Besançon. A fortified city of France, capital of the department of Doubs; sacked by Attila; captured and ruined by the ancient Germans; rebuilt by the Burgundians; it was ceded to Spain by the peace of Westphalia; taken by Louis XIV. on May 15, 1670; united to France in 1678; in 1814 the Austrians besieged it without success.
Besiege. To lay siege to or invest any fortified place with armed forces.
Besieged. The garrison that defends the place against the army that lays siege to it.
Besiegers. The army that lays siege to a fortified place.
Bessarabia. A frontier province of European Russia, part of the ancient Dacia. After being possessed by the Goths, Huns, etc., it was conquered by the Turks in 1474, and ceded to Russia in 1812.
Bessemer Steel. See [Ordnance, Metals for].
Bessi. A fierce and powerful Thracian people, who dwelt along the whole of Mount Hæmus as far as the Euxine. After the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans, 168 B.C., the Bessi were attacked by the latter, and subdued after a severe struggle.
Bethoron. A village of Palestine. Near here Judas Maccabæus gained advantages on two different occasions over the generals of Antiochus.
Bethsur. An ancient city of Palestine, now extinct. The Syrian general Lysias captured it, 163 B.C., after a severe combat in which Eleazar, a brother of Judas, perished.
Béton. French term for concrete. Much used in permanent fortifications. See [Concrete].