened early in 1855, Desaga had made 50 burners for Bunsen's students. Two years later Bunsen published a description, and many of his colleagues soon adopted the design. Bunsen burners are now used in laboratories around the world. Operation. The device in use today safely burns a continuous stream of a flammable gas such as natural gas (which is principally methane) or a liquefied petroleum gas such as propane, butane, or a mixture of both.
The hose barb is connected to a gas nozzle on the laboratory bench with rubber tubing. Most laboratory benches are equipped with multiple gas nozzles connected to a central gas source, as well as vacuum, nitrogen, and steam nozzles. The gas then flows up through the base through a small hole at the bottom of the barrel and is directed upward. There are open slots in the side of the tube bottom to admit air into the stream using the Venturi effect, and the gas burns at the top of the tube once ignited by a flame or spark. The most common methods of lighting the burner are using a match or a spark lighter. The amount of air mixed with the gas stream affects the completeness of the combustion reaction. Less air yields an incomplete and thus cooler reaction, while a gas stream well mixed with air provides oxygen in a stoichiometric amount and thus a complete and hotter reaction. The air flow can be controlled by opening or closing the slot openings at the base of the barrel, similar in function to the choke in a carburettor.
If the collar at the bottom of the tube is adjusted so more air can mix with the gas before combustion, the flame will burn hotter, appearing blue as a result. If the holes are closed, the gas will only mix with ambient air at the point of combustion, that is, only after it has exited the tube at the top. This reduced mixing produces an incomplete reaction, producing a cooler but brighter yellow, which is often called the "safety flame" or "luminous flame". The yellow flame is luminous due to small soot particles in the flame, which are heated to incandescence. The yellow flame is considered "dirty" because it leaves a layer of carbon on whatever it is heating. When the burner is regulated to produce a hot, blue flame, it can be nearly invisible against some backgrounds. The hottest part of the flame is the tip of the inner flame, while the coolest is the whole inner flame. Increasing the amount of fuel gas flow through the tube by opening the needle valve will increase the size of the flame. However, unless the airflow is adjusted as well, the flame temperature will decrease because an increased amount of gas is now mixed with the same amount of air, starving the flame of oxygen.
Generally, the burner is placed underneath a laboratory tripod, which supports a beaker or other container. The burner will often be placed on a suitable heatproof mat to protect the laboratory bench surface. A Bunsen burner is also used in microbiology laboratories to sterilise pieces of equipment and to produce an updraft that forces airborne contaminants away from the working area. Variants. Other burners based on the same principle exist. The most important alternatives to the Bunsen burner are:
Blue whale The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue on its upper surface and somewhat lighter underneath. Four subspecies are recognized: "B. m. musculus" in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, "B. m. intermedia" in the Southern Ocean, "B. m. brevicauda" (the pygmy blue whale) in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and "B. m. indica" in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies. In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age/sex-based migration. Blue whales are filter feeders; their diet consists almost exclusively of krill. They are generally solitary or gather in small groups, and have no well-defined social structure other than mother–calf bonds. Blue whales vocalize, with a fundamental frequency ranging from 8 to 25 Hz; their vocalizations may vary by region, season, behavior, and time of day. Orcas are their only natural predators.
The blue whale was abundant in nearly all the Earth's oceans until the end of the 19th century. It was hunted almost to the point of extinction by whalers until the International Whaling Commission banned all blue whale hunting in 1966. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed blue whales as Endangered as of 2018. It continues to face numerous man-made threats such as ship strikes, pollution, ocean noise, and climate change. Scientists found evidence of this through morphological or epidemiological analysis. These analyses are accompanied by chemical profiles that use fecal and tissue which continue to prove the impact of man-made threats. Taxonomy. Nomenclature. The genus name, "Balaenoptera", means "winged whale," while the species name, "musculus", could mean "muscle" or a diminutive form of "mouse", possibly a pun by Carl Linnaeus when he named the species in "Systema Naturae". One of the first published descriptions of a blue whale comes from Robert Sibbald's "Phalainologia Nova", after Sibbald found a stranded whale in the estuary of the Firth of Forth, Scotland, in 1692. The name "blue whale" was derived from the Norwegian "blåhval", coined by Svend Foyn shortly after he had perfected the harpoon gun. The Norwegian scientist G. O. Sars adopted it as the common name in 1874.
Blue whales were referred to as "Sibbald's rorqual", after Robert Sibbald, who first described the species. Whalers sometimes referred to them as "sulphur bottom" whales, as the bellies of some individuals are tinged with yellow. This tinge is due to a coating of huge numbers of diatoms. (Herman Melville briefly refers to "sulphur bottom" whales in his novel "Moby-Dick".) Evolution. Blue whales are rorquals in the family Balaenopteridae. A 2018 analysis estimates that the Balaenopteridae family diverged from other families in between 10.48 and 4.98 million years ago during the late Miocene. The earliest discovered anatomically modern blue whale is a partial skull fossil from southern Italy identified as "B." cf. "musculus", dating to the Early Pleistocene, roughly 1.5–1.25 million years ago. The Australian pygmy blue whale diverged during the Last Glacial Maximum. Their more recent divergence has resulted in the subspecies having a relatively low genetic diversity, and New Zealand blue whales have an even lower genetic diversity.
Whole genome sequencing suggests that blue whales are most closely related to sei whales with gray whales as a sister group. This study also found significant gene flow between minke whales and the ancestors of the blue and sei whale. Blue whales also displayed high genetic diversity. Hybridization. Blue whales are known to interbreed with fin whales. The earliest description of a possible hybrid between a blue whale and a fin whale was a anomalous female whale with the features of both the blue and the fin whales taken in the North Pacific. A whale captured off northwestern Spain in 1984, was found to have been the product of a blue whale mother and a fin whale father. Two live blue-fin whale hybrids have since been documented in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (Canada), and in the Azores (Portugal). DNA tests done in Iceland on a blue whale killed in July 2018 by the Icelandic whaling company Hvalur hf, found that the whale was the offspring of a male fin whale and female blue whale; however, the results are pending independent testing and verification of the samples. Because the International Whaling Commission classified blue whales as a "Protection Stock", trading their meat is illegal, and the kill is an infraction that must be reported. Blue-fin hybrids have been detected from genetic analysis of whale meat samples taken from Japanese markets. Blue-fin whale hybrids are capable of being fertile. Molecular tests on a pregnant female whale caught off Iceland in 1986 found that it had a blue whale mother and a fin whale father, while its fetus was sired by a blue whale.
In 2024, a genome analysis of North Atlantic blue whales found evidence that approximately 3.5% of the blue whales' genome was derived from hybridization with fin whales. Gene flow was found to be unidirectional from fin whales to blue whales. Comparison with Antarctic blue whales showed that this hybridization began after the separation of the northern and southern populations. Despite their smaller size, fin whales have similar cruising and sprinting speeds to blue whales, which would allow fin males to complete courtship chases with blue females. There is a reference to a humpback–blue whale hybrid in the South Pacific, attributed to marine biologist Michael Poole. Subspecies and stocks. At least four subspecies of blue whale are traditionally recognized, some of which are divided into population stocks or "management units". They have a worldwide distribution, but are mostly absent from the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean, Okhotsk, and Bering Sea.
A 2024 genomic study of the global blue whale population found support for the subspecific status of Antarctic and Indo-western Pacific blue whales but not eastern Pacific blue whales. The study found "...divergence between the eastern North and eastern South Pacific, and among the eastern Indian Ocean, the western South Pacific and the northern Indian Ocean." and "no divergence within the Antarctic". Description. The blue whale is a slender-bodied cetacean with a broad U-shaped head; thin, elongated flippers; a small sickle-shaped dorsal fin located close to the tail, and a large tail stock at the root of the wide and thin flukes. The upper jaw is lined with 70–395 black baleen plates. The throat region has 60–88 grooves which allows the skin to expand during feeding. It has two blowholes that can squirt up in the air. The skin has a mottled grayish-blue coloration, appearing blue underwater. The mottling patterns near the dorsal fin vary between individuals. The underbelly has lighter pigmentation and can appear yellowish due to diatoms in the water, which historically earned them the nickname "sulphur bottom". The male blue whale has the largest penis in the animal kingdom, at around long and wide.
Size. The blue whale is the largest animal known ever to have existed. Some studies have estimated that certain shastasaurid ichthyosaurs and the ancient whale "Perucetus" could have rivalled the blue whale in size, with "Perucetus" also being heavier than the blue whale with a mean weight of . These estimates are based on fragmentary remains, and the proposed size for the latter has been disputed in 2024. Other studies estimate that on land, large sauropods like "Bruhathkayosaurus" (mean weight: 110–170 tons) and "Maraapunisaurus" (mean weight: 80–120 tons) would have easily rivalled the blue whale, with the former even exceeding the blue whale based on its most liberal estimations (240 tons), although these estimates are based on even more fragmentary specimens that had disintegrated by the time those estimates were made. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) whaling database reports 88 individuals longer than , including one of . The Discovery Committee reported lengths up to . The longest scientifically measured individual blue whale was from rostrum tip to tail notch. Female blue whales are larger than males. Hydrodynamic models suggest a blue whale could not exceed because of metabolic and energy constraints.
The average length of sexually mature female blue whales is for Eastern North Pacific blue whales, for central and western North Pacific blue whales, for North Atlantic blue whales, for Antarctic blue whales, for Chilean blue whales, and for pygmy blue whales. In the Northern Hemisphere, males weigh an average and females . Eastern North Pacific blue whale males average and females . Antarctic males average and females . Pygmy blue whale males average to . The weight of the heart of a stranded North Atlantic blue whale was , the largest known in any animal. The record-holder blue whale was recorded at , with estimates of up to . In 2024, Motani and Pyenson calculated the body mass of blue whales at different lengths, compiling records of their sizes from previous academic literatures and using regression analyses and volumetric analyses. A long individual was estimated to weigh approximately , while a long individual was estimated to weigh approximately . Considering that the largest blue whale was indeed long, they estimated that a blue whale of such length would have weighed approximately .
During the harvest of a female blue whale, Messrs. Irvin and Johnson collected a fetus that is now 70% preserved and used for educational purposes. The fetus was collected in 1922, so some shrinkage may have occurred, making visualization of some features fairly difficult. However, due to this collection researchers now know that the external anatomy of a blue whale fetus is approximately 133 mm. Along with during the developmental phases, the fetus is located where the embryonic and fetal phases converge. This fetus is the youngest gestational age of the specimen recorded. Life span. Blue whales live around 80–90 years or more. Scientists look at a blue whale's earwax or ear plug to estimate its age. Each year, a light and dark layer of wax is laid corresponding with fasting during migration and feeding time. Each set is thus an indicator of age. The oldest blue whale found was determined, using this method, to be 110 years old. The maximum age of a pygmy blue whale determined this way is 73 years. In addition, female blue whales develop scars or corpora albicantia on their ovaries every time they ovulate. In a female pygmy blue whale, one corpus albicans is formed on average every 2.6 years.
Behaviour and ecology. The blue whale is usually solitary, but can be found in pairs. When productivity is high enough, blue whales can be seen in gatherings of more than 50 individuals. Populations may go on long migrations, traveling to their summer feeding grounds towards the poles and then heading to their winter breeding grounds in more equatorial waters. The animals appear to use memory to locate the best feeding areas. There is evidence of alternative strategies, such as year-round residency, and partial (where only some individuals migrate) or age/sex-based migration. Some whales have been recorded feeding in breeding grounds. Blue whale typically swim at but may swim faster at during encounters with boats, predators or other individuals. Their massive size limits their ability to breach. The greatest dive depth reported from tagged blue whales was . Their theoretical aerobic dive limit was estimated at 31.2 minutes, however, the longest dive measured was 15.2 minutes. The deepest confirmed dive from a pygmy blue whale was . A blue whale's heart rate can drop to 2 beats per minute (bpm) at deep depths, but upon surfacing, can rise to 37 bpm, which is close to its peak heart rate.
Diet and feeding. The blue whale's diet consists almost exclusively of krill. Blue whales capture krill through lunge feeding; they swim towards them at high speeds as they open their mouths up to 80°. They may engulf of water at one time. They squeeze the water out through their baleen plates with pressure from the throat pouch and tongue, and swallow the remaining krill. Blue whales have been recorded making 180° rolls during lunge-feeding, possibly allowing them to search the prey field and find the densest patches. While pursuing krill patches, blue whales maximize their calorie intake by increasing the number of lunges while selecting the thickest patches. This provides them enough energy for everyday activities while storing additional energy necessary for migration and reproduction. Due to their size, blue whales have larger energetic demands than most animals resulting in their need for this specific feeding habit. Blue whales have to engulf densities greater than 100 krill/m3 to maintain the cost of lunge feeding. They can consume from one mouthful of krill, which can provide up to 240 times more energy than used in a single lunge. It is estimated that an average-sized blue whale must consume of krill a day. On average, an blue whale eats each day.
In the southern ocean, blue whales feed on Antarctic krill ("Euphausia superba"). In the South Australia, pygmy blue whales ("B. m. brevicauda") feeds on "Nyctiphanes australis". In California, they feed mostly on "Thysanoessa spinifera," but also less commonly on North pacific krill ("Euphausia pacifica"). Research of the Eastern North Pacific population shows that when diving to feed on krill, the whales reach an average depth of 201 meters, with dives lasting 9.8 minutes on average. While most blue whales feed almost exclusively on krill, the Northern Indian Ocean subspecies ("B. m. indica") instead feeds predominantly on sergestid shrimp. To do so, they dive deeper and for longer periods of time than blue whales in other regions of the world, with dives of 10.7 minutes on average, and a hypothesized dive depth of about 300 meters. Fecal analysis also found the presence of fish, krill, amphipods, cephalopods, and scyphozoan jellyfish in their diet. Blue whales appear to avoid directly competing with other baleen whales. Different whale species select different feeding spaces and times as well as different prey species. In the Southern Ocean, baleen whales appear to feed on Antarctic krill of different sizes, which may lessen competition between them.
Blue whale feeding habits may differ due to situational disturbances, like environmental shifts or human interference. This can cause a change in diet due to stress response. Due to these changing situations, there was a study performed on blue whales measuring cortisol levels and comparing them with the levels of stressed individuals, it gave a closer look to the reasoning behind their diet and behavioral changes. Reproduction and birth. The age of sexual maturity for blue whales is thought to be 5–15 years. In the Northern Hemisphere, the length at which they reach maturity is for females and for males. In the Southern Hemisphere, the length of maturity is and for females and males respectively. Male pygmy blue whales average at sexual maturity. Female pygmy blue whales are in length and roughly 10 years old at the age of sexual maturity. Since corpora are added every ~2.5 years after sexual maturity, physical maturity is assumed to occur at 35 years. Little is known about mating behavior, or breeding and birthing areas. Blue whales appear to be polygynous, with males competing for females. A male blue whale typically trails a female and will fight off potential rivals. The species mates from fall to winter.
Pregnant females eat roughly four percent of their body weight daily, amounting to 60% of their overall body weight throughout summer foraging periods. Gestation may last 10–12 months with calves being long and weighing at birth. Estimates suggest that because calves require milk per kg of mass gain, blue whales likely produce of milk per day (ranging from of milk per day). The first video of a calf thought to be nursing was filmed in New Zealand in 2016. Calves may be weaned when they reach 6–8 months old at a length of . They gain roughly during the weaning period. Interbirth periods last two to three years; they average 2.6 years in pygmy blue whales. Mother-calf pairings are infrequently observed, and this may be due to mothers birthing and weaning their young in-between their entry and return to their summer feeding grounds. Vocalizations. Blue whales produce some of the loudest and lowest frequency vocalizations in the animal kingdom, and their inner ears appear well adapted for detecting low-frequency sounds. The fundamental frequency for blue whale vocalizations ranges from 8 to 25 Hz. Blue whale songs vary between populations.
Vocalizations produced by the Eastern North Pacific population have been well studied. This population produces pulsed calls ("A") and tonal calls ("B"), upswept tones that precede type B calls ("C") and separate downswept tones ("D"). A and B calls are often produced in repeated co-occurring sequences and sung only by males, suggesting a reproductive function. D calls may have multiple functions. They are produced by both sexes during social interactions while feeding. and by males when competing for mates. Blue whale calls recorded off Sri Lanka have a three-unit phrase. The first unit is a 19.8 to 43.5 Hz pulsive call, and is normally 17.9 ± 5.2 seconds long. The second unit is a 55.9 to 72.4 Hz FM upsweep that is 13.8 ± 1.1 seconds long. The final unit is 28.5 ± 1.6 seconds long with a tone of 108 to 104.7 Hz. A blue whale call recorded off Madagascar, a two-unit phrase, consists of 5–7 pulses with a center frequency of 35.1 ± 0.7 Hz lasting 4.4 ± 0.5 seconds proceeding a 35 ± 0 Hz tone that is 10.9 ± 1.1 seconds long. In the Southern Ocean, blue whales produce 18-second vocals which start with a 9-second-long, 27 Hz tone, and then a 1-second downsweep to 19 Hz, followed by a downsweep further to 18 Hz. Other vocalizations include 1–4 second long, frequency-modulated calls with a frequency of 80 and 38 Hz.
There is evidence that some blue whale songs have temporally declined in tonal frequency. The vocalization of blue whales in the Eastern North Pacific decreased in tonal frequency by 31% from the early 1960s to the early 21st century. The frequency of pygmy blue whales in the Antarctic has decreased by a few tenths of a hertz every year starting in 2002. It is possible that as blue whale populations recover from whaling, there is increasing sexual selection pressure (i.e., a lower frequency indicates a larger body size). Predators and parasites. The only known natural predator to blue whales is the orca, although the rate of fatal attacks by orcas is unknown. Photograph-identification studies of blue whales have estimated that a high proportion of the individuals in the Gulf of California have rake-like scars, indicative of encounters with orcas. Off southeastern Australia, 3.7% of blue whales photographed had rake marks and 42.1% of photographed pygmy blue whales off Western Australia had rake marks. Documented predation by orcas has been rare. A blue whale mother and calf were first observed being chased at high speeds by orcas off southeastern Australia. The first documented attack occurred in 1977 off southwestern Baja California, Mexico, but the injured whale escaped after five hours. Four more blue whales were documented as being chased by a group of orcas between 1982 and 2003. The first documented predation event by orcas occurred in September 2003, when a group of orcas in the Eastern Tropical Pacific was encountered feeding on a recently killed blue whale calf. In March 2014, a commercial whale watch boat operator recorded an incident involving a group of orcas harassing a blue whale in Monterey Bay. The blue whale defended itself by slapping its tail. A similar incident was recorded by a drone in Monterey Bay in May 2017. The first direct observations of orca predation occurred off the south coast of Western Australia, two in 2019 and one more in 2021. The first victim was estimated to be .
In Antarctic waters, blue whales accumulate diatoms of the species "Cocconeis ceticola" and the genera "Navicola", which are normally removed when the whales enter warmer waters. Other external parasites include barnacles such as "Coronula diadema", "Coronula reginae", and "Cryptolepas rhachianecti", which latch on their skin deep enough to leave behind a pit if removed. Whale lice species make their home in cracks of the skin and are relatively harmless. The copepod species "Pennella balaenopterae" digs in and attaches itself to the blubber to feed on. Intestinal parasites include the trematode genera "Ogmogaster" and "Lecithodesmus"; the tapeworm genera "Priapocephalus", "Phyllobotrium", "Tetrabothrius", "Diphyllobotrium", and "Diplogonoporus"; and the thorny-headed worm genus "Bolbosoma". In the North Atlantic, blue whales also contain the protozoans "Entamoeba", "Giardia" and "Balantidium". Conservation. The global blue whale population is estimated to be 5,000–15,000 mature individuals and 10,000–25,000 total as of 2018. By comparison, there were at least 140,000 mature whales in 1926. There are an estimated total of 1,000–3,000 whales in the North Atlantic, 3,000–5,000 in the North Pacific, and 5,000–8,000 in the Antarctic. There are possibly 1,000–3,000 whales in the eastern South Pacific while the pygmy blue whale may number 2,000–5,000 individuals. Blue whales have been protected in areas of the Southern Hemisphere since 1939. In 1955, they were given complete protection in the North Atlantic under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling; this protection was extended to the Antarctic in 1965 and the North Pacific in 1966. The protected status of North Atlantic blue whales was not recognized by Iceland until 1960. In the United States, the species is protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Blue whales are formally classified as endangered under both the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the IUCN Red List. They are also listed on Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. Although, for some populations, there is not enough information on current abundance trends (e.g., pygmy blue whales), others are critically endangered (e.g., Antarctic blue whales). Threats. In 2017, DNA evidence was used to identify whale bones at Icelandic archaeological sites. Of the 124 bones analyzed more than 50% were from blue whales and some dated as far back as 900 CE. This, and other evidence, suggests that Icelanders were hunting whales as early as the 9th century, just as the settlement of Iceland began. Thus Icelanders would have been among the earliest known humans to hunt the blue whale. Blue whales were initially difficult to hunt because of their size and speed. This began to change in the mid-19th century with the development of harpoons that can be shot as projectiles. Blue whale whaling peaked between 1930 and 1931 with 30,000 animals taken. Harvesting of the species was particularly high in the Antarctic, with 350,000–360,000 whales taken in the first half of the 20th century. In addition, 11,000 North Atlantic whales (mostly around Iceland) and 9,500 North Pacific whales were killed during the same period. The International Whaling Commission banned all hunting of blue whales in 1966 and gave them worldwide protection. However, the Soviet Union continued to illegally hunt blue whales and other species up until the 1970s.
Ship strikes are a significant mortality factor for blue whales, especially off the U.S. West Coast. A total of 17 blue whales were killed or suspected to have been killed by ships between 1998 and 2019 off the U.S. West Coast. Five deaths in 2007 off California were considered an unusual mortality event, as defined under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Lethal ship strikes are also a problem in Sri Lankan waters, where their habitat intersects with one of the world's most active shipping routes. Here, strikes caused the deaths of eleven blue whales in 2010 and 2012, and at least two in 2014. Ship-strike mortality claimed the lives of two blue whales off southern Chile in the 2010s. Possible measures for reducing future ship strikes include better predictive models of whale distribution, changes in shipping lanes, vessel speed reductions, and seasonal and dynamic management of shipping lanes. Few cases of blue whale entanglement in commercial fishing gear have been documented. The first report in the U.S. occurred off California in 2015, reportedly some type of deep-water trap/pot fishery. Three more entanglement cases were reported in 2016. In Sri Lanka, a blue whale was documented with a net wrapped through its mouth, along the sides of its body, and wound around its tail.
Increasing man-made underwater noise impacts blue whales. They may be exposed to noise from commercial shipping and seismic surveys as a part of oil and gas exploration. Blue whales in the Southern California Bight decreased calling in the presence of mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar. Exposure to simulated MFA sonar was found to interrupt blue whale deep-dive feeding, but no changes in behavior were observed in individuals feeding at shallower depths. The responses also depended on the animal's behavioral state, its (horizontal) distance from the sound source and the availability of prey. The potential impacts of pollutants on blue whales is unknown. However, because blue whales feed low on the food chain, there is a lesser chance for bioaccumulation of organic chemical contaminants. Analysis of the earwax of a male blue whale killed by a collision with a ship off the coast of California showed contaminants like pesticides, flame retardants, and mercury. Reconstructed persistent organic pollutant (POP) profiles suggested that a substantial maternal transfer occurred during gestation and/or lactation. Male blue whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, were found to have higher concentrations of PCBs, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), metabolites, and several other organochlorine compounds relative to females, reflecting maternal transfer of these persistent contaminants from females into young.
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (, ; from большинство, , 'majority'), led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Bolshevik party, formally established in 1912, seized power in Russia in the October Revolution of 1917, and was later renamed the Russian Communist Party, All-Union Communist Party, and ultimately the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Its ideology, based on Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist principles, became known as Bolshevism. The origin of the RSDLP split was Lenin's support for a smaller party of professional revolutionaries, as opposed to the Menshevik desire for a broad party membership. The influence of the factions fluctuated in the years up to 1912, when the RSDLP formally split in two. The political philosophy of the Bolsheviks was based on the Leninist principles of vanguardism and democratic centralism. Lenin was also more willing to use illegal means such as robbery to fund the party's activities. Influenced by the experience of World War I, by 1917 he had concluded that the chain of world capitalism could "break at its weakest link" in Russia before it had reached the level of the advanced countries, contrary to theorists such as Georgi Plekhanov. Lenin had also come to view poorer peasants as potential allies of the relatively small Russian proletariat.
After the February Revolution of 1917, Lenin returned to Russia and issued his April Theses, which called for "no support for the Provisional Government" and "all power to the soviets". During the summer of 1917, which saw events including the July Days and Kornilov affair, large numbers of radicalized workers joined the Bolsheviks, which planned the October Revolution that overthrew the government. The Bolsheviks initially governed in coalition with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, but increasingly centralized power and suppressed opposition during the Russian Civil War, and after 1921 became the sole legal party in Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union. Under Joseph Stalin's leadership, Bolshevism became linked to his policies of "socialism in one country", rapid industrialization, collectivized agriculture, and centralized state control. History of the split. Vladimir Lenin's ideology in "What Is to Be Done?". Lenin's political pamphlet "What Is to Be Done?", written in 1901, helped to precipitate the Bolsheviks' split from the Mensheviks. In Germany, the book was published in 1902, but in Russia, strict censorship outlawed its publication and distribution. One of the main points of Lenin's writing was that a revolution can only be achieved by a strong, professional leadership with deep dedication to Marxist theoretical principles and an organization that spanned through the whole of Russia, abandoning what Lenin called "artisanal work" towards a more organized revolutionary work. After the proposed revolution had successfully overthrown the Russian autocracy, this strong leadership would relinquish power and allow a Socialist party to fully develop within the principles of democratic centralism. Lenin said that if professional revolutionaries did not maintain influence over the fight of the workers, then that fight would steer away from the party's objective and carry on under the influence of opposing beliefs or even away from revolution entirely.
The pamphlet also showed that Lenin's view of a socialist intelligentsia was in line with Marxist theory. For example, Lenin agreed with the Marxist ideal of social classes ceasing to be and for the eventual "withering away of the state". Most party members considered unequal treatment of workers immoral and were loyal to the idea of a completely classless society. This pamphlet also showed that Lenin opposed another group of reformers, known as "Economists", who were for economic reform while leaving the government relatively unchanged and who, in Lenin's view, failed to recognize the importance of uniting the working population behind the party's cause. Second Party Congress. At the 2nd Congress of the RSDLP, which was held in Brussels and then London during August 1903, Lenin and Julius Martov disagreed over the party membership rules. Lenin, who was supported by Georgy Plekhanov, wanted to limit membership to those who supported the party full-time and worked in complete obedience to the elected party leadership. Martov wanted to extend membership to anyone "who recognises the Party Programme and supports it by material means and by regular personal assistance under the direction of one of the party's organisations." Lenin believed his plan would develop a core group of professional revolutionaries who would devote their full time and energy towards developing the party into an organization capable of leading a successful proletarian revolution against the Tsarist autocracy.
The base of active and experienced members would be the recruiting ground for this professional core. Sympathizers would be left outside and the party would be organised based on the concept of democratic centralism. Martov, until then a close friend of Lenin, agreed with him that the core of the party should consist of professional revolutionaries, but he argued that party membership should be open to sympathizers, revolutionary workers, and other fellow travellers. The two had disagreed on the issue as early as March–May 1903, but it was not until the Congress that their differences became irreconcilable and split the party. At first, the disagreement appeared to be minor and inspired by personal conflicts. For example, Lenin's insistence on dropping less active editorial board members from "Iskra" or Martov's support for the Organizing Committee of the Congress which Lenin opposed. The differences grew and the split became irreparable. Internal unrest also arose over the political structure that was best suited for Soviet power. As discussed in "What Is To Be Done?", Lenin firmly believed that a rigid political structure was needed to effectively initiate a formal revolution. This idea was met with opposition from once close allies, including Martov, Plekhanov, Vera Zasulich, Leon Trotsky, and Pavel Axelrod. Plekhanov and Lenin's major dispute arose addressing the topic of nationalizing land or leaving it for private use. Lenin wanted to nationalize to aid in collectivization, whereas Plekhanov thought worker motivation would remain higher if individuals were able to maintain their own property. Those who opposed Lenin and wanted to continue on the socialist mode of production path towards complete socialism and disagreed with his strict party membership guidelines became known as "softs" while Lenin supporters became known as "hards".
Some of the factionalism could be attributed to Lenin's steadfast belief in his own opinion and what was described by Plekhanov as Lenin's inability to "bear opinions which were contrary to his own" and loyalty to his own self-envisioned utopia. Lenin was seen even by fellow party members as being so narrow-minded and unable to accept criticism that he believed that anyone who did not follow him was his enemy. Trotsky, one of Lenin's fellow revolutionaries, compared Lenin in 1904 to the French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre. Etymology of "Bolshevik" and "Menshevik". The two factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) were originally known as "hard" (Lenin supporters) and "soft" (Martov supporters). In the 2nd Congress vote, Lenin's faction won votes on the majority of important issues, and soon came to be known as "Bolsheviks", from the Russian "bolshinstvo", 'majority'. Likewise, Martov's group came to be known as "Mensheviks", from "menshinstvo", 'minority'. However, Martov's supporters won the vote concerning the question of party membership, and neither Lenin nor Martov had a firm majority throughout the Congress as delegates left or switched sides. In the end, the Congress was evenly split between the two factions.
Starting in 1907, English-language articles sometimes used the term "Maximalist" for "Bolshevik" and "Minimalist" for "Menshevik", which proved to be confusing as there was also a "Maximalist" faction within the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1904–1906 (which, after 1906, formed a separate Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries Maximalists) and then again after 1917. The Bolsheviks ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks, or "Reds", came to power in Russia during the October Revolution phase of the 1917 Russian Revolution, and founded the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). With the Reds defeating the Whites and others during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, the RSFSR became the chief constituent of the Soviet Union (USSR) in December 1922. Demographics of the two factions. The average party member was very young: in 1907, 22% of Bolsheviks were under 20 years of age; 37% were 20–24 years of age; and 16% were 25–29 years of age. By 1905, 62% of the members were industrial workers (3% of the population in 1897). Twenty-two percent of Bolsheviks were gentry (1.7% of the total population) and 38% were uprooted peasants; compared with 19% and 26% for the Mensheviks. In 1907, 78% of the Bolsheviks were Russian and 10% were Jewish; compared to 34% and 20% for the Mensheviks. Total Bolshevik membership was 8,400 in 1905, 13,000 in 1906, and 46,100 by 1907; compared to 8,400, 18,000 and 38,200 for the Mensheviks. By 1910, both factions together had fewer than 100,000 members.
Beginning of the 1905 Revolution (1903–05). Between 1903 and 1904, the two factions were in a state of flux, with many members changing sides. Plekhanov, the founder of Russian Marxism, who at first allied himself with Lenin and the Bolsheviks, had parted ways with them by 1904. Trotsky at first supported the Mensheviks, but left them in September 1904 over their insistence on an alliance with Russian liberals and their opposition to a reconciliation with Lenin and the Bolsheviks. He remained a self-described "non-factional social democrat" until August 1917, when he joined Lenin and the Bolsheviks, as their positions resembled his and he came to believe that Lenin was correct on the issue of the party. All but one member of the RSDLP Central Committee were arrested in Moscow in early 1905. The remaining member, with the power of appointing a new committee, was won over by the Bolsheviks. The lines between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks hardened in April 1905 when the Bolsheviks held a Bolsheviks-only meeting in London, which they called the 3rd Party Congress. The Mensheviks organised a rival conference and the split was thus finalized.
The Bolsheviks played a relatively minor role in the 1905 Revolution and were a minority in the Saint Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies led by Trotsky. However, the less significant Moscow Soviet was dominated by the Bolsheviks. These Soviets became the model for those formed in 1917. Mensheviks (1906–07). As the Russian Revolution of 1905 progressed, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and smaller non-Russian social democratic parties operating within the Russian Empire attempted to reunify at the 4th Congress of the RSDLP held in April 1906 at Folkets hus, Norra Bantorget, in Stockholm. When the Mensheviks made an alliance with the Jewish Bund, the Bolsheviks found themselves in a minority. However, all factions retained their respective factional structure and the Bolsheviks formed the Bolshevik Centre, the "de facto" governing body of the Bolshevik faction within the RSDLP. At the 5th Congress held in London in May 1907, the Bolsheviks were in the majority, but the two factions continued functioning mostly independently of each other.
Split between Lenin and Bogdanov (1908–10). Tensions had existed between Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov from as early as 1904. Lenin had fallen out with Nikolai Valentinov after Valentinov had introduced him to Ernst Mach's Empiriocriticism, a viewpoint that Bogdanov had been exploring and developing as Empiriomonism. Having worked as co-editor with Plekhanov, on "Zarya", Lenin had come to agree with the Valentinov's rejection of Bogdanov's Empiriomonism. With the defeat of the revolution in mid-1907 and the adoption of a new, highly restrictive election law, the Bolsheviks began debating whether to boycott the new parliament known as the Third Duma. Lenin, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, and others argued for participating in the Duma while Bogdanov, Anatoly Lunacharsky, Mikhail Pokrovsky, and others argued that the social democratic faction in the Duma should be recalled. The latter became known as "recallists" (Russian: "otzovists"). A smaller group within the Bolshevik faction demanded that the RSDLP Central Committee should give its sometimes unruly Duma faction an ultimatum, demanding complete subordination to all party decisions. This group became known as "ultimatists" and was generally allied with the recallists.
With most Bolshevik leaders either supporting Bogdanov or undecided by mid-1908 when the differences became irreconcilable, Lenin concentrated on undermining Bogdanov's reputation as a philosopher. In 1909, he published a scathing book of criticism entitled "Materialism and Empirio-criticism" (1909), assaulting Bogdanov's position and accusing him of philosophical idealism. In June 1909, Bogdanov proposed the formation of Party Schools as Proletarian Universities at a Bolshevik mini-conference in Paris organised by the editorial board of the Bolshevik magazine "Proletary". However, this proposal was not adopted and Lenin tried to expel Bogdanov from the Bolshevik faction. Bogdanov was then involved with setting up Vpered, which ran the Capri Party School from August to December 1909. Final attempt at party unity (1910). With both Bolsheviks and Mensheviks weakened by splits within their ranks and by Tsarist repression, the two factions were tempted to try to reunite the party. In January 1910, Leninists, recallists, and various Menshevik factions held a meeting of the party's Central Committee in Paris. Kamenev and Zinoviev were dubious about the idea; but under pressure from conciliatory Bolsheviks like Victor Nogin, they were willing to give it a try.
One of the underlying reasons that prevented any reunification of the party was the Russian police. The police were able to infiltrate both parties' inner circles by sending in spies who then reported on the opposing party's intentions and hostilities. This allowed the tensions to remain high between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks and helped prevent their uniting. Lenin was firmly opposed to any reunification but was outvoted within the Bolshevik leadership. The meeting reached a tentative agreement, and one of its provisions was to make Trotsky's Vienna-based "Pravda", a party-financed central organ. Kamenev, Trotsky's brother-in-law who was with the Bolsheviks, was added to the editorial board; but the unification attempts failed in August 1910 when Kamenev resigned from the board amid mutual recriminations. Forming a separate party (1912). The factions permanently broke relations in January 1912 after the Bolsheviks organised a Bolsheviks-only Prague Party Conference and formally expelled Mensheviks and recallists from the party. As a result, they ceased to be a faction in the RSDLP and instead declared themselves an independent party, called Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) – or RSDLP(b). Unofficially, the party has been referred to as the Bolshevik Party. Throughout the 20th century, the party adopted a number of different names. In 1918, RSDLP(b) became All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and remained so until 1925. From 1925 to 1952, the name was All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and from 1952 to 1991, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
As the party split became permanent, further divisions became evident. One of the most notable differences was how each faction decided to fund its revolution. The Mensheviks decided to fund their revolution through membership dues while Lenin often resorted to more drastic measures since he required a higher budget. One of the common methods the Bolsheviks used was committing bank robberies, one of which, in 1907, resulted in the party getting over 250,000 roubles, which is the equivalent of about $125,000. Bolsheviks were in constant need of money because Lenin practised his beliefs, expressed in his writings, that revolutions must be led by individuals who devote their entire lives to the cause. As compensation, he rewarded them with salaries for their sacrifice and dedication. This measure was taken to help ensure that the revolutionaries stayed focused on their duties and motivated them to perform their jobs. Lenin also used the party money to print and copy pamphlets which were distributed in cities and at political rallies in an attempt to expand their operations. Both factions received funds through donations from wealthy supporters.
Further differences in party agendas became evident as the beginning of World War I loomed near. Joseph Stalin was especially eager for the start of the war, hoping that it would turn into a war between classes or essentially a Russian Civil War. This desire for war was fuelled by Lenin's vision that the workers and peasants would resist joining the war effort and therefore be more compelled to join the socialist movement. Through the increase in support, Russia would then be forced to withdraw from the Allied powers in order to resolve her internal conflict. Unfortunately for the Bolsheviks, Lenin's assumptions were incorrect. Despite his and the party's attempts to push for a civil war through involvement in two conferences in 1915 and 1916 in Switzerland, the Bolsheviks were in the minority in calling for a ceasefire by the Imperial Russian Army in World War I. Although the Bolshevik leadership had decided to form a separate party, convincing pro-Bolshevik workers within Russia to follow suit proved difficult. When the first meeting of the Fourth Duma was convened in late 1912, only one out of six Bolshevik deputies, Matvei Muranov (another one, Roman Malinovsky, was later exposed as an Okhrana agent), voted on 15 December 1912 to break from the Menshevik faction within the Duma. The Bolshevik leadership eventually prevailed, and the Bolsheviks formed their own Duma faction in September 1913.
One final difference between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks was how ferocious and tenacious the Bolshevik party was in order to achieve its goals, although Lenin was open minded to retreating from political ideals if he saw the guarantee of long-term gains benefiting the party. This practice was seen in the party's trying to recruit peasants and uneducated workers by promising them how glorious life would be after the revolution and granting them temporary concessions. Bolshevik figures such as Anatoly Lunacharsky, Moisei Uritsky and Dmitry Manuilsky considered that Lenin's influence on the Bolshevik party was decisive but the October insurrection was carried out according to Trotsky's, not to Lenin's plan. In 1918, the party renamed itself the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) at Lenin's suggestion. In 1925, this was changed to All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). At the 19th Party Congress in 1952 the Party was renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at Stalin's suggestion. Derogatory usage of "Bolshevik".
Bolo was a derogatory expression for Bolsheviks used by British service personnel in the North Russian Expeditionary Force which intervened against the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and other Nazi leaders used it in reference to the worldwide political movement coordinated by the Comintern. During the Cold War in the United Kingdom, trade union leaders and other leftists were sometimes derisively described as Bolshies. The usage is roughly equivalent to the term "commie", "Red", or "pinko" in the United States during the same period. The term "Bolshie" later became a slang term for anyone who was rebellious, aggressive, or truculent. External links. by Bertrand Russell, November 1920.
Battle of Świecino The Battle of Świecino (named for the village of Świecino, near Żarnowiec Lake, northern Poland) also called the Battle of Żarnowiec or in German Die Schlacht bei Schwetz, took place on September 17, 1462, during the Thirteen Years' War. The Polish forces, commanded by Piotr Dunin and consisting of some 2,000 mercenaries and Poles, decisively defeated the 2,700-man army of the Teutonic Knights, commanded by Fritz Raweneck and Commander of the Order Kaspar Nostitz ("Nostyc"). Auxiliary forces sent by Duke Eric II of Pomerania, temporary ally of the Teutonic Knights, did not enter the battle. Polish forces. The Polish forces consisted mostly of the mercenaries hired by the Polish king, Casimir IV the Jagiellon and the city of Danzig (Gdańsk). This army included 1,000 cavalry, of which 112 were heavy cavalry, and another 1,000 of infantry. 1,000 cavalry and 400 infantry were mercenaries hired by the Polish king, while the rest were units from Danzig (Gdańsk). Teutonic forces. Most of the Teutonic army, under the command of Fritz Raweneck and Kaspar Nostitz, were troops gathered from the nearby castles Mewe (Gniew), Stargard (Starogard Gdański), Nowe, Skarszewy, and Stara Kiszewa. This army totalled 1,000 cavalry and 400 infantry. Raweneck also had the supply chain (tabors), cannons, and up to 1,300 auxiliary infantry of Pomeranian peasants, used mainly for fortification works.
Battle. The battle started in the evening. Adopting a relatively new tactic, Polish units built a fortified camp on the Hussite model consisting of wagons linked by a chain surrounded by a deep ditch (tabor). The units of Raveneck and his subordinate, Kaspar Nostyc (commander from Conitz (Chojnice)) also created a tabor. Piotr Dunin decided not to wait for the enemy and attacked first, setting infantry with crossbows on the left, defended by cavalry between the tabor and the coast of the nearby lake of Rogoźnica. Raveneck placed cavalry in front of his tabor, and infantry behind it, without any strategic plan. The first phase of the battle was started by a charge of Polish heavy cavalry under Paweł Jasieński. Fierce fighting continued for three hours and ended without a clear winner. After a short pause at midday, Teutonic units were able to push the Poles back; however, they found themselves under very heavy fire from crossbows of the Polish infantry, which caused huge losses and a withdrawal. During this fight Raveneck was wounded. He stopped his soldiers and tried to attack again, but this charge ended with a total defeatRaveneck died and the rest of the cavalry surrendered or escaped. The Teutonic infantry tried to defend themselves at the tabor but its resistance was broken by a quick attack of Polish cavalry.
At the end of the battle, reinforcements of Eric II of Pomerania appeared, however, seeing the defeat of the Teutonic Knights, the Pomeranian prince did not attack, while the Poles attacked, forcing his troops to flee. Casualties. The Teutonic Order's army lost around 1,000 soldiers, including some 300 cavalrymen. Fifty soldiers were captured. The Teutonic commander was also killed in battle and was buried in the Żarnowiec chapter church. The Poles lost just 100 soldiers, although 150 later died from their wounds. Among the dead on the Polish side was Maciej Hagen from Gdańsk. Piotr Dunin was wounded twice. Aftermath. The direct result of the battle of Świecino was that the city of Danzig and Pomerania were freed from the danger of an attack by the Teutonic Order. As a result, the royal and municipal armed forces could be used elsewhere in the war, mainly to protect the Vistula waterway and to capture the Teutonic held strongholds. This way that Teutonic forces in Prussia on the right bank of Vistula were cut off from supplies from Western Europe. The psychological significance of the battle was that this was the first open field battle won by the royal forces, so it increased the morale of the Polish forces and lowered the morale of the Teutonic Knights. Many military historians say that the battle of Świecino was the turning point of the Thirteen Years' War, leading to the final Polish victory in 1466.
Barney Bubbles Barney Bubbles (born Colin Fulcher; 30 July 1942 – 14 November 1983) was an English graphic artist whose work encompassed graphic design and music video direction. Bubbles, who also sketched and painted privately, is best known for his distinctive contribution to the design practices associated with the British independent music scene of the 1970s and 1980s. His record sleeves, laden with symbols and riddles, were his most recognisable output. Early life. Fulcher was born in Tranmere Road, Whitton, Middlesex (now Greater London), in July 1942. He attended Isleworth Grammar School. In 1958 he embarked on a retail display course for a National Diploma in Design (NDD) at the art school of Twickenham College of Technology. During his five years at the college Fulcher received a multi-disciplinary education that included training in cardboard design, display and packaging, skills that would be utilised later in his record sleeve work. Career. Michael Tucker + Associates. After leaving college in 1963, Fulcher worked as an assistant at the design company Michael Tucker + Associates in London. Its clients included Pirelli. In a rare interview in November 1981 in "The Face", Bubbles described Tucker's discipline as "very Swiss; very hard; unjustified, very grey; and he taught me "everything" about typography." Tucker's studio produced the posters for Hugh Hudson's Pirelli-sponsored film "The Tortoise & The Hare" (1967), for which Fulcher designed the poster lettering on a freelance basis.
The Conran Group. In May 1965, Fulcher was recruited by The Conran Group as senior graphic designer alongside Stafford Cliff, Virginia Clive-Smith and John Muggeridge. He produced a variety of commercial commissions for Conran, including the Norman-style archer logo for Strongbow cider and items for Conran's new homewares chain Habitat. Fulcher also established an association with Justin de Blank, a director at Conran, which blossomed when de Blank left to launch his own upmarket provisions company and restaurant business in 1968. A1 Good Guyz and other early activities. Between 1965 and 1966, Fulcher organised happenings, parties and other events under the name "A1 Good Guyz" with two graduates of Twickenham Art College, David Wills and Roy Burge. In 1967, Fulcher became known as Barney Bubbles, although he did not change his name by deed poll for several more years. The name came about when Fulcher was operating a light show that created a bubble effect by mixing oils and water on projection slides. These lightshows were for groups including the Gun and Quintessence at underground venues including the Roundhouse, Jim Haynes's Drury Lane Arts Lab, the Electric Cinema and Middle Earth.
With Wills, Bubbles undertook freelance design commissions, including a redesign of "Motor Racing" magazine and a recipe book for the English Egg Marketing Board. With a team of contributors Bubbles and Wills art-directed "Oz" magazine issue 12, dubbed "The Tax Dodge Special" and published in May 1968. Teenburger Designs. Early in 1969, Bubbles took the lease on a three-storey building at 307 Portobello Road in Notting Hill Gate, West London. He converted the ground-floor space into a graphic art studio, which he named Teenburger Designs. With a business association established with two entrepreneurs, Edward Molton and Stephen Warwick, and with John Muggeridge from Conran serving briefly as an assistant, he set about working primarily for the music industry. His first record sleeve design was for Quintessence's LP "In Blissful Company" (1969). The gatefold sleeve design uses illustrations by Gopala on the front and back, and contains a monochrome glued-in booklet inside. Teenburger also provided record sleeve designs for the bands Brinsley Schwarz and Red Dirt, as well as Vertigo artists such as Cressida, Gracious! and Dr Z, whose LP "Three Parts to My Soul" is particularly noted for its complex and colourful fold-out sleeve.
Following the closure of Teenburger in 1970 as a result of the disappearance of Molton and Warwick, Bubbles worked as the designer of the underground newspaper "Friends" (later renamed "Frendz"). Bubbles' son, Aten Skinner, who is also an artists and graphic designer, was born in 1972. Hawkwind (and other 1970s rock). While he was working at "Friends", Bubbles formed an association with Hawkwind and became responsible for a run of their album sleeves, including "In Search of Space", "Doremi Fasol Latido" and "Space Ritual". Bubbles engaged in many aspects of the group's visual identity, titling releases and designing posters, adverts, stage decoration and performance plans, some of which were adorned with mystical and mock-Teutonic insignia. In 1972 Bubbles produced the triple LP package "Glastonbury Fayre". This comprised a six-panel fold-out card sleeve, two poster inserts, a booklet and a cut-out and build miniature pyramid, housed in a clear vinyl bag (with two sleeve variations and three label variations).
From 1973 onwards, Bubbles increasingly avoided credits for his artwork, typically working anonymously or occasionally adopting alternative pseudonyms. During this period he designed album sleeves and additional material for such acts as the Sutherland Brothers, Kevin Coyne, Edgar Broughton Band, Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, Quiver, the Kursaal Flyers and Michael Moorcock and the Deep Fix. In 1976, his design relationship with Hawkwind came to an end. It was rekindled once, in 1978, for the Hawklords spin-off, but otherwise continued only with design commissions for projects involving the band's saxophonist Nik Turner. Stiff, Radar and F Beat (and other punk and new wave). Barney Bubbles joined Stiff Records as designer and art director early in 1977. With the label's co-founder Jake Riviera he generated a body of creative work that helped to secure Stiff's reputation as an exciting new independent label. Bubbles created sleeves for bands including the Damned, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Wreckless Eric. Often these were accompanied by quirky logos such as the face logo for Blockhead, advertisements and promotional items. The marketing of Elvis Costello's "My Aim Is True" included advertisements in three UK music papers from which a poster of Costello could be constructed, and the first 1,000 pressings contained an insert headed "Help Us Hype Elvis", which, if completed and returned to Stiff, ensured that a friend would receive a free copy.
When Riviera left Stiff in late 1977, Bubbles joined him at his new label Radar Records and later at Riviera's F-Beat Records. At these labels, Bubbles created more designs for Elvis Costello, as well as other artists such as Nick Lowe, Carlene Carter, Blanket of Secrecy and Clive Langer & The Boxes. Bubbles also maintained his freelance output, producing designs for Peter Jenner (Ian Dury and Billy Bragg's manager), and others. He created a prodigious output by working for such bands, musicians and performers as Peter Hammill, Vivian Stanshall, Generation X, Big Star, Johnny Moped, Whirlwind, Billy Bragg, Clover, the Sinceros, Roger Chapman, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Dr. Feelgood, Inner City Unit and the Psychedelic Furs. As a result, his work appeared on releases by labels such as Aura, Chiswick, Utility, Go! Discs, Epic, Charisma, CBS, Line Records, United Artists and Riddle Records. His signature style emerged as one that was colourful, playful, loaded with geometry, art-history and music-history references, jokes, cryptograms and symbols. The overriding appetite was for going against the grain of accepted design standards. His work is simultaneously complex in meaning and simple in its delivery. Examples include:
Music promo videos. Barney Bubbles directed several videos, including the Specials' "Ghost Town", Squeeze's "Is That Love" and "Tempted", Elvis Costello's "Clubland" and "New Lace Sleeves", and Fun Boy Three's "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)". Two promos for the punk act Johnny Moped, "Incendiary Device" and "Darling Let's Have Another Baby", were never commercially released to broadcasters. "A good video can sell a record which might not do so well," Bubbles told "Smash Hits" magazine in 1982. "The record companies know that. I think Chrysalis would agree that The Specials' 'Ghost Town' video helped sales a good deal. This year I intend to make videos which are really inexpensive but really inventive. It can be done, you know." "NME". In 1979, riding on the reputation of his work for Stiff, Bubbles was engaged by the UK music newspaper "New Musical Express" to spearhead an overhaul of its decades-old brand. Bubbles' redesign incorporated elements of Pop art and 1920s Soviet poster art into a "sleek, forward-looking" graphic format. His restyling included a fresh logo with "clean, stencilled, military-style lettering", which heralded the title's change from "New Musical Express" to "NME".
Other work. In 1979, Derek Boshier curated an exhibition entitled Lives at the Hayward Gallery, London, and he commissioned Bubbles to design the catalogue and poster. Together with the photographer Chris Gabrin, Bubbles also exhibited a video and mixed-media installation in the exhibition. In the early 1980s, Bubbles created furniture designs, some of which were featured in "The Face", November 1981. In 1982, Bubbles conceived the album "Ersatz", working primarily with Nik Turner and other musicians from Inner City Unit. The LP was released under the name of The Imperial Pompadours. Bubbles painted privately, increasingly in the early 1980s. Death. Fulcher, who suffered from manic depression, committed suicide in London on 14 November 1983 by gassing himself, trapping the fumes in a plastic bag he placed over his head, at the age of 41. He had considerable personal and financial worries, and had fallen out of fashion in the early 1980s. His designs for record sleeves were being rejected by musicians and record companies, and he was being investigated by the Inland Revenue for unpaid taxes dating back several years. He was also displaying increasingly erratic behaviour, alarming close friends by lacerating his face with razor blades and making threats to kill himself.
Monograph/biography. "Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Work of Barney Bubbles", a hybrid monograph-biography by Paul Gorman containing 400-plus images of artworks by Bubbles and contributions from British designers Peter Saville and Malcolm Garrett along with Billy Bragg was published in November 2008 by independent British imprint Adelita. The book was welcomed as a long-overdue recognition of Bubbles' achievements and selected by British music magazine "Mojo" as its Book Of The Year. A revised and updated second edition of "Reasons To Be Cheerful", with an additional contribution by US graphic artist Art Chantry, was published by Adelita in October 2010. The third edition of the monograph, retitled "The Wild World of Barney Bubbles: Graphic Design and the Art of Music", with a new cover and updated sections including previously unpublished designs and an essay by American graphic designer Clarita Hinojosa, was published by Thames & Hudson in June 2022 in the UK and in July 2022 in the US. A companion limited edition box-set, "A Box of Bubbles", containing the monograph with a different jacket and reproductions of the designer's artworks for Ian Dury, Hawkwind and the Glastonbury Fayre triple-LP package, was published by specialist imprint Volume in September 2022.
Influence and legacy. Barney Bubbles is widely acknowledged as a pioneer and exemplar of design for music. 'To say that Bubbles' work was influential would be an understatement. He took the world by storm with his momentous contribution,' wrote Creative Boom's Aya Angelos in 2022. According to Peter Saville, 'The work of Barney Bubbles expresses post-modern principles: that there is the past, the present and the possible; that culture and the history of culture are a fluid palette of semiotic expression and everything is available to articulate a point of view.' The first exhibition dedicated to Bubbles' work was held at London gallery Artomatic in 2001, curated by the art-design team Rebecca And Mike. Paul Gorman and Caz Facey curated an exhibition about Bubbles' practice entitled "Process: The Working Practices of Barney Bubbles" at London gallery Chelsea Space in October 2010. In January 2012, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a documentary, "In Search of Barney Bubbles", written, produced and presented by Mark Hodkinson.
In summer 2012 Gorman curated The Past The Present & The Possible, which presented 250 examples of Bubbles' finished artworks as part of the exhibition White Noise at the 23rd International Poster & Graphic Design Festival in Chaumont, France. Under the heading Génération Bubbles!, the cover and a 10-page feature in the July 2012 issue of French design magazine "Étapes" were dedicated to the exhibition and Bubbles' influence over contemporary design practice. In 2017 Gorman curated "Optics & Semantics", an exhibition which included furniture designed by Bubbles, at central London's Rob Tufnell Gallery as well as a show featuring finished artworks including record sleeves, posters and ephemera at casualwear brand Fred Perry's outlet in Covent Garden. In 2020 an archive of Bubbles work was acquired for public collections under the UK's cultural gifts and acceptance in lieu (AiL) schemes and allocated to Liverpool John Moores University. General and group exhibitions. Designs by Barney Bubbles have been prominently featured in many exhibitions, including "Destroy: Punk Graphic Design in Britain", held at London's Southbank Centre in 1998, "Communicate: British Independent Graphic Design since the Sixties", staged at the Barbican Centre in 2004, "Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die: Punk Graphics 1976 - 1986" at Cranbrook Art Museum in Michigan in 2017 and the Museum of Art & Design in New York in 2019 and "Torn Apart: Punk New Wave and the Graphic Aftermath 1976-86" at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles in 2022.
Bubbles works are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York and London's Victoria and Albert Museum, which gave prominence to a selection in its 2011 show "Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970–1990" and the following year's "British Design 1948–2012". Barney Bubbles Estate. Representing family members, the Barney Bubbles Estate controls the intellectual copyrights in hundreds of original designs by Bubbles and has worked with others to ensure that the designer's legacy is protected. Projects include a capsule collection of shirts bearing Bubbles designs with Fred Perry in 2017, Elvis Costello and Universal Music's 2020 box-set reissue of Costello's 1979 album "Armed Forces", the 12-inch vinyl rerelease of "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" for Record Store Day 2021 with the Ian Dury Estate and music group BMG and a collaboration of four T-shirts with New York streetwear label Noah in 2022. Examples of rare and hitherto unseen work from Bubbles' vast archive is posted regularly on the Estate's Instagram account, and the Estate also has an online shop marketing original designs on apparel and other media.
Blackridge, Pennsylvania Blackridge is a community in eastern Allegheny County and is a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. This community consists of approximately 650 private homes built from 1920 to 1949. Blackridge Estates was and remains one of the area's largest residential communities. Blackridge lies in the municipalities of Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills and Churchill. It maintains a Civic Association and a private park and swim club for residents. Blackridge is defined as the territory bounded on the West by Graham Boulevard, on the South by William Penn Highway, on the East by Beulah Road and the Churchill Country Club property, from the Churchill Country Club property along Orlando Place to Atkinson Place, Atkinson Place to Pine Way, and Pine Way to Graham Boulevard, and includes the properties fronting on both sides of said portions of Country Club Drive, Orlando Place, Atkinson Place and Pine Way. The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark "1939 House" ("Good Housekeeping" house) is located in Blackridge at 2363 Sebring Place in the Wilkinsburg section of the neighborhood.
Basic English Basic English (a backronym for British American Scientific International and Commercial English) is a controlled language based on standard English, but with a greatly simplified vocabulary and grammar. It was created by the linguist and philosopher Charles Kay Ogden as an international auxiliary language, and as an aid for teaching English as a second language. It was presented in Ogden's 1930 book "Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar". The first work on Basic English was written by two Englishmen, Ivor Richards of Harvard University and Charles Kay Ogden of the University of Cambridge in England. The design of Basic English drew heavily on the semiotic theory put forward by Ogden and Richards in their 1923 book "The Meaning of Meaning". Ogden's Basic, and the concept of a simplified English, gained its greatest publicity just after the Allied victory in World War II as a means for world peace. He was convinced that the world needed to gradually eradicate minority languages and use as much as possible only one: English, in either a simple or complete form.
Although Basic English was not built into a program, similar simplifications have been devised for various international uses. Richards promoted its use in schools in China. It has influenced the creation of Voice of America's Learning English for news broadcasting, and Simplified Technical English, another English-based controlled language designed to write technical manuals. What survives of Ogden's Basic English is the basic 850-word list used as the beginner's vocabulary of the English language taught worldwide, especially in Asia. Design principles. Ogden tried to simplify English while keeping it normal for native speakers, by specifying grammar restrictions and a controlled small vocabulary which makes an extensive use of paraphrasing. Most notably, Ogden allowed only 18 verbs, which he called "operators". His "General Introduction" says, "There are no 'verbs' in Basic English", with the underlying assumption that, as noun use in English is very straightforward but verb use/conjugation is not, the elimination of verbs would be a welcome simplification.
Word lists. Ogden's word lists include only word roots, which in practice are extended with the defined set of affixes and the full set of forms allowed for any available word (noun, pronoun, or the limited set of verbs). The 850 core words of Basic English are found in Wiktionary's Basic English word list. This core is theoretically enough for everyday life. However, Ogden prescribed that any student should learn an additional 150-word list for everyday work in some particular field, by adding a list of 100 words particularly useful in a general field (e.g., science, verse, business), along with a 50-word list from a more specialised subset of that general field, to make a basic 1000-word vocabulary for everyday work and life. Moreover, Ogden assumed that any student should already be familiar with (and thus may only review) a core subset of around 200 "international" words. Therefore, a first-level student should graduate with a core vocabulary of around 1200 words. A realistic general core vocabulary could contain around 2000 words (the core 850 words, plus 200 international words, and 1000 words for the general fields of trade, economics, and science). It is enough for a "standard" English level. This 2000 word vocabulary represents "what any learner should know". At this level students could start to move on their own.
Ogden's and Voice of America's serve as dictionaries for the Simple English Wikipedia. Rules. Basic English includes a simple grammar for modifying or combining its 850 words to talk about additional meanings (morphological derivation or inflection). The grammar is based on English, but simplified. Criticism. Like all international auxiliary languages (or IALs), Basic English may be criticised as inevitably based on personal preferences, and is thus, paradoxically, inherently divisive. Moreover, like all natural-language-based IALs, Basic is subject to criticism as unfairly biased towards the native speaker community. As a teaching aid for English as a second language, Basic English has been criticised for the choice of the core vocabulary and for its grammatical constraints. In 1944, readability expert Rudolf Flesch published an article in "Harper's Magazine", "How Basic is Basic English?" in which he said, "It's not basic, and it's not English." The essence of his complaint is that the vocabulary is too restricted, and, as a result, the text ends up being awkward and more difficult than necessary. He also argues that the words in the Basic vocabulary were arbitrarily selected, and notes that there had been no empirical studies showing that it made language simpler.
In his 1948 paper "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", Claude Shannon contrasted the limited vocabulary of Basic English with James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake", a work noted for a wide vocabulary. Shannon notes that the lack of vocabulary in Basic English leads to a very high level of redundancy, whereas Joyce's large vocabulary "is alleged to achieve a compression of semantic content". Literary references. In the novel "The Shape of Things to Come", published in 1933, H. G. Wells depicted Basic English as the lingua franca of a new elite that after a prolonged struggle succeeds in uniting the world and establishing a totalitarian world government. In the future world of Wells' vision, virtually all members of humanity know this language. From 1942 to 1944, George Orwell was a proponent of Basic English, but in 1945, he became critical of universal languages. Basic English later inspired his use of Newspeak in "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Evelyn Waugh criticized his own 1945 novel "Brideshead Revisited", which he had previously called his magnum opus, in the preface of the 1959 reprint: "It [World War II] was a bleak period of present privation and threatening disaster—the period of soya beans and Basic English—and in consequence the book is infused with a kind of gluttony, for food and wine, for the splendours of the recent past, and for rhetorical and ornamental language that now, with a full stomach, I find distasteful." In his story "Gulf", science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein used a constructed language called Speedtalk, in which every Basic English word is replaced with a single phoneme, as an appropriate means of communication for a race of genius supermen. Samples. The Lord's Prayer has been often used for an impressionistic language comparison:
Brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. The term labrosone, from Latin elements meaning "lip" and "sound", is also used for the group, since instruments employing this "lip reed" method of sound production can be made from other materials like wood or animal horn, particularly early or traditional instruments such as the cornett, alphorn or shofar. There are several factors involved in producing different pitches on a brass instrument. Slides, valves, crooks (though they are rarely used today), or keys are used to change vibratory length of tubing, thus changing the available harmonic series, while the player's embouchure, lip tension and air flow serve to select the specific harmonic produced from the available series. The view of most scholars (see organology) is that the term "brass instrument" should be defined by the way the sound is made, as above, and not by whether the instrument is actually made of brass. Thus one finds brass instruments made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornett, the serpent and the didgeridoo, while some woodwind instruments are made of brass, like the saxophone.
Families. Modern brass instruments generally come in one of two families: There are two other families that have, in general, become functionally obsolete for practical purposes. Instruments of both types, however, are sometimes used for period-instrument performances of Baroque or Classical pieces. In more modern compositions, they are occasionally used for their intonation or tone color. Bore taper and diameter. Brass instruments may also be characterised by two generalizations about geometry of the bore, that is, the tubing between the mouthpiece and the flaring of the tubing into the bell. Those two generalizations are with regard to Cylindrical vs. conical bore. While all modern valved and slide brass instruments consist in part of conical and in part of cylindrical tubing, they are divided as follows: Whole-tube vs. half-tube. The resonances of a brass instrument resemble a harmonic series, with the exception of the lowest resonance, which is significantly lower than the fundamental frequency of the series that the other resonances are overtones of. Depending on the instrument and the skill of the player, the missing fundamental of the series can still be played as a pedal tone, which relies mainly on vibration at the overtone frequencies to produce the fundamental pitch. The bore diameter in relation to length determines whether the fundamental tone or the first overtone is the lowest partial practically available to the player in terms of playability and musicality, dividing brass instruments into whole-tube and half-tube instruments. These terms stem from a comparison to organ pipes, which produce the same pitch as the fundamental pedal tone of a brass instrument of equal length.
Other brass instruments. The instruments in this list fall for various reasons outside the scope of much of the discussion above regarding families of brass instruments. Valves. Valves are used to change the length of tubing of a brass instrument allowing the player to reach the notes of various harmonic series. Each valve pressed diverts the air stream through additional tubing, individually or in conjunction with other valves. This lengthens the vibrating air column thus lowering the fundamental tone and associated harmonic series produced by the instrument. Designs exist, although rare, in which this behaviour is reversed, i.e., pressing a valve removes a length of tubing rather than adding one. One modern example of such an ascending valve is the Yamaha YSL-350C trombone, in which the extra valve tubing is normally engaged to pitch the instrument in B, and pressing the thumb lever removes a whole step to pitch the instrument in C. Valves require regular lubrication. A core standard valve layout based on the action of three valves had become almost universal by (at latest) 1864 as witnessed by Arban's method published in that year. The effect of a particular combination of valves may be seen in the table below. This table is correct for the core three-valve layout on almost any modern valved brass instrument. The most common four-valve layout is a superset of the well-established three-valve layout and is noted in the table, despite the exposition of four-valve and also five-valve systems (the latter used on the tuba) being incomplete in this article.
Tuning. Since valves "lower" the pitch, a valve that makes a pitch too low (flat) creates an interval wider than desired, while a valve that plays sharp creates an interval narrower than desired. Intonation deficiencies of brass instruments that are independent of the tuning or temperament system are inherent in the physics of the most popular valve design, which uses a small number of valves in combination to avoid redundant and heavy lengths of tubing (this is entirely separate from the slight deficiencies between Western music's dominant equal (even) temperament system and the just (not equal) temperament of the harmonic series itself). Since each lengthening of the tubing has an inversely proportional effect on pitch (Pitch of brass instruments), while pitch perception is logarithmic, there is no way for a simple, uncompensated addition of length to be correct in every combination when compared with the pitches of the open tubing and the other valves. Absolute tube length. For example, given a length of tubing equaling 100 units of length when open, one may obtain the following tuning discrepancies:
Playing notes using valves (notably 1st + 3rd and 1st + 2nd + 3rd) requires compensation to adjust the tuning appropriately, either by the player's lip-and-breath control, via mechanical assistance of some sort, or, in the case of horns, by the position of the stopping hand in the bell. 'T' stands for trigger on a trombone. Relative tube length. Traditionally the valves lower the pitch of the instrument by adding extra lengths of tubing based on a just tuning: Combining the valves and the harmonics of the instrument leads to the following ratios and comparisons to 12-tone equal tuning and to a common five-limit tuning in C: Tuning compensation. The additional tubing for each valve usually features a short tuning slide of its own for fine adjustment of the valve's tuning, except when it is too short to make this practicable. For the first and third valves this is often designed to be adjusted as the instrument is played, to account for the deficiencies in the valve system. In most trumpets and cornets, the compensation must be provided by extending the third valve slide with the third or fourth finger, and the first valve slide with the left hand thumb (see Trigger or throw below). This is used to lower the pitch of the 1–3 and 1–2–3 valve combinations. On the trumpet and cornet, these valve combinations correspond to low D, low C, low G, and low F, so chromatically, to stay in tune, one must use this method.
In instruments with a fourth valve, such as tubas, euphoniums, piccolo trumpets, etc. that valve lowers the pitch by a perfect fourth; this is used to compensate for the sharpness of the valve combinations 1–3 and 1–2–3 (4 replaces 1–3, 2–4 replaces 1–2–3). All three normal valves may be used in addition to the fourth to increase the instrument's range downwards by a perfect fourth, although with increasingly severe intonation problems. When four-valved models without any kind of compensation play in the corresponding register, the sharpness becomes so severe that players must finger the note a half-step below the one they are trying to play. This eliminates the note a half-step above their open fundamental. Manufacturers of low brass instruments may choose one or a combination of four basic approaches to compensate for the tuning difficulties, whose respective merits are subject to debate: Compensation system. In the Compensation system, each of the first two (or three) valves has an additional set of tubing extending from the back of the valve. When the third (or fourth) valve is depressed in combination with another one, the air is routed through both the usual set of tubing plus the extra one, so that the pitch is lowered by an appropriate amount. This allows compensating instruments to play with accurate intonation in the octave below their open second partial, which is critical for tubas and euphoniums in much of their repertoire.
The compensating system was applied to horns to serve a different purpose. It was used to allow a double horn in F and B to ease playing difficulties in the high register. In contrast to the system in use in tubas and euphoniums, the default 'side' of the horn is the longer F horn, with secondary lengths of tubing coming into play when the first, second or third valves are pressed; pressing the thumb valve takes these secondary valve slides and the extra length of main tubing out of play to produce a shorter B horn. A later "full double" design has completely separate valve section tubing for the two sides, and is considered superior, although rather heavier in weight. Additional valves. Initially, compensated instruments tended to sound stuffy and blow less freely due to the air being doubled back through the main valves. In early designs, this led to sharp bends in the tubing and other obstructions of the air-flow. Some manufacturers therefore preferred adding more 'straight' valves instead, which for example could be pitched a little lower than the 2nd and 1st valves and were intended to be used instead of these in the respective valve combinations. While no longer featured in euphoniums for decades, many professional tubas are still built like this, with five valves being common on CC- and BB-tubas and five or six valves on F-tubas.
Compensating double horns can also suffer from the stuffiness resulting from the air being passed through the valve section twice, but as this really only affects the longer F side, a compensating double can be very useful for a 1st or 3rd horn player, who uses the F side less. Additional sets of slides on each valve. Another approach was the addition of two sets of slides for different parts of the range. Some euphoniums and tubas were built like this, but today, this approach has become highly exotic for all instruments except horns, where it is the norm, usually in a double, sometimes even triple configuration. Trigger or throw. Some valved brass instruments provide triggers or throws that manually lengthen (or, less commonly, shorten) the main tuning slide, a valve slide, or the main tubing. These mechanisms alter the pitch of notes that are naturally sharp in a specific register of the instrument, or shift the instrument to another playing range. Triggers and throws permit speedy adjustment while playing.
Trigger is used in two senses: A throw is a simple metal grip for the player's finger or thumb, attached to a valve slide. The general term "throw" can describe a u-hook, a saddle (u-shaped grips), or a ring (ring-shape grip) in which a player's finger or thumb rests. A player extends a finger or thumb to lengthen a slide, and retracts the finger to return the slide to its original position. Examples of instruments that use triggers or throws. Trumpet or cornet. Triggers or throws are sometimes found on the first valve slide. They are operated by the player's thumb and are used to adjust a large range of notes using the first valve, most notably the player's written top line F, the A above directly above that, and the B above that. Other notes that require the first valve slide, but are not as problematic without it include the first line E, the F above that, the A above that, and the third line B. Triggers or throws are often found on the third valve slide. They are operated by the player's fourth finger, and are used to adjust the lower D and C. Trumpets typically use throws, whilst cornets may have a throw or trigger.
Trombone. Trombone triggers are primarily but not exclusively installed on the F-trigger, bass, and contrabass trombones to alter the length of tubing, thus making certain ranges and pitches more accessible. Euphoniums. A euphonium occasionally has a trigger on valves other than 2 (especially 3), although many professional quality euphoniums, and indeed other brass band instruments, have a trigger for the main tuning slide. Mechanism. The two major types of valve mechanisms are "rotary valves" and "piston valves". The first piston valve instruments were developed just after the start of the 19th century. The "Stölzel valve" (invented by Heinrich Stölzel in 1814) was an early variety. In the mid 19th century the "Vienna valve" was an improved design. However many professional musicians preferred rotary valves for quicker, more reliable action, until better designs of piston valves were mass manufactured towards the end of the 19th century. Since the early decades of the 20th century, piston valves have been the most common on brass instruments except for the orchestral horn and the tuba. See also the article Brass Instrument Valves.
Sound production in brass instruments. Because the player of a brass instrument has direct control of the prime vibrator (the lips), brass instruments exploit the player's ability to select the harmonic at which the instrument's column of air vibrates. By making the instrument about twice as long as the equivalent woodwind instrument and starting with the second harmonic, players can get a good range of notes simply by varying the tension of their lips (see embouchure). Most brass instruments are fitted with a removable mouthpiece. Different shapes, sizes and styles of mouthpiece may be used to suit different embouchures, or to more easily produce certain tonal characteristics. Trumpets, trombones, and tubas are characteristically fitted with a cupped mouthpiece, while horns are fitted with a conical mouthpiece. One interesting difference between a woodwind instrument and a brass instrument is that woodwind instruments are non-directional. This means that the sound produced propagates in all directions with approximately equal volume. Brass instruments, on the other hand, are highly directional, with most of the sound produced traveling straight outward from the bell. This difference makes it significantly more difficult to record a brass instrument accurately. It also plays a major role in some performance situations, such as in marching bands.
Manufacture. Metal. Traditionally the instruments are normally made of brass, polished and then lacquered to prevent corrosion. Some higher quality and higher cost instruments use gold or silver plating to prevent corrosion. Alternatives to brass include other alloys containing significant amounts of copper or silver. These alloys are biostatic due to the oligodynamic effect, and thus suppress growth of molds, fungi or bacteria. Brass instruments constructed from stainless steel or aluminium have good sound quality but are rapidly colonized by microorganisms and become unpleasant to play. Most higher quality instruments are designed to prevent or reduce galvanic corrosion between any steel in the valves and springs, and the brass of the tubing. This may take the form of desiccant design, to keep the valves dry, sacrificial zincs, replaceable valve cores and springs, plastic insulating washers, or nonconductive or noble materials for the valve cores and springs. Some instruments use several such features. The process of making the large open end (bell) of a brass instrument is called "metal beating". In making the bell of, for example, a trumpet, a person lays out a pattern and shapes sheet metal into a bell-shape using templates, machine tools, handtools, and blueprints. The maker cuts out the bell blank, using hand or power shears. He hammers the blank over a bell-shaped mandrel, and butts the seam, using a notching tool. The seam is brazed, using a torch and smoothed using a hammer or file. A draw bench or arbor press equipped with expandable lead plug is used to shape and smooth the bell and bell neck over a mandrel. A lathe is used to spin the bell head and to form a bead at the edge of bell head. Previously shaped bell necks are annealed, using a hand torch to soften the metal for further bending. Scratches are removed from the bell using abrasive-coated cloth.
Other materials. A few specialty instruments are made from wood. Instruments made mostly from plastic emerged in the 2010s as a cheaper and more robust alternative to brass. Plastic instruments could come in almost any colour. The sound plastic instruments produce is different from the one of brass, lacquer, gold or silver. This is because plastic is much less dense, or rather has less matter in a given space as compared to the aforementioned which causes vibrations to occur differently. While originally seen as a gimmick, these plastic models have found increasing popularity during the last decade and are now viewed as practice tools that make for more convenient travel as well as a cheaper option for beginning players. Ensembles. Brass instruments are one of the major classical instrument families and are played across a range of musical ensembles. Orchestras include a varying number of brass instruments depending on music style and era, typically: Concert bands generally have a larger brass section than an orchestra, typically: British brass bands are made up entirely of brass, mostly conical bore instruments. Typical membership is: Quintets are common small brass ensembles; a quintet typically contains: Big bands and other jazz bands commonly contain cylindrical bore brass instruments. Mexican bandas have: Single brass instruments are also often used to accompany other instruments or ensembles such as an organ or a choir.
Blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canard which falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christians in order to use their blood in the performance of religious rituals. Echoing very old myths of secret cultic practices in many prehistoric societies, the claim, as it is leveled against Jews, was rarely attested to in antiquity. According to Tertullian, it originally emerged in late antiquity as an accusation made against members of the early Christian community of the Roman Empire. Once this accusation had been dismissed, it was revived a millennium later as a Christian slander against Jews in the medieval period. The first examples of medieval blood libel emerged in England in the mid 1100s before spreading into other parts of Europe, especially France and Germany. This libel, alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration, became a major theme of the persecution of Jews in Europe from that period down to modern times.
In Jewish lore, blood libels served as the impetus for the creation of the Golem of Prague by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel in the 16th century. The term 'blood libel' has also been used in reference to any unpleasant or damaging false accusation, and as a result, it has acquired a broader metaphoric meaning. However, this wider usage of the term remains controversial. History. The earliest versions of the accusations involving Jews supposedly crucifying Christian children on Easter/Passover is said to be because of a prophecy. There is no reference to the use of blood in unleavened matzo bread at this time yet, which develops later as a major motivation for the crime. Possible precursors. The earliest known antecedent is tenth century, from Damocritus (not Democritus the philosopher) mentioned in the Suda, who alleged that "every seven years the Jews captured a stranger, brought him to the temple in Jerusalem, and sacrificed him, cutting his flesh into bits." The Greco-Egyptian author Apion claimed that the Jews sacrificed Greek victims in their temple. Here, the writer states that when Antiochus Epiphanes entered the temple in Jerusalem, he discovered a Greek captive, who told him that he was being fattened for sacrifice. Every year, Apion claimed, the Jews would sacrifice a Greek and consume his flesh, at the same time swearing eternal hatred towards the Greeks. Apion's claim likely reflects already circulating attitudes towards Jews as similar claims are made by Posidonius and Apollonius Molon in the 1st century BCE. This idea is exampled later in history, when Socrates Scholasticus ( 5th century) reported that in a drunken frolic, a group of Jews bound a Christian child to a cross in mockery of the death of Christ and scourged him until he died.
Medieval context. The blood libels emerged at a time when the church and particularly the Crusades were driving increasingly anti-Judaic discourses. These were later reinforced through the Church council Lateran IV which mandated the segregation of Christian and Jewish society, and built an apparatus of enforcement across Europe. At a local context, many of the English examples may have included an element of church competition for saintly cults, with the income that veneration produced. Israel Yuval proposed that the blood libel may have originated in the 12th century due to Christian views on Jewish behavior during the First Crusade. Some Jews committed suicide and killed their own children rather than exposing them to forced conversion to Christianity. Yuval wrote that Christians may have argued that if Jews could kill their own children, they could also kill Christian children. Origins in England. In England, in 1144, the Jews of Norwich were falsely accused of ritual murder after a boy, William of Norwich, was found dead in the woods with stab wounds. William's hagiographer, Thomas of Monmouth, falsely claimed that every year there is an international council of Jews at which they choose the country in which a child will be killed during Easter, because of a Jewish prophecy that states that the killing of a Christian child each year will ensure that the Jews will be restored to the Holy Land. According to Monmouth, England was chosen in 1144, and the leaders of the Jewish community delegated the Jews of Norwich to perform the killing, after which they abducted and crucified William. The legend was turned into a cult, with William acquiring the status of a martyr and pilgrims bringing offerings to the local church.
This was followed by similar accusations in Gloucester (1168), Bury St Edmunds (1181) and Bristol (1183). In 1189, the Jewish deputation attending the coronation of Richard the Lionheart was attacked by the crowd. Massacres of Jews at London and York soon followed. In 1190, on 16 March, 150 Jews were attacked in York and then massacred when they took refuge in the royal castle, where Clifford's Tower now stands, with some committing suicide rather than being taken by the mob. The remains of 17 bodies thrown in a well in Norwich between the 12th and 13th century (five that were shown by DNA testing to likely be members of a single Jewish family) were very possibly killed as part of one of these pogroms. After the death of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, there were trials and executions of Jews. The case was described by Matthew Paris and later by Chaucer, and formed the basis of the "Sir Hugh" ballads which have circulated to the present day. Its notoriety sprang from the intervention of the Crown, the first time an accusation of ritual killing had been given royal credibility.
The eight-year-old Hugh disappeared at Lincoln on 31 July 1255. His body was probably discovered on 29 August, in a well. A Jew named Copin or Koppin confessed to involvement. He confessed to John of Lexington, a servant of the crown, and relative of the Bishop of Lincoln. He confessed that the boy had been crucified by the Jews, who had assembled at Lincoln for that purpose. King Henry III, who had reached Lincoln at the beginning of October, had Copin executed and 91 of the Jews of Lincoln seized and sent up to London, where 18 of them were executed. The rest were pardoned at the intercession of the Franciscans or Dominicans. Within a few decades, Jews would be expelled from all of England in 1290 and not allowed to return until 1657, although it is likely that some Jews lived there during this period and kept their religion secret. After the expulsion, Edward I renovated "Little Saint Hugh's" shrine and decorated it with his Royal insignia, as part of his efforts to justify his actions. As Stacey notes: "A more explicit identification of the crown with the ritual crucifixion charge can hardly be imagined."
Continental Europe. Much like the blood libel of England, the history of blood libel in continental Europe consists of unsubstantiated claims made about the corpses of Christian children. There were frequently associated supernatural events speculated about these discoveries and corpses, events which were often attributed by contemporaries to miracles. Also, just as in England, these accusations in continental Europe typically resulted in the execution of numerous Jews – sometimes even all, or close to all, the Jews in one town. These accusations and their effects also, in some cases, led to royal interference on behalf of the Jews. Thomas of Monmouth's story of the annual Jewish meeting to decide which local community would kill a Christian child also quickly spread to the continent. An early version appears in "Bonum Universale de Apibus" ii. 29, § 23, by Thomas of Cantimpré (a monastery near Cambray). Thomas wrote, in around 1260, "It is quite certain that the Jews of every province annually decide by lot which congregation or city is to send Christian blood to the other congregations." Thomas of Cantimpré also believed that since the time when the Jews called out to Pontius Pilate, "His blood be on us, and on our children" (), they have been afflicted with hemorrhages, a condition equated with male menstruation:
A very learned Jew, who in our day has been converted to the (Christian) faith, informs us that one enjoying the reputation of a prophet among them, toward the close of his life, made the following prediction: 'Be assured that relief from this secret ailment, to which you are exposed, can only be obtained through Christian blood (""solo sanguine Christiano").' This suggestion was followed by the ever-blind and impious Jews, who instituted the custom of annually shedding Christian blood in every province, in order that they might recover from their malady. Thomas added that the Jews had misunderstood the words of their prophet, who by his expression "solo sanguine Christiano"" had meant not the blood of any Christian, but that of Jesus the only true remedy for all physical and spiritual suffering. Thomas did not mention the name of the "very learned" proselyte, but it may have been Nicholas Donin of La Rochelle, who, in 1240, had a disputation on the Talmud with Yechiel of Paris, and who in 1242 caused the burning of numerous Talmudic manuscripts in Paris. It is known that Thomas was personally acquainted with Nicholas. Nicholas Donin and another Jewish convert, Theobald of Cambridge, are greatly credited with the adoption and the belief of the blood libel myth in Europe.
The first known case outside England was in Blois, France, in 1171. This was the site of a blood libel accusation against the town's entire Jewish community that led to around 31–33 Jews (with 17 women making up this total) being burned to death on 29 May of that year, or the 20th of Sivan of 4931. The blood libel revolved around R. Isaac, a Jew whom a Christian servant reported had deposited a murdered Christian in the Loire. The child's body was never found. The count had about 40 adult Blois Jews arrested and they were eventually to be burned. The surviving members of the Blois Jewish community, as well as surviving holy texts, were ransomed. As a result of this case, the Jews garnered new promises from the king. The burned bodies of the sentenced Jews were supposedly maintained unblemished through the burning, a claim which is a well-known miracle, martyr myth for both Jews and Christians. There is significant primary source material from this case including a letter revealing moves for Jewish protection with King Louis VII. Responding to the mass execution, the Twentieth of Sivan was declared a fast day by Rabbenu Tam. In this case in Blois, there was not yet the myth proclaimed that Jews needed the blood of Christians.
In 1235, after the dead bodies of five boys were found on Christmas Day in Fulda, the inhabitants of the town claimed the Jews had killed them to consume their blood, and burned 34 Jews to death with the help of Crusaders assembled at the time. Even though emperor Frederick II cleared the Jews of any wrongdoing after an investigation, blood libel accusations persisted in Germany. At Pforzheim, Baden, in 1267, a woman supposedly sold a girl to Jews who, according to the myth, then cut her open and dumped her in the Enz River, where boatmen found her; the girl cried for vengeance, and then died. The body was said to have bled as the Jews were brought to it. The woman and the Jews allegedly confessed and were subsequently killed. That a judicial execution was summarily committed in consequence of the accusation is evident from the manner in which the Nuremberg "Memorbuch" and the synagogal poems refer to the incident. In 1270, at Weissenburg, of Alsace, a supposed miracle alone decided the charge against the Jews. A child's body had shown up in the Lauter River; it was claimed that Jews had cut into the child to acquire his blood, and that the child continued bleeding for five days.
At Oberwesel, near Easter of 1287, alleged miracles again constituted the only evidence against the Jews. In this case, it was claimed that the corpse of the 16-year-old Werner of Oberwesel (also referred to as "Good Werner") landed at Bacharach and the body performed miracles, particularly medicinal miracles. Light was also said to have been emitted by the body. Reportedly, the child was hung upside down, forced to throw up the host and was cut open. In consequence, the Jews of Oberwesel and many other adjacent localities were severely persecuted during the years 1286–89. The Jews of Oberwesel were particularly targeted because there were no Jews remaining in Bacharach following a 1283 pogrom. Additionally, there were pogroms following this case as well at and around Oberwesel. Rudolph of Habsburg, to whom the Jews had appealed for protection, in order to manage the miracle story, had the archbishop of Mainz declare great wrong had been done to the Jew. This apparent declaration was very limited in effectiveness.
A statement was made, in the "Chronicle" of Konrad Justinger of 1423, that at Bern in 1293 or 1294 the Jews tortured and murdered a boy called Rudolph (sometimes also referred to as Ruff, or Ruof). The body was reportedly found by the house of Jöly, a Jew. The Jewish community was then implicated. The penalties imposed upon the Jews included torture, execution, expulsion, and steep financial fines. Justinger argued Jews were out to harm Christianity. The historical impossibility of this widely credited story was demonstrated by Jakob Stammler, pastor of Bern, in 1888. There have been several explanations put forth as to why these blood libel accusations were made and perpetuated. For example, it has been argued Thomas of Monmouth's account and other similar false accusations, as well as their perpetuation, largely had to do with the economic and political interests of leaders perpetuating these myths. The use of blood and other human products for medicinal or magical purposes was an established concept in medieval Europe. As such illegal ways of accessing these item were ascribed (in 1507) by Franciscans to Dominicans, by others to sorcerers and devil worshippers as well as Jews. 19th century.
One of the child-saints in the Russian Orthodox Church is the six-year-old boy Gavriil Belostoksky from the village Zverki. According to the legend supported by the church, the boy was kidnapped from his home during the holiday of Passover while his parents were away. Shutko, who was a Jew from Białystok, was accused of bringing the boy to Białystok, piercing him with sharp objects and draining his blood for nine days, then bringing the body back to Zverki and dumping it at a local field. A cult developed, and the boy was canonized in 1820. His relics are still the object of pilgrimage. On All Saints Day, 27 July 1997, the Belarusian state TV showed a film alleging the story is true. The revival of the cult in Belarus was cited as a dangerous expression of antisemitism in international reports on human rights and religious freedoms which were passed to the UNHCR. Views of the Catholic Church. The attitude of the Catholic Church towards these accusations and the cults venerating children supposedly killed by Jews has varied over time. The Papacy generally opposed them, although it had problems in enforcing its opposition.

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