(Encyclopedia) Spanish Succession, War of the, 1701–14, last of the general European wars caused by the efforts of King Louis XIV to extend French power. The conflict in America corresponding to the…
(Encyclopedia) Mary, in the Bible, mother of Jesus. Christian tradition reckons her the principal saint, naming her variously the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady, and Mother of God (Gr., theotokos).…
(Encyclopedia) Grand Alliance, War of the, 1688–97, war between France and a coalition of European powers, known as the League of Augsburg (and, after 1689, as the Grand Alliance). Louis XIV of…
(Encyclopedia) Diamond Necklace, Affair of the, scandal that took place at the court of King Louis XVI of France just before the French Revolution. An adventuress who called herself the comtesse de…
(Encyclopedia) Knights of the Golden Circle, secret order of Southern sympathizers in the North during the Civil War. Its members were known as Copperheads. Dr. George W. L. Bickley, a Virginian who…
(Encyclopedia) Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), revolutionary industrial union organized in Chicago in 1905 by delegates from the Western Federation of Mines, which formed the nucleus of the…
(Encyclopedia) Unknown Soldier, Tomb of the, form of memorial to a nation's war dead, adopted by many countries after World War I. The Tomb of the Unknowns, a memorial to the American dead of World…
(Encyclopedia) Four Horsemen of the ApocalypseFour Horsemen of the Apocalypseəpŏkˈəlĭps [key], allegorical figures in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The rider on the white horse has many…
(Encyclopedia) Bavarian Succession, War of the, between Austria and Prussia, 1778–79. With the extinction of the Bavarian line of the house of Wittelsbach on the death of Elector Maximilian Joseph in…
(Encyclopedia) Jeremiah a book of the Bible, comprising a collection of prophetic oracles attributed to Jeremiah, a prophet who preached (c.628–586 b.c.) in Jerusalem under King Josiah and his…