Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-09
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Verdun-"A sinister destiny seems to have selected Verdun as one of the rocks of history around which the storms of battle between France and Germany shall rage repeatedly" says a bulletin issued today by the Nation al Geographic Society, whose head quarters is in Washington.
 ''It was in this city, for the possess sion of which the greatest battle in the annals of civilized man has been waged for weeks, that the treaty was signed which divided the empire of Charlemagne and established the nucleus of Germany as a nation sep arate from France" continues the bull 1etin. "The Treaty of Verdun was ex- ecuted in the ninth century by the three grandsons of the great emperor. By it's provisions the Carolingian do- mains were partitioned, never again to be united under one ruler. That territory lying east of Rhine and in ciuding Bavaria, Franconia, Thuringia. Saxony and the districts around Spires, Worms and Mainz fell to the lot of Louis, who very properly is known to history as Louis the German, for he may be considered the real founder of the German empire. Lothair, the eldest son of Louis the Pious, Charle magne'S successor, assumed the title of emperor and secured the kingdom of Italy, together with Lorraine, Prov oDce ana LyOnnd1S. 10 SndrloS IElS Bald, half brother of Louis and Lo- thair, were allotted Aquitania, Neus- tria and that part of Spain which had been wrested from the Moors. To Charles fell the distinction of founding the French dynasty.
 But long before this treaty of 843, Verdun was assured a place on his tory's page. The basin on the banks of the Mouse was known in the days of the Roman empire as the camp of VirodunuTn. It was destroyed in the barbarian invasions which occurred during the decadence of the Caesars, and did not recover until the fifth cen tury. In 502 it was seized by Clovis, who, actuated by religious zeal, en- deavored to subjugate all the non Christian Frankish princes.
 "In the eleventh century Verdun, having become a German city, was the scene of a bitter struggle between the burghers and the bishops of that see, the former finally winning important concession. After the city had risen to the dignity of a free imperial town, it was captured by the French, in 1852, | and a hundred years later was formal l ly given to France, in whose posses | sion it has remained, with the ex- 1 ception of the two occasions when ii was besieged and conquered by the | Teutons.
 During the war of 17e2 verdun fell
 before the Germans after a battle last 1 ing only g, few hours. When the con- querors entered the town they were 1 hospitably received, the city fathers l having sent a group of beautiful young girls to greet the strangers and tc i offer them dragees, the eonfection fol 1 which the place was and still if 1 famous. The inhabitants paid dearly l for this remarkably cordial reception | of the enemies of France, for w11eT | the revolutionists regained the city 1 after the battle of Valmy, history telll
 us, three of these young girls were puf
 to death on the scaffold.
 Far different from the resistance l which Verdun offered to the Prus
 sians in the war of 1870. For three weeks the invaders rained hail O.
 lead and iron upon the city nestlinG
 among the vine-clad hills, the higi
 ground being utilized by the Germans l as points of vantage from which t
 operate their artillery. The be 1 leagured town finally surrended, bu
 France had learned a, valuable lessor
 and almost immediately after peac
 was declared the construction of forti
 ffcations began, soon raising the cit.
 to fortress of the first class, with
 thirty mile ring of sixteen large fort 1 and twenty smaller works. On tn northern heights the intervals betweel forts in some places are not more tha,
 two hundred yards.
 When Il0SAAhI4eS began III Au@uS 1914, Verdun was a town of abou
 20.0O0 inhabitants. more than thir
 of whom were soldiers.
 II ''The city lies in the valley of tn
 Mouse, ITS miles from Paris, by raj and only 42 miles from the strongl fortified German city of Metz Befor the war the chief articles Of manu fracture were hardware. confect1onI } 1 leather goods and liqueurs.
 Among Verdun's proudest posses
 sfons are four cannon occupying place of honor in the gardens of tn 3 hotel de vile. They were presente sl to the citizens by the government { France in recognition of the heroic re : sistance of 1870 It is interesting 1 ! surmise what the French republic wi | give Ver1un In token of her UT !. lsna "a q azasssta ancs-i -1ezs.'s