Despite this limited franchise, Athenian democracy was certainly the first — and perhaps the best — example of a working direct democracy.

Despite being outscored over the season, the Diamondbacks posted the best record in the NL with 90 wins and 72 losses.

Despite the study of model plants and increasing use of DNA evidence, there is ongoing work and discussion among taxonomists about how best to classify plants into various taxa.

Despite vocal opposition from Contre-Admiral Armand Blanquet, who insisted that the fleet would be best able to respond in open water, the rest of the captains agreed that anchoring in a line of battle inside the bay presented the strongest tactic for confronting Nelson.

Despite being well out of playoff contention the Cubs went 24 – 13 under Quade, the best record in baseball during that 37 game stretch and was hired as manager on October 19.

* Ivan Rodriguez ( 2003 ) — Despite only playing one season with the Marlins, he put up some the of the best offensive and defensive statistics by a Marlins catcher and was a key cog in the 2003 World Championship team.

Despite the best intentions, their guarded editorial and business skills forced the company to close down soon after cancelling Pasolini ’ s project, Accattone ( 1961 ).

Despite this almost exclusive focus, however, Greek fire is best understood as a complete weapon system of many components, all of which were needed to operate together to render it effective.

Despite his reputation as a serious composer of large, complex musical structures, some of Brahms's most widely known and most commercially successful compositions during his life were small-scale works of popular intent aimed at the thriving contemporary market for domestic music-making ; indeed, during the 20th century, the influential American critic B. H. Haggin, rejecting more mainstream views, argued in his various guides to recorded music that Brahms was at his best in such works and much less successful in larger forms.

Despite Ribbentrop's best efforts, Matsuoka was sacked as Foreign Minister later in July 1941, and the Japanese-American talks began.

Despite producing some of the best teams in NFL history over the years, the Vikings have not won a Super Bowl.

The armistice was celebrated in Pyongyang with a military parade in which Kim declared " Despite their best efforts, the imperialist invaders were defeated with great loss in men and material.

Despite their best efforts, many gays and lesbians were still unwilling to come out.

Despite the success of his masterwork Dido and Aeneas ( 1689 ), in which the action is furthered by the use of Italian-style recitative, much of Purcell's best work was not involved in the composing of typical opera, but instead he usually worked within the constraints of the semi-opera format, where isolated scenes and masques are contained within the structure of a spoken play, such as Shakespeare in Purcell's The Fairy-Queen ( 1692 ) and Beaumont and Fletcher in The Prophetess ( 1690 ) and Bonduca ( 1696 ).

Despite trying his best to stop them, La Forge is sympathetic to their actions and even offers a full pardon if they stop.

Despite the technical innovations that have taken place since the start of the series many still consider Super Mario Kart to be one of, if not, the best game of the franchise line.

Despite their defensive flaws, the Dolphins ' powerful offense led the NFL in scoring ( 513 points ) and total yards gained ( 7, 064 ), and helped the team reach an AFC best 14-2 regular season record.

Despite his regular season problems, Elway ended up playing his best during the playoffs.

Despite their defensive problems, the Bills finished the season with an AFC best 13-3 regular season record.

Despite the best efforts of the slaveholders, Tubman was never captured, and neither were the fugitives she guided.

Despite the best intentions of landowners such as the Earls of Leicester and Portland to develop the land on the grand scale of neighbouring Bloomsbury, Marylebone and Mayfair, Soho never became a fashionable area for the rich.

Despite historians ' best efforts to find in it some permanence of character, the exact nature of the witenagemot remains " essentially vague, fluctuating, and incoherent.

Despite the initial mass of < sup > 1 </ sup > H being used as the natural unit for atomic weight, it was suggested by Wilhelm Ostwald that atomic weights would be best expressed in terms in units of 1 / 16 weight of oxygen.

Despite Father Tim's best efforts, Blackie remains a jaunty Barbary Coast atheist.

Despite this, he is considered the greatest chronicler of the crusades, and one of the best authors of the Middle Ages.

Despite his defense of himself in the final paper of the Englishman and in his speech before the House, their efforts were successful.

Despite their efforts, the problems seemed to grow graver all the time.

Despite efforts by Washington last week to play down the significance of the meeting, it clearly was going to be one of the crucial encounters of the cold war.

Despite Hahn's efforts, the contributions of Meitner and Frisch were not recognized.

Despite his love and efforts towards international peace, Carnegie faced many dilemmas on his quest for world peace.

Despite significant efforts, British control of Northern European waters rendered these ambitions impractical in the short term, and the Royal Navy remained firmly in control of the Atlantic Ocean.

Despite strenuous efforts from the Culloden < nowiki >'</ nowiki > s boats, the brig Mutine and the 50-gun HMS Leander under Captain Thomas Thompson, the ship of the line could not be moved, and the waves drove Culloden further onto the shoal, inflicting severe damage to the ship's hull.

Despite strenuous efforts, Captain Hood's isolated ship came under heavy fire and was unable to cut off the trailing Justice as the French survivors escaped seawards, Zealous being struck by a number of French shot and losing one man killed.

Despite these efforts, Cairo's population has doubled since the 1960s, reaching close to seven million ( with an additional ten million in its urban area ).

Despite Cotton Mather's efforts, he never became quite as well known and successful in politics as his father.

Despite efforts at containment, the upheaval in Eastern Europe inevitably spread to nationalities within the USSR.

Despite success in reuniting large sections of the wider Christadelphian community and periodic efforts at reuniting smaller offshoots, there are still a number of groups who remain separate from other bodies of Christadelphians.

Despite the efforts of his successor Emperor Yohannes IV to establish a relationship with the United Kingdom, Ethiopia was ignored by the world powers until the opening of the Suez Canal, and more important, the Mahdist War, drew outside attention to her once more.

Despite heroic efforts, Old Prussian sovereignty would eventually collapse after a succession of wars instigated by Pope Honorius III and his frequent calls for crusade.

Despite considerable research efforts by seismologists, scientifically reproducible predictions cannot yet be made to a specific day or month.

Despite those efforts, he failed to gain control over Hungary and Bohemia in the Bohemian War ( 1468-1478 ) and was even defeated in the Austrian-Hungarian War ( 1477-1488 ) by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus in 1485, who managed to maintain residence in Vienna until his death five years later ( see Siege of Vienna ( 1485 )).

Despite his efforts to rise above the rank of private — he even called upon Frank Capra to intercede on his behalf — he never achieved officer's status or any commendations during his six months of service.

Despite some efforts, no suitable substitutes with the stability and low cost of gelatin have been found.

Despite the efforts of the growers, coffee prices plunged on the international market from a high of more than US $ 2. 25 per kilogram in the mid-1970s to less than US $ 0. 45 per kilogram in the early 1990s.

Despite British efforts to curb immigration, during the 14 years of the Aliyah Bet, over 110, 000 Jews secretly entered Palestine.

Despite these efforts the regime lacked a broad popular base or a mass movement supporting it.

Despite the efforts of philologists from all parts of the world, and despite the use of modern cryptographic analysis, the signs remain undeciphered.

Despite these efforts, the rank is still below regional peers and an unfavourable investment climate persists.

Despite efforts to restore ( or at least improve ) the popularity of the Conservative party, Labour remained far ahead in the opinion polls as the 1997 election loomed, despite the economic boom that had followed the exit from recession four years earlier, and the swift fall in unemployment.

Despite efforts and considerations of expanding his political domain, Kemp never held a fundraiser outside of his suburban Western New York district until well into his eighth term in Congress.