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Proudhon, Pierre Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Proudhon, Pierre Joseph pyĕr zhôzĕfˈ pro͞odhôNˈ [key], 1809–65, French social theorist. Of a poor family, Proudhon won an education through scholarships. Much of his later life was spent in p...

Valmy

(Encyclopedia)Valmy välmēˈ [key], village (1993 est. pop. 293), Marne dept., NE France, in the Argonne region. The “cannonade of Valmy,” a Franco-Prussian artillery skirmish, was fought near there on Sept. 2...

Beauharnais, Alexandre, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Beauharnais, Alexandre, vicomte de älĕksäNˈdrə vēkôNtˈ də bōärnāˈ [key], 1760–94, French general, b. Martinique. He fought with the colonials in the American Revolution and, as a suppor...

Barthélemy, François, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Barthélemy, François, marquis de, 1747?–1830, French statesman. While minister to Switzerland, he negotiated the Treaties of Basel (1795), which took Prussia and Spain out of the French Revolution...

synodic period

(Encyclopedia)synodic period sĭnŏdˈĭk [key], in astronomy, length of time during which a body in the solar system makes one orbit of the sun relative to the earth, i.e., returns to the same elongation. Because ...

Gregory XIII

(Encyclopedia)Gregory XIII, 1502–85, pope (1572–85), an Italian named Ugo Buoncompagni, b. Bologna; successor of St. Pius V. He is best known for his work on the calendar, and the reformed calendar, the Gregori...

Marengo, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Marengo, battle of, a major engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on June 14, 1800, at the village of Marengo in Piedmont, N Italy. Determined to throw the Austrians back from positions ...

Fréron, Louis Marie Stanislas

(Encyclopedia)Fréron, Louis Marie Stanislas frārôNˈ [key], 1754–1802, French revolutionary; son of Élie Fréron. After the outbreak (1789) of the French Revolution, he founded a radical journal, Orateur du ...

Paoli, Pasquale

(Encyclopedia)Paoli, Pasquale päskwäˈlā päˈōlē [key], 1725–1807, Corsican patriot. He shared the exile (1739–55) of his father, Giacinto Paoli, who had fought against the Genoese rulers of the island. I...

Codrington, Sir Edward

(Encyclopedia)Codrington, Sir Edward kŏdˈrĭngtən [key], 1770–1851, British admiral. He held various commands in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, taking part in the battle of Trafalgar (1805) and ...