Editing Cambrai (section)

====Dismantling of fortifications====
In the 19th century, the city was cramped within its fortified walls, which limited its development and prohibited any urban planning.

{{pull quote|Cambrai is one of the most inaccessible cities imaginable; its fortifications have a formidable appearance when it follows covered paths narrow and tortuous, crossing ditches filled by the Scheldt. Walls of extraordinary height enclose. The entrances, similar to tunnels, and barely sufficient for a car, lead to the city. All this overseen by a very daunting citadel built on top of Mont Saint-Géry.|author={{Interlanguage link multi|Victor-Eugène Ardouin-Dumazet|fr|3=Victor-Eugène Ardouin-Dumazet|lt=Ardouin-Dumazet}}|source=written in 1890.<ref group=a>p.192.</ref>}}

The dismantling of the fortifications, requested by petition as early as 1862, was finally accepted by the State after a further 30 years.<ref group=b>p.236-240.</ref> The work lasted 6 years and transformed the appearance of the city by the construction of a belt of wide [[boulevard]]s, the sale of new land to build, connecting the city to its suburbs and the establishment of public gardens.