Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Finnish-Russian War, 1939–40, war between Finland and the Soviet Union. After World War II broke out in Sept., 1939, the USSR, never on cordial terms with Finland, took advantage of its nonaggressio...

(Encyclopedia) Abbas II (Abbas Hilmi) , ăbäsˈ, ăbˈəs [key], 1874–1944, last khedive of Egypt (1892–1914); son and successor of Tewfik Pasha. Nominally he ruled in subordination to the Ottoman Empire, but i...

(Encyclopedia) World Council of Churches, an international, interdenominational organization of most major Protestant, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox Christian churches; founded in Amsterdam in 1948, its headquarter...

(Encyclopedia) Great War: see World War I.

(Encyclopedia) Office of War Information (OWI), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II to consolidate government information services. The OWI absorbed the functions of the Office of Facts and Figures, the O...

(Encyclopedia) Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Kor...

(Encyclopedia) Antigonus II (Antigonus Gonatas) gōnāˈtəs [key], c.320–239 b.c., king of Macedon, son of Demetrius I. He took the title king on his father's death (283) but made good his claim only by defeating...

(Encyclopedia) Peter II, 1923–70, king of Yugoslavia (1934–45). He succeeded under the regency of his cousin, Prince Paul, when his father, King Alexander, was assassinated in Marseilles. In World War II, when P...

(Encyclopedia) Gulf War syndrome, popular name for a variety of ailments experienced by veterans after the Persian Gulf War. Symptoms reported include nausea, cramps, rashes, short-term memory loss, fatigue, difficu...

(Encyclopedia) Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz) pärvēzˈ [key], d. 628, king of Persia of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty; grandson of Khosrow I. He is also called Chosroes II or Khosru II. He succeeded his father ...