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Deschanel, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Deschanel, Émile āmēlˈ dāshänĕlˈ [key], 1819–1904, French author and politician. Of his numerous works the best known are such critical studies as Études sur Aristophane (1867) and Le Roman...

Constant, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Constant, Benjamin (Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) äNrēˈ bäNzhämăNˈ kôNstäNˈ də rəbĕkˈ [key], 1767–1830, French-Swiss political writer and novelist, b. Lausanne. His affair (1794...

Gance, Abel

(Encyclopedia)Gance, Abel, 1889–1981, pioneering French filmmaker. He acted on the stage in the early 1900s and appeared on the silent screen. From 1911 he wrote and directed several films; his first important fi...

Kutuzov, Mikhail Ilarionovich

(Encyclopedia)Kutuzov, Mikhail Ilarionovich mēkhəyēlˈ ēləryônˈəvĭch ko͝oto͞oˈzəf [key], 1745–1813, Russian field marshal. He fought against the Polish Confederation of Bar (see Bar, Confederation of...

Desaix de Veygoux, Louis Charles Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Desaix de Veygoux, Louis Charles Antoine lwē shärl äNtwänˈ dəsāˈ də vāgo͞oˈ [key], 1768–1800, French general in the French Revolutionary Wars. He served under J. B. Jourdan and J. V. Mor...

Berezina

(Encyclopedia)Berezina byĕrāzēnäˈ [key], river, c.380 mi (610 km) long, rising in Belarus. It flows generally S past Borisov and Bobruysk into the Dnieper River. It is navigable for most of its length. The her...

Victor Amadeus III

(Encyclopedia)Victor Amadeus III, 1726–96, king of Sardinia (1773–96), son and successor of Charles Emmanuel III. He declared war on France in 1792 after French Revolutionary troops had occupied Savoy and Nice....

Morny, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Morny, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, duc de shärl ōgüstˈ lwē zhôzĕfˈ dük də môrnēˈ [key], 1811–65, French statesman; illegitimate son of Hortense de Beauharnais and the comte de Flahaut...

Carlotta

(Encyclopedia)Carlotta, Span. Carlota kärlōˈtä [key], 1840–1927, empress of Mexico, daughter of Leopold I of Belgium, christened Marie Charlotte Amélie. She married (1857) Maximilian, archduke of Austria and...

Villafranca di Verona

(Encyclopedia)Villafranca di Verona vēlˌläfrängˈkä dē vārôˈnä [key], town (1991 pop. 27,036), Venetia, NE Italy. In 1859, Napoleon III and Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria met there after the Austrian d...