Harmelen train disaster
The Harmelen train disaster was the worst railway accident in the history of the Netherlands on 8 January 1962. Harmelen, in the central Netherlands, is the location of a railway junction where a branch to Amsterdam leaves the Rotterdam to Utrecht line. It is common at high-speed junctions to avoid the use of diamond crossings wherever possible — instead a ladder crossing is employed where trains destined for the branch line cross over to the track normally employed for trains travelling in the opposite direction for a short distance before taking the branch line.
Southern Europe
The Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, and along with Mussolini's Italy sought to gain control of the continent by the Second World War. Following the Allied victory in the Second World War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain. The countries in Southeastern Europe were dominated by the Soviet Union and became communist states. The major non-communist Southern European countries joined a US-led military alliance (NATO) and formed the European Economic Community amongst themselves. The countries in the Soviet sphere of influence joined the military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact and the economic bloc called Comecon. Yugoslavia was neutal.
USS Jarvis (DD-799)
Clearing Norfolk 5 January 1955, Jarvis sailed to the West Coast, arriving Long Beach 26 January. After training off the California Coast, she departed 21 April on the first of five post-Korean War deployments to the Far East. As a unit of the powerful and versatile 7th Fleet, she ranged the Western Pacific from Japan to the Philippines, ever alert to insure peace in the unsettled Far East. While on her 1955 deployment to the Far East, she supported the evacuation of thousands of refugees from North to South Vietnam during Operation Passage to Freedom. During all her deployments she conducted patrols in the Formosa Strait to help stabilize the Nationalist-Communist struggle and prevent the invasion of Formosa from the mainland. In 1958 she provided valuable assistance for the Chinese Nationalists during the threatened Communist invasion of Quemoy and Matsu.
Korean War
In contrast, the ROK Army defenders were relatively unprepared and ill-equipped. In South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (1961), R.E. Appleman reports the ROK forces' low combat readiness as of 25 June 1950. The ROK Army had 98,000 soldiers (65,000 combat, 33,000 support), no tanks (they had been requested from the U.S. military, but requests were denied), and a 22-piece air force comprising 12 liaison-type and 10 AT6 advanced-trainer airplanes. There were no large foreign military garrisons in Korea at the time of the invasion, but there were large U.S. garrisons and air forces in Japan.
Red
After the Communist Party of China took power in 1949, the flag of China became a red flag with a large star symbolizing the Communist Party, and smaller stars symbolizing workers, peasants, the urban middle class and rural middle class. The flag of the Communist Party of China became a red banner with a hammer and sickle, similar to that on the Soviet flag. In the 1950s and 1960s, other Communist regimes such as Vietnam and Laos also adopted red flags. Some Communist countries, such as Cuba, chose to keep their old flags; and other countries used red flags which had nothing to do with Communism or socialism; the red flag of Nepal, for instance, represents the national flower.
Apostille Convention
The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention, or the Apostille Treaty, is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It specifies the modalities through which a document issued in one of the signatory countries can be certified for legal purposes in all the other signatory states. A certification under the terms of the convention is called an apostille (from Latin post illa and then French: a marginal note). It is an international certification comparable to a notarisation in domestic law, and normally supplements a local notarisation of the document. If the convention applies between two countries, such an apostille is sufficient to certify a document's validity, and removes the need for double - certification, by the originating country and then by the receiving country.
Prague underground (culture)
Prague underground was an underground culture developed in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s and 1970s during the Normalization period. The movement was characterized by resistance against conformity, conventions, and consumerism. Because of its non-conformity, it had serious problems with the communist regime which considered it as a political opposition.
Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (), is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. The sovereign state extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital Lomé is located. Togo covers , making it one of the smallest countries in Africa, with a population of approximately /1e6 round 1 million.
Kiewa River
The river rises near Clover Power Station, on the slopes of Mount Bogong, the highest mountain in Victoria at . The main river is formed by the confluence of the Kiewa River East branch and West Kiewa River. The Kiewa River flows generally north northwest, joined by eleven minor tributaries, towards its confluence with the Murray River, southeast of Albury and east of Wodonga. The main river descends over its course, sedately through cleared farming country downstream of Mount Beauty; while the West Kiewa River descends over its course, in near-pristine ash and peppermint forest country where the flow is swift, upstream of the town of Mount Beauty.
Vatican Cricket Team
The Vatican Cricket Team is an amateur cricket team established by the Vatican to help establish ties between the Catholic Church and countries and regions where the sport is popular including India and the Caribbean and to encourage inter-faith dialogue.
Josip Broz Tito
On 6 April 1941, German forces, with Hungarian and Italian assistance, launched an invasion of Yugoslavia. On 10 April 1941, Slavko Kvaternik proclaimed the Independent State of Croatia, and Tito responded by forming a Military Committee within the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party. Attacked from all sides, the armed forces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia quickly crumbled. On 17 April 1941, after King Peter II and other members of the government fled the country, the remaining representatives of the government and military met with the German officials in Belgrade. They quickly agreed to end military resistance. On 1 May 1941, Tito issued a pamphlet calling on the people to unite in a battle against the occupation. On 27 June 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia appointed Tito Commander in Chief of all project national liberation military forces. On 1 July 1941, the Comintern sent precise instructions calling for immediate action.
Portugal
The armed forces have three branches: Navy, Army and Air Force. They serve primarily as a self-defense force whose mission is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and provide humanitarian assistance and security at home and abroad. As of 2008, the three branches numbered 39,200 active personnel including 7,500 women. Portuguese military expenditure in 2009 was $5.2 billion, representing 2.1 percent of GDP. Military conscription was abolished in 2004. The minimum age for voluntary recruitment is 18 years.
Esther Barsel
Esther Barsel (born 17 October 1924, in Raguva, Lithuania; died 6 October 2008, in Johannesburg) was a South African political activist and long-standing member of the South African Communist Party (SACP). She was a member of both her local African National Congress branch and the SACP's Johannesburg Central Branch.
Guilty of Treason
Guilty of Treason is a 1950 American drama film directed by Felix E. Feist and starring Charles Bickford, Bonita Granville and Paul Kelly. Also known by the alternative title Treason, it is an anti-communist and anti-Soviet film about the story of József Mindszenty, a Roman Catholic cardinal from Hungary. Mindszenty spoke out against the Nazi occupation of his country during World War II, as well as the later Communist regime. Because of his opposition to the Soviet regime, Mindszenty was arrested and tortured. After his release, he took refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest for many years, maintaining his support for the Hungarians who wanted an end to the Russian occupation.
Azerbaijan People's Government
The Firqah-i Dimukrat, or Azerbaijani Democratic Party (ADP), publicly announced its formation in Tabriz on September 3, 1945 by a group of veteran communists headed by Ja'far Pishevari. After the announcement, the communist, Soviet-supported Tudeh party dissolved its Azerbaijan chapter and ordered its members to join ADP. ADP expanded throughout Iranian Azerbaijan, and initiated a local coup d'état with help from Soviet army, who prevented the Iranian army from intervening. During the first week of September 1945, the Azerbaijani Democratic Party, led by Ja'far Pishevari, a long-time leader of the revolutionary movement in Gilan, declared itself to be in control of Iranian Azerbaijan, promised liberal democratic reforms, and disbanded the local branch of Tudeh. Later in September 1945, at its first congress, the Azerbaijani Democratic Party authorized the formation of a peasant's militia. This militia started a bloodless coup on November 18, 1945 and by November 21, 1945 they had captured all remaining government posts in the province, and Iranian Azerbaijan "became an autonomous republic under the direction of a 39-member national executive committee".  The reality of the power seems to have been exercised by Mohammed Biriya, the Minister of Propaganda and head of the local secret police.At the same time, the US was steadily increasing its military assistance to the Iranian government. Under pressure by the Western powers, the Soviet Union revoked its support of the newly created state and the Iranian military succeeded in re-establishing Iranian rule in November 1946. According to Tadeusz Swietochowski:
Josip Broz Tito
In 1968, Tito offered Czechoslovak leader Alexander Dubček to fly to Prague on three hours notice if Dubček needed help in facing down the Soviets. In April 1969, Tito removed generals Ivan Gošnjak and Rade Hamović in the aftermath of the invasion of Czechoslovakia due to the unpreparedness of the Yugoslav army to respond to a similar invasion of Yugoslavia.
Embassy of Canada in Moscow
The Embassy of Canada to Russia in Moscow is the diplomatic mission of Canada to Russia. Included in its mandate are the countries of Armenia and Uzbekistan. It also provides visa services to residents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Josip Broz Tito
Because of its neutrality, Yugoslavia would often be rare among Communist countries to have diplomatic relations with right-wing, anti-Communist governments. For example, Yugoslavia was the only communist country allowed to have an embassy in Alfredo Stroessner's Paraguay. One notable exception to Yugoslavia's neutral stance toward anti-communist countries was Chile under Pinochet; Yugoslavia was one of many countries which severed diplomatic relations with Chile after Salvador Allende was overthrown. Yugoslavia also provided military aid and arms supplies to staunchly anti-Communist regimes such as that of Guatemala under Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García.
Plymouth
Plymouth is the regional television centre of BBC South West. A team of journalists are headquartered at Plymouth for the ITV West Country regional station, after a merger with ITV West forced ITV Westcountry to close on 16 February 2009. The main local newspapers serving Plymouth are The Herald and Western Morning News with Radio Plymouth , BBC Radio Devon, Heart South West , and Pirate FM being the main local radio stations.
Police
In the American Old West, policing was often of very poor quality.[citation needed] The Army often provided some policing alongside poorly resourced sheriffs and temporarily organized posses.[citation needed] Public organizations were supplemented by private contractors, notably the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which was hired by individuals, businessmen, local governments and the federal government. At its height, the Pinkerton Agency's numbers exceeded those of the United States Army.[citation needed]
Normalization occurred in Country A that invaded Country B because the military branch was unprepared. Country B was the only communist country to have an embassy where?
Normalization >> country
Czechoslovakia
Which military branch helped the Old West's inadequate local police?
The Army
What #2 was unprepared for the invasion of #1 ?
Yugoslavia
#3 was the only communist country to have an embassy where?
Alfredo Stroessner's Paraguay