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

Dietrich, Sepp
(1892-1976) German SS officer. He founded the Liebstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Hitler's personal bodyguard, 1928 and led it during World War II when it operated as a combat unit...

diffusion
In archaeology and anthropology, the spread of ideas, objects, or cultural traits from one culture or society to another, rather than their independent invention. For example, a diffusionist school...

Digambara
(`sky-clad`) member of a sect of Jain monks (see Jainism) who practise complete nudity. ...

Digby, Everard
(1578-1606) English conspirator in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was supposed to start a revolt in the Midlands on hearing of the plot's success. After its failure he was captured and executed. He was the only...

Digby, Kenelm
(1603-1665) English diplomat and writer. As a Catholic he was distrusted by Parliament and spent most of the years 1642-60 abroad. He was Queen Henrietta Maria's chancellor in the 1640s and retained his...

Diggelmann, Walter Matthias
(1927-1979) Swiss writer. His books furiously attack the Swiss establishment, whose guilt and shame he endeavoured to arouse by suggesting complicity in World War II. Die Hinterlassenschaft/The Inheritance...

Digger
Member of an English 17th-century radical sect that attempted to seize and share out common land. The Diggers became prominent in April 1649 when, headed by Gerrard Winstanley, they set up...

Diggs, Charles Coles, Jr
(1922) US representative. A Democratic member of the Michigan senate, he served in the US House of Representatives from 1955 until resigning in 1980. He founded...

Dike
Ancient Greek concept of Justice, at times personified, typically as one of the Horae (goddesses of the seasons) with Peace (Irene) and Good Order (Eunomia), daughters of Themis and Zeus. ...

Dilke, Charles Wentworth
(1843-1911) British Liberal politician, member of Parliament 1868-86 and 1892-1911. A Radical, he supported a minimum wage and legalization of trade unions. Succeeded to baronetcy 1869. ...

Dilke, Charles Wentworth
(1789-1864) English journalist and critic; editor and proprietor of the literary journal Athenaeum from 1830-46, and editor of the Daily News from 1846-49. After being educated at Cambridge, Dilke began a...

Dill, John Greer
(1881-1944) British field marshal in World War II. A former commandant of the Staff College and Director of Operations, he commanded British I Corps in France 1939. He returned to the UK April 1940 to become...

Dille, John Flint
(1884-1957) US newspaper syndicate executive. He founded the National Newspaper Syndicate to distribute the work of prominent journalists at low cost to newspapers. He introduced `Buck Rogers` in 1929. At...

Diller, Burgoyne
(1906-1965) US painter and sculptor. A member of the American Abstract Artists, a group that emphasized non-representational work, he created spare, flat-surfaced work, such as First Theme (1933-34). His...

Dillon, Gerard
(1916-1971) Irish painter who made a significant contribution to the development of modernism in Ireland. His work, often strongly autobiographical in content, is surreal and even naive in style. On occasion...

Dillon, John
(1851-1927) Irish nationalist politician. He was a vigorous supporter of Charles Parnell until the O'Shea divorce affair, when he became the leader of the anti-Parnellite Irish National Federation. He...

Dillon, Tom
(1915-1986) US advertising executive. As a copywriter working for the New York advertising agency BBDO, he created advertisements for such clients as Cream of Wheat and Nor ...

Dilthey, Wilhelm
(1833-1911) German philosopher, a major figure in the interpretive tradition of hermeneutics. He argued that the `human...

Dimbleby, David
(1938) English broadcaster and presenter. He presents the topical news programmes Question Time and Panorama for BBC television. He joined the BBC in 1960 and has presented the BBC election and results...

dime novel
Melodramatic paperback novel of a series started in the USA in the 1850s, published by Beadle and Adams of New York, which frequently dealt with Deadwood Dick and his frontier adventures. Authors...

dimethyl sulphate
Toxic gas used in World War I by the Germans (D-Stoff) and the French (Rationite). A powerful irritant in low concentrations, it is f ...

diminishing returns, law of
In economics, the principle that additional application of one factor of production, such as an extra machine or employee, at first results in rapidly increasing output but eventually yields...

Dimitriev, Radko
(1859-1919) Bulgarian general who served with the Russian army during World War I. Dimitriev's campaigns were often marked by heavy losses. He was murdered by Bolsheviks at Pyatigorsk...

Dimitrov, Georgi Mikhailovich
(1882-1949) Bulgarian communist, prime minister from 1946. He was elected a deputy in 1913 and from 1919 was a member of the executive of the Comintern, an international communist...

Dinarchus
(c. 360-c. 290 BC) Last of the ten Attic Orators, born at Corinth. As a metic (resident alien), he could not speak at Athens, but wrote speeches for others. In the affair of Harpalus he composed the extant prosecution...

Dine
Alternative name for a member of the American Indian Navajo people. ...

Dine, Jim
(1935) US pop artist. He experimented with combinations of paintings and objects, such as a bathroom sink attached to a canvas. Dine was a pioneer of happenings in the 1960s and of environment art. Dine...

Dinesen, Isak
Pen-name of Danish writer Karen Blixen. ...

Ding Ling
(1904-1986) Chinese novelist. Her works include Wei Hu (1930) and The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River (1951). She was imprisoned by the Kuomintang (Guomindang, the nationalists under Jiang Jie Shi, or Chiang...

Dingaan
(1795-c. 1843) Zulu chief who obtained the throne in 1828 by murdering his predecessor, Shaka, and became notorious for his cruelty. In warfare with the Boer immigrants into Natal he was defeated on 16 December...

Dingley, Nelson
(1832-1899) US representative. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he was editor of the Lewiston Evening Journal. He was a protectionist Republican congressman for Maine, sponsoring the Dingley Tariff,...

Dini, Lamberto
(1932) Italian politician, prime minister 1995-96. Director general of the Bank of Italy from 1979, he was brought into government, as treasury minister, by Premier Silvio Berlusconi in 1994. On the...

Dinka
Member of a Nilotic minority group in southern Sudan. The Dinka are transhumant pastoralists, moving their cattle from river-area camps in the dry season to savannah forest and permanent...

Dinka religion
Beliefs of the Dinka, a pastoral people of southern Sudan. It is dominated by Nhialic (`Sky`), who is God and speaks through a number of spirits who take possession of individuals in order to...

Dinkins, David
(1927) Mayor of New York City 1990-93, a Democrat. He won a reputation as a moderate and consensual community politician and was Manhattan borough president before succeeding Edward I Koch to become New...

Dinsmoor, William Bell
(1887-1973) US classical archaeologist. A Harvard graduate, he became a student, then excavator and restorer at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, before teaching at Columbia University. His...

Dio Cassius
(c.AD 150-c. 235) Roman historian. He wrote, in Greek, a Roman history in 80 books (of which 26 survive), covering the period from the founding of the city to AD 229, including the only surviving account of the...

Dio Chrysostom
(c. 40-c. 115) Greek sophist and rhetorician, maternal grandfather of Dio Cassius, born at Prusa in Bithynia. He settled in Rome, was banished by the emperor Domitian, but returned under Nerva. Eighty...

Diocletian
(AD 245-313) Roman emperor 284-305 who initiated severe persecution of Christians in 303. He was commander of the protectores domestici (Roman staff officers) under the emperor Numerian, and proclaimed emperor...

Diodorus Siculus
(lived 1st century BC) Greek historian. His Bibliotheca Historica consisted of 40 books in three sections: it covered the period from before the Trojan War to Julius Caesar's Gallic campaigns. Only books 1-5 and 11-20...

Diogenes
(c. 412-c. 323 BC) Ascetic Greek philosopher of the cynic school. He believed in freedom and self-sufficiency for the individual, and that the virtuous life was the simple life; he did not believe in social mores....

Diogenes Laertius
(lived 3rd century AD) Greek writer. He was the author of an important compilation of anecdotes and quotations from the ancient Greek philosophers. It is the sole source of information we have about many of the...

Diomedes
In Greek mythology, the son of Tydeus, successor of Adrastus as king of Argos, southern Greece, and a prominent leader in Homer's Iliad. A favourite of the goddess Athena, he sailed against Troy...

Dion
(408-353 BC) Tyrant of Syracuse. When his brother-in-law the tyrant Dionysius I died 367, Dion invited Plato, the philosopher, to Syracuse with a view to making Dionysius II a philsopher-king. But ill...

Dionysia
Festivals of the god Dionysus (Bacchus) celebrated in ancient Greece, especially in Athens. There were five main festivals, including the Little or Rustic Dionysia in the month of Poseidon (Dec),...

Dionysius
Two tyrants of the ancient Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily. Dionysius the Elder (c. 430-367 BC) seized power in 405 BC. His first two wars with Carthage further extended the power of Syracuse,...

Dionysius I
(c. 432-367 BC) Tyrant of Syracuse from 405 BC. He rose to power when he was appointed sole general in a war with Carthage. Having secured his position in Syracuse by a series of military and political measures, he...

Dionysius II
(lived 4th century BC) Tyrant of Syracuse 367-343 BC, son and successor of Dionysius I. He was driven out of Syracuse by Dion 357 and fled to Locri. After the murder of Dion 353, Dionysius returned to Syracuse, but was...

Dionysius of Halicarnassus
(lived 1st century BC) Greek critic and historian, who settled in Rome 30 BC and wrote 20 books on the early history of Rome, ten of which are extant. He also wrote on rhetoric (prose style). ...

Dionysius Periegetes
(lived 2nd or 3rd century) Greek author. His `Perigesis tes Oikoumenes/Description of the World` in 1,186 hexameter verses was a popular school book in ancient times. It was translated into Latin by Avienus. ...

Dionysus
In Greek mythology, the god of wine, mystic ecstasy, and orgiastic excess; son of princess Semele and Zeus. In his original savage form he was attended by satyrs, lustful, drunken creatures; and...

diorama
Entertainment invented by the photography pioneer Louis Daguerre, in which spectators in a dark, circular auditorium viewed huge transparent paintings through a large aperture in the wall. The...

Dioscuri
In classical mythology, title of Castor and Pollux, meaning `sons of Zeus`. ...

Diouf, Abdou
(1935) Senegalese left-wing politician, president 1981-2000. He became prime minister in 1970 under President Léopold Senghor and, on his retirement, succeeded him, being re-elected in 1983, 1988,...

diphenylchlorarsine
Toxic gas, used by the Germans (as Clark 1) in World War I. Inhaling causes nausea, vomiting, headaches, and chest pains but it is rarely lethal and then only in extremely high concentrations rarely...

diplomacy
Process by which states attempt to settle their differences through peaceful means such as negotiation or arbitration. See foreign relations. ...

Diplomatic Service, British
Body that represents Britain abroad in regard to its international interests, consisting of diplomatic agents and occasionally consuls, although the latter are in general concerned only with the...

diptych
Sculpture (usually in ivory) or painting, consisting of two panels hinged together like a book, enabling its use as a free-standing unit when open. Diptychs are often altarpieces, or portable...

Dirce
In Greek mythology, the second wife of Lycus, King of Thebes. She was torn to pieces by a wild bull to which she had been tied by Amphion and Zethus, sons of Antiope, the former wife of Lycus. ...

direct cost
Or variable cost cost of production materials, fuel, and so on which varies directly with the volume of output. For example, steel is a direct cost for a car manufacturer because if twice the number...

direct debit
In banking, an instruction by a depositor with the bank to pay a certain sum of money at regular intervals. ...

direct tax
Tax levied (imposed) directly on an individual or organization, in contrast to indirect taxes, levied on goods when they are purchased. Nearly all direct taxes are taxes on...

director
In the theatre, film, or television, a person who conducts rehearsals for actors and coordinates other aspects of production. In early periods of theatre, rehearsals were conducted by...

Director of Public Prosecutions
In the UK, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (established in 1985), responsible for...

Directory
The five-man ruling executive in France 1795-99. Established by the constitution of 1795, it failed to deal with the political and social tensions in the country and became increasingly...

dirge
Song of lamentation for the dead. A poem of mourning is usually called an elegy. ...

Dirksen, Everett McKinley
(1896-1969) US representative and senator. As a Republican for Illinois, he satisfied his constituents by supporting the New Deal domestic programs while championing isolationist foreign policy. In t ...

Dis
In Roman mythology, the god of the underworld, also known as Orcus; he is equivalent to the Greek god Pluto, ruler of Hades. Dis is also a synonym for the underworld itself. ...

disarmament
Reduction of a country's weapons of war. Most disarmament talks since World War II have been concerned with nuclear-arms verification and reduction, but biological, chemical, and conventional...

disciple
Follower, especially of a religious leader. The word is used in the Bible for the early followers of Jesus. The 12 disciples closest to him are known as the apostles. ...

disclaimed peerage
In the UK, the Peerage Act (1963) allows a peerage to be disclaimed for life provided that it is renounced within one year of the succession, and that the peer has not applied for a writ of summons...

Discovery
The ship in which Captain Scott sailed to the Antarctic and back in 1900-04, commanding the National Antarctic Expedition. Officially known as the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Discovery, it became a...

disease
Human diseases disturb or damage the functioning of cells, tissues, organs, or systems. They are usually characterized by specific symptoms and signs, and can be mild and short lasting - such as...

disease
Condition that disturbs or impairs the normal state of an organism. Diseases can occur in all living things, and normally affect the functioning of cells, tissues, organs, or systems. Diseases are...

diseconomies of scale
Increase in the average cost of production as output increases in the long run. Diseconomies of scale are said to arise because larger businesses find it more difficult to manage their resources,...

disestablishment
The formal separation of a church from the State by ceasing to recognize it as the official church of a country or province. The special status of the Church of Ireland, created by Henry VIII in...

Disinherited, the
The supporters of Simon de Montfort whose land was seized by Henry III after the Battle of Evesham1265. The Dictum of Kenilworth the following year imposed harsh financial conditions for the...

disinvestment
Withdrawal of investments in a country for political reasons. The term is also used in economics to describe non-replacement of stock as it wears out. It is generally applied to the ostensive...

dismissal
Sacking or firing of a worker. Workers may be dismissed because they are not doing their job properly, for example, because of excessive absenteeism. Alternatively, if the worker is made redundant,...

Dispatches
Book 1977 by US writer Michael Herr. A vivid novel of war reportage, it reveals the reality of fear and death behind the images of patriotism and heroism in America's involvement in the Vietnam War....

displaced persons
Originally, refugees left without a home country by the border changes arising from World War II; later the term was also used to describe the millions of refugees who had been uprooted by the war...

disposable income
Income after direct taxes such as income tax and national insurance contributions have been taken away and state benefits such as unemployment benefit have been added on. For example, if a worker...

Disraeli, Benjamin
(1804-1881) British Conservative politician and novelist. Elected to Parliament in 1837, he was chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Derby in 1852, 1858-59, and 1866-68, and prime minister in 1868 and...

Disruption, the
Split in the Church of Scotland 1843 when its Evangelical wing formed the Free Church of Scotland, hoping to recreate the spirit of Scottish Protestant reformer John Knox and early Protestantism. ...

Dissenter
In Britain, former name for a Protestant refusing to conform to the established Christian church. For example, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Independents (now known...

dissenting academies
In Britain, schools founded in late 17th and 18th centuries for children of religious nonconformists who were otherwise banned from local schools and universities. They became a model of advanced...

dissident
In one-party states, a person intellectually dissenting from the official line. Dissidents have been sent into exile, prison, labour camps, and mental institutions, or deprived of...

dissociation of sensibility
Divorce between intellect and emotion. T S Eliot coined this phrase 1921 in an essay on the metaphysical poets of the 17th century. He suggested that Donne, Marvell, and...

Dissolution of the Monasteries
Closure of the monasteries of England and Wales from 1536 to 1540 and confiscation of their property by Henry VIII; see England: history 1485-1714, Henry VIII and the split with Rome. The...

distemper
One of the earliest painting media, known in Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia and used by the Greeks in interior decoration. It is a mixture of powdered colour with chalk or clay, diluted with water...

distraint of knighthood
In British history, compulsory knighthood introduced by Henry III for all those with lands of a particular value (originally £20). The knights had to pay scutage to the king in lieu of...

distributed profit
That proportion of profit paid out to shareholders in the form of dividends. It is the responsibility of the board of directors of a company to decide what proportion of net profit (profit after tax...

distribution
In commerce, the process by which goods are sent from manufacturers through to the consumer. Channels of distribution usually involve both wholesalers and retailers. Distribution or place is one of...

distribution theory
The study of how the national income of a country is allocated between different individuals and groups. Distribution of income is comparatively even in Finland, with the lowest-earning 20%...

Distributism
Campaign for land reform publicized by English writer G K Chesterton in his group the Distributist League, the journal of which he published from 1925. The movement called for a revival of...

district council
Lower unit of local government in England. In 1998 there were 274 district councils under 34 (two-tier) non-metropolitan county councils, and 36 single-tier metropolitan district councils....

dithyramb
Song sacred to the Greek god Dionysus, performed alongside tragedies and comedies at religious ceremonies in ancient Athens from the 7th century BC. Later examples were...

dividend
In business, the amount of money that company directors decide should be taken out of net profits for distribution to shareholders. It is usually declared as a percentage or fixed amount per share....

divination
Art of ascertaining future events or eliciting other hidden knowledge by supernatural or nonrational means. Divination played a large part in the ancient civilizations of the...

Divine Comedy, The
Epic poem by Dante 1307-21, describing a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The poet Virgil is Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory; to each of the three realms, or circles, Dante...