Brest-Litovsk
TREATY OF, the agreement that ended the war between Russia and the Central Powers, March 3, 1918. The event had been foreshadowed by the complete military collapse of Russia, and the coming into power of the Bolshevist régime. Plenipotentiaries of both Powers met in the town from which the treaty takes its name Dec. 22, 1917. Previous to that time an armistice had been signed that was to last from Dec. 17, 1917, to Jan. 14, 1918. The terms of peace suggested by the Russian delegates had as their fundamental principle no annexations nor indemnities and free self-determination of peoples. They also demanded that all the issues of the war, such as Alsace-Lorraine and others be embraced in the settlement. The Germans countered with a demand for the severance of Poland and large portions of the Baltic states from Russian control, and a series of humiliating commercial conditions, that would make Russia a field for German exploitation. A time limit of ten days was allowed for the Entente to join in the negotiations, should they so desire.
No such wish being expressed by them within that time, the conference proceeded solely on the questions at issue between Russia and the Central Powers.
The terms laid down by the latter were declared entirely unacceptable by the Russians. They asserted that the whole of Russia, as it then existed, must be evacuated by the German armies before peace could be concluded. This proposition was declined, and the proceedings reached an impasse. Several adjournments were taken from time to time, but the discussions still proved fruitless. On February 9 the representatives from the Ukraine signed a separate peace with the Central Powers. On February 10 Trotzky issued a statement on behalf of BREST-LITOVSK TREATY the Russian delegates, in which, while still refusing to accept the enemy's terms, he declared that they regarded the war as ended without a treaty. He added that an order had been issued for the entire demobilization of Russian troops , and that as far as Russia was concerned there would be no more fighting . The German Foreign Minister, Von Kuehlmann, threatened to renew military operations if the treaty were not signed. This threat was made good as soon as the armistice expired on February 18.
The whole German line advanced, and the Soviet authorities were thrown into a panic. On February 19 it was voted to accept the terms unconditionally as a matter of force majeure. But Germany was not now willing to limit herself to the original proposals, and, on February 23, announced more drastic terms, which must be accepted by Russia within fortyeight hours and signed within three days, three days , The Soviet authorities, now thoroughly cowed, agreed, and a new delegation was sent to Brest-Litovsk, where the treaty was signed March 3, 1918. ratification to follow within The terms of the treaty were sweeping and practically dismembered Russia, taking from her a fourth of her European territory and a third of her population. The provinces she lost were the richest, most fertile, and most progressive. Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Courland, Esthonia, and Livonia, though they were recognize ized nominally as independent and self-determining, passed virtually under German control. Russia's territorial and economic losses embraced 301,- 000 square miles of land, 56,000,000 inhabitants, more than 13,000 miles of railway, 89 per cent. of her coal production and 73 per cent. of the iron output. The lost territory had formerly yielded an annual revenue of nearly $425,000,000. The Entente denounced the treaty as shameful and iniquitous and refused to recognize it. The self-determination accorded nominally to the severed provinces of Russia was denounced as a sham. "Why waste time," asked the Premiers of Great Britain, France, and France, overran Italy, in a joint statement issued March 18, 1918, "over Germany's pledges, when we see that at no period in her history of conquestnot when she Silesia nor when she partitioned Poland-has she exhibited herself so cynically as a destroyer of national independence, the implacable enemy of the rights of man, and the dignity of civilized nations. "Peace treaties such as these we do not and cannot acknowledge. Our own ends are very different. We are fight- BRETHREN ing and mean to continue fighting, in order to finish once for all with this policy of plunder and to establish in its place the peaceful reign of organized justice."
Denunciation quite as strong was uttered by President Wilson on behalf of the United States. The pledges of the Allies were kept, and one of the conditions of the peace treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, was that the treaty of Brest-Litovsk stood annulled .
BRETAGNE (bre'tän) or BRIT- TANY, one of the provinces into which France was divided. It now forms the departments of Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord, Morbihan, and Loire-Inférieure. In ancient times, under the name of Armorica, it was the central seat of the confederated Armorican tribes, who were of Celtic and Kymric origin. Traces of them still remain in the old Kymric dialect of the three most westerly departments, and in the numerous so-called Druidical monuments. The Breton has generally a tinge of melancholy in his disposition; but often conceals, under a , under a dull and indifferent exterior, lively imagination and strong feelings. Under the Romans, the country, after 58 B. C, was made the Provincia Lugdunensis Tertia; but its subjugation was hardly more than nominal, and it was entirely liberated in the 4th century, when it was divided into several allied republican states, which afterward were changed into petty monarchies. Bretagne became subject to the Franks in the reign of Charlemagne, and was handed over by Charles the Simple to the Northmen in 912. After some fierce struggles, the Bretons appear to have at length acknowledged the suzerainty of the Norman dukes . Geoffroi, Count of Rennes, was the first to assume the title of Duke of Bretagne in 992. The Duchy of Bretagne was incorporated with France in 1532, by Francis I., to whom it had come by marriage, and subsequently shared in the general fortunes of the Empire, but retained a local parliament until the outbreak of the Revolution. During the was in- Revolution, Bretagne, which was in- tensely loyal, was the arena of sanguinary conflicts, and especially of the movements of the Chouans, who reappeared as recently as 1832. BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT, a sect which first attracted notice in the 11th century. By Mosheim it is identified with the Paulicians and the Albigenses, the Beghardæ, the Beghinæ, the Adamites, and Picards In the 13th century they spread themselves over Italy, France, and Germany. BRETHREN They are alleged to have derived their name from Rom. viii: 2-14. They were treated with great severity both by the Inquisition and by the Hussites.
BRETHREN OF THE HOLY TRINITY, a fraternity of monks who lived in the 13th century.