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The History Channel - Encyclopedia Category: History and Culture > History Date & country: 02/12/2007, UK Words: 25833

Arcadia conference
In World War II, meeting between Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt in Washington, DC, 22 December 1941-7 January 1942. They agreed that Germany was to be the prime opponent and that the...

Arcadius
(c.AD 377-408) Eastern Roman emperor 395-408, elder son of Theodosius the Great. Weak and irritable, he was under the influence of his ministers throughout his reign. ...

arcanum
Term describing a profound mystery, or, in a more particular sense, one of the alchemist's secrets of nature, such as the elixir of life, the philosopher's stone, and so on. ...

arch
In masonry, a curved structure that supports the weight of material over an open space, as in a bridge or doorway. The first arches consisted of several wedge-shaped stones supported by their...

archaeological culture
Constantly recurring assemblage of artefacts and other elements of material culture, thought to represent a particular people. ...

archaeology
Study of prehistory and history, based on the examination of physical remains. Principal activities include preliminary field (or site) surveys, excavation (where necessary), and the classification,...

archaeomagnetic dating
Dating method based on the palaeomagnetism of archaeological materials such as baked clay structures (ancient hearths, kilns, ovens). Firing temperatures in excess of 565°C activated iron-bearing...

archaeozoology
Branch of archaeology involving the analysis of animal remains for information on physiology and ecology; for the interpretation of these remains in association with artefacts and people; and for...

archangel
Chief or leading angel. Both Jewish and Christian tradition venerate seven archangels, of whom three only are named in the Bible: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. The others are Uriel, Raguel,...

Archangel, Expedition to
Joint Allied (British, French, and US) operation 1918-19 to stabilize the Eastern Front following the Russian Revolution and safeguard the large concentration of military stores which had been...

archbishop
In the Christian church, a bishop of superior rank who has authority over other bishops in his jurisdiction and often over an ecclesiastical province. The office exists in the Roman Catholic,...

archdeacon
Originally an ordained dignitary of the Christian church charged with the supervision of the deacons attached to a cathedral. Today in the Roman Catholic Church the office is purely titular; in the...

archduke
Title borne by members of the former Austrian royal family. It denoted a rank above all other dukes, bearing superior powers and rights. ...

Archelaus
(died 399 BC) King of Macedonia 413-399 BC. He was a distinguished patron of Greek art and literature. The dramatist Euripides died at his court. ...

Archer, Jeffrey Howard
(1940) English writer and politician. He was a Conservative member of Parliament 1969-74, and a best-selling novelist and dramatist. His political career was marred by a scandal in which he was accused...

Archer, William
(1856-1924) Scottish drama critic. He did much to popularize the work of Ibsen in England and advocated a more serious and realistic drama. His works include English Dramatists of To-day (1882), Masks or...

Archers, the
Longest-running drama serial in the world. It began on BBC radio in 1951 and continues to be broadcast in six episodes per week, with an omnibus edition on Sundays. Originally designed as a means...

Archidamus II
(476-427 BC) Eurypontid king of Sparta c. 469-427 BC. He did his utmost to prevent the Peloponnesian War, but was overruled by the war party. He led a Spartan force of 10,000 men into Attica 431 BC and led...

Archigram
London-based group of English experimental architects (1960-75). Central to their philosophy was the belief that architecture should be technological, flexible, and disposable. The group...

Archilochus
Greek poet. Born on the island of Paros, he wrote the earliest Greek personal poetry, concentrating on themes of war and sexuality. He is disarmingly frank on both topics, but also...

archimandrite
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, originally an abbot; the title is often given to the celibate clergy from whom the Orthodox episcopate is recruited. ...

Archinus
Athenian supporter of Thrasybulus. He helped to overthrow the Thirty Tyrants, and was mainly instrumental in bringing about the amnesty when the democracy was restored 404 BC. It was owing to him...

Archipenko, Alexander
(1887-1964) Ukrainian-born abstract sculptor. He pioneered cubist sculpture, producing geometrically stylized forms, as in Woman Combing Her Hair (1915; Tate Gallery, London). He also experimented with...

architect
Person qualified to design buildings and to supervise their erection. History, Europe In Greek and Roman times the architect's status was fully recognized, and his duties are described by Vitruvius....

architecture
Art of designing structures. The term covers the design of the visual appearance of structures; their internal arrangements of space; selection of external and internal building materials; design or...

archive
Collection of historically valuable records, ranging from papers and documents to photographs, films, videotapes, and sound recordings. UK archives The National Reg ...

archivolt
In architecture, a moulding around the face or underside of an arch. ...

archon
In ancient Greece, title of the chief magistrate in several city-states. In Athens there were originally three archons: the archon basilieus, or king archon, the eponymous archon, and the...

archpriest
Formerly a senior priest attached to a cathedral as assistant to the bishop and overseer of the subordinate clergy. The chapters of St Peter's and other Roman basilicas are headed by archpriests....

Arctic convoys
In World War II, series of supply convoys sailing from the UK to the USSR around the North Cape to Murmansk, commencing October 1941. The natural hazards of sailing in these waters were greatly...

Arctic Exploration
The Arctic has been home to nomadic hunters for many thousands of years, so it is often deceptive to talk about its discovery - often the regions explored by the famous polar navigators were...

Ardagh
Village in County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, 5 km/3 mi north of Newcastle West; population (2002) 950. The enamelled Celtic Ardagh Chalice of gold, silver, and bronze, and brooches dating from...

Ardas
In Sikh worship, a prayer said at the end of communal worship or at home. It was developed in the 18th century. Ardas is performed after morning and evening pr ...

Arden, John
(1930) English dramatist. His early plays Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1959) and The Workhouse Donkey (1963) contain trenchant social criticism and show the influence of Bertolt Brecht. Subsequent works,...

Ardennes offensive
Alternative name for the World War II Battle of the Bulge. ...

Ardizzone, Edward
(1900-1979) British illustrator, author, and teacher. A prolific artist, he illustrated over 180 books, and as an official war artist during World War II he completed some 520 works 1940-45. He was author of...

Ardress House
17th-century manor house in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, 14 km/9 mi north of Armagh. It has two 18th-century wings added by the Dublin architect George Ensor. The Ulster Land Fund gave...

Arena Chapel
Chapel in Padua, Italy, with frescoes by Giotto. It was built 1303-05 for the Italian banker Enrico Scrovegni on the site of a 1st-century Roman amphitheatre (arena), the paintings being carried...

Arends, Leslie (Cornelius)
(1895-1985) US representative. Arends worked for the county farm bureau before going to the US House of Representatives in 1935. He became minority whip in 1939, and majority leader in 1957. ...

Arendt, Hannah
(1906-1975) German-born US political philosopher. Her concerns included totalitarianism, the nature of evil, and the erosion of public participation in the political process. Her works include Eichmann in...

Arens, Moshe
(1925) Israeli politician and engineer, deputy leader of the Likud Party from 1992. He was elected to the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in 1974. In 1982 he was appointed ambassador to the USA and in 1986 he...

Areopagus, Council of
In ancient Athens, the aristocratic council, composed of former magistrates, which took its name from the rocky outcrop where it met, immediately west of the Acropolis. A sanctuary to the avenging...

Ares
In Greek mythology, the god of war, equivalent to the Roman Mars. The son of Zeus and Hera, he was worshipped chiefly in Thrace. Ares loved Aphrodite, whose husband Hephaestus made the pair the...

Arethusa
In Greek mythology, a nymph of the fountain and spring of Arethusa in the island of Ortygia near Syracuse, on the south coast of Sicily. ...

Aretino, Pietro
(1492-1556) Italian writer. He earned his living, both in Rome and Venice, by publishing satirical pamphlets while under the protection of a highly placed family. His `Letters` 1537-57 are a unique record...

Arevalo Bermejo, Juan José
(1904-1990) Guatemalan president 1945-51, elected to head a civilian government after a popular revolt in 1944 ended a 14-year period of military rule. During his years in power, there were more than 20...

Argall, Samuel
(c. 1580-c. 1626) English adventurer. Born in Bristol, he went to Virginia 1609 and obtained the release of several Englishmen held captive by Powhatan, a Potomac chief, by abducting his daughter, Pocahontas, 1612....

Argens, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer
(1704-1771) French writer. Born at Aix-en-Provence, he was invited to Potsdam by Frederick the Great 1744. His chief works are Lettres juives/The Jewish Letters (1736), Lettres chinoises/Chinese Letters...

Argenta Gap, Battle of the
World War II operation by British troops to breach German defences in northern Italy April 1945 as part of the final Allied advance in Italy. The Gap was a heavily defended strip of dry land between...

Argenteus, Codex
See Codex Argenteus. ...

Argentina
Country in South America, bounded west and south by Chile, north by Bolivia, and east by Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean. Government The...

Argentine literature
The literature of Argentina since independence in 1816. The first Latin American territory to revolt against Spain, in 1810, Argentina developed a distinct literary tradition in which Romanticism...

Argesul, Battle of the
In World War I, battle fought 30 November-3 December 1916 on the line of the Argesul River. A joint Austro-German force defeated Romanian armies attempting to defend Bucharest with a pincer...

Arghezi, Tudor
(1880-1967) Romanian poet, pamphleteer, essayist, and novelist. His life as a monk and experiences of imprisonment for political writing provided inspiration for his poetry and novels. Two cycles of poems, 1907...

Argonauts
In Greek mythology, the band of heroes who accompanied Jason when he set sail in the Argo to find the Golden Fleece. The Argo, a 50-oared ship, was named after its builder Argus, son of Phrixus....

Argonne
Wooded plateau in northeastern France, separating Lorraine and Champagne. It was the scene of heavy fighting in World Wars I and II due to its strategic location. In World War I, it was the scene of...

Argos
City in ancient Greece, at the head of the Gulf of Argos, which was once a cult centre of the goddess Hera; her celebrated sanctuary lay outside the city. In the Homeric age the name `Argives`...

argument
In logic, the middle term in a syllogism. More commonly, the word `argument` denotes a connected series of propositional steps leading from a given premise to a conclusion. ...

argument from design
Line of reasoning, argued by English bishop William Paley 1794, that the universe is so complex that it can only have been designed by a superhuman power, and that we can learn something of it (God)...

Argus
In Greek mythology, a giant with 100 eyes. When he was killed by Hermes, Hera transplanted his eyes into the tail of her favourite bird, the peacock. Argus was the son of Arestor. He was surnamed...

Argyll
Line of Scottish peers who trace their descent to the Campbells of Lochow. The earldom dates from 1457. It was created by James I, who conferred the title on Lord Campbell (died 1493), from whom the...

Argyll, Archibald Campbell
(1598-1661) Opponent of the church policy of Charles I in Scotland. He joined the parliamentary side in the English Civil War, defeated several Royalist risings in Scotland, and fought a campaign against the...

Ari, Thorgilsson
(c. 1067-1148) Icelandic priest, described as the `father of Icelandic historiography`. His Ã?slendingbók/Book of the Icelanders is a concise and accurate survey of Icelandic history from when the island was...

Aria
One of the eastern provinces of the ancient Persian Empire, forming a part of Ariana. It was bounded north by Margiana and Bactriana, east by the Paropamisadae, south by Carmania, and west by...

Ariadne
In Greek mythology, the daughter of Minos, King of Crete. When Theseus came from Athens as one of the sacrificial victims offered to the Minotaur, she fell in love with him and gave him a ball of...

Ariana
General name given to the eastern provinces of the ancient Persian Empire, stretching from Media to the Indus River, and bounded north by the Indian Caucasus and south by the Arabian Sea. ...

Ariana
Italian town in Campania, northeast of Avellino. It was originally a Samnite town. ...

Arianism
System of Christian theology that denied the complete divinity of Jesus, giving God the Father primacy over the created son Jesus. It was founded about 310 by ...

Arias Madrid, Arnulfo
(1901-1988) Panamanian authoritarian political leader, president 1940-41, 1949-51, and October 1968. He was elected president in 1940 by a large majority and, influenced by European fascism, pursued...

Arias Navarro, Carlos
(1908-1989) Spanish politician. As a state prosecutor in the Spanish Civil War, he gained notoriety as the `Butcher of Málaga` during the nationalists' savage repression of the province. He became prime...

Arias Sanchez, Oscar
(1940) Costa Rican politician, president 1986-90 and from 2006, and secretary general of the left-wing National Liberation Party (PLN) from 1979. He advocated a neutralist policy and in 1987 was the...

Aribert (or Heribert)
(died 1045) Archbishop of Milan 1018-45. He was one of the leaders of the Ghibelline party (see Guelph and Ghibelline), and in 1026 crowned the emperor Conrad II as king of Milan. ...

Aricia
Ancient town of Latium, on the Appian Way, 26 km/16 mi southeast of Rome, and beside the Lacus Nemorensis (modern Lago di Nemi, `Lake Nemi`). In 388 BC it was subdued by...

Ariel
Term signifying `lion of God` or `altar of God`; in the book of Isaiah, in the Bible, it is applied to Jerusalem. In later Jewish times the name is given to a water spirit. One of the fallen...

arielism
Set of ideas rejecting North American materialism, inspired by Uruguayan writer José Enrique Rodó (1871-1917) in his short essay `Ariel` (1900). Written after Spain's humiliating defeat in...

Arikara
Member of an American Indian people who inhabited Nebraska before migrating north to the Missouri River, in North Dakota, in the 18th century. They are an offshoot of the Pawnee of Nebraska, with...

Arion
(lived 7th century BC) Greek writer, reputedly the first to introduce choral works known as dithyrambs. He returned to the court of Periander of Corinth after visiting Italy and Sicily. Legend records that he was saved...

Ariosto, Ludovico
(1474-1533) Italian poet. He wrote Latin poems and comedies on classical lines. His major work is the poem Orlando furioso (1516, published in 1532), an epic treatment of the Roland story, the perfect poetic...

Ariovistus
German chieftain who crossed the Rhine in 71 BC to help the Arverni and Sequani during their struggle with the Aedui for supremacy in Gaul. However, tempted by the rich farmlands of Alsace, he...

Aristagoras
(died 497 BC) Tyrant of the ancient Greek city of Miletus in southwestern Asia Minor. He incited a revolt of the Ionian Greeks against the Persians 499 BC, involving Athens in the conflict, which led to the...

Aristide, Jean-Bertrand
(1953) President of Haiti 1990-91, 1994-95, and 2001-04. A left-wing Catholic priest opposed to the right-wing regime of the Duvalier family, he relinquished his priesthood in 1994 to c ...

Aristides
(c. 530-468 BC) Athenian politician. He was one of the ten Athenian generals at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and was elected chief archon, or magistrate. Later he came into conflict with the democratic leader...

aristocracy
Social elite or system of political power associated with landed wealth, as in Western Europe; with monetary wealth, as in Carthage and Venice; or with religious superiority, as were the Brahmans in...

Aristodemus
(died 724 BC) Semi-legendary king of Messenia, in the southwestern Peloponnese. During the first Messenian War he sacrificed his daughter in fulfilment of a vow, for the safety of his people. His efforts proved...

Aristogeiton
(lived 6th century BC) Athenian who conspired with Harmodius to murder the tyrants Hippias and Hipparchus. A homosexual lovers' quarrel seems to have lain behind it. ...

Aristomenes
Hero of the second Messenian War. Like that of Aristodemus, his story belongs to legend rather than to history. After some success he was taken prisoner and condemned to death, but escaped and...

Aristonicus
(died 128 BC) Illegitimate son of Eumenes II of Pergamum. On the death of Attalus III of Pergamum 133 BC, Aristonicus claimed the throne. Having defeated the Roman consul Publius Licinius Crassus 131, he was...

Aristophanes
(c. 445-c. 380 BC) Greek comedy dramatist. Of his 11 extant plays (of a total of over 40), the early comedies are remarkable for the violent satire with which he ridiculed the democratic war leaders. He also satirized...

Aristophanes of Byzantium
(c. 257-c. 183 BC) Greek scholar. His works included editions of Homer and other poets, and his arguments to the plays of Aristophanes and the tragedians are largely preserved. He also did valuable work as a...

Aristotelianism
Tradition of ways of thinking based originally on Aristotle's writings. Aristotelianism was...

Aristotle
(384-322 BC) Greek philosopher who advocated reason and moderation. He maintained that sense experience is our only source of knowledge, and that by reasoning we can discover the essences of things, that is,...

Arjan
(1563-1606) Indian religious leader, fifth guru (teacher) of Sikhism 1581-1606. He built the Golden Temple in Amritsar and compiled the hymns of the four preceding gurus, and his own, in the Adi Granth, the...

Arjuna
Indian prince, one of the two main characters in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. ...

Ark of the Covenant
In the Old Testament, the chest that contained the Tablets of the Law as given to Moses. The holy ark is now the cupboard or enclosure in a synagogue in which...

Ark Royal, HMS
British seaplane carrier of World War I, the first ship ever to be built specifically for carrying aircraft, and used mainly in the Dardanelles campaign 1915-16. The Ark Royal had the engines aft...

Arkwright, Richard
(1732-1792) English inventor and manufacturing pioneer who in 1768 developed a machine for spinning cotton (he called it a `water frame`). In 1771 he set up a water-powered spinning factory and in 1790 he...

Arlen, Michael
(1895-1956) Bulgarian writer of Armenian descent. He became a naturalized British subject 1922. His best-selling novel, The Green Hat (1924), reflected the stylishly irresponsible spirit of the 1920s. His...

Arlington Court
19th-century neo-Grecian house in Devon, England, 11 km/7 mi northeast of Barnstaple. It was built for John Chichester, whose family owned the estate from the 14th century. The house was...

Arliss, George
(1868-1946) English stage and film actor. A versatile actor who specialized in suave villains, he was seen in plays by Ibsen, Arthur Pinero, and Shakespeare, though his greatest success was in William Archer's...

Arlott, (Leslie Thomas) John
(1914-1991) English writer and broadcaster. He gained popularity as a cricket commentator for the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), particularly in partnership with Brian Johnston on Radio 3's Test Match...