Editing Arras (section)

==<FONT COLOR="#CC0000">'''HISTORY OF ARRAS'''</FONT>==
Originally settled by the Celts|Celtic tribe of the '''Atrebates''', it later became a Ancient Rome|Roman garrison town known as '''Atrebatum'''. 

It is located in the former Dutch and French provinces of Artois. For many centuries, Arras was on '''the border between France and the Low Countries''' and it frequently changed hands before firmly '''becoming French in the late 17th century''', the fortifications upgraded by Vauban helping keep it in French hands. The town was closely linked to the trade of Flanders and later became an important centre for sugar beet farming and processing as well as a prosperous market centre.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, '''Arras was a thriving textile town'''. The industry specialised in fine wool tapestries which were sold to decorate palaces and castles all over Europe. Few of these tapestries survived the French Revolution as hundreds were burnt to recover the gold thread that was often woven into them. '''The term ''Arras'' is still used to refer to a rich tapestry no matter where it was woven'''. 

'''The Union of Atrecht''' (the Dutch name for Arras) was signed here in January
1579 by the Catholic principalities of the Low Countries that remained loyal to monarch|king Philip II of Spain|Philip II of Habsburg; it provoked the declaration of the Union of Utrecht later the same month.

During the First World War, '''Arras was near the front and a long series of battles fought nearby are known as the Battle of Arras (1917)''', in which a '''series of medieval tunnels beneath the city, unknown to the Germans, became a decisive factor in the British forces holding the city'''. The city, however, was heavily damaged and had to be rebuilt after the war. In the World War II|Second World War, during the invasion of France in May 1940, the town was the focus of a Battle of Arras (1940)|major British counter attack. The town was occupied by the Germans and 240 suspected French Resistance members were executed in the Arras citadel.

''More information about the History of Arras on the [[wikipedia:Arras]] !''