query: At what school did Șerban Cioculescu teach?

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Șerban Cioculescu (Romanian pronunciation:[ʃerˈban t͡ʃjokuˈlesku]; 7 September 1902 – 25 June 1988) was a Romanian literary critic, literary historian and columnist, who held teaching positions in Romanian literature at the University of Iași and the University of Bucharest, as well as membership of the Romanian Academy and chairmanship of its Library. Often described as one of the most representative Romanian critics of the interwar period, he took part in the cultural debates of the age, and, as a left-wing sympathizer who supported secularism, was involved in extended polemics with the traditionalist, far right and nationalist press venues. From early on in his career, Cioculescu was also noted for his selective approach to literary modernism and the avant-garde, preferring to place his cultural references with Neoclassicism.

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: (in Romanian) , Museum of Romanian Literature profile

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Cioculescu eventually took his Ph.D. in 1945, with a monograph on Dimitrie Anghel, the early-20th-century poet and representative of Romania's Symbolist school.[6][39][40] As he himself recalled, this decision came after Dean Constantin Balmuș promised him a teaching position at the University of Iași Faculty of Letters, if he agreed to obtain the necessary qualifications within a short interval.[40] His dissertation reviewer was Tudor Vianu, and the commission evaluating his candidature for the teaching post comprised George Călinescu, who assured him of being "my candidate".[40] In July 1946, after earning approval from the commission, Cioculescu took over his new assignment, sharing the chair with Călinescu.[40]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Acclaimed for his research into the work and biographies of writers Ion Luca Caragiale and Tudor Arghezi, and considered one of the leading experts on these subjects, he was primarily a literary columnist. Throughout his lifetime, Cioculescu worked with prominent Romanian press venues, among them Adevărul, Curentul, Dreptatea, Gazeta Literară and România Literară. Marginalized by fascist governments during World War II and persecuted by the communist regime up to the 1960s, Cioculescu later developed an ambiguous relationship with the national communist authorities, returning to the cultural mainstream and regaining his influence over the literary scene. It was during the latter interval that Cioculescu provoked several controversies, primarily by speaking out against the rebellious Onirist writers and the innovative poetry of Nichita Stănescu.

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Cioculescu's stances resulted in his marginalization early during World War II, when, after the fall of King Carol II's National Renaissance Front, the fascist and antisemitic Iron Guard took over (see Romania during World War II). Dumitru Caracostea, appointed by the National Legionary government as head of Revista Fundațiilor Regale suspended the contributions of critics whom he considered supporters of Jewish literature: Perpessicius, Cioculescu and Streinu.[28] The measure raised angry comments from the anti-fascist Lovinescu, who deemed it "idiotic".[28]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Also in 1934, Cioculescu was scandalized by the Nu ("No"), a radically voiced manifesto by Eugène Ionesco (later known as a dramatist), and, with fellow critic Tudor Vianu, voted against granting him the Editura Fundațiilor Regale prize (they were the only ones to do so).[21] Reputedly, Nu had especially scandalized Cioculescu for denying the merit of Tudor Arghezi's poetry, and for defining Arghezi himself as a "mechanical poet".[21] Nu also featured provocative remarks and allegations about critics in general and Cioculescu in particular: "A critic is a stupid animal. [...] The stupid man is the man to whom realities are opaque. The literary critic has to be stupid. In fortunate cases, the critic is stupid by obligation, because of professional habit, and some other times the critic is stupid by vocation. A professional with a vocation is somebody who cannot have any other profession except the one he has and who, if that profession does not exist, invents it. [Example of a] critic by professional habit: Mr. Șerban Cioculescu."[22]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: By 1944, he was reintegrated into the corps of school inspectors by the Antonescu cabinet's Education Minister Ion Petrovici (who had also employed Streinu as his adviser).[32] According to a rumor spread by Jewish Romanian author Sergiu Dan (and passed on by diarist Emil Dorian), the antisemitic Petrovici intended to task Cioculescu and Streinu with compiling an official history of Romanian literature to compete with George Călinescu's liberal version (the 1941 Istoria literaturii române); reportedly, the goal was to eliminate all Jewish contributions to local letters, about which Călinescu had spoken in detail.[35] The Cioculescu family's condemnation of official antisemitic policies and the Holocaust in Romania was however stated by Radu Cioculescu, who had witnessed and exposed murders committed by the Romanian Army on the Eastern Front.[36]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Instead, Cioculescu made his living teaching French language at Bucharest's Saint Sava National College. He had among his students G. Brătescu, the future physician and medical historian, also known as a Communist Party militant after the war (before being marginalized and excluded by the group in the late 1950s). In his 2003 autobiography, Brătescu recalled that Cioculescu's method went beyond the Romanian curriculum and parallel to the National Legionary requirements, introducing his students to innovative French 19th- and 20th-century authors, from Arthur Rimbaud to Marcel Proust.[29] Also according to Brătescu, Cioculescu introduced his students to the banned or unpublished works of Arghezi, and openly praised the poet's political stance.[30] In late 1940, Cioculescu also reacted to the Iron Guard's mass murders of politicians affiliated with previous regimes—the Jilava Massacre and the killings of Iorga and economist Virgil Madgearu. His Saint Sava student Brătescu, who frequented Iorga's circles in Vălenii de Munte, presented him with some of Iorga's final texts for Cuget Clar.[31]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Cioculescu had a complex relationship with the critics of his generation, between a lifelong friendship with Vladimir Streinu and a fluctuating rivalry with George Călinescu. He was brother to essayist, critic and victim of the communist regime Radu Cioculescu, and father to writer Barbu Cioculescu.

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Also according to Ornea, the post-Junimist group, alongside Mihail Sebastian and Octav Șuluțiu, was also the leading school of interwar critics, without whom "interwar literature would be hard to imagine."[64] Literary historian Sami Damian sees Cioculescu and several of the others among the "eminent" group of authors directly influenced by the older Lovinescu, opting to "apply a program of aesthetic independence".[65] Similarly, critic and historian Mircea Iorgulescu discussed Cioculescu as a member of Lovinescu's "first posterity".[33] Șerban Cioculescu's own literary style was judged by Alex. Ștefănescu to represent a peak of the interwar tradition, and a link with classical mindset, characterized by calm and erudition, as well as by "the [...] individualism of an urban dweller with a sense of humor".[6] He found its "pedantic and digressive style" similar to that of 19th-century writer Alexandru Odobescu, author of the complex essay Pseudo-cynegetikos, but noted that Cioculescu matched Odobescu's "reverie" with "malicious soberness."[6] In a 1989 essay, literary reviewer Ion Simuț spoke about "the ironic style" of articles and studies authored by Cioculescu, as well as by his colleagues Călinescu and Cornel Regman, and identified by him as inspired by the comediography of Ion Luca Caragiale.[66] However, Cioculescu did not relate to criticism as an integral aspect of literature, believing that it lacked a creative dimension, and warned against the danger posed by subjectivity.[1]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: The two main subjects of Cioculescu's work were Caragiale and Arghezi, seen by Alex. Ștefănescu as his "elective affinities" (the same critic notes that the 1945 study of Dimitrie Anghel "was not preceded or followed by works on the same subject").[6] In Caragiale's case, Ștefănescu argued, Cioculescu proved his "admirable philological rigor", but did not produce a unitary interpretation of his subject: "There is not [...] a single Caragiale as seen by Șerban Cioculescu."[6] He added: "The finality of Șerban Cioculescu's enterprise is something other than erecting a temple, and is in effect the preservation of interest for I. L. Caragiale's work."[6] This was explicitly stated by the author, who was quoted by George Călinescu as stating: "[Caragiale] will indisputably find a writer of great talent to enliven his face."[76] According to Călinescu: "[Cioculescu's] contributions on the subject of Caragiale merit a perfect trust. [...] The biographical talent, which he will not attribute to himself, is nonetheless present in Șerban Cioculescu."[76] Noting that the main techniques used by his colleague were "insinuation" and "repetition", Călinescu proposed: "For the reader used to architecture, the effect may prove disappointing, but for the refined, especially one bored with the sublime style, the impression is relevant. All the essential characteristics of Caragiale the man are lightly touched, pinned down with needles, presented for the internal eye to see."[76]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Cioculescu is often understood as one in a generation of prominent interwar critics who, although diverse in their views, built on the legacy of Junimea, a 19th-century literary society, and on the tenets of its leader, Titu Maiorescu.[3] The definitions of this group vary somewhat, but definitions usually include Cioculescu, Lovinescu, Streinu, Vianu, George Călinescu, Pompiliu Constantinescu and Perpessicius.[3][60] Cioculescu viewed Maiorescu as a providential figure, who had prevailed over a climate of cultural chaos, but believed his skills as a critic were not outstanding.[61] Z. Ornea believes that Cioculescu and his colleagues nuanced the Junimist conservative outlook and belief in art for art's sake by borrowing from the historicism of its main left-wing adversaries, the Poporanists and socialists grouped around Viața Românească journal.[62] He argued that such a synthesis was foremost illustrated by Cioculescu's affiliation with Adevărul, which maintained close relations with the Viața Românească group.[63]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: During the state-endorsed supremacy of the Socialist Realist establishment, Cioculescu was targeted by communist censorship, being closely scrutinized and having his publishing privileges reduced to a minimum.[45][46] In a 1949 piece, communist ideologue Leonte Răutu singled out Cioculescu for his conclusion on 19th century Romanian author Mihai Eminescu, widely seen as Romania's national poet. Răutu's article, a negative review of "cosmopolitan" tendencies in local literature, reacted against Cioculescu's interpretation of Eminescu's work as a late consequence of German Romanticism.[43] After 1954, however, Cioculescu was allowed to contribute articles for Gazeta Literară, a new magazine headed by communist figure Paul Georgescu.[46]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Several new volumes of Cioculescu's essays were published during the early 1970s. They included a 1971 book documenting his interest in French culture (Medalioane franceze, "French Medallions", Editura Univers),[6] the 1972 Aspecte literare contemporane, 1932–1947 ("Contemporary Literary Aspects, 1932–1947", Editura Minerva).[6][56] In collaboration with Editura Eminescu, he followed up with the collections Itinerar critic ("Critical Itinerary"), published by Editura Eminescu as five volumes (printed between 1973 and 1989) and a 1974 corpus of his lifelong studies on Caragiale (Caragialiana).[6] He was made a full member of the Academy in 1974.[57] His reception speech, a study on the life and work of Bessarabian author Teodor Vârnav, was issued as a separate volume (published by Editura Academiei) in 1975.[6] Also in 1975, Editura Eminescu published his memoirs, Amintiri ("Recollections"),[1][6] followed in 1976 by the Museum of Romanian Literature's book of interviews 13 rotonde prezidate de Șerban Cioculescu ("13 Round Tables Hosted by Șerban Cioculescu").[6]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: However, Cioculescu himself associated modernism with pornography, and expressed his distaste for erotic literature in general. In a 1934 article, he claimed that Lady Chatterley's Lover, the controversial novel of English author D. H. Lawrence, like various works of pulp fiction translated from English, served to titillate "the impubescent and the perverted".[24] He urged Romanian publishers to review their criteria by opting for aesthetic value in favor of commercial success.[24] Writing for Adevărul journal in late 1936, Cioculescu reprimanded Eliade for what he perceived as inconsistency: himself repeatedly accused of being a pornographer by sections of the far right, the novelist had reacted against "opportunistic" colleagues who published erotic texts in order to commercially exploit the controversy.[25] Contrasting his works with theirs, Eliade claimed that he had introduced "aggressive and savage" erotic scenes to his novels so as to provide "a vital dimension" to his characters.[25] Recalling the critic's reaction to this perspective, he assessed: "[Cioculescu was] showing through my own example that the distinction I wanted to make between 'writers' and 'opportunists' was an impractical one. The article did not convince me."[25]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: As early as his time with Kalende, Cioculescu took the side of secularism in the debate about the specific values of Romanians, the notion of "Romanian spirituality" and the role the Romanian Orthodox Church could claim in defining them. Early on, he stated that a typical national spirituality was a "desideratum", not a historical reality.[68] Ornea included Cioculescu among the secularists providing a convincing reply to the Orthodox group at Gândirea magazine, and notes that, in doing so, the group also expressed support for Westernization.[69] Early in the 1930s, Cioculescu nominated Gândirea, alongside its partners Curentul and Cuvântul, as a partisan of a dogmatic Orthodoxy "plagued by nullification".[15] According to Ornea's assessment, Cioculescu also shared the belief that Orthodoxy could not support national specificity, since it was closely related to the global Eastern Orthodox Church, and not limited geographically to Romanian-inhabited areas.[70]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: In his 2008 review of the volume, Săndulescu noted that the text omitted important details from its author's life. Given the date of completion, he describes as understandable that Cioculescu failed to mention facts about his anti-communist brother and his death in confinement, and believes it natural that the book does not include any detail about the critic's own affiliation with the anti-communist Dreptatea.[3] However, he sees a bizarre tendency in that Amintiri skips over Cioculescu's time in Paris.[3]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Shortly after his return from Paris, Cioculescu established himself as a presence on the literary scene, and began frequenting the informal and bohemian literary club formed around Casa Capșa restaurant.[3] One of his earliest polemics was carried with his colleague Perpessicius by means of Adevărul journal: Cioculescu found his adversary's aesthetic relativism and rejection of "sectarianism" to be incompatible with the mission of critic.[8] Between 1928 and 1929, Cioculescu and Streinu were on the staff of Kalende, a literary magazine published in Pitești, Argeș County.[3] After a short interval during which he worked as a schoolteacher in Găești town (where he was notably a contributor to the short-lived modernist review Cristalul),[9] Cioculescu entered the civil service, becoming an inspector of Romanian schools.[3] This was the alleged start of a documented lifelong rivalry between Cioculescu and literary historian George Călinescu: the inspector reportedly chose to intervene during an Italian-language class Călinescu was giving to high school students, and managed instead to infuriate him.[3]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: As he was to recall later in life, Șerban Cioculescu was a sickly and inhibited child, who enjoyed spending his time in the family garden.[1][2][3] Born in Bucharest, he was the second son of engineer N. Cioculescu,[3] and the younger brother (by one year) of Radu, who later made himself known for both his original literary works and his translations from Marcel Proust.[3][4] Both parents died when the brothers were still young children: their father in 1912, their mother in 1914.[1] They were assigned to the care of his grandparents, who reputedly favored a severe approach to education.[1][2] According to Cioculescu, although objectionable, his grandmother's stern nature ultimately contributed to fortifying his internal self, given that "happiness has no educational virtues."[1]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: While subdued with time, such tension was even passed into Călinescu's evaluation of his colleague's examination for the University of Iași post, as published by Monitorul Oficial: "Mr. Șerban Cioculescu is a good literary historian with a slow and still sound slow course, and a critic without amplitude or major perspectives, but also lacking the extra-literary prejudice that have stained the activity of many others."[40] The verdict amused its recipient, who stated: "With this 'epochal' reference [...], 'warm' but vague to the nth power [...], I was appointed titular professor of modern Romanian literature".[40]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Cioculescu's attitude and status changed radically in the 1960s. At the time, as Gazeta Literară was taken out of circulation, Cioculescu became editor in chief of Viața Românească, one of the country's oldest literary reviews.[53] Writing in 2001, critic Iulian Băicuș described the writer as a "convert on the Road to Damascus, which back then was passing through Moscow".[4] According to historian Vladimir Tismăneanu, Cioculescu, like George Călinescu and Vladimir Streinu, was persuaded by the national communist discourse adopted by previously Stalinist leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, which implied a rapprochement between the regime and the intellectuals.[54] In 1961, his brother, Radu Cioculescu, was a victim of communist repression, dying as a political prisoner in Dej penitentiary.[3][4] According to a testimony by fellow inmate Ion Ioanid, the last months of Radu Cioculescu's life were marked by a fall-out with his brother, probably caused by their ideological rift: he was returning packages sent by Șerban and repeatedly denying him visits.[4]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: In this context, Cioculescu's main grievance against Eliade was the latter's rejection of rationalist approaches, as well as Eliade's exclusive focus on the Romanian Orthodox Church as a vehicle of Romanian spirituality.[15][16] In particular, Cioculescu noted that Eliade's ideas, borrowed from his mentor Nae Ionescu, vainly attempted to transform the local Orthodoxy into a political movement, and did so by imitating the Roman Catholic Church.[71] To this, he argued, were added Eliade's own eclecticism and "mystical spasms", which he believed explained why the thinker had tried to reconcile Orthodoxy with Anthroposophy, Eastern philosophy, Liberal Christianity or Urreligion.[15] In his replies to Cioculescu's articles, Eliade explained that he neither excluded reason nor prioritized Orthodoxy, but that he believed in the importance of intuition and understood the local church as just one of several supports of a spiritual revolution.[16][72] In tandem, Cioculescu also reacted against his fellow secularist, philosopher Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, who viewed Romanian spirituality as tied not to a religious institution, but to rural traditions and an immutable village—in Cioculescu's view, even this theory was proven false by the "rapid evolutionary process" which had transformed the Romanian peasantry.[73]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: In George Călinescu's assessment, Cioculescu's formal politeness and "maximal protocol", while reaching the status of an "individual nuance", was also a direct influence of Streinu.[76] According to Paul Cernat, Șerban Cioculescu's legacy, particularly in matter of "inquisitive" style, is foremost illustrated by his son Barbu Cioculescu.[13] He believes the fundamental difference between them is that Cioculescu-son was a noted admirer of Mateiu Caragiale, to whom he dedicated several of his texts.[13] Cioculescu's critical work and George Călinescu's attitudes were also formative instruments for the literary essays of poet Marin Sorescu.[83]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: On his 100th birthday in 2002, Șerban Cioculescu was commemorated through festivities held at the Museum of Romanian Literature in Bucharest; the place chosen for this was a conference hall where he had presided over several writers' reunions in the 1960s and 1970s.[84] Among the many reprints of his works before and after the 1989 Revolution is a 2007 third edition of Amintiri, edited by Simona Cioculescu and accompanied by his travel writings.[3] In 2009, she also edited a collected edition of his theater chronicles for Semnalul.[37] Șerban Cioculescu's name was assigned to streets in Găești and Pitești, as well as to a private high school in Turnu Severin.

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Writer Ștefan Agopian, who met Cioculescu during the 1980s, recalled that the literary community was puzzled as to why Cioculescu himself was not arrested, and claims that his rescue was largely owed to Paul Georgescu, who secretly harbored anti-Stalinist convictions of his own.[46] Agopian cites Georgescu saying: "He had done nothing wrong, so he was still usable, we could not afford to lose a guy like Cioculescu just so we could have our prisons filled. Cioculescu's luck was that the idiots upstairs listened to me."[46] However, according to the account of comparatist Matei Călinescu, who was then working for Gazeta Literară, Georgescu took personal part in censoring Cioculescu's work: in one such case, Cioculescu had written a political text on the occasion of May Day, believing that the Party was requesting a sign of loyalty from him, but unaware that authors with few political credentials were in fact barred from publishing around national holidays.[45][51] According to this account, Georgescu was infuriated by his subordinate's action, and made a point of disavowing it publicly—an attitude linked by him with Georgescu's dogmatism.[51][52] According to Agopian, this was nevertheless a subtle attempt to prevent Cioculescu from discrediting his name by associating it with communist messages.[51]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Cioculescu's primary education was completed at the Schewitz-Thierrin boarding school, which left him with other similarly unpleasant memories.[1] He later graduated from the Traian High School in Turnu Severin, a Danube port in western Romania.[3] He subsequently attended Bucharest University's Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, where he specialized in the study of the French language.[3] Cioculescu had among his professors critics Mihail Dragomirescu and Ovid Densusianu, comparatist Charles Drouhet, as well as historians Nicolae Iorga[1][3] and Vasile Pârvan.[3] He made himself known early on by speaking out his mind during Dragomirescu's lectures, and taking distance from his teacher's opinions.[1][3][5] It was during one of Dragomirescu's classes that Cioculescu first met Vladimir Streinu, who became his best friend.[1] He was also acquainted to and fell in love with his female colleague Maria (Mioara) Iovițoiu, whom he soon after married.[1]

title: Luca Caragiale

text: A special connection between Caragiale and experimental literature was his ambition of modifying the standard Romanian lexis, through the introduction of neologisms or the recovery of obscure archaisms. Șerban Cioculescu argued that, by adopting this "twinned regime", Caragiale prolonged his stylistic connection with Parnassianism into the realm of avant-garde poetry, but did so at the risk of confusing his readers. The neologisms, some of which were described as "very curious" by the critic, include words that did not settle into the common language, such as "perpetrat" ("perpetrated") and "sfinctic" ("sphinx-like"); among the archaic words employed are some words found in Romanian Orthodox Church vocabulary—"blagoslovenie" ("blessing"), "pogribanie" ("funeral")—and obsolete titles such as "virhovnic" ("leader"). According to the Cioculescu, Luca shared Mateiu's love for antiquated things, but was in effect "more complex" stylistically than his brother. The speech characteristics were doubled by a recourse to theatrical attitudes, leading Barbu Cioculescu to speak of a stylistic approach reconnecting Luca's work to those of his forefathers, and especially to Ion Luca Caragiale's "mimetic" approach to comedy writing.

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: The main targets of Cioculescu's objections were the mysticism, traditionalism and political radicalism embraced by the right-wing or far right intellectuals in reaction to the political and cultural establishment of Greater Romania. His older colleague Lovinescu, who shared his concerns and defended the notion of liberal democracy, recognized in him an unexpectedly efficient ally: "people with more astute critical senses should have organized themselves long ago into a common front against the enemy that stood on the horizon [...]. They nevertheless failed to understand the danger, its concreteness, and only fought casually. More gifted in this area, Șerban Cioculescu has himself been firing a number of rifle shots and hit his target. The scattered articles against mystics and mystagogues are the finest, the only ones to transpose the fight on an ideological ground, to legitimize it."[6] Alex. Ștefănescu deemed his teacher "a convinced rationalist, whom neither moments of collective exultation contaminated nor the perils managed to turn into an anxious being."[6]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Cioculescu's other main interest, Arghezi's literary contribution, was the subject of many articles and essays. They pursued a lifelong literary conflict with Arghezi's opponents, responding to claims that his poems were often unintelligible, and commented at length on its "diversity" (bridging modernism and traditionalism).[6] In one such instance, Cioculescu dismissed the claim that Arghezi's Inscripție pe un portret ("Inscription on a Portrait") was riddled with obscure meanings, by offering his interpretation and presenting the issue as soliciting one's perspicacity.[6] Ștefănescu, who described Arghezi as "Don Quixote" to Cioculescu's "Sancho Panza", noted that the critical process resulted in the two of them switching roles, and that the critic himself largely invented the arguments against Arghezi to support his own thesis.[6]

title: Șerban Cioculescu

text: Alex. Ștefănescu argued that, largely as a result of this approach and his preoccupations, Cioculescu did not produce "a monumental work", his writings being structured as summaries "on the margin of documents, magazine, books."[6] Citing Cioculescu's own admission that he lacked necessary "grain of insanity", he also noted that such contributions were nonetheless leading in their field of choice.[6] A characteristic trait of Cioculescu's work was viewed by Ștefănescu as his attachment to Neoclassicism, Neoromaticism and Symbolism, with the implicit rejection of newer currents.[6] His writings, the same commentator noted, were tied to cultural references such as Charles Baudelaire, Benedetto Croce, Victor Hugo and Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, and viewed the Comte de Lautréamont and Stéphane Mallarmé as factors of innovation.[6] According to Simona Cioculescu, her father-in-law found a kindred spirit in French Renaissance essayist Michel de Montaigne.[1] Ștefănescu believes that he preserved this hierarchy in assessing Romanian literature, by focusing his study on the pre-1900 age, by regarding the interwar as an unrepeatable peak, and by interpreting the avant-garde as a "heresy".[6] In Ștefănescu's definition, this was primarily a matter of "taste", as his pronouncements on the nature of modern poetry, which aimed to defend some interwar modernists against others, were equally applicable to "the poetry of Nichita Stănescu, that is to say the very person whom Șerban Cioculescu considered a distasteful representative of the modernist heresy."[6] When critic Gheorghe Grigurcu argued that the positions adopted by Cioculescu in the 1960s made him a voice of the official communist-generated direction, Ștefănescu claimed the opposite: "There are still many proofs, among them the systematic (and, of course, unjust) rejection of the poetry written by Nichita Stănescu, an almost unanimously accepted poet, that [Cioculescu] carried on reading Romanian literature in solitude until the end of his life, refusing to become a state-appointed critic."[6]


query: Who were the contenders in The Pacification of Tonkin?

title: Kuomintang

text: In 2005, then-party chairman Lien Chan announced that he was to leave his office. The two leading contenders for the position included Ma Ying-jeou and Wang Jin-pyng. On 5 April 2005, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou said he wished to lead the opposition KMT with Wang Jin-pyng. On 16 July 2005, Ma was elected as KMT Chairman in the first contested leadership in KMT's 93-year history. Some 54% of the party's 1.04 million members cast their ballots. Ma garnered 72.4% of vote share, or 375,056 votes, against Wang's 27.6%, or 143,268 votes. After failing to convince Wang to stay on as a vice chairman, Ma named holdovers Wu Po-hsiung, Chiang Pin-kung and Lin Cheng-chi (林澄枝), as well as long-time party administrator and strategist John Kuan as vice-chairmen. All appointments were approved by a hand count of party delegates.

title: Cochinchina Campaign

text:
In 1864 the three southern provinces ceded to France were formally constituted as the French colony of Cochinchina. Within three years, France's new colony doubled in size. In 1867 Admiral Pierre de la Grandière forced the Vietnamese to cede the provinces of Châu Đốc, Hà Tiên and Vĩnh Long to France. The Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức initially refused to accept the validity of this cession, but eventually recognized French dominion over the six provinces of Cochinchina in the 1874 Treaty of Saigon, negotiated by Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre after the military intervention of Francis Garnier in Tonkin.
The Spanish, who had played a junior role in the Cochinchina campaign, received a share of the indemnity but made no territorial acquisitions in Vietnam. Instead, they were encouraged by the French to seek a sphere of influence in Tonkin. Nothing came of this suggestion, however, and Tonkin ultimately fell under French control also, becoming a French protectorate in 1883.
Perhaps the most important factor in Tự Đức's decision to make peace was the threat posed to his authority by a serious uprising in Tonkin led by the Catholic nobleman Le Bao Phung, who claimed descent from the old Lê dynasty. Although the French and Spanish rejected Le's offer of an alliance against Tự Đức, the insurgents in Tonkin were able to inflict several defeats on Vietnamese government forces. The end of the war with France and Spain allowed Tự Đức to overwhelm the insurgents in Tonkin and restore government control there. Le Bao Phung was eventually captured, tortured and put to death.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: Throughout Tonkin hard-working law-abiding cultivators had always been left defenceless in the face of the exactions of the mandarins and the Chinese and Annamese pirates. The reign of the mandarins was now ended, but force would be needed to deal with the pirates, whose number had increased in the past two years. The ranks of the Black Flags and the other professional brigands who had been fighting us were swollen by discharged Chinese soldiers, other soldiers who had deserted with their arms and equipment because they had not been paid, Annamese ne’er-do-wells who preferred pillage to agriculture, and sometimes law-abiding peasants who had been forcibly conscripted.[3]

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: The tide finally turned in France's favour in Tonkin with the appointment of Jean-Marie de Lanessan as governor-general of Indochina in 1891. De Lanessan, an able, intelligent and energetic administrator, quickly put in place the administrative structures that would enable the military commanders first to contain and ultimately to master the insurrection. He reversed the policy of his predecessors, recalling the unwieldy militia units to the Delta and returning control of the mountain region of Tonkin to the military. He divided Upper Tonkin into four territories, centred respectively on Sept Pagodes, Lạng Sơn, Sơn Tây and Sơn La, and placed each territory under the orders of a military commander who was also entrusted (subject to his own oversight) with the civil powers of a résident supérieur. This concentration of military and civil power in the hands of a small number of officers was potentially dangerous, but de Lanessan got on well with General Duchemin, the army commander in Tonkin, and was able to ensure that the commands went to the best officers available. These men included Lieutenant-Colonel Théophile Pennequin, who developed the famous 'oilstain' (tache d'huile) tactics that were eventually to prove so effective in stamping out the insurgency, Colonels Joseph Gallieni and Servière, and chef de bataillon Hubert Lyautey. De Lanessan was lucky. Duchemin and his immediate subordinates were among the finest soldiers then serving in France's colonial empire. Two of them, Joseph Gallieni and Hubert Lyautey, would distinguish themselves in the First World War and end their lives as Marshals of France.[32]

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: Beyond the Delta, however, the French had much less to show for their efforts. Their first major victory against the insurgents, at Ba Dinh in January 1887, owed more to the folly of the Vietnamese commander Dinh Cong Trang, who deliberately challenged the French to a set-piece battle near the Annam-Tonkin border, than to the skill of the French high command. The Vietnamese defeat at Ba Dinh was a disaster for the Cần Vương movement in Annam, and cost the lives of many Vietnamese insurgents, but it did little to lessen the problems that the French faced in Tonkin.[26]

title: Tonkin Campaign

text: The Tonkin campaign was commemorated in France with the issue of a Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal. French soldiers who had taken part in the campaign had hoped that the medal would be inscribed with the names of all their Tonkin victories, but there were some puzzling absences, notably the Lạng Sơn Campaign, from the feats of arms commemorated. This decision angered many veterans, who felt that it did not adequately recognise their deeds.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: The Cần Vương insurgency against the French launched in Annam in July 1885 after Hàm Nghi's flight from Huế was portrayed by the insurgents as a patriotic, anti-French, struggle to 'aid the king'. The insurgency in Tonkin was rather more complex. Many of the insurgents fought for patriotic motives, but others simply wanted to exploit the anarchy that prevailed in much of Tonkin at the end of the Sino-French War. The Chinese armies that had fought the Sino-French War dutifully withdrew from Tonkin in May and June 1885, but their ranks were by then full of Vietnamese volunteers or conscripts, and these men, unpaid for months, were simply disbanded on Tonkinese soil and left to fend for themselves. They kept their weapons and supported themselves by brigandage, in many cases sheltering behind the patriotic rhetoric of the Cần Vương insurgency. The French, although reluctant to admit that any of the 'brigands', 'bandits' and 'pirates' in arms against them had noble motives, were well aware that they were fighting a range of enemies in Tonkin:

title: Thomas Tonkin

text: Tonkin put forth in 1737 proposals for printing a history of Cornwall, in three volumes of imperial quarto at three guineas; and on 19 July 1736 he prefixed to a collection of modern Cornish pieces and a Cornish vocabulary, which he had drawn up for printing, a dedication to William Gwavas of Gwavas, his chief assistant (this dedication was sent by Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte on 30 November 1861 to the "Cambrian Journal", and there reprinted to show the indebtedness to Tonkin's labours of William Pryce. Neither of these contemplated works saw the light. On 25 February 1761 Dr. Borlase obtained from Tonkin's representative the loan of his manuscripts, consisting 'of nine volumes, five folios, and four quartos, partly written upon,' a list of which is printed in the 'Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall,'. On the death of Tonkin's niece, Miss Foss, in 1780, the manuscripts of the proposed history of Cornwall became the property of Lord de Dunstanville, who allowed Davies Gilbert to edit and to embody them in his history of the county 'founded on the manuscript histories of Mr. Hals and Mr. Tonkin' (1838, 4 vols.). Dunstanville published in 1811 an edition of Richard Carew's "Survey of Cornwall, with Notes illustrative of its History and Antiquities by Thomas Tonkin." Those on the first book of the "Survey" were evidently prepared for publication by Tonkin, and the other notes were selected from the manuscripts. His journal of the convocation of Stannators in 1710 was added to it. Tonkin's manuscript history passed from Lord de Dunstanville to Sir Thomas Phillipps, and was sold by Messrs. Sotheby & Co. for £51 to Mr. Quaritch on 7 June 1898.

title: Tonkin (French protectorate)

text: During the French colonial administration, Vietnam was administratively divided into three different territories: Tonkin (in the north), Annam (in the centre), and the colony of Cochinchina (in the south). These territories were fairly arbitrary in their geographic extent as the vast majority of the Vietnamese regarded their country as a single land and minor resistance to French rule continued over the next 70 years to achieve an independent state. Annam and Tonkin were originally a single entity, the "Résidence supérieure" of Annam-Tonkin. On June 3, 1886, the Nguyễn Emperor Đồng Khánh delegated all of his powers in Tonkin to a "Kinh luoc su" (equivalent of Viceroy), who acted under French supervision. On May 9, 1889, the Résidence supérieure of Annam-Tonkin was abolished, with Annam and Tonkin being separated in two Résidences supérieures, each subordinated to the Governor-General of French Indochina. On July 26, 1897, Governor-General Paul Doumer had Emperor Thành Thái abolish the post of "Kinh luoc su". Also the Nguyễn dynasty still nominally reigned over Tonkin, it was now "de facto" under direct French rule.

title: Tonkin Campaign

text: In April 1886 General Warnet, who had replaced de Courcy as commander of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps a few months earlier, declared that he considered Tonkin to be pacified, and proposed to the French government that the expeditionary corps should be reduced in size to a division of occupation. Conventionally, April 1886 marks the end of the Tonkin campaign. The belief that Tonkin was pacified, however, was ludicrously premature. The Pacification of Tonkin, sometimes involving fighting on a large scale, would require a further ten years.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: In August 1883, in the wake of Admiral Amédée Courbet's victory at the Battle of Thuận An, the Vietnamese court at Huế was forced to recognise a French protectorate over both Annam (French protectorate) and Tonkin.[1] Efforts by the French to entrench their protectorate in Tonkin were complicated by the outbreak of the Sino-French War in August 1884, which tied down large French forces around Hưng Hóa and Lạng Sơn, and later by the Cần Vương uprising in southern Vietnam in July 1885, which required the diversion of French forces from Tonkin to Annam. When the Sino-French War ended in April 1885, there were 35,000 French troops in Tonkin, but the area of French control was restricted to the Red River Delta. Between April 1885 and April 1886 French troops closed up to the Chinese border, raising the tricolour and establishing customs posts at Lào Cai and other frontier crossings into Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, but large swathes of Tonkinese territory remained under the control of insurgent groups.

title: Tonkinese Rifles

text: The Tonkinese Rifles ("tirailleurs tonkinois") were a corps of Tonkinese light infantrymen raised in 1884 to support the operations of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps. Led by French officers seconded from the marine infantry, Tonkinese riflemen fought in several engagements against the Chinese during the Sino-French War and took part in expeditions against Vietnamese insurgents during the subsequent French Pacification of Tonkin. The French also organized similar units of indigenous riflemen from Annam and Cambodia. All three categories of indigenous soldiers were known in Vietnam as Lính tập,

title: Charles Rondony

text: Charles Rondony (6 March 1856 – 22 August 1914) was a French general. Joining the metropolitan army as a private soldier in 1875 he rapidly rose through the ranks and was commissioned into the Troupes de marine (colonial army) in 1880. Serving in the Tonkin War in command of indigenous troops he was wounded during an attack on a fort, he was posted briefly to Senegal before returning to Tonkin in 1890. During the Pacification of Tonkin Rondony distinguished himself, being wounded twice in action, being cited in the order of the day, receiving the Tonkin and Colonial Medals and being appointed a commander of the Order of the Dragon of Annam. Returning to France in 1897 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and saw service in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900–01. Furthers postings in Tonkin and Madagascar followed before Rondony was promoted to général de brigade in France. Holding command of the 3rd Colonial Brigade upon the start of the First World War he led it in defeat at the Battle of Rossignol on 22 August 1914. Rondony and his divisional commander, Léon Amédée François Raffenel, were killed in action, the first French generals to die during the war.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: The bandits and pirates included Nung among their ranks. By adopting their clothing and hairstyle, it was possible to change identity to Nung for pirate and exile Chinese men.[14] Pirate Chinese and Nung fought against the Meo.[15] The flag pirates who fought the French were located among the Tay.[16]

title: Overwatch League

text: The Contenders League was launched in the first half of 2018 with five divisions with 12 teams each: Korea (replacing the Overwatch Apex tournament), China (replacing the Overwatch Premier Series), and Pacific (replacing Overwatch Pacific Championship for other Asian-Pacific countries), and adding in North America and European divisions. Prior to the second 2018 Contenders season, Blizzard added two additional divisions, for Australia and South America, bringing the total to 7. Further, Blizzard gave the opportunity for the top eight teams from the Open division within each region were be invited to a Contenders Trials, to take place in a promotion-relegation tournament at the end of a Contenders season for the chance to compete in the next Contenders season. Moving in 2019, Blizzard adjusted the format for Contenders by reducing the number of teams in each region to eight while dividing the North American region into East and West divisions. Blizzard is also adding a region "soft lock" by limiting the number of import players (those that live outside the division's region) to a maximum of three.

title: Far East Squadron

text: In October 1884 the squadron was joined by the cruisers "Rigault de Genouilly" from the Levant station, "Nielly" from the Indian Ocean station and "Champlain". At the end of November 1884 a fourth cruiser, "Éclaireur", arrived from the Pacific station. In January 1885 the squadron was joined by the cruisers "Duchaffaut" from New Caledonia and "Lapérouse" from France. Around the end of March 1885 the cruiser "Kerguelen", transferred from the Pacific station, joined the squadron. French naval forces in Tonkin were strongly reinforced in the spring of 1885 by the cruisers "Fabert" and "La Clocheterie", and the seagoing gunboat "Jaguar", previously based at Along Bay as part of the Tonkin flotilla, was also transferred to the Far East squadron at this period.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: In 1891 "Goldthwaite's Geographical Magazine, Volumes 1-2" said "FOUR months ago, a band of 500 pirates attacked the French residency at Chobo, in 'l‘onkin. They beheaded the French resident, ransacked and burned the town, and killed many of the people."[17] In 1906 the "Decennial Reports on the Trade, Navigation, Industries, Etc., of the Ports Open to Foreign Commerce in China and Corea, and on the Condition and Development of the Treaty Port Provinces ..., Volume 2" said "Piracy on the Tonkin border was very prevalent in the early years of the decade. Fortified frontier posts were established in 1893 by the Tonkin Customs at the most dangerous passes into China, for the purpose of repressing contraband, the importation of arms and ammunition, and specially the illicit traflic of women, children, and cattle, which the pirates raided in Tonkin and carried beyond the Chinese mountains with impunity. These posts were eventually handed over to the military authorities."[18] In 1894 "Around Tonkin and Siam" said "This, in my view, is too pessimist an estimate of the situation, a remark which also applies to the objection that these new roads facilitate the circulation of pirates. Defective as they may be, these roads must, it seems to me, be of service to cultivation and trade, and, therefore, in the long run to the pacification of the country."[19] In 1893 "The Medical World, Volume 11" said "Captain Hugot, of the Zouaves, was inclose pursuit of the fnmous Thuyet, one of the most redoubtable, ferocious, and cunning of the Black Flag (Annamite pirates) leaders, the man who prepared and executed the ambuscade at Hue. The captain was just about to seize the person of the young pretender Ham-Nghi, whom the Black Flags had recently proclaimed sovereign of Armani, when he was struck by reveral ar rows, discharged by the body-guard of HamNghi. The wounds were all light, scarcely more than scratches, and no evil effect was feared at the time. After a few days, however, in spite of every care, the captain grew weaker, and it became apparent that he was suffering from the effects of arrow poison. He was removed as quickly and as tenderly as possible to Tanh-Hoa, where he died in horrible agony a few days later, in spite of the most scientific treatment and the most assiduous attention."— National Druggist.[20] The 1892 "The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review and Oriental and Colonial Record" said "The French port of Yen Long was surprised by Chinese and Annamite pirates and the troops driven out with loss."[21][22]

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: With support from China, Vietnamese and Chinese freebooters fought against the French in Lạng Sơn in the 1890s.[5] They were labelled "pirates" by the French. The Black Flags and Liu Yongfu in China received requests for assistance from Vietnamese anti-French forces.[6][7][8][9][10] Pirate Vietnamese and Chinese were supported by China against the French in Tonkin.[11] Women from Tonkin were sold by pirates.[12] Dealers of opium and pirates of Vietnamese and Chinese origin in Tonkin fought against the French Foreign Legion.[13]

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: Following their colonisation of Cochinchina in the 1860s, the French attempted to extend their influence into Tonkin. A first, abortive attempt to intervene in Tonkin was made by Francis Garnier in 1873. Nine years later, in April 1882, Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi, inaugurating the second French intervention. Although Rivière's career ended in disaster a year later, with his defeat and death at the hands of the Black Flag Army at the Battle of Paper Bridge (19 May 1883), Jules Ferry's expansionist government in France sent strong reinforcements to Tonkin to avenge this defeat. Although it would take many years before Tonkin was truly pacified, the second French attempt to subdue Tonkin was ultimately successful.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: The terrain of Tonkin was ideal for the hit-and-run tactics used by the insurgents. In the flat and fertile Delta, the insurgents were able to move much more quickly than the French from village to village along the dykes that separated the flooded rice paddies. Most Tonkinese villages were encircled with earth walls, ponds and thick bamboo hedges, and were consequently difficult to attack. If a band of insurgents was detected by the French, it could choose either to disperse or to strengthen a village's fortifications and wear the French down by fighting a regular defensive battle. In the mountainous regions of Upper Tonkin, the insurgents could exploit the scarcity of paths and the difficulties the French faced in supplying their columns to build strong lairs in nearly inaccessible spots. From these hideouts they would fan out into the surrounding regions, laying ambushes for French detachments. As the French troops they met were often sick and exhausted, these ambushes were sometimes successful.[24]

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: The Tonkin Campaign, a struggle by France since June 1883 against various opponents, including Vietnamese forces under the command of Prince Hoàng Kế Viêm, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army, and finally the Chinese Yunnan and Guangxi Armies, officially came to an end in early 1886. On the recommendation of General Charles-Auguste-Louis Warnet (1828–1913), the commander-in-chief of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, Tonkin was declared 'pacified' in April 1886, and this achievement was symbolised by the formal downgrading of the expeditionary corps into a division of occupation under the command of General Ferdinand Jamont (1831–1918). This declaration, made for domestic consumption in France, where opposition to French adventures in Tonkin was growing, was purely cosmetic, and concealed the reality of a continuing, low-level insurgency in Tonkin.[2]

title: Tonkin Flotilla

text: Following Rivière's defeat and death at the Battle of Paper Bridge (19 June 1883), the navy ministry created a new Tonkin Coasts naval division ("division navale des côtes du Tonkin") under the command of Admiral Amédée Courbet, whose mission was to cut off the flow of weapons and ammunition from China to the Black Flag Army by blockading the Gulf of Tonkin. The larger seagoing vessels already on station in Tonkin were transferred to Courbet's new naval division, while the remainder (mostly gunboats) were organised into the 'Tonkin Flotilla'. The flotilla was initially placed under the command of "général de brigade" Alexandre-Eugène Bouët (1833–87), the French "commandant supérieur" in Tonkin. Operational command was given to "capitaine de vaisseau" Morel-Beaulieu.

title: Treaty of Huế (1883)

text: The Treaty of Huế gave France everything it wanted from Vietnam. The Vietnamese recognised the legitimacy of the French occupation of Cochinchina, accepted a French protectorate both for Annam and Tonkin and promised to withdraw their troops from Tonkin. Vietnam, its royal house and its court survived, but under French direction. France was granted the privilege of stationing a resident-general at Huế, who would work to the civil commissioner-general in Tonkin and could require a personal audience with the Vietnamese king, a concession that the Vietnamese had never before been prepared to make (Article 11). To ensure there were no second thoughts, a permanent French garrison would occupy the Thuận An forts and the Deo Ngang mountain chain on the border between Annam and Tonkin (Article 3). Large swathes of territory were also transferred from Annam to Cochinchina and Tonkin. The French cancelled the country's debts (Article 26), but required in return the cession of the southern province of Bình Thuận, which was annexed to the French colony of Cochinchina (Article 2). At the same time the northern provinces of Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa and Hà Tĩnh were transferred to Tonkin, where they would come under direct French oversight. In return the French undertook to drive out the Black Flags from Tonkin and to guarantee freedom of commerce on the Red River (Article 23). These were hardly concessions, since they were planning to do both anyway.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: In northern Tonkin Commandant Servière traversed the region between Lạng Sơn and Zhennan Pass at Cua Ai, and protected the operations of the Border Delimitation Commission set up under the Treaty of Tientsin to demarcate the frontier between Vietnam and China. He dispersed several insurgent bands that had been operating around Lạng Sơn, and established a post at Chi Ma, on the Tonkin-Guangxi border.[28] In November 1886 a large expedition under the command of General Mensier drove the insurgents from other localities near the Tonkin-Guangxi border and occupied the important frontier town of Cao Bằng.[29]

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: In this way, the French were able between 1891 and 1896 to reduce the final centres of resistance in Tonkin. In November 1891 they finally secured control of the Dong Trieu massif, a thorn in their side since 1884, and dispersed the Chinese guerrillas who had operated there for so long. Trouble in the region subsided immediately on the death of the insurgent leader Luu Ky a few months later. In March 1892 the French destroyed the last bandit concentrations in the Yen The region. This remote, wooded, mountain fastness between Tuyên Quang and Thái Nguyên had been colonised by guerrilla bands during the war with China and held against the French ever since by the bandit chiefs Ba Phuc, De Nam and De Tham. Although French troops continued to skirmish with bandits in the Yen The until De Tham's death in 1913, they were no longer a serious threat to law and order. With the removal of these two running sores, the French were able to scale down their military operations in Tonkin between 1892 and 1896 to a very low level. The insurgents, once so formidable, were now reduced to kidnapping isolated French and Vietnamese officials and demanding ransoms for their safe return. They had become a nuisance rather than a threat. Routine sweeps and patrols by single companies now sufficed to police both the Delta and the mountain regions, and in 1896 it became possible for French politicians to speak of the 'pacification' of Tonkin with genuine conviction.[34]

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: The Pacification of Tonkin (1886–96) was a slow and ultimately successful military and political campaign undertaken by the French Empire in the northern portion of Tonkin (modern-day north Vietnam) to re-establish order in the wake of the Sino-French War (August1884 – April1885), to entrench a French protectorate in Tonkin, and to suppress Vietnamese opposition to French rule.

title: Battle of Thuận An

text:
The French capture of the Thuận An forts, which exposed Huế to immediate attack, overawed the Vietnamese court. An armistice was quickly agreed with the French. Harmand threatened the Vietnamese with annihilation unless they immediately accepted a French protectorate over both Annam and Tonkin. On 25 August 1883, cowed by the French appeal to force, the Vietnamese signed the Treaty of Huế.
The Treaty of Huế (1883) gave France everything it wanted from Vietnam. The Vietnamese recognised the legitimacy of the French occupation of Cochinchina, accepted a French protectorate both for Annam and Tonkin and promised to withdraw their troops from Tonkin. Vietnam, its royal house and its court survived, but under French direction. France was granted the privilege of stationing a resident-general at Huế, who would work to the civil commissioner-general in Tonkin and could require a personal audience with the Vietnamese king (a concession that the Vietnamese had never before been prepared to make). To ensure there were no second thoughts, a permanent French garrison would occupy the Thuận An forts. Large swathes of territory were also transferred from Annam to Cochinchina and Tonkin. The French cancelled the country's debts, but required in return the cession of the southern province of Bình Thuận, which was annexed to the French colony of Cochinchina. At the same time the northern provinces of Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa and Hà Tĩnh were transferred to Tonkin, where they would come under direct French oversight. In return the French undertook to drive out the Black Flags from Tonkin and to guarantee freedom of commerce on the Red River. These were hardly concessions, since they were planning to do both anyway.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: Liu Yongfu's Black Flag forces continued to harass and fight the French in Tonkin after the end of the Sino-French War.[4]

title: Tonkin Expeditionary Corps

text: The Tonkin Expeditionary Corps () was an important French military command based in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) from June 1883 to April 1886. The expeditionary corps fought the Tonkin Campaign (1883–86) taking part in campaigns against the Black Flag Army and the Chinese Yunnan and Guangxi Armies during the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) and the period of undeclared hostilities that preceded it (August 1883–June 1884), and in important operations against Vietnamese guerrilla bands during the subsequent 'Pacification of Tonkin' (May 1885–February 1886).

title: Tonkin Campaign

text:
The proposal was approved by the navy ministry on 11 August, and on 18 August several warships of Courbet's Tonkin Coasts naval division bombarded the Thuận An forts at the entrance to the Huế River. On 20 August, in the Battle of Thuận An, two companies of French marine infantry and the landing companies of three French warships went ashore and stormed the forts under heavy fire. During the afternoon the gunboats "Lynx" and "Vipère" forced a barrage at the entrance to the River of Perfumes, enabling the French to attack Huế directly if they chose.
The Vietnamese asked for an armistice, and on 25 August Harmand dictated the Treaty of Huế to the cowed Vietnamese court. The Vietnamese recognised the legitimacy of the French occupation of Cochinchina, accepted a French protectorate both for Annam and Tonkin and promised to withdraw their troops from Tonkin. Vietnam, its royal house and its court survived, but under French direction. France was granted the privilege of stationing a resident-general at Huế, who would work to the civil commissioner-general in Tonkin and could require a personal audience with the Vietnamese emperor. To ensure there were no second thoughts, a permanent French garrison would occupy the Thuận An forts. Large swathes of territory were also transferred from Annam to Tonkin and the French colony of Cochinchina. The French cancelled the country's debts, but required in return the cession of the southern province of Bình Thuận, which was annexed to Cochinchina. At the same time the northern provinces of Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa and Hà Tĩnh were transferred to Tonkin, where they would come under direct French oversight. In return the French undertook to drive out the Black Flags from Tonkin and to guarantee freedom of commerce on the Red River.

title: Pacification of Tonkin

text: Nevertheless, though resistance continued behind their lines, the French were able to widen their zone of occupation slowly but surely. In western Tonkin, a column under the command of chef de bataillon Bergougnioux advanced up the Clear River and occupied Bac Muc and Vinh Thuy in May 1886.[27] On 1 September 1887 the French occupied Hà Giang. A column under Colonel Brissaud penetrated almost as far as the border with Siam and dislodged a Siamese force that had taken advantage of the chaos in Tonkin to cross the frontier and occupy the small town of Dien Bien Phu.


query: How old is the Cleveland Browns team now?

title: Cleveland Browns

text: The franchise was founded in 1945 by businessman Arthur B. McBride and coach Paul Brown as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). The Browns dominated the AAFC, compiling a 47–4–3 record in the league's four seasons and winning its championship in each.[11] When the AAFC folded after the 1949 season, the Browns joined the National Football League along with the San Francisco 49ers and the original Baltimore Colts. The Browns won a championship in their inaugural NFL season, as well as in the 1954, 1955, and 1964 seasons, and in a feat unequaled in any of the North American major professional sports, played in their league championship game in each of the Browns' first ten years of existence. From 1965 to 1995, they made the playoffs 14 times, but did not win another championship or appear in the Super Bowl during that period.

title: History of the Cleveland Browns

text: When the AFL and NFL merged before the 1970 season, Cleveland became part of the new American Football Conference (AFC). While the Browns made it back to the playoffs in 1971 and 1972, they fell into mediocrity through the mid-1970s. A revival of sorts took place in 1979 and 1980, when quarterback Brian Sipe engineered a series of last-minute wins and the Browns came to be called the "Kardiac Kids". Under Sipe, however, the Browns did not make it past the first round of the playoffs. Quarterback Bernie Kosar, who the Browns drafted in 1985, led the team to three AFC Championship games in the late 1980s but lost each time. In 1995, Modell announced he was relocating the Browns to Baltimore, sowing a mix of outrage and bitterness among Cleveland's dedicated fan base. Negotiations and legal battles led to an agreement where Modell was allowed to move the team, but Cleveland kept the Browns' name, colors and history. After three years of suspension while the old municipal stadium was demolished and Cleveland Browns Stadium took its place, the Browns started play again in 1999 under new owner Al Lerner. Since resuming operations, the Browns have made the playoffs only once, as a wild-card team in 2002.

title: 2009 Cleveland Browns season

text: The 2009 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 61st season as a professional sports franchise and its 57th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The team placed fourth in the AFC North with a record of 5–11, improving upon its 2008 record of 4–12. This season marked George Kokinis and Eric Mangini's first seasons as the team's general manager and head coach, respectively; however, Kokinis was fired on November 2 during the team's Week 9 bye week. The Browns played all of their home games at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.

title: Cincinnati Bengals

text: When the team debuted in 1968, the Bengals' uniforms were modeled after the Cleveland Browns. When Paul Brown was fired by Art Modell, Brown still owned the equipment used by Cleveland. So after the firing, Paul Brown packed up all his equipment, which he then used for his new team in Cincinnati. The Cleveland Browns' team colors were brown, orange, and white, and their helmets were solid orange with a white dorsal stripe over the crest.

title: 1970 Cleveland Browns season

text: To finish the merger, the Browns, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts, agreed to move in 1970 from the NFL to the old AFL, renamed the AFC, to balance the leagues, now called conferences (NFC and AFC), at 13 clubs each. The merger had hit a stalemate when none of the NFL teams initially wanted to jump to what many of the old-line NFL people felt was an inferior league overall.

title: 1999 Cleveland Browns season

text: However, many Browns fans and Cleveland city officials were determined to keep the team in Cleveland, and orchestrated a grassroots movement to keep the team in Cleveland. The NFL responded by working with city officials, and the two parties came to a unique agreement which would provide the city with a brand-new, state-of-the-art stadium and would promise the return of professional football to Cleveland by the beginning of the 1999 season. Modell also agreed to relinquish the Browns' name, colors and team history to the new owner of the Browns. Modell's new team would begin playing in the 1996 season as the Baltimore Ravens.

title: Browns–Ravens rivalry

text: The City of Cleveland sued Modell and other entities in "City of Cleveland v. Cleveland Browns, et al.", Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CV-95-297833, for breaching the Browns' lease, filing an injunction to keep the Browns in Cleveland until at least 1998. Several other lawsuits were filed by fans and ticket holders. The United States Congress even held hearings on the matter. On the field, the Browns stumbled to finish 5–11 after the announcement, Virtually all of the team's sponsors pulled their support, leaving Cleveland Stadium devoid of advertising during the team's final weeks. The final game the team played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium was a 26–10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, the first and only win since the announcement of the relocation.

title: Cleveland Browns

text: Cleveland native Arsenio Hall's television program, The Arsenio Hall Show, is known for the audience's shouting "Woof, woof, woof!" while pumping their fists—a chant that was used by fans of the Cleveland Browns football team. He would refer to a section of the live audience as his "Dawg Pound".[61] On The Drew Carey Show, Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar appears (uncredited) in the episode "Drewstock" (aired January 29, 1997). In the episode "Drew Goes To The Browns Game", (aired September 29, 1999), Drew attends the Browns' first regular season game since re-joining the NFL. (In real life, Drew Carey actually did appear on-field at the first regular season game when the team returned in 1999.) Cleveland Brown is the name of a character originally featured on the Fox TV show Family Guy, and the central character of the spin-off series The Cleveland Show. On the TV show How I Met Your Mother, in the seventh-season premiere, the main characters go to a Cleveland Browns-themed wedding. The Browns have been featured on some level in episodes of Hot In Cleveland and even in promotional videos using at least one of the main characters. In the episode "How Did You Guys Meet, Anyway?" (January 4, 2012), the characters reminisce about how they met in the 1980s while waiting in the restroom line at a Cleveland Browns game.[62] In the episode "God and Football" (January 18, 2012), Melanie (Valerie Bertinelli) develops a relationship with the Browns place kicker (played by Dan Cortese). In the episode "The Gateway Friend" (May 2, 2012) Browns wide receiver/return specialist Josh Cribbs appears as himself portraying a karaoke contestant. After Super Bowl XLVI, Betty White appears in a video as Elka wearing a Browns jacket congratulating the New York Giants and hoping that the Browns win it one season.[63] After the first round of the 2014 NFL draft, the four main characters appear in a video welcoming Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel to the Browns.[64] The 1966 film The Fortune Cookie with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau features the Browns and the city of Cleveland throughout the movie and was made with the cooperation of the Browns.[65] The 2008 film The Express explains how Ernie Davis is traded to the Browns by the Washington Redskins.[66] Early in the film, Jim Brown is taking photos in his Browns uniform after being drafted by them. Later in the film, it shows Davis struggling with leukemia after being drafted and the Browns hold a special pre-game ceremony for him. In the 2010 film Hot Tub Time Machine, the Browns win the 1986 AFC Championship Game (the game famous for former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway's 98-yard drive). It is explained that the reason why the Browns win this game is due to the butterfly effect. In the 2014 film Draft Day, fictional Browns general manager Sonny Weaver, Jr. (Kevin Costner) attempts to land the number one pick in the NFL draft.

title: Cleveland Browns relocation controversy

text: After extensive talks between the NFL, the Browns, and officials of the two cities, Cleveland accepted a legal settlement that would keep the Browns' legacy in Cleveland. On February 9, 1996, the NFL announced that the Browns franchise would be 'deactivated' for three years, and that a new stadium would be built for a new Browns team, as either an expansion team or a team moved from another city, that would begin play in 1999. Modell would in turn then be granted a new franchise (the 31st NFL franchise), for Baltimore. Because he was permitted to retain the current contracts of players and other football personnel, Modell is typically reckoned to have moved the "football organization" that operated in Cleveland from 1946 to 1995, but not the franchise itself. The settlement stipulated that the reactivated team for Cleveland would retain the Browns' name, colors, history, records, awards, and archives.

title: Dick Goddard

text: After returning to Cleveland, Goddard also took a job with the NFL's Cleveland Browns as the team's official statistician for home games. Then a CBS affiliate, WJW carried Browns games at the time as part of their NFL play-by-play contract until the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (due to the Browns move to the AFC), at which point the games moved to WKYC – this was a key factor in his having joined the station. He held this position from 1966 to 2011, with the exception of a three-year period from 1996–1999 when the franchise was suspended as the old Browns franchise moved to Baltimore and Cleveland was given a new team.

title: Cleveland Stadium

text: Modell's move of the Browns breached the team's lease, and the City of Cleveland sued. As part of the settlement, the city agreed to demolish Cleveland Stadium and build a new stadium on the same site. Modell agreed to leave the Browns' name, colors, and history in Cleveland, and the NFL agreed to have a resurrected Browns team by 1999, either by relocation or expansion. Demolition on Cleveland Stadium began in November 1996 and was completed in early 1997. of demolition debris was dumped into Lake Erie to create three artificial reefs for fishermen and divers, offshore of Cleveland and neighboring Lakewood. Construction on the new stadium began later in 1997 and it opened in August 1999 as Cleveland Browns Stadium.

title: Cleveland Brown

text: During a live broadcast of "Loveline," Seth McFarlane announced that a "Family Guy" spin-off featuring Cleveland was currently in the works with the studio and writers. The series was the first new product of MacFarlane's $100 million deal with Fox. The series was mentioned in the final moments of the "Family Guy" season 7 episode "Baby Not on Board", with Cleveland telling Quagmire "Did I tell you I'm getting a spin-off". It premiered on September 27, 2009 on Fox, right after "The Simpsons". The "Cleveland Show" is an animated series focusing on the character of Cleveland Brown and his family as Cleveland moves from Rhode Island to Virginia. His newly introduced family includes his high school sweetheart, Donna, who is now his second wife, her 15-year-old daughter, Roberta, and her 5-year-old son, Rallo. Cleveland Jr. also is in the family but is now much fatter than he appeared on "Family Guy", and also suffers from astigmatism. Though several of these details were changed, it was announced that Cleveland's neighbors would include a family of talking anthropomorphic bears, a redneck couple and a Victorian-era British family, and one of his son's soccer rivals includes a boy voiced by Kanye West.

title: 1946 Cleveland Browns season

text: McBride developed a passion for football attending games at Notre Dame, where his son went to college. In the early 1940s he tried to buy the NFL's Cleveland Rams, owned by millionaire supermarket heir Dan Reeves, but was rebuffed. Having been awarded the Cleveland franchise in the AAFC, McBride asked "Cleveland Plain Dealer" sportswriter John Dietrich for head coaching suggestions. Dietrich recommended Paul Brown, the 36-year-old Ohio State Buckeyes coach. After consulting with Ward, McBride followed Dietrich's advice in early 1945, naming Brown head coach and giving him an ownership stake in the team and full control over player personnel. Brown, who had built an impressive record as coach of a Massillon, Ohio, high school team and brought the Buckeyes their first national championship, at the time was serving in the U.S. Navy and coached the football team at Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago.

title: 1948 Cleveland Browns season

text: The Browns' perfect season and third championship victory came during a strong year for Cleveland sports teams. That April, the Cleveland Barons, the city's American Hockey League team, won the Calder Cup championship. The Cleveland Indians, the city's Major League Baseball club, set an all-time season attendance record and won the World Series. The Browns' success was also a major draw for fans: the team led professional football in attendance in 1948 with an average of 45,517 people per game, although that was still 10,000 lower than the year before. The distribution of talent and fortune among AAFC's teams was unbalanced, however, and while the Browns, the 49ers and the Dons were successes at the gate, teams including the Rockets and Colts languished financially. The NFL was also facing major financial trouble – nine of its ten teams lost money that year – and the two leagues' competition for talent led to talks about a merger. Discussions centered around how many AAFC teams the NFL would absorb; most owners favored four teams, but the talks broke down when powerful owners George Preston Marshall of the Washington Redskins and Tim Mara of the New York Giants intervened and suggested only Cleveland and San Francisco should be absorbed. The AAFC continued play in 1949, but was disbanded after that season. The Browns, 49ers and Colts were merged into the NFL starting in 1950.

title: History of the Cleveland Browns

text: McBride developed a passion for football attending games at Notre Dame, where his son went to college. In the early 1940s he tried to buy the NFL's Cleveland Rams, owned by millionaire supermarket heir Dan Reeves, but was rebuffed. Having been awarded the Cleveland franchise in the AAFC, McBride asked "Cleveland Plain Dealer" sportswriter John Dietrich for head coaching suggestions. Dietrich recommended Paul Brown, the 36-year-old Ohio State Buckeyes coach. After consulting with Ward, McBride followed Dietrich's advice in early 1945, naming Brown head coach and giving him an ownership stake in the team and full control over player personnel. Brown, who had built an impressive record as coach of a Massillon, Ohio high school team and brought the Buckeyes their first national championship, at the time was serving in the U.S. Navy and coached the football team at Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago.

title: Lenny Simonetti

text: Brickels, Simonetti's old high school coach, in 1945 became an assistant for the Cleveland Browns, a new team in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Brickels recruited Simonetti to play for the team when Simonetti was still serving in the Pacific War. Simonetti joined the Browns when the team started play in 1946, but was a reserve and did not appear in any games during the regular season. Cleveland finished the year with a 12–2 record and advanced to the AAFC championship. Team captain Jim Daniell, however, was dismissed from the team the week before the title game after getting arrested following an altercation with Cleveland police. Cleveland head coach Paul Brown got permission from the league to use Simonetti in the game as Daniell's replacement. The Browns beat the New York Yankees, 14–9.

title: 2007 Cleveland Browns season

text: The 2007 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 59th season as a professional sports franchise and its 55th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The season began with the Browns attempting to improve upon their 4–12 record from the 2006 season, in which the team finished in fourth place in the AFC North. The Browns also attempted to overcome the many injuries that plagued the team throughout the 2006 season. The Browns remained under the supervision of head coach Romeo Crennel and they played all of their home games in Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.

title: Cleveland Browns

text: The history of the Cleveland Browns American football team began in 1944 when taxi-cab magnate Arthur B. "Mickey" McBride secured a Cleveland franchise in the newly formed All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Paul Brown was the team's namesake and first coach. The Browns began play in 1946 in the AAFC. The Browns won each of the league's four championship games before the league dissolved in 1949. The team then moved to the more established National Football League (NFL), where it continued to dominate. Between 1950 and 1955, Cleveland reached the NFL championship game every year, winning three times.

title: Sports in Cleveland

text: The city has been home to several additional professional sports franchises, including a women's basketball team, multiple soccer teams, and a past incarnation of the Cleveland Browns now known as the Baltimore Ravens. Cleveland has also been home to several ice hockey franchises, beginning in 1937 with the AHL member Cleveland Barons. The original Barons, although having been the most successful team in AHL history at that point, moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where they subsequently folded after one season. The salient cause of the Baron's move came from Nick Mileti's short-lived WHA franchise, the Cleveland Crusaders, which shared the old Cleveland Arena with the Barons in beginning in 1972. The new league ultimately created a financial disparity that the Barons could not compete with. Local philanthropist George Gund III facilitated the relocation of the NHL's California Golden Seals to Cleveland in 1976 and renamed them the Barons. However, this latest incarnation was short lived, with the team merging with the Minnesota North Stars following the 1977–78 season. In 1992 the Cleveland Lumberjacks, of the also now-defunct IHL, began play and lasted until 2001. Later in 2001, a third incarnation of the Barons was established, this time having returned to the AHL. The Barons moved to Worcester, Massachusetts following the 2006 season.

title: Revival (sports team)

text: The Cleveland Browns were a professional football team from 1946 until owner Art Modell moved the club to Baltimore in 1995. However, in a deal with the NFL and the City of Cleveland, the team was declared inactive for three years until a new expansion club, under the old name and colors, was established in 1999. The new Browns are considered a continuation of the old franchise.

title: List of Cleveland Browns seasons

text: In 1995, then-Browns owner Art Modell made the decision to move the team from Cleveland, Ohio to Baltimore, Maryland. An agreement between the city of Cleveland and the NFL kept the team’s history, name and colors in Cleveland, while Modell’s new team would be regarded as an expansion team. The Baltimore Ravens would begin play in 1996, and the Browns would return to the league in 1999. For record-keeping purposes, the Browns are considered to have suspended operations from 1996 to 1998, which is reflected in this list. In 2017, the Cleveland Browns became the second team in NFL history to suffer an 0–16 record.

title: Cleveland Browns Radio Network

text: The Cleveland Browns Radio Network dates back to the 1940s when team founder and namesake Paul Brown served as coach, and the team itself played in the now-defunct All-America Football Conference. As of the 1974 Browns season, WHK/Cleveland served as the flagship station for a network of 34 total affiliates, including three stations in Pennsylvania; all but five stations broadcast on the AM band.

title: Paul Brown

text: The name of the team was at first left up to Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the Browns. McBride then held a contest to name the team in May 1945; "Cleveland Panthers" was the winning choice, but Brown rejected it because it was the name of an earlier failed football team. "That old Panthers team failed", Brown said. "I want no part of that name." In August, McBride gave in to popular demand and christened the team the Browns, despite Paul Brown's objections.

title: 1999 Cleveland Browns season

text: While the Browns' new stadium was being built on the site of the old Cleveland Stadium, the foundation of the front office was being set in place. Al Lerner won a bidding war for the new team for $750 million. Lerner hired former San Francisco 49ers front office staffers Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark as the Browns' president and vice president.

title: 1946 Cleveland Browns season

text: The name of the team was at first left up to Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the Browns. McBride then held a contest to name the team in May 1945; "Cleveland Panthers" was the most popular choice, but Brown rejected it because it was the name of an earlier failed football team. "That old Panthers team failed," Brown said. "I want no part of that name." In August, McBride gave in to popular demand and named the team the Browns, despite Paul Brown's objections.

title: Cleveland Browns

text: Originally conceived due to the personal animosity between Paul Brown and Art Modell, the "Battle of Ohio" between the Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals has been fueled by the sociocultural differences between Cincinnati and Cleveland, a shared history between the two teams, and even similar team colors, since Brown used the exact shade of orange for the Bengals that he used for the Browns. (Though this has changed since then, as the Bengals now use a brighter shade of orange.) Modell, in fact, moved the Browns to the AFC after the AFL–NFL merger in order to have a rivalry with the Bengals. The rivalry has also produced two of the eight highest-scoring games in NFL history. Cincinnati has the all-time edge 50–39, having won the majority of games against the Browns since they returned to the NFL in 1999 (25 wins for Cincinnati and 12 wins for Cleveland).

title: 1970 Pittsburgh Steelers season

text: As a result of the NFL-AFL merger being finalized for the 1970 season, three teams from the "old" NFL were moved to the newly formed AFC alongside the former AFL teams. The Steelers agreed to be one of them after their archrivals, the Cleveland Browns, volunteered to join the AFL franchises in the AFC. The Browns mainly joined because of the possibility of an intrastate rivalry with the AFL's Cincinnati Bengals (now known as the Battle of Ohio), largely due to the animosity at the time between Browns owner Art Modell and Bengals owner & coach Paul Brown, who was fired from the Browns by Modell after the 1962 season. The Steelers joined the AFC in order to keep the Browns-Steelers rivalry alive on a regular basis, due to the proximity of the cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

title: Browns–Ravens rivalry

text: After extensive talks between the NFL, the Browns, and officials of the two cities, Cleveland accepted a legal settlement that would keep the Browns' legacy in Cleveland. On February 9, 1996, the NFL announced that the Browns would be 'deactivated' for three years, and that a new stadium would be built for a new Browns team, as either an expansion team or a team moved from another city, that would begin play in 1999. Modell would in turn then be granted a new franchise (the 31st NFL franchise), for Baltimore, retaining the current contracts of players and personnel. There would be a reactivated team for Cleveland, where the Browns' name, colors, history, records, awards, and archives would remain in Cleveland.

title: FirstEnergy Stadium

text: FirstEnergy Stadium is located on the site of Cleveland Stadium, commonly called Cleveland Municipal Stadium, a multipurpose facility built in 1931 that served as the Browns' home field from their inception in 1946 through the 1995 season. During the 1995 season, owner Art Modell announced his plans to move the team to Baltimore, which resulted in legal action from the city of Cleveland and Browns season ticket holders. The day after the announcement was made, voters in Cuyahoga County approved an extension of the original 1990 sin tax on alcohol and tobacco products to fund renovations to Cleveland Stadium. Eventually, as part of the agreement between Modell, the city of Cleveland, and the NFL, the city agreed to tear down Cleveland Stadium and build a new stadium on the same site using the sin tax funds. Modell agreed to leave the Browns name, colors, and history in Cleveland and create a new identity for his franchise, eventually becoming the Baltimore Ravens, while the NFL agreed to reactivate the Browns by 1999 through expansion or relocation of another team. Demolition on the old stadium began in November 1996 and was completed in early 1997. Debris from the former stadium was submerged in Lake Erie and now serves as an artificial reef.

title: 2012 Cleveland Browns season

text: The 2012 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 64th season as a professional sports franchise and its 60th season as a member of the National Football League (NFL). Although the team improved on its record to 5–11 this 2012 season from its 4–12 finish in 2011, the team still placed fourth in the AFC North. The team also failed to break its 9-year playoff drought, the longest in franchise history. The 2012 season was the third season under the leadership of team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert and the second season under head coach Pat Shurmur. The Browns also had Jimmy Haslam as their new owner, after buying the team from Randy Lerner. The Browns played all of their home games at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.

title: History of the Cleveland Browns

text: The name of the team was at first left up to Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the Browns. McBride then held a contest to name the team in May 1945; "Cleveland Panthers" was the most popular choice, but Brown rejected it because it was the name of an earlier failed football team. "That old Panthers team failed", Brown said. "I want no part of that name." In August, McBride gave in to popular demand and named the team the Browns, despite Paul Brown's objections.