Augustus III or Frederick-Augustus II was Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. He was born in 1696 at Dresden and died in 1763. He was the son of Augustus II and succeeded his father as elector in 1733, and was chosen King of Poland through the influence of Austria and Russia. He closely followed the example of his father, distinguishing himself by the splendour of his feasts and the extravagance of his court. He preferred Dresden to Warsaw, and through his long absence from Poland the government sank into entire inactivity. During the first Silesian war he formed a secret alliance with Austria. The consequence was that during the second Silesian war Frederick the Great of Prussia pushed on into Saxony, and occupied the capital, from which Augustus fled. By the peace of Dresden, on December the 25th 1745, he was reinstated in the possession of Saxony. In 1756 he was involved anew in a war against Prussia. When Frederick declined his proposal of neutrality he left Dresden, and entered the camp at Pirna, where 17,000 Saxon troops were assembled. Frederick surrounded the Saxons, who were obliged to surrender, and Augustus fled to Poland. On the threat of invasion by Russia he returned to Dresden, where he died in 1763. His son, Frederick Christian, succeeded him as Elector of Saxony, and Stanislaus Poniatowski as King of Poland. Research Augustus III
Billeting is a mode of feeding and lodging soldiers when they are not in camp or barracks, by quartering them on the inhabitants of a town. Research Billeting
The Cane Ridge Revival was a religious revival that occurred in 1799 and 1800 in the USA, and was the first famous religious revival in the United States after the 'Great Awakening', along the western frontier, particularly in Kentucky. It was begun by the inspired preaching of two brothers from Ohio, who addressed a camp meeting on the Red River, and made numerous enthusiastic converts. At the Cane Ridge camp meeting of 1800, the religious enthusiasm was intense. Converts were made by hundreds. Research Cane Ridge Revival
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American organisation founded in 1909 to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination within the USA.
The NAACP works towards a society in which all individuals have equal rights and there is no racial hatred or racial discrimination. Though, in 2007, after nearly one hundred years and with racism rife in the USA this objective seems almost a pipedream. Indeed in October 2007 the NAACP declared a State of Emergency in response to the recent surge in assaults against young African Americans as demonstrated by the boot camp beating death of Martin Lee Anderson, noose hangings in Jena, Louisiana and other communities, and the assault by police on Shelwanda Riley a 15-year old girl who was thrown around, punched and pepper sprayed by a Fort Pierce, Floridapolice officer, a man roughly twice her size, as he tried to arrest her for a non-violent curfew violation.
To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens
To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States
To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes
To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights
To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination
To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP's Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.
Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave was a British intelligence officer and Conservative member of Parliament. He was born in 1916 and died in 1979. During the Second World War he escaped from Colditz, a German high-security prison camp. He became a Conservative MP in 1953 and as shadow undersecretary of state for Northern Ireland from 1975 and a close advisor of Margaret Thatcher, he became a target for extremist groups and was assassinated by an Irish terrorist bomb. Research Airey Neave
Alfred or Aelfred the Great was a King of England. He was born in 849 at Wantage, Berkshire and died in 901. He was one of the most illustrious rulers on record. His father was Ethelwolf, son of Egbert, king of the West Saxons. He succeeded his brother Ethelred in 872, at a time when the Danes, or Nosemen, had extended their conquests widely over the country, and they had completely overrun the kingdom of the West Saxons by 878. Alfred was obliged to flee in disguise, and stayed for some time with one of his own neat-herds.
At length he gathered a small force, and having fortified himself on the Isle of Athelney, formed by the confluence of the rivers Parret and Tone, amid the marshes of Somerset, he was able to make frequent sallies against the enemy. It was during his abode here that he went, if the story is true, disguised as a harper into the camp of King Guthrum (or Guthorm), and, having ascertained that the Danes felt themselves secure, hastened back to his troops, led them against the enemy, and gained such a decided victory that fourteen days afterwards the Danes begged for peace. This battle took place in May, 878, near Edington, in Wiltshire. Alfred allowed the Danes who were already in the country to remain, on condition that they gave hostages, took a solemn oath to quit Wessex, and embraced Christianity. Their king, Guthrum, was baptized, with thirty of his followers, and ever afterward remained faithful to Alfred. They received that portion of the east of England now occupied by the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge, as a place of residence.
The few years of tranquillity (886-893) which followed were employed by Alfred in rebuilding the towns that had suffered most during the war, particularly London; in training his people in arms and no less in agriculture; in improving the navy; in systematizing the laws and internal administration; and in literary labours and the advancement of learning. He caused many manuscripts to be translated from Latin, and himself translated several works into Anglo-Saxon, such as the Psalms, AEsop's Fables, Boethius on the Consolation of Philosophy, the History of Orosius, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, etc. He also drew up several original works in Anglo-Saxon. These peaceful labours were interrupted, about 894, by an invasion of the Norsemen, who, after a struggle of three years, were finally driven out.
Alfred married, in 868, Alswith or Ealhswith, the daughter of a Mercian nobleman, and left two sons: Edward, who succeeded him, and Ethelwerd, who died in 922. Alfred presents us with one of the most perfect examples of the able and patriotic monarch united with the virtuous man. Research Alfred
Anne Frank was a German-Jewish girl who wrote a vivid and tender diary while hiding from the Nazis during the Second World War. She was born in Frankfurt in 1929 and died in Belsen concentration camp in 1945. She and her family moved to the Netherlands in 1933 after the Nazis began to persecute Jews. In 1942, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the family hid in a secret annexe behind the Amsterdam office of her father's business. Two years later, the family was betrayed to the Nazis and arrested. Research Anne Frank
Atalmalpa was the last of the Incas. He succeeded his father in 1529 on the throne of Quito, whilst his brother Huascar obtained the Kingdom of Peru. They soon made war against each other, when the latter was defeated, and his kingdom fell into the hands of Atahualpa. The Spaniards, taking advantage of these internal disturbances, with Pizarro at their head, invaded Peru, and advanced to Atahualpa's camp. Here, while Pizarro's priest was telling the Inca how the pope had given Peru to the Spaniards, fire was opened on the unsuspecting Peruvians, Atahualpa was captured, and, despite the payment of a vast ransom in gold, was treacherously murdered by the Spanis in 1533. Research Atalmalpa
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