bounded on the southwest by Mexico, from which it is separated by the
Rio Grande, and on the east by Arkansas and Louisiana. La Salle, the
French explorer, erected a fort on Matagorda Bay, 1687. A Spanish
settlement and mission was formed in 1690, but soon abandoned. In 1715,
the country was settled by the Spaniards under the name of New
Philippines, and several missions established; but the Camanche and
Apache Indians, among the most warlike in America, and still the terror
of the border settlements, hindered the progress of the country. In
1803, when Louisiana was ceded by France to the United States, Texas,
claimed by both Spain and the United States, became a disputed
territory. From 1806 to 1816, settlements were formed, and several
attempts made to wrest the country from Spain. In one of these, in 1813,
2500 Americans and Mexicans and 700 inhabitants of San Antonio were
killed. Mina, a Spanish refugee, gained some successes, but was defeated
and shot. Lafitte, a Gulf pirate, made a settlement at Galveston in
1815, but it was broken up in 1821. In 1820, Moses Austin, an American,
got a large tract of land from the Mexican government, and began a
settlement, which rapidly increased; but many of the settlers were of so
lawless a character, that in 1830 the government forbade any more
Americans coming into Texas. In 1833, a convention of settlers, 20,000
in number, made an unsuccessful attempt to form an independent Mexican
state; and in 1835 a provisional government was formed, Sam Houston
chosen commander-in-chief, and the Mexicans driven out of Texas. Santa
Anna, president of Mexico, invaded the country with an army of 7500, but
after some successes was entirely routed at San Jacinto, April 21, and
Texas became an independent republic, acknowledged in 1837 by the United
States, and in 1840 by England, France, and Belgium. In December, 1845,
Texas was annexed to the United States, but was invaded by Mexico, which
had never acknowledged its independence. A war followed (1846-48) in
which Mexico was defeated. In February, 1861, Texas joined the
Secession, and furnished many soldiers and immense supplies to the
Confederate armies. In February, 1866, the ordinance of secession was
annulled, and in 1870 the reconstruction was completed, and regular
civil government restored.
=Thanks.= Public acknowledgments for gallant actions.
=Thapsus= (ruins at _Demas_). A city on the east coast of Bycazena, in
Africa Propria, where Cæsar finally defeated the Pompeian army, and
finished the civil war, 46 B.C.
=Thasos= (now _Thaso_, or _Tasso_). An island in the Grecian
Archipelago, belonging to Turkey, off the coast of Roumelia, 30 miles
north-northeast of Mount Athos. It was at a very early period taken
possession of by the Phœnicians on account of its gold mines. Thasos
was afterwards colonized by the Parians, 708 B.C. Before the Persian
conquest, the Thasians were one of the richest and most powerful tribes
in the north of the Ægean. They were subdued by the Persians under
Mardonius, and subsequently became part of the Athenian maritime empire.
They revolted, however, from Athens in 465 B.C., and after sustaining a
siege of three years were subdued by Cimon in 463. They were obliged to
surrender to the Athenians all their possessions in Thrace, to destroy
their fortifications, to give up their ships, and to pay a large tribute
for the future. They again revolted from Athens in 411, and called in
the Spartans, but the island was again restored to the Athenians by
Thrasybulus in 407.
=Thaulache= (_Fr._). Armor and weapons of the ancient French, consisting
of small shields (_rondelles_), and halberd or spear.
=Theatre of Operations.= See STRATEGY.
=Theatre of War.= The term for any extent of country in which war is
carried on. It is synonymous with “seat of war.”
=Theban Legion.= According to tradition, was totally composed of
Christians, and consequently submitted to martyrdom rather than attack
their brethren during the persecution of the emperor Maximin, or
sacrifice to the gods, about 286. Their leader was canonized.
=Thebes.= The name of a celebrated city; it was formerly the capital of
Upper Egypt; it is now in ruins. It revolted against Ptolemy Lathyrus,
and was captured after a siege of three years, in 82 B.C.
=Thebes= (now _Theba_). The chief city of Bœotia, in ancient Greece, was
situated in a plain southeast of the Lake Helice, and northeast of
Platææ. The territory of Thebes was called _Thebais_, and extended
eastward as far as the Eubœan Sea. It was the scene of one of the most
celebrated wars in the mythical annals of Greece. Polynices, who had
been expelled from Thebes by his brother Eteocles, induced six other
heroes to espouse his cause, and marched against the city; but they were
all defeated and slain by the Thebans. This is usually called the war of
the “Seven against Thebes.” A few years afterward, “the Epigoni,” or
descendants of the seven heroes, marched against Thebes to revenge their
fathers’ death; they took the city and razed it to the ground. It
appears, however, at the earliest historical period as a large and
flourishing city. The Thebans were from an early period inveterate
enemies of their neighbors, the Athenians. Their hatred of the latter
people was probably one of the reasons which induced them to desert the
cause of Grecian liberty in the great struggle against the Persian
power. In the Peloponnesian war the Thebans naturally espoused the
Spartan side, and contributed not a little to the downfall of Athens;
but they joined the confederacy formed against Sparta in 394 B.C. The
peace of Antalcidas in 387 put an end to hostilities in Greece; but the
treacherous seizure of the Cadmea by the Lacedæmonian general Phœbidas
in 382, and its recovery by the Theban exiles in 379, led to a war
between Thebes and Sparta, in which the former not only recovered its
independence, but forever destroyed the Lacedæmonian supremacy. This was
the most glorious period in the Theban annals; and the decisive defeat
of the Spartans at the battle of Leuctra in 371 made Thebes the first
power in Greece. Her greatness, however, was mainly due to the
pre-eminent abilities of her citizens, Epaminondas and Pelopidas; and
with the death of the former at the battle of Mantinea in 362, she lost
the supremacy which she had so recently gained. The Thebans joined the
Athenians in protecting the liberties of Greece; but their united forces
were defeated by Philip of Macedon, at the battle of Chæronea, in 338.
Soon after the death of Philip and the accession of Alexander, the
Thebans made a last attempt to recover their liberty, but were cruelly
punished by the young king. The city was taken by Alexander in 336, and
was almost entirely destroyed; 6000 inhabitants were slain, and 30,000
sold as slaves. In 316 the city was rebuilt by Cassander, with the
assistance of the Athenians. In 290 it was taken by Demetrius
Poliorcetes, and again suffered greatly.
=Theodolite.= An instrument, variously constructed, used, especially in
trigonometrical surveying, for the accurate measurement of horizontal
angles, and also usually of vertical angles. The theodolite consists
principally of a telescope, with cross-wires in its focus, mounted so as
to turn both on vertical and horizontal axes, the former carrying a
horizontal vernier-plate over a graduated plate or circle for aximuthal
angles, and the latter a vertical, graduated arc or semicircle for
altitudes,--the whole furnished with leveling-screws and levels for
adjusting to the horizon, and mounted on a tripod. It is usually so
constructed that a horizontal angle may be repeated indefinitely around
the limb, and thus a large number of repetitions added mechanically, to
secure greater accuracy in the resulting mean.
=Thermidor= (_i.e._, the “Hot Month”). Formed in the calendar of the
first French republic the eleventh month, and lasted from July 19 to
August 18. The 9th Thermidor of the Republican year 2 (July 27, 1794) is
memorable as the date of Robespierre’s fall, and the termination of the
“Reign of Terror.” The name of Thermidorians was given to all those who
took part in this fortunate _coup d’état_, but more particularly to
those who were desirous of restoring the monarchy.
=Thermopylæ= (literally, “the hot gates”). A famous pass leading from
Thessaly into Locris, and the only road by which an invading army can
penetrate from Northern into Southern Greece. Leonidas, at the head of
300 Spartans and 700 Thespians, at this pass withstood the whole force
of the Persians during three days, August 7, 8, and 9, 480 B.C., when
Ephialtes, a Trachinian, perfidiously leading the enemy by a secret path
up the mountains, brought them to the rear of the Greeks, who, thus
placed between two assailants, perished gloriously on heaps of their
slaughtered foes. One Greek only returned home, and he was received with
reproaches for having fled. Here also, Antiochus the Great, king of
Syria, was defeated by the Romans, 191 B.C.
=Thermum=, =Thermus=, or =Therma=. A strong city, the acropolis of
Ætolia, Northern Greece, was captured and ravaged by Philip V. of
Macedon, 218 and 206 B.C., on account of its favoring the Romans.
=Thespiæ.= A city of Bœotia, Northern Greece; 700 of its citizens
perished with Leonidas at Thermopylæ, August, 480 B.C. It suffered much
through the jealousy of the Thebans, who destroyed its walls in 372 B.C.
=Thessalonica= (now _Saloniki_, more anciently _Therma_). An ancient
city of Macedonia, situated at the northeast extremity of the Sinus
Thermaicus. It was taken and occupied by the Athenians a short time
before the commencement of the Peloponnesian war (432 B.C.), but was
soon afterward restored by them to Perdiccas. At a later time, it became
the capital of the Illyrian provinces. It is celebrated at this period
on account of the fearful massacre of its inhabitants by order of
Theodosius, in consequence of a riot in which some of the Roman officers
had been assassinated by the populace.
=Thessaly.= The largest division of ancient Greece, lay to the south of
Macedonia, and to the east of Epirus. Thessaly was originally inhabited
by Æolians, who, however, were either expelled or reduced to slavery by
immigrants from Epirus about 1000 B.C. The inhabitants of Thessaly have
been divided into three classes: (1) There were the Epirote conquerors;
(2) those descendants of the original inhabitants, who, although
dependent on the nobles, yet possessed a few privileges; and (3) the
Penestæ, or those of the original inhabitants who had been reduced to
serfdom. Thessaly never played an important part in Grecian history; it
was only after the Peloponnesian war it exercised any influence on the
affairs of Greece. The Penestæ frequently rebelled against their
masters, who were very frequently at war among themselves. Jason caused
himself to be elected Tagus of all Thessaly about 374 B.C.; was
assassinated in 370 B.C. The rule of Jason’s successors became so
unbearable that, in 353 B.C., the old families called in the aid of
Philip of Macedon, who, in 344, subjected the country to Macedonia. In
197 B.C., it was restored to freedom under the protection of Rome.
=Thetford.= A town of England, in Norfolk, 95 miles north-northeast of
London. It was taken and sacked by the Danes in 870.
=Thin, To.= To make less numerous; as, to thin the ranks by a heavy
discharge of musketry.
=Thionville.= A fortified town of France, in the department of the
Moselle, situated on the Moselle, which is crossed here by a splendid
bridge. This place was a residence of the Merovingian and Carlovingian
kings, and was repeatedly besieged during the various wars between
Austria and France. It was invested by the Germans in August, 1870, and
after bombardment, being in flames, surrendered November 24 following.
=Thirty, Battle of= (Fr. _Combat des Trentes_). A name given, in English
and French history, to a celebrated engagement which took place at a
spot known as Midway Oak, half-way between the castles of Josselin and
Ploermel, France, March 27, 1351. The French general Beaumanoir,
commanding the former post, being enraged at the depredations committed
by Bemborough, the English general, challenged him to fight. Upon this
it was agreed that thirty knights of each party should meet and decide
the contest. The two chiefs presented themselves at the head of their
best soldiers and the battle began in earnest. At the first onset the
English were successful; but Bemborough having been killed, the French
renewed the struggle with redoubled courage and finally won the victory.
This was one of the most heroic exploits of the age, and gained such
popularity that more than one hundred years later, when speaking of a
hard contest, it was usual to say, “There never was such hard fighting
since the battle of the Thirty.”
=Thirty Tyrants.= A body of thirty magistrates in Athens (404-403 B.C.).
They were appointed from the aristocratic party, by the Spartans,
victorious in the Peloponnesian war. The “tyrants” were guilty of the
most cruel and shameless acts, and after one year were expelled by
Thrasybulus.
=Thirty Tyrants of Rome.= A set of military adventurers who from 253 to
268 attempted to establish their own power in various parts of the
empire during the reigns of Valerianus and Gallienus. The number thirty
is borrowed from that of the famous Athenian tyrants. The names of only
nineteen of these adventurers have come down to us.
=Thirty Years’ War.= Was not properly one war, but rather an
uninterrupted succession of wars (1618-1648) in Germany, in which
Austria, the most of the Catholic princes of Germany, and Spain, were
engaged on one side throughout, but against different antagonists. This
long-continued strife had its origin in the quarrels between the
Catholics and Protestants of Germany, and the attempts of the former,
who were the more powerful body, to deprive the latter of what liberty
of worship they had obtained. The severe measures taken by the emperor,
the head of the Catholic party, against the Protestant religion, led
also to strictures on their civil rights; and it was to protect their
political as well as their religious liberties, that the Protestants
formed a union, May 4, 1608, with Frederick IV., the Elector Palatinate,
at its head. The rival union of the Catholic powers, under the
leadership of the Duke of Bavaria, followed July 11, 1609. In Bohemia,
the immense preponderance in numbers (two out of three) and influence of
the Protestants, had forced from their Austrian king an edict of
toleration (July 11, 1609), which was at first faithfully observed; but
during the reign of Matthias, sundry violations of it were made with
impunity; and as the influence of Ferdinand of Styria, his successor,
began to be felt in more flagrant partiality to the Catholics, the
kingdom became a scene of wild excitement; three of the Catholic party
were thrown from the window of the Bohemian council-chamber at Prague,
and ultimately Ferdinand was deposed, and Frederick V., the Elector
Palatinate, chosen in his stead (1619); and Count Thurn, at the head of
an insurgent army, repeatedly routed the imperial troops, and actually
besieged the emperor in Vienna. The Catholic princes, though as
apprehensive as their opponents of the encroaching policy of Austria,
crowded to the emperor’s aid; and while the Protestant union and James
I. of Great Britain held aloof from Frederick, whose sole allies were
Bohemians (under Thurn), Moravians, Hungarians, and a Piedmontese
contingent of 3000 (under Count Mansfield), a well-appointed army of
30,000, under Duke Maximilian, advanced to support the Austrians, and
totally routed Frederick’s motley array at Weissenberg (November 8,
1620), near Prague, afterwards reducing the Upper, while an army of
Spaniards under Spinola ravaged the Lower, Palatinate, and the Saxons
(in alliance with the emperor) occupied Lusatia. The Bohemians were now
subjected to the most frightful tyranny and persecution; a similar
policy, though of a more modern character, was adopted towards the
people of the Palatinate,--the Protestant union standing aloof, and
subsequently dissolving, through sheer terror. But the indomitable
pertinacity and excellent leadership of Count Mansfield and Christian of
Brunswick, two famous partisan leaders, who ravaged the territories of
the Catholic league, and the forced cession to Bethlem Gabor of large
portions of Hungary and Transylvania, did much to equalize the success
of the antagonistic parties. Here the war might have ended; but the
fearful tyranny of Ferdinand over all the Protestants in his dominions
(Hungary excepted) drove them to despair, and the war advanced to its
second phase. Christian IV. of Denmark, smarting under some injuries
inflicted on him by the emperor, and aided by a British subsidy, came to
the aid of his German co-religionists in 1624, and being joined by
Mansfield and Christian of Brunswick, advanced into Lower Saxony, while
the emperor, hampered by the political jealousy of the Catholic league,
was unable to oppose him. But when, by the aid of Wallenstein, a
powerful and effective army had been obtained, and the leaguers under
Tilly, in co-operation with it, had marched northwards, the rout of the
Danes by Tilly at Lutter (August 17, 1626), and of Mansfield by
Wallenstein at Dessau (April 1, 11, and 25, 1626), again prostrated the
Protestants’ hopes in the dust; yet a gleam of comfort was obtained from
the victorious raid of Mansfield through Silesia, Moravia, and Hungary,
though his scheme for an insurrection in Hungary failed, and his death
soon after, at Zara, freed the emperor from a formidable and
irreconcilable enemy. The combined Imperialists and leaguers mean time
had overrun North Germany and continental Denmark, and ultimately
compelled King Christian to conclude the humiliating peace of Lübeck
(May 12, 1629). This second great success seems to have turned
Ferdinand’s head, for, not content with still more rigorous treatment of
the Protestants, and the promulgation of the _Restitution Edict_, which
seriously offended even the Catholics, he stirred up Poland against
Sweden, and insulted Gustavus Adolphus, both personally and in the
persons of his ambassadors,--insolent impertinences which he soon saw
bitter reason to regret. The Catholic league now forced him to reduce
his army, and supplant Wallenstein by Tilly; while France was inciting
Gustavus to the willing task of aiding the Protestants in Germany. The
war entered its third phase by the landing of the Swedes at Usedom
(June, 1630), and their conquest of Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Gustavus,
by the exercise of a little wholesome pressure, induced the elector of
Brandenburg to aid him; and though unable to save Magdeburg, he marched
to join the Saxons, completely routed by Tilly at Breitenfeld (September
17, 1631); victoriously traversed the Main and Rhine valleys; again
routed Tilly on the Lech (April 5, 1632), and entered Munich. By the
judicious strategy of Wallenstein, he was compelled to return to Saxony,
where he gained the great victory of Lützen; but his death, depriving
the Protestants of the only man who could force the confederate powers
to preserve unity of action, was a severe blow to their cause; though
the genius and indefatigable zeal of his chancellor, Oxenstiern, and the
brilliant talents of the Swedish generals, preserved the advantages they
had gained, till the crushing defeat of Bernard of Weimar at Nordlingen
(September 6, 1634) again restored to the emperor a preponderating
influence in Germany. Saxony now made peace at Prague (May 30, 1635),
obtaining such satisfactory terms for the Lutherans that the treaty was
within three months adhered to by all the German princes of that sect,
and the Calvinists were left to their fate. Final success now appeared
to demand only one more strenuous effort on the part of Austria; but
Oxenstiern resolved to preserve to Sweden her German acquisitions,
propitiated Richelieu, by resigning to him the direction of the war, and
the conflict advanced into its final and most extended phase. The
emperor, allied for offense and defense with the Lutherans, was now also
assailed through his ally, Spain, who was attacked on her own frontier,
in the Netherlands, and in Italy; Bernard of Weimar fighting
independently, with the view of obtaining Alsace for himself, opposed
the leaguers; while the Swedes under Banér held North Germany, and by
frequent flying marches into Silesia and Bohemia distracted their
opponents, and prevented them, after successes over Duke Bernard, from
proceeding with the invasion of France. The great victory of Banér over
the Austrians and Saxons at Wittstock (October 4, 1636) restored to
Sweden the victor’s wreath she had lost two years before; and from this
time, especially under Torstenson and Konigsmark, the Swedes were always
successful, adding a second victory of Breitenfeld (November 2, 1642),
one at Yankowitz (February 14, 1645), and numberless ones of less note,
to their already long list of successes, carrying devastation and ruin
into the hereditary territories, even to the gates of Vienna, defeating
the best generals of the empire, till, from a profound feeling of
inability to check them, the Austrians hardly dared appear to the north
of the Danube. On the Rhine, the leaguers at first had great
success,--the Weimar troops, now in French pay, were almost exterminated
at Duttlingen (November 24, 1643); but after the Spanish power had been
thoroughly broken in the Netherlands by Condé, the French were
reinforced on the Rhine, and under Condé and Turenne, rolled back the
leaguers through the Palatinate and Bavaria, and revenged at Nordlingen
(August 3, 1645) the former defeat of the Swedes. The emperor was now
deserted by all his allies except the Duke of Bavaria, whose territories
were already mostly in the hands of Turenne and Wrangel; and a combined
invasion of Austria from the west and north was on the point of being
executed, when, after seven years of diplomatic shuffling, with an eye
to the changing fortunes of the contest, the peace of Westphalia put an
end to this terrible struggle.
=Thistle, Order of the.= See ANDREW, ST.
=Thomas, St.= The principal of the Virgin Islands in the West Indies,
belonging to Denmark. In March, 1801, it was taken by the British, but
given up at the peace of Amiens; it was again taken in the course of the
subsequent war, and restored to Denmark at the peace of Paris in 1814.
=Thorn.= A fortified town of the kingdom of Prussia, in the province of
West Prussia, on the right bank of the Vistula. It is defended by walls,
bastions, and two forts. This town was founded by the Teutonic Knights
in 1232, and admitted into the Hanseatic League in the beginning of the
14th century. It was taken by Charles XII. of Sweden in 1703, after a
siege of four months.
=Thrace.= Anciently the name of an extensive country bounded on the
north by the Danube, on the east by the Euxine, on the south by the
Ægean and Macedonia, and on the west by Macedonia and Illyria. War and
robbery were the only honorable occupations of the Thracians. They lived
to steal, either from each other or from neighboring peoples. When not
fighting or plundering, they spent their days in savage idleness, or in
quarreling over their cups. Courageous, or rather ferocious, after the
fashion of barbarous peoples, they yet lacked the steady valor and
endurance of disciplined troops; at all times, their warfare displayed
more fierceness and impetuosity than fortitude. In 513 B.C., Darius,
king of Persia, marched through Thrace on his way to punish the European
Scythians, and on his return left Megabazus with 80,000 men to subdue
the country. In this he partially succeeded, but new disturbances and
complications arose between the Persians and Greeks, which resulted (480
B.C.) in the famous expedition of Xerxes. The consequence of the
expulsion of the Persians from Europe was the resumption of liberty and
the revival of prosperity among the Greek colonies in Thrace. Shortly
before the Peloponnesian war, a native Thracian state--the Odrysian--had
attained to great power and eminence under a ruler named Sitalces, who
joined the Athenian alliance, but could not, in spite of his resources,
prevent the triumph of Sparta in the north as well as in the south. The
rise of the Macedonian kingdom, under Philip II. (359 B.C.), destroyed
the independence of a great part of Thrace. Under the government of
Lysimachus, the subjugation of Thrace became complete. On the fall of
the Macedonian kingdom (168 B.C.) it passed into the hands of the
Romans, and subsequently shared the vicissitudes of the Roman empire. In
334 a colony of Sarmatians, and in 376 another of Goths, was planted in
Thrace. In 395 it was overrun by Alaric, and in 447 by Attila. In 1353,
Amurath obtained possession of all its fortresses, except
Constantinople, and it has ever since remained in the possession of the
Turks.
=Thrasimenus Lacus.= See TRASIMENUS LACUS.
=Throw, To.= To force anything from one place to another; thus,
artillerists say, to throw a shot or shell, or so many shells were
thrown.
=Thrust.= Hostile attack with any pointed weapon, as in fencing. When
one party makes a push with his sword to wound his adversary with the
point, it is called a thrust.
=Thud.= The sound of a bullet on hitting the intended object.