Berme

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'The article "Berme" was written by Engels in compliance with Dana's second request for articles beginning with B contained in his letter of January 8, 1858. On January 23, Marx forwarded Dana's letter to Engels and asked him to return it. Reproducing the list of articles beginning with B in his letter to Engels of February 1, 1858, Marx wrote: "New B's are: 'Bidassoa' (battle of), 'Blenheim' (ditto), 'Burmah' (war in), 'Bomarsund' (siege), 'Borodino' (battle), 'Brescia' (assault), 'Bridge-Head', 'Biilow', 'Buda' (siege of), 'Beresford', 'Berme'. When Dana says, 'most of them I asked you before', he is mistaken, and is confusing your list of B's with his own" (see present edition, Vol. 40). Dana also requested for an article on Bengal Rebellion (i. e. on the Indian national liberation uprising of 1857), but Engels found it impossible to do it within the time stipulated (see his letter to Marx of January 25, 1858. The description of this uprising was included in the article "Hindoostan" published in The New American Cyclopaedia later). Engels started the other articles beginning with B and by January 29 he had three—"Berme", "Blenheim" and "Borodino" — ready. Marx sent them off to New York the same day, as can be seen from his notebook. In February and March Engels continued to fulfil this order and at the same time resumed work on the articles beginning with C which he had been forced to interrupt.

Berme, in fortification, a horizontal bank of ground left standing between the upper interior edge of the ditch and the exterior slope of the parapet of a work. It is generally made about 3 feet wide. Its principal object is to strengthen the parapet, and to prevent the earth of which it is composed from rolling down into the ditch, after heavy rain, thaw, &c. It may also serve sometimes as an exterior communication round the works. It is, however, not to be overlooked that the berme serves as a very convenient resting and collecting place for storming and scaling parties, in consequence of which it is entirely done away with in many systems of permanent fortification, and in others protected by a crenellated wall, so as to form a covered line of fire for infantry. In field fortification, or the construction of siege-batteries, with a ditch in front, a berme is generally unavoidable, as the scarp of the ditch is scarcely ever revetted, and without such an intermediate space, both scarp and parapet would soon crumble under the changes of the weather.