History
The first mention of a settlement on the site of Brody is dated 1084 (Instructions by Volodymyr Monomach). It is believed to have been destroyed by Batu Khan in 1241.
From 1441 Brody was the property of different feudal families (Jan Sieniński; from 1511, Kamieniecki).
Brody was granted Magdeburg rights and city status in 1546. At this time it was known under the name Lubicz (Любич, Polish: Lubicz) that gave name to the Lubicz Coat of Arms of the owner, Stanisław Żółkiewski (not to be confused with Lubech, Lubecz).
Since the 17th century, the city has been populated not only by Ukrainians and Poles, but also a significant number of Jews (70% of the town's population), Armenians, and Greeks. From 1629, the city became the property of Stanisław Koniecpolski, who ordered the construction of Brody Castle (1630–1635). The castle, or rather the fortress, was designed by the French military engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan. In 1648, the castle took eight weeks for Bohdan Khmelnytsky to capture it. Notably the Jewish population was spared after the sack. The Jews of Brody were judged and "deemed as not engaged in maltreatment of the Ruthenians" and were only required to pay a tribute in "textiles and furs".
In 1704, Brody was purchased by Potocki family. In 1734 the fortress was destroyed by Russian troops and replaced by Stanisław Potocki's palace in the Baroque style. In 1772, Brody became a part of Habsburg Empire (from 1804 the Austrian Empire). In 1812, Wincenty Potocki was forced by the Austrian government to remove the city's fortifications. See the article Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria for more historical details.
The town was the site of heavy destruction by both Polish and Russian forces in the Polish-Soviet War of 1920, and is described extensively in stories of the Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel. After the conflict, it became part of Second Polish Republic and was located in the Tarnopol Voivodeship. Brody was an important military base, with the Kresowa Cavalry Brigade headquarters established there.
After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Brody was occupied by the Red Army. Between June 26 and June 30, 1941 a tank battle was fought nearby between the German Panzer Group 1 and five Soviet mechanized corps with heavy losses on both sides.
Read more about this topic: Brody
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“He wrote in prison, not a History of the World, like Raleigh, but an American book which I think will live longer than that. I do not know of such words, uttered under such circumstances, and so copiously withal, in Roman or English or any history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.... It is not “history” which uses men as a means of achieving—as if it were an individual person—its own ends. History is nothing but the activity of men in pursuit of their ends.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)