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Ghent, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Ghent, Treaty of, 1814, agreement ending the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. It was signed at Ghent, Belgium, on Dec. 24, 1814, and ratified by the U.S. Senate in Feb., 1815. ...

Polignac, Jules Armand, prince de

(Encyclopedia)Polignac, Jules Armand, prince de zhül ärmäNˈ prăNs də pôlēnyäkˈ [key], 1780–1847, French statesman. Belonging to one of the oldest families of France, he emigrated with them during the Fr...

triumphal arch

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Triumphal arch triumphal arch, monumental structure embodying one or more arched passages, frequently built to span a road and designed to honor a king or general or to commemorate a military ...

Toruń

(Encyclopedia)Toruń tôˈro͞onyə [key], Ger. Thorn, city (1993 est. pop. 201,700), capital (with Bydgoszcz) of Kujawsko-Pomorskie prov., N central Poland, on the Vistula River. It is a river port and a railway j...

Cassini

(Encyclopedia)Cassini käs-sēˈnē [key], name of a family of Italian-French astronomers, four generations of whom were directors of the Paris Observatory. Gian Domenico Cassini, 1625–1712, was born in Italy and...

Swiss Guards

(Encyclopedia)Swiss Guards, Swiss mercenaries who fought in various European armies from the 15th cent. until the 19th cent. These mercenaries, who were not volunteers, were put at the disposal of foreign powers by...

Leipzig

(Encyclopedia)Leipzig līpˈtsĭkh [key], city (1994 pop. 490,850), Saxony, E central Germany, at the confluence of the Pleisse, White Elster, and Parthe rivers. Originally a Slavic settlement called Lipsk, Leipz...

Mamluk

(Encyclopedia)Mamluk or Mameluke mămˈəlo͞ok [key] [Arab.,=slaves], a warrior caste dominant in Egypt and influential in the Middle East for over 700 years. Islamic rulers created this warrior caste by collectin...

Westphalia

(Encyclopedia)Westphalia wĕstfālˈyə [key], Ger. Westfalen, region and former province of Prussia, W Germany. Münster was the capital of the province. After 1945 the province was incorporated into the West Germ...

Vienna, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...