Siege of Arras (1640) 1640
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 9 July 1640 – 9 August 1640 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1640 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Thirty Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.2892, 2.7800 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Arras took place from 22 June to 9 August 1640, during the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635, a connected conflict of the Thirty Years' War. A French army besieged the Spanish-held town of Arras, capital of the province of Artois, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, which surrendered after holding out for 48 days.
Arras was held by a garrison of 2,000, commanded by Owen Roe O'Neill, an Irish exile in Spanish service. Despite a counter-blockade by a Spanish field army under Charles of Lorraine, which brought the French to near starvation, they were eventually resupplied, and the garrison surrendered on 9 August.
Ceded to France in the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees, Arras has remained part of France ever since. The siege is also notable for the participation of French poet and playwright Cyrano de Bergerac, who was wounded on 8 August in a Spanish attack.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Arras (1640) (revision 1370738975), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Arras (1414) 1414 · 0 km
- Battle of Arras (1914) 1914 · 0 km
- Battle of Arras (1654) 1654 · 0 km
- Battle of Arras (1917) 1917 · 0 km
- Battle of Arras (1940) 1940 · 7 km
- Battle of the Scarpe 1918 · 8 km
Other battles of the Thirty Years' War
- Action of 18 February 1639 1639
- Battle of Chemnitz 1639
- Battle of the Downs 1639
- Relief of Thionville 1639
- Siege of Salses 1639
- Siege of Turin (1640) 1640
- Battle of Martorell (1641) 1641
- Battle of Preßnitz 1641
- Naval battle of Tarragona 1641
- Siege of Dorsten 1641
All 80 battles of the Thirty Years' War →
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