The Alaska daily empire., 1915-08-31
DUNI.LA IS
 FOURyH SEAPORT
 or FRENCH NATION

... NN H.NN"N.|" W| """" line ever since tho iah ol Antwerp. is described n tho war primer issued by tho National Georgraphical Society as follows:
 Dunkirk the fourth seaport Of France has been an important strong. hold from the days when lt was fordled by Baldwin uL. Count of Flanders. in Che 10th Century, and, due to its peculiar military value it has been the stom center of many European troubles, changing masters as the strife for the continental chan mel coast ran in favor of the first one and then tho other Tho kings of France disputed tho possession of tho town with the counts of Elan ders Condo captured Dunkirk in l6l6 for his master, Louis XIVs and tho Spaniards took the place again in 1852. Austria held t.
 A Commercial Promlse
 ''The Frenchmon. the Angio-Sox- on. the Dutchman and Che Germans included Che dune country in which Dunlirk lay among their prominent Inspirations. Tho commercial and military value Of Antwerp and Rotter- dam was then unguessed Duulirk was geographically. commercially and politically central, commercial promise and o naval advantage to the power holding it In 165Sl Marshall Tmenne beat the spaniarda hero, and with him fought 5000 Of Crom- wells Ironsides. The battle Of the Dunes was almost as rcd and violent as are the relentless struggles now going on amid the gray wastes and sandy ridges
 "The port was ceded to England, and Che English strengthened it and built @ citadel there. Louis XIV pur- chased it for France from tho im- poverished Charles IT,, paying about S1.00O,000 In the struggles which fol- lowed between France and England, ! Dunkrk became the center or war of privateers on English trade work ing such significant damage upon the island kingdom that the English in- sisted upon tho destruction of the harbor and Notifications as part of the terms Of the Peace of Utretcht in l1713 The English repeated this de- mand at the Peace of Paris in 1798. the English forces under the Duke of York laid @ determined but unsuccess- ful siege to the port.
 "Dunkirk is Q fortress of the first class, and it is a central point in 8 complete net of fortresses. Calais, ! Gravelines, Bergues, and Bourbourg, form a triangle of strongholds. with ! Dunkirk at the apex, whose fronts pro. tect ehcoast and the approach from Belgium A chain Of forts stretch to the east from Dunldrl to cover the movements of a defending army The forts are surrounded and crossed by an intricate system of canals and wa. terways. and to strengthen them, the who surrounding country con be in. undated The water defences make this line an but impregnable With an Che dune country awash and dom. inted by powerful batteries. the port of Dunkirk offers Q difficult military problem
 "The port is situated in the depart. ment or Nord, 155 miles north of Par is, and 2S miles northeast Of Calais, lt is 53 miles northwest of Lille, one of Che great French industrial towns back of the German lines Dixmude, on the German front, is scarcely more than 20 miles away. The surrounding country is low. broken by sand ridg. es, fertile in stretches. cut in an di. rections by canals, and in general terribly monotonous. The city be- fore the war, had a well-to-do popula. tion of 3S,0O0. The harbor Is highly improved, consisting Of a number of inner basins and great floating docks in the roadstead, where the largest ships are handled
 Has Excellent Canals
 'Dunkirk contested third place up. on the French line Of ports hotly with Bordeaux. The excellent canal and railway connections linked it with the manufacturing centers of Belgium and Northern France. The coal lands of Nord and Pasde-Calais. tho rich az. ricultural districts of Flanders and Ar. tois. and the humming factory towns of Lille, Roubaix, Valenciennes. Arm. entieres and Tourcoing poured their surpluses into this city in times of peace It did an annual import and export trade to the value of S15O.000.. 900, shipping sugar beels, coal, cer, calls wool. forage, cement. textiles and iron manufactures, phosphates tools, machinery and vegetables. It had growing textile and steel indus tries It maintained communication with the chief ports of the United Kingdom, the New York and adjacent American harbors ports of South America and the Orient and imported wool iute. flax, petroleum. cotton timber metal ores and chemical pro. ducts. It's herring and cod fisheries were important. Altogether, the fa. nous old fortress was forging to the front among great commercial sea. ports when the disastrous world war broke which has halted its business and again centered the military at- tention of the world upon it"
 c-,--t-
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