Le Creusot

Le Creusot

a town in E central France: metal, machinery, and armaments industries. Pop.: 26 283 (1999)

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Le Creusot 

a city in central France, in the department of Saône-et-Loire, on the northeastern edge of the Massif Central. Population, 34,000 (1968). Production center of special steels and the machine-building and defense industries. Coal is mined nearby.

Le Creusot sprang up in the late 18th century at a coal-mining site. The first industrial enterprises were created in 1774. In 1782 pig iron was smelted with coke for the first time in France in Le Creusot. The defense industry developed in 1782. In 1836 the enterprises were taken over by the brothers Adolph and Eugene Schneider, who founded the stock-holding firm Schneider and Company.

Machine-building and the production of special steels developed in the city in the mid-19th century. In January and March 1870 there were mass strikes in Le Creusot of metalworkers and miners, against whom troops were deployed. In a plebiscite of May 1870 the majority of voters cast ballots against the constitution of Napoleon III. From Sept. 4, 1870, to May 28, 1871, Le Creusot had municipal autonomy, and J. B. Dumay, a worker, was the city’s mayor. On Mar. 26, 1871, the Commune was proclaimed in Le Creusot, but by March 27 it was crushed by government troops.

In the 20th century, Le Creusot has been one of the centers of the democratic movement in France. During World War II, underground Resistance organizations were active in Le Creusot, and the city suffered from bombings.