Editing Mons, Belgium (section)

=== 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.