Dresden (German pronunciation: [?d?e?sd?n]) (German: Dresden, Czech: Drazdany, Upper Sorbian: Drjezdzany, Polish: Drezno, Italian: Dresda) is the capital city[2] of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area.[3] Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque and rococo city centre. Controversial Allied aerial bombing towards the end of World War II killed thousands of civilians and completely destroyed the entire city. The impact of the bombing and 40 years of urban development during the East German communist era have considerably changed the face of the city. Some restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the historic inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Semper Oper and the Dresdner Frauenkirche. Since the German reunification in 1990, Dresden has regained importance as one of the cultural, educational, political and economic centres of Germany. Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drezdany[6] had developed on the southern bank. Another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unclear. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin verifiable since 1350 and later as Altendresden,[6][7] both literally "old Dresden". Dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place "Civitas Dresdene". After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margravate. It was restored to the Wettin dynasty in about 1319. From 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well. The Elector and ruler of Saxony Frederick Augustus I became King August the Strong of Poland in personal union. He gathered many of the best musicians,[8] architects and painters from all over Europe to Dresden. His reign marked the beginning of Dresden's emergence as a leading European city for technology and art. Dresden suffered heavy destruction in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), following its capture by Prussian forces, its subsequent re-capture, and a failed Prussian siege in 1760. Friedrich Schiller wrote his Ode to Joy (the literary base of the European anthem) for the Dresden Masonic Lodge in 1785. The city of Dresden had a distinctive silhouette, captured in famous paintings by Bernardo Bellotto and by Norwegian painter Johan Christian Dahl. Between 1806 and 1918 the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony (which was a part of the German Empire from 1871). During the Napoleonic Wars the French emperor made it a base of operations, winning there the famous Battle of Dresden on August 27, 1813. Dresden was a centre of the German Revolutions in 1849 with the May Uprising, which cost human lives and damaged the historic town of Dresden. During the 19th century the city became a major centre of economy, including motor car production, food processing, banking and the manufacture of medical equipment. The city's population quadrupled from 95,000 in 1849 to 396,000 in 1900 as a result of industrialization.[citation needed] In the early 20th century Dresden was particularly well known for its camera works and its cigarette factories. Between 1918 and 1934 Dresden was capital of the first Free State of Saxony. Dresden was a centre of European modern art until 1933. Dresden in the 20th century was a leading European centre of art, classical music, culture and science until its complete destruction on 13 February 1945. Being the capital of the German state of Saxony, Dresden had not only garrisons but a whole military borough, the Albertstadt. This military complex, named after Saxon King Albert, was never targeted in the bombing of Dresden. During the final months of World War II, Dresden became a safe haven to some 600,000 refugees, including women, children, and wounded soldiers, with a total population of 1.2 million. Dresden was attacked seven times between 1944 and 1945, and was occupied by the Red Army after German capitulation. The bombing of Dresden by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force between 13 February and 15 February 1945 remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of the Western European theatre of war. The inner city of Dresden was largely destroyed by 800 RAF and USAAF bombers that dropped 650,000 incendiaries and 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg)[clarification needed] of high explosives and hundreds of 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) bombs[12] in three waves of attacks. Early reports estimated 150,000 to 250,000 deaths. The German Dresden Historians' Commission, in an official 2010 report published after five years of research, concluded there were up to 25,000 civilian casualties,[13] while right-wing groups claim th

In the late Seventies, Audi chairman Ferdinand Piech (his mother, Louise, was the daughter of "the old professor," Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, and the sister of young Ferdinand, or Ferry) had a wild idea. The sister firm of VW had produced a military vehicle called the Iltis, which was adapted from the longitudinally mounted front-engine/front-wheel-drive Audi Fox/VW Dasher. But the Iltis broke new ground by hanging a driveshaft out the back of the transaxle, and powering a rear differential to give the little Iltis AWD. Piech had a road car built with the Iltis drivetrain as a prototype, and used it as a support vehicle for the World Rally Competition team at the time. When the support vehicle turned in better times on the stages than the rally cars, they knew they were onto something. So Audi took the Fox's successor, the Giugiaro-styled Audi 80 (known as the Audi 4000 in the US), gave it a swoopy roofline, and installed their all-wheel-drive platform to create the Audi quattro (lower case q, please). They added the turbocharged inline 5-cylinder engine from the Audi 100 (or 5000 in the US), tuned to a quoted 175 bhp in 1980, and created the world's first all-weather supercar. The quattro was supreme in WRC events, in the hands of Hannu Mikkola and the lovely Michele Mouton. But as other competitors figured out how to make AWD versions of their rally cars, Audi needed to up the ante. The 4000-based quattro was longer and heavier than the Renault and Peugeot Group B cars (not to mention the magically, awesomely ugly but incredibly desirable M.G. Metro 6R4). So the simple solution (wait, aren't they supposed to be German?) that Piech's team came up with: chop 10", and a couple hundred pounds, out of the middle of the car, essentially removing the leg room for the rear seat. The shorter, lighter car is what you see here, the Audi Sport quattro. The hood hides a 300-bhp, twin-cam version of the turbo five-cylinder engine, and this car once again put the four rings on the top step of the podium, not only in WRC competition but at Pike's Peak as well. Now, if only a certain blue-and-yellow rally-car manufacturer in Gunma Prefecture would look at the wonky 2008 STI, park it next to a Sport quattro, and reach for the Sawzall...