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Smith, Sir William Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Sir William Sidney, 1764–1840, British admiral. He was a distinguished commander in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and is especially remembered for his defense of Acre against N...

Aubigné, Théodore Agrippa d'

(Encyclopedia)Aubigné, Théodore Agrippa d' tāōdôrˈ əgrĭpˈəˈ dōbĭnŏyāˈ [key], 1552–1630, French poet and Huguenot soldier. A devoted follower of Henry of Navarre (Henry IV) from 1568, he was later ...

Marignano, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Marignano, battle of märēnyäˈnō [key], 1515, in the Italian Wars, fought by Francis I of France and his Venetian allies against the Swiss Confederates, who then controlled the duchy of Milan. It ...

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 ...

Giurgiu

(Encyclopedia)Giurgiu jo͝orˈjo͝o [key], city, S Romania, in Walachia, on the Danube River opposite R...

Tudor, Owen

(Encyclopedia)Tudor, Owen, d. 1461, founder of the Tudor dynasty. He belonged to an ancient Welsh family. He was a squire at the court of Henry V, and, probably in 1429, he married Henry's widow, Catherine of Valoi...

Butler, Zebulon

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Zebulon, 1731–95, American colonial leader, b. Ipswich, Mass. After serving in the French and Indian Wars, Butler led a group of Connecticut settlers to the Wyoming Valley in N Pennsylvania....

North Atlantic Drift

(Encyclopedia)North Atlantic Drift, warm ocean current in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a continuation of the Gulf Stream, the merging point being at lat. 40°N and long. 60°W. Off the British Isl...

Ligurian Sea

(Encyclopedia)Ligurian Sea lĭgyo͝orˈēən [key], arm of the Mediterranean Sea, between the Ligurian coast (Italian Riviera) and the islands of Corsica and Elba; the Gulf of Genoa is its northernmost part. The se...

Thurii

(Encyclopedia)Thurii thyo͞oˈrēī [key], ancient city of Magna Graecia, S Italy, in Bruttium, on the Gulf of Tarentum (now Taranto). It was founded by Pericles in 443 b.c. to replace ruined Sybaris. New Greek col...