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Brest
KNOWLEDGE OF Brest
The city was founded by Slavs. As Berestye it was first mentioned in the Russian Primary Chronicle in 1019 as a town in Kievan Rus. It was subdued several times by Poland and by Lithuania, conquered by the Mongols in 1241. It was renamed Brest-Litovsk in the 16th century, after it became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. In 1596 it hosted the council which established the Eastern Catholic or Uniate Church. Brest passed to Russia when Poland-Lithuania was partitioned for a third time in 1795.
It was captured by the German Empire in 1915, during World War I. In March 1918, in the Brest-Litovsk fortress on the western outskirts of Brest at the confluence of the Western Bug and Mukhavets Rivers, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, ending the war between Russia and the Central Powers and transferring the city and its surrounding region to the sphere of influence of the German Empire. This treaty was subsequently annulled by the treaties which ended the war.
The newly reconstituted Poland took control of Brest in 1919. The city changed hands twice during the Polish-Soviet War and eventually stayed inside Polish borders, a development that was formally recognised by the Treaty of Riga in 1921. In the former Brest-Litovsk fortress, heavily damaged during World War I, Polish troops with the headquarters of the 9th Military District were stationed. In 1930 Wincenty Witos and some other prominent Polish statesmen were detained here before the notorious trial in Warsaw. During the Polish September Campaign in 1939 the city was defended by a small garison of four infantry battalions under Gen. Konstanty Plisowski against the XIX Panzer Corps of Gen. Heinz Guderian. After four days of heavy fighting the Polish forces withdrew southwards on September 17.
The city was invaded and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939 in accordance with the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact partitioning Poland signed with Nazi Germany in August, 1939. Most Belarusans considered it a reunification of the Belarusan nation under one constituency (BSSR at that time).
On June 22, 1941 the fortress and the city was attacked by Nazi Germany at the beginning of the surprise war, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. The fortress did not surrender and acted as the focal point of the resistance of the enclosed 4,000 Red Army soldiers. The fortress held out within a month, establishing the status as the only Hero-Fortress among the Hero Cities of the former Soviet Union. Brest's Jewish community was decimated under Nazi rule in 1942. The city was regained by the Soviet troops in July 1944.
According to the agreements of the Yalta Conference of February 1945, Brest changed hands yet again, being passed to the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. It is now part of the independent country of Belarus.
It was captured by the German Empire in 1915, during World War I. In March 1918, in the Brest-Litovsk fortress on the western outskirts of Brest at the confluence of the Western Bug and Mukhavets Rivers, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, ending the war between Russia and the Central Powers and transferring the city and its surrounding region to the sphere of influence of the German Empire. This treaty was subsequently annulled by the treaties which ended the war.
The newly reconstituted Poland took control of Brest in 1919. The city changed hands twice during the Polish-Soviet War and eventually stayed inside Polish borders, a development that was formally recognised by the Treaty of Riga in 1921. In the former Brest-Litovsk fortress, heavily damaged during World War I, Polish troops with the headquarters of the 9th Military District were stationed. In 1930 Wincenty Witos and some other prominent Polish statesmen were detained here before the notorious trial in Warsaw. During the Polish September Campaign in 1939 the city was defended by a small garison of four infantry battalions under Gen. Konstanty Plisowski against the XIX Panzer Corps of Gen. Heinz Guderian. After four days of heavy fighting the Polish forces withdrew southwards on September 17.
The city was invaded and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939 in accordance with the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact partitioning Poland signed with Nazi Germany in August, 1939. Most Belarusans considered it a reunification of the Belarusan nation under one constituency (BSSR at that time).
On June 22, 1941 the fortress and the city was attacked by Nazi Germany at the beginning of the surprise war, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. The fortress did not surrender and acted as the focal point of the resistance of the enclosed 4,000 Red Army soldiers. The fortress held out within a month, establishing the status as the only Hero-Fortress among the Hero Cities of the former Soviet Union. Brest's Jewish community was decimated under Nazi rule in 1942. The city was regained by the Soviet troops in July 1944.
According to the agreements of the Yalta Conference of February 1945, Brest changed hands yet again, being passed to the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. It is now part of the independent country of Belarus.
Chapi