Orange free state: Did you mean...?

Miltiades (c. 555-489 BCE) was the Athenian general who defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE. The Greeks faced a Persian force of superior numbers led by the commanding admiral Datis, who had been sent by their...

Gorgo was the queen of the Greek city-state of Sparta, daughter of the king Cleomenes (r. 520-490 BCE), wife of King Leonidas (r. 490-480 BCE), and mother of King Pleistarchus (r. 480-458 BCE). Her birth and death dates are unclear...

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933. He gained power by making popular promises like improving Germany's economy and status in Europe, but when he took these policies too far, he was responsible more...

Shays' Rebellion (1786-87) was an armed insurrection by rural farmers in western and central Massachusetts, sparked by the state government's unpopular response to a debt crisis. The insurrection reached its climax when the rebels...

Galatia was a region in north-central Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) settled by the Celtic Gauls c. 278-277 BCE. The name comes from the Greek for "Gaul" which was repeated by Latin writers as Galli. The Celts were offered the region by...

Fatimah (born between 605 and 615 CE, died sometime in 632 CE; date of death is disputed) was the youngest daughter of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (l. 570-632 CE) and his first wife Khadija (l. 555-619 CE). Taking up after...

The Cheka (Vecheka) Secret Police was created by Vladimir Lenin's Soviet government in December 1917 to ruthlessly stamp out all opposition to the Bolshevik Revolution. During the Russian Civil War, the Cheka operated...

Emperor Taizu (960-976 CE), formerly known as Zhao Kuangyin, was the founder of the Song (aka Sung) dynasty which ruled China from 960 to 1279 CE. Taizu settled for a territorially smaller but more unified and prosperous China...

Nikephoros II Phokas was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969 CE. Known as “White Death of the Saracens,” Nikephoros was a fearsome commander who conquered Crete, Cilicia, and much of Syria. While he is known as a great military...

The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 CE. The Inca Empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to Santiago in the south. It was the largest empire ever seen...