Peninsular War

The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was a military conflict between Napoleon's empire and the allied powers of Spain, Britain and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war started when French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807, and escalated in 1808 when France turned on Spain, its ally until then. The war on the peninsula lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and is regarded as one of the first wars of national liberation, significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare.

The Peninsular War overlaps with what the Spanish-speaking world calls the Guerra de la Independencia Española (Spanish War of Independence), which began with the Dos de Mayo Uprising on 2 May 1808 and ended on 17 April 1814. The French occupation destroyed the Spanish administration, which fragmented into quarrelling provincial juntas. In 1810, a reconstituted national government, the Cádiz Cortes—effectively a government-in-exile—fortified itself in Cádiz but could not raise effective armies because it was besieged by 70,000 French troops. British and Portuguese forces eventually secured Portugal, using it as a safe position from which to launch campaigns against the French army and to provide whatever supplies they could get to the Spanish, while the Spanish armies and guerrillas tied down vast numbers of Napoleon's troops. These combined regular and irregular allied forces prevented Napoleon's marshals from subduing the rebellious Spanish provinces by restricting French control of territory, and the war continued through years of stalemate.

Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)

The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army. Formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts and skirmishers, they were soon renamed the "Rifle Corps". In January 1803 they became an established regular regiment and were titled the 95th Regiment of Foot (Rifles). In 1816, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, they were again renamed, this time as the "Rifle Brigade".

The unit was distinguished by its use of green uniforms as standard in place of the traditional redcoat, as well as being armed with the first British-made rifle accepted by the British Army, in place of smooth-bore muskets — the first regular infantry corps in the British Army to be so.

After distinguished service in both World War I and World War II, the regiment was amalgamated with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the King's Royal Rifle Corps to form the Royal Green Jackets on 1 January 1966. The Royal Green Jackets was further amalgamated, in 2007, with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment and The Light Infantry to form the present large regiment, known as The Rifles.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization created in 2006 by educator Salman Khan with the aim of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. The organization produces short lectures in the form of YouTube videos. In addition to micro lectures, the organization's website features practice exercises and tools for educators. All resources are available for free to anyone around the world. The main language of the website is English, but the content is also available in other languages.

History

The founder of the organization, Salman Khan, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States to immigrant parents from Bangladesh and India. After earning three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a BS in mathematics, a BS in electrical engineering and computer science, and an MEng in electrical engineering and computer science), he pursued an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In late 2004, Khan began tutoring his cousin Nadia who needed help with math using Yahoo!'s Doodle notepad.When other relatives and friends sought similar help, he decided that it would be more practical to distribute the tutorials on YouTube. The videos' popularity and the testimonials of appreciative students prompted Khan to quit his job in finance as a hedge fund analyst at Connective Capital Management in 2009, and focus on the tutorials (then released under the moniker "Khan Academy") full-time.

The Peninsula Hong Kong

The Peninsula Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港半島酒店), located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, is the flagship property of The Peninsula Hotels group, which is part of the Hong Kong And Shanghai Hotels Group, opened in 1928, and the first to be branded under The Peninsula brand expanded in 1994, the hotel combines colonial and modern elements, and is notable for its large fleet of Rolls-Royces painted the distinctive "Peninsula green".

History

Founded by members of the Kadoorie family The Peninsula was built with the idea that it would be "the finest hotel east of Suez". In December 1928 the hotel opened in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, located at junction of Nathan Road and Salisbury Road and directly opposite the quays where ocean liner passengers disembarked. Kowloon was also the last stop on the trans-Siberian rail link that brought travellers from Europe.

On 25 December 1941, at the end of the Battle of Hong Kong, British colonial officials led by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered in person at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of The Peninsula. The Governor was confined for two months in one of the hotel suites before he was shipped to a prison in Shanghai. The resort was then renamed "Tōa Hotel" (東亜ホテル, "East Asia Hotel"), and the rooms were reserved for Japanese officers and high-ranking dignitaries, while Hong Kong sank into misery and destitution. In his book God Is My Co-Pilot, Colonel Robert Lee Scott, Jr., USAAF, commander of the 23d Fighter Group, China Air Task Force, described in detail an aerial raid he led on the Japanese shipping anchored in Hong Kong harbour, conducted 25 October 1942, and the lone attack he personally made in his Curtiss P-40K Warhawk (nicknamed Old Exterminator) upon the famous Peninsula Hotel:

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major conflicts pitting the French Empire, led by Napoleon I, against an array of European powers formed into various coalitions. They revolutionized European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly owing to the application of modern mass conscription. The wars are traditionally seen as a continuation of the Revolutionary Wars, which broke out in 1792 during the French Revolution. Initially, French power rose quickly as the armies of Napoleon conquered much of Europe. In his military career, Napoleon fought about 60 battles and lost seven, mostly at the end of his reign. The great French dominion collapsed rapidly after the disastrous Invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon was defeated in 1814, and then again in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo after a brief return to power. The Allies then reversed all French gains since the Revolutionary Wars at the Congress of Vienna.

France under Napoleon defeated five of seven coalitions before final defeat. The first and second coalitions were defeated during the French Revolutionary Wars, the third (at Austerlitz), the fourth (at Jena, Eylau, and Friedland) and the fifth coalition (at Wagram) under the leadership of Napoleon. These victories gave the French Army a sense of invulnerability, especially when it approached Moscow. After the retreat from Russia, France was defeated by the sixth coalition at the Battles of Leipzig and Vitoria, and by the seventh coalition at Waterloo.