History of the department of the Ardennes

The French department of the Ardennes car its name of the forest and the mountainous solid mass of the Ardenne which extends especially on the south from the Belgium and the Luxembourg.

Origins

The oldest mention is made by it by Jules César which speaks, in his Guerre of Gaules, of a named forest Arduenna silva (5,3,4 and 6,29,4). This name is probably related with that of a Celtic goddess of the name of Arduinna, goddess warlike whose animal emblematic is the wild boar, that one can compare to the Diane of the Romans and who is known by an inscription (LASH 6,46).

Famous characters

Robert de Sorbon (1201-1274), founder of the Sorbonne, was born in the village from Sorbon, close to Rethel;

Guillaume de Machault (1284-1370), poet, author of the Book of See Known as , was born with Machault;

Érard of Marck (1472-1538), one of most remarkable the bishops of Liege was born with Sedan

Turenne (1611-1675), Marshal of France (of Louis XIV), was born with Sedan;

Jean-Nicolas Corvisart (1755-1821), celebrates doctor (Napoleon), was born with Dricourt;

Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893), philosopher and historian, member of the French Academy, was born with Vouziers;

Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), poet, was born with Charleville;

Robert Debré (1882-1978), doctor was born with Sedan, father of Michel Debré;

Jacques To stop of Perthes (1788-1868), was born with Perthes, it is one of the initiators of the Préhistoire as a discipline with whole share;

Etienne Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817), musician, was born with Givet. To note that the chime of the old town hall of Charleville plays its most known air, which failed to become the national anthem, the Chant of the departure of the revolutionists of 1789.

The economic magazine the factory was rested by an of the Ardennes industrialist under the name the of the Ardennes factory .

Adolphe Clément founded the factories Automobile S Clement-Bayard, thus named in homage to the Chevalier Bayard one of the heroes of the city of Mézières, with its own powerplant.

Contemporary time

True ground of invasion since centuries, this territory knew many periods of conflicts and was the place of many battles.

At the time of the conflict of 1870-1871, between the united France and German States the 2 September 1870 took place the quasi-decisive Bataille of Sedan for the continuation of the war and fatal for the Second empire.

During the First World War, the department is as of 1914 on the other side of the frontline and occupied by the German army. It will be the only department has to be entirely occupied throughout almost all conflict of the battle of the borders at the end of August 1914 until the armistice of November 11th, 1918.

In May 1940, the Germans, implementing the plan of Von Mainstein and remarkably implemented by the generals Guderian and Rommel, circumvent the Ligne Maginot by invading the Belgium and bore the French face in a zone badly defended at the time of the Percée of Sedan. The French staff had judged that the forest and the relief of the north east of the department, considered with difficulty “insuperable”, were a sufficient natural barrier. Moreover the famous Maginot line stops with the borders of the department because the strong last of this line (extremely of Villy/Ferté) is at approximately five kilometers of Carignan. After the armistice of June 1940, the department becomes “closed area”.

At the end of this war, the general Patton delivers celebrates it Bataille of the Ardennes but the engagements especially took place in Belgium and in Luxembourg on the plates of the of the Ardennes solid mass.

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