text: Not all orders have the same number of ranks. The Order of Merit, the Order of the Companions of Honour, the Distinguished Service Order and the Imperial Service Order are slightly different, being single-rank honours, and have been placed at appropriate positions of seniority. The precedence of Knight Bachelor is below the knights of the different orders and above those with the rank of Commander or lower.


title: Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom

text: Decorations are followed by medals of various categories, being arranged in date order within each section. These are followed by Commonwealth and honorary foreign awards of any level. Miscellaneous details are explained in notes at the bottom of the list.


text: For baronets, the style "Sir John Smith, Bt" (or "Bart") is used. Their wives are styled "Lady Smith". A baronetess is styled "Dame Jane Smith, Btss".


text: For knights, the style "Sir John Smith, [ postnominals ]" is used, attaching the proper postnominal letters depending on rank and order (for knights bachelor, no postnominal letters are used). Their wives are styled "Lady Smith", with no postnominal letters. A dame is styled "Dame Jane Smith, [postnominals]". More familiar references or oral addresses use the first name only, e.g. "Sir John", or "Dame Joan".


text: Wives of knights and baronets are styled "Lady Smith", although customarily no courtesy title is automatically reciprocated to male consorts.


text: Recipients of orders, decorations and medals receive no styling of "Sir" or "Dame", but they may attach the according postnominal letters to their name, e.g., "John Smith, VC". Recipients of gallantry awards may be referred to in Parliament as "gallant", in addition to "honourable", "noble", etc.: "The honourable and gallant Gentleman".


text: Bailiffs or Dames Grand Cross (GCStJ), Knights/Dames of Justice/Grace (KStJ/DStJ), Commander Brothers/Sisters (CStJ), Officer Brothers/Sisters (OStJ), Serving Brothers/Sisters (SBStJ/SSStJ), and Esquires (EsqStJ) of the Order of St John do not receive any special styling with regards to prenominal address i.e. Sir or Dame. They may, however, attach the relevant postnominal initials (solely) within internal correspondence of the Order. In the Priory of Australia, Canada and the United States, the rank of Serving Brother/Sister is no longer granted. The rank now awarded is referred to as Member of the Order of St John for both men and women.


text: For honours bestowed upon those in the entertainment industry (e.g., Anthony Hopkins, Maggie Smith), it is an accepted practice to omit the title for professional credits.


text: Reforms of the system occur from time to time. In the last century notable changes to the system have included a Royal Commission in 1925 following the scandal in which Prime Minister David Lloyd George was found to be selling honours. The sale of British Honours, including titles, is now prohibited by the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. There was a further review in 1993 when Prime Minister John Major created the public nominations system.


text: In July 2004, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) of the House of Commons and, concurrently, Sir Hayden Phillips, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Constitutional Affairs, both concluded reviews of the system. The PASC recommended some radical changes; Sir Hayden concentrated on issues of procedure and transparency. In February 2005, the Government responded to both reviews by issuing a Command paper detailing which of the proposed changes it had accepted. These included diversifying and opening up the system of honours selection committees for the Prime Minister's list and also the introduction of a miniature badge. Furthermore, the 2004 review suggested a regular report on the transparency and operation of the system at a suggested frequency of every 3 years. These reviews have taken place in 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2018. The most recent review covers the period 2015 to 2018 and shows a notable shift towards community and voluntary recognition, and a continued emphasis on ensuring that the Honours System reflects British societal diversity.


text: As of 2012, same-sex civil partners of individual recipients of British honours are not themselves granted honours by way of their partnered relation. In July 2012, Conservative MP Oliver Colvile introduced a private member's bill, titled "Honours (Equality of Titles for Partners) Bill", to amend the honours system to both allow husbands of those made dames and for civil partners of recipients to receive honours by their relationship statuses.


text: A scandal in the 1920s was the sale by Maundy Gregory of honours and peerages to raise political funds for David Lloyd George.


text: In 1976, the Harold Wilson era was mired by controversy over the 1976 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours, which became known as the "Lavender List".


text: In 2006, "The Sunday Times" newspaper revealed that every donor who had given £1,000,000 or more to the Labour Party since 1997 was given a Knighthood or a Peerage (see Cash-for-Honours scandal). Moreover, the government had given honours to 12 of the 14 individuals who have donated more than £200,000 to Labour and of the 22 who donated more than £100,000, 17 received honours. An investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service did not lead to any charges being made.


text: "The Times" published an analysis of the recipients of honours in December 2015 which showed that 46% of those getting knighthoods and above in 2015 had been to fee-paying public schools. In 1955 it was 50%. Only 6.55% of the population attends such schools. 27% had been to Oxford or Cambridge universities (18% in 1955).


text: The lack of racial diversity continues to attract criticism, with 89.6% of all award recipients identified as white, and only 3.2% of higher award winners (inc Knighthood and Damehoods) identifying as BAME in 2019. Although the trend has been positive, with an increase in ethnic minority recipients between 2014 and 2019 from 6.5% to 10.4%, there continues to be a significant gap in the ethnic diversity of the honours recipients versus corresponding census data at any point in recent years. At the same time, 87.1% of the United Kingdom is composed of white people, according to the 2011 census. This would suggest that the racial diversity of the honours reflects the racial diversity of the United Kingdom.


title: Joel Silver

text: Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. During his time there, Silver, Buzzy Hellring and Jonny Hines created the rules for what he called "Ultimate Frisbee". He was later inducted into the USA Ultimate Hall of Fame as a result of this. He finished his undergraduate studies at the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.


title: Joel Silver

text: Silver began his career at Lawrence Gordon Productions, where he eventually became president of motion pictures for the company. He earned his first screen credit as the associate producer on "The Warriors" and, with Gordon, produced "48 Hrs.", "Streets of Fire", and "Brewster's Millions". In 1985, he formed Silver Pictures and produced successful action films such as "Commando" (1985), the "Lethal Weapon" franchise, the first two films of the "Die Hard" series, as well as the first two films of the "Predator" series and "The Matrix" franchise of action films.


title: Joel Silver

text: Silver appears on-screen at the beginning of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" as Raoul J. Raoul, the director of the animated short "Something's Cookin". This was a prank Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis pulled on then-Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, as Eisner and Silver despised each other since their days at Paramount Pictures in the early 1980s, especially with the issues they faced making "48 Hrs.". Silver trimmed his beard off, paid his own expenses, and asked to not have his name in initial cast lists. Reportedly, when production wrapped, due to the fact that Silver was unrecognizable, Eisner questioned who played Raoul and was told it was Silver, at which point, Eisner shrugged and praised his performance.


title: Joel Silver

text: Silver directed "Split Personality", (1992), an episode of the HBO horror anthology "Tales from the Crypt". He currently runs two production companies, Silver Pictures, and Dark Castle Entertainment, co-owned by Robert Zemeckis.


title: Joel Silver

text: Silver is also known for his eccentric temper, inspiring characters based on him in movies such as "Grand Canyon", "True Romance" and "I'll Do Anything". The character of Les Grossman (played by Tom Cruise) in the movie "Tropic Thunder", is a parody of Silver.


title: Joel Silver

text: On June 24, 2019, Silver Pictures CEO Hal Sadoff announced that Silver had resigned from the company. Two days later, "The Hollywood Reporter" cited unnamed sources claiming that Joel Silver's overspending, dearth of recent box-office hits, and an animosity between Silver and financier Daryl Katz led to Silver's departure. No official reason has yet been given by the Katz Group, Silver Pictures, or Joel Silver himself.


title: Joel Silver

text: Silver is well known as an aficionado of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1984, he bought the Wright-designed Storer House in Hollywood and made considerable investments to restore it to its original condition. The Storer House's squarish relief ornament then became the company logo of Silver Pictures. Silver sold it in 2002 for $2.9 million. In 1986, he purchased the long-neglected C. Leigh Stevens Auldbrass Plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina, and has been restoring it since then. Both restorations have been managed and supervised by the architect Eric Lloyd Wright (grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright).


title: Joel Silver

text: Silver has also owned and restored two Lincoln Continental automobiles previously owned by Wright, one a 1940 convertible and the other a 1941 coupe. After the 1940 car was damaged, Wright had a body shop rebuild the car based on his own custom redesign. For a time both cars were displayed in the Storer House.


title: Joel Silver

text: On August 19, 2015, Silver's 28-year-old assistant Carmel Musgrove drowned in a lagoon while working on vacation with Silver and his family in Bora Bora. Later, in August 2017, Musgrove's family sued Silver and his assistant Martin Herold, arguing the latter had provided her with cocaine, which, along with alcohol consumption and exhaustion from work, they alleged had contributed to her death.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), also known, particularly outside of North America, as simply the grey squirrel, is a tree squirrel in the genus "Sciurus". It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodigious and ecologically essential natural forest regenerator. Widely introduced to certain places around the world, the eastern gray squirrel in Europe, in particular, is regarded as an invasive species.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: In Europe, "Sciurus carolinensis" is included since 2016 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list). This implies that this species cannot be imported, bred, transported, commercialized, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: "Sciurus carolinensis" is native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the central provinces of Canada. The native range of the eastern gray squirrel overlaps with that of the fox squirrel ("Sciurus niger"), with which it is sometimes confused, although the core of the fox squirrel's range is slightly more to the west. The eastern gray squirrel is found from New Brunswick, through southwestern Quebec and throughout southern Ontario plus in southern Manitoba, south to East Texas and Florida. Breeding eastern gray squirrels are found in Nova Scotia, but whether this population was introduced or came from natural range expansion is not known.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: A prolific and adaptable species, the eastern gray squirrel has also been introduced to, and thrives in, several regions of the western United States and in 1966, this squirrel was introduced into Vancouver Island in Western Canada in the area of Metchosin, and has spread widely from there. They are considered highly invasive and a threat to both the local ecosystem and the native squirrel, the American red squirrel.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Overseas, Eastern gray squirrels in Europe are a concern because they have displaced some of the native squirrels there. They have been introduced into Ireland, Britain, Italy, South Africa, and Australia (where it was extirpated by 1973).


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: In Ireland, the native squirrel – also colored red – the Eurasian red squirrel "S. vulgaris" – has been displaced in several eastern counties, though it still remains common in the south and west of the country. The gray squirrel is also an invasive species in Britain; it has spread across the country and has largely displaced the red squirrel. That such a displacement might happen in Italy is of concern, as gray squirrels might spread to other parts of mainland Europe.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The generic name, "Sciurus", is derived from two Greek words, "skia", meaning shadow, and "oura", meaning tail. This name alludes to the squirrel sitting in the shadow of its tail. The specific epithet, "carolinensis", refers to the Carolinas, where the species was first recorded and where the animal is still extremely common. In the United Kingdom and Canada, it is simply referred to as the "grey squirrel". In the US, "eastern" is used to differentiate the species from the western gray squirrel ("Sciurus griseus").


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The eastern gray squirrel has predominantly gray fur, but it can have a brownish color. It has a usual white underside as compared to the typical brownish-orange underside of the fox squirrel. It has a large bushy tail. Particularly in urban situations where the risk of predation is reduced, both white – and black-colored individuals are quite often found. The melanistic form, which is almost entirely black, is predominant in certain populations and in certain geographic areas, such as in large parts of southeastern Canada. Melanistic squirrels appear to exhibit a higher cold tolerance than the common gray morph; when exposed to −10 °C, black squirrels showed an 18% reduction in heat loss, a 20% reduction in basal metabolic rate, and an 11% increase to non-shivering thermogenesis capacity when compared to the common gray morph. The black coloration is caused by an incomplete dominant mutation of MC1R, where "E/E" is a wild type squirrel, "E/E" is brown-black, and "E/E" is black.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The head and body length is from , the tail from , and the adult weight varies between . They do not display sexual dimorphism, meaning there is no gender difference in size or coloration.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The tracks of an eastern gray squirrel are difficult to distinguish from the related fox squirrel and Abert's squirrel, though the latter's range is almost entirely different from the gray's. Like all squirrels, the eastern gray shows four toes on the front feet and five on the hind feet. The hind foot-pad is often not visible in the track. When bounding or moving at speed, the front foot tracks will be behind the hind foot tracks. The bounding stride can be two to three feet long.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Incisors exhibit indeterminate growth, meaning they grow consistently throughout life, and their cheek teeth exhibit brachydont (low-crowned teeth) and bunodont (having tubercles on crowns) structures.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Like many members of the family Sciuridae, the eastern gray squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches for later recovery. Some caches are quite temporary, especially those made near the site of a sudden abundance of food which can be retrieved within hours or days for reburial in a more secure site. Others are more permanent and are not retrieved until months later. Each squirrel is estimated to make several thousand caches each season. The squirrels have very accurate spatial memory for the locations of these caches, and use distant and nearby landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used partly to uncover food caches, and also to find food in other squirrels' caches. Scent can be unreliable when the ground is too dry or covered in snow.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Squirrels sometimes use deceptive behavior to prevent other animals from retrieving cached food. They will pretend to bury the object if they feel that they are being watched. They do this by preparing the spot as usual, for instance, digging a hole or widening a crack, miming the placement of the food, while actually concealing it in their mouths, and then covering up the "cache" as if they had deposited the object. They also hide behind vegetation while burying food or hide it high up in trees (if their rival is not arboreal). Such a complex repertoire suggests that the behaviors are not innate, and imply theory of mind thinking.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The eastern gray squirrel is one of very few mammalian species that can descend a tree head-first. It does this by turning its feet so the claws of its hind paws are backward-pointing and can grip the tree bark.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrels build a type of nest, known as a drey, in the forks of trees, consisting mainly of dry leaves and twigs. The dreys are roughly spherical, about 30 to 60 cm in diameter and are usually insulated with moss, thistledown, dried grass, and feathers to reduce heat loss. Males and females may share the same nest for short times during the breeding season, and during cold winter spells. Squirrels may share a drey to stay warm. They may also nest in the attic or exterior walls of a house, where they may be regarded as pests, as well as fire hazards due to their habit of gnawing on electrical cables. In addition, squirrels may inhabit a permanent tree den hollowed out in the trunk or a large branch of a tree.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrels are crepuscular, or more active during the early and late hours of the day, and tend to avoid the heat in the middle of a summer day. They do not hibernate.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Squirrels are creatures that bite people and rob them of their food. They can attack people by biting their hands. Squirrels can dwell in attics or on rooftops by creating nests. Prior to burying an acorn, a squirrel actually shovels its face inside of it, making it easier to find afterwards. Squirrels gnaw on items to postpone the appearance of their front teeth. To prevent the lower jaw and cranium from developing into their front teeth once they start to emerge, they gnaw on objects that wear down their teeth.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrels can breed twice a year, but younger and less experienced mothers normally have a single litter per year in the spring. Depending on forage availability, older and more experienced females may breed again in summer. In a year of abundant food, 36% of females bear two litters, but none will do so in a year of poor food. Their breeding seasons are December to February and May to June, though this is slightly delayed in more northern latitudes. The first litter is born in February or March, the second in June or July, though, again, bearing may be advanced or delayed by a few weeks depending on climate, temperature, and forage availability. In any given breeding season, an average of 61 – 66% of females bear young. If a female fails to conceive or loses her young to unusually cold weather or predation, she re-enters estrus and has a later litter. Five days before a female enters estrus, she may attract up to 34 males from up to 500 meters away. Eastern gray squirrels exhibit a form of polygyny, in which the competing males will form a hierarchy of dominance, and the female will mate with multiple males depending on the hierarchy established.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Normally, one to four young are born in each litter, but the largest possible litter size is eight. The gestation period is about 44 days. The young are weaned around 10 weeks, though some may wean up to six weeks later in the wild. They begin to leave the nest after 12 weeks, with autumn born young often wintering with their mother. Only one in four squirrel kits survives to one year of age, with mortality around 55% for the following year. Mortality rates then decrease to around 30% for following years until they increase sharply at eight years of age.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Rarely, eastern gray females can enter estrus as early as five and a half months old, but females are not normally fertile until at least one year of age. Their mean age of first estrus is 1.25 years. The presence of a fertile male will induce ovulation in a female going through estrus. Male eastern grays are sexually mature between one and two years of age. Reproductive longevity for females appears to be over 8 years, with 12.5 years documented in North Carolina. These squirrels can live to be 20 years old in captivity, but in the wild live much shorter lives due to predation and the challenges of their habitat. At birth, their life expectancy is 1–2 years, an adult typically can live to be six, with exceptional individuals making it to 12 years.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Newborn gray squirrels weigh 13–18 grams and are entirely hairless and pink, although vibrissae are present at birth. 7–10 days postpartum, the skin begins to darken, just before the juvenile pelage grows in. Lower incisors erupt 19–21 days postpartum, while upper incisors erupt after 4 weeks. Cheek teeth erupt during week 6. Eyes open after 21–42 days, and ears open 3–4 weeks postpartum. Weaning is initiated around 7 weeks postpartum, and is usually finished by week 10, followed by the loss of the juvenile pelage. Full adult body mass is achieved by 8–9 months after birth.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: As in most other mammals, communication among eastern gray squirrel individuals involves both vocalizations and posturing. The species has a quite varied repertoire of vocalizations, including a squeak similar to that of a mouse, a low-pitched noise, a chatter, and a raspy "mehr mehr mehr". Other methods of communication include tail-flicking and other gestures, including facial expressions. Tail flicking and the "kuk" or "quaa" call are used to ward off and warn other squirrels about predators, as well as to announce when a predator is leaving the area. Squirrels also make an affectionate coo-purring sound that biologists call the "muk-muk" sound. This is used as a contact sound between a mother and her kits and in adulthood, by the male when he courts the female during mating season.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The use of vocal and visual communication has been shown to vary by location, based on elements such as noise pollution and the amount of open space. For instance, populations living in large cities generally rely more on the visual signals, due to the generally louder environment with more areas without much visual restriction. However, in heavily wooded areas, vocal signals are used more often due to the relatively lower noise levels and a dense canopy restricting visual range.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrels eat a range of foods, such as tree bark, tree buds, flowers, berries, many types of seeds and acorns, walnuts, and other nuts, like hazelnuts (see picture) and some types of fungi found in the forests, including fly agaric mushrooms ("Amanita muscaria"). They can cause damage to trees by tearing the bark and eating the soft cambial tissue underneath. In Europe, sycamore ("Acer pseudoplatanus" L.) and beech ("Fagus sylvatica" L.) suffer the greatest damage. The seeds and catkins of gymnosperms cedar, hemlock, pine, and spruce are another food source, as well as those of angiosperms such as hickory, oak, and walnut, and truffles. Mast-Bearing Hardwood Trees are also very important to their diet. These trees help store food like Acorns, Beechnuts, and Hickory Nuts, which are important foods for them during the Spring and Fall months. Red Oak Acorns are found in the Spring, Winter and Fall. White Oak Acorns are found in the Fall and Winter. Hickory and Beechnuts are found in Spring, Winter and Fall. Walnuts are found in Fall and Winter. Buds and flowers are found in Spring and Summer. Fleshy fruits and berries are found in Summer. Fungi Mushrooms are found in Spring, Summer, and Fall. Yellow Popular Seeds are found in Summer, Fall and Winter. The squirrels also raid gardens for wheat, tomatoes, corn, strawberries, and other garden crops. Sometimes they eat the tomato seeds and discard the rest. On occasion, eastern gray squirrels also prey upon insects, frogs, small rodents including other squirrels, and small birds, their eggs, and young. They also gnaw on bones, antlers, and turtle shells – likely as a source of minerals scarce in their normal diet. In urban and suburban areas, these squirrels scavenge for food in trash bins. However, these foods aren't safe for them to digest because they include sugar, fat, as well as additives that can make them sick. Eastern gray squirrels are thought to be herbivores, but they are Omnivores.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrels have a high enough tolerance for humans to inhabit residential neighborhoods and raid bird feeders for millet, corn, and sunflower seeds. Some people who feed and watch birds for entertainment also intentionally feed seeds and nuts to the squirrels for the same reason. However, in the UK eastern gray squirrels can take a significant proportion of supplementary food from feeders, preventing access and reducing use by wild birds. Attraction to supplementary feeders can increase local bird nest predation, as eastern gray squirrels are more likely to forage near feeders, resulting in increased likelihood of finding nests, eggs and nestlings of small passerines.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrels predators include hawks, weasels, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, domestic and feral cats, snakes, owls, and dogs. Their primary predators are hawks, owls, and snakes. Raccoons and weasels may consume a squirrel depending on where it lives in the United States. Rattlesnakes eat squirrels in California as they are searching for food in a heavy forest. The squirrel is susceptible to be eaten by a fox in the eastern region of the United States.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: In its introduced range in South Africa, it has been preyed on by African harrier-hawks. When a predator is approaching the Eastern Gray Squirrel, other squirrels will inform the squirrel of the predator by sending a signal to let the squirrel know. The speed of a squirrel makes it hard for it to be captured by the predators.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Diseases like Typhus, Plague, and Tularemia are spread by Eastern Gray Squirrels. If not properly treated, these diseases have the potential to kill squirrels. When bitten or exposed to bodily fluids, humans can contract these diseases. Also carried by Eastern Grey Squirrels are parasites like ringworm, fleas, lice, mites, and ticks. Eastern Grey Squirrels also die from these parasites. Their skin may become rough, blotchy, and prone to hair loss due to the mite parasite during the chilly winter months. The parasites aren't transferred to people when these squirrels reside in attics or homes. A frequent illness spread by ticks is Lyme disease. Ticks can also spread Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It can result in damage to internal organs including the heart and kidney if not properly treated. An eastern gray squirrel is susceptible to illness. They are susceptible to diseases including fibromatosis and squirrel box. A squirrel with fibromatosis, a virus-induced illness, may grow massive skin tumors all over the body. Blindness could result from a tumor that is discovered close to a squirrels mouth or eye.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: However, Eastern Gray Squirrels have had a positive impact on human life. For example, they helped Native Americans access food. In some states like Mississippi, they have helped harvest 2.5 million dollars in crops annually, which helped Mississippi gain 12.5 million dollars.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrel are always on the go. As they prepare for the coming days, the squirrels gather their food and hide it in various places. Through the morning and afternoon, squirrels search for food. During their breeding season, a male and female squirrel may occasionally share a nest. A pregnant female squirrel stays by herself in her nest and when it is time to breastfeed, the male squirrels don't bother them. In the wild, eastern gray squirrels can be found inhabiting large areas of mature, dense woodland ecosystems, generally covering 100 acres (40 hectares) of land. These forests usually contain large mast-producing trees such as oaks and hickories, providing ample food sources. Oak-hickory hardwood forests are generally preferred over coniferous forests due to the greater abundance of mast forage. This is why they are found only in parts of eastern Canada which do not contain boreal forest (i.e. they are found in some parts of New Brunswick, in southwestern Quebec, throughout southern Ontario and in southern Manitoba).


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray squirrels generally prefer constructing their dens upon large tree branches and within the hollow trunks of trees. They also have been known to take shelter within abandoned bird nests. The dens are usually lined with moss plants, thistledown, dried grass, and feathers. These perhaps provide and assist in the insulation of the den, used to reduce heat loss. A cover to the den is usually built afterwards.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern gray Squirrels also use dens for protection from prey and helps them look after their young. Young survive 40 percent less if they lived in a leaf nest compared to a Den. Squirrels tend to claim 2-3 dens at the same time. Covers like Canopy and Midstory Trees are used by Squirrels to hide from prey such as Hawks and Owls. These squirrels homes range from 1.5 to 8 acres and tend to be smaller where more of them are found.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Close to human settlements, eastern gray squirrels are found in parks and back yards of houses within urban environments and in the farmlands of rural environments.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: The eastern gray squirrel is an introduced species in a variety of locations in western North America: in western Canada, to the southwest corner of British Columbia and to the city of Calgary, Alberta; in the United States, to the states of Washington and Oregon and, in California, to the city of San Francisco and the San Francisco Peninsula area in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, south of the city. It has become the most common squirrel in many urban and suburban habitats in western North America, from north of central California to southwest British Columbia.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: By the turn of the 20th century, breeding populations of the eastern gray squirrel had been introduced into South Africa, Ireland, Italy, Australia (extirpated by 1973), and the United Kingdom.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: In South Africa, though exotic, it is not usually considered an invasive species owing to its small range (only found in the extreme southwestern part of the Western Cape, going north as far as the small farming town of Franschhoek), as well because it inhabits urban areas and places greatly affected by humans, such as agricultural areas and exotic pine plantations. Here, it mostly eats acorns and pine seeds, although it will take indigenous and commercial fruit, as well. Even so, it is unable to use the natural vegetation (fynbos) found in the area, a factor which has helped to limit its spread. It does not come into contact with native squirrels due to geographic isolation (a native tree squirrel, "Paraxerus cepapi", is found only in the savanna regions in the northeast of the country) and different habitats.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Gray squirrels were first introduced to Britain in the 1870s, as fashionable additions to estates. In 1921 it was reported in The Times that the Zoological Society of London had released Eastern Greys to breed at liberty in Regents Park:


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: They spread rapidly across England, and then became established in both Wales and parts of southern Scotland. On mainland Britain, they have almost entirely displaced native red squirrels. Larger than red squirrels and capable of storing up to four times more fat, gray squirrels are better able to survive winter conditions. They produce more young and can live at higher densities. Gray squirrels also carry the squirrelpox virus, to which red squirrels have no immunity. When an infected gray squirrel introduces squirrelpox to a red squirrel population, its decline is 17–25 times greater than through competition alone.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: In Ireland, the displacement of red squirrels has not been as rapid because only a single introduction occurred, in County Longford. Schemes have been introduced to control the population of gray squirrels in Ireland to encourage the native red squirrels. Eastern gray squirrels have also been introduced to Italy, and the European Union has expressed concern that they will similarly displace the red squirrel from parts of the European continent.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: In Britain and Ireland, the eastern gray squirrel is not regulated by natural predators, other than the European pine marten, which is generally absent from England and Wales. This has aided its rapid population growth and has led to the species being classed as a pest. Measures are being devised to reduce its numbers, including a campaign starting in 2006 named “Save Our Squirrels” using the slogan "Save a red, eat a grey!" which attempted to re-introduce squirrel meat in to the local market, with celebrity chefs promoting the idea, cookbooks introducing recipes containing squirrel and the Forestry Commission providing a regular supply of squirrel meat to British restaurants, factories and butchers. In areas where relict populations of red squirrels survive, such as the islands of Anglesey, Brownsea and the Isle of Wight, programs exist to eradicate gray squirrels and prevent them from reaching these areas in order to allow red squirrel populations to recover and grow.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Although complex and controversial, the main factor in the eastern gray squirrel's displacement of the red squirrel is thought to be its greater fitness, hence a competitive advantage over the red squirrel on all measures. Within 15 years of the grey squirrel's introduction to a red squirrel habitat, red squirrel populations are extinct. The eastern gray squirrel tends to be larger and stronger than the red squirrel and has been shown to have a greater ability to store fat for winter. Due to the lack of trees in their native Ireland for them to reside in, red squirrels are the only species being harmed by the invasion of grey squirrels. The squirrel can, therefore, compete more effectively for a larger share of the available food, resulting in relatively lower survival and breeding rates among the red squirrel. Parapoxvirus may also be a strongly contributing factor; red squirrels have long been fatally affected by the disease, while the eastern gray squirrels are unaffected, but thought to be carriers – although how the virus is transmitted has yet to be determined. Red squirrel extinction rates can be 20–25 times greater in areas with confirmed cases of squirrel pox than they are in areas without the disease. his competitive action done between these two squirrels is reasoned to qualify the eastern gray squirrel as a keystone species because since the eastern gray squirrel is coming and wiping out the red squirrels, there would be a reduced chance of competition hence more eastern gray squirrels will come in to Ireland. However, several cases of red squirrels surviving have been reported, as they have developed an immunity – although their population is still being massively affected. The red squirrel is also less tolerant of habitat destruction and fragmentation, which has led to its population decline, while the more adaptable eastern gray squirrel has taken advantage and expanded. Methods done to control this competition between these squirrels are that red squirrels should remain in their original habitats, such as Ireland, while the grey squirrels should be kept out of these places entirely as a means of controlling this squirrel competition.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Similar factors appear to have been at play in the Pacific region of North America, where the native American red squirrel has been largely displaced by the eastern gray squirrel in parks and forests throughout much of the region.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Ironically, "fears" for the future of the eastern gray squirrel arose in 2008, as the melanistic form (black) began to spread through the southern British population. In the UK, if a "grey squirrel" (eastern gray squirrel) is trapped, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release it or to allow it to escape into the wild; instead, it is legally required be "humanely dispatched".


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: In the late 1990s, Italy's National Wildlife Institute and University of Turin launched an eradication attempt to halt the spread of gray squirrels in northwest Italy, but court action by animal rights groups blocked this. Hence gray squirrels are expected to cross the Alps into France and Switzerland in the next few decades.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Eastern Grey Squirrels are important to the ecosystem by eating a lot of seeds. By caching seeds, they help in the spread of tree seeds. Also, by eating truffles, they contribute to the spread of fungal spores. In addition, they are essential to the environment because they transport parasites. The ecology is influenced by the contribution of squirrels to nature. They support the environment by gathering seeds. While being gathered, the seeds are scattered in certain places. Even though the seeds are not helpful to the squirrels because they can't remember where they were hidden, they are still growing in nature. These seeds increase the diversity of trees by bringing additional trees into the environment. They are an important key to the forest ecosystem that they belong to.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Twenty different Pleistocene fauna specimens contain "S. carolinensis", found in Florida and dated to be as early as the late Irvingtonian period. Body size seems to have increased during the early to middle Holocene and then decreased to the present size seen today.


title: Eastern gray squirrel

text: Gray squirrels were eaten in earlier times by Native Americans and their meat is still popular with hunters across most of their range in North America. Today, it is still available for human consumption and is occasionally sold in the United Kingdom. However, physicians in the United States have warned that squirrel brains should not be eaten, because of the risk that they may carry Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role held by the Department of Peace Operations as an "instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace". It is distinguished from peacebuilding, peacemaking, and peace enforcement although the United Nations does acknowledge that all activities are "mutually reinforcing" and that overlap between them is frequent in practice.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Peacekeepers monitor and observe peace processes in post-conflict areas and assist ex-combatants in implementing the peace agreements they may have signed. Such assistance comes in many forms, including confidence-building measures, power-sharing arrangements, electoral support, strengthening the rule of law, and economic and social development. Accordingly, UN peacekeepers (often referred to as Blue Berets or Blue Helmets because of their light blue berets or helmets) can include soldiers, police officers, and civilian personnel.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The United Nations Charter gives the United Nations Security Council the power and responsibility to take collective action to maintain international peace and security. For this reason, the international community usually looks to the Security Council to authorize peacekeeping operations through Chapter VII authorizations.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Most of these operations are established and implemented by the United Nations itself, with troops serving under UN operational control. In these cases, peacekeepers remain members of their respective armed forces, and do not constitute an independent "UN army", as the UN does not have such a force. In cases where direct UN involvement is not considered appropriate or feasible, the Council authorizes regional organizations such as NATO, the Economic Community of West African States, or coalitions of willing countries to undertake peacekeeping or peace-enforcement tasks.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Jean-Pierre Lacroix is the Head of the Department of Peace Operations; he took over from the former Under-Secretary-General Hervé Ladsous on 1 April 2017. Since 1997, all leaders have been French. DPKO's highest level doctrine document, entitled "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines" was issued in 2008.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Once a peace treaty has been negotiated, the parties involved might ask the United Nations for a peacekeeping force to oversee various elements of the agreed upon plan. This is often done because a group controlled by the United Nations is less likely to follow the interests of any one party, since it itself is controlled by many groups, namely the 15-member Security Council and the intentionally diverse United Nations Secretariat.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: If the Security Council approves the creation of a mission, then the Department of Peacekeeping Operations begins planning for the necessary elements. At this point, the senior leadership team is selected. The department will then seek contributions from member nations. Since the UN has no standing force or supplies, it must form ad hoc coalitions for every task undertaken. Doing so results in both the possibility of failure to form a suitable force, and a general slowdown in procurement once the operation is in the field. Roméo Dallaire, force commander in Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide there, described the problems this poses by comparison to more traditional military deployments:


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: It has been shown that contributors deploy their troops with varying speed. While the peacekeeping force is being assembled, a variety of diplomatic activities are being undertaken by UN staff. The exact size and strength of the force must be agreed to by the government of the nation whose territory the conflict is on. The Rules of Engagement must be developed and approved by both the parties involved and the Security Council. These give the specific mandate and scope of the mission (e.g. when may the peacekeepers, if armed, use force, and where may they go within the host nation). Often, it will be mandated that peacekeepers have host government minders with them whenever they leave their base. This complexity has caused problems in the field. When all agreements are in place, the required personnel are assembled, and final approval has been given by the Security Council, the peacekeepers are deployed to the region in question.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The financial resources of UN Peacekeeping operations are the collective responsibility of UN Member States. Decisions about the establishment, maintenance or expansion of peacekeeping operations are taken by the Security Council. According to UN Charter every Member State is legally obligated to pay their respective share for peacekeeping. Peacekeeping expenses are divided by the General Assembly based upon a formula established by Member States which takes into account the relative economic wealth of Member States among other things. In 2017, the UN agreed to reduce the peacekeeping budget by $600 million after the US initially proposed a larger cut of approximately $900 million.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The General Assembly approves resource expenditures for peacekeeping operations on a yearly basis. Financing covers the period from 1 July to 30 June of the following year.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: A United Nations peacekeeping mission has three power centers. The first is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, the official leader of the mission. This person is responsible for all political and diplomatic activity, overseeing relations with both the parties to the peace treaty and the UN member-states in general. They are often a senior member of the Secretariat. The second is the Force Commander, who is responsible for the military forces deployed. They are a senior officer of their nation's armed services, and are often from the nation committing the highest number of troops to the project. Finally, the Chief Administrative Officer oversees supplies and logistics, and coordinates the procurement of any supplies needed.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: In 2007, a peacekeeper volunteer was required to be over the age of 25 with no maximum age limit. Peacekeeping forces are contributed by member states on a voluntary basis. , there are 100,411 people serving in UN peacekeeping operations (86,145 uniformed, 12,932 civilian, and 1,334 volunteers). European nations contribute nearly 6,000 people to this total. Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh are among the largest individual contributors with around 8,000 people each. African nations contributed nearly half the total, almost 44,000 people. Every peacekeeping mission is authorized by the Security Council.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: United Nations peacekeeping was initially developed during the Cold War as a means of resolving conflicts between states by deploying unarmed or lightly armed military personnel from a number of countries, under UN command, to areas where warring parties were in need of a neutral party to observe the peace process. Peacekeepers could be called in when the major international powers (the five permanent members of the Security Council) tasked the UN with bringing closure to conflicts threatening regional stability and international peace and security. These included a number of so-called "proxy wars" waged by client states of the superpowers. As of December 2019, there have been 72 UN peacekeeping operations since 1948, with seventeen operations ongoing. Suggestions for new missions arise every year.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The first peacekeeping mission was launched in 1948. This mission, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), was sent to the newly created State of Israel, where a conflict between the Israelis and the Arab states over the creation of Israel had just reached a ceasefire. The UNTSO remains in operation to this day, although the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has certainly not abated. Almost a year later, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was authorized to monitor relations between the two nations, which were split off from each other following the United Kingdom's decolonization of the Indian subcontinent.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: As the Korean War ended with the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, UN forces remained along the south side of demilitarized zone until 1967, when American and South Korean forces took over.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Returning its attention to the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the United Nations responded to Suez Crisis of 1956, a war between the alliance of the United Kingdom, France, and Israel, and Egypt, which was supported by other Arab nations. When a ceasefire was declared in 1957, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs (and future Prime Minister) Lester Bowles Pearson suggested that the United Nations station a peacekeeping force in the Suez in order to ensure that the ceasefire was honored by both sides. Pearson had initially suggested that the force consist of mainly Canadian soldiers, but the Egyptians were suspicious of having a Commonwealth nation defend them against the United Kingdom and her allies. In the end, a wide variety of national forces were drawn upon to ensure national diversity. Pearson would win the Nobel Peace Prize for this work, and he is today considered a father of modern peacekeeping.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: In 1988, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the United Nations peacekeeping forces. The press release stated that the forces "represent the manifest will of the community of nations" and have "made a decisive contribution" to the resolution of conflict around the world.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The end of the Cold War precipitated a dramatic shift in UN and multilateral peacekeeping. In a new spirit of cooperation, the Security Council established larger and more complex UN peacekeeping missions, often to help implement comprehensive peace agreements between belligerents in intra-State conflicts and civil wars. Furthermore, peacekeeping came to involve more and more non-military elements that ensured the proper functioning of civic functions, such as elections. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations was created in 1992 to support this increased demand for such missions.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: By and large, the new operations were successful. In El Salvador and Mozambique, for example, peacekeeping provided ways to achieve self-sustaining peace. Some efforts failed, perhaps as the result of an overly optimistic assessment of what UN peacekeeping could accomplish. While complex missions in Cambodia and Mozambique were ongoing, the Security Council dispatched peacekeepers to conflict zones like Somalia, where neither ceasefires nor the consent of all the parties in conflict had been secured. These operations did not have the manpower, nor were they supported by the required political will, to implement their mandates. The failures—most notably the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina—led to a period of retrenchment and self-examination in UN peacekeeping. As a result, relatively small UNTAES transitional administration in Eastern Slavonia received high level of commitments and was turned into "proving ground for ideas, methods, and procedures". It turned out to be labeled as the most successful UN mission, and was followed by other more ambitious transitional administrations in Kosovo (UNMIK) and East Timor (UNTAET).


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: That period led, in part, to the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, which works to implement stable peace through some of the same civic functions that peacekeepers also work on, such as elections. The commission currently works with six countries, all in Africa.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The UN Charter stipulates that to assist in maintaining peace and security around the world, all member states of the UN should make available to the Security Council necessary armed forces and facilities. Since 1948, close to 130 nations have contributed military and civilian police personnel to peace operations. While detailed records of all personnel who have served in peacekeeping missions since 1948 are not available, it is estimated that up to one million soldiers, police officers and civilians have served under the UN flag in the last 56 years.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: As of June 2013, 114 countries were contributing a total 91,216 military observers, police, and troops to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: As of June 2022, 120 countries were contributing a total of 74,892 personnel in Peacekeeping Operations, with Bangladesh leading the tally (6,700), followed by India (5,832) and Nepal (5,794). As of 28 February 2015, 120 countries were contributing a total of 104,928 personnel in Peacekeeping Operations, with Bangladesh leading the tally (9,446). As of March 2008, in addition to military and police personnel, 5,187 international civilian personnel, 2,031 UN Volunteers and 12,036 local civilian personnel worked in UN peacekeeping missions.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Through October 2018, 3,767 people from over 100 countries had been killed while serving on peacekeeping missions. Many of those came from India (163), Nigeria (153), Pakistan (150), Bangladesh (146), and Ghana (138). Thirty percent of the fatalities in the first 55 years of UN peacekeeping occurred in the years 1993–1995. About 4.5% of the troops and civilian police deployed in UN peacekeeping missions come from the European Union and less than one percent from the United States (USA).


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The rate of reimbursement by the UN for troop-contributing countries per peacekeeper per month include: $1,028 for pay and allowances; $303 supplementary pay for specialists; $68 for personal clothing, gear and equipment; and $5 for personal weaponry.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: In the United States, the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations started from opposite perspectives but came to adopt remarkably similar policies in support of peace operations as tools for American foreign policy. Initial positions formed by ideological concerns, were replaced by pragmatic decisions about how to support UN peace operations. Both administrations were reluctant to contribute large contingents of ground troops to UN-commanded operations, even as both administrations supported increases in the number and scale of UN missions.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The Clinton administration faced significant operational challenges. Instead of a liability, this was the tactical price of strategic success. American peace operations help transform its NATO alliance. The George W. Bush administration started with a negative ideological attitude toward peace operations. However European and Latin American governments emphasized peace operations as strategically positive, especially regarding the use of European forces in Afghanistan and Lebanon. However American allies sometimes needed to flout their autonomy, even to the point of sacrificing operational efficiency, much to the annoyance of Washington.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: According to scholar Page Fortna, there is strong evidence that the presence of peacekeepers significantly reduces the risk of renewed warfare; more peacekeeping troops leads to fewer battlefield and civilian deaths. There is also evidence that the promise to deploy peacekeepers can help international organizations in bringing combatants to the negotiation table and increase the likelihood that they will agree to a cease-fire.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: However, there have been several reports during UN peacekeeping missions of human rights abuse by UN soldiers, notably in Central African Republic in 2015. The cost of these missions is also significant, with UNMISS in South Sudan costing $1 billion per year for 12,500 UN soldiers unable to prevent the country's movement towards civil war. Often missions require approval from local governments before deploying troops which can also limit effectiveness of UN missions.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Nicholas Sambanis asserts that the presence of a UN peacekeeping mission is correlated with a positive effect on the achievement of peace, especially in the short-term. However, he notes that this effect is lessened over time. Thus, the longer that peacekeepers remain in a country, the greater the likelihood that peace will maintain. Acknowledging the success that UN peacekeeping operations have achieved in increasing political participation, Sambanis claims that a greater focus on economic development would further increase the efficacy of peacekeeping efforts.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Another study suggests that doubling the peacekeeping operation budget, stronger peacekeeping operation mandates and a doubling of the PKO budget would reduce armed conflicts by up to two thirds relative to a scenario without PKOs. An analysis of 47 peace operations by Virginia Page Fortna of Columbia University found that the involvement of UN personnel generally resulted in enduring peace. Political scientists Hanne Fjelde, Lisa Hultman and Desiree Nilsson of Uppsala University studied twenty years of data on peacekeeping missions, including in Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic, and concluded that they were more effective at reducing civilian casualties than counterterrorism operations by nation states.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: A 2021 study in the "American Political Science Review" found that the presence of UN peacekeeping missions had a weak correlation with rule of law while conflict is ongoing, but a robust correlation during periods of peace. The study also found that "the relationship is stronger for civilian than uniformed personnel, and is strongest when UN missions engage host states in the process of reform." Likewise, Georgetown University professor Lise Howard argues that UN peacekeeping operations are more effective by virtue of their lack of compelling force; rather, their use of nonviolent methods such as "verbal persuasion, financial inducements and coercion short of offensive military force, including surveillance and arrest" are likelier to pacify warring parties.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: A 2021 study in the "American Journal of Political Science" found that UN peacekeeping in South Sudan had a positive effect on the local economy.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: According to a 2011 study, UN peacekeeping missions were most likely to be successful if they had support and consent from domestic actors in the host state.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The UN Peacekeeping's commitment to protecting cultural heritage dates back to 2012, when there was extensive destruction in Mali. In this matter, the protection of a country's cultural heritage was included in the mandate of a United Nations mission (Resolution 2100) for the first time in history. In addition to many other advances, Italy signed an agreement with UNESCO in February 2016 to create the world's first emergency task force for culture, made up of civilian experts and the Italian Carabinieri. On the one hand, UN Peacekeeping trained its personnel with regard to the protection of cultural property and, on the other hand, there was intensive contact with other organizations concerned with it. The "Blue Helmet Forum 2019" was one of those events where the actors involved exchanged their previous experiences and tried to strengthen the cooperation. An outstanding mission was the deployment of the UN peace mission UNIFIL together with Blue Shield International in 2019 to protect the UNESCO World Heritage in Lebanon. It was shown that cultural property protection (carried out by military and civil specialists) forms the basic basis for the future peaceful and economic development of a city, region or country in many conflict zones. The need for training and coordination of the military and civilian participants, including the increased involvement of the local population, became apparent. After the explosion in Beirut in 2020, the blue helmets were able to take extensive relief measures together with Blue Shield International and the Lebanese Army.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Reporters witnessed a rapid increase in prostitution in Cambodia and Mozambique after UN peacekeeping forces moved in. In the 1996 UN study "The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children", the former first lady of Mozambique Graça Machel documented: "In 6 out of 12 country studies on sexual exploitation of children in situations of armed conflict prepared for the present report, the arrival of peacekeeping troops has been associated with a rapid rise in child prostitution."


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: Gita Sahgal spoke out in 2004 about the fact that prostitution and sex abuse crops up wherever humanitarian intervention efforts are set up. She observed: "The issue with the UN is that peacekeeping operations, unfortunately, seems to be doing the same thing that other militaries do. Even the guardians have to be guarded."


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The following table chart illustrates confirmed accounts of crimes and human rights violations committed by United Nations soldiers, peacekeepers, and employees.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: In response to criticism, particularly of the cases of sexual abuse by peacekeepers, the UN has taken steps toward reforming its operations. The Brahimi Report was the first of many steps to recap former peacekeeping missions, isolate flaws, and take steps to patch these mistakes to ensure the efficiency of future peacekeeping missions. The UN has vowed to continue to put these practices into effect when performing peacekeeping operations in the future. The technocratic aspects of the reform process have been continued and revitalised by the DPKO in its "Peace Operations 2010" reform agenda. This included an increase in personnel, the harmonization of the conditions of service of field and headquarters staff, the development of guidelines and standard operating procedures, and improving the partnership arrangement between the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), African Union and European Union. 2008 capstone doctrine entitled "United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines" incorporates and builds on the Brahimi analysis.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: One suggestion to account for delays such as the one in Rwanda, is a rapid reaction force: a standing group, administered by the UN and deployed by the Security Council, that receives its troops and support from current Security Council members and is ready for quick deployment in the event of future genocides.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The UN peacekeeping capacity was enhanced in 2007 by augmenting the DPKO with the new Department of Field Support (DFS). Whereas the new entity serves as a key enabler by co-ordinating the administration and logistics in UN peacekeeping operations, DPKO concentrates on policy planning and providing strategic directions.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping initiative was established in 2014 by the Information and Communications Technology Division of the former Department of Field Support (DFS) with an objective to bring greater involvement to peacekeeping through innovative approaches and technologies that have the potential to empower UN global operations.


title: United Nations peacekeeping

text: The Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping holds annual symposiums. The fifth International Partnership for Technology in Peacekeeping Symposium was held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan from 28 to 31 May 2019. It was the first time the Central Asian country held such event on peacekeeping. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, and Atul Khare, UN Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, participated in the symposium.


title: Jollof rice

text: Jollof (), or jollof rice, is a rice dish from West Africa. The dish is typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, onions, spices, vegetables and meat in a single pot, although its ingredients and preparation methods vary across different regions.


title: Jollof rice

text: The origins of jollof rice can be traced to the Senegambian region that was ruled by the Wolof or Jolof Empire in the 14th century, spanning parts of today's Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania, where rice was grown. The dish has its roots in a traditional dish called thieboudienne, containing rice, fish, shellfish and vegetables.


title: Jollof rice

text: Food and agriculture historian James C. McCann considers this claim plausible given the popularity of rice in the upper Niger valley, but considers it unlikely that the dish could have spread from Senegal to its current range since such a diffusion is not seen in "linguistic, historical or political patterns".


title: Jollof rice

text: Instead he proposes that the dish spread with the Mali empire, especially the Djula tradespeople who dispersed widely to the regional commercial and urban centers, taking with them economic arts of "blacksmithing, small-scale marketing, and rice agronomy" as well as the religion of Islam.


title: Jollof rice

text: Marc Dufumier, an emeritus professor of agronomy, proposes a more recent origin for the dish, which may only have appeared as a consequence of the colonial promotion of intensive peanut cropping in central Senegal for the French oil industry, and where commensurate reduction in the planted area of traditional millet and sorghum staples was compensated by forced imports of broken rice from Southeast Asia.


title: Jollof rice

text: It may then have spread throughout the region through the historical commercial, cultural and religious channels linking Senegal with Ghana, Nigeria and beyond, many of which continue to thrive today, such as the Tijāniyyah Sufi brotherhood bringing thousands of West African pilgrims to Senegal annually.


title: Jollof rice

text: Jollof rice is one of the most common dishes in West Africa. There are several regional variations in name and ingredients; for example, in Mali it is called "zaamè" in Bamanankan. The dish's most common name of "Jollof" derives from the name of the Wolof people, though in Senegal and Gambia the dish is referred to in Wolof as "ceebu jën" or "benachin". In French-speaking areas, it is called "riz au gras". Despite the variations, the dish is "mutually intelligible" across the regions and has become the best known African dish outside the continent.


title: Jollof rice

text: Jollof rice traditionally consists of rice, cooking oil, and vegetables such as tomato, onion, red pepper, garlic, ginger and Scotch bonnet chili peppers. To enhance the colour of the dish, tomato paste (purée) is added. As seasoning, spices, salt, stock cubes (a blend of flavour enhancers, salt, nutmeg and herbs), curry powder and dried thyme are used. To complement the dish, chicken, turkey, beef or fish are often served with the dish.


title: Jollof rice

text: Each West African country has at least one variant form of the dish, with Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cameroon particularly competitive as to which country makes the best jollof. This is especially prominent between Nigeria and Ghana, in a rivalry dubbed the "Jollof Wars".


title: Jollof rice

text: Although considerable variation exists, the basic profile for Nigerian jollof rice includes long-grain parboiled rice, tomatoes and tomato paste, pepper, vegetable oil, onions, and stock cubes. Most of the ingredients are cooked in one pot, of which a rich meat stock and a fried tomato and pepper puree characteristically forms the base. Rice is then added and left to cook in the liquid. The dish is then served with the protein of choice and very often with fried plantains, moi moi, steamed vegetables, coleslaw, salad, etc. In the riverine areas of Nigeria where seafood is the main source of protein, seafood often takes the place of chicken or meat as the protein of choice.


title: Jollof rice

text: Ghanaian jollof rice is made of vegetable oil, onion, ginger, pressed garlic cloves, chillies, tomato paste, beef or goat meat or chicken (some times alternated with mixed vegetables), local or refined rice, typically jasmine rice and black pepper. The method of cooking jollof begins with first preparing the beef or chicken by seasoning and steaming it with a pureé of ginger, onions and garlic and frying it until it is well-cooked. The rest of the ingredients are then fried all together, starting from onions, pepper, tomato paste, tomatoes and spices in that order. After all the ingredients have been fried, rice is then added and cooked until the meal is prepared. Ghanaian jollof is typically served with side dishes of beef, chicken, well-seasoned fried fish, or mixed vegetables.


title: Jollof rice

text: Jollof in Ghana is also served alongside shito, a popular type of pepper which originates from Ghana, and salad during parties and other ceremonies.


title: Jollof rice

text: Jollof rice made in Guinea-Bissau is prepared with ingredients such as tomatoes, onions, tomato paste, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, garlic and bay leaves. These ingredients are slowly cooked with vegetable oil and spices to enhance the common jollof flavor. Typically this dish incorporates ginger to bring a spicy flavor to the white rice. In the end, this dish is usually served on its own but sometimes it is served with chicken, okra and/or fried plantains.


title: Jollof rice

text: Since the 2010s there has been increasing interest in West African foods in the western world. Jollof food festivals have been held in Washington, DC, in the US, and Toronto, Canada. "World Jollof Day" has been celebrated since 2015 on 22 August, gaining traction on social media. On 3 November 2022, the dish was honoured with a Google Doodle.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle of France, Adolf Hitler, the German Führer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, hoped the British government would accept his offer to end the war, and he reluctantly considered invasion only as a last resort if all other options failed.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: As a precondition, Hitler specified the achievement of both air and naval superiority over the English Channel and the proposed landing sites, but the German forces did not achieve either at any point during the war, and both the German High Command and Hitler himself had serious doubts about the prospects for success. Nevertheless, both the German Army and Navy undertook a major programme of preparations for an invasion: training troops, developing specialised weapons and equipment, and modifying transport vessels. A large number of river barges and transport ships were gathered together on the Channel coast, but with "Luftwaffe" aircraft losses increasing in the Battle of Britain and no sign that the Royal Air Force had been defeated, Hitler postponed Sea Lion indefinitely on 17 September 1940 and it was never put into action.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Adolf Hitler hoped for a negotiated peace with the UK and made no preparations for amphibious assault on Britain until the Fall of France. At the time, the only forces with experience and modern equipment for such landings were the Japanese, at the Battle of Wuhan in 1938.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: In September 1939, the successful German invasion of Poland infringed on both a French and a British alliance with Poland and both countries declared war on Germany. On 9 October, Hitler's "Directive No. 6 for the Conduct of the War" planned an offensive to defeat these allies and "win as much territory as possible in Holland, Belgium, and northern France to serve as a base for the successful prosecution of the air and sea war against England".


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: With the prospect of the Channel ports falling under "Kriegsmarine" (German Navy) control, Grand Admiral ("Großadmiral") Erich Raeder (head of the "Kriegsmarine") attempted to anticipate the obvious next step that might entail and instructed his operations officer, "Kapitän" Hansjürgen Reinicke, to draw up a document examining "the possibility of troop landings in England should the future progress of the war make the problem arise". Reinicke spent five days on this study and set forth the following prerequisites:


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: On 22 November 1939, the Head of "Luftwaffe" (German Air Force) intelligence Joseph "Beppo" Schmid presented his "Proposal for the Conduct of Air Warfare", which argued for a counter to the British blockade and said "Key is to paralyse the British trade" by blocking imports to Britain and attacking seaports. The OKW ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht" or "High Command of the Armed Forces") considered the options and Hitler's 29 November "Directive No. 9 – Instructions For Warfare Against The Economy of the Enemy" stated that once the coast had been secured, the "Luftwaffe" and "Kriegsmarine" were to blockade UK ports with sea mines, attack shipping and warships, and make air attacks on shore installations and industrial production. This directive remained in force in the first phase of the Battle of Britain.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: In December 1939, the German Army issued its own study paper (designated "Nordwest") and solicited opinions and input from both "Kriegsmarine" and "Luftwaffe". The paper outlined an assault on England's eastern coast between The Wash and the River Thames by troops crossing the North Sea from ports in the Low Countries. It suggested airborne troops as well as seaborne landings of 100,000 infantry in East Anglia, transported by the "Kriegsmarine", which was also to prevent Royal Navy ships from getting through the Channel, while the "Luftwaffe" had to control airspace over the landings. The "Kriegsmarine" response was focused on pointing out the many difficulties to be surmounted if invading England was to be a viable option. It could not envisage taking on the Royal Navy Home Fleet and said it would take a year to organise shipping for the troops. "Reichsmarschall" Hermann Göring, head of the "Luftwaffe", responded with a single-page letter in which he stated, "[A] combined operation having the objective of landing in England must be rejected. It could only be the final act of an already victorious war against Britain as otherwise the preconditions for success of a combined operation would not be met".


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Germany's swift and successful occupation of France and the Low Countries gained control of the Channel coast, facing what Schmid's 1939 report called their "most dangerous enemy". Raeder met Hitler on 21 May 1940 and raised the topic of invasion, but warned of the risks and expressed a preference for blockade by air, submarines and raiders.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: By the end of May, the "Kriegsmarine" had become even more opposed to invading Britain following its costly victory in Norway; after Operation Weserübung, the "Kriegsmarine" had only one heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, and four destroyers available for operations. Raeder was strongly opposed to Sea Lion, for over half of the "Kriegsmarine" surface fleet had been either sunk or badly damaged in "Weserübung", and his service was hopelessly outnumbered by the ships of the Royal Navy. British parliamentarians still arguing for peace negotiations were defeated in the May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis, but throughout July the Germans continued with attempts to find a diplomatic solution.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: In a report presented on 30 June, OKW Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl reviewed options to increase pressure on Britain to agree to a negotiated peace. The first priority was to eliminate the Royal Air Force and gain air supremacy. Intensified air attacks against shipping and the economy could affect food supplies and civilian morale in the long term. Reprisal attacks of terror bombing had the potential to cause quicker capitulation but the effect on morale was uncertain. Once the Luftwaffe had control of the air and the British economy had been weakened, an invasion would be a last resort or a final strike (""Todesstoss"") after the UK had already been practically defeated, but could have a quick result. At a meeting that day, OKH Chief of General Staff Franz Halder heard from Secretary of State Ernst von Weizsäcker that Hitler had turned his attention to Russia. Halder met Admiral Otto Schniewind on 1 July, and they shared views without understanding each other's position. Both thought that air superiority was needed first, and could make the invasion unnecessary. They agreed that minefields and U-boats could limit the threat posed by the Royal Navy; Schniewind emphasised the significance of weather conditions.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: On 2 July, the OKW asked the services to start preliminary planning for an invasion, as Hitler had concluded that invasion would be achievable in certain conditions, the first of which was command of the air, and specifically asked the "Luftwaffe" when this would be achieved. On 4 July, after asking General Erich Marcks to begin planning an attack on Russia, Halder heard from the "Luftwaffe" that they planned to eliminate the RAF, destroying its aircraft manufacturing and supply systems, with damage to naval forces as a secondary aim. A "Luftwaffe" report presented to the OKW at a meeting on 11 July said that it would take 14 to 28 days to achieve air superiority. The meeting also heard that England was discussing an agreement with Russia. On the same day, Grand Admiral Raeder visited Hitler at the Berghof to persuade him that the best way to pressure the British into a peace agreement would be a siege combining air and submarine attacks. Hitler agreed with him that invasion would be a last resort.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Jodl set out the OKW proposals for the proposed invasion in a memorandum issued on 12 July, which described operation Löwe (Lion) as "a river crossing on a broad front", irritating the "Kriegsmarine". On 13 July, Hitler met Field Marshal von Brauchitsch and Halder at Berchtesgaden and they presented detailed plans prepared by the army on the assumption that the navy would provide safe transport. To the surprise of Von Brauchitsch and Halder, and completely at odds with his normal practice, Hitler did not ask any questions about specific operations, had no interest in details, and made no recommendations to improve the plans; instead he simply told OKW to start preparations.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: On 16 July 1940 Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 16, setting in motion preparations for a landing in Britain. He prefaced the order by stating: "As England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, still shows no signs of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English Motherland as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued, and, if necessary, to occupy the country completely." The code name for the invasion was "Seelöwe", "Sea Lion".


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: This ultimately placed responsibility for Sea Lions success squarely on the shoulders of Raeder and Göring, neither of whom had the slightest enthusiasm for the venture and, in fact, did little to hide their opposition to it. Nor did Directive 16 provide for a combined operational headquarters, similar to the Allies' creation of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) for the later Normandy landings, under which all three service branches (Army, Navy, and Air Force) could work together to plan, co-ordinate, and execute such a complex undertaking.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Grand Admiral Raeder sent a memorandum to OKW on 19 July, complaining about the onus placed on the navy in relation to the army and air force, and stating that the navy would be unable to achieve its objectives.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The first joint services conference on the proposed invasion was held by Hitler in Berlin on 21 July, with Raeder, Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, and "Luftwaffe" Chief of Staff Hans Jeschonnek. Hitler told them that the British had no hope of survival, and ought to negotiate, but were hoping to get Russia to intervene and halt German oil supplies. Invasion was very risky, and he asked them if direct attacks by air and submarine could take effect by mid September. Jeschonnek proposed large bombing attacks so that responding RAF fighters could be shot down. The idea that invasion could be a surprise "river crossing" was dismissed by Raeder, and the navy could not complete its preparations by mid August. Hitler wanted the air attack to commence early in August and, if it succeeded, the invasion was to start around 25 August before weather deteriorated. Hitler's main interest was the question of countering potential Russian intervention. Halder outlined his first thoughts on defeating Russian forces. Detailed plans were to be made to attack the Soviet Union.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Raeder met Hitler on 25 July to report on navy progress: they were not sure if preparations could be completed during August: he was to present plans at a conference on 31 July. On 28 July he told OKW that ten days would be needed to get the first wave of troops across the Channel, even on a much narrower front. Planning was to resume. In his diary, Halder noted that if what Raeder had said was true, "all previous statements by the navy were so much rubbish and we can throw away the whole plan of invasion". On the next day, Halder dismissed the navy's claims and required a new plan.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The "Luftwaffe" announced on 29 July that they could begin a major air attack at the start of August, and their intelligence reports gave them confidence of a decisive result. Half of their bombers were to be kept in reserve to support the invasion. At a meeting with the army, the navy proposed delay until May 1941, when the new battleships and would be ready. A navy memorandum issued on 30 July said invasion would be vulnerable to the Royal Navy, and autumn weather could prevent necessary maintenance of supplies. The OKW assessed alternatives, including attacking the British in the Mediterranean, and favoured extended operations against England while remaining on good terms with Russia.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: At the Berghof conference on 31 July, the "Luftwaffe" were not represented. Raeder said barge conversions would take until 15 September, leaving the only possible 1940 invasion dates as 22–26 September, when weather was likely to be unsuitable. Landings would have to be on a narrow front, and would be better in spring 1941. Hitler wanted the invasion in September as the British army was increasing in strength. After Raeder left, Hitler told von Brauchitsch and Halder that the air attack was to start around 5 August; eight to fourteen days after that, he would decide on the landing operation. London was showing new-found optimism, and he attributed this to their hopes of intervention by Russia, which Germany was to attack in the spring of 1941.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: On 1 August 1940, through Führer Directive No.17, Hitler instructed intensified air and sea warfare to "establish the necessary conditions for the final conquest of England". From 5 August, subject to weather delays, the "Luftwaffe" was "to overpower the English Air Force with all the forces at its command, in the shortest possible time." Attacks were then to be made on ports and food stocks, while leaving alone ports to be used in the invasion, and "air attacks on enemy warships and merchant ships may be reduced except where some particularly favourable target happens to present itself." The "Luftwaffe" was to keep sufficient forces in reserve for the proposed invasion, and was not to target civilians without a direct order from Hitler in response to RAF terror bombing. No decision had been reached on the choice between immediate decisive action and a siege. The Germans hoped the air action would force the British to negotiate, and make invasion unnecessary.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: In the Army plan of 25 July 1940, the invasion force was to be organised into two army groups drawn from the 6th Army, the 9th Army and the 16th Army. The first wave of the landing would have consisted of thirteen infantry and mountain divisions, the second wave of eight panzer and motorised infantry divisions and finally, the third wave was formed of six further infantry divisions. The initial assault would have also included two airborne divisions under "Luftwaffe" command, and the special forces of the Brandenburg Regiment, controlled by the "Abwehr".


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: This initial plan was vetoed by opposition from both the "Kriegsmarine" and the "Luftwaffe", who successfully argued that an amphibious force could only be assured air and naval protection if confined to a narrow front, and that the landing areas should be as far from Royal Navy bases as possible. The definitive order of battle adopted on 30 August 1940 envisaged a first wave of nine divisions from the 9th and 16th armies landing along four stretches of beach – two infantry divisions on beach 'B' between Folkestone and New Romney supported by a special forces company of the Brandenburg Regiment, two infantry divisions on beach 'C' between Rye and Hastings supported by three battalions of submersible/floating tanks, two infantry divisions on beach 'D' between Bexhill and Eastbourne supported by one battalion of submersible/floating tanks and a second company of the Brandenburg Regiment, and three infantry divisions on beach 'E' between Beachy Head and Brighton. A single airborne division would land in Kent north of Hythe; with the objective of seizing the aerodrome at Lympne and bridge-crossings over the Royal Military Canal, and in assisting the ground forces in capturing Folkestone. Folkestone (to the east) and Newhaven (to the west) were the only cross-channel port facilities that would have been accessible to the invasion forces; and much depended on these being captured substantially intact or with the capability of rapid repair; in which case the second wave of eight divisions (including all the motorised and armoured divisions) might be unloaded directly onto their respective quaysides. A further six infantry divisions were allocated to the third wave.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The order of battle defined on 30 August remained as the agreed overall plan, but was always considered as potentially subject to change if circumstances demanded it. The Army High Command continued to press for a wider landing area if possible, against the opposition of the "Kriegsmarine"; in August they had won the concession that, if the opportunity arose, a force might be landed directly from ships onto the seafront at Brighton, perhaps supported by a second airborne force landing on the South Downs. Contrariwise, the "Kriegsmarine" (fearful of possible fleet action against the invasion forces from Royal Navy ships in Portsmouth) insisted that the divisions enshipped from Cherbourg and Le Havre for landing on beach 'E', might be diverted to any one of the other beaches where sufficient space allowed.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Each of the first wave landing forces was divided into three echelons. The first echelon, carried across the Channel on barges, coasters and small motor launches, would consist of the main infantry assault force. The second echelon, carried across the Channel in larger transport vessels, would consist predominantly of artillery, armoured vehicles and other heavy equipment. The third echelon, carried across the channel on barges, would consist of the vehicles, horses, stores and personnel of the division-level support services. Loading of barges and transports with heavy equipment, vehicles and stores would start on S-tag minus nine (in Antwerp); and S minus eight in Dunkirk, with horses not loaded till S minus two. All troops would be loaded onto their barges from French or Belgian ports on S minus two or S minus one. The first echelon would land on the beaches on S-tag itself, preferably at daybreak around two hours after high tide. The barges used for the first echelon would be retrieved by tugs on the afternoon of S-tag, and those still in working order would be drawn up alongside the transport vessels to trans-ship the second echelon overnight, so that much of the second echelon and third echelon could land on S plus one, with the remainder on S plus two. The Navy intended that all four invasion fleets would return across the Channel on the night of S plus two, having been moored for three full days off the South coast of England. The Army had sought to have the third echelon cross in later separate convoys to avoid men and horses having to wait for as long as four days and nights in their barges, but the "Kriegsmarine" were insistent that they could only protect the four fleets from Royal Navy attack if all vessels crossed the Channel together.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: In the summer of 1940, the headquarters staff of the British Army's Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces tended to consider East Anglia and the East coast to be the most likely landing sites for a German invasion force, as this would have offered much greater opportunities to seize ports and natural harbours, and would be further from naval forces at Portsmouth. But then the accumulation of invasion barges in French ports from late August 1940 rather indicated a landing on the South coast. Consequently, the main Home Forces mobile reserve force was held back around London, so as to be able to move forwards to protect the capital, either into Kent or Essex. Hence, Sea Lion landings in Kent and Sussex would have been initially opposed by XII Corps of Eastern Command with three infantry divisions and two independent brigades and V Corps of Southern Command with three infantry divisions. In reserve were two more Corps under GHQ Home Forces; located south of London was the VII Corps with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, an armoured division and an independent armoured brigade, while north of London was IV Corps with an armoured division, infantry division and independent infantry brigade.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The success of the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, on 9 April 1940, had relied extensively on the use of paratroop and glider-borne formations ("Fallschirmjäger") to capture key defensive points in advance of the main invasion forces. The same airborne tactics had also been used in support of the invasions of Belgium and the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. However, although spectacular success had been achieved in the airborne assault on Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium, German airborne forces had come close to disaster in their attempt to seize the Dutch government and capital of The Hague. Around 1,300 of the 22nd Air Landing Division had been captured (subsequently shipped to Britain as prisoners of war), around 250 Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft had been lost, and several hundred elite paratroops and air-landing infantry had been killed or injured. Consequently, even in September 1940 the Luftwaffe had the capacity to provide only around 3,000 airborne troops to participate in the first wave of Operation Sea Lion.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The Battle of Britain began in early July 1940, with attacks on shipping and ports in the "Kanalkampf" which forced RAF Fighter Command into defensive action. In addition, wider raids gave aircrew experience of day and night navigation, and tested the defences. On 13 August, the German "Luftwaffe" began a series of concentrated aerial attacks (designated "Unternehmen Adlerangriff" or Operation Eagle Attack) on targets throughout the United Kingdom in an attempt to destroy the RAF and establish air superiority over Great Britain. The change in emphasis of the bombing from RAF bases to bombing London, however, turned "Adlerangriff" into a short-range strategic bombing operation.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The effect of the switch in strategy is disputed. Some historians argue the change in strategy lost the "Luftwaffe" the opportunity of winning the air battle or air superiority. Others argue the "Luftwaffe" achieved little in the air battle and the RAF was not on the verge of collapse, as often claimed. Another perspective has also been put forward, which suggests the Germans could not have gained air superiority before the weather window closed. Others have said that it was unlikely the "Luftwaffe" would ever have been able to destroy RAF Fighter Command. If British losses became severe, the RAF could simply have withdrawn northward and regrouped. It could then deploy if the Germans launched an invasion. Most historians agree Sea Lion would have failed regardless because of the weakness of the German "Kriegsmarine" compared to the Royal Navy.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The record of the "Luftwaffe" against naval combat vessels up to that point in the war was poor. In the Norwegian campaign, despite eight weeks of continuous air supremacy, the "Luftwaffe" sank only two British warships: the light cruiser and the destroyer . The German aircrews were not trained or equipped to attack fast-moving naval targets, particularly agile naval destroyers or Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB). The Luftwaffe also lacked armour-piercing bombs and their only aerial torpedo capability, essential for defeating larger warships, consisted of a small number of slow and vulnerable Heinkel He 115 floatplanes. The "Luftwaffe" made 21 deliberate attacks on small torpedo boats during the Battle of Britain, sinking none. The British had between 700 and 800 small coastal craft (MTBs, Motor Gun Boats and smaller vessels), making them a critical threat if the "Luftwaffe" could not deal with the force. Only nine MTBs were lost to air attack out of 115 sunk by various means throughout the Second World War. Only nine destroyers were sunk by air attack in 1940, out of a force of over 100 operating in British waters at the time. Only five were sunk while evacuating Dunkirk, despite large periods of German air superiority, thousands of sorties flown, and hundreds of tons of bombs dropped. The "Luftwaffe"'s record against merchant shipping was also unimpressive: it sank only one in every 100 British vessels passing through British waters in 1940, and most of this total was achieved using mines.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Had an invasion taken place, the Bf 110 equipped "Erprobungsgruppe 210" would have dropped "Seilbomben" just prior to the landings. This was a secret weapon which would have been used to blackout the electricity network in south-east England. The equipment for dropping the wires was fitted to the Bf 110 aeroplanes and tested. It involved dropping wires across high voltage wires, and was probably as dangerous to the aircraft crews as to the British.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Upon hearing of Hitler's intentions, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, through his Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano, quickly offered up to ten divisions and thirty squadrons of Italian aircraft for the proposed invasion. Hitler initially declined any such aid but eventually allowed a small contingent of Italian fighters and bombers, the Italian Air Corps ("Corpo Aereo Italiano" or CAI), to assist in the "Luftwaffe"s aerial campaign over Britain in October and November 1940.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The most daunting problem for Germany in protecting an invasion fleet was the small size of its navy. The "Kriegsmarine", already numerically far inferior to Britain's Royal Navy, had lost a sizeable portion of its large modern surface ships in April 1940 during the Norwegian campaign, either as complete losses or due to battle damage. In particular, the loss of two light cruisers and ten destroyers was crippling, as these were the very warships most suited to operating in the Channel narrows where the invasion would likely take place. Most U-boats, the most powerful arm of the , were meant for destroying ships, not supporting an invasion.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Although the Royal Navy could not bring the whole of its naval superiority to bearas most of the fleet was engaged in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and a substantial proportion had been detached to support Operation Menace against Dakarthe British Home Fleet still had a very large advantage in numbers. It was debatable whether British ships were as vulnerable to enemy air attack as the Germans hoped. During the Dunkirk evacuation, few warships were actually sunk, despite being stationary targets. The overall disparity between the opposing naval forces made the amphibious invasion plan extremely risky, regardless of the outcome in the air. In addition, the "Kriegsmarine" had allocated its few remaining larger and more modern ships to diversionary operations in the North Sea.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: The fleet of defeated France, one of the most powerful and modern in the world, might have tipped the balance against Britain if it had been captured by the Germans. However, the pre-emptive destruction of a large part of the French fleet by the British at Mers-el-Kébir and the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon by the French themselves ensured that this could not happen.


title: Operation Sea Lion

text: Those who believed that, regardless of a potential German victory in the air battle, Sea Lion was still not going to succeed included a number of German General Staff members. After the war, Admiral Karl Dönitz said he believed air superiority was "not enough". Dönitz stated, "[W]e possessed neither control of the air or the sea; nor were we in any position to gain it". In his memoirs, Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the "Kriegsmarine" in 1940, wrote: