Crossword clues for franks
franks
Wiktionary
Wikipedia
The Franks were a confederacy of ancient to early medieval Germanic tribes.
Franks may also refer to:
-
Farangi, Crusaders of western Europe, and more generally a term for "western European"
- French people
- Franconians
- Franks (surname)
- USS Franks (DD-554), a United States Navy warship
- Franc, a unit of currency (Frank in Dutch, Franken in German and Swiss German)
- slang abbreviation of Frankfurter, as another name used to refer to Hot Dogs
The Franks ( or ) are historically first known as a group of Germanic tribes that inhabited the land between the Lower and Middle Rhine in the 3rd century AD, and second as the people of Gaul who merged with the Gallo-Roman populations during succeeding centuries, passing on their name to modern-day France and becoming part of the heritage of the modern French people. Some Franks raided Roman territory, while other Frankish tribes joined the Roman troops of Gaul. In later times, Franks became the military rulers of the northern part of Roman Gaul. With the coronation of their ruler Charlemagne as by Pope Leo III in 800 AD, he and his successors were recognised as legitimate successors to the emperors of the Western Roman Empire.
The Salian Franks lived on Roman-held soil between the Rhine, Scheldt, Meuse, and Somme rivers in what is now Northern France, Belgium and the southern Netherlands. The kingdom was acknowledged by the Romans after 357 AD. Following the collapse of Rome in the West, the Frankish tribes were united under the Merovingians, who succeeded in conquering most of Gaul in the 6th century, which greatly increased their power. The Merovingian dynasty, descendants of the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies that would absorb large parts of the Western Roman Empire. The Frankish state consolidated its hold over the majority of western Europe by the end of the 8th century, developing into the Carolingian Empire. This empire would gradually evolve into the state of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
In the Middle Ages, the term Frank was used in the east as a synonym for western European, as the Franks were then rulers of most of Western Europe. The Franks in the east kept their Germanic language and became part of the Germans, Dutch, Flemings and Luxembourgers. The Franconian languages, which are called in Dutch or in German, originated at least partly in the Old Frankish language of the Franks. Nowadays, the German and Dutch names for France are and , respectively, both meaning "Realm of the Franks".
Franks is also an Anglo-American surname, derived from the given name Frank. The name is on record in Virginia from the 1660s.
People with the surname include:
- David Franks (loyalist) (1720 - 1794), prominent Loyalist in the American Revolution
- David Franks (aide-de-camp) (David Salisbury Franks) (1740 - 1793), aide-de-camp of Benedict Arnold
- Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826 - 1897), English antiquarian
- William Sadler Franks (1851 - 1935), British astronomer
- Wilbur R. Franks (1901 - 1986), Canadian scientist
- Oliver Shewell Franks (1905 - 1992), English philosopher
- Bobby Franks (1909 - 1924), murder victim
- Herman Franks (1914 - 2009), American Major League baseball player and coach
- Tillman Franks (1920 - 2006), American bassist and songwriter
- Dick Franks (1920 - 2008), Head of the Secret Intelligence Service (1979-1982)
- Cecil Franks (born 1935), former English Member of Parliament
- Michael Franks (musician) (born 1944), US-American jazz singer/songwriter
- Tommy Franks (born 1945), U.S. general
- Lynne Franks (born 1948), English public relations consultant
- Stephen Franks (born 1950), New Zealand lawyer
- Bob Franks (born 1951), American Republican politician
- Philip Franks (born 1956), British actor
- Trent Franks (born 1957), Republican member of the United States House of Representatives
- Carl Franks (born 1960), American college football coach
- Michael Franks (athlete) (born 1963), US-American sprinter
- Tanya Franks (born 1967), American actress
- Tim Franks (born 1968), BBC journalist
- Jimmy Franks (born 1972), real name of musician Jimmy Pop
- Bubba Franks (born 1978), American footballer
- Paul Franks (born 1979), English cricketer
Usage examples of "franks".
Tommy Franks, the CENTCOM commander, would draw up the new plan, but Rumsfeld would poke, prod, and question the military at every turn.
Later that day, at a joint press conference with Franks, Rumsfeld was asked if pursuing terrorist groups in Somalia would be the next phase in the war on terror.
Rumsfeld was over, Franks related much of the guidance to his trusted officers.
Rising through the ranks of the Army, Franks became the head of the Third Army under Anthony Zinni, the Marine general who led CENTCOM during the Clinton years.
Zinni considered Franks to be a loyal and diligent subordinate and recommended him as his successor.
Nonetheless, Franks considered himself an innovator, and had fashioned a unique idiom that was part military theory, part country.
Gingrich, the former House Speaker and Pentagon defense adviser who interacted with both Franks and Rumsfeld, described their relationship as fraught with creative tension.
Rumsfeld knew that there was a line beyond which Franks could not be pushed.
While Zinni ran CENTCOM, Franks headed the Third Army, the command that was earmarked for duty in the event of a major conflict in the Middle East.
Since it was possible that the Bush administration might attack with little coalition support, Franks used the unilateral numbers in his presentations to Rumsfeld.
But when Franks presented them on December 4 it became clear that that was not what Rumsfeld expected.
CENTCOM planners had created a matrix, which Franks dubbed his grand strategy.
As for the numbers, Franks had managed to shrink the ground force to 300,000 by fiddling with the assumptions.
He indicated that Franks might be asked soon to show his thinking to the president.
After laying out the plan, Franks left for Afghanistan for the installation of Hamid Karzai as the Afghan president.