The first Rebbe of Chabad, R. Schneur Zalman (known as the Alter Rebbe), served as preacher in the town of Liozna (in present-day Belarus) from 1783 until 1801. In that year, R. Schneur Zalman was imprisoned for a second time in Petersburg, due to trumped-up charges presented by his opponents to the government. After his release, he relocated to Liadi (also in Belarus), where he continued leading his followers and teaching the philosophy of Chabad. He remained in Liadi until 1812, when he and his family fled eastward from the oncoming French forces of Napoleon.
Under the leadership of R. Schneur Zalman’s son, R. DovBer, in 1814 the seat of the Chabad movement was transferred to the town of Lubavitch (in Russia near the Belarussian border). It remained there for over 100 years, until 1915, when the fifth Chabad Rebbe, R. Sholom DovBer, fled from Lubavitch to Rostov in face of the advancing German army during World War I.
Link: The Life and Times of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi: A Timeline
Animals do not gaze in wonder at the stars and angels are confined to the realm of the spirit, but the human being is G‑d’s bridge between heaven and earth.
Our bodies are formed from the dust; our souls are of the essence of G‑d. We alone can look at a physical world and see spiritual life and beauty. We who are beyond both heaven and earth, form and matter, spirit and body—we alone can fuse the two.