Libau
Libau (Latvian: Liepāja) is a city in Kurland (or Courland), today Latvia. A small settlement of Letts was recorded here in 1253. Ten years later, in 1263, the Teutonic Knights erected a fortress here. Under them the town thrived. With the Order's demise, in 1561 the town fell into the Duchy of Kurland, the first Duke being Gotthard Kettler, the last Master of the Order.[1] Libau had a formal town charter in 1625, but in 1658 it was occupied by Swedish troops.[2]. Between 1697-1703 a canal was cut to the sea and a port was built. In 1701 during the Great Northern War, Libau was captured by Charles XII of Sweden, the Duchy of Kurland falling to Swedish forces in August of that year. Following the Swedish defeat at the Battle of Poltava, in June 1709, Tsar Peter I of Russia occupied the Duchy of Kurland. Duke Ferdinand died childless in Danzig in 1737 thus ending the Kettler line. His late nephew's wife, Anna Ivanover, being left in charge. (She had become Tsarina of Russia in 1730.)[3]
Libau's importance as an ice-free port, especially for grain export, was greatly stimulated in 1876 by the construction of the railway from Romny in Ukraine. Between 1908 and 1911 one-third of all the imports and exports of European Russia was conveyed through the ports of Riga, Libau and Windau (former capital of the Duchy of Kurland)[4]. In 1893 a naval port was built and its function as a naval base persisted through both World Wars In 1939 Libau had the largest Soviet military base in Latvia with an important submarine base[5]. By 1919 Libau had also developed new industries[6] and the now independent Latvian's renamed it Liepaja and temporarily used it as their headquarters in that year in their battles with the Bolsheviks[7].
On 31 January 1922 the Libau Bank (formerly the Libau Exchange Bank), which eventually became the fourth-largest of Latvia's joint stock banks, was founded.[8]
The port and city were taken by German forces during World War I, and during World War II the city suffered heavy damage.
Sources
- ↑ Kirby, David, Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period - The Baltic World 1492-1772, Longmans, London & New York, 1990, p.72-3. ISBN: 0-582-00410-1-X
- ↑ Kirby, 1990, p.244.
- ↑ Kirby, 1990, p.330.
- ↑ Hiden, John & Salmon, Patrick, The Baltic Nations and Europe, Longmans, London & New York, 1991, p.76, ISBN: 0-582-08246-3
- ↑ Hiden & Salmon, 1991, pps:112-3 & 134.
- ↑ Hiden & Salmon, 1991, p.14.
- ↑ Hiden & Salmon, 1001, p.33-4.
- ↑ Hiden, John, The Baltic States and Weimar Ostpolitik, Cambridge University Press, U.K., 1987, p.102, ISBN: 0-521-32037-2.
