Bathers in the Berezina river near Barysau

Berezina river (alternative spelling "Beresina") (Belarusian: Бярэ́зіна) is a river in Belarus, a tributary of the Dnepr river.

The Berezina Preserve by the river is in the Unesco list of Biosphere Preserves .

Cities and towns by Berezina

• Babruysk
• Barysau
• Svetlahorsk

Historical significance

• Napoleon Bonaparte's army suffered big losses when crossing Berezina in November 1812, retreating from Russia (see Napoleon's invasion of Russia). Since then "Berezina" is used in French as a synonym of catastrophe. see for visual graphic of the army's fate

• Charles XII of Sweden army crossed Berezina on June 25, 1708 where he won first major battle with Peter the Great but eventually lost the war at Poltava. (see ISBN 0306808633 for details)