Veretskyi Pass or Verecke Pass (, more formally: , also known as: ; ) is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, one of the most important passes of the Inner Eastern

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

Location

The pass is located in the

just where the

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

s of

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Transcarpathia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

meet, on the spine of the Northeastern Carpathians, between the Latorica (or Latorytsia) and Opir river valleys and at the river divide or watershed between the Latorytsia and the

Stryi Stryi (, ; ) is a city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the left bank of the Stryi (river), Stryi River, approximately south of Lviv in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It serves as the administrative center of Stryi R ...

. It has an elevation of 841 meters.

History

The pass has been well-traveled for more than a millennium. In 895 the Hungarian tribes entered the

Carpathian Basin The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorphologic ...

and during the next century established the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. In 1241 the main army of the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

crossed the pass into the

. In 1703, when Francis Rákóczi II came back from exile at

Berezhany Castle Berezhany Castle (, Berezhans'kyi zamok, ), around which the modern town of Berezhany has sprung up, was built on an island in the Zolota Lypa River in the 1530s and 1540s by Mikołaj Sieniawski as the main residence of the Sieniawski family, Sien ...

in present-day Ukraine, he traveled across Veretskyi Pass into the Hungarian Plain to assume leadership in an anti-

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

uprising which became known as

Rákóczi's War of Independence Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–1711) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Royal Hungary, Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by F ...

.Magocsi, Paul Robert: With Their Backs to the Mountains. A History of Carpathian Rus' and Carpatho-Rusyns. CEU Press, 2015 In 1914 during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the pass saw heavy fighting between Austrian-Hungarian troops and those of Tsarist

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the pass was the scene of further battles; the remains of the defensive fortifications of the Árpád Line can still be seen today. Since 1980 the pass has been bypassed by major highways. In 2008, the Hungarian government received permission from the Ukrainian government to install a monument to the passing of the Hungarian peoples into the future Hungary (in 895). The monument was designed by Hungarian sculptor Péter Matl (Петро Матл) who was born in Mukachevo.

References

External links

* See a photo and map a
Panoramio
{{Authority control Mountain passes of the Carpathians Mountain passes of Ukraine

Location

History

See also

References

External links