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Star Wars

(Encyclopedia)Star Wars: see Strategic Defense Initiative. ...

Sikh Wars

(Encyclopedia)Sikh Wars (1845–49), two conflicts preceding the British annexation of the Punjab. By a treaty with the British in 1809, the Sikh ruler of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh, had accepted the Sutlej River as ...

Servile Wars

(Encyclopedia)Servile Wars, name given in Roman history to three slave uprisings. The agricultural slaves were exploited by their owners, who had extreme powers and were never averse to using them. The first of the...

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...

Balkan Wars

(Encyclopedia)Balkan Wars, 1912–13, two short wars, fought for the possession of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War for the possession of Tripoli (1911) encourag...

Persian Wars

(Encyclopedia)Persian Wars, 500 b.c.–449 b.c., series of conflicts fought between Greek states and the Persian Empire. The writings of Herodotus, who was born c.484 b.c., are the great source of knowledge of the ...

Pyramids, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Pyramids, battle of, July, 1798, during the French Revolutionary Wars, battle fought between the French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte and the Egyptian Mamluks led by Murad Bey. Napoleon's victory ga...

Smith, Sir William Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Sir William Sidney, 1764–1840, British admiral. He was a distinguished commander in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and is especially remembered for his defense of Acre against N...

Copenhagen, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Copenhagen, battle of, 1801, an important incident of the French Revolutionary Wars. In Dec., 1800, Denmark joined Russia, Sweden, and Prussia in declaring the armed neutrality of the northern powers ...

Ehrenbreitstein

(Encyclopedia)Ehrenbreitstein āˌrənbrītˈshtīn [key], fortress at Koblenz, W Germany, on a cliff (387 ft/118 m high) over the Rhine River. Built c.1000, it was later enlarged and strengthened during wars in th...