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Peninsular War
Peninsular War 1808-14, fought by France against Great Britain, Portugal, Spanish regulars, and Spanish guerrillas in the Iberian Peninsula.
Origin and Occupation
The conflict was precipitated when Portugal refused to comply with Napoleon's Continental System . By a secret convention rea...
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Peninsular campaign
Peninsular campaign in the American Civil War, the unsuccessful Union attempt (Apr.-July, 1862) to capture Richmond, Va., by way of the peninsula between the York and James rivers.
The Plan
Early in 1862, Gen. George B. McClellan , who had kept the Army of the Potomac inactive through th...
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Vimeiro
Vimeiro , village, Lisboa dist., W central Portugal, in Estremadura. It was the scene of a battle (1808) of the Peninsular War, in which Wellington defeated Junot, thus ending the first French invasion of Portugal.
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Sir William Francis Patrick Napier
Sir William Francis Patrick Napier 1785-1860, British general and historian; brother of Sir Charles James Napier . He served in the Peninsular War and wrote a famous and still authoritative History of the War in the Peninsula (6 vol., 1828-40).
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Graham Land
Graham Land part of the Antarctic Peninsula , W Antarctica. This ice-covered, mountainous area was thought to be a group of islands but further exploration (1934) showed it to be peninsular. Claimed by Britain in 1832, it was also claimed by Argentina and Chile. Its name is sometimes used to descr...
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Hindustan
Hindustan [Persian,=Hindu land], historical term, usually applied to the Ganges Plain of N India, between the Himalayas in the north and the Deccan plateau in the south. Used variably throughout Indian history—generally in contradistinction to the Deccan of peninsular India—it gradually...
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Tôrres Vedras
Tôrres Vedras , town (1991 pop. 13,300), Lisboa dist., W central Portugal, in Estremadura. Located in an agricultural center, it produces wine and minor manufactures. The town was captured from the Moors by Alfonso I soon after he took Lisbon (1147) but was reconquered by the Almohads briefly ...
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Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real , city (1990 pop. 58,170), capital of Ciudad Real prov., central Spain, in Castile-La Mancha, on a fertile plain between the Jabalón and Guadiana rivers. It is an agricultural marketplace, with farm-related industries. Ciudad Real was founded by Alfonso X of Castile in the 13th ce...
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Deccan
Deccan , region of India. Sometimes defined as all India S of the Narmada River, it is in a more limited sense the plateau of central peninsular India, including approximately all Karnataka and S Andhra Pradesh, SE Maharashtra, and NW Tamil Nadu. The rich volcanic soil is used for growing cotton. Th...
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John Bankhead Magruder
John Bankhead Magruder , 1810-71, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Winchester, Va. His reckless daring in the Mexican War won him quick promotion in the army. At the outbreak of the Civil War he resigned and was made colonel in the Confederate army. In June, 1861, he defeated Benjam...
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