Editing Brest, France (section)

==History==
{{see also|Timeline of Brest, France}}
[[File:Carte de Brest - ca 1700 - Bibliothèque Nationale de France - Btv1b8439976x.jpg|thumb|left|Brest in {{Circa|1700}}]]
[[File:Vue du port de Brest.jpg|thumb|left|Painting of Brest harbour ([[Jean-François Hue]], 1793)]]

The name of the town is first recorded as ''Bresta''; it may derive from *''brigs'', a [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] word for "hill".<ref name="BrestCelticHill">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA247 | title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia | volume=1 | editor-first=John T. | editor-last=Koch | page=247 | date=2006 | publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] | location=[[Santa Barbara, California]] | isbn=1-85109-440-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/brest |title=Brest |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=9 July 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021020945/http://www.etymonline.com:80/word/Brest |archive-date=21 October 2017}}</ref>

Nothing definite is known of Brest before about 1240,{{Dubious|date=August 2011}} when [[Harvey V, Lord of Léon]] ceded it to [[John I, Duke of Brittany]]. In 1342 [[John IV, Duke of Brittany]] surrendered Brest to the English, in whose possession it was to remain until 1397.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Brest-France |title=Brest, France |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> This was strategically important to the English as it helped protect their communication with [[Gascony]].<ref name="Rodger 2004">{{cite book |last1=Rodger |first1=N.A.M. |title=The Safeguard of the Sea. A Naval History of Britain 660-1649 |date=2004 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=London |isbn=978-0-14-191257-8}}</ref>{{rp|page=102}} The importance of Brest in [[medieval]] times was great enough to give rise to the saying, "He is not the Duke of Brittany who is not the Lord of Brest." With the marriage of [[Francis I of France]] to [[Claude of France|Claude]], the daughter of [[Anne of Brittany]], the definitive overlordship of Brest – together with the rest of the duchy – passed to the [[French crown]] in 1491.<ref name="Britannica"/>

The advantages of Brest's situation as a seaport town were first recognized by [[Cardinal Richelieu]], who in 1631 constructed a harbour with wooden [[wharf|wharves]]. This soon became a base for the [[French Navy]]. [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]], finance minister under [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], rebuilt the wharves in masonry and otherwise improved the harbour. Fortifications by [[Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban|Vauban]] (1633–1707) followed in 1680–1688. These fortifications, and with them the naval importance of the town, were to continue to develop throughout the 18th century.

In 1694, an Anglo-Dutch squadron under [[John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton|Lord Berkeley]] was soundly defeated in its [[attack on Brest]].

During the [[repression of January and February 1894]], the gendarmes conducted raids targeting the [[Anarchism|anarchists]] living there, without much success.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=3 January 1894 |title=Les anarchistes |trans-title=The anarchists |work=La Dépêche |pages=2}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |date=2 January 1894 |title=Deux mille perquisitions |journal=L'Estafette |pages=2}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=3 January 1894 |title=Une série générale de perquisitions : résultat négatif des recherches |trans-title=A general series of raids: negative results |work=L'Éclair}}</ref> They notably surrounded the house of [[Régis Meunier]] with their bayonnets fixed.<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=3 January 1894 |title=Les anarchistes |trans-title=The anarchists |work=La Dépêche |pages=2}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |date=2 January 1894 |title=Deux mille perquisitions |journal=L'Estafette |pages=2}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite news |date=3 January 1894 |title=Une série générale de perquisitions : résultat négatif des recherches |trans-title=A general series of raids: negative results |work=L'Éclair}}</ref>

[[File:1858 Gustave Le Gray la batterie Royale à Brest.jpg|thumb|[[Gustave Le Gray]]: la batterie Royale à Brest, 1858]]

In 1917, during the [[First World War]], Brest was used as the disembarking port for many of the troops coming from the United States. Thousands of such men came through the port on their way to the front lines. The [[United States Navy]] established a [[naval air station]] on 13 February 1918 to operate [[seaplane]]s. The base closed shortly after the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]].<ref name=nan>{{cite book |last=Van Wyen |first=Adrian O. |title =Naval Aviation in World War I |url=https://archive.org/details/navalaviationinw00wash |publisher =Chief of Naval Operations |date =1969 |location =Washington, D.C. |page =[https://archive.org/details/navalaviationinw00wash/page/65 65]}}</ref>
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101II-MW-1019-07, Frankreich, Brest, Soldatenbordell.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|German soldiers entering a ''Soldatenbordell'' in Brest, France (1940). The building is a former [[synagogue]].]]

In the [[Second World War]], the [[Nazi Germany|Germans]] maintained a large [[U-boat]] [[submarine]] base at Brest. Despite being within range of RAF bombers, it was also a base for some of the German surface fleet, giving repair facilities and direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. For much of 1941, {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}}, {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} and {{ship|German cruiser|Prinz Eugen||2}} were under repair in the dockyards. The repair yard facilities for both submarines and surface vessels were staffed by both German and French workers, with the latter forming the major part of the workforce; huge reliance was made on this French component.{{efn|For example, by February 1941 only 470 German shipyard workers had arrived at Brest, whilst the Naval Arsenal had 6,349 French workers. Though work on capital ships was generally done by Germans, French employees worked extensively on submarines and the smaller military vessels in the surface fleet. German Navy reports indicate that this was a willing workforce and that there were no incidences of sabotage. As well as working on ship repairs, the French provided a significant fire-fighting force to help negate the effect of Allied air raids. This story is balanced by Resistance activity, such as that of Jean Philippon, a French Naval Lieutenant Commander who provided important ship movement intelligence to the Allies for more than a year. This espionage was a key component in the effectiveness of Allied air raids which ultimately led to the [[Channel Dash|removal of German capital ships to safer bases]].}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hellwinkel|first1=Lars|title=Hitler's Gateway to the Atlantic: German Naval Bases in France 1940–1945|date=2014|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|pages=Kindle location 1151–1369|edition=Kindle}}</ref>

In 1944, after the Allied [[invasion of Normandy]], the city was almost totally destroyed during the [[Battle for Brest]], with only a tiny number of buildings left standing. After the war, the [[West Germany|West German]] government paid several billion [[Deutschmark]]s in [[war reparations|reparations]] to the homeless and destitute civilians of Brest in compensation for the destruction of their city. Large parts of today's rebuilt city consist of utilitarian [[granite]] and concrete buildings. The French naval base now houses the [[Brest Naval Training Centre]].

During the postwar [[Nuremberg Trials]], a memorandum of German admiral and {{lang|de|[[Seekriegsleitung]]}} chief of staff [[Kurt Fricke]] from 1940 was given in evidence which suggested that the town should serve as a German enclave after the war.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-02/tgmwc-02-15-03.shtml |title=The Nizkor Project – Nuremberg Trials transcript |access-date=20 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126103200/http://nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-02/tgmwc-02-15-03.shtml |archive-date=26 January 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1972, the French Navy opened its [[nuclear weapon]]-submarine (deterrence) base at [[Île Longue]] in the ''Rade de Brest'' (Brest [[roadstead]]). This continues to be an important base for the French nuclear-armed [[ballistic missile]] submarines.

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] of Brest is divided in two: to the left, there's the [[Coat of arms of France|three fleurs-de-lis of the former kingdom of France]], and to the right it has the [[Ermine (heraldry)|ermines]] of the [[Duchy of Brittany]]. These arms were used for the first time in a register of deliberations of the city council dated the 15 July 1683{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}. Additionally, it looks visually identical to the coat of arms of [[Bourg-la-Reine]].