Plan of DUNKIRK, with the CANAL of MARDICK, as they were in 1757

A plan of Dunkirk highlighting the port and canal facilities of the city which were of special concern to the British. Map of that Part of Hannover where the late Battle between the Duke of Cumberland and Marshall d' Etrees was fought July 25, 26, 27 1757. But its military history starts earlier than 1940 as the map of the Dunkirk fortifications below demonstrate. Dunkirk's critical location on the coast of northern France made it a prime military location for centuries before World War II. The map here shows Dunkirk's state of military readiness during the Seven Years War, the first truly world war which in America was called the French and Indian War. The first is a fine plan of the fortified city and surrounding countryside with excellent detail of the extensive fortifications, individual buildings, and the surrounding cultivated fields. The plan locates "The old citadel designed for a new town", numerous forts, roads, soundings and the low water mark. In the Strand is the road to "Furnes and Ostend at low water," the Risband, an ancient, demolished fort, and the "Boom." The fortifications, ports, and canals were demolished and rebuilt several times in accord with the various treaties signed by European powers since the Treaty of Utrecht, and would be demolished again 4 years after this plan's publication as a condition of the Peace of Paris in 1763. It is only after the American Revolutionary War that the French at Dunkirk would be able to fortify the city as they had long wished for.The scale bar is in British fathoms, and there is no graticule; scale was calculated from the scale bar, and the coordinates from georeferencing