Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/197

LEFT BBEST-LITOVSK TREATY 167 BRETHREN 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 en- tire demobilization of Russian troops, and that as far as Russia was concerned there would be no more fighting. The German Foreign Minister, Von Kuehl- mann, threatened to renew military oper- ations 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 forty- eight hours and signed within three days, ratification to follow within two weeks. The Soviet authorities, now thoroughly cowed, agreed, and a new delegation was sent to Brest-Litovsk, where the treaty was signed March 3, 1918. The terms of the treaty were sweep- ing and practically dismembered Russia, taking from her a fourth of her Euro- pean territory and a third of her popu- lation. The provinces she lost were the richest, most fertile, and most progres- sive. Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Cour- land, Esthonia, and Livonia, though they were recognized nominally as independ- ent and self -determining, passed virtually under German control. Russia's terri- torial and economic losses embraced 301,- 000 square miles of land, 56,000,000 in- habitants, more than 13,000 miles of rail- way, 89 per cent, of her coal production and 73 per cent, of the iron output. The lost territory had formerly yielded an an- nual revenue of nearly $425,000,000. The Entente denounced the treaty as shameful and iniquitous and refused to recognize it. The self-determination ac- corded nominally to the severed prov- inces of Russia was denounced as a sham. "Why waste time," asked the Premiers of Great Britain, France, and Italy, in a joint statement issued March 18, 1918, "over Germany's pledges, when we see that at no period in her history of conquest — not when she overran Silesia nor when she partitioned Po- land — has she exhibited herself so cynic- ally as a destroyer of national inde- pendence, the implacable enemy of the rights of man, and the dignity of civ- ilized nations. "Peace treaties such as these we do not and cannot acknowledge. Our own ends are very different. We are fight- 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 ut- tered by President Wilson on behalf of the United States. The pledges of the Allies were kept, and one of the condi- tions of the peace treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, was that the treaty of Brest-Litovsk stood annulled. BRETAGNE (bre'tan) or BRIT- TANY, one of the provinces into which France was divided. It now forms the departments of Finistere, C6tes-du-Nord, Morbihan, and Loire-Inferieure. In an- cient times, under the name of Armorica, it was the central seat of the confeder- ated Armorican tribes, who were of Celtic and Kymric origin. Traces of them still remain in the old Kymric dia- lect of the three most westerly depart- ments, and in the numerous so-called Druidical monuments. The Breton has generally a tinge of melancholy in his disposition; but often conceals, under a dull and indifferent exterior, lively imag- ination 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 mon- archies. 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. Geoff- roi. Count of Rennes, was the first to assume the title of Duke of Bretagne in 992. The Duchy of Bretagne was in. corporated with France in 1532, by Francis I., to whom it had come by mar- riage, and subsequently shared in the general fortunes of the Empire, but re- tained a local parliament until the out- break of the Revolution. During the Revolution, Bretagne, which was in- tensely loyal, was the arena of san- guinary conflicts, and especially of the movements of the Chouans, who reap- peared 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 Beghardae, the Beg- hinae, the Adamites, and Picards. In the 13th century they spread them- .=elves over Italy, France, and Germany.