Toulon

Port and administrative centre of Var département, southeast France, on the Mediterranean Sea, 48 km/30 mi southeast of Marseille; population (1999) 160,700, conurbation 519,600. It is the chief Mediterranean naval station of France. Industries include oil refining, marine engineering, armaments, chemicals, furniture, and clothing. There is a university. Toulon was the Roman Telo Martius, became the seat of a bishopric in the 6th century and was made a port by Henry IV. During World War II the French fleet was scuttled here (1942) to avoid it passing into German control.

History In 1793, at the beginning of the French Revolution, Toulon was surrendered to the English by the Royalists but was retaken in December of the same year by the Republicans. The siege was led by a young Napoleon Bonaparte, who distinguished himself for the first time.

In modern times Toulon has been an important naval station and is one of the three naval headquarters in France. In 1911 the battleship Liberté caught fire and blew up in the harbour; many ships nearby were damaged and some 200 people perished. In World War II Allied bombing almost completely destroyed the harbour (by then a submarine base) and its installations. The town was taken by French troops in August 1944.