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22-786: The headwaters of the Scheldt are in Gouy , in the Aisne department of northern France. It flows north through Cambrai and Valenciennes , and enters Belgium near Tournai . Ghent developed at the confluence of the Lys , one of its main tributaries, and the Scheldt, which then turns east. Near Antwerp , the largest city on its banks, the Scheldt flows west into the Netherlands toward the North Sea . Originally there were two branches from that point:

44-493: A custom station and strongly occupied the old Fort Lillo , at the time used as a vegetable garden. The garrison of Lillo broke the dikes , inundating a large area and drowning many people. On 13 February 1785, the Dutch ambassador Van Berckel wrote an extended letter to John Jay , in which he explained the situation. As a consequence of this short skirmish, and under the mediation of France, negotiations were reopened between

66-562: A listed fortified bridge in Tournai that has already been substantially modified, will again be raised to provide the necessary dimensions, including an air draught of 7.10 m (23 ft 4 in). The 13 km section between Cambrai (connection with Canal de Saint-Quentin) and Hordain (connection with Canal de la Sensée ) is only navigable for small ships ( péniche ) and has 5 locks. Gouy, Aisne Gouy ( French pronunciation: [ɡwi] ; also Gouy-en-Arrouaise )

88-481: Is a commune in the Aisne department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France . This Saint-Quentin arrondissement geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kettle War This is an accepted version of this page Status quo ante bellum The Kettle War ( Dutch : Keteloorlog or Marmietenoorlog ) was a military confrontation between

110-782: Is an important waterway , and has been made navigable from its mouth up to Cambrai. Above Cambrai, the Canal de Saint-Quentin follows its course. The port of Antwerp , the second-largest in Europe, developed on its banks. Several canals (including the Scheldt-Rhine Canal connecting Antwerp to Rotterdam , the Albert Canal connecting it to Liège and the Brussel-Scheldt , Brussels and Brussels-Charleroi canals connecting it to Charleroi via Brussels ) connect

132-570: The Austrian Netherlands , had been in an alliance with France. Prussia, France's former ally, entered into an alliance with Britain. The change, sensational at the time, made nonsense of all the strategic assumptions and plans, current since 1713, based on the premises that the southern Netherlands would serve as a barrier between the Republic and France and that the Republic's security depended on close ties with Austria and Britain. It

154-495: The Dutch Republic took control of Zeelandic Flanders , a strip of land on the left bank, and closed the Scheldt for shipping. That shifted the trade to the ports of Amsterdam and Middelburg and seriously crippled Antwerp, an important and traumatic element in the history of relations between the Netherlands and what was to become Belgium. Access to the river was the subject of the brief Kettle War of 1784, and during

176-494: The French Revolution shortly afterwards, the river was reopened in 1792. Once Belgium had claimed its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the treaty of the Scheldt determined that the river should remain accessible to ships heading for Belgian ports . Nevertheless, the Dutch government would demand a toll from passing vessels until 16 July 1863. The Question of the Scheldt , a study providing "a history of

198-783: The Oosterschelde (Eastern Scheldt); and the Westerschelde (Western Scheldt). In the 19th century, however, the Dutch built a dyke that cuts the river off from its eastern (northern) branch and connects Zuid-Beveland with the mainland ( North Brabant ). Today the river continues into the Westerschelde estuary only, passing Terneuzen to reach the North Sea between Breskens in Zeelandic Flanders and Vlissingen (Flushing) on Walcheren . The Scheldt

220-612: The Dutch Republic and the Holy Roman Empire. This led in 1785 to the Treaty of Fontainebleau . It was decided that the Scheldt would remain closed to shipping, but that the southern Netherlands would be compensated for this by the Republic. At a rough estimate, the Republic paid 2 million guilder (according to other sources 10 million guilder). Much later on, definitive agreements were made between Belgium and

242-845: The Empire, which later became France and the Holy Roman Empire . This status quo remained intact, at least on paper, until 1528, but by then, both the County of Flanders on the western bank and Zeeland and the Duchy of Brabant on the east were part of the Habsburg possessions of the Seventeen Provinces . Antwerp was the most prominent harbour in Western Europe. After this city fell back under Spanish control in 1585,

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264-523: The Scheldt with the basins of the Rhine , Meuse , and Seine rivers, and with the industrial areas around Brussels , Liège , Lille , Dunkirk , and Mons . The Scheldt flows through the following departments of France , provinces of Belgium , provinces of the Netherlands , and towns: The Scheldt estuary has always had considerable commercial and strategic importance. Called Scaldis in Roman times, it

286-692: The Scheldt. On 9 October 1784, as a letter to Benjamin Franklin asserts, the war seemed inevitable. That day, the Dutch ship the Dolfijn was sent out to intercept the Imperial ships. After only one shot, which hit a kettle, Le Louis surrendered. On 30 October, the emperor declared war. On 18 November, the States of Holland reacted: the Count of Salm was asked to form a small army. The Patriots used

308-429: The essential commodity of the industrial revolution. Upgrading downstream from Bouchain was started in the 1960s in both France and Flanders, but the waterway is still not fully compliant with European standards. All the locks on the high-capacity section are being doubled by European Class Vb size locks, 185 by 12 m (607 by 39 ft), as part of the overall European Seine-Scheldt waterway project. The Pont des Trous,

330-564: The incident for political propaganda and organized the Exercitie­;genootschappen militia all over the country. The Admiralty of Friesland offered two new warships, but they were unable to leave the port of Harlingen and were dismantled. According to the Annual Register for the years 1784–85, Dolfijn would have needed a full broadside of seven guns to stop Le Louis . Austrian forces invaded Dutch territory, razed

352-624: The international legal arrangements governing the Western Scheldt", was prepared for the use of British negotiators at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. In the Second World War , the Scheldt estuary once again became a contested area. Despite Allied control of Antwerp , German forces still occupied fortified positions in September 1944 throughout the Scheldt estuary west and north, preventing any Allied shipping from reaching

374-552: The port. In the Battle of the Scheldt , the Canadian First Army successfully cleared the area, allowing supply convoys direct access to the port of Antwerp by November 1944. Canalisation from Cambrai down to Valenciennes was completed in 1788. Napoleon saw the benefits of linking Paris to Belgium and accelerated completion of the Canal de Saint-Quentin to the south. The locks were deepened and doubled, as coal became

396-469: The reopening of the Scheldt. This happened shortly after the Treaty of Paris . Although the Habsburg army in that region was not equipped very well, with a lack of artillery and supply, the emperor decided to threaten war with the Dutch. Convinced that the Netherlands would not dare react, Joseph II had three ships (including the merchant ship Le Louis with the emperor's flag) sail from Antwerp for

418-783: The revolt. This gave an enormous impulse to the economy of the northern Netherlands (namely Amsterdam), but the southern cities were dislodged from their important trading position. The closure of the Scheldt was confirmed by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, to which the Spanish agreed. After the War of the Spanish Succession , the Spanish Netherlands had been ceded to Austria by the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714. Since Europe's " Diplomatic Revolution " of 1756, Austria, and thus

440-783: The troops of the Holy Roman Empire and the Republic of the Seven Netherlands on 8 October 1784. It was named the Kettle War because the only shot fired hit a soup kettle. After the Dutch Revolt , the northern Netherlands formed their own republic, while the southern Netherlands remained with Spain . Since 1585, the northern Netherlands had closed off the Scheldt , so that the harbours of Antwerp and Ghent could not be reached by trade ships, and this remained so after

462-615: Was a shift which undoubtedly made it ever more attractive for the Dutch to remain neutral in any conflicts between both Britain and France, and Austria and Prussia. In 1781 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor , taking advantage of the ongoing Fourth Anglo-Dutch War , demanded the final dismantling of the Barrier system , and in 1784, he demanded the return of territory in the Overmaas and States Flanders (roughly current-day Zeelandic Flanders ), as well as Dutch evacuation of Maastricht and

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484-646: Was important for the shipping lanes to Roman Britain . Nehalennia was venerated at its mouth. The Franks took control over the region about the year 260 and at first interfered with the Roman supply routes as pirates. Later they became allies of the Romans. With the various divisions of the Frankish Empire in the 9th century, the Scheldt eventually became the border between the Western and Eastern parts of

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