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Hawke of Towton, Edward Hawke, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Hawke of Towton, Edward Hawke, 1st Baron touˈtən [key], 1705–81, British admiral. He entered the navy in 1720 and first saw fighting as commander of a ship in the battle of Toulon (1744). He was p...

Embargo Act of 1807

(Encyclopedia)Embargo Act of 1807, passed Dec. 22, 1807, by the U.S. Congress in answer to the British orders in council restricting neutral shipping and to Napoleon's restrictive Continental System. The U.S. merch...

Somme, Battles of the

(Encyclopedia)Somme, Battles of the, two engagements fought during World War I near the Somme River, N France. The first battle (July–Nov., 1916) was an Allied offensive. The British, commanded by Field Marshal S...

Utrecht, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Utrecht, Peace of, series of treaties that concluded the War of the Spanish Succession. It put an end to French expansion and signaled the rise of the British Empire. By the treaty between England and...

Portsmouth, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Portsmouth, Treaty of, 1905, treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War. It was signed at the Portsmouth Naval Base, New Hampshire, on Sept. 5, 1905. Negotiations leading up to the treaty began in the sprin...

Dean, Forest of

(Encyclopedia)Dean, Forest of, ancient royal forest (c.30,000 acres/12,141 hectares), Gloucestershire, W England, between the Severn estuary and the gorges of the Wye River. It was the first (1938) of the National ...

Troppau, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Troppau, Congress of trôpˈou [key], 1820, international conference convened at the behest of Czar Alexander I of Russia under the provisions of the Quadruple Alliance. The congress, which met at Tro...

Bank of England

(Encyclopedia)Bank of England, central bank and note-issuing institution of Great Britain. Popularly known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, its main office stands on the street of that name in London. The ba...

Charles of Blois

(Encyclopedia)Charles of Blois (Charles of Châtillon) blwä, shätēyôNˈ [key], c.1319–1364, duke of Brittany; nephew of Philip VI of France. He was one of the chief participants in the War of the Breton Succe...

Council of Europe

(Encyclopedia)Council of Europe, international organization founded in 1949 to promote greater unity within Europe and to safeguard its political and cultural heritage by promoting human rights and democracy. The c...