Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

364 results found

espionage

(Encyclopedia)espionage ĕsˈpēənäzhˌ [key], the act of obtaining information clandestinely. The term applies particularly to the act of collecting military, industrial, and political data about one nation for ...

fortification

(Encyclopedia)fortification, system of defense structures for protection from enemy attacks. Fortification developed along two general lines: permanent sites built in peacetime, and emplacements and obstacles hasti...

army

(Encyclopedia)army, large armed land force, under regular military control, organization, and discipline. With the advent of railroads and, later, highway systems it became possible after the mid-19th cent. to mo...

States-General

(Encyclopedia)States-General or Estates-General, diet or national assembly in which the chief estates (see estate) of a nation—usually clergy, nobles, and towns (or commons)—were represented as separate bodies....

Sweden

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Sweden, Swed. Sverige, officially Kingdom of Sweden, constitutional monarchy (2015 est. pop. 9,764,000), 173,648 sq mi (449,750 sq km), N Europe, occupying the eastern part of the Scandinavian ...

Enlightenment

(Encyclopedia)Enlightenment, term applied to the mainstream of thought of 18th-century Europe and America. Centered in Paris, the movement gained international character at cosmopolitan salons. Masonic lodges pla...

Middle Ages

(Encyclopedia)Middle Ages, period in Western European history that followed the disintegration of the West Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th cent. and lasted into the 15th cent., i.e., into the period of the Renaissa...

monasticism

(Encyclopedia)monasticism mənăsˈtĭsĭzəm, mō– [key], form of religious life, usually conducted in a community under a common rule. Monastic life is bound by ascetical practices expressed typically in the vo...

dance

(Encyclopedia)dance [Old High Ger. danson=to drag, stretch], the art of precise, expressive, and graceful human movement, traditionally, but not necessarily, performed in accord with musical accompaniment. Dancing ...

Flanders

(Encyclopedia)Flanders flănˈdərz [key], former county in the Low Countries, extending along the North Sea and W of the Scheldt (Escaut) River. It is divided among East Flanders and West Flanders provs., Belgium;...