Robert E. Lee, 1865.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
to force the seceded Southern states back into the Union. Though opposed to secession, he refused. After his home state of Virginia seceded, he became commander of Virginia’s forces in the American Civil War and adviser to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia (1862) after Joseph Johnston was wounded, Lee repulsed the Union forces in the Seven Days' Battles. He won victories at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. His attempts to draw Union forces out of Virginia by invading the North resulted in failures at Antietam and Gettysburg. In 1864-65 he conducted defensive campaigns against Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant that caused heavy Union casualties. Lee ended his retreat behind fortifications built at Peters¬ burg and Richmond (see Petersburg Campaign). By April 1865 dwindling forces and supplies forced Lee, now general of all Confederate armies, to surrender at Appomattox Court House. After several months of recu¬ peration, he accepted the post of president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), where he served until his death.
Lee, Spike orig. Shelton Jackson Lee (b. March 20, 1957, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.) U.S. film director. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned a master’s degree in film at New York University. The comedy She’s Gotta Have It (l 986) brought him attention, but it was Do the Right Thing (1989), a portrait of racial tensions in Brooklyn, that brought him widespread acclaim. Many of his films focused on aspects of African American life, including School Daze (1988), Jungle Fever( 1991), Crooklyn (1994), and He Got Game (1998). The epic Malcolm X (1992) and the documentary Four Little Girls (1997) showed Lee’s versatility as a director.
Lee, William (b. 1550?, Calverton, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—d. 1610?, Paris, France) British inventor of the first knitting machine. Lee’s model (1589) was the only one employed for centuries, and its principle of operation remains in use. Elizabeth I twice denied him a patent because of her concern for the kingdom’s hand knitters. With support from Henry IV of France, Lee later manufactured hosiery in Rouen.
Lee Kuan Yew (b. Sept. 16, 1923, Singapore) Prime minister of Sin¬ gapore (1959-90). Born to a wealthy Chinese family, Lee studied at the University of Cambridge and became a lawyer and a socialist. He worked as a legal adviser to labour unions and won election to Sin¬ gapore’s legislative council in 1955, while the country was still a British crown colony. He helped Singapore achieve self-government and, run¬ ning as an anticolonialist and anti¬ communist, was elected prime minister in 1959. His numerous reforms included the emancipation of women. He briefly entered Sin¬ gapore in the Federation of Malaysia (1963-65); on its withdrawal, Sin¬ gapore became a sovereign state. Lee Lee Kuan Yew industrialized the country and made keystone Singapore the most prosperous
nation in Southeast Asia. He achieved both labour peace and a rising standard of living for workers, though his mildly authoritarian govern¬ ment at times infringed on civil liberties.
Lee Teng-hui Vle-'doq-'hweX (b. Jan. 15, 1923, near Tan-shui, Taiwan) First Taiwan-born president (1988-2000) of Taiwan (Republic of China). He became president in 1988 after the death of Chiang Ching-kuo. He was reelected in 1990 and won a landslide victory in 1996 in Taiwan’s first
direct presidential election. Lee favoured a policy of “flexible diplo¬ macy” in dealing with the People’s Republic of China. His successor, Chen Shui-bian (Ch’en Shui-pian) was the first president not from the Nationalist Party.
leech Any annelid worm of the class Hirudinea (about 300 known spe¬ cies), with a small sucker containing the mouth at the front end and a large sucker at the back end. Species range
European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinal is).
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1092 I Leech ► legion
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from tiny to about 8 in. (20 cm) long. Leeches live primarily in freshwa¬ ter or on land. Some species are predators, some eat organic debris, and others are parasitic. Aquatic leeches may feed on the blood of fishes, amphibians, birds, and mammals, or they may eat snails, insect larvae, and worms. True land leeches feed only on the blood of mammals. Sub¬ stances in the leech’s saliva anesthetize the wound area, dilate the blood vessels, and prevent the blood from clotting. For centuries, some species have been used to drain off blood. Hirudin, extracted from the European medicinal leech, is used medically as an anticoagulant.
Leech, John (b. Aug. 29, 1817, London, Eng.—d. Oct. 29, 1864, Lon¬ don) British caricaturist. He gave up the study of medicine to produce comic sketches and etchings for magazines, notably Punch. He collabo¬ rated with George Cruikshank but later departed from the horrific and satirical elements of traditional English caricature to develop his own style of comfortable, warmly humorous middle-class urbanity, underlining character by emphatic contrasts of stock types. With John Tenniel he cre¬ ated the image of John Bull, a jovial, foursquare Englishman, sometimes in a Union Jack waistcoat, with a bulldog at heel.
Leeds City and metropolitan borough (pop., 2001:715,404), metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. It lies along the River Aire, northeast of Manchester. It originated as an Anglo- Saxon township and was incorporated as a city in 1626, becoming an early centre of the woolen industry. The completion in 1816 of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal stimulated its growth, and the factory production of ready¬ made clothing expanded rapidly at the end of the 19th century. It is the seat of the University of Leeds.
the Virgin Islands of the U.S. and the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin, Saint Kins and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, and Guade¬ loupe. Just south of this chain is Dominica, sometimes classified as part of the Leeward Islands but usually designated as part of the Windward Islands.
Lefevre d'Etaples \ta- , fevr’-da- , tapl 3 \ / Jacques (b. 1455, Etaples, Picardy—d. March 1536, Nerac, France) French humanist, theologian, and translator. Ordained a priest, he taught philosophy in Paris (1490-1507), after which he worked with the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. When suspected of Protestantism, he moved temporarily to Strasbourg and later to Nerac, where he was protected by the queen of Navarra. Casting off the influence of medieval Scholasticism, he promoted scriptural studies on the eve of the Reformation. He translated the Bible into French and wrote com¬ mentaries on St. Paul as well as philosophical and mystical works.
Lefkosia See Nicosia
left In politics, the portion of the political spectrum associated in gen¬ eral with egalitarianism and popular or state control of the major institu¬ tions of political and economic life. The term dates from the 1790s, when in the French revolutionary parliament the socialist representatives sat to the presiding officer’s left. Leftists tend to be hostile to the interests of traditional elites, including the wealthy and members of the aristocracy, and to favour the interests of the working class (see proletariat). They tend to regard social welfare as the most important goal of government. Social¬ ism is the standard leftist ideology in most countries of the world; com¬ munism is a more radical leftist ideology.