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Decapolis

(Encyclopedia)Decapolis dēkăpˈəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=ten cities], confederacy of 10 ancient cities, all E of the Jordan, except Scythopolis. The others were (according to Pliny) Dion, Pella, Gadara, Hippos, Gerasa, ...

Alfonso XI, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso XI, 1311–50, Spanish king of Castile and León (1312–50), son and successor of Ferdinand IV. His vigorous campaign against Granada provoked an invasion by the Moors from Morocco; they took...

Failly, Pierre Louis Charles de

(Encyclopedia)Failly, Pierre Louis Charles de pyĕr lwē shärl də fāyēˈ [key], 1810–92, French general. He fought in Algeria, in the Crimean War, and at Magenta and Solferino (1859) in the Italian War. Headi...

Fifty-four forty or fight

(Encyclopedia)Fifty-four forty or fight, in U.S. history, phrase commonly used by extremists in the controversy with Great Britain over the Oregon country. The rights of the United States, they maintained, extended...

Vare, William Scott

(Encyclopedia)Vare, William Scott, 1867–1934, American political leader, b. Philadelphia. He engaged in machine politics and became (1898) a member of the select council of Philadelphia. He was recorder of deeds ...

Forbin, Claude, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Forbin, Claude, comte de klōd kôNt də fôrbăNˈ [key], 1656–1733, French naval commander. He fought in the Antilles (1680) and in Abraham Duquesne's Algerian campaign (1682–83) and from 1685 t...

Island No. 10

(Encyclopedia)Island No. 10, former island in the Mississippi River, between NW Tenn. and SE Mo.; site of an important western campaign of the Civil War. With the advance of Union Gen. U. S. Grant up the Tennessee ...

Grouchy, Emmanuel, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Grouchy, Emmanuel, marquis de ĕmänüĕlˈ märkēˈ də gro͞oshēˈ [key], 1766–1847, French general in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He was made a marshal after Napoleon's return...

Guilford Courthouse, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Guilford Courthouse, battle of, in the Carolina campaign of the American Revolution, fought Mar. 15, 1781. The site is included in a national military park near Greensboro, N.C. (see National Parks an...

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