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

Bloomsbury Group
Intellectual circle of writers and artists based in Bloomsbury, London, which flourished in the 1920s. It centred on the house of publisher Leonard Woolf and his wife, novelist Virginia Woolf....

Blore, Edward
(1787-1879) English architect, draughtsman and writer. His first important building was Walter Scott's Tudor Gothic Revival house Abbotsford 1816. As architect to the Crown, he completed Buckingham Palace and...

Blount (or Blunt), Edward
(lived 1588-1632) English printer and stationer. In 1623, in collaboration with the printer Isaac Jaggard, he brought out John Hemings's and Henry Condell's edition of Shakespeare's plays, known as the First Folio....

Blount, Charles
(1563-1606) English soldier, a friend of the 2nd Earl of Essex. Blount accompanied him and ...

Blount, William
(1749-1800) US governor and senator. Blount represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1787. He was appointed governor of Tennessee territory in 1790, and became one of the new state of...

Bloy, Léon-Marie
(1846-1917) French writer. He achieved a considerable reputation with his literary lampoons in the 1880s. Le Désesperé/The Desperate Man 1887 and La Femme pauvre/The Woman who was Poor 1897 are...

blue books
In Britain, former official reports published by the government and Parliament on domestic and foreign affairs in the 19th and early 20th centuries, so named for their blue paper covers. They were...

blue chip
In business and finance, a stock that is considered strong and reliable in terms of the dividend yield and capital value. Blue-chip companies are favoured by stock-market investors more...

Blue Cross gas
In World War I, German term for respiratory irritant gases, from the mark painted on the shells. The group consisted of diphenylchlorarsine, diphenylcyanarsine, and ethylcarbazol, although the...

Blue Division
Spanish volunteers who fought with the German army against the USSR during World War II. ...

Blue Laws
In American history, a collection of severe laws regarding behaviour and the keeping of the Sabbath. They were alleged to have been in force among the early colonists of New Haven...

Bluebeard
Folk-tale character, popularized by the writer Charles Perrault in France about 1697, and historically identified with Gilles de Rais, a 15th-century French nobleman executed for murdering...

Bluemner, Oscar
(1867-1938) German-born painter and architect. Bluemner emigrated to the USA in 1892. A practising architect, he later devoted his life to painting. His individual coloration and his cubist landscapes, using...

Blum, Léon
(1872-1950) French socialist politician, parliamentary leader of the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO) in the inter-war period and the first socialist prime minister of France 1936-37,...

Blum, Robert (Frederick)
(1875-1903) US painter and illustrator. Blum was commissioned to illustrate Sir Edwin Arnold's Japonica (1890-91), and the influence of Japan on his work is seen in his major painting, The Ameya (1892). ...

Blume, Judy
(1938) US novelist. Bored with suburban life, Blume turned to writing and illustrating children's stories. After many rejections, she published Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (1970), Blubber (1974),...

Blumenthal, Joseph
(1897-1990) US printer, book designer, and publisher. Blumenthal founded the Spiral Press in 1926. He printed fine editions of many texts but was renowned for his special editions of the poems of Robert Frost....

Blumentritt, Gunther
(1892-1967) German general. A general staff officer, he was chief of operations for Field Marshal von Rundstedt throughout the Polish and French campaigns 1939-40, and planned French counterinvasion defences...

Blunden, Edmund (Charles)
(1896-1974) English poet and critic. He served in World War I and published the prose work Undertones of War (1928). His poetry is mainly about rural life. Among his scholarly contributions was the discovery...

Blunkett, David
(1947) British Labour politician, former education and home secretary 1994-2004 in the Blair government. A member of Labour's shadow cabinet from 1992, he was responsible...

Blunt, Anthony Frederick
(1907-1983) English art historian and double agent. As a Cambridge lecturer, he recruited for the Soviet secret service and, as a member of the British Secret Service 1940-45, passed information to the USSR....

Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen
(1840-1922) English poet. He travelled in the Middle East, becoming a supporter of Arab nationalism. He also supported Irish home rule (he was imprisoned 1887-88), and wrote anti-imperialist books...

Bluntschli, Johann Kaspar
(1808-1881) German jurist. He published a major work on jurisprudence, the Allgemeines Staatsrecht/General Constitutional Law (1852), and became one of the greatest authorities on international law. In 1873 he...

Bly, Nellie
US journalist; see Elizabeth Seaman. ...

Bly, Robert Elwood
(1926) US writer. His book Iron John: A Book About Men (1990), in which he argued that men needed to rediscover the warrior side of their natures, started the `men's movement`. His collection Light...

Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von
(1742-1819) Prussian general and field marshal, popularly known as `Marshal Forward`. He took an active part in the patriotic movement, and in the War of German Liberation defeated the French as...

Blyth, Chay (Charles)
(1940) British sailing adventurer who rowed across the Atlantic with Capt John Ridgeway in 1966 and sailed solo around the world in a westerly direction during 1970-71. He sailed around the world with a...

Blyton, Enid Mary
(1897-1968) English writer of children's books. She used her abilities as a trained teacher of young children and a journalist, coupled with her ability to think like a child, to produce books at all levels...

Bo&gcaron;azköy
Village in Turkey 145 km/90 mi east of Ankara. It is on the site of Hattusas, the ancient Hittite capital established about 1640 BC. Thousands of tablets excavated here over a number of years by the...

Boadicea
Alternative (Latin) spelling of British queen Boudicca. ...

Boanerges
`Sons of thunder`, name given by Christ to the two disciples James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Mark 3:17). ...

Board of Trade
Former UK government organization, merged with the Department of Trade and Industry 1970. ...

board of visitors
In the UK penal system, a body of people independent of the government who supervise the state of prison premises, the administration of prisons, and the treatment of the prisoners. Boards of...

Boas, Franz
(1858-1942) German-born US anthropologist. He stressed the need to study `four fields`- ethnology, linguistics, physical anthropology, and archaeology - before generalizations might be made about any...

boat people
Illegal emigrants travelling by sea, especially those Vietnamese who left their country after the takeover of South Vietnam in 1975 by North Vietnam. In 1979, almost 69,000 boat people landed in...

Boateng, Paul Yaw
(1951) British Labour politician and broadcaster, chief secretary to the Treasury 2002-05, and British High Commissioner to South Africa from 2005. An articulate barrister, he became, in 2002, Britain's...

Boberg, Ferdinand
(1860-1945) Swedish architect. The most important exponent of early 20th-century architecture in Sweden, he designed mainly large-scale civic buildings in the style of US architects Henry Richardson and...

Boccaccio, Giovanni
(1313-1375) Italian writer and poet. He is chiefly known for the collection of tales called the Decameron (1348-53). Equally at home with tragic and comic narrative, he laid the foundations for the humanism...

Boccacino, Boccaccio
(1467-c. 1524) Italian painter. He worked in Genoa, Ferrara, and Venice, where he was influenced by Giovanni Bellini. He settled in Cremona, his main work being frescoes in the cathedral there. His Marriage of St...

Boccalini, Trajano
(1556-1613) Italian satirist and political writer. His Ragguagli di Parnaso/Dispatches from Parnassus (1613) deal with contemporary topics and personalities, both private and political. A similar collection, La...

Boccioni, Umberto
(1882-1916) Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist. One of the founders of Futurism, he pioneered a semi-abstract style that sought to depict movement and speed, as in his sculpture Unique Forms of...

Bock, Fedor von
(1880-1945) German field marshal of World War II. He commanded an army group during the German invasions of Poland 1939, Belgium and the Netherlands 1940, and the USSR 1941. After...

Bocskai, Stephen (István)
(1557-1606) Prince of Transylvania. He was the leader of a successful rebellion against the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II in 1604, and in 1605 was elected Prince of Transylvania by the Diet (legislative...

Bodenheim, Maxwell
(1893-1954) US poet and writer. Bodenheimer published 11 volumes of poetry, including Minna and Myself in 1918, and novels, which were considered to be indecent. As editor of the...

Bodhgaya
Village in Bihar, India, where Gautama became the Buddha while sitting beneath a bo, or bodhi tree (`wisdom tree`); a descendant of the original tree is preserved. ...

bodhi tree
Buddhist symbol of enlightenment. It is the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, where he preached his first sermon and set the wheel of dharma (religious teachings) in motion. A...

bodhisattva
In Mahayana Buddhism, someone who has reached enlightenment but has chosen to remain on the human plane in order to help other living beings. A bodhisattva is free to enter nirvana but voluntarily...

Bodin, Jean
(1530-1596) French political philosopher whose six-volume De la République (1576) is considered the first work on political economy. Bodin was a lawyer in Paris. He published in 1574 a tract explaining that...

Bodley, Thomas
(1545-1613) English scholar and diplomat, after whom the Bodleian Library in Oxford is named. After retiring from Queen Elizabeth I's service in 1597, he concentrated on restoring the university's library,...

Bodoni, Giambattista
(1740-1813) Italian printer. He managed the printing press of the duke of Parma and produced high-quality editions of the classics. He designed several typefaces, including one bearing his name, which is in...

body art
Form of painting that uses the artist's own body as its central tool and material; it is closely related to action art. Body art grew in the late 1960s, and reflected society's more liberal...

Boehm, Joseph Edgar
(1834-1890) Austrian-born English sculptor. Among the most important of his many commissions was a colossal statue of Queen Victoria for Windsor Castle 1869. Born in Vienna, Boehm settled in England as a...

Boehme, Jakob
(1575-1624) German mystic who had many followers in Germany, Holland, and England. He claimed divine revelation of the unity of everything and nothing, and found in God's eternal nature a principle to reconcile...

Boelke, Captain Oskar
(1889-1916) German fighter pilot in World War I. By 1916 he had more enemy aircraft to his credit than any other German flier and received the Order pour le Merite. At the time of his death in October 1916, he...

Boeotia
Ancient and modern district of central Greece, of which Thebes was and remains the chief city. The Boeotian League (formed by ten city-states in the 6th century BC) was brought under strong...

Boer
Dutch settler or descendant of Dutch and Huguenot settlers in South Africa; see also Afrikaner. ...

Boer War
The second of the South African Wars 1899-1902, waged between Dutch settlers in South Africa and the British. ...

Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus
(AD 480-524) Roman philosopher. He wrote treatises on music and mathematics and De Consolatione Philosophiae/The Consolation of Philosophy, a dialogue in prose. It was translated into European languages during...

Bofors gun
Light 40-mm anti-aircraft gun designed by the Bofors company of Sweden 1929 and used by almost all combatants in World War II. They were highly effective against...

Bogan, Louise
(1897-1970) US poet and writer. Bogan was poetry editor of the New Yorker from 1931 to 1969. She was an influential critic and a noted lyrical poet, her work including `The Blue Estuaries` (1968). ...

Bogdanov, Aleksander Aleksandrovich
(1873-1928) Russian philosopher, sociologist, economist, and politician. He became a Bolshevik in 1903 and was leader of the Bolshevik faction 1904-09, after which he became leader of the Left Bolshevik...

Bogdanov, Michael
(1938) English theatre director. He co-founded and became joint artistic director of the English Shakespeare Company with actor Michael Pennington (1943) in 1986. He has directed plays at the Royal...

Boggs, Thomas Hale, Sr
(1914-1973) US Democrat representative for Louisiana 1941-43 and 1947-73. He chaired the Special Committee on Campaign Expenditures in 1951 and became majority whip in 1961. He was majority leader of the...

Bogomil
Member of a sect of Christian heretics who originated in 10th-century Bulgaria and spread throughout the Byzantine empire. They held the dualistic belief that the physical world was created by the...

Bohannan, Paul J(ames)
(1920) US anthropologist. Bohannan published studies of African legal and economic anthropology, and on western middle-class concepts of marriage, family, and divorce. His works include Divorce and After...

Bohemia
Area of the Czech Republic, a fertile plateau drained by the Elbe and Vltava rivers. It is rich in mineral resources, including uranium, coal, lignite, iron ore, silver, and graphite. The main...

Bohlen, Charles `Chip`
(1904-1974) US diplomat. Educated at Harvard, he entered the foreign service In 1929. An interpreter and adviser to presidents Franklin D Roosevelt at Tehran and Yalta, and Harry S Truman at Potsdam, he served...

Bohm-Bawerk, Eugen von
(1851-1914) Austrian economist whose most important contribution to economic theory was in the field of interest and capital. He subscribed to the ...

Bohn, Henry George
(1796-1884) English bookseller and publisher, of German parentage. His `guinea catalogue` of rare books (1841) attracted much attention. In 1846 he launched his Standard Library of reprints, and followed...

Bohrod, Aaron
(1907-1992) US painter. A student of John Sloan in New York, Bohrod taught at the University of Wisconsin: Madison, 1948-73. His works include Landscape Near Chicago (1934). ...

Boileau Despréaux, Nicolas
(1636-1711) French poet and critic. After a series of contemporary satires, his `Epîtres/Epistles` (1669-77) led to his joint appointment with the dramatist Jean Racine as royal historiographer in 1677....

Bois, John
(1561-1644) English translator of the Bible. He was one of the translators for the King James's Bible in 1604, and a member of the board of revision. He translated a portion of the Apocrypha and of the sections...

Boissard, Maurice
Pseudonym of French theatre critic and writer Paul Leautaud, used when writing for the Mercure de France and the Nouvelle revue française. ...

Bok, Edward William
(1863-1930) Netherlandish editor and author. Emigrating to the USA in 1870, Bok began working in newspapers at the age of 13. In 1884, he started a syndicate that sold women's features to newspapers; and in...

Bokassa, Jean-Bédel
(1921-1996) Central African Republic president 1966-79 and self-proclaimed emperor 1977-79. Commander-in-chief from 1963, in December 1965 he led the military coup that gave him the presidency. On 4...

Bol, Ferdinand
(c. 1616-1680) Dutch painter. He was a pupil (before 1640) of Rembrandt in Amsterdam, and probably the most prolific of his followers in portraiture, their works sometimes being confused. In his later style he...

Bol, Hans
(1535-1593) Flemish painter whose landscapes are populated with numerous human figures. In addition to oil paintings he produced watercolours, miniatures, cartoons for tapestry, topographical...

Bolam, James
(1938) English actor. He starred as the endearing and witty rogue Terry Collier in the working-class television sitcom The Likely Lads (1964-66) with Rodney Bewes. He also starred in its sequel,...

Boland, Eavan (Aisling)
(1944) Irish poet and academic. Born in Dublin and educated in London, New York, and Trinity College, Dublin, Boland has lectured and taught creative writing in Ireland and the USA. Most significantly she...

Boland, Patrick Joseph
(1880-1942) US representative. A carpenter and general contractor he served in local offices before going to the US House of Representatives in 1931 as Democrat representative for Pennsylvania. He became...

Boleyn, Anne
(c. 1507-1536) Queen of England 1533-36 as the second wife of Henry VIII. She gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I in 1533, but was unable to produce a male heir to the thr ...

Bolger, (Raymond Wallace) Ray
(1904-1987) US actor and dancer. An agile dancer who appeared on stage and television, he was the wobbly scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939) and he received numerous theatre awards, including a Tony in 1949. ...

Bolger, Jim
(1935) New Zealand National Party centre-right politician, prime minister 1990-97. His government improved relations with the USA, which had deteriorated sharply when the preceding Labour governments...

Bolimov, Battle of
In World War I, inconclusive battle between German and Russian forces, part of the third German attack on Warsaw February 1915; mainly significant as the first battle in which gas was used as a...

Bolingbroke
Title of Henry of Bolingbroke, Henry IV of England. ...

Bolívar, Simón
(1783-1830) South American nationalist, leader of revolutionary armies, known as the Liberator. He fought the Spanish colonial forces in several uprisings and eventually liberated Colombia in 1819, his native...

Bolivia
Landlocked country in central Andes mountains in South America, bounded north and east by Brazil, southeast by Paraguay, south by Argentina, and west by Chile and Peru. Government Achieving...

Bolkiah, Muda Hassanal
(1946) Sultan of Brunei from 1967, following the abdication of his father, Omar Ali Saifuddin (1916-1986). As absolute ruler, Bolkiah also assumed the posts of prime minister and defence minister on...

Bollandist
Member of a group of Belgian Jesuits who edit and publish the Acta Sanctorum, the standard collection of saints' lives and other scholarly publications. They are named after John Bolland...

Bolling, Richard Walker
(1916-1991) US representative. Bolling worked in educational administration before joining the army in 1941. He fought in the Pacific, and served in Japan under General MacArthur. Awarded a Bronze Star, he was...

Bolo, Paul (Pasha)
(died 1918) French traitor and confidence trickster. In February 1915 he gained the confidence of the Khedive of Egypt and got his backing for a scheme to get money from Germany to promote a campaign for peace...

Bologna, Concord(at) of
Agreement reached in 1515-16 that restored papal authority over the French (Gallican) church, but granted the French monarchy a degree of control over church appointments. Signed by Pope Leo X and...

Bolshevik
Member of the majority of the Russian Social Democratic Party who split from the Mensheviks in 1903. The Bolsheviks, under Lenin, advocated the destruction of capitalist political and economic...

Bolswert, Sheltea
(1586-1659) Dutch engraver. He was the most noteworthy of the many engravers who reproduced the paintings of Rubens, after whom he engraved more than 60 plates. He also engraved works of Seghers, Jordaens, and...

Bolt, Robert (Oxton)
(1924-1995) English dramatist and screenwriter. He wrote historical plays, such as A Man for All Seasons (1960; filmed 1966); his screenplays include Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr Zhivago (1965) (both Academy...

Bolton Priory
Priory situated on the banks of the River Wharfe, in the village of Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire, England. Its Augustinian community was foun ...

bomb
Container filled with explosive or chemical material and generally used in warfare. There are also incendiary bombs and nuclear bombs and missiles (see nuclear warfare). Any object designed to cause...

Bombay
Former province of British India; the capital was the city of Bombay (now Mumbai). In 1960 the major part became the two new states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. ...

Bomberg, David (Garshen)
(1890-1957) English painter and founder member of the London Group. He applied forms...

bombing campaigns, World War II
Air raids conducted against civilian and industrial targets by both the Allied and Axis powers from 1940 to 1945. Their aim was to destroy the morale of civilian populations and undermine the...