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Al Shabab

(Encyclopedia)Al Shabab or Al Shabaab [key], [Arab.,=the youth], Islamic fundamentalist militia based in Somalia. One of several hardline Somali Islamist militias, Al Shabab has operated primarily in southern and ...

Forrest, Nathan Bedford

(Encyclopedia)Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 1821–77, Confederate general, b. Bedford co., Tenn. (his birthplace is now in Marshall co.). At the beginning of the Civil War, Forrest, a wealthy citizen of Memphis, organi...

secession, in political science

(Encyclopedia)secession, in political science, formal withdrawal from an association by a group discontented with the actions or decisions of that association. The term is generally used to refer to withdrawal from...

Rákosi, Mátyás

(Encyclopedia)Rákosi, Mátyás mäˈtyäs räˈkōshē [key], 1892–1971, Hungarian Communist politician. An associate of Bela Kun and later a disciple of Joseph Stalin, Rákosi was one of the chief engineers of ...

Stanishev, Sergei Dmitrievich

(Encyclopedia)Stanishev, Sergei Dmitrievich, 1966–, Bulgarian political leader and political scientist. Born in Ukraine, he studied at Moscow State Univ. (B.A., 1989; Ph.D., 1994), and taught in Moscow (1998) and...

Sydenham, Charles Edward Poulett Thomson, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Sydenham, Charles Edward Poulett Thomson, Baron sĭdˈənəm [key], 1799–1841, British statesman. Entering Parliament (1826) as a Liberal with the aid of Jeremy Bentham, he became a proponent of fre...

Jackson, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, William Henry, 1843–1942, American artist and pioneer photographer of the West, b. Keeseville, N.Y. After serving with the Union army in the Civil War he traveled overland to California (18...

McDowell, Irvin

(Encyclopedia)McDowell, Irvin, 1818–85, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Columbus, Ohio. He taught at West Point (1841–45) and was made captain for his service in the Mexican War. In the Civil War, M...

McPherson, James Birdseye

(Encyclopedia)McPherson, James Birdseye, 1828–64, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Sandusky co., Ohio. After teaching (1853–54) at West Point, he worked on various engineering projects. In the Civil ...

perestroika

(Encyclopedia)perestroika pərˈĕstroyˈkə [key], Soviet economic and social policy of the late 1980s. Perestroika [restructuring] was the term attached to the attempts (1985–91) by Mikhail Gorbachev to transfo...
 

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