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Axis

(Encyclopedia)Axis, coalition of countries headed by Germany, Italy, and Japan, 1936–45 (see World War II). The expression “Rome-Berlin axis” originated in Oct., 1936, with an accord reached by Hitler and Mus...

Pontine Marshes

(Encyclopedia)Pontine Marshes pŏnˈtēn, –tīn [key], Ital. Pontina, low-lying region, c.300 sq mi (780 sq km), in S Latium, central Italy, between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennine foothills; it is crossed by...

Sforza, Carlo, Conte

(Encyclopedia)Sforza, Carlo, Conte sfôrˈtsä [key], 1872–1952, Italian foreign minister. He held high ministerial and diplomatic posts, became a senator, and as foreign minister (1920–21) negotiated the Trea...

Metaxas, John

(Encyclopedia)Metaxas, John mĭtăkˈsəs, Gr. māˈtäksäsˌ [key], 1871–1941, Greek general and statesman. A career soldier, he served in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and in the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, in w...

Quasimodo, Salvatore

(Encyclopedia)Quasimodo, Salvatore sälvätôˈrā kwäzēˈmōdō [key], 1901–68, Italian poet and translator, b. Sicily. Quasimodo worked first as a technical designer and civil engineer. His five volumes of ve...

Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von

(Encyclopedia)Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von, 1899–1956, Austrian politician, a descendant of the 17th-century general of the same name. He took part in Hitler's “beer-hall putsch” of 1923 (see Hitler, Adolf...

Comonfort, Ignacio

(Encyclopedia)Comonfort, Ignacio ēgnäˈsyō kōmōnfôrtˈ [key], 1812–63, Mexican general and president (1855–58). He was one of the leaders in the Revolution of Ayutla, which in 1855 overthrew Santa Anna an...

Cortina, Juan Nepomuceno

(Encyclopedia)Cortina, Juan Nepomuceno, 1824–94, Mexican military leader and politician. Born into a wealthy cattle-ranching family that moved to the Rio Grande Valley, Cortina joined the Mexican army in 1846 and...

D'Annunzio, Gabriele

(Encyclopedia)D'Annunzio, Gabriele gäbrēĕˈlā dän-no͞onˈtsyō [key] 1863–1938, Italian poet, novelist, dramatist, and soldier, b. Pescara. He went to Rome in 1881 and there began his literary career. Consi...

Dollfuss, Engelbert

(Encyclopedia)Dollfuss, Engelbert ĕngˈəlbĕrt dôlˈfo͝os [key], 1892–1934, Austrian chancellor. A Christian Socialist, he rose to prominence as leader of the Lower Austrian Farmers' League and became ministe...

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