Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ramillies, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Ramillies, battle of rămˈĭlēz, Fr. rämēyēˈ [key], fought May 23, 1706, near the village of Ramillies-Offus, Walloon Brabant prov., Belgium, 12 mi (19 km) S of Tienen, in the War of the Spanish...

Bar, Confederation of

(Encyclopedia)Bar, Confederation of, union formed in 1768 at Bar, in Podolia (now in W Ukraine), by a number of Polish nobles to oppose the interference of Catherine II of Russia in Polish affairs. Headed by the Pu...

Robert of Gloucester

(Encyclopedia)Robert of Gloucester glŏsˈtər [key], fl. 1260–1300, English chronicler. Possibly a monk of Gloucester, he is known only from the vernacular metrical chronicle of English history that bears his na...

Office of Strategic Services

(Encyclopedia)Office of Strategic Services (OSS), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II under the jurisdiction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the purpose of obtaining information about enemy nations and ...

Paris, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Paris, Congress of, 1856, conference held by representatives of France, Great Britain, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Sardinia, Russia, Austria, and Prussia to negotiate the peace after the Crimean War....

Roses, Wars of the

(Encyclopedia)Roses, Wars of the, traditional name given to the intermittent struggle (1455–85) for the throne of England between the noble houses of York (whose badge was a white rose) and Lancaster (later assoc...

Ghent, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Ghent, Treaty of, 1814, agreement ending the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. It was signed at Ghent, Belgium, on Dec. 24, 1814, and ratified by the U.S. Senate in Feb., 1815. ...

Ryswick, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Ryswick, Treaty of, 1697, the pact that ended the War of the Grand Alliance. Its signers were France on one side and England, Spain, and the Netherlands on the other. It was a setback for Louis XIV, w...

Apollodorus of Damascus

(Encyclopedia)Apollodorus of Damascus, Roman architect and engineer, fl. late 1st to early 2d cent. a.d., b. Syria. Apollodorus was responsible for nearly all buildings designed under the emperor Trajan, for whom h...

Andrusov, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Andrusov, Treaty of ănˈdro͝osŏfˌ, Rus. əndro͞oˈsəf [key], 1667, signed by Poland and Russia at the village of Andrusov, Russia (present-day Androsovo). It ended the war of Czar Alexis of Russ...