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strategy and tactics

(Encyclopedia)strategy and tactics, in warfare, related terms referring, respectively, to large-scale and small-scale planning to achieve military success. Strategy may be defined as the general scheme of the condu...

cluster munitions

(Encyclopedia)cluster munitions or cluster bombs, air-dropped or ground-launched weapons that open in mid-air and scatter dozens, hundreds, or thousands of smaller submunitions (or bomblets) over a wide area. Such ...

Otis, Elisha Graves

(Encyclopedia)Otis, Elisha Graves, 1811–61, American inventor, b. Halifax, Vt. From his invention (1852) of an automatic safety device to prevent the fall of hoisting machinery he developed the first passenger el...

Abd el-Krim

(Encyclopedia)Abd el-Krim äbˌdĕl-krĭmˈ [key], 1882?–1963, leader of the Rif tribes of Morocco, called in full Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi. An important figure in the administration of the Spanish Z...

sea lily

(Encyclopedia)sea lily, stalked echinoderm of the class Crinoidea. Sea lilies are ancient, having reached their peak in the Middle Mississippian period; about 5,000 fossil species are known. About 80 modern species...

Rapid City

(Encyclopedia)Rapid City, city (1990 pop. 54,523), seat of Pennington co., SW S.Dak., on Rapid Creek, in an irrigated farm region served by the Bureau of Reclamation's Rapid Valley project; founded 1876 after the d...

Carpenter, Malcolm Scott

(Encyclopedia)Carpenter, Malcolm Scott, 1925–2013, American astronaut, b. Boulder, Colo. The second American to go into orbital flight around the earth, he made his historic and suspenseful flight on May 24, 1962...

Richland

(Encyclopedia)Richland, city (1990 pop. 32,315), Benton co., S Wash., at the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima rivers, in an irrigated farm and vineyard region; inc. 1958. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Dep...

stickleback

(Encyclopedia)stickleback, common name for members of the family Gasterosteidae, small fishes, widely distributed in both fresh- and saltwaters of the Northern Hemisphere. Sticklebacks range from 11⁄2 to 4 in. (3...

deer

(Encyclopedia)deer, ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae, found in most parts of the world except Australia. Antlers, solid bony outgrowths of the skull, develop in the males of most species and are shed and rene...