Smolensk

Smolensk, a town of Russia, and an important railway centre, is situated on steep declivities overlooking the river Dnieper, 244 miles by rail W. by S. of Moscow. It is one of the oldest towns in the empire, having been a place of note in the 9th century, is surrounded by massive walls (now falling into ruin), has a cathedral of the 17th and 18th centuries, and was from the 14th century a powerful fortress, and as such an object of contention between the princes of Lithuania and Poland on the one side and of Moscow on the other. Here the Russians, under Barclay de Tolly and Bagration, were repulsed by Napoleon, August 17, 1812, when on his march for Moscow. Pop. 34,348.—The government has an area of 21,632 sq. m. and a pop. of 1,278,117. Almost all the land is farmed by peasant communes.