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Mendès-France, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Mendès-France, Pierre pyĕr măNdĕsˈ-fräNs [key], 1907–82, French statesman. A lawyer and economist, he entered (1932) the chamber of deputies as a Radical Socialist. In World War II he was a pi...

Oder-Neisse line

(Encyclopedia)Oder-Neisse line, frontier established in 1945 between Germany and Poland; it followed the Oder and W Neisse rivers from the Baltic Sea to the Czechoslovak border. The boundary, desired by most Poles ...

Kasavubu, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Kasavubu, Joseph kăsˌəvo͞oˈbo͞o, käˈsə– [key], 1917?–1969, African political leader, president of the Republic of the Congo (1960–65, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). He studi...

Beach, Moses Yale

(Encyclopedia)Beach, Moses Yale, 1800–1868, American journalist, b. Wallingford, Conn. As a young man he invented a rag-cutting machine and a gunpowder engine. In 1838 he bought the New York Sun from his brother-...

Souphanouvong, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Souphanouvong, Prince so͞ofäˈno͞ovŏngˌ [key], 1909–95, Laotian government official; half-brother of Prince Souvanna Phouma. Although a member of Laos's royal family, he was an active nationali...

Souvanna Phouma, Prince

(Encyclopedia)Souvanna Phouma, Prince so͞oväˈnä fo͞oˈmä [key], 1901–84, government official of Laos. Of royal descent, he was trained as an engineer. From 1950 he held a variety of key government posts, in...

Troppau, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Troppau, Congress of trôpˈou [key], 1820, international conference convened at the behest of Czar Alexander I of Russia under the provisions of the Quadruple Alliance. The congress, which met at Tro...

Young Men's Christian Association

(Encyclopedia)Young Men's Christian Association, (the Y or YMCA), organization having as its objective the development of values and behaviors that are consistent with Christian principles. Despite its name, member...

Bethlen, Count Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Bethlen, Count Stephen, 1874–1947?, Hungarian premier (1921–31). A Transylvanian, he entered the Hungarian parliament in 1901, and in 1919 he was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. Called t...

San Stefano, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)San Stefano, Treaty of săn stĕfˈənō [key], 1878, peace treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, at the conclusion of the last of the Russo-Turkish Wars; it was signed at San Stefano (now Ye�...