China, Communist victory

Between early November 1948 and early January 1949, the two sides battled for the control of Suchow. Gen. Zhu De concentrated 600,000 men under Chen Yi, Liu Bocheng, and Chen Geng near that strategic centre, which was defended by Nationalist forces of similar size. Both armies were well equipped, but the Nationalists had a superiority in armour and were unopposed in the air. Yet poor morale,

Adams, John

Adams remained the central figure of the Continental Congress for the following two years. He drafted the Plan of Treaties in July 1776, a document that provided the framework for a treaty with France and that almost inadvertently identified the strategic priorities that would shape American foreign policy over the next century. He was the unanimous choice to head the Board of War and Ordnance and was thereby made in effect a one-man war department responsible for raising and equipping the American army and creating from scratch an American navy. As the prospects for a crucial wartime alliance with France improved late in 1777, he was chosen to join Benjamin Franklin in Paris to conduct the negotiations. In February 1778 he sailed for Europe, accompanied by 10-year-old John Quincy.

Marquette University

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Milwaukee, Wis., U.S. It is affiliated with the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic church. It offers degree programs at the bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional levels. Marquette comprises 12 schools, colleges, and programs, including a school of law and a physical therapy program. The School of Dentistry

War Of The Sons Of Light Against The Sons Of Darkness, The

Hebrew  Megillat Milhamat B'ne, or Beb'ne Hoshekh,  also called  War Rule, or War Scroll,   a Dead Sea Scroll, and one of the most important documents of the Essene sect of Jews that established a community at Qumran in the Judaean desert during the first half of the 2nd century BC. The Essenes thought themselves to be the holy elect of Israel, the Sons of Light, who would at the end of time engage in a catastrophic war with the enemies of Israel, the Sons of

Albert

Albert was the younger son of John Cicero, elector of Brandenburg. Albert became archbishop of Magdeburg and administrator of the bishopric of Halberstadt

Hesilrige, Sir Arthur, 2nd Baronet

A native of Leicestershire, Hesilrige succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1629. He sat in both the Short and Long Parliaments

Caribbean Current

Powerful surface oceanic current passing west through the Caribbean Sea, then north through the Yucatán Channel, and finally east out the Straits of Florida to form the Florida Current. The warm Caribbean Current, derived from the junction of the North Equatorial Current and the Guiana Current, flows at an average rate in the range of 38 to 43 cm (15 to 17 inches) per second and

Empiricism, Broader senses

In both everyday attitudes and philosophical theories, the experiences referred to are principally those arising from stimulation of the sense organs, in particular those of sight and touch. Most philosophical Empiricists, however, have maintained that sensation is not the only provider of experience, admitting as empirical the awareness of mental states

World War I, Eastern Europe and the Russian periphery, March–November 1918

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918) gave Germany a free hand to do what it liked with Russia's former possessions in eastern Europe. While they pursued their plan of 1916 for a kingdom of Poland, the Germans took new measures for the other countries. Lithuania, recognized as independent, was to be a kingdom under some German prince. Latvia and Estonia were to be merged into a

Gray, Elisha

Gray invented a number of telegraphic devices and in 1869 was one of two partners who founded what became Western Electric Company. On Feb. 14, 1876, the day that Bell filed an application for a patent for a telephone, Gray

Antarctic Treaty

(Dec. 1, 1959), agreement signed by 12 nations, in which the Antarctic continent was made a demilitarized zone to be preserved for scientific research. The treaty resulted from a conference in Washington, D.C., attended by representatives of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Later other

Paraldehyde

Also called  paracetaldehyde  colourless liquid of disagreeable taste and pungent odour used in medicine as a sedative–hypnotic drug and in chemistry in the manufacture of organic chemicals. When administered as a medicine, it is largely excreted by the lungs and gives an unpleasant odour to the breath. It is most useful for recalcitrant cases and is an older drug for treatment of acute alcoholic

Spratling, William

A graduate of the New York Fine Arts Institute and Auburn University, in Alabama (where he studied architecture), Spratling taught art and architecture at Tulane University, New Orleans,

Tolkien, J.r.r.

At age four Tolkien, with his mother and younger brother, settled near Birmingham, England, after his father, a bank manager, died in South Africa. In

Sgi

Silicon Graphics, Inc., was founded in 1982 by James Clark, an electrical-engineering professor at Stanford University who had identified a need for desktop computers to be able to display graphic images quickly and in three-dimensional detail—something previously possible only on multimillion-dollar supercomputers. The primary users of these computers were expected

Photometry

The earliest observations of the apparent brightness of the stars were made by Greek astronomers. The system used by Hipparchus about