Britannica Concise 2005

(1956).

Vieira \'vya-e-re\, Antonio (b. Feb. 6, 1608, Lisbon, Port.—d. July 18, 1697, Salvador, Braz.) Portuguese-bom Brazilian missionary, orator, diplomat, and writer. He was raised in Brazil, where he became a Jesuit priest. His sermons exhorting all races to join in repelling Dutch invad¬ ers are considered the first expression of the Brazilian concept of form¬ ing a new race of mixed blood. He worked among the Indians and black slaves until 1641, mastering several of their languages. Returning to Por¬ tugal, he became an important figure in the court of John IV, where he advocated toleration for Jewish converts to Christianity. He was impris¬ oned by the Inquisition (1665-67) but returned to Brazil in 1681.

Vienna German Wien City (pop., 2001: 1,550,123; metro, area, 1,825,287), capital of Austria. Located on the Danube River, it was founded by the Celts; it became a Roman military station in the 1st century bc. Ruled by many—including the Franks in the 6th century ad and the Magyars in the 10th century—Vienna was an important trade centre during the Cru¬ sades. It was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire (1558-1806), of the Austrian (and Habsburg) Empire (1806-67), and of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. In 1814—15 it was the seat of the Congress of Vienna. The administrative centre of German Austria (1938-45), it was frequently bombed during World War II by the Allies, and the city was taken by Soviet troops in 1945. It was under joint Soviet-Western Allied occupation from 1945 to 1955. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the U.S. and Soviet Union took place in Vienna in the 1970s. The commercial and industrial centre of Austria, it also is a cultural centre renowned for its architecture and music. It was the birthplace of the composers Franz Schu¬ bert, Johann Strauss (the Younger), and Arnold Schoenberg, and the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Gustav Mahler. It also was the home of Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Josef Hoffmann. Vienna is the headquarters of many inter¬ national organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN Industrial Development Organization, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Vienna, Congress of (1814-15) Assembly that reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic Wars. The powers of the Quadruple Alliance had con¬

cluded the Treaty of Chaumont just before Napoleon’s first abdication and agreed to meet later in Vienna. There they were joined by Bourbon France as a major participant and by Sweden and Portugal; many minor states also sent representatives. The principal negotiators were Klemens, prince von Metternich, representing Francis II (Austria); Alexander I (Russia); Fred¬ erick William III and Karl August, prince von Hardenberg (Prussia); Vis¬ count Castlereagh (Britain); and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand (France). The Congress reduced France to its 1789 borders. A new kingdom of Poland, under Russian sovereignty, was established. To check possible future aggression by France, its neighbours were strengthened: the king¬ dom of The Netherlands acquired Belgium, Prussia gained territory along the Rhine River, and the Italian kingdom acquired Genoa. The German states were joined loosely in a new German Confederation, subject to Austria’s influence. For its part in the defeat of Napoleon, Britain acquired valuable colonies, including Malta, the Cape of Good Hope, and Ceylon. The Vienna settlement was the most comprehensive treaty that Europe had ever seen, and the configuration of Europe established at the congress lasted for more than 40 years.

Vienna, Siege of (July 17-Sept. 12, 1683) Attempted capture of Vienna by Ottoman Turkey. On appeal from the Hungarian Calvinists to attack the Habsburg capital, the Turkish grand vizier, Kara Mustafa (1634-83), and his army of 150,000 laid siege to Vienna in July 1683, after capturing its outer fortifications. Pope Innocent XI convinced John III Sobieski of Poland to lead a combined army of 80,000 to relieve the siege. On Sept. 12, 1683, Sobieski, aided by Charles of Lorraine, led the attack from the surrounding hills and after 15 hours drove the Turks from their trenches around the city. Thousands were slaughtered or taken pris¬ oner. The event marked the beginning of the decline of Turkish domina¬ tion in eastern Europe.

Vienna, University of State-financed university at Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1365 on the model of the University of Paris, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. It was reorganized in 1384, becoming particularly noted for its faculties of medicine, law, and theol¬ ogy. It was a centre of revolution during the uprising of 1848, when Met- temich was forced from power. The modern university includes faculties of theology, social sciences and economics, medicine, sciences, math¬ ematics, and natural sciences.

Vienna Circle German Wiener Kreis Vve-nor-'krisX Group of phi¬ losophers, scientists, and mathematicians formed in the 1920s that met regularly in Vienna to investigate scientific language and scientific method. It formed around Moritz Schlick (1882-1936), who taught at the Univer¬ sity of Vienna; its members included Gustav Bergmann, Philipp Frank, Rudolf Carnap, Kurt Godel, Friedrich Waismann, Otto Neurath, Herbert Feigl, and Victor Kraft. The movement associated with the Circle has been called logical positivism. Its members’ work was distinguished by their attention to the form of scientific theories, their formulation of a verifi¬ ability principle of meaning, and their espousal of a doctrine of unified sci¬ ence. The group dissolved after the Nazis invaded Austria in 1938.

Vientiane \,vyen-'tyan\ Laotian Viangchan \,vyeq-'chan\ City (pop., 1999 est.: 534,000), capital of Laos. It is located north of the Mekong River. Founded in the late 13th century, it was made the administrative centre of an early Laotian kingdom in the mid-16th century. In 1778 it came under Siamese (Thai) control; in 1828 it was destroyed when the Laotian king revolted against the Siamese. The French made it the capi¬ tal of their colony on their takeover of the region in the 1890s; it remained the administrative centre after Laos gained independence in 1953. It is the commercial centre of the region and Laos’s principal port of entry.

Vierordt Vfer-.ortV, Karl von (b. July 1, 1818, Lahr, Baden—d. Nov. 22,1884, Tubingen, Ger.) German physician. He started a medical practice in 1842 and began teaching at the University of Tubingen in 1849. He dis¬ covered a way to make an exact red-blood-cell count (see blood analysis) and invented the sphygmograph, the first instrument to produce a pulse tracing, and the hemotachometer, which monitors blood flow velocity.

Viet Cong in full Viet Nam Cong San English "Vietnamese Communists" Guerrilla force that sought to reunify North and South Vietnam under communist leadership from the late 1950s through 1975. Originally a collection of various groups opposed to the government of South Vietnam’s Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem, the Viet Cong became the military arm of the National Liberation Front (1960) and later of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG; 1969). Members were recruited largely from South Vietnam, but they received guidance, weapons, and reinforce-

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2004 I Viet Minh ► Vigano

ments from the north. The Viet Cong’s guerrilla war against the South Vietnamese government and its powerful U.S. allies was successful; the U.S. withdrew its troops from Vietnam between 1969 and 1973, and the PRG assumed power in South Vietnam in 1975, following a full-scale invasion. It became part of a National United Front the following year.

Viet Minh Vvyet-'minX in full Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi English "League for the Independence of Vietnam" Organi¬ zation that led the struggle for Vietnamese independence from French rule. Formed in 1941 by Ho Chi Minh, it was a national organization open to people of all political leanings, though it was led by communists. In 1943 the Viet Minh began guerrilla operations against the occupying Japa¬ nese; when the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, the Viet Minh seized Hanoi and proclaimed Vietnam’s independence. In the First Indochina War that followed, the Viet Minh (and the Vietnamese Workers’ Party [Lao Dong] that succeeded them) defeated the French. Elements of the Viet Minh also joined the Viet Cong to fight the U.S. in the Vietnam War. See also Vo Nguyen Giap.

Vietnam officially Socialist Republic of Vietnam Country, Southeast Asia. Area: 128,379 sq mi (332,501 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 82,628,000. Capital: Hanoi. The great majority of the population is

into northern and southern dynasties in the early 17th century, and in 1802 these two parts were unified under a single dynasty. Following several years of attempted French colonial expansion in the region, the French captured Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1859 and later the rest of the area, controlling it until World War II (see French Indochina). The Japa¬ nese occupied Vietnam in 1940-45 and allowed the Vietnamese to declare independence at the end of the war, a move the French opposed. The First Indochina War ensued and lasted until French forces with U.S. financial backing were defeated by the Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu in 1954; evacu¬ ation of French troops followed. After an international conference at Geneva (April-July 1954), Vietnam was partitioned along latitude 17° N, with the northern part under the communist leadership of Ho Chi Minh and the southern part under the U.S.-supported former emperor Bao Dai; the partition was to be temporary, but the reunification elections sched¬ uled for 1956 were never held. An independent South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) was declared, while the communists established North Viet¬ nam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam). The activities of North Vietnam¬ ese guerrillas and procommunist rebels in South Vietnam led to U.S. intervention and the Vietnam War. A cease-fire agreement was signed in 1973 and U.S. troops withdrawn, but the civil war soon resumed; in 1975 North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese gov¬ ernment collapsed. In 1976 the two Vietnams were united as the Social¬ ist Republic of Vietnam. From the mid-1980s the government enacted a series of economic reforms and began to open up to Asian and Western nations. In 1995 the U.S. officially normalized relations with Vietnam.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Monument in Washington, D.C., designed by Maya Lin. It consists of two low, black granite walls that meet to form a wide V shape. Engraved on the mirrorlike surface are the names of the more than 58,000 U.S. dead and missing-in-action who served in the Vietnam War, listed by date of casualty. When Lin’s abstract design was announced, several veterans groups and others protested; eventually a traditional statue depicting three servicemen with a flag was commis¬ sioned, to stand at the entrance to the site. Since its dedication in 1982, the controversial wall has become one of the city’s most visited and most affecting tourist attractions.

Vietnam War (1955-75) Protracted effort by South Vietnam and the U.S. to prevent North and South Vietnam from being united under com¬ munist leadership. After the First Indochina War, Vietnam was partitioned to separate the warring parties until free elections could be held in 1956. Ho Chi Minh’s popular Viet Minh party from the north was expected to win the elections, which the leader in the south, Ngo Dinh Diem, refused to hold. In the war that ensued, fighters trained in the north (the Viet Cong) fought a guerrilla war against U.S.-supported South Vietnamese forces; North Vietnamese forces later joined the fighting. At the height of U.S. involvement, there were more than half a million U.S. military personnel in Vietnam. The Tet Offensive of 1968, in which the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese attacked 36 major South Vietnamese cities and towns, marked a turning point in the war. Many in the U.S. had come to oppose the war on moral and practical grounds, and Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson decided to shift to a policy of “de-escalation.” Peace talks were begun in Paris. Between 1969 and 1973 U.S. troops were withdrawn from Vietnam, but the war was expanded to Cambodia and Laos in 1970. Peace talks, which had reached a stalemate in 1971, started again in 1973, producing a cease¬ fire agreement. Fighting continued, and there were numerous truce vio¬ lations. In 1975 the North Vietnamese launched a full-scale invasion of the south. The south surrendered later that year, and in 1976 the country was reunited as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. More than 2,000,000 people (including 58,000 Americans) died over the course of the war, about half of them civilians.

Vietnamese language Mon-Khmer language, the native language of 60-65 million people in Vietnam and a second language for many members of Vietnam’s more than 50 minority ethnic groups, with some 2 million speakers outside the country. For much of Vietnam’s history, Classical Chi¬ nese was the dominant literary language, and Chinese vocabulary given a Vietnamese pronunciation (“Sino-Vietnamese”) remains a significant part of the language’s lexicon. By the 13th century Chinese characters were adapted to write native Vietnamese words. In the 17th century Roman Catholic missionaries introduced a system of writing Vietnamese in the Latin alphabet with diacritics distinguishing vowel qualities and tones, a sys¬ tem that was widely adopted only in the 20th century.

Vigano \ve-'ga-no\, Salvatore (b. March 25, 1769, Naples, Kingdom of Naples—d. Aug. 10, 1821, Milan, Austrian Habsburg domain) Italian

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