Velocity of Sound. See [Sound].
Vendée, La. A department in the west of France. The wars of La Vendée denote the armed opposition to the religious and political changes in France, which burst out into a species of partisan warfare in 1793, 1794, 1795, 1799, and 1815.
Venezuela. A republic in the northwest of South America. The east coast of Venezuela was discovered by Columbus in 1498; Ojeda and Vespucci followed in 1499. The first settlement was made at Cumana in 1520, by the Spaniards; and Venezuela remained subject to Spain till it claimed independence in 1811. In 1812, it returned to allegiance to Spain, but again revolted in 1813, and, forming with New Granada and Ecuador the republic of Colombia, it was declared independent in 1819. In 1831, the states separated. During the ten years from 1861-1871, upwards of 60,000 persons were killed in the civil wars. The revolution triumphed, and Guzman Blanco attempted to establish a government at Caraccas, which was captured by revolutionists, April, 1870.
Venice. A fortified city of Northern Italy, one of the noblest, most famous, and singular cities in the world, is built upon a crowded cluster of islets, in the lagoon of the same name, on the northwest fringe of the Adriatic Sea, 23 miles east of Padua. It was founded by families from Aquileia and Padua fleeing from Attila, about 452. Under their third doge (720-737) the Venetians entered upon that career of enterprise in which their prudence and valor were almost always conspicuous, and which they continued to pursue to the last. Venice after a series of enterprises which covered a period of 700 years, and in which she was nearly always successful, gaining territory and prestige, entered into a war with the Turks in 1461, which lasted until 1477, and in which she lost many of her Eastern possessions. The Venetians took Cyprus in 1475, and helped to overcome Charles VIII. of France in 1495; they excited the Turks against Charles V. in 1504, and were nearly ruined by the league of Cambray in 1508. They also assisted in defeating the Turks at Lepanto in 1571, but lost Cyprus to the Turks in the same year. The Venetians gained several important naval victories over the Turks at Scio in 1651, and in the Dardanelles in 1655, but lost Candia, one of their possessions, in 1669; recovered part of the Morea in 1683-99, but lost it again in 1715-39. Venice was occupied by Bonaparte in 1797, who, by the treaty of Campo Formio, gave part of its territory to Austria, and annexed the remainder to the Cisalpine republic. In 1805 the whole of Venice was annexed to the kingdom of Italy by the treaty of Presburg; but was transferred to the empire of Austria in 1814, and the city declared a free port in 1830. An insurrection began in Venice on March 22, 1848, and the city, which was defended by Daniele Manin, surrendered to the Austrians after a long siege on August 22, 1849. It was transferred to Italy, October 17, 1866, by the treaty of Vienna.
Venlo. A small but strongly fortified town in the Netherlands, province of Limburg, situated on the right bank of the Maas, 45 miles north-northeast from Maastricht. Venlo was walled by Duke Reynold of Gelder in 1343. It has many a time felt the horrors of a siege, and has been taken and retaken, the last time by the Belgians in 1830, in whose hands it remained till the conference of London, June 22, 1839, when it returned to the Dutch.
Vennones. A people of Rhætia, and, according to Strabo, the most savage of the Rhætian tribes, inhabiting the Alps near the sources of the Athesis.
Vent. In gunnery, is the aperture through which fire is communicated to the charge. It should be as small as the use of the priming-wire and tube will allow. See [Ordnance, Construction of, Interior Form of Cannon].
Ventail. That part of a helmet which is made to lift up.
Vent-gauges. See [Inspection of Cannon].
Vent-piece. In some ordnance is a piece of copper containing the vent, and screwed in at the proper position.