Editing Ypres (section)

==History==
===Origins===
[[File:Ieper, Belgium ; Ferraris Map.jpg|thumb|left|Ypres on the [[Ferraris map]] (around 1775)|246x246px]]
[[File:Archive-ugent-be-A8BC176A-E926-11E9-B925-64BA755DA7FD DS-195 (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|249x249px|Excerpt from the chronicle of Ypres, with numerous legends and anecdotes. Written in the 18th century<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kroniek van Ieper, 180-1695, met talrijke legendarische of anecdotische onderdelen |url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:A8BC176A-E926-11E9-B925-64BA755DA7FD#?c=&m=&s=&cv=96&xywh=-2277,-791,15705,8768|access-date=27 August 2020|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]]
Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the [[ancient Rome|Romans]] in the first century BC. It is first mentioned by name in 1066 and is probably named after the river [[Ieperlee]] on the banks of which it was founded.<ref name= HistOfY>{{cite web |url=http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/ypres.htm |title=A History of Ypres (Ieper): Origins |website=Greatwar.co.uk |date=10 October 2011 |access-date=13 September 2013}}</ref>

During the [[Middle Ages]], Ypres was a prosperous [[Flanders|Flemish]] city with a population of 40,000 in 1200 AD,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic599385.files/venice_seminar_MIT_R1a.pdf |title=Archived copy |website=isites.harvard.edu |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903230511/http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic599385.files/venice_seminar_MIT_R1a.pdf |archive-date=3 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoX4bsr0EEIC&q=ypres++40%2C000+inhabitants&pg=PA193 |title=IBN JALDUN |year=2006 |publisher=Fundación El legado andalusì |isbn=9788496556348 |access-date=5 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jd23AAAAQBAJ&q=ypres++40%2C000+inhabitants&pg=PA315 |title=Life & Work in Medieval Europe |isbn=9781136196416 |access-date=5 October 2014 |author1=Boissonnade |date=5 September 2013|publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ethesis.net/staten_van_vlaanderen/svv_hfst_5.htm |title=See chapter 5.6.2 (in Dutch) |website=Ethesis.net |date=23 November 1914 |access-date=13 September 2013}}</ref> renowned for its [[linen]] trade with England, which was mentioned in the ''[[Canterbury Tales]]''.

As the third largest city in the [[County of Flanders]] (after [[Ghent]] and [[Bruges]]), Ypres played an important role in the history of the textile industry.<ref name=HistOfY /> Textiles from Ypres could be found in the markets of [[Novgorod]] in Kievan Rus' in the early 12th century. In 1241, a major fire ruined much of the old city. The powerful city was involved in important treaties and battles, including the [[Battle of the Golden Spurs]], the Battle at Mons-en-Pévèle, the [[Treaty of Melun|Peace of Melun]], and the [[Battle of Cassel (1328)|Battle of Cassel]].

The famous [[Cloth Hall, Ypres|Cloth Hall]] was built in the 13th century. Also during this time cats, then the symbol of the devil and witchcraft, were thrown off Cloth Hall, possibly because of the belief that this would get rid of evil demons. Today, this act is commemorated with a [[triennial]] [[Kattenstoet|Cat Parade]] through town.

During the [[Norwich Crusade]], led by the English bishop [[Henry le Despenser]], [[Siege of Ypres (1383)|Ypres was besieged]] from May to August 1383, until French relief forces arrived. After the destruction of [[Thérouanne]], Ypres became the seat of the new [[Diocese of Ypres]] in 1561, and [[St Martin's Cathedral, Ypres|Saint Martin's Church]] was elevated to cathedral. On 25 March 1678, [[Siege of Ypres (1678)|Ypres was conquered]] by the forces of [[Louis XIV of France]]. It remained French under the [[Treaty of Nijmegen]], and [[Vauban]] constructed his typical fortifications that can still be seen today.

During the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], the [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Duke of Marlborough]] in 1709 intended to capture Ypres, at the time a major French fortress, but changed his mind owing to the long time and effort it had taken him to [[Siege of Tournai (1709)|capture Tournai]] and apprehension of disease spreading in his army in the poorly drained land around Ypres (see [[Battle of Malplaquet]]). In 1713 it was handed over to the Habsburgs, and became part of the [[Austrian Netherlands]].
[[File:Prise d'Ypres par l'armée française, 1794 - Musée de la Révolution française.jpg|thumb|Siege of Ypres in 1794 by General Pichegru, ([[Musée de la Révolution française]])]]
In 1782 the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Joseph II]] ordered parts of the walls torn down. This destruction, which was only partly repaired, made it easier for the French to capture the city in the [[Siege of Ypres (1794)|1794 Siege of Ypres]] during the [[War of the First Coalition]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Phipps, Ramsay Weston |author-link=Ramsay Weston Phipps |year=2011 |title=The Armies of the First French Republic: Volume I The Armée du Nord |publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing |location=USA |isbn=978-1-908692-24-5 |page=317}}</ref>

In 1850, the [[Ypresian]] Age of the [[Eocene]] Epoch was named on the basis of geology in the region by [[Belgium|Belgian]] geologist [[André Hubert Dumont]].

Ypres had long been fortified to keep out invaders. Parts of the early ramparts, dating from 1385, still survive near the Rijselpoort (Lille Gate). Over time, the earthworks were replaced by sturdier masonry and earth structures and a partial [[moat]]. Ypres was further fortified in the 17th and 18th centuries while under the occupation of the [[Habsburgs]] and the French. Major works were completed at the end of the 17th century by the French military engineer [[Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Goode, Dominic |title=Ypres |website=Fortified-places.com |year=2006 |url=http://www.fortified-places.com/ypres/ |access-date=12 April 2014}}</ref>

===First World War===
[[Image:YpresOnFire.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Ypres's shell-blasted Cloth Hall burns]]
Ypres occupied a strategic position during the First World War because it stood in the path of Germany's planned sweep across the rest of Belgium and into France from the north (the [[Schlieffen Plan]]). The [[Neutrality (international relations)|neutrality]] of Belgium, established by the [[Treaty of London (1839)|First Treaty of London]], was guaranteed by Britain; Germany's invasion of Belgium brought the [[British Empire]] into the war. The German army surrounded the city on three sides, bombarding it throughout much of the war. To counterattack, British, French, and allied forces made costly advances from the [[Ypres Salient]] into the German lines on the surrounding hills.

In the [[First Battle of Ypres]] (19 October to 22 November 1914), the Allies captured the town from the Germans. The Germans had used [[tear gas]] at the [[Battle of Bolimov]] on 3 January 1915. Their use of [[poison gas]] for the first time on 22 April 1915 marked the beginning of the [[Second Battle of Ypres]], which continued until 25 May 1915. They captured high ground east of the town. The first gas attack occurred against Canadian, British, and French soldiers, including both metropolitan French soldiers as well as [[Senegal]]ese and [[Algeria]]n [[tirailleurs]] (light infantry) from French Africa. The gas used was [[chlorine]]. [[Mustard gas]], also called Yperite from the name of this town, was also used for the first time near Ypres, in the autumn of 1917.

[[Image:Ruïne, 1919, Ieper.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Ruins of Ypres, 1919]]
Of the battles, the largest, best-known, and most costly in human suffering was the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July to 10 November 1917, also known as the [[Battle of Passchendaele]]), in which the British, Canadian, [[ANZAC]], and French forces recaptured the [[Passchendaele Ridge]] east of the city at a terrible cost of lives. After months of fighting, this battle resulted in nearly half a million casualties to all sides, and only a few miles of ground won by Allied forces. During the course of the war the town was all but obliterated by the artillery fire.

English-speaking soldiers often referred to Ieper/Ypres by the deliberate mispronunciation "Wipers". British soldiers even published a wartime newspaper called ''[[The Wipers Times]]''.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/tv-review-the-wipers-times-bbc2--a-bit-like-blackadder-only-true-8810148.html "TV review: The Wipers Times, BBC2 – A bit like Blackadder, only true"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925024650/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/tv-review-the-wipers-times-bbc2--a-bit-like-blackadder-only-true-8810148.html |date=25 September 2015 }} Independent 12 September 2013</ref> The same style of deliberate mispronunciation was applied to other Flemish place names in the Ypres area for the benefit of British troops, such as [[Capture of Wytschaete|Wytschaete]] becoming "White Sheet" and [[Ploegsteert]] becoming "Plug Street".

Ypres was one of the sites that hosted an unofficial [[Christmas Truce]] in 1914 between German and British soldiers.

During World War Two, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) would fight the Germans in a delaying action at the [[Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal|Ypres-Comines Canal]], one of the actions that allowed the Allied retreat to Dunkirk. [[Adolf Hitler]] (later [[Chancellor of Germany]]) fought at Ypres in the First World War and later visited the town during the [[Battle of France]].

===War memory and memorial===
On 12 February 1920, [[King George V]] awarded the [[Military Cross]] to the City of Ypres, one of only two awards of this decoration to a municipality during World War I, the other being to [[Verdun]].<ref>Abbott, Peter Edward; Tamplin (1981). British Gallantry Awards (2nd ed.). London, UK: Nimrod Dix and Co.; {{ISBN|9780902633742}}, p. 221</ref> In May 1920 [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|Field Marshal French]] presented the Cross in a special ceremony in the city,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205178222 |title=Award of Military Cross to City of Ypres, Imperial War Museum Accessed: 8 November 2018 |access-date=7 November 2018 |archive-date=7 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107224850/https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205178222 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1925 it was added to the city's coat of arms, along with the French {{lang|fr|[[Croix de Guerre]]}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Ieper |title=Heraldry of the world: Iper. Accessed: 8 November 2018 |access-date=30 May 2012 |archive-date=9 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609104311/http://www.ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Ieper |url-status=live }}</ref>

Historian [[Mark Connelly]] states that in the 1920s, British veterans set up the Ypres League and made the city the symbol of all that they believed Britain was fighting for and gave it a holy aura in their minds. The Ypres League sought to transform the horrors of trench warfare into a spiritual quest in which British and imperial troops were purified by their sacrifice. In 1920, [[Henry Beckles Willson|Lieutenant-Colonel Beckles Willson]]'s guide book, ''The Holy Ground of British Arms'' captured the mood of the Ypres League:
<blockquote>There is not a single half-acre in Ypres that is not sacred. There is not a single stone which has not sheltered scores of loyal young hearts, whose one impulse and desire was to fight and, if need be, to die for England. Their blood has drenched its cloisters and its cellars, but if never a drop had been spilt, if never a life had been lost in defence of Ypres still would Ypres have been hallowed, if only for the hopes and the courage it has inspired and the scenes of valour and sacrifice it has witnessed.<ref>Mark Connelly, "The Ypres League and the Commemoration of the Ypres Salient, 1914–1940", ''War in History'' (2009) 16#1 pp. 51–76, quote p. 55</ref></blockquote>

Ypres became a pilgrimage destination for Britons to imagine and share the sufferings of their men and gain a spiritual benefit.<ref>Connelly, "The Ypres League and the Commemoration of the Ypres Salient, 1914–1940", pp. 51–76</ref>

After the war, [[Winston Churchill]] proposed to leave Ypres as a mausoleum, with the rightful owners to be deprived from regaining their land. By early March 1919, the Belgian scheme was to leave the Cathedral and Cloth Hall and the buildings around them in ruins.{{sfn|van Emden|2019|pp=173, 176}} By November 1919, the Belgian government was seriously considering two schemes, both of which would have kept the Cloth Hall and the Cathedral in ruins, but one scheme would allow rebuilding houses around the Grand Place, whereas the other would have created a belt of trees surrounding the Hall and Cathedral.{{sfn|van Emden|2019|p=178}} By early September 1920, the decision had been made by the British Government that the [[Menin Gate]] and its immediate surroundings would be used as a memorial,{{sfn|van Emden|2019|p=180}} by which time, the Belgians had already begun to rebuild the area.{{sfn|van Emden|2019|p=181}}

In the 100th anniversary period more attempts were being made to preserve the First World War heritage in and around Ypres.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Western Front {{!}} Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914-1918 |url=https://ww1hull.com/the-western-front/ |access-date=21 August 2022}}</ref>

=== Second World War ===
On September 6, 1944, the 1st Polish Armoured Division liberated the town of Ypres after four years of occupation, and the nightly '[[Last Post#Menin Gate|Last Post]]' ceremony was resumed at the [[#Menin Gate|Menin Gate]]; the Germans had forbidden the ceremony when they occupied Ypres in 1940; from January 1941 until the liberation, the daily commemoration took place in [[Brookwood Cemetery#Brookwood Military Cemetery and memorials|Brookwood Military Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://brookwoodlastpost.org/2019/09/06/ypres-75th-liberation-ceremony/ |title=Ypres 75th Liberation Ceremony |date=6 September 2019 |publisher=Brookwood Last Post Association |accessdate=24 May 2022}}</ref>

===Ypres today===
[[Image:Fountain-grote-markt-ieper.redvers.jpg|thumb|The fountain in the Grote Markt, Ypres, opposite the Cloth Hall]]

After the war the town was  extensively rebuilt using money paid by Germany in [[World War I reparations|reparations]], with the main square, including the Cloth Hall and town hall, being rebuilt as close to the original designs as possible (the rest of the rebuilt town is more modern in appearance). The Cloth Hall today is home to [[In Flanders Fields Museum]], dedicated to Ypres's role in the First World War and named for the [[In Flanders Fields|poem]] by [[John McCrae]].

Ypres is a small city in the very western part of Belgium, the so-called ''Westhoek''. Ypres these days{{when|date=January 2022}} has the title of "city of peace" and maintains a close friendship with another town on which war had a profound impact: [[Hiroshima]]. Both towns witnessed warfare at its worst: Ypres was one of the first places where [[chemical warfare]] was [[Second Battle of Ypres|employed]], while Hiroshima suffered the debut of [[nuclear warfare]]. The city governments of Ypres and Hiroshima advocate{{where|date=January 2022}} that cities should never be targets again and campaign{{example needed|date=January 2022}} for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Ypres hosts the international campaign secretariat of [[Mayors for Peace]], an international Mayoral organization mobilizing cities and citizens worldwide to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.2020visioncampaign.org |title=Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign |website=2020visioncampaign.org |access-date=2013-09-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110418083236/http://www.2020visioncampaign.org/ |archive-date=18 April 2011}}</ref>