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First

Definition: First

First

Adjective

1. Preceding all others in time or space or degree; "the first house on the right"; "the first day of spring"; "his first political race"; "her first baby"; "the first time"; "the first meetings of the new party"; "the first phase of his training".

2. Indicating the beginning unit in a series.

3. Serving to set in motion; "the magazine's inaugural issue"; "the initiative phase in the negotiations"; "an initiatory step toward a treaty"; "his first (or maiden) speech in Congress"; "the liner's maiden voyage".

4. Serving to begin; "the beginning canto of the poem"; "the first verse".

5. Ranking above all others; "was first in her class"; "the foremost figure among marine artists"; "the top graduate".

6. (music) highest in pitch or chief among parts or voices or instruments or orchestra sections; "first soprano"; "the first violin section"; "played first horn".

7. Being the gear producing the lowest drive speed; "use first gear on steep hills".

Adverb

1. Before anything else; "first we must consider the garter snake".

2. The initial time; "when Felix first saw a garter snake".

3. Before another in time, space, or importance; "I was here first"; "let's do this job first".

4. Prominently forward; "he put his best foot foremost".

Noun

1. The first or highest in an ordering or series: "He wanted to be the first".

2. The first element in a countable series; "the first of the month".

3. The time at which something begins; "They got an early start".

4. The fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed at first base.

5. (Great Britain) an honours degree of the highest class.

6. The lowest forward gear ratio in the gear box of a motor vehicle; used to start a car moving.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "first" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

 

Specialty Definition: First

DomainDefinition

Tips from 1870

Usage: Former, First. Former and latter being adjectives of the comparative degree, should be used in speaking of two objects. When more than two objects are named, use first and last.
"My sons, John and Luther, are both at college. The first expects to study law, and the last to study medicine." Use former and latter.
"New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago are the most populous cities in the United States. The former has long been at the front; the latter has only recently entered the race." Use first and last instead of former and latter. Source: Slips of Speech.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: 1st century

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

(1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century - other centuries)

Events:

Significant persons: Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions Decades and Years

0s BC 9 BC 8 BC 7 BC 6 BC 5 BC 4 BC 3 BC 2 BC 1 BC  
0s   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10s 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20s 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30s 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
40s 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
50s 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
60s 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
70s 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79
80s 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
90s 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
100s 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "1st century."

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August 1

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

August 1st is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

See Also:

July 31 - August 2 - July 1 - September 1 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "August 1."

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Epistles to the Thessalonians

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Epistles to the Thessalonians are two books of the New Testament of the Bible.

The first epistle to the Thessalonians was the first of all Paul's epistles. It was in all probability written about the end of A.D. 52.

The occasion of its being written was the return of Timotheus from Macedonia, bearing tidings from Thessalonica regarding the state of the church there (Acts 18:1-5; 1 Thess. 3:6). While, on the whole, the report of Timothy was encouraging, it also showed that diverse errors and misunderstandings regarding the tenor of Paul's teaching had crept in amongst them. He addresses them in this letter with the view of correcting these errors, and especially for the purpose of exhorting them to purity of life, reminding them that their sanctification was the great end desired by God regarding them.

The second epistle to the Thessalonians was probably written from Corinth, Greece, and not many months after the first.

The occasion of the writing of this epistle was the arrival of tidings that the tenor of the first epistle had been misunderstood, especially with reference to the second advent of Christ. The Thessalonians had embraced the idea that Paul had taught that "the day of Christ was at hand", that Christ's coming was just about to happen. This error is corrected (2:1-12), and the apostle prophetically announces what first must take place before the end times. "The apostasy" was first to arise.

Initial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 -- Please update as needed

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Epistles to the Thessalonians."

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First Age

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Ages: Years of the Trees - First Age - Second Age

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the First Age began with the rise of the Sun and the arrival of the Noldor in the land Beleriand in Middle-earth, and ended with the overthrow of Morgoth. The First Age was also known as the Elder Days.

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers

It lasted just over 580 years (making it the shortest of the three Ages described by Tolkien), and ended with the final overthrow of Morgoth by the combined armies of Valinor and Beleriand.

Tolkien describes primarily the events that occurred in Beleriand. These were centered around a series of wars waged by the Sindar, the Noldor and the Three Houses of the Edain, against the armies of Angband and the evil Men. The wars had actually begun before the First Age, during the Years of the Trees, but began again with renewed fury after the arrival of the Noldor in Beleriand. There had been Elves in Beleriand for uncounted millennia, but they sought merely to exist, and Morgoth had little to do with them. The Noldor, on the other hand, particularly the Sons of Fëanor, had come with the express purpose of defeating Morgoth.

The chief battles of the First Age are:

(The five battles are only a small part of the history of the First Age. Would someone care to add some more?)

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First Age."

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First Amendment to the United States Constitution

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Amendment I (the First Amendment) of the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights. It states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Thus, it prevents the United States Congress from passing any law which:

The consequences of this Amendment to American society have been profound. First Amendment questions have been raised with regard to the separation of church and state; civil rights issues; pornography and obscenity; political speech and organizations; journalism and its restrictions; involuntary commitment laws; and many more.

See also: freedom of assembly, antidisestablishmentarianism, establishment of religion, civil religion, Lemon test

External links

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First Anglo-Dutch War

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The First Anglo-Dutch War was a war, fought entirely at sea between England and the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands from 1652 to 1654.

After an English diplomatic mission in 1651 failed to gain the unification of Commonwealth of England with the Dutch Republic under Cromwell's leadership, the English parliament passed the 1651 Navigation Act, which ordered that only English ships and ships from the originating country could import goods to England. This measure was particularly aimed at hampering the shipping of the highly trade-dependent Dutch.

In May of 1652, Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp ordered his captains not to salute an English fleet in the English Channel by lowering the Dutch flag as Cromwell required of all foreign fleets in the North Sea or the English Channel. In response, Admiral Robert Blake opened fire, starting the Battle of Goodwin Sands near Dover, won by the English. Later battles in the year ranged up and down the Channel: the Battle of Plymouth in August, the Battle of the Kentish Knock in the Thames estuary in October, and the Battle of Dungeness in December, ending in a defeat for Blake as parliament, thinking that the war had been won, had sent much of the fleet to the Mediterranean.

Despite its successes, the Dutch Republic was ill-prepared for a naval war. To make matters worse, political controversy arose about the proper course of action: should the Dutch navy be extended or should defensive measures against a possible land invasion take precedence?

In 1653 Blake, while recovering from battle wounds, wrote 'Fighting Instructions', a major overhaul of naval tactics.

The English proved stronger in the battles of 1653, such as the three-day Battle of Portland in March, the two-day Battle of the Gabbard (or North Foreland) (12 - 13 June 1653), and the costly Battle of Scheveningen (or Texel) in August, where both fleets suffered heavy damage. Tromp was killed in the last battle, which increased the Dutch opinion to end the war. Similar feelings arose in England after Oliver Cromwell dissolved the pro-war Rump Parliament.

Peace negotiations ended on April 5, 1654 with the signing of the Treaty of Westminster, in which the Dutch recognised the Commonwealth.

The war was now officially over, battles had been won, but the commercial rivalry between the two nations was not resolved. Especially in the colonies (both countries had vast overseas empires) hostilities continued between the trade companies, which had warships and troops of their own. The Second Anglo-Dutch War was already in the making.

See also:

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First Battle of Narvik

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

In the First Battle of Narvik on April 10th, 1940, five Royal Navy destroyers entered the harbour of Narvik where five destroyers of the Kriegsmarine were seriously damaged, thereof two sunk. Six other German ships were also sunk. And also two British destroyers sank. Both the German Commander, Commodore Bonte, and the British Commander, Captain Warburton-Lee, were killed in the battle.

Extern links

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First Crusade

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The First Crusade was a war launched in 1099, by Christians under the support of the Roman Catholic Church, to regain control of Jerusalem from the Muslims, and to help the Byzantine Empire fight the Seljuk Turks.

As early as 1074, when Asia Minor passed into the hands of the Seljuk Turks, Pope Gregory VII had projected a war against the Muslims, which he hoped would also lead to reunion with the Greek Church. However, the plan was thrust into the background by the conflict with the emperor Henry IV over investiture and other matters.

Pope Urban II (1088-1099), who next took up the idea, was motivated not so much by the political considerations of Gregory as by actual religious impulse. The disunity in Europe in 1095 presented an opportunity for the Papacy. The calling of the Crusade was a political opportunity for Urban's pontificate, attracting loyalty from a wide range of disparate countries and asserting the Church’s role as a unifying force. From the Church came the impelling force; on the secular powers rested the actual execution of the plan. The papacy was concerned by Muslim raids on Sicily (Sicily itself was nominally Muslim). The popes were unwilling to ask the German emperor for help (as the emperors were traditionally the enemy of the Papacy), so asked the Normans to intervene. Robert Guiscard then took control of Sicily, the Pope 'granting' it to him, and it became a tightly-controlled monarchy under the Normans.

At the same time, the Spanish were continuously fighting the Moors in the Iberian peninsula. Therefore, the conception of a crusade against the Muslim world was no absolute novelty to the nations of the West.

The Byzantine emperor Alexius I was quite aware of this when he turned to Urban for aid against the Turks at Piacenza in 1095. His request met with a favourable response from the Church, as well as from the noble knights of Western Europe with their lust for adventure and conquest. When the Greek ambassadors arrived Urban was preparing for the Council of Clermont; there the Pope first preached the crusade on November 26, 1095 -- in words which have have been lost to history -- but which apparently stirred the crowd to a frenzied enthusiasm.

Urban had domestic reasons for supporting a crusade; he was French, from Rheims, and needed to give an impression of the church militant, extending the religious mission from monks to the nobility. The aristocracy supported the Crusades: many younger sons could not inherit land, and Jerusalem was an opportunity. The Crusade was available as a religious penance as much as it was an economic opportunity. Merchants and financiers from the northern Italian towns (Genoa, Pisa, Venice) also saw opportunities in setting up trading routes and outposts in the newly conquered territories.

The number of those who rose to join the Crusade increased daily, and the movement, soon exceeding papal restraint, seized upon the hunger of the lower classes. Peasants exchanged plows for arms and were joined by the dissatisfied, the oppressed, and the outcast, including members of the lower clergy, runaway monks, women, and children. This popular mob believed themselves to be led directly by God.

These events led to the legend that Peter the Hermit of Amiens, not Urban, was the true representative of the crusading idea. Peter was one of the leaders of the fanatical bands, whose contribution to the enterprise was a story of an alleged personal appearance of Jesus. According to Peter, Jesus had given him a letter describing the sad condition of the Holy Land, and commanding Peter to lead an army to re-establish Christian power there. Conveniently, most of Peter's followers were at best semi-literate. Peter also had the support of the knight Walter the Penniless, who, as his name suggests, was an impoverished knight with no lord and no vassals. Their unarmed, unorganized army had little idea of the world outside their own lands, and at every city of any great size they believed they had arrived, at last, at Jerusalem.

Their march was filled with wild excesses. The Jews were their principal targets, and many communities along the Rhine were slaughtered with the help of another peasant army led by Emich of Leiningen. On their way down the Danube, Peter's mob attacked Hungarians, Slavs, and anyone else they suspected of being "heathens." Most of Peter's army was massacred before they even reached Constantinople. Peter survived, however, and would later join the main Crusader army.

The real armies set out in 1096. The main contingents were men of Lorraine under the brothers Godfrey of Bouillon, Eustace and Baldwin of Boulogne; Flemings under Count Robert II of Flanders; northern French under Robert of Normandy (older brother of King William II of England), Stephen of Blois, and Hugh of Vermandois (younger brother of King Philip I of France); Provencals under Raymond of Toulouse; and Normans of Italy under Bohemund of Taranto and Tancred of Hauteville.

There was some dissension among the leaders, especially over who was the actual leader, though Urban himself appointed his legate Adhemar of Le Puy overall leader. The army also had to contend against the wishes of Alexius I, who was understandably suspicious of a massive army that included many of his old Norman enemies. Alexius would not let them leave until the various leaders had sworn fealty to him, and had them promise to return to the Byzantine Empire any land they recovered from the Seljuks; these oaths would quickly be broken once the Crusaders crossed into Asia Minor.

Nicaea, capital of the Seljuk "Sultan of Rum" Kilij Arslan I,was taken in early 1097, and Kilij Arslan himself was defeated at Dorylaeum. The Crusaders then marched across Asia Minor. At this point Baldwin of Boulogne set off on his own towards the Armenian lands around the Euphrates. In Edessa he was adopted as heir by King Thoros, a Greek Orthodox ruler who was disliked by his Armenian subjects. Thoros was soon assassinated and Baldwin became the new ruler; the city became the County of Edessa, the first of the Crusader states.

The main Crusader army, meanwhile, marched on to Antioch, which was captured after a long siege on June 3, 1098, but only by deception - a former Christian guard in the city opened one of the gates for the Crusaders. Almost immediately, an army from Mosul arrived to besiege the newly conquered city; on June 28 Antioch was successfully defended against this army thanks largely to the efforts of Bohemond, who claimed the city for himself as Prince of Antioch. According to legend, an army of Christian saints, including the martyrs who had been killed at Nicaea and Dorylaeum, helped rout the Turks outside the city, allowing for the success of the siege. The Crusaders also believed they were aided by the discovery of the Holy Lance inside the city.

After a break, the rest of the Crusader army marched on to Jerusalem, which had, in the meanwhile, been recaptured by the Fatimids of Egypt. After a lengthy siege in which the Crusaders probably suffered more than the citizens of the city (with 15,000 marching in starvation on July 8), Jerusalem was taken on July 15, 1099. The Crusaders massacred the whole Muslim and Jewish population, men, women and children. The Jews were burned alive in their main synagogue where they had fled; the Muslims were slaughtered in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and according to the accounts their blood ran ankle-deep. In the days following the massacre, Godfrey of Bouillon was made Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Protector of the Holy Sepulchre), refusing to be named king in the city where Christ had died. In the last action of the Crusade, he led an army which defeated an invading Fatimid army at Ascalon. Godfrey died in July, 1100, and was succeeded by his brother, Baldwin of Edessa, who took the title of "King of Jerusalem". Baldwin and his successors, Baldwin II (d. 1131), and Fulk (d. 1143), extended the boundaries of the Kingdom of Jerusalem through successful warfare.

The new kingdom drew strength from the influx of new crusading forces in 1101, from the presence of the Italian merchants who established themselves in the Syrian ports, and from the religious and military orders of the Knights Templars and the Knights of St. John which were created during Baldwin I's reign.

The First Crusade marks the emergence of a self-confident, aggressive and expansionist Latin society as stability in the West left a warrior aristocracy in search of new conquests and patrimony. The new prosperity of major towns also meant that money was available to equip expeditions. The seaborne towns, in particular Venice and Genoa, were interested in extending trade. The Pope saw the Crusades as a way to assert Church influence as a unifying force, with war as a religious mission. This was a new attitude to religion: it brought religious discipline, previously applicable to monks, to soldiery—-the new concept of a religious warrior and the chivalric ethos.

See also: Crusade, Adhemar de Monteil, Albert of Aix, Peter the Hermit, Kingdom of Jerusalem, William of Tyre

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First Crusade."

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First Dynasty

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The first and second Dynasties of Ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title of the "Protodynastic Period".

Information about the Protodynastic Period depends upon a few monuments and other objects bearing royal names, the most important being the Narmer Palette. No detailed records of the first two dynasties have survived, and it is likely no such records ever existed. This period was a developmental stage for writing as we know it.

Large tombs for Kings at Abydos, Neqada and Saqqara in addition to cemeteries at Helouan near Memphis, reveal structures built largely of wood and mud bricks. with some small use of stone for walls and floors. Stone was used in quantity for the manufacture of ornaments, vessels and occasionally statues.

First Dynasty
Name Comments Dates
Hor-Aha Menes in earlier lists c. 3050 BCE
Djer - 57 years
Merneith Regent for Djet -
Djet - -
Den - 14 to 20 years
Anedjib - 26 years
Semerkhet - 9 to 18 years
Qa'a - 2916 ?-2890

See also: Pharaoh

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First Dynasty."

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First Epistle of Peter

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The First Epistle of Peter is a book of the Bible New Testament. The author identifies himself in the opening verse as "Peter, an apostle of Jesus", but modern scholars are sceptical that the apostle Peter wrote it himself due to the cultured style of the Greek. One theory is that it was written by Silvanus, who is mentioned towards the end (5:12) of the epistle. In the following verse the author includes greetings from "the church in Babylon", which may be an early use of this Christian title for Rome. If that is its true origin, then that fact would strengthen the case that it was actually written by Peter, and perhaps was written around AD 60. If Silvanus himself wrote this work, then it could have been written much later, but because bishop Polycarp alludes to this letter, it was written before the mid-2nd century. Some scholars reject both Peter and Silvanus as authors, and date its composition during the reign of the emperor Domitian (AD 81 - 91).

This epistle is addressed to "the strangers scattered abroad", i.e., to the Jews of the Dispersion (the Diaspora) in a five of the provinces of Asia Minor, listed in the order in which they would naturally occur to one writing from Babylon on the Euphrates. He counsels (1) to steadfastness and perseverance under persecution (1-2:10); (2) to the practical duties of a holy life (2:11-3:13); (3) he adduces the example of Christ and other motives to patience and holiness (3:14-4:19); and (4) concludes with counsels to pastors and people (ch. 5).

Its object is to confirm its readers in the doctrines they had already been taught. Peter has been called "the apostle of hope," because this epistle abounds with words of comfort and encouragement fitted to sustain a "lively hope." It contains about thirty-five references to the Old Testament.

This article uses text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First Epistle of Peter."

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First Epistle to Timothy

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The First Epistle to Timothy is a book of the Bible New Testament. It is a letter from Paul to Timothy.

Paul in this epistle speaks of himself as having left Ephesus for Macedonia (1:3), and hence not Laodicea, as mentioned in the subscription; but probably Philippi, or some other city in that region, was the place where this epistle was written. During the interval between his first and second imprisonments he probably visited the scenes of his former labours in Greece and Asia, and then found his way into Macedonia, whence he wrote this letter to Timothy, whom he had left behind in Ephesus.

It was possibly written about A.D. 66 or 67, but much disagreement remains about authorship and timelines. See Dating_the_Bible.

The epistle consists mainly, (1) of counsels to Timothy regarding the worship and organization of the Church, and the responsibilities resting on its several members; and (2) of exhortation to faithfulness in maintaining the truth amid surrounding errors.

Initial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 -- Please update as needed

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First Epistle to Timothy."

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First French Empire

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

 This article is part of the
History of France series.
 Gaul
 Franks
 France in the Middle Ages
 Valois Dynasty
 Bourbon Dynasty
 French Revolution

 First French Empire

 French Restoration

 Second Republic

 Second French Empire

 Third Republic

 France during World War II

 Fourth Republic

 Fifth Republic

The First French Empire, commonly known as the French Empire, the Napoleonic Empire or simply as The Empire, covers the period of the domination of France and of much of continental Europe by Napoleon I of France. Constitutionally, it refers to the period of 1804 to 1814, from the Consulate to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in the history of the French state, with a coda in the Hundred Days of 1815.

The First French Empire stands distinct from its imitator and would-be successor the Second French Empire of Napoleon III (1852-1870).

Bonaparte's march to empire began with the Constitution of the year X (August 1802). Having become "First Consul", he attracted more power and gravitated towards imperial status, gathering support on the way for his internal rebuilding of France and its institutions. He gradually dampened opposition and Republican enthusiasm, using exile, systematic bureacratic oppression and constitutional means. The decision of the Senate on May 18, 1804, giving him the title of emperor, was the counterblast to the dread he had excited.

Never did a harder master ordain more imperiously, nor understand better how to command obedience. "This was because," as Goethe said, "under his orders men were sure of accomplishing their ends. That is why they rallied round him, as one to inspire them with that kind of certainty."

Indeed no man previously ever concentrated authority to such a point, nor showed mental abilities at all comparable to his: an extraordinary power of work, prodigious memory for details and fine judgment in their selection; together with a luminous decision and a simple and rapid conception, all placed at the disposal of a sovereign will. No head of the state gave expression more imperiously than this Corsican to the popular passions of the French of that day: abhorrence for the emigrant nobility, fear of the ancien régime, dislike of foreigners, hatred of England, an appetite for conquest evoked by revolutionary propaganda, and the love of glory.

In this Napoleon was a soldier of the people: because of this he judged and ruled his contemporaries. Having seen their actions in the stormy hours of the French Revolution, he despised them and looked upon them as incapable of disinterested conduct, conceited, and obsessed by the notion of equality. Hence his colossal egoism, his habitual disregard of others, his jealous passion for power, his impatience of all contradiction, his vain untruthful boasting, his unbridled self-sufficiency and lack of moderation - passions which were gradually to cloud his clear faculty of reasoning. His genius, assisted by the impoverishment of two generations, was like the oak which admits beneath its shade none but the smallest of saplings. With the exception of Talleyrand, after 1808 he would have about him only mediocre people, without initiative, prostrate at the feet of the giant: his tribe of paltry, rapacious and embarrassing Corsicans; his admirably subservient generals; his selfish ministers, docile agents, apprehensive of the future, who for fourteen long years felt a prognostication of defeat and discounted the inevitable catastrophe.

So First Empire France had no internal history outside the plans and transformations to which Napoleon subjected the institutions of the Consulate, and outside the after-effects of his wars. Well knowing that his fortunes rested on the delighted acquiescence of France, Napoleon expected to continue indefinitely fashioning public opinion according to his pleasure. To his contempt for men he added that of all ideas which might put a bridle on his ambition; and to guard against them, he inaugurated the "Golden Age" of the police that he might tame every moral force to his hand. Being essentially a man of order, he loathed, as he said, all demagogic action, Jacobinism and visions of liberty, which he desired only for himself. To make his will predominant, he stifled or did violence to that of others, through his bishops, his gendarmes, his university, his press, his catechism. Nourished like Frederick II and Catherine the Great in 18th century maxims, he would not allow any of that ideology to filter through into his rough but regular ordering of mankind. Thus the whole political system, being summed up in the emperor, was bound to share his fall.

Although an enemy of idealogues, Napoleon followed grandiose visions in his foreign policy. A condottiere of the Renaissance living in the 19th century, he used France, and all those nations annexed or attracted by the Revolution, to resuscitate the Roman conception of the idea of Empire for personal benefit. On the other hand, he was enslaved by the history and aggressive idealism of the National Convention, and of the republican propaganda under the Directory; they guided him quite as much as he guided them. Hence the immoderate extension given to French activity by his classical Latin spirit; hence also his conquests, leading on from one to another, and instead of being mutually helpful interfering with each other; hence, finally, his not entirely coherent policy, interrupted by hesitation and counter-attractions. This explains the retention of Italy, imposed on the Directory from 1796 onward, followed by his treatment of Venice, the foundation of the Cisalpine Republic - a foretaste of future annexations - the restoration of that republic after his return from Egypt, and in view of his as yet inchoate designs, the postponed solution of the Italian problem which the treaty of Lunéville had raised.

The Battle of Marengo (June 14, 1800 inaugurated the political idea which was to continue its development until Napoleon's Moscow campaign. Napoleon dreamed as yet only of keeping the duchy of Milan, setting aside Austria, and preparing some new enterprise in the East or in Egypt. The peace of Amiens, which cost him Egypt, could only seem to him a temporary truce; whilst he was gradually extending his authority in Italy, the cradle of his race, by the union of Piedmont, and by his tentative plans regarding Genoa, Parma, Tuscany and Naples. He wanted to make this his Cisalpine Gaul, laying siege to the Roman state on every hand, and preparing in the Concordat for the moral and material servitude of the pope. When he recognised his error in having raised the papacy from decadence by restoring its power over the churches, he tried in vain to correct it by the Articles Organiques ? wanting, like Charlemagne, to be the legal protector of the pope, and eventually master of the Church. To conceal his plan he aroused French colonial aspirations against England, and also the memory of the spoliations of 1763, exasperating English jealousy of France, whose borders now extended to the Rhine, and laying hands on Hanover, Hamburg and Cuxhaven.

By the "Recess" of 1803, which brought to his side Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden, he followed up the overwhelming tide of revolutionary ideas in Germany, to stem which Pitt, back in power, appealed once more to an Anglo-Austro-Russian coalition against this new Charlemagne, who was trying to renew the old Holy Roman Empire, who was mastering France, Italy and Germany; who finally on December 2, 1804 placed the imperial crown upon his head, after receiving the iron crown of the Lombard kings, and made Pope Pius VII consecrate him in Notre-Dame de Paris.

After this, in four campaigns, the Emperor transformed his Carolingian feudal and federal empire into one modelled on the Roman empire. The memories of imperial Rome were for a third time, after Julius Caesar and Charlemagne, to modify the historical evolution of France. Though the vague plan for an invasion of England fell to the ground, the Battle of Ulm and the Battle of Austerlitz obliterated Trafalgar, and the camp at Boulogne put the best military resources he had ever commanded at Napoleon's disposal.

In the first of these campaigns Bonaparte swept away the remnants of the old Roman-Germanic empire, and out of its shattered fragments created in southern Germany the vassal states of Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt and Saxony, which he attached to France under the name of the Confederation of the Rhine; but the treaty of Pressburg (December 26, 1805) gave France nothing but the danger of a more centralised and less docile Germany. On the other hand, Napoleon's creation of the kingdom of Italy, his annexation of Venetia and her ancient Adriatic empire - wiping out the humiliation of 1797 - and the occupation of Ancona, marked a new stage in his progress towards his Roman Empire. His good fortune soon led him from conquest to spoliation, and he complicated his master-idea of the grand empire by his Family Compact; the clan of the Bonapartes invaded European monarchies, wedding with princesses of blood-royal, and adding kingdom to kingdom. Joseph Bonaparte replaced the dispossessed Bourbonss at Naples; Louis Bonaparte was installed on the throne of the newly formed kingdom of Holland carved out of the Dutch Batavian Republic; Joachim Murat became grand-duke of Berg, Jerome Bonaparte son-in-law to the king of Württemberg, and Eugene de Beauharnais to the king of Bavaria; while Stéphanie de Beauharnais married the son of the grand-duke of Baden.

Meeting with less and less resistance, Napoleon went still further and would tolerate no neutral power. On August 6, 1806 he forced the Habsburgs, left with only the crown of Austria, to abdicate their Roman-Germanic title of emperor. Prussia alone remained outside the Confederation of the Rhine, of which Napoleon was Protector, and to further her decision he offered her English Hanover. In a second campaign he destroyed at Jena both the army and the state of Frederick William III of Prussia, who could not make up his mind between the Napoleonic treaty of Schönbrunn and Russia's counter-proposal at Potsdam (October 14, 1806). The butchery at Eylau and the vengeance taken at Friedland (June 14, 1807) finally ruined Frederick the Great's work, and obliged Russia, the ally of England and Prussia, to allow the latter to be despoiled, and to join Napoleon against the maritime tyranny of the former.

After the Treaties of Tilsit, however (July 1807), instead of trying to reconcile Europe to his grandeur, Napoleon had but one thought: to make use of his success to destroy England and complete his Italian dominion. It was from Berlin, on November 21, 1806, that he had dated the first decree of a continental blockade, a monstrous conception intended to paralyze his inveterate rival, but which on the contrary caused his own fall by its immoderate extension of the Empire. To the coalition of the northern powers he added the league of the Baltic and Mediterranean ports, and to the bombardment of Copenhagen by an English fleet he responded by a second decree of blockade, dated from Milan on December 17, 1807.

But the application of the Concordat and the taking of Naples led to the first of those struggles with the pope in which were formulated two antagonistic doctrines: Napoleon declaring himself Roman emperor, and Pius VII renewing the theocratic affirmations of Pope Gregory VII. The Emperor's Roman ambition was made more and more plainly visible by the occupation of the kingdom of Naples and of the Marches, and by the entry,of Miollis into Rome; while Junot invaded Portugal, Radet laid hands on the pope himself, and Joachim Murat took possession of formerly Roman Spain, whither Joseph Bonaparte transferred afterwards.

But Napoleon little knew the flame he was kindling. No more far-seeing than the Directory or the men of the year III, he thought that, with energy and execution, he might succeed in the Peninsula as he had succeeded in Italy in 1796 and 1797, in Egypt, and in Hesse, and that he might cut into Spanish granite as into Italian mosaic or "that big cake, Germany". He stumbled unawares upon the revolt of a proud national spirit, evolved through ten historic centuries; and the trap of Bayonne, together with the enthroning of Joseph Bonaparte, made the contemptible prince of the Asturias the elect of popular sentiment, the representative of religion and country.

Napoleon thought he had Spain within his grasp, and now suddenly everything started slipping from him. The Peninsula became the grave of whole armies and a battlefield against England. Dupont capitulated at Bailen into the hands of Castanos, and Junot at Cintra to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington; while Europe trembled at this first check to the hitherto invincible imperial armies. To reduce Spanish resistance Napoleon had in his turn to come to terms with the tsar Alexander I of Russia at Erfurt; so that, abandoning his designs in the East, he could maka the Grand Army evacuate Prussia and return in force to Madrid.

Thus Spain swallowed up the soldiers who were wanted for Napoleon's other fields of battle, and they had to be replaced by forced levies. Europe had only to wait, and he would eventually be found disarmed in face of a last coalition; but Spanish heroism infected Austria, and showed the force of national resistance. The provocations of Talleyrand and England strengthened the illusion: Why should not the Austrians emulate the Spaniards? The campaign of 1809, however, was but a pale copy of the Spanish insurrection. After a short and decisive action in Bavaria, Napoleon opened up the road to Vienna for a second time; and after the two days' battle at Essling, the stubborn fight at Wagram, the failure of a patriotic insurrection in northern Germany and of the English expedition against Antwerp, the treaty of Vienna (14 December 1809), with the annexation of the Illyrian provinces, completed the colossal Empire. Napoleon profited, in fact, by this campaign which had been planned for his overthrow.

The pope was deported to Savona beneath the eyes of indifferent Europe, and his domains were incorporated in the Empire; the senate's decision on 17 February 1810 created the title of king of Rome, and made Rome the capital of Italy. The pope banished, it was now desirable to send away those to whom Italy had been more or less promised. Eugene de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson, was transferred to Frankfurt, and Murat carefully watched until the time should come to take him to Russia and instal him as king of Poland. Between 1810 and 1812 Napoleon's divorce of Josephine, and his marriage with Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, followed by the birth of the king of Rome, shed a brilliant light upon his future policy. He renounced a federation in which his brothers were not sufficiently docile; he gradually withdrew power (sociology) from them; he concentrated all his affection and ambition on the son who was the guarantee of the continuance of his dynasty. This was the apogee of his reign.

But undermining forces already impinged: the faults inherent in his unwieldy achievement. England, his chief enemy, was persistently active; and rebellion both of the governing and of the governed broke out everywhere. Napoleon felt his impotence in coping with the Spanish Uprising , which he underrated, while yet unable to suppress it altogether. Men like Stein, Hardenberg and Scharnhorst had secretly started preparing Prussia's retaliation.

Napoleon's material omnipotence could not stand against the moral force of the pope, a prisoner at Fontainebleau; and this he did not realise. The alliance arranged at Tilsit was seriously shaken by the Austrian marriage, the threat of a Polish restoration, and the unfriendly policy of Napoleon at Constantinople. The very persons whom he had placed in power were counteracting his plans: after four years' experience Napoleon found himself obliged to treat his Corsican dynasties like those of the ancien régime, and all his relations were betraying him. Caroline Bonaparte conspired against her brother and against her husband Murat; the hypochondriacal Louis, now Dutch in his sympathies, found the supervision of the blockade taken from him, and also the defence of the Scheldt, which he had refused to ensure; Jerome Bonaparte, idling in his harem, lost that of the North Sea shores; and Joseph, who was attempting the moral conquest of Spain, was continually insulted at Madrid. The very nature of things was against the new dynasties, as it had been against the old.

After national insurrections and family recriminations came treachery from Napoleon's ministers. Talleyrand betrayed his designs to Metternich and sufferred dismissed; Fouché corresponded with Austria in 1809 and 1810, entered into an understanding with Louis, and also with England; while Bourrienne was convicted of peculation. By a natural consequence of the spirit of conquest Napoleon had aroused, all these parvenus, having tasted victory, dreamed of sovereign power: Bernadotte, who had helped him to the Consulate, played Napoleon false to win the crown of Sweden; Soult, like Murat, coveted the Spanish throne after that of Portugal, thus anticipating the treason of 1813 and the defection of 1814; many persons hoped for "an accident" which might resemble the tragic ends of Alexander the Great and of Julius Caesar.

The country itself, besides, though flattered by conquests, was tired of self-sacrifice. It had become satiated; "the cry of the mothers rose threateningly" against "the Ogre" and his intolerable imposition of wholesale conscription. The soldiers themselves, discontented after Austerlitz, cried out for peace after Eylau. Finally, amidst profound silence from the press and the Assemblies, a protest was raised against imperial despotism by the literary world, against the excommunicated sovereign by Catholicism, and against the author of the continental blockade by the discontented bourgeoisie, ruined by the crisis of 1811.

Napoleon himself was no longer the "General Bonaparte" of his campaign in Italy. He was already showing signs of physical decay; the Roman medallion profile had coarsened, the obese body was often lymphatic. Mental degeneration, too, betrayed itself in an unwonted irresolution.

At Eylau, at Wagram, and later at Waterloo, his method of acting by enormous masses of infantry and cavalry, in a mad passion for conquest, and his misuse of his military resources, were all signs of his moral and technical decadence; and this at the precise moment when, instead of the armies and governments of the old system, which had hitherto reigned supreme, the nations themselves were rising against France, and the events of 1792 were being avenged upon her. The three campaigns of two years brought the final catastrophe.

Napoleon had hardly succeeded in putting down the revolt in Germany when the tsar of Russia himself headed a European insurrection against the ruinous tyranny of the continental blockade. To put a stop to this, to ensure his own access to the Mediterranean and exclude his chief rival, Napoleon made a desperate effort in 1812 against a country as invincible as Russia. Despite his victorious advance, the taking of Smolensk, the victory on the Moskva, and the entry into Moscow, he was vanquished by Russian patriotism and religious fervour, by the country and the climate, and by Alexander's refusal to make terms. After this came the lamentable retreat, while all Europe was concentrating against him. Pushed back, as he had been in Spain, from bastion to bastion, after the action on the Berezina, Napoleon had to fall back upon the frontiers of 1809, and then - having refused the peace offered him by Austria at the congress of Prague, from a dread of losing Italy, where each of his victories had marked a stage in the accomplishment of his dream - on those of 1805, despite Lützen and Bautzen, and on those of 1802 after his defeat at Leipzig, where Bernadotte turned upon him, Jean Victor Moreau figured among the Allies, and the Saxons and Bavarians forsook him.

Following his retreat from Russia came Napoleon's retreat from Germany. After the loss of Spain, reconquered by Wellington, the rising in the Netherlands preliminary to the invasion and the manifesto of Frankfurt which proclaimed it, he had to fall back upon the frontiers of 1795; and then later was driven yet farther back upon. those of 1792, despite the wonderful campaign of 1814 against the invaders, in which the old Bonaparte of 1796 seemed to have returned. Paris capitulated on 30 March 1814, and the Delenda Carthago, pronounced against England, was spoken of Napoleon. The great empire of East and West fell in ruins with the emperor's abdication at Fontainebleau. Only the Hundred Days revived the flame for a final flicker: France returned to a restored Bourbon monarchy in the person of Louis XVIII.

See also: Napoleonic Era

Initial text from 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Please update as needed.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First French Empire."

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First Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridge

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The First Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridge (来島海峡第一大橋; Kurushima-Kaikyō Daiichi Ōhashi) is a suspension bridge connecting Oshima and Mashima islands in Japan. The bridge is part of the bigger Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project connecting Honshu and Shikoku islands.

See also

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First lieutenant

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

First Lieutenant is a military rank.

The rank of Lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations (see comparative military ranks), but in all cases it is common for it to be divided.

In the United States Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, First Lieutenant is the second-lowest ranking commissioned officer. In contrast to the rank of Second Lieutenant, its attainment requires the completion of training at a formal academy such as West Point or the Air Force Academy.

In the Royal Navy, the rank of Lieutenant is equivalent to that of a Captain in the army. First Lieutenant is not a specific rank, but aboard a ship, one officer would be designated as First Lieutenant (familiarly, "Number One") and would be the effective second in command.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First lieutenant."

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First Punic War

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

History -- Military History -- War

The First Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome from 264 BC to 241 BC. It was the first of three major wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic.

Background

The First Punic War broke out when the Romans intervened in Sicily. In the city of Messana (present-day Messina), a group of Campanian mercenaries (the Mamertines) who had seized control of the city from its native inhabitants sought military aid against King Hieron (Hiero) II of Siracusa. They appealed simultaneously to Rome and Carthage, the two greatest powers in the Western Mediterranean. The Romans disrelished the idea coming to the aid of soldiers who had unjustly stolen acity from its rightful possessors, but they feared to see Carthaginian power spread further over the island, and so chose to form an alliance with the Mamertines. Carthage had long possessed a foothold in Sicily, and the war turned into a struggle for for possession of the island.

Chronology

265: The Mamertines appeal to both Rome and Carthage. Carthage quickly sends a small garrison, while Roman debates intervention. The Roman Senate refuses to deal with the matter so the matter is passed to the Assembly.

264: The Carthaginians begin reconciliation efforts with Hiero. Many Mamertines feel this was a mistake, and request Roman assistance against the Carthaginians. The Mamertines send a diplomatic mission to Rome, requesting aid in removing the now established Carthaginian garrison. Part of their appeal to the Romans is they, as Campanians, are fellow Latins.

The Senate failing to act, the Roman Assembly votes to accept a new alliance with Messana and move an army to Sicily. Appius Claudius Caudex is dispatched to Sicily to guard Messana from the Carthaginians.

The Mamertines dislodge the Carthaginian garrison in their citadel and allow Appius to enter. The nearby city of Acragas then enters into an alliance with Carthage. Carthaginians and Syracusans combine to lay siege to Messana.

Appius Claudius arrives in Sicily, and conducts negotiations with the Carthaginians. Claudius declares war against the Carthaginians and Syracusans, marking the start of the First Punic War. Appius defeats first the Syracusans and then the Carthaginians, then lays siege to Syracuse.

263:When news of the success of Appius reaches the Romans, they elect Manius Otacilius and Manius Valerius consuls, and dispatch them with their whole armed forces, 40,000 men, to Sicily. When the Romans arrive, 67 Sicilian cities revolt from Carthage.

Hiero had to decide whether to side with Rome or Carthage. To aid the Carthaginians was to lend aid to the eastern Greeks. However, with Roman protection, Syracuse and all western Greeks would now be safe. A Roman victory would mean the removal of the Phoenicians from Sicily.

Hiero offered the Romans the possession of Messana and a subsidy of one hundred talents annually for fifteen years on condition they guaranteed his 'kingship' of Syracuse. This sum was not too large a price to pay for the security of Sicily. For the Romans the deal was agreeable. As a result of Hiero's switch of allegiance, several other Greek cities in Sicily switched allegiance to the Romans.

Carthage, meanwhile, raised fresh troops and began concentrating them at the city of Agrigentum.

262: Lucius, Postumius and Quintus Mamilius arrive as new consuls in Sicily. Seeing the Carthaginian operations, they decide to besiege Agrigentum. The Carthaginians send Hanno with the fresh mercenaries they have collected to relieve the siege at Agrigentum. Hanno surrounds the besieging Romans. After a stand-off of several months, Hanno attacks but the Romans rout his army. The Carthaginian garrison flees Agrigentum and the Romans enter.

When news of the success at Agrigentum is received at Rome, the Roman government decides to advance beyond the aims of its alliances with Heiro and the Mamertines. The decision is taken to expel Carthage utterly from Sicerly.

261: Seeing that many Sicilians seaports side with Carthage due to its naval powr, the Romans decide to construct a fleet - something Rome has never possessed. In order to compensate for their lack of naval combat experience, they used a cunning new device called a corvus ("crow" in Latin). The corvus was a raised gangplank attached to the bow of the ship with a large spike afixed underneath. The carvus was then lowered onto an enemy ship, and the spike would catch and hold it in place. This tactic would then allow the Romans to board the ship and use their superior land tactics against the enemy. This proved to be a very successfull tactic, as Rome won every major naval engagement of the First Punic War.

260: The Romans win the naval battle of Mylae using new ships based on a Punic design. During Mylae (Milazzo), off the northern Sicilian coast, the Roman admiral Gaius Duilius defeated a Carthaginian squadron of more maneuverable ships by employing the corvus. This is the first time the Carthage fleet had been defeated in battle by the Romans.

257: The Romans invasion of Africa was necessary to end the war, and gathered a large task force of 230 warships and 100 transports. After defeating the Carthaginian fleet in Sicily they moved into Africa. The Romans arrived late in the summer. The Romans could not win an all out victory over Cartage. The Carthaginians sued for peace, but M. Atilius Regulus, insisted upon overly harsh surrender terms. The Carthaginians rejected peace and continue to battle against the Romans. With the onset of winter the Romans split their forces with one half resturning to Rome. The remaning forces were under the command of Regulus.

256: Following a victory at Cape Ecnomus, the Romans land in Africa and advance on Carthage.

255: The Carthaginians defeat the Romans at Tunis and the Roman survivors are shipwrecked on their way back to Sicily.

The Carthaginians employ a Spartan general, Xanthippus, to organize their defenses. In the spring of 255 he engaged the Romans in battle with a force equak to theirs. Regulus mistakenly places his soldiers in tight ranks. The Carthaginian elephants broke through the Roman ranks, and the Roman army was decimated. 500 soldiers were captured along with Regulus, 3000 more escaped, and the remainder killed.

A Roman fleet later arrives with reinforcements and defeats the Carthaginian fleet and rescues the survivors. During the return trip home, the fleet is caught in a terrible storm, and 184 of the 264 ships are destroyed on the rocks near Camarina in southern Sicily. Many tens of thousands of Romans were drowned. Polybius calls it the greatest naval disaster known to him.

254: The Romans win a victory at Panormus on Sicily, but fail to make any further progress in the war.

During the winter the Romans construct another 140 ships. The Romans also raise a considerable army. The Carthaginians failed to keep up with Romans construction efforts. Later in the year the Romans capture the strategic Carthaginian port of Panormus in northeastern Sicily. Carthaginian prestige was weakened around Panormus and resulted in the defection of five Greek cities from Cartage to Rome.

253: The Romans then pursued a policy of raiding the African coast east of Carthage. After an unsuccessful year the fleet head for home. During the return to Italy the Romans are again caught in a storm and lose 150 ships.

251: The Romans again win at Panormus over the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians are lead by Hasdrubal. The Roman military are lead by Lucius Caecilius Metellus. As a result of the diminshed threat in Northern Africa, Carthage manages to strengthen its garrisons in Sicily and recapture Agrigentum.

A Carthaginian army attempted to retake Panormus Caecilius defeats the Carthaginian army Panormus, resulting in the death or capture 20,000 of the 30,000 Carthaginians as well as elephants. Hasdrubal is later summoned back to Carthage and executed for his failure.

249: During the siege of Lilybaeum, at Drepanum the Carthaginians win a naval victory over the Romans. The Carthaginians are lead by Ad Herbal. The Romans by Publius Claudius Pulcher who commanded 123 galleys in the Roman fleet. Claudius was defeated, resultign in the loss of 93 ships, 8,000 soldiers killed and 20,000 soldiers captured by the enemy. The Carthaginians lost no ships.

246: Hannibal is born

241: On March 10, 241 BC at the Battle of Aegates Islands (Battle of Aegusa) off the coast of Sicily the Romans destroy the Carthaginian fleet, effectively ending the war.

The Roman fleet consisited of 200 quinquiremes under the command of Gaius Lutatius Catulus. The fleet was sent to restart the blockade of Lilybaeum. The Romans appeared off the coast of Sicily durng the summer months and so surprised the Carthaginian fleet that it was forced to sail for Carthage. This allowed the Romans to capture the harbor at Drepana.

The Carthaginians mustered their fleet and managed to send 170 ships to aide Hamilcar's troops in Eryx. The commander of the Punic fleet, Hanno, had intended to covertly enter Eryx, unload supplies and load the mercenaries of Hamilcar Barca and then pursue the Roman fleet.

Lutatius' spies intercepted the information. Acting with foreknowledge Lutatius set sail towards the island of Aegusa (Aegates Islands) close by Lilybaeum to engage the Punic fleet. Shortly after dawn, Lutatius saw that the winds favoured Carthage and the seas were rough. Upon seeing the enemy at full sail, he put to sea immediately, maneuvering his fleet into a single column facing towards the enemy.

After seeing the Romans formation, the Carthaginians lowered their masts and closed ranks. The Romans ships were lighter and had better training while the Carthaginian galleys became difficult to maneuver and their marines were mere novices. The end result was the Carthaginian ships were soundly defeated. Fifty of their galleys were sunk outright and another seventy were captured. The rest fled the battle after a change in winds. The Romans had captured almost 100,000 prisoners, effectively ending the war and after 24 years Carthage is forced to settle for peace.

The historian Polybius comments that the First Punic War was the most destructive war in terms of casualties in the history of warfare, including the battles of Alexander the Great.

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First United States Congress

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

First United States Congress

1789-1791

Major Political Events

= Members of the First United States Congress ==

External Links

United States CongressSecond United States Congress

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First United States Congress."

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First-order predicate calculus

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

First-order predicate calculus or first-order logic (FOL) is a theory in symbolic logic that states quantified statements such as "there exists an object such that..." or "for all objects, it is the case that...".

First-order logic is distinguished from higher-order logic in that it does not allow statements such as "for every property, it is the case that..." or "there exists a set of objects such that...".

Nevertheless, first-order logic is strong enough to formalize all of set theory and thereby virtually all of mathematics. It is the classical logical theory underlying mathematics. It is a stronger theory than sentential logic, but a weaker theory than arithmetic, set theory, or Second-order logic.

Like any logical theory, first-order calculus consists of

There are two types of axioms: the logical axioms which embody the general truths about proper reasoning involving quantified statements, and the axioms describing the subject matter at hand, for instance axioms describing sets in set theory or axioms describing numbers in arithmetic.

While the set of inference rules in first-order calculus is finite, the set of axioms may very well be and often is infinite. However we require that there is a general algorithm which can decide for a given well-formed formula whether it is an axiom or not. Furthermore, there should be an algorithm which can decide whether a given application of an inference rule is correct or not.

The well-formed formulas contain:

The object, predicate and function constants will typically depend on the particular domain we are talking about.

Instead of giving the lengthy definition of well-formed formulas, we will simply look at some examples from arithmetic together with their ordinary interpretation. Our domain here is the set of natural numbers:

∀ x ∃ y : y > x
(ie: forAll x thereExists y suchThat y greaterThan x )
For every number x there exists a bigger number y. That's true.

∃ y ∀ x : y > x
(ie: thereExists y forAll x suchThat y greaterThan x )

There exists a number y which is bigger than every number x. That's not true.

∀ x ( (∃ y : 6 * y=x ) ⇒ (∃ y : 3 * y=x ) )
(ie: forAll x ( thereExists y suchThat 6*y=x) implies (thereExists y suchThat 3*y=x) )

If a number x is divisible by 6, then it is also divisible by 3. True.

∃ x : ¬ ∃ y : y < x
(ie: thereExists x suchThat (not ThereExists y suchThat y < x ) )

There exists a number x such that there doesn't exist a smaller number y. True (take x=0).

Now one would have to write down 15 logical axioms and 2 inference rules to completely specify the first-order calculus. How can one be sure that those axioms and rules are enough? This is the subject of Gödel's completeness theorem: if you start out with some subject matter axioms and you look at a certain statement, then it is possible to prove that statement using only the subject matter axioms, the 15 logical axioms and the two inference rules if and only if the statement is true in every domain in which the subject matter axioms are true. (See also Leon Henkin)

The Peano axioms for the natural numbers are sometimes formulated as second-order statements (the induction axiom talks about all "properties" or all "sets of numbers"), but this is not necessary if one is willing to allow infinitely many first-order axioms. A first-order version of the Peano axioms follows.

We are using the object constants 0 and 1, the function constants + and *, and the predicate constant =. Here are the axioms:

  1. ∀ x : ¬ (0 = x + 1)
    • i.e.: forAll x suchThat not (0 = x + 1)
    • i.e.: no number has 0 as its sucessor
  2. ∀ x ∀ y : ¬ (x = y) ⇒ ¬ (x + 1 = y + 1)
    • i.e.: forAll x forAll y suchThat not(x=y) implies not(x + 1 = y + 1)
    • i.e.: if x ≠ y, then x+1 ≠ y+1
  3. ∀ x : x + 0 = x
    • i.e.: forAll x suchThat x + 0 = x
    • i.e.: for all x, x + 0 = x
  4. ∀ x ∀ y : (x + y) + 1 = x + (y + 1)
    • i.e.: forAll x forAll y suchThat (x + y) + 1 = x + (y + 1)
    • i.e.: for all x and y, (x + y) + 1 = x + (y + 1)
  5. ∀ x : x * 0 = 0
    • i.e.: forAll x suchThat x * 0 = 0
    • i.e.: for all x, x * 0 = 0
  6. ∀ x ∀ y : x * (y + 1) = x * y + x
    • i.e.: forAll x forAll y suchThat x * (y + 1) = x * y + x
    • i.e.: for all x and y, x * (y + 1) = x * y + x
  7. This is an axiom scheme consisting of infinitely many axioms. If P(x) is any formula involving the constants 0, 1, +, *, = and a single free variable x, then the following formula is an axiom:   ( P(0) ∧ ∀ x : P(x) ⇒ P(x + 1) ) ⇒ ∀ x : P(x)
    • i.e.: ( P(0) and (forAll x suchThat ( P(x) implies P(x + 1) ) ) ) implies (forAll x suchThat P(x) )
    • i.e.: if something is true for 0, and from its being true for x it follows that it is also true for x + 1, then it is true for all x (induction)

Axioms 1, 2 and 7 are the traditional Peano axioms while axioms 3-6 serve to define addition and multiplication. If one omits the function constant * and axioms 5 and 6 and allows in scheme 7 only formulas without *, then one gets the very interesting Presburger arithmetic.

References:

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First-order predicate calculus."

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First-person shooter

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A first-person shooter (FPS), is an action video game where the player's on-screen view of the game world simulates that of the character. The term first-person shooter derives from the game's first person perspective, and from the fact that the gameplay tends to emphasize shooting. In its most basic sense, the phrase simply means any shooting game with a first person perspective (which would mean games like Wing Commander, Crossbow and many combat flight simulators, etc.).

However, the vast majority of people use the phrase to describe a very specific genre which id Software spawned with Wolfenstein 3D. In this genre, the person shooting is not an in vehicle, and the game is tactical rather than strategic. Although the action features many weapons, the tone of the game is arcade like, with the numerous enemies who are easy to kill, while the protagionist is relatively hard to kill, often being able to sustain large numbers of gunshots and recovering by using a first aid kit.

Overview

A large percentage of all new games nowadays are FPSs, almost all playable over the Internet (on non-console platforms), giving rise to another enormous 'net subculture (usually called Clans, especially regarding Quake, considered by many the seminal FPS).

Another characteristic of FPSs is the ability, either designed or hacked-in, for players and enthusiasts to create their own levels (see level design) or indeed overall graphical appearance for distribution to other fans (normally, this distribution must be done for free in order to abide by the developers license). This has contributed to the longevity both of the genre and of individual games. Some games now include the software the designers used to make levels, such as Unreal.

Many FPS games are designed with a core game engine, separate from the graphics, game rules, and levels. This enables developers to license the core software to other games. This "plug-in" design allows amateur programmers to add new elements to games, such as new rules, characters or weapons. This process is known as modding.

For many, the appeal of the FPS lies in immersive frantic blasting with a touch of verisimilitude, humour, puzzle-solving and claustrophobia. For others, the single player mode in story oriented games can have compelling narratives which allow for added element of drama in the games.

FPS are among the most demanding users of computing resources, persuading many users to upgrade computers that are still suitable for more mundane tasks. The two pieces of the computer which are most stressed by FPS are the CPU and the graphics card. As a result of FPS, graphics cards began to support 3d hardware rendering. FPS have been the catalyst for development of 3d graphics cards and high end CPU's.

id Software is regarded as, if not the ultimate creator of the FPS genre, certainly the populariser and refiner of it, with the Quake series regarded by many as the definitive games of the genre. Epic's Unreal was also hugely popular and much-imitated. As well as developing games themselves, these two companies actively license their game engines to third parties for use in other games.

Sub-genres include the stealth-based game (also known as a "first-person sneaker") and the tactical shooter, which use a similar viewpoint and mechanics, but respectively emphasise avoiding detection and team-based tactics. These are now regarded as being distinct from FPSs in computer games magazines. Thief exemplifies the stealth-based game; Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon, and other games based on novels by Tom Clancy are seminal tactical shooters.

History

The original FPS was the game Spasim published in spring of 1974. It was a wire-frame 3D universe resembling the 2D game Empire (which became Netrek). Spasim lacked even hidden lines but it was multiplayer over the world-wide PLATO network.

The first flat-polygon (hidden surface) game was the single-player Colony (1987?). It lacked textured walls, floors, etc. Other FPS games of the flat-polygon era include Faceball 2000, and MIDI Maze (for Atari-ST), notable for its networked multiplayer feature (using the MIDI interface, of all things).

Other early examples of first person games are Rescue on Fractalus, The Eidolon, Way Out and of course various simulators such as Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The first first person shooter with colored walls, floors is probably Hovertank 3D (April 1991), but textured walls and the concept of showing the player's hand only appeared in Catacomb 3D (a.k.a. The Catacomb Abyss) (late 1991).

But it wasn't until Wolfenstein 3D (1992) from id Software the term first-person shooter had to be invented. Wolfenstein 3D was shortly supplanted (1993) by the genre-defining DOOM, which introduced network multiplayer capabilities and thereby guaranteed the persistence of the FPS in gaming formats; the real thrill of these already-atmospheric games comes from blasting colleagues, strangers, spouses etc.

Of historical note, among the early heirs of Spasim were First Person Shooter 3D games such as:

Controversy

Some groups have blamed first person shooters - the usual poster boy for video game violence - for certain spree killings, particularly using sniper rifles. For example, there was much contreversy in the United States that the Columbine High School massacre was a result of the attackers having played a great deal of the FPS Doom. Years later, there was much speculation in the UK media that the Beltway sniper attacks were inspired by first-person shooters and games such as Grand Theft Auto that have first-person shooter elements.

As of yet, there is no clinical proof that violent video games such as FPSs contribute to violent behavior. Gathering actual evidence for such a subject, however, is difficult and hard to verify. Some psychologists claim that such games actually prevent violent behavior by providing a safe outlet for aggression. But opponents to this view counter that the aggressive behavior is actually encouraged by this genre of games. Today the controversy rages on, with little hope of a resolution.

Most FPS games have a voluntary ESRB rating of T (for Teen) or M (for Mature audiences), but sale of these games to children is not moderated or enforced. There is no national law prohibiting sale of such games to children, but bills have recently been proposed that would prohibit the sale of games to customers under the ERSB rating's age. Video game industry professionals oppose such a law, citing that the ESRB is a voluntary rating and similar rated materials are not regulated, such as the MPAA film rating system's minumum age for movie patrons.

List of Notable First-person Shooters

The following is an attempt at listing the more "revolutionary", "ground-breaking", and "influential" games from this genre.

Additional games

See also: list of computer and video games

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "First-person shooter."

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Timeline of microscope technology

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Timeline of microscope technology

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World War I

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

simple:World War I

World War I or the First World War, 1914 - 1918, was the first war that involved nations spanning more than half the globe, hence world war.

It was commonly called The Great War or sometimes "the war to end wars" until World War II started, although the name "First World War" was coined as early as 1920 by Lt-Col à Court Repington in The First World War 1914-18.

Some scholars write of the First World War as merely the first phase of a 30-year-long war spanning the period 1914 - 1945.

Haut-Rhin, France 1917

Diplomatic origins

Though triggered by the assassination (June 28, 1914) of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia at the hands of a pro-Serbian nationalist assassin (a Bosnian Serb student named Gavrilo Princip), the war's origins lie in the complex relations of the European powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 had brought not only the establishment of a powerful and dynamic German Empire , but also a legacy of animosity between France and Germany following the latter's annexation of the formerly French territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Under the political direction of her first Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, Germany secured her new position in Europe by an alliance with Austria-Hungary and a diplomatic understanding with Russia.

The accession (1888) of Emperor Wilhelm II brought to the German throne a young ruler determined to direct policy himself, despite his rash diplomatic judgment. After the 1890 elections, in which the centre and left parties made major gains, and due in part to his disaffection at inheriting the Chancellor who had guided his grandfather for most of his career, Wilhelm engineered Bismarck's resignation.

Much of the fallen Chancellor's work was undone in the following decades, as Wilhelm failed to renew the arrangement with Russia, presenting republican France with the opportunity to conclude (1891-94) a full alliance with the Russian Empire. Worse was to follow, as Wilhelm undertook (1897-1900) the creation of a German navy capable of threatening Britain's century-old naval mastery, prompting the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale of 1904 and its expansion (1907) to include Russia.

Rivalry among the powers was exacerbated from the 1880s by the scramble for colonies which brought much of Africa and Asia under European rule in the following quarter-century. Even the once hesitantly imperialistic Bismarck became an advocate of overseas Empire, adding to Anglo-German tension as German acquisitions in Africa and the Pacific threatened to impinge upon British strategic and commercial interests. Wilhelm's support for Moroccan independence from France, Britain's new strategic partner, provoked the Tangier Crisis of 1905. During the Second Moroccan or Agadir Crisis (1911), a German naval presence in Morocco tested the Anglo-French coalition once again.

A key ingredient in the emerging diplomatic powder-keg was the growth of powerful nationalist aspirations among the Balkan states, which each looked to Germany, Austria-Hungary or Russia for support. The rise of anti-Austrian circles in Serbia following a 1903 palace coup contributed to a further crisis in 1908 over Austria's unilateral annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, German pressure forcing a humiliating climbdown on the part of a Russia weakened (1905) by defeat at the hands of Japan and subsequent revolutionary disorder

Alarm at Russia's unexpectedly rapid recovery after 1909 fuelled feeling among German ruling circles in favour of a pre-emptive war to break alleged Entente "encirclement" before Russian rearmament could tip the strategic balance decisively against Germany and Austria-Hungary. By 1913 both France and Germany were planning to extend military service, while Britain had entered into a naval convention and military discussions with France during the previous year.

The outbreak

Austrian regional security concerns grew with the near-doubling of neighbouring Serbia's territory as a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Many in the Austrian leadership, not least Emperor Franz Joseph, and Conrad von Hötzendorf, worried about Serbian nationalist agitation in the southern provinces of the Empire; they were still haunted by the memories of the Piedmontese inspired campaigns against the Austrian Italian provinces in 1859. Just as France had backed Piedmont in the campaign culminating in the Battle of Solferino, they worried that Russia would back Serbia to annex Slavic areas of Austria. The feeling was that it was better to destroy Serbia before they were given the opportunity to launch a campaign.

Some members of the Austrian government also felt that a campaign in Serbia would be the perfect remedy to the internal political problems of the Empire. Many of them were frustrated by the power of the Hungarian government in the Empire. In 1914 the government of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a "dualistic" structure. Austria and Hungary had essentially seperate governments under one monarch. The Austrian government retained control over foreign policy, but was still dependent on the Hungarians for such things as budgetary approval. Often the Hungarian leadership, under István Tisza refused Austrian requests for things such as increased military spending. In hopes of ending the political grid-lock that this caused, many hoped to form a federation, or at least trialistic monarchy. The solution was seen in increasing the numbers of Slavs in the Empire.

Franz Ferdinand's assassination in June 1914 provided the opportunity sought by some Austrian leaders for a reckoning with the smaller Slav kingdom. The Sarajevo conspirators were alleged by the Austro-Hungarian authorities to have been armed by the shadowy Black Hand, a pan-Serb nationalist grouping with links to Serbian ruling circles.

With German backing, Austria-Hungary, acting primarily under the influence of Foreign Affairs Minister Leopold von Berchtold, sent an effectively unfulfillable 15-point ultimatum to Serbia (July 23, 1914), to be accepted within 48 hours. The Serbian government agreed to all but one of the demands. Austria-Hungary nonetheless broke off diplomatic relations (July 25) and declared war (July 28) through a telegram sent to the Serbian government.

The Russian government, which had pledged in 1909 to uphold Serbian independence in return for Serbia's acceptance of the Bosnia annexation, mobilized its military reserves on July 30 following a breakdown in crucial telegram communications between Wilhelm and Nicholas II, who was under pressure by his military staff to prepare for war. Germany demanded (July 31) that Russia stand down her forces, but the Russian government persisted, as demobilization would have made it impossible to re-activate its military schedule in the short term. Germany declared war against Russia on (August 1) and, two days later, against the latter's ally France.

The outbreak of the conflict is often attributed to the alliances established over the previous decades - Germany-Austria-Italy vs. France-Russia; Britain and Serbia being aligned with the latter. In fact none of the alliances was activated in the initial outbreak, though Russian general mobilization and Germany's declaration of war against France were motivated by fear of the opposing alliance being brought into play.

Britain's declaration of war against Germany (August 4) was officially the result not of her understandings with France and Russia (Britain was technically allied to neither power), but of Germany's invasion of Belgium, whose independence Britain had guaranteed to uphold (1839), and which stood astride the planned German route for invasion of Russia's ally France.

The first battles

Germany's plan (named the Schlieffen plan) to deal with the Franco-Russian alliance involved delivering a knock-out blow to the French and then turning to deal with the more slowly mobilized Russian army. Rather than attack France directly, it was deemed prudent to attack France from the north. To do so, the German army had to march through Belgium. Germany demanded this free passage from the Belgian government, promising that Belgium would be Germany's firm ally if this was agreed to. When Belgium refused, Germany invaded and began marching through Belgium anyway, after first invading and securing tiny Luxembourg. It soon encountered resistance before the forts of the Belgian city of Liège. Britain sent an army to France, which advanced into Belgium.

The delays brought about by the resistance of the Belgians, French and British forces and the unexpectedly rapid mobilization of the Russians upset the German plans. Russia attacked in East Prussia, diverting German forces intended for the Western Front. Germany defeated Russia at the Battle of Tannenburg, but this diversion allowed French and British forces to finally halt the German advance on Paris at the First Battle of the Marne (September 1914) as the Central Powers (the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires) were forced into fighting a war on two fronts.

The spread of war

1914:

1915:

1916

1917:

Entry of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October - November 1914, threatening Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India and the East via the Suez canal. British action opened another front in the South with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamia campaigns, though initially the Turks were successful in repelling enemy incursion. But in Mesopotamia, after the disastrous Siege of Kut (1915-16), the British reorganized and captured Baghdad in March 1917. Further to the west in Palestine, initial British failures were overcome with Jerusalem being captured in December 1917 and the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Edmund Allenby going on to break the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo (September 1918).

Italian Participation

Italy, since 1882 notionally allied to the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires but with her own designs against Austrian territory in South Tyrol, Istria and Dalmatia, and a secret 1902 understanding with France effectively nullifying her alliance commitments, joined the Allies in May 1915, declaring war against Germany fifteen months later. Italian action along the Austrian border pinned down large numbers of enemy troops, though the crushing German-Austrian victory of Caporetto (October 1917) temporarily eliminated Italy as a major threat.

The Fall of Serbia

After repulsing three Austrian invasions in August-December 1914, Serbia fell to combined German, Austrian and Bulgarian invasion in October 1915. Serbian troops continued to hold out in Albania and Greece, where a Franco-British force had landed to offer assistance and to pressure the Greek government into war against the Central Powers.

Early stages: from romanticism to the trenches

Louvain, Belgium, 1915
The perception of war in 1914 was almost romantic, and its declaration was met with great enthusiasm by many people. The common view was that it would be a short war of manoeuvre with a few sharp actions (to "teach the enemy a lesson") and would end with a victorious entry into the capital (the enemy capital, naturally) then home for a victory parade or two and back to "normal" life. There were some pessimists (like Lord Kitchener) who predicted the war would be a long haul, but "everyone knew" the War would be "Over by Christmas...."

Recruitment to the British army during WW I

The Trenching Begins

After their initial success on the Marne, Entente and German forces began a series of outflanking manoeuvres to try to force the other to retreat, in the so-called Race to the Sea. France and Britain soon found themselves facing entrenched German positions from Lorraine to Belgium's Flemish coast. The sides took set positions, the French and British seeking to take the offensive while the Germans sought to defend the territories they had occupied. One consequence of this was that the German trenches were much better constructed than those of their enemy: the Anglo-French trenches were only intended to be 'temporary' before their forces broke through the German defences. Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next four years, though protracted German action at Verdun (1916) and Allied failure the following spring brought the French army to the brink of collapse as mass desertions undermined the front line.
In the trenches

Around 800,000 soldiers from Britain and the Empire were on the Western Front at any one time, 1,000 battalions each occupying a sector of the line from Belgium to the Arne and operating a month-long four stage system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over 6,000 miles of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for around a week before moving back to support lines and then the reserve lines before a week out-of-line, often in the Poperinge or Amiens areas.

The Somme and Passchendaele

Both the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Passchendaele (1917) also on the Western Front resulted in enormous loss of life on both sides but minimal progress in the war. It is interesting to note that, when the British attacked on the first day of the battle of the Somme, and lost massive amounts of men to a continuous hail of machine-gun fire, they did succeed in gaining some ground. This caused the German command to order its soldiers to re-take this ground, which resulted in similar losses for the Germans. Hence, instead of a lopsided engagement, with only British soldiers attacking, which would have resulted in large amounts of casualties only for the British, the volume of attacks was rather evenly distributed, which caused even distribution of the casualties.

Poison Gas

Not even an initially devastating array of new weapons achieved the required victory: poison gas (first used by the Germans on Russian soldiers without much success in battle of Bolimow on January 1, 1915; more often quoted as first use is the attack on Canadian soldiers at Ypres on April 22, 1915); liquid fire, introduced by the Germans at Hooge on July 30, 1915); and armoured tanks (first used by the British on the Somme on September 15, 1916) each produced initial panic among the enemy, but failed to deliver a lasting breakthrough.

Use of poison gas in World War I

Aircraft and U-Boats


Nieuport Fighter Aisne, France 1917
Military aviation achieved rapid progress, from the development of (initially primitive) forward-firing aerial machine-guns by the German air force in the autumn of 1915 to the deployment of bombers against London (July 1917): more dramatic still, at least for Britain, was the use of German submarines (U-boats, from the German Unterseeboote) against Allied merchant shipping in proscribed waters from February 1915. Germany's decision to lift restrictions on submarine activity (February 1, 1917) was instrumental in bringing the United States into the war on the side of the Allies (April 6). The sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania was a particularly controversial "kill" for the U-boats.

The Eastern Front and Russia

While the Western Front had reached stalemate in the trenches, the war continued to the east.

German Victories in the East

The Russian initial plans for war had called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia and German East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, they were driven back from East Prussia by the victories of the German generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914. Russia's less-developed economic and military organisation soon proved unequal to the combined might of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. In the spring of 1915 the Russians were driven back in Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw on August 5 and forcing the Russians to withdraw from all of Poland.

Russia unsettled

Dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew despite the success of the June 1916 Brusilov offensive in eastern Galicia against the Austrians, when Russian success was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces in support of the victorious sector commander. Allied fortunes revived only temporarily with Romania's entry into the war on August 27: German forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units in Transylvania, and Bucharest fell to the Central Powers on December 6. Meanwhile, internal unrest grew in Russia, as the Tsar remained out of touch at the front, while the Empress's increasingly incompetent rule drew protests from all segments of Russian political life, resulting in the murder of Alexandra's favourite Rasputin by conservative noblemen at the end of 1916.

The Russian Revolution

In March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of a weak centrist provisional government, which shared power with the socialists of the Petrograd Soviet. This division of power led to confusion and chaos, both on the front and at home, and the army became progressively less able to effectively resist the Germans. Meanwhile, the war, and the government, became more and more unpopular, and the discontent was strategically used by the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, in order to gain power.

The triumph of the Bolsheviks in November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with the Germans. At first, the Bolsheviks refused to agree to the harsh German terms, but when the Germans resumed the war and marched with impunity across the Ukraine, the new government acceded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, which took Russia out of the war and ceded vast territories including Finland, the Baltic provinces, Poland and the Ukraine to the Central Powers.

Turning of the tide

1917 finally saw the entry of the United States into the war. And with Russia's defeat on the Eastern Front, the Germans were free to deliver troops to the west. With both German reinforcements and new American troops pouring into the Western Front, the final outcome of the war was to be decided in that front.

Entry of the United States

Early in 1917 Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. This, combined with public indignation over the Zimmerman Telegram, led to a final break of relations with the Central Powers. President Woodrow Wilson requested that the United States Congress declare war, which it did on April 6, 1917. (Only one member of Congress, Jeanette Rankin of Montana, voted against the war).

The United States Army and the National Guard had mobilized in 1916 to pursue the Mexican "bandit" Pancho Villa, which helped speed up the mobilization. The United States Navy was able to send a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, and a number of destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland, to help guard convoys. However, it would be some time before the United States forces would be able to contribute significant manpower to the Western and Italian fronts.

The British and French insisted that the United States emphasize sending infantry to reinforce the line. Throughout the war, the American forces were short of their own artillery, aviation, and engineering units. However, General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Force commander, resisted breaking up American units and using them as reinforcements for British and French units, as suggested by the Allies.

German Offensive of 1918

The entry of the U.S. into the war the previous year had made the eventual arrival of U.S. troops certain, while Russia's withdrawal and the Italian disaster at Caporetto allowed the transfer of German troops to the West. Four successive German offensives followed, that of May 27 yielding gains before Paris comparable to the first advance.

On March 21 1918 Germany launched a major offensive, "Operation Michael", against British and Commonwealth forces. The German army developed new tactics involving stormtroopers, infantry trained in Hutier tactics (after Oskar von Hutier) to infiltrate and take trenches.

The Allies reacted by appointing French Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch to coordinate all Allied activity in France, and then as generalissimo of all Allied forces everywhere.

The German offensive moved forward 60 km and pressed the British lines so much that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, issued a General Order on April 11 stating "With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end." However, by then, the German offensive had stalled because of logistical problems. Counterattacks by Canadian and ANZAC forces pushed the Germans back.

Allied victory

The American Expeditionary Force, under General John Pershing, entered the battle lines in significant numbers in April 1918. At the Battle of Belleau Wood, from June 1 to June 30, 1918, the Second Division, including the United States Marine Corps, helped clear out the German offensive threatening Paris.

On July 18, 1918, at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry, French and American forces went on the offensive.

The British Army, using a large number of tanks, attacked at Amiens on August 8 causing such surprise and confusion that German commander-in-chief, General Ludendorff, said it was "the blackest day of the German army."

On September 12 the First United States Army, which had recently been organized from the American Expeditionary Force, eliminated the Saint-Mihiel salient, which the Germans had occupied since 1914. This salient threatened the Paris-Nancy railroad line. American forces were short of artillery support, which was provided by the French and British. This also was the first use of the U.S. Tank Corps, led by Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton. Four days later, the salient was cleared out.

On September 26 American forces began the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which continued until the end of the war. A key German observation post on Hill 305 in Montfaucon d'Argonne was captured on September 27. Approximately 18,000 Americans fell during this offensive. This was the first offensive conducted by the United States as an independent army. General Pershing's general thrust was the Rhine River, which he expected to breach early in 1919.

On October 24 the Italian Army, with very limited American assistance, began the Vittorio Veneto offensive against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which lasted until November 4.

End of the War

Bulgaria was the first of the Central Powers to sign an armistice (September 29, 1918, followed by Turkey (October 30) Germany requested a cease-fire on October 3, 1918, followed by Austria-Hungary. The fighting ended with an armistice agreed on November 11 at Compiègne. Austria and Hungary had signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy.

When Wilhelm II. ordered the German High Seas Fleet to sortie against the Allied navies, they mutinied in Wilhelmshaven starting October 29, 1918. On November 9, a German Republic was proclaimed, marking the end of the 1871 German Empire. The Kaiser fled the next day the Netherlands, which granted him political asylum. See Weimar Republic for details.

Allied Soldiers Killed:

Central Powers Soldiers Killed:

Civilians Killed:

Distinguishing features of the War

The First World War was different from prior military conflicts: it was a meeting of 20th century technology with 19th century mentality and tactics. This time, millions of soldiers fought on all sides and the casualties were enormous, mostly because of the more efficient weapons (like artillery and machine guns) that were used in large quantities against old tactics. Although the First World War led to the development of air forces, tanks, and new tactics (like the Rolling barrage and Crossfire), much of the action took place in the trenches, where thousands died for each square metre of land gained. The First World War also saw the use of chemical warfare, and aerial bombardment, both of which had been outlawed under the 1909 Hague Convention. The effects of gas warfare were to prove long-lasting, both on the bodies of its victims (many of whom, having survived the war, continued to suffer in later life) and on the minds of a later generation of war leaders (Second World War) who, having seen the effects of gas warfare in the Great War, were reluctant to use it for fear that the enemy would retaliate and might have better weaponry.

Weaponry

Notable infantry weaponry of World War 1 included the Maxim machine gun. British forces used the Lewis gun and Webley. American forces used the Browning Automatic Rifle and M1911. German forces used the Karabiner 98k and Luger. French forces used the Chauchat.

A deadly war

Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred in this war. See Ypres, Vimy Ridge, Marne, Cambrai, Somme, Verdun, Gallipoli. See Wars of the 20th Century for various totals given for the number that died in this war. For instance, is it proper to consider the Influenza pandemic (see below) as part of the overall death count for the war, given the important part the War played in its transmission?

Aftermath

See Aftermath of World War I, Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Revolutions

Perhaps the single most important event precipitated by the privations of the war was the Russian Revolution. Socialist and explicitly Communist uprisings also occurred in many other European countries from 1917 onwards, notably in Germany and Hungary.

As a result of the Bolsheviks' failure to cede territory, German and Austrian forces defeated the Russian armies, and the new communist government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. In that treaty, Russia renounced all claims to Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (specifically, the formerly Russian-controlled Congress Poland of 1815) and Ukraine, and it was left to Germany and Austria-Hungary "to determine the future status of these territories in agreement with their population."

Influenza pandemic

A separate, but related event was the great influenza pandemic. A new strain of Influenza, originating in the U.S.A (but misleadingly known as "Spanish Flu") was accidentally carried to Europe with the American forces. The disease spread rapidly through the both the continental U.S. and Europe, reaching, eventually, around the globe. The exact number of deaths is unknown, but in excess of 20 million people worldwide is not considered an overestimate. See also: Spanish Flu

Social trauma: The experiences of the war lead to a sort of collective national trauma afterwards for all the participating countries. The optimism of 1900 was entirely gone and those who fought in the war became what is known as "the Lost Generation" because they never fully recovered from their experiences. This was especially acute in France where a huge number of their young men were killed or injured during the conflict. For the next few years the nation became obsessive in its mourning and thousands of memorials were erected, one for each village in France.

Geopolitical consequences

Nearly 15 percent of the land area of the German Empire was ceded at Allied insistence to various countries. The largest confiscated part of Germany was restored toPoland, that claimed most of areas of Poland before partitions 1772-1795. Those provinces were in 1871 incorporated into Germany; the part of it was sometimes referred as the "Polish Corridor" because of its position between East Prussia and the rest of Germany. Poland also tried successfully to restore former Polish provinces from Russia. Britain and France occupied the vast majority of former German and Ottoman colonies as "League of Nations mandates".

Russia also lost all non-Russian provinces. They were transferred to separate Soviet Republic, Ukraine, Transakaukazia, Central Asia. The countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were created to accommodate ethnic groups. Also, land was taken for addition to Poland, and Romania.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken into many pieces. The new republics of Austria and Hungary were established, disavowing any continuity with the empire. Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia formed the new Czechoslovakia. Galicia was transferred to Poland and South Tyrol and Trieste went to Italy. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Vojvodina were joined with Serbia and Montenegro to form the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Yugoslavia. Transylvania became part of Romania.

Because of the intermixed population and partly because of the interests of great powers, the new borders did not always follow ethnic divisions. The new states of eastern Europe nearly all had large national minorities. Hundreds of thousands of Germans continued to live in the newly created countries. A quarter of ethnic Hungarians found themselves living outside of Hungary.

Less concrete changes include the growing assertiveness of Commonwealth nations. Battles such as Gallipoli for Australia and New Zealand, and Vimy Ridge for Canada led to increased national pride and a greater reluctance to remain subordinate to Britain, leading to the growth of diplomatic autonomy in the 1920s.

Also extremely important was the participation of French colonial troops from Indochina, North Africa, and Madagascar without whom France might well have fallen. When these soldiers returned to their homelands and continued to be treated as second class citizens, many became the nucleus of pro-independence groups.

Memorials:

Many towns in the participating countries have a war memorial dedicated to local residents who lost their lives.

Remains of ammunition

Throughout the areas where trenches and fighting lines were located, such as the Champagne region of France, quantities of unexploded shells and other ammunition have remained, some of which remains dangerous and continues to cause injuries and occasional fatalities into the 21st century. Some are still found nowadays, for instance by farmers plowing their fields. Some of this ammunition contains chemical toxic products such as mustard gas. Cleanup of major battlefields is a continuing task with no end in sight for decades more. Squads remove, defuse or destroy hundreds of tonnes of unexploded ammunition every year in France.

Tombs of the Unknown Soldier:

Resources

For more details on the subject, consult these histories:

(list of histories here)

The first major television documentary on the history of the war was the BBC's The Great War (1964), made in association with CBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Imperial War Museum. The series consists of 26 forty-minute episodes featuring extensive use of archive footage gathered from around the world and eyewitness interviews. Although some of the programme's conclusions have been disputed by historians it still makes compelling and often moving viewing.

See also:

External links

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: First

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
EntrySourceExpressionField

FIRST

EnglishFinancial Information Reporting SystemFinance
FIATEnglishFirst Investor American TrustN/A

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms: First

Synonyms: beginning(a) (adj), inaugural (adj), initiative (adj), initiatory (adj), low (adj), maiden (adj), top(a) (adj), first of all (adv), first off (adv), firstly (adv), for the first time (adv), foremost (adv), beginning (n), commencement (n), first base (n), first gear (n), first-class honours degree (n), kickoff (n), low gear (n), number 1 (n), number one (n), offset (n), outset (n), start (n), starting time (n). (additional references)
Antonyms: intermediate (adj), last (adj), second (adj), end (n), middle (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: First

English words defined with "first": at first, At first blush, at first glance, At first hand, at first sight, At the first blush ♦ Court of first instance ♦ first and last, first balcony, first base, first baseman, first cause, First Earl of Orford, first estate, first half, first in first out, First intention, first light, first offender, First officer, First or last, first period, first quarter, first reading, first sacker, first step, first stomach, first trimester, for the first time ♦ in the first place ♦ last in first out ♦ Union by the first ♦ when first seen. (references)
Specialty definitions using "first": A BUCK OF THE FIRST HEAD ♦ best first search, breadth first search ♦ Codd's First Normal Form, critical place first ♦ earliest deadline first, error of first kind, error of the first kind ♦ feet first entry, Fire First, First arrival, first class module, first degree murder, First Draw, First Fit, first generation computer, first generation language, First Gentleman of Europe, First Grenadier of France, first in first out memory, first normal form, first office application, First Party DMA, first reefed open, first runnings, first stage unit, First Stroke is Half the Battle, first time user, First two, first wave of a panel, first weight ♦ Glorious First of June ♦ hardest first ♦ least-significant-digit first, LSD first ♦ Marriage, Age at first ♦ nurse, first aid ♦ open shortest path first, Open Shortest-Path First, Open Shortest-Path First Interior Gateway Protocol ♦ Petty Officer First Class, Pregnancy Trimester, First ♦ shortest job first ♦ The First, to a first approximation. (references)
Etymologies containing "first": Yeoman. (references)
Non-English Usage: "First" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

German (crest, peak, ridge, summit, surface, top), Tagalog (first).

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Modern Usage: First

DomainUsage

Screenplays

First Gotham, and then the world (Batman & Robin; writing credit: Akiva Goldsman)

I figured, I've slept the first eleven years of my life away, so now I'm just making up for it. (The Matrix Reloaded; writing credit: Andy Wachowski; Larry Wachowski)

They had forgotten the first lesson, that we are to be powerful, beautiful, and without regret (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; writing credit: Anne Rice)

You've got to get disguised first. (Sleuth; writing credit: Anthony Shaffer)

The mayor's first wife, what was her name (His Girl Friday; writing credit: Ben Hecht; Charles MacArthur)

Lyrics

I'm guilty of love in the first degree (Love in the First Degree; performing artist: Alabama; writing credit: Jim Hurt and Tim DuBois)

My first love and my only love (My First Love; performing artist: Avant)

Feels just like I'm falling for the first time (Falling For The First Time; performing artist: Barenaked Ladies)

To pick you up on our very first date (First Date; performing artist: Blink-182)

Feels like the first time, it feels like the first time (Feels Like The First Time; performing artist: Foreigner)

Clever

Few sinners are saved after the first twenty minutes of a sermon. (references; author: Mark Twain)

First secure an independent income, then practice virtue. (references; author: Greek Proverb)

Second place is the first loser. (references; author: unknown)

Kansas: First Of The Rectangle States (references; author: unknown)

If at first you don't succeed, try management. (references; author: unknown)

Tongue Twisters

Of all the felt I ever felt, I never felt a piece of felt which felt as fine as that felt felt, when first I felt that felt hat's felt. (references; author: unknown)

Movie/TV Titles

First Works (2002)

The First Paintings (1974)

First Time Frenzy (1974)

Wilbur and Orville: The First to Fly (1973)

First Time 'Round (1972)

Song Titles

First I Was A Hippie (performing artist: The Bobs)

Feels Like The First Time (performing artist: Foreigner)

Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye) (performing artist: Gladys Knight & The Pips)

Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First) (performing artist: John Mellencamp)

Love At First Sight (performing artist: Kylie Minogue)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: First

DomainTitle

References

  • Associates First Capital Corporation: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • Carolina First BancShares, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • Bangkok First Investment and Trust Public Company Limited: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • Beach First National Bancshares, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  • China First Pencil Co., Ltd.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

    (more reference examples)

  

Books

  • Financial Cryptography: First International Conference, Fc '97, Anguilla, British West Indies, February 24-28, 1997: Proceedings (Lecture Notes in c (reference)

  • Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan - Eugenius Philalethes: A Verbatim Reprint of His First Four Treatises, Anthroposophi Theomagica, Anima Magica, ab (reference)

  • My First Animal Board Book (reference)

  • The Girlfriends' Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood: Wise and Witty Advice on Everything from Coping With Postpartum Mood Swings to Salvaging Your Sex Life to Fitting into That Favorite Pair of Jeans (reference)

  • A First Course on Zero Sum Repeated Games (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  • Friends - The Complete First Season (reference)

    (more DVD examples; more video examples)

  

Music

  

High Tech

  

Consumer Goods

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: First

Photos:
First

More pictures...

Illustrations:
First

More pictures...

Computer Images:
First

More pictures...

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Photo Album: First

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Three drawings of individuals checking themselves during a skin self exam. First is a man standing, examing his back in a mirror; second, a woman sitting on stool examing her feet; third, woman checking face in hand mirror. Credit: Jeanne Kelly (artist).

Shown is NIH Building 6 in 1939, which was NCI's first building. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

The Understanding AIDS campaign marked the first time the federal government had attempted to contact virtually every resident, directly by mail, regarding a major public health problem. Credit: CDC.

First phase of construction was completed in 1960. Credit: CDC.

UH-60 RASCAL - First Flight Test. Credit: NASA.

NOAA-16 Sends Back First Image. Credit: NASA.

Terra First Light Images. Credit: NASA.

Certificate Signing of First American & Russian Docking. Credit: NASA.

Hubble First Servicing EVA. Credit: NASA.

In its first ten years, the 12.5-ton Earth-orbiting NASA's Hubble has studied 13,670 objects, ... Credit: NASA.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: First
 

"My first auto" by Jason Patterson
Commentary: "Boy with a toy automobile."		"First rose" by Anthony Hall
Commentary: "This was my first attempt using camera at close range."

Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Sounds Captioned with "First".

PlayCaption
Reaction of startled surprise; a hawk whistle when first played.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: First

AuthorQuotation

Christopher Marlowe

Accurst be he that first invented war.

Eike Von Repkow

He who comes first, eats first.

Francis Bacon

God Almighty first planted a garden.
God's first creature, which was light.

George William Curtis

Happiness lies first of all in health.

Lewis Carroll

Sentence first, verdict afterwards.

Phaedrus

First appearance deceives many.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The first wealth is health.
Every artist was first an amateur.

William Bennett

If at you first you doubt, doubt again.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Historic Usage: First

AuthorDateQuotation

Magna Carta

1215

In the first place we have granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our heirs forever that the English Church shall be free, and shall have her rights entire, and her liberties inviolate; and we will that it be thus observed; which is apparent from this that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned most important and very essential to the English Church, we, of our pure and unconstrained will, did grant, and did by our charter confirm and did obtain the ratification of the same from our lord, Pope Innocent III, before the quarrel arose between us and our barons: and this we will observe, and our will is that it be observed in good faith by our heirs forever. (reference)

John Locke

1690

First, It is plain he gets no power by his conquest over those that conquered with him. (Second Treatise of Government)

US Constitution

1791

Clause 2: Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. (reference)

Marbury v. Madison

1803

One of the first duties of government is to afford that protection. (reference)

Communist Manifesto

1848

It has been the first to show what man's activity can bring about. (reference)

The Emancipation Proclamation

1862

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-In-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for supressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Palquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebone, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northhampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. (Abraham Lincoln)

Treaty of Versailles

1919

The first meeting of the Conference shall take place in October, 1919. (reference)

Winston S. Churchill

1946

I wished to see this done after the first world war, and I devoutly trust it may be done forthwith. ("Iron Curtain" Speech)

Brown v. Board of Education

1954

In the first cases in this Court construing the Fourteenth Amendment, decided shortly after its adoption, the Court interpreted it as proscribing all state-imposed discriminations against the Negro race. (reference)

John F. Kennedy

1961

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: First

TitleAuthorQuote

Emma

Austen, Jane

Miss Fairfax knows it is not from the Campbells, or they would have been guessed at first.

Sylvie and Bruno

Carroll, Lewis

Sylvie and Bruno waited patiently till the end of the first verse

A Christmas Carol

Dickens, Charles

If he could only be there first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

First came the music

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

At the first corner, Grenetat will make a Caudine Forks

The Hind and the Panther

John Dryden

For those whom God to ruin has design'd, He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

Stephen felt his own face red too, thinking of all the bets about who would get first place in elements, Jack Lawton or he.

King Richard III

Shakespeare, William

I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl

Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck, John

The first house was nondescript

Gulliver's Travels

Swift, Jonathan

First they can decipher all initial letters into political meanings

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: First

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

Try something simple first. (references)

They were disappointed at first. (references)

Some are first affected after menopause. (references)

Business

In Greece, E-commerce is making its first steps. (references)

Many local buyers look first for original parts. (references)

The end-user will normally first contact the dealer. (references)

Children

Papua New Guinea

More than 60 of every 1,000 children born do not survive their first year. (references)

Kyrgyz Republic

Education is compulsory for the first 9 years, and the country has a 97 percent literacy rate. (references)

Albania

School attendance is mandatory through the eighth grade (or until age 18, whichever comes first). (references)

Civil Liberties

Peru

The question of first asylum did not arise. (references)

Macau

The law makes no provision for first asylum. (references)

Panama

The law contains provisions for first asylum. (references)

Discrimination

Brazil

In Sao Paulo in October, the country's first Homosexual Defender office began to function, funded in part by a grant from the federal Ministry of Justice. (references)

Malta

Alleged victims of job discrimination may apply directly for relief to the Employment Commission of the first hall of the Civil Court in the appropriate jurisdiction. (references)

Economic History

Cote D'ivoire

Abidjan has a first rate private hospital. (references)

Human Rights

Yemen

She is the country's first female minister. (references)

Cote d'Ivoire

Wardens rarely grant approval on the first request. (references)

Guatemala

Army officials dismissed the first event as coincidence. (references)

Indigenous People

Japan

The Ainu are a people descended from the first inhabitants of the country. (references)

Nicaragua

First, most participants in these groups are Amerindians who long have seen themselves as having a separate culture. (references)

Guatemala

Some observers criticized the event as a farce, while others described it as an important first step toward reconciliation. (references)

Minorities

Moldova

The priest of the first True Orthodox-Moldova Church reportedly has been harassed and threatened. (references)

Nigeria

The crisis in Kaduna State in 2000 was the first major Muslim-Christian conflict during President Obasanjo's tenure. (references)

Croatia

In July twenty Roma associations came together to form the "Board of Romani Unions of Croatia" (VRUH), the first Roma umbrella group in the country. (references)

Political Economy

IRELAND

First, over 580 U.S. firms are now located in Ireland. (references)

Russia

GDP was $224.3 billion for the first 11 months of the year. (references)

Bangladesh

In this first coup, Sheikh Mujib and most of his family were murdered. (references)

Political Rights

Panama

Mireya Moscoso is the country's first female president. (references)

Iran

He became the first Majles member to serve a jail sentence. (references)

Cote d'Ivoire

One woman was elected as first vice president of the national assembly. (references)

Trade

Qatar

The charges are: A. First 20 days free of charge. (references)

Saudi Arabia

SOLC is the IFC's first joint venture in Saudi Arabia. (references)

Vietnam

Vietcombank will be the first to go through this process. (references)

Travel

Trinidad

First names are freely used after the initial meeting. (references)

Nicaragua

They are listed in approximate order of price (most expensive first). (references)

El Salvador

Salvadoran business relationships and meetings are, at first, formal. (references)

Women

Tunisia

Battered women first seek help from family members. (references)

Bhutan

Polygamy is allowed, provided the first wife gives her permission. (references)

Kuwait

A husband is obliged to inform his first wife that he is taking a second wife. (references)

Worker Rights

China

He first disappeared in 1995, when he was 6 years old. (references)

Zambia

Collective disputes are referred first to conciliation. (references)

Mozambique

In 2000 MOZAL became the first firm to produce goods in an EPZ. (references)

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

LEONINE, adj. Unlike a menagerie lion. Leonine verses are those in which a word in the middle of a line rhymes with a word at the end, as in this famous passage from Bella Peeler Silcox: The electric light invades the dunnest deep of Hades. Cries Pluto, 'twixt his snores: "O tempora! O mores!" It should be explained that Mrs. Silcox does not undertake to teach pronunciation of the Greek and Latin tongues. Leonine verses are so called in honor of a poet named Leo, whom prosodists appear to find a pleasure in believing to have been the first to discover that a rhyming couplet could be run into a single line.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: First

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Celine Dion

I'm glad. He mortgaged his house to make me do my first album. I'm glad he's a gambler. That's great. He needs to be.

Dennis Miller

TV news wants you entertained first, informed maybe.

Gennifer Flowers

I do feel vindicated. However, I felt initially when the story first came out that it had so much corroboration on a number of basis.

Karl Lagerfeld

This is an accident. I wanted to become a cartoon artist, a portrait artist, and an illustrator. This was my first idea.

Maureen O'Hara

Maybe that particular night. But I had the cartilage removed from all of my fingers and part of my first finger removed.

Rosie O'Donnell

Sunday, the Tony awards, first on PBS, then on CBS. This will be the stage I make my big singing opening number.

Rush Limbaugh

Freedom didn't work on the first day.

Walter Cronkite

Good evening from Paris. Tonight, this broadcast originates from outside the United States for the first time.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Speeches: First

SpeakerTermPhrase(s)

George Washington

1789-1797There has also been a small beginning in the coinage of half dimes, the want of small coins in circulation calling the first attention to them.

Thomas Jefferson

1801-1809That is due, in the first place, to the reflecting character of our citizens at large, who, by the weight of public opinion, influence and strengthen the public measures.

Herbert C. Hoover

1929-1933Rigid and expeditious justice is the first safeguard of freedom, the basis of all ordered liberty, the vital force of progress.

Harry S. Truman

1945-1953The ability of labor and management to work together, and the wage and price policies which they develop, are social and economic issues of first importance.

John F. Kennedy

1961-1963Our aim is not simply to be first on the moon, any more than Charles Lindbergh's real aim was to be the first to Paris.

Richard Nixon

1969-1974But as our eyes catch the dimness of the first rays of dawn, let us not curse the remaining dark.

Ronald Reagan

1981-1989So, what I have proposed is that we first see if we can agree on a downpayment.

George Bush

1989-1993Soon after, the Arab world and Israel sat down to talk seriously, and comprehensively, about peace, an historic first.

Bill Clinton

1993-2001First and foremost, we have to safeguard our citizens' privacy.

George W. Bush

2001-2005You can't solve a problem unless you first diagnose the problem.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: First

"First" is generally used as an ordinal number -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "First" is used about 118,574 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words		Rank in English
Ordinal Number100%118,57383
                    Total100.00%118,574N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Name Usage Frequency: First

The following table summarizes the usage of "first" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified.
NameUsage/GenderUsage per 100
million Persons		Rank in USA
FirstLast name30029,015
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Derived & Related Names: First

The following table summarizes names derived from the word "first".
 
NameGenderLanguageMeaning
BecherN/ABiblical

First fruits

BecherN/ABiblical

First begotten

BechorathN/ABiblical

First fruits

BichriN/ABiblical

First fruits

BocheruN/ABiblical

The first born

KedemahN/ABiblical

First

ShualN/ABiblical

First

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

 

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Usage in Company Names: First

CountryNameCountryName
Australia

Colonial First State Industrial Property

Canada

First Dynasty Mines Limited

China

China First Pencil Co., Ltd.

Hong Kong

First Ecom.com Inc.

Ireland

First Active plc

Israel

The First International Bank of Israel Ltd.

Japan

First Baking Co., Ltd.

Malaysia

Arab-Malaysian First Property Trust

Norway

First Olsen Tankers Ltd

Pakistan

First Crescent Modaraba

 (more examples...)  

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

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Expressions: First

Expressions using "first": A buck of the first head ♦ a first cousin once removed ♦ a writer of the first rank ♦ admission to first expansion ♦ airman first class ♦ appear for the first time ♦ at first ♦ at first appearance ♦ at first blush ♦ at first glance ♦ at first hand ♦ at first sight ♦ at first view ♦ at the first ♦ At the first blush ♦ at the first onset ♦ at the first opportunity ♦ be in the first flight ♦ be shown for the first time ♦ being the first ♦ best first search ♦ breadth first search ♦ cast the first stone at ♦ chief master sergeant of first airspace ♦ Codd's First Normal Form ♦ come back return to one's first love ♦ come first ♦ court of first instance ♦ court of first instance of ♦ court of the first instance ♦ critical place first ♦ dawn picnic to hear first birdsong ♦ diamond of the first water ♦ do the first sorting ♦ Double first ♦ earliest deadline first ♦ engage first gear ♦ error of first kind ♦ error of the first kind ♦ feet first entry ♦ first aid ♦ first aid kit ♦ first aid man ♦ first aid post ♦ first aid station ♦ first aid worker ♦ first amendment ♦ first and foremost ♦ first and last ♦ first and seconds ♦ first appearance ♦ first attempt ♦ first available seat ♦ first balance ♦ first balcony ♦ first ballot ♦ first Baron Beveridge ♦ first Baron Kelvin ♦ first Baron Lytton ♦ first Baron Macaulay ♦ first Baron Marks of Broughton ♦ first Baron Passfield ♦ first Baron Rutherford ♦ first Baron Rutherford of Nelson ♦ first Baron Tennyson ♦ first base ♦ first baseman ♦ first battle of Ypres ♦ first blush ♦ first born ♦ first bottom ♦ first cause ♦ first child ♦ first chop ♦ first class ♦ first class mail ♦ first class module ♦ first class private ♦ First coat ♦ First Colony ♦ first come first served ♦ first come/first served licensing ♦ first comer ♦ first contribution ♦ first cost ♦ first course ♦ first cousin ♦ first cousin once removed ♦ first cousins ♦ first cranial nerve ♦ first created ♦ first Crusade ♦ First day ♦ first day at school ♦ first day of the month ♦ first days of a month ♦ first degree ♦ first degree murder ♦ first derivative ♦ first dog ♦ first draught. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "first": first-aid, first-aid attendant, first-aid box, first-aid course, first-aid kit, first-aid outfit, first-aid society, first-aid station, first-aid supplies, first-aid volunteer, first-aided, first-aider, first-aiders, first-amendment, first-ball, first-ballot, first-best, First-born, first-buyers, first-calf, first-calver, first-category, first-century, first-choice, first-class, First-class car, first-class honours degree, first-class mail, first-class matter, first-class performance, First-class railway carriage, first-class restaurant, first-class scout, first-class ticket, first-come, first-come-first-serve, first-come-first-served, first-comer, first-comers, first-contact, first-course, first-cousin, first-cousins, first-crossing, first-day, First-day-of-issue, first-degree, first-degree burn, first-delivery, first-derivative, first-discovered, first-disk, first-division, first-do-it-yourself, first-draft, first-edition, first-episode, first-established, first-ever, first-fence, first-fix, first-fling, first-floor, first-flowering, first-footed, first-footers, first-footing, first-form, first-formed, first-formulated, first-found, First-fruits, first-generation, first-glance, first-grade, first-half, First-hand, first-handedness, first-hog, first-hog-of-summer, first-home, first-in first-out, first-in-first-out, first-inning, first-innings, first-instance, first-instar, first-is, first-language, first-lap, first-lass, first-layer, first-leg, first-level, first-level carrier, first-light, first-line, first-magnitude, first-mention, first-mentioned, first-minute, first-movement, first-mover, first-movers, first-name, first-named, first-names, first-name-terms, first-night, first-nighter, first-nighters, first-nightish, first-nor, first-novel, first-order, first-order correlation, first-order logic, first-out, first-paragraph, first-party, FIRST-PASS, First-Pass, first-past-the-post, first-period, first-person, first-personally, first-person-plural, first-phase, first-pick, first-place, first-place finish, first-preference, first-preferences, first-preferred, first-prize, first-quality, first-quarter, first-race, first-rank, first-rate, first-rate performance, first-rater, first-remembered, first-resolution, first-round, first-row, first-run, first-school, first-season, first-secured, first-series, first-served, first-set, first-shell, first-stage, first-step, first-stop, first-strike, first-string, first-team, first-teamer, first-teamers, first-term, first-test, first-third, first-tier, first-time, first-timer, first-timers, first-to-file, first-to-second, first-to-ten, first-up, first-use, first-vote, first-water, first-wave, first-week, first-what, first-wicket, first-winter, first-with, first-word, first-world, first-world-war, first-year, first-year, first-years.

Ending with "first": breadth-first, eighty-first, fifty-first, head-first, mid-first, post-first, pre-first, safety-first, sixty-first, thirty-first, twenty-first.

Containing "first": twenty-first-century.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: First

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day		ExpressionFrequency
per Day

first union

4,218

first bank

668

first usa

3,046

first preston

642

first time

2,488

first people

629

first union bank

2,146

first citizen bank

611

first time home buyer

1,922

first virginia bank

603

first premier bank

1,781

first national bank of marin

573

big cock first her

1,725

first union center

570

first aid

1,580

first premier

561

first time the boy

1,428

first horizon

561

first national bank

1,324

big cock first

554

first

1,225

american first title

553

first usa bank

991

first health

549

first aid kit

947

first choice

523

first time sex

910

strategy first

521

first name

817

first consumer national bank

498

america first credit union

815

first horizon home loan

490

first tennessee bank

805

first amendment

461

first put that woman

751

first hawaiian bank

455

first name meaning

713

first time sex story

449

first national bank of omaha

682

first time story

444
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: First

Language Translations for "first"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Afrikaans

  

eerste, eers (at, at some time, ever, first of all, firstly, sometime). (various references)

   

Albanian

  

së pari (at first, first of all, firstly, imprimis), parën, për herë të parë, në radhë të parë (imprimis, in the first instance, in the first place), në fillim (at first, at the beginning, early, in the first instance, initially, originally), më përpara (above, before, beforehand, earlier, erenow, prior to), i parë (aboriginal, early, foremost, former, front, headmost, initial, maiden, opening, original, premier, primary, primitive, progenitor), i lartë (altisonant, big, considerable, elevated, eminent, exalted, high, high pitched, higher, lofty, overhead, paramount, pre eminent, rank, soaring, sonorous, stalwart, towering). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

أول (foremost), ‏في البداية (at first, initial, initially), ‏في بداية, ‏غرة مطلع (dawn, onset), ‏السرعة الأولى, ‏الأول (headmost, top), ‏البداية (beginning, kickoff), ‏اولى, ‏أولي (elementary, fundamental, incipient, overriding, premonitory, primaeval, primal, primary, prime, primeval, rudimentary, ultimate, virgin), ‏أولا (firstly, foremost, in the first instance, originally, primarily, uppermost). (various references)

   

Asturian

  

primeru. (various references)

   

Aymara

  

nayra (eye). (various references)

   

Basque

  

lehengo. (various references)

   

Bemba

  

icantanshi. (various references)

   

Blackfoot

  

otoom. (various references)

   

Breton

  

kentañ, gentañ, c'hentañ. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

отначало (afresh, all over again, at first, at the beginning, initially), най-напред (at first, first of all, firstly, start with), за пръв път, първо (firstly, foremost, imprimis), първи (initial, one, the first, virgin), пръв (foremost, leading, maiden, major, opening, premier, primordial), преди това (heretofore), по-скоро (more, rather). (various references)

   

Catalan

  

primera, primer. (various references)

   

Cebuano

  

una. (various references)

   

Chamorro

  

finéne'na. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

首先 (in the first place). (various references)

   

Cornish

  

kensa. (various references)

   

Croatian

  

prvi. (various references)

   

Czech

  

první (bottom, foremost, front, leading, premier, prime). (various references)

   

Danish

  

første, først (first of all, firstly). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

eerste, eerst (first of all, firstly). (various references)

   

Ecuadorian Quechua

  

shucniqui. (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

unua. (various references)

   

Estonian

  

esimest. (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

fyrsti. (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

یکم , مقدماتی (Elementary, Preliminary, Preparatory, Primary, Prolegomenon), مقدم (Antecedent, Preferential, Premier(Re), Previous, Prior), نخستین (Incipient, Premier(Re), Primary, Prime), نخست , اول (Initial). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

ensin (at first, in the first place). (various references)

   

Flemish

  

eerste. (various references)

   

French

  

premier (first of all), d'abord (at first, first of all, firstly). (various references)

   

French Canadian

  

première. (various references)

   

Frisian

  

earst (first of all, firstly). (various references)

   

Galician

  

primeira. (various references)

   

German

  

erste (best, foremost, front, leader, leadoff, premier, primal, primary, prime, principal), erstens (first of all, firstly, in the first place), erst (as recently as, at first, exclusively, first of all, firstly, foremost, just, not until, only), zuerst (at first, first of all, firstly, for the first time, primarily, primary), erster, zunächst (above all, apriori, at first, especially, first of all, for the moment, for the time being), frühest. (various references)

   

Greek 

  

πρώτα (firstly), πρώτοσ (foremost, primal, primary, prime), πρώτος (foremost, primary). (various references)

   

Haitian Creole

  

premye. (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

לראשונה, תחלה (at first, at the beginning, beginning, inception, start), קודם כל (first of all, firstly), ראשית (beginning, commencement, first of all, genesis, inception, outset, source, start), ראשון (firstly, former, principal, superior, top), ראשוני (ancient, basic, original, primal, primary, prime, primitive, rudimentary). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

elsõ (leading, prime), eleinte (at first, first of all, firstly, initially). (various references)

   

Icelandic

  

skírnarnafn (first name). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

terdahulu (earlier), pertama (early), perdana, dulu (before, formerly, previously, prior), awal (beginning, commencement, early, start). (various references)

   

Inuktitut

  

sivulliq (ancestor). (various references)

   

Irish

  

gcéad (hundred), chéad (hundred). (various references)

   

Italian

  

primo (at first, best, chief, early, foremost, former, leading, maiden, main, next, premier, primary, prime, principal, top), prima (at first, at the outset, back, before, beforehand, earlier, first night, first of all, firstly, formerly, in advance, once, premiere, previously, sooner), in primo luogo (first of all, firstly), dapprima (at, at first, at the outset, first of all, firstly, in the beginning). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

初 (new). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

ずいいち (best, greatest), ファースト (fast), しょこう (dawn, first watch of the night, lords, princes, prospects), まず (about, almost, anyway, hardly, now, to start with, well), さいしょ (beginning, onset, outset), せんとう (bath-house, battle, combat, cusp, fight, head, lead, pinnacle, point, pointed end, public bath, punch, scissors, ship's lamp, spire, starting pitcher, steeple, trampling down, vanguard), かんむり (best, cap, crown, designating, diadem, initiating on coming of age, naming, peerless, top character radical), かん (admiration, advise, appearance, best, building, can, cap, casket, coffin, cold season, coldest days of the year, crown, designating, diadem, emotion, emperor, encourage, farewell, feeling, free time, guesthouse, hall, heaven, hotel, house, impression, initiating on coming of age, inn, intuition, just, kan, leave, leisure, letter, look, love of peace, midwinter, naming, nerves, offer, peerless, perception, pipe, recommend, reel, right, sensation, spare time, spectacle, strong, temper, the sixth sense, tin, top character radical, trunk, tube, volume, warship, writing brush), いちばん (a bout, a fall, a game, a round, an event, best, number one), いちじ (a character, a letter, a time, at one time, first-order, linear, once, one hour, one thing, primary, short time, temporarily, twelfth part of a day), げんしょ (extreme heat, origin, original document, source), はつ (beginning, counter for gunshots, departure, new), だいいち (foremost). (various references)

   

Kongo

  

ntete. (various references)

   

Korean 

  

첫째로. (various references)

   

Luganda

  

ttoggo (first rainy season). (various references)

   

Luxembourgish

  

éischt. (various references)

   

Macedonian

  

prv. (various references)

   

Manx

  

yn chied (initial, primary), kied (assent, faculty, furlough, leave, pass, permission, permit, primary, sanction, senior; licence, sufferance). (various references)

   

Maori

  

tuatahi. (various references)

   

Maya

  

yaax. (various references)

   

Norwegian

  

første. (various references)

   

Occitan

  

nom (pichon) (first name). (various references)

   

Papago

  

wehpeg. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

irstfay.(various references)

   

Polish

  

po pierwsze (first of all, firstly), pierwszy, najpierw (first of all, firstly). (various references)

   

Portuguese

  

primeiro (early, fore, forehand, foremost, former, initial, leading, origin, preparative, primal, primary, prime), primeiramente (first of all, firstly, foremost, formerly, imprimis, initially, primarily). (various references)

   

Portuguese Brazilian

  

primeiros, primeiro, primeiras, primeira. (various references)

   

Provencal

  

primièr. (various references)

   

Romanian

  

principal (broad, capital, Cardinal, chief, front, grand, head, high, leading, main, notional, premier, primal, prime, principal, staple), primul (former), prim (early, foremost, front, fundamental, initial, maiden, one, original, premier, primal, prime), pentru primã oarã, mai curând (before, rather, the sooner the later), mãrfuri de calitate superioarã, luând totul în considerare (all told), la început, dintâi (former, greatest, prime), cel mai de seamã, întâia, întâi (early, one), început (beginning, commencement, dawn, dayspring, entrance, germ, go off, head, head line, inchoation, lead off, morning, opening, outset, setting in, source, spring, start, starter, starting), în primul rând (chiefly, essentially, first and foremost, firstly, in the first flight, in the first instance, in the first place, originally, principally, to begin with, to start with). (various references)

   

Romansch

  

emprim. (various references)

   

Romany

  

èkto. (various references)

   

Ruanda

  

wambere. (various references)

   

Russian 

  

сначала (at first, first of all, first time), первый (first-ever, foremost, maiden, premier). (various references)

   

Samoan

  

muamua. (various references)

   

Scottish

  

ceud (a hundred, hundred, hundreds : an ceud and a', one hundred). (various references)

   

Sepedi

  

pele. (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

prvo (first: at first, firstly, foremost, imprimis, primely), prvi (initial, leading, maiden, premier, prime, primus, principal). (various references)

   

Shona

  

chiposhi. (various references)

   

Sicilian

  

prima. (various references)

   

Slovene

  

prvi. (various references)

   

Somali

  

hore (ahead, front). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

primero (Aa, capital, chief, early, first of all, firstly, foremost, former, front, head, immediate, initial, leader, leading, low, lower, maiden, opening, original, outermost, overriding, premier, primary, prime, top), primera (bottom gear, former, low), primeramente (at first, first of all, firstly, foremost), primer (former, the first), en primer lugar (chiefly, first of all, firstly, in the first place). (various references)

   

Sranan

  

foswan. (various references)

   

Swahili

  

kwanza, -a kwanza, a kwanza. (various references)

   

Swedish

  

första (chief, earliest, foremost, front, initial, initiative, make out, original, primary, principal), främst (Cardinal, especially, foremost, leading, overriding, premier, principally, uppermost), först (at first, firstly, initially, only), förnämst (champion, chief, foremost, leading, paramount, posh). (various references)

   

Tagalog

  

first, úna (first of all, firstly). (various references)

   

Tahitian

  

m‘t‘mua. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

birinci (premier, primary, uppermost, winner). (various references)

   

Turkmen 

  

ilki (initial), birinji. (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

уперше (first of all), спочатку (at first, erst, initially, originally, primarily), ранній (early, matutinal, premature, rathe, youthful), швидше (be quick, hurry, hurry up, rather, sooner), основний (basal, base, basic, basilar, capital, central, chief, foremost, fundamental, key, main, master, organic, primary, primitive, principal, quintessence, radical, staple, substantial, ultimate, underlying), пробний (proving, tentative, trial), початок (authorship, beginning, breaking, commencement, cradle, dawn, dawning, day-spring, inception, incipience, morning, mother, onset, opening, origin, original, origination, outset, prime, proem, prolog, prologue, set out, start, starting, womb), попередній (aforegoing, foregoing, head, precedent, preceding, precursive, precursory, preliminary, previous, prior, tentative), першорядний (a, champion, crack, first rate, nailing, spiffing), перший (arch-, one, opening, original, premier, primary, prime, primus, virgin). (various references)

   

Vietnamese 

  

vật thứ nhất ngày mùng một buổi đầu, vật đầu tiên (prototype), trước tiên (foremost, headmost, imprimis), trước hết trước đầu tiên, thứ nhất đầu tiên, quan trọng nhất (main, prime), người thứ nhất, người đầu tiên (prototype), cơ bản trực tiếp từ ban đầu. (various references)

   

Welsh

  

cyntaf (firstly). (various references)

   

Yucatec

  

yaaxil (first of all, firstly). (various references)

   

Zulu

  

ukuqala (first of all, firstly). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: First

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Greek700 BCE-300 CE

protos. (various references)

Latin500 BCE-Modern

primitus, primo, primoribus, primoris, primus, princeps, princepsque, principe, principem, principes, principi, principia, principibus, principis, principium, principum, prius. (various references)

Avestan200-600

... pourvô, fraêshtem, paoirîm, paoirya, paourva, paurva, pourum, pouruyô. (various references)

Old High German500-1100

furist. (various references)

Middle French1400-1600

premier. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Bible Trace: First

LanguageDateSourceMatthew Chapter 20, Verse 27
Greek (transliterated)250 BCSeptuagintKai oV ean qelh en umin einai prwtoV estw umwn douloV
Latin405VulgateEt qui voluerit inter vos primus esse erit vester servus
Old English990West Saxon& se þe wile beo-tweox eow beonfyrmest syo he eower þeow.
Middle English1395WyclifAnd who euere amonge you wole be firste, he shal be youre seruaunt.
Renaissance English1526TyndaleAnd whosoever wil be chefe let him be youre servaut
Jacobean English1611King JamesAnd whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Victorian English1833WebsterAnd whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Basic English1964OgdenAnd whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him take the lowest place:

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Matched Bible Translations: First

LanguageMatthew Chapter 20, Verse 27
Cebuanoug bisan kinsay gustong maghawod kaninyo, kinahanglan ma-inyo siyang ulipon;
Chinese誰 願 為 首 、 就 必 作 你 們 的 僕 人 ．
CroatianI tko god hoæe da meðu vama bude prvi, neka vam bude sluga."
Danishog den, som vil være den ypperste iblandt eder, han skal være eders Træl.
DutchEn zo wie onder u zal willen de eerste zijn, die zij uw dienstknecht.
Finnishja joka teidän keskuudessanne tahtoo olla ensimmäinen, se olkoon teidän orjanne;
Frenchet quiconque veut être le premier parmi vous, qu`il soit votre esclave.
Germanund wer da will der Vornehmste sein, der sei euer Knecht,
Haitian CreoleSi yonn nan nou ta vle chèf, se pou l' esklav nou tout.
HungarianÉs a ki közöttetek elsõ akar lenni, legyen a ti szolgátok.
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hariDan orang yang mau menjadi yang pertama di antara kalian, harus menjadi hambamu.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lamadan barangsiapa yang hendak menjadi kepala di antara kamu, ialah patut menjadi hamba kepada kamu sekalian.
Italiane colui che vorrà essere il primo tra voi, si farà vostro schiavo;
LatvianBet kas starp jums grib bût pirmais, tas lai ir jûsu kalps!
Manx GaelicAs quoi-erbee baillish ve yn ard-ghooinney nyn mast' eu, lhig da ve yn charvaant eu.
MaoriA ki te mea tetahi kia tupu ko ia hei tino tangata i roto i a koutou, me whakatupu pononga ia ma koutou:
Norwegianog den som vil være den første blandt eder, han skal være eders træl,
Rumanianwi oricare va vrea sq fie cel dintki kntre voi, sq vq fie rob.
RussianЙ ЛФП ИПЮЕФ НЕЦДХ ЧБНЙ ВЩФШ РЕТЧЩН, ДБ ВХДЕФ ЧБН ТБВПН;
ShuarAme Kapitiántrum ajastaj Tákunka Ashí shuara yaintri Ajástí.
Spanishy el que anhele ser el primero entre vosotros, será vuestro siervo.
Swahilina anayetaka kuwa wa kwanza kati yenu sharti awe mtumishi wenu.
Swedishoch den som vill vara främst bland eder, han vare de andras dräng,
UmaPai' hema to doko' bohe hanga' -na kana jadi' batua-ni.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Derivations & Misspellings: First

Derivations

Words beginning with "first": firstborn, firstborns, firstfruits, firsthand, firstling, firstlings, firstly, firsts. (additional references)

Words ending with "first": feetfirst, headfirst. (additional references)


Misspellings

"First" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dirst, fairt, farest, fersc, Ferstl, ffirst, fiest, Fikret, finst, Finstp, firat, firsat, firtst, firz, fisrt, Fitst, forst, frict, Friesch, friest, Friso, frist, frizt, Fuerst, furist, furst, fyrst, hirst, irst. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "First"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "first" (pronounced fer"st)
4f er" s theadfirst.
3-er" s tburst, coerced, conversed, cursed, immersed, disbursed, dispersed, durst, emersed, Hurst, interspersed, nursed, pursed, rehearsed, reimbursed, reversed, submersed, thirst, traversed, unrehearsed, versed, worst, Wurst.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: First

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: frits, rifts.

Words within the letters "f-i-r-s-t"

-1 letter: firs, fist, fits, frit, rifs, rift, sift, stir.

-2 letters: fir, fit, ifs, its, rif, sir, sit, sri, tis.

-3 letters: if, is, it, si, ti.

 Words containing the letters "f-i-r-s-t"
 

+1 letter: afrits, drifts, firsts, firths, flirts, fortis, friths, fritts, fruits, grifts, refits, resift, rifest, shrift, sifter, strife.

 

+2 letters: fairest, filters, firmest, firstly, fitters, florist, forints, forties, frights, frisket, fritzes, fustier, lifters, maftirs, presift, profits, ratfish, resifts, shifter, shrifts, sifters, snifter, sportif, stiffer, stifler, strifes, surfeit, swifter, tariffs, thrifts, titfers, trifles, turfski.

 

+3 letters: airlifts, briefest, drifters, esterify, fainters, faitours, fatbirds, feistier, ferities, ferniest, ferrites, fewtrils, fiercest, fieriest, fighters, figworts, filberts, filister, firepots, fistular, fixtures, flirters, flitters, florists, floruits, flytiers, forfeits, forkiest, fortyish, frailest, freights, fremitus, frigates, frisette, friskets, fritters, frostbit, frostier, frostily, frosting, fruiters, furriest, furziest, futurism, futurist, grifters, indrafts, infarcts, infester, infracts, ingrafts, isograft, misgraft, outfires, parfaits, pieforts, postfire, presifts, ratafias, ratfinks, ratifies, redshift, reefiest, refights, resifted, riftless, rotifers, setiform, shifters, shiftier, snifters, spitfire, starfish, stiflers, strafing, stratify, stuffier, surfeits, surfiest, swifters, traffics, transfix, trefoils, triflers, tristful, turfiest, turfskis.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern 		5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Slideshow
7. Images: Photo Album
8. Images: Digital Art 		9. Sounds
10. Quotations: Familiar
11. Quotations: Historic
12. Quotations: Fiction 		13. Quotations: Non-fiction
14. Quotations: Spoken
15. Quotations: Speeches
16. Usage Frequency 		17. Names: Frequency
18. Names: Derived from
19. Names: Company Usage
20. Expressions 		21. Expressions: Internet
22. Translations: Modern
23. Translations: Ancient
24. Bible Trace 		25. Abbreviations
26. Acronyms
27. Derivations
28. Rhymes 		29. Anagrams
30. Bibliography


  

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