Editing Mons, Belgium (section)

== History ==

=== Early settlements ===

The first signs of activity in the region of Mons are found at [[Spiennes]], where some of the best [[flint]] tools in Europe were found dating from the [[Neolithic]] period. When [[Julius Caesar]] arrived in the region in the 1st century BC, the region was settled by the [[Nervii]], a Belgian tribe. A [[castrum]] was built in [[Ancient Rome|Roman (Belgica)]] times, giving the settlement its [[Latin]] name '''Castrilocus'''. The name was later changed into '''Montes''' for the mountain on which the castrum was built.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

=== Middle Ages ===
[[File:Mons Col1JPG.jpg|left|thumb|[[Saint Waltrude Collegiate Church]] and the [[Belfry of Mons]]]]

In the 7th century, [[Saint Ghislain]] and two of his disciples built an [[Oratory (worship)|oratory]] or chapel dedicated to Saints [[Saint Peter|Peter]] and [[Paul of Tarsus|Paul]] near the Mons hill, at a place called Ursidongus, now known as [[Saint-Ghislain]]. Soon after, [[Waltrude|Saint Waltrude]] (in French ''Sainte Waudru''), daughter of one of [[Chlothar II]]’s intendants, came to the oratory and was proclaimed a saint upon her death in 688. She was [[canonization|canonized]] in 1039.

Like [[Ath]], its neighbour to the north-west, Mons was made a fortified city by Count [[Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut|Baldwin IV]] of [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] in the 12th century. The population grew quickly, trade flourished, and several commercial buildings were erected near the Grand-Place. The 12th century also saw the appearance of the first town halls. The city had 4,700 inhabitants by the end of the 13th century. Mons succeeded [[Valenciennes]] as the capital of the county of Hainaut in 1295 and grew to 8,900 inhabitants by the end of the 15th century. In the 1450s, [[Matheus de Layens]] took over the construction of the Saint Waltrude church from Jan Spijkens and restored the Town Hall.

=== From 1500 to 1800 ===
[[File:Stadsplan Mons uit de zestiende eeuw.jpg|thumb|Map of Mons in the 16th century by Lodovico Guicciardini<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stadsplan Mons |url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:6B78AEB4-AC3F-11DF-AFBB-DEEB78F64438#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1204,-181,6718,3605 |access-date=5 October 2020 |website=lib.ugent.be |archive-date=9 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009041539/https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:6B78AEB4-AC3F-11DF-AFBB-DEEB78F64438#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1204,-181,6718,3605 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
[[File:Kungsboken-karta-mons.jpg|thumb|Map of Mons at the siege, 1691]]
In 1515, [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] took an oath in Mons as Count of Hainaut. In this period of its history, the city became the target of various occupations, starting in May 1572 with the [[Protestant]] takeover by [[Louis of Nassau]], who had hoped to clear the way for the French Protestant leader [[Gaspard II de Coligny|Gaspard de Coligny]] to oppose Spanish rule. After the murder of [[Gaspard II de Coligny|de Coligny]] during the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre]], the [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba|Duke of Alba]] took control of Mons in September 1572 in the name of the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Spanish monarchy|King of Spain]]. This spelled the ruin of the city and the arrest of many of its inhabitants; from 1580 to 1584, Mons became the capital of the [[Southern Netherlands]].

On 8 April 1691, after a nine-month siege, [[Louis XIV]]’s army stormed the city, which again suffered heavy casualties. From 1697 to 1701, Mons was alternately French or Austrian. After being under French control from 1701 to 1709, the Dutch and British armies gained the upper hand in the [[Battle of Malplaquet]] and the [[Siege of Mons (1709)|Siege of Mons]] in 1709. In 1715, Mons returned to Austria under the terms of the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] (1713). But the French did not give up easily; [[Louis XV]] besieged the city again in 1746. After the [[Battle of Jemappes]] (1792), the Hainaut area was annexed to France and Mons became the capital of [[Jemappes]].

=== From 1800 to the present ===
[[File:Bardouxha Mont 1893-mw-c.jpg|thumb|Troops of the paramilitary ''[[Garde Civique]]'' fire on strikers near Mons during the [[Belgian general strike of 1893]] (''[[Le Petit Journal (newspaper)|Le Petit Journal]]'', May 1893)]]

Following the fall of the [[First French Empire]] in 1814, King [[William I of the Netherlands]] fortified the city heavily. In 1830, however, Belgium gained its independence and the decision was made to dismantle fortified cities such as Mons, [[Charleroi]], and [[Namur]]. The actual removal of fortifications only happened in the 1860s, allowing the creation of large boulevards and other urban projects. The [[Industrial Revolution]] and coal mining made Mons a center of heavy industry, which strongly influenced the culture and image of the [[Borinage]] region as a whole. It was to become an integral part of the ''[[sillon industriel]]'', the industrial backbone of [[Wallonia]].

==== Riots of Mons ====
On 17 April 1893, between Mons and [[Jemappes]], seven strikers were killed by the civic guard at the end of the [[Belgian general strike of 1893]]. This [[general strike]] was one of the first general strikes in an industrial country. The proposed law on universal suffrage was approved the day after by the Belgian Parliament.

==== Battle of Mons ====
{{main|Battle of Mons}}
[[File:Canadians Entering Mons.jpg|thumb|[[Canadian Corps|Canadians]] entering Mons in 1918<ref>Source: Archives of Ontario</ref>]]
[[File:A Canadian Battalion marching through the Grand Place, Mons (I0004854).jpg|thumb|42nd Battalion marching through the Grand-Place, on the morning of 11 November 1918]]
On 23{{ndash}}24 August 1914, Mons was the location of the [[Battle of Mons]]—the first battle fought by the [[British Army]] in [[World War I]]. The British were forced to [[withdrawal (military)|retreat]] with just over 1,600 casualties, and the town remained occupied by the Germans until its liberation in the [[Second Battle of Mons]] by the [[Canadian Corps]] during the final days of the war.

Within the front entrance to the City Hall, there are several memorial placards related to the First World War battles and in particular, one has the inscription:
 
{{blockquote | MONS WAS RECAPTURED BY THE CANADIAN CORPS ON THE 11th NOVEMBER 1918: AFTER FIFTY MONTHS OF GERMAN OCCUPATION, FREEDOM WAS RESTORED TO THE CITY: HERE WAS FIRED THE LAST SHOT OF THE GREAT WAR.}}

==== Second World War ====
During the Second World War, as an important industrial centre, the city was heavily bombed.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} During the [[Battle of the Mons Pocket]] US Army forces encircled and took 25,000 Germans prisoner in early September 1944.<ref>[[Martin Blumenson]]: ''Breakout and Pursuit.'' United States Army in World War II, European Theater of Operations. Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C. 1961. (Online: [https://archive.org/details/breakoutpursuit00blum archive.org], [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Breakout/index.html ibiblio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717175042/http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Breakout/index.html |date=17 July 2015 }}). Chapter 32: [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Breakout/USA-E-Breakout-32.html The Mons pocket]</ref>

==== After 1945 ====
After the war, most industries went into decline.

[[NATO]]'s [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe]] (SHAPE) was relocated in [[Casteau]], a village near Mons, from Rocquencourt on the outskirts of Paris after France's withdrawal from the military structure of the alliance in 1967. The relocation of SHAPE to this particular region of Belgium was largely a political decision, based in large part on the depressed economic conditions of the area at the time with the view to bolstering the economy of the region. A riot in the prison of Mons took place in April 2006 after prisoner complaints concerning living conditions and treatment; no deaths were reported as a result of the riot, but the event focused attention on prisons throughout Belgium. Today, the city is an important university town and commercial centre.