History History

The North and humanity have a very long history. The first proven traces of a human presence date back to 500,000 years before our era. These are bifaces, a carved stone tool, found around Quievy, in the Cambrai region, which attest to this. A huge leap in time later and here we are between 60 000 and 40 000 B.C.: human activity is also attested by traces of occupation, notably in the communes of Marcoing, Busigny or Hamel.

The end of prehistory (characterized by the appearance of writing in Mesopotamia, between 3500 and 300 BC) still leaves many grey areas, especially around the cromlechs, standing stones and other monoliths. These monuments still dot the North: the twin stones of Cambrai or the Polissoir of Ors are still standing since the Neolithic period

"Of all the peoples of Gaul, the Belgians are the bravest". These words, which are historical, are taken from the Commentaries on the Gallic War, written by Julius Caesar, Roman emperor and first-hand witness to the peoples of the North during antiquity. However, the Belgians of which he speaks in his writings are an ancient population group composed of several tribes: the Menapiens, the Morins, the Atrébates and especially the Nerviens, who settled in what is today the Avesnois. They arrived between the^5th and ^2nd centuries B.C., following the migratory movements of the Celtic peoples, and lived in hamlets around farms.

A people reputed to be particularly warlike and commercial, it is very logical that the Nervians decided to revolt against the Roman invasion, which began in 57 BC, alongside the other peoples of Belgian Gaul. After several battles with uncertain outcomes (including that of the Sabis) and after reinforcing the troops of Vercingetorix, the fighting stopped in 50 BC: Caesar won and Belgian Gaul became Gallia Belgica. It is the time of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace.

Accustomed to integrating new provinces into a constantly expanding Empire, the Romans knew how to proceed: pacify and romanize. To do this, they created cities, road networks and infrastructures. And here is how Cassel and Bagacum Nerviorum, capital of the Nervians and now Bavay, were born!

A time of prosperity then arrived, with a habitat densifying around numerous villae and vici, hamlets established around the trade routes. Agriculture, already well established, develops more and more with the culture of wheat and the breeding of sheep. Bagacum became a commercial center of the first order, important and exporting in all the Empire of many products (ceramics, pottery, oils, wine...) in particular thanks to the Brunehaut Roads, roads connecting the cities of the Belgian Gaul.

However, from the end of the ^2nd century, the first barbarian invasions led to looting and destruction. The Franks, Germans and Alamans took advantage of the weaknesses of a weakened Empire that was less and less able to defend its borders. Cassel and Bavay lost their title of capitals, replaced by Tournai and Cambrai.

A new invasion, that of the Salian Franks led by Clodion the Hairy, probably dealt the fatal blow. The North became Germanized and Christianity - carried by Clovis - took an increasingly important place: it was the time of the Frankish Kingdoms, the Merovingians... and the Middle Ages!

Clovis, Dagobert, Charlemagne, Brunehaut and Frédégonde: the illustrious names follow one another as the Frankish fiefs, true independent kingdoms, are organized. What was to become the department of the North was divided in two by the Treaty of Verdun, signed in 843, with the Kingdom of France on one side and the Holy Roman Empire on the other. At a time when the feudal system was frighteningly complex, we note the rise in power of Christianity in society (the bishop of Cambrai became, for example, Count of Cambrai in 1007) as well as the multiplication of cities built along the river: Lille, Valenciennes or Landrecies.

The battle of Bouvines

This seigniorial predominance and the fragmentation of the territory came to a brutal halt on July 27, 1214, near Bouvines, during a battle that saw the French royal troops of Philippe Auguste oppose those of a coalition of Flemish, German and French princes and lords led by the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Otto IV. The victors of this confrontation, Philip Augustus and the Capetian dynasty emerged strengthened in their legitimacy vis-à-vis the lords in addition to having enlarged the Kingdom of France and having gotten rid of the hostile John the Baptist. The national unity approaches!

The Hundred Years War

The North could have let time take its course, but through the alliances and allegiances between the various counts ruling Flanders and Hainaut, the kingdoms of France and England (and through them, the dynasty of the Plantagenets and the Valois) were pitted against each other. Thus began the Hundred Years' War, which lasted from 1337 to 1453. Paradoxically, it was not the fighting that caused the most deaths but the epidemics. The black plague appeared in 1316 and came back many times during the following decades.

Holland, Belgium and the North united under a single crown? This was the challenge taken up by a Valois, son of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria: Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. During this period of Burgundian domination, calm returns, conflicts cease and the North knows prosperous times. Lille saw its responsibilities increase as much as its sphere of cultural influence. The culture develops and the luxury drapery becomes an essential product. It is at this precise moment that appears, in 1506, a certain Charles of Ghent, future king of Spain, and elected in 1516 emperor of the Holy Roman Empire: Charles V!

Under his reign, the North underwent profound administrative reforms and the region was divided into provinces (Gallic Flanders, Maritime Flanders, the Duchy of Cambrai...). These changes did not please the king of France, François ^I. Logically, conflicts, construction of fortresses, fights and treaties followed. One of them, in particular, was signed in Cambrai on August 2, 1529 after bitter negotiations led by Louise of Savoy, mother of the king of France and Marguerite of Austria, aunt of the emperor. The choice of Cambrai was not insignificant: even if the treaty aimed to put an end to the seventh (!) Italian War, Cambrai was at the time the center of an ecclesiastical principality that remained neutral in the conflicts between France and the successive sovereigns of the Netherlands. The treaty was respected in its terms until 1536... and the eighth Italian War.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries saw the emergence of many religious and philosophical currents that directly impacted the destiny of the North. Protestantism thus found a deep attachment in the Spanish Netherlands. The Reformation (Protestant) followed by the Counter-Reformation (Catholic) gave rise to Catholic reorganizations, new territorial allegiances, all of which led to violent repression by Spanish troops (at Valenciennes or Cateau-Cambrésis) as well as to the definitive split of the Spanish Netherlands between the United Provinces (Protestant and abjuring) and the Southern Netherlands (Catholic), which was then only a province of no real importance.

However, things took a turn for the better under the reign of the Archdukes of Austria in the first third of the 17th century. Prosperity returned and Lille became an example of a new architectural trend combining brick and stone: Mannerism. Unfortunately, this period of grace was brutally interrupted with the return of hostilities in 1635 and the war between France and Spain.

Louis XIV, a warrior king, embarked on numerous wars of conquest that would, little by little, shape the northern borders as they are today. Between 1659 and 1677, he succeeded in annexing Artois, in buying back Dunkirk from the English and in taking Douai, Lille, Valenciennes and Cambrai. He then created new trends and appointed French bishops, including the famous Fenelon in Cambrai. A wise and undisputed king, he chose to use the military and tactical genius of Vauban to build, restore and improve many fortresses. This is how a line of fortified cities was created all along the border. With Lille, Bergues, Le Quesnoy or Landrecies: France is ready for new battles!

In 1790: a thunderclap! The Constituent Assembly votes the creation of the Department of the North, composed of the districts of Bergues, Hazebrouck, Lille, Douai, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Quesnoy and Avesnes. No place for jubilation and happiness in these times when everything changes without warning, because the war is again at the borders! It is Austria which comes to challenge the young Republic. Lille and Dunkirk are bombarded and besieged, Valenciennes almost razed. The passage of the French revolutionary army, in 1794 during the reconquest of the region, is as much a blessing as a curse because the Terror and the guillotine come with it. The final advent of Napoleon - until his defeat at Waterloo - allows however to find the necessary time for a reconstruction and an unconscious preparation to a major upheaval: the industrial revolution!

The advent of the railroad, the need to produce goods on national soil and the increased exploitation of coal: it is a whole cluster of events spread throughout the ^19th century that tipped the North into the industrial revolution. This transition from an essentially agrarian and artisanal world to a commercial and industrial society profoundly marked the territory, the landscape and the people.

The most evident, in this passage, is the development of the mining and textile industries. Concomitant with the emergence of the railways, it brought about a powerful change in the towns and countryside of the North: significant demographic growth, excessive industrialization and, above all, the appearance of a working class that had not been present before.

This ^19th century North was not necessarily a clement land for the population: the climate struck hard on several occasions (hurricanes, floods), at least as much as cholera, whose last of the five epidemics caused more than 10,000 deaths in the department. And, even if the territory has become a major economic stronghold of France, this is not necessarily synonymous with enrichment or improvements in the daily life of the textile workers or miners.

It was during a protest for better working conditions in the textile industry - the eight-hour day - that the Fourmies shootings took place on May¹, 1891. On that day, nine people between the ages of 11 and 30 were killed by soldiers who had come to supervise the demonstration as well as "protect" the town and its population. This tragedy, which had a national impact, was the direct cause of the ritual celebration of May^Day.

However, not everything was dark during this end of century and industrial revolution. It was also a time of creation of learned societies, professional schools, municipal courses...

Very quickly occupied by German troops and the scene of numerous battles throughout the conflict, the Nord paid a heavy price between 1914 and 1918. Trenches, bombings, burned mine shafts, cities destroyed during the retreats, countless human and material losses: the department still bears the scars of the four years during which it suffered.

The inter-war period should have been the occasion for a massive reconstruction (notably with the contribution of Polish immigration) but the economic crisis and certain political tensions prevented words from being translated into deeds. The Popular Front of 1936 gave rise to important strike movements in the factories.

As an eminently strategic region due to its geographical location, the North was immediately a target for the German armies, from the beginning of the Second World War. The battle of Dunkirk, which took place from May 25 to June 3, 1940, is a flagrant example. Overwhelmed by the Wehrmacht troops, 338,226 soldiers were evacuated to England while terrible and bloody confrontations took place around them. The courage and dedication of those who chose to stay and fight to protect this retreat is still celebrated today.

Another significant episode in the history of the North during World War II was the patriotic miners' strike. 100,000 miners went on strike in May and June 1941, depriving the German forces of 93,000 tons of coal at a key time. This act of collective resistance (involving men, women and children) was one of the first in France (and the largest strike in occupied Europe during the conflict) and led to grim reprisals: arrests, deportations and executions

Although it was wounded and bruised, the North was able to raise its head, united around the mythical figure of General de Gaulle, born in Lille. Numerous measures were taken to allow a quick and efficient restart of the French economy. In the North, the mining companies were nationalized and specific rights were granted to miners. The Marshall Plan also intervened, helping a new industrialization

The beginning of the 1950s marked an abrupt end to the legacy of the Industrial Revolution and saw the gradual cessation of mining. Important job cuts in the textile, steel and metal industries also fell, leading to a big increase in unemployment and a certain impoverishment of the working class society. In order to halt this decline, the emphasis was placed on welcoming and setting up new industries (automotive or plastics, for example).

Having successfully positioned itself in new and innovative sectors, such as mass retailing, mail order and information technology, and being aware of its geographical advantages and its strategic position in the heart of Europe, the North has not forgotten its rich heritage. But, definitely turned towards the future, the adventure can continue!