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BITSCH (Fr. Bitche)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 13 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BITSCH (Fr. Bitche) , a See also:town of See also:Germany, in See also:Alsace-See also:Lorraine, on the See also:Horn, at the See also:foot of the See also:northern slope of the See also:Vosges between See also:Hagenau and See also:Saargemund. Pop. (1905) 4000. There are a See also:Roman See also:Catholic and a See also:Protestant See also:church, a classical school and an See also:academy of forestry. The See also:industries include See also:shoe-making and See also:watch-making, and there is some See also:trade in See also:grain and See also:timber. The town of Bitsch, which was formed tut of the villages of Rohr and Kaltenhausen in the 17th See also:century, derives its name from the old stronghold (mentioned in 1172 as Bytis Castrum) See also:standing on a See also:rock some 250 ft. above the town. This had See also:long given its name to the countship of Bitsch, which was originally in the See also:possession of the See also:dukes of Lorraine. In 1297 it passed by See also:marriage to See also:Eberhard I. of See also:Zweibrucken, whose See also:line became See also:extinct in 1569, when the countship reverted to Lorraine. It passed with that duchy to See also:France in 1766. After that date the town rapidly increased in See also:population. The citadel, which had been constructed by See also:Vauban on the site of the old See also:castle after the See also:capture of Bitsch by the See also:French in 1624, had been destroyed when it was restored to Lorraine in 1698.

This was restored and strengthened in 1740 into a fortress that proved impregnable in all succeeding See also:

wars. The attack upon it by the Prussians in 1793 was repulsed; in 1815 they had to be content with blockading it; and in 1870, though it was closely invested by the Germans after the See also:battle of See also:Worth, it held out until the end of the See also:war. A large See also:part of the fortification is excavated in the red See also:sandstone rock, and rendered See also:bomb-See also:proof; a See also:supply of See also:water is secured to the See also:garrison by a deep well in the interior.

End of Article: BITSCH (Fr. Bitche)

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