The entirety of Germany was occupied and administrated by the Allies of World War II from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Germany was stripped of its sovereignty and former state: after Nazi Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, four countries representing the Allies (the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France) asserted joint authority and sovereignty through the Allied Control Council (ACC) under the Berlin Declaration of 5 June 1945 that led to the fall of the German Reich. At first, Allied-occupied Germany was defined as all territories of Germany before the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria; the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945 defined the new eastern German border by giving Poland and the Soviet Union all regions of Germany east of the Oder–Neisse line (eastern parts of Pomerania, Neumark, Posen-West Prussia, East-Prussia and almost Silesia) and divided the remaining "Germany as a whole" into four occupation zones, each administered by one of the Allies.

All territories annexed by Germany before the war from Austria and Czechoslovakia were returned to these countries. The Memel Territory, annexed by Germany from Lithuania before the war, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 and transferred to the Lithuanian SSR. All territories annexed by Germany during the war from Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Yugoslavia were returned to their respective countries.

Deviating from the occupation zones planned according to the London Protocol in 1944, at Potsdam, the United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union approved the detachment from Germany of the territories east of the Oder–Neisse line, with the exact line of the boundary to be determined in a final German peace treaty. This treaty was expected to confirm the shifting westward of Poland's borders, as the United Kingdom and United States committed themselves to support the permanent incorporation of eastern Germany into Poland and the Soviet Union. From March 1945 to July 1945, these former eastern territories of Germany had been administered under Soviet military occupation authorities, but following the Potsdam Agreement they were handed over to Soviet and Polish civilian administrations and ceased to constitute part of Allied-occupied Germany.

In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, United States forces had pushed beyond the agreed boundaries for the future zones of occupation, in some places by as much as . The so-called line of contact between Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of hostilities, mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border, was temporary. After two months in which they had held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone, U.S. forces withdrew in the first days of July 1945. Some have concluded that this was a crucial move that persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American, British and French forces into their designated sectors in Berlin, which occurred at roughly the same time, although the need for intelligence gathering (Operation Paperclip) may also have been a factor. On 20 March 1948, the Soviets withdrew from the Allied Control Council; later leading to the establishment of the two German states in East and West both in 1949.

Occupation zones

American zone

The American zone in Southern Germany consisted of Bavaria (without the Rhine Palatinate Region and the Lindau District, both part of the French zone) and Hesse (without Rhenish Hesse and Montabaur Region, both part of the French zone) with a new capital in Wiesbaden, and of northern parts of Württemberg and Baden. Those formed Württemberg-Baden and became northern portions of the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg founded in 1952.

The ports of Bremen (on the lower Weser River) and Bremerhaven (at the Weser estuary of the North Sea) were also placed under U.S. control because of the U.S. request to have certain toeholds in Northern Germany.
At the end of October 1946, the American zone had a population of:
 Bavaria 8.7 million
 Hesse 3.97 million
 Württemberg-Baden 3.6 million
 Bremen 0.48 million

The headquarters of the American military government was the former IG Farben Building in Frankfurt am Main.

Following the complete closure of all Nazi German media, the launch and operation of completely new newspaper titles began by licensing carefully selected Germans as publishers. Licenses were granted to Germans not involved in Nazi propaganda to establish those newspapers, including Frankfurter Rundschau (August 1945), Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin; September 1945), and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich; October 1945). Radio stations were run by the military government. Later, Radio Frankfurt, Radio München (Munich) and Radio Stuttgart gave way for the Hessischer Rundfunk, Bayerischer Rundfunk, and Süddeutscher Rundfunk, respectively. The RIAS in West-Berlin remained a radio station under U.S. control.

British zone

By May 1945 the British and Canadian Armies had liberated the Netherlands and had conquered Northern Germany. The Canadian forces went home following the German surrender, leaving Northern Germany to be occupied by the British.

The British Army of the Rhine was formed on 25 August 1945 from the British Liberation Army.

In July the British withdrew from Mecklenburg's capital Schwerin which they had taken over from the Americans a few weeks before, as it had previously been agreed to be occupied by the Soviet Army. The Control Commission for Germany (British Element) (CCG/BE) ceded more slices of its area of occupation to the Soviet Union – specifically the Amt Neuhaus of Hanover and some exclaves and fringes of Brunswick, for example the County of Blankenburg, and exchanged some villages between British Holstein and Soviet Mecklenburg under the Barber-Lyashchenko Agreement.

Within the British zone of occupation, the CCG/BE re-established the city of Hamburg as a German state, but with borders that had been drawn by the Nazi government in 1937. The British also created the new German states of:
 Schleswig-Holstein – emerging in 1946 from the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein;
 Lower Saxony – the merger of Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe with the state of Hanover in 1946; and
 North Rhine-Westphalia – the merger of Lippe with the Prussian provinces of the Rhineland (northern part) and Westphalia – during 1946–47.

Also in 1947, the American zone of occupation being inland had no port facilities – thus the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and Bremerhaven became exclaves within the British zone.

At the end of October 1946, the British zone had a population of:
 North Rhine-Westphalia 11.7 million
 Lower Saxony 6.2 million
 Schleswig-Holstein 2.6 million
 Hamburg 1.4 million

The British headquarters were originally based in Bad Oeynhausen from 1946, but in 1954 it was moved to Mönchengladbach where it was known as JHQ Rheindahlen.

Another special feature of the British zone was the enclave of Bonn. It was created in July 1949 and was not under British or any other allied control. Instead it was under the control of the Allied High Commission. In June 1950, Ivone Kirkpatrick became the British High Commissioner for Germany. Kirkpatrick carried immense responsibility particularly with respect to the negotiation of the Bonn–Paris conventions during 1951–1952, which terminated the occupation and prepared the way for the rearmament of West Germany.

Belgian, Polish and Norwegian zones

Army units from other countries were stationed within the British occupation zone.

 The Belgians were allocated a territory which was garrisoned by their troops. The zone formed a  strip from the Belgian-German border at the south of the British zone, and included the important cities of Cologne and Aachen. The Belgian army of occupation in Germany (known as the Belgian Forces in Germany from 1951) became autonomous in 1946 under the command, initially, of Jean-Baptiste Piron. Belgian soldiers remained in Germany until 31 December 2005.

 Polish units mainly from 1st Armoured Division were stationed in the northern area of the district of Emsland as well as in the areas of Oldenburg and Leer. This region bordered the Netherlands and covered an area of 6,500 km2, and was originally intended to serve as a collection and dispersal territory for the millions of Polish displaced persons in Germany and Western Europe after the war. Early British proposals for this to form the basis of a formal Polish zone of occupation, were however, soon abandoned due to Soviet opposition. The zone had a large camp constructed largely for displaced persons and was administered by the Polish government in exile. The administrative centre of the Polish occupation zone was the city of Haren the German population of which was temporarily removed. The city was renamed Maczków (after Stanisław Maczek) from 1945 to 1947.  Once the British recognised the pro-Soviet government in Poland, and withdrew recognition from the London-based Polish government in exile, the Emsland zone became more of an embarrassment.  Polish units within the British Army were demobilised in June 1947. The expelled German populations were allowed to return and the last Polish residents left in 1948.

 In 1946, the Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany had 4,000 soldiers in Hanover; amongst whom was future Chancellor Willy Brandt (then a Norwegian citizen) as press attaché.

 In 1947 (during summer), a Danish Brigade in Germany of 4,000 men, under British command, occupied Oldenburg, after an agreement, signed at Copenhagen in April 1947, between Denmark and United Kingdom. A Danish Occupation Force was formally established on 7 October 1949. The headquarters was in the town of Jever, in East Friesland. However, it was decided to move the brigade to Itzehoe in October 1949, naming itself as Tysklandsbrigaden.  It remained stationed at Itzehoe, under the name of The Danish Command in Germany, until 1958.

 The London conference of 23 April 1949, during the Six-Power Conference, give to the Netherlands some less far-reaching border modifications, after the failure of Bakker-Schut Plan. So, at 12 noon that day, Dutch troops moved to occupy an area of 69 km2 (17,000 acres), the most relevants parts were Elten (near Emmerich am Rhein) and Selfkant. Many other small border corrections were done, mostly in the vicinity of Arnhem and Dinxperlo, which also were part of this small Dutch sub-zone of occupation.

French zone

The French Republic was at first not granted an occupation zone in Germany, but the British and American governments later agreed to cede some western parts of their zones of occupation to the French Army. In April and May 1945, the French 1st Army had captured Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, and conquered a territory extending to Hitler's Eagle's Nest and the westernmost part of Austria. In July, the French relinquished Stuttgart to the Americans, and in exchange were given control over cities west of the Rhine such as Mainz and Koblenz. All this resulted in two barely contiguous areas of Germany along the French border which met at just a single point along the River Rhine. Three German states (Land) were established: Rheinland Pfalz in the north and west and on the other hand Württemberg-Hohenzollern and South Baden, who later formed Baden-Württemberg together with Württemberg-Baden of the American zone.

The French zone of occupation included the Saargebiet, which was disentangled from it on 16 February 1946. By 18 December 1946 customs controls were established between the Saar area and Allied-occupied Germany. The French zone ceded further areas adjacent to the Saar (in mid-1946, early 1947, and early 1949). Included in the French zone was the town of Büsingen am Hochrhein, a German exclave separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of neutral Swiss territory. The Swiss government agreed to allow limited numbers of French troops to pass through its territory in order to maintain law and order in Büsingen.

At the end of October 1946, the French zone had a population of:
 Rheinland Pfalz 2.7 million
 Baden (South Baden) 1.2 million
 Württemberg-Hohenzollern 1.05 million
(The Saar Protectorate had a further 0.8 million.)

Luxembourg zone
From November 1945, Luxembourg was allocated a zone within the French sector. The Luxembourg 2nd Infantry Battalion was garrisoned in Bitburg and the 1st Battalion was sent to Saarburg. The final Luxembourg forces in Germany, in Bitburg, left in 1955.

Soviet zone

The Soviet occupation zone incorporated Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Soviet Military Administration was headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, which also came to house the chief rezidentura of Soviet intelligence in Germany.

At the end of October 1946, the Soviet zone had a population of:
 Saxony: 5.5 million
 Saxony-Anhalt: 4.1 million
 Thuringia: 2.9 million
 Brandenburg: 2.5 million
 Mecklenburg: 2.1 million

Berlin

While located wholly within the Soviet zone, because of its symbolic importance as the nation's capital and seat of the former Nazi government, the city of Berlin was jointly occupied by the Allied powers and subdivided into four sectors. All four occupying powers were entitled to privileges throughout Berlin that were not extended to the rest of Germany – this included the Soviet sector of Berlin, which was legally separate from the rest of the Soviet zone.

At the end of October 1946, Berlin had a population of:
 Western sectors 2.0 million
 Soviet sector 1.1 million

Lost territory

In 1945 Germany east of the Oder–Neisse line was assigned to Poland by the Potsdam Conference to be "temporarily administered" pending the Final Peace Treaty on Germany between the four Allies and a future German state; eventually (under the September 1990 Peace Treaty) the northern portion of East Prussia became the Kaliningrad Oblast within the Soviet Union (today Russian Federation). A small area west of the Oder, near Szczecin, also fell to Poland. Most German citizens residing in these areas were subsequently expropriated and expelled. Returning refugees, who had fled from war hostilities, were denied return.

Saarland, an area in the French occupation zone, was separated from Allied-occupied Germany to become a French protectorate with its constitution took effect on 17 December 1947, however the separation was opposed by the Soviet Union and Germans here were not expelled.

Population
In October 1946, the population of the various zones and sectors was as follows:

Governance and the emergence of two German states

The original Allied plan to govern Germany as a single unit through the Allied Control Council de facto broke down on 20 March 1948 (restored on 3 September 1971) in the context of growing tensions between the Allies, with Britain and the US wishing cooperation, France obstructing any collaboration in order to partition Germany into many independent states, and especially: the Soviet Union unilaterally implementing from early on elements of a Marxist political-economic system (enforced redistribution of land, nationalisation of businesses). Another dispute was the absorption of post-war expellees. While the UK, the US and the Soviet Union had agreed to accept, house and feed about six million expelled German citizens from former eastern Germany and four million expelled and denaturalised Czechoslovaks, Poles, Hungarians and Yugoslavs of German ethnicity in their zones, France generally had not agreed to the expulsions approved by the Potsdam agreement (a decision made without input from France). Therefore, France strictly refused to absorb war refugees who were denied return to their homes in seized eastern German territories or destitute post-war expellees who had been expropriated there, into the French zone, let alone into the separated Saar protectorate. However, the native population, returning after Nazi-imposed removals (e.g., political and Jewish refugees) and war-related relocations (e.g., evacuation from air raids), were allowed to return home in the areas under French control. The other Allies complained that they had to shoulder the burden to feed, house and clothe the expellees who had to leave their belongings behind.

In practice, each of the four occupying powers wielded government authority in their respective zones and carried out different policies toward the population and local and state governments there. A uniform administration of the western zones evolved, known first as the Bizone (the American and British zones merged as of 1 January 1947) and later the Trizone (after inclusion of the French zone). The complete breakdown of east–west allied cooperation and joint administration in Germany became clear with the Soviet imposition of the Berlin Blockade that was enforced from June 1948 to May 1949. The three western zones were merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) i.e. West Germany in May 1949, and after that the Soviets followed suit in October 1949 with the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) i.e. East Germany.

In the west, the occupation continued until 5 May 1955, when the General Treaty () entered into force. However, upon the creation of the Federal Republic in May 1949, the military governors were replaced by civilian high commissioners, whose powers lay somewhere between those of a governor and those of an ambassador. When the Deutschlandvertrag became law, the occupation ended, the western occupation zones ceased to exist, and the high commissioners were replaced by normal ambassadors. West Germany was also allowed to build a military, and the Bundeswehr, or Federal Defense Force, was established on 12 November 1955.

A similar situation occurred in East Germany. The GDR was founded on 7 October 1949. On 10 October the Soviet Military Administration in Germany was replaced by the Soviet Control Commission, although limited sovereignty was not granted to the GDR government until 11 November 1949. After the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953, the Soviet Control Commission was replaced with the office of the Soviet High Commissioner on 28 May 1953. This office was abolished (and replaced by an ambassador) and (general) sovereignty was granted to the GDR, when the Soviet Union concluded a state treaty (Staatsvertrag) with the GDR on 20 September 1955. On 1 March 1956, the GDR established a military, the National People's Army (NVA).

Despite the grants of general sovereignty to both German states in 1955, full and unrestricted sovereignty under international law was not enjoyed by any German government until after the reunification of Germany in October 1990. Though West Germany was effectively independent, the western Allies maintained limited legal jurisdiction over 'Germany as a whole' in respect of West Germany and Berlin. At the same time, East Germany progressed from being a satellite state of the Soviet Union to increasing independence of action; while still deferring in matters of security to Soviet authority. The provisions of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, also known as the "Two-plus-Four Treaty", granting full sovereign powers to Germany did not become law until 15 March 1991, after all of the participating governments had ratified the treaty. As envisaged by the Treaty, the last occupation troops departed from Germany when the Russian presence was terminated in 1994, although the Belgian Forces in Germany stayed in German territory until the end of 2005.

A 1956 plebiscite ended the French administration of the Saar protectorate, and it joined the Federal Republic as Saarland on 1 January 1957, becoming its tenth state.

The city of Berlin was not part of either state and de jure continued to be under Allied occupation of the four countries until the reunification of Germany in October 1990. For administrative purposes, the three western sectors of Berlin were merged into the entity of West Berlin being de facto part of the FRG. The Soviet sector became known as East Berlin and while not recognised by the Western powers as a part of East Germany, the GDR declared it its capital (Hauptstadt der DDR).

Occupation policy

Allied aims with respect to postwar Germany were first laid out at the Yalta Conference, where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin signed an agreement stating that they intended to: disarm and disband the German armed forces; break up the German General Staff; remove or destroy all German military equipment; eliminate or control German industry that could be used for military production; punish war criminals; exact reparations for damage done by Germany; wipe out the Nazi party and its institutions; remove all Nazi and militarist influences from public life; and take any other measures in Germany as might be necessary to ensure future peace and safety. The consensus among the Allies was that it was necessary to ensure Germany could not cause further world wars, but beyond that their opinion on what Germany's future should look like differed.

US occupation policy

The US originally considered a punitive approach championed by Roosevelt's Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr. (the "Morgenthau Plan"). Under this plan, Germany would have been broken into four autonomous states and not only demilitarized but also deindustrialized to the point of becoming chiefly agrarian. The Morgenthau plan was opposed by Secretary of State Cordell Hull and War Secretary Henry L. Stimson, and Roosevelt distanced himself from the idea after it was reported on by major American newspapers. Ultimately, US occupation policy came to be determined chiefly by the War Department, with long-term objectives summed up by the four Ds: .

Initially, the US was extremely rigorous in its efforts to prevent fraternization with German civilians. US soldiers were forbidden to shake hands with Germans, visit their homes, play games or sports with them, exchange gifts, take part in social events, or walk in the streets with them. How strictly this policy was applied varied from place to place, but in many places the restrictions were frequently ignored, as a result of which the policy was quickly abandoned. Germans were also prohibited from inhabiting any part of a building in which US soldiers were housed, leading to large numbers of Germans being ejected from their homes.

British occupation policy

British occupation policy was similar to that of the United States, but with a greater focus on economic problems. The British Occupation Zone included the Ruhr industrial region, which had experienced the heaviest bombing and therefore faced the greatest shortages of housing and food. Initial British occupation directives were concerned primarily with economic considerations and food supply.

To further the long-term aim of democratization, the British implemented government modeled on the UK system, placing heavy emphasis on local level democracy. The goal was to create a British-style administration with employees who viewed themselves as public servants, on the basis that this would help to reeducate Germans to democratic modes of thought. To that end the British introduced new local government structures, including a nonpolitical position similar to the English town clerk ("city director") that replaced the office of mayor.

In general, the British believed strongly in reeducation as a means to achieve democracy, which led them to prioritize the reestablishment of schooling and university education in their zone.

French occupation policy

The French were less concerned with improving Germany's moral and civic character, focusing instead on ensuring France's future security and utilizing the resources of their occupation zone to facilitate economic recovery within France itself. Since one of their key goals was to ensure that Germany would never again be in a position to threaten France, the French were strongly opposed to a unified approach to occupation, and favored political structures that were as decentralized as possible.

On the economic front, the French seized the opportunity to extract coal and steel resources from the Saar region, fusing it with France in a customs and currency union and encouraging the development of export industries. As a result, the French managed to extract a surprlus from their occupation zone, and prevented it from becoming a financial liability the way the British and American zones were to their respective occupying powers.

Soviet occupation policy

Soviet aims in Germany were similar to those of the French, with the primary goals being to prevent future aggression by Germany and to extract reparations.

Political activity in the Soviet occupation zone was overseen by the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD), which maintained close control over the Germans and allowed little room for independent action on the part of local German officials. Key posts in local administration, particularly those dealing with security members, were given to members of the Communist party.

Soviet occupation authorities also executed a rigorous program of land reform, expropriating large landed estates and imposing direct control over much of the economic activity in the zone. They closed major banks and insurance companies in July 1945, and seized property formerly belonging to the German state, Wehrmacht, Nazi party, and Nazi organizations.

The Soviets used suspicion of supposed Werwolf activity to tighten police control and secure forced labor.

Conditions in the occupation zones

The food situation in occupied Germany was initially very dire. By the spring of 1946 the official ration in the American zone was no more than  per day, with some areas probably receiving as little as  per day. In the British zone the food situation was dire, as found during a visit by the British (and Jewish) publisher Victor Gollancz in October and November 1946. In Düsseldorf the normal 28-day allocation should have been  including  of bread, but as there was limited grain the bread ration was only . However, as there was only sufficient bread for about 50% of this "called up" ration, the total deficiency was about 50%, not 15% as stated in a ministerial reply in the British Parliament on 11 December. So only about  would have been supplied, and he said the German winter ration would be  as the recent increase was "largely mythical". His book includes photos taken on the visit and critical letters and newspaper articles by him published in several British newspapers; The Times, the Daily Herald, the Manchester Guardian, etc.

Some occupation soldiers took advantage of the desperate food situation by exploiting their ample supply of food and cigarettes (the currency of the black market) to get to the local German girls as what became known as frau bait (The New York Times, 25 June 1945). Some soldiers still felt the girls were the enemy, but used them for sex nevertheless.

The often destitute mothers of the resulting children usually received no child support. In the earliest stages of the occupation, U.S. soldiers were not allowed to pay maintenance for a child they admitted having fathered, since to do so was considered "aiding the enemy". Marriages between white U.S. soldiers and Austrian women were not permitted until January 1946, and with German women until December 1946.

The children of African-American soldiers, commonly called Negermischlinge ("Negro half-breeds"), comprising about three percent of the total number of children fathered by GIs, were particularly disadvantaged because of their inability to conceal the foreign identity of their fathers. For many white U.S. soldiers of this era, miscegenation even with an "enemy" white population was regarded as an intolerable outrage. African-American soldiers were therefore reluctant to admit to fathering such children since this would invite reprisals and even accusations of rape, a crime which was much more aggressively prosecuted by military authorities against African-Americans compared with Caucasian soldiers, much more likely to result in a conviction by court-martial (in part because a German woman was both less likely to acknowledge consensual sexual relations with an African-American and more likely to be believed if she alleged rape against an African-American) and which carried a potential death sentence. Even in the rare cases where an African-American soldier was willing to take responsibility for fathering a child, until 1948 the U.S. Army prohibited interracial marriages. The mothers of the children would often face particularly harsh ostracism.

Between 1950 and 1955, the Allied High Commission for Germany prohibited "proceedings to establish paternity or liability for maintenance of children." Even after the lifting of the ban West German courts had little power over American soldiers.

While Allied servicemen were ordered to obey local laws while in Germany, soldiers could not be prosecuted by German courts for crimes committed against German citizens except as authorised by the occupation authorities. Invariably, when a soldier was accused of criminal behaviour the occupation authorities preferred to handle the matter within the military justice system. This sometimes led to harsher punishments than would have been available under German law – in particular, U.S. servicemen could be executed if court-martialed and convicted of rape. See United States v. Private First Class John A. Bennett, 7 C.M.A. 97, 21 C.M.R. 223 (1956).

Insurgency
The last Allied war advances into Germany and Allied occupation plans were affected by rumors of the Nazi Werwolf plan for insurgency, and successful Nazi deception about plans to withdraw forces to the Alpenfestung redoubt. This base was to be used to conduct guerrilla warfare, but the rumours turned out to be false. No Allied deaths can be reliably attributed to any Nazi insurgency.

Expulsion policy

The Potsdam conference, where the victorious Allies drew up plans for the future of Germany, noted in article XIII of the Potsdam Agreement on 1 August 1945 that "the transfer to Germany of German populations...in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary will have to be undertaken"; "wild expulsion" was already going on.

Hungary, which had been allied with Germany and whose population was opposed to an expulsion of the German minority, tried to resist the transfer. Hungary had to yield to the pressure exerted mainly by the Soviet Union and by the Allied Control Council. Millions of people were expelled from former eastern territories of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and elsewhere to the occupation zones of the UK, US, and USSR, which agreed in the Potsdam Agreement to absorb the post-war expellees into their zones. Many remained in refugee camps for a long time. Some Germans remained in the Soviet Union and were used for forced labour for a period of years.

France was not invited to the Potsdam Conference. As a result, it chose to adopt some decisions of the Potsdam Agreements and to dismiss others. France maintained the position that it did not approve post-war expulsions and that therefore it was not responsible to accommodate and nourish the destitute expellees in its zone. While the few war-related refugees who had reached the area to become the French zone before July 1945 were taken care of, the French military government for Germany refused to absorb post-war expellees deported from the East into its zone. In December 1946, the French military government for Germany absorbed into its zone German refugees from Denmark, where 250,000 Germans had found a refuge from the Soviets by sea vessels between February and May 1945. These clearly were war-related refugees from the eastern parts of Germany however, and not post-war expellees.

Military governors and commissioners

See also

 Allied-occupied Austria
 German-occupied Europe
 History of Germany since 1945
 Interzonal traffic
 Allied-occupied Japan

Notes

References

Further reading
 Bark, Dennis L., and David R. Gress. A History of West Germany Vol 1: From Shadow to Substance, 1945–1963 (1992)
 Bessel, Richard. Germany 1945: from war to peace (Simon and Schuster, 2012)
 Campion, Corey. "Remembering the" Forgotten Zone": Recasting the Image of the Post-1945 French Occupation of Germany." French Politics, Culture & Society 37.3 (2019): 79-94.
 Erlichman, Camilo, and Knowles, Christopher (eds.). Transforming Occupation in the Western Zones of Germany: Politics, Everyday Life and Social Interactions, 1945-55 (Bloomsbury, 2018).
 Golay, John Ford. The Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany (University of Chicago Press, 1958)
 Jähner, Harald. Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955 (2022) excerpt
 Jarausch, Konrad H.After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945–1995 (2008)
 Junker, Detlef, ed. The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War (2 vol 2004),  150 short essays by scholars covering 1945–1990 excerpt and text search vol 1;  excerpt and text search vol 2
 Knowles, Christopher. "The British Occupation of Germany, 1945–49: A Case Study in Post-Conflict Reconstruction." The RUSI Journal (2013) 158#6 pp: 84–91.
 Knowles, Christopher. Winning the Peace: The British in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948, (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017)
 Main, Steven J. "The Soviet Occupation of Germany. Hunger, Mass Violence and the Struggle for Peace, 1945–1947." Europe-Asia Studies (2014) 66#8 pp: 1380–1382.
 Phillips, David. Educating the Germans: People and Policy in the British Zone of Germany, 1945-1949 (2018)  392 pp.  online review
 Schwarz, Hans-Peter. Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction (2 vol 1995) full text vol 1
 Taylor, Frederick. Exorcising Hitler: the occupation and denazification of Germany (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011)
 Weber, Jurgen. Germany, 1945–1990 (Central European University Press, 2004) online edition

Primary sources and historiography

 Beate Ruhm Von Oppen, ed. Documents on Germany under Occupation, 1945–1954 (Oxford University Press, 1955) online
 Clay, Lucius D. The papers of General Lucius D. Clay: Germany, 1945–1949 (2 vol. 1974)
 Miller, Paul D. "A bibliographic essay on the Allied occupation and reconstruction of West Germany, 1945–1955." Small Wars & Insurgencies  (2013) 24#4 pp: 751–759.

External links

 The Struggle for Germany and the Origins of the Cold War by Melvyn P. Leffler

British military occupations
Dwight D. Eisenhower
France–Germany relations
French military occupations
Germany–Soviet Union relations
Germany–United Kingdom relations
Germany–United States relations
States and territories established in 1945
Germany
States and territories disestablished in 1949

Allied-occupied Germany


Kimmeridge Bay () is a bay on the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England, close to and southeast of the village of Kimmeridge, on the Smedmore Estate. The area is renowned for its fossils, with The Etches Collection in the village of Kimmeridge displaying fossils found by Steve Etches in the area over a 30-year period. It is a popular place to access the coast for tourists. To the east are the Kimmeridge Ledges, where fossils can be found in the flat clay beds.

Overview
Kimmeridge Bay forms part of the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site. The coast is also part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the whole area is part of the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Kimmeridge is the type locality for Kimmeridge clay, the geological formation that covers most of the area. Within the clay are bands of bituminous shale. An oil well has operated on the shore of Kimmeridge Bay since 1959. The bay is roughly semi-circular, facing southwest. It is backed by low cliffs of Kimmeridge clay, and beneath the cliffs is a large wave-cut platform and a rocky shore with rock pools and attendant ecology. Kimmeridge Bay is a surfer and diver area.

The Purbeck Marine Wildlife Reserve and Fine Foundation Marine Centre are located here.

Geology
The geology of the area around Kimmeridge Bay is world-renowned. It comprises bedrock formed in the Late Jurassic epoch, overlain in many places by superficial Quaternary head deposits. The bedrock is mostly Kimmeridge clay, except for the top of Smedmore Hill and along to Swyre Head, which is formed from Portland stone. Between this and the Kimmeridge clay, and outcropping just beneath the top of the hill, is a thin band of Portland sand. Landslip deposits from the Portland stone cover most of the steep southwest-facing slopes of the hills. Within the Kimmeridge clay are bands of bituminous shale and dolomite, which form flat ledges within Kimmeridge Bay that are exposed at low tide.

Kimmeridge gives its name to the Kimmeridgian, the division of the Jurassic period in which the beds were laid down, because of the quality of the cliffs and the fossils they yield. Kimmeridge is also the type locality for the Jurassic age Kimmeridge Clay formation, which is well represented in southern England, and provides one of the source rocks for hydrocarbons found in the Wessex and North Sea Basins.

The Kimmeridge Oil Field is northwest of Kimmeridge Bay. On the cliff west of the village is the Perenco "nodding donkey" oil pump which has been pumping continually since the late 1950s, making it the oldest working oil pump in the UK. The well currently yields around  from the Middle Jurassic strata that lie around  below the cliff. The well has been operating for this long because it has tapped into a network of connected reserves; however the yield is decreasing year on year. The oil is transported by tanker to the Perenco site at Wytch Farm from whence it is piped to the main refinery on Southampton Water.

Surfing
Kimmeridge Bay is a surfing area which breaks infrequently due to its lack of exposure to Atlantic Ocean swells, but can produce walls of water in the right conditions. Below the cliffs to the east are the Kimmeridge Ledges, with slow left- and right-hand breaking waves; the right-handers can spiral for  or more into the bay. To the west is the Broad Bench promontory, within the Ministry of Defence firing range and only accessible when the ranges are open to the public.

See also
 The Etches Collection
 List of Dorset beaches
 Geology of Dorset

References

Further reading
 Wignall P (ed.) (1995) Benthic Palaeoecology of the Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay of England (Special Papers in Palaeontology series), Palaeontological Association, 74pp, .

External links

Bays of Dorset
Isle of Purbeck
Jurassic Coast

Kimmeridge Bay


The Public Protection Classification (PPC) program, is a tool developed by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) for property and casualty insurers to properly assess their risk by rating fire protection services throughout the United States.

Class determination
ISO collects data for more than 47,000 communities and fire districts throughout the country. The data is then analyzed using a proprietary Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). The Schedule then assigns a PPC score between 1 and 10 to the department, with Class 1 representing "superior property fire protection" and Class 10 indicating that an area doesn't meet the minimum criteria set by the ISO. On July 1, 2013, the revised FSRS was released, adding an emphasis on a community's effort to limit loss before an incident occurs.

In developing a PPC, the following major categories are evaluated:

Emergency Communications: Fire alarm and communication systems, including telephone systems, telephone lines, staffing and dispatching systems.
Fire Department: The fire department, including equipment, staffing, training and geographic distraction of fire companies.
Water Supply: The water supply system, including the condition and maintenance of hydrants and the amount of available water compared with the amount need to suppress fires.

Added 2013 criteria:

Fire Prevention: programs that contain plan review; certificate of occupancy inspections; compliance follow-up; inspection of fire protection equipment; and fire prevention regulations related to fire lanes on area roads, hazardous material routes, fireworks, barbecue grills, and wildland–urban interface areas.
Public Fire Safety Education Programs: fire safety education training and programs for schools, private homes and buildings with large loss potential or hazardous conditions and a juvenile fire setter intervention program.

Minimum requirements

To receive a PPC, a fire department must meet minimum infrastructure, staffing and equipment requirements. If a department doesn't meet at least one of the following requirements, then they are assigned a Class 10 rating.

Organization
Formal fire department organized under state or local laws.
Must have one person responsible for the operation of the department (example: Chief).
Service area must have definite boundaries.
For departments that service multiple communities, a written contract must be present.

Membership
The department must respond at least four firefighters to structure fires. The chief may account for one of those required positions.

Training
The department must conduct at least two hours of training every two months for active firefighters.

Alarm notification
There must be no delay in receiving alarms and dispatching firefighters/apparatus.

Housing
Apparatus must have adequate housing, as to protect it from weather.

References

Firefighting in the United States

Public Protection Classification Program


The Cabinet of Cambodia, officially known as the Office of the Council of Ministers (, ), is the executive body of the Kingdom of Cambodia led by the Prime Minister, assisted by Deputy Prime Ministers, Senior Ministers, Ministers, and Secretaries of State. Members of the Cabinet are nominated by the Prime Minister and appointed by the Monarch.

Role
Chapter VIII of the Constitution states the role of the Royal Government of Cambodia.
Article 99: The Council of Ministers is the Royal Government of Cambodia. The Council of Ministers shall be led by one Prime Minister assisted by Deputy Prime Ministers, and by State Ministers, Ministers, and State Secretaries as members.
Article 100: At the recommendation of the President and with the agreement of both Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, the King shall designate a dignitary from among the representatives of the winning party to form the Royal Government. This designated Assembly or members of the political parties represented in from the Assembly. After the Assembly has given its vote of confidence, the King shall issue a Royal decree (Kret) appointing the entire Council of Ministers. Before taking office, the Council of Ministers shall take an oath as stipulated an Annex 6.
Article 101: The functions of members of the Royal Government shall be incompatible with professional activities in trade or industry and with the holding of any position in the public service.
Article 102: Members of the Royal Government shall be collectively responsible to the Assembly for the overall policy of the Royal Government. Each member of the Royal Government shall be individually responsible to the Prime Minister and the Assembly for his/her own conduct.
Article 103: Members of the Royal Government shall not use the orders, written or verbal, of anyone as grounds to exonerate themselves form their responsibility.
Article 104: The Council of Minister shall meet every week inn plenary session or in a working session. The Prime Minister shall chair the plenary sessions. The Prime Minister may assign a Deputy Prime Minister to preside over the working sessions. Minutes of the Council of Ministers' meeting shall be forwarded to the King for His information.
Article 105: The Prime Minister shall have the right to delegate his power to a Deputy Prime Minister or to any member of the Royal Government.
Article 106: If the post of Prime Minister is permanently vacant, a new Council of Ministers shall be appointed under the procedure stipulated in this Constitution. If the vacancy is temporary, an acting Prime Minister shall be provisionally appointed.
Article 107:Each member of the Royal Government shall be punished for any crimes or misdemeanors that he/she has committed in the course of his/her duty. In such cases and when his/her duty, the Assembly shall decide to file charges against him/her with competent. The Assembly shall decide on such matters though a secret vote by a simple majority thereof.
Article 108: The organization and functioning of the Council of Ministers shall be determined by law.

Current cabinet

The members of the seventh and current Council of Ministers were sworn in on 22 August 2023. The National Assembly voted Hun Manet as Prime Minister for five-year term.

References

External links
 Official website

Politics of Cambodia
Government of Cambodia
National cabinets

Cabinet of Cambodia


Grant M. DePorter (born November 7, 1964) is a restaurateur from Chicago, U.S., who came to prominence in  after he paid US$113,824.16 for a baseball which had played a role in the Chicago Cubs defeat in the 2003 National League Championship Series, and had the ball destroyed in a nationally televised event. The event was an attempt to end the "Curse of the Billy Goat" – which has supposedly prevented the Cubs from winning the National League since  – and also helped raise a substantial amount of money for diabetes research.

Career
DePorter has worked in, managed or owned over thirty restaurants. He is the President and Managing Partner of Harry Caray's Restaurant Group, which owns seven restaurants, the best-known being Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse in the Chicago area (named after the late Hall of Fame baseball announcer Harry Caray). The restaurants have won several awards, including been voted the best steakhouse in Chicago and the best sports restaurant in the United States.

Cubs
In October 2003, the Cubs had a built up a commanding lead in the NLCS for the National League title against the Florida Marlins. But during Game 6 of the series, with the Cubs leading 3–0, a home fan, Steve Bartman, unwittingly deflected a vital catch out of the hand of Cubs outfielder Moisés Alou. Following this the Marlins rallied, winning not only the game but the league and, eventually, the 2003 World Series. Many Cubs fans viewed this as a continuation of the "Curse of the Billy Goat", which had hung over the team since 1945, when the owner of the local Billy Goat Tavern was prevented from bringing his beloved pet goat into the Cubs' home stadium, Wrigley Field, and thus swore that the Cubs would never again win the National League Championship. DePorter paid $113,824.16 for the infamous "foul ball" in order to destroy it, and thus hopefully to put an end to the curse.

DePorter predicted the Cubs would win the 2016 World Series due to the Cubs' Magic Number 108. DePorter's prediction was printed in the Chicago Sun-Times. He stated that the Cubs 108 year championship drought would end in 2016 due to the number 108 appearing everywhere. He stated that there are 108 stitches in a baseball which was created by the Cubs' first manager Albert Spalding whose office was at 108 West Madison Street, the left and right field foul poles at Wrigley Field are 108 meters from home plate and the movie Back to the Future Part II, which predicted the Cubs would win the World Series, is 108 minutes long. DePorter listed many 108s and while attending the Cubs first playoff game against the San Francisco Giants predicted that Javier Báez would hit a home run on pitch number 108. DePorter video taped that moment. USA Today put DePorter's called shot 108 story on the cover of the paper. The 108 signs continued throughout the Cubs World Series run. The most pitches thrown by a Cubs player during the post season was 108 by Jon Lester and the biggest home run, Addison Russell's World Series Game 6 Grand Slam, went 108 mph. When the Cubs won the World Series, Joe Maddon lifted the World Series trophy for the first time at 1:08 AM.

References

External links
 harrycarays.com
 Illinois Tourism News article about Grant DePorter
 BBC article
 Chicago Gateway Green website
 Chicago Tribune

Businesspeople from Chicago
Chicago Cubs
Cornell University School of Hotel Administration alumni
Fuqua School of Business alumni
1964 births
Latin School of Chicago alumni
Living people
American restaurateurs

Grant DePorter


Erastus W. Jewett (April 1, 1836 – February 20, 1906) was a Medal of Honor recipient who fought in the 9th Vermont Infantry during the American Civil War.

Early life
Jewett was born in St. Albans, Vermont on April 1, 1836, the son of Eleazer Jewett and Dorothy (Abell) Jewett.  Jewett had nine brothers and sisters, including Albert Burton Jewett, who commanded the 10th Vermont Infantry as a colonel, and Jesse A. Jewett, a captain in the 5th Vermont Infantry, who died in Swanton shortly after the war as the result of an illness he contracted during his military service.

Erastus Jewett was educated in St. Albans, and worked as a surveyor in the years prior to the American Civil War.

Civil War
In June 1862, Jewett joined the Union Army to fight in the Civil War, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 9th Vermont Infantry. On August 3, he was captured, and remained a prisoner of the Confederacy for 25 days. Jewett was promoted to first lieutenant in May 1863.  During his service, he took part in the battles of Harper's Ferry (September 13 and 15, 1862), Newport Barracks (February 2, 1864), Chaffin's Farm (September 29, 1864), and Fair Oaks (October 27, 1864).  He resigned in November 1864, and returned to Vermont.

Medal of Honor
He was awarded the Medal of Honor, his nations' highest military award, for his actions in holding off the enemy during the retreat of the garrison during the Battle of Newport Barracks on February 2, 1864. This award was presented on September 8, 1891.
"By long and persistent resistance and burning the bridges kept a superior force of the enemy at a distance and thus covered the retreat of the garrison."

Later life
Jewett resided in Swanton, where he was engaged in the production and sale of hay and lime.  He was also active in the manufacture of metal goods, including buckles and wire.  Jewett continued his military service as a member of the Vermont Militia's headquarters staff from 1882 to 1892, including general inspector and inspector of rifle practice, and he attained the rank of colonel.  He was involved in local politics as a Republican, and held several town and village offices, including village president.  Jewett was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Swanton post of which was named for his brother Jesse.  When Wheelock G. Veazey was the GAR's national Commander-in-Chief from 1890 to 1891, Jewett served on his staff as aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel.  Jewett was also active in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Sons of the Revolution, and the Freemasons.

Death and burial
Jewett retired in 1902 and was a resident of Burlington.  On February 20, 1906, he was on his way to a local Grand Army of the Republic meeting when he became ill.  He returned to his home, and died soon afterwards.  Jewett was buried at Church Street Cemetery in Swanton.

Family
Jewett was the husband of Fanny L. Brigham (d. 1882) of St. Albans.  Their children included Jessie, Mary, Nellie, and Walter.

See also

List of Medal of Honor recipients

References

1836 births
1906 deaths
People from St. Albans, Vermont
People from Swanton (town), Vermont
Vermont Republicans
Union Army officers
American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor
People of Vermont in the American Civil War
Burials in Vermont
United States Army Medal of Honor recipients

Erastus W. Jewett


The  is a handheld digital pet that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads of the late 1990s and the early 2000s. , over  units have been sold worldwide. Most Tamagotchi are housed in a small egg-shaped handheld video game with an interface consisting of three buttons, with the Tamagotchi Pix adding a shutter on the top to activate the camera.

According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the two Japanese words , which means "egg", and  "watch". After the original English spelling of watch, the name is sometimes romanized as Tamagotch without the "i" in Japan. Most Tamagotchi characters' names end in tchi or  in Japanese, with few exceptions.

History

Tamagotchi was invented by Aki Maita and Akihiro Yokoi in 1996. They both won the 1997 Ig Nobel Prize for economics, dubbing them the father and mother of Tamagotchi. Tamagotchi is a keychain-sized virtual pet simulation game. The characters were first drawn in heta-uma which was a popular style found in teen magazines then converted to pixel art. They were worn like a wristwatch in the initial concept, hence the portmanteau name. The egg shape might have been chosen as reptiles like snakes were popular pets at that time. The characters are colorful creatures with simple designs based on animals, objects, or people. In 2004, beginning with the Tamagotchi Plus/Connection, a second wave of Tamagotchi toys emerged, featuring a different graphic design by artist JINCO and gameplay which elaborated upon the first generations. However, the story behind the games remained the same: Tamagotchis are a small alien species that deposited an egg on Earth to see what life was like, and it is up to the player to raise the egg into an adult creature. The creature goes through several stages of growth, and will develop differently depending on the care the player provides, with better care resulting in an adult creature that is smarter, happier, and requires less attention. Gameplay can vary widely between models, and some models, such as TamagoChu, require little to no care from the player.

When releasing the Tamagotchi in Japan, Bandai initially marketed them exclusively to teenage girls. Bandai and WiZ would later create a masculine counterpart to the Tamagotchi, the Digital Monster, which would spawn the Digimon franchise.

Gameplay
Upon activating the pet, an egg appears on the screen. After setting the clock on the device, the egg will wiggle for several minutes, and then hatch into a small pet. In later versions, inputting the player's name and birthday is also required when setting the clock, and at birth, the player can name the pet and learn of its family group and/or gender. The player can care for the pet as much or as little as they choose, and the outcome depends on the player's actions. The first Tamagotchi units could only be paused by going to set the clock, effectively stopping the passage of time in the game, but in later models, a pause function was included.

Pets have a Hunger meter, Happy meter and a Training meter to determine how healthy and well-behaved the pet is. There is also an age and weight check function for the current age and weight of the pet. Filling up the Hunger meter can be achieved by feeding the pet a meal (usually a loaf of bread or hamburger) or a snack (usually a piece of candy or cake). Filling up the Happy meter can be achieved by playing mini-games with the pet or by feeding it a snack (there are no limits to this, but there are limits to how many meals can be fed). Mini-games usually vary between versions. The Discipline meter can be filled by pressing the "scold" option when a pet calls for attention but refuses to play or be fed a meal. The pet will leave droppings around the screen from time to time and can become sick if they are not cleaned up. Before the pet goes to the bathroom, it will make a face and stink lines will appear around it. If the player activates the toilet icon during this animation, but before the pet has gone to the bathroom, the pet will use a toilet instead. When done repeatedly, the pet can be potty trained. The training meter can be filled by good care. When the Training meter is maxed, the pet will evolve instantly, no matter what age it is.

If the pet gets sick, a skull icon appears next to the pet as it sits still at the bottom of the screen, with an unhappy expression. The pet can become sick for a number of reasons, such as overfeeding of snacks or failing to clean up droppings. The pet can die if sickness is left unchecked. The pet can be cured by pressing the "Medicine" option, however, it may need to be pressed more than once. Usually, a pet will not play or accept a meal when sick.

Life cycle
The pet goes through several distinct stages of development throughout its life cycle. Each stage lasts a set amount of days, depending on the model of the toy, and when it reaches a new stage, the toy plays a jingle, and the pet's appearance changes. The pet can "die" due to poor care, old age, sickness, and in a few versions, predators. The pet's life cycle stages are Baby, Child, Teenager, Adult and Special, with some units also having a Senior stage. Usually, the pet's age will increase once it has awakened from its sleep time.

Poor care can cause a pet to die, but on certain releases, it can also die of old age. If an old pet dies without producing offspring, the family line has ended. The Japanese Tamagotchi toys usually feature a ghost and headstone when the pet dies, but English language versions have been changed to show an angel at death. There is sometimes more than one death. Pressing the C button shows the age at which the pet died. After the pet dies, a player can restart the game by pressing the A and C buttons at the same time.

Additional features

In recent models, the player earns currency called Gotchi Points while playing games, and can use the currency in an in-game shop to buy different foods, toys, accessories, or even room decorations for the pet.

Connectivity
Using infrared communication, two players can link their toys and the pets may form friendships, play games, exchange gifts, and even marry. Connectivity was introduced with Osutchi and Mesutchi. The Japanese Keitai Kaitsuu Tamagotchi Plus was the first model to have an online application. Since then, many subsequent models have also been able to interact with apps like Tamatown by using alphanumeric codes generated by the toy to log into the website's Flash game. After generating a code, the toy remains paused until the player either enters a logout code or cancels. The player may play minigames in the town to earn Gotchi Points, or use Gotchi Points to buy items in the town shops. To transfer points and items back to the toy, the player signs out of the Flash game and is given a code to input back into the toy. Newer models, such as the Tamagotchi 4U and the Tamagotchi 4U+ can connect to other Tamagotchi 4U units, as well as smartphones and tablets, using near-field communication. Unlike previous models, the Tamagotchi 4U does not have infrared, which consequently caused it to sell rather poorly.

Marriage and family
The Mesutchi and Osutchi Tamagotchis were the first to introduce marriages and offspring, and the feature returned in the Plus/Connection and subsequent models. Two players with a male and female pet may link their toys and allow the pets to develop a friendship and fall in love. Once the pets have raised their relationship meter sufficiently, the pets may marry. The player can also choose to have their pet marry a random pet brought in by the "Matchmaker." Once married, the female will eventually produce two eggs, keeping one and leaving one with the male. Since the parent will automatically guide the baby's life, the only care it needs from the player is medicine in the case of sickness. After 24 hours has passed or the offspring evolves into a child the parent will leave, and the player is left to care for a new generation. This can continue for as long as the player manages to care for the pets.

The Chou Jinsei Enjoy Tamagotchi also introduced the idea of character "families" or "groups." These "families" are a kind of classification for characters obtainable in the game, grouped mainly by appearance, though they are also associated with certain skills. A character of one group cannot grow into an adult of a different group, and if two pets of different groups marry and have an egg, the baby will be of the female's group. Tamagotchi m!x has a notable change to this feature; in this release, Tamagotchi offspring will share genetics from both of their parents.

Other
With the many different versions of the toy, there are other less common mechanics that influence the pet's growth, including but not limited to friendship with the player, varying types of skills, and career.
The Chou Jinsei Enjoy Tamagotchi also introduced Skills, which can be built by playing certain games with the pet, or using certain toys or foods bought from the E-Tamago or in-game shops. Having certain skills can help the pet obtain a career, and if built up high enough, can unlock special characters.

The Tamagotchi Pix has a camera installed, allowing the user to get a pet based on the skin tone and age of the face; it also allows the user to take pictures and "take" the pet on a walk.

Releases

As of 2009, there have been over 44 Tamagotchi versions released since their creation, several of which were only released in Japan. Along with the original Tamagotchi, the first wave of Tamagotchi toys included Christmas, angel, and ocean themed versions. The newer versions began in 2004 with the Tamagotchi Plus, and the most recent version is the Tamagotchi Uni.

Bandai sold 400,000 units in 1996, increasing to  by July 1997 and  by October 1997. By Spring 1998, nearly  units were sold worldwide, including  in Japan and nearly  overseas. In the first two years following Tamagotchi's release, Bandai had sold  units. By 2010, over 76 million Tamagotchis had been sold worldwide. By 2017, over  units had been sold worldwide. , Bandai Namco has sold  Tamagotchi units.

In early 2013, Bandai released an enhanced version of the original Tamagotchi as a free iOS and Android app named "Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.". A sequel to the game, "Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. Angel", was released on February 26, 2014.
"Tamagotchi ON" is the first color Tamagotchi to be released internationally.

Bandai released various special editions favored by collectors, some of them being "Tamagochi: Neon Genesis Evangelion" or "Tamagochi: Gudetama", which came out in 2020.

Video games
Since its debut, Tamagotchi has made its way onto several gaming platforms. Several early games feature gameplay similar to the original toys. A few party-style games appeared on major consoles, along with the Corner Shop series of simulation games and a few role playing games for the Nintendo DS.

Arcade
The character Mametchi makes an appearance in Namco Bandai/Nintendo's Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 as a playable character, along with his pet, Bagubagutchi, as an item. Mametchi and Yumemitchi also appeared in the arcade game Taiko no Tatsujin as unlockable costumes.

An arcade machine known as TamaStation is available in Japan from which players can win prizes for their Tamagotchi toy. This machine has several sequels, such as TamaStation 2.

Marketing and other media

Film
On June 5, 2007, it was announced by Reuters that an animated Tamagotchi film was to be released in December 2007. The film, Tamagotchi: The Movie, focuses on Mametchi, along with his friends Memetchi and Kuchipatchi. Introduced are Tanpopo, a human girl who Mametchi accidentally transports to the Tamagotchi Planet; and Chamametchi, the younger sister of Mametchi, who is born during the film's events. Tamagotchi: The Movie was released on December 15, 2007, and was distributed by Toho Co. The film opened at number 3 at the box office on opening weekend. On May 31, 2008, North American distributor Bandai Entertainment announced they had acquired the rights to the film. The movie's first English release was a direct-to-DVD version, released on June 3, 2009 in Australia by Madman Entertainment. The UK DVD was released on September 14, 2009 via Manga Entertainment.

On December 20, 2008, a second film, known as Tamagotchi: Happiest Story in the Universe! was released into theaters. This film, introducing a new Tamagotchi known as Hapihapitchi, was later released on DVD, on June 26, 2009. Unlike the first film, no English dub was ever released on any home video formats, but an English dub aired on television in the Philippines. Madman Entertainment intended to dub Happiest Story in the Universe!, but the dub was cancelled for unknown reasons.

On November 1, 2016, Bandai announced a new Tamagotchi short film called Tamagotchi: Secret Delivery Operation. The film was theatrically released alongside the Kamisama Minarai: Himitsu no Cocotama film on April 28, 2017, and was included in the Cocotama movie's DVD released on December 6, 2017. The short film once again follows Mametchi and his friends, assigned to make an essential delivery to the Gotchi King when a giant mechanical claw controlled by the Spacy Brothers intervenes with the delivery.

In the 2022 film Turning Red, which was set in 2002, the main protagonist Meilin "Mei" Lee owns a Tamagotchi that she names "Robaire Junior", after one of the members of her favorite band. This was inspired by director Domee Shi's desire to have a Tamagotchi when she was younger.

Video games

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), there is a purchasable item that is similar to a Tamagotchi in wristwatch form, called the Tomogunchi. The item contains a virtual animal that hatches and evolves through the player getting kills, winning matches, and completing other gameplay objectives.

A Tamagotchi also appears as a character and item in Chibi-Robo!. It's a gift the player can give to Mr. Sanderson after completing the main story by following one of Captain Plankbeard's treasure maps.. Chibi-Robo! was co-developed by Bandai, therefore allowing the product to appear without any legal issues.

In the mobile online shooter Pixel Gun 3D, the game introduced a weapon in the "Summer Party" season called the Tamagotchi Revolver, a small pink gun of the Back Up category with a Tamagotchi on it. In the season, there is a mission in the Elite Challenges which requires the player to kill 90 players with the weapon in Team Fight mode.

Anime
A Japanese-only anime series called Anime TV de Hakken!! Tamagotchi (アニメ TVで発見!! たまごっち, lit. "Found on Anime TV!! Tamagotchi") aired from July 7, 1997 to March 21, 1998 on Fuji TV.

In December 2007, Bandai Japan began airing Saa Ikō! Tamagotchi (さぁイコー!たまごっち) a week before the release of the first film. In December 2008, Bandai America dubbed the series, Let's Go! Tamagotchi, and began streaming it on YouTube in both English and Japanese, with captions for up to seven other languages.

In 2009, another anime television series was announced, called Tamagotchi! (たまごっち!). It began in October 2009 and ended in March 2015. A short-lived English dub of the Tamagotchi anime aired in Australia on channel GO! from 2010 to 2014; only the first 26 episodes have been dubbed and have been repeated until 2014, when GO! took the anime out of their channel. The anime has been dubbed in Tagalog in the Philippines, with said dub airing on GMA Network. There is also a dub in Taiwan that aired on YoYo TV.

From November 23, 2013 to December 2014, Bandai America adapted the second Tamagotchi anime, Tamagotchi! Yume Kira Dream, into "webisodes" promoting the then-latest addition to the franchise outside Japan, Tamagotchi Friends.

Animated video
An animated video, Tamagotchi Video Adventures, was produced by 7th Level, Inc. in association with Bandai in 1997.  It was directed by Dan Kuenster, produced by Susan Deming and written by Kuenster, Deming, and David Lewman. It runs approximately 42 and a half minutes long. Cosmotchi sends the Tamagotchi to Earth to collect an object that best exemplifies the planet for the Tamagotchi Museum. An original animated music video ("What's a Tamagotchi?") and a how-to-draw Tamagotchi featurette, starring director Kuenster, follow the movie.

Music

 Momus's 1997 album Ping Pong features a song called "Tamagotchi Press Officer", which mocked Bandai's advertising strategy.
 The song "Tamagotchi (Tschoopapa...)" was produced by the music band Sqeezer in 1997.
 In Japan, the band Kigurumi, after gaining new members and becoming a trio, released their single "Tamagotchi" on November 21, 2007, which was also the theme music for the film. It was dubbed in English along with the English dub of the movie.
 The Eurodance group Daze song entitled "Together Forever" uses many Tamagotchi references.
 The Los Angeles-based pop duo LOONER released their tribute to the toy in May 2009 with the single "I Love My Tamagotchee!".
 The Filipino band Eraserheads made a song called "Tamagotchi Baby" on their Aloha Milkyway album.
 The German band "Die Ärzte" also made a song called "Tamagotchi".
 The French singer Lorie made a song called "La TamaDance" in 2014 to the contest TamaDance.
 Tamagotchi!, the anime based on Tamagotchi, also features numerous original songs, most of which are performed by the Japanese voice actress Kei Shindō as the pop idol character Lovelitchi.
 Polish rapper duo Taconafide (Taco Hemingway and Quebonafide) released their song Tamagotchi in 2018; it has reached the position 1 on many Polish charts.

Reception
The success of the Tamagotchi led to the electronic pet being appointed the Christmas Gift of the Year by the Swedish Retail Institute in November 1997.

Criticism and controversies
During the late 1990s, children frequently took Tamagotchi digital pets to school because in the first two releases (Generation 1 and Generation 2), a character could die in less than half a day if it did not receive adequate care. Teachers expressed concerns over class disruption as well as general distraction from schoolwork and this eventually led many schools to ban the product. Children became emotional over the deaths of their Tamagotchi, leading to teenagers sending them to graveyards for burial and urban legends of teen suicide, such as an alleged case of a teenage girl hanging herself over the death of her Tamagotchi after her parents took it away as a punishment.

See also
Digimon — a similar digital pet by Bandai
Giga Pet — a brand of virtual pets released by Tiger Electronics to compete with the Tamagotchi
Neopets — a type of online browser based virtual pet
Furby — a 90's toy with a similar market and a robotic feature that simulates speak and movement
Fin Fin on Teo the Magic Planet — a similar digital pet game
List of Tamagotchi releases
Pixel Chix — a similar toy aimed at girls
Pou — a Tamagotchi clone where the user cares for a simulated creature
Tamagotchi effect — A psychological effect named after the digital pet
Tuttuki Bako — a similar Bandai release
Pokémon Pikachu — a similar line of digital pets by Nintendo

References

External links

Bandai Namco Entertainment franchises
1990s toys
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Nick Wolfe is a fictional character from the universe of the Highlander franchise, appearing in the spinoff series Highlander: The Raven, portrayed by actor Paul Johansson. He is an Immortal.

Nick has an older brother, who was 4 when Nick was adopted. Has a tattoo on his rear, learned to dance in the East Side Gym, and went to Law School.

History
Nick Wolfe is handsome, athletic, a touch cynical, quick-witted and able to think on his feet. He comes from a blue-collar background and was raised in an urban environment. His father was probably a shop steward in a factory, his mother taught second grade. He has an older brother as well as a younger sister. Nick did well in school, excelling in scholastics, athletics, and girls. He earned an athletic scholarship to Stanford, but a blown knee ended a football career and his free ride.

Nick quit college and drifted for a while before signing on as a deckhand on a tanker. He ended up in Marseille, where his pride and his tendency to get into bar fights transitioned to a turn at professional boxing. A few months later, a date with a future light-heavyweight champ taught him that boxing should not be his chosen vocation. But his European exodus wasn't a total loss. He picked up more than a working knowledge of French.

Joining the police force seemed a natural for Nick, as did marrying Lauren Donovan, a beautiful young debutante from the right side of the tracks. Though the chemistry was still there, their lifestyles were too different. Lauren could no more accept the life of a cop's wife than Nick could accept a job as a private investigator in her father's prestigious law firm.  The marriage dissolved. Later, Nick would reunite briefly with Lauren in Paris, but that ended in tragedy. For a while, Nick contemplated working his way through law school. But the more time he spent as a cop, the more he realized how little the legal system had to do with justice. So he worked his way up on the Force, earning his Detective First Class stripes and the respect of the cops on the line.

The cop and the thief
The defining moment of his life is the moment his partner, Claudia Hoffman, died and Amanda walked into his life.  From that point on, nothing was the same. He quit the Force and walked away from a promotion rather than lie about his partner's death. He started over by working for his friend Bert Myers in an international security consulting firm and helping oversee Bert's European interests which include co-ownership of a bar in Paris with Amanda. The bar sits on Holy Ground and is named Sanctuary.

He is a man who believes in justice and the promise he made to his dead partner's memory. He is proud, sometimes overly so, honest, determined, and intolerant of fools. He fights his attraction to Amanda more because of her history as a thief than because of her Immortality. He has his own standards, and if he has a fault, it is that he holds to them rigidly, no matter what the cost, even if it means his life. He can be prone to charging forward without seeing all of the complications, especially where his heart is involved.

Intrigued by Nick, Amanda revealed her immortality to him and he became the new man in her life. He was there to help her with her struggle, but sometimes added to it. They argued constantly at a regular basis, but always managed to remain friends and partners. Together, Nick and Amanda solved numerous cases, some involving Immortals, some not.

The Immortal
In the series final episode, Nick was poisoned by an Immortal enemy of Amanda's named Evan Peyton. Believing that he was dying, Nick used up nearly all his energy to shoot out the projector that Peyton was using to project multiple images of himself, thus enabling Amanda to take Peyton's head. After the Quickening, Amanda ran to where Nick lay dying, asked Nick for his forgiveness, took his gun, and shot Nick to trigger his immortality. When Nick woke up, he became angry with Amanda for not telling him about his immortality and because it wasn't her choice to make; she, in typical fashion, thought he'd be happy about being able to live forever. To Amanda's shock, Nick walked away from her, believing that If There Can Only Be One, there is no room for loving another immortal.

It is important to note that Nick's experiences with other immortals have not been very favorable. Prior to his First Death, Nick beheaded two immortals, one by using the glass in a glass factory, and the other using Amanda's sword. The latter Quickening went to Amanda.

Appearances
Raven Episodes - "Reborn", "Full Disclosure", "Bloodlines", "Immunity", "So Shall Ye Reap", "Birthright", "Crime and Punishment", "The Unknown Soldier", "Cloak and Dagger", "Passion Play", "The Devil You Know", "A Matter of Time", "The French Connection", "The Rogue", "Inferno", "The Frame", "Love and Death", "Thick as Thieves", "The Manipulator", "The Ex-Files", "War and Peace", "Dead on Arrival"

References

External links

Highlander (franchise) characters
Fictional characters with immortality
Fictional police officers in films
Television characters introduced in 1998
Fictional characters from the 20th century

Nick Wolfe