Athletics is a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking.[1] The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and walking race.
The results of racing events are decided by finishing position (or time, where measured), while the jumps and throws are won by the athlete that achieves the highest or furthest measurement from a series of attempts. The simplicity of the competitions, and the lack of a need for expensive equipment, makes athletics one of the most commonly competed sports in the world. Athletics is mostly an individual sport, with the exception of relay races and competitions which combine athletes' performances for a team score, such as cross country.
Organized athletics are traced back to the Ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC. The rules and format of the modern events in athletics were defined in Western Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century, and were then spread to other parts of the world. Most modern top level meetings are conducted by the International Association of Athletics Federations and its member federations.
The athletics meeting forms the backbone of the Summer Olympics. The foremost international athletics meeting is the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, which incorporates track and field, marathon running and race walking. Other top level competitions in athletics include the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. Athletes with a physical disability compete at the Summer Paralympics and the World Para Athletics Championships.
The word athletics is derived from the Ancient Greek ἀθλητής (athlētēs, "combatant in public games") from ἆθλον (athlon, "prize") or ἆθλος (athlos, "competition").[2] Initially, the term was used to describe athletic contests in general – i.e. sporting competition based primarily on human physical feats. In the 19th century, the term athletics acquired a more narrow definition in Europe and came to describe sports involving competitive running, walking, jumping and throwing. This definition continues to be the most prominent one in the United Kingdom and most of the areas of the former British Empire. Furthermore, foreign words in many Germanic and Romance languages which are related to the term athletics also have a similar meaning.
In much of North America, athletics is synonymous with sports in general, maintaining a more historical usage of the term. The word "athletics" is rarely used to refer to the sport of athletics in this region. Track and field is preferred, and is used in the United States and Canada to refer to most athletics events, including racewalking and marathon running (although cross country running is typically considered as a separate sport).
History
Antiquity

Athletic contests in running, walking, jumping and throwing are among the oldest of all sports and their roots are prehistoric.[3] Athletics events were depicted in the Ancient Egyptian tombs in Saqqara, with illustrations of running at the Heb Sed festival and high jumping  appearing in tombs from as early as of 2250 BC.[4] The Tailteann Games were an ancient Celtic festival in Ireland, founded circa 1800 BC, and the thirty-day meeting included running and stone-throwing among its sporting events.[5] The original and only event at the first Olympics in 776 BC was a stadium-length running event  known as the stadion. This later expanded to include throwing and jumping events within the ancient pentathlon. Athletics competitions also took place at other Panhellenic Games, which were founded later around 500 BC.[6]
Modern era
The Cotswold Olimpick Games, a sports festival which emerged in 17th century England, featured athletics in the form of sledgehammer throwing contests.[7] Annually, from 1796 to 1798, L'Olympiade de la République was held in revolutionary France, and is an early forerunner to the Modern Summer Olympic Games. The premier event of this competition was a running event, but various ancient Greek disciplines were also on display. The 1796 Olympiade marked the introduction of the metric system into the sport.[8]
Athletics competitions were held about 1812 at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,[9] and in 1840 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire at the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt. The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich held an organised competition in 1849, and a regular series of closed meetings open only to undergraduates, was held by Exeter College, Oxford from 1850.[10] The annual Wenlock Olympian Games, first held in 1850 in Wenlock, England, incorporated athletics events into its sports programme.[11]
The first modern-style indoor athletics meetings were recorded shortly after in the 1860s, including a meet at Ashburnham Hall in London which featured four running events and a triple jump competition.[12][13]
The Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) was established in England on 1880 as the first national body for the sport of athletics and began holding its own annual athletics competition – the AAA Championships. The United States also began holding an annual national competition – the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships – first held in 1876 by the New York Athletic Club.[14] Athletics became codified and standardized via the English AAA and other general sports organisations in the late 19th century, such as the Amateur Athletic Union (founded in the US in 1888) and the Union des sociétés françaises de sports athlétiques (founded in France in 1889).
An athletics competition was included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and it has been as one of the foremost competitions at the quadrennial multi-sport event ever since. Originally for men only, the 1928 Olympics saw the introduction of women's events in the athletics programme. Athletics is part of the Paralympic Games since the inaugural Games in 1960. Athletics has a very high-profile during major championships, especially the Olympics, but otherwise is less popular.
An international governing body, the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), was founded in 1912; it adopted its current name, the International Association of Athletics Federations, in 2001. The IAAF established separate outdoor World Championships in 1983. In modern times, athletes can receive money for racing, putting an end to the so-called "amateurism" that existed before.
The Comité International Sports des Sourds had been formed by 1922, to govern international deaf sports, including athletics.[15]
The first organized international competitions for athletes with a  physical disability (not deaf) began in 1952, when the first international Stoke Mandeville Games were organized for World War II veterans.[15][16] This only included athletes in a wheelchair. This inspired the first Paralympic Games, held in 1960. Competitions would over time be expanded to include mainly athletes with amputations, cerebral palsy and visual impairment, in addition to wheelchair events.
Events

The International Association of Athletics Federations, the sport's governing body, defines athletics in six disciplines: track and field, road running, race walking, cross country running, mountain running, and trail running[17] (mountain running was added in 2003[18] and trail running was added in 2015[19][20][21]). All forms of athletics are individual sports with the exception of relay races. However, athletes' performances are often tallied together by country at international championships, and in the case of cross country and certain road races the finishing positions or times of the top athletes from each team or country are combined to declare a team victor.
Track and field

Track and field competitions emerged in the late 19th century and were typically contested between athletes who were representing rival educational institutions, military organisations and sports clubs.[22] Participating athletes may compete in one or more events, according to their specialities. Men and women compete separately. Track and field comes in both indoor and outdoor formats, with most indoor competitions occurring in winter, while outdoor events are mostly held in summer. The sport is defined by the venue in which the competitions are held – the track and field stadium.
A variety of running events are held on the track which fall into three broad distance categories: sprints, middle-distance, and long-distance track events. Relay races feature teams comprising four runners each, who must pass a baton to their teammate after a specified distance with the aim of being the first team to finish. Hurdling events and the steeplechase are a variation upon the flat running theme in that athletes must clear obstacles on the track during the race. The field events come in two types – jumping and throwing competitions. In throwing events, athletes are measured by how far they hurl an implement, with the common events being the shot put, discus, javelin, and hammer throw. There are four common jumping events: the long jump and triple jump are contests measuring the horizontal distance an athlete can jump, while the high jump and pole vault are decided on the height achieved. Combined events, which include the decathlon (typically competed by men) and heptathlon (typically competed by women), are competitions where athletes compete in a number of different track and field events, with each performance going toward a final points tally.
The most prestigious track and field contests occur within athletics championships and athletics programmes at multi-sport events. The Olympic athletics competition and World Championships in Athletics, and the Paralympic athletics competition and World Para Athletics Championships, are the highest and most prestigious levels of competition in track and field. Track and field events have become the most prominent part of major athletics championships and many famous athletes within the sport of athletics come from this discipline. Discrete track and field competitions are found at national championships-level and also at annual, invitational track and field meets. Meetings range from elite competitions – such as those in the IAAF Diamond League series – to basic all comers track meets, inter-sports club meetings and schools events, which form the grassroots of track and field.
Note: Events in italics are competed at indoor world championships only
Note: Heptathlon can refer to two different events, each consisting of different disciplines and both recognised by IAAF: the indoor heptathlon for men, and the outdoor heptathlon for women.
Road running

Road running competitions are running events (predominantly long distance) which are mainly conducted on courses of paved or tarmac roads, although major events often finish on the track of a main stadium. In addition to being a common recreational sport, the elite level of the sport – particularly marathon races – are one of the most popular aspects of athletics. Road racing events can be of virtually any distance, but the most common and well known are the marathon, half marathon, 10km and 5km. The marathon is the only road running event featured at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the Summer Olympics, although there is also an annual IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. The marathon is also the only road running event featured at the World Para Athletics Championships and the Summer Paralympics. The World Marathon Majors series includes the five most prestigious marathon competitions at the elite level – the Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, and New York City marathons.

The sport of road running finds its roots in the activities of footmen: male servants who ran alongside the carriages of aristocrats around the 18th century, and who also ran errands over distances for their masters. Foot racing competitions evolved from wagers between aristocrats, who pitted their footman against that of another aristocrat in order to determine a winner. The sport became professionalised as footmen were hired specifically on their athletic ability and began to devote their lives to training for the gambling events. The amateur sports movement in the late 19th century marginalised competitions based on the professional, gambling model. The 1896 Summer Olympics saw the birth of the modern marathon and the event led to the growth of road running competitions through annual events such as the Boston Marathon (first held in 1897) and the Lake Biwa Marathon and Fukuoka Marathons, which were established in the 1940s. The 1970s running boom in the United States made road running a common pastime and also increased its popularity at the elite level.[23]
Ekiden contests – which originated in Japan and remain very popular there – are a relay race variation on the marathon, being in contrast to the typically individual sport of road running.
Cross country running

Cross country running is the most naturalistic of the sports in athletics as competitions take place on open-air courses over surfaces such as grass, woodland trails, and earth. It is both an individual and team sport, as runners are judged on an individual basis and a points scoring method is used for teams. Competitions are typically long distance races of 4km (2.5mi) or more which are usually held in autumn and winter. Cross country's most successful athletes often compete in long-distance track and road events as well.
The Crick Run in England in 1838 was the first recorded instance of an organised cross country competition. The sport gained popularity in British, then American schools in the 19th century and culminated in the creation of the first International Cross Country Championships in 1903.[24] The annual IAAF World Cross Country Championships was inaugurated in 1973 and this remains the highest level of competition for the sport. A number of continental cross country competitions are held, with championships taking place in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The sport has retained its status at the scholastic level, particularly in the United Kingdom and United States. At the professional level, the foremost competitions come under the banner of the IAAF Cross Country Permit Meetings.
While cross country competitions are no longer held at the Olympics, having featured in the athletics programme from 1912–1924, it has been present as one of the events within the modern pentathlon competition since the 1912 Summer Olympics. One variation on traditional cross country is mountain running, which incorporates significant uphill and/or downhill sections as an additional challenge to the course. Fell running and Orienteering are other competitive sports similar to cross country, although they feature an element of navigation which is absent from the set courses of cross country.
Racewalking

Racewalking is a form of competitive walking that usually takes place on open-air roads, although running tracks are also occasionally used. Racewalking is the only sport in athletics in which judges monitor athletes on their technique. Racewalkers must always have a foot in contact with the ground and their advancing leg must be straightened, not bent at the knee – failure to follow these rules results in disqualification from the race.[25]
Racewalking finds its roots in the sport of pedestrianism which emerged in the late 18th century in England. Spectators would gamble on the outcome of the walking competitions. The sport took on an endurance aspect and competitions were held over long distances or walkers would have to achieve a certain distance within a specified time frame, such as Centurion contests of walking 100 miles (160km) within 24 hours.[25] During this period, racewalking was frequently held on athletics tracks for ease of measurement, and the 1908 Summer Olympics in London saw the introduction of the 3500-metre and 10-mile walks. Racewalking was briefly dropped from the Olympic programme in 1928, but the men's 50 kilometres race walk has been held at every Olympic Games but one since 1932. The men's 20 kilometres race walk was added to the Olympic athletics schedule in 1956 and the women's event was first held in 1992. The most common events in modern competition are over 10km, 20km and 50km on roads, although women's 3km and men's 5km are held on indoor tracks.
The highest level racewalking competitions occur at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and at the Summer Olympics, although the sport also has its own separate major competition – the IAAF World Race Walking Cup – which has been held since 1961. The IAAF World Race Walking Challenge forms the primary seasonal competition – athletes earn points for their performances at ten selected racewalking competitions and the highest scoring walkers are entered into that year's IAAF Race Walking Challenge Final.
Categories
Masters athletics, the age groups spanning five years for athletes aged 35 and above.
Senior athletics, open class with no upper age limit but, some limitations on younger people competing in endurance events
Under 23, athlete under the age of 23 years
Junior, athlete under the age of 20 years
Youth, athlete under the age of 18 years
Athletes with disabilities

Athletes with physical disabilities have competed at separate international events since 1952. The International Paralympic Committee governs the competitions in athletics, and hosts the Paralympic Games, which have continued since 1960.[15][16]
Competitors at elite level competitions, are classified by disability, to arrange athletes with a similar disability in the same event. A classified T12 athlete for example, is a track athlete with a visual impairment.[26]
F = Field athletes
T = Track athletes
11–13 – visual impairment. Compete with a sighted guide.
20 – Intellectual disability
31–38 – cerebral palsy
40–46 – amputation, and others (including athletes with dwarfism)
51–58 – Wheelchair
In wheelchair racing athletes compete in lightweight racing chairs.  Most major marathons have wheelchair divisions and the elite racers consistently beat the runners on foot. The speed of wheel chair racers has caused difficulties for race organisers in properly staggering their start times compared to runners. A collision between Josh Cassidy (a wheelchair racer) and Tiki Gelana (a leading female marathoner) at the 2013 London Marathon brought the issue into the spotlight again.[27]
Occasionally, athletes with a disability excel to compete with able bodied athletes.  Legally blind Marla Runyan ran in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and won a gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1999 Pan American Games.  Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee, has competed in the 2012 Olympics.  At the 2011 World Championships Pistorius successfully made it to the 400 metres semi-final round and won a silver medal as part of South Africa's 4x400 metres relay team.  In Masters athletics it is far more common to make an accommodation for athletes with a disability.  Blind Ivy Granstrom set numerous Masters world records while being guided around the track.
Venues
Professional athletics almost exclusively takes place in one of three types of venue: stadiums, set courses on grass or woodland, and road-based courses. Such venues ensure that events take place in a relatively standardised manner, as well as improving the safety of athletes and enjoyment for spectators. At a more basic level, many forms of athletics demand very little in terms of venue requirements; almost any open space or area of field can provide a suitable venue for basic running, jumping and throwing competitions.
Track and field stadium

A standard outdoor track is in the shape of a stadium,[28] 400 metres in length, and has at least eight lanes 1.22m in width (small arenas might have six lanes). Older track facilities may have nonstandard track lengths, such as 440 yards (402.3m; 1/4 mile) (common in the United States). Historically, tracks were covered by a dirt running surface. Modern All-weather running tracks are covered by a synthetic weather-resistant running surface, which typically consists of rubber (either black SBR or colored EPDM granules), bound by polyurethane or latex resins. Older tracks may be cinder-covered.
A standard indoor track is designed similarly to an outdoor track, but is only 200 metres in length and has between four and eight lanes, each with width between 0.90m and 1.10m.[29] Often, the bends of an indoor track will be banked to compensate for the small turning radius. However, because of space limitations, indoor tracks may have other nonstandard lengths, such as 160-yard (146.3m) indoor track at Madison Square Garden used for the Millrose Games. Because of space limitations, meetings held at indoor facilities do not hold many of athletics events typically contested outdoors.
Cross country courses

There is no standardised form of cross country course and each venue is significantly defined by the environment it contains – some may be relatively flat and featureless, while others may be more challenging with natural obstacles, tight turns, and undulating ground. While a small number of purpose-built courses exist, the vast majority of cross country running courses are created by cordoning a specific area within any open natural land, typically a park, woodland or greenspace near a settlement.[30]
At the elite and professional level, courses must be looped and each lap must be between 1750m and 2000m in length. Severe obstacles such as deep ditches, high barriers and thick undergrowth not normally present; the course should be able to be completed whilst remaining on foot throughout. In order to maintain the sport's distinction from road running, the usage of unnatural or macadamised surfaces is generally kept to a minimum or avoided entirely.[30]
Because the majority of races take place on areas of grass, soil, mud or earth, weather conditions can significantly affect the difficulty of cross country courses, as snow and rain reduces traction and can create areas of standing water.
Road courses

The surface of road races is highly important and the IAAF dictate that the courses must be along man-made roads, bicycle paths or footpaths. Courses set along major roads of cities are typical of road running events, and traffic is usually cordoned off from the area during the competition. While soft ground, such as grass, is generally avoided, races may start and finish on soft ground or within a track and field stadium. Road racing courses come in two primary types: looped and point-to-point. Courses may be measured and designed to cover a standardised distance, such as 10km (6.2mi), or they may simply follow a set route between two landmarks.[31]
Road running courses over 5km usually offer drinks or refreshment stations for runners at designated points alongside the course and medical professionals are present at the courses of major races due to the health risks involved with long-distance running.[31]
Elite road walks are conducted on closed loop courses (usually loops of 2,000 or 2,500 meters). Refreshment stations are also present over long distance walking competitions, with drinks being available on every lap for races longer than 10km.[32]
Organizations
Since its foundation in 1912, the international governing body for athletics has been the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was initially known as the International Amateur Athletics Federation but changed later its name to reflect that the sport had moved away from amateurism towards professionalism in the late 1970s. The IAAF has 215 member nations and territories, which are divided into six continental areas (or area associations).[33] The six association areas are for Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, North America and South America. The sports within athletics do not have their own independent governing bodies at either international or continental level; instead, all fall under the athletics authorities.[34]

 AAA – Asian Athletics Association
 CAA – Confederation of African Athletics
 CONSUDATLE – South American Athletics Confederation
 NACACAA – North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association
 EAA – European Athletics Association
 OAA – Oceania Athletics Association
National level athletics organisations are responsible for the regulation of the sport within their respective countries and most major competitions have some form of permit or approval from their national body.

Competitions
Athletics competitions can be broadly divided into three types: international championships, national championships, and annual meetings and races. Athletics at international championships, or Games, represent the pinnacle of competition within the sport, and they are contested between athletes representing their country or region. The organisation of these competitions is usually overseen by either a world, continental, or regional athletics governing body. Athletes gain entry into these competitions by earning selection from their national athletics governing body, which is generally done by assessing athletes via their past achievements or performances at a national selection event. National championships are annual competitions endorsed by a national governing body which serve the purpose of deciding the country's best athlete in each event. Annual one-day meetings and races form the most basic level of competition and are the most common format of athletics contests. These events are often invitational and are organised by sports organisations, sports promoters, or other institutions.
Competitions typically feature only one of the sports within athletics. However, major outdoor international athletics championships and athletics competitions held as part of multi-sport events usually feature a combination of track and field, road running and racewalking events
International championships
Olympic Games

The modern Summer Olympics was the first event at which a global athletics competition took place. All the four major sports within athletics have featured in the Olympic athletics programme since its inception in 1896, although cross country has since been dropped. The Olympic competition is the most prestigious athletics contest, and many athletics events are among the most watched events at the Summer Olympics. A total of 47 athletics events are held at the Olympics, 24 for men and 23 for women (as of London 2012). The events within the men's and women's programmes are either identical or have a similar equivalent, with the sole exception being that men contest the 50km race walk.[35]
Paralympic Games

The Summer Paralympics include athletes with a physical disability. Track and field, and road events have featured in the Paralympic athletics programme since its inception in 1960. The Paralympic competition is the most prestigious athletics contest where athletes with a physical disability compete.
Athletics at the Paralympic Games also include wheelchair racing where athletes compete in lightweight racing chairs. Athletes with a visual impairment compete with a sighted guide. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, for the first time at an international athletics event, the guides received medals,[36] such as the pilots in cycling, and the guides at the Paralympic Winter Games have done for a while.
World Championships
The IAAF World Championships in Athletics is the primary global athletics championships held by IAAF. The biennial competition was first held in 1983 and now features an event programme which is identical to the Olympics. Thus, road running, racewalking and track and field are the sports which feature at the competition. Cross country running has its own discrete global championships – the IAAF World Cross Country Championships – which has been held annually since 1973. The IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics is a biennial athletics championships which features solely indoor track and field events. The foremost separate road running event is the annual IAAF World Half Marathon Championships (formerly World Road Running Championships). While not having official world championship status, the biennial IAAF World Race Walking Cup fulfils a similar role for the sport of racewalking. Outdoor track and field is the only sport in athletics that does not have a its own distinct global championship which is separate from other types of athletics, although the IAAF Continental Cup (a quadrennial competition between continental teams) is composed entirely of outdoor track and field events.
Other world championships include the IAAF World Junior and World Youth Championships in Athletics, which are for athletes under-19 and under-17, respectively. World Masters Athletics conducts the World Masters Athletics Championships for athletes in 5-year age divisions over the age of 35.  The now defunct IAAF World Road Relay Championships served as the global event for ekiden marathon relay races.
Elite athletes with a physical disability compete at the World Para Athletics Championships and at the Commonwealth Games.
Commonwealth Games

Athletics is one of the sports at the quadrennial Commonwealth Games competition. It has been a Commonwealth Games sport since the inaugural edition of the event's precursor, the 1930 British Empire Games. It is a core sport and must be included in the sporting programme of each edition of the Games.
Universiade

Athletics is one of the sports at the biennial summer Universiade competition. It has been one of the event's competed sports since the inaugural edition.

Culture and media

Athletics, and its athletes in particular, has been artistically depicted since ancient times – one of the surviving instances include runners and high jumpers in the motifs of Ancient Egyptian tombs dating from 2250BC. Athletics was much respected in Ancient Greece and the events within the ancient pentathlon provided inspiration for large statues such as the Discobolus and Discophoros, and for motifs on countless vase and pottery works. Aristotle discussed the significance of the pentathlon in his treatise Rhetoric and reflected on the athlete aesthetic of the period: "a body capable of enduring all efforts, either of the racecourse or of bodily strength...This is why the athletes in the pentathlon are most beautiful".[37]
Films about athletics are overwhelmingly focused on running events: the 1962 film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (based on the book of the same name) explores cross country running as a means of escape. Chariots of Fire, perhaps one of the most well-known athletics films, is a fictionalised account of Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams's chase for sprint gold medals at the 1924 Olympics. Track and field has been the subject of American films such as Personal Best (1981) and Across the Tracks (1991). Biopics are found within the genre, including Prefontaine (regarding Steve Prefontaine) and Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951) featuring Burt Lancaster as Thorpe. Documentaries are also common with examples such as 2007 film Spirit of the Marathon, which follows runners' preparations for the 2005 Chicago Marathon.
Books on the subject are predominantly non-fiction, and tend towards the forms of training manuals and historical accounts of athletics. The story of the four-minute mile has been a particularly popular subject, spawning books such as The Perfect Mile and 3:59.4: The Quest to Break the Four Minute Mile.
Athletics journalism has spawned a number of dedicated periodicals including Athletics Weekly and Race Walking Record, both of which were first published in England in the early 1940s, and Track & Field News which was first published in the United States in 1948. Runner's World has been in print since 1966 and the Track & Field Magazine of Japan (Rikujyo Kyogi Magazine) is another long-running publication.
Athletics events have been selected as a main motif in numerous collectors' coins.  One of the recent samples is the €10 Greek Running commemorative coin, minted in 2003 to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the obverse of the coin, a modern athlete figure appears in the foreground, shown in the starting position, while in the background two ancient runners are carved in a manner that gives the appearance of a coin that is "worn" by time. This scene originally appeared on a black-figure vase of the 6th century BC.

See also
List of Olympic medalists in athletics (men), (women)
List of world records in athletics
World records (athletes with a disability)
National records in athletics
Association of Track and Field Statisticians
Running in Ancient Greece

 website
 website
 website
 – historical competition data

 This provides a detailed, although Anglocentric, overview of the history of the sport.


Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (abbreviated as KP or KPK; Urdu: خیبر پختونخوا; Pashto: خیبر پښتونخوا)[1] is one of the four administrative provinces of Pakistan, located in the northwestern region of the country along the international border with Afghanistan. It was previously known as the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) until 2010 when the name was changed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by the 18th Amendment to Pakistan's Constitution, and is known colloquially by various other names. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the third-largest province of Pakistan by the size of both population and economy, though it is geographically the smallest of four.[4] Within Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shares a border with Punjab, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Islamabad. It comprises 10.5% of Pakistan's economy, and is home to 17.9% of Pakistan's total population, with the majority of the province's inhabitants being Pashtuns. The province is the site of the ancient kingdom Gandhara, including the ruins of its capital Pushkalavati near modern-day Charsadda. Originally a stronghold of Buddhism, the history of the region was characterized by frequent invasions under various Empires due to its geographical proximity to the Khyber Pass.
Since the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been a major theatre of militancy and terrorism which intensified when the Taliban began an unsuccessful attempt to seize the control of the province in 2004. With the launch of Operation Zarb-e-Azb against the Taliban insurgency, the casualty and crime rates in the country as a whole dropped by 40.0% as compared to 2011–13, with even greater drops noted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.[5] As of July 2014, about 929,859 people were reported to be internally displaced from North Waziristan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a result of Operation Zarb-e-Azb.[6][7]
On March 2, 2017, the Government of Pakistan considered a proposal to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and to repeal the Frontier Crimes Regulations, which are currently applicable to the tribal areas.[8] However, some political parties have opposed the merger, and called for the tribal areas to instead become a separate province of Pakistan.[9] On 24 May 2018, the National Assembly of Pakistan voted in favour of an amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.[10]  The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly then approved the historic FATA-KP merger bill on 28 May 2018 making FATA officially part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,[11] which was then signed by President Mamnoon Hussain, completing the process of this historic merger.[12][13]
Etymology
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa means the "Khyber part of the land of the Pashtuns (or Pakhtuns)",[14] while only the word Pakhtunkhwa means "Land of Pashtuns",[15] and according to some scholars, it means "Pashtun culture and society".[16]
When the British established it as a province, they called it "North West Frontier Province" (abbreviated as NWFP) due to its relative location being in north west of their Indian Empire.[17] After the creation of Pakistan, Pakistan continued with this name but a Pashtun nationalist party, Awami National Party demanded that the province name be changed to "Pakhtunkhwa".[18] Their logic behind that demand was that Punjabi people, Sindhi people and Balochi people have their provinces named after their ethnicities but that is not the case for Pashtun people.[19]
Pakistan Muslim League was against that name since it was too similar to Bacha Khan's demand of separate nation of Pashtunistan.[20] PML-N wanted to name the province something other than which does not carry Pashtun identity in it as they argued that there were other minor ethnicities living in the province especially Hindkowans who spoke Hindko, thus the word Khyber was introduced with the name because it is the name of a major pass which connects Pakistan to Afghanistan.[19]

History

Early history
During the times of Indus Valley Civilization (3300BCE – 1300BCE) the modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Khyber Pass, through Hindu Kush provided a route to other neighbouring regions and was used by merchants on trade excursions.[21] From 1500 BCE, Indo-Aryan peoples started to enter in the region(of modern-day Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, North India) after having passed Khyber Pass.[22][23]

The Gandharan civilization, which reached its zenith between the sixth and first centuries BCE, and which features prominently in the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharatha,[24] had one of its cores over the modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The modern day capital city of Peshawar was originally known in ancient times as Purushapura when the region was Hindu. Vedic texts refer to the area as the Janapada of Pushkalavati. The area was once known to be a great center of learning.[25]
Greek and Persian Invasions
At around 516BCE., Darius Hystaspes sent Scylax, a Greek seaman from Karyanda, to explore the course of the Indus river. Darius Hystaspes subsequently subdued the races dwelling west of the Indus and north of Kabul. Gandhara was incorporated into the Persian Empire as one of its far easternmost satrapy system of government. The satrapy of Gandhara is recorded to have sent troops for Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480BCE.[24]
In the spring of 327BCE Alexander the Great crossed the Indian Caucasus (Hindu Kush) and advanced to Nicaea, where Omphis, king of Taxila and other chiefs joined him. Alexander then dispatched part of his force through the valley of the Kabul River, while he himself advanced into modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bajaur and Swat regions with his troops.[24] Having defeated the Aspasians, from whom he took 40,000 prisoners and 230,000 oxen, Alexander crossed the Gouraios (Panjkora River) and entered into the territory of the Assakenoi – also in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Alexander then made Embolima (thought to be the region of Amb in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) his base. The ancient region of Peukelaotis (modern Hashtnagar, 17 miles (27km) north-west of Peshawar) submitted to the Greek invasion, leading to Nicanor, a Macedonian, being appointed satrap of the country west of the Indus, which includes the modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.[26]
Hindu and Buddhist Rule
After Alexander's death in 323BCE Porus obtained possession of the region, but was murdered by Eudemus in 317BCE. Eudemus then left the region, and with his departure Macedonian power collapsed. Sandrocottus (Chandragupta), the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, then declared himself master of the province. His grandson, Ashoka, made Buddhism the dominant religion in ancient Gandhara.[26]

After Ashoka's death the Mauryan empire collapse, just as in the west the Seleucid power was rising. The Greek princes of neighboring Bactria (in modern Afghanistan) took advantage of the power vacuum to declare their independence. The Bactrian kingdoms were then attacked from the west by the Parthians and from the north (about 139 BCE) by the Sakas, a Central Asian tribe. Local Greek rulers still exercised a feeble and precarious power along the borderland, but the last vestige of Greek dominion was extinguished by the arrival of the Yueh-chi.[26]
The Yueh-Chi were a race of nomads that were themselves forced southwards out of Central Asia by the nomadic Xiongnu people. The Kushan clan of the Yuek Chi seized vast swathes of territory under the rule of Kujula Kadphises. His successors, Vima Takto and Vima Kadphises, conquered the north-western portion of the Indian subcontinent. Vima Kadphises was then succeeded by his son, the legendary Hindu king Kanishka, who himself was succeeded by Huvishka, and Vasudeva I.[26]
Early Islamic Invasions

After the Saffarids had left in Kabul, the Hindu Shahis had once again been placed into power. The restored Hindu Shahi kingdom was founded by the Brahmin minister Kallar in 843CE. Kallar had moved the capital into Udabandhapura in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Kabul. Trade had flourished and many gems, textiles, perfumes, and other goods had been exported West. Coins minted by the Shahis have been found all over the Indian subcontinent. The Shahis had built Hindu temples with many idols, all of which were later looted by invaders. The ruins of these temples can be found at Nandana, Malot, Siv Ganga, and Ketas, as well as across the west bank of the Indus river.[27][28]
At its height King Jayapala, the rule of the Shahi kingdom had extended to Kabul from the West, Bajaur to the North, Multan to the South, and the present day India-Pakistan border to the East.[27]  Jayapala saw a danger from the rise to power of the Ghaznavids and invaded their capital city of Ghazni both in the reign of Sebuktigin and in that of his son Mahmud. This had initiated the Muslim Ghaznavid and Hindu Shahi struggles.[29] Sebuktigin, however, defeated him, and forced Jayapala to pay an indemnity.[29] Eventually, Jayapala refused payment and took to war once more. The Shahis were decisively defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni after the defeat of Jayapala at the Battle of Peshawar on November 27, 1001.[30] Over time, Mahmud of Ghazni had pushed further into the subcontinent, as far as east as modern day Agra. During his campaigns, many Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries had been looted and destroyed, as well as many people being forcibly converted into Islam.[31]
Following the collapse of Ghaznavid rule, local Pashtuns of the Delhi Sultanate controlled the region.
Several Turkic and Pashtun dynasties ruled from Delhi, having shifted their capital from Lahore to Delhi. Several Muslim dynasties ruled modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the Delhi Sultanate period: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90), the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1413), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526).

Tanolis(تنولی) of Ghazni Afghanistan are also came with Ahmad Shah Durrani and setteled in the mountainous area of Hazara called Tanawal (Amb).
Yusufzai Pashtun tribes from the Kabul and Jalalabad valleys began migrating to the Valley of Peshawar beginning in the 15th century,[32] and displaced the Dilazak Pashtun tribes across the Indus River.[32]
Mughal

Mughal suzerainty over the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region was partially established after Babar, the founder of the Mughal Empire, invaded the region in 1505 CE via the Khyber Pass. The Mughal Empire noted the importance of the region as a weak point in their empire's defenses,[33] and determined to hold Peshawar and Kabul at all cost against any threats from the Uzbek Shaybanids.[33]
He was forced to retreat westwards to Kabul, but returned to defeat the Lodis in July 1526, when he captured Peshawar from Daulat Khan Lodi,[34] though the region was never considered to be fully subjugated to the Mughals.[32]
Under the reign of Babar's son, Humayun, direct Mughal rule was briefly challenged with the rise of the Pashtun Emperor, Sher Shah Suri, who began construction of the famous Grand Trunk Road – which links Kabul, Afghanistan with Chittagong, Bangladesh over 2000 miles to the east. Later, local rulers once again pledged loyalty to the Mughal emperor.
Yusufzai tribes rose against Mughals during the Yusufzai Revolt of 1667,[33] and engaged in pitched-battles with Mughal battalions in Peshawar and Attock.[33] Afridi tribes resisted Aurangzeb rule during the Afridi Revolt of the 1670s.[33] The Afridis massacred a Mughal battalion in the Khyber Pass in 1672 and shut the pass to lucrative trade routes.[35] Following another massacre in the winter of 1673, Mughal armies led by Emperor Aurangzeb himself regained control of the entire area in 1674,[33] and enticed tribal leaders with various awards in order to end the rebellion.[33]
Referred to as the "Father of Pashto Literature" and hailing from the city of Akora Khattak, the warrior-poet Khushal Khan Khattak actively participated in revolt against the Mughals and became renowned for his poems that celebrated the rebellious Pashtun warriors.[33]
Afsharid
On 18 November 1738, Peshawar was captured from the Mughal governor Nawab Nasir Khan by the Afsharid armies during the Persian invasion of the Mughal Empire under Nader Shah.[36][37]
Durrani Afghans
The area fell subsequently under the rule of Ahmed Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire,[38] following a grand nine-day long assembly of leaders, known as the loya jirga.[39] Their rule was interrupted by a brief invasion of the Hindu Marathas, ruled over the region following the 1758 Battle of Peshawar for eleven months till early 1759 when the Durrani rule was re-established.[40]
Under the reign of Timur Shah, the Mughal practice of using Kabul as a summer capital and Peshawar as a winter capital was reintroduced,[32][41] Peshawar's Bala Hissar Fort served as the residence of Durrani kings during their winter stay in Peshawar.
Mahmud Shah Durrani, became king, and quickly sought to seize Peshawar from his half-brother, Shah Shujah Durrani.[42] Shah Shujah was then himself proclaimed king in 1803, and recaptured Peshawar while Mahmud Shah was imprisoned at Bala Hissar fort until his eventual escape.[42] In 1809, the British sent an emissary to the court of Shah Shujah in Peshawar, marking the first diplomatic meeting between the British and Afghans.[42] Mahmud Shah allied himself with the Barakzai Pashtuns, and amassed an army in 1809, and captured Peshawar from his half-brother, Shah Shujah, establishing Mahmud Shah's second reign,[42] which lasted under 1818.
Sikh
Ranjit Singh invaded Peshawar in 1818 and captured it from the Afghan Empire.[43] The Sikh Empire based in Lahore did not immediately secure direct control of the Peshawar region, but rather paid nominal tribute to Jehandad Khan of Khattak, who was nominated by Ranjit Singh to be ruler of the region.
After Ranjit Singh's departure from the region, Khattak's rule was undermined and power seized by Yar Muhammad Khan.[43] In 1823, Ranjit Singh returned to capture Peshawar, and was met by the armies of Azim Khan at Nowshera.[43] Following the Sikh victory at the Battle of Nowshera, Ranjit Singh re-captured Peshawar.[43] Rather than re-appointing Jehandad Khan of Khattak, Ranjit Singh selected Yar Muhammad Khan to once again rule the region.[43]
The Sikh Empire annexed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region following advances from the armies of Hari Singh Nalwa.[43] An 1835 attempt by Dost Muhammad Khan to re-occupy Peshawar failed when his army declined to engage in combat with the Dal Khalsa.[43]  Dost Muhammad Khan's son, Mohammad Akbar Khan engaged with Sikh forces the Battle of Jamrud of 1837, resulting in the death of Hari Singh Nalwa.
During Sikh rule, an Italian name Paolo Avitabile was appointed administrator of Peshawar, and is remembered for having unleashed a reign of fear there. The city's famous Mahabat Khan, built in 1630 in the Jeweler's Bazaar, was badly damaged and desecrated by the Sikh conquerors.[44]
Sikh settlers from Punjab were settled in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. Amb (Tanawal) was only princely state that is free from the influence of Sikhs.And ruled by Tanolis. Peshawar's only remaining Gurdwaras were built by Hari Singh Nalwa to accommodate the newly-settle Sikhs.[45] The Sikhs also rebuilt the Bala Hissar fort during their occupation of the Peshawar.[42]
British Raj

British East India Company defeated the Sikhs during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, and incorporated small parts of the region into the Province of Punjab. While Peshawar was the site of a small mutiny against British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, local Pashtun tribes throughout the region generally remained neutral and supportive of the British as they detested the Sikhs,[23] in contrast to other parts of British India which rose up in revolt against the British. However, British control of parts of the region was routinely challenged by Wazir tribesmen in Waziristan and other Pashtun tribes, who resisted any foreign occupation until Pakistan was created. By the late 19th century, the official boundaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region still had not been defined as the region was still claimed by the Kingdom of Afghanistan. It was only in 1893 The British demarcated the boundary with Afghanistan under a treaty agreed to by the Afghan king, Abdur Rahman Khan, following the Second Anglo-Afghan War.[46] Several princely states within the boundaries of the region were allowed to maintain their autonomy under the terms of maintaining friendly ties with the British. As the British war effort during World War One demanded the reallocation of resources from British India to the European war fronts, some tribesmen from Afghanistan crossed the Durand Line in 1917 to attack British posts in an attempt to gain territory and weaken the legitimacy of the border. The validity of the Durand Line, however, was re-affirmed in 1919 by the Afghan government with the signing of the Treaty of Rawalpindi,[47] which ended the Third Anglo-Afghan War – a war in which Waziri tribesmen allied themselves with the forces of Afghanistan's King Amanullah in their resistance to British rule.  The Wazirs and other tribes, taking advantage of instability on the frontier, continued to resist British occupation until 1920 – even after Afghanistan had signed a peace treaty with the British.
British campaigns to subdue tribesmen along the Durand Line, as well as three Anglo-Afghan wars, made travel between Afghanistan and the densely populated heartlands of Khyber Pakhtunkwa increasingly difficult. The two regions were largely isolated from one another from the start of the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878 until the start of World War Two in 1939 when conflict along the Afghan frontier largely dissipated. Concurrently, the British continued their large public works projects in the region, and extended the Great Indian Peninsula Railway into the region, which connected the modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region to the plains of India to the east. Other projects, such as the Attock Bridge, Islamia College University, Khyber Railway, and establishment of cantonments in Peshawar, Kohat, Mardan, and Nowshera further cemented British rule in the region. In 1901, the British carved out the northwest portions of Punjab Province to create the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), which was renamed "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" in 2010.[48]

During the independence period there was a Congress-led ministry in the province, which was led by secular Pashtun leaders, including Bacha Khan, who preferred joining India instead of Pakistan. The secular Pashtun leadership was also of the view that if joining India was not an option then they should espouse the cause of an independent ethnic Pashtun state rather than Pakistan.[49] The secular stance of Bacha Khan had driven a wedge between the ulama of the otherwise pro-Congress (and pro-Indian unity) Jamiat Ulema Hind (JUH) and Bacha Khan's Khudai Khidmatgars. The directives of the ulama in the province began to take on communal tones. The ulama saw the Hindus in the province as a 'threat' to Muslims. Accusations of molesting Muslim women were levelled at Hindu shopkeepers in Nowshera, a town where anti-Hindu sermons were delivered by maulvis.
Tensions also rose in 1936 over the abduction of a Hindu girl in Bannu. British Indian court ruled against the marriage of a Hindu-converted Muslim girl at Bannu, after the girl's family filed case of abduction and forced conversion. The ruling was based on the fact that the girl was a minor and was asked to make her decision of conversion and marriage after she reaches the age of majority, till then she was asked to live with a third party.[50] The verdict 'enraged' the Muslims - especially the Pashtun tribesmen. The Dawar Maliks and mullahs left the Tochi far the Khaisora Valley to the south to rouse the Torikhel Wazir. The enraged tribesmen mustered two large lashkars 10,000 strong and battled the Bannu Brigade, with heavy casualties on both sides. Widespread lawlessness erupted as tribesmen blocked roads, overran outposts and ambushed convoys. The British retaliated by sending two columns converging in the Khaisora river valley. They suppressed the agitation by imposing fines and by destroying the houses of the ringleaders, including that of Haji Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi). However, the pyrrhic nature of the victory and the subsequent withdrawal of the troops was credited by the Wazirs to be a manifestation of the power of Mirzali Khan. He succeeded in inducing a semblance of tribal unity, as the British noticed with dismay, among various sections of Tori Khel Wazirs, the Mahsud and the Bettani. He cemented his position as religious leader by declaring a Jihad against the British. This move also helped rally support from Pashtun tribesman across the border.
Such controversies stirred up anti-Hindu sentiments amongst the province's Muslim population.[51] By 1947 the majority of the ulama in the province began supporting the Muslim League's idea of Pakistan.[52]
Bannu Resolution

In June 1947, Mirzali Khan (Faqir of Ipi), Bacha Khan, and other Khudai Khidmatgars declared the Bannu Resolution, demanding that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan composing all Pashtun majority territories of British India, instead of being made to join the new state of Pakistan. However, the British Raj refused to comply with the demand of this resolution.[53][54]
Immediately prior to the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the British held a referendum in the NWFP to allow voters to choose between joining Pakistan or India.  The referendum was held on 2July 1947 while polling began on 6 July 1947 and the referendum results were made public on 20 July 1947. According to the official results, there were 572,798 registered voters, out of which 289,244 (99.02%) votes were cast in favor of Pakistan, while only 2874 (0.98%) were cast in favor of India. According to an estimate, the total turnout for the referendum was only 15% less than the total turnout in the 1946 elections.[55][56] At the same time, a large number of Khudai Khidmatgar supporters boycotted the referendum, and intimidation against Hindu and Sikh voters by supporters of the Pakistan Movement was also reported.[57] Bacha Khan pledged allegiance to the new state of Pakistan in 1947, and thereafter abandoned his goals of an independent Pashtunistan and a United India, in favor of supporting increased autonomy for the NWFP under Pakistani rule.[23] He was subsequently arrested by Pakistan several times for his opposition to strong centralized rule.[58]
On the other hand, Mirzali Khan and his followers refused to recognise Pakistan, and launched a campaign against Pakistan. They continued their guerilla warfare against the new nation's government.[59] In 1950, they announced the creation of Pashtunistan as an independent nation. A Pashtun tribal jirga, held in Razmak, Waziristan, appointed Mirzali Khan as the President of the National Assembly for Pashtunistan. He didn't surrender to the government of Pakistan throughout his life. However, his popularity among the people of Waziristan declined over the years. He died a natural death in 1960 in Gurwek, Waziristan.[60]
As the region came under British control, as had been agreed to by the Afghan government following the British victory over Afghanistan in the Second Anglo-Afghan War and after the treaty ending Third Anglo-Afghan War, no option was available to cede the territory to the rule of the Afghan king even though Afghanistan continued to claim the entire region as it was part of the Durrani Empire prior the conquest of the region by the Sikhs in 1818. By 1947 Pashtun nationalists were advocating for a united India, and no prominent voices advocated for a union with Afghanistan.[61][62] All the princely states within the boundaries of the NWFP were allowed to maintain certain autonomy, but in 1970s most of the princely states were merged completely into Pakistan.
After the creation of Pakistan

After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, Afghanistan was the sole member of the United Nations to vote against Pakistan's accession to the UN because of Kabul's claim to the Pashtun territories on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line.[63]
Afghanistan's Loya Jirga of 1949 declared the Durand Line invalid, which led to border tensions with Pakistan, and decades of mistrust between the two states. Afghan governments have also periodically refused to recognize Pakistan's inheritance of British treaties regarding the region.[64] During the 1950s, Afghanistan supported the secessionist Pushtunistan Movement.
As a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, over five million Afghan refugees poured into Pakistan, mostly choosing to reside in the NWFP (as of 2007, nearly 3 million remained). The North-West Frontier Province became a base for the Afghan resistance fighters and the Deobandi ulama of the province played a significant role in the Afghan 'jihad', with Madrasa Haqqaniyya becoming a prominent organisational and networking base for the anti-Soviet Afghan fighters.[65] The province remained heavily influenced by events in Afghanistan thereafter. The 1989–1992 Civil war in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of Soviet forces led to the rise of the Afghan Taliban, which had emerged in the border region between Afghanistan, Balochistan, and FATA as a formidable political force.
In 2010 the province was renamed "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa." Protests arose among the local Hindkowan, Chitrali, Kohistani and Kalash populations over the name change, as they began to demand their own provinces. The hindkowans, kohistanis and chitralis are last remains of ancient Gandhari people and they jointly protested for preservation of their culture.Seven people were killed and 100 injured in protests on 11April 2011.[66]
The Awami National Party sought to rename the province "Pakhtunkhwa", which translates to "Land of Pashtuns" in the Pashto language. The name change was largely opposed by non-Pashtuns, and by political parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-N, who draw much of their support from non-Pashtun regions of the province, and by the Islamist Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition.
War and militancy

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been a site of militancy and terrorism that started after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and intensified when the Pakistani Taliban began an attempt to seize power in Pakistan starting in 2004. Armed conflict began in 2004, when tensions, rooted in the Pakistan Army's search for al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan's mountainous Waziristan area (in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas), escalated into armed resistance.[67]
Fighting is ongoing between the Pakistani Army and armed militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jundallah, Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), al-Qaeda, and elements of organized crime[68][69][70] have led to the deaths of over 50,000 Pakistanis since the country joined the U.S-led War on Terror,[71] with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa being the site of most of the conflict.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is also the main theater for Pakistan's Zarb-e-Azb operation – a broad military campaign against militants located in the province, and neighboring FATA. By 2014, casualty rates in the country as a whole dropped by 40% as compared to 2011–2013, with even greater drops noted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,[72] despite the province being the site of a large massacre of schoolchildren by terrorists in December 2014.
Geography

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sits primarily on the Iranian plateau and comprises the junction where the slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains on the Eurasian plate give way to the Indus-watered hills approaching South Asia. This situation has led to seismic activity in the past.[73] The famous Khyber Pass links the province to Afghanistan, while the Kohalla Bridge in Circle Bakote Abbottabad is a major crossing point over the Jhelum River in the east.
Geographically the province could be divided into two zones: the northern one extending from the ranges of the Hindu Kush to the borders of Peshawar basin and the southern one extending from Peshawar to the Derajat basin.
The northern zone is cold and snowy in winters with heavy rainfall and pleasant summers with the exception of Peshawar basin, which is hot in summer and cold in winter. It has moderate rainfall.
The southern zone is arid with hot summers and relatively cold winters and scanty rainfall.[74] The Sheikh Badin Hills, a spur of clay and sandstone hills that stretch east from the Sulaiman Mountains to the Indus River, separates Dera Ismail Khan District from the Marwat plains of the Lakki Marwat. The highest peak in the range is the limestone Sheikh Badin Mountain, which is protected by the Sheikh Badin National Park. Near the Indus River terminus of the Sheikh Badin Hills is a spur of limestone hills known as the Kafir Kot hills, where the ancient Hindu complex of Kafir Kot is located.[75]
The major rivers that criss-cross the province are the Kabul, Swat, Chitral, Kunar, Siran, Panjkora, Bara, Kurram, Dor, Haroo, Gomal and Zhob.
Its snow-capped peaks and lush green valleys of unusual beauty have enormous potential for tourism.[76]
Climate
The climate of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa varies immensely for a region of its size, encompassing most of the many climate types found in Pakistan. The province stretching southwards from the Baroghil Pass in the Hindu Kush covers almost six degrees of latitude; it is mainly a mountainous region. Dera Ismail Khan is one of the hottest places in South Asia while in the mountains to the north the weather is mild in the summer and intensely cold in the winter. The air is generally very dry; consequently, the daily and annual range of temperature is quite large.[77]
Rainfall also varies widely. Although large parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are typically dry, the province also contains the wettest parts of Pakistan in its eastern fringe specially in monsoon season from mid June to mid September.

Chitral District
Chitral District lies completely sheltered from the monsoon that controls the weather in eastern Pakistan, owing to its relatively westerly location and the shielding effect of the Nanga Parbat massif. In many ways Chitral District has more in common regarding climate with Central Asia than South Asia.[78] The winters are generally cold even in the valleys, and heavy snow during the winter blocks passes and isolates the region. In the valleys, however, summers can be hotter than on the windward side of the mountains due to lower cloud cover: Chitral can reach 40°C (104°F) frequently during this period.[79] However, the humidity is extremely low during these hot spells and, as a result the summer climate is less torrid than in the rest of the Indian subcontinent.
Most precipitation falls as thunderstorms or snow during winter and spring, so that the climate at the lowest elevations is classed as Mediterranean (Csa), continental Mediterranean (Dsa) or semi-arid (BSk). Summers are extremely dry in the north of Chitral district and receive only a little rain in the south around Drosh.
At elevations above 5,000 metres (16,400ft), as much as a third of the snow which feeds the large Karakoram and Hindukush glaciers comes from the monsoon since these elevations are too high to be shielded from its moisture.[78]
Central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

On the southern flanks of Nanga Parbat and in Upper and Lower Dir Districts, rainfall is much heavier than further north because moist winds from the Arabian Sea are able to penetrate the region. When they collide with the mountain slopes, winter depressions provide heavy precipitation. The monsoon, although short, is generally powerful. As a result, the southern slopes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are the wettest part of Pakistan. Annual rainfall ranges from around 500 millimetres (20in) in the most sheltered areas to as much as 1,750 millimetres (69in) in parts of Abbottabad and Mansehra Districts.
This region's climate is classed at lower elevations as humid subtropical (Cfa in the west; Cwa in the east); whilst at higher elevations with a southerly aspect it becomes classed as humid continental (Dfb). However, accurate data for altitudes above 2,000 metres (6,560ft) are practically nonexistent here, in Chitral, or in the south of the province.

The seasonality of rainfall in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shows very marked gradients from east to west. At Dir, March remains the wettest month due to frequent frontal cloud-bands, whereas in Hazara more than half the rainfall comes from the monsoon.[82] This creates a unique situation characterized by a bimodal rainfall regime, which extends into the southern part of the province described below.[82]
Since cold air from the Siberian High loses its chilling capacity upon crossing the vast Karakoram and Himalaya ranges, winters in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are somewhat milder than in Chitral. Snow remains very frequent at high altitudes but rarely lasts long on the ground in the major towns and agricultural valleys. Outside of winter, temperatures in central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are not so hot as in Chitral.
Significantly higher humidity when the monsoon is active means that heat discomfort can be greater. However, even during the most humid periods the high altitudes typically allow for some relief from the heat overnight.
Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
As one moves further away from the foothills of the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges, the climate changes from the humid subtropical climate of the foothills to the typically arid climate of Sindh, Balochistan and southern Punjab. As in central Pakhtunkhwa, the seasonality of precipitation shows a very sharp gradient from west to east, but the whole region very rarely receives significant monsoon rainfall. Even at high elevations annual rainfall is less than 400 millimetres (16in) and in some places as little as 200 millimetres (8in).
Temperatures in southern Pakhtunkhwa are extremely hot: Dera Ismail Khan in the southernmost district of the province is known as one of the hottest places in the world with temperatures known to have reached 50°C (122°F). In the cooler months, nights can be cold and frosts remain frequent; snow is very rare, and daytime temperatures remain comfortably warm with abundant sunshine.

National parks
There are about 29 National Parks in Pakistan and about 18 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Population

Historical populationsCensusPopulationUrban19514,556,54511.07%19615,730,99113.23%19728,388,55114.25%198111,061,32815.05%199817,743,64516.87%
The province has an estimated population of about 27.5 million, according to 2011 estimates, that is an increase of 51.6% over 1998 figures, ranking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over Islamabad, Punjab and Azad Kashmir in population gains during that period.[83] The largest ethnic group is the Pashtun, who historically have been living in the areas for centuries.[84] Around 1.5 million Afghan refugees also remain in the province,[85] the majority of whom are Pashtuns followed by Tajiks, Hazaras, and other smaller groups. Despite having lived in the province for over two decades, they are registered as citizens of Afghanistan.[86]
The Pashtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa observe tribal code of conduct called Pakhtunwali which has four high value components called nang (honor), badal (revenge), melmastiya (hospitality) and nanawata (rights to refuge).[4]
According to the 1998 census, the population of the province was approximately 17¾ million,[87] of whom 52% are males and 48% are females.
Languages
Urdu, being the national and official language, serves as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communications, and sometime Pashto and Urdu are the second and third languages among communities which speak other ethnic languages.[4] Pashto is spoken more than three-fourths of the population after Fata merger. English is co-official and also used in education, while Arabic is used for religious purposes and education. In 2011 the provincial government approved in principle the introduction of the five regional languages of Pashto, Hindko, Saraiki, Khowar and Kohistani as compulsory subjects for the schools in the areas where they are spoken.[88]
There is some population in Peshawar city who speak Persian since nineteenth century; this population saw an increase during 1980s and 1990s due to migration from Afghanistan.
Religion

The majority of the residents of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa overwhelmingly follows and professes the Sunni principles of Islam while the small followers of Shia principles of Islam are found among in the Isma'ilis in the Chitral district.[27] The tribe of Kalasha in southern Chitral still retain their ancient Greco Animist/Shamanist religion.[27] There are very small numbers of residents are the adherents of Roman Catholicism sect of Christianity, Hinduism and the Sikhism.[89][90]
Government and politics

Political leanings and the Legislative branch

The Provincial Assembly is an unicameral legislature, which consists of 124 members elected to serve for a constitutionally bounded term of five years. Historically, the province perceived to be a stronghold of the ANP– a pro-Russian, a procommunist, left-wing and nationalist party.[91][92] Since 1970s, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also enjoyed considerable support in the province due to its socialist agenda.[91] Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thought to be another leftist region of the country after Sindh.[92]
After the nationwide general elections held in 2002, a plurality voting swing in the province elected one of Pakistan's only religiously-based provincial governments led by ultraconservative MMA during the administration of President Pervez Musharraf. The American involvement in neighboring Afghanistan contributed towards the electoral victory of the Islamic coalition led by JeI whose social policies made the province a ground-swell of anti-Americanism.[93] The electoral victory of MMA was also in context of guided democracy in Musharraff administration that barred the mainstream political parties, the leftist Pakistan Peoples Party and the centre-right PML(N), whose chairmen and presidents having been barred from participation in the elections.[94]
Policy enforcement of a range of social restrictions, though the implementation of strict Shariah was introduced by the MMA government but the law was never fully enacted due to objections of Governor backed by the Musharraff administration.[93] Restrictions on public musical performances were introduced, as well as a ban prohibiting music to be played in public places as part of the "Prohibition of Dancing and Music Bill, 2005" – which led to the creation of a thriving underground music scene in Peshawar.[95] The Islamist government also attempted to enforce compulsory hijab on women,[96] and wished to enforce gender segregation in the province's educational institutions.[96] The coalition further tried to prohibit male doctors from performing ultrasounds on women,[96] and tried to close the province's cinemas.[96] In 2005, the coalition successfully passed the "Prohibition of Use of Women in Photograph Bill, 2005," leading to the removal of all public advertisements that featured women.[97]
In the height of far-right insurgency in the country, the religious coalition lost its grip in the general elections held in 2008, and the religious coalition was swept out of power by the leftist Awami National Party which also witnessed the resignation of President Musharraf in 2008.[93] The ANP government eventually led the initiatives to repeal the major Islamist's social programs, with the backing of the federal government led by PPP in Islamabad.[98] Public disapproval of ANP's leftist program integrated in civil administration with the sounded allegations of corruption as well as popular opposition against religious program promoted by the MMA swiftly shifted the province's leniency towards the right-wing spectrum led by the PTI in 2012.[91] In 2013, the provincial politics shifted towards the right wingnational conservatism when the PTI led by Imran Khan was able to form the minority government in coalition with the JeI; the province now serves as the stronghold of the rightist PTI and is perceived as right-wing spectrum of the country.[99]
In non-Pashtun areas, such as Attock, Abbottabad, and Hazara District, the PML(N), the centre-right party, enjoys considerable public support over economical and public policy issues and has a substantial vote bank.[99]
Executive Branch

The executive branch of the Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa is led by the Chief Minister elected by the popular votes in the Provincial assembly[100] while the Governor, a ceremonial figure representing the federal government in Islamabad, is appointed from the necessary advice of the Prime Minister of Pakistan by the President of Pakistan.[101]
The provincial cabinet is then appointed by the Chief Minister who takes Oath of office from the Governnor.[102] In matters of civil administration, the Chief Secretary assists the Chief Minister on executing its right to ensure the writ of the government and the constitution.[27][103]
Judicial Branch

The Peshawar High Court is the province's highest court of law whose judges are appointed by the approval of the Supreme Judicial Council in Islamabad, interpreting the laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.
Administrative divisions and districts
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is divided into seven Divisions  – Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Malakand, Mardan and Peshawar plus seven agencies of FATA, which are now part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa[10][11][12] – each under an appointed Commissioner. The Divisions were abolished in 2000, but were restored after the 2008 election. The Divisions are subdivided into twenty-six districts, comprising twenty-one Settled Area Districts and five Provincially Administered Tribal Area (PATA) Districts. The administration of the PATA districts is vested in the President of Pakistan and the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by Articles 246 and 247 of the Constitution of Pakistan[104] but after FATA-KP merger, the administration of both PATA and FATA is transferred to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.[12]

The thirty four districts are:[105]

Abbottabad
Bajaur
Bannu
Battagram
Buner
Charsadda
Upper Chitral
LowerChitral
Dera Ismail Khan
Dir Upper
Dir Lower
Hangu
Haripur
Karak
Khyber
Kohat
Kurram
Upper Kohistan
Lower Kohistan
Kolai Pallas
Lakki Marwat
Malakand
Mansehra
Mardan
Mohmand
North Waziristan
Nowshera
Orakzai
Peshawar
South Waziristan
Swabi
Swat
Shangla
Tank
Torghar

Major cities

Peshawar is the capital and largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The city is the most populous and comprises more than one-eighth of the province's population and Bannu NA35 is the largest NA Seat of the Province

vt Largest cities or towns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
RankNameDistrictPop.
Peshawar

Mardan1PeshawarPeshawar District1,970,0422MardanMardan District358,6043MingoraSwat District331,0914AbbottabadAbbottabad District244,8425KohatKohat District228,7796Dera Ismail KhanDera Ismail Khan District217,4577NowsheraNowshera District197,6738SwabiSwabi District155,3619CharsaddaCharsadda District145,31210MansehraMansehra District144,855
Economy

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the third largest provincial economy in Pakistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's share of Pakistan's GDP has historically comprised 10.5%, although the province accounts for 11.9% of Pakistan's total population. The part of the economy that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa dominates is forestry, where its share has historically ranged from a low of 34.9% to a high of 81%, giving an average of 61.56%.[106] Currently, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounts for 10% of Pakistan's GDP,[107] 20% of Pakistan's mining output[108] and, since 1972, it has seen its economy grow in size by 3.6 times.[109]
After suffering for decades due to the fallout of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, today they are again being targeted for a different situation of terrorism.
Agriculture remains important and the main cash crops include wheat, maize, tobacco (in Swabi), rice, sugar beets, as well as fruits are grown in the province.
Some manufacturing and high tech investments in Peshawar has helped improve job prospects for many locals, while trade in the province involves nearly every product. The bazaars in the province are renowned throughout Pakistan. Unemployment has been reduced due to establishment of industrial zones.
Workshops throughout the province support the manufacture of small arms and weapons. The province accounts for at least 78% of the marble production in Pakistan.[110]
Infrastructure
The Sharmai Hydropower Project is a proposed power generation project located in Upper Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the Panjkora River with an installed capacity of 150MW.[111] The project feasibility study was carried out by Japanese consulting company Nippon Koei.
Social issues
The Awami National Party sought to rename the province "Pakhtunkhwa", which translates to "Land of Pakhtuns" in the Pashto language.[112] This was opposed by some of the non-Pashtuns, and especially by parties such as the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). The PML-N derives its support in the province from primarily non-Pashtun Hazara regions.
In 2010 the announcement that the province would have a new name led to a wave of protests in the Hazara region.[113] On 15 April 2010 Pakistan's senate officially named the province "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" with 80 senators in favor and 12 opposed.[114] The MMA, who until the elections of 2008 had a majority in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, had proposed "Afghania" as a compromise name.[115]
After the 2008 general election, the Awami National Party formed a coalition provincial government with the Pakistan Peoples Party.[116] The Awami National Party has its strongholds in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan, particularly in the Peshawar valley, while Karachi in Sindh has one of the largest Pashtun populations in the world—around 7 million by some estimates.[117] In the 2008 election the ANP won two Sindh assembly seats in Karachi. The Awami National Parbeen instrumental in fighting the Taliban. In the 2013 general election Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf won a majority in the provincial assembly and has now formed their government in coalition with Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan.[118]
Non-government organisations
The following is a list of some of the major NGOs working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:[119][120]
Al-Khidmat Foundation
Aurat Foundation
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre
Sarhad Rural Support Programme
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
Folk music and culture
Hindko and Pashto folk music are popular in Pakhtunkhwa and have a rich tradition going back hundreds of years. The main instruments are the rubab, mangey and harmonium. Khowar folk music is popular in Chitral and northern Swat. The tunes of Khowar music are very different from those of Pashto, and the main instrument is the Chitrali sitar. A form of band music composed of clarinets (surnai) and drums is popular in Chitral. It is played at polo matches and dances. The same form of band music is played in the neighbouring Northern Areas.[121]
Education

Sources:[122][123]
This is a chart of the education market of Pakhtunkhwa estimated[124] by the government in 1998.[125]

Major educational establishments
Abbottabad Public School, Abbottabad
University of Haripur, Haripur
Army Burn Hall College, Abbottabad
Cadet College Kohat, Kohat
Edwardes College, Peshawar
Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan
Bacha Khan Medical College, Mardan
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Swabi
Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan
Islamia College University, Peshawar
Khyber Medical University, Peshawar
Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad
Abbottabad University of Science and Technology,Abbottabad
University of Agriculture, Peshawar
University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar
University of Malakand, Chakdara
University of Peshawar, Peshawar
University of Hazara, Mansehra
University of Swat, Swat
University of Swabi, Swabi
University of Science and Technology, Bannu
Sports
Cricket is the main sport played in Pakhtunkhwa. It has produced world-class sportsmen like Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Fakhar Zaman and Umar Gul. Besides producing cricket players, Pakhtunkhwa has the honour of being the birthplace of many world-class squash players, including greats like Hashim Khan, Qamar Zaman, Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan.
See also

What is the largest city in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa?


Mattar paneer, also known as matar paneer, and mutter paneer[2][3] is a vegetarian North Indian dish consisting of peas and paneer in a tomato based sauce,[4] spiced with garam masala.
It is often served with rice and an Indian type of bread (naan, paratha, poori, or roti depending on region). Various other ingredients are often added, such as "aloo" (potato), corn, yogurt or cream.[5][6]
Gallery

See also
List of legume dishes
Foodportal
Paneer


The German Army (German: Heer, German pronunciation:[ˈheːɐ̯], lit.Army) was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht,[lower-alpha 1] the regular German Armed Forces, from 1935 until it was demobilized and later dissolved in August 1946.[1] During World War II, a total of about 13 million soldiers served in the German Army.[2] Germany's army personnel were made up of volunteers and conscripts
Only 17 months after Adolf Hitler announced publicly the rearmament program, the Army reached its projected goal of 36 divisions. During the autumn of 1937 two more corps were formed. In 1938 four additional corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the Anschluss in March.[3] During the period of its expansion under Hitler, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground (Heer) and air (Luftwaffe) assets into combined arms forces. Coupled with operational and tactical methods such as encirclements and the "battle of annihilation", the German military managed quick victories in the two initial years of World War II, a new style of warfare described as Blitzkrieg (lightning war) for its speed and destructive power.[4]
The infantry remained foot soldiers throughout the war; artillery also remained primarily horse-drawn. The  motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the main reason for the success of the German invasions of Poland (September 1939), Norway and Denmark (April 1940), Belgium, France and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941) and the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941). However their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heer's capacity at their peak strength. The army's lack of trucks (and of petroleum to run them) severely limited infantry movement, especially during and after the  Normandy invasion when Allied air-power devastated the French rail network north of the Loire. Panzer movements also depended on rail, since driving a tank long distances wore out its tracks.[5]
Structure

The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) was Germany's Army High Command from 1936 to 1945. In theory the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) served as the military General Staff for the German Reich's armed forces, coordinating the Wehrmacht (Army Heer, Navy Kriegsmarine, and the Air Force Luftwaffe) operations. In practice OKW acted in a subordinate role as Hitler's personal military staff, translating his ideas into military plans and orders, and issuing them to the three services.[6] However, as the war progressed the OKW found itself exercising increasing amounts of direct command authority over military units, particularly in the west. This created a situation where by 1943 the OKW was the de facto command of Western Theatre forces while the Army High Command (OKH) was the same on the Eastern Front.[7]
The Abwehr was the Army intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr (German for "defense", here referring to counter-intelligence) had been created just after World War I as an ostensible concession to Allied demands that Germany's intelligence activities be for defensive purposes only. After 4 February 1938, the Abwehr's name was changed to the Overseas Department/Office in Defence of the Armed Forces High Command (Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht).
Nazi Germany used the system of military districts (German: Wehrkreis) to relieve field commanders of as much administrative work as possible, and to provide a regular flow of trained recruits and supplies to the field forces. The method OKW adopted was to separate the Field Army (OKH) from the Home Command (Heimatkriegsgebiet), and to entrust the responsibilities of training, conscription, supply and equipment to Home Command.
Organization of the field forces

The German Army was mainly structured in Army groups (Heeresgruppen, see Army groups of the German Army) consisting of several armies that were relocated, restructured or renamed in the course of the war. Forces or allied states as well as units made up of non-Germans were also assigned to German units.
For Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Army forces were assigned to three strategic campaign groupings:
Army Group North with Leningrad as its campaign objective
Army Group Centre with Smolensk as its campaign objective
Army Group South with Kiev as its campaign objective
Below the army group level forces included Field armies – (see List of World War II military units of Germany), panzer groups, which later became army level formations themselves, corps (see List of German corps in World War II), and divisions (see List of German divisions in World War II). The army used the German term Kampfgruppe which equates to the English 'combat group' or battle group. These provisional combat groupings ranged from an Army Corps size such as Army Detachment Kempf to commands composed of several companies and even platoons. They were named for their commanding officers.
Select arms of service

Anti-tank troops
Panzergrenadier (Armoured infantry troops)
Panzerwaffe (Armoured troops)
Army propaganda troops
Experimental command Kummersdorf
Foreign Armies East
Feldgendarmerie (Military field police)
Mountain troops
Geheime Feldpolizei (Secret Field Police)
Prussian Military Academy
Kriegsschule (War college)

Doctrine and tactics

German operational doctrine emphasized sweeping pincer and lateral movements meant to destroy the enemy forces as quickly as possible. This approach, referred to as Blitzkrieg, was an operational doctrine instrumental in the success of the offensives in Poland and France. Blitzkrieg has been considered by many historians as having its roots in precepts developed by Fuller, Liddel-Hart and von Seeckt, and even having ancient prototypes practiced by Alexander, Genghis Khan and Napoleon.[8][9] Recent studies of the Battle of France also suggest that the actions of either Rommel or Guderian or both of them (both had contributed to the theoretical development and early practices of what later became blitzkrieg prior to World War II),[10][11] ignoring orders of superiors who had never foreseen such spectacular successes and thus prepared much more prudent plans, were conflated into a purposeful doctrine and created the first archetype of blitzkrieg, which then gained a fearsome reputation that dominated the Allied leaders' minds.[12][13][14] Thus 'blitzkrieg' was recognised after the fact, and while it became adopted by the Wehrmacht, it never became the official doctrine nor got used to its full potential because only a small part of the Wehrmacht was trained for it and key leaders at the highest levels either focused on only certain aspects or even did not understand what it was.[15][16][17]
Tactics

The military strength of the German army was managed through mission-based tactics (Auftragstaktik) (rather than detailed order-based tactics), and an almost proverbial discipline. Once an operation began, whether offensive or defensive, speed in response to changing circumstances was considered more important than careful planning and coordination of new plans.
In public opinion, the German military was and is sometimes seen as a high-tech army, since new technologies that were introduced before and during World War II influenced its development of tactical doctrine. These technologies were featured by propaganda, but were often only available in small numbers or late in the war, as overall supplies of raw materials and armaments became low. For example, lacking sufficient motor vehicles to equip more than a small portion of their army, the Germans chose to concentrate the available vehicles in a small number of divisions which were to be fully motorized. The other divisions continued to rely on horses for towing artillery, other heavy equipment and supply-wagons, and the men marched on foot or rode bicycles. At the height of motorization only 20 per cent of all units were fully motorized. The small German contingent fighting in North Africa was fully motorized (relying on horses in the desert was near to impossible because of the need to carry large quantities of water and fodder), but the much larger force invading the Soviet Union in June 1941 numbered only some 150,000 trucks and some 625,000 horses (water was abundant and for many months of the year horses could forage– thus reducing the burden on the supply chain). However, production of new motor vehicles by Germany, even with the exploitation of the industries of occupied countries, could not keep up with the heavy loss of motor vehicles during the winter of 1941–1942. From June 1941 to the end of February 1942 the German forces in the Soviet Union lost some 75,000 trucks to mechanical wear and tear and combat damage– approximately half the number they had at the beginning of the campaign. Most of these were lost during the retreat in the face of the Soviet counter-offensive from December 1941 to February 1942. Another substantial loss was incurred during the defeat of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943. So there were periods in which the percentage of motorized units was reduced to as few as 10%.
In offensive operations the infantry formations were used to attack more or less simultaneously across a large portion of the front so as to pin the enemy forces ahead of them and draw attention to themselves, while the mobile formations were concentrated to attack only narrow sectors of the front, breaking through to the enemy rear and surrounding him. Some infantry formations followed in the path of the mobile formations, mopping-up, widening the corridor manufactured by the breakthrough attack and solidifying the ring surrounding the enemy formations left behind, and then gradually destroying them in concentric attacks. One of the most significant problems bedeviling German offensives and initially alarming senior commanders was the gap created between the fast-moving "fast formations" and the following infantry, as the infantry were considered a prerequisite for protecting the "fast formations" flanks and rear and enabling supply columns carrying fuel, petrol and ammunition to reach them.
In defensive operations the infantry formations were deployed across the front to hold the main defence line and the mobile formations were concentrated in a small number of locations from where they launched focused counter-attacks against enemy forces who had broken through the infantry defence belt. In autumn 1942, at El Alamein, a lack of fuel compelled the German commander Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to scatter his armoured units across the front in battalion-sized concentrations to reduce travel-distances to each sector rather than hold them concentrated in one location. In 1944 Rommel argued that in face of overwhelming Anglo-American air power, the tactic of employing the "fast formations" concentrated was no longer possible because they could no longer actually move quickly enough to reach the threatened locations because of the expected interdiction of all routes by Allied fighter-bombers. He therefore suggested scattering these units across the front just behind the infantry. His commanders and peers, who were less-experienced in the effect of Allied air power, disagreed vehemently with his suggestion, arguing that this would violate the prime principle of concentration of force.
Personnel

Commissioned officers

Equivalent
NATO CodeOF-10OF-9OF-8OF-7OF-6OF-5OF-4OF-3OF-2OF-1OF(D) & Student officer Heer
[18]General-feldmarschallGeneraloberstGeneral der WaffengattungGeneralleutnantGeneralmajorOberstOberstleutnantMajorHauptmannOberleutnantLeutnant
Enlisted personnel

Equivalent
NATO codeOR-9OR-8OR-7OR-6OR-5OR-4OR-3OR-2OR-1
 Heer
[18]
No equivalent
No insignia
Stabsfeldwebel
Oberfähnrich/
Hauptfeldwebel
Oberfeldwebel
Feldwebel/
Fähnrich
Unterfeldwebel
Fahnenjunker
Unteroffizier
Stabsgefreiter
Obergefreiter
Gefreiter
Obersoldat
Soldat

Equipment

Weapons
It is a myth that the German army in World War II was a mechanized juggernaut as a whole. In 1941, between 74 and 80 percent of their forces were not motorized, relying on railroad for rapid movement and on horse-drawn transport cross country. The percentage of motorization decreased thereafter.[19] In 1944 approximately 85 percent was not motorized.[20]
Uniforms

The standard uniform used by the German Army, consisted of a Feldgrau (field grey) tunic and trousers, and was worn with a Stahlhelm.
After the war
The German Army was demobilized following the unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. Confronted with a huge number of German prisoners of war after VE Day, the Western Allies kept Feldjägerkommando III, which was a regimental-sized unit of German military police, active and armed to assist with the control of the POWs under the US Army. Feldjägerkommando III remained armed and under Western Allied control until 23 June 1946, when it was finally deactivated.[21] Note: Jörg Wurdack, April 2003 [22] states this date was June 23, 1945.
See also
Corruption within the Wehrmacht
Glossary of German military terms
War crimes of the Wehrmacht
Military production during World War II
Waffenamt
Notes

Bibliography

Davies, W. J. K. (1973), German Army Handbook, Ian Allan Ltd., Shepperton, Surrey, ISBN0-7110-0290-8.
Evans, Anthony A. (2005), World War II: An Illustrated Miscellany, Worth Press, ISBN1-84567-681-5.
Haskew, Michael (2011), The Wehrmacht: 1935–1945, Amber Books Ltd. ISBN1-907446-95-8.
Harrison, Gordon A. . Retrieved July 9, 2016.
Hastings, Max (1999) [1985], Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy 1944, Pan, ISBN0-330-39012-0.
Hastings, Max (2004), Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1945, Macmillan, ISBN0-333-90836-8.
Keegan, John (1982), Six Armies in Normandy, Viking Press ISBN978-0670647361.

Videos
"The Role of the German Army during the Holocaust: A Brief Summary.":  on YouTube—lecture by Geoffrey P. Megargee, via the official channel of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.