ADRIANOPLE, the capital of the vilayet of Adrianople, Turkey in Europe, 137m. by rail W.N.W. of Constantinople. It occupies both banks of the river Tunja, at its confluence with the Maritsa, which is navigable to this point in spring and winter. The nearest seaport by rail is Dedeagatch, west of the Maritsa; Enos, at the river-mouth, is the nearest by water. Adrianople is on the railway from Belgrade and Sofia to Constantinople and Salonica. In appearance it is thoroughly oriental-a mass of mean, irregular wooden buildings, threaded by narrow tortuous streets, with a few better buildings. Earlier buildings include Eski Serai, a half-ruined palace of the sultans; the bazaar of Ali Pasha; and the fine 16th century mosque of the sultan Selim II., built by Sinan.
The war of 1877-78 impoverished Adrianople, and the creation of a customs cordon between it and Eastern Rumelia (1885) put an end to its commercial headship of Thrace, and parts of Bul garia and Philippopolis and Burgas took most of its trade. The city manufactures silk, leather, tapestry, woollens, linen, and cot ton, and has an active general trade. Besides fruits and agricul tural produce, its exports include raw silk, cotton, opium, rose water, attar of roses, wax, and the dye known as turkey red. The surrounding country is extremely fertile, and its wines are the best produced in Turkey. The city is supplied with fresh water by means of an aqueduct carried by arches over an extensive valley. There is also a fine stone bridge over the Tunja.
Adrianople was originally known as Uskadama or Uskodama, but was renamed and enlarged by the Roman emperor Hadrian ( In 378 the Romans were here defeated by the Goths. Adrianople was the residence of the Turkish sultans from 1361, when it was captured by Murad I., until 1453, when Constanti nople fell. It was occupied by the Russians in 1829 and 1878 (see RUSSO-TURKISH WARS).
During the first Balkan War Adrianople was taken from the Turks by Bulgars, with Serbian assistance, in 1913, after a siege of 155 days. During the second Balkan War, in June, 1913, the Turks retook the town and, by the Treaty of Constantinople, signed on Sept. 29, 1913, it was ceded, together with Karagatch, to Turkey by Bulgaria. After the World War, the Greek army, commissioned to restore order in Thrace (May, 1920), entered Adrianople in July, and it was ceded to them (Aug. I o, 1920) by the Treaty of Sevres. During the Graeco-Turkish War of 1923 the Greeks occupied Karagatch, the railway station of which is very important for the traffic of Dedeagatch and had therefore been abandoned by Turkey to Bulgaria in 1915. On leaving it they destroyed many buildings and removed the machinery from the mills. After the close of the World War Adrianople was again restored to Turkey by the Mudania Convention of October 1922, confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923. A protocol subjected the Greek inhabitants of Karagatch to the exchange of populations, compelling them to emigrate six months after the re-establishment of peace.
The population in 1927 was given as only as compared with about 8o,000 in 1905 and 65,454 in 1911. This diminution is due to the emigration of the population, with the exception of the Jews, after the successive occupations of the city. The south western portion of the city, burnt down in 1905, was rebuilt with comparatively broad streets. The railway station, which stands among ruins, has been rebuilt.
See British and Foreign State Papers, 1914, part 1. vol.
p. 706 (1920) ; vol. cxiii., p. 652 (1917-23) ; Treaty Series, No. 16 (1923).
The Visigoths were allowed in 376 to move inside the Roman border to escape the pressure of the Huns. A year later they revolted, and in 378 the Emperor Valens (q.v.) determined to sub due them. When (Aug. 9) the attack was made the main body of the Gothic cavalry was away foraging; Gothic offers of sur render, made to regain time for their recall, failed ; the Romans, with the legions in the centre, and the cavalry on the wings as customarily, assaulted the Goths' position around the great wagon laager, when suddenly the enemy squadrons appeared on the scene and charged "like a thunder-bolt" against their left flank. The Roman cavalry were swept aside, while the Gothic horse drove the left wing infantry in upon the centre and reserve, the pressure forcing the Romans into a disordered mass which was too dense to allow them to use their weapons. Surrounded on all sides and forsaken by their right wing cavalry and foot, the Roman main body was massacred, and only after two-thirds of the army had fallen could the survivors break through and folloW the retreat of the right wing.
That evening the sun set for all time on the glory of the legions, the infantry who had been the foundation of Roman world-power, and a thousand years' era of cavalry supremacy was ushered in. Henceforth cavalry became the predominant arm of the Roman army, as reorganized by Theodosius, and 150 years later, during Justinian's revival of Roman power, we find Belisarius risking battle and achieving victory without waiting for his infantry to arrive on the battlefield. (See ROMAN ARMY.)