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Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, Laurent, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, Laurent, marquis de lōräNˈ märkēˈ də go͞ovyôNˈ-săN-sēr [key], 1764–1830, marshal of France. He served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was made mars...

Fleurus

(Encyclopedia)Fleurus flörüsˈ [key], town, Hainaut prov., S Belgium. It is a coal-mining and manufacturi...

Capa, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Capa, Robert kăpˈə [key], 1913–54, American war photographer, b. Hungary as Andre Friedmann. He came to Paris in 1933 and from that time on recorded with profound concern the spectacle of humanit...

Gibbon, John

(Encyclopedia)Gibbon, John, 1827–96, Union general in the Civil War, b. near Holmesburg (now part of Philadelphia), Pa., grad. West Point, 1847. Made a brigadier general of volunteers (1862), he fought in the sec...

Avranches

(Encyclopedia)Avranches ävräNshˈ [key], town, Manche dept., NW France, in Normandy, on the English Channel. Because of its proximity to the rocky island of Mont-Saint-Michel, Avranch...

Smith, Sir Harry George Wakelyn

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Sir Harry George Wakelyn, 1787–1860, British general and administrator. He served in the Peninsular War and in the War of 1812 and was a brigade major at the battle of Waterloo. He commanded ...

Clausewitz, Karl von

(Encyclopedia)Clausewitz, Karl von kärl fən klouˈzəvĭts [key], 1780–1831, Prussian general and military strategist. Clausewitz was an original thinker most influenced by the Napoleonic wars in which he fough...

corvette

(Encyclopedia)corvette, small warship, classed between a frigate and a sloop-of-war. Corvettes usually were flush-decked and carried fewer than 28 guns. They were widely employed in escorting convoys and attacking ...

Pakenham, Sir Edward Michael

(Encyclopedia)Pakenham, Sir Edward Michael păkˈənəm [key], 1778–1815, British general. He entered the army in 1794 and served in the wars against Napoleon I, emperor of France. He distinguished himself in the...

Finisterre, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Finisterre, Cape fĭnĭstârˈ [key] [Lat. finis terrae=land's end], rocky promontory, extreme NW Spain, on the Atlantic coast of Galicia. Off the cape, the English won two naval battles against the F...