Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-13
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

ronstadt-krOnStadt chief city of the Hungarian province of Transyl- Va1ia and greatly coveted by Rou-
 mania is the subject of the following war geography issued by the National Geographic Society from it's Wash ington headquarters:
 fKronstadt, frequently designated in guide books and in aliases by it's Hungarian name of Brasso, and known to Roumanians as Brasov, was one Of the first important OBjectives Of the invading Rournaniar army entering the Hungarian province of Transyl vania by way of the TOrnos Pass. It is hourishing city of 40,GQO irhabi- which has only one outlct-toward the
 northwest, leading to the fertile and picturesque Burzen plain.
 The Hungarian and Roumanian
 State Railway from Budapest to Buch- areSt passes through the city which is only eight miles in an airline north of the international boundary but IS miles from Predeal (the first Rou- manian station) by rail.
 With it's four quarters--the Inner Town, or business center; the Old Town, the oldest quarter but now re-
 built and unimportant; Bolouya, the manufacturing section; and the Upper Suburb, inhabited chiefly by Rou- manians-krorstad is one of the
 most interesting and picturesque
 eastern cities of the dual monarchy, as well as the commercial and manu- featuring center of Pennsylvania. Up to tie very day of the declaration or war by Roumania it carried on a brisk trade with that country. Among it's many industries are wCllen ruiIls leather and dye works, copper and iron foundries, cement and paper fac tories, and petroleum refineries. One Of the unique speciaIties of the town is the manufacture of wooden bottles used extensively by Hungarian and Roumanian peasants.
 The glamour of the Crusades em- belllShes the early history of Kron- stadt for it was founded by the Teu- tonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital at Jerusalem, more widely known as
 the Teutonic Order one of the three great military and religious orders which resulted from the attempts of Chrlstendom to wrest the Holy Sepul- chre from efTe SaracenS. This power full order had its beginning in efforts to amelforate the suffering which at tended the siege of Acre, one of the leading operations of the Third Cru sade. Here during the winter of 119O
 a group of deyout Bremen merchants secured an ol dship, heached it and converted it into a hospital for the wounded and plague-stricken soldiers From this charitable undertaking orig mated the order which, unlike the
 
 distinctly national in character. After | the founders had been ennooled a rule was established whereby only Ger mans of noble birth were admitted. Ten years after the founding of the order the knights received from King Andrew of Hungary the district of Burzenland in appreciation of their aid in suppressing the Humans. Tn | the same year Kronstadt was settled and immediately began to flourish. ! with numerous subsidiary villages springing up on the nearby Burzen plain.
 One of the most hallowed build ings in the city is the famous Prot estant' Church. faniliarly called the Black Church, because its interior was l hopelessly blackened by the smoke of the destructive conf1agration of 1889.
 Tn was in this church. which was built
 in the first quarter of the fifteenth
 century, that the great Apostle of tIra nsylvania, Johannes Honter'us E El1498- 1549), a native son, preached the doctrines of the, Reformation It was LIFonterus also who established the
 first printing press in Pennsylvania. "The valley in which Kronstadt re- FpoSes is dominated by the lofty pZinpe
 whichttowers 1900 feet about the town
 and which commands a magnificent view of; the surrounding country in all directions On the summit is Mill
 enium Monument erected 90 years ago
 to celebrate tke rhousandth anniver- ! sary of the founding of Hungary Southwest of the town, on the out
 skirts near the Rournanian quarter is Salononsfelsen, or Solomons Rock, with a cevern in which the Hungarian I King Solomon is supporsed to have lived in hiding for a time after his defeat by the Bulgarians in the elev- enth century, more than a hundred years sbefore the birth of the city"