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Gladstone, Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Gladstone, Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount glădˈstən [key], 1854–1930, British statesman; son of William E. Gladstone. A member of Parliament from 1880 to 1910, he held various offices under...

Hradec Králové

(Encyclopedia)Hradec Králové hräˈdĕts kräˈlôvā [key], Ger. Königgrätz, city, N central ...

Philip IV, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Philip IV, 1605–65, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily (1621–65) and, as Philip III, king of Portugal (1621–40); son and successor of Philip III of Spain. Philip IV was intelligent but lacked int...

Grand Alliance, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Grand Alliance, War of the, 1688–97, war between France and a coalition of European powers, known as the League of Augsburg (and, after 1689, as the Grand Alliance). Louis XIV of France took advanta...

Polish Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Polish Succession, War of the, 1733–35. On the death (1733) of Augustus II of Poland, Stanislaus I sought to reascend the Polish throne. He was supported by his son-in-law, Louis XV of France. The r...

Austrian Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Austrian Succession, War of the, 1740–48, general European war. In 1744 Frederick II, fearing the rising power of Austria, started the Second Silesian War by invading Bohemia; he was soon expell...

Bavarian Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Bavarian Succession, War of the, between Austria and Prussia, 1778–79. With the extinction of the Bavarian line of the house of Wittelsbach on the death of Elector Maximilian Joseph in 1777, the duc...

Spanish Succession, War of the

(Encyclopedia)Spanish Succession, War of the, 1701–14, last of the general European wars caused by the efforts of King Louis XIV to extend French power. The conflict in America corresponding to the period of the ...

Oxenstierna, Count Axel Gustafsson

(Encyclopedia)Oxenstierna, Count Axel Gustafsson äkˈsəl go͝osˈtäfsən ŭkˈsənshĕrˌnä [key], 1583–1654, Swedish statesman. Named chancellor in 1612, he was the actual administrator of Sweden because Gus...

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