Ypres (redirected from Ieper)

Ypres (ē`prə), Du. Ieper, commune (1991 pop. 35,235), West Flanders prov., SW Belgium, near the French border. It is an agricultural market and an industrial center. Manufactures include textiles, textile-making machinery, and processed food. During the Middle Ages, Ypres was one of the most powerful towns of Flanders, with a flourishing cloth industry that rivaled those of Ghent and Bruges. However, political and social unrest and foreign wars led to the decline of this industry. A center of resistance to Spanish rule, the town was taken (1584) and sacked by Alessandro Farnese. It was held by France from 1678 to 1716 and from 1792 to 1814. In World War I, Ypres was the scene of three great battles. The town was completely destroyed during the war and was later rebuilt. Among the city's restored buildings are the Gothic Cathedral of St. Martin and the magnificent cloth-workers hall (both originally built in the 13th cent.). On the ramparts of the fortifications built (late 17th cent.) by Vauban is a British memorial gate designed by Reginald Blomfield. Outside the town's walls are some 40 military cemeteries.

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Ypres

a town in W Belgium, in W Flanders province near the border with France: scene of many sieges and battles, esp in World War I, when it was completely destroyed. Pop.: 35 021 (2004 est.)

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Ypres 

(Flemish, leper), a city in northwestern Belgium, in the province of West Flanders. Population, 18,500 (1967). It is the site of textile and food industries. Machines used in the production of textiles are also manufactured. The city was first mentioned in chronicles in 1109. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, Ypres competed with Bruges and Ghent as the center of the production of cloth by guilds. Later the city went into a decline. Architectural landmarks in Ypres include the Cathedral of St. Martin (13th-15th centuries) and Cloth Hall (1200–1304), a masterpiece of secular Gothic architecture. Other monuments of medieval Lowlands architecture have also been preserved.

During World War I (1914–18) in the vicinity of Ypres, the German Fourth Army launched a counterattack against the Ypres salient (April 1915) and forestalled an offensive being prepared by the Anglo-French forces. The Germans occupied most of the salient. On April 22, the first day of fighting, the Germans used a weapon of chemical warfare (chlorine gas) and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. This was the first use of chemical warfare in the history of war. In 1917, from July 7 to November 6, the English Fifth and Second armies and the French First Army repeatedly launched offensives. Achieving minor successes, they suffered enormous losses. On July 12, 1917, the Germans used mustard gas, which is also known as yperite, for the first time.

REFERENCE

Deyne, V. de. Ypres …. Liège, 1925.