Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Neutrality Act

(Encyclopedia)Neutrality Act, law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Aug., 1935. It was designed to keep the United States out of a possible European war by banning shi...

Liddell Hart, Sir Basil Henry

(Encyclopedia)Liddell Hart, Sir Basil Henry lĭˈdÉ™l härt [key], 1895–1970, English author and military strategist, b. Paris. His education at Cambridge was interrupted by World War I, in which he served (1914â...

Wrangel, Baron Piotr Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Wrangel, Baron Piotr Nikolayevich pyôˈtər nyĭkəlīˈəvĭch vränˈgĭl [key], 1878–1928, Russian general. After serving in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5) and in World War I, he joined (late...

Sumner, Edwin Vose

(Encyclopedia)Sumner, Edwin Vose, 1797–1863, American soldier, Union general in the Civil War, b. Boston. He fought in the Black Hawk War and in the Mexican War. Made colonel of the 1st Cavalry in 1855, he was co...

Porter, Horace

(Encyclopedia)Porter, Horace, 1837–1921, American soldier and diplomat, b. Huntingdon, Pa. In the Civil War he saw varied service, mostly as an ordnance officer, before becoming (1864) aide-de-camp to Gen. U. S. ...

Punic Wars

(Encyclopedia)Punic Wars, three distinct conflicts between Carthage and Rome. When they began, Rome had nearly completed the conquest of Italy, while Carthage controlled NW Africa and the islands and the commerce o...

Persian Gulf Wars

(Encyclopedia)Persian Gulf Wars, two conflicts involving Iraq and U.S.-led coalitions in the late 20th and early 21st cent. The First Persian Gulf War, also known as the Gulf War, Jan.–Feb., 1991, was an armed co...

MacArthur, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)MacArthur, Arthur, 1845–1912, American army officer, b. Springfield, Mass.; father of Douglas MacArthur. Raised in Wisconsin, he served with the 24th Wisconsin Volunteers in the Civil War and fought...

Luce, Stephen Bleecker

(Encyclopedia)Luce, Stephen Bleecker, 1827–1917, American naval officer, b. Albany, N.Y. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1841. In the Civil War he was head of the department of seamanship at the Naval Acad...

Randall, James Garfield

(Encyclopedia)Randall, James Garfield, 1881–1953, American historian, b. Indianapolis, Ind. He taught history and political science at various colleges before joining (1920) the faculty of the Univ. of Illinois. ...