Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Decius Mus, Publius

(Encyclopedia)Decius Mus, Publius mŭs [key], name of three Romans, father, son, and grandson, who, according to legend, sacrificed themselves for their country. As a tribune, the father fought (343 b.c.) in the wa...

Hickok, Wild Bill

(Encyclopedia)Hickok, Wild Bill, 1837–76, American frontier marshal, b. Troy Grove, near Ottawa, Ill., as James Butler Hickok. He took part in the Kansas struggle preceding the Civil War, was a driver of the Butt...

Rajk, Laszlo

(Encyclopedia)Rajk, Laszlo läsˈlō roik [key], 1909–49, Hungarian Communist leader. After fighting in the Spanish civil war of 1936–39 he was interned (1939) in a French camp for Spanish Loyalists. Rajk retur...

Riboud, Marc

(Encyclopedia)Riboud, Marc, 1923–2016, French photojournalist. After fighting in the resistance during World War II, he studied engineering. In 1952 he moved to Paris, where he met Henri Cartier-Bresson, who beca...

Pforzheim

(Encyclopedia)Pforzheim pfôrtsˈhīm [key], city (1994 pop. 117,450), Baden-Württemberg, SW Germany, on the Enz River, at the northern end of the Black Forest. It is the center of the German jewelry and watchmaki...

Porter, Fitz-John

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Fitz-John, 1822–1901, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Portsmouth, N.H.; nephew of David Porter. He saw service in the Mexican War and was an instructor at West Point (1849–55)....

Prado, Mariano Ignacio

(Encyclopedia)Prado, Mariano Ignacio märyäˈnō ēgnäˈsyō präˈᵺō [key], 1826–1901, president of Peru (1865–67, 1878–79). He aided Ramón Castilla in the revolution of 1854. Indignant at the treaty t...

Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick

(Encyclopedia)Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick ōˈmən [key], 1860–1946, British historian, b. India, educated at Oxford under William Stubbs. He was a foremost military historian; his most notable works are A...

Opitz, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Opitz, Martin märˈtĭn ōˈpĭts [key], 1597–1639, leader of the Silesian school of German poetry. His influence as poet, critic, and metrical reformer was widely recognized during his time; he wa...

Spinola, Ambrogio

(Encyclopedia)Spinola, Ambrogio ämbrôˈjō spēˈnōlä [key], 1569–1630, Spanish general, b. Italy, of a noble Genoese family. In 1602, Spinola entered Spanish service in the Netherlands. He took (1604) Ostend...
 

Browse by Subject