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Brest

Translation
Brest
/brest/; for 2 also Russ. /brddyest/, n.
1. a seaport in the W extremity of France: German submarine base in World War II; surrendered to Allies September 1944. 172,176.
2. Formerly, Brest Litovsk. a city in SW Byelorussia (Belarus), on the Bug River: formerly in Poland; German-Russian peace treaty 1918. 238,000.

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formerly  Brest-Litovsk , Polish  Brześć 

      city and administrative centre of Brest oblast (province), southwestern Belarus, on the right bank of the western Bug River. First mentioned in 1019 as Berestye, it passed to Lithuania in 1319 and later to Poland. In 1795 Russia acquired Brest, although it reverted to Poland from 1919 to 1939. In 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between Germany and the Soviet government. Its fortress made a prolonged defense against the Germans in 1941. Brest is a major point of rail entry to Belarus and Russia and is a river port with light industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 277,000.

▪ France
      port city, Finistère département, Bretagne région, western France, on two hills divided by the Penfeld River. Its magnificent roadstead, the Rade de Brest, is 14 miles (23 km) long; it is protected from the sea by the Quélern Peninsula, and the Goulet Passage (about 1–2 miles wide [1.5–3 km]) leads to open water. Brest was ceded about 1240 by Count Hervé V of Léon to John I, duke of Brittany. The English occupied it from 1342 until 1397. By marriage it passed (1491) from Brittany to the French crown. Cardinal de Richelieu decided in 1631 to make it a major naval base. It was improved by Jean-Baptiste Colbert (Colbert, Jean-Baptiste) and fortified by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The former instituted the Inscription Maritime, still functioning, which inducted Breton fishermen (18–48 years old) into the Naval Reserve. In exchange for this obligation, the Inscription offers them family security for life. Brest has been the seat of the French Naval Academy since 1830.

      Brest was the debarkation point for U.S. troops during World War I. Afterward its importance as a naval and transatlantic passenger port increased. The Germans, who occupied it in June 1940, built concrete submarine pens and used the port as a base against Allied shipping. The city, almost completely destroyed during World War II, has been rebuilt, its port restored and re-equipped. The naval port, behind the Lanion breakwater, is in part excavated from the rock, and some of the installations are in deep caves in the cliffs. The commercial port, which has large shipfitting installations, is separated from the city by the Cours Dajot, an excellent promenade constructed on the old ramparts in 1769 by convicts from the notorious prison hulks of Brest (closed in the 19th century when Devil's Island and the penal colony of French Guiana were established). It is, with Toulon, one of the two major bases of the French navy.

      In the 1960s three industrial zones were created to offset a decline in naval construction. Metallurgy, associated with shipbuilding and repair, is important; planned diversified industries include precision mechanics, gas bottling, and the manufacture of electronic equipment, fertilizers, chemicals, and paper. Pop. (1999) 149,634; (2005 est.) 145,200.

      oblast (province), southwestern Belarus, occupying an area of 12,475 sq mi (32,300 sq km) in the basin of the upper Pripet River and its tributaries. Centred on Brest city, it was formed in 1939 from areas held by Poland from 1919. Except in the north, where the land rises to the morainic hills of the Belarusian Ridge, the oblast is exceptionally flat and swampy, with huge areas of reed and grass marsh, peat bog, and standing waters. Higher and drier areas are mostly forested. Some drainage has been undertaken since 1873; these reclaimed areas are cultivated for flax, hemp, potatoes, and sugar beets. Dairying and forestry are both important, and the towns are engaged chiefly in processing agricultural produce and timber. Peat is used for power generation. The Dnieper-Bug Canal links the Pripet and Dnieper rivers to the Bug and Vistula, and the oblast is crossed by the Moscow–Warsaw railway and highway. Pop. (1991 est.) 1,483,000.

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Universalium. 2010.

  
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  • Brest — may refer to:Places: * Brest, Belarus ** Brest Fortress ** Brest Railway Museum, the first outdoor railway museum in Belarus * Brest, France * Brest, Germany ** Brest Aspe, a railway station in northwestern Germany * Brest, Pleven Province,… …   Wikipedia

  • BREST — BRES Le long d’une rade de 150 kilomètres carrés, véritable mer intérieure, s’étend la ville de Brest. Un tiers de cette superficie offre des fonds de plus de 12 mètres aux plus basses eaux. L’inconvénient de ce golfe réside dans l’étroitesse de… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Brest — ist der Name folgender Orte: Brest (Weißrussland), eine Stadt in Weißrussland Brest (Finistère), eine Stadt in Frankreich Brześć Kujawski (deutsch Brest), eine Stadt in Polen Brest (Mazedonien), eine Ortschaft in Mazedonien Brest (Niedersachsen) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Brest — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Brest puede referirse a: Brest, una ciudad de Francia en la región de Bretaña Distrito de Brest, distrito francés cuya capital es Brest Brest, una ciudad de Bielorrusia Región de Brest, una de las seis regiones… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Brest — (spr. breßt), feste See und Arrondissementshauptstadt im franz. Depart. Finistère, mit dem besten und am stärksten befestigten Kriegshafen Frankreichs, liegt an der gleichnamigen Bai des Atlantischen Ozeans (Reede von B.) und bildet den Endpunkt… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Brest — Brest, 3d sing. pr. for Bursteth. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Brest — Brest, Breast Breast, n. (Arch.) A torus. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Brest — Brest, 1) westliches Arrondissement im französischen Departement Finisterre; 281 QM., 154,000 Ew.; 2) Canton u. 3) Stadt u. bedeutendste Hafenfestung Frankreichs, an einer sehr tiefen Bucht des Atlantischen Oceans u. dem Flüßchen Pensel, wird… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Brest — noun г. Брест …   Англо-русский словарь Мюллера

  • Brest — Brest, Stadt im franz. Dep. Finistère, an der Reede von B., Festung und Kriegshafen ersten Ranges, am Penfeld, (1901) 84.284 E.; Schiffahrtsschule, Sternwarte, Werften, Schutzhafen westl. bei Lanninon. Bei B. 1. Juni 1794 Seesieg der Engländer… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

Фильмы

  • Heroes of the City of Brest, 1957 — About the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress in the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (Soviet Peoples’ participation in World War II in 1941-1945).
  • June 22, 1941., 1979 — The first film of the epic about beginning of the Great Patriotic War is about invasion of the fascist Germany to the Soviet Union.
  • The Hero's Gold Star, 1980 — The portrait film about Soviet citizens awarded with the highest award of the Motherland - Hero of the Soviet Union.