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Rh long, the most important works are (from right to left) Chatillon, Manezel, Moulainville, Eix, Mardi Gras, Lanfee, Vaux and Hardimont. At right angles to this line, the south front, the works of which are placed along one of the long western spurs of the line of heights, are forts Rozellier, St Symphorien and Haudainville, the last overlooking the Meuse. The north front, also on a spur of the ridge, is thickly studded with forts, these in some cases being but 200 yds. apart and the left fort overlooking the Meuse. Behind the east front, chiefly designed to close the valley by which the Metz-Verdun railway penetrates the line of heights, are Fort Tavannes with its outworks and a series of batteries on the adjacent spurs. On the left bank of the Meuse there is a complete semicircle of forts. At the northern end of this semicircle (besides some works in the valley itself), and crossing its fire with the left of the north front, is Fort Belle-Epine, then comes Marre, Bourrus and Bruyeres, all four being on a single ridge facing N.W. The west front is composed of Fort Germonville, Fort Bois de Sartelles, Fort Bois du Chapitre, Fort Landrecourt and Fort Dugny, which last is within sight of Fort Haudainville over the Meuse. In second line behind these works are Fort Choisel, Chana redoubt and Fort Sartelles. In all there are 16 large forts and about 20 smaller works, the perimeter of the whole being about 30 m. and the greatest diameter of the fort-ring 9.

The chief quarter of the town lies on the slope of the left bank of the river and is dominated by the citadel which occupies the site of the old abbey of St Vanne founded in the 10th century. Several arms of the river intersect the quarter on the right bank. The whole town is surrounded by a bastioned enceinte, pierced by four gates; that to the N.E., the Porte Chaussee, flanked by two crenelated towers, is an interesting specimen of the military architecture of the 15th century. The cathedral of Notre-Dame stands on the site of two previous churches of the Romanesque period, the first of which was burnt down in 1047; a crypt and other remains of the second building consecrated in 1147 are still to be seen, but the greater part of the present church dated from subsequent periods. Built under the influence of Rhenish architecture, Notre-Dame has double transepts and, till the 18th century when the western apse was replaced by a façade, had an apse at each extremity. A fine cloister to the S.W. of the cathedral dates from the 15th century. The hôtel-de-ville (17th century) contains the museum.

Verdun is the seat of a bishop and a sub-prefect and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a communal college, ecclesiastical seminaries and a branch of the Bank of France. The industries include metal founding, the manufacture of sweetmeats (dragées de Verdun), machinery, nails, files, embroidery, linen, chairs and rope and the distillation of liqueurs. The canal port has trade in timber, agricultural produce, stone and building materials and coal.

Verdun (Verodunum), an important town at the time of the Roman conquest, was made a part of Belgica Prima. The bishopric, of which the most celebrated holder was St Vanne (498–525), dates from the 3rd century. Verdun was destroyed during the period of the barbarian invasions, and did not recover till towards the end of the 5th century. Clovis seized the town in 502, and it afterwards belonged to the kingdom of Austrasia. In 843 the famous treaty was signed here by the sons of Louis the Pious (see, History). In the 10th century Verdun was definitively conquered by Germany and put under the temporal authority of its bishops. Together with Toul and Metz, the town and its domain formed the territory of the Trois-Évêchés. In the 11th century the burghers of the now free and imperial town began a struggle with their bishops, which ended in their obtaining certain rights in the 12th century. In 1552 Henry II. of France took possession of the Trois-Évêchés, which finally became French by the treaty of Westphalia. In 1792, after some hours of bombardment, the citizens opened their gates to the Prussians—a weakness which the Revolutionary Government punished by the execution of several of the inhabitants. In 1870 the Prussians, unable to seize the town by a coup de main, invested and bombarded it three different times, till it capitulated in the beginning of November.

VERDY DU VERNOIS, JULIUS VON (1832– ), German general and military writer, was born in 1832 and entered the Prussian infantry in 1850. After some years of regimental service he came under the notice of Moltke, the newly appointed chief of the general staff, as an exceptionally gifted soldier, and at the outbreak of the war against Austria in 1866 he was appointed major on the staff of the II. Army (crown prince of Prussia). In this capacity he took part in the campaign on the upper Elbe and in the battle of Koniggratz. Promoted shortly after this to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he was in 1867 placed at the head of a section of the general staff, becoming thereby one of Moltke’s principal confidential assistants. In this capacity he served at the headquarters of the German army throughout the war of 1870–71, and he was frequently employed in the most important missions, as for instance on the 2nd of August, when he was sent to impress upon the III. Army headquarters the necessity of a prompt advancing into Alsace, and on the 26th of the same month, when he was sent to advise the crown prince of Saxony as to the strategical intentions of the supreme command at the crisis of the Sedan campaign. At the close of the war he continued to serve in the office of the general staff, and also lectured at the War Academy. It was in the latter position that he developed the system of thorough tactical education which is the abiding result of his work. His method may be studied in English translations of his Studies in Troop-leading, and may be summarized as the assumption of an actual military situation on the actual ground, followed by critical discussion of the successive measures that a commander, whether of a brigade, division or larger force, should take in the sequel, given his orders and his knowledge of the general situation. Moltke’s own series of tactical problems, extending from 1859 to 1889, contributed very powerfully, of course, to the education of the selected young officers who passed through Verdy’s hands, but Moltke dealt rather with a great number of separate problems, while Verdy developed in detail the successive events and ruling ideas of a whole day’s or week’s work in the same units. Moltke therefore may be said to have developed the art of forming correct ideas and plans, Verdy that of applying them, but these are after all merely tendencies, not sharply divided schemes, in the teaching of Prussian staff officers during the years of intellectual development between 1870 and 1888. In all this Moltke, Verdy and Bronsart von Schellendorf worked in close co-operation. In 1876 Verdy became a major-general, from 1879–1883 he held an important position in the ministry of war, and in 1881 he was promoted lieutenant-general. In 1887 he became governor of Strassburg, in 1888 general of infantry and in 1889 minister of war. He retired from the active list in 1890. In 1894 the university of Konigsberg made him a Dr. Phil, honoris causa.

VERE, the family of which is extolled by Macaulay as "the longest and most illustrious line of nobles that England has seen," appears to have derived the surname which the verse of Tennyson has made synonymous with ancient blood, from the little village of Ver near Bayeux. Its founder, Aubrey (Albericus) de Vere, appears in Domesday Book (1086) as the holder of a great fief in Essex, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. His son (or grandson) and namesake was a trusted officer of Henry I., from whom he received the hereditary office of great chamberlain in 1133. It was probably he who erected the noble tower which gave name to Castle Hedingham, Essex, the bead of his fief, and which stands as the finest example of a private Norman keep. Slain in 1141, he was succeeded by his son Aubrey, who had already become count of Guines, in right of his wife, on her