Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Spanish civil war, 1936–39, conflict in which the conservative and traditionalist forces in Spain rose against and finally overthrew the second Spanish republic. For Germany and Italy the Span...

(Encyclopedia) Iran-Iraq War, 1980–88, protracted military conflict between Iran and Iraq. It officially began on Sept. 22, 1980, with an Iraqi land and air invasion of western Iran, although Iraqi spokespersons m...

(Encyclopedia) Thirty Years War, 1618–48, general European war fought mainly in Germany. The general results of the war may be said to have been a tremendous decrease in German population; devastation of G...

(Encyclopedia) War Department, United States, federal executive department organized (1789) to administer the military establishment. It was reconstituted (1947) as the Dept. of the Army when the military administra...

(Encyclopedia) Turnus tûrˈnəs [key], in Roman legend, king of the Rutulians. In the Aeneid he is a spirited warrior. When his betrothed, Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus, was given to the Trojan Aeneas by her fa...

(Encyclopedia) Russo-Japanese War, 1904–5, imperialistic conflict that grew out of the rival designs of Russia and Japan on Manchuria and Korea. Russian failure to withdraw from Manchuria and Russian penetration i...

(Encyclopedia) Achilles əkĭlˈēz [key], in Greek mythology, foremost Greek hero of the Trojan War, son of Peleus and Thetis. He was a formidable warrior, possessing fierce and uncontrollable anger. Thetis, knowin...

(Encyclopedia) Aphrodite ăfrədīˈtē [key], in Greek religion and mythology, goddess of fertility, love, and beauty. Homer designated her the child of Zeus and Dione. Hesiod's account of her birth is more popular...

(Encyclopedia) Six-Day War: see Arab-Israeli Wars. ...

(Encyclopedia) Yom Kippur War: see Arab-Israeli Wars. ...