Editing Oudenaarde (section)

===Decline===
[[File:PM 057410 B Oudenaarde.jpg|thumb|left|Monument in Oudenaarde honoring the 40,000 members of the US 37th and 91st Divisions who fought there October 30 – November 11, 1918]]
During the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], the people of Oudenaarde chose [[Protestantism]] and allied themselves with Ghent against [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].  In 1582, after a prolonged siege by Margaret's son, [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma|Alexander Farnese]], the city finally gave in, causing most merchants, workers, and even nobles to flee.  Oudenaarde fell under the [[Counter-Reformation]], which for a short while revived the commerce of tapestry.  The glory days, however, never came back.  The French attacked and took the city three times in less than a century.  Fortifications were repeatedly improved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including additions by [[Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban|Vauban]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fortified-places.com/reliefs/audenarde.html |title=Fortified Places > Relief Maps > Audenarde |access-date=2007-01-04 |archive-date=2007-12-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071209203748/http://www.fortified-places.com/reliefs/audenarde.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1708, one of the key battles in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], known as the [[Battle of Oudenaarde]], was fought in the vicinity of the city. Oudenaarde slumbered as a provincial town under the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] regime. Like its neighbours, in the 1790s, it suffered religious curtailment imposed by the [[French Revolution]].

The city later [[Battle of the Lys and the Escaut#Battle|suffered damage]] during [[World War I]], which is commemorated by several monuments scattered around town.

During [[World War II]] the town was occupied by Nazi German forces in [[Battle of Belgium#15–21 May: Counterattacks and retreat to the coast|May 1940]]. The town was liberated by [[British armed forces|British forces]] on the 5th of September 1944.<ref>''Battle for the Escaut 1940: The France and Flanders Campaign'' by Jerry Murland, pg. xi</ref>