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Borah, William Edgar

(Encyclopedia)Borah, William Edgar bôrˈə [key], 1865–1940, U.S. Senator (1907–40), b. near Fairfield, Ill. Admitted to the bar in Kansas in 1887, after 1890 he became prominent in law and politics at Boise, ...

Briand, Aristide

(Encyclopedia)Briand, Aristide ärēstēdˈ brēäNˈ [key], 1862–1932, French statesman. A lawyer and a Socialist, he entered (1902) the chamber of deputies and helped to draft and pass the law (1905) for separa...

Coustou

(Encyclopedia)Coustou ko͞osto͞oˈ [key], family of French sculptors. Nicolas Coustou, 1658–1733, studied with his uncle, Antoine Coysevox, with whom he later collaborated on the decorations at Marly and at Vers...

French Equatorial Africa

(Encyclopedia)French Equatorial Africa, former French federation in W central Africa. It consisted of four constituent territories: Gabon, Middle Congo (see Congo, Republic of the), Chad, and Ubangi-Shari (now the ...

Vernet

(Encyclopedia)Vernet vĕrnāˈ [key], French family of painters. Claude Joseph Vernet, 1714–89, marine painter, b. Avignon, studied with his father, Antoine Vernet, a decorative painter, and in Rome, where he acq...

Commune of Paris

(Encyclopedia)Commune of Paris, insurrectionary governments in Paris formed during (1792) the French Revolution and at the end (1871) of the Franco-Prussian War. In the French Revolution, the Revolutionary commune,...

League of Nations

(Encyclopedia)League of Nations, former international organization, established by the peace treaties that ended World War I. Like its successor, the United Nations, its purpose was the promotion of international p...

Fourteen Points

(Encyclopedia)Fourteen Points, formulation of a peace program, presented at the end of World War I by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in an address before both houses of Congress on Jan. 8, 1918. The message, though ...

Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth

(Encyclopedia)Vigée-Lebrun, Élisabeth ālēzäbĕtˈ vēzhāˈ-ləbröNˈ [key], 1755–1842, French portrait painter; pupil of her father, the painter Louis Vigée. She was influenced by Greuze. Summoned to Vers...

Saarland

(Encyclopedia)Saarland zärˈlänt [key], state (1994 pop. 1,080,000), 991 sq mi (2,567 sq km), SW Germany; formerly called the Saar or the Saar Territory. Saarbrücken is the capital; other cities include Völklin...