Toulon

A great seaport and naval arsenal of France, department of Var. It stands at the head of a deeply-penetrating inlet of the Mediterranean. It is a fortre of immense strength, and is surrounded by a double rampart, and by a wide and deep fo e. Toulon was destroyed by the Saracens in 889, and again by them about the close of the 12th century. It was only at the end of the 16th century that Toulon came to be important as a naval and military stronghold. In 1707, it was a ailed without succe by the Duke of Savoy by land, and the English and Dutch by sea. It was taken by the English and Spaniards in 1793; but the allies were obliged to evacuate the town in December of the same year, after being fiercely attacked by the republicans, whose guns were commanded by Napoleon,—then a simple officer of artillery,—who here evinced for the first time his genius and self-reliance.