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monitor, type of warship

(Encyclopedia)monitor, type of turreted warship (no longer used) carrying heavy guns, having little draft, and lying low in the water. Monitors were so called from the first of the class, the Monitor, built for the...

Manin, Daniele

(Encyclopedia)Manin, Daniele dänyĕˈlā mänēnˈ [key] 1804–57, Venetian leader of the movement to free N Italy from Austrian rule. His father, a Jew, was converted to Christianity and took the name of his pat...

Martin, Paul Edgar Philippe, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Martin, Paul Edgar Philippe, Jr., 1938–, Canadian politician, prime minister (2003–6) of Canada, b. Windsor, Ont. The scion of a politically active family (his father served in parliament and ran ...

Kan, Naoto

(Encyclopedia)Kan, Naoto, 1946–, Japanese political leader, grad. Tokyo Institute of Technology (1970). A civic activist and long-time opponent of the Liberal Democratic party, he first was elected to the Diet in...

Botha, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Botha, Louis bōˈtə [key], 1862–1919, South African soldier and statesman. A Boer (Afrikaner), he participated in the founding (1884) of the New Republic, which joined (1888) the Transvaal. Althou...

Carlsen, Magnus

(Encyclopedia)Carlsen, Magnus (Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen), 1990–, Norwegian chess player. He became a grandmaster in 2004 at age 13, becoming the youngest player to achieve this honor, and in 2006 he won his first...

Triple Alliance

(Encyclopedia)Triple Alliance, in European history, any of several coalitions. 1 The Triple Alliance of 1668 was formed by the Netherlands, England, and Sweden against France after Louis XIV had invaded the Spanish...

Bongo, Omar

(Encyclopedia)Bongo, Omar (El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba) bôngˈgō [key], 1935–2009, Gabonese political leader, president of Gabon (1967–2009), b. Albert-Bernard Bongo. He entered the civil service (1958), becam...

Balaguer, Joaquín

(Encyclopedia)Balaguer, Joaquín (Joaquín Balaguer Ricardo) hwäkēnˈ bälägārˈ rēkärˈᵺō [key], 1907–2002, president of the Dominican Republic (1960–62, 1966–78, 1986–96). A lawyer by trade, he h...

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...