The Battle of Vilnius was the first time a foreign power managed to capture a group of cultural, and historic structures on the left bank of what river?
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Battle of Vilnius (1655) The Battle of Vilnius, Wilno, or Vilna was an attack by Russian and Cossack forces on Vilnius (Wilno), the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, that occurred on 8 August 1655 during the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). The Polish–Lithuanian forces under the leadership of hetman Janusz Radziwiłł were defeated by the Russian army of Alexis of Russia. It was the first time that a foreign power managed to capture the Vilnius Castle Complex. The six-year Muscovite occupation that followed resulted in a major depopulation and a decline of the city for many years to come. The defeat was one of the reasons Janusz Radziwiłł and several other Lithuanian magnates surrendered the Grand Duchy to Sweden at the Union of Kėdainiai.
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Vilnius Castle Complex The Vilnius Castle Complex (Lithuanian: "Vilniaus pilių kompleksas" or "Vilniaus pilys" ) is a group of cultural, and historic structures on the left bank of the Neris River, near its confluence with the Vilnia River, in Vilnius, Lithuania. The buildings, which evolved between the 10th and 18th centuries, were one of Lithuania's major defensive structures.
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Karmazinai Karmazinai is a village in Vilnius district municipality, Lithuania. It is situated on the right bank of Neris River, by forest, part of the Neris Regional Park. There is an ancient burial mound and hill fort (Karmazinai mound) about 0.8 km northwest of the village.
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Litva Hoard Litva Hoard is a medieval treasure found in Litva (Літва) village in Maladzyechna Raion, western Belarus. It was discovered in the early 1990s and contained a large number of Prague groschens (6,168 of them were acquired by the Museum of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus) and a large gilded silver belt. It is the largest Prague groschen hoard found in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They were minted in Kutná Hora during the reigns of John of Bohemia, Charles IV, and Wenceslaus IV (1310–1419). The ornate belt is an example of Islamic art and must have been a gift from the Crimean Khanate. It became known as the Belt of Vytautas because of speculations that it might have belonged to Grand Duke Vytautas though there is no direct evidence to support the claim.
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Battle of Blue Waters The Battle of Blue Waters (Lithuanian: "Mūšis prie Mėlynųjų Vandenų" , Belarusian: Бітва на Сініх Водах , Ukrainian: Битва на Синіх Водах ) was a battle fought at some time in autumn 1362 or 1363 on the shores of the Synjucha River, left tributary of the Southern Bug, between the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Golden Horde. The Lithuanians won a decisive victory and finalized their conquest of the Principality of Kiev.
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Lithuania proper Lithuania proper (Latin: "Lithuania propria" , literally: "Genuine Lithuania"; Lithuanian: "Didžioji Lietuva" ; Yiddish: ליטע‎ , "Lite") refers to a region which existed within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and where the Lithuanian language was spoken. The primary meaning is identical to the Duchy of Lithuania, a land around which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania evolved. The territory can be traced by Catholic Christian parishes established in pagan Baltic lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania subsequent to the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387. They were quite distinguishable, since Ruthenian parts of the Duchy have been already baptised in an orthodox manner. The term in Latin was widely used during the Middle Ages and can be found in numerous historical maps until World War I.
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Augustów Canal The Augustów Canal (Polish: "Kanał Augustowski" , , Belarusian: Аўгустоўскі канал ) is a cross-border canal built in the 19th century in the present-day Podlaskie Voivodeship of northeastern Poland and the Grodno Region of north-western Belarus (then the Augustów Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland). From the time it was first built, the canal was described by experts as a technological marvel, with numerous sluices contributing to its aesthetic appeal.
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Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna (German: "Schlacht am Kahlen Berge" or "Kahlenberg"; Polish: "bitwa pod Wiedniem" or "odsiecz wiedeńska" (The Relief of Vienna); Modern Turkish: "İkinci Viyana Kuşatması", Ottoman Turkish: "Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası") took place at Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 1683 after the imperial city had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months. The battle was fought by the Habsburg Monarchy, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire, under the command of King John III Sobieski against the Ottomans and their vassal and tributary states. The battle marked the first time the Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire had cooperated militarily against the Ottomans, and it is often seen as a turning point in history, after which "the Ottoman Turks ceased to be a menace to the Christian world". In the ensuing war that lasted until 1699, the Ottomans lost almost all of Hungary to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.
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Sinyaya River The Sinyaya (Russian: Синяя , Belarusian: Сінюха , Latvian: "Zilupe" ) is a river in Verkhnyadzvinsk Raion of Vitebsk Region of Belarus, in Zilupe, Ludza, and Cibla municipalities of Latvia, and in Sebezhsky, Krasnogorodsky, and Ostrovsky Districts of Pskov Oblast in Russia, part of the Baltic Sea basin. It is a left tributary of the Velikaya River. It is 195 km long, and the area of its basin 2040 km2 .
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Siege of Smolensk (1654) The Siege of Smolensk was one of the first great events of the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). Smolensk (pl. "Smoleńsk"), which had been under the rule of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during 1404–1514 and since 1611, was besieged by a Russian army in June 1654. The Polish garrison of the city (under the chairmanship of Smolensk Voivode Filip Obuchowicz) hoped to get reinforcements from the army of Janusz Radziwiłł (1612–55), stationed in Orsha. Its situation worsened when Radziwiłł suffered a defeat from Prince Yakov Cherkassky in the Battle of Shklow. In September, the Polish garrison agreed to leave the city after it was promised a free retreat. The garrison left Smolensk and handed over its weapons and ensigns to the Russians before retreating to Commonwealth-controlled territory. A significant number of landowners, however, preferred to stay and keep their estates, becoming subjects of the Russian Tsardom.
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Brest Castle (Belarus) Brest Castle (Belarusian: Берасцейскі замак ) was evolving in the course of several centuries from the Slavonic fortified settlement Berestye that had appeared at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries at the confluence of the Mukhavets River into the Bug River, amid islands, formed by the rivers. It was re-built several times after numerous fires and sieges, was destroyed in the course of construction of the Brest Fortress in the 19th century.
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Lithuania Lithuania ( , Lithuanian: "Lietuva" ] ), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: "Lietuvos Respublika" ), is a country in the Baltic region of northern-eastern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.8 million people as of 2017 , and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
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Duchy of Livonia The Duchy of Livonia (Polish: "Księstwo Inflanckie" ; Lithuanian: "Livonijos kunigaikštystė" ; Latin: "Ducatus Ultradunensis" ; Estonian: "Üleväina-Liivimaa hertsogkond" ; Latvian: "Pārdaugavas hercogiste" ; also referred to as Polish Livonia or Inflanty) was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania—and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—that existed from 1561 to 1621. It corresponds to the present-day areas of northern Latvia and southern Estonia.
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Iron Wolf (character) The Iron Wolf (Lithuanian: "Geležinis Vilkas" ) is a mythical character from a medieval legend of the founding of Vilnius, the capital city of the old Grand Duchy of Lithuania and modern Republic of Lithuania. First found in the Lithuanian Chronicles, the legend shares certain similarities with the Capitoline Wolf and possibly reflected Lithuanian desire to showcase their legendary origins from the Roman Empire (see the Palemonids). The legend became popular during the era of Romantic nationalism. Today Iron Wolf is one of the symbols of Vilnius and is used by sports teams, Lithuanian military, scouting organizations, and others.
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Fort Detroit Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit was a fort established on the west bank of the Detroit River by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The site of the former fort, north of the Rouge River, is now within the city of Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan, an area bounded by Larned Street, Griswold Street, and the Civic Center (now occupied by office towers). In the 18th century, French colonial settlements developed on both sides of the river, based on the fur trade, missions and farms.
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Charles Bridge Charles Bridge (Czech: "Karlův most" ] ) is an historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century. The bridge replaced the old Judith Bridge built 1158–1172 that had been badly damaged by a flood in 1342. This new bridge was originally called Stone Bridge ("Kamenný most") or Prague Bridge ("Pražský most") but has been "Charles Bridge" since 1870. As the only means of crossing the river Vltava (Moldau) until 1841, Charles Bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town and adjacent areas. This "solid-land" connection made Prague important as a trade route between Eastern and Western Europe.
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Zaporizhian Sich The Zaporozhian Sich (, "Zaporoz'ka Sich"; Polish: "Sicz Zaporoska" ; Russian: Запорожская Сечь ) was a semi-autonomous polity of Cossacks in the 16th to 18th centuries, centred in the region around today's Kakhovka Reservoir spanning the lower Dnieper river in Ukraine. In different periods the area came under the sovereignty of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire, the Tsardom of Russia, and the Russian Empire. In 1775, shortly after Russia annexed the territories ceded to it by the Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), Catherine the Great disbanded the Sich and incorporated its territory into the Russian province of Novorossiya.
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Bock (Luxembourg) The Bock (Luxembourgish: "Bockfiels" ) is a promontory in the north-eastern corner of Luxembourg City's old historical district. Offering a natural fortification, its rocky cliffs tower above the River Alzette which surrounds it on three sides. It was here that Count Siegfried built his Castle of "Lucilinburhuc" in 963, providing a basis for the development of the town which became Luxembourg. Over the centuries, the Bock and the surrounding defences were reinforced, attacked and rebuilt time and time again as the armies of the Burgundians, Habsburgs, Spaniards, Prussians and French vied for victory over one of Europe's most strategic strongholds, the Fortress of Luxembourg. Warring did not stop until the Treaty of London was signed in 1867, calling for the demolition of the fortifications. Ruins of the old castle and the vast underground system of passages and galleries known as the casemates continue to be a major tourist attraction.
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Sienno, Szczecin Sienno is a part of the Szczecin City, Poland situated on the left bank of Oder river, north of the Szczecin Old Town and Middle Town.
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Culture of Lithuania The culture of Lithuania combines an indigenous heritage, represented by the unique Lithuanian language, with Nordic cultural aspects and Christian traditions resulting from historical ties with Poland. Although linguistic resemblances represent strong cultural ties with Latvia in various historical moments Lithuania was influenced by Nordic, Germanic and Slavic cultures. Various cultural changes occurred throughout Lithuania's transformation from a former country of the Soviet Union to an independent Baltic state.
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Battle of Zhovti Vody Battle of Zhovti Vody (Ukrainian: Жовтi Води , Polish: "Żółte Wody" - literally "yellow waters": April 29 to May 16, 1648) was the first significant battle of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The name of the battle derived from a nearby Zhovta River.
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Kaliny Kaliny is a part of the Szczecin City, Poland situated on the left bank of Oder river, west of the Szczecin Old Town and Middle Town.