Editing Calais (section)

==<FONT COLOR="#0000FF">'''HISTORY OF CALAIS'''</FONT>==

The origins of Calais are obscure though its site might be expected to be have been inhabited from early times. In Roman times the name was ''Caletum''. In medieval times the town was part of a Dutch speaking area extenndig into present north France; in those times the Dutch name was ''Kales''. It stands on the foreshore of the last piece of solid geology on the south and east coast of the North Sea between France and the UK. 


===<FONT COLOR="#3366FF">'''14th and 15th Centuries'''</FONT>===
Its speciality in the ferry trade with Dover gave it a strategic position which made it of key interest for the growing power of the kingdom of England and the town was besieged and captured by King Edward III of England in 1347, after a siege of eleven months following the Battle of Crécy. Following the death of his uncle, Charles IV of France in 1328, Edward saw himself as the Capetian Dynasty heir to the kingdom of France but the French chose to follow an all male line of descent from his Philip III of France. This introduced the Valois Dynasty, House of Valois to the French throne. Since England was Edward's power base, the English and Welsh were involved in his military sweep through northern France. The town came to be called the "brightest jewel in the English crown" owing to its great importance as the gateway for the tin, lead, cloth and wool trades (or "staples"). Its customs revenues amounted at times to a third of the English government's revenue, with wool being the most important element by far. Maintaining Calais was a costly business that was frequently tested by the forces of France and the Duchy of Burgundy, with the Franco-Burgundian border running nearby.

===<FONT COLOR="#3366FF">'''16th Century'''</FONT>===
The end of English rule over Calais came on January 1, 1558 when the French, under Francis, Duke of Guise, took advantage of a weakened garrison and decayed fortifications to retake it. When the French attacked, they were able to surprise the English at the critical strongpoint of Fort Nieulay and the sluice gates, which could have flooded the attackers, remained unopened. After that time the Dutch speaking population was forced to speak French.

The town was captured by the Spain|Spanish in 1596 in an invasion mounted from the nearby Spanish Netherlands but it was returned to France under the Treaty of Vervins in 1598.

===<FONT COLOR="#3366FF">'''19th and 20th Centuries'''</FONT>===
* Calais was also on the front lines of France's conflict with the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1805, it hosted part of Napoleon's army and invasion fleet for his Napoleon's invasion of England, an aborded mission.

* The British returned to Calais again during World War I, due to its proximity to the front lines in Flanders as a key port for the supply of arms and reinforcements to the Western Front. 

* The town was virtually razed to the ground during World War II. In May 1940, it was a key objective of the invading German forces and became the scene of a last-ditch defence — the Siege of Calais (1940) — which diverted a sizable amount of German forces for several days immediately prior to the Battle of Dunkirk. During the ensuing German occupation, it became the command post for German forces in the Pas-de-Calais/Flanders region and was very heavily fortified, as it was generally believed by the Germans that the Allies would invade at that point. 

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