Moresnet (village)

The Viaduct of Moresnet, also known as the Geul Valley bridge is a railway bridge above and on the southern side of the village of Moresnet, within the municipality of Plombières, close to the three-way Belgian frontier with Germany and the Netherlands. The bridge crosses the Geul Valley. It is a Truss bridge with a maximum height above the valley floor of around 52 metres (171 ft) and a length of 1,107 metres (3,632 ft). Viewed from a horizontal plane the railway line at this point has a gradient of 1.8‰. Viewed from above, approximately a quarter of the bridge is on a slight bend: this has a radius of 1,600 metres (5,249 ft)The Geul Valley bridge was built during the First World War, at a time when, since 1914, Belgium had been under German military occupation. It was built to support the strategic objective of being able to move troops and artillery rapidly between Aachen and Antwerp. More recently, by the 1990s it had fallen into such disrepair that trains crossing it were restricted to a maximum speed of 20 km/h (12 mph). During the early years of the twenty-first century, however, the bridge was extensively reconstructed and restored.

Aachen II is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 88. It is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the area of Städteregion Aachen outside the city of Aachen.Aachen II was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Claudia Moll of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Kelmis (German pronunciation: [ˈkɛlmɪs]; French: La Calamine, French pronunciation: ​[la kalamin]) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège, named for the historical deposits of calamine (zinc ore) nearby. As of 2011, the population was 10,881; the area is 18.1 square kilometres (7.0 sq mi) and the population density is 601.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,557/sq mi).The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Kelmis proper, Hergenrath, and Neu-Moresnet. The territory around the Vieille Montagne zinc mine in Kelmis was Neutral Moresnet, a neutral condominium of the Netherlands and Prussia (later Belgium and Germany) from 1816 to 1919, with the Mayor of Kelmis nominated by two commissioners from the neighbouring countries. Although there were attempts by locals at making it evolve into a fully independent microstate, all of them were thwarted and it remained under double-sovereignty and neutrality until its eventual annexation by Belgium after the First World War. There is a war memorial to German soldiers from Kelmis who were killed during the Franco-Prussian War, located in the Aachener Strasse, and one to inhabitants of Kelmis who were killed in the First and Second World Wars, located in the Kirchplatz (French: Place de l'Église).A small museum in Kelmis, the Museum Vieille Montagne, includes exhibits on Neutral Moresnet. Of the 60 border markers for the territory, more than 50 are still standing.In the nineteenth century a Low Dietsch dialect was spoken in Kelmis. Today Kelmis is German-speaking. It has facilities for French speakers and is one of the nine municipalities of the German‑speaking Community of Belgium.

Neutral Moresnet (French pronunciation: ​[mɔʁɛsnɛt], [mɔʁɛsnɛ], German pronunciation: [ˈmɔʁəsnɛt], [ˌmɔʁəsˈnɛt]) was a small Belgian–Prussian condominium in western Europe that existed from 1816 to 1920 and was administered jointly by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (Belgium after its independence in 1830) and the Kingdom of Prussia. It was 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) wide and five kilometres (3 mi) long, with an area of 360 hectares (900 acres). After 1830, the territory's northernmost border point at Vaalserberg connected it to a quadripoint shared additionally with the Dutch Province of Limburg, the Prussian Rhine Province, and the Belgian Liège Province. Its former location is represented presently by the Three-Country Point, the meeting place of the borders of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. During the First World War, Neutral Moresnet was annexed by Germany, although the allies did not recognise the annexation. The armistice between France and Germany in November 1918 forced Germany to withdraw from Belgium and Neutral Moresnet. A year later, the Treaty of Versailles awarded Neutral Moresnet to Belgium, effective 10 January 1920, when the territory was annexed by Belgium to become the municipality of Kelmis. During World War II, Kelmis and the area surrounding was again annexed by Germany and had its name reverted to Moresnet, but the territory was returned to Belgium during 1944.

Plombières (French pronunciation: ​[plɔ̃bjɛʁ]; German: Bleyberg or Bleiberg, Dutch: Blieberg; Walloon: So-on-Mont-d'-Plomb) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On 1 January 2006, Plombières had a total population of 10,401. The total area is 53.17 km2 which gives a population density of 200 inhabitants per km2.The municipality consists of the following districts: Gemmenich, Hombourg, Montzen, Moresnet, and Sippenaeken.The local language is Low Dietsch, a bridge dialect between East Limburgish and Ripuarian.

Neu-Moresnet is a village and sub-municipality of Kelmis in the German-speaking community of the province of Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. The village was founded as Prussian-Moresnet (German: Preußisch-Moresnet) as part of the Lower Rhine Province. In 1919, after World War I, it was awarded to Belgium, and renamed Neu-Moresnet. In 1940, it was annexed by Nazi Germany, and in 1944, it was returned to Belgium. Neu-Moresnet was an independent municipality until 1977 when it was merged into Kelmis.

Lontzen (German pronunciation: [ˈlɔntsn̩]) is a municipality located in East Belgium. On January 1, 2018 Lontzen had a total population of 5,695. The total area is 28.73 km² which gives a population density of 198 inhabitants per km². The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Lontzen proper, Herbesthal, and Walhorn. In the 19th century, a Low Franconian dialect was widely spoken in Lontzen.

The siege of Aachen, which lasted from late April or early May until October 1248, was part of the German civil war that began with Pope Gregory IX's proclamation of a crusade against the Emperor Frederick II in 1240. The city of Aachen, which was the traditional coronation site of German kings, supported Frederick II and refused to allow his rival, Count William II of Holland, to enter the city to be crowned. William and his supports besieged the city, forcing it to allow him in, where he was crowned German king. The main primary sources for the siege are the Royal Chronicle of Cologne, the Chronicle of the Monastery of Bloemhof and Matthew of Paris's History of the English.

Hergenrath (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛʁɡn̩ˌʁaːt]) or Hergenraedt (Standard Dutch: Hergenraat; Limburgish: Herjent) is a village and sub-municipality in Belgium. It is located in the municipality of Kelmis in Liège Province, part of Wallonia. It is part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

The Vaalserberg (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈvaːlsərˌbɛr(ə)x], Ripuarian: Volserberg [ˈvɔlsəʀˌbæʀ˦(ə)ç]) is a hill with a height of 322.4 metres (1,058 ft) above NAP and is the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands. The Vaalserberg is located in the province of Limburg, at the south-easternmost edge of the country, near the town of Vaals (after which it is named). Mount Scenery on the island of Saba, which is in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands, replaced Vaalserberg as the highest point in the Netherlands, following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010.

Vaals (Dutch: [vaːls] (listen); Ripuarian: Vols [ˈvɔls]) is a town in the extreme southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, which is in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. The municipality covers an area of 23.90 km2 (9.23 sq mi) in the foothills of the Ardennes–Eifelrange and is located about 23 km (14 mi) east of Maastricht and 5 km (3.1 mi) west of the city centre of Aachen. It borders on both Belgium and Germany. The three borders meet on the Drielandenpunt, a few meters from the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands, the Vaalserberg. The Vaalserberg used to be called "Hubertusberg".

Aachen I is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 87. It is located in western North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising the city of Aachen.Aachen I was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2021, it has been represented by Oliver Krischer of the Alliance 90/The Greens.