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Bismarck, Otto von

(Encyclopedia)Bismarck, Otto von bĭzˈmärk, Ger. ôˈtō fən bĭsˈmärk [key], 1815–98, German statesman, known as the Iron Chancellor. The Bismarckian era closed with the death of Emperor Frederick III. A ...

Ghent

(Encyclopedia)Ghent gĕnt [key], Du. Gent, Fr. Gand, city, capital of East Flanders prov., W Belgium, at th...

serf

(Encyclopedia)serf, under feudalism, peasant laborer who can be generally characterized as hereditarily attached to the manor in a state of semibondage, performing the servile duties of the lord (see also manorial ...

poet laureate

(Encyclopedia)poet laureate lôˈrēĭt [key], title conferred in Britain by the monarch on a poet whose duty it is to write commemorative odes and verse. It is an outgrowth of the medieval English custom of having...

chess

(Encyclopedia)chess, game for two players played on a square board composed of 64 square spaces, alternately dark and light in color. London was the site of the first modern international chess tournament in 1851...

Dickens, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Dickens, Charles, 1812–70, English author, b. Portsmouth, one of the world's most popular, prolific, and skilled novelists. Charles Dickens is one of the giants of English literature. He wrote fro...

Newman, Saint John Henry

(Encyclopedia)Newman, SaintJohn Henry, 1801–90, English churchman, theologian, and writer, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the founders of the Oxford movement, b. London. Newman was canonized in 201...

Trotsky, Leon

(Encyclopedia)Trotsky, Leon trŏtˈskē, Rus. lāˈən trôtˈskē [key], 1879–1940, Russian Communist revolutionary, one of the principal leaders in the establishment of the USSR; his original name was Lev David...

Yugoslav literature

(Encyclopedia)Yugoslav or South Slav literature, literature written in Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, and, especially after World War II, Macedonian languages. The Serbian and Croatian literary languages are similar an...

Utopia

(Encyclopedia)Utopia yo͞otōˈpēə [key] [Gr.,=no place], title of a book by Sir Thomas More, published in Latin in 1516. The work pictures an ideal state where all is ordered for the best for humanity as a whole...