Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is a regulatory agency, dedicated to the safeguarding of food and plants, which enhance the health and well-being of Canada's people and economy. The agency was created in April 1997 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act for the purpose of combining and integrating the related inspection services of three separate federal government departments: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Oceans Canada, Health Canada; the establishment of the CFIA consolidated the delivery of all federal food safety, animal health, plant health regulatory programs. The agency is part of the larger federal public service. According to the CFIA statement of values, science is the basis for regulatory decisions but the need to consider other factors is recognized; the Minister of Health is responsible for the CFIA and is responsible for establishing policies and standards for the safety and nutritional quality of food sold in Canada. Through the enforcement of various acts and regulations, the CFIA works to protect Canadians from preventable health risks and provide a fair and effective food and plant regulatory regime that supports competitive domestic and international markets.
One of the main acts and regulations that CFIA uses is the Food and Drugs Act, last updated in 1985. There have been ongoing regulatory amendments brought forward with the most recent attempt at modernizing the Food and Drugs Act was the introduction of Bill C-51. Other Acts and Regulations specify inspection requirements and for certain trade requirements, the need to register with CFIA to conduct business; such companies are termed "registered establishments" as opposed to those "non-federally registered establishments" that fall under the Food and Drugs Act. While the Food and Drugs Act provide for core food safety standards, many companies opt to use third party standards such as HACCP or ISO in order to meet client specified standards; these standards are observed by the food industry due to the potential loss of business. The Food and Drugs Act does not have any requirements for domestic manufacturers to notify the agency of their existence but companies require provincial registrations or municipal licenses to operate.
Provincial authorities and local public health units carry out inspections and work with the CFIA to manage food safety risks. There is no requirement in the Food and Drugs Act for importers to directly notify the CFIA of their existence. Import notification is required for other commodities such as meat. All commercial importers must have an import/export account with Canada Border Services Agency who refers food and plant imports to the CFIA as required. Through various phytosanitary requirements, CBSA import controls cause the CFIA to take notice; the CFIA is responsible for monitoring pesticide residues in food. Health Canada establishes Maximum Residue Limits for pesticide residues in all foods. MRLs are set for each pesticide-crop combination; the Food and Drugs Act does not provide the power to recall food products and all recalls are done on a voluntary basis. However, Section 19 of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act provides authority for the Minister of Agriculture to order a recall, where there is reasonable grounds that the product poses a risk to public, animal or plant health.
CFIA rates their recalls in three classifications. Public notification of Class I and sometimes class II recalls is done by the CFIA. Lower risk recalls are listed in a published database on the CFIA web site. Recall classifications are conducted by the'Office of Food Safety and Recall' based on risk advice from Health Canada. Class I is a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death. Class II is a situation in which the use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote. Class III is a situation in which the use of, or exposure to, a violative product is not to cause any adverse health consequences. In July 2008, CFIA Biologist Luc Pomerleau was fired for disloyalty to the government, because he transmitted to his union a sensitive Treasury Board minutes document, in which President Vic Toews and ministers approved the cuts proposed by Minister of Health Tony Clement that were to affect the inspection of animal feed mills, the certification of commercial seed, eliminate mandatory label registration of meat and processed products, the Avian Influenza Preparedness Program, called for the consolidation of three "import service centres" into one central facility.
Pomerleau is no longer able to work for government because he was deemed "unreliable" and fired for "gross misconduct". According to the findings of the Independent Investigator, appointed by the government following the 2008 Listeriosis outbreak, there were 75 confirmed cases of listeriosis and was the underlying or contributing cause of death for 22 of these individuals. Although most cases were in Ontario, illnesses occurred in seven provinces; the report identified response actions that worked well at the federal and provincial levels and gaps in the system should be corrected. Canadian researcher Sylvain Charlebois published a separate report suggesting that the listeria outbreak forces the agency to accept that food recalls are no longer externally oriented. In April 2
British Columbia Provincial Police
The British Columbia Provincial Police was the provincial police service of British Columbia, between 1858 and 1950. One of the first law enforcement agencies in North America, the British Columbia Provincial Police was formed to police the new Colony of British Columbia in 1858, with Chartres Brew as the de facto Chief Constable; the BCPP preceded the Canadian Confederation by nine years, the Northwest Mounted Police by fifteen years, the Ontario Provincial Police by seventeen years. Brew, a former member of the Royal Irish Constabulary and British Columbia's Chief Gold Commissioner, was vested with the powers of a magistrate to maintain state security against possible rebellion by American migrants who came to British Columbia for its gold rush and the accompanying the risk of annexation; the BCPP was integrated into British Columbia's new colonial administration due to geographic isolation and small population, holding numerous unusual responsibilities such as registrars, tax collectors, statisticians and postmasters.
Over time, the BCPP transitioned into a purely law enforcement agency, providing provincial and municipal police services across the British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island. The British Columbia Provincial Police was dissolved on August 15, 1950, replaced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's "E" Division; the British Columbia Provincial Police was established in 1858, with the responsibility of policing the newly-formed Colony of British Columbia, the westernmost mainland territory of British North America on the Pacific coast. The official founding of the BCPP is considered to be the appointment of Chartres Brew as the Gold commissioner of British Columbia, which at the time was experiencing a gold rush and a subsequent rapid growth in population due to the influx of prospectors and gold miners; the situation worried the British, who feared an attempt by the United States to annex the colony by prompting rebellion among the migrants, many of whom were American and worked in the gold fields outside of colonial governance, were well-armed.
The BCPP was formed in response with Brew as its de facto Chief Constable under the title Chief Inspector of Police until 1863 and Superintendent of Police until 1871. Brew was given an unusual amount of powers, both as British Columbia's Gold commissioner and as the Chief Constable of the provincial police, was vested with the powers of a magistrate to maintain the security and to prevent potential rebellion in the isolated, sparsely populated colony; the BCPP went through various name changes in its early years, by 1871 they were called the British Columbia Constabulary. In 1871, the Colony of British Columbia joined Canada as a province, the BCPP came under the authority of the Attorney-General; the reporting structure required the Superintendent of Police to report to the Attorney-General of Canada, constables were under the direction of the government agent of the district who reported to the Superintendent. The mandate of the British Columbia Constabulary was to maintain peace and order, to enforce the laws of the province under the authority of An Act respecting Police Constables.
In 1895, under the new Provincial Police Act the name was changed to the British Columbia Provincial Police Force. The duties of the force included patrolling the land and coastline, enforcing laws, maintaining peace, policing strikes, controlling smuggling, enforcing provincial statutes. Special constables were deployed as required. In 1946, the force policed all rural areas and unincorporated settlements as well as forty municipalities throughout the province. On June 1, 1858, Agustus Pemberton was appointed the Stipendiary for Victoria and Commissioner of Police in the city; the Police and Prisons Department of the Colony of Vancouver Island was established by Pemberton following his appointment in 1858, formalising law enforcement in the colony. That year, the population of the Colony of Vancouver Island had rose from a few hundred to many thousand overnight, due to the influx of migrants related to the gold rush on the Fraser River in British Columbia; the newly appointed Commissioner of Police, the Police Magistrate, was the representative of law and order in Vancouver Island and his immediate job was to organize a police force for the colony.
He was responsible for the police jails in Victoria and the neighbouring communities. Unlike the mainland, the Colony of Vancouver Island had a police force of one sort or another operating since the formation of the colony in 1849; the Victoria Voltigeurs were a semi-formal police composed of West Indians and other so called "mixed bloods" recruited by Governor James Douglas, himself a mulatto from Guyana. The Voltigeurs wore colourful outfits, which to modern eyes were more like a military-dress parade uniform than modern police clothing, were given 20 acres of land in exchange for service. From 1849 to 1853, the affairs of the Colony of Vancouver Island were the affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company, were administered by Governor Douglas and employees of the company. In 1853, Douglas had commissioned four citizens to serve as magistrates and justices of the peace for the three districts of the colony that comprised the area west of Victoria, he established a Supreme Court of Civil Justice for the colony.
In 1854, Thomas Hall was appointed as the first paid constable on Vancouver Island, but records indicate Hall was paid £7-5-10 for fourteen cords of wood in 1856, leading to questions about how much policing he was doing. Sometime before 1863, Captain William Hayes Franklyn was appointed magistrat
Singapore Police Force
The Singapore Police Force is the main government agency tasked with maintaining law and order in the island city-state. Known as the Republic of Singapore Police, it has grown from an 11-man organisation to a 38,587 strong force. Singapore has been ranked in the top five positions in the Global Competitiveness Report in terms of its reliability of police services; the organisational structure of the SPF is split between the staff and line functions modeled after the military. There are 17 staff departments, 3 specialist staff departments and 17 specialist and line units, including 7 land divisions; the headquarters is located in a block at New Phoenix Park in Novena, adjacent to a twin block occupied by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Singapore Police Force is as old as modern Singapore; the Force was formed in 1820, with a skeleton force of 11 men under the command of Francis James Bernard, son-in-law of William Farquhar. With no background nor knowledge on policing, Bernard had to work from scratch, as well as turning to Farquhar for help.
In addition, he held multiple roles as magistrate, chief jailer, harbour master, marine storekeeper, as well as personal assistants to Farquhar. Farquhar informed Raffles that he had provisionally introduced licences for opium and alcohol sales that would raise $650 per month, with $300 of this sum being used to run a small police department; as the department took form, Bernard became in charge of a Malay writer, one jailor, one jemadar and eight peada by May 1820. Raffles approved these arrangements by August 1820, cemented the formal establishment of a police force in Singapore. Manpower constraints meant that the men had to perform a wide range of roles, required the help of headmen among the various ethnic communities to maintain orderliness on the streets, all the more possible as the communities lived in segregated areas around the city; this partnership with the community was in line with Sir Stamford Raffles' vision of a thriving colony self-regulated by local social structures, with the British masters administrating it via indirect rule.
The large influx of migrants from China, began to test this system when the hands-off approach by the British allowed secret societies in Singapore to thrive. Although formed with legal intentions of community bonding and the provision of assistance to fellow migrants, these societies became influential and engaged in illegal activity including monetary extortion from the masses, the operation of gambling dens, the smuggling of illegal goods on top of more legal commercial operations to meet their financial needs. Competition heated up between large rival factions, such as that between the larger Ghee Hin Kongsi, the Ghee Hock Kongsi and the Hai San Kongsi. Murders, mass riots, kidnappings and other serious crimes became commonplace in the next four decades since the colony's founding. Faced with violent acts of crime which may involve thousands, such as the Chinese Funeral Procession Riots of 1846 involving 9,000 members from the Ghee Hin and Ghee Hock secret societies, the police force was woefully incapable of bringing the situation under control, had to call in the army for assistance.
The escalating number of serious crimes prompted the need for stronger legislation to deter would-be criminals. Singapore's first executions were thus held in the wake of the first criminal session in June 1828, when a Chinese and Indian were found guilty and convicted for murder. Headed by Europeans and predominantly staffed by Malay and Indian officers, the force had little Chinese representation as the military and policing professionals were traditionally shunned by the Chinese community, which therefore impaired policing efforts among the large Chinese populace. In 1843, the force comprised a sitting magistrate doubling up as a superintendent, three European constables and an assistant native constable, 14 officers and 110 policemen. With a total strength of no more than 150 men, the police was compelled to avoid direct intervention in these mass acts of violence, else risking total annihilation. A repeat of this scenario occurred in 1851, when lingering displeasure against Roman Catholic ethnic Chinese erupted into major rioting leaving over 500 Chinese dead.
The army was called in again, although it involved having to induct Indian convicts into military service overnight. In 1854, twelve consecutive days of violence sparked by a dispute between the Hokkiens and Teochews disrupted trade; this particular incident led to the formation of the military's Singapore Rifle Corps on 8 July 1854, the earliest predecessor of the Singapore Armed Forces' People's Defence Force today. However, criminal violence was not in the domain of the ethnic Chinese. Rivalries between Malay princes and communities often result in acts of violence, which prompted the passing of Singapore's first arms law in March 1823 restricting the right to bear arms to 24 of the Malay Sultan's followers. Nearly two centuries these anti-arms laws continue to be enforced, resulting in a society free from firearms-related criminal offences. Murder rate in Singapore is low. Land divisions are given designations according to the NATO phonetic alphabet. Defunct land divisions include: Toa Payoh Police Division, merged with Tanglin Police Division Geylang Police Division, merged with Bedok Police Division The Singapore Police Force receives the highest budget allocation annually as compared to the various departments of the Ministry of Home Affa
Tower of London
The Tower of London Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle located on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the square mile of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill, it was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite; the castle was used as a prison from 1100 until 1952, although, not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence; as a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat. There were several phases of expansion under Kings Richard I, Henry III, Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries; the general layout established by the late 13th century remains despite activity on the site.
The Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history. It was besieged several times, controlling it has been important to controlling the country; the Tower has served variously as an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public record office, the home of the Crown Jewels of England. From the early 14th century until the reign of Charles II, a procession would be led from the Tower to Westminster Abbey on the coronation of a monarch. In the absence of the monarch, the Constable of the Tower is in charge of the castle; this was a trusted position in the medieval period. In the late 15th century, the castle was the prison of the Princes in the Tower. Under the Tudors, the Tower became used less as a royal residence, despite attempts to refortify and repair the castle, its defences lagged behind developments to deal with artillery; the peak period of the castle's use as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries, when many figures who had fallen into disgrace, such as Elizabeth I before she became queen, Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth Throckmorton, were held within its walls.
This use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower". Despite its enduring reputation as a place of torture and death, popularised by 16th-century religious propagandists and 19th-century writers, only seven people were executed within the Tower before the World Wars of the 20th century. Executions were more held on the notorious Tower Hill to the north of the castle, with 112 occurring there over a 400-year period. In the latter half of the 19th century, institutions such as the Royal Mint moved out of the castle to other locations, leaving many buildings empty. Anthony Salvin and John Taylor took the opportunity to restore the Tower to what was felt to be its medieval appearance, clearing out many of the vacant post-medieval structures. In the First and Second World Wars, the Tower was again used as a prison and witnessed the executions of 12 men for espionage. After the Second World War, damage caused during the Blitz was repaired, the castle reopened to the public. Today, the Tower of London is one of the country's most popular tourist attractions.
Under the ceremonial charge of the Constable of the Tower, operated by the Resident Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel House, the property is cared for by the charity Historic Royal Palaces and is protected as a World Heritage Site. The Tower was orientated with its strongest and most impressive defences overlooking Saxon London, which archaeologist Alan Vince suggests was deliberate, it stood out to traffic on the River Thames. The castle enclosures; the innermost ward is the earliest phase of the castle. Encircling it to the north and west is the inner ward, built during the reign of Richard I. There is the outer ward which encompasses the castle and was built under Edward I. Although there were several phases of expansion after William the Conqueror founded the Tower of London, the general layout has remained the same since Edward I completed his rebuild in 1285; the castle encloses an area of 12 acres with a further 6 acres around the Tower of London constituting the Tower Liberties – land under the direct influence of the castle and cleared for military reasons.
The precursor of the Liberties was laid out in the 13th century when Henry III ordered that a strip of land adjacent to the castle be kept clear. Despite popular fiction, the Tower of London never had a permanent torture chamber, although the basement of the White Tower housed a rack in periods. Tower Wharf was built on the bank of the Thames under Edward I and was expanded to its current size during the reign of Richard II; the White Tower is a keep, the strongest structure in a medieval castle, contained lodgings suitable for the lord – in this case, the king or his representative. According to military historian Allen Brown, "The great tower was by virtue of its strength and lordly accommodation, the donjon par excellence"; as one of the largest keeps in the Christian world, the White Tower has been described as "the most complete eleventh-century palace in Europe". The White Tower, not including its projecting corner towers, measures 36 by 32 metres at the base, is 27 m high at the southern battlements.
The structure was three storeys high, comprising a basement floor, an entrance level, an upper floor. The entrance, as is usual in Norman keeps, was above ground
Auxiliary constable
Auxiliary Constables or Reserve Constables are unpaid citizens who volunteer their time and skills to a police force. They are uniformed, unarmed members who perform a similar role to their UK counterparts in the Special Constabulary, their main function is to supplement the police force with additional manpower, with duties varying by appointment, geographical location and the needs of the specific detachment/department. Durham Regional Police Auxiliary unit was created in 1977 and provide additional resources to the force. Auxiliary members are involved in community-based initiatives and may be paired with regular officers on patrol. There are 50 members in the unit with 38 as frontline officers. Unlike front line officers auxiliary members wear a light blue shirt and cap has a red and black Battenburg markings instead of solid red. Auxiliary constables are unarmed; the Halton Regional Police Service Auxiliary unit was founded in 1989, is composed of 60 trained civilian volunteers. HRPS Auxiliary officers support the regular service as follows: Crime Prevention initiatives Crowd Control Traffic Control Car and foot patrol with regular service members Bike Unit Emergency and Disaster Response RIDE initiatives Child safety seat clinicsUnlike front line officers auxiliary members wear a light blue shirt and cap has a red and black Battenburg markings instead of solid red.
Auxiliary constables are unarmed. Service de police de la Ville de Montréal has auxiliary constables to provide resources to deal with: dentention related tasks finger printing breathalyzer analysis activities involving paroled prisoners subject to commitments and promises to appear Niagara Regional Police Service has a 75-member auxiliary unit. Unlike front line officers, auxiliary members wear caps with a red and black Battenburg markings, instead of solid red. Auxiliary constables are unarmed; the Ontario Provincial Police Auxiliary program follows a mission statement: "To provide trained volunteer Auxiliary Members to perform police duties in special circumstances, including emergencies, when there are not sufficient O. P. P. police officers.". The O. P. P. Auxiliary is a volunteer program where selected citizens receive special training in order to perform many duties such as community policing initiatives and projects, regular patrol and disaster scenes, large gatherings or parades for crowd and traffic control, traffic control at accidents.
The Ontario Provincial Police auxiliary program is the only such Canadian program that requires its auxiliary constables to attend a full-time recruit course conducted near its regular training facility in Orillia. This is followed by ongoing in-service training at the detachments; the program may serve as a stepping stone for potential future employment. The O. P. P. Auxiliary has an authorised strength of over 900 auxiliary constables and is the largest police auxiliary unit in Ontario, it is recognized that the O. P. P. Auxiliary Constables shall not be utilized to replace regular members in any duties. Training must occur for auxiliary personnel to a level to provide necessary skills to safely fulfill the requirements of their mandate under the Police Services Act, that they participate within those duties which enhance community policing efforts, crime prevention programs, public service as opposed to direct police service delivery; the Ontario Police Services Act does, provide for instances when the Auxiliary Member may have the authority of a Police Officer.
This can occur in an emergency situation where the O. P. P. requires additional strength to cope with event. To insure proficiency, O. P. P. Auxiliary constables are required to conduct monthly patrol duties with regular constables. O. P. P. Auxiliary constables are not authorised to carry side arms during normal operations, but may be equipped with a long gun when patrolling with a regular member. All O. P. P. Auxiliary constables receive annual training with long guns. O. P. P. Auxiliary members must serve 6 months probation with a coach officer before they can ride with any other officers; the O. P. P. Auxiliary was formed in 1960 by an Order-in-Council when the program absorbed the Emergency Measures Organization who were trained in crowd control and first aid; the Program was managed by the O. P. P. and its members in the early years helped at community events and patrolled with regular O. P. P. members. Following an audit in 1988 a number of recommendations were made and in 1991 they became self-directed and the Commissioner appointed Auxiliary Chief Superintendent Terry Harkins as its Executive Director.
P. P. Auxiliary; the volunteer component developed and included ranks, promotional processes that mirrored the regular O. P. P. Structure. In the new organization the Auxiliary took on the responsibility for standardized selection process and training of its members; the Auxiliary O. P. P. Uniform differs only in the light blue shirt they wear as opposed to the dark blue shirt worn by regular O. P. P. members and all components of their outwear bear insignia identifying them as "Auxiliary/Auxiliare". In 1997 GATB and Psychological Testing of new auxiliary recruits commenced. Members of the auxiliary receive some compensation for travel and meals. Enrollment requirements are: Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada, minimum age of 18 years, Ontario Secondary School Graduation diploma or equivalent, have "standard" First Aid and physically able to perform duties of auxiliary member, possess a valid drivers license, good driving records and complete the interview process. Traffic control Ground security at majo
World War I
World War I known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history, it is one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide. On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis. In response, on 23 July Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia's reply failed to satisfy the Austrians, the two moved to a war footing. A network of interlocking alliances enlarged the crisis from a bilateral issue in the Balkans to one involving most of Europe.
By July 1914, the great powers of Europe were divided into two coalitions: the Triple Entente—consisting of France and Britain—and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Russia felt it necessary to back Serbia and, after Austria-Hungary shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade on the 28th, partial mobilisation was approved. General Russian mobilisation was announced on the evening of 30 July; when Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war on 1 August in support of Austria-Hungary, with Austria-Hungary following suit on 6th. German strategy for a war on two fronts against France and Russia was to concentrate the bulk of its army in the West to defeat France within four weeks shift forces to the East before Russia could mobilise. On 2 August, Germany demanded free passage through Belgium, an essential element in achieving a quick victory over France; when this was refused, German forces invaded Belgium on 3 August and declared war on France the same day. On 12 August and France declared war on Austria-Hungary.
In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Alliance, opening fronts in the Caucasus and the Sinai Peninsula. The war was fought in and drew upon each power's colonial empire as well, spreading the conflict to Africa and across the globe; the Entente and its allies would become known as the Allied Powers, while the grouping of Austria-Hungary and their allies would become known as the Central Powers. The German advance into France was halted at the Battle of the Marne and by the end of 1914, the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, marked by a long series of trench lines that changed little until 1917. In 1915, Italy opened a front in the Alps. Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in 1915 and Greece joined the Allies in 1917, expanding the war in the Balkans; the United States remained neutral, although by doing nothing to prevent the Allies from procuring American supplies whilst the Allied blockade prevented the Germans from doing the same the U. S. became an important supplier of war material to the Allies.
After the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, the revelation that the Germans were trying to incite Mexico to make war on the United States, the U. S. declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Trained American forces would not begin arriving at the front in large numbers until mid-1918, but the American Expeditionary Force would reach some two million troops. Though Serbia was defeated in 1915, Romania joined the Allied Powers in 1916 only to be defeated in 1917, none of the great powers were knocked out of the war until 1918; the 1917 February Revolution in Russia replaced the Tsarist autocracy with the Provisional Government, but continuing discontent at the cost of the war led to the October Revolution, the creation of the Soviet Socialist Republic, the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk by the new government in March 1918, ending Russia's involvement in the war. This allowed the transfer of large numbers of German troops from the East to the Western Front, resulting in the German March 1918 Offensive.
This offensive was successful, but the Allies rallied and drove the Germans back in their Hundred Days Offensive. Bulgaria was the first Central Power to sign an armistice—the Armistice of Salonica on 29 September 1918. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated. On 4 November, the Austro-Hungarian empire agreed to the Armistice of Villa Giusti after being decisively defeated by Italy in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. With its allies defeated, revolution at home, the military no longer willing to fight, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on 9 November and Germany signed an armistice on 11 November 1918. World War I was a significant turning point in the political, cultural and social climate of the world; the war and its immediate aftermath sparked numerous uprisings. The Big Four (Britain, the United States, It
Yeomen Warders
The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels. Since 2011, there have been one Chief Warder. All warders are retired from the Armed Forces of Commonwealth realms and must be former warrant officers with at least 22 years of service, they must hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal. The Yeomen Warders are incorrectly referred to as Yeomen of the Guard, a distinct corps of Royal Bodyguards. Although the Yeomen Warders are referred to as Yeomen of the Guard, a distinct corps of Royal Bodyguards of the British monarch, they are in fact a separate entity within this guard. Gilbert and Sullivan's opera, The Yeomen of the Guard, is set in the 16th century, an earlier era before the two corps were split apart.
The name Beefeater is with various proposed derivations. The term was common as early as the 17th century as a slang term for the English in general; the earliest connection to the Royal Household came as a reference to the Yeomen of the Guard by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who frequented the Court in 1669. In referring to the Yeomen of the Guard, he stated, "A large ration of beef is given to them daily at the court, they might be called Beef-eaters"; the Beefeater name was carried over to the Yeomen Warders, due to the two corps' outward similarities and the Yeoman Warders' more public presence. Beefeaters commonly produced and consumed broths made of beef, which were described as rich and hearty; these broths were known, as bef or beffy. While this is the most-cited origin, including by the Corps themselves, some etymologists have noted the term's similarity to hláf-æta, the Old English term for a menial servant, lit. "loaf-eater", the counterpart of hlaford "loaf-warden" and hlæfdige, which became "lord" and "lady" respectively.
Claims that the name derives from buffetier are mentioned, in the An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, for example, since one role of Beefeaters was to attend the king at meals. Other reliable sources indicate that buffetier is unlikely to have been the source of the word; the Yeomen Warders were formed in 1485 by the new King Henry VII, the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty. In 1509 Henry VIII moved his official residence from the Tower of London; the Tower retained the formal status of a royal palace and to mark this a party of twelve Yeomen of the Guard was left in place as a token garrison. The title of this detachment was subsequently changed to that of Tower warders as a more accurate reflection of their actual duties; as warders without any ceremonial state functions they forfeited the right to wear the scarlet royal livery of the now separate Yeoman of the Guard. This was, restored to them during the reign of Edward VI at the request of a high court official, imprisoned in the Tower and was impressed by the behavior of the warders.
The original Tudor guard was split into two categories: the ordinary guard and the additional troops of the extraordinary. In 1550, for example, the ordinary mustered 105 men, with an additional 300 extraordinary yeomen; until 1549, the guards at the Tower were numbered among the extraordinary but in that year were raised to the status of ordinary yeomen. There was a considerable wage difference between the two groups. In 1562, a yeoman of the ordinary received 16d per day, whereas an extraordinary yeoman was paid the same as a common infantryman. In 1551, the ordinary was expanded to 200 men, of whom 100 were to be archers and 100 halberdiers, but these numbers were not maintained. Uniform at this time was a velvet coat trimmed with silver gilt, worn over armour; the Yeomen Warders provided the permanent garrison of the Tower, but the Constable of the Tower could call upon the men of the Tower Hamlets to supplement them when necessary. The Tower Hamlets, aka Tower Division was an area larger than the modern London Borough of the same name, which owed military service to the Constable in his ex officio role as Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets.
In 2018, there were one Chief Warder. At one time, they were guards but more their role is ceremonial. All Yeoman Warders are retired members of the armed services; until 2009, sailors were ineligible to become Yeomen Warders. This was because sailors of the Royal Navy—unlike soldiers and airmen—swear an oath of allegiance to the Admiralty rather than the monarch personally. In 2009, sailors became eligible to join the Yeoman Warders after the Queen consented to a petition from the Governor of the Tower to a
