bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Baltic Crusades (eleventh‐fifteenth centuries)
Authors: Rist Rebecca A. C.
Published: November 2011

The Baltic Crusades, otherwise known as the Northern Crusades, were military campaigns around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea that were undertaken by the Catholic kings of Denmark and Sweden and by the German Livonian and Teutonic military orders against the pagan peoples of northern Europe. They also include Swedish and German campaigns against the Orthodox Russian kingdoms. These military ventures have been classed by most modern historians as crusades because, like contemporary crusades to Palestine and the Near East, theywere authorized by the papacy and campaigners took vows, receiving the plenary indulgence for crusading. Nevertheless, they were fundamentally different from crusades to the East because they had their origins in missionary activity against heathen pagans.
Barons' Wars (1215–1217, 1264–1267)
Authors: Morillo Stephen
Published: November 2011

The Barons' Wars are the bookends of a nearly century‐long struggle on the part of the political classes of Angevin England to define the shape of the English polity. Their military operations are interesting but unexceptional, though they do reveal some of the dynamics of medieval military culture in revealing ways. They are far more important for their role in shaping the English medieval state.
Basmachi Revolt (1918–1923)
Authors: Tripodi Christian
Published: November 2011

The Basmachi (Bandit) Revolt of 1918–1923 was a Muslim resistance movement some 25,000–30,000 strong at its height, centered upon what was to become the Soviet Republic of Turkestan. By combating the intended Bolshevik control and reform of Turkestan's traditional societal structures, the
Basmachvesto
would comprise the Soviet Union's first real experience of counterinsurgency. Although resistance would last into the early 1930s, the revolt would reach its greatest intensityduring the period examined and would force Red Army commanders to develop a sophisticated politico‐military strategy in response.
Belisarius, Flavius (ca. 505–565)
Authors: Frankopan Peter
Published: November 2011

Flavius Belisarius was one of the great military commanders of late antiquity, the scale of whose conquests was astonishing. Born in the northern provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire, Belisarius' talent was identified by Emperor Justin I and his successor Justinian I, who appointed him to his bodyguard after taking the throne in 527. He was promoted quickly, and soon took charge of operations against the Sassanians, who were harassing the eastern frontier.
Biological warfare: past, present, and future
Authors: Avery Donald
Published: November 2011

Biological warfare can be defined as a form of warfare that uses living organisms and natural poisons (toxins) to produce death and debilitation in humans, animals, or plants. While biological weapons (BWs) are often equated with nuclear and chemical weapons (CWs), in reality they are quite different since they are composed of, or derived from, living organisms, which can replicate themselves inside the host, thereby allowing an attacker “to use a small amount of a biological weapon to inflict mass casualties” (Koblenz 2009: 5). Another major difference is the diversity of pathogenic micro‐organisms and toxins that can be used as biological weapons, particularly given the enormous advances in the biosciences during the past forty years. As a result, there has been a major change in the concept of bioweapons, which traditionally meant “a warhead with massive quantities of refined agents that were specificallydesigned for instant and catastrophic release … [while] now a biological weapon might be merely a test tube of pathogens that are capable of wide replication or a tiny device that can carry a pathogen through the body” (Kellman 2007: 208)
Bismarck, Ottovon(1815–1898)
Authors: Seligmann Matthew S.
Published: November 2011

Otto von Bismarck was the leading German statesman of the nineteenth century; he was also the guiding spirit behind the foundation in 1871 of the German Empire, a complex political unit which he then proceeded to lead for nineteen years as its first, most successful, and longest‐serving chancellor. Bismarck was born into a protestant Prussian land‐owning noble family and, as such, was a member of the Junker class. The stereotypical Junker, then as now, was of a deeply conservative, even reactionary, disposition. Wedded to the ideal of “Throne and Altar,” he wanted to preserve Prussia's traditional hierarchical society, in which his class, as hereditary titled landowners, were the dominant group in the localities, at court, and in the government and army. In reality, the Junkers, like any social group, were a diverse body of people that had many different attributes. Recent research has shown them to be more modern and more complicated than the caricature would suggest. Nevertheless, to many of his contemporaries, Bismarck seemed to fit the stereotype of a Junker perfectly and, in the earlypart of his career, when serving as Prussia's representative to the German Confederation in Frankfurt and then as ambassador to Russia, he gained a reputation as a staunch conservative and as an unbending opponent of the progressive forces in Europe. In reality, this reputation as an unthinking reactionary hid considerable political talents. Bismarck did, indeed, possess conservative views and wanted to see the preservation of the old order in Prussia; however, he was also a realist and was well aware that such goals could not be achieved by blindly standing in the way of inevitable developments. Consequently, he believed that the aim of a true conservative should not be to oppose modernity, a futile stance destined ultimately to fail, but rather to manage the forces of change and thereby channel them down more acceptable paths. This far‐sighted and most uncommonly perceptive attitude has led at least one historian to label Bismarck a “white revolutionary” (Gall 1990), someone who was willing to use new and seemingly progressive methods for traditional ends. To his intense frustration, however, for the first four decades of his life there seemed little prospect that he would ever be in a position to put these advanced ideas into practice. Hated by progressives and distrusted by the leading figures at the Prussian court, who did not share his unorthodox views, he did not seem destined for high office. However, when a lack of suitable alternative candidates led a reluctant King Wilhelm I to appoint Bismarck as minister‐president of Prussia in 1862, he finally got the opportunity to demonstrate his acumen for leadership.
Bloch, Jean
de
(1836–1902)
Authors: Murray Nicholas
Published: November 2011

Born into a Jewish family in Radom, Poland, Ivan Stanislavovic Bloch eventually emerged as one of the most famous civilian writers on military matters. At 14, he was an apprentice in a bank in Warsaw, and by 1860 he had become a successful businessman. Bloch married well, taking Emilia Kronenberg as his wife: she was the niece of a wealthy Russian industrialist and the daughter of a prominent Moscow doctor. At some stage, he converted to Calvinism and he later appears to have practiced Catholicism—almost certainly to increase his business opportunities. In 1863 Ivan traveled to Berlin to avoid taking sides during the Polish uprising. By this time he was the owner of various businesses, including a banking house. Bloch continued to enjoy success, and in 1878 he published his first book,
The Impact of Railways on the Economic Conditions of Russia.
This was followed up, in 1882, with
Finances of Russia.
These two books brought him a great deal of attention, which he used to influence the government to assist Jews during the pogroms of the 1880s. This took great moral courage and Bloch was savagely attacked in print for his‐troubles. Increasingly, he became concerned with the growing threat of war, and the immense damage conflict would bring to Poland. This fear caused him to research military matters, ultimately leading to his most famous work,
Future War in its Technical and Political Relations,
published in 1899.
Boeotian War (378–371BCE)
Authors: Sage Michael
Published: November 2011

The defeat of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War (431–404BCE) marked the emergence of Sparta as the dominant power in Greece. The remnants of Athens' Aegean empire passed to her, resulting in four years (400–396) of indecisive conflict with the Persians, who laid claim to Greek cities of Asia Minor.
Bonaparte, Charles‐Louis‐Napoléon (Napoleon
III
) (1808–1873)
Authors: Bonura Michael
Published: November 2011

Nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte, Charles‐Louis‐Napoléon Bonaparte, better known as Napoleon III, became president of the Second Republic in 1848, and subsequently emperor of the Second Empire in 1852. He created a sustainable empire from Africa to Asia, maintained a close alliance with Britain, and reasserted French power across the globe.
Bouillon, Godfrey
de
(
ca
. 1060–1100)
Authors: Edgington Susan B.
Published: November 2011

A leader of the First Crusade (1096–1099); first ruler of Frankish Jerusalem (1099–1100).
Bouvines, Battle of (1214)
Authors: DeVries Kelly
Published: November 2011

Except for the battles of the Crusades, no medieval conflict can compare with the Battle of Bouvines, fought on July 27, 1214, for its pan‐European scope and participation. But it was not a battle fought for a single purpose. Emperor Otto IV was there because Pope Innocent III supported an alternative candidate as Holy Roman Emperor, Philip, Duke of Swabia. In support of him were a number of German barons: Willem, Count of Holland; Hendrik I, Duke of Brabant; and the counts of Limburg, Lorraine, Tecklemburg, Katzenellenboge, and Dortmund. King Philip II Augustus of France faced them, both as the defender and as a king who had made a career in cracking down against rebellious lords whom he believed owed him royal fealty. A number of these lords were also allied with Otto, including the king of England, John, whose predecessor, Richard the Lionheart, his brother, died in 1099 defending his lands in southern France; Ferrand of Portugal, Count of Flanders and Hainault; Reginald of Dammartin, Count of Boulogne; and Hugo, Baron of Boves. All of these kings and princes fought personally in the battle with their armies, except for John, whose English soldiers were led by his half‐brother William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury. They were “bellicose men, expert in military matters,” claims English chronicler Roger of Wendover.
Boyne, Battle of the (1690)
Authors: Lenihan Pádraig
Published: November 2011

William of Orange invaded and seized Britain from James II in 1688. The “Glorious Revolution” was relatively bloodless in Britain, but subduing James's Irish supporters, who were backed by Louis XIV of France, took from 1689 to 1691. This was a sideshow in the Nine Years' War (1688–1697) between a “Grand Alliance” of many European states and the “Sun King.”
Brusilov, General Aleksei Alekseevich (1853–1926)
Authors: Cockfield Jamie H.
Published: November 2011

Russian general who served both the tsarist and Soviet armies; arguably Russia's greatest general. Born in Tiflis, Georgia, in 1853, of aristocratic parents, Brusilov and his siblings were orphaned young and reared by his aunt and uncle. He entered the Imperial Corps des Pages where, after an inconsistent start, he graduated having mastered mathematics, foreign languages, and military science. He first saw action in the Russo‐Turkish War of 1877–1878, in which he served with distinction, receiving the Cross of St. George, third class, the first of many career medals. In 1881 he entered the Officers' Cavalry School in St. Petersburg, and on graduating in 1883, he joined the teaching staff and became post commandant in 1902.
Cadorna, Luigi (1850–1928)
Authors: Vandervort Bruce
Published: November 2011

One of the Italian army's most controversial generals, Cadorna was the army's chief of staff during the greater part of World War I, from July 20, 1914, until November 9, 1917, when he was relieved of command for his alleged role in Italy's epic defeat at Caporetto. Although born into one of his country's most prominent military families—his father, General Raffaele Cadorna, had brought the Italian wars of unification to a close by seizing what was left of the Papal States in Rome in September 1870—his career was dogged by periodic crises, largely of his own making. Headstrong and convinced of his own rectitude, Cadorna found it hard to conceal his contempt for civilian control of the military. An early partisan of the belief in the superiority of shock over firepower in modern warfare, he kept faith with this view long after the vicissitudes of trench warfare should have shown him the error of his ways. Finally, Cadorna showed aristocratic disdain for the common soldiers under his command, not the best outlook for the head of a mass conscript army and one that contributed to the blame heaped upon him for the disaster at Caporetto.
Calleja del Rey, Félix María, 1st Count of Calderón (1753–1828)
Authors: England Shawn
Published: November 2011

Félix María Calleja del Rey was born in Medina del Campo, Spain, on November 1, 1753. He served Bourbon Spain's imperial army in Algeria and Gibraltar before being promoted to captain and deployed to New Spain in 1789. That year coincided with the outbreak of revolution in France, a critical watershed that precipitated the 1793 execution of Louis XVI and the resulting split between Spain and its former French ally.
Charlemagne (
ca
. 747–814;
r
. 768–814)
Authors: Bachrach David Stewart
Published: November 2011

In the first years of his reign, Charlemagne deployed his armies to finish the task of reuniting the
Regnum Francorum
, which had been begun by his grandfather, Charles Martel (714–741), and carried on by his father, Pippin III. To this end, Charlemagne renewed in 769 the campaign in Aquitaine when Duke Hunoald rebelled, seeking to overturn the surrender agreement reached the previous year with Pippin. Charlemagne crushed this revolt after mobilizing a substantial army for military operations.
C
harles
X
G
ustav (1622–1660)
Authors: Ailes Mary Elizabeth
Published: November 2011

Charles X Gustav was king of Sweden during the height of the Swedish Baltic Empire. He was born in 1622 to Johan Kasimir, count palatine of Zweibrücken, and Katarina Vasa, the half‐sister of King Gustavus Adolphus. He came into the line of succession in 1650, when he was named heir to his cousin Christina. Despite not being raised as a royal prince, Charles Gustav was groomed to play an influential role in Swedish society. He was educated at the University of Uppsala and went on a grand tour of Europe. In 1640 he returned to Sweden and became a commander in Lennart Torstennson's army that was fighting in the Thirty Years' War. In 1648 he was named generalissimo of the Swedish army in the Holy Roman Empire. He became king of Sweden in 1654, one day after Queen Christina's abdication.
C
harles
XII
(1682–1718)
Authors: McLay K.A.J.
Published: November 2011

The second of seven children, and the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, Charles was born on June 17, 1682, in Stockholm. Although possessing a rather unremarkable physique and having developed aesthetic interests, a military education proved the mainstay of Charles's upbringing. At his father's side, Charles imbibed both the theory and practice of early modern warfare as pursued by the Swedish military. This training proved both first rate and essential: the former because in the late seventeenth century, Sweden, the principal European power in the Baltic and northern Europe, was an expert exponent of warfare founded upon the reforms of the Military Revolution, and the latter because Charles's entire reign was consumed by participation in the Great Northern War (1699–1721).
Chechnya Wars (1990s–present)
Authors: Stone David R.
Published: November 2011

A bitter and bloody insurgency pitting separatist Chechens and Islamic allies against the Russian state.
Chemical Warfare
Authors: Avery Donald
Published: November 2011

Chemical warfare involves the use of chemical agents to kill or incapacitate, either on the battlefield, or within a civilian context. Because of their diversity, chemical weapons (CW) are usually described by their physical properties or how they affect humans. During World War I, for example, the warring nations developed and used different categories of choking gases (chlorine, phosgene), blood gases (hydrogen cyanide), persistent blister agents (HS mustard gas and lewisite), and non‐lethal irritating gases such as CS tear gas. These remained the standard CW munitions until World War II when the Germans secretly developed three deadly, non‐persistent nerve agents (tabun, sarin, soman), which greatly expanded the strategic importance of chemical warfare. During the 1950s another generation of nerve gases emerged with the British discovery of VX, which was both more toxic than the G‐agents and relatively persistent, meaning that it could contaminate the battlefield for an extended period of time. Another category of gas weapon of this era was nonlethal “psycho‐chemicals” such as BZ and LSD, which could cause serious psychological disorientation among enemy troops, although these agents proved difficult to use within a battlefield context. Toxin weapons, defined as toxic substances derived from living organisms, were another promising field, with most of the attention being devoted to the weaponization of Ricin (plant), Staphyloccal enterotoxin (bacterium), Botulinum toxin (bacterium), and trichothecene mycotoxins (fungi).
Chosroes/KhusrauII, King ofPersia (590–628)
Authors: Mikaberidze Alexander
Published: November 2011

The last of the “great kings” of Sasanian Iran, Chosroes or Khusrau II Parvēz (“the victorious”) was the son of Hurmazd IV (579–590) and grandson of Khusrau I (531–579). He ascended to power in the midst of domestic turmoil caused by a rebellion of Bahrām Chōbīn against his father Hurmazd (Hormizd) IV. As a result of a palace coup, Hurmazd was deposed and blinded, while his son Chosroes was crowned as the king at Ctesiphon. The new ruler tried to deal with Bahrām and invited him to assume the second position in the empire, which the general declined. In the ensuing conflict, Bahrām initially held the upper hand and, after defeating Chosroes' army, captured Ctesiphon in the spring of 590 and proclaimed himself king. Chosroes fled to Byzantine territory, where he appealed for help to Emperor Maurice. In return, he agreed to recognize Byzantine influence in southern Caucasia and surrender Martyropolis, Dara, and part of Armenia and Iberia. With Byzantine financial and military help, Chosroes was able to defeat Bahrām at Ganzak (modern Takht‐i‐Suleiman, Azerbaijan) in 591 and recover his throne.
C
hurchill, Sir
W
inston
S
. (1874–1965)
Authors: Woodward David R.
Published: November 2011

Winston Churchill is viewed by many as Britain's greatest political leader of the twentieth century. He was twice prime minister (1940–1945 and 1951–1955) and also played an important role during World War I, especially during the controversial Dardanelles campaign in 1915. He had an extraordinarily productive literary career, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.
Clausewitz, Carl Philipp Gottlieb von (1780–1831)
Authors: Echevarria Antulio J.
Published: November 2011

Carl von Clausewitz was a Prussian military thinker who wrote what is probably the first corpus of military theories based on a combination of rigorous logical analysis and practical experience. His principal ideas and concepts are captured in
On War
(
Vom Kriege
), the first edition of which was published posthumously between 1832 and 1834. Although contemporary technology and the seemingly unprecedented power of terrorist groups and other criminal organizations have clearly changed warfare from what it was in Clausewitz's day, many of his theories are still considered valid.
Clisson,OlivierVde(1336–1407)
Authors: Jones Michael C.
Published: November 2011

Clisson was the last direct male descendant of an important marcher family of Breton lords dating back to the eleventh century. As both soldier and councillor, he shaped events not only in his native Brittany, but also nationally under Charles V and Charles VI of France. He also became immensely wealthy. At his death on April 23, 1407, his 71st birthday, he was probably the richest non‐royal French noble of his generation. Few could have envisaged this when his father, Olivier IV, was executed by Philip VI in 1343 for treason early in the Breton War of Succession (1341–1365) and Olivier's mother, Jeanne de Belleville, a great Poitevin heiress, and her young family took refuge with Edward III of England.
Combat film
Authors: Chapman James
Published: November 2011

What is a “war film”? In the film industry the term was first used to describe films set during the American Civil War such asThe Birth of a Nation(dir. D. W. Griffith, 1915) and reflects the fact that this was the first major war to be the subject of dramatic representation in film. (For a critical taxonomy of “war films,” see Neale 2000: 125–133.) The term also came to be applied to actuality films of World War I, such as The Battle of the Somme (dir. Geoffrey Malins and J. B. McDowell, 1916), and later to fiction films, such asAll Quiet on the Western Front(dir. Lewis Milestone, 1930), that presented a harrowing account of the experience of the trenches. In fact the war film—like other genres such as film noir or melodrama—is one that has no fixed boundaries. Film critics and historians disagree on the parameters of the genre. R. E. Shain, for example, avers that war films “do not have to be situated in combat zones” and that they may deal “with the roles of civilians, espionage agents, and soldiers in any of the aspects of war (i.e. preparation, cause, prevention, conduct, daily life, and consequences or aftermath)” (Shain 1976: 20). Under this definition we would include films about the experiences of prisoners of war such asLa Grande Illusion(dir. Jean Renoir, 1937) and homefront dramas such asMrs Miniver(dir. William Wyler, 1942) andMillions Like Us(dir. Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, 1943).
Combined arms
Authors: Ankersen Christopher
Published: November 2011

Combined arms warfare is an approach to land warfare defined as “the synchronized and simultaneous application of the elements of combat power to achieve an effect greater than if each element of combat power was used separately or sequentially” (Department of the Army 2010: 12). This is achieved by integrating forces and effects from the various “arms,” such as infantry, armored, artillery, engineers, close air support, tactical aviation, and others. The reasoning behind this integration is straightforward: “No matter how powerful a single arm—tanks, attack helicopters, or whatever—may be, that arm has many of the same strengths and weaknesses as its counterpart in the opposing army. As a practical matter, therefore, a carefully adjusted mixture of different weapons will almost always prove superior to a single type of weapon” (House 1984: 1). Developed following World War I, it remains an important aspect of contemporary land warfare.
Comnenus, Manuel
I
(1118–1180)
Authors: Kyriakidis Savvas
Published: November 2011

Manuel I Comnenus (or Komnenos) ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1143 until 1180. An energetic emperor who saw possibilities everywhere, he was an indefatigable and daring soldier who led military campaigns in person and won the affection of his troops by sharing their dangers and discomforts. Manuel I used the wealth, military machine, and internal stability constructed by his grandfather, Alexius I (1081–1118), and his father, John II (1118–1143). He inherited an empire much stronger than at any time for a century.
Condé, Louis
II
of Bourbon, 4th Prince of (“the Great”) (1621–1686)
Authors: Bonney Richard
Published: November 2011

Holding the title of duc d'Enghien until his father's death on December 26, 1646, the fourth prince of Condé exceeded his illustrious forbears in the prowess of arms by winning the great Battle of Rocroi against the battle‐hardened Spanish army on May 19, 1643 at the age of just 22 years.
Conquistadors
Authors: Restall Matthew
Published: November 2011

The Spaniards who invaded the Americas in the sixteenth century—known then and since aslos conquistadores,“the conquerors” — were “bad” and “cruel,” led by “great tyrants.” Encountering Native Americans, who were “gentle lambs and sheep,” the conquistadors became “like fierce wolves and tigers and lions.” Or such was their characterization by the Dominican firebrand fray Bartolomé de Las Casas. His imagery caught on: he had the ear of the Spanish king, Emperor Charles V, who in 1542 approved sweeping new laws to protect his Native American subjects. Denunciations of conquistador methods were penned by others (a 1557 play by Michael de Carvajal called conquistadors “marauding wolves” and “human beasts of prey”), and anti‐conquistador tales became so commonplace in the rest of Europe that the phenomenon acquired a name, the Black Legend (Las Casas 2003; Jáuregui 2008).
Conscription
Authors: Alexandra Andrew
Published: November 2011

Conscription, as the term is used in this entry, refers to an organized system of compulsory military service by citizens of a state. Since its inception in its modern form in Revolutionary France, conscription has been a significant military and political force. Militarily, it was a central element in the mobilization of all the resources of a nation, which led to the vast increase in the scale and power of armies in the nineteenth century and made possible the “total wars” of the twentieth. Politically, conscription has been important in building and reinforcing national identities, and in helping to break down entrenched social divisions, with all (male) members of the nation regarded as “citizen‐soldiers,” duty bound to serve in an army which functioned as an instrument of national defense rather than as the preserve of a military caste beholden to the powers that be. All modern states claim the right to conscript their citizens, and from the late nineteenth century till the late twentieth, most enforced that right. As military, political, and social realities have changed over the past few decades, however, an increasing number of states have abolished conscription.
Corinthian War (395–387 BCE)
Authors: Potts Samuel
Published: November 2011

The Corinthian War was the first major conflict between the city‐states of Greece in thefourth century
BCE
. It represented the first attempt by the cities of Greece to break theSpartan hegemony established after the Peloponnesian War (431–404), and the first time sincetheir crushing defeat in that war that the Athenians took an active role in a military campaign.The Corinthian War set the pattern for the inter‐polis conflicts that would typify the fighting of the fourth century
BCE
: Greek city‐states forming shortterm alliances against the current most powerful city; many skirmishes and battles but few decisive and lasting victories; and the Great King of Persia intervening to try and stabilize affairs in Greece by creating a common peace treaty. The Corinthian War also saw the use of certain tactics and troop types that were to play an increasingly important role in warfare throughout the century and beyond.
Crimean War (1853–1856)
Authors: VAN DER OYE DAVID SCHIMMELPENNINCK
Published: November 2011

An important European war between Russia and Turkey, which was joined by Great Britain, France, and Sardinia. The fighting eventually focused on the Allied campaign to take Sevastopol, the tsarist Black Sea naval bastion on the Crimean Peninsula. Russian defeat marked the end of its post‐Napoleonic primacy on the Continent.
Cristero War (1926–1929)
Authors: José María Herrera
Published: November 2011

The Cristero War was a Catholic conservative reaction to post‐Mexican Revolution anti‐clericalism. Throughout the early history of Mexico, the Catholic Church had traditionally aligned itself with conservative forces, and this was generally no different during the revolution. In consequence, the victorious revolutionaries incorporated anti‐clerical measures when they drafted the Constitution of 1917. This effort, designed to curb the power and influence of the Catholic Church (especially over education and the public sphere), created considerable friction in the mostly Catholic country.
Crusade, Fifth (1218–1221)
Authors: Marvin Laurence W.
Published: November 2011

What scholars call the Fifth Crusade occurred at the height of crusade activity in western Europe. Its planners avoided the pitfalls that derailed earlier efforts, yet the crusade ended with the army's humiliating departure from Egypt. The genesis of the Fifth Crusade lay in the failures of the Third and Fourth Crusades, the latter called by Pope Innocent III (r. 1198–1216). By 1213 the possibility of another crusade reemerged. In 1212 the Aragonese and Castilian kings decisively defeated the Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa, strengthening Christian Spain. For Innocent the Albigensian Crusade had largely succeeded, so he withdrew the indulgence for outside participation in it or on the Iberian Peninsula. In April 1213 he issued the encyclical Quia Major, the most comprehensive papal statement on crusading to date. Innocent requested that Europe's elite either personally crusade or provide men and finances for a three‐year period. The encyclical called on maritime ports to provide assistance. Innocent promised a plenary indulgence for direct participation or for those who sent men at their own expense. Even ordinary people could earn a lesser indulgence simply by giving money or other aid. Thus Innocent sought the highest possible involvement for his initiative. Plans for the expedition were refined at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. Innocent pledged direct papal financial support through a tax on himself, and taxation Europe‐wide on clerical incomes for three years. The council decreed a departure date for 1217 from certain Italian ports, undoubtedly to prevent the logistical issues that had almost doomed the Fourth Crusade before it even began.
Cynoscephalae, Battle of (197 BCE)
Authors: JIM TUCCI
Published: November 2011

The Battle of Cynoscephalae was the culminating event of the Second Macedonian War, fought between the Roman Republic and the Macedonian king Philip V at the beginning of the second century BCE. The battle proved decisive on two counts, one military and one political. Militarily, Roman legions defeated the Macedonian phalanx, which had been the dominant army formation in the eastern Mediterranean since the age of Alexander. Politically, the Republic's victory at Cynoscephalae ensured that Rome would replace Macedon as hegemon of the Greek world.
DariusI(ca. 550–486BCE)
Authors: Hyland John
Published: November 2011

Darius (Old PersianDârayavaush) was the most successful ruler of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and was responsible for the establishment of administrative and economic institutions that would stay in place for a century and a half after his death. After a violent seizure of power, Darius built the imperial capitals at Susa and Persepolis, commissioned the creation of an Old Persian script to record his decrees, and extended Persian control from the Indus Valley in the East to Macedonia in the West. From the Greek point of view, Darius is best known for the suppression of the Ionian Revolt and Persia's defeat by Athens at the Battle of Marathon. These localized problems on the northwest frontier, despite their prominence in the western historiographical tradition, do not seem to have undermined the overall stability of Darius' imperial system.
Dayan, Moshe
Authors: Bregman Ahron
Published: November 2011

General Moshe Dayan became a legend in his own lifetime. As chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and later Israel's defence minister, Dayan transformed the IDF into the effective armed forces that would gain Israel great military victories over her enemies.
Díaz de Vivar, Rodrigo (“The Cid”) (d. 1099)
Authors: Amiel Angeles J.
Published: November 2011

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, also known as El Cid, from the Arabic word “Sayyid” or “lord,” and also as the Campeador, from the Latin
campi doctor
or “master of war,” is best known as the hero of the epic poem
Cantar del Mio Cid
, or
The Song of My Cid,
a “song of deeds” like the
Song of Roland
. Like other “songs of deeds,” the
Cantar del Mio Cid
celebrates the knightly virtues of the early Middle Ages, such as loyalty to one's lord, largesse toward one's followers, and prowess as a warrior. The poem also celebrates the opportunities presented by the circumstances of the Reconquista during the early Middle Ages, when Moorish Spain was often divided into
taifa
kingdoms, small principalities that emerged whenever central Muslim authority collapsed. Though wealthy, the
taifa
kingdoms were divided and militarily weak, and the Christian kingdoms to the north began to retake lands lost to the Muslims in the eighth century. This was also an opportune time for intrepid Christian knights, who could sell their services to the
taifa
as mercenaries, join the Christian kingdoms and be rewarded with land and booty, or simply set out on their own. In the
Cantar del Mio Cid,
El Cid is portrayed as using his skills as a warrior and leader to successfully navigate the political and military world of early medieval Spain to gain fame, wealth, and power, serving as a model of chivalry for many generations of Spaniards.
Easter Rising of 1916
Authors: Leeson David
Published: November 2011

In Irish history, the Easter Rising was an armed rebellion against the British government in April 1916, in the midst of World War I. The origins of this conflict can be traced back to the pre‐war Home Rule Crisis of 1912–1914. Twice in the late nineteenth century, Liberal governments headed by W. E. Gladstone had attempted to satisfy the demands of Irish nationalists by legislating Home Rule for Ireland. The first attempt, in 1886, was defeated in the House of Commons; the second, in 1893, was rejected by the Conservative‐dominated House of Lords.
Economic warfare
Authors: Dobson Alan
Published: November 2011

Economic warfare generally supplements strategies of conventional warfare. As such, it is usually distinguished from economic sanctions, such as those laid against Italy in the 1930s in retaliation for its invasion of Abyssinia, and the sanctions authorized by the United Nations (UN) against Iraq between 1990 and 2003 in an attempt to curb Saddam Hussein's power ambitions. The former were largely ineffective because the League of Nations excluded the most vital of strategic commodities — oil; something that would not have happened if it had been at war with Italy. On the other hand, there are often similarities between sanctions and economic warfare, for example in the Iraq case, the terrible consequences for innocent third parties: the mass of people in Iraq. Drawing on the ideas of David Mitrany, Margaret Doxey tries to draw a clear distinction between sanctions and other types of economic forms of coercion by asserting that “international sanctions are properly defined as penalties threatened or imposed as a declared consequence of the target's failure to observe international standards or international obligations” (Doxey 1996: 9). And while this might be slightly procrustean, it does capture the more specific and narrow focus of sanctions compared to economic warfare.
Eisenhower, General Dwight D. (1890–1969)
Authors: Sharp Wells Anne
Published: November 2011

As Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, Dwight David Eisenhower directed the defeat of the German army in western Europe from June 1944, when the Allies invaded northern France, to May 1945, when Germany formally surrendered to end World War II in Europe. Earlier in the war he had commanded the Anglo‐American invasions of North Africa (1942), Sicily (1943), and southern Italy (1943). A skilled organizer, manager, and diplomat, he held the often contentious multinational coalition together throughout the war, while presenting a positive image of the Allied effort to the public. Promoted in December 1944 to general of the army, the highest US military rank, Eisenhower received his nation's top civilian post eight years later, when he was elected the 34th president of the United States (1953–1961).
Emergency Powers Acts (1920, 1926, 1939–1940, 1964)
Authors: Leeson David
Published: November 2011

Before 1914 one of the more unusual features of the United Kingdom's unwritten constitution was its lack of any specific provision for civil and military emergencies: in particular, the government lacked the power to proclaim a state of emergency, and thereby free itself to govern by regulation, suspend civil liberties, and impose martial law. Under the common law the British government's emergency powers were wide but poorly defined. According to English jurist and constitutional theorist A. V. Dicey, the crown and its servants had the right and the duty to restore peace and order by any means necessary: “they are, each and all of them, authorized to employ so much force, even to the taking of life, as may be necessary for that purpose, and they are none of them entitled to use more” (Dicey : 289). But servants of the crown whose actions exceeded the demands of the situation were liable to prosecution afterward — and in such cases, obedience to superior orders was no defense. “Hence,” as Dicey admitted, “the position of a soldier is in theory and may be in practice a difficult one. He may, as it has been well said, be liable to be shot by a court martial if he disobeys an order, and to be hanged by a judge and jury if he obeys it” (Dicey 1960: 303).
Epic literature
Authors: Nicholson Helen J.
Published: November 2011

Epic literature describes the martial deeds of a group of people, typically focusing on one hero among them. Epics are narrative poems, usually describing historical events. They were often composed to commemorate a great victory or disaster, especially the latter, or to describe an ongoing conflict between peoples. Epic literature also records incidental information which was taken for granted by its original audience, such as whether warriors fight on foot or on horse‐back, and expectations on the taking and sharing of booty. For this reason epics are important sources of information about methods of warfare in pre‐modern societies.
Eritrea–Ethiopia Conflict (1998–2000)
Authors: Phillips Gervase
Published: November 2011

The war of 1998–2000 waged between Eritrea and Ethiopia had a peculiar irony: the respective governments of the rival nations, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) led by President Isaias Afewerki, were former allies, who had driven the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam from Addis Abeba in 1991. Yet, even during that conflict, the condescending attitude of the veteran Eritrean fighters towards the less experienced Tigrean People's Liberation Front (who had gone on to establish the EPRDF) had often caused friction. So too did the Eritrean vision of their own future as an independent nation, confirmed by popular vote in 1993, that ran counter to Ethiopian hopes for confederation. By 1997, landlocked Ethiopia smarted over the costs now incurred in accessing the Eritrean ports of Assab and Mitsiwa. Meanwhile, in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, there was concern as the EPRDF strove to regulate the entire regional economy. The Ethiopians refused to accept parity between their currency, the
birr
, and the new Eritrean
nakfa
. There was another element to the growing tension: their border was poorly demarcated and sovereignty over much territory remained disputed. When war finally came, the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) would all prove humiliatingly impotent as two of the poorest countries in the world squandered millions of dollars on expensive military equipment. For the Eritreans and Ethiopians themselves, the conflict had one more terrible irony: it killed tens of thousands; it displaced hundreds of thousands; it settled nothing.
Ethnic cleansing
Authors: Petrović Dražen
Published: November 2011

Although this term is widely used, its exact meaning is difficult to determine. It still appears to be a political rather than legal term. Many official documents and witnesses describe ethnic cleansing in different ways.
Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736)
Authors: McLAY K. A. J.
Published: November 2011

Born in Paris the fifth of eight children to Eugene Maurice, prince of Savoy‐Carignan (subsequently count of Soissons) and Olympia Mancini (one of Cardinal Mazarin's three nieces), Eugene of Savoy was destined for the church but instead rose to supreme military command in the Holy Roman Empire. Aged 19 Eugene sought a career in the armies of Louis XIV but the king rejected his request for a commission. Undoubtedly Eugene's unprepossessing physique influenced Louis's decision, but it was mainly attributable to the loss of the king's favor by Eugene's mother, one of Louis's former mistresses, and her subsequent flight from the country when she became embroiled in the allegations of poisoning within the French court, the so‐called
affaire de poisons.
Thus spurned, Eugene left France and presented his military ambitions to the emperor, Leopold I, who, as with one of Eugene's elder brothers, recognized the diplomatic potential in commissioning a second cousin of the duke of Savoy.
Faqir of Ipi (Mirza Ali Khan) (1897–1960)
Authors: Richard Bonney
Published: November 2011

The Faqir of Ipi was “the most determined, implacable single adversary the British Raj in India had to face amongst its own subjects” prior to World War II .Mirza Ali Khan, known to the Pathans as the “Haji Sahib” because he had performed the Haj to Mecca in 1923, was a Qadiriyya
pir
, that is, a holy man of the Qadiriyya Sufi order . The leader of a significant rebellion in 1936–1937, Mirza remained on the run from the British (and, after 1947, Pakistani) authorities. Indeed, he was never caught, nor did he ever formally surrender.
First Jewish War (66–73)
Authors: Dmitriev Sviatoslav
Published: November 2011

The First Jewish War was in fact a revolt of the local Jews in the Roman province of Judaea. It was the first of the three famous Jewish revolts in the Roman Empire, the other two taking place in 115–117 and 132–135. The First War changed the provincial organization of Judaea, the subsequent development of Judaism, and the history of imperial Rome, being intimately connected with the establishment of the Flavian Dynasty in Rome (69–96).
Fisher, Admiral John Arbuthnot (1841–1920)
Authors: Seligmann Matthew S.
Published: November 2011

Admiral of the Fleet Sir John “Jackie” Fisher (later Baron Fisher of Kilverstone), first sea lord from 1904 to 1910 and again from 1914 to 1915, was the most prominent British naval officer of his day. His influence stemmed from his attitude toward technological progress. While new innovations worried many of his contemporaries, who saw only the problems associated with scientific advance, Fisher positively embraced change. Indeed, he regarded it as the Royal Navy's route to salvation.
Flamininus, Titus Quinctius (ca. 228–ca. 174
BCE
)
Authors: Dmitriev Sviatoslav
Published: November 2011

Combining the brilliance of a general with good knowledge of Greek diplomatic vocabulary and practices, Flamininus managed to convert Roman military victories in Greece into a long‐lasting political settlement, replacing the two‐century long Macedonian hegemony over Greece with Roman control. The mode of relationship which he enacted with Greek city‐states and leagues established the foundation of Roman policy in Greece for the rest of the republican period.
Fleurus, Battle of (1794)
Authors: Bonura Michael
Published: November 2011

The Battle of Fleurus demonstrated the superiority of the new French way of war that was an extension of the French Revolution. The new discipline of the citizen soldier brought a mobility and tactical flexibility that overcame the linear warfare of the eighteenth century. The French victory led to a string of successes that resulted in the French occupation of Belgium, the Dutch Republic, and the left bank of the Rhine River.
Free French
Authors: Cogan Charles
Published: November 2011

The Free French movement
(La France Libre)
emerged coincident with the flight of Charles de Gaulle to London on June 17, 1940 and his immediate declaration of opposition to the incoming French government of Philippe Pétain, who was in the process of seeking an armistice with Germany, which de Gaulle found reprehensible. It might seem curious that in secular and anti‐clerical France, de Gaulle chose as the emblem of the Free French movement the Cross of Lorraine, in honor of Joan of Arc, who has become appropriated in recent years as a symbol of the neo‐fascist National Front party. But de Gaulle, whose roots were Catholic, as were those of most Frenchmen, intended Joan of Arc as a symbol of driving out an enemy from the country (substitute Germany for England), as in this astonishingly evocative — and provocative — excerpt from a speech he made on May 10, 1941, on the eve of her birthday:
Froissart, Jean (ca. 1337–1405)
Authors: Morillo Stephen
Published: November 2011

Jean Froissart was one of the most important chroniclers of events in western Europe during the fourteenth century, and hisChroniques(Chronicles) is one of the more valuable narrative sources for the first half of the Hundred Years' War. Although Froissart wrote in French, he documents an aristocratic culture that was centered on chivalric values and that extended across political boundaries. For Froissart and much of his audience, class divisions held greater importance than what might anachronistically be called nationality.
Genocide
Authors: Bellamy Alex J.
Published: November 2011

Now sometimes labeled the “ultimate crime,” before the end of World War II genocide was—in the words of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill—a “crime without a name.” Terms such as “extermination,” “annihilation,” and “massacre” were used to describe what we now call genocide. For instance, calling for the complete annihilation of Native American groups in the nineteenth century, Frank Baum, author of the children's tale
The Wizard of Oz
, opined in a local newspaper that “our only safety depends on the total extirmination [
sic
] of the Indians … we had better, in order to protect our civilization … wipe these untamed and untenable creatures from the face of the earth” (in Forsyth 2003: 35–36).
Gothic War (376–382)
Authors: Dart Christopher J.
Published: November 2011

A war waged by several Gothic groups (principally the Thervingi and the Greuthungi) against the Roman Empire from 376 until 382, when a treaty secured the Goths permanent settlement within the borders of the Roman Empire. The most detailed source for the war is book 31 of the history of Ammianus Marcellinus (covering the period 376 to 378). Though brief, the history of Zosimus covers the entire war. An oration by Themistius is also preserved, which describes the peace agreement in 382. The significance of the Battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis) and the war as a whole for the history of the later Roman Empire can be easily exaggerated; however, the mass settlement of Gothic peoples as a semiautonomous group within the traditional bounds of the Roman Empire in 382 was to mark a significant new epoch in Roman history.
Gotland, Conquest of
Authors: Jensen Carsten Selch
Published: November 2011

In July 1361 the Danish king Valdemar IV Atterdag (r. 1340–1375) conquered the Swedish island of Gotland. The campaign culminated on July 27, when some 1,800 of the island's peasant militia were slain outside Visby by the king's army. Gotland was a strategically and commercially important island in the Baltic Sea, and Visby belonged to the Hanseatic League. Following a successful military campaign against the Swedes in 1360 in the former Danish provinces of southern Sweden, King Valdemar turned his attention towards Ösel and Gotland, intending to exploit the apparent weakness of the Swedish realm to conquer the two islands. In early July 1361, Ösel was quickly subdued and the king's army sailed for Gotland.