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Fort de Loncin

Ans, BelgiumBrialmont fortsFortified position of LiègeMuseums in Liège ProvinceWorld War I cemeteries in Belgium
World War I museums in Belgium
Dessus du fort et sa nécropole
Dessus du fort et sa nécropole

The Fort de Loncin is one of twelve forts built around Liège, Belgium, in the late 19th century. The overall Fortified Position of Liège was a constituent part of the country's National Redoubt. Fort de Loncin was constructed between 1881 and 1884 according to the plans of General Henri Alexis Brialmont. Contrasting with the French forts built in the same era by Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières, the fort was built exclusively of unreinforced concrete, a new material, rather than masonry. The experimental nature of the new material, and the design features of the fort, led to unintended consequences in combat action. Weak concrete made the fort vulnerable to enemy artillery, while poor living conditions reduced the fort's ability to operate under fire. The fort was destroyed during World War I in the Battle of Liège, when the fort's magazine was hit by a large-calibre German shell, killing most of the fort's occupants. The event marked the debut of the Big Bertha howitzer in combat. Relatively few of the dead were recovered; the site is now a military cemetery. The fort was never reused.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fort de Loncin (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fort de Loncin
Rue des Héros,

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Latitude Longitude
N 50.674611111111 ° E 5.4922777777778 °
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Fort de Loncin

Rue des Héros
4430
Liège, Belgium
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Dessus du fort et sa nécropole
Dessus du fort et sa nécropole
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Prince-Bishopric of Liège
Prince-Bishopric of Liège

The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as its prince, had a seat and a vote in the Imperial Diet. The Prince-Bishopric of Liège should not be confused with the Diocese of Liège, which was larger and over which the prince-bishop exercised only the usual responsibilities of a bishop. The bishops of Liège acquired their status as prince-bishops between 980 and 985 when Bishop Notker of Liège, who had been the bishop since 972, received secular control of the County of Huy from Emperor Otto II. From 1500, the prince-bishopric belonged to the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. Its territory included most of the present Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg, and some exclaves in other parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. It briefly became a republic (the Republic of Liège) from 1789 to 1791, before reverting to a prince-bishopric in 1791. The role of the bishop as prince permanently ended when the state was annexed by France in 1795. In 1815 the territories it had held became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and in 1830 they were within the part of that kingdom which split off to become Belgium. The principality ruled by the bishops of Liège was never part of the Seventeen Provinces or the Spanish and Austrian Southern Netherlands, but from the 16th century onwards its politics were strongly influenced by the dukes of Burgundy and later the Habsburgs. In 1559 its 1,636 parishes were grouped into eight archdeaconries, and twenty-eight councils, chrétientés (deaneries). The most important cities (bonnes villes) of the bishopric were: Liège, Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Châtelet, Ciney, Couvin, Dinant, Fosses-la-Ville, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Huy, Maaseik, Peer, Sint-Truiden, Stokkem, Thuin, Tongeren, Verviers, Visé and Waremme. The city of Maastricht fell under the joint jurisdiction of the prince-bishop of Liège and the duke of Brabant (later the States-General of the United Provinces). The second city of the prince-bishopric thus kept its special status throughout the ancien régime.