Vienne, Council. 1311. Abolished Templars.

Vigée-Lebrun, Elizabeth. 1755-1842. French portrait painter. Marie-Antoinette.

Vlachs. 2C-. Latin inhabitants of Dacia.

Vuillard, Édouard. 1868-1940. French Nabis Intimist artist. Interiors. Woman Sweeping 1892.

Wade-Davis Bill. 1864. Strict terms for US Reconstruction vetoed by Lincoln.

Wahabi. 18-19C. Militant Moslem Arab Puritan sect. Fought Porte 1813-15. Invaded Kuwait 1919,27,28; repulsed with British help. 2001 World Trade Center. Taliban.

Wallace, George. 1919-98. Alabama segregationist governor, presidential candidate. Shot 1972.

Walter, Hubert. -1205. English Archbishop of Canterbury. Ransomed Richard I, 1193. First Income Tax. Governed during king’s absences.

Webb, Sidney. 1859-1947. Beatrice. 1858-1943. British Fabian Socialists. Founded London School of Economics, New Statesman 1913.

Weimar Republic. 1919-33. Post WWI Germany. Hyperinflation, unemployment, instability. Rise of Nazism.

West, Nathanael. 1903-40. US novelist. Absurd, black humour. Miss Lonelyhearts 1933. Day of the Locusts 1939.

Westminster Abbey. 7C Benedictine monastery. 1050-65 New Building, additions by Edward the Confessor; 1245 by Henry III. West towers 1745. Used for all British coronations since William I.

Westminster, Statute of. 1275,85,90. First reference to Great Council of England as Parliament. Reformed civil and criminal law. Legal protection for poor. 1931. British affirmation of autonomous dominion of British Empire countries. Established British Commonwealth.

Whipple, Abraham. 1733-1819. American Revolutionary. Captured 11 British ships 1779.

Whistler, James. 1834-1903. US painter. Use of light and color influenced abstract art. Arrangement in Black and Grey, No 1 (Whistler’s Mother) 1871.

Whitlam, Gough. 1916-. Australian Labour Prime Minister 1972-5. Quit Vietnam War. Dismissed by Governor General. Reduced immigration restrictions. White Australia.

Whitney, Eli. 1765-1825. US inventor. Cotton gin, 1793. Mass production with interchangeable parts 1801.

Whittier, John. 1807-92. US Quaker, Abolitionist poet: Maud Muller 1854. Snow Bound 1866.

William II. (Wilhelm). 1859-1941. German Emperor 1888-1918. Dismissed Bismarck. Sought world leadership. Precipitated WWI. Abdicated. -“I rule by God’s grace”.

Wilson, Harold. 1916-95. British Labour Prime Minister 1964~76.

Winckler, Hugo. 1863-1913. German archaeologist. Discovered Hittite cuneiform tablets.

Wolsey, Thomas. c1475-1530. English cardinal. Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII. Lost influence when unable to secure divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Built Hampton Court Palace as gift for Henry VIII. Unpopularity a cause of Reformation.

World Bank. 1944. United Nations agency established at Bretton Woods.

World War I. 1914-18. Allies-France, British Empire, Russia, Italy, US(1917-) vs Central Powers-Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire. Caused by Nationalist movements, Balkan instability, trade rivalry, alliances. 30M casualties. First tanks, chemical, planes, submarines. Ended Russian, Ottoman, Austria-Hungarian Empires.

WorldTradeCenter, 1972-2001. New York. Attacked 1993, destroyed September 11, 2001 by al-Qaeda terrorists. Osama bin Laden.

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