Dunkirk

Dunkirk
Dunkerque
Dunkerque boats and belfry.JPG
Dunkirk is located in France
Dunkirk
Administration
Country France
Region Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department Nord
Arrondissement Dunkirque
Intercommunality Dunkerque grand littoral
Mayor Michel Delebarre
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 0–17 m (0–56 ft)
(avg. 4 m/13 ft)
Land area1 37.34 km2 (14.42 sq mi)
Population2 70,850  (1999)
 - Density 1,897 /km2 (4,910 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 59183/ 59140, 59240, 59640
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Dunkirk (French: Dunkerque, pronounced: [dœ̃kɛʁk]; Dutch: Duinkerke(n) [ˈdœynkɛrkə(n)]  ( listen); French Flemish: [ˈdyŋkarkə]( listen)) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the Belgian border. The population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 70,850 inhabitants (71,300 inhabitants as per February 2004 estimates). The population of the metropolitan area was 265,974 inhabitants as per the 1999 census.

Contents

Name and languages

Linguistic evolution in Dunkirk

Its name is derived from West Flemish "dun(e)" (dune) and "kerke" (church), related to the colloquial Scots English "kirk". Until the middle of the 20th century the city was situated in the French Flemish area; today the local Flemish dialect, a variety of the Dutch language, can still be found but has been largely replaced by French.

History

Dunkirk's seafront

Middle Ages

Dunkirk was first mentioned in 1067 as Dunkerk (Dutch: “Church of the Dune” or "Dune Church").

Privateer base

The area was much disputed between Spain, England, the Netherlands and France.

At the beginning of the Eighty Years' War, Dunkirk was briefly in the hands of the Dutch rebels, from 1577 until 1583. But in the last year the Prince of Parma re-established Spanish rule there and made it a base of naval operations against the Dutch, first by a small royal squadron of warships and later by a growing number of privateers to whom the Habsburg authorities in the Low Countries began issuing letters of Marque - launching the centuries-long career of the infamous Dunkirkers (known in the Dutch language as the 'Duinkerker kapers' (kaper = privateer)): private shipowners operated whole privateer fleets to intercept merchants from countries hostile to the Spanish Habsburgs.

The 1600 Battle of Nieuwpoort, one of major military engagements of the Eighty Years' War, was part of a major Dutch military effort to reach and conquer Dunkirk by land. However, though Maurice of Nassau on that occasion defeated the Spanish, he was unable to reach Dunkirk due to overextended supply lines, and the pirate activity from that city continued unabated.

The Dunkirkers briefly lost their home port, as the city was conquered by the French in 1646, but recaptured by the Habsburgs in 1652.

In 1657, as a result of war between Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Spain, it was captured by English forces, and was awarded to England in the peace the following year (see Battle of the Dunes (1658).

It became definitively French when Charles II of England sold it to France for £320,000[1] on 17 October 1662.

During the reign of Louis XIV, a large number of commerce raiders had again their base at Dunkirk; Jean Bart was the most famous, known for attacking Dutch ships. The Man in the Iron Mask was also arrested in Dunkirk.

The 18th century Swedish privateer and pirate Lars Gathenhielm, and his wife and partner Ingela Hammar, are known to have sold in Dunkirk much of the loot from ships plundered further east.

See 1763's "Treaty of Paris" for details of 18th century treaties between France and England restricting French rights to fortify Dunkirk (resulting from a British fear of it being used as an invasion base).

Dunkirk in World War II

Main articles: Battle of Dunkirk, Dunkirk evacuation, and Siege of Dunkirk (1944)

In May 1940, during the Battle of France, the British Expeditionary Force in France aiding the French, was cut off from the rest of the French Army by the German advance. Encircled by the Germans they retreated to the area around the port of Dunkirk. The German land forces could have easily destroyed the British Expeditionary Force, especially when many of the British troops, in their haste to withdraw, had left behind their heavy equipment. For years, it was assumed that Adolf Hitler ordered the German Army to stop the attack, favouring bombardment by the Luftwaffe. However, according to the Official War Diary of Army Group A, Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt, the Chief of the General Staff, ordered the halt. Hitler merely validated the order several hours after the fact. This lull in the action gave the British a few days to evacuate by sea. Winston Churchill ordered any ship or boat available, large or small, to pick up the stranded soldiers, and 338,226 men (including 123,000 French soldiers) were evacuated - the miracle of Dunkirk, as Churchill called it. It took over 900 vessels to evacuate the Allied forces. More than 40,000 vehicles as well as massive amounts of other military equipment and supplies were left behind; their value being less than that of trained fighting men. The British evacuation of Dunkirk through the English Channel was codenamed Operation Dynamo. 40,000 Allied soldiers (some who carried on fighting after the official evacuation) were captured or forced to make their own way home through a variety of routes including via neutral Spain.

Map of Dunkirk surroundings, during the Allied attempt to re-take Dunkirk in 1944

The city was again contested in 1944, and the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division attempted to liberate the city in September, as Allied forces surged northeast after their victory in the Battle of Normandy. However, German forces refused to relinquish their control of the city, which had been converted into a fortress, and the garrison there was "masked" by Allied troops, notably 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade. The fortress under command of German Admiral Friedrich Frisius eventually unconditionally surrendered to the commander of the Czechoslovak forces, Brigade General Alois Liška, on 9 May 1945.[2]

During the German occupation, Dunkirk was largely destroyed by Allied bombings; the artillery siege of Dunkirk was directed on the final day of the war by pilots from No. 652 Squadron RAF, and No. 665 Squadron RCAF.

Postwar Dunkirk

On 14 December 2002, the Norwegian auto carrier Tricolor collided with the Bahamian-registered Kariba and sank off Dunkirk Harbour, causing a hazard to navigation in the English Channel.

Heraldry

Arms of Dunkirk

The arms of Dunkirk are blazoned :
Per fess Or and argent, a lion passant sable armed and langued gules, and a dolphin naiant azure crested, barbed, finned and tailed gules.
Full achievement of the arms of Dunkirk

Administration

Location of Dunkirk in the arrondissement of Dunkirk.
Carnival in Dunkirk

The commune has grown substantially by absorbing several neighbouring communes:

Economy

Dunkirk has the third largest harbour in France, after those of Le Havre and Marseilles. It is also an industrial city, heavily dependent on the steel, food processing, oil refining, ship building and chemical industries.

Tourist attractions

The free-standing belfry
The Tour du Leughenaer.
The church Saint Eloi.
Dunkirk Town Hall.

Transport

Dunkirk has a ferry connection with Dover, England. The Gare de Dunkerque train station offers connections to Calais, Lille, Arras and Paris, and several regional destinations.

Sports

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Dunkirk Beach

Dunkirk maintains Sister City relationships with the following cities:

Dunkirk has co-operation agreements with:

See also

External links

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Correspondence and papers of the first Duke of Ormonde, chiefly on Irish and English public affairs: ref. MS. Carte 218, fol(s). 5 - date: 26 December 1662" (Description of contents of carte papers). Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts: Carte Papers. 2006. http://www.a2a.org.uk/search/records.asp?cat=161-msscarte_15&cid=2-3. Retrieved 2007-10-17. 
  2. ↑ (Czech) Czech army page