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Stralsund
Stralsund , city (1994 pop. 69,230), Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, NE Germany, on the Strelasund (an inlet of the Baltic Sea), opposite Rügen Island. It is an industrial center and seaport, with shipyards and major fishing and fish-processing industries. Founded in 1209, Stralsund became (late ...
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Christian IV
Christian IV 1577-1648, king of Denmark and Norway (1588-1648), son and successor of Frederick II. After assuming (1596) personal rule from a regency, he concentrated on building the navy, industry, and commerce. He rebuilt Oslo and renamed it Christiania. Aroused when Charles IX of Sweden asse...
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Karl Wilhelm Scheele
Karl Wilhelm Scheele , 1742-86, Swedish chemist, b. Stralsund. He is known as the discoverer of many chemical substances. He was a pharmacist in Stockholm, in Uppsala (1770-75), and then in Köping. He prepared and studied oxygen c.1773, but his account in Chemical Observations and Experiments ...
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Pomerania
Pomerania , region of N central Europe, extending along the Baltic Sea from a line W of Stralsund, Germany, to the Vistula River in Poland. From 1919 to 1939, Pomerania was divided among Germany, Poland, and the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk). The German part constituted the Prussian province of ...
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Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
Mecklenburg-West Pomerania , state (1994 pop. 1,890,000), 9,201 sq mi (23,838 sq km), NE Germany, bordering on the Baltic Sea. Schwerin is the capital. The region embraced by the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania is a low-lying, fertile agricultural area, with many lakes and forests. Until the end...
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Charles XII
Charles XII 1682-1718, king of Sweden (1697-1718), son and successor of Charles XI. The regency under which he succeeded was abolished in 1697 at the request of the Riksdag. At the coronation he omitted the usual oath and crowned himself. Charles's youth and inexperience invited the coalition (1699...
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Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League , mercantile league of medieval German towns. It was amorphous in character; its origin cannot be dated exactly. Originally a Hansa was a company of merchants trading with foreign lands. After the German push eastward and the settlement of German towns in the Slavic lands of the Bal...
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Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein , 1583-1634, imperial general in the Thirty Years War , b. Bohemia. He attended the Lutheran academy at Altdorf but at the age of 20 converted to Roman Catholicism. He advanced his fortune by marriage to a wealthy widow, and for his support of Archduke Ferdi...
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Gustavus II
Gustavus II (Gustavus Adolphus), 1594-1632, king of Sweden (1611-32), son and successor of Charles IX.
Military Achievements
Gustavus's excellent education, personal endowments, and early experience in affairs of state prepared him for his crucial role in Sweden and Europe. With the help ...
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Thirty Years War
Thirty Years War 1618-48, general European war fought mainly in Germany.
General Character of the War
There were many territorial, dynastic, and religious issues that figured in the outbreak and conduct of the war. The extent of religious motives is debated, but cannot be dismissed, parti...
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