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Vergennes, Charles Gravier, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Vergennes, Charles Gravier, comte de shärl grävyāˈ kôNt də vĕrzhĕnˈ [key], 1717–87, French statesman. After serving as ambassador at Trier, Constantinople, and Stockholm (where in 1772 he p...

Frelinghuysen, Frederick Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Frelinghuysen, Frederick Theodore frēˈlĭnghīˌzən [key], 1817–85, U.S. secretary of state (1881–85), b. Millstone, Somerset co., N.J. He studied law in the office of his uncle, Theodore Freli...

Teleki, Count Paul

(Encyclopedia)Teleki, Count Paul tĕˈlĕkĭ [key], 1879–1941, Hungarian premier (1920–21, 1939–41), geographer, and political writer. He studied law, political science, and geography at the Univ. of Budapest...

Western European Union

(Encyclopedia)Western European Union (WEU), European security and defense organization. It was set up in Brussels in 1955 as a defensive, economic, social, and cultural organization, consisting of Belgium, France, ...

Panama Canal Zone

(Encyclopedia)Panama Canal Zone, former territory within Panama, 553 sq mi (1,432 sq km), that was administered by the United States under a 1903 treaty (with later amendments) with Panama. The zone included the Pa...

Montreux Convention

(Encyclopedia)Montreux Convention, 1936, international agreement regarding the Dardanelles. The Turkish request for permission to refortify the Straits zone was favorably received by nations anxious to return to in...

Rush-Bagot Convention

(Encyclopedia)Rush-Bagot Convention rŭsh-băgˈət [key], 1817, agreement between the United States and Great Britain concerning the Canadian border. It consisted of the exchange of notes signed by Richard Rush, A...

Waldemar IV

(Encyclopedia)Waldemar IV (Valdemar Atterdag), c.1320–1375, king of Denmark (1340–75). He became king of a land completely dismembered by foreign rulers, but his ambition, unscrupulousness, and military ability...

Griffith, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Griffith, Arthur, 1872–1922, Irish statesman, founder of Sinn Féin. He joined the nationalist movement as a young man. In 1899 he founded the United Irishman, in which he advocated that Irish membe...

Pinkie

(Encyclopedia)Pinkie, battlefield, E of Edinburgh, Scotland. There the English under Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, defeated a larger Scottish force on Sept. 10, 1547. Somerset's invasion of Scotland, to enforce...