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

Divine Light Mission
Religious movement founded in India in 1960, which gained a prominent following in the USA in the 1970s. It proclaims Guru Maharaj Ji as the present age's successor to the gods or religious leaders...

Divine Principle
Sacred writings of the Unification Church. The book, which offers a reinterpretation of the Bible, is also influenced by concepts from Buddhism, Islam, and Taoism. ...

divine right of kings
Christian political doctrine that hereditary monarchy is the system approved by God, hereditary right cannot be forfeited, monarchs are accountable to God alone for their actions, and rebellion...

Divine, Father
US black American religious leader; see George Baker. ...

division
Military formation consisting of two or more brigades. A major general at divisional headquarters commands the brigades and also additional artillery, engineers, attack helicopters, and other...

divorce
Legal dissolution of a lawful marriage. It is distinct from an annulment, which is a legal declaration that the marriage was invalid. The ease with which a divorce can be obtained in different...

Diwali
Sikh mela, or festival, during which devas (lamps) are lit to symbolize the coming of both light for the world and inner light for Sikhs from God. Diwali is celebrated at the new moon around the end...

Diwali
In Hinduism, festival in October/November celebrating Lakshmi, goddess of light and wealth, as well as the New Year and the story of the Ramayana. It is marked by the lighting of lamps and candles...

Dix, Dom Gregory
(1901-1952) English theologian and prior of Nashdom Abbey from 1948-52. Dix was born at Woolwich, London, and educated at Westminster School and Merton College, Oxford. In 1926 he became a monk in the...

Dix, Dorothea Lynde
(1802-1887) US educator and medical reformer. From 1841 she devoted herself to a campaign for the rights of the mentally ill, helping to improve conditions and treatment in public institutions for...

Dix, Dorothy
US newspaper columnist; see Elizabeth Gilmer. ...

Dix, Otto
(1891-1969) German painter. He was a major exponent of the harsh realism current in Germany in the 1920s and closely associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit group. He is known chiefly for his unsettling 1920s...

Dixie
Southern states of the USA. Dixie encompasses those states that joined the Confederacy during the American Civil War. The word may derive from the Mason-Dixon Line defining the northern boundary....

Dixmude
Belgian town in province of West Flanders, 20 km/12 mi north of Ypres. It was occupied by the Germans 1914-18 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre by President Poincaré of France 1920. In the...

Dixon, Billy
(1850-1913) US frontiersman and scout. He was a government mule driver and a famous buffalo hunter and fighter against American Indians. After the desperate battle with American Indians at Adobe Walls, Texas...

Dixon, Franklin W
US novelist; see Edward L Stratemeyer. ...

Dixon, Henry Hall
(1822-1870) English sporting writer. Using the pseudonym `the Druid`, he began to write for the Sporting Magazine, in which he published three novels:The Post and the Paddock (1856), Silk and Scarlet...

Dixon, Richard Watson
(1833-1900) English writer and cleric. His verse includes Historical Odes (1864) and Lyrical Poems (1887), but his greatest work was his History of the Church of England from the Abolition of the Roman...

Dixon, William Hepworth
(1821-1879) English writer. His series of papers in the Daily News on `The Literature of the Lower Orders` and `London Prisons` attracted attention. In 1850 he published John Howard and the Prison World...

Djerassi, Carl
(1923) Austrian-born US chemist, inventor, and writer. He became professor of chemistry at Stanford. He claims to have been the prime developer of the birth control pill, but the scientific community has...

Djezzar, Ahmed
(c.1735-1804) Bosnian-born administrator in the Ottoman Empire who gained a reputation for extreme cruelty. During Napoleon's campaign in Palestine in 1798-99, he sided with the British. When still young,...

Djibouti
Country on the east coast of Africa, at the south end of the Red Sea, bounded east by the Gulf of Aden, southeast by Somalia, south and west by Ethiopia, and northwest by Eritrea. Government The...

Djilas, Milovan
(1911-1995) Yugoslav dissident and political writer. A close wartime colleague of Marshal Tito, he was dismissed from high office in 1954 and twice imprisoned 1956-61 and 1962-66 because of his advocacy of...

Djukanovic, Milo
(1962) Montenegrian politician, reformist president of Montenegro from 1997. He joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (LCY) in 1979, serving as a member of the Central Committee 1986-89. He...

Dlugosz, John
(1415-1480) Polish historian and cleric. Among his many works, the most famous is his History of Poland, first published in 1701-02. Dlugosz studied in Kraków and became a skilled ecclesiastical...

DM
Abbreviation for Deutschmark, the former unit of currency in Germany. ...

Dmowski, Roman
(1864-1939) Polish conservative politician, leader of the right-wing National Democratic Party. At the end of World War I, he was the chief Polish delegate at the conference that led to the Dobb, Maurice Herbert
(1900-1976) English Marxist economist who wrote several works on the nature of capitalism. Dobb was Emeritus Reader in Economics at the University of Cambridge; his writings were especially well received in...

Dobell, Bertram
(1842-1914) English bookseller and editor, who is chiefly remembered for his friendship with the Scottish poet James Thomson, and for rediscovering and editing of the works of the...

Dobell, Sydney Thompson
(1824-1874) English poet and critic. In 1850, under the pseudonym Sydney Yendys, he published The Roman: A Dramatic Poem, which met with great success. Balder appeared 1853, recounting the tale of a tortured...

Doberitz
In World War I, German prisoner of war camp near Potsdam, Germany. British, French and Russian prisoners were held here. Conditions in the early stages of the war were no ...

Dobie, J(ames) Frank
(1888-1964) US author and folklorist. He published 30 volumes of southwestern lore and history. He held a long tenure as a professor of English at the University of Texas and he won the presidential Medal of...

Dobrynin, Anatoly Fedorovich
(1919) Soviet diplomat, ambassador to the USA 1962-86, emerging during the 1970s as a warm supporter of détente. Dobrynin joined the...

Dobson, Frank
(1940) British Labour politician, secretary of state for health from 1997. Sponsored by the National Union of Railwaymen, he represented the London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras from 1979. He was...

Dobson, Frank
(1889-1963) English sculptor and painter. His works are usually heavy-limbed nudes and portrait busts, such as Sir Osbert Sitwell (1923; Tate Gallery, London). Beginning as a painter working in the...

Dobson, Henry Austin
(1840-1921) English poet, critic, and biographer. He issued several books of verse, his best appearing as Vignettes in Rhyme (1873), Proverbs in Porcelain (1877), and Old World Idylls (1883). His collected...

Dobson, William
(1610-1646) English portrait painter. He was court painter to Charles I and during the Civil War painted striking portraits of the Prince of Wales, Prince Rupert, and Royalist supporters at their headquarters...

Doctorow, E(dgar) L(awrence)
(1931) US novelist. He achieved critical and commercial success with his third novel, The Book of Daniel (1971), the story of the
doctors, history of
Throughout the history of medicine, the role, status, and required qualifications of a doctor have changed. At various times doctors have been gods, priests, or scientists, or even viewed as a waste...

doctrinaire
Theorist who pays no regard to practical considerations, generally a political ideologist. The term is of French origin, and was applied to a group of politicians at the time of the Restoration...

doctrine
The official teaching of a particular religion. For example, in Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity does not appear in the Bible, but was developed in thought and debate, defined by church...

documentary
A film (sometimes a play) that relates actual events either by employing documents such as newspapers or archive material or by setting up cameras to record events as they happen. ...

Dod, Charles Roger Phipps
(1793-1855) Irish-born British journalist. The son of a rector from Drumlease in County Leitrim, he settled in London in 1818, and worked for 23 years on The Times. He started the Parliamentary Companion in...

Dod, Lottie (Charlotte)
(1871-1960) English sportswoman. Probably the UK's greatest all-rounder, she was tennis's first child protégéé, winning her first Wimbledon title in 1887 at the age of 15 years 285 days, the...

Dodd, C(harles) H(arold)
(1884-1973) English scholar of theology and religious history. He was director of the New English Bible project (a rephrasing of the Bible in modern English) from 1950-70. Dodd was born at Wrexham,...

Dodd, Ken(neth) Arthur
(1927) English stand-up comedian, singer, and actor. A regular performer for variety, pantomime, and radio, he also starred in a series of popular television shows, such as The...

Dodd, S(amuel) C(alvin) T(ate)
(1836-1907) US lawyer. Specializing in corporate law, he became the general solicitor for Standard Oil Company in New York City in 1881. He wrote several books, including Uses...

Dodd, William
(1729-1777) English scholar, cleric and forger. Of his many books, a volume of selections called The Beauties of Shakespeare 1752 was reprinted many times. In 1763 he was appointed chaplain to the king. He was...

Dodd, William Edward
(1869-1940) US historian and diplomat. He taught history at Randolph-Macon College (1900-08) and the University of Chicago (1908-33). He wrote extensively about the antebellum South, the Civil War, and...

Doddridge, Philip
(1702-1751) English religious dissenter, educator, and writer. Doddridge opened an academy for educating Nonconformist ministers at Northampton in 1729, and pioneered...

Dodge City
City in southwestern Kansas, USA, on the Arkansas River; seat of Ford County; population (2000 est) 25,200. It is the centre of an agricultural region (wheat and cattle), and farm and...

Dodge, Augustus Caesar
(1812-1883) US representative, senator, and diplomat. He went to the US House of Representatives as a Democrat territorial delegate for Iowa (1840-46) and became one of Iowa's first US senators (1848-55)....

Dodge, Grenville Mellen
(1831-1916) US engineer and soldier. During the Civil War, his ability to build or rebuild damaged railroads and bridges contributed to the Union's victory. He oversaw the construction of the Union Pacific...

Dodge, Henry
(1782-1867) US pioneer, soldier, representative and senator. He served in the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War. A governor of the Territory of Wisconsin, he served in the...

Dodge, Henry Chee
(c. 1860-1947) Navajo principal chief. He became the official Navajo interpreter and was appointed political successor to the great chief Manuelito. He was elected chair of the new Navajo Tribal Council...

Dodge, Joseph Morrell
(1890-1964) US banker and government official. He become chairman of the Detroit Bank, later Detroit Bank and Trust, and was a US government financial advisor in Germany. He designed an economic stability plan...

Dodge, Mary Elizabeth
(1831-1905) US writer. She wrote the children's classic Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates (1865), and from 1873 was editor of the influential magazine for children St Nicholas. For some years she assisted...

Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge
Real name of English author Lewis Carroll. ...

Dodington, George
(1691-1762) English politician. He was constantly changing sides, serving in succession Robert Walpole, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Argyll, and the Prince aga ...

Dodona
Ancient town in Epirus, northwestern Greece. It was the site of the earliest Greek oracle, dedicated to Zeus, and administered by priestesses known as peleiai (doves). The god was believed to speak...

Dodsley, Robert
(1703-1764) English writer and publisher. In 1735 his dramatic satire The Toy Shop was staged at Covent Garden Theatre, London. In the same year, with capital supplied by Alexander Pope and others, he set up in...

Doe, Charles
(1830-1896) US jurist. He was admitted to the New Hampshire bar and became an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. His reputation rested on innovative rulings...

Doe, Samuel Kanyon
(1950-1990) Liberian politician and soldier, head of state 1980-90. After seizing power in a coup, Doe made himself general and army commander-in-chief. As chair of t ...

Doesburg, Theo van
(1883-1931) Dutch architectural painter, designer, and theorist. A leader of De Stijl, he was a keen advocate of a rigorously modern approach to all forms of...

dog, dangerous
Any of the breeds listed in a 1991 amendment to the UK Dangerous Dogs Act 1989, which have to be muzzled in public. These include pit-bull terriers (which must also be registered with the police)...

doge
Chief magistrate in the ancient constitutions of Venice and Genoa. The first doge of Venice was appointed in 697 with absolute power (modified in 1297), and from his accession dates Venice's...

Dogger Bank, Battle of
World War I naval engagement between substantial British and German forces which met by accident 24 January 1915 at Dogger Bank, an extensive sandbank in the middle of the North Sea. British...

Doggett, Thomas
(c. 1670-1721) Irish actor. He was associated with Colley Cibber and others in the management of the Drury Lane and Haymarket theatres. He founded the rowing prize Doggett's Coat and Badge in 1715, in honour of...

dogma
The authoritative truths accepted by members of a particular faith. In the Roman Catholic Church the dogmas are transmitted through scripture or papal or church traditions. The teachings are...

Dogon
Member of a people of eastern Mali and northwestern Burkina Faso. They number approximately 250,000 and their language belongs to the Voltaic (Gur) branch of the Niger-Congo family. The Dogon lack...

dogtooth ornament
In architecture, an ornamental moulding consisting of a series of four-cornered stars rising to a point, much used in medieval building from Late Norman to Early Decorated. In later architecture...

Doherty, Berlie
(1943) English novelist. She has written a wide variety of books in various genres for children and adults. Her published works include picture books, short stories, poetry, and the screenplay of her novel...

Doi, Takako
(1929) Japanese socialist politician. She was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1993, and led the Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDJP), formerly the Japan Socialist Party (JSP),...

Dolabella, Publius Cornelius
(c. 80-43 BC) Roman politician and general. He married Cicero's daughter Tullia and soon after the outbreak of civil war he transferred his allegiance from Pompey and supported Julius Caesar at the Battle of...

dolce stil nuovo
A style of Italian lyric verse written between about 1250 and 1300. It was characterized by musicality, the spiritualization of courtly love, and a mystical and philosophical strain in the analysis...

Dolce, Lodovico
(1508-1568) Italian writer. He worked for the publishing house of Giolito in his native Venice. Besides translating or paraphrasing the classics, he produced (among other original pieces) L'Aretino (1557), a...

Dolci, Carlo
(1616-1686) Italian painter of the late baroque period. He was active in Florence, creating intensely emotional versions of religious subjects such as The Martyrdom of St Andrew (1646; Pitti, Florence). Dolci...

Dole, Bob (Robert Joseph)
(1923) US Republican politician, leader of his party in the Senate 1985-87 and 1995-96. He unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 and 1988; in 1996 he...

Dole, Elizabeth Hanford
(1936) US lawyer, Republican politician, and cabinet member. While President Reagan's secretary of transportation 1983-87, she promoted road safety. As President George Bush's secretary of labour...

Dolet, Etienne
(1509-1546) French Renaissance scholar and printer. He set up a printing press in 1542 and was arrested several times for publishing heretical works, eventually being burned for heresy. ...

dollar
Monetary unit of several countries, containing 100 cents. In the USA, the dollar was adopted in 1785. US dollars originally were issued as gold or silver coins; today both metal and paper dollars...

dollar diplomacy
Disparaging description of US foreign policy in the early 20th century. The USA sought political influence over foreign governments (China 1909 and 1912; Haiti 1910; Nicaragua and Honduras 1911;...

Dollfuss, Engelbert
(1892-1934) Austrian Christian Socialist politician. He was appointed chancellor in 1932, and in 1933 suppressed parliament and ruled by decree. In February 1934 he crushed a protest by the socialist workers by...

dolmen
Prehistoric megalith in the form of a chamber built of three or more large upright stone slabs, capped by a horizontal flat stone. Dolmens are the burial chambers of Neolithic (New Stone Age)...

Dolomites, Campaign in the
In World War I, fighting between Austrian and Italian forces 1915 in the Dolomite mountain range. The Italians attempted to sever strategic Austrian railway links to the north of the mountains, but...

dome
In architecture, a roof form which is usually hemispherical and constructed over a circular, square, or octagonal space in a building. A feature of Islamic and Roman architecture, the dome was...

Dome of the Rock
Islamic shrine in Jerusalem dating from the 7th century AD that surrounds a great rock altar (an outcrop of rock) that was part of Solomon's Temple of Jerusalem. According to Muslim and Jewish...

Domenichino
(1581-1641) Italian baroque painter and architect, active in Bologna, Naples, and Rome. He began as an assistant to the Carracci family of painters and continued the early baroque style in, for example,...

Domenico da Cortona
(1470-1549) Italian architect and woodcarver. Domenico executed most of his best-known works in France, where he arrived in 1495 at the summons of Charles VIII. Responsible for the furthering of many Italian...

Domenico Veneziano
(c. 1400-1461) Italian painter. He was active in Florence. His few surviving frescoes and altarpieces show a remarkably subtle use of colour and light (which recurs in the work of Piero della Francesca, who worked...

Domesday Book
Record of the survey of England carried out in 1086 by officials of William the Conqueror in order to assess land tax and other dues, find out the value of the crown lands, and enable the king to...

domestic communism
In the USA, communist activity, suspected or real, during the Cold War (1947-89). Domestic communism, or the fear of it, led to the second major Red Scare and the era of political persecution...

domestic service
Paid employment in the household of another person, as maid, butler, cook, gardener, and so on. It is traditionally a poorly paid occupation, reserved for those without other job skills. The social...

Domett, William
(1754-1828) English admiral. He commanded the flagship Royal George on the `Glorious First of June` in 1794, was present in...

dominant ideology
Belief or political dogma which characterizes the major institutions and social practices of a nation-state or of an ethnic group. Ideologies provide the justification for a wide range of...

Dominica
Island in the eastern Caribbean, between Guadeloupe and Martinique, the largest of the Windward Islands, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Caribbe ...

Dominican order
Roman Catholic order of friars founded in 1215 by St Dominic. The Dominicans are also known as Friars Preachers, Black Friars, or Jacobins. The order is worldwide and there is also an order of...

Dominican Republic
Country in the West Indies (eastern Caribbean), occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, with Haiti covering the western third; the Atlantic Ocean is to the east and the...

Dominici, Giovanni
(1357-1419) Italian cleric and opponent of Coluccio Salutati's humanist circle. He was a Dominican friar and prior of San Marco, Florence. In an attempt to bring the Great Schism to an end, he tried to persuade...

Dominions
Term formerly used to describe those countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth enjoying complete autonomy in internal and external affairs. In this context the term was first applied to...