the Second Piano Concerto in D Minor (1886), the Second Orchestral (“Indian”) Suite (1895), and piano sets such as Woodland Sketches (1896) and Sea Pieces (1898).
Macedonia officially Republic of Macedonia Country, Balkan Peninsula, southeastern Europe. Area: 9,928 sq mi (25,713 sq km). Popu¬ lation (2005 est.): 2,034,000. Capitaclass="underline" Skopje. About two-thirds of the
also Roman Catholic), Islam. Currency:
denar. Located on a high plateau studded with mountains, Macedonia is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Although its importance has dimin¬ ished recently, agriculture remains central to the economy, with tobacco, fruit, vegetables, and wine notable. Sheepherding is also significant. The manufacturing base includes iron and steel, textiles, and chemicals and chemical products. Macedonia is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. The Macedonian region has been inhabited since before 7000 bc. Under Roman rule, part of the region was incorporated into the prov¬ ince of Moesia in ad 29. It was settled by Slavic tribes by the mid-6th century and was Christianized during the 9th century. Seized by the Bul¬ garians in 1185, it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1371 to 1912. The north and centre of the region were annexed by Serbia in 1913 and became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugo¬ slavia) in 1918. When Yugoslavia was partitioned by the Axis Powers in 1941, Yugoslav Macedonia was occupied principally by Bulgaria. Mace¬ donia once again became a republic of Yugoslavia in 1946. After Croatia and Slovenia seceded from Yugoslavia, fear of Serbian dominance prompted Macedonia to declare its independence in 1991. In deference to Greece, which also has an area traditionally known as Macedonia, the country joined the United Nations in 1993 under the name The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and normalized relations with Greece in 1995. Ethnic strife has periodically endangered national stability—e.g., in 2001, when pro-Albanian rebel forces in the north, near the Kosovo border, led guerrilla attacks on government forces.
Macedonian language See Bulgarian language
Macedonian Wars Three wars fought by Philip V of Macedonia and his successor, Perseus, against Rome (215-205 bc, 200-197, 171-167). The first war, fought by Rome in the context of the Second Punic War, ended favourably for the Macedonians. Rome was victorious in the next two wars. The Macedonian forces were assisted by Carthage and the Seleucids, Rome by the Aetolian League and Pergamum. After Rome’s vic-
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Macfadden ► machine language I 1159
tory at the Battle of Pydna (168), Macedonian territory was divided into four republics. Another conflict, fought in 149-148, may be considered a fourth Macedonian War; it resulted in a decisive Roman victory, and in its aftermath Macedonia became the empire’s first province.
Macfadden, Bernarr orig. Bernard Adolphus McFadden (b.
Aug. 16, 1868, near Mill Spring, Mo., U.S.—d. Oct. 12,1955, Jersey City, N.J.) U.S. publisher and champion of physical health. A sickly orphan by age 11, he began in his teens to increase his strength as an act of defi¬ ance. In 1899 he began publishing Physical Culture magazine, and in later decades he built up a publishing empire, bringing out the first confession magazine, True Story (1919), followed by True Romances (1923), True Detective Mystery Magazine (1924), and other periodicals. Macfadden also toured widely to promote his message of vigorous physical exercise and to preach about the dangers of alcohol, drugs, gluttony, corsets, prud¬ ishness, tea, coffee, and white bread. Shocking to Victorian sentiments were his advocacy of a diet consisting of carrots, beans, nuts, and raw eggs and his encouragement of sleeping on the floor, nudity, and “physi¬ cal love.” To promote such “love,” he encouraged openness about sexual matters and invented a device to enlarge men’s penises. To exemplify fit¬ ness, he walked five miles daily to his office in Manhattan in bare feet while carrying a 40-pound bag of sand. He also staged the first physique (bodybuilding) contest in America (1903) and fostered the rise of fitness icon Charles Atlas. Macfadden’ s bids for the presidency, U.S. Senate, and governorship of Florida all failed. Physically fit into old age, he para¬ chuted into Paris on his 84th birthday.
Mach Vmak,\ English VmakX, Ernst (b. Feb. 18, 1838, Chirlitz-Turas, Moravia—d. Feb. 19, 1916, Haar, Ger.) Austrian physicist and philoso¬ pher. After earning a doctorate in physics in 1860, he taught at the Uni¬ versities of Vienna and Graz as well as Charles University in Prague. Interested in the psychology and physiology of sensation, in the 1860s he discovered the physiological phenomenon known as Mach’s bands, the tendency of the human eye to see bright or dark bands near the bound¬ aries between areas of sharply dif¬ fering illumination. He later studied movement and acceleration and developed optical and photographic techniques for measuring sound waves and wave propagation. In 1887 he established the principles of supersonics and the Mach number, the ratio of the velocity of an object to the velocity of sound. He also pro¬ posed the theory of inertia known as Mach’s principle. In Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations (1886), he asserted that all knowl¬ edge is derived from sensory expe¬ rience or observation.
Machado de Assis \ma-'sha-do- de-a-'sesV, Joaquim Maria (b.
June 21, 1839, Rio de Janeiro,
Braz.—d. Sept. 29, 1908, Rio de Jan¬ eiro) Brazilian poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Machado began to write in his spare time while work¬ ing as a printer’s apprentice. By 1869 he was a successful man of let¬ ters. His witty, pessimistic works, rooted in European cultural tradi¬ tions, include the eccentric first- person narrative Epitaph of a Small Winner (1881) and the novels Phi¬ losopher or Dog? (1891) and Dom Casmurro (1899), the latter his mas¬ terpiece. Considered the classic mas¬ ter of Brazilian literature, he became the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1896.
Machaut \ma-'sho\ / Guillaume de or Guillaume de Machault
(b. c. 1300, Machault, France—d.
1377, Reims) French poet and com¬
poser. After possibly receiving a university education and taking holy orders, he traveled throughout Europe as secretary to the king of Bohe¬ mia. He was appointed canon of Reims cathedral in 1337. After the king’s death, Machaut was supported by several royal patrons, including the duke de Berry, and King Charles V. Beside 14 narrative poems incorpo¬ rating short lyrics, he wrote more than 400 separate lyric poems. He wrote dozens of musical compositions in each of the genres of formes fixes. He also composed the first complete setting of the mass for four voices, and he was the outstanding figure of the Ars Nova. His poetry is noted chiefly for its technical innovations. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Book of the Duchesse shows the influence of Machaut.
Machiavelli V.ma-ke-o-'vel-eV Niccolo (b. May 3, 1469, Florence—d. June 21, 1527, Florence) Italian statesman, historian, and political theorist. He rose to power after the overthrow of Girolamo Savonarola in 1498. Working as a diplomat for 14 years, he came in contact with the most powerful figures in Europe. He was dismissed when the Medici fam¬ ily returned to power in 1512, and during the next year he was arrested and tortured for conspiracy. Though soon released, he was not permitted to return to public office. His famous treatise The Prince (1513, published 1532) is a handbook for rulers; though dedicated to Lorenzo de' Med¬ ici, ruler of Florence from 1513, it failed to win Machiavelli his favour.
Machiavelli viewed The Prince as an objective description of political reality. Because he viewed human nature as venal, grasping, and thor¬ oughly self-serving, he suggested that ruthless cunning is appropriate to the conduct of government. Though admired for its incisive brilliance, the book also has been widely condemned as cynical and amoral, and “Machiavellian” has come to mean deceitful, unscrupulous, and manipu¬ lative. His other works include a set of discourses on Livy (completed c. 1518), the comedy The Mandrake (completed c. 1518), The Art of War (published 1521), and the Florentine Histories (completed c. 1525).