Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Moresnet môrānāˈ [key], district, 1.5 sq mi (3.9 sq km), Liège prov., E Belgium, near the German border. It was formerly a lead- and zinc-mining center. Under joint Prussian and Dutch (after 1830...

(Encyclopedia) détente, relaxation of tensions between nations, applied particularly to a period of improved relations between the United States and Soviet Union in the 1960s and 70s that resulted as the hostilitie...

(Encyclopedia) Grey of Fallodon, Edward Grey, 1st Viscount fălˈədən [key], 1862–1933, British statesman. He entered Parliament as a Liberal in 1885 and became (1905) foreign secretary in the difficult period p...

(Encyclopedia) Hamina häˈmĭnä [key], Swed. Fredrikshamn, city, South Finland prov., SE Finland, on the G...

(Encyclopedia) Kilmainham kĭlmānˈəm [key], suburb of Dublin, Co. Dublin, E Republic of Ireland. The commander of the British forces in Ireland had his headquarters in Kilmainham. Charles Stewart Parnell was impr...

(Encyclopedia) Little Entente äntäntˈ [key], loose alliance formed in 1920–21 by Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Its specific purposes were the containment of Hungarian revisionism (of the terms of the...

(Encyclopedia) Bocskay, Stephen bôchˈkī [key], 1557–1606, Hungarian noble, voivode [governor] (1604–6) and prince (1605–6) of Transylvania. Seeking to secure the independence of Transylvania, he supported h...

(Encyclopedia) space law, agreements governing the exploration and use of outer space, developed since the first launching (1957) by humans of a satellite into space. Space law, an aspect of international law, has g...

(Encyclopedia) Leopold I, 1640–1705, Holy Roman emperor (1658–1705), king of Bohemia (1656–1705) and of Hungary (1655–1705), second son and successor of Ferdinand III. Upon his elder brother's death (1654), ...

(Encyclopedia) Estrades, Godefroy, comte d' gōdfrwäˈ kôNt dĕsträdˈ [key], 1607–86, French diplomat, marshal of France. An accomplished soldier, he negotiated (1662) the purchase of Dunkirk from the English....