:: wikimiki.org ::

James Alexander Gordon

James Alexander Gordon

James Alexander Gordon, born 6 October 1782, died 8 January 1869, was a distinguished British naval officer of the Napoleonic Wars whose 75 years in the service, from Midshipman to Admiral of the Fleet, was unprecedented in its duration. It has been speculated that he was the model for the ‘Hornblower’ novels of C.S. Forester

Early Career

Gordon came of a family of minor Highland gentry of Jacobite sympathies, the Gordons of Beldorny and Wardhouse. He was born in Aberdeen, and entered the Royal Navy in 1793 as a Midshipman in HMS Arrogant (74). He transferred in 1795 to the frigate Révolutionnaire, which took part in Lord Bridport's action off the Ile de Groix on 23 June of that year. In 1796 he moved to the ship-of-the-line HMS Namur (90), in which he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 13/14 February 1797. Later in 1797 Gordon became Master’s Mate aboard HMS Goliath (74), which on 1 August formed part of the fleet under Lord Nelson which inflicted a crushing defeat upon Napoleon’s ships at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. In 1800 he was appointed second Lieutenant of the sloop Bordelais which on 29 January 1801, while escorting a convoy to the West Indies, fought a smart action with three French brigs, capturing one. In the Caribbean later that year Gordon, on an independent mission, was captured by the Haitian government of Toussaint L’Ouverture and spent four months in prison before being released by cartel. He was made first Lieutenant of the brig HMS Raccoon (18) in 1802 and returned to the West Indies. As a result of Raccoons capture of the French corvette Lodi on 11 July 1803, Gordon was promoted to Commander and himself became Raccoon’s captain on 22 October.
Frigate Captain
Gordon was created Post Captain in May 1805 and assigned command of the frigate Laegera (28), but was unable to take up the position because of illness. He was without a command until 1807, when he took over the frigate HMS Mercury (28), engaged in blockade duties off Cadiz, and was part of a hard-fought action between three British ships and the combined forces of a Spanish convoy, 20 gunboats and land artillery off the town of Rota on 4 April 1808. On 27 June he became captain of the frigate HMS Active (38) at Gibraltar and spent the next three years in operations in the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Active was one of the four ships under the command of William Hoste that successfully defeated a much larger French squadron at the first Battle of Lissa, 13 March 1811, and on 28 November she was one of three that defeated three more powerful French frigates off Pelagosa. In this latter action Gordon’s left knee was shattered by a cannon ball and his leg had to be amputated; he used a wooden leg for the remainder of his life. He recuperated in Malta and was able to take Active back to England in June 1812, where he married and then took command of the frigate Seahorse, escorting convoys for the West Indies and enforcing the blockade of France. In 1814 she transferred to the American station, where the War of 1812 was still under way. Gordon, with Charles Napier as his second in command, distinguished himself as commodore leading the successful expedition up the Potomac, 17 August-6 September, and also took part in the bombardment of Baltimore and the attack on Fort McHenry, 12-14 September.
Postwar career
Gordon was made a KCB in 1815 for his activities in the American War. He was lucky after the cessation of hostilities against the USA and Napoleon to continue for a while in seagoing commands, as captain of the frigate Madagascar in 1815-16 and then of the frigate Meander in the latter year. In 1819 he rejoined his old command, HMS Active, and was again her captain until 1821. After this he held no further seagoing command. He was appointed Superintendent of the Naval Hospital at Plymouth in 1828, and in 1832 moved on to become Superintendent of Chatham Dockyard. He attained the rank of Rear Admiral in 1837, and in 1840 became Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich; he would remain associated with the running of that institution and the care of old seamen until his death. He became a Vice-Admiral in 1848 and full Admiral in 1853, in which year he succeeded to Sir Robert Stopford as Governor of the Greenwich Hospital. On 30 January 1868, aged 86, he attained the rank of Admiral of the Fleet. He died at Greenwich just under a year later and was buried in the Hospital grounds. An obituary in Macmillan’s Magazine hailed him as ‘The Last of Nelson’s Captains’.
Posthumous Reputation
By the time of his death Gordon was largely forgotten, and his only modern biography trades heavily on the thesis that he was the principal model for C.S. Forester’s hero Horatio Hornblower. It is clear that Forester was familiar with the facts of Gordon’s life, and it may be significant that in his history of the War of 1812 he very nearly avoids mentioning Gordon at all while giving full details of most of the other officers involved. There are indeed many parallels between Gordon’s career and Hornblower’s, but many divergences also, and it remains likely that Forester’s hero is an amalgam of several leading officers of the Napoleonic War period, notably including Thomas Cochrane (who was also a partial model for Patrick O'Brian's sailor hero, Jack Aubrey). Source: Bryan Perrett, The Real Hornblower: The Life and Times of Admiral Sir James Gordon, GCB (London, 1998) Category:Royal Navy admirals

1782
1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).
Events

- January 7 - The first American commercial bank opens (Bank of North America).
- January 15 - Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage
- February 5 - Spanish defeat British forces and capture Minorca.
- March 8 - In Ohio the Gnadenhutten massacre of Native Americans takes place in which 29 men, 27 women, and 34 children were killed by white militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by another Native American group.
- April 6 - Rama I succeeded King Taksin of Thailand who was overthrown in an coup d'etat.
- April 12 - A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a French fleet under the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes in the West Indies.
- June 18 – In Switzerland, Anna Goldi in sentenced to death for witchcraft – the last legal witchcraft sentence
- August 7 - George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic "Purple Heart".
- November 30 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized in the Treaty of Paris).
- London creates Foot Patrol for public security
- Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries try to cross the English Channel with a hot-air balloon
- British parliament extends James Watt's copyright for the steam engine to the year 1800
Births

- Charlotte Dacre, English author (d. 1842)
- January 18 - Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)
- March 18 - John Calhoun, Vice President of the United States (d. 1850)
- July 3 - Pierre Berthier, French geologist (d. 1861)
- July 26 - John Field, Irish composer (d. 1837)
- October 27 - Nicolo Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
- December 5 - Martin Van Buren, 8th President of the United States (d. 1862)
- William Miller, American preacher (d. 1849)
Deaths

- January 1 - Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
- January 4 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (b. 1698)
- February 9 - Joseph Aloysius Assemani, Syrian orientalist (b. 1710)
- February 10 - Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian (b. 1702)
- March 17 - Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-born mathematical physicist (b. 1700)
- April 12 - Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)
- April 27 - William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (b. 1710)
- May 15 - Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese prime minister (b. 1699)
- May 16 - Daniel Solander, Swedish botanist (b. 1736)
- May 20 - William Emerson, English mathematician (b. 1701)
- May - Richard Wilson, Welsh painter (b. 1714)
- July 1 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1730)
- July 15 - Farinelli, Italian castrato (b. 1705)
- August 31 - George Croghan, American colonist
- December 27 - Henry Home, Lord Kames, Scottish advocate and philosopher (b. 1697)
- Hyder Ali, Indian general and Sultan of Mysore Category:1782 ko:1782년 ms:1782 th:พ.ศ. 2325

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonaparte's rule over France. They were partly an extension of conflicts sparked by the French Revolution, and continued during the regime of the First French Empire. These wars revolutionized European army and artillery systems. French power rose quickly, conquering most of Europe; the fall was also rapid, beginning with the disastrous invasion of Russia, and Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat, resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France. There is no consensus on when the French Revolutionary Wars ended and the Napoleonic Wars began; the latter are sometimes considered to have begun when Bonaparte seized power in France, in November 1799. Other versions put the period of warfare between 1799 and 1802 in the context of the French Revolutionary Wars, and set the Napoleonic Wars' beginning at the outbreak of war between the United Kingdom and France in 1803, following the brief peace concluded at Amiens in 1802. The Napoleonic Wars ended on 20 November 1815, following Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo and the Second Treaty of Paris. Collectively, the nearly continuous period of warfare from April 20, 1792, until November 20, 1815, is sometimes (though rarely these days) referred to as the Great French War.

Political effects of the wars

Great French War] The Napoleonic Wars brought some great changes upon the face of Europe:
- France was no longer a dominant power in Europe, as it had been since the times of Louis XIV.
- The United Kingdom emerged as the most powerful nation in the world. The Royal Navy held unquestioned naval superiority throughout the world, and the United Kingdom's industrial economy made it the most powerful commercial nation as well.
- In most European countries, the importation of the ideals of the French Revolution (democracy, due process in courts, abolition of privileges, etc.) had left a mark. Even though Napoleonic rule was authoritarian, it was often less authoritarian and arbitrary than that of previous monarchs (or for that matter the Jacobin and Directory regimes of France during the Revolution). European monarchs found it difficult to reinstate pre-revolutionary absolutism, and were forced to keep some of the reforms induced by the occupation. Institutional legacies have remained: for instance, many European countries have a Civil law legal system, with clearly redacted codes compiling the basic laws.
- A new and potentially powerful movement had been sprung: nationalism. Nationalism was to re-shape the course of European history forever. It was the force that spelled the beginning of some nations, and the end of others. The map of Europe was to be re-drawn in the next hundred years following Napoleon's wars, not based on fiefs and aristocracy, but on the basis of human culture, origin, and ideology.
- On the other hand, another concept had been brought about — that of Europe. Napoleon mentioned on several occasions his intention to create a single European state, and, although Napoleon's defeat set the thought of a unified Europe back over one and a half centuries, the European identity was rediscovered following the Second World War.

Military legacy of the wars

The Napoleonic Wars also had a profound military impact. Until the time of Napoleon, European states had employed relatively small armies with a large proportion of mercenaries that sometimes fought for foreign states against their native countries. However, military innovators in the middle of the 18th century began to recognize the potential of a "nation at war". Napoleon was an innovator in the use of mobility to offset numerical disadvantages, as he brilliantly demonstrated in his rout of the Austro-Russian forces in 1805 in the Battle of Austerlitz. The French Army reorganized the role of artillery in warfare, forming independent and mobile artillery units as opposed to the previous tradition of attaching artillery pieces in support of other troop units. Napoleon standardized the cannonball sizes to ensure easier resupply and compatibility among his army's artillery pieces. With the fourth-largest population in the world by the end of the 18th century (27 million, as compared to the United Kingdom's 12 million and Russia's 35-40 million), France was well poised to take advantage of the 'levée en masse'. Because the revolution and Napoleon's reign witnessed the first application of the lessons of the 18th century's wars on trade and dynastic disputes, it is often falsely assumed that such ideas were the fruit of the revolution rather than ideas which found their implementation in it. Not all the credit for the innovations of this period should be given to Napoleon, however. Lazare Carnot played a large part in the reorganization of the French army in 1793–4 — a time in which French fortunes were reversed with Republican armies advancing on all fronts. The sizes of the armies involved give an obvious indication of the change in warfare. During Europe's last major war, the Seven Years War, few armies ever numbered more than 200,000. By contrast, the French army peaked in size in the 1790s when about 1.5 million Frenchmen were enlisted. In total, about 2.8 million Frenchmen fought in the conflict on land, and about 150,000 fought at sea, bringing the total for France to almost 3 million combatants. The United Kingdom had 747,670 men under arms between 1792 and 1815. In addition, about a quarter of a million personnel served in the Royal Navy. Totals for other major combatants are difficult to find, but in September 1812, Russia had about 904,000 enlisted men in its land forces — meaning the total number of Russians that fought must have been in the vicinity of 2 million or more. Austria's forces peaked in number at about 576,000 and had little or no naval forces. After the United Kingdom, Austria was the most persistent enemy of France, and it is reasonable to assume that more than a million Austrians served in total. Prussia never had more than 320,000 men under arms at any given point, only just ahead of the United Kingdom. Spain's armies also peaked in size at around 300,000, but to this we need to add a considerable force of guerillas. The only other nations to ever have more than 100,000 under arms were the Ottoman Empire, Italy, Naples and Poland (not including the United States (286,730 total combatants) or the Maratha Confederation). Even small nations now had armies rivalling the Great Powers of past wars in size. However it is necessary to bear in mind that the above numbers of soldiers are obtained from military records and in practice the actual numbers of fighting men would be below this level due to desertion, fraud by officers claiming non-existent soldiers pay, death and, in some countries, deliberate exaggeration to ensure enlistment targets were met. Despite this there clearly was an expansion in the size of armed forces at this time. The initial stages of the Industrial Revolution had much to do with this — it now became easy to mass-produce weapons and thus equip significantly larger forces. The United Kingdom was the largest single manufacturer of armaments in this period, supplying most of the weapons used by the Allied powers throughout the conflicts (although using relatively few themselves). France was the second-largest producer, arming its own huge forces as well as those of the Confederation of the Rhine and other allies. Another advance which affected warfare was the semaphore system that allowed the war minister Carnot to communicate with French forces on the frontiers throughout the 1790s. This system continued to be used for the whole period of the wars. Additionally, aerial surveillance was used for the first time, when the French used a hot-air balloon to survey Allied positions before the Battle of Fleurus, on June 26, 1794. There were also advances in ordnance and rocketry during the conflict.

The First and Second Coalitions

rocketry in 1799.]] :For a more detailed account, see the French Revolutionary Wars. The first attempt to crush the new French republic was made in 1792-1797 by the First Coalition, which consisted of:
- Austria,
- Piedmont,
- Prussia,
- Spain and
- the United Kingdom. It was defeated by the French efforts, which consisted of general conscription (levée en masse), military reform and total war. Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian campaign in 1796 and 1797 successfully knocked Piedmont out of the war. Piedmont had been one of the original members of the Coalition and had been a persistent threat to the French on the Italian front for four years by the time Bonaparte assumed command of the French Army of Italy. It took Bonaparte only a month to defeat Piedmont and push its Austrian allies back. The Papal forces were defeated by the French at Fort Urban, (forcing Pope Pius VI to sign a provisional peace treaty) and successive Austrian counteroffensives into Italy failed, leading to Bonaparte's entry into Friuli. The war was ended by Bonaparte when the Austrians were forced to accept his terms in the Treaty of Campo Formio. The United Kingdom remained the only power still at war with France by 1797. The Second Coalition (1798-1801) consisted of Russia, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples and the Papal States. The corrupt and divided French government, under the Executive Directory, was in turmoil, and the Republic was almost broken up and very short of funds (indeed in 1799, when Bonaparte assumed power, he found only 60,000 francs in the national treasury). Russian involvement was also a key change from the War of the First Coalition. Russian forces in Italy were commanded by the notoriously ruthless and militarily successful Alexander Suvorov. The French Republic was also stripped of Lazare Carnot—the war minister who had guided France to successive victories following massive reform during the first war. Furthermore, Bonaparte was involved in an Egyptian campaign with the objective of threatening British India. Stripped of two of its most important military commanders from the previous conflict, the Republic suffered successive defeats against revitalized enemies, brought back into the war by British financial support. After an ill-conceived campaign of Egypt by the French Directory, where 40,000 French troops where ultimately worn out by diseases and English and Ottoman attacks, Bonaparte managed to return to France on August 23rd 1799. He seized control of the French government in November 1799 (the coup of 18 Brumaire), toppling the Directory with the aid of ideologue Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès. The offensive of the Austrian forces on the Rhine and in Italy was a pressing threat to France, but all Russian troops were withdrawn from the front, following Tsarina Catherine II of Russia's death. Napoleon reorganised the French military and created a reserve army positioned to support the efforts either on the Rhine or in Italy. On all fronts, French advances caught Austrians off-guard. At the time, the French army had 300,000 troops fighting the Coalition's forces. In Italy, the situation was reversed by increased Austrian pressure, however, and Napoleon was forced to mobilise the Reserve Army. He clashed with the Austrians at Marengo (June 14, 1800) and would have lost had it not been for General Desaix's timely intervention to turn back the Austrian attacks and defeat them. Desaix died in the battle and Napoleon later commemorated his bravery by building monuments to him and including his name in the list of generals engraved on the face of the Arc de Triomphe. However, on the Rhine the decisive battle came when the French army of 180,000 faced the Austrian army of 120,000 at Hohenlinden (December 3). The Austrians were defeated and temporarily left the conflict after the Treaty of Lunéville (February 1801). Napoleon's main problem was now the United Kingdom, which remained an important influence on the continental powers in encouraging resistance to France. The United Kingdom had brought the second coalition together through subsidies and Napoleon realised that without British defeat or a treaty with the UK there could not be a complete peace. The British army was small and presented little or no threat to France itself, but the Royal Navy was a continuing threat to French shipping and to the French colonies in the Caribbean. Additionally, British funds were sufficient to unite the Great Powers on the continent against France and, despite numerous defeats, the Austrian army remained a potent danger for Napoleonic France. Napoleon was, however, unable to invade Great Britain directly. In the British Admiral Jervis's famous phrase, "I do not say, my Lords, that the French will not come. I say only they will not come by sea". The French fleet was defeated by Admiral Horatio Nelson in the Battle of the Nile (August 1) at Aboukir (Abu Qir), and a French expedition to Ireland was also quickly contained. The Treaty of Amiens (1802) resulted in peace between the UK and France, and marked the final collapse of the Second Coalition. However, the treaty was never likely to endure: neither side was satisfied by it and both sides dishonoured parts of it. Hostilities were renewed on May 18, 1803. The conflict changed over its course from a general desire to restore the French monarchy into an almost manichean struggle against Bonaparte. Bonaparte declared France an empire on May 28, 1804 and crowned himself emperor at Notre-Dame on December 2.

The Third Coalition

December 2 Napoleon planned an invasion of the British Isles, and massed 180,000 troops at Boulogne. However, he needed to achieve naval superiority to mount his invasion, or at least to pull the British fleet away from the English Channel. A complex plan to distract the British by threatening their possessions in the West Indies failed when a Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve turned back after an inconclusive action off Cape Finisterre. Villeneuve was blockaded in Cádiz until he left for Naples on October 19, but was caught and defeated at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21 by Lord Nelson. Napoleon had sent nine different plans to Villeneuve and the indecisive French commander hesitated continually. By this time, however, Napoleon had already all but abandoned plans to invade the British Isles, and turned his attention to enemies on the Continent once again. The French army left Boulogne and moved towards Austria. The series of naval and colonial conflicts, including a large number of minor naval actions, such as the Action of 1805, that characterised the months leading up to Napoleon's decision to abort the invasion of Great Britain were perhaps a clear sign of the new nature of war. Conflicts in the Caribbean, and in particular the seizure of colonial bases and islands throughout the wars, would directly and immediately have an effect upon the European conflict and battles thousands of miles apart could influence each other's outcomes. This could be considered a sign that the Napoleonic conflict had reached the point at which it had become a world war. The only precedent for widespread conflict on such a scale was the Seven Years' War. In April 1805, the United Kingdom and Russia signed a treaty to remove the French from Holland and Switzerland. Austria joined the alliance after the annexation of Genoa and the proclamation of Napoleon as King of Italy. The Austrians began the war by invading Bavaria with an army of about 70,000 under Karl Mack von Lieberich, and the French army marched out from Boulogne in late July, 1805 to confront them. At Ulm (September 25 - October 20) Napoleon managed to surround Mack's army by a brilliant envelopment, forcing its surrender without significant losses. With the main Austrian army north of the Alps defeated (another army under Archduke Charles maneuvered inconclusively against André Masséna's French army in Italy), Napoleon occupied Vienna. Far from his supply lines, he was faced with a superior Austro-Russian army under the command of Mikhail Kutuzov, with the Emperor Alexander of Russia personally present. On December 2 Napoleon crushed the joint Austro-Russian army at Austerlitz in Moravia (this is usually considered his greatest victory). He inflicted a total of 25,000 casualties on a numerically superior enemy army while sustaining fewer than 7,000 in his own force. After Austerlitz, Austria signed the Treaty of Pressburg, leaving the coalition. This required the Austrians to give up Venetia to the French dominated Kingdom of Italy and Tyrol to Bavaria. With the withdrawal of Austria from the war, stalemate ensued. Napoleon's army had a record of continuous unbroken victory on land, but the full force of the Russian army had not yet come into play.

The Fourth Coalition

The Fourth Coalition (1806-1807) of the United Kingdom, Prussia, Saxony, Russia and Sweden against France was formed within months of the collapse of the previous coalition. In July 1806 Napoleon formed the Confederation of the Rhine out of the many tiny German states which constituted the Rhineland and most other parts of Germany. Many of the smaller states were amalgamated into larger electorates, duchies and kingdoms to make the governance of non-Prussian Germany a smoother affair. The largest states were Saxony and Bavaria, both of which had their leaders elevated to the status of kings by Napoleon. In August the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm III made the decision to go to war independently of any other great power, save the distant Russia. The more sensible course of action would have been to declare war the previous year and join Austria and Russia. This might have contained Napoleon and prevented the Allied disaster at Austerlitz. As it was, the Russian army, an ally of Prussia, was far away when the declaration of war was made. In September Napoleon launched all French forces east of the Rhine. The Prussian army was defeated by Napoleon at Jena and by Davout at Auerstädt (October 14 1806). Some 160,000 (increasing in number as the campaign went on) French went against Prussia and moved with such speed that Napoleon was able to destroy as an effective military force the entire quarter of a million strong Prussian army - which sustained 25,000 casualties, lost a further 150,000 prisoners and 4,000 artillery pieces, and over 100,000 muskets stockpiled in Berlin. In the former battle Napoleon only fought a detachment of the Prussian force. The latter battle involved a single French corps defeating the bulk of the Prussian army. Napoleon entered into Berlin on the 27th and visited the tomb of Frederick the Great, there instructing his marshals to remove their hats, saying, "If he was alive we wouldn't be here today." In total Napoleon had taken only 19 days from beginning his attack on Prussia until knocking it out of the war with the capture of Berlin and the destruction of its principal armies at Jena and Auerstadt. By contrast Prussia had fought for three years in the War of the First Coalition with little achievement. In Berlin, Napoleon issued a series of decrees which, on November 1, 1806 brought the Continental System into effect, which aimed to eliminate the threat of the United Kingdom by closing French controlled territory to its trade. The United Kingdom's army remained a minimal threat to France; the UK maintained a standing army of just 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas France's strength peaked at over 1,500,000 in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national guards that could be drafted into the military if necessary. The Royal Navy however was instrumental in disrupting France's extra-continental trade - both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions - but could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed no threat to French territory in Europe. In addition France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the United Kingdom. However, the United Kingdom's industrial capacity was the greatest in Europe and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade. That was sufficient to ensure that France was never able to consolidate its control over Europe in peace. However many in the French government believed that cutting the United Kingdom off from the Continent would end its economic influence over Europe and isolate it. This was what the Continental System was designed to achieve, although it never succeeded in this objective. The next stage of the war involved driving Russian forces out of Poland and creating a new Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Napoleon then turned north to confront the remainder of the Russian army and attempt to capture the new Prussian capital at Königsberg. A tactical draw at Eylau (February 7-8) forced the Russians to withdraw further north. Napoleon then routed the Russian army at Friedland (June 14). Following this defeat, Alexander was forced to make peace with Napoleon at Tilsit (July 7, 1807). By September, Marshal Brune completed the occupation of Swedish Pomerania allowing the Swedish army, however, to withdraw with all its munitions of war. At the Congress of Erfurt (1808) Napoleon and Alexander agreed that Russia should force Sweden to join the Continental System, which led to the Finnish War and the division of Sweden through the Gulf of Bothnia. The eastern part became the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland.

The Fifth Coalition

Grand Duchy of Finland The Fifth Coalition (1809) of the United Kingdom and Austria against France was formed while the United Kingdom was also engaged in the Peninsular War against France. Once again, the United Kingdom stood alone, owing much to the existence of the English Channel, the UK's emphasis on naval rather than military strength and the fact that the UK's army had never been completely engaged against the French. British military activity was reduced to a succession of victories in the French colonies and another naval victory at Copenhagen (September 2, 1807). On land, only the disastrous Walcheren Expedition (1809) was attempted. In Europe the struggle was carried on in the sphere of economic warfare - the French Continental System vs. the British naval blockade of French controlled territory. Due to shortages in French territory there were numerous breaches of the Continental System, as French dominated states engaged in illicit, although often tolerated, trade with British smugglers. Both sides entered additional conflicts in attempts to enforce their blockade; the British fought the United States in the War of 1812 (1812-1814), and the French engaged in the Peninsular War (1808-1814). The Iberian conflict began when Portugal continued trade with the United Kingdom despite French restrictions. When Spain failed to maintain the system the alliance with France came to an end and French troops gradually encroached on its territory until Madrid was occupied. British intervention soon followed. Austria, previously an ally of the French, took the opportunity to attempt to restore its German empire held prior to Austerlitz. Austria achieved a number of initial victories against the thinly spread army of Marshal Davout. Napoleon had left Davout with only 170,000 troops to defend France's entire Eastern frontier. The same task had been carried out in the 1790s by 800,000 troops and at that time those forces were required to hold a much shorter front. Napoleon had enjoyed easy success in Spain, retaking Madrid, defeating the Spanish and British and driving the main British army from the peninsula. Austria's attack prevented Napoleon from successfully wrapping up operations against British forces by necessitating his departure to Austria, he never returned to the Peninsula theatre. In his absence and the absence of his best marshals (Davout remained in the east throughout the war) the situation deteriorated, especially when the prodigious British general, Sir Arthur Wellesley, arrived to command British forces. The Austrians drove into the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, but were defeated at the Battle of Radzyn April 19, 1809. The Polish army captured West Galicia following its earlier success. Napoleon assumed command in the east and bolstered the army there for his counterattack on Austria. A series of relatively minor battles ensued until the massive Battle of Aspern-Essling - Napoleon's first tactical defeat. Failure by the Austrian commander, Archduke Karl, to follow up on his small victory, meant that Napoleon was able to prepare for a renewed attempt to seize Vienna and in early July he did so. He defeated the Austrians at Wagram, on July 5-6. It was during this battle that Marshal Bernadotte was stripped of his title and ridiculed by Napoleon in front of other senior officers. Bernadotte was offered the vacant position of Crown Prince of Sweden and took this, thus betraying Napoleon. Later he would actively participate in wars against his former Emperor. The Fifth Coalition was ended by the Treaty of Schönbrunn (October 14, 1809). In the east only the Tyrolese rebels led by Andreas Hofer continued to fight the French-Bavarian army until being finally demolished in November 1809, while in the west the Peninsular War continued. In 1810 the French empire reached its greatest extent. The British and Portuguese were restricted to the area around Lisbon behind their impregnable lines of Torres Vedras. Napoleon married Marie-Louise, an Austrian Archduchess in order to ensure a more stable alliance with Austria and to provide the Emperor with an heir, something his first wife, Josephine, had failed to do. As well as the French empire, Napoleon controlled the Swiss Confederation, the Confederation of the Rhine, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and the Kingdom of Italy. Allied territories included: the Kingdom of Spain (Joseph Bonaparte); Kingdom of Westphalia (Jerome Bonaparte); the Kingdom of Naples (Joachim Murat, brother-in-law); Principality of Lucca and Piombino (Felix Bacciochi, brother-in-law); and his former enemies, Prussia and Austria.

The Sixth Coalition

: See Napoleon's invasion of Russia : See also War of 1812 between the British Empire and the United States of America The Sixth Coalition (1812–1814) consisted of the United Kingdom and Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria and a number of German States. 1814 In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia to compel Emperor Alexander I to remain in the Continental System and to remove the imminent threat of Russian invasion of Poland. The Grande Armée, 650,000 men (270,000 Frenchmen and many soldiers of allies or subject powers), crossed the Niemen River on June 23 1812. Russia proclaimed a Patriotic War, while Napoleon proclaimed a Second Polish war, but against the expectations of the Poles who supplied almost 100,000 troops for the invasion force he avoided any concessions toward Poland, having in mind further negotiations with Russia. Russia maintained a scorched earth policy of retreat broken only by the battle of Borodino (September 7), when the Russians stood and fought. This was bloody and the Russians were eventually forced to back down and open the road to Moscow. By September 14, Moscow was captured although by this point it had been largely abandoned by the Russians and prisoners had been released from Moscow’s prisons to inconvenience the French. Alexander I refused to capitulate and with no sign of clear victory in sight Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Moscow after the governor, Prince Rastopchin, ordered the city burnt to the ground. So the disastrous Great Retreat began, with 370,000 casualties largely as a result of starvation and the freezing weather conditions, and 200,000 captured. By November only 27,000 fit soldiers were among those who crossed the Berezina River. Napoleon now left his army to return to Paris and prepare a defence of Poland from the advancing Russians. The situation was not as dire as it might at first have seemed — the Russians had lost around 400,000 men and their army was similarly depleted. However they had the advantage of shorter supply lines and were able to replenish their armies with greater speed than the French. Meanwhile, in the Peninsular War, at Vitoria (June 21, 1813) the French power in Spain was finally broken by Arthur Wellesley's victory over Joseph Bonaparte. The French were forced to retreat out of Spain, over the Pyrenees. Seeing an opportunity in Napoleon's historic defeat, Prussia re-entered the war. Napoleon vowed that he would create a new army as large as that he had sent into Russia and quickly built up his forces in the east from 30,000 to 130,000 and eventually to 400,000. Napoleon inflicted 40,000 casualties on the Allies at Lützen (May 2) and Bautzen (May 20– 21). Both battles involved total forces of over 250,000 — making them some of the largest conflicts of the wars so far. An armistice was declared from June 4 continuing until August 13 during which time both sides attempted to recover from approximately quarter of a million losses since April. It was during this time that Allied negotiations finally brought Austria out in open opposition to France. Two principal Austrian armies were deployed, adding an additional 300,000 troops to the Allied armies in Germany. In total the Allies now had around 800,000 frontline troops in the German theatre with a strategic reserve of 350,000 being formed to support the frontline operations. Napoleon was able to bring the total imperial forces in the region up to around 650,000 — although only 250,000 were under his direct command, with another 120,000 under Nicolas Charles Oudinot and 30,000 under Davout. The Confederation of the Rhine furnished Napoleon with the bulk of the remainder of the forces with Saxony and Bavaria as principal contributors. In addition, to the south Murat's Kingdom of Naples and Eugène de Beauharnais's Kingdom of Italy had a combined total of 100,000 men under arms. In Spain an additional 150-200,000 French troops were being steadily beaten back by Spanish and British forces numbering around 150,000. Thus in total around 900,000 French troops were opposed in all theatres by somewhere around a million Allied troops (not including the strategic reserve being formed in Germany). The figures are however slightly misleading as most of the German troops fighting on the side of the French were unreliable at best and on the verge of defecting to the Allies. It is reasonable to say that Napoleon could count on no more than 450,000 troops in Germany — which meant he was outnumbered by about two to one. Eugène de Beauharnais Following the end of the armistice Napoleon seemed to have regained the initiative at Dresden where he defeated a numerically superior allied army inflicting enormous casualties while the French army sustained relatively few. However the failures of his Marshals and a slow resumption of the offensive on his part cost him any advantage that this victory might have secured him. At the Battle of Leipzig in Saxony (October 16–19, 1813), also called the "Battle of the Nations", 191,000 French fought more than 450,000 Allies, and the French were defeated and forced to retreat into France. Napoleon then fought a series of battles, including the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube, in France, but was steadily forced back against overwhelming odds. During this time his Six Days Campaign was fought, in which he won multiple battles against the enemy forces advancing towards Paris. However he never managed to field more than 70,000 troops during this entire campaign against more than half a million Allied troops. At the Treaty of Chaumont (March 9) the Allies agreed to preserve the Coalition until Napoleon's total defeat. The Allies entered Paris on March 30 1814. Napoleon was determined to fight on, even now, incapable of fathoming his massive fall from power. During the campaign he had issued a decree for 900,000 fresh conscripts, but only a fraction of these were ever raised and Napoleon's increasingly unrealistic schemes for victory eventually gave way to the reality of the hopeless situation. Napoleon abdicated on April 6. However, occasional military actions continued in Italy, Spain and Holland throughout the spring of 1814. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba, and the Bourbon kings were restored under Louis XVIII. The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed and the Congress of Vienna was held to redraw the map of Europe.

Gunboat War

See: Gunboat War (1807–1814) Denmark-Norway originally declared itself neutral in the Napoleonic Wars, but engaged in trade that profited from the war and established a navy. After a show of intimidation in the first Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, the British captured large portions of the entire Danish fleet in the Second Battle of Copenhagen. This ended the Danish neutrality, and the Danish engaged in a naval guerilla war in which small gunboats would attack larger British ships in Danish and Norwegian waters. The Gunboat War effectively ended with a British victory at the Battle of Lyngør in 1812, in which the last Danish battleship — a frigate — was destroyed.

The Seventh Coalition

See: War of the Seventh Coalition See also: Neapolitan War between the Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire Austrian Empire The Seventh Coalition (1815) of the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Austria, The Netherlands and a number of German States against France. The period known as the Hundred Days began after Napoleon left Elba and landed at Cannes, March 1, 1815. Travelling to Paris, picking up support as he went, eventually overthrowing the restored Louis XVIII. The allies immediately gathered their armies to meet him again. Napoleon raised 280,000 men which were divided into several armies. To the 90,000 troops in the standing army he recalled well over a quarter of a million veterans from past campaigns and issued a decree for the eventual draft of around 2.5 million new men into the French army. This was arrayed against an initial Allied force of about 700,000 — although Allied campaign plans provided for one million frontline troops supported by around 200,000 garrison, logistics and other auxiliary personnel. This force was intended to be overwhelming against the numerically inferior imperial French army which never came close to reaching Napoleon's goal of more than 2.5 million under arms. March 1 Napoleon took about 124,000 men of the Army of the North on a pre-emptive strike, to attack the Allies in Belgium. His intention was to attack the Allied armies before they combined, in the hope of driving the British into the sea and the Prussians out of the war. His march to the frontier achieved the surprise he had planned. He forced the Prussians to fight at Ligny on June 16 and the defeated Prussians retreated in some disorder. On the same day the left wing of the Army of the North, under the command of Marshal Michel Ney, succeeded in stopping any of Wellington's forces going to the aid of Blücher's Prussians by fighting a blocking action at Quatre Bras. However Ney failed to clear the cross-roads and Wellington reinforced the position. With the Prussian retreat, Wellington was forced to retreat as well, however. He fell back to a previously reconnoitered position on an escarpment at Mont St Jean, a few miles south of the village of Waterloo. Napoleon took the reserve of the Army of the North, and reunited his forces with those of Ney to pursue Wellington's army, but not before he ordered Marshal Grouchy to take the right wing of the Army of the North and stop the Prussians reorganising. Grouchy failed and although he engaged and defeated the Prussian rearguard under the command of Lt-Gen. von Thielmann in the Battle of Wavre (18–19 June), the rest of the Prussian army "marched towards the sound of the guns" at Waterloo. The start of the Battle of Waterloo on the morning of June 18 1815 was delayed for several hours as Napoleon waited until the ground had dried from the previous night's rain. By late afternoon the French army had not succeeded in driving Wellington's Allied forces from the escarpment on which they stood. When the Prussians arrived and attacked the French right flank in ever increasing numbers, Napoleon's strategy of keeping the Allied armies divided had failed and his army was driven from the field in confusion by a combined Allied general advance. Grouchy partially redeemed himself by organizing a successful and well-ordered retreat towards Paris where Marsal Davout had 117,000 men at the ready to turn back the 116,000 men of Blucher and Wellington. Militarily it would still have been quite possible (indeed it was probable) for the French to defeat Wellington and Blucher, but politics was to be the source of the Emperor's downfall. On arriving at Paris three days after Waterloo, Napoleon still clung to the hope of a concerted national resistance; but the temper of the chambers, and of the public generally, was not in his favour. Napoleon was forced to abdicate again on June 22, 1815. Despite the emperor’s abdication, irregular warfare continued along the eastern borders and at the outskirts of Paris until a ceasefire was signed on July 4. On 15 July Napoleon surrendered himself to the British squadron at Rochefort. The Allies exiled him to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena.

References

-
-
-
-
-

External links

- [http://wikisource.org/wiki/EB1911:Napoleonic_Campaigns Wikisource]
- [http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/web03/atlases/napoleon/napoleon%20war%20index.htm United States Military Academy]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/geo_napo_wars.shtml BBC]

Admiral of the Fleet

Admiral of the Fleet is a supreme naval position that has existed in historical navies and still exists in several modern-day navies. The rank is typically held by the most senior Admiral of an entire naval service. Admiral of the Fleet can trace its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title was typically granted to a nobleman who was appointed by a monarch to raise and command a navy for a specific campaign. Some nations consider the rank of Admiral of the Fleet and Fleet Admiral to be synonymous. An even higher position, that of Admiral of the Navy, may also be bestowed by certain naval services. The following are present and historical nations which have used the rank Admiral of the Fleet:
- Admiral of the Fleet (United Kingdom)
- Admiral of the Fleet (Soviet Union)
- Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union (Soviet Union, honorary)
- Admiral of the Fleet (Russian Federation)
- Admiral of the Fleet (Australia)
- Admiral of the Fleet (New Zealand) Category:Military ranks

C. S. Forester

__NOTOC__ Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (August 27 1899 - April 2, 1966), an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure with military themes. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen (1935; filmed in 1951 by John Huston). Born in Cairo, Forester had a complicated life, including imaginary parents, a secret marriage and a debilitating illness. During World War II he moved to the United States where he wrote propaganda to help get that country to enter the war on the Allied side, and eventually settled in Berkeley, California. He married Kathleen Belcher in 1926, had two sons, and divorced in 1945. The eldest son, John Forester is a noted cycling activist and wrote a biography of his father. In 1947, C. S. Forester secretly married a woman named Dorothy Foster. He suffered extensively from arteriosclerosis later in life. The popularity of the Hornblower series, built around a central character who was heroic but not too heroic, has continued to grow over time. It is perhaps rivalled only by the much later Aubrey–Maturin series of seafaring novels by Patrick O'Brian. Interestingly, both Hornblower and Aubrey are based in part on the historical figure, Admiral Lord Dundonald of Great Britain (known as Lord Cochrane during the period when the novels are set). Brian Perett has written a book The Real Hornblower: The Life and Times of Admiral Sir James Gordon, GCB, ISBN 1557509689, presenting the case for a different inspiration, namely James Alexander Gordon. The original conception of the popular American television series Star Trek was based in large measure on the Hornblower books, and was pitched as such to NBC television by creator Gene Roddenberry. Forester also had a life outside the Hornblower series, writing many other novels, among them The African Queen (1935) and The General (1936); Peninsular War novels in Death to the French and The Gun; detective novels like Payment Deferred (1926) and Plain Murder (1930); and seafaring stories that did not involve Hornblower, such as Brown on Resolution (1929), The Ship (1943) and Sink the Bismarck! (1959). Several of his works were filmed, most notably the 1951 film The African Queen directed by John Huston. Forester is also credited as story writer for several movies not based on his published fiction, including Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942).

References

- John Forester: Novelist & Storyteller. The Life of C. S. Forester, ISBN 0-940558-04-1 ([http://www.csforester.org/info.asp excerpt]).

External links

- [http://www.csforester.org CS Forester Society]
- [http://mwilden.com/forester/checklist.htm CS Forester Checklist]
- [http://www.ar.com.au/~jriddler/hh/hh.html Horatio Hornblower television series 2001]
- [http://ferrol.historia.tripod.com/elferrol1780/ Map of the Naval Station of El Ferrol where Hornblower is taken prisoner of war by the Spaniards, by the Dutch pilot Hugh Debbieg (1731-1810)] Forester, C. S. Forester, C. S. Forester, C. S. Forester, C. S.

Aberdeen

:This article is about the Scottish city. For other uses see Aberdeen (disambiguation) Aberdeen (disambiguation) Aberdeen (Obar Dheathain in Scottish Gaelic) is Scotland's third largest city, with a population of 212,125. It is the chief commercial centre and seaport in the north-east of Scotland. It boasts the title of Oil Capital of Europe thanks to the plentiful supply of crude oil in the North Sea, and stands on a bay of the North Sea, between the mouths of the rivers Don and Dee. Aberdeen is also one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, officially known as the City of Aberdeen. The city is currently run by a coalition of 20 Scottish Liberal Democrat and 3 Conservative councillors.

Coat of Arms and Motto

The coat of arms shows a red shield bearing three triple towered castles within the double royal tressure. It is widely accepted that these represent the fortifications which from earliest times stood on the three hills where the city sprang up, namely Castle Hill, the Port or Windmill Hill (Gallowgate) and St Catherine's Hill (Adelphi). The Arms are supported by two leopards - one either side - and above, the scroll with the words 'Bon Accord'. Legend has it that during the Wars of Scottish Independence, when the Castle of Aberdeen was stormed and the English troops 'were killed all in one night', the watchword to initiate the campaign was 'Bon Accord', and it is from this massacre that the Coat of Arms and the motto originated.

History

Aberdeen grew up as two separate burghs - Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the Don and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement where the Denburn entered the Dee estuary. The earliest charter was granted by King William the Lion about 1179, confirming the corporate rights granted by David I. The city received other royal charters later. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property owning and financially independent community. Bruce had a high regard for the citizens of Aberdeen who had sheltered him in his days of outlawry, helped him win the Battle of Barra and slayed the English garrison at the Castle. He granted Aberdeen with the nearby Forest of Stocket. The income from this land has formed the basis for the city's Common Good Fund, which is used to this day for the benefit of all Aberdonians. The city was burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was soon rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. For many centuries the city was subject to attacks by the neighbouring lords, and was strongly fortified, but the gates were all removed by 1770. In 1497 a blockhouse was built at the harbour mouth as a protection against the English. During the struggles between the Royalists and Covenanters the city was impartially plundered by both sides. In 1715 the Earl Marischal proclaimed the Old Pretender at Aberdeen, and in 1745 the Duke of Cumberland resided for a short time in the city before attacking the Young Pretender. In the 18th century a new Town Hall was built, elegantly furnished with a marble fireplace from Holland and a set of fine crystal chandeliers and sconces. The latter are still a feature in the Town House. This century also saw the beginnings of social services for the Infirmary at Woolmanhill which was opened in 1742 and the Lunatic Asylum in 1779. The 19th century was a time of considerable expansion. By 1901 the population was 153,000 and the city covered more than 6,000 acres (24 km²). In the late 18th century, the council embarked on a scheme of road improvements, and by 1805 George Street, King Street and Union Street were open, the latter a feat of extraordinary engineering skill involving the partial levelling of St Catherine's Hill and the building of arches to carry the street over Putachieside. The Denburn Valley was crossed by Union Street with a single span arch of 130 ft (40 m). Along these new streets was built the nucleus of the Granite City in buildings designed by John Smith and Archibald Simpson. The increasing economic importance of Aberdeen and the development of the shipbuilding and fishing industries brought a need for improved harbour facilities. During this century much of the harbour as it exists today was built including Victoria Dock, the South Breakwater and the extension to the North Pier. Such an expensive building programme had, of course, repercussions, and in 1817 the city was in a state of bankruptcy. However, a recovery was made in the general prosperity which followed the Napoleonic wars. Improvements in street lighting came in 1824 with the advent of gas, and a vast improvement was made to the water supply in 1830 when water was pumped from the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewerage system was begun in 1865 to replace the open sewers which previously ran along certain of the streets.

Background

Though Old Aberdeen, extending from the area surrounding Aberdeen University to the southern banks of the Don, had a separate charter, privileges, and history, the distinction between it and New Aberdeen can no longer be said to exist. Aberdeen's popular name of the "Granite City", is justified by the fact that the bulk of the city is built of granite, but to appreciate its more poetical designation of the "Silver City by the Golden Sands", it should be seen after a heavy rainfall when its public buildings and countless houses gleam pure and white under brilliant sunshine. It is also known as the 'Flower of Scotland', as Aberdeen has long been famous for its outstanding parks, gardens and floral displays that include 2 million roses, 11 million daffodils and 3 million crocuses. Aberdeen has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom contest on numerous occasions, and at one time was banned from entering to enable other cities to win. On 5 March, 2003 Aberdeen was granted Fairtrade City status. The area of the city extends to 71.22 square miles (184.46 km²), and includes the former burghs of Old Aberdeen, New Aberdeen, Woodside and the district of Torry to the south of the Dee. The city was first incorporated in 1891. The city is represented in Westminster by two MPs who are both from the Labour party, and in the Scottish Parliament by three MSPs (one Labour, one SNP and one Liberal Democrat). The city council comprises forty-three councillors who represent the city's wards and is headed by the Lord Provost. The current Lord Provost is John Reynolds. As of 1996, Aberdeen has been governed by the unitary Aberdeen City Council and no longer has any direct control over the neighbouring area of Aberdeenshire (although the headquarters of Aberdeenshire Council are located within the city's boundaries). Aberdeen has good links to the rest of Scotland and the UK. The main road south to Edinburgh is a fast dual carriageway and plans are in hand to build a bypass round the city. Aberdeen is served by good rail links to the south and north to Inverness, all services running from the Railway Station in the city centre. Although there are no direct sea links south any more there is still a ferry service running to Orkney and Shetland. Aberdeen Airport is located at Dyce, about 5 miles (8 km) north west of the city centre, and has frequent services to London and several international destinations. The mean temperature is 8 °C (47 °F) and it varies between 0.4 °C (0.7 °C) in winter and 17.6 °C (63.7 °F) in summer. The average yearly rainfall is 816 mm. The city is one of the healthiest in Scotland.

Art and architecture

mm mm mm Union Street is one of the most imposing and famous thoroughfares in Britain. From Castle Street it runs for nearly a mile (1.5 km), is 70 ft (21 m) wide, and originally contained the principal shops and most of the public buildings, all of granite. Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilized for the line of the Great North of Scotland railway) by Union Bridge, a fine granite arch of 132 ft (40 m) span, with portions of the older town still fringing the gorge, 50 feet (15 m) below the level of Union Street. Union Street was built from 1801 to 1805, and named after the 1800 Act of Union with Ireland. Amongst the notable buildings in the street are the Town and County Bank, the Music Hall 1822, the Trinity Hall of the incorporated trades (originating between 1398 and 1527), now a shopping mall; the Palace Hotel; the former office of the Northern Assurance Company, and the National Bank of Scotland. In Castle Street, a continuation eastwards of Union Street, is the Town House, the headquarters of the city council. One of the most splendid granite edifices in Scotland, in the Franco-Scottish Gothic style, it contains the great hall, with an open timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the Sheriff Court House; the Town and County Hall, with portraits of Prince Albert, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, various Lord Provosts and other distinguished citizens. In the vestibule of the entrance corridor stands a suit of black armour, believed to have been worn by Provost Sir Robert Davidson, who fought in the Battle of Harlaw in 1411. On the south-western corner is the 210 ft (64 m) grand tower, which commands a fine view of the city and surrounding country. Adjoining the Town House is the old North of Scotland Bank building, in Greek Revival style. This building is now a pub named the Archibald Simpson, after its original architect. On the opposite side of the street is the fine building of the Union Bank. At the upper end of Castlegate stands The Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated mansion. In front of it is the Market Cross, built in 1686 by John Montgomery, a native architect. This open-arched structure, 21 ft (6 m) in diameter and 18 ft (5 m) high, comprises a large hexagonal base from the centre of which rises a shaft with a Corinthian capital, on which is the royal unicorn. The base is highly decorated, including medallions illustrating Scottish monarchs from James I to James VII. To the east of Castle Street were the military barracks, which were demolished in 1965 and replaced with two tower blocks. Marischal College on Broad Street, opened by King Edward VII in 1906, is the second largest granite building in the world, and is one of the most splendid examples of Edwardian architecture in Britain. The architect, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, a native of Aberdeen, adapted his material, white granite, to the design of the building with the originality of genius. This magnificent building is sadly no longer a seat of learning and is under renovation as the new home of Aberdeen City Council. There are no tramways in Aberdeen. The last tram went through the streets on May 3 1958. All trams except one were scrapped. The last tram is on display in the Transport Museum in Alford, Aberdeenshire.

Churches

Like most Scottish burghs, Aberdeen has many churches, most of them of good design. The East and West churches of St Nicholas' Kirk, their kirkyard separated from Union Street by a 147 ft (45 m) long Ionic facade, built in 1830, form one continuous building, 220 ft (67 m) in length. It contains the Drum Aisle (the ancient burial-place of the Irvines of Drum) and the Collison Aisle, which divide them and which formed the transept of the 12th-century church of St Nicholas. The West Church was built in 1775, in the Italian style, the East originally in 1834 in Gothic Style. In 1874 a fire destroyed the East Church and the old central tower with its fine peal of nine bells, one of which, Laurence or "Lowrie", was 4 ft (1.2 m) in diameter at the mouth, 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high and very thick. The church was rebuilt and a massive granite tower erected over the intervening aisles, a new peal of 36 bells, cast in the Netherlands, being installed to commemorate the Victorian jubilee of 1887. These were replaced in 1950 with a carillion of 48 bells, the largest in the United Kingdom. The Diocese of Aberdeen was first founded at Mortlach in Banffshire by Malcolm II in 1004 to celebrate his victory there over the Danes, but in 1137 David I transferred the bishopric to Old Aberdeen, and twenty years later St Machar's Cathedral, situated a few hundred yards from the Don, was begun. Save during the episcopate of William Elphinstone (1484-1511), the building progressed slowly. Gavin Dunbar, who followed him in 1518, completed the structure by adding the two western spires and the southern transept. The church suffered severely at the Reformation, but is still used as the Church of Scotland cathedral. It now consists of the nave and side aisles. It is chiefly built of outlayer granite, and, though the plainest cathedral in Scotland, its stately simplicity and severe symmetry lend it unique distinction. On the flat panelled ceiling of the nave are the heraldic shields of the princes, noblemen and bishops who shared in its erection, and the great west window contains modern painted glass of excellent colour and design. St. Mary's Cathedral is the Roman Catholic cathedral. A Gothic building, it was erected in 1859. St. Andrew's Cathedral is the Scottish Episcopal cathedral. The Episcopal Church in Aberdeen is notable for having consecrated the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/282.html Samuel Seabury]. The cathedral was rennovated in the 1930s to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Seabury's consecration. The memorial was dedicated with a ceremony attended by the then U.S. ambassador to the UK, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. The cemeteries are St Peter's in Old Aberdeen, Trinity near the links, Nellfield at the junction of Great Western and Holburn Roads, Allenvale, adjoining Duthie Park and the most recent Facilities at Dyce. There is also a crematorium and cemetery near Hazlehead.

Education

The first of Aberdeen's two universities, the University of Aberdeen, was founded in 1495 by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland. The University of Aberdeen is Scotland's third oldest, and the UK's fifth oldest University. Robert Gordon's College (originally Robert Gordon's Hospital) was founded in 1729 by the merchant Robert Gordon, grandson of the map maker Robert Gordon of Straloch, and was further endowed in 1816 by Alexander Simpson of Collyhill. Originally devoted to the instruction and maintenance of the sons of poor burgesses of guild and trade in the city, it was reorganized in 1881 as a day and night school for secondary and technical education, and in the 1990s became co-educational and a day-only school. It also produced the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology, which became The Robert Gordon University in 1992. Gray's School of Art, founded in 1886, is one of the oldest established colleges of art in the UK. It is situated in beautiful grounds at Garthdee on the edge of the city. It is now incorporated into Robert Gordon University. Aberdeen College has several campuses in Aberdeen and offers a wide variety of part-time and full-time courses leading to several different qualifications. It the largest further education institution in Scotland. Northern College was a teacher training college with campuses in Aberdeen and Dundee. In 2000, the Aberdeen campus of Northern College became the University of Aberdeen School of Education. Aberdeen Grammar School, (now comprehensive, despite its name) founded in 1263 and one of the oldest schools in Britain, was removed in 1861-1863 from its old quarters in Schoolhill to a large new building, in the Scottish baronial style, off Skene Street. A famous alumni of the Grammar School is Lord Byron. There are 12 secondary schools and 54 primary schools which are run by the city council in the city. There are also a small number of private schools. At Blairs, in Kincardineshire, five miles (8 km) S.W. of Aberdeen, is the abandoned St Mary's Roman Catholic College, for the training of young men intended for the priesthood, with plans to turn it into a hotel.

Culture

Kincardineshire The city is blessed with amenities which cover a wide range of cultural activities and boasts a selection of museums. The Aberdeen Art Gallery houses a collection of Impressionist, Victorian, Scottish and 20th Century British paintings as well as collections of silver and glass. It also includes The Alexander Macdonald Bequest, a collection of late 19th century works donated by the museum's first benefactor and a constantly changing collection of contemporary work and regular visiting exhibitions. The Aberdeen Maritime Museum, located in Shiprow, tells the story of Aberdeen's links with the sea from the days of sail and clipper ships to the latest oil and gas exploration technology. The museum includes a range of interactive exhibits and models, including an 8.5m (28 feet) high model of the Murchison oil production platform and a 19th Century assembly taken from Rattray Head lighthouse. Provost Ross' House is the second oldest dwelling house in the city. It was built in 1593 and became the residence of Provost John Ross of Arnage in 1702. The house retains some original medieval features, including a kitchen, fire places and beam-and-board ceilings. The Gordon Highlanders Regimental Museum tells the story of one of Scotland's best known regiments. The Marischal Museum holds the principal collections of the University of Aberdeen, comprising some 80,000 items in the areas of fine art, Scottish history & archaeology, and European, Mediterranean & Near Eastern archaeology. The museum is open to the public, but also provides an important resource for the University's students and researchers. The permanent displays and reference collections are augmented by regular temporary exhibitions. 1702Aberdeen's museums and attractions include:
- Aberdeen Art Gallery
- Aberdeen Maritime Museum
- Provost Ross' House
- The Gordon Highlanders Museum
- Marischal Museum
- James Dun's House
- King's College Visitor and Conference Centre
- Museum of Education Victorian Classroom
- Provost Skene's House
- Tolbooth Museum
- Doonies Farm
- Marischal College
- Aberdeen Arts Centre
- The Lemon Tree
- The Aberdeen Central Public Library contains more than 60,000 volumes.
- His Majesty's Theatre 1906 (presently -2005- under renovation) is a fine granite theatre which provides a home for popular entertainments. It has a 1,500 capacity and is one of the most beautiful major touring theatres in Britain.
- Doonies Farm has one of the largest collections in Scotland of endangered breeds of farm animals. Open to the public, the farm is nationally recognized as a breeding centre for rare breeds and is situated on the old coast road between the Bay of Nigg and Cove.

Parks and open spaces

Duthie Park 50 acres (202,000 m²)), situated on Riverside Drive, was named after and gifted to the city by Miss Elizabeth Crombie Duthie of Ruthrieston in 1881 and opened by Princess Beatrice on 27 September 1883. It occupies an excellent site on the north bank of the Dee and includes extensive gardens, a rose hill, boating pond, bandstand, and play area as well as the David Welch Winter Gardens. First opened in 1899, the Winter Gardens were rebuilt in 1970 following storm damage and extended. They are Europe's largest indoor gardens and one of the most visited in Scotland. Victoria Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opened in 1871, is a beautiful park situated in the north-western area. There is a conservatory used as a seating area and a fountain made of 14 different granites, presented to the people by the granite polishers and master builders of Aberdeen. Westburn Park 13 acres (53,000 m²) opposite Victoria Park, caters for football and tennis, has a children's cycle track and a play area. An open section of the Denburn runs through the park. Stewart Park (15 acres (61,000 m²) opened in 1894. The park was named after a former Lord Provost of the city, Sir David Stewart, and is laid out as an 18 hole golf course; a section is reserved for cricket and football. Hazlehead Park is a large, heavily wooded park on the outskirts of the city. It is popular with sports enthusiasts, walkers, naturalists and picnickers. Around the park are football pitches, a golf course, pitch and putt course, a horseriding school and woods for walking. The park has a significant collection of sculpture by a range of artists and heritage items which have been rescued from various places within the city. It also features Scotland's oldest maze, first planted in 1938. Aberdeen Beach/Queen's Links is a well-loved and extremely popular recreational area of the city, visited by holidaymakers and city residents all year round. The area is well provided with sporting and recreational facilities, including the Beach Leisure Centre and the Lynx Ice Arena, cafes, restaurants, a fun fair, a multiplex cinema, a nightclub and other attractions. Seaton Park (270,000 m²) is located in the north of the city and was purchased by the Council in 1947 from Major Hay. Beside the park's south gates stands St Machar's Cathedral. There are flowerbeds and a walled garden beside the old stables, which have been converted for housing. The Cathedral Walk is always a resplendent sight in midsummer and one of the most popular with visitors to the city. Seaton Park is also an access point for the River Don and there is a walk from the park to the city boundary. Union Terrace Gardens form a popular rendezvous in the heart of the city.

Statues

Adjacent to Union Terrace Gardens stands a colossal bronze statue of William Wallace, by W. G. Stevenson. Also nearby these same gardens are a bronze statue of Robert Burns and Charles Marochetti's seated figure of Prince Albert. In front of Robert Gordon's College is the bronze statue, by T. S. Burnett, of General Gordon. At the head of Queen's Road stands the bronze statue of Queen Victoria, erected in 1893 by the royal tradesmen of the city. Near the Cross stands the granite statue of George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon. There is a 70 ft (21 m) high obelisk of Peterhead granite, originally erected in the square of Marischal College, to the memory of Sir James McGrigor (1778-1851), the military surgeon and director-general of the Army Medical Department, who was thrice elected lord rector of the College. In the 1890s when the College was extended, the obelisk was moved to the Duthie Park.There is also a statue commemorating Lord Byron in Aberdeen Grammar School in the front grounds.

Bridges

The Dee is crossed by a number of bridges, from west to east:
- Bridge of Dee
- King George VI Bridge
- Railway bridge
- Wellington Suspension Bridge
- Queen Elizabeth II Bridge
- Victoria Bridge Until 1832, the only access to the city from the south was the Bridge of Dee. It consists of seven semicircular ribbed arches, is about 30 ft (10 m) high, and was built early in the 16th century by Bishops Elphinstone and Dunbar. It was nearly all rebuilt 1718-1723, and in 1842 was widened from 14 to 26 ft (4 to 8 m). This was the site of a battle in 1639 between the Royalists under Viscount Aboyne and the Covenanters who were led by the Marquis of Montrose. The Bridge of Don has five granite arches, each 75 ft (23 m) in span, and was built 1827-1832. A little to the west is the Auld Brig o' Balgownie, a picturesque single arch spanning the deep black stream, said to have been built by King Robert I, and celebrated by George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron in the tenth canto of "Don Juan".

Harbour

Don Juan Aberdeen Harbour is the principal commercial port in northern Scotland and an international port for general cargo, roll-on/roll-off and container traffic. Originally, the defective harbour, with a shallow sand and gravel bar at its entrance, retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but under various acts since 1773 it was greatly deepened. The north pier, built partly by John Smeaton 1775-1781, and partly by Thomas Telford 1810-1815, extends nearly 3,000 ft (1000 m) into the North Sea and raised the bar. A wet dock of 29 acres (117,000 m²) and with 6000 ft (1800 m) of quay, was completed in 1848 and called Victoria Dock in honour of the queen's visit to the city in that year. Adjoining it is the Upper Dock. By the Harbour Act of 1868, the Dee near the harbour was diverted from the south at a cost of £80,000, and 90 acres (364,000 m²) of new ground, in addition to 25 acres (101,000 m²) formerly made up, were provided on the north side of the river for the Albert Basin (with a graving dock), quays and warehouses. A 1050 ft (320 m) long concrete breakwater was constructed on the south side of the stream as a protection against south-easterly gales. On Girdleness, the southern point of the bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833. Thirty-two people were drowned in the harbour on 5 April 1876, in the River Dee Ferry Boat Disaster. Aberdeen Harbour was the first publicly limited company in the United Kingdom. A harbour in Hong Kong has been named Aberdeen Harbour, supposedly by ex-patriots from the Scottish city.

Industry

Owing to the variety and importance of its chief industries Aberdeen is one of the most prosperous cities in Scotland. Very durable grey granite was quarried at Rubislaw quarry for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed paving "setts", kerb and building stones, and monumental and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the district to all parts of the world. Quarrying finally ceased in 1971. This, though once the predominant industry, was surpassed by the deep-sea fisheries, which derived a great impetus from improved technologies throughout the twentieth century. Lately, however, catches have fallen due to overfishing in previous years, and the use of the harbour by oil support vessels. Aberdeen remains an important fishing port, but the catch landed there is now eclipsed by the more northerly ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh. Most of the leading pre-1970s industries date from the 18th century, amongst them woollens (1703), linen (1749), and cotton (1779). These gave employment to several thousands of operatives. The paper-making industry is one of the most famous and oldest in the city, paper having been first made in Aberdeen in 1694. Flax-spinning and jute and combmaking factories also flourished, along with successful foundries and engineering works. In the days of wooden ships ship-building was a flourishing industry, the town being noted for its fast clippers, many of which established records in the "tea races". The introduction of trawling revived this to some extent, and despite the distance of the city from the iron fields there was a fair yearly output of iron vessels. The last major shipbuilder in Aberdeen, Hall Russells, closed in the late 1980's. With the discovery of significant oil deposits in the North Sea during the late twentieth century, Aberdeen became the centre of Europe's petroleum industry, with the port serving oil rigs off-shore. The number of jobs created by the energy industry in and around Aberdeen has been estimated at half a million. In 1988, the city was dealt a heavy blow by the loss-of-life suffered during an explosion and fire aboard one such rig, the Piper Alpha.

Population

In 1396 the population was about 3,000. By 1801 it had become 26,992; in 1841 it was 63,262; (1891) 121,623; (1901) 153,503; in 2001 it was 197,328.

Sport

Aberdeen Football Club was founded in 1903. Its major success was winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1983 and three League Championships between 1980 and 1986, under the current Manchester United F.C. manager Alex Ferguson. The club's stadium is Pittodrie which holds the distinction of being Britain's first all-seater stadium. Aberdeen F.C. holds the distinction of being the last team to have won the Scottish Premier League Championship outside the Old Firm. Well known footballers who have played for the club include Gordon Strachan (Current Celtic manager), Alex McLeish (Current Rangers manager) and club legend Willie Miller. Denis Law, the joint top scorer for the Scotland national team was also born in the city, but spent his professional career playing for English and Italian clubs. Aberdeen Golf Club was founded in 1815. It has two 18-hole courses at Balgownie, north of the River Don. There are other golf courses at Auchmill, Balnagask, Hazlehead and King's Links.

Transport

There are four main roads serving the city;
- A90 The main arterial route into the city from the South, linking Aberdeen to Edinburgh, Dundee and Perth.
- A96 Links to Elgin and Inverness and the North West.
- A93 The main route to the West, heading towards Royal Deeside and the Cairngorms.
- A92 The original southerly road to Aberdeen prior to the building of the A90, now used as a tourist route, connecting the towns of Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin on the east coast. The city's original ring road, Anderson Drive, which was built in the 1930s has long since been engulfed by the expansion of the city, and is inadequate for dealing with today's traffic. To this end, a new main bypass road, the Western Peripheral Route, is planned to divert through traffic away from the city centre. The road is due to open in 2010. The city is well served by the national railway network. Aberdeen has regular rail services to Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as long distance trains to London via Edinburgh. It is possible to take the longest scheduled rail journey in the whole of the UK from Aberdeen. A daily service runs from Aberdeen to Penzance in Cornwall, which is 722 miles (1,162 km) and twelve and three quarter hours away. Regular trains also run north westerly towards Inverness and north to Dyce for the airport. Aberdeen also has an airport in the neighbouring town of Dyce, which is operated by