COURTESY OF PAUL STRAND
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Strasberg ► Stratford-upon-Avon I 1829
minute detail and rich tonal range afforded by the use of large-format cameras. Much of his later work was devoted to North American and European scenes and landscapes. He collaborated on documentary films with Charles Sheeler and Pare Lorentz.
Strasberg, Lee orig. Israel Strassberg (b. Nov. 17, 1901, Budza- now, Pol., Austria-Hungary—d. Feb. 17, 1982, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. theatre director and teacher. At age seven he immi¬ grated to New York City with his family. After acting lessons with teach¬ ers who had studied under Konstantin Stanislavsky, he became an actor and stage manager with the Theatre Guild. In 1931 he cofounded the Group Theatre, where he directed brilliant experimental plays such as Men in White (1933). After working in Hollywood (1941-48), he returned to New York City to become artistic director of the Actors Studio, where he expanded Stanislavsky’s teachings to further develop method acting, in which actors use their own emotional memory for the purpose of dra¬ matic motivation. He trained actors such as Marlon Brando, Marilyn Mon¬ roe, Dustin Hoffman, Geraldine Page, and Julie Harris.
Strasbourg \'stras-,burg\ German Strassburg \'shtras-,burk\ City (pop., 1999: 264,115), eastern France. Located on the Franco-German border, Strasbourg was originally a Celtic village; it became a garrison under the Romans. The Franks captured it in the 5th century, and in 842 the Oath of Strasbourg, uniting the western and eastern Franks, was con¬ cluded there. It became a free city within the Holy Roman Empire in 1262. It was seized by the French in 1681 and captured by Germany in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). It reverted to France after World War I but was occupied by Germany again during World War II, when it suf¬ fered considerable damage. A major river port and industrial centre, it is the seat of the Council of Europe and an international communications centre. Notable buildings include the restored medieval cathedral with its 14th-century astronomical clock. The parliament of what is now the Euro¬ pean Union has met there since 1979.
Strasser Vshtra-sorN, Gregor; and Strasser, Otto (respectively b. May 31, 1892, Geisenfeld, Ger.—d. June 30, 1934, Berlin; b. Sept. 10, 1897, Windsheim, Ger.—d. Aug. 27, 1974, Munich) German politicians. The brothers joined the Nazi Party in the early 1920s. Gregor became the party’s leader in the north and built a mass movement with the help of Otto and the young Joseph Goebbels, appealing to the lower middle classes and workers by advocating a socialism couched in nationalist and racist terminology. Otto resigned in 1930, disillusioned by Adolf Hitler’s non¬ socialist goals. Gregor became head of the Nazi political organization, second only to Hitler in power, but he came to share his brother’s disil¬ lusionment and resigned in 1932. Gregor was murdered on Hitler’s orders in 1934; Otto escaped into exile in Canada, then returned to Germany in
Strassmann, Fritz (b. Feb. 22, 1902, Boppard, Ger.—d. April 22, 1980, Mainz, W.Ger.) German physical chemist. He helped develop the method of rubidium-strontium dating widely used in geochronology. Begin¬ ning in 1934, he joined Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner in their investigations of the radioactive products formed when uranium is bombarded by neu¬ trons. In 1938 they discovered lighter elements produced from the neu¬ tron bombardment, which were the result of the splitting of the uranium atom into two lighter atoms (nuclear fission). In 1946 he joined the fac¬ ulty at the University of Mainz, where he established the Institute of Inor¬ ganic Chemistry (later the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry), and he directed the chemistry department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
(1945-53).
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) Negotiations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union aimed at curtailing the manufacture of strate¬ gic nuclear missiles. The first round of negotiations began in 1969 and resulted in a treaty regulating antiballistic missiles and freezing the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic mis¬ siles. It was signed by Leonid Brezhnev and Richard Nixon in 1972. A sec¬ ond round of talks (1972-79), known as SALT II, addressed the asymmetry between the two sides’ strategic forces and ended with an agreement to limit strategic launchers (see MIRV). Signed by Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter, it was never formally ratified by the U.S. Senate, though its terms were observed by both sides. Subsequent negotiations took the name Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START). See also intermediate-range nuclear weapons; Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty.
Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) Negotiations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union aimed at reducing those countries’ nuclear
arsenals and delivery systems. Two sets of negotiations (1982-83, 1985- 91) concluded in an agreement signed by George Bush and Mikhail Gor¬ bachev that committed the Soviet Union to a reduction from 11,000 to 8,000 nuclear weapons and the U.S. to a reduction from 12,000 to 10,000. After the Soviet Union’s collapse (1991), a supplementary agreement (1992) obligated Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to destroy the nuclear weapons on their soil or to give them to Russia. Subsequent U.S. efforts to develop an antimissile defense system threatened new complications for the arms control regime. See also Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) also called Star Wars Pro¬ posed U.S. strategic defense system against nuclear attacks. Announced as a 20-year, $20 billion effort by Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1983, SDI was intended to defend the U.S. from a full-fledged Soviet attack by inter¬ cepting ICBMs in flight. The interception was to be effected by technol¬ ogy not yet developed, including space- and ground-based laser stations and air- and ground-based missiles. The space component of SDI led to its being derisively dubbed “Star Wars” after the popular film. Though the program was roundly criticized by opposition politicians and arms-control advocates as unworkable and as a dangerous violation of the Antiballis¬ tic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972, Congress granted initial funding for it. Early development efforts were largely unsuccessful, and with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the concept lost urgency. During the Bush and Clinton administrations, ballistic missile defense was scaled back to focus on protecting the U.S. from limited attack by a “rogue” state or a single accidentally launched missile. In 2002 the U.S. withdrew from the ABM treaty to begin active testing of a limited antimissile program. See also ANTIBALLISTIC MISSILE.
strategus \str3- , te-gss\ In ancient Greece, a general, often functioning as a magistrate with wide powers. Cleisthenes introduced an annual board of 10 strategi in Athens to be commanders of the army; one or more, all equal, were responsible for each operation. In the 5th century bc they gained political influence, in part because they were elected and could be reelected, thus were able to entrench themselves in office. In the Hellenis¬ tic Age they were the supreme magistrates in most federations and leagues. In Egypt (3rd century Bc^tth century ad) they were civil governors.
strategy In warfare, coordinated application of all the forces of a nation to achieve a goal. In contrast to tactics, strategy’s components include a long-range view, the preparation of resources, and planning for the use of those resources before, during, and after an action. The term has expanded far beyond its original military meaning. As society and warfare have steadily grown more complex, military and nonmilitary factors have become more and more inseparable in the conduct of war and in programs designed to secure peace. In the 20th century, the term grand strategy, meaning the art of employing all the resources of a nation or coalition of nations to achieve the objects of war (and peace), steadily became more popular in the literature of warfare and statecraft.