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John III, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea

(Encyclopedia)John III (John Ducas Vatatzes) do͝oˈkəs vətătˈzēz [key], d. 1254, Byzantine emperor of Nicaea (1222–54), successor and son-in-law of Theodore I. He extended his territory in Asia Minor and th...

Giurgiu

(Encyclopedia)Giurgiu jo͝orˈjo͝o [key], city, S Romania, in Walachia, on the Danube River opposite R...

Cumans

(Encyclopedia)Cumans or Kumans both: ko͞oˈmänz [key], nomadic East Turkic people, identified with the Kipchaks (or the western branch of the Kipchaks) and known in Russian as Polovtsi. Coming from NW Asian Russi...

Sérrai

(Encyclopedia)Sérrai sĕrˈəs [key], Lat. Serrae or Serrhae, city (1991 pop. 50,390), capital of Sérrai prefecture, NE Greece, in Macedonia. It is a trade center for tobacco, grain, and livestock. Textiles and o...

Papagos, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Papagos, Alexander päˈpägôs [key], 1883–1955, Greek soldier and political leader. Commissioned an officer in the Greek army in 1906, he rose rapidly through the ranks. In 1935 he became minister...

Moscow Conferences

(Encyclopedia)Moscow Conferences, meetings held between 1941 and 1947 at Moscow, USSR. At a conference in Sept.–Oct., 1941, American and British representatives laid the basis for lend-lease aid to the USSR in Wo...

Ignatiev, Nikolai Pavlovich, Count

(Encyclopedia)Ignatiev, Nikolai Pavlovich, Count nyĭkəlīˈ pävˈləvĭch ĭgnäˈtyəf [key], 1832–1908, Russian diplomat. He was sent to China as an envoy in 1859. There he played the Chinese against the Bri...

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

(Encyclopedia)Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON or MEA), international organization active between 1956 and 1991 for the coordination of economic policy among certain nations then under Communist domi...

Cominform

(Encyclopedia)Cominform kŏmˈĭnfôrm [key] [acronym for Communist Information Bureau], information agency organized in 1947 and dissolved in 1956. Its members were the Communist parties of Bulgaria, Czechoslovaki...

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...