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Kun, Béla

(Encyclopedia)Kun, Béla bāˈlŏ ko͞on [key], 1886–1937, Hungarian Communist. A prisoner of war in Russia after 1915, he embraced Bolshevism. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917 he was sent to ...

Wallenberg, Raoul

(Encyclopedia)Wallenberg, Raoul räo͞olˈ vălˈĕnbâr [key] 1912–47, Swedish diplomat and businessman. In 1944, he was assigned to Sweden's legation in Budapest, where he helped save approximately 100,000 Hung...

Zog

(Encyclopedia)Zog zŭk [key], 1895–1961, king of Albania. Originally Ahmet Muhtar Bej Zogolliu (later Albanianized to Zogu), he came from a Muslim family and served in the Austrian army in World War I. He became ...

Brissot de Warville, Jacques Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Brissot de Warville, Jacques Pierre zhäk pyĕr brēsōˈ də värvēlˈ [key], 1754–93, French revolutionary and journalist. He began his career by writing numerous pamphlets and books. His Théori...

Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de

(Encyclopedia)Talleyrand or Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles Maurice de tălˈērăndˌ, Fr. shärl mōrēsˈ də tälāräNˈ-pārēgôrˈ [key], 1754–1838, French statesman and diplomat. Born into the high nobilit...

Czechoslovakia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Czechoslovakia chĕsˈkōslōvĕnˌskō [key], former federal republic, 49,370 sq mi (127,869 sq km), in central Europe. On Jan. 1, 1993, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (see Slovaki...

German Confederation

(Encyclopedia)CE5 German Confederation (1815) German Confederation, 1815–66, union of German states provided for at the Congress of Vienna to replace the old Holy Roman Empire, which had been destroyed during...

Alfonso XIII, king of Spain

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso XIII, 1886–1941, king of Spain (1886–1931), posthumous son and successor of Alfonso XII. His mother, Maria Christina (1858–1929), was regent until 1902. In 1906, Alfonso married Princess...

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...

city-state

(Encyclopedia)city-state, in ancient Greece, Italy, and Medieval Europe, an independent political unit consisting of a city and surrounding countryside. The first city-states were in Sumer, but they reached their p...