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fire-eaters

(Encyclopedia)fire-eaters, in U.S. history, term applied by Northerners to proslavery extremists in the South in the two decades before the Civil War. Edmund Ruffin, Robert B. Rhett, and William L. Yancey were the ...

International Telecommunication Union

(Encyclopedia)International Telecommunication Union (ITU), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Geneva. It was created in 1934 as a result of the merging of the International Telegraph Uni...

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

(Encyclopedia)International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), formerly World Conservation Union, international organization founded in 1948 to encourage the preservation of wildlife...

Antisthenes

(Encyclopedia)Antisthenes ăntĭsˈthənēz [key], b. 444? b.c., d. after 371 b.c., Greek philosopher, founder of the Cynics. Most of his paradoxical views stemmed from his early Sophist orientation, even though he...

Geneva Conventions

(Encyclopedia)Geneva Conventions, series of treaties signed (1864–1949) in Geneva, Switzerland, providing for humane treatment of combatants and civilians in wartime. The first convention, signed by 16 nations, c...

Asheville

(Encyclopedia)Asheville ăshˈvəl, –vĭl [key], city (2020 pop. 94,589), seat of Buncombe co., W N.C., on the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers and on a plateau in the Blue Ridge Mts...

Marmont, Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de

(Encyclopedia)Marmont, Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de ōgüstˈ frādārēkˈ lwē vyĕs də märmôNˈ [key], 1774–1852, marshal of France. He fought with Napoleon in Italy and Egypt and took part in his cou...

Palmer, Alexander Mitchell

(Encyclopedia)Palmer, Alexander Mitchell päˈmər [key], 1872–1936, American politician, b. Moosehead, Pa. Admitted (1893) to the bar, he built up a large law practice, became a leader in the state Democratic pa...

Passion cycle

(Encyclopedia)Passion cycle, in art, the depiction of the last events in the life of Jesus. The Passion was a favorite subject of medieval and Renaissance artists and was considered the most ambitious of projects. ...

Benelux Economic Union

(Encyclopedia)Benelux Economic Union bĕnˈəlŭksˌ [key], economic treaty among Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It arose out of a customs convention signed in 1944, but was not fully established until 1...