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conscription

(Encyclopedia)conscription, compulsory enrollment of personnel for service in the armed forces. Obligatory service in the armed forces has existed since ancient times in many cultures, including the samurai in Japa...

draft riots

(Encyclopedia)draft riots, in the American Civil War, mob action to protest unfair Union conscription. The Union Conscription Act of Mar. 3, 1863, provided that all able-bodied males between the ages of 20 and 45 w...

selective service

(Encyclopedia)selective service, in U.S. history, term for conscription. Conscription was established (1863) in the U.S. Civil War, but proved unpopular (see draft riots). The law authorized release from service to...

draft, military

(Encyclopedia)draft, military: see conscription; selective service. ...

Preston, John Smith

(Encyclopedia)Preston, John Smith, 1809–81, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. near Abingdon, Va. He practiced law at Abingdon and Columbia, S.C., but made his fortune operating a Louisiana sugar p...

Ralston, James Layton

(Encyclopedia)Ralston, James Layton rôlˈstən [key], 1881–1948, Canadian cabinet minister, b. Nova Scotia. In the first Mackenzie King administration, he was minister of national defense (1926–30); in the sec...

impressment

(Encyclopedia)impressment, forcible enrollment of recruits for military duty. Before the establishment of conscription, many countries supplemented their militia and mercenary troops by impressment. In England, imp...

Scharnhorst, Gerhard Johann David von

(Encyclopedia)Scharnhorst, Gerhard Johann David von gĕrˈhärt yōˈhän däˈvēt fən shärnˈhôrst [key], 1755–1813, Prussian general. A Hanoverian army officer, military writer, and director of the war coll...

Duplessis, Maurice Le Noblet

(Encyclopedia)Duplessis, Maurice Le Noblet mōrēsˈ lə nôblāˈ düplĕsēˈ [key], 1890–1959, Canadian lawyer and political leader. Elected in 1927 to the Quebec legislature, he was leader (1933–35) of the ...

Fielding, William Stevens

(Encyclopedia)Fielding, William Stevens, 1848–1929, Canadian statesman, b. Halifax, N.S. A newspaper editor in Halifax, he entered the provincial legislature in 1882 and was provincial prime minister (1884–96)....

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