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Oder-Neisse line

(Encyclopedia)Oder-Neisse line, frontier established in 1945 between Germany and Poland; it followed the Oder and W Neisse rivers from the Baltic Sea to the Czechoslovak border. The boundary, desired by most Poles ...

Bytom

(Encyclopedia)Bytom bĭˈtôm [key], Ger. Beuthen, city (1994 est. pop. 232,400), Śląskie prov., SW Poland, in the Katowice mining region. An important heavy industrial center, it has iron- and steelworks and the...

Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di

(Encyclopedia)Pescara, Ferdinando Francesco d'Avalos, marchese di fārdēnänˈdō fränchāsˈkō däväˈlōs märkāˈzā ᵺē pāskäˈrä [key], 1490?–1525, Spanish-Neapolitan general in the Italian Wars. H...

Toruń

(Encyclopedia)Toruń tôˈro͞onyə [key], Ger. Thorn, city (1993 est. pop. 201,700), capital (with Bydgoszcz) of Kujawsko-Pomorskie prov., N central Poland, on the Vistula River. It is a river port and a railway j...

Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, Scottish royal family descended from an 11th-century Norman duke, Robert de Brus. He aided William I in his conquest of England (1066) and was given lands in England. His son was granted fiefs ...

Amsdorf, Nikolaus von

(Encyclopedia)Amsdorf, Nikolaus von nēˈkōlous fən ämsˈdôrf [key], 1483–1565, German Protestant reformer. He became a devoted supporter of Martin Luther. Elector John Frederick I of Saxony appointed Amsdorf...

Leszno

(Encyclopedia)Leszno lĕshˈnô [key], Ger. Lissa, town (1993 est. pop. 59,500), Wielkopolskie prov., SW Poland. A railway junction, it is a center for metallurgy and light industry. Chartered in 1547, it passed to...

Wallace, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Wallace, Sir William, 1272?–1305, Scottish soldier and national hero. The first historical record of Wallace's activities concerns the burning of Lanark by Wallace and 30 men in May, 1297, and the s...

Białowieża

(Encyclopedia)Białowieża byälôvyĕˈzhä [key], Belarusian Bielavieskaja pušča, Pol. Puszcza Białowieska, Rus. Belovezhskaya Pushcha, large forest, c.450 sq mi (1,170 sq km), E Poland and W Belarus. The last...

Volhynia

(Encyclopedia)Volhynia vŏlĭˈnyə [key], Ukr. and Rus. Volyn, Pol. Wołyń, historic region, W Ukraine, around the headstreams of the Pripyat and Western Bug rivers in an area of forests, lakes, and marshlands. O...