Branch Davidians Religious sect that believes in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. It was founded in 1935 near Waco, Texas, by Victor Houteff as a breakaway group from the Seventh-Day Adventists. Under the leadership of Vernon Howell, a charismatic and apocalyptic preacher who would take the name David Koresh (1959-1993), it stockpiled weap¬ ons at its compound, where some 130 followers were living by 1993. That
year, after a shoot-out in which four federal agents were killed, federal law-enforcement agencies besieged the compound for 51 days. The stand¬ off ended, at the orders of Attorney General Janet Reno, in a conflagra¬ tion in which some 80 members died, including several children and Koresh himself. Intense controversy about the precise circumstances and the necessity of the final assault led to a Congressional investigation, which in 2000 exonerated federal agents.
Brancusi, Constantin (b. Feb. 21, 1876, Hobija, Rom.—d. March 16, 1957, Paris, Fr.) Romanian-born French sculptor. He became adept at carving wooden farm implements as a child and later studied in Bucharest and Munich and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, having walked most of the way from Munich. He first exhibited in Paris in 1906. In 1908 he executed Sleeping Muse , influenced by Auguste Rodin, and The Kiss, his first truly original work. He developed a geometric style that became his hallmark, reducing natural forms to an abstract simplicity. He exhibited five works, including Mademoiselle Pogany, in the 1913 Armory Show. One of his favourite themes was a bird in flight; his most famous treatment was the celebrated polished-bronze Bird in Space (1919). Through numer¬ ous exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe, he achieved great fame and suc¬ cess, and he is regarded as a pioneer of modern abstract sculpture.
Brandeis Vbran-.dlsV, Louis (Dembitz) (b. Nov. 13, 1856, Louisville, Ky., U.S.—d. Oct. 5, 1941, Wash¬ ington, D.C.) U.S. jurist. The son of Bohemian Jewish immigrants, he attended schools in Kentucky and Germany before obtaining his law degree from Harvard (1877). As a lawyer in Boston (1877-1916), he was known as “the people’s attor¬ ney” for his defense of the constitu¬ tionality of several state hours-and- wages laws, his devising of a savings-bank life-insurance plan for working people, and his efforts to strengthen the government’s anti¬ trust power. His work influenced passage in 1914 of the Clayton Anti- Trust Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. He also developed what came to be called the “Brandeis brief,” in which economic and socio¬ logical data, historical material, and expert opinion are marshaled to support a legal argument. Appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States (1916), he was noted for his devo¬ tion to freedom OF speech. Many of his minority opinions, in which he was often aligned with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., later were accepted by the court in the New Deal era. His appointment as the first Jewish justice was vigorously opposed by some business interests and anti-Semitic groups. He served until 1939. Brandeis University is named for him.
Brandenburg Historical region and province of Prussia. The earliest Germanic inhabitants were replaced by Slavic Wends, who in turn were overcome in the 12th century by Albert the Bear, margrave of Branden¬ burg. It became one of the seven electorates of the Holy Roman Empire in 1356. Under the elector Frederick William (1640-88), Brandenburg-Prussia grew to be a leading power. It became a province of Prussia in 1815 and remained such after the unification of Germany (1871) and until the end of World War II. After the war, the eastern portion became part of Poland and the western portion part of East Germany. After Germany’s reunifi¬ cation in 1990, the western part became a German state. Brandenburg city, or Brandenburg an der Havel (pop., 2002 est.: 76,400), was formerly the residence of Prussia’s reigning family.
Brandenburg Gate The only remaining town gate of Berlin, it is located at the western end of the avenue Unter den Linden. Carl G. Lang- hans (1732-1808), who built the gate (1789-93), modeled it after the pro- pylaeum of the Athenian Acropolis. On top was the “Quadriga of Victory,” a statue of a chariot drawn by four horses. Heavily damaged in World War II, the gate was restored in 1957-58. From 1961 to 1989 the Berlin Wall shut off access to it for both eastern and western Germans; the gate was reopened in 1989 with the reunification of East and West Berlin.
Brandes Vbran-d9s\, Georg (Morris Cohen) (b. Feb. 4, 1842, Copenhagen, Den.—d. Feb. 19, 1927, Copenhagen) Danish critic and
Tempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, designed by Donato Bramante,
G. BERENGO GARDIN-© DEA PICTURE LIBRARY
Louis Brandeis.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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scholar. His published lectures at the University of Copenhagen, Main Currents in 19th-Century Thought, 6 vol. (1872-90), catalyzed the break¬ through from Romanticism to realism in Danish literature. His calls for writers to work in the service of progressive ideas and the reform of mod¬ ern society, along with his championing of such writers as Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, earned strong conservative opposition but exerted enormous influence throughout Scandinavia. His other critical works include Men of the Modern Breakthrough (1883) and Danish Poets
(1877).
Brando, Marlon, (Jr.) (b. April 3, 1924, Omaha, Neb., U.S.—d. July 1, 2004, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. actor. He gained stardom on Broadway as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). An early mem¬ ber of the Actors Studio, he brought its method acting style to his first film, The Men (1950). His slurred, mumbling delivery marked his rejec¬ tion of classical dramatic training, and his true and passionate perfor¬ mances proved him one of the great actors of his generation. After starring in the screen version of Streetcar (1951), he appeared in films such as The Wild One (1954), On the Waterfront (1954, Academy Award), The God¬ father (1972, Academy Award), Last Tango in Paris (1972), and Apoca¬ lypse Now (1979).
Brandt, Bill orig. Hermann Wilhelm Brandt (b. May 1904, Ham¬ burg, Ger.—d. Dec. 20, 1983, London, Eng.) German-born British pho¬ tographer. In 1929 he worked in the studio of Man Ray in Paris. He returned to England in 1931 and took up photojournalism, documenting English industrial workers in the 1930s and covering the home front dur¬ ing World War II. His work reveals the influence of Eugene Atget, Bras- SAi, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. He is best known for his photographs of British life and especially for his unconventional nudes; he placed his wide-angle camera at close range to the human body, causing a distorted effect that transformed the human body into a series of abstract designs.
Brandt, Willy orig. Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm (b. Dec. 18, 1913, Liibeck, Ger.—d. Oct. 8/9, 1992,
Unkel, near Bonn) German states¬ man. As a young Social Democrat, he fled to Norway to avoid arrest after the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s. There he assumed the name Willy Brandt and worked as a jour¬ nalist. Returning to Germany after World War II, he was elected to par¬ liament in 1949 and became mayor of West Berlin (1957-66), a post in which he achieved world fame. He led a coalition government as chan¬ cellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1969-74). As chancellor, he improved relations with East Ger¬ many, other communist nations in eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union and helped strengthen the European Economic Community. For these efforts he received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1971. He remained the leader of the Social Democratic Party until 1987.