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

Regional Crime Squad
In the UK, local police force that deals with serious crime; see Scotland Yard, New. ...

Regionalism
In US art, a movement in the 1930s and 1940s which, rejecting abstract art and European avant-garde influences, stressed the depiction of American life, typically the rural life of the Midwest....

registered company
Company registered in the UK under the Companies Act 1980. A registered company is either a public limited company or a private limited company. The Registrar of Companies requires that any business...

Regnard, Jean François
(1655-1709) French dramatist. Le Joueur 1696 and Le Légataire universel/The Residuary Legatee 1708 were his most successful comedies. ...

Regnault, Henri
(1843-1871) French painter. He travelled widely in Italy, Spain, and Morocco and painted scenes from oriental life, portraits, and subjects inspired by French history. He was killed...

Régnier, Henri François Joseph de
(1864-1936) French poet and novelist. His first volume of verse, Les Lendemains 1885, revealed him as a Symbolist, but he adopted more traditional forms in Les Médailles d'argile 1900 and Vestigia flammae...

Régnier, Mathurin
(1573-1613) French poet. His works 1608-12, chiefly satires, attempt (as the Pléiade poets had done with other genres) to raise this type of work to classical perfection. The satires are characterized by the...

regressive tax
Tax such that the higher the income of the taxpayer the smaller the proportion or percentage paid in that tax. This contrasts with progressive taxes where the proportion paid rises as income...

Regulus, Marcus Atilius
Roman general and consul 267 and 256 BC. He defeated the Carthaginian fleet, invaded Africa, and defeated the Carthaginian army 256 BC. He was then defeated and captured by the Carthaginians 255 BC,...

Rehan, Ada
(1860-1916) Irish-born US actor. A great beauty and especially suited to comic roles, she gained popularity in both New York and London, appearing to greatest acclaim in...

Rehnquist, William
(1924-2005) US Supreme Court associate justice 1972-86, and chief justice from 1986. Under his leadership the court established a reputation for conservative rulings on such issues as abortion and capital...

Rehoboam
King of Judah about 932-915 BC, son of Solomon. Under his rule the Jewish nation split into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Ten of the tribes revolted against him and took Jeroboam as their...

Reich
Three periods in European history. The First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806), the Second Reich the German Empire (1871-1918), and the Third Reich Nazi Germany (1933-45). ...

Reich, Robert B(ernard)
(1946) US Democratic politician and political economist, secretary of labour 1993-96. In Minding America's Business: The Decline and Rise of the American Economy (1982), he proposed the diversion of...

Reichard, Gladys Amanda
(1893-1955) US cultural anthropologist. She made a lifelong study of the language and culture of the Navajo, presenting the results of her fieldwork in a series of studies, including Social Life of the Navaho...

Reichenau, Walther von
(1884-1942) German field marshal in World War II. He commanded 10th Army in the invasion of Poland 1939 and 6th Army in the invasion of Belgium and France 1940. He remained in command of 6th Army and led it in...

Reichenbach, Hans
(1891-1953) German-born US philosopher. Fleeing Nazi Germany, he went to Turkey in 1933 and to the USA in 1938, where he taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, from then on. His works include...

Reichl, Ernest
(1900-1981) German-born US book designer. He became one of the greatest US book designers and established a press to issue his Roman Press and other fine editions, known for their originality...

Reichstadt, Duke of
Title of Napoleon II, son of Napoleon I. ...

Reichstag
German parliament building and lower legislative house during the German Empire 1871-1918 and Weimar Republic 1919-33. It was burned down in February 1933. Following the MPs' decision after...

Reichstag Fire
Burning of the German parliament building in Berlin 27 February 1933, less than a month after the Nazi leader Hitler became chancellor. The fire was used as a justification for the suspension of...

Reichswald, Battle of the
In World War II, hard-fought battle to clear the Reichswald forest, a German state forest situated around Cleve, close to the Dutch border, as part of the general Allied advance into Germany...

Reid, Beryl
(1920-1996) English comedian and actor. Originally a variety entertainer and soubrette-cum-impressionist, she made her name in the radio series Educating Archie (1952-56). She enjoyed a long television...

Reid, James (Jimmy)
(1932) Scottish communist trade-union activist. In 1971, when the four shipyards of the publicly owned Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) consortium were threatened with closure, he led a `work-in`...

Reid, John
(1947) British Labour politician, secretary of state for the home office from 2006. A political adviser to Labour's former leader Neil Kinnock 1983-95, Reid became MP for Hamilton North and Bellshill...

Reid, Thomas
(1710-1796) Scottish mathematician and philosopher. His Enquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense 1764 attempted to counter the sceptical conclusions of Scottish philosopher David Hume. He...

Reid, Whitelaw
(1837-1912) US journalist and diplomat. In 1868 he became leading editorial writer for the New York Tribune and in 1872 principal proprietor and editor in chief. He served as minister to France 1889-92 and as...

reification
Alleged social process whereby relations between human beings are transformed into impersonal relations between things. The Hungarian thinker Georg Lukács, in History and Class Consciousness...

Reimarus, Hermann Samuel
(1694-1768) German naturalist, philosopher and Protestant theologian. He was elected rector of the school at Wismar, Germany, in 1723, and professor of Hebrew and mathematics at the gymnasium of Hamburg,...

Reina Idiaquez, Carlos Roberto
(1926-2003) Honduran centre-right politician, president 1994-98. He oversaw an upturn in the economy, although the unemployment rate remained high. A member of the centre-right Liberal Party of Honduras...

Reinach, Joseph
(1856-1921) French politician and historian. A barrister, he joined the Republique française and supported Léon Gambetta, to whom he became a secretary in 1881. In 1889 he became a member of the Chamber, in...

reincarnation
Belief that after death the human soul or the spirit of a plant or animal may live again in another human or animal. It is part of the teachings of many religions and philosophies; for example,...

reinforced concrete
Material formed by casting concrete in timber or metal formwork around a cage of steel reinforcement. The steel gives added strength by taking up...

Reinhardt, Max
(1873-1943) Austrian producer and director. His expressionist style was predominant in German theatre and film during the 1920s and 1930s. Directors such as Murnau and Lubitsch and stars such as Dietrich worked...

Reinkens, Joseph Hubert
(1821-1896) First Old Catholic bishop. In 1870 he joined Ignaz von Döllinger in the Old...

Reis, Ricardo
Assumed name, or `heteronym`, of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. ...

Reischauer, Edwin O(ldfather)
(1910-1990) US diplomat and scholar. He served with great skill as US ambassador to Japan at a difficult time (1961-66), when Japan criticized escalating US military involvement in Vietnam. He returned to...

Reisinger, Hugo
(1856-1914) German-born US business executive and art collector. He collected contemporary German and US paintings to further cultural relations between the two countries. His collection formed the core of...

Reisner, George Andrew
(1867-1942) US archaeologist and Egyptologist. His fieldwork at Napata, El Gîza, and elsewhere earned him a reputation as the USA's first great archaeologist and excavator, and set the standard for scientific...

Reitz, Deneys
(1882-1994) South African soldier, politician, and author. In 1920 he was elected to the Union parliament. He was minister of lands (1933), minister of agriculture...

reivers
Families living on the Anglo-Scottish border who supplemented farming by cross-border cattle raids. ...

Rej, Miko&lsla;aj
(1505-1569) Polish writer. His work is transitional between the medieval tradition and the Reformation; for example, a verse debate (1543) `between the squire, the bailiff, and the parson`. Rej was...

Rejlander, Oscar Gustave
(1813-1875) Swedish painter and portrait photographer. He was a leading exponent of composite photography, building up complex images printed from many negatives. His most famous photograph was an allegorical...

relative dating
In archaeology, dating methods that measure differences in age utilizing an ordinal scale. For example, they include sequencing of events or objects relative to one another but without linkage to...

relativism
Philosophical position that denies the possibility of objective truth independent of some specific social or historical context or conceptual framework. ...

relic
Supposed part of some divine or saintly person, or something closely associated with them. Christian examples include the arm of St Teresa of Avila, the blood of St Januarius, and the True Cross....

relief
In sculpture, particularly architectural sculpture, carved figures and other forms that project from the background. The Italian terms basso-rilievo (low relief), mezzo-rilievo (middle relief),...

religion
Code of belief or philosophy that often involves the worship of a God or gods. Belief in a supernatural power is not essential (absent in, for example, Buddhism and Confucianism), but faithful...

Religion, Wars of
Series of civil wars 1562-89 in France between Catholics and (Protestant) Huguenots. Each side was led by noble families which competed for influence over a weakened monarchy. The most infamous...

religious drama
See drama, religious. ...

reliquary
Casket or vessel made to hold a relic or relics of a saint, generally made of precious metals and often richly decorated with gold, gems, and enamel. Particularly fine examples date from the early...

Remagen
Town in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the left bank of the River Rhine, 25 km/15 mi southeast of Bonn; population (2001 est) 16,000. Remagen is a popular tourist centre. The town was...

remainder
In British aristocracy, term that denotes those who may inherit a peerage or baronetcy. The vast majority of peerages and baronetcies are limited to inheritance by the heirs male of the body of the...

remand
In law, the committing of an accused but not convicted person into custody or to release on bail while awaiting a court hearing or trial. In the UK, remand in custody is made for not more than eight...

Remarque, Erich Maria
(1898-1970) German novelist. He was a soldier in World War I. His All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), one of the first anti-war novels, led to his being deprived of German nationality. He lived in...

Rembrandt, Harmensz van Rijn
(1606-1669) Dutch painter, etcher, and teacher. Rembrandt was one of the most prolific and significant artists in Europe of the 17th century. Between 1629 and 1669 he painted about 60 penetrating...

Remembrance Sunday
In the UK, national day of remembrance for those killed in both world wars and later conflicts, on the second Sunday of November. In Canada 11 November is Remembrance Day. The US equivalent is...

Remigius, St
(c. 438-533) Christian apostle of the Franks. He converted Clovis I, King of the Franks, with the assistance of St Vedast and Clovis's wife St Clotilda. His feast day, formerly 1 October, has been dropped from...

remittance man
In the 19th century, man living in a British colony (often Australia) on money sent (remitted) to him from England, on condition that he did not return. This exile was imposed by the family because...

Remond, Sarah Parker
(1826-c. 1887) US abolitionist and physician. In 1853 she came to public notice when she went to court in Boston after being forced out of a hall to which she held a ticket. In 1856 she became an agent of the...

remonstrant
One of a group of radical Scottish Calvinists who in 1650 called for Charles II's removal from the throne until he accepted Calvinism. They were opposed in the Committee...

Remonstrants
Dutch Calvinist sect formed in the early 17th century. They were followers of the Dutch theologian Arminius, who denied the strict Calvinist view on predestination. They set out their views in the...

remote sensing
Gathering and recording information from a distance. Aircraft and satellites can observe a planetary surface or atmosphere, and space probes have sent back photographs and data about planets as...

remotely piloted vehicle
Crewless mini-aircraft used for military surveillance and to select targets in battle. RPVs barely show up on radar, so they can fly over a battlefield without being shot down, and they are...

Remus
In Roman legend, one of two twins who were the eventual founders of Rome; see Romulus. ...

Renaissance
Period in European cultural history that began in Italy around 1400 and lasted there until the end of the 1500s. Elsewhere in Europe it began later, and lasted until...

Renaissance architecture
Style of architecture that began in 15th-century Italy, based on the revival of classical, especially Roman, architecture developed by Brunelleschi. It is characterized by a concern with balance,...

Renaissance art
European art of the 15th-17th centuries, associated with the Renaissance, a revival in learning that began in Florence, Italy, with the rise of a spirit of humanism and a new appreciation of the...

Renaissance English literature
Literature in Britain in the period beginning in around 1500 and lasting until the mid-1600s. Influenced by the artistic and cultural Renaissance, the transformation of both English language and...

Renaissance medicine
Medicine of the Renaissance era in Europe, from around 1400 to around 1750. The Renaissance marked a change of direction for medical knowledge and practice following the stagnation of Renan, (Joseph) Ernest
(1823-1892) French theologian and historian. His La Vie de Jésus/The Life of Jesus, published 1863, controversially denied the supernatural element of Christ's life and mission. It was the first work in a...

Renart, Jean
French writer. He composed the verse romances L'Escoufle, Guillaume de Dole, and Le Lai de l'ombre, notable for their delicate irony and rough-hewn style. ...

Renault, Louis
(1843-1918) French academic and international law reform campaigner. Renault was a prolific writer and lecturer, becoming the French authority on international law. He was offered the chair of...

Renault, Mary
(1905-1983) English historical novelist. She specialized in stories about ancient Greece, with two novels on the mythical hero Theseus:The King Must Die (1958) and The Bull from the Sea (1962); and two on...

Rendell, Ruth Barbara
(1930) English novelist and short-story writer. She is the author of a popular detective series featuring Chief Inspector Wexford, of which Harm Done (1999) was the 17th. Her psychological crime novels...

René the Good
(1409-1480) French noble, second son of Louis II, King of Sicily and Naples. He succeeded to the dukedom of Anjou on the death of his brother Louis III in 1417, and to the kingdom of Naples through the death of...

René, France-Albert
(1935) Seychelles left-wing politician, president 1977-2004. He became the country's first prime minister after independence, and president from 1977 after a coup. He followed a non-nuclear policy of...

Renée de France
(1510-1575) Duchess of Ferrara 1534-75. The daughter of King Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany, in 1528 she married Ercole d'Este, who became the duke...

Reni, Guido
(1575-1642) Italian painter. He was an important figure in the development of the baroque style. His best-known work is the fresco Aurora (1613-14; Casino Rospigliosi, Rome), a work which shows the strong...

Renn, Ludwig
(1889-1979) German writer. He caused a sensation with his first novel, Krieg/War 1928, a harsh and realistic treatment of World War I. His other novels include Nachkrieg/After War 1930 and Russland...

Rennenkampf, Paul Karlovich
(1854-1918) Russian general. He served in China and the Russo-Japanese war before taking charge of the invasion of eastern Prussia in World War I. After some initial success he was forced to retreat following...

Renner, Karl
(1870-1950) Czech-born Austrian lawyer, Socialist, and statesman. He entered the Austrian parliament in 1907 and became leader of the Social-Democrats. On the dissolution of the Empire he led the Austrian...

Reno, Janet
(1939) US lawyer, attorney general 1993-2001. Having been appointed to the post in 1993, she took full responsibility in the same year for the attack by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the...

Reno, Marcus
(1834-1889) US Army major. He was the most senior officer of the US 7th Cavalry to survive the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Montana, in 1876, during which his commanding officer Lt-Col George Custer and a...

Renoir, Pierre-Auguste
(1841-1919) French Impressionist painter. He met Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley in the early 1860s, and together they formed the nucleus of Impressionism. He developed a lively, colourful painting style with...

Renouvier, Charles Bernard
(1815-1903) French philosopher. He founded the journals L'Annee philosophique (1867-69) and La Critique philosophique (1872-79). Among his more important works are Essais de critique generale (1854-64),...

Renouvin, Pierre
(1893-1974) French historian. He held the chair of history at the Sorbonne University for longer than anyone else. He was the author of important studies on the World War I and on diplomatic history. ...

rent
Obligatory payment for hiring property, made by a tenant to a landlord under the terms of a lease or tenancy agreement. ...

Rentenmark
Currency introduced in Germany at the end of 1923 by the president of the Reichsbank, Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970), to replace old Reichsmarks which had been rendered worthless by inflation. As...

renunciation
In religion, giving something up, an element of almost every ethical system. Buddhism is based on renunciation of personal desires and Hinduism seeks eventually, after many lifetimes, the...

Renwick, James
(1818-1895) US architect. Known for their stylistic versatility and mechanical and material innovations, his many buildings include Grace Church 1843-46 and St Patrick's Cathedral 1858-88, New York, and the...

reparation
Compensation paid by countries that start wars in which they are defeated, as by Germany in both world wars. Iraq is required to pay reparations, under the terms of a United Nations resolution,...

repartimiento
The distribution of the native Indian population among conquistadors or settlers in colonial Spanish America (16th to 19th centuries). It forced the Indians into financial dependence. The system was...

repentance
In religion, to turn back to God in remorse at one's past actions. In the Hebrew Bible it is sometimes used of God who `repents of the evil` proposed. The...

Repin, Ilya Efimovich
(1844-1930) Russian painter. He painted portraits, historical, and genre subjects in a realist style, many of his works expressing a sympathy for the poor and the politically oppressed. Among his best-known...

replica
In art, an exact copy of an artefact produced by the original artist, or under that artist's direction. If the original painter does not reproduce or direct the painting but another artist does, the...

reply, right of
Right of a member of the public to respond to a media statement. A statutory right of reply, enforceable by a Press Commission, as exists in many Western European countries, failed to reach the...

repoussé
Relief decoration on metal, especially silver, brass, and copper, produced by hammering from the underside so that the decoration projects. It is the opposite of chasing. The technique was among the...

representation
Government that in theory gives the representatives chosen a wider mandate than that granted to ordinary delegates or to the holders of proxies. Since the end of the 19th century the representative...

Representation of the People Acts
Series of UK acts of Parliament from 1867 that extended voting rights, creating universal suffrage in 1928. The 1867 and 1884 acts are known as the second and third ...