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

pantomime
In British theatre, a traditional Christmas entertainment. It has its origins in the harlequinade of the 18th century and burlesque of the 19th century, which gave rise to the tradition of the...

panzer
German mechanized units in World War II created by Heinz Guderain. A Panzer army was a mechanized unit based on a core of tanks and supported by infantry, artillery, and service troops in vehicles...

Panzerbuchse
German heavy infantry rifle designed to penetrate tanks using a 7.92 mm bullet with a special hard core. Such rifles were common pre-1939 but the rapid improvement in tanks during World War II...

Panzerfaust
In World War II, German recoilless launcher designed for anti-tank use. It consisted of a bomb made of a shaped charge of about 130 mm/5 in diameter mounted on a stem with...

Panzerkampfwagen
In World War II, German term for tanks, abbreviated to PzKw. The PzKw I was a 5-ton two-man vehicle carrying a 20 mm...

Panzerschreck
In World War II, German anti-tank rocket launcher copied from the US Bazooka. It fired an 88 mm shaped charge rocket to a maximum range of about 137 km/150 yds and could penetrate 100 mm/4 in of...

Paolozzi, Eduardo Luigi
(1924-2005) Scottish sculptor and graphic artist. He was an important figure in the pop art movement in London in the 1950s and 1960s. In his early sculptures he typically assembled bronze casts of machinery to...

Papa Doc
Nickname of François Duvalier, president of Haiti 1957-71. ...

papacy
The office of the pope, or bishop of Rome, as head of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

Papago
Alternative name for a member of the American Indian Tohono O'odham people. ...

Papagos, Alexander
(1883-1955) Greek soldier and politician. He served in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and the Graeco-Turkish War. From 1936-40 he was chief of the army general staff. He conducted Greek military operations...

papal infallibility
Doctrine formulated by the Roman Catholic Vatican Council in 1870, which stated that the pope, when speaking officially on certain doctrinal or moral matters, was protected from error by God, and...

Papal States
Area of central Italy in which the pope was temporal ruler from 756 until the unification of Italy in 1870. ...

papalism
Theory of government of the Christian church, based on the belief that the pope had received from Christ the duty and right to rule the church as a m ...

Papandreou, George
(1888-1968) Greek politician, prime minister 1944 and 1963-65. After escaping from Greece in 1942 during the German occupation, he returned in 1944 to head a coalition government. However, his socialist...

Papanek, Victor
(1926) Austrian-born designer and educator. Specializing in design appropriate to local materials and technology, his best-known book is Design for the Real World: Human Ecology...

Papen, Franz von
(1879-1969) German right-wing politician. As chancellor in 1932, he negotiated the Nazi-Conservative alliance that made Hitler chancellor in 1933. He was envoy to Austria 1934-38 and ambassador to Turkey...

paper
Thin, flexible material made in sheets from vegetable fibres (such as wood pulp) or rags and used for writing, drawing, printing, packaging, and various household needs. The n ...

Paphlagonia
Ancient district in northern Asia Minor, on the south shore of the Black Sea between Bithynia and ...

Paphos
Resort town on the southwest coast of Cyprus; population (1992 est) 32,600. It was the capital of Cyprus in Roman times and the legendary birthplace of the goddess Aphrodite, who rose out of the...

Papias
(c. 60-130) One of the Apostolic Fathers of the early Christian church. He was the bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia. He is chiefly important for three statements in the surviving fragments of his Account of the...

papier mâché
Craft technique using paper pulp or shredded paper mixed with resin or a water-based glue, such as PVA. The pasted paper can then be moulded, modelled, or built up in layers to form the required...

Papineau, Louis Joseph
(1786-1871) Canadian politician. He led a mission to England to protest against the planned union of Lower Canada (Québec) and Upper Canada (Ontario), and demanded economic reform and an elected provincial...

Papini, Giovanni
(1881-1956) Italian author. He used the pseudonym Gian Falco. He wrote numerous essays and criticism; volumes of poetry, including Cento pagine di poesia 1915, Opera prima 1917, and Pane e vino 1926; and...

Papinian, (Aemilius Papinianus)
(died 212) Roman jurist. He was Praetorian prefect under Septimius Severus in 203. He was put to death by Caracalla for declining to excuse the latter's murder of his younger brother and co-emperor Geta....

Papua New Guinea
Country in the southwest Pacific, comprising the eastern part of the island of New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and part of the Solomon Islands. Government Under the 1975 constitution, the...

Papuan
Native to or inhabitant of Papua New Guinea; speaker of any of various Papuan languages, used mainly on the island of New Guinea, although some 500 are used in New Britain,...

papyrus
Type of paper made by the ancient Egyptians. Typically papyrus was made by gluing together some 20 sheets of the pith of the papyrus or paper reed plant Cyperus papyrus, family Cyperaceae. These...

Papyrus Ebers
Ancient Egyptian medical papyrus dating from around 1534 BC. It was named after German Egyptologist Maurice Ebers who bought it from US Egyptologist Edwin Smith in 1872. At 110 pages and over 900...

Papyrus Edwin Smith
Ancient Egyptian medical papyrus produced around 1600 BC. It was named after US Egyptologist Edwin Smith who purchased it in 1862. The papyrus contains 48 case histories with instructions for...

Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus
(1493-1541) Swiss physician, alchemist, and scientist who developed the idea that minerals and chemicals might have medical uses (iatrochemistry). He introduced the use of laudanum (which he named) for...

paradise
In various religions, a place or state of happiness. Examples are the Garden of Eden and the Messianic kingdom; the Islamic paradise of the Koran is a place of sensual pleasure. ...

Paradise Lost
Epic poem in 12 books, by John Milton, first published in 1667. The poem describes the Fall of Man and the battle between God and Satan, as enacted through the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of...

Paradise Valley
Nickname for a pre-World War II slum area in Detroit, Michigan, USA, east of Woodward Avenue and northeast of Downtown. Housing almost three-quarters of the city's black American population in...

paradox
Literary device or device of rhetoric which is a statement that seems opposing or contradictory but contains an element of truth. The truth is emphasized by the unexpected form of expression. The...

Paraguay
Landlocked country in South America, bounded northeast by Brazil, south by Argentina, and northwest by Bolivia. Government The 1992 constitution provides for a president, who is head of state and...

Paral, Vladimir
(1932) Czech novelist. His novels concentrate on the depiction of everyday normality in minute detail; the few events they contain are charged with an atmosphere of inescapability. His novels and stories...

paramilitary
Uniformed, armed force found in many countries, occupying a position between the police and the military. In France such a force is called the Gendarmerie and in Germany the Federal Border Guard. In...

Parandowski, Jan
(1895-1978) Polish novelist, essayist, and translator. His novels include Niebo w plomieniach/Heaven in Flames 1936 - the story of a young man undergoing a religious crisis - and Dysk olimpijski/The Olympic...

paravane
Anti-mine device, used by the British in World War I for minesweeping. It was towed from the bows of a ship and was so designed that at a preset depth it would pull the towing...

Parcae
In Roman mythology, the three Fates; their Greek counterparts are the Morai. ...

Pardo Bazán, Emilia
(1852-1921) Spanish writer. She was the author of more than 20 novels, 600 short stories, and many articles. Los Pazos de Ulloa/The House of Ulloa 1886 and its sequel La madre naturaleza/Mother Nature 1887, set...

Paré, Ambroise
(c. 1509-1590) French surgeon who introduced modern principles to the treatment of wounds. As a military surgeon, Paré developed new ways of treating wounds and amputations, which greatly reduced the death rate...

Paredes, Américo
(1915-1999) US folklorist and educator. His work on Mexican and Mexican-American folk arts and artists includes Folktales of Mexico (1970), A Texas Mexican Cancionero (1976), and...

parental responsibility
In law, the rights, powers, authority, and duties of parents in relation to a child and the child's property. Parental responsibility may be given to a person, or people, o ...

Paretsky, Sara
(1947) US crime writer. Her series of mystery novels featuring a tough-minded feminist private detective, V I Warshawski, includes Deadlock (1984) and Bloodshot (1988). Her other works include Killing...

Pargeter, Edith
English novelist who used the pen-name Ellis Peters. ...

pargeting
Fine, relief-patterned plasterwork used for the external decoration of timber-framed buildings. Originating in the Elizabethan period, it is commonly found on 16th- and 17th-century...

Parini, Giuseppe
(1729-1799) Italian poet. He is best known for Il giorno/The Day, which appeared in four books;Il mattino/Morning 1763, Il mezzogiorno/Midday 1765, Il vespro/Evening, and La notte/Night, the last two published...

Paris
In Greek mythology, a Trojan prince whose abduction of Helen, wife of Menelaus, caused the Trojan wars. Helen had been promised to him by the goddess Aphrodite as a bribe, during his judgement...

Paris Club
International forum dating from the 1950s for the rescheduling of debts granted or guaranteed by official bilateral creditors; it has no fixed membership nor an inst ...

Paris Commune
Name given to two separate periods in the history of Paris: The Paris municipal government of 1789-94 was established after the storming of the Bastille and remained powerful in the French...

Paris Gun
Nickname for the German Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz long-range gun, commonly called the `Paris Gun` from its use to bombard Paris during March-August 1918. The gun was positioned on railway...

Paris Peace Accord 1973
Ceasefire agreement in the Vietnam War signed by the USA, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong, on 27 January 1973, in Paris, France. The accord also provided for the immediate withdrawal...

Paris Psalter
Byzantine illuminated manuscript (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris), probably dating from the 9th century AD. One of the finest Byzantine manuscripts, it contains remarkable examples of painting in...

Paris, Matthew
(c. 1200-1259) English chronicler. He entered St Albans Abbey in 1217, and wrote a valuable history of England up to 1259. ...

Paris, School of
Collectively, the various modern art movements that flourished in Paris 1900-40. Among them were fauvism, cubism, surrealism, and Orphism. ...

Paris, Siege of
During the Franco-Prussian War, Prussian siege of the city of Paris from September 1870 to January 1871; the war came to an end with the fall of Paris and the city's terms of surrender were...

Paris, Treaty of
Any of various peace treaties signed in Paris, including:1763 ending the Seven Years' War...

parish
In Britain, a subdivision of a county often coinciding with an original territorial subdivision in Christian church administration, served by a parish church. In the USA, the parish is an...

parish council
Lowest neighbourhood unit of local government in England and Wales, based on church parishes. They developed as units for local government with the introduction of the Poor Law in the 17th century....

Parish, Dorothy May
(1910-1994) US interior decorator. When the stock market crash brought an end to an early life of privilege, she started her own decorating firm in 1933. She created an unpretentious aura of upper class comfort...

Parisii
British tribe in Yorkshire. They were conquered by the Romans c.AD 70 and probably became a civitas, with their capital at Petuaria, possibly modern Brough on Humber. They were...

paritta
In Buddhism, the chanting of 29 sutras of Pali scripture by monks. The paritta accompanies many Buddhist ceremonies, such as a marriage or naming ceremony, as a blessing and healing rite. The text...

parity
In economics, equality of price, rate of exchange, wages, and buying power. Parity ratios may be used in the setting of wages to establish similar status to different work groups. Parity in...

Park Chung Hee
(1917-1979) South Korean politician, president 1963-79. Under his rule South Korea had one of the world's fastest-growing economies, but recession and his increasing authoritarianism led to his...

Park, Mungo
(1771-1806) Scottish explorer who traced the course of the Niger River 1795-97. He disappeared and probably drowned during a second African expedition 1805-06. He published Travels in the...

Parke's Castle
Plantation-style castle with bawn (grass or meadow area) on the shore of Lough Gill, County Leitrim, Republic of Ireland. It was built in the 1620s by Robert Parke on the site of a former tower...

Parker, Arthur C(aswell)
(1881-1955) Seneca anthropologist, and museum director. A Harvard-trained anthropologist, in 1906 he was appointed state archaeologist for the New York State Museum (1906-25). He helped found the American...

Parker, Bonnie
US criminal; see Bonnie and Clyde. ...

Parker, Dorothy
(1893-1967) US writer and wit. She was a leading member of the literary circle known as the Algonquin Round Table. She reviewed for the magazines Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, and wrote wittily ironic verses,...

Parker, Hyde
(1739-1807) British admiral. He distinguished himself in the American Revolution, and took part in the action off the Dogger Bank under his father. In 1801 he was in supreme command of the fleet which was sent...

Parker, Hyde
(1714-1782) English admiral. Having been given command of the East India fleet, Parker sailed from Rio de Janeiro on 12 December 1782 but neither he nor his ship was heard of again. Nine years later the ship's...

Parker, Isaac
(1768-1830) US judge. A steady if unspectacular jurist, many of his decisions were acknowledged as authoritative in federal and other state courts. In 1817 he drew up a plan for wh ...

Parker, Isaac Charles
(1838-1896) US judge and public official. In 1875 President Ulysses S Grant appointed him to a judgeship in Arkansas with jurisdiction over the Indian Territory to the west, then a haven for renegades and...

Parker, Matthew
(1504-1575) English cleric. He was converted to Protestantism at Cambridge University. He received high preferment under Henry VIII and Edward VI, and as archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 was largely...

Parker, Quanah
Comanche leader; see Quanah. ...

Parker, Samuel
(1779-1866) US missionary and explorer. A Congregational clergyman, he went to Oregon in 1835, seeking to convert the Salish and Nez Percé Indians. After his return to New England by way of Hawaii and Cape...

Parker, Theodore
(1810-1860) US Unitarian clergyman and reformer. Serving as Unitarian minister in West Roxbury, he was an associate of William Ellery Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other Transcendentalists, and became a...

Parker, William
(1781-1866) British admiral of the fleet. He entered the navy in 1793 and served in the Channel fleet under Lord Howe. He protected British interests on the Tagus, Spain, during t ...

Parker, William H
(1902-1966) US police chief and criminology adviser. An attorney with specialized police training, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department (1931). Near the close of World War II he developed the Police and...

Parkes, Harry Smith
(1828-1885) British diplomat. He was attaché in 1842 to Henry Pottinger's punitive expedition up the Yangtze, China, and, though only 15 years old at the time, Parkes's knowledge of the language made him of...

Parkhurst, Charles Henry
(1842-1933) US clergyman and reformer. Although scholarly and reserved, he made a tremendous impact with two sermons (February 1892; March 1892) in which he attacked the political corruption of New York City...

Parkin, Sara Lamb
(1946) English environmentalist. Following an appointment as international liaison secretary for the newly formed Green Party in 1983, she was co-secretary of European Green Coordination 1985-90, and...

Parkinson, Cecil (Edward)
(1931) British Conservative politician, chair of the Conservative Party 1981-83 and from 1997. He was a minister for trade and industry, but resigned in October 1984 following the disclosure of an affair...

Parkinson, Cyril Northcote
(1909-1993) English writer and historian, celebrated for his study of public and business administration, Parkinson's Law: the Pursuit of Progress (1958), which included...

Parkinson, Michael
(1935) English journalist and chat show host whose long-running British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) chat show Parkinson was revived in 1998 after a gap of 15 years. He also presented TV-am from 1983...

Parkinson, Sydney
(c. 1745-1771) Scottish artist, employed on James Cook's 1770 voyage to the Pacific as a natural illustrator draughtsman. He made 955 drawings and his journal, edited by his brother Stanfield,...

Parkinson's law
Formula invented by the English political analyst Cyril Northcote Parkinson, which states that `work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion`. ...

Parkman, Francis
(1823-1893) US historian and traveller who chronicled the European exploration and conquest of North America in such books as The California and Oregon Trail 1849 and La Salle and the Discovery of the Great...

Parks, Rosa (Louise McCauley)
(1913-2005) US civil-rights activist. Her refusal to surrender her seat on a bus to a white passenger and her subsequent arrest and imprisonment spurred the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, which ignited the ...

Parks, William
(c. 1698-1750) English-born US printer and publisher. Parks was probably born in Shropshire, England. Emigrating to the USA, he set up presses and founded papers in Virginia and...

Parler
Family of German architects active during the 14th century. Working in southern Germany and Bohemia (mainly in Prague), they were responsible for the development of German late Gothic architecture....

Parley, Peter
US publisher and writer; see Samuel Goodrich. ...

Parley, Peter
Pseudonym of US writer Samuel Goodrich. ...

parliament
Legislative (law-making) body of a country. The world's oldest parliament is the Icelandic Althing, which dates from about 930. The UK Parliament is usually dated from 1265. The legislature of the...

Parliament Act 1911
In Britain, statute severely curtailing the power of the House of Lords and asserting the primacy of the House of Commons. The law, introduced after the Lords rejected Lloyd George's radical...

Parliament, European
Governing body of the European Union (formerly the European Community); see European Parliament. ...

Parliament, Houses of
Building where the UK legislative assembly meets. The present Houses of Parliament in London, designed in Gothic Revival style by the architects Charles ...

parliamentary agents
In Britain, people who act on behalf of those promoting or petitioning against private bills in Parliament. The parliamentary agents perform the useful function of examining bills on behalf of those...