COMECON. Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. 1949-91. USSR and satellites central planning organization.

Comédie-Francaise. Oldest National theatre. Founded by Louis XIV in 1680. Molière.

Comenius, John. 1592-1670. Czech founder of direct method of language education. First use of pictures.

Comic Opera. 18C revolt vs serious opera. Light style, familiar scenes. Italy: opera buffa; Fr: opéra comique; Eng: ballad opera; Ger: singspiel. Orig as intermezzo for opera.

COMINFORM. Communist Information Bureau. 1947-56. Coordinated European party activities.

COMINTERN. Third International 1919-43.

Committee of Public Safety. 1793-5. Ruled France. Robespierre’s reign of Terror.

Commodus. 161-192. Brutal Roman Emperor 177-.

Common Law. Based on precedents derived from reason rather than a code of statutes. Originally English.

Commonwealth. 1649-60. Government of England after Charles I executed. Cromwell.

Commonwealth. Organized community by consent of governed. Hobbes. Locke.

Commonwealth, British. 1926-. Free association of autonomous countries. Evolved from the British Empire. Statute of Westminster 1931.

Commune. 1789-94. Paris council. Overode the National Assembly by controlling administration.

Commune, Paris. 1871. Revolutionary government formed when Thiers abandoned Paris to Prussians. Crushed 2 months later by McMahon. 20,000 killed.

Communism. Collective ownership of property and industry. Wealth shared according to need. Eventually, “dictatorship of proletariat”.

Communist Manifesto. 1848. Marx and Engels call for Proletariat to control business and government.

Communist Party. USSR. 1918. Name adopted by Bolsheviks for Social Democratic Workers’ Party. Parties started in Britain, USA, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Germany soon after.

Comnenus. 1081-1185. Byzantine dynasty.

Comoros. 8C Moslem. 1527 Europeans explore. 1886 France. 1975 Independent.

Compte Rendu. 1781. Necker reveals pitiful state of French finances.

Compton, Arthur. 1892-1962. US physicist: C Effect, 1923.

Comte, Auguste. 1798-1857. French Positivist philosopher. Religion belongs to primitive society. Positivism 1830. Tejada Law.

Comunero. 1520-1. Spanish Republican rebellion. Crushed, but effected policy changes.

Comus. Greek god of mirth and joy.

Concentration Camps. 1862-65 USA. 1899-1902. British internment of Boers in South Africa. 1922-91. USSR. 1933-45 Nazi prisons for extermination and slave labour. Buchenwald. Auschwitz. Dachau. 1942-6 US Relocation Centers. 1942-46 Canada. 1950’s Kenya. 1973 Chile.

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