The younger branch was rising also to eminence. George of Brandenburg, Margrave of Anspach, and grandson of Albert Achilles, was able in 1524 to purchase the Duchy of Jagerndorf in Silesia, and with it the reversions to the principalities of Oppeln and Ratibor, which eventually fell to him. His younger brother, Albert, had been chosen in 1511 Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, and was already converting his office into the hereditary Dukedom of Prussia," which it became in 1525 (see POLAND: 1333-1572). "The Elector Joachim I. of Brandenburg is perhaps the least prominent, but was not the least prudent, of his family. Throughout his life he adhered to the old faith, and preserved his dominions in tranquillity. His son and successor, Joachim II., to the joy of his people, adopted the new religion [1539]; and found in the secularized bishoprics of Brandenburg, Havelburg, and Lebus, some compensation for the ecclesiastical Electorate which was about to pass, upon the death of Albert of Mentz, from his family. But he also was able to secure the continuance of peace. Distrustful of the success of the League of Smalkald he refused to join in it, and became chiefly known as a mediator in the struggles of the time. The Electors John George [1571-1598] and Joachim Frederick [1598-1608] followed the same policy of peace.

Peace and internal progress had characterized the 16th century; war and external acquisitions were to mark the 17th. The failure of the younger line in 1603 caused Bayreuth, Anspach, and Jagerndorf to fall to the Elector Joachim Frederick; but as they were re-granted almost at once to younger sons, and never again reverted to the Electorate, their acquisition became of little importance. The Margrave, George Frederick, however, had held, in addition to his own territories, the office of administrator for Albert Frederick, second Duke of Prussia, who had become imbecile; and, by his death, the Elector of Brandenburg became next of kin, and claimed to succeed to the office. The admission of this claim placed the Electors in virtual possession of the Duchy. By a deed of co-infeoffment, which Joachim II. had obtained in 1568 from his father-in-law the King of Poland, they were heirs to the Duchy upon failure of the younger line. . . . Duke Albert died in 1618, and Brandenburg and Prussia were then united under the Elector John Sigismund. It was well that the Duchy had been secured before the storm which was already gathering over the Empire had burst. . . . During the long struggle of the Thirty Years' War, the history of Brandenburg is that of a sufferer rather than an actor. ... George William, who died in 1640, bequeathed a desert to his successor. That successor was Frederick William, to be known in history as the Great Elector."-C. F. Johnstone, Historical abstracts, ch. 5.

ALSO IN: T. Carlyle, History of Frederick the Great, v. 1, bk. 3.

1419-1434.-Battles with Hussites. See BoHEMIA: 1419-1434.

1552-1561.-Rule of Albert the Wild.-Desire for war.-Reformation wars with Emperor

Charles V. See GERMANY: 1552-1561. 1609-1627.- Jülich-Cleve contest. Elector placed under the ban of empire.-Occupied by Wallenstein and Imperial army. See GERMANY: 1608-1618; 1621-1623; 1627-1629.

1630-1634.-Compulsory alliance with Gustavus Adolphus.-Alliance with the emperor.In 1630 during the Thirty Years' War the Elector of Brandenburg was forced to join Gustavus Adolphus against Ferdinand, but abandoned the

BRANDENBURG, 1640-1688

Swedes (1634) and deserted the Protestant cause, when all the princes of Northern Germany subscribed to the treaty of alliance concluded between Saxony and the emperor in 1635.-See GERMANY: 1630-1631; 1631; 1632-1634; and 1634-1639.

1640-1688.-Great Elector.-His development of the strength of the Electorate.-His successful wars. His acquisition of the complete sovereignty of Prussia.-Battle of Fehrbellin. -"Frederic William, known in history as the Great Elector, was only twenty years old when he succeeded his father. He found everything in disorder: his country desolate, his fortresses garrisoned by troops under a solemn order to obey only the mandates of the Emperor, his army to be counted almost on the fingers. His first care was to conclude a truce with the Swedes; his second to secure his western borders by an alliance with Holland; his third-not in order of action, for in that respect it took first place-to raise the nucleus of an army; his fourth, to cause the evacuation of his fortresses. To allay the wrath of the Emperor, he temporised until his armed force had attained the number of 8,000. That force once under arms, he boldly asserted his position, and with so much effect that in the discussions preceding the Peace of Westphalia he could exercise a considerable influence. By the terms of that treaty, the part of Pomerania known as Hinter Pommern, the principalities of Magdeburg and Halberstadt, and the bishoprics of Minden and Kammin were ceded to Brandenburg. [See GERMANY: 1648; Map: At peace of Westphalia; WESTPHALIA, PEACE OF (1648).] The Peace once signed, Frederic William set diligently to work to heal the disorders and to repair the misIchief which the long war had caused in his dominions.

The

He specially cherished his army. We have seen its small beginning in 1640-42. Fifteen years later, in 1655, or seven years after the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia, it amounted to 25,000 men, well drilled and well disciplined, disposing of seventy-two pieces of cannon. [See also MILITARY ORGANIZATION: 27.] In the times in which he lived he had need of such an army. In 1654, Christina, the wayward and gifted daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, had abdicated. Her successor on the throne of Sweden was her cousin, Charles Gustavus, Duke of Zweibrücken. right of Charles Gustavus to the succession was, however, contested by John Casimir, King of Poland. . . . War ensued. In that war the star of Charles Gustavus was in the ascendant, and the unfortunate John Casimir was forced to abandon his own dominions and to flee into Silesia. The vicinity of the two rivals to his own outlying territories was, however, too near not to render anxious Frederic William of Brandenburg. To protect Prussia, then held in fief from the King of Poland, he marched with 8,000 men to its borders. But even with such a force he was unable, or perhaps, more correctly, he was prudently unwilling, to resist the insistance put upon him at Königsberg by the victorious King of Sweden (1656) to transfer to him the feudal overlordship of that province. Great results followed from this compliance. Hardly had the treaty been signed, when John Casimir, returning from Silesia with an Imperial army at his back, drove the Swedes from Poland, and recovered his dominions. He did not evidently intend to stop there. Then it was that the opportunity arrived to the Great Elector. Earnestly solicited by the King of Sweden to aid him in a contest which had assumed dimensions so formidable, Frederic William consented, but only on the condition that he should

drew his troops. Again did John Casimir recover from his defeat; again, aided by the Imperialists, did he march to the front, reoccupy Warsaw, and take up a threatening position opposite to the Swedish camp. The King of Sweden beheld in this action on the part of his enemy the prelude to his own certain destruction, unless by any means he could induce the Elector of Brandenburg once more to save him. He sent, then, urgent messengers after him to beg him to return. The messengers found Frederic William at

every side. The Danes and Lithuanians espoused the cause of John Casimir. Its issue seemed to Frederic William more than doubtful. He asked himself, then, whether-the new enemies who had arisen being the enemies of Sweden and not of himself he had not more to gain by sharing in the victories of the Poles than in the defeats of the Swedes. Replying to himself affirmatively, he concluded, 29th September 1657, through the intermediation of the Emperor, with the Poles, at Wehlau, a treaty whereby the dukedom of Prus

sia was ceded in absolute sovereignty to the Elector of Brandenburg and his male issue, with reversion to Poland in case of the extinction of the family of the Franconian Hohenzollerns; in return, Frederic William engaged himself to support the Poles in their war against Sweden with a corps of 4,000o men. But before this convention could be acted upon, fortune had again smiled upon Charles Gustavus. Turning in the height of winter against the Danes, the King of Sweden had defeated them in the open field, pursued them across the frozen waters of the Belt to Fünen and Seeland, and had imposed upon their king the humiliating peace of Roeskilde (1658). He seemed inclined to proceed still further in the destruction of the ancient rival of his country, when a combined army of Poles and Brandenburgers suddenly poured through Mecklenburg into Holstein, drove thence the Swedes, and gave them no rest till they had evacuated likewise Schleswig and Jutland (1659). In a battle which took place shortly afterwards on the island of Fünen, at Nyborg, the Swedes suffered a defeat. This defeat made Charles Gustavus despair of success, and he had already begun to treat for peace, when death snatched him from the scene (January 1660). The negotiations which had begun, however, continued, and finally peace was signed on the 1st May 1660, in the monastery of Oliva, close to Danzig. This peace confirmed to the Elector of Brandenburg his sovereign rights over the duchy of Prussia. From this epoch dates the complete union of Brandenburg and Prussia-a union upon which a great man was able to lay the foundation of a powerful North German Kingdom!" During the next dozen years, the Great Elector was chiefly busied in establishing his authority in his dominions and curbing the power of the nobles, particularly in Prussia. In 1674, when Louis XIV of France provoked war with the German princes by his attack on the Dutch, Frederic William led 20,000 men into Alsace to join the imperial forces. Louis then called upon his allies, the Swedes, to invade Brandenburg, which they did, under General Wrangel, in January, 1675. "Plundering and burning as they advanced, they entered Havelland, the granary of Berlin, and carried their devastations up to the very gates of that capital." The elector was retreating from Alsace before Turenne when he heard of the invasion. He paused for some weeks, to put his army in good condition, and then he hurried northwards, by forced marches. The enemy was taken by surprise, and attacked while attempting to retreat, near Fehrbellin, on June 18. After two hours of a tremendous hand-to-hand conflict, "the right wing of the Swedes was crushed and broken; the centre and left wing were in full retreat towards Fehrbellin. The victors, utterly exhausted-they had scarcely quitted their saddles for eleven dayswere too worn out to pursue. It was not till the following morning that, refreshed and recovered, they followed the retreating foe to the borders of Mecklenburg.... The Great Elector promptly followed up his victory till he had compelled the Swedes to evacuate all Pomerania. Three years later, when they once more crossed the border from Livonia, he forced them again to retreat; and although in the treaty signed at St. Germain in 1679 he was forced to renounce his Pomeranian conquests, he did not the less establish the ultimate right of the State of which he was the real founder to those lands on the Baltic for which he had so hardly struggled at the negotiations which preceded the Peace of Westphalia. When he died 9th May 1688) he left the Kingdom already made

BRANDENBURG, 1672-1697

in a position of prosperity sufficient to justify his son and successor in assuming, thirteen years later, on the anniversary of the victory of Fehrbellin, the title of King."-G. B. Malleson, Battle fields of Germany, ch. 8.-At the time of his accession "self-government prevailed in his scattered dominions. As the nobility and the Estates jealously defended their privileges and refused to vote the necessary funds [with which to create an army], the Elector resolved to break their power and to place taxation on a compulsory basis. He gradually destroyed popular representation, such as it was, and made the Estates a mere tool. At last they were called together exclusively for the purpose of voting money. They were allowed to sit only for a fortnight, and to discuss nothing except the proposals which the Elector put before them. At the same time, they were informed that any funds which they failed to vote would be collected from them by force, by 'military execution.'... The Great Elector ruthlessly and tyrannously suppressed existing self-government in his possessions, and gave to his scattered and parochially minded subjects a strong sense of unity. Relying upon his powerful army, he enforced his will upon the nobility, the Estates, and the citizens, and made himself the absolute master of the country. He ruled the State with savage energy and with great ability. To enable the people to bear the cost of a large army, he strove to increase their wealth by promoting agriculture, commerce, and the manufacturing industries. He imported from Holland skilled engineers who reclaimed swamps, and able farmers and gardeners who improved cultivation. Every peasant had to lay out a garden, and none might marry unless he had planted at least six oak trees, and had planted and grafted at least six fruit trees. To improve industry and commerce, he constructed the Frederick William Canal, connecting the Oder with the Spree and the Elbe, and numerous high roads, and introduced a modern system of posts and mails. As his country had been depopulated by the Thirty Years' War, he wished to attract to it new inhabitants. By an Edict of October 29, 1685, he promised to the Huguenots who fled from France owing to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes assistance for defraying their travelling expenses, permission to settle where they liked, freedom to bring in their goods and chattels free of all charges. The needy were to receive empty houses which the Elector would buy from their owners. They were to be given building material of every kind for repairing these houses, and to be freed from all imposts for six years. The well-to-do who wished to build houses for themselves were to be given land and building materials, and to be free from all imposts for ten years. The rights of citizenship were to be given gratis. . . . By the policy outlined the Great Elector greatly increased the population, the wealth, and the military power of his country. By a skilful and daring diplomacy, and by the energetic use of his excellent army, which he had been able to create only by destroying the power of the Estates and by greatly increasing the wealth of the people, he vastly enlarged his territories and gave to the State a great prestige throughout Europe."-J. E. Barker, Foundations of Germany, PP. 4-7.

1672-1697.-Withdrawal from the coalition against Louis XIV; in the War of the Grand Alliance. In 1673, the elector of Brandenburg withdrew from the coalition formed by him and the emperor Leopold, in 1672, to check the aggressions of Louis XIV. [See NETHERLANDS: 16721674.] He fought, however, once more against

BRANDY STATION

Louis XIV in the War of the Grand Alliance, and by the treaty of Ryswick (1697) had certain restitutions made to Brandenburg.

1700-1701.-Elector made king of Prussia.— When, by a treaty of Nov. 16, 1700, ducal Prussia was erected into a kingdom by the emperor, Elector Frederick III caused himself to be proclaimed king in Königsberg on Jan. 18, 1701.

1785. In league of Princes. See GERMANY: 1785.

ALSO IN: J. A. R. Marriott and C. G. Robertson, Evolution of Prussia.-F. Lampe, Berlin und die Mark Brandenburg.-F. Voigt, Geschichte des brandenburgisch-preussischen Staats.

BRANDY STATION, or Fleetwood, Battle of. See U. S. A.: 1863 (June: Virginia). BRANDYWINE, Battle of the (1777). See U. S. A.: 1777 (January-December).

BRANGWYN, Frank (1867- ), English illustrator and decorator. See PAINTING: Europe (19th century).

BRAZIL

Western Longitude of the Meridian of Rio de Janeiro. The extension of its coasts from the Orange Cape to the Barra Chuy is approximately 7,900 kilometres, counting from the beginning of the Cotinco River in the Roruima Mountains to the mouth of the Chuy, and it is, more or less, 4,360 kilometres from the Stony Point in Pernambuco to the starting of the Jaquirana River which forms the Yavari. Its area is calculated to be 8,650,959 square kilometres. The boundaries of Brazil are: On the north, the Guianas (French, Dutch and British) and the Republics of Venezu. ela and the Colombia; on the northeast, east and southeast, the Atlantic Ocean; on the south, the Republic of Uruguay; on the southwest, the Argentine Republic; on the west the Republics of Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru, and on the northwest, the Republic of Colombia. . . . Brazil is the largest of the countries of Latin America [see also LATIN AMERICA], its area being sixteen times that of France and practically equal to that of the

BRANNIBOR, ancient name of Brandenburg. See BRANDENBURG: 928-1142.

BRANT, Joseph (1742-1807), Mohawk chief, who waged Indian warfare in the service of the British during the Revolutionary war. See U. S. A.: 1778 (June-November and July); 1779 (August-September).

BRANTING, Hjalmar, Swedish Socialist. Prominent in parliament and cabinet office since 1890; made prime minister, Mar. 10, 1920.

BRASIDAS (d. 422 B. C.), Spartan general. See GREECE: B. C. 424-421.

BRATIANU, Joan, son of Joan C., prime minister of Rumania during the World War. See JEWS: Rumania: 1916-1919; VERSAILLES, TREATY OF: Conditions of peace; WORLD WAR: 1916: V. Balkan theater: c, 2.

BRATIANU, Joan C. (1821-1891), Rumanian statesman. One of the leaders of the rebellion of 1848 in Rumania; prefect of police under the provisional government. With the restoration of Russo-Turkish dictatorship, Bratianu was forced into exile. He returned in 1856 and again figured as a Liberal leader; serving as minister of the interior under Prince Charles from 1867 until July, 1869; and minister at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.

BRATISLAVA, identified with modern Pressburg. See PRESSBURG.

BRAUN, Karl Ferdinand (1850- ), German physicist. See NOBEL PRIZES: Physics: 1909. BRAUNSBERG, Surrender of (1626). SWEDEN: 1611-1629.

See

BRAUNSTEIN, or Bronstein. See TROTSKY,

LEON.

BRAVO, Melchor de, Chilean governor, 15681575. See CHILE: 1568.

BRAVO, Nicholas (c. 1790-1854), Mexican general. See MEXICO: 1822-1828.

BRAXTON, Carter (1736-1797), signer of the Declaration of Independence. See U. S. A.: 1776 (July): Text of Declaration of Independence.

BRAY-SUR-SOMME, a town of France, about ten miles west of Peronne. See WORLD WAR: 1918: II. Western front: c, 24; k, 1.

BRAYE-EN-LAONNAIS, southeast of Laon, France. See WORLD WAR: 1917: II. Western front: b, 1 (ii).

BRAZIL: Geographic description. "The immense and rich Brazilian territory which occupies the most eastern part of South America is situated in Lat. 5° 10' North to 33° 46′ 10′′ South, and between 8° 21′ 24′′ Eastern Longitude to 32°

much of its extensive territory is still uncultivated and its immense natural resources for the most part undeveloped, its great national industries, the growth of its foreign trade, its large and beautiful cities, its admirable systems of education and government, together with its general progress in everything pertaining to modern civilisation, give to Brazil the justifiable claim to be regarded as a truly great nation."-R. Reyes, Two Americas, pp. 84, 102. See LATIN AMERICA: Map of South America.

"Within her wide area Brazil encloses a great variety of soils and climates. She has no snow line, because she has no great mountain heights; a peak less than three thousand metres high, Itatiaya, in the Mantiqueiras, is the point of greatest altitude. But she has almost every other climatic gift that can be included within the fifth degree of North and thirty-third of South Latitude; between the eighth degree East and thirtieth West Longitude of the meridian of Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is a vast plateau with a steep descent to the sea along half her coast. and a flat hot sea margin of varying widths; this plateau, scored by great rivers. sweeps away in undulating prairies, sloping in two principal directions-inland, in the centre and south, to the great Paraná valley; and in the upper regions, northward to the immense Amazon basin. [See AMAZON RIVER: Discovery and naming of.] This is not a basin so much as a wide plate, for not only is the course of the huge rio-mar almost flat for the last thousand miles of its journey to the sea (Manáos is only 85 feet above sea-level) but this practically level ground extends northward all the way to the confines of Venezuela and the three Guianas, and southward until the Cordilheiras of Matto Grosso are encountered. Great expanses of this plate are filled with sweltering forests of tropical tradition, forests containing a thousand kinds of strange orchids, immense and curious trees, insects, reptiles and animals. . . . There is a remarkable contrast between this humid forestal area of the north and the cool, high cattle-lands of the centre, the pine and matte woods and wheat lands of the south and the hot coastal belt of the great promontory with its deep fringe of coconuts, its sugar country, tobacco fields and cacao plantations; between the coffee country of São Paulo and the regions of the carnauba palm and the babassú. No physical contrast could be more acute than that of the flat tropic swamps of Pará and the austere, fantastic and beautiful granite peaks of the Serra do Mar near Rio-the slender Finger of God in the Orgao