1.
Olyka
–
Olyka is an urban-type settlement in Kivertsi Raion, Volyn Oblast, Ukraine. It is located east of Lutsk on the Putilovka Rriver, population,3, 130 The village of Olyka was founded in early Middle Ages as one of the villages belonging to the Kievan Rus. It was first mentioned in 1149, in the 14th century it was conquered by Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in 1569, in the effect of the Union of Lublin became part of Poland. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania the village grew rapidly and became a centre of local magnates, initially the family of Kiška, in second half of the 16th century the town became one of the most important centres of Calvinism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its growth was halted by the Chmielnicki Uprising of 1648, during which the town was captured by Cossacks, plundered, however, it was soon rebuilt and in 1654 it received city rights. As the main seat of one of the branches of the influential Radziwill family, Olyka became one of the most important political, in the Third Partition of Poland the town was annexed by the Russian Empire and became part of the Volhynian Governorate. In the 19th century it continued to play its role as a centre of wood, during World War I in 1915 and 1916 the area was a scene of heavy fighting between the forces of Russia and Austria-Hungary. After the Polish-Bolshevik War the town was restored to Poland as part of Wołyń Voivodeship, in the effect of the Polish Defensive War of 1939 and the Nazi-Soviet Alliance, the town was occupied by Soviet Union. After the Operation Barbarossa the German occupation started and lasted until 1944, after World War II the area was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR. Since 1991 it is a part of independent Ukraine and it was believed that the prayer by rabbi David HaLevi Segal miraculously saved the Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of Olyka from the Cossacks assault of 1651. Olyka was the cradle of the Olyker Haasidic dynasty that was founded by the famous Rabbi Hersh Leib Landa the first Olyker rebbe, a modest monument commemorates the place of execution of more than 4,000 Jews in Summer 1942
Olyka
–
Olyka Олика
Olyka
–
Orda Napoleon (1874)
2.
Ukraine
–
Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
Ukraine
–
Gold
Scythian pectoral, or neckpiece, from a royal
kurgan in
Ordzhonikidze, dated to the 4th century BC
Ukraine
–
Flag
Ukraine
–
Principalities of
Kievan Rus', 1054-1132
Ukraine
–
The baptism of the Grand Prince Vladimir led to the adoption of Christianity in
Kievan Rus'.
3.
Radziwill
–
The Radziwiłł family was a powerful magnate family originating from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The family has produced individuals notable in Lithuanian, Belarusian, Polish, German and general European history. The Radziwiłł family received the title of Reichsfürst, from the Holy Roman Empire, the Nesvizh Castle complex, maintained by the family in Belarus between the 16th century and 1939, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Radziwiłł family is a directly descended branch of the extinct Lithuanian noble Astikai family line and its first notable member, Kristinas Astikas, a close associate of the Lithuanian ruler Vytautas, became Castellan of Vilnius. The patronym Radvila arose following its use by his son Radvila Astikas, a legendary version of the patronyms etymology associates it with a child raised by wolves. The name has been written in, and recognized by. The family descends from Lithuanian bajorai-ducal courtiers who advanced considerably in the 15th century politics of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, along with possessions of land near Kernavė, the familys traced place of origin, the Radziwiłł family also inherited the Trąby coat of arms. Three of Mikalojus sons, Mikołaj, Jan, and Jerzy, the Biržai-Dubingiai line was moderately more successful and produced some very notable state officials and politicians, but also became extinct after the death of Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł in 1695. The Nesvizh-Kletsk-Olyka line was the most successful and was divided into smaller family lines in order to maintain clarity and specificity of descent. Since the 18th century, all Radziwiłł family members have been descendants of this line, three sons of Mikołaj the Black, Mikołaj Krzysztof Sierotka, Albrycht, and Stanisław the Pious, are said to be the progenitors of the three smaller branches. The younger Kletsk line descends from Michał Hieronim, continued through his son Ludwik Mikolaj, the descendants of his other son, Antoni Henryk, formed the beginning of the so-called Ordynant branch. Other than the Ordynant branch, from the younger Kletsk line also descends the lesser titled branches of Szydłowiec and Połoneczka, as well as Dziatłava, Berdychiv, the younger Kletsk line has continued into the present day. This emblem later became the coat of arms of the Radziwiłłs. In 1518, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I created Mikalojus Radvilas son, Mikołaj, Reichsfürst of Goniądz, the family motto is God advises us. King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland confirmed these titles in 1549, so high a title was rare among the szlachta, just five Polish families, including the Radziwiłłs, received the title of imperial prince from the Holy Roman emperor. The Radziwiłł family also branched regarding religion, following the Protestant and Polish Reformation, two branches converted to Calvinism. One branch, the Nesvizh–Kletsk-Olyka line, remained as Calvinists for two generations until the children of Mikołaj the Black converted to Catholicism before the end of the century, the Biržai-Dubingiai line remained in the Protestant faith until the extinction of their line one century later. Both Mikołaj the Black and Mikołaj the Red were zealous promoters, Mikołaj the Black funded the printing of a second version, and first completed, Polish translation of a Protestant bible, titled the Radziwiłł Bible, which was published in the town of Brest in 1564
Radziwill
–
Trąby coat of arms, granted to Kristinas Astikas' family in 1413
Radziwill
–
Trąby coat of arms.
Radziwill
–
The Coat of Arms as granted in 1547 by the
Holy Roman Emperor.
Radziwill
–
Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł, perhaps the most influential member of the family. He rallied opposition to the
Lublin Union between Lithuania and Poland.
4.
Volhynia
–
Volhynia or Volyn is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe straddling Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, while the territory that still carries the name is Volyn Oblast, Volhynia has changed hands numerous times throughout history and been divided among competing powers. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been part of the independent nation of Ukraine, among important cities are Lutsk, Rivne, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Iziaslav, Novohrad-Volynskyi. In other versions, the city was located over 20 km to the west of Volodymyr-Volynskyi near the mouth of Huczwa River, before the partitions of Poland, eastern edge stretched a little west along the right-banks of Sluch River or just east of it. Volhynia is located in basins of Western Bug and Prypyat, therefore most of its rivers flow either in northern or western directions, relative to other historical regions, it is northeast of Galicia, east of Lesser Poland, and northwest of Podolia. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, and it is considered to overlap a number of other regions, among which are Polesia. Territories of historical Volhynia are now part of the Volyn, Rivne, major cities include Lutsk, Rivne, Kovel, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Kremenets, and Starokostiantyniv. Before World War II, many Jewish shtetls, such as Trochenbrod, at one time all of Volhynia was part of the Pale of Settlement designated by Imperial Russia on its southwesternmost border. The land was mentioned in works of the Arabian scholar Al-Masudi who denoted the local tribe as people of Valin, in his work of 947-948 Al-Masudi mentions that Valinians as an intertribal union were ruled by their leader Madjak. In the opinion of Ukrainian historian Yuriy Dyba, the chronicle phrase «и оустави по мьстѣ, и по лузѣ погосты и дань и ѡброкы» reflects the actual route of the Olgas raid against Drevlians further to the west up to the Western Bugs right tributary Luha River. As early as 983, Vladimir the Great appointed his son Vsevolod the ruler of the Volhynian Principality and in 988 established the city of Volodymer. The first records can be traced to the Ruthenian chronicles, such as the Primary Chronicle, which mentions tribes of the Dulebe, Buzhan, volhynias early history coincides with that of the duchies or principalities of Halych and Volhynia. These two successor states of the Kievan Rus formed Halych-Volhynia between the 12th and the 14th centuries, after 1569 Volhynia formed a province of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period many Poles and Jews settled in the area, the Roman and Greek Catholic churches became established in the province. In 1375 was established a Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodomeria but it was suppressed in 1425, many Orthodox churches joined the latter organization in order to benefit from a more attractive legal status. Records of the first agricultural colonies of Mennonites date from 1783, after the Third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Volhynia was annexed as the Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire. It covered an area of 71,852.7 square kilometers, many Roman Catholic church buildings were also given to the Russian Church, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lutsk was suppressed on orders of Empress Catherine II. In 1897, the population amounted to 2,989,482 people and it consisted of 73.7 percent East Slavs,13.2 percent Jews,6.2 percent Poles, and 5.7 percent Germans
Volhynia
–
Lubart's Castle (
Lutsk) was the seat of the medieval princes of Volhynia.
Volhynia
–
Mezhyrich Abbey in
Ostroh was endowed by the
Ostrogski princes in the 15th century.
Volhynia
–
Olyka Castle
Volhynia
–
Pochayiv Lavra, the spiritual heart of the
Orthodox in Volhynia.
5.
Nesvizh Castle
–
Niasvizh Castle or Nesvizh Castle is a residential castle of the Radziwiłł family in Nesvizh, Belarus. It is 183 metres above sea level, from 1921 to 1939 the complex was in Poland and was considered one of the most beautiful Polish castles in the Kresy region. The estate was owned by the Radziwiłł magnate family from 1533, in 1586 the estate was turned into an ordynacja. After the Union of Lublin the castle one of the most important residences in the central part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1582 Mikołaj Krzysztof Sierotka Radziwiłł, the Marshal of Lithuania, Voivode of Trakai–Vilnius and castellan of Šiauliai, although the works were based on a pre-existing structure of a medieval castle, the former fortifications were entirely turned into a renaissance-baroque house. Construction was completed by 1604, and they added several galleries half a century later, the châteaus corners were fortified with four octagonal towers. In 1706, during the Great Northern War, Charles XIIs army sacked the castle, several decades later, the Radziwiłłs invited some German and Italian architects to substantially renovate and enlarge the castle. Antoni Zaleski decorated its yellow facades with baroque stucco work, the 16th-century castle gates were also reconstructed, and the two-storey gatehouse tower was crowned with a helm. It was at time that the three separate buildings surrounding the central courtyard were joined into a single structure. Apart from elaborate princely sepulchers, its interior features some late baroque frescoes from 1760s, in 1772, following the third and last partition of Poland, the castle was seized by Russian forces and the Radziwiłł family was expelled. Abandoned both by the owners and by the Russian army, the palace gradually fell into disrepair. However, it was restored by the Radziwiłłs and between 1881 and 1886 the castles interiors were renovated by Prince Antoni Radziwiłł and his French wife and they also designed a landscape park in English style. With an area of more than one kilometre, the park is one of the biggest such facilities in Europe. After the Polish–Bolshevik War of 1920 the surrounding area and the complex became part of the newly established Second Polish Republic. During the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Radziwiłł family was expelled from the castle by the Red Army, in Soviet times, the castle was used a sanatorium, while the park gradually fell into neglect. In 1994, the complex was designated the national historical and cultural reserve. In 2005 the castle complex was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the ongoing reconstruction has drawn sharp criticism for its unjustified reconstruction of several long-demolished structures, notably a bell-tower. In 2002, the upper storey of the residence was destroyed by fire, olyka Castle Lubcha Castle Mir Castle Biržai Castle Dubingiai Castle Official website of the Nesvizh Museums Nesvizh castle on official website of the Republic of Belarus
Nesvizh Castle
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Nesvizh Castle
–
The Radziwiłł portrait gallery
Nesvizh Castle
–
The castle in the 19th century.
Nesvizh Castle
–
A bird's eye view
6.
Kletsk
–
Kletsk is a city in the Minsk Region of Belarus, located on the Lan River. In 2015 it had 11,237 inhabitants, the town was founded in the 11th century by the Dregovichs, who erected a large fort and a tribal centre there. In the 14th century the town part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the 1506 Battle of Kleck, the Polish-Lithuanian forces under Michał Gliński defeated the Tartar armies, soon afterwards, the town became a property of the Radziwiłł magnate family, who started to attract Jewish settlers to the area. The earliest known mention of the local Jewish community is a document dated September 5,1522, issued by King Sigismund I the Old of Poland. In it, the awarded for three years to Isaac Jesofovitch, a Jew of Brest, for the sum of 300 times sixty grosz a lease of the inns. A census taken in 1552-55 shows that the Jewish householders lived chiefly on Wilna street, on the Sloboda, Kletzk is mentioned in the assessment on the Lithuanian communities in 1566, and from its small proportionate assessment it appears that the community was not important at that time. In 1586 the town became the capital of Radziwiłłs ordynacja, which sparked the development of the town into a regional centre of commerce. By the end of the century the number of Jews grew significantly. The first rabbi of Kletzk was Judah ben Löb, who also had under his jurisdiction the community of Mechit and he was succeeded by Michael ben Meïr Eisenstadt, who in turn was followed, about 1762, by his son Moses Eisenstadt. According to a legend, the philosopher Salomon Maimon had lived there for several years. Until 1623 the town was a part of the powiat of Brześć, after that date it was transferred, together with the neighbouring towns, to the district of Pinsk. Annexed by the Russian Empire after the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the town was destroyed by fire in the 19th century, including in 1817,1845,1865. In 1903 Kletzk had a population of about 8,000. During the German occupation a large massacre of local Jews took place in the town on October 6,1941, the remaining Jews of the area were massed in a local ghetto and then sent to various German concentration camps by August 21,1942. The Holocaust brought an end to a vibrant Jewish life, after the war the town was a part of the Belorussian SSR. Since 1991, it has been a part of Belarus, before the last war, the towns oldest building was the mid-16th-century Trinity cathedral. It was seriously damaged during World War II and eventually blown up by the Soviets in the 1950s and its ruins are still visible, however
Kletsk
–
The former Dominican church dates from 1683.
Kletsk
–
A central street
7.
Bastion
–
A bastion is an angular structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly at the corners. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks with fire from the flanks being able to protect the wall and also the adjacent bastions. It is one element in the style of fortification dominant from the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries, Bastion fortifications offered a greater degree of passive resistance and more scope for ranged defense in the age of gunpowder artillery compared with the medieval fortifications they replaced. By the middle of the 15th century, artillery pieces had become powerful enough to make the traditional medieval round tower, during the Eighty Years War Dutch military engineers developed the concepts further lengthening the faces and shortening the curtain walls of the bastions. To augment this change they placed v shaped outworks in front of the bastions, Bastions differ from medieval towers in a number of respects. Bastions are lower than towers and are normally of similar height to the adjacent curtain wall, the height of towers, although making them difficult to scale, also made them easy for artillery to destroy. A bastion would normally have a ditch in front, the side of which would be built up above the natural level then slope away gradually. This glacis shielded most of the bastion from the cannon while the distance from the base of the ditch to the top of the bastion meant it was still difficult to scale. In contrast to late medieval towers, bastions were flat sided rather than curved. This eliminated dead ground making it possible for the defenders to fire upon any point directly in front of the bastion, Bastions also cover a larger area than most towers. This allows more cannons to be mounted and provided space for the crews to operate them. Surviving examples of bastions are usually faced with masonry, unlike the wall of a tower this was just a retaining wall, cannonball were expected to pass through this and be absorbed by a greater thickness of hard-packed earth or rubble behind. The top of the bastion was exposed to fire. If a bastion was successfully stormed, it could provide the attackers with a stronghold from which to further attacks. Some bastion designs attempted to minimise this problem and this could be achieved by the use of retrenchments in which a trench was dug across the rear of the bastion, isolating it from the main rampart. Various kinds of bastions have been used throughout history, solid bastions are those that are filled up entirely, and have the ground even with the height of the rampart, without any empty space towards the centre. Void or hollow bastions are those that have a rampart, or parapet, only around their flanks and faces, so that a void space is left towards the centre. The ground is so low, that if the rampart is taken, no retrenchment can be made in the centre, but what will lie under the fire of the besieged
Bastion
–
Drawing of a bastion
Bastion
–
A bastion in the
Komárno Fortress (Slovakia).
Bastion
–
One of the bastions of the castle of
Copertino,
Italy
Bastion
–
Aerial view of bastions at the Castle Siklós,
Hungary
8.
Kresy
–
Administratively, the territory of Kresy was composed of voivodeships of Lwów, Nowogródek, Polesie, Stanisławów, Tarnopol, Wilno, Wołyń, and the Białystok. Today, these territories are divided between Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, and south-eastern Lithuania, with major cities as Lviv, Vilnius. Following the failure of German Operation Barbarossa, the Soviet gains were ratified by the Western Allies at the Tehran conference, the Yalta conference, when the Soviet Union broke up, the former Kresy remained a significant part of the former Soviet republics as they gained independence. Education was not compulsory in the Russian Empire, the Polish word kresy is the plural form of the word kres. According to Zbigniew Gołąb, it is a borrowing from German word Kreis. Samuel Linde in his Dictionary of the Polish Language gives a different etymology of the term, according to him, kresy meant the borderline between Poland and the Crimean Khanate, in the area of the lower Dnieper. The word kresy was probably used for the first time in literature by Wincenty Pol in his poems Mohort, Pol claimed that it was the line from the Dniester to the Dnieper River, the Tatar borderland. At the beginning of the 20th century, the meaning of the term expanded to include the lands of the eastern provinces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the Second Polish Republic, the borderlands were equated with the land to the east of Curzon line, Polish expansion eastwards dates back to the earliest days of Poland. In 1018, King Bolesław I Chrobry invaded Kievan Rus, capturing Kiev, in 1340, Red Ruthenia came under Polish control, which opened these lands for Polish colonization and polonization. After the Union of Lublin of 1569, more Polish settlers moved to the borderlands of the vast Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most of them came from the Polish provinces of Mazovia and Lesser Poland and they gradually moved eastwards, inhabiting sparsely populated areas, dominated by local peoples. Furthermore, the classes of the Kresy accepted Polish culture and language. The year 1772 marked the first partition of the Commonwealth, by 1795, the whole eastern half of the country was annexed by the Russian Empire, and these lands came to be called the Stolen Lands. Even though Poles were in the minority in areas, the Stolen Lands were important part of Polish culture, with such colleges as Wilno University. The years 1918–1921 were especially turbulent for the Kresy, as it was the time of the rebirth of the Polish state, at that time, Poland was fighting three wars to establish its eastern borders, with Ukraine, the Soviet Union, and Lithuania. This area later formed the provinces of the Second Polish Republic. The Polish government carried out a policy of Polonization in these territories
Kresy
–
Typical landscape view of the Kresy, marked by low-lying rolling hills and grasslands (location
Sielec, Drohobych Raion, western Ukraine)
Kresy
Kresy
–
Victims of the
Soviet NKVD prison massacre in
Lwów ahead of the
German advance, June 1941
Kresy
–
Polish language in 1918
9.
Hospital
–
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized medical and nursing staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the hospital, which typically has an emergency department to treat urgent health problems ranging from fire. A district hospital typically is the health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care. Specialised hospitals can help reduce health care costs compared to general hospitals, a teaching hospital combines assistance to people with teaching to medical students and nurses. The medical facility smaller than a hospital is called a clinic. Hospitals have a range of departments and specialist units such as cardiology, some hospitals have outpatient departments and some have chronic treatment units. Common support units include a pharmacy, pathology, and radiology, Hospitals are usually funded by the public sector, by health organisations, by health insurance companies, or by charities, including direct charitable donations. Historically, hospitals were founded and funded by religious orders, or by charitable individuals. During the Middle Ages, hospitals served different functions from modern institutions, Middle Ages hospitals were almshouses for the poor, hostels for pilgrims, or hospital schools. The word hospital comes from the Latin hospes, signifying a stranger or foreigner, another noun derived from this, hospitium came to signify hospitality, that is the relation between guest and shelterer, hospitality, friendliness, and hospitable reception. By metonymy the Latin word then came to mean a guest-chamber, guests lodging, hospes is thus the root for the English words host hospitality, hospice, hostel and hotel. The German word Spital shares similar roots, the grammar of the word differs slightly depending on the dialect. Some patients go to a hospital just for diagnosis, treatment, or therapy and then leave without staying overnight, while others are admitted and stay overnight or for several days or weeks or months. Hospitals usually are distinguished from other types of facilities by their ability to admit and care for inpatients whilst the others. Larger cities may have several hospitals of varying sizes and facilities, some hospitals, especially in the United States and Canada, have their own ambulance service. A district hospital typically is the health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care. In California, district hospital refers specifically to a class of healthcare facility created shortly after World War II to address a shortage of beds in many local communities. Twenty-eight of Californias rural hospitals and 20 of its critical-access hospitals are District hospitals, Californias District hospitals are formed by local municipalities, have Boards that are individually elected by their local communities, and exist to serve local needs
Hospital
–
All India Institute of Medical Sciences in
Delhi, India
Hospital
–
The
Uniklinikum Aachen in
Germany is one of the biggest hospitals in Europe.
Hospital
–
Lehigh Valley Hospital in
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Hospital
–
McMaster University Medical Centre, a teaching hospital in Canada
10.
First World War
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
First World War
–
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
First World War
–
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
First World War
–
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
First World War
–
Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
11.
Moat
–
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams. In older fortifications, such as hillforts, they are referred to simply as ditches. In later periods, moats or water defences may be largely ornamental and they could also act as sewerage. Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian castles, one example is at Buhen, a castle excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures in the region. Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered in archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, including Noen U-Loke, Ban Non Khrua Chut, Ban Makham Thae. The use of the moats could have been either for defensive or agriculture purposes, moats were excavated around castles and other fortifications as part of the defensive system as an obstacle immediately outside the walls. In suitable locations they might be filled with water, a moat made access to the walls difficult for siege weapons, such as siege towers and battering rams, which needed to be brought up against a wall to be effective. A water-filled moat made the practice of mining, digging tunnels under the castles in order to effect a collapse of the defences, segmented moats have one dry section and one section filled with water. Dry moats cut across the part of a spur or peninsula are called neck ditches. Moats separating different elements of a castle, such as the inner and outer wards are cross ditches, the shared derivation implies that the two features were closely related and possibly constructed at the same time. The term moat is also applied to natural formations reminiscent of the artificial structure, the walls were further protected from infantry attack by wet or dry moats, sometimes in elaborate systems. When this style of fortification was superseded by lines of forts in the mid-19th century. The Walls of Benin were a combination of ramparts and moats, called Iya and it was considered the largest man-made structure lengthwise, second only to the Great Wall of China and the largest earthwork in the world. With more recent work by Patrick Darling, it has established as the largest man-made structure in the world. It enclosed 6,500 km² of community lands and its length was over 16,000 km of earth boundaries. It was estimated that earliest construction began in 800 and continued into the mid-15th century, the walls are built of a ditch and dike structure, the ditch dug to form an inner moat with the excavated earth used to form the exterior rampart
Moat
–
The moated manor house of
Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire, England
Moat
–
North view of the fortress of
Buhen in
Ancient Egypt.
Moat
–
A medieval moat castle in
Steinfurt, Germany
Moat
–
The 17th century fortified town of
Naarden,
Netherlands, showing bastions projecting into the wet moat
12.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
World War II
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
World War II
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
World War II
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
World War II
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
13.
Nazi
–
National Socialism, more commonly known as Nazism, is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century German Nazi Party and Nazi Germany, as well as other far-right groups. Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and Social Darwinism, identifying Germans as part of what Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race and it aimed to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous society, unified on the basis of racial purity. The term National Socialism arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of socialism, the Nazi Partys precursor, the Pan-German nationalist and anti-Semitic German Workers Party, was founded on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s, Adolf Hitler assumed control of the organisation, following the Holocaust and German defeat in World War II, only a few fringe racist groups, usually referred to as neo-Nazis, still describe themselves as following National Socialism. The full name of Adolf Hitlers party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the shorthand Nazi was formed from the first two syllables of the German pronunciation of the word national. The term was in use before the rise of the NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word for a peasant, characterizing an awkward. It derived from Ignaz, being a version of Ignatius, a common name in Bavaria. Opponents seized on this and shortened the first word of the name, Nationalsozialistische. The NSDAP briefly adopted the Nazi designation, attempting to reappropriate the term, the use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, and so on was popularised by German exiles abroad. From them, the spread into other languages and was eventually brought back to Germany after World War II. In English, Nazism is a name for the ideology the party advocated. The majority of scholars identify Nazism in practice as a form of far-right politics, far-right themes in Nazism include the argument that superior people have a right to dominate over other people and purge society of supposed inferior elements. Adolf Hitler and other proponents officially portrayed Nazism as being neither left- nor right-wing, but the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms, a major inspiration for the Nazis were the far-right nationalist Freikorps, paramilitary organisations that engaged in political violence after World War I. The Nazis stated the alliance was purely tactical and there remained substantial differences with the DNVP, the Nazis described the DNVP as a bourgeois party and called themselves an anti-bourgeois party. After the elections in 1932, the alliance broke after the DNVP lost many of its seats in the Reichstag, the Nazis denounced them as an insignificant heap of reactionaries. The DNVP responded by denouncing the Nazis for their socialism, their violence. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was pressured to abdicate the throne and flee into exile amidst an attempted communist revolution in Germany, there were factions in the Nazi Party, both conservative and radical
Nazi
–
Foreground, left to right: Führer
Adolf Hitler;
Hermann Göring; Minister of Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels;
Rudolf Hess
Nazi
–
Nazis alongside members of the far-right
reactionary and
monarchist German National People's Party (DNVP), during the brief Nazi-DNVP alliance in the
Harzburg Front from 1931 to 1932
Nazi
–
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, considered one of the fathers of German nationalism
14.
Jews
–
The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
Jews
–
Baruch Spinoza
Jews
–
Map of
Canaan
Jews
–
David Ben-Gurion
Jews
–
George Gershwin
15.
The Holocaust
–
The Holocaust, also referred to as the Shoah, was a genocide in which some six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitlers Nazi Germany, and the World War II collaborators with the Nazis. The victims included 1.5 million children, and represented about two-thirds of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe, killings took place throughout German-occupied Europe, as well as within Nazi Germany, and across all territories controlled by its allies. Other victims of Nazi crimes included ethnic Poles and other Slavs, Soviet citizens and Soviet POWs, communists, homosexuals, Freemasons, Jehovahs Witnesses, some 42,500 detention facilities were utilized in the concentration of victims for the purpose of gross violations of human rights. Over 200,000 people are estimated to have been Holocaust perpetrators, the persecution was carried out in stages, culminating in the policy of extermination of European Jews termed the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Following Hitlers rise to power, the German government passed laws to exclude Jews from civil society, starting in 1933 the Nazis began to establish a network of concentration camps. After the outbreak of war in 1939 both German and foreign Jews were herded into wartime ghettos, in 1941, as Germany began to conquer new territory in the East, all anti-Jewish measures radicalized. Specialized paramilitary units called Einsatzgruppen murdered around two million Jews in mass shootings actions in less than a year, by mid-1942, victims were being regularly transported by freight trains to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, most were systematically killed in gas chambers. This continued until the end of World War II in Europe in April–May 1945, the most notable exception was the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943, when thousands of poorly-armed Jewish fighters held the Waffen-SS at bay for four weeks. An estimated 20, 000–30,000 Jewish partisans actively fought against the Nazis, French Jews took part in the French Resistance, which conducted a guerilla campaign against the Nazis and Vichy French authorities. Over a hundred armed Jewish uprisings took place, the term holocaust comes from the Greek adjective holókaustos, a variant of holókautos, referring to an animal sacrifice offered to a god in which the whole animal is completely burnt. Often used substantively in apposition with the noun thysia, the term appears in a fragment of pseudo-Callisthenes, writing in Latin, Jerome Latinized the Greek word as a neuter noun holocaustum, using it to translate references to the Jewish burnt offering in his translations of Exodus and Leviticus. In his Chronicon de rebus gestis Ricardi Primi, Richard of Devizes, the English poet John Milton had used the word to denote a conflagration in his 1671 poem Samson Agonistes and the word gradually developed to mean a massacre thereon. The term was used in the 1950s by historians as a translation of the Jewish word shoah to refer specifically to the Nazi genocide of Jews, the television mini-series Holocaust is credited with introducing the term into common parlance after 1978. The biblical word shoah, meaning calamity became the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust as early as the 1940s, especially in Europe and Israel. Shoah is preferred by some Jews for several reasons including the offensive nature of the word holocaust which they take to refer to the Greek pagan custom. The Nazis used the phrase Final Solution to the Jewish Question, all branches of Germanys bureaucracy were engaged in the logistics that led to the genocides, turning the Third Reich into what one Holocaust scholar, Michael Berenbaum, has called a genocidal state. Every arm of the countrys sophisticated bureaucracy was involved in the killing process, as prisoners entered the death camps, they were made to surrender all personal property, which was catalogued and tagged before being sent to Germany to be reused or recycled. Berenbaum writes that the Final Solution of the Jewish question was in the eyes of the perpetrators, through a concealed account, the German National Bank helped launder valuables stolen from the victims
The Holocaust
–
Hungarian Jews are selected by Nazis to be sent to the
gas chamber at
Auschwitz concentration camp, May/June 1944.
The Holocaust
–
Romani children in
Auschwitz, victims of medical experiments.
The Holocaust
–
In Germany,
Sturmabteilung stormtroopers urge a national boycott of all Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933. These SA stormtroopers are outside
Israel's Department Store in Berlin to deter customers. The signs read: "Germans! Defend yourselves! Don't buy from Jews." (" Deutsche! Wehrt Euch! Kauft nicht bei Juden! ") The store was later ransacked during
Kristallnacht in 1938, then handed over to a non-Jewish family.
16.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
17.
Belarus
–
Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres is forested and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian Peoples Republic, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921, during WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years, in 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR. The parliament of the declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled Europes last dictatorship by some Western journalists, Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Though not directly espousing communism like the five remaining communist countries of China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea, in 2000 Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, with some hints of forming a Union State. Over 70% of Belaruss population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas, more than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages, Belarusian and Russian, the Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Belarus is the only European country to retain capital punishment in both law and practice, the name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus, i. e. White Rus. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus, an alternate explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. A third theory suggests that the old Rus lands that were not conquered by the Tatars had been referred to as white, other sources claim that, before 1267, the land not conquered by the Mongols was considered White Rus. The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, in some languages, including German and Dutch, the country is generally called White Russia to this day. The Latin term Alba Russia was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo, approbo. The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey. During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used White Rus to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Belarus
–
Stamp with the
Cross of St. Euphrosyne from 1992
Belarus
–
Flag
Belarus
–
Principalities of Kievan Rus'
Belarus
–
Khatyn Memorial. The Nazis murdered civilians in 5,295 different localities in
occupied Soviet Belarus.
18.
Old Hrodna Castle
–
The Old Grodno Castle originated in the 11th century as the seat of a dynasty of Black Ruthenian rulers, descended from a younger son of Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev. The 13th-century keep of the castle belonged to a type of Belarusian defensive tower represented by the Tower of Kamyanyets, Vytautas the Great added five Brick Gothic towers in 1391–98, transforming the castle into one of his main residences. Casimir IV Jagiellon also favoured Hrodna over Lithuanias official capital and it was there that the Polish Crown was offered to him, and it was there that he died in 1492. The next notable tenant of the castle was Stephen Báthory who envisaged Hrodna as the capital of his vast empire in Eastern Europe and he engaged Scotto of Parma to replace the Vytautas Castle with his own residence in the advanced Renaissance taste of Northern Italy. After Bathorys death in Hrodna in 1586, his pet project was abandoned, the citadel was devastated by the Russians during a Russo-Polish War in 1655. The castles revival was owing to Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac who raised sufficient funds to finance the refurbishing of the royal residence, the restored castle was selected by King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki of Poland as the location for every third Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The castle suffered damage during the Great Northern War, forcing the royal court to move into the New Hrodna Castle. After the partitions of Poland the castle was given over to the Russian army, the authorities of interwar Poland restored the chamber of the ambassadors and the Sejm Hall. At present the castle is classed as a museum, Ленинград, Изд-во Академии наук СССР,1962
Old Hrodna Castle
–
Bathory's Castle in Hrodna, Belarus.
19.
New Hrodna Castle
–
The New Castle in Hrodna, Belarus is a royal palace of Augustus III of Poland and Stanisław August Poniatowski where the famous Grodno Sejm took place in 1793. New Hrodna Castle is 116 metres above sea level, the two castles are joined by a 300-year-old arch bridge. The palace compound was designed by Carl Friedrich Pöppelmann, construction was carried out between 1734 and 1751 under the supervision of several other Saxon architects, including Johann Friedrich Knöbel and Joachim Daniel von Jauch. The palace was completed under the direction of Giuseppe de Sacco in 1789, used as a hospital and barracks throughout most of the 19th century, the palace was renovated by the Polish administration in the interwar period. Scarcely anything is left of the fabric of the castle. There followed a hasty and rather superficial refurbishing of the palace by the Soviets with a view to making it the headquarters of a local obkom. A plaque on the wall of the palace commemorates the council of war held in the residence by Tadeusz Kościuszko on 30 October 1794. Ленинград, Изд-во Академии наук СССР,1962
New Hrodna Castle
–
New Castle as seen from across the
Neman River, with the
Old Hrodna Castle looming in the distance.
20.
Lida Castle
–
Lida Castle was one of several citadels erected by Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania in the early 14th century to defend his lands against the expansion of the Teutonic Knights. Other links in this chain of defense included Hrodna, Navahrudak, Kreva, Medininkai, the modern town of Lida, Belarus grew up around this castle. Lida Castle is 141 metres above sea level, the site selected for the castle is naturally defended by the Kamenka and Lida rivers to east and west. Construction of boulder walls was carried out in 1323,1324, later they were faced with red brick. The castle had two towers and a church, which was moved outside the walls in 1533. The upper storeys of both towers were lived in, despite its strong fortifications, Lida was taken by the Teutonic Knights on several occasions. Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas gave it to his ally, Khan Tokhtamysh, in 1406, the family of Yury of Smolensk was locked up in Lida as hostages, his attempt to take the castle and liberate them was not successful. In 1433, Lida was a point of contention between Švitrigaila and his cousin Sigismund Kęstutaitis, the following decades were somewhat less stormy. Lida was ravaged by the Crimean Tatars in 1506 and it was stormed by the Russians during the Russo-Polish War in 1659, the Swedes, taking it twice during the Great Northern War, had both towers blown up. In 1794, the grounds were the site of a battle between Kościuszkos followers and the Russians. After the city fire of 1891, the tower and parts of the western wall of the castle were torn down to provide stone for repairing fire-damaged houses. A team of archaeologists from St. Petersburg intervened to halt vandalism, there was only a slight restoration of the walls in the 1920s. During much of the 20th century, an itinerant zoo or circus occupied the castle compound, every December a Christmas tree was placed within the walls. It was not until 1982 that a campaign was launched. The red brick was used to denote the newly reconstructed sections, each year, the Lida Castle hosts a medieval-style tournament. A museum is being created within its towers, Город Лида и Лидский замок Lida Castle on official website of the Republic of Belarus
Lida Castle
–
The recently reconstructed portions of the tower and wall are scarlet in colour.
21.
Mir Castle Complex
–
The Mirsky Castle Complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Belarus. It is in the town of Mir, in the Karelichy District of the Hrodna voblast, at 53°27′4. 46″N 26°28′22. 80″E,29 kilometres north-west of another World Heritage site, Mir Castle Complex is 164 metres above sea level. From 1921 to 1939 the castle belonged to the territory of Poland, duke Yuri Ivanovich Ilyinich began construction of the castle near the village of Mir after the turn of the 16th century in the Belarusian Gothic style. Five towers surrounded the courtyard of the citadel, the walls of which formed a square of 75 metres on each side, plastered facades were decorated with limestone portals, plates, balconies and porches in the Renaissance style. Later the castle became a possession of their daughter Maria, who married Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and their son, Maurice Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, sold the castle to Nikolai Svyatopolk-Mirsky, of the Bialynia clan, in 1895. Nikolais son Mikhail began to rebuild the castle according to the plans of architect Teodor Bursze, the Svyatopolk-Mirsky family owned the castle until 1939, when the Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland. When German forces invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, they occupied the castle and converted it to a ghetto for the local Jewish population, between 1944 and 1956, the castle was used as a housing facility, resulting in damage to the castles interior. In December 2000, the Mir Castle was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Старажытнае дойлідства Міра Photos on Globus. tut. by Mir Castle on 3D F4 Map
Mir Castle Complex
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Mir Castle Complex
–
View from the courtyard
Mir Castle Complex
Mir Castle Complex
22.
Halshany Castle
–
Paweł Stefan Sapieha commissioned its construction and it was erected circa 1610 to replace the older castle, built by of the Holszanski princely family, of whom Sapiehas were descendants and heirs. Also known as the Black Castle, the residence formerly rivaled Mir Castle as the most elegant private château of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The name Black Castle in fact applies to a fictional building from a book by Uladzimir Karatkievich. The castle and the estates were devastated, robbed and looted, twice, by the invading Swedes troops during the Deluge. Due to financial stress experienced by the Sapiehas in the wake of the Domestic War and ongoing Great Northern War, the castle had never been fully restored. Later during the 18th century the castle with its estate diminished by creditors passed to the Żaba family, currently, the castle continues to crumble away. An annual tournament is held near its walls each summer, Збор помнікаў гісторыі і культуры Беларусі, Гродзенская вобласць. Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, filipa Sulimierskiego i Władysława Walewskiego, 1880-1914, Volume III, p. 102-103. Halshany Castle page at radzima. org Halshany Castle page at globus. tut. by International Festival Golshany Castle 2010 on the Official Website of Belarus Charity account opened for Halshany Castle
Halshany Castle
–
The castle in 1853
Halshany Castle
–
The ruins in 2007.
23.
Kreva Castle
–
Kreva Castle is the ruins of a major fortified residence of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in the village of Kreva, Belarus. Algirdass brother Kęstutis was imprisoned and murdered in the Kreva Castle in 1382, Kreva Castle is 220 metres above sea level. The Union of Krewo, the first step towards the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was signed in the three years later. The castle was sacked by the Crimean Tatars in the early 16th century, by the 19th century, much of the walls had crumbled away. The World War I dealt a blow to the decaying structure. In 19th and 20th centuries, the ruins were partially conserved, media related to Kreva Castle at Wikimedia Commons Krevo Castle on official website of the Republic of Belarus Kreva Castle on globus. tut. by History of the Kreva Castle The Kreva Castle Charity Fund
Kreva Castle
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The present-day ruins of the Kreva Castle
24.
Lubcha Castle
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Lubcha Castle was a residential castle of the Radziwill family on the left bank of the Neman River at Lubcha near Navahradak. The castle began its life in 1581 as a residence of Jan Kiszka. It had timber walls, a stone tower, and was surrounded by moats on three sides, the fourth side protected by the river. Lubcha later passed to Janusz Radziwiłł, Great Hetman of Lithuania, in 1655 it was taken and devastated by the rebellious Cossacks under Ivan Zolotarenko. Only the barbican and one other tower were left standing after the Cossack incursion, the deserted estate changed owners several times, remaining untenanted until the mid-19th century, when a Gothic Revival palace was built on the grounds. The Lubcha estate suffered much damage during both world wars, the palace was reduced to a shell in 1914 and was remodeled into a school building by the Soviets in 1947. Lyubchа Castle at globus. tut. by History and Restoration of Lyubcha Castle
Lubcha Castle
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Currently, the castle is being restored by a team of volunteers.
25.
Navahrudak Castle
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Modern historians cannot make up their minds as to the true location of Mindaugass coronation. As early as the 14th century, Navahrudak is known to have possessed a tower along the lines of Tower of Kamyanyets. The castle was stormed by the Teutonic Knights under Heinrich von Plötzke in 1314, although the attack was not successful, the tower sustained substantial damage. During the reign of Vytautas the Great four new towers were added to the system of Navahrudak fortifications. In the 17th century the main castle boasted 7 towers, apart from those of the Lesser Castle, Navahrudak was one of the northernmost forts besieged by the Crimean Tatars in the 16th century. Navahrudak was twice occupied by Russian forces during the Russo-Polish War, further destruction was inflicted by the Swedes who sacked Navahrudak as part of the Great Northern War in 1706. Attempts to preserve the ruins from further decay were undertaken in the 1920s, the castle grounds at present provide the setting for medieval reenactment and theatrical jousting
Navahrudak Castle
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The ruins of Navahrudak Castle.
Navahrudak Castle
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Modern reconstruction
Navahrudak Castle
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The ruins
26.
Ruzhany Palace
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Ruzhany Palace is a ruined palace compound in Ruzhany village, Pruzhany Raion, Brest Voblast, Western Belarus. Between the 16th and 19th centuries Ruzhany, then called Różany, was the seat of the senior line of the Sapieha noble family. The castle is currently under reconstruction, with the palace ornate gate. Ruzhany began its life in the late 16th century as the site of Lew Sapiehas castle, the Sapieha residence was destroyed in the course of the internecine strife in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania when it was attacked by Michał Serwacy Wiśniowieckis forces in 1700. Aside from the palace, there was a theatre, an orangery, becker also designed the local church. By the time of King Stanisław IIs visit in 1784, work on the palace had been suspended, the Sapieha estates were nationalised in the aftermath of the November Uprising. Three years later, the compound was sold to be used as a textile mill. In 1914 the palace was set on fire by factory workers. The ornate palace gate survives and has recently been restored, biaroza monastery, a family vault of the Sapieha family not far from Ruzhany Halshany Castle, another ruined Sapieha residence in Belarus List of castles in Belarus Photos at Radzima org. Photos at Globus Belarus Guide Unofficial Ruzhany site
Ruzhany Palace
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The ruins of Ruzhany castle and theatre in 2007.
Ruzhany Palace
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The castle gate was recently reconstructed
27.
Dubno Castle
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Dubno Castle was founded in 1492 by Prince Konstantin Ostrogski on a promontory overlooking the Ikva River not far from the ancient Ruthenian fort of Dubno, Volhynia. Ostrogski castle was rebuilt in stone in the early 16th century under the Polish rule when the city was part of the Kingdom of Poland and it had a church, a two-story palace, and an impressive array of 73 cannons. It was there that the treasury of the Ostrogski family was kept and these fabulous treasures brought the predatory Crimean Tatars to the castle on several occasions. Prince Janusz Ostrogski, the last of his family, undertook major renovations of the castle in the early 17th century and he made use of the trace itallienne, or Italian style of fortification, to transform Dubno into the most advanced fort in the region. It is the only Volhynian castle featuring a hornwork, Prince Januszs palace still stands in Dubno. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the vicinity of Dubno Castle was the scene of fighting between the Poles and the Cossacks, some of it described by Nikolai Gogol in the novella Taras Bulba. The castle passed to Polish Prince Władysław Dominik Zasławski as part of the Ostroh inheritance, in the 18th century Dubno lost much of its military relevance. Some of the gave way to a plain rectangular palace of two stories, commissioned in the 1780s by Prince Stanisław Lubomirski from architects Henryk Hyacynt Ittar. The palaces interior layout and design did not survive the First World War, after the Lubomirskis sold their Dubno residence to Princess Boryatinsky in 1871, the castle was subjected to a new campaign of remodeling. It held a military garrison of the Border Defence Corps. The old barbican was transformed in the 1920s into a prison where about 550 political prisoners were executed by the NKVD in 1941, Памятники градостроительства и архитектуры Украинской ССР. Media related to Dubno Castle at Wikimedia Commons
Dubno Castle
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View from the Ikva River
28.
Klevan Castle
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Klevan Castle is one of the oldest forts in Volynia, Ukraine. It was built in the century by Prince Michael Chortoryisky in order to control a ford over the Stubla River. Klevan was the seat of the Orthodox princely house of Chortoryisk until its members converted to Catholicism in the 17th century. After that the castle was given to a Jesuit school, after the partitions of Poland the castle was confiscated by the Habsburgs, and stood untenanted. Its western wall was pulled down in the 19th century, the remaining portions include two towers, three fortified buildings, and a high four-arched bridge leading to the main gate. Памятники градостроительства и архитектуры Украинской ССР, media related to Klevan Castle at Wikimedia Commons
Klevan Castle
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Klevan Castle in Volynia
29.
Korets Castle
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The Korets Castle is a castle built in Korets ca.1400 by either Prince Theodor Ostrogski or Prince Dymitr Korybut. Its main tower is featured in the towns emblem, the moated castle on the bank of the Korchyk River was the seat of the princely House of Korets between the 15th and 17th centuries. After the main line died out in 1651, Korets passed through inheritance to a junior line of the Czartoryski family. In 1780, Józef Klemens Czartoryski rebuilt the castle to serve as his main residence, as Józef Klemens had no male issue, the castle was neglected after his death. It burnt down in the wake of the November Uprising in 1832, over the years the ruins have steadily deteriorated and by the late 20th century have all but disappeared. Памятники градостроительства и архитектуры Украинской ССР, media related to Korets Castle at Wikimedia Commons
Korets Castle
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The Ruins of Korets Castle, a drawing by
Napoleon Orda
30.
Ostroh Castle
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The Ostroh Castle is a castle in the city of Ostroh, located in the Rivne Oblast of western Ukraine. In the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, the castle was the key stronghold of the powerful House of Ostroh, the castle itself is located in a relatively small elevated oval plaza. The first wooden fortifications were built in the area before the 1241 Mongol invasion of Rus, the ruins were later reconstructed by Knyaz Daniil from the Ostrogky family on the citys Sudovy Hill. Since then, more additions and reconstructions were carried out, although the complex still retains its Medieval architecture, the castle complex consists of four main structures, the Guard Tower where the castles museum is located, the Bohoyavlenska Church, the New Tower, and the Belltower. A small park sits next to the castle, separated by a small moat. A monument was placed in the park in 1978, commemorating the 400 anniversary of the foundation of the Ostroh Academy, a building used to stand in the same location, in which the Azbuka and the Ostrog Bible were printed by Ivan Fedorov. Seven Wonders of Ukraine Starokostiantyniv Castle - another castle of the Ostrogski family Castle complex of the city of Ostroh, national Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv
Ostroh Castle
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The Ostroh Castle located in western Ukraine.
Ostroh Castle
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The New Tower stands in ruins.
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Black Ruthenia
Volynia
Red Ruthenia
Podolia
