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Pétain, Henri Philippe

(Encyclopedia)Pétain, Henri Philippe äNrēˈ fēlēpˈ pātăNˈ [key], 1856–1951, French army officer, head of state of the Vichy government (see under Vichy). In World War I he halted the Germans at Verdun (1...

Reichstag

(Encyclopedia)Reichstag rīkhsˈtäk [key] [Ger.,=imperial parliament], name for the diet of the Holy Roman Empire, for the lower chamber of the federal parliament of the North German Confederation, and for the low...

Wirth, Karl Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Wirth, Karl Joseph kärl yōˈzĕf vĭrt [key], 1879–1956, German statesman. A leader of the Catholic Center party, he succeeded (1920) Matthias Erzberger as minister of finance. In 1921, Wirth beca...

Midland Canal

(Encyclopedia)Midland Canal, Ger. Mittelland Kanal, artificial waterway system of Germany, extending eastward c.200 mi (320 km) along the North German plain from the Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany, to Magdeburg, Germa...

Elbe

(Encyclopedia)Elbe ĕlˈbə [key], Czech Labe, a major river of central Europe, c.725 mi (1,170 km) long, rising in the Krknoše Mts., NW Czech Republic, and traversing NW Czech Republic in a wide arc. It then cuts...

Triple Alliance and Triple Entente

(Encyclopedia)Triple Alliance and Triple Entente äntäntˈ [key], two international combinations of states that dominated the diplomatic history of Western Europe from 1882 until they came into armed conflict in W...

Longchamp, William of

(Encyclopedia)Longchamp, William of lôngˈshămp, lôNshäNˈ [key], d. 1197, chancellor and justiciar of England, bishop of Ely. After service with Geoffrey, duke of Brittany, he joined Richard (later Richard I) ...

Astor, William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Astor, William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount, 1848–1919, American-British financier, b. New York City, educated in Germany and in Italy and at the Columbia law school; son of John Jacob Astor (1822–...

dictator

(Encyclopedia)dictator, originally a Roman magistrate appointed to rule the state in times of emergency; in modern usage, an absolutist or autocratic ruler who assumes extraconstitutional powers. From 501 b.c. unti...
 

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