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Giers, Nikolai Karlovich

(Encyclopedia)Giers, Nikolai Karlovich nyĭkəlīˈ kärˈləvĭch gēyĕrsˈ [key], 1820–95, Russian statesman. Appointed deputy foreign minister in 1875, he increasingly took over the duties of the elderly fore...

Alexander, king of Greece

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, 1893–1920, king of the Hellenes (1917–20), second son of Constantine I. After his father's forced abdication, he succeeded to the Greek throne with the support of the Allies, who distru...

Alexander, king of Serbia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander (Alexander Obrenović) ōbrĕˈnəvĭch [key], 1876–1903, king of Serbia (1889–1903), son of King Milan. He succeeded on his father's abdication. Proclaiming himself of age in 1893, he t...

Alexander, king of Yugoslavia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, 1888–1934, king of Yugoslavia (1921–34), son and successor of Peter I. Of the Karadjordjević family, he was educated in Russia and became crown prince of Serbia upon the renunciation (...

Alexander, prince of Serbia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander (Alexander Karadjordjević) kărəjôrˈjəvĭch [key], 1806–85, prince of Serbia (1842–58), son of Karageorge (Karadjordje). He was elected to succeed the deposed Michael of Serbia. Wea...

Feodor I

(Encyclopedia)Feodor I (Feodor Ivanovich) fyôˈdər, ēväˈnəvĭch [key], 1557–98, czar of Russia (1584–98), son of Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible). Weak and incompetent, he left the government in the hands of h...

Hakam II, al-

(Encyclopedia)Hakam II, al- äl-häkämˈ [key], 914–76, Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (961–76), son and successor of Abd ar-Rahman III. In the early part of his reign he successfully waged war against the Christi...

Gregory II, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Gregory II, Saint, d. 731, pope (715–31), a Roman; successor of Constantine. When Byzantine Emperor Leo III tried to impose iconoclasm in Italy by an imperial edict, Gregory answered that the empero...

Nicholas II, pope

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas II (c.1010–61), pope (1058–61), a Roman named Gerard, b. Lorraine, France; successor to Pope Stephen IX. A strong proponent of papal reform, he issued (1059) the Papal Election Decree in ...

Crimean War

(Encyclopedia)Crimean War krīmēˈən [key], 1853–56, war between Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France, and Sardinia on the other. The causes of the conflict were inherent in the ...