Columbia Encyclopedia
Search results
500 results found
GEM, acronym for ground-effect machine
(Encyclopedia)GEM: see air-cushion vehicle.Fort Henry, in United States history
(Encyclopedia)Fort Henry, Confederate fortification on the Tennessee River, S of the Ky.-Tenn. line; site of the first major Union victory of the Civil War (Feb. 6, 1862). The fort was attacked and reduced by Union...castle
(Encyclopedia)castle, type of fortified dwelling characteristic of the Middle Ages. Fortification of towns had been in practice since antiquity, but in the 9th cent. feudal lords began to develop the private fortre...Flamborough Head
(Encyclopedia)Flamborough Head flămˈbərə [key], chalk promontory, East Riding of Yorkshire, E England, N of Bridlington Bay. There is a lighthouse at the tip. Danes' Dyke (an ancient earthwork fortification) cr...Fort Pickens
(Encyclopedia)Fort Pickens, fortification on the western end of Santa Rosa Island at the entrance to Pensacola Bay, NW Fla. When Florida joined the Confederacy in Jan., 1861, Fort Barrancas on the mainland was evac...Wagram
(Encyclopedia)Wagram doich– [key], town, Lower Austria prov., NE Austria, in the Marchfeld, near Vienna. On July 5–6, 1809, Napoleon I gained one of his most brilliant victories there. Despite their heroic cond...howitzer
(Encyclopedia)howitzer: see artillery.pillbox
(Encyclopedia)pillbox, small, low fortification that houses machine guns and antitank weapons. Similar to a blockhouse, it is usually made of concrete, steel, logs, or filled sandbags. Pillboxes came into use durin...Castle Pinckney
(Encyclopedia)Castle Pinckney, fortification on Shutes Folly, an island in the harbor of Charleston, S.C.; built in 1797, when war with France seemed imminent; named for the American diplomat Charles Cotesworth Pin...Fort Meigs
(Encyclopedia)Fort Meigs mĕgz [key], American fortification on the Maumee River, near Perrysburg, N central Ohio; est. Feb., 1813, by Gen. William Henry Harrison across the river from British Fort Miami (see Maume...Browse by Subject
- Earth and the Environment +-
- History +-
- Literature and the Arts +-
- Medicine +-
- People +-
- Philosophy and Religion +-
- Places +-
- Africa
- Asia
- Australia and Oceania
- Britain, Ireland, France, and the Low Countries
- Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic Nations
- Germany, Scandinavia, and Central Europe
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Oceans, Continents, and Polar Regions
- Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and the Balkans
- United States, Canada, and Greenland
- Plants and Animals +-
- Science and Technology +-
- Social Sciences and the Law +-
- Sports and Everyday Life +-