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

democracy
Government by the people, usually through elected representatives, such as local councillors or members of a parliamentary government. In the modern world, democracy has developed from the American...

Democratic Party
Older of the two main political parties of the USA, founded in 1792. It tends to be the party of the working person, as opposed to the Republicans, the party of big business, but the divisions...

Democratic Unionist Party
Northern Ireland political party orientated towards the Protestant Unionist community. It opposes union with the Republic of Ireland. The DUP originated in 1971 as a breakaway from the Official...

Democritus
(c. 460-c. 370 BC) Greek philosopher and speculative scientist who made a significant contribution to metaphysics with his atomic theory of the universe: all things originate from a vortex of tiny, indivisible...

demon
Evil spirit; attendant or guardian spirit. A good spirit is an angel. The alternative spellings are more commonly used for senses without evil connotations, such as the genius...

demonstration
Public show of support for, or opposition to, a particular political or social issue, typically by a group of people holding a rally, displaying placards, and making speeches. They usually seek some...

Demosthenes
(c. 384-322 BC) Athenian politician, famed for his oratory. From 351 BC he led the party that advocated resistance to the growing power of Philip of Macedon, and in his Philippics, a series of speeches, incited the...

Demosthenes
Athenian general in the Peloponnesian War. He was the commander of an expedition...

Dempsey, Miles Christopher
(1896-1969) British general. He commanded an infantry brigade in France 1939-40, then took command of an armoured division June 1941. In 1942 he was in command of XIII Corps in both Sicily and Italy. He...

Den Uyl, Joop
(1919-1987) Dutch politician, prime minister 1973-77. His ministry was beset with difficulties, notably the Arab oil embargo, caused by his government's support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War. He...

Denby, Edwin
(1903-1983) US dance critic and poet. He regarded himself as a poet, but earned his living as a dance critic, writing articles for magazines and reviews for newspapers. He published books on dance and four...

Denby, Edwin
(1870-1929) US lawyer. His tenure as secretary of the navy (1921-24) was tainted by his alleged involvement in the Teapot Dome Scandal. Although not impeached, he resigned his office after encountering...

Dench, Judi(th) Olivia
(1934) English actor. She made her professional debut as Ophelia in Hamlet (1957) with the Old Vic Company. Her Shakespearean roles include Viola (1969), Lady Macbeth (1976), and Cleopatra (1987). She...

Dendera
Village in Upper Egypt on the west bank of the Nile opposite Kena. Once a city, it was the centre of the worship of the goddess Hathor, from the time of the building of the Pyramids. There is a...

dendrochronology
Analysis of the annual rings of trees to date past events by determining the age of timber. Since annual rings are formed by variations in the water-conducting cells produced by the plant during...

Dene
Term used in Canada to describe the American Indians (Athabaskan Indians) in the Northwest Territories. The official body representing them is called the Dene Nation. ...

dene hole
In archaeology, an artificial shaft that opens into double, trefoil (three-lobed), or double trefoil caves. These narrow vertical shafts were sunk up to 10 m/33 ft into the chalk rock of parts of...

Denfeld, Louis
(1891-1972) US naval officer. He was a rear admiral during World War II, commanding Battleship Division 9 in the Pacific. His defence of naval independence during the unification of the armed forces led to his...

Deng Xiaoping (or Teng Hsiao-ping)
(1904-1997) Chinese political leader. A member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from the 1920s, he took part in the Long March (1934-36). He was in the Politburo from 1955 until ousted in the Denham, John
(1615-1669) English poet. He was frequently linked with Edmund Waller in the century after his death as one of those who `cleansed` the language of the excesses of the metaphysical style and helped...

denier
Unit used in measuring the fineness of yarns, equal to the mass in grams of 9,000 metres of yarn. Thus 9,000 metres of 15 denier nylon, used in nylon stockings, weighs 15 g/0.5 oz, and in this case...

Denikin, Anton Ivanovich
(1872-1947) Russian general. He distinguished himself in the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 and World War I. After the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution 1917 he organized a volunteer army of 60,000 Whites...

denim
Cotton twill fabric with coloured warp (lengthwise yarns) and undyed weft, originating in France (hence the name `de Nîmes`). In its most classic...

Denis, Maurice
(1870-1943) French painter, illustrator, and art theorist. He is chiefly important as a founder-member and spokesperson for les Denis, St
First bishop of Paris and one of the patron saints of France, who was martyred by the Romans. His feast day is 9 October. St Denis is often confused with ...

Denmark
Peninsula and islands in northern Europe, bounded to the north by the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea, east by the Kattegat strait, south by Germany, and west by the North Sea. Government Under the...

Dennett, Daniel Clement
(1942) US philosopher. After graduating from Oxford and teaching at the University of California, he became a professor at Tufts College, Medford, Massachusetts, specializing in social sciences and...

Dennie, Joseph
(1768-1812) US journalist. Known initially for his manners and morals essays, he edited the Farmer's Weekly Museum and, The Port Folio, a successful pro-Federalist literary and political journal. In 1805 he...

Denning, Alfred Thompson
(1899-1999) English judge, Master of the Rolls 1962-82. In 1963 he conducted the inquiry into the Profumo scandal. A vigorous and highly innovative civil lawyer, he was controversial in his defence of the...

Dennis et al v. US
US Supreme Court decision of 1951 dealing with the power of Congress to suppress certain political activities by revoking First Amendment rights. The case was brought by Dennis, a Communist Party...

Dennis, Eugene
(1905-1961) US Communist Party leader. He attended a Communist Party school in Moscow and became general secretary and then chairman of the Communist Party of America. He was imprisoned under the Smith Act,...

Dennis, John
(1657-1734) English critic and dramatist. He contributed to neoclassical literary theory in such works as The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry (1704). `An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakespeare`...

Dennis, Les
(1954) English comedian and impressionist who has hosted the Independent Television (ITV) game show Family Fortunes since 1987. ...

denomination
Body or branch within the Christian church. With the growth and spread of Christianity, different groups of Christians split away from each other in order to worship in the way they believed to be...

Dent, Joseph Malaby
(1849-1926) English publisher. Together with the Dutton publishing house of New York, Dent founded the popular `Everyman's Library` series of fiction, which aimed to provide working people with affordable...

Denton, Jeremiah Andrew, Jr
(1924) US navy pilot, prisoner of war, and senator. Shot down over North Vietnam, he spent almost 8 years in captivity. He founded the Coalition for Decency to promote traditional values. Elected to the...

deontology
Ethical theory that the rightness of an action consists in its conformity to duty, regardless of the consequences that may result from it. Deontological ethics is thus opposed to any form of...

dependent territories
Term used as a means of referring collectively to colonies, protectorates, protected states, and trust territories for which Britain remains responsible. The term `dependencies` is normally used...

Depew, Chauncey Mitchell
(1834-1928) US politician and entrepreneur, senator for New York 1899-1911. Depew was chair of the board of directors for three railways, including the New York Central and Hudson River...

deportation
Expulsion from a country of an alien who is living there illegally, or whose presence is considered contrary to the public good. In...

deposit account
In banking, an account in which money is left to attract interest, sometimes for a fixed term. Unlike a current account, the deposit account does not give constant access. ...

deposition
In Christian art, a depiction of the body of Christ being taken down from the cross. Notable examples include van der Weyden's Deposition (c. 1430; Prado, Madrid) and Ruben's Descent from the Cross...

depreciation
In economics, the decline of a currency's value in relation to other currencies. Depreciation is also an accounting procedure applied to tangible assets. It describes the decrease in value of the...

depression
In economics, a period of low output and investment, with high unemployment. Specifically, the term describes two periods of crisis in world economy: 1873-96 and 1929 to the...

Depretis, Agostino
(1813-1887) Italian politician, prime minister 1876-78, 1878-79, 1881-87. During his premiership the suffrage was extended from 2%to 7%, of the population (1882), Italy formed the Triple Alliance with...

Derain, André
(1880-1954) French painter. He experimented with the strong, almost primary colours associated with fauvism but later developed a more sombre landscape and figurative style. Pool of London (1906; Tate Gallery,...

Derby, Earl of
Title borne by the English Stanley family since 1485. Notable members include Edward (George Geoffrey Smith) Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, and Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. The...

Derceto
Greek forms for a Syrian combination of Atar and Ate, names of a goddess worshipped in Syria, and possibly of Lydian origin. Greek writers tell a legend of her as half-fish. She is apparently...

deregulation
Action to abolish or reduce government controls and supervision of private economic activities, with the aim of improving competitiveness. In Britain, the major changes in the City of London in 1986...

Déroulède, Paul
(1846-1914) French politician and writer. A fiercely anti-German nationalist, he instituted the Ligue des Patriotes in 1882 and tried to use it to promote the cause of Georges Boulanger. The league was...

Derrida, Jacques
(1930-2004) French philosopher who introduced the deconstruction theory into literary criticism. His approach involved looking at how a text is put together in order to reveal its hidden meanings and the...

Dershowitz, Alan Morton
(1938) US lawyer, professor, and author. A Harvard law professor, he was the defence and appeal lawyer in some very high profile cases. An outspoken critic of flaws in the legal system, he championed every...

dervish
In Iran and Turkey, a religious mendicant; throughout the rest of Islam a member of an Islamic religious brotherhood, not necessarily mendicant in character. The Arabic equivalent is fakir. There...

Déry, Tibor
(1896-1977) Hungarian writer. The influence of surrealism is evident in his works. A spirit of philanthropic socialism underlies his major novels Szemtöl szembe/Face to Face (1945) and A befejezetlen...

Derzhavin, Gavrila Romanovich
(1743-1816) Russian poet and politician. His poetic style combined innovative language, daring imagery, and a mix of conversational and elevated registers, as in the philosophical ode `Bog/God` (1784). He...

Des Périers, Bonaventure
(c. 1510-c. 1544) French writer and humanist. He is remembered for two works: his controversial Cymbalum Mundi (1537), a satirical attack on Christianity in the form of four allegorical dialogues, which was banned...

Desai, Anita
(1937) Indian novelist. Her calm, sensitive, and often humorous style is much admired. Her early novels concentrate on the internal workings of the mind, often the mind of a woman trying to make time and a...

Desai, Morarji Ranchhodji
(1896-1995) Indian politician. An early follower of Mahatma Gandhi, he was independent India's first non-Congress Party prime minister 1977-79, as leader of the Janata party, after toppling Indira Gandhi....

Desbarres, Joseph Frederick Walsh
(1722-1824) English military engineer and administrator who was prominent in the conquest of Canada. He later became lieutenant-governor of Cape Breton (1784-1805), and Prince Edward Island (1805-13). The...

Desborough, John
(1608-1680) English soldier and politician. A Parliamentarian in the English Civil War, he sat in Oliver Cromwell's House of Lords and after Cromwell's death became a strong partisan of Charles Fleetwood. He...

Descartes, René
(1596-1650) French philosopher and mathematician. He believed that commonly accepted knowledge was doubtful because of the subjective nature of the senses, and attempted to rebuild human knowledge using as his...

Deschamps, Eustache
(c. 1346-c. 1406) French poet. He was the author of more than 1,000 ballades, the epic poem Miroir de mariage/The Mirror of Marriage, an attack on women, and a prose work on...

desegregation
The process of ending separation or isolation of a group who were restricted by law or custom to separate living areas, public facilities, educational institutions, etc. Desegregation often refers...

deselection
In Britain, removal or withholding of a sitting member of Parliament's official status as a candidate for a forthcoming election. The term came into use in the 1980s with the efforts of many local...

Desert Rats
Nickname of the British 7th Armoured Division in North Africa during World War II. Their uniforms had a shoulder insignia bearing a jerboa (a North African rodent, capable of great leaps). The...

Desert Storm, Operation
Code-name of the military action to eject the Iraqi army from Kuwait during 1991. The build-up phase was code-named Operation Desert Shield and lasted from August 1990, when Kuwait was first...

Desiderio da Settignano
(c. 1430-1464) Italian sculptor. Desiderio was a successful imitator of the shallow-relief carvings (rilievo schiacciato) of Donatello. He was not interested in the darker, dramatic side of Donatello, but...

design drawing
Drawing used to convey information. Design drawings can range from rough sketches outlining ideas to neat, accurate presentation drawings explaining how a product is put together. Rough sketches are...

Design Museum
Museum in London's Docklands dedicated to mass-produced goods with an emphasis on design. Opened in 1989 and supported by the designer-entrepreneur Terence Conran, it sets out to promote...

design process
Stage in the production of an artefact, which must take place before the manufacturing process begins. Needs and opportunities for new designs are brought about by changes. These changes may occur...

Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin, Jean
(1595-1676) French writer. He was one of the first members of the French Academy. His many works include the romance Ariane (1632), comedies, of which the best known is Les Visionnaires/The Visionaries (1637),...

Desmond
See Fitzgerald family. ...

Desmond revolt
Two Catholic rebellions against Protestant rule in Ireland in 1569 and 1579, sparked by the proposed plantations of Munster and Connacht by Protestants. The Geraldine Clan rose in protest, led by...

Desmond, Earl of
Former Irish aristocratic title. Along with the territory of County Kerry, it was first conferred on Maurice Fitzthomas (or Fitzgerald) in 1329, while the last holder was James Fitzgerald, the 15th...

Desnos, Robert
(1900-1945) French poet. One of the early surrealists (see surrealism), his poetry includes Corps et biens (1930), Etat de veille (1943), and Calixto (1953). He also published volumes of poetic prose, La...

Despard Plot
Plot 1802 led by Irish conspirator Edward M Despard (1751-1803) to seize the Tower of London and the Bank of England and assassinate King George III. The affair embarrassed the government not so...

Despard, Edward Marcus
(1751-1803) Irish naval officer and colonial administrator, who was executed for leading a conspiracy against British rule in Ireland. After serving in various posts in Central America 1772-90, including the...

Despard, Mrs Charlotte
(1844-1939) English suffragette and social reformer. She was a poor law guardian, a socialist orator, and an extreme pacifist during World War I. Afterwards she lived in Dublin, where she was a strong supporter...

Despencer, Baron Le
Title of Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron Le Despencer. ...

Desperate Housewives
US primetime television soap opera. The darkly comic series, first aired by the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 2004, follows the lives of wealthy suburban families, exposing the family...

Desportes, Philippe
(1546-1606) French poet. He was court poet to Henry III. His poems include Premières oeuvres/First Works (1573) and metrical versions of the Psalms. His love poetry, harmonious though conventional, reflects a...

despotism
Arbitrary and oppressive rule of a despot or autocrat, whose decisions are not controlled by law or political institutions; another term for tyranny. In ancient Greece,...

Dessalines, Jean Jacques
(c. 1758-1806) Emperor of Haiti 1804-06. Born in Guinea, he was taken to Haiti as a slave, where in 1802 he succeeded Toussaint L'Ouverture as leader of the black revolt against the...

Destouches, Philippe.
(1680-1754) French dramatist. His finest play, Le Glorieux/The Conceited Count 1732, depicts the struggle between the wealthy middle class and the old nobility. His taste for Gothic romance makes him a link...

destroyer
Small, fast warship designed for antisubmarine work. Destroyers played a critical role in the convoy system in World War II. Originally termed `torpedo-boat destroyers`, they were designed by...

detective fiction
Genre of novel or short story in which a mystery is solved mainly by the action of a professional or amateur detective. Where the mystery to be solved concerns a crime, the work may be called détente
Reduction of political tension and the easing of strained relations between nations, as seen in the ending of the Cold War 1989-90. The term was first used in the 1970s to describe the new easing...

detention
In law, depriving a person of liberty following arrest. In England and Wales, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 established a wide-ranging statutory framework for the regime of detention....

detention centre
In the UK penal system, an institution where young offenders (aged 14-21) are confined for short periods. Treatment is designed to be disciplinary; for example, the `short, sharp shock` regime...

determinism
In philosophy, the view that every event is an instance of some scientific law of nature; or that every event has at least one cause; or that nature is uniform. The thesis cannot be proved or...

deterrence
Underlying conception of the nuclear arms race: the belief that a potential aggressor will be discouraged from launching a `first strike` nuclear attack by the knowledge that the adversary is...

Dettingen, Battle of
In the War of the Austrian Succession, battle in the Bavarian village of that name where on 27 June 1743, an army of British, Hanoverians, and Austrians under George II defeated the French under...

Deucalion
In Greek mythology, the son of the Titan Prometheus, king of Phthia, and an equivalent of Noah in the Old Testament. Warned by his father of a coming flood, Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha built an...

deus ex machina
Theatrical device in which a far-fetched or unlikely event resolves an intractable difficulty. The phrase was originally used in classical Greek and Roman tragedy to indicate a god lowered by...

Deuteronomy
Book of the Old Testament; fifth book of the Torah. It contains various laws, including the laws for kosher and the ten commandments, and gives an account of the death of Moses. ...

Deutsch, Babette
(1895-1982) US poet and writer. As well as having an academic career, she translated Russian poetry, and worked as an editor, critic, and writer of adult and juvenile fiction. Her well-received poetry was...

Deutsch, Niklaus Manuel
(c. 1484-1530) Swiss artist, writer, and religious reformer. Many of his works dwell on the morbid subjects of ghosts and death, as in the case of his best work The Dance of Death, painted for the Dominican...

Deutscher Werkbund
German design reform organization set up 1907 to promote high standards of design within manufacturing industry. Membership covered a wide spectrum of people involved in design in different...

Deutscher, Isaac
(1907-1967) Polish journalist and political commentator, active in the UK. He came to London in 1939 and worked on the editorial staff of The Economist and Observer. His name was associated with the Marxist...

Deutschmark
Former German currency unit, replaced in 2002 by the single currency of the European Union, the euro. ...