document_title: Romania in World War II

question_text: when did romania join the allies in ww2

question_tokens: when did romania join the allies in ww2

text: Romania in World War II

text: Background[edit]

text: In the aftermath of World War I, Romania, which fought with the Entente against the Central Powers, had greatly expanded its territory, incorporating the regions of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina, largely as a result of the vacuum created by the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires. This led to the achievement of the long-standing nationalist goal of creating a Greater Romania, a national state that would incorporate all ethnic Romanians. However, the newly gained territories also included significant Hungarian, German, Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Russian minorities, which put Romania at odds with several of her neighbors.[3] This occasionally led to violent conflict, as exemplified by the Hungarian-Romanian War and the Tatarbunary uprising. To contain Hungarian irredentism, Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia established the Little Entente in 1921. That same year Romania and Poland concluded a defensive alliance against the emergent Soviet Union, and in 1934 the Balkan Entente was formed with Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey, which were suspicious of Bulgaria.[4]

text: Since the late 19th century Romania had been a relatively democratic constitutional monarchy with a pro-Western outlook, but the country faced increasing turmoil in the 1930s as a result of the Great Depression and the rise of fascist and other far-right movements such as the Iron Guard, which advocated revolutionary terrorism against the state. Under the pretext of stabilizing the country, the increasingly autocratic King Carol II proclaimed a "royal dictatorship" in 1938. The new regime featured corporatist policies that often resembled those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.[5] In parallel with these internal developments, economic pressures and a weak Franco-British response to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy caused Romania to start drifting away from the Western Allies and closer to the Axis.[4]

text: On 13 April 1939 France and the United Kingdom had pledged to guarantee the independence of the Kingdom of Romania. Negotiations with the Soviet Union concerning a similar guarantee collapsed when Romania refused to allow the Red Army to cross its frontiers.[6]

text: On 23 August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Among other things, this recognized the Soviet "interest" in Bessarabia (which had been ruled by the Russian Empire from 1812–1918). This Soviet interest was combined with a clear indication that there was an explicit lack of any German interest in the area.

text: Eight days later Nazi Germany invaded the Second Polish Republic. Expecting military aid from Britain and France, Poland chose not to execute its alliance with Romania in order to be able to use the Romanian Bridgehead. Romania officially remained neutral and, under pressure from the Soviet Union and Germany, interned the fleeing Polish government after its members had crossed the Polish-Romanian border on 17 September, forcing them to relegate their authority to what became the Polish government-in-exile.[7] After the assassination of Prime Minister Armand Călinescu on 21 September King Carol II tried to maintain neutrality for several months longer, but the surrender of the Third French Republic and the retreat of British forces from continental Europe rendered the assurances that both countries had made to Romania meaningless.

text: In 1940 Romania's territorial gains made following World War I were largely undone. In July, after a Soviet ultimatum, Romania agreed to give up Bessarabia and northern Bukovina (the Soviets also annexed the city of Hertsa, which was not stated in the ultimatum). Two-thirds of Bessarabia were combined with a small part of the Soviet Union to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. The rest (northern Bukovina, the northern half of Hotin county and Budjak) was apportioned to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Shortly thereafter, on 30 August, under the Second Vienna Award, Germany and Italy mediated a compromise between Romania and the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary received a region referred to as "Northern Transylvania", while "Southern Transylvania" remained part of Romania. Hungary had lost Transylvania after World War I in the Treaty of Trianon. On 7 September, under the Treaty of Craiova, Southern Dobruja (which Bulgaria had lost after the Romanian invasion during the Second Balkan War in 1913), was ceded to Bulgaria under pressure from Germany. Despite the relatively recent acquisition of these territories, they were inhabited by a majority of Romanian speaking people (except Southern Dobruja), so the Romanians had seen them as historically belonging to Romania, and the fact that so much land was lost without a fight shattered the underpinnings of King Carol's power.

text: On 4 July Ion Gigurtu formed the first Romanian government to include an Iron Guardist minister, Horia Sima. Sima was a particularly virulent anti-Semite who had become the nominal leader of the movement after the death of Corneliu Codreanu. He was one of the few prominent far-right leaders to survive the bloody infighting and government suppression of the preceding years.

text: Antonescu comes to power[edit]

text: In the immediate wake of the loss of Northern Transylvania, on 4 September the Iron Guard (led by Horia Sima) and General (later Marshal) Ion Antonescu united to form a "National Legionary State" government, which forced the abdication of Carol II in favor of his 19-year-old son Michael. Carol and his mistress Magda Lupescu went into exile, and Romania, despite the unfavorable outcome of recent territorial disputes, leaned strongly toward the Axis.  As part of the deal, the Iron Guard became the sole legal party in Romania.  Antonescu became the Iron Guard's honorary leader, while Sima became deputy premier.

text: In power, the Iron Guard stiffened the already harsh anti-Semitic legislation, enacted legislation directed against minority businessmen, tempered at times by the willingness of officials to take bribes, and wreaked vengeance upon its enemies. On 8 October German troops began crossing into Romania. They soon numbered over 500,000.

text: On 23 November Romania joined the Axis powers. On 27 November, 64 former dignitaries or officials were executed by the Iron Guard in Jilava prison while awaiting trial (see Jilava Massacre). Later that day, historian and former prime minister Nicolae Iorga and economist Virgil Madgearu, a former government minister, were assassinated.

text: The cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Antonescu was never an easy one. On 20 January 1941, the Iron Guard attempted a coup, combined with a pogrom against the Jews of Bucharest. Within four days, Antonescu had successfully suppressed the coup. The Iron Guard was forced out of the government. Sima and many other legionnaires took refuge in Germany; others were imprisoned.  Antonescu abolished the National Legionary State, in its stead declaring Romania a "National and Social State."

text: The war on the Eastern Front[edit]

text: On 22 June 1941 Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, attacking the Soviet Union on a wide front. Romania joined in the offensive, with Romanian troops crossing the River Prut. After recovering Bessarabia and Bukovina (Operation München), Romanian units fought side by side with the Germans onward to Odessa, Sevastopol, Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The total number of troops involved on the Eastern Front with the Romanian Third Army and the Romanian Fourth Army was second only to that of Nazi Germany itself. The Romanian Army had a total of 686,258 men under arms in the summer of 1941 and a total of 1,224,691 men in the summer of 1944.[8] The number of Romanian troops sent to fight in the Soviet Union exceeded that of all of Germany's other allies combined. A Country Study by the U.S. Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress attributes this to a "morbid competition with Hungary to curry Hitler's favor... [in hope of]... regaining northern Transylvania."[1]

text: Bessarabia and the Northern Bukovina were now fully re-incorporated into the Romanian state after they had been occupied by the USSR a year earlier. As a substitute for Northern Transylvania, which had been given to Hungary following the Second Vienna Award, Hitler persuaded Antonescu in August 1941 to also take control of the Transnistria territory between the Dniester and the Southern Bug, which would also include Odessa after its eventual fall in October 1941. Although the Romanian administration set up a civil government, the Transnistria Governorate, the Romanian state had not yet formally incorporated Transnistria into its administrative framework by the time it was retaken by Soviet troops in early 1944.

text: Romanian armies advanced far into the Soviet Union during 1941 and 1942 before being involved in the disaster at the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–43. Petre Dumitrescu, one of Romania's most important generals, was commander of the Third Army at Stalingrad. In November 1942, the German Sixth Army was briefly put at Dumitrescu's disposal during a German attempt to relieve the Third Army following the devastating Soviet Operation Uranus.

text: Prior to the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, the Antonescu government considered a war with Hungary over Transylvania an inevitability after the expected victory over the Soviet Union.[1] Although it was an ally of Germany, Romania's turning to the Allied side in August 1944 was rewarded by returning Northern Transylvania, which had been granted to Hungary in 1940 after the Second Vienna Award.

text: War comes to Romania[edit]

text: Air raids[edit]

text: Throughout the Antonescu years, Romania supplied Nazi Germany and the Axis armies with oil, grain, and industrial products. Also, numerous train stations in the country, such as Gara de Nord in Bucharest, served as transit points for troops departing for the Eastern Front. Consequently, by 1943 Romania became a target of Allied aerial bombardment. One of the most notable air bombardments was Operation Tidal Wave — the attack on the oil fields of Ploiești on 1 August 1943. Bucharest was subjected to intense Allied bombardment on 4 and 15 April 1944, and the Luftwaffe itself bombed the city on 24 and 25 August after the country switched sides.

text: Ground offensive[edit]

text: In February 1943, with the decisive Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, it was growing clear that the tide of the war was turning against the Axis powers.

text: By 1944, the Romanian economy was in tatters because of the expenses of the war, and destructive Allied air bombing throughout Romania, including the capital, Bucharest. In addition, most of the products sent to Germany were provided without monetary compensation. As a result of  these "uncompensated exports", inflation in Romania skyrocketed, causing widespread discontent among the Romanian population, even among groups and individuals who had once enthusiastically supported the Germans and the war.[1]

text: Beginning in December 1943, the Soviet Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive pushed Axis forces all the way back to the Dniester by April 1944. In April–May 1944, the Romanian forces led by General Mihai Racovițǎ, together with elements of the German Eighth Army were responsible for defending northern Romania and took part in the Battles of Târgu Frumos, which David Glantz considered to be an initial Soviet attempt to invade Romania, supposedly held back by Axis defensive lines in northern Romania. The Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, launched on 20 August 1944, resulted in a quick and decisive Soviet breakthrough, collapsing the German-Romanian front in the region. Soviet forces captured Târgu Frumos and Iași on 21 August and Chișinău on 24 August 1944.

text: The Holocaust[edit]

text: According to an international commission report released by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews in the territories of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transnistria were systematically murdered by Antonescu's regime. Of the 25,000 Romani deported, who were deported to concentration camps in Transnistria, 11,000 died.[9]

text: Though much of the killing was committed in the war zone by Romanian troops, there were also substantial persecutions behind the front line. During the Iaşi pogrom of June 1941, over 12,000 Jews were massacred or killed slowly in trains traveling back and forth across the countryside.

text: Half of the 320,000 Jews living in Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Dorohoi district in Romania were murdered within months of the entry of the country into the war during 1941. Even after the initial killings, Jews in Moldavia, Bukovina and Bessarabia were subject to frequent pogroms, and were concentrated into ghettos from which they were sent to Nazi concentration camps, including camps built and run by Romanians. The number of deaths in this area is not certain, but the lowest respectable estimates run to about 250,000 Jews and 25,000 Romani in these eastern regions, while 120,000 of Transylvania's 150,000 Jews died at the hands of the Germans later in the war.

text: Romanian soldiers also worked with the Einsatzkommandos, German killing squads, tasked with massacring Jews and Roma in conquered territories.  Romanian troops were in large part responsible for the Odessa massacre, in which over 100,000 Jews were shot during the autumn of 1941.

text: Nonetheless, most Jews living within the pre-Barbarossa borders survived the war, although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions, including forced labor, financial penalties, and discriminatory laws. Jewish property was nationalized.

text: The report commissioned and accepted by the Romanian government in 2004 on the Holocaust concluded:

text: Of all the allies of Nazi Germany, Romania bears responsibility for the deaths of more Jews than any country other than Germany itself. The murders committed in Iasi, Odessa, Bogdanovka, Domanovka, and Peciora, for example, were among the most hideous murders committed against Jews anywhere during the Holocaust. Romania committed genocide against the Jews. The survival of Jews in some parts of the country does not alter this reality.[9]

text: The royal coup[edit]

text: On 23 August 1944, with the Red Army penetrating German defenses during the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive, King Michael I of Romania led a successful coup against the Axis with support from opposition politicians and most of the army. Michael I, who was initially considered to be not much more than a figurehead, was able to successfully depose the Antonescu dictatorship. The King then offered a non-confrontational retreat to German ambassador Manfred von Killinger. But the Germans considered the coup "reversible" and attempted to turn the situation around by military force. The Romanian First, Second (forming), and what little was left of the Third and the Fourth Armies (one corps) were under orders from the King to defend Romania against any German attacks. King Michael offered to put the Romanian Army, which at that point had a strength of nearly 1,000,000 men,[10] on the side of the Allies. Surprisingly, with the Red Army occupying parts of Romania, Stalin immediately recognized the king and the restoration of the conservative Romanian monarchy. [Deutscher, Stalin. 1967, p. 519]

text: This resulted in a split of the country between those that still supported Germany and its armies and those that supported the new government, the latter often forming partisan groups and gradually gaining the most support. To the Germans the situation was very precarious as Romanian units had been integrated in the Axis defensive lines: not knowing which units were still loyal to the Axis cause and which ones joined the Soviets or discontinued fighting altogether, defensive lines could suddenly collapse.

text: In a radio broadcast to the Romanian nation and army on the night of 23 August King Michael issued a cease-fire,[11] proclaimed Romania's loyalty to the Allies, announced the acceptance of an armistice (to be signed on September 12)[12] offered by Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR, and declared war on Germany.[13] The coup accelerated the Red Army's advance into Romania, but did not avert a rapid Soviet occupation and capture of about 130,000 Romanian soldiers, who were transported to the Soviet Union, where many perished in prison camps. The armistice was signed three weeks later on 12 September 1944, on terms virtually dictated by the Soviet Union.[11] Under the terms of the armistice, Romania announced its unconditional surrender[14] to the USSR and was placed under occupation of the Allied forces with the Soviet Union as their representative, in control of media, communication, post, and civil administration behind the front.[11] It has been suggested that the coup may have shortened World War II by up to six months, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives[citation needed]. Some attribute the postponement of a formal Allied recognition of the de facto change of orientation until 12 September (the date the armistice was signed in Moscow) to the complexities of the negotiations between the USSR and UK.[15]

text: During the Moscow Conference in October 1944 Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, proposed an agreement to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on how to split up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence after the war. The Soviet Union was offered a 90% share of influence in Romania.[16]

text: The Armistice Agreement of 12 September stipulated in Article 18 that "An Allied Control Commission will be established which will undertake until the conclusion of peace the regulation of and control over the execution of the present terms under the general direction and orders of the Allied (Soviet) High Command, acting on behalf of the Allied Powers. The Annex to Article 18 made clear that "The Romanian Government and their organs shall fulfil all instructions of the Allied Control Commission arising out of the Armistice Agreement." The Agreement also stipulated that the Allied Control Commission would have its seat in Bucharest. In line with Article 14 of the Armistice Agreement, two Romanian People's Tribunals were set up to try suspected war criminals.[17]

text: Campaign against the Axis[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2011)

text: As the country declared war on Germany on the night of 23 August 1944, border clashes between Hungarian and Romanian troops erupted almost immediately. On 24 August, German troops attempted to seize Bucharest and suppress Michael's coup, but were repelled by the city's defenses, which received some support from the United States Air Force.[citation needed] Other Wehrmacht units in the country suffered severe losses: remnants of the Sixth Army retreating west of the Prut River were cut off and destroyed by the Red Army, which was now advancing at an even greater speed, while Romanian units attacked German garrisons at the Ploiești oilfields, forcing them to retreat to Hungary. The Romanian Army captured over 50,000 German prisoners around this time, who were later surrendered to the Soviets.[18]

text: In early September, Soviet and Romanian forces entered Transylvania and captured the towns of Brașov and Sibiu while advancing toward the Mureș River. Their main objective was Cluj (Cluj-Napoca), a city regarded as the historical capital of Transylvania. However, the Second Hungarian Army was present in the region, and together with the Eighth German Army engaged the Allied forces on 5 September in what was to become the Battle of Turda, which lasted until 8 October and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides.[19] Also around this time, the Hungarian Army carried out its last independent offensive action of the war, penetrating Arad County in western Romania. Despite initial success, a number of ad-hoc Romanian cadet battalions managed to stop the Hungarian advance at the Battle of Păuliș, and soon a combined Romanian-Soviet counterattack overwhelmed the Hungarians, who gave ground and evacuated Arad itself on 21 September.[20]

text: The Romanian Army ended the war fighting against the Wehrmacht alongside the Red Army in Transylvania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria and Czechoslovakia, from August 1944 until the end of the war in Europe. In May 1945, the First and Fourth armies took part in the Prague Offensive. The Romanian Army incurred heavy casualties fighting Nazi Germany. Of some 538,000 Romanian soldiers who fought against the Axis in 1944–45, some 167,000 were killed, wounded or went missing.[21]

text:
Country

Beginning

End

Personnel

Casualties(KIA, WIA, MIA)

Mountains crossed

Rivers crossed

Liberated villages

From which towns

Lossesof the enemy

Romania
1944-08-23
1945-05-12
>275,000 (538,000)
58,330

3,831
31
167,000 KIA, WIAMateriel

Yugoslavia

Hungary
1944-10-08
1945-01-15
210,000
42,700
3
4
1,237
14
21,045 POW9,700 KIA? WIAMateriel

Czechoslovakia
1944-12-18
1945-05-12
248,430
66,495
10
4
1,722
31
22,803 KIA, WIA, POW

Austria
1945–04-10
1945-05-12
2,000
100

7
1
4,000 KIA, WIA, POWMateriel

TOTAL
1944-08-23
1945-05-12
538,536
169,822
20
12
3,821
53
117,798 POW18,731 KIA

LEGEND: KIA = Killed in Action; MIA = Missing in Action; WIA = Wounded in Action; POW = Prisoners of war.[22][23][24]

text: Aftermath[edit]

text: Under the 1947 Treaty of Paris,[25] the Allies did not acknowledge Romania as a co-belligerent nation but instead applied the term "ally of Hitlerite Germany" to all recipients of the treaty's stipulations. Like Finland, Romania had to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union as war reparations. However, the treaty specifically recognized that Romania switched sides on 24 August 1944, and therefore "acted in the interests of all the United Nations". As a reward, Northern Transylvania was, once again, recognized as an integral part of Romania, but the border with the USSR was fixed at its state on January 1941, restoring the pre-Barbarossa status quo. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Eastern territories became part of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.

text: In Romania proper, Soviet occupation following World War II facilitated the rise of the Communist Party as the main political force, leading ultimately to the forced abdication of the King and the establishment of a single-party people's republic in 1947.

text: Major battles and campaigns[edit]

text: This is a list of battles and other combat operations in World War II in which Romanian forces took part.

text:
Battle
Date
Location
Romania and its allies
Enemies
Issue

Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
28 June – 3 July 1940
Romania
 Romania
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom
21 – 23 January 1941
Romania
 Romanian government
 Iron Guard
Victory

As part of the Axis (1941-1944)

Operation Barbarossa
22 June – 5 December 1941
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania Finland Italy Hungary Slovakia Croatia
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Raid on Constanța
26 June 1941
Romania
 Romania Germany
 Soviet Union
Victory

Operation München
2 – 26 July 1941
Romania
 Romania Germany
 Soviet Union
Victory

Battle of Uman
15 July – 8 August 1941
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania Hungary Slovakia Croatia
 Soviet Union
Victory

Siege of Odessa
8 August – 16 October 1941
Soviet Union
 Romania Germany
 Soviet Union
Victory

Battle of the Sea of Azov
September 1941 – August 1942
Soviet Union
 Romania Germany
 Soviet Union
Victory

Siege of Sevastopol
30 October 1941 – 4 July 1942
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania Italy
 Soviet Union
Victory

Battle of Rostov
21 – 27 November 1941
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania Slovak Republic
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Second Battle of Kharkov
12 – 28 May 1942
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania Italy
 Soviet Union
Victory

Case Blue
28 June – 24 November 1942
Soviet Union
 Germany Italy Romania Hungary Slovakia Croatia
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Battle of the Caucasus
25 July 1942 – 12 May 1944
Soviet Union
 Germany Italy Romania Bulgaria
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Battle of Stalingrad
23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943
Soviet Union
 Germany Italy Romania Hungary Croatia
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Operation Uranus
19 – 23 November 1942
Soviet Union
 Germany Italy Romania Hungary
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Operation Winter Storm
12 – 23 December 1942
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Operation Little Saturn
12 December 1942 – 18 February 1943
Soviet Union
 Germany Italy Romania Hungary
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Operation Tidal Wave
1 August 1943
Romania
 Germany Romania Bulgaria
 United States
Victory

Donbass Strategic Offensive
13 August – 22 September 1943
Soviet Union
 Germany Italy Romania Hungary
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Battle of the Dnieper
24 August – 23 December 1943
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania
 Soviet Union Czechoslovakia
Defeat

Kerch-Eltigen Operation
November 1943
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania Bulgaria
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive
24 December 1943 – 14 April 1944
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Uman–Botoșani Offensive
5 March – 17 April 1944
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania
 Soviet Union
Defeat

First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive
8 April – 6 June 1944
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania
 Soviet Union
Victory

Crimean Offensive
8 April – 12 May 1944
Soviet Union
 Germany Romania Bulgaria
 Soviet Union
Defeat

Lublin-Brest Offensive
18 July – 2 August 1944
Belarus/Poland
 Germany Romania
 Soviet Union Poland
Defeat

Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (First phase)
20 – 23 August 1944
Romania
 Germany Romania
 Soviet Union
Switched sides

As part of the Allies (1944-1945)

Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (Second phase)
23 – 29 August 1944
Romania
 Soviet Union Romaniaaerial support: United States
 Germany
Victory

Battle of Turda
5 September – 8 October 1944
Romania
 Soviet Union Romania
 Germany Hungary
Victory

Battle of Păuliș
14 – 19 September 1944
Romania
 Romania
 Hungary
Victory

Battle of Debrecen
6 – 29 October 1944
Hungary
 Soviet Union Romania
 Germany Hungary
Victory

Budapest Offensive
29 October 1944 – 13 February 1945
Hungary
 Soviet Union Romania
 Germany Hungary
Victory

Siege of Budapest
29 December 1944 – 13 February 1945
Hungary
 Soviet Union Romania
 Germany Hungary
Victory

Bratislava–Brno Offensive
25 March – 5 May 1945
Czechoslovakia
 Soviet Union Romania Czechoslovakia
 Germany Hungary
Victory

Prague Offensive
6 – 11 May 1945
Czechoslovakia
 Soviet Union Poland Czechoslovakia Romania Russian Liberation Army
 Germany Hungary Slovakia
Victory

text: Romanian armament during World War II[edit]

text: Armored vehicles[edit]

text: Romanian armor during the War comprised a mix of various imported or captured designs that were refurbished as well as several Romanian-produced vehicles.

text:
Name

Type

Country of Origin

Quantity

FT-17

Light tank

 France

76

Şeniletă Malaxa Tip UE

Prime mover

 France/ Romania/ Nazi Germany

10/126/50

R-1

Tankette

 Czechoslovakia/ Romania

35/1

OA vz. 27

Armored car

 Czechoslovakia

3

OA vz. 30

Armored car

 Czechoslovakia

9

R-2

Light tank

 Czechoslovakia

126

R-35

Light tank

 France/ Poland

41/34

T-3

Medium tank

 Nazi Germany

12

Panzer 38(t)

Light tank

 Nazi Germany

50

T-4

Medium tank

 Nazi Germany

126

TAs

Assault gun

 Nazi Germany

108

Sd.Kfz. 250

Armored half-track

 Nazi Germany

Unknown

Sd.Kfz. 251

Armored half-track

 Nazi Germany

Unknown

Leichter Panzerspähwagen

Armored car

 Nazi Germany

50

AB 41

Armored car

 Italy

8

AB md. 1941

Armored car

 Romania

1

Romanian Goliath

Demolition vehicle

 Romania

1

Șenileta Ford rusesc de captură

Artillery tractor

 Romania

34

TACAM T-60

Tank Destroyer

 Romania

34

TACAM R-2

Tank Destroyer

 Romania

21

Vânătorul de care R-35

Tank Destroyer

 Romania

33

Mareșal tank destroyer

Tank Destroyer

 Romania

7 to 17

T-1 tractor

Artillery tractor

 Romania

5

Hetzer

Tank Destroyer

 Nazi Germany

2

Zrínyi II

Assault gun

 Hungary

1

text: Naval forces[edit]

text: Air force[edit]


document_title: Smokey (mascot)

question_text: what kind of dog is the tennessee volunteers mascot

root

text: Smokey (mascot)

text:
Smokey

Smokey IX

University
University of Tennessee

Conference
SEC

Description
Bluetick Coonhound

First seen
1953

Hall of Fame
2008

Website
http://www.utsports.com/trads/tenn-trads.html

tag: table

text: Smokey is the mascot of the University of Tennessee sports teams. These teams, named "The Volunteers" and nicknamed "the Vols", use both a live and a costumed version of Smokey.

tag: p

text: There is an actual Bluetick Coonhound mascot, Smokey X, who leads the Vols on the field for football games. The Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity cares for the hound on the University of Tennessee campus. There is also a costumed mascot that appears at every Vols game and has won several mascot championships.

text: History[edit]

text: In 1953, the University of Tennessee Pep Club held a contest to select a coonhound, a breed native to Tennessee, to serve as the school's live mascot. Announcements of the contest in local newspapers read, "This can't be an ordinary hound. He must be a 'Houn' Dog' in the best sense of the word."[1]

text: The late Rev. W. C. "Bill" Brooks entered his prize-winning bluetick coonhound, "Brooks' Blue Smokey", in the school's contest. At halftime of the Mississippi State game that season, several dogs were lined up on the old cheerleaders' ramp at Shields–Watkins Field for voting. Each dog was introduced over the loudspeaker, and the student body cheered for their favorite. "Blue Smokey" was the last hound introduced. When his name was called, he barked. The students cheered and Smokey threw his head back and howled again. This kept going until the stadium was in an uproar, and the University had found its mascot. "Blue Smokey" would compile a 10-10-1 record during his two seasons as Vols mascot. Tennessee's first mascot met a sudden and tragic end in 1955, as he was fatally struck by a car after escaping from his home.

text:
Dog
Years
Record
Pct.

Blue Smokey
1953–1954
10-10-1
.500

Smokey II
1955–1963
58-39-5
.597

Smokey III
1964–1977
105-39-5
.729

Smokey IV
1978–1979
12-10-1
.545

Smokey V
1980–1983
28-18-1
.608

Smokey VI
1984–1991
67-23-6
.744

Smokey VII
1992–1994
27-9
.750

Smokey VIII
1995–2003
91-22
.805

Smokey IX
2004–2012
62-53
.539

Smokey X
2013–present
21-17
.552

text: Smokey II ("PR Brooks Blue Smokey II") took over for his father as the Vols' mascot when he was only 3 months old. In 1955, students from the University of Kentucky kidnapped him for eight days, dressing him in a blue and white blanket with a large ‘K’ and parading him around at a Wildcats pep rally. Smokey's captors returned him just before kickoff. A week later, three Vanderbilt students tried the same heist at the Brooks house, but ended up taking an old hunting dog instead.[2] Smokey II was also involved in an incident with the Baylor Bears' live bear mascot Judge at the 1957 Sugar Bowl, with the bear taking a few swats at the hound. In 1963, Smokey died in Lexington shortly after the Vols' game against Kentucky, reportedly because someone fed him a chocolate pie.[3]

text: Smokey III ("PR Brooks Blue Smokey III") assumed the role of Tennessee mascot on June 18, 1964.[4] He compiled a 105-39-5 record, attended ten bowl games, and presided over two SEC championships during his tenure.[5]

text: Smokey IV ("PR Blue Smokey Joe") became mascot on September 24, 1973. He compiled a 12-10-1 record with the Vols, but sadly, he died of cancer on December 4, 1979.[6] Smokey IV never produced offspring before his death, and thus the bloodline was broken.

text: Smokey V ("PR Blue Smokey V") was the nephew of Smokey IV. He assumed the role of mascot on June 1, 1980 when he was just 12-weeks-old, and he would then outgrow five jackets in one season. Sadly, his reign would come to an end when he was hit by a car.

text: Smokey VI served as mascot and presided over three SEC championships for Tennessee. His owner, the Rev. Bill Brooks, died during Smokey VI's tenure on September 17, 1986 at the age of 81. Brooks' wife, Mildred, then took over in caring for Smokey.[7] During the 1991 UCLA game, Smokey suffered heat exhaustion in the 100+ degree temperatures and was listed on the Vols injury report until he returned later in the season. A kennel mate named "Woody" took over for him while he recovered. Smokey VI died in late 1991 of brain cancer at 10 years old.[8]

text: Smokey VII roamed the sidelines for Tennessee from 1992 to 1994. He was forced into early retirement after he nipped at the same UT band member in consecutive games in 1994.[9]

text: Smokey VIII was the most successful of the live dogs, presiding as mascot as the Vols compiled a record of 91-22, claimed two SEC titles, and won a national championship in 1998.[5] Born on November 10, 1994, Smokey VIII began his reign in 1995 and retired after the 2004 Peach Bowl in Atlanta after being diagnosed with a nasal tumor in December 2003.[10] He underwent radiation treatment and then chemotherapy. The expected prognosis, with treatment was 13 months. Smokey VIII more than doubled that at two years, four months.[11] "He served with distinction, weathered storms, cold and heat", recalled Earl Hudson, who owned the dog since it was two months old. "He came through it all real well and was always rearing to go. He was a great mascot."[12] Smokey VIII died on March 17, 2006 after suffering complications from high blood pressure and kidney disease.[12]

text: Smokey IX began his post at the 2004 Peach Bowl and was retired in 2012.[13] This dog was known to be somewhat feisty. In 2006 he bit an Alabama player during pregame warm-ups. An ESPN article said a Crimson Tide receiver fell on the dog when the player jumped out of bounds for a pass. The athlete-dog interaction caused a dust-up among the rivals. Alabama said Smokey bit the player but UT say Smokey only nipped, getting a little of the receiver's uniform but not breaking the man's skin.[13] He also took a nip at one of UT's own: running on the field after halftime of the Vols' game against Georgia State, he nipped backup long snapper Matt Giampapa on the hip. Giampapa wasn't hurt, and it was thought that Smokey may have seen a towel Giampapa had and mistaken for a towel his handlers use as a dog toy.[13]

text: Smokey X, the current Smokey mascot, made his debut in 2013. During the week, he lives with the Hudson family. He is the first Smokey not descended from the original Smokey bloodline, but he is the first from a new Tennessee-born and bred bloodline.[14] On game days and while attending to official mascot duties, Smokey is handled by members of UT's Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. For home games, he usually spends the weekend in the fraternity house on UT's campus.

text: The live hound mascot has been featured in television news segments.[5] Additionally, in 2012, the University of Tennessee Press published a book about Smokey's history, written by Tennessee sports historian Tom Mattingly and Smokey's owner, Earl Hudson (the brother-in-law of Rev. Brooks, the original owner of Smokey).[15][16]

text: Costumed Smokey[edit]

text: The costumed version of Smokey made his debut in the 1980s. Until the late 1980s, this costume was designed as a cartoon-like orange and white dog. This version of Smokey would often drink orange juice out of a bottle to cool down, mostly because of the color of the drink.

text: Tennessee attempted to create a more realistic looking hound costume in 1982, but the end result was panned by the students and this iteration of Smokey was quickly retired. The orange Smokey reigned until 1988, when the University tried once more to redesign Smokey. Smokey's new, more realistic look initially garnered mixed reactions from the Volunteer fanbase, but the redesign quickly became a fan favorite and remains the face of Tennessee athletics to this day. The costumed Smokey's body is black, leading to occasional misidentification as the more familiar Black and Tan Coonhound. However, his white blaze firmly identifies him as a Bluetick Coonhound.[17] He typically wears a Tennessee jersey bearing the number "00".

text: In 2006, Smokey made it to the quarterfinals of the Capital One Mascot Challenge, also making several appearances in Capital One commercials.[5] He is a perennial favorite when he competes in national mascot competitions, and he was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2008.[18]

text: Smokey is occasionally joined by a female counterpart that appears at the women's athletic events.[5] He is joined at most events by his six-year-old little brother, Junior Smokey, who serves as the "kiddie" mascot. Junior typically wears a jersey with the number "1/2" on it. In 2015, Junior Smokey was named "Mascot of the Year" at the World Dog Awards in Los Angeles.[19]


document_title: Sausage Party

question_text: who does the voice of honey mustard in sausage party

text: Sausage Party

text: Plot[edit]

text: A supermarket called Shopwell's is filled with anthropomorphic grocery items that believe that the human shoppers are gods, who take groceries they have purchased to a utopia known as the Great Beyond. Among the groceries in the store is a sausage named Frank, who dreams of living in the Great Beyond with his hot dog bun girlfriend Brenda and of finally consummating their relationship.

text: Frank and Brenda's packages are chosen by a woman named Camille Toh to leave Shopwell's. A returned jar of Bickle's Honey Mustard tries to warn the groceries that the Great Beyond is a lie; nobody listens except for Frank. Honey Mustard tells Frank to seek out a bottle of liquor named Firewater, and then commits suicide by falling on the store floor. This creates an accidental cart collision that causes Frank, Brenda and several groceries to fall out of the cart, including an aggressive douche whose nozzle is bent on impact. Douche swears revenge against Frank and Brenda.

text: Seeking to verify Honey Mustard's warning, Frank leads Brenda to the store's liquor aisle. There, as he smokes marijuana from a kazoo pipe, he learns from Firewater that he and other non-perishable foods invented the story of the Great Beyond as a noble lie to assuage past foods' fears of being eaten by shoppers. Frank, vowing to reveal the truth to the groceries, is encouraged to travel beyond the store's freezer section to find proof. Meanwhile, Frank's friends Carl and Barry are horrified as they witness the brutal murder of other purchased foods being cooked and eaten by Camille. Carl is sliced in half, but Barry escapes the house and encounters a human drug addict, who injects himself with bath salts and becomes able to communicate with his groceries. While attempting to cook Barry, the addict is decapitated in a freak domestic accident.

text: After Frank separates from his friends, who disapprove of his skepticism of the Great Beyond, he discovers a cookbook behind the freezer section and reveals its contents to the rest of Shopwell's groceries. Initially panicking, the groceries choose not to believe Frank out of fear of losing their sense of purpose. Barry and the groceries from the addict's home return to the store with his severed head, proving that the humans are not gods, but are mortal. The groceries drug the human shoppers and employees using toothpicks laced with bath salts, and several humans are gruesomely killed in the ensuing battle. Douche takes control of Darren, the store manager, by inserting himself into his anus and yanking on his scrotum to puppeteer his actions, but Barry and the other foods defeat them with an improvised rocket. The groceries celebrate their victory with a store-wide orgy.

text: Afterwards, the gang meets Firewater and Gum, a Stephen Hawking-esque wad of chewing gum. They have had a psychedelic experience and discovered that their world is not real, and they are merely cartoons voiced by famous actors in another dimension. Gum has constructed a portal to this dimension, and the groceries decide to travel there to meet their creators.

text: Voice cast[edit]

text:
Seth Rogen as Frank, a sausage who sets out to discover and expose the truth of his and his fellow groceries' existence.[9][14][15]
Kristen Wiig as Brenda, a hot dog bun from an 8-bun package of Glamour Buns, who is Frank's girlfriend.[15][16]
Jonah Hill as Carl, a sausage who is friends with Frank and Barry.[9][14][15]
Bill Hader as Firewater, an old Native American bottle of liquor and the leader of the immortal Non-Perishables.[15]
Michael Cera as Barry, a deformed sausage who is one of Frank's friends.[9][15][16]
James Franco as the Druggie, the first human to see the foods as sentient beings after injecting himself with bath salts.
Danny McBride as a jar of honey mustard who is returned to his Shopwell's shelf upon the shopper mistaking him for regular mustard, and tries to warn Frank and the other products of the reality of the "Great Beyond".[17] (He was credited as ‘’Honey Mustard’’)
Craig Robinson as Mr. Grits, an African-American box of grits who is one of the immortal Non-Perishables. He has a grudge against crackers (a pun on the pejorative term).
Paul Rudd as Darren, the manager of Shopwell's who is nicknamed the "Dark Lord" as he disposes of expired food and spilled items.[17]
Nick Kroll as a literal and figurative douche who swears a lot and seeks revenge on Frank for breaking his nozzle and preventing him from reaching the "Great Beyond".[15][16]
David Krumholtz as Kareem Abdul Lavash, a Middle Eastern lavash who has a rivalry with Sammy Bagel Jr.[9][15][16]
Edward Norton as Sammy Bagel Jr., a Jewish Woody Allen-esque bagel who has an on and off rivalry with Lavash.[9][15][16]
Salma Hayek as Teresa del Taco, a Mexican lesbian taco shell who has a crush on Brenda.[15][18]

tag: ul

text: Rogen has an additional minor role in the film as Sgt. Pepper, a red pepper sergeant. Hader similarly has two additional roles as a bottle of tequila and a guacamole gangster named El Guaco.[15] Rogen and Norton also appear as the uncredited live-action faces of themselves at the end of the film. Anders Holm voices Troy, one of the sausages who picks on Barry. Rogen's wife Lauren Miller voices Camille Toh, a woman who purchases Frank and Brenda's packages, and a tampon who absorbs Darren's spilled blood. Harland Williams voices Baba Ganoush, a drug dealer that the Druggie gets the bath salts from, and a bottle of ketchup that tries to comfort Honey Mustard upon his return. Directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan have various cameo appearances throughout the film: Vernon as an Ed Wynn-esque roll of toilet paper, an Adolf Hitler-esque sauerkraut, Ralph who is a catcalling sausage who does the Jackrabbit in front of Brenda, a grape, a beer can, and a pop bottle, and Tiernan as an Irish potato and a can of noodle soup. Storyboard artist Scott Underwood plays Gum, a Stephen Hawking-esque wad of chewing gum; Twink, a homosexual Twinkie who is one of the Non-Perishables; and two groceries owned by the druggie: a bag of Krinkler's chips and a half-eaten slice of pizza.

text: Production[edit]

text: Rogen has stated that he worked for eight years to get the film made; however, the content worried most film studios and they did not pick it up.[19] Noting that the film came from "an innocent place", Rogen stated "'What would it be like if our food had feelings?' We very quickly realized that it would be fucked up."[20] Goldberg revealed the project to Indiewire in July 2010, stating it was a "top secret super project". Initially, Indiewire was skeptical that the project was real and not a hoax on Goldberg's part, but after vetting, it did confirm that it was in the works.[14] In November 2010, Hill independently confirmed to MTV News that he was working on an R-rated 3D animated film.[21]

text: The film was formally announced in September 2013 as a partnership between Sony Pictures Entertainment, Annapurna Pictures and Point Grey Pictures.[22] On May 29, 2014, it was announced that the film would be released on June 3, 2016,[23] but in early 2016, the release date was revised to August 12, 2016. In January 2014, Rogen, Hill, James Franco and Kristen Wiig were announced as the leads in the film. The other cast includes Edward Norton, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz and Nick Kroll.[16] On April 9, 2014, Salma Hayek was set to lend her voice to the film as Teresa the Taco.[18] It was also announced that Paul Rudd, Danny McBride and Anders Holm would voice characters in the film.[17]

text: The film received an R rating for strong crude sexual content, pervasive language and drug use. However, when Rogen first submitted the film to the MPAA, they assigned it with an NC-17 rating due to the visibility of pubic hair on Lavash's scrotum during the food orgy scene. In order for the film to grant an R rating, the pubic hair was removed.[24][25][26][27]

text: Music[edit]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Sausage PartyFilm score by Alan Menken and Christopher LennertzReleased
August 5, 2016Recorded
2016Genre
Film scoreLength
74:49Label
Madison Gate RecordsSony Music MasterworksProducer
Alan MenkenChristopher LennertzAlan Menken film scores chronology

Mirror Mirror(2012)

Sausage Party(2016)

Beauty and the Beast(2017)

Christopher Lennertz chronology

The Boss(2016)

Sausage Party(2016)

Smurfs: The Lost Village(2017)

text: The film's score was composed by Alan Menken and Christopher Lennertz. The soundtrack was released on August 5, 2016, by Madison Gate Records and Sony Music Masterworks.

text: Track listing[edit]

text: All music composed by Alan Menken and Christopher Lennertz, except as noted.

text: No.TitleLength1."The Great Beyond" (performed by Sausage Party Cast)3:132."Darren, the Dark Lord"0:553."Chosen"1:504."I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" (performed by Meat Loaf)5:145."The Crash"2:346."Douche Loses It"2:167."Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" (performed by Wham!)3:508."Our Heroes"2:319."He's Coming"1:4710."Food Massacre"3:1511."Hungry Eyes" (performed by Eric Carmen)3:4712."True" (performed by Spandau Ballet)5:3113."The Spooge"3:4614."Magical Sausage"1:4015."Gone" (performed by JR JR)3:4616."We're Home"3:2917."The Cookbook"1:2618."I Have Proof"3:0619."Big Speech"3:0420."The Big Fight"2:3721."Final Battle"4:0422."It's Your Thing" (performed by The Isley Brothers)2:4623."Finale"2:2424."Joy to the World" (performed by Three Dog Night)3:1425."The Great Beyond Around the World" (performed by Sausage Party Cast)2:44Total length:74:49

text: Release[edit]

text: Premiere and theatrical release[edit]

text: A rough cut of the film was shown at the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 14, 2016.[13] The final cut of the film screened at Just for Laughs on July 30, 2016.[28] The film was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on August 12, 2016.[29] The film was released in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2016.[30]

text: Home media[edit]

text: Sausage Party was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download on November 8, 2016.[31]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Sausage Party grossed $97.7 million in North America and $42.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $140.4 million, against a budget of $19 million.[8] The film is the most commercially successful R-rated animated film of all time, replacing South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (which held the record for 17 years),[32] and made a net profit of $47.06 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.[33]

text: In the United States and Canada, Sausage Party was released on August 12, 2016, alongside Pete's Dragon and Florence Foster Jenkins, and was initially projected to gross $15–20 million from 2,805 theaters in its opening weekend.[6] However, after grossing $3.3 million from Thursday night previews (more than the $1.7 million made by Rogen's Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising in May) and $13.5 million on its first day, weekend projections were increased to $30–35 million. The film ended up grossing $33.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office, behind Suicide Squad.[34]

text: Outside North America, the biggest markets are the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Germany, Russia and Israel, where the film grossed $10.2 million, $6.8 million, $4.1 million, $3.5 million $2.6 million and $2 million respectively.[35]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 208 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Sausage Party is definitely offensive, but backs up its enthusiastic profanity with an impressively high laugh-to-gag ratio – and a surprisingly thought-provoking storyline."[36] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[37] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[38]

text: Vince Mancini of Uproxx wrote "Sausage Party's most charming quality is that it feels exactly like a group of 13-year-olds trying to entertain themselves, with excessive C-bombs and constant groan-worthy food puns."[39] Richard Roeper gave the film three out of four stars, saying, "Despite all the cursing and envelope-pushing and bat-bleep crazy sexual stuff, Sausage Party isn't mean-spirited. It's just … stupid. But also pretty smart. And funny as hell."[40] Lindsey Bahr of Associated Press gave the film a positive review and wrote: "There is no one out there making comedies quite like Rogen and Goldberg. They are putting their definitive stamp on the modern American comedy one decency-smashing double entendre at a time."[41]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Award

Date of ceremony

Category

Recipient(s)

Result

Ref(s)

Annie Awards

February 4, 2017

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

Kevin Pavlovic

Nominated

[42]

Central Ohio Film Critics Association

January 6, 2017

Best Animated Feature Film

Sausage Party

Hollywood Music in Media Awards

November 17, 2016

Best Original Song – Animated Film

"The Great Beyond" – Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

[43][44]

Houston Film Critics Society

January 6, 2017

Best Animated Feature Film

Sausage Party

[45][46]

Indiana Film Journalists Association

December 19, 2016

Runner-up

[47]

Best Vocal/Motion Capture Performance

Nick Kroll

2nd Place

2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards

May 7, 2017

Best Comedic Performance

Seth Rogen

Nominated

[48]

Village Voice Film Poll

January 6, 2017

Best Animated Feature

Sausage Party

5th place

[49]

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association

December 5, 2016

Best Animated Feature

Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon

Nominated

[50]

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Work conditions[edit]

text: After release, controversy emerged after anonymous comments attributed to the animators on a Cartoon Brew article suggested that the animators at Nitrogen Studios worked under poor conditions and were forced by director Greg Tiernan to work overtime without pay.[51] A total of 36 of the 83 animators were blacklisted and went uncredited in the film, believed to be due to their complaints; comments made in anonymous interviews by some of the animators involved in the project by Variety, The Washington Post, and The Hollywood Reporter alleged that the comments were accurate. All the animators in the film were reportedly told outright that they would be blacklisted if they did not work overtime without pay.[51][52][53]

text: Rating in France[edit]

text: The film was granted a −12 certificate by France's classification commission. Jean-Frédéric Poisson, the President of the Christian Democratic Party, criticized the decision and said, "An orgy scene for 12-year-olds! Everything remains to be done to combat early exposure to pornography".[54]

text: Possible sequel[edit]

text: Rogen expressed interest in making Sausage Party 2 and more animated films aimed for adults. When asked about the possibility of a sequel, Rogen stated, "It's something we talk about, yeah. That's one of the reasons why we took away the [original] ending[55] because we thought, well, if that was the first scene of the next movie it's probably not what you would want it to be, with them just seeing us and finding us basically. But the idea of a live-action/animated movie, like a Who Framed Roger Rabbit-style hybrid, is also very exciting, mostly because Who Framed Roger Rabbit is one of my favorite movies of all time."[56]

text: Video game[edit]

text: Frank and Brenda, two main characters from the film, make guest appearances in the mobile fighting game Sausage Legend, released by Milkcorp for iOS and Android, as part of a limited special event, running from March 6 through July 31, 2017.[57][58] As this game involves dueling with sausages, players in this game can unlock and control Brenda, who swings Frank around to battle other sausages.[59]


document_title: Times Square Ball

question_text: who hosts the ball drop in times square

question_tokens: who hosts the ball drop in times square

text: Times Square Ball

text: Events[edit]

text: Event organization[edit]

text: To facilitate the arrival of attendees, Times Square is closed to traffic beginning in the late afternoon on New Year's Eve. The square is then divided into different viewing sections referred to as "pens", into which attendees are directed sequentially upon arrival.[4][5] Security is strictly enforced by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), even more so since the 2001–02 edition in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Attendees are required to pass through security checkpoints before they are assigned a pen, and are prohibited from bringing backpacks or alcohol to the event.[5]

text: Festivities[edit]

text: Festivities formally begin in the early evening with the raising of the ball at around 6:00 p.m. ET.[4] Party favors are distributed to attendees, which have historically included large balloons, hats, and other items branded with the event's corporate sponsors.[6][7] The hours before the drop are preceded by hourly countdowns for the arrival of the new year in other countries, along with live music performances by popular musicians. Some of these performances are organized by, and aired on New Year's Eve television specials which are broadcast from Times Square.[7][8]

text: The drop itself occurs at 11:59 p.m.—the last minute of the year,[4] and is ceremonially "activated" by a dignitary or celebrity joined on-stage by the current Mayor of New York City.[9][10] The conclusion of the drop is followed by fireworks shot from the roof of One Times Square, along with the playing of "Auld Lang Syne" by Guy Lombardo, "Theme from New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra, "America the Beautiful" by Ray Charles, "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong, and "Over the Rainbow" by IZ.[11]

text: Since the 1996 New Year's Eve celebration, the current Mayor of New York City has been joined by a special guest, selected yearly to recognize their community involvement or significance, in ceremonially "activating" the ball drop by pressing a button, resembling a smaller version of the ball itself, at exactly one minute to midnight.[9] The button itself does not actually trigger the drop; that is done from a control room, synchronized using a government time signal.[10] Special guests who have activated the ball drop have included:

text:
1996–1997: Oseola McCarty[9]
1997–1998: A group of five winners from a school essay contest honoring New York City's centennial[12]
1998–1999: Chinese gymnast Sang Lan (who was injured during the 1998 Goodwill Games and was being rehabilitated in New York City)[13]
1999–2000: Dr. Mary Ann Hopkins from Doctors Without Borders[14]
2000–2001: Muhammad Ali[15]
2001–2002: Rudy Giuliani and Judith Nathan; activating the drop was Giuliani's final act as mayor. Michael Bloomberg officially became the new Mayor of New York City upon the beginning of 2002, and took his oath of office shortly after midnight.[16]
2002–2003: Christopher and Dana Reeve[17]
2003–2004: Cyndi Lauper, along with Shoshana Johnson, the first female American prisoner of war belonging to an ethnic minority[18]
2004–2005: Secretary of State Colin Powell[19]
2005–2006: Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis[20]
2006–2007: A group of eight United States Armed Forces members[21]
2007–2008: Karolina Wierzchowska, a valedictorian of the NYPD's academy who served in the Iraq War[22]
2008–2009: Bill and Hillary Clinton[23]
2009–2010: Twelve students from New York City high schools on the U.S. News & World Report "America's Best High Schools Top 100 'Gold Medal' List"[24]
2010–2011: Former Staff sergeant Salvatore Giunta[25]
2011–2012: Lady Gaga[26]
2012–2013: The Rockettes[27]
2013–2014: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.[note 1][29][30]
2014–2015: Cuban-American musician Jencarlos Canela and a group of refugees who emigrated to New York City, in partnership with the International Rescue Committee[31][32]
2015–2016: Hugh Evans[33]
2016–2017: Ban Ki-moon;[34] activating the drop was Ban Ki-moon's final act as United Nations Secretary-General before António Guterres took office.

text: Since the 2005–06 edition of the event, the drop has been directly preceded by the playing of John Lennon's song "Imagine". Until 2009–2010, the original recording was used; since 2010–2011, the song has been performed by the headlining act;[35][36]

text:
2010–2011: Taio Cruz[37]
2011–2012: Cee-Lo Green[note 2][36]
2012–2013: Train[38]
2013–2014: Melissa Etheridge[8]
2014–2015: O.A.R.[39]
2015–2016: Jessie J[40]
2016–2017: Rachel Platten[41]

text: Cleanup[edit]

text: After the conclusion of the festivities and the dispersal of attendees, cleanup is performed overnight to remove confetti and other debris from Times Square before it is re-opened to the public the following morning. Few traces of the previous night's celebration remain after the cleanup process is completed: following the 2013–14 drop, the New York City Department of Sanitation estimated that by 8:00 a.m., it had cleared over 50 tons of refuse from Times Square, using 190 workers from their own crews and the Times Square Alliance.[42]

text: History[edit]

text: Beginnings (1907–1908)[edit]

text: The first New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square was held on December 31, 1904; The New York Times' owner, Adolph Ochs, decided to celebrate the opening of the newspaper's new headquarters, One Times Square, with a New Year's fireworks show on the roof of the building to welcome 1905. Close to 200,000 people attended the event, displacing traditional celebrations that had normally been held at Trinity Church.[43] However, following several years of fireworks shows, Ochs wanted a bigger spectacle at the building to draw more attention to the area. The newspaper's chief electrician, Walter F. Palmer, suggested using a time ball, after seeing one used on the nearby Western Union Building.[43]

text: Ochs hired sign designer Artkraft Strauss to construct a ball for the celebration; it was built from iron and wood, electrically lit with one hundred incandescent light bulbs, weighed 700 pounds (320 kg), and measured 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter. The ball was hoisted on the building's flagpole with rope by a team of six men. Once it hit the roof of the building, the ball was designed to complete an electric circuit to light a 5-foot tall sign indicating the new year, and trigger a fireworks show.[44] The first ever "ball drop" was held on December 31, 1907, welcoming the year 1908.[43]

text: In 1913, only eight years after it moved to One Times Square, the Times moved its corporate headquarters to 229 West 43rd Street. The Times still maintained ownership of the tower, however, and Strauss continued to organize future editions of the drop.[45]

text: The second and third balls (1920–98)[edit]

text: The original ball was retired in 1920 in favor of a new design; the second ball remained 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter, but was now constructed from iron, weighing 400 pounds (180 kg).[46] The ball drop was placed on hiatus for New Year's Eve 1942 and 1943 due to wartime lighting restrictions during World War II.[46] Instead, a moment of silence was observed at midnight in Times Square, accompanied by the sound of church bells[46] and chimes played from sound trucks.

text: The second ball was retired in favor of a third design in 1955; again, it maintained the same diameter of its predecessors, but was now constructed from aluminium, and weighed 150 pounds (68 kg).[46] In 1981, the third ball was revamped in honor of the I Love New York campaign, with red lightbulbs and a green stem to give it the appearance of an apple.[43] For 1988, organizers acknowledged the addition of a leap second earlier that day (leap seconds are appended at midnight UTC, which is five hours before midnight in New York) by extending the drop to 61 seconds, and by including a special one-second light show during the extra second.[47] The original white lightbulbs returned to the ball for 1989, but were replaced by red, white, and blue bulbs in 1991 to salute the troops of Operation Desert Shield.[43]

text: The third ball was revamped again in 1995 for 1996, adding a computerized lighting system with 180 halogen bulbs and 144 strobe lights, and over 12,000 rhinestones.[46][48] Lighting designer Barry Arnold stated that the changes were "something [that] had to be done to make this event more spectacular as we approach the millennium."[48]

text: The drop itself became computerized through the use of an electric winch synced with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's time signal; the new system was not without issues, however, as a glitch caused the ball to pause for a short moment halfway through its descent.[49] After its 44th use in 1999, the third ball was retired and placed on display at the Atlanta headquarters of Jamestown Group, owners of One Times Square.[43]

text: Into the new millennium (1999–2007)[edit]

text: On December 28, 1998, during a press conference attended by New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, organizers announced that the third ball would be retired for the arrival of the new millennium, and replaced by a new design constructed by Waterford Crystal. The year 2000 celebrations introduced more prominent sponsorship to the drop; companies such as Discover Card, Korbel Champagne, and Panasonic were announced as official sponsors of the festivities in Times Square. The city announced that Ron Silver would lead a committee known as "NYC 2000", to be in charge of organizing events across New York City for the year 2000 celebrations, particularly outside of Times Square.[50]

text: A full day of festivities was held at Times Square to celebrate the arrival of the year 2000, which included concerts and hourly cultural presentations with parades of puppets designed by Michael Curry, representing countries entering the new year at that hour. Organizers expected a total attendance exceeding 2 million spectators.[51]

text: The fourth ball, measuring 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter and weighing 1,070 pounds (490 kg), incorporated a total of over 600 halogen bulbs, 504 triangle-shaped crystal panels provided by Waterford, 96 strobe lights, and spinning, pyramid-shaped mirrors. The ball was constructed at Waterford's factory in Ireland, and was then shipped to New York City, where the lighting system and motorized mirrors were installed.[44]

text: Many of the triangles were inscribed with "Hope"-themed designs changing yearly, such as "Hope for Fellowship", "Hope for Wisdom", "Hope for Unity", "Hope for Courage", and "Hope for Abundance".[4][52] For 2002, as part of the theme "Hope for Healing", 195 of the ball's crystals were engraved with the names of nations and organizations who were affected by or were involved in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.[4][52] In December 2011, the "Hope for Healing" crystals were accepted into the National September 11 Museum.[53]

text: Present day (2008–present)[edit]

text: In honor of the ball drop's centennial anniversary, a brand new fifth design debuted for New Year's Eve 2008. Once again manufactured by Waterford Crystal with a diameter of 6 feet (1.8 m), but weighing 1,212 pounds (550 kg), it used LED lamps provided by Philips (which can produce 16,777,216 or 224 colors), with computerized lighting patterns developed by the New York City-based lighting firm Focus Lighting. The ball featured 9,576 energy-efficient bulbs that consumed the same amount of electricity as only 10 toasters.[3] The 2008 ball was only used once, and was placed on display at the Times Square Visitors Center following the event.[43][49][54]

text: For 2009, a larger version of the fifth ball was introduced—an icosahedral geodesic sphere lit by 32,256 LED lamps. Its diameter is twice as wide as the 2008 ball, at 12 feet (3.7 m), and contains 2,688 Waterford Crystal panels, with a weight of 11,875 pounds (5,386 kg). It was designed to be weatherproof, as the ball would now be displayed atop One Times Square nearly year-round following the celebrations.[43][49][54]

text: Yearly themes for the ball's crystal panels continued; from 2008 to 2013, the ball contained crystal patterns that were part of a Waterford series known as "World of Celebration", including themes such as "Let There Be Light" and "Let There Be Peace". For 2014, all the ball's panels were replaced, marking a new theme series known as "Greatest Gifts", beginning with "Gift of Imagination".[32][40][54][55]

text: The numerical sign indicating the year (which remains atop the tower along with the ball itself) uses Philips LED lamps. For 2014, the final two digits of the sign used bulbs from the company's "Hue" line of multi-color LED lamps, allowing them to have computerized lighting cues.[56]

text: Weather at midnight[edit]

text: According to the National Weather Service, from 1907 to 2011, the average temperature at midnight in New York City was 33.7 °F (0.9 °C). The coldest event was in 1917 when the temperature was 1 °F (−17 °C) (−18 °F (−28 °C) after wind chill), the second coldest was 11 °F (−12 °C) in 1962. The warmest ball drop was 58 °F (14 °C) in 1965, 1972, and 1992. It has snowed during the ball drop just seven times out of 110 events (one being light snow)—1926, 1934, 1948, 1952, 1961, 1967, and 2009—and it has rained multiple times.[30][57]

text: Countdown timers[edit]

text: Since 1996, an animated video countdown timer has appeared on the screen below the pole where the ball drops on New Year's Eve as well as the three screens at the bottom of the building. The clock has changed design every year until 2010-11, which the “Pendulum” countdown was reused up to the present. These are the clock descriptions since 1996:

text:
1995–96: The countdown was in the style of an old movie "start picture" countdown. This can be seen in the historical documentary by the Times Square Alliance.[citation needed]
1996–97 and 1997–98: Numbers showing how many seconds remain until the arrival of the New Year zoom out from the center of the screen and then fade away. Different colored streaks of light follow. This continues until the final second is reached. Then the words "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" are displayed. This clock was only used during ITT Corporation's sponsorship of the display.[58]
1998–99: Similar to 1999-2000, but a new typeset is used to reflect Discover Card's sponsorship of the sign and the numbers explode instead of fading. A ring of fire and a marquee light ring also encircles the numbers. Confetti is added at the end of the countdown.
1999–2000, 2000-01, 2001–02, 2002–03, and 2007–08: Numbers zoom outwards from the center without exploding on screen. The seconds are revealed by the separation of a ball into two segments. Gears are placed at the edges of the screen. At midnight, the ball explodes and the words "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" are displayed in front of confetti. This countdown was used four times, the first time being on the upper screen and the subsequent three times on the three lower screens, when the upper countdown was being based on this one.
2000–01: The seconds, in gold numbers flashes out in front of a blue and black background. At midnight, the words "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" fade in in front of fireworks.
2001–02: In observance of the September 11 attacks, the countdown had the seconds which zoom out from the center of the screen are revealed by flaps opening and closing every second and spinning around in the shape of a star with the colors red, white, and blue. They all explode at midnight and confetti is showered on the words "HAPPY NEW YEAR”.
2002–03: A bell in the center of the screen reveals the seconds which then zoom out as it rings along two other bells at the side. This countdown was also based on the 2000 version. After 20 seconds, the screen did not show the remaining time due to an error thus forcing it to shut off. This caused some people to count down off time. However, the screens placed at the bottom still showed the countdown clock from 1999.
2003–04: A clock with two hands- one hand moving every second and the other spinning around- shows the countdown on its face. The clock changes its position at certain points. At midnight, the clock explodes as random animations and the words "Happy New Year 2004!" begin to appear on the screen.
2004–05: The seconds jump out from the center of the screen and then fall back, with the right digit flipping to the next, in front of a red "hypnotic" background. At every ten seconds, stars also fly out. The seconds shake from ten to zero as the countdown gets more intense. At midnight, the words "Happy New Year 2005" jump out.
2005–06: No countdown was shown on either the upper or lower screens, as the official countdown was being shown on the Coca-Cola sign on the North Tower of Times Square. Rather, different messages appeared on the upper screens were displayed followed by the words "Discover Card Wishes Everyone A Happy New Year!" at midnight.
2006–07: The second numbers in white spin around in front of a red background to reveal the next second. As the numbers flip around, Target's famous bulls eye logo floats around to reflect the retailer's sponsorship of the event. The seconds enlarge and shake as the countdown approaches zero. Discover Card's own graphics (see above) cut in on the upper screen at midnight.
2007–08: To advertise Toshiba's television sets, a test card based on BBC's Test Card F is shown on a Toshiba Regza TV on the new Toshiba Spectacular, with a pinhole shutter in the middle instead of the reference photograph. This shutter opens and closes every second to reveal the seconds in silver numbers, which then zoom outwards. After 25 seconds, lightning begins to randomly flash across the countdown, getting more intense as it approaches midnight. At midnight, the card explodes and the words "HAPPY NEW YEAR” fade in as confetti showers down. The background fades from black to orange and back every 10 seconds. This was the first time Toshiba was involved in the countdown as they took over the screen from Discover Card before the ball drop. From this point onwards, the countdown would involve the numbers zooming out in any matter. Even though the countdowns were sponsored by Toshiba, they were titled "Pontiac G8 Countdowns".
2008–09, aka "Circuit": The seconds fade in on a black circle with lightning in it and a yellow marquee light ring in front of a red circuit background. The numbers then zoom out fast. At midnight, the entire screen goes red as the words "Happy New Year!" flash in and white radio waves radiate from the center. (This countdown was done one second early, as it started at 59 instead of 60.)
2009–10, aka "Clock": The seconds in yellow numbers zoom out of the screen's center, where a second hand of a clock sticks out. Electricity zaps the number as it zooms out. The hand moves counterclockwise instead of clockwise. The timer is placed in front a variety of clock gears. Every 10 seconds the hour indicators around the clock face glow red. Meanwhile, the upper segment of the Toshiba billboard shows more gears and the 2010 sign slowly being lifted up towards the ball, becoming 2010 as it neared the top of the sign. At midnight, the hand stops ticking and the words "Happy New Year!" flip out and the sign that once showed the numbers 2010 on the upper half of the Toshiba Vision comes back down and says "TOSHIBA" instead. This was the first countdown utilizing Toshiba's new interlocking display system known as ToshibaVision. The countdown made its only appearance on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to simulcast on the lower right corner, via camera. The countdown's theme was loosely based on the entrance to the Paramount Building in Times Square. This countdown is also used for the Global Countdown ceremonies that take place in Times Square on December 31, replacing the year with the current year, then rolling to the next year.
2010–11 - present, aka "Pendulum”: As the seconds also in yellow in a new typeface zoom out, they reveal the next second as they disappear from the screen. A pendulum can also be seen, swinging as the numbers also coated with radiation zoom out from a red "warp" background. A silver art deco border adorns the screens. The upper segment shows an analog clock displaying the current time. At some points, fireworks were added to maintain the theme. At midnight, the pendulum shatters and the words "Happy New Year!" flip out. The timer debuted on the 2010–11 edition of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve and made a brief appearance in the 2011 movie New Year's Eve. The countdown's theme was based on the clock on the Paramount Building. (For 2010–11, the Toshiba logo was on the upper portion of the lower Toshibavision screen; it was on the lower portion for 2011–12, which would eventually switch to the upper portion. Also, the upper Toshibavision analog clock was two seconds late for 2011–12. For accuracy purposes, the second hand was removed from the top screen for 2011–12. The second hand was again removed for 2012-13, but returned in 2013-14. However, the second hand was again two seconds late.[59] (This countdown theme is now used for global countdown celebrations in the Square.)

text: Hourly Countdowns are used as practice to ready the crowd for the main countdown at midnight. Their theme and design reflect those as mentioned above. Some of the hourly countdowns started fifteen seconds before the hour. Since 2008, it has started at twenty seconds.

text: Broadcasting[edit]

text: As a public event, the festivities and ball drop are broadcast as part of New Year's Eve television specials originating from Times Square on several major U.S. television networks and cable channels. By far the most notable of these is Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve; created, produced, and originally hosted by the entertainer Dick Clark until his death in 2012, and currently hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy, the program first aired on NBC in 1972 before moving to ABC, where it has been broadcast ever since.[60][61] New Year's Rockin' Eve has consistently been the most-watched New Year's Eve special in the U.S. annually, peaking at 22.6 million viewers for its 40th edition in 2012.[62][60][63] Following the death of Dick Clark in April 2012, a crystal engraved with his name was added to the 2013 ball in tribute.[61]

text: Across the remaining networks, NBC broadcasts New Year's Eve with Carson Daly, hosted from Times Square by Carson Daly of The Voice and Last Call, and Spanish-language network Univision broadcasts Feliz!, hosted from Times Square by Raúl de Molina of El Gordo y La Flaca.[64][65] On cable, CNN carries coverage of the festivities, known as New Year's Eve Live, which had been hosted by Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen from Times Square.[66] Fellow news channel Fox News Channel carries All-American New Year, most recently hosted by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Bill Hemmer from Times Square.[67]

text: Countdown Entertainment provides a host feed of 21 cameras across Times Square that can be utilized by broadcasters to help cover the event.[68] Since 2009, an official webcast of the ball drop and its associated festivities has been produced, streamed via Livestream.com.[68][69][70]

text: Past broadcasts[edit]

text: Beginning in the 1940s, NBC broadcast coverage from Times Square anchored by Ben Grauer on both radio and television. Its coverage was later incorporated into special episodes of The Tonight Show, continuing through Johnny Carson and Jay Leno's tenures on the program. NBC would introduce a dedicated special, New Year's Eve with Carson Daly, beginning in 2003.[71]

text: From 1956 to 1976, CBS was well known for its television coverage of the festivities hosted by bandleader Guy Lombardo from the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, featuring his band's famous rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight. After Lombardo's death in 1977, CBS and the Royal Canadians, now led by Victor Lombardo, attempted to continue the special. However, Guy's absence and the growing popularity of ABC's New Year’s Rockin’ Eve prompted CBS to eventually drop the band entirely. The Royal Canadians were replaced by a new special, Happy New Year, America, which ran in various formats with different hosts (such as Paul Anka, Donny Osmond, Andy Williams, Paul Shaffer, and Montel Williams) until it was discontinued after 1996. CBS, barring a special America's Millennium broadcast for 2000,[72] has no longer broadcast any national New Year's programming since.[73][74][75][76]

text: For 2000, in lieu of New Year's Rockin' Eve, ABC News covered the festivities as part of its day-long telecast, ABC 2000 Today. Hosted by Peter Jennings, the broadcast featured coverage of millennium festivities from around the world, including those in New York City. Jennings was joined by Dick Clark as a special correspondent for coverage from Times Square.[77]

text: Fox previously aired New Year's specials covering Times Square with rotating hosts and themes, primarily under the title New Year's Eve Live. For 2015, New Year's Eve Live was replaced by Pitbull's New Year's Revolution, which is broadcast from Miami instead.[78]

text: MTV had broadcast coverage originating from the network's Times Square studios at One Astor Plaza. For 2011, MTV also held its own ball drop in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, the setting of its popular reality series Jersey Shore, featuring cast member Snooki lowered inside a giant "hamster ball". Originally, MTV planned to hold the drop within its studio in Times Square, but the network was asked by city officials to conduct the drop elsewhere.[79]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Michael Bloomberg, whose mayoral term ended at midnight, did not attend, and celebrated privately with his family instead. Unlike Bloomberg's inauguration in 2002, which was held shortly after midnight, Bill de Blasio was inaugurated in a ceremony the following morning at Gracie Mansion.[28]
Jump up ^ Cee-Lo's performance was criticized by fans for his change of a lyric relating to religion.[36]

tag: ol


document_title: Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations

question_text: when did nigeria become part of the commonwealth

text: Current members[edit]

text: All dates below are provided by the Commonwealth of Nations Secretariat members list, and population figures are as of 1 January 2018.[8]

text:
Country
Joined
Continent
Population[9]
Notes[A]

Antigua and Barbuda ! Antigua and Barbuda[D]
1981-11-011 November 1981
Caribbean
94,195

Australia ! Australia[D]
1931-12-1111 December 1931
Australia
24,772,247
Granted nominal independence (Dominion status) on 1 January 1901. Australia was one of the original Dominions at the time of the Statute of Westminster 1931, although the statute was not adopted in Australia until 1942 (with retroactive effect from 1939).[10] The Australia Act 1986 established specifically, only the State Premier could now advise the Queen on appointment or removal of a State Governor. Nonetheless, the Queen could still exercise any of her powers with respect to the State if she was "personally present" in the State.[11]

Bahamas ! Bahamas[D]
1973-07-1010 July 1973
Caribbean
402,576

Bangladesh ! Bangladesh
1972-04-1818 April 1972[12]
Asia
165,867,307
Declared independence from Pakistan in 1971.[13]

Barbados ! Barbados[D]
1966-11-3030 November 1966
Caribbean
286,618

Belize ! Belize[D]
1981-09-2121 September 1981
North America
379,636

Botswana ! Botswana
1966-09-3030 September 1966
Africa
2,377,831

Brunei ! Brunei
1984-01-011 January 1984
Asia
439,022

Cameroon ! Cameroon
1995-11-1313 November 1995[14]
Africa
24,836,674
Most of the country was the formerly French mandate territory (later UN trust territory) of Cameroun and gained independence from France on 1 January 1960, uniting with the much smaller former British mandate/trust territory of Southern Cameroons on its gaining independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1961.

Canada ! Canada[D]
1931-12-1111 December 1931
North America
36,885,861
Granted nominal independence (Dominion status) on 1 July 1867. Canada was the first among the several original Dominions at the time of the Statute of Westminster 1931.[15] Incorporated another original Dominion, Newfoundland, on 31 March 1949.[16] The Canada Act 1982 formally ended the "request and consent" provisions of the Statute of Westminster 1931 in relation to Canada, whereby the British parliament had a general power to pass laws extending to Canada at its own request.

Cyprus ! Cyprus[E]
1961-03-1313 March 1961[17]
Eurasia
1,197,667
Gained independence from the United Kingdom on 16 August 1960.

Dominica ! Dominica
1978-11-033 November 1978
Caribbean
72,975

Fiji ! Fiji[B]
1970-10-1010 October 1970
Oceania
909,024
Left in 1987; rejoined in 1997; suspended on 6 June 2000;[18] suspension lifted on 20 December 2001;[19] again suspended on 8 December 2006 because of the 2006 Fijian coup d'état.[20][21] Suspension lifted on 26 September 2014.

The Gambia ! The Gambia
1965-02-1818 February 1965
Africa
2,155,958
Withdrew on 3 October 2013 citing "neo-colonialism".[22][23] Following the election of Adama Barrow as President of Gambia in 2016, it submitted an application to re-join the Commonwealth on 22 January 2018,[24] and rejoined on 8 February 2018.[25]

Ghana ! Ghana
1957-03-066 March 1957
Africa
29,088,849

Grenada ! Grenada[D]
1974-02-077 February 1974
Caribbean
107,894

Guyana ! Guyana
1966-05-2626 May 1966
South America
773,808

India ! India
1947-08-1515 August 1947
Asia
1,353,014,094
Incorporated former French India (Chandannagar from 2 May 1950 and Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahé from 1 November 1954), former Portuguese India (Goa, Daman and Diu from 19 December 1961 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli formally from 1961) and Sikkim (from 16 May 1975).

Jamaica ! Jamaica[D]
1962-08-066 August 1962
Caribbean
2,819,888

Kenya ! Kenya
1963-12-1212 December 1963
Africa
49,167,382

Kiribati ! Kiribati
1979-07-1212 July 1979
Oceania
117,636

Lesotho ! Lesotho
1966-10-044 October 1966
Africa
2,199,492

Malawi ! Malawi
1964-07-066 July 1964
Africa
18,558,768

Malaysia ! Malaysia
1957-08-3131 August 1957[26][27]
Asia
31,505,208
Joined as the Federation of Malaya in 1957; reformed as Malaysia on 16 September 1963 with its federation with Singapore (which became a separate state on 9 August 1965), North Borneo, and Sarawak.[28]

Malta ! Malta
1964-09-2121 September 1964
Europe
422,212

Mauritius ! Mauritius
1968-03-1212 March 1968
Africa
1,286,240

Mozambique ! Mozambique
1995-11-1313 November 1995[29]
Africa
29,977,238
Gained independence from Portugal on 26 June 1975. The first country to be admitted to the Commonwealth without any former colonial or constitutional links with the United Kingdom.[30]

Namibia ! Namibia
1990-03-2121 March 1990
Africa
2,600,857
Gained independence from South Africa.[31] Includes Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands transferred by South Africa at midnight 28 February 1994.

Nauru ! Nauru[B]
1968-11-01†1 November 1968
Oceania
10,387
Gained independence on 31 January 1968 from joint trusteeship of Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom. A special member from 1 November 1968 until 1 May 1999, when it became a full member,[32] before reverting to special status in January 2006.[33] A full member again since June 2011.[34]

New Zealand ! New Zealand[D]
1931-12-1111 December 1931
Oceania
4,609,755
Granted nominal independence (Dominion status) on 26 September 1907. One of the original Dominions at the time of the Statute of Westminster 1931, although the Statute was not adopted in New Zealand until 1947.[35] Removed final links with the British Parliament in 1986.

Nigeria ! Nigeria
1960-10-011 October 1960
Africa
194,615,054
Incorporated the former British mandate/trust territory of Northern Cameroons on 31 May 1961. Suspended in 1995, suspension lifted in 1999.[36]

Pakistan ! Pakistan
1947-08-1414 August 1947[C]
Asia
199,031,265
Includes the city of Gwadar, transferred from Muscat and Oman on 8 September 1958. Included Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan) until 1971.[13] Left Commonwealth in 1972, rejoined 1989; suspended in 1999, suspension lifted in 2004; again suspended in 2007,[37] suspension lifted in 2008.[38]

Papua New Guinea ! Papua New Guinea[D]
1975-09-1616 September 1975
Australia
8,034,630
Gained independence from Australia.

Rwanda ! Rwanda
2009-11-2929 November 2009[6]
Africa
12,322,920
Gained independence from Belgium on 1 July 1962. The second country (after Mozambique) to be admitted to the Commonwealth without any former colonial or constitutional links with the United Kingdom.[30] Unlike Mozambique, has adopted English as an official language since joining.

Saint Kitts and Nevis ! Saint Kitts and Nevis[B][D]
1983-09-1919 September 1983
Caribbean
56,632

Saint Lucia ! Saint Lucia[D]
1979-02-2222 February 1979
Caribbean
189,000

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ! Saint Vincent and the Grenadines[D]
1979-10-2727 October 1979
Caribbean
109,501
A special member from 27 October 1979 until 1 June 1985.

Samoa ! Samoa[B]
1970-08-2828 August 1970
Oceania
196,954
Gained independence from New Zealand on 1 January 1962. Joined as Western Samoa, subsequently changing its name to Samoa on 4 July 1997.[39]

Seychelles ! Seychelles
1976-06-2929 June 1976
Africa
98,248

Sierra Leone ! Sierra Leone
1961-04-2727 April 1961
Africa
6,818,117

Singapore ! Singapore[B]
1965-10-15†9 August 1966 (effective from 9 August 1965)[40]
Asia
5,889,117
Gained independence from the United Kingdom and joined Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Became independent on 9 August 1965.[41]

Solomon Islands ! Solomon Islands[D]
1978-07-077 July 1978
Oceania
614,497

South Africa ! South Africa
1931-12-1111 December 1931
Africa
56,007,479
Granted nominal independence (Dominion status) on 31 May 1910. One of the original Dominions at the time of the Statute of Westminster 1931. Left on 31 May 1961; rejoined 1 June 1994.[42]

Sri Lanka ! Sri Lanka
1948-02-044 February 1948
Asia
20,979,811
Joined as the Dominion of Ceylon, subsequently changing its name in 1972. Became a republic in 1972 and severed final ties with Britain.

eSwatsi ! Swaziland
1968-09-066 September 1968
Africa
1,336,933

Tanzania ! Tanzania
1961-12-099 December 1961
Africa
57,790,062
Joined as Tanganyika and later Zanzibar, which subsequently merged to form Tanzania on 26 April 1964.[43]

Tonga ! Tonga
1970-06-044 June 1970
Oceania
107,228

Trinidad and Tobago ! Trinidad and Tobago
1962-08-3131 August 1962
Caribbean
1,376,801

Tuvalu ! Tuvalu[B][D]
1978-10-011 October 1978
Oceania
10,116
A special member from 1 October 1978 until 1 September 2000.[44]

Uganda ! Uganda
1962-10-099 October 1962
Africa
42,288,962

United Kingdom ! United Kingdom
1931-12-1111 December 1931
Europe
65,746,853
The Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted the Statute of Westminster 1931.

Vanuatu ! Vanuatu[B]
1980-07-3030 July 1980
Oceania
279,953
Gained independence from joint rule of France and United Kingdom.

Zambia ! Zambia
1964-10-2424 October 1964
Africa
17,470,471

text:
^ A. Unless otherwise noted, independence was gained from the United Kingdom on the date (shown in column 2) of joining the Commonwealth.
^ B. Not a member of the Commonwealth Foundation.
^ C. Though Pakistan celebrates 14 August 1947 as its independence day, independence was officially granted at midnight, 15 August 1947. Therefore, its date of joining the Commonwealth would be 15 August 1947.
^ D. Commonwealth realms, recognising Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state since the day of their independence, distinctly from her being the sovereign of the United Kingdom.
^ E. Geopolitically part of Europe, but geographically part of Asia.

text: Former members[edit]

text:
Country
Joined
Continent
Left
Notes

Ireland ! Ireland
1931-12-1111 December 1931
Europe
1949-04-1818 April 1949
One of the original Dominions at the time of the Statute of Westminster 1931.[16] Withdrew after passing the Republic of Ireland Act in 1948, accepted by the United Kingdom in 1949 Ireland Act 1949[13].

Maldives ! Maldives
1982-07-099 July 1982
Asia
2016-10-1313 October 2016
Gained independence from the United Kingdom on 26 July 1965.[45] A special member from 9 July 1982 until 20 July 1985.[46] Announced on 13 October 2016 that it has withdrawn from the Commonwealth.[47][48]

Zimbabwe ! Zimbabwe
1980-10-011 October 1980
Africa
2003-12-077 December 2003
Suspended on 19 March 2002.[19] Withdrew voluntarily on 7 December 2003.[49]

text: Dissolved members[edit]

text:
Former country
Joined
Continent
Dissolved
Rejoined as part of
Notes

Malaya ! Malaya
1957-08-3131 August 1957
Asia
1963-07-3131 July 1963[27]
Malaysia ! Malaysia
Reformed as the Federation of Malaysia with Singapore (became a separate member in 1965), Sabah, and Sarawak.

Newfoundland ! Newfoundland
1931-12-1111 December 1931
North America
1934-02-1631 March 1949
Canada ! Canada
One of the original Dominions at the time of the Statute of Westminster 1931. Government suspended on 16 February 1934, merged into Canada on 31 March 1949.[16]

Tanganyika ! Tanganyika
1961-12-099 December 1961
Africa
1964-04-2626 April 1964
Tanzania ! Tanzania
The two countries merged to form Tanzania on 26 April 1964.[43]

Zanzibar ! Zanzibar
1963-12-1010 December 1963

text: Prospective members[edit]

text:
Country
Applied
Continent
Population
Notes

Somaliland ! Somaliland
2009[50]
Africa
~3,500,000[F]
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state internationally recognised as part of Somalia. It has applied to join the Commonwealth under observer status.[50] Its borders approximate to those of British Somaliland, which was a protectorate from 1884 to 1960.

South Sudan ! South Sudan
2011[51]
Africa
13,670,642
Gained independence from Britain as part of Sudan in 1956. Gained independence from Sudan in 2011.[52]

Sudan ! Sudan
2009[53]
Africa
42,425,989
Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt known as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, but in practice the structure of the Condominium ensured full British control over the Sudan until its independence in 1956. Sudan has expressed an interest in joining the Commonwealth.[54]

Suriname ! Suriname[55]
2012
South America
555,934
English colony of Willoughbyland from 1650 to 1667 and controlled by the British from 1799 to 1816. Subsequently, a Dutch colony. In 2012, Suriname announced plans to join the Commonwealth[56] and the British government has made it a priority to provide guidance to Suriname in applying for Commonwealth membership.[57]

Burundi ! Burundi[58]
2013
Africa
10,524,117

text: ^ F. The population figure is based on 2014 estimates.

text: Other states which have expressed an interest in joining the Commonwealth over the years or states which may be eligible to join the Commonwealth include Algeria, Bahrain[54], Cambodia, Egypt[54], Eritrea[54], Israel[59], Libya[54], Madagascar, Palestine, United States[54] and Yemen.[60][61]