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Battle of Fort Sumter
Definition

Battle of Fort Sumter - The First Shots Fired of the American Civil War

The Battle of Fort Sumter (12-13 April 1861), also known as the Attack on Fort Sumter and the Fall of Fort Sumter, was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. It began when...
Homestead Act
Definition

Homestead Act - Settling the American West

The Homestead Act was a policy enacted by the United States government on 20 May 1862 to encourage westward expansion. Passed during the American Civil War (1861-1865), the act offered 160 acres (65 ha) of...
Charvaka
Definition

Charvaka - The Ancient Indian Philosophy of Hedonism

Charvaka (also given as Carvaka) was a philosophical school of thought developed in ancient India circa 600 BCE, stressing materialism as the means by which one understands life and lives in the world...
Eridu Genesis
Definition

Eridu Genesis - The Oldest Mesopotamian Text on the Great Flood

The Eridu Genesis (also known as the Sumerian Flood Story, The Flood Story, Sumerian creation myth, Sumerian deluge myth) is the oldest Mesopotamian text relating the tale of the Great Flood...
Miklós Horthy
Definition

Miklós Horthy

Miklós Horthy (1868-1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who served as regent for the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 until his forced abdication in 1944. During the interwar period and for most of World War II, Horthy played...
North American P-51 Mustang
Definition

North American P-51 Mustang - The Fighter that Changed Aerial Warfare

The North American P-51 Mustang was a long-range fighter aircraft used by the air forces of the United States and Great Britain during the Second World War (1939-45). Widely considered...
Calypso
Definition

Calypso - The Nymph Who Kept Odysseus Prisoner

In Greek mythology, Calypso, whose name means "to hide" or "to conceal," is a nymph best known from Homer's (c.750 BCE) epic The Odyssey for falling in love with Odysseus and imprisoning him on her island...
Winfield Scott
Definition

Winfield Scott - The General Who Mapped the Union Victory

Winfield Scott (1786-1866) was an American military leader famous for his brilliant tactics in battle, for his insistence on the value of a highly trained, disciplined army, and for being the general...
Battle of Philippi (Philippi Races)
Definition

Battle of Philippi (Philippi Races) - The First Organized Land Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Philippi (3 June 1861) was the first organized land engagement of the American Civil War, fought in Philippi, Virginia (present-day West Virginia) over...
Early Dynastic Period In Egypt
Definition

Early Dynastic Period In Egypt - Unification and the Rise of the First Egyptian Kings

The Early Dynastic Period in Egypt (circa 3150 to circa 2613 BCE) is the beginning of the historical era of the country during which the regions of Upper Egypt (south) and...
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