San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-01-10
NOTIFICATIONS.

The only fortress of consequence in
Denmark is the capital, Copenhagen.
The Phoenicians were the first to
erect fortified cities on the Mediter-
ranean sea.
The strongest fortress in European
Russia is COnstadt. 1t is the Rus
sian naval depot of the Baltic sea.
The Greek emperors erected strong
walls from the Greek Archipelago to
the Danube to protect the peninsula
against the .barbarians.
Cortes, at Tabasco, found stOckades
so strongly built that he was forced
to employ artillery against them in
order to effect breach.
The five principal fortresses in Bull
garia are at Rutschuk, Silistria, and
Widden, on the Danube; Varna, on the
Black sea. and Shumla, in the interior.
Offa's Dixie was a defensive wall
built by the Romans against the
Welsh. 1t was an earthen fortifica-
ton, 113 miles long. and entirely cut
off Wales from England.
In the second century a formidable
line of Notifications was constructed
by the Roman emperors from the up
per Danube to the upper Rhine to
keep out the Germans.
The city and the tower which the
sons of Noah proposed to build were
the earliest recorded instances of for
LITIGATION. The tower, in this case,
was undoubtedly a citadel.
Long-range cannon have effected
considerable modification in defens-
i've works. just as long-range rifles
and smokeless powder will work n
revolution in military tactics.
Trajan and subsequent emperors
built a line of walls from the Black
sea to the Caspian to protect Asia Mi
nor, and another line from the in
trenchment to the river Euphrates.
When Darius made his expedition
against the Scythians, while conquer
ing a road around the Black sea, he
found stockades very generally en-
ployed as a defense by these people.
The Notifications of Vicksburg, At
lanta and other points in the south,
were of earthworks, hastily construc-
ted, though the positions chosen were
generally of great natural strength.
The principal fortresses of AustTo-
Hungary are Cracow, PrZemysl, Karls-
burg, Arad, Temesvar, KOmorn, Pc
terwardein, Buda-Pesth, Pola and
Trieste the two last naval harbors as
we'll
The parapet projected over the top
of the wall, and, pierced with holes to
enable the besieged to attack the enc
my close to the foot of the wall, was
almost contemporaneous with the
wall.
The first system of modern fortif-
cation, that is, after the invention OF
artillery, was that of the Bastian or
Italian system, a bastian being the
military work consisting of two faces
and two TANKS.
Little Belgium has several first-class
fortresses; Antwerp, and the fortified
towns of Dendermonde and Diest, on
the Mense, Iiege, Huy and Namur,
and ON the French frontier, Mons,
Tourney and Ypres.
The principal defense of the Dutch
in the war with Alva was found in the
character of their country. Small
bastions, long curtain walls and very
wide bitches filled with water were
the. characteristics of a Dutch forti-
fication.
The Ql1efence between IL ioIl anu
a fortress lies in the fact that the for
mer is designed TO contain solely the
garrison and their munitions, while
the latter is often city containing
large number of non-combatants.
The next step in advance, after the
stockade. was the erection of walls OF
masonry, and from the time of the
foundation of Nineveh and Babylon,
or from 5000 B. c., this mode of de
Tense has been the favorite in all parts
of the world.
Many writers, both speculative and
of military art and science, have call
ed in question the value of permanent
fortifications, but every great soldier
has regarded them of the highest util-
ity and necessary to the defense of
country.
Francsehas. on the German frontier.
three first-class -Belfort.
Verdun and Briancon; on the Belgian