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Spee, Maximilian, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Spee, Maximilian, Graf von mäkˌsēmēˈlyän gräf fən shpā [key], 1861–1914, German admiral. At the start of World War I he commanded a squadron in East Asia. In Nov., 1914, he met and defeated...

Xi'an

(Encyclopedia)Xi'an shēˈänˈ, sēˈ– [key], city (1994 est. pop. 2,114,900), capital of Shaanxi prov., China, in the Wei River valley. Situated on the Longhai RR, China's principal east-west line, it is an imp...

Jenkins's Ear, War of

(Encyclopedia)Jenkins's Ear, War of, 1739–41, struggle between England and Spain. It grew out of the commercial rivalry of the two powers and led to involvement in the larger War of the Austrian Succession. The i...

Fredonian Rebellion

(Encyclopedia)Fredonian Rebellion, 1826–27, in Texas history, a premature attempt to make Texas independent from Mexico. Two Americans, Haden Edwards and his brother, had undertaken to make settlements on a land ...

Julius I, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Julius I, Saint, pope (337–52), a Roman; successor of St. Marcus. In the controversy over Arianism, when both sides appealed to him for support, he convened a synod at Rome (340), at which were pres...

Corrigan, Mairead

(Encyclopedia)Corrigan, Mairead (Mairead Corrigan Maguire) moiˈrə kôrˈĭgən [key], 1944–, Northern Irish peace activist, b. Belfast. Corrigan was a secretary and volunteer social worker in the Catholic neigh...

Copenhagen, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Copenhagen, battle of, 1801, an important incident of the French Revolutionary Wars. In Dec., 1800, Denmark joined Russia, Sweden, and Prussia in declaring the armed neutrality of the northern powers ...

Sikorski, Władysław

(Encyclopedia)Sikorski, Władysław vlädĭˈswäf shēkôrˈskē [key], 1881–1943, Polish general and politician. He fought in World War I and later (1922–25) held various cabinet posts. Premier Piłsudski dis...

Raman effect

(Encyclopedia)Raman effect räˈmən [key], appearance of additional lines in the spectrum of monochromatic light that has been scattered by a transparent material medium. The effect was discovered by C. V. Raman i...

Twenty-one Demands

(Encyclopedia)Twenty-one Demands (1915), instrument by which Japan secured temporary hegemony over China. Japan used its declaration of war against Germany (Aug., 1914) as grounds for invading Kiaochow, the German ...