title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The 1989 plan "Jedinstvo 2" commenced and border battalions were transferred under corps command including some divisions that have remained before under others commands. Brigades got some artillery and antiaircraft batteries under their direct command that helped them to gain independence in wartime from higher levels. Defense of all major cities was previously planned with separate units but under "Jedinstvo 2" only Belgrade and Zagreb retained separated units for defense of their cities.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: A. class brigades and battalions were more than 60 to up to 100% manned, and B. class units had 15-60% manpower. R. class units were reserved with about 15-20% and was manned mostly in their logistic units and commands.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Battalions with A. class status were 100% manned and equipped. A. class brigades had a brigade HQ and 4 battalions and B class brigade had 2-3 battalions with HQ.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The "Jedinstvo 3" plan started in 1990. To the military leadership of the JNA, it was obvious that USSR was moving to defend its internal borders and the only global superpower left was the USA. It was then agreed in JNA that potential for aggression from the Warsaw Pact had diminished but potential aggression from NATO had increased. The new plan "Jedinstvo 3" included changes to organize better defenses from new perceived external threats. The plan required the building of smaller but more modernized forces with highly mobile units. Corps closer to the border would have two A. class brigades including an artillery regiment of A. class, an anti-armor regiment of B. class and an engineering battalion of A class. Corps deeper inside country would have one brigade of A. or B. class.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Under "Jedinstvo 3" every corps in the Air Force should have one support aviation brigade, one fighter wing, one Air Surveillance, Early Warning and Guidance regiment, 1-2 rocket brigades or regiments and rest up to possibilities to equip.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: and many others, including 19 military police battalions and river flotilla giving in total 28 divisions, 307 brigades and regiments and 137 independent battalions/divisions.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: There were other units that had smaller but more modern and mobile forces with more mobile A class units with a total of 19 divisions, 234. brigades and 104 independent battalions/regiments in 1995. Total manpower at the end of 1995 was about 222.151 in peace and 834.891 in war.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Internal changes in Yugoslavia prevented the total realization of the "Jedinstvo 3" plan. While many changes under it were done during 1990, not all were finished completely. While most commands and units were formed and manned, equipping was not finished according to plan because of dissolution of Yugoslavia and stopping of deliveries from most of domestic factories to units of JNA.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: As part of the armed forces, there was also the Territorial Defense, based on each republic's territory that formed Yugoslavia that would fall under command of JNA during wartime.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Ground Forces had the greatest number of personnel. In 1991 there were about 140,000 active-duty soldiers (including 90,000 conscripts), and over a million trained reservists that could be mobilized in wartime. Each of the Yugoslav constituent six republics had its own Territorial Defence forces which were similar to the US national guard and were subordinate to supreme command as an integral part of the defence system in wartime. The territorial defence (reserve force) was made up of former conscripts; they were occasionally called up for war exercises.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The ground forces were organised into infantry, armour, artillery, and air defence, as well as signal, engineering and chemical defence corps.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav Air Force had about 32,000 personnel including 4,000 conscripts, and operated over 400 aircraft and 200 helicopters. It was responsible for transport, reconnaissance and rotary-wing aircraft as well as the national air defence system. The primary air force missions were to contest enemy efforts to establish air supremacy over Yugoslavia and to support the defensive operations of the ground forces and navy. Most aircraft were produced in Yugoslavia. Missiles were produced domestically and supplied by the Soviet Union.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav Air Force had twelve squadrons of domestically produced ground attack fighters. The ground attack squadrons provided close air support to ground force operations. They were equipped with 165 new Soko J-22 Orao, Super Galeb and J-21 Jastreb, and older Soko J-20 Kraguj fighters. Many ground attack fighters were armed with AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles purchased from the United States. Others were armed with Soviet Kh-23 and Kh-28 missiles. The air force also had about ninety armed Mi-8 helicopter gunships to provide added mobility and fire support for small ground units. A large number of reconnaissance aircraft were available to support ground forces operations. Four squadrons of seventy Galeb, Jastreb, and Orao-1 fighters were configured for reconnaissance missions.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav Air Force had nine squadrons of 130 Soviet-made MiG-21 interceptors for air defence. First produced in the late 1950s, the MiG-21 design was largely obsolete in 1990 and represented a potential weakness in Yugoslavia's air defence. However, the bulk of the MiG-21 fleet consisted mainly of the "bis" variant, the latest production MiG-21 model, and was armed with the Soviet Vympel K-13 (NATO reporting name: AA-2 "Atoll") missile, air-to-air missiles and some Molniya R-60 (NATO reporting name: AA-8 "Aphid") missiles as well as twin 23 mm cannons. By 1989, Yugoslavia started developing a new domestic multirole fighter plane called Novi Avion, which was supposed to replace the MiG-21 and J-21 Jastreb fleets entirely. The design of the new aircraft was influenced by the Mirage 2000 and Dassault Rafale fighter types and it was to enter service by the early 2000s. As an interim solution, a modernization package was planned for the MiG-21 and it is speculated that India's MiG-21 Bison upgrade was actually intended for Yugoslav aircraft. In 1987, Yugoslavia acquired 16 MiG-29s.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Although not officially known at the time, Yugoslavia was rumoured to have been interested in the purchase of Su-25 attack-aircraft and Mi-24 gunships. Instead of developing its own fighter plane, the Novi Avion, the country made a request to licence-build the F-20, but due to unstable relations with the US, the request was rejected. By the late 1980s, the licensed production of Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma helicopters was also planned, but due to the dissolution of the country, it was not continued.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: One of the structures operated by the Yugoslav Air Force was the underground Željava Air Base near the town of Bihać in northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina. The structure was made to withstand a nuclear explosion and was destroyed by the JNA in 1992 to prevent its capture. Željava was home to the 117th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which was composed of the 124th and 125th Fighter Squadrons, equipped with MiG-21Bis fighters, and the 352nd Reconnaissance Squadron, equipped with MiG-21R aircraft.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Air and Air Defence Forces were headquartered at Zemun and had fighter and bomber aircraft, helicopters, and air defence artillery units at air bases throughout the former Yugoslavia: Batajnica Air Base (Belgrade), Niš Constantine the Great Airport, Slatina Air Base (Priština), Golubovci Airbase (Titograd), Skopski Petrovec, Sarajevo, Mostar, Željava Air Base (Bihać), Pleso (Zagreb), Split Airport, Pula, Zemunik (Zadar), Cerklje ob Krki and many other smaller air bases.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Minor surface combatants operated by the Yugoslav Navy included nearly eighty frigates, corvettes, submarines, minesweepers, and missile, torpedo, and patrol boats in the Adriatic Fleet. The entire coast of Yugoslavia was part of the naval region headquartered at Split, Croatia.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Partisans had operated many small boats in raids harassing Italian convoys in the Adriatic Sea during World War II. After the war, the navy operated numerous German and Italian submarines, destroyers, minesweepers, and tank-landing craft captured during the war or received as war reparations. The United States provided eight torpedo boats in the late 1940s, but most of them were soon obsolete. The navy was upgraded in the 1960s when it acquired ten Osa-I-class missile boats and four s from the Soviet Union. The Soviets granted a license to build eleven additional Shershen units in Yugoslav shipyards developed for this purpose.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In 1980 and 1982, the Yugoslav navy took the delivery of two Soviet s. In 1988 it completed two additional units under license. The Koni frigates were armed with four Soviet P-15 Termit surface-to-surface missile launchers, twin 9K33 Osa (NATO reporting name: SA-8 "Gecko") surface-to-air missiles, and anti-submarine rocket launchers.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav navy developed its own submarine-building capability during the 1960s. In 1990, the main combat units of the submarine service were three s armed with 533 mm torpedoes. Two smaller s entered service in the late 1970s. Two "Sutjeska"-class submarines had been relegated mainly to training missions by 1990. At that time the navy had apparently shifted to construction of versatile midget submarines. Four Una-class midgets and four Mala-class swimmer delivery vehicles were in service in the late 1980s. They were built for use by underwater demolition teams and special forces. The Una-class boats carried five crewmen, eight combat swimmers, four Mala vehicles, and limpet mines. The Mala vehicles carried two swimmers and of mines.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav navy operated ten Osa-class missile boats and six missile boats. The Osa I boats were armed with four P-15 Termit surface-to-surface missile launchers. In 1990, ten domestic "Kobra" missile boats were scheduled to begin replacing the Osa I class. The "Kobra" class was to be armed with eight Swedish RBS-15 anti-ship missiles, and fifteen of them were ordered in late 1989. Armed with two P-15 Termit launchers, the "Končar"-class boats were modeled after the , and there were plans to upgrade them with Swedish-built missiles. Two "Kobra" missile boats were built by Croatia as the and both are still in service. The navy's fifteen Topčider-class torpedo boats included four former Soviet Shershen class and eleven Yugoslav built units.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav navy's mine warfare and countermeasures capabilities were considered adequate in 1990. It operated four "Vukov Klanac"-class coastal minesweepers built on a French design, four British s, and six 117-class inshore minesweepers built in domestic shipyards. Larger numbers of older and less capable minesweepers were mainly used in riverine operations. Other older units were used as dedicated minelayers. The navy used amphibious landing craft in support of army operations in the area of the Danube, Sava, and Drava rivers. They included both tank and assault landing craft. In 1990, there were four 501-class, ten 211-class, and twenty-five 601-class landing craft in service. Most of them were also capable of laying mines in rivers and coastal areas.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav Navy had 10,000 sailors (including 4,400 conscripts and 900 marines). They were essentially a coastal defence force with the mission of preventing enemy amphibious landings along the country's rugged 4,000-kilometer shoreline and coastal islands, and contesting enemy blockade or control of the strategic Strait of Otranto. The entire coast of Yugoslavia was part of the naval region headquartered at Split. The naval region was divided into three smaller naval districts and a riverine flotilla with major naval bases located at Split, Šibenik, Pula, Ploče and Kotor on the Adriatic Sea, and Novi Sad on the River Danube. The strategic islands of Vis and Lastovo were heavily fortified and unauthorised entry was prohibited. The fleet was organized into missile, torpedo, and patrol boat brigades, a submarine division, and minesweeper flotillas. The naval order of battle included four frigates, three corvettes, five patrol submarines, fifty-eight missile, torpedo, and patrol boats, and twenty-eight minesweepers. One antisubmarine warfare helicopter squadron was based at Split on the Adriatic coast. It employed Soviet Ka-25, Ka-28, and Mi-14 helicopters, and domestic Partisan helicopters. Some air force fighter and reconnaissance squadrons supported naval operations.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav Constitution of 1974 principally tried to have the most proportional representation of Yugoslavia's republics and autonomous provinces in the high army ranks. It is defined in article 242 of the constitution, which says that, ""Regarding the composition of staff and the employment in the high command and leadership functions in the Yugoslav People's Army the principle is applied of as proportional representation as possible of republics and autonomous provinces"""."


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Serbs, Montenegrins, and Yugoslavs were by some opinions over-represented in the officer corps, but that was still in accordance with cited constitution. JNA's high-ranking positions in 1980 was dominated by ethnic Serbs, including the chief of the armed forces, minister of defense and secretary of the LCY in the JNA. Nobody was preventing anyone in Yugoslavia to become JNA officer in accordance to the law "Zakon o vojnim školama i naučnoistraživačkim ustanovama Jugoslovenske narodne armije" that had no exclusions clause. Proportional presentations was to be between republics and autonomous provinces according to cited part of constitution and not between nations. Military schools in Yugoslavia in accordance with law about military schools were built in all Yugoslavia Republics. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, military schools possessed 38,391 annual capacity or 50.54% of the total compared to Serbia, which had 30,843 capacity for educating military personnel that constituted about 40.62% of total capacity and rest was among other republics.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Representation of the main nations and nationalities of Yugoslavia in the general population and the armed forces:


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: December 22 was established as the Day of the JNA. On that day all units and organizations within JNA including other Yugoslavia states bodies celebrated the day the JNA was founded. Prestigious awards were given on that day: they were called "dvadesetdrugi decembar". Rewards were given to anyone who had contributed to the defence of Yugoslavia in some way including military, scientific, economic or another contribution. Winners of such awards were highly praised in media and among the populace. Every ten years, special medals were awarded on December 22. It was last promoted by the JNA general, the winner of the December 22nd reward and JNA silver star medal. Major general Ener Taso died on December 12, 2018.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The arms industry was dominant in the Yugoslav economy. With annual exports of $3 billion, it was twice as large as the second largest industry, tourism.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Several companies in Yugoslavia produced airplanes and combat aircraft, most notably SOKO of Mostar, with the Soko J-22 Orao being its best known product. There was also Zastava Arms for firearms and artillery. Another important manufacturer was Utva in Serbia. The Yugoslav military–industrial complex produced tanks (most notably, the M-84), armored vehicles (BOV APC, BVP M-80), various artillery pieces (mortars, multiple rocket launchers, howitzers), anti-aircraft weapons, as well as various types of infantry weapons and other equipment.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: JNA had modern infrastructure with many air bases including underground shelters and command and control centers in many locations including several mountains. The biggest and best known installation was the Željava Air Base, also known as the Bihać Underground Integrated Radar Control and Surveillance Centre and Air Base, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The JNA adopted the concept of total defence (as did a number of other small European and neutral countries). Yugoslavia based its defence doctrine upon the total war concept of "Total People's Defence" (sh. Opštenarodna odbrana / Općenarodna obrana) which drew upon Yugoslavia's successful partisan history during the Yugoslav People's Liberation War during the Second World War. "TND prepared the entire population to contest the occupation of the country and finally to liberate it. The Territorial Defence Forces would mobilize the population for this purpose. The combat readiness of the TDF meant that the steps of organization and training could be bypassed after the start of hostilities. The TDF would supplement the YPA, giving it greater defensive depth and an armed local population ready to support combat actions." The entire Yugoslav population was to be engaged in armed resistance, armaments production, and civil defence under this concept. It was believed by the Yugoslav planners to be the best method by which a smaller nation could properly defend itself against a much stronger invader, specifically, NATO or the Warsaw Pact.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In January 1990, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was effectively dissolved as a national organization following its 14th Congress where the Serbian and Slovene delegations engaged in a public confrontation. The Yugoslav People's Army was left without an ideological support mechanism. 99% of the officers of the Army were members of the communist party.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The dissolution of Yugoslavia began when independent, non-communist governments were established in the Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. In 1990, the Socialist Republic of Slovenia changed its name to Republic of Slovenia and ceased contributing funds to the federal government for a sustained military budget. Soon afterward the Slovene government began a re-organization of its territorial defense, bringing the former constituent republic's Territorial Defense reserve forces under its control as the Slovenian Territorial Defence.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In March 1991, Yugoslav defense minister General Veljko Kadijević organized a meeting at the military complex in Topčider, Belgrade. Present at this meeting were all 6 presidents of the Yugoslav republics, presidents of the autonomous republics, the Yugoslav president and all top military officers. Kadijević claimed that there were numerous paramilitary organizations in Yugoslavia sponsored by foreign and domestic enemies of the state. He also stated that the Yugoslav People's Army was dealing with Ustaše, Chetniks, and other "enemies of socialism" stemming from World War II conflicts. Kadijević proposed a declaration of martial law. A subsequent vote was held on Kadijević's recommendation of martial law, and the suggestion was vetoed.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In April 1991, the government of Croatia formed the Croatian National Guard ("ZNG"), which the Yugoslav People's Army considered to be a paramilitary organization.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: On 25 June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. On the same day, Slovenian Territorial Defence units captured Yugoslav control posts on the borders with Italy, Hungary and Austria. Slovene forces also established border control posts on their border with Croatia.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: As a result of these actions, on 27 June 1991 the Yugoslav People's Army attacked Slovenia, with its top commanders citing the constitutional obligation to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. Yugoslav forces attacked the Slovene units on the border and in all other areas under Slovene control. The Slovenian Territorial Defence blockaded all ten Yugoslav bases in Slovenia and kept them under siege in the Ten-Day War which ended on 6 July 1991. Yugoslav forces had 44 killed and 146 wounded, with many Yugoslav officers wounded or captured. After the Brioni Agreement was signed, the Yugoslav People's Army agreed to withdraw from Slovenia by 10 October 1991, leaving large amounts of equipment behind.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: On 27 June 1991, war in Croatia began. The People's Army and the Serbians were on one side and Croatian military units on the other. On 14–15 September, Croatia launched the Battle of the Barracks, besieging over 20 Yugoslav People's Army barracks and depots, leaving Yugoslav soldiers without food, water or electricity for weeks. Some Croatian citizens deserted from the Yugoslav People's Army and began joining Croatian military forces. Senior Yugoslav officers also defected to Croatia, including Air Force Commander-in-Chief Colonel general Anton Tus.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In August 1991, the Battle of Vukovar began. It was the biggest battle in the War in Croatia after operations Storm and Flash. In the battle, 90% of the city was destroyed. The Yugoslav People's Army used fighter and attack aircraft, rocket launchers, a large number of tanks and other equipment.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: Macedonia declared independence on 8 September 1991, but the Yugoslav People's Army did not militarily respond.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In November, Vukovar was captured and 80% of Croatian forces were destroyed or captured. Many atrocities were committed in the city by the Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb volunteers, including the Velepromet concentration camp, Vukovar massacre, etc.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In mid-October 1991, Yugoslav ground forces, supported by naval and air forces, attacked the city of Dubrovnik and the Konavle area where the Croats had strongholds, starting the Siege of Dubrovnik. By 6 December, Yugoslav forces had neutralized all Croat formations in the Konavle area, but Dubrovnik had not been captured.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: After these two operations, the Yugoslav People's Army signed the Sarajevo Agreement with Croatia and began to withdraw.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: In January 1992, Veljko Kadijević resigned after the 1992 European Community Monitor Mission helicopter downing.


title: Yugoslav People's Army

text: The Yugoslav People's Army left Macedonia in March 1992. Around the same time, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence following a referendum and the Bosnian War started soon thereafter between the country's Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. The Yugoslav People's Army officially withdrew from Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 1992. On 20 May 1992 the Yugoslav People's Army was formally dissolved, the remnants of which reformed into the military of the newly founded "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia".


title: Comparison of American and British English

text: The English language was introduced to the Americas by British colonisation, beginning in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The language also spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and colonisation and the spread of the former British Empire, which, by 1921, included 470–570 million people, about a quarter of the world's population. Written forms of British and American English as found in newspapers and textbooks vary little in their essential features, with only occasional noticeable differences.


text: Over the past 400 years, the forms of the language used in the Americas—especially in the United States—and that used in the United Kingdom have diverged in a few minor ways, leading to the versions now often referred to as American English and British English. Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary (lexis), spelling, punctuation, idioms, and formatting of dates and numbers. However, the differences in written and most spoken grammar structure tend to be much fewer than in other aspects of the language in terms of mutual intelligibility. A few words have completely different meanings in the two versions or are even unknown or not used in one of the versions. One particular contribution towards formalising these differences came from Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary (published 1828) with the intention of showing that people in the United States spoke a different dialect from those spoken in the UK, much like a regional accent.


text: This divergence between American English and British English has provided opportunities for humorous comment: e.g. in fiction George Bernard Shaw says that the United States and United Kingdom are "two countries divided by a common language"; and Oscar Wilde says that "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language" ("The Canterville Ghost", 1888). Henry Sweet incorrectly predicted in 1877 that within a century American English, Australian English and British English would be mutually unintelligible ("A Handbook of Phonetics"). Perhaps increased worldwide communication through radio, television, the Internet and globalisation has tended to reduce regional variation. This can lead to some variations becoming extinct (for instance "the wireless" being progressively superseded by "the radio") or the acceptance of wide variations as "perfectly good English" everywhere.


text: Although spoken American and British English are generally mutually intelligible, there are occasional differences which might cause embarrassment—for example, in American English a "rubber" is usually interpreted as a "condom" rather than an "eraser"; and a British "fanny" refers to the female pubic area, while the American "fanny" refers to a "butt" or "ass" (US) or an "arse" (UK).


text: The familiarity of speakers with words and phrases from different regions varies, and the difficulty of discerning an unfamiliar definition also depends on the context and the term. As expressions spread with the globalisation of telecommunication, they are often but not always recognised as foreign to the speaker's dialect, and words from other dialects may carry connotations with regard to register, social status, origin, and intelligence.


text: Words such as "bill" and "biscuit" are used regularly in both AmE and BrE but can mean different things in each form. The word "bill" has several meanings, most of which are shared between AmE and BrE. However, in AmE "bill" often refers to a piece of paper money (as in a "dollar bill") which in BrE is more commonly referred to as a note. In AmE it can also refer to the visor of a cap, though this is by no means common. In AmE a biscuit (from the French "twice baked" as in biscotto) is a soft bready product that is known in BrE as a scone or a specifically hard, sweet biscuit. Meanwhile, a BrE biscuit incorporates both dessert biscuits and AmE cookies (from the Dutch 'little cake').


text: As chronicled by Winston Churchill, the opposite meanings of the verb "to table" created a misunderstanding during a meeting of the Allied forces; in BrE to table an item on an agenda means to "open it up" for discussion whereas in AmE, it means to "remove" it from discussion, or at times, to suspend or delay discussion; e.g. "Let's table that topic for later".


text: The word "football" in BrE refers to association football, also known as soccer. In AmE, "football" means American football. The standard AmE term "soccer", a contraction of "association (football)", is actually of British origin, derived from the formalisation of different codes of football in the 19th century, and was a fairly unremarkable usage (possibly marked for class) in BrE until relatively recently; it has lately become perceived as an Americanism. In non-American and non-Canadian contexts, particularly in sports news from outside the United States and Canada, American (or US branches of foreign) news agencies and media organisations also use "football" to mean "soccer", especially in direct quotes.


text: Words with completely different meanings are relatively few; most of the time there are either (1) words with one or more shared meanings and one or more meanings unique to one variety (for example, bathroom and toilet) or (2) words the meanings of which are actually common to both BrE and AmE but that show differences in frequency, connotation or denotation (for example, "smart", "clever", "mad").


text: Some differences in usage and meaning can cause confusion or embarrassment. For example, the word "fanny" is a slang word for vulva in BrE but means buttocks in AmE—the AmE phrase "fanny pack" is "bum bag" in BrE. In AmE the word "pissed" means being annoyed whereas in BrE it is a coarse word for being drunk (in both varieties, "pissed off" means irritated).


text: Similarly, in AmE the word "pants" is the common word for the BrE "trousers" and "knickers" refers to a variety of half-length trousers (though most AmE users would use the term "shorts" rather than knickers), while the majority of BrE speakers would understand "pants" to mean "underpants" and "knickers" to mean "female underpants".


text: Sometimes the confusion is more subtle. In AmE the word "quite" used as a qualifier is generally a reinforcement, though it is somewhat uncommon in actual colloquial American use today and carries an air of formality: for example, "I'm quite hungry" is a very polite way to say "I'm very hungry". In BrE "quite" (which is much more common in conversation) may have this meaning, as in "quite right" or "quite mad", but it more commonly means "somewhat", so that in BrE "I'm quite hungry" can mean "I'm somewhat hungry". This divergence of use can lead to misunderstanding.


text: Most speakers of American English are aware of some uniquely British terms. It is generally very easy to guess what some words, such as BrE "driving licence", mean, the AmE equivalent being "driver's license". However, use of many other British words such as "naff" (slang but commonly used to mean "not very good") are unheard of in American English.


text: Speakers of BrE usually find it easy to understand most common AmE terms, such as "sidewalk (pavement or footpath)", "gas (gasoline/petrol)", "counterclockwise (anticlockwise)" or "elevator (lift)", thanks in large part to considerable exposure to American popular culture and literature. Terms heard less often, especially when rare or absent in American popular culture, such as "copacetic (very satisfactory)", are unlikely to be understood by most BrE speakers.


text: It is increasingly common for Americans to say "Happy holidays", referring to all, or at least multiple, winter (in the Northern hemisphere) or summer (in the Southern hemisphere) holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.) especially when one's religious observances are not known; the phrase is rarely heard in the UK. In the UK, the phrases "holiday season" and "holiday period" refer to the period in the winter (in the Northern hemisphere) or summer (in the Southern hemisphere) when most people take time off from work, and travel; AmE does not use "holiday" in this sense, instead using "vacation" for recreational excursions.


text: In AmE, the prevailing Christmas greeting is "Merry Christmas", which is the traditional English Christmas greeting, as found in the English Christmas carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", and which appears several times in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". In BrE, "Happy Christmas" is a common alternative to "Merry Christmas".


text: Generally in British English, numbers with a value over one hundred have the word "and" inserted before the last two digits. For example, the number 115, when written in words or spoken aloud, would be "One hundred "and" fifteen", in British English. In American English, numbers are typically said or written in words in the same way, however if the word "and" is omitted ("One hundred fifteen"), this is also considered acceptable (in BrE this would be considered grammatically incorrect).


text: Likewise, in the US, the word "on" can be left out when referring to events occurring on any particular day of the week. The US possibility "The Cowboys won the game Saturday" would have the equivalent in the UK of "Sheffield United won the match on Saturday."


text: Both BrE and AmE use the expression "I couldn't care less", to mean that the speaker does not care at all. Some Americans use "I could care less" to mean the same thing. This variant is frequently derided as sloppy, as the literal meaning of the words is that the speaker "does" care to some extent.


text: In both areas, saying, "I don't mind" often means, "I'm not annoyed" (for example, by someone's smoking), while "I don't care" often means, "The matter is trivial or boring". However, in answering a question such as "Tea or coffee?", if either alternative is equally acceptable an American may answer, "I don't care", while a British person may answer, "I don't mind". Either can sound odd, confusing, or rude, to those accustomed to the other variant.


text: "To be "all set" in both BrE and AmE can mean "to be prepared or ready", though it appears to be more common in AmE. It can also have an additional meaning in AmE of "to be finished or done", for example, a customer at a restaurant telling a waiter "I'm all set. I'll take the check."


text: A number of English idioms that have essentially the same meaning show lexical differences between the British and the American version; for instance:


text: The US has a more uniform nationwide system of terms than does the UK, where terminology and structure varies among constituent countries, but the division by grades varies somewhat among the states and even among local school districts. For example, "elementary school" often includes kindergarten and may include sixth grade, with "middle school" including only two grades or extending to ninth grade.


text: In the UK, the US equivalent of a "high school" is often referred to as a "secondary school" regardless of whether it is state funded or private. US Secondary education also includes "middle school" or "junior high school", a two- or three-year transitional school between elementary school and high school. "Middle school" is sometimes used in the UK as a synonym for the younger "junior school", covering the second half of the primary curriculum, current years four to six in some areas. However, in Dorset (South England), it is used to describe the second school in the three-tier system, which is normally from year 5 to year 8. In other regions, such as Evesham and the surrounding area in Worcestershire, the second tier goes from year 6 to year 8, and both starting secondary school in year nine. In Kirklees, West Yorkshire, in the villages of the Dearne Valley there is a three tier system: first schools year reception to year five, middle school (Scissett/Kirkburton Middle School) year 6 to year 8, and high school year 9 to year 13.


text: A "public school" has opposite meanings in the two countries. In American English this is a government-owned institution open to all students, supported by public funding. The British English use of the term is in the context of "private" education: to be educated privately with a tutor. In England and Wales the term strictly refers to an ill-defined group of prestigious private independent schools funded by students' fees, although it is often more loosely used to refer to any independent school. Independent schools are also known as "private schools", and the latter is the term used in Scotland and Northern Ireland for all such fee-funded schools. Strictly, the term "public school" is not used in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the same sense as in England, but nevertheless Gordonstoun, the Scottish private school, is sometimes referred to as a "public school", as are some other Scottish private schools. Government-funded schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland are properly referred to as "state schools" but are sometimes confusingly referred to as "public schools" (with the same meaning as in the US), and in the US, where most public schools are administered by local governments, a "state school" typically refers to a college or university run by one of the U.S. states.


text: Speakers in both the United States and the United Kingdom use several additional terms for specific types of secondary school. A US "prep school" or "preparatory school" is an independent school funded by tuition fees; the same term is used in the UK for a private school for pupils under 13, designed to prepare them for fee-paying public schools. In the US, "Catholic schools" cover costs through tuition and have affiliations with a religious institution, most often a Catholic church or diocese. In England, where the state-funded education system grew from parish schools organised by the local established church, the Church of England (C of E, or CE), and many schools, especially primary schools (up to age 11) retain a church connection and are known as "church schools", "CE schools" or "CE (aided) schools". There are also "faith schools" associated with the Roman Catholic Church and other major faiths, with a mixture of funding arrangements. In Scotland, Catholic schools are generally operated as government-funded state schools for Catholic communities, particularly in large cities such as Glasgow.


text: In the US, a "magnet school" receives government funding and has special admission requirements: in some cases pupils gain admission through superior performance on admission tests, while other magnet schools admit students through a lottery. The UK has city academies, which are independent privately sponsored schools run with public funding and which can select up to 10% of pupils by aptitude. Moreover, in the UK 36 local education authorities retain selection by ability at 11. They maintain grammar schools (state funded secondary schools), which admit pupils according to performance in an examination (known as the 11+) and comprehensive schools that take pupils of all abilities. Grammar schools select the most academically able 10% to 23% of those who sit the exam. Students who fail the exam go to a secondary modern school, sometimes called a "high school", or increasingly an "academy". In areas where there are no grammar schools the comprehensives likewise may term themselves high schools or academies. Nationally only 6% of pupils attend grammar schools, mainly in four distinct counties. Some private schools are called "grammar schools", chiefly those that were grammar schools long before the advent of state education.


text: In the UK a university student is said to "study", to "read" or, informally, simply to "do" a subject. In the recent past the expression 'to read a subject' was more common at the older universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. In the US a student "studies" or "majors in" a subject (although a student's "major", "concentration" or, less commonly, "emphasis" is also used in US colleges or universities to refer to the major subject of study). "To major in" something refers to the student's principal course of study; "to study" may refer to any class being taken.


text: At university level in BrE, each "module" is taught or facilitated by a "lecturer" or "tutor"; "professor" is the job-title of a senior academic (in AmE, at some universities, the equivalent of the BrE lecturer is instructor, especially when the teacher has a lesser degree or no university degree, though the usage may become confusing according to whether the subject being taught is considered technical or not; it is also different from adjunct instructor/professor). In AmE each "class" is generally taught by a "professor" (although some US tertiary educational institutions follow the BrE usage), while the position of "lecturer" is occasionally given to individuals hired on a temporary basis to teach one or more classes and who may or may not have a doctoral degree.


text: The word "course" in American use typically refers to the study of a restricted topic or individual subject (for example, "a course in Early Medieval England", "a course in integral calculus") over a limited period of time (such as a semester or term) and is equivalent to a "module" or sometimes "unit" at a British university. In the UK, a "course of study" or simply "course" is likely to refer to the entire programme of study, which may extend over several years and be made up of any number of "modules," hence it is also practically synonymous to a degree programme. A few university-specific exceptions exist: for example, at Cambridge the word "paper" is used to refer to a "module", while the whole course of study is called "tripos".


text: A "dissertation" in AmE refers to the final written product of a doctoral student to fulfil the requirement of that program. In BrE, the same word refers to the final written product of a student in an undergraduate or taught master's programme. A dissertation in the AmE sense would be a thesis in BrE, though "dissertation" is also used.


text: Another source of confusion is the different usage of the word "college". (See a full international discussion of the various meanings at college.) In the US, it refers to a post-high school institution that grants either associate's or bachelor's degrees, and in the UK, it refers to any post-secondary institution that is not a university (including "sixth form college" after the name in secondary education for years 12 and 13, the "sixth form") where intermediary courses such as A levels or NVQs can be taken and GCSE courses can be retaken. College may sometimes be used in the UK or in Commonwealth countries as part of the name of a secondary or high school (for example, Dubai College). In the case of Oxford, Cambridge, Aberdeen, London, Lancaster, Durham, Kent and York universities, all members are also members of a college which is part of the university, for example, one is a member of King's College, Cambridge and hence of the university.


text: In both the US and UK "college" can refer to some division within a university that comprises related academic departments such as the "college of business and economics" though in the UK "faculty" is more often used. Institutions in the US that offer two to four years of post-high school education often have the word "college" as part of their name, while those offering more advanced degrees are called a "university". (There are exceptions: Boston College, Dartmouth College and the College of William & Mary are examples of colleges that offer advanced degrees, while Vincennes University is an unusual example of a "university" that offers only associate degrees in the vast majority of its academic programs.) American students who pursue a "bachelor's degree" (four years of higher education) or an "associate degree" (two years of higher education) are "college students" regardless of whether they attend a college or a university and refer to their educational institutions informally as "colleges." A student who pursues a master's degree or a doctorate degree in the arts and sciences is in AmE a "graduate student"; in BrE a "postgraduate student" although "graduate student" is also sometimes used. Students of advanced professional programs are known by their field ("business student", "law student", "medical student"). Some universities also have a residential college system, the details of which may vary but generally involve common living and dining spaces as well as college-organised activities. Nonetheless, when it comes to the level of education, AmE generally uses the word "college" (e.g., going to college) whereas BrE generally uses the word "university" (e.g., going to university) regardless of the institution's official designation/status in both countries.


text: In the context of higher education, the word "school" is used slightly differently in BrE and AmE. In BrE, except for the University of London, the word school is used to refer to an academic department in a university. In AmE, the word school is used to refer to a collection of related academic departments and is headed by a dean. When it refers to a division of a university, school is practically synonymous to a college.


text: "Professor" has different meanings in BrE and AmE. In BrE it is the highest academic rank, followed by reader, senior lecturer and lecturer. In AmE "professor" refers to academic staff of all ranks, with (full) professor (largely equivalent to the UK meaning) followed by associate professor and assistant professor.


text: "Tuition" has traditionally had separate meaning in each variation. In BrE it is the educational content transferred from teacher to student at a university. In AmE it is the money (the fees) paid to receive that education (BrE: tuition fees).


text: In both the US and the UK, a student "takes" an exam, but in BrE a student can also be said to "sit" an exam. When preparing for an exam students "revise" (BrE)/"review" (AmE) what they have studied; the BrE idiom "to revise for" has the equivalent "to review for" in AmE.


text: Examinations are supervised by "invigilators" in the UK and "proctors" (or "(exam) supervisors") in the US (a "proctor" in the UK is an official responsible for student discipline at the University of Oxford or Cambridge). In the UK a teacher first "sets" and then "administers" exam, while in the US, a teacher first "writes", "makes", "prepares", etc. and then "gives" an exam. With the same basic meaning of the latter idea but with a more formal or official connotation, a teacher in the US may also "administer" or "proctor" an exam.


text: In BrE, students are awarded "marks" as credit for requirements (e.g., tests, projects) while in AmE, students are awarded "points" or "grades" for the same. Similarly, in BrE, a candidate's work is being "marked", while in AmE it is said to be "graded" to determine what mark or grade is given.


text: There is additionally a difference between American and British usage in the word "school". In British usage "school" by itself refers only to primary (elementary) and secondary (high) schools and to "sixth forms" attached to secondary schools—if one "goes to school", this type of institution is implied. By contrast an American student at a university may be "in/at school", "coming/going to school", etc. US and British law students and medical students both commonly speak in terms of going to "law school" and "med[ical] school", respectively. However, the word "school" is used in BrE in the context of higher education to describe a division grouping together several related subjects within a university, for example a "School of European Languages" containing "departments" for each language and also in the term "art school". It is also the name of some of the constituent colleges of the University of London, for example, School of Oriental and African Studies, London School of Economics.


text: Among high-school and college students in the United States, the words "freshman" (or the gender-neutral terms "first year" or sometimes "freshie"), "sophomore", "junior" and "senior" refer to the first, second, third, and fourth years respectively. It is important that the context of either high school or college first be established or else it must be stated directly (that is, "She is a high-school freshman". "He is a college junior."). Many institutes in both countries also use the term "first-year" as a gender-neutral replacement for "freshman", although in the US this is recent usage, formerly referring only to those in the first year as a graduate student. One exception is the University of Virginia; since its founding in 1819 the terms "first-year", "second-year", "third-year", and "fourth-year" have been used to describe undergraduate university students. At the United States service academies, at least those operated by the federal government directly, a different terminology is used, namely "fourth class", "third class", "second class" and "first class" (the order of numbering being the reverse of the number of years in attendance). In the UK first-year university students are sometimes called "freshers" early in the academic year; however, there are no specific names for those in other years nor for school pupils. Graduate and professional students in the United States are known by their year of study, such as a "second-year medical student" or a "fifth-year doctoral candidate." Law students are often referred to as "1L", "2L", or "3L" rather than "nth-year law students"; similarly, medical students are frequently referred to as "M1", "M2", "M3", or "M4".


text: While anyone in the US who finishes studying at any educational institution by passing relevant examinations is said to "graduate" and to be a "graduate", in the UK only degree and above level students can "graduate". "Student" itself has a wider meaning in AmE, meaning any person of any age studying any subject at any level (including those not doing so at an educational institution, such as a "piano student" taking private lessons in a home), whereas in BrE it tends to be used for people studying at a post-secondary educational institution and the term "pupil" is more widely used for a young person at primary or secondary school, though the use of "student" for secondary school pupils in the UK is increasingly used, particularly for "sixth form" (years 12 and 13).


text: The names of individual institutions can be confusing. There are several high schools with the word "university" in their names in the United States that are not affiliated with any post-secondary institutions and cannot grant degrees, and there is one public high school, Central High School of Philadelphia, that does grant bachelor's degrees to the top ten per cent of graduating seniors. British secondary schools occasionally have the word "college" in their names.


text: When it comes to the admissions process, applicants are usually asked to solicit "letters of reference" or reference forms from referees in BrE. In AmE, these are called "letters of recommendation" or recommendation forms. Consequently, the writers of these letters are known as "referees" and "recommenders", respectively by country. In AmE, the word "referee" is nearly always understood to refer to an umpire of a sporting match.


text: In the context of education, for AmE, the word "staff" mainly refers to school personnel who are neither administrators nor have teaching loads or academic responsibilities; personnel who have academic responsibilities are referred to as members of their institution's "faculty." In BrE, the word "staff" refers to both academic and non-academic school personnel. As mentioned previously, the term "faculty" in BrE refers more to a collection of related academic departments.


text: In the UK, political candidates "stand for election", while in the US, they "run for office". There is virtually no crossover between BrE and AmE in the use of these terms. Also, the document which contains a party's positions/principles is referred to as a "party platform" in AmE, whereas it is commonly known as a "party manifesto" in BrE. (In AmE, using the term "manifesto" may connote that the party is an extremist or radical organisation.) The term "general election" is used slightly differently in British and American English. In BrE, it refers exclusively to a nationwide parliamentary election and is differentiated from local elections (mayoral and council) and by-elections; whereas in AmE, it refers to a final election for any government position in the US, where the term is differentiated from the term "primary" (an election that determines a party's candidate for the position in question). Additionally, a "by-election" in BrE is called a "special election" in AmE.


text: In AmE, the term "swing state", "swing county", "swing district" is used to denote a jurisdiction/constituency where results are expected to be close but crucial to the overall outcome of the general election. In BrE, the term "marginal constituency" is more often used for the same and "swing" is more commonly used to refer to how much one party has gained (or lost) an advantage over another compared to the previous election.


text: In the UK, the term "government" only refers to what is commonly known in America as the "executive branch" or the particular "administration".


text: A local government in the UK is generically referred to as the "council," whereas in the United States, a local government will be generically referred to as the "City" (or county, village, etc., depending on what kind of entity the government serves).


text: In financial statements, what is referred to in AmE as "revenue" or "sales" is known in BrE as "turnover." In AmE, having "high turnover" in a business context would generally carry negative implications, though the precise meaning would differ by industry.


text: A bankrupt firm "goes into administration" or liquidation in BrE; in AmE it "goes bankrupt", or "files for Chapter 7" (liquidation) or "Chapter 11" (reorganisation). An insolvent individual or partnership "goes bankrupt" in both BrE and AmE.


text: If a finance company takes possession of a mortgaged property from a debtor, it is called "foreclosure" in AmE and "repossession" in BrE. In some limited scenarios, "repossession" may be used in AmE, but it is much less commonly compared to "foreclosure". One common exception in AmE is for automobiles, which are always said to be "repossessed". Indeed, an agent who collects these cars for the bank is colloquially known in AmE as a "repo man".


text: In BrE, the term "curriculum vitae" (commonly abbreviated to "CV") is used to describe the document prepared by applicants containing their credentials required for a job. In AmE, the term "résumé" is more commonly used, with "CV" primarily used in academic or research contexts, and is usually more comprehensive than a "résumé".


text: AmE distinguishes between "coverage" as a noun and "cover" as a verb; an American seeks to buy enough insurance coverage in order to adequately cover a particular risk. BrE uses the word "cover" for both the noun and verb forms.


text: AmE speakers refer to "transportation" and BrE speakers to "transport". ("Transportation" in the UK has traditionally meant the punishment of criminals by deporting them to an overseas penal colony.) In AmE, the word "transport" is usually used only as a verb, seldom as a noun or adjective except in reference to certain specialised objects, such as a "tape transport" or a "military transport" (e.g., a troop transport, a kind of vehicle, not an act of transporting).


text: Differences in terminology are especially obvious in the context of roads. The British term "dual carriageway", in American parlance, would be "divided highway" or perhaps, simply "highway". The "central reservation" on a "motorway" or "dual carriageway" in the UK would be the "median" or "center divide" on a "freeway", "expressway", "highway" or "parkway" in the US. The one-way lanes that make it possible to enter and leave such roads at an intermediate point without disrupting the flow of traffic are known as "slip roads" in the UK but in the US, they are typically known as "ramps" and both further distinguish between "on-ramps" or "on-slips" (for entering onto a highway/carriageway) and "off-ramps" or "exit-slips" (for leaving a highway/carriageway). When American engineers speak of "slip roads", they are referring to a street that runs alongside the main road (separated by a berm) to allow off-the-highway access to the premises that are there; however, the term "frontage road" is more commonly used, as this term is the equivalent of "service road" in the UK. However, it is not uncommon for an American to use "service road" as well instead of "frontage road".


text: In the UK, the term "outside lane" refers to the higher-speed "overtaking lane" ("passing lane" in the US) closest to the centre of the road, while "inside lane" refers to the lane closer to the edge of the road. In the US, "outside lane" is used only in the context of a turn, in which case it depends in which direction the road is turning (i.e., if the road bends right, the left lane is the "outside lane", but if the road bends left, it is the right lane). Both also refer to "slow" and "fast" lanes (even though all actual traffic speeds may be at or around the legal speed limit).


text: In the UK "drink driving" refers to driving after having consumed alcoholic beverages, while in the US, the term is "drunk driving". The legal term in the US is "driving while intoxicated" (DWI) or "driving under the influence (of alcohol)" (DUI). The equivalent legal phrase in the UK is "drunk in charge of a motor vehicle" (DIC) or more commonly "driving with excess alcohol".


text: In the UK, a hire car is the US equivalent of a rental car. The term "hired car" can be especially misleading for those in the US, where the term "hire" is generally only applied to the employment of people and the term "rent" is applied to the temporary custody of goods. To an American, "hired car" would imply that the car has been brought into the employment of an organisation as if it were a person, which would sound nonsensical.


text: In the UK, a saloon is a vehicle that is equivalent to the American sedan. This is particularly confusing to Americans, because in the US the term "saloon" is used in only one context: describing an old bar (UK pub) in the American West (a Western saloon). "Coupé" is used by both to refer to a two-door car, but is usually pronounced with two syllables in the UK (coo-pay) and one syllable in the US (coop).


text: In the UK, "van" may refer to a lorry (UK) of any size, whereas in the US, "van" is only understood to be a very small, boxy truck (US) (such as a "moving van") or a long passenger automobile with several rows of seats (such as a "minivan"). A large, long vehicle used for cargo transport would nearly always be called a "truck" in the US, though alternate terms such as "eighteen-wheeler" may be occasionally heard (regardless of the actual number of tires on the truck).


text: In the UK, a silencer is the equivalent to the US muffler. In the US, the word silencer has only one meaning: an attachment on the barrel of a gun designed to stop the distinctive crack of a gunshot.


text: There are also differences in terminology in the context of rail transport. The best known is "railway" in the UK and "railroad" in North America, but there are several others. A "railway station" in the UK is a "railroad station" in the US, while "train station" is used in both; trains have "drivers" (often called "engine drivers") in the UK, while in America trains are driven by "engineers"; trains have "guards" in the UK and "conductors" in the US, though the latter is also common in the UK; a place where two tracks meet is called a set of "points" in the UK and a "switch" in the US; and a place where a road crosses a railway line at ground level is called a "level crossing" in the UK and a "grade crossing" or "railroad crossing" in America. In the UK, the term "sleeper" is used for the devices that bear the weight of the rails and are known as "ties" or "crossties" in the United States. In a rail context, "sleeper" (more often, "sleeper car") would be understood in the US as a rail car with sleeping quarters for its passengers. The British term "platform" in the sense "The train is at Platform 1" would be known in the US by the term "track", and used in the phrase "The train is on Track 1". The British term "brake van" or "guard's van" is a "caboose" in the US. The American English phrase "All aboard" when boarding a train is rarely used in the UK, and when the train reaches its final stop, in the UK the phrase used by rail personnel is "All change" while in the US it is "All out", though such announcements are uncommon in both regions.


text: For sub-surface rail networks, while "underground" is commonly used in the UK, only the London Underground actually carries this name: the UK's only other such system, the smaller Glasgow Subway, was in fact the first to be called "subway". Nevertheless, both "subway" and "metro" are now more common in the US, varying by city: in Washington D.C., for example, "metro" is used, while in New York City "subway" is preferred. Another variation is the "T" in Boston.


text: Traditionally, a "show" on British television would have referred to a light-entertainment program (BrE "programme") with one or more performers and a participative audience, whereas in American television, the term is used for any type of program. British English traditionally referred to other types of program by their type, such as drama, serial etc., but the term "show" has now taken on the generalised American meaning. In American television the episodes of a program first broadcast in a particular year constitute a "season", while the entire run of the program—which may span several seasons—is called a "series". In British television, on the other hand, the word "series" may apply to the episodes of a program in one particular year, for example, "The 1998 series of "Grange Hill", as well as to the entire run. However, the entire run may occasionally be referred to as a "show".


text: The term "telecast", meaning television broadcast and uncommon even in the US, is not used in British English. A television program would be "broadcast", "aired" or "shown" in both the UK and US.


text: A long-distance call is a "trunk call" in British English, but is a "toll call" in American English, though neither term is well known among younger Americans. The distinction is a result of historical differences in the way local service was billed; the Bell System traditionally flat-rated local calls in all but a few markets, subsidising local service by charging higher rates, or tolls, for intercity calls, allowing local calls to appear to be free. British Telecom (and the British Post Office before it) charged for all calls, local and long distance, so labelling one class of call as "toll" would have been meaningless.


text: Similarly, a toll-free number in America is a freephone number in the UK. The term "freefone" is a BT trademark.


text: In British English, the name of a river is placed after the word (River Thames). In American English, the name is placed before the word (Hudson River).


text: Generally, a non-restrictive relative clause (also called non-defining or supplementary) is one containing information that is supplementary, i.e. does not change the meaning of the rest of the sentence, while a restrictive relative clause (also called defining or integrated) contains information essential to the meaning of the sentence, effectively limiting the modified noun phrase to a subset that is defined by the relative clause.


text: A non-restrictive relative clause is typically set off by commas, whereas a restrictive relative clause is not, but this is not a rule that is universally observed. In speech, this is also reflected in the intonation.


text: Writers commonly use "which" to introduce a non-restrictive clause, and "that" to introduce a restrictive clause. "That" is rarely used to introduce a non-restrictive relative clause in prose. "Which" and "that" are both commonly used to introduce a restrictive clause; a study in 1977 reported that about 75 per cent of occurrences of "which" were in restrictive clauses.


text: H. W. Fowler, in "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage" of 1926, followed others in suggesting that it would be preferable to use "which" as the non-restrictive (what he calls "non-defining") pronoun and "that" as the restrictive (what he calls defining) pronoun, but he also stated that this rule was observed neither by most writers nor by the best writers.


text: Fowler notes that his recommended usage presents problems, in particular that "that" must be the first word of the clause, which means, for instance, that "which" cannot be replaced by "that" when it immediately follows a preposition (e.g. "the basic unit "from which" matter is constructed") – though this would not prevent a stranded preposition (e.g. "the basic unit "that" matter is constructed "from").


text: Style guides by American prescriptivists, such as Bryan Garner, typically insist, for stylistic reasons, that "that" be used for restrictive relative clauses and "which" be used for non-restrictive clauses, referring to the use of "which" in restrictive clauses as a "mistake". According to the 2015 edition of "Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage", "In AmE "which" is 'not generally used in restrictive clauses, and that fact is then interpreted as the absolute rule that only "that" may introduce a restrictive clause', whereas in BrE 'either "that" or "which" may be used in restrictive clauses', but many British people 'believe that "that" is obligatory'".


text: Before the early 18th century English spelling was not standardised. Different standards became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. For the most part current BrE spellings follow those of Samuel Johnson's "Dictionary of the English Language" (1755), while AmE spellings follow those of Noah Webster's "An American Dictionary of the English Language" (1828). In the United Kingdom, the influences of those who preferred the French spellings of certain words proved decisive. In many cases AmE spelling deviated from mainstream British spelling; on the other hand it has also often retained older forms. Many of the now characteristic AmE spellings were popularised, although often not created, by Noah Webster. Webster chose already-existing alternative spellings "on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology". Webster did attempt to introduce some reformed spellings, as did the Simplified Spelling Board in the early 20th century, but most were not adopted. Later spelling changes in the UK had little effect on present-day US spelling, and vice versa.


text: There have been some trends of transatlantic difference in use of periods in some abbreviations. These are discussed at "Abbreviation § Periods (full stops) and spaces". Unit symbols such as kg and Hz are never punctuated.


text: In British English, "( )" marks are often referred to as brackets, whereas "[ ]" are called square brackets and "{ }" are called curly brackets. In formal British English and in American English "( )" marks are parentheses (singular: parenthesis), "[ ]" are called brackets or square brackets, and "{ }" can be called either curly brackets or braces. Despite the different names, these marks are used in the same way in both varieties.


text: British and American English differ in the preferred quotation mark style, including the placement of commas and periods. In American English, " and ' are called quotation marks, whereas in British English, " and ' are referred to as either inverted commas or speech marks. Additionally, in American English direct speech typically uses the double quote mark ( " ), whereas in British English it is common to use the inverted comma ( ' ).


text: American newspapers commonly use a comma as a shorthand for "and" in headlines. For example, "The Washington Post" had the headline "A TRUE CONSERVATIVE: For McCain, Bush Has Both Praise, Advice."


text: There are many differences in the writing and speaking of English numerals, most of which are matters of style, with the notable exception of different definitions for billion.


text: The two countries have different conventions for floor numbering. The UK uses a mixture of the metric system and Imperial units, where in the US, United States customary units are dominant in everyday life with a few fields using the metric system.


text: Monetary amounts in the range of one to two major currency units are often spoken differently. In AmE one may say "a dollar fifty" or "a pound eighty", whereas in BrE these amounts would be expressed "one dollar fifty" and "one pound eighty". For amounts over a dollar an American will generally either drop denominations or give both dollars and cents, as in "two-twenty" or "two dollars and twenty cents" for $2.20. An American would not say "two dollars twenty". On the other hand, in BrE, "two-twenty" or "two pounds twenty" would be most common.


text: It is more common to hear a British-English speaker say "one thousand two hundred dollars" than "a thousand and two hundred dollars", although the latter construct is common in AmE. In British English, the "and" comes after the hundreds ("one thousand, two hundred and thirty dollars"). The term "twelve hundred dollars", popular in AmE, is frequently used in BrE but only for exact multiples of 100 up to 1,900. Speakers of BrE very rarely hear amounts over 1,900 expressed in hundreds, for example, "twenty-three hundred". In AmE it would not be unusual to refer to a high, uneven figure such as 2,307 as "twenty-three hundred and seven".


text: In BrE, particularly in television or radio advertisements, integers can be pronounced individually in the expression of amounts. For example, "on sale for £399" might be expressed "on sale for three nine nine", though the full "three hundred and ninety-nine pounds" is at least as common. An American advertiser would almost always say "on sale for three ninety-nine", with context distinguishing $399 from $3.99. In British English the latter pronunciation implies a value in pounds and pence, so "three ninety-nine" would be understood as £3.99.


text: In spoken BrE the word "pound" is sometimes colloquially used for the plural as well. For example, "three pound forty" and "twenty pound a week" are both heard in British English. Some other currencies do not change in the plural; yen and rand being examples. This is in addition to normal adjectival use, as in "a twenty-pound-a-week pay-rise" (US "raise"). The euro most often takes a regular plural "-s" in practice despite the EU dictum that it should remain invariable in formal contexts; the invariable usage is more common in Ireland, where it is the official currency.


text: In BrE the use of "p" instead of "pence" is common in spoken usage. Each of the following has equal legitimacy: "3 pounds 12 p"; "3 pounds and 12 p"; "3 pounds 12 pence"; "3 pounds and 12 pence"; as well as just "8 p" or "8 pence". In everyday usage the amount is simply read as figures (£3.50 = three pounds fifty) as in AmE.


text: AmE uses words such as "nickel", "dime", and "quarter" for small coins. In BrE the usual usage is "a 10-pence piece" or "a 10p piece" or simply "a 10p", for any coin below £1, "pound coin" and "two-pound coin". BrE did have specific words for a number of coins before decimalisation. Formal coin names such as "half crown" (2/6) and "florin" (2/-), as well as slang or familiar names such as "bob" (1/-) and "tanner" (6d) for pre-decimalisation coins are still familiar to older BrE speakers but they are not used for modern coins. In older terms like "two-bob bit" (2/-) and "thrupenny bit" (3d), the word "bit" had common usage before decimalisation similar to that of "piece" today.


text: In order to make explicit the amount in words on a check (BrE "cheque"), Americans write "three and " (using this solidus construction or with a horizontal division line): they do not need to write the word "dollars" as it is usually already printed on the check. On a cheque UK residents would write "three pounds and 24 pence", "three pounds ‒ 24", or "three pounds ‒ 24p" since the currency unit is not preprinted. To make unauthorised amendment difficult, it is useful to have an expression terminator even when a whole number of dollars/pounds is in use: thus, Americans would write "three and " or "three and " on a three-dollar check (so that it cannot easily be changed to, for example, "three million"), and UK residents would write "three pounds only".


text: Dates are usually written differently in the short (numerical) form. Christmas Day 2000, for example, is 25/12/00 or 25.12.00 in the UK and 12/25/00 in the US, although the formats 25/12/2000, 25.12.2000, and 12/25/2000 now have more currency than they had before Y2K. Occasionally other formats are encountered, such as the ISO 8601 2000-12-25, popular among programmers, scientists and others seeking to avoid ambiguity, and to make alphanumerical order coincide with chronological order. The difference in short-form date order can lead to misunderstanding, especially when using software or equipment that uses the foreign format. For example, 06/04/05 could mean either June 4, 2005 (if read as US format), 6 April 2005 (if seen as in UK format) or even 5 April 2006 if taken to be an older ISO 8601-style format where 2-digit years were allowed.


text: When using the name of the month rather than the number to write a date in the UK, the recent standard style is for the day to precede the month, e. g., 21 April. Month preceding date is almost invariably the style in the US, and was common in the UK until the late twentieth century. British usage normally changes the day from an integer to an ordinal, i.e., 21st instead of 21. In speech, "of" and "the" are used in the UK, as in "the 21st of April". In written language, the words "the" and "of" may be and are usually dropped, i.e., 21st April. The US would say this as "April 21st", and this form is still common in the UK. One of the few exceptions in American English is saying "the Fourth of July" as a shorthand for the United States Independence Day. In the US military the British forms are used, but the day is read cardinally, while among some speakers of New England and Southern American English varieties and who come from those regions but live elsewhere, those forms are common, even in formal contexts.


text: Phrases such as the following are common in the UK but are generally unknown in the US: "A week today", "a week tomorrow", "a week (on) Tuesday" and "Tuesday week"; these all refer to a day which is more than a week into the future. "A fortnight Friday" and "Friday fortnight" refer to a day two weeks after the coming Friday). "A week on Tuesday" and "a fortnight on Friday" could refer either to a day in the past ("it's a week on Tuesday, you need to get another one") or in the future ("see you a week on Tuesday"), depending on context. In the US the standard construction is "a week from today", "a week from tomorrow", etc. BrE speakers may also say "Thursday last" or "Thursday gone" where AmE would prefer "last Thursday". "I'll see you (on) Thursday coming" or "let's meet this coming Thursday" in BrE refer to a meeting later this week, while "not until Thursday next" would refer to next week. In BrE there is also common use of the term 'Thursday after next' or 'week after next' meaning 2 weeks in the future and 'Thursday before last' and 'week before last' meaning 2 weeks in the past, but not when referring to times more than 2 weeks been or gone or when using the terms tomorrow today or yesterday then in BrE you would say '5 weeks on Tuesday' or '2 weeks yesterday'.


text: The 24-hour clock ("18:00", "18.00" or "1800") is considered normal in the UK and Europe in many applications including air, rail and bus timetables; it is largely unused in the US outside military, police, aviation and medical applications. As a result, many Americans refer to the 24-hour clock as "military time". Some British English style guides recommend the full stop (.) when telling time, compared to American English which uses colons (:) (i.e., 11:15 PM/pm/p.m. or 23:15 for AmE and 11.15 pm or 23.15 for BrE). Usually in the military (and sometimes in the police, aviation and medical) applications on both sides of the Atlantic "0800" and "1800" are read as ("oh/zero") "eight hundred" and "eighteen hundred" hours respectively. Even in the UK, "hundred" follows "twenty", "twenty-one", "twenty-two" and "twenty-three" when reading "2000", "2100", "2200" and "2300" according to those applications.


text: Fifteen minutes after the hour is called "quarter past" in British usage and "a quarter after" or, less commonly, "a quarter past" in American usage. Fifteen minutes before the hour is usually called "quarter to" in British usage and "a quarter of", "a quarter to" or "a quarter 'til" in American usage; the form "a quarter to" is associated with parts of the Northern United States, while "a quarter 'til" or "till" is found chiefly in the Appalachian region. Thirty minutes after the hour is commonly called "half past" in both BrE and AmE; "half after" used to be more common in the US. In informal British speech, the preposition is sometimes omitted, so that 5:30 may be referred to as "half five"; this construction is entirely foreign to US speakers, who would possibly interpret "half five" as 4:30 (halfway to 5:00) rather than 5:30. The AmE formations "top of the hour" and "bottom of the hour" are not used in BrE. Forms such as "eleven forty" are common in both varieties. To be simple and direct in telling time, no terms relating to fifteen or thirty minutes before/after the hour are used; rather the time is told exactly as for example "nine fifteen", "ten forty-five".


text: In sports statistics, certain percentages such as those for winning or win–loss records and saves in field or ice hockey and association football are almost always expressed as a decimal proportion to three places in AmE and are usually read aloud as if they are whole numbers, e.g. (0).500 or five hundred, hence the phrase "games/matches over five hundred", whereas in BrE they are also expressed but as true percentages instead, after multiplying the decimal by 100%, that is, 50% or "fifty per cent" and "games/matches over 50% or 50 per cent". However, "games/matches over 50% or 50 percent" is also found in AmE, albeit sporadically, e.g., hitting percentages in volleyball.


text: The American practice of expressing so-called percentages in sports statistics as decimals originated with baseball's batting averages, developed by English-born statistician and historian Henry Chadwick.


text: Linguist Braj Kachru, quoted by "The Christian Science Monitor" in 1996, stated that "American English is spreading faster than British English". The "Monitor" stated that English taught in Europe and the Commonwealth is more British-influenced, while English taught in Latin America is more American-influenced; however, most English use outside the classroom is more influenced by the United States: Americans greatly outnumber Britons; in addition, as of 1993, the United States originated 75 per cent of the world's TV programming. A BBC columnist assessed in 2015 that "American English is the current dominant force globally, like it or not".


title: Almond milk

text: Almond milk is a plant-based milk with a watery texture and nutty flavor manufactured from almonds, although some types or brands are flavored in imitation of cow's milk. It does not contain cholesterol or lactose and is low in saturated fat. Almond milk is often consumed by those who are lactose-intolerant and others, such as vegans, who avoid dairy products. Commercial almond milk comes in sweetened, unsweetened, vanilla and chocolate flavors, and is usually fortified with micronutrients. It can also be made at home using a blender, almonds and water.


title: Almond milk

text: Global almond milk sales in 2018 were US$5.8 billion, growing at 14% per year, and forecast to be a $13 billion global market by 2025.


title: Almond milk

text: Almond milk was used as a substitute for animal milk in the Middle Ages in areas that followed Catholic fasting doctrines. Historian Carolyn Walker Bynum notes that:


title: Almond milk

text: medieval cookbooks suggest that the aristocracy observed fasting strictly, if legalistically. Meat-day and fish-day recipes were not separated in medieval recipe collections, as they were in later, better-organized cookbooks. But the most basic dishes were given in fast-day as well as


title: Almond milk

text: ordinary-day versions. For example, a thin split-pea puree, sometimes enriched with fish stock or almond milk (produced by simmering ground almonds in water), replaced meat broth on fast days; and almond milk was a general (and expensive) substitute for cow's milk.


title: Almond milk

text: In the United States, almond milk remained a niche health food item until the early 2000s, when its popularity began to increase. In 2011 alone, almond milk sales increased by 79%. In 2013, it surpassed soy milk as the most popular plant-based milk in the US. As of 2014 it comprised 60 percent of plant-milk sales and 4.1 percent of total milk sales in the US.


title: Almond milk

text: Manufacturers and distributors of animal milk have advocated that plant-based milk not be labelled as "milk". They complain that consumers may be confused between the two, and that plant-based milks are not necessarily as nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals. In the United States, as of 2021, though the USDA is investigating and various state legislatures are considering regulation, various courts have determines that reasonable consumers are not confused, and the FDA has enacted no regulations against plant-based milk labels. European Union regulations require "milk" be used for animals only, except coconut milk. (See .)


title: Almond milk

text: Within the Italian regions of Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and Campania, almond milk is a protected traditional agricultural product.


title: Almond milk

text: If unfortified, almond milk has less vitamin D than fortified cows' milk; in North America, cows' milk must be fortified with vitamin D, but vitamins are added to plant milks on a voluntary basis. Vitamin E is released from the almonds and absorbed. The positive effects of the vitamin E includes strengthening the cells. Because of its low protein content, almond milk is not a suitable replacement for breast milk, cows' milk, or hydrolyzed formulas for children under two years of age.


title: Almond milk

text: The general production method involves soaking and grinding almonds in an excess of water. A milky white liquid is obtained after filtering the almond pulp (flesh). Almond milk can also be made by adding water to almond butter. In commercial production, almond milk is homogenised with high pressure and pasteurised for greater stability and shelf life.


title: Almond milk

text: In July 2015, a class action lawsuit was filed in New York City against two American manufacturers, Blue Diamond Growers and White Wave Foods, for false advertising regarding the small quantity of almonds (only 2%) contained in the final product. In October 2015, a judge denied the plaintiff's request for an injunction.


title: Almond milk

text: Almond production in California is concentrated mainly in the Central Valley, where the mild climate, rich soil, and abundant sunshine and water supply make for ideal growing conditions. Due to the persistent droughts in California in the early 21st century, it became more difficult to raise almonds in a sustainable manner.


title: Almond milk

text: Almond sustainability is challenged because of the high amount of water needed to grow almonds: a single glass of almond milk requires roughly of water to produce. Among plant-based milks, almond milk requires substantially more water during the growing and production stages than soy, rice or oat milk (graph). Dairy milk requires more water to produce than almond milk (graph). In 2014, California produced 42.3 billion pounds of cow's milk and only 2.14 billion pounds of almond milk.


title: Franz Halder

text: Franz Halder (30 June 1884 – 2 April 1972) was a German general and the chief of staff of the Army High Command (OKH) in Nazi Germany from 1938 until September 1942. During World War II, he directed the planning and implementation of Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. Halder became instrumental in the radicalisation of warfare on the Eastern Front. He had his staff draft both the Commissar Order (issued on 6 June 1941) and the Barbarossa Decree (signed on 13 May 1941) that allowed German soldiers to execute Soviet citizens for any reason without fear of later prosecution, leading to numerous war crimes and atrocities during the campaign. After the war, he had a decisive role in the development of the myth of the clean "Wehrmacht".


title: Franz Halder

text: Halder began his military service in 1914. In 1937 he met and became a loyal supporter of Adolf Hitler. Halder participated in the strategic planning for the 1939 German invasion of Poland. The plans authorised the SS to carry out security taskson behalf of the armythat included the imprisonment or execution of Poles. In July 1940 he began planning for the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, which began on 22 June 1941. That summer Halder engaged in a long-running and divisive dispute with Hitler over strategy. Hitler removed Halder from command in September 1942. After the 20 July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, Halder was arrested as it came to light that he had been involved in an earlier plot, leading to his imprisonment. As chief of OKH General Staff, he had kept extensive notes, later published as "The Halder Diaries".


title: Franz Halder

text: After World War II Halder served as a lead consultant for the US Army Historical Division. He oversaw the writing of over 2,500 historical documents by 700 former German officers, whom he instructed to remove material detrimental to the image of the German armed forces. Halder used his influence to foster a false history of the German-Soviet conflict in which the German army fought a "noble war" and which denied its war crimes. The US Army overlooked Halder's apologia because Halder's group was providing military insights on the Soviet Union that it deemed important in the light of the Cold War. Halder succeeded in his aim of exonerating the German Army: first with the US military, then amongst widening circles of politicians and eventually in American popular culture. In 1961, he was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, becoming the only German ever to be decorated both by Hitler and by an American president. The praise which he received starkly contrasted with the reality of his military career and the atrocities on the Eastern Front.


title: Franz Halder

text: Halder was born in Würzburg, the son of an officer. In 1902, he joined an artillery regiment under the command of his father. Halder was educated at the Bavarian War Academy, graduating in 1914. During World War I, he served in a variety of staff roles and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. In 1919, he was transferred to the "Reichswehr", where he served in staff and training roles, including under Walther von Brauchitsch in the army training department. In 1931, he was appointed as chief of staff of a military district. After being promoted to "generalmajor" (general-major) in October 1934, Halder served as the commander of the 7th Infantry Division in Munich.


title: Franz Halder

text: In August 1936, Halder was promoted to "generalleutnant" (lieutenant-general). He then became the director of the Manoeuvres Staff of the "Wehrmacht". Between October 1937 and February 1938, Halder served as director of the Training Branch, on the General Staff of the Army, in Berlin. During the 1937 "Wehrmacht" manoeuvres, Halder met Adolf Hitler and became a loyal supporter. This personal contact also enabled him to progress through the ranks quickly.


title: Franz Halder

text: On 1 February 1938, Halder was promoted to general of the Artillery. He was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Army High Command on 1 September. He succeeded General Ludwig Beck who had resigned on 18 August amid the Sudetenland crisis. Halder was approached by conservative nationalist officers about heading the envisaged coup d'état should Hitler start a war, but he declined. Halder discussed the situation informally with US diplomat Raymond Geist and indicated that the Army feared that Hitler was about to start a war with the West. In any case, the war was averted by the conclusion of the Munich Agreement that ceded Sudetenland to Germany.


title: Franz Halder

text: Halder participated in the strategic planning for the Invasion of Poland. His plans authorised the SS to carry out security tasks on behalf of the army that included the imprisonment or execution of Polish citizens, whether Jewish or gentile. On 1 September 1939, the German offensive began, resulting in declarations of war by France and the British Empire. On 19 September, Halder noted in his diary that he had received information from Reinhard Heydrich. The SS were beginning their campaign to "clean house" in Poland of Jews, intelligentsia, Catholic clergy, and the aristocracy. Halder was aware of The Holocaust but did not object to the murders. He dismissed the crimes as aberrations and refused one general's request to pursue the SS and police perpetrators.


title: Franz Halder

text: At the end of 1939, Halder oversaw the development of the invasion plans of France, the Low Countries and the Balkans. During a meeting with Hitler on 5 November Walther von Brauchitsch, the Army commander-in-chief, attempted to talk Hitler into putting off the invasion of France. Hitler refused and berated Brauchitsch for incompetence. As a consequence, Halder and Brauchitsch discussed overthrowing Hitler because they feared the invasion was doomed. They decided against the idea. On 23 November 1939 Carl Friedrich Goerdeler met with Halder to ask him to reconsider his decision. He refused, saying that Hitler was a great leader, and "one does not rebel when face to face with the enemy". Halder's contemplation of resistance to Hitler owed more to political turf battles than it did to disagreement over the regime's racism and antisemitism.


title: Franz Halder

text: General Erich von Manstein's bold plan for invading France through the Ardennes Forest proved successful, and ultimately led to the fall of France. On 19 July 1940, Halder was promoted to "generaloberst" (colonel-general) and began to receive undisclosed monthly extralegal payments from Hitler that effectively doubled his already large wage. The payments helped ensure his loyalty to Hitler and reduced his qualms over sending millions of men to their deaths.


title: Franz Halder

text: On 30 March 1941 Halder attended the conference where Hitler described the planned invasion to about 200 senior "Wehrmacht" officers. He later wrote in his diary, summarising Hitler's remarks:


title: Franz Halder

text: Halder was instrumental in the subsequent preparation and implementation of war crimes during the invasion of the Soviet Union. He had his staff draft both the Commissar Order and the Barbarossa Decree without Hitler's instruction or interference. The author of the orders was Eugen Müller, who reported on his work directly to Halder. The Commissar Order required political commissars to be executed immediately when captured. Halder also insisted that a clause be added to the Barbarossa Decree giving officers the right to raze whole villages and execute the inhabitants. The decree freed soldiers from any form of prosecution for war crimes committed in the East. The decree had no specific target: Soviet citizens could be killed at any time and for any reason. Until this time only the SS could kill citizens without fear of later prosecution. These orders allowed officers throughout the army to execute citizens with no repercussions. Ulrich von Hassell, discussing the orders given by Halder, said the conquered population were being controlled by despotism. He added that Germans were being turned into a type of being that previously existed only in enemy propaganda. Omer Bartov described the orders as "the barbarisation of warfare".


title: Franz Halder

text: The offensive began on 22 June 1941 where the German forces initially met muted resistance. Halder brashly wrote in his diary on 3 July that the war was already won. Nicolaus von Below reported that this confidence was shared at Fuhrer Headquarters in the month of July. Halder's confidence was dashed with dramatic effect in early August with the arrival of new intelligence information from his Foreign Armies East. He wrote in his diary on 11 August that he had underestimated the "Russian colossus". At the start of the campaign, he had reckoned the enemy had 200 divisions, but now 360 had been counted. He added: "We destroy a dozen of them, then the Russians put another dozen in their place." In mid-August, the German advance had stalled, and at the same time, effective long-term defence was impossible so far from friendly territory. Halder wrote of the situation: "Everything that has so far been achieved is for nothing." During that summer, Hitler and the Army General Staff led by Halder had been engaged in a long and divisive dispute over strategy. By mid-September, it was clear Operation Barbarossa had failed in its central objective to quickly overcome the Soviet Union.


title: Franz Halder

text: Operation Typhoon, the German offensive at the Battle of Moscow, began on 2 October 1941. In early October, the German forces encircled the bulk of the Soviet armies defending the capital city in the Vyazma and Bryansk pocket. Halder determined the strategy for Typhoon, and it was subsequently endorsed by Hitler. Typhoon had the same basic flaw as Barbarossa; officers on the front line were unable to change Halder's objectives even when those objectives were impossible.


title: Franz Halder

text: The Barbarossa Decree and Commissar Order became a fundamental aspect of the battle for Moscow. By this time, thousands of Soviet civilians and defenceless prisoners in already occupied Russia were being murdered every day. The killings were unprecedented in the modern era and radicalised the defence of Moscow. On 5 December Operation Typhoon was over. Halder wrote in his diary there was no more strength and a withdrawal may be necessary. The withdrawal, when it came, was dictated by the Soviet army. The crisis on the battlefield prompted Hitler to remove von Brauchitsch and assume command of OKH himself.


title: Franz Halder

text: Halder vehemently pushed for a blitzkrieg assault on Moscow and believed if the capital could be taken the war would be won. However, he did not understand the fundamental underpinnings of blitzkrieg and the impossibility of carrying out a lightning war in the vast expanse of the Soviet Union. Even if Moscow had fallen, Stalin would have moved his base of operations farther east and the war would have continued.


title: Franz Halder

text: David Stahel writes: "The Soviet Union was nothing less than a militarised juggernaut and, while deeply wounded in Germany's 1941 campaign, there is no evidence to suggest it was about to collapse either politically or militarily." The responsibility for the failure fell on Halder, Hitler and Fedor von Bock. The war in the Soviet Union and the winter that followed was one of the worst chapters in the history of the German army—there were over one million casualties.


title: Franz Halder

text: In the spring of 1942, Halder, along with the German high command, began planning a new ambitious offensive in the Soviet Union. This was despite the heavy losses the "Wehrmacht" had suffered in 1941. Under the code name "Case Blue", the plan envisaged an offensive against the southern sector of the front. The aim was to capture the Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus. The directive for the offensive was issued by Hitler on 5 April 1942, envisaging a complex sequence of staggered operations. The offensive began on 28 June 1942 and at the outset appeared successful; Friedrich Paulus cut through a defensive position with ease and Bock wrote: "There was nothing left: The enemy has not succeeded in organizing a new defense anywhere."


title: Franz Halder

text: The Soviet army had adopted a new strategy known as the "elastic defence" that was highly uncharacteristic of prior engagements and left the German army closing in on an enemy that had already left. Confusion ensued leading to the failure of the campaign. Bock was removed as Commander of Army Group B, replaced by Maximillian von Weichs and Halder was marginalised. The relationship between Hitler and Halder became strained. Halder's diary entries became increasingly sarcastic, and Hitler mocked him. On one occasion Hitler said Halder had spent World War I in an office "sitting on that same swivel stool". On 24 September Hitler replaced Halder as Chief of Staff of the OKH with Kurt Zeitzler and retired him to the Führer Reserve.


title: Franz Halder

text: On 23 July 1944, after the failed 20 July assassination attempt on Hitler's life by German Army officers, the Gestapo arrested Halder. Although he was not involved in 20 July plot, intense interrogations of the conspirators revealed that Halder had been involved in earlier conspiracies against Hitler. Halder was imprisoned at both the Flossenbürg and Dachau concentration camps. Halder's wife Gertrud chose, and was allowed, to accompany her husband into imprisonment. He had no complaints about the quarters or provisions and was not treated poorly. He was in VIP company that included former French premier Leon Blum and former Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg. On 31 January 1945, Halder was officially dismissed from the army. In the last days of April 1945, together with other "special" prisoners, he was transferred to the South Tyrol where he was liberated by US troops.


title: Franz Halder

text: Before the invasion of the Soviet Union, three million soldiers destined for the front received a key order. It was titled "Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia". The language was determined by Halder. It described Bolshevism as the "mortal enemy of the National Socialist German people" and urged German forces to "crack down hard" and "eliminate all resistance". Jews were mentioned in the order and intended to be part of the elimination. In April 1941 Halder drafted an order for the security police and Security Service during Operation Marita. The order defined the enemy as saboteurs, terrorists, communists and Jews. The "criminal orders" drafted by Halder document his solidarity with Hitler's antisemitic and racist policies. The commanders under Halder including Erich Hoepner, Erich von Manstein and Walter von Reichenau gave antisemitic speeches and orders.