Vienna (1874-80, 1881-95) and published works such as Inquiry into Sense Psychology (1907) and The Classification of Psychological Phe¬ nomena (1911).
Brescia Vbra-sha, 'bre-shoV ancient Brixia City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 187,865), Lombardy region, northern Italy. Originally a Celtic stronghold, it was occupied by the Romans c. 200 bc and became the seat of a Roman colony in 27 bc. It was devastated by the Goths (ad 412) and plundered by Attila (452). It was a free city from 936 to 1426. It passed to Venice, France, and Austria before being united with Italy in 1860. Historic struc¬ tures include Roman ruins and 11th- and 17th-century cathedrals. The art treasures in its numerous churches include works by painters of the 15th- and 16th-century Brescia school.
Breshkovsky, Catherine (b. 1844—d. Sept. 12, 1934, near Prague, Czech.) Russian revolutionary. After becoming involved with the Narod¬ nik (or Populist) revolutionary group in the 1870s, she was arrested and exiled to Siberia for the years 1874-96. In 1901 she helped organize the Socialist Revolutionary Party, and her involvement again led to her arrest and exile to Siberia (1910-17). Though she became known as the “little grandmother of the Revolution,” she opposed the Bolsheviks after their 1917 victory and emigrated to Prague.
Breslau See Wroclaw
Breslin, Jimmy orig. James Earl Breslin (b. Oct. 17, 1929, Jamaica, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. columnist and novelist. During his long news¬ paper career Breslin became known as a tough-talking voice of his native Queens, a working-class New York City borough. He started as a copy- boy, then established himself as a sportswriter; later, as a syndicated col¬ umnist and contributor to numerous publications, he wrote with passion and personal involvement on politics and social issues, often focusing on injustice and corruption. He won a 1986 Pulitzer Prize for newspaper col¬ umns championing ordinary citizens. Among his books are the novel The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (1969).
Bresson, Henri Cartier- See Henri Cartier-Bresson
Bresson \br3-'so n \, Robert (b. Sept. 25, 1901, Bromont-Lamonthe, Puy-de Dome, France—d. Dec. 18, 1999) French film director. He worked as a painter and photographer before making his first film in 1934. His feature-length Les Anges du peche (1943) established his austere, intel¬ lectual style. Noted for intense psychological probing and the subordina¬ tion of plot to visual imagery, he also directed The Diary of a Country Priest (1950), A Man Escaped (1956), Pickpocket (1959), Balthazar (1966), Lancelot of the Lake (1974), and L’Argent (1983).
Brest-Litovsk Vbrest-li-'tofskV, Treaty of (March 3, 1918) Peace treaty signed at Brest-Litovsk (now in Belarus) by the Central Powers with Soviet Russia, concluding hostilities between those countries in World War I. Russia lost the Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Fin¬ land by signing the treaty, which was later annulled by the Armistice.
Bretigny \bra-ten-'ye. Treaty of (1360) Treaty between England and France that ended the first phase of the Hundred Years' War. Marking a serious setback for the French, the treaty was signed after Edward the Black Prince defeated and captured John II of France at the Battle of Poitiers (1356). The French ceded extensive territories in northwestern France to England and agreed to ransom John at a cost of three million gold crowns, while King Edward III renounced his claim to the French throne. The treaty failed to establish a lasting peace, and the war began again in 1369.
Breton Xbrs-'touV Andre (b. Feb. 18, 1896, Tinchebray, France—d. Sept. 28, 1966, Paris) French writer, critic, and editor. In 1919 he helped found the Dada magazine Litterature. Influenced by psychiatry and the Symbolist movement, he wrote poetry using the automatic-writing tech¬ nique. In 1924 his Manifeste du surrealisme provided a definition of Sur¬ realism, of which he was the chief promoter. In the 1930s he joined and then broke with the Communist Party; in 1938 he founded the Federation de l’Art Revolutionnaire Independant with Leon Trotsky in Mexico. He spent World War II in the U.S. and returned to France in 1946. His Poemes appeared in 1948. He also wrote essays, works of criticism, and novels, including Nadja (1928).
Breton \'bre-t 3 n\ language Celtic language spoken in Brittany in France. It was introduced in the 5th-6th centuries by immigrants from southern Britain. Breton is attested in glosses in Latin manuscripts of the 8th-10th centuries, but no continuous text is known before the 15th cen¬ tury. The modem language is divided into four groups of very diverse
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Bretton Woods Conference ► Bricker I 273
dialects; this disunity has hindered efforts to form orthographic and lit¬ erary standards. Though Breton may have half a million speakers, use of the language is generally thought to be in sharp decline among younger people despite a resurgence of regional particularism in western Europe.
Bretton Woods Conference officially United Nations Mon¬ etary and Financial Conference (July 1-22, 1944) Meeting held at Bretton Woods, N.H., to make financial arrangements for the postwar era after the expected defeat of Germany and Japan. Representatives of 44 countries, including the Soviet Union, agreed to create the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the Interna¬ tional Monetary Fund. See also John Maynard Keynes.
bretwalda \bret-'wal-d3\ or brytenwalda \ l bri-t3n-'wal-d3\ Any of several Anglo-Saxon kings with lordship over kingdoms beyond their own. Used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the title probably means “ruler of the Britons.” It was given to Egbert (died 839) of Wessex and to seven earlier kings: Aelle of Sussex (fl. late 5th century), Ceawlin of Wessex (died 593), Aethelberht of Kent (died 616), Raedwald of East Anglia (died 616/27), Edwin of Northumbria (died 632), Oswald of Northumbria (died 641), and Oswiu of Northumbria (died 670).
Breuer Vbroi-orV Marcel (Lajos) (b. May 21, 1902, Pecs, Hung.—d. July 1, 1981, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Hungarian-U.S. architect and furni¬ ture designer. He studied and then taught at the Bauhaus (1920-28), where in 1925 he invented the famous tubular steel chair. He moved to Cam¬ bridge, Mass., in 1937 to teach at Harvard University and practice with Walter Gropius. Their synthesis of Bauhaus internationalism with New England regional wood-frame building greatly influenced domestic archi¬ tecture throughout the U.S. He was one of the most influential exponents of the International Style. His major architectural commissions include UNESCO’s Paris headquarters (1953-58) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (1966).
Brewer, David J(osiah) (b. June 20, 1837, Smyrna, Ottoman Empire—d. March 28, 1910, Washington, D.C., U.S.) U.S. jurist. Born to U.S. missionaries, he grew up in Connecticut and practiced law in Kan¬ sas from 1858. He served in local judgeships (1861-70), on the state supreme court (1870-84), and on the federal circuit court. Appointed by Pres. Benjamin Harrison to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1889, he generally joined conservatives in resisting the trend toward increased federal power and responsibility. In 1895-97 he led the panel that settled the boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana.
Brewster, William (b. 1567, England—d. April, 1644, Plymouth, Mass.) Anglo-American Puritan leader of Plymouth Colony in Massachu¬ setts. He studied briefly at the University of Cambridge and became leader of a small Puritan congregation at Scrooby. Government persecution forced Brewster and his followers to emigrate to Holland in 1608, and he printed religious books in Leiden. In 1620 he joined the first group of Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower on the voyage to North America. When the colonists landed at Plymouth, Brewster became the senior elder of the colony, serving as its religious leader and as an adviser to Gov. William Bradford.