Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Wissembourg

WISSEMBOURG, a French town, close to the frontier of the Bavarian palatinate; until 1919 a town in the German district of Lower Alsace; on the Lauter, 42 miles N. N. E. of Strassburg. It grew up round a 7th-century Benedictine abbey, and in 1677-1697 was ceded to France. Here was fought, on Aug. 4, 1870, the first great battle of the Franco-Prussian War, in which the Germans were victorious. The Lines of Wissembourg, originally made by Villars in 1706, are famous &mdash; a line of works extending to Lauterburg 9 miles S. E. Like the fortifications of the town, those of the lines have now disappeared. Pop. about 7,500.