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

Soper, Donald Oliver
(1903-1998) British Methodist minister, superintendent of the West London Mission, Kingsway Hall, 1936-78. A pacifist, he had a ready wit in debate and made many television appearances....

Sophia, Electress of Hanover
(1630-1714) Twelfth child of Frederick V, elector palatine of the Rhine and king of Bohemia, and Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England. She married the elector of Hannover in 1658. Widowed in 1698, she was...

sophist
In ancient Greece, one of a group of 5th-century BC itinerant lecturers on culture, rhetoric, and politics. Sceptical about the possibility of achieving genuine knowledge, they applied bogus...

Sophocles
(c. 496-406 BC) Athenian dramatist. He is credited with having developed tragedy by introducing a third actor and scene-painting, and ranked with Aeschylus and Euripides as one of the three great tragedians. He...

Sopwith, Thomas Octave Murdoch
(1888-1989) English designer of the Sopwith Camel biplane, used in World War I, and joint developer of the Hawker Hurricane fighter plane used in World War II. He was knighted in 1953. From a Northumbrian...

Sorb
A western Slavonic people in Germany, numbering about 40,000-45,000. They live mainly in Saxony and have been in the region since the 6th century AD, though numbers have dwindled with...

Sorbiodunum
Roman name for Old Sarum, a former town close to present-day Salisbury, Wiltshire, southern England. ...

Sorbonne
Common name for the University of Paris, originally a theological institute founded 1253 by Robert de Sorbon, chaplain to Louis IX. Richelieu ordered the reconstruction of the buildings in 1626,...

Sordello
(c. 1200-1270) Italian troubadour. He came under the protection first of Guillaume de Blacatz, and afterwards of Charles d'Anjou, and wrote in Provençal. He is credited with about 30 love songs, and his lament on...

Sorel, Charles, Sieur de Souvigny
(c. 1600-1674) French novelist. His La vraie histoire comique de Francion 1623-33 is a major work of comic realism. Le Berger extravagant/The Extravag ...

Sorel, Georges Eugène
(1847-1922) French philosopher who believed that socialism could only come about through a general strike; his theory of the need for a `myth` to sway the body of the people was used by fascists. ...

Sorenson, Theodore (Chaikin)
(1928) US lawyer and government official. After law school, he became Senator John F Kennedy's assistant 1953-61, serving as strategist and speech writer during his presidential campaign. As special...

Sorin, Edward (Frederick)
(1814-1893) French-born religious leader who emigrated to Indiana as a missionary in 1841. He founded Notre Dame University in 1844, and was its president 1844-65. In 1868 he became superior general of his...

sororate
Form of marriage in which a wife is replaced by her sister if she dies or is barren. The practice fulfils the marriage contract by supplying a woman who will bear children to inherit the husband's...

Soseki, Natsume
(1867-1916) Japanese novelist. His works are deep psychological studies of urban intellectual lives. Strongly influenced by English literature, his later works are somewhat reminiscent of Henry James; for...

soteriology
Study of the way to salvation. ...

Sotheby's
US fine-art saleroom, the world's largest, founded by English bookseller Samuel Baker in 1744. Its main offices are in New York City and London, England, with more than 100 offices around the...

Sotho
A large ethnic group in southern Africa, numbering about 7 million (1987) and living mainly in Botswana, Lesotho, and South Africa. The Sotho are predominantly farmers, living in small village...

Sottsass, Ettore, Jr
(1917) Austrian-born product and furniture designer. He was active in Milan, Italy, from 1945. As well as co-founding the interior design company Sottsass Associati with fellow members of the Memphis...

Soufflot, Jacques Germain
(1713-1780) French architect. He accompanied the Marquis de Marigny (brother of Louis's XV's mistress, Mme de Pompadour) on a tour of Italy in 1749 which marks...

soul
According to many religions, an intangible part of a human being that survives the death of the physical body. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all teach that at the end of the world each soul will...

Soulages, Pierre
(1919) French abstract painter. He settled in Paris in 1946 and later exhibited in Paris, Berlin, New York, and London. He exploited the effect of dark near-monochrome abstractions, cracks of light...

Soult, Nicolas Jean de Dieu
(1769-1851) Marshal of France. He held commands in Spain in the Peninsular War, where he sacked the port of Santander 1808, and was Chief of Staff at the Battle of Waterloo. He was war minister 1830-40. ...

Sound and The Fury, The
Novel 1929 by US writer William Faulkner. The story of a declining Southern family is told from four points of view including those of the three sons: Benjy, an imbecile; Quentin, a Harvard student...

Souphanouvong, Prince
(1902-1995) Laotian politician, president 1975-86. After an abortive revolt against French rule in 1945, he led the guerrilla organization Pathet Lao (Land of the Lao), and in 1975 became the first president...

Soustelle, Jacques
(1912-1990) French scholar and politician. He joined Charles de Gaulle in London, England, during World War II, and became minister for information in 1945. He was the leading Gaullist deputy, and was...

Soutar, William
(1898-1943) Scottish poet. He wrote both in English and in Scots with delicate artistry and rare humour, and was considered one of the most gifted poets of the modern Scottish renaissance. Among his books of...

Souter, David Hackett
(1939) US Supreme Court associate justice from 1990. A former attorney general of New Hampshire 1976-78, he was nominated to the court by President George H W Bush in 1990. Born in Melrose,...

souterrain
In archaeology, a small underground chamber, often lined and roofed with boulders or stone slabs. Dating from prehistoric to historic times, they are found along the northern boundaries of the Old...

South Africa
Country on the southern tip of Africa, bounded north by Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland. Government In November 1993 the South...

South African Wars
Two wars between the Boers (settlers of Dutch origin) and the British; essentially fought for the gold and diamonds of the Transvaal. The War of 1881 was triggered by the attempt of the Boers of the...

South East Asian art
The art of Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma (now Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, and Indonesia. The Indonesian islands are an ethnically diverse group of islands sharing a complicated history of cultural...

South Korea
Country in East Asia, bounded north by North Korea, east by the Sea of Japan, south by the Korea Strait, and west by the Yellow Sea. Government Under the 1988 constitution, executive power is held...

South Pacific Commission
Former name, until February 1998, of the Pacific Community. ...

South Pacific Forum
Former name, until October 2000, of Pacific Islands Forum. ...

South Sea Bubble
Financial crisis in Britain in 1720. The South Sea Company, founded in 1711, which had a monopoly of trade with South America, offered in 1719 to take over more than half the national debt in return...

Southampton Insurrection
US slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia, 1831 led by Nat Turner. ...

Southcott, Joanna
(1750-1814) English religious fanatic whose prophecies attracted thousands of followers in the early 19th century. She began prophesying in 1792 in her native Devon, but only gained a widespread reputation...

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
Collective military defence system 1954-77 established by Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the UK, and the USA to protect Southeast Asia from the spread of...

Southern Cone Common Market
Alternative name for Mercosur. ...

Southern US fiction
Part of a long tradition of fiction and belles lettres in the US South since Edgar Allan Poe, often distinctively different from other US fiction. In the 20th century, a remarkable literary revival...

Southern, Richard (William)
(1912-2001) British medieval historian. Southern's most distinguished work was concerned with the study of medieval thought and learning, and his exceptional gifts of exposition were notably displayed in The...

Southerne, Thomas
(1660-1746) English playwright and poet. He was the author of the tragi-comedies Oroonoko (1695-96) and The Fatal Marriage (1694). ...

Southey, Robert
(1774-1843) English poet and author. He is sometimes regarded as one of the `Lake poets`, more because of his friendship with English poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth and residence in...

Southwell, Robert
(c. 1561-1595) English Jesuit martyr and poet. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1578. He returned to England from France, where he had been educated, in 1587, and became chaplain to the countess of Arundel in...

Soutine, Chaïm
(1893-1943) Lithuanian-born French painter. The greatest of the French expressionists, he used brilliant colours and thick, energetically applied paint to create intense, emotionally charged works, mostly...

sovereign
British gold coin, introduced by Henry VII, which became the standard monetary unit in 1817. Minting ceased for currency purposes in the UK in 1914, but the sovereign continued to be used as...

sovereignty
Absolute authority within a given territory. The possession of sovereignty is taken to be the distinguishing feature of the state, as against other forms of community. The term has an internal...

soviet
Originally a strike committee elected by Russian workers in the 1905 revolution; in 1917 these were set up by peasants, soldiers, and factory workers. The soviets sent delegates to the All-Russian...

Soviet Union
Alternative name for the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). ...

sovkhoz
Soviet state-owned farm where the workers were state employees (such farms are still widespread in ex-Soviet republics). The sovkhoz differs from the kolkhoz where the farm is run by a...

Sowell, Thomas
(1930) US economist. He taught at Rutgers 1962-63, Howard 1963-64, and Brandeis Universities 1967-70. He left the University of California: Los Angeles in 1972 to direct the Ethnic Minorities...

Soyer, Moses
(1899-1974) Russian-born US painter whose parents emigrated to New York in 1912. He worked in a factory, studied in New York, and, like his brothers, painted city scenes, as in Girl...

Soyer, Raphael
(1899-1987) Russian-born US painter and writer whose family emigrated to New York in 1912. He was a social realist, as in Farewell to Lincoln Square (1959), and a figure painter, as seen in Standing Nude...

Soyinka, Wole
(1934) Nigerian author and dramatist who founded a national theatre in Nigeria. His plays explore Yoruba myth, ritual, and culture, and later challenged his country's government. He was the first African...

Spa Fields riots
Riots in London on 2 December 1816 provoked by demands for parliamentary reform. Discontent was widespread at the time due to an economic depression at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The orator...

spa town
Town with a spring, the water of which, it is claimed, has the power to cure illness and restore health. Spa treatment involves drinking and bathing in the naturally mineralized spring water. The...

Spaak, Paul-Henri
(1899-1972) Belgian socialist politician. From 1936 to 1966 he held office almost continuously as foreign minister or prime minister. He was an ardent advocate of international peace. ...

space-frame
In architecture, a lightweight, triangulated, structural framework, designed to be of uniform load resistance and used principally in large-span constructions, such as exhibition halls, stadia,...

Spain
Country in southwestern Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, bounded north by France and west by Portugal. Government The 1978 constitution provides...

Spalding, Catherine
(1793-1858) US Catholic religious foundress. In 1813, at Bardstown, Kentucky, she founded the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth; as longtime mother superior, she established many...

Spalding, John (Lancaster)
(1840-1916) US Catholic prelate. He became widely known for sermons and writings. As bishop of Peoria 1877-1908, he strongly supported parochial schools and free inquiry; he pressed for the establishment of...

Spalding, Martin (John)
(1810-1872) US Catholic prelate. The first US Catholic to win a doctorate in theology in Rome, 1834, he was a teacher, college president 1838-40, and scholar known especially for his writings on the...

Spandau
Suburb of Berlin, Germany. It was the site of Germany's principal arsenal in World War I;`Spandau` machine guns (actually German-made Maxims) were named after it. The chief war criminals...

Spanish
Inhabitants of Spain or people of Spanish descent, as well as the culture and Romance language of such persons. The standard Spanish language, Castilian, originated in the kingdoms of Castile and...

Spanish architecture
The architecture of Spain has been influenced by both European classical and Islamic traditions. early Christian (5th-8th centuries) The Visigoths invaded Spain 415 and were later converted to...

Spanish Armada
Fleet sent by Philip II of Spain against England in 1588. Consisting of 130 ships, it sailed from Lisbon and carried on a running fight up the Channel with the English fleet of 197 small ships under...

Spanish art
Painting and sculpture of Spain. Spanish art has been fashioned by both European and Islamic traditions, with notable regional adaptations. Whatever the source of its influences, Spanish art has...

Spanish Civil War
1936-39. See Civil War, Spanish. ...

Spanish literature
Prose and poetry of Spain, written in any of the country's languages. Spanish literature has roots in the 12th century, but its golden age was in the 15th-17th centuries with Miguel de Cervantes's...

Spanish Succession, War of the
War 1701-14 of Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark (the Allies) against France, Spain, and Bavaria. It was caused by Louis XIV's acceptance of the Spanish throne on behalf of...

Spanish-American War
Brief war in 1898 between Spain and the USA over Spanish rule in Cuba and the Philippines; the complete defeat of Spain made the USA a colonial power. The Treaty of Paris ceded the Philippines,...

Spargo, John
(1876-1966) English-born US reformer and museum director who emigrated to New York in 1901. A socialist intellectual and skilled orator, he worked on behalf of many social causes. He was a major architect of...

Spark, Muriel
(1918-2006) Scottish-born novelist. Her early novels are mostly dark and witty fantasies, focusing on social misfits, such as feature in The Comforters (1957) (her first novel), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie...

Sparkman, John (Jackson)
(1899-1985) US Democratic representative and senator. He represented Alabama in Congress 1937-46, before being elected in 1946 to the Senate, where he served until 1979. A Southern conservative when it came...

Sparta
Ancient Greek city-state in the southern Peloponnese (near Sparte), developed from Dorian settlements in the 10th century BC. The Spartans, known for their military discipline and austerity, took...

Spartacist
Member of a group of left-wing radicals in Germany at the end of World War I, founders of the Spartacus League, which became the German Communist Party in 1919. The league participated in the...

Spartacus
(died 71 BC) Thracian gladiator. In 73 BC he led a revolt of gladiators and slaves in Capua, near Naples, and swept through southern Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. He was eventually caught by Roman general Crassus 71...

Spaulding, Albert C(lanton)
(1914-1990) US archaeologist. He taught at the University of Michigan 1947-61. His major contribution was to introduce the use of quantitative techniques in archaeology and to develop it as a scientific...

speakeasy
Bar that illegally sold alcoholic beverages during the Prohibition period (1920-33) in the USA. The term is probably derived from the need to speak quickly or quietly to the doorkeeper in order to...

Speaker
Presiding officer charged with the preservation of order in the legislatures of various countries. In the UK the equivalent of the Speaker in the House...

Spear, Ruskin
(1911-1990) English artist. His portraits include Laurence Olivier (as Macbeth), Francis Bacon, and satirical representations of Margaret Thatcher. ...

Special Air Service
Specialist British regiment recruited from regiments throughout the army. It has served in Malaysia, Oman, Yemen, the Falklands, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan, as well as against...

Special Areas Acts
UK acts of Parliament 1936 and 1937, aimed at dealing with high unemployment in some regions of Britain. These areas, designated `special areas`, attracted government assistance in the form of...

special constable
In the UK, a part-time volunteer who supplements local police forces as required. Special constables were established by the Special Constabulary Act 1831. They number some 16,000. They wear a...

special drawing right
The right of a member state of the International Monetary Fund to apply for money to finance its balance of payments deficit. Originally, the SDR was linked to gold and the US dollar. After 1974...

special relationship
Belief that ties of common language, culture, and shared aims of the defence of democratic principles should sustain a political relationship between the USA and the UK, and that the same would not...

specialization
In economics, a method of organizing production where economic units such as households or nations are not self-sufficient but concentrate on producing certain goods and services and trading the...

speculative action
Law case taken on a `no-win, no-fee` basis, legal in the USA and Scotland, but not in England. In 1989 the Lord Chancellor proposed that this should be introduced into English law, although...

speculator
Individual or business that buys and sells in the hope of making a quick profit. On the stock market, for example, speculators might buy a share in the hope...

Spedding, James
(1808-1881) English editor. With R L Ellis and D D Heath, he edited The Works of Francis Bacon (in seven volumes 1857-59, with seven more volumes of The Life and Letters of Francis Bacon 1861-74). Spedding...

Speenhamland system
Method of poor relief in England started by Berkshire magistrates who met at Speenhamland in 1795, and decided that they ought to give `further assistance` to the poor. The system was adopted by...

Speer, Albert
(1905-1981) German architect and minister in the Nazi government during World War II. He was appointed Hitler's architect and, like his counterparts in Fascist Italy, chose an overblown classicism to glorify...

Speer, Robert Elliott
(1867-1947) US Protestant missionary leader. He became secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church two years after graduation from Princeton, and continued as spokesperson, chief...

Speidel, Hans
(born 1897) German soldier. In World War II he rose to be chief of staff to an army group under Field Marshal Rommel and held this appointment when the Allies invaded Normandy, France. Speidel was charged with...

Speight, George
(1956) Fijian industrialist and militia leader. He deposed the country's first ethnic Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, in a coup in May 2000. With armed supporters he held 27 members of the...

Speight, Johnny
(1920-1998) English comic screenwriter. His most celebrated creation was the television sitcom Till Death Do Us Part (1964-74), featuring the loud-mouthed, working-class bigot Alf Garnett. The...

Speiser, Ephraim Avigdor
(1902-1965) Ukrainian-born US archaeologist, biblical scholar, and linguist who emigrated to the USA as a teenager. He was a leading authority on biblical lands and culture and excavated important Sumerian...

Speke Hall
House in Merseyside, England, 10 km/6 mi southeast of Liverpool. The manor of Speke was mentioned in the Domesday Book and was therefore in existence in 1066. The present 16th-century house is...

Speke, John Hanning
(1827-1864) British explorer. He joined British traveller Richard Burton on an African expedition in which they reached Lake Tanganyika in 1858; Speke became the first European to see Lake Victoria. His claim...