The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-03-29
ApRIANopLE SIEGE LONG
Allies Surrounded it on October 81
in Other Conflicts.

in Other Conflicts.
The defence of Adrianople has been
for the Turk the one development OF
the amazing war in the Balkans of
which the Ottoman may be proud. 1t
has also proved the fly In the allies
ointment.
AS Adrianople straddled across the
| line of communication of the Bulgars,
| who left 1t in their rear to push on to
Constantinople. so it has cropped up
as the stumbling block Of all the peace
conferences In St. James's Palace at
London.
| It has been besieged since Bahia
Esh fell on October II, and long be-
fore that It's Inhabitants could see the
smoke Of Bulgar cannon. Up to the
signing of the armistice on December
3 day and night in the ears of its In
habitants pounded the thunder of the
| guns OF its beleaguerers.
Daily throughout the war military
men predicted its fall. 1t was impos-
sible, they said, that the outpost of
the Ottoman in Europe could longer
withstand the drubbing that it's enc
mics were infiicting. There came
across the cables every day tales of
the misery of its starving inhabitants
stories that the garrison in revolt
had to be driven to the works, reports
that the city had been burned by fall
| ing shells at a hundred different
| points.
Yet in spite of it all Adrianople
stood a torment and perplexment to
the fighters of the little States victor
ious in all else
Compared to the sieges of modern
wars since our civil war the defence
of Adrianople stands out nobly. The
Defense Rationale of Paris lasted,
roughly, two months, or from the bat
tie of Columbus on November 8, 1869,
to the end of lie Mans, on January u,
1870. Ladysmith was in a state of
siege for four months, from about Oc-
tober 26, 1899, to February %, 1900.
Nogi commenced his battering of the
Port Arthur forts on July 30, 1904,
and Stroessel surrendered on the first
of the year 1905.
Wars and the terrors thereof are no
new thing for Adrianople. Built by
Hadrian, through a long series of cap
lures reprisals and beleagurements
its rise and fall have followed the sue
cesses and reversals of the Turk in
Europe. Its prosperous days follow
ed the conquests of the Byzantines,
when in 1861 it was for almost 100
years the home of the Sultans.
Then it had the pride of CONNER
cial supremacy. To it's markets came
the trade of Europe with the East
When the Russians occupied 1t in 49,
20 it began to decline though it still
retained some of its trade. The Rus
slams came down again in 1878 and
ravaged the city The great fire of
1905 destroyed much of its beauty.
Adrianople stands in the valley of
the loud roaring Martha River where
that turbulent stream joins the Tun-
ia and Arda, tumbling east from the
Rhodopes. II Is in a circle of low ly-
ing hills and to the north higher
mountains The Tunja, spanned by
bridge, divides the city in two parts
The Mosque of Selm, towering
above the city with its two 1.-THE min
arets, is the most beautiful specimen
of Turkish religious architecture and
is the first thing about the city that
caught the eyes of the Bulgar soldie-
ry coming hungrily on the city from
the north.
It's population before the siege was
estimated at $4,000, while that of the
whole vilayet to which it gives its
name was some 100000. The
Turks make up scarcely more than
half of the total population. In the
city are Greeks, Bulgars, Armenians
and Jews hating each other passion
ately, joined by their common hatred |
of the Turk
Long before the Bulgars poured |
over their boundary line for its invest |
ment Turkish troops were playing
their war games under the German |
Field Marshal Won der Glotz, with a |
view of just such a happening.
The defences were modernized and |
brought up to date with the advent of |
the Young Turks. The forts which |
the Turks have held so stubbornly lie |
along the right bank of the Martha.
guarding approach from the north.
along the valley of the Arda and |
along the Martha from the south.
The strongest of the forts were
thrown up between the Martha and |
the TUNA, with their guns pointing
to the north, whence always an at
tack has been expected. About 300 /
guns have been guarding the city,
most of them pieces of modern make.
AS soon as the Turkish garrison rea.
lized that a siege was near they
threw about the city a tangle of barb
ed wire defences, bewilderment of