Maubeuge
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
France, a fortification of the first class on both sides of the Sambre river. Once the capital of Hainault, it passed to France in 1678. Was invested by a Prince of Saxe-Coburg in 1793, but was relieved in the battle of Wattignies. Population before the European War 25,120. A key point in 1914, when the German army drive was made toward Paris, owing to its position as the junction of several important railways; from Paris to Brussels by way of Mons; Paris to north Germany and a line to the eastern frontier. The Germans held Liège and Namur, and the conquest conquest of Maubeuge would give them a good line of communication by rail to Aix through the Meuse valley. Just before the Germans invested the fort the garrison had been reinforced by detachments from Lanrezac's French army and a British field battery and numbered over 30,000 men. The Germans having smashed all the outlying forts took possession of Maubeuge on Sept. 7, 1914. MAUCH (mâk) CHUNK, a town and county-seat of Carbon co., Pa., on the Lehigh river, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's canal, and on the Central of New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley railroads; 46 miles W. by N. of Easton. It marks the extreme boundary of the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania; is famous for its striking natural scenery; and in the summer is visited by thousands of tourists. The coal is now carried through a tunnel, but was formerly transported to Mauch Chunk by a gravity railroad known as the Switchback, which has become famous as an exciting pleasure route for tourists. The town contains a county building, Y. M. C. A. building, the Dimmick Memorial Library, electric street railroad, electric lights, National banks, and several daily and weekly newspapers. It has a number of foundries, a shoe factory, car shops, etc. Pop. about 4,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's wrote in 1921 while the loss of Maubeuge was fresh: the "fortification of the first class" fell to the Germans on 7 September 1914 after its outer forts were smashed by heavy siege guns, and some 30,000-40,000 defenders went into captivity. The town's military value did not save it a second time — it was overrun again in May 1940 and its centre largely destroyed by fire, so most of what stands today is post-war reconstruction inside the surviving Vauban ramparts. Maubeuge is no longer a fortress of any kind but an industrial town of roughly 29,000 people, its economy long tied to metalworking and to the large car plant at Maubeuge that has built Renault vans since the late 1960s. The rail junction that made it "a key point in 1914" still exists, but it is an ordinary regional node rather than a strategic prize.
Written for this edition, 2026.