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

Miller, Webb
(1892-1940) US journalist and foreign correspondent. His reports from Mexico during the Pancho Villa crisis helped land him, in 1916, a lifelong job with the United Press. A World War I correspondent, he became...

Miller, William
(1810-1872) Scottish poet. He is remembered for his poem `Wee Willie Winkie` which, with others of his Scottish Nursery Songs 1863, led him to be called the laureate of the nursery. ...

Miller, William Hallowes
(1782-1849) US religious leader. Ordained as a Baptist minister 1833, Miller predicted that the Second Advent would occur 1844. Many of his followers sold their property in expectation of the end of the world....

Millerand, Alexandre
(1859-1943) French prime minister in 1920 and president 1920-24. He formed a coalition government, the Bloc National, and supported Poland against the Russian invasion in 1920. He faced opposition from the...

Milles, Vilhelm Carl Emil
(1875-1955) Swedish-born US sculptor. His public commissions, executed in a range of styles, include the Peace Monument 1936 in St Paul, Minnesota, inspired by Pre-Columbian art; and The Meeting of the...

Millet, Francis (Davis)
(1846-1912) US painter and writer. He was a war correspondent for several periodicals during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. He painted historical genre scenes in the Philippines in 1899. With Poultney...

Millet, Jean François
(1814-1875) French artist. A leading member of the Barbizon School, he painted scenes of peasant life and landscapes. The Angelus (1859; Musée d'Orsay, Paris) and The Gleaners (1857; Louvre, Paris) were widely...

Milligan, Spike
(1918-2002) Indian-born English writer and radio and screen comedian. He rose to fame as a member of radio's comic team on The Goon Show (1949-60), in collaboration with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and...

Milliken, William
(1922) US politician. The Republican lieutenant governor (1964-69), he succeeded George Romney as governor of Michigan (1969-83), increasing state funding for education and social welfare programs. A...

Millikin, Eugene D(onald)
(1891-1958) US politician. He practised law in Denver, Colorado, before he was appointed and then elected to the US Senate as a Republican representative of Colorado (1941-57). Politically unknown before his...

Mills bomb
Standard British hand grenade from World War I until its withdrawal in the 1960s. The Mills bomb consisted of a cast-iron body filled with explosive and a central tube into which a detonator,...

Mills, Barbara Jean Lyon
(1940) English lawyer. She was director of the Serious Fraud Office 1990-92, and in 1992 became the first woman to head the Department of Public Prosecutions; at the time its activities were under...

Mills, Robert
(1781-1855) US architect. The USA's first native-born professional architect, Mills designed the Washington Monument, Washington, DC (1848-84) and his humane and enlightened designs for hospitals were used...

Mills, Roger Quarles
(1832-1911) US representative and senator. Mills became a Confederate Army Colonel, serving in the US House of Representatives (Democrat, Texas; 1873-92) and chairing the Committee on Ways and Means. He left...

Mills, Wilbur (Daigh)
(1909-1992) US representative. He chaired the powerful Committee on Ways and Means (1957-73) and the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue before personal scandal forced him to resign. Born in Kensett,...

Milne Bay, Battle of
In World War II, Australian victory over the Japanese on the island of New Guinea in August 1942, the first time Allied troops defeated a Japanese attack. Milne Bay is on the extreme eastern tip of...

Milne, A(lan) A(lexander)
(1882-1956) English writer. He is best known as the author of Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928), based on the teddy bear and other toys of his son Christopher Robin, with...

Milner, Alfred, 1st Viscount Milner
(1854-1925) British colonial administrator. As governor of Cape Colony 1897-1901, he negotiated with Kruger but did little to prevent the second South African War (Boer War); as governor of the Transvaal and...

Milner, Frederick George Milner
(1849-1931) British politician and reformer, remembered as the champion of the ordinary soldier after World War I. Chiefly through his efforts the administration of pensions was transferred from the...

Milner, Moses Embree
(1829-1876) US frontier figure and scout. Milner went west in 1849 and served in the Civil War. He was a scout for General George Custer (1868), Colonel Dodge (1875), and the Fifth Cavalry (1876). Known as an...

Milo (or Milon)
(lived 6th century BC) Greek athlete, born at Croton in Calabria. Famous for his enormous strength, he was six times victor in wrestling at the Olympic Games. Milo also won victories at the Pythian games. According to...

Milo, Titus Annius Papinianus
(died 48 BC) Roman politician. He opposed Julius Caesar and supported the orator Cicero. Milo and his archenemy Publius Clodius organized paramilitary political gangs, which led to frequent brawls and...

Miloševic, Slobodan
(1941-2006) Serbian communist-nationalist politician; president of Serbia 1989-97, and president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1997-2000. Leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia from 1986, he...

Miltiades, the Younger
(c. 550-489 BC) Athenian general, ruler of part of Thrace near the Hellespont. He was largely responsible for defeating the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC. He was the father of Cimon. ...

Milton, John
(1608-1674) English poet and prose writer. His epic Paradise Lost (1667) is one of the landmarks of English literature. Early poems, including Comus (a masque performed in 1634) and Lycidas (an elegy, 1638),...

Milyukov, Pavel Nikolaevich
(1859-1943) Russian politician. He was leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party and between 1907 and 1917 was a member of the state ...

Milyutin, Dimitri Alekseevich
(1816-1912) Russian minister of war 1861-81. He reorganized the military administration and introduced universal military service in 1874. ...

mime
Type of acting in which gestures, movements, and facial expressions replace speech. It has developed as a form of theatre, particularly in France, where Marcel Marceau and Jean Louis Barrault have...

Mimir
In Scandinavian mythology, the god (or perhaps giant) who guards the fountain of memory and wisdom beneath the world tree Yggdrasil. ...

Mimnermus
(lived 7th century BC) Greek elegiac poet, a native of Colophon in Ionia. He was the first to use elegiac verse (see elegy) as a vehicle of mourning and erotic feeling. The surviving fragments of his work deal with love,...

Min
Early Egyptian god of fertility, depicted with an erect penis and his right arm raised holding a whip. His most important festival was at the beginning of harvest. The lettuce was sacred to him. ...

Minamoto
Ancient Japanese clan, the members of which were the first ruling shoguns 1192-1219. Their government was based in Kamakura, near present-day Tokyo. After the death of the first shogun, Minamoto...

Minangkabau
An Indonesian people of western Sumatra. In addition to approximately 3 million Minangkabau in western Sumatra, there are sizeable communities in the major Indonesian cities. The Minangkabau...

minaret
Slender turret or tower attached to a Muslim mosque or to buildings designed in that style. It has one or more balconies, from which the muezzin calls the people to prayer five times a day. See also...

minbar
In Islamic architecture, a high platform in a mosque from which Friday prayers are read, lying adjacent to the mihrab. ...

mind
In philosophy, the presumed mental or physical being or faculty that enables a person to think, will, and feel; the seat of the intelligence and of memory; sometimes only the cognitive or...

mind-body problem
A central problem in philosophy, concerning what mind is and how it relates to the body. Answers range from idealist views that only the mind is real to materialist views that the body alone is real...

Minden, Battle of
During the Seven Years' War, French defeat by a combined British-Hanoverian army on 1 August 1759 at Minden, 70 km/44 mi west of Hannover, Germany. Due to mismanagement of the Allied cavalry, the...

Mindszenty, József
(1892-1975) Roman Catholic primate of Hungary. He was imprisoned by the communist government in 1949, but escaped in 1956 to take refuge in the US legation. The pope persuaded him to go into exile in Austria in...

mine
Explosive charge on land or sea, or in the atmosphere, designed to be detonated by contact, vibration (for example, from an enemy engine), magnetic influence, or a timing device. Countermeasures...

Mine Creek, Battle of
In the American Civil War, battle fought at Mine Creek, Kansas, on 25 October 1864. It was a decisive victory for the Union and the last major Civil War battle fought in the west. Nearly 7,000...

minefield
Area where mines have been planted to trap an unwary enemy or prevent them from crossing or gaining access to the area, both at sea or on land. ...

minenwerfer
German trench warfare weapon of World War I, the fore-runner of the trench mortar. The original minenwerfers were complex short-range breech-loading howitzers, but these were gradually...

miners' strike
British strike against pit closures that lasted almost a year from April 1984. The prime minister Margaret Thatcher was determined to make a stand against the miners and in April 1995 members of the...

Minerva
In Roman mythology, the goddess of wisdom and war, and of handicrafts and the arts, equivalent to the Greek Athena. From the earliest days of ancient Rome, there was a temple to her on the...

Mines Act
Legislation regulating working conditions and safety standards for coalminers in Britain from 1842. After the nationalization of the coal industry in 1946, the National Coal Board was responsible...

minesweeper
Small naval vessel for locating and destroying mines at sea. A typical minesweeper weighs about 725 tonnes, and is built of reinforced plastic (immune to magnetic and acoustic mines)....

Mineta, Norman
(1931) US politician and public servant, secretary of transportation 2001-2006, under Republican president George W Bush. Previously secretary of commerce 2000-01 under the Democratic president Bill...

Ming dynasty
(lived 14th-17th centuries) Chinese dynasty 1368-1644, based in Nanjing. During the rule 1402-24 of Yongle (or Yung-lo), there was territorial expansion into Mongolia and Yunnan in the southwest. The administrative...

Minghetti, Marco
(1818-1886) Italian prime minister in 1863-64 and 1873-76. As successor to Count Camillo Cavour, he concluded the September Convention with Napoleon III in 1864. From 1873 he was prime minister of the last...

Mingo
Subgroup of either of two related Iroquoian-speaking American Indian peoples: the Erie and the Susequehannock. ...

miniature painting
Painting on a very small scale, notably early manuscript illumination, and later miniature portraits, sometimes set in jewelled cases, and Islamic paintings. Hans Holbein the Younger introduced...

minimum lending rate
In the UK, the rate of interest at which the Bank of England lends to the money market. See also bank rate. ...

minimum wage
Minimum level of pay for workers, usually set by government. In the UK, minimum pay for many groups of workers has been fixed by wages councils. Minimum wages are set to prevent low-paid workers...

Minin, Kuz'ma
(died 1616) Russian patriot. He organized a volunteer army, commanded by Prince Pozharsky, which expelled the Poles from Moscow in 1612. ...

mining
In warfare, military term meaning to drive a tunnel beneath an enemy position. The end of the tunnel is filled with explosives which are then detonated so as to destroy the...

Minoan art
Art of a Bronze Age civilization that flourished on the Mediterranean island of Crete from about 3000 BC to 1000 BC. The term originates from the legendary King Minos, ruler of Crete in Greek...

Minoan civilization
Bronze Age civilization on the Aegean island of Crete. The name is derived from Minos, the legendary king of Crete. The civilization is divided into three main periods: early Minoan, about...

Minoan religion
Religion of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. Its focus was the worship of the goddess in many different forms, though that of the snake goddess is most common. Minoan religion...

minor
Legal term for those under the age of majority, which varies from country to country but is usually between 18 and 21. In the USA (from 1971 for voting, and in some states for nearly all other...

minority interest
In finance, an item in the consolidated accounts of a holding company that represents the value of any shares in its subsidiaries that it does not itself own. ...

Minos
In Greek mythology, a king of Crete, who demanded a yearly tribute of seven youths and seven girls from Athens for the Minotaur, the offspring of his wife Pasiphaë and a bull. After his death, he...

Minot, Laurence
(c. 1300-1352) English poet. He wrote 11 songs celebrating the triumphs of Edward III which are written in the Northumbrian dialect, with a sprinkling of Midland forms. They were first published 1795 under the...

Minotaur
In Greek mythology, a monster with a man's body and bull's head, offspring of Pasiphaë, wife of King Minos of Crete, and a bull sent by Poseidon. It was housed in a Labyrinth designed by Daedalus...

Minow, Newton (Norman)
(1926) US lawyer and communications executive. Minow gained unexpected publicity by attacking the quality of television broadcasting and threatening to revoke broadcast licenses based on programm ...

Minqua
Subgroup of either of two Iroquoian-speaking American Indian peoples: the Erie and the Susequehannock. ...

minster
In the UK, a church formerly attached to a monastery or forming part of it. Originally the term meant a monastery, and in this sense it is often preserved in place...

Minster in Sheppey
Town and resort on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England; population (2001) 8,400. The town has one of England's oldest existing places of worship, the Church of St Mary and St...

minstrel
Professional entertainer of any kind, but particularly a musician, in the 12th-17th centuries. Most common in the Middle Ages, minstrels were usually in...

minstrel show
Form of entertainment in which performers, some with blackened faces, sing, dance, and tell jokes. Minstrel shows were popular in the USA about 1850-1930 and later in the UK. They date from the...

mint
In economics, a place where coins are made under government authority. In Britain, the official mint is the Royal Mint; the US equivalent is the Bureau of the Mint. The UK Royal Mint also...

Minto, Gilbert Elliot
(1751-1814) Scottish politician governor general of India 1807-13. He was a Whig, an associate of Edmund Burke, and took part in the impeachment for corruption of the colonial administrator Warren Hastings in...

Mintoff, Dom(inic)
(1916) Maltese Labour politician; prime minister of Malta 1955-58 and 1971-84. He negotiated the removal of British and other foreign military bases 1971-79 and made treaties with Libya. ...

Minton, Sherman
(1890-1965) US Supreme Court justice. As a US senator (Democrat, Indiana; 1935), he promoted New Deal legislation and rose to assistant majority whip. He became a judge on the US Circuit Court of Appeals...

Minton, Thomas
(1765-1836) English potter. After an apprenticeship as an engraver for transfer printing at Caughley and working for the potter Josiah Spode, he established himself at Stoke-on-Trent as an engraver of...

Minuteman
In weaponry, a US three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of about 8,000 km/5,000 mi. In US history the term was applied to members of the citizens' militia in the...

Minyae
A legendary Greek people originating in Thessaly, from where their ancestor Minyas migrated to Boeotia and founded the empire of the Minyae with its capital at Orchomenus. They were also believed to...

minyan
In Judaism, the ten adult Jewish men required for public prayer to take place, either in a synagogue or temple, or in the home, as in the ceremony of brit milah (ritual circumcision) performed on a...

mir
In Russia before the 1917 Revolution, a self-governing village community in which the peasants distributed land and collected taxes. ...

miracle play
Another name for mystery play. ...

Miranda v. Arizona
US Supreme Court decision of 1966 dealing with the admission into a trial of evidence obtained from suspects who are unaware of their rights. The petitioner, Ernesto Miranda, was convicted of...

Mirandola
Italian 15th-century philosopher. See Pico della Mirandola. ...

Mirbeau, Octave Henri Marie
(1850-1917) French writer. Among his better-known novels, naturalistic in style, are Le Calvaire 1887, Le Jardin des supplices 1899, Le Journal d'une femme de chambre 1900, Les Vingt-et-un jours d'un...

Miró, Gabriel
(1879-1930) Spanish novelist. He produced numerous novels, including Las cerezas del cementerio/The Cherries of the Graveyard 1910, El abuelo del rey/The King's Grandfather 1917, and El humo dormido/The...

Miró, Joan
(1893-1983) Spanish painter and sculptor, a major figure in surrealism. In the mid-1920s he developed an abstract style, lyrical and often witty, with amoeba shapes, some linear, some highly coloured,...

Miron, Gaston
(1928-1996) Canadian poet. His mature work was both emotional and political, advocating separatism for Québec, his native province. The volume L'Homme rapaille (1970) contains both poems and essays celebrating...

Mirrlees, Hope
(1887-1978) British writer whose fantasy novel Lud-in-the-Mist 1926 contrasts the supernatural with the real world. ...

Mirrlees, James A
(1936) Scottish economist who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1996, with Canadian-born US economist William Vickrey, for fundamental contributions to the theory of optimal taxation in conditions of...

MIRV
Abbreviation for multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle, used in nuclear warfare. ...

misdemeanour
In US law, an offence less serious than a felony. A misdemeanour is an offence punishable by a relatively insevere penalty, such as a fine or short term in prison or a term of community service,...

Misérables, Les
Novel by Victor Hugo, published in France in 1862. On release from prison, Jean Valjean attempts to hide his past by assuming a series of false identities. He cares for a young girl, Cosette, who...

Miserere
In music, title of a work using the text of Psalm 51, Miserere mei, Deus .. (Latin `have mercy upon me, O God ...`). It is sung (often in plainsong) during the Roman Catholic office (or...

misericord
In church architecture, a projection on the underside of a hinged seat of the choir stalls, used as a rest for a priest when standing during long services. Misericords are...

Mishich, Zivoyin
(1855-1921) Serbian field marshal. He fought in the Serbo-Turkish wars and the war against Bulgaria 1885-86, and was chief of the general staff during the Balkan Wars 1912-13. In World War I he commanded...

Mishima, Yukio
(1925-1970) Japanese novelist. His work often deals with sexual desire and perversion, as in Confessions of a Mask (1949) and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956). He committed hara-kiri (ritual suicide)...

Mishnah
Collection of commentaries on written Hebrew law, consisting of discussions between rabbis, handed down orally from their inception in AD 70 until about 200 when they were committed to writing. The...

Miskito
An American Indian people of Central America, living mainly in the area of Central America that is now Nicaragua. ...

misrepresentation
In law, an untrue statement of fact, made in the course of negotiating a contract, that induces one party to enter into the contract. The remedies available for misrepresentation depend on whe ...

Miss Manners
US authority on etiquette; see Judith Martin. ...

missal
In the Roman Catholic Church, a service book containing the complete office of Mass for the entire year. A simplified missal in the vernacular was introduced in 1969 (obligatory from 1971): the...