doctorate in 1883 with a thesis on medieval Dinant.
The Old Regime and World War I
In the 16th- and 17th-century wars between France and Spain, Dinant suffered destruction, famine and epidemics, despite its neutrality. In 1675, the French army under Marshal Fran�ois de Cr�quy occupied the city. Dinant was briefly taken by the Austrians at the end of the 18th century. The whole Bishopric of Li�ge was ceded to France in 1795. The dinanderies fell out of fashion and the economy of the city now rested on leather tanning and the manufacture of playing cards. The famous couques de Dinant also appeared at that time.
The city suffered devastation again at the beginning of the First World War. On 23 August, 674 inhabitants were summarily executed by Saxon troops of the German Army � the biggest massacre committed by the Germans in 1914. Within a month, some five thousand Belgian and French civilians were killed by the Germans at numerous similar occasions. Among the wounded was Lieut. Charles de Gaulle
