, and became
a part of the 'Austrian Netherlands,' was a period of considerable
improvement, Ypres never recovered its position, not even during
the peaceful reign of the Empress Maria Theresa. The revolution
against Joseph II. disturbed everything, and in June, 1794, the town
yielded, after a short siege, to the army of the French Republic.
The name of Flanders disappeared from the map of Europe. The whole of
Belgium was divided, like France, with which it was now incorporated,
into _departements_, Ypres being in the Department of the Lys. For
twenty years, during the wars of the Republic, the Consulate, and
the Empire, though the conscription was a constant drain upon the
youth of Flanders, who went away to leave their bones on foreign
soil, nothing happened to disturb the quiet of the town, and the
fortifications were falling into decay when the return of Napoleon
from Elba set Europe in a blaze. During the Hundred Days guns and
war material were hurried over from England, the old defences were
restored, and new works constructed by the English engineers; but
the Battle of Waterloo rendered these preparations unnecessary, and
the military history of Ypres came to an end when the short-lived
Kingdom of the Netherlands was established by the Congress of Vienna,
though it was nominally a place of arms till 1852, when the
fortifications were destroyed.
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