Brest
a seaport in the N. W. of France, department of Finisterre. It has one of the best harbors in France, and is the chief station of the French marine, having safe roads capable of containing 500 men-of-war in from 8 to 15 fathoms at low water. The entrance is narrow and rocky, and the coast on both sides is well fortified. The design to make it a naval arsenal originated with Richelieu, and was carried out by Duquesne and Vauban in the reign of Louis XIV., with the result that the town was made almost impregnable. Brest stands on the summit and sides of a projecting ridge, many of the streets being exceedingly steep. Several of the docks have been cut in the solid rock, and a breakwater extends far into the roadstead. The manufactures of Brest are inconsiderable, but it has an extensive trade in cereals, wine, brandy, sardines, mackerel, and colonial goods. It is connected with the United States by a cable terminating near Duxbury, Mass. The English and Dutch were repulsed at Brest in 1694. In 1794 it was blockaded by Howe, who won a great victory off the coast over the French fleet. Pop. about 91,000.
Brest during the World War (1914-1918) BREST-LITOVSK TREATY became a great naval port of entry for the ships of the Allies-one of the chief ports of disembarkation in France for the Allied troops.
BREST-LITOVSK (Polish BRZESC), a strongly fortified town of the province of Grodno (Russian Poland), on the Bug; commands the intersection of several important railways, being 132 miles E. S. E. of Warsaw, and 682 miles W. S. W. of Moscow. The town has vast magazines and military stores, and an extensive trade in its cloth manufactures, Russian leather, soap, and wood. Once the occasional residence of the Kings of Poland, it is now the seat of a Greek and an Armenian Catholic bishop. It fell to Russia in 1795. Pop. about 55,000.