Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Babenberg bäˈbənbĕrk [key], ruling house of Austria (976–1246). It possibly descended from, or succeeded, a powerful Franconian family of the 9th cent. from whose castle the city of Bamberg prob...

(Encyclopedia) Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von gĕpˈhärt lāˈbərĕkht fən blüˈkhər [key], 1742–1819, Prussian field marshal, an outstanding military opponent of Napoleon I. An officer in the army of King F...

(Encyclopedia) Christian IV, 1577–1648, king of Denmark and Norway (1588–1648), son and successor of Frederick II. After assuming (1596) personal rule from a regency, he concentrated on building the navy, indust...

(Encyclopedia) Elizabeth, 1709–62, czarina of Russia (1741–62), daughter of Peter I and Catherine I. She gained the throne by overthrowing the young czar, Ivan VI, and the regency of his mother, Anna Leopoldovna...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Palatinate pəlătˈĭnātˌ [key], Ger. Pfalz, two regions of Germany. They are related historically, but not geographically. The Rhenish or Lower Palatinate (Ger. Rheinpfalz or Niederpfalz), often c...

(Encyclopedia) Brandenburg bränˈdənbo͝ork [key], state (1994 est. pop. 2,540,000), c.10,400 sq mi (26,940 sq km), E Germany. Potsdam is the capital; other leading cities include Cottbus, Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, a...

(Encyclopedia) Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de fräNswäˈ märēˈ ärwāˈ də vôltĕrˈ [key], 1694–1778, French philosopher and author, whose original name was Arouet. One of the towering geniuses in lite...

(Encyclopedia) Sandage, Allan Rex, 1926–2010, American astronomer, b. Iowa City, Iowa, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1953. He was a graduate student under Walter Baade and an assistant to Edwin Hubble....

(Encyclopedia) Hinckley, Gordon Bitner, 1910–2008, leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons; see Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of), b. Salt Lake City, grad. Univ. of Utah. He ...