Usti nad Labem

Usti is situated in a mountainous district, at the confluence of the Bilina and the Elbe, and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction. It is the birthplace of the painter Anton Raphael Mengs.

Usti is mentioned as a trading centre as early as 993. The city was founded by Ottokar II in the latter part of the 13th century. At 1423 it was pledged by King Sigismund to the elector Frederick of Meissen, who occupied it with a Saxon garrison, of 1426 it was besieged by the Hussites, who on June 16, though only 25,000 strong, defeated a German army of 70,000, which had been sent to its relief, with great slaughter. The town was stormed and sacked next day. After lying waste for three years, it was rebuilt in 1429. It suffered much during the Thirty Years' and Seven Years' Wars. Not far from Usti is the village of Chlumec, where, on the 29th and 30th of August 1813, a battle took place between the French under Vandamme and an allied army of Austrians, Prussians and Russians. The French were defeated, Vandamme surrendered with his army of 10,000 men.

This entry is based on an article from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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