Canton of Anzin

Anzin (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃zɛ̃]; older Dutch: Ansingen; West Flemish: Ansingn) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt, 2.4 kilometres (1+1⁄2 mi) northwest of Valenciennes, of which it is a suburb.

Communauté d'agglomération Valenciennes Métropole is the communauté d'agglomération, an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Valenciennes. It is located in the Nord department, in the Hauts-de-France region, northern France. It was created in December 2000. Its area is 263.5 km2. Its population was 192,787 in 2018, of which 43,405 in Valenciennes proper.

The Rhonelle is a river of northern France. It is 32 km (20 mi) long. It is a right tributary of the Scheldt. Its source is near Locquignol. It flows generally northwest along Le Quesnoy, Villers-Pol and Famars. It flows into the Scheldt in Valenciennes.

Beuvrages (French pronunciation: [bøvʁaʒ]) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.

Valenciennes station (French: Gare de Valenciennes) is a French railway station serving the town of Valenciennes, Nord, France.

The canton of Valenciennes is an administrative division of the Nord department, northern France. It was created at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Valenciennes.It consists of the following communes: Saint-Saulve Valenciennes

Raismes (French pronunciation: [ʁɛm]) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. The flutist Gaston Blanquart (1877–1962) was born in Raismes. Raismes is known for hosting the annual rock music festival Raismes Fest.

Petite-Forêt (French pronunciation: [pətit fɔʁɛ], literally Little Forest) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.

The arrondissement of Valenciennes is an arrondissement of France in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region. It has 82 communes. Its population is 351,260 (2016), and its area is 634.8 km2 (245.1 sq mi).

The siege of Valenciennes took place between 13 June and 28 July 1793, during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. The French garrison under Jean Henri Becays Ferrand was blockaded by part of the army of Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, commanded by the Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Valenciennes fell on 28 July, resulting in an Allied victory.

The Battle of Valenciennes was fought on 16 July 1656 between the Spanish troops commanded by John Joseph of Austria and the French troops under Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, in the outskirts of the city of Valenciennes in the Spanish Netherlands during the Franco-Spanish War. After a period of Spanish recovery following the Peace of Münster in 1648, France went again on the offensive in 1654, having succeeded in suppressing internal rebellions, and took several towns in the province of Hainaut over the course of two years. On early 1656, Turenne was instructed by the French court to continue the offensive. He intended at first to besiege Tournai, but realising that it had been strongly reinforced by the Army of Flanders under the newly appointed John Joseph of Austria, illegitimate son of Philip IV of Spain, he went instead to besiege Valenciennes, in the course of the Scheldt River. The defenders of the city opened locks and breached dikes to flood the surroundings and hamper the siege. Their strong resistance gave time the Spanish army to prepare a relief which took place one month after the beginning of the siege. The early hours of 16 July, the forces led by John Joseph of Austria and the Prince of Condé, the victor of the Battle of Rocroi, now in Spanish service, stormed the French circumvallation lines west of Valenciennes, defended by the forces of Field Marshal Henri de La Ferté-Senneterre. The Spanish were victorious and destroyed Le Ferté's army, whom Turenne was unable to help because of the floods that separated their respective armies. The Battle of Valenciennes was the worst of only a few defeats that Turenne suffered in his long career campaigning, and is regarded as Spain's last great victory of the 17th century, as well as one of France's worst defeats of the century. Coupled with another Spanish victory over the French at Pavia in 1655, that of Valenciennes seriously damaged France's military capabilities and fueled the hopes in the Spanish court for a favourable peace with France after more than twenty years of conflict. Peace talks took place at Madrid during the summer of that year, but ultimately failed to produce any result, and the war continued for three more years, until the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659.

The siege of Valenciennes took place from 28 February to 17 March 1677, during the Franco-Dutch War, when Valenciennes, then in the English Netherlands, was attacked by a French army under the duc de Luxembourg. Over the winter of 1676 to 1677, Valenciennes and Cambrai were subjected to a tight blockade, which prevented reinforcements or supplies reaching them from the outside. French armies also benefitted from superior logistics, which allowed them to begin campaigns far earlier than their opponents. Siege operations began on 28 February, supervised by French military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, and the town surrendered on 17 March; Spain formally ceded it to France under the August 1678 Treaty of Nijmegen.