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Chmielnicki, Bohdan

(Encyclopedia)Chmielnicki, Khmelnytskyy or Khmelnitsky, Bohdan all: bəkhdänˈ khmĕlnētˈskē [key], c.1595–1657, hetman (leader) of Ukraine. An educated member of the Ukrainian gentry, he early joined the Ukr...

Charles IV, duke of Lorraine

(Encyclopedia)Charles IV, 1604–75, duke of Lorraine. He succeeded to the duchy in 1624 but was to lose it several times because of his anti-French policy. In 1633, French troops invaded Lorraine in retaliation fo...

Chen Yi

(Encyclopedia)Chen Yi chŭn yē [key], 1901–72, Chinese Communist general and statesman. Chen was a political instructor (1925) in the Kuomintang Whampoa Military Academy. After the Kuomintang-Communist alliance ...

Ferdinand I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand I, 1345–83, king of Portugal (1367–83), son and successor of Peter I. His ambitions and his private life plunged the realm into disaster, although during his reign agricultural reform wa...

Sadler, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Sadler or Sadleir, Sir Ralph both: sădˈlər [key], 1507–87, English diplomat. Through the influence of Thomas Cromwell, he secured (c.1536) the favor of Henry VIII, for whom he went on numerous mi...

Raymond VII, count of Toulouse

(Encyclopedia)Raymond VII, 1197–1249, count of Toulouse; son of Count Raymond VI. He fought with his father in the Albigensian Crusade (see under Albigenses), assisting Raymond VI in his attempt to regain Toulous...

Nesselrode, Karl Robert, Count

(Encyclopedia)Nesselrode, Karl Robert, Count kärl rōˈbĕrt nyĕsĕlrôˈdyĭ [key], 1780–1862, Russian statesman of German descent, b. Lisbon. He entered diplomatic service under Czar Alexander I, became state...

Walsingham, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Walsingham, Sir Francis wôlˈsĭng-əm [key], 1532?–1590, English statesman. A zealous Protestant, he went abroad during the reign of Queen Mary I but returned on the accession (1558) of Elizabeth ...

Young Men's Christian Association

(Encyclopedia)Young Men's Christian Association, (the Y or YMCA), organization having as its objective the development of values and behaviors that are consistent with Christian principles. Despite its name, member...

Alexander I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander I, 1777–1825, czar of Russia (1801–25), son of Paul I (in whose murder he may have taken an indirect part). In the first years of his reign the liberalism of his Swiss tutor, Frédéric ...