the.com/billeting

the government says your spare room is now a barracks, thanks in advance.

means the practice of housing soldiers in private homes or civilian buildings instead of purpose-built barracks.

from from old french billette, a small note or ticketsoldiers literally carried a paper slip assigning them a house to sleep in, a system common across europe from the 1500s onward.

for instance

quartering act 1765forced colonists to house british troops, sparking revolutionary anger

wwii evacuee billetingbritain relocated 1.5 million children into strangers homes, 1939

napoleonic billetingfrench troops housed in german and spanish towns, fueling local revolts

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