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

Representatives, House of
Lower house of the US Congress; see House of Representatives. ...

reprieve
Legal temporary suspension of the execution of a sentence of a criminal court. It is usually associated with the death penalty. It is distinct from a pardon (extinguishing the sentence) and...

reprisals
International illegal acts to which, by a rule of convenience of international law, a state may resort in order to secure justice when it is otherwise not obtainable. ...

reproduction
In art, a copy of a painting, drawing, or other artwork which is then mass-produced, for example as a ...

Repton
Village in Derbyshire, England, on the River Trent, 12 km/7 mi southwest of Derby; population (2001) 4,650. The kings of Mercia (the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that emerged in the 6th century) had a...

Repton, Humphry
(1752-1818) English garden designer. He worked for some years in partnership with English architect John Nash. Repton preferred more...

republic
Country where the head of state is not a monarch, either hereditary or elected, but usually a president, whose role may or may not include political functions. A republic may be an aristocracy,...

Republic, The
Treatise by the Greek philosopher Plato in which the voice of Socrates is used to describe the ideal state, where the cultivation of truth, beauty, and goodness achieves perfection. ...

Republican Party
Younger of the two main political parties of the USA, formed in 1854. It is more right-wing than the Democratic Party, favouring capital and big business...

Requests, Court of
Court of equity offering redress for those too poor to apply to the regular civil courts. Originally a 14th-century offshoot of the king's council, it was granted official recognition as a...

requisition
In UK property law, an application to HM Land Registry, the Land Charges Department, or a local authority for a certificate of official search to reveal whether or not land is affected by...

reredos
In church architecture, an ornamented wall or screen at the back of the high altar. It usually consists of a screen detached from the wall, and is elaborately adorned with sculpture and tracery or...

Rerum Novarum
Encyclical (papal letter) on the condition of the working classes written 1891 by Pope Leo XIII in response to the conditions arising from the Industrial Revolution. It condemned socialism as an...

rescue archaeology
Branch of archaeology that is concerned with the impact of contemporary construction and other developments on archaeological sites, and the various laws in some countries enacted to mitigate the...

reserve currency
In economics, a country's holding of internationally acceptable means of payment (major foreign currencies or gold); central banks also hold the ultimate reserve of money for their domestic banking...

reserves
Monies retained in case of emergency or to be used at a later date. Gold bullion and foreign currency reserves are held by a central bank such as the Bank of England. They are used to intervene in...

residence and contact
In UK law, orders of court determining a child's residence and providing for contact with a child under the Children Act (1989). A residence order also gives parental responsibility to the person...

residencia
In Spanish history, the debriefing of an official after a term of office in the American colonies. The procedure was designed to ensure that officials remained answerable to the crown and carried...

resistance movement
Opposition movement in a country occupied by an enemy or colonial power, especially in the 20th century; for example, the resistance to Nazism and Nazi occupation in Europe...

resistivity survey
Geophysical survey method used to locate buried features and structures with a resistivity meter. An electrical current is passed through the soil between electrodes and the resistance (normally a...

resolution
Formal expression of opinion of a legislative or corporate body. In the House of Commons taxes and duties are introduced as resolutions before being included in the Finance Act. Similarly bills...

response
A type of antiphony used in the churches of the Anglican communion, in which the congregation replies to the plainsong chants of the priest; in Reformed churches, it refers to a short piece sung by...

Restif, Nicolas Edme
(1734-1806) French novelist. He wrote about 250 novels, which are interesting for their realistic description of 18th-century low life. They include Le Paysan perverti/The Corrupted Ones 1776, Les...

Reston, James (Barrett) `Scotty`
(1909-1995) Scottish-born US journalist. He became an outstanding reporter and political analyst, winning two Pulitzer Prizes (1945 and 1957). In the 1960s he became associate and then executive editor of the...

Restoration
In English history, the period when the monarchy, in the person of Charles II, was re-established after the English Civil War and the fall of the Protectorate in 1660. Restoration literature...

Restoration comedy
Style of English theatre, dating from the Restoration period. The genre placed much emphasis on wit and sexual intrigues. It also witnessed the first appearance of women on the English stage, most...

Restoration literature
Prose, poetry, and drama written in English in Britain during the Restoration (the period when the monarchy, in the person of Charles II, was re-established after the English Civil War and the...

Restrepo, Carlos Lleras
(1908-1994) Colombian politician and president 1966-70. His administration was extremely successful, particularly in regard to economic policy. Lleras instituted effective political reforms that significantly...

restrictive covenant
In law, an obligation created by deed that curtails the rights of an owner of land or leaseholder; for example, by prohibiting business use. Anyone acquiring...

restrictive trade practice
Any agreement between people in a particular trade or business that restricts free trade in a market. For example, several producers may join together to form a cartel and fix prices; or a...

resurrection
In Christian, Jewish, and Muslim belief, the rising from the dead that all souls will experience at the Last Judgement. The Resurrection also refers to Jesus rising from the dead on the third day...

retail-price index
UK index, compiled by the Office for National Statistics, to reflect the cost of living at any particular time. The Retail Price Index was introduced in 1947, superseding the Cost of Living Index,...

retained profit
Profit after tax which is not distributed to shareholders. It is kept back by the business organization to finance investment. In the UK, retained profit is the most important source of finance for...

retainer
Servant of a lord who owed loyalty in return for a payment, rather than the holding of land. Retainers formed the personal retinue of medieval lords, originally in a primarily military capacity but...

Rethel, Alfred
(1816-1859) German painter and graphic artist. Among his outstanding works are powerful and macabre versions of the traditional dance of death theme 1848 that had an appreciable influence on English...

reticulated tracery
In architecture, stone tracery of the mid-Gothic period, with openings repeated in rows, thus resembling the meshes of a net. ...

Retief, Piet
(1780-1838) South African explorer. He was an organizer, with Gert Maritz, of one of the Voortrekker expeditions (expeditions by Dutch farmers from Cape Colony into the Transvaal from 1836). He was elected a...

retreat
In a military action, a rearward movement of forces in response to enemy pressure. Unlike a withdrawal, a retreat involves loss of initiative. ...

return on capital employed
Percentage return a company is able to generate from its capital employed during its business activities. ROC is calculated by dividing operating profits by capital employed, multiplied by 100 to...

returning officer
See electoral system: UK. ...

Retz, Gilles de
Alternative spelling of Gilles de Rais, French baron. ...

Reuter, Gabriele
(1859-1941) German novelist. Her Aus guter Familie/Of Good Family 1895 was a penetrating study of the problems of the contemporary woman. Her later novels, such as Ellen von der Weiden 1900 and Liselotte von...

Reuters
London-based international news agency. It is the world's largest news agency, providing general, political, economic, and sports news to media organizations, financial institutions, and...

Reuther, Walter Philip
(1907-1970) US trade-union leader. He was vice chair of the Union of United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America 1942-46 and its president from 1946. He was president of the...

revanche
In French history, those who, following the Franco-Prussian War 1870-71, favoured a foreign policy directed towards the recapture of Alsace-Lorraine from Germany. ...

Revel, Bernard
(1855-1940) US rabbi and educator born in Lithuania. He became the head of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Yeshiva in New York in 1915, and in 1928 he helped found Yeshiva College, the first Jewish liberal arts...

revelation
The unveiling of something hidden, so that its true nature may be seen. In the Bible, revelation means God showing himself to be active in human history and as the creator, and it can come through...

Revelation
Last book of the New Testament, traditionally attributed to the author of the Gospel of St John but now generally held to be the work of another writer. It describes a vision of the end of the...

Revels, Hiram Rhodes
(1827-1901) US minister, senator, and educator. In 1870 he was chosen by a vote of the Mississippi legislature to fill the unexpired term of Jefferson Davis in the US Senate. He took an active role in trying to...

revenge
Action, usually of a violent nature, meted out by the victim of a wrongdoing against the perpetrator by way of retribution or repayment. The desire for revenge is deep-rooted and is encoded in...

revenge tragedy
Form of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama in which revenge provides the mainspring of the action. It is usually characterized by bloody deeds, intrigue, and high melodrama. It was pioneered by Thomas...

revenue
Money received from taxes or the sale of a product. Total revenue can be calculated by multiplying the average price received by the total quantity sold. Average revenue is the average price...

revenue sharing
In the USA, federal aid to state and local government allocated under the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act 1972. ...

Revere, Joseph Warren
(1812-1880) US naval officer and army general. As a naval lieutenant, he raised the US flag at Sonoma in 1846 during the Mexican War. While ranching and trading in California, he organized the artillery of the...

Revere, Paul
(1735-1818) American revolutionary, a Boston silversmith, who carried the news of the approach of British troops to Lexington and Concord (see American Revolution) on the night of 18 April 1775. On the next...

reverse takeover
In business, situation where a smaller company takes over a larger one. This may be a company's strategy to avoid a hostile takeover by selling itself to a white knight. The term is also used to...

revisionism
Political theory derived from Marxism that moderates one or more of the basic tenets of Karl Marx, and is hence condemned by orthodox Marxists. The first noted Marxist revisionist was Eduard...

revolution
Any rapid, far-reaching, or violent change in the political, social, or economic structure of society. It is usually applied to political change: examples include...

Revolutionary Wars
Series of wars from 1791 to 1802 between France and the combined armies of England, Austria, Prussia, and others, during the period of the French Revolution and Napoleon's campaign to conquer...

revolutions of 1848
Series of revolts in various parts of Europe against monarchical rule. Although some of the revolutionaries had republican ideas, many more were motivated by economic grievances. The revolution...

revolutions of 1989
Popular uprisings in many countries of Eastern Europe against communist rule, prompted by internal reforms in the USSR that permitted dissent within its sphere of influence. By 1990 nearly all the...

revue
Stage presentation involving short satirical and topical items in the form of songs, sketches, and monologues; it originated in the late 19th century. In Britain the first revue seems to have been...

Reyes, Rafael Prieto
(1850-1921) Colombian dictator and president 1904-09. After his election he assumed dictatorial powers and vigorously embarked on a programme of national economic reform that...

Reynaud, Paul
(1878-1966) French prime minister in World War II, who succeeded Edouard Daladier in March 1940 but resigned in June after the German breakthrough. He was imprisoned by the Germans until 1945, and again held...

Reynolds, Albert
(1932) Irish Fianna Fáil politician, Taoiseach (prime minister) 1992-94. He was minister for industry and commerce 1987-88 and minister of finance 1988-92. In December 1993 Reynolds and UK prime...

Reynolds, John Fulton
(1820-1863) US soldier. Starting in 1862 he held command positions in a series of battles in the US Civil War and was considered one of the best generals in the Army of the Potomac - many believe he rather...

Reynolds, Joshua
(1723-1792) English painter. One of the greatest portraitists of the 18th century, he displayed a facility for striking and characterful compositions in the `Grand Manner`, a style based on classical and...

Reynolds, Quentin
(1902-1965) US journalist and author. He served as a European-based World War II correspondent for Collier's magazine and wrote several books on his observations, including The Wounded Don't Cry 1941. He was...

Reynolds, Robert Rice
(1884-1963) US senator who served (Democrat, North Carolina) 1932-45. As chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee and a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, he opposed the USA...

Reznikoff, Charles
(1894-1976) US poet and writer who was noted for his spare poetry of the objectivist school. He often dealt with the role of Judaism in his life, as in Poems 1937-75 1977....

RFC
Abbreviation for Royal Flying Corps, a forerunner of the Royal Air Force. ...

Rhadamanthys
In Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Europa; ruler of Elysium, and judge of the dead with his brother Minos, and Aeacus, king of the Myrmidons. Rhadamanthys had originally reigned over part of...

Rhapsodists
Originally epic poets of ancient Greece who recited their own verses in public; by the 6th century BC the term was generally used of the professional reciters of other people's poems, especially...

Rhea
In Greek mythology, a fertility goddess, one of the Titans, wife of Kronos...

Rhea Silvia
In Roman legend, the daughter of King Numitor of Alba and mother, by Mars, of Romulus and Remus. She was a Vestal Virgin, and when she gave birth to twins her uncle Amulius, who had usurped her...

Rhead, Frederick Hurten
(1880-1942) English-born US potter. He opened Rhead Pottery in Santa Barbara, California, in 1913. In 1927 he joined the Homer Laughlin China Company, West Virginia, as art director. There he created the art...

Rhee, Syngman
(1875-1965) Korean right-wing politician. A rebel under Chinese and Japanese rule, he became president of South Korea from 1948 until riots forced him to resign and leave the country in 1960. He established a...

Rhegium
Ancient name for the southern Italian port of Reggio di Calabria. ...

Rhétoriqueurs, Les
School of French poets of the late 15th and early 16th century who used artificial and highly complicated techniques (elaborated rhymes and alliteration, for example). The principal rhétoriqueurs...

Rhett, Robert Barnwell
(1800-1876) US representative, senator, and political idealogue. He served in the US House of Representatives (Democrat, South Carolina) 1837-49 and in the US Senate 1850-52 and opposed all attempts at...

Rhiannon
In Welsh mythology, the wife of Pwyll, king of Dyfed, and mother of Pryderi. She is possibly associated with the Celtic goddess Epona, and with worship of the horse. ...

Rhine, Confederation of the
See Confederation of the Rhine. ...

Rhineland
Province of Prussia from 1815. Its unchallenged annexation by Nazi Germany in 1936 was a harbinger of World War II. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), following World War I, the...

Rhodes, James Ford
(1848-1927) US historian. Among his works are History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 1893-1906, History of the Civil War 1917, History of the United States from Hayes to McKinley 1919, and...

Rhys, Ernest Percival
(1859-1946) Anglo-Welsh editor and writer. He became associated with the publishing firm of J M Dent 1894, and later was made the first editor of the Everyman's Library series of inexpensive editions of...

Rhys, Jean
(1894-1979) Dominican-born English novelist. Her works include Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), a recreation, set in a Caribbean island, of the life of the mad wife of Rochester from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. ...

RIBA
Abbreviation for Royal Institute of British Architects, institute whose object is `the advancement of Architecture and the promotion of the acquirement of the knowledge of the Arts and Sciences...

Ribalta, Francisco
(1565-1628) Spanish painter. He was active in Valencia from 1599. Around 1615 he developed a dramatic baroque style using extreme effects of light and shade (recalling Caravaggio), as in St Bernard Embracing...

Ribbentrop-Molotov pact
Non-aggression treaty signed by Germany and the USSR on 23 August 1939. The pact is named after the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Russian foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov,...

Ribbentrop, Joachim von
(1893-1946) German Nazi politician and diplomat. As foreign minister 1938-45, he negotiated the nonaggression pact between Germany and the USSR (the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact of 1939). He was tried at...

ribbon development
Another term for linear development, housing that has grown up along a route. ...

Ribeiro, Darcy
(1922) Brazilian social anthropologist, politician, and author. His novel Maíra (1978; translated into English, 1983) highlights the conflict between native Amazonian peoples and the Europeanized...

Ribera, José (Jusepe) de
(1591-1652) Spanish painter. He was active in Italy from 1616 under the patronage of the viceroys of Naples. His early work shows the impact of Caravaggio, but his colours gradually lightened. He painted many...

Ribot, Alexandre Felix Joseph
(1842-1923) French statesman. He was prime minister 1892-93, and headed a short-lived ministry in 1895. Ribot became prime minister again in the spring of 1914. He was minister of finance from 1914 until...

Ricardo, David
(1772-1823) English economist. With the possible exception of German philosopher and economist Karl Marx, no great economist of the past has received so many divergent and even contradictory interpretations as...

Ricasoli, Bettino
(1809-1880) Italian statesman. He became a leading figure amongst the Liberal gentry in Tuscany. He was instrumental in the union of Tuscany with Piedmont in 1860. On Camillo Cavour's death in 1861, he accepted...

Ricci, Sebastiano
(1659-1734) Venetian painter. Working in the style of Veronese, he became one of the leading decorative painters of h ...

Riccio, Andrea
(1470-1532) Italian architect, sculptor, and goldsmith, born at Padua. He was influenced by Andrea Mantegna...

Rice-Davies, Mandy (Marilyn)
(1944) English model. She achieved notoriety in 1963 following the revelations of the affair between her friend Christine Keeler and war minister John Profumo, and his subsequent resignation. ...

Rice, Anne
(1941) US writer who gained a vast cult readership for both her supernatural novels, such as the Vampire Chronicles 1989, a trilogy, and for her sadomasochistic erotica, as in Beauty's Punishment 1984. She...