VENIZELOS 





VENTRILOQUISM 



upon a period of expansion, and by the middle 

 of the fifteenth century it was the head of a 

 vast colonial empire and the most powerful 

 maritime state of the Christian world. Its trad- 

 ing vessels were found in the harbors of every 

 civilized country on the globe. In this very 

 century, however, the power of the island re- 

 public began to wane. The fall of Constan- 

 tinople, in 1453, brought the Venetians into a 

 losing conflict with the Turks, and the dis- 

 covery of a new water route to India, by Vasco 

 da Gama, and of the New World, by Columbus, 

 opened up new trade channels and proved the 

 deathblow to Venetian commercial supremacy. 

 In 1797 the Venetian republic was dissolved 

 by Napoleon, and its possessions were trans- 

 ferred to Austria and France. In 1866 Venice 

 was incorporated with Italy, and its history 

 since that date has been a part of the history 

 of the Italian kingdom. From the time that 

 Italy entered the War of the Nations on the 

 side of the entente allies Venice was subjected 

 to attacks by hostile airships, but it suffered 

 comparatively little damage. In November, 

 1917, an enemy invasion threatened the city 

 and its art treasures were removed to Florence. 

 Th> Austro-German forces reached within 

 a few miles of the Adriatic coast.. The city's 

 population was 160,719 in 1910; in 1914, 163,202 

 (estimated). B.M.W. 



Consult Lucas's A Wanderer in Venice; Head- 

 lam's Venctia and Northern Italy. 



Related Subject*. In connection with this 

 ription of Venice, the reader may consult the 

 following: articles in these volumee : 

 Adriatic Sea Doge 



Bridge of Sighs t Mark's, Cathedral 



mile of 



VENIZELOS , ven e za ' lohs, ELEUTHERIOS 



(1864- ), a Greek statesman who took a 



prominent part in bringing Greece into the 



of the Nations on the side of the entente 



5. He was born on th M:m<l <>f Ci. t. , and 

 was educated in the Cretan town of Canca and 



\rhens, compli -tinn a course in law at tin 

 University of Athens in 1886. His public ca : 

 began in Crete, w! i u inning honors at 



i>:ir, he entered the legislature. He worked 

 zealously for the political union of Crete and 

 Greece (see CRETE), and in 1910 removed to 

 Athens to become : r of a new party 



sponsored by the Military League, which was 

 then working for a reform of the constitution, 

 same year King Georp- Venizelos 



office of Premier, and tl accepted. 



In this capacity he took a leading part in the 

 organization of the Balkan League, and was a 

 prominent figure in the Balkan Wars of 1912- 

 1913 (which see). 



When the War of the Nations broke out in 

 1914, Venizelos and King Constantine, who had 

 ascended the throne in 1913, came to a parting 

 of the ways. The Premier urged that Greece 

 join the entente, and the king was firm for 

 neutrality ; . the queen was a sister of the Ger- 

 man emperor. It was clear that the king and 

 Premier could not work together, and the Pre- 

 mier resigned in March, 1915. He was, how- 

 ever, persuaded to form a new Ministry in Au- 

 gust, and when the Bulgarian army was mobi- 

 lized in September, he insisted that the Greek 

 forces likewise be mobilized. This was accom- 

 plished in spite of the king's opposition. 



Then followed Bulgaria's declaration of war 

 upon Serbia. As Greece was bound by treaty 

 to assist Serbia in case of attack by Bulgaria, 

 Venizelos demanded that the country take im- 

 mediate action to carry out its agreement. 

 Upon the refusal of Constantine to assent to 

 this program the Premier again resigned, though 

 he was supported by the majority of the depu- 

 ties in Parliament. Finally, in September, 1916, 

 he and his followers set up a provisional gov- 

 ernment at Canea, later transferring it to Sa- 

 loniki. In June, 1917, Constantino was forced 

 by the allies to abdicate, and his son Alexander 

 came to the throne. Venizelos was then 

 turned to power, and Greece joined the coali- 

 tion against Germany. See WAR OF THE NA- 

 TIONS. B.M.W. 



VENTILA'TION. See HEATING AND \ 



LATION. 



VENTRILOQUISM, ven tril'o kwiz'm, the art 

 of projecting the voice in such direction as 

 makes it appear to come from another sou 

 Long and arduous practice is necessary to de- 

 velop this faculty into a high art. The soun<l> 

 are produced in the usual method adopted in 

 talking, but lip movement and facial expres- 

 sion are almost entirely lacking. The lip> 

 held as nearly motionless aa possible, tl.. 

 tongue being drawn well back, allowing only 

 the tip to move. Consonants are oft. n 

 changed to avoid lip-moving syllables; for in- 

 stance, the letter P becomes a K. th. word 

 potato being pronounced as if it were kotato; 

 B is treated in the same way and is quickly 

 .-lnrrcd into a G or K. The more a performer 

 directs attention to the place from whidi th. 

 sound is supposed to come, the more will the 



1).' (i. 



