Wankie National Park See Hwange National Park
Wannsee \'van-,za\ Conference (Jan. 20, 1942) Meeting of Nazi officials in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to plan the “final solution” to the “Jewish question.” It was attended by 15 Nazi senior bureaucrats led
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2028 I wapiti ► Warburg family
by Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SS and Gestapo, and included Adolf Eichmann, chief of Jewish affairs for the Reich Central Security Office. It marked a turning point in Nazi policy toward the Jews. An earlier idea, to deport all of Europe’s Jews to Madagascar, was abandoned as imprac¬ tical in wartime. Instead, the newly planned final solution would entail rounding up all Jews throughout Europe, transporting them eastward, and organizing them into labour gangs. The final protocol of the Wannsee Conference never explicitly mentioned extermination, but, within a few months after the meeting, the first gas chambers were installed at Aus¬ chwitz and Treblinka. See also Holocaust.
wapiti \'wa-p3-te\ Species ( Cervus canadensis ) of North American deer, often considered the same species as the red deer. Once common, the wapiti is now confined to the Rocky Mountains and southern Canada. It is the second-largest living deer spe¬ cies (the moose is first). Males may stand taller than 5 ft (1.5 m) at the shoulder and weigh up to 1,100 lbs (500 kg). The coat is brown, pale on the rump, and long and shaggy on the shoulders and neck. The male’s five- tined antlers tower almost 4 ft (1.2 m) above his head. Wapiti live in large bands in winter and in small groups in summer. See also elk.
war State of conflict, generally armed, between two or more entities.
It is characterized by intentional vio¬ lence on the part of large bodies of individuals organized and trained for that purpose. On the national level, some wars are fought internally between rival political factions (civil war); others are fought against an external enemy. Wars have been fought in the name of religion, in self-defense, to acquire territory or resources, and to further the political aims of the aggressor state’s leadership.
War Communism (1918-21) Soviet economic policy applied by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. Its chief features were the expro¬ priation of private business and the nationalization of industry, as well as the forced requisition of surplus grain and other food products from the peasantry. These measures caused a rapid decline in agricultural produc¬ tion, labour productivity, and industrial output. Real wages declined by two-thirds, and uncontrolled inflation made paper currency worthless. By 1921 public discontent resulted in strikes and protests, culminating in the Kronshtadt Rebellion. In response, the Bolsheviks adopted the less-radical New Economic Policy.
war crime Any violation of the laws of war, as laid down by interna¬ tional customary law and certain international treaties. At the end of World War II, the part of the London Agreement signed by the U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union, and France established three categories of war crime: con¬ ventional war crimes (including murder, ill treatment, or deportation of the civilian population of occupied territories), crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity (political, racial, or religious persecution against any civilian population). The charter also provided for an international military tribunal to try major Axis war criminals. It further stated that a defendant’s position as head of state would not free him from account¬ ability, nor would having acted on orders or out of military necessity. German and Japanese war criminals were tried before Allied tribunals in NUrnberg and Tokyo in 1945-46 and 1946-48, respectively, and in the 1990s tribunals were created for the prosecution of war crimes commit¬ ted in Rwanda and the territory of the former Yugoslavia. See also Geneva Convention; genocide; Hague Convention; NOrnberg trial.
War Hawk Member of the U.S. Congress who advocated war with Britain (1811). The term was applied by opponents to newly elected Southern and Western congressmen who strongly promoted U.S. expan¬ sion into the Northwest and Canada and vigorously protested British aid to Indians. The anti-British fervour of the War Hawks, who included Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, helped cause the War of 1812.
War of 1812 U.S.-British conflict arising from U.S. grievances over oppressive British maritime practices in the Napoleonic Wars. To enforce its blockade of French ports, the British boarded U.S. and other neutral
ships to check cargo they suspected was being sent to France and to impress seamen alleged to be British navy deserters. The U.S. reacted by passing legislation such as the Embargo Act (1807); Congress’s War Hawks called for expulsion of the British from Canada to ensure frontier security. When the U.S. demanded an end to the interference, Britain refused, and the U.S. declared war on June 18, 1812. Despite early U.S. naval victories, notably the duel between the Constitution and the Guer- riere , Britain maintained its blockade of eastern U.S. ports. A British force burned public buildings in Washington, D.C., including the White House, in retaliation for similar U.S. acts in York (Toronto), Can. The war became increasingly unpopular, especially in New England, where a separatist movement originated at the Hartford Convention. On Dec. 24, 1814, both sides signed the Treaty of Ghent, which essentially restored territories captured by each side. Before news of the treaty reached the U.S., its vic¬ tory in the Battle of New Orleans led it to later proclaim the war a U.S. victory. See also Battle of Chateauguay; Chippewa; Thames; Isaac Hull; Fran¬ cis Scon Key; Oliver Perry.
War of Independence, U.S. See American Revolution War of the Three Henrys See War of the Three Henrys
War Powers Act (Nov. 7, 1973) Law passed by the U.S. Congress over the veto of Pres. Richard Nixon. The act restrained the president’s ability to commit U.S. forces overseas by requiring the executive branch to consult with and report to Congress before involving U.S. forces in foreign hostilities. Widely considered a measure for preventing “future Vietnams,” it was nonetheless resisted or ignored by subsequent presi¬ dents, most of whom regarded it as an unconstitutional usurpation of their executive authority.
Warbeck, Perkin (b. 1474?, Tournai, Flanders—d. Nov. 23, 1499, London, Eng.) Flemish impostor, pretender to the throne of Henry VII. The son of a local official in Flanders, while working as a servant in Ireland in 1491, he was misidentified as royalty while dressed in his master’s rich silks and was soon persuaded to impersonate Richard, duke of York, who was presumed to have been murdered with his brother in the Tower of London in 1483. Encouraged by several monarchs and other Yorkist enemies in both England and Europe, he gathered forces and supporters on the continent for an invasion. After abortive attempts in 1495 and 1496, he landed in Cornwall in 1497 but was captured and hanged when he tried to escape.
warble fly Any of several dipteran species (botfly family Oestridae or the family Hypodermatidae), widespread in Europe and North America. The warble flies Hypoderma lineatum and H. bovis, also called cattle grubs or heel flies, are large, heavy, and beelike. They deposit their eggs on the legs of cattle. The larvae penetrate the skin, migrate through the body, and produce a lump, or warble, on the animal’s back. Mature grubs emerge and drop to the ground to pupate. Warbles contain breathing holes, which reduce the hide’s commercial value. One species ( Oedemagena tarandi) is a reindeer pest that also causes economic losses.