THE 1880s
Louis Riel led the 1885 North-West Rebellion, an unsuccessful effort to halt the expansion of this country
Canada
A coalition of these super-speedy spotted cats, Acinonyx jubatus
cheetahs
"A male bovine's nap"? No, it means to move obstacles with a big tractor
bulldoze
A mysterious animal in France's famed Lascaux Cave is known as this, even though it has two horns, not one
unicorn
Winfield Scott's Anaconda plan was to strangle the Confederacy by means of these efforts to stop up the enemy's ports
blockades
1887 saw the collapse of the Dreikaiserbund, or 3 Emperors' League, among Germany, Russia & this dual monarchy
Austria-Hungary
A shrewdness of these, family Hominidae, chimps included
apes
Promoted to be the person in charge? No, it means decorated with a raised design
embossed
The black paint used in figures on the ceiling of Spain's Altamira Cave is mostly this stuff, radiocarbon-dated to 14,000 years ago
charcoal
G. Gordon Liddy's 1972 Gemstone plan included kidnapping & prostitutes; it was scaled back but a remaining part led to this scandal
Watergate
Some 300,000 people from this country died in the 1881 Haiphong cyclone on the Gulf of Tonkin
Vietnam
A business of these sometimes illegal pets -- genus Mustela
ferrets
"To turn into a long-tailed rodent"? No, to approve a constitutional amendment
ratify
Rock art depicting an animal's skeleton & internal organs is said to be in this electromagnetic-named style
x-ray
In 1990 the Shatalin plan for moving the USSR to a free market was too radical even for this reformer who ousted Shatalin
Gorbachev
In 1885 the British captured Mandalay, ending the Konbaung Dynasty & the independence of this country
Burma
A herd, or even better an obstinacy, of this ox-like wading mammal, Bubalus bubalis, which can hit 2,600 pounds each
water buffalo
"To surrender again"? No, to summarize
recapitulate
Though arid today, Libya's Messak plateau in this desert has prehistoric images of hippos & crocodiles
the Sahara
In 1960 PM Ikeda planned to double Japan's national income by 1970, with annual this of 7.8%; it was 10% & income doubled early
GDP (annual growth)
Its eruption on August 27, 1883 has been estimated to have released 10,000 times the power of an atomic bomb
Krakatoa
A cauldron of these, order Chiroptera
bats
"A spot on a kitchen surface"? No, it's the art of combining melodies in music
counterpoint
A national monument in New Mexico is named for its many these, from Greek for "rock" & "carvings"
petroglyphs
The 1791 plan for Washington, D.C. with diagonal axes over a more conventional grid was named for this Paris-born man
(Pierre) L'Enfant