France - Les villes bastionnées des Pays-Bas du nord-ouest de l'Europe

This set of cities encompasses the main fortified towns in the northern border area, which covers the French regions of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Champagne-Ardennes, Belgium and the southern regions of the Netherlands. These bastion towns are, in the heart of north-west Europe, on the shores of the North Sea and the more rugged reliefs of the Ardennes, a particular territory, with open terrain presenting no real natural obstacle that can not easily be bypassed. This vast cross-border space belongs, moreover, to these few regions in the world where the natural space is so impregnated by the age of the human presence and the importance of its activity that the original nature has long since given way to a shaped landscape. by men. From the Middle Ages, the control of the territory allows the "Low Country" to present one of the highest densities in Europe. Dominating prosperous countryside, cities flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They are characterized by their proximity and their intense relations, their economic power, their political independence and their artistic development. All this favors seclusion of an original urban culture, associating communal pride with the boldness of the bourgeois enterprise. In this geographical area, open at the crossroads of the main roads of North-West Europe, these cities have, throughout history, been zones of passage or invasion. Their wealth and opulence have attracted greed. Faced with threats against their liberties and conflicts between sovereigns, they developed warlike abilities. From the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 18th century, then at the beginning of the 19th century, and during the two world wars, fierce battles constantly move the borders and impose costly efforts on cities and even localities. military and constant adaptation to changes in combat techniques. This need to defend their prerogatives, has gradually shaped the landscape of the entire territory, still marked today by the omnipresent character of the fortification. The constant fury of cities to raise their fortifications was done with the same courage and the same obstinacy deployed well before to tame an unfavorable natural environment.