title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The British government issued the Declaration, a public statement announcing support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, on 2 November 1917. The opening words of the declaration represented the first public expression of support for Zionism by a major political power. The term "national home" had no precedent in international law, and was intentionally vague about whether a Jewish state was contemplated. The intended boundaries of Palestine were not specified, and the British government later confirmed that the words "in Palestine" meant that the Jewish national home was not intended to cover all of Palestine. The second half of the declaration was added to satisfy opponents of the policy, who said that it would otherwise prejudice the position of the local population of Palestine and encourage antisemitism worldwide by (according to the presidents of the Conjoint Committee, David L. Alexander and Claude Montefiore in a letter to the "Times") "stamping the Jews as strangers in their native lands". The declaration called for safeguarding the civil and religious rights for the Palestinian Arabs, who composed the vast majority of the local population, and the rights of Jewish communities in any other country.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The Balfour Declaration was subsequently incorporated into the Mandate for Palestine to put the declaration into effect. Unlike the declaration itself, the Mandate was legally binding on the British government.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Between July 1915 and March 1916, a series of ten letters were exchanged between Sharif Hussein bin Ali, the head of the Hashemite family that had ruled the Hejaz as vassals for almost a millennium, and Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner to Egypt. In the letters – particularly that of 24 October 1915 – the British government agreed to recognise Arab independence after the war in exchange for the Sharif of Mecca launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Whilst there was some military value in the Arab manpower and local knowledge alongside the British Army, the primary reason for the arrangement was to counteract the Ottoman declaration of "jihad" ("holy war") against the Allies, and to maintain the support of the 70 million Muslims in British India (particularly those in the Indian Army that had been deployed in all major theatres of the wider war).


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The area of Arab independence was defined as "in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif of Mecca", with the exclusion of a coastal area lying to the west of "the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo"; conflicting interpretations of this description caused great controversy in subsequent years. A particular dispute, which continues to the present, was whether Palestine was part of the coastal exclusion. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George told his French counterpart Georges Clemenceau and the other allies that the McMahon-Hussein correspondence was a treaty obligation.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Around the same time, another secret treaty was negotiated between the United Kingdom and France (with assent by the Russian Empire and Italy) to define their mutually-agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire. The primary negotiations leading to the agreement occurred between 23 November 1915 and 3 January 1916; on 3 January the British and French diplomats Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot initialled an agreed memorandum. The agreement was ratified by their respective governments on 9 and 16 May 1916. The agreement allocated to Britain control of present-day southern Israel and Palestine, Jordan and southern Iraq, and an additional small area including the ports of Haifa and Acre to allow access to the Mediterranean. The Palestine region, with smaller boundaries than the later Mandatory Palestine, was to fall under an "international administration". The agreement was initially used as the basis for the 1918 Anglo–French Modus Vivendi, which provided a framework for the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) in the Levant.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The mandate system was created in the wake of World War I as a compromise between Woodrow Wilson's ideal of self-determination, set out in his Fourteen Points speech of January 1918, and the European powers' desire for gains for their empires. It was established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, entered into on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, and came into force on 10 January 1920 with the rest of the treaty. Article 22 was written two months before the signing of the peace treaty, before it was agreed exactly which communities, peoples, or territories would be covered by the three types of mandate set out in sub-paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 – Class A "formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire", Class B "of Central Africa" and Class C "South-West Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands". The treaty was signed and the peace conference adjourned before a formal decision was made.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Two governing principles formed the core of the mandate system: non-annexation of the territory and its administration as a "sacred trust of civilisation" to develop the territory for the benefit of its native people. The mandate system differed fundamentally from the protectorate system which preceded it, in that the mandatory power's obligations to the inhabitants of the territory were supervised by a third party: the League of Nations. The mandates were to act as legal instruments containing the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering certain post-World War I territories on behalf of the League of Nations. These were of the nature of a treaty and a constitution, which contained minority-rights clauses that provided for the rights of petition and adjudication by the World Court.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The process of establishing the mandates consisted of two phases: the formal removal of sovereignty of the state previously controlling the territory, followed by the transfer of mandatory powers to individual states among the Allied powers. According to the Council of the League of Nations meeting of August 1920, "draft mandates adopted by the Allied and Associated Powers would not be definitive until they had been considered and approved by the League ... the legal title held by the mandatory Power must be a double one: one conferred by the Principal Powers and the other conferred by the League of Nations." Three steps were required to establish a mandate: "(1) The Principal Allied and Associated Powers confer a mandate on one of their number or on a third power; (2) the principal powers officially notify the council of the League of Nations that a certain power has been appointed mandatory for such a certain defined territory; and (3) the council of the League of Nations takes official cognisance of the appointment of the mandatory power and informs the latter that it [the council] considers it as invested with the mandate, and at the same time notifies it of the terms of the mandate, after ascertaining whether they are in conformance with the provisions of the covenant."


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Discussions about the assignment of the region's control began immediately after the war ended and continued at the Paris Peace Conference and the February 1920 Conference of London, and the assignment was made at the April 1920 San Remo conference. The Allied Supreme Council granted the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia to Britain, and those for Syria and Lebanon to France.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: In anticipation of the Peace Conference, the British devised a "Sharifian Solution" to "[make] straight all the tangle" of their various wartime commitments. This proposed that three sons of Sharif Hussein – who had since become King of the Hejaz, and his sons emirs (princes) – would be installed as kings of newly created countries across the region agreed between McMahon and Hussein in 1915. The Hashemite delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, led by Hussein's third son Emir Faisal, had been invited by the British to represent the Arabs at the conference; they had wanted Palestine to be part of the proposed Arab state, and later modified this request to an Arab state under a British mandate. The delegation made two initial . The 1 January 1919 memorandum referred to the goal of "unit[ing] the Arabs eventually into one nation", defining the Arab regions as "from a line Alexandretta – Persia southward to the Indian Ocean". The 29 January memorandum stipulated that "from the line Alexandretta – Diarbekr southward to the Indian Ocean" (with the boundaries of any new states) were "matters for arrangement between us, after the wishes of their respective inhabitants have been ascertained", in a reference to Woodrow Wilson's policy of self-determination. In his 6 February 1919 presentation to the Paris Peace Conference, Faisal (speaking on behalf of King Hussein) asked for Arab independence or at least the right to choose the mandatory. The Hashemites had fought with the British during the war, and received an annual subsidy from Britain; according to the confidential appendix to the August 1919 King-Crane Commission report, "the French resent the payment by the English to the Emir Faisal of a large monthly subsidy, which they claim covers a multitude of bribes, and enables the British to stand off and show clean hands while Arab agents do dirty work in their interest."


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The World Zionist Organization delegation to the Peace Conference – led by Chaim Weizmann, who had been the driving force behind the Balfour Declaration – also asked for a British mandate, asserting the "historic title of the Jewish people to Palestine". The confidential appendix to the King-Crane Commission report noted that "The Jews are distinctly for Britain as mandatory power, because of the Balfour declaration." The Zionists met with Faisal two weeks before the start of the conference in order to resolve their differences; the resulting Faisal–Weizmann Agreement was signed on 3 January 1919. Together with letter written by T. E. Lawrence in Faisal's name to Felix Frankfurter in March 1919, the agreement was used by the Zionist delegation to argue that their plans for Palestine had prior Arab approval; however, the Zionists omitted Faisal's handwritten caveat that the agreement was conditional on Palestine being within the area of Arab independence.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The French privately ceded Palestine and Mosul to the British in a December 1918 amendment to the Sykes–Picot Agreement; the amendment was finalised at a meeting in Deauville in September 1919. Matters were confirmed at the San Remo conference, which formally assigned the mandate for Palestine to the United Kingdom under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Although France required the continuation of its religious protectorate in Palestine, Italy and Great Britain opposed it. France lost the religious protectorate but, thanks to the Holy See, continued to enjoy liturgical honors in Mandatory Palestine until 1924 (when the honours were abolished). As Weizmann reported to his WZO colleagues in London in May 1920, the boundaries of the mandated territories were unspecified at San Remo and would "be determined by the Principal Allied Powers" at a later stage.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Under the terms of the 1915 McMahon-Hussein Correspondence and the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement, Transjordan was intended to become part of an Arab state or a confederation of Arab states. British forces retreated in spring 1918 from Transjordan after their first and second attacks on the territory, indicating their political ideas about its future; they had intended the area to become part of an Arab Syrian state. The British subsequently defeated the Ottoman forces in Transjordan in late September 1918, just a few weeks before the Ottoman Empire's overall surrender.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Transjordan was not mentioned during the 1920 discussions at San Remo, at which the Mandate for Palestine was awarded. Britain and France agreed that the eastern border of Palestine would be the Jordan river as laid out in the Sykes–Picot Agreement. That year, two principles emerged from the British government. The first was that the Palestine government would not extend east of the Jordan; the second was the government's chosen – albeit disputed – interpretation of the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, which proposed that Transjordan be included in the area of "Arab independence" (excluding Palestine).


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Regarding Faisal's Arab Kingdom of Syria, the French removed Hashim al-Atassi's newly proclaimed nationalist government and expelled King Faisal from Syria after the 23 July 1920 Battle of Maysalun. The French formed a new Damascus state after the battle, and refrained from extending their rule into the southern part of Faisal's domain; Transjordan became for a time a no-man's land or, as Samuel put it, "politically derelict".


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: After the French occupation, the British suddenly wanted to know "what is the 'Syria' for which the French received a mandate at San Remo?" and "does it include Transjordania?". British Foreign Minister Lord Curzon ultimately decided that it did not; Transjordan would remain independent, but in a close relationship with Palestine. On 6 August 1920, Curzon wrote to newly appointed High Commissioner Herbert Samuel about Transjordan: "I suggest that you should let it be known forthwith that in the area south of the Sykes–Picot line, we will not admit French authority and that our policy for this area to be independent but in closest relations with Palestine." Samuel replied to Curzon, "After the fall of Damascus a fortnight ago ... Sheiks and tribes east of Jordan utterly dissatisfied with Shareefian Government most unlikely would accept revival", and asked to put parts of Transjordan directly under his administrative control. Two weeks later, on 21 August, Samuel visited Transjordan without authorisation from London; at a meeting with 600 leaders in Salt, he announced the independence of the area from Damascus and its absorption into the mandate (proposing to quadruple the area under his control by tacit capitulation). Samuel assured his audience that Transjordan would not be merged with Palestine. Curzon was in the process of reducing British military expenditures, and was unwilling to commit significant resources to an area considered of marginal strategic value. He immediately repudiated Samuel's action, and sent (via the Foreign Office) a reiteration of his instructions to minimize the scope of British involvement in the area: "There must be no question of setting up any British administration in that area". At the end of September 1920, Curzon instructed an Assistant Secretary at the Foreign Office, Robert Vansittart, to leave the eastern boundary of Palestine undefined and avoid "any definite connection" between Transjordan and Palestine to leave the way open for an Arab government in Transjordan. Curzon subsequently wrote in February 1921, "I am very concerned about Transjordania ... Sir H.Samuel wants it as an annex of Palestine and an outlet for the Jews. Here I am against him."


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Abdullah, the brother of recently deposed King Faisal, marched into Ma'an at the head of an army of from 300 to 2,000 men on 21 November 1920. Between then and the end of March 1921, Abdullah's army occupied all of Transjordan with some local support and no British opposition.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The Cairo Conference was convened on 12 March 1921 by Winston Churchill, then Britain's Colonial Secretary, and lasted until 30 March. It was intended to endorse an arrangement whereby Transjordan would be added to the Palestine mandate, with Abdullah as the emir under the authority of the High Commissioner, and with the condition that the Jewish National Home provisions of the Palestine mandate would not apply there. On the first day of the conference, the Middle East Department of the Colonial Office set out the situation of Transjordan in a memorandum. On 21 March 1921, the Foreign and Colonial Office legal advisers decided to introduce Article 25 into the Palestine Mandate to allow for the addition of Transjordan.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The intended mandatory powers were required to submit written statements to the League of Nations during the Paris Peace Conference proposing the rules of administration in the mandated areas. Drafting of the Palestine mandate began well before it was formally awarded at San Remo in April 1920, since it was evident after the end of the war that Britain was the favored power in the region. The mandate had a number of drafts: the February 1919 Zionist proposals to the peace conference; a December 1919 "compromise" draft between the British and the Zionists; a June 1920 draft after Curzon's "watering down", and the December 1920 draft submitted to the League of Nations for comment.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The February 1919 Zionist Proposal to the Peace Conference was not discussed at the time, since the Allies' discussions were focused elsewhere. It was not until July 1919 that direct negotiations began between the British Foreign Office and the Zionists, after the production of a full draft mandate by the British. The British draft contained 29 articles, compared to the Zionist proposal's five articles. However, the Zionist Organisation Report stated that a draft was presented by the Zionist Organization to the British on 15 July 1919.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Balfour authorised diplomatic secretary Eric Forbes Adam to begin negotiations with the Zionist Organization. On the Zionist side, the drafting was led by Ben Cohen on behalf of Weizmann, Felix Frankfurter and other Zionist leaders. By December 1919, they had negotiated a "compromise" draft.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Although Curzon took over from Balfour in October, he did not play an active role in the drafting until mid-March. Israeli historian Dvorah Barzilay-Yegar notes that he was sent a copy of the December draft and commented, "... the Arabs are rather forgotten ...". When Curzon received the draft of 15 March 1920, he was "far more critical" and objected to "... formulations that would imply recognition of any legal rights ..." (for example, that the British government would be "responsible for placing Palestine under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of a Jewish national home and the development of a self-governing Commonwealth ..."). Curzon insisted on revisions until the 10 June draft removed his objections; the paragraph recognising the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine was removed from the preamble, and "self-governing commonwealth" was replaced by "self-governing institutions". "The recognition of the establishment of the Jewish National Home as the guiding principle in the execution of the Mandate" was omitted.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: After strenuous objection to the proposed changes, the statement concerning the historical connections of the Jews with Palestine was re-incorporated into the Mandate in December 1920. The draft was submitted to the League of Nations on 7 December 1920, and was published in the "Times" on 3 February 1921.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The inclusion of Article 25 was approved by Curzon on 31 March 1921, and the revised final draft of the mandate was forwarded to the League of Nations on 22 July 1922. Article 25 permitted the mandatory to "postpone or withhold application of such provisions of the mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions" in that region. The final text of the Mandate includes an Article 25, which states:


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: In the territories lying between the Jordan [river] and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The new article was intended to enable Britain "to set up an Arab administration and to withhold indefinitely the application of those clauses of the mandate which relate to the establishment of the National Home for the Jews", as explained in a Colonial Office letter three days later. This created two administrative areas – Palestine, under direct British rule, and the autonomous Emirate of Transjordan under the rule of the Hashemite family – in accordance with the British Government's amended interpretation of the 1915 McMahon–Hussein Correspondence. At discussions in Jerusalem on 28 March, Churchill proposed his plan to Abdullah that Transjordan would be accepted into the mandatory area as an Arab country apart from Palestine and that it would be (initially for six months) under the nominal rule of the Emir Abdullah. Churchill said that Transjordan would not form part of the Jewish national home to be established west of the River Jordan:


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Trans-Jordania would not be included in the present administrative system of Palestine, and therefore the Zionist clauses of the mandate would not apply. Hebrew would not be made an official language in Trans-Jordania and the local Government would not be expected to adopt any measures to promote Jewish immigration and colonisation.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Abdullah's six-month trial was extended, and by the following summer he began to voice his impatience at the lack of formal confirmation.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The drafting was carried out with no input from any Arabs, despite the fact that their disagreement with the Balfour Declaration was well known. Palestinian political opposition began to organise in 1919 in the form of the Palestine Arab Congress, which formed from the local Muslim-Christian Associations. In March 1921, new British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill came to the region to form British policy on the ground at the Cairo Conference. The leader of the Palestine congress, Musa al-Husayni, had tried to present the views of the Executive Committee in Cairo and (later) Jerusalem but was rebuffed both times. In the summer of 1921, the 4th Palestine Arab Congress sent a delegation led by Musa al-Husayni to London to negotiate on behalf of the Muslim and Christian population. On the way, the delegation held meetings with Pope Benedict XV and diplomats from the League of Nations in Geneva (where they also met Balfour, who was non-committal). In London, they had three meetings with Winston Churchill in which they called for reconsideration of the Balfour Declaration, revocation of the Jewish National Home policy, an end to Jewish immigration and that Palestine should not be severed from its neighbours. All their demands were rejected, although they received encouragement from some Conservative Members of Parliament.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Musa al-Husayni led a 1922 delegation to Ankara and then to the Lausanne Conference, where (after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's victories against the Greek army in Turkey) the Treaty of Sèvres was about to be re-negotiated. The Palestinian delegation hoped that with Atatürk's support, they would be able to get the Balfour Declaration and mandate policy omitted from the new treaty. The delegation met with Turkey's lead negotiator, İsmet Pasha, who promised that "Turkey would insist upon the Arabs’ right of self-determination and ... the Palestinian delegation should be permitted to address the conference"; however, he avoided further meetings and other members of the Turkish delegation made clear their intention to "accept the post–World War I status quo". During the negotiations, Ismet Pasha refused to recognise or accept the mandates; although they were not referenced in the final treaty, it had no impact on the implementation of the mandate policy set in motion three years earlier.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Each of the principal Allied powers had a hand in drafting the proposed mandate, although some (including the United States) had not declared war on the Ottoman Empire and did not become members of the League of Nations.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: British public and government opinion became increasingly opposed to state support for Zionism, and even Sykes had begun to change his views in late 1918. In February 1922 Churchill telegraphed Samuel, who had begun his role as High Commissioner for Palestine 18 months earlier, asking for cuts in expenditure and noting:


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The House of Lords rejected a Palestine Mandate incorporating the Balfour Declaration by 60 votes to 25 after the June 1922 issuance of the Churchill White Paper, following a motion proposed by Lord Islington. The vote was only symbolic, since it was subsequently overruled by a vote in the House of Commons after a tactical pivot and a number of promises by Churchill.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: In February 1923, after a change in government, Cavendish laid the foundation for a secret review of Palestine policy in a lengthy memorandum to the Cabinet:


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: His cover note asked for a statement of policy to be made as soon as possible, and for the cabinet to focus on three questions: (1) whether or not pledges to the Arabs conflict with the Balfour declaration; (2) if not, whether the new government should continue the policy set down by the old government in the 1922 White Paper and (3) if not, what alternative policy should be adopted.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Stanley Baldwin, who took over as Prime Minister on 22 May 1923, set up a cabinet subcommittee in June 1923 whose terms of reference were to "examine Palestine policy afresh and to advise the full Cabinet whether Britain should remain in Palestine and whether if she remained, the pro-Zionist policy should be continued". The Cabinet approved the report of this subcommittee on 31 July 1923; when presenting the subcommittee's report to the Cabinet, Curzon concluded that "wise or unwise, it is well nigh impossible for any government to extricate itself without a substantial sacrifice of consistency and self-respect, if not honour." Describing it as "nothing short of remarkable", international law specialist Professor John B. Quigley noted that the government was admitting to itself that its support for Zionism had been prompted by considerations having nothing to do with the merits of Zionism or its consequences for Palestine. Documents related to the 1923 reappraisal remained secret until the early 1970s.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The United States was not a member of the League of Nations. On 23 February 1921, two months after the draft mandates had been submitted to the League, the U.S. requested permission to comment before the mandate's consideration by the Council of the League of Nations; the Council agreed to the request a week later. The discussions continued until 14 May 1922, when the U.S. government announced the terms of an agreement with the United Kingdom about the Palestine mandate. The terms included a stipulation that "consent of the United States shall be obtained before any alteration is made in the text of the mandate". Despite opposition from the State Department, this was followed on 21 September 1922 by the Lodge–Fish Resolution, a congressional endorsement of the Balfour Declaration.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: On 3 December 1924 the U.S. signed the Palestine Mandate Convention, in which the United States "consents to the administration" (Article 1) and which dealt with eight issues of concern to the United States (including property rights and business interests). The State Department prepared a report documenting its position on the mandate.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: On 17 May 1922, in a discussion of the date on which the question of the Draft Mandate for Palestine should be placed on the agenda of the Council of the League of Nations, Lord Balfour informed the Council of his government's understanding of the role of the League in the creation of mandates:


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: [the] Mandates were not the creation of the League, and they could not in substance be altered by the League. The League's duties were confined to seeing that the specific and detailed terms of the mandates were in accordance with the decisions taken by the Allied and Associated Powers, and that in carrying out these mandates the Mandatory Powers should be under the supervision—not under the control—of the League. A mandate was a self-imposed limitation by the conquerors on the sovereignty which they exercised over the conquered territory.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The Council of the League of Nations met between 19 and 24 July 1922 to approve the class A mandates for Palestine and Syria (). The Palestine mandate was approved on 22 July 1922 at a private meeting of the Council of the League of Nations at St. James Palace in London, giving the British formal international recognition of the position they had held "de facto" in the region since the end of 1917 in Palestine and since 1920–21 in Transjordan. The Council stated that the mandate was approved and would come into effect "automatically" when the dispute between France and Italy was resolved. A public statement confirming this was made by the president of the council on 24 July. With the Fascists gaining power in Italy in October 1922, new Italian Prime Minister Mussolini delayed the mandates' implementation. On 23 August 1923, the Turkish assembly in Ankara ratified the Treaty of Lausanne by 215 of 235 votes.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The Council of the League of Nations determined that the two mandates had come into effect at its 29 September 1923 meeting. The dispute between France and Italy was resolved by the Turkish ratification.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Shortly after the mandate's approval in July 1922, the Colonial Office prepared a memorandum to implement Article 25. On 16 September 1922, the League of Nations approved a British memorandum detailing its intended implementation of the clause excluding Transjordan from the articles related to Jewish settlement. When the memorandum was submitted to the Council of the League of Nations, Balfour explained the background; according to the minutes, "Lord Balfour reminded his colleagues that Article 25 of the mandate for Palestine as approved by the Council in London on July 24th, 1922, provides that the territories in Palestine which lie east of the Jordan should be under a somewhat different regime from the rest of Palestine ... The British Government now merely proposed to carry out this article. It had always been part of the policy contemplated by the League and accepted by the British Government, and the latter now desired to carry it into effect. In pursuance of the policy, embodied in Article 25, Lord Balfour invited the Council to pass a series of resolutions which modified the mandate as regards those territories. The object of these resolutions was to withdraw from Trans-Jordania the special provisions which were intended to provide a national home for the Jews west of the Jordan."


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Turkey was not a member of the League of Nations at the time of the negotiations; on the losing side of World War I, they did not join until 1932. Decisions about mandates over Ottoman territory made by the Allied Supreme Council at the San Remo conference were documented in the Treaty of Sèvres, which was signed on behalf of the Ottoman Empire and the Allies on 10 August 1920. The treaty was never ratified by the Ottoman government, however, because it required the agreement of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Atatürk expressed disdain for the treaty, and continued what was known as the Turkish War of Independence. The Conference of Lausanne began in November 1922, with the intention of negotiating a treaty to replace the failed Treaty of Sèvres. In the Treaty of Lausanne, signed on 24 July 1923, the Turkish government recognised the detachment of the regions south of the frontier agreed in the Treaty of Ankara (1921) and renounced its sovereignty over Palestine.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country ...


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Weizmann noted in his memoirs that he considered the most important part of the mandate, and the most difficult negotiation, the subsequent clause in the preamble which recognised "the historical connection of the Jews with Palestine". Curzon and the Italian and French governments rejected early drafts of the mandate because the preamble had contained a passage which read, "Recognising, moreover, the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and "the claim which this gives them to reconstitute it their national home"..." The Palestine Committee set up by the Foreign Office recommended that the reference to "the claim" be omitted. The Allies had already noted the historical connection in the Treaty of Sèvres, but had not acknowledged a legal claim. Lord Balfour suggested an alternative which was accepted and included in the preamble immediately after the paragraph quoted above:


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Whereas recognition has thereby [i.e. by the Treaty of Sèvres] been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine, and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country;


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: In the body of the document, the Zionist Organization was mentioned in Article 4; in the September 1920 draft, a qualification was added which required that "its organisation and constitution" must be "in the opinion of the Mandatory appropriate". A "Jewish agency" was mentioned three times: in Articles 4, 6 and 11. Article 4 of the mandate provided for "the recognition of an appropriate Jewish agency as a public body for the purpose of advising and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine in such economic, social and other matters as may affect the establishment of the Jewish National Home and the interests of the Jewish population of Palestine," effectively establishing what became the "Jewish Agency for Palestine". Article 7 stated, "The Administration of Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law. There shall be included in this law provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who take up their permanent residence in Palestine." The proviso to this objective of the mandate was that "nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Religious and communal guarantees, such as freedom of religion and education, were made in general terms without reference to a specific religion. The Vatican and the Italian and French governments concentrated their efforts on the issue of the Holy Places and the rights of the Christian communities, making their legal claims on the basis of the former Protectorate of the Holy See and the French Protectorate of Jerusalem. The Catholic powers saw an opportunity to reverse the gains made by the Greek and Russian Orthodox communities in the region during the previous 150 years, as documented in the Status Quo. The Zionists had limited interest in this area.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Britain would assume responsibility for the Holy Places under Article 13 of the mandate. The idea of an International Commission to resolve claims on the Holy Places, formalised in Article 95 of the Treaty of Sèvres, was taken up again in article 14 of the Palestinian Mandate. Negotiations about the commission's formation and role were partly responsible for the delay in ratifying the mandate. Article 14 of the mandate required Britain to establish a commission to study, define, and determine the rights and claims relating to Palestine's religious communities. This provision, which called for the creation of a commission to review the Status Quo of the religious communities, was never implemented.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Article 15 required the mandatory administration to ensure that complete freedom of conscience and the free exercise of all forms of worship were permitted. According to the article, "No discrimination of any kind shall be made between the inhabitants of Palestine on the ground of race, religion or language. No person shall be excluded from Palestine on the sole ground of his religious belief." The High Commissioner established the authority of the Orthodox Rabbinate over the members of the Jewish community and retained a modified version of the Ottoman Millet system. Formal recognition was extended to eleven religious communities, which did not include non-Orthodox Jews or the Protestant Christian denominations.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The public clarification and implementation of Article 25, more than a year after it was added to the mandate, misled some "into imagining that Transjordanian territory was covered by the conditions of the Mandate as to the Jewish National Home before August 1921". This would, according to professor of modern Jewish history Bernard Wasserstein, result in "the myth of Palestine's 'first partition' [which became] part of the concept of 'Greater Israel' and of the ideology of Jabotinsky's Revisionist movement". Palestinian-American academic Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, then chair of the Northwestern University political science department, suggested that the "Jordan as a Palestinian State" references made by Israeli spokespeople may reflect "the same [mis]understanding".


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: On 25 April 1923, five months before the mandate came into force, the independent administration was recognised in a statement made in Amman: Subject to the approval of the League of Nations, His Britannic Majesty will recognise the existence of an independent Government in Trans-jordan under the rule of His Highness the Amir Abdullah, provided that such Government is constitutional and places His Britannic Majesty in a position to fulfil his international obligations in respect of the territory by means of an Agreement to be concluded with His Highness.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The legality of the mandate has been disputed in detail by scholars, particularly its consistency with Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. According to the mandate's preamble, the mandate was granted to Britain "for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations". That article, which concerns entrusting the "tutelage" of colonies formerly under German and Turkish sovereignty to "advanced nations", specifies "[c]ommunities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire" which "have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone." During the mandate, Palestinian Arab leaders cited the article as proving their assertion that the British were obliged (under the terms of the mandate) to facilitate the eventual creation of an independent Arab state in Palestine.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Before World War I, the territory which became Mandatory Palestine was the former Ottoman Empire divisions of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem and the southern part of the Beirut Vilayet; what became Transjordan was the southern Vilayet of Syria and the northern Hejaz Vilayet. During the war, the British military divided the Hejaz and Egyptian Expeditionary Force theatres of war along a line from a point south of Akaba to a point south of Ma'an. The EEF theatre was divided between its main theatre in Palestine and the Syrian theatre, including Transjordan, which was led by Faisal's Arab Revolt army. The post-war military administrations OETA South and OETA East, the latter with an Arab governor, split the territory in the same way; Professor Yitzhak Gil-Har notes that "the military administration [in Palestine] always treated Trans-Jordan as a separate administration outside its jurisdiction". In 1955, Professor Uri Ra'anan wrote that the OETA border system "politically, if not legally, was bound to influence the post-war settlement".


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: At a private 13 September 1919 meeting during the Paris Peace Conference, Lloyd George gave Georges Clemenceau a memorandum which said that British Palestine would be "defined in accordance with its ancient boundaries of Dan to Beersheba".


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The biblical concept of Eretz Israel and its re-establishment as a modern state was a basic tenet of the original Zionist program. Chaim Weizmann, leader of the Zionist delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, presented a Zionist statement on 3 February 1919 that declared the Zionists' proposed borders and resources "essential for the necessary economic foundation of the country" including "the control of its rivers and their headwaters". These borders included present day Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories, western Jordan, southwestern Syria and southern Lebanon "in the vicinity south of Sidon". Neither Palestinians nor any other Arabs were involved in the discussions which determined the boundaries of Mandatory Palestine.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The first border which was agreed was with British-ruled Egypt. On 9 May 1919, a memorandum of the British political delegation to the Paris Peace Conference stated that the British intended to adopt the border between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire which was established in 1906. The decision, a compromise between proposals by the Zionists and the British authorities in Egypt, was already well-defined on maps.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The Negev region was added to Palestine on 10 July 1922 after its concession by British representative John Philby "in Trans-Jordan's name"; although not usually considered part of the region of Palestine, the Zionist Organization had lobbied for Palestine to be given access to the Red Sea. Abdullah's requests for the Negev to be added to Transjordan in late 1922 and 1925 were rejected.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The determination of the mandate's northern border was a far longer and more complex process than for the other borders. The two primary differences were that this border separated French– and British–controlled areas, and it ran through heavily populated areas which had not been separated. The other borders separated British Palestine from British Egypt and British Transjordan, and ran primarily through sparsely-inhabited areas.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The northern boundary between the British and French mandates was broadly defined by the Franco-British Boundary Agreement of December 1920; this became known as the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement for French Lieutenant Colonel N. Paulet and British Lieutenant Colonel S. F. Newcombe, who were appointed to lead the 1923 Boundary Commission to finalise the agreement. It placed most of the Golan Heights in the French sphere, and established a joint commission to settle and mark the border. The commission submitted its final report on 3 February 1922; it was approved with some caveats by the British and French governments on 7 March 1923, several months before Britain and France assumed their mandatory responsibilities on 29 September 1923. Under the treaty, Syrian and Lebanese residents would have the same fishing and navigation rights on Lake Hula, the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River as citizens of Mandatory Palestine, but the government of Palestine would be responsible for policing the lakes. The Zionist movement pressured the French and British to include as many water sources as possible in Palestine during the demarcating negotiations. The movement's demands influenced the negotiators, leading to the inclusion of the Sea of Galilee, both sides of the Jordan River, Lake Hula, the Dan spring, and part of the Yarmouk River. As High Commissioner of Palestine, Herbert Samuel had demanded full control of the Sea of Galilee. The new border followed a strip along the northeastern shore. After the settlement of the northern-border issue, the British and French governments signed an agreement of good neighbourly relations between the mandated territories of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon on 2 February 1926.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Transjordan had been part of the Syria Vilayet – primarily the sanjaks of Hauran and Ma'an (Kerak) – under the Ottomans. Since the end of the war it was part of captured territory placed under the Arab administration of OETA East, which was subsequently declared part of Faisal's Arab Kingdom of Syria. The British were content with that arrangement because Faisal was a British ally; the region fell within the indirect sphere of British influence according to the Sykes–Picot Agreement, and they did not have enough troops to garrison it.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: Throughout the drafting of the mandate, the Zionist Organization advocated for territory east of the river to be included in Palestine. At the peace conference on 3 February 1919, the organization proposed an eastern boundary of "a line close to and West of the Hedjaz Railway terminating in the Gulf of Akaba"; the railway ran parallel to, and 35–40 miles (about 60 km) east of, the Jordan River. In May, British officials presented a proposal to the peace conference which included maps showing Palestine's eastern boundary just east of the Jordan. No agreement was reached in Paris; the topic was not discussed at the April 1920 San Remo conference, at which the boundaries of the "Palestine" and "Syria" mandates were left unspecified to "be determined by the Principal Allied Powers" at a later stage.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The Jordan River was finally chosen as the border between the two territories; this was documented in Article 25 of the mandate, approved by Curzon on 31 March 1921, which set the boundary as simply "the Jordan [river]". No further definition was discussed until mid-1922, when the boundary became significant due to negotiations on the Rutenberg hydroelectric power-plant and the Constitution of Mandatory Palestine (which did not apply to Transjordan, highlighting the need for a clear definition). The latter's publication on 1 September was the first official statement of the detailed boundary, which was repeated in a 16 September 1922 Transjordan memorandum: "from a point two miles west of the town of Akaba on the Gulf of that name up the centre of the Wady Araba, Dead Sea and River Jordan to its junction with the River Yarmuk; thence up the centre of that river to the Syrian Frontier".


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The southern border between Transjordan and Arabia was considered strategic for Transjordan to avoid being landlocked, with intended access to the sea via the Port of Aqaba. The southern region of Ma'an-Aqaba, a large area with a population of only 10,000, was administered by OETA East (later the Arab Kingdom of Syria, and then Mandatory Transjordan) and claimed by the Kingdom of Hejaz. In OETA East, Faisal had appointed a "kaymakam" (sub-governor) at Ma'an; the "kaymakam" at Aqaba, who "disregarded both Husein in Mecca and Feisal in Damascus with impunity", had been instructed by Hussein to extend his authority to Ma'an. This technical dispute did not become an open struggle, and the Kingdom of Hejaz was to take "de facto" control after Faisal's administration was defeated by the French. After the 1924–25 Saudi conquest of Hejaz, Hussein's army fled to the Ma'an region (which was then formally announced as annexed by Abdullah's Transjordan). Ibn Saud privately agreed to respect this position in an exchange of letters at the time of the 1927 Treaty of Jeddah.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The location of the Eastern border between Transjordan and Iraq was considered strategic with respect to the proposed construction of what became the Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline. It was first set out on 2 December 1922, in a treaty to which Transjordan was not party to – the Uqair Protocol between Iraq and Nejd. It described the western end of the Iraq-Nejd boundary as "the situated in the neighbourhood of the intersection of latitude 32 degrees north longitude 39 degrees east where the Iraq-Najd boundary terminated", thereby implicitly confirming this as the point at which the Iraq-Nejd boundary became the Transjordan-Nejd boundary. This followed a proposal from T.E.Lawrence in January 1922 that Transjordan be extended to include Wadi Sirhan as far south as al-Jauf, in order to protect Britain's route to India and contain Ibn Saud.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: The British controlled Palestine for almost three decades, overseeing a succession of protests, riots and revolts by the Jewish and Palestinian Arab communities. The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was passed on 29 November 1947; this envisaged the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states operating under economic union, and with Jerusalem transferred to UN trusteeship. Two weeks later, Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones announced that the British Mandate would terminate on 15 May 1948. On the last day of the mandate, the creation of the State of Israel was proclaimed and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War began.


title: Mandate for Palestine

text: In April 1923, five months before the mandate came into force, Britain announced their intention to recognise an "independent Government" in Transjordan. Transjordan became largely autonomous under British tutelage in accordance with a 20 February 1928 agreement, and became fully independent under a treaty with Britain on 22 March 1946.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: 24K Magic (stylized as XXIVK Magic) is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. It was released by Atlantic Records on November 18, 2016. Mars reunited with Philip Lawrence and Christopher Brody Brown, who composed the album under their joint alias Shampoo Press & Curl. Mars enlisted new composers including the Stereotypes and James Fauntleroy. Recording sessions for "24K Magic" took place between late 2015 and September 2016 at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Several critics said "24K Magic" was crafted from elements of R&B, funk, pop, and new jack swing. Mars was inspired to create an album on which he could capture the sound of 1990s R&B, that he listened and danced to during his childhood. He wanted to make people dance and have the same enjoyment he had. The lyrics of "24K Magic" explore themes similar to those of its predecessor, "Unorthodox Jukebox" (2012), including money and sex. According to Mars, although he was able to convince Atlantic Records of the album's sound, they were initially hesitant.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "24K Magic" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200 chart with first-week sales of 231,000 equivalent album units and became Mars's first number-one album on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It also peaked at number two in Canada, France, and New Zealand, and produced five singles: "24K Magic", "That's What I Like", and "Finesse" (remix featuring Cardi B), which were commercially successful while "Versace on the Floor" charted moderately and "Chunky" had a limited release. "That's What I Like" reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Mars's seventh number-one song in the United States, while "24K Magic" peaked at number one in New Zealand. The album sold five million units globally and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Music Canada (MC), and Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ).


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Critical responses to "24K Magic" were generally favorable; many reviewers noticed the change of style, focusing on contemporary R&B and the improvement on the production. Others criticized the detachment from the casual listener and the lack of "vulnerability" from his previous ballads. At the 2018 Grammy Awards "24K Magic" won seven Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best R&B Album, while the title track won Record of the Year and "That's What I Like" won Song of The Year at the same ceremony. Several publications listed the album as one of the best records of the year and the Associated Press named it as the tenth-best album of the 2010s. The album was also promoted through the 24K Magic World Tour (2017–2018), along with a number of television appearances.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: In early 2014, Bruno Mars was interviewed by "that's Shanghai" and gave some details of a new album, stating, "I want to write better songs ... put on better shows ... make better music videos. I want my next album to be better than the first and the second." In September 2014, Mars tweeted, "Now it's time to start writing chapter 3", hinting that he was working on new music. Following the release of British-American musician Mark Ronson and Mars's single "Uptown Funk" (2014), Mars went to the studio to record more songs; he said he had no plans to release a new album "until it's done". Mars's new album was due in March 2016 but its release was postponed for several months because of his appearance at that year's Super Bowl half-time show. At the time, seven songs were already recorded. Mars worked with Canadian recording engineer Charles Moniz, who called the album the "next movement of Bruno" and confirmed the album was close to being finished in February 2016. Mars also worked with American musician Andrew Wyatt, who was involved in Mars's previous studio albums, and American bass guitarist Jamareo Artis, of The Hooligans, who said they had been "trying different ideas and experimenting" and "It's going to have a new sound ... the material is very groove-oriented". Mars also worked with American rapper Missy Elliott, but he said they were just hanging out.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: In an interview with New Zealand radio DJ Zane Lowe for the Apple Music podcast "Beats 1", Mars said the album is filled with 1990s influences. Mars concluded; "I just want to do music. I want to be the guy that brings joy to your life through his music." Mars affirmed he felt he was correct to record nine songs, saying; "If I can't pull you in with nine songs, I'm not gonna pull you in with nineteen!" He told that the album was inspired by a non-existent movie that he visualized. Mars said it featured "a Versace-wearing pimp" in New York during a summer night at the "baddest rooftop house party. 2:30 in the morning, the band comes out, fucking dipped in Versace. The girls are screaming." Mars stated this album contrasts with his others, on which he would experiment with genres: "I wanted to really hone it in and give myself a world in which I could keep it contained ... I want to sing more so than I did on the other albums". He chose to emulate "the feeling of the R&B he fell in love with as a kid", avoiding making it sound like a tribute or forced, taking inspiration from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Teddy Riley, Mariah Carey and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. In November 2017, Mars was a guest on the "Charlie Rose Show" and said as he grew up pop music was "R&B-rooted songs", which he danced to at school balls and barbecues. Mars wanted to achieve the same "feeling and emotion", concluding "it was fun to dance, it was cool to smile on the dance floor with a girl and flirt with a girl on the dance floor". To achieve his aim to make people want to dance again, he needed the songs to make him dance. Mars was inspired by his passion "for R&B acts"; he said that was the feeling they wanted the album to have. He added, "it was all about the live show and the kind of party I want to throw".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Although Mars was able to convince Atlantic Records of the album's sound, they were initially hesitant. A private album listening party was held at Atlantic's offices in New York City for several journalists.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Mars reunited with frequent collaborators, American songwriter, and producers, Philip Lawrence and Christopher Brody Brown, forming a new production trio, Shampoo Press & Curl, to record "24K Magic". It was recorded at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California between the fall 2015 and September 2016. Nevertheless, the singer returned to the studio on the first week of October to complete the album. Mars revealed that he was not confident about returning to the studio after releasing "Uptown Funk" (2014) and was struggling to write new songs. On top of that, he added that it took him so long to create a song, he needed to "touch an instrument or it won't come out. If I'm not touching the guitar or touching the drum machine or playing the piano, the song just won't come out." He imposed a dress code in the studio during the recording process, favoring jewelry and "fine clothes" over sweatpants to create the "groovy, smooth and soulful songs" on the record.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Lawrence said, "We got the sitting in the studio laboring over songs for hours and days and weeks". He furthered that playing new songs live while recording helped. They noticed what was or not working and what it could be improved. "Finesse" underwent twenty different versions, including one in which Mars sang about "gold chains and cognac over a silky beat", and another which sounded "like a Seventies cop show". "Versace on the Floor" started with a "piña colada vibe" before the beat was remixed, though, Mars felt his vocal performance and lyrics were not emotive enough for a ballad, and changed the melody and re-wrote the track. The singer-songwriter took a long time to write "Too Good to Say Goodbye". It was not complete until Babyface heard the chorus, encouraging the former to complete the song. They composed the song together on a piano. Mars used a flexatone, a percussion instrument, on the album, given to him by DJ Quik.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Mars asked American singer-songwriter James Fauntleroy to help him write "That's What I Like", but Fauntleroy end-up co-writing most of the songs on the album. Fauntleroy said; "Bruno is the core of those songs and Phil is a huge part of the reason those songs sound like that." He added that despite having a good time with them, it was "probably the most intense album process of my life". American record producer and DJ Skrillex said he and Mars were creating something "different, awesome and next level and sounds like nothing else that's happened before". He also affirmed that they could work on "more of a Skrillex thing". The DJ concluded, "... he has a vision for his album, and I'm helping him produce it on some of the songs." The song they were working on was not completed in time for the album's release. American rapper T-Pain who worked on "Straight Up & Down", said he saw Mars and his band, with the engineer "jamming out and having a good time". T-Pain affirmed Mars "was real specific about what he wanted".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: The Stereotypes, a production team, were also involved in the album's composition. They have worked with Mars since 2007, however, after the singer signed a deal with Atlantic Records they did not collaborate very often. Nevertheless, in 2015, Jonathan Yip, a member of the Stereotypes, talked with Mars about working together. The latter asked for "some beats" for "24K Magic", but "nothing came of it". In June 2016, Mars asked Yip if they would like to help him finish a song for his album, to add a little "seasoning". He needed another song with a certain tempo and key. Yip sent Mars an idea that caught his attention, and he asked the Stereotypes to come to the studio. Once in the studio, it took them some time to "get the groove" on the track. They spent the first couple of hours catching up and having fun. The Stereotypes helped Mars finishing "24K Magic" and "That's What I Like". They also created "Finesse" with Shampoo Press & Curl. The team noticed that Mars "is his own biggest critic", a "perfectionist".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: In August 2016, the album entered the mixing stage. Romanian-American mixing engineer Serban Ghenea had to return to the early stages of his career as an R&B and hip hop engineer, to come up with the "esthetic" for "24K Magic". He explained, "the idea was to have a '90s R&B/hip-hop-influenced album, but with a modern sonic presentation". Moniz told they would felt great regarding a certain song and Mars wanted to "see if we can push it further" as he wanted "24K Magic" to be "the foundation for his live show". The singer would ask to imagine the songs being performed live, to know their feeling and if they were danceable. The engineer confessed they would start to work in the afternoon and spent 14 hours in the studio each day, with the album taking 22 months to record and once the writing stopped, the singer would "bounce ideas around the room and we'll start experimenting." He said Mars and his team were set to create an R&B album as "it's a part of who they are". Mars was close to the mixing process describing what he wanted for the album.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "24K Magic" explores several genres, including, R&B, funk, pop, and new jack swing. According to Andy Kellman of AllMusic, the album "might as well be considered the full-length sequel to "Uptown Funk"; Mars abandoned his previous new wave and reggae sound for an "all-out R&B" effort. The album includes the R&B ballads "Versace on the Floor", "Straight Up & Down" and "Too Good To Say Goodbye". "24K Magic", "Chunky" and "Perm" are funk tracks, while "Calling All My Lovelies" is an R&B heartbreaker song. "24K Magic" also features new jack swing, hip hop soul and funk on the tracks "Finesse" and "That's What I Like", with the latter also being an R&B song. Lyrics on the album are themed around money and sex.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: The album opens with a talk box on "24K Magic"; the track's synthesizer riff and backbeat are inspired by "The Message" (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Its lyrics celebrate extravagance, glamour, and the party lifestyle. "Chunky" is an electro-funk track that features synthesizers and drum machines. According to "The Independent", it is an anthem for big buttocks. "Perm" is influenced by the 1960s and James Brown's style on the horns, stabs and drums, according to "The New York Times" Jon Caramanica. It is also inspired by Nile Rodgers' electric guitar. Its "shuffle" was compared to Brown's "Funky Drummer" (1970) and features "shout-singing" style and Mars's "scraped-up vocal". The song is about Mars going out and having a "good time" with his companions. "That's What I Like", the album's second single, draws from "the silky vibes" of R. Kelly's "12 Play" (1993), taking them to "the boom of modern trap". The song is about extravagance, a luxurious lifestyle, and love.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: The slow jam of "Versace on the Floor" shows Mars's romantic side, with champagne flutes, rose petals, dancing and getting intimate with his lover. "Straight Up & Down" opens with a choir and samples of Shai's "Baby I'm Yours" (1993). Its lyrics detail Mars's "favorite bedroom tricks" and a "booty celebration". According to Andrew Unterberger from "Billboard", "Calling All My Lovelies" draws inspiration from Silk's "Freak Me" with its "massive harmonies and bass-voiced spoken-word". It tells a story of heartbreak. It includes a "dreamy voicemail message" spoken by American actress Halle Berry. "Finesse" is also a funk, hip-hop soul recording with R&B influences. Lyrically, it demonstrates the happiness and positive outcomes of being with one's lover. The album's final song of the standard edition, "Too Good To Say Goodbye", includes "horn bleats", piano, various harmonies, and "one of Mars' most emotional vocal performances". The track draws its structure from early 1970s Philly soul and 1990s R&B. The remix of "Finesse" features American rapper Cardi B with a flow and rhyme resembling a "turn-of-the-1990s cadence", as well as Salt-N-Pepa and Heavy D styles.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: The cover of "24K Magic" shows Mars sitting on a chair and wearing a red shirt and shorts, and a white cap. Mars and Greg "Giden's Dad" Burke created the artwork, which was shot by Chinese photographer Kai Z. Feng. According to Mars, the cover art was inspired by a "musky cologne" advertisement and the Cadillac Allanté convertible that felt like "bootleg luxury". During its development, Mars thought about a man driving the Cadillac that would wear his best silk clothing, a style inspired by his father that included "the pinkie rings, the pompadour", the hairstyle and the "flashy" glasses. The album's cover art was styled to resemble a 1990s album; the song titles are printed in a basic font. During a photography season, Feng was unaware of the reason for Mars "throwing up the number 24 with his fingers". Feng asked Mars whether his pose had anything to do with the album; Mars told Feng to be quiet. He said Mars gave him "a lot of trust to do my thing" and added Mars "is not shy in front of the camera; he's always moving and dancing, as long as you have the right music playing".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: On October 3, 2016, Mars announced the release of the album's first single "24K Magic" via Instagram, dubbing it "the invitation to the party". On October 7, 2016, Mars unveiled the album's title, cover and release date, and a link to a pre-order on iTunes, along with the release of "24K Magic" and its music video. The record was made available for pre-order worldwide via Mars's official site with four buying options. On November 4, 2016, "Versace on the Floor", was issued as a promotional single in several countries.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Mars performed "24K Magic" and "Chunky" live for the first time on "Saturday Night Live" on October 15, 2016; his performance received positive reactions from critics and the audience. He also performed "24K Magic" live on The X Factor UK on October 30, 2016. The "Daily Express"s Becca Longmire called the performance "epic". On November 2, 2016, Mars performed several songs for Radio 1 at the BBC's Live Lounge, including "24K Magic", "Treasure", "Locked Out of Heaven" and a cover of Adele's "All I Ask". A couple of days after, the singer performed "24K Magic" at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Later the same month, Mars performed "24K Magic" on the Norwegian television talk show "Skavlan" and the following day at the 2016 NRJ Music Awards.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: A week later, Mars performed the same track at the 2016 American Music Awards. The performance included a break dance. On December 2, 2016, Mars performed at the 2016 Jingle Bell Ball, an annually held event promoted by 102.7 KIIS FM that took place at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California. He sang the same songs on December 6, 2016, at the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. During "The Late Late Show" with James Corden on December 13, 2016, Mars sang "24K Magic", "Locked Out of Heaven", "Grenade", "Versace on the Floor", "If I Knew", "Uptown Funk" and "Perm" on the popular segment Carpool Karaoke.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Mars embarked on the 24K Magic World Tour, which started on March 28, 2017, at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium. The second row of shows consisted of concerts throughout North America and ran from July to November 2017. It also featured performances in Oceania and Asia until May 2018. The 24K Magic World Tour ended on December 31, 2018. On September 12, 2017, it was announced that Mars and his band would be performing a television special concert titled, "" at the Apollo Theater. Subsequently, CBS confirmed they would air the program on December 14.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: The title track "24K Magic" was released as the album's lead single on October 7, 2016, along with its music video. The song was generally well received; reviewers complimented Mars's vocals and compared them to those of James Brown. The song was listed by several publications, including "Billboard" and "Entertainment Weekly", as being among the best songs of the year. The recording was a success, topping the charts in Argentina, Belgium (Flanders), France and New Zealand, and reached the top ten in several other countries, including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States. "24K Magic" received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 2018 Grammy Awards.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "That's What I Like" was released on January 30, 2017, as the album's second single. Critics gave the song mixed reviews; some considered it to be one of the best on "24K Magic" but others criticized its lyrical content. The song topped the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, becoming Mars's seventh number-one single in the United States, and peaked at number two on the Philippine Hot 100. It also reached the top twenty in other territories, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, and New Zealand. "That's What I Like" received three Grammy Awards; Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "Versace on the Floor" was released as the album's third single in the United States on June 12, 2017, while a version of the song remixed by French DJ David Guetta was released as the album's third international single on June 27, 2017; the original version had been premiered as the promotional single from "24K Magic", on November 4, 2016. The track received generally favorable reviews from critics; some considered it to be the soundtrack to school dances while others said its lyrics are sexually driven. The song charted moderately, reaching number 33 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and the top three of the Philippine Hot 100 while its remix peaked at number eight in Belgium (Wallonia).


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "Chunky" was released as a single in Australia with a radio release date of November 29, 2017. It received mixed reviews from music critics, who noted the track's resemblance to the works of rhythm and blues artists of the 1980s and 1990s. Its charting was influenced by the release of its parent album "24K Magic"; "Chunky" reached number 79 on the UK Singles Chart and 34 on the French Singles Chart on the week ending November 26, 2016.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "Finesse" was announced as the fifth and final single from the album; unlike the original track, the single version features verses rapped by Cardi B. It was released on January 4, 2018, to digital stores and streaming services. The single was received well by music critics, who complimented Cardi B's verses and noticed the resemblance to the sound of Bobby Brown's album "Don't Be Cruel" (1988), Bell Biv DeVoe's track "Poison" (1990) and Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" (1992). The song was a commercial success, peaking at number two in New Zealand, and at number three in the United States and Canada. It entered the top ten of several countries, including Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "24K Magic" was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 70, based on 14 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave "24K Magic" 6.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Patrick Bowman of Idolator rated the album four and a half stars out of five, writing that Mars "relish[es] every moment he gets to play the golden-voiced lothario dripping with swag and Versace." "HipHopDX"s Carl Lamarre gave it a 4.3/5 rating. Lamarre felt Mars "succinctly gets his point across by instilling that much needed old-school nostalgia lacking in music today with nine tracks. Nolan Feeney from "Entertainment Weekly" gave it a B+ and stated that "With only nine songs, there's not an ounce of fat on Magic, and nearly every track sounds like Top 40 gold", describing the record as a fusion of 70's funk and 90's R&B. Nick Levine of "NME" rated the record four out of five stars. Levine said "few albums designed to sound like a party actually play like one, but Bruno Mars has pulled it off with style." Reviewing "24K Magic" for AllMusic, Andy Kellman gave the album four stars out of five, finding the recording to be the sequel to "Uptown Funk" (2014).


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "The A.V. Club"s Annie Zaleski gave it a B rating and wrote it is "easily his most cohesive and enjoyable collection, an escapist record that comes by its evocations of the past honestly". Troy L. Smith from Cleveland.com wrote, "Mars is the kind of songwriter who knows how to take what's worked a million times over and that something extra to make it his own. At this point it's getting damn near impossible to not like a Bruno Mars album." "The New York Times" Jon Caramanica said "the new songs – his most diverse set to date, and mostly rigorously executed and fun – show Mr. Mars to be interested in different musical eras, different production approaches and different singing voices without veering into chaos". Karen Gwee of "Consequence" awarded the album a B− score, calling it a "fun, nostalgic R&B album from one of pop's best performers today". Andrew Unterberger from "Billboard" said it "pays homage to any number of pop performers from his canon, in winking tributes that still keep one foot (or at least a couple of toes) in the present".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: In a mixed review, Daniel Bromfield writing for "Spectrum Culture" rated "24K Magic" 3.25 out of 5 stars. Bromfield said, "There's a sense of remove here – as if you can only gaze at Mars in awe, like his namesake planet, and never hope to connect with him. 24K Magic may improve with time. For now, it's hard not to feel underwhelmed." "Pitchfork"s Katherine St. Asaph rated it 6.2 out of 10, and likened it to a theme-park version of funk and R&B: "rebuilt shinier and glitzier and safer, every element engineered to please more than the real thing, and with a hell of a tour guide. It's not history, not even historical fiction, but harmless fun." "The Wall Street Journal" Jim Fusilli wrote, "In comparison to what he's done in the past and to today's rich and adventurous funk and R&B, the album feels a tad tepid at times. But it's quality, never-dull work by a quality, never-dull artist who lovingly revives the sounds he savored on his way up." Jim Carroll from "The Irish Times", Caroline Sullivan from "The Guardian", and Victoria Segall from "Q" all rated "24K Magic" three stars out of five. Carroll said, "Mars shows he's a smart operator when it comes to the sort of pop which has all the accoutrements needed to engineer earworms, yet is sussed enough to know a little dab of special sauce is often required". Sullivan wrote, "though Mars styles himself as a playa here ... the core of the album is his passion for the early 90s period when hip-hop met soul". Segall stated ""24K Magic"s luxe exterior writes cheques its soul can't cash".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Reviewing the record for "Rolling Stone", Christopher R. Weingarten rated it three stars out of five. He said it "may not be the most glittering display for Bruno Mars the pop star, but fans can rest assured it is a shining moment for Bruno Mars the producer, arranger and nostalgia curator". In a similar vein, "USA Today" Patrick Ryan called it Mars's "most polished album yet and a laudable step forward production-wise" but added it appears "oddly aloof" because it lacks the "vulnerability" of Mars's own ballads such as "Grenade" (2010) and "When I Was Your Man" (2013). Ryan rated it two and a half stars out of four. Jonathan Wroble of "Slant Magazine" gave it three stars out of five stars and called the album "a tidy, if derivative, antidote to today's overthought, overwrought pop". "The Observer" Kitty Empire rated the album three stars out of five and wrote, "Anyone in need of indulgent escapism will find plenty here. But you do wonder ... if more bling and circuses is what's required right now." In a negative review, Andy Gill from "The Independent" gave it two stars out of five, saying, "the final product is a much tamer beast, taking its lead more from Mars' position as frontman of Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" (2014)". Gill heavily criticized "That's What I Like" and "Chunky".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: At the end of 2016, "24K Magic" appeared on a number of critics' lists of the year's top albums. Idolator listed the album at number seven on its list of the Top 10 Best Albums of 2016. Carl Willot wrote, "Bruno's complete dedication to reviving lost sounds on 24K means it probably won't leave a long shadow. But that's the point." Willot described it as "pop party pizza". In a top-twenty list, "Rolling Stone" rated it the twelfth-best pop album of 2016. Keith Harris wrote the recording has the "high-energy Eighties dance-pop homage Mars perfected on "Uptown Funk" with some Nineties retro flavor for retro escapism". According to "Rap-Up", it was the seventeenth-best album of 2016.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: Digital Spy's Lewis Corner considered it the eighteenth-best album of 2016, saying it "resulted in Bruno's most confident and seductive collection yet". "Complex", in its list of 50 Best Albums of 2016, ranked the record in the twentieth-eight position. Ross Scarano asked, "If I told you Bruno Mars recorded an album that sounded like a middle school dance, would you know I meant that as a compliment?" The Associated Press named "24K Magic" the tenth-best album of the 2010s; according to Mesfin Fekadu, "Bruno Mars released three epic albums this decade, but "24K Magic" was a whole mood". The record was also deemed the sixty-ninth best album of the decade by "Billboard".


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: In 2017, "24K Magic" was nominated for Top R&B Album at the 2017 " Billboard" Music Awards. It won Best Selling Album at the 2017 RTHK International Pop Poll Awards and was nominated for Album of the Year at the BET Awards. The record was also nominated for Best International Album at LOS40 Music Awards 2017. The album was awarded Favorite Pop/Rock Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Album at the 2017 American Music Awards. The album won Album/Mixtape of the Year at the 2017 Soul Train Music Awards. It was named Modern Pop-Rock Album/Voice Recording of the Year at the 2017 Fonogram Awards The next year, "24K Magic" was nominated for seven Grammy Awards at the 2018 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best R&B Album. Mars won six of the Grammy Awards for the album while the seventh Grammy Award, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, went to the album's audio engineers Charles Moniz, Jacob Dennis, Ghenea, John Hanes and Tom Coyne. At the aforementioned ceremony, Mars became the second artist to win Record and Song of the Year with two different songs from the same album. It received Record Production/Album at the 2018 TEC Awards. The album also won International Album of the Year at the Danish "GAFFA" Awards and Top R&B Album at the 2018 " Billboard" Music Awards. It was nominated for International Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2018.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: "24K Magic" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 231,000 equivalent album units (194,000 in traditional album sales), becoming Mars's best sales week to that point and his third top-ten album in the United States. The next week, it sold 73,000 units, dropping to number four. The album remained in the US top ten for a third consecutive week despite a 20% fall in sales to 58,000 units. The album remained in the top ten for the next few weeks, returning to number two for four nonconsecutive weeks; one of these followed Mars's two performances at the 2017 Grammy Awards.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: As of July 7, 2017, "24K Magic" had sold 1,110,000 equivalent units in the United States. On January 3, 2018, "Billboard" announced the best-selling albums of 2017 in the United States, with "24K Magic" selling 710,000 copies and 1,626,000 total equivalent album units. It was the country's fourth-highest-selling and overall fifth-most-consumed record of the year. It was Mars first album to enter the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, debuting at number one. The album has spent 54 weeks on the top ten and eight non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 2017, "24k Magic" was the second-most popular record on the "Billboard" 200. The album was ranked as the 16th-best performing album of the 2010s decade on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 Albums. It has been certified three-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: The album was less successful in Europe. It debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart with sales of 52,300 copies in its first week. Its equivalent album units of 300,000 in the UK, earned a platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In France, "24K Magic" debuted in the top three and spent almost the whole year in the chart. Seven months after its release, equivalent album units exceeded 200,000, being certified twice platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). The record peaked at number four on the Spanish Albums Chart and spent 109 weeks on the chart. It was certified platinum by Productores de Música de España (PROMUSICAE). It also debuted and peaked at number five in the Netherlands, spending 135 weeks on the chart. It was certified platinum by NVPI. In Denmark, "24K Magic" peaked at number six after debuting at number nine upon release. It was certified double platinum by IFPI Danmark.


title: 24K Magic (album)

text: In Oceania, "24K Magic" debuted at number two in New Zealand and was certified gold by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for selling more than 7,500 equivalent album units in three weeks. The album returned to number two in New Zealand, becoming the singer's third consecutive record to do so. "24K Magic" was certified three-times platinum in New Zealand for shipments of 45,000 units. It was the seventh best-selling album in New Zealand in 2017. The record entered the Australian Albums charts at number three, and with it, his three first albums reached the top five. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) certified it platinum. In Japan, the album debuted at number six on the Oricon Albums Chart with first-week sales of 20,000 copies. In the second week the album jumped to number three on the chart, selling 15,000 copies. It was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). In Canada, "24K Magic" debuted at its peak position of number two with 21,000 total consumption units. It spent 89 weeks on the Canadian Albums Chart and was certified three times platinum by Music Canada (MC). As of October 2019, "24K Magic" sold five million units globally.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone, clay, or lead "sling-bullet". It is also known as the shepherd's sling or slingshot (in British English). Someone who specializes in using slings is called a slinger.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: A sling has a small cradle or "pouch" in the middle of two retention cords. A projectile is placed in the pouch. There is a loop on the end of one side of the retention cords. Depending on the design of the sling, either the middle finger or the wrist is placed through a loop on the end of one cord, and a tab at the end of the other cord is placed between the thumb and forefinger. The sling is swung in an arc, and the tab released at a precise moment. This action releases the projectile to fly to the target. The sling is much more than merely an extension of a human arm. By its double-pendulum kinetics, the sling enables stones (or spears) to be thrown much further than they could be by hand alone.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The sling is inexpensive and easy to build. Historically it has been used for hunting game and in combat. Today the sling is of interest as a wilderness survival tool and an improvised weapon.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The sling is an ancient weapon known to Neolithic peoples around the Mediterranean, but is likely much older. It is possible that the sling was invented during the Upper Palaeolithic at a time when new technologies such as the spear-thrower and the bow and arrow were emerging.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Including Australia, where the woomera has the same mechanical dynamics as the sling, transducing rotational movement into linear projection, although it is not known whether this was an independent invention.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Whereas Stones and clay objects thought by many archaeologists to be sling-bullets are common finds in the archaeological record, slings themselves are rare. This is both because a sling's materials are biodegradable and because slings were lower-status weapons, rarely preserved in a wealthy person's grave.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The oldest-known surviving slings—radiocarbon dated to c. 2500 BC—were recovered from South American archaeological sites on the coast of Peru. The oldest-known surviving North American sling—radiocarbon dated to c. 1200 BC—was recovered from Lovelock Cave, Nevada.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The oldest known extant slings from the Old World were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, who died c. 1325 BC. A pair of finely plaited slings were found with other weapons. The sling was probably intended for the departed pharaoh to use for hunting game.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Another Egyptian sling was excavated in El-Lahun in Al Fayyum Egypt in 1914 by William Matthew Flinders Petrie, and now resides in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology—Petrie dated it to c. 800 BC. It was found alongside an iron spearhead. The remains are broken into three sections. Although fragile, the construction is clear: it is made of bast fibre (almost certainly flax) twine; the cords are braided in a 10-strand elliptical sennit and the cradle seems to have been woven from the same lengths of twine used to form the cords.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Representations of slingers can be found on artifacts from all over the ancient world, including Assyrian and Egyptian reliefs, the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, on coins, and on the Bayeux Tapestry.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The oldest representation of a slinger in art may be from Çatalhöyük, from c. 7,000 BC, though it is the only such depiction at the site, despite numerous depictions of archers.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Many European, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African peoples were users of slings. Thucydides and others authors talk about its usage by Greeks and Romans, and Strabo also extends it to the Iberians, Lusitanians and even some Gauls (which Caesar describes further in his account of the siege of Bibrax). He also mentions Persians and Arabs among those who used them. For his part, Diodorus includes Libyans and Phoenicians. Britons were frequent users of slings too.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Livy mentions the most famous of ancient skillful slingers: the people of the Balearic Islands, who often worked as mercenaries. Of these people Strabo writes: "And their training in the use of slings used to be such, from childhood up, that they would not so much as give bread to their children unless they first hit it with the sling."


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The sling is mentioned as early as in the writings of Homer, where several characters kill enemies by hurling stones at them.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Balearic slingers were amongst the specialist mercenaries extensively employed by Carthage against the Romans and other enemies. These light troops used three sizes of sling, according to the distance of their opponents. The weapons were made of vegetable fibre and animal sinew, launching either stones or lead missiles with devastating impact.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Xenophon in his history of the retreat of the Ten Thousand, 401 BC, relates that the Greeks suffered severely from the slingers in the army of Artaxerxes II of Persia, while they themselves had neither cavalry nor slingers, and were unable to reach the enemy with their arrows and javelins. This deficiency was rectified when a company of 200 Rhodians, who understood the use of leaden sling-bullets, was formed. They were able, says Xenophon, to project their missiles twice as far as the Persian slingers, who used large stones.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Various Greeks enjoyed a reputation for skill with the sling. Thucydides mentions the Acarnanians and Livy refers to the inhabitants of three Greek cities on the northern coast of the Peloponnesus as expert slingers.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Roman skirmishers armed with slings and javelins were established by Servius Tullius. The late Roman writer Vegetius, in his work "De Re Militari", wrote:


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The sling is mentioned in the Bible, which provides what is believed to be the oldest textual reference to a sling in the Book of Judges, 20:16. This text was thought to have been written c. 6th century BC, but refers to events several centuries earlier.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The Bible provides a famous slinger account, the battle between David and Goliath from the First Book of Samuel 17:34–36, probably written in the 7th or 6th century BC, describing events having occurred c. 10th century BC. The sling, easily produced, was the weapon of choice for shepherds fending off animals. Due to this, the sling was a commonly used weapon by the Israelite militia. Goliath was a tall, well equipped and experienced warrior. In this account, the shepherd David persuades Saul to let him fight Goliath on behalf of the Israelites. Unarmored and equipped only with a sling, five smooth rocks, and his staff, David defeats the champion Goliath with a well-aimed shot to the head.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Use of the sling is also mentioned in Second Kings 3:25, First Chronicles 12:2, and Second Chronicles 26:14 to further illustrate Israelite use.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Ancient peoples used the sling in combat—armies included both specialist slingers and regular soldiers equipped with slings. As a weapon, the sling had several advantages; a sling bullet lobbed in a high trajectory can achieve ranges in excess of . Modern authorities vary widely in their estimates of the effective range of ancient weapons. A bow and arrow could also have been used to produce a long range arcing trajectory, but ancient writers repeatedly stress the sling's advantage of range. The sling was light to carry and cheap to produce; ammunition in the form of stones was readily available and often to be found near the site of battle. The ranges the sling could achieve with moulded lead sling-bullets was surpassed only by the strong composite bow.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Caches of sling ammunition have been found at the sites of Iron Age hill forts of Europe; some 22,000 sling stones were found at Maiden Castle, Dorset. It is proposed that Iron Age hill forts of Europe were designed to maximize the effective defence by slingers.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The hilltop location of the wooden forts would have given the defending slingers the advantage of range over the attackers, and multiple concentric ramparts, each higher than the other, would allow a large number of men to create a hailstorm of stone. Consistent with this, it has been noted that defences are generally narrow where the natural slope is steep, and wider where the slope is more gradual.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: A classic sling is braided from non-elastic material. The traditional materials are flax, hemp or wool. Slings by Balearic islanders were said to be made from a rush. Flax and hemp resist rotting, but wool is softer and more comfortable. Polyester is an excellent material for modern slings, because it does not rot or stretch and is soft and free of splinters.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Braided cords are used in preference to twisted rope, as a braid resists twisting when stretched. This improves accuracy.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The overall length of a sling can vary. A slinger may have slings of different lengths. A longer sling is used when greater range is required. A length of about is typical.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: At the centre of the sling, a cradle or pouch is constructed. This may be formed by making a wide braid from the same material as the cords or by inserting a piece of a different material such as leather. The cradle is typically diamond shaped (although some take the form of a net), and will fold around the projectile in use. Some cradles have a hole or slit that allows the material to wrap around the projectile slightly, thereby holding it more securely.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: At the end of one cord (called the retention cord) a finger-loop is formed. At the end of the other cord (the release cord), it is a common practice to form a knot or a tab. The release cord will be held between finger and thumb to be released at just the right moment, and may have a complex braid to add bulk to the end. This makes the knot easier to hold, and the extra weight allows the loose end of a discharged sling to be recovered with a flick of the wrist.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Braided construction resists stretching, and therefore produces an accurate sling. Modern slings are begun by plaiting the cord for the finger loop in the centre of a double-length set of cords. The cords are then folded to form the finger-loop. The retained cord is then plaited away from the loop as a single cord up to the pocket. The pocket is then plaited, most simply as another pair of cords, or with flat braids or a woven net. The remainder of the sling, the released cord, is plaited as a single cord, and then finished with a knot or plaited tab.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Ancient poets wrote that sling-bullets could penetrate armour, and that lead projectiles, heated by their passage through the air, would melt in flight. In the first instance, it seems likely that the authors were indicating that slings could cause injury through armour by a percussive effect ("i.e.", the energy of a sling-bullet delivered at high velocity causing blunt trauma injury upon impact) rather than by penetration. In the latter case we may imagine that they were impressed by the degree of deformation suffered by lead sling-bullet after hitting a hard target.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: According to description of Procopius, the sling had an effective range further than a Hun bow and arrow. In his book "Wars of Justinian", he recorded the felling of a Hun warrior by a slinger:


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The simplest projectile was a stone, preferably well-rounded. Suitable ammunition is frequently from a river or a beach. The size of the projectiles can vary dramatically, from pebbles massing no more than to fist-sized stones massing or more. The use of such stones as projectiles is well attested in the ethnographic record.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Possible projectiles were also purpose-made from clay; this allowed a very high consistency of size and shape to aid range and accuracy. Many examples have been found in the archaeological record.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The best ammunition was cast from lead. Leaden sling-bullets were widely used in the Greek and Roman world. For a given mass, lead, being very dense, offers the minimum size and therefore minimum air resistance. In addition, leaden sling-bullets are small and difficult to see in flight; their concentrated impact is also a better armour-piercer and better able to penetrate a body.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: In some cases, the lead would be cast in a simple open mould made by pushing a finger or thumb into sand and pouring molten metal into the hole. However, sling-bullets were more frequently cast in two-part moulds. Such sling-bullets come in a number of shapes including an ellipsoidal form closely resembling an acorn; this could be the origin of the Latin word for a leaden sling-bullet: "glandes plumbeae" (literally 'leaden acorns') or simply "glandes" (meaning 'acorns', singular "glans").


title: Sling (weapon)

text: Other shapes include spherical and (by far the most common) biconical, which resembles the shape of the shell of an almond nut or a flattened American football.


title: Sling (weapon)

text: The ancients do not seem to have taken advantage of the manufacturing process to produce consistent results; leaden sling-bullets vary significantly. The reason why the almond shape was favoured is not clear: it is possible that there is some aerodynamic advantage, but it seems equally likely that there is some more prosaic reason, such as the shape being easy to extract from a mould, or the fact that it will rest in a sling cradle with little danger of rolling out. It is possible as well that the almond, non-circular shape, made the bullet spin in flight in a helicopter or disc like effect adding to the flight distance.