Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-11
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Siiistria-one of Roumania's stfong- holds on the Danube which fell before the Bulgarians and Germans under Field Marshal von Mackensen in their drive through the Dobr7idja, but which. according to recent reports, the con- qlerors have been forced to evacuate. is the14 snbjset of the following var geography bulletin issued by the Na- tional Geographic Society:
 Up to three years ago. when Ro,- mania acquired from Bulgaria exfen- sive territory in the DcbrudJa region War, Eilistria, tl miles down the Dnu- ube from Rustchuk. was q Bule4t1an border. city situated in the corner formed by the Danube. on the north and the Roumsnia Bulgaria boundary line on the northeast. Today 1t is
 more than 40 miles within kounnanian bounds.
 .4The town. which in 1908, had I2.- 900 inhabitants, half Of whom were Buigars and q third Turks, occupies. . low peninsula which Juts out into the Danube. The surrounding region is extremely fertile. supporting prosperous looking vineyards and tobacco plan tations, but 1t is handicapped bg a scarcity of water, the natives ffe-
 quently exeavatfns pits to catch the II. | wines, and wood, while milling. tanning and weaving are the principal indus tries. One of the curiosft1es Of the town Is a subterranean cavern called the Roumbata where the inhabitants have been wont to seek safety during | the numerous bombardments to which the community has been subjected in modern times, for, up to 1878, when l the fortilcations were razed in con- l fornity with a provision of the Treaty | s,fx x1r<> y.r. full strongholds of the famous Buigan-
 an .quadrilateral.' the other forts being | RustchulS, Varna, and Shunaia- From the days of ancient Rome Sfl- l istria has been an important strate-
 gie point, its name under the empire i being DurostoruTn, one of the flourish ing cities of Moesia Inferior.
 'HThe city under its present name did not acquire a place in world history
 until the first year of the reign of Autocrat of the Greeks. title which l the monarch assumed and defended | during his sway of 34 years. It was 1 under this prince that Bulgaria ex- ] perienced her golden age, assuming a | rank among the civilized nations of the earth according to the historian Gib-
 bon. who added that the glory of the Bulgarians was confined 10 a narrow scope both of time and place
 Simeon, upon succeeding his father Bodis I, found a pretext for war with the Greeks in the fact that their cTi- Eperor, Leo the Philosopher, had granted to two rapacious subjects the exclusive right to trade with Bulgarian I towns. Hostt.lties were declared and the forces of Simeon easily defeated
 the yzantines, the Bulgar prince showing his contempt for his adversary by releasing his prisoners of war and
 sending them back to their sovereign after having first cut off their noses.
 "Sumoning the wild Magyars 10 their aid, the Greeks soon turned the tables on the rebel. When driven from his capital. Preslav, Simeon took refuge in Silistria which he defended with
 signal success, although he was power less to check the Magyars who ravagec the surrounding country up to the very outskirts of the city. Simeon was not
 pilagers were busy on one of theil
 forays the Bulgarians descended upon ! the undefended Magyar villages butchering or carrying into captivity T the returning fathers and husbands 'l found their homes desolated they } abandoned the religion, migrating
 westward and founding the future
 kingdom of Hungary.
 When Simeon died in 327 he was succeeded by his son Peter, a weak ling who was unable to hold the em- pire together. Forty years after his accession to the throne this ruler was i, attacked from the south by the Greeks and from the north by the Russians the latter now making their first ap- pearance on Bulgarian soil under the
 bold, hardy warrior, Prince Sviatos1av whose food was horsef1esh and whose bed a bearskin thrown upon the ground.
 'fSviatoslav stormed and captured Silistria and for four years the city remained in his possession, but at the I end of that time he was himself at
 tackled by the Byzantines, who, though ? they had invited him to enter Bulgaria as their ally, were opposed to his re- ] heroic resistance for three months the prince was forced to evacuate the coveted stronghold. While on his re treat to his native capital, kieff, ht was attacked by the savage Pat. 5 zinaSitai tribe and, being captured by
 meted out to the Byzantine emperor
 Nicephorus who fell into the hands O. , the Bulgarian chief krum centur! , and a half previously--his head wal
 cut off and his skull converted int a goblet from which the victor dranl
 in celebration of his success.
 "Silistria came into possession of th' . Turks through the victory of tn 2 2 vizier Ali Pasba in 1888, and unde Ottoman rule the town f1ourished, be | coming for time the chief city O . | the lower Danube.
 During the nineteenth century Sil istria changed hands many times il \ the numerous Russo-Turkish wars Y When it became a possession of tn . Czar in 1929 it had twice the popula . | tion of which it boasts noT, but afte . seven years of Russian occupancy, dur ing which time 1t was held as pledg a 1 for the. payment of Turkeys war debt < 1 the population had dwindled to one V sixth it's former proportions.
 'In the Crinean war the Turks sue f cessfully defended the fortress agains r Alexanders armies, but in 1877 1t wa d finally evacuated and the foliowin
 year was ceded to Bulgaria, in who's
 possession it remained until AugusE
 1913, when, by the terms of the Treat
 of Bucharest, 1t became the propert
 of the canny Roumanians."