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Controversies and legal disputes.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. v. Valve Corporation.
Shortly after Valve filed its trademark for "Dota" to secure the franchising rights for "Dota 2", DotA-Allstars, LLC, run by former contributors to the game's predecessor, "Defense of the Ancients", filed an opposing trademark in August 2010. DotA All-Stars, LLC was sold to Blizzard Entertainment in 2011. After the opposition was over-ruled in Valve's favor, Blizzard filed an opposition against Valve in November 2011, citing their license agreement with developers, as well as their ownership of DotA-Allstars, LLC. Blizzard conceded their case in May 2012, however, giving Valve undisputed commercial rights to "Dota" name, while Blizzard would rename their "StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm" mod "Blizzard All-Stars", which would eventually become the stand-alone game, "Heroes of the Storm".
"California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard".
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Founder Electronics infringement lawsuit.
On August 14, 2007, Beijing University Founder Electronics Co., Ltd. sued Blizzard Entertainment Limited for copyright infringement claiming 100 million yuan in damages. The lawsuit alleged the Chinese edition of "World of Warcraft" reproduced a number of Chinese typefaces made by Founder Electronics without permission.
"FreeCraft".
On June 20, 2003, Blizzard issued a cease and desist letter to the developers of an open-source clone of the Warcraft engine called "FreeCraft", claiming trademark infringement. This hobby project had the same gameplay and characters as "Warcraft II", but came with different graphics and music.
As well as a similar name, "FreeCraft" enabled players to use "Warcraft II" graphics, provided they had the "Warcraft II" CD. The programmers of the clone shut down their site without challenge. Soon after that the developers regrouped to continue the work by the name of "Stratagus".
"Hearthstone" ban and Hong Kong protests.
During an October 2019 "Hearthstone Grandmasters" streaming event in Taiwan, one player Ng Wai Chung, going by his online alias "Blitzchung" used an interview period to show support for the protestors in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. Shortly afterwards, on October 7, 2019, Blitzchung was disqualified from the current tournament and forfeited his winnings to date, and banned for a one-year period. The two shoutcasters engaged in the interview were also penalized with similar bans. Blizzard justified the ban as from its "Grandmasters" tournament rules that prevents players from anything that "brings [themselves] into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages [Blizzard's] image".
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Blizzard's response led to several protests from current "Hearthstone" players, other video game players, and criticism from Blizzard's employees, fearing that Blizzard was giving into the censorship of the Chinese government. Protests were held, including through the 2019 BlizzCon in early November, to urge Blizzard to reverse their bans. The situation also drew the attention of several U.S. lawmakers, fearing that Blizzard, as a U.S. company, was letting China dictate how it handled speech and also urged the bans to be reversed.
Blizzard CEO J. Allen Brack wrote an open letter on October 11, 2019, apologizing for the way Blizzard handled the situation, and reduced the bans for both Blitzchung and the casters to six months. Brack reiterated that while they support free speech and their decision was in no way tied to the Chinese government, they want players and casters to avoid speaking beyond the tournament and the games in such interviews.
King's "Diversity Tool" controversy.
On May 12, 2022, Blizzard Entertainment released a blog post about the Diversity Space Tool, developed by a team at King – a mobile business unit at Activision Blizzard – alongside the MIT Game Lab. Jacqueline Chomatas, King's globalization project manager, described the tool as a "measurement device" to analyze how diverse the characters are "when compared to the 'norm'". The post showed example images of the tool being used on "Overwatch"'s cast, with graphs showing breakdowns of the character attributes, and stated that "The Overwatch 2 team at Blizzard has also had a chance to experiment with the tool, with equally enthusiastic first impressions." Blizzard shared the intent to release the tool during the summer and fall of 2022, with the goal of "making the tool available to the industry as a whole".
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The tool received heavy backlash online. Many people asked why Blizzard would create the tool instead of hiring diverse teams, and raised questions regarding the tool's rating scale. The blog post originally suggested that the tool was used in an active development, mainly for "Overwatch", which led some Blizzard employees working on the game to publicly deny the tool was used in "Overwatch" development and to criticize the tool further. On May 13, 2022, the blog post was edited to remove the example images of the tool and any mention of "Overwatch". Later, the post was deleted altogether.
"MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.".
On July 14, 2008, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona ruled on the case "MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.". The Court found that MDY was liable for copyright infringement since users of its Glider bot program were breaking the End User License Agreement and Terms of Use for "World of Warcraft". MDY Industries appealed the judgment of the district court, and a judgment was delivered by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 14, 2010, in which the summary judgment against MDY for contributory copyright infringement was reversed. Nevertheless, they ruled that the bot violated the DMCA and the case was sent back to the district court for review in light of this decision.
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"MDY v. Blizzard"s decision did affirm a prior Ninth Circuit ruling in "Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc." that software licenses, such as the one used by Blizzard for "WoW", were enforceable and enshrined the principle that video games could be sold as licenses to players rather than purchased. This ruling, though limited to the states of the Ninth Circuit, has been used by the industry to continue to sell games as licenses to users.
Privacy controversy and Real ID.
On July 6, 2010, Blizzard Entertainment announced that they were changing the way their forums worked to require that users identify themselves with their real name. The reaction from the community was overwhelmingly negative with multiple game magazines calling the change "foolhardy" and an "epic fail". It resulted in a significant user response on the Blizzard forums, including one thread on the issue reaching over 11,000 replies. This included personal details of a Blizzard employee who gave his real name "to show it wasn't a big deal". Shortly after revealing his real name, forum users posted personal information including his phone number, picture, age, home address, family members, and favorite TV shows and films.
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Some technology media outlets suggested that displaying real names through Real ID is a good idea and would benefit both Battle.net and the Blizzard community. But others were worried that Blizzard was opening their fans up to real-life dangers such as stalking, harassment, and employment issues, since a simple Internet search by someone's employer can reveal their online activities.
Blizzard initially responded to some of the concerns by saying that the changes would not be retroactive to previous posts, that parents could set up the system so that minors cannot post, and that posting to the forums is optional. However, due to the significant negative response, Blizzard President Michael Morhaime issued a statement rescinding the plan to use real names on Blizzard's forums for the time being. The idea behind this plan was to allow players who had a relationship outside of the games to find each other more easily across all the Blizzard game titles.
"StarCraft" privacy and other lawsuits.
In 1998, Donald P. Driscoll, an Albany, California attorney, filed a suit on behalf of Intervention, Inc., a California consumer group, against Blizzard Entertainment for "unlawful business practices" for the action of collecting data from a user's computer without their permission.
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On May 19, 2014, Blizzard Entertainment filed a lawsuit in federal court in California, alleging that the unidentified programmers were involved in creation of software that hacks "StarCraft II". Most of the alleged charges are related to copyright infringement.
Back in May 2010, MBCPlus Media, which operates the network MBCGame (Korean television stations that are broadcasting tournaments built around "StarCraft"), was sued by Blizzard for broadcasting StarCraft tournaments without the company's consent, insisting that "StarCraft" is not a public domain offering, as Blizzard has invested significant money and resources to create the "StarCraft" game.
"World of Warcraft" private server complications.
On December 5, 2008, Blizzard Entertainment issued a cease and desist letter to many administrators of high-population "World of Warcraft" private servers (essentially slightly altered hosting servers of the actual "World of Warcraft" game, that players do not have to pay for). Blizzard used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to influence many private servers to fully shut down and cease to exist.
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Related companies.
Over the years, some former Blizzard Entertainment employees have moved on and established gaming companies of their own. Several of these occurred following the merger between Activision Holdings and Blizzard's parent company at the time, Vivendi Games in 2008, and more recently as Activision Blizzard has directed Blizzard away from properties like "Warcraft" and "StarCraft" that are not seen as financial boons to the larger company. These employees left to form their smaller studios to give themselves the creative freedom that they were lacking at Blizzard. Collectively these studios are known as "Blizzard 2.0". |
Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine (; ; 4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621) was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 37. He was one of the most important figures in the Counter-Reformation.
Bellarmine was a professor of theology and later rector of the Roman College, and in 1602 became Archbishop of Capua. He supported the reform decrees of the Council of Trent. He is also widely remembered for his role in the Giordano Bruno affair, the Galileo affair, and the trial of Friar Fulgenzio Manfredi.
Early life.
Robert Bellarmine was born in Montepulciano, the son of noble, albeit impoverished, parents, Vincenzo Bellarmino and his wife Cinzia Cervini, who was the sister of Pope Marcellus II. As a boy he knew Virgil by heart and composed a number of poems in Italian and Latin. One of his hymns, on Mary Magdalene, is included in the Roman Breviary.
Bellarmine entered the Roman Jesuit novitiate in 1560, remaining in Rome for three years. He was then sent to a Jesuit house at Mondovì, in Piedmont, where he learned Greek. While at Mondovì, he came to the attention of Francesco Adorno, the local Jesuit provincial superior, who sent him to the University of Padua.
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Career.
Bellarmine's systematic studies of theology began at Padua in 1567 and 1568, where his teachers were adherents of Thomism. In 1569, he was sent to finish his studies at the University of Leuven in Brabant. There he was ordained and obtained a reputation both as a professor and as a preacher. He was the first Jesuit to teach at the university, where the subject of his course was the "Summa Theologica" of Thomas Aquinas. He was involved in a controversy with Michael Baius on the subject of Grace and free will, and wrote a Hebrew grammar. His residency in Leuven lasted seven years. In poor health, in 1576 he made a journey to Italy. Here he remained, commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII to lecture on polemical theology in the new Roman College, now known as the Pontifical Gregorian University. Later, he would promote the cause of the beatification of Aloysius Gonzaga, who had been a student at the college during Bellarmine's tenure. His lectures were published under the title "De Controversias" in four large volumes.
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New duties after 1589.
Until 1589, Bellarmine was occupied as professor of theology. After the murder in that year of Henry III of France, Pope Sixtus V sent Enrico Caetani as legate to Paris to negotiate with the Catholic League of France, and chose Bellarmine to accompany him as theologian. He was in the city during its siege by Henry of Navarre.
Upon the death of Pope Sixtus V in 1590, the Count of Olivares wrote to Philip II of Spain, "Bellarmine ... would not do for a Pope, for he is mindful only of the interests of the Church and is unresponsive to the reasons of princes."
Pope Clement VIII, said of him, "the Church of God had not his equal in learning". Bellarmine was made rector of the Roman College in 1592, examiner of bishops in 1598, and cardinal in 1599. Immediately after his appointment as Cardinal, Pope Clement made him a Cardinal Inquisitor, in which capacity he served as one of the judges at the trial of Giordano Bruno, and concurred in the decision which condemned Bruno to be burned at the stake as a heretic.
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In 1602 he was made archbishop of Capua. He had written against pluralism and non-residence of bishops within their dioceses. As bishop he put into effect the reforming decrees of the Council of Trent. He received some votes in the 1605 conclaves which elected Pope Leo XI, Pope Paul V, and in 1621 when Pope Gregory XV was elected, but his being a Jesuit counted against him in the judgement of many of the cardinals.
Thomas Hobbes saw Bellarmine in Rome at a service on All Saints Day (1 November) 1614 and, exempting him alone from a general castigation of cardinals, described him as "a little lean old man" who lived "more retired".
The Galileo case.
In 1616, on the orders of Paul V, Bellarmine summoned Galileo, notified him of a forthcoming decree of the Congregation of the Index condemning the Copernican doctrine of the mobility of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun, and ordered him to abandon it. Galileo agreed to do so.
When Galileo later complained of rumours to the effect that he had been forced to abjure and do penance, Bellarmine wrote out a certificate denying the rumours, stating that Galileo had merely been notified of the decree and informed that, as a consequence of it, the Copernican doctrine could not be "defended or held". Unlike the previously mentioned formal injunction (see earlier footnote), this certificate would have allowed Galileo to continue using and teaching the mathematical content of Copernicus's theory as a purely theoretical device for predicting the apparent motions of the planets.
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According to some of his letters, Cardinal Bellarmine believed that a demonstration for heliocentrism could not be found because it would contradict the unanimous consent of the Fathers' scriptural exegesis, to which the Council of Trent, in 1546, defined all Catholics must adhere. In other passages, Bellarmine argued that he did not support the heliocentric model for the lack of evidence of the time ("I will not believe that there is such a demonstration, until it is shown to me").
Bellarmine wrote to heliocentrist Paolo Antonio Foscarini in 1615:
and
In 1633, nearly twelve years after Bellarmine's death, Galileo was again called before the Inquisition in this matter. Galileo produced Bellarmine's certificate for his defense at the trial.
According to Pierre Duhem and Karl Popper "in one respect, at least, Bellarmine had shown himself a better scientist than Galileo by disallowing the possibility of a "strict proof" of the earth's motion, on the grounds that an astronomical theory merely "saves the appearances" without necessarily revealing what "really happens." Philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, in his book, "The Copernican Revolution", after commenting on Cesare Cremonini, who refused to look through Galileo's telescope, wrote:
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Death.
Robert Bellarmine retired to Sant'Andrea degli Scozzesi, the Jesuit college of Saint Andrew in Rome. He died on 17 September 1621, aged 78. He was buried in the Church of St. Ignatius in Rome.
Works.
Bellarmine's books bear the stamp of their period; the effort for literary elegance (so-called "maraviglia") had given place to a desire to pile up as much material as possible, to embrace the whole field of human knowledge, and incorporate it into theology. His controversial works provoked many replies, and were studied for some decades after his death. At Leuven he made extensive studies in the Church Fathers and scholastic theologians, which gave him the material for his book "De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis" (Rome, 1613). It was later revised and enlarged by Sirmond, Labbeus, and Casimir Oudin. Bellarmine wrote the preface to the new Sixto-Clementine Vulgate. Bellarmine also prepared for posterity his own commentary on each of the Psalms. An English translation from the Latin was published in 1866.
Dogmatics.
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From his research grew "Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei" (also called "Controversiae"), first published at Ingolstadt in 1581–1593. This major work was the earliest attempt to systematize the various religious disputes between Catholics and Protestants. Bellarmine reviewed the issues and devoted eleven years to it while at the Roman College. In August 1590, Pope Sixtus V decided to place the first volume of the "Disputationes" on the Index because Bellarmine argued in it that the Pope is not the temporal ruler of the whole world and that temporal rulers do not derive their authority to rule from God but from the consent of the governed. However, Sixtus died before the revised Index was published, and the next Pope, Urban VII, removed the book from the Index during his brief twelve-day reign.
In 1597-98 he published a "Catechism" in two versions ( and ) which has been translated to 60 languages and was the official teaching of the Catholic Church for centuries.
Venetian Interdict.
Under Pope Paul V (reigned 1605–1621), a major conflict arose between Venice and the Papacy. Paolo Sarpi, as spokesman for the Republic of Venice, protested against the papal interdict, and reasserted the principles of the Council of Constance and of the Council of Basel, denying the pope's authority in secular matters. Bellarmine wrote three rejoinders to the Venetian theologians, and may have warned Sarpi of an impending murderous attack, when in September 1607, an unfrocked friar and brigand by the name of Rotilio Orlandini planned to kill Sarpi for the sum of 8,000 crowns. Orlandini's plot was discovered, and when he and his accomplices crossed from Papal into Venetian territory they were arrested.
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Allegiance oath controversy and papal authority.
Bellarmine also became involved in controversy with King James I of England. From a point of principle for English Catholics, this debate drew in figures from much of Western Europe. It raised the profile of both protagonists, King James as a champion of his own restricted Calvinist Protestantism, and Bellarmine for Tridentine Catholicism.
Devotional works.
During his retirement, he wrote several short books intended to help ordinary people in their spiritual life: "De ascensione mentis in Deum per scalas rerum creatorum opusculum" ("The Mind's Ascent to God by the Ladder of Created Things"; 1614) which was translated into English as "Jacob's Ladder" (1638) without acknowledgement by , "" (1619) (in Latin, English translation under this title by Edward Coffin), and "The Seven Words on the Cross".
Canonization and final resting place.
Robert Bellarmine was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930; the following year he was declared a Doctor of the Church. His remains, in a cardinal's red robes, are displayed behind glass under a side altar in the Church of Saint Ignatius, the chapel of the Roman College, next to the body of his student Aloysius Gonzaga, as he himself had wished. In the General Roman Calendar Saint Robert Bellarmine's feast day is on 17 September, the day of his death; but some continue to use pre-1969 calendars, in which for 37 years his feast day was on 13 May. The rank assigned to his feast has been "double" (1932–1959), "third-class feast" (1960–1968), and since the 1969 revision "memorial".
External links.
Works of Bellarmine
Works about Bellarmine |
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation') and ('novel').
Origin.
The term was coined in 1819 by philologist Johann Karl Simon Morgenstern in his university lectures, and was later famously reprised by Wilhelm Dilthey, who legitimized it in 1870 and popularized it in 1905. The genre is further characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features. The term "coming-of-age novel" is sometimes used interchangeably with bildungsroman, but its use is usually wider and less technical.
The birth of the bildungsroman is normally dated to the publication of "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1795–96, or, sometimes, to Christoph Martin Wieland's of 1767. Although the bildungsroman arose in Germany, it has had extensive influence first in Europe and later throughout the world. Thomas Carlyle's English translation of Goethe's novel (1824) and his own "Sartor Resartus" (1833–34), the first English bildungsroman, inspired many British novelists. In the 20th century, it spread to France and several other countries around the globe.
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Barbara Whitman noted that the "Iliad" might be the first bildungsroman. It is not just "the story of the Trojan War. The Trojan War is in effect the backdrop for the story of Achilles' development. At the beginning Achilles is still a rash youth, making rash decisions which cost dearly to himself and all around him. (...) The story reaches its conclusion when Achilles has reached maturity and allows King Priam to recover Hector's body".
The genre translates fairly directly into the cinematic form, the coming-of-age film.
Plot outline.
A bildungsroman is a growing up or "coming of age" of a generally naive person who goes in search of answers to life's questions with the expectation that these will result in gaining experience of the world. The genre evolved from folklore tales of a dunce or youngest child going out in the world to seek their fortune. Usually in the beginning of the story, there is an emotional loss which makes the protagonist leave on their journey. In a bildungsroman, the goal is maturity, and the protagonist achieves it gradually and with difficulty. The genre often features a main conflict between the main character and society. Typically, the values of society are gradually accepted by the protagonist, and they are ultimately accepted into society—the protagonist's mistakes and disappointments are over. In some works, the protagonist is able to reach out and help others after having achieved maturity.
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Franco Moretti "argues that the main conflict in the bildungsroman is the myth of modernity with its overvaluation of youth and progress as it clashes with the static teleological vision of happiness and reconciliation found in the endings of Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" and even Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"".
There are many variations and subgenres of bildungsroman that focus on the growth of an individual. An "Entwicklungsroman" ('development novel') is a story of general growth rather than self-cultivation. An "Erziehungsroman" ("education novel") focuses on training and formal schooling, while a "Künstlerroman" ("artist novel") is about the development of an artist and shows a growth of the self. Furthermore, some memoirs and published journals can be regarded as bildungsroman although claiming to be predominantly factual (e.g. "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac or" The Motorcycle Diaries" by Ernesto "Che" Guevara). The term is also more loosely used to describe coming-of-age films and related works in other genres. |
Bachelor
A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.
Etymology.
A bachelor is first attested as the 12th-century "bacheler": a knight bachelor, a knight too young or poor to gather vassals under his own banner. The Old French ' presumably derives from Provençal ' and Italian ', but the ultimate source of the word is uncertain. The proposed Medieval Latin * ("vassal", "field hand") is only attested late enough that it may have derived from the vernacular languages, rather than from the southern French and northern Spanish Latin . Alternatively, it has been derived from Latin ' ("a stick"), in reference to the wooden sticks used by knights in training.
History.
From the 14th century, the term "bachelor" was also used for a junior member of a guild (otherwise known as "yeomen") or university and then for low-level ecclesiastics, as young monks and recently appointed canons. As an inferior grade of scholarship, it came to refer to one holding a "bachelor's degree". This sense of ' or ' is first attested at the University of Paris in the 13th century in the system of degrees established under the auspices of Pope Gregory IX as applied to scholars still '. There were two classes of ': the ', theological candidates passed for admission to the divinity course, and the ', who had completed the course and were entitled to proceed to the higher degrees.
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In the Victorian era, the term "eligible bachelor" was used in the context of upper class matchmaking, denoting a young man who was not only unmarried and eligible for marriage, but also considered "eligible" in financial and social terms for the prospective bride under discussion. Also in the Victorian era, the term "confirmed bachelor" denoted a man who desired to remain single.
By the later 19th century, the term "bachelor" had acquired the general sense of "unmarried man". The expression bachelor party is recorded 1882. In 1895, a feminine equivalent "bachelor-girl" was coined, replaced in US English by "bachelorette" by the mid-1930s. This terminology is now generally seen as antiquated, and has been largely replaced by the gender-neutral term "single" (first recorded 1964). In England and Wales, the term "bachelor" remained the official term used for the purpose of marriage registration until 2005, when it was abolished in favor of "single."
Bachelors have been subject to penal laws in many countries, most notably in Ancient Sparta and Rome. At Sparta, men unmarried after a certain age were subject to various penalties (, "atimía"): they were forbidden to watch women's gymnastics; during the winter, they were made to march naked through the agora singing a song about their dishonor; and they were not provided with the traditional respect due to the elderly. Some Athenian laws were similar.
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Over time, some punishments developed into no more than a teasing game. In some parts of Germany, for instance, men who were still unmarried by their 30th birthday were made to sweep the stairs of the town hall until kissed by a "virgin". In a 1912 Pittsburgh Press article, there was a suggestion that local bachelors should wear a special pin that identified them as such, or a black necktie to symbolize that "...they [bachelors] should be in perpetual mourning because they are so foolish as to stay unmarried and deprive themselves of the comforts of a wife and home."
The idea of a tax on bachelors has existed throughout the centuries. Bachelors in Rome fell under the Lex Julia of 18 BC and the Lex Papia Poppaea of AD 9: these lay heavy fines on unmarried or childless people while providing certain privileges to those with several children. A law known as the Marriage Duty Act 1695 was imposed on single males over 25 years old by the English Crown to help generate income for the Nine Years' War. In Britain, taxes occasionally fell heavier on bachelors than other persons: examples include 6 & 7 Will. 3, the 1785 Tax on Servants, and the 1798 Income Tax.
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A study that was conducted by professor Charles Waehler at the University of Akron in Ohio on non-married heterosexual males deduced that once non-married men hit middle age, they will be less likely to marry and remain unattached later into their lives. The study concluded that there is only a 1-in-6 chance that men older than 40 will leave the single life, and that after the age 45, the odds fall to 1-in-20.
In certain Gulf Arab countries, "bachelor" can refer to men who are single as well as immigrant men married to a spouse residing in their country of origin (due to the high added cost of sponsoring a spouse onsite).
Bachelorette.
The term "bachelorette" is sometimes used to refer to a woman who has never been married.
The traditional female equivalent to bachelor is spinster, which is considered pejorative and implies unattractiveness (i.e. old maid, cat lady). The term "bachelorette" has been used in its place, particularly in the context of bachelorette parties and reality TV series "The Bachelorette". |
Background radiation
Background radiation is a measure of the level of ionizing radiation present in the environment at a particular location which is due to deliberate introduction of radiation sources.
Background radiation originates from a variety of sources, both natural and artificial. These include both cosmic radiation and environmental radioactivity from naturally occurring radioactive materials (such as radon and radium), as well as man-made medical X-rays, fallout from nuclear weapons testing and nuclear accidents.
Definition.
Background radiation is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency as "Dose or the dose rate (or an observed measure related to the dose or dose rate) attributable to all sources other than the one(s) specified. A distinction is thus made between the dose which is already in a location, which is defined here as being "background", and the dose due to a deliberately introduced and specified source. This is important where radiation measurements are taken of a specified radiation source, where the existing background may affect this measurement. An example would be measurement of radioactive contamination in a gamma radiation background, which could increase the total reading above that expected from the contamination alone.
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However, if no radiation source is specified as being of concern, then the total radiation dose measurement at a location is generally called the background radiation, and this is usually the case where an ambient dose rate is measured for environmental purposes.
Background dose rate examples.
Background radiation varies with location and time, and the following table gives examples:
Natural background radiation.
Radioactive material is found throughout nature. Detectable amounts occur naturally in soil, rocks, water, air, and vegetation, from which it is inhaled and ingested into the body. In addition to this "internal exposure", humans also receive "external exposure" from radioactive materials that remain outside the body and from cosmic radiation from space. The worldwide average natural dose to humans is about per year. This is four times the worldwide average artificial radiation exposure, which in 2008 amounted to about per year. In some developed countries, like the US and Japan, artificial exposure is, on average, greater than the natural exposure, due to greater access to medical imaging. In Europe, average natural background exposure by country ranges from under annually in the United Kingdom to more than annually for some groups of people in Finland.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency states:
Terrestrial sources.
Terrestrial background radiation, for the purpose of the table above, only includes sources that remain external to the body. The major radionuclides of concern are potassium, uranium and thorium and their decay products, some of which, like radium and radon are intensely radioactive but occur in low concentrations. Most of these sources have been decreasing, due to radioactive decay since the formation of the Earth, because there is no significant amount currently transported to the Earth. Thus, the present activity on Earth from uranium-238 is only half as much as it originally was because of its 4.5 billion year half-life, and potassium-40 (half-life 1.25 billion years) is only at about 8% of original activity. But during the time that humans have existed the amount of radiation has decreased very little.
Many shorter half-life (and thus more intensely radioactive) isotopes have not decayed out of the terrestrial environment because of their on-going natural production. Examples of these are radium-226 (decay product of thorium-230 in decay chain of uranium-238) and radon-222 (a decay product of radium-226 in said chain).
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Thorium and uranium (and their daughters) primarily undergo alpha and beta decay, and are not easily detectable. However, many of their daughter products are strong gamma emitters. Thorium-232 is detectable via a 239 keV peak from lead-212, 511, 583 and 2614 keV from thallium-208, and 911 and 969 keV from actinium-228. Uranium-238 manifests as 609, 1120, and 1764 keV peaks of bismuth-214 ("cf." the same peak for atmospheric radon). Potassium-40 is detectable directly via its 1461 keV gamma peak.
The level over the sea and other large bodies of water tends to be about a tenth of the terrestrial background. Conversely, coastal areas (and areas by the side of fresh water) may have an additional contribution from dispersed sediment.
Airborne sources.
The biggest source of natural background radiation is airborne radon, a radioactive gas that emanates from the ground. Radon and its isotopes, parent radionuclides, and decay products all contribute to an average inhaled dose of 1.26 mSv/a (millisievert per year). Radon is unevenly distributed and varies with weather, such that much higher doses apply to many areas of the world, where it represents a significant health hazard. Concentrations over 500 times the world average have been found inside buildings in Scandinavia, the United States, Iran, and the Czech Republic. Radon is a decay product of uranium, which is relatively common in the Earth's crust, but more concentrated in ore-bearing rocks scattered around the world. Radon seeps out of these ores into the atmosphere or into ground water or infiltrates into buildings. It can be inhaled into the lungs, along with its decay products, where they will reside for a period of time after exposure.
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Although radon is naturally occurring, exposure can be enhanced or diminished by human activity, notably house construction. A poorly sealed dwelling floor, or poor basement ventilation, in an otherwise well insulated house can result in the accumulation of radon within the dwelling, exposing its residents to high concentrations. The widespread construction of well insulated and sealed homes in the northern industrialized world has led to radon becoming the primary source of background radiation in some localities in northern North America and Europe. Basement sealing and suction ventilation reduce exposure. Some building materials, for example lightweight concrete with alum shale, phosphogypsum and Italian tuff, may emanate radon if they contain radium and are porous to gas.
Radiation exposure from radon is indirect. Radon has a short half-life (4 days) and decays into other solid particulate radium-series radioactive nuclides. These radioactive particles are inhaled and remain lodged in the lungs, causing continued exposure. Radon is thus assumed to be the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, and accounts for 15,000 to 22,000 cancer deaths per year in the US alone. However, the discussion about the opposite experimental results is still going on.
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About 100,000 Bq/m3 of radon was found in Stanley Watras's basement in 1984. He and his neighbours in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, United States may hold the record for the most radioactive dwellings in the world. International radiation protection organizations estimate that a committed dose may be calculated by multiplying the equilibrium equivalent concentration (EEC) of radon by a factor of 8 to 9 and the EEC of thoron by a factor of 40 .
Most of the atmospheric background is caused by radon and its decay products. The gamma spectrum shows prominent peaks at 609, 1120, and 1764 keV, belonging to bismuth-214, a radon decay product. The atmospheric background varies greatly with wind direction and meteorological conditions. Radon also can be released from the ground in bursts and then form "radon clouds" capable of traveling tens of kilometers.
Cosmic radiation.
The Earth and all living things on it are constantly bombarded by radiation from outer space. This radiation primarily consists of positively charged ions from protons to iron and larger nuclei derived from outside the Solar System. This radiation interacts with atoms in the atmosphere to create an air shower of secondary radiation, including X-rays, muons, protons, alpha particles, pions, electrons, and neutrons. The immediate dose from cosmic radiation is largely from muons, neutrons, and electrons, and this dose varies in different parts of the world based largely on the geomagnetic field and altitude. For example, the city of Denver in the United States (at 1650 meters elevation) receives a cosmic ray dose roughly twice that of a location at sea level. This radiation is much more intense in the upper troposphere, around 10 km altitude, and is thus of particular concern for airline crews and frequent passengers, who spend many hours per year in this environment. During their flights airline crews typically get an additional occupational dose between per year and 2.19 mSv/year, according to various studies.
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Similarly, cosmic rays cause higher background exposure in astronauts than in humans on the surface of Earth. Astronauts in low orbits, such as in the International Space Station or the Space Shuttle, are partially shielded by the magnetic field of the Earth, but also suffer from the Van Allen radiation belt which accumulates cosmic rays and results from the Earth's magnetic field. Outside low Earth orbit, as experienced by the Apollo astronauts who traveled to the Moon, this background radiation is much more intense, and represents a considerable obstacle to potential future long term human exploration of the Moon or Mars.
Cosmic rays also cause elemental transmutation in the atmosphere, in which secondary radiation generated by the cosmic rays combines with atomic nuclei in the atmosphere to generate different nuclides. Many so-called cosmogenic nuclides can be produced, but probably the most notable is carbon-14, which is produced by interactions with nitrogen atoms. These cosmogenic nuclides eventually reach the Earth's surface and can be incorporated into living organisms. The production of these nuclides varies slightly with short-term variations in solar cosmic ray flux, but is considered practically constant over long scales of thousands to millions of years. The constant production, incorporation into organisms and relatively short half-life of carbon-14 are the principles used in radiocarbon dating of ancient biological materials, such as wooden artifacts or human remains.
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The cosmic radiation at sea level usually manifests as 511 keV gamma rays from annihilation of positrons created by nuclear reactions of high energy particles and gamma rays. At higher altitudes there is also the contribution of continuous bremsstrahlung spectrum.
Food and water.
Two of the essential elements that make up the human body, namely potassium and carbon, have radioactive isotopes that add significantly to our background radiation dose. An average human contains about 17 milligrams of potassium-40 (40K) and about 24 nanograms (10−9 g) of carbon-14 (14C), (half-life 5,730 years). Excluding internal contamination by external radioactive material, these two are the largest components of internal radiation exposure from biologically functional components of the human body. About 4,000 nuclei of 40K decay per second, and a similar number of 14C. The energy of beta particles produced by 40K is about 10 times that from the beta particles from 14C decay.
14C is present in the human body at a level of about 3700 Bq (0.1 μCi) with a biological half-life of 40 days. This means there are about 3700 beta particles per second produced by the decay of 14C. However, a 14C atom is in the genetic information of about half the cells, while potassium is not a component of DNA. The decay of a 14C atom inside DNA in one person happens about 50 times per second, changing a carbon atom to one of nitrogen.
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The global average internal dose from radionuclides other than radon and its decay products is 0.29 mSv/a, of which 0.17 mSv/a comes from 40K, 0.12 mSv/a comes from the uranium and thorium series, and 12 μSv/a comes from 14C.
Areas with high natural background radiation.
Some areas have greater dosage than the country-wide averages. In the world in general, exceptionally high natural background locales include Ramsar in Iran, Guarapari in Brazil, Karunagappalli in India, Arkaroola in Australia and Yangjiang in China.
The highest level of purely natural radiation ever recorded on the Earth's surface was 90 μGy/h on a Brazilian black beach ("areia preta" in Portuguese) composed of monazite. This rate would convert to 0.8 Gy/a for year-round continuous exposure, but in fact the levels vary seasonally and are much lower in the nearest residences. The record measurement has not been duplicated and is omitted from UNSCEAR's latest reports. Nearby tourist beaches in Guarapari and Cumuruxatiba were later evaluated at 14 and 15 μGy/h. Note that the values quoted here are in Grays. To convert to Sieverts (Sv) a radiation weighting factor is required; these weighting factors vary from 1 (beta & gamma) to 20 (alpha particles).
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The highest background radiation in an inhabited area is found in Ramsar, primarily due to the use of local naturally radioactive limestone as a building material. The 1000 most exposed residents receive an average external effective radiation dose of per year, six times the ICRP recommended limit for exposure to the public from artificial sources. They additionally receive a substantial internal dose from radon. Record radiation levels were found in a house where the effective dose due to ambient radiation fields was per year, and the internal committed dose from radon was per year. This unique case is over 80 times higher than the world average natural human exposure to radiation.
Epidemiological studies are underway to identify health effects associated with the high radiation levels in Ramsar. It is much too early to draw unambiguous statistically significant conclusions. While so far support for beneficial effects of chronic radiation (like longer lifespan) has been observed in few places only, a protective and adaptive effect is suggested by at least one study whose authors nonetheless caution that data from Ramsar are not yet sufficiently strong to relax existing regulatory dose limits. However, the recent statistical analyses discussed that there is no correlation between the risk of negative health effects and elevated level of natural background radiation.
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Photoelectric.
Background radiation doses in the immediate vicinity of particles of high atomic number materials, within the human body, have a small enhancement due to the photoelectric effect.
Neutron background.
Most of the natural neutron background is a product of cosmic rays interacting with the atmosphere. The neutron energy peaks at around 1 MeV and rapidly drops above. At sea level, the production of neutrons is about 20 neutrons per second per kilogram of material interacting with the cosmic rays (or, about 100–300 neutrons per square meter per second). The flux is dependent on geomagnetic latitude, with a maximum near the magnetic poles. At solar minimums, due to lower solar magnetic field shielding, the flux is about twice as high vs the solar maximum. It also dramatically increases during solar flares. In the vicinity of larger heavier objects, e.g. buildings or ships, the neutron flux measures higher; this is known as "cosmic ray induced neutron signature", or "ship effect" as it was first detected with ships at sea.
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Artificial background radiation.
Atmospheric nuclear testing.
Frequent above-ground nuclear explosions between the 1940s and 1960s scattered a substantial amount of radioactive contamination. Some of this contamination is local, rendering the immediate surroundings highly radioactive, while some of it is carried longer distances as nuclear fallout; some of this material is dispersed worldwide. The increase in background radiation due to these tests peaked in 1963 at about 0.15 mSv per year worldwide, or about 7% of average background dose from all sources. The Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 prohibited above-ground tests, thus by the year 2000 the worldwide dose from these tests has decreased to only 0.005 mSv per year.
This global fallout has caused up to 2.4 million deaths by 2020.
Occupational exposure.
The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends limiting occupational radiation exposure to 50 mSv (5 rem) per year, and 100 mSv (10 rem) in 5 years.
However, background radiation for occupational doses includes radiation that is not measured by radiation dose instruments in potential occupational exposure conditions. This includes both offsite "natural background radiation" and any medical radiation doses. This value is not typically measured or known from surveys, such that variations in the total dose to individual workers is not known. This can be a significant confounding factor in assessing radiation exposure effects in a population of workers who may have significantly different natural background and medical radiation doses. This is most significant when the occupational doses are very low.
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At an IAEA conference in 2002, it was recommended that occupational doses below 1–2 mSv per year do not warrant regulatory scrutiny.
Nuclear accidents.
Under normal circumstances, nuclear reactors release small amounts of radioactive gases, which cause small radiation exposures to the public. Events classified on the International Nuclear Event Scale as incidents typically do not release any additional radioactive substances into the environment. Large releases of radioactivity from nuclear reactors are extremely rare. To the present day, there were two major "civilian" accidents – the Chernobyl accident and the Fukushima I nuclear accidents – which caused substantial contamination. The Chernobyl accident was the only one to cause immediate deaths.
Total doses from the Chernobyl accident ranged from 10 to 50 mSv over 20 years for the inhabitants of the affected areas, with most of the dose received in the first years after the disaster, and over 100 mSv for liquidators. There were 28 deaths from acute radiation syndrome.
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Total doses from the Fukushima I accidents were between 1 and 15 mSv for the inhabitants of the affected areas. Thyroid doses for children were below 50 mSv. 167 cleanup workers received doses above 100 mSv, with 6 of them receiving more than 250 mSv (the Japanese exposure limit for emergency response workers).
The average dose from the Three Mile Island accident was 0.01 mSv.
Non-civilian: In addition to the civilian accidents described above, several accidents at early nuclear weapons facilities – such as the Windscale fire, the contamination of the Techa River by the nuclear waste from the Mayak compound, and the Kyshtym disaster at the same compound – released substantial radioactivity into the environment. The Windscale fire resulted in thyroid doses of 5–20 mSv for adults and 10–60 mSv for children. The doses from the accidents at Mayak are unknown.
Nuclear fuel cycle.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and other U.S. and international agencies, require that licensees limit radiation exposure to individual members of the public to 1 mSv (100 mrem) per year.
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Energy sources.
Per UNECE life-cycle assessment, nearly all sources of energy result in some level of occupational and public exposure to radionuclides as result of their manufacturing or operations. The following table uses man·Sievert/GW-annum:
Coal burning.
Coal plants emit radiation in the form of radioactive fly ash which is inhaled and ingested by neighbours, and incorporated into crops. A 1978 paper from Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimated that coal-fired power plants of that time may contribute a whole-body committed dose of 19 μSv/a to their immediate neighbours in a radius of 500 m. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation's 1988 report estimated the committed dose 1 km away to be 20 μSv/a for older plants or 1 μSv/a for newer plants with improved fly ash capture, but was unable to confirm these numbers by test. When coal is burned, uranium, thorium and all the uranium daughters accumulated by disintegration – radium, radon, polonium – are released. Radioactive materials previously buried underground in coal deposits are released as fly ash or, if fly ash is captured, may be incorporated into concrete manufactured with fly ash.
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Other sources of dose uptake.
Medical.
The global average human exposure to artificial radiation is 0.6 mSv/a, primarily from medical imaging. This medical component can range much higher, with an average of 3 mSv per year across the USA population. Other human contributors include smoking, air travel, radioactive building materials, historical nuclear weapons testing, nuclear power accidents and nuclear industry operation.
A typical chest x-ray delivers 20 μSv (2 mrem) of effective dose. A dental x-ray delivers a dose of 5 to 10 μSv. A CT scan delivers an effective dose to the whole body ranging from 1 to 20 mSv (100 to 2000 mrem). The average American receives about 3 mSv of diagnostic medical dose per year; countries with the lowest levels of health care receive almost none. Radiation treatment for various diseases also accounts for some dose, both in individuals and in those around them.
Consumer items.
Cigarettes contain polonium-210, originating from the decay products of radon, which stick to tobacco leaves. Heavy smoking results in a radiation dose of 160 mSv/year to localized spots at the bifurcations of segmental bronchi in the lungs from the decay of polonium-210. This dose is not readily comparable to the radiation protection limits, since the latter deal with whole body doses, while the dose from smoking is delivered to a very small portion of the body.
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Radiation metrology.
In a radiation metrology laboratory, background radiation refers to the measured value from any incidental sources that affect an instrument when a specific radiation source sample is being measured. This background contribution, which is established as a stable value by multiple measurements, usually before and after sample measurement, is subtracted from the rate measured when the sample is being measured.
This is in accordance with the International Atomic Energy Agency definition of background as being "Dose or dose rate (or an observed measure related to the dose or dose rate) attributable to all sources other than the one(s) specified.
The same issue occurs with radiation protection instruments, where a reading from an instrument may be affected by the background radiation. An example of this is a scintillation detector used for surface contamination monitoring. In an elevated gamma background the scintillator material will be affected by the background gamma, which will add to the reading obtained from any contamination which is being monitored. In extreme cases it will make the instrument unusable as the background swamps the lower level of radiation from the contamination. In such instruments the background can be continually monitored in the "Ready" state, and subtracted from any reading obtained when being used in "Measuring" mode.
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Regular Radiation measurement is carried out at multiple levels. Government agencies compile radiation readings as part of environmental monitoring mandates, often making the readings available to the public and sometimes in near-real-time. Collaborative groups and private individuals may also make real-time readings available to the public. Instruments used for radiation measurement include the Geiger–Müller tube and the Scintillation detector. The former is usually more compact and affordable and reacts to several radiation types, while the latter is more complex and can detect specific radiation energies and types. Readings indicate radiation levels from all sources including background, and real-time readings are in general unvalidated, but correlation between independent detectors increases confidence in measured levels.
List of near-real-time government radiation measurement sites, employing multiple instrument types:
List of international near-real-time collaborative/private measurement sites, employing primarily Geiger-Muller detectors: |
Balmoral
Balmoral may refer to: |
Bannock
Bannock may mean: |
Banquo
Lord Banquo , the Thane of Lochaber, is a semi-historical character in William Shakespeare's 1606 play "Macbeth". In the play, he is at first an ally of Macbeth (both are generals in the King's army) and they meet the Three Witches together. After prophesying that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his descendants will be. Later, Macbeth in his lust for power sees Banquo as a threat and has him murdered by three hired assassins; Banquo's son, Fleance, escapes. Banquo's ghost returns in a later scene, causing Macbeth to react with alarm in public during a feast.
Shakespeare borrowed the character Banquo from "Holinshed's Chronicles", a history of Britain published by Raphael Holinshed in 1587. In "Chronicles", Banquo is an accomplice to Macbeth in the murder of the king, rather than a loyal subject of the king who is seen as an enemy by Macbeth. Shakespeare may have changed this aspect of his character to please King James, who was thought at the time to be a descendant of the real Banquo. Critics often interpret Banquo's role in the play as being a foil to Macbeth, resisting evil whereas Macbeth embraces it. Sometimes, however, his motives are unclear, and some critics question his purity. He does nothing to accuse Macbeth of murdering the king, even though he has reason to believe Macbeth is responsible.
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Sources.
Shakespeare often used Raphael Holinshed's "Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland", commonly known as "Holinshed's Chronicles", as a source for his plays, and in "Macbeth", he borrows from several of the tales in that work. Holinshed portrays Banquo as a historical figure, who is an accomplice in the murder by Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (Macbeth) of Donnchad mac Crínáin (King Duncan) and plays an important part in ensuring that Macbeth, not Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Malcolm), takes the throne in the coup that follows. Holinshed in turn used an earlier work, the "Scotorum Historiae" (1526–7) by Hector Boece, as his source. Boece's work is the first known record of Banquo and his son Fleance (spelled "Banquho" and "Fleancho" in the Latin), and scholars such as David Bevington generally consider them fictional characters invented by Boece. In Shakespeare's day, however, they were considered historical figures of great repute, and the king, James I, based his claim to the throne in part on a descent from Banquo.
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Within the literature there exists various claims surrounding Thane Banquo's ancestry. According to the 17th century historian Frederic van Bossen, Thane Banquo (which he wrote as Banqwho and sometimes as Banchou) was the son of Dunclina, the daughter of Albanach ap Crinan, the thane of the Isles, and her husband Kenneth. Kenneth was the son of Fferqwhart, who was the son of son of Murdoch the Thane of "Lochabar", the son of Prince Dorus, who was the son of a King named Erlus, whose kingdom was not identified. According to Frederic van Bossen, Banquo married his 4th cousin Mauldvina the daughter of Thalus the Thane of Atholl, and together they were the parents of Fleance, a daughter called Castisa who married Frederic the Lord of Cromartie, and a number of other sons who were murdered by King Macbeth.
It is known that the House of Stuart descends from Walter fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland, and in some studies he is believed to have been the grandson of Fleance and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn's daughter, Nesta ferch Gruffydd. However, in Frederic van Bossen's handwritten notes, which were created from numerous resources he collected in his travels through Europe, Fleance's wife is identified as Nesta's sister, Marjoretta the daughter of "griffin ap Livlein". In reality, Walter fitz Alan was the son of Alan fitz Flaad, a Breton knight.
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Unlike his sources, Shakespeare gives Banquo no role in the King's murder, making it a deed committed solely by Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Why Shakespeare's Banquo is so different from the character described by Holinshed and Boece is not known, though critics have proposed several possible explanations. First among them is the risk associated with portraying the king's ancestor as a murderer and conspirator in the plot to overthrow a rightful king, as well as the author's desire to flatter a powerful patron. But Shakespeare may also simply have altered Banquo's character because there was no dramatic need for another accomplice to the murder. There was, however, a need to provide a dramatic contrast to Macbeth; a role that many scholars argue is filled by Banquo. Similarly, when Jean de Schelandre wrote about Banquo in his "Stuartide" in 1611, he also changed the character by portraying him as a noble and honourable man—the critic D.W. Maskell describes him as "...Schelandre's paragon of valour and virtue"—probably for reasons similar to Shakespeare's.
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Banquo's role in the coup that follows the murder is harder to explain. Banquo's loyalty to Macbeth, rather than Malcolm, after Duncan's death makes him a passive accomplice in the coup: Malcolm, as Prince of Cumberland, is the rightful heir to the throne and Macbeth a usurper. Daniel Amneus argued that "Macbeth" as it survives is a revision of an earlier play, in which Duncan granted Macbeth not only the title of Thane of Cawdor, but the "greater honor" of Prince of Cumberland (i.e. heir to the throne of Scotland). Banquo's silence may be a survival from the posited earlier play, in which Macbeth was the legitimate successor to Duncan.
Role in the play.
Banquo is in a third of the play's scenes, as both a human and a ghost. As significant as he is to the plot, he has fewer lines than the relatively insignificant Ross, a Scottish nobleman who survives the play. In the second scene of the play, a wounded soldier describes the manner in which Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, and Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, resisted invading forces, fighting side by side. In the next scene, Banquo and Macbeth, returning from the battle together, encounter the Three Witches, who predict that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, and then king. Banquo, sceptical of the witches, challenges them to predict his own future, and they foretell that Banquo will never himself take the throne, but will beget a line of kings. Banquo remains sceptical after the encounter, wondering aloud if evil can ever speak the truth. He warns Macbeth that evil will offer men a small, hopeful truth only to catch them in a deadly trap.
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When Macbeth kills the king and takes the throne, Banquo—the only one aware of this encounter with the witches—reserves judgment for God. He is unsure whether Macbeth committed regicide to gain the throne, but muses in a soliloquy that "I fear / Thou play'dst most foully for 't". He offers his respects to the new King Macbeth and pledges loyalty. Later, worried that Banquo's descendants and not his own will rule Scotland, Macbeth sends two men, and then a Third Murderer, to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. During the melee, Banquo holds off the assailants so that Fleance can escape, but is himself killed. The ghost of Banquo later returns to haunt Macbeth at the banquet in Act Three, Scene Four. A terrified Macbeth sees him, while the apparition is invisible to his guests. He appears again to Macbeth in a vision granted by the Three Witches, wherein Macbeth sees a long line of kings descended from Banquo.
Analysis.
Foil to Macbeth.
Many scholars see Banquo as a foil and a contrast to Macbeth. Macbeth, for example, eagerly accepts the Three Witches' prophecy as true and seeks to help it along. Banquo, on the other hand, doubts the prophecies and the intentions of these seemingly evil creatures. Whereas Macbeth places his hope in the prediction that he will be king, Banquo argues that evil only offers gifts that lead to destruction. Banquo steadily resists the temptations of evil within the play, praying to heaven for help, while Macbeth seeks darkness, and prays that evil powers will aid him. This is visible in act two; after Banquo sees Duncan to bed, he says: "There's husbandry in heaven, / Their candles are all out". This premonition of the coming darkness in association with Macbeth's murders is repeated just before Banquo is killed: "it will be rain to-night", Banquo tells his son Fleance.
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Banquo's status as a contrast to Macbeth makes for some tense moments in the play. In act two, scene one, Banquo meets his son Fleance and asks him to take both his sword and his dagger ("Hold, take my sword ... Take thee that too"). He also explains that he has been having trouble sleeping due to "cursed thoughts that nature / gives way to in repose!" On Macbeth's approach, he demands the sword returned to him quickly. Scholars have interpreted this to mean that Banquo has been dreaming of murdering the king as Macbeth's accomplice to take the throne for his own family, as the Three Witches prophesied to him. In this reading, his good nature is so revolted by these thoughts that he gives his sword and dagger to Fleance to be sure they do not come true, but is so nervous at Macbeth's approach that he demands them back. Other scholars have responded that Banquo's dreams have less to do with killing the king and more to do with Macbeth. They argue that Banquo is merely setting aside his sword for the night. Then, when Macbeth approaches, Banquo, having had dreams about Macbeth's deeds, takes back his sword as a precaution in this case.
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Macbeth eventually sees that Banquo can no longer be trusted to aid him in his evil, and considers his friend a threat to his newly acquired throne; thus, he has him murdered. Banquo's ability to live on in different ways is another oppositional force, in this case to Macbeth's impending death. His spirit lives on in Fleance, his son, and in his ghostly presence at the banquet.
Ghost scenes.
When Macbeth returns to the witches later in the play, they show him an apparition of the murdered Banquo, along with eight of his descendants. The scene carries deep significance: King James, on the throne when "Macbeth" was written, was believed to be separated from Banquo by nine generations. What Shakespeare writes here thus amounts to a strong support of James' right to the throne by lineage, and for audiences of Shakespeare's day, a very real fulfilment of the witches' prophecy to Banquo that his sons would take the throne. This apparition is also deeply unsettling to Macbeth, who not only wants the throne for himself, but also desires to father a line of kings.
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Banquo's other appearance as a ghost during the banquet scene serves as an indicator of Macbeth's conscience returning to plague his thoughts. Banquo's triumph over death appears symbolically, insofar as he literally takes Macbeth's seat during the feast. Shocked, Macbeth uses words appropriate to the metaphor of usurpation, describing Banquo as "crowned" with wounds. The spirit drains Macbeth's manhood along with the blood from his cheeks; as soon as Banquo's form vanishes, Macbeth announces: "Why, so; being gone, / I am a man again."
Like the vision of Banquo's lineage, the banquet scene has also been the subject of criticism. Critics have questioned whether not one, but perhaps two ghosts appear in this scene: Banquo and Duncan. Scholars arguing that Duncan attends the banquet state that Macbeth's lines to the Ghost could apply equally well to the slain king. "Thou canst not say I did it", for example, can mean that Macbeth is not the man who actually killed Banquo, or it can mean that Duncan, who was asleep when Macbeth killed him, cannot claim to have seen his killer. To add to the confusion, some lines Macbeth directs to the ghost, such as "Thy bones are marrowless", cannot rightly be said of Banquo, who has only recently died.
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Scholars debate whether Macbeth's vision of Banquo is real or a hallucination. Macbeth had already seen a hallucination before murdering Duncan: a knife hovering in the air. Several performances of the play have even ignored the stage direction to have the Ghost of Banquo enter at all, heightening the sense that Macbeth is growing mad, since the audience cannot see what he claims to see. Scholars opposing this view claim that while the dagger is unusual, ghosts of murdered victims are more believable, having a basis in the audience's superstitions. Spirits in other Shakespeare plays—notably "Hamlet" and "Midsummer Night's Dream"—exist in ambiguous forms, occasionally even calling into question their own presence.
The concept of a character being confronted at a triumphant feast with a reminder of their downfall is not unique to Shakespeare and may originate from Belshazzar's feast, as portrayed in the Bible. The term 'ghost at the feast' has entered popular culture, and is often used as a metaphor for a subject a person would rather avoid considering, or (considering the general plot of "Macbeth") a reminder of a person's unpleasant past or likely future.
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Performances and interpretations.
Banquo's role, especially in the banquet ghost scene, has been subject to a variety of mediums and interpretations. Shakespeare's text states: "Enter Ghost of Banquo, and sits in Macbeth's place." Several television versions have altered this slightly, having Banquo appear suddenly in the chair, rather than walking onstage and into it. Special effects and camera tricks also allow producers to make the ghost disappear and reappear, highlighting the fact that "only" Macbeth can see it.
Stage directors, unaided by post-production effects and camera tricks, have used other methods to depict the ghost. In the late 19th century, elaborate productions of the play staged by Henry Irving employed a wide variety of approaches for this task. In 1877 a green silhouette was used to create a ghostlike image; ten years later a trick chair was used to allow an actor to appear in the middle of the scene, and then again from the midst of the audience. In 1895 a shaft of blue light served to indicate the presence of Banquo's spirit. In 1933 a Russian director Theodore Komisarjevsky staged a modern retelling of the play (Banquo and Macbeth were told of their future through palmistry); he used Macbeth's shadow as the ghost. In 1936, Orson Welles directed the Federal Theatre Project production of the play, with an African-American cast that included Canada Lee in the role of Banquo.
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Film adaptations have approached Banquo's character in a variety of ways. Akira Kurosawa's 1957 adaptation "Throne of Blood" makes the character into Capitan Miki (played by Minoru Chiaki), slain by Macbeth's equivalent (Captain Washizu) when his wife explains that she is with child. News of Miki's death does not reach Washizu until after he has seen the ghost in the banquet scene. In Roman Polanski's 1971 adaptation, Banquo is played by acclaimed stage actor Martin Shaw, in a style reminiscent of earlier stage performances. Polanski's version also emphasises Banquo's objection to Macbeth's ascendency by showing him remaining silent as the other thanes around him hail Macbeth as king. In the 1990 film "Men of Respect", a reimagining of "Macbeth" as taking place among a New York Mafia crime family, the character of Banquo is named "Bankie Como" and played by American actor Dennis Farina. |
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Gurkhas, 25,742 volunteer reserve personnel and 4,697 "other personnel", for a total of 108,413.
The British Army traces back to 1707 and the formation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain which joined the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into a single state and, with that, united the English Army and the Scots Army as the British Army. The English Bill of Rights 1689 and Scottish Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff.
At its inception, being composed primarily of cavalry and infantry, the British Army was one of two "Regular" Forces (there were also separate "Reserve Forces") within the British military (those parts of the British Armed Forces tasked with land warfare, as opposed to the naval forces), with the other having been the "Ordnance Military Corps" (made up of the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and the Royal Sappers and Miners) of the Board of Ordnance, which along with the originally civilian Commissariat Department, stores and supply departments, as well as barracks and other departments, were absorbed into the British Army when the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855. Various other civilian departments of the board were absorbed into the War Office.
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The British Army has seen action in major wars between the world's great powers, including the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War and the First and Second World Wars. Britain's victories in most of these decisive wars allowed it to influence world events and establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. Since the end of the Cold War, the British Army has been deployed to a number of conflict zones, often as part of an expeditionary force, a coalition force or part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation.
History.
Formation.
Until the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–1653), neither England nor Scotland had had a standing army with professional officers and career corporals and sergeants. England relied on militia organised by local officials or private forces mobilised by the nobility, or on hired mercenaries from Europe. From the later Middle Ages until the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, when a foreign expeditionary force was needed, such as the one that Henry V of England took to France and that fought at the Battle of Agincourt (1415), the army, a professional one, was raised for the duration of the expedition.
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During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the members of the English Long Parliament realised that the use of county militia organised into regional associations (such as the Eastern Association), often commanded by local members of Parliament (both from the House of Commons and the House of Lords), while more than able to hold their own in the regions which Parliamentarians ('Roundheads") controlled, were unlikely to win the war. So Parliament initiated two actions. The Self-denying Ordinance forbade members of Parliament (with the notable exception of Oliver Cromwell, then a member of parliament and future Lord Protector) from serving as officers in the Parliamentary armies. This created a distinction between the civilians in Parliament, who tended to be Presbyterian and conciliatory to the Royalists ("Cavaliers") in nature, and a corps of professional officers, who tended to be Independent (Congregational) in theology. The second action was legislation for the creation of a Parliamentary-funded army, commanded by Lord General Thomas Fairfax, which became known as the New Model Army (originally phrased "new-modelled Army").
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While this proved to be a war-winning formula, the New Model Army, being organised and politically active, went on to dominate the politics of the Interregnum and by 1660 was widely disliked. The New Model Army was paid off and disbanded at the later Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 with the accession of King Charles II. For many decades the alleged excesses of the New Model Army under the Protectorate / Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell were used as propaganda (and still feature in Irish folklore) and the Whig Party element recoiled from allowing a standing army to continue with the agreed-upon rights and privileges under the return of a king. The militia acts of 1661 and 1662 prevented local authorities from calling up militia and oppressing their own local opponents. Calling up the militia was possible only if the king and local elites agreed to do so.
King Charles II and his "Cavalier" / Royalist supporters favoured a new army under royal control, and immediately after the Restoration of 1660 to 1661 began working on its establishment. The first English Army regiments, including elements of the disbanded New Model Army, were formed between November 1660 and January 1661 and became a standing military force for England (financed by Parliament). The Royal Scots and Irish Armies were financed by the parliaments of Scotland and Ireland. Parliamentary control was established by the Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689, although the monarch continued to influence aspects of army administration until at least the end of the 19th century.
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After the Restoration, King Charles II pulled together four regiments of infantry and cavalry, calling them his guards, at a cost of £122,000 from his general budget. This became the foundation of the permanent English Army. By 1685, it had grown to number 7,500 soldiers in marching regiments, and 1,400 men permanently stationed in garrisons. A Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 allowed successor King James II to raise the forces to 20,000 men. There were 37,000 in 1678, when England played a role in the closing stage of the cross-channel Franco-Dutch War. After Protestant dual Monarchs William III, formerly William of the Dutch House of Orange, and his wife Mary II's joint accession to the throne after a short constitutional crisis with Parliament sending Mary's father, predecessor King James II, (who remained a Catholic) during his brief controversial reign, off the throne and into exile. England then involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance on the Continent, primarily to prevent a possible French Catholic monarch organizing invasion restoring the exiled James II (Queen Mary's father and still a Roman Catholic). Later in 1689, William III to solidify his and Mary's hold on the monarchy, expanded the new English army to 74,000, and then a few years later to 94,000 in 1694. Parliament was very nervous and reduced the cadre to 70,000 in 1697. Scotland and Ireland had theoretically separate military establishments, but they were unofficially merged with the English Crown force.
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By the time of the 1707 Acts of Union, many regiments of the English and Scottish armies were combined under one operational command and stationed in the Netherlands for the War of the Spanish Succession. Although all the regiments were now part of the new British military establishment, they remained under the old operational-command structure and retained much of the institutional ethos, customs and traditions of the standing armies created shortly after the Restoration of the Monarchy 47 years earlier. The order of seniority of the most-senior British Army line regiments is based on that of the earlier English army. Although technically the Scots Royal Regiment of Foot was raised in 1633 and is the oldest Regiment of the Line, Scottish and Irish regiments were only allowed to take a rank in the English army on the date of their arrival in England (or the date when they were first placed on the English establishment). In 1694, a board of general officers was convened to decide the rank of English, Irish and Scots regiments serving in the Netherlands; the regiment which became known as the Scots Greys were designated the 4th Dragoons because there were three English regiments raised prior to 1688 when the Scots Greys were first placed in the English establishment. In 1713, when a new board of general officers was convened to decide the rank of several regiments, the seniority of the Scots Greys was reassessed and based on their June 1685 entry into England. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, and the Scots Greys eventually received the British Army rank of 2nd Dragoons.
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British Empire (1707–1914).
After 1707, British continental policy was to contain expansion by competing powers such as France and Spain. Although Spain was the dominant global power during the previous two centuries and the chief threat to England's early trans-Atlantic colonial ambitions, its influence was now waning. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the later Napoleonic Wars.
Although the Royal Navy is widely regarded as vital to the rise of the British Empire, the British Army played an important role in the formation of colonies, protectorates and dominions in the Americas, Africa, Asia, India and Australasia. British soldiers captured strategically important sites and territories, with the army involved in wars to secure the empire's borders, internal safety and support friendly governments and princes. |
British soldiers captured strategically important sites and territories, with the army involved in wars to secure the empire's borders, internal safety and support friendly governments and princes. With native and provincial and colonial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the French and Indian War (North American theatre) of the parallel Seven Years' War and suppressed a Native / Indian North Americans uprising in Pontiac's War around the Great Lakes. The British Army was defeated in the American Revolutionary War, losing the Thirteen Colonies but retaining The Canadas and The Maritimes as in British North America, including Bermuda (originally part of the Colony of Virginia, and which had been originally strongly sympathetic to the American colonial rebels early in the war).
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Halifax, Nova Scotia and Bermuda were to become Imperial fortresses (although Bermuda, being safer from attack over water and impervious to attack overland, quickly became the most important in British North America), along with Malta and Gibraltar, providing bases in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea for Royal Navy squadrons to control the oceans and trade routes, and heavily garrisoned by the British Army both for defence of the bases and to provide mobile military forces to work with the Navy in amphibious operations throughout their regions.
The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars, participating in a number of campaigns in Europe (including continuous deployment in the Peninsular War), the Caribbean, North Africa and North America. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world; at its peak in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian armies under the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal von Blücher finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.
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The English were involved politically and militarily in Ireland. The campaign of English republican Protector Oliver Cromwell involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns (most notably Drogheda and Wexford) which supported the Royalists during the English Civil War. The English Army (and the subsequent British Army) remained in Ireland primarily to suppress Irish revolts or disorder. In addition to its conflict with Irish nationalists, it was faced with the prospect of battling Anglo-Irish and Ulster Scots in Ireland who were angered by unfavourable taxation of Irish produce imported into Britain. With other Irish groups, they raised a volunteer army and threatened to emulate the American colonists if their conditions were not met. Learning from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution. The British Army fought Irish rebels—Protestant and Catholic—primarily in Ulster and Leinster (Wolfe Tone's United Irishmen) in the 1798 rebellion.
In addition to battling the armies of other European empires (and its former colonies, the United States, in the War of 1812), the British Army fought the Chinese in the First and Second Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion, Māori tribes in the first of the New Zealand Wars, Nawab Shiraj-ud-Daula's forces and British East India Company mutineers in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the Boers in the first and second Boer Wars, Irish Fenians in Canada during the Fenian raids and Irish separatists in the Anglo-Irish War. The increasing demands of imperial expansion and the inadequacy and inefficiency of the underfunded British Army, Militia, Ordnance Military Corps, Yeomanry and Volunteer Force after the Napoleonic Wars led to series of reforms following the failures of the Crimean War.
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Inspired by the successes of the Prussian Army (which relied on short-term conscription of all eligible young men to maintain a large reserve of recently discharged soldiers, ready to be recalled on the outbreak of war to immediately bring the small peacetime regular army up to strength), the "Regular Reserve" of the British Army was originally created in 1859 by Secretary of State for War Sidney Herbert, and re-organised under the Reserve Force Act 1867. Prior to this, a soldier was generally enlisted into the British Army for a 21-year engagement, following which (should he survive so long) he was discharged as a Pensioner. Pensioners were sometimes still employed on garrison duties, as were younger soldiers no longer deemed fit for expeditionary service who were generally organised in invalid units or returned to the regimental depot for home service. The cost of paying pensioners, and the obligation the government was under to continue to employ invalids as well as soldiers deemed by their commanding officers as detriments to their units were motivations to change this system. |
The cost of paying pensioners, and the obligation the government was under to continue to employ invalids as well as soldiers deemed by their commanding officers as detriments to their units were motivations to change this system. The long period of engagement also discouraged many potential recruits. The long service enlistments were consequently replaced with short service enlistments, with undesirable soldiers not permitted to re-engage on the completion of their first engagement. The size of the army also fluctuated greatly, increasing in war time, and drastically shrinking with peace. Battalions posted on garrison duty overseas were allowed an increase on their normal peacetime establishment, which resulted in their having surplus men on their return to a "Home" station. Consequently, soldiers engaging on short term enlistments were enabled to serve several years with the colours and the remainder in the Regular Reserve, remaining liable for recall to the colours if required. Among the other benefits, this thereby enabled the British Army to have a ready pool of recently trained men to draw upon in an emergency. |
Among the other benefits, this thereby enabled the British Army to have a ready pool of recently trained men to draw upon in an emergency. The name of the Regular Reserve (which for a time was divided into a "First Class" and a "Second Class") has resulted in confusion with the "Reserve Forces", which were the pre-existing part-time, local-service home-defence forces that were auxiliary to the British Army (or "Regular Force"), but not originally part of it: the Yeomanry, Militia (or "Constitutional Force") and Volunteer Force. These were consequently also referred to as "Auxiliary Forces" or "Local Forces".
The late-19th-century Cardwell and Childers Reforms gave the army its modern shape and redefined its regimental system. The 1907 Haldane Reforms created the Territorial Force as the army's volunteer reserve component, merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia and Yeomanry.
World Wars (1914–1945).
Great Britain was challenged by other powers, primarily the German Empire and Nazi Germany, during the 20th century. A century earlier it vied with Napoleonic France for global pre-eminence, and Hanoverian Britain's natural allies were the kingdoms and principalities of northern Germany. By the middle of the 19th century, Britain and France were allies in preventing Russia's appropriation of the Ottoman Empire, although the fear of French invasion led shortly afterwards to the creation of the Volunteer Force. By the first decade of the 20th century, the United Kingdom was allied with France (by the Entente Cordiale) and Russia (which had a secret agreement with France for mutual support in a war against the Prussian-led German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
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When the First World War broke out in August 1914 the British Army sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), consisting mainly of regular army troops, to France and Belgium. The fighting bogged down into static trench warfare for the remainder of the war. In 1915 the army created the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force to invade the Ottoman Empire via Gallipoli, an unsuccessful attempt to capture Constantinople and secure a sea route to Russia.
The First World War was the most devastating in British military history, with nearly 800,000 men killed and over two million wounded. Early in the war, the BEF was virtually destroyed and was replaced first by volunteers and then by a conscript force. Major battles included those at the Somme and Passchendaele. Advances in technology saw the advent of the tank (and the creation of the Royal Tank Regiment) and advances in aircraft design (and the creation of the Royal Flying Corps) which would be decisive in future battles. Trench warfare dominated Western Front strategy for most of the war, and the use of chemical weapons (disabling and poison gases) added to the devastation.
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The Second World War broke out in September 1939 with the Soviet and German Army's invasion of Poland. British assurances to the Poles led the British Empire to declare war on Germany. As in the First World War, a relatively small BEF was sent to France but then hastily evacuated from Dunkirk as the German forces swept through the Low Countries and across France in May 1940.
After the British Army recovered from its earlier defeats, it defeated the Germans and Italians at the Second Battle of El Alamein in North Africa in 1942–1943 and helped drive them from Africa. It then fought through Italy and, with the help of American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and Free French forces, was the principal organiser and participant in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944; nearly half the Allied soldiers were British. In the Far East, the British Army rallied against the Japanese in the Burma Campaign and regained the British Far Eastern colonial possessions.
Postcolonial era (1945–2000).
After the Second World War the British Army was significantly reduced in size, although National Service continued until 1960. This period saw decolonisation begin with the partition and independence of India and Pakistan, followed by the independence of British colonies in Africa and Asia.
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The Corps Warrant, which is the official list of which bodies of the British Military (not to be confused with "naval") Forces were to be considered Corps of the British Army for the purposes of the Army Act, the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, and the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act, 1907, had not been updated since 1926 (Army Order 49 of 1926), although amendments had been made up to and including Army Order 67 of 1950. A new Corps Warrant was declared in 1951.
Although the British Army was a major participant in Korea in the early 1950s and Suez in 1956, during this period Britain's role in world events was reduced and the army was downsized. The British Army of the Rhine, consisting of I (BR) Corps, remained in Germany as a bulwark against Soviet invasion. The Cold War continued, with significant technological advances in warfare, and the army saw the introduction of new weapons systems. Despite the decline of the British Empire, the army was engaged in Aden, Indonesia, Cyprus, Kenya and Malaya. In 1982, the British Army and the Royal Marines helped liberate the Falkland Islands during the conflict with Argentina after that country's invasion of the British territory.
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In the three decades following 1969, the army was heavily deployed in Northern Ireland's Operation Banner to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (later the Police Service of Northern Ireland) in their conflict with republican paramilitary groups. The locally recruited Ulster Defence Regiment was formed, becoming home-service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992 before it was disbanded in 2006. Over 700 soldiers were killed during the Troubles. Following the 1994–1996 IRA ceasefires and since 1997, demilitarisation has been part of the peace process and the military presence has been reduced. On 25 June 2007 the 2nd Battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment left the army complex in Bessbrook, County Armagh, ending the longest operation in British Army history.
Persian Gulf War.
The British Army contributed 50,000 troops to the coalition which fought Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, and British forces controlled Kuwait after its liberation. Forty-seven British military personnel died during the war.
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Balkan conflicts.
The army was deployed to former Yugoslavia in 1992. Initially part of the United Nations Protection Force, in 1995 its command was transferred to the Implementation Force (IFOR) and then to the Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR); the commitment rose to over 10,000 troops. In 1999, British forces under SFOR command were sent to Kosovo and the contingent increased to 19,000 troops. Between early 1993 and June 2010, 72 British military personnel died during operations in the former Yugoslavian countries of Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia.
The Troubles.
Although there have been permanent garrisons in Northern Ireland throughout its history, the British Army was deployed as a peacekeeping force from 1969 to 2007 in Operation Banner. Initially, this was (in the wake of unionist attacks on nationalist communities in Derry and Belfast) to prevent further loyalist attacks on Catholic communities; it developed into support of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and its successor, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) against the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, there was a gradual reduction in the number of soldiers deployed. In 2005, after the PIRA declared a ceasefire, the British Army dismantled posts, withdrew many troops and restored troop levels to those of a peacetime garrison.
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Operation Banner ended at midnight on 31 July 2007 after about 38 years of continuous deployment, the longest in British Army history. According to an internal document released in 2007, the British Army had failed to defeat the IRA but made it impossible for them to win by violence. Operation Helvetic replaced Operation Banner in 2007, maintaining fewer service personnel in a more-benign environment. Of the 300,000 troops who served in Northern Ireland since 1969, there were 763 British military personnel killed and 306 killed by the British military, mostly civilians. An estimated 100 soldiers committed suicide during Operation Banner or soon afterwards and a similar number died in accidents. A total of 6,116 were wounded.
Sierra Leone
The British Army deployed to Sierra Leone for Operation Palliser in 1999, under United Nations resolutions, to aid the government in quelling violent uprisings by militiamen. British troops also provided support during the 2014 West African Ebola virus epidemic.
Recent history (2000–present).
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War in Afghanistan.
In November 2001, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom with the United States, the United Kingdom deployed forces in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban in Operation Herrick. The 3rd Division were sent to Kabul to assist in the liberation of the capital and defeat Taliban forces in the mountains. In 2006 the British Army began concentrating on fighting Taliban forces and bringing security to Helmand Province, with about 9,500 British troops (including marines, airmen and sailors) deployed at its peak—the second-largest force after that of the US. In December 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the combat mission would end in 2014, and troop numbers gradually fell as the Afghan National Army took over the brunt of the fighting. Between 2001 and 26 April 2014 a total of 453 British military personnel died in Afghan operations. Operation Herrick ended with the handover of Camp Bastion on 26 October 2014, but the British Army maintained a deployment in Afghanistan as part of Operation Toral.
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Following an announcement by the US Government of the end of their operations in the Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence announced in April 2021 that British forces would withdraw from the country by 11 September 2021. It was later reported that all UK troops would be out by early July. Following the collapse of the Afghan Army, and the completion of the withdrawal of civilians, all British troops had left by the end of August 2021.
Iraq War.
In 2003, the United Kingdom was a major contributor to the invasion of Iraq, sending a force of over 46,000 military personnel. The British Army controlled southern Iraq, and maintained a peace-keeping presence in Basra. All British troops were withdrawn from Iraq by 30 April 2009, after the Iraqi government refused to extend their mandate. One hundred and seventy-nine British military personnel died in Iraqi operations. The British Armed Forces returned to Iraq in 2014 as part of Operation Shader to counter the Islamic State (ISIL).
Recent military aid.
The British Army maintains a standing liability to support the civil authorities in certain circumstances, usually in either niche capabilities (e.g. explosive ordnance removal) or in general support of the civil authorities when their capacity is exceeded. In recent years this has been seen as army personnel supporting the civil authorities in the face of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak, the 2002 firefighters strike, widespread flooding in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2014, Operation Temperer following the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 and, most recently, Operation Rescript during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Baltic States.
Since 2016, the British Army has maintained a presence in the Baltic States in support of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence strategy which responded to the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. The British Army leads a multinational armoured battlegroup in Estonia under Operation Cabrit and contributes troops to another military battle group in Poland. As part of the NATO plans, Britain has committed a full mechanized infantry brigade to be on a high state of readiness to defend Estonia.
Ukraine.
Between 2015 and 2022, the British Army deployed Short Term Training Teams (STTTs) to Ukraine under Operation Orbital to help train the Armed Forces of Ukraine against further Russian aggression. This operation was succeeded by Operation Interflex in July 2022.
Modern army.
Personnel.
The British Army has been a volunteer force since national service ended during the 1960s. Since the creation of the part-time, reserve Territorial Force in 1908 (renamed the Army Reserve in 2014), the full-time British Army has been known as the Regular Army. In July 2020 there were just over 78,800 Regulars, with a target strength of 82,000, and just over 30,000 Army Reservists, with a target strength of 30,000. All former Regular Army personnel may also be recalled to duty in exceptional circumstances during the 6-year period following completion of their Regular service, which creates an additional force known as the Regular Reserve.
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The table below illustrates British Army personnel figures from 1710 to 2025.
Equipment.
Infantry.
The British Army's basic weapon is the 5.56 mm L85A2 or L85A3 assault rifle, with some specialist personnel using the L22A2 carbine variant (pilots and some tank crew). The weapon was traditionally equipped with either iron sights or an optical SUSAT, although other optical sights have been subsequently purchased to supplement these. The weapon can be enhanced further utilising the Picatinny rail with attachments such as the L17A2 under-barrel grenade launcher. In 2023, the Army Special Operations Brigade, which includes the Ranger Regiment, began using the L403A1, an AR-pattern rifle also used by the Royal Marines.
Some soldiers are equipped with the 7.62mm L129A1 sharpshooter rifle, which in 2018 formally replaced the L86A2 Light Support Weapon. Support fire is provided by the L7 general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), and indirect fire is provided by L16 81mm mortars. Sniper rifles include the L118A1 7.62 mm, L115A3 and the AW50F, all manufactured by Accuracy International. The British Army utilises the Glock 17 as its side arm.
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Anti tank guided weapons include the Javelin, the medium range anti-tank guided weapon replacement for Milan, with overfly and direct attack modes of operation, and the NLAW. The Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) is the first, non-expert, short-range, anti-tank missile that rapidly knocks out any main battle tank in just one shot by striking it from above.
Armour.
The army's main battle tank is the Challenger 2, which is being upgraded to Challenger 3. It is supported by the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle as the primary infantry fighting vehicle, (which will soon be replaced by the Boxer 8x8 armoured fighting vehicle) and the Bulldog armoured personnel carrier. Light armoured units often utilise the Supacat "Jackal" MWMIK and Coyote tactical support vehicle for reconnaissance and fire support.
Artillery.
The army has three main artillery systems: the M270 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS), the AS-90 and the L118 light gun. The MLRS, first used in Operation Granby, has an standard range, or with the PrSM, up to 500 km. The AS-90 is a 155 mm self-propelled armoured gun with a range. The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed gun, which is typically towed by a Pinzgauer all-terrain vehicle. To identify artillery targets, the army operates the TAIPAN artillery detection radar and utilises artillery sound ranging. For air defence it uses the new Sky Sabre system, which in 2021 replaced the Rapier. It also deploys the Very Short-Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) Starstreak HVM (high-velocity missile) launched by a single soldier or from a Stormer HVM vehicle-mounted launcher.
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Protected mobility.
Where armour is not required or mobility and speed are favoured the British Army utilises protected patrol vehicles, such as the Panther variant of the Iveco LMV, the Foxhound, and variants of the Cougar family (such as the Ridgeback, Husky and Mastiff). For day-to-day utility work the army commonly uses the Land Rover Wolf, which is based on the Land Rover Defender.
Engineers, utility and signals.
Specialist engineering vehicles include bomb-disposal robots such as the T7 Multi-Mission Robotic System and the modern variants of the Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers, including the Titan bridge-layer, Trojan armoured engineer vehicle, Terrier armoured digger. Day-to-day utility work uses a series of support vehicles, including six-, nine- and fifteen-tonne MAN trucks, Oshkosh heavy-equipment transporters (HET), close-support tankers, quad bikes and ambulances. Tactical communication uses the Bowman radio system, and operational or strategic communication is controlled by the Royal Corps of Signals.
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Aviation.
The Army Air Corps (AAC) provides direct aviation support, with the Royal Air Force providing support helicopters. The primary attack helicopter is the Boeing AH-64E Apache which replaced the AgustaWestland Apache AH-1 in the anti-tank, anti-air defence, and anti-armour role. The AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat is a dedicated intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) helicopter. The Eurocopter AS 365N Dauphin is used for special operations aviation, primarily counter terrorism operations, within the UK. The army operates two unmanned aerial vehicles in a surveillance role: the small Lockheed Martin Desert Hawk III and the larger Thales Watchkeeper WK450, which will be retired from service in March 2025.
Structure.
Army Headquarters is located in Andover, Hampshire, and is responsible for providing forces at operational readiness for employment by the Permanent Joint Headquarters. The command structure is hierarchical, with overall command residing with the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), who is immediately subordinate to The Chief of Defence Staff, the head of the British Armed Services. The CGS is supported by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff. Army Headquarters is further organised into two subordinate commands, Field Army and Home Command, each commanded by a lieutenant general. These two Commands serve distinct purposes and are divided into a structure of divisions and brigades, which themselves consist of a complex mix of smaller units such as Battalions. British Army units are either full-time 'Regular' units, or part-time Army Reserve units.
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Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.
Led by a British Army three-star general, one of NATO's High Readiness (Land) Forces based in Gloucestershire, UK, with the following British units under its command:
Field Army.
Led by Commander Field Army, the Field Army is responsible for generating and preparing forces for current and contingency operations. The Field Army comprises:
Home Command.
Home Command is the British Army's supporting command; a generating, recruiting and training force that supports the Field Army and delivers UK resilience. It comprises
Special Forces.
The British Army contributes two of the three special forces formations to the United Kingdom Special Forces directorate: the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR). The SAS consists of one regular and two reserve regiments. The regular regiment, 22 SAS, has its headquarters at Stirling Lines, Credenhill, Herefordshire. It consists of 5 squadrons (A, B, D, G and Reserve) and a training wing. 22 SAS is supported by 2 reserve regiments, 21 SAS and 23 SAS, which collectively form the Special Air Service (Reserve) (SAS [R]), who in 2020 were transferred back under the command of Director of Special Forces after previously being under the command of the 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade. The SRR, formed in 2005, performs close reconnaissance and special surveillance tasks. The Special Forces Support Group, under the operational control of the Director of Special Forces, provides operational manoeuvring support to the United Kingdom Special Forces.
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Colonial units.
The British Army historically included many units from what are now separate Commonwealth realms. When the English Empire was established in North America (including Bermuda), and the West Indies in the early 17th century there was no standing English Army, only the Militia, Yeomanry, and Royal bodyguards, of which the Militia, as the primary home-defence force, was immediately extended to the colonies. Colonial militias defended colonies single-handedly at first against indigenous peoples and European competitors. Once the standing English Army, later the British Army, came into existence and began to garrison the colonies, the colonial militias fought side by side with it in a number of wars, including the Seven Years' War. Some of the colonial militias rebelled during the American War of Independence. The militia fought alongside the regular British Army (and native allies) in defending British North America from their former countrymen during the War of 1812.
Locally raised units in strategically located Imperial fortress colonies (including: Nova Scotia before the Canadian Confederation; Bermuda – which was treated as part of The Maritimes under the Commander-in-Chief at Nova Scotia until Canadian Confederation; Gibraltar; and Malta) and the Channel Islands were generally maintained from army funds and more fully integrated into the British Army as evident from their placements in British Army lists, unlike units such as the King's African Rifles.
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The larger colonies (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, etc.) mostly achieved Commonwealth Dominion status before or after the First World War and were granted full legislative independence in 1931. While remaining within the British Empire, this placed their governments on a par with the British government, and hence their military units comprised separate armies (e.g. the Australian Army), although Canada retained the term "militia" for its military forces until the Second World War. From the 1940s, these dominions and many colonies chose full independence, usually becoming Commonwealth realms (as member states of the Commonwealth are known today).
Units raised in self-governing and Crown colonies (those without local elected Legislatures, as was the case with British Hong Kong) that are part of the British realm remain under British Government control. As the territorial governments are delegated responsibility only for internal government, the UK Government, as the government of the Sovereign state, retains responsibility for national security and the defence of the fourteen remaining British Overseas Territories, of which six have locally raised regiments:
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Levels of Command.
The structure of the British Army beneath the level of Divisions and Brigades is also hierarchical and command is based on rank. The table below details how many units within the British Army are structured, although there can be considerable variation between individual units:
Whilst many units are organised as Battalions or Regiments administratively, the most common fighting unit is the combined arms unit known as a Battlegroup. This is formed around a combat unit and supported by units (or sub-units) from other capabilities. An example of a battlegroup would be two companies of armoured infantry (e.g. from the 1st Battalion of the Mercian Regiment), one squadron of heavy armour (e.g. A Squadron of the Royal Tank Regiment), a company of engineers (e.g. B Company of the 22nd Engineer Regiment), a Battery of artillery (e.g. D Battery of the 1st Regiment of the Royal Horse Artillery) and smaller attachments from medical, logistic and intelligence units. Typically organised and commanded by a battlegroup headquarters and named after the unit which provided the most combat units, in this example, it would be the 1 Mercian Battlegroup. This creates a self-sustaining mixed formation of armour, infantry, artillery, engineers and support units, commanded by a lieutenant colonel.
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Recruitment.
The British Army primarily recruits from within the United Kingdom, but accept applications from all British citizens. It also accepts applications from Irish citizens and Commonwealth citizens, with certain restrictions. Since 2018 the British Army has been an equal-opportunity employer (with some legal exceptions due to medical standards), and does not discriminate based on race, religion or sexual orientation. Applicants for the Regular Army must be a minimum age of 16, although soldiers under 18 may not serve in operations, and the maximum age is 36. Applicants for the Army Reserve must be a minimum of 17 years and 9 months, and a maximum age of 43. Different age limits apply for Officers and those in some specialist roles. Applicants must also meet several other requirements, notably regarding medical health, physical fitness, past-criminal convictions, education, and regarding any tattoos and piercings.
Soldiers and officers in the Regular Army now enlist for an initial period of 12 years, with options to extend if they meet certain requirements. Soldiers and officers are normally required to serve for a minimum of 4 years from date of enlistment and must give 12 months' notice before leaving; soldiers who joined before the age of 18 years old are normally required to serve for a minimum of 6 years.
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Oath of allegiance.
All soldiers and commissioned officers must take an oath of allegiance upon joining the Army, a process known as attestation. Those who wish to swear by God use the following words:
Others replace the words "swear by Almighty God" with "solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm".
Training.
Candidates for the Army undergo common training, beginning with initial military training, to bring all personnel to a similar standard in basic military skills, which is known as Phase 1 training. They then undertake further specialist trade-training for their specific Regiment or Corps, known as Phase 2 training. After completing Phase 1 training a soldier is counted against the Army's trained strength, and upon completion of Phase 2 are counted against the Army's fully trained trade strength.
Soldiers under the age of 17 and six months will complete Phase 1 training at the Army Foundation College. Infantry Soldiers will complete combined Phase 1 & 2 training at the Infantry Training Centre, Catterick, whilst all other Soldiers will attend Phase 1 training at the Army Training Centre Pirbright or Army Training Regiment, Winchester, and then complete Phase 2 training at different locations depending on their specialism. Officers conduct their initial training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS), before also completing their Phase 2 training at multiple different locations.
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Flags and ensigns.
The British Army's official flag is the Union Jack. The Army also has a non-ceremonial flag that is often seen flying from military buildings and is used at recruiting and military events and exhibitions. Traditionally most British Army units had a set of flags, known as the colours—normally a Regimental Colour and a King's Colour (the Union Jack). Historically these were carried into battle as a rallying point for the soldiers and were closely guarded. In modern units the colours are often prominently displayed, decorated with battle honours, and act as a focal point for Regimental pride. A soldier re-joining a regiment (upon recall from the reserve) is described as "re-called to the Colours".
Ranks and insignia.
Most ranks across the British Army are known by the same name regardless of which Regiment they are in. However, the Household Cavalry call many ranks by different names, the Royal Artillery refer to Corporals as Bombardiers, the Rifles spell Sergeant as Serjeant, and Private soldiers are known by a wide variety of titles; notably trooper, gunner, guardsman, kingsman, sapper, signaller, fusilier, craftsman and rifleman dependant on the Regiment they belong to. These names do not affect a soldier's pay or role.
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Reserve forces.
The oldest of the Reserve Forces was the Militia Force (also referred to as the "Constitutional Force"), which (in the Kingdom of England, prior to 1707) was originally the main military defensive force (until the 1645 creation of the New Model Army, there otherwise were originally only Royal bodyguards, including the Yeomen Warders and the Yeomen of the Guard, with armies raised only temporarily for expeditions overseas), made up of civilians embodied for annual training or emergencies, which had used various schemes of compulsory service during different periods of its long existence. From the 1850s it recruited volunteers who engaged for terms of service. The Militia was originally an all-infantry force, though Militia coastal artillery, field artillery, and engineers units were introduced from the 1850s.
Volunteer Force units were also frequently raised during wartime and disbanded upon peace. This was re-established as a permanent (i.e., in war and peace) part of the Reserve Forces in 1859. It differed from the Militia in a number of ways, most particularly in that volunteers did not commit to a term service, and were able to resign with fourteen days notice (except while embodied). As volunteer soldiers were originally expected to fund the cost of their own equipment, few tended to come from the labouring class among whom the Militia primarily recruited.
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The Yeomanry Force was made up of mounted units, organised similarly to the Volunteer Force, first raised during the two decades of war with France that followed the French Revolution. As with the Volunteers, members of the Yeomanry were expected to foot much of the cost of their own equipment, including their horses, and the make-up of the units tended to be from more affluent classes.
Although Militia regiments were linked with British Army regiments during the course of the Napoleonic Wars to feed volunteers for service abroad into the regular army, and volunteers from the Reserve Forces served abroad either individually or in contingents, service companies, or battalions in a succession of conflicts from the Crimean War to the Second Boer War, personnel did not normally move between forces unless re-attested as a member of the new force, and units did not normally move from the Reserve Forces to become part of the Regular Forces, or vice versa. There were exceptions, however, as with the "New Brunswick Regiment of Fencible Infantry", raised in 1803, which became the 104th (New Brunswick) Regiment of Foot when it was transferred to the British Army on 13 September 1810.
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Another type of reserve force was created during the period between the French Revolution and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Called Fencibles, these were disbanded after the Napoleonic Wars and not raised again, although the Royal Malta Fencible Regiment, later the "Royal Malta Fencible Artillery", existed from 1815 until the 1880s when it became the Royal Malta Artillery, and the Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps was formed in 1846.
The Reserve Forces were raised locally (in Britain, under the control of Lords-Lieutenant of counties, and, in British colonies, under the colonial governors, and members originally were obliged to serve only within their locality (which, in the United Kingdom, originally meant within the county or other recruitment area, but was extended to anywhere in Britain, though not overseas). They have consequently also been referred to as "Local Forces". As they were (and in some cases "are") considered separate forces from the British Army, though still within the British military, they have also been known as "Auxiliary Forces". The Militia and Volunteer units of a colony were generally considered to be separate forces from the "Home" Militia Force and Volunteer Force in the United Kingdom, they have also been known as "Auxiliary Forces". The Militia and Volunteer units of a colony were generally considered to be separate forces from the "Home" Militia Force and Volunteer Force in the United Kingdom, and from the Militia Forces and Volunteer Forces of other colonies. |
they have also been known as "Auxiliary Forces". The Militia and Volunteer units of a colony were generally considered to be separate forces from the "Home" Militia Force and Volunteer Force in the United Kingdom, and from the Militia Forces and Volunteer Forces of other colonies. Where a colony had more than one Militia or Volunteer unit, they would be grouped as a Militia or Volunteer Force for that colony, such as the Jamaica Volunteer Defence Force. Officers of the Reserve Forces could not sit on Courts Martial of regular forces personnel. The Mutiny Act did not apply to members of the Reserve Forces. The "Reserve Forces" within the British Isles were increasingly integrated with the British Army through a succession of reforms (beginning with the Cardwell Reforms) of the British military forces over the last two decades of the Nineteenth Century and the early years of the Twentieth Century, whereby the Reserve Forces units mostly lost their own identities and became numbered Militia or Volunteer battalions of regular British Army corps or regiments.
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In 1908, the Yeomanry and Volunteer Force were merged to create the Territorial Force (changed to "Territorial Army" after the First World War), with terms of service similar to the army and Militia, and the Militia was renamed the "Special Reserve", After the First World War the Special Reserve was renamed the Militia, again, but permanently suspended (although a handful of Militia units survived in the United Kingdom, its colonies, and the Crown Dependencies). Although the Territorial Force was nominally still a separate force from the British Army, by the end of the century, at the latest, any unit wholly or partly funded from Army Funds was considered part of the British Army. Outside the United Kingdom-proper, this was generally only the case for those units in the Channel Islands or the Imperial fortress colonies (Nova Scotia, before Canadian confederation; Bermuda; Gibraltar; and Malta).
The Bermuda Militia Artillery, Bermuda Militia Infantry, Bermuda Volunteer Engineers, and the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, by example were paid for by the War Office and considered part of the British Army, with their officers appearing as such in the "Army List" unlike those of many other colonial units deemed auxiliaries. Today, the British Army is the only Home British military force, including the various other forces it has absorbed, though British military units organised on Territorial Army lines remain in British Overseas Territories that are still not considered formally part of the British Army, with only the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and the Royal Bermuda Regiment (an amalgam of the old Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps) appearing on the British Army order-of-precedence and in the Army List, as well as on the Corps Warrant (the official list of those British military forces that are considered corps of the British Army).
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In October 2012 the Ministry of Defence announced that the Territorial Army was to be renamed the Army Reserve.
Uniforms.
The British Army uniform has sixteen categories, ranging from ceremonial uniforms to combat dress to evening wear. No. 8 Dress, the day-to-day uniform, is known as "Personal Clothing System – Combat Uniform" (PCS-CU) and consists of a Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP) windproof smock, a lightweight jacket and trousers with ancillary items such as thermals and waterproofs. The army has introduced tactical recognition flashes (TRFs); worn on the right arm of a combat uniform, the insignia denotes the wearer's regiment or corps. In addition to working dress, the army has a number of parade uniforms for ceremonial and non-ceremonial occasions. The most-commonly-seen uniforms are No. 1 Dress (full ceremonial, seen at formal occasions such as at the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace) and No. 2 Dress (Service Dress), a brown khaki uniform worn for non-ceremonial parades.
Working headdress is typically a beret, whose colour indicates its wearer's type of regiment. Beret colours are: |
Bruin
Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear.
Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: |
Bayesian probability
Bayesian probability ( or ) is an interpretation of the concept of probability, in which, instead of frequency or propensity of some phenomenon, probability is interpreted as reasonable expectation representing a state of knowledge or as quantification of a personal belief.
The Bayesian interpretation of probability can be seen as an extension of propositional logic that enables reasoning with hypotheses; that is, with propositions whose truth or falsity is unknown. In the Bayesian view, a probability is assigned to a hypothesis, whereas under frequentist inference, a hypothesis is typically tested without being assigned a probability.
Bayesian probability belongs to the category of evidential probabilities; to evaluate the probability of a hypothesis, the Bayesian probabilist specifies a prior probability. This, in turn, is then updated to a posterior probability in the light of new, relevant data (evidence). The Bayesian interpretation provides a standard set of procedures and formulae to perform this calculation.
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The term "Bayesian" derives from the 18th-century mathematician and theologian Thomas Bayes, who provided the first mathematical treatment of a non-trivial problem of statistical data analysis using what is now known as Bayesian inference. Mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace pioneered and popularized what is now called Bayesian probability.
Bayesian methodology.
Bayesian methods are characterized by concepts and procedures as follows:
Objective and subjective Bayesian probabilities.
Broadly speaking, there are two interpretations of Bayesian probability. For objectivists, who interpret probability as an extension of logic, "probability" quantifies the reasonable expectation that everyone (even a "robot") who shares the same knowledge should share in accordance with the rules of Bayesian statistics, which can be justified by Cox's theorem. For subjectivists, "probability" corresponds to a personal belief. Rationality and coherence allow for substantial variation within the constraints they pose; the constraints are justified by the Dutch book argument or by decision theory and de Finetti's theorem. The objective and subjective variants of Bayesian probability differ mainly in their interpretation and construction of the prior probability.
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History.
The term "Bayesian" derives from Thomas Bayes (1702–1761), who proved a special case of what is now called Bayes' theorem in a paper titled "An Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances". In that special case, the prior and posterior distributions were beta distributions and the data came from Bernoulli trials. It was Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827) who introduced a general version of the theorem and used it to approach problems in celestial mechanics, medical statistics, reliability, and jurisprudence. Early Bayesian inference, which used uniform priors following Laplace's principle of insufficient reason, was called "inverse probability" (because it infers backwards from observations to parameters, or from effects to causes). After the 1920s, "inverse probability" was largely supplanted by a collection of methods that came to be called frequentist statistics.
In the 20th century, the ideas of Laplace developed in two directions, giving rise to "objective" and "subjective" currents in Bayesian practice.
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Harold Jeffreys' "Theory of Probability" (first published in 1939) played an important role in the revival of the Bayesian view of probability, followed by works by Abraham Wald (1950) and Leonard J. Savage (1954). The adjective "Bayesian" itself dates to the 1950s; the derived "Bayesianism", "neo-Bayesianism" is of 1960s coinage. In the objectivist stream, the statistical analysis depends on only the model assumed and the data analysed. No subjective decisions need to be involved. In contrast, "subjectivist" statisticians deny the possibility of fully objective analysis for the general case.
In the 1980s, there was a dramatic growth in research and applications of Bayesian methods, mostly attributed to the discovery of Markov chain Monte Carlo methods and the consequent removal of many of the computational problems, and to an increasing interest in nonstandard, complex applications. While frequentist statistics remains strong (as demonstrated by the fact that much of undergraduate teaching is based on it ), Bayesian methods are widely accepted and used, e.g., in the field of machine learning.
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Justification.
The use of Bayesian probabilities as the basis of Bayesian inference has been supported by several arguments, such as Cox axioms, the Dutch book argument, arguments based on decision theory and de Finetti's theorem.
Axiomatic approach.
Richard T. Cox showed that Bayesian updating follows from several axioms, including two functional equations and a hypothesis of differentiability. The assumption of differentiability or even continuity is controversial; Halpern found a counterexample based on his observation that the Boolean algebra of statements may be finite. Other axiomatizations have been suggested by various authors with the purpose of making the theory more rigorous.
Dutch book approach.
Bruno de Finetti proposed the Dutch book argument based on betting. A clever bookmaker makes a Dutch book by setting the odds and bets to ensure that the bookmaker profits—at the expense of the gamblers—regardless of the outcome of the event (a horse race, for example) on which the gamblers bet. It is associated with probabilities implied by the odds not being coherent.
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