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

Mukhtar, Said Omar al-
(1862-1931) Libyan resistance leader. A loyal representative of the Sanusiya order, he came to symbolize the resistance to, and the struggle against, Italian occupation. He led the insurrection in the Jabal...

Mulberry Harbour
Prefabricated floating harbour, used on D-day in World War II, to assist in the assault on the German-held French coast of Normandy. Two were built in the UK and floated...

Muldoon, Paul
(1951) Northern Irish-born US poet. His poetry collection Moy Sand and Gravel (2002) won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He w ...

Muldoon, Robert David
(1921-1992) New Zealand National Party right-of-centre politician, prime minister 1975-84. He pursued austere economic policies such as a wage-and-price policy to control inflation, sought to...

Mulford, Clarence Edward
(1883-1956) US writer. He published around 30 books, all about cowboys and life in the American West, of which he made a careful study. His lame, intrepid two-gun hero Hopalong Cassidy was enormously popular...

Mulholland, William
(1855-1935) Irish-born civil engineer. Between 1886 and 1928 he designed and built the water system that supplies Los Angeles, including the 500-mile long aqueduct from them Sierra Nevada to Los Angeles...

mullah
A teacher, scholar, or religious leader of Islam. It is also a title of respect given to various other dignitaries who perform duties connected with the sacred law. ...

Mullett, Alfred B(ult)
(1834-1890) English-born architect. Mullett was supervising architect of the Treasury Department (1866-74) and designed the State, War and Navy Building (1871-88), now the Old Executive Office Building....

mullion
In architecture, a vertical post or shaft dividing the general aperture of a window into secondary openings, which are again frequently subdivided horizontally by similar shafts crossing the...

Mulock
Unmarried name of English novelist Dinah Craik. ...

Mulready, William
(1786-1863) Irish painter and illustrator, active in England. He depicted sentimental rural scenes, his late style anticipating the bright, clear colours of the Pre-Raphaelites. In 1840 he designed the first...

Mulroney, Brian
(1939) Canadian politician, Progressive Conservative Party leader 1983-93, prime minister 1984-93. He achieved a landslide victory in the 1984 election, and won the 1988 election on a platform of free...

Multatuli
Pseudonym of Dutch writer Eduard Dekker. ...

multidimensional
In the visual arts, describing works that make use of all dimensions of space. Examples of multidimensional art include Installation art and kinetic art. The term multidimensional also refers to the...

multilateralism
Trade among more than two countries without discrimination over origin or destination and regardless of whether a large trade gap is involved. Unlike ...

multinational corporation
Company or enterprise operating in several countries, usually defined as one that has 25% or more of its output capacity located outside its country of origin. The world's four largest...

multiplier
In economics, the theoretical concept, formulated by John Maynard Keynes, of the effect on national income or employment by an adjustment in overall demand. For example, investment by a company in a...

Multscher, Hans
(1400-1467) German painter and sculptor. He worked in Ulm producing carved and painted altarpieces. His principal work is the Wurzach Altarpiece, 1437 (Berlin), the Nativity which shows a dramatic use of a...

Mulungu
Supreme creator god of several eastern African peoples, and as such closely associated with their ancestors. ...

Muluzi, Bakili
(1943) Malawi politician, president from 1994. Muluzi formed the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1992 when President Banda agreed to end one-party rule, and went on to win almost half of the...

Mumford, L(awrence) Quincy
(1903-1982) US librarian. The first professionally trained Librarian of Congress (1954-74), he oversaw completion of the Library's James Madison Memorial Building and greatly expanded its foreign procurement...

Mumford, Lewis
(1895-1990) US urban planner and social critic, concerned with the adverse effect of technology on contemporary society. His books, including Technics and Civilization 1934 and The Culture of Cities 1938,...

mummers' play
British folk drama enacted in dumb show by a masked cast, performed on Christmas Day to celebrate the death of the old year and its rebirth as the new year. The plot usually consists of a duel...

mumming
In medieval Europe, the custom of groups of masked and disguised figures processing through the streets and entering people's houses. During the winter festivals, they went from house to house and...

Mummius, Lucius
(lived 2nd century BC) Roman general. As consul in 146 BC he ended the war with the Achaean League by the capture and destruction of Corinth (for which he received the cognomen Achaicus). He was responsible for shipping...

Mun, Thomas
(1571-1641) English writer on political economy and member of the committee of the East India Company. His works include A Discourse of Trade from England unto the West Indies (1621) and England's Treasure by...

Munch, Edvard
(1863-1944) Norwegian painter and graphic artist, a major influence on expressionism. His highly charged paintings, characterized by strong colours and distorted forms, often focus on intense emotional states,...

Munda
Any one of several groups living in northeastern and central India, numbering about 5 million (1983). Their most widely spoken languages are Santali and Mundari, languages of the Munda group, an...

Munday (or Mundy), Anthony
(1553-1633) English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. In 1605 he was appointed chief pageant writer for the City of London, and is best remembered for these entertainments. There are 18 plays ascribed to...

Munday, Richard
(c. 1685-1739) Builder and architect. He helped transform Newport, Rhode Island, into an elegant, modern town in the 1720s and 1730s with buildings influenced by Christopher Wren - Trinity Church (1725-26) and...

Mundelein, George (William)
(1872-1939) US Catholic prelate. In 1915 he was appointed archbishop of Chicago, becoming a cardinal in 1924. He was a vigorous advocate of Catholic interests and had close ties to...

Mundell, Robert A
(1932) Canadian economist who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1999 for his analysis of the optimum currency area and his work on the scope of monetary and fiscal policy under different exchange...

Munden, Joseph Shepherd
(1758-1832) English actor. He had a great gift for facial expression and caricature, and was the leading comedian in London from 1790 until about 1811. He was at Covent Garden for over 20 years before going to...

Mungo, St
Another name for St Kentigern, first bishop of Glasgow. ...

Muni, Paul
(1895-1967) Austrian-born stage and film actor. A superb character actor, he won two Academy Awards, one in 1936 for The Story of Louis Pasteur. Born in Lemberg, Austria (now Lviv, Ukraine), he debuted in...

Munich Agreement
Pact signed on 29 September 1938 by the leaders of the UK (Neville Chamberlain), France (Edouard Daladier), Germany (Adolf Hitler), and Italy (Benito Mussolini), under which Czechoslovakia was...

Municipal Corporations Act
English act of Parliament (1835) that laid the foundations of modern local government. The act made local government responsible to a wider electorate of ratepayers through elected councils....

municipia
Official Roman status, below the rank of colonia, granted to a provincial town as the first stage of full romanization. Its members were not full Roman citizens, unless they had been a magistrate or...

Munk, Kaj
(1898-1944) Danish dramatist. His plays include En Idealist/Herod the King 1928 and Ordet/The Word 1932, both religious works;Cant 1931, a verse drama about Anne Boleyn;Han sidder ved smeltediglen/He Sits at...

Munnings, Alfred James
(1878-1959) English painter. He excelled in racing and hunting scenes, and painted realistic everyday scenes featuring horses, such as horsefairs or horses grazing. Epsom Downs is a notable example. As...

Muñoz Marín, Luis
(1898-1980) Journalist and commonwealth governor. He brought New Deal funding to Puerto Rico as a Liberal Party member of the Puerto Rican senate (1932-38). After founding the Popular Democratic Party in...

Munro, Alice Ann
(1931) Canadian short-story writer. Her first collection of short stories, Dance of the Happy Shades (1964), won wide critical acclaim. This and later collections - such as Something I've Been Meaning...

Munro, H(ector) H(ugh)
British author who wrote under the pen-name Saki. ...

Munro, Neil
(1864-1930) Scottish novelist, poet, and journalist. He wrote The Lost Pibroch 1896, a collection of Celtic tales, followed by a number of historical novels, including John Splendid 1898, Gilian the Dreamer...

Munro, Thomas
(1761-1827) Scottish soldier and governor of Madras (now Chennai), India, 1819-26, a post which he held with marked success. As lieutenant colonel he served Gen Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington) in...

Munster plantation
In Irish history, a major confiscation of native Irish lands in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford by the English crown in 1586, following the death in rebellion of Gerald Fitzgerald,...

Munsterberg, Hugo
(1916) German-born art historian. His many books on Japanese, Chinese, and Indian art range from landscape painting to ceramics, folk art, and modern art. Born in Berlin, Germany, he emigrated to the USA...

Munternia
Romanian name of Wallachia, a former province of Romania. ...

Munthe, Axel Martin Fredrik
(1857-1949) Swedish author and doctor. The Story of San Michele 1929, one of the most remarkable best-selling books of memoirs, was originally written in English and translated into 44 languages. In The Story...

Murad I (or Amurath I)
(1319-1389) Sultan of Turkey from 1359. He began the Turkish conquests in Europe and established his kingdom as far as Sofia (Bulgaria). He was succeeded by his son Bajazet I. ...

Murad II (or Amurath II)
(c. 1403-1451) Sultan of Turkey 1421-51. He defeated the Hungarians at Varna in 1444 and at Kosovo in 1448. ...

Murad III (or Amurath III)
(1546-1595) Sultan of Turkey 1574-95. He conquered parts of Persia. ...

Murad IV (or Amurath IV)
(1609-1640) Sultan of Turkey 1623-40. He fought against Poland and Persia and was notorious for his extreme cruelty. ...

Murad V (or Amurath V)
(1840-1904) Sultan of Turkey in 1876. He became sultan in May, but was declared insane and replaced by his brother Abd al-Hamid II in August. ...

murage
Medieval tax for the upkeep of a town's defensive walls and gates. ...

Murakami, Haruki
(1949) Japanese novelist and translator. He is one of Japan's best-selling writers, influenced by 20th-century US writers and popular culture. His dreamy, gently surrealist novels include A Wild Sheep...

mural painting
Decoration of the wall designed for a specific site and incorporated into the architecture; unlike an easel painting, a mural's composition is influenced by its surroundings. Traditionally painted...

Muralist
In Mexican art, one of a group of mural painters active mainly in and around Mexico City in the early 20th century. The principal Muralists were Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro...

Murasaki, Shikibu
(c. 978-c. 1015) Japanese writer. She was a lady at the court. Her masterpiece of fiction, The Tale of Genji (c. 1010), is one of the classic works of J ...

Murat, Joachim
(1767-1815) King of Naples 1808-15. An officer in the French army, he was made king by Napoleon, but deserted him in 1813 in the vain hope that Austria and Great Britain would recognize him. In 1815 he...

Muratori, Lodovico Antonio
(1672-1750) Italian scholar, antiquary, and historian. His three chief works are Rerum italicarum scriptores 1723-51, dealing with the sources of medieval Italian history;Antiquitates italicae medii aevi...

Muraviev, Mikhail Nikolaevich
(1796-1866) Russian administrator. He was a strong opponent of Tsar Alexander II's reforms. From 1863 to 1865 he was governor general in Vilna; he ruthlessly suppressed the Polish rising of 1863. ...

Murayama, Tomiichi
(1924) Japanese trade unionist and politician, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDPJ) 1993-96, prime minister 1994-96. At the age of 70, Murayama, who had held no previous political office,...

Murdani (or Moerdioni), `Benny`
(1932) Indonesian soldier and politician, head of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the intelligence branch of the Indonesia Armed Forces (ABRI). Murdani was a hero in the war for...

murder
Unlawful killing of one person by another. In the USA, first-degree murder requires proof of premeditation; second-degree murder falls between first-degree murder and manslaughter. In British...

Murders in the Rue Morgue, The
Tale by the US writer Edgar Allan Poe published...

Murdoch, (Keith) Rupert
(1931) Australian-born US media magnate, founder and head of News Corporation, formed in 1979, with worldwide interests. In the USA, his company owns 20th Century Fox film studios (from 1985), and Fox...

Murdock, George Peter
(1897-1985) US cultural anthropologist. Working out of the mainstream of the Boasian tradition of his time, he initiated the cross-cultural survey, later known as `human relations area files`, as an...

Murfreesboro, Battle of
Indecisive battle during the American Civil War 31 December 1862-2 January 1863, outside the town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 51 km/32 mi southeast of Nashville. Both sides lost about 12,000...

Murger, (Louis) Henri
(1822-1861) French writer. In 1848 he published Scènes de la vie de bohème/Scenes of Bohemian Life which formed the basis of Puccini's opera La Bohème. Other works are Scènes de la vie de jeunesse/Scenes of...

Murieta or Murrieta, Joaquín
(died c. 1853) US bandit. Murieta's birthplace is unknown and there were almost certainly several individuals known by this name. A California state law (1850) prohibited Californians of Mexican descent from...

Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban
(c. 1618-1682) Spanish painter. Active mainly in Seville, he painted sentimental pictures of the Immaculate Conception, and also specialized in studies of street urchins. His Self-Portrait (c. 1672; National...

Murmansk
Seaport and capital of the Murmansk oblast (region) located 1000 km/624 mi north of St Petersburg on the Kola Peninsula in the northwest of the Russian Federation; population (2002) 336,100....

Murmansk expedition
British, French, and US expedition to northern Russia 1918-19 to protect the Murmansk-Petrograd railway line from Finland which was then an ally of Germany. The expedition was also to occupy...

Murner, Thomas
(1475-1537) German satirist. A Franciscan friar, he developed a reputation for biting satire, with works like his Die Narrenbeschweerung/Fools' Exorcism (1512). Though he was critical of corruption within the...

Muromachi
In Japanese history, the period 1392-1568, comprising the greater part of the rule of the Ashikaga shoguns; it is named after the area of Kyoto where their headquarters were sited. ...

Murphy, Dervla Mary
(1931) Irish travel writer. Her books include Tibetan Foothold (1966), In Ethiopia with a Mule (1968), Eight Feet in the Andes (1983), South from the Limpopo (1997), A Woman's World: True Stories of Life...

Murphy, Frank
(1890-1949) US Supreme Court justice. His diverse political career included posts as mayor of Detroit (1930), as governor general then high commissioner of the Philippines (1933-35), and as US attorney...

Murphy, Gerald (Clery)
(1888-1964) US painter, businessman, and patron. A wealthy painter, he lived near New York and in France (c. 1921), and took over his father's firm, the Mark Cross Company, New York (1931). A patron of the...

Murphy, Patrick V(incent)
(1920) US police commissioner and foundation head. Born the son of a New York City police officer, in New York, New York, he rose through the ranks of the New York City Police Department to deputy chief...

Murphy, Paul Peter
(1948) British Labour politician, Northern Ireland secretary 2002-05. He became MP for Torfaen, in Wales, in 1987 and was Welsh secretary 1999-2002. Previously, he had been a minister of state at the...

Murphy, Richard
(1927) Irish writer and eclectic poet, whose work reflects a well-travelled life. Born at Milford House, County Mayo, he lived in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) as a child, where his father worked in the...

Murphy, Robert D(aniel)
(1894-1978) US diplomat and business executive. His long diplomatic career began in 1920. He helped to negotiate with Vichy France (1940) and was ambassador to Belgium (1949-52) and Japan (1952). He was...

Murphy, Timothy
(1751-1818) US soldier. A legendary Continental Army sharpshooter, he enlisted in June 1775 and fought at Boston and in the New Jersey campaign, served with General Daniel Morgan in the campaign against John...

Murray
Family name of dukes of Atholl; seated at Blair Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. ...

Murray, (George) Gilbert (Aimé)
(1866-1957) Australian-born British scholar. Author of History of Ancient Greek Literature (1897), he became known for verse translations of the Greek dramatists, notably of Euripides, which rendered the...

Murray, Archibald James
(1860-1945) British general. At the start of World War I, he went to France as chief of staff but returned to the UK in October 1915 to become chief of the Imperial general staff. He was appointed to command...

Murray, Charles
(1864-1941) Scottish poet. Volumes of his verse, in Aberdeenshire dialect, include Hamewith 1900, A Sough o' War 1917, and In the Country Places 1920; they reveal a robust nostalgia which...

Murray, James Edward
(1876-1961) US senator. Ahead of his time in his advocacy of national health insurance and conservation measures, Murray served in the US Senate (Democrat, Montana; 1934-61) w ...

Murray, James Stuart
(1531-1570) Regent of Scotland from 1567, an illegitimate son of James V by Lady Margaret Erskine, daughter of the 4th Earl of Mar. He became chief adviser to his half-sister Murray, John
(1741-1815) English-born Universalist clergyman. Born in Alton, England, the son of strict Calvinist parents, he emigrated to the USA in 1770 and for two years was an itinerant evangelist preaching a...

Murray, John Courtney
(1904-1967) US Catholic theologian. A Jesuit priest with a doctorate in theology from Gregorian University in Rome (1937), he taught at a Jesuit seminary in Maryland, was religion editor of the Jesuit magazine...

Murray, Les(lie) A(llan)
(1938) Australian poet. His adventurous, verbally inventive, and deeply serious poetry has appeared in collections such as The Vernacular Republic: Poems 1961-1981 (1982), Translations from the Natural...

Murray, Philip
(1886-1952) Scottish-born labour leader. Although he was a strong proponent of labour's cooperation with the government during World War II and the Korean War, he never abandoned the struggle to improve the...

Murrhine Vases
Vessels brought from Asia to Rome by Pompey, the Roman military leader, after his victory over Mithridates VI, King of Pontus. ...

Murrow, Edward R(oscoe)
(1908-1965) US broadcast journalist. He was hired by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1935, and was named director of its European Bureau in 1937. From London he covered the events of World War II....

Murry, John Middleton
(1889-1957) English writer. His writings largely consist of literary criticism and criticism of existing social institutions, and include Aspects of Literature (1920) and Son of Woman (a study of the writer D H...

murti
In Hinduism, the form of a god in which it appears. Hindus believe that the one God, Brahman is the soul of the universe, but is beyond description and cannot be seen directly. It is easier to...

Murtopo (or Moertupo), Ali
(died 1994) Indonesian soldier and politician, a close aide of President Suharto. During the 1960s he headed OPSUS, Indonesia's intelligence agency. Subsequently he ran the political side of Indonesia's...

Musa ibn-Nusayr
(640-715) Muslim governor of Ifriqiya (Roman Africa) in 698 or 699. By 709 he had conquered North Africa. His deputy, Tariq, began a successful invasion of Spain in 710 and Musa ibn-Nusayr followed him in...