title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Michael Oliver (Durham) was the referee, assisted by Stuart Burt and Simon Bennett. Stuart Attwell was the fourth official, and Dan Cook the reserve assistant referee. Chris Kavanagh was the video assistant referee (VAR) and Sian Massey-Ellis, acting as assistant VAR, became the first female referee involved in an FA Cup final.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: For their team selections, Chelsea dropped Abraham and brought in Ziyech. Leicester started Jonny Evans and had their captain Wes Morgan on the bench.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, crowds at football matches in England had not exceeded 8,000 since March 2020. The Football Association planned for the FA Cup Final to be part of a pilot scheme to allow fans to attend. The English Football League had delayed the 2021 EFL Cup Final, hoping to admit supporters under the same scheme.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: On 14 March 2021, it was announced that up to 20,000 fans would be able to attend the final after it was selected for the pilot. This also came as Wembley was due to host several matches, including the final, of UEFA Euro 2020 in the summer. Initial government plans required fans to provide evidence of their COVID vaccine status. Following opposition, the government announced fans would not need vaccine passports but would still have to provide evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 lateral flow test in order to enter the stadium. After the event fans were requested to take a PCR test to track whether the event caused any spread of COVID-19.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: The match was televised live in the United Kingdom on BBC One and BT Sport 1. BBC One's coverage was presented by former Leicester City player Gary Lineker alongside former Newcastle United forward Alan Shearer, former Arsenal forward and two-time FA Cup winner Ian Wright, and former Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, with commentary from Guy Mowbray and former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jermaine Jenas. BBC coverage of the final was watched by 9.1 million people in the United Kingdom, making it the most watched match of the season. BBC Sport presenter Dan Walker presented the preview to the final on Football Focus with former Aston Villa player Dion Dublin and former Arsenal Women's player Alex Scott. BT Sport's broadcast was presented by Jake Humphrey, former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole, former Leicester City forward Emile Heskey, and former players Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen. Ian Darke was BT's main commentator, joined by former Leicester midfielder Robbie Savage and former Chelsea player-manager Glenn Hoddle. Former referee Peter Walton provided commentary on the match officiating. Under the terms of the broadcasting deal they struck with the FA in 2013, it was the last time BT Sport showed the FA Cup final, having lost the rights for the 2021–2025 broadcasting cycle to ITV in 2019.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Talksport's coverage was presented by Mark Saggers; Sam Matterface and Andy Townsend provided commentary. BBC Radio also covered the match nationally on BBC Radio 5 Live, whose commentary team comprised John Murray and Dion Dublin, and on the local stations for the two clubs, BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Leicester.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: British singer-songwriter Becky Hill sang the national anthem "God Save the Queen" alongside the B Positive Choir and the Band of the Coldstream Guards. The B Positive Choir also sang "Abide with Me", the traditional FA Cup Final hymn. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, led the presentation party of FA interim chairman Peter McCormick, Emirates' UK divisional vice president Richard Jewsbury and chairman of the FA Cup Challenge Committee Steve Curwood. The coin toss featured a commemorative coin with a red poppy, marking the Royal British Legion's centenary. Players from both teams dropped to one knee immediately prior to kick-off, in support of the No Room For Racism campaign; this was booed by some sections of the crowd.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Leicester City kicked off the match around 5:15p.m. in front of an official attendance of 20,000. Chelsea started the match the dominant side but Antonio Rüdiger's 15th minute shot from went wide of Leicester City's goal. Timothy Castagne then sent in a low cross which Jamie Vardy struck towards the Chelsea goal but the ball was blocked by Reece James. In the 20th minute, Thiago Silva was adjudged to have handled the ball after Leicester City's Iheanacho tried to get past him. Tielemans' resulting free kick was headed over the Chelsea crossbar by Çağlar Söyüncü from around .


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Marcos Alonso had a scoring opportunity cleared by Tielemans before Mount's strike from the edge of Leicester City's penalty area took a deflection from Wesley Fofana, going just wide of Leicester City's goal. Werner then struck high over the crossbar from distance before both he and Azpilicueta missed a cross from Mount. Evans became the match's first substituted player when he picked up an injury in the 34th minute and was replaced by Albrighton. A minute later, Fofana was shown the game's first yellow card after fouling Werner; Werner was booked minutes later after a lunging slide on Fofana. With three minutes of the half remaining, Pérez was brought down by Jorginho and Söyüncü headed Tielemans' resulting free kick wide from . Werner had a shot deflected out for a corner by Fofana. Vardy's stoppage time header from that corner went wide of the Chelsea goal. The half ended 0–0 with neither team registering a shot on target.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: No substitutions were made during the interval. Chelsea kicked off the second half. Eight minutes in, after Leicester City had dominated, Chelsea's N'Golo Kanté delivered a cross, but Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel easily caught Alonso's weak header. Schmeichel then saved Azpilicueta's shot. In the 63rd minute, Luke Thomas passed to Tielemans whose strike from distance flew into the top-left corner of Chelsea's goal, giving Leicester City a 1–0 lead. Despite claims from Chelsea that there had been a handball during the build-up, the goal stood. Chelsea's Ziyech then shot but his strike was deflected out for a corner which came to nothing. Midway through the second half, Iheanacho was replaced by Maddison before Chelsea made a double-substitution, with Ziyech and Alonso coming off for Christian Pulisic and Chilwell. With 19 minutes remaining, Mount went down after being tackled by Söyüncü but Chelsea's claims for a penalty were denied by the referee.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Azpilicueta was then substituted in the 75th minute after a clash of heads. Jorginho was also substituted at the same time, with Havertz and Hudson-Odoi replacing them. Kanté's 78th minute cross was headed goalbound by Chilwell but Schmeichel saved the attempt. With eight minutes of regular time remaining, Chelsea replaced Werner with Giroud; Leicester City's Thomas and Pérez were substituted for Hamza Choudhury and Morgan. A minute later, Rudiger's shot was high over Leicester City's crossbar before Mount's rising shot was pushed out for a corner by Schmeichel. In the final minute of regular time, Silva passed to Chilwell, who shot; Söyüncü cleared Chilwell's shot off the line but it deflected back off Chilwell and into the Leicester City net. The goal was referred to the VAR, who deemed Chilwell was offside in the build-up and the goal was disallowed. Five minutes of stoppage time were played but there were no more goals. The match ended 1–0 to Leicester City, who won the FA Cup for the first time. Tielemans was named man of the match.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: As President of The Football Association, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, presented the FA Cup to Schmeichel, Leicester City's captain. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the presentation took place on the pitch instead of in the Royal Box. Players and managers of both clubs picked up their own medals. The FA did not punish Leicester players Choudhury and Fofana for parading the flag of Palestine during the post-match celebrations. This was despite it being claimed that such an action was against The FA's rules on political statements.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: The Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers paid tribute to his side and the supporters: "I'm very proud, it's a historic day for the club. Winning the FA Cup for the first time is clearly a special day. The players were so courageous in the game... It was a fantastic atmosphere and I'm so happy Leicester supporters could be there to see us win it." He described Tielemans' strike as "an old-school FA Cup-winning goal" but highlighted his goalkeeper's influence on the game, saying "... Kasper Schmeichel's saves – those are the special moments you need in games." It was Rodgers' seventh final win in seven attempts as a manager. Schmeichel himself was jubilant: "To think of the people who have lifted this trophy, and to be able to do it today is beyond my wildest dreams." Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea manager, suggested that his team were "simply unlucky" and suggested that VAR had missed a handball in the build-up to the winning goal. He also described Tielemans' goal as "fantastic... but lucky".


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Tielemans' goal was lauded in the media: the BBC described it as a "stunner", Miguel Delaney of "The Independent" said that it was "one of the most spectacular FA Cup winners this competition will ever see", while David Hytner of "The Observer" called the goal a "firecracker" and one that "will live forever". It was declared "a remarkable goal, a thunderous strike" by CBS Sports and "a moment of magic" by Ali Humayun in "The Athletic".


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: As winners, Leicester City earned £1.8 million in prize money, while runners-up Chelsea earned £900,000. Leicester City also qualified for the 2021–22 UEFA Europa League group stage. Furthermore, Leicester qualified for the 2021 FA Community Shield, where they beat 2020–21 Premier League champions Manchester City 1–0.


title: 2021 FA Cup Final

text: Chelsea became the first team since Newcastle United in 1998 and 1999 to lose two consecutive FA Cup finals.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: Point72 Asset Management, L.P., is an American hedge fund. SAC Capital Advisors was founded in 1992 and converted its investment operations to the Point72 Asset Management family office in 2014. In 2018, the firm reopened to external investors after a two-year ban and began accepting outside capital. As of 2020, Point72 employs approximately 1,500 people. Point72 has its main office in Stamford, Connecticut.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: Point72 was founded in 2014 as the successor to SAC Capital, after the firm pleaded guilty to federal insider trading charges and paid a $1.8 billion fine. In March 2014, SAC Capital transferred the bulk of its assets to Point72 and was placed in "run-off," or a winding down of its operations. During this transition, Point72 launched a program a firm spokesperson referred to in a "Wall Street Journal" article as "the first phase of its transformation and renewal."


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: In the wake of the government's criticism of SAC's compliance program, Point72 enacted a series of reforms to bolster internal compliance. Former federal prosecutor Vincent Tortorella was hired to fill a newly created role of chief surveillance officer, and former U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, Kevin J. O’Connor, was hired to serve as Chief Counsel. A specialized surveillance unit, composed of ex-CIA, FBI and SEC investigators, was created to emphasize the need for compliance by traders, and in 2014, the firm retained Palantir Technologies, Inc., a Central Intelligence Agency-backed software maker to provide a new tool for compliance and surveillance. O’Connor left Point72 in 2019 and Tortorella assumed the role of General Counsel. During this time, Point72 adopted other software programs designed to bolster internal compliance.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: In August 2014, founder Steven Cohen replaced many of the management personnel who had operated SAC. Among the changes, he named a new president of Point72, Douglas D. Haynes, and a new chief operating officer, former IBM executive Timothy Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy retired in 2018 and was replaced by Gavin O'Connor, who joined the firm from Goldman Sachs.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: In 2015, the firm launched the Point72 Academy, an internship program to train new employees according to its mission and values. Point72 describes the program as an effort to build a stronger internal culture. Point72 Academy investment staff may become the new generation of investment analysts and portfolio managers who will manage capital in the future.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: There are satellite offices in New York City, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, London, Paris, Sydney, Warsaw and Palo Alto.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: In January 2021, along with Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities, Point72 contributed $750 million to a $2.75 billion emergency bailout of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that had incurred deep losses in the GameStop short squeeze; Melvin Capital is run by Gabe Plotkin, a former protégé of Steven Cohen and one of the managers of SAC whose trades were investigated by the SEC. In the first half of 2021, Point72 was reported to have lost $500 million on its investment in Melvin Capital.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: The firm's long/short investment divisions are Point72 Asset Management and EverPoint Asset Management. EverPoint Asset Management headquartered in New York operates a stock trading portfolio. Point72 folded its big data unit into its Market Intelligence team in 2018. In 2018 Point72 had 125 portfolio managers and around 1,000 employees.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: In 2016, Steve Cohen established Point72 Ventures, a venture capital fund that makes early-stage investments in Asia, Europe, Central America, and the United States. Point72 Ventures now invests in fintech, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cyber-security and core-enterprise companies.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: Matthew Granade, the head of Point72’s Market Intelligence unit and a former co-head of research at Bridgewater Associates, is the Managing Partner at Point72 Ventures. As of 2019, the fund is composed of about 15 employees, and its investments typically range from $500,000 to $15 million. Pete Casella leads Point72 Ventures-Fintech, Dan Gwak and Sri Chandrasekar lead Point72 Ventures-AI, and David Dubick and Noah Carr lead Ventures’ third sleeve, Point72 Ventures-Core Enterprise.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: Cubist Systematic Strategies is its quantitative investing business. The name was chosen as a reference to cubist art; the New York Times reported that "Cohen is a well-known art collector".


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: The New York Times reported that Point72 President Douglas D. Haynes who was hired as managing director for human capital and then became President resigned in March 2018 "amid [a] gender bias lawsuit" and was replaced as president by Cohen.


title: Point72 Asset Management

text: The firm has faced multiple lawsuits from employees alleging gender and pay discrimination. In September 2020 Point72 settled a gender/pay discrimination suit brought by Lauren Bonner the former Head of Talent Analytics.


title: Fad

text: A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short period.


title: Fad

text: Fads are objects or behaviors that achieve short-lived popularity but fade away. Fads are often seen as sudden, quick-spreading, and short-lived. Fads include diets, clothing, hairstyles, toys, and more. Some popular fads throughout history are toys such as yo-yos, hula hoops, and fad dances such as the Macarena, floss and the twist.


title: Fad

text: Similar to habits or customs but less durable, fads often result from an activity or behavior being perceived as emotionally popular or exciting within a peer group, or being deemed "cool" as often promoted by social networks. A fad is said to "catch on" when the number of people adopting it begins to increase to the point of being noteworthy. Fads often fade quickly when the perception of novelty is gone.


title: Fad

text: The specific nature of the behavior associated with a fad can be of any type including unusual language usage, distinctive clothing, fad diets or frauds such as pyramid schemes. Apart from general novelty, mass marketing, emotional blackmail, peer pressure, or the desire to "be hip" may drive fads. Popular celebrities can also drive fads, for example the highly popularizing effect of Oprah's Book Club.


title: Fad

text: Though some consider the term "trend" equivalent to "fad", a fad is generally considered a quick and short behavior whereas a trend is one that evolves into a long term or even permanent change.


title: Fad

text: In economics, the term is used in a similar way. Fads are mean-reverting deviations from intrinsic value caused by social or psychological forces similar to those that cause fashions in political philosophies or consumerisation.


title: Fad

text: Many contemporary fads share similar patterns of social organization. Several different models serve to examine fads and how they spread.


title: Fad

text: One way of looking at the spread of fads is through the top-down model, which argues that fashion is created for the elite, and from the elite, fashion spreads to lower classes. Early adopters might not necessarily be those of a high status, but they have sufficient resources that allow them to experiment with new innovations. When looking at the top-down model, sociologists like to highlight the role of selection. The elite might be the ones that introduce certain fads, but other people must choose to adopt those fads.


title: Fad

text: Others may argue that not all fads begin with their adopters. Social life already provides people with ideas that can help create a basis for new and innovative fads. Companies can look at what people are already interested in and create something from that information. The ideas behind fads are not always original; they might stem from what is already popular at the time. Recreation and style faddists may try out variations of a basic pattern or idea already in existence.


title: Fad

text: Another way of looking at the spread of fads is through a symbolic interaction view. People learn their behaviors from the people around them. When it comes to collective behavior, the emergence of these shared rules, meanings, and emotions are more dependent on the cues of the situation, rather than physiological arousal. This connection to symbolic interactionism, a theory that explains people’s actions as being directed by shared meanings and assumptions, explains that fads are spread because people attach meaning and emotion to objects, and not because the object has practical use, for instance. People might adopt a fad because of the meanings and assumptions they share with the other people who have adopted that fad. People may join other adopters of the fad because they enjoy being a part of a group and what that symbolizes. Some people may join because they want to feel like an insider. When multiple people adopt the same fad, they may feel like they have made the right choice because other people have made that same choice.


title: Fad

text: Primarily, fads end because all innovative possibilities have been exhausted. Fads begin to fade when people no longer see them as new and unique. As more people follow the fad, some might start to see it as "overcrowded", and it no longer holds the same appeal. Many times, those who first adopt the fad also abandon it first. They begin to recognize that their preoccupation with the fad leads them to neglect some of their routine activities, and they realize the negative aspects of their behavior. Once the faddists are no longer producing new variations of the fad, people begin to realize their neglect of other activities, and the dangers of the fad. Not everyone completely abandons the fad, however, and parts may remain.


title: Fad

text: A study examined why certain fads die out quicker than others. A marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Jonah Berger and his colleague, Gael Le Mens, studied baby names in the United States and France to help explore the termination of fads. According to their results, the faster the names became popular, the faster they lost their popularity. They also found that the least successful names overall were those that caught on most quickly. Fads, like baby names, often lose their appeal just as quickly as they gained it.


title: Fad

text: Fads can fit under the broad umbrella of collective behavior, which are behaviors engaged in by a large but loosely connected group of people. Other than fads, collective behavior includes the activities of people in crowds, panics, fashions, crazes, and more. Robert E. Park, the man who created the term collective behavior, defined it as "the behavior of individuals under the influence of an impulse that is common and collective, an impulse, in other words, that is the result of social interaction". Fads are seen as impulsive, driven by emotions; however, they can bring together groups of people who may not have much in common other than their investment in the fad.


title: Fad

text: Fads can also fit under the umbrella of "collective obsessions". Collective obsessions have three main features in common. The first, and most obvious sign, is an increase in frequency and intensity of a specific belief or behavior. A fad's popularity increases quickly in frequency and intensity, whereas a trend grows more slowly. The second is that the behavior is seen as ridiculous, irrational, or evil to the people who are not a part of the obsession. Some people might see those who follow certain fads as unreasonable and irrational. To these people, the fad is ridiculous, and people's obsession of it is just as ridiculous. The third is, after it has reached a peak, it drops off abruptly and then it is followed by a counter obsession. A counter obsession means that once the fad is over, if one engages in the fad they will be ridiculed. A fad's popularity often decreases at a rapid rate once its novelty wears off. Some people might start to criticize the fad after pointing out that it is no longer popular, so it must not have been "worth the hype".


title: Sirivannavari

text: Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya (; ; ; born 8 January 1987) is a Princess of the Kingdom of Thailand and is the only daughter of King Vajiralongkorn by his former consort Sujarinee Vivacharawongse (commonly known as Yuvadhida Polpraserth). She is also the only one of their common children in the line of succession and to bear royal titles. She has produced works as a fashion designer, and competed in sports as an equestrian and badminton player.


title: Sirivannavari

text: Sirivannavari was born "Mom Chao" Busyanambejra Mahidol (; ; ), but later changed to "Mom Chao" Chakkrityapha Mahidol (), and once again to "Mom Chao" Sirivanvari Mahidol () upon order of Queen Sirikit. She has four full siblings. Following her parents' divorce, her mother moved with her siblings to the United States, where her father ordered her abduction and return to Thailand.


title: Sirivannavari

text: Sirivannavari graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chulalongkorn University and a master's in design from École de la Chambre Syndicale de la couture Parisienne. She was elevated to Princess status by royal command of her grandfather, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, on 15 June 2005.


title: Sirivannavari

text: Sirivannavari represented Thailand in badminton in 2005 at 23rd South East Asian Games in the Philippines, winning a team gold. In this, she follows in the footsteps of her grandfather, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who represented his country in international sailing events. A badminton tournament that made its debut in 2016, the Thailand Masters, was named as the Princess Sirivannavari Thailand Masters.


title: Sirivannavari

text: In 2007, Sirivannavari was invited by Pierre Balmain, the French couturier, to present her fashion show in Paris. Her debut Paris collection was titled Presence of the Past, which drew on memories of her royal grandmother as well as giving a modern interpretation to traditional Thai costume. The following year, she presented her own fashion show in Paris. She designed a dress worn by the Thai entrant in the Miss Universe Thailand 2018 pageant. YouTube personality Wanchaleom Jamneanphol was subsequently threatened with prosecution under Thailand's lèse-majesté laws after describing the dress as ugly.


title: Sirivannavari

text: Sirivannavari began riding horses at age nine. She trained in France at the International Moniteur d'Equitation, Le Cadre Noir de Saumur. She competed as a member of the Thai equestrian sports team in the 2013 and 2017 Southeast Asian Games.


title: Sirivannavari

text: In 2008, Sirivannavari was included as 16th on the list of the "20 Hottest Young Royals", compiled by "Forbes".


title: Sobranie

text: Sobranie (, "Gathering", "Collection", "Assembly") is a brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Gallaher Group, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco.


title: Sobranie

text: The Balkan Sobranie tobacco business was established in London in 1879 by Albert Weinberg (born Romania 1849), whose naturalization papers dated 1886 confirm his nationality and show that he had emigrated to England in the 1870s at a time when hand-made cigarettes in the eastern European and Russian tradition were becoming fashionable in Europe. It is one of the oldest cigarette brands in the world. Albert's young cousin Isaiah Redstone (1884-1963) joined him in the business and registered the "Balkan Sobranie" trademark, later shortened to Sobranie.


title: Sobranie

text: By 1910 Albert was manufacturing at 34 Glasshouse Street, London. After Albert's death Isaiah Redstone and his sons Charles Coleman Redstone (1911-1994) and Dr. Isidore Redstone (1925-2022) continued to own and manage the business. In the early 1980s the Sobranie trademarks were sold to Gallaher Group, which continued production with a modified formula at various locations in Europe. Gallaher was subsequently purchased by Japan Tobacco in 2007.


title: Sobranie

text: Throughout its existence, Sobranie was marketed as the definition of luxury in the tobacco industry, being adopted as the official provider of many European royal houses and elites around the world including the Imperial Court of Russia and the royal courts of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Spain, Romania, and Greece.


title: Sobranie

text: Premium brands include the multi-coloured Sobranie Cocktail and the black and gold Sobranie Black Russian, which are produced in Ukraine. Sobranie Cocktail, Black Russian and White Russian variants are emblazoned with the Russian imperial eagle.


title: Sobranie

text: Sobranie was a sponsor of the Jordan Grand Prix team in and . The logos were displayed on the front, side and rear wing of the cars. In countries where tobacco sponsorship was forbidden, the logos were removed or replaced. Sobranie was primarily a replacement for Jordan's primary tobacco sponsor, Benson & Hedges (a Gallaher-owned brand in the United Kingdom), in United States Grands Prix, to circumvent the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, as Philip Morris USA (who holds the Benson & Hedges trademark in the United States) was exclusively (as required by the MSA) sponsoring Team Penske in American open-wheel racing with their Marlboro brand.


title: Sobranie

text: Sobranie cigarettes were mainly sold in the United Kingdom until the introduction of plain packaging, but also were or still are sold in India, Germany, Bulgaria, France, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Greece, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Montenegro and Japan as well as many duty free shops in airports.


title: Purdah

text: Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that women cover their bodies so as to cover their skin and conceal their form. A woman who practices purdah can be referred to as ' or '. The term "purdah" is sometimes applied to similar practices in other parts of the world.


title: Purdah

text: Practices that restricted women's mobility and behavior existed among all religious groups since ancient times and intensified with the arrival of Islam. By the 19th century, purdah became customary among Hindu elites. Purdah was not traditionally observed by lower-class women.


title: Purdah

text: Physical segregation within buildings is achieved with judicious use of walls, curtains, and screens. A woman's withdrawal into purdah usually restricts her personal, social and economic activities outside her home. The usual purdah garment worn is a burqa, which may or may not include a yashmak, a veil to conceal the face. The eyes may or may not be exposed.


title: Purdah

text: Married Hindu women in parts of Northern India observe purdah, with some women wearing a ghoonghat in the presence of older male relations on their husbands' side; Muslim women observe purdah through the wearing of a burqa. A dupatta is a veil used by both Muslim and Hindu women, often when entering a religious house of worship.


title: Purdah

text: Purdah was rigorously observed under the Taliban in Afghanistan, where women had to observe complete purdah at all times when they were in public. Only close male family members and other women were allowed to see them out of purdah. In other societies, purdah is often only practised during certain times of religious significance.


title: Purdah

text: In ancient Indian society, "practices that restricted women's social mobility and behavior" existed but the arrival of Islam in India "intensified these Hindu practices, and by the 19th century purdah was the customary practice of high-caste Hindu and elite communities throughout India."


title: Purdah

text: Although purdah is commonly associated with Islam, many scholars argue that veiling and secluding women pre-dates Islam; these practices were commonly found among various groups in the Middle East such as Druze, Christian, and Jewish communities. For instance, the burqa existed in Arabia before Islam, and the mobility of upper-class women was restricted in Babylonia, Persian, and Byzantine Empires before the advent of Islam. Historians believe purdah was acquired by the Muslims during the expansion of the Arab Empire into modern-day Iraq in the 7th century C.E and that Islam merely added religious significance to already existing local practices of the times.


title: Purdah

text: Muslim rule of northern India during the Mughal Empire influenced the practice of Hinduism, and the purdah spread to the Hindu upper classes of northern India. The spread of purdah outside of the Muslim community can be attributed to the tendency of affluent classes to mirror the societal practices of the nobility; poor women did not observe purdah. Lower-class women in small villages often worked in fields, and therefore could not afford to abandon their work to be secluded. During the British colonial period in India, purdah observance was widespread and strictly adhered to among the Muslim minority.


title: Purdah

text: In modern times, the practice of veiling and secluding women is still present in mainly Islamic countries, communities and South Asian countries. However, the practice is not monolithic. Purdah takes on different forms and significance depending on the region, time, socioeconomic status, and local culture. It is most commonly associated with some Muslim communities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, along with Saudi Arabia. Purdah has been more recently adopted in northern Nigeria, especially in areas affected by the Boko Haram uprising. It is also observed by Rajput clans of India and Pakistan as a social practice regardless of religion.


title: Purdah

text: Some scholars argue that the purdah was initially designed to protect women from being harassed, but later these practices became a way to justify efforts to subjugate women and limit their mobility and freedom. However, others argue that these practices were always in place as local custom, but were later adopted by religious rhetoric to control female behavior.


title: Purdah

text: Proponents of the practice view purdah as a symbol of honor, respect, and dignity. It is seen as a practice that allows women to be judged by their inner beauty rather than physical beauty.


title: Purdah

text: In many societies, the seclusion of women to the domestic sphere is a demonstration of higher socioeconomic status and prestige because women are not needed for manual labor outside the home.


title: Purdah

text: In Pakistan, upper and middle-class women in towns wear burqas over their normal clothes in public. The burqa is the most visible dress in Pakistan. It is typically a tent-like garment worn over the ordinary clothes and is made of white cotton. Many upper-class women wear a two-piece burqa which is usually black in colour but sometimes navy blue or dark red. It consists of a long cloak and a separate headpiece with a drop-down face veil. Some educated urban women no longer wear the burqa. The burqa is also not worn by rural peasant women who work in the fields. In rural areas only elite women wear burqas. Purdah is still common in the rural elite and urban middle class, but not among rural farmers.


title: Purdah

text: The rationales of individual women for keeping purdah are complex and can be a combination of motivations, freely chosen or in response to social pressure or coercion: religious, cultural (desire for authentic cultural dress), political (Islamization of the society), economic (status symbol, protection from the public gaze), psychological (detachment from public sphere to gain respect), fashion and decorative purposes, and "empowerment" (donning veils to move in public spaces controlled by men).


title: Purdah

text: The following reminiscence from C.M. Naim describes the evolution of purdah during the first third of the 20th century among the sharif or genteel people of Avadh, United Provinces, British India:


title: Purdah

text: The word ‘Hijab' is relatively new for me. It was not a part of my vocabulary as I was growing up. I learned it much later, when I began to read literary and religious Urdu texts. ... The relevant word that I learned growing up was "purdah". And I learned the word and its many meanings in the observed practice of the various female members of my middle-class family in Bara Banki, a small town in north India.


title: Purdah

text: For Ammi, my grandmother, purdah meant almost never venturing out of the house. On the rare occasions when she did, it was always an elaborate ritual. Visiting a family in the neighbourhood – only on the occasion of some tragedy, ... she used a "doli". The little stool slung from a pole that two men carried would be brought to our back door – the door to the zanana or the ladies' section – and the two carriers would step away behind the curtain wall. Ammi would wrap herself in a white sheet and squat on the flat stool, and a heavy custom-made cover would be thrown over her and the doli. The two bearers would then come back and carry the doli away on their shoulders. ... When Ammi traveled in my father's car, she covered herself the same way, while the back seat of the car where she sat was made completely invisible by pieces of cloth hung across the windows.


title: Purdah

text: Apa, my mother, belonged to the next generation. She used a burqa. Hers was a two piece ‘modern' outfit, as opposed to the one-piece – derisively called ‘the shuttlecock' by my sisters – that was preferred by the older or more conservatively spirited in the family. I also remember that the older generation's burqas were usually white, while the new burqas were always black.


title: Purdah

text: Apa’s burqa’ consisted of a skirt and a separate top throw – one that covered her from the head to the thighs. The two pieces allowed for easier movement of both arms and legs. The top had a separate veil hanging over the face, which Apa could throw back in the company of women, e.g. while traveling in the ladies compartment on a train, or hold partly aside to look at things more closely when she went shopping. Apa wore a burqa all her life, except of course when she went to Mecca for Hajj. There she wore the same sheets of ihram that Ammi had to earlier. Like all women pilgrims then and now, she too exposed her face to everyone’s sight but not her hair.


title: Purdah

text: ... I should not neglect to mention that in those days – I’m talking about the Forties – it was considered improper even for Hindu ladies of certain classes to be seen in public with their hair and faces uncovered, particularly the married women. They never wore a burqa – that was for Muslims alone. Instead, they used a shawl, a plain white sheet, or the "palloo" of their saris to cover what was not for strangers to see. They too lived in houses that had separate women’s quarters. Their daughters traveled to school daily in a covered wagon that was pushed by two men, just like their Muslim counterparts. (The school was exclusively for girls and had a very high wall surrounding it.)


title: Purdah

text: A different form of veiling, the ghoonghat, is found among some married Hindu women in rural North India. A fold of the sari is drawn over the face when the woman is in the presence of older male in-laws or in a place where there is likelihood of meeting them, e.g. the in-laws' village. It is not worn otherwise, for example, when visiting her mother's home or in a location far from the in-laws' village. Hindu women in other parts of India—south, east, west (below Gujarat)—do not veil themselves.


title: Purdah

text: For both Hindu and Muslim women in the eastern part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, having a "separate women's quarters within the house" is commonplace among families who can afford it.


title: Purdah

text: Another important aspect of purdah is modesty for women, which includes minimizing the movement of women in public spaces and interactions of women with other males. The specific form varies widely based on religion, region, class, and culture. For instance, for some purdah might mean never leaving the home unless accompanied by a male relative, or limiting interactions to only other women and male relatives (for some Muslims) or avoiding all males outside of the immediate family (for some Hindus). For Muslims, seclusion begins at puberty while for Hindus, seclusion begins after marriage.


title: Purdah

text: By restricting women's mobility, purdah results in the social and physical isolation of women. Lack of a strong social network places women in a position of vulnerability with her husband and her husband's family. Studies have shown that in conservative rural Bangladeshi communities, adherence to purdah is positively correlated with the risk of domestic violence. The restriction on women's mobility limits their ability to access health care and family planning services, especially for unmarried girls. In rural Pakistan, unmarried women and girls had trouble accessing healthcare facilities even in their own villages due to purdah; all types of women had difficulty accessing facilities outside of their villages because they had to be accompanied. Along the same vein, studies of women's contraceptive use in Bangladesh shows that women with decreased observance of purdah and increased mobility are more likely to use contraceptives.


title: Purdah

text: By restricting women's mobility, purdah places severe limits on women's ability to participate in gainful employment and to attain economic independence. The ideology of purdah constricts women in the domestic sphere for reproductive role and places men in productive role as breadwinners who move through public space. However, due to economic needs and shifts in gender relations, some women are compelled to break purdah to gain income. Across countries, women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds tend to observe purdah less because they face greater financial pressures to work and gain income. Studies show that "it is the poorest, most desperate families that, given the opportunity, are more willing to stress purdah norms and take the social risks entailed when women engage in wage or self-employment. For instance, rural women in Bangladesh have been found to be less concerned with propriety and purdah, and take up work where available, migrating if they need to. They take up work in a variety of sectors from agriculture to manufacturing to the sex trade. However, other studies found that purdah still plays a significant role in women's decisions to participate in the workforce, often prohibiting them from taking opportunities they would otherwise. The degree to which women observe purdah and the pressures they face to conform or to earn income vary with their socioeconomic class.


title: Purdah

text: Social and mobility restrictions under purdah severely limit women's involvement in political decision-making in government institutions and in the judiciary. Lack of mobility and discouragement from participating in political life means women cannot easily exercise their right to vote, run for political office, participate in trade unions, or participate in community level decision-making. Women's limited participation in political decision-making therefore results in policies that do not sufficiently address needs and rights of women in areas such as access to healthcare, education and employment opportunities, property ownership, justice, and others. Gender imbalance in policy-making also reinforces institutionalization of gender disparities.


title: Purdah

text: In Tunisia and formerly Turkey, religious veiling is banned in public schools, universities, and government buildings as a measure to discourage displays of political Islam or fundamentalism. Turkey reversed the long-standing ban in 2013. In western Europe, veiling is seen as symbol of Islamic presence, and movements to ban veils have stirred great controversy. For instance, since 2004 France has banned all overt religious symbols in schools including the Muslim headscarf. In Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh where the word purdah is primarily used, the government has no policies either for or against veiling.


title: Purdah

text: Nations such as Pakistan have been swinging to more conservative laws and policies that use rhetoric of following Islamic law, sometimes termed Islamization. The ideology is reinforcing traditional culture, traditional women's roles in the domestic sphere, and the need to protect women's honor. The result is policies that reinforce cultural norms that limit female mobility in the public sphere, promotion of gender segregation, and institutionalization of gender disparities.


title: Purdah

text: Women have been engaging in efforts to challenge the gender inequality resulting from purdah. For instance, women in Pakistan have organized trade unions and attempt to exercise their right to vote and influence decision making. However, their opponents accuse these women of falling for the pernicious influence of Westernization and turning their backs on tradition.


title: Purdah

text: In Bengal, feminist activism dates back to the 19th century. For instance, Begum Rokeya and Faizunnesa Choudhurani played a significant role in emancipating Bengali Muslim women from purdah.


title: Purdah

text: Globalization and Muslim women returning from diasporas has influenced Pakistani women's purdah practice in areas outside of religious significance. One major influence is the desire to be modern and keep up with the latest fashions, or refusal to do so as a source of autonomy and power. Simultaneously, due to modernization in many urban areas, purdah and face-veiling are seen as unsophisticated and backwards, creating a trend in less strict observance of purdah.


title: Purdah

text: For the Muslim South Asian diaspora living in secular non-Muslim communities such as Pakistani-Americans, attitudes about purdah have changed to be less strict. As it pertains to education and economic opportunities, these immigrant families hold less conservative views about purdah after moving to America; for the daughters who do choose to wear the veil, they usually do so out of their own volition as a connection to their Islamic roots and culture.


title: Purdah

text: Some scholars argue that purdah was originally designed to protect women from being harassed and seen as sexual objects. In contemporary times, some men and women still interpret the purdah as a way to protect women's safety while moving in public sphere. Observing purdah is also seen as a way to uphold women's honor and virtuous conduct. However, critics point out that this view engages victim-blaming and places the onus of preventing sexual assault on women rather than the perpetrators themselves.


title: Purdah

text: Purdah has repeatedly been criticized as oppression of women by limiting female autonomy, freedom of movement, and access to resources such as education, employment, and political participation. Some scholars such as P. Singh and Roy interpret purdah as a form of male domination in the public sphere, and an "eclipse of Muslim woman's identity and individuality". According to scholars such as Elizabeth White, "purdah is an accommodation to and a means of perpetuating the perceived differences between the sexes: the male being self-reliant and aggressive, the female weak, irresponsible, and in need of protection". Geraldine Books writes "in both cases [of spatial separation and veiling], women are expected to sacrifice their comfort and freedom to service the requirements of male sexuality: either to repress or to stimulate the male sex urge".


title: Purdah

text: When purdah is institutionalized into laws, it limits opportunity, autonomy, and agency in both private and public life. The result is policies that reinforce cultural norms that limit female mobility in the public sphere, promotion of gender segregation, and institutionalization of gender disparities.


title: Purdah

text: Sometimes reactions to purdah adherence can become violent. For instance, in 2001 in Srinagar, India, four young Muslim women were victimized by acid attacks for not veiling themselves in public; similar threats and attacks have occurred in Pakistan and Kashmir.


title: Purdah

text: The revival of purdah in modern times is sometimes perceived as a statement for progressive gender relations. Some women wear veils and head coverings as a symbol for protection and freedom of mobility. They perceive purdah as an empowerment tool, to exercise their rights to access public space for education and economic independence. For instance, in rural Bangladeshi villages, women who wear the burkha were found to have higher social participation and visibility, which overall contributes to an increase in women's status.


title: Purdah

text: "Secluded Women" is criticism of Purdah system by first Muslim feminist and social reformer Bengali writer Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880–1932). "Sultana's Dream" is a 1905 feminist utopian story written by Hossain. It depicts a feminist utopia (called Ladyland) in which women run everything and men are secluded, in a mirror-image of the traditional practice of "purdah". Traditional stereotypes such as “Men have bigger brains” and women are "naturally weak" are countered in "Sultana's Dream" with logic such as "an elephant also has a bigger and heavier brain" and “a lion is stronger than a man” and yet neither of them dominates men.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party were paramilitary titles used by the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) between approximately 1928 and the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945. Such ranks were held within the political leadership corps of the Nazi Party, charged with the overseeing of the regular Nazi Party members.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The first purpose of the Nazi Party's political ranks was to provide election district leadership positions during the years where the Nazis were attempting to come to power in Germany. After 1933, when the Third Reich had been established, Nazi Party ranks played a much more important role existing as a political chain of command operating side by side with the German government.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Contrary to modern-day cinema and layman perceptions regarding the Nazi Party, which often portrays all Nazis as wearing brown shirts with swastika armbands, Nazi ranks and titles were only used by a small minority within the Party, this being the political leadership corps. Regular Nazi Party members, unconnected with the political leadership, often wore no uniforms at all except for a standard Nazi Party Badge issued to all members (a golden version of this badge also existed for early Nazi Party members).


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The history of Nazi Party ranks and insignia can be divided into the ranks used during several different time periods as well as the positions held by senior Nazis who were, by default, the supreme leaders of the Party regardless of what title they choose to call themselves by.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The early titles used by the Nazi Party were far removed from their late 1930s and World War II counterparts. Between 1921 and 1923, considered the earliest time period that the Nazi Party existed, there were no titles or ranks used by the regular Nazi Party members although several members choose to wear World War I uniforms at party meetings. When Adolf Hitler replaced Anton Drexler as the leader of the Nazi Party, Hitler began calling himself by the title of Führer (Leader), thus establishing the first formal Nazi Party titles. A position of Deputy Führer ("Stellvertreter des Führers"), held by Rudolf Hess was created shortly thereafter, as well as a few administrative titles such as Party Secretary and Party Treasurer, which had become formal titles by the time of the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The Nazi Party was disbanded between 1923 and 1925, but upon returning the very first uniform and insignia regulations were published, albeit for the Nazi Party's paramilitary group the "Sturmabteilung" (SA). These early regulations created some of the earliest paramilitary titles used by the Nazis, among them "Gruppenführer" and "Oberführer", with the regular rank and file of the SA known by the title of "Mann". These titles were confined to the SA while the rest of the Nazi Party still had no formal ranks and insignia except for the titles used by senior Nazi leaders such as Hitler.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Between 1925 and 1929, it became common for Nazis to wear makeshift paramilitary uniforms at Party rallies and during this time the SA expanded its own system of insignia as did the fledgling SS ("Schutzstaffel"), which had begun to appear as a force within the Party. As the Nazis gained more support throughout Germany, and moved outward from their power base in Munich, regional Nazi cells began to appear in such major cities as Stuttgart, Berlin, and Heidelberg. These "local Nazis" often adopted their own uniforms and titles with little standardization from the main Nazis operated out of Munich.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The first formal Nazi Party rank and insignia regulations were published in 1930 although standardization across the Nazi Party did not occur until 1932. Even then it met with limited success since regional Nazi leaders, far removed from Hitler in Munich, frequently spent little effort enforcing uniform guidelines and, in some cases, outright ignored them. The early regulations called for the Nazi Party to be divided into two levels—the "Politische Leitung" (political leadership) and the "Partei Mitglieder" (Party Membership) with political leaders adopting standard uniforms and insignia. Hitler and his senior entourage were actually not included in the uniform regulations and continued to wear paramilitary uniforms of their own choosing without special insignia. The Nazi Party paramilitary groups, such as the SA and SS, also by this time had their own uniform and insignia regulations separate from the main Nazi Party.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: A higher rank, that of "Reichsorganisationsleiter" (National Organizational Leader) was created for the senior-most Reich Inspector of the Nazi Party. The special rank did not entail any additional insignia other than that worn by the regular "Reichsinspekteur" rank.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: By 1932, Nazi Party's uniform regulations had included a series of braided shoulder boards to be worn in conjunction with Nazi collar insignia. The next major change to Nazi uniforms would occur in 1934, a year after the Nazis had come to power in Germany.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: In 1933, the Nazi Party took national power in Germany and began a process known as "Gleichschaltung" to completely merge the civilian government of Germany with the political leadership of the Party. After the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, the Nazi Party underwent a major reorganization as a prelude to Nazi leadership members merging their own positions with local, state, and federal government establishments.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The first step in this process was to divide the Nazi Party into several "levels", which were designed to act independently from each other. These levels in turn were:


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Nazi Party political leaders were to choose a level in which they would make a career. Each level of the Nazi Party was self-contained and separate from other levels. While, in theory, this was intended to avoid jurisdictional conflict, the result was that the level leaderships ignored the wishes of the others and, in some cases, came into direct conflict. Hitler and the senior Nazi leaders were also "outside the chain", giving orders to all levels simultaneously and sometimes different party levels were given orders to carry out the same task. This caused high levels of in-fighting and backstabbing in Nazi leadership circles, to such a degree that regulations had to be introduced preventing deputies from succeeding their own superiors therefore to discourage subordinates from intentionally sabotaging their leaders.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The new Nazi Party levels called for several new ranks and the Nazi Party titles were overhauled with several new positions. Some positions were duplicated on each level of the Party while others were unique to the local, county, state, or national level. The Nazis also created a supreme political rank, known as "Reichsleiter", considered the top rank of the "Reichsleitung" (national) level, as well as the senior-most political rank in the party next to Hitler himself.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Further additions included the creation of several positional titles, which were not actual ranks but merely titles that a Nazi Party political leader could hold in addition to their own formal rank. There was at this time no outward system to denote these special titles, other than verbal and written correspondence. This would change in 1939 with the creation of the Nazi Party's armband system.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The system of Nazi Party ranks adopted in 1934 would remain unchanged throughout the remainder of the 1930s. It was not until 1939, at the start of World War II, that Nazi Party ranks would change again for a final time.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The final pattern of Nazi Party ranks was designed in 1938 by Robert Ley, who personally oversaw the development of Nazi Party insignia through his position as Reichs Organisation Leader of the NSDAP, and put into effect in mid-1939. The new insignia pattern was a vast overhaul of previous designs beginning with a standardized set of twenty-eight Nazi Party ranks that were to be uniform across all levels of the Party. To denote membership in a particular "level" of the Nazi Party (local, county, regional, or national) collar tabs would display a particular color on which the actual rank insignia would then be displayed.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: This new design was intended to eliminate the manner in which different levels of the Nazi Party separated themselves and allow for command across all Party lines. For instance, an "Abschnittsleiter" (Section Leader) in the "Ortsgruppen" (local) level would now be seen as outranking and could issue directives to a junior rank, such as "Arbeitsleiter" (Work Leader) even if the junior rank served in a higher echelon of the Nazi Party, such as on the "Gau" (Regional) or "Reich" (National) level. The vast array of new ranks also allowed for a military appearance to the Nazi Party, in particular during World War II when political leaders were exempt for the conscription. More ranks also involved more opportunity for promotion and served as a means to distinguish highly successful political leaders from others who might hold the same position in the Nazi Party.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Within each level of the Party, there was a cap on the highest possible rank one could achieve. The heads of the lower levels, the "Ortsgruppenleiter" and the "Kreisleiter", now held standard Nazi Party ranks in addition to their leadership titles. The positions of "Gauleiter" and "Reichsleiter" held their own special insignia and these two positions were considered outside the promotion tier and were available only by direct appointment from Hitler. "Gauleiters" and "Reichsleiters" also outranked all other Party members, regardless of standard Nazi Party ranks. Thus, the highest possible rank in each level of the Party was as follows:


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: (*) The rank of "Gauleiter" was the senior-most rank of the Gau level but outside the regular promotion tier.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Between 1939 and 1942, these new uniform regulations were slow to be implemented and Nazi Party leaders can frequently be seen in photographic evidence wearing pre-1939 insignia well after Ley had introduced the final insignia pattern. It was not until 1943 that most Nazi Party members had completely converted to the new insignia patterns.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: By the start of World War II, Nazi Party paramilitary groups had also been expanding and developing their own uniform designs, such as SS uniforms and insignia as well as uniforms used by such other Nazi groups such as the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK), the Organization Todt, and many others. In addition, as the Nazi Party and the German government became one and the same, each German ministry had the option to develop a standardized uniform and dress code with a state employee also having the choice to wear a Nazi party uniform, a uniform of a Nazi paramilitary group (such as the SS or SA), or (if the person was a reservist in the military) a uniform of the Wehrmacht. This created an extremely confusing array of titles, ranks, and uniforms, which has also caused historical difficulty in determining the various positions and titles that senior members of the German government held.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: In addition to the array of Nazi titles and ranks there also existed the original government of Germany to include such historic positions as "Burgermeister" (town mayor). Such individuals could also hold the approximate equivalent of a Nazi Party position or be unconnected to the Party. Through the process of "Gleichschaltung", Nazi officials existed side by side with local government authorities with the local government existing as a rubber stamp to Nazi designs.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The "armband system" was instituted by the Nazi Party in 1939 at the same time that the political leadership ranks were expanded into their final form. The purpose of the armband system was to denote positional titles within the Nazi Party in contrast to a party member's political rank.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: There were three groupings of armbands, classified as "operational", "administrative", and "command". The operational armbands were used by Nazi Party political leaders on the local and county levels and were worn by those Party leaders directly engaged in implementing Party policies to the public. During World War II, this was most often associated with food rationing, war relief efforts, and civil defense.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The administrative armbands were worn by office staffs across all levels of the party, although mostly were used by the regional staffs of the "Gauleiters". The third, and least common of the armbands, were the command armbands worn by the Deputy Gauleiters, "Gauleiters", and "Reichsleiters".


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The Nazi Party armbands were intended for immediate implementation upon the outbreak of World War II in 1939, although it was not until 1943 that the system was in total effect. Even then, photographic evidence reveals it was not uncommon for some political leaders to simply wear the pre-1939 bare swastika armband, with some photographs as late as 1945 revealing political leaders failing to wear the appropriate Nazi positional armband.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: By pairing up a wearer's political collar tabs and armband, it was possible to determine exactly what their position and responsibilities were within the Nazi Party political leadership corps; the armband system was also used to differentiate between Party leaders who may have held the same political ranks but were entrusted with vastly different responsibilities. For instance, a "Hauptbereichsleiter" who was serving as the "Kreisleiter" of a German county, would wear a more elaborate armband than a Nazi Party member of the same rank who was on the administrative staff of a "Gauleitung".


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: On the local level of the Nazi Party, political armbands were often used to denote those Nazis holding the positions of "Blockleiter" and "Zellenleiter". A further political position, unique only to the local level of the Nazi Party, was that of "Betriebsobmann", which was a type of Shop Steward position. At the top tier of the operational armbands was a unique armband worn by both the "Ortsgruppenleiter" and the "Kreisleiter"


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Administrative armbands were used across all levels of the Nazi Party, beginning with the position of "Mitarbeiter", which was a catch-all staff position encompassing a wide variety of duties. "Mitarbeiter" had itself been a political rank prior to 1939, after which time the rank was phased out of the Nazi Party but survived as a political position. Leadership administrative armbands were worn by Office Leaders ("Amtsleiters" and "Stellenleiters"), of which there were eight levels of hierarchy. In all, the Nazi political offices, denoted by special armbands, were as follows:


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: A leader of a political office was known as a "Leiter" followed by the office name. For instance, "Leiter eines Sachgebietes" would indicate the leader of an administrative area office.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Command armbands matched up directly with the positions of "Gauleiter" and "Reichsleiter", each of which was denoted by its own unique armband. The political position of Deputy Gauleiter ("Stellvertreter Gauleiter") was phased out as a political rank in 1939 (explaining why there was no "one leaf" Gauleiter insignia during World War II), but survived as a political armband denoting status as a Deputy Regional Leader.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The operational, administrative, and command armbands were utilized across all levels of the Nazi Party (Local, County, Regional, and National) with some armbands applying to multiple levels simultaneously and others specific to a particular Party level. In addition, depending on the specific duties of the political leader in question, an alternate positional title could be implied by a particular armband. When paired up with party member's political rank, this mixture of political titles and alternate positions resulted in a confusing array of titles and nomenclature.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: The senior leadership of the Nazi Party were intentionally removed from Nazi Party political ranks, with such senior leaders unquestionably above and outranking all other members of the Party. This concept has been interpreted by historians to imply that the leadership was the "spring" from which Nazi promotions, ranks, and awards were granted, to be bestowed upon the lesser members of the Party. Under this concept, Adolf Hitler and his inner circle needed no grand titles, heaps of awards, or elaborate uniforms since they were already known as the most senior members of the state and party. It is for this reason that Hitler and his senior Nazis are frequently seen in photographic and film evidence as wearing uniforms with little insignia or uniforms without excessive decorations. This sets Hitler apart from other dictators of the time, such as Benito Mussolini who appointed himself First Marshal of the Empire and wore a full Italian military uniform with many state and military decorations displayed.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Adolf Hitler, who served as Führer of the Nazi Party, held the absolute highest possible Nazi Party position. Albert Speer (in his book "Inside the Third Reich") remarked that Hitler was the only party member to wear an embroidered "Eagle of Sovereignty Pin" on his civilian jackets (every other member wearing the round party badge), though the jacket design itself did not differ from other civilian jackets of the time. This "Führer Badge" was the only unique insignia ever created to denote Hitler's rank as Führer.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Prior to 1939, Hitler wore a brown paramilitary uniform, considered the uniform of the "Oberste SA-Führer" (Supreme Storm Trooper Commander). Upon the outbreak of World War II, Hitler adopted a grey army style uniform, without any particular insignia, with Hitler pledging that he was the “first soldier” of the German Reich and would wear his army style uniform until "victory has been achieved or I will not survive the outcome".


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Heinrich Himmler was a senior member of the Nazi Party and is most well known as the "Reichsfuhrer-SS"; as a result, most of Himmler's attire is connected to his SS uniform. In addition to being "Reichsführer-SS" and a "Reichsleiter", towards the end of World War II he held numerous high level positions including Commander of the Replacement Home Army and General Plenipotentiary for the entire Reich's administration "(Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung)". Himmler however, never chose to wear a Nazi Party uniform and all photographs of him are in either civilian clothes or in his SS uniform.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Other high Nazi positions, that did not entail any particular insignia, included the office of Deputy Führer held by Rudolf Hess until he personally flew his Messerschmitt Bf110 fighter plane to Scotland and crash landed at Eaglesham in 1941. He was captured, imprisoned and then sent to England. The office of Deputy Führer was thereafter abolished.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Martin Bormann held the title of Party Secretary, during which time he wore the uniform of a Nazi "Reichsleiter". Bormann would later take up cabinet-level positions in the German government, and after receiving his (honorary) SS membership he wore the insignia of an SS-"Obergruppenführer". Albert Speer, in his early days as the Party Architect, wore a brown Nazi party jacket similar to the insignia-less uniform that Joseph Goebbels wore throughout his career as Nazi Propaganda Minister. As for Speer, he would later adopt the uniform of the Organisation Todt, and towards the end of World War II wore a senior Nazi Party political uniform through his position as Minister of Armaments.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Some of the senior Nazis did incorporate themselves into the standard Nazi Party rank system, but only at the highest levels. Robert Ley held the position of "Reichsleiter" and Julius Streicher was a "Gauleiter". Hermann Göring is most associated with his rank of "Reichsmarschall", but was also a "Gruppenführer" in the SA as well as the equivalent of a "Reichsleiter" through his position as Director of the Four Year Plan.


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: In its simplest form, the Nazi Party command structure was divided into four basic levels: the general membership known as the "Parteimitglieder", the political leadership corps known as the "Politische Leiters", the upper command levels of the Party encompassed by the "Gauleiters" and "Reichsleiters", and finally the position of "Führer" held solely by Adolf Hitler as supreme leader of the Party (a position of Deputy Führer also existed until 1941).


title: Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

text: Apart from this basic organization, the Nazi Party political ranks expanded over a period of twenty five years into a vast array of nomenclature denoted by a plethora of insignia and positions. From 1930 onward, this encompassed the political ranks, divided into the following time periods


title: On Through the Night

text: On Through the Night is the debut studio album by the English rock band Def Leppard, released on 14 March 1980. The album was produced by Tom Allom. It charted at No. 15 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 51 on the "Billboard" 200. The album features re-recorded versions of "Rocks Off" and "Overture", tracks from the band's original independently released EP, "The Def Leppard E.P.". Other tracks are re-recorded versions of early demos, some of which later appeared on the 2020 box set "The Early Years 79–81". The album was certified gold by the RIAA on 18 November 1983 and platinum on 9 May 1989.


title: On Through the Night

text: "Wasted", "Hello America" and "Rock Brigade" were released as singles. However, the version of "Wasted" that appears on the single is a different recording from that of the LP, as is its B-side, "Hello America".


title: On Through the Night

text: The spoken word intro to "When the Walls Came Tumbling Down" was performed by Dave Cousins of Strawbs. Joe Elliott had done the spoken portion in earlier live performances and demo recordings that showed up on some early bootlegs. In his biography, Cousins claims that he did his best Laurence Olivier impersonation for the song's intro.


title: On Through the Night

text: AllMusic's Steve Huey noted that "On Through the Night" "established the band as one of the leading lights of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal." Although he stated that "it may lack the detailed production and more pop-oriented songwriting of later efforts, (...) some Leppard fans prefer this sound." Canadian journalist Martin Popoff praised the album for being "one of the most polished and savvy of the NWOBHM", evoking the sound of "acts like Thin Lizzy, UFO, even Queen and Mott the Hoople." For him, "On Through the Night" was "a welcome breath of fresh air" among the dark, "thrashy" and "punky" music coming from the UK at the time. "Rolling Stone"'s David Fricke reviewed the album favourably on the same wavelength, explaining that it "shows they not only respect their elders, they've taken cues from their New Wave peers, too." He also stated that "guitarists Pete Willis and Steve Clark shoot from the hip, packing their licks into tight, three-minute pop arrangements", and that lead singer Joe Elliott "wails wonderfully in a resonating tenor, fortified by backup harmonies and Tom Allom's battering-ram production." He concluded that the band "displays a wisdom beyond their years" in mixing melody and heaviness, coming up with an album that "is awfully impressive for a band making its vinyl debut." Sputnikmusic staff review noted that the "middle-class common-man image" of the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" movement "partially played a part in making Def Leppard one of [its] leaders". He also stated that the band's ambition "would never allow [them] to be tunnel-visioned", but he concluded that "On Through the Night" "can be categorized as a grower of an album since the more superficial elements that would appeal to the mainstream will initially distract some listeners from what is actually an incredibly tight musical and vocal performance."


title: On Through the Night

text: Most of the songs on the album were dropped from the band's live setlists after 1983, although "Rock Brigade" and "Wasted" would see periodic revivals after 2000. Also, the non-album track from the same era entitled "Good Morning Freedom" would be played live in 2013 during the opening to the "Viva Hysteria" shows.


title: Military production during World War II

text: Military production during World War II was the arms, ammunition, personnel and financing which were produced or mobilized by the belligerents of the war from the occupation of Austria in early 1938 to the surrender and occupation of Japan in late 1945.


title: Military production during World War II

text: The mobilization of funds, people, natural resources and material for the production and supply of military equipment and military forces during World War II was a critical component of the war effort. During the conflict, the Allies outpaced the Axis powers in most production categories. Access to the funding and industrial resources necessary to sustain the war effort was linked to their respective economic and political alliances.


title: Military production during World War II

text: During the 1930s, political forces in Germany increased their financial investment in the military to develop the armed forces required to support near and long-term political and territorial goals. Germany's economic, scientific, research, and industrial capabilities were one of the most technically advanced in the world at the time, supporting a rapidly growing, innovative military. However, access to (and control of) the resources and production capacity required to entertain long-term goals (such as European control, German territorial expansion and the destruction of the USSR) were limited. Political demands necessitated the expansion of Germany's control of natural and human resources, industrial capacity and farmland beyond its borders. Germany's military production was tied to resources outside its area of control, a dynamic not found amongst the Allies.


title: Military production during World War II

text: In 1938 Britain was a global superpower, with political and economic control of a quarter of the world's population, industry and resources, in addition to its close allies in the independent Dominion nations (such as Canada and South Africa). From 1938 to mid-1942, the British coordinated the Allied effort in all global theatres. They fought the German, Italian, Japanese and Vichy armies, air forces and navies across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, India, the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. British forces destroyed Italian armies in North and East Africa and occupied overseas colonies of occupied European nations. Following engagements with Axis forces, British Empire troops occupied Libya, Italian Somaliland, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran and Iraq. The Empire funded and delivered needed supplies by Arctic convoys to the USSR, and supported Free French forces to recapture French Equatorial Africa. Britain also established governments in exile in London to rally support in occupied Europe for the Allied effort. The British held back or slowed the Axis powers for three years while mobilising their globally integrated economy and industrial infrastructure to build what became, by 1942, the most extensive military apparatus of the war. This allowed their later allies (such as the United States) to mobilise their economies and develop the military forces required to play a role in the war effort, and for the British to go on the offensive in its theatres of operation.


title: Military production during World War II

text: The entry of the United States into the war in late 1941 injected financial, human and industrial resources into Allied operations. The US produced more than its own military forces required and armed itself and its allies for the most industrialized war in history. At the beginning of the war, the British and French placed large orders for aircraft with American manufacturers and the US Congress approved plans to increase its air forces by 3,000 planes. In May 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt called for the production of 185,000 aeroplanes, 120,000 tanks, 55,000 anti-aircraft guns and 18 million tons of merchant shipping in two years. Adolf Hitler was told by his advisors that this was American propaganda; in 1939, annual aircraft production for the US military was less than 3,000 planes. By the end of the war US factories had produced 300,000 planes, and by 1944 had produced two-thirds of the Allied military equipment used in the war — bringing military forces into play in North and South America, the Caribbean, the Atlantic, Western Europe and the Pacific.


title: Military production during World War II

text: The U.S. produced vast quantities of military equipment into late 1945, including nuclear weapons, and became the strongest, most technologically advanced military forces in the world. In addition to out-producing the Axis, the Allies produced technological innovations; through the Tizard Mission, British contributions included radar (instrumental in winning the Battle of Britain), sonar (improving their ability to sink U-boats), and the proximity fuze; the Americans led the Manhattan Project (which eliminated the need to invade Japan). The proximity fuze, for example, was five times as effective as contact or timed fuzes and was devastating in naval use against Japanese aircraft and so effective against German ground troops that General George S. Patton said it "won the Battle of the Bulge for us."


title: Military production during World War II

text: The human and social costs of the war on the population of the USSR were immense, with combat deaths alone in the millions. Recognising the importance of their population and industrial production to the war effort, the USSR evacuated the majority of its European territory—moving 2,500 factories, 17 million people and great quantities of resources to the east. Out of German reach, the USSR produced equipment and forces critical to the Axis defeat in Europe. Over one million women served in the Soviet armed forces.


title: Military production during World War II

text: The statistics below illustrate the extent to which the Allies outproduced the Axis. Production of machine tools tripled, and thousands of ships were built in shipyards which did not exist before the war. According to William S. Knudsen, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."


title: Military production during World War II

text: Access to resources and large, controlled international labour pools and the ability to build arms in relative peace were critical to the eventual victory of the Allies. Donald Douglas (founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company) declared, "Here's proof that free men can out-produce slaves."


title: Military production during World War II

text: Gross domestic product (GDP) provides insight into the relative strength of the belligerents in the run up to, and during the conflict.


title: Military production during World War II

text: Romanian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Albanian GDP calculated by multiplying the GDP per capita of the four countries in 1938 ($1,242 for Romania, $2,655 for Hungary, $1,595 for Bulgaria and over $900 for Albania) by their estimated populations in 1938: 19,750,000 for Romania, 9,082,400 for Hungary, 6,380,000 for Bulgaria and 1,040,400 for Albania.


title: Military production during World War II

text: Many concerns and political influence come from the price of war. While GDP can easily increase federal expenditures, it also can influence political elections and government decision making. No matter how much percentages of GDP increase or decrease we need higher amounts of GDP in order to pay for more investments, one of those investments being more wars. To pay for these wars, taxes are held at a very high rate. For example, by the end of World War II tax rates went from 1.5% to 15%. Along with tax percentages reaching high amounts, spending on non-defense programs were cut in half during the period of World War II. Tax cuts allow one to see GDP in effect for the average American. Still, almost ten years after World War II, in 1950 and 1951 congress raised taxes close to 4% in order to pay for the Korean War. After the Korean War, in 1968 taxes again were raised 10% to pay for the Vietnam War. This caused GDP to increase 1%. Although research can support positive relationship between production and jobs with GDP, research can also show the negative relationship with tax increases and GDP.


title: Military production during World War II

text: Prior to the Second World War, the United States was cautious with regard to its manufacturing capabilities as the country was still recovering from the Great Depression. However, during the war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set ambitious production goals to fulfill. The early 1940s were set to have 60,000 aircraft increasing to 125,000 in 1943. In addition, targets for the production of 120,000 tanks and 55,000 aircraft were set during the same time period. The Ford Motor Company in Michigan built one motor car (comprising 15,000 parts) on the assembly lines every 69 seconds. Ford's production contributed to America's total production of vehicles totalling three million in 1941. American production numbers caused the US employed workforce to increase massively. America's yearly production exceeded Japan's production building more planes in 1944 than Japan built in all the war years combined. As a result, half of the world's war production came from America. The government paid for this production using techniques of selling war bonds to financial institutions, rationing household items and creating more tax revenues.


title: Military production during World War II

text: One part of the US wartime manufacturing boom can be ascribed to Alcoa's second major reduction plant in Mobile, Alabama starting in 1937. At first serving mainly the Japanese market, the plant prepared thousands of tons of aluminum for the production of aeroplanes during the war. The United States quickly adjusted to the levels of production required to equip its military with the millions of war products used during World War II.


title: Military production during World War II

text: Within the UK, initially aircraft production was very vulnerable to enemy bombing. To expand and diversify the production base the British set up shadow factories. These brought other manufacturing companies – such as vehicle manufacturers – into aircraft production, or aircraft parts production. These inexperienced companies were set up in groups under the guidance or control of the aircraft manufacturers. New factory buildings were provided with government money.


title: Military production during World War II

text: Some types listed were in production before the war, those listed were still in production at the time of or after the Munich crisis.


title: Military production during World War II

text: Occupied countries produced weapons for the Axis powers. Figures are for the period of occupation only.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: The Bodo League massacre () was a massacre and war crime against communists and suspected sympathizers (many of whom were civilians who had no connection with communism or communists) that occurred in the summer of 1950 during the Korean War. Estimates of the death toll vary. Historians and experts on the Korean War estimate that the full total ranges from at least 60,000–110,000 (Kim Dong-choon) to 200,000 (Park Myung-lim).


title: Bodo League massacre

text: The massacre was falsely blamed on the communists led by Kim Il-sung by the South Korean government. The South Korean government made efforts to conceal the massacre for four decades. Survivors were forbidden by the government from revealing it, under suspicion of being communist sympathizers; public revelation carried with it the threat of torture and death. During the 1990s and onwards, several corpses were excavated from mass graves, resulting in public awareness of the massacre. Half a century later, the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated what happened in the political violence largely kept hidden from history, unlike the publicized North Korean executions of South Korean right-wingers.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: South Korean President Syngman Rhee had about 300,000 suspected communist sympathizers or his political opponents enrolled in an official "re-education" movement known as the National Bodo League (or National Rehabilitation and Guidance League, National Guard Alliance, National Guidance Alliance, Gukmin Bodo Yeonmaeng, ) on the pretext of protecting them from execution. The Bodo League was created by Korean jurists who had collaborated with the Japanese colonial government. Non-communist sympathizers and others were also forced into the Bodo League to fill enlistment quotas.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: In June 1949, the South Korean government accused independence activists of being members of the Bodo League. In 1950, just before the outbreak of the Korean War, the first president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, had about 20,000 alleged communists imprisoned.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: Under the leadership of Kim Il-sung, the Korean People's Army attacked from the north on 25 June 1950, starting the Korean War. According to Kim Mansik, who was a military police superior officer, President Syngman Rhee ordered the execution of people related to either the Bodo League or the South Korean Workers Party on 27 June 1950. The first massacre was started one day later in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do on 28 June. Retreating South Korean forces and anti-communist groups executed the alleged communist prisoners, along with many of the Bodo League members. The executions were performed without any trials or sentencing. Kim Tae Sun, the chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police, admitted to personally executing at least 12 "communists and suspected communists" after the outbreak of the war. When Seoul was recaptured in late September 1950, an estimated 30,000 South Koreans were summarily deemed collaborators with the North Koreans and shot by ROK forces. At least one US lieutenant colonel is known to have approved the executions at the request of a South Korean regimental commander. Lt. Col. Rollins S. Emmerich, after initially stalling and disapproving, told the South Korean regimental commander Kim Chong-won that he could kill a large number of political prisoners in Busan if the North Korean troops approached so that they would not fall into enemy hands. A mass execution of 3,400 South Koreans did indeed take place near Busan that summer.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: United States official documents show that American officers witnessed and photographed the massacre. In another, United States official documents show that John J. Muccio, then United States Ambassador to South Korea, made recommendations to South Korean President Rhee Syngman and Defense Minister Shin Sung-mo that the executions be stopped. American witnesses also reported the scene of the execution of a girl who appeared to be 12 or 13 years old. The massacre was also reported to both Washington and Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who described it as an "internal matter". According to one witness, 40 victims had their backs broken with rifle butts and were shot later. Victims in seaside villages were tied together and thrown into the sea to drown. Retired South Korean Adm. Nam Sang-hui confessed that he authorized 200 victims' bodies to be thrown into the sea, saying, "There was no time for trials for them."


title: Bodo League massacre

text: There were also British and Australian witnesses. Great Britain raised this issue with the U.S. at a diplomatic level, causing Dean Rusk, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, to inform the British that U.S. commanders were doing "everything they can to curb such atrocities". During the massacre, the British protected their allies and saved some citizens. The Associated Press conducted extensive archival research and found documents classified "secret" and "filed away" by the Pentagon and State Department in Washington, that had indicated the US commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur made no attempts to curb the summary mass killings.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: As the North Korean army was nearing Daejeon, the South Korean paramilitary forces executed around 7000 political prisoners, men, women, and children in mass graves as American officers took photographs which were kept classified until they were released in 1999. This was merely one of many such mass killings conducted by South Korean forces against political prisoners in the first months of the war. Many, including the Daejon Massacre, where propagandistically blamed on the North Koreans.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: After the UN offensive in which South Korea recovered its occupied territories, the police and militia groups executed suspected North Korean sympathizers. In October 1950, the Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre occurred. In December, British troops saved civilians lined up to be shot by South Korean officers and seized one execution site outside Seoul to prevent further massacres. On 4 January 1951, the Ganghwa massacre was committed by South Korean police, who killed 139 civilians in an effort to prevent their collaboration with the North Koreans. According to a South Korean report, South Korea and the U.S. "aided right-wing civil organizations, such as the Ganghwa Self-defense Forces, by providing combat equipment and supplies."


title: Bodo League massacre

text: In 2008, trenches containing bodies were discovered in Daejeon, South Korea, and other sites. South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented testimonies of those still alive and who took part in the executions, including former Daejeon prison guard Lee Joon-young.


title: Bodo League massacre

text: Besides photographs of the execution trench sites, the National Archives in Washington D.C. released declassified photographs of U.S. soldiers at execution sites including Daejeon, confirming American military knowledge.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: Sergey Vladimirovich Surovikin (Russian: Серге́й Влади́мирович Сурови́кин; born 11 October 1966) is a Russian Armed Forces army general and Commander of the Aerospace Forces. A veteran of the Soviet–Afghan War, Tajikistani Civil War, Second Chechen War, and the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, he is currently serving as the commander of all Russian forces in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: During the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Surovikin commanded a unit that killed three anti-coup demonstrators, for which he was detained for several months but never convicted. He played an important role in the creation of the Main Directorate of the Military Police, a new organisation within the Russian Army. Surovikin commanded the Eastern Military District between 2013 and 2017, and in 2017 commanded the Russian group of forces in Syria. He is accredited with turning the tide of the war in Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's favour, and is also alleged to have been responsible for strikes on civilian targets during the Russian intervention.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was initially the commander of the Army Group "South" of the Russian Armed Forces. On 8 October 2022, he became the commander of all Russian forces invading Ukraine.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: Surovikin was born on 11 October 1966 in Novosibirsk. In 1987, he graduated from the Omsk Higher Military Command School.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: By August 1991, he was a captain and commander of the 1st Rifle Battalion in the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division. During the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt in Moscow, Surovikin was ordered to send his battalion into the tunnel on the Garden Ring, where three anti-coup demonstrators were killed. After the defeat of the coup, Surovikin was arrested and held under investigation for seven months. The charges were dropped on 10 December because Boris Yeltsin concluded that Surovikin was only following orders. He was promoted to the rank of major afterwards.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: Surovikin attended the Frunze Military Academy. In September 1995, he was sentenced to a year of probation by the Moscow garrison's military court for illegally selling weapons. The conviction was overturned after the investigation concluded that Surovikin had agreed to give a fellow student a pistol for use in a competition, unaware of its intended purpose.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: In 1995, he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy. Surovikin participated in the Tajikistani Civil War where he commanded a motor rifle battalion. He then became chief of staff of the 92nd Motor Rifle Regiment, chief of staff and commander of the 149th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment and chief of staff of the 201st Motor Rifle Division.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: In 2002, he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. He became commander of the 34th Motor Rifle Division at Yekaterinburg.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: In March 2004, Surovikin was accused by Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Chibizov of beating him up for leaving his post to participate in elections as an observer. In April, division deputy commander for armaments Colonel Andrei Shtakal shot himself in the presence of Surovikin and the district deputy commander after being criticized by Surovikin. In both cases, a military prosecutor found no evidence of guilt.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: He was the chief of staff of the 20th Guards Army from 2005. In April 2008, he became the army commander.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: In November 2008, Surovikin became head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff. In January 2010, he became chief of staff of the Volga–Urals Military District, which soon became part of the Central Military District.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: From November 2011, he headed the working group charged with creation of the Military Police. It was reported that Surovikin was tipped to head the Military Police after it was instituted, but the appointment did not materialise due to the intervention of the Russian Military Prosecutor's Office, according to the Russian media, which presented the situation as a turf conflict between the Defence Ministry and the Military Prosecutor's Office. In October 2012, he became the chief of staff of the Eastern Military District. In October 2013, he was appointed commander of the district. On 13 December, Surovikin was promoted to the rank of colonel general.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: On 9 June 2017, he was introduced to news media representatives as the Commander of the Russian armed forces deployed to Syria. Reportedly, he took this position in March 2017. In September 2017, Surovikin was cited by Russian media as a likely successor to Viktor Bondarev, who was on 26 September relieved of the position of the Commander of the Aerospace Forces. According to a report published by RBK Group on 2 November 2017 that cited an anonymous source in the MoD, Surovikin had been appointed Commander of the Aerospace Forces, despite his initial objections.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: At the end of November 2017, the Russian MoD's "Krasnaya Zvezda" reported that Surovikin had been appointed Commander of the Aerospace Forces by a presidential decree of 22 November. TASS pointed out that Surovikin became the first combined-arms commander in the history of Russia and the Soviet Union to be put in charge of the Russian or Soviet air forces. On 28 December, he was made a Hero of the Russian Federation for his leadership of the Group of Forces in Syria.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: Under the command of Surovikin, a significant turning point in the fight against the Syrian opposition was achieved. The Syrian Government regained over 50% control of Syria by the end of 2017 after a string of successful military campaigns. According to several Russian military commentators, it was Surovikin who managed to turn the tide of the war in Syria.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: Again from January to April 2019, Surovikin took over as the commander of the contingent of Russian military forces in Syria. Altogether he commanded the Russian forces group in Syria for more than a year, which was longer than any other officer who held this position until November 2020, when Lieutenant General Aleksandr Chaiko surpassed his duration in that post.


title: Sergey Surovikin

text: In 2021, Surovikin was promoted to General of the Army. As one of only a handful of Russian officers to reach such a rank, some speculated that he might be an eventual successor to Valery Gerasimov as Chief of the General Staff.