Body. In the nomenclature of modern ordnance, is the part of the piece in rear of the trunnions.
Body. In the art of war, is a number of forces, horse or foot, united and marching under one commander. Main body of an army, sometimes means the troops encamped in the centre between the two wings, and generally consists of infantry. The main body on a march, signifies the whole of the army exclusive of the van- and rear-guards.
Body of the Place. The [enceinte] of a fortress, or main line of bastions and curtains, as distinguished from [outworks].
Body-guard. A guard to protect or defend the person; a life-guard.
Bœotia. One of the political divisions of ancient Greece, lying between Attica and Megaris on the south, and Locris and Phocis on the north, and bounded on the other side by the Eubœan Sea and the Corinthian Gulf. The tribes of greatest importance who appear as rulers of Bœotia in the heroic age were the Minyæ and the Cadmeans, or Cadmeones,—the former dwelling at Orchomenus, and the latter at Thebes. About 60 years after the Trojan war the Bœotians, an Æolian people who had hitherto dwelt in Thessaly, having been expelled from that country, took possession of the land then called Cadmeis, to which they gave their own name of Bœotia. At the commencement of the historic period all the ancient tribes had disappeared, and all the cities were inhabited by Bœotians, the most important forming a political confederacy under the presidency of Thebes. After the battle of Chæronea (338 B.C.) and the destruction of Thebes by Alexander three years after, Bœotia rapidly declined, and so low had it sunk in the time of the Romans, that of all its great cities there remained only two, which had dwindled into insignificant towns; of the other great cities nothing remained but their ruins and their names. The people are represented as a dull and heavy race, with little susceptibility and appreciation of intellectual pleasures.
Bohain. A small town of France, in the department of Aisne, which fell into the hands of the Imperialists in 1537, and was recaptured a short time afterwards.
Bohemia. A political and administrative division of the Austrian empire, bounded on the north by Saxony and Prussian Silesia, east by Prussia and Moravia, south by Lower Austria, and west by Bavaria. It derives its name from the Boii, a Celtic people who settled in the country about 600 B.C., and who were expelled by the Marcomanni in the time of Augustus. About the middle of the 6th century a numerous army of Czechs entered the country and subdued it. In 1310 the crown came to the house of Luxemburg, when Charles IV. united Bohemia with the German empire. After many vicissitudes it fell to the house of Austria in the person of the Archduke Ferdinand, brother of Charles V., and brother-in-law of Louis II., king of Hungary and Bohemia, who was killed in battle with the Turks near Mohacs, in 1526. In 1619 the Bohemians revolted against the house of Austria, and offered the crown to Frederick V., elector palatine, but Frederick was defeated at the battle of White Mountain in November, 1620, and the country has ever since remained under the sway of the emperors of Austria.
Bohmisch-Brod. A small town of Bohemia. Here the emperor Sigismund defeated the Hussites in 1434.
Boii. An ancient Celtic people who emigrated into Italy, where they waged war for several centuries against the Romans. They were defeated at the Vadimonian Lake, 283 B.C. They were finally subdued by Scipio Nasica, 191 B.C., and expelled front Italy. A portion of them founded the kingdom of Boiohemum (Bohemia), from which they were expelled by the Marcomanni in the time of Augustus.
Bois-le-Duc. A fortified city of Holland, capital of North Brabant; besieged and captured by the Dutch in 1629, and by the French in 1794; surrendered to the Prussian army, under Bulow, in January, 1814.