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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...

torpedo boat

(Encyclopedia)torpedo boat, small fast warship built specially for using the torpedo as a means of attack. The first modern torpedo boat was the Lightning, built for the British navy in 1877 by the shipyards of Sir...

Majdanek

(Encyclopedia)Majdanek or Maidanek mīdäˈnĕk [key], village, Lubelskie prov., SE Poland, a suburb of Lublin. The Germans established and operated a concentration camp there in World War II. An estimated 170,000 ...

Arao

(Encyclopedia)Arao äräˈō [key], city, Kumamoto prefecture, W Kyushu, Japan, on Ariake Bay. It is a port and is part of the Omuta-Arao industrial region where chemicals, bricks, fert...

Port Radium

(Encyclopedia)Port Radium, mining village, N central Northwest Territories, Canada, on Great Bear Lake. The mines were discovered in 1930 and yielded deposits of pitchblende, from which much radium was produced. Du...

Samarai

(Encyclopedia)Samarai sămˈărī [key], small island (59 acres/23.9 hectares), at the southeastern tip of Papua New Guinea, New Guinea island. It is a commercial and shipping center and a port of entry. An importa...

Remagen

(Encyclopedia)Remagen rāˈmäˌgən [key], town (1994 pop. 15,971), Rhineland-Palatinate, W Germany, on the Rhine River. It is a rail junction from which mineral water is shipped. U.S. troops used the Ludendorff b...

John II, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)John II (John Casimir), 1609–72, king of Poland (1648–68), son of Sigismund III. He was elected to succeed his brother, Ladislaus IV. The turbulent period of his reign is known in Polish history a...

battleship

(Encyclopedia)battleship, large, armored warship equipped with the heaviest naval guns. The evolution of the battleship, from the ironclad warship of the mid-19th cent., received great impetus from the Civil War. B...

Düren

(Encyclopedia)Düren dürˈən [key], city, North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany, on the Rur ...