Allah, Islamic name for the Supreme Being. The Koran, the holy book of Islam, asserts that Allah is the creator and the one who rewards and punishes; that he is unique and can only be one; and that he is eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and all-merciful. The core of Islam is submission to the will of Allah. Islam does not admit of any mediator between Allah and humans; a person approaches Allah directly in prayer and in reciting the Koran.

Aladdin, in folktale, hero of  'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp' in the collection of stories known in English as Arabian Nights.  In most versions of the story, Aladdin is the lazy son of a poor Chinese tailor. After his father's death, he meets a magician who poses as his uncle and persuades Aladdin to retrieve a lamp from a hidden cave. The magician, however, becomes angry and seals Aladdin in the cave. Aladdin anxiously wrings his hands, releasing a genie from a ring the magician had given him. The genie frees Aladdin. The lamp also produces powerful genies when rubbed, and they grant Aladdin his every wish. He eventually becomes wealthy, marries the daughter of the sultan, and succeeds the sultan to the throne.

Adam and Eve, in the Bible, the first man and woman, progenitors of the human race. The biblical account of the creation of human beings occurs twice: in Genesis 1:26-27 and in Genesis 2:18-24. In the first account, the Hebrew common noun adam is used as a generic term for all human beings, regardless of gender; Eve is not mentioned at all. In the second account, Adam is created from the dust of the earth, whereas Eve is created from Adam's rib and given to him by God to be his wife.

Russo-Japanese War  Armed conflict between Russia and Japan in 1904 and 1905. The war erupted because Russian expansion in eastern Asia conflicted with Japanese plans for gaining a foothold on the Asian mainland. In 1898 Russia leased Port Arthur from China, intending to headquarter a Pacific naval fleet there. In June 1903 Japan proposed an agreement with Russia that would recognize Japan's interests in Korea and Russia's in Manchuria. Russia refused. On February 8, 1904, the Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur.  The first Russian offensive was launched on the river Sha He during the first two weeks of October; a second attack was launched at Sandepu on January 26 and 27, 1905. Both offensives were indecisive.  Between February 19 and March 10 the Japanese took the offensive.  Russia decided to send out its Baltic Fleet. The Japanese intercepted it in Tsushima Strait, between Korea and Japan. During the battle, which lasted from May 27 to May 29, the Japanese nearly destroyed the Baltic Fleet and inflicted heavy casualties on the Russians.  Russia surrendered its lease to Liaoyang and Port Arthur, ceded the southern half of Sakhalin, evacuated Manchuria, and recognized Korea as a Japanese sphere of influence.

Franco-Prussian War  War in 1870-1871 in which German states under the leadership of Prussia defeated France. The underlying causes of the conflict were the determination of Prussian statesman Prince Otto Edward Leopold von Bismarck to unify Germany under Prussian control, and an attempt by Napoleon III, emperor of France from 1852 to 1870, to regain French prestige lost as a result of numerous diplomatic reverses.  In 1870 France declared war on Prussia. German armies entered France, and in the decisive Battle of Sedan they forced the surrender of Napoleon and 83,000 French troops. Upon receiving news of this, Paris rose in rebellion and France was proclaimed a republic. Paris was soon surrounded and subjected to siege and bombardment. Its citizens opened negotiations for surrender on January 19, 1871.  In March Parisians revolted against the republican government and organized a revolutionary government known as the Commune of Paris.  The ensuing civil war lasted until May, when the revolutionaries surrendered. Also in May, a treaty ended the war between France and Germany. In 1873 the last German troops withdrew from France.

Punic Wars  Name given to the three wars between Rome and Carthage in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The First Punic War (264-241 BC), the outcome of growing political and economic rivalry between the two nations, was initiated by a local dispute in Sicily. The war ended with a major naval victory for the Romans in 241 BC.   In 219 BC Carthaginian general Hannibal attacked and captured a Spanish city allied with Rome. This act brought on the Second Punic War (218-201 BC).  In 207 BC a Carthaginian army set out to aid Hannibal, but Roman troops in northern Italy destroyed the Carthaginians.  Meanwhile, Roman armies overran Spain and landed in North Africa. The Carthaginians recalled Hannibal to Africa. His army of untrained recruits was decisively defeated in 202 BC. This marked the end of Carthage as a great power and the close of the Second Punic War.  The Carthaginians lost Spain and relinquished their navy. A minor Carthaginian breach of treaty gave the pretext for the Third Punic War (149-146 BC), in which the Romans razed Carthage.

Seven Years' War  Worldwide series of conflicts fought from 1756 to 1763 for the control of Germany and for supremacy in colonial North America and India. It involved most of the major powers of Europe, in particular Prussia, Great Britain, and Hannover on one side, and Austria, Saxony (Sachsen), France, Russia, Sweden, and Spain on the other. The North American segment of the conflict, known as the French and Indian War, involved Great Britain and its American colonies against France and its Algonquian allies. The British also fought the French in India and established British domination on the subcontinent.  Austria's resolve to repossess the province of Silesia, which had been lost to Prussia in 1748, was the major cause of the Seven Years' War.  At first French and Native American forces were victorious, but by 1760 the British had conquered all of French Canada. Britain was also victorious in India. The war ended in 1763, with Prussia retaining Silesia and Great Britain acquiring most of the French empire in North America.

Wars of the Roses   Dynastic civil wars in England fought between the house of Lancaster and the house of York from 1455 to 1485. The struggle was so named because the Lancastrian badge was a red rose and that of York a white rose. The wars broke out when military losses and the insanity of Henry VI, the Lancastrian king of England, led Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, to assert his claim to the throne. He was defeated and killed in 1460. In 1461 Richard's son, Edward IV, defeated Henry. In 1470 a Lancastrian army restored Henry, but the next year Edward defeated the Lancastrians and Henry was murdered. After Edward's death in 1483, his brother, Richard III, usurped the throne. The Lancastrians turned to Henry Tudor (later King Henry VII). The Battle of Bosworth Field (1485) resulted in Richard's death. Henry VII then married Edward's daughter, thus uniting the houses.

American Civil War  A military conflict between the United States of America (the Union) and the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) from 1861 to 1865.   The chief cause of the war was slavery. Southern states depended on slavery to support their agricultural economy. Only a small proportion of Northerners actively opposed slavery. However, they were opposed to its expansion, in part because they did not want to compete against slave labor.  The war began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and lasted until May 26, 1865, when the last Confederate army surrendered.  The Civil War was not a steady series of military actions. The stubbornest enemy of every soldier was not his opponent, but inactivity and boredom. Disease killed far more men in both armies than did bullets.  The war took more than 600,000 lives, destroyed property valued at $5 billion, brought freedom to 4 million black slaves, and opened wounds that have not completely healed more than 125 years later. The war was followed by 12 years of Reconstruction, during which the North and South debated the future of black Americans and waged bitter political battles. The war also set the South back at least a generation in industry and agriculture. Not until the 20th century did the South recover fully from the economic effects of the war. In contrast, the North forged ahead with the building of a modern industrial state.

Opium Wars (1839-1843, 1856-1860)   Wars fought between Britain and China. The First Opium War started when the Chinese government tried to stop British merchants from illegally importing opium. Britain responded by sending an expedition of warships to the city of Guangzhou. The British won a quick victory, and the conflict was ended by treaties under which China was forced to pay a large indemnity, open five ports to British trade and residence, and cede Hong Kong to Britain. The British also won the Second Opium War, fought for much the same reasons. The resulting treaty opened additional trading ports and allowed even greater privileges to Western countries.

Six-Day War  Armed conflict in June 1967 between Israel and the Arab nations of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Following Egypt's blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, Israel carried out a massive strike that crippled the Arabs' air capacity. Israeli forces then occupied the Gaza Strip and pushed into the Sinai. By June 10, when the fighting was halted, Israel controlled the entire Sinai Peninsula and all Jordanian territory west of the Jordan River, as well as the Golan Heights of Syria.

Hundred Years' War  Series of armed conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 between England and France. The origin of the dispute lay in the fact that successive kings of England controlled large areas of France and thus posed a threat to the French monarchy.   During the 12th and 13th centuries, the kings of France attempted to reimpose their authority over those territories.  By 1453 the French had regained all their territories except Calais, which they did not regain until 1558.  The Hundred Years' War helped France establish a sense of nationalism, ended all English claims to French territory, and made possible the emergence of centralized governing institutions and an absolute monarchy in France.

@  Separator between account names and domain name addresses in Internet e-mail addresses.  When spoken, @ is read as "at." Therefore, customer@Yahoo.com would be read as "customer at Yahoo dot com."