History of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Prehistory and Antiquity

First immigrants

The first human groups settled in the area at the rate/rhythm of the Glaciation S and left some vestiges of their passage, primarily on the plains limestones.

With Wimereux, we can observe some Biface S and kidneys of Silex beside bones of elephant S and Hippopotame S gone back to -700 000 years. Several thousands of vestiges (bones of animals of cold time, traces of fires and various waste), including two human craniums, testify to the persistence of an establishment of the Homme of Néandertal in Biache-Saint-Vaast during one interglacial period there is 250 000 years.

The first traces of the Homo sapiens are gone back to 38.000 years before our era. The area was then a steppe, populated Renne S. progress will be slow, in Agriculture and Métallurgie (the first testimonys of the Neolithic towards -3.700), but the fertile ground supports durable establishments as with the Mount-Saint-Éloi, Wissant, Étrun or with the Black Mont.

Around 3.000 years before J. - C., the drier climate makes move back the forest and the arrival of new populations come from the south causes the first known wars of the regional history; with the Bronze Age, towards -1500, one finds the trace of important interregional exchanges, including with the Great Britain.

The Celtic time

One millenium before our era, new people coming from the east of the Europe bring the ploughing implements and breeding of the Cheval, then are the Celte S of Bavaria which introduce the age of iron into the area.

In IIIe and IIe centuries before J. - C, the Belgian which are partly comparable in the Celtic world, however preserve Idiome S and practices of the Germanic life settle in the area. The people like the Morins, Atrébates, Ménapiens or Nerviens organize way very laxist, but establish all the same borders whose traces persist still today. The area is occupied in a relatively dense way, even if the life remains rural. The villages primarily open (without defensive ramparts), are put besides some oppida (quoted strengthened), like Étrun and Avesnelles, undoubtedly the capitals of the Atrébates and the Nerviens. A Belgian migration towards current the Great Britain contributed to weave cultural and economic bonds between the two areas.

The reputation of prosperity of the territories of North poked the covetousness of Jules César. The battles were then frequent and fatal. The crushing of Nerviens in -57 did not subject all the area to the Pax romana. Resistance will die out only little by little to become final with the exile of most irreducible in England. The Belgium overcome, devastated, will know the destiny of the borders (“Steps”) of the Roman Empire during more than four centuries.

The other invaders will come thereafter primarily from the east. These nomads adapted and were integrated into the sedentary populations and the culture of the area was some very enriched.

The pax romana

At Gallo-Roman times, the area is included in the vast unit called Belgium and is divided into cities. Tarvanna (today Thérouanne) was the capital of Morins, Bagacum (today Bavay) was the capital of Nerviens, and Nemetacum (today Arras) which was already occupied by the Gallic ones was the capital of Atrébates; these three cities are Roman creations (Arras was then regarded as being a city).

The Roman road alignment is so important that it still marks some of our infrastructures (the Chaussées Brunehaut). The main roads are towards:

the littoral, Boulogne-sur-Mer ( Gesoriacum or Bononia according to the times), important port to go towards Roman Brittany.
Is (the the Rhine) and the Italy.

The life remains primarily rural there, centered on two principal resources which are the Blé and the Laine. If christianization is fragile, the Latin eliminates the Celtic one gradually, except in the extreme north. Prosperity results in a significant demographic development, even if the obsession of the invasions remains very present and slows down the economic life.

the Middle Ages

A bilingual area

At the 3rd century, the Frank and the Alamans invade and plunder the territory. Devastations are so important that recoloniser is needed the area; the Roman army , exceeded by the width of the borders of the empire which it must defend, lets the Francs settle and tries to be made allies of them. Along the Lily, a linguistic border was created then by separating the Germanic dialect spoken by the Francs, which will become later the Flemish , and the language Latin E from which the French is resulting.

The area is also strongly touched by the revolt of Bagaudes (groups of ruined peasants, deserters, and barbarians). In same time, the shore (of Dunkirk to Saint-Omer and Montreuil-sur-Mer) which can be attacked by maritime invasions is abandoned with the plunderers. The Angles and the Saxons settled there, as testify some the names to some villages or those of legends of the littoral like Holy-Godeleine, Wierre-Effroy, Quentovic and well of others.

Cruel invasions

At the beginning of the 4th century, with the assistance of the Francs already installed, peace is restored in the area for about fifty years. The cities which are fortified towns strategic and administrative, cannot really develop while the great rural establishments are transformed into dynamic agglomerations. But the invasions still constitute a brake with the development. The Huns of Attila, for example, besiege Bavay in 358. At the beginning of the 5th century, very many invaders sweep the Roman army and the Christianisme; they are Anglo-Saxon, Vandales, Hasdingues, Suèves, Alains or Francs (the people can be divided into clans). One of them, Clovis as an ambitious chief, springs Tournai to conquer the Gaulle in his quasi totality, while the Roman Empire of Occident crumbles in 476.

“Franque pacification” is completed in 486 while starting with the territories of North.

VIIe with the XIIe century

They are the countries of Tournai, Cambrai, Arras and of Vermand which provides the domanial main incomes to the dynasties franque, mérovingienne and Carolingian. The area is thus one of the countries where authority in the most important place. The territory remains bilingual all the same with the novel and the Germanic one.

If christianization is very slow, it ends up arriving: the 7th century will be the golden age for the monasteries missionaries. It is in these sanctuaries that the art and the culture of the area develop.

Towards VIIIe and IXe centuries, the low Flemish countries wake up in their turn. Shopping malls (also called portus ) seem Valencian, Douai, or Saint-Omer. The old territorial organization of the Gallic time is often found in the ecclesiastical districts.

Into 843, the empire of Charlemagne is divided between its grandsons at the time of the Traité of Verdun. The course of the the Scheldt was then the limit between the field of France and that of Lotharingie which will be included in the Saint Germanic Roman Empire. This division will be heavy consequences for the area since future of the Hainaut and of the Cambrésis will be different from that of the Artois and of the Flanders S for several centuries. However, the bonds vassalic of the time did not have the rigor and the perenniality of the current treaties. The kings, the lords or the aldermen were generally put up with the complex situations with the royal marriages, the diplomacy or military alliances will make that the trade of the area was not touched too much by it.

The transport of the goods generally borrows in the area the rivers. The smallest unevennesses are obstacles which requires the use as of the man power or animal with lock S. These places become agglomerations thereafter, that it is necessary to defend by ramparts. It is the case of Lille, old southern limit of the old county of Flanders, whose official name appears in 1066, but also of Valencians, Saint-Omer or of Arras. The increase in the population implies immense alteration work intended to increase the cultivable ground as the marsh of Saint-Omer who was before 4.000 ha of “muddy sea”, the Forêt of Arrouaise (in the south Artois) which was completely deforested but also certain coastal areas and marshy valleys.

On the border extending from the Scheldt to the sea, the political authority of a line of Counts de Flandre is organized. The invasions Viking S which follow one another starting from 860 devastate the territory punctually but do not upset the local structures whereas the royal authority regresses. The lords who are the prefects with the service of king de France, become only the recourse of the cities against the raids Normans.

The European economy has two poles which are the Italian ports which trade with the the Middle East and the clothiers cities of Europe of the North-West and the Scandinavian hanse which reinforces its commercial flows. The fairs and the counters located in the area allow the meeting of these two complementary poles from where a very active economy and the construction of a stock exchange place important.

The One hundred Year old war

The 13th century testifies to a constant economic development of the area, but cities and villages undergo the collapse of a system of production (mainly agricultural) and exchanges antiquated. The Noble S are impoverished and marks the beginning of their military obliteration, which prepares the arrival of the communal militia. Cities, which acquired considerable privileges thanks to the middle-class which repurchase the city with the lords, manage to maintain their economy through the military and political crises. The Beffroi S are built a little bit everywhere. The Church guard an omnipresent power by its cultural and social role. In same time, the Hainaut which is an imperial ground (see above) is sometimes allied and other enemy times of the Flanders, know a peace favourable with the advent of the communal privileges.

The rupture ordered by the king of France with England completes to exacerbate the feeling anti-French of the regional population. It is Hainaut which ties a coalition with the service of the English sovereign at the beginning of the One hundred Year old Guerre in 1337. The beginning of the conflict is, in the first thirty years, a catastrophe for the area because England which is sure of its allies, makes North the theater of its first military operations with as example the Bataille of Crécy, where fall part of the French nobility or the seat from Calais which becomes English for the two centuries to come while asphyxiating the development from the other towns of Artois. The Black Death which spreads as of 1348 will strike the area during more than one century, whereas in same time, of the bad weather conditions cause Disette S loopholes. The social revolts explode with an important violence on bottom of misery with a dubious economy.

The Burgundian time

In 1369, the King de France Charles V Marie her brother Philippe Bold the, duke of Burgundy, with the girl of Louis de Mâle (Count de Flandre). By the play of the successions, Philippe the Bold one inherits in 1384 the Flanders and Artois. Anglo-Flemish alliance is then broken. The territories of North become one of the most important areas of the Maison of Burgundy. The area knows, the time of four reigns, the age of the Burgundian power, in the absence of a true golden age. Indeed, the military threats and natural disasters are always threatening while the economic transfer continues by ruining the ones and by enriching the others. However, an economic crisis and demographic striking the whole of Europe of the North-West during decades to reach its paroxysm in the years 1420 - 1440.

In 1407, France tears between Armagnacs and Bourguignons. North is ready to be combined again in England where the economy becomes the real issue of the military campaigns. The Arme lies English evolves/moves and one can see it with the Bataille of Azincourt in 1415 which is a disaster for the French nobility unable to adapt to the novel methods of combat. The house of Burgundy still extends towards the county from Boulogne, then towards Hainaut. The “large Duke of Occident” can then dream of a new Empire of the Medium which would be similar to old the Lotharingie.

In 1435, Philippe the Good (duke of Burgundy), gives up English alliance in exchange of the Ponthieu. But, four years later, the trade anglo-Flemish begins again.

Lastly, in 1461, Charles Bold the which is the last duke of Burgundy, faces Louis XI in the Artois and the Picardy which will be devastated. The treaty regulating the One hundred Year old war is signed in 1475 (Traité of Picquigny).

Modern time

Empire of Habsbourg

The Burgundian time finishes in 1477 with the death of Charles Bold the, the king of France Louis XI hastens to conquer the area which is an economic lung. But the heiress of the Burgundy, Marie, wife a Habsbourg which is the future emperor Maximilien Ier of Austria. The king of France must then yield and the area is excluded from the French kingdom for two centuries, with share the Boulonnais which remains attached to the royal crown and also four fortified towns of Artois. The area, thus become a coveted territory of large European, will be battle fields forced and devastated between the European armies until in 1713.

In 1519, the grandson of the Maximilien emperor, Charles Quint, is crowned emperor of Austria and to be opposed to its territorial ambitions, François I {{er}} seeks the alliance of the England to the Camp of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 but this is a failure and Charles Quint continuous his conquests. In 1548, it baptizes the whole of its properties of north “the Cercle of Burgundy” which will become the Netherlands thereafter and extend at that time until the Hainaut and the Artois. But in 1553, the French attack the imperial grounds since their fortified towns of Artois. Charles Quint orders their total destruction then. Thérouanne and Hesdin will be destroyed by it and their ground will be plowed and sterilized by artillery.

Lastly, in 1555, Charles Quint abdicates in favor of his son Philippe II, which becomes sovereign Netherlands, Spain and Franche-Comté for forty years and in 1558, Calais is taken again to the English by the French.

The time of the Netherlands of the south

Whereas the medieval social structures are with the abandonment and that the cities are involved in debt under the weight of the warheads and the various taxations, the need for social mutual aid is more important than ever. The Church then offers the double face of its prelates, friends of powerful, and its priests, attentive with the misery of the cities and the campaigns. That made that at the 16th century, the ideas of Calvin and Martin Luther are spread with force in the Netherlands which are in addition a ground where heresy is important. The Reform, then the Counter-Reformation, will complete to cut the Nord-Pas-de-Calais of the north of Europe. In 1566, whereas the area is favorable to the Protestant ideas , “fury iconoclast” breaks out with a rare violence and the Flanders and the Valenciennois are deeply ravaged. Passions continue to break out with in 1568 the revolt of “gueux” (Protestant) which face the absolutism of Philippe II which is a too Spanish sovereign to include/understand the needs for North, and being made main of the Holland and the Zealand. Then in 1579, reaction, the Union of Arras (Catholic) creates for itself and is opposed to that of Utrecht (Protesting E). It is the beginning of an eighty year old war which will end in the scission of the Netherlands in 1648. The work of the house of Burgundy is definitively ruined and the devastated area. The Plain Provinces of North (Netherlands current (one should not confuse!)) affirm in same time their commercial and colonial domination.

Of 1598 with 1633 begins a new time for the area. Following a diplomatic marriage, it is offered in dowry to the Spanish archdukes Isabelle and Albert de Habsbourg and is thus annexed to the Spanish Netherlands (not to be confused with the old Netherlands of the chapter of the top). It is one era of prosperity and peace which profits from liberalities of a government far from present. North becomes a genuine hearth of reception for the persecuted English catholics. The very active Counter-Reformation, even oppressive in France, reinforces the feeling anti-French judged heretic and libertine by the regional population. Richelieu was until saying the Artesian ones that they all were “sworn enemies of the French and more Spanish that the Castilians”.

The French annexation

In 1635, after this short respite for the area, the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV will be a new era of almost eighty ten years of combat, seats, plunderings, diplomatic cuttings-up and misery. In 1648, a battles opposes the prince de Condé to the Spanish troops in the plain of Lens. For Mazarin, the Spanish Netherlands must form a “impregnable boulevard” at the town of Paris, which one will be able to then call “the heart of France”. The area becomes again border. In 1662, in this very hard climate appear in mass the spontaneous Jacquerie S and revolts. Thus, in however Bolted French since centuries, the suppression of the franknesses from Bolted (exemptions of the taxes because of the presence of the port) led to the revolt of the “Lustucrus”.

Gradually, during the reign of Louis XIV (1661 with 1715), it is the essence of the territory of what was going (well later) to become the Nord-Pas-de-Calais which is annexed in France. The United Provinces are however opposed vigorously to this French expansionism in the Netherlands of the south. Their war leader (“stadhouder”) Guillaume III of Orange-Nassau is of all the coalitions against France. Like the proverb of the Dutch diplomacy says it: “Gallus amicus sed not vicinus” (the Gallic nonclose friend but).

The War of Devolution (which is concluded by the treated from Aachen in 1668) and the Guerre of Holland (which concludes by the Traité from Nimègue in 1678) give to the many French châtellenies. Important battles are delivered, like that of Denain (1712). The Traité of Utrecht (1713) is the last treaty signed during this period. The border which it fixes almost did not evolve/move since.

This northern border of the kingdom is complex. It is drawn in a manner which is unfavourable with the economic interests of the conquered area. However the inhabitants end up accepting their new French identity which will not cease continuing with the wire of the wars and the economic epopees.

Contemporary time - the 18th century

Of 1713 with 1815

The first trace of French integration in the area is soldier, in fact the Citadelle S of Vauban punctuate the “Pre Square”. Industries which are definitively private their old markets of England and Plain Provinces, cross one period of rather difficult adaptation. The king, anxious to pass in addition to the multiple political power divisions, religious or legal of the area imposes a first very simplified administrative framework. The pleasing introduction of novel methods of spectacular agricultural progress and even if the Industrie Textile always has a big part of the economy, the field begins the exploitation of the coal by ensuring in parallel the development of the Métallurgie. Lille then shelters largest Manufacture of Europe of Céramique S.

Until 1788, found economic prosperity does not concern the people but only the high society because indigence remains so large that the least variation of the economy involves a disaster which is amplified because the Population growth is important. Therefore, after the Food shortage S repeated since 1740, the food crisis which extends in the kingdom in this year pre-revolutionist touches the area enormously.

In 1789, the French revolution will have few effects on the regional territory even if the revolutionary zeal is baited on the symbols of the Church by destroying many artistic treasures and by selling the goods of the clergy in the indifference. The end of the Privilège S ruins many cities and the creation of both department S in 1790 with their cutting or the choice of the Préfecture S, causes serious quarrels. Of 1792 with 1794, the area by is twice invaded by the Austrian army . The head office of Lille will lead to seal the patriotic feeling which will remain very important thereafter. In fact the revolutionary armed release the territory and invade the Belgian Provinces, which will be French until in 1814.

In year VIII (1799), Napoleon Bonaparte is accommodated by a nauseated area of the violence of the Terreur and is still deeply rural, illiterate and avid of peace. Very quickly, the notable ones were given the responsability to occupy the most important stations of the departmental administration. In 1810, thanks to the continental Blockade, the economy of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais takes off and is ensured by the development of industry Coton nière, mining research and the new culture of the Betterave to Sucre, which replaces the cane sugar. However, the Conscription, the Unemployment and misery poke the hatred of the populations against Napoleon but in 1815, the area easily subjects to an occupying army for the three following years. Finally in 1830, the Belgian provinces of the close Netherlands revolt to form a sovereign state with the French Belgian provinces; it is the Belgium.

The first factory of the country of 1815 with 1914

On the 19th century, the area is essential like “the first factory of France”, expression born under the reign of Louis-Philippe. The multiple transformations of the framework of life, mentalities, the infrastructures is a total upheaval from which are born from the successes and the dramas. It is from there that the major unsolved problems of our time will start.

Total economic success was reinforced thanks to the importation of state-of-the-art technologies since the United Kingdom and the delocalization of rural labor towards the cities from over-populated Artois, Hainaut and Belgium, for a dynamic middle-class and a mining richness. Many industries like the glassmakings and the paper mills flower. Boulogne and Calais, turned towards the United Kingdom, the high-sea fishing and the exploitation of local resources (coal of the Mines of Hardinghen, ferrous layer of Marchioness) has a destiny different from the remainder of the area: arrived of the industry of the Tulle at Calais in 1817, metallurgy with Marchioness in 1830, etc the routes transportation improve considerably with in 1846 the inauguration of the line of Railroad Paris-Lille). The rural world, although disparate, knows important progress with the development of the grounds then, starting from 1850, true a agricultural Révolution. The area is then also the first “farm of France”.

In 1848, the economic crisis which drives out Louis-Philippe leads to a disappointing hope of a social République. Cleavages increasingly obvious between having and are stripped, the rural conservatives and the socialist workmen. But the Nord-Pas-de-Calais remains a “Eldorado” for ambitious contractors with in 1850, the introduction of the carboniferous layer of the interior of the grounds of the Pas-de-Calais. The Field will take the face which is still it his today. Other nonmining cities take their rise thanks to the concentration and with the expansion of the textile, the clothes industry, the iron and steel industry, the metallurgy and industrial chemistry.

In 1860, the treaty of Free trade with the the United Kingdom dissatisfied the industrialists and of the strikes shake the area; however, a year later, the Bourse of the values of Lille is open. The trade of Laine takes its world dimension starting from the axis Roubaix - Tourcoing. In 1870 with the war against the Prussia hardly causes damage on the territory. Even if it is a national disaster, it is a chance moreover for the area since the loss of the Alsace-Lorraine consolidates the Nord-Pas-de-Calais in its economic role. At the dawn of the 20th century, the area is to the maximum of its power. But the weaknesses which corrode it appear already with a deeply torn political life and a social structure, an antiquated or anarchistic urbanization, heterogeneous and often insufficient infrastructures, a under-qualification, a school underdevelopment and a late tertiary sector.

The Socialisme strongly takes root as of 1889 while the strikes and demonstrations multiply like on May 1st 1891 with the Fusillade of Fourmies. If the area becomes one of the principal bastions of the parliamentary Left, it is as in its cities as the Catholicisme learns how to differently consider the social one than under the angle of charity.

Contemporary time - the XX {{E}} century and future

Crises

During the First World War in 1914 - 1918, the area is again invaded. During four years, the population will have to undergo “the Face”, its horrors, its deprivations, its anguishes, and with the occupation, brutalities, plunderings, the bombardments. This black period decimates the men. The territory mainly in “ red zone ” is devastated with 400 000 hectares to clean in the Northern and 152 000 in the Pas-de-Calais (which remains, after the sector of Verdun the second zone of France where one still discovers, almost daily the most not-exploded Munitions. The rebuilding begins with difficulty but as a whole will be successful, without it being able to erase all the Séquelles of war. The deficit of the population is made up by the massive arrival of immigrants, in majority Belgian and Polish. The record year of the arrival from abroad in the Field is 1925 with 224 000 immigrants.

In 1929, the world economic crisis will strike the regional colossus of each one of its weaknesses. It is with the turn of the inhabitants of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais to emigrate, by thousands, until in 1936 with the arrival the Popular front which hardens obviously the regional political climate. The big bosses and the Syndicat S clash without mercy with the example of the socialist deputy Roger Salengro which victim of a campaign libelous and degrading, commits suicide.

In 1940, the Second world war is a new test for the area; The German invasion is so fast that it causes a true collective psychosis: it is the exodus. Réembarquement of the British soldiers the eagerness of the bombardments involves on the port of Dunkirk which is almost striped chart. Of 1940 with 1944, the occupation will put the area out of the French jurisdiction. This “closed area” is then attached to the Belgium and becomes a place of massive industrial production adapted to the needs for the IIIe Reich, and a strategic zone of first importance as proves it the Atlantic Wall, the Aéroport S soldiers, launching bases of rocket V1 etV2. Half of the troops of occupation are based in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The destruction due to sabotages of the Resistant S and to the bombardments of the Alliés is only specific, but creates a permanent feeling of insecurity for the occupant. Besides the greatest strike ever observed, until our days, in an occupied country takes place in 1941, before the invasion of the USSR by Germany and its allies, and touches all the field. The strike, " claiming and patriotique" for " soap and pain" will be repressed hard, feeding in reaction networks FTPF and FTPF me (immigrant Polish and Russian and Ukrainian prisoners, escaped from the camps of internment established in the Pas-de-Calais). All these actions seal a national feeling vis-a-vis the invader, between the various sensitivities of the Résistance.

After war and Future

As of 1944 with the rebuilding, the Houillère S are nationalized to support the battle of coal with the other European countries. However, the food restrictions remain whereas the minors die in work " to raise France". A deep feeling of injustice dominates which will lead to great strikes that the French government will make repress by the troop. Two years after having contributed to the release of France, the minors will again see the soldiers and the tanks to circulate in the mining cottages and to shoot at crowd. The Sidérurgie is restructured in 1948 with the constitution of Usinor. The improvement of the infrastructures, the rebuilding of the cities and the increase in population contribute to ensure the restarting. In 1952 the European Pact Coal-Steel (ECSC) will decide long-term future of industries of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais by programming their reorganization for the 30 years to come. In the Years 1960, the boom badly hiding place the weaknesses of the regional economy (general strike of the minors of 1963 and indent of the minors which causes the departure of the government of the socialist ministers for the de Gaulle General); but gradually, an awakening takes place and leads to a vigorous modernization of the Autoroute Lille - Paris as of 1954, that of Usinor - Dunkirk in 1962, or the restoration of the French factory of Mechanics to Douvrin in 1968 or of Renault Douai in 1971. In 1973, the oil crises, the economic crisis in which the world enlise and the application of Plan ECSC of 1952 devastate the industrial parks causing the disappearance of several hundreds of thousands of employment which will never be compensated by new creations. Whole pieces of the traditional economy crumble, revealing brittlenesses and the archaisms of the apparatus of production and the living conditions. But in 1982, the laws of Décentralisation increase appreciably the capacities of the French local government agencies . It is a new hope whose limits appear quickly vis-a-vis the disengagement of the State and with the extent of the problems to be faced. 1994 mark the beginning of an extraordinary series of great work which leads to the introduction of TGV North-Europe, of Eurostar, Thalys and the Channel tunnel. In same time, the local dynamisms are structured to create the conditions of a controlled development. Slowly, the area forgets its role of strategic border and erases the deep scars of the exaggerated industrialization whose traces persist with the old factories, the Terril S or the working houses.

Today, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais is in the center of the European Union and the area increases the number of measurements to improve the Duty to remember by rehabilitating its historic sites, by opening museums devoted to the working memory (mining Historical center of Lewarde (most important of Europe), Textile, Stations, Earthenware, artisanal Fishing with Étaples, Sea with Nausicaä in Boulogne-sur-Mer…). It is as to note as since the Espace Schengen exists, the area is closer to close Belgium and that installations (road for example) are done from now on jointly.

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