Ba'athism is an Arab political doctrine which combines elements of socialist thinking with pan-Arabism. This theory of Arab nationalism conceives of the 'Arab nation' as a single entity stretching from Morocco to Iraq which has been artificially divided by colonialism and imperialism.
Ba'athism originated in Syria, where the first Ba'ath Party was founded in 1953. Ba'athists have held power in Syria since 1963 and held power in Iraq from 1968 until they were overthrown in 2003 by a US led coalition of America, Britain and Australia which invaded Iraq in March 2003 under the pretence of disarming the regime of weapons of mass destruction. The Syrian and Iraqi branches of the movement were deeply divided. There have been further divisions between its civilian and military elements. While the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein employed the slogans of pan-Arabism to justify his invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the Ba'ath Party in Iraq was reduced to an instrument of state power. Research Ba'athism
Coalition is a term used in diplomacy and politics to denote a union between different parties not of the same opinions, but who agree to act together for a particular object. Amongst states it is understood to mean theoretically something less general in its ends, and less deeply founded than an alliance. Research Coalition
A diphthong is a coalition or union of two vowels pronounced in one syllable. In uttering a proper diphthong both vowels are pronounced; the sound is not simple, but the two sounds are so blended as to be considered as forming one syllable, as in void, tough. The term improper diphthong is applied to the union in one syllable of two or more vowels, of which only one is sounded, as in bean. Research Diphthong
The name of Republicans was, in the earlier history of the United States, taken by the party formed by Jefferson, as distinguishing them from their Federalist opponents (later known as the Democratic Party), stigmatised as monarchists. In 1854 the name was revived, to be applied to a new political party, at first characterized primarily by opposition to the extension of slavery to the territories.
The compromise of 1850 had resulted in the disruption and decay of the Whig party. There was a brief interval before parties could be re-formed upon the basis of the slavery question purely. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act by the Democrats in 1854 caused a general coalition of Northern Free-Soilers, Whigs, Democrats, Know-Nothings and Abolitionists, united in opposition to that measure and the consequent repeal of the Missouri Compromise. At first known as 'Anti-Nebraska Men', the coalitionists took in that same year the name of Republicans. They at once won a plurality of Congress, and in 1856 held their first national convention at Philadelphia, which nominated Fremont and Dayton. Defeated then, in 1859 they again controlled the House. In 1860 Democratic divisions enabled them to elect Abraham Lincoln.
For the next' fourteen years the party, reinforced for a time by 'War Democrats', was supreme. It controlled the National Government, enlarged its powers by broad construction of the Constitution, carried on the American Civil War, abolished slavery, reconstructed the governments of the seceding States and controlled them, maintained the protective system and refunded the debt. It carried the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and of Grant in 1868 and 1872. The Liberal Republican schism of 1872 indicated a reaction from the radical policy followed in regard to reconstruction, and was followed by extensive defeats in the tidal wave of 1874, due partly to official corruption in high places.
Yet the party managed, though barely, to carry the election of Hayes in 1876, and elected Garfield in 1880. In 1884 the nomination of Blaine caused the bolt of the mugwumps, and the election of a Democratic President. The party then became, more distinctly than in the years just preceding, the party of high protection. In 1888 it elected Harrison. Defeated in 1892, it was again successful in State elections in 1893. Its strength traditionally lay in the North. During the later part of the 19th century the Republican Party advocated a more stirring foreign policy than that of the Democrats, and larger expenditures for pensions and other national objects.
During the 20th century the Republican Party became more right-wing, represented by presidents such as Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W Bush. Research Republican Party
Respect, the Unity Coalition, is a British left-wing political party formed directly out of the anti-war movement in the UK which followed the invasion of Iraq in 2002. Some of those involved in the anti-war movement felt that a political movement was needed to further the aims of those millions who marched against the war. A public meeting was called in January 2004 in London at Friend's House and from that meeting, which was attended by more than 1500 people, an executive was formed. Among those instrumental in founding Respect were George Galloway MP (who had been expelled from the ruling Labour party for revealing truths about the illegality of the invasion of Iraq), Lindsey German, Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, Ken Loach the film maker and Salma Yaqoob, of the Birmingham Stop the War group. Many British political observers see Respect as an attempt to recreate the true Socialist Labour party which had become a party - renamed 'New Labour' - with almost identical aims to the Tory party, and in so doing had misled and cheated its supporters who traditionally believed in values such as the national ownership of railways and public services and which they had thought would be re-nationalised by the Tony Blair led Labour government.
Alexander I was King of Scotland from 1107 to 1124. A son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret of England, he succeeded his brother Edgar in 1107, and governed with great ability until his death in 1124. He was a great benefactor of the church, and a firm vindicator of the national independence.
Alexander I was a King of Yugoslavia. He was born in 1888 and died in 1934. He was of the Karageorgevic dynasty of Serbia, ascending the throne in 1921 he tried to overcome the ethnic, religious, and regional rivalries in his country by means of a personal dictatorship in 1929, supported by the army. In the interest of greater unity, he changed the name of his kingdom, which consisted of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, to 'Yugoslavia' in 1929. In 1931 some civil rights were restored, but they proved insufficient to quell rising political and separatist dissent, aggravated by economic depression. He was planning to restore parliamentary government when he was assassinated by a Croatian terrorist.
Alexander I was an Emperor of Russia. He was born in 1777 and died in 1825. He was the son of Paul I, and is believed to have assisted indirectly in his father's murder. He ascended the throne in 1801 and reigned until 1825. He set out to reform Russia and correct many of the injustices of the preceding reign. His private committee - the Neglasny Komitet - introduced plans for public education, but his reliance on the nobility made it impossible for him to abolish serfdom. His adviser, Speransky, pressed for a more liberal constitution, but the nobles secured his fall in 1812. At first a supporter of the coalition against Napoleon, his defeats by the latter at Austerlitz in 1805 and Friedland in 1807 resulted in the Treaties of Tilsit and in his support of the Continental System against the British.
His wars with Persia from 1804 to 1813 and with Turkey from 1806 to 1812 brought territorial gains, including the acquisition of Georgia and his armies helped to defeat Napoleon's grande armee at Leipzig, after its retreat from Moscow in 1812. In an effort to uphold Christian morality in Europe he formed a Holy Alliance of European monarchs, and became increasingly conservative in his domestic policies. The constitution he gave to Poland scarcely disguised the rule of the military there. He was reported to have died while in the Crimea, but rumour persisted that he had escaped to Siberia and became a hermit. Research Alexander I
Charles Sumner was an American statesman and anti-slavery campaigner. He was born in 1811 at Boston and died in 1874. Educated at Harvard, he was called to the Bar in 1834 and elected to the Senate in 1851. On returning from an extended Buropean tour, from 1837 to 1840, he became profoundly interested in the anti-slavery question, and devoted the next few years of his life to the abolition of slavery and was an impressive speaker on the subject.
In 1846, Charles Sumner, who had been a moderate Whig, helped organize the Free-Soil party in 1848, and was defeated for Congress the same year. In 1851, after a prolonged struggle of three months in the Massachusetts Legislature, he was elected US Senator by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers. He speedily became the chief advocate in the Senate of the anti-slavery sentiment. His speech, 'Freedom National, Slavery Sectional', gave the signal of his course. That on the 'Crime against Kansas', in May, 1856, provoked a personal assault from a Southern Representative, Preston Brooks. Sumner was severely injured, and did not resume his seat until 1859.
He was meanwhile re-elected Senator as a Republican, and re-elected twice, serving until his death. In 1861 he became chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and was one of the chief friends and advisers of President Abraham Lincoln. He opposed Johnson, but supported the Alaska purchase. In 1871 he strongly opposed the San Domingo Treaty, broke with President Grant and the Republican Senators, and was removed from his chairmanship. He supported Horace Greeley in 1872, and gave his closing efforts to the furtherance of the civil rights of coloured citizens. Research Charles Sumner
Ferdinand I was emperor of Germany. He was born in 1503 at Alcala, in Spain and died in 1564. The brother of Charles V, in 1522 he received the Austrian lands of the house of Hapsburg from the emperor, to which were afterwards added the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia in right of his wife Anna of Hungary. On the abdication of Charles he succeeded to the imperial title.
Ferdinand I (previously Ferdinand IV of Naples) of Bourbon was King of the Two Sicilies. He was born in 1751 and died in 1825. He was the third son of Charles III, King of Spain, whom he succeeded in 1759, on the throne of Naples, on the accession of the latter to that of Spain. In 1768 he married MariaCarolineLouisa, daughter of the EmpressMaria Theresa, who soon acquired a decided influence over him.
After the death of Louis XVIFerdinand joined the coalition against France, and took part in the general war from 1793 to 1796; but in 1799, after the defeat of the Neapolitans under General Mack, the French took possession of the whole kingdom, and proclaimed the Parthenopean Republic. The new republic did not last long. Ferdinand returned to Naples in 1800. Six years later he was again driven from Naples by the French, and compelled to take refuge in Sicily, where he maintained himself by the aid of the British.
The Congress of Vienna finally re-established Ferdinand IV in all his rights as King of the Two Sicilies in 1814, while Naples was still occupied by Murat. But after the flight of the latter in March, 1815, Ferdinand once more entered Naples, on June the 17th, 1815. In 1816 he assumed the title of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies. In 1820, in consequence of a revolution, Ferdinand was obliged to swear to support a new and more liberal constitution. The Austrians, however, came to his help, and re-established him in possession of absolute power.
Ferdinand I was Emperor of Austria. He was born in 1793 and died in 1875.
Ferdinand I was King of Romania. He was born in 1865 and died in 1927.
Ferdinand I was a Holy Roman Emperor. He was born in 1503 and died in 1564. Research Ferdinand I
FrancisI was Emperor of Austria (previously Francis II, emperor of Germany). He was born in 1768 and died in 1835. He was the son of the Emperor Leopold II and Maria Louisa, daughter of Charles III, king of Spain. He succeeded his father in 1792. France declared war against him in 1792, and hostilities continued until the Peace of Campo-Formio in 1797. In 1799 he entered into a new coalition with England and Russia against the French republic; but in 1801 Russia and Austria were compelled to conclude the Peace of Luneville. France having been declared an empire in 1804, he assumed the title of hereditary Emperor of Austria; and on the establishment of the confederacy of the Rhine in 1806, he renounced the title of Emperor of Germany. In 1805 war again broke out between Austria and France. But after the battle of Austerlitz in 1805 the Peace of Presburg was signed. In 1809 he again took up arms against France, and in the Peace of Vienna was compelled to surrender 42,000 square miles of territory. The marriage of his daughter, Maria Louisa, with Napoleon promised to form a strong tie between the imperial houses, but in 1813 he entered into an alliance with Russia and Prussia against France, and was present to the close of the contest. Research Francis I 3
Francois-Pierre-Guillaume Guizot was a French historian and statesman. He was born in 1787 at Nimes and died in 1874. His father, a lawyer, having in 1794 been executed by the guillotine, his mother and her three sons retired to Geneva, where Francois Guizot was gratuitously educated at the gymnasium. In 1805 he commenced legal studies at Paris, but gradually drifted into the literary profession. In 1812 he married Mademoiselle de Meulan, editor of the Publiciste, and became professor of history at the Sorbonne.
On the fall of the empire he obtained several public offices, such as councillor of state, and director-general of the departmental and communal administration. In 1816 he published Du Gouvernement Representatif et de l'Etat actuel de la France, and Essai sur l'lnstruction Publique. In 1820 the Duc de Berry was assassinated, and Francois Guizot's party fell before an ultra-royalist reaction. In 1825 he was deprived of his chair on account of the political character of his lectures, but it was restored to him in 1828. In 1829 he again became councillor of state, and in 1830 was elected deputy for the arrondissement of Lisieux.
After the July revolution he was appointed minister of the interior, but resigned in 1831. After the death of Perier, Francois Guizot, along with Thiers and De Broglie, formed a coalition ministry, and he rendered great service as minister of public instruction. He became ambassador at the British court in 1840, and next year he became the real head of the government of which Soult was the nominal chief. He retained the office of minister of foreign affairs until 1848, and during that period opposed all measures of reform. After the fall of Louis Philippe, Francois Guizot escaped and fled to England. Henceforth he practically retired from public life.
Born of a Calvinist family, Francois Guizot always remained a sternProtestant of the orthodox type, although he zealously supported the temporal authority of the pope. Among his numerous works may be mentioned, Histoire de la Civilisation enFrance, Histoire generale de la Civilisation enEurope; Histoire de la Revolution d'Angleterre; Washington; Discours sur la Revolution d'Angleterre; Meditations et Etudes Morales; Guillaume le Conquerant; Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire de mon Temps (1858-68); Meditations sur l'Etat Actuel de la Religion Chretienne; Melanges Biographiques et Litteraire; Histoire de France Racontee a mes Petits Enfants;
etc. Research Francois Guizot
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Ba'athism
