View source for Thionville

{{Redirect|Diedenhofen|German politician|Martin Diedenhofen}}
{{for|the [[scout cruiser]]|SMS Novara (1913)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=January 2010}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name                   = Thionville
|native name            = Diedenhofen
|commune status         = [[Subprefectures in France|Subprefecture]] and [[Communes of France|commune]]
|arrondissement         = Thionville 
|canton                 = [[Canton of Thionville|Thionville]], [[Canton of Yutz|Yutz]]
|image                  = 
{{Photomontage|center|
|photo3a = Tour aux Puces thionville.JPG
|photo1a = Thionville - Beffroi 20131008-01.JPG
|photo2a = Thionville, pont-écluse (4753702899).jpg
|photo2b = La Moselle - panoramio.jpg
|size  = 200
|spacing  = 2
}}
|caption                = '''Top to bottom, left to right''': Beffroi de Thionville; Les ponts écluses; la rive de la Moselle; Tour aux Puces
|image coat of arms     = Blason ville fr Thionville (Moselle).svg
|INSEE                  = 57672
|postal code            = 57100
|mayor                  = Pierre Cuny<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|publisher=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=6 June 2023|language=fr}}</ref>
|party                  = [[Miscellaneous centre|DVC]]
|term                   = 2020&ndash;2026
|intercommunality       = [[Communauté d'agglomération Portes de France-Thionville|CA Portes de France-Thionville]]
|coordinates            = {{coord|49.3589|6.1692|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m            = 150
|elevation min m        = 147
|elevation max m        = 423
|area km2               = 49.86
|population             = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date        = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes   = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}

'''Thionville''' ({{IPA|fr|tjɔ̃vil|-|Fr-Thionville.wav}}; {{Langx|lb|Diddenuewen}} {{IPA|lb|ˈdidənu̯əvən||Lb-Diddenuewen.ogg}}; {{langx|de|Diedenhofen}} {{IPA|de|ˈdiːdn̩ˌhoːfn̩||Diedenhofen.ogg}}) is a city in the northeastern French [[Departments of France|department]] of [[Moselle (department)|Moselle]]. The city is located on the [[left bank]] of the river [[Moselle (river)|Moselle]], opposite its suburb [[Yutz]].

==History==
Thionville was settled as early as the time of the [[Merovingian dynasty|Merovingians]]. After the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]], the region was inhabited by the Germanic [[Alamanni]]. It was known in the [[Medieval Latin|Latin]] of that era as ''Theudonevilla'' or ''Totonisvilla''. King [[Pepin the Short]] had a [[Kaiserpfalz|royal palace]] constructed here.

The [[Synod of Thionville]] was held here beginning on 2 February 835. It reinstated Emperor [[Louis the Pious]] and reversed his former conviction on crimes &mdash; none of which he actually committed &mdash; and deposed the [[Archbishop of Rheims]], [[Ebbo]]. The Synod was composed of 43 bishops.  On 28 February 835, in [[Mainz]], Ebbo admitted that Louis had not committed the crimes of which he had been indicted and for which he had been deposed as [[Holy Roman Emperor]].

From the 10th century onward, the area was part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. It was in possession of the [[House of Luxembourg]] until 1462 and then, until 1477, of the [[Duke of Burgundy]]. From 1477 to 1643, it was [[Habsburg]] territory.

[[Eskil of Lund|Eskil]], [[Archbishop of Lund]], was imprisoned at Diedenhofen (at the instigation of the [[Archbishop of Bremen]]?) upon his return from his 1153 pilgrimage to Rome.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

The [[Siege of Thionville (1639)|Siege of Thionville]] in June 1639 occurred as part of the [[Thirty Years' War]]. The [[Hôtel de Ville, Thionville|Hôtel de Ville]] was completed in 1641.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thionville.fr/article/162-La_Mairie_de_Thionville  |title=La Mairie de Thionville|publisher=City of Thionville|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326160444/http://thionville.fr/article/162-La_Mairie_de_Thionville |archive-date=26 March 2016}}</ref>

In 1659 ''Diedenhofen'' was annexed by France. Fortifications were constructed under the direction of [[Sébastien de Vauban]].
[[File:Thionville.jpg|thumb|View of the 1558 siege of Thionville by Nicolas Beatrizet, in the Franco Novacco Collection at the Newberry Library]]
[[File:LASB K Hellwig 1006.jpg|thumb|Siege of Thionville 1643]]
[[File:Plan de Thionville 1741 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Plan de Thionville, 1741]]
[[File:Thionville - Hôtel de ville (2).JPG|thumb|The [[Hôtel de Ville, Thionville|Hôtel de Ville]]]]
In 1792, Thionville was [[Siege of Thionville (1792)|besieged]] by the [[Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Duke of Brunswick]], who unsuccessfully sought to defeat the [[French Revolution]] and restore [[Louis XVI]] to the royal throne. The writer [[François-René de Chateaubriand]] was left for dead during [[Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé|Condé]]'s military ''émigré'' expedition against Thionville in 1792.

After the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870, the area of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] was annexed by the newly created [[German Empire]] in 1871 by the [[Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)|Treaty of Frankfurt]] and became a ''Reichsland''. Thionville once again became ''Diedenhofen'' and became a prosperous city. Some large [[neo-Romanesque]] buildings typical of the German Empire were constructed in the city. The [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]] decided to build a fortress line from [[Mulhouse|Mülhausen]] to [[Luxembourg]] to protect the new ''Reichsland''. The centerpiece of this line was the great [[Fortifications of Metz|''Moselstellung'']], a fortress system protecting [[Metz]] and Diedenhofen.

The fortifications around Diedenhofen centred on three main forts: the [[Fort de Guentrange]] on the northwest side, [[Fort de Koenigsmacker]] to the northeast, and the [[Fort d'Illange]] to the south. Each position was surrounded by several ditches, with shelters and observation cupolas. A large barbed wire belt defended by machine guns completed the defensive system.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

Following the [[armistice with Germany]] ending the [[First World War]], the French army entered Diedenhofen in November 1918 and the city was transferred to France by the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919, after it again became Thionville.

During the [[Second World War]], Lorraine was placed under a [[Lorraine (duchy)#Between France and Germany|German civilian administration]] and was thus once again ''de facto'' part of the German Reich (though unrecognized by the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]]), and the city became Diedenhofen once more. In 1944, US troops entered Diedenhofen, which has belonged to France as Thionville since then. In the winter of 1944-45, the Displaced Persons Camp No. 8 was established here. In the following years it was home to the thousands of former concentration camp prisoners and POWs.

After experiencing, along with all of France, an economic upswing during the postwar decades (''trente glorieuses''), the [[heavy industry]] of Thionville suffered setbacks beginning in the 1970s. The city and the entire region have faced hardships and [[structural unemployment]] since then.

Jean-Marie Demange, who had served as the town's mayor for thirteen years, committed suicide in 2008 after killing his mistress with two gunshots in the head.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

==Economy==

The area around Thionville has relied on heavy industry, most notably since the end of the 19th century, due to the presence of [[iron ore]] in the area. The first large steel mill in Thionville was opened in 1898. Since the [[steel crisis]] of the 1970s, several steel mills have been closed, and only a few have remained active. A growing number of residents of Thionville commute to nearby [[Luxembourg]] (Thionville is 15 kilometres from the border).

===Transport===

The [[Gare de Thionville]] railway station offers connections with Luxembourg, Metz, Nancy, Paris, Strasbourg, Brussels, Zürich, and several regional destinations. The [[A31 autoroute|A31]] motorway connects Thionville with Luxembourg and Metz.

==Twin towns==
*[[Gao]], Mali
*[[Varallo Pombia]], Italy
*[[Urbana, Illinois]], United States

==Administration==
Incorporations:
*[[Veymerange]], in 1967
*[[Volkrange]], in 1970
*[[Garche]] (exclave of the commune), [[Kœking]] and [[Œutrange]] in 1970
*[[Guentrange]]
*[[Elange]]
*[[Metzange]]
*[[Beuvange-sous-Saint-Michel]]

Since the French [[Cantons of France|canton]] reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015, Thionville is divided over the cantons of [[Canton of Thionville|Thionville]] and [[Canton of Yutz|Yutz]].<ref>[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000028637416 Décret n° 2014-183 du 18 février 2014 portant délimitation des cantons dans le département de la Moselle]</ref>

===Neighboring communes===

*[[Algrange]]
*[[Basse-Ham]] (by [[Garche]])
*[[Entrange]]
*[[Escherange]]
*[[Cattenom]] (by [[Garche]])
*[[Hayange]]
*[[Hettange-Grande]]
*[[Florange]]
*[[Illange]]
*[[Manom]]
*[[Nilvange]]
*[[Terville]]
*[[Yutz]]

==Demographics==
The population of Thionville increased mainly in the first half of the 20th century due to industrial development of the [[Upper Moselle]] basin. The economic slowdown and [[steel crisis]] of the 1970s affected the town and surrounding area, causing a population stagnation. The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Thionville proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Thionville absorbed the former commune of Veymerange in 1966, Volkrange in 1969, and Garche, Kœking, and Œutrange in 1970.<ref name=ehess/>

{{Historical populations
|state=collapsed
| align = none
| cols = 2
| percentages = pagr
| source = EHESS<ref name=ehess>{{Cassini-Ehess|37479|Thionville}}</ref> and INSEE (1968-2017)<ref name=pophist>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-57672#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE</ref>
| graph-pos = bottom
|1793 |5010
|1800 |5011
|1806 |4907
|1821 |5739
|1836 |5680
|1841 |5712
|1861 |7818
|1866 |7376
|1871 |7207
|1875 |7168
|1880 |7155
|1885 |8111
|1890 |8923
|1895 |9167
|1900 |10062
|1905 |11948
|1910 |11656
|1921 |13464
|1926 |13040
|1931 |17395
|1936 |18934
|1946 |17596
|1954 |23054
|1962 |31811
|1968 |37079
|1975 |43020
|1982 |40573
|1990 |39712
|1999 |40907
|2007 |40910
|2012 |41325
|2017 |40701
}}

==Sport==
[[US Thionville Lusitanos]] is the local [[association football|football]] club.

== Notable people ==
* [[Johann von Aldringen]], soldier (1588–1634)
* [[Joseph Bodin de Boismortier]], composer (1689–1755)
* [[Antoine Merlin de Thionville]], politician (''Merlin of Thionville'', 1762–1833)
* [[Nicolas Dahlmann]], military leader (1769–1807)
* [[Senta Söneland]], actress (1882–1934)
* [[Gerhard Borrmann]], physicist (1908–2006)
* [[Ernest Bour]], conductor (1913–2001)
* [[Henry Anglade]], cyclist (born 1933)
* [[Rachid Arhab]], journalist (born 1955)
* [[Thierry Queffelec]], civil servant and Prefect of French Guiana (born 1962)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.karibinfo.com/index.php/2020/11/25/thierry-queffelec-devient-prefet-de-guyane/ |title=Thierry Queffelec devient préfet de Guyane|website=Karib Info|access-date=17 April 2021|language=fr}}</ref>
* [[Francis Renaud (actor)|Francis Renaud]], actor (born 1967)
* [[Carole Gaessler]], journalist (born 1968)
* [[La Grande Sophie]], singer (born 1969)
* [[Eddy Riva]], race walker (born 1973)
* [[Frédéric Weis]], Le dunk de la mort (born 1977)
* [[Nasreddine Kraouche]], footballer (born 1979)
* [[Julien Quercia]], footballer (born 1986)
* [[Benjamin Corgnet]], footballer (born 1987)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Thionville}}
{{EB1911 poster|Diedenhofen}}
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://www.thionville.fr/ Thionville Official website]
*{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Ebbo}}

{{Moselle communes}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Communes of Moselle (department)]]
[[Category:Subprefectures in France]]
[[Category:Three Bishoprics]]