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Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2d earl of, 1770–1828, English statesman. He was elected to Parliament as a Tory in 1790 and succeeded his father to the peerage in 1808. He served as foreign secr...

Religion, Wars of

(Encyclopedia)Religion, Wars of, 1562–98, series of civil wars in France, also known as the Huguenot Wars. The immediate issue was the French Protestants' struggle for freedom of worship and the right of establis...

Fischer, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Fischer, Fritz, 1908–99, German historian. Appointed professor at the Univ. of Hamburg in 1948 (emeritus after 1973), he became famous as the result of his book Griff nach der Weltmacht (1961; tr. G...

sloop

(Encyclopedia)sloop, fore-and-aft-rigged, single-masted sailing vessel with a single headsail jib. A sloop differs from a cutter in that it has a jibstay—a support leading from the bow to the masthead on which th...

Spandau

(Encyclopedia)Spandau shpänˈdou [key], district of Berlin, Germany, at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers. It is a canal port and a major industrial district of Berlin. Manufactures include steel and el...

Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, Laurent, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, Laurent, marquis de lōräNˈ märkēˈ də go͞ovyôNˈ-săN-sēr [key], 1764–1830, marshal of France. He served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was made mars...

Witt, Jan de

(Encyclopedia)Witt, Jan de yän [key], 1625–72, Dutch statesman. Like his father, Jacob de Witt, burgomaster of Dort, he became a leading opponent of the house of Orange and played a vital role in the three succe...

woodchuck

(Encyclopedia)woodchuck or groundhog, common name of a North American species of marmot, Marmota monax. This large rodent is found in open woods and ravines throughout most of Canada and the NE United States. Its h...

Bishops' Wars

(Encyclopedia)Bishops' Wars, two brief campaigns (1639 and 1640) of the Scots against Charles I of England. When Charles attempted to strengthen episcopacy in Scotland by imposing (1637) the English Book of Common ...

Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon

(Encyclopedia)Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon, 1890–1973, American war hero and airline executive, b. Columbus, Ohio. He became a car racing driver at 16 and set numerous speed records. In World War I he volunteered ...
 

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