Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/523

LEFT WORMS 453 WORTH garia and the severing of communica- tion between Turkey and the Central Powers. On November 3 an armistice amounting to surrender was signed with Austria-Hungary, after Italian forces late in October had won over the Aus- trians a victory almost as great as that won by the Austrians in 1917. October also saw the fall of Turkey, following the advances under General Allenby in Mesopotamia and Palestine. The armi- stice with the Turks went into effect on October 31. All these events presaged the collapse of Germany, who never- theless still remained immeasurably more powerful than her Allies, and who from the beginning of the war up to a few months before had gone from vic- tory to victory. On November 8 Marshal Foch opened negotiations with the Ger- man agents, the terms being accepted by Germany on November 11. The evac- uation of the territory W. of the Rhine according to the terms of the armistice began from that date. On December 14 the terms of the armistice were renewed for a month, a provision being added by the Allied High Command reserv- ing the right, as a new guarantee to occupy the neutral zone on the right bank of the Rhine, N. of Cologne to the Dutch frontier. In the months that fol- lowed gold, securities, and an enormous number of locomotives, railway cars, motor trucks, ships, and war material were surrendered to the Allies. For the participation of the United States in the war, see United States. For the more important battles see under their titles, as PiCARDY, Battles of; Aisne; Marne, Battles of, etc. See also the articles on the various countries; PEACE TREATY, and related subjects. WORMS, a town of Germany, in Hesse-Darmstadt; three-quarters of a mile from the left bank of the Rhine, 40 miles S. S. E. of Mainz. It is irregularly built, and is still in part surrounded with its ancient walls. The principal edifice in the town is the venerable cathe- dral (founded in the 8th century, com- pleted and consecrated in 1101), a noble Romanesque structure with four elegant towers, two domes, and a double choir. The interior is 357 feet long, 87 feet wide (across the transepts 117" feet), and is very imposing from its grand simplicity. On the N. side of the cathe- dral is the site of the Bischofhof or episcopal palace, the seat of the diet of April, 1521. It was destroyed by the French in 1689, and again in 1794. On its massive red sandstone substructure the Heil'sche Haus has been erected in the rich Renaissance style. Outside the town stands the Liebfrauenkirche (dat- ing from the 15th century), which gives its name to the Liebfrauenmilch, a much-esteemed wine grown in the vicin- ity. The finest monument in Worms is that to Luther, erected from Rietschel's designs in 1868, at a cost of $85,000. The principal industries of Worms are the manufacture of patent leather, tobacco, beer, soap, and amber wares. Worms is one of the most historical towns of Ger- many. It was known to the Romans as Borbetomagus, and later as Augusta Vangionum, the capital of the Vangiones. It was destroyed by Attila and rebuilt by Chlodwig in 486. After the partition of the empire among the sons of Lud- wig the Pious, Worms became a German free town under the protection of the Elector of the Palatinate. Already in 1255 it belonged to the Confederation of Rhenish towns, and it contained in the time of Friedrich Barbarossa 70,000 inhabitants. It was the seat of many Imperial Diets, most famous that under Karl v., which Luther made memorable to the world. In 1632 the suburbs of the town were leveled by the Swedish Colonel Haubold, and in 1689, the town itself was ruthlessly destroyed by Melae and the young Due de Crequi under the orders of Louis XIV. In September, 1792, part of it was leveled by the French under Custine, and at the peace of Luneville in 1801 it was given to France. The peace of Paris in 1814 gave it back to Germany, and the Vienna Con- gress in 1815 to Hesse-Darmstadt. French troops occupied the town at the end of the World War in accordance with the armistice terms. Pop. about 50,000. WORTH, a village in Alsace, at the confiuence of the Sauerbach and Sulz- bach rivers. It is celebrated as the place where the French on Aug. 6, 1870, met their first great defeat at the hands of the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War. WORTH, WILLIAM JENKINS, an American military officer; born in Hud- son, Columbia co., N. Y., March 1, 1794. He received but a scanty education, and on the breaking out of the War of 1812 he entered the army as a private soldier. He was appointed 2d lieutenant of in- fantry in 1813, was aide-de-camp to General Lewis the same year, and Gen- eral Scott in 1814; and the same year received the brevets of captain and major for gallant conduct at the battle of Chippewa, July 5, and at that of Lundy's Lane, July 25, at which latter he was severely wounded. He was pro- moted major in 1832, and colonel in 1838. In 1841, he assumed the com- mand of the Florida war, which he