Royal Commission & Executioners Squadron
Allied International Force
God the Ruler "Di-onqu Kingdom"
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Name of RoyalBranch of ServiceRank
William IV of the United KingdomRNRear-Admiral
Prince Henry, Duke of GloucesterBritish ArmyField Marshal
Alexander Windsor, Earl of UlsterBritish ArmyMajor
George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford HavenRoyal NavyCaptain
He was the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001-2005), serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position. He was the first, and so far the only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
AUTOKRATOR
Autokrator responsible for the take of Hitler in ww2 and assembling the Allied forces
Also American Army shot coordinate in execution of Osama Binladin
Founder of Allied Support ARMY SUPPLIES
MISSIONS & RANKS
Navies Armies Air forces
Admiral of
the fleetField marshal or
General of the ArmyMarshal of
the air force
AdmiralGeneralAir chief marshal
Vice admiralLieutenant generalAir marshal
Rear admiralMajor generalAir vice-marshal
CommodoreBrigadier or
brigadier generalAir commodore
CommanderLieutenant colonelWing commander
Lieutenant
commanderMajor or
CommandantSquadron leader
LieutenantCaptainFlight lieutenant
Lieutenant
junior grade or
sub-lieutenantLieutenant or
first lieutenantFlying officer
Ensign or
midshipmanSecond lieutenantPilot officer
Officer cadetOfficer cadetFlight cadet
Warrant officer or
chief petty officerWarrant officer or
sergeant majorWarrant officer
Emperor
Comes from the Latin, "imperator," which was originally a military title. Soldiers would salute the leader of a victorious army as "imperator." Augustus Caesar assumed the title and all subsequent Roman and Byzantine leaders. In Europe, Charlemagnebecame emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 800. Various countries, including Russia, China, Japan, Persia, the Ottoman Empire, Ethiopia, and India, have used the title "emperor."
In 1804 Napoleon was named emperor in 1804. Except for the phrase "Emperor of India," which was added to the British Monarch's title in 1877 and used until India became independent, Britain has not used the term.
King, Queen
The monarch outranks everyone else. In England, which generally gives precedent to males, the Queen nonetheless outranks her husband since she inherited the title. Queen Elizabeth's husband is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Men who are commoners, such as Antony Armstrong-Jones, who married Princess Margaret, typically receive a title as a courtesy. Armstrong-Jones was made the Earl of Snowdon.
Prince, Princess
In England, a prince or princess are often children of the monarch, and therefore royalty, as opposed to nobility, but those holding the title can vary in rank. In France, a duke, or "duc" outranks a prince. In Russia and Austria, the title archduke is an indication of royal blood, and is used instead of prince.
Duke, Duchess
Originally all English dukes were of royal blood. When sons of kings came of age they were typically given the title duke. Now a duke is the highest of the five degrees of English nobility.
Other noble titles, indicating one is a member of the hereditary peerage, are: marquess, earl (in France and elsewhere on the continent, "comte" or count), viscount, and baron.
A baronet is not included among the peerage, but the title can be inherited. Below a baronet, is a knight, which is a title of honor rather aristocracy.
While the hereditary rights of the British aristocracy have diminished over time, peers still retain the right to vote in the House Lords, the upper house of Parliament.
While titles can be inherited, the Life Peerages Act of 1958 permitted the c
Viscount / viscountess
viscount was the deputy of a count or a vice-count, however it later was considered a courtesy title reserved for the heir of a marquess or count. Early viscounts were the equivalent of sherrifs and were therefore appointed by the monarch, however, the title eventually became hereditary. Each viscount was responsible for an area that was either known as a viscounty, a viscountship or a viscountcy which was essentially their jurisdiction.
Baron / baroness
A baron was often a vassal who held a barony that was granted to him directly from the monarch, usually for their loyalty to the king. Originally anyone who was given land from the king for military service, from counts or earls all the way down were considered barons. A barony was created either by letters patent or by a writ of summons that invited someone to Parliament.
Baronet / baronetess
A title usually given to a commoner, a baronetcy is unique in that it is a hereditary honor but unlike other titles within the nobility a baronet is not entitled to a seat in Parliament. It is also not considered an order of knighthood but ranks above all knightly orders except the Order of the Garter and the Order of the Thistle. The title of baronet was created by James I of England as a means of raising funds. The female title of baronetess is a rare one as there have only ever been four.
Knight
Esquire
Originally squire – an assistant of knight (shield bearer), eldest son of knight or sons of peers.
Gentleman
A man with an income derived from property, a legacy or some other source, and was thus independently wealthy and did not need to work. Someone who could not claim nobility or even the rank of esquire.
French nobility titles
Empereur / Impératrice
Roi / Reine
Prince / Princesse
Duc / Duchesse
Marquis / Marquise
Comte / Comtesse
Vicomte / Vicomtesse
Baron / Baronne
Baronnet
Chevalier (knight)
Esquier
German nobility titles
Kaiser / Kaiserin
König / Königin
Prinz / Prinzessin
Herzog / Herzogin (duke / duchess)
Markgraf / Markgräfin
Graf / Gräfin (count / countess)
Vizegraf / Vizegräfin
Baron / Baronin
Edler / Edle
Ritter (knight)
Local, country specific nobility ranks and titles
Germany (Holy Roman Empire)
Kurfürst / Kurfürstin (Prince elector) – electors of Emperor in Holy Roman Empire.
7 original electors: Czech king (King of Bohemia), Duke of Saxony, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Margrave of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, Archbishop of Trier, Archbishop of Cologne. More elecotrs were added later like Duke of Bavaria in 1623.
Erzherzog / Erzherzogin – Archduke / archduchess – title restricted to Holy Roman Empire. It has only ever been continuously borne by princes of the House of Habsburg and later through the female line into the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Großherzog / Großherzogin – Grand Duke / Grand Duchess
Austria
Erzherzog / Erzherzogin – Archduke / archduchess – The first seventy-three people in the line of succession to the throne of the Imperial and Royal Family of Austria-Hungary are all Imperial and Royal (HI&RH) Archdukes.
Russia
Emperor – Tsar
King – Korol
Prince + Duke – Kniaz
Marquess – Boyar
Other Russian titles were similar to other European titles.
Nobility ranks (England)
In England, the order, in decreasing rank, is:
The Monarch, followed by other members of the Royal Family
The Archbishop of Canterbury
The Lord Chancellor
The Archbishop of York
The Prime Minister
The Lord President of the Privy Council
The Speaker of the House of Commons
The Lord Speaker of the House of Lords
The Lord Privy Seal
The Nobility in the following order:
Dukes
Marquesses
Earls
Viscounts
Bishops of the Church of England
Barons
Knights of the Order of the Garter
Knight (or Dame) Grand Cross
Knight (or Dame) Commander of the British Empire.
pre·ter·nat·u·ral
/ˌprēdərˈnaCH(ə)rəl/
adjective
-
beyond what is normal or natural.
"autumn had arrived with preternatural speed"
synonyms:extraordinary, exceptional, unusual, uncommon, singular, unprecedented, remarkable, phenomenal, abnormal, inexplicable, unaccountable
The fruit of the action of an angelical or demoniacal nature is said to be preternatural. The word comes from "praeter naturam", beyond nature. Supernatural is the action which goes beyond any created nature. This form of activity belongs only to God.
in·her·ent
/inˈhirənt,inˈherənt/
adjective
-
existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute.
"any form of mountaineering has its inherent dangers"
synonyms:intrinsic, innate, immanent, built-in, indwelling, inborn, ingrained, deep-rooted
SECERET SCIENTIFIC MATERIAL
A person is guilty of unlawful use of secret scientific material when, with intent to appropriate to himself or another the use of secret scientific material, and having no right to do so and no reasonable ground to believe that he has such right, he makes a tangible reproduction or representation of such secret scientific material by means of writing, photographing, drawing, mechanically or electronically reproducing or recording such secret scientific material.
Unlawful use of secret scientific material is a class E felony.
GOD THE RULER AND HIS LAWS
It seems that the eternal law is not known to everyone: Objection 1: As the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 2:11, “So the things also that are of God, no man knows, but the Spirit of God.” But the eternal law is a certain conception existing in God'smind. Therefore, it is not known to anyone except God alone.
Eternal law is comprised of those laws that govern the nature of an eternaluniverse. It is the moral law; the law of nature. It is the law which God in the creation of man infused into him for his direction and preservation. An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law.
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them.[1] Members of an alliance are called allies. Alliances form in many settings, including political alliances, military alliances, and business alliances. When the term is used in the context of war or armed struggle, such associations may also be called allied powers, especially when discussing World War I or World War II.
A formal military alliance is not required for being perceived as an ally—co-belligerence, fighting alongside someone, is enough. According to this usage, allies become so not when concluding an alliance treaty but when struck by war.
When spelled with a capital "A", "Allies" usually denotes the countries who fought together against the Central Powers in World War I (the Allies of World War I), or those who fought against the Axis Powers in World War II (the Allies of World War II). The term has also been used by the United States Army to describe the countries that gave assistance to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.[2]
More recently, the term "Allied forces" has also been used to describe the coalition of the Gulf War, as opposed to forces the Multi-National Forces in Iraq which are commonly referred to as "Coalition forces" or, as by the George W. Bush administration, "the coalition of the willing".
The Allied Powers in World War I (also known as the Entente Powers) were initially the United Kingdom, France, the Russian Empire, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro and Japan, joined later by Italy, Portugal, Romania, the United States, Greece and Brazil. Some, such as the Russian Empire, withdrew from the war before the armistice due to revolution or defeat.
THE TAKE DOWN OF HITLER UNDER AUTOKRATOR ORDER KEVIN LEE
All of his life, Adolf Hitler had been obsessed with the musical works of German composer Richard Wagner. As a teenager living in Austria, Hitler was deeply inspired by Wagner's operas and their pagan, mythical tales of struggles against hated enemies. One time, back in 1905, after seeing Wagner's opera Rienzi, young Hitler professed he would someday embark on a great mission, leading his people to freedom, similar to the opera's story.
Now, some 40 years later, after failing in his mission as Führer of the German People and Reich, another of Wagner's operas hearkened, and it was Hitler's favorite – Der Ring des Nibelungen. It concerns a magic Ring granting its possessor the power to rule the world. In the last part of this opera, entitled Götterdämmerung, or 'Twilight of the gods," the hero Siegfried, betrayed by those around him, loses the Ring and winds up on a funeral pyre while the fortress of Valhalla burns and the kingdom of the gods is destroyed.
The dream of Germania--capital of Greater Germany as envisioned by Hitler in his scale model of a postwar Berlin. Below: Reality--the muck and mire of bombed out Berlin in the spring of 1945.
This essentially was the ending Hitler inflicted upon himself, his People and his Reich.
Piece by piece, it all came together over the last ten days of his life, beginning on Friday, April 20, 1945. That day Hitler met for the last time with his top Nazis. The occasion was Hitler's 56th birthday, a dreary celebration inside the Führerbunker in Berlin. Present were Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Joachim Ribbentrop, Albert Speer and Martin Bormann, along with military leaders Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Karl Dönitz, and Hans Krebs, the new Chief of the General Staff.
At first, those present tried to convince the Führer to leave doomed Berlin for the relative safety of Berchtesgaden, the mountain area along the German-Austrian border where he had his villa. From there he could continue the fight, supported by troops positioned throughout the impenetrable Alpine mountains of western Austria and southern Bavaria. Such a move might prolong the war indefinitely and improve the odds of a favorable outcome for Germany, one way or another.
But Hitler brushed aside this suggestion, knowing that any journey outside the bunker brought great risk of capture. And above all, the Führer did not want himself, alive or dead, to wind up prominently displayed by his enemies, particularly the Russians. However, he did give his bunker personnel permission to leave. Most of his staff therefore departed for Berchtesgaden via a convoy of trucks and planes, still hoping the Führer would follow. Only a handful of Hitler's personal staff remained with him, including his top aide Martin Bormann, a few SS and military aides, two private secretaries, and his longtime companion, Eva Braun.
Hitler's choice to remain in the Führerbunker to the very end amounted to his final decision of the war. It was made known to the German people via a special radio announcement in the hope that his presence in the Nazi capital would inspire all remaining Wehrmacht, SS, Volkssturm and Hitler Youth units in Berlin to hold out to the end as well.
Although the war was lost, Hitler nevertheless took pride in the knowledge that he had not allowed another repeat of November 1918, when the German Army had meekly asked the Allies for armistice terms to conclude the First World War. This was all Hitler had left. Just a few years earlier, the Führer had been regarded by most German's as their greatest-ever military leader. Now, all that remained of his military legacy was the fact he had refused to give up no matter what.
The Führer's stubborn pride insured that thousands of German soldiers, Hitler Youths and civilians would needlessly lose their lives in the streets of Berlin, where advance units of the Red Army were already probing. Inside the bunker, Hitler told General Jodl, "I will fight as long as I have a single soldier. When the last soldier deserts me. I will shoot myself."
However, the Führer's fatalism was not shared by his two oldest comrades, Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, who had both scooted away from Berlin just hours after Hitler's birthday gathering. Göring made it safely to Berchtesgaden where he had his own villa, bringing along truckloads of artworks looted from museums all over occupied Europe. For his part, Himmler headed in the opposite direction, staying for the moment in a small town northwest of Berlin.
Both men were spurred to act on their own in the aftermath of the Führer's shocking behavior during the military conference held in the bunker on Sunday, April 22nd. To everyone there that day, it seemed the Führer had suffered a total mental and physical breakdown, completely losing control while letting loose a shrieking denunciation of the Army, then collapsing into a chair. News of the Führer's appalling condition spread like wildfire among the top Nazis outside Berlin, including Göring and Himmler.
Hermann Göring (center) with Hitler in early April 1945, mingling with German troops during one of their last public appearances together. Below: SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler (left) visits an SS Panzer Corps on the Western Front in 1944.
Below: The United States Army arm-in-arm with the Soviet Red Army at Torgau, Germany.
Below: Russian Shturmoviks in action over Berlin in April 1945 as the Red Army's main attack commences.
Göring, the Führer's designated successor, now pondered whether or not to announce he was the new leader of the Reich, since Hitler was presently cut off from the rest of Germany in besieged Berlin, and apparently incapacitated. But the inherent danger of such a move, even at this late stage, gave him pause for concern. And so Göring put off a decision and instead sent Hitler a carefully worded telegram the next day, Monday, April 23rd, trying to feel him out:
"My Führer! In view of your decision to remain in the fortress of Berlin, do you agree that I take over at once the total leadership of the Reich, with full freedom of action at home and abroad as your deputy, in accordance with your decree of June 29, 1941? If no reply is received by 10 o'clock tonight, I shall take it for granted that you have lost your freedom of action, and shall consider the conditions of your decree as fulfilled, and shall act for the best interests of our country and our people..."
Göring didn't know that Hitler had since rebounded from his meltdown and regained a measure of composure. Therefore, Hitler's response to Göring's telegram, prompted by Martin Bormann, was that the Reich Marshal had committed "high treason." Although this carried the death penalty, Göring would be spared if he immediately resigned all of his titles and offices – which Göring promptly did. Next, Bormann, a longtime behind-the-scenes foe of Göring, transmitted an order to the SS near Berchtesgaden to arrest Göring and his staff. As a result, just before dawn on Tuesday, April 24, Göring was put under house arrest. Thus ended the long career of the man who would be Führer.
In contrast to Göring's cautiousness, Himmler took a much bolder approach. At the very moment that Hitler was reading Göring's telegram, Himmler was secretly proposing the surrender all German troops in the West to General Eisenhower.
Himmler had traveled to the city of Lübeck in northern Germany to meet with Count Folke Bernadotte of the Swedish Red Cross. Himmler's idea was to have Bernadotte contact Eisenhower regarding the surrender in the West, while at the same time Germany would continue fighting the Russians in the East, soon to be joined by the Americans and British. Playing a key role in this new German-American-British alliance would be the leader of post-Hitler Germany, Heinrich Himmler himself.
His proposal got nowhere. By now, Himmler's name, and that of the SS organization he headed, was already synonymous with mass murder.
Meanwhile, the military situation continued to deteriorate. On Wednesday, April 25th, Russian and American soldiers greeted each other face-to-face at Torgau on the Elbe River, seventy-five miles south of Berlin, effectively severing Nazi Germany in two. The next day, Russian artillery fire made the first direct hits upon the Reich Chancellery buildings in Berlin and the grounds directly above the Führerbunker.
A German tank officer described the scene in his diary: “We retreat again under heavy Russian air attacks. Inscriptions [I see] on house walls [say]: ‘The hour before sunrise is darkest’ and ‘We retreat but we are winning.’…The night is fiery red. Heavy shelling. Otherwise a terrible silence…Women and children huddling in niches and corners and listening for the sounds of battle…Nervous breakdowns.”
By Friday, April 27, Russian bombardment of the Reich Chancellery buildings had reached its peak with numerous direct hits, causing Hitler to send frantic telegrams to Field Marshal Keitel demanding that Berlin be relieved by now non-existent armies.
For Hitler, the worst blow of all came the next day when BBC news radio reports concerning Himmler's surrender negotiations were broadcast from London and picked up by Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry. According to eyewitnesses in the bunker, Hitler "raged like a madman" with a ferocity never seen before when informed of the betrayal. Himmler had been at his side since the beginning, earning the fond nickname Der Treue Heinrich (Faithful Heinrich) through years of murderous, fanatical service to his Führer. Now, Hitler wanted to have him shot.
Since Himmler was nowhere to be found, Hitler ordered his personal liaison in the bunker, SS-General Hermann Fegelein, shot instead. Fegelein was already under suspicion, having been nabbed the day before trying to sneak out of Berlin in civilian clothing. After some brief questioning, he was taken up to the Chancellery garden above the bunker and summarily executed.
In the meantime, advance units of the Red Army had smashed through the German defenses in Berlin and were only a few miles away from the bunker. Hitler was informed there was perhaps a day or two left before the Russians arrived at his doorstep.
Now, at long last, Hitler reconciled himself to defeat, and began preparations for his own death.
First, he married Eva Braun, as a reward for her ceaseless devotion, during a relationship in which she had spent nearly all of her time at Berchtesgaden waiting for him to show up. They were married in a brief ceremony about an hour past midnight, early Sunday, April 29, with Goebbels and Bormann in attendance. Everyone was then invited into the Führer's private quarters for a wedding breakfast featuring champagne and fond reminisces by Hitler of better days gone by, followed by a bitter accounting of the recent betrayal by his two oldest comrades. Those who listened were moved to tears. Shortly thereafter, Hitler excused himself, bringing along his staff secretary, Traudl Junge, to whom he dictated his last will along with a two-part political testament.
In his will he left his possessions to the Nazi Party and also revealed his fate: "I myself and my wife – in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation – choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of twelve years' of service to my people."
His political testament recited familiar themes first stated in his book Mein Kampf back in 1925. In addition, he blamed the Jews for everything, including the war. He cited the extermination threat he had made on January 30, 1939, followed by a veiled reference to the gas chambers, labeling them a “humane means” of making the Jews atone for the guilt of causing the war.
In the second part of his political testament, he expelled both Göring and Himmler from the Nazi Party and appointed Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor, not as Führer, but as President of the Reich. Dönitz was to preside over a government with Goebbels as Chancellor and Bormann as Party Minister. After completing his dictations, Hitler went off to bed, having been up all night.
While the Führer slept, the Battle of Berlin raged in the streets above him, with the Germans fighting fanatically to defend every inch, just as Hitler hoped they would. Above all, they tried to knock out the Russian T34 tanks now rolling toward Hitler. A Russian tank driver recalled: "There were a lot of Panzerfausts [anti-tank grenade launchers] in Berlin. They were lying in every basement. Mostly the operators were old men or boys."
Casualties on both sides were high. But the Russians pressed forward relentlessly, blasting through anything in their way. The Red Army under Marshal Zhukov, after a journey of some 1500 miles that had begun back in Stalingrad, was now close to victory. When the Führer awoke about noontime, he was told that Russian troops were only a mile from the bunker.
The Chancellery garden with entrance to the Führerbunker on left and adjacent ventilation tower as seen in 1947. Below: Portrait from 1942 of Eva Braun and Hitler with his dog Blondi.
Realizing their Führer intended to self-destruct, four of his remaining military adjutants asked for permission to leave the bunker, on the excuse that they wanted to check on the status of a relief column supposedly being led by General Wenck. Hitler granted their requests. He also took this opportunity to give his Luftwaffe adjutant, Colonel Below, one last Führer message to be hand delivered to the Army High Command:
"The people and the armed forces have given their all in this long and hard struggle. The sacrifice has been enormous. But my trust has been misused by many people. Disloyalty and betrayal have undermined resistance throughout the war. It was therefore not granted to me to lead the people to victory. The Army General Staff cannot be compared with the General Staff in the First World War. Its achievements were far behind those of the fighting front. The efforts and sacrifices of the German people in this war have been so great that I cannot believe that they have been in vain. The aim must still be to win territory in the East for the German people."
Thus the last official words of the Führer contained both a final insult of the Army leadership along with a repetition of the Lebensraum theme for the East.
Shortly thereafter, the final bit of news from the outside world ever to reach Hitler told of the death of his oldest political ally, Benito Mussolini. The one-time dictator of Italy had tried to flee along with his mistress, but had been captured by Italian partisans, executed, hung upside down and then thrown into the gutter. Hitler's only reaction was an expressed determination not to suffer a similar fate.
Hitler never heard the other news that day from Italy. SS-General Karl Wolff, formerly Himmler's chief aide, had successfully negotiated the unconditional surrender of all German forces in Italy to the Western Allies.
Hitler's sole concern right now was to ready himself for the moment of death. He had in his possession several small glass capsules containing liquid cyanide poison. All one had to do was bite down on the glass and painless death would follow in seconds. But since the capsules had been supplied by the now-traitorous Himmler, the Führer worried they might not be the real thing. Hitler therefore ordered one tested on his favorite dog, Blondi, which killed the animal instantly. After this, he handed out the cyanide capsules to his female secretaries, apologizing that he did not have better parting gifts for them. The capsules, he told them, were theirs to use when the Russians stormed the bunker.
As Sunday evening wore on, Hitler asked everyone to stay up. They waited for hours, for what they sensed would be a final goodbye. It came about 2:30 a.m., early in the morning of Monday, April 30th, when Hitler came out of his private quarters into the dining area. The remaining members of his staff lined up to receive him. With glazed eyes, Hitler shook each hand, muttering a few inaudible words quietly, then retired back into his quarters. His secretary, Traudl Junge, recalled the moment: "He looked like a shadow. He looked emotionless, and very gray and pale, like a broken old man...his movements were very slow. He was not the dictator anymore, and the impressive, fascinating man he was earlier."
Following the Führer's departure, his staff mulled over the significance of what they had just experienced. Strangely, the tremendous tension of preceding days seemed to suddenly evaporate upon their realization that the end was near. A lighthearted mood surfaced, followed by spontaneous displays of merry-making even including dancing. At one point, they had to be told to keep the noise down.
At noontime on April 30th, Hitler attended his last-ever military conference and was told the Russians were a block away. Two hours later, Hitler sat down for his final meal, a vegetarian lunch. His wife had no appetite. In the meantime, his chauffeur was ordered to deliver 200 liters of gasoline to the Chancellery garden.
Hitler, accompanied by his wife Eva, now bid a last farewell to Bormann, Goebbels, Generals Krebs and Burgdorf. Hitler and his wife went back into their private quarters while Bormann and Goebbels stood quietly nearby. A few moments later, about 3:30 p.m., a gunshot was heard. Bormann and Goebbels hesitated at first, then entered the room. They saw the body of Hitler sprawled on the sofa, dripping with blood from a gunshot to his right temple. He had killed himself with the same small revolver he once used to fire a warning shot into the ceiling back during the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923 – a gun he had kept ever since. His wife, Eva, had died from biting into one of the cyanide capsules.
Russian soldiers in Berlin gaze upon a Nazi eagle fallen from the Reich Chancellery building. Below: Germans POWs from Berlin are escorted by Russians.
Below: Hitler's successor, Karl Dönitz, now a prisoner of the British along with Albert Speer and General Alfred Jodl.
As Russian artillery shells exploded nearby, the bodies were carried up the stairs to the Reich Chancellery garden, placed in a shell crater, doused heavily with gasoline and burned while Bormann and Goebbels stood by silently, with arms extended in a final Nazi salute. Over the next three hours, the bodies were repeatedly doused until there were only charred remains, which were swept into a canvas, laid in a different shell crater and buried anonymously.
Back inside the bunker, with the Führer now gone, people lit cigarettes, a practice Hitler had forbidden in his presence. Next, they began to organize themselves into groups to flee the bunker and hopefully escape the Russians.
For Joseph Goebbels, life without Hitler was not worth living for himself, his wife and their six young children. On Tuesday, May 1st, Goebbels and his wife therefore poisoned their six children, aged 12 and younger, whom they had brought into the bunker. Next they went up into the Chancellery garden and each bit into a cyanide capsule. After collapsing and dying, they were shot in the head by an SS man as Goebbels had requested. Their bodies were then burned, but only partially, and were not buried. The macabre remains were discovered by the Russians the next day and filmed, with the grotesquely charred body of Goebbels becoming an enduring symbol of the legacy of Hitler's twelve-year Reich.
At 10 p.m. on May 1st, a special radio announcement told the German people their Führer had died "fighting with his last breath for Germany against Bolshevism," and also announced Dönitz as his designated successor. By now, the Russians were already combing through the wreckage of the Reich Chancellery looking for any sign of Hitler's body.
With the Führer dead and the German nation in ruins, Dönitz and surviving leaders of the Wehrmacht had just one thing in mind – stall for time to allow as many troops and civilians as possible to flee from the Russians and make it into western zones occupied by the Americans and British.
Thus it wasn't until Saturday, May 5th, when a military representative, Admiral Hans von Friedeburg, was sent by Dönitz to General Eisenhower’s headquarters at Reims, France. He was then joined by General Jodl. Even now, the Germans tried to stall the proceedings by suggesting a piecemeal surrender limited to the West, thereby allowing even more troops to flee the Russians. But Eisenhower saw through this ploy and demanded the Germans quit stalling and sign an unconditional surrender for all fronts.
And so, in the early morning hours of Monday, May 7th, with authorization from Dönitz, General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender document. The signing was, as Winston Churchill put it, “the signal for the greatest outburst of joy in the history of mankind.” Huge crowds gathered to rejoice in London, Paris, New York and Moscow.
The guns across Europe were silent. Nazi Germany was finished.
The German people, who had once cheered mightily for Hitler and enthusiastically embraced Nazism, now faced a stark and uncertain future. A German woman summed up the dilemma: "There won’t be any more dying, any more raids. It’s over. But then the fear set in of what would happen afterwards. We were spiritually and emotionally drained. Hitler’s doctrines were discredited. And then the desperation set in of realizing that it had all been for nothing, and that was a terrible feeling. Surviving, finding something to eat and drink, was less difficult for me than the psychological emptiness. It was incomprehensible that all this was supposed to be over, and that it had all been for nothing."
For Jews and others, who had been targeted by Nazis, a great sense of relief was felt at outlasting Hitler. One woman who survived the Final Solution reflected: “During the five terrible war years, we could not indulge in simple pleasures that life offers to normal people. All our efforts were directed towards fighting the enemy and surviving. Now, for the first time since September 1, 1939, we could unwind and be normal again – to walk the streets without the fear of hearing the hated “Halt!” without the fear of being rounded up by the Germans and pushed into military trucks. No more “Achtung, Achtung!” coming down from the street loud-speakers. No more ghettos, no more starvation, typhus, gas chambers, Einsatzgruppen [killing squads]. The intense fear and persecution were over."
The Germans themselves had paid dearly for Hitler’s war, suffering four million civilian and three million military deaths. Hitler's nemesis, Soviet Russia, had suffered staggering losses including seven million soldiers and an estimated 16 million civilian deaths. Throughout Europe and Russia, six million Jews had been systematically murdered by Nazis.
For the victorious Allies, with images of recently liberated concentration camps still fresh in their minds, the question of justice now arose. Fortunately for the Allies, the rapid demise of Nazi Germany had resulted in the wholesale capture of gigantic document archives from all branches of Hitler’s government along with secret papers, conference reports and private diaries.
The Nazis had kept meticulous written records of their activities, from mass murder of the Jews, to Hitler’s private talks. In addition, captured Nazi officials and high ranking military officers underwent lengthy interrogations. With all of the evidence at hand, the Allies decided to prosecute. The place chosen for the trial was Nuremberg, the now-ruined city that had once hosted annual rallies glorifying Hitler and Nazism.
WW1
The collapse of the Russian empire and the subsequent Bolshevik revolution in 1917 seriously compromised the Allied war effort. The situation was exacerbated by the signing in March 1918 of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, an agreement that stripped from Russia the last vestiges of its European power and gave Germany a free hand to pursue its imperial ambitions in the East.
German troops quickly occupied the former tsarist Baltic territories of Belorussia, Transcaucasia and the Ukraine. In the meantime, from late 1917 onwards, anti-Bolshevik agitators began to form a volunteer army that would form the basis of 'White' opposition to the newly installed Communist government.
Anti-Bolshevism and fear of Germany
Allied intervention in the Russian civil war was not the product of either fervent anti-Bolshevism or a grand military plan. Western politicians such as Winston Churchill, the British war secretary and a leading supporter of the 'White' military cause, were certainly ideologically predisposed to support a crusade against the Bolshevik 'menace'. But other, more important figures such as the British prime minister David Lloyd George and the American president Woodrow Wilsonwere extremely reluctant to become embroiled in a fratricidal Russian conflict for the sake of anti-Communist and 'democratic' principles. The threat of German pre-eminence in the region was, at least until the signing of the armistice in November 1918, a far more compelling reason to provide the 'Whites' with military aid.
Muddled and half-hearted
Such equivocal attitudes helped to account for the piecemeal deployment of Allied troops in Russia during 1918. Some 30,000 men, almost half of them British, were stationed at the Arctic ports of Murmansk and Archangel under General Edmund Ironside. A similar number of men were under arms in the Caucasus and southern Russia, where General Denikin was recognised as the leading 'White' general.
RAF unit at Russian aerodrome
Fighting the Bolsheviks
in North Russia
Transcript
Finally, there were the heterogeneous forces available in Siberia to another leading 'White' officer, Admiral Kolchak. These included the 70,000 men from the Czech Legion, whose conflict with the Bolsheviks precipitated civil war in May 1918, as well as smaller numbers of British, American, French and Japanese troops.
The 'Whites' valued this support highly, believing that it held the key to the defeat of the Bolsheviks. In reality, the Allied commitment to their cause was muddled and half-hearted. The strapped war economies of Britain and France provided minimal levels of financial and military support. During the first few months of aid, for example, Denikin's forces in southern Russia received from its Western allies just a few hundred khaki uniforms and some tins of jam.
Despite the best efforts of General Knox, the head of the Allied military mission in Siberia and a staunch supporter of Kolchak, Allied troops in eastern Russia were of little help to the 'Whites'. The British troops that arrived in the region in July 1918 consisted mostly of men declared unfit for battle, whose primary job was to guard Allied stores and keep open the Trans-Siberian railway.
In Siberia and elsewhere, the Allied powers dispatched a sufficient number of troops to maintain a show of interest in Russia's fate, but not enough to give the 'Whites' a real chance of victory. Soviet propaganda, nonetheless, portrayed Allied intervention as a conspiracy of international capitalism.
British support for
'Whites' in Siberia
Transcript
The path to Bolshevik victory
By the summer of 1919, it was evident that the Allied venture in Russia had run its course. The expedition was diverting precious resources - many of which were being wasted by notoriously venal 'White' army officials - from vital post-war reconstruction programmes. War-weary public opinion was unwilling to sanction further loss of life in a distant conflict. Despite the limited remit of the Allied forces in Russia, men were still being killed in action there almost a year after the Great War was supposed to have finished. The USA, for example, lost 174 men in fighting with the Bolsheviks at Archangel and Vladivostok during 1918 and 1919.
One of the last decisions made at the Paris peace conference was to withdraw all Allied forces from Russia. By the autumn of 1919, this operation was largely complete. The path to victory in the Russian civil war, which lasted until 1921 at the cost of 1.2 million lives, now lay open to the Bolsheviks.
WHAT IS ALLIED INTERNATIONAL FORCE
Imperial titles
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Emperor, from the Latin Imperator, meaning "commander" or "one who commands". In English, the feminine form is Empress (the Latin is imperatrix). The realm of an emperor or empress is termed an Empire. Other words meaning Emperor include:
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Caesar, the appellation of Roman emperors derived from the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, whose great-nephew and adopted son Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus became the first emperor of Rome. Augustus' four successors were each made the adoptive son of his predecessor, and were therefore legally entitled to use "Caesar" as a constituent of their names; after Nero, however, the familial link of the Julio-Claudian dynasty was disrupted and use of the word Caesar continued as a title only.
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Kaiser, derived from Caesar, primarily used in Germanic countries.
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Augustus (title), A Roman Honoriffic which means Verenable or Majestic used by Roman Emperors from the Beginning of the Empire onwards
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Basileus kai Autokrator, Medieval Greek title meaning "sovereign and autocrat", used by the Roman emperorsfrom the 9th century onwards.
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Tsar / Czar / Csar / Tzar, derived as shortened variant of the Slavic pronunciation of Caesar (tsyasar), the feminine form Tsaritsa, primarily used in Bulgaria, and after that in Russia and other Slavic countries.
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Huangdi (皇帝), the Imperial monarch during Imperial China.
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Samrat, (Sanskrit: samrāt or सम्राट) is an ancient Indian title meaning 'A paramount sovereign, universal lord'.[1] The feminine form is Samrājñī or साम्राज्ञी.
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Chhatrapati (Devanagari: छत्रपती), from the Sanskrit chatra (parasol) and pati (master or lord), signifying a king over whom an umbrella is carried as a mark of dignity, a sovereign, emperor.[2] The term was adopted by Maratha ruler Shivaji as his title in the 17th century in Early Modern India.
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Sapa Inca, The Sapa Inca (Hispanicized spelling) or Sapa Inka (Quechua for "the only Inca"), also known as Apu("divinity"), Inka Qhapaq ("mighty Inca"), or simply Sapa ("the only one"), was the ruler of the Kingdom of Cuscoand, later, the Emperor of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) and the Neo-Inca State.
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Tennō, which means "heavenly sovereign" in Japanese. Is the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people. Historically, he is also the highest authority of the Shinto religion as he and his family are said to be the direct descendants of the sun-goddess Amaterasu
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Alaafin, or "Man of the Palace" in the Yoruba language, was the title of the emperor of the medieval Oyo Empire in northwestern Yorubaland. He is considered the supreme overlord of the empire and expected to keep tributaries safe from attack as well as mediate disputes between various sub-rulers and their people within the Empire.
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Padishah, sometimes rendered as Padeshah, Padshah or Badshah (Persian: پادشاه, Turkish: padişah) is a superlative sovereign title of Persian origin, composed of the Persian pād "master" (or pati from Old Persian) and the widespread shāh "king".
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Mansa, title of the rulers of the Mali Empire, meaning "Emperor", "Sultan (King)", or "Conqueror".
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Tsenpo, also known as Ihase or "Divine Son", was the title of emperors of the Tibetan Empire.
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High royal titles
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King of Kings mostly used in Christian contexts to denote the Christian Roman emperors of the Late Empire and Byzantine periods.
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Basileus tōn Basileōn, Ancient Greek title meaning "sovereign of sovereigns", used by Alexander the Great after the similar title of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia. A translation from Ancient Persian Shahanshah.
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Shahanshah, literally "King of Kings" in Middle Persian šāhān šāh, meaning "Kings' King." Used in Persia and surrounding countries.
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Sulṭānü's-Selāṭīn, literally "King of Kings" in Ottoman Turkish Sulṭānü's-Selāṭīn, meaning "King's King." Used in Turkey and surrounding countries of the Ottoman dynasty.
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Xi Chu Ba Wang (西楚霸王) meaning the Hegemon King of Western Chu.
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Tian Kehan( 天可汗) meaning Heavenly Khagan. Given to Tang Taizong and Tang Gaozong by Turkic nomads.
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Taewang, literally "Greatest King", a Korean title for the rulers of the Goguryeo Empire.
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Nəgusä Nägäst, title of the Emperors of Ethiopia, meaning "King of Kings".
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Mepe-Mepeta, Georgian for "King of Kings."
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Khagan, derived from Khan of Khans, used by the Central Asian nomads.
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Maharajadhiraja, "Great king of kings", title used in the Indian subcontinent, notably Gupta Empire and Kingdom of Nepal.
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High king, A king who rules over lesser kings.
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Amir al-Mu'minin, or "Commander ( Emir ) of the Faithful," a title traditionally held by the Caliphs of Islam to denote their suzerainty over all Muslims, even (theoretically) those beyond their territorial borders. Currently, the King of Morocco and the Sultan of Sokoto hold this title, although neither officially claims the Caliphate.
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Devaraja, literally "God King", a title in the Khmer Empire and throughout Java.
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Mahārāja, Sanskrit for a "great king" or "high king". The female form is Maharani.
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Padishah, Persian pād "master" and shāh "king". Used in the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire.
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Anax, from Mycenaean wanax for "High King". Outranked Basileus in Mycenaean usage.
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Pharaoh, "Man of the Great House (Palace)" used in Ancient Egypt to denote the High kings of the upper and lower kingdoms of the Nile river valley.
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Ard Rí, Gaelic for high king, most notably used for high kings of Ireland and Scotland.
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Bretwalda, high kings of Anglo-Saxon England.
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Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the official title of the Malaysian head of state, and means "He who is Made Supreme Lord" and is generally glossed in English as "king". The officeholder is elected from among the heads of the nine royal states, so the office may also be analogous to that of a high king.
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Royal titles
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King, from the Germanic *kuningaz, roughly meaning "son of the people." (See: Germanic kingship)[a] The realm of a King is termed a Kingdom (sovereign kings are ranked above vassal kings)
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Rex Latin for "ruler". Cognate with Raja, Rí, Reign, Regina, etc.
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Basileus, from Mycenaean Greek meaning "chieftain", used by various Ancient Greek rulers.
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Negus is a royal title in the Ethiopian
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Melech, ancient Hebrew king.
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Wang (王)), the head of state of Ancient China.
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Chanyu (單于), the title for the ruler of the Xiongnu Empire.
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Król (in Polish) Král (in Czech), Király (in Hungarian), Король (in Russian), Краљ (in Serbian), Крал (in Bulgarian), Korol - Derived from Old East Slavic Король king, used in Ukrainian, Kazakh, Tatar, and Kyrgyz languages. The korol, krol, kral, крал and kiraly versions used in Central and Eastern Europe derive from the name of Charlemagne.
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Raja, Sanskrit, later Hindustani, for "ruler or king". Cognate with Latin Rex, Gaelic Rí, etc.
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Rana, was used to be a title for martial sovereignty of Rajput rulers in the Indian subcontinent.
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Rí, Gaelic title meaning king, of which there were several grades, the highest being Ard Rí (High king). Cognate with Indian Raja, Latin Rex, and ancient Gaulish rix.
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Khan, from the Turco-Mongol word for "lord," like Duke it was originally a military rank. A Khan's realm is called a Khanate.
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Lamane, "master of the land" or "chief owner of the soil" in old Serer language were the ancient hereditary kings and landed gentry of the Serer people found in Senegal, the Gambia and Mauritania. The Lamanes were guardians of Serer religion and many of them have been canonized as Holy Saints (Pangool).
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Eze, the Igbo word for the King or Ruler of a kingdom or city-state. It is cognate with Obi and Igwe.
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Oba, the Yoruba word for King or Ruler of a kingdom or city-state. It is used across all the traditional Yoruba lands, as well as by the Edo, throughout Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.
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Omukama, King of Bunyoro-Kitara in Uganda, also the title of the Omukama of Toro.
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Kabaka, King of Buganda, a realm within Uganda in East Africa.
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Shah, Persian word for King, from Indo-European for "he who rules". Used in Persia, alongside Shahanshah (see above). The title of the sons of a Shah is Shahzade / Shahzadeh.
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Sultan, from Arabic and originally referring to one who had "power", more recently used as synonym for King.
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Malik, Arabic for King.
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Tlatoani, Ruler of the atlepetl or city state in ancient Mexico. Title of the Aztec Emperors. The word literally means "speaker" in Nahuatl, but may be translated into English as "king".
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Ajaw, In Maya meaning "lord", "ruler", "king" or "leader". Was the title of the ruler in the Classic Maya polity. A variant being the title of K'inich Ajaw or "Great Sun King" as it was used to refer to the founder of the Copán dynasty, K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'.
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Halach Uinik, In Maya meaning "real man", "person of fact" or "person of command". Was the title of the ruler in the Post-Classic Maya polity (Kuchkabal).
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Datu in the Visayas and Mindanao which, together with the term Raja ( in the Rajahnate of Cebu and Kingdom of Maynila) and Lakan (title widely used on the island of Luzon), are the Filipino equivalents of "sovereign prince" and thus, glossed as "king". (Cf. also Principalía — the hispanized and Christianized Datuclass during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines.)[3][4]
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Tuanku, literally "My Lord", the title of the kings of the nine Royal states of Malaysia; all princes and princesses of the Royal Families also receive the appellation Tengku,
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Maad a Sinig, King of Sine, a pre-colonial kingdom of the Serer people. From the old Serer title "Maad" (king).
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Maad Saloum, King of Saloum, a pre-colonial kingdom of the Serer people.
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Ratu, A Fijian chiefly title that is also found in Javanese culture.
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Susuhunan, "he to whom homage is paid", title of the Javanese monarch of the Surakarta Sunanate.
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Teigne, King of Baol, previously a pre-colonial Serer kingdom.
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Nizam, The word is derived from the Arabic language Nizām (نظام), meaning order, arrangement. Nizām-ul-mulk was a title first used in Urdu around 1600 to mean Governor of the realm or Deputy for the Whole Empire.
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Lugal, is the Sumerian term for "king, ruler". Literally, the term means "big man."[5]
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Queen, from the Germanic *kwoeniz, or *kwenon, "wife"; cognate of Greek γυνή, gynē, "woman"; from PIE *gʷḗn, "woman". The female equivalent of a King, or the consort of a King; a Queen's realm is also a kingdom.
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Rani, Hindi for Queen. See Raja, above.
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Shahbanu, Persian for Empress. See Shah, above.
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Sultana, Arabic for Queen. See Sultan, above.
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Malika, Arabic for Queen.
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Malka, ancient Hebrew Queen.
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Ix-ajaw, See Ajaw above, it was a title was also given to women, though generally prefixed with the sign Ix ("woman") to indicate their gender.
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Dayang, Filipino feminine equivalent of "Datu". See Datu
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Hara, Filipino feminine equivalent of "Raha". See Raja, above.
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Sovereign Grand Dukes or Grand Princes are considered to be part of the reigning nobility ("Royalty", in German Hochadel; their correct form of address is "Royal Highness")[6]
Princely, ducal, and other sovereign titles
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Prince, from the Latin princeps, meaning "first citizen". The feminine form is Princess. Variant forms include the German Fürst and Russian Tsarevich (царевич)and the feminine form Tsarevna (царевна).
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Bai, Filipino feminine equivalent of a prince.
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Ampuan, Maranao royal title which literally means "The One to whom one asks for apology"
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Ginoo, Ancient Filipino equivalent to noble man or prince (now used in the form "Ginoóng" as the analogue to "mister").
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Pillai, Ancient South Indian Title meaning "child", Prince for junior children of Emperors[7]
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Morza, a Tartar title usually translated as "prince", it ranked below a Khan. The title was borrowed from Persian and Indian appellation Mirza added to the names of certain nobles, which itself derived from Emir.
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Knyaz, a title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a ruling or noble rank. It is usually translated into English as "Duke".
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Despot, Greek for "lord, master", initially an appellation for the Byzantine emperor, later the senior court title, awarded to sons and close relatives of the emperor. In the 13th-15th centuries borne by autonomous and independent rulers in the Balkans.
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Duke, from the Latin Dux, meaning "leader," a military rank in the late Roman Empire. Variant forms include Doge, and Duce; it has also been modified into Archduke (meaning "chief" Duke), Grand Duke (literally "large," or "big" Duke; see above under royal titles), Vice Duke ("deputy" Duke), etc. The female equivalent is Duchess.
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Ealdorman, Old English for "elder man", rendered Dux in Latin.
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Sheikh, is often used as a title for Arab royal families. Some Emirs of the Arabian Peninsula use the title Sheikh ("elder" or "lord"), as do other members of the extended family.
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Emir, often rendered Amir in older English usage; from the Arabic "to command." The female form is Emira (Amirah). Emir is the root of the naval rank "Admiral"
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Amir al-umara, Emir of Emirs.
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Mir, According to the book Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments, Mir is most probably an Arabized form of Pir. Pir in Old Persian and Sanskrit means the old, the wise man, the chief and the great leader. It was Arabized as Mir then, with Al(A) (Arabic definite article), it was pronounced as Amir.
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Bey, or Beg/Baig, Turkish for "Chieftain."
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Begum, female royal and aristocratic title from Central and South Asia.
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Beylerbey, Bey of Beys.
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Atabeg, word is a compound of two Turkic words: ata, "ancestor", and beg or bey, "lord, leader, prince".
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Beg Khan, concatenation of Baig and Khan.
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Khagan Bek, title used by Khazars.
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Derebey, feudal lord in Anatolia and the Pontic areas of Lazistan and Acara in the 18th century.
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Buumi, first in line to the throne in Serer pre-colonial kingdoms.
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Thilas, second in line to the throne in Serer pre-colonial kingdoms.
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Loul, third in line to the throne in Serer country.
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Dey, title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers and Tripoli under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 onwards.
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Sahib, name of Arabic origin meaning "holder, master or owner."
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Zamindar, were considered to be equivalent to lords and barons in some cases they were seen as independent, sovereign princes.
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Jagir, also spelled as Jageer (Devanagari: जागीर, Persian: جاگیر, ja- meaning "place", -gir meaning "keeping, holding") The feudal owner/lord of the Jagir were called Jagirdar or Jageerdar
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Sardar, also spelled as Sirdar, Sardaar or Serdar, is a title of nobility (sir-, sar/sair- means "head or authority" and -dār means "holder" in Sanskrit and Avestan)
Tribal titles
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Tadodaho, derived from the name of the first "keeper of the council fire" of the Iroquois Confederacy, Haudenosaunee, or Five Nations, refers to the individual with the highest authority in both their modern territory and their spiritual way of life.
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Taoiseach (Irish pronunciation: [ˈt̪ˠiːʃəx]) means leader. An Irish clan chief.
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Tánaiste (Irish pronunciation: [ˈt̪ˠaːnˠaʃtʲə]) is the second in command of an Irish clan.
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Tòiseach, the Scottish Gaelic for clan chief.
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Tywysog (Welsh pronunciation: [təˈwəsɔɡ]), in modern Welsh, means "Prince" and is cognate with Taoiseach and Tòiseach. Derived from the proto-Celtic *towissākos"chieftain, leader".
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Rí ruirech, King of Overlords, or rí cóicid, a provincial King in Ireland.
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Fon, the regional and tribal leaders in Cameroon.
Religious titles
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Caliph, was the ruler of the caliphate, an Islamic title indicating the successor to Muhammad. Both a religious and a secular leader; the Caliph was the secular head of the international Muslim community, as a nation. To claim the Caliphate was, theoretically, to claim stewardship over Muslims on earth, under the sovereignty of Allah. (See Amir al-Mu'minin above). This did not necessarily mean that the Caliph was himself the supreme authority on Islamic law or theology; that still fell to the Ulema. The role of the Caliph was to oversee and take responsibility for the Muslim community's political and governmental needs (both within and beyond the borders of his territorial realm), rather than to himself determine matters of doctrine, like the Pope.
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Dalai Lama, the highest authority in Tibetan (or more specifically Gelug) Buddhism and a symbol of the unification of Tibet, said to belong to a line of reincarnations of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Among other incarnate Tibetan lamas, the second highest Gelug prelate is the Panchen Lama. From the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama until 1950 the Dalai Lamas effectively ruled Tibet. The chief of the rival Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism is the Karmapa.
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Pope, derived from Latin and Italian papa, the familiar form of "father" (also "Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church and Vicar of Christ"); once wielding substantial secular power as the ruler of the Papal States and leader of Christendom, the Pope is also the absolute ruler of the sovereign state Vatican City. Also the title of the leader of the Coptic Church.
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Saltigue, the high priests and priestesses of the Serer people. They are the diviners in Serer religion.
Main articles: Royal family, Peerage, Nobility, and Imperial immediacy
Several ranks were widely used (for more than a thousand years in Europe alone) for both sovereign rulers and non-sovereigns. Additional knowledge about the territory and historic period is required to know whether the rank holder was a sovereign or non-sovereign. However, joint precedence among rank holders often greatly depended on whether a rank holder was sovereign, whether of the same rank or not. This situation was most widely exemplified by the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in Europe. Several of the following ranks were commonly both sovereign and non-sovereign within the HRE. Outside of the HRE, the most common sovereign rank of these below was that of Prince. Within the HRE, those holding the following ranks who were also sovereigns had (enjoyed) what was known as an immediaterelationship with the Emperor. Those holding non-sovereign ranks held only a mediate relationship (meaning that the civil hierarchy upwards was mediated by one or more intermediaries between the rank holder and the Emperor).
Titles
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Archduke, ruler of an archduchy; used exclusively by the Habsburg dynasty and its junior branch of Habsburg-Lorraine which ruled the Holy Roman Empire (until 1806), the Austrian Empire (1804-1867), and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918) for imperial family members of the dynasty, each retaining it as a subsidiary title when founding sovereign cadet branches by acquiring thrones under different titles (e.g., Tuscany, Modena); it was also used for those ruling some Habsburg territories such as those that became the modern so-called "Benelux" nations (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg); The title was created in 1358 by the Habsburgs themselves to establish a precedence of their princes over the other titleholders of high nobility of the era; therefore the rank was not recognized by the other ruling dynasties until 1453[8]
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Grand Duke, ruler of a grand duchy; nowadays considered to be in precedence the third highest monarchial rank in the western world, after "Emperor" and "King" or "Queen"
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Grand Prince (Velikiy Knyaz), ruler of a grand principality; a title primarily used in the medieval Kyivan Rus' principalities; It was also used by the Romanovs of the Russian Empire for members of the imperial family, although then it is more commonly translated into English as Grand Duke
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Grand Župan, like a Russian Grand Prince to a Knyaz.
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Duke (Herzog in German), ruler[a] of a duchy;[b] also for junior members of ducal and some grand ducal families
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Prince (Prinz in German), junior members of a royal, grand ducal, ruling ducal or princely, or mediatised family. The title of Fürst was usually reserved, from the 19th century, for rulers of principalities—the smallest sovereign entities (e.g., Liechtenstein, Lippe, Schwarzburg, Waldeck-and-Pyrmont)—and for heads of high-ranking, noble but non-ruling families (Bismarck, Clary und Aldringen, Dietrichstein, Henckel von Donnersmarck, Kinsky, Paar, Pless, Thun und Hohenstein, etc.). Cadets of these latter families were generally not allowed to use Prinz, being accorded only the style of count (Graf) or, occasionally, that of Fürst (Wrede, Urach) even though it was also a ruling title. Exceptional use of Prinz was permitted for some morganatic families (e.g., Battenberg, Montenuovo) and a few others (Carolath-Beuthen, Biron von Kurland).
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In particular, Crown prince (Kronprinz in German) was reserved for the heir apparent of an emperor or king
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Ban, noble title used in several states in Central and Southeastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.
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Dauphin, title of the heir apparent of the royal family of France, as he was the de jure ruler of the Dauphiné region in southeastern France (under the authority of the King)
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Infante, title of the cadet members of the royal families of Portugal and Spain
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Królewicz, title used by the children of the monarchs of Poland and later Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
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Elector (Kurfürst in German), a rank for those who voted for the Holy Roman Emperor, usually sovereign of a state (e.g. the Margrave of Brandenburg, an elector, called the Elector of Brandenburg)
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Marquess, Margrave, or Marquis (literally "Count of a March" (=Border territory)) was the ruler of a marquessate, margraviate, or march
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Landgrave (literally "Land Count"), a German title, ruler of a landgraviate
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Count, theoretically the ruler of a county; known as an Earl in modern Britain; known as a Graf in German, known as a Serdar in Montenegro and Serbia
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Župan, noble and administrative title used in several states in Central and Southeastern Europe between the 7th century and the 21st century.
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Ispán, leader of a castle district (a fortress and the royal lands attached to it) in the Kingdom of Hungary from the early 11th century.
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Principal (m.)/Principala (f.), a person belonging to the aristocratic ruling class of Filipino nobles called Principalía, roughly equivalent to ancient Roman Patricians, through whom the Spanish Monarchs ruled the Philippines during the colonial period (c. 1600s to 1898).[9][10]
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Viscount (vice-count), theoretically the ruler of a viscounty, which did not develop into a hereditary title until much later.[11] In the case of French viscounts, it is customary to leave the title untranslated as vicomte [vi.kɔ̃t].
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Primor, a Hungarian noble title, originally the highest rank of Székely nobility, usually compared to baron (or less commonly, count).[12] Originally, primores could de jure not be evicted from his fiefdom, even by the King of Hungary (although such instances did occur).[13]
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Freiherr, a German word meaning literally "Free Master" or "Free Lord" (i.e. not subdued to feudal chores or drudgery), is the German equivalent of the English term "Baron", with the important difference that unlike the British Baron, he is not a "Peer of the Realm" (member of the high aristocracy)[14]
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Baron, theoretically the ruler of a barony – some barons in some countries may have been "free barons" (liber baro) and as such, regarded (themselves) as higher barons.
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Rais, is a used by the rulers of Arab states and South Asia.
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Yuvraj, is an Indian title for crown prince, the heir apparent to the throne of an Indian (notably Hindu) kingdom
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Subahdar, is normally appointed from the Mughal princes or the officers holding the highest mansabs.
Regarding the titles of Grand Duke, Duke and Prince:
In all European countries, the sovereign Grand Duke (or Grand Prince in some eastern European languages) is considered to be the third highest monarchic title in precedence, after Emperor and King.
In Germany, a sovereign Duke (Herzog) outranks a sovereign prince (Fürst). A cadet prince (Prinz) who belongs to an imperial or royal dynasty, however, may outrank a duke who is the cadet of a reigning house, e.g., Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Mecklenburg or Oldenburg.
The children of a sovereign Grand Duke may be titled "Prince" (Luxembourg, Tuscany, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Saxe-Weimar) or "Duke" (Oldenburg) in accordance with the customs of the dynasty. The heir of the throne of a Grand Duchy is titled "Hereditary Grand Duke", as soon as he reaches the full legal age (majority).
Children of a sovereign (i.e., ruling) Duke and of a ruling Prince (Fürst) were, however, all titled prince (Prinz).
The heir apparent to a ruling or mediatised title would usually prepend the prefix Erb- (hereditary) to his or her title, e.g., Erbherzog, Erbprinz, Erbgraf, to distinguish their status from that of their junior siblings.
Children of a mediatised Fürst were either Prinzen or Grafen (counts), depending upon whether the princely title was limited to descent by masculine primogeniture or not. In the German non-sovereign nobility, a Duke (Herzog) still ranked higher than a Prince (Fürst).
Main articles: Aristocracy (class) and Gentry
The distinction between the ranks of the major nobility (listed above) and the minor nobility, listed here, was not always a sharp one in all nations. But the precedence of the ranks of a Baronet or a Knight is quite generally accepted for where this distinction exists for most nations. Here the rank of Baronet (ranking above a Knight) is taken as the highest rank among the ranks of the minor nobility or gentry that are listed below.
Titles
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Baronet is a hereditary title ranking below Baron but above Knight; this title is granted only in the British Isles and does not confer nobility. Ritter in German lands is the equivalent.
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Dominus was the Latin title of the feudal, superior and mesne, lords, and also an ecclesiastical and academical title (equivalent of Lord)
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Vidame, a minor French aristocrat
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Vavasour, also a petty French feudal lord
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Seigneur or Lord of the manor rules a smaller local fief
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Knight is the central rank of the Medieval aristocratic system in Europe (and having its equivalents elsewhere), usually ranking at or near the top of the Minor Nobility
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Patrician is a dignity of minor nobility or gentry (most often being hereditary) usually ranking below Knight but above Esquire
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Fidalgo or Hidalgo is a minor Portuguese and Spanish aristocrat (respectively; from filho d'algo / hijo de algo, lit. "son of something")
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Nobile is an Italian title of nobility for prestigious families that never received a title
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Edler is a minor aristocrat in Germany and Austria during those countries' respective imperial periods.
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Jonkheer is an honorific for members of noble Dutch families that never received a title. An untitled noblewoman is styled Jonkvrouw, though the wife of a Jonkheeris a Mevrouw or, sometimes, Freule, which could also be used by daughters of the same.
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Junker is a German noble honorific, meaning "young nobleman" or otherwise "young lord"
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Skartabel is a minor Polish aristocrat.
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Scottish Baron is a hereditary feudal nobility dignity, outside the Scots peerage, recognised by Lord Lyon as a member of the Scots noblesse and ranking below a Knight but above a Scottish Laird[15][c] in the British system. However, Scottish Barons on the European continent are considered and treated equal to European barons.
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Laird is a Scottish hereditary feudal dignity ranking below a Scottish Baron but above an Esquire
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Esquire is a rank of gentry originally derived from Squire and indicating the status of an attendant to a knight, an apprentice knight, or a manorial lord;[16] it ranks below Knight (or in Scotland below Laird) but above Gentleman[d][e]
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Gentleman is the basic rank of gentry (ranking below Esquire), historically primarily associated with land; within British Commonwealth nations it is also roughly equivalent to some minor nobility of some continental European nations[17]
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Bibi, means Miss in Urdu and is frequently used as a respectful title for women in South Asia when added to the given name
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Lalla, is an Amazigh title of respect. The title is a prefix to her given name or personal name, and is used by females usually of noble or royal background.
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Sidi, is a masculine title of respect, meaning "my master" in Darija and Egyptian Arabic.
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Qanungoh Shaikh, are a clan of Muslim Shaikhs in Punjab, other parts of Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
In Germany, the constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919 ceased to accord privileges to members of dynastic and noble families. Their titles henceforth became legal parts of the family name, and traditional forms of address (e.g., "Hoheit" or "Durchlaucht") ceased to be accorded to them by governmental entities. The last title was conferred on 12 November 1918 to Kurt von Klefeld. The actual rank of a title-holder in Germany depended not only on the nominal rank of the title, but also the degree of sovereignty exercised, the rank of the title-holder's suzerain, and the length of time the family possessed its status within the nobility (Uradel, Briefadel, altfürstliche, neufürstliche, see: German nobility). Thus, any reigning sovereign ranks higher than any deposed or mediatized sovereign (e.g., the Fürst of Waldeck, sovereign until 1918, was higher than the Duke of Arenberg, head of a mediatized family, although Herzog is nominally a higher title than Fürst). However, former holders of higher titles in extant monarchies retained their relative rank, i.e., a queen dowager of Belgium outranks the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein. Members of a formerly sovereign or mediatized house rank higher than the nobility. Among the nobility, those whose titles derive from the Holy Roman Empire rank higher than the holder of an equivalent title granted by one of the German monarchs after 1806.
In Austria, nobility titles may no longer be used since 1918.[18]